Kyou's War - Part 3


-Western Qin-

To the end of Qin was a savage land of mountains and thick forests. Few traveled here for fear of witches, Fae, centaur, ogres, ents, wild wolf-men, and other creatures of legend were said to reside here. This was where Zelda led her band.

Ten soldiers stuck with her while two were sent to support the fleeing villagers in escaping Ketsu's ambush. Link tagged along, determined to see Midna's mission to the end. He kept her sword as well as if it was the physical embodiment of the burden he carried with him. Zelda said nothing about him using her sword. Midna and Link had been close, so he should have something to remember her by.

Zelda stopped by another stone bearing the mark of the Sheikah, turned, and walked. Link sighed as he followed. "Admit it, you're lost."

"I am not lost."

"Great. Then where are we?"

Zelda didn't answer.

"Yeah, we're screwed."

"Just because I don't know where we are doesn't mean we're lost."

"I'm pretty sure that's lost!"

"Then you rely on sight and not faith, like a monkey rather than man."

"I can faith fine." Link grumbled. He roped his arms together. "Like a guide or map. Maybe if one of those Fae shows up..."

"You would have more faith in a mystical faery than in me? Something you can't see versus what you can, yet you want to rely on a map, which I doubt you can read. All that would be is contradictory except it shows you are desperate to not rely on me." Zelda glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Link avoided her gaze guiltily at being caught. "Perhaps you would like to guide us?"

"No, no. You're doing fine."

"Good. Know your place and stay behind me, Monkey."

"I'll show you your place..." Link grumbled.

The soldiers watched them, a princess and a slave, bickering. Not demanding, not demeaning, not dictating, just bickering. It was oddly surreal to see them acting like the youngsters they physically were.

One of the soldiers, Matsubi, said, "Princess, perhaps we should set up camp? We have been on the road with little rest. Surely, you are becoming weary."

"I am, but this is a dangerous place to stop for the night."

"I must humbly advise for it, though. We are safe from Ketsu, and forcing yourself will hurt you if your body is not allowed its rest."

Zelda sighed and looked despondently up the path. She wanted to finish, but the soldier was right. She was becoming tired and... irritable and childish. "Very well." She acquiesced. "Let us backtrack to the previous marker and camp at it."

They turned back. Link said, "You been following markers this whole time?"

"Yes. Not my fault you haven't noticed, Monkey. It was fairly obvious."

"Oh, you mean these smiling rocks? They're rocks some weirdo drew on!"

"That is what they want you to think."

"Who's they?"

Zelda smirked, "They are them. Who else would they be?" She teased him. At this point, the soldiers were chuckling. Link rolled his eyes and kept on.

The soldiers took up the role of setting up camp. Zelda warned them to not go far since it was dangerous. This proved true as when the night fell, child-like laughter could be heard in the distance and pockets of light appeared and disappeared. The trees, and the very rocks, seemed to move when the group was not paying attention.

"I think perhaps the slave's Fae are here." Matsubi gulped. He poked at the fire they had lit. There was no time to gather food before dark, so they ate the last of their rations. "We will need to hunt tomorrow or we won't make it far. Do Fae eat people?"

Matsubi aimed the question at the princess as she seemed the most knowledgeable, but she had fallen asleep nestled against a tree, at a distance from the others so that the light of the campfire barely touched her feet.

"Isn't she afraid the tree will reach out and grab her?" He wondered.

"I doubt she believes anything of the sort." Link replied. His dark eyes watched the fire as it was poked.

Matsubi shared a glance with another soldier who also didn't appreciate the disrespectful tone. He asked, "You presume to know a great deal about her, for a slave. Are you hers?"

Link scoffed. "No, I'm not her slave. I would have cut my throat long ago if I were. How much did you get from what was said when we met?"

"Something about the princess having a body double."

"Yeah, I grew up with Midna. She was like a sister to me." Link pointed at Zelda. "Her attendants strolls up, buys Midna, and has her die as Zelda's decoy. The swap fooled me because Zelda also took Midna's place in my life. She was as cold and distant then as she is now."

"Yet you two argue like an old married couple," Matsubi observed.

Link dropped everything he was holding in shock. His cheeks turned red and he stammered. "Th- We- She's impossible! You are seeing something that isn't there!" Link forced himself to calm. He clenched his fists. "I hate her. I hate everything about her! Her face! Her voice! Her attitude! It's all a mockery of a girl that was better than her." He whispered. "I just forget sometimes who she is and who she isn't."

With that said, Link laid himself down with his back to them and went to sleep.

Matsubi looked between Link and Zelda and sighed. "Like raising kids again..."

Unbeknownst to them, Zelda was a light sleeper and had stirred at the sound of their voices. What she heard about herself did not bother her, but it was disconcerting that someone would rather cut themselves than serve her. She had tried being less cold lately, a difficult feat despite Link's contagious energy, and this was what she was met with? Was his irrational hate this deep?

It reminded her of her childhood briefly, but Zelda shoved those memories away as quickly as they appeared. Why did it matter? He was a slave. He was a tool. She would use him and toss him away if he proved too dangerous. The one thing that made him useful was him turning his vengeance on their mutual enemy rather than her, but an alliance of hate was a loose alliance at best, and an eminent betrayal at worst.

Matsubi sorted the men into sleep rotations, and after assuring the princess had fallen soundly asleep, gently moved her closer to the fire. She was shaky from the cold, and something disturbed her in her dreams so she mumbled incoherently.

"Nightmare?" A soldier wondered.

Matsubi watched her in concern, "Likely. Speak nothing of it, and forget she has it. If she doesn't bring it up, then it not for us to intrude." It was not their place. An emotional burden was best left for people she trusted if she trusted anyone. He didn't begin to consider himself someone she could trust, not after what they had done.

Matsubi took the first hour of watch. The forest seemed haunted. Matsubi couldn't shake the feeling they were being watched, and that everything, from the ground to the trees, was alive and wary.

-Meanwhile, On the road from Kanyou-

The campfire's flickering flame danced with all the passion of Din, illuminating the roadside in warmth. Two guards stood at the sides of the camp, attentive and ready for movement. There were a few tents with horses roped to wooden pikes thrust into the ground. In the middle one, the person they guarded slept soundly. They kept an eye on the moon, the ever-present eye of Naryu, that they may judge the time. For as Naryu gave structure and law, so her moon moves to provide time to their nights; always present among Farore's creation, but above it and outside it.

Brief flickers in the moonlight went unnoticed as shapes passed. Without making a sound they traversed the branches, flowing with nature so that the trees did not notice their presence. The shadow ones did not disturb the birds, though they were noticed. They did not disturb the wind, though it grabbed their cloth masks and tugged at them.

Like a rehearsed opera, with the coordination of actors who had memorized their lines a thousand times over, they commenced.

The shadows descended from the sky on top of their prey. Immediately knives punctured necks through to blood vessels and across throats. The opera reached its next act as their leader had aimed her positioning to land directly within the tent. The only measurable sound was the impact of their landing. It was enough to wake their charge, but it was too late. In a swift movement, Impa smothered the target with a drugged cloth.

There was no consideration for whether their actions were right or wrong, moral or immoral. They were a blade. Blades do not kill, it is those that wield them that bear the blame, the guilt. The shadowy ones took pride in it, because of the deeper the shadow, the brighter the light.

Reida woke with a start. She immediately found a cloth around her eyes, her mouth gagged by a cloth that had been soaked in urine, her hands tied behind her back, her legs tied to a pole of some sort, and a rock floor under her. She had been kidnapped! Her guards, where were they? Where was she and who had taken her?

A sound stopped her, and terror choked her. Someone else was in the room. A rough hand grasped the clothes that covered her eyes and filled her mouth and snapped them away.

Reida snapped her eyes shut tightly as torchlight pierced her orbs. She coughed violently at the taste in her mouth. The taste of urine wouldn't go away anytime soon. "Wha- what do you want? Who are you?" She croaked.

"I must apologize for the treatment, but it is necessary." A voice said. A chair was pulled up, and as Reida's eyes adjusted to the light, she saw she was in a cavernous room. There were a desk and a chair at a distance, and her feet were tied to a wooden post that went from the floor to the ceiling. The one to speak was covered in clothes, from head to toe, however, the emblem on his chest was revealing enough.

"What do the Sheikah clan want with me?" Reida struggled to find some semblance of calm. "Who ordered this?"

"Out of respect for you, I have been instructed to explain everything. First, though, you must eat." The Sheikah took a plate from the desk and placed it by her. "It is not poisoned. If we wanted you dead, you would be."

Reida glanced at the food out of the corner of her eye. It wasn't garbage like she expected prisoners to have. If anything, it was what they ate themselves. Reida couldn't stomach the idea of eating, though. She was too scared to eat.

The Sheikah removed the plate. "I understand. When you have a chance to calm down, then you may be hungry." The Sheikah handed the plate through the door, and after positioning the chair closer, sat on it. "Now, I realize how this may look, but you are not in any danger."

"Forgive me if I don't believe that," Reida whispered.

There were a lot of reasons Reida could imagine people wanting her killed or kidnapped. She was the daughter of the governor to one of Qin's largest cities. She was daughter to an honored house. She was beautiful and not afraid to speak her mind and demand respect, which naturally made her a few enemies. Above all that, she was betrothed to Prince Kyou.

She didn't agree with what he was doing, and openly made her disappointment known to him in private counsel, but men would be men and would do what they wanted as men do. In the world of politics, this made her either an enemy to Kyou for speaking out, or an enemy of his rivals for existing.

The Sheikah, so far as she knew, had no loyalty to Kyou. Their loyalty had passed easily to Princess Zelda, who had just been killed.

"This is about revenge, isn't it?" Reida guessed. The Sheikah turned his head, curious at the prisoner's thought. "My prince dethroned Zelda, so you're hurting him through me."

The Sheikah nodded. "It seems Lady Impa was right about your understanding. You grasped it quickly, however, as I said, your life is not in danger."

She narrowed her eyes at the Sheikah. "You just murdered my guards."

"Unfortunately." The Sheikah said in passing interest. He shook his head. "Simply put, you are a distraction. If you disappear, then Prince Kyou will naturally follow the same thought you have had, and believe this is revenge. You are the one thing he cares about beyond the throne, and in choosing between the throne and you... we will see which he chooses to chase after."

"Prince Kyou isn't so dumb as to expose himself to danger and walk knowingly into a trap, even for my sake," Reida argued. "Nor would I want him to."

"Be that as it may be," The Sheikah shrugged. "We will still hold his attention. That is more than enough."

The Sheikah stood up and approached her. Reida tried to squirm away, but the Sheikah grabbed her arm with a tight grip while reaching for her fingers. Reida shook her hands out of the grip. He paused and said, "Lady Impa says you are not to lose any fingers, but if you refuse to give up a ring, we may have to."

The man spoke with such simplicity that were he another person, Reida might have suspected she was being toyed with; however, this was a Sheikah. The threat to remove a finger was not an idle one. Reida gulped and stopped squirming, even as her pride was damaged. The Sheikah removed a ring from her finger. "Do not hate us for this, my lady. Lady Impa wishes to see you thrive in court. This may make us seem like adversaries, but tomorrow we may be your ally. We are merely a blade, and do the will of our master."

"So easy to cast off blame like that isn't it, but take away the master, and yet the blade continues to kill. Is it because the blade has found a new master or because it has become wild and feral?"

The saying seemed to give the Sheikah pause for a moment, as Reida's barb struck a nerve. Then just as quickly as it struck, the Sheikah shrugged it off. A blanket was handed in with a pillow. The Sheikah worked to arrange them beside her, and just before leaving, cut Reida's bindings.

"Zelda is dead," Reida spoke up. This statement made the Sheikah falter, and it gave her a bit of satisfaction to see they were behind the times. "Her corpse was hung from the palace gates just before I left Kanyou. You can check for yourselves."

The Sheikah left without a word.

Reida rubbed at her sores and watched the door close. She wanted to hate them for kidnapping her, but they were treating her amazingly well. Still, she wasn't one to be dismissing reality. She had been kidnapped, and her guards had been murdered. If no harm came to her, then she could make peace with being kidnapped. It didn't mean she would be able to trust them again, especially Impa.

-Zelda-

Zelda opened her eyes with the first light and briskly rose. She noted how she had been moved to be closer to the fire while between multiple guards. The guard on the watch avoided her cold gaze. She didn't like being touched, but couldn't begrudge them for taking the necessary precaution. If anything, what disturbed her most was that she had been moved without noticing it. Zelda chastised herself. She had exhausted herself into vulnerability.

The ad-lib leader among them, Matsubi, rose minutes after her and prepared some food to break the fast. He used the last of their combined rations and thinned it out with water from a nearby stream to make hot soup. He handed Zelda a bowl with a silent nod and a small smile.

'A resourceful, proactive man.' She noted. There was also a gentleness about him that defied her first impression as an enemy, while he was also strict with his peers. She couldn't place it, but it reminded her briefly of how Impa was at times.

Unlike Link, who was sprawled across the ground, arms and legs wide open, snoring and drooling. He was dead to the world. Midna's sword was several feet away from his hand. Zelda scoffed. He was wide open to being assassinated.

"Wake them," Zelda ordered Matsubi. "We can eat while we move. We should arrive before midday if we pick up the pace."

"Yes, your highness." Matsubi bowed.

He awoke everyone with a kick. Link, in a half-awake moment of instinct, latched onto the attacking foot and bit down. The men laughed as Matsubi struggled to pry the kid off. Zelda shook her head at their behavior and started up the path at a slow pace.

The environment changed as they took the path from marker to marker. The forest became darker but also filled with more lights. The overcast against the sun became more and more dense, but it was thriving and alive. Laughter filled the forest at times, startling her guards.

"Someone is out there," Matsubi murmured. "Anyone see them?" Whoever was out there was too quick, and hid away.

"It's like they're toying with us!" Link barked as more laughter could be heard. His hand unconsciously reached for Midna's sword.

"Ignore them," Zelda ordered. "They are part of the forest's danger. If my guess is true, then at least some myths of this forest are true. Despite my jesting yesterday, the Fae are real. The children of Farore make their home here. They are what you saw last night. They have been watching us since we entered their territory, but because we have stuck to the path laid out by the Sheikah they have not harmed us. If anything, what you are seeing is their playful nature. Do not stray from the path, and you will not see how dangerous they can be."

"So you expect us to do nothing while they play like trolls!" Link argued. Zelda stopped briefly. She turned to look him in the eye, with such a look as to dare his defiance. It stopped Link on the spot and his words caught in his throat.

Zelda said, "Yes." She turned her back on him and continued.

Link felt the need to argue, to defy her, to not be controlled, but after the look she gave him he couldn't. It was different from the unwavering desire to kill he saw in the mercenary before, but at the same time similar. If the mercenaries' look could be described as passionate and drunken on it, her look could be described as merciless and distrustful. It chilled him to the bone.

While Zelda knew where their destination lied, even she was unprepared for what was found past the final marker. The Sheikah marker pointed to a crevice between rocks, large enough for two men to enter side-by-side. It was short, with the passage opening wide. The men in front of her gasped in awe, and feeling curious, she pushed her way between them.

What laid before her eyes took her breath away, and for a moment she felt something enter her heart alight to a gentle flame. Unlike the endless void, she always bore, the warmth of what she saw spread through her limbs and into her face until she smiled. The men were not so different in awe, though they had different ways of expressing it.

"SLAP ME THRICE AND HAND ME TO ME MAMMA!" Link yelled, causing Matsubi to momentarily turn and look at him in a different kind of awe.

Before them was a water-filled alcove in the rocks, like the top of a volcano filled with water. Water-lily and flowers floated and filled the earth around it, while beneath the water, and above it, were moving lights. No. Now that they could see it more closely, they were Fae. One such Fae flew up to their faces, and Zelda was surprised to see how much the Fae looked like a tiny girl with an eternal smile on her face. Despite the myth, there was no wing on her tiny form. The Fae was one with the wind and floated effortlessly. The Fae dived into the water at her feet and seemed to move and be one with the element just as much as the other. It drew their attention downward, and again the men gasped.

Beneath them was a city. The crystal-clear lake descended seemingly forever. The darkness of the water was denied by the glow of the Fae and their shell buildings. The buildings themselves were shaped naturally as shells along the edges of the lake bottom and were fashioned together as smoothly as a tree entwines itself with nature.

Floating in the middle of the lake before them was a beautiful hut, painted in white and green and red. Its size showed it was meant for the taller humans. The building seemed to defy nature in its freshness of wood and paint. Above it, Zelda saw Fae flew in and out of the alcove as their preferred way of passing between their city and the surrounding forest. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what looked like a child's head watching them from the top of the alcove with a curious smile.

Many Fae gathered like a school of fish beneath the surface and flew out of the water. Their formation encircled the group playfully before diving into the rock surface around them. Though they could not see it, the Fae swam through stone and rock as easily as they did air or water.

The earth beneath them shifted and moved, causing most of them to stumble and lose their footing. Zelda fell into the water. She feared for a moment she would drown since she didn't know how to swim, but the water kept her afloat. She rose to her feet on the water, and to her amazement, her clothes were not wet.

The earth beneath them moved across the water to form a bridge. More earth followed and encircled the floating hut to create an extended yard for them to walk around the hut. The hut itself rested on floating earth, but now there was an extension from the entrance to the hut.

The water beneath Zelda moved as well, and despite her attempt to steady herself, she fell on her butt. The water didn't seem to mind though and carried her to the hut. Zelda placed a foot on the earth and stood by her own will. The soldiers ran to catch up with her.

"Wha-what is this place?!" Matsubi wondered. His eyes swerved in their sockets as he tried to see everything around him. The place was beyond imagining, even for Zelda though she knew of this place by written account.

"I'll explain shortly. For now, stay here and rest. We are safe here. The Fae will not harm us so long as we aren't threats. I am expecting guests, so let me see if we are late. My guests will attack you if you are the first thing they see." Matsubi grimaced but nodded. He laid down his spear on the ground and advised the soldiers to do the same. They laid down their weapons and rested.

Link was already resting in his way. He dived into the water and tried to grab at the Fae. Thinking he was trying to kidnap them, the water threw Link out violently, and he landed on the earth. The earth sunk his hands and feet and entrapped him. "Hey! What's that for!" Link protested. He struggled against the bindings, but couldn't. One Fae stuck her tongue out at him. Childishly, he returned the favor.

Zelda herself entered the hut. No one was there. Zelda sighed in disappointment. She was late, and yet Impa was the one to be last. That was against her punctual nature.

The hut was made up of three rooms. The first and largest room was occupied by a long table and an assortment of cushioned chairs. Windows were on the walls, through which she briefly saw Link be picked up by his feet and slung around while the soldiers jeered. Zelda passed through the room and found the next room was with a pot and bathtub, while the other room had a cooking fireplace, a closet of food-filled bags, and a shelf of herbs. A box contained all the necessary equipment to cook and eat for many people.

She touched the food and rubbed herbs between her fingers. Powerful scents hit her nose. "Fresh." She whispered. Did the Fae continuously resupply the hut for guests, or did the energy of this place give life and immortality to the organic and inorganic equally?

She returned to the main room to find a man who was there, of sorts. This creature had the shape and height of the average man, but unlike a man of flesh and bone, this 'man' was of wood and vines. Its eyes glowed as it gazed on Zelda.

"What is your purpose here, daughter of Naryu?" The tree-man said.

"Shelter," Zelda answered. "It is rude to question my motives before introducing yourself."

"I am Fae. My identity cannot be spoken by your tongue, but you may call me what you wish. My position among Fae is that of the patriarch."

"Then may I call you Elder?"

"If you wish."

Zelda nodded. "My name is Zelda. I am heir to the throne of Qin. In some years' time, I will be King."

"We know of Qin and it's king." Elder said. Its voice was throaty like wind through leaves. "Where is The Betrayer King, King Aou? Has he passed into the eternal realms?"

"He was my grandfather and was passed on by my father, King Xiang. Both have passed."

Elder was silent for a moment. He, for it had the appearance of a male, bowed his head. "I am sorry to hear that. We were not in good relations, but I loved his father as much I could any mortal, and out of respect for King Shorlin, I honored his son to the end. Much time has passed since the royal family of Qin has honored us with a visit. What is it you fear, daughter of Shorlin?"

"Who says I am afraid?"

"You seek shelter as if to imply you are seeking an escape from a threat," The elder replied. Zelda accepted the rebuke. She had not considered her usage of words to imply it, and had given more than she wanted.

Elder continued knowingly, "You are not here for a diplomatic visit between Qin and the Fae, but to flee from danger, so I see no reason to engage in dialogue more than necessary. You have respected our territory by not straying from the path set by the Sheikah, whom we respect, so we will shelter you so long as you do not seek to do us ill will, and so long as what you fear does us no harm."

"Thank you," Zelda said. "I know we intrude, but I hope we are not a burden. Your words are true, we do flee from danger. I am expecting guests to arrive, more Sheikah who knows the old paths. We agreed to rendezvous here."

"Might have been nice to ask us first..." Elder seemed to grumble.

Zelda smiled apologetically. Despite his tone, Zelda didn't sense any hostility behind it. Elder didn't seem to be holding a grudge at their unannounced usage of his land. It could be considered an invasion of sorts, or an insult, but the Fae seemed to be taking it well in stride.

Zelda offered, "Despite it all, I do hope we can take this opportunity to learn from each other and revive some dialogue between us. The Fae are nothing more than legend now, and it seems you are behind on the times beyond your forest."

"I can agree with that," Elder said. "For now, it seems you have had a long journey. Eat your fill and rest. You will find blankets under the flooring beneath the table. Our home is warm, but as I understand it, you huma like them."

"Thank you," Zelda said.

Elder sat in the corner of the room, and after a moment, a Fae left him. The wood left behind lost its glow and life and became like a normal tree in the shape of a man sitting in the corner.

Zelda left the hut and announced, "Its safe. You may enter now."

Matsubi entered first. His eyes briefly widened at what he saw. "It seems the Fae were expecting company."

Zelda nodded. "Yes. This place was originally built by my great-grandfather. It was his favorite retreat away from the palace. No one but the Sheikah, the royal family, and this city of Fae know. Prince Kyou would know, but I doubt he took much interest in the personal scrolls of our fathers. The Fae said there would be blankets under a panel beneath the table."

"Makes for a great hideout then." Matsubi made his inspection of the hut while his men moved the table onto its side and unlatched the panel to find the blankets. The heavy blankets were all dyed red with gold fringe around the edges. On the center was a crest Zelda did not recognize. It looked like a bird with a triple-triangular head.

"It also acts as a good negotiation table." Zelda continued, lost in history for a moment. "King Shorlin was considered the greatest conqueror-king of Qin, and built us to the border we now possess; however that was not because just of the might of his armies and generals, but of the open freedom he gave them to conquer without politics holding them back, and his diplomacy with the clans still hidden within Qin. The Sheikah, Fae, and Majora to name a few. There are a dozen more hidden in the mountains, but those were the largest. All of them gathered here at this table." Zelda ran her hand over the smooth surface. "It's still smooth."

"Amazing!" Matsubi breathed. "The Sheikah are well known, but the Fae and Majora are but legend... tales told to frighten children."

"Funny story. If you find it as amusing as my teacher did. The Majora is a barbaric mountain tribe. The tribesmen of my great-grandfathers day ambushed a patrol of Qin. They chased our soldiers off but kept the horses to eat. These were the personal horses from the king's herd, so he could have had their heads. Instead..." Zelda smirked. "He sent them wine with a message that the drink went well with venison."

A few of the men did chuckle, but Matsubi just seemed bewildered. "An interesting choice."

"It opened the dialogue with the Majora and King Shorlin met with their leader. Supposedly the two formed a strong friendship, as my great-grandfather was written to be... eccentric. With the aid of the Majora, Sheikah, and Fae, he had a large boon to his forces and conquered several rival clans to form Qin as it is today."

"What happened though? Were the Majora wiped out? You would think they would be around if they were as helpful as they seemed to be."

"I don't know about my father, but my grandfather was written to be prideful and arrogant. Grandfather did not get along as well with the Majora as his father did. I suspect they hid once more in the mountains."

(edited 2/29/2020)