Just as Lord Alfon feared – Ganondorf had expected the Hylians to refuse his offer and had staged his army just outside of their lines. The night the princess denied him, the dark tide was unleashed. The outer watchmen and sentries were quickly cut down – or forced to run for their lives – and the main line of the Hylian Army was swiftly driven back. Signal fires were lit, horns were sounded, and the great warning bell at the gate to Laketown was rung. But help was desperately called for everywhere in Central Hyrule and the Princess' soldiers did not have the numbers to spare.
They came in a massive, three-pronged attack. Westward to Carok, then South to Satori, Safula, and ending in Regencia – cutting the lake off from the west. Eastward to the Kakariko Pass before turning south, to Horwell, the Necludan Pass – which is sometimes known as the Pass of the Dueling Peaks-, and finally turning Southwest to cut the lake off from the forest road in the East. The main body of Ganon's Army drove directly Southward from the capitol, over the ruins of the destroyed ranch, and on to raze Mabe, Molina, Passeri, Kolomo, and Deya. Though much of Central Hyrule had been evacuated already, these villages had become key resting places and workshops for the Army – who had been struggling to retain control of as much of the old kingdom as possible. The loss of their workshops and storehouses would push the Hylians right to the edge of annihilation.
Before Sunrise, October 3rd, 610 GK, The War of Imprisonment, Day 444
The Front Line, Just North of the Lake Gate
"GET UP BOY!" a voice suddenly shouted as the toe of a heavy boot slammed into Link's ribs. "Get off your ass and relieve Tobin! You should have been up there five minutes ago! NOW MOVE!" screamed his sergeant. The squire coughed hard at the pain in his ribs and struggled to push himself back onto his feet. This had been the first chance to sleep that he was given in three days and it was only for two hours – though it felt much shorter to the boy. His eyes were dry and burning, his nose and throat had turned raw, and every part of his body trembled with icy cold – even though it was only early autumn.
Tobin was a young, lanky, brown-haired soldier -only a few years older than Link- that the squire sometimes stood watch with. He was jittery and talkative – often rambling on about nothing while he and Link should be watching the terrain around them for an ambush. He was always whispering about the need to have an escape plan – from where ever he and the boy were standing – but Link never saw an 'escape' as possible. The enemy was ahead of them and on both sides and their own army was behind them. Trying to run back to the lines without good reason would get a man hanged for desertion. But still, Tobin insisted that he always had a plan to 'escape' if things 'got rough.'
The squire grabbed his sword & shield – which had lay on the ground beside him as he slept – and checked his bow and quiver before stumbling his way forward, over the line and on to the northern watch-post. No lights were allowed beyond the main line, so he would be forced to stumble and grope his way in the darkness – silently praying that he would encounter Tobin before running into the enemy. Link's eyes were still burning and his mind kept drifting back toward sleep, even as he walked. "Come on!" he groaned to himself, "Wake up." He slapped himself twice and pinched at the lobe of his right ear, but it did nothing to help rouse him.
After several foggy minutes, a terrified voice suddenly shouted out from in front of him, "H-halt… HALT!" The squire slowed and stopped after two more lazy steps, with a tired yawn. "W-w-who g-goes there?!" called Tobin, his voice cracking with fright. "It's me (yawn)… It's me Tobin! It's Link!" he called back, struggling not to yawn even more. "SHHHHH! Quiet! You'll give us away!" the soldier hissed as his friend resumed his walk and came closer. "Funny thing to yell at me, when you're the one screaming 'Who's there? Who's there?" teased the boy as he dropped down into Tobin's shallow dugout.
The soldier shot him an insulted look before asking, "Did ya bring anything to eat?" Sadly, rations had become very sparse for the men and nothing was allowed to leave the cook's tent. Meals had to be consumed completely, when given – which was never very much. "Sorry Tobin. Nothing today." The boy answered, with another yawn. "Ugh… I'm going to fall asleep on my feet out here!" he finished. "Well don't!" warned the soldier, as he peered up over the edge of his small pit and scanned the empty darkness for movement. "You can't smell them if you're asleep! That's what Russel was saying the other night – 'You can smell them in the dark… when they get closer'."
"Uh-huh" muttered Link as he leaned against the edge of the dugout and tried to let himself slip off to sleep once more. As long as Tobin was talking, he might forget that it was his turn to go back to the line – the boy could catch a few more minutes rest before he realized it. His voice began to drift as the comforting embrace of nothingness began to kiss the boy's mind. "mm-hmm" he hummed, acknowledging whatever Tobin was talking about. After a few more seconds, Link's head drooped down and his back rested against the dirt behind him.
A dull thud and unusual groan shook him free again and the squire looked around. A strange gurgling sound was coming from the other side of the pit – where Tobin had been standing. Link yawned again and closed his eyes, "Knock if off Tobin. Just go back to the line." (The young soldier was notorious for his dramatics, and often tried to fake an injury or illness to get out of standing watch.) But the groan quickly shifted into a spine shivering gurgle as the man quivered and twitched on the ground.
Irritated, the squire straightened up and kicked at the man's feet. "Knock it off!" he ordered, "Either talk to me or get back to the line!" But something was different this time. The sounds Tobin was making were far too disturbing and his body was twitching and thrashing violently at the bottom of the dugout. Link quickly reached down in the dark and ran his hands over his comrade. He was wet – his tunic was now soaked in something – and his movements were jarring and frightful. "Tobin? TOBIN!" he shouted, as he groped at the man's head and found something very warm, wet, and soft protruding from the back of his head. A heavy iron bolt stuck cruelly outward from his forehead and his voice only gave out a sickening moan.
As terror grabbed the boy, the ground beneath them began to tremble and shake with the thunder of charging feet. A bestial roar rose up just ahead of their position and now Link could clearly hear the approaching charge of the enemy. Adrenaline and training now clashed in the boy's mind. He quickly tore the sentry's horn from Tobin's side and blew a long shattering note. In a moment, the enemy was all around him – charging past the dugout and shaking the entire countryside with their numbers. Two large moblins leapt down into the pit and quickly slashed their sabers at him.
The squire threw down the horn and drew his own sword. He was both too surprised and too terrified to form words, so he simply screamed at them and quickly tried to dodge their attacks and strike with his own weapon. "GODDESS! ALFON! HELP ME!" His heart cried, as they closed in and pinned him against the wall of the shelter.
Back at the main line
Captain Russel sat in his darkened tent, just behind the last line of bowmen trenches outside of the gates. Sleep had refused to come during the night, so he decided to return to his papers and wait for the dawn. Logistics reports, regional maps, details of the Hylian's defenses, and even personal messages from the marshal littered the man's tent. During the daylight hours, Russel would stand on the line with his men – eager for an attack. At night, he could only use one small candle to read – any stronger light could be spotted by the enemy.
Like much of his battalion, the captain had not slept very much over the past few weeks and he now struggled to focus his burning eyes on the paper he was trying to read. As Link began to doze in Tobin's dugout, Russel threw down his report and laid his head back – looking up at the ceiling of his tent. "Argh." He growled, "By the Goddess… give me a cold pint and a warm woman for a night or -at the least- one good, bloody fight!" he muttered to himself. But as he dropped his head back down, a slight breeze rippled the flaps of his tent and the man suddenly went very stiff.
That smell… that foul, filth-ridden stench of Ganon's beasts – he could not mistake it! They were close now and he heard no warnings from his sentries. A surge of energy from within drove away his fatigue and the man leapt to his feet, grabbed his sword, and dashed out to the line. "TO ARMS! TO ARMS!" he bellowed to the sleeping soldiers, which was immediately followed by a lone horn-call from the North.
The Hylians had been warned with only seconds to spare. Nearly every man was able to retreive his weapon and leap into the trenches before Ganon's horde crashed into them. Spearmen and lancers kept the moblins at bay while ranks of archers rained death down upon them. Once enough of the beasts had pushed past the points of the spears, swords were drawn and the battle reduced itself to a bloody melee.
This was where Captain Russel would shine. Even in the pitch-black of night, he seemed to a have a remarkable sense of the battlefield and an uncanny ability to predict where and how the enemy would attack his lines. As his infantry held off the initial wave, the man cried orders to his reserves, shifting left and right, to counter the moblins' second charge.
Despite the fearsome night attack, the men seemed invigorated and confident in victory. Once the units were in place, their captain had little need to pressure them to remain at their lines and fight on. After the third charge was repelled, the moblins blew several short notes on their own horns – signaling a withdrawal. Normally, the Hylians would allow them to retreat un-harassed, so as not to risk more of their own men. But something about this night was different. The heat in Russel's blood was still strong and he was eager for more action.
Drawing his massive two-handed sword, the veteran captain roared, "OVER THE LINE!" As one, the Hylian Army crawled out of their trenches and formed a massive, arching line of swords, spears, and javelins facing outward. Without signal, or spoken command, Russel simply charged forward, carrying his great sword, and the Army followed. The moblins, bewildered by the change in the Hylian's tactics, turned to fight, broke, and fled once more – many being cut down without even swinging their weapons at the pursuers.
But the heroic charge could not last forever. The moblins' own lines were far more fortified than the Hylians' and their army still vastly outnumbered Russel's. They checked their paced when the final sentries' post was reached and halted as the dawn's first light crept over the horizon in the east. "Re-post the sentries… see to the wounded." The captain ordered, before stepping over to the edge of the nearest dugout and looked inside.
A pair of dark-blue skinned moblins lay dead at one side – their black blood splattered over the sides of the dirt pit. At the other end, knelt a young Hylian soldier, frantically trying to rouse a dead comrade who had a heavy bolt shot through his head. The golden blonde hair and squire's tabard easily gave Link away to him, but Russel quickly became alarmed at the sight of blood pouring from the teenager's neck. Leaping down into the pit, he clamored over the dead beasts, and grabbed the boy by the shoulders.
"Pup?! Pup! Are you alright?!" he cried and quickly pressed his fingers against Link's neck to stem the bleeding. "Tobin's not… not waking up sir." The boy stammered, "I think h-he might b-be hurt." The young soldier was unfocused and in shock. His captain quickly pulled him away from his dead friend and assured him that they would take care of Tobin. "I j-just… looked away f-for a moment…" he began to sob as other soldiers reached down to lift him up out of the pit. "I know lad. Its ok." Russel answered quietly.