Chapter 2

i

The Kokiri had laboured all night, finally it was complete, somehow they had managed to carve a perfect likeness of Shi'in into the cliff near their village, upon the statue the passage ' For the mother we never had' had been carved into stone, inside a hollow they had made, links mothers body had been placed and sealed away forever.

Before everyone could rest, one more thing needed to be taken care of, Jared's fate. Saria had stayed up all night with the boy, preparing him for the Great Deku Tree's judgement, they knew that Jared had saved the life of the baby now in their peoples care, but Jared had broken the one true law of their realm.

'No blood shall be spilt upon this soil'

The most likely punishment would be banishment, a fate almost worse than death for the Kokiri, for whilst they abide within the woods their lives shall last for many millennia, but in the outside world they would age just as quick as any mortal, Saria had tried to prepare her old friend for this, but slowly she begun to notice he did not care what happened, she could almost sense a feeling of expectancy from Jared, finally the time came and they both walked to the Great Deku Tree's glade in absolute silence.

Whilst Jared's trial went on, two Kokiri looked after the young Link, he was barely one years old but already he showed much interest in the world, crawling at an alarming rate around the small dwelling playing with anything not nailed down and in a Kokiri home nothing is nailed down so whilst laughing at the babies antics they scurry after him trying desperately to stop him breaking every bit of pottery they have, eventually one of them hands baby Link a small straw figure and he happily beats it against the ground for minutes until boredom sets in and he throws it with such force it flies out of the door, Link scrambles after it giggling and the two follow, when they get outside though the laughter on their lips dies.

ii

'Jared, you know the reasons for this gathering do you not?'

Jared's head bobs in acknowledgement.

'Thou hast drawn blood and killed upon this soil, Thou hast broken the one law of my realm…'

The boys face remained impassive as he said, 'but I saved the boy, I was not quick enough to save the Shei'kah though, for this I know there is punishment'

'Verily, this is so, even though your heart was in the right, the law still must be obeyed, the price is banishment- '

'No…' gasps Saria.

'But not for life, because your heart was just, you may return here after the tenth winter is over'

Jared nods once more and turns on his heel, without looking back he walks calmly through the crowd which follow silently behind him, he head directly towards his home, quickly packs all that he believes he will need, and then he walks towards the dwelling where the child is being looked after, as he gets there, Link is sat outside playing with a straw figure, a small smile quickly flickers across Jared's face and he reaches for the small gemstone dagger in his belt, he looms over the baby with the dagger in hand.

Saria quickly grabs his arm, but he shakes her off and crouches down in front of baby Link, who looks up at Jared and makes cooing noises, Jared tussles the boys hair with his free hand, and raises the dagger in the other, the crowd draw in a collective gasp as he brings it down into the dirt before the child.

'This is now yours little one, look after it and cherish it, this small blade saved your life once and it will save it again before the end' he turns and looks deep into Saria's eyes, 'remind the boy of those words my dear friend, I hope I am wrong, but I feel something is coming for him.'

With this he stands quickly making Saria jump, he all but runs towards the village exit, just as he's about to enter the large hollow tree trunk he turns back and calls to Saria 'Look after him, I will want to see a strong young man when I return… I'm counting on it…' with this he disappears into the shadows

iii

Jared tried not to think about what would happen after he left the woods, let alone where he would go, he knew that beyond the woods was a massive expanse of farmland, commonly known as Hyrule field, but the thought of such a wide open space sent shivers down his spine, regardless he strode on, the light getting brighter as the woods thinned and then, suddenly he was out of the woods and into tall grassy pastures.

Jared looks around blinking as his eyes adjust to the new bright sun, far in the distance he can see smoke billowing from the horizon, he reasons that there must be a town over that way because he had heard stories of the amount of smoke men and Hyaline's produced, so with a feeling of adventure in his heart he sets off through the tall summer grass.

Jared hits a dirt path leading in the direction of the smoke, and at first is weary of all the strange footprints in the dirt, but after ten minutes he doesn't see another soul on the road and so he begins to move quicker, he still feels uneasy about his first meeting with the 'tall folk' but he knows that he has to get it over with eventually and so he carries on his way, until he sees a carriage by the side of the road, it stands lopsided due to missing a wheel and when he gets alongside it he sees that the door is splintered and lying by the carriages side, Jared peeks into the inside and quickly turns away and vomits. Inside the carriage a woman's body lies, arrows similar to those used by the Goblins protrude from her chest

Jared turns back to the carriage and stares unseeingly into the carriages interior when he notices movement coming from under the body, without thinking he jumps into the carriage and draws one of his short daggers, he eases the body to one side with surprising strength.

Lying in a small bloodstained bal is a little girl, she opens her eyes and begins to scream but Jared covers her mouth and with one swift move drops his dagger and puts his finger to his mouth shushing the little girl, leaning to her ear he whispers –

"I won't hurt you, I'm a friend."

The little girl nods and looks up into Jared's eyes as a single tear runs down his cheek, he carefully lifts her onto her feet, reclaims his dagger and nimbly leaves the carriage, helping the girl down.

Jared looks on the child with a mixture of pity and concern, enquiring into where she lives the little girl points to a small hill not so far away, on top of the hill is a house surrounded with a sturdy wall of thick logs, a disturbing amount of smoke rises from the enclosure and a tight knot of dread forms in the pit of Jared's stomach, he turns to the young girl and deftly swings her onto his back and begins to jog towards the hill.

With a load nearly the same size as him on his back, Jared runs as fast as he can through shoulder height wild grass, he hits a small dirt road that leads around to the wood enclosed home, he ignores this and heads straight for the back of the wall, he settles the girl down in a bush there and tells her to wait for him to come back for her, she clings to him and he gently untangles her fingers from his tunic and smoothes the knotted hair from her face

"Do not worry little one, I will not be long, this bush will protect you because I have asked it very politely"

With that he lays his hands upon the bush and all its foliage turns a bright green and it grows around the girl and only when she can no longer be seen does the bush stop growing and its leave turn back to their faded green once more. Jared stands and looks up the wall, laying both hands and his forehead to the old wooden log, he sends his thoughts to it and small regular branches sprout from its length to form the rungs of a ladder, he quickly scrambles to the top and looks down into the carnage below.

iv

Miles away on a small rise, several hundred metres away from a large castle down a large black tent undulates gently in the wind, two Iron Knuckle knights in gleaming convoluted black armour stand guard, out of the tent a tall armour clad man strides forth, he stands tall, surveying the land, his flame orange hair held back from his head in a 'warriors tail' a large golden gemstone embedded in his dark green flesh, his eyes burn with hunger as he stares at the castle in the distance. He talks to the Iron knuckles beside him

"We must break through today, this is the last Day of Atonement, the temple priests will seal the door to the sacred realm for another 15 tears and our forces cannot wait that long"

"Your orders, Lord Gannondorf?"

"Bring the walls down… bring me the shattered temple door… we attack in one hour, all forces, everything we've got… get the word out amongst the Moblin horde… today the war ends!"

The Iron knuckle knights march off among the Moblin masses, and wave of excitement passes among the large army gathered at the foot of Gannondorf's tent, he turns around to look at the massive siege engine behind the tent, he makes a sign and the giant catapults begin to roll forward, one by one they draw up to the edge of the hill.

All Zelda related items belong to Nintendo, not me, although Jared belongs to me, he's very useful in the garden, yup very useful.

Now I am finished with university you can expect regular chapters now… yay!

Here is something for you to think about… Who is that little girl? Any guesses?

How will Castle town survive an onslaught the likes of which haven't been seen since… Peter Jackson's rendition of the battle on the pelennor fields?

Tune in next time to find out… all reviews are welcome

And thanks to the only reviewer of the first chapter Darksoulki!