Chapter Six
Dreaming

Ralis looked around at the scene of the devastated Hylia. Men and women walked with eyes down, huddled into their cloaks and staying clear of others. The Kairin assault upon the walls of Hylia had been a brutal shock to these simple folk's life. Many of them had never experienced war, or else remembered it from their childhood. The walls of whitestone buildings along the main market road were burned with marks like forked lightning, the result of a spell cast by the witch queen.

Ralis looked down from his horse to Rael, who walked alongside him on the ground. His brother was quiet. There had been a terrible silence between them for some time now.

"Rael," said Ralis solemnly, "I want you to promise me that whatever happens, you won't let those two use you for their own advantage." Rael looked up at him and smiled, then nodded. He looked pleased that they were talking. "You must be careful, brother. These monarchic types will use you for their own ends if you let them. Always remember that I am your brother. It doesn't matter who our mothers and fathers are, we are brothers forever, and that is that."

Rael nodded, "Of course."

"Rael I- I love you, never forget that, all right?" They were not open with their emotions usually, and saying those words felt liberating.

"I love you too Ralis," Rael replied. They both smiled and looked away at the road ahead. Saying those words seemed to free up a lot of animosity between them, and Rael's spirit lightened. It appeared that Ralis was happier too.

"Now, I guess that means that we-"

It happened so quickly, that it was only after the dust settled that Ralis truly understood what had taken place. A man leaped out of the shadows of a building, like a rabid dog snarling and growling, and took a running leap up at Mara, driving her clean over the back of her horse. She screamed out loud. Elane shrieked, and Tabett, Daran and Rael shouted out in horror. Her horse reared up on its back legs in surprise, which frightened Ralis' horse into leaping back onto to legs in the same way, throwing Ralis into the air.

"Mara!" Ralis shouted as he tumbled to the ground ten feet away.

"Ralis!" screamed Mara, as she wrestled with her attacker.

"Mara!"

A blood-curdling wail went up, a sound that Ralis knew he would never forget as long as he lived. The ragged fiend leaped up off Mara and jumped away, dissolving into a gathering crowd. Ralis made a grab for his heel and fell short, clattering onto the cobblestones.

Ralis fell down beside Mara, and choked a cry of grief. "Mara…"

A long dagger was thrust firmly through her chest, blood beginning to spread across her green dress. "Ralis," she whispered. Her face was going pale, her eyes glazing over.

"Mara- you- no- I can't- Rael, help me! Do something!" he looked up helplessly into the sky and saw the four figures of his companions looming over him. Rael was holding a bloody dagger. Mara's blood flowed along it into a pool of dark crimson on the ground. He licked the blade and his eyes burned like fire. "No! You murdered her!" Ralis cried, clawing at his brother.

Beside Rael, Daran laughed hysterically, doubled over on his folded arms. The sound of his cackling laughter was like the crackling of an inferno. Ralis looked around to see Elane and Tabett laughing at him also. Elane was robed in green, and her hair was made of snakes! They reached out and snapped at him, lashing their venomous tongues at his exposed neck. He whimpered and cried helplessly over Mara's body. "Leave me alone!" he wailed. Tabett leaned over him, and Ralis screamed when he saw his face. Tabett's skin was faded like a corpse, and his eyes glowed with a spectral white light. His toothless mouth hung open as a deep voice echoed out from within him, as though echoing through canyons. "Death is mine."

"Get away from me!" Ralis shouted. The world shifted, and colour melted. A swirl of wind and light engulfed him, throwing him through time.

Then he stopped. He looked around, seeing a pale grey sky over a beach. He breathed in the salty sea air, and collapsed into the sand. Shoots of reedy grass were reaching up from the sand around him, a dark green, sharp to the touch. He fondly remembered running amongst the reeds as a boy… Yes, these were the beaches of Taran Kaey…

He looked out across the sea. He knew Kairin was that way, somewhere beyond that endless blue-grey haze he lay asleep in the real world. His dream world felt incredibly real. He did not yet understand if he generated it, or was being brought here by another power, but he was beginning to see that his dreams were becoming somehow more solid.

This was the place where he used to come with Rael in the hot summers, where they would play hide-and-catch in the dunes. That was in his childhood, before Mara, before responsibility. Perhaps, he fancied to himself, Rael would be here now…

He stood up slowly, brushing sand off from his sleeves and back. Curiously, he felt shorter than usual. He looked down at his chest, arms and legs and realised that he was in a younger body, about fifteen years of age he estimated. Feeling a sudden surge of youth he darted along the dunes, leaping, bounding and spinning with the acrobatic finesse he had in his young days. He felt as though he could run so fast that he would fly…

Some way along the shore he spotted a small figure stretched out on the dusty bank. He was a boy of nine or ten years, with red-brown hair and a slighter build than he. Ralis laughed, and his brother turned to look at him. Ralis leaped down the dunes, sliding and rolling in the sand until he came to rest beside him. "Little brother, I thought I had lost you!" Rael looked at him with a look of puzzlement and concern. Ralis scooped up some sand and threw it at him playfully. The sand melted into the air.

Rael smiled slightly, then laughed, pleased to see him! He sprayed sand back. "I was just here."

A deeper memory triggered in Ralis' subconscious, a memory of another life, or a life yet to come. He found himself saying, "No," confusedly, "you walked away from me and disappeared."

"I was always here." Said Rael. "You ran away from me." There was confusion and disappointment in Rael's eyes, but Ralis was the more confused. Rael had deserted him and left him to go out into the world alone, without family or friends to care for him. "You left me alone!" Rael shouted.

That was absurd! Rael had abandoned him! Rael had decided to follow the witch and the demon man. They locked him in a dark prison cell beneath Hyrule Palace… and… then… what had happened? It did not matter. "You abandoned me Rael!" he shouted angrily. He stood up, rising to his full height, growing into a man's body again. The sky grew dark and he heard the familiar rumble of thunder.

"You ran away from me and left me all alone! I was lost without you!" Rael shouted, standing up to him. There were tears of anger streaming from his brother's face.

To see Rael cry made Ralis want to weep inside. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he shouted back at him, "Don't you blame me for your choices, Rael! I'm your brother you should have stayed with me!"

"I am my own man!" answered Rael. I don't need you any more!" His brother turned away and melted into the air.

"Rael?" said Ralis, feeling the space his brother had just occupied. There was no trace of him to be seen anywhere. "Rael!" he cried out.

Ralis awoke in his tent, blinking in the sudden dark of the night. After a few moments he recognised the rough canvas ceiling above him as his eyes adjusted to the shadows. The flaps of his tent were flapping in the wind as a cold wind whistled through the camp. "Be still," Ralis muttered, and on command the wind died.

He pushed aside his blankets and dragged his boots towards him. He had slept fully clothed, always ready for an attack. It did not take him long to be on his feet again, adjusting his shirt and buckles. At the side of the room, hanging on a coat stand alongside his sword belt was a cape of deep crimson. The new cape was a kingly gift from Count Nanharo, and Ralis felt it would insult the man not to wear it. His fingers dug into the rich fabric as he threw it around his shoulders, and it sent a shiver down his spine. It felt like power. After fastening his sword belt, he pushed through the flaps of the tent and walked out into the cool night.

The eight guards on sentry duty all snapped to attention as he emerged, each drawing right leg to left leg and thrusting the butts of their spears into the earth. Ralis looked along the two ranks lined up before him. Every eye avoided his. "At ease men," he said, and they relaxed. Still no-one would look him in the eye.

Ralis walked across the hill on which his tent stood. In the sky the clouds parted, the pale moon shining down from the star field to the camp below. The tents down there were a mixture of simple and extravagant. The simple tents were white canvas folded over a single cross bar that would sleep one or two men. The more extravagant tents were for officers, and they stood tall, with striped colours and fancy plumage on top. Ralis thought it was foolish to mark the officers out this way to potential enemies, but with so many men on lookout it seemed unimportant.

Some two thousand men were now at his command. After Nanharo, soldiers from garrisons in small towns along the road had joined them, all willing to fight for the true king and overthrow the oppressive Tadian. Ralis had also recruited a lot of non-military men, including some old men who could still fight, and some young lads who had joined out of pure awe for the 'rebel army'. They were just farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters, but anyone capable of bearing a sword was good enough for him. This war would be won with sheer numbers, not skill at arms. The only skill in combat required was his own, and he had the strength of a hundred men.

Every day they drew closer to Morlakai city and war. By now, word of the uprising would have reached Tadian's ears. Ralis had to hope that hunger would not stop his men. He had sent his lightest riders on the swiftest horses south-east and south-west across the Kairin plains, bearing messages from Ralis and Nanharo to the other Counts of Kaira to send all armies to Morlakai. The messages stated that on a certain day, a great sign would appear to show the power of The Master, the true King. Lightning would repeatedly strike every horizon as hail fell from sky for one hour, and then would stop suddenly, followed by immediate swift sky. Such an impressive display would have to impress.

Ralis looked away southward towards the black horizon. Far away yet lay Morlakai city… and his destiny. "I will have my revenge," he said, clenching his fists. Even in the deep places of the earth… there was silence.