Chapter 17

Preparations

Sidon jerked up in a flurry as he sat idly by on a stool. He'd been caught in a daydream when Link barged in from the flap of their tent.

"Excuse me, Link, sorry…I was just thinking," the prince mentioned, shaking his head from his thoughts that overflowed from his mind.

"And what was that?" asked Link, giving him a curious once-over for his startled response.

"I was thinking, you really believe this plan of yours is going to work for us?" Sidon said with a nervous chuckle, standing up from where he sat, carefully hunching in their small tent. "I mean, I am not afraid of going into battle outnumbered with all odds against us, nor do I fear death. But I must confess, if I don't have to die and could live just a bit longer, that would be much more preferable."

Link couldn't help but grin at how awkward the Zora prince looked standing in the tent, appearing as though he could lift the whole tarp up off the ground at it's center post if he chose to straighten to his full height.

"Don't worry, they promised me I would be getting better quarters for our stay here. Soon, you won't have to be leaning over as you do now," Link assured him.

"It's no bother, really. But, as I was saying before, are you sure—"

"It's going to work, trust me. When have I ever let you down?" he, the hylian disrupted smugly, a cool smile on his face. As he spoke, he pulled back the long flowing hair that framed either side of his face in false sideburns, tying off the majority of his mop of sandy blonde hair into a short tail.

"Here, have a look at this," Link called out to his companion, kicking open the lid of a chest in the corner of the tent. It sat among the other random assortment of gear they had stacked messily in their quarters.

The knight rummaged about as he leaned over the open trunk, digging through and chaotically tossing items out one by one that were of no use to them now. The unnecessary bits flew across the room as he buried himself in the chest, hunting for what he needed. Mostly they were pointless things of value, such as moblin bones, chu chu jelly remains, random guardian parts among other things, but others not so much. Even so, Link still decided not to part ways with any of them. You never know when anything might come in handy, he believed. And well, Link himself was quite a collector of random items, some might even say he was a reckless hoarder. But, Link would argue otherwise, he would call himself a collector of the finer and missed things in life.

These of course, were his belongings that he couldn't take along with him on his travels during his quest and were kept safe, put away for him at the domain. And, ever since he and Zelda visited the domain just a few days ago, those items were given back to him. Sidon on the other hand had to narrowly dodge each useless item as they flew past his head, since the knight carelessly tossed them about in the room, unaware where he was throwing them.

"Aha! Here they are, exactly what I was looking for. Perfect! Sure am glad I never sold these for that Hasty Apple pie that ol' innkeep Drummond was offering back at the Lakeland Stables. We'd be in a world of trouble now if I had done so," Link spoke aloud, smiling to himself at the thought of it. The sudden reminder of food in his mind's eye made his stomach growl in dissatisfaction. With a hint of sadness from the recollection of tasty delights, Link sighed to himself for not being able to enjoy any such sweet confections anytime soon.

"What!? You would trade your finest possessions such as these for…pie?" Sidon questioned, flabbergasted at the notion.

"Well, if you haven't eaten anything tasty for days and days out in the open wild, and all you had was leftover moldy bread or worse; you too would be settling to trade anything for a fresh homemade apple pie," Link said, salivating at the thought of it with stars in his eyes, dreaming about the pie. "Not always did I have the luxury to cook my own meals. A lot of the times I had to be dead silent where I was at. I had to make sure I was hidden at all times from any enemy eyes while I turned in for the night. And that meant, no campfires most of the time."

"Well, for all our sakes friend, I'm glad you didn't trade them for the pie. Let's have a look at them, shall we?" Sidon laughed, leaning over to where Link was over his shoulder.

"Here, this one is for you!" Link said, proudly holding up what could have only been a moblin mask as if it were a trophy.

Sidon eyed up and down the mask in an evaluation as Link handed it over, for him to bare witness of it. It was a crude fleshy imitation of what a moblin actually looked like, with clear and obvious amateur needlework done with its threads. Some were even unraveling from obvious wear and tear that it no doubt endured since goddesses knows how long.

Sidon felt a nervous bead a sweat trail down the side of his forehead. "This is what is going to get us past the endless garrison of bokoblins and moblins guarding the back gates to the castle?" he said with a long gulp.

"Yeah! Of course! Don't just stand there, let me see! Try it on!"

With nothing better of it but to try it on, the zora prince adorned the cap of a mask that covered his entire head, still clearly looking like a zora from shoulder down to anyone who would have happened to walk in on this bizarre scene.

Link on the other hand was convinced by the change. "Perfect! You fit the moblin look perfectly!" he cheered.

Sidon shrugged. "I think the word you're looking for is…ridiculous! This isn't going to work Link! Who do you think we're going to fool with these masks?" the prince said, voice muffled by the cover of the mask.

"All of them!" Link declared back. "Trust me, these masks work every time…most of the time,"

"Most of the time!?"

"Don't worry, they are magic. Just a few acting lessons perhaps and you'll be right as rain! I promise."

"Acting lessons!? Nobody said anything to me about having to act when I signed up for this suicide mission!? I'm terrible at theater,"

"Of course, I didn't say that! If I would have said that from the start, you never would have signed up! And besides, you'll be fine, just have to follow my lead and everything will be just fine, don't worry. Worst case, you can ask our dear friend Sylmoor for some. He did say he loves watching a good show after all. Maybe he is a man of the arts himself?"

"Well, if you say so…" The prince said, plucking off the mask from his head, able to speak freely yet again. "And, what about you? Where is yours?"

A few laughs escaped the side of Link's lips. "The best one of course, this one!" He held up a silver skinned bokoblin mask. "This one will make me higher among their ranks…I think." he said, scratching the back of his head.

He spoke again. "That should help us get deep within the castle walls. But in either case these will work, all of them. I have three more left…so it will be us and three others. C'mon, enough time we wasted here, the morning comes quick. Let us find us a few brave men who want to save the city."

Out from their tent, Link and Sidon marched through camp, each carrying a sack holding masks. After recruiting three others to accompany them, they packed a few light morsels of whatever food they could scrounge from the left-over meager rations they had. All thanks be to the fires earlier that decimated the army's supply earlier that night. Sylmoor came from around a corner of camp and caught up to them to go over last-minute war preparations for his brother.

"Hold up! Friends, hold up! What's the rush, still at least four hours before dawn!" Sylmoor called out, huffing and wheezing as he made his way to the small band.

Sidon laughed as he elbowed the young lord, just as he approached. "Already out of breath Lord Sylmoor? The battle hasn't even begun yet!?"

"Please, don't remind me! Which is exactly why I am here! Oh Link, please you gotta' do something…anything! Tell your princess I'm no warrior! Hell, tell her I can't even cut grass without falling over, let alone fight off a foul bokoblin screamer! I'll be killed for sure!"

"I'm sorry m'lord, but once the princess has made up her mind, it's pretty much impossible for anyone to change it,"

"Yes, but you're Link, her knight! She listens to you!"

"Even me I'm afraid,"

Sylmoor's face went pale, knees began to buckle as he looked up to the sky for any sign of the goddesses to grant him a late-night reprieve. At any moment, Link thought the poor man was going to collapse and faint from the fear of it.

"But, don't you worry, you'll be just fine. Just remember the moves I taught you earlier today," Link answered.

"That's what I mean, I can't remember a one of them! Maybe because I was drinking or I wasn't paying close enough attention. Or maybe it was both! I don't know, what am I to do?"

Sidon leaned in. "Maybe you can sing your way through the battle! Put the enemy to sleep perhaps!? Then we wouldn't have to fight, we could just march on in and take the castle without them being none the wiser!" he joked with a jovial elbow to the rib. The others joined in for a laugh except for Link who was trapped in thought at the man's plight.

"That's hardly funny, stop that laughing! I'm your lord after all," Sylmoor yapped back towards the other soldiers standing next to Link and Sidon. They ceased laughing immediately, remembering who he was and what he could do to them if he so wished.

Link cupped his chin at Sylmoors revelation, slowly realizing that maybe there really was no hope for this lord to be a fighter. Since the moves he shown him were basic at best,even a stable boy would be able to master them in just an hour. Perhaps, Sylmoor was hopeless at becoming a warrior, he thought.

Link spoke. "Hmmm, Okay, how about this? I know just the person who can take care of you until me and Sidon finish what we must do to get the gates open. Until then, I won't be able to watch after you. Sidon, you thinking about who I am thinking?"

"Sure am Link! I'll find him right away. He'll take good care of you Sylmoor. Why, you'll be safer by his side than with anyone!"

"And who is this mystery warrior?" Sylmoor asked.

Sidon gave a shark toothed grin and flex of his red arm. "Well it could only be the meanest and toughest warrior south of the three northern fiefdoms! Ha Ha! Seabass of course!"

"But, didn't Link beat him? How does that make him the meanest and toughest then?"

"I said the strongest in the inner kingdom, not of all Hyrule! That of course, is none other than our hero Link here!" Sidon contested.

"Well, I wouldn't say hero…I'm Just good with a sword is all," Link countered humbly.

"Well if sir-Link here is best in all of Hyrule according to you; then where would that put you then, Prince of zora?"

"That's easy, the best in the entire world, of course!" Sidon said with a full belly laugh.

"Is that so? Well then, I suppose that means neither of you have heard of the greatest swordsman and master of single hand to hand combat of our time? And I am not talking about my brother. Although he would hate to admit it, he was once beaten in a friendly duel and joust with this young man. Bested by a lad not much, if at all any older than sir-Link here. From what I seen and what everyone else says in the three greater fiefdoms, he is by far the best warrior of our age. Quite the prodigy he is." Sylmoor said, cupping his chin in happy remembrance

Peaking Link and Sidon's attention at the revelation, Sylmoor continued. "Ah yes, the pride and joy of the Stonelands, the jewel of their barony, the young Lord Danyrio Draene. His father Malifus still sits as chief guardian and regent lord of all of Draene. But young Danyrio is in line to rule as soon as his father passes into the great halls of our father's fathers, to live among the goddesses. If you believe that sort of nonsense that is."

Sidon countered. "Ah, but we have Link! Just wait until the people get a load of him! Then we will see what they still think about this Danyrio you speak so highly of."

"And what about yourself? Are you not the best in the world? Or are you already selling yourself short?"

"Not on your life! Link would be more than all that is required to beat this lord of Draene you speak of. My talents simply wouldn't be needed!"

"Ha! So you say now. But don't get me wrong, Link is a great champion that much is certainly plain. Just in the short amount of time I have seen him spar, he appears to be well seasoned with a sword. He also just so happens to have the legendary sword that seals the darkness, which must account for something in his favor. And, his claims at beating the Great Calamity are quite impressive indeed. But here's the thing, and please don't take this the wrong way," Sylmoor paused the group, as they were slowly walking along throughout the camp. "As much as I like you and want to believe such a tale Link, I'm not quite convinced that the calamity was actually as you all say it was. It just all seems so, childish to believe in such a thing. I mean of course there were the guardians. But come now, a giant all-encompassing monstrous nightmare called Calamity Ganon? Not saying it didn't entirely exist…Just Perhaps, an exaggeration of what was really occupying the castle all these years," Sylmoor confessed.

"It was no exaggeration," Zelda's voice was heard, coming up from behind the group to their surprise. She snuck up from around the corner from the tent they all stood at. She should have been fast asleep, or so they all thought, but she wasn't.

"Why your highness, I didn't know you were still awake," Sylmoor gulped, sort of embarrassed, tilting his head as she made her way slowly over to their group.

"Clearly, I'm the only one awake," She retorted sternly. Then with a small pout, somewhat playful, she glanced over to her knight. "So, you weren't even going to say goodbye?" She said, eyes glistening towards Link as he stood at the far end of the group. All the heads turned to listen to the champion's reply to her. All their ears eager to hear their exchange.

Link coughed, buying time for himself to conjure up an excuse when Sidon came to his rescue. The Zora fumbled his words. "As a matter of fact, we were just on our way to find a friend of ours who can help our dear Lord Sylmoor here. And Link, he was just about to come visit you before we were to embark on our mission. Right Link?"

"Oh, is that right?" She smiled. "What sort of help does our Lord need? Perhaps, I can assist you all?"

"Oh, Link will have to be the one to tell you all about that," Sidon said as he shoved the rest of the group to scurry away in a hurry, leaving only Link behind to face the princess.

Zelda was left with a dumbfounded stare. "That was…peculiar?" She asked.

Link nervously chuckled a bit through the side of his mouth as they stomped off. "Yeah, it sure was." He then turned to face her. "Anyways, shouldn't you be resting? Tomorrow is going to be a big day."

"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing to you. You could use a nap. There is still time for you to rest and gather more of your strength. You're not all powerful like you think you are Link. And you won't be for long without any sleep. Even you need rest!"

"I'm fine. And, I'd rather not, the potion would make me fall asleep for far too long," he replied softly. "Also, are you going to be alright while I'm away? It is my duty to protect you and serve by your side. While I'm away I won't—"

Zelda leaned into him putting a finger up to his lips. "Shush, I'll be alright! You worry too much." Link blushed. Zelda has never done anything like that before with him. So playful, with her eyes shimmering from the moonlight, it caught him off guard and he immediately shut his mouth.

She continued with a cute wink. "I'm not that helpless princess you found at the gerudo highlands all those long years ago. I can take care of myself well enough for at least five minutes without you having to be around," she smiled. "And besides, that Simon said he is assigning a small company of his finest elites to watch after me during the battle. And, if that isn't enough, we will be at the furthest rear of the army, far off from any real danger. I'll be watching over Riju with our friends, Teba and the others. She needs me now more than ever…Buliara will also look after us. So, don't worry. She is worth ten of Simon's best!"

Link cuffed his chin with a small grin at her words and replied. "Well, if anything happens, anything sign of trouble at all…You, Buliara, Teba, and the others who came with us from the domain need to get as far away from this place as possible. Head to Kakariko, you'll be safe there if anything happens tomorrow. Okay? Don't wait for me and Sidon."

"So you're giving me orders now?" She giggled.

"I'm serious," he insisted.

"So am I," she replied softly. "Don't worry, this plan is going to be a success! I just know it. With everything that you have accomplished, I have no doubts. And who knows, maybe if things do go sour, lord Simon might ride head on into the castle and save the day?" She laughed.

Link smiled at her joke, but quickly remembered something. "Speaking of him, I need to speak with him before I go."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go see the bore. I'm sure he just can't wait to see you again!" She smirked grabbing Link playfully by the arm yet again while nobody was around to see.

"These are the masks that are going to save us all! That is your grand plan?" Simon huffed as he saw Link dump out his sack displaying the magical artifacts. They were in his lord's quarters.

"Yes my lord? Are they going to be a problem for you?" Zelda interjected, hands at her waist with one eye gleaming toward him while the other closed.

"Just look at these and you tell me if you believe they are going to work," he urged, leaning over, picking them up one by one evaluating their craftsmanship. He was waving them in front of princess to see their crude designs.

"Well, now that you mentioned it my lord, the answer is unequivocally yes, I do believe they will work. If Link says they have worked before for him, then that is good enough for me," she challenged with a gleam in her eye.

"As you wish then my liege," he said with a tilt of the head, abruptly spinning around to face her knight. He sighed with a worry on his face.

"Okay 'Sir-Link', just before sun's first light creeps over the horizon you are going to need to make your move on the castle's and the city's defenses. The army will move into position just outside the walls one hour from now, under the cover of darkness. The gates must be drawn down before the dawn. We are depending on the enemy being on their bellies asleep when we attack. You really think you can manage this?"

"Leave it to me and my men. We will get those walls open to your army," Link replied coolly.

Zelda stepped closer to the two men. "Link will sound the horn the moment the gates are opened. Then, the Starlight Cavalry will storm deep within the castle walls keeping the breach open, until we can flood the fortress with rest of the battalion." She smiled, somewhat confident in the plan.

"It's what we do best...and...I will be leading the charge." Simon said boldly.

Zelda and Link were wonder-struck by his quick reply. She almost fell back.

The princess tilted her head in question. "You my lord will be leading the charge?"

"Of course! This is my campaign after all. You thought that I wouldn't be the one leading my army to victory? Come now, princess," he huffed proud, gripping the golden laced sides of his fanciful uniform.

"It just surprises me that's all. I didn't take you as one to actually fight in actual battles," she leaned back sort of impressed.

"You heard my brother earlier, I am the warrior and he is…well, he has his talents I suppose," Simon jerked away, arms crossed. Link smiled and Zelda laughed at the thought of poor Sylmoor not being able to defend himself against his twin.

"Well now that everything is settled. Isn't it time?" She asked aloud.

Link responded first as Simon closed his lips to let the knight speak. "Yes, it is. Me and the others will be heading off now. Not much time left. But don't you worry, this is going to work."

"Then…I will go and see you off. Let's go." Zelda turned to face him, slightly fearful as a new nervous gurgle in her stomach pitted in her, at the realization of him actually leaving her side once again. It would be the first time they have been actually separated since their return from their battle with the calamity. The last time they were apart from each other, it was for a hundred years. And it damn near killed her. And, with the sudden memory of that separation in her mind, she began to worry more so than she had previously thought she would. The time has come.

Authors Notes: Short chapter for you all, the calm before the storm. Please, be sure to leave a comment! it helps me tremendously when you do and is much appreciated. I know you're reading, so just a moment to say a few words would be pretty sweet ; ) ... I love reading your thoughts whether good or bad. Lastly, if you haven't checked out the audio version of this story on youtube, the first episode is out, the second will be released soon. It is fully dramatized and cast with voice actors. You can find it in a search on youtube as: Zelda botw sequel(fanmade) part 1