Author's Preface:
The website finally seems to be recording everything correctly. Thank you to everyone who has stuck by this story despite some of the website issues.
Recommended Background Music: Link is Coming The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess Music Extended
Link awoke to silence and a starry sky a few hours later. He tried to sit up but groaned as his wound hindered him. Using a rock to stabilize him, he managed to sit up despite the pain.
Throwing off a blanket that had been laid on him, Link looked down to see his bare torso covered in bandages. He gazed at it in confusion for a second, until the memories of the attack came roaring back to him. Trying to clear his head, he took in his surroundings.
It was obvious that a small, impromptu campsite had been arranged around Link. A bag of gear sat a few feet from him, and he could make out his sword and shield leaning against a rock. The location was not large, but obviously chosen for its strategic value.
The campsite laid on the upper croft of a taller hill and its circumference was entirely covered in jagged rocks. It would be a difficult position to see into and yet defensible. No campfire or pit was present though. Obviously, Link's rescuer didn't feel secure in having a fire.
Link tried to stand but stumbled. The hylian barely caught himself against a boulder. A silhouette atop one of the rocks suddenly jumped down. Link could make out the armored form of Letz as the soldier hurried towards him.
"Careful there. You've got a pretty bad wound and it's not going to get better if you try to rush around on it," the man stated as he approached. Letz supported Link under his arm and helped him sit down on one of the neighboring rocks.
"Yeah, it hurts," Link responded finally. And not just physically. "But you did a good job bandaging it. Better than I could." Link crossed his arms, trying to find some comfort in the rock he was on. The helmeted soldier nodded.
"I had a good teacher. A man from Kakariko used to give out lessons to the populace while helping the injured." Letz found a spot on a rock across from Link. "Most doctors were so protective of their craft, but this man was willing to teach all who would listen. I picked up what I could." Link didn't respond, and the two fell silent. Link tried to pull in all his confusing thoughts.
Lieutenant Fassil had just attempted to murder him in cold blood, and all the guardsmen present had aided the effort. Link had done nothing since he had arrived but help the soldiers do their job, from saving their commander on the first day to fighting alongside them just hours ago. What do they have against me? What reason? Link inquired internally. It made no sense.
This whole village was leaving Link with a sense of despair. He had arrived as a traveler and immediately rescued a group from lizalfos. For that action the villagers hated him, but the guards had seemed to trust him.
Then the villagers, or at least Velretta, try to kill him while in the woods acting on their behalf. That's when Link had realized the extent of the tribalism that existed in Vinwaka. He thought he could help fix that issue, but now both parties had tried to kill him. All this over one small village in the corner of Hyrule. It went beyond belief. Apparently, all the soldiers in the village had just been waiting to jump him and murder him in cold blood. Link looked at the guardsman across from him. Well, all except one.
Letz looked much the same as he always did to Link, albeit dirtier and a little unkempt. Saying little and keeping his helmet on at all times, the man seemed to perfectly blend into the background. Yet something had made him go out on a limb and rescue Link. He did say he would have my back, Link thought. At the time it seemed unnecessary, but now… Well, Link could very well have died if not for Letz.
Link at that moment decided to finally try and determine what was going on in Vinwaka. So far, he had assumed that removing the lizalfos would solve all the village's problems. He no longer believed that, and he needed someone to tell him what the greater problem was.
"So, what happened back there? What got into Fassil? Did you see the dinolfos?" Link leaned forward a little as he spoke, sparking some pain in his torso. The man across from him eased back tiredly, as though expecting the questions. Letz then took off his helmet, revealing his dark hair and moustache. His blue eyes seemed to be filled with regret and defeat.
"I didn't see the dinolfos, it could be a hundred miles from here by now and I wouldn't care. And to answer your other question, nothing got into Fassil. The façade just ended. But I didn't think they'd kill you outright." The man grimaced. "I guess I was wrong." Link watched the soldier with a certain anticipation.
"Who's 'they'?" The guardsman lowered his gaze to the ground.
"The garrison, I guess. But mostly Lieutenant Fassil and Captain Garsus." Link nodded slowly but kept silent and waited for Letz to continue. He finally did so. "Captain Garsus is not the man you think him to be. He has been stirring up trouble for weeks now. The captain believes his position to be more important than it actually is. He has done crazy things that no captain of the army should be allowed to do. Demanded tribute. Blackmailed the mayor. Forced the villagers to turn over their livelihoods on a whim." Letz shook his head.
Link's head swam as he considered that information. This whole time he thought Garsus was doing his best but was fighting a bad set of circumstances. Instead, it seemed he had been the catalyst of those circumstances. It made Link shutter at how easily the captain had appeared to be the victim of blatant racism and xenophobia at the hands of the village's occupants.
"And that's why the villagers hate him?"
"Yeah, but it goes deeper than that. They don't know that he's doing anything wrong. When he steals from them and threaten them, they think it's with the complete support and backing of the crown. Most hate Hyrule as a whole now, mixing their anger at the captain with the rest of the kingdom he represents." That made sense in a village as out of the way as Vinwaka. But Fassil had seemed to express grievances against Link in particular.
"That still doesn't answer why Fassil tried to murder me," Link voiced aloud.
"As I said, Captain Garsus is not the man you think he is. Most likely, he thought you were a risk of his crimes getting back to his superiors in castle town. He's lied to you since you got here to prevent that, acting all proper and in command. But that's all it is: an act. You can't take anything his forked tongue says for truth." Letz seemed to contemplate what to say next for a second.
"For instance, he never sent for a judge to properly try the mayor. A judge might see through his charade and arrest him for abuse of power. Ironically, the idiot captain had more of a hand in murdering his men than the mayor despite his accusations."
"What do you mean?" Link asked. Letz once again stared at the rocky ground.
"Platson, the man who started this mess. The one who died in Kakariko to a stab wound and got you sent down here. He wasn't murdered by lizalfos like Garsus claimed, but by the garrison. The brave fool was one of the only good men among us, and the treatment of the village didn't sit well with him." Link stared at Letz uncomprehending for a second. The soldier meanwhile continued his explanation.
"Platson tried to flee from the village and report Garsus to his superiors. Instead, Garsus found out. Platson barely got away and killed two men in the process. But he took that stab wound in return, which apparently did him in." Letz frowned sadly. "It really is a shame; he was a good man. Better than me." Link shook his head in disagreement.
"Not just anybody would step in and help a stranger like you did earlier. That was a show of true courage, and it makes all the difference." Letz let out a bark of laughter.
"Heh, yeah I wish… but no. I'm as bad as the rest of the garrison. For the longest time I was the most apathetic soldier you could find. 'Follow your orders to the letter' and 'don't question your superiors' were my mottos for survival in the army. Got me to sergeant anyways."
"Protecting me with an arrow through my gut was not an act of apathy." The soldier grimaced at Link's statement, as though regretting acting on Link's behalf. He took a deep breath before continuing the conversation.
"I guess everything changed the day you showed up," Letz stated sadly. "First, Raszir sacrificed his stupid self to the lizalfos to hold them back. I don't even know why he did that." Letz looked up at Link, his eyes watery.
"But you know he nodded to me as we left… like… like it meant something to him that I had a chance to survive! I barely had spoken five words to him before that." A single tear fell down the soldier's cheek. "And then you go and risk your life to save me in the next ten minutes. Suddenly, one life had been sacrificed and another had been risked just to save me and Captain Garsus. The villagers were right, it honestly would've been better if we had both died outside that gate… It would have been better for Laurina anyways." Link said nothing as the guardsman leaned back, staring into the sky.
"She's the best thing that ever happened to me," Letz continued. "Didn't hate me for being a soldier and took the time to actually get to know me. Yet, because of me she's going to die." Link looked at him, confused. Letz saw the look and hesitated.
"Laurina's my girl, back in the village. Lieutenant Fassil figured out me and her were together," the sergeant stated. "He and Garsus have been blackmailing me ever since to get their way, including keeping me silent about the actual situation in Vinwaka. I wanted to tell you about the disgusting acts of the two of them since you got here, but all of the soldiers were under orders to report my every conversation back to Fassil. I couldn't imagine what the captain would do to Laurina to protect his lies." The man swallowed hard, his voice coming out choked. His eyes were wide and haunted, and he stared up into the sky aimlessly for a few seconds. Link could barely make out his next words.
"He'll kill her and her family in Vinwaka for sure if he hears about what I've done," the man finished in a whisper. Link finally realized the scale of the sergeant's problems, and Fassil's earlier comment during the ambush became clear. Letz had loved ones he couldn't protect. He did the right thing regardless of the consequences… Link thought to himself, staring at the defeated and hopeless soldier in front of him. In that moment, he resolved to fix those problems, both Letz's and the village's as a whole.
"It's not over yet, Letz. You and I still live. Garsus probably hasn't even received word of your betrayal yet. We can make things right." The sergeant guffawed, still lying on his back.
"It doesn't matter. Fassil will send one of his men back to Garsus on your horse. If they were stuck on foot, they might stick together. But with a horse easily available, he'll take advantage of it. Fassil's efficient like that."
"What? Epona?" The guardsman grunted in confirmation. He then sat up in surprise as Link started laughing hysterically. Letz was shocked to see Link's eyes then narrow in an almost challenging way.
"I'd like to see them try." Now it was Letz's turn to be confused.
"Um… They'll just mount her and rider her away, like any horse. Unless you poisoned her or something." Link look disgusted at the thought.
"Of course not! But Epona is the most difficult horse in Hyrule to strangers. She escaped and threw off Bulblins when those monsters tried to steal her." Letz stared at him with a face of disbelief. "She knows I'm coming back, and she won't leave until I'm with her."
"Whatever. let's say you're right. If that's the case, the two of us might have a chance to get out of this alive. We can use Fassil's horse to return to the village; I hid her a distance into the woods before scaling the rocks. Fassil shouldn't be able to find her." The soldier frowned. "But I guess returning to the village depends on them not having your horse at their disposal to alert Garsus." Link looked at the guardsman, who had apparently thrown off his gloom somewhat in an attempt to plot out a plan. A question was suddenly raised in the back of Link's mind.
"How did you even know to come back? Didn't you head back to the village with a wounded man?" The sergeant smirked slightly.
"Much to your luck, and not to the poor injured man's, he died not a half mile after I loaded him onto the horse. I didn't see the point in hauling a corpse back, so I decided to rejoin Fassil's party. Before I approached him though, I heard him briefing the troops and laying out his plan to shoot you in the back when you were distracted." The soldier put his arms on his knees.
"I knew I had to do something then. It was a close call, but I managed to beat them to the rocks by going far to the north around them. Unfortunately, they had reached you by the time I circled to the clearing, so I moved into the rocks instead. You are a very lucky man all that worked out in your favor. I'd almost say blessed by the goddess." The man's eyes fell to Link's left hand. He suddenly recalled the golden light that had emerged from it while fighting the lizalfos. The sergeant sat there confused for a second.
"Well, I owe you a great deal of thanks." Link stated sincerely. Letz shook himself out of his stupor.
"Don't worry about it, I guess we're even now," Letz stood up and stretched. "But if we reach the horse, we can outrun them back to the village and rescue Laurina and her family." The man actually grinned slightly. "I hear Zora's Domain is nice this time of year. There's some hylian towns near it. We could start a new life with different names. Of course, I'd be branded a traitor or deserter and hunted by the army for the rest of my life." The man sighed. "But if there's even a chance, it's worth the risk."
Link shook his head, and Letz frowned. "That's not how this story is going to end," Link stated. "For one thing, Fassil will probably have his crossbowmen watching the outer edge of the boulders. We won't be able to sneak past them." Letz's face fell as he realized Link was right. The soldier's demeanor once again became disheartened. Link stood up slowly, putting his left hand on Letz's shoulder.
"But that's not going to stop us. I won't leave the village in Garsus's grasp. So, running away is not an option. As for Fassil's next move, he knows he has to deal with us quickly. They are needed back in the village in case holding the mayor hostage doesn't stop an insurrection. He'll have to send in his men at arms to try and flush us into the open." Link grinned at the older hylian. "But they won't be coming back out." The sergeant looked down, not meeting Link's eyes.
"But you're injured, and I'm pretty sure there's no more bombs in your pouch. Even with these rocks around us, there's no way I can fight them off alone." Link smiled at the dark-haired man. Letz almost recoiled at the feral look in the young hylian's eyes.
"They don't stand a chance. I've fought with worse injuries against far more powerful foes. And don't forget I have my bow and quiver; they were on my belt even as Fassil tried to kill me. They can't surprise me twice." The sergeant sighed. Link realized he wasn't convinced.
"I guess we don't really have much choice," the soldier whispered. He stared off into the night, past the rocks hiding their position. "Maybe they'll at least recognize we aren't cowards as we die on their swords." Link's eyes narrowed, blue eyes gleaming dangerously. The moonlight ominously highlighted his sharp features.
"That's where you're wrong. Tomorrow, they will realize that it is not a lamb they betrayed, but rather a wolf."
Author's Note:
I apologize for the short chapter, but the following one should be longer. Additionally, I fixed a few minor grammar errors in previous chapters (I have no beta readers and am my own editor so it's a matter of if I catch it or not on rereads). If there's anything major, please point it out to me. I don't like ruining a reading experience just because of a spelling mistake. See you next week!