Disclaimer:
The Legend of Zelda is property of Nintendo.
Author's Notes:
Sorry it's taken so long to do this chapter; it's really long. The chapter doesn't have a lot of action; since it was so long I'm saving the action for the next chapter. But don't worry: there will be plenty of it, I hope. Thanks to Ruby-sama 4.5 for being my first reviewer, and everyone please review!
New Note(10/29/03): I just finished editing this chapter and now I've updated it. I decided that I better go through and edit all my chapters after I found a lot of mistakes in the first chapter. From now on, I'll edit before I upload a new chapter, and my apologies to those of you who had to suffer through the many mistakes in the first few chapters.
The Legend of Zelda: The War of Power
Chapter 2: The Festival
Link watched in awe as the performers entered Castletown, some atop enormous stallions, some displaying amazing feats of agility and acrobatics as they led the parade. There were many different creatures in cages, ranging from fierce wolfos to timid cuccos. A crowd had formed as the performers marched into the town, and many were clapping and cheering excessively. A hush fell on the crowd, however, as a mammoth beast entered the town, decorated with an ornate saddle and colorful mask. Link had only heard of this beast in old stories and legends, and had never seen one through all his travels. He recalled it was known as a phantos, and lived in an unknown region of the earth. The creature was easily twenty feet tall, and had legs the size of tree trunks. The beast's skin was rough and covered with short brown hairs. Two immense horns jutted from either side of its mouth, and an incredibly long and flexible nose extended from the creature's face. Atop the saddle of the beast sat a man clad in elaborate garments. He was waving at the crowd, pleased that he was garnering so much attention from the town. The procession continued through the marketplace and the performers headed to the castle to present themselves to the king, leaving the people to marvel at what they had just seen.
The performers had come to Castletown as entertainment for the annual Harvest Week celebration. During this week, farmers harvested their crops and brought their many goods to the town. The celebration was two days long, and it occurred at the end of the week. The farmers would sell many of their crops to the townspeople and other shopkeepers would also have the chance to sell their varying products. The king had planned entertainment for the festival, as well as games, and the week usually proved to be quite enjoyable.
Link was excited, but not to the extent of many other people. He enjoyed the festival somewhat, but eventually he ended up being bored and getting into trouble. Another thing that bothered him was that the festival was basically the same every year. The same performers, the same games, and the same long speeches. The one aspect of the festival Link enjoyed tremendously every year was the food. There would be all manner of roasted meat, from pork to steak, and an immense amount of desserts. The royal family and the nobles always had access to the desserts before the others, but usually there was still plenty of food left for Link by the time the trays reached him. Zelda had tried to persuade her father to let Link sit with her at the dinner, but she was denied every time.
Link sighed. The festival was still two days away, and right now he had to finish delivering the Lon-Lon milk. He would have time for daydreaming later.
***
Link slowly trudged towards Lon-Lon ranch as the sun lowered in the sky and bathed Hyrule field in an orange light. He had delivered at least twice as much as he did on an average day, most likely because of the performers that had entered the town.
The boy made it to the ranch and entered in through the gate. He carried the money he had received from Talon's customers in a bag at his waist. After knocking on the door to the ranch house and receiving no reply, Link proceeded to walk over to the horse corral. As he neared, he saw Malon, his greatest friend, grooming Epona, the Gerudo mare. He called out as he entered in corral, and the horse and girl ran to him.
"Hi, Fairy Boy!" Malon shouted as she neared him, "You should visit more often instead of just coming by to drop of the money. I haven't seen you in forever!"
"I came by just last week, remember," Link said as he patted Epona, receiving an affectionate whinny from the horse, "and we rode around on Epona until the moon had nearly begun to rise and I barely made it back to the town before they raised the bridge."
"Once a week is hardly very often," Malon said in response, "I still wish I could see more of you. Can you stay for a while today?"
"Nope," Link said, "Sorry, Malon, but I've got to give you this money and get back to town before nightfall. You're coming to the festival, though, aren't you?"
"Sure I am!" Malon said giddily, "I love the festival! There's so much to do and so much stuff to see, it's one of my favorite times of year!"
Link sighed for the second time that day. His thoughts regarding the festival were exactly opposite to Malon's, and she usually ended up dragging him all over the festival grounds, trying to make sure they saw everything there was to see.
"Come on," Malon said after Link let out another loud sigh, "It's not nearly as bad as you act like it is. I don't get to go to festivals very often, so you could at least enjoy it for my sake."
"Alright," Link said apologetically, "I'll try. I'll see you then." With that, Link handed her the bag, patted Epona one last time, and began the trek out of the ranch and back to Castletown. Malon looked up at the sky before continuing to groom Epona.
"I hope daddy gets back soon," she said as Epona neighed in agreement.
***
Siluk watched as the performers set up their stage on the festival grounds. The grounds were located to the west of the castle, and he could see Hyrule Castle was just on the other side of a steep hill. Siluk was one of the performers that had entered the town this morning. He was clad in a black tunic and a hooded cloak, arranged so that it covered most of his face. Siluk did not want his emotions to be displayed on his face, for he had knowledge of gifted individuals that could discover what he was thinking just by reading his face. The thoughts going through his mind at this moment could not be revealed to anyone, or the plan would fail.
A man had come to him a week before the performers began their journey to Hyrule. The strange man had told Siluk that he possessed incredible talent, and that he would pay the performer a large sum of money to do a job for him. Siluk had been wary, wanting first to know what exactly the 'job' consisted of. The man had chuckled slightly, but then had proceeded to reveal the details of the task to him. Siluk thought it would be an easy task to accomplish, and had agreed to do the job in exchange for a large sum of money. The performer had then been handed a bag full of expensive jewels and ruby pieces, the most money he had ever seen since his career begun. The man then disappeared, but not before threatening Siluk with death should he not complete his task.
Coming out of his thoughts, the young performer gazed at the castle; contemplating how he would accomplish the task he had been appointed to do.
***
Zelda was becoming increasingly nervous as the festival drew closer. She didn't think Impa's plan would work; she was sure that her father would be suspicious if she disappeared for most of the festival.
"Quit worrying, Princess," Impa the Sheikah said, trying to comfort her, "The plan will work. I can hardly recognize you, and I am near you constantly."
Zelda stared at her reflection in her large mirror. The princess was dressed in the attire of a Sheikah; a blue and gray bodysuit with a large eye on the front of it. Her head and arms were wrapped in loose bandages so that her face would be covered, and her hair was tied back behind her head.
"You just need to concentrate when you walk," Impa told her, "Make sure you don't walk like a princess or you will be recognized immediately. And keep your face covered at all times."
"You don't need to tell me that," Zelda thought before looking into the mirror once more and walking slowly back and forth, trying to look as common as a princess could. She remembered in the alternate timeline, before Ganon had been defeated, that she had used magic to change her appearance when she donned the Sheikah clothing, but she didn't want to transform this time. The princess thought it was too awkward to be an almost completely different person.
Despite being unsure of her appearance, Zelda was immensely looking forward to the festival. She would get to spend time with Link without having to be a princess. She could be a normal person, if only for two days. Though if she enjoyed being in her disguise, maybe she could persuade Impa to let her don it more often.
A knock was heard at the door, and the king's voice could be heard calling to Zelda from outside. The princess took less than a second to magically change her clothing back to her royal attire before Impa answered the door.
The king stood in the doorway and looked at his daughter. "Zelda," he started, "there's a special guest here to meet you tonight." The king ushered Zelda out into the hallway stepping aside to reveal a young man clad in expensive clothing and wearing a grand crown on his head.
"Zelda" the king said, turning to his daughter, "I would like you to meet Prince Halberd of the Solatians! He will be accompanying you to the festival tomorrow and-"
"So it's like a date?" Zelda interrupted, "And you didn't even ask me?"
King Harkinian looked taken aback, "No, no," he said, "I didn't mean it like that, it is merely a test to see if our two grand nations could get along, and maybe a chance to establish something for the future."
"I don't think I'll be able to go to the festival with him," Zelda told her father defiantly, "I have other plans."
"I'm sorry, Zelda," the king said, "but I need you to do this for me. It will be a large step towards harmony between our two countries if the royal families can get along."
"Excuse me," the prince said, clearing his throat, "but I would appreciate it if you two do not talk as if I was not standing here before you. I do not respond well to being disrespected."
"Sorry, your highness," the king said quickly before turning to Zelda, "you will take him to the festival and treat him to an enjoyable time, Zelda. It is your duty as Princess of Hyrule."
Zelda sighed. She knew he was right, she couldn't ignore her responsibilities just to spend time with Link, and she didn't want to create tension between two powerful countries.
"Okay, father," Zelda said quietly, "I will do as you wish."
"But Halberd or no, I will do as I wish," Zelda thought to herself as the king and the prince walked away down the long corridor.
***
Link had been wandering around the town aimlessly for the entire morning, waiting for the festival to begin at noon. Judging by the sun, the festival was to begin shortly, but Link was still bored. He couldn't find Malon, if she was even here yet, and he knew Zelda would be stuck at the castle. This was one of the few times Link didn't even want to try to sneak into the castle; security was a lot heavier than usual with so many people near Hyrule Castle.
Still finding nothing to do, Link sat down on the wall of the fountain in the market. The market was chaos because all the merchants and shopkeepers were preparing for the festival.
"I must be the only one who's not busy," Link thought as he looked around at the bustling farmers and townspeople, "Even Malon probably has stuff to do."
The boy sighed and held his head in his hands, trying to get in a relaxing position where he could sit for a while and wait for the festivities to begin. He sat in that position for nearly an hour, oblivious to all around him, before he was startled back into consciousness by a voice calling to him.
"Fairy Boy!" Malon called to him from across the marketplace, "Wake up and quit being lazy."
Link looked over and saw Malon standing a little distance to his left. Glad one of his friends was finally here, he rushed over to her.
"Malon!" Link started excitedly, "I'm really glad to see you. It's been so boring around here."
"Quit complaining, Link," Malon told him, "I've been working all morning like everyone else around here. You could have come and helped instead of sitting around all day."
Link suddenly felt guilty and looked away from Malon, focusing his gaze on the rest of the marketplace. He noticed that there were significantly less townspeople around then there were earlier, and he figured that the festival must be starting soon.
"Stop daydreaming, Fairy Boy," Malon said, "I came to get you so that you wouldn't sleep through the festival. It's going to start real soon, and I don't want to be late." The farm girl then grabbed Link by the hand and dragged him away from the marketplace and in the direction of the castle.
When they were nearing the castle, Malon dragged Link along a different route that circled halfway around the castle. As they neared the festival grounds, the duo encountered a thick crowd of people, eager for the announcement that the festival would begin and the gates would open.
"Oh," Malon sighed, "we're never going to get up to the front. This crowd wasn't here when I went to look for you. This is your fault, Fairy Boy."
"What's the difference between getting in first and getting in last?" Link asked, "You'll still get to go to all the different booths and stuff."
"That's not the point!" Malon cried, "I want to have first pick of the games and I don't want to wait in long lines."
Link sighed and looked around, trying to find a path through the thick mass of people. He then laid eyes on a lone merchant traveling up the path atop a horse, pulling a wagon full of his products. As he moved, he was yelling at people to get out of his way so he could set up his stuff for the festival before it began. This gave Link an idea.
"Malon," the boy said quietly, "When this merchant passes by us, jump into his wagon and we'll ride in."
"Link!" Malon scolded him, "I don't want to sneak in, I just wanted to get in first." Link ignored her and waited for the wagon to near him. Then, as the merchant passed by, Link grabbed Malon around the waist and tossed her in the back of the wagon before she could object. He then climbed up the side of the cart and hopped over into the back of the wagon, hoping nobody had seen his little stunt. He had landed on many bags, and was glad that whatever was in them was soft, but he didn't see Malon anywhere.
"Malon," Link whispered, "where are you?" The boy received his answer as someone tackled him from behind and sat on top of him amidst the bags.
"Link," Malon said, shaking her head, "I can't believe we're sitting in the back of a merchant's cart sneaking into the festival. Do you like getting in trouble?"
"Actually," Link began, "getting in trouble gives me something to do. And you don't always have to say sneaking like it's bad."
"Well be quiet!" Malon said in a whisper, "Unless you want us to get caught."
"Ah," Link said with a smile, "so the farm girl does have some mischief in her. I never thought you would stoop to my level, Malon."
"Shut up," Malon said, receiving a chuckle from Link.
***
"I have to figure out how I'm going to get rid of that Prince Halberd," Zelda thought as she prepared for the festival, "I'm not going to take him with me, he'll probably just get lost and ruin everything and get me in trouble."
The princess sighed. She hoped that Halberd wouldn't be that hard to get away from, and that she would have a spare moment when she could disguise herself as Sheik. Zelda was not looking forward to having to entertain a self-obsessed prince of some distant country. She knew it was her duty as a princess to be hospitable, but she could not pass up her opportunity to be a normal person, if only for two days.
Zelda finished getting ready for the festival before a knock came at her door. She opened it to find her father and Prince Halberd standing in the hallway with Impa and people whom she assumed were the king and queen of Solatia.
"Zelda," the King of Hyrule said, "I would like to introduce to you King Halberd and his wife, Queen Halberd, the rulers of Solatia." Zelda politely introduced herself and bowed. The monarchs each made a small wave and grunted quietly, and Zelda noticed they omitted a bow.
"Well," she thought, "At least I know where the prince gets it from." The princess didn't want to spend any more time with these people than she was forced to.
"Zelda," her father started, snapping her out of her thoughts, "It is time for the festival to start. We must be there to announce it. Please escort Prince Halberd to the festivities."
Zelda grudgingly took her place next to the prince as the royal families began the procession to the festival.
***
"Good people of Hyrule," the King Harkinian began, atop a platform overlooking the festival, "it is my pleasure to announce…the start of the Harvest Week Festival!"
A cheer came up from the crowd of people as the gates were opened and everyone stampeded in. Link and Malon heard the announcement from their hiding place amidst some crates. Malon was immediately gone, dragging Link with her, and was racing towards the nearest booth. The booth just happened to be an archery game, something that Malon excelled at. She paid the fee for the game, took up the bow, and waited for the targets to begin moving. The operator pulled a lever, putting gears into motion, and the six inch targets began to move back and forth, too slow for Malon. The farm girl nailed every single target dead center, amazing spectators, before going to pick her prize.
"She just had to show off," Link thought, as Malon came running back to him with a bundle of arrows.
"That's your prize?" Link asked, confused, "All you got was a bundle of arrows."
"They're not just normal arrows, Fairy Boy," Malon insisted, "They're special. If you actually take a second and look at them, you can see how shiny the arrowheads are. The shopkeeper says that they're covered with a thin layer of gold."
Link looked closely at the arrows and could faintly see the sun reflect off of the arrowhead. "That's not gold, Malon," the boy told her, "It's just normal iron reflecting the sun."
"I don't care," Malon said, a bit angrily, "They're special. Now take your turn and win something good."
Link took the bow he was handed and waited for the game to start. The game began, and Link also hit every target, but his arrows were not as precise as Malon's had been.
"Hah," Malon said from behind him, "I'm still better than you."
Link groaned. "Malon, I don't really want a prize," he said, "you can go and pick out some more junk."
"Thanks, Link!" Malon yelled, "I'll get some more special arrows."
Link groaned once again and watched as Malon went behind the shop and came back with a quiver.
"Those aren't arrows," Link said as she reached him.
"Well thank you for telling me that," Malon said sarcastically, "or else I might never have noticed. I've been needing a new quiver, and this one seemed good, so I got it."
Link took the quiver from her and looked at it carefully. To his surprise, it was a good, strong quiver; he didn't know there was anything of value to be won from these festival games.
"Come on," Malon called, walking away, "let's go do something else!" Link followed her and prepared for a long day.
***
Zelda was growing tired of waiting for an opportunity to get away from Halberd. She had been dealing with Halberd's stuck up attitude for most of the afternoon. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, only to look away, disgusted.
Halberd was not Elven, like Hylians, but was human. Humans were similar to elves in appearance, though they did not have the elongated ears, but were often shorter, and elves were considered to be the more "beautiful" of the two similar races. This wasn't what disgusted Zelda, though, for she did not have any problem with average humans. The aspect of the prince that most tested her patience was his attitude. He seemed to believe that everyone, even the King of Hyrule, was inferior to him. The prince would treat Zelda's father with little or no respect, and acknowledged her in much the same way. Throughout the afternoon, Halberd had been constantly telling Zelda about the festivals in his country and how they were grander and much more entertaining than this Hylian one.
Zelda looked around at the people enjoying themselves at the festival, something she had not the time to do, for Halberd had been by her side throughout the day. Impa also accompanied her for protection, though, and her presence made the obnoxious prince more bearable. Zelda smiled when she remembered what happened just half an hour earlier. Halberd had gone too far with his insults, stating that the princess should be lucky to be able to escort him around and that she would never find a better suitor than him. Impa had tensed up at this, but she had basically gone crazy when Halberd had boldly said that Zelda was also lucky anyone would want her at all. The Sheikah had grabbed the boy by his caller and lifted him up to her eyelevel, a good six feet in the air. She had told him in a cold, threatening voice that if he ever insulted the princess like that again that she would "mess him up" to the extent that a stalfos would run in fear of his ugliness. The prince had remained calm throughout Impa's verbal onslaught, and this annoyed the Sheikah farther. In her rage, she had then whispered to Halberd that she would be sure and make it impossible for him to have any offspring, looking at her dagger for effect, so that his genes would not be passed to younger generations. The prince had frozen at this remark, and Impa had set down a trembling Halberd. He had been more or less quiet since then, and Zelda hoped he would not tell his father because he would be ashamed to have been so scared of a woman. Impa and Zelda both decided any punishment would definitely be worth the look on the terrified prince's face.
Although Halberd had become more bearable, Zelda still desperately wanted to get away from him. Her eyes searched the area for any distraction that she could use to her advantage. She then spotted Link playing a bombuchu bowling game that had been set up at the festival. The princess smiled as Link hit the last hole dead center with the small bomb creature and turned around to get his prize. On his way to the counter, however, Link tripped over part of the pyramid of bombuchu crates, sending all of the crates crashing to the ground. Many of them had split open violently, and the bombuchus had spilled out. The force from the breaking crates had ignited the creatures, since they were very sensitive, and the bombuchus had began traveling along the ground in all directions, producing a small but basically harmless explosion on contact. Nevertheless, the crowd had begun running away frantically, trying to avoid the explosive creatures. When the entire crowd realized what was happening, everyone began running around in a panicked frenzy.
Halberd too, having seen the strange bomb creatures, had panicked and fled with the crowd, leaving Zelda alone with Impa for a brief second. Seeing an opportunity, Zelda dashed behind some crates and magically changed her attire into that of the Sheikah. Wanting to get to Link before he was forced to run from enraged townspeople, she gracefully leapt into the air and flipped onto the roof of a small booth, putting her Sheikah training to use.
Only a few people in all of Hyrule knew that Zelda had been trained by Impa since she was young, and was surprisingly very skilled in the Sheikah arts as well as the art of the sword. Not even Zelda's father or Link knew of this, for Zelda had wanted to surprise him when she revealed her skills to the boy.
Using her agility, Zelda ran along the rooftops of the stalls and booths and majestically leapt from one to another.
"Finally," she thought, as she turned around to see Impa following her, "I'm coming Link."
***
Amidst all the chaos that was the festival, Link and Malon were on the ground laughing harder than they thought possible.
"They're actually scared of them!" Link yelled as he tried to stop laughing and catch his breath. Malon was also recovering, trying not to start laughing again as she did so.
"I have to admit," the farm girl said, "that was pretty funny." She and Link both burst out laughing again, but their joy was cut short as they heard a growl from behind them. Both Malon and Link turned around to see the enraged shopkeeper marching towards them.
"Uh-oh," Link said quietly, "I think we're in trouble."
"Um…," Malon searched for words, "we're really sorry we scared your crowd away. We didn't know they were so scared of bombuchus, and it was an accident."
Link couldn't resist, "Yeah," the boy started, "maybe you should put a big sign up that says:
BOMBUCHUS ARE NOT DANGEROUS OR HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH: IN THE EVENT OF MASS RELEASE, COVER YOUR EYES AND DON'T PANIC."
Link and Malon couldn't help themselves and they both busted out laughing as the shopkeeper started towards them.
"HOW DARE YOU!" he yelled, "AFTER I'M THROUGH WITH YOU TWO YOU'RE GONNA BE THE ONES USED AS BOWLING BALLS!"
"Wow," Link started, "he's really mad. I think we better go now." Link and Malon turned to run the other direction only to see some of the recovering townspeople blocking their escape. The crowd had formed into an angry mob intent on making Link pay for his accidental prank.
"Oh," Link whined, "come on, it was an accident."
"Shut up," the leader of the crowd shouted, "Everyone, let's get this kid!"
Link was trying to figure out a way out of this mess as the crowd charged. Before he was done thinking, two blurs of blue and gray appeared from above and grabbed Link and Malon, disappearing as quickly as they had come. When they were safe from danger, Link looked at the person who had saved him only to see a face covered with bandages, revealing only the person's eyes.
"Zelda?" Link asked, confused, "What are you doing here?"
Zelda was so surprised she dropped Link from her arms. "Wow, Link," the princess said, "you actually recognized me. I'm flattered."
Link blushed a little, "Well," he started, "I could easily tell by your eyes…I guess."
Before Zelda could respond, Link heard Malon let out a startled cry from behind him. He whirled around to see Impa setting down a startled Malon.
"Link," the Sheikah woman began, "how do you manage to get into so much trouble?"
Link was going to explain, but was stopped as Zelda ran up to Malon and embraced her.
"I haven't seen you in so long, Malon," Zelda said, joyous at being reunited with one of her few friends.
"I've missed you too, Zelda," Malon said before breaking the hug, "we really need to visit each other more often."
After Zelda and Malon were done greeting each other, the group got down from the roof of the stand they were on and went off to enjoy the rest of the festival, Malon and Link hoping that they wouldn't be recognized.
***
Unknown to Link, Zelda, Malon, or Impa, a figure crouched atop another stall, shrouded in darkness.
"This will be easier than expected," Siluk the performer said, following the group's movement with his sharp eyes, "much easier…"