***ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY**
!
In Sotto Voce
By The Wolfess
!
Chapter 9
The sun held its dominion in the sky longer than normal. The short days of spring were tipping into summer's long hours and it seemed that the goddesses would bless the Hyrulian army with extra light on this dark day. The soldiers took this as a good sign. To those assigned to the front lines, the air seemed especially crisp and fragrant, the birdsong especially sweet. Some of the more experienced men gave them extra rations or tips for survival as they passed. Others wished them well, or said a prayer, or just shook their heads and looked away.
In the Castle Keep, King Daphnes sat on a large black war horse covered in bejeweled armor that shone in the early evening sun. With his great beard and broad shoulders, the king was a sight to behold—the very picture of royal authority and power. Around him, the Hyrulian Generals and Captains were finishing their last brief, and the soldiers assigned to the Castle Keep were moving into position. Carrion birds circled in the distance—a sure sign that the enemy army was almost upon them, for bottom-feeders always follow evil's bloody path.
Princess Zelda approached the keep on foot. Unlike her father, she preferred to stand on the ground with the men rather than above them on horseback. She glimmered in the light as well, and all eyes followed her as she passed. The soldiers stood taller, and those going to the front lines felt a little braver. She was a reminder that the soldiers of Hyrule were not dying for her father, nor even for Hyrule itself. She was their reason. They were dying for their Zelda, their true heir and queen, as had been the way for generation upon generation. She looked upon them with all the grace and love of her station, even reaching out to some of those headed to the front lines so they could receive her blessing as they passed.
Impa walked behind her princess and watched. If Ruto had been among them for so long, who else could be hiding amongst their ranks she wondered? Every soldier received her suspicious glare. She was relieved when they finally reached the Castle Keep. The Sheikah felt she could be sure that Zelda was safe here. As safe as possible on a battlefield at least.
Link rode up to her on a beautiful chestnut mare named Epona that had been his last gift from his uncle before Link enlisted. He had his sword and shield strapped on and looked as ready as ever for the battle. He dismounted when he got near to the Sheikah and the princess.
"Impa." He pulled her into a tight hug. "Please be careful."
Impa blinked and then patted his back. "I will. Come on, you're embarrassing me. You've trained with me—have more confidence in my skill. I'm going to be fine."
Link let her go and nodded. "Okay. You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just…" he sighed and shook his head. "You should be back here, with her, and I should be up there. You should be protecting her."
Impa shook her head. "Well, that's not what's happening, so no use wishing for it to be different. I, for one, will have more peace of mind knowing that you are at her side. I would trust no one else with her protection. I mean that."
Link smiled and stood a little straighter. "That means a lot to me. You know I'll protect her with my life."
Impa smiled. "I know. And Link…" she lowered her voice and stepped a little closer. "If I do die out there, like the prophecy says…please keep her safe for me. Make sure you are the one who guards her, for the rest of her life, on my behalf. Can I ask this of you?"
Link nodded, a frown creasing his fair features, but he didn't say anything. He looked over to see Zelda looking at Impa from around the armored shoulder of the General she was talking to. So Link stepped back, waved at Impa one last time, and then guided Epona away. After all, the princess and her guardian would want a moment to themselves.
Seeing Link leading Epona away, Zelda excused herself from her conversation and crossed back to Impa's side. Knowing that a cluster of curious witnesses were sure watching, they stood apart and did not touch, but Zelda's eyes said everything Impa needed to know. Their spirits were as close as skin.
"I need to go to the front now," Impa said.
Zelda nodded, her face as impassive as possible. "I understand. Impa, I…" her breath hitched. She took a breath before continuing. "Please take care of yourself."
Impa wanted to take Zelda into her arms once more. She wanted to reassure the princess that even if the worst did happen, they would reunite in the next life. Instead, the Sheikah bit her lip and went down on one knee. She fisted a hand over her heart and held the other out, palm up—exactly as she had the first day that they met. Tears did swell in Zelda's eyes then, shimmering like waves of glass, but she controlled herself and placed her hand in Impa's. The Sheikah raised herself up just enough to kiss Zelda's fingers, where the littlest bit of skin shone. Her lips lingered there as long as she dared, until Zelda withdrew her hand and the moment was over.
Impa stood again and gripped her naginata a little tighter. The two women looked at one another until a general called her name and she knew that it was time to go. "Goodbye, Princess Zelda." I love you.
The princess nodded, but she could not keep the emotion out of her voice when she spoke. "Goodbye, Captain Impa. Thank you…for everything."
Impa turned and followed the general toward the front. Link brought Epona alongside Zelda and they watched her go. Neither of them knew the manner in which they would see her next—one of many bodies on the battlefield, or wounded on a medical stretcher, or even victorious and coming shrouded in praise. Her fate would be decided that night, along with the fates of hundreds of other soldiers, before the first red light of dawn broke in the eastern sky. Link and Zelda both said their own private prayers and settled in to wait.
!
The enemy army approached from the north in a dark fog. On the front lines just north of the central keep, Impa could see the red glow of the enemy's eyes as they spread through the northern part of Hyrule Field. Red and green-faced bokoblins mingled with skeletal stalfos, towering Lizalfos, and a couple Darknut Captains. Initial reports showed that they had made their base in the northern-most keep, and their general waited there for the right time to advance. The reports described him as a man in a suit of red dragon-like armor with a great dragon's head helm. As soon as she overhead the description, the Sheikah captain knew exactly who it was.
Hyrulian troops were stationed in the central and southern keeps, with orders to advance to the two abandoned forts and the eastern keep. Impa's unit was to advance to the north-central keep and fend off the enemy attack until the other keeps could be captured. The fairy fountain would be near the troops stationed back in the southern keep just in case they needed the aid, but the generals hoped that the battle wouldn't come to that.
General Xao oversaw the front lines. He nodded his head when the scout's report came. Before he could send the man back with the message, Impa shouted to catch his attention.
"Yes, Captain Impa?" he asked. Xao knew Impa from training, and he knew that she was no traitor. He had already made it clear that he would depend on her leadership and power in the battle.
"I know who their captain is," Impa told him. "His name is Volga, and he calls himself the Dragon Knight. He is a fire-wielder who studied under the same master as I did. He is strong, but he is also overconfident. I think he can be taken down easily is we take advantage of this weakness."
General Xao nodded. "I will leave him to you since you seem to know him," he turned to the messenger. "Include that information in your report."
"Yes Sir!" The messenger saluted and ran off.
General Xao looked ahead, and his eyes darkened. He was an older man with salt-and-peppered black hair and a well-kept beard in a full suit of armor. It was time to advance, but he held back for just a moment. "Captain Impa," he said, not turning his helm to look at her.
"Yes Sir?" she asked.
"Do you know why they sent me up here?" he asked. His hands gripped the hilt of an old sword in its sheath on his hip.
Impa frowned and shook her head. This wasn't the time for such talk, but if he needed to say it before they advanced then she would let him. "No Sir, I don't."
General Xao drew his sword and hefted his large shield. "They sent me here because I spoke up against the king's sudden change in policies and behavior." He turned his head, and through the slit in his helm Impa could see his brown eyes were full of determination and fear. "He shouldn't have locked up the Zora princess, and he shouldn't have sent you up here. He has been full of such irrational and dangerous policies of late. This is why he stopped speaking to the princess about matters of importance and forbad us to speak with her either—she is too wise, and he knew she would poke holes through his schemes. I don't understand what is going on, but the king is not himself. I'm not the only one who thinks so…just the only one stupid enough to say something about it."
"Why tell me this now?" Impa asked, her grip tightening on the shaft of her naginata. "Now that we are about to engage in battle and there is nothing I can do about it?"
"Because," General Xao said, "I want you to understand why I am about to defy the orders of my king. I want to be remembered honorably." Impa swallowed and nodded, awaiting his orders. "The king plans to advance into the central field with everyone in the Castle Keep at his side. They'll be marching into open battle, despite all our recommendations not to. He and the princess will be exposed to great harm. But if you're fast enough, you can still protect her. We will cut a path for you to get to Volga. After you take him down, I want you to retreat to the princess's side. Protect her, Impa. Protect her in my place."
Impa nodded. "I will, Sir."
General Xao grunted his acknowledgment and then stepped to the front of the lines. A Darknut Captain with his whole battalion was filing into the north-central keep above them, and another was already capturing the Eastern Abandoned Fort just to their right. The general raised his sword in the air. "FORWARD," he shouted. The men on the front lines drew their weapons and started shouting. "FOR HYRULE!"
"FOR HYRULE!" The cry rang into the air and the front line troops started running forward. They filtered into the two keeps and crashed into their foes, swords and arrows and spears flying. Impa could hear dying screams from both sides, and blood ran red on the stone floors. She hung back for a moment to take stock. General Xao had advanced into the North Central Keep and was leading the battle in there, so Impa ran to the east to support the troops taking the East Abandoned Fort.
When she got there, a Darknut Captain and a Lizalfos were in the middle of the keep. One swipe of the Darknut's sword or the Lizalfos' spiked tail sent the Hylian soldiers flying. Impa knew that she had to reach Volga as soon as possible, but if she left the soldiers to fend for themselves then the keep would be lost. She couldn't give the enemy that direct line to their central field if that is where Zelda was going to be.
"HEY," she shouted at the raid captain trying to take the keep. He looked at her briefly and nodded to show he was listening as he continued fighting the bokoblins surrounding him. "You focus on the Lizalfos, I'll take big ugly here!" Again, the raid captain nodded, and he and his men shifted the focus of their attacks on just the giant lizard.
Impa crouched into a battle stance and approached the Darknut. The armored giant turned his head toward her, the metal of his helm scraping against his shoulder armor. Their eyes met for just a moment. Impa grinned and beckoned him forward.
The Darknut took the bait. He launched into a running charge, leading with his armored elbow intent on smashing Impa's head in, but the Sheikah was too nimble. She leapt out of the way and spun around him, slashing at the armor on his back with her naginata. She caught some of the cloth chords that bound the armor together, and a single piece on his hip fell to the ground. He jumped back and swung his sword, his attention fully focused on her now.
Impa dodged his next attack as well and got another piece of armor off as a reward. They continued like this for a while. The Darknut charged at her with its heavy-handed approach, but the nimble Sheikah was too fast for it. She danced around it and tried to get a good slice at the chords tying its armor together. With every piece of armor that fell, she got closer to being able to jab her naginata into the soft flesh of its body underneath, but this process was taking precious time that they couldn't afford.
Impa dodged farther away from a particularly close swipe at her head to catch her breath and take stock of the fight raging around her. Her heart sunk. Right and left, the Hyrulian soldiers were falling. The raid captain she had spoken to earlier took a spiked ball in the face. His body lay bleeding by the northern wall of the keep. Around his corpse were multiple others, most of them clad in Hyrulian blue. Impa could hear the chatter of the enemy bokoblins closing in. One brave soldier was holding the Lizalfos's attention, but he couldn't last long. There was nothing Impa could do to help him—she only prayed he could hold on long enough for her to get a straight shot at this Darknut's weak point.
Unfortunately, she was not so lucky. It was only a few more moments before she could hear the soldier's scream as the arm that used to hold his sword fell two feet away from where she was waiting for the darknut's next charge. Seeing the soldier bleeding out, the Lizalfos turned his attention on Impa. It approached her from the side. The Darknut in front of her still hadn't lost his breastplate yet, and he didn't seem to respond much to the chunks of flesh she had already taken out of his arms and legs.
Impa looked around for someone, anyone, to call out to for support but there was no one around. She was the last Hyrulian soldier standing in the East Abandoned Fort. Reinforcements had not yet arrived, so she knew that she had to hold the keep until they could get to her. But how to hold off so many foes? There was only one option she could think of at that moment. There was no one alive to get caught in the crossfire now, so what could it hurt to try?
Gritting her teeth, she summoned a wave of fire around her. It swirled up and down the length of her Sheikah Naginata and grew hotter by the second. At the peak of its heat and size, when she wasn't sure she could control it any longer, the Sheikah leapt into the air and swung the naginata around her body. Fire spread outward in waves, sending bokoblins and Lizalfos alike flying. They crashed into the walls and started screaming as the blaze seared their flesh. Most of the Bokoblins fell right there, their corpses stinking of charred flesh. Even the Lizalfos tried to run, but it couldn't get out of the circle of flame that had surrounded them. It hissed in pain and anger, close to death but not defeated.
The fire burned away the last of the chords securing Darknut's armor, and the pieces dropped to the ground. Seeing her chance, Impa let the flame fly away from her and darted forward. Her naginata came down in an overhead slice and chopped right through the monster's shoulder and chest. He blinked for a moment. His sword fell to the ground, clattering on the stones at about the same time as the two halves of his torso separated. His corpse fell to join the others.
Impa panted and looked about. Only the Lizalfos was left standing in the keep. All the rest—every Hyrulian and enemy force that had entered the keep, lay dead and burning on the ground. Ahead of her, enemy forces were running by. Some noticed her and ran down to engage her. Impa started to brace herself, but just then the Hyrulian reinforcements arrived.
"Sorry we're late!" shouted the raid captain as he ran over to the stumbling Lizalfos and put it out of its misery.
"That's okay," Impa shouted back. She gestured around her. "It's probably better that you weren't here yet."
He nodded his agreement. The rest of his battalion was filing in behind him. "We can hold this keep now. You go do what you have to."
"My thanks," Impa said. She didn't waste her time and ran out of the keep's northern door.
Enemy forces filled the northern field, but Hyrulian forces were pouring out of the north-central keep and the path by the Goron Mine on the far northwest side of the field. The enemy forces were engaging them near her position, as well as advancing toward the East Keep. Impa could only hope that the troops by the fairy fountain were advancing to meet them, because she had her own mission to accomplish.
The enemy base was straight ahead of where she had exited the eastern abandoned fort. Seeing the gates already open, miraculously, Impa ran toward it, cutting down bokoblins as she passed. It made her advance slower, but she thought that it was better to try to help the raid captain who was holding that new keep as much as she could.
Impa and Volga locked eyes the moment that she entered the enemy base. It was teeming full of bokoblins, with the self-proclaimed Dragon Knight standing by the northern wall. The bokoblins started to advance to protect their keep, but Volga laughed. "Stand down." A cocky grin spread on his face. "This one is mine."
"Just as self-assured as before, I see," Impa said, advancing to the middle of the keep. The bokoblins stood back as instructed and didn't touch her.
Volga swung his spear around him, sending of sparks of fire as he did. "For good reason," he said. Then, as the Sheikah was starting to advance to engage him, the Dragon Knight raised his free hand in the air—and it turned into a giant dragon claw.
Impa jumped backward as the smoldering claw swiped at her. "What the hell was that?!" she shouted, mostly to herself than to him. Still, Volga swiped at her again with the claw as he answered.
"I might have been holding back before," he said, laughing as she dodged again. "This might be…a more heated battle, if you know what I mean."
Impa rolled her eyes. "Oh, please."
Volga gritted his teeth, bursts of flame puffing out of his mouth. Letting out a battle cry, he charged at her. The Sheikah knew this move, though, and she dodged just in time. Just as before, his back was exposed and she swung at it, but before her attack could land a hit, a giant, fiery tail appeared on his backside and slammed into her chest. She hit the western wall hard and slumped to the ground.
"Ow," she groaned, clambering back to her feet. Volga stood back and laughed, waiting for her to be ready again. The Sheikah realized that he was toying with her and growled under her breath. She was not a woman who liked to be toyed with.
"Did I hurt you?" Volga laughed. "Sorry. I'll play fairer next time, I promise."
Impa didn't respond. This time, she pressed the attack. She started with a forward slice that sent the blade of her naginata falling in overhead slices around her tumbling form. Each of these the Dragon Knight blocked. Just when he was settling into his defense, however, Impa suddenly pushed off her right foot. The naginata swung around her body and slammed, blade-first, into the Dragon Knight's left side.
The black metal sunk into his flesh, and Volga looked down at it in bewilderment. "Where did…" he started, but he grimaced mid-sentence as Impa yanked it out and swung it around for another hit from the top. Volga manifested his dragon claw and raised it just in time to block her, but he fell to his knees and dropped his spear at the same time. His right hand went to the wound in his side where Impa's weapon had sunk in, trying in vain to stem the blood pumping from it. Volga shook his head. "You won't kill me this easily," he snarled.
He grabbed his spear in his left hand and used it to hoist himself to his feet. Impa stood ready, waiting to see what he would do. Instead of attacking, as she had expected, the Dragon Knight let out a roar that sounded as if it came from the throat of a real dragon. He leapt into the air and, before her very eyes, transformed his whole body into a dragon. Great fiery wings flapped in the air, and his long serpentine neck arched downward, green eyes piercing Impa. He took a deep breath. The scales of his belly turned bright red with the heat of dragon-fire.
The blast came straight at her, and Impa dodged out of the way. She tried to use some of it to redirect back at him, but dragon-fire was too powerful for anyone to fully control, and the dragon had used the blast as a distraction. By the time the Sheikah managed to redirect the powerful flames, he was already flying away. She watched him go, glaring at him until he was a speck in the sky.
The Sheikah captain was not the only one who saw Volga's retreat. His own troops watched him fly away, and the Hyrulian army could tell just by looking at them that their moral was gone. The only leader left to them, now, was the one remaining Darknut Captain advancing on the Eastern Keep, which Hyrulian troops had managed to successfully capture, and some confused stalfos raid captains who weren't sure if they should run or fight.
Now that Impa had caused their general to retreat, she knew should follow General Xao's orders to retreat to Zelda's position. She was more than willing to obey. As she started to turn around, however, she felt a sharp pain in her side. When she looked down, she saw that Volga's last blast had caught her left side a little and gave her a good burn. It was nothing she couldn't power through, of course, but she wasn't the only one who had noticed the wound.
The Sheikah was in the middle of the enemy base. Their leader may have run, but Impa was still surrounded by bokoblins, in the middle of enemy territory, wounded, and with no aid on the way. The monsters looked at her hungrily and licked their lips. Laughing, they swung their weapons and advanced on her. Impa backed into the corner, where she wouldn't have to worry about protecting her back, ready to fight them off.
"IMPA! HOLD ON!"
The Sheikah looked up and saw Link riding Epona full charge through the enemy ranks. He burst into the keep, horse hooves and sword flying. Behind him on the horse was Princess Zelda herself, brandishing her rapier with bursts of light flying from her sword. Between the three of them, they made short work of the remaining bokoblins in the base, and a battalion of Hyrulian troops was pouring into the north field from their success in the west.
Impa rounded on Link. "What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded. "And with the princess in tow? I should kill you myself!"
Link swung off Epona, leaving Zelda with the reins. Once he was a little closer, the Sheikah could see the real distress on his features and knew that something was wrong. "Impa, it's the king," he said. "When he saw the dragon flying away, he screamed and…and his head…" Link's face turned a little green.
"Spit it out," Impa said, her tone stern. This was no time to grow squeamish.
It was Zelda who answered. "His head turned around backwards," she said, "and he started screaming. Link picked me up on Epona and here we are."
"You need to go," Link said. "I'll help them finish things up here. Go with Zelda, help King Daphnes. If he can be saved…."
Impa nodded. She was already swinging up into the saddle, ignoring the pain from her burnt side. "I'll do what I can," she said.
Zelda wrapped her arms around the Sheikah's middle and held on as Impa spurred Epona into a gallop. Impa winced as the motion was very painful, but she said nothing to adjust Zelda's grip.
"He's down in the south-eastern field," Zelda said, and Impa turned Epona's head in the proper direction. They went through the North-Central Keep, where Impa noticed General Xao's body on the ground and a pang of sorrow hit her. There was no time to stop and mourn, however, and they exited that keep and passed straight into the Central Keep. From there, Epona went to the right, and Impa pulled her up as they exited into the middle of the Eastern Field.
To their left, just where Zelda said he would be, King Daphnes appeared to be stumbling around in his golden armor. His horse was dead behind him, slain by some unknown dark power. Impa dismounted, her movements slowed by her wound. "Take the reins," she said to Zelda. "If I fall, ride Epona back to Link and escape." The princess nodded, but her eyes were locked on her father.
Impa advanced slowly. "King Daphnes?" she called, shifting her grip on her naginata. "Your Majesty, are you okay?"
The king's head turned all the way around to look at her before the rest of his body followed. His skin was gray, black veins tracing lines up his neck and through his face. His eyes were grayish purple with strange black lines through them. He grinned at her. A black sludge oozed from his mouth as he did so. "Sssoo, you live ssshiekaahh," he drawled through the sludge. "Currrssse that ussselesss drrrraagon."
Impa crouched into a battle stance, holding her weapon at the ready. "Who are you, and what have you done to the king?" she growled.
Something inside the king's belly started to bubble, as if his very flesh were boiling. His head started twitching and his limbs flailed in unnatural directions. A scream rose from inside him, and suddenly his whole body exploded. Impa shielded her face as chunks of flesh flew in all directions. Then, flicking a chunk of bloody flesh off her hand, the Sheikah looked at the creature that remained in front of them.
It was a poe, that was clear at first sight, but it was some malformed poe with powers greater than she had ever seen. He wore ornate purple robes, and a single grotesque eye protruded from the middle of his blackened hood. As she watched, the eye opened into a fanged mouth, and the mouth smiled. "My name is Wizzro," it hissed, "and although you may have won the day, Sheikah, you will not win the war. My master comes." It laughed then—a hideous, haunting sound—and disappeared.
"Hey, you," Impa called to the two captains nearest her. They jogged over and awaited orders. "Get a party together and search the castle. The king is missing. Find him! Also, have someone go down to the dungeons and free Princess Ruto. She was never a traitor and we have need of her knowledge." The captain in question nodded and ran toward the castle, his battalion behind him. Impa turned to the other one. "I need you to take stock of the progress of the battle. When you are sure that every one of the enemy has been killed or chased away, I want you to report back to me." The captain saluted and ran to do as he was told.
Impa's hands were shaking as the adrenaline of battle wore off. She shook her herself a little, trying to pull herself together, and turned her attention back to the princess sitting on the horse behind her. Zelda was staring, blank faced, at where her "father" had been standing. Her hands had dropped the reins and she just sat there, still as a statue, staring.
"Zelda?" Impa said, stepping forward. "Are you okay, princess?" The blond Hylian blinked slowly. She looked a little pale, but she was showing none of the physical signs of possession that the king had shown. Still, Impa wanted to be careful. People in shock could be unpredictable, and she knew that with the power of the Triforce Zelda could be a particularly dangerous woman when she wanted to be.
Impa had reached the side of the horse. The princess still hadn't moved or responded. "Zelda?" she asked again, her voice soft. Slowly, carefully, she reached her hand up and touched the back of the princess's calf, behind her armor.
Zelda turned her head slowly, looking down at her guardian. "Impa…he…he…you…."
Impa rubbed Zelda's calf gently, recognizing that it was the physical contact that seemed to be waking her up. "I know, Zel," she said. "Come down from there and we'll get you inside the castle."
"But the battle—" Zelda started, looking around but not seeming to see what was in front of her.
"The battle is over," Impa said. It may not be over quite yet, but she trusted the troops to finish off the stragglers. "We need to take care of you now. Hyrule needs you, Princess Zelda."
Zelda nodded. She swung her leg over the horse and started to ease out of the saddle. Impa caught her partway down and eased her to the ground. The princess seemed unstable, as if standing on the deck of a ship in a storm. She stared at the spot where her father's body had been.
"Come on," Impa murmured, hooking the arm on her good side under Zelda's armpits. "Let's get you to the medics."
The younger woman was pale as a sheet. Impa stumbled for a moment as the princess seemed unable to support herself, but Impa shifted her grip and began helping Zelda hobble toward the castle. The wound in her own side burned worse than before. She chocked it up to adrenaline wearing off and pressed on. Eventually they made it to the threshold of the main entrance. A room nearby was temporarily converted into a hospital ward, and it was now full of wounded soldiers. There were so many that some were being treated out in the hallway, and still others waited just outside the castle for their turn.
The Sheikah captain caught the eye of the head doctor, a face she recognized from her and Link's multiple injuries during the early days of the training program. "Excuse me, Sir," she called, her knees sagging a little. The pain of her burn was worse than she had expected it to be, but she grit her teeth and kept moving. "The princess needs help," she said once the doctor was close enough to really hear her.
"As do you, Captain Impa," the man said. "Come, both of you, to the back room."
A couple younger medics swooped in and took the princess from Impa. They tried to help her too, but the Sheikah waved them off. "Just help Princess Zelda," she said. "I'm fine." They took the princess into a curtained area. By the time Impa managed to reach them, they were already laying her down.
"You should lie over here," the head doctor said to her, gesturing to the bed beside the princess's. He was bending over to try to see her burn better. "Your wounds look grave. What did you get yourself into this time girl?" He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Always playing with fire."
Impa shook her head. "No time. I need to make sure that she's okay. Examine her first, please."
"Very well," he conceded, "but at least sit down." Impa nodded and moved over to the bed in question as the old man got to work examining the princess. He shone a small candlelight in her eyes to check her pupils, and then checked the rest of her vitals. After a few minutes he sighed and straightened. "Princess Zelda is fine," he assured Impa. "She is just in shock. Was the battle too much for her composition?"
Impa shook her head. "She is the strongest person I have ever known. But she did witness something so horrible that most grown men would have fainted. Something no daughter should ever see."
The doctor sighed. "Well, we will have her drink water and monitor her, but she will have to snap out of it herself. You, however, I can do something about. Lie down and let me examine you please."
Impa did as she was told. While the old man looked at her wound, the Sheikah watched the princess.
"This wound is still burning," the old man finally said, surprise in his tone.
"I'm sure it is," Impa said. "It was a very hot flame."
"No, no." The doctor sounded impatient. "I mean that the fire is still active. I can see little tongues of it still consuming your flesh like live embers eating a piece of fresh coal. It is an unnatural flame. What caused this?"
"A dragon," she answered. "The fire only grazed me, so I thought I was okay."
"Hmm. I have never encountered dragon fire." He shook his head and started stroking his beard in thought. "However, I did read a medical journal from the time of the old war. That physician said that untreated dragon fire never stops burning. If that's true then it may have been okay at first, but it is not okay now. If you had not come to me, it would have burned a hole right through you. Luckily, you are here, and that ancient physician also recorded a treatment." He turned to his assistant. "Bring me some maggots and Princess Ruto."
"What are they for?" Impa asked as the assistant ran off to fulfill the doctor's request.
The old man patted her shoulder. "Perhaps better you do not think about it." He shuffled out of the room to tend to his other patients while he waited for the apprentice to return.
Impa looked over at Zelda again. She shifted a little, wincing as she did, and reached a hand out to touch Zelda's fingers. "Hey, Zel, can you hear me?" she said. The princess turned her head slowly. She blinked at the Sheikah's face, as if just remembering who she was. Impa smiled. "There you are. Hey…you gave me quite a scare. Are you okay?"
Tears welled in Zelda's eyes. "No," she said, her voice cracking a little, as if her throat was raw. "I just saw my father's body explode Impa. No, I am not okay."
"Shh," Impa whispered, taking Zelda hand more into her own. She rubbed the back of the princess's hand with her thumb. "You might want to try to keep your voice down. If the soldiers hear you, they will lose heart."
Zelda jerked her hand out of Impa's grasp. She sat up, and her expression was full of anger. "Maybe I do not care if they lose heart. They should! The king is dead! Who knows how long that…that creature…inhabited his body? Who knows what damage it has done to this court without my knowledge? All those secret meetings…what poison has it fed to my leaders? What lies?"
Impa frowned. She tried to sit up, but the burn was delving deeper into her side and the pain was too great. "N-nothing you can't correct," she gasped. She could feel the fiery embers approaching her insides. It was moving so rapidly it was frightening. "I-I'm sorry I didn't s-see…"
Zelda curled her hands into fists and glared down at the floor. Her eyes moved back and forth, as if reading something that no one else could see. A shadow seemed to fall over her fair features.
"That thing appointed you, didn't it?" Her knuckles were white as they clutched the bedsheets in her fists. Her body shook with a tremor that ran from the tips of her fingers down to her toes.
"Yes, I can see it now…I did not start feeling those unnatural feelings until you came. Once I started feeling things for you and I was distracted, I was blinded to the signs. The strange things my father was doing. The way he cared so much about my dreams but nothing else. His sudden change in policies and how he was keeping me out of the council. I noticed it all, but I was so focused on you that I did not pay attention to it."
Impa's brow furrowed. "Zelda, you…you can't think that I had anything to do with Wizzro? I swear to you, on my honor, I had no idea."
Zelda's wide eyes slowly raised to the Sheikah's face. Unblinking, tears shook in their blood-shot edges. "Did you not?" she murmured. "How can I know that? How do either of us know that it did not create the things that we thought we felt for each other using its dark magic? And if you were in league with it, you surely would not tell me, now, would you? How can I ever trust a word you say again?"
Impa did force herself to sit up now, and a small cry of pain escaped her. The edges of the burning flesh were smoldering red hot, and her ribs were now visible in the hole left behind. "I-I…ungh…I was not under a spell," she hissed through clenched teeth. "E-everything I felt was r-real! I l-love you, Zelda."
Princess Zelda stood. She was a still shaky, but the color was returning to her cheeks, and her eyes burned with hurt and disgust. "Do not call me my by personal name," she said. "I do not know you anymore." She turned on her heal and strode out of the room.
Impa called after her, half delirious with the pain of her burning flesh, but Zelda didn't return. The Sheikah collapsed back on the bed. Tears streamed down her cheeks and her body shook with a barely-restrained sob. It wasn't long before pain dropped her into the oblivion of unconsciousness.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Author's Notes: Revised chapter uploaded May 2022. Please find original author's comments below.
!
Hello! To celebrate the SCOTUS ruling today in the US in favor of Gay Marriage, here is the next chapter of In Sotto Voce. I know it doesn't end happily, but at least it's a new chapter. And hopefully the battle was fun to read.
Thank you for reading!
