Chapter 8: Ganondorf's Army

Sir Ravin had gathered about 400 soldiers to go with him and wait at the top of the hill for Gandondorf's army to show itself. They were just on top of the hill to the south of Lon Lon Ranch. They could see for about a mile and a half. There was no sign of any army.

Sir Ravin started to second guess if those skeleton soldiers were scouts. He may have been seeing things. The sun was starting to set to west and the field was starting to get darker.

Sir Ravin had been the top knight for Hyrule for 20 years; he had been through many courageous battles for Hyrule. He fought along side Ganondorf when he was still with Hyrule's army. He witnessed first hand the murder of the family Ganondorf was infamous for. Nobody knew who the family was, and they certainly couldn't tell after Ganondorf was done with them. Sir Ravin was the one who told the king about Ganondorf's actions. He knew the evil man from the desert would try to take his revenge on him.

"Sir, look to the south-west," came a voice from Sir Ravin's soldiers.

Ravin looked there and saw the army. Ravin was in shock when he realized how big the army was. The soldiers coming up the hill was only a part of the army. He then saw the horizon was lined with soldiers. The sun was just starting to set, turning the sky orange.

Sir Ravin turned to one of his runner.

"I need you to go to the castle and prepare for a battle," Ravin said to him.

"Yes, sir," the runner told him.

"We will hold them off as long as we can," Ravin said to the runner.

"May the goddesses be with you and your men," the runner said as he turned to ride back to the castle.

Ravin turned back to face the army which was about a mile away. It was too late to do anything. The army knew him and his men were there.

"We will split into four groups of one hundred," he said to his men, "This will help slow down the army."

Sir Ravin knew if he had just one group the whole army would wipe them out in a single wave, and the only part of the army would fight. If he spread his army out, he could stop the entire front line of Ganondorf's army from advancing at least for a little while.

He told each group to spread out across the field. Each group was side by side facing the army. Sir Ravin then called the archers to the front. The archers obeyed and stepped out in front of the cavalry.

"Load arrows," Sir Ravin yelled looking towards the army which was advancing faster than he anticipated.

The archers fitted their bows with arrows and pulled their strings back. They then raised thier bows at a 45 degree angle.

"Hold right there men," Sir Ravin yelled.

He could now see the soldiers clearly. He saw a different assortment of enemies. There were stalfos knights, which were the skeleton soldiers he had saved Link and Navi from. He then saw a few lizalfos, which were giant lizards with swords and shields. They stretched for miles in each direction it seemed.

He then looked towards the back to see his worst fear. There were several Iron Knuckles in the back. They were heavy armored foes wielding either axes or spiked balls on a chain. They stood about nine feet tall and were very strong. He knew they would be a problem.

Along with the iron knuckles were the moblins. They were strong fierce monsters that carried shields and spears. They stood about 11 feet tall and were as strong as they were dumb. When these monsters charge with a spear, anything short of a thick wall won't stop it.

Sir Ravin turned to his men and looked them all in the eyes. They looked back at him. He could see they were afraid of the army. He couldn't blame them. The monsters were very intimidating.

"Do not fear these beasts," Ravin shouted, "They should fear us. We are knights of Hyrule. We will not be beaten easily. This is where heroes rise and legends fall."

The men stood tall as they heard Sir Ravin's words. The grunts, snorts and roars of the beasts could now be heard by Sir Ravin's men.

The archers released thier arrows. The first couple of monsters were caught by the arrows. The archers then reloaded thier bows. Pointed them high and released.

"Let's show these beasts who we are," Sir Ravin said as he drew his sword and gripped his shield.

The third wave of arrows was fired as Ravin yelled for everyone to charge. The monsters were getting very close and he still could not see an end to the army on the horizon. None the less he kicked his horse's side and ran towards the enemy with his men behind him.

Sir Ravin saw the first wave of stalfos was the first monsters he would hit. He looked around and saw the other three groups were following his lead. He took a deep breath as he leaped into the heart of the stalfos knights.

His horse was immediately killed, sending him flying forewords and landed hard on the ground. He looked behind him and saw the stalfos were doing the same thing to the horses behind him. His men were all off their horses. He got up and started swinging away at the beasts. The beasts' heads were flying as Sir Ravin and his men started to fight with the stalfos.

Sir Ravin saw a helipad not to far away. He fired an arrow and it hit the helipad. It then rose up just as a part of the army was going by it. The blades at the bottom of it started rotating, lifting it off the ground. It was demolishing the monsters around it. Sir Ravin let out a little bit of a smile, and then went back to fighting.

The stalfos were getting easier to kill it seemed. But Ravin knew better than to think they were all Ganondorf was going to send. He knew of the stronger monsters behind these.

He heard clanking coming from the deepest part of the crowd. He raised his head to see the iron knuckles making it's way towards him. The monster was covered from head to toe in armor. It resembled a machine, not a beast. The iron knuckles raised its axe over his head and swung down at Ravin. He swiftly dove to the side as the heavy axe hit the ground. He then swung his sword at the creature's neck but his sword just bounced off the armor. The iron knuckle's free hand hit Sir Ravin in the helmet sending him flying back a few feet. Ravin landed hard and started to roll a little bit. He knew this monster was going to be close to impossible to defeat. He did have one advantage. The iron knuckles wasn't a fast creature.

Through all the fighting around him, Sir Ravin saw the iron knuckles looking at him on the ground slowly making it's way towards him. He gripped his sword and ran at it.

He was about to swing until he saw the beast swing the axe to it's side and start a side swipe with it. Sir Ravin ducked just in time. He could feel the wind off of the weapon through his armor. He then tried to tackle the monster because it left its mid section wide open to take that swing. Ravin just bounced off the armor and landed on his back a little dazed. He saw the axe come swinging down towards his head as he looked to the sky.

He rolled to the side and felt the ground vibrate from the blow of the axe. He heard the sound of the lizalfos coming. He saw the green lizards running past him to his men as he was still on the ground. He gripped his sword and swung at one of their feet. He stood up after he chopped their feet off and stabbed it through the chest.

He heard the iron knuckles swing it's axe again. Sir Ravin dove foreward to avoid the blow. He looked back to see the creature standing there ready for its next attack.

Sir Ravin took this chance to look around and saw that he didn't have many men left.

"FALL BACK," he yelled. He heard it echoed through out the battle.

The iron knuckles walked towards Sir Ravin again. This time Ravin used his head and ran away from it. There was no use dieing over one monster. He ran out of the battle and saw he had a few men left. There was only about 11 or 12 left of the 400 he had. They were all on foot also.

In the distance he saw Lon Lon Ranch. He didn't want to bring this battle to Talon's door step but he didn't have a choice.

"TO LON LON RANCH," he yelled to his men. He saw one get hit by an arrow as he yelled it.

Many arrows landed around him he just hoped he could make it to the ranch before an arrow pierced him. He heard some of the men scream he knew they had been hit.

He finally made it to the gate of Lon Lon Ranch with two other soldiers. All three of them made it through. The two other soldiers closed the gates and locked them. Sir Ravin went to get barrels, wood, anything that would block the gate. He saw the two soldiers holding the gate shut as the lizalfos started ramming the gate. The gate wouldn't last long; the bars were only an inch thick.

"Get out of here sir," one of the soldiers yelled, "You must help defend the castle."

Just then a spear struck between two of the bars and stuck into the soldier who collapsed, leaving the other soldier to hold the gates off by himself.

Sir Ravin saw Talon in his house. He ran up to a window of the house and asked for a way out.

"I made a ramp just in case something like this happened," he said as he opened the window, "You should make it over the wall with it. Just get a good horse to jump it with."

Ravin put his hand on Talon's shoulder and thanked him. He saw Talon was holding Malon close. He told them to hide in their house and stay out of site of the monsters. They both nodded at each other.

Ravin took off to find a good horse. He spotted a healthy looking black one immediately. He heard a scream come from the front gate as he saw the other soldier get gored with a spear through the fence.

He hopped on the horse and rode towards the ramp Talon was talking about. He looked towards the gate to see the monsters had broken in. He kicked the horse's sides and the horse sprinted towards the ramp made of some planks of wood and a few boxes.

A few arrows whizzed by his head as the horse ran up the ramp and jumped over the brick wall that surrounded Lon Lon Ranch. He was finally in the open field.

He looked back and saw the army still trying to catch him, but they were no match for his horse. He had to hurry back to Hyrule Castle.