Chapter Eighteen
Twilight Falls

"All archers! Ready bows! Wait for my signal to attack!"

Rael stood stiffly in line in the Great Gate Square, watching the lines of archers along the walls. At General Dragan's command they raised their bows, and each drew one long arrow from the quivers at their waists. They set them to the bow strings loosely and waited.

The orange sun was full down behind the hills, and now only a half-light illuminated the faces of all those stood around him. Swift moving soldiers ran along the battlements with torches, lighting other flaming torches in brackets along the walls. Rael so desperately wished he could see over the walls, to see what was coming towards the city, to see how many Kairin were approaching.

"Load catapults!" shouted Dragan to the heavy siege units in the square, and the command was carried on other men's voices far along the mile-long walls to other parts of the city.

"Hey kid," said the soldier to Rael's right. Rael inclined his head to face him, and the soldier's pale blue eyes levelled with his own, "you gonna be all right fighting with no armour?"

"Kopus?" said Rael, a little taken aback.

The soldier from Baradale nodded his head. "I must admit, when I was sent with Sergeant Shaef – well, Lieutenant Shaef – to take you Taraners to this here city… I never knew the favour you were doing me."

"What?"

"No doubt you heard Baradale was besieged. The Kairin left the women and children alive - they aren't monsters - but every man carrying a sword was butchered. Thanks to you I am alive to fight another day."

Rael nodded, "I haven't seen you around, Kopus."

"I keep a low profile," replied the young soldier, "unlike yourself."

Rael grinned, then scowled as a thought crossed his mind, "These dogs besieged both of our homes, friend. Today, we will take vengeance!" he almost growled that last. "They killed my father! Tonight they will pay for his death in blood."

"My cousin died in the Battle for Baradale. I fight for his honour this night." He held out his hand for Rael to take. Rael let go of his sword hilt and took Kopus' hand. In the usual fashion or brother-bonding, they raised their joined fist to chest height. "Tonight you are my brother, Rael."

"Tonight, and forever after, you are my brother Kopus." Kopus grinned as they turned to face forward again.

Rael could hear the marching footsteps of the Kairin, the war horns rang clear and loud across the city. Rael buried his fears, took a hold of his sword hilt once more, and then… it began.

"Volley!" shouted General Dragan, from his position atop the gates of the city. At his command, the archers raised their bows to a diagonal angle, and loosed their arrows; the 'snick, snick, snacker' of bowstrings echoed across the square as a thousand arrows soared into the air. "And ready again! And volley!" A second wave of arrows were set loose into the sky, and Rael saw the long shafts arc before disappearing beyond the wall. The archers roared in approval of a successful round. For a third time, Dragan raised his arm into the air, and dropped it in a swooping fashion as a thousand more arrows were sent to meet the foe.

"Catapults fire!" he yelled, and great boulders soared over the walls of the city from the catapults. "Reload and fire once again!"

A loud scream came from one of the archers, the heads of three thousand infantrymen turned to stare in horror as the first casualty of battle fell backwards from the wall to the city street below. As he fell, an arrow shaft was clearly visible, protruding from his right eye.

Dragan leapt down from his position atop the gate and retreated behind the wall of archers. "Fire at will!" he shouted, and the frenzy began.

Great boulders flew into the sky, and cries of anger and pain erupted from somewhere beyond the wall. Archers fired direct shots down to a foe he could not see, and one by one, Kairin arrows swatted men down from the walls. The terrible realisation that men were dying suddenly struck Rael, and he cursed loudly under his breath. "Light save me," his whispered, "Ralis I need you."

……

Ralis al'Resh straightened his jacket as he moved swiftly through the corridors of Hyrule Palace. Hastily, he hoisted his breeches and fastened his belt buckle tightly, and increased his speed to a brisk jog, keeping his footfalls quiet. Not that anybody was really around to hear him, but the burden of guilt in his heart urged secrecy.

Indeed, the entire castle seemed empty. At least, all the guards were stationed down at the wall of the Inner Circle now, if not right down at the Great Gates. The servants were all elsewhere, probably gathered together in the Hall of Servants.

He stilled his breath as he reached a corner in the corridor. Slowly, only daring one eye at first, he peered down the next hallway. A single guard was stationed by the door, hardly a royal guard, so she wasn't here now then. Excellent, he thought. He breathed deeply, and stood to his full height; he was the image of confidence.

He rounded the corner at a brisk walk, and approached the lone guard. He suspected nothing, why should he? "Excuse me, there, good man," said Ralis, smiling slightly and gesturing his hands openly, "I appear to be lost, might you direct me to the entrance hall?"

The soldier nodded, "Certainly young sir," he turned and pointed to the end of the corridor, "just follow this hall to the end here, take a left, and you'll-" Ralis landed a fist squarely in the soldiers exposed jaw, and the unsuspecting man's head rocked back against the wall. If it weren't for the helmet, that blow may well have cracked the soldier's skull.

Without allowing the man time to think, Ralis seized the spear from his hand and kneed him in the chest. Any man that has worn chain mail knows what it is like to receive a sharp blow when wearing it. It is enough to wind a man. Ralis knew that all to well. He spun the long metal haft of the spear, and made contact with the guard's helmet. With a little help from an outstretched foot, the soldier was knocked clear of his feet to the floor. "Treason!" cried the soldier, but was silenced as Ralis pressed down his knees on his chest and began to pound on his face. After a fair amount of beating, he threw the man aside and sent him crashing into the wall.

The soldier was knocked out cold. Ralis breathed a sigh of relief, and wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead. "I am truly sorry, my good man. You would never have left me through this door willingly, and it is very important."

The unconscious man made no reply, and put up no protest as Ralis strode through the now unprotected door to Queen Zelda's study. It was completely empty.

The room was dark, unlit save by the glimmers of late twilight creeping in through the large balcony arches. He marked the familiar furnishings of the tidy study, unchanged since his last visit, except that where banners of Baradale and Pergondale had once hung beside the banners of other cites, there were now ash-black banners. Lost to the Karin. They would be reclaimed soon enough.

He trotted up the shallow steps to the desk, and grinned as his eyes fell upon the black-and-gold hilt and shining silver blade of his father's sword. Not obtained through the trading routes as he had told his brother. No. But not his really his father's truth be told; and not his either. He picked it up, and tried to catch a glint of the light from beyond the archways on its silver.

The Queen had done very little to protect it. Strange.

He picked up the narrow black scabbard from the desk and sheathed the slender blade. It was time to fulfil his promise.

……

"Brace the gates!" shouted Dragan, "Stand firm!"

The gate thundered as a battering ram or three assaulted it from the other side. A Block of fifty soldiers ran forward to hold it. It was only a temporary measure.

Rael was growing impatient, but with every passing moment he was more and more afraid of being there. The Kairin were so close now, and how many of them? "Courage, Rael," muttered Kopus.

……

Ralis hurried through the castle, his newly acquired sword ratting at his waist. He had to be quick now. Rael needed him. He had to be there for his brother now, or the light save his soul he would never be able to look at his own reflection again without seeing his brother's dying face.

'You understand Ralis?' said his father Resh in the back of his mind.

'Yes, father, I will do as you ask,' came the ghostly reply

'Promise me, Ralis!' said Resh, taking hold of his son's shoulders. 'I know you, my boy! I know how you think! Do not take this to mean I think any less of you. I am so very proud of you my boy.'

Thunder echoed in the hollow streets of Taran Kaey. Rain patted against the window pane of his father's small home. The black of night called out to him. These bloody raiders were burning his town!

'You must do this for me, Ralis. I am placing my trust in you.'

'I swear I will not fail you father.'

A tear came to his eye as he remembered his father running off into the night to fight those soldiers he now knew to be the Kairin. He fled with Mara that night, and caught up with Rael and his friend Daran outside the town. He broke his promise to his father.

He knew that his father's death was punishment for his failure. He had failed as a son, as a brother! He would make things right again though. He gripped the hilt of his sword as he ran out through the palace gate, and hurried down the steps to the Hylia road.

……

The gate cracked. Spiked rams pushed through the wood, splintering it into a thousand shards. "Stand firm!" shouted Dragan again, but it was no use. The gate gave way, and Kairin soldiers flooded in like a tide. A great sea of black armour surrounded by flowing purple cloaks. Those that had been barricading the doors were outnumbered two to one already, and were killed almost as quickly as the Kairin could charge through.

"The strength of Hylia!" shouted Dragan from his position high on the walls.

"Hylia!" shouted the soldiers.

As if in response, a call went up amongst the Kairin, "For the Lunar Crown! For the Light of Kairin!"

As the gate gave way, Rael could see them, far beyond the walls. Thousands of them! Ten, maybe twelve thousand Karin!

"Porcupine!" yelled Sergeant Jaker, at the head of Rael's Block. Across the entire Hylian defence this command was given. The front lines crouched down with their spears extended and the rows behind acted in kind. A great bristling formation of spears formed an impenetrable wall of spikes.

The Kairin ran on, spurred by the ranks at their heels, forced onto the spears and impaled. Screams filled the air, as blood was spilled and men's lives were ended on Hylian metal. "Volley spears!" came a command from the front line.

The men about Rael all raised their spears to the air and hurdled them into the Kairin. Sharp metal met soft flesh and not even the dark Kairin helmets could resist the punch of the Hylian spears. Swords were drawn, and Rael felt himself pushed ever closer to the front line.

……

"Let me by, damn you!" shouted Ralis at a stout Palace Guard. The gate to the Inner Circle was closed shut, and perhaps rightfully so as hundreds of peasants all rattled on the gates trying to seek refuge within the thick walls.

"I will not allow it, young master Ralis!" said the guard, "we must keep this gate shut, else this rabble will get in. If you can find another way out of here, then I recommend you take it."

"Oh, burn you!" yelled Ralis, and stormed away. He had to get out there! "Rael!"

……

Rael raised his sword as a Kairin soldier engaged him. "Murderer!" Rael yelled at him, as he clashed steel with the enemy.

"Demon worshiper!" snarled the Kairin in return. There was fear in the eyes of his enemy, he didn't want to be here any more than Rael did. But nobody had forced him to join his country's army!

Rael kicked the other man in the stomach, and drove his blade home through the Kairin's neck. The battle around Rael seemed to slow down, time itself reduced almost to a standstill. As the foe's eyes rolled back in his head, and his corpse fell towards the hard ground, Rael truly understood the horror of war.

He had killed a man, and he was forever tainted.

He rose, and took up ready stance, then launched himself into the enemy. One by one, Kairin fell all around him. Dying, choking to death on their own blood, run through the heart with Rael's blade. "Die!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. There was no one else but he and the Kairin; and a blood-lust rage took over him.

Strike to the right, strike to the left, death, death, always death! He ducked under a sword, and sliced at a Kairin thigh, sending the attacker to his knees. Over Rael's shoulder, another man raised his weapon to Rael's back. Turning quickly, Rael dispatched the assailant, and spun back to dismiss the other. He did not see a third rushing towards him, a spear raised high over his head.

"Rael!" shouted the voice of Kopus from somewhere distant. Then he was there before him, taking the brunt of a Kairin spear, and collapsing to the ground at Rael's feet.

"No!" yelled Rael, as the spear drove into his sword-brother's neck. "Kopus, no!"

He brought his sword down in an arc on Kopus' killer, and even as he did so, he felt the heavy beating on the back of his head. Hard steel met his skull, and he collapsed to the ground. The shouts of battle faded, his vision clouded, and the Darkness took him.

……

Ralis paced back and forth by the Inner Circle gate. He could see the battle from here, the pale full moon shone down on the city, and flames illuminated the battle through the dark. The night was cold and bitter. He had to be down there… Rael…

Suddenly, a ringing of bells in the Palace stirred his attention. With a thunder of hooves, a figure all dressed in black, riding on a fast moving horse, blazed out of the castle gates. The entire ground seemed to light up around him, like the glow of twilight. "Open the gates!" came a cry, "Marshal Ivarl al'Arantos rides forth! Make way for the Marshal of Hyrule!"

The great metal gates began to rise upwards quickly, but no townsfolk wanted to come through now.

Like something out of an ancient legend, a great bolt of lightning erupted from the tallest tower of the Palace. White and silver electricity forked out across the sky, casting a terrible menacing radiance across Hylia. The city was lit up in a purple-red glow.

The cloaked man blazed past Ralis, and for just a fleeting second, he saw the pale skin beneath that dark hood, and he recognised him… Rael… But how?

The dark man who had been claimed as the Marshal raised his arms to the sky as his horse blazed down the Hylia Road towards the battle. The lightning streaked down from the sky towards him and the arc of electricity that blazed forth from the sky was drawn to his hands. As though he were controlling the storm himself! "What is this demon?" screamed Ralis, chasing after him down the mile-long road to the Great Gates.

A voice echoed in Ralis' mind as he ran. A voice in his head. "I am coming, yes, coming, so close, so close. The Light Born one shall die! I, the Lord of Dusk, am rising this night! And destiny shall be fulfilled!"

The lightning in the hands of the Marshal erupted towards the battle, burning brighter than the sun, and leaving Ralis blind in the dark. "Rael!" he cried, "where are you my brother?"