A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
This chapter is unusually long, and I hope that tides you over, because it might be a while before I post the next one. I started writing again after a long hiatus, but it's slow going. I'm at a very difficult part in the story, and I'm trying to write it as best as I can, so I hope you can understand. Thanks, and please enjoy this chapter.
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Chapter 35
The Migration
The Iron Knight halted momentarily at the top of the stairs, as if surprised to see Link and Demon there waiting for it. It was a giant encased from head to toe in thick armor–no one had ever seen what lay beneath. Link thought it must be seven feet tall at least, with shoulders as broad as a bull's, and was suddenly very glad to be mounted on Demon. The knight carried in ham-sized fists a war-axe that was longer than Link was tall, with two massive crescent-shaped blades crowning its head.
Link's heart thudded in his ears, yet his grip on the Master Sword was quite steady. Demon lowered his head and pawed the earth, then abruptly reared, screaming defiance as Link balanced precariously on his back. The instant he fell back on all fours Link prodded him with his heels. The gelding exploded down the stretch of land between them and the Iron Knight.
The knight brought its great war-axe to bear, but too slowly. Link struck in a downward sweep as Demon thundered past–his blade met the knight's heavily-armored shoulder with a jolting crash and Link's left arm instantly went numb. Wincing, he swung the arm back and forth to restore feeling as Demon wheeled and cantered away. The force of his strike against the knight had numbed his arm, while the Iron Knight wasn't even dented. It stared blankly at Link and Demon, then began its slow, torturous march toward the Kakariko gates.
Link set Demon to circling around it, striking whenever he could. The knight grunted with each clanging blow, but for all the damage Link's sword did he might have been an annoying mosquito. Demon pranced frantically between the knight and the gate as Link searched for an opening in its defense, something that would halt its slow, unwavering pace.
Its thick chest plate and horned helmet were impenetrable, yet if he could strike in the tiny opening between neck and shoulder...
He kicked Demon into a gallop. The knight halted as he charged and raised its massive axe above his head–but before he could bring it down again Link struck, aiming for the tiny sliver between helmet and chest plate. He felt his blade bite into the dense muscle at the juncture of neck and shoulder.
The knight roared as its axe struck the earth with a shudder like an earthquake, leaving a massive dent in the grass and soil. Crimson blood trickled from the opening in its armor as it straightened and turned toward Link.
Link hadn't expected to halt it after one strike, but if anything its wound seemed to anger the knight–it charged them with a speed that belied its size and strength. The axe swung in a great horizontal sweep; Demon cantered back just in time. The axe struck the cliff face with a massive shower of dirt and lodged into the rock.
It was the chance Link had been waiting for. He kicked Demon into a thunderous gallop and aimed for the opening between helmet and chest plate once more, praying that his sword would cut its throat and end this battle. But he reckoned against its speed once again–a massive fist swung out of nowhere and struck Demon's flank with the force of a battering ram. The gelding was knocked off his feet with a terrified whinny, collapsing violently into the dirt. Link bit his lip to keep from crying out as the gelding fell heavily on his right leg, trapping him.
Link struggled to free himself from under his horse as the Iron Knight tugged at his axe. The moment that axe broke free, it was all over. Demon scrabbled his hooves frantically against the dirt, eyes rolling, trying futilely to right himself.
With one mighty yank, the Iron Knight pulled its axe free. It turned to them with terrible deliberation, raising the massive axe high above its head.
Link closed his eyes. It was finished. He and Demon were dead.
A furious shriek tore the air apart; Link's eyes snapped open as a serpentine shape fell on the Iron Knight in a flurry of wings and talons, slamming it back against the cliff face. It was Blue, in her dragon form. And she was terrifying.
Gone was the graceful serenity of her slender dragon form and amber eyes; now her eyes burned yellow with rage as she locked her jaws around the knight's neck. Her right hind paw pinned the fist holding the war-axe to the Iron Knight's side as her three remaining claws latched onto the knight's leg, chest, and shoulder, deadly silver talons digging through the metal to pierce the flesh beneath. The knight bellowed in pain, his free fist striking every part of her it could reach, but Blue seemed barely to notice the blows. Blood streamed from the breaches in the knight's armor and between Blue's jaws.
The horrifying struggle seemed to last an eternity, but the knight finally went still. Blue threw herself away from the body and into the air, screaming her triumph as her wings tore savagely through the rain.
Link managed to free himself at last and threw himself over Demon's shoulders protectively, wondering if the ferocious dragon was about to turn on them. Demon's flank rose and fell with unsteady breathing, his withers sweat-soaked.
Blue landed in the grass before them, rain-drenched, her eyes gleaming as she regarded them imperiously. Then she spoke in a voice that rang through Link's mind. You must come with me at once. It is an emergency.
"This is an emergency," Link told her, still shaking, his voice as steady as he could manage. "I can't just leave Demon like this."
Blue reached toward them with a single massive paw–Link tensed–but the dragon scooped beneath Demon's body with infinite gentleness and very carefully righted the horse onto his hooves. Demon pranced away, whinnying in fright, until Link caught the rope tied around his muzzle and tugged until he and the gelding were forehead-to-forehead.
"Go to the inn in front of your stable," he whispered, "and get Zelda, Impa, all of them. Break down the door if you have to."
He didn't care if it was folly to give orders to a horse. Demon whickered as if for all the world he understood, then wheeled about and cantered toward Kakariko.
On my back, Blue ordered tersely, and Link obeyed her without hesitation, her savagery against the Iron Knight still fresh in his mind. As the dragon took to the air once more and swept down the mountain, she explained, Ronin and I were on an errand for the queen-to-be. We saw the Iron Knight, marching from the direction of the Black King's castle. We attempted to intercept it before it could ascend the steps to this town. It struck Ronin– She cut off, shuddering convulsively beneath him.
There was no need for her to finish as they landed at the foot of the steps carved into the mountain. Ronin was sprawled on the ground, unmoving. Link leapt down from Blue's perch and went to him immediately; dropping to his knees at Ronin's side, he felt along the man's neck. His fingers met a pulse, slow but steady.
"He's alive, Blue," Link assured the dragon, faint with relief.
Are you certain? the dragon demanded, her mind-voice trembling with anxiety and fright. I thought I felt a pulse, but could not be sure–
"I felt it," Link replied firmly. "It looks like he was just knocked out. Help me get him back to the town."
He hefted Ronin across Blue and flew with them back to the town. As they touched down in the town square, they encountered a score of people waiting–Zelda, Impa, Valan, Rauru, and Demon, who was being checked by a healer.
"This man needs attention," Link called firmly, gently lifting Ronin off of Blue's back and laying him on the cobblestones. The healer, pronouncing Demon fit, went to Ronin's side to check him as Blue transformed into the small, dark-haired woman and knelt beside him.
Zelda went to Link. She was trembling and looked as though she was fighting not to cry. "What was it?" she asked quietly, her voice shaking.
Now that it was all over Link was suddenly aware of his immense fatigue and the soreness in his sword arm. He was still shaking from the aftereffects of the battle. "An Iron Knight."
Her face paled. "Farore's mercy. You took one of those on by yourself?"
"Actually, Blue took it on," Link told her, shuddering convulsively with the memory of the dragon's rage. "I just held it off for a while."
Zelda sagged against him in relief. "Thank the goddesses you're all right," she whispered.
Link put his arms around her, feeling her shoulder shaking with repressed sobs. "I'm fine," he whispered, forgetting that he had ever suspected her of avoiding him. "I'm not ever going to leave you."
She clung to him hard, then abruptly pulled back, biting her lip. "Link, there's something I have to tell you–"
"Zelda," Impa called.
Zelda sighed, and Link kissed her forehead. "Tell me later. You have to go be a queen now."
To his surprise, her lips twisted suddenly in unmistakable bitterness. "Yes," she whispered, and went to join the sages and Valan.
* * *
When Zelda saw the body of the Iron Knight herself, an armored giant lying in a crumpled heap just before the Kakariko gates, she made up her mind. If Ganondorf had sent one of them to Kakariko, it could only mean one thing–he knew of the resistance. It was time for her army to move.
She had Valan relay her decision to Bower and Rowen, who relayed it in the form of messengers and word-of-mouth to the entire town throughout the day. The trainees had an important decision to make–whether to remain in Kakariko, or to leave their own town for the relative unknown of Hyrule Field and a coming war. And they had until sundown to make it.
Zelda spent her day communicating with the sages stationed throughout Hyrule. From their mental conversations, she learned that Saria had reached Hylia City and was with Marek, Dagger, and Rune; that Ruto and Parcleus had located a tribe of Zora off the coast; that Darunia and Oberon had come across several hidden villages inhabited by a mix of Gorons and Hylians, all of whom were willing and eager to join the resistance; and that Nabooru and Azura had found far more allies than anticipated among the Gerudo. Together, she and her sages worked out the finer details of her plan.
That evening at sundown, the migration began.
Zelda stood at the Kakariko gates with all who planned to follow her into the depths of Hyrule Field. Her troops numbered something around six hundred out of a town population of eight hundred. Most of those were staying behind were too young or old to fight, or too jaded to believe that they would win. It would be a desolate Kakariko when they were gone.
The body of the Iron Knight was still lying in a heap of metal against the cliff face. No one dared to touch it, much less try to move it. Peliwin stood out clearly in the crowd, holding a strung bow in her tense hands and staring at the knight as if expecting it to jump to its feet and attack.
Among those staying behind, to Zelda's acute disappointment, were Bower and Rowen. "Sorry," Rowen told Zelda when she and her husband came to see them off. "Bower's still the headman, and I have a baby to worry about delivering, you know."
Zelda sighed. "I know. I would never ask you to put your baby in danger. I'll just miss your and Bower's support, is all."
Rowen gripped Zelda's shoulder firmly. "You will always have our support." She stepped back with her husband, waiting at the gates to see them off.
Zelda turned toward the stairs that curved down from the mountain into Hyrule Field. She closed her eyes, letting the power of the Sage of Time flow out through the threads of space, reaching across vast distances to connect with the minds of her brethren, the sages. She felt their consciousness awaken to hers like flowers turning to the sun.
It's time, she told them all. Are you ready?
Her response was the sensation of energy flooding into her body from six sources, filling her veins and seeping through every pore in her body until she shone like a star in the night sky. She felt the now-familiar feeling of being grasped and pushed into the recesses of her own mind by unseen hands as the Sage of Time took control.
Three hours! she thought desperately at the Sage of Time. Three hours is all we should need!
She sagged as the sage completed its task, losing consciousness before she hit the ground.
* * *
The jostling beneath her caused Zelda to wake, and lifting her head she found herself stretched out on a horse's back, lying against its neck–Demon, she thought blearily. People were moving all around her, a vast crowd of them trudging along in tense silence. Abruptly memory returned to her, and Zelda realized where they must be–in the midst of Hyrule Field.
She sat up so suddenly that her head spun and ached, and she fell back against Demon's wonderfully solid neck. A touch on her knee drew her eyes downward; Link walked beside her. "You okay?" he whispered, gazing up at her worriedly.
Zelda nodded wearily, a movement that started the spinning and vertigo again. "I've been better," she admitted, "but I'll live." She looked around again, searching for any signs of lurking enemies. "Did it work?"
"Apparently," Link said in a terse whisper, pointing to a dark shape about fifty feet away that the travelers were carefully avoiding. Squinting carefully at it, Zelda made out the shape and quickly looked away. It was one of those creatures, the horrible emaciated skeletons that had attacked her, Link, and the thieves on their last visit into Hyrule Field, frozen stiffly in place.
She glanced up. The sky was storm-blackened and covered with clouds, but none of those clouds were moving, and no rain poured down. Not a breath of wind stirred the frozen grasses. The only movement was hers, Link's, and that of the hundreds of townspeople who had come with them into Hyrule Field.
The Sage of Time had apparently done its job, and not without consequences. Zelda felt entirely drained of energy. She sank down onto Demon's neck again and tried not to move.
For about a quarter of an hour they migrated in silence, then at last Link touched Zelda's knee again. "Look!"
Zelda raised her head. There ahead of them, situated on a low hill, was their destination–the desolate, abandoned Lon Lon Ranch.
It took the strength of ten men to push open the enormous wooden gate to the ranch, shut so long that it was stuck in place. Once the gate was open, Link, Zelda (supported by Link's arm around her waist), Valan, and the two sages entered alone to inspect the premises.
The ranch was much larger than any of them expected. Rauru created a sphere of light to hover before them, lighting their way through the dark ranch. A short path from the gate led between a barn and a house with all its windows boarded; the light flickered eerily over the rotting wood-planks of the two buildings, casting ominous shadows. Beyond the house and barn was a large, open field in which horses or cows must have grazed–it was the perfect size for training.
All in all it wasn't bad, Zelda thought as she gazed around the dreary, abandoned ranch. As a fortress she had her doubts, but there was a tall stone wall surrounding the premises–that was a start. There were no sign of stray monsters in the ranch, which meant that the wooden gates had kept them out for all the years it was abandoned. They could build watchtowers around the wall and station sentries as an extra precaution.
Once satisfied that the ranch was safe, Impa went back to the gate to let the Kakariko townspeople in. They streamed into the large field beyond the house and barn, chose a section to square off for themselves, and began to erect the many tents they'd brought with them. Others went around and stuck standing torches into the dirt, lighting the ranch with a flickering orange glow. Zelda sat with her back against the side of the barn and watched, Valan at her side. "They're taking up a big portion of that field already," she said worriedly. "When the others come they'll take up even more space."
Valan shrugged. "We can have 'em collapse their camps every morning and stow 'em away in the barn. Then we'll have the field back for training."
"What if we can't fit everyone in here, though? This place is big, but with hundreds of people from all over Hyrule–"
"Zelda!" The call was Impa's from her post at the gates, just as Zelda's consciousness awakened to the presence of another sage.
"It's Nabooru!"
Valan helped Zelda to the gate to greet the newcomers. Nabooru had told Zelda many were coming, but nothing could have prepared her for the sight of at least a hundred stony-faced Gerudo, many bearing naked scimitars in their hands, marching single-file into the ranch. "Farore's mercy," Zelda said weakly. "I never thought so many would desert Ganondorf."
"Told you," Nabooru said cheerfully, joining Zelda, Impa, and Valan at the gates. "People are loyal to men like Ganondorf because they have to be. If someone offers them another choice..." She shrugged.
Zelda spotted Azura's face among her Gerudo sisters. Their eyes met briefly–Zelda hesitated, then nodded in greeting. Azura returned the nod, her face expressionless.
That made about seven hundred now crowding the ranch, Zelda totaled quickly. She wondered how many more they would have to pack in.
Valan and Impa went to help the new arrivals get settled, leaving Zelda and Nabooru at the gate to wait for more arrivals. "So what happened that made you decide to move us all to Hyrule Field, of all places?" Nabooru wanted to know. "You seemed pretty spooked when you contacted us."
"An Iron Knight attacked Kakariko," Zelda told Nabooru quietly.
Nabooru's eyes widened. "Farore's mercy," she whispered, blood draining from her face. "Are you all right?"
"Yes. It attacked during the night, while we slept." Zelda shuddered. "Only Link knew it had come. He held it off at the town gate, then Blue finished it off."
"The dragon? Where is she anyway?"
"With Ronin, I expect. The Iron Knight injured him and he had a concussion. But he's going to be fine."
They talked about the resistance as they waited for more arrivals. Zelda learned of the Gerudo's secret meetings at the Desert Colossus, the site of Nabooru's own temple, the Spirit Temple. The Gerudo were a proud race, not easily given to near-enslavement by anyone, especially a man–even if that man was one of them. Support for the resistance had been unexpectedly enthusiastic, especially with Azura there to remind the women of the brutal massacres of her twin and many other Gerudo sisters. If Ganondorf had intended those murders as a fear tactic he clearly had the wrong idea; rather than averting rebellion among the Gerudo, he had merely laid kindling to their slow-burning anger.
Over the next hour two more groups arrived–first Darunia, leading a mixed group of Gorons and Hylians to the ranch. The Gorons were quite friendly, their Hylian counterparts less so. They were a silent group, staring unabashedly at Zelda as if silently measuring her as their future queen. Oberon was among them.
"Miss Zelda!" he cried delightedly, flinging his arms around her. "Lovely to see you again! You were well-missed," he informed her with sincerity, grinning a white-toothed smile. Zelda hugged him back, despite the protests from her worn and drained body.
"Good to see you again, Oberon," she said quietly, smiling.
Ruto, with Parcleus in tow, arrived next. Zelda couldn't help staring in fascination at the people with her–it was a tribe of true, blue-blooded Zora, the first full-Zora aside from Ruto that she'd ever met. They were a terse, silent tribe, walking awkwardly as if they hadn't quite mastered the use of their legs and looking rather out-of-place on land. They carried no weapons, but Zelda could see from the shimmer of their sharp-edged fins that they didn't need any. They were slim and graceful, built for darting through the water, and they walked naked.
"Hello, cousin," Ruto greeted Zelda in her prim, dutiful way, though she clasped Zelda's hands with warmth.
"Hello, Ruto. How are you?" Zelda inquired politely.
"Well enough," Ruto said airily. "Rather tired. And is this our new headquarters?" she asked, casting a critical eye about the ranch. "Well, let us see about this..." She followed her Zora tribe inside to inspect the ranch, leaving Parcleus behind.
"'Lo, Miss Zelda," Parcleus said in his usual gloomy tone, giving Zelda a brief, one-armed hug once Ruto was out of sight, which Zelda returned.
"How have you been? Did Ruto ride you with a whip and chain?" she asked him, suppressing a grin while Nabooru snorted with laughter.
Parcleus ducked his head as if embarrassed, though Zelda caught the small grin curling his lips. "She was interesting company, Miss Zelda," he said meekly before heading inside the ranch to find the other thieves.
Zelda and Nabooru continued to wait at the ranch's gate. Darunia and Ruto joined them once they'd gotten their people settled. "How's the space situation?" Zelda wanted to know.
Darunia grimaced. "Crammed like sardines in a jar. Can't move your elbow without poking somebody's eye out."
"Maybe we can expand the grounds," Nabooru said thoughtfully. "Knock down a portion of the wall and rebuild it with more space."
"We could attempt a ward once we are restored to our full power," Ruto suggested. "Perhaps we should have some of our people sleep outside under magical protection."
"Oh? And would you like to sleep outside, princess?" Darunia asked shrewdly.
Zelda listened with only half an ear as the sages bickered over plans for more room, aware that the hours of her time-freezing spell were wearing thin. They were down to the last half hour, and still there was no sign of Marek, Rune, Dagger, or Saria.
As another quarter of an hour wore by with still no sign, she found herself praying. Ten minutes...five minutes...please, Goddesses...one minute...
A great thunderclap signaled the end of Zelda's time spell; the heavens opened and rain poured down in great icy sheets, and still there was no sign of her thieves or Saria.
"They'll be here," Nabooru assured Zelda quietly, though she sounded unsure.
They waited. And waited. The sages had ceased their discussion; they were probably praying, Zelda knew, for the safety of Saria and her thieves, though she hardly thought it would help at this point. She couldn't pray anymore. She could merely watch the field beyond the gate, hands clasped, waiting.
Then suddenly through the rain came a glimmer of light–Zelda jumped to her feet, heedless of the pounding in her head, squinting through the darkness of Hyrule Field. "What in Din's name...?" Darunia muttered. The three sages were tensing beside her; she could feel them summoning what was left of their power in the suspicion that the light heralded an enemy.
But it didn't. It couldn't. The shimmering, flickering light spoke of purity and hope, permeating the darkness around it. As the light drew closer the sages felt it too; their power receded.
"Impossible!" Nabooru suddenly gasped. Saria, Marek, Rune, and Dagger had appeared through the rain, leading a group of silent, shadowy people that could only have come from Hylia City.
A thousand glittering fairies streamed over their heads, lighting the path to Lon Lon Ranch.
* * *
To be continued.