The Downfall Timeline
Book 1
Chapter 28: Passing one Era into the Next
February 1, 610 GK, The War of Imprisonment, Day 200
Lake Hylia
Link's trial was very brief. The infantry captain retold his story of how the boy had been instructed to lead the horses back to the lake and to escort the wagon of wounded. The squire did not deny the accusation and even went so far as to admit that he knew Alfon did not want him to go into the forest.
When asked why he had done this, he simply answered, "I had to know if they were alive or dead."
Zelda could not bring herself to look at him. She knew exactly how he felt and would have likely done the same thing - if she had been given a chance to find her parents alive.
Her stomach clenched as Impa declared the judgment and sentenced him to five lashes before the garrison at dawn the next day. With no stockade available to them, Link was commanded to remain in his tent until summoned for his punishment.
The squire stood frozen with shocked disbelief as the guards closed his wrists in irons and dragged him away.
"But I saved them! They were still alive and I saved them!" his shouts echoed as they disappeared down the corridor.
Once he had gone, the princess let out a loud sob and began to weep into her hands.
The minister gently rubbed her back and tried to comfort her, but Alfon looked down at her with cold apathy. "If it hurts your highness, then remember it." He growled.
February 2, 610 GK, The War of Imprisonment, Day 201
Lake Hylia
The following morning, the entire garrison - save those men posted at the gates on the lake road - were assembled and ordered into ranks. A small wooden arch was erected near the water's edge with two iron chains hanging from the top.
Russel and Viscern entered Link's tent, tied the boy's wrists behind his back, and slowly led him across the camp toward the arch. Each step became harder and harder to take as the terror in the boy's heart grew. He was so distracted; he did not notice how Russel's attitude toward him had changed.
"Don't worry lad. You are not the first and you certainly won't be the last." The old veteran tried to comfort him, as he marched the boy toward his punishment.
The captains stripped Link of his mail, cap, tunic, and trousers (mercifully leaving his undergarments) before they manacled his hands to the arch. Stepping several paces ahead of the boy, each turned to look back at him and await his punishment.
Zelda, Impa, and Captain Corin stood to one side of the assembled company as Lord Alfon took his station directly behind his squire, holding a long, coiled whip.
After the captains had secured the boy's chains and took their stations, the great knight quietly whispered to his ward. "Life is often cruel lad. Despite our best efforts, sometimes terrible things happen to us and to those we love. What determines a man's worth, is how he deals with these cruelties. Does he cower and despair? Wailing that he does not deserve what has happened? or does he stand and face the challenge with courage?"
Link strained to twist his head around as he muttered back to his master, "I saved them Alfon... they would have died if we hadn't killed that monster!"
Tears were forming in the boy's eyes and his voice was shaking with both anger and great fear of the pain he was about to experience.
"I know son," his master replied - his own voice choking - "... make me proud."
"Captain," Impa shouted – a note of victorious satisfaction in her voice - "Read the charges."
With a downcast expression, Corin slowly drew a scroll from his belt and cleared his throat.
"For disobeying the lawful orders of a superior officer.
For abandoning his duties during a time of war, which placed Hylian lives at great risk.
For disobeying the expressed command of his master.
This squire is sentenced to be flogged before the garrison at dawn.
Five lashes."
A few hushed murmurs rippled up and down the assembled mass of soldiers as he returned the scroll to his belt.
Link clenched his shaking hands into fists as the cold morning air brushed against him.
The marshal breathed slowly and attempted to force every thought out of his mind. There was nothing he could do to stop this, but he could focus on where the whip should land, to create the least harm.
Farther up the lakeshore, on a small hill, Telma stood with Talon, Malon, and several of Lake Town's residents. The old rancher was trying to gently console her, but she was already sobbing into her handkerchief.
On the lake's glassy surface, a small troop of Zora watched in grim disbelief. Turning and looking out over the water, Link could make out the small coral earrings and purple eyes of Princess Ruto, watching from the center. She tried to smile at him, but her eyes were streaming, watching her savior be stripped and chained.
"Proceed." commanded the regent in a cold voice.
Zelda's throat nearly closed. "I'm so sorry Link." she thought to herself as she watched him.
Though he had served beside Alfon for several months, he still possessed the body of a young boy, and the sight of a boy being chained and flogged was too much. As silently as she could, the princess wiped tears away from her eyes and stifled several small whimpers as she breathed.
Corin turned and marched toward Alfon, halting one pace behind him and to his right.
"You may begin, My Lord." he announced.
"Look at me, boy!" grunted Russel, "Keep your eyes on me!"
The terrified squire lifted his head and stared into the captain's scarred face. When their eyes met, the old veteran nodded grimly to him and held his gaze.
"Stay right here lad. Just look at me." he whispered.
The marshal slowly drew a deep breath and silently prayed, "Goddess... Give me strength. Goddess... forgive me."
The company stood silently, holding the tension of the moment and the terrible punishment that was about to come.
But after several moments of the marshal's hesitation, Corin whispered, "No man would think less of you, My Lord, if you cannot-"
But Alfon cut him off with a shout, "He is my squire! No one else shall touch him!" as he shook out the whip and landed the first strike.
Searing pain – greater and more terrible than any the boy had ever experienced before - tore through Link's left shoulder and the wet trickle of blood began to run down his back.
"ONE!" bellowed Corin.
The squire gasped and struggled to regain his breath as his heartbeat seemed to race out of control.
"Stay with me, right here boy!" shouted Russel.
A second sharp crack followed and a fresh gash was added to Link's right shoulder. He ground his teeth as an agonized groan began to escape his lips - tears already pouring down his cheeks.
"TWO!" cried the captain as the marshal drew back for the next strike.
Zelda's mouth fell open – her own tears streaming down her face. For a moment, she seemed unable to breathe, before drawing in a deep gasp (in time with Link) and clamping her own hand over her mouth to keep from crying out.
"THREE!" roared Corin, as the boy yelped and dropped to hang helplessly from his chains.
"FOUR!" followed as Alfon struck the back of his other thigh.
"Almost there lad." Tried Russel, but Link had been pushed beyond his limits.
Dropping his head back, he openly screamed in bloody agony as he hung, crippled, from his wrists.
Trembling so powerfully, she nearly lost her footing, the princess let out a small cry of sorrow and moved to rush forward, but Impa grabbed her arm and quickly stopped her.
"No, Your Grace! You cannot!" she urged as she pulled Zelda tightly beside her.
Several in the company caught sight of her movement and knew that she was unable to bear what was being done to her friend.
As Alfon shook his arm and prepared for the final strike, an echoing cry erupted from the gathering of townsfolk,
"Mercy, My Lord! Mercy!" Telma, collapsed onto her knees, wailed and sobbed to her beloved to spare Link the final blow.
Talon tried, desperately to silence her, but it was useless. She no longer feared what Impa would do to her. She only cared for her little soldier.
Several other women in the crowd joined her and began to chant, "Mercy, mercy!"
Even Princess Ruto shouted to Zelda, "He saved our people from destruction! Have mercy your highness!"
With her eyes bloodshot and streaming tears, the young royal visibly shook with the struggle inside her mind. Within the crowd, atop the hill, she could plainly see the messengers from the lesser kingdoms, watching curiously. They would faithfully report what they had seen and heard back to their masters. But the cries of pain from Link were quickly breaking down her resolve.
Telma's pleas echoed in Alfon's ears. For an instant, he actually considered stopping the punishment.
"I could do it… I could force her to command the fifth blow. They would hate her for it." He thought to himself as he watched the blood of his ward drip onto the grass below him.
But the rebellious fantasy quickly passed. He was a knight and loyal servant of the sovereign; he could not act against the crown or its regent - no matter how awful the task.
Over the shouts from the people and the cries of pain from his squire, the marshal cracked the whip once more as the fifth and final gash appeared across the middle of Link's back.
The chanting mass of townsfolk fell suddenly silent and the boy's pitiful screams echoed out over the lake's basin.
As Alfon re-coiled the whip in his hands, Corin shouted "FIVE!" and - after a brief pause - finished, "The sentence now being carried out, release the prisoner!"
Russel and Viscern dashed forward to unchain the boy while two of the infirmary's nurses laid him face-down onto a small cart and rushed him into the temple.
The marshal roughly handed the whip to Captain Corin and - turning to the Princess - shouted, "Will there be anything else, Your Highness?"
Unable to speak, Zelda just shook her head "No." and turned away.
"Company! ATTENTION!" the marshal roared, "Dismissed."
The gathered soldiers straightened their backs, tamped their spears against the hard ground once, and dispersed.
With a wilted mustache and tears coming to his own eyes, Corin looked up at his marshal, "You did what you had to do, my lord. Better his master than some stranger." he said, trying to comfort his friend.
"What are we doing Corin?" Alfon asked, "We're struggling to hold onto our kingdom, barely able to contain the evil at the capitol, and she has us whipping him for acting like a hero!"
The militia officer turned and watched the regent and princess disappear into the temple with a concerned frown.
"She is doing what she judges to be right, my lord. Trying to keep what is left of the kingdom from splintering apart."
With an angry spasm, the marshal leaned in close and whispered, "You find me one Hylian here who had to watch a boy be flogged to remain loyal to his princess!"
With a deep sigh, Corin left his friend and attended to his other duties around the lakeside town. The marshal made to enter the temple and sit beside his ward in the infirmary, but Viscern and Russell briefly stopped him.
"It is good to see you well, my lord! After what happened with the bats." The old veteran said as he and his comrade bowed their heads.
"And you, my friends. The only good thing to come in these days... is to see you both alive and well." replied their commander.
"Do not worry yourself too much my lord, the boy is strong." Viscern said.
"Aye," added Russell, "and there is hardly a sergeant or captain in this army who hasn't felt the lash at least once."
"At such a young age?" the knight asked.
"Well..." he began, but was lost for any response.
After an awkward silence, the ranger asked, "What will become of him now, my lord?"
Alfon thought for a moment before answering, "He will bitterly hate the princess and Impa for this. Hatred which could easily turn into something worse. I will have to train him - day and night - to keep his mind focused."
The two captains nodded their agreement.
"I could… give the boy a lesson or two… when you are called away for duty." Added Russell thoughtfully.
The marshal gave a weak smile, "I knew you would like him, old dog."
The coarse veteran grimaced uncomfortably in return, "I don't like him! He just… showed real spine at the ranch. He could become a good soldier. That is all!" he quickly answered.
"The princess. She was heartbroken - everyone could see that." Viscern said softly, still staring at the entrance to the temple.
"Everyone... but Link." replied Alfon, "Nothing will be the same for him now. He's entered a new chapter of his life - a much darker one - Whether he's wanted to or not. Goddess help the boy."
~Here ends "The Breaking of Time": Book 1 of The War of Imprisonment Series~