"Well, well," chuckled the pirate captain. "Unless I'm gravely mistaken, that would be Rift tied up and helpless at the end of my blade." He pulled the gag from Rift's mouth.
"Rift, eh?" said the cloaked veteran, looking around. "Would you be kind enough to point him out?"
The captain roared with laughter. "Haven't lost your sense of humor, mate. Unfortunately, you haven't lost your knack of hanging around lessors, either." He motioned to one of the elves. "Kill him."
Without warning, Kryn leapt out from beneath the bed and put his blade up to the throat of the pirate captain. "Call them off," he threatened. "Take the rest of your scum and get back to your ship. I never want to see your ugly faces again."
The pirates tensed, but they weren't going to act without command.
"You heard the boy, you mangy vermin!" roared the captain. "We've got most of the plunder, and this dog's death isn't worth your captain's life!"
The elves scrambled to do their captain's bidding. Kryn kept his sword pressed up against the captain's throat. If he knew one thing about pirates, it was that they were not to be trusted. Slowly, he disarmed the captain and untied Fan, who quickly proceeded to free Rift from his bindings.
"Good work, mate," said Rift. "I believe I owe you one."
Suddenly, a shout reached their ears from the deck, where most of the pirates were preparing to board their ship.
"Captain! She's going down!"
The captain glanced at Kryn, who was momentarily distracted. In an instant he was off, sprinting into the hallway and up the stairs.
"After him!" yelled Rift as he snatched his fallen sword and trailed the captain, Kryn and Fan at his heels. When they reached the deck, they found the captain staring at the empty waters where his ship once floated.
"Where is she?" he asked stupidly. The captain didn't notice Rift sneaking up beside him.
"Bad luck, mate," chuckled the cloaked veteran. Without warning his blade flashed and the captain crumpled, dead. Relief poured through Rift. To sink a ship such as that in so short a time, one would need scores of canons firing at her from all sides. Unless, of course, the attackers were…
"Zora!" Scores of the fish-like creatures swung aboard and flung themselves at the dumbstruck pirates with their deadly spears and javelins.
"What are you waiting for, mate?" Rift shouted to Kryn. "We're saved!" The cloaked veteran leapt into the melee.
Kryn looked at Fan, smiled, and charged into battle. She watched him go. Perhaps there was more to this jerk than she had first thought.
It didn't take long for the scuffle to die out. Scores of elves lay dead upon the deck, without a single Zora casualty. The rest of the pirates had dropped their weapons and surrendered.
A particularly tough-looking Zora made his way over to where Rift and Kryn stood, sheathing their blades. He had stern dark eyes and tattoos covered his entire body. "Not elves," he said, looking the men up and down. "Who are you?"
"We were aboard this ship when the pirates boarded, mate." Rift kept his hand on the hilt of his sword in case this Zora had a hard time believing his story. "We managed to get a few plus the captain, but we aren't real sailors or warriors. Out of the approximate fivescore of those who set out, we're the only ones left."
"Check below!" instructed the Zora. "We'll see if you're telling the truth."
A few minutes later the Zora scouts returned to the deck. "Empty, Mik. There's no one down there."
The head Zora turned back to Rift. "Forgive me for being apprehensive, my friend. I regret the loss of so many fine men and women. I am Mikaku, son of Mikau, from the realm of Termina."
"Well met, Mikaku. I am Rift, this is Kryn, and the lovely lady is Fan." Rift bowed elegantly. "I thank you for your concern and more importantly your help. I believe Termina is just a short ways east, eh?"
"Aye, that's right. You've been there before?"
"Many times, mate. Often to hear your father play."
Mikaku was shocked. "You knew Mikau?"
"We were good friends for quite a while."
The Zora looked down. "I never knew him. He was killed by pirates before I had even hatched." He raised his chin. "That is why I do everything in my power to keep these waters safe from the vermin!" He turned to one of his officers. "Knock them out with the butts of your weapons, and do it as they sleep." The Zora saluted went to do Mikaku's bidding.
"Do what as they sleep?" asked Kryn, knowing yet not accepting the answer.
Mikaku stared at him. "A quick slit in the throat, Kryn. In my opinion, too painless for the bastards."
Fan gasped, and Kryn narrowed his eyebrows.
"A life for a life, my friends," Mikaku continued firmly. "Mikau was loved by many."
……………………………..
"And you let her go?"
"Fado was there," sobbed Sira. "I had no idea that this… that he…" She couldn't finish, for she burst into a fresh set of tears. Lankin immediately regretted his harsh words, and put his arm around the shuddering elf for comfort.
"Don't fret, Sira," he said softly. "I'm sure your husband is fine. I'll get a party together and search for him as soon as I can."
"No!" she cried. "I will not let my weakness put your life in danger. If Fado cannot get back here by himself, it is too late to go out and look for him."
Lankin had indeed been thinking the very same thing, but he dared not voice his opinion lest it offend the already miserable elf. "Are you absolutely sure, miss?" he asked quietly.
She had to fight every urge in her body in order give a single, sad nod.
Zega, silent up until now, stepped forward. "Perhaps we should strengthen the defenses at the gate, Lankin."
The Corlander raised an eyebrow. "Why do you say that?"
"Nabooru was obviously who this spirit was after. Now that it has her, I'm sure there is something terrible on the horizon. Prepare yourself, mate, we're in for a rough ride."
Zega's words made a lot of sense to Lankin, and he didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.
……………………………..
"We are free!" she cried into the desert. "My time begins!"
Antia stood gazing out over the vast sea of sand with her notorious maddened eyes, feeling the warm sun upon her tan skin, the fresh air filling her nostrils once again. "One day," she whispered. "One more day, and I will march at the head of my army to accomplish what I once came so close to achieving."
She took her scythe in her hands.
And she laughed.
……………………………..
Nearly two hundred warriors stood at the desert gate, standing alert and attentive as they had been all morning. Sira had returned to Hyrule Castle, and now Zega, Lankin, Lord Dayon, Kafei, Redaya, and Link manned the gate.
"What do you think we're watching for?" muttered Lankin to Kafei atop the stone tower.
The Terminian mayor shrugged. "Your guess is as good as my own, mate. I have a feeling we'll know when it shows up, though."
Lankin nodded in agreement.
Queen Redaya made her way over to Link, who sat upon a crate sharpening the Master Sword. "Give the order to arm, King," she said airily. "Scores march towards the gate as we speak. No more than ten minutes before they arrive."
"Goddesses bless the hearing of elves," commented Link, narrowing his eyes. "Scores of what? Leevers don't march."
"Impossible to tell."
"I suppose we'll find out soon enough," he said grimly. Getting to his feet, he turned and faced the gathered warriors. "Steel yourselves, soldiers! The enemy approaches from the desert, though I do not know what they are or how many they have. Stay wary now!"
A loud clanking of weapons and armor followed suit, and soon two hundred Hylian and Terminian soldiers stood fully armed in the hot desert sun. A score of archers lined the tower, bows at the ready. Queen Redaya stood alone on the very top of the turret, squinting her eyes out into the blowing sands of the desert for some sign of the foe.
She tensed. "Link! An army on the horizon!"
"An army?" demanded the king. "Where in Din's domain could an army have come from?"
No one had an answer for him.
"Number, Queen?" shouted Kafei. "And what are they?"
Redaya strained her eyes. "Goddesses," she breathed. "Thousands!"
Link stayed calm. There was time for questions later. With cat-like agility, he swung up the ladder and bounded to where Redaya stood on the gate's tower. "What are they, Queen?"
She was pale, her eyes wide in fearful shock.
Link grabbed her roughly and shook her. "Hold together, Redaya! We need you!" She looked over at him, horror still plastered upon her thin face. "What are they?" he prodded.
"By the teeth of Hell, Link," she stuttered. "They are the dead!"
……………………………..
There was not a warrior in the horde who was not laughing with the sheer glee of feeling the sun on their backs, of holding their weapons in their hands, as they attacked that day. Somehow the fortress had been warned and therefor well prepared for their force, but Queen Antia didn't worry about it too much. A few less soldiers, that was all it meant. So many were at her disposal that it hardly mattered.
Accursed elves released sheets of arrows down upon the horde, but nothing could stop them from leaping upon the gate, blades clenched between their grinning yellow teeth, and scurrying for the top. The first score of attackers that reached the tower were sent straight back down by heavily armed Hylian soldiers who awaited them tensely. But as more and more Hellspawn scrambled up the gate, they began to overtake the soldiers and breach the wall.
Every time one of her warriors died, Antia wondered what happened to his soul. Sever had never told her what happened to returning Hellspawn who were slain a second time, and a great curiosity filled her whenever one of her men fell.
An hour of ferocious warfare dragged on, the attacking army slowly getting more and more soldiers over the wall to engage in battle with the waiting defenders. Finally the last Hylian upon the tower fell, and Hellspawn poured over the wall in massive numbers.
Even as he struggled to take down attacker after attacker, Link's eyes widened in fear and astonishment as the enemy crawled over the wall. There was no end to them!
His saber stained with the blood of a dozen defenders, Antia's brother Dak charged through the melee until he reached the large lever used to open the gate. With little effort the powerful Gerudo shoved the lever all the way down to the sandy floor. Slowly the gate lifted, and hundreds of eager Hellspawn rushed in. A few of his comrades had been crushed to death between the metal grate and the turret wall as the gate opened, but Dak could care less. He laughed madly and lunged into battle once again.
Hylians, Gorons, Gerudo, and Zoras littered the ground. Hyrulean soldiers were falling like flies and only a fourth of the original force remained, while the Hellspawns' numbers didn't seem to be decreasing at all. For every foe he downed Link found himself facing three more, and he knew what he had to do.
"Retreat!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "Hyruleans fall back!"
Kafei and a few other veterans caught his voice amidst the horrid sounds of battle and echoed it. Soon the defenders were charging as quickly as possible for the stables, desperately trying to break through the thick of the eager Hellspawn for any chance of survival. Not one Hyrulean thought even for a moment about the safety of his realm or his friends. It was simply a mad dash for a steed to escape upon; those that successfully retreated were rewarded with the gift of life, and those that were unfortunate enough to be left when all the stallions were taken were slain. Link and Lord Dayon remained to the last, fighting bitterly for their lives.
Link hastily cast Din's Fire upon the blood-stained ground and whipped out the longshot. As a score of Hellspawn screamed and went up in flames around him, the Hylian King fired the gattling device at a wooden plank on the fortress wall high above the battlefield. As he shot up over the warriors he yelled fleetingly to Dayon. "Get them to the castle!"
The Goron Lord nodded and curled up into a spiky ball. In a cloud of smoke he was off, tearing through the horde in the direction of Hyrule Field.
The maddened Hellspawn slew the last of the defenders far below Link. He was the only Hylian remaining at the fortress, and he peered down at the massive army assembled below him. A few spotted him and fired arrows up at him, but none reached high enough.
"Who are you?" he shouted down at the horde. "And from where do you come?"
It was the voice of a woman that reached his ears in reply. "We are the dead of Hyrule, come to reclaim what is rightfully ours!"
Link fought the urge to throw up. Thousands of zombies, returned from Hell to destroy his realm? "If you are dead, you should not be able to be killed," he muttered, hating these creatures. "Let's see if that's true." He snatched a bulky satchel from under his armor and pulled out a small bomb, about the size of his fist. The bag was full of them. A single tear trickled down the cheek of the Hero of Time, but he quickly wiped it away.
"Die, bastards," he hissed, and emptied the entire satchel of explosives upon the horde of Hellspawn.
……………………………..
"Mikaku, sir! There's been a tragedy in Hyrule, and Mayor Kafei has traveled there himself."
Mikaku stared at the officer. He had just strode into Zora Hall with Rift, Kryn, and Fan, and had planned to head straight to his room for a nap. "A tragedy?" he inquired tiredly.
"Lady Nabooru and the elf Fado have gone missing. Mayor Kafei says that Link suspects Raven is behind it."
"Fado?" he repeated. Mikaku hardly knew the Gerudo woman, but he had spoken with the elf many times. "Raven?"
The officer nodded. "Nabooru may have been what Raven was after, so whatever his plan is may go into effect."
"I see," said the tough Zora thoughtfully. "You're dismissed."
Rift chuckled. "Still as hectic as ever, this old place."
Mikaku glared at him. "As a matter of fact, this is the first oddity that has taken place in years."
"Aye, of course. Years."
Mikaku gave up. "You'll be coming with me to Clocktown. Keep up."
……………………………..
"Link!" cried Queen Zelda in alarm. "You startled me."
Link rushed down to her from the top of the spiraling staircase. "Zelda, there is no time. We are under attack!"
Her eyes widened. "Attack?"
Link grabbed her shoulders. "Hell has been opened, love. An army of undead charged upon Gerudo Fortress! We must prepare the defenses of each and every town in Hyrule, prepare them for war."
Zelda was still in a state of shock. "War? Undead?"
Link stared into her eyes. "Listen, Zelda. I was the last one at the battlefield. I did what I could, but our defenses were decimated. Only about twoscore managed to escape, and now they ride to this castle."
Zelda's eyes shimmered with tears. "Twoscore? How did you—"
Link cut her off. "The Wind of Farore, love, but that's not important. Please, raise the alarm and prepare all of Hyrule's defenses. I will ride out to meet the survivors and perhaps stall any pursuing men."
She wanted to argue, but Zelda knew her husband was right. She trusted him even over such an outrageous claim. "It will be as you say, my lord."
Without another word, Link sprinted out the Main Doors and into the warm summer day. He didn't know where he could find Epona, but he trusted her to stay safe. Instead, he took Zelda's white stallion from the stables and galloped out through the Market Town.
Link could tell that his wife was skeptical about the undead army, and he wasn't sure he believed it himself. Except for one thing.
He had seen him.
He had seen Ganondorf.