Chapter 23
Malon shoved the pitch fork into the bale of hay and threw the whole thing into the feeding bin of her cow Bessy. She mopped her brow and walked to the next stall.
Russ' yell caused her to drop the pitch fork and sprint out of the barn. "What'sa ruckus? Russ! Where are ya!"
"Mama! Up here!" Russ was standing on the roof of their house. He had been adamant about keeping watch across Hyrule Field. "Somebody's coming from the trail to Ordon! A whole BUNCH of people!" His voice shook. "I think they're moblins, Mama!"
Malon forced herself to be brave. "Don't worry!" She yelled back. "Papa says they're on our side! How do I get up there?!"
Russ pointed to the far side of the house. Malon ran across the yard and found a ladder. She climbed it, got onto the roof, climbed the next ladder to the second story, and soon stood next to Russ. Russ handed her a telescope. Malon looked through it where Russ gestured.
A bunch of little people, all right. They were still very far away, but Malon was sure she could see horns on some of them. Moblins . . .
"Are they coming here, Mama?"
Malon didn't answer for five minutes. "I reckon so," she finally answered. Well, there was nothing for it. Link wasn't here, but there was no way she'd brave the field with the way things were, all them monsters. And besides, the moblins were allies, right? She closed the telescope and started off the roof. "We're gonna need your papa's fairy sword."
"All RIGHT, I get to use Papa's sword!"
Malon looked at him sharply. "Who said anythin' about YOU usin' it?! That sword's for yer mama, kiddo! You go put Tatl and Tael in the cellar, and STAY THERE!"
"Yes, Mama." As soon as Russ followed Malon to the ground, he ran off, only slightly disappointed.
Malon hurried to the log house that sat on the east side of the ranch. Link had added onto it, so it was much larger than it was in her childhood. It held many memories for Malon, this house.
War was not a memory she liked repeating.
She stepped inside, her boots clanking noisily on the floorboards. Any other day and she would never have brought the dirty things inside. There was no time for that, though. She crossed the small, cozy living room and went up the stairs and down the hall. She didn't bother to close the bedroom door behind her. She pulled out a loose slat in the wall, behind which held a small, silver skeleton key. Grabbing it, she closed the slat and used a broom to open the attic door overhead. No time for ladders! She grabbed the nearest chair, plopped it underneath the hole, stood on top of it, and with a grunt befitting someone who'd cared for cows her whole life, pulled herself into the attic.
She pushed aside a few rugs, cloths, boxes, and quickly found the ominous chests laying at the end of the attic, right beneath the window. Three black rock chests, one of differing size, with threatening looking padlocks and silver screws. The level of dust on their surfaces and in their crevices reminded her how long these things had remained under lock and key Hidden away, but never quite forgotten.
She had to take a steadying breath to make the distance. Using the skeleton key, she opened one of the smaller chests and quickly opened the lid.
A musty, old leather smelled assaulted her nose . . . but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. She remembered how Link smelled back then. All metal and leather and . . . rotten smelling concoctions from the potion shop. It was a familiar smell, but an unsettling one. Just inside were Link's Ordon clothes, and underneath those was his Kokiri outfit. Underneath that was his full tunic of chain mail and his signature green tunic. This last thing was full of stitched up holes and covered in patches (many Malon had put in herself). Link kept it now mostly as a keepsake.
Is this the wrong chest? It's gotta be somewhere . . . ah! She got her fingers around the small sliver of scabbard she spotted beneath the clothes and pulled the sword out of the chest.
It was Link's sword from his time in Termina—he'd given the Fairy Sword back to the Kokiri years ago, and besides, Malon thought his Termina blade looked more like a fairy sword anyway.
It had cross hatch patterns of gold and green, and despite looking like gold, was made of some kind of nigh unbreakable material, she knew. The hilt felt . . . somewhat fitting in her hand. She waved it around in the hilt a little bit, testing its weight. Hey, when you chuck hay bales all day, a puny sword ain't nothin'.
Finally she got a firm grip on the sword, her other hand taking hold of the scabbard, and prepared to pull the sword out. With one more sigh to dismiss her anxiety, she pulled, copying one of Link's grunting noises.
The blade was gorgeous, or at least Malon thought so. She was surprised at how maneuverable the sword was, even though she'd never touched this or any other sword in her entire life.
Her husband was Captain of the Guard. She had to look the part of such a person's wife. Fumbling a few times, she managed to put the sword back in its scabbard, then strapped the whole thing to her back. She lifted her hair up and out of the way, then she closed the chest, put the key around her neck and left the attic.
Outside, she could already hear the sound of hoof beats beyond the ranch walls and up the road a little bit. She tromped down the dirt path to the ranch gates. She made a check list in her mind. Did she forget anything? Did she have a plan? Where was her father—off selling milk, of course. Fine time for that man to decide to pull 'is weight around here!
Soon the hoof beats became louder and louder. Malon thought for sure they would slow down before turning the corner and approaching the ranch, but the moblins with their pig mounts showed no sign of stopping.
The only thing keeping Malon from immediately retreating was the sight of the Ordon villagers, also riding on Bulbins. They looked worn, tired. When the group finally arrived at the gates, they all skidded to a halt and moblins began jumping off their mounts, screeching at each other, and scattering in all directions around the ranch. Malon noticed that many of their weapons were glowing strangely, but she set that thought aside.
"What are you doing?!" She noticed one start to climb the wall. Just . . . go through the gate?
The Ordon villagers dismounted more slowly. Malon spotted Ilia, who ran up to the rancher with an urgent look on her face. "Malon, is your family inside?"
"Yes, all but Link and Papa and . . . you know," she alluded to Saria and Melody.
Ilia took her wrist. "The moblins say we have to take a stand here."
"A stand here? From what?!"
"The darkness—I can't explain!" She interrupted Malon before she'd even begun. "The moblins will set up around the walls to stop the darkness, but we must hurry or it will be for naught! Please trust me, Malon."
Malon nodded firmly and opened the gate for the villagers. All the bulbins were herded inside. Malon was glad she hadn't let the horses out to pasture yet. The poor dears would have the fright of their life at the sight of these monstrous, tusked pigs! Once they were all rounded into the corral, Malon turned her attention back to the villagers. They were running around the ranch in groups, each group accompanied by a funny looking moblin Malon could only describe as some sort of shaman. Priest? Did moblins have deities?
Wait, yes, they did. Hyrule had just learned that when the treaty began. Bellum was their 'god,' but the moblins, the majority anyway, no longer worshiped him. Malon wondered what the function of a priest had turned into as a result.
There were four priests, and each held a staff with a glowing orb hanging from a chain attached to the top. The spheres wobbled back and forth as if with a mind of their own. The priests followed the groups of villagers, who placed their hands on the orbs. When they pulled their hands away, they, too, were glowing. Then they said some strange words, the priest waved his staff around and maybe it was a trick of the light, but it looked like each section of space they waved at suddenly grew . . . brighter.
Malon put her hands on her hips. "Hm." She put a hand next to her mouth and called, "Ilia!"
Ilia soon joined her.
"What's going on? What are they doing to my ranch?"
"The Light Spirits . . ." Ilia began, then paused as she visibly collected her thoughts. Then she faced Malon and with earnestness, explained, "The Light Spirits have expelled themselves from the corners of the world. It's the only way to protect the world's Light. If the darkness overtakes even one of them . . ." She shook her head. "It will be permanent. Our world will never be the same."
"The darkness. Is that like the Twilight?"
"Worse. You can come back from Twilight."
Malon sensed there was a lot more in that statement than Ilia's words could say.
"Anyway," Ilia continued, "The moblins . . . somehow they're able to hold the darkness back. Somewhat. It keeps growing stronger and soon even they will be helpless. They will protect the land for as long as possible, but the Darkness is growing fast. Until Link . . . Until we can find a way to push the darkness back completely, we MUST protect the Light Spirits!"
"What about the castle?" Malon asked. "Wouldn't that be a better place? Lots more people, too . . ."
Ilia sighed. "Don't you get it? We barely made it here alive."
Confused, Malon crossed her eyebrows, then slowly turned and ran to the ladder against the house, the same one she and Russ had climbed earlier. She reached the roof and looked over the walls and out across Hyrule Field.
And instantly recoiled.
Hadn't it just been an hour ago that the field had been green and undisturbed? Now it was . . . it was nothingness, and that nothingness was already lapping at the walls of Lon Lon Ranch. She watched as the darkness swiftly overtook the field until it finally passed the ranch entirely and headed to Castle Town. Swallowing everything in its path like evil lava.
Malon shivered.
The moblins who had climbed the walls shot arrows of twisted magic at the darkness. Others were on the field slashing at it fiercely. Still others were fighting . . . figures. Things that looked remotely person-shaped, but . . . weren't. They could morph and change like shadows in bending light.
The edges of the ranch itself were glowing so brightly Malon knew it was not a trick of the light. The priests and villagers and Light Spirits had done something to protect Lon Lon Ranch from the Darkness.
Her eye was caught by a large blip on the horizon from the direction of Ordon. A horn blew from the field, answered by incessant chattering among the moblins and an answering horn blast. Wishing she'd brought the telescope from earlier, she put a hand over her eyes and squinted at the blip.
The blip soon became the large form of a being covered in white and dark purple magicks, twisting all over its body like the roots of a tree. It took a moment for Malon to recognize King Bulblin, racing on his steed toward the ranch. He pounded through shadow creatures and charged full tilt at the gates. Two moblins barely got the gates open in time for King Bulblin to not stampede them into dust.
The moblin king skidded to a halt and dismounted. "HE IS COMING!"
Malon hurried off the roof and ran up to the moblin king, who was currently shouting orders to his troops. Up close, she could see weariness in his face, tiredness in his limbs. How long had they been running like this? "King Bulblin."
He acknowledged her with a nod. "Mother of Melody."
Malon suddenly bristled. This was the creature who was responsible for Melody leaving home! She raised her chin in the air and refused to let her mind be clouded. There were lives at stake—including her daughter's and her other children's. "You said someone was coming?"
King Bulblin nodded. "A terrible, cursed beast. We tried to release him from the darkness in Ordon, but his connection to Bellum was already too strong. Now that we have been joined by the other Light Spirits, we may just have a chance!"
"If you don't mind me sayin', you look mighty beat."
King Bulblin threw his head back and guffawed. Then he flashed his fangs at her happily. "This is the most tasking battle I have fought since fighting with The Hero. I shall not fail you, Mother of Melody, of that you have my promise." He hefted his weapon over his shoulder. "Now. Are you good with a sword?"
Malon straightened in surprise. "No. But this is my ranch and I'll defend it. With pitch fork and old stinky boots if I have to!"
King Bulblin grinned wryly at her. "The Hero chose his mate well, I see. Such loyalty to one's land is not found in Moblin kind. I shall enjoy fighting next to you Malon, Mother of Melody."
Malon drew Link's sword from its scabbard. She planted the point in the ground and laid her hands on the pommel. "If you don't mind me sayin' so, I'd rather puke. Fightin' ain't my thing, ya see."
"I mind not at all, though you will dull your blade doing that."
Malon pulled it out of the ground. "Good. Then I'll have a proper club!"
Another horn blast, from the walls of the ranch. King Bulblin turned his ear toward it, before turning back to Malon urgently.
"He is on the horizon," King Bulbin explained. "Do you have a place for the villagers to hide?"
Malon nodded, feeling sick. She showed the villagers the cellar where three of her children were already bundled together. Tatl and Tael sat in Russ' lap. All three were more still than usual. Beth climbed down into the cellar, clutching her baby tightly. "I'll keep things calm down here," she said. "You just leave the little ones to me." She was joined by some of the other villagers. A few stayed out to help where they could.
King Bulblin rallied his troops around the ranch. Malon did her best to not have a heart attack as they somehow managed to completely topple the corral fence within minutes, freeing the bulbins and mounting them.
One thing bothered her. Malon didn't understand why King Bulblin left the trapdoor to the cellar so badly guarded—just four moblins was all.
She didn't have time to argue, though, because she was jostled here and there until she found her perch on the cucco fence.
A terrifying roar froze her in place. What was that?! It sounded bigger than an elephant! She'd never seen an elephant, but they were always so big in the pictures in her kids' story books. She clutched her sword with both hands.
Over the lip of the high ranch wall, a thin, sharp appendage appeared and clutched the wall. This was followed by other appendages. The giant things reminded Malon of spider legs, which did not help her mood at all.
I hate spiders!
Already she was standing, pointing her sword at the thing even though it was over a hundred yards away.
Moblins attacked the thing's legs, others tried to lasso them with ropes and chains. The spider thing thrashed, sending a moblin flying with each kick, like swatting at mosquitoes. The creature's body followed, and Malon really thought she might throw up after all.
It was hideous, an unnerving ribcage with black skin stretched taught around it, the shallow breathing. The head lolling from an unnaturally long neck. The mouth that drooled green acid that even now burned the ranch walls like a knife through butter. There was lower body, it was like the creature just melted into its back legs. It had four legs, but multiple appendages on its back that morphed into whatever it liked, a whip, a rope—electric magic shot along its back and shot out of every limb at the mobbing moblins, trying to get the tiny buggers off of it—and apparently were ranged weapons to boot.
Steady but surely the monster was breaching the walls, and soon began to descend into the ranch. Suddenly, with a mighty leap, it dove into the largest group of moblins in the ranch, mouth open, belly flopping to crush everyone and everything underfoot. Malon suddenly understoof why King Bulblin hadn't put many troops by the cellar.
That thing raced right into biggest legion of moblins without even blinking—that is, assuming it could blink.
"WHAT IS THAT THING?!" Malon shouted. With one sweep of a leg, it toppled five moblins. The moblins fought to get back up, but it was clear they were outmatched.
"He's weaker near the Light Spirits," Ilia's voice said from behind her. Malon turned to look at her, and Ilia continued, "They're what he's after. He's trying to destroy them for . . . for Bellum, I suspect."
"One question, and I know it sounds strange . . ." Malon balked at the creature. "How on Din's earth do you know its a 'he'?"
Ilia glanced at her. Then back at the creature. "Oh. That's right, you don't know yet. That's . . . that's Shad, Malon."
Malon tore her eyes from the battle to gawk at Ilia. "WHAT?!"
"The darkness . . . it changes you." She glanced worriedly at Malon. "Don't let the darkness touch you, okay?"
Malon nodded, but had lost the feeling in her extremities. She poked her sword in the ground and leaned on it again, waiting for the monster to reach her side of the ranch. It was only a matter of time. Hot diggedy.