Chapter Seventeen: The Calm before the Storm
As Link made his way to Cyntir's capital he came across several Cyntirian horses missing their riders. He ignored the steeds and continued riding northeast. Though Link did not know exactly how to get to Cantarus, Cyntir's capital, he was aware of its general location relative to the shore. Cantarus was Cyntir's greatest stronghold and could easily withstand an onslaught of twenty thousand soldiers when filled to capacity. East Port Town on the other hand was an easy target. Due to its ever-growing population, East Port Town was always building and increasing the area of the city. For that reason no walls were ever built to protect it, but a fifteen-foot thick wall as well as a moat surrounded Cantarus.
Link was confident the city would still be intact, though with the Triforce of Knowledge under Tyfiria's control there were no guarantees. It took Link seven days to reach Cantarus on horseback. He could have reached it in five, but it took him two days to search the plains around Cantarus to find the city.
He arrived at the city's main drawbridge two hours past noon. The city was indeed intact, however it did not seem prepared for an attack. Link wondered if the Cyntirian king was even aware of the fall of East Port Town. Link had no problem entering the city. He was not even given a second glance by a city guard.
Cantarus was a gargantuan city; it made Hyrule Castle Town look like an insignificant village. In the center of the metropolis stood the Cyntirian king's palace. The palace was surrounded by another fifteen-foot thick wall complete with the Royal Cyntirian Guard, Cyntir's finest and best-trained troops.
Link headed directly for the palace, though he was not sure if the king knew about the Tyfirians' assault on East Port Town, he had every intention of informing him in any case.
"Halt!" The Cyntirian guard at the palace gate belted as he saw Link approaching.
"I need to see your king," Link told the guard.
"Civilians are not allowed past this point," the Cyntirian said mechanically.
"I am no civilian," Link growled, "I would wager I am ten times the warrior you are. Regardless I have urgent news for the King."
"If you're not a civilian what are you?" the guard inquired.
"I am one of the Calrigan mercenaries," Link said with a hint of irritation in his voice. He knew the guard was not planning to let him past anytime soon and he was anxious to make sure the Cyntirian king was prepared for a Tyfirian attack.
"Our great ruler does not associate with mercenaries," the guard stated, "besides Cyntir does not need help from any outsiders. We are strong enough to defeat our enemies on our own."
"Thousands of citizens of East Port Town would disagree," Link snapped.
"What do you mean?" the soldier asked with confusion.
"You have not heard then?" Link questioned angrily. "East Port Town was taken by the Tyfirians and rather easily as well."
"We have received no news of such an attack," the Cyntirian said with fear in every one his words.
"That is because the Tyfirians did not leave anyone to inform you," Link said coldly.
"You lie!" the Cyntirian retorted.
"Look, I do not care if you believe me, but you must tell your king," Link ordered. "East Port Town is likely only one of your cities which have been destroyed. If you do not prepare yourselves, Cantarus will be next." Though the Cyntirian was uncertain of Link's allegiance he ordered a near by soldier to cover his post while he went to inform the king.
Once the guard was gone Link dismounted his horse. He impatiently waited for the first guard to return for what seemed to him like an eternity. After waiting for nearly an hour the guard reappeared.
"The king has granted you an audience," the Cyntirian said with a trembling voice, "follow me." The guard led Link past the main palace gate along a road lined with stone and past several other guards. Once inside the king's palace Link was amazed with its grandeur. The ceiling was at least fifty feet above the ground. The structure was built out of a fine white marble. The halls were lined with dozens of solid gold vases with all sorts of exotic plants placed inside them. Large statues of past Cyntirian kings were scattered all throughout palace, but there was a large concentration of them in the main hall. The ceiling was decorated with hundreds of friezes depicting Cyntir's history.
"Nice place you have here," Link said to his guide. The guard remained silent and continued down the grand hall. Towards the end of the hall, the decorative ceiling went completely blank. There were no more friezes, but there was clearly room for more. Link guessed the carvings had reached the present day in Cyntir's history. He carefully studied the last carvings. They portrayed a great battle between the Cyntirians and Tyfirians. The Cyntirians all appeared to be great warriors, but the Tyfirians all had demented faces and were hunched over. The frieze showed the Tyfirians retreating into the mountains with the Cyntirians cheering.
"That is not the story I have been told," Link thought to himself as he gazed at the historically inaccurate carvings. What Link did not know was the Cyntirian king had attempted to alter history. He ordered all of his historians to record the war with their former slaves as a victory. Though nearly every Cyntirian knew that the Tyfirians were triumphant in the last war, effectively winning their freedom, the Cyntirians proclaimed they had been victorious and banished the treacherous slaves to the north. Many Cyntirians preferred to lie to themselves about their defeat, especially the soldiers. In the last battle of the first war the Cyntirians had outnumbered their enemies ten to one, but still lost because of a brilliant strategy on General Ormek's part.
King Talrid led an attack on Cyntir castle with nine tenths of the Tyfirian army, but they possessed an insufficient number of soldiers to take the castle. The battle did not last long, the Tyfirians fled after losing a few hundred men. The king of Cyntir then hastily ordered the majority of the castle garrison to follow their defeated foes and destroy them. However, this order left the capital severely vulnerable, for with out the garrison it was essentially unprotected.
Once the city's defenses were gone Ormek led a squad of his best men, who were already in Cantarus posing as citizens, into the king's palace and kidnapped the monarch. Meanwhile the Tyfirians, who pulled the Cyntirians from their king, took shelter in the mountains. When the Cyntirians attempted to attack they were bombarded with arrow fire and rock slides produced by the Tyfirians who were impossible reach while hidden high up in the mountains. The Cyntirians were so overwhelmed by the fire from above, the Tyfirians easily managed to flank them while they tried to defend themselves from the falling objects overhead. The Cyntirians retreated, returning with only four men for every ten that journeyed into mountains, while the Tyfirians suffered very few losses.
The Tyfirians then used the captured Cyntirian sovereign to negotiate a release of all slaves in Cyntir. The king of Cyntir would not accept the loss, so he claimed he banished the Tyfirians instead.
"Your weapons," the guard said once he reached a large set of doors.
"What?" Link asked, still looking up at the ceiling.
"We can not allow you to see the king if you're armed. Link nodded and reluctantly handed over his sword, shield, bow, and quiver of arrows, bomb bag, hookshot, boomerang, and a large knife. However, Link did keep a long knife hidden in one of his boots for good measure. Once Link was supposedly disarmed, the guard nodded to the two nearby royal guards and they opened the massive doors. Link entered a large room with a dozen widows and many decorative banners hanging from the walls. At the rear of the chamber sitting on a padded gold throne was King Latimar of Cyntir. He was a large man, not one to miss many meals. He wore a gold crown on his brow encrusted with various jewels. He was dressed in scarlet robes and held a scepter in his right hand. He was slouched over when Link entered the room. He stared at Link intently with a cruel scowl on his face as the warrior approached.
Link knelt on one knee and bowed his head once his guide ordered him to halt. "From what my servant has told me you bring news of the destruction of East Port Town," the king said calmly.
"Yes your majesty," Link said as he raised his head and returned to his upright position. "I was in East Port Town not a week ago. It has been completely destroyed."
"Impossible!" Latimar barked. "I would know if such an event had occurred."
"No one was left in the city," Link explained "The Tyfirians must have captured or killed the entire populous. There would have been no one left to inform you, your highness."
"It's better than I hoped," the King muttered to himself. "We have not received word from any of our seaports recently, including South Port Town at the strait. Many of our inland cities have been silent as well." Latimar then focused his gaze on Link. "You say the town was destroyed?"
"Yes," Link replied, "most of the buildings were leveled."
"Liar," the king barked. "If the Tyfirians attacked they would have occupied the city instead of destroying it." Link had not thought about that. The Tyfirians' movements were strange to say the least. In all likely hood the Tyfirians had destroyed all of Cyntir's major seaports, but had not captured them.
"Check your ports if you wish," Link replied coolly, "I would wager they have all been decimated."
"How could the Tyfirians advance a force large enough to destroy our ports without anyone seeing them." The king asked no one in particular. No one answered. "Send a small reconnaissance team to South and East Port Towns, Captain." Latimar ordered a nearby soldier whose armor was the most decorative in the room. The soldier nodded and left the chamber.
Once the captain left the king cracked a smile and let out a little chuckle. Link was confused by this gesture. He thought the king would have been saddened or at the very least angered by the news of the possible loss of several of his cities, but Latimar actually seemed happy.
"With all due respect," Link said after a moment of his silence, "would your highness mind telling me what is so humorous."
"Why its quite simple, my dear boy," Latimar said, "Cyntir has been under a lot of pressure to leave those foul Tyfirians to themselves. Many of our allies looked down upon our keeping slaves. Since I banished the Tyfirians to the north, my allies have disliked the idea of me finishing them off. If they have indeed attacked first, I'll finally have a reason to obliterate them and my allies will aid me in doing so. Say boy, you're a mercenary, correct?" Link answered in the affirmative. "Good," the King said, "I'd like to order some troops."
Link shook his head, "They would never make it in time," Link said.
"In time for what?" Latimar asked curiously.
"For the coming onslaught on Cantarus," Link answered.
"Are you trying to tell me the Tyfirians are planning to attack us here?" the king chuckled.
Link thought of Ormek and the hatred he saw in his eyes at the Temple of Knowledge. Though it was only guess at this point, Link was confident, Ormek would attack Cantarus. So far his tactics seemed to be destroy everything Cyntirian. It was only a matter of time until Ormek brought the fight to Cantarus.
"I am quite confident the Tyfirians are planning to attack this city," Link said boldly.
"Ha," Latimar said amused, "then they will be defeating themselves. Cantarus is impenetrable. Besides there are not enough Tyfirians on this continent to take this place."
"That may be so," Link said, "but General Ormek is extremely resourceful. He may be able..."
"Never mention that name in my presence!" the King screamed and stood up. "That man has caused me more trouble than he's worth! I should have killed him when I had the chance. That bastard cost me an alliance with the King of Acromiar! Acromiar has the largest army in the world and they could have been at my disposal if hadn't been for Ormuck. Not to mention he has humiliated me more times than I can count. He is the scum of the earth and a fool if he thinks he can defeat me."
"Still," Link interjected, "You must prepare for battle."
"We are adequately prepared as we are." Latimar said boldly.
"No you are not," Link pleaded, "Ormek is much more dangerous than you realize."
"Who are you to give me advice?!" the King yelled, "One Cyntirian soldier is worth ten Tyfirians. Guards remove this man from my audience chamber at once." The royal guards quickly swarmed around Link and carried him out of the room. They threw him out the door and picked him up again. They escorted him to the palace gate and flung him to the ground along with his equipment.
"That went well," Link groaned as he picked up his gear and himself. Link slowly made his way back to the city contemplating his next move. Link found it difficult to think clearly, he was filled with anger directed at Latimar. He was disgusted by his disregard for his own people. Latimar was actually glad the Tyfirians had attacked his people, just so he would have a reason to attack Tyfiria.
When Link talked to Chiron back at his ranch, the farmer only had good things to say about the king of Cyntir. He often told Link how righteous Latimar was, but it was apparent to Link that the only reason Chiron thought Latimar was a good king was the fact that he never met him. Contrary to what Chiron said before he was claimed by the Tyfirians, Cyntir did want to bring other nations into the war, they were just having trouble doing so. Link started to see that the war was not as one-sided as he had been led to believe.
Link then realized how similar Ormek and Latimar were. Neither would rest until the other was destroyed. They were so full of hatred for the enemy nation that they were willing to throw away the lives of their own people for their warped causes.
This realization forced Link to rethink what he was fighting for. Latimar was no better than Ormek, so why should he try to help Latimar. His question soon answered itself. Ormek was a lot more dangerous than Latimar, not to mention a great deal more intelligent. Besides, Ormek possessed the Triforce of Knowledge, which made him a threat to more nations than just Cyntir.
Link removed Soarlec's Talon from its pouch on his belt and stared at intently. Ormek was so much more dangerous than Latimar, Link even doubted that he could defeat him. After all, the last time he tangled with Ormek, the Tyfirian wiped the floor with him and Chiron and did not even break a sweat. As Link thought of Chiron he clenched his fist over the talon. Chiron died trying to help Link defeat Ormek as did Balris and Vialla. Link knew their lives as well as the life of Calrith would be wasted if he failed to stop the Tyfirians.
Link realized his next move should be to find Ormek and defeat him, but instead of looking for the general he decided to stay put. He was certain the Tyfirians would attack Cantarus soon and Ormek would be leading them. That would be his chance to use Soarlec's Talon to return the Triforce of Knowledge to its rightful place and seal it away forever.
Once Link made it back to town, he started looking for an inn to stay at, but realized he had no money. The only thing he had of any value was his horse, but he thought he might need it later, so he hung on to it. Link spent the night in an alley. He got very little sleep that night. He kept having nightmares, not that that was anything unusual for the hero. He had nightmares nearly every night, but these nightmares were of the grim executions of his lost companions and the imminent massacre of Cantarus, which were not like his usual nightmares of the moon falling and wiping everyone out.
Link awoke before the sun rose the next morning utterly exhausted. He felt like there was a hole in his stomach. He was very nervous, more nervous than he had been in years. Link hated waiting for his enemy to come to him. It was always Link who went after his enemies. At least when he did that he knew when the fight would take place, but with waiting for his opponent he had no idea.
The entire day Link's mind was a blur. With nothing to do but wait for an attack, he was left to his thoughts. He watched as the people of Cantarus as they went about their daily chores, completely unaware of their approaching doom. Link had seen such people before during his earlier adventures. They went on with their lives while he frantically tried to save them and after he saved them they were completely unaware anything had changed. Link wondered what it would be like to be one of them. Only worrying about making enough money to buy food instead of trying to rescue the world from the clutches of evil. He wondered what it would be like to be happy. Link put such thoughts out of his mind, for he knew thinking about being normal would only make him more miserable.
Link spent the day wandering through the streets of Cantarus, trying to think of a way to defeat Ormek, but the more he thought about it, the more nervous he became. He could not help, but think about what would happen if he failed. Cyntir would be destroyed, that was certain, but Link knew it would not end there, something whispered to him that there was more at stake than he could see.
His first full day in Cantarus was completely uneventful. Link spent another uncomfortable night in the same alley. He found the second night even more difficult to sleep through than the first, but he finally drifted off to sleep at about two in the morning. He awoke the next day to the sound of a thunderous horn. Cyntirian soldiers throughout the city responded and they all made their way to the city's outer wall.
"Prepare for an attack!" one of the soldiers shouted as he passed Link. The Tyfirians had arrived.