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 Nineteen: The Night Before
The sun set slowly and the light faded away leaving the land in darkness. Shadows sprang up with the dieing light and the children that could see them imagined them to be monsters waiting for them to move from their mother's laps. Tension filled the air. This would be the Hylian's last night of peaceful slumber. In the morning the war would begin and many husbands, sons, grandparents, cousins, and uncles would loose their lives fighting to save the people they loved. The question was, would their efforts be enough to push back the oncoming army or would the Hylians be overcome.
In her room Lily slowly rocked back and forth on her bed clutching her knees to her chest like a child. There were no tears or sobs coming from her thin body. All that could be heard throughout the room was the mumblings of someone who is terrified.
"Mommy, Daddy, where are you?" she whispered to herself. "Come back to me please. Don't leave me here. All alone. I don't want to be alone."
~You're not alone.~ The voice sounded soothing and calm but this only frightened Lily more. She had seen the terrible power of the voice that was haunting her. She wanted it to go away so that she could be left in peace.
"Stop it," she whispered.
~It's alright, I'm here for you.~
"Stop it." This time it was louder.
~Don't shove me away.~
"Stop it!" Again, louder.
~I'm only trying to help. I don't want to see you get hurt.~
"STOP IT! Why can't you just leave me alone?! If you're trying to help me so much then why did you almost make me hurt Link?!" she shouted. She pushed herself violently away from the bed. Slowly she made her way over to her mirror so that she could look back at herself and make sure that she wasn't going crazy. Gazing into it, she gasped. The seventeen-year-old girl that should have been looking back at her wasn't there. In her place was a beautiful young woman that looked eerily familiar.
Her blond hair cascaded down to her waist but it wasn't wavy like Lily's. The same green eyes stared back at Lily but they were wiser and hid a wealth of knowledge. Her full lips were painted with a faint pink coloring and she adorned golden bronze makeup on her eyelids. But perhaps the most startling feature of all was a round yellow ball that was about the size of quarter lying smack dab in the middle of her forehead. Lily turned her head to the left and watched as the reflection did the same.
~This is who I am. And who you are.~
"No," she whispered pulling away from the mirror. The expression on the reflection showed the same surprised look that Lily's face held. "I refuse to believe this."
~But you must.~
"I really am going crazy," Lily said to herself. She shifted her gaze to the ground and took another step backward. She found the edge of her bed with her hands and lowered herself into a sitting position. "It's too real to be a dream but it's not believable enough to be real. I must be hallucinating."
~Would you stop denying the truth and listen to me.~
"The voice is all part of it, too," she continued on as if she hadn't heard the voice.
~If you don't start listening to me right now, all the-- ~
The voice was abruptly cut off when there came a knock at Lily's door. She broke from her train of thought and moved to get up. The door opened on its own and in the hall stood Saith. He watched her with a hard eye and Lily had a hard time surpressing a shudder. This was not the same Saith that she had gotten to know in the past few days. He was mad and she was almost positive that she knew why.
"Hello Saith," she said quietly. He didn't answer her but took a step into the room anyways. Lily took a step back and tried not to meet his gaze.
"Tell me, what happened today?" he asked, his voice low.
"I-I don't want to talk about it," she said turning away from him. She knew what would happen now. They would kick her out and probably make her stay in the Great Hall. This was her punishment for bringing these people into her problems.
"You're going to have to."
"Why?" she whispered to her bed. "It's over and done. You can't change the past. There's no need to talk about it. Nobody got hurt."
Lily felt a hand on her shoulder before it jerked her around. Saith looked into her eyes and found the same fear that his father had seen earlier that afternoon. But what was she so afraid of?
"What do you mean, nobody got hurt? You nearly killed my father! You expect me to believe that we don't need to talk about it? Something went wrong today, Lily. I can see it in your eyes and you need to talk about it," Saith insisted. He was actually more scared for Lily rather than mad at her for happened today. She had obviously not been in control of her actions and he wanted to know what was going on. It was then that he realized how much he had come to care for her. Before it had just been a simple crush. Now it was something more. He wasn't just worried about her health. He was worried about her state of mind as well and right now it didn't seem to be in very good condition.
"I'm sorry Saith. I didn't mean to try and hurt someone. I just got scared. . .and I guess. . .my body just kind of reacted," she said. She was on the verge of tears now. Everything had been going good up until now. But now she was being pestered by her imagination and she had almost hurt one her good friends.
"Someone's body doesn't just react with the instinct to kill, Lily. That's a lie and we both know it. Now tell me what's going on."
"I don't know," she said. Her voice sounded so lost and forlorn. "I just don't know what's going on."
She put her face in her hands and sat down on the bed hoping that Saith would take that explanation and leave her alone. She didn't want anybody coming near her. In this state of mind there was no telling what she might do. But he didn't go.
Lily felt the mattress underneath her squish as Saith seated himself next to her. He didn't move for a few minutes and the feeling of his body next to hers comforted her. She still didn't dare to look at him, though. She didn't want him to see the pain and stress on her face.
"The Tryul army will be at the gates of the marketplace tomorrow," Saith said quietly.
"And?"
"Well, I wanted to discuss our battle plans a little while we still had time." Lily could feel the smile that Saith was giving her. Removing her hands from her face, she glanced up at him. The firelight caught his golden hair and made it glow and his blue eyes sparkled back at her.
Beside her Saith was having a hard time concentrating on anything but Lily. The fear was almost gone from her green eyes now and the blond hair that spilled down her back was so soft and inviting. He almost couldn't keep his hand from trying to entangle itself in her wavy locks. They stared at each other for a moment longer and Saith could feel himself slowly loosing control. Any minute he would steal a kiss from those lips that were set in an almost pouting frown.
"So what about those battle plans?" Lily asked expectantly, ruining the moment. Surprised, Saith blinked at her, silently mourning his lost chance.
"Oh. . .um, well,. . .when the army made it's way into the marketplace we're going to try to launch an attack from the side streets. This will be our main force while we have a small number of soldiers attacking from the front."
"You mean like a diversion, and then sweep in with a pincer movement?"
"Right. Hopefully the narrow fighting space and the surprise attack will scare Prince Darius enough so that he'll pull out of the city for a while. In the meantime we've got an army forming at their back. When we're ready we'll start an all out assault on Tryul's forces from both the back and the front. How does it sound?" Saith asked her proudly. He had actually thought of the plan himself with a little help from Tearen. Even though his brother wasn't one for fighting, he did have a brain for strategy.
"What do you mean an army? We don't have an army," Lily said.
"We've got the Gorons, Zoras, and Gerudos on the move. They should be here just in time to help out with the battle."
"They'll only be able to help if we can scare Darius enough to drive him out of the city. The whole plan kind of falls apart if he doesn't pull back," she stated evenly.
"We'll just have to put on a really convincing performance then."
Lily sighed and hung her head.
"I just don't know if this is going to work. It's all too risky. Don't we have some sort of back up plan?"
"What kind of plan did you have in mind?"
Lily was surprised by the question. She didn't think anybody would have asked her about her opinions on the war.
"Well, I didn't really have a plan. It was just kind of a spur of the moment idea," she said. "If you had a back up plan you wouldn't have to worry about Darius not pulling out of the marketplace."
"That's true but it's too late to come up with a plan and then implement it before tomorrow morning. Especially without them seeing anything." Saith sighed and stood up. "Our scouts tell us that the army's camped about a mile away from the entrance to the marketplace. So, like I said, there isn't anything that we can do without them spotting it."
He walked over to the door and Lily watched him as he opened and stepped out into the hallway. He stopped for a moment and turned back to face her.
"If you ever feel like telling me what's going on, don't hesitate to come find me," he said reassuringly. He gazed at her a moment longer before he closed the door behind him and continued down the hall.
Lily watched the door for another moment or two, making sure that he had really gone, before she got up and changed into her nightgown. Tomorrow was going to be a long day and she was going to need all the sleep she could get.
~Tomorrow is going to be the most important day of your life. Tomorrow the fate of the world rests in your hands.~
Lily simply ignored the voice as she blew out the torch and climbed under the thick comforter. Closing her eyes, she sighed and tried to get to sleep.
The tension that could be felt in the air grew heavier with every passing hour. Silence reined supreme and made the world seem dead to the listener's ears. Nothing moved on that moonlit night except for the scurrying of the guards on both sides as they prepared for battle with the coming of the morning light. The smell of boiling tar and smoking firewood drifted through the air and all the signs pointed to a bloody sunrise.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Hey, I stayed with my schedule this time. I'm not sure how it's going to go with my other stories but I got this one up within the week. Mainly because it's Spring Break but what works, works. Next week school starts so be prepared to wait for another chapter. I'm honestly trying to get this out as fast as I can. I know how much some of you love this story so I'm making sure to get this one done first.
Thank you to Benjamin Brown who reviewed for one of my earlier chapters. Glad to see that this is not one of those 'hack wannabe writers "I can do as well as they can" jobs that was nothing like the original and stank to high heaven.' I'm also reposting some of my earlier chapters with mistakes that were fixed and a few changes. Don't worry, for all you older readers. It's nothing big. Anyways I'll see you next chapter. Bye bye!
P.S. I was looking back at some of my author's notes, too. Now is it just me or did I sound pretty conceited back then? Funny that it was only a couple of months ago when I wrote that.
Chapter Nineteen: The Night Before
The sun set slowly and the light faded away leaving the land in darkness. Shadows sprang up with the dieing light and the children that could see them imagined them to be monsters waiting for them to move from their mother's laps. Tension filled the air. This would be the Hylian's last night of peaceful slumber. In the morning the war would begin and many husbands, sons, grandparents, cousins, and uncles would loose their lives fighting to save the people they loved. The question was, would their efforts be enough to push back the oncoming army or would the Hylians be overcome.
In her room Lily slowly rocked back and forth on her bed clutching her knees to her chest like a child. There were no tears or sobs coming from her thin body. All that could be heard throughout the room was the mumblings of someone who is terrified.
"Mommy, Daddy, where are you?" she whispered to herself. "Come back to me please. Don't leave me here. All alone. I don't want to be alone."
~You're not alone.~ The voice sounded soothing and calm but this only frightened Lily more. She had seen the terrible power of the voice that was haunting her. She wanted it to go away so that she could be left in peace.
"Stop it," she whispered.
~It's alright, I'm here for you.~
"Stop it." This time it was louder.
~Don't shove me away.~
"Stop it!" Again, louder.
~I'm only trying to help. I don't want to see you get hurt.~
"STOP IT! Why can't you just leave me alone?! If you're trying to help me so much then why did you almost make me hurt Link?!" she shouted. She pushed herself violently away from the bed. Slowly she made her way over to her mirror so that she could look back at herself and make sure that she wasn't going crazy. Gazing into it, she gasped. The seventeen-year-old girl that should have been looking back at her wasn't there. In her place was a beautiful young woman that looked eerily familiar.
Her blond hair cascaded down to her waist but it wasn't wavy like Lily's. The same green eyes stared back at Lily but they were wiser and hid a wealth of knowledge. Her full lips were painted with a faint pink coloring and she adorned golden bronze makeup on her eyelids. But perhaps the most startling feature of all was a round yellow ball that was about the size of quarter lying smack dab in the middle of her forehead. Lily turned her head to the left and watched as the reflection did the same.
~This is who I am. And who you are.~
"No," she whispered pulling away from the mirror. The expression on the reflection showed the same surprised look that Lily's face held. "I refuse to believe this."
~But you must.~
"I really am going crazy," Lily said to herself. She shifted her gaze to the ground and took another step backward. She found the edge of her bed with her hands and lowered herself into a sitting position. "It's too real to be a dream but it's not believable enough to be real. I must be hallucinating."
~Would you stop denying the truth and listen to me.~
"The voice is all part of it, too," she continued on as if she hadn't heard the voice.
~If you don't start listening to me right now, all the-- ~
The voice was abruptly cut off when there came a knock at Lily's door. She broke from her train of thought and moved to get up. The door opened on its own and in the hall stood Saith. He watched her with a hard eye and Lily had a hard time surpressing a shudder. This was not the same Saith that she had gotten to know in the past few days. He was mad and she was almost positive that she knew why.
"Hello Saith," she said quietly. He didn't answer her but took a step into the room anyways. Lily took a step back and tried not to meet his gaze.
"Tell me, what happened today?" he asked, his voice low.
"I-I don't want to talk about it," she said turning away from him. She knew what would happen now. They would kick her out and probably make her stay in the Great Hall. This was her punishment for bringing these people into her problems.
"You're going to have to."
"Why?" she whispered to her bed. "It's over and done. You can't change the past. There's no need to talk about it. Nobody got hurt."
Lily felt a hand on her shoulder before it jerked her around. Saith looked into her eyes and found the same fear that his father had seen earlier that afternoon. But what was she so afraid of?
"What do you mean, nobody got hurt? You nearly killed my father! You expect me to believe that we don't need to talk about it? Something went wrong today, Lily. I can see it in your eyes and you need to talk about it," Saith insisted. He was actually more scared for Lily rather than mad at her for happened today. She had obviously not been in control of her actions and he wanted to know what was going on. It was then that he realized how much he had come to care for her. Before it had just been a simple crush. Now it was something more. He wasn't just worried about her health. He was worried about her state of mind as well and right now it didn't seem to be in very good condition.
"I'm sorry Saith. I didn't mean to try and hurt someone. I just got scared. . .and I guess. . .my body just kind of reacted," she said. She was on the verge of tears now. Everything had been going good up until now. But now she was being pestered by her imagination and she had almost hurt one her good friends.
"Someone's body doesn't just react with the instinct to kill, Lily. That's a lie and we both know it. Now tell me what's going on."
"I don't know," she said. Her voice sounded so lost and forlorn. "I just don't know what's going on."
She put her face in her hands and sat down on the bed hoping that Saith would take that explanation and leave her alone. She didn't want anybody coming near her. In this state of mind there was no telling what she might do. But he didn't go.
Lily felt the mattress underneath her squish as Saith seated himself next to her. He didn't move for a few minutes and the feeling of his body next to hers comforted her. She still didn't dare to look at him, though. She didn't want him to see the pain and stress on her face.
"The Tryul army will be at the gates of the marketplace tomorrow," Saith said quietly.
"And?"
"Well, I wanted to discuss our battle plans a little while we still had time." Lily could feel the smile that Saith was giving her. Removing her hands from her face, she glanced up at him. The firelight caught his golden hair and made it glow and his blue eyes sparkled back at her.
Beside her Saith was having a hard time concentrating on anything but Lily. The fear was almost gone from her green eyes now and the blond hair that spilled down her back was so soft and inviting. He almost couldn't keep his hand from trying to entangle itself in her wavy locks. They stared at each other for a moment longer and Saith could feel himself slowly loosing control. Any minute he would steal a kiss from those lips that were set in an almost pouting frown.
"So what about those battle plans?" Lily asked expectantly, ruining the moment. Surprised, Saith blinked at her, silently mourning his lost chance.
"Oh. . .um, well,. . .when the army made it's way into the marketplace we're going to try to launch an attack from the side streets. This will be our main force while we have a small number of soldiers attacking from the front."
"You mean like a diversion, and then sweep in with a pincer movement?"
"Right. Hopefully the narrow fighting space and the surprise attack will scare Prince Darius enough so that he'll pull out of the city for a while. In the meantime we've got an army forming at their back. When we're ready we'll start an all out assault on Tryul's forces from both the back and the front. How does it sound?" Saith asked her proudly. He had actually thought of the plan himself with a little help from Tearen. Even though his brother wasn't one for fighting, he did have a brain for strategy.
"What do you mean an army? We don't have an army," Lily said.
"We've got the Gorons, Zoras, and Gerudos on the move. They should be here just in time to help out with the battle."
"They'll only be able to help if we can scare Darius enough to drive him out of the city. The whole plan kind of falls apart if he doesn't pull back," she stated evenly.
"We'll just have to put on a really convincing performance then."
Lily sighed and hung her head.
"I just don't know if this is going to work. It's all too risky. Don't we have some sort of back up plan?"
"What kind of plan did you have in mind?"
Lily was surprised by the question. She didn't think anybody would have asked her about her opinions on the war.
"Well, I didn't really have a plan. It was just kind of a spur of the moment idea," she said. "If you had a back up plan you wouldn't have to worry about Darius not pulling out of the marketplace."
"That's true but it's too late to come up with a plan and then implement it before tomorrow morning. Especially without them seeing anything." Saith sighed and stood up. "Our scouts tell us that the army's camped about a mile away from the entrance to the marketplace. So, like I said, there isn't anything that we can do without them spotting it."
He walked over to the door and Lily watched him as he opened and stepped out into the hallway. He stopped for a moment and turned back to face her.
"If you ever feel like telling me what's going on, don't hesitate to come find me," he said reassuringly. He gazed at her a moment longer before he closed the door behind him and continued down the hall.
Lily watched the door for another moment or two, making sure that he had really gone, before she got up and changed into her nightgown. Tomorrow was going to be a long day and she was going to need all the sleep she could get.
~Tomorrow is going to be the most important day of your life. Tomorrow the fate of the world rests in your hands.~
Lily simply ignored the voice as she blew out the torch and climbed under the thick comforter. Closing her eyes, she sighed and tried to get to sleep.
The tension that could be felt in the air grew heavier with every passing hour. Silence reined supreme and made the world seem dead to the listener's ears. Nothing moved on that moonlit night except for the scurrying of the guards on both sides as they prepared for battle with the coming of the morning light. The smell of boiling tar and smoking firewood drifted through the air and all the signs pointed to a bloody sunrise.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Hey, I stayed with my schedule this time. I'm not sure how it's going to go with my other stories but I got this one up within the week. Mainly because it's Spring Break but what works, works. Next week school starts so be prepared to wait for another chapter. I'm honestly trying to get this out as fast as I can. I know how much some of you love this story so I'm making sure to get this one done first.
Thank you to Benjamin Brown who reviewed for one of my earlier chapters. Glad to see that this is not one of those 'hack wannabe writers "I can do as well as they can" jobs that was nothing like the original and stank to high heaven.' I'm also reposting some of my earlier chapters with mistakes that were fixed and a few changes. Don't worry, for all you older readers. It's nothing big. Anyways I'll see you next chapter. Bye bye!
P.S. I was looking back at some of my author's notes, too. Now is it just me or did I sound pretty conceited back then? Funny that it was only a couple of months ago when I wrote that.