There and Back again Ch. 3
Chapter 3: of Emperors and Princesses… and that one guy
"Ow…"
Link moaned as he felt his face pressed against cold hard stone… he lifted his head to survey his surroundings… Zelda's head is on top of his shoulder… she's still bleeding and unconscious… the sigil stone is about 5 yards ahead of him… Illend's dead body is about 20 yards away… all in all… the situation sucked… he observed something moving towards him… as his vision faded completely… he could only hope that they were friendly…
…2 days later…
"Link? Come on buddy… time to get up."
"Who… what? Are you? Oh… Savlian."
"'Oh Savlian'? Is that how it is?"
"Sorry… I'm a little bit sore… what's up?"
"Well… Zelda's ok… she's probably got a bruised rib… healer's working on it now… we still need to go get the people out of the chapel… if you're feeling up to it…"
"Let's go… GAHH!"
"Take it easy there Link… that was a pretty rough day you had."
"My back's killing me…"
"Lemme fix that…"
Savlian casts a restorative spell on Link and his pain subsides.
"Ah… a warrior and a healer… we need more of those nowadays…"
"Captain of the guard calls for skills like that."
"Let's go!"
Link hopped out of the bed and grabbed all of his gear… save for his shield which helped break his fall 2 days earlier and now has a rather large crack in it. They briskly walked back up the hill to Kavatch's main gate…
"Here goes nothing' guys…"
Link and another guard pushed open the mighty doors to a gruesome scene… several bodies littered the short road to the chapel… half way eaten bodies… several scamps and clanfears were eating 3 day old flesh and gnawing on bones… Link picked up a rock and hurled it at the nearest scamp… it hit on its nose rather hardly as it and everything else Daedra in the area turned to look…
"Well hi guys!"
"KILL THE MORTALS!!!"
"Kill? Ain't that a little rude? No? Ok then… LET'S ROCK!"
Link headed the charge into the crowd of scamps clanfears and the power-hungry dremora… after about 5 minuets of fighting… 13 Daedra lay dead on the cobblestone… the only human casualty rubbing his rear end from where a clanfear bit it…
"Ow… F!!!"
"He he he he!"
"Shut up Link…"
"It bit your ass…"
"Shut UP Link!"
"Why so hostile?"
"Have you ever been bitten in the ass by a large lizard thingy? Didn't think so… it's embarrassing."
"Emphasis on the ass huh?"
"Piss off…"
"Come on… lets go get our towns people."
"Bout damn time… thought you'd never stop pestering me…"
"Come on butt cheeks… lets go!"
"My name is Charles Butonio."
"You mean Charles Buttgotbit?"
"Shut up and let's go!"
The group of soldiers continued on into the chapel to locate the civilians…
…in the chapel…
"MARTIN!!!"
"Do you insist on yelling Link?"
"I'm trying to wake him up if he's sleeping… MARTIN!!!"
"Yes?"
"MARTIN!!! Oh… hey there!"
"Yes?"
"Ok you're martin… the priest right?"
"Yes… I'm martin… and yes I'm a priest… do you need a priest? I'm not sure I can help you now… I'm having trouble understanding the gods at the moment… come back in a few lifetimes… maybe I can help you then."
"Optimistic… anyway, you need to come with me… you're in danger."
"Ya think!? Of course I'm in danger… city… attacked… not something that happens every day ya know…"
"Touchy aren't we? But seriously though… the gods are planning something and we-"
"Hold on there tree boy… if all this is part of a divine plan… I'm not quite sure I want a part of it…"
"Do you want this to happen again?"
"No of course not… why ask such a dumb question?"
"You are the emperor's son… you are martin septim."
"What ever… I think the dust has gotten to you… my father was a farmer…"
"They destroyed this entire city just to get you."
"Because the emperor is my father?"
"That is what I just said…"
"Why should I believe you?"
"Why… because I'm totally awesome and really like telling the truth…"
"Don't we have a large ego?"
"Smart ass… anyway… look… just come with me… if you don't believe me… you can talk to Jauffre."
"Jauffre?"
"The old guy at the monastery…"
"Ok… I'm convinced… let's go…"
"Great! but first… I need to go get one more person…"
…Five minuets later, in the infirmary tent…
Link is sitting by Zelda's bed, holding her hand.
"Ok zel… time to wake up."
"Uhnn? Five more minuets Impa…"
"Considering my name isn't Impa… nor am I a female… ZEL!"
"WHAT!? Link?"
"That's me… get dressed… let's go."
"Oh… ok…"
Zelda slowly got out of her bed and pulled over one of Links shirts… she then sits up and puts on a long skirt… she gets up and slips on a pair of slippers… she grabs her scrolls and potions and walks over to Link.
"You ready zel?"
"Yeah… who's your friend?"
"Hello… I'm Martin..."
"Martin septim?"
"Apparently so… anyway we should go see Jauffre."
"Yeah ok… good plan… lead on Link."
"Alrighty then… ONWARD!"
"Link! People are staring!"
"Who cares… lets go!"
After bidding their farewells and wishing the soldiers luck on finding their way into castle Kavatch to find the count… they set off on their long journey to Weynon Priory.
"Why can't we ride the horse?"
"Zelda, the horse barely carried both of us over here… adding martin would crush the poor steed… no offence martin… not to mention it would look kind of weird with 3 people on a paint horse… so we're gonna let it carry our supplies instead… didn't I teach you anything?"
"Forgive me for asking… AHH!"
"Hey! Are you ok Zelda?"
"Ow… I tripped on a rock…"
"Can you walk? I can try… oof!"
"oh no… it looks like you've sprained your ankle… even if we use magic… it's still going to take another day or so to heal… drink this, and I'll carry you the rest of the way."
"It's an awful long journey Link… won't you get tired?"
"It's ok… Martin will help guide the horse… wont you buddy?"
"Huh? Oh yeah sure! Ok."
"See? Let's go."
Link hoisted Zelda onto his back and continued to carry her Piggyback style to the next stop on their journey… a rather small looking inn… about 4 miles away… in 85 degree weather…
…2 hours later at the inn…
Martin was tending to Zelda's hurt and swollen ankle while Link was getting dinner…
"Martin?"
"Yes?"
"How does it feel to find out that you are royalty?"
"I'm kind of scared to be honest… I never thought that I would ever amount to anything."
"I'm sure you'll do fine… I know you will."
"Thank you Zelda… so what's between you and Link?"
"Well, I'm going to be honest… I'm in love with him… but he's still recovering from the loss of his fiancée a couple of years back."
"He seems ok… what happened."
"Well… he was visiting my parents…"
Zelda continued telling Malon's story… and how they wound up in Cyrodiil. She told of the 2 years after Malon's death… and Link's suicide attempts… she told of the dream she had of Malon… what she didn't tell… was that she was royalty too…
"And now… here we are…"
"He hides his emotions so well… he's been through so much."
"he works so hard to keep himself intact… and that's what I love about him… he worries only about other people… and does his best to put on a positive front for people… no matter how much pain he's going through on the inside…"
"Man… that was deep."
"Well, he should be back any moment with our food… so what now?"
"I hear someone coming up the stairs now…"
Five minuets later, Link, Zelda and, Martin are eating their respective meals… roast chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, and some bread. Link was mostly withdrawn and ate quietly while martin and Zelda talked about different books they've read in the past…
"And the best part was… Link?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah… just tired… you can have the beds… I'll sleep on the floor…"
"Link, we can share… besides… the beds are big enough for 2 people…"
"Ok… I guess that's fine… I'm going for a quick walk before I turn in."
With that… Link walked out of the room and out side of the inn… with nothing better to do… Zelda went down to the café for a drink while martin decided to go see if Link wanted to talk. As he walked, he could have sworn he heard crying… his pace quickened… he soon found a weeping Link on his knees in the middle of a courtyard… Martin made his semi-stealthy approach…
"Malon… why did destiny have to take you in such a cruel way?"
"Link?"
"Who's… martin…"
"Care if I join you?"
"If you want."
"ok." He sits
"So?"
"Zelda told me all about Malon."
"Its nothing to worry about… my loss is nothing compared to yours."
"It's not easy to accept loss… especially that of someone you love."
"I'm fine! Really!"
"Link, don't lie to you… every man has their breaking point."
"I know but… if I was only there just a bit sooner… I could have stopped it."
"Hey… nobody's perfect… you need to learn to let go… I always told people that the first step should be acceptance… you need to accept the fact that there was nothing that you could have done… then you deal with the fact that they are gone…"
"Yeah…"
"Hey, cheer up! You got Zelda… you got me… you got Jauffre."
"Yeah… thanks martin."
"Come on… we have a long journey ahead of us… Zelda's ankle is almost healed completely… she went and got a drink before bed… she should have turned in by now…"
"Ok… thanks for the help martin."
"No problem… its what I do best."
The two men walked back into the inn and to their room… they changed into their sleeping clothes and got into their respective beds… Link wrapped his arms around Zelda's sleeping form and fell asleep as soon as he did so. Martin lay on his side watching the two… and he knew… he knew that he had probably found his two life long companions… friends that he would stick with until the end.
Authors notes: well, here's chapter three of our installment… I realize that this chapter and the one before it combined won't be more than about 4500 words so I posted them together…
READ… REVIEW… AND COMMENT!!!
Disclaimer: hey, guess what guys! I STILL don't own legend of Zelda OR oblivion rights… so shoot me for not working for Nintendo or Bethesda… I dare you to try!