Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Zelda characters but the ones that are
of my creation are mine and I do own the rights to them.
Chapter Ten: Discoveries
Ian Burtell was a very simple man. His life at the castle was simple as well, or at least it was two weeks ago. Now he was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He had just been informed that the Tryul army was five days away. Only half of his plans to defend the castle had been put into action and they weren't even close to being finished. Five days was all he had to get everything up and working and he knew that it wasn't enough.
"Get those windows boarded up faster! I only want to see a slit when you get done!" Ian yelled to some of the men working on the gatehouse. Everyone was working as fast as they could but it just came down to the fact that he didn't have enough men to complete everything. And as if that weren't enough he still had to have people standing on the walls just in case the enemy arrived early.
Ian continued to oversee the work that was going on as he walked along the battlements. His cocoa colored hair hadn't been washed in days. He was dirty and disgusting but he didn't have time to worry about looking nice and clean. The circles under his eyes told of the countless nights without sleep. It made him look like he was forty-five instead of twenty-five. He was passing over the stables when he noticed a young woman with blond hair heading towards him. Ian sighed in frustration. He was the Captain of the Guard not a babysitter.
"Miss! Excuse me. . .miss!" Ian shouted, waving his arms to get her attention.
Lily looked up from her walk to see a man trying to get her to look at him. The man was older than her with curly brown hair. Lily sighed to herself. ~Great, another admirer~ she thought.
"Yes?" she said politely. By now the man was climbing down from the battlements to come talk to her.
"I'm sorry miss, but civilians are to stay inside the Great Hall at all times. It's dangerous out here," Ian said trying to be stern but gentle. He knew how fragile women were, especially during war. Lily smiled at him in relief. He was just doing his job; he wasn't trying to hit on her.
"I agree completely sir," Lily said and then continued on her way to the stables. A powerful grip on her arm stopped her immediately.
"That means you miss." Ian's voice was no longer gentle. He had enough to worry about without having to take care of a silly girl.
"Captain!" The voice surprised Ian and he almost let his grip on the woman's arm falter. He turned around while still holding Lily to face the elder prince.
"What are you doing?" Saith asked. Ian barely picked up the aggressiveness in his voice. This confused Ian even more. What was Saith mad at him for? It could be the fact that he was holding the woman's arm but Saith himself had suggested that all civilians stay in the Great Hall. It was also Saith who said that anyone breaking the rule should be escorted back to the Great Hall.
"I'm taking this woman back to the Great hall where she belongs sire."
Lily stood there glaring at Ian. She was fed up with the mistaken identity bit. Sure she was a civilian but not one that would get into trouble by being outside of the inner walls. Besides she had something to do. Violently wrenching her arm free from the Captain's grasp, Lily turned on her toe and headed towards the stables again making sure that her long hair whipped him in the face. Ian glared at her and turned to the prince.
"Sire, did you just see that?! She just disrespected me and you!" Ian cried enraged. Saith merely chuckled at his tutor's outburst.
"It's okay, Ian. Her name is Lily and she's the messenger that told us the location of the Tryul army. She seems to be able to handle herself. I'm sure she'll be fine out here," Saith replied smiling. Ian glance at Lily's quickly retreating back and grumbled to himself under his breath. Turning around, he got back to work. Saith watched the Captain for a moment before following Lily to the stables.
Inside Saith found Lily looking into each stall that she came across. She would peek in and when she didn't find what she was looking for she would move on.
"Looking for a good horse to steal?" Saith asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"No. I'm looking for a black horse. The guy that brought me here was riding it," she said without even looking at him.
"You mean my horse?"
Lily stopped her searching and turned to stare at the young man behind her.
"You mean you were the one who brought me in last night?" Lily asked.
"Yep," Saith replied smugly.
"And that horse was yours?" Lily asked again.
"Yep." Lily's heart sank.
"Oh," she said sadly. Saith heard her voice drop. A moment ago she had been a high-spirited teenager but her mood had suddenly changed because he owned a horse.
"Well, she's not really mine. We found her out on Hyrule Field about two weeks ago. She didn't seem to have an owner and she's a great mare so my father gave her to me," Saith said quickly hoping to cheer her up. It did. Lily's frown instantly became a smile when she heard the news.
"Really?! Can I see her?" she asked excitedly. Saith eyed her oddly. If she had been a child she would have been jumping up and down by now. Silently Saith led the way back to the last stall in the stables. Inside the box was a beautiful black horse.
"Ebony!" Lily squealed unbolting the stall door. The mare inside neighed with excitement at seeing her old master. Lily patted Ebony on the nose and whispered soothing words in her ears. The mare quieted under the caring hands that were stroking her.
"This is your horse?" Saith asked in disbelief. Lily turned and smiled at him. Instantly he could feel his heart melting.
"Of course. Ebony's her name. I'm glad to see that you've been taking real good care of her. I thought she was dead though I really wonder how she got away from the attackers or even how she got out of her stall." She continued to pet Ebony for a little while longer before a thought struck her. She slowly turned back to Saith who was still watching her closely.
"What were you doing outside the castle last night?" she asked suspiciously.
"Huh? Oh, I was uh. . .well I was just trying to. . .um. . .yeah," Saith finished lamely. He didn't think it would impress Lily too much if he told her that he had gone looking for trouble. Lily guessed the reason that Saith wasn't telling her and decided to leave it alone. It was obviously a touchy subject for him.
"Well guess we should be getting back inside now that I've confirmed that the horse I saw last night was in fact Ebony," Lily suggested. She gave her favorite pet one last pat before she headed out of the stables. Saith nodded silently and followed Lily. Once they had reached the main hall Lily stopped.
"Where am I supposed to go now? I really don't want to stay with all the refugees and I don't want to just go and sit in my room. So where do I go?" she asked. Saith thought for a moment before giving her an answer.
"Well, you could tell my father what happened to you specifically. I think he wants some details so that he can get the exact position of Tryul army. He said he wanted you to tell him later. I guess now's as good a time as any seeing that you seem to have regained your strength."
Saith lead the way through several halls with Lily following faithfully behind. She scanned the halls taking in their immense beauty. They were lined with portraits of old kings and queens. Many of them looked severe as they frowned down upon those who passed by them. Others had kind smiles that proved they were gentle rulers. Colorful tapestries that hung to the floor depicted great battles that had been fought and showed the courageous heroes that had died while protecting their country. Everything showed the history of Hyrule and Lily was amazed at the amount of information she gained just by looking at the pictures.
Finally Saith stopped at a door at the end of a hall. He held up a fisted hand and knocked smartly.
"Come in," came the muffled reply through the wood. Saith swung the door open widely and entered the room with Lily only a second behind him. Using her foot out of habit, Lily closed the door quietly behind her. Link looked up from his desk and was surprised to see Lily up and walking. He hadn't expected her to be out of bed for at least another week. The fever that she had gotten had been bad. Her temperature during the night had spiked wildly and it had surprised him that she hadn't died. Now here she was standing in front of him like a strong bull.
"Yes? What did you want?" Link asked as he turned back a large map that was laid out over the sturdy wood table.
"You said you wanted to hear everything that happened to Lily while she was trying to reach the castle, so I brought her here to tell you," Saith explained. Link nodded without looking up from the map and motioned for the two to sit down.
Saith chose a wooden chair close to his father while Lily decided on an overstuffed armchair where she could see both the king and the prince. Silence reined as Lily waited for Link to finish before she started her story. Finally Link looked up from his work.
"I'd like you to start with what happened at Laver. I know it's going to be painful but I need to know what happened," Link said. Lily nodded in response and began her tale. She told them how she and her family had been awakened in the night. She told them about her trying to help the others and when the army arrived. Lily barely made it through the part where her family had been killed without shedding a tear. She knew that one single droplet of water running down her face would set off a whole slew of them and then she wouldn't be able to finish. Then she explained how Suba had helped her. She left out the conversation with the Sages it didn't seem too important. When she finally stopped to look around and see the reactions of Link and Saith she had just finished with her leaving Kokiri Forest.
Both Link and Saith were awed at Lily's tale. Link couldn't help but feel guilty about the loss of lives in Laver. He hadn't done anything about it and it made him mad. He wasn't just the type of person to sit around and let things happen. Still he thought his decision to bring everyone else to the castle was still the best solution. If he hadn't more lives would have been lost. Saith could only feel his admiration of Lily grow to new heights. She had faced death without a second thought about her own safety. That was the kind of thing that he wanted to do. After a few moments of silence Link told Lily to continue.
"After I left Kokiri forest I started to head west first. I figured that it would be easier to go west and then north to reach the castle. I was wrong though. About a day into my journey I ran into a Tryul scouting party. I was forced to flee from them because I knew I didn't have time to fight with them. They chased me farther west than I planned to go for about day. That night I finally got sick of them and took them out. In all it was a party of about ten. Before I killed the last one, I was able to learn that the main force was about five days south of my location."
"Upon hearing this information I immediately started heading north hoping to get back on course by the next day which was the third day. Unfortunately I never realized how big Hyrule Field was. By the fourth day I found myself on the outskirts of Gerudo Valley. Turning northeast I walked for two days straight without sleep. I had hoped to be here on the sixth day but like I said I didn't know that Hyrule Field was so vast."
"I guess I got sick somewhere between the end of the sixth day and the beginning of the seventh though I'm not sure how. It didn't rain or snow during the nights that I walked. Normally I'm a very healthy person. The last time that I was as sick as I was last night was. . .was. . .actually I don't remember ever being sick." Lily stopped at those words as she tried to think of the last time she had been sick. She knew that she was abnormally healthy when during the winter everyone else would be stricken with a fever and she didn't even have a sniffle. But she just thought that it was because she exercised regularly and ate well. Shaking her head Lily finally continued.
"Anyways, I got sick. For the next day I stumbled along hoping that I was going northeast. By the time that Saith found me I was nearly dead on my feet as you could probably tell when you brought me into the castle," Lily finished. She leaned back in armchair grateful for the soft cushions. Without knowing it, Lily had tired herself out as she recounted her journey. All the emotions that had been finally been laid to rest in the back of her mind had surfaced again with the telling of the story. It was a strain on Lily's self-control to sit and tell of the horrible deaths of people she knew and the trials of the past week without showing any kind of emotion.
Lily sighed and shoved the feelings into the corner of her mind that she dared not go into. She could feel something waiting for her there. Something waiting for her to put her guard down. Lily shivered and tried her best to rejoin reality instead of wallowing in her depressing thoughts. Both Link and Saith were gazing at Lily. Link's eyes held a look of concern while Saith's just looked stunned. Lily almost laughed at the sight of Saith's eyes. They told of longing for an adventure like the one she had had.
"Well, thank you very much for telling me what happened to you. You should probably get some more rest. After being up and about after such a violent sickness it's amazing that you've been able to even relate the story to us without bursting. Saith will show you back to your room," Link said finally breaking the silence.
Lily smiled tiredly at Link. He had guessed right when he had talked about the emotional strain. Saith got up from his chair and walked over to Lily. After helping her up he led her down the halls back to her room. Once he had gone Lily flopped onto the nice soft mattress and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillows.
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So what do you people think? Pretty good, huh? Well, I think so anyway but then again it is my story. I would like to let the readers know that I'm not sure when my next update will be. I try to keep each chapter to a week or two at the most but I'm going to be busy for the next couple of weeks.
For instance tomorrow I go to State at the Broadmore Hotel for DECA. Not only that but I just got my license Thursday so I'll probably be going out with my friends. Plus I've got softball practice every other morning and babysitting every Tuesday. That doesn't even include homework but I'll try the best I can to get the next chapters up soon.
P.S. Knowing me I'll still probably be able to update every week or so just because I'm so dedicated to my readers!
Chapter Ten: Discoveries
Ian Burtell was a very simple man. His life at the castle was simple as well, or at least it was two weeks ago. Now he was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He had just been informed that the Tryul army was five days away. Only half of his plans to defend the castle had been put into action and they weren't even close to being finished. Five days was all he had to get everything up and working and he knew that it wasn't enough.
"Get those windows boarded up faster! I only want to see a slit when you get done!" Ian yelled to some of the men working on the gatehouse. Everyone was working as fast as they could but it just came down to the fact that he didn't have enough men to complete everything. And as if that weren't enough he still had to have people standing on the walls just in case the enemy arrived early.
Ian continued to oversee the work that was going on as he walked along the battlements. His cocoa colored hair hadn't been washed in days. He was dirty and disgusting but he didn't have time to worry about looking nice and clean. The circles under his eyes told of the countless nights without sleep. It made him look like he was forty-five instead of twenty-five. He was passing over the stables when he noticed a young woman with blond hair heading towards him. Ian sighed in frustration. He was the Captain of the Guard not a babysitter.
"Miss! Excuse me. . .miss!" Ian shouted, waving his arms to get her attention.
Lily looked up from her walk to see a man trying to get her to look at him. The man was older than her with curly brown hair. Lily sighed to herself. ~Great, another admirer~ she thought.
"Yes?" she said politely. By now the man was climbing down from the battlements to come talk to her.
"I'm sorry miss, but civilians are to stay inside the Great Hall at all times. It's dangerous out here," Ian said trying to be stern but gentle. He knew how fragile women were, especially during war. Lily smiled at him in relief. He was just doing his job; he wasn't trying to hit on her.
"I agree completely sir," Lily said and then continued on her way to the stables. A powerful grip on her arm stopped her immediately.
"That means you miss." Ian's voice was no longer gentle. He had enough to worry about without having to take care of a silly girl.
"Captain!" The voice surprised Ian and he almost let his grip on the woman's arm falter. He turned around while still holding Lily to face the elder prince.
"What are you doing?" Saith asked. Ian barely picked up the aggressiveness in his voice. This confused Ian even more. What was Saith mad at him for? It could be the fact that he was holding the woman's arm but Saith himself had suggested that all civilians stay in the Great Hall. It was also Saith who said that anyone breaking the rule should be escorted back to the Great Hall.
"I'm taking this woman back to the Great hall where she belongs sire."
Lily stood there glaring at Ian. She was fed up with the mistaken identity bit. Sure she was a civilian but not one that would get into trouble by being outside of the inner walls. Besides she had something to do. Violently wrenching her arm free from the Captain's grasp, Lily turned on her toe and headed towards the stables again making sure that her long hair whipped him in the face. Ian glared at her and turned to the prince.
"Sire, did you just see that?! She just disrespected me and you!" Ian cried enraged. Saith merely chuckled at his tutor's outburst.
"It's okay, Ian. Her name is Lily and she's the messenger that told us the location of the Tryul army. She seems to be able to handle herself. I'm sure she'll be fine out here," Saith replied smiling. Ian glance at Lily's quickly retreating back and grumbled to himself under his breath. Turning around, he got back to work. Saith watched the Captain for a moment before following Lily to the stables.
Inside Saith found Lily looking into each stall that she came across. She would peek in and when she didn't find what she was looking for she would move on.
"Looking for a good horse to steal?" Saith asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"No. I'm looking for a black horse. The guy that brought me here was riding it," she said without even looking at him.
"You mean my horse?"
Lily stopped her searching and turned to stare at the young man behind her.
"You mean you were the one who brought me in last night?" Lily asked.
"Yep," Saith replied smugly.
"And that horse was yours?" Lily asked again.
"Yep." Lily's heart sank.
"Oh," she said sadly. Saith heard her voice drop. A moment ago she had been a high-spirited teenager but her mood had suddenly changed because he owned a horse.
"Well, she's not really mine. We found her out on Hyrule Field about two weeks ago. She didn't seem to have an owner and she's a great mare so my father gave her to me," Saith said quickly hoping to cheer her up. It did. Lily's frown instantly became a smile when she heard the news.
"Really?! Can I see her?" she asked excitedly. Saith eyed her oddly. If she had been a child she would have been jumping up and down by now. Silently Saith led the way back to the last stall in the stables. Inside the box was a beautiful black horse.
"Ebony!" Lily squealed unbolting the stall door. The mare inside neighed with excitement at seeing her old master. Lily patted Ebony on the nose and whispered soothing words in her ears. The mare quieted under the caring hands that were stroking her.
"This is your horse?" Saith asked in disbelief. Lily turned and smiled at him. Instantly he could feel his heart melting.
"Of course. Ebony's her name. I'm glad to see that you've been taking real good care of her. I thought she was dead though I really wonder how she got away from the attackers or even how she got out of her stall." She continued to pet Ebony for a little while longer before a thought struck her. She slowly turned back to Saith who was still watching her closely.
"What were you doing outside the castle last night?" she asked suspiciously.
"Huh? Oh, I was uh. . .well I was just trying to. . .um. . .yeah," Saith finished lamely. He didn't think it would impress Lily too much if he told her that he had gone looking for trouble. Lily guessed the reason that Saith wasn't telling her and decided to leave it alone. It was obviously a touchy subject for him.
"Well guess we should be getting back inside now that I've confirmed that the horse I saw last night was in fact Ebony," Lily suggested. She gave her favorite pet one last pat before she headed out of the stables. Saith nodded silently and followed Lily. Once they had reached the main hall Lily stopped.
"Where am I supposed to go now? I really don't want to stay with all the refugees and I don't want to just go and sit in my room. So where do I go?" she asked. Saith thought for a moment before giving her an answer.
"Well, you could tell my father what happened to you specifically. I think he wants some details so that he can get the exact position of Tryul army. He said he wanted you to tell him later. I guess now's as good a time as any seeing that you seem to have regained your strength."
Saith lead the way through several halls with Lily following faithfully behind. She scanned the halls taking in their immense beauty. They were lined with portraits of old kings and queens. Many of them looked severe as they frowned down upon those who passed by them. Others had kind smiles that proved they were gentle rulers. Colorful tapestries that hung to the floor depicted great battles that had been fought and showed the courageous heroes that had died while protecting their country. Everything showed the history of Hyrule and Lily was amazed at the amount of information she gained just by looking at the pictures.
Finally Saith stopped at a door at the end of a hall. He held up a fisted hand and knocked smartly.
"Come in," came the muffled reply through the wood. Saith swung the door open widely and entered the room with Lily only a second behind him. Using her foot out of habit, Lily closed the door quietly behind her. Link looked up from his desk and was surprised to see Lily up and walking. He hadn't expected her to be out of bed for at least another week. The fever that she had gotten had been bad. Her temperature during the night had spiked wildly and it had surprised him that she hadn't died. Now here she was standing in front of him like a strong bull.
"Yes? What did you want?" Link asked as he turned back a large map that was laid out over the sturdy wood table.
"You said you wanted to hear everything that happened to Lily while she was trying to reach the castle, so I brought her here to tell you," Saith explained. Link nodded without looking up from the map and motioned for the two to sit down.
Saith chose a wooden chair close to his father while Lily decided on an overstuffed armchair where she could see both the king and the prince. Silence reined as Lily waited for Link to finish before she started her story. Finally Link looked up from his work.
"I'd like you to start with what happened at Laver. I know it's going to be painful but I need to know what happened," Link said. Lily nodded in response and began her tale. She told them how she and her family had been awakened in the night. She told them about her trying to help the others and when the army arrived. Lily barely made it through the part where her family had been killed without shedding a tear. She knew that one single droplet of water running down her face would set off a whole slew of them and then she wouldn't be able to finish. Then she explained how Suba had helped her. She left out the conversation with the Sages it didn't seem too important. When she finally stopped to look around and see the reactions of Link and Saith she had just finished with her leaving Kokiri Forest.
Both Link and Saith were awed at Lily's tale. Link couldn't help but feel guilty about the loss of lives in Laver. He hadn't done anything about it and it made him mad. He wasn't just the type of person to sit around and let things happen. Still he thought his decision to bring everyone else to the castle was still the best solution. If he hadn't more lives would have been lost. Saith could only feel his admiration of Lily grow to new heights. She had faced death without a second thought about her own safety. That was the kind of thing that he wanted to do. After a few moments of silence Link told Lily to continue.
"After I left Kokiri forest I started to head west first. I figured that it would be easier to go west and then north to reach the castle. I was wrong though. About a day into my journey I ran into a Tryul scouting party. I was forced to flee from them because I knew I didn't have time to fight with them. They chased me farther west than I planned to go for about day. That night I finally got sick of them and took them out. In all it was a party of about ten. Before I killed the last one, I was able to learn that the main force was about five days south of my location."
"Upon hearing this information I immediately started heading north hoping to get back on course by the next day which was the third day. Unfortunately I never realized how big Hyrule Field was. By the fourth day I found myself on the outskirts of Gerudo Valley. Turning northeast I walked for two days straight without sleep. I had hoped to be here on the sixth day but like I said I didn't know that Hyrule Field was so vast."
"I guess I got sick somewhere between the end of the sixth day and the beginning of the seventh though I'm not sure how. It didn't rain or snow during the nights that I walked. Normally I'm a very healthy person. The last time that I was as sick as I was last night was. . .was. . .actually I don't remember ever being sick." Lily stopped at those words as she tried to think of the last time she had been sick. She knew that she was abnormally healthy when during the winter everyone else would be stricken with a fever and she didn't even have a sniffle. But she just thought that it was because she exercised regularly and ate well. Shaking her head Lily finally continued.
"Anyways, I got sick. For the next day I stumbled along hoping that I was going northeast. By the time that Saith found me I was nearly dead on my feet as you could probably tell when you brought me into the castle," Lily finished. She leaned back in armchair grateful for the soft cushions. Without knowing it, Lily had tired herself out as she recounted her journey. All the emotions that had been finally been laid to rest in the back of her mind had surfaced again with the telling of the story. It was a strain on Lily's self-control to sit and tell of the horrible deaths of people she knew and the trials of the past week without showing any kind of emotion.
Lily sighed and shoved the feelings into the corner of her mind that she dared not go into. She could feel something waiting for her there. Something waiting for her to put her guard down. Lily shivered and tried her best to rejoin reality instead of wallowing in her depressing thoughts. Both Link and Saith were gazing at Lily. Link's eyes held a look of concern while Saith's just looked stunned. Lily almost laughed at the sight of Saith's eyes. They told of longing for an adventure like the one she had had.
"Well, thank you very much for telling me what happened to you. You should probably get some more rest. After being up and about after such a violent sickness it's amazing that you've been able to even relate the story to us without bursting. Saith will show you back to your room," Link said finally breaking the silence.
Lily smiled tiredly at Link. He had guessed right when he had talked about the emotional strain. Saith got up from his chair and walked over to Lily. After helping her up he led her down the halls back to her room. Once he had gone Lily flopped onto the nice soft mattress and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillows.
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So what do you people think? Pretty good, huh? Well, I think so anyway but then again it is my story. I would like to let the readers know that I'm not sure when my next update will be. I try to keep each chapter to a week or two at the most but I'm going to be busy for the next couple of weeks.
For instance tomorrow I go to State at the Broadmore Hotel for DECA. Not only that but I just got my license Thursday so I'll probably be going out with my friends. Plus I've got softball practice every other morning and babysitting every Tuesday. That doesn't even include homework but I'll try the best I can to get the next chapters up soon.
P.S. Knowing me I'll still probably be able to update every week or so just because I'm so dedicated to my readers!