Before the Game Begins...
The Death of the Queen
Chapter 4: Kakariko Village
For days, Impo had observed the Queen as she went about her daily tasks without complaining. They had travelled long and hard to avoid unwelcome attention. At night, strange creatures began appearing, and it took all of his skill to avoid them. He had never encountered such creatures before. They rose up from the ground in groups of two or three and attacked with sharp talons, which they wielded with some skill. But they were slow and Impo easily avoided them with a well aimed deku nut. Because of this new threat, Impo decided that they ought to take refuge in Kakariko Village for the time being.
The Queen nodded wearily. Their horses, which they had picked up at LonLon Ranch some days ago, were beginning to feel the strain. They took the brunt of these unnatural attacks, and she worried about them.
She hadn't said much during the trek, and Impo was glad of it. Women who prattled into empty silences, feeling as if they should fill them with words, no matter how useless, gave him a feeling of weariness. If he responded, he felt compelled to respond, which was distasteful. If he remained silent, their woundedness was difficult to repair. She was nearly as stoic as his own wife had been, and he admired and respected her for that. Her silence allowed him to remain alert to any danger. She seemed to understand that.
The truth be told, her mind was spinning. She barely paid any attention to the quiet Kakarikan. She was glad he was there with them, but the horrific events of the past few days had left her drained. She could barely sleep at night for fear that someone or something would tear her child apart. She missed the babe she had entrusted to Impa. She relived the parting with the King. She felt so vunerable upon the open plain. When she slept, she dreamt of unsettling things. Things that hunted. Teeth that crunched. Screams no one could hear.
So they entered the village. He took her, unobserved, to the inn. Here, they rested a day or two, and then they heard the news: Ganondorf had laid seige to the town, and there was absolutely no going back. When the news reached the inn, the three were sitting down to a dinner of the inn wife's famous chicken stew. The little prince had their attention at first, because he had placed his fists straight into the heated bowl and was mashing the food into his mouth as quickly as he could.
The soldier who entered was splattered with some substance they couldn't quite comprehend, although Impo's hand went instinctively to his side where his hunting knife was sheathed. He listened attentively to the soldier's news and glanced at the Queen's whitening face.
"Ganondorf's attacked the town." he gasped.
People gathered there gestulated and whispered.
"The King repelled the attack and closed the drawbridge." he said in answer to someone's question.
"We lost about 50 good men." he said in response to another.
"Ganondorf's army is camped outside the town." he told another enquirer.
Then he sat heavily and let out a great gust of breath, collapsing.
Impo brushed rudely past those who were helping the man lay down. The soldier was obviously gravely injured and in need of aid. Impo knocked away helping hands and knelt beside the man. He shook him awake, much to the disapproval of those around them. "What of the King?" he asked.
"He...was wounded..." the man whispered. "The captain pulled him...back in...but he's still alive...He fought...like a lion."
Impo saw he would get no more news than that and backed away to allow others to care for the wounded man.
Impo scanned the room. More people were gathering. He gave the Queen a look and nodded to her. It was time to leave. He watched the room fill up with strangers while the Queen cleaned up the little prince and packed up their meagre belongings. They left the inn and Impo led the two to a near-by dwelling.
He knocked on the door with a rhythmic tattoo that could only be a signal.
A child opened the door. When he saw who stood there, his face lit up and he shouted: "Dad!" and he launched himself with all of his strength at Impo, nearly bowling the man over. Impo's face transformed when he smiled and the Queen wondered when she had last seen such a thing on him.
She was taken aback by the idea that Impo had a child, but not only one child came bowling out of the doorway: 5 others, all boys, rambunctiously greeted their father. Guessing the age of the youngest to be 8 or nine, she realized that Impo had to be nearly 40 or 45 already. Yes, his hair was white, but his skin was smooth and unblotched by age or worry.
They prepared for the evening.
The Village was settled at the foot of the mountain with only one entrance, easily defended. No one in the town believed that Ganondorf would attack the Shadow people. It wasn't a fort like Hyrule town, and Ganondorf didn't seem interested in the place--as yet. The Villagers gathered together for a town meeting, and while the Queen put the young prince to sleep for the evening, Impo slipped into the meeting to listen to what the elders wanted to do. A sense of pride welled up within him as he noticed how level-headed those gathered were. The questions and concerns that were floored came straight to the heart of the problem. No one panicked or brought up petty issues. Every point was relevant. Every problem had a solution. Impo stood with arms folded across his chest, his head bowed, mostly unnoticed by any others. He quietly slipped out and returned home, knocking the usual signal upon the door before entering.
They could do nothing but wait. Ganondorf was after the child. They could visit the mountain or visit the graveyard. To Impo, their position was precarious. Ganondorf was too close. There weren't too many places to go. If they could reach the Forest Temple, it would be through the Goron's secret passageway into the Lost Woods. There dwelt the skull kids. This was not a prospect Impo relished. There were too many uncertainies.
"I've got to scout a way to the Kokiri Forest." He told the Queen the next day. "Our only outlet seems to be Death Mountain, but I need to make sure that the way to the Forest can be done without going through the Lost Woods."
"I'll help, Dad." the youngest chimed in eagerly, his ears perked up to catch every word that his impressive father spoke.
Impo smiled fondly and rumpled the youngster's hair, but he paused, remembering the creatures that popped up on the night-time field of Hyrule. He shook his head. "Another time." he admonished. "Now go help your brothers with their chores."
On a crude peice of paper, he traced a path on the Kakariko side of the river, fording it before entering the territory of the Zoras, then sketching a way from there directly to the entrance of the Kokiri Village. She nodded in agreement, but he could tell that she was distracted. He knew that her sleep was haunted of late. She clung to the child too much for his liking. It was as if she was constantly saying good bye to the youngster for the last time in her life. He found this disturbing, but he was only a body guard, and her physical safety was paramount. Should Hyrule fall to Ganondorf, her son would be King. She needed to know that she had to be strong in case that happened. But he found within himself no words of consolation to give her. Sometimes the burden of life had to be shared without words.
He hated to leave the two of them, since anything could happen while he was gone. And he knew that he would be spending at least one night on the Field of Hyrule before returning.
The Village elders had sent scouts out last night, to gauge the strength of the army that camped infront of the drawbridge, but none had returned. This was not a good sign. Impo called the two eldest sons and gave them specific instructions for guarding the Queen and Heir, then he packed a small bag and left the village. His youngest son watched him go, then looked around to see if anyone was paying any attention to him. After Impo was nearly out of sight, he retrieved a hidden pack from the chicken pen, and hurried after his father with all the stealth his ancestry lent.