Chapter Ten
Decisions

Rael slumped back on the large four-poster bed, next to Elane. He lay back stretched on his back, hands over his face in an expression of exhaustion. Sitting up, she gave him a quick smile, and he nodded back wearily. Ralis sat perched on a piece of furniture, a chest of draws; Daran was sitting on the floor, cross-legged; Mara was sitting on the bed on Elane's other side, leaning up against a bedpost. Tabett entered into the room last, and hovered inside the doorway.

"So," said Ralis, folding his arms and scanning the room, "what becomes of us now?"

There was no response from the group, they al just watched him with curious and slightly fearful eyes. Tabett drew a long breath and eventually asked him what was on all of their minds, "Ralis, where is that sword from?"

Ralis scowled, and dropped his feet to the floor. Standing up tall, above all of them he grunted irritably, and nearly shouted, "You believe her over me? What does she know?" He pointed a finger towards the wall, in the rough direction of the Queen's study on the other side of the palace.

"Ralis, I-" He shot his wife a cold look as she tried to reply, and his furious eyes instantly silenced her.

"I need to be alone," he said flatly, "I need time to think."

"Ralis," tried Mara again.

"I will be back soon, my dear," he muttered, and he stormed away through the door, Tabett hopped aside quickly.

Mara sniffed, and shook her head angrily, "That man!" she growled, and picked up after him.

The four remaining Taraners sat quietly for a minute, each hoping that someone else would break the awkward silence. Eventually, Tabett gave a nearly unnoticeable nod to Elane, and they silently slipped away together.

"He is hiding something, isn't he, Rael?" Said Daran at length, standing up and walking across the room to gaze out of one of the tall narrow windows. His bedroom, like all of the rooms they had been provided with, was highly furnished and incredibly grand. Though it was small as palace rooms went, it was easily the largest bedroom Rael had been in before. The walls were made the smooth pale grey slate-like stone as the entire palace, with three tall windows in one wall that looked out over the western hills and forests. A tall oak cupboard and matching set of draws were set back against the wall by the door. The grand four-poster bed took central place in the room, made of mahogany and inlaid with ivory and gold leaf, with green patterned sheets, and a mattress comfier than he had ever believed possible.

"Undoubtedly. Ralis has been lying about the sword for days, and the Queen is no fool, she saw straight through him."

"Is she really fifty?" Said Daran, rounding on the spot, and hopping up onto the window ledge to sit down. A look of disbelief on his face.

"So I hear, yeah." Said Rael, nodding and grinning, "But what a body, though!"

"You're telling me," said Daran, "Burn me, if she's like this at fifty, I wish I had seen her at twenty years."

Rael whistled, "I'd give everything I own to see that…"

"Rael, all you own are the clothes on your back," said Daran, mocking him.

"Well," replied Rael coolly, lying back on the bed, "If a twenty year old Zelda demanded my clothes from me, I wouldn't be complaining…"

Daran laughed, and slapped his knee, "Light, no. By the gods…" he looked at the open door and frowned, "I think we best shut that, wouldn't want any stray officers to hear us talking like this."

Rael nodded and stood up quickly, hurrying across to the door and pushing it to until it clicked shut. He sat back down on the bed, and looked up again when Daran continued speaking.

"Speaking of which, Rael. What happened with you and Vic's sister back at the ranch? You disappeared with her, and didn't come back until morning."

Rael shook his head dismissively, "That Daran," he said, "is between me, her, and the stars." He cocked his head at Daran and took on an accusing tone of his own. "Anyway, what happened with you and Malera?"

"Was that her name?" he said laughing, "No I know her name, I know. Well," he said leaning forward, and fixing Rael with such a boyish look it was as though they were home again, "we retired as well, eventually. To the stable." He laughed as he said, "And, we were not alone. Malane came as well."

"Malane!" said Rael, recalling the face of the girl who had tried to tempt him herself before Viccia had 'rescued' him.

"Yes, the three of us had quite a night… But, like you, I don't think I will be saying any more about that. That's between me, them, and the hay."

Rael shook his head and laughed, Daran would never change.

"So, anyway," said Rael, swinging his legs over the bed to face Daran directly, "on a slightly more serious level, what do you think Ralis is hiding from us about that sword?"

"Rael," said Daran bluntly, "I couldn't care less if I tried. If your brother wants to get himself a place in the gallows, he is going the right way about it. He'll confess eventually, and then we will see the sense of it all. But until then, I think we should just make the best of a bad situation, and enjoy the luxury that her majesty has so unwittingly provided."

"Daran, the other day when we first arrived in Hylia, Sergeant Shaef said something about my father."

"He did?"

"Yes," said Rael, "he said Resh al'Shael was once the General of Hylia, before General Dragan."

Daran shook his head, "Is that what you thought you heard? I knew something had bothered you."

"I know I heard it! He said my father's name!" said Rael heatedly. He had relived the moment over and over in his mind, and was certain about what had been said now.

"Rael," said Daran, a little frustrated at his friend's apparent poor memory, "he said the previous general was called Brash al'Aals. You just misheard him is all. It's a similar name. It was probably just the heat playing you."

"Well I decided that too, but then the Queen said something else just now. When she was talking to Ralis about the sword and talking about our father, with way too much interest, she said something to herself like 'Brash never said that he…'. I know that means something."

"You can't know that…"

"Oh, come off it Daran! Something very, very unnatural is going on here. Just piece it all together! People have said they recognise my father's name, Zelda took too much interest in me and my family than is necessary, I know I heard Shaef say Resh even if everyone else heard Brash… and the sword as well, Zelda going on about the one who is supposed to wield it…"

Daran sighed, "What are you thinking, Daran?"

"I don't know what to think! It's all too much!" He was shouting at his best friend, but he did not care, and he knew it. "All these people talking about Da for unexplained reasons, while he could still be out there on the run or fighting bloody Kairin savages!"

Daran did not reply.

"You think he's dead don't you?"

Daran's eyes widened in bloodlust rage "I don't care Rael! I just don't care!" he shouted, jumping off the ledge and spreading his arms wide. "My Ma is dead Rael! She's dead, the light burn you! Don't you understand?" Rael looked back at his friend, suddenly nervous and frightened, and overwhelmingly guilty. "Dead!" he screamed, tightening his fists. "Perhaps your Da has a chance because he's some Hylian General or something, but my Ma's… corpse! is lying in an ashen ruin by the sea!" Tears streamed from his face, as he shouted. "I don't care about Ralis and his sword, I don't care about you and your father issues, I just want my Ma back!"

Rael quivered, gripping the sheets tightly. "I-"

"Rael," said Daran at a hoarse whisper, his face red and blank, "you have Ralis, and maybe your father still, the light willing…but I have no-one…" He trembled, and collapsed to the floor, in a heap, "no-one…"

Startled, Rael hurried to Daran's side, kneeling down and propping his friend's shoulders up, looking into his hollow eyes. "Daran…" he said, tears in his own eyes now, his voice shaking, "I'm so sorry…I'm so sorry…" He wrapped his arms around him tightly, and resting his chin on his friend's shoulder. Daran returned the strong embrace. "I'm here for you," he whispered, gripping his friend's back tightly through his shirt. "you'll never have no-one. I'm here for you." Daran's hands clenched tighter on his on back. "I'm here for you."

……

Late that night, a storm raged above Hylia. Dark clouds were thick in the skies, thunder rocked from the bleakness, and lightning crackled down to the earth. Heavy rain shook the windowpanes, pelting them heavily with sleet and water. In his bed Rael tossed and turned, deeply asleep but very restless.

His saw flashing images in his sleep, of places he had been and people he had met. Fleeting pictures of his friends, his family, his loved ones. A dark nightmare warped his mind, and even as he tried to escape it, he felt chains constricting him from his arms, hands and neck. Shadowy voices whispered into his ears, ghostly and hollow and cold; one higher and shriller than all others though, and simultaneously deep and bold. "Rael…Rael…"

Rael crouched down low, hands over his head. He was inside a pit of flame and sulphur. Overhead he could see the sun burning like black fire and the moon blazing with gold flames, licking the sky. "Get away from me!" he screamed into the bleakness above.

"You cannot escape me forever ra'Ael…" the same voice cackled, with laughter like thunder, "I shall burn the world again, and you will shatter it once more…"

"No! Get away from me!" A spectre moved between the flames, lashing out dark whips towards his naked flesh. He screamed in pain, and the shadow laughed in pure delightful hatred. "No! Away!" Rael yelled in pain, trying to see through bloody tears in his eyes. Despite the fire, he shivered as in the bitterest frost of winter.

"Soon ra'Ael, soon! I will have you once again! You will kneel before me, Light Born!"

"No!" he screamed, and a blazing heat ripped through him, like forge fire scourging through his veins.

"The day of reckoning will come once again," he mocked, "and I shall be free of your dreams. And then you shall see me with your waking eyes!"

"No!" he cried.

"With your waking eyes!"

"Aaaarghh!" Real screamed out loudly into the cold empty bedchamber. He bolted upright in his bed, choking with his throat dry from screaming. Cold sweat dripped down his face and neck.

"Rael!" exclaimed Ralis, materialising in the doorway and hurrying to his bedside, looking down with concern. "We heard you shouting… are you all right?" He eased his brother back down onto the bed slowly.

"Ralis?" sputtered Rael, remembering where he was, "oh Ralis, thank the light you're here. There was fire and darkness and pain and a horrible voice and I-"

"Rael you're rambling, calm down." Ralis put a hand to his forehead, and frowned, "you aren't feverish, but…"

Rael leaped upright at his brother and seized a hold on his bedclothes, "There's someone after me! Someone wants to hurt me!"

His brother took hold of his wrists firmly, and gently prised him away, "Easy, Rael. You're all right now, it was just a bad dream." He whispered quietly, "relax. I'll get you some water."

"I have to hide," Rael said softly, "he's coming, Ralis! He's coming!"

Ralis looked sympathetic, and nodded slowly, Rael knew he was humouring him when he said "who?"

"The man made of fire! He comes with the Kairin, I know!"

Ralis eyed him curiously for a moment, looking slightly uncertain as though Rael was going mad, but then he just shook his head and smiled, "Hush, Rael. You'll feel better in the morning. It's just, the heat and this storm." He sighed, "I hope Mara hasn't woken up, but I guess I better leave her to sleep. So do you want to just sit and talk for a bit?"

Rael curled up in his blankets, "I'll just go to sleep I think. Thanks for coming to check on me though."

His brother patted him on the shoulder; "I'll just get you that water then." Ralis' footsteps echoed away down the corridor, and soon he could no long hear him.

Rael shivered underneath his blanket, and tossed from side to side trying to get comfortable again. Every time he closed his eyes though, he could hear that maniacal laughing, and the image of the flames had burned itself into his mind. So he lay wide-eyed, trying to think of other things, but nothing could shake away his fears. That was no ordinary dream; such a terrible nightmare could have been summoned from his own subconscious. It felt real so too, even now he thought he could feel scorch lines along his back where he had been licked by the blazing heat.

After a few minutes, Ralis returned and left a glass of water on his side table, but Rael did not stir in his bed. He was already drifting away again, into calmer dreams of green fields and fragrant grass in the evening mist. He lay amidst the tall reeds by the water's edge in Greater Hyrule's vast plains. Though he thought nothing of it, overhead shone a bright gold sun, and a silvering moon. On the edge of his mind, almost not there, there was a ghostly shimmering figure in the sky, clothed in brilliant white, pale like the moon and shining brighter than sun, faceless with hair as white as wool. The figure held his arms outstretched strenuously between the sun and the moon, as though trying to keep them apart.

Rael sighed and even within his dream drifted into another sleep. There was still some peace to be found here.

……

Rael awoke to the sound of much commotion in the palace. It did not take him long to discover, from looking out of his chamber window across the palace and fortress grounds, that the army was preparing to move. Bright sunlight spilled out over the vast open space of the Higher Circle, and the wide paved areas around the fortress. Assembled there were a multitude of horses, and Hylian knights in silver armour. Rael rubbed his eyes, and squinted to see more clearly down below, but there was no mistaking. A large amount of troops were preparing to ride out of the city.

Before he was even half aware of what he was doing, Rael was halfway through the palace corridors, his jacket still hanging from only one arm, running at high speed down the large stone steps. If they were going South, and he strongly presumed they were, then he had to go with them. He had to find his Da, and this was his only chance to safely return home.

He should have felt very out of place - running out of the palace gates and down to the fortress, dressed in just his breeches, a dirty white shirt and a thin jacket, amidst all the soldiers in shining silver plate mail - but he did not.

He stopped short when he saw Tabett, Daran and Elane sitting to one side looking miserable. They were on a low bench by the fortress wall, shaking their heads and not saying anything. "What's going on?" said Rael, approaching.

"The Colonel said we can't go back to the south with the soldiers," muttered Daran, "I'm not sure that I'd have wanted to, but its not nice knowing we can't."

"Apparently the queen has put a formal restraint on us," said Elane, winding a curl of hair around a finger, "she has ordered that we be kept here in Hylia."

Rael nodded, and looked towards the assembly of soldiers. There were a lot, and they were all mounting horses, and beginning to process down into the main city, along the mile long road to the Great Gates. "I'm not bothered," said Tabett, slouching forwards and resting his head in his hands, "last thing in the world I would want to be doing is going back to the South. I know you want to find your father Rael, but you wouldn't find him by ending up near battles."

"What are they soldiers doing?" Rael asked, trying to change the subject.

"One thousand horseback," said Daran, "to ride to Baradale. If the town isn't already under siege, they will be joining the march to the south, to drive the Kairin back to the ocean."

Rael sat down on the end of the bench beside Daran, and was about to open his mouth to speak when Mara came hurrying long the paving stones towards them. She looked very flustered and bothered, and a storm was in her eyes, "That man!" she muttered angrily, as she approached them. When she came to a stop near them, she whispered something to herself about 'irresponsible, insensitive' and then composed herself. She smoothed down the sleeves of her grey riding dress, and combed back her dark hair with her palms. "Have you seen Ralis?" she demanded of the four of them, "that fool man has disappeared again!"

Rael shook his head and tried to smile at Mara, but it was difficult with her in such a state, "I haven't seen him since last night, but he can't have gone away from the castle."

Mara sniffed loudly, and paced back and forth in front of the bench, taking short quick steps with her arms tightly folded. "When I find him, I'm going to-"

They never found out what she was going to do though, because she was gone again as quickly as she had come, storming away with her head in the air.

They sat quietly for a while, because nobody had anything to say and watching the Hylian soldiers assembling brought a sense of hushed awe upon them. There was an awkwardness now between Daran and Rael, though neither of them wanted to talk about it. Rael contemplated telling the others about his dream, but didn't want a similar reaction to Ralis' from them. Most likely they would just say it was a bad dream because of the pressure he was under; despite the fact that he could still feel scorch marks on his back.

At length, when many of the soldiers had moved away down into the city to begin their grouping on the plains before the great walls, Tabett said, "Shaef's been promoted."

This turned heads, and Tabett continued, "Lieutenant Shaef has command of a hundred men in that cavalry force. I saw him before, when I first came down here."

"That's only a step down from Captain," said Daran quietly.

"Indeed," said Tabett, knowledgably, "He impressed General Dragan tremendously as I understand it. Point is though, now that he has more influence, he said he had put in a good word for us with Colonel Ingril, who runs the Military Academy at the fortress. If we want, we can sign up."

"To the army?" exclaimed Rael, "surely you can't be serious."

"I am," said Tabett, "and I for one intend to join."

"You do?" said Elane, shocked.

"I may as well do, as well," said Daran.

"What?" exclaimed Rael again, "there's a war starting! If you join the army, you could end up being killed…"

"War's going to find us anyway," said Tabett, sighing, "we may as well learn how to defend ourselves with swords. Besides, so long as the queen's order stands, we can't be sent out of the city anyway."

"I doubt you'll have much trouble convincing Ralis," Rael muttered, realising they probably did have the right idea, "but if you two are going to sign up, I may as well as well…" He rubbed his face with his hands, and rocked his head back against the hard stone wall. Looking upwards at the walls that scaled at least ten stories, with its spiked towers and thin windows, he couldn't help but feel so small.