A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
Sorry for the wait in between chapters. I should update sooner, especially since there's so much to go through. Still not done with the story, though I'm working on it. Sometimes I get the feeling people are losing interest in this story, though I suppose it's all in my head; the 400+ reviews this fic has is proof enough of that.
Actually I think I'm getting paranoid mostly because I'm pretty depressed right now, from a combination of factors including too much schoolwork, too little sleep, a phone conversation with my mom that was less than pleasant, and of course, frustration over The Destined. It's all getting pretty bad. Everything is just...closing in, I guess.
***
Chapter 33
Refuge of the Hylians
The Shadow Temple was built underground into an expanse of land on the outskirts of Kakariko Town. The field above the temple was calm and grassy, tucked protectively between the cliff faces of Death Mountain. In the end, it was there that the entire town gathered, hoping that the ward placed by the goddesses on the temple extended to the surrounding land.
Link, listening with only half an ear as Zelda explained about the resistance, examined the faces in the crowd. There were many young men and women, adolescents that were perhaps even younger than Zelda and himself. They were the ones who looked most convinced, who hadn't lived long enough to give up hope of overthrowing Ganondorf.
He couldn't help wondering how many of them would be left alive after a war with Ganondorf, if it came to that.
"How can we make soldiers out of these people?" he asked Rowen in a whisper, giving voice to his fears. "They need training, they need to know how to fight–they need weapons, for that matter–"
Rowen smiled. "Don't be so quick to judge us defenseless, Master Link. I'll show you a secret of ours, if you'd like."
"Now?"
"You've heard all this before, haven't you?"
She had a point, so they slipped away from the crowds and walked back to the almost deserted town. Rowen led Link to her own house and down a flight of stairs that led to the cellar. Link helped her, worried that she might fall and injure her unborn child.
"Thanks," Rowen huffed, tottering with difficulty on the slippery stone steps. "I feel ready to drop any day now, but the baby is taking her sweet time."
"Her?" Link echoed.
Rowen nodded. "The midwife used her magic to discern the baby's gender. I told Bower I was sorry I couldn't give him a son to train as town headman. He blinks at me and says, 'a daughter will do just as well.'" She chuckled. "Guess my husband really was born of a queen's kingdom."
"Have you thought of a name?" Link inquired politely.
Rowen made a face. "Bower wants to name her 'Rowena,' after me, you know. I'm not so sure about that."
The cellar was a cool, dry room with stone walls and packed dirt underfoot, crammed with stored food. On the far wall hung a tapestry; Rowen went straight to it, removing a ring of keys from her belt, and pushed the tapestry aside to reveal a plain wooden door with a heavy lock. She pushed a key into the lock and turned it; the door swung open to reveal a room glittering with piles and piles of weapons.
Link's jaw dropped. He stepped past Rowen, who looked quite pleased with herself, and stared in amazement at the multitude of weapons littering the small storeroom. There were swords of every kind, daggers, bows and quivers full of arrows, axes, pole arms, clubs and maces, even scimitars like the Gerudos used. Though strewn about haphazardly on the floor, all of them looked well-made and well-cared for.
"Once a month, Bower and I come down here and clean all the weapons," Rowen said happily. "It's a big job, but well worth the effort. Nearly everyone in the village knows the basics of sword combat, and many are skilled in other weapons. We're not as helpless as you think."
"Clearly I misjudged you," Link admitted, picking up a gleaming sword and examining it. "I never imagined Kakariko would be so...prepared."
"Of course we're prepared," Rowen said proudly. "Kakariko is the second home of the Hylian Kingdom. We birthed the Sheikah who have protected the royal family throughout the ages. Whenever the Hylian people are in trouble, this town is their refuge. Our people have tricked Ganondorf many times into believing we're loyal to him, but we'll always support the true heir to the kingdom."
"I thought you didn't believe Zelda was a queen?" Link asked her in mild surprise.
Rowen shrugged. "Maybe I'm starting to change my mind."
* * *
Link reported the hidden mass of weapons to Zelda, who reported it in turn to Valan, who apparently already knew. Once the meeting above the Shadow Temple was over, Valan got to work.
"Everyone who intends to do their part in the resistance against Ganondorf, sign up with them over there," he ordered, pointing at the town clerks and scribes he had personally recruited for help. "Tell them what weapons you feel you're best with. And I'll tell you now," he added, gazing about at the determined, eager faces of his audience, "once you put your name on that roster you belong to me, got it? You'll train when I say you train, you'll fight when I say you'll fight, and you'll sleep only when I'm finished with you. This is a war we're preparing for, not a tea party."
Valan appointed Impa and Rauru as his commanders-in-chief. Zelda could understand picking Impa, but she had her qualms about the Sage of Light's abilities. "Isn't he a little old to be fighting a war?" she asked Valan in a pointed whisper.
Rauru, unfortunately, overheard. "Excuse me?" he growled. "Was that a comment about my age I heard?"
Zelda gulped. "Not meaning any disrespect, but–"
"You're the archer, right?" Rauru demanded, looking her over with a critical eye. "Valan, I'd like command of the archer trainees, if that's all right with you."
"Fine with me," Valan agreed cheerfully, a wicked smile playing about his broad lips.
Zelda groaned. She had a feeling the old man was going to make her eat her words.
Once the meeting was adjourned, Valan, Impa, and Rauru sat in the tavern and planned a training schedule while Zelda and Link looked on. The five stayed up late in the night, arguing the tactics of war and how the townspeople–soldiers, as Valan insisted they now were–could be best used to their advantage.
"Look, you can't just throw a bunch of people together and expect them to fight a battle," Valan insisted. "Even if they were the best warriors in the world they'd still be slaughtered like spring lambs without organization. Basics of war combat–you've got your archers, your mounted warriors, and your foot soldiers. See, archers are your best bet for taking out as much of the enemy as they can before the real fighting begins. You put them in your front line in an offensive move. Then your mounts, then your foot soldiers. The pole arms are kind of a wild card."
"Why?" Zelda asked, frowning.
"Well, it depends on whether your enemy has more mounted warriors than you do. Usually the mounts attack first, see? And when you've got a whole line of strong horses and warriors bearing down on you, you'd damn well better have your pole arms intact. Let the horses impale themselves."
Zelda winced, but Valan gave a harsh bark of laughter. "That's war, Your Majesty. Not fun, not pretty."
Zelda had no illusions. Less than half of Ganondorf's rumored forces were human. The rest were assembled beasts and monsters, lacking any shred of pity or kindness. Ganondorf's soldiers would be merciless. Hers would have to be merciless as well.
It was an immense relief to have an experienced war general on their side to make these decisions, though Zelda knew that, ultimately, the call to war would be hers. She didn't relish the thought. "I'm going to bed," she muttered, rising.
She didn't notice Impa following her until the Sheikah stopped her before she could ascend the stairs to her room on the upper level. "Zelda, we're going to have to think of some other place to organize the resistance," Impa warned her, eyes grave. "Sooner or later Ganondorf's going to get word of what we're up to, and my bet is sooner."
"I know," Zelda said grimly. "The question is, where can we hide an entire army, when it comes to that?"
"Maybe in the last place Ganondorf–or anyone–would think to look," Impa replied quietly. Without elaborating further she retreated, leaving Zelda with her thoughts.
* * *
If Zelda had thought that any of the townspeople who were now their soldiers would protest to the early schedule set by Valan, Impa, and Rauru, she was wrong. With those three at their heels there seemed to be no protest at all. Thus did Zelda find herself in the field above the Shadow Temple with a group of archers at the crack of dawn, blinking sleepily at targets set so far across the field they were barely visible in the feeble morning light. This had to be Rauru's idea, she thought wearily. And she'd just had to open her mouth.
Most of the archers were adolescents ranged around Zelda's age, though a few were middle-aged or older. As she'd expected, the younger townspeople had been easiest to convince. A girl on her right with red hair and dark brown eyes, who looked barely over fifteen, smiled at Zelda. She returned the smile, then looked away, biting her lip. Much as she tried, she could not stop herself from wondering if the girl's short life would be cut shorter in the coming war.
To her surprise, Rowen was also among the archers, maneuvering to hold her bow properly around her enormous belly. "You're not thinking of fighting with a baby on the way," Zelda called to her worriedly.
Rowen glanced at her from her place in the line. "Morning to you, too," she called back in her usual calm tone. "And if it comes to it, yes, I will fight. For my child's sake, my husband's sake, and my town's sake. What do you fight for, O Queen of the Hylians?"
Rauru gave the order then to begin firing at will. Rowen deftly set an arrow to nock, took aim at the target, and shot. The arrow punched through the center of the distant target.
Zelda raised her eyebrows, but said no more. Instead she concentrated on her own firing as Rauru walked up and down the line, correcting mistakes in stance and firing technique. Zelda tried to ignore him when he stopped close behind her, but found it was rather hard to concentrate with a sage breathing down her neck, especially one just waiting for her to mess up.
When her arrow punched outside of the bull's eye, Rauru gave her an earful, as expected.
"YOU CALL THAT SHOOTING? I CALL IT CHILD'S PLAY! THEY TOLD ME YOU WERE GOOD! SOME DAMN FIGHTER YOU MAKE! WHY DON'T YOU LEAVE IT TO THE BOYS AND THE MEN, LITTLE GIRL?!"
"Nice job, Peliwin," he added calmly to the girl on Zelda's right as he moved on. Zelda looked at Peliwin's target and saw all of her arrows clustered in the center.
Peliwin giggled nervously, drawing Zelda's attention to her. "That was mean," she observed sympathetically.
"He has it in for me because I called him old," Zelda said mournfully.
Peliwin frowned. "But he is old."
"I know! How can he even see the targets?"
The girl giggled again. "I'm Peliwin," she introduced herself officially, holding out a hand encased in an archer's leather guard. "And you're the queen, of course. You talked yesterday."
"Yes, but please just call me Zelda." Zelda clasped Peliwin's hand firmly. "You shoot really well."
"Thanks," Peliwin replied a bit shyly. "So do you."
Zelda shook her head wryly. "I'm the one Rauru yelled at, remember?"
Peliwin raised her bow again to shoot at the target. "No one's ever spoken of rebelling against Ganondorf," she said abruptly. "Well, some have, but I guess they were too scared to go through with it. Not that I blame them."
"Me neither," Zelda admitted quietly, setting an arrow to nock.
"You're different, though," Peliwin continued as she drew and shot. "You're descended of royalty. You have a lot of people on your side already. You even have the goddesses' blessing." She scooped another arrow out of her quiver and looked at it thoughtfully. "My friends and I, we think you'll do it. We think you'll really overthrow him."
Zelda released her arrow, and smiled as it hit dead center in the bull's eye.
* * *
If Link's duel with Valan taught him anything, it was that he was severely out of practice. Therefore, as soon as the healer pronounced him and his ribs fit, he joined in the daily training with bows and arrows, mounted combat, and of course swords. He also joined in the practice with pole arms and axes when he wasn't too exhausted. In consequence he spent most of each day in the field above the Shadow Temple, training under the watchful eye of Impa, Valan, or Rauru, rising before dawn and retiring late in the evening.
What he regretted most about the arduous schedule was that he hardly saw Zelda anymore. Sometimes he had the oddest feeling that she was avoiding him, though he dismissed that idea as nonsense. Certainly she had a lot to do. When she wasn't training, she was attending the meetings between Valan, Impa, and Rauru, watching as they sketched out a battle plan that incorporated both their current troops and the soldiers they would have when united with the peoples of Hyrule. Any free time she had, she spent among the townspeople, learning names and faces and letting them get to know her.
People also approached Link about Zelda, chief among them the Hylians, who had plenty of questions about their future queen. What was she like? What kind of ruler would she be? Was she haughty? Did she care about her would-be subjects, from the richest merchant to the lowliest beggar? Link tried his best to build sympathy and support for Zelda, but he could see that most weren't appeased until they'd spoken to Zelda herself. He wasn't worried; she would win them over in the end.
The townspeople were curious about Link as well. From the conversations he had in between training, he learned that they liked to reminisce about the Link who had come before him, and compare the two.
The blacksmith to whom Link was once apprenticed in Timari, his home village, often wondered aloud what Link's late mother was thinking when she named him after the hero who once protected Hyrule. Link had never worried about it. Now, for the first time in his life, he understood what it meant to be called Link. He had the reputation of a great hero to live up to, one who was still fresh in people's minds. He wondered if Zelda felt this way, having to live up to the reputation of her royal mother.
Plenty tended to wonder aloud whether Link was up to the task of defeating Ganondorf. His duel with Valan had convinced some, but many saw him as a green boy with no real battle experience. There was no point in trying to persuade them otherwise with words; instead Link ignored the comments and focused on his training.
Valan himself trained the soldiers in mounted combat astride a gigantic black stallion he called Thunder. Link had some experience with shooting a bow and fighting with his sword from horseback, but he clearly needed a lot of practice. Demon was certainly up to the task. Normally easy-going and good-natured, the gelding was as fierce as a stallion in battle, even when the combat was just practice. He was the perfect companion. Link always took his time rubbing him down after practice, murmuring compliments as Demon whickered and tossed his head in pleasure.
Rauru had plenty to yell at him about in the early-morning archery practice, but in sword training under Impa's hawk-like eye he was one of the best, though Link still felt he needed much practice. The most gratifying thing he learned as the days of training wore on was that the majority of his fellow soldiers were not rank novices; most of them were at least mildly skilled, often experts with at least one sort of weapon. Valan, Impa, and Rauru shifted the trainees around often according to their experience and skills, so that the group Link practiced with one day might be different the next.
One day in sword practice Link found himself paired off with Bolo. Reading the young thief's emotionless expression, Link had no idea what he was in store for, but the strikes that they exchanged were polite and careful. When Impa gave the order for free combat to commence, Link abruptly found himself facing a vastly improved opponent, whose skill and speed rivaled his own. Bolo had been practicing.
After practice, Link and Bolo collapsed side by side on the grass. The thief unscrewed the top of his water canteen, took a long gulp, then passed it to Link. "Thanks," Link said, surprised but grateful as he drank greedily.
"You're pretty good," he remarked as he passed the canteen back.
Bolo smiled wryly. "You're not bad yourself."
Feeling as though they'd reached an understanding, Link gazed up and watched clouds drift across the dazzlingly blue sky. "Does Zelda know you're planning to fight in the war?" he asked abruptly.
"Probably."
"You could die," Link pointed out.
"I know."
"It'll hurt her bad if you do."
"I know." Bolo stuck a blade of grass in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "But this isn't just her fight anymore. This is everyone's fight. And I intend to see it through."
"So do I," Link said softly, lying back in the grass.
* * *
To be continued.