The country of Hyrule passed around and under her, green and passionate and
nearly blinding her with life. She hadn't been out of the Valley in the
spring before, only the fall and winter, and even then only when the food
storehouses were full and the plunder of that year had met the quota
decided by the Council.
Now, today, the air was light and warm, the sun golden- perfect traveling weather. Freia seemed to enjoy it, too, throwing up her head and prancing down the beaten roads. Eria hummed a song, something she'd heard from a bard stopping by on her way to Lake Hylia, and perfectly suited to her voice. She'd heard somewhere that all horses had an innate sense of rhythm, which Freia proved by setting her pace to Eria's song.
They rode all day and into the night, walking in the forests and on the windy plains, cantering whenever the road was clear and the spirit took them.
They passed a merchant caravan just after noon, Freia hopping nervously by the brightly-painted, noisy wagons with their flapping banners. Eria guided her off the road and around to the front of the train, careful to keep the reins loose and the pressure from her knees light.
"Excuse me," she called to the driver in the first wagon. He had roughly the same expression as the mules he drove, placid, unshakeable.
He glanced over to her warily. "Aye?"
"Is this the road to the capital?"
He nodded reluctantly. "Aye, s'about twenty miles from here. You'll know it when ya see Lon Lon Ranch on the plateau on yer right and a three-way road in front of ya. Got me?"
Eria nodded. "Thank you."
He nodded again, mechanically. "Headed to the capital meself. Gots trade goods from Greenleaf Settlement."
Eria frowned. She'd never heard of Greenleaf Settlement. "What are you trading?"
"Oh, timber products mostly. Little things- brooms, toys for the young'uns. Combs. Woman's fripperies."
Her mouth formed the words 'woman's fripperies.' "Really."
"Aye. Setting up for the festival what happens ever' year after the Annual Pledge Audience. Right cut for a profit, by my reckoning."
Eria found herself nodding as mechanically as he had. "Good luck, then, and good profit. And thank you for the directions."
"Certainly, certainly. Young slip of a girl like yourself ought not to be travelin' these roads with no direction. Be safe, now."
Young slip of a girl, Eria repeated to herself. Maybe his eyesight was going. "Thank you, I will."
"An' watch out fer bandits!" he called as she and Freia trotted away.
Who in their right mind would name their ranch Lon Lon? She wondered idly as the caravan grew smaller behind her. That's really- annoying. Repetitive.
They topped a ridge as the sun was going down, giving Eria a great view of Death Mountain. The mountain itself was a dark, mystic purple while the sky around it was shading into black. Save for the halo of dark smoke, the mountain looked like it was fading into the sky. Fog leaked over the foothills like smoke from between an old woman's teeth. She stopped to appreciate the view, glanced superstitiously to her right. Yes, lo and behold, there was a ranch. Lon Lon Ranch, she was willing to bet.
The stupid names don't seem to be abating, she realized. Death Mountain, which hasn't been active in gods know how long. More like Dead Mountain. Greenleaf Settlement, which exports timber. And Lon Lon Ranch, which takes twice as Lon to say as it needs to. Silly Hylians.
Freia was tiring. They took the soft slope down the ridge at a walk, giving Eria ample time to admire the fog sliding into the small valley before the gates to the capital, Hyrule Castle Town. By the time they set hoof on flat ground, the fog had swallowed them entirely and the sky was black above them. Dismounting for the first time all day, Eria took the reins in her hands and began to walk the stiffness out of her legs. Freia nickered warily as they made their way through the dense, purplish gray fog. Eria could barely see two glowing balls of orange ahead- they had to be the welcoming torches that meant the Queen was in residence in the capital.
Long before they reached the walls, Eria could hear water running. Smell it, too, over the ever-present scent of... plants. Am I ever going to get used to this? She wondered, trying to smell around all the fresh grass.
"HALT!" Someone barked from high above (the top of the wall, Eria assumed). "STAND AND DECLARE YOURSELF!"
She came to attention, even though she doubted whoever it was could see her. Taking her cue from her mistress, Freia quit prancing and stood calmly behind Eria. "Meriandra a Zumi de Patros, tributary citizen of the Gerudo, come for the Pledge Audience. I have a letter of introduction from the Gerudo Council of Nine."
"One moment!"
Something began to churn, to clank rhythmically above her. It started above her, anyway, but by the time the drawbridge was all the way down, the clattering chains ricocheted off the fog and filled her ears.
With nearly as much clanking as the drawbridge, three guards advanced carefully. Two were fully armed, the last bearing a torch in place of a spear. Returning Eria's salute, he stopped before her. "The letter, please."
Eria turned back to Freia, dug through her saddlebags. The letter was a little rumpled, but was of the finest Gerudo papyrus, and untorn. When she handed it over, the guard with the torch unsealed it and scanned it quickly under the flickering light. Eria hadn't read it herself, and took the free moment to wonder what it said. 'Please take this screwup of a traitor's daughter and teach her some respect. Sorry about the short notice,' or something of the like, she imagined. Of course, it would all be disguised in diplomatic doublespeak. The Queen probably wouldn't even read it, just have someone translate for her.
"This is in order." The guard finally said. "If you'll follow us, we can take you to the castle."
With a cursory nod, Eria fell into step behind the Hylian guards. They were clad, it seemed, entirely in wool and chain or plate mail. They clanked with damn near every breath. How do they sneak? Eria wondered, amazed. I certainly wouldn't want them guarding anything I wanted kept hidden.
They passed in silence under the wall. From what Eria could see, the stone making up the outer wall to the castle was a good fifteen feet thick- wide enough, it seemed, that guard posts were built right into the wall itself. Not so good for the guards inside if this place ever came under artillery siege. She bit her lower lip contemplatively. From the look she'd gotten outside, the moat was only ten feet wide, maybe six deep. The drawbridge was made of wood- flammable.
"You don't see much action around here, do you?" she asked the guard.
"What makes you say that?" he asked, sounding slightly offended.
"This place is built like a siege castle made into a town, that's all. Nothing personal."
"Oh- I guess you could say that, yeah."
Wonderful, she thought. Not only am I sent away from my home, I'm sent to the capital of Boring.
"What's that sound?" One of the foremost guards asked his companion. Eria listened carefully. It sounded like hooves on stone, coming towards them. Fast.
"Get out of the way!" she barked, shoving the otherwise frozen guard beside her against the wall of the gate. She dropped Freia's reins, shouting: "Left!" Freia was a trained battlemare- she responded not only to physical commands, but verbal ones, and though she quivered with excitement now, she obeyed, sidestepping into the other wall. Eria followed her mount, hoping the two guards in front had the common sense to split apart before they were run over by-
Four horses, galloping full out, appeared out of the fog ahead. They didn't seem inclined to stop. Eria pressed herself against the wall as the first passed, taking impressions of the horse and rider automatically- it was significantly ahead of the other three, and was carrying two people.
The pitch of the hoofbeats changed as the horse reached the drawbridge. As Eria watched, the rider in front waved back at her- at the gate in general, it seemed, and sneezed loudly enough to be heard over the hooves. Eria was impressed.
"HELP!"
Okay, that changed the situation entirely. Eria swung up onto Freia and kicked her into a canter back out the way they'd come. All four of the other horses were galloping, and Freia was tired from a day's riding, so Eria didn't get far before the second horse caught up to her. That was fine. She hadn't had time to get her feet in the stirrups, so she shoved up against the saddle itself with her hands and knees, boosting up to a crouch on the seat. Taking her cues from Eria's body language, Freia edged over closer to the other horse, and Eria launched herself across the distance.
She sort of collided with the rider's waist. He cried out, she grunted and grabbed his knee. Pushing down on it, she scrambled up behind him to lever him over in the same direction the knee-push had sent him. He slid off, tumbling to the ground below, and she dropped neatly into the saddle. It was too dark to see if he lived or not- Eria just hoped she had at least one prisoner to present to the guards when this was over.
New mount obtained, she kicked hard, trying to get more speed out of a horse that, she was rapidly realizing, fell somewhere between 'nag' and 'dead' in the quality category. Instead of obeying her, it began to buck. She swore, smacked its neck hard with the palm of her hand repeatedly as another horse galloped by. Her mount leveled out, more or less, but by the time she was settled in the saddle again and ready to pursue, the two horses ahead had vanished into the fog.
"Son of a bitch!" She swore, yanking back sharply on the reins as her horse began to buck again. She swung a leg over and shoved away from the heaving animal as hard as she could. She hit cold grass and rolled, hearing an indignant squeal behind her. She rolled up to her feet, staggered a little, dizzy and awkward, and watched her mount buck after its friends and disappear into the night.
"God damn it!" She gasped, trying to catch her breath. The cold air knifed her lungs, froze her sweat, but did nothing to cure the red haze of combat from her mind.
Several someones clanked up behind her. "Miss, are you all right?"
"The gods-cursed filth got away." she wheezed.
"Not the one you downed." one of the men clipped. "We got another."
"Thank the goddess. Who was that on the first horse?"
There was a group shrug.
"Oh, excellent. What do you people do around here if someone screams for help, file a complaint?" At their exclamations, she held up a hand. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. But still, whoever that was wanted our help. But it's too late now."
The three guards glanced around guiltily. "We tried-"
"FREEZE!"
Now, today, the air was light and warm, the sun golden- perfect traveling weather. Freia seemed to enjoy it, too, throwing up her head and prancing down the beaten roads. Eria hummed a song, something she'd heard from a bard stopping by on her way to Lake Hylia, and perfectly suited to her voice. She'd heard somewhere that all horses had an innate sense of rhythm, which Freia proved by setting her pace to Eria's song.
They rode all day and into the night, walking in the forests and on the windy plains, cantering whenever the road was clear and the spirit took them.
They passed a merchant caravan just after noon, Freia hopping nervously by the brightly-painted, noisy wagons with their flapping banners. Eria guided her off the road and around to the front of the train, careful to keep the reins loose and the pressure from her knees light.
"Excuse me," she called to the driver in the first wagon. He had roughly the same expression as the mules he drove, placid, unshakeable.
He glanced over to her warily. "Aye?"
"Is this the road to the capital?"
He nodded reluctantly. "Aye, s'about twenty miles from here. You'll know it when ya see Lon Lon Ranch on the plateau on yer right and a three-way road in front of ya. Got me?"
Eria nodded. "Thank you."
He nodded again, mechanically. "Headed to the capital meself. Gots trade goods from Greenleaf Settlement."
Eria frowned. She'd never heard of Greenleaf Settlement. "What are you trading?"
"Oh, timber products mostly. Little things- brooms, toys for the young'uns. Combs. Woman's fripperies."
Her mouth formed the words 'woman's fripperies.' "Really."
"Aye. Setting up for the festival what happens ever' year after the Annual Pledge Audience. Right cut for a profit, by my reckoning."
Eria found herself nodding as mechanically as he had. "Good luck, then, and good profit. And thank you for the directions."
"Certainly, certainly. Young slip of a girl like yourself ought not to be travelin' these roads with no direction. Be safe, now."
Young slip of a girl, Eria repeated to herself. Maybe his eyesight was going. "Thank you, I will."
"An' watch out fer bandits!" he called as she and Freia trotted away.
Who in their right mind would name their ranch Lon Lon? She wondered idly as the caravan grew smaller behind her. That's really- annoying. Repetitive.
They topped a ridge as the sun was going down, giving Eria a great view of Death Mountain. The mountain itself was a dark, mystic purple while the sky around it was shading into black. Save for the halo of dark smoke, the mountain looked like it was fading into the sky. Fog leaked over the foothills like smoke from between an old woman's teeth. She stopped to appreciate the view, glanced superstitiously to her right. Yes, lo and behold, there was a ranch. Lon Lon Ranch, she was willing to bet.
The stupid names don't seem to be abating, she realized. Death Mountain, which hasn't been active in gods know how long. More like Dead Mountain. Greenleaf Settlement, which exports timber. And Lon Lon Ranch, which takes twice as Lon to say as it needs to. Silly Hylians.
Freia was tiring. They took the soft slope down the ridge at a walk, giving Eria ample time to admire the fog sliding into the small valley before the gates to the capital, Hyrule Castle Town. By the time they set hoof on flat ground, the fog had swallowed them entirely and the sky was black above them. Dismounting for the first time all day, Eria took the reins in her hands and began to walk the stiffness out of her legs. Freia nickered warily as they made their way through the dense, purplish gray fog. Eria could barely see two glowing balls of orange ahead- they had to be the welcoming torches that meant the Queen was in residence in the capital.
Long before they reached the walls, Eria could hear water running. Smell it, too, over the ever-present scent of... plants. Am I ever going to get used to this? She wondered, trying to smell around all the fresh grass.
"HALT!" Someone barked from high above (the top of the wall, Eria assumed). "STAND AND DECLARE YOURSELF!"
She came to attention, even though she doubted whoever it was could see her. Taking her cue from her mistress, Freia quit prancing and stood calmly behind Eria. "Meriandra a Zumi de Patros, tributary citizen of the Gerudo, come for the Pledge Audience. I have a letter of introduction from the Gerudo Council of Nine."
"One moment!"
Something began to churn, to clank rhythmically above her. It started above her, anyway, but by the time the drawbridge was all the way down, the clattering chains ricocheted off the fog and filled her ears.
With nearly as much clanking as the drawbridge, three guards advanced carefully. Two were fully armed, the last bearing a torch in place of a spear. Returning Eria's salute, he stopped before her. "The letter, please."
Eria turned back to Freia, dug through her saddlebags. The letter was a little rumpled, but was of the finest Gerudo papyrus, and untorn. When she handed it over, the guard with the torch unsealed it and scanned it quickly under the flickering light. Eria hadn't read it herself, and took the free moment to wonder what it said. 'Please take this screwup of a traitor's daughter and teach her some respect. Sorry about the short notice,' or something of the like, she imagined. Of course, it would all be disguised in diplomatic doublespeak. The Queen probably wouldn't even read it, just have someone translate for her.
"This is in order." The guard finally said. "If you'll follow us, we can take you to the castle."
With a cursory nod, Eria fell into step behind the Hylian guards. They were clad, it seemed, entirely in wool and chain or plate mail. They clanked with damn near every breath. How do they sneak? Eria wondered, amazed. I certainly wouldn't want them guarding anything I wanted kept hidden.
They passed in silence under the wall. From what Eria could see, the stone making up the outer wall to the castle was a good fifteen feet thick- wide enough, it seemed, that guard posts were built right into the wall itself. Not so good for the guards inside if this place ever came under artillery siege. She bit her lower lip contemplatively. From the look she'd gotten outside, the moat was only ten feet wide, maybe six deep. The drawbridge was made of wood- flammable.
"You don't see much action around here, do you?" she asked the guard.
"What makes you say that?" he asked, sounding slightly offended.
"This place is built like a siege castle made into a town, that's all. Nothing personal."
"Oh- I guess you could say that, yeah."
Wonderful, she thought. Not only am I sent away from my home, I'm sent to the capital of Boring.
"What's that sound?" One of the foremost guards asked his companion. Eria listened carefully. It sounded like hooves on stone, coming towards them. Fast.
"Get out of the way!" she barked, shoving the otherwise frozen guard beside her against the wall of the gate. She dropped Freia's reins, shouting: "Left!" Freia was a trained battlemare- she responded not only to physical commands, but verbal ones, and though she quivered with excitement now, she obeyed, sidestepping into the other wall. Eria followed her mount, hoping the two guards in front had the common sense to split apart before they were run over by-
Four horses, galloping full out, appeared out of the fog ahead. They didn't seem inclined to stop. Eria pressed herself against the wall as the first passed, taking impressions of the horse and rider automatically- it was significantly ahead of the other three, and was carrying two people.
The pitch of the hoofbeats changed as the horse reached the drawbridge. As Eria watched, the rider in front waved back at her- at the gate in general, it seemed, and sneezed loudly enough to be heard over the hooves. Eria was impressed.
"HELP!"
Okay, that changed the situation entirely. Eria swung up onto Freia and kicked her into a canter back out the way they'd come. All four of the other horses were galloping, and Freia was tired from a day's riding, so Eria didn't get far before the second horse caught up to her. That was fine. She hadn't had time to get her feet in the stirrups, so she shoved up against the saddle itself with her hands and knees, boosting up to a crouch on the seat. Taking her cues from Eria's body language, Freia edged over closer to the other horse, and Eria launched herself across the distance.
She sort of collided with the rider's waist. He cried out, she grunted and grabbed his knee. Pushing down on it, she scrambled up behind him to lever him over in the same direction the knee-push had sent him. He slid off, tumbling to the ground below, and she dropped neatly into the saddle. It was too dark to see if he lived or not- Eria just hoped she had at least one prisoner to present to the guards when this was over.
New mount obtained, she kicked hard, trying to get more speed out of a horse that, she was rapidly realizing, fell somewhere between 'nag' and 'dead' in the quality category. Instead of obeying her, it began to buck. She swore, smacked its neck hard with the palm of her hand repeatedly as another horse galloped by. Her mount leveled out, more or less, but by the time she was settled in the saddle again and ready to pursue, the two horses ahead had vanished into the fog.
"Son of a bitch!" She swore, yanking back sharply on the reins as her horse began to buck again. She swung a leg over and shoved away from the heaving animal as hard as she could. She hit cold grass and rolled, hearing an indignant squeal behind her. She rolled up to her feet, staggered a little, dizzy and awkward, and watched her mount buck after its friends and disappear into the night.
"God damn it!" She gasped, trying to catch her breath. The cold air knifed her lungs, froze her sweat, but did nothing to cure the red haze of combat from her mind.
Several someones clanked up behind her. "Miss, are you all right?"
"The gods-cursed filth got away." she wheezed.
"Not the one you downed." one of the men clipped. "We got another."
"Thank the goddess. Who was that on the first horse?"
There was a group shrug.
"Oh, excellent. What do you people do around here if someone screams for help, file a complaint?" At their exclamations, she held up a hand. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. But still, whoever that was wanted our help. But it's too late now."
The three guards glanced around guiltily. "We tried-"
"FREEZE!"