Chapter Fourteen:

Reinforced

"The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower."~ Psalms 18:2

Link was beginning to tire of staring at that map. His finger traced along the red border that signified the dragons' conquered borders. The entire southern border had fallen into their grasp, and the red shading stretched over Ordon, the Kokiri forests, the Lost Woods, and all the way up to Tarha and beyond, stopping barely a few miles from the Keskus walls. A new block of color had been added along the western coastline – they were extending their arms.

"I think they plan on closing in on all sides." Colin pointed to the red bulge to the east of Ordon. "They're spreading to the east as well."

Link nodded. "Yes… We don't have much time."

"But Link, what are we going to do?" Zelda laid a hand on her husband's arm. "Half our forces were depleted during the last battle. Our storehouses were reduced to rubble. We don't have the means, nor the numbers to risk a counterattack."

"And there's no way we'd withstand another attack on their part," added Colin. "The walls were demolished at several intervals. They'd pour through easily. Keskus is no longer as defensible as before."

"I know." Link trailed his fingers over the boxed star that represented the capitol city. "But… There is nothing else we can do. We must defend this city, and we will, walls or no. We have no other choice."

All three of them stiffened when a horn blast drifted in from outside. The wind carried it into the castle through the gaping holes left by Ameas Night's cruel claws, and the threesome turned in the direction of the sound – to the east. It rang out again, closer this time, and Link's brow furrowed.

"What horn is that…"

"It's no dragon's trumpeting, that's good enough for me!" Colin sprinted ahead, down the hall and out of sight. Link cast Zelda a bewildered glance, before both of them followed suit.

Outside, the sun was again hidden by a layer of cloud, and the air held a biting chill. Link made sure his wife had her thick cloak about her shoulders before they proceeded out of the castle gates. They took the shortest route to the eastern edge of the city, and found a crowd gathering at what was left of the gates.

An army marched on Keskus. But this was no hostile force, and it certainly was not made up of dragons. Hundreds of footmen – women, actually – tramped before two score cavalry riders. All wore loose clothing and heavy armor, along with thick coats and cloaks lined with furs. These were people not used to the cold of winter. A single woman led the host, most of her tanned skin covered by her knee-length coat, and only a few strands of ruddy hair peering from under her hood. The curved blade on her swordstaff reflected the silvery daylight.

"We heard you could use some help," said the Gerudo with a wry smile, spinning her staff and making the blade ring. "We'd like to oblige."

"Nabooru!" Neither Link nor Zelda could keep grins from spreading over their faces. Zelda rushed forth to embrace the Gerudo leader, whilst Link folded his arms over his chest, shaking his head in disbelief.

"If I weren't a married man, Nabooru, I could just about kiss you."

The Gerudo cocked a brow at him. "Well, you are, and you won't – I don't think your wife would be very happy with you then."

Zelda laughed, and Link couldn't help be glad to see her so happy. She looked like a joyous child, her face all alight.

"Come, come, all of you," said the queen, taking Nabooru's wrist in her hands. The smile never left her face. "You must be tired."

Nabooru threw her head back with a short laugh. "Zelda, you're talking to Gerudo. We live in a desert; we're durable folk. We don't get tired…" She trailed off with a yawn, clapping a hand over her mouth as she did.

Link gave her a wry grin. "Don't get tired, eh? Come on. We'll find a place where you and your soldiers can rest for the night."

"No, no. My troops can rest, but I'm here to 'elp you figure out how to beat this bad-breathed oversized lizard's behind back from whence he came!"

Link ordered some of his remaining soldiers to escort Nabooru's forces to the city square, where many of the citizens left homeless by the battle now stayed until repairs could be made to the damaged sections of the city. In the meantime, Nabooru herself followed Link, Zelda, and Colin back to the palace.

She whistled as they led her through the ruined halls. "Jings… They really did a number on this place, didn't they? May take ya awhile before it's up to snuff again…"

They filed into the Meeting Hall, back to the long table – or at least, the end of it that wasn't covered in rubble from the hole in the ceiling. Link again took his place at the head with a heavy sigh. Back to the drawing board… Staring at this piece of parchment that only served to mock them with the fact that the dragons now controlled half of Hyrule.

Nabooru pointed at the red space. "This is their advance?"

Link nodded, resting his palms against the smooth surface of the table. "Yes… They're concentrating their forces here, moving northward, while minor battalions are slowly expanding their gain to the east and west."

"They know their strategies; they're aimin' to surround you."

"We know."

"Have you tried counterattack?"

"Many times," Colin interjected. "They have a stronger force than we do. When one regime tires, they retreat and send in another, fresher one. We just don't have that kind of replenishable forces, especially after the attack here. Half our army was wiped out in that battle alone."

The Gerudo woman scoffed. "Ha, but you know, battles aren't won with numbers. They're won by smarts. If you want to defeat your enemy, you must think like them. Now," she turned back to the map, "they've already employed two tactics that you could do easily – if I'm correct, they used Ordon as a diversion to take Hyvä Vene, and they've attacked your central city." She pointed to Keskus.

"All you have to do, is use their own tactics against them." Nabooru then jabbed a finger at a quarter-sized blotch in the middle of the Great Sea. "Dragon Island Prison. Their headquarters. And they're weak spot."

His brow furrowing, Link studied where she was pointing. "How so?"

"Think about it. These creatures think they have you cornered. But if you send an army, say, here – Tarha, the closest city to you – while sending a stealth force to the island, you not only have the diversion you want, but you go straight to the heart of it." She glance to Colin. "And by the sounds of it, they've emptied their reserve, so to speak. All of their armies are mobilized. Which means…"

"No one is guarding the island," Zelda finished, her eyes alight with understanding.

"Exactly! So, when you reach the island, you can practically do whatever you wanted to it! You could even set off the volcano – utterly destroy it!"

"What do you think, Link?" asked Colin.

Link didn't respond right away. He scanned the map, running over Nabooru's plan in his mind's eye. From Keskus to Tarha to the island prison… "…It might be possible."

"Might be?" Nabooru laughed at him. "It's a bit more than 'might be'. This could put you back on the board!"

~-LoZ-~

The night was cool. No, that was an understatement. Link worked his fingers to try and keep them from numbing completely. Even under his leather gloves, they felt chilled and icy. He could see his breath, silvery in the moonlight against the black skies. He cast one last glance to the army that marched in the distance to the southwest, toward Tarha – he could barely see Nabooru's form at the head as she led them.

Colin placed a hand on his shoulder. Link turned to him, and returned a small smile before leading his band into the dark of southern Hyrule field. Like phantoms, they slipped from the limits of Keskus directly south. They didn't dare use horses, not on a mission like this. Horses would be much too loud. And they needed all elements of stealth now.

Single file, they crossed the plain, barely swaying the grass or leaving any more than one trail of footprints – a method derived from the wild wolf packs, and their way of traveling that made it seem as if only one wolf had made the tracks. The wind tugged at Link's heavy cloak, biting at his face. To ward off the cold, he pulled the cloth of the collar over his face – normally, it was used simply to hide one's face from others, but it would serve well to keep him warm as well. Sheikah clothing wasn't exactly the warmest, but it was the best when you didn't want to be seen. They'd merely added a coat; Link had been willing to make an exception for the loose trousers and thin boots, but the sleeveless tunics were simply too light.

Their steps made no sound as they made their way ever so slowly. Even with a company of two score soldiers dressed in Sheikah garb, only the wind could be heard howling over the knee-high grass. The prairie foliage bent and waved like swells on the high seas.

For days they traveled so, doing most of their moving at night, when the eyes of neither friend nor foe could catch sight of them. They passed Ordon in two days time, giving the draconic base a wide berth in order to get by without being seen.

Then they came to Satama. The southern-most port city, where most of the royal fleet was docked. Link could only hope the harbor had not been damaged.

The normally lively city was all too silent as they crept through the darkened alleyways. Corpses of long dead soldiers lay rotting in the streets, and the stench was enough to make them all sick. By they time they reached the heart of the city, Link wasn't the only one with the mask over his face.

Raucous laughter echoed over the rooftops, and they spotted a trio of dragons perched on the statue at the center of the city square. They must have gotten into the storerooms of a local tavern; Link barely contained a snort as one swooned deeply and flopped off its roost. Its companions laughed all the harder in their drunken stupor.

"I'm starved," bellowed one, scratching its head lazily. Its yellow eyes glinted dully in the light of the torches about the square. "I shoulda eated that li'le bat-thing 'afore it left…"

"Boss wouldn't like that, now, would 'e?" said another, with a great horn on its snout. "They're like 'is little pets, eh."

"Wha' about what it said?" slurred the one now on the ground at the base of the statue. It sat up groggily and rubbed its head. "Err… Those 'phantoms' that's been crossin' the fields…"

"There ain't no phantoms, or someone woulda seen 'em," snapped the horned one. " 'Sides," it hiccupped, "ghosts and ghouls 're nothing more'n fairytales to scare nestlings."

"Right, so, boss believes in fairytales, now?" Yellow Eyes seemed to be the soberest of the three, its voice a tad clearer than the other two. "I don't fink so…"

"Ya don't fink at all, half the time, Targnat…" Horned and Woozy – the one of the ground – cackled.

Targnat blasted fire at the two and snorted. "Pitiful, 'at's what you are! They's said 'at these 'phantoms', they haven't gone t'rough any cities yet, an' so we have nothing to worry 'bout."

"Right, assuming then that these 'ere phantoms is real…" The other two burst into another fit of inebriated laughter, and the horned one toppled from its perch as well. All three continued to laugh without ceasing.

"Drunk as sailors, they are," whispered Colin, watching over Link's shoulder. "They've dropped their guard. No wonder it was so easy to get in!"

"Shhh…" Link put a finger to his lips, and back slowly away from the too-lit square. They'd take a darker path to the docks.

The closer they got to the water, the more drunken bellows and laughter they heard. The whole lot of them were completely, utterly, hopelessly intoxicated! It was sickening to even have to listen to. They made their way down the alleys and darkened streets as quick as was possible and soon, the harbor, and the Great Sea stretched out before them. The tethered ships had been untouched.

"Good," Link muttered, surveying the waterfront over the edge of his mask. "Now, find the Hope's Ally. She's the fastest ship in the fleet."

The pack spread out, scanning the docks until Colin called them all over with their special signal, the faux hoot of an owl. They regrouped at his position, and sure enough, he had found Hope's Ally. Silent and stealthy as spiders, they crawled onto the great galleon. They kept their steps light on the wooden deck as they hurried about, checking the rigging and supplies. When all was deemed well, they loosed the sails, deftly catching the winter wind and making for the southwest.

None pursued them. Link stood alongside Colin as the younger man gripped the spokes of the wheel firmly. The rest of the men made sure everything was in order before settling down about the decks for the sail to the dragons' island. The wind, Link noted, came from the north, in the perfect angle that pushed them straight on their course.

The Lord had a sense of humor.

Link patted Colin's shoulder before crossing the deck to the prow. He watched the water foam as the bow cut through it like a deft blade. In the silence, he thought of what exactly they would do upon reaching the island's shores. That had been a bit of the plan that he hadn't decided upon; he wasn't sure what exactly they could do, and he couldn't be until they saw Ameas' headquarters with their own eyes. No one knew what awaited them on that legendary prison.

There was something about the sea that drew a man, broke loose the chains that often accompanied life on the mainland, and threw salty air in his face. The wild scents, the cool breeze off the waters, the powerful roar of the water against the hull – it made one come alive, in a sense. There was no feeling like it.

Sinking down against the wooden planks of the deck, Link sprawled out on his back, clasping his hands behind his head as he stared up at the glittering stars. Those distant stars… So carefree, never dealing with the troubles of life… Why did he feel like he'd thought upon this before?

Slowly, his eyes began to drift shut. All of the sudden, he realized how tired he was. It had been perhaps weeks since the last time he'd gotten a decent sleep. The past few nights had been spent at the ready with the soldiers, sleeping oft on blankets on the ground, sword at his side and within easy reach.

Before his mind had any time to object, he was asleep… and he dreamed.

"Dat! Daaaat!"

He recognizes the voice – very easily. It comes from just over the crest of the next hill. Amidst the many wildflowers, a small form waits at the top, the wild prairie wind whipping his hair about.

"Dat!" A young Caine smiles, and Link notes how long it has been since he last saw that smile. Ages, it seems. "You promised!"

"I know, I know; I'm coming." In the midst of his mind somewhere, he realizes that this is no mere dream, but a memory. A long-buried memory.

He makes his way up the hill, to where his son waits. The ebony-haired boy bounces on his heels, a childish smile on his youthful face.

"Dat…" The smile disappears. "Do you… You and Mum still love me… Right?"

Link frowns. "Of course! What on earth would make you think otherwise?"

"Well… Nix and Gidget teased me today… and they said that now that I have a little brother who looks like you, no one will love me anymore."

Link sinks into the meadow grass and beckons his son to do the same. The young prince sits cross-legged among the wildflowers, and shifts closer to his father. The king ruffled his hair.

"Listen – don't pay any attention to Nix or Gidget. They don't know what they're talking about. We still love you as much as we ever have, if not more so. You're our son; we'll never stop loving you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Caine cocks his head. "Even if I did something… really bad?"

"Even if you did something really bad." Link pauses, giving his son a pointed look. "You didn't do something bad, did you?"

The boy giggles, and shakes his head. "No!"

"Good."

The two sit in companionable silence for a long while, ending up on their backs, pointing out ridiculous images in the clouds. They spend hours laughing, and making up stories to go with their funny creatures in the sky.

But after a while, the clouds begin to grow, and thicken, and Link knows that the memory has shifted into a dream, in full control of his unconscious imagination. Thunder rolls, and lightning streaks through the sudden darkness. Rain begins to pour down, and Caine leaps to his feet.

The figure of the prince grows rapidly. The hair lengthens, the shoulders broaden, and he stretches taller. The older, now drenched prince whirls about, drawing the sword that has appeared in a sheath on his belt. His blue eyes blaze with fury.

"You promised me! You promised! And you lied…" The prince swings the sword wildly, and Link rolls backward out of his reach. Caine pursues him.

Then the ground trembles, knocking both of them from their feet and sending them sprawling into the soaked grass. A great rumble echoes over the hills, and the ground between them begins to tear apart. Caine is caught on one side, and Link on the other. The crack widens faster, and faster, until it is a good several meters wide. Much too far for either of them to jump.

Link sees the ground shift under Caine's feet, and his eyes widen. "Caine…"

The ledge gives way and falls down the crevice, taking Caine with it. The prince cries out, twisting in midair to grope for a hold. His fists find a thin root, and he clings to it for dear life.

"Dat!" Suddenly, Caine is that little boy again, holding onto that root with white knuckles and tears streaking down his face. "Dat… Help! Please… I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I don't want to die!"

In an instant, Link is on his feet, at the very edge of the crevice. His gaze searches frantically for any possible way to get across the gorge; he catches sight of a faint red glow at the very bottom. Heat begins to radiate from far below.

"Caine, just… hold on!" He kneels down and reaches out, as far as he could. His hand stretches toward his son. "Reach for me, Caine; come on!"

Caine's small hand slowly, carefully leaves its grip on the root, and extends toward him. "I… I-I can't reach!"

"Try, son, try!"

"I am…" His hand slips on the root, and he screams in fright, retracting his other hand and gripping it tightly. "Daddy!"

His pulse pounding in his ears, Link inches even closer, as close as he dares to the edge. "Please, Caine! Keep trying!"

"I can't! I'll fall…"

"Trust me!"

It seems to get the boy's attention, and after looking up at him again, Caine reaches out again. Link's heart leaps when their fingers barely brush together.

"Just a little further now! Almost… there…"

The root snaps. Caine's scream fills his ears as the little boy falls…

"Link!"

His eyes flew open, and he sat up with a jolt. He felt sweat rolling down his forehead, and his breath came in deep gasps.

Colin stared down at him with concerned eyes. "Are you all right? You were yelling."

Link's gaze darted about frantically, scanning over the deck, the rigging, the ropes, the sails… He was on the boat. The galleon, Hope's Ally. Not on the edge of a precipice watching his firstborn son plummet to his death… He sighed heavily, running a hand over his face and wiping away the sweat.

"I was… dreaming. I'm fine…" Link felt along his jaw and realized the mask had fallen from his face. He swallowed, and lifted it back into place. Colin held out a hand, which Link gratefully took and allowed the younger man to help him to his feet.

"You're sure?" Colin eyed him.

Link nodded, rolling his shoulders and swiveling his neck to work out the taught muscles. "Yes… We're here?"

He really didn't have to ask; the ship was no longer swaying, and the wind had died down considerably. He could hear the pound of the surf on the shore, and see the tropical trees swaying just beyond the prow. The sails had been dropped, and now hung loose in the slight breeze.

"We just arrived. The men are ready and assembled on the deck. We disembark at your orders."

Link surveyed the shore. White sands, a dense jungle, and the cliffs of a great, rocky crater looming high into the night sky. A breeze whispered through the foliage, calling him, daring him to leave the comfort of his ship and enter its dangerous embrace…

"Sire?"

He looked to Colin with an expression of determination.

"Are you ready for a hike, lieutenant?"

A/N: Not the best chapter, I know… But it's a filler, mostly. A leader-upper.