The Midwinter Festival had begun!
When the travellers finally arrived at the small clearing in the middle of the forest, they found tents and lights and people all intermingled together and making a massive rumble of sensory bombardment between them.
There was a tent for each family, most with small carpets set just outside the opening flap filled with goods and wares of all kinds. On each side of the massive pine tree in the middle of the clearing were huge fire pits, plenty of warmth for the possible 50 people to gather around at night. Nearby the pits were long tables filled with foods and dishes of all kinds. Children ran around the clearing in scurrying bands; mothers and wives mostly seemed to gather near the long tables and fires, their husbands and male relatives mostly dispersed among the camp admiring goods and a few of the older men just sitting comfortably and having a good smoke with life-long friends.
As soon as Link and Zelda arrived in the clearing, their hearts gave massive leaps at all the commotion, neither having seen such crowds in many months. Jagger immediately bid his farewell and went off to set up his own tent complete with market rug to sell his many jars of jelly. Hecuba and Donalbain entered the camp all smiles and promptly began reacquainting themselves with old friends, leaving the two Hylians and their comatose Calatian friend alone to stand and stare at the bustling activity with the reigns of the horses tightly held in their hands.
It was only after a few moments of stunned and glorious silence, that Donalbain came back to the two teens and broke their trance.
"Come on you two, don't be standing like a couple of gawking maypoles! We have a tent to pitch!"
Glancing at each other and smiling, Link and Zelda hurried after the old man, brining Vincent, the horses, and camping gear along. With the help of a few of the neighbouring men, they erected the small, low tent in an open space of the clearing, securing their possessions within and a small ragged rug on the ground in front of the flap. Despite its meagre appearance, inside was dry and warm, easily fitting the five people it needed to. Vincent was given a spot in one corner of the tent where he just sat and stared off into space.
"Great Gods!" came a cry from behind the two Hylians, making them jump in shock. They spun to see a small man with a large red nose and a thick moustache staring wide-eyed at them. "More Hylians! Is there some Hylian exodus that I missed hearing about?"
"What do you mean?" asked Zelda of the little man, politely ignoring his crude welcome.
The man grinned broadly. "You two make now three Hylians I've seen today, bringing the total number of Hylians I've seen in my life up to five! Are you hiding out from the war or something?"
Link shook his head. "No. In fact we only just heard about the war two days ago."
"Where did you see this other Hylian?" asked Zelda.
The man pointed over his shoulder to the other side of the camp. "There was a young lad down over that-a-way with the funny ears and accent. Sullen sort of lad. He was tagging along with the young orphan girl, Helen."
Link threw a startled look over to Zelda and thanked the man. Together the two ran off in the direction where this Helen and her Hylian companion were supposed to be. Both princess and protector felt the icy prickle on the back of their necks as the possibility of this strange Hylian's identity loomed in their minds: Auldric.
Onve on the opposite side of the camp from their own tent, Link asked a nearby woman. "Excuse me, but have you seen a Hylian and a girl around here?"
The woman nodded slightly, pointing to a run-down tent with an equally run down rug in front of it.
Walking over to the tent, the Hylians noticed the pitiable goods on the rug- old cups, a worn tablecloth, an old rag doll, and equally sad items.
"Can I help you?" came a small voice from within the tent.
Looking inside, Link noticed a young girl kneeling on a blanket just inside the flap.
"Are you Helen?" asked Link.
The girl nodded and then noticed the faces of her visitors.
"Oh! You're Hylian, aren't you?" she cried out, a smile upon her lips. Getting up, she exited the tent and looked in wonder at her guests. "I thought so! You look so much like him, it's amazing!"
Zelda asked, "Who do we look like?"
The girl took an awed moment to stare at the former princess before replying. "Auldric, of course. He's why you came here, right?"
The Hylians nodded glumly, sharing a worried glance.
"I'm sorry but he went out walking a little while ago. He wasn't very happy to come with me here, but I convinced him in the end."
"He's living with you?" asked Link in surprise.
The girl blushed slightly at the implication. "Well, yes. You see, I found him washed up along the river that runs by my house. I took him in and healed him, while he in turn promised to help me with whatever I needed help with. He's come in handy over the past few weeks, I can tell you! I hadn't had meat in ages! And the wood box is always full now!"
"What about your family?" asked Zelda. "Do they know about him?"
The moment the worlds left Zelda's lips, she regretted them, for the girl's face fell and she held back some tears.
"My parents are dead. I've lived alone for the past few years. That's why I'm having to sell these old things; I have nothing of real value to barter with and no talents with which to make anything. But at least with Auldric around for the past few weeks, I have had someone to talk to and share in the work." As the girl said these last words, her eyes seemed almost to sparkle.
"How was he when you found him?" Link asked quietly.
"Oh, almost dead! He was unconscious for the better part of a week! And then he had a very high fever, always talking to himself and acting strangely. He still seems to have some effects of the fever; I still sometimes hear him talking to the thin air."
Link nodded and thanked the girl and, taking Zelda by the elbow, left Helen and her pitiful tent.
"So Auldric is still alive," the princess said sadly.
Link nodded. "And that girl seems to have some sort of crush on him from the look of it."
Zelda nodded her head slowly. "It's no surprise, really. A lonely girl barely surviving cares for a wounded foreigner. She falls for him because he's the only man she has really become close to in a very long time."
Link took a quick look behind him to where he had left the young girl. Hopefully she wasn't so attached to his former friend as to become an obstacle when he and Auldric eventually meet, as inevitably they would.
Auldric was too busy skulking around the camp of foresters to really notice the arrival of his former comrade and princess. He had quickly bought a cap from one of the locals with which he could easily hide his tell-tale ears from prying people. If Link was still in the forest, he would eventually come to the festival; and two Hylians at a small festival would be hard to explain or ignore. So incognito it was.
He wandered aimlessly around the fringes of the gathering for hours until dusk began to settle upon the towering trees and the huge bonfires became massive beacons of habitation against the horrors of a winter forest night.
The pervasive feeling of joviality that seeped from the camp had no effect upon the solemn Hylian, whose own inner horrors vastly outweighed those of the competing forest's.
The visions and ethereal sounds from his many delusions while feverish still pestered him, not only while asleep, but exceedingly while awake as well. Despite telling himself again and again that they were nothing more than dreams, they still occurred.
"Why are you dead? Why are you here?" The chorus of disembodied voices constantly asked him. He had no idea why he was in this accursed forest and even less of an idea as to why (and how) he was dead.
"Something is calling to you," said another voice from within his head. This voice was no choir of sirens, but a deep and resonating voice that spoke of volumes of intelligence and insurmountable logic. Unlike the others, Auldric was certain this voice was real.
"What is calling me?" He asked the voice quietly.
There was a kind of mental shrug. "It could be anything; ancestors, loved ones, victims," a pause. "maybe fate…"
The boy nearly screamed in sudden rage. It was all he could do to maintain his silence.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Voice?! Nothing is controlling me and nothing will ever control me again! I do what I want!"
"No one does what they want," the voice shot back. "How many times do I have to tell you that? There is always something else guiding you, something higher than you."
Auldric sighed. "Don't give me that god crap. No gods control me, and they never have."
The voice gasped. "Only a complete idiot goes around denouncing something that he has no concept of. You may as well stand on the top of a mountain in full metal armour screaming that all gods are bastards! There are powers out there that are far beyond any of our comprehension."
The Hylian sneered. "If these powers are so incomprehensible, then how do you know of them?"
There was a moment of silence before the voice answered.
"I have… seen things," it said simply.
Auldric merely grunted at this, deciding to drop the subject for the sake of the both of them.
Suddenly, a distant sound caught the boy's sensitive ears: the sound of singing. The thing that made his heart leap into his throat was that the singing was coming from outside of his head.
Immediately quickening to a sprint, he ran over to the other side of the camp, nearing a small campfire surrounded by a half dozen small tents and many listeners. In the centre of the circle of listeners, were three women who were singing a disturbingly familiar song.
Keeping out of the light of the fire, Auldric listened intently to the song, his mind and heart both racing at dangerous speeds. The ever talkative voice seemed to be in stunned silence as the song played.
Why are you here, little dove?
Why are you here?
Your life turns and rolls along
Yet your heart bleeds and mind tears
Why are you here?
Why are you ill, little dove?
Why are you ill?
You lie in bed fevered and still
Yet you are not sick at all
Why are you ill?
Why are you blind, little dove?
Why are you blind?
Your eyes are perfect and there's no fog
Yet you roam wasting your Time
Why are you blind?
Why are you dead, little dove?
Why are you dead?
Your blood pumps and body moves
Yet you live with your mind gone
Why are you dead?
The song ended amidst a scattering of applause from the surrounding listeners, but Auldric did not hear it. Over and over the song was repeating in his head, as it had done so many times before, but this time it was different; this time his ears were still humming with the tune and his eyes were still locked on the source of that tune.
Without any warning, something snapped. The Voice knew it and Auldric knew it the moment it happened.
Before either knowing just what was happening, Auldric had stormed into the crowd and drew the Master Sword before the singers, causing them and many in the crowd to cry out in surprise and horror.
"What do you want from me?!" he screamed to the three women, his voice rising to a fevered pitch, making him sound like a screaming demon. When the singers did not answer, Auldric pulled one by the hair and laid his blade across her throat, ignoring her struggles and renewed screams.
"Where did you learn that song!?" he screamed again to the woman under his sword.
Eyes fixed fearfully on the now glowing sword, the woman answered quickly.
"Our… our mother!" Auldric looked to the other women and they quickly nodded.
"Where is you mother?" he asked.
The woman in his hand whimpered. "She died years ago!"
Auldric paused, his whole body going stiff. His mind had gone blank, as if it had just shut down from all of the confusion. He just stood still amidst the commotion he had caused.
"Auldric?" came a voice from behind him. Glancing behind his shoulder, the Hylian saw Helen standing a few feet into the light of the fire. She looked worried.
"What are you doing, Auldric?" she asked timidly, her eyes full of fear.
Dropping the singer, the boy turned on his saviour, sword aimed at her heart.
"You! You witch! You did this to me!"
Before the words were fully out of his lips, he lunged at the girl who shrieked and dodged, the surrounding crowd scattering into the shadows, with only a few of the older men remaining, cautiously trying to grab the attacker's arms while his back was turned.
"Auldric!"
Everyone in the camp froze and became silent. Heads turned to the source of the booming voice that had roared through the fray. Auldric turned to the other side of the firelight, his sword held loosely at his side.
There, with his sword drawn, stood Link, barely visible in the darkness with his grey tunic, but there nonetheless. Slightly behind him stood Zelda, a dagger in her hands.
The three Hylians stared each other down for minutes before Link spoke up.
"Auldric, I'm sick and tired of having you around! I don't know what happened to you to make you this way, but I do know that you are a threat to me, Zelda, and to these people. I cannot let you hurt them!"
Auldric grinned, his face seemingly bathed in the blood red glow in the fires, a death's head hovering above the evil glow of the Master Sword.
"Then we end this here and now."
The camp was deathly silent as the two warriors assumed fighting stances and squared off against each other. A slight snow began to fall.
It was Auldric who charged first, and the fight began.
Coming in with a sweeping swing, Auldric's sword met Link's parry and then defended against the counter attack to his ribs. Quickly blocking the blow, Link held his friend's blade and elbowed him in the jaw, sending the boy stumbling back, stunned.
Back and forth, the clanging and ringing reverberated through the arena, numbing the ears of all around. The two fighters seemed evenly matched both swinging and parrying and dodging each other's attacks, trampling the ground and sending horrific shadows playing upon the audience.
Trying desperately to break the stalemate, Link came at Auldric with a risky overhead strike but his opponent easily dodged the attack and kicked at Link's thigh, hitting just between the muscles, sending Link crashing to the ground in pain. Auldric quickly stepped upon Link's hand, trapping his sword. Link looked painfully and fearfully into the eyes of his former friend, seeing nothing of the fondness and love that had once been there; replaced now with hatred of an unbelievable kind and an arrogance that was shocking in one who had always been fairly timid.
"I always knew I was better than you, Link," said Auldric triumphantly. He raised his sword for the final kill. He grinned again. "I just never had the chance to show it before."
"No!" came a cry from the surrounding crowd. Zelda came running out into the firelight, a bright blue glow in her hands. Suddenly the glow shot from her hands and hit Auldric full in the chest, sending him flying backwards several feet, sending him brushing against the bonfire. He hit the snowy ground and shrieked in pain
Zelda kneeled next to Link, helping him get up. "Are you all right?"
Quickly massaging his wrist, Link nodded. "Just bruised. Nothing serious." He limped over to where his adversary was still writhing on the ground, shovelling snow onto his side and face.
"Get on your knees!" Link ordered.
Auldric stopped moved and peeked up at Link, a slight smile upon his now-charred face. "Will you really kill me, Link?"
Link hesitated at the question. The grin grew wider.
"That's the problem, isn't it?" Auldric said gleefully. "This fight is one sided- I want to kill you but you don't want to hurt me. You have to hold back, and that makes you weak. You almost died because of it! You always seem to get yourself into these problems of unrequittal, don't you? With me; with Zelda; the list goes on. What kind of pathetic soul gets himself into relationships that he can never end?"
"Shut up!" screamed Zelda suddenly, startling both the fighters. "The only pathetic soul here is you, Auldric! You used to be best friends with Link and now look at you! Wriggling around in the mud of a strange land, with half your face burned off and about to be executed! If Link gets himself into endless relationships, you seem to continually get yourself into situations where your own weakness ends up mounting against you! You're too weak to deserve to live!"
A look of uncertainty crossed Auldric's face for a moment but it disappeared instantly. He grunted.
"Say what you want, princess," he said. "It still doesn't change the fact that while I may be too weak to live, Link can only live with the help of his friends- he is wholly dependent upon you for his own peace of mind. What would happen if you were killed?"
Zelda fell quiet and it was Link who spoke next.
"You are in no place to be talking psychology, Auldric. Now get on your knees and prepare for the afterlife."
Auldric did so, slowly, speaking as he did.
"When was the last time you killed someone in cold blood, Link? Wasn't it Gannon?" He smirked. "Maybe I should feel honoured to be treated in the same way by you as that creature was." Suddenly, his voice and expression changed; changing from near insanity and the knee-jerk reaction of prolonging death, to composure and a timeless ancientness.
"You forget, hero, that it was Gannondorf who was the cause of everything that you are. It was he who set everything in motion- the kidnapping of Zelda; the assassination of the royal family; the death of your uncle; your meeting Zelda. Your whole life since that stormy night has been because of Gannondorf. It is no wonder that you can't help your life revolving around his memory."
Link shook his head and pressed the blade against Auldric's neck.
"Stop talking stupidity." Auldric nodded and the look of fear dimly returned to his eyes. Link raised the sword and…
"Stop!"
The sword stopped.
From out of nowhere, the girl, Helen, had rushed in between Link and Auldric to halt the execution.
"Get out of the way!" Growled Link, lowering the blade. Zelda grabbed hold of the girl's wrist and tried to move her, but Helen stood her ground.
"Don't kill him!" the human pleaded. "He hasn't done anything to you! He's a kind and gentle person who would never harm a fly! Leave him alone!"
In a flash, taking advantage of the distraction, Auldric seized his sword and spun around, the blade aimed just behind where he was just kneeling. Link jumped back, sword raised; Zelda threw herself to the ground; and Helen looked blankly on, shocked by what she was seeing: a sword coming directly at her head.
Clang!
The Master Sword stuck metal and the sound resounded like a thunderclap throughout the camp. Everyone was again startled at another sudden turn of events.
There, in the middle of the arena, his arm around Helen and his sword deftly holding Auldric's swing, stood Vincent, apparently having come out of nowhere as quick as lightning.
He glared down at the Hylian.
"Don't you dare harm this girl," he said softly, throat muscles hoarse from lack of use.
The three Hylians were dumbstruck by the red knight's sudden appearance and even the crowd of locals seemed to be unsure as to whether this battle was less of a fight and more of some sort of play, with new characters showing up every couple of minutes.
Taking advantage of the pause in battle and the uncertainty of the exact outcome, a tall man detached himself from the crowd, a large stick in his hands. Walking up behind Auldric, he slammed the stick down on the back of the boy's skull, knocking him out.
The tension in the air only lessened when Link sheathed his sword and kicked Auldric in the ribs. He thanked Jagger for the help taking care of Auldric and picked up the fallen Master Sword., whose blade slowly faded from bright red-orange to a pale blue. Link grinned at the familiar feel of his sword. He then turned to the Calatian.
"Glad you decided to come back to us, Vincent," he said, shaking his companion's hand.
The knight smiled slightly, obviously confused. "It's… good to be back?"
Zelda came over and hugged Vincent tightly. "You're talking again! What happened to you?"
Vincent shrugged and looked down at Helen, who was still under his arm, fearfully shivering and holding tightly to his waist. "That," he said slowly, "is a very good question."