Majora's War - Part 4


-Majora, unknown Dragmire woman-

The man leading the Dragmire woman in question, gulped, and entered the dispersing crowd. "Ezen mini, Dragmire. Ene yuu baisan be?"

("My lord, Dragmire. What happened here?")

Ganondorf Dragmire regarded the man cooley. He huffed, closed his eyes, breathed, and took a moment to calm enough to not tear the newcomer's head off. He answered, "Ted namaig khuurch chadna gej bodson sh dee! Majoragiin khargis khertsgii kh m s kh rtel namaig khuurakhaas il teigeer meddeg bolovch shineer irsen kh m st z vkh n minii khen bolokh talaar surgamj kheregtei baikh shig baina! Tedniig yalan diilekh ni kh ndetgeliig surakhad khangalttai baisan gej ta bodoj baina."

("They thought they could cheat me! Even the Majora scoundrels know better than to cheat me, but it seems the newcomers need a lesson in just who I am! You would think conquering them would have been enough for them to learn respect.")

Ganondorf huffed. He took the ruins of carts and stands and put them together to the side. The owners of the products likely would not be coming back for them soon after the beating he gave them.

He continued, "Namaig ezen bitgii duudaarai. Bi ezen bish. Bi alifa bish. Bi avarga, tsaazlagch kh n bolovch ezen khaanaas ch l l gds n. Bi khamgiin ikhdee byeta bolno."

("Do not call me lord. I am no lord. I am no alpha. I am a champion and executioner, but I am relieved of lordship. At most I am beta.")

"Z geer dee. Byeta, minii d ng j khoid z g yavakhyg kharsan dainy zorilgo yuu ve? Yaagaad bi olon kh m siin dund mangasuudyn shivnee sonsdog ve?"

("Alright. But, Beta, what is the purpose of the war party I just saw departing the northern pass? Why do I hear whispers of monsters in the crowd?")

Ganondorf rolled his shoulders up. He shrugged. "Bi alifa baikhg i bolson. Bi dain z vl ld baikhaa bolison, akhmadyn z vl ld baikhaa bolison, temdeglel khiikh alban tushaal baikhg i baina. Bi yaaj medekh yostoi ve?"

("I am no longer alpha. I am no longer on the war council nor among the eldership nor have any position of note. How should I know?")

It was at this time Ganondorf saw the Dragmire woman. Her hair stood out in the crowd as well as her red eyes. Her hair was over her face so he could not see her plainly, but his demeaner was shocked no less.

"Dragmire?" He gasped.

Her escort nodded and motioned to her. He said, "Tiim, bi t nii gt zerleg gazart olov. Mash ikh orilj, shuugian tarisan bolovch ter namaig olson yum. Ter amarkhan aidag, lsd g. Ter khaanaas irsniig bi medekhg i baina."

("Yes, I found her in the wilds east. There was a great deal of yelling and commotion, but she was all I found. She is easily frightened and hungry. I do not know where she has come from.")

"Ter zugtsan bool shig kharagdaj baina."

("She looks like an escaped slave.")

"Bi ch bas tegj bodoj baina. Tsingiin tukhai bol Tsin udakhg i Dragmire-iig il ikh avchirdag gesen tsuu yaria baidag. Ter ene tukhai sonsson kh m siin neg baij bolok endees zugtjee."

("I think so too. Rumor is that the Qin are bringing more Dragmire soon. She could be one of them who heard of the matter and fled here herself.")

Ganondorf's eyes widened briefly. He had wondered if Zelda would go through with her promise since the Majora-Mitagi debate, but it seemed she would. It was humbling to think about. He never would have thought in first meeting her that she would strive so hard to reverse the destruction done by Qin to their allies. She was young too. He thought he was a young leader, being twenty when she approached him. She was practically a child on that destined day.

It had only been a few moons since he left Qin and returned to the mountains, and for most of it he considered many matters, including that of Zelda and Link. The words given by Zelda and the Rebellious Hero struck a chord in him. He had no doubt in his soul the two were kin to him in some way. The Majora were his adopted family, and the Dragmire were his blood family, but these two were his soul's family just as much. He didn't know how to feel about it. It was difficult to think about. The princess was difficult and the former-slave was annoying, but he found himself trusting them more than his own people.

He despised people as a general concept and on a personal level. People were scum and trash, worms who cheated each other, lied like cowards, and beat down on the weak for amusement. He saw the deeds of men and could only think of them in anger and disdain. He could put up with them, but in private he wished he could bash skulls more often then he allowed himself. The princess and soldier of Qin he didn't despise on a personal level. That understanding was about as far as he had come thus far.

He motioned the Majoran soldier away, said he would take care of it from here, and approached her. He looked down at her. With her head down he couldn't make out anything about her beyond the head of hair. All the same, she was Dragmire.

"You look hungry." He observed in Qin's language. She nodded. Good, that meant she understood him. He grabbed his bag, pulled out a loaf of bread, broke off a portion of it, and placed it in her hand. "Here. Eat. Survive."

She raised her head just enough to look at him. "What comes next?"

"Right now, surviving is enough," Ganondorf grunted.

While she ate the bread provided, Ganondorf took a good look at her. Her clothing was burnt but reminiscent of the middle-class. It naturally wasn't anything good like silk or of the high class, but it also wasn't simple rags expected of a slave.

He considered what to do with her. Was there someone in Majora he could bring her to? Who provided housing to a Dragmire? Likely he could bring her to the alpha and she would be taken care of, but he had an impulse to see to the matter personally. Was she a slave who heard of the Dragmire freedom offered and left of her own volition? Was she sent? From where did she come?

Ganondorf sighed and ran his hands over his face in aggravation. He had so many questions and didn't know which were important and pertinent.

"Something the matter?" The woman asked, suddenly twitchy at his movement.

"Yes and no," He answered. "I have so many questions, both for you and the chief. Questions pertaining to your situation. Questions pertaining to our clan and how the movement will be resolved. Where you came from, where are you going, and who is to house you if you are to stay. Things that are important matters but not dangerous matters, if you follow."

"I do, I am sorry, it seems I have burdened you somehow." The woman whispered sadly.

He clenched his fist. Her quietness and submission aggravated him, but he put the emotion away and decided it was a result of slavery. Nothing that was her fault. Ganondorf shrugged. "No burden that cannot be lifted. It just means I have to meet with some people and do something I hate being involved."

When she was done eating, Ganondorf inquired further. She didn't remember where she came from nor remembered where she was going nor remembered her name. All she remembered was pain, a pain and burning that seemed endless wherever it was. Her skittish nature angered him and her answers troubled him. When he had his questions answered so unsatisfactorily, he took her to the chief of Majora. Nabooru had taken on his home, as it was the house of the chief.

"Ganon!" Nabooru greeted him as he approached. Her wolf raised his head and bared his teeth as the Dragmire approached, and a couple of the Majora around eyed him. "Hush!" Nabooru snapped. "Ganon, neleed khugatsaa ng rs n baina. Sh tleg kherkhen irdeg ve?"

("Ganon, it has been a while. How comes the worship?")

Ganondorf grunted. "Etses t gsg lg i! Odoo khaana ch baikhg i! Gekhdee bi ireeg i yum baina. Bi t nees bolj irsen. Ter z vkh n Q-iin kheleer yaridag tul zaaval yariarai." Ganondorf stepped aside for Nabooru to see the other Dragmire.

("Endlessly! Nowhere! But that is not why I have come. I have come because of her. She speaks only the tongue of Qin, so please speak accordingly.")

"Bi Dragmire." Nabooru observed. She changed language. "This is earlier than I expected."

"I think she is separate from the caravan."

"Why would you say that?" Nabooru questioned. Ganondorf explained the Dragmire's situation as he knew it, and Nabooru nodded thoughtfully when he was done. "She has been through a lot." Nabooru put a hand on the Dragmire woman's head and pushed her down enough to look at her. She rummaged through her hair and patted her when she was done and assured the woman. "I don't see any recent wounds, bumps, or scars. A few old ones speaking of abuse, but you haven't suffered any head injuries."

"Then why does she not remember anything?" Ganondorf questioned.

"It sounds like what she has experienced is too much, simply." Nabooru replied. "You remember how you were, or rather, you don't."

Ganondorf nodded. Seeing the Dragmire woman questioning look, he explained, "I don't remember my past. Dragmire have an earned reputation for muteness in trauma or intense emotion. The problem is I don't remember my childhood because I was in the thralls of possession."

"Perhaps, but it could be a connection."

"You mean to say she was possessed?"

"No, but it could be there are multiple reasons why you don't remember your childhood. Both the possession and the intensity of emotion as being too much. It could just be that muteness is the first step and failing memory is a later step."

"Who is to say," Ganondorf figured. He turned to the Dragmire woman. "But it is at the very least an idea. Provided you were not possessed, we can have hope the memory will return." He returned to Nabooru. "As for housing "

Nabooru flinched. "Yeah "

"You mean that as if to say there is no housing for her." Ganondorf narrowed his brows. "What of the rest of my clan?"

"Ganon..."

"How much have I missed? What is happening?" Ganondorf stressed.

"There will be room enough when the Dragmire arrive."

"As if to say there isn't yet. What have we been doing? I know I have been away in worship but I expected the matter to be handled competitantly."

Nabooru sighed and looked on him with a hint of... pity. "Okay, okay. The outreach for families to take a Dragmire in as a guest has been... difficult. The construction of housing has been slow as the men... refuse."

Ganondorf narrowed his eyes angrily. He had an idea of why she would say this, but he needed to hear it. He clenched his jaw tightly. "And why would they refuse?"

"Among the workforce there are those who work, and those that don't. Those that don't refuse to because they reject your clan. Those that refuse say 'Why should we bring demon-worshippers here? Did they not cause us all to flee the plains? Did they not cause the deaths of many cla-'"

Ganondorf shot his fist to the side and impaled it firmly into the wooden wall. His breathes came out slow, heavy, controlled, almost steaming with rage. His red eyes burned as fire and his fiery hair glowed in the shadows. He did not say a word. His anger was undescribable. The woman watched him fearfully, warily, incase he snapped. Nabooru knew the degree of control he held over himself, but she also knew the bottomless rage he kept a lid on.

After a long moment, he said, "The Majora know to fear me, and to respect me! The Majora, having been given mercy by the Fae, have grown to share mercy as well when seen fit alongside the rage of war. It is not Majora who whispers this evil, is it?"

Nabooru answered, "A few Majora have been brought to agree with the whispering, but mostly it is the conquered who whisper it." Ganondorf closed his eyes and sighed. Nabooru continued, "The Majora have grown in your conquest, but this growth has its implications. The clans we have forced to cede to us have voices, and those voices do not speak to the same tune as the rest of us."

"Make them submit!"

Nabooru snapped, "You no longer lead! And even if I were to force the issue, to what degree shall force be rendered? Are we to be slave owners who force our own to work towards the freedom of other slaves? If you must know, I have already set in motion for the whispers to be resolved. Those that refuse to work will not be paid, and we are finding more to do the work. It will take a little longer than you and I would like, but there will be room for the Dragmire. What worries me is not the housing, but the people. That is the problem I forsee. They grumble now, but what of when the Dragmire arrive? Then who will lead the Dragmire? Who will inspire them? Who will speak for them as the other clans? When the Dragmire arrive we will have to sort through them and select one who will speak for them, but their clan leader will need to be one who can keep them safe."

The thoughts troubled Ganondorf. He shook his head weerily. "I detest this."

"The feeling is mutual." Nabooru smiled. "If you wish to have a voice in this, I will listen. But the best thing you can do is return to your home, give this woman-" Nabooru nodded towards the Dragmire woman, "an abode for a time, and we will sort this out."

Ganondorf breathed in and out slowly. His anger disipated and left him empty. There was nothing to be done for now. There was nothing he could do for now. "Fine. One final question. What of the hunting party to go to the north? I have not seen hunting parties so large since I was in the ring fighting monsters."

"That is a proper comparison." Nabooru nodded. "There was reports from our border that a monster was sighted in Qin near Tetsu. The hunting party is to scout the area and bring it down if there is one."

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. He nodded and said, "Good luck. Do me a favor, let me know how it goes? I have not heard of monsters entering the plains."

"I will."

Ganondorf departed with the Dragmire woman and started the trek home. As he walked, he silently contemplated things. The appearance of a monster in Qin was unusual. Monsters had always been hunted and found in the mountains, as they hid from the large walls and speared armies of Qin. A monster can handle many men, but no monster could fight a thousand, ten thousand, and much less a hundred thousand and Qin had several hundred thousands. What would bring a monster from the mountains? AS territortial as they are, were they forced out and cast out to seek new territory?

He shook the thoughts away. There was no telling.

Ganondorf's new home was a small log cabin on the other side of the mountain just outside of Majora. It was isolated and distant from others. A clearing down the hill showed a large number of miniature stone piles, something that piqued the woman's curiosity, and in sight was a stream. Dead animals hung from the trees to be skinned and a pile of skins stacked high against the side of it. Smoke billowed out of the side and a good smell passed in the air.

"Looks like Malon is back from her hunting trip with her friends," Ganondorf commented as they neared. "We have already eaten a bit, but she will be ticked if we don't eat some of what she is preparing." He rolled his eyes but smiled in good nature. He looked to the woman who followed him. She was still infuriatingly timid. She was also dirty and bloody. "Before we enter, lets get you cleaned up. There is a stream there. Go and do what you can to clean yourself up. I will send Malon out with something you can wear."

The woman nodded and watched as he entered the hut with her head down. A small smile crossed her lips. The woods were quiet and peaceful and still. That was... nice. The man also short-tempered and had a powerful presence, but he was controlled and despite the aggression seemed to have a bit of a heart. He was concerned for the Dragmire clearly and was angered on behalf of others, not just himself.

She made her way to the stream. Amazingly, the water was warm. At first she stripped, but thought better of it. She didn't have other clothes, didn't know if Ganondorf did for her, and didn't want for him to stumble on her otherwise indecent. So she bathed as best she could, rubbing the dirt and blood out, and scrubbed her rags as best she could as well. She rubbed enough dirt out of her face and hair to darken the water around her, and she moved her Dragmire hair back behind her head. She sighed contently.

A crash drew her attention. She looked up to see a young woman standing before her on dry land, a pile of clothes fallen to her feet. The intruder's hair was as red as her own, but her skin was whiter than any of the Majora and wasn't dark skinned like Ganondorf and herself. Most of all, she was drawn to the intruder's eyes. They were wide, surprised, and most of all, familiar somehow.

"Mother?"


-Western Qin, Link-

Several days passed in which they rode through Qin. From corner to corner the journey across Qin takes about two weeks on horseback without rest. Taking in the consideration that the capital of Qin is nearly in its middle, and adding in a few days for rough terrain, detours, questioning passerby as to whether or not a certain girl on horseback passed through the road, and the inevitable need for sleep, then one can guess by the time they reached their destination Link was tired of horses and annoyed by Impa's endless silence.

They stopped on the edge of a forest descending down from the plains. In the distance was the mountain border wrapped around the forest almost lovingly. The nearest village was miles away. They passed destroyed road-signs and their horses trampled dirt roads overtaken by thorns and weeds. An area of ground was once churned up for farmland was now overtaken by the same thorns and weeds, and trees took root in its midst. Blocks of erected stone provided evidence of a village, but the lack of any wooden buildings spoke otherwise. An arrowhead glistened in the sunlight from the ground. Link didn't need to see more weapons to know a conflict had transpired here. The victors had looted everything and burned what remained to the ground.

"What happened here?" Link wondered.

"War. Betrayel." Impa answered. She briefly eyed him, "It is complicated."

"Mhmm, war tends to be with you."

Link stopped the horse by a pile of stone of what might have once been a loose wall. He tied the horse and looked around. The ruins had an ominous feel to it, as ruins will have.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Impa snapped.

Link shrugged and commented offhandedly, "You're a politician. You complicate things. I'm a soldier. To me it is as simple as 'protect the innocent', and 'try not to die'."

"There is so much more to it than that."

"Only because you want there to be." Link replied. He motioned to the ruins. "Whatever happened here, if Soli has come all this way, its important to her. You can tell me, you can not tell me, either way I am going to snap her back to reality."

"How can you hope to do that if you don't know what troubles her?" Impa scoffed.

"Everyone is troubled by something. That's life."

"For a friend, you are very dismissive."

"Her troubles are real. But at the same time, it is not a contest. We are all a team. Soli and I, even you. All men are born on the same team to just live. It is only when people force their input on it that they put up these little boundaries and split up the team that they sit like wise men and justify it all by calling it-" He used air-quotes with his fingers, "'complicated'."

They searched the ruins. A third horse trotted in the field, untetthered to any post. On the horses back was a saddle Link recognized as having been used by Soli. In a side pocket it still had her spare burn ointments unopened. A mass graveyard was in another field.

"King Shorlin was very accepting... but his son was not," Impa started. Link didn't respond or offer a smartass comment, but simply listened. "Everyone was pressured to strengthen the war efforts all over again to the same extent, if not greater, than it had been for his father. However Shorlins war had lasted decades and was bloody as he doubled Qin's borders, and the people were tired. Only the Mitagi succeeded in standing up to his rediculas standards. Others went to extreme lengths to keep up, like the Dragmire. Others failed and split under the pressure, like the Ki... and the Sheikah. Once we were a clan like any other, but we were small. We changed our methods to recruit criminals outside our bloodlines and offer them a chance for freedom through servitude, but it still wasn't enough. So we offered everyone a second chance. Allow yourself to become a shadow, and escape what your life was. A surprising number took the oppurtunity. People forgot who they were to remake themselves and be reborn, and when they came to remember their past lives, when they remembered their names, they were returned back to it if they wished. Still it wasn't enough for the king and the threat of displeasing him became more real after the Dragmire rebellion. So some... split off from the Sheikah and introctronaded children."

They came to the edge of the forest. The ruins had shown nothing. Impa continued, "War had produced many orphans." She breathed in and out heavily, "They were taken by the numbers to a far away place to be trained. I was a new Shadowmaster at the time, but I came to learn of it and tracked them down. When I found the first 'school' I found one teen had slaughtered all the rest of his peers on the orders of the elders. The officials ordered we take him instead of execution, so we did so and named him Zant."

Impa continued again after a moment, "We found the second 'school' here. The slaughter had not started yet. We killed the elders and rogue Sheikah and a number of the older children who had already been too far gone, but managed to secure a number of the younger ones. The rogue Sheikah were bathing them in Twilight to create something... worse."

"Like Zant." Link concluded. "He was extremely powerful."

"That's right."

"And Soli was among the children you 'rescued'?"

"Yes."

Link blew his hair out of his face and tied it behind his head as best he could. He considered her words briefly, but his conclusions hadn't really changed. "You're reasons for the war is your own. Everyone has a reason. Some go to war for glory, some for riches, some for the thrill. I am thankful that I have met so many who fight solely to protect their home. Yet despite the ideal we have killed a lot of people no more or less than you. I can't judge you. You don't have to justify yourself to me, Chancellor. Whatever the reasons, whatever the excuses, it all comes down to the fact that Soli is here."

Link entered the forest. Impa hesitated briefly, surprised by his lack of judgement and simple way of looking at this. Unsure what to make of it, she entered the forest behind him.

Towards the center of the forest they came to the remains of a village. Link peered through windows and gaped at what he found. Besides the bodies left out in the open, inside one hut in particular was a stash of bottles. Inside the bottles were the dimming lights of Fae. How long had they been here? Link wondered. If the dimmed lights were any clue, it had been a long time. Link looked around carefully. No one was in sight. He quietly climbed through the window into the hut. His feet crunched on broken glass and rotten wood. Bugs crawled across every surface to scavange the meat and sinew from bones. The planks of plywood that made up the door swung noisily on the wind from a single hinge. A dark mist rolled across the wooden floor from outside.

Link grabbed the first bottle at his arm level, pried open the top, and left it on the ground. He didnt want to shake it and perhaps injure the Fae who had been trapped for so long. They would find the opening on their own soon. Already they stirred slowly from within their cages, awoken by his movement. If they were not leaving on their own before he left he would do more.

With all of the bottles opened, Link smiled to himself and returned to the more immediate task. Impa stayed outside of the hut in the shadows, watching carefully. Link moved towards the door and peered out. He could see all kinds of buildings and the equipment for them of this small village. A hunters lodge, a smokehouse, a tannery, a couple living huts, and a grainery. Judging from the bottles and equipment around him, he was most likely hiding from a medical hut. In the center of the village was a well. The dark mist poured up from it onto the ground all around.

"Creepy..." Link whispered to himself.

A faint light in the corner of his eye drew his attention back, and he saw a few Fae in the air frolicking about. He smiled warmly. They seemed happy. One drew in front of him and moved around frantically.

"What you trying to tell me little guy? You hungry? Not sure if you guys eat or not but-" Something squeezed his leg. He looked down and saw the mist had tightened around his ankle. "Ah shiIIIIIT!"

The mist pulled him up into the air, crashing through the hut's roof, and then swung him back crashing into the same building. Its walls and furniture collapsed as the mist tentacle swung him down. Glass shards punctured his skin all over, but he pushed through the pain and managed to grab hold of a nailed down flooring. "Let me go you bastard!" Link yelled.

The mist pulled him across the floor and out onto the ground. Link dug his fingers in, but couldn't get enough of a grip to stop. As soon as the mist drew him up to the well, he pressed his feet against it and managed to hold. "I already dealt with this mist shit once with Zant, I ain't dealin with it no more!" Link grabbed hold of the mist tentacle. As soon as his hand grasped it, the triangle on his hand flared and the mist disappeared with a shriek. Link fell onto the ground.

Immediately, he rolled away. The stone wall around the well exploded and dozens of tentacles reached into the air. Link stepped back. He was uncertain how many he could deal with. He pulled his spear from its holster on his back and prepared himself.

A ball landed just in front of him and light exploded. He squeezed his eyes against the blinding light. The tentacles shrieked in pain before descending back into the well. When he was able to open his eyes again, there was Impa, looking down at him in judgement.

"You have no idea how stealth works, do you?" Impa asked.

"What did you think I was doing, playing with it?!" Link snapped. He raised his spear and looked down over the edge of the well. He couldn't see its bottom. "What even was that thing?"

"I... don't know. I have never seen anything like it."

"Are you sure? It was similar to the stuff Zant was using."

"Yes, but did you see anyone controlling it?" Impa wondered. Link shook his head. "So either the one it is bonded with is capable of controlling the twilight mist from a distance, or it could move of its own will. Neither prospect bodes well."

"We can figure it out if it comes back. For now we need to find Soli."

Link turned to investigate the village further, but Impa stopped him. "While you were playing, I checked the other huts. There is nothing but dry bones and dust, although I did find this..." Impa pulled out a blank mask and dropped it on the ground at their feet. Link stared at it. It looked... familiar.

"Is that a Majora mask?" He wondered.

Impa nodded grimly. "Whatever that thing is, it escaped its prison."

Link grit his teeth in aggravation. That was just great. As if they didn't have enough to deal with. They needed to find Soli! If she wasn't in the huts then...

"What are you doing?!" Impa exclaimed.

Link peered down into the wall, adjusted his grip on his spear, and threw his feet over the wall. He couldn't see the bottom, but there had to be one. Otherwise... well... he'd rather not think about it. "Going after it! If there is room for that thing down here, Soli might be down here as well. You go investigate the forest and see if we missed anything!"

Impa opened her mouth to tell him he doesn't give her orders, but before she could voice it, he dropped down into the darkness.