A. N. Well, I regret to announce that this will be the last of the tales for a while. Due time constraints, my writing time has been reduced, and I'm the kind of person that needs time and peace to write and proof-read. There should be a new tale maybe in a month, so drop in sometime soon!. I have already the idea, it's just that I can't type it in my current state of obligations.
A Cry in the Wood: Another child of the Wood.
Year after year, the grief and loneliness of Maeron Guard of the Hylia grew. What great happiness he had enjoyed ere the Huntress' return in exile to the woods he thought now as an impossible memory. The only thing that kept him from going forth in her search was his young daughter, Sondilyn, whose resemblance to her mother was but a small comfort to him. More than once he had weighted in his heart the chance for him to forsake his child and return to the forest, but the great love for his wife was not greater that his love for the child. Therefore, even as Sondilyn grew in age, stature and learning, his father never left her side; and he had some relatives that would often look after her.
Sond sat alone atop her balcony, staring at the woods that clouded the horizon, just as her mother once did, years ago. A sad look was on her face, although her young eyes were not tearful. So she had been for some hours, most uncommon for a child of her age, until her father came up the staircase and noticed her. Sighing, the loyal guard approached her daughter and asked as he often did in those days of late: "Is there something troubling you, my dear?"
The child turned her face in slight startle, for she had not heard him coming, but her expression softened at the sight of her father. "Nothing, father," she said. "Just looking at the forest, were you once lived."
Maeron was surprised to hear this from his daughter. At once his perceptive gaze fixed on her eyes, and she blushed and bowed her head. "Who told you that?" he asked earnestly, for he had bidden the household of the King to tell the child about his past. "I am not angry at you," he said, as she made no reply after a while. "No, I will do you nothing for this, but tell me, please, who told you about the wood?"
"It's a lie, then, father?" she asked shyly. "You only get mad when someone lies, and I'm not lying. Honestly, I heard a servant talk with the shadow-woman once that you really needed to get back to the forest. The shadow-woman was very angry, and I don't think the servant went to clean the floors very happy."
The Guard smiled tenderly at Sond's innocent talk. "No, Sondilyn," he said, for it was not of his liking to lie to anyone at all. "I indeed lived in the woods, a long time ago. But I did not tarry there for long. I was needed here, dear, and the King wanted me to come back. And as a reward for my loyalty, you came to me." And he lovely held her in his arms. "And what makes you think that I am angry?"
"But how did I come to you, father?" inquired the child after her father had set her back on the chair. "I've seen many kids running at the market, and there are many women that go with them; and when I ask who are those women, they say to me that they are their mothers. Where's my mother, father? I don't think I'm different than those kids, am I?
"Little one, since when do you ask such questions?" said Maeron in a concerned tone. For many years he had feared that little Sond would start asking about her origins. "Do not worry, you are not different from the other children, except maybe that you are fairer than most maid-children. But Alas!" he cried in sternness, "You had to ask about these matters. I do not like to lie to you, therefore it is necessary for you to know." He bowed his head in sadness, and continued: "Sondilyn, my child, you do have a mother: indeed, the fairest lady of all that are not of Hylia ancestry. Yet, she is gone."
"Gone?" she replied confused. "I don't understand you. Why's she gone? She did, didn't die did she?" the child stammered nervously.
"No, little one," the Guard answered. "She did not die. She is gone; and that is not the same."
"But―"
"Please, Sondilyn," Maeron said wearily. His grief was being recalled in his heart. "Let us leave this for tomorrow. Already the sun has set, and you ought to be in bed."
"But I haven't even eaten my supper!" Sond replied loudly in innocent dismay. "I'm hungry, father!"
Glad to have misled his daughter's attention, the Guard nodded and let her go the dinning room. As the child ran happily past him, Maeron stood firmly besides the balcony door. But when she had crossed the door to the hallway, as single tear rolled from his eye, although no sob or faltering came from him.
That same night, long after Sond had gone to sleep, her father was standing in the cold, outside in the balcony. Long had he stared at the Lost Woods, as if waiting for a sign from his departed wife. Yet the wood showed no trace of change in the mist that lies forever over it, and Maeron stared and waited. But naught came to his attention.
After the bitter cold had finally won over him, the Guard stepped inside of his chamber. Cautiously walking in the darkness, he approached Sond's bed and set his eyes on her; and he smiled at her sight. He then walked towards his own bed and sat on it, his mind wandering in thought. He suddenly had a vision of one of his moments lying alongside Sondrael in the woods, a long time ago. He remembered how he would lie under an old willow-tree, leaning against it. The Huntress would then bent down and lie besides him, and he would set his arm about her and draw her head close to his. Thus they would spend the day, in greatest sloth and utter bliss; and nothing would startle them, for the beasts and birds would not dare disturb so mighty a couple of rangers in the woods. And the days would go on swiftly and slowly at the same time.
A slight snore coming from his daughter's bed brought him back from his dream. Shaking his head, Maeron stood up and walked to the balcony door; and before he closed it, he gazed one last time at the horizon: and to his utmost surprise, a small light flashed amidst the wood. Staring in wonder at the spot where the light had come from, the Guard saw another flash of brightness part the shadows. Sondrael's Light Arrow, he thought, and he was torn between the happiness of knowing her alive, the sadness of his memories, and the rage against her fly. He let a sigh out of his chest.
It did not take him, however, long to make his mind out.
Closing the door, he headed for Sond's bed and sat on it. The child rolled in his sleep and embraced with her small arms his bigger hand, smiling in her dreams. Maeron caressed her face gently and kissed her brow. Sond widened her smile.
"It is thus, Sondilyn," he said softly. "You shall meet your mother, Sondrael the fair. And she will not have the heart to forsake you again. If it be her will, we shall dwell in the forest." And he slept not that night, but rather he sat along his daughter; and the more he looked at her face, the more he desired to see Sondrael the Huntress.
"How long are we going to walk, father?"
The Guard and his child had been striding along the road to the Lost Woods for a few hours now. To prevent from alarming the King, Maeron Guard of the Hylia had chosen to go forth from the city in secrecy. His mind was fixed in getting to the woods, and he would forsake his duty even if it meant to exile himself from the castle. They rode on no steed.
"A few more hours, dear," he answered. "But shall make some brief stops along the way."
And thus, after two more hours of walking forth to the wood, Maeron turned to his daughter and saw that she had been left behind a few paces. He stared into her face and noticed her weariness. Feeling pity in his heart, he stopped and called for her. The child came swiftly at her father's call.
"That will be for now, Sondilyn. Let us rest for a while."
He sat down on the soft grass, drew from his pack some dried fruits and offered the food to the child, a light shinning in his eye. Sond, who had expected a great meal for all her weariness, looked at it with a disappointed gaze, but she held her hand opened lazily; so much was her hunger that even old raisins seemed fit to eat. But before she could grab a handful of these distasteful seeds Maeron let out a laugh; and he withdrew the raisins and swallowed them all in a single bite. Sond looked at him unbelievably.
"Why did you do that?" she asked in dismay, the matter of not having anything to eat bothering not as much as the fact that her father had left her no food.
"My dear child," the Guard said smiling, "I know you do not like dried fruit, so I just saved you from the bother of eating them―"
"But I'm hungry!" interrupted Sond with a tearful expression.
"…just to give you my part of the bread and honey."
And to the child's surprise, Maeron laughed again and produced a loaf of bread and a bottle of honey out of his pack. He spread the sweet over the bread and handed it to his daughter. She cheerfully accepted it and soon she had eaten it up.
The Guard was glad that the little jest had cheered her daughter, and waited patiently as she searched in his pack for more bread and honey. To her great joy, she discovered two smaller loafs. After having eaten one and given one to her father, Sond was laughing and singing, and the Guard deemed the time to continue.
The path across the extensions of Hyrule field was seldom used by any Hylian save the King's escort to the sea. It winded from the drawbridge of Hyrule Castle and parted some miles away: one road leading to Lon Lon Ranch, the other stretching all the way to the Lost Woods. The branch leading into the wood had many miles of grassy path along the bare road and had been carved and dug many ages ago, when the wood was not perilous and the Speakers used to come still to Hyrule.
The walk went smoothly with only one more stop by child and her parent to rest; and ere the noon was old, they began to notice the longer and thicker grass about their feet; and still a mile ahead the trees began to spring hither and yon, and little Sond looked about and beheld in wonder the tall stems and trunks. So innocent was the child's mind that she had forgotten to inquire her father about where were they making for, much to Maeron's relief.
The young Hylian clasped her father's hand tightly as they walked further into the groove before the entrance. The boughs were drawing closer and the trees grew thicker and taller, and Sond thought that the old pillars of the wood had woven their branches above them so that the sun would not bother them in their walk. The Guard was growing ever more anxious at the thought of meeting with his wife again, for the first time in five years; but he kept his left hand on the hilt of his knife while his right hand was met with her daughter's.
So it was that at length they reached the hollowed trunk that served as a gate to the Lost Woods; and it was, indeed, a good thing to come to pass that Maeron Guard of the Hylia was at the height of his awareness by the time they crossed the entrance. For when they stepped into the bridge, the Guard could hear the little voices of the Kokiri children that approached him and his daughter. And been filled with impatience to see the Huntress and knowing that the children would only delay him in his quest, he quickly grabbed Sond and carried her on his shoulder. And the child was taken by surprise, but before she could ask him about anything she felt the air flowing through her short hair, lifting and spreading it, as she fell from the edge of the bridge to the grassy ground of the forest floor. Maeron was quick to put his hand over the child's mouth before she could utter any sound, whether of complain or wonder.
As the last traces of Kokiri voices were lost in the woods, the Guard lifted his hand. A very annoyed Sond began to send fort a great number of angry words and complains that his father was unable to understand in their full; so he decided to put his hand back into her mouth.
After all had been left apart between the angry child and her anxious father, the two went on with their journey across the forest. The Guard was surprised at the apparent lack of curiosity that Sond showed about their trip to the forest, but he deemed it only to be childish innocence. Nevertheless, only to take it out of his doubt, Maeron asked Sond if she might know why they had come there.
"I don't know, father," the child answered. "I was wondering that. But I didn't know if you would tell me."
"Why would I not tell you, dear?" the Guard asked in surprise.
"Because last night, when you were walking around the room, going and coming from the window, I saw you look at something and cry; and I didn't know what did you have, so I only went back to sleep. But then you sat down in my bed and said something about my mother, and you cried again. Is it true, father?" The child clasped her father's hand tightly in earnest. "Are we going to see my mother? Are you going to show her to me?
The Guard felt pity at her child's light-hearted words and smiled. "Yes, Sondilyn" he replied and lifted her on his arms. "I shall take you to meet your mother. And then you shall ask everything your little mind can device."
Sond looked questioningly at Maeron. "But if you're happy right now, why were you all so sad last night? You're not happy to meet my mother?
"No, Sondilyn," the Guard answered with a sigh. "I am happy to be able to look at her again. It is just that the adult's emotions are more complicated than those of the children's. I am happy and yet I am sad. I am sad, but I am angry also. Anger, Sondilyn, must sound irrational to you, I know. But maybe you will understand these feelings when the time of your coming of age comes. Do not try to understand what I said, child." He said this as he noticed Sond's amusing expression of puzzle. "You have not lived long enough to do so."
Sond lowered her gaze and spoke: "I'm afraid, father."
"Afraid of what?"
"Afraid of not getting what you just said."
"Do not despair," Maeron said with a slight laugh, rejoicing at the tenderness of his daughter. "You shall understand everything in its due time. Do not despair I said! Soon you shall be happy again; but in the mean time, you can ask me about anything you do not understand."
"Well," said Sond, thinking about a question "er, when did you meet her?"
"Five years ago," replied the Guard, evoking the memory of that sad night and the coming of the Huntress. "Five years ago in a starless night in these same woods."
"In these same woods!" Sond cried in amazement. "What were you doing in a place like this? It's scary! And I don't even want to imagine it in the night.
"Well, child, when you fear not the shadows you may cross these accursed woods without any concern other than your business."
Sond felt proud of having such a brave Hylian as her father, and she continued with her questions: "And how did you meet her?"
Maeron let out another sigh. "Back then, on that same night, many of the King's household and soldiers were slain by wolfos. Although we fought valiantly, we were outnumbered and soon defeated. I myself was the last Hylian alive after the battle and was about to fall when your mother rescued me. Out of the tall boughs a bow twanged and a light arrow issued from it, and pierced one of the beasts. The rest of them fled, but I shot a few with my own arrows."
"So my mother's also a warrior!" Sond exclaimed happily. "And was she strong?"
"Strong!" said Maeron with a laugh. "She was the strongest woman-warrior that is to be within the Hylians. She could wield a sword as well as a bow, and she was a much better archer than me. She could avoid been seen if she wanted to, and only showed herself before others if it pleased her. She could blend with the trees and talk to the beasts and birds that inhabit this wood, and they loved her and heeded her in their turn. And she could also prevent ambushes and escape from them to turn them against her enemies"
Sond listened to every word her father said; and she was in great wonder of having such a great woman as her mother also. She stopped listening for a moment to the Guard and tried to envision for a moment what kind of woman would the Huntress be. She pictured for a while a tall woman wearing plain walking boots that reached to her long legs' knees, a short knife sheathed in her thigh; a leather girth about her waist with some small pouches in it and buckled with a golden brooch, and from it issued the dagger's scabbard. Clad in a simple green tunic that covered her legs and body, she wore a green cloak about her shoulders that would keep her warm in the cold nights and would allow her to blend into the surroundings at will.
And when the time came to picture her face, Sond stood in doubt. And even more doubt she felt when trying to come up with a name. Thus, she returned to listening to her father and waited for him to end his words. And after he had gone silent again, waiting for another question, out of her young voice came these words:
"What was her name, father?"
"Sondrael the fair, Sondilyn. Much alike your own."
"And tell me, father, was she pretty?"
Maeron gazed at her tender eyes and truly laughed light-heartedly at this question, and he kissed Sond's brow.
"Pretty?" he asked with fake scorn. "Pretty is not the just word for her loveliness; and beautiful is just a shadow of the right word that should describe her. Beautiful, lovely, filled with radiance, reliever of pain, fairer than a flower, I can only think as much. Yet, I deem that there are no words to describe her. A smile from her is a cool wind on the sun, a tear from her eye is like a precious gem that is rarely found, a breath of her voice is pure fairness flying into your ear, a kiss from her lips is the cure to all maladies, a wave of her hand is a beloved gesture of beckoning, a song from her throat is the light of a devoid soul and a gaze from her eyes is enough to make you love her desperately.
"And what is more: the maiden that I met so long years ago was sorrowful and yet moved easily to compassion; indeed, she would not let the young lovers lying on the cold, hard lands. And her pity would move her to deeds not of her concerning; again, she would raise the Mound of Sadness to prevent the bodies of the fair Hylians from being defiled by carrion beasts in the wood. Although her suffering she would not break before words, and she withstood the harsh sentences thrown at her for the sake of her husband and her child, if not forever.
"So you ask if she was pretty. Well, Sondilyn, my answer is this: no, dear child, she was not pretty; she was not beautiful either: her fairness is beyond any words.
Sond felt her heart high amidst the boughs.
In these and such words they spent midday and part of the afternoon. And when light was beginning to redden the colour of the sky weariness was at last creeping into the Guard. At length, they came before a great dead tree that stood sadly in the middle of a small clearing. With a shout of mixed emotions, Maeron ran for it and swung the leaf-curtain away from the entrance; and he gave another shout, but this time it was only of anger and wonder. After having found the old tree were the house of the Huntress had been nested, Maeron had found nothing at all, to his greatest disappointment. The tree had been seemingly abandoned for many a month now, and the only thing that the loyal Guard uncovered from the dust lain all over the place was an old leather quiver, three arrows still kept inside.
The Guard sat down in the floor and crossed his legs. Sondilyn came in hurrying to tell her father about the greatness of the tree in which they were. But when she saw her father on the ground with anger issuing from him like heat out of a tempered sword, she spoke not and stood in silence.
Long was the while in which Maeron sat in deep thought and anger, for the departure of the Huntress had been unexpected and swift, and now the last hope of finding had been vanished. Indeed, fear and discontent swarmed over the Guard's heart; Sond would never meet her mother after all. Yet, hope dies last; and Maeron stood up suddenly, turning round in search for his daughter. Great was the tenderness that met his eyes, for little Sond had grown tired of walking and waiting and had curled on the floor and fallen asleep. With great care, he shook her gently and the child awoke, her eyes still blinking in the twilight.
"Why's my mother not here, father?" she asked simply, but Maeron could not contain a tear from falling out of his eye.
"Because she will not meet you ever, Sondilyn," he answered, and kneeled to hold the child in his arms. Sond set her small arms about her father and spoke quietly:
"It's alright, father. I don't want to meet her anymore. If she doesn't love you, or me, then I won't love her back. I don't want to meet her anymore; please, let's got back home."
The Guard felt great sadness in his heart, but he smiled and kissed her. "So it shall be, little one," he answered. "I shall take you back to the castle and make of you a great shield-maiden, forgetting all memory of the wife that I once had espoused; though I hope not that the skills that She possessed be passed onto you."
And they faced the entrance, ever concealed under the leaves, and went forth from the tree-house and the last memory of Sondrael the fair, Huntress in the Lost Woods.
"What's that, father?" Sond asked frightened, as she perceived a waver in some bushes in front of them.
Maeron stood as still as stone and did not utter a word. Before she could repeat her question, her father gently placed her hand on her mouth to silence her. He then took it of and slid his finger to his lips, bidding her to remain silent. The bush shook again slightly and Maeron saw with the utmost horror a hairy tail peering outside of the leaves. A pair of yellow eyes glowed from the shadows of another nearby hollow tree, and a growl was heard by parent and child. Sond felt a chill fear smite her heart, and tears blurred her sight.
"Listen to me," said the Guard earnestly to Sond. "When I tell you to, you must run with all your heart and soul towards that big willow with so many braches. Listen to me!" The little child had begun to weep out of fear at her father's words. "You have to run as swiftly as you young legs allow you to. You have to climb that tree and remain there until I come back to take you."
"Father!" cried Sond terrified. "What's going on? What's there on the bushes and the tree? Where are you going?"
"Listen to me, Sondilyn!" he said again. "It is a pack of wolfos, and they shall not let us go in peace; therefore, I shall slain them all."
"No!" she cried again. "Don't kill anyone! Please, don't be mad at them. Let's just go away and leave them alone."
"Sondilyn Maeron's daughter!" he said loudly. "Heed my order, child. I must leave you, but I shall return. You do not understand: each time I have dealt with wolfos evil comes afterwards; and I shall not let anything take you away from me! I have lost too much in my life by now; I shall not lose you too. Now go!
And with this she pushed away Sond with small strength, although it was enough to make her fall to the ground. Before a terrified child could get up and run, Maeron sped away into the woods; and behind him many howls and growls flew about her, and the wolfos sprang out of dark corners in the shadows in pursue of the Guard. Paralysed, Sond just lay on the ground in utter fear at the huge size of the beasts that chased her father. With a small cry, Father! she remembered his command and ran to the willow tree a few feet away; and she climbed it with all the swiftness she could and remained there for many a long hour, ever expecting her beloved father. And he came back never again.
Maeron ran with all of his strength away from the place where he had bidden his child to remain. Away and away, across twig and bush, and root and stone, and tree and leaf. The day was drawing to an end by the time, and light was waning and dimming about him. The howls were growing louder and drawing closer, and the Guard kept on running until he was at least a mile away from her child. At the moment he stopped, another series of howls flew through the air filling it with harsh noises and sounds that would discourage even the bravest Hylian of the time. Afraid but calmed nonetheless, Maeron drew his twin knives and stood on his guard. Ere long the first wolfos showed itself amidst the leaves of the wood, his snout in a hideous smile-like position. The beast approached the guard steadily as he locked his gaze on it. Out of some bushes, another wolfos appeared suddenly, and let out a howl that pierced the sound-quelling wall of the tall trees. Mere seconds after the second creature began showing his sharp and endless chain of teeth and jaws many more beasts showed, all glaring almost evilly at the Hylian.
Maeron did not wanted to give up hope, but his heart told him that everything was lost. Unless the Huntress should come to my aid again.
But Sondrael the fair would never have herself shown before any Hylian anymore, so it was her decision. And although her husband fought bravely that day, he finally fell overwhelmed by the creatures that many consider the vilest of them who are not among the monsters.
And all was over for the tale of the Huntress in the Lost Woods and the Guard of the Hylia, rangers of the wood.
But it was not so for the tale of their heir.
A. N. Bye! Thanks for your comments! See ya soon!