There and back again Ch. 4
Chapter 4: fight night
Early in the morning, Zelda awoke with a feeling of dread. She did not know why, but it was defiantly there. She slowly moved out of Links hold as to not wake him and got dressed. She packed what little she got out the night before and quietly put it away. She then walked down stairs and ate her breakfast… eggs, ham, bread, and a small piece of cinnamon apple pie. She walked up the stairs to arouse the boys…
"Rise and shine boys!"
"Oh for the love of- five more minuets priestess."
"Not now mom… I'm tired."
"Ok… martin… I'm not a priestess and Link… I'm not your mother. Now up!"
"Oh…. Fine… I'm up."
"Link… honey… wake UP!"
"Alright, alright I'm up… happy? Sugarplum?"
"Is that sarcasm I hear in your voice?"
"What's for breakfast?"
"Is that all you think about is food Link?"
"Yup… why?"
"Never mind…"
"How about we just grab breakfast to go… and get to Weynon Priory? We've only got a few more hours to go."
"I like martins idea… lets go Link."
"But I'm hungry!"
"Grab it to go."
"But I don't wanna."
"Link! NOW!"
"OK!!!"
They grabbed all their things and got the boys their breakfast… they checked out of the inn and continued on their way. As they concluded the uneventful journey… they heard a familiar… yet unwelcome sound.
"Fighting…"
"The direction its coming from… oh no! Link! We have to go… Now!
"Ok… I'll handle it… martin, stay here and protect Zelda… I'm going in."
"Right… will do."
"Be careful…"
"I will."
Link pulled out his sword as a dark elf ran up to them warriors similar to the assassins were running everywhere.
"Help! You must help!"
"What's happening?"
"The priory is under attack! At first they looked like passers by… ordinary… then weapons appeared in their hands and they attacked… they killed prior Maborel, the one that gave you the horse before he could even respond… they saw me watching and I ran!"
"Where's Jauffre!?"
"In the chapel praying I think… you must hurry!"
"I'm on my way."
Link rushed past the elf and slashed at the fighter, he quickly died on the spot… he ran after two more attacking brother Piner… two more fell to links blade.
"Link… thank the gods… where's Jauffre!? Have you seen him anywhere?"
"The elf said he was in the chapel…"
"We have to hurry… before we're too late."
"Let's go!"
They kicked the doors open and ran into the chapel.
"Excellent timing… I'll take the one on the left."
The fighting commenced… 3 more assassins dead.
"The amulet! Link!? Is it safe?"
"I'll go check."
"We'll go together… but I fear the worst."
They ran to the priory house and went to the secret room behind the wardrobe.
"NOOO! The enemy has the amulet of kings… the enemy has defeated us at every turn!"
"Wait! I have martin here!"
The group hears a scream.
"Oh shit!"
Link sprints out of the building to see martin lying unconscious and Zelda on her back with an assassin on top of her. He tripped and dropped his sword. Just as the assassin removed his belt… Link pulled out his bow and snapped it in half over the assassin's skull.
"Thank you… Link."
"Is martin ok?"
"He's just unconscious… wait… he's coming to."
"Oh gods… my head!"
"What do we do with him?"
"Interrogation…."
"Let's get going."
Link drags the assassin by his hood and picks up his sword… they walk into the priory house and tie the assassin to a chair as he comes to
"Uhnn"
"You… talk."
The assassin looks over to Zelda.
"Hey sexy."
Link punches him in the gut.
"Do not talk to her like that… what is your mission?"
"To kick your ass."
Link backhands him.
"What is your mission?"
"To make sure the empire gets served."
"Tell me!"
"To rape your women, pillage your villages, and plunder all of your treasures"
"What do your people have to do with the emperor's murder?"
"To get the old fart out of the way!"
"Enough!"
"MY LIFE FOR DAGON!"
"Who!?"
But Link didn't get an answer… the assassin had a dagger hidden in his sleeve and cut his bounds. He quickly stood up and slit brother Piners throat… he then slashed links arm… he moved to kill Zelda but Link grabbed the assassins arm and twisted the dagger out of his hand… he then caught the dagger and rammed it into the assassins throat.
"Bastard…"
"Piner!"
"Dear gods…"
"We have to keep moving."
"Link…"
"It's not safe here… we need to move."
"But Link…"
"He's right… if we start now… we should make it there by nightfall."
"Are we walking?"
"Take the horses… Maborel wont need his anymore…"
"Let's go…"
They mounted the horses… Jauffre had his own… as did martin… and Zelda rode in front of Link on their paint horse. On their journey, they saw many beautiful sights… the imperial city… several ruins of an ancient civilizations… a large lake… the snow peaks. Before too long they arrived at Cloud ruler temple… where on the way Jauffre said they should go.
"Grand master, is this?"
"Yes Cyrus… this is the emperors heir… this is martin septim."
"Ok… please follow me sire."
"Ok"
They walked up the steep stairwell to the temple courtyard…
"Blades! Behold! This is the emperors lost heir… this is martin septim!"
"Hail martin septim! Hail the dragon born! Hail!"
"Blades… I appreciate everything… I'm kind of new to this but I think you know what I mean when I say thank you."
"Well captain, I suppose that we should get back to our duties."
Martin walked over to where Link and Zelda watched the event.
"Not very much of a speech was it guys… they didn't seem to mind though. But they all seem to expect me to know what to do and how to act."
"Its gonna be ok martin… Zelda and I will protect you."
"Thank you Link… but this is all surreal."
"Don't worry… we'll go get the amulet of kings back."
"Yes Zelda… but… what then?"
"You will be emperor."
"Yes… so we… I can light the dragon fires."
"Exactly… and we can all live in peace."
"Thank you… in the short time I've known you two… you've been true friends."
"Link, Zelda?"
"Yes Jauffre?"
"You two have proven yourselves loyal servants of the empire… as grand master; I would be honored to accept you into the blades."
"What are our duties?"
"Well, other than what you see people doing now… your duties are what you've been doing."
"Ok… I accept… what about you Zelda?"
"I accept as well."
"Very well, I welcome you into our order as knight brother and sister."
"Thank you Jauffre."
"Take time to take a break… you two look tired."
"Yes… thank you."
Link and Zelda walked into the great hall and sat at one of the tables… a blade walked up and introduced herself as Caroline and poured them two mugs of mead. Thanking her Link quickly downed his mug. Zelda started conversation.
"Link?"
"Yes?"
"You need to be more careful."
"What do you mean?"
"You've been getting reckless."
"Saved you plenty of times haven't I?"
"Yes! And I thank you but you almost died more times than I care to count."
"Dodging death is what I'm good at Zelda."
"Can you at least be a little more careful?"
"If I was more careful, you wouldn't be here right now!"
"If you were more careful, we wouldn't get ourselves into these messes!"
"Me!? If you were more self-sufficient!"
"I'm a woman! I'm not used to having to defend myself! I'm sorry that I'm not a well-trained brute like you!"
"Brute!? Well-trained brute I am now huh? You never had to survive off of one apple every two days for a year! You never had to drink dirty swamp water! You haven't lost the love of your life!"
This attracted some onlookers.
"Yeah well, you weren't raped 3 times a week!"
Zelda storms out. Link follows.
…cloud ruler temple, outer enclosure…
"That information might have been useful sooner!"
"It's embarrassing!"
"At least you had a roof over your head!"
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOURE A PITIFUL EXCUSE FOR A HERO!"
"PITIFUL EXCUSE NOTHING! UNGREATFUL BITCH!!"
Everybody in ear shot turned and looked at the pair… Zelda looked like Link just slapped her and Link looked like she did the same to him… both were equally shocked by Links words…
"Zelda! I… I didn't mean it!"
Zelda is now openly crying.
"I… I… I FUCKING HATE YOU!!"
Link staggered back… the words hit harder than anything he had ever taken before. Zelda looked strangely passive.
"Zelda…"
She doesn't respond… instead shooting a fireball straight at him. The force blows him off of his feet.
"DOOAH! Zelda!!"
He advances again… this time she shoots him with a ball of ice… it shatters a rib.
"AHAAAHHHH! Zelda! Please! Listen to me!"
She again responds violently… choosing a charge of lightning.
"HUAAHHHH! Zel…da…"
He falls to his knees. Zelda turns to walk out of cloud ruler temple. Link gets up and limps after her.
"Zelda please!"
"Die…"
"Zelda!?"
Zelda slowly levitates into the air… when she is floating about 25 feet over Link she puts her hands to her sides… she mutters an incantation then raises her hands over her head… first… a ball of ice appears in her hands… then the fires from the braziers go out and reappear around the ice ball… then lighting strikes the ball… all three elements of destruction formed a massive ball in her hands… she looked down at Link who was staring wild eyed at her… she knew it… he was more scared at this moment than he had ever been in his entire life.
"Good bye… Link."
"Zelda…"
She released all of the energy in front of Link… the ball of hatred smashed straight in front of Link…
"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"
Links pained scream echoed throughout the mountains… the explosion was so bright people in Bruma saw a brief flash of light… Link is thrown into a column. He bounces of and lands face first on the cold stone. Zelda dropped to the ground and lands on her feet… she turns to walk away when she hears him call her name.
"Zelda… please… don't… go…" His head hits the ground.
"I loved you…"
With that… she turns and sprints out of cloud ruler temple. As the blades ran to get Link into medical care. Jauffre looked to martin as if he had the solution… martin looked sadly at Jauffre and told him what he knew.
"That was a spell called Hatred. Only a master at destruction, who has come to an over-whelming high of emotional pain, can cast it. There have been stories of mages leveling entire cities with this power… if she keeps coming under emotional stress or she has a consistent level of emotion in her… after casting the spell…"
"Martin! What's going to happen!?"
"After she cast that spell… if she keeps going under an over burdening or consistent amount of emotion… she won't have enough natural magicka in her body to combat it… if this happens… she will die…"
Authors note: the power of hatred is indeed great… what will happen next? Will Link recover from his wounds and save the day? Or will Zelda's body give out on her? Find out on the next chapter!
Disclaimer: 'cept for that little scene…. I own nothing
Here's a clue…
She slept lightly… but she dreamt as though she was in a deep sleep… she was in an open field… the only thing there was a tree… there she saw Link… he slowly walked up to what looked like a stone sticking up from the ground. She called to him… he gave no response… he got onto both knees and stared at the stone… she heard him talk.
"I saved Tamriel you know… all odds were against me… but I did it… I saved it for you."
He produces a wicked looking dagger.
"Malon said to me that your fate will be mine… now… I will join you in eternal sleep."
He drives the dagger into his stomach. Zelda shrieks even though she knows he can't hear her.
"Zelda… at last… we can be together… I… I love…"
She wakes with a start as the door to her cave bursts open.