Disclaimer: Nope, don't own anything like a game copyright yet.
Chapter 11: Burning Souls and Death
Sheik, Leon and Yunsung turned a corner and walked down the connecting corridor, only to find another dead end chamber.
"Jesus Christ! Whoever built this place is a freaking sadist. It's worse than running through Raccoon!" Leon exclaimed. Yunsung, who was still leaning against Leon, groaned in response.
"Leon, hush. We need to be quiet here, you can hear how much sound echoes throughout this place, can't you?" Sheik scolded in a hushed voice.
"We've been walking around this place trying to find Link and Zelda for 45 minutes, unsuccessfully I might add. They both could be hurt or dead by now!"
"I know, but we have to keep quiet. Getting frustrated isn't going to help."
"Stealth isn't my preferred method."
"I realised that about 5 minutes after I met you. You're a rush in without thinking kind of person. Besides, I thought you were a spy."
"An agent actually, but whatever. And if you think I'm bad, you should meet my brother-in-law, Chris."
The Sheikah just rolled his eyes and turned away. Leon had a tendency to go on about family members endlessly.
"But maybe if you had lost everyone, including your wife and daughter, you'd be like that too" Sheik thought. He didn't have a massive family, just his mother, Impa and elder brother, Shiro. Then again, the Sheikah weren't famous for their love of family. In fact, the Sheikah were more infamous than anything. Most Sheikah, hell almost every single Sheikah were seen as sociopaths, due to their emotionless exterior and deadly calm and serious demeanour.
"Kennedy and Yunsung to…uhh, Sheikah-ie person, do you copy?"
"Pardon?"
"You kind of zoned out there for a minute."
"Sorry."
"Yeah, well, we should get a move on."
Sheik nodded and turned heading down the corridor, Leon and Yunsung in tow.
"By the Goddesses, let us find them soon."
Siegfried was leaning against a wall, eyes closed; trying to concentrate to find where the distant muffled sound of Link's voice was coming from. He guessed that they were quite far ahead, the voices barely discernable below his own heavy breathing. He was still tired from the previous battle, but he (knew he) had to find Link. The problem was there were other sounds mixed with Link's voice. A slight howl of the wind outside, echoing voices from all directions, and the occasional harsh wheezing sound, from where he didn't know. But the echoing was the main problem. Link and now Maxi's slightly raised voices seemed to come from every direction.
"So try and pick out the strongest one" his mind hissed at him.
"OK. So we go right," Siegfried muttered to himself, and slowly pushed himself away from the wall, beginning to move.
Liam sat perfectly still and silent on his horse, offering a prayer to every god he knew. The thundering roar of horses' hooves drumming against the ground was full fledged and flooding the air around him with noise. He opened his green eyes, to look at the battle of the horsemen and women that was about to commence.
"They'll be there in 3, 2…1"
Milliseconds after that countdown the two armies crashed together, horses letting out sudden desperate whinnies as their riders crashed together and attacked one another. Warriors cries of anger mingled together as they battled, swinging weapons towards their opponents.
From the distance he was at, Liam couldn't make out much of the battle. Dust surrounded the mass, horses and riders were just blurs of colours, swords were just occasional white flashes that lasted seconds, and only happening when the moon's rays hit them. Liam turned in his saddle, looking down at a young soldier beside him and he suddenly felt a stab of anger and pity. The young man by his side was barely fifteen, had only been at the castle for two months had scarcely finished his training. He was too young and inexperienced to go through this. Who had the right to put this boy in danger? No-one, was the only answer. The boy had signed up as a guard, not knowing that battle was just around the corner. And now, because of Ganondorf's deranged, sadistic, psychotic ideas, he was sure to die.
But there was nothing that Liam could do about it now.
"We sacrifice ourselves to save our country, protect our families, the people we love and care about. To win and emerge victorious. But there can't be any other winners than the Gerudos now. We'll die, and my name and the knights' names will be recorded and go down into history. This boy beside me won't be remembered, except by his family, and in two generations time, his name will be all but forgotten by even his own descendants." He came out of his reminiscing for just a second, and went back as a final thought struck him
"In battle, the ones who die are the heroes, not the ones who survive"
The young soldier beside him suddenly looked up at him, and smiled slightly at him, if a little nervous. Liam returned the smile, barely, just a slight tugging at the corners of his mouth and turned back to watch his men fight.
Link, Maxi, Raphael and 'Sheik' crept along silently, save for the tense, shallow, half-breaths they were taking. They were deep inside the complex now and that screamed for the utmost concentration. But despite their best efforts, they were distracted, their minds fixed on something different from the task in hand. At the back of the group, Raphael followed half-heartedly. He didn't want to be here, he wanted to be back at his mansion, with Amy. There wasn't anyway to get back to his mansion, it had been destroyed, and he and Amy were, not for the first time, homeless. He could get back to Amy, no problem, but if he ran now, the Hylians might turn them out of the castle, and he couldn't afford to do that with the way she was. Though, he didn't think it likely that the Hylians would turn him away, a homeless man with a sick daughter, even if he did betray them.
"They're too soft and caring to do that. Too gentle and peaceful a race. But this is the only option I have for the moment," he finished that thought with a mental sigh, and focused on his surroundings.
Dull grey walls surrounded them, thin winding corridors, occasionally with a torch attached, lighting the way. Light, padding footsteps and anxious breaths, perhaps the beating of his own heart were the only things to listen to…except.
Raphael straightened suddenly, body tensing, and turned his head slightly, brushing away the clump of blonde hair that covered his ear, and looked around suddenly, light cerulean blue eyes darting around uncertainly. He had heard something, he was sure of it. He didn't imagine things, ever, as a rationalist and a former noble he couldn't possibly. A man like himself simply didn't have an imagination, therefore couldn't possibly imagine things. All he knew was obvious, proven and real facts.
He turned looked up the corridor to the corner where Link was now standing, watching him and turned back towards where he heard the noise.
Maxi walked down to him and whispered, "Raph, c'mon let's go. Link's getting impatient and we're getting near."
Raphael turned back to him and shook his head. "There's something nearby, following us, I'm sure of it."
"It's probably just your imagination, a mouse at most."
"Mice aren't that noisy, and I don't have an imagination."
"Yeah, I realised that after I met you."
"So it has to be something then."
"No, this kind of situation makes us all tense, you're just too tense."
"I'm not tense and I know what I heard really exists."
"Yeah, right," Maxi muttered, and walked back to Link, telling him what Raphael had said.
Link turned his head away, sighed and rolled his eyes, then motioned for the Frenchman to follow them. Reluctantly, he walked up the corridor towards Link.
"I know I heard something."
Siegfried had reached a junction, in a large room, and was milling around it slowly, trying to figure out where to go.
"How the hell does he expect us to find him? This place is huge and I have three choices, what am I supposed to do now?"
Sighing, he decided to pick a corridor randomly. "Ein, Zwei or Drei?" He turned to his left and said to himself quietly "Rule number one, left is always the right answer."
"And rule number two?" asked a harsh, out of breath voice. Siegfried turned around, his eyes widening when he saw Cervantes standing behind him.
"Never question me," the knight stated, after he had got over his initial shock. He reached behind him quickly, grabbing his sword again and swung it, aiming for Cervantes's neck, just as the pirate slammed the hilt of his sword into Siegfried's face and trailed the blade down after it, the attack continuing from momentum.
But even as Siegfried started to collapse, his attack continued, slicing cleanly into the dead flesh of the Spaniard. The two warriors hit the floor at the same time; Siegfried knocked unconscious, Cervantes dead to the world, the body hitting the floor with a wet 'splat' and the detached head rolling across the floor.
He was uneasy. Link could sense it; Raphael had been shifting restlessly and glancing behind them whenever they stopped. He soon found out why, Raphael hadn't been imagining things.
They had found a small slope leading upwards and left and had taken it, sure that it was the way to Ganon because of the rough barking coughs they had heard. But it had been the wrong way, and they now found themselves on a large, high balcony, that allowed whoever stood on it to see over the far wall and into the desert behind it.
"Ah, so that's the desert" Maxi had exclaimed
"Mmm hmm" had been Link's only response.
Seconds later there was a soft growling sound behind them, and they turned 180° to see a large, scaly, green…thing standing behind them.
"I hate to say I told you so," said Raphael sarcastically, "but…I told you so."
"OH, SHUT UP!!!!"
The green creature, Necrid, who had once been human, stood still, looking at them, glowing red eyes narrowing as it tried to decide who to attack.
To Link and Maxi's surprise, Raphael stepped forward, flicking his rapier into sight so quickly it was just a silver flash.
"You go, I'll take care of this," the Frenchman said his voice suddenly so low it was barely audible. Link stopped and stared at him, blinking in surprise and uncertainty, before slowly nodding and motioning for Sheik and Maxi to follow him back inside.
Raphael glared up at the Necrid, ice blue eyes narrowed, his left hand that held his rapier twitching slightly. Stepping to his right to get the battle started, Necrid mirrored him, stepping to the left, producing a ball of somehow black light in his hand, green dancing waves of power webbing over it, criss-crossing into abstract, magic patterns. The weapon, such as it was, was no stranger to Raphael any longer and he barely registered its strange appearance, only noting that it was there, and it was dangerous. Taking another careful side step, he continued to move in a circle, Necrid matching him pace for pace. Staring each other down the two didn't attack until…
With an inhuman growl, Necrid lunged for the French fencer, left clawed hand outstretched. The ball of light suddenly transformed into a network of neon green beams in the loose outline of an axe and began to sink towards Raphael. The former aristocrat, expecting such a crude attack, stepped back and raised his Rapier into a vertical position, held close to his body to make sure the blade didn't jar when it was struck. The practically inexistent weapon slammed into the suddenly solid looking metal blade of the rapier sword, with an odd 'vwing' sound. But the infected creature's clawed left hand was still coming and the blonde Frenchman had only seconds to move before the talons slammed into the side of his head. Seeing it coming, he ducked, the claws missing his head by inches, piercing the air as they whistled past his head, and continuing on their journey, making Necrid spin with the momentum.
With the presented opportunity, Raphael thrust forward with the rapier, his arm outstretched and moving to the right in a crude swipe, barely slicing into the dark green scales, making a small scratch.
"Ok, I shouldn't have taken this on. Why do I never remember that his scales are practically impenetrable? If you weren't in such a rush to get the fight over and done with…but they're only practically impenetrable, not totally…"
"Not going to last much longer, can't last much longer"
Liam looked to the battle anxiously, seeing the faint black shapes that were men and women's bodies fallen on the floor having been struck down from their horses. The free Hylian horses themselves had cantered back towards the Hylian Army, searching for an owner to care for them after the battle. They had been quickly led to the back of the ranks to rest for a few minutes before being re-mounted by a new soldier.
The mass that was the battle was now, mainly, just tan and purple colours, the Gerudos emerging more victorious very second.
Finally, the last few Hylian riders turned and rode back to the Hylian ranks, pulling up a couple of survivors with them if they could.
As the few rode back the Gerudos circled around on the hill top, their entire army silhouetted by faint light.
"So we come to it at last," Liam muttered, and felt the young soldier standing next to him start in surprise at his commander's comment.
Ignoring the boy for the moment he turned back in the saddle, a cry of "ARCHERS!!" tearing from his throat, watching as each man on the high wall drew a bow and nocked an arrow to it, aiming as far as they could. Nodding to a few leaders of the ranks, they came forward and crowded around him.
"Set up a defence on the front row two rows of shields. On the flanks I want archers with a few men in front, guarding them. With any luck the Gerudos will be so busy attacking the centre of the army, they won't notice the archers on the ground. Tell all men in the front three columns and all rows in them to draw swords or spears."
The men nodded and trotted off on horse back, shouting commands to the ranks.
Finally, Liam looked to the boy, who was trembling slightly, and laid a hand on his shoulder. He had the urge to tell him to get out of the ranks and go home, but he had heard enough about him to know that he wouldn't. Instead he merely said,
"Do you think you're really ready for this?"
"I...I…think so sir."
"…Well, then make the country proud, and fight as hard as you can…but don't lose your life foolishly. If a Gerudo is obviously going to beat you, move away. There is no shame in retreating to regroup and gather yourself, only in running away. Don't throw your life away. You're only a couple of years younger than me and I've been told I'm too young to die now."
"Do you believe that?"
"…Maybe. I haven't ever really thought about it. I've dedicated my life to the Royal Family, and if I die doing it, well, it was my choice after all. But I still take my own advice about backing away and regrouping. I may be dedicated, but I still don't want to die"
Liam didn't receive a definite response from the soldier but could have sworn he had heard
"Same here…I hope I can serve well, like you."
Necrid let out a low growl of frustration and threw it's head back, before clenching its green hands into fists and charging for Raphael again, flicking the Enigma weapon into a sword shape and swing it at the Frenchman, who jumped forwards, thrusting the sword towards it. The tip of the sword scraped along the amber glowing stone that was strapped to Necrid's chest.
Irritated Raphael stepped back from the attack and resumed circling Necrid.
"Damnit! He's too fast"
Suddenly stepping out of the circle he swiped at Necrid, then executed an attack in the form of a flurry of quick thrusts. Once he had finished the attack he jumped back and held the Rapier diagonally, absently wiping a few flecks of fluids off his clothes, grimacing at it in disgust. The attack had left a few tiny, shallow wounds in Necrid's shoulders, arms and stomach. The rest of him was too well protected by either the metal plates he wore, or his scales.
Necrid blinked at the wounds, seeming to only absently note that they were there, and then looked at Raphael, as if challenging him. Before Raphael knew what was happening, he was on the floor, Necrid standing over him…raising a flickering green sword high above his head.
And suddenly it was down, buried in the Frenchman's stomach, making him cry out as lightening bolts of pain shot through his body, making him tense and convulse, and then he was lying still, eyes closed, features pale, chest barely rising.
With a disgusted sort of snort, Necrid turned away, the sword shape forming back into a ball, the ball disappearing. He walked away, and as he turned his back on the injured man, Raphael got up and charged at him. Necrid spun around quickly, just to see a rapier pierce his shoulder and with a cry of pain and rage, slammed his left clawed fist into Raphael's stomach, forcing him back, ripping the blade out of his shoulder.
Raphael grunted, stumbling backwards to regain his balance after the tremendous force of the punch, hitting the low railings behind him, and looking over them to see the long drop down, eyes widening, he had an idea.
Lurching forward, his right arm in front of him like a quarterback, Raphael hurled himself at Necrid, his elbow hitting the mouldy green creature in its chiselled abdomen, bringing flamberge up and swiping at the creatures face with it, gashing its cheek. A green, putrid almost gel-like looking blood oozed from the wound, practically solid as it dropped and hit the floor, with an odd squelching sound, like a leech splating against the ground.
Raphael raised an eyebrow at the jelly-like substance before looking up and charging again, using brash, crude and brutal techniques, his usual style cast aside for the moment. His sword darted left, right, up, down, thrust forward, rotated sharply, any desperate move that would hurt the creature, he had to weaken him…for Amy.
Necrid retreated for a moment, backed away, assessed his enemy, snorting to breathe quickly through its nose, so as not to pant. This human was desperate, wild, and oddly uncontrolled…Necrid had fought him before and this wasn't his fighting style.
Taking a step forward, Necrid stared at the blonde man, eyes narrowed at him and brought his arm back and threw it forwards to punch the man, and when he dodged out the way, carried himself into a spin, his fist slamming into the back of the man's head, and he collapsed to the floor, groaning, rolling onto his back, holding the back of his head with his left hand.
Raphael fell to the floor with the sudden force on the back of his head, and rolled over to face his offender. It wasn't a good idea to turn your back on your enemy for too long, even (especially) if you were injured. Using one elbow to support himself, Raphael ran his left hand over the back of his head, gloved fingers searching for any wounds. There were none, Necrid's punch had knocked him into a state of dizziness for a second but nothing more. Wincing, he pushed himself to his feet and grabbed his sword, breathing deeply. Losing his head (no pun intended) wasn't going to help, he had to be calm to save Amy. Raising his sword so that the blade was running down the centre of his face, he stood back and waited for Necrid. But it appeared Necrid was also playing the waiting game. Standing perfectly still for a moment, Raphael eventually lowered his sword to his side. Necrid suddenly threw himself into an attack.
The next few moments passed so quickly that Raphael barely had time to register what happened. One minute Necrid was in front of him, the next the creature was hanging over the railings of the balcony. The creature had rushed at Raphael, one arm outstretched. He had slammed the Frenchman back into the wall behind them, grabbing him around the throat with its free smaller right hand tried to choke him to death.
But Raphael hadn't been ready to give up and in an amazing feat of strength, speed and skill had pried Necrid's fingers from around his neck, slammed the guard of his sword into the creatures hand and broken it. While Necrid screamed in pain, Raphael had dashed forward, thrust his sword through the creature's right shoulder, pivoted it around slammed him into the floor and used Flamberge to keep the Necrid pinned to the ground. Supporting himself with the sword Raphael had flung himself round in a circle, stood and stamped on Necrid's chest and ripped the sword out of its shoulder. While Necrid had arched up in pain, the Frenchman stuck his foot in the small of the back and flipped it over. Necrid had managed to crawl to his feet and turned to face Raphael, to see the silver blade of Flamberge sinking into the glowing amber sphere on his chest. Shocked, the creature had stumbled backwards and tripped over the railings on the balcony.
That's where it was now, hanging off the balcony with the claws, slipping ever downwards. Recovering himself, Raphael strode forwards, looking down at the now almost pitiful creature and almost feeling sorry for it. But he was Raphael Sorel, and he didn't feel pity for anything, except his daughter, and with that sentiment, Raphael slipped the blade of his sword under Necrid's claws and in one simple, powerful movement, sliced clean through them.
Necrid hit the black roof of the fortress, face first, with an almost sickening thud and the sound of crunching glass. Managing to roll itself over, Raphael saw that the amber glass dome on its chest was completely shattered, the last traces of orange and yellow light fading and disappearing into black cold night of the valley. The red from its eyes seemed to fade to black before closing, like blood coagulating, before the power of life slipped away from the creature.
Breathing the chilly night air in deeply, Raphael looked across at the dull, creamy desert, before turning back inside.
Amy needed him and he had to get back to her. Stepping inside, and making his way down the slope, Raphael heard a dull growl from deep beneath the fortress. Curious, he headed for it. Amy would be fine for now, besides, he hadn't finished his job yet. Interested in the inhuman sound, he made his way deeper inside the fortress, unaware that he was following Link's path, and more so that the boy would lead him to one of the greatest battles of his life.
----------------------------------
A.N: I apologise for the wait. Rosie(my proof reader)forgot to send this back to me at the normal time and I didn't get a chance to put it up last monday because I was on a trip with my school. Sorry for the wait, blame Rosie, not me. :)
