"This is a mess." Impa said, overlooking the haunted wastelands from the army's new headquarters: the former headquarters of the Gerudo thieves.

The campaign had not been going well. Though they secured the Valley pass and the Gerudo fortress, the various Gerudo tribespeople were spread throughout the region. Every Gerudo was a warrior; save for the youngest children and they were not willing to cooperate with the occupation of their land. From the desert they struck out in hit and run raids. When Hylians entered their nomadic communities they feigned obeisance but would strike out whenever eyes were off them.

Meanwhile Gannondorf had drawn what remained of his forces into strongholds in the desert. The nearest was several days march away.

"We can't move forward with enemies on all sides". One of the captains commented.

"What can we do? We can't fight women and children." Link commented.

Another knight snorted. "I heard the other day one of our soldiers was killed by a ten year old girl with a knife. He had just handed her a piece of bread cause she looked hungry and when he turned his back she jumped up and stabbed him. Then she managed to escape on top of that! "Women and children" he says!"

"Not all of them are resisting us." Link commented.

"Enough of them are and most of those who don't fight are involved with those who do" Another said.

Impa stood silently for a long time, looking out into the wasteland which lay beyond. "We may need to drive the Gerudo into the desert wastes."

The knights showed their surprise, Link most of all.

"If you stray from the safe paths the dessert isn't survivable." Link pointed out.

Impa turned to him. "To us maybe, but the Gerudo hail from the dessert, they may know paths and ways to survive that we don't know of."

"May?" Link didn't believe anyone could survive in a place he could not.

"I don't like it either but we have no choice." Impa said briskly. "As things are now we'll be drained of resources by the raids and the heat. We either have to move or we lose and we cannot move while the Gerudo surround us. I will not stand by while we are destroyed. The costs are too high"

Link wanted to argue but he couldn't. Impa was right, if they didn't drive the Gerudo away they would be destroyed, and if they were destroyed than Ganondorf would be able to attack Hyrule again. This army was the bulk of their forces; if it was lost than Hyrule would be hard pressed to defend itself. Still, "It feels wrong." He said under his breath.

Impa, however had made her decision. The army soon set about driving the Gerudo into the uncharted areas of the haunted wasteland. Though every Gerudo was a warrior these were not the elite, and they were not prepared for such a brutal attack on their homes. The soldiers had been instructed to be as merciful as possible, but in the chaos of combat many ignored the orders and there were reports of terrible atrocities. But despite its violence the tactic worked. With few casualties the Hylian army forced the Gerudo further and further into the desert-beyond where the Hylians could safely travel. Whether the Gerudo could survive the wastes was not known.

…..

"This is…."

Link had no words for what he was seeing. Gerudo warriors-some of them no more than children-lay dead as their camp burned.

Link had received word that the unit sent to this camp was encountering stiff resistance and rushed to aid them, but when he got there the fighting was over and the sight that greeted him looked more like one of the horrors perpetrated by Ganondorf rather than something done by Hylian.

"They fought hard m'lord, but we managed to turn the tables." The officer said with pride.

Link said nothing; he walked through the camp, looking for survivors. He found a few Hylian soldiers still alive but none of the Gerudo, not even a child. He did find a child with a spear wound in the back, however.

….

"That is most unfortunate."

Link told the tale of the Gerudo camp to Impa.

"Unfortunate?! It was a slaughter! Those men are not disciplined enough and their officer was proud! He should be arrested!"

Impa gave him a hard look. "You are young Link. You don't remember the civil war. Back then atrocities like this happened almost every day on all sides. You can't conduct a war like this and expect to keep your hands clean."

"What about the law? Zelda would never condone this, and she would punish the people responsible!" Link said; losing his normal cool.

"Zelda is far from the battlefield. If we punish those men we will only lower moral and cause the other soldiers to loose trust in us. If that happens we won't be ready for the decisive battle."

"This isn't right." Link protested

"Your right, it's not." Impa sighed. "I'm disgusted by this too, but we have no better option right now."

….

By the time the subjugation of Gerudo valley was complete, supplies and reinforcements arrived from Castle town. The three hundred men-mostly light troops-would only replace a fraction of the Hylian losses, but the supplies and artillery they brought would bring their army back up to fighting strength. Link and Impa also received word from princess Zelda: the Gorgon army had finally moved. Rolling across Hyrule field they were destroying what was left of Ganondorf's forces in Hyrule. Most of the country was now at peace.

The Gerudo fortress had been rebuilt as a Hylian base. Leaving a small garrison there with most of the heavy artillery to control the valley, the remaining eight thousand set off through the haunted wasteland towards the spirit temple.

…..

The haunted wasteland was literally haunted. The Hylian armies constantly had to guard against Poes and other monsters as they marched. Worst, it was cursed. If you didn't know where you were going you would end up back where you started, or be lost forever. This is where Link came in. He had intimate knowledge of the desert; its traps, its oasis and the paths through. Link's knowledge did not make the trip easy, however. It was hard enough for a long man who knows the way. For an army of eight thousand, it was a contain trail. The army could barely carry enough water from oasis to oasis, and drained nearly every water source they came across. The heat and lack of water made the men very irritable, and discipline was low.

"Another scout failed to report back." An exasperated officer informed Link and Impa as they road at the head of the army. The man was clearly exasperated; they had lost ten scouts to the desert.

"I gave them precise directions." Link defended himself

Impa looked over at him. "I know Link, but this desert has proven too much even for expert scouts. Even I can barely keep my bearings here."

"It should only be another day to the spirit temple." Link said. "There's a large oasis there, but by now it's probably occupied by Bokublin."

"Anything else we should know?" The one of the captains asked.

"Ganondorf's surrogate mother's Koume and Kotake control the temple. As mages go they are almost equal to him"

"He has two mothers? How does that work?" A knight asked.

"They can transform into a powerful creature they call Twinrova. I think that thing is Ganondorf's actual mother, but I could be wrong."

"I hate fighting mages; just a bundle of tricks." The knight said.

"Not these two, even alone they have the raw power to match any swordsman." Link warned.

"Great".

….

The disadvantage of marching though the haunted wasteland was you could not see things coming from or towards the desert until they were right on top of you. Therefore, by time the two armies saw each other they were already in range.

"We're being pushed back! Get those cannons up!" a Captain called.

As the Hylians walked out of the desert they had the misfortune of walking right into the Bokublin encampment. While the Bokublin camp was not very well made, they had piled sand and what wood they could find into makeshift walls. Given this advantage the Bokublin were raining rocks and arrows down on the Hylian army with near impunity.

"Cannons ready sir!" While most of the heavy artillery had been left behind to fortify the garrison, the army had brought most of their lighter cannons with them, since the Bokublin army did not yet possess that technology, they had nothing that could match them.

"Destroy that parapet! Fire!"

The cannons roared as they sent iron balls hurdling towards the Bokublin's walls. The wooden platforms that Bokublin fired from were no match and collapsed into their sand foundations.

"Charge through the gap!" Impa ordered; gesturing with her hand.

The troop's responded, their long spears at the ready. Behind these heavy troops poured in the bulk of the Hylian army composed of light troops armed with swords and bows.

"We've overwhelmed them." Impa noted. There aren't as many here as I thought they would be."

"There could be more in the temple." Link suggested.

Impa nodded. "Bring up the cannons and prepare the heavy artillery! Focus the big guns on the Temple!"

The Hylian soldiers charged, easily dispatching the light forces scattered in their way. The Bokublins had not been prepared for a battle and it showed, once the Hylians got passed their walls the remaining Bokublins were no match. Yet as suddenly as they surged forwards their advance was brought to a halted by blasts of fire and ice.

…

This chapter ended a little short, but there should be another big battle next chapter. In the long run get ready for a lot of time skips once the war arc is over, though that shouldn't be for another few more chapters.

I do worry somewhat about my characterizations; I know this chapter was particularly dark, but it fits the video that inspired this fic and is necessary for future plot developments

If you like what I've written please leave a comment. It really helps keep me going.

6/7/2017 edits: noticed a few spelling and grammar mistakes-tried to patch them up.

-Gedaemon