A note from the Hime no Argh herself—

So I finished Chapter 8 sooner than expected and began work on Chapter 9, so I figure it's safe to post a new chapter. Finals week has been very difficult, and I still have two essays to write, but thank you muchly to those who wished me well. Please enjoy the new chapter.

Chapter 7
March

They lined the streets of Castletown to cheer as the soldiers marched, hundreds of townspeople all wearing some bit of green ribbon—Farore's color, symbolizing courage. Men kept stoic faces and women wept as their sons, brothers, husbands went off to war; children waved and cheered, watching their heroes pass.

They made a picture out of legend, Link thought as he rode with the Silver Knights, mounted on the back of a spotted gray gelding named Feather. The knights were trained to fight on horseback as well as on foot, though theirs were mainly riding mounts, not warhorses. In front of them, leading the long train of soldiers, were the White Knights, a vision out of legend with shining armor and weapons, mounted on their beautiful, well-trained warhorses. Next came the Silver Knights, then Feather Company, archers marching on foot in their uniforms, forest-green tunics and doe-brown shirts and leggings. Following them were First, Second, and Fourth Company; Groundpounders, a specialty company of mounted cavalry, brought up the rear of the train.

As they passed through the curtain wall surrounding Castletown and across the drawbridge that traversed the broad, swift moat, Link turned back for a last look at his home. The palace was distant and serene in the early morning light, its white towers shining and banners flapping in the brisk wind. Hoping this would not be the last time he saw it, Link turned back to face the broad, open plains of Hyrule Field.

Their march that morning was easy, under a sky so cloudless and blue that even five companies of warriors off to war couldn't feel too tense. Link concentrated on keeping Feather, who was restless, in his place in line and listened to his fellow knights chatter about their homes and their families. They ate lunch in the saddle, and as the day wore on, the talk turned to the Gerudo.

"I still can't believe it," announced Wilhelm, a gangly red-head in Lin's squad. "I thought that treaty was in the bag, and here I am, marching off to war."

"Maybe we just all thought it was in the bag," Thor said dryly. "How long were the Gerudo here? Two, three months? It shouldn't have taken that long to reach an agreement. Maybe they never wanted peace in the first place, and were just here to see how many soldiers we have."

Lancen, who was a head shorter than everyone else and hostile about it, spat on the ground. "You know what I think? I bet that fever was the Gerudo's doing. None of them got sick, did they?"

So he and his friends weren't the only one who noticed, Link thought. Lin, who'd been listening, shook her head.

"Now you're grasping at straws, boys. It was just coincidence that none of them got sick. Or maybe they were immune."

Link spoke up. "My friend Ganondorf, who's a Gerudo, said that the witchsisters would be powerful enough to do something like that, if they combined their power."

The knights looked at him. "That's right," Thor remarked slowly. "Your friend is the Gerudo male, right? The only one of their kind."

Link nodded.

Lancen shook his head. "It's not right, having a Gerudo in the army."

Link met his eyes. "He's as loyal to the king as you or me."

"So what? I still know a sand snake when I smell one."

"Where are your manners, Lancen?" Lin snapped. "Is that how a knight talks? Get to the back of the line, and rethink your vows of chivalry."

Sullenly, Lancen whistled to his horse and fell back, away from Lin's squad. Feather fidgeted nervously; Link realized he was gripping the reigns in an angry fist, and loosened his grip. "Sorry," he murmured to the gelding.

"Link?"

He glanced up at Lin. "I've heard it before, and so has my friend. That doesn't make it right."

Lin nodded. "Your friend's with Second Company, right? If we're stationed with them, I'll make sure Lancen apologizes."

"I should settle the insult myself," Link pointed out, but Lin shook her head.

"Don't waste your time on that yattermouth. Save your strength for our enemies."

"Lin's right," Thor put in. "We're going to have a lot of fighting ahead of us, so you may as well store up your anger."

"A knight doesn't fight with anger in his heart," Lin admonished, rounding on her corporal. "He fights for duty and honor, and for the sake of his kingdom. He fights without hatred."

"He fights with whatever gets the job done," Thor retorted. "What good is honor if you're dead?"

"It's good for standing before the goddesses with a clean conscience!"

Wilhelm rolled his eyes at Link, who smiled in spite of himself. Once Lin and Thor got started on chivalry, they never stopped.

That night the companies stopped and pitched camp in the middle of Hyrule Field. Once the knights' camp was set up, Lin gave her squad permission to roam, so Link wandered over to Second Company's camp to visit Ganondorf.

The Gerudo scowled when he saw Link. He was seated in front of a small campfire, a bedroll laid out beside it. "Must have been nice to ride all day. My feet are killing me."

"Are you kidding?" Link demanded. "You sit in the saddle for ten hours straight and then tell me how your bum feels. I'd rather have walked." He dropped down on the grass across the fire with a groan. "Goddesses, this march will kill us before the war does."

"Did you hear the news?" Ganondorf asked, tossing him a warmed turnover stuffed with sausage and cheese. "The siege on Lon-Lon is over. Third Company slammed the Gerudo like a hammer and kicked 'em back behind their border."

"Good," Link mumbled around a mouthful of turnover. "That ought to show them we're not to be taken lightly."

Ganondorf nodded. "Half of the Carpenters were sent to the border to begin construction on the new fort. The rest are waiting in Lon-Lon for us."

"The Gerudo know we're in it now for certain," Link said. "The next force they send will be a lot bigger than two tribes."

"Good," Ganondorf said cheerfully. "I look forward to pounding them."

Link looked at him. "Yours is a happy nature."

"Why not?" Ganondorf agreed amiably. "Being a Gerudo has caused me far more trouble than it's worth. Now at least I can prepare a warm thank you to my sisters for their kindness and encouragement when I decided to try my fortune in the north."

Link smiled crookedly. There was a small part of him that envied Ganondorf's position, if only because he knew who his people were. He even had a mother alive somewhere among the tribes. There was always the possibility for reconciliation with his people, though that seemed unlikely now that he was going to war with them.

If Link had family alive somewhere, he didn't know it. Nor did he know where he'd been born or who his mother and father were. He did know that he had been given to the midwife of a village near Castletown by a Sheikah woman, but it was clear to anyone who looked at him that he wasn't Sheikah. When the midwife had died, he'd been passed around from home to home until he turned twelve, when he decided to go to Castletown and train as a warrior. He had no love for the village of his childhood, whose inhabitants had treated him as an unwanted burden, but he did wish he knew his family and his people.

In a way we're all outcasts, Link thought, thinking not just of himself and Ganondorf, but Zelda, too. I have no family, Ganondorf's considered a traitor by his people, and Zelda is so good at being a princess, people forget she's human too. Perhaps that was the reason they had become friends under unlikely odds.

Link returned to the Silver Knights' camp later that evening to sleep. In the morning, under a dreary gray sky, the companies silently packed up and got back on the road. Around noon, the heavens opened and rain poured down, adding to the dismal mood of the soldiers. They had remembered sometime during the night that it was a war they were on their way to, and there was no way of knowing how many of them would return north by its end.

Link tried not to think about killing and death. When he caught himself dwelling on the war, he hummed songs to keep him occupied. Lin caught him humming the Ballad of Fallen Heroes and took up the chorus; Thor added his voice, then Wilhelm, and soon all of Lin's squad were singing above the patter of the rain.

Long after the sun had set, the rain-soaked companies staggered wearily into Lon-Lon Town. The town, fortified by two log walls and a pair of gates, showed signs of their recent battle with two Gerudo tribes. Arrows studded the walls; blackened scorches marked the logs here and there, and the gates had taken a beating. Freshly dug earth and newly erected graves outside the walls marked the dead.

The officers and the White Knights were offered beds in the town's inns, while the Silver Knights and some soldiers—mostly Carpenters, who had been here before the rest came—were given shelter in large barns and storehouses. The rest set up camp again outside the town walls.

Captain Benek, Lin, andSergeant Masbolleelected to sleep in the storehouse the Silver Knights were given. After they'd set up their bedrolls and passed around food, Benek gathered them to talk as they ate.

"Alaster's given us our orders, boys," the captain said in his usual quiet tone. "There's a hole in our defenses between Forts Sandpit and Kingshold, near the West Road. We'll be building a permanent camp to plug the gap. Not exactly a regular army fort, since there's only fifty of us, and we have to be ready to move at any time. Our assistance may be called on for attacks on the other forts and camps."

Masbolle unfurled a map of the desert and the western portion of Hyrule Field. "Here's where we'll be," the captain said, marking a spot a mile or two east of the broad, swift Mahala River that was the border between Hyrule Field and the Gerudo Nation. "Our position puts us right on top of the Mahala Gorge, so we'll be well-defended from attacks even without fortification like the forts will have. Of course, we'll also be near Sourrem Bridge, so we'll have to keep our eyes open," he added, naming the bridge that crossed Mahala Gorge into the Gerudo desert.

"Now, onto our enemies. We all knew who they are and why we're fighting. We knights have a strict code of honor that applies on or off the battlefield, but I'll tell you something right now—the Gerudo have no concept of chivalry. They fight for one purpose only—to kill their enemies. They will fight to the death for this cause. They will attack a knight who lays his sword at their feet for this cause. Keep chivalry in your hearts, but fight to survive. The kingdom needs every sword. Our numbers are only stronger than the Gerudo by a hundred or so. The tide can easily be turned."

"And don't underestimate them because they're women," Lin put in bluntly. "They're born warriors, trained from the cradle. They'll cut your throat in a flash while you're dancing about because they're female."

"You'll see girls as young as fifteen on the battlefield," Masbolle added. "Make no mistake, they're there to kill you too, and they're just as deadly as their elders. Perhaps more so, because good men will hesitate at killing them."

Benek nodded and looked around at them for long moment. Every knight was listening with fierce attention. "May Farore guide you all, and give you courage on the battlefield," he said quietly.

"If you suddenly find yourself alone in a great green field, or in a place that looks like home, congratulations," Lin joked. "Your troubles are over."

The knights laughed; Benek and Masbolle chuckled. "Put your faith in the goddesses, and they'll take care of you in this life and the next," Benek said when the laughter had died. "Do honor by your realm, your king, and yourselves. Dismissed."

Most of the knights, weary from their day of traveling in the rain, went straight to bed. Link expected to be kept awake by thoughts of the battles to come, but the moment he fell into his bedroll, he was asleep.

The next morning the companies packed up and left Lon-Lon under a light drizzle. As they continued west, the skies eventually cleared and the sun came out by noon to beat down unmercifully, the rich plains of Hyrule Field giving way to the dry, dusty savannah of border country.

At last the long train split up, the companies each to their assigned forts, the knights to locate their positions and begin building their camps. Link said his farewells to Ganondorf, who was stationed with Second Company in Fort Watersedge, at the southern edge of the desert border, and tried not to consider the possibility that this might be the last time they ever spoke.

The knights continued to ride on the West Road. At last, some miles away from the Gerudo border, they turned off the road and rode south for about an hour, until Benek gave the signal to halt. "This is it, boys," he announced, pitching his voice to be heard by the full column of knights.

Link surveyed their new home. They had a stretch of open land on a small rise that would afford some protection, if little. A pile of logs and rolls of canvas were their supplies with which to begin building their camp; the wagonload of supplies they'd brought with them for the north would provide the rest. If Link squinted hard to the west, he could see the sudden drop of ground that marked Mahala Gorge; if he listened, he could hear the faint roaring of the swift Mahala River.

At least the gorge will make it difficult for the enemy to come straight at us, he thought as he dismounted. It was their only real protection, but they would make do.

Benek and his sergeants put the knights to work—half were delegated to set up the camp itself, putting up tents, digging latrines, directing the placement of the infirmary. The other half took the largest of the logs and began to build a wall around the site, placing them at an outward angle to make them difficult to climb and sharpening the ends, a deadly promise to any rider who attempted to jump the wall. The captain and sergeants helped with every job, getting as dirty and sweaty as the rest.

"I love being a knight, don't you?" Lin panted as she helped Link dig a latrine. "Our glory as we ride our noble steeds into battle is truly something to behold, outmatched only by our perseverance at digging holes in the dirt for our people's private use."

Link grinned tiredly. "You wonder why they never mention this stuff in the war ballads."

"We might get more recruits if they did. I know I signed up for the experience of having mud in my teeth," Lin said, straight-faced.

"I signed up because I listened to what my mother told me, for once," Benek put in, coming over to inspect their work. "If only I could show her the brilliance and glory in commanding the Silver Knights now."

"We're just full of brilliance and glory," Lin retorted. "I'm almost positive my teeth are brilliant under the mud."

They stopped for the night with the camp half-finished and about a quarter of the wall built. Benek had drawn up a schedule of sentries, to ensure that no surprises would come at them in the dead of night. Link wouldn't have sentry duty for a few days.

"I'll feel better once the wall is finished," Thor confessed when the squad gathered a late-night fire. "We're like sitting ducks out here. I might as well paint a big red target on my head."

Lancen shrugged dismissively. "The Gerudo haven't peeped since we kicked them out of Lon-Lon. It's too soon for them to come at us. They probably don't even know we're on the border yet."

"I don't know," Rillion, another squadmate, remarked doubtfully. "They're good at sneaking about, those Gerudo. They've probably already scouted us out. Like the Sheikah they are, in that way." Rillion had lived nearby Kakariko Village before coming to the castle.

Thor poked at the fire, his face expressionless. "What do you suppose they're cooking, out there in the west?"

Link smiled crookedly. He'd been wondering the same thing.

To be continued.