thank you sooo much for all the reviews . I really appreciate it! I hope ya like this new chapter, cuz it's dedicated to all my nice readers
Section 3
Ganondorf's Generals
"Hahahahahahaaaa!" Cyphas immediately burt into a wild fit of laughter when Link came into view. She, the sages, Taig and Chain had been waiting for Link and Zelda in the courtyard, but they hadn't expected them to be in new clothes. Chain and Taig thought the new clothes were pretty cool. The sages didn't mind it either. Cyphas thought it was alright and wasn't laughing at the clothes. She was laughing at the humiliated, sour look on Link's face.
"Oh be quiet, Cyphas!" Link said irritbaly, folding his arms and blushing.
"You...should...see...yourself!" Cyphas gasped, rolling on the ground.
"It's not that funny!" Link growled angrilly, but some sages and Chain were trying to stifle thier own laughter now. "I'm going to go change," Link said, turning around.
"Oh no you don't!" Zelda said grabbing his shoulder. "You look fine. Cyphas is laughing at you, not your clothes. By the way, your hair looks fine too." His hair was now shoulder length (it used to reach down to the middle of his back), and tied back in a short ponytail.
"Whatever." Link mumbled, glaring at Cyphas as she got up. Everyone in the castle was awake by this time, and was training. It was silent, half-hearted training, though. Everyone was feeling too anxious and uneasy to train their best; because rumor had gotten around that Ganondorf could attack any time. The skies were completely overcast, and a bit of thunder rumbled now and then, but there was no rain nor the feel of rain in the air. There was only an ominous feeling of foreboding, carried in the cold wind. Then Link heard screaming. The scouts were souding the alarm. Link immediately dashed to the battlements, his brother, Zelda, Taig and Cyphas following. Darunia and Ruto had to go back to their races, and Impa and Saria joined them for extra support. Naburoo simply ran around, making sure everyone was getting to their places. As Link reached the top of the stone stairs he ran over to the wall and looked over it. At the very back of Hyrule field smoke was rising. "Ganondorf! He's burning Hyrule Field!" Link shouted angrilly.
"He's probably going to burn Kakariko, Castletown, and Lon Lon Ranch, too!" Zelda said. "Link, what if he attacks the forest?!"
"Don't worry. The forest has always been a safe haven for the Kokiris. Even the magic of the Deku Tree sprout should be sufficient to keep him out. I'm a bit worried now that you mention it, though. He has gotten much stronger somehow..."
"Well by the looks of it, Ganondorf won't get here for another hour or so. What should we do?" Chain asked.
"Now that nobody is on Hyrule Field, why don't you make traps, Zelda? You know, with your magic." Link suggested. Zelda thought it was a good idea. She hadn't studied much trap magic, but had a few spells, that when tripped over, would set the victim on fire or encase them in ice. She could also levetate things and move land, so she set to work making some wide pits with wodden spikes in the bottom. While she was doing that, all the soldiers waited anxiously for battle. The first fifty minutes passed like seconds, but when Ganondorf's army began to draw near, time seemed to slow with the piercing anticipation. The strange thing was, nobody could see the army clearly. The smoke was in front and around the army, effectively shrouding it. Finally, when the army was about a thousand feet from the castle, the smoke thinned and the army came into view. Link was very surprised to see only the same old monsters Ganondorf had controlled before. All kinds of creatures whos name ended in -lfos, tektites, giant disembodied hands, re-deads, poes, lava-squirting slugs, keese, moblins, etc....none of the shadowy-looking monsters Link had seen when he was carried over Gerudo's Fortress by the calwots. Link heard some commotion behind him and turned to see that the King had arrived.
"Archers, long range spellcasters, prepare to fire!" He bellowed. Link looked around the castle to see who was where. The archers and long-range spellcasters (the archers were Hylians, and the spell casters were mostly sea griffons with a few calwots and small drgaons) were packed tightly onto the battlements. The ground forces (Hylians, zoras, and gorons. About a hundred of the Hyrule army solders were on horses) were arranged along the outer side of the castle, beyond the moat but about sixty yards behind Zelda's spiked ditch. Air forces (dragons, calwots, mountain griffons) were hovering in formation above the castle, waiting for the order to attack. He couldn't see the citizens, but knew they must be down in Hyrule Castle's cool, safe dungeons. Ganondorf's forces were more or less disorganized. They were not put into regiments or troops. Link couldn't even see Ganondorf himself until a middle-sized black demondragon came gliding out of the thick smoke rising behind the army. Ganondorf was seated on it's spiney back. To everyone's horror, Ganondorf had ten more demondragons following him, most of them larger than a house. Five of those dragons were being ridden by creatures Link didn't recognize and couldn't see very well. Ganondorf's dragon stopped when it got in front of the army and turned around, hovering before the mass of monsters.
"Say, what ever happened to Feelock?" Taig asked suddenly. "Couldn't he hit Ganon with lightening or something?"
"Actually, when I talked with Saroe she said he never made it back to Catalin." Zelda said.
"What?" Link asked in disbelief. "He should have been there weeks ago!"
"She said he never came back, and Tarisla left as well. She thinks the two liked eachother and Tarisla went to look for him." The Princess said.
"Very strange," Link muttered to himself. He remembered the tiger-like mean femal calwot named Tarisla, but hadn't known she liked Feelock. Then Link tunred his attention back to Ganondorf.
"Today is the day Hyrule dies! Do not be intimidated by the country's new allies, for we have new allies as well!" Ganondorf screamed to his monsters, which had stopped roaring and walking to listen. Those intelligent enough to understand him looked up expectantly. The rest fed off of the tone of hatred in his voice. "Kill! Destroy! Spill blood! And otherwise annihilate these pathetic, weak, creatures of light! ATTACK!"
"FIRE!" Daphnes Hyrule shouted as Ganondorf's forces charged into range. A sky-covering volley of arrows soared over the ground forces, over the spikey pit, straight into the midst of the monsters. Various spells followed, and between them they killed most of the monsters in front. "FIRE AT WILL!" King daphnes ordered, and a continuous rain of projectiles hindered the progress of the monsters. Eventually some of them made it to the spikey pit and tried to leap over it. Some didn't make it, and those that did were quickly cut down by the ground forces. Things were going well, until the shiftbats showed up.
"Daphnes, look! Ganondorf has control of shiftbats now, too!" Chain said pointing at their dim forms as they materialized out of the smoke. About three hundred shiftbats, ranging from dog-size to wagon-size, were following a demondragon straight toward the castle. Most of the bats were carrying monsters, obviously intending to drop them behind the defensive lines.
"Archers, shoot down those bats! Long range spellcasters keep firing at Ganondorf's ground forces! Calwot air force, destroy any bats the archers miss!" The King yelled, and the messenger calwot (Leal) flew up to the calwots to tell them thier orders. As they came into range, archers fired at the shiftbats and demondragon. To thier alarm, their arrows bounced off of invisible shields casted on the bats. Link fired an ice arrow at the dragon, and because it was a magic arrow it went through the shield and hit the tip of the dragon's wing, slowing it down a bit. "Archers, concentrate on the ground forces! Dragons, kill the monsters that the bats are dropping before they reach the citizens!" King Hyrule yelled, and his orders were quickly followed. Link looked over at the demondragon he had slowed down and saw that there was a creature composed entirely of bones on it's back. Must be that undead thing I saw in Ganondorf's dungeon! I thought I destroyed it but I forgot that it was just an illusion...The thing (actually Raptyrant) was casting weak black magic spells at the calwots trying to kill the bats. Since there were far more calwots than bats and the calwots could easily break their shields, the bats were dying quickly. Despite this, most of them had dropped their monsters and the dragons were quite busy getting rid of those. At the same time, the archers were running out of arrows, and more and more monsters were making it across Zelda's spikey ditch. Link knew that Hyrule's army had over 3,000 warriors, each one easily worth many of Ganondorf's monsters, but despite this the threat of superior numbers was a serious one. Ganondorf had thousands of monsters. The ground and air forces would have to work constantly to prevent being overrun. Link decided to go help the ground forces, who were having to deal with more monsters every second. He turned to his friends.
"Guys, I'm going down there. You coming?" Taig, Chain and Cyphas nodded.
"I'm going to stay up here and cast spells until I have less mana. Then I'll join you, okay?" Zelda said. Link nodded.
"Don't go looking for Ganondorf, now, Link." Daphnes said. Link nodded again and vaulted over the castle wall. By now Ganondorf's ground forces had begun firing back at the archers, and a black arrow whizzed by his head. Link landed heavily on the ground and called for Epona. His faithful horse had been nearby and galloped over to him. Link jumped up on her as Taig, Chain and Cyphas came down the wall. They looked at eachother grimly and moved up to the front of the forces. Link saw that the pit was now almost completely filled up with monster corpses, and soon Ganondorf's creatures would be able to cross it with ease. Then Daphnes gave the command to charge, and all of the Hylians, gorons and zoras rushed forward as one, slamming into Ganon's army. The king sent the mountain griffons and half the calwots down to help them, and chaos reigned as Link left hearing distance of the King's voice. It was bloody melee now, and Link destroyed monsters left and right as Epona charged through them heedlessly. "You've probably killed more living things than me..." Link irritably brushed Ganon's words out of his head. A battlefield was no place to consider giving mercy to monsters. Most dumb monsters thought Link was just another human wearing black on a horse, but stalfoses recognized him and began to attack fiercely. From horeseback Link had an advantage, and recieved almost no wounds from the onslaught of dead men.
"Link, you rock!" Chain shouted, and Link turned to see his little brother behind him, killing wolfoses. Chian looked a bit like Link (even though his tunic was so light green it was almost white), so monsters attacked him fiercely as well. But now that he was the new Sage of Light, he commanded powerful magic and could take care of them pretty easily. He hadn't quite gotten the hang of all his new powers yet, but had enough experience to destroy some simple wolfoses.
"Thanks, but you'de better go back to where there's lots of soldiers," Link said loudly, noticing that he was pretty far into Ganondorf's army where only a few troops of men had gotten so far. "I'm going to go help that troop over there that the monsters are trying to cut off." Link yelled over the roars and screaming of battle. Chain looked reluctant, but knew that the middle of a war was no place to disagree with the greatest warrior in Hyrule. He said okay and ran back to the main force, where Taig and Cyphas were.
Cyphas was with an elite regiment of the Royal Guard, who were defending the right side of the castle in case of a flank attack. Suddenly a demondragon with a strangely glowing rider flew over, and as if the monsters had recieved instructions from this, they initiated a massive flank attack.
"Form a line, quickly!" Raykel shouted, and immediately his warriors did that. The monsters ran straight into the line, many throwing themselves heedlessly onto the spears and pikes of the Royal Guards. What was that bluish-glowy thing on the back of that demondragon? Cyphas wondered, slicing a lizalfos's head off as it jumped at her. The line of soldiers held up for a few moments, but there were so many monsters that inevitably some broke through. The line was sepparated, and the soldiers turned to battle the beasts in their midst. A perticularly large (and smelly) group of twelve moblins broke through right where Cyphas was, and she got to work killing them, her lightening-quick, thin, curved blades destroying half before they knew what hit them. The other six surrounded her, and she was almost fast enough to kill them all; but as she killed five the last one grabbed her from behind. The massive, all-muscle creature began to squeeze her in a very uncomfotable bear hug.
"Let...me...go...you nasty pig!" Cyphas yelled, elbowing it right in it's piggy nose. It squealed ingidgantly and grabbed both of her arms, pinning them to her sides as it continued to try to crush her. She was very tough but the monster holding her was pure muscle, and it's tight hug squeezed the air out of her quickly, and forced her to drop her double curved swords. Gasping, she managed to move her arm enough to cut the moblin's leg with the sharp side of her arm fin. Growling in pain, the monster put it's right hand over the cut. Cyphas almost squirmed out of the creature's left arm, until the right came back up and locked around her neck. Cyphas struggled furiously, but couldn't get loose. A stalfos that had just knocked out a nearby Royal Guardsman saw her plight and came over, grinning. Shoot! This dumb beast can't be the end of me, this is pathetic!! Cyphas thought, her head swimming as she kicked violently at the beast keeping her in a stranglehold. It did nothing, and the stalfos made a cut across her whitish-teal stomach with it's jagged, dark blade. It gave her another slash, deeper than the last, and just when she thought it was all over, someone cut the stalfos in half from behind. As it's pieces fell to the ground Cyphas dimly saw Raykel shove his sword into the side of the Cyphas-harrasing moblin's stomach. The monster screamed as it died, and Cyphas fell to the ground. The Hylian-zora held her sore neck and coughed twice, then looked up at Raykel. He smiled charmingly, but Cyphas was angry. She leapt to her feet.
"You stupid Hylian! I had everything under control!" She growled in fury, grabbing the front of his shirt. The startled captain didn't resist and she shoved him up against the castle gate. Most of the flank attack had been destroyed, and some nearby surviving Royal Guards stopped to watch, wondering if they should attack the woman yelling at thier leader..."What's the matter with you?! I don't need help from dirty Hylians!" Cyphas raged, glaring into Raykel's dark blue eyes.
"Well, if you're going to kill me then get it over with," Raykel challenged calmly. "We have a war to fight!"
"I'm not killing you!" Cyphas growled. The surrounding soldiers gasped in shock as the swampwoman pressed her lips to Raykel's, forcefully and quickly kissing him. "I'm thanking you!" Raykel stared in amazement, mouth open. "Now don't get in my way again!"
"Hiyaaah!" Link yelled, cutting off the paw that the demondragon before him had been trying to scratch him with. It screamed in pain and jumped into the air, flying away.
"Nice one, Link!" Corb said, slashing at a monster that had tried to sneak up on him.
"I couldn't have done it without you distracting him," Link said, pulling Epona around and pointing his blade at the surrounding monsters, daring them to charge. He had been helping Corb's group for the last few minutes, and now that he'd thinned out the monsters a bit and gotten rid of the dragon, he decided to find another group to help. He looked around and spotted a group led by Garret getting attacked fiercely. "Gotta go. Good luck, Corb!" Link yelled, urging Epona toward the besieged troop of soldiers. He kicked her into a faster gallop and screamed in anger as he saw a stalfos deal a lethal blow to a soldier. The beast then attacked Garret, wounding his leg. Garret killed the beast but a moblin took it's place, forcing Garret to the ground and attempting to stab his throat with it's long spear. Epona reached the fray, and Link swiftly killed the pig-like beast trying to spear Garret.
"Thanks, Link." The lieutanant said, getting to his feet. Link helped Garret's bunch for a few minutes, evening the odds and helping to clear a path back to the main army. As soon as they had gotten there, Link wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked around for another group to help. He briefly noted that Epona was breathing heavily from dashing all over the place and kicking enemy soldiers constantly. He decided he'd get off her soon, or she'd become too exhausted to fight. Link saw a troop in the distance that was being plagued by monsters, but some calwots were already flying that way to help out. As Link looked around, and demondragon with a green-glowing rider flew over, and all the surrounding monsters charged for Link. Apparently the rider recognized me and gave them some sort of telepathic order to attack, Link thought. He cut at the beasts as quickly as he could, and Epona kicked or bit any monster she could, but they were surrounded on all sides, and the monsters closed in. They were mostly monsters from the Shadow Temple; re-deads and giant disembodied hands. The hands started hanging onto Epona's legs and head, making it very difficult to fight. The large, black, dead-skinned hands crawled up her sides and began jumping onto Link. A small one latched itself onto his neck while a re-dead jumped on his back and began knawing at his head. Link and his horse were swamped in moments, and they went down in a violently writhing pile. Link tried to cut the beasts off him, but a re-dead bit his arm very hard, making him drop the Master Sword.
"Hold on, Link!" Link heard a familiar voice, muffled by the pile of monster bodies on his head. The beasts directly on top of him were cut into shreds, thier dark blood covering the Hylian, and finally they were swept aside. Link stared up at Taig, viciously hacking at the monsters to get them off him and Epona. Link got himself off his horse and found his sword, then helped Taig destroy the remaining ones on Epona. The horse staggered to her feet, panting. Link petted her and said something in her ear, and the horse went trotting off, kicking any monsters that got in her way.
"Thanks a million, Taig. That was close!" Link said, wiping some dark monster blood off his face.
"Any time, man! What would you d-" Link cut Taig off
"I know, I know; what would I do without the 'Great Taig'?" Link said, laughing.
"You'd be toast, that's what!" Taig said puffing out his chest proudly. A shrieking re-dead jumped on his back. "Get offa me, you foul thing!" Taig growled, whacking it off with his sharp tail spike.
"Taig, watch out!" Link yelled, jumping in front of Taig and deflecting a dark ball of energy that had almost hit him and would have certainly injured him. Ganondorf had shot it of course, and recognized Link despite his new clothes.
"You are still alive...impossible! Curses!" The Gerudo King yelled. Impossible? If he really thought I was dead, why didn't he take my triforce? This is really fishy...Ganondorf turned to Taig. "Great indeed, puny little Prince!" He yelled from atop his demondragon, which was hovering a hundred feet above the two. "What's so great about a royal beast that needs a tight-wearing little boy for protection?" Taig roared in anger.
"You'd better get out of here, Ganondorf!" He yelled. "If you pick on me, my mom will come wether King Daphnes sends her or not!"
"Hhahahahaha! Your mother? I could defeat Sahoriel easily!" The dark King said haughtily.
"You're bluffing!" Link yelled. "She's way more powerful than you!"
"That's the point, you fool! A creature with so much extra power has excess magic. It would be very easy to use her power against her in my own manipulative ways. The more power, the better!" Taig growled and glared at Ganondorf, but Link could see that the King's words had actually frightened him a bit. Link took out his bow and aimed a light arrow at Ganondorf. He let it fly, but Ganondorf's dragon dodged. "I don't have time for this. I plan to destroy you later, Hero of Fools! Meanwhile, why not see what you think of my generals?!" Ganondorf pointed to a far-off area and guided his dragon away. Link looked where he pointed and saw some magic commotion going on, and heard men screaming.
"I'm going to go help the rest of the dragons, Link." Taig said, looking back over next to the castle and seeing some dragons that needed help against a large demondragon.
"See you later, Taig!" Link said, running in the direction that Ganondorf had pointed. It was at the far right of the battlefield, about four hundred feet away from Zelda's trench. When Link got to the area, he saw what was causing the magical commotion. The first thing he noticed were two dead demondragons. The second thing he noticed was two normal dragons and six calwots, completely encased in ice. They must have been the ones who killed the demondragons, Link thought. The third thing he noticed as he stepped around the demondragon corpses were two magical, glowing creatures; one red and one blue. Soldiers were charging at them, and one by one they were wounded with fire and then instantly frozen in ice. "Stop!" Link yelled at the two creatures and soldiers. The men who were about to charge stopped, looking at Link. "You guys get out of here!" Link yelled. They tried to obey, but the blue magical creature froze them before they could escape. "Now you've done it," Link growled, turning toward the creatures, who were two of Ganondorf's generals. "You're mine!"
Section 4
Fire, Ice, and Craziness
"We shall see about that, little Hylian." The blue creature said. It was a shiny-furred white wolf standing on two legs, and it had three tails with black tips, just like a keaton. The fur on the back of its neck was long and tied with little bands, and it had some black tribal tatoos on its arms. It was as tall as a Hylian, and its eyes glowed a deep and entrancing blue. A bluish aura surrounded it, which would explain how it looked like it was glowing when it was riding on the demondragon. When it spoke its mouth only opened slightly, not moving to form the words. It was very strange.
"What are you? A snow wolfo-keaton thingie?" Link asked.
"He used to be an albino keaton," The red monster explained. "But master Ganondorf has made us both into much more." This monster looked like a giant cat walking on two legs. It had a fiery reddish-orange coat of long, spikey fur, and was wearing a black spike collar. It also wore spiked bracelets on its wrists and ankles. It had many belts on its wait for no apparent reason (neither of the creatures was wearing any clothes), some belts had spikes and some had metal studs or nothing. The monster was wearing a metal mask over its face, but through the eyeholes Link could see that its eyes glowed red just like the other creature's eyes glowed blue. The cat also had a reddish aura surrounding it. It spoke in the same way, opening its mouth but not moving its lips. "I was once a mere lavakatt, but through his unfathomable powers, Lord Ganondorf has can make any weak creature into a weapon of mass destruction." The cat and wolf glared at Link, glowing eyes penatrating his very skin.
"Well, let's get on with it!" Link challanged. "Wait...what's that over there?!" Link inquired excitedly, pointing to something behind the beasts. As they turned around to look, Link performed Din's Fire, melting all the ice surrounding his allies. They fell to the ground, shaking from cold and weakness caused by being frozen for over five minutes.
"I see nothing," The white wolf said, still not realizing that it had been a cheap diverson.
"We have been decieved," The cat said. "Let us kill the human now."
"Yes, let us eat the mancreature." The wolf said. They nodded at eachother and looked back at where Link had been standing. He came at them from the side, screaming a battlecry. "Foolish human!" The wolf said, growling deep in its throat and sidestepping Link's attack. He gripped Link's neck and began to show him an example of ice magic. Link could feel his lungs filling with freezing air, and his whole neck went numb from frost. He stuggled out of the wolf's grip and staggered backwards, holding his frost-covered neck and coughing. "I am merely toying with you. You will have to do much better than pathetic sword techniques if you want to live," The wolf said. Link briefly rubbed his cold neck to get some circulation back in it, then lunged at the wolf again, this time jumping much quicker and channeling some light magic into his sword. The wolf grinned wolfishly (how else could it grin?), slashing with its claws at the blade and knocking it off its course. The strike missed, and the wolf punched Link in the gut with ice magic. He backed up, holding his stomach and shivering.
"Man, that is cold!" Link complained. The wolf laughed, and the firey cat stepped forward. Link was aware that he was still near his recovering allies, and sprinted in the opposite direction. The wolf and cat quickly caught up with him, but Link didn't care since he had successfully led them away from the recovering men. The cat formed a mass of flaming energy in its paws, then sent it out in two branches which snaked around behind Link and joined, forming a flaming circle around him.
"Burn, mancreature." The cat said, and the firery ring began to spin and gain height. As it spun and grew it bacame hotter and hotter, until Link was sweating all over. He put on his goron tunic, and wasn't very hot until the flames began bending inward. They joined at the middle over Link, beccoming a spinning, searing dome of fire. The flames grew in intensity until Link got very hot despite his tunic. Every breath burned his lungs, and he closed his eyes tightly against the bright flames, bringing up his arm to shield his face from the heat.
"Nayru's..." Link tried to cast a protective spell over himself but had to take a breath mid-sentence which burned his lungs more and made him unable to speak. Coughing, Link fell to his knees and put his arm over his mouth so he could breathe. The heat was intense. He could feel his skin burning. I have to do something before I become a Hylian cinder! Link thought urgently. His mirror shield came to mind, but would it do any good against this kind of magic? He put his sword away and yanked the shield out, holding it over his burning back. To his amazement, a heatwave explosion resulted. The heat from the spell concentrated on the sheild and was reflected back, creating a massive burst of fire that resembled a giant Din's Fire. Luckily for Link, his allies were to far away to be reached by the blast. Luckily for the cat, it was immune to fire. Unluckily for the wolf, it wasn't. It howled in pain as the blast hit it full-force, singing its fur and sending it flying. Link got up shakily, his whole body was still covered in sweat and very hot. He wiped his forehead and changed back to his black clothes (the net-like shirt allowed more ventilation so he could cool down, and Zelda wouldn't be happy if he wore anything that remotely looked like his green tunic), watching the wolf get to its feet. It bore its teeth in rage, and both it and its fiery counterpart growled threateningly. Then the wolf sent a large, fast shard of ice at Link. He could tell it was a powerful spell, which would both pierce his body and freeze him instantly. He simply defelected it with his sheild, sending it at the cat. Its red eyes widened in shock as the bolt flew at it, and it wasn't fast enough to dodge. The sharp piece of ice plunged right into its chest, and it became a statue of ice. Then the ice shattered, and in the fiery monster's place there was a cucco-sized kitten. It was reddish-orange and rather cute. Link supposed it must be a lavakatt. So, killing the demonic monster form of these creatures will break the spell and return them to thier original selves, Link relaized.
"What have you done to my partner?" Thw wolf asked, looking confusedly at the kitten. "I will destroy you, human. Now that you cannot use my opposite element monster against me, you cannot win."
"Yeah, well you can bet your fuzzy butt that I'm going to try anyways!" Link said boldly, drawing his sword. The wolf thing laughed and grinned, showing all its oversized sharp fangs. Its blue eyes glowed more intensely, and Link began to feel extremely cold. "You are not worthy of an instant freezing, mancreature. I will make you suffer..."
"F-fine, l-let's go!" Link said, shivering. He didn't notice that ice had begun to creep up his boots.
"Fool, I have already begun my attack." The wolf said, and a freezing, snow-filled wind began to blow from behind it. Link warm breath misted on the air as the cold intensified.
"G-good grief, that's c-cold!" Link said. The air was getting so cold it burned, and Link could feel his body getting stiff. He rubbed his arms in a pathetic effort to get warm, but it got colder and colder; too cold to breathe. Link tried to move but found that his boots were secured to the ground by ice, so he became off-balance and fell to his knees. Shaking violently and coughing, Link tried to cut the ice off his boots, but the ice was too hard to break off. Link took out an arrow and made it into a fire one, putting it close to his boot. It burned for a few moments, but then went out because it was so cold. Link was getting numb, and the wolf was laughing a freakish howling laugh. Link then remembered the blades in his boots. He reached down and pushed the button on the inside of each heel, and as the blades sprung out they broke the ice. Thank goodness for Cyphas's great worksmanship, Link thought. I'll have to thank her later. Before his body froze completely, Link jumped at the ice wolf. The wolf stopped laughing and saw Link coming too late to move. Link gave the wolf a long slash across its chest, making it howl and back up. The freezing spell was now gone, but Link was still very cold. "N-now say goodbye, w-wolf!" Link said, but being as cold as he was he didn't slash at the creature fast enough. The wolf stepped inside the arc of the sword, getting so close to Link that the strike missed completely, and put a paw over his mouth. Instantly his lungs were filled with water. The wolf shoved him away and Link fell to his knees again, coughing out water. So he has ice and water powers, Link thought.
"On your knees again, mancreature? You might as well bow to me and accept defeat." The wolf said mockingly, forming an ice spear and raising it.
"Never!" Link yelled, jumping to his feet. There's only one way to beat this beast without powerful fire magic, Link thought. Though he had Din's Fire, it wouldn't be powerufl enough to beat a creature so frosty, and neither would a simple fire arrow. Since the creature was evil, he had to use light magic. Link felt a warm sensation of magic rushing in his veins as he channeled energy into his sword until it was glowing.
"What is this power?! You...you truly are the Hero of Time!" Link cut at the beast alarmingly fast, and gave it an enormous cut that sent blood flying in a red streak. The creature howled its last, and transformed into an innocent-looking baby white keaton.
"CURSES!" Link heard a loud shout from Ganondorf and looked up. Ganon was hovering over the ground on his dragon about two hundred feet to the right. He was looking over the battlefield and Link looked, too. Link could see that now Hyrule's army and Ganondorf's army were the same size (when the war had started, Ganondorf's army had been about as big as five Hyrule armies) Dead monster bodies were everywhere, and the last of Ganon's beasts were being swiftly cut down by dragon and calwot spells. There were only four demondragons left, and three of them were being chased by Sahoriel, Cirokaal, and Kazan. Ganondorf was clearly losing. "RETREAT! I WILL BE BACK, DAPHNES!" Ganondorf shouted, and his monsters began to withdraw, running back across the burnt Hyrule field. Over a third of them were killed as they ran, and the Hyrule military cheered and yelled jeering comments as they watched Ganondorf's army dissapear. Then the battlefield was consumed in an overpowering light as all the monster bodies disintigrated in flares of blue fire. Then a silence covered the field as everyone saw how many Hyrule bodies there were.
The King ordered a massive clean-up, and to everyone's happiness, they found out that the spell the calwots had cast on everybody (the death-resisting one) had saved about a third of the creatures that had looked like they were dead. Overall, only about 150 Hyrule allies had been killed, thanks to the enchantments. Hundreds had been wounded, and the physicians, Zelda, and any dragons, calwots or griffons that had healing magic got busy healing everyone. Link took the baby white keaton and lavakatt to the dungeons and left them with Talon (he figured Malon would be down there at some time or another and take care of them). After Link had gotten healed, he looked around for any of his friends other than Zelda, because she was very busy. The first one he found was Taig.
"Hey Link, have you seen Faraws?" The golden-winged prince asked. "I saw her on the battlefield, but she looked hurt. I wanted to look around for her here before I search...before I..."
"Search the dead pile?" Link finished. "Don't worry, Taig. I think I saw her over there..." Link pointed to a castle tower he had seen a black dragon with red markings flying around, that could've been Faraws. But Taig didn't need to go look, because Faraws came into view form behind a nearby castle wall and landed in front of him.
"Faraws, you're okay!" Taig said, jumping at her and hugging her. Even thought the scales on her cheeks were black and red, Link couldv'e sword they got a little redder.
"Oh my...uh, I'm glad to find you well, Price Taig." Link snickered and made a kissing sound that made the female dragon's cheeks turn a deeper shade of scarlet.
"Shut up, Link!" Taig said, glaring at him. "Before I give you a hug!" Link remembered the last time the red dragon had hugged him. It had been worse than a goron hug, if that was possible. Consequently Link decided to shut up, and went to go look for Cyphas so he could thank her again for the life-saving boots. He looked all around in the courtyard, on the battlements, within the castle walls, and in the infirmary. Where the heck could she be? He wondered, stumped. The thought that she could be dead never even crossed his mind. She was too skilled to be defeated by a slew of dim-witted monsters. He decided to look outside the castle, thought he couldn't think of why she'd be there. Surely she wouldn't be in the burnt Hyrule Field, so Link looked for her in North Hyrule, in Royal Field. Chain met him on the way and they looked together.
"You know, after Cosha died I realized how much I'd miss the kid. He was like a little brother or something...My real little brother and father were killed when Ganondorf took over. Their deaths as well as Cosha's gave me an emotional scar, and I didn't know if I could be happy again..." Raykel muttered, staring at the wood beneath him.
"What about friends? Link, Sohran, your men?" Cyphas asked. After the battle, she had dragged him over to her favorite tree and made him climb it so they could talk. They sat next to eachother in a dip between branches.
"It's nice to have friends, but still... my only family is now my old mother. She may die soon, and I haven't even got time to visit her with the war and everything..."
"But isn't she in the dungeon now? Why not visit her?"
"Because you dragged me up here!"
"Oh yeah..." Cyphas laughed and scratched her spikey blue head. "You'll have to see her a little later."
"So then...why all the kindness now? It seemed as if you hated me before."
"That's why I'm nice. I acted like a complete jerk around you, like I hated you, and still you were nice to me...didn't get mad, or say I was a freak..."
"Link and Zelda are nice to you as well."
"Yes...Link became my friend, introduced me to this world of light that I had long forgotten. He showed me that there are such things as nice Hylians...He's my good friend, but I'm looking for something more than a friend, to fill the void in my life."
"Me too..." Raykel muttered, surprised at how vulnerable and soft he felt admitting it.
"Link's only what, seventeen? Besides, he's got Zelda...I haven't kept track of my birthdays the last few years, but I believe I'm around twenty-eight."
"We're ten years apart," Raykel said.
"Who cares about age?" Cyphas inquired, staring into his midnight blue eyes. She brushed some dark hair out of his face. "I, for one, do not. You're a wonderful man...you do not reject me because I'm a half-breed..."
"No," Raykel said quietly. He found himself, Mr. big tough Captain of the Royal Guard, to be blushing. "You're a beautiful woman..." He said, staring back into her yellow-green cattish eyes. From far away she appeared to be masculine with her muscled arms and spikey blue hair, but he found her face to be very femenine and very pretty. They leaned towards eachother...
"Cyphas and Raykel, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-" Chian got whacked by Link on the head.
"Shaddap, you. That's not very nice." Link said.
"Well whacking people isn't very nice either," Chain retorted.
"LINK AND CHAIN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I PERSONNALY TEAR BOTH YOUR HEADS OFF!!" Cyphas roared. Chain screamed like a girl and dashed off.
"Eh, s-sorry Cyphas-" Link stuttered.
"GO AWAY!" She yelled, throwing a large stick at him. Link joined his brother.
"Man, what's with these people?" Link asked as he and Chain got back to the castle, panting. "First Taig and Faraws, and now Cyphas and Raykel! This is war, not spring!"
"I dunno, it's craziness, that's what it is!" Chain declared. "But I gotta go, bro. I told Malon I'd help her with the horses and animals since you'll be too busy."
"What? I'm not too busy..."
"Sir Link, there is a meeting in the King's dining room in half an hour." A soldier said, walking up to and saluting Link.
"Okay, maybe I am. Tell her I said 'hi', alright?" Link said, waving to Chain.
"Sure thing, bro. See you later. Tell me if ol' Daphnes says the Sage of Light needs to do anything, okay?" Link nodded, and headed to the infirmary to find Zelda.
"So, Ganondorf has turned out to have a much lesser military than we originally expected. We have defeated him this day, and will assault his Fortress the day after tomorrow, to allow our troops to rest."
"Excuse me Your Majesty, but I don't think we've seen the last of Ganondorf's forces." Link said. The King turned to him. "While escaping his Fortress me and Saroe along with many other calwots saw some odd black monsters. He hasn't attacked with those yet."
"Yes, King Hyrule, and there were many of them. We also saw more demondragons than he attacked with today. Ganon must be plotting another strike. Let's not forget that he had two chances to kill Link and take his triforce, but only took his little ocarina! Something strange is going on behind the black walls of his Fortress..." Saroe said seriously. Coflix nodded.
"You two are certain of this? You may have seen the demondragons bunched together and it only seemed like there were more. Are you sure these 'black monsters' were not simply normal monsters shrouded in shadow? Besides, if he had extra monsters, why didn't he attack with them today?" Saroe looked slightly indignant. Why did the King question her?
"We are sure, Your Majesty...I will conjure a mind's illusion for you." This was a spell that pulled up a memory in the caster's mind and displayed it in a magical projection. The Queen of Calwots concentrated on her memory, and soon a floating picture hung above the King's table. It showed the moving black mass of monsters Link and Saroe had seen. The King looked very closely, and saw what looked like a completely black wolfos.
"You see that, Saroe? They are normal beasts covered in shadow by the darkness of the Fortress. Those are the monsters Ganondorf attacked with today, the ones we defeated." Everyone squinted at the picture, but the black forms were too distorted to make out. They could be normal monsters...Saroe cut off the spell.
"It seems their forms are too indistinct to see clearly. I cannot prove they are demons..." She said.
"Demons?" Link asked. "Like in fairy tales?"
"Yes. They are all black and can take many forms. They are all fierce and hungry for blood, and are much harder to beat than ordinary monsters..."
"Except for the fact that they do not exist." Daphnes said curtly. He could not give much credit to something nobody was sure of if it would effect the whole kingdom. He wanted to do what he thought was best for everyone...He then discussed the goods and bads about the stategies that were used in the battle, and leaders of races made suggestions. The King then told how the dead were to be buried and honored, and the specifications of a party he was going to throw that night in celebration of Hyrule's victory. Finally, he concluded the meeting. "In any case, if Ganondorf does not attack tomorrow with his 'demons', we will have a day of rest and march for his castle at dawn. We will have a meeting tomorrow night to discuss how this will be done. Is this understood?" Everyone in the room nodded silently. "Then this meeting is ajourned." Most creatures filed out of the room, to inform thier respective races of the news or prepare for the party. Zelda, Link and Impa went to the kitchen to help cook. All of the races contributed food to the party, and there was plenty for all. Music was played and creatures danced both in the courtyard and in the sky. After eating, Link played Saria's song for the gorons until he was out of breath, then finally snuck away. He would have perhaps danced and participated, but he had a bad feeling. He found Zelda sitting by herself inside a castle wall, hiding from all the comotion.
"Hey Zelda." Link said, sitting next to her. "This party...it kind of gives me the creeps...what are we celebrating for? Ganondorf will be back, I can feel it."
"I think so, too. He is far to powerful to stop now. He isn't stupid, he must surely have some back-up forces. We haven't seen the last of him, just like he said. And Link, I forgot to tell you this morning, I had another phrophetic dream."
"Uh-oh," Link said, listening intently.
"Me and you came apon this big cage of grey-white birds. I think we were in Ganondorf's castle. Anyways, some falcons started attacking them and you scared the falcons away, and freed the birds. Then we saw Llance, and he thanked you. Llance turned into Ganondorf, and was holding another little bird. He killed it by feeding it to a falcon, and you got very angry. More angry than I think you would normally be about a little bird dying. Ganon dissapeared and you were by yourself, your wrists bleeding..." Zelda didn't have the heart to tell the next part of the dream...where Link had held a dagger over his own heart..."Then I saw light."
"Well, that doesn't sound very happy," Link said quietly. "What's with always seeing light at the end?"
"I don't know. Perhaps it means the dream is prophetic, but my prophetic dreams in the past haven't always ended in light. It is very strange. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with the unwise choices my father is making...if it were up to me, I'd have the military prepare for war, not dance." Zelda said. Link nodded, knowing Zelda would make a great Queen someday. The King tried to do what was right, but he was constantly blind to the truth because he chose not to believe those attempting to help him. Link knew if things fell apart and it seemed everyhing was over, he'd have to fight Ganondorf again...
"I'm going to get something to drink," Zelda said, standing up. Link followed her, and they went to a magic fountain that was spouting juice in the courtyard. As they got themselves some, the zora and goron band (with the help of Saria's ocarina) played a slow song. Link spotted Chain dancing with Malon and laughed.
"He was complaining about how everyone is going crazy...now look at him!" Link said, pointing them out.
"Well, they could just be dancing as friends, Link. After all, they barely met eachother." Zelda said. Link nodded.
"Yeah, that could be. But, wouldn't it be interesting if she finally found that 'knight in shining armor' she always wanted me to be?" Zelda nodded thoughtfully.
"I know this party is stupid and we'd better go to bed soon, because Ganondorf might attack tomorrow, but...you wanna dance?" Zelda asked shyly.
"As friends, of course?" Link asked, grinning.
"Of course." She said, grinning back and putting her hand in his.
Link heaved a happy sigh and threw himself down on his bed. Hyrule was at war. Over a hundred men had died that day. He was tired and stressed and on the edge of a battle that would most likely kill him. How could he possibly be happy at the same time? His own emotions were confusing him. He was worried, anxious, maybe even a bit scared. He had every right to be, since it was inevitable that he would fight Ganondorf again and possibly lose. Yet, he felt a certain heavenly peace after dancing with Zelda. She was his best friend. Best friend. Being with her relieved his stress a bit. Gotta put this stuff to the back of my head and go to sleep, He thought, ignorring the loud crash of thunder outside. He drifted to sleep to the soft sound of his brother's snoring, and had evil dreams.
-I bet ya didn't expect any fluff from anyone else but Zelda and Link, did ya?! mwahahahaha! ahem, anyways....reviews are GREATLY appreciated so if you read this please leave a review...I hope you liked it. Read next time to see if Ganon had demons or if Saroe and Link were just seeing things, heheh. Also, the meaning of Zelda's dream will be revealed. See ya next time... -Talonclawfange