Chapter Twelve:

Innocents' Blood

"For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness." Isaiah 59:3

Zelda had opened the gardens up to Malon and Dahved's family, as well as Ilia, who now wandered along the blossom-less path alone, a dark brown hood pulled over her bowed blonde head. The queen watched with pity as the woman walked as if in a trance, aimless and without much thought wherever the path took her. There was no emotion save despair in her posture – her hunched shoulders, clasped hands, slow step. She looked about as defeated as Link had upon his last return.

Unable to bear seeing the Ordonian in such sorrow, Zelda whirled and made her way straightaway to the gardens, slipping out the servants' door and into the cool, crisp, damp atmosphere outside. Clouds hung like a never-ending blanket over the sky, hiding them from the sun in their shadows, smelling of moisture, yet bringing none. She didn't even give them a second glance, nor a wasted hope – there had been no rain, and there would be no rain.

She weaved her way through the maze that was once a beautiful garden, and she recalled the many mock battles her husband and youngest son had shared in its embrace. Amidst lovely, fragrant blooms of roses, hydrangeas, and chrysanthemums. The fresh scent of peppermint, and the earthy smell of climbing vines. All of that was now gone, replaced with dry, crumbling remains like so many ruins of once great empires now laid to waste away on ancient hills.

It took a few moments to find Ilia, and when she did, Zelda found her sitting on one of the cold iron benches that occasionally graced the pebbled path. The other woman didn't lift her head as she approached.

"Ilia?" said Zelda at long last, and the owner of the name slowly lifted her head. Her vibrant green eyes were dimmed with grief, and vacant.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" The words were mechanical, said automatically rather than from any real need to say them.

Zelda advanced cautiously, studying Ilia as she did so. "I was… just coming out to make sure you're all right."

The blonde did not respond immediately. Instead, her gaze wandered, over the sickly brown of the once lush grass and other vegetation. So much death… Even Zelda, who aimed uncompromisingly to remain optimistic through dire times, could not ignore it. Hyrule was suffering greatly… but perhaps none more so than its people. Innocents – like Ilia and her daughter, Ani.

Her heart broke when she heard a strangled sob from Ilia's throat, and spires of her blonde hair drifted in front of her eyes as she buried her face in her hands.

"If I'm all right… My daughter lost her leg to a dragon, and might lose her life to the infection. My husband is more than likely dead, or a prisoner of war. And… I lost my unborn child. And…" She covered her eyes, and wept bitterly. Zelda flew to her side, sinking down onto the bench and embracing her.

"Ilia…" said she, after several moments filled only with the grieving woman's wails. "Things… are difficult. There is no denying that. And things may seem hopeless. But, in all truth, they are not. The darkest hour of night comes just before dawn. You are yet blessed, even in the face of great loss – you and Ani did not lose your lives. Ani is healing, and both of you are on your way to recovery. Your husband is not yet confirmed dead; there is a chance he will return. Do not give into despair just yet – first light is just around the corner."

~-LoZ-~

They were coming.

Like a dark storm cloud on the horizon. With each passing moment, they drew closer, and closer. Link could almost swear he heard the beating of their fibery wings. A force to be reckoned with, a horde beyond imagination, bent on one thing, and one thing only – the destruction of Hyrule. They rode on the back of the wind, propelled by anger, and hatred. Nothing had yet stood in their way, and there was nothing to stop them from reaching Keskus.

But upon their arrival, they would meet something. The archers were positioned along the wall, the catapults readied on the battlements. Soldiers waited for Link's command within the city. Women and children had been instructed to remain inside until the bells in the castle towers sounded. All had spent the past hour in fervent prayer – they still prayed, as the draconic forces came ever nearer. All was ready.

Link tested his sword arm. A dull ache resounded from his shoulder, but none near as bad as it had been the day after his encounter with the skilled black dragon. He coiled his fingers about the hilt of the sword on his back, and the blade rang against its sheath as he drew it. Epona shifted nervously; the eerie silence of foreboding was affecting even her.

"Easy, girl…" He leaned down to pat her thick neck. "Only a bit longer…" He turned his gaze back to the skies. "They'll be here soon."

The soldiers lining the ramparts around him made no sound – in expectant, and deathly quietness, they waited. Many had not yet seen the dragon forces. The majority had been absent from the battle of Lon Lon, and they could only imagine what awaited them in the struggle to come.

Then, like a blaring war horn, came a great and terrible roar. It echoed off the skies in its thundering timbre, and Link shuddered. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. The scaled army was within clear sight, now, hundreds of thousands of hardened scales glinting in the sunlight like polished armor. At the head of the pack flew Ameas Night himself, a great black giant amidst what could have been flying ants.

Dear Lord…

Ameas roared again, and blasted southern Hyrule Field with orange breath. The flames danced over the dry grassland, flaring proudly like a bloodied banner in the wind. Thunder rolled from the south, from behind the dragons, the rumbling drum roll of the approaching army.

Protect this city.

Wind blew dust into Link's face, and he squinted, the images of the dragons becoming unfocused and blurred. He shook his head, and pulled the helmet over his blond locks. Peering now from under the glimmering brow band, he felt the sweat trickle down his forehead to sting his eyes.

Be with my soldiers, and guide our hands.

Heat rose from the approaching fire, and the wind whipped it over the crest of the walls. The soldiers shifted uneasily. The dragon host approached with the swiftness of death, and the resolve of conquering. Their flight was relentless; this would be a battle to the victor. One, or the other would triumph before the sun sank below the horizon.

Give us speed and accuracy. Lord, let not this city be taken…

"Catapults!" Link shouted, and his troops went into immediate action. The catapults roundabout the southern arc of the defense let loose their hurtling projectiles. Great, rounded stones were sent soaring through the air and straight for the front lines of the dragons. Shrieks of agony and surprise were heard as many hit their marks, and a score of flying beasts were downed, plummeting into the fires of their master's doing.

Ameas himself dodged the rocks easily, even as the catapults kept firing. And as the reptiles continued to come, Link took a breath to assure himself this was truly happening.

"Archers, to the ready!"

All about him, soldiers nocked their arrows and drew back the strings, aiming upward and out. They held steady, until the winged force was only a mere fifty yards from them.

"Fire!"

Arrows whistled into the air. Link knew it was more than likely a fruitless effort, according to his attempts to shoot the black dragon at Lon Lon, but he could only hope that perhaps, their scales were weaker at their faces, or some lucky shots would hit in the eye.

Only four dragons fell to the arrows. The rest continued their unyielding advance. Link raised a horn to his lips and sounded the call over the city. The dragons were upon them.

Twenty meters. "Fire at will!" He dropped the horn, and gripped his sword all the tighter. "Aim for their soft spots – underbelly, throat. Go against the flow of their scales!"

Link met the first assailant with his blade, which easily plunged upward under the thick scales of the chest. He felt the rush of heat from its body, and leapt aside before it could crush him and Epona under its weight. Then came the sound of hundreds of blades clashing with armor-hard scales in the ring-clang-clang that would be forever familiar to Link's ears.

The great form of Ameas flashed overhead, going straight past them and whipping mere men backwards with the wind from his wings. Link ducked under a green dragon, and looked in the direction that the dragon king was headed.

Unhindered, Ameas flew straight for the palace.

Link's stomach sank sickeningly, but lifted the slightest as rocks were catapulted from the castle wall. They halted Ameas' approach some, but the Hylian king knew he was short on time.

"Hold the wall!" he cried, disembodying the head of a dragon that roared in his face. "Hold the wall!"

The sounds of battle – the clanking of armor, the ringing of blades, the gnashing of teeth, and the screams and wails of death and blood – surrounded him as he fought to ride his way down to the ground behind the wall. By the time he reached the bottom, he had slain seven dragons, and more had yet to land upon the Keskus battlements. They crawled over the walls like roaches, writhing and clicking and just as difficult to eliminate.

Link ducked as a soldier and his flailing blade was thrown over his head, and grimaced as the man clattered to the cobblestone road. He reined Epona to his troop's side, helped him up, and then urged his steed on toward the palace. He had never seen the streets so empty, so lifeless, but he had no time to ponder. He looked up from his sights set between Epona's ears – straight ahead – to see dragons beginning to pass through the Hylian defenses and into the city itself. They alighted on houses, and set fire to any visible curtain and cloth.

Epona's sides heaved beneath him, and he knew that the heat from the fires would make it harder for her to endure. But he had to reach the castle; before Ameas did.

A shriek stung his ears, and a shadow loomed behind him. He didn't have the time to evade before the ground fell away, and he and Epona were airborn. Link lost grip on his horse, and then lost track of her as the sights of the city streets blurred in a spinning vortex. Pain erupted everywhere as he rolled over the harsh cobblestone, and skidded to a stop, face to the ground. He felt the sticky warmth of blood trickle down his head as he lied there, unable to get up for only a moment, stunned as he was.

"How the mighty have fallen…" A breathy, low grumble of a voice sounded up the street from him, and he painstakingly lifted his head toward it. His face twisted in pain.

Through the stars, he focused on the black beast that stalked toward him, its gleaming claws clicking on the stone road. Its muscled hide rippled with each deliberate step, and sunlight glinted off its surface and made it shine like jewels. In its left hand, it carried-

"The Master Sword…" The words escaped his bleeding mouth in a whisper, and he wiped away the trickle of blood from the corner of his lips with the back of his hand. He then staggered to his feet, gritting his teeth at the ache that consumed his body.

"Look at you. You could have broken your neck, and yet you still get up to fight?" The dragon chortled. "You are more foolish than I thought."

Link's gaze darted about for Epona, but he could not see his precious friend anywhere. "I… will always fight."

"Of course you will. And that will be your death, you know." Its white gaze drifted over Link's head, to the palace beyond. "She doesn't deserve a warmongering vagabond like you, you know. With the title bestowed upon you, you will be a man of war all your days. You can never escape that fate, and you cannot give your dearest love what she truly wants – a life of peace, and a family man."

While he had been able to resist the first words, the last sentence hit him like a knife in the heart. It burned like fire, and his knees threatened to buckle. Deep within himself, he knew this to be true. Zelda wanted, needed a man who could always be there, who could be her steadfast… who could promise to come home every time he left.

The dragon edged ever closer. "You are incapable of ever providing her that comfort. You do not know the hour of your death – how devastated she would be, upon receiving word that some malicious fiend, bent on revenge, has murdered her beloved…"

"No!" Link steeled himself against the poisonous words. "I made her a promise; I will always return to her."

"Oh, so noble. But even you are not invincible. You have weaknesses, few though they may be. You are mortal, after all. You do not have the hide of a dragon; a blade easily pierces the armor of man."

The Master Sword flashed, and Link barely had the time to lift his own blade to block the stroke aimed for his head. The dragon growled, and gave the locked swords a powerful shove, knocking Link backward. His head cracked on the cobblestone, and swirls of black appeared in his vision.

"You are a fool, Hylian!" rumbled the beast, advancing toward him as he struggled to his feet once more. "Your endurance is in vain! Why attempt to prolong the inevitable?" Link ducked under a deadly stroke of the dragon's blade. "You think yourself to be strong." The sword clanged against the ground where his feet had been a mere second before. "Yet, you cannot even protect your own people!"

The tip of the Master Sword nicked Link's temple, and he cried out, his hand flying to his bleeding head as he stumbled backward. He parried the next stroke down, and raised his shield against a barrage of white flames.

A great crack sounded over the city, and Link whirled to see Ameas mounted on the highest spire of the palace, having torn the tower in half. The great dragon roared, and threw the disembodied structure into the city. There was a thunderous quake, and the sickening, hollow crash of collapsing stone. A scream tore through the air.

The dragon before him bellowed, and Link swung his blade just in time to detour the Master Sword from its course straight for his heart. But it did not parry it completely; the sword cut through the outer part of his shield arm, and he clenched his jaw against the stinging pain. The dragon withdrew its blade, and swung again. Link dodge backward, and paused just long enough to give a shrill whistle.

The winged demon pushed him further and further back, angling away from the palace, and down a side street. Link, wounded and bleeding, tired quickly. His heart leapt when he heard the clatter of hooves on the pavement.

He turned, and sprinted down the road, and around the corner, catching Epona's broad chest with his arm and swinging up onto her back. The black blur of the dragon down the alley whipped by as he spurred her on toward the castle.

"Thank God you're alive, girl; I thought I'd lost you," he called through the wind to his horse's swiveling ears.

Lightning flickered across the grey skies as they rode for the palace, and when they came upon the wall, Link brought Epona to a screeching halt.

The southern gates lay in ruin, utterly crushed underfoot by the massive beast that now alighted on the palace roof. The courtyard was nothing more than ashes, and fires blazed in the gardens roundabout. Zelda's gardens… The flames within his own heart leapt with renewed vigor, and he swung from Epona's saddle onto the charred earth below. Without hesitation, he ran for the doors. When he pulled at the latch, he found them stuck fast.

"Quickly! Open the doors for the king!" he called out. He could only pray they heard him, and not the dragon above.

After a moment, and a clatter from within, the door cracked open the slightest, and someone reached out and yanked Link in by his tunic. The door then slammed shut, and the lock and bar shifted back into place. He caught sight of the many servants huddled at the back wall, at the moment, the safest place in the palace, along with Impa, Abyll and Erulissë, and-

"What are you doing here, Majesty?" said the exasperated guard, sword in one hand, and the other firmly gripping Link's shoulder.

"I had to be sure you were all right. My fight is here," said Link quickly in return. His fist tightened about his own sword hilt, and they all jumped when the castle walls shuddered.

"He's tearing the palace apart…" muttered another soldier, eyes scanning the ceiling as shafts of dust fell from the support beams high above.

"Link!"

He whirled at the sound of his name, and was just about knocked off his feet by his wife's embrace. She tightened her arms about his neck, and nuzzled his shoulder as he carefully wrapped his own arms about her.

Her fingers seemed to search his head, and he winced as they brushed over his wounds. Zelda leaned back – he noted that she wore her own armor, and her bow was strapped to her back along with her quiver – and looked at her hand, now covered in blood, his blood.

"What happened?"

"Long story. Now's not the time to tell it." He lowered her hand, and locked their gazes earnestly. "What are you doing here?"

"Defending my home." Her tone indicated that she knew what he planned to tell her, and he would not get his way this time. Her eyes were hardened with determination; she would not be leaving his side again, now that he had come here.

Then the door quaked with the force of something heavy, and the bang made all of them very nearly jump from their skins. They first darted away from the door, then the men hurried to reinforce it as it shook again from another fierce blow. The wood creaked painfully, and the iron dented.

The doors began to grow hot. The iron slowly shifted from tarnished grey, to a glowing cherry red, and the wooden doors erupted into flames. The defenders of the palace stumbled backward, and cleared away from the growing fire.

"They're breaking through!" yelled one of the Royal Guard, just as the ceiling cracked, and began to peel away.

The door burst in and the black dragon barreled through, the Master Sword glinting in its grasp and ghost flames dancing over its scales. It bared its teeth, releasing an unearthly hiss, and pounced at the soldiers.

"Impa!" Link shouted over the sudden chaos of battle. "Hurry; take the children, and lead everyone into the tunnels! Escape to Kakariko if you can!"

Without waiting, nor having time to see the Sheikah obey, he joined the melee and drove his sword for the dragon's chest as it tossed a guard effortlessly to the side. His arm jolted as the beast gripped his blade, and thrust him backward. Link sprawled onto his back, and the sword skittered from his grasp, across the marble floor.

A feminine battle cry rose, and a flaming arrow flew up at the dragon, at the perfect angle to slip under its hide. But in a flash of its wings, the arrow was deflected, and the beast blasted a wave of fire at the queen. She dove from its path, straight into its claws. It gripped her arm, and flung her to the ground.

Link felt fury rage up inside of him, and his gaze swung to his blade, halfway across the cavernous hall. He scrambled to his feet, only to feel the pain as something cracked across his back, and he was flung into the opposite wall. He collapsed to the floor in a dazed heap, pain throbbing through his head and stars swirling before his eyes like fairies. He heard the dragon chortle, but couldn't seem to get up again…

~-LoZ-~

His mother's scream reached him just as they were descending into the tunnels that exited from under the palace. His ears twitched, and he glanced back, not bothering with the blond lock that fell in his eyes.

"Abyll?" said Lady Impa, pausing in her ushering of the servants into the inky blackness of the passageway ahead. "What are you…"

"Mum's in trouble," Abyll muttered, fingers twitching into fists. "I have to help them!"

Ignoring the Sheikah's yells for him to stop, he ran as fast as his feet could carry him up and out of the dungeons, and into the main level of the palace. His footsteps echoed in the stone hallways, and he could hear the sounds of the battle somewhere nearby. He was getting close…

He knew he'd come upon it when he saw the light from fire blaze just around the corner. He slid to a halt just before he reached the open, and quite suddenly wondered what he planned to do. He had no weapon, and to be honest to himself, he was in no hurry to do battle with a real dragon.

"No! Stay away from her!" He heard the panic and anger in his father's voice. Well, he had to do something!

Then, a glimmer along the wall caught his eye. A fallen sword! He glanced around the corner, and darted into the open to fetch it. When he turned, he caught sight of something he was sure to never forget.

A great hole gaped in the ceiling, edges licked with flames, the rubble of which was strewn about the room. A muscular creature of ebony, scales black as night and eyes white as a phantom, stood amidst a throng of soldiers, fallen or fighting. It wielded a blade that shone in the firelight – the Master Sword! This was the beast that had stolen the sword! And kidnapped his brother! He clenched his jaw, and tightened his small fingers about the sword hilt. The blade felt surprisingly light in his grasp.

"You leave my parents alone, beast!" He darted forward into the swarm, heading straightaway toward the creature that held his mother secure in its long tail, and his father aloft by the throat.

"Abyll, no!" Mum screamed, but he could not stop now. He swung the blade at the dragon, and it glanced off the thick scales, jarring his arm. He grimaced.

I'm so stupid! How could I forget their scales… Darting to the side, he just barely avoided the dragon's other fist, his eyes wide. He didn't dare look into its ivory gaze – he'd surely go stiff with fear.

He rolled under the dragon's body to his feet on the other side, raised his blade, and thrust it into its scaly hide, just behind the shoulder. The dragon screamed and thrashed in pain, throwing both his mother and father in different directions. The Master Sword gleamed in its claws as it brought it down upon him, missing him by inches as he darted away.

"Insolent boy!" it shrieked in rage, swinging the blade again. Abyll backpedaled, and tripped over the body of a fallen guard. Instantly, the dragon's claws were wrapped about him, and he struggled in its grasp.

"Let me go, lizard!" said he, prying at its fingers and pounding on its forearms, but the creature didn't even flinch. With its eyes blazing like its fire, it hoisted him into the air and flung him effortlessly across the room like a ragdoll. He thudded onto a cushion of dead soldiers, his head clanging against the metal of the armor. He shook the stars away, and looked up in time to see the monster drop the Master Sword, and grip a monstrous stone – a great foundation brick from the wreckage that was once the ceiling. Then, the stone was soaring through the air, straight for him.

It missed him by mere inches, and crashed into the pillar behind him, shattering it like glass. He covered his head with his arms as shards of it rained down on him.

~-LoZ-~

"Abyll!" Link felt the word leave his mouth as the pillar collapsed and buried his son, but he could not hear it. In fact, the entire room seemed to have gone silent, and he could hear only the sickening rumble as the heavy stone rained down on the young prince until he could see him no more.

Then, came the fury, the rage – it rose up within him like a shadow from the grave, its wretched claws piercing his heart and making it clench painfully. His vision blurred, and something hot and wet began to make its way down his face, but he paid it no heed. At the moment, his gaze sought for nothing save the familiar glint of…

The Master Sword. There it lay, amidst the bodies, waiting for him. The dragon was distracted as it hurled itself at guard after guard with a vengeance, eyes now red like the blood that stained the marble at their feet. Link approached the fallen blade unhindered, and when his fingers gripped the hilt, the blade glowed golden like the sun. He lifted it high into the air, letting the light bathe the room in a holy glow.

The dragon shrieked, and stumbled back, blinded. The soldiers paused in their battle, turning to catch a glimpse of the Hero of Time, holding his chosen blade aloft.

Link released a battle cry loud and determined, and it made the dragon tremble. Staggering backward, the creature fumbled for the doorway.

But he would not let it get away so easily – not after it had just murdered his son. He pursued it into the courtyard, face tightened with resolve, and swung the blade at its back. It swiveled away from the blow, and stumbled over the scorched remains of an urn. Thudding onto its side, it writhed like a snake.

His blade was already making its way toward its chest. He saw a flash of black out of the corner of his eye, and suddenly he was skidding across the blackened ground. He coughed violently when he came to a stop, trying desperately to expel the ash from his lungs.

Ameas loomed over them, chortling. He picked up the smaller black dragon, and took to the skies above the city.

"Retreat!" he called, in his booming voice, as he flew southward. "Retreat to Tarha! The Hero has regained his blade!"

A chorus of roars and shrieks echoed up from the walls, and it was like unto a cloud of fog lifting from a valley. Only this cloud was black and stained with the blood of the innocent men, women and children that had once inhabited this peaceful city of Hyrule. The draconic forces moved as one, disappearing to the south as quickly as they had come. And for a brief moment, all was still.

Then a great cry began to drift into the air as the widowed, and orphaned released their woe and despair to the winds upon discovering the lost, bathed in their own blood, slaughtered at the hand of ruthless, unfeeling tyrants. Link's own heart clenched; he was among those who wept and mourned even now, for he too had lost someone he loved.

A/N: Sorry this chapter took a bit longer. We had a busy week.