Hi! I have just posted this story in A03, if you guys want to follow me on there as well. I'll put the link to the story in my bio, but you guys could probably just search up "BellaSophia555" in the search bar and find me there
I also got a comment that asked if the character Barnes was related at all to "Barnes Bombs" in Twilight Princess. The answer is no. They're completely different characters, and the character in this story is just another OC that I decided to name Barnes. That's it.
Please enjoy this chapter. As always, please make sure to leave a review! It would be greatly appreciated.
BEHIND THE BOOKSHELF
Hidden in the Shadows
"Is the food to your liking, my dear?"
Zelda stared down at her plate blankly and gave no reply. The dish consisted of boiled fish, with a side of cabbage, and a small roll of bread. If she was being quite honest, she had a strong dislike for fish. It made her feel sick, and with the recent loss of her appetite, just simply looking at it made her nauseous.
"Zelda." The man sitting across the table gave her a stern look. "What is the matter? Is your fish undercooked?"
"No, no. It's splendid, Aiden. I have no such complaints."
Prince Aiden, Zelda's soon-to-be husband, flicked his eyes across her face curiously, as if he was attempting to figure her out. After a few moments of his uncomfortable staring, he finally set his eyes back to his plate.
"Very well," he said lowly.
He went back to eating his own dish in silence, to Zelda's complete relief. She gazed back uncomfortably at the fish for a few moments, until she finally forced herself to pick up her fork and eat a small piece. Her stomach churned uneasily, but she forced herself to swallow the fish, ignoring the sudden urge to vomit all over the dining table.
They continued to eat in silence, agonizing silence, as Zelda practically shoved the food down her throat, trying to make the whole dinner go by quicker. Her stomach was churning a good amount now, but she still continued to eat the fish, all until there was nothing left.
"My, my," Prince Aiden marveled as his dark eyes scanned over her plate. "Maybe I was wrong. You ate that quite hastily. Not what a proper lady would do, hm?"
His pink lips curled into an amused smirk, causing Zelda's face to practically burst aflame. She ignored his side comment, plus the churning of her stomach, and began to eat the rest of her dish.
Another agonizing silence fell between the two, but Zelda could tell the prince was staring at her, analyzing her, as he often did. She absolutely despised when he did that. It was truly uncomfortable.
"I am glad your father provided us with this private dining room," Aiden spoke, breaking yet another painful silence. "It's nice being away from all the people. It's difficult to spend time with you alone as is."
Zelda swallowed a mouthful of cabbage. "Yes. I agree."
She refused to say much more than that. Aiden was clearly trying to spark some sort of conversation with her, which she had absolutely no desire to participate in. Absolutely none.
Aiden stared at her under his long eyelashes, clearly attempting to read her again. Zelda avoided his bizarre gaze by looking down at her plate.
"Are you acting strange because of the recent news involving Maurice?" he suddenly asked.
Gods, there it was. The exact topic of conversation she was expecting him to bring up. Zelda placed her fork down, rather forcefully, and finally looked up at him.
"I am fine," she said softly, forcing herself to smile. "Perfectly fine."
Prince Aiden's eyes zipped across her face, but it wasn't in concern. "Faked suicide or not, I am just glad I don't have to see his face anymore."
Hot anger bubbled inside Zelda's chest, anger that she was completely unable to control. Her eyes darkened intensely, boring deeply into the cold gaze of her future husband, the man that she had grown to completely despise.
"How dare you," she snapped, her dark eyes widened with rage. "How dare you speak so ill of a man who has just died tragically—"
"Oh, please. Do you seriously expect me to have any bit of respect for him?"
"Of course I do! He just died from possible murder! At least show some common decency!"
Aiden scoffed bitterly. "You sound ridiculous. That man would've taken any chance given to him to tear our relationship apart."
Zelda went silent at that last statement, deciding that it was best not to speak anymore on the topic. She absolutely hated it when he brought up that situation, and the fact that he was still bringing it up when Maurice had just died made it so much worse.
"You know I'm correct," Aiden went on, his voice low. "He loved you. You cannot deny it."
Zelda remained silent, locking her gaze onto her lap. A terrible, miserable feeling spread throughout her body, because although she didn't want to admit it, Aiden was right.
Maurice had harbored extremely strong feelings for her, since they were children. Long ago, it was Maurice who she was arranged to marry, but once her father discovered how tyrannical Alburnia's rule truly was, he quickly broke off the marriage pact when Zelda was the age of seven, deciding that it was best to not have an alliance at all. A few years after, her father decided to create an alliance with Volagio, evidently arranging a marriage between Zelda and Aiden.
However, Maurice and Zelda remained in touch over the years. Before the marriage pact was broken, they were arranged to spend a lot of time together when they were children, which caused a very close friendship to develop between the two. Since then, they had been absolutely inseparable, even after their arranged marriage was disposed. They played outdoors together, talked for hours, and spent as much time with one another as they possibly could.
After the marriage pact was broken, it was more difficult for them to continue seeing one another, so they used to write letters. It was around when Zelda was the age of fourteen that they actually had the freedom to see each other in person again, since she was older and much more independent. As they developed into their late teen years, they began spending even more time together than when they were children. And that upset Prince Aiden, who was arranged to marry her since she was of ten years old.
There was a time and point in their friendship that Zelda too held strong feelings for Maurice, but those quickly went away as she realized how childish they were. She knew she couldn't ever be with him, because unfortunately, her father had complete control over the situation, trapping her in a relationship in which she never wanted to be a part of in the first place.
Evidently, nothing happened between the two, although there had been a few times where it was close. Too close, almost. No matter how unfortunate the situation was, Zelda was glad she didn't pursue the relationship. Nothing could've ever ended well if she did.
"So please, forgive me for not showing him respect," Aiden continued on bitterly. "Because why should I provide him with such treatment? He isn't deserving of it, and never will be, even in his goddess-damned grave."
At this point, Zelda had it. She couldn't even begin to believe the vile words pouring out of his mouth. Taking a deep breath, and pushing back the new onset of tears threatening to spill from her eyes, she dramatically rose from her chair.
"I wish to leave," she announced, her voice shockingly steady. "Good night—"
"You are not leaving. You've barely sat here for fifteen minutes."
Zelda ground her teeth together furiously. "I wish to leave," she repeated, anger beginning to surface through the tone of her voice.
Aiden gazed up at her through his dark lashes, analyzing her in that strange way he always did. A long, tense moment of silence passed between the two, until Aiden finally let out a sharp breath.
"You may leave my presence," he said, his uncomfortable gaze still glued to her.
A wave of relief immediately washed over Zelda. Without hesitation, she walked straight away, still remembering to keep her footsteps light. However, as she brushed past Aiden seated in his chair, he quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him.
"What—take your hand off me," she hissed, attempting to twist her arm from his tight grip.
Unfortunately, this made Aiden only tighten his grip even more. He forcefully yanked her closer to his face, so close that their noses were almost touching.
"I just want to warn you, it won't be this way once we've married," he breathed, his voice low and intimidating. "I will not tolerate your level of disrespect much longer. You will be mine and mine only, and you will listen to me. Am I clear?"
Zelda swallowed and met his intense gaze daringly, searching deep into those dark eyes of his.
"Go to hell."
Zelda finally yanked her arm out of his grip and stalked off, leaving Aiden alone at the dining table.
"There is no possible way that the prince of Alburnia was murdered," a councilman, Lord Gilbert, argued. "This piece of evidence means nothing. It could be related to another crime in this castle, one that we just don't know about—"
"But this crime must have been recent," the head of the Council, Lord Simon, interrupted. He wore a pair of round spectacles, framing his strangely enormous green eyes, and he had very little hair left on his head, almost having lost it all due to his old age. "It is like Lieutenant Adney said; the blood is still red, which means it is still fresh. It aligns perfectly with the date of when Maurice found dead, which was only a mere two days ago."
Lord Gilbert rolled his eyes, clearly in disagreement of his leader. Gilbert was possibly the most stubborn member of the entire Council, and no matter how much the odds were stacked against him, he still refused to believe anything else but his own opinion. He was a frumpy and short man, with a perfectly manicured mustache, and a noticeably expanded belly. He was around the age of fifty, which made his opinions much more traditional in the sense of maintaining the royal bloodline and keeping the importance of high social class. However, this political viewpoint led to his refusal to be open-minded about certain issues, causing many unnecessary debacles between the members of the Council.
There were five members total of the Council—Lord Simon Revellous, Lord Darrien Hadnes, Lord Theo Brann, Lord Aubrey Francis, and finally, Lord Gilbert Volcar. Each were fantastically smart men, considered one of the finest scholars in their young years, specifically in their wide knowledge of royal politics.
"As I said before, this could be the result of another crime," Gilbert went on irritatingly. "There is quite literally a suicide note. Now, you all may seem to believe this was faked, but the details written in the note were so accurate to his life that it is hard to believe anybody else could've written it. Am I right or am I incorrect?"
Simon scoffed bitterly in disagreement. "Other details of the suicide are still very strange. For example, why would he choose to kill himself in our specific castle grounds? In almost every documented case in history, the man or woman who commits always does it in their home. It is random that he chose to come all the way here at our own ball to do it."
The rest of the councilmen hummed in agreement, whispering their opinions on the situation amongst themselves. Simon was honestly right, and most of the councilmen were beginning to agree with him by now.
"But the question is, who could've killed him?" Lord Theo, a tall man with shoulder length blonde hair, chimed in against Simon's claim. He was the second youngest in the Council, and had aged quite well in comparison to the other members, having been known in court for his good looks. "Prince Maurice had no known enemies, as he was favored frequently amongst his people. His inauguration onto Alburnia's throne was widely accepted, dare to say even encouraged."
It was true; Maurice had no enemies whatsoever. He was a kind and charismatic young man, which caused him to quickly gain his people's trust and favor. It was known that once he was officially inaugurated, his plan was to create as much alliances as he could, and to give the kingdoms that his father had previously conquered the freedom they deserved.
Simon rubbed his gray beard absentmindedly, thinking of something to counter that argument with. "But his father had many enemies. That could've caused some trouble for his son."
Again, the councilmen began to hum in agreement. Simon was admittedly fantastic at getting people to agree with him, and was wickedly smart as well. He was quite old, which made his views rather traditional, but not nearly to the extent of Lord Gilbert. He was much more open-minded, which made him a spectacular leader.
"If I may, I'd like to give my piece of advice," Lord Darrien, cut in. Darrien was a promising new addition to the Council, and although he was the youngest member, he was also one of the smartest. It was widely accepted that once Simon stepped down, Darrien would soon become the new leader. He had a lean frame, and shockingly bright green eyes, along with a short head of soft blonde hair. He was also known for his looks in court, but however, he was already engaged to a young woman named Melinda. The couple owned a particularly large estate on the east end of Castle Town.
"You may go ahead," Simon responded to Lord Darrien, nodding his head in affirmation.
Lord Darrien nodded and began his statement. "This may sound like a bit of a stretch, but I believe that Maurice's cousin, Lady Elvira, might have something to do with it."
Each of the councilmen looked to each other in confusion, wondering where the young member could be going with this.
"…Elaborate," Simon said, honestly a bit intrigued towards what Darrien had to say.
"Well, it is known that Lady Elvira is a very conniving young woman. Although she doesn't outwardly express these needs, it is not unknown that she has wanted the Alburnia's throne for a long while. In fact, it was known that if there were ever a time that Maurice has decided to give up the throne, she would be the first to take his place, since Maurice has no siblings and Lady Elvira's parents have the highest social status out of the rest of Maurice's aunts and uncles."
Gilbert immediately scoffed at Darrien's explanation. "So your belief is that Lady Elvira, Maurice's own cousin, had something to do with his possible murder? That claim is completely outlandish—"
"I'm not saying that this is the only thing we can possibly consider," Darrien interrupted calmly. "But if this is truly a murder, I believe that this is an accurate start to figuring out the mysterious death of the prince. She is his cousin, after all, so she must know things related to his allegedly faked suicide."
The rest of the councilmen began to murmur to one another, mostly all in agreement. Darrien had a wickedly clever mind, and the ability to think logically without emotions on certain situations. Shockingly enough, some even believed he surpassed Simon in his knowledge.
"That is something we can start with," Simon agreed. "We could bring her here, call her into some sort of questioning. We may be incorrect, but it could be a start to figuring everything out. This murderer is still on the loose as we speak, and could possibly be a threat to Princess Zelda's life as well, if this murderer is targeting royal descendants of the throne. We need to act now."
All the rest of the Council members nodded in agreement, except for Gilbert, of course, who slouched in his chair and sulked. Simon resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the stubborn old man, and continued on with his statement.
"I believe we should request that Lady Elvira meets with us and His Majesty immediately," Simon said. "Is there anybody in disagreement?"
Every single councilman immediately looked to Gilbert, who still held a doubtful expression on his face.
"I just believe that we are wasting our time," Gilbert argued stubbornly. "We should be focusing on other things, like the princess's wedding, for instance. Maurice just simply committed suicide, and nothing more—"
"If I may interject," Darrien calmly said, "I don't believe that this is unnecessary, because even if this was truly just a suicide, we are still taking the proper precautions to keeping Princess Zelda in safety. Instead of wasting our time, we are rather using it wisely, taking the right steps to ensure that the princess and the rest of the castle is guaranteed no harm."
Gilbert fell completely silent, as the rest of the council nodded in agreement. For some odd reason, Darrien was fantastic at shutting Gilbert down, surprisingly in a calm and logical manner. No other member had that skill, not even Simon himself.
"…As I was saying," Simon continued, his mouth curled in an amused, but prideful smile, "anybody in disagreement of this solution, now is the time to interject."
The Council went completely silent, including Gilbert, to Simon's utter relief. They had been arguing about this matter for over an hour at this point, so he was just glad it was all over with.
"Well, then it is settled." Simon heaved out a small sigh. "We will let His Majesty know of our plans and send out a letter to Lady Elvira immediately. If there is anybody who would like to add something, now it is time."
Lord Aubrey, the particularly jittery councilman, cleared his throat, obviously attempting to get the rest of the council's attention.
"I—I just have some questions," he stammered nervously. "I—I just, um, had some sort of curiosity about, hm, what's his name? The young man who found the body? And the bloody shard of glass?"
Everybody looked at each other with confusion. Usually Lord Aubrey just spoke nonsense, which made his contribution to the Council very minimal. Since he was so nervous all the time, he never truly made sense when he brought up his thoughts and opinions.
"Are you thinking of that boy who's a trainee in our militia?" Lord Theo asked after a few moments of silence. "Just came to the castle around a year ago?"
"Yes, that's the one! By goddesses, what is his name—"
"You all are speaking of the hero," Darrien chimed in politely. "The young man who fought for us in the Twilight Invasion."
Gilbert immediately looked skeptical. "Are you referring to that Link boy? The commoner?"
"Y—Yes, that's exactly who I'm referring to," Aubrey replied excitedly. "The Hero of Time, I—I believe. He's the one who found both Maurice's corpse and the shard of glass."
Gilbert let out a snort of disbelief. "Hero of Time. He's a commoner, and on top of that, he's a trainee in our militia. No hero could ever be that low of status."
"Well, I—I believe it," Aubrey said nervously. "Even the, um, the princess claims that he was our savior. Can't receive anymore proof than that."
"Remind me again, why hasn't he been promoted to knighthood?" Darrien asked curiously. "He completely surpasses all of the trainees in skill. And for all he's done for the kingdom, I believe he is well deserving of a promotion—"
"It's because he's a commoner," Lord Theo chimed in. "He's from the village of Ordon. No commoner is worthy of the knighthood rank."
"Exactly," Gilbert agreed. "He has too much of a low status."
"But that doesn't mean anything in reference to our army," Darrien said calmly. "I believe it would be extremely beneficial to have him promoted. With his skill, he could even become a captain or a lieutenant of the sort—"
"A lieutenant?" Gilbert blurted in suddenly. "Nonsense! He is far too low of status to ever be able to attain that high of a ranking."
"Well, I'd have to politely disagree with you. Keeping him with the trainees would do much more harm than good."
"I don't believe that. No commoner is ever allowed such a high ranking. They just simply cannot be worthy."
Simon watched miserably as the two continued to bicker. At this point, he didn't even remember why or how the controversial topic of the hero was brought up in the first place. As a matter of fact, the council had previously been in so many arguments about the hero that Simon lost track of how much they truly talked about him. It seemed as if the controversy with the hero never ended.
"Silence!" Simon suddenly shouted, unable to bear listening to the pair's arguing much longer. "This was not the topic we met here to discuss."
Darrien and Gilbert immediately stopped bickering, turning their attention to Simon up front.
"Thank you." Simon turned towards Aubrey, his patience beginning to wane out. "Lord Aubrey, why on earth did you even bring up the topic of the hero in the first place?"
A nervous look immediately crossed Aubrey's face. "O—Oh! My apologies, Lord Simon. I believe we just got a bit off track."
Aubrey laughed nervously to lighten the mood, but Simon didn't even crack a smile. Ignoring the intense stare coming from the head of the council, Aubrey cleared his throat awkwardly and continued.
"I—I just brought up the hero because I—I believed that we could ask him some questions too about Maurice's death. Since he found the body and all."
Gilbert's brows furrowed in confusion. "Don't you all think it's a bit suspicious that he found both the corpse and the blood?" he asked the Council. "Isn't that a bit strange?"
The Council went completely silent at that. Nobody had ever thought of that before, not even Simon or Darrien. When truly thinking on the predicament, it was strange. Very, very strange.
"That…is a conversation for another time," Simon said after a few beats of silence. "For now, let us focus on sending out the letter to Lady Elvira. We will deal with that matter later."
Link huffed exasperatingly as he and the other trainees hiked up an extremely large hill, one that could even be compared to a small mountain. The hill dwelled at about six miles away from the castle grounds, and as training, Lieutenant Adney ordered them to run to the hill and hike all the way to the top, without any sort of break except for an occasional stop for water. It wasn't like they could cheat either, because unfortunately, the lieutenant was supposed to meet them at the top. It was a ridiculous amount of cardio, so over-the-top that Link deemed it completely unnecessary. A ten mile run would've been much preferred over this drastic method of training.
The highest ranked trainees were all in Link's group. There were only six men in total in the group, since the trainees were ordered to split and all meet at the top of the mountain-like hill. Link was fortunate enough to have Barnes in his group, but to his utter dismay, Ralio was also ordered to trek with them. And that made the training even more miserable.
The lieutenant placed trainees in groups based off skill in all their methods of training, not just this specific drill. Although this method proved to be effective, this disappointedly meant that Ralio was almost always placed with Link and Barnes.
"I am so goddess-damned sick of this," Barnes huffed as sweat dripped down his face excessively. Unfortunately, Barnes took the training particularly hard, likely because of how large he was. Link wouldn't consider him to be overweight, but he did carry a bit of excess muscle mass, and on top of that, he was well over six feet tall. He had the strength, but unfortunately, with all that muscle came some downsides, specifically referring to his unnaturally low stamina.
"It's only a little while longer," Link said, his leg muscles aching with exhaustion. "We're almost to the top."
Ralio and his cronies were around ten yards in front, while Link and Barnes were much farther behind the rest of their group. Link could technically be in the front with them, but in all honesty, he didn't even want to be near them. He also didn't want to leave Barnes in the dust, because his friend definitely needed some encouragement to push him through the training.
As Link continued to hike up the steep hill, his mind couldn't help but wander to the topic of Maurice. Ever since he found the body, he knew something was odd, that it was much more than a suicide. Curiosity ate him alive from the moment he found that shard of glass, because who in the right mind would ever fake a suicide, for a royal prince, on top of it? There had to be some hidden motive, but he just didn't know what.
It wasn't like he could do much from this point on anyway. After all, he was only a trainee, and wasn't required to do any real investigating. Unfortunately.
Barnes and Link continued to walk upwards, which proved to gradually become more difficult, as more trees and branches stood in their way the further they went. After a few more minutes, Barnes's foot suddenly slipped under a partially hidden tree branch, causing him to fall forwards, face first into the dirt.
Link's eyes widened in panic, and he quickly crouched down to offer his friend a hand.
"Hey, you alright?" Link asked gently, his hand welcomingly outstretched.
Barnes miserably looked up at his friend, revealing a fresh cut underneath his left eye, and a large patch of dirt caked on his left cheek. He placed his large hand in Link's smaller one and hoisted himself back to his feet, brushing himself off in the process.
"That was real embarrassin.'" Barnes pulled a dead leaf out of his buzzed, mohawk-style hair. "I just hope ain't body see that…"
Barnes trailed off as he noticed Ralio and the rest of the group's eyes on him. They stared for few more moments until they all burst into a cruel, loud fit of laughter.
"Whassamatter, ya fussock?" one of Ralio's cronies, Darwyn, hissed bitterly. "All that weight too much to carry?"
The group again erupted into wild laughter. Link looked over at his friend in concern, noticing that Barnes's face had turned cherry red, either from embarrassment, or anger. Or possibly a mixture of both.
"Just ignore them," Link reassured, carefully placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You're doing well—"
"Whatever, Link," Barnes suddenly snapped with unexpected anger. "I ain't in need of yer help. Ignoring them ain't done nothin' for me."
Link flinched slightly, taken aback by his friend's sudden anger. Rarely did Barnes ever get so upset, and when he did, it was honestly a bit intimidating.
Barnes shrugged off Link's hand and continued trekking up the mountain, astoundingly much quicker and more effectively than he was before. Link heaved out a long sigh before following after him, making sure to keep his distance. He knew Barnes just needed some semblance of space.
About thirty minutes passed until the group finally reached the top, with Barnes shockingly finishing right near Ralio's cronies. Link arrived dead last, not because he was too tired to go faster, but rather he just simply didn't have the motivation to exert that much effort. He also wanted to give Barnes some much needed space, so he decided to keep a far distance from.
Their group was the first to reach the top, which came as no surprise. They had to wait with Lieutenant Adney for the rest of the trainees, which were about ten other men. Soon enough, after around ten minutes, the rest of the groups emerged, all seemingly one step away from completely passing out.
"Congratulations on making it to the top," Lieutenant Adney announced casually, ignoring the breathless wheezes of the soldiers around him. "You all will have a five minute break until you will go back down. You are required to run back to the castle once you have completely descended this hill."
With that, Lieutenant Adney sat down and glanced at his clock watch.
"A quarter until six is the time for us to leave, soldiers!" he barked. "A quarter until six!"
Most of the trainees let out a groans of disappointment, and quickly sat down to catch their breath or drink small sips of their water. Link looked around and spotted Barnes sitting by himself, guzzling down water relentlessly. Link felt the strong need to go over there and sit near him, but he knew it would be best if he just left Barnes alone.
Suddenly, an ear-piercing horn echoed from the forests surrounding the soldiers, one that Link could recognize from miles away. His heart began to beat erratically, because he suddenly knew what lurked nearby, or more specifically, what kind of danger lurked nearby.
"What in Hylia's name was that?" Lieutenant Adney asked aloud, jumping to his feet.
Link swallowed nervously, scanning the trees nearby for any sign of the danger. He didn't see anything, but he had to say something. No matter if he was just being paranoid, or destined to make a fool of himself, he had to make sure everybody else was on their guard.
"I believe they're Bulblins, sir," Link said quietly, almost inaudibly.
Every soldier immediately looked to Link, causing his anxiety to spike. He coughed awkwardly into his arm, attempting to ignore the stares, especially the ones that came from where Ralio sat.
"Come again?" Adney asked. "Speak up."
Link cleared his throat to repeat himself once more. "They're Bulblins, sir. They blow a horn when they are threatened."
A bitter scoff immediately erupted from Ralio's mouth, clearly one that was of disbelief.
"Bulblins? Are you mad?" Ralio barked out a laugh. "Bulblins dwell far from Castle Town. They've barely come near Hyrule Castle."
Link had to grit his teeth to stop himself from insulting the pompous trainee, because unfortunately, the lieutenant was spectating this whole debacle, along with the rest of the trainees.
"That is where you're wrong," Link stated as calmly as he could. "They used to dwell far from Castle Town. However, since the Twilight Invasion, their territories have spread far across the land, evidently closer to where Hyrule Castle is—"
"And how do you have knowledge of this?"Ralio interrupted, his mouth upturned in a cruel smirk. "Is it because of…hm, let's see, your heroic adventures across the lands of Hyrule to defeat the all-powerful, supernatural King of the Gerudo to save our kingdom from the eternal doom of Twilight?"
Ralio laughed bitterly, along with the rest of his cronies that sat around him, causing Link to clench his fists in deep anger. If only he could walk over there and slug that pompous prick right across the face.
Link had never gotten used to people denying that he was the true hero of Hyrule, because it still stung every time. It stung just as bad as when he was first denied the title of "Sir," all simply because a few council members refused to believe that a man from a common background, a goat herder, was the actual Hero of Time. He never really believed himself to be deserving of such a title, or to be referred to as the Hero of Time, but he at least wanted the people to believe all the effort that he went through. It was completely hurtful when the difficult journey he went through was downright denied.
"Ya better watch yer mouth," Barnes suddenly growled at Ralio, shooting up from where he was seated. "Linky here ain't lyin' 'bout what he did. He even received ah darn medal from the king himself for it! He ain't speakin' nonsense, he's speakin' the goddamn truth—"
"Spare me of your pathetic explanation," Ralio cut in. "No peasant from the farmlands of Ordon could ever be capable of saving our kingdom. Especially with no prior training in any sort of combat."
Link flinched slightly, mostly at the crude name Ralio referred to him as. Anger was boiling intensely inside of him, and if Ralio said one more thing, he was sure to snap.
"Link's the best darn fighter out there," Barnes shot back. "Maybe he ain't ever needed prior trainin.' I mean, he's even ah better fighter than yerself."
Ralio's tan skin suddenly reddened with anger, clearly appalled at what Barnes had just said. He shot to his feet dramatically, his golden-brown eyes wide and bewildered.
"How dare you! I've been trained with the same methods passed down through generations of my family line, since I was the mere age of six! But for you to say that some brainless, uneducated peasant from a pathetic farmland is a better fighter than me is completely outlandish! You and your peasant friend are sheer idiots of the militia, some of the worst I've ever met—"
Ralio was suddenly cut off by a large explosion, sending every single one of the trainees and the lieutenant flying in all directions. Another piercing sound of a horn echoed throughout the forest, but however, this time it sounded closer.
Link had landed somewhere near the lieutenant, face first into a pile of dirt, with an intense ringing in his ears. He groggily opened his eyes to complete chaos, with fire beginning to engulf the top of the hill, and around thirty Bulblins surrounding the trainees at all ends.
"Run!" one of the trainees suddenly screamed.
In a complete frenzy, all of the trainees disappeared into the forests surrounding them, quite literally running for their lives. The foul, violent creatures let out a harmonious battle cry and chased after the trainees with lightning speed, holding up their clubs and spears barbarically.
After the Bulblins disappeared into the forest, Link weakly pushed himself up off the ground and frantically scanned the area surrounding him. The smoke was so thick that it completely blurred Link's vision with tears, and the heat was so intense that it felt like his skin was ablaze. However, throughout the blazing fire and the black smoke, he could make out a few trainees lying unconsciously in the grass, hauntingly in their own pool of blood.
The ringing of Link's ears intensified quickly as he spotted the dead trainees, feeling as if his heart had just dropped to the pit of his stomach. Coughing violently from the thick smoke, he limped over to where Lieutenant Adney lied unconsciously, thankfully not in a pool of blood like all the others. Link scrambled to the ground, and without reluctance, he heaved the lieutenant onto his shoulders.
Suddenly, another smaller explosion erupted right at Link's feet, sending him and the lieutenant flying back again. He took a particularly harsher blow to the ground this time, whacking his head roughly against a tree trunk.
Link scrambled weakly to his feet again. He suddenly felt a warm, wet trail streak down the side of his temple, right where he whacked his head. In a panic, he quickly wiped away whatever was on his head and looked down at his hand, noticing that his fingers were now covered in fresh, dark blood.
Feeling as if his head was beginning to spin, he frantically searched around for the lieutenant. He soon spotted Adney lying a few feet away from him, still unconscious, but thankfully with no sign of injury. Link was about to sprint over there until a Bulblin abruptly emerged from the trees, walking straight towards Lieutenant Adney with their weapon raised high.
With no hesitation, Link sheathed the brand new wooden sword rested on his back, and carefully approached the Bulblin from the side. Just as the Bulblin was going to strike the lieutenant, Link leapt forwards and slashed the creature's throat in one swipe, sending the Bulbin toppling to the ground in an ear-piercing scream.
Link's victory was short-lived, however, when even more Bulblins began to emerge from the trees. Soon enough, around five surrounded Link and the lieutenant, all growling menacingly.
Panic arouse within him, because Link knew at this point that his only chance of survival, and the lieutenant's, was to run. Ignoring the erratic pounding of his heartbeat, Link quickly heaved Adney onto his back and ran away as fast as he could.
Link could hear the screams of the Bulblins behind him, chasing after him down the hill, but he couldn't focus on that now. He raced down the steep hill as fast as his legs could take him, the trees surrounding him morphing into a thick blur as he ran for the lieutenant's life and his own.
Another harmonious scream erupted from the clan of Bulblins, and a spray of arrows zipped past Link, narrowly missing his head. He just needed to get out of there, quick, before he completely ran out of time.
Thankfully, just when his legs were about to completely give under the weight of the lieutenant, Link finally reached flat land again and quickly exited the forests of the hill. A wash of relief immediately fell over him as he looked out at the peach skies, staring peacefully at the descending sun.
His head was spinning out of control at this point, but since he was so fatigued, he didn't have the energy to even care. Blood was still trickling down the side of his face, and it mildly registered to him that he possibly had some sort of head trauma from the tree trunk. Nevertheless, he continued to walk forward, with Adney still heaved onto his strong back.
"Link!" a voice rang from afar. "Linky!"
Link weakly looked up and saw a group of men sprinting towards him, but his vision was too impaired to register who they were.
"Linky!" one of the men repeated again, now much closer to him this time. "Are ya alright? Is the lieutenant still alive?"
All of the men were surrounding him now. Link couldn't make out any of their faces, but what he did know was that they were concerned, for some specific reason that Link could not seem to remember. His vision was growing much worse, as it was beginning to spot with black dots, which grew with every second that ticked. He dropped to his knees weakly, unable to properly support himself or the lieutenant on his back anymore.
"I think he hit his head," a concerned voice rang. "There's blood on the side of his face…"
Those were the last words Link processed before everything went black.