Lance rode his horse across Hyrule Field, excited for what was to come. It was his and Marin's next date, and he wanted to be sure that it would be a pleasant one after their departure at the previous date.
Sometimes he got the feeling that they were going too fast. He had only met her about a week ago, and already they had kissed. He didn't know if that was normal or not, and his guilt deepened even further after having kissed her.
Suddenly he smelled something. Something that he instantly knew was not good. He looked up at the great, circular ranch in the center of Hyrule Field and was appalled at what he saw.
Black smoke rose from where the house should be in Lon Lon Ranch. He could tell that the house was no longer burning if it had been at all, and the only thing that confirmed that the ranch had been attacked was the fact that the wall was out in one spot. Rubble littered the ground around it; they had probably used a battering ram, for some of the rocks were a great distance from the wall.
He snapped the reins hard, and the horse seemed to realize the urgency of the situation, for she whinnied loudly and galloped faster, taking him to the ranch as quick as possible.
Lance stopped quickly at the forested arch that was the entrance and didn't even bother to tie his horse; he knew that she was faithful enough to stay there anyway.
He entered the ranch and stopped dead in his tracks.
It was in a shambles. There was a hole in the house roof, where black smoke billowed, the little arch over the horse pen was broken in half, most of the stable's wood was blackened, and there wasn't a single animal anywhere to be seen.
He instantly thought the worst, because he didn't hear movement in the house. But he went inside anyway, hoping against hope that she was still alive.
He raced up the stairs to the hallway, which had recently been added to the house to make room for Marin, Malon, Troy, formerly Talon, and the baby that was still in Malon's womb.
Suddenly he was falling through the air, but not for long. He crashed down on the floor, hard, the wind knocked out of him. He looked up as he lay on the ground, waiting for his breath to return to him.
He had fallen through a spot in the floor that had apparently been weakened by the fire. Smart move, Lance, he thought. Now you're trapped down here!
There had to be some way to get out of here. He hadn't brought his sword; that probably wouldn't have settled well with Marin's parents. He hadn't even brought a dagger!
Lance instantly began to search around for some way to escape, but the minimal light provided in the hole he had crashed through wasn't nearly enough. He bumped into walls and stumbled over things on the floor.
It was hopeless. All he could do was wait for someone to get there and maybe help him.
He screamed loudly in anger and smashed his hands into the wall, which were made of wood. His fists smashed through the weakened wood, making him feel like even more of an idiot.
He waited under the house for what seemed like hours, trying to find some way to entertain himself until someone arrived.
And that was when he heard it. A footstep. He never thought he'd be grateful to hear something as simple as that.
"Hey! Help me, I'm trapped down here!" he shouted. He heard another footstep. Whoever it was, it sure wasn't Marin, because they weren't speeding up any.
Suddenly he felt like he had made a mistake. It sounded rather ominous… and heavy.
The red eyes that glared down on him from above confirmed his suspicion. Glowering down on him was a bokoblin. He had piercing red eyes, the standard blue skin, and a heavy suit of black armor. Luckily he had left his helmet behind, but the smirk on his face implied that he wasn't there for tea and cookies.
The bokoblin let out a great war cry and leaped down, breaking even more of the wood that Lance had.
Lance prepared himself for a fight. He had no weapon, and the bokoblin had a large sword strapped to its back, which he instantly drew once he landed, shaking the foundation of the house.
Lance immediately threw a punch for the bokoblin's face; the gloved knuckles made contact with the creature's nose. Lance felt the bone snap as he jammed his close hand into it.
The bokoblin cried out in pain and anger, giving a blind, heavy swing of its sword in retaliation. Lance quickly jumped back to dodge the swing, then rolled forward and threw another punch at its belly, quickly realizing that it was covered with a breastplate. His hand instantly went numb with pain, and he clutched it to try and ease it
The bokoblin laughed and kicked Lance right in the face with its steel-toed boot. Lance felt his own nose break for the second time in two weeks. He had just barely had it healed in the Hall of Healing, too.
Blood squirted from his nostrils once the boot made contact with his face. He soared backward briefly until he slammed into the wall. Now his back hurt….
He fell to the floor but rolled over to avoid being sliced in half by the bokoblin's massive sword. He then kicked the bokoblin's hand that held the sword and the weapon flew off to somewhere that neither of them could see.
The bokoblin was obviously angered by this and gripped Lance by the scruff of the neck. He then threw him backward and sent him soaring once again, this time breaking through the solid wooden wall and spilled onto the grass area in between the stable and the house. At least he was finally out of the house.
The bokoblin didn't even hesitate to leap out of the new hole in the wall and land on top of him. Lance rolled over again and kicked the bokoblin in the face, the only place that he could do damage.
The bokoblin rolled over, allowing Lance the time he needed to race back into the hole in the house and search for its sword. But just as he touched the hilt, he was grabbed by the ankles and thrown across the floor, and the bokoblin gripped the sword instead.
He hacked down again and again on Lance, who kept dodging and rolling out of the way. Finally he was able to kick the bokoblin's hand again and grab the sword before it hit the ground. He was still on his knees, so he quickly rolled around and behind the bokoblin and slashed out at the one part of his back that was exposed.
The bokoblin screeched in pain until Lance put it out of its misery and decapitated the filthy beast. Its blood spurted across the room and fell silent.
One thing was now for sure. Ganondorf and his bokoblins had attacked the ranch. Why, he did not know. But one thing was certain.
Marin was not dead. If she had been, they wouldn't have left a bokoblin behind to wait for Lance. Somehow they knew he would come, and they left behind a bokoblin to kill him. They—
No they didn't. They had left a bokoblin behind to let Lance know that it was Ganondorf who had attacked. They had known he was going to be there because they knew that Lance had a relationship with Marin, and they wanted to get rid of Lance. But for what?
To get to Link. If his son was killed, his heart would die and he would lose the will to fight, and Ganondorf would finish him off in a heartbeat. And that could not happen at any cost.
Suddenly Lance heard a war horn. He recognized the sound from Hyrule Market. Was it under attack again!
He quickly raced out of the ranch and beheld an awesome sight. There, a mass of black and brown sped up the stone stairway that led to Kakariko Village. Something he knew to be none other than Ganondorf's army.
Lance let the past be the past for a moment and mounted his steed, snapping the reins in the direction of Kakariko Village, just as last of the soldiers entered the village. Already Lance could see black smoke swelling in the distance, and also saw another army, this time a mass of silver and blue, exiting the Hyrule Market drawbridge and following the army that had just entered Kakariko Village.