Malon paced the length of the dark and mostly bare house for what seemed like the hundredth time, growing more frustrated by the minute. She wished that they could get some light into the house somehow, for the darkness was beginning to grate on her nerves for some reason; the only source of light came from the moon, which shone through a window set into the side of the house.
The sound of laughter and drunken antics swept in from the house opposite theirs, as the guards continued their party. She must have only been locked in the house for maybe three hours at most, but it felt like twice that to her.
"We have to think of some way to escape," her father muttered once again, from where he sat on an over-turned apple box.
For the first hour of being held captive, Malon had told her father a made-up story of what had happened to her-she knew she couldn't tell him what really happened, at least not now. Her father was a trusting man, but she figured that even he would find it hard to believe that she had been bewitched by an evil woman in order to be used as bait to capture and kill the hero of Hyrule. She scarcely believed it herself, and it had happened to her!
So she had told him that, after writing the note addressed to him and running away, she had fallen and hit her head, and had been rendered unconscious for some hours, before coming to and then making her way slowly back to the farm, after she realised that she couldn't leave her father after all.
It was a pretty poor story, she knew, but it was the best she could come up with on the spot when her father questioned her.
"I still blame myself," Talon had sighed. "I knew you must have been feeling pretty bad ever since Ingo took over the farm, but I was too busy helping out around the ranch to do much about it."
Malon had assured her father that it wasn't his fault, feeling bad that he wanted to take the blame for her running away.
Now, Malon turned to her father, fiddling with her long hair as she tried to think, which was a habit for her.
"I know we have to escape, but I can't see any way that we can. This house is empty of anything that we could use to get out of here, and even if we did manage to get out they may have guards posted." She said.
Her father shook his head. "It sounds to me that most of the guards are busy drinking themselves into next week, so if we manage to get out of here we might be able to just slip away."
Malon sat opposite her father on the ground with her back to the wall, drawing her knees up to her chin and hugging them.
"Maybe they'll just let us go in the morning?" She suggested. "I mean, even if we tell someone that our farm has been taken over by Ganondorf's men, no-one will care or will be able to do anything about it."
Her father looked away from her, and suddenly Malon felt apprehensive.
"Dad...is there something you're not telling me?" She asked him softly.
Talon ran a hand wearily across his face; he looked like he hadn't slept properly for days.
"I didn't want to talk about it." He told her. "But you have a right to know."
Malon felt a sick feeling in her stomach, and wondered how things could get any worse. She waited impatiently for her father to continue, but it was some time before he started talking again.
"Mal, you're an attractive young girl, and...these men are brutes who have been away from any female company for a long time," Talon said hesitantly. "That Sergeant? He'll want you around as a way to boost the morale of the camp, so they might...I can't even say it, hon."
"You mean they'll rape me." Malon stated, fuming. She tried to keep the emotion out of her voice, but she couldn't, and her voice trembled.
A look of pain crossed Talon's face, and he nodded. "I'll do everything in my power to protect you, but...realistically, I can't keep you safe from around twenty men that they have posted here."
Malon stood up quickly, her body shaking with anger and fear.
"I'm fourteen!" She snapped, to no-one in particular. "Most of those men would be at least six years older then I am, and yet..." She stopped as she felt tears coming to her eyes.
Her father stood up and wrapped his arms around her. "Some men have no morals, honey, and Ganondorf attracts men like these. Now you might understand part of the reason why I built this farm so far away from the nearest town. It makes doing deliveries a pain, but...after your mother...passed away, I wanted to make sure I could keep you as safe as I possibly could. Yet apparently I failed at doing that, too..." Talon said, his voice cracking slightly.
Malon choked back her tears, and shook her head. "Even if you built the farm on top of Death Mountain I don't think you could have protected me forever, dad...no-one's safe right now."
Talon nodded. "I guess you're right, but it still maddens me."
Malon pulled away from her father's embrace and the two sat back down, each silent as they became lost in thought.
Fiddling with some dry hay on the floor, Malon was thinking about the soldiers, and imagined them forcing her down and violating her against her will, being powerless to stop it. She shuddered, and suddenly knew that she could not-would not allow it to happen. She would rather die then be forced through that torture, an event which would then stay with her for the rest of her life.
What made it even worse for her was that she was a virgin, and for her first time she wanted it to be special and gentle, and not at the hands of some disgusting soldier whom she didn't even know, and didn't want to know, for that matter.
For some reason she thought of Link, and imagined what his reaction would be if she was raped-would he be disgusted with her, and refuse to get near her? She thought not, but couldn't help but worry.
"I wish I could kill myself," Malon whispered dully. "That way they couldn't...you know."
Her father stared at her, his expression a mixture of sadness and anger.
The night passed gradually, and Malon somehow managed to slip into a restless sleep where she dreamed she was riding Epona across a serene meadow.
When she awoke it was around mid-day, and she looked around the now bright room to see her dad standing next to the window and peering out.
"What's going on?" She asked groggily, getting up and joining Talon by the window.
"That cold-hearted Sergeant is putting the men through a training exercise," he whispered. "After all the drinking they did last night...still, can't say I feel sorry for them."
Malon looked out the window and saw that the soldiers were using the race track in the middle of the farm to perform running exercises-most of them looked just about ready to fall over on the spot. The tall Sergeant stood to one side, barking orders at his men.
"What's the name of the Sergeant?" Malon asked.
"Sergeant Rid," her father snapped venomously. "I made sure to remember his name so I could curse it every day."
Malon chuckled, and then noticed that the Sergeant's head was now turned towards the house, and he was watching them. He gave a final command to his troops and began walking over to their building.
"Uh-oh," Talon muttered. "Let's see what this blowhard wants."
They moved to the middle of the room and stood facing the door as it opened. Sergeant Rid entered confidently, flanked by a second officer who was holding a crossbow.
"I see you were examining my fine troops," Rid drawled casually.
Malon and her father remained silent, Malon liking the man less and less each time she saw him.
When they did not reply the Sergeant strode forward and back-handed her father roughly to the floor. Malon let out a shriek of surprise and started to walk towards the Sergeant with the intent of striking him, but the guard holding the crossbow pointed it threateningly at her, so she was forced to ease off.
"Keep your filthy hands off my father!" She snapped, her shoulders rising and falling with her angry breaths.
The Sergeant raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't talk that way if I were you, miss. Not if you want my men to remain, shall we say, gentle with you tonight."
Malon's heart thudded in her chest. Oh No.
"If you touch her I'll kill each and every one of your men," Malon heard her father say from his position on the floor.
The Sergeant leant over her father with a smirk. "Just for that, I think I'll give her to the men for an extra hour."
Rid took another look at Malon, but apparently didn't have anything else to say, so he turned around smugly and exited the room with the other guard.
"Are you okay?" Malon asked worriedly, helping her father off of the ground. Talon shook his head, his expression that of dread.
"I'll be fine. We have to get you out of here though, before tonight. Start looking around for any tools," he said quickly, and began to search around the house.
Malon remained where she stood, feeling defeated. "I checked all last night...there's nothing," she said, but Talon continued his futile search.
After a minute of checking around he roared in frustration and put his foot right through the side of a box in his anger.
Malon had been trying to remain calm, but now tears streaked down her face. "It's okay, dad. It's not your fault." She tried to comfort him between her sobs.
Talon sat down and put his head in his hands. "They cleaned this place out when they put me in here," he said softly. "If only I had some kind of weapon, I could take down as many men as they threw at me, I think."
She had never heard her dad speak with such acid, but right then her thoughts were, perhaps selfishly, more on herself. How could this have happened? Had she survived being attacked by wolves, and by Eliza, just so she could return home and be raped?
She looked around for anything she could use to kill herself, or to kill others, hardly believing what she was thinking. But there was nothing, of course.
Sitting back down on the floor, she resumed crying. She knew she should somehow pull herself together, but she couldn't. It was hopeless.
She felt her father sit down next to her and hug her tightly, but didn't stop crying; couldn't stop crying, and her body shook uncontrollably.
She must have drifted off at some point, exhausted from crying, for when she next came to the room was once again coated in black, and night had fallen. Talon was sleeping next to her, but she barely registered this fact as she got to her feet in a hurry and crossed over to the window, her heart beating quickly.
Looking outside, she saw that the place seemed deserted, but her ears told her that the soldiers were once again partying over at her house. She wondered idly where all the alcohol was coming from, but thought no more of it as she looked up at the sky and saw that it must be only around eight at night. Panic filled her instantly, for she thought that it was likely that once the soldiers were drunk enough not to be bothered by their consciences, then they would come and take her away.
She figured she only had a couple of hours left, at the most. She blinked away the tears before they could fall, telling herself that she had done enough crying.
She glared at the window, wishing she could just climb out of it, but her father had built it to be impassable, with small wooden slits that could not be broken without a heavy or sharp tool.
For some reason her thoughts returned once more to Link, and she hoped that he was okay. The thought even entered her head that perhaps Link would come back to the farm, and would save her, but of course that was just silly, she told herself. Maybe if she had gotten some equipment from Link before he left her, she could have...but no, the soldiers would have taken anything she was carrying on her away, she realised.
Defeated, she sat back down next to her sleeping father and waited miserably, trying to keep her mind blank.
Around half an hour passed, with her jumping at every loud cheer or roar that came from her house. Beside her, Talon snored away, and she looked down at him fondly. Only he could sleep through such a commotion...
Suddenly, she looked up and noticed that a shadow in the shape of a person's head had appeared along the floor of the room-someone was standing outside the window!
Her heart thudded, because who could it be but a soldier, about to enter the house and grab her?
Then a voice came to her, low and urgent.
"Hey...who's in there?" It said, and she felt a tinge of hope when she realised the voice was too high to be from a grown man, which ruled out all the soldiers.
"Link? Is that you?" She whispered loudly, and ran over to the window.
No reply came, and she looked out the window hopefully, but could see no-one.
Now, apparently, she was hearing things. The voice could have easily belonged to a soldier after all, she thought, especially if they were all drinking, for the alcohol could alter their voices.
Her hope died, and she was about to turn away from the window when suddenly a head appeared in front of her, upside-down, almost making her scream out loud in shock. At first she thought that it really was Link, but then she could see that it clearly wasn't.
The head looked like it belonged to a normal boy of about her age, and yet she was startled to see that he had blood-red eyes.
That was just about the only feature of his face she could determine however, as his head was wrapped up in what seemed to be some sort of white turban, and his mouth was covered in a similar, white bandage-like material that came up from his neck.
Malon could only but gape, and the boy studied her mutely.
"Are you a prisoner?" He asked her simply. His voice was high, and yet had a husky quality to it that she found alluring.
Malon nodded quickly. "Y-yes, I am. Me and my father. Who are you?"
The teenager frowned but did not answer. Malon saw that he had two large sheets of blonde hair emerging out from under the bandages on his head, one of which was so large that it almost completely covered his left eye. She figured that had he not been upside down, his left eye would be hidden.
His eyes went past her to the form of her father. "Is he hurt?" He asked.
She shook her head. "No, he's fine; just sleeping." She decided she needed to be direct. "Look, we need to escape...can you help us?"
She realised that she didn't know who this guy was or how he was allied, but she also knew that she couldn't afford to let any opportunity to escape pass her by.
Again, the boy studied her with those weird eyes of his. "Are you with Ganondorf?" He asked.
"Would I be in here if I was?" She said, a bit ruder then she had intended to be. Her mind was screaming at her to escape, any way she could.
The boy seemed to think for a moment, and then finally nodded, which looked weird to her seeing as he was upside-down. She figured that he must be hanging from the roof of the building somehow, and since she could see his arms he must be using just his legs to keep himself up.
"I'll help get you out," he said in his husky voice, and her heart leapt.
"It's a bit risky tonight, however," he added, to her dismay. "Can you wait until tomorrow night?"
"No!" She exclaimed, and he looked surprised at her reaction. "I mean...I have to get out tonight. Now. Soon the soldiers are going to come for me, and..." she let her voice trail off, hoping he'd figure out what she was trying to say without her having to spell it out for him.
Thankfully, he nodded again. "Okay. It might be tricky, but-"
Whatever he was about to say next was interrupted by the sound of the door opening with a squeak, and Malon spun around with a gasp to see a soldier enter the building and close the door behind him, where it was re-locked by someone outside. He was holding a crossbow in his hands and had a manic gleam in his eye.
"Thought I'd start the party a little early," he chuckled nastily, advancing across the room slowly. Some red hair peeked out from under his helmet, and a large scar framed a side of his face. Malon looked out the window from the corner of her eye and saw that the boy had disappeared.
"Touch me and you're dead," she snapped, which she felt was an empty threat considering she had no weapon.
The soldier, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, ignored her and laughed humorlessly. He circled the body of her father, who was still asleep on the floor, shot a wary glance down at the man, and continued forward.
He had almost reached her when Talon suddenly sprung up from the floor and kicked the back of his knees forward, sending him kneeling to the floor with a shocked cry.
Her father then grabbed the crossbow, which was still in the soldier's hands, and tried to wrestle it off him. The soldier was fit, however, and to Malon's horror he turned around, struggling against her father, and slowly pointed the crossbow at his chest.
"No!" She screamed, rushing forward, at the same time seeing that she wasn't going to be able to reach the soldier before he fired the weapon.
She felt something fly past her head through the air with a whoosh, and suddenly several objects thudded into the side of the kneeling soldier. He gave a grunt of pain and arched up, the sudden distraction giving Talon the chance to turn the crossbow around and fire it point-blank into the side of the man's head.
Malon turned away after the man had fallen lifelessly to the floor, not wanting to look into the eyes of a dead man.
So much death...she thought, but told herself to snap out of it and to get moving.
She turned back to the body and looked down at it to see that there were three small, star-shaped objects embedded into the side of the soldier-the boy must have thrown it from outside just in the nick of time; she marveled at his aim.
Her Dad lowered the crossbow to the floor and moved around the body to hug her.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," he told her.
So now we've both killed, she thought ironically.
"It was either us or him," she told him, squeezing him back. She looked up at him. "I thought you were asleep though?"
Talon gave a wry smile and shook his head. "I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that you're in danger. But I thought I could easily pretend to be asleep, so I could get the jump on anyone who tries anything. Looks like it worked."
"So you've been awake the whole time?" She asked, disbelieving.
"Yep. I overheard your conversation with whoever's outside the window, too." He said, and tapped the ninja stars sticking out of the soldier's side with his boot. "I'll have to thank him for doing that."
Malon went over to the window once more, and called out softly. A second later, the boy reappeared, but this time he was the right-way up, standing on the ground.
"Is everyone okay?" He asked.
Malon realised that the boy had been mainly asking questions of her, and hadn't given much information himself. She figured that didn't matter though, seeing as he had probably just saved her father's life, so she nodded and thanked him.
"I couldn't afford to attack straight away, or else the guard might have alerted the others," he explained, though Malon hadn't even brought his delayed attack up.
"That doesn't matter," She whispered urgently. "We have to get away now, or we're dead."
"I agree." He said, and she had the sudden realization that he spoke far too properly to be a lower-class citizen.
"How can you get us out?" Malon asked, focusing her mind on the problem at hand.
"I think I'll be able to pick the lock of the door. Most of the soldiers are still in the other house, and the few that weren't I knocked unconscious, so you two should be able to just sneak right out of the farm." He explained in a low tone, looking around anxiously.
"That easy?" Malon said, raising an eyebrow.
"Hopefully, yes."
Her father was standing behind her, listening to the conversation, and now nodded.
"If we wait any longer we'll lose this chance," he said. "Pick the lock, lad, and we'll be out of here."
The youth nodded and disappeared around the side of the house with such speed that Malon was taken aback.
Her father held her hand and led her over to the door, where they waited with bated breath. They had left the spent crossbow on the ground, for it had only had the one bolt on it.
A few seconds passed, and then there was a soft click, and the door swung outwards slowly. Malon could have cried with relief, and tiptoed outside with Talon.
The boy was waiting outside impatiently, and was constantly checking his surroundings. Right in front of them, Malon could see lights on in her house, and could hear the sound of the other soldiers inside. Should the door open, and a soldier look outside, then they would be spotted straight away.
"Go now, and quickly," hissed the boy.
"What about you?" Malon whispered back, not understanding why he couldn't just leave with them.
"I still have something to do here," he whispered, and then gave her a small push towards the exit to the farm. "I might meet up with you later, but for now just go!"
Malon and her father did as they were told, sneaking past the houses and down the slope to the exit of the farm. The night felt cool and fresh to Malon, after being imprisoned in a stuffy house for so long.
When they got to the bottom of the slope, she saw that a sentry had been posted at the entrance-Rid must have decided he didn't want anybody simply waltzing into the farm anymore. The sentry, however, had been knocked out cold and now lay slumped to one side of the path. Quickly, least they be spotted at the last moment, Malon and her father rounded the side of the farm, where the tall, wooden barrier protected them from any watchful eyes.
Talon then practically swept Malon up off the ground, laughing quietly with delight.
"We did it, we're free!" He cried as softly as he could. Malon started laughing too, such was the relief that was flooding through her body.
"They thought they had us," her father gloated. "But we're gone now. Come on, let's quickly get as far away as possible."
Malon nodded, and then a thought hit her. "What are we going to do about the farm?"
Talon shrugged. "I don't really care at the moment, but I don't think there's much we can do. Ganondorf's obviously interested in using the farm, and he seems to get what he desires. But come, let's go."
But Malon was lost in thought. Her farm was her home. She had always seen it as a pure, safe place...the thought of it being used for evil purposes-torture, war, rape...filled her with horror.
"Dad, what about all the animals left in there?" She asked with sudden realization.
The look on her father's face told her enough.
"We're just going to leave them?" She said, aghast. "All our horses, the cattle, the chickens? At least when Ingo had control of the farm I knew that he would look after the animals!" Another thought hit her, and she raised a hand to her mouth. "Where is Ingo?" She asked.
A look of surprise crossed Talon's face. "I haven't really given it much thought," he admitted. "Last I saw of him he was in the barn, so..." his voice trailed away, and his face paled. "Oh no..."
"He's still back there, isn't he?" Malon cried. "We have to go back and help him!"
"We can't! We'll get caught again! And then what good will that do? Let's go and get some help, and then we can come back and rescue him."
"Dad, no-one will want to help us!"
"We can't go back," Talon repeated, shaking his head.
"Well, I can't leave," She said, with a conviction that surprised even her. She couldn't go, could she? She wouldn't let herself leave Ingo behind in captivity, or any of the other animals, for that matter. Sure, Ingo could be a pain, but he didn't deserve torture or death!
But how could she go back now? It would mean certain death for her, and she was weaponless.
An idea hit her suddenly, and she went over to the body of the unconscious soldier, feeling a sense of hope when she saw the crossbow lying next to him. She picked it up carefully, and saw that it was fitted with a bolt already, and held two spares.
"Mal..." her father said, warningly. "No. Don't even think about it. I can't believe you would even begin to-"
She interrupted him. "Most of the men will be drunk, and they don't know we've escaped yet. They also won't expect me to be armed. Please, dad, I have to do this. And I don't want you with me-go around to the back of the farm, where the hidden rear exit is, and wait for me there."
He stared open-mouthed at her. "Mal? What's happened to you?"
It was not spoken with an accusatory tone, nor of a disappointed tone; Malon instead noted the pride that was in his voice.
"I understand you feel you have to do this-it's exactly what your mother would do." He whispered when she did not answer, tears brimming his eyes.
"I can see I can't stop you, but do me a favor and work with that boy when you're in there. Remember, I love you very much."
She had to keep herself from crying once more as she hugged him, and then she made herself let go of him and carefully walk up the slope of the farm once more, hefting the crossbow so that it pointed out at chest-height.
Her eyes set and determined, she approached the building that used to be her house.
Her father's voice came to her. Mal? What's happened to you?
She had reached the side of the house, where the flame from the torches danced and flickered. She was trying to psych herself up: They were going to rape you, and then maybe kill you. They work for Ganondorf. They harmed your father. They have your farm. They are traitors.
Anger filled her even more. She eyed the door to the building.
What's happened to me? She thought, answering her father's previous question in her mind.
I guess I became stronger.
Lots of dark themes present in this chapter-and Link thought he had it bad! This chapter also introduces another character, and many of you should be able to guess the identity of the "boy". And if you couldn't, I just gave it away there. :p
I liked how Talon came out in this chapter; he's a very loving and protective father.
Hmm? Is that all I have to say? Not quite. As always, this was a hard chapter to write (they all will be hard to write, as I want to put as much effort into them as possible to make them as good as I can), and I think writing Malon's thoughts as she waits to be assaulted kind of got to me. What a horrible situation to be in, I could not imagine having to go through that in real life, and I'm sure it's happened to a lot of people in history.
A special thanks to all the reviewers! You make writing this more fun then it would be. :) Leave down your thoughts for this new chapter, and let's get past 30 reviews.
I actually realised I could get maybe double the reviews if I didn't write so much in the one chapter, but that's how I write, and I shouldn't change that just to get more reviews. Chunky chapters, that's what you get.
If anyone is interested, I've also started a Final Fantasy VIII story, starring Quistis, and complete with a couple of out-takes at the end which I think came out pretty well.
Well I got to say thanks once again to you guys for readingand/or reviewing my "little" story-it's getting even more interesting for me to write, as new characters come into it, so I look forward to adding more to it later.