A note from the Hime no Argh herself—
Hm. The beginning of the end.
***
Chapter 38
First Wave
Zelda stood on the vast hill that was soon to become a battleground, gazing at the sight of Ganondorf's northern castle, just visible on the shadowy horizon. If she didn't know better, she would have thought the goddesses decided to play a trick on her and her army. The day was perfectly clear, not a cloud in the sky and a fresh breeze blowing across the stagnant Hyrule Field. The sun seemed to have chased away the monsters normally roaming the field, or maybe it was the sight of her vast army as it made its way north in a great wave of grim-faced soldiers and glittering weapons. What a fine day for a war, she thought wryly.
She turned to look at the army assembled behind her. Together, they looked vast, though her mind coolly reminded her that they were still outnumbered at least three to one. Link, Valan, and the sages were all in the front line. Valan and Rauru were glaring at her. The old men clearly meant their threats to forcibly restrain Zelda if she attempted to take part in the actual fighting. When they'd told her the evening before that she would absolutely not be allowed to fight, she'd wanted to tear her hair out in frustration. After all the planning, all the training, all the pain that she and her people had suffered, they wanted her to sit on the sidelines while her people fought and died. It was more than she could bear—and yet, she understood their reasoning.
Her eyes traveled over the crowd behind her, picking out the faces of her friends and those she'd come to know in Kakariko and Lon Lon Ranch. Three of her thieves—Cleo, Marek, and Rune, best with a bow and arrows—were in the front line with the rest of the archers. Peliwin was there, gripping her bow in a white-knuckled fist, her eyes steely. Ronin was armed with a small recurved bow, his steel feather sword, and a broad smile, as though this were a tea party and not a battle they were about to plunge into. Blue stood at his side in her human form. She was unarmed, but Zelda knew from experience that she didn't require a single weapon.
Here was a Goron, the best of his people with a bow, whose entire family had been slaughtered by Ganondorf before his eyes years ago. A hard-faced former prostitute from Hylia City, whose tapestry of scars slashed across her back told her life story without words. Princess Ruto and Parcleus, who'd mutely taken on the role of her guardian. Azura, who would have revenge for her sister at last today. A thousand others with their own stories and histories, their own reasons for fighting. Somehow Zelda found her voice.
"There's a lot that I've thought about saying," she began, her tone level yet carrying over the silent crowd, a trick of the voice Impa had taught her. A faint muttering told her that those in the front lines were relaying her words to those in the far back. "I'm not really sure what to say on a day like this. I think it would be—cheap, I suppose, to make a grand speech of victory when there have been so many losses." She licked dry lips. "And when there will be many others."
The silence, broken only by soft rustling whispers, weighed as heavily on her shoulders as the stones of Death Mountain. "We all know why we're here. This is our sole chance to take Hyrule back from the Black King. Even if we win today, it will take the work and healing of ages, I think, to restore Hyrule to its former state. Our chance is not great. But we have a chance, and that's what counts. We have the chance to fight for our friends, for our families, for the people we've lost, for the goddesses and for the land of Hyrule itself."
She remembered something Link had once relayed to her from Bolo. "This is everyone's war," she said, voice catching briefly. "Everyone has their reasons for fighting. No one here is without one. So remember those reasons, because whether we win or lose, live or die, we will still know in our hearts that we fought back."
She looked at Valan, suddenly terribly weary and drained. "General Valan, I hereby issue the command to march in war against Ganondorf."
"YOU HEARD HER!" Valan roared instantaneously. "TO BATTLE, IN THE NAME OF HYRULE AND THE QUEEN!"
"IN THE NAME OF HYRULE AND THE QUEEN!" the army echoed as one, weapons raised.
Valan drew an enormous broadsword, different from the one Link had broken yet just as big, and leveled it at the distant castle on the shadowy horizon. "FIRST WAVE, FORWARD!"
Zelda mounted up behind Impa on a prancing white stallion. The Sheikah was to take Zelda to the back lines, then rejoin the fighting. Impa wheeled the stallion about as the archers began to march forward under Valan's command, down the long hill to Ganondorf's castle.
Zelda squeezed her eyes shut against the tears that threatened to tear her apart.
* * *
Link's heart thudded in his ears as he followed after Valan among the front line of soldiers on the long march to Ganondorf's castle. There were no sounds save for the clanking of weapons, the snorts of horses and the ragged breathing of men and women now fully committed to battle. He patted Demon's neck, more for his own comfort than the horse's. The gelding was a solid, reassuring bulwark beneath him. Navi flew before Demon's nose, as though leading the way.
The castle loomed ahead, a massive structure surrounding by a great wall built haphazardly of boulders piled on top of one another at the height of ten men. Its single gate was made of thick, slightly rotted wood and flanked by two watchtowers from which fires burned, as though beacons to guide the army's way. The structure that rose far above the wall was more a tower than a castle, with a single black turret that jutted into the heavens, surrounded by thunderclouds. A chill of dread shuddered through him at his first view of the northern castle.
As they drew closer, the perfect blue of the sky gave way to gray clouds; a light drizzle began and grew steadily harder. A writhing shape in the corner of his eye and a sudden gust of wind caught Link's attention; he turned his head in time to see Blue the dragon rise majestically out of the ranks of soldiers, wings tearing through the rain. Her bloodcurdling war cry shook the very earth, a shriek of rage and bloodlust.
If they haven't noticed us yet, they will now, Link thought, staring hard through the rain at the castle for signs of life.
The distant creak of mechanisms long gone to waste reached their ears; Valan threw up an arm and the army halted in its tracks. A stretch of approximately five hundred feet separated them from the wooden gate. It groaned and creaked as it rose, opening with excruciating slowness to reveal darkness beyond.
Now dark shapes were emerging by the hundreds, spreading like a swarm of ants to form a line roughly the breadth of the opposing army's. More shapes appeared along the top of the walls, undoubtedly armed with bows and arrows. It probably took the better part of an hour, but to Link it seemed mere minutes for Ganondorf's army to complete its formation. Looking at the mass of enemy soldiers, Link swallowed hard. Valan and Impa's estimations were correct; they were vastly outnumbered.
Valan kicked Thunder, his great warhorse, into action. He wheeled and galloped the length of the front line, barking orders.
"ARCHERS AT THE READY!"
Link reached for his bow, already strung, and the quiver of arrows handy at Demon's flank.
"NOCK ARROWS!"
He drew a long-shafted arrow with a razor-sharp head made for punching through armor, and set it to nock.
"TAKE AIM!"
He raised his bow to the sky, drawing the string back to his ear.
"FIRE!"
He released the string with a soft thwap; hundreds of arrows whistled through the air in a great curving arc to plunge into the midst of the enemy army.
Valan galloped back to the center of the front line, drawing his broadsword and lifting it high above his head. "FORWARD!" he roared, spurring Thunder to charge.
Demon surged forward before Link could direct him in a full gallop down the long stretch to the enemy army. Link listened to the thundering of hooves and feet against the earth and the panting of men and mounts, and let those sounds fill him until there was nothing else, until all thoughts, worries, and fears were wiped from his mind. He entered a sort of trance, focusing only on what was before him. Now was the time to act, not think.
A volley of arrows flew from the enemy side, whistling sharply as they tore through the air and into their midst. Cries of the downed and dying struck Link's ears; he continued forward, loosing arrow after arrow toward Ganondorf's army. A mount ahead screamed and hit the dirt with an arrow in its flank; Demon twisted around it without losing his speed and galloped for all that he was worth. Link's eyes saw the faces of his enemies from approximately fifty yards away—the faces of lizards and pig-like monsters, grinning skulls suspended on animated skeletons, even the grim faces of enemy men and Gerudo women. His cool, entranced mind saw only one face—the enemy. Then the armies, his and Ganondorf's, crashed together and he was in it, in the midst of a battle for the fate of Hyrule.
Demon reared and struck an enemy soldier with his front hooves as Link shot another through the throat; he slung the bow over his shoulder and had the Master Sword in hand before Demon's hooves hit the ground. The gelding snaked around and between the press of bodies as Link cut a line through the enemy, slicing the scales of lizard-demons and gutting pig-men, the Master Sword sliding through the flesh of men and monsters with ease. The dirt underfoot was stirred by thousands of feet and hooves; dust coated the skin and throat, and the stench of earth and blood filled the air.
A pair of lizard claws sunk into Link's thigh as his attacker attempted to drag him from his mount; a woman cut the demon down and in turn was gutted by a pig's spear through her belly. Demon wheeled and kicked, sending the pig-man flying. Out of the corner of his eye, Link saw Blue dive and snatch a pair of screaming men into her clawed talons. He cut through a skeleton monster charging an unarmed man; the man scooped the skeleton's war-axe into his hands and grimly attacked a pair of scimitar-wielding Gerudo. Link distantly hoped they were enemy Gerudo as he ran an attacker through. Demon reared and shied away from the blood-coated bodies of the two men Blue had snatched as they smacked into the dirt.
A black-masked soldier attacked Link from behind with a scream of rage, armed only with a dagger. Link felt the dagger bite into his shoulder blade and score a razor line down his back before Demon wheeled to save him; the gelding screamed as the dagger bit into his flank. Then Impa was there, running the gasping man through with her short sword. Her eyes met Link's, scarlet with bloodlust, before she whirled and neatly beheaded a pig with the axe grasped in her left hand. Link yanked the dagger out of Demon's flank and stabbed it through a lizard's throat.
"Damage?" he demanded of Impa as she pressed close to Demon's side, bereft of foes for the moment.
Her eyes glittered. "I couldn't possibly tell you."
Blue swooped overhead and caught an enemy Gerudo in her talons. We take heavy losses, she reported calmly to Link and Impa over the woman's dying shrieks. So does the enemy. Our soldiers fight hard and well. She dropped the dead Gerudo in the dirt. Link and Impa looked away as she dove for fresh prey.
"Good luck," Impa panted. "Stay alive." She plunged back into the battle, gutting a human man with her sword and cleanly beheading a skeleton with her axe.
Demon snorted at the pain from his bleeding flank yet struck where he could with his deadly hooves; Link too ignored the gash in his back and continued to fight. His side wasn't nearly finished.
* * *
"Are you sure about this?" Darunia asked Saria, standing shoulder-to- shoulder with her on the hill overlooking the battleground, their eyes fixed on the castle wall from which arrows fell like rain into the midst of the armies. "It's going to hurt, isn't it?"
"Oh yes," Saria said calmly. "But this is all that I can do." She closed her eyes, calling upon the Sage of Forest, and let her consciousness spread to touch every tree, every root, every blade of grass at the base of the castle wall. She poured into them every ounce of light and energy she had, and the plants of the earth, normally so calm and serene, sprang to life. Trees shot up into the sky, thrusting sharp branches in every direction; vines exploded from the earth, grabbing hold of the castle wall and twisting up and through the stones, tangling with branches that sprouted thorns a foot long or more. The vines and branches covered the wall, especially the archer posts, in mere minutes, consuming everyone and everything in their path. Through her plants, Saria heard the shrieks of men and monsters as they were covered in vines and pierced with dozens of thorns.
She opened her eyes, staggered and fell into Darunia's arms, lacking the energy to support her own weight any longer. She looked up into the Sage of Fire's face with steely eyes.
"Do it," she said, and squeezed her eyes shut.
Darunia silently begged forgiveness of the tiny sage in his arms, focusing his own energy within. His was the heat and fire of an immense volcano, with none of Saria's serenity. It took no amount of coaxing to transform his fire from a lick of flame at the base of the wall to a blazing inferno. Fire exploded up the trunks and vines; Saria shrieked and writhed in his arms as her plants burned.
"Forgive me," Darunia whispered helplessly. The fire was doing its job; burning relentlessly through the rain, it devoured the enemy soldiers that the plants had missed, burned the wooden gate and threaded along the dry vines and branches, it set the entire wall ablaze with an immense orange glow.
Saria contorted violently; Darunia held her tightly and prayed that his fire didn't kill the sage.
* * *
A long, low horn blast sounded over the battleground, and to Link's amazement there suddenly seemed to be much fewer enemies to fight. Ganondorf's soldiers broke and ran, fighting their way back to the castle wall, which was a blazing inferno. Link paused to stare at the immense blaze in awe and fear. "Goddesses above," he whispered. Who had the power to cause such a fire?
When his fellow soldiers might have pursued their enemy, Valan came charging through the battle ground on his great black warhorse, barking orders. "ABANDON PURSUIT! RETREAT TO THE HILL!"
Link kicked Demon into a gallop, following Valan. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded, panting, as Demon drew level with Valan's horse. "Why did the enemy retreat?"
Valan waved an arm at the blazing wall. "They don't put that out, the entire castle's gonna go down."
"So why are we retreating?" Link demanded. "Let's hit them while they're distracted!"
But Valan shook his head grimly. "We've lost too many. We've got to regroup." He galloped away to round up their side and chase them to the hill.
Now that the battle was over, Link was suddenly aware of the gash in his back and Demon's bleeding flank. He was exhausted, covered with dust and blood, his own and his enemies'. For a moment the battleground swam around him; he shook his head in an attempt to clear it, leaning against Demon's neck. Had he lost this much blood? The wound in his back hadn't seemed too serious.
Navi suddenly appeared at his side, trailing another fairy, this one tinted scarlet. Link blinked at her, befuddled. "Oh, where have you been, Navi?"
"Finding you a red fairy!" she squealed. At her words the red fairy flew forward to alight on top of his head, then dropped down over his shoulder. Link felt a sensation like cool water trickling down his back, and the pain of his wound abruptly stopped. Within moments he felt as clear and alert as ever. "What was that?"
"A healing fairy! I knew you would need one!"
Link twisted around to look for the scarlet fairy, but she had disappeared. "Where did she...?"
"Probably went to see if she could heal anyone else," Navi replied sadly.
With friend and foe deserting the battlefield, with the dust beginning to clear, Link what damage was wrought upon both sides. Bodies of monsters, men, and women lay everywhere like rag dolls, broken and bloodied in the dirt. He swallowed and slid from Demon's back, removing the cap from his head. "Aren't there any survivors?"
Navi flew off, presumably to look, as Link took hold of Demon's reins and began to walk him back toward the hill. People on horses were moving carefully through the battlefield. Link saw some dismount to administer a mercy stroke on a dying friend or foe; very rarely, someone bent down to lift a wounded comrade onto his or her horse.
Demon snorted softly at the stench of blood. It was everywhere. Pools of it lay beneath the broken bodies of the dead, their eyes blank and glassy as porcelain dolls'. Link felt his stomach roil and swallowed hard.
"Link!" Navi's shrill voice called. Link looked around and saw her hovering over a fallen body some twenty yards away. Feeling the worse, he guided Demon as quickly and carefully through the battlefield as possible and froze. Azura lay at his feet, bleeding out of an enormous gash in her stomach.
He dropped to his knees and felt along her neck with a shaking hand. She was alive, just barely so. Her pulse fluttered beneath her fingertips. Her eyes opened and met his.
"Oh, it's you," she said wearily. Her voice was quite normal, although faint. "What goddess decided I should have to see you last thing before I die?"
"You're not going to die," Link said automatically, though he didn't believe it. Azura laughed weakly.
"Just my luck." Her laughter broke. "Dammit. I wanted to see his head on a pike. I wanted to have my revenge for her—"She broke off again, coughing. She leaned her head to the side and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Link gripped her wrist. He didn't want this. It wasn't right that Azura had to die with only her old enemy for company. He said the only words he knew could possibly be of comfort to her.
"I'll avenge Arjuna for you. I promise. I'll see him dead, for both your sakes."
"You'd better," Azura growled. She broke into a coughing fit again, and for the first time showed pain in her face. Her head fell back to the dirt; she squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw; Link felt her wrist shudder in his grip, then she was still. Her face slowly relaxed.
He bent over her, gathered her limp body in his arms and lifted her over Demon's back. His eyes blurred with tears, but he blinked them back as he tugged gently on Demon's reins, leading him out of the battlefield. There would be a time to weep, but not until he'd fulfilled his promise.
* * *
Darunia bore a pale, trembling Saria and laid her at Zelda's feet—the first of many casualties. During the hour or so that the battle had raged, Zelda never knew time to pass more slowly; now, preparing for the tattered retreat of her army, time flew. She ordered the uninjured back to the ranch for supplies to set up a camp, then, her heart thudding in her ears with each step she took, she forced herself to the battleground.
Impa intercepted her before she could get close, mounted on a small brown mare. "You don't want to see this, Zelda," she said bleakly. Zelda looked beyond her and saw a ruined field, cloudy with dust and smoke from the burning castle wall, strewn with weapons and what could only be bodies—the wounded, the dead, the dying.
She took a deep breath to steady her nerves, aware that she was trembling. "Yes I do," she said quietly. "I was kept out of this battle. I wasn't allowed to fight. It's only respectful to look at the faces of those who died for my sake."
Impa looked at her for a long time. Then at last she reached down to grasp Zelda's forearm and pull her up behind her in the saddle. "It's not going to be pretty," the Sheikah warned, nudging her mare into a trot.
Zelda merely nodded. She couldn't possibly bring herself to ask the question foremost in her mind. She would just have to wait and see.
They picked their way carefully through the quiet battleground, searching for signs of life, memorizing the faces of the dead. Zelda recognized far too many. A pair of dead Zora, lying half on top of each other, the edges of their fins darkened with blood. A Gerudo sister, cut to pieces, her head lying several feet from her body; Zelda couldn't tell whether the woman was hers or Ganondorf's. A carpenter from Kakariko who'd been the object of pursuit for all the ladies; his once-handsome face was bloodied and maimed. Peliwin, her body riddled with arrows.
Zelda prodded Impa in the back to make her stop, not trusting herself to speak at that moment. She slid from the saddle and knelt beside Peliwin, covering the girl's wide, blank eyes with her hand and closing them. A sob tore from her chest, and she clenched her jaw, squeezing her eyes shut to hold back bitter tears.
Impa waited until she'd composed herself and mounted once more. The search for survivors appeared to be abandoned; now injured soldiers moved through the field, gently bearing the bodies of their fallen comrades back to the hill upon which a camp was undergoing quick construction.
Impa and Zelda returned to the makeshift camp. Valan awaited them, taking the reins of the small mare as the two women dismounted. "Our numbers are cut nearly in half," he reported wearily. Gone was his fierce energy and commanding air; bloodied by a long gash down his bare chest and covered with dust, he looked like so many of their soldiers—weary and haunted. "Darunia's not letting that fire go out, but we might lose Saria because of it. As long as it burns we can hope for a respite, but I don't think we can survive another round."
Zelda nodded. She couldn't think about that now. "The dead?"
Wordlessly Valan pointed. Hundreds of bodies were laid in a single row in the grass. Somehow Zelda forced her legs to move.
More faces. Gorons, Gerudo, Zora, Hylians, Kakariko townspeople; faces she recognized, faces she'd never gotten to know, faces maimed beyond distinction. She saw them all, prayed for them all, hoped with all her heart that they found peace in the next life.
A faint sobbing reached her ears; she looked down the line to see a lone figure seated in the grass, clutching a body to her chest and rocking back and forth. Zelda's blood froze in her veins. She knew before she saw either of the two figures.
Dagger sat sobbing and holding Marek in her arms. The thief was chalk-white and covered in blood, limp and lifeless.
Dagger looked up, her face streaked with tears. "He took a sword through the heart for me," she told Zelda, her voice breaking. "For me. Why? Why?!"
Zelda's legs gave out and she fell to her knees, the tears that she had held back for so long sliding freely down her cheeks. Sobs turned to shrieks, then to howls. She clung to Marek and cried bitterly over Dagger's endless litany of "Why?! Why?!"
It all seemed nothing when she shed so many more tears. Parcleus was gone, killed in Ruto's defense. So was Azura, dead without revenge for her sister. She saw Saria in the tent that served as an infirmary, wracked with pain and close to death as even now, the plants with whom she shared a part of herself burned. In the long day after that terrible battle, all grief and pain was as one. Such losses they had suffered, so many lives stolen that could never be replaced.
As the sun slowly sank toward the horizon and shadows fell over the battleground, Zelda looked toward the castle, whose wall burned still despite the enemy's obvious efforts to quell the flames. Darunia's effort and Saria's sacrifice had bought them precious time, but the standstill would not last. That castle was manifest of all her fear, doubt, and dread, and she knew irrevocably that soon, this war would end before its gates.
A hand touched her shoulder, jolting her from her thoughts. She spun and felt her heart leap into her throat at Link's warm blue gaze.
"Hello, Zelda."
She felt as though she'd died and been born again. In that moment when grief, pain, terror, and uncertainty threatened to overwhelm her, Zelda learned anew what hope meant.
* * *
To be continued.
Hm. The beginning of the end.
***
Chapter 38
First Wave
Zelda stood on the vast hill that was soon to become a battleground, gazing at the sight of Ganondorf's northern castle, just visible on the shadowy horizon. If she didn't know better, she would have thought the goddesses decided to play a trick on her and her army. The day was perfectly clear, not a cloud in the sky and a fresh breeze blowing across the stagnant Hyrule Field. The sun seemed to have chased away the monsters normally roaming the field, or maybe it was the sight of her vast army as it made its way north in a great wave of grim-faced soldiers and glittering weapons. What a fine day for a war, she thought wryly.
She turned to look at the army assembled behind her. Together, they looked vast, though her mind coolly reminded her that they were still outnumbered at least three to one. Link, Valan, and the sages were all in the front line. Valan and Rauru were glaring at her. The old men clearly meant their threats to forcibly restrain Zelda if she attempted to take part in the actual fighting. When they'd told her the evening before that she would absolutely not be allowed to fight, she'd wanted to tear her hair out in frustration. After all the planning, all the training, all the pain that she and her people had suffered, they wanted her to sit on the sidelines while her people fought and died. It was more than she could bear—and yet, she understood their reasoning.
Her eyes traveled over the crowd behind her, picking out the faces of her friends and those she'd come to know in Kakariko and Lon Lon Ranch. Three of her thieves—Cleo, Marek, and Rune, best with a bow and arrows—were in the front line with the rest of the archers. Peliwin was there, gripping her bow in a white-knuckled fist, her eyes steely. Ronin was armed with a small recurved bow, his steel feather sword, and a broad smile, as though this were a tea party and not a battle they were about to plunge into. Blue stood at his side in her human form. She was unarmed, but Zelda knew from experience that she didn't require a single weapon.
Here was a Goron, the best of his people with a bow, whose entire family had been slaughtered by Ganondorf before his eyes years ago. A hard-faced former prostitute from Hylia City, whose tapestry of scars slashed across her back told her life story without words. Princess Ruto and Parcleus, who'd mutely taken on the role of her guardian. Azura, who would have revenge for her sister at last today. A thousand others with their own stories and histories, their own reasons for fighting. Somehow Zelda found her voice.
"There's a lot that I've thought about saying," she began, her tone level yet carrying over the silent crowd, a trick of the voice Impa had taught her. A faint muttering told her that those in the front lines were relaying her words to those in the far back. "I'm not really sure what to say on a day like this. I think it would be—cheap, I suppose, to make a grand speech of victory when there have been so many losses." She licked dry lips. "And when there will be many others."
The silence, broken only by soft rustling whispers, weighed as heavily on her shoulders as the stones of Death Mountain. "We all know why we're here. This is our sole chance to take Hyrule back from the Black King. Even if we win today, it will take the work and healing of ages, I think, to restore Hyrule to its former state. Our chance is not great. But we have a chance, and that's what counts. We have the chance to fight for our friends, for our families, for the people we've lost, for the goddesses and for the land of Hyrule itself."
She remembered something Link had once relayed to her from Bolo. "This is everyone's war," she said, voice catching briefly. "Everyone has their reasons for fighting. No one here is without one. So remember those reasons, because whether we win or lose, live or die, we will still know in our hearts that we fought back."
She looked at Valan, suddenly terribly weary and drained. "General Valan, I hereby issue the command to march in war against Ganondorf."
"YOU HEARD HER!" Valan roared instantaneously. "TO BATTLE, IN THE NAME OF HYRULE AND THE QUEEN!"
"IN THE NAME OF HYRULE AND THE QUEEN!" the army echoed as one, weapons raised.
Valan drew an enormous broadsword, different from the one Link had broken yet just as big, and leveled it at the distant castle on the shadowy horizon. "FIRST WAVE, FORWARD!"
Zelda mounted up behind Impa on a prancing white stallion. The Sheikah was to take Zelda to the back lines, then rejoin the fighting. Impa wheeled the stallion about as the archers began to march forward under Valan's command, down the long hill to Ganondorf's castle.
Zelda squeezed her eyes shut against the tears that threatened to tear her apart.
* * *
Link's heart thudded in his ears as he followed after Valan among the front line of soldiers on the long march to Ganondorf's castle. There were no sounds save for the clanking of weapons, the snorts of horses and the ragged breathing of men and women now fully committed to battle. He patted Demon's neck, more for his own comfort than the horse's. The gelding was a solid, reassuring bulwark beneath him. Navi flew before Demon's nose, as though leading the way.
The castle loomed ahead, a massive structure surrounding by a great wall built haphazardly of boulders piled on top of one another at the height of ten men. Its single gate was made of thick, slightly rotted wood and flanked by two watchtowers from which fires burned, as though beacons to guide the army's way. The structure that rose far above the wall was more a tower than a castle, with a single black turret that jutted into the heavens, surrounded by thunderclouds. A chill of dread shuddered through him at his first view of the northern castle.
As they drew closer, the perfect blue of the sky gave way to gray clouds; a light drizzle began and grew steadily harder. A writhing shape in the corner of his eye and a sudden gust of wind caught Link's attention; he turned his head in time to see Blue the dragon rise majestically out of the ranks of soldiers, wings tearing through the rain. Her bloodcurdling war cry shook the very earth, a shriek of rage and bloodlust.
If they haven't noticed us yet, they will now, Link thought, staring hard through the rain at the castle for signs of life.
The distant creak of mechanisms long gone to waste reached their ears; Valan threw up an arm and the army halted in its tracks. A stretch of approximately five hundred feet separated them from the wooden gate. It groaned and creaked as it rose, opening with excruciating slowness to reveal darkness beyond.
Now dark shapes were emerging by the hundreds, spreading like a swarm of ants to form a line roughly the breadth of the opposing army's. More shapes appeared along the top of the walls, undoubtedly armed with bows and arrows. It probably took the better part of an hour, but to Link it seemed mere minutes for Ganondorf's army to complete its formation. Looking at the mass of enemy soldiers, Link swallowed hard. Valan and Impa's estimations were correct; they were vastly outnumbered.
Valan kicked Thunder, his great warhorse, into action. He wheeled and galloped the length of the front line, barking orders.
"ARCHERS AT THE READY!"
Link reached for his bow, already strung, and the quiver of arrows handy at Demon's flank.
"NOCK ARROWS!"
He drew a long-shafted arrow with a razor-sharp head made for punching through armor, and set it to nock.
"TAKE AIM!"
He raised his bow to the sky, drawing the string back to his ear.
"FIRE!"
He released the string with a soft thwap; hundreds of arrows whistled through the air in a great curving arc to plunge into the midst of the enemy army.
Valan galloped back to the center of the front line, drawing his broadsword and lifting it high above his head. "FORWARD!" he roared, spurring Thunder to charge.
Demon surged forward before Link could direct him in a full gallop down the long stretch to the enemy army. Link listened to the thundering of hooves and feet against the earth and the panting of men and mounts, and let those sounds fill him until there was nothing else, until all thoughts, worries, and fears were wiped from his mind. He entered a sort of trance, focusing only on what was before him. Now was the time to act, not think.
A volley of arrows flew from the enemy side, whistling sharply as they tore through the air and into their midst. Cries of the downed and dying struck Link's ears; he continued forward, loosing arrow after arrow toward Ganondorf's army. A mount ahead screamed and hit the dirt with an arrow in its flank; Demon twisted around it without losing his speed and galloped for all that he was worth. Link's eyes saw the faces of his enemies from approximately fifty yards away—the faces of lizards and pig-like monsters, grinning skulls suspended on animated skeletons, even the grim faces of enemy men and Gerudo women. His cool, entranced mind saw only one face—the enemy. Then the armies, his and Ganondorf's, crashed together and he was in it, in the midst of a battle for the fate of Hyrule.
Demon reared and struck an enemy soldier with his front hooves as Link shot another through the throat; he slung the bow over his shoulder and had the Master Sword in hand before Demon's hooves hit the ground. The gelding snaked around and between the press of bodies as Link cut a line through the enemy, slicing the scales of lizard-demons and gutting pig-men, the Master Sword sliding through the flesh of men and monsters with ease. The dirt underfoot was stirred by thousands of feet and hooves; dust coated the skin and throat, and the stench of earth and blood filled the air.
A pair of lizard claws sunk into Link's thigh as his attacker attempted to drag him from his mount; a woman cut the demon down and in turn was gutted by a pig's spear through her belly. Demon wheeled and kicked, sending the pig-man flying. Out of the corner of his eye, Link saw Blue dive and snatch a pair of screaming men into her clawed talons. He cut through a skeleton monster charging an unarmed man; the man scooped the skeleton's war-axe into his hands and grimly attacked a pair of scimitar-wielding Gerudo. Link distantly hoped they were enemy Gerudo as he ran an attacker through. Demon reared and shied away from the blood-coated bodies of the two men Blue had snatched as they smacked into the dirt.
A black-masked soldier attacked Link from behind with a scream of rage, armed only with a dagger. Link felt the dagger bite into his shoulder blade and score a razor line down his back before Demon wheeled to save him; the gelding screamed as the dagger bit into his flank. Then Impa was there, running the gasping man through with her short sword. Her eyes met Link's, scarlet with bloodlust, before she whirled and neatly beheaded a pig with the axe grasped in her left hand. Link yanked the dagger out of Demon's flank and stabbed it through a lizard's throat.
"Damage?" he demanded of Impa as she pressed close to Demon's side, bereft of foes for the moment.
Her eyes glittered. "I couldn't possibly tell you."
Blue swooped overhead and caught an enemy Gerudo in her talons. We take heavy losses, she reported calmly to Link and Impa over the woman's dying shrieks. So does the enemy. Our soldiers fight hard and well. She dropped the dead Gerudo in the dirt. Link and Impa looked away as she dove for fresh prey.
"Good luck," Impa panted. "Stay alive." She plunged back into the battle, gutting a human man with her sword and cleanly beheading a skeleton with her axe.
Demon snorted at the pain from his bleeding flank yet struck where he could with his deadly hooves; Link too ignored the gash in his back and continued to fight. His side wasn't nearly finished.
* * *
"Are you sure about this?" Darunia asked Saria, standing shoulder-to- shoulder with her on the hill overlooking the battleground, their eyes fixed on the castle wall from which arrows fell like rain into the midst of the armies. "It's going to hurt, isn't it?"
"Oh yes," Saria said calmly. "But this is all that I can do." She closed her eyes, calling upon the Sage of Forest, and let her consciousness spread to touch every tree, every root, every blade of grass at the base of the castle wall. She poured into them every ounce of light and energy she had, and the plants of the earth, normally so calm and serene, sprang to life. Trees shot up into the sky, thrusting sharp branches in every direction; vines exploded from the earth, grabbing hold of the castle wall and twisting up and through the stones, tangling with branches that sprouted thorns a foot long or more. The vines and branches covered the wall, especially the archer posts, in mere minutes, consuming everyone and everything in their path. Through her plants, Saria heard the shrieks of men and monsters as they were covered in vines and pierced with dozens of thorns.
She opened her eyes, staggered and fell into Darunia's arms, lacking the energy to support her own weight any longer. She looked up into the Sage of Fire's face with steely eyes.
"Do it," she said, and squeezed her eyes shut.
Darunia silently begged forgiveness of the tiny sage in his arms, focusing his own energy within. His was the heat and fire of an immense volcano, with none of Saria's serenity. It took no amount of coaxing to transform his fire from a lick of flame at the base of the wall to a blazing inferno. Fire exploded up the trunks and vines; Saria shrieked and writhed in his arms as her plants burned.
"Forgive me," Darunia whispered helplessly. The fire was doing its job; burning relentlessly through the rain, it devoured the enemy soldiers that the plants had missed, burned the wooden gate and threaded along the dry vines and branches, it set the entire wall ablaze with an immense orange glow.
Saria contorted violently; Darunia held her tightly and prayed that his fire didn't kill the sage.
* * *
A long, low horn blast sounded over the battleground, and to Link's amazement there suddenly seemed to be much fewer enemies to fight. Ganondorf's soldiers broke and ran, fighting their way back to the castle wall, which was a blazing inferno. Link paused to stare at the immense blaze in awe and fear. "Goddesses above," he whispered. Who had the power to cause such a fire?
When his fellow soldiers might have pursued their enemy, Valan came charging through the battle ground on his great black warhorse, barking orders. "ABANDON PURSUIT! RETREAT TO THE HILL!"
Link kicked Demon into a gallop, following Valan. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded, panting, as Demon drew level with Valan's horse. "Why did the enemy retreat?"
Valan waved an arm at the blazing wall. "They don't put that out, the entire castle's gonna go down."
"So why are we retreating?" Link demanded. "Let's hit them while they're distracted!"
But Valan shook his head grimly. "We've lost too many. We've got to regroup." He galloped away to round up their side and chase them to the hill.
Now that the battle was over, Link was suddenly aware of the gash in his back and Demon's bleeding flank. He was exhausted, covered with dust and blood, his own and his enemies'. For a moment the battleground swam around him; he shook his head in an attempt to clear it, leaning against Demon's neck. Had he lost this much blood? The wound in his back hadn't seemed too serious.
Navi suddenly appeared at his side, trailing another fairy, this one tinted scarlet. Link blinked at her, befuddled. "Oh, where have you been, Navi?"
"Finding you a red fairy!" she squealed. At her words the red fairy flew forward to alight on top of his head, then dropped down over his shoulder. Link felt a sensation like cool water trickling down his back, and the pain of his wound abruptly stopped. Within moments he felt as clear and alert as ever. "What was that?"
"A healing fairy! I knew you would need one!"
Link twisted around to look for the scarlet fairy, but she had disappeared. "Where did she...?"
"Probably went to see if she could heal anyone else," Navi replied sadly.
With friend and foe deserting the battlefield, with the dust beginning to clear, Link what damage was wrought upon both sides. Bodies of monsters, men, and women lay everywhere like rag dolls, broken and bloodied in the dirt. He swallowed and slid from Demon's back, removing the cap from his head. "Aren't there any survivors?"
Navi flew off, presumably to look, as Link took hold of Demon's reins and began to walk him back toward the hill. People on horses were moving carefully through the battlefield. Link saw some dismount to administer a mercy stroke on a dying friend or foe; very rarely, someone bent down to lift a wounded comrade onto his or her horse.
Demon snorted softly at the stench of blood. It was everywhere. Pools of it lay beneath the broken bodies of the dead, their eyes blank and glassy as porcelain dolls'. Link felt his stomach roil and swallowed hard.
"Link!" Navi's shrill voice called. Link looked around and saw her hovering over a fallen body some twenty yards away. Feeling the worse, he guided Demon as quickly and carefully through the battlefield as possible and froze. Azura lay at his feet, bleeding out of an enormous gash in her stomach.
He dropped to his knees and felt along her neck with a shaking hand. She was alive, just barely so. Her pulse fluttered beneath her fingertips. Her eyes opened and met his.
"Oh, it's you," she said wearily. Her voice was quite normal, although faint. "What goddess decided I should have to see you last thing before I die?"
"You're not going to die," Link said automatically, though he didn't believe it. Azura laughed weakly.
"Just my luck." Her laughter broke. "Dammit. I wanted to see his head on a pike. I wanted to have my revenge for her—"She broke off again, coughing. She leaned her head to the side and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Link gripped her wrist. He didn't want this. It wasn't right that Azura had to die with only her old enemy for company. He said the only words he knew could possibly be of comfort to her.
"I'll avenge Arjuna for you. I promise. I'll see him dead, for both your sakes."
"You'd better," Azura growled. She broke into a coughing fit again, and for the first time showed pain in her face. Her head fell back to the dirt; she squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw; Link felt her wrist shudder in his grip, then she was still. Her face slowly relaxed.
He bent over her, gathered her limp body in his arms and lifted her over Demon's back. His eyes blurred with tears, but he blinked them back as he tugged gently on Demon's reins, leading him out of the battlefield. There would be a time to weep, but not until he'd fulfilled his promise.
* * *
Darunia bore a pale, trembling Saria and laid her at Zelda's feet—the first of many casualties. During the hour or so that the battle had raged, Zelda never knew time to pass more slowly; now, preparing for the tattered retreat of her army, time flew. She ordered the uninjured back to the ranch for supplies to set up a camp, then, her heart thudding in her ears with each step she took, she forced herself to the battleground.
Impa intercepted her before she could get close, mounted on a small brown mare. "You don't want to see this, Zelda," she said bleakly. Zelda looked beyond her and saw a ruined field, cloudy with dust and smoke from the burning castle wall, strewn with weapons and what could only be bodies—the wounded, the dead, the dying.
She took a deep breath to steady her nerves, aware that she was trembling. "Yes I do," she said quietly. "I was kept out of this battle. I wasn't allowed to fight. It's only respectful to look at the faces of those who died for my sake."
Impa looked at her for a long time. Then at last she reached down to grasp Zelda's forearm and pull her up behind her in the saddle. "It's not going to be pretty," the Sheikah warned, nudging her mare into a trot.
Zelda merely nodded. She couldn't possibly bring herself to ask the question foremost in her mind. She would just have to wait and see.
They picked their way carefully through the quiet battleground, searching for signs of life, memorizing the faces of the dead. Zelda recognized far too many. A pair of dead Zora, lying half on top of each other, the edges of their fins darkened with blood. A Gerudo sister, cut to pieces, her head lying several feet from her body; Zelda couldn't tell whether the woman was hers or Ganondorf's. A carpenter from Kakariko who'd been the object of pursuit for all the ladies; his once-handsome face was bloodied and maimed. Peliwin, her body riddled with arrows.
Zelda prodded Impa in the back to make her stop, not trusting herself to speak at that moment. She slid from the saddle and knelt beside Peliwin, covering the girl's wide, blank eyes with her hand and closing them. A sob tore from her chest, and she clenched her jaw, squeezing her eyes shut to hold back bitter tears.
Impa waited until she'd composed herself and mounted once more. The search for survivors appeared to be abandoned; now injured soldiers moved through the field, gently bearing the bodies of their fallen comrades back to the hill upon which a camp was undergoing quick construction.
Impa and Zelda returned to the makeshift camp. Valan awaited them, taking the reins of the small mare as the two women dismounted. "Our numbers are cut nearly in half," he reported wearily. Gone was his fierce energy and commanding air; bloodied by a long gash down his bare chest and covered with dust, he looked like so many of their soldiers—weary and haunted. "Darunia's not letting that fire go out, but we might lose Saria because of it. As long as it burns we can hope for a respite, but I don't think we can survive another round."
Zelda nodded. She couldn't think about that now. "The dead?"
Wordlessly Valan pointed. Hundreds of bodies were laid in a single row in the grass. Somehow Zelda forced her legs to move.
More faces. Gorons, Gerudo, Zora, Hylians, Kakariko townspeople; faces she recognized, faces she'd never gotten to know, faces maimed beyond distinction. She saw them all, prayed for them all, hoped with all her heart that they found peace in the next life.
A faint sobbing reached her ears; she looked down the line to see a lone figure seated in the grass, clutching a body to her chest and rocking back and forth. Zelda's blood froze in her veins. She knew before she saw either of the two figures.
Dagger sat sobbing and holding Marek in her arms. The thief was chalk-white and covered in blood, limp and lifeless.
Dagger looked up, her face streaked with tears. "He took a sword through the heart for me," she told Zelda, her voice breaking. "For me. Why? Why?!"
Zelda's legs gave out and she fell to her knees, the tears that she had held back for so long sliding freely down her cheeks. Sobs turned to shrieks, then to howls. She clung to Marek and cried bitterly over Dagger's endless litany of "Why?! Why?!"
It all seemed nothing when she shed so many more tears. Parcleus was gone, killed in Ruto's defense. So was Azura, dead without revenge for her sister. She saw Saria in the tent that served as an infirmary, wracked with pain and close to death as even now, the plants with whom she shared a part of herself burned. In the long day after that terrible battle, all grief and pain was as one. Such losses they had suffered, so many lives stolen that could never be replaced.
As the sun slowly sank toward the horizon and shadows fell over the battleground, Zelda looked toward the castle, whose wall burned still despite the enemy's obvious efforts to quell the flames. Darunia's effort and Saria's sacrifice had bought them precious time, but the standstill would not last. That castle was manifest of all her fear, doubt, and dread, and she knew irrevocably that soon, this war would end before its gates.
A hand touched her shoulder, jolting her from her thoughts. She spun and felt her heart leap into her throat at Link's warm blue gaze.
"Hello, Zelda."
She felt as though she'd died and been born again. In that moment when grief, pain, terror, and uncertainty threatened to overwhelm her, Zelda learned anew what hope meant.
* * *
To be continued.