Chapter 6: The Siege of Hyrule Castle
The party was shocked at what Zelda had said. "The Yiga are attacking Hyrule Castle right now, we need all the help we can get!"
"Don't worry Zelda, I'm coming!" Link replied, and then Zelda hung up.
Poump was worried about what was happening at Hyrule Castle. "I'll join you."
The Zora objected to this, "No way, we have our own mission to deal with. I believe Link can handle it."
Link was making sure he made it to Hyrule Castle swiftly. "You all can talk this out. I'm going to Hyrule Castle right now. Oh, and by the way, don't forget to register the Sheikah Shrine just outside!" Then Link pulled out his Sheikah Slate, pressed a button, and disappeared in a stream of blue streaks.
The party walked out of the Deku Tree, right passed a group of Koroks. "We have to help the people of Hyrule Castle!" Poump exclaimed. He brought out his Sheikah Slate and walked right up to the Shrine and registered it. Then a blue marker appeared on his map.
"But they will have Link to help them!" The Zora replied.
"I think we should be helping Zelda out in anyway we can!"
"Which includes dealing with the monsters! She trusts us and only us to deal with those monster colonies!"
Poump was finding his words. "But that can wait!"
The Zora looked towards the Sheikah. "What do you have to say about this?"
The Sheikah had his arms crossed. "As a warrior of the Sheikah Clan, it is my duty to protect the Royal Family from any of its enemies. That is why I say we should split up. You three should deal with the monsters, and I will assist with the forces at Hyrule Castle."
The Zora didn't like this at all. "No, we need to stick together. We can't just split up like that."
"BACKAW!" The party stopped arguing for a moment.
The Sheikah then came up to his conclusion. "Alright, we will focus on dealing with the monsters." Poump didn't like it, but reluctantly agreed to it. The Sheikah turned around to the Deku Tree. "O wise Deku Tree, how may we find our way through the forest?"
The Deku Tree started speaking. "Ah-ha, you will need a Korok navigator. Oaki!"
"WAH!" And then a Korok walked right up to the Deku Tree. "What is Great Deku Tree?"
"Guide these adventurers through the forest safely. They have matters they need to attend to."
"Oh! Okay!" And then Oaki started walking towards the edge of the area towards the woods. "Come on guys! Follow me!" The adventurers followed the little Korok through the woods. Somehow, quite inexplicably, the trees seemed to be parting ways, opening a path for the squad to walk through.
"This will take us out of the Lost Woods, right?" Poump asked the Korok.
"YA-HAA! Of course! It's a shame all of you couldn't stay any longer, but we know you adventurers never liked staying in one place for a long time!"
Very quickly, they started to see the moon light outside. The Korok guided them to the edge of the forest, and the adventurers saw their horses standing around. "Okay, bye!" And then the little Korok walked back into the forest. As it walked back, the trees started moving into the pathway.
The squad got onto their horses and started riding off in the direction of the Hebra mountains. They made haste in the moonlight. The pathway that leads to the Hebra Mountains passed right by Hyrule Castle. Poump couldn't help but notice the plumes of smoke coming from the castle. The party rode right passed Hyrule Castle, however Poump felt something inside of him. He turned around and rode straight for the Castle Town gates.
Poump approached the gates, and the gatekeepers noticed Poump riding closer. "The whole Castle Town is on lockdown right now, there is a siege! We aren't permitting anyone entry!"
"But I need to get in there! I work with Zelda!" Poump proclaimed.
The gatekeepers noticed that Poump had a Sheikah Slate. "Ah, I see! Well if that's the case, don't die in there!" They opened up the gates. Poump got off of his horse and ran towards Castle Town.
It didn't take long for the Sheikah and the Zora to notice that Poump was gone. They both knew where he went. "We can't split up! We need to pursue Poump!" The Zora said to the Sheikah. The Sheikah agreed and the two of them rode towards the Castle Town gates. As they approached, the gatekeepers prepared to speak.
"You can't go in there, it's a siege! The whole town is on lockdown!"
The Sheikah spoke up. "A friend of ours is in the town right now. That's his horse right there."
The gatekeepers looked at each other with looks of malcontent. "Oh, you mean that weakling who is as good as dead?" All of a sudden a poof of smoke concealed the guards, and in their place were two Yiga assassins! "You two will die!"
The Sheikah hopped right off of his horse and sliced down on one of the Yiga assassins, killing him instantly. The Zora stabbed the other Yiga assassin with her spear, but the Yiga got right back up. The Sheikah traded blows with the Yiga, until the Zora threw the cucco in it's armor at the last Yiga. The armored cucco was able to ground the Yiga, and the Sheikah quickly plunged his sword into the Yiga's chest, killing him. The Sheikah looked around and found the lever to open the gates. Shortly after, the two of them ran into the Castle Town.
Poump was trying to make it directly to Hyrule Castle, however, there was a huge battle happening on the streets of Castle Town. Soldiers and Guards were fending off the Yiga assassins in the streets, and all of the shops were barred up from the inside. Poump took out his sword and made way towards the Castle gates. A Yiga assassin noticed him running for the gates and quickly teleported right in front of him. Poump guarded the Yiga's attack and attempted to swipe at him, but they kept trading blows. Eventually, the Yiga managed to slice Poump just a little bit, and started tiring him out. Just as the Yiga started to land his finishing blow, a sword stabbed right through the Yiga's stomach. A soldier was at the other end of the sword.
"What are you doing out here, citizen?!" The soldier screamed.
"I've come to help Zelda with the siege!" Poump replied.
"You aren't a registered soldier! And you're only a child!" An explosion went off, so this made the soldier bring Poump behind a tipped over carriage for cover.
"I am 17 and Zelda trusts me with her mission!" Poump said in reply. All of a sudden a Yiga appeared behind the soldier. "Look out!"
The soldier quickly gripped his shield and bashed the Yiga down to the floor. The Yiga quickly got up and teleported away. "We can't stay here! I'll take you somewhere safe!"
"Why don't you take me to the castle?! We can work together over there!"
The soldier looked at Poump. "Alright then, but stay close to me!" The soldier raised his shield and motioned for Poump to walk behind him. They walked through the streets of Castle Town towards the castle gates.
The Sheikah, the Zora, and the cucco made it to the main plaza. The heated battle made it hard to find Poump. The Sheikah started running through the town, slicing away at all of the Yiga foot soldiers that didn't notice him yet. Then a large and bulky Yiga Blademaster quickly grabbed the Sheikah from out of the air and slammed him to the ground. The Blademaster raised his large sword into the air and violently slammed it down towards the Sheikah. The Sheikah quickly teleported away before getting sliced. From the rooftops, the Sheikah brought out his throwing stars and started throwing them down to the unalert Blademaster. The Blademaster felt the throwing stars, but didn't mind them much. He looked right up to the rooftops and noticed the Sheikah. The Blademaster teleported onto the rooftop right next to the Sheikah.
Meanwhile, the Zora waved her spear around and commanded the water from a nearby fountain to envelope some of the Yiga footsoldiers. She managed to capture about three of them in her water. The three of them struggled for air, and eventually fell limp. The Zora noticed the cucco run up to her flippers with a panicked expression. She looked behind herself and noticed a Gerudo woman and a bunch of soldiers slicing away at the Yiga footsoldiers. She continued looking around the town to see if she could find the Sheikah, and noticed that he was on the rooftop facing off against the big Blademaster.
The Sheikah kept on trading blows with the Blademaster, but the Blademaster's sword was much bigger. The Sheikah kept on getting close and slicing at him, but each slice didn't seem to bother the Blademaster by much. The Blademaster sunk his sword into the roof and then a gust of wind appeared to be blowing from out of the rooftop. It traveled towards the Sheikah, but the Sheikah was overwhelmed and the gust of wind pushed him high above the rooftops. Up here, the Sheikah managed to get a good look at the whole town. He saw fights happening all around. The faint glint of Poump's Sheikah Slate appeared in his vision, and he saw two figures walking towards the castle gates. Getting battle ready, the Sheikah took this as an opportunity and pointed his sword straight down towards the Yiga Blademaster. He sliced the Yiga right down the back.
"AUGH!" The Blademaster proclaimed. The Sheikah swiftly chopped the Blademaster's head clean off. He went back towards the Zora, who had been fending for herself for sometime.
The Sheikah ran right up to the Zora. "I know where Poump is, follow me!" And then the three of them rushed towards the castle gates together. They noticed that it was a soldier who was leading Poump to the gates.
"It's a trap!" The Zora said. "Those gatekeepers allowed Poump in here, so I believe that soldier is leading Poump into a trap!"
Without hesitation, the Sheikah teleported right behind the soldier next to Poump, and attempted to slice the soldier. "Whoa!" Poump exclaimed.
The soldier's armor got sliced, but it protected him from getting killed. The surprise attack from behind caused the soldier to retaliate against this surprise attack, so he shield bashed the Sheikah.
Before they could trade blows, Poump spoke up "Wait! This guy saved me! Why are you attacking him?!"
"He is a Yiga disguised as a Hylian Soldier!" The Sheikah replied.
"Wait, what?" Poump looked at the soldier.
The soldier was baffled by what was happening. "There is no way in all of Hyrule that I would join the Yiga forces!"
"He's lying!" The Zora exclaimed.
"No, actually he's telling the truth." The Sheikah said. "If he really were a Yiga, he probably would've killed Poump by now."
"Goddess thank you! I am so glad you have some sense in yourself!" The soldier said with relief.
Poump looked at the castle gate. "We're here now, let's go in there and help Zelda!" The team opened the gate and ran towards the courtyard. All of a sudden, the large spider-like robot looked at them with red eyes, and a red pointer pointed right at the soldier's head.
"The Guardian! Watch out!" The Sheikah said, and he hurriedly grabbed everyone around him and teleported them all behind cover. The soldier looked back at the area where they were previously at and the Guardian fired a huge laser at the spot where they once stood.
"That's new! Guardians aren't supposed to be fighting against us!" The soldier said, out of breath. "Why would they fight against us?!"
"That is a mystery to solve later, do you have any ancient arrows?" The Sheikah asked the soldier.
"No, we have those locked up somewhere else in the castle. I don't have any on me because I was stationed to patrol through the streets of Castle Town."
Poump was confused. "What's an ancient arrow?"
The Sheikah quickly explained it. "Ancient arrows are extremely rare types of arrows that excel at destroying Guardians. Because of their rarity, they aren't used a lot within combat against regular foes. It is said that ancient arrows completely dissipate whoever is hit by one. That is why they are only useful against Guardians."
The Zora peered from behind the cover, and noticed the Guardian walking around the courtyard. "How are we supposed to defeat that thing? Can't we just use our weapons?" The Zora asked.
"No." The Sheikah replied glumly. "We can't. That would be suicide."
Poump was getting worried. "Is there anything we could possibly do to keep it from seeing us?"
"The only thing that we could do to distract the Guardian would be to send live bait outside." The Sheikah observed the party. "The problem is that no one here wants to be bait." As soon as he said that, the cucco walked out from behind cover. It's movement alerted the Guardian, and it started targeting the cucco.
"Nooo! The cucco!" The Zora cried in fear for the little poultry's life.
The cucco obliviously strutted along, with the red light pointed right at it. The Guardian let out a bright flash from its eye and then a laser blasted the cucco. The cucco cried in pain, "COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOO!" Then, as if from out of nowhere, above the castle walls appeared an army of cuccos. They all fluttered towards the Guardian and swarmed it wildly. They pecked away at the Guardian's legs, confusing it in the process. It wildly blasted away in its confusion. It blasted at a part of the castle, which crumbled down upon impact.
The soldier came out from behind the cover. "What a day. What a lovely day!" Poump watched in suspense as the soldier ran right up to the Guardian, sword in hand. The soldier ran through the clouds of cucco feathers and plunged his sword right into its eye. The soldier let go of the sword and ran away with the sword still stuck inside of its eye. The Guardian violently flailed its legs around and then exploded. The cuccos dispersed and formed an orderly line. They walked out of the courtyard.
"Oh no, baby!" The Zora cried to the cucco. The cucco was lying on the floor, it's armor slightly damaged. The Zora brought out a health potion and force fed it to the cucco. Shortly after, the cucco popped right back up, making noises. The Zora hugged the cucco.
The soldier looked through the wreckage of the Guardian's parts trying to find his sword. He discovered its hilt, but the blade was shattered to pieces. The soldier started picking the pieces up, with . Poump noticed this. "Why are you picking the sword's pieces up?"
"Because this sword was a family heirloom. For several generations this sword was in the family, but now all it is a bunch of metal shards spread across the floor." The soldier took out a bag and put the pieces into it. "However, it served its purpose. This sword saw many battles. I will put these pieces on display in my homestead to remind myself of the sacrifice I had to make."
Poump looked at this and wanted to join in. "I'll help you pick these up."
"Don't, these are the shards from my sword, so it is my responsibility to bag these up. You lot should go and assist Queen Zelda since you're here. I'll get a new sword and hold defense soon enough." The soldier bagged up the last sword shard.
"Alright, we'll go now." Poump said, and the rest of the team continued their mission through Hyrule Castle. They ran past an area with weapons. Poump took the opportunity and grabbed a large golden shield, and a much more elegant and sharper sword than what he had originally. These weapons seemed to belong to the royal guard, as Poump noticed a bunch of guardsmen pouring out towards castle town wielding the same type of sword and shield.
All of a sudden a hailstorm of arrows came from the sky. The team took cover underneath the nearby roof and looked back out and saw a countless number of Yiga Footsoldiers running towards Hyrule Castle, coming to blows with the castle guards. It was madness. Bodies were getting sliced and diced and many fell to the floor from both sides of the fight. The Sheikah pulled out one of his bombs and aimed it at the crowd of Yiga footsoldiers. As the bomb rolled on the floor, plenty of the Yiga were too late to notice the death weapon. It promptly blew a lot of the Yiga up, some of their body parts splattered against the stone walls of the castle. Taking advantage of the outrage, the team sliced their way through the crowd of Yiga with assistance from the castle guards.
Despite their efforts, eventually some of the Yiga forces managed to flank the castle guards and the team. The Yiga thinned out the numbers of the guards, although the Sheikah Warrior proved to be much too difficult a foe for many of the Yiga enforcers. Poump's new sword attacked with great rage, and his shield protected him really well. However, it seemed to be never ending, as the Yiga forces never seemed to tire out. Soon enough, they overwhelmed the team and brought them to the ground. The team was outmatched, and surrounded by Yiga.
"What does the boss want us to do with the Sheikah?" One of the Yiga asked another Yiga.
"I remember he said he wanted any Sheikah Warriors to be kept as a prisoner." The Yiga replied.
"That seems kind of weird. Our old boss would've ordered us to kill all of these guys on the spot."
"Well we have to do whatever he says. Remember what happened to the other guys that disobeyed his orders?"
"Oh yeah, he killed them."
"No stupid head, he forced them to run in the desert for 3 hours. The boss only wants toughness from us, he would never just kill us dead like that."
"Oh. Alright then." The two Yiga stood around for a bit, surveying the area. The whole castle looked like it was overrun by Yiga. Poump looked all around and couldn't see any sign of assistance, given that most of the castle guards in the area were dead.
Then, as if from out of nowhere, an arrow slitted it's way right through one of the Yiga footsoldier's heads, and the Yiga dropped dead. Before the other Yiga could even get the chance to react to the other Yiga dying, he suffered the same fate and fell over dead. The team observed the immediate area and noticed the Yiga had all shifted their focus behind them. Standing proud behind them, was Link, in his green tunic, with a bow in hand. The Yiga started rushing towards Link in a massive herd. Link started knocking three arrows, which had a noticeable electric current, and then the arrows flew through the air and shot more of the Yiga down, electrocuting some of them in the process. Link then pulled out the Master Sword. It was glowing brightly against the red outfits of the Yiga footsoldiers leaping right at him. Link swung the sword in a circular motion and sliced many of the Yiga clean. Legs, heads, arms, and organs were flying everywhere from the visceral force from Link's single swipe of the powerful sword. He brought out his shield and parried an incoming attack from one of the Yiga assassins and sliced him right in half, with the torso and legs separated. Link dodged an attack from two incoming Yiga, and then flew right back at them with 6 quick and consecutive swings of his sword, reducing them to meat chunks on the floor. He continued slashing away at the seemingly endless amounts of Yiga footsoldiers.
The Sheikah got up, followed by the Zora, followed by Poump, and then followed by the cucco. The Yiga were way too occupied with trying to kill Link to notice the others getting up. They desperately wanted Link dead, because of his reputation with them. However, Link was way too powerful for most of the Yiga.
Link shouted at the party after he stabbed a Yiga dead. "Hey, you guys! Find Zelda! I can hold myself here!" Soon enough, Link's clothes were soaked in blood, and some of the Yiga footsoldiers started running away from the battle. Never tiring, Link kept on fighting valiantly, as if he was a beast instead of a Hylian.
The team started running up towards the throne room, where they expected Zelda to be. Instead they found another battle of clanging metal and grotesque amputations between the castle guards and the Yiga footsoldiers. All of a sudden, a thunderous display of electricity flashed in the room, electrocuting the Yiga to death. "Hail to the chancellor!" The guards in the room proclaimed.
A figure wearing red robes appeared before the team. "Who might you be, and what are you doing here?" The robed figure asked, and then motioned for the guards in the room to go outside and deal with any Yiga elsewhere.
"We're here to find Zelda, Link sent us up here." The Sheikah replied with haste.
"You must be her special task force." The robed figure pointed at a door at the edge of the circular throne room. "There is a special passageway to the docks through that door. She is on her way there now. You may be lucky enough to run into her. Good luck."
"Thank you very much, your royalty." The Sheikah said with a slight bow and made haste for the door with the others following him. Poump looked back at the hooded figure with suspicion, but the rush of the occasion kept him going with the team. The Sheikah opened the door and found a room filled with books and a table that displayed a map of Hyrule in its entirety. There were markers on the map, showing off trade routes and battle plans. The Zora looked at the map and was really glad to see no battle plans positioned around her home, Zora's Domain. The Sheikah however, was in no need of looking at the map since he wanted to make it to the docks quickly. He felt around the bookcases and eventually found a book that didn't feel loose. He gave it a tug and the bookcase opened up a passageway down a set of stairs.
The team descended the stairs and eventually found themselves at a rocky area without much of the stone structure of Hyrule Castle. The place was very well lit, however. They noticed that the cave they were in was quite huge. Down below looked like a small docking area with a boat in the docking bay. They followed some stairs down and noticed that three Yiga foot soldiers were on the boat, observing it. The Sheikah took his throwing knife out and threw it at one of the unsuspecting Yiga, which then fell and splashed into the water nearby. The other two Yiga noticed the absence of the other Yiga. They proceeded to check the area out. The Zora then waved her spear at the water and made the water rise and suck the two Yiga down, pulling them under the water.
After a sufficient amount of time, the Zora proclaimed "They're dead." and lead the team up to the boat. There seemed to be no sign of Zelda anywhere on the boat. "Where is she?" The Zora asked.
The feminine voice of Zelda's sounded from behind them. "Right here." It was Zelda standing right before them. "I'm glad you took good care of those cretins for me. Would be less blood on my clothes." She strutted onto the boat.
The Sheikah was content with this. "Good to see you again your majesty." And he kneeled before her.
Zelda looked at the Sheikah and the team with a sneer. "Now I have you where I want you." She raised her arms and a magic aura started appearing above her. Poump tried to pull out his blade, and the Zora raised her spear. And then as if it went by in a split second, Zelda was sliced in half. Her body fell to the floor. Except it wasn't her body. It was the body of a Yiga assassin, mask and red clothing included.
The Sheikah looked at the dead body, and then up towards a tall, slender figure wearing a Sheikah outfit, with a katana in hand. "That was a close one." The other Sheikah said with a feminine voice.
"Sheik." The Sheikah proclaimed. "It is good to see you again. Where is the Queen?"
"She will be arriving here shortly with her boat crew. Stay here. There is no more danger." Sheik stated very blankly. "It's good to see you too, fellow warrior." Then in a sudden gust of smoke, Sheik disappeared.
"You know her?" Poump asked the Sheikah.
"Yes. She's an old friend of mine. She taught me most of my warrior knowledge." The Sheikah replied.
The team waited at the boat and eventually noticed some people coming towards the boat in the docking bay. One of the people from this group was a tall, buff, and dark skinned fellow. The other person was a smaller, light skinned fellow with a striped shirt and a blue bandana. And behind them was Zelda.
Poump and the Zora were paranoid. "Zelda, is that really you?" Poump asked her.
"Why yes Poump, of course it's me. I have two of my trusty royal servants with me after all." As Zelda got onto the boat, she pointed at the other two people with her. "This valiant fellow is Alfonzo. He's a great ship captain. And this little fellow is named Niko. He's a useful navigator."
"Tell me something only Zelda would know!" Poump said as he brought his sword out.
Zelda blankly looked at Poump. "I have sent the lot of you to deal with escorting several hordes of monsters to an island off the coast of Hyrule."
Poump took his sword down. "I'm sorry my Queen. I've seen a lot today."
"We all have." Zelda said.
The team made themselves at home on the boat, and then the boat was maneuvered through the water out of the cave. The boat itself was reasonably sized, and it even had a lower level with some beds. The Sheikah set down his weapons and immediately slammed himself onto one of the beds and started snoring as soon as he was settled on the bed. The cucco sat down in an area next to the bed with a pillow. Even though the pillow was already pre-occupied by a cat, the cat didn't seem to mind the cucco. Poump set his new sword and shield down and plopped himself onto the bed, half awake. He was thinking to himself about how differently this would've played out if Link didn't show up to save them. Did they really need to deal with this seige? Poump had never seen that much violence in his whole life.
As for the Zora, she was mostly awake, walking on the main deck. As the boat slowly glided out of the cave, she saw the faint glimpse of sunlight since the sun was starting to rise. She also noticed something slowly falling towards the boat. This something turned out to be someone. It was Link, gliding towards the place with a paraglider. She recognized the glider since she saw him arriving at Zora's Domain with it before. Link landed onto the boat, covered from head to toe in blood. He smelled awful. He walked through one of the doors on the boat. The Zora dismissed this and went into the sleeping quarters to give herself a nap.