A Link to the Heart Chapter 22

The battle fell away as his focus narrowed. Link did not see the crowds of Gerudo surrounding him, nor hear their jeers and threats. He did not see the few surviving Hylian Knights battling on, trying to hold back the torrent of foes pressing against them. He did not even see Epona, fallen somewhere behind him, the horse's fate unknown. All he saw was his opponent, the Gerudo Sorceress looming over him and the ground they fought on.

In a flash he assessed the odds. The wind was still and calm and the sun was to his left, not blinding or distracting. The soil under his boots was churned by the passing of many hooves but it was dry and dusty, mud would not slow him down. His foe was elderly and thin, of no remarkable strength and she bore no weapons he could see. Yet he knew she was not to be underestimated, she was the one who had sent the lightning against the army of Hyrule, her magic was as potent as any he had ever seen. There was also the matter that she was mounted and he was not, the additional height and mass adding intimidation to her side, enough to cow most men before the first blow was struck. But Link was not dismayed, he had faced monsters and shades many times his size and always been triumphant. His fear was sharp but not debilitating, his courage was strong and the terror merely honed his senses and lent speed to his limbs. He kept his face stern and defiant as he glared at his foe, keeping his shield high and sword held ready.

Suddenly the hag attacked. There was no bellowing threat, no exchange of needling barbs. Her hand flashed forward and from it jumped blazing arcs of lightning. The energy crossed the distance in a heartbeat, seeking to burn him from head to toe but Link was ready. As her hand twitched he ducked behind his shield, holding it between them. The lightning struck the perfect sheen and was deflected away, rebuffed like a sunbeam off a mirror. Lightning crackled away from him, smashing into the dry ground and leaving deep furrows in its wake as the energy harmlessly earthed itself.

A booming roar resounded in its wake, battering his ears but leaving him physically unharmed. Anger spread over his foe's face and she drew back her arms then stabbed at him, one hand and the other. Lightning surged between them but Link caught each blast with his shield and diverted them. His hair crackled under his helm and his teeth itched with electric discharge but the bolts could not penetrate his arcane defence. He held true against the storm and as he did so he reached deep within for his own magic.

Link would have favoured his Light arrows against such a foe, aiming to put a brilliant shaft into her withered heart. Sadly he dared not drop his shield long enough to draw his bow, but he had other spells at his disposal. He pulled his arms in slightly as blazing fire ran along his nerves, gathering in his extremities as it built in might. His hands grew searingly hot, and then he threw them apart, unleashing the fire in all directions. A blazing corona of fire blew out from his person, creating a sphere of expanding flame that swept outwards, careening towards the packed Gerudo.

The wall of fire rushed outwards, but before it touched one woman it rebounded off an invisible barrier. The flames evaporated and Link felt a good portion of his reservoir deplete uselessly, achieving nothing. The hag lowered a hand as she looked upon him with scorn and spat, "That's it? Old Hanne pisses better magic than that."

Link was dismayed by his ineffective attack but refused to show it, instead hissing, "Come on then, show me what you've got."

The Sorceress sneered as she lifted her arm and from her hand arose a blade of crackling light. It was made of lightning but held the shape of a wide-bladed sword, curved slightly in the manner of a scimitar. Link saw wicked lightning defining an edge and judged the blade to be utterly lethal, he knew as soon as he saw it if it touched his flesh it would prove beyond razor-sharp. This would be a fight as deadly as any he had ever known.

"Ragh!" Cried the hag as she spurred her horse forward. Link braced himself as the broad chest of the beast swept at him and the crackling sword plunged for his head. At the last second he dived aside, moving left as fast as he could. The weight of his armour dragged but he managed to get out of the way quickly enough to avoid being run over. As he did so he lifted his shield high and felt a vicious impact ring through his arm, the blow as ponderous as the swing of an Iron Knuckle's axe. His right arm stung with the force of the blow but he ignored the pain as he thrust upwards, trying to stab the Gerudo witch with the point of his sword, but so fast was the horse moving that his clumsy attack missed.

The sorceress galloped by and wheeled around. Link spun to face her and brought up his sword again. The heaving flanks of her horse were level with his eyes and the height of his foe gave her a great advantage. Yet Link threw caution to the wind and ran at her, trying to catch her before she could come about. His sword stabbed for her belly but the crackling blade caught the edge and deflected his blow. The witch seemed surprised the metal of his blade withstood her mystical weapon but she was not slowed by it. She lashed out for his head and Link was barely able to duck in time to avoid being decapitated. As it was her sword caught one of the horns on his helmet and sheared it off half-way, leaving a jagged stump.

Link bounded back in but was brought short as a boot slammed into his face, causing the metal of his helm to ring like a bell. He staggered back two paces and shook his head, just in time to see the hag lift her arms wide and then slam them together. A peal of thunder rang from her palms, louder and more ferocious than any such clap had any right to be. Waves of sonic booms slammed out from her hands, shaking the air with bone-rattling force. The nearby Gerudo were sent running by the noise, their horses panicking and carrying them away while the riders screamed in denial. Link barely noticed it, so battered was he. Terrible winds slammed into him and the rolling thunder made his ears numb. His knees bent before the force, causing him to crouch lest he be swept away like a twig in a river. The power of the hag bore down on him with dread inertia, trying to bowl him over but he refused to yield. He dug in his boot heels and lowered his head, standing before the storm with all his might.

The witch was before him but in his heart he saw again all those who had died to Gerudo blades, all those he had failed to protect. He saw the piles of women and children and grown men, he saw the burnt ruins of homes and the bereft refugees. Then he saw Talon's cold face in his mind's eye and his heart hardened. This hag became all Gerudo to him, all the cruelty and malice of her race distilled into one being. She became a monster, and slaying monsters was what he did. Link's foot lifted off the ground and he took a single step forward. The Hag's eyes widened and she redoubled the force of her assault but Link was unstoppable. He forced his other foot to take another step, and another closing with relentless determination. The wind battered him, his ears were deafened and his eyes watered but the motion of his legs could not be thwarted. One more step he took as he closed the distance and then thrust hard with his sword.

He felt his blade hit something soft and heard a scream, but he could not see what he had hit. The wind died around him and he blinked furiously, trying to clear the tears from his eyes. His ears were deafened and his breath rasping but at last he managed to focus and he saw who had screamed. It was not the hag. Blinded by the howling wind and disoriented by thunder he had struck her horse by mistake, stabbing deeply into the beast. It was a fatal wound and the mare had toppled to the ground in a pool of blood but the witch was not lying with it. Instead Old Hanne was floating in mid-air, arms outstretched as magic bore her aloft and she cackled with scorn. Link watched aghast as Hanne rose high, well out of sword reach, as her robes flapped around her. It was a puissant display of magic and she threw her head back and laughed as Link was left in the dirt.

Link could see her lips moving as she shouted some threat, but he could not hear her as his ears were still ringing. But he could see well enough as her hands rose over her head and came together. Between them cracking arcs of energy played, tangling together to form a ball of lightning. Brighter and brighter it grew, swelling in power until it was a ravaging sphere of destruction. Link knew that blast would obliterate him utterly, not even leaving a charred corpse, but he refused to run. He stood his ground and braced as his doom loomed. The orb became a terrifyingly bright sphere of energy, as painful to look upon as the sun, then the witch hurled it at him with a scream of triumph.

Link saw her hands move and knew the orb was coming for him, but as it left her hands his arm was already moving, swinging his sword into its path. The orb crossed the distance between them in an instant but was intercepted by the length of his blade. Link's arm flared with pain as they made contact, agonising energy clawing up his shoulder and digging into his neck. The contact only lasted for a tenth of a second but that was enough to make him stagger in torment, yet he could see the effect it had. Forged in far-away lands, modelled upon the fabled Master Sword, the blade rebuffed the magic blast and reflected it back along the path it had travelled, sending it straight back at its caster.

Old Hanne barely had time to open her eyes in terror as her own spell rebounded back at her, travelling at speeds beyond knowing. The sphere slammed into the Sorceress and exploded in a pyrotechnic display of multi-coloured lights. Blazing energy flew in all directions, etching sharp shadows into the ground as lashing tendrils of fire swept through the air. A corona of searing flame enveloped the Gerudo and she disappeared in the brilliance of it. Link could barely see through the achingly bright light, forced to squint to make out what was happening. He could see a black mote in the heart of the fireball, being torn apart by the inferno. Then the tendrils reached their furthest extent and looped back into their source, plunging back into the heart of the conflagration and the speck of black was reduced to nothingness.

The blaze reached a peak and then guttered out, vanishing in an instant. Link was left standing under the empty void. He furiously blinked to clear green blobs from his eyes, straining to see what had happened to his foe. Of Old Hanne there was nothing left, save flakes of ash that drifted earthwards in a shower of soot. Link looked upon the specks and knew the Sorceress was no more, obliterated by her own power. He should have felt elation at the victory but all he knew was exhaustion, his body battered and bruised and his sword arm heavier than ever. It was all he could do to stay standing upright and not fall face first into the dust. Then he heard the pounding of hooves.

Suddenly Link was surrounded by galloping horses, racing past him in blurs of brown and black flanks. The Gerudo were all around him but they were not fighting, they were fleeing. The death of their Sorceress was too much for them, they turned their horses' heads to the west and spurred them to run. The few remaining Knights could not stop them escaping, hundreds upon hundreds of Gerudo galloping off the battlefield and away into the distance. Link should have chased them, he should have leapt onto Epona's back and galloped after them, but he had no strength left to do anything. All he could do was drop his sword into the dust as his knees buckled beneath him. As the battle ended Link knelt in the dirt and lowered his weary head, feeling every inch of him aching in pain. So he knelt and gasped for breath, as the battle came to its close.