Okay... Kariah sent me a message asking me to update and sending me on a guilt trip... so here it is. I'll try and keep this going at a regular-ish pace. I am nearing my final exams before university so I cannot promise anything at this time. It is a trying time.
Thank Kariah for this chapter.
I'm trying to make this story more gritty, but its hard, i'll work on it. Jeez keeping Link in character for this story is so hard! I mean... wha a WEIRD character I gave him... He'll come into his own later, when he gets a larger role in the tale.
Chapter 3.
"Well, here you go. This is one of the main guestrooms in the Palace, there is a bathtub through that door to the side and a full barrel of water inside as well. The bed is there, and food will be brought to you within the hour."
Link nodded in reply to the young Sheikah as he carefully stepped into the room and looked around, it was quite a rich sight, light lavender coloured walls and a soft looking double bed with large fluffy pillows. There was a window in one wall with some glass in it as well as a woden shutter. It was late at night if the thin stream of moonlight coming through was anything to go by.
"You know..." The Sheikah commented again, making Link turn to face him, "The Princess is fairly determined to see you innocent, the least you could do would be to co-operate with her... or be polite." He added in a whisper that Link suspected he was not supposed to hear. There was a long moment of silence, with the two young men simply looking at each other, before Sheik threw his arms in the air in exasperation and walked briskly out. The door slammed behind him.
Link didn't bat an eyelid and instead walked into the bathroom, there was indeed a large silver tub and next to it was a sturdy barrel. Tipping it slightly Link was rewarded with the sound of water sloshing around inside. It was too heavy to lift but with the use of a large ladle he was able to quickly fill the tub and set a fire underneath it to heat it up. A soak in warm water was something he had not enjoyed since his last visit to civilisation, some four years ago. Hot springs in the wild were hard to come by, and even then you could not truely relax.
Walking up to the door of the main room Link found that it could not be locked from this side, potentially allowing anyone to enter. Instead he brought a chair into the bathroom and propped it under the handle to that door, locking it closed. He did not mind if someone were to enter the main room, the servents who brought him food would have to, but he would not be so vulnerable as to leave the way to him open. If worse came to worse and someone attempted to break into the bathroom with him, the heavy metal ladle would serve as an adequate weapon.
I wonder how long I can keep living this way, until the stress gets too much to handle.
Ignoring that line of thought Link unbuckled his belts and laid them carefully on the floor, before pulling his green tunic over his head and laying it beside them. At the moment he did not have any other clothes, and he didn't intend to improve his wardrobe any time soon. After all, he was not staying here. They could not hold him.
His white shirt fell next, revealing his lean muscled chest with it's few scars, there were a few light cuts and lacerations across his chest but they were mainly superficial. One deep slash across his left stomach though drew attention, he had incurred that three years ago from a Bandit's sword which had caught his side. He had almost died that day but was able to stem the bleeding and close the wound. Some soldiers would have more wounds than him, but Link wasn't like them, to them wounds and scars were things to be shown off. To Link they were mementos of stupid things he had done. The deep cut above his left eye was an ever present reminder not to try and steal bird's eggs. The light brown owl had been exceedingly violent in protecting it's young, catching Link's face with it's talons as it divebombed him. The pain had been excrutiating as the talons raked his face, but he was lucky to escape with just that, there was no telling what might have become of his face had the owl managed to latch it's talons into his skin.
Quickly stripping off his boots and hosen Link splashed himself with some cold ladles of water, getting off most of the soil and grime that was on him before he climbed into the tub, he wanted a long soak in warm water. Not a disgusting dip in brown mucky liquid.
Maybe I should have been kinder to the Princess? He wondered as he slowly submerged himself in the warm water, pausing slightly as it burned at his chest before allowing himself to sink the rest of the way in. It was thanks to her that he was no longer in a cold cell, but enjoying a warm bath. Looking to his side Link noticed a small bowl of crushed leaves and herbs, sniffing at them he picked up a handful and dropped them in the water with him, allowing the herbal smell that came off to soothe him. If i'm going to die or be set free, I might as well enjoy a bath the way rich people do. He thought to himself with a tiny almost-smile.
No identification... How can they expect to know the lives and locations of everyone in all of Hyrule? Of course I have not been registered, it is not like any census officers come into the wild to find me! If it wasn't for the War then they would probably just let me go... what a stupid time to even think of visiting the city... what was I thinking?
The question puzzled him and made him pause... what had he been thinking? He didn't remember deciding to go to the city, nor did he remember walking the way here... or even entering the city. All he remembered were a bunch of the city guards tapping him on the shoulder and questioning him... then a trip to the Castle Dungeons.
Why AM I here?
"My Lady we have to think of the food we have available to us!" The round man exclaimed whilst waving his arms around madly. "This will be a siege we need to maintain public order as well as lives, if we don't get the food inside then we may starve before the war is even over!" Zelda nodded as she leant back in her chair, there was a commotion from the other side of the table. An armoured man stood up.
"But if we continue to allow the harvesting of the fields then the Gerudo might capture them! We cannot leave food out there for an invading army, they will be on the march and hungry, if we burn the fields now then we ensure they remain hungry! The longer we dally and attempt to harvest, the more likely it is they will capture the fields. We should take what we can now, all the animals and as much grain as we can, then burn the fields by tonight!" This speech raised more commotion and angry shouting, until the table was up in anger at the idea.
"If we burn the fields, then we lose the crop! What happens when we win and we have no food?"
"Who says we will win? We need to think of survival now! I'd eat rats if it meant I'd survive the Gerudo!"
"People will starve!" Someone else shouted.
"THEN LET THEM! THIS IS WAR! PEOPLE WILL DIE! We cannot risk all our survival because some people might die. It is cruel but it is life." More shouting erupted from the General's last comment. No more individual voices could be heard past the screaming and clashing of fists against the table, plates fell to the floor and shattered and glasses spilt their contents under the punishment the table was taking. Throughout it all Zelda Harkinian sat with her head resting against the head of her ornate chair, Impa stood next to her as always, a calming presence in the chaos.
"Princess..." A voice asked, makiing the entire room go silent in expectation, "What do you think, we will follow your orders..." Zelda sighed and tried to sit up straight, the fatigue was getting to her but she could not allow it to show.
"It is my decision that you will be allowed all of today, and until the sun sets tomorrow evening to harvest the crops. At which time the fields outside a mile radius of the city will be torched. Those closeby will be kept until the scouts say the enemy is marhcing across Hyrule field, at which time those fields too will be burned. Is this understood?" There were a few nods and agreements from the assembled people, the General frowned but nodded to say he acepted her order. "At which time General Tyan, I want you to poison the wells outside the city with most potent and deadly toxins you can find." There was a shocked silence to her words, although the General let out a small smile. Zelda could fairly feel the approval coming from Impa, it made her smile to herself.
"Poison milady?" One of the Merchant representatives asked.
"Yes, this is a war and if by such underhanded tactics I can save people's lives then I will do so. This council is dismissed for now, if you wish to do so, deal amongst yourselves, I have things to attend to. General Tyan, if you will?" Everyone nodded and dispersed, though a few remained to plan amongst themselves, the tall General climbed to his feet and followed her out of the room.
"You wished to speak to me Princess?" He asked, he was an old man, around forty years of age with black hair turning grey at the edges. His face was clean shaven and he was almost six feet tall and built to be a warrior. His mindn was as sharp as the steel he used in battle.
"Yes General. You have my permission to burn the fields if you believe the enemy is getting too close, I'm sure you will be careful though since you know that we need food?" She had let a bit of the weariness enter her voice, there was no use pretending to someone as perceptive as him.
"Of course I know. I'll keep it going as long as possible. Tonight we'll make some firebreakers for that mile radius of farm you want kept alive. I'll have the farmers harvest as far away as possible, then we can gather as much as we can outside that small pocket, then clear that out when the enemy starts marching. I believe I must say though, we should torch Lon Lon Ranch..." He let it slide to a finish, knowing the decision would be a hard one for her to make.
"I know... it's too much of a shelter for the enemy... General Tyan, these are your orders, you are to leave Lon Lon Rance alone until the Gerudo near it... then... Destroy it, but make it look like the Gerudo did it. If the people are angry with them instead of us..."
"I understand Princess Zelda, it is a good call for you to make. You're doing very well at this."
Zelda sighed to herself, she hated this deception, she had always wanted to be a kind Queen who ruled at the wish of her people and who always followed justice. Already she was breaking her own laws and lying to her people, and everyone was saying what good decisions they were. Would the families who had homes at Lon Lon Ranch agree? She doubted it.
"Do you know how I feel General?" She asked after a moment. He answered instantly.
"Tired, too young for this, out of place." She looked at him in surprise.
"Y-yes... how did-?" She stuttered out, truely surprised that he seemed to understand her. He let out a rich laugh.
"Princess I was twenty when I was forced to take command of the army, after my commanding officer was killed. My first mission was a failure that lost me a batallion of men. I learned from it and did better but I'll always remember going around the families and telling them that their loved ones had died. I was able to learn from that mistake, you however, cannot make any mistakes. Just remember that you have Impa, and me if you need it, to talk to and to ask for advice. We both are loyal to the royal family." Zelda looked at the man fondly when he finished, before giving him a big hug, the man let out a laugh as he hugged her back. "Come now Zellie, you're too old for me to give you piggy backs!" She laughed at his words and his old nickname for her.
"Thank you Tyan, I'm glad I still have you. See you tomorrow, I'm going to retire for today." He nodded as she walked away.
"Zellie?" Impa queried with a small smirk.
"Shut up Impa." Zelda snapped.
"Of course Princess." Was her reply, though Zelda could still make out the smirk on her face.
General Tyan watched his Princess head away with her head held high, he smirked to himself. She would grow into a fine Queen, the smirk dropped, provided she survived this war... Ahh well, guess it's up to me to make sure she survives this war.
Spinning on the spot he strode back towards his rooms, stopping briefly on the way to issue his orders to his Under-General Maren, the young woman would make a fine General in time, but at the moment she was too hot headed. Still, she would see Lon Lon Ranch destroyed in secrecy without a qualm. All that was left was for him to get some sleep and to start planning the deployment of troops on the morrow. There were two main walls and it would not do to simply stack everyone on the walls. With the siege equipment the Gerudo would surely bring it would be a deathtrap. Rather they would need to space them out, instruct stretcher carriers for the wounded, people to deal with any fires as well as some means of destroying their seiege equipment before it could devestate the city.
Then ther would be the distribution of rations, as well as a guard on the food warehouses and a police patrol to stop riots. The wells would need to be guarded constantly to stop any spies from poisoning them, the inner gatehouse would need a strong guard to avoid any enemies sneaking in and opening the gates.
The production of arrows would need to be stepped up as well, polearms too for the new recruits... armour could wait for now...
That and-
He got no further as a huge weight smashed into his back and knocked him down to the floor, instincts made quick from experience he tried to roll to his feet only to find that his limbs were refusing to oibey his commands. He could hear footsteps rushing away as he looked below him, letting out a deep sigh as he saw his own blood pooling out underneath him. Funny how one could be so calm in a situation like this, he just couldn't find it within himself to care.
Good luck... Zellie..." He managed to get out as he fell into the deep sleep...
Finished for now. Not much happened, I know, so sue me. lol. I'll try and update soon...
Please review.