Once again, I have returned without the rights to the Legend of Zelda.
##
Ch. 28: A Familiar Face
##
Crack! Swish! Crack-ack!
Airaen leaped back, still keeping her staff parallel with the ground. Still at the ready, she examined the now-beaten tree in front of her.
Goddess, I really am bored...
Relaxing, she sat down on the grass and put her chin in her hands, sighing. Yup, bored.
Laughing dully, she lay back in the bright sunshine, tossing her staff in the air and letting it clatter to the ground. Its sound rang in her ears like the sounding of a horn.
Wait a minute.
Airaen sat up quickly, listening, her heart pounding. The sound rang again.
That is a horn!!
Getting to her feet, she ran off.
##
"Hey, what's going on? I heard something out there," Roh asked.
"Dunno," Airaen said with a shrug as she looked beyond Hyrule Gate. "Shut the Gate."
"What? Why?" a soldier asked, pushing himself off from the wall.
"Didn't you hear the war-horn, stupid?" Airaen retorted, crossing her arms.
"Sure, we did. But we always hear stupid stuff like that anyway, so why close the Gate?" the guard retorted, shifting his spear in his hand.
"Because a lady's asking you to, moron," Roh growled, drawing his sword. Airaen grinned.
"I'll get on it, my Lord," the soldier replied, eyeing the blade.
##
"Why is the Gate closed?" Link asked as he gazed out the window.
"What? The Gate's closed?" Zelda asked, looking over his shoulder. "That...that doesn't make any sense..."
"Well, neither does that extremely large host of nasty looking people making their way over here on the Field," Link said, pointing.
She followed his hand, her eyes widening. "Well, then. That's...unexpected," she whispered.
Rubbing his hands together, he chuckled, saying, "Let's go invite them!"
##
"Archer's at the ready! Look lively now!" Airaen called out at the large group of fighters forming around the Gate.
"Will we be chargin' out, Airaen?" Icarn asked, fingering his sword hilt.
"Not yet. I've got a plan," she replied, waving him off.
"A plan? This late in the game?" Roh asked.
"Adds a bit excitement to the whole thing, doesn't it?" Airaen replied with a grin.
"Bright and cheerful as usual," Roh replied. They laughed. Icarn found the whole scene as odd. What had happened to his beautiful land, anyway? To see two seventeen year olds giggling together with sheathed swords and a rather large host just outside the Gate was strange to him, even in his aging days.
He sighed.
The war-horn sounded again, followed by a loud voice, calling, "Open the Gate in the name of Ganondorf, the True Evil King of Hyrule!"
Airaen rolled her eyes. "Lookout, how many?" she called to a soldier who leaned against the large tree that stood by the wall.
"Way too many to count, I'm afraid," the soldier replied, an odd tremble in his voice.
"Give me an estimate, then," she replied.
"Um...over...over five thousand?"
There was a murmur of fear that ripped through those gathered. Airaen remained calm and composed, thinking, That's way more than I anticipated.
Roh grabbed her hand, sending a pleasant shock through them both. "What do we do now? We have barely enough to even rival them," he whispered.
"We can't lose face yet," she whispered back. "Open the Gate!"
"What the hell are you thinking?!" Roh cried.
"I'm going to go talk to them, is all," she said with a shrug.
"That's incredibly stupid, child, and you know it," Icarn said with a grunt.
"It's not stupid," she said, turning her back to him. "Think of it as...an investment for some fun." Slowly, the Gate opened with the usual clang, clang, clang. Even as it touched the ground, she was walking out, twirling her staff in her hand as the breeze picked up. Growling, Roh followed her out to the roar of over five thousand men, stalfos, and all other sorts of creatures. None of them moved, save for a familiar, black- clothed, evil-eyed man who strode forward, a smirk on his face.
"You know we shouldn't be doing this...what if he attacks?" Roh hissed in her ear.
"He won't. Trust me," she replied with a confident air. Airaen walked forward a little swifter, a grin on her face.
"You know I think you're too stubborn for your own good, right?" he replied, trying to keep up with her.
"Hush," she said softly as she stopped. Roh noticed how tightly she gripped her weapon. He sighed, then looked up as Ganondorf the Gerudo King came upon them, crossing his arms in amusement. "Ganon," Airaen said tartly.
"Ah, girl-child, is that you? I hardly recognize you," the man replied with a grin. "Beautiful day, is it not?"
"Oh, shut up." Airaen gritted her teeth, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Why have you come here?" Roh said, stepping in.
"Ah, your lover, I suppose, child?" Ganon replied, laughing. "If you want to know, boy, I've come for my throne and a bit of fun, isn't that right, boys?"
His army laughed.
"The Showoff and his Sycophant Army," Airaen retorted. Though she held a grin, there was malice in her eyes. "Besides, you're definitely a lot uglier than I remembered."
Ganon's jaw twitched with anger as he turned his eyes sharply to her. To Roh, it was true: near chunks of flesh had been ripped from his face and visible arms to form into hole-like scars. One scar traced itself from the right corner of his mouth to about halfway up his cheek, giving him an odd, foolish look to him.
"Watch your tongue, brat, or I'll kill you all here and now," Ganon hissed menacingly.
"Why not? What's holding your army back?" she replied calmly.
Dealing the arrogance ploy, Roh thought immediately, remembering his father's most important lesson. "If you want to fool your opponent, give them a false sense of character. Stupidity is the best, but the arrogance ploy, although the most dangerous, is usually the most successful when carried out correctly."
He knew he was beaming at her and quickly hid it before anyone would notice.
Ganon's eyes flashed dangerously at this last comment, his fingers twitching. How he so desired to wrap them around that smirking girl-child's neck! "Nothing is holding us back," he said, voice trembling in poorly controlled anger.
Roh held back a grin as he saw Ganon's hand slowly beginning to rise. It was working, this ploy, and Roh knew it. He glanced at Airaen again and saw her calm, yet eager face; but she gripped her staff even tighter, muscles poised to spring. These polar opposite reactions in her forced him to remember Icarn's lecture to him. "Never underestimate your enemy. Even when things are going right, always expect 'em to go horribly wrong. That way, you've got a backup plan at the ready in case they do." Roh had made the connection with the arrogance ploy to Icarn's lesson on his own: let your enemy misjudge you first to allow him to make mistakes.
Airaen looked back towards the Castle Gate, her eyebrow raised dramatically. She plays it well, Roh thought. Now comes the tricky part. He was beginning to see her plan, but knew he couldn't understand all of it. I'll have to ask her later.
Ganon hesitated, his hand poised slightly above his thigh.
Inwardly, Airaen laughed hysterically; how easy he could be played with in this game! He is still afraid of failure, of true and utter defeat. Let him think I have some grand design for a while. Let him know that his greatest prize is mere inches from him, and yet he cannot reach it! She loved the game she played with him.
Before she turned back to him, she saw with a quick, furtive glance her father and mother walking briskly towards the Gate.
Again Ganon hesitated, then lowered his hand. "Another time, perhaps. It's not good for little children to witness bloodshed, anyway," he muttered. "Dawn tomorrow, girl-child. That's when I'll strike."
Even as his blood-red cloak flapped about him as he turned, the breeze pulling at his ruined black-red hair, Airaen knew he would strike much earlier than that.
##
"I can't believe you did that! And without my authorization!"
Zelda paced the floor of the throne room again, since sitting for her was now a useless form of calming down. Link stood with his arms crossed, gazing at his child who stood with one bare foot on the tile, and the other bare foot upon the red carpet, her hands clasped innocently behind her back. He sighed inwardly; he knew that "innocent" look.
"You could've been killed, or worse! And opening the Gate like that deliberately, putting many innocent lives in danger! I've never seen such arrogance!" Zelda continued, her wrath never losing its potency.
She turned her fierce glare to Airaen once more, calm, yet amused purple eyes meeting with raging blue. Link was taken aback out how alike the two seemed; when one was angry, the other was calm, and vice versa. He knew he should feel the same that Zelda was feeling at the moment, but all he could feel was pride towards his only child, and something else he could not quite fathom at the time.
"And don't you dare smirk at me!"
Unable to control herself, Airaen burst out laughing. At a loss, Zelda threw her hands in the air and turned towards Link, daring him to let their child get away with what she had done. Link shrugged, throwing a façade of complete helplessness that only added to Zelda's anger. "Aren't you going to say something?" she hissed threateningly.
"What is there to say?" he answered, holding back a grin.
"Oh, you two....are impossible!" Zelda howled, biting at her lip as she sat down on the steps leading to the throne and placing her chin in her hands in a girlish fashion. "I'm surrounded."
"Can I go now?" Airaen asked, her laughter dying down into soft chuckles. "Or would you like to point out my oh-so-many faults again?"
"I'll show you faults!" Zelda answered, biting the inside of her cheek.
"You do that," Airaen replied as she turned and walked briskly away.
"We're not through here, yet! I didn't dismiss you!" Zelda called to the girl's back.
Without turning, and keeping the same pace, Airaen replied tartly, "You're absolutely right. You didn't dismiss me."
##
Tents by the thousands were being raised out on Hyrule Field. Men, stalfos, and all sorts of other creatures ran about in an orderly fashion, some giving out orders and others carrying them out.
They all look like hapless drones.
One red and black tent, largest of them all, caught Airaen's eye as she sat on the tree by the Gate. Eyebrow raised, she could only guess who would possess such an important-looking tent. Sighing, she leaned back against the tree, gazing at a leaf that had lost it strength and was now floating helplessly to the floor. Shielding her eyes from the setting sun, she stretched and got a bit more comfortable.
And here she would wait for the first move in the game.
#%$%$
Hello again! My sincerest apologies for having not updating in these past centuries...MAJOR writer's block like you wouldn't believe. "Well, I'm back," in Samwise's words. Please review, if you forgive me!
##
Ch. 28: A Familiar Face
##
Crack! Swish! Crack-ack!
Airaen leaped back, still keeping her staff parallel with the ground. Still at the ready, she examined the now-beaten tree in front of her.
Goddess, I really am bored...
Relaxing, she sat down on the grass and put her chin in her hands, sighing. Yup, bored.
Laughing dully, she lay back in the bright sunshine, tossing her staff in the air and letting it clatter to the ground. Its sound rang in her ears like the sounding of a horn.
Wait a minute.
Airaen sat up quickly, listening, her heart pounding. The sound rang again.
That is a horn!!
Getting to her feet, she ran off.
##
"Hey, what's going on? I heard something out there," Roh asked.
"Dunno," Airaen said with a shrug as she looked beyond Hyrule Gate. "Shut the Gate."
"What? Why?" a soldier asked, pushing himself off from the wall.
"Didn't you hear the war-horn, stupid?" Airaen retorted, crossing her arms.
"Sure, we did. But we always hear stupid stuff like that anyway, so why close the Gate?" the guard retorted, shifting his spear in his hand.
"Because a lady's asking you to, moron," Roh growled, drawing his sword. Airaen grinned.
"I'll get on it, my Lord," the soldier replied, eyeing the blade.
##
"Why is the Gate closed?" Link asked as he gazed out the window.
"What? The Gate's closed?" Zelda asked, looking over his shoulder. "That...that doesn't make any sense..."
"Well, neither does that extremely large host of nasty looking people making their way over here on the Field," Link said, pointing.
She followed his hand, her eyes widening. "Well, then. That's...unexpected," she whispered.
Rubbing his hands together, he chuckled, saying, "Let's go invite them!"
##
"Archer's at the ready! Look lively now!" Airaen called out at the large group of fighters forming around the Gate.
"Will we be chargin' out, Airaen?" Icarn asked, fingering his sword hilt.
"Not yet. I've got a plan," she replied, waving him off.
"A plan? This late in the game?" Roh asked.
"Adds a bit excitement to the whole thing, doesn't it?" Airaen replied with a grin.
"Bright and cheerful as usual," Roh replied. They laughed. Icarn found the whole scene as odd. What had happened to his beautiful land, anyway? To see two seventeen year olds giggling together with sheathed swords and a rather large host just outside the Gate was strange to him, even in his aging days.
He sighed.
The war-horn sounded again, followed by a loud voice, calling, "Open the Gate in the name of Ganondorf, the True Evil King of Hyrule!"
Airaen rolled her eyes. "Lookout, how many?" she called to a soldier who leaned against the large tree that stood by the wall.
"Way too many to count, I'm afraid," the soldier replied, an odd tremble in his voice.
"Give me an estimate, then," she replied.
"Um...over...over five thousand?"
There was a murmur of fear that ripped through those gathered. Airaen remained calm and composed, thinking, That's way more than I anticipated.
Roh grabbed her hand, sending a pleasant shock through them both. "What do we do now? We have barely enough to even rival them," he whispered.
"We can't lose face yet," she whispered back. "Open the Gate!"
"What the hell are you thinking?!" Roh cried.
"I'm going to go talk to them, is all," she said with a shrug.
"That's incredibly stupid, child, and you know it," Icarn said with a grunt.
"It's not stupid," she said, turning her back to him. "Think of it as...an investment for some fun." Slowly, the Gate opened with the usual clang, clang, clang. Even as it touched the ground, she was walking out, twirling her staff in her hand as the breeze picked up. Growling, Roh followed her out to the roar of over five thousand men, stalfos, and all other sorts of creatures. None of them moved, save for a familiar, black- clothed, evil-eyed man who strode forward, a smirk on his face.
"You know we shouldn't be doing this...what if he attacks?" Roh hissed in her ear.
"He won't. Trust me," she replied with a confident air. Airaen walked forward a little swifter, a grin on her face.
"You know I think you're too stubborn for your own good, right?" he replied, trying to keep up with her.
"Hush," she said softly as she stopped. Roh noticed how tightly she gripped her weapon. He sighed, then looked up as Ganondorf the Gerudo King came upon them, crossing his arms in amusement. "Ganon," Airaen said tartly.
"Ah, girl-child, is that you? I hardly recognize you," the man replied with a grin. "Beautiful day, is it not?"
"Oh, shut up." Airaen gritted her teeth, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Why have you come here?" Roh said, stepping in.
"Ah, your lover, I suppose, child?" Ganon replied, laughing. "If you want to know, boy, I've come for my throne and a bit of fun, isn't that right, boys?"
His army laughed.
"The Showoff and his Sycophant Army," Airaen retorted. Though she held a grin, there was malice in her eyes. "Besides, you're definitely a lot uglier than I remembered."
Ganon's jaw twitched with anger as he turned his eyes sharply to her. To Roh, it was true: near chunks of flesh had been ripped from his face and visible arms to form into hole-like scars. One scar traced itself from the right corner of his mouth to about halfway up his cheek, giving him an odd, foolish look to him.
"Watch your tongue, brat, or I'll kill you all here and now," Ganon hissed menacingly.
"Why not? What's holding your army back?" she replied calmly.
Dealing the arrogance ploy, Roh thought immediately, remembering his father's most important lesson. "If you want to fool your opponent, give them a false sense of character. Stupidity is the best, but the arrogance ploy, although the most dangerous, is usually the most successful when carried out correctly."
He knew he was beaming at her and quickly hid it before anyone would notice.
Ganon's eyes flashed dangerously at this last comment, his fingers twitching. How he so desired to wrap them around that smirking girl-child's neck! "Nothing is holding us back," he said, voice trembling in poorly controlled anger.
Roh held back a grin as he saw Ganon's hand slowly beginning to rise. It was working, this ploy, and Roh knew it. He glanced at Airaen again and saw her calm, yet eager face; but she gripped her staff even tighter, muscles poised to spring. These polar opposite reactions in her forced him to remember Icarn's lecture to him. "Never underestimate your enemy. Even when things are going right, always expect 'em to go horribly wrong. That way, you've got a backup plan at the ready in case they do." Roh had made the connection with the arrogance ploy to Icarn's lesson on his own: let your enemy misjudge you first to allow him to make mistakes.
Airaen looked back towards the Castle Gate, her eyebrow raised dramatically. She plays it well, Roh thought. Now comes the tricky part. He was beginning to see her plan, but knew he couldn't understand all of it. I'll have to ask her later.
Ganon hesitated, his hand poised slightly above his thigh.
Inwardly, Airaen laughed hysterically; how easy he could be played with in this game! He is still afraid of failure, of true and utter defeat. Let him think I have some grand design for a while. Let him know that his greatest prize is mere inches from him, and yet he cannot reach it! She loved the game she played with him.
Before she turned back to him, she saw with a quick, furtive glance her father and mother walking briskly towards the Gate.
Again Ganon hesitated, then lowered his hand. "Another time, perhaps. It's not good for little children to witness bloodshed, anyway," he muttered. "Dawn tomorrow, girl-child. That's when I'll strike."
Even as his blood-red cloak flapped about him as he turned, the breeze pulling at his ruined black-red hair, Airaen knew he would strike much earlier than that.
##
"I can't believe you did that! And without my authorization!"
Zelda paced the floor of the throne room again, since sitting for her was now a useless form of calming down. Link stood with his arms crossed, gazing at his child who stood with one bare foot on the tile, and the other bare foot upon the red carpet, her hands clasped innocently behind her back. He sighed inwardly; he knew that "innocent" look.
"You could've been killed, or worse! And opening the Gate like that deliberately, putting many innocent lives in danger! I've never seen such arrogance!" Zelda continued, her wrath never losing its potency.
She turned her fierce glare to Airaen once more, calm, yet amused purple eyes meeting with raging blue. Link was taken aback out how alike the two seemed; when one was angry, the other was calm, and vice versa. He knew he should feel the same that Zelda was feeling at the moment, but all he could feel was pride towards his only child, and something else he could not quite fathom at the time.
"And don't you dare smirk at me!"
Unable to control herself, Airaen burst out laughing. At a loss, Zelda threw her hands in the air and turned towards Link, daring him to let their child get away with what she had done. Link shrugged, throwing a façade of complete helplessness that only added to Zelda's anger. "Aren't you going to say something?" she hissed threateningly.
"What is there to say?" he answered, holding back a grin.
"Oh, you two....are impossible!" Zelda howled, biting at her lip as she sat down on the steps leading to the throne and placing her chin in her hands in a girlish fashion. "I'm surrounded."
"Can I go now?" Airaen asked, her laughter dying down into soft chuckles. "Or would you like to point out my oh-so-many faults again?"
"I'll show you faults!" Zelda answered, biting the inside of her cheek.
"You do that," Airaen replied as she turned and walked briskly away.
"We're not through here, yet! I didn't dismiss you!" Zelda called to the girl's back.
Without turning, and keeping the same pace, Airaen replied tartly, "You're absolutely right. You didn't dismiss me."
##
Tents by the thousands were being raised out on Hyrule Field. Men, stalfos, and all sorts of other creatures ran about in an orderly fashion, some giving out orders and others carrying them out.
They all look like hapless drones.
One red and black tent, largest of them all, caught Airaen's eye as she sat on the tree by the Gate. Eyebrow raised, she could only guess who would possess such an important-looking tent. Sighing, she leaned back against the tree, gazing at a leaf that had lost it strength and was now floating helplessly to the floor. Shielding her eyes from the setting sun, she stretched and got a bit more comfortable.
And here she would wait for the first move in the game.
#%$%$
Hello again! My sincerest apologies for having not updating in these past centuries...MAJOR writer's block like you wouldn't believe. "Well, I'm back," in Samwise's words. Please review, if you forgive me!