A Link to the Heart Chapter 19
Evening slipped over the camp as the Hylian army unpacked. Footsore soldiers sat around, grumbling about their lot and easing aching feet as huge cooking pots were stirred. Tents were thrown up and supplies unpacked, horses were fed and goats milked. Veterans roamed the campfires, berating lads who a few weeks earlier had been shovelling hay and scarred elders chuckled under their breath at the red-faced newcomers. Engineers tended to their dissembled catapults, while others nervously checked on the Goron explosives they would be lobbing into the fray. Armour was lugged out for polishing while guards wandered the perimeter, alert for deserters as much as Gerudo raiders. Some six thousand soldiers and Knights comprised the core of the army and they had marched thirty leagues in three days, making slow but steady progress.
It oft surprised novices but armies did not march in isolation. In addition to the men who would be fighting there were cooks and farriers, smiths and quartermasters. Whores and singers, brewers and cobblers, tailors and gamblers, making it practically a city on the march. Some soldiers had even brought their families with them, wives and small children living as camp followers. Many of the soldiers were keenly aware they may not live through their first battle and so they took what pleasure they could, while cursing the recruiters who had told tales of glory and fortune.
In the centre of the camp the knights and lords rested, living in tents so luxurious that many poor folk would have deemed them more extravagant than the average house. These were the elite of the Hylian military and boasted the heaviest armour and finest horses. They saw nothing wrong with their luxuries, they would be at the front of the battle and expected that it would be their swords that won the day, so they deserved a little luxury. In the largest tent of all King Delphna shouted at his retainers, lamenting the slow progress of the army. In return came excuses about delays and accidents, pleading for understanding that organising so many men was no swift matter. Delphna suffered the excuses with irritation, while Princess Zelda watched on in silence, a faint smile upon her lips as she gazed into a future only she could see.
Link however saw none of it. He was alone in his tent, one granted to him as a mark of his new rank as a Knight. He had ridden hard the last few days, learning how to coordinate with his new fellows. The other Knights had seemed curious about the newcomer in their ranks but were friendly enough. They had swopped tales and shared beers, bringing Link into the fold. It felt strange to Link to be a part of an organised army, he had always fought alone. But what truly rankled him was the armour granted to him.
A long chainmail shrift hung from his shoulders to his knees, the weight of it dragging on his neck. Around his hips was a reinforced belt of many scales, with larger plates hanging down at the sides and boasting a short tabard at the front. His upper chest and shoulders were covered in broad plates that could shrug off a sword blow but left his midriff exposed. The weight of the armour dragged at him, making him slow and tired but he knew when the battle became close and bloody he would be grateful for the extra protection. Yet what truly vexed him was the helmet. An enclosed helm that wrapped around his head but had a narrow 'T' slit at the front, so he could see and breathe. It was sweaty and confining, narrowing his gaze and annoyingly had three horns sticking out of its top and sides, each curving forward in a threatening manner. Link didn't like it but he was expected to wear it regardless.
A soft noise behind made him stomp about and he saw Malon ducking into their shared tent. The ranch girl had presumed to follow Link to war and he hadn't the heart to deny her. He had sworn to make sure she was safe and couldn't do that from leagues away. She was as safe in the camp following as with the refugees at castle town. They shared a tent, but despite suggestive sniggering from the other Knights Link hadn't laid a finger on her. Though sometimes in the cold nights, when he lay awake in the dark, he heard the snoring coming from her end of the tent and it gave him an urge to scoot closer and share warmth. In the night her hair filled the tent with scents of the farm, her presence was like the fresh smell of spring after the bleak cold of winter.
Malon dumped a pair of bread rolls down and Link snapped off his thoughts with a guilty impulse. He shoved the memory away and asked, "What did you get?"
Malon replied, "Bread and ham were all they would give me."
"It'll do," Link sighed.
Malon glanced over and asked, "Why are you wearing that?"
Link replied, "I'm trying to get used to the weight. I usually rely on my feet rather than my arm."
"Is that how you beat monsters?" Malon asked as she tore up the bread.
Link grinned under his pot helm, "Monsters are big but slow and their aim is lousy. The secret is to always keep moving and they'll never hit you."
Malon straightened up and said, "Come on then, let's get you out of that."
Link turned around as Malon began tugging at the straps holding his armour on. The two of them had been practising fitting and removing the plates and had almost got it right. If took several long minutes of awkward pulling and hefting to lift the heavy plates off him but eventually the pair removed it all, leaving Link free to move in his shirt and breeches. Link sighed as he rolled his arms, working out aches from his shoulders, as he breathed, "That's better."
Malon set the armour in a pile and remarked, "Epona is settling in with the other horses, she misses you."
Link felt a guilty stab as he said, "I know but its hard going, I'll see if there's time later to go see her."
"You better!" Malon snapped, "She deserves more than to be forgotten as soon as you find a new interest."
Link didn't reply as he took up some bread and meat and sat down. He chewed on a husk for a moment, then swallowed and asked, "Did you practice what I taught you?"
Malon sat down across from him and looked at her open palm saying, "I try, I can feel something, but the magic doesn't flow. I can't conjure a flame."
"Don't get disheartened," Link reassures her, "It's a knack, tapping into the magic within is difficult. Everybody has magic in their souls but not everybody can use it."
"Would be nice to know how," Malon mused, "But I still wonder why I can't give you my magic to use."
Link shrugged, "I've never seen it done, but there's no reason it wouldn't work. Perhaps we can figure out a way."
The two of them fell into silence as they ate and Link pondered the coming battle. Two more days of forced marching should see them reach Kasuto and the Gerudo army. If Princess Zelda was right they would fight a great battle and throw back the invaders. Perhaps Link would even run into Twinrova, two sweeps of his sword and the Gerudo leaders would be destroyed. The war could be over in a day. Yet somehow he doubted it would be so easy, destiny or not, nothing was ever simple.
His musings were interrupted as Malon asked, "So… are you going to tell me about your Triforce?"
Link nearly choked on his bread as he said, "I… eh what?!"
Malon glared at him and snapped, "It's been days and you haven't said a word about it. I want to know how you got it."
Link shiftily evaded, "I… it's nothing important."
Malon glowered, causing her freckled nose to crinkle, "Don't play me for a fool, I heard what you said. The mark on your hand still shimmers faintly. The Triforce, you have it, don't you? Out with it, the truth mind you."
Link rubbed his brow for a second then decided to come clean and sighed, "A piece, only a piece."
Malon's eyes widened as she exclaimed, "I was right?! You have a part of the most powerful artefact ever conceived."
Link pulled back his hand and showed the icon to her as he said, "The Triforce of Courage, a third of the totality."
Malon stared in disbelief as she breathed, "How did you get it?"
Link blew out a breath as he asked, "What do you know of its history?"
Malon shrugged, "Only what every child knows: Before history began, before spirits and life existed, three Golden Goddesses descended on the emptiness that was the world. Din, the Goddess of Power, with her strong flaming arms cultivated the land and created the red earth. Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom, bestowed the laws of nature and magic onto the world. Farore, the Goddess of Courage, opened her heart to create all the life that would uphold the law. Their labours completed the three returned to the heavens and at the point where they departed was left a sacred relic: the Triforce, containing the essence of their beings and the balance of the world."
"That's true, as far as any can tell," Link agreed, "The Triforce is real and it holds untold potential. Why they left it is a mystery. A discarded fragment of their power or a deliberate gift to mortal-kind, none can say."
"So it can do anything?" Malon asked, "If you could reassemble it you could even bring back the dead?"
Link saw what she was driving at, she was still hurting over the loss of her father and he knew he had to disabuse her of that notion. He sighed, "I have only a third of it, the least part and the other two are… out of reach."
"Why?!" snapped Malon angrily.
"It's complicated," Link muttered.
"Oh no," Malon growled, "Don't fob me off, tell me why you can't bring back my father."
Link could hardly explain his adventures through time, but settled on an abridged version, "The Royal Family protected the legacy of the Golden Goddesses but sadly the secret of the Triforce got out and many craved its might. Wars were fought and many terrible fiends schemed and plotted to steal it. One of them was a Gerudo Sorcerer named Ganondorf. He tricked his way into the Royal Family's circle of trust and claimed the Triforce. But there is another legend of the relic: to hold it the wielder must be balanced in his heart, believing equally in power, wisdom and courage. Ganondorf lusted only for power, it was all he believed in, and so when he touched the Triforce it shattered."
Malon frowned as she mused, "He was left with only a piece of it."
Link explained, "It was still almost too much to resist, with the power it granted he made monsters and curses to plague the world. I and a band of ancient Sages fought back and drove him from the world. But we couldn't kill him, we could only banish him into another realm. He remains there still, with the Triforce of Power. So you see the Triforce can never be complete, not without unleashing a plague upon the whole world. If he ever breaks free the world will fall into darkness."
Malon cocked her head and asked, "So how did you end up with a piece?"
Link answered, "The other two pieces went to those who held their values dearest to their hearts. I received Courage and Princess Zelda received Wisdom."
Malon pulled a face at the mention of the Princess and muttered, "That cold fishwife. No wonder she became so famous for her wise ways. But what do the individual pieces do?"
"I'm not sure," Link sighed as he examined his mark, "Power made Ganondorf a tyrant sorcerer. Wisdom granted Zelda knowledge of the world, past and future, far and wide. Courage… doesn't seem to do much. I think it protects me from hostile magic, I've lived through some things I had no right to, but other than that, I've never found much use for it."
Malon looked thoughtful as she mused, "Maybe you're looking at it backwards."
Link looked up and asked, "How so?"
Malon pondered, "Perhaps the Triforce doesn't grant new powers, it merely amplifies what you already have. This Ganondorf was already a sorcerer, it only made him more powerful. Wisdom only lets Zelda see more. But you, you were already courageous, you are the bravest man I have ever met. Selfless, kind and generous, it came to you because you were already a hero in your heart."
Link blushed a little at the praise and the way Malon's eyes twinkled as she listed his virtues. In embarrassment, he hastily changed the subject, "Be that as it may, you have to keep this secret. In all the world only you, I, Seven Sages, and the Royal Family know about this. If the world finds out everybody would be after it, there will be wars without end, as all scramble for the relics. No, it has to remain secret."
Malon smiled slightly as if she had been given a beautiful keepsake, "You can trust me with this. Word shall never pass my lips. It will be our secret, just you and me."
Link was satisfied Malon wouldn't tell anyone and he set to finishing his meal. He knew in a few days he would be riding to war but for now he was content. So they settled back to enjoy each other's company and waited for night to fall. While the army of Hyrule braced itself for war.
