A/N: Thanks to RoseWing, Kirkysaurus and TOaOK (Kaorin) for their reviews!
I know it's been a month, but I've been a bit busy. School definitely puts a damper on things, right?
Zelda is under attack. How will she fare in the battle?
Read on!
Chapter 23 - Twist
As soon as the word 'personal' was spat out of Drazzil's cracked lips, the nearest Lizalfos lunged. Zelda dodged thanks to her reflexes and threw it over her back. It hit the ground and the other Lizalfoses began to swarm.
Zelda threw some needles at the oncoming band. Some hit, but they didn't even flinch. They hesitated for a second, before charging once more. Zelda threw two over opposite shoulders and barged another one back through the crowd, ducking the flying daggers. At that moment, she focused on that one Lizalfos, ignoring the cries of surprise behind her. She kicked it on the hip, causing it to cry out in pain. It stood on shaky legs. From its erratic movement, Zelda knew she had got a sensitive spot. This, of course, would come in handy later.
Zelda smashed its face with her fist with lightning movement. Its voice was muffled by its own swollen lips and it started to back off. Of course, Zelda was faster and grabbed it quickly, throwing it back to its pack. The others dodged it and it fell to the ground with huge force. It landed awkwardly and didn't seem able to get back up.
Drazzil shrieked in frustration and shouted at the others to attack, which three did willingly. Zelda swept her leg along the ground, making them all trip. While the middle one was grabbed and chucked to the side, Zelda gripped the rightmost one's leg and picked him up. It was shrieking in pain as Zelda was started to bend its shin bone. Zelda did indeed have the strength to fracture it, but she decided not to be so cruel and smashed it into the one on the left, like a crude baseball bat hitting the ball too late. It screamed into a house wall, but still stayed resolute, taking out a dagger. Zelda grumbled and threw the bat down, then kicked it so hard on the jaw that it literally was lifted from the floor and landed quite a distance away from her. Safe to say, it fainted from the extreme trauma. The resolute one pounced back into the battlefield.
It was joined by two other Lizalfoses, also with their daggers out. Zelda's eyes darted to each one's faces and weapons. They seemed uneasy, now that they had been shown her true power, and their daggers twisted about in their palms. Zelda decided her best course of action was to do something she hadn't done for over seven years.
The Triforce of Wisdom was a powerful asset, one which made her a force to be reckoned with. This is not, of course, the cause of her physical prowess and fighting skills - which she had gained through her experiences - but rather a more mystical approach to fighting. She used to have someone teach her different techniques in the castle, but she hadn't used them for a long time. It was worth a shot.
She prayed to Nayru, as was the case before she used the ability, and focused all her energy into her left hand - the one with the Triforce. She could feel the power shift from her torso and head to the hand, and it felt so incredibly packed with power that the essence was beginning to leak from her hand in the form of a red glow. The Lizalfoses didn't seem to notice this change in strategy and kept their eyes on her face. In fact, they were so focused on that particular area that they didn't notice her hand swipe across their faces in one stroke before it actually happened. They screamed and fell to the floor, charred faces smoking through. They scrabbled at their faces in a desperate attempt to soothe the fire. She kicked them all in the hips once before throwing them back to Drazzil's feet. They became a bit less persistent in their wafting, and soon fell unconscious. Five down, seven to go.
They were a lot more wary after the small magic act, and were starting to back off ever so slowly.
'What are you doing?' screamed Drazzil, 'Attack! Kill her!'
Their loyalty to their leader grew once again, blocking out their thoughts of self-preservation. When it came down to it, Lizalfoses were extremely resilient and not known to back off. This explained why two more hurled themselves at Zelda.
She blazed one in the stomach with her enchanted fist and kicked the other on the hip. That one fell to the floor and the fist-stricken one quickly jumped back after the fabric of his cloak began to singe. She kicked it in the hip as well and grabbed it with the blazing hand. The elongated exposure to the magic caused it to shriek and writhe in agony. Zelda held it for a few more seconds, switching hands now and again, so each arm was rendered out of action. Pushing it away, she kicked it in the chest, which almost caved in, and it fell to the floor unconscious. The other was quickly struck across the face and it too fell unconscious.
Drazzil shouted at the other five to attack now, and they all swarmed. She jabbed two with her fists spontaneously. The fist on the left burned through the Lizalfos' cloak and hit skin, burning through the first layer easily. It screeched and waved its daggered hand around. Unfortuantely for him, the flailing dagger hit another Lizalfos to his side square on the temple. That one yelped in pain and fell to the floor, and it wasn't long before the blood loss caused it to faint. The Lizalfos hit with Zelda's right fist was thrown over to Drazzil, before getting up and leaping in again. The other two attackers both swiped at her with their daggers, and she whipped her head backwards, barely dodging the attacks since she was already so preoccupied with their counterparts. She hooked the first one's leg with her own and tripped him, then held him up in front of her. The other Lizalfos didn't react quick enough and stabbed the 'shield'. It cried in pain and the dagger was pulled out. Zelda quickly threw the shield aside and smashed the other's face with her burning hand. It screeched and fell backwards, clawing at its face in an attempt to fan the burning skin. Zelda kicked it in the hip and it screeched again. Now unable to get up, the fire burned through its cheek and went through its head before it too fell unconscious. Obviously, not a lovely thought.
There were now only two left, apart from Drazzil, who watched from his safe distance. Zelda rather admired the self-control it took for the Lizalfoses to obey him. After all, they were all either dying or very hurt, and yet here was their leader, very much unhurt and undying, merely watching over them. The thought weighed down on them as they attacked Zelda. It never really left their mind as they both were easily toppled and brutally thrown back toward him. Their hips were slightly bruised by the kick delivered from Zelda, and they looked at each other on the ground. The one on the right shrugged - 'What are you gonna do?' - before his eyes drooped and he too succumbed to unconsciousness. The other wasn't quite done yet, but he indeed could not get up. Instead, he thought of different things, distracting him from the pain in his hip and stomach. Meanwhile, Drazzil shook his head in frustration.
'What did I do to deserve a band of such useless cretins like yourselves?' he muttered. Zelda gritted her teeth.
'Useless cretins? How dare you? If you're such a brilliant fighter why don't you face me instead of having your 'cretins' do the work?' she bellowed. His cowardice was foul, a quality which Zelda cannot bear to allow anyone to have. Imagining it, all the battles the Lizalfoses have endured over the seven years (and maybe some before), all due to the actions of the retched reptile that stood before her. She shuddered to think of the things that they had seen, the beasts they'd have fought, all to please him. And yet, after all that had happened, they were willing to die for him, this selfish, ancient, useless, despicable old lizard. He merely smiled and shrugged, causing her anger to blaze against him. Its intentisity caused her flaming hand to increase in power.
'We are not like humans,' Drazzil began, 'with your morals and high expectations of each other. Why do you fight? Why does anything fight? I personally don't want to kill you. But it is simply the way of the Lizalfos.' He hesitated grimly. 'And you may talk, you humans and soldiers, for do you see your king on the front?'
Zelda growled. Not a bad word must be breathed about her father, lest the soldiers would charge one for treason. Yet here, in Kakariko, Drazzil brazenly offered his repugnant feelings to him, with his daughter as his witness.
'Do you?' Drazzil shrieked passionately. 'Do you see your queen, your dukes, your princesses out, fighting for right? No, you do not! And yet you have the utter contempt to call me out?' He threw out an arm, to the burning building beside him. 'Do you see the mighty Ganondorf out?' he breathed with malice. 'Do you see... him awakening the beast of the well himself? It's just the way.' He dropped his arm. 'It's the way life is, for all people and monsters. Would you rather fight or stay comfortable in your room? Nobody wants to fight. But they feel compelled to do so, being humans. Always violent, always shouting. Never sleeping or shaking hands, always...' He scowled. 'Always killing.'
'And that will not stop here.'
There was suddenly a grand spike impaling Drazzil to the ground. Blood seeped out of the wound and caressed the ground, soaking through the soil. He cried, literally, tears falling and joining his blood.
'What... what is...? This cannot be... it...' he gasped out through bloodied lips. Zelda was too busy looking at the figure, and it to her, to notice the final blow actually be inflicted. The very much conscious Lizalfos-from-earlier's hand fell from the dagger stuck in Drazzil's withered heart, releasing all the evil locked inside. The moment of impact caused him to give his last breath, before burning and rotting away. Zelda and the figure looked back at his body.
There was nothing to be seen but a burn mark in the ground, and the unconscious Lizalfos next to it.