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 Fifteen: Word Fights and Sword Fights
When Lily left the library she had no clue what she wanted to do or where she wanted to go. All she knew was that she needed some time to think. Of course she could have done that in the library but it was too stuffy there. Instead she decided to wander the halls while she was deep in thought.
The warning kept coming to her mind, urging her to go back to library and find the answer she was looking for. And then the logical side or her thinking would say that she couldn't find the answer to the problem if there wasn't a question. Pretty soon she would be wondering who was trying to reach her? Why had they decided to use Zelda as their messenger? She knew that it hadn't been Zelda that spoke the words that were so clearly imprinted in her mind. The voice for some very odd reason sounded so familiar but she knew that she had never heard it before in her life. When she tried to recall whom the voice sounded like the words would start to form in her head again and then she would be right back where she started. It was an endless circle of thoughts that she somehow couldn't seem to escape.
When Lily was finally able to get herself out of her troubled mind she found that she had wandered outside into the courtyard. At the moment it was filled with people. Many of them were peasants that lived in the villages that had been evacuated. Soldiers milled around the area, too almost as if they were unsure of what they were supposed to be doing. To her right a group of peasants were learning to string bows while to her left another group was being taught the finer point of handling a quarterstaff.
Lily slowly walked in between the people. Suddenly she spotted Saith standing next to Link and the soldier that had mistaken her for a refuge yesterday. She hurried over to the small group and tapped the Link on the shoulder. When he turned around the frown on hid face turned into a smile.
"Lily, what are you doing here? I thought you were in the library with Zelda and Rauru," he said. Saith and the guard turned their attention to her as well.
"I was but I got bored," she stated simply.
"And here I assumed that you wanted to figure out the answer to that riddle as fast as you could," Saith said mockingly.
"I do but I can't think when I'm bored." Lily noticed that the soldier was glaring at her. Link seemed to notice, too. Gesturing to him, Link introduced the man.
"Lily, this is the Captain of the Guard, Ian Burtell," Link said proudly.
"Isn't he a bit young to be the Captain of the Guard?" Lily asked innocently. Ian just glared at her again.
"I've been training to be an elite soldier in Hyrule's army from the time I could hold a sword. I suggest you don't patronize me," he hissed. Ian really didn't like this girl. She disobeyed orders and didn't show any respect to her elders or her betters.
"Ooo. . .a soldier who can use big words and know what they mean," Lily said with mock admiration.
"Why you. . ." Ian started to threaten but Link held up a hand between the two before a fight broke out. Considering the two he wasn't sure which one would be on the ground begging for mercy first.
"That's enough. Lily you should probably head back inside. It is getting to be a bit dangerous out here now that we're teaching the peasants to fight. Knowing their skills there's probably going to be a lot of sharp objects flying around," Link said trying to convince Lily to leave.
"I thought that was the point of trying to use a bow and arrow," Lily said, letting her temper get the best of her.
"Hardy, har, har."
"Hey, I'm just getting you back for that 'pass the torch' comment," Lily smirked. Ian glanced wonderingly at Saith who just shrugged his shoulders. "But if you are seriously training people out here I guess I will go inside."
Link and Ian grinned, while Saith caught the way too innocent tone in her voice. He looked at her skeptically but she just ignored him. Instead she turned around and walked purposefully inside. First she headed down to her room where she picked up her bow and quiver as well as her sword. With her supplies gathered Lily wandered around until she found a servant walking down the halls.
"Excuse me miss, but could you possibly tell me where the outfitting room is?" Lily asked politely. The servant smiled enough to show a few missing teeth.
"Of courth, dear. Firsth you walk down thisth hall and take a right. Then ith's the thecond hall on your left," she said with a lisp. Lily thanked her and followed the woman's instructions. She soon found it and obtained a loose midnight blue shirt and some black breeches. The boots she had were the ones that she had worn all the way from Laver. She thanked the man that gave her the outfit and made her way back outside.
Link, Saith, and Ian were still talking but this time a few more guards had joined them. Lily stood behind them and waited for their conversation to finish. Eves dropping a little bit she found that the conversation was about the defense of the castle. It looked like they were halfway done with the rest of the plans thanks to the civilians that had decided to help. When the other soldier left Lily tapped Link on the shoulder again. He seemed to have realized who was tapping his shoulder and heaved a great sigh before he turned around.
"Lily, I thought you said you were going inside," he said exasperatedly before he got a good look at what she was wearing. Once he did notice that her sword and quiver were strapped to her back and that she had her bow in her hand, he just stared. He wasn't the only one. Both Saith and Ian were staring as well.
"I did," Lily said, her voice full of innocence. "Then I changed, got my gear, and came outside again. I'm ready to train."
"You can't be serious," Ian scoffed.
"Dead serious." Lily glared at the man before she turned around and headed over to the area where peasants were being trained to use a bow and arrow. The soldier there was giving out pointers and helping anyone who needed it. Lily took up a position at the end of the line where there was an open target. With expertise she quickly strung her bow.
During that time Ian and Saith had come over to watch. The smirk on Ian's face didn't drop when he saw how well she strung the bow. He thought that anybody could do that. But not everybody could shoot and hit a target. The soldier walked to the end of the line opposite from Lily and told the archers to string their bows. Lily followed the command.
"AIM!" Lily brought her bow up and pulled the string taught as she closed one eye and aimed for her target.
"Try to actually hit the wall," Ian snickered. Lily just ignored him while Saith shot the Captain a glance.
"FIRE!"
At the word Lily let her arrow fly. A dull thud could be heard when the arrow hit the target. The sound of jaws dropping could be heard right afterwards. Lily looked at the arrow that stood quivering in the middle of the bull's eye and frowned.
"Damn," she muttered under her breath. "Missed."
"What do you mean missed?!" Saith yelled from behind her. "You hit the bulls eye!"
"Yeah, but not square on," she said, sounding a little disappointed. "Oh well, I guess you can't win 'em all."
The men all around her gaped at her for a little while longer. The soldier cleared his throat and told the men to string their bows again. Thirty seconds later he told them to aim. Lily took up the position and aimed for the very middle of the bull's eye.
"Let's see if she can do it again," Ian whispered to Saith.
"FIRE!"
Again Lily's arrow struck home and this time she was far more pleased. The arrow stood smack dab in the middle of the bull's eye. There couldn't have been a better shot.
"That's better," Lily said as she smiled. She had thought for a moment that she had lost he edge. Normally she trained every day but she hadn't gotten much of a chance to in the past two weeks.
After a few more stares from some of the men surrounding her, Lily shot again and was rewarded with another arrow in the bull's eye. She kept shooting for the next hour and hit all her marks. Saith and Ian continued to watch. Ian stopped glaring after a while and watched with an almost amused look as Lily out shot every soldier who came to challenge her. Word had spread quickly about her archery skills and the men lined up for a chance to beat the maiden who could hit the center of the target every time.
Once Lily had proved to all the men her worth with a bow, she stopped shooting and put her gear away. She strolled over to where Saith and Ian were standing with a confident grin on her face.
"Do I shoot to your satisfaction, sir?" Lily asked Ian. He smiled warmly back at her.
"You've successfully proved me wrong in my theory that women can't shoot," he conceded. Lily's grin got bigger.
"And now I'm going to prove your theory that women can't use a sword wrong, too."
"Then I'll prove YOU wrong by being your first opponent. How does that sound?" Ian asked with a glint in his eye.
"I accept your challenge, sir," Lily exclaimed loudly and did a mock bow. The men that had surrounded the two, laughed at Lily's impression of a Hylian noble. Being peasants they knew how bad some of them could be. Ian and Lily walked over to an open area in the courtyard. Lily drew her sword and took up a guard position while Ian did the same.
"The first person to draw blood wins. Ready! GO!" Saith yelled from the sidelines.
The combatants circled each other for a few minutes. Then they both struck at the same time. Ian struck at Lily's torso while she went for his head. Lily managed to twist her body to avoid Ian's attack while keeping her sword in a straight line for his head. At the last minute he ducked and swiped at her feet. Lily flipped over Ian's head and landed behind him already swinging her own sword at his back. He barely managed to escape as he ducked and rolled away.
The watched each other for a moment. Ian was already panting heavily. Despite Lily's size and lack of strength, she was very agile and speedy which meant she could get in more swings at a faster rate. He had the advantage of strength on his side but he wasn't sure how useful it was going to be if he couldn't hit her.
Lily was sweating from the exercise and that worried her. The sweat that formed on her brow had a tendency to drip into her eyes and cause a distraction. Deciding that if she didn't wipe her brow soon she wouldn't be able to see, Lily raised her arm as fast as she could and swiped the sweat from her forehead.
Ian took the chance to lung at her, with his sword aimed for her chest. Luckily for Lily, she had used to her sword arm to wipe away the sweat and all she had to do was brace herself to keep from getting slashed. Even still Ian's overbearing strength began to win as he pushed her back. Grunting, Lily used all her might and forced Ian's sword back with a quick push. Using her remaining time she ducked and rolled to the side. Hopping up from her crouched position, Lily closed in on a surprised Ian quickly, with her sword flashing in the sun as she hacked away. Ian barely managed to block all the blows and now they were coming faster.
Suddenly a cry of pain could be heard throughout the courtyard as Lily drew first blood from Ian's sword arm. Immediately she backed off and gave the Captain of the Guard some room. He held his arm and checked to make sure that the cut was not too deep before he bowed low.
"I yield. It seems that you were right. Women can fight with swords as well as men," he said humbly. Lily smiled back at him and bowed as well.
"Who's next?" she yelled out to the crowd once Ian had exited the 'ring' to go bandage his arm. Only one hand went up. Saith's. He entered the 'ring' and the two began their fight.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
No, you're not going to read about the sword fight between Lily and Saith. The outcome will be announced later but I don't feel like making this chapter too much longer by inserting another fight scene. Especially when I'm not that good at writing them. This chapter was mainly to show to you people Lily's skills, not that you really wanted to know I'm sure.
Anyways I know I said that I would get this up yesterday but when I did start typing this I had to stop and go to work and by the time I got home my sister had stolen the computer to do homework that she wasn't really doing. Whew! There's my excuse but I'm sure you people don't want to hear it. I never do. Thanks again to all my wonderful reviewers!
Chapter Fifteen: Word Fights and Sword Fights
When Lily left the library she had no clue what she wanted to do or where she wanted to go. All she knew was that she needed some time to think. Of course she could have done that in the library but it was too stuffy there. Instead she decided to wander the halls while she was deep in thought.
The warning kept coming to her mind, urging her to go back to library and find the answer she was looking for. And then the logical side or her thinking would say that she couldn't find the answer to the problem if there wasn't a question. Pretty soon she would be wondering who was trying to reach her? Why had they decided to use Zelda as their messenger? She knew that it hadn't been Zelda that spoke the words that were so clearly imprinted in her mind. The voice for some very odd reason sounded so familiar but she knew that she had never heard it before in her life. When she tried to recall whom the voice sounded like the words would start to form in her head again and then she would be right back where she started. It was an endless circle of thoughts that she somehow couldn't seem to escape.
When Lily was finally able to get herself out of her troubled mind she found that she had wandered outside into the courtyard. At the moment it was filled with people. Many of them were peasants that lived in the villages that had been evacuated. Soldiers milled around the area, too almost as if they were unsure of what they were supposed to be doing. To her right a group of peasants were learning to string bows while to her left another group was being taught the finer point of handling a quarterstaff.
Lily slowly walked in between the people. Suddenly she spotted Saith standing next to Link and the soldier that had mistaken her for a refuge yesterday. She hurried over to the small group and tapped the Link on the shoulder. When he turned around the frown on hid face turned into a smile.
"Lily, what are you doing here? I thought you were in the library with Zelda and Rauru," he said. Saith and the guard turned their attention to her as well.
"I was but I got bored," she stated simply.
"And here I assumed that you wanted to figure out the answer to that riddle as fast as you could," Saith said mockingly.
"I do but I can't think when I'm bored." Lily noticed that the soldier was glaring at her. Link seemed to notice, too. Gesturing to him, Link introduced the man.
"Lily, this is the Captain of the Guard, Ian Burtell," Link said proudly.
"Isn't he a bit young to be the Captain of the Guard?" Lily asked innocently. Ian just glared at her again.
"I've been training to be an elite soldier in Hyrule's army from the time I could hold a sword. I suggest you don't patronize me," he hissed. Ian really didn't like this girl. She disobeyed orders and didn't show any respect to her elders or her betters.
"Ooo. . .a soldier who can use big words and know what they mean," Lily said with mock admiration.
"Why you. . ." Ian started to threaten but Link held up a hand between the two before a fight broke out. Considering the two he wasn't sure which one would be on the ground begging for mercy first.
"That's enough. Lily you should probably head back inside. It is getting to be a bit dangerous out here now that we're teaching the peasants to fight. Knowing their skills there's probably going to be a lot of sharp objects flying around," Link said trying to convince Lily to leave.
"I thought that was the point of trying to use a bow and arrow," Lily said, letting her temper get the best of her.
"Hardy, har, har."
"Hey, I'm just getting you back for that 'pass the torch' comment," Lily smirked. Ian glanced wonderingly at Saith who just shrugged his shoulders. "But if you are seriously training people out here I guess I will go inside."
Link and Ian grinned, while Saith caught the way too innocent tone in her voice. He looked at her skeptically but she just ignored him. Instead she turned around and walked purposefully inside. First she headed down to her room where she picked up her bow and quiver as well as her sword. With her supplies gathered Lily wandered around until she found a servant walking down the halls.
"Excuse me miss, but could you possibly tell me where the outfitting room is?" Lily asked politely. The servant smiled enough to show a few missing teeth.
"Of courth, dear. Firsth you walk down thisth hall and take a right. Then ith's the thecond hall on your left," she said with a lisp. Lily thanked her and followed the woman's instructions. She soon found it and obtained a loose midnight blue shirt and some black breeches. The boots she had were the ones that she had worn all the way from Laver. She thanked the man that gave her the outfit and made her way back outside.
Link, Saith, and Ian were still talking but this time a few more guards had joined them. Lily stood behind them and waited for their conversation to finish. Eves dropping a little bit she found that the conversation was about the defense of the castle. It looked like they were halfway done with the rest of the plans thanks to the civilians that had decided to help. When the other soldier left Lily tapped Link on the shoulder again. He seemed to have realized who was tapping his shoulder and heaved a great sigh before he turned around.
"Lily, I thought you said you were going inside," he said exasperatedly before he got a good look at what she was wearing. Once he did notice that her sword and quiver were strapped to her back and that she had her bow in her hand, he just stared. He wasn't the only one. Both Saith and Ian were staring as well.
"I did," Lily said, her voice full of innocence. "Then I changed, got my gear, and came outside again. I'm ready to train."
"You can't be serious," Ian scoffed.
"Dead serious." Lily glared at the man before she turned around and headed over to the area where peasants were being trained to use a bow and arrow. The soldier there was giving out pointers and helping anyone who needed it. Lily took up a position at the end of the line where there was an open target. With expertise she quickly strung her bow.
During that time Ian and Saith had come over to watch. The smirk on Ian's face didn't drop when he saw how well she strung the bow. He thought that anybody could do that. But not everybody could shoot and hit a target. The soldier walked to the end of the line opposite from Lily and told the archers to string their bows. Lily followed the command.
"AIM!" Lily brought her bow up and pulled the string taught as she closed one eye and aimed for her target.
"Try to actually hit the wall," Ian snickered. Lily just ignored him while Saith shot the Captain a glance.
"FIRE!"
At the word Lily let her arrow fly. A dull thud could be heard when the arrow hit the target. The sound of jaws dropping could be heard right afterwards. Lily looked at the arrow that stood quivering in the middle of the bull's eye and frowned.
"Damn," she muttered under her breath. "Missed."
"What do you mean missed?!" Saith yelled from behind her. "You hit the bulls eye!"
"Yeah, but not square on," she said, sounding a little disappointed. "Oh well, I guess you can't win 'em all."
The men all around her gaped at her for a little while longer. The soldier cleared his throat and told the men to string their bows again. Thirty seconds later he told them to aim. Lily took up the position and aimed for the very middle of the bull's eye.
"Let's see if she can do it again," Ian whispered to Saith.
"FIRE!"
Again Lily's arrow struck home and this time she was far more pleased. The arrow stood smack dab in the middle of the bull's eye. There couldn't have been a better shot.
"That's better," Lily said as she smiled. She had thought for a moment that she had lost he edge. Normally she trained every day but she hadn't gotten much of a chance to in the past two weeks.
After a few more stares from some of the men surrounding her, Lily shot again and was rewarded with another arrow in the bull's eye. She kept shooting for the next hour and hit all her marks. Saith and Ian continued to watch. Ian stopped glaring after a while and watched with an almost amused look as Lily out shot every soldier who came to challenge her. Word had spread quickly about her archery skills and the men lined up for a chance to beat the maiden who could hit the center of the target every time.
Once Lily had proved to all the men her worth with a bow, she stopped shooting and put her gear away. She strolled over to where Saith and Ian were standing with a confident grin on her face.
"Do I shoot to your satisfaction, sir?" Lily asked Ian. He smiled warmly back at her.
"You've successfully proved me wrong in my theory that women can't shoot," he conceded. Lily's grin got bigger.
"And now I'm going to prove your theory that women can't use a sword wrong, too."
"Then I'll prove YOU wrong by being your first opponent. How does that sound?" Ian asked with a glint in his eye.
"I accept your challenge, sir," Lily exclaimed loudly and did a mock bow. The men that had surrounded the two, laughed at Lily's impression of a Hylian noble. Being peasants they knew how bad some of them could be. Ian and Lily walked over to an open area in the courtyard. Lily drew her sword and took up a guard position while Ian did the same.
"The first person to draw blood wins. Ready! GO!" Saith yelled from the sidelines.
The combatants circled each other for a few minutes. Then they both struck at the same time. Ian struck at Lily's torso while she went for his head. Lily managed to twist her body to avoid Ian's attack while keeping her sword in a straight line for his head. At the last minute he ducked and swiped at her feet. Lily flipped over Ian's head and landed behind him already swinging her own sword at his back. He barely managed to escape as he ducked and rolled away.
The watched each other for a moment. Ian was already panting heavily. Despite Lily's size and lack of strength, she was very agile and speedy which meant she could get in more swings at a faster rate. He had the advantage of strength on his side but he wasn't sure how useful it was going to be if he couldn't hit her.
Lily was sweating from the exercise and that worried her. The sweat that formed on her brow had a tendency to drip into her eyes and cause a distraction. Deciding that if she didn't wipe her brow soon she wouldn't be able to see, Lily raised her arm as fast as she could and swiped the sweat from her forehead.
Ian took the chance to lung at her, with his sword aimed for her chest. Luckily for Lily, she had used to her sword arm to wipe away the sweat and all she had to do was brace herself to keep from getting slashed. Even still Ian's overbearing strength began to win as he pushed her back. Grunting, Lily used all her might and forced Ian's sword back with a quick push. Using her remaining time she ducked and rolled to the side. Hopping up from her crouched position, Lily closed in on a surprised Ian quickly, with her sword flashing in the sun as she hacked away. Ian barely managed to block all the blows and now they were coming faster.
Suddenly a cry of pain could be heard throughout the courtyard as Lily drew first blood from Ian's sword arm. Immediately she backed off and gave the Captain of the Guard some room. He held his arm and checked to make sure that the cut was not too deep before he bowed low.
"I yield. It seems that you were right. Women can fight with swords as well as men," he said humbly. Lily smiled back at him and bowed as well.
"Who's next?" she yelled out to the crowd once Ian had exited the 'ring' to go bandage his arm. Only one hand went up. Saith's. He entered the 'ring' and the two began their fight.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
No, you're not going to read about the sword fight between Lily and Saith. The outcome will be announced later but I don't feel like making this chapter too much longer by inserting another fight scene. Especially when I'm not that good at writing them. This chapter was mainly to show to you people Lily's skills, not that you really wanted to know I'm sure.
Anyways I know I said that I would get this up yesterday but when I did start typing this I had to stop and go to work and by the time I got home my sister had stolen the computer to do homework that she wasn't really doing. Whew! There's my excuse but I'm sure you people don't want to hear it. I never do. Thanks again to all my wonderful reviewers!