The Battle at Zora's Domain Part 2: Chapters 4-6

Chapter 4: The Battle Continues

The six heroes had killed the first group of enemies and waited, as Vin said he could hear more coming. The group wondered how many more enemies would attempt to attack the land - would there be no end to them?

Vin sat on the ground, worried about his friend, Ezra. The Shadow boy could get into danger attempting to rescue his mother alone and Vin wished he had gone with him; if only Zora's Domain hadn't been expecting an imminent attack at the same time. Vin wondered what he was getting himself into by becoming a protector of the lands. Did this mean they would never have time again to enjoy the simple pleasures of childhood; for him - playing with the other children in Kokiri forest or fishing in the water there? He still hadn't ever caught a very big fish - he wondered if Zora's Domain had large fish; maybe he could find out after they'd defeated all these enemies - but would they ever stop coming?

"Vin, rupee for your thoughts?" asked Chris, wondering what the forest boy was thinking of.

"I was wonderin' how many enemies we have to defeat here 'fore the place is made safe," said Vin, worried that it would take ages and he wouldn't see his parents for days yet.

"I wish I could say there wouldn't be many more, but I don't know, Vin. All I know is they must come from somewhere and one day we'll go and find the source," said Chris; because at the source would be the one responsible for his wife and son's deaths. The blond man realised they would need some sleep before they could do anything else, and the one responsible for the enemy attacks would need to rest as well. It was obvious that whoever was responsible for the attacks, was using magic to create all these enemies - they would need to recharge their magical powers at some time and while the heroes rested, the fairies would keep watch for enemies.

"Boys, there's the sound of hoof-beats coming from Hyrule Field - we'd better be alert for more enemies," said Josiah, watching Nathan and JD playing in the water and not looking like heroes at all.

JD and Nathan turned toward Josiah on hearing his warning and waited for more enemies to enter the Domain. The enemies were able to enter the place too easily by tearing straight through the rock walls. Chris had said that when there was time he would work out a way to reinforce the walls. Hopefully, strengthening the walls would keep the enemies out.

Several large black flying horses with two large wings that grew out of each of their backs, flew into the Domain. At first glance they looked friendly enough, but their eyes had red flames for pupils and the beasts were growling fiercely.

The beasts were now advancing on the boys and men quite swiftly, so Vin, who had an arrow in his bow ready, fired at one of the beasts in an attempt to slow it down. The forest boy was an expert at hitting targets from a distance and always carried his bow and plenty of arrows, in case he needed the weapon.

The arrow hit the beast and bounced off it to the ground as if the horse were made of metal. Vin uttered a forbidden word in anger at the failure and received a frown from Chris. Such words weren't appropriate for a boy to use and Chris intended to make sure the boy would remember that in future - Chris would talk to Vin when this was over.

JD walked bravely toward another horse with his sword drawn; he intended to strike the horse to see if that would help.

Buck, fearful for JD, ran to the boy and pushed him backward. "Are you trying to get yourself killed, Kid? I'm sure if an arrow won't hurt them, a sword won't either. They look magical, so maybe something else magical would work against them."

After Buck had finished speaking, JD remembered his power he had discovered at Queen Zelda's castle; somehow that might help. He closed his eyes tight and concentrated on calling forth his power. Then he mentally directed it toward the horse, hoping that it would work.

"JD, how are you doing that?" asked Buck in surprise.

JD opened his eyes, still concentrating,and looked at the horse; it now floated in the air and the other horses looked at it fearfully. It flapped its wings, but found itself unable to control its flying.

"I think your trick scared them all, Brother," said Josiah with a smile.

JD closed his eyes and mentally directed the floating horse out of the Domain. The horse floated out into Hyrule Field and the other horses followed to escape, not wishing this strange power to be used on them - they preferred to be in control of their directions.

Vin listened for more enemies for several minutes. They had to be sure that no more enemies were heading that way, but it seemed that none were even in Hyrule Field then.

Chris gathered Josiah, Buck and JD together and started telling them how they could secure Zora's Domain better. They started to gather materials for him and soon they were working on strengthening the rock walls by making them thicker on the inside.

Nathan watched them and had an idea; the boy looked around and started picking different types of berries, then he took out his flask that was empty and squeezed one type of red berry into it. A thick red mixture was now contained in the flask. Zora's Domain had many different coloured edible berries, which when squeezed or squashed produced a dye.

Vin walked over to the boy wondering what he was doing, "What's that, Nate?" asked Vin; he had found out that Nathan didn't mind being called "Nate".

"I am making dye. I need something to spread it onto the reinforced walls with and I need more containers so I might make many colours of dye. I will use it to decorate the walls with pictures, as the walls will look ugly otherwise."

"That's a wonderful idea, Nate. I'll help you." Vin smiled at the older boy - Nathan was showing himself to be quite thoughtful at times and Vin looked forward to hearing more of his friend's ideas in the future.

The boys set about looking for more containers and anything they could use to spread the dye onto the walls.

Chapter 5: Travelling to Zora's Domain

Ezra and his mother rode along Zora's river, headed toward the mouth of the river.

"I will stay on dry land hidden, while you fight; I am no warrior and don't wish to become one," said Maude. The woman intended to find a new home once her son had finished fighting enemies. Of course her son would have to live with one of his friends then, as Maude would be busy with schemes to make rupees without working hard and he would be out of her way if he was somewhere else. Now that Ezra was a defender for the above-ground people she was sure that he would disapprove of all her schemes; it seemed like he was more like one of the above-ground people now, like she once was. The Shadow Lands had turned her partially bad, meaning she had little regard for other people and was happy to trick people out of their money.

Ezra's horse came to a stop and the two dismounted. "Shouldn't we tie him to a tree so he won't run away?" asked Maude.

"This horse is specially trained not to abandon his rider; he will remain here and wait for us," answered Ezra with a grin - he had the best horse and he was proud of that fact.

"What if danger comes here though? He would escape in fear then and you would have to walk everywhere." Maude had brought Ezra up to avoid hard work just like she did; it was up to others to do the work - it was such a waste of their life to toil in labour. She considered walking too much as hard work as it made joints ache - anything that made joints of the body ache was hard work in her opinion.

"Horses hold no interest for the enemies, Mother. Enemies only desire to subdue lands and people," said Ezra, sounding very sure of this and hoping he was right.

"When this fight is over, will you take me to Hyrule Town? I hear it is a very profitable location and I wish to make a home there," asked Maude. Hyrule people made a lot of rupees by selling things in the market or in shops there. A lot of things sold in that town weren't sold anywhere else in the kingdom, meaning that people would pay almost any price to buy items from there. Maude would find ways to get rupees out of the rich traders in the town.

"If we are not required for further protection then, I shall take you there," said Ezra - perhaps after living there a while, his mother would become more honest and work for rupees instead of conning people out of them.

"You sound so grown up, have I missed so much of your childhood, my boy?" asked Maude with regret in her voice.

"My infancy has passed and I am now approaching my adult years. Thanks to you, I have never enjoyed a childhood like other children," said the boy emotionless, still feeling like a child, and hoping that perhaps he might be able to play games with his new friends sometime in the future to make up for his lost childhood. He had missed out on fun when he was younger because he didn't have any friends to play with, due to the widespread knowledge that his inherited genes were from above-ground. People from above-ground weren't liked by the Shadow People. Maude was the only adult there from above-ground, as someone above-ground had to commit a very serious crime to be sent to the Shadow Lands. No-one before or after Maude's family had been exiled to the below-ground lands. Maude fit in so well with the Shadow people that no-one remembered she wasn't one of them, and a lot of people liked her.

Chapter 6: Together once again

The wall of Zora's Domain that faced Hyrule Field was now reinforced on the inside and should keep out any more enemies. Now, the four boys of the heroes stood painting pictures to make the wall look prettier. The pictures were all very different and showed how different each of the boys was. Josiah and Chris stood watching and occasionally examining the pictures closely. The lands of Zelda's Kingdom were all featured in the artwork and King Zora had come back and admired each picture and shown that he liked each one very much. He was fond of all people and places, happy for a reminder of each, as he was too old and defenceless to venture outside of the Domain much now. The entrance to Zora's Domain was to the side of the damaged wall and hadn't been damaged by the enemies, so didn't need any repairs.

The outside of the wall was also magically protected, the same way that the walls of Travis Ranch were - those walls were covered with a special vine that kept evil magic away. The fairy, Hyrulia had known about the magical vines at Travis Ranch and had got some from Orin Travis who was more than happy to help protect one of Queen Zelda's lands. The power of the vines was a secret only a few knew of and only the king of the Zoras would know that they were on the outside of the wall to keep evil away. To most people they just looked like ordinary vines. The vines were quite rare, so there weren't enough available to protect the entire kingdom unfortunately.

As the boys were painting the wall they were talking about the future.

"I guess after this we'll have to get back to our families - they'll be missing us," said Vin. He was worried about his mother and father - they would be very worried about the boy as he hadn't seen them since before he faced the tests in the Great Deku Tree. His parents might become ill with worry - very ill if they thought he was no longer living and Vin didn't wish them to become ill on account of him.

"We cannot abandon the Seven," said JD, thinking Vin meant to give up being one of Zelda's Seven - the title that best fitted them as a group, since they were heroes in Zelda's Kingdom.

Vin realised the younger boy had taken what he'd said the wrong way and hurriedly explained, "Soon as we're needed again the fairies will call us - that's what they're there for - to watch the lands for trouble. I did not mean that I wished to give up my destiny - I will remain a hero until either I am not needed any longer or until my life ends."

JD looked at him with a scared expression, "You mean if someone or something kills you?"

"No, JD - I won't let any of us get killed - I meant if I died of natural causes." Vin vowed then that he wouldn't let enemies kill him or the other heroes. He didn't want the enemies to have any successes to celebrate.

"I haven't seen my mother for ages," said Buck, hurriedly changing the subject; he really missed her and couldn't wait to see her again.

"I cannot see my wife or son again as they perished in one of the fires in Gerudo Valley," replied Chris angrily. "I shall be looking in the future for the evil being responsible for the fire, to avenge their deaths." All these enemies must have someone who commanded their actions - that would be the one who was responsible for Chris's family's deaths - and Chris wouldn't let them live much longer once he'd found them.

"Brother, as I have no family to look after, I would like to come with you," offered Josiah. Chris was a good man in his eyes and he wanted to help him avenge his family's deaths.

"If you're going, you can wait for me to say goodbye to my family, then I'll come along as well," said Nathan. He had no intention of remaining living with his family now, as he could look after himself quite well and had been invited to live with Josiah to help with his garden. Nathan's family wouldn't miss him much and he'd still live nearby.

"I would prefer to go alone - I can handle things myself," insisted Chris, growing angry that they thought he would need any help - like they thought he wasn't strong enough to face the enemies alone.

"Perhaps you should have fought the enemies here alone then, sir," said a familiar male voice.

Chris turned around and frowned at the late-comer; he didn't like the tone in his voice.

"Ezra, how did you get in here?" asked JD in surprise. The only way in was through the Zora's Domain entrance that only opened after the special tune was played.

"I have the knowledge of how, which I have learned in my years of study," replied Ezra boastfully. The boy had his own flute that he had been given by Vin.

"You cannot read how to enter this place from a book," said JD angrily. He didn't want intruders getting into his homeland.

"You assume I learn my entire knowledge from books, young sir?"

"It is the Zora's secret - no-one outside must speak of it."

"JD, it had to be passed on to me so I could come here originally," said a young female voice.

"Casey?" asked JD, then he ran to his young friend who had come in the entrance, and hugged her.

"I only told Vin the secret so that he could visit me," said Casey, smiling at her older forest friend who looked happy to see her; they hadn't seen each other for about two years.

"An' I told Ez 'cause he's one of the Seven and would need it to come here to join us," explained Vin.

Chris looked angrily at Ezra, and the boy jumped back in fear as though a bolt of electricity had just struck him. Chris felt his anger rising - the boy had played no part in protecting the Zoras from the enemy attack and now he had the nerve to come here when it was all over. Chris would have stern words with him soon.

"We are to have a celebration this evening in Zora's River outside of here," announced King Zora, who had entered the Domain behind Casey, "and the Seven will be our guests of honour, served by our people who are grateful for all their help."

"We need no reward for our work," said Nathan modestly; he liked helping people who were appreciative, but not people who just expected him to help then listen to them complain that he hadn't done a good enough job. His step-sister wasn't at all appreciative when he helped her.

"Your work will not go un-rewarded," replied King Zora determinedly, watching as the other Zoras returned.

Z7 - Z7 - Z7 - Z7 - Z7 - Z7 - Z7

That night as the moon shone down into Hyrule Field, the air was filled with the sounds of talking and laughter as the Zoras and the Seven celebrated the departure of the enemies that had threatened their homes. Vin hadn't heard further enemies approaching - he guessed it was because of JD's magical power scaring off the horses; word of the boy's power had probably got back to the source of the evil and for now they weren't going to risk another failed attack.

The young Zora girls and Casey (who was from Kokiri Forest, but lived in Zora's Domain with her Zora aunt) picked flowers and put them onto strings made from strong grass before tying the ends together. Then they crowned each of the heroes with one of these. The boys and men talked and played with the Zora children. Casey stayed close to JD throughout, fearing that he would have to leave soon after the celebrations.

Ezra's mother was invited, so sat with Ezra telling him of her future plans. The talk was interrupted when Chris walked over and asked for a private talk with Ezra, so the boy walked over to a quiet area with Chris.

"You're lucky none of us suffered any injuries fighting with one less hero," said Chris very angrily. "If any of us had got hurt, you would now feel guilty for abandoning us the way you did - you put your own needs first, Ezra!" shouted Chris at the boy.

"I was concerned for my mother's safety - I couldn't risk her dying," said the boy weakly, feeling guilty.

"Now she's okay, I never want you running out on us again. Promise me you will stay with us when we need you."

"I didn't think..." Ezra began.

"I know you didn't think - that was the problem. From now on you will think first and act afterwards, but only after you have thought it through thoroughly. Not thinking could get you hurt, or worse," said Chris sternly.

"In the Shadow Lands, I was not expected to think for myself - I would only do what I was told. I was punished when I had my own thoughts, especially when I ventured outside."

"You are no longer in the Shadow Lands and you will not go back alone - if you ever have to go back at all," stated Chris firmly.

"I am sorry; I never wished to put anyone in danger because of my actions. You have my full co-operation from now on." Ezra wasn't sure if he really meant this or not; he didn't like obeying orders and he wasn't in the habit of making promises. He preferred to be independent, like his mother had brought him up to be.

"Good. Are you going to live with your mother?" asked Chris, calming down slightly.

Ezra laughed pretentiously then answered the man, "I have not lived with my mother much in the past, as she preferred that I live with others while she acquired rupees for us to purchase necessities with. I don't intend to live with her now. Vin has said that I would be welcome to live with his family in the forest."

"Good - just don't let me find out if the two of you get up to any mischief," said Chris with a smile; he was certain they would cause mischief - those two were made for it, he had learnt when they had delayed the uniting of the Seven.

Ezra went back to his mother, who was waiting by the river for him and Chris went to talk to Vin about how it was wrong for children to use forbidden bad words, especially in front of younger impressionable children.

Chris approached Vin, who was talking to Casey. Upon seeing the stern look on the blond man's face, Casey ran off to talk to JD. She was scared by the man's serious look and didn't wish to hear what he wished to say to Vin.

"Vin, about earlier..." started Chris meeting the boy's eyes as he spoke.

"I'm sorry I said that word, Chris. Especially in front of the younger children who most likely know that it is a forbidden word for them to use," apologised Vin.

"You read my mind, Vin. Please don't say that word again - even when the other boys aren't in earshot. Even adults shouldn't really use words such as that, but sometimes we can't help it if we're really mad about something." Chris had stopped using forbidden words when Adam had been born, but occasionally the odd curse slipped out if he was really annoyed.

"I'll talk to the other boys about it and we'll all watch our language more closely from now on," promised Vin. Then he left Chris and went to talk to first Buck, then JD. He didn't think Nathan or Ezra really needed to be told not to swear in front of the younger boys.

To be concluded in Part 3.