Chapter Nineteen
The Truth of a Sword

"Rael… Rael…"

So much darkness, so much death. The blood, the horrible blood. The darkness was everywhere…

"Rael, wake up, brother…"

Rael opened his eyes and tightly shut them again as bright daylight flooded his vision. Squinting, slowly adjusting to the sunlight, he opened his eyes. His head throbbed terribly, his back ached as though he had been trodden on repeatedly, and felt like he wanted to spew blood up from his mouth. "Ralis?"

"Oh, thank the light!" said his brother, as his face came into view. He beamed, and ruffled Rael's hair. "You had me scared, little brother."

Rael became aware that he was lying on the ground. Punishing his aching bones and muscles he did his best to sit up. He was outside! On grass! He sat up the whole way, and gaped. "We're on the plains! We're- outside the walls!"

The white walls of Hylia shone in the sun about three hundred paces from where he was sitting. He looked around, hundreds of men lay on blankets on the grass all about him. Hundreds, all lain out in plenty of space in the plains before the city. Many physicians and nurses moved between the make-shit beds, tending to the wounded soldiers.

Fluffy white clouds drifted lazy across the clear, blue, sky. A gentle breeze stirred the long grass of the plains, across fields of wheat and corn, over grazing land, and marshes. What was more, the incredible heat was gone. The fiery blaze the sun had once laid across the land had passed for good, and a clear autumn sky shone down upon the forests of orange and yellow leaved trees.

Sighing, rocking his head back, Rael breathed what words he could manage, "We won then?"

Ralis frowned, "You might say that. As far as General Dragan is concerned we won, but-"

"You spoke to Dragan?" interrupted Rael.

"No… I just heard what he said from some nurse. Light, Rael, like I'm going to go anywhere near that nut again. As I was saying, something really strange happened last night. It must have been after you passed out."

Rael raised an eyebrow questioningly, "What happened?"

"I was there, you see. I saw it right up close. That dark hooded man, the Marshal…he came out on of the Palace and conjured this electrical storm, like magic or something. He attacked the Kairin with it. At least I presume he attacked the Kairin, because they turned tail and ran. Burned a good few hundred of them alive, their bodies were burned on a pyre this morning. Some Hylians died too, along with the hundreds that were killed in the fighting. Just as well he did what he did though, they had you lot outnumbered four to one from what I hear."

"The Marshal…" whispered Rael to himself. "The Lord of Dusk," he muttered quietly.

"What?" said Ralis.

"Oh, nothing."

Ralis stifled a yawn, and ran his hands back through his hair. "That's not what I came to talk to you about."

Rael rubbed the back of his head – a big bruise had risen there – then he nodded for his brother to go on.

Ralis bowed his head, "Rael, I must apologise to you. I have betrayed you. I lied to you. I have shamed you. I brought disgrace to our father and-"

"Just tell me, brother."

Ralis nodded, then reached over to this other side, and when he turned around he was holding a long slender black scabbard with a black-and-gold hilt protruding from one end. Rael gasped. "How did you get that!" Ralis drew the sword out, and the silver blade caught the sunlight. He knew what those runes said along the blade - Blessed is the Halisarin Blade Master, Prince of Hyrule.

"The Queen left it in her study unguarded," said Ralis, shrugging, "I simply took it back."

Rael backed away. "But she said she warded it so that any hand that touches it would die!"

"She lied then. You were always a fool for a pretty face," Ralis mused. "You once asked me where I got the sword. Well, I'm pretty sure you never believed my lame story about getting it through my shipping company."

"Obviously," muttered Rael, "so where did you steal it from?"

"I didn't steal it! I… Da gave it to me."

"Da?" exclaimed Rael, "well why didn't you tell me that!"

"Because…" Ralis buried his head in his hands, and his words were muffled out of all audibility.

"Because what, Ralis?"

"He told me to give it to you!" he said hoarsely, looking up through teary strained eyes, "That night in Taran Kaey, the night of the raid! He made me promise on my honour that I would give it to you, as it was yours, and yours alone!"

An icy gale swept over the grassy plain, the wind danced among the grass and the reeds. Rael was quiet for a while, then asked "It's mine?"

"I was jealous of you Rael!" he whimpered on the edge of crying, "I wondered why you should be given this…this sword, such a beautiful weapon?" He swung it through the air quickly, chopping at invisible opponents. "I didn't understand that it was important, so I kept it for myself! I thought Da favoured you over me, and it hurt so badly. But then, when the Queen took it though I- I didn't know what to think and I panicked! You saw how I reacted!"

"I-"

"That's when I decided I had to prove myself to Da. I went out with that party of soldiers. I went back to Taran Kaey, and that's when I found Da's dead body! Oh, I knew I had failed him. And it killed me inside. Next thing I knew I was in my bedchamber declaring something like an ancient prophecy!"

"You heard that?" said Rael, his eyes widening.

"Of course I did! Oh, I'm such a damn fool, Rael."

Rael straightened up, and held out open palms. "Give it to me," he said flatly.

Ralis shook all over. Slowly, carefully, he replaced the blade in the scabbard like it was the hardest thing in the world to do. Then, trembling, he laid in Rael's hands. Rael wasn't sure what to expect, but he had the feeling that something should have just happened. Nothing did.

"Ralis," Rael whispered, "Do you know what Zelda told me?"

Ralis shook his head softly.

"She said that this sword is supposed to be the property of her son. Don't look at me like that, yes, she has a son. A son my age, no less." Rael swallowed fear; he heard his own voice, cold and distant, as though someone else were speaking. "It was proclaimed that her son would return to Hylia one day bearing this sword. That he would walk through those very gates, and it would be a sign of the coming of the Age of Twilight."

Ralis frowned and tapped Rael on the shoulder. "What's come over you, brother…"

"Ralis," said Rael hoarsely, "I'm afraid."

"Rael al'Brash!" declared a voice loudly, not five feet away. The brothers looked up at the large armoured man that had just arrived, "The Queen wishes an audience with you now. She also asks that Ralis comes too." Rael knew this man, he had been sent on an errand before.

"Understood, Sergeant Vern. But my name is Rael al'Resh."

"We'll see," muttered Vern, and stalked away. "Come along, we mustn't keep the lady waiting!"

Rael fastened the sword to his belt; it felt a lot heavier that he assumed it would. He climbed to his feet slowly, his back aching terribly. Ralis supported him for a few steps, but soon he could manage by himself. They walked through the saddening scene of hundreds of wounded men on stretchers, tending painful wounds, and Rael looked on in dismay. Soon they reached the walls, and began the long walk along the Hylia Road to the palace.

And so, that is how Rael found himself walking through the glittering white Great Gates of the city of Hylia, wearing the sword of the prophecy at his waist. The sword of the Prince of Hyrule.