The Legend of Zelda: Sky Lines

by Light Onthemayo

One hundred and fifty years after the disaster with the Spirit Tracks, Hyrule has risen to the skies. The people have made a living through the use of airships and the "Sky Lines", trails of intense wind used to aid these airships in their travels. On the eve of a fantastic adventure, a young man named Link has just been given command of his own airship...

24. Charge Into the Fray

Chapter 24: Charge Into the Fray

…

Link traveled as fast as his legs could carry him, blocking out the combined pain of his injuries and the invisible branches whipping across his body. Only one thing was on his mind: protect Whittleton. There was nothing else to think about. There was nothing else for him to do. His mind held the situation broken down into only two choices, no more and no less. The other choice did not even matter enough for him to conceptualize it; he had already decided the moment he had raised Gwait's sword. Inexperience be damned. Fear be damned. Pain be damned. No running. No hiding. Every breath he took meant something, and he would not waste anymore air.

The forest was thick. Fortunately, so was Link's head. As long as Whittleton sat in the distance, he ran with every ounce of strength he could pull from his tortured body. One hand held the top of the sheath tucked into his belt, grip tight in case he had to pull it in a hurry.

Time had lost its meaning to him. Rather, to be more precise, all but this moment had lost meaning to him. The past had left him. The present felt like a dream. The future stood too far away. This moment was all he existed in, and he would ensure that he still existed with the town before him.

He broke through the treeline, coming to a halt behind one of the homes. Pressing his shoulder against the outer wall, he peered into the light of the distant torches and bonfires spread about the town. So far, only a few people were in sight; they appeared to be some of the younger residents, straddling Link's age. They faced the large wall on the other side of the town, closer to the train platform. Link's eyes traced the brilliant outline of the wall itself. At best guess, it was the highest structure in town, towering over the houses it protected and even the improvised watchtowers set on either side. His first thought that the wall was too narrow, sitting just inside the train platform and about as wide as such. He ducked through the darkness to another house so that he had a clear view around the side of the wall. He realized that, where the wall ended, the trees bordering the town were far too thick for a large group to venture through with ease. Even then, this appeared to be where a lot of the defenders were gathered, their shadows dancing about the dead branches from the row of torches behind the line.

But the defenders of Whittleton did not appear to be doing anything. All was quiet in the town. He could read the tension in the air, but no open combat appeared to be taking place. Had they already stopped the battle?

Or had the Bulblins not started it yet?

Link realized that, if the Bulblins had built the tunnel under the town, they had meant to use it against the town in some way. Gwait's discovery, and the subsequent closing, of the hole might have delayed their attack, if not stopped it entirely. The outcome depended on whether they had dug more tunnels in the surrounding forest. His eyes skimmed through the darkness, hoping that the red gleam of Bulblin eyes would give them away. If he could only sight them, he would be able to get a warning to the rest of the town before they were ambushed. But when he failed to see any would-be attackers approaching from the north, he spun to look towards the south part of town.

He found the red gleam all right.

It floated only a hair's breadth from his face.

Link saw a reflection of his own stunned surprise on the face of the Bulblin he had just about smacked heads with. Neither one could believe how easily they had not noticed each other until they were nearly standing in the same spot. Link's mind spun with thoughts, but it felt as if he had to get through a net of panic before he could do anything else.

The Bulblin acted first, raising its club hand. Link saw the attack and broke his way out of his frozen state to duck under the blow. The club, this one decorated with rock spikes, bashed into the side of the house. Unfortunately, Link was too close to pull the sword for a strike fast and hard enough to keep the Bulblin from attacking again. Plus, the sword was ready to come out into his left hand, which would surely strike the house if he pulled it too fast. The stuck club having given Link the ample seconds he needed to realize this, he planted one foot in the ground and threw his shoulder into the Bulblin as hard as he could. The Bulblin, leaning back so as to dislodge the club with its all of its weight, lost its grip on its way to meet the ground. Link's hand pulled the sword out with a metallic sheeng. Before the Bulblin could get back to its feet, Link flipped the sword for a reverse hold, raised it above his head, and snapped his arms forward to drive the blade directly through the Bulblin's chest. In the dark, all Link could rely upon to tell him of the Bulblin's demise was the cold crunch of pierced meat and the dying groan leaving the creature's lungs.

Link held his pose for a moment, breath heavy from excitement. He could not believe how easy it was to kill another. Him! It did not make him happy; if anything, he felt a twinge of sadness for the deaths he had already caused. But almost as soon as the thought came to the surface, he automatically dismissed it as a simple life-or-death decision he had to make for himself and others.

Besides. He had another problem.

As his eyes gazed upon the south side of town, he realized that there were a great number of red dots crossing the field. Only two nearby had frozen to look for the commotion; the rest advanced towards the townspeople. Link, realizing that he had to warn them, tugged his sword out with a jerk. But instead of dashing around the house, which would have given him a chance to put distance between himself and the Bulblins while he warned the rest of the town, he charged out of his hiding place with the sword raised above his head. His lungs gave a great cry, alerting the closest Bulblins that something not of their kind was approaching. To their eyes, however, all they saw was a single Hylian barely of age to be a real hazard. As he approached, the two closest exchanged looks that asked "is this kid for real?" and only answered each other with the kind of shrug that says "oh, well, let's kill him anyway".

They brandished their clubs and charged Link. The first one to reach him brought his weapon down where Link's head would have been if he had not suddenly shifted to the Bulblin's right. Link did this with a full spin on one foot, bringing the blade of his sword swinging round in a dangerous arc that bit deep into the Bulblin's side. When Link yanked the sword back out, he angled the blade so that it slid further into the Bulblin's flesh as he tugged. The first dropped to the side just as the second came within range to throw his club. This, Link did not expect, and his exposed left shoulder took the brunt of the blow. Link cried out in pain, collapsing to a knee while he cupped his right hand over the impact site. This Bulblin maintained his focus on retrieving his club before the opponent put a finger on it, so when Link, after dropping the sword only to pick it up with his right hand, suddenly spun his torso and delivered a stab right into the Bulblin's neck, it was truly a surprise to him for the few seconds he could spare to think about it.

As he rose, Link saw that the other Bulblins had realized that someone was attacking them from the rear. Before he could gauge their reactions, he tore off towards the defense wall as fast as he could. Pain slowly began to breach the barriers he had put up in his mind; he could not take them all on his own. Dodging past houses and nearly invisible trees, he thought of the only way he could get some serious attention in a jiffy. As soon as he was sure he was close enough that his voice would reach, he called out to the people protecting their home.

"All eyes alive and to the west! Attack from the west!" Normally, the standard variation of this command was used by Captain Alfonzo to call his airmen's attention toward another ship which meant to dock with them. It was convenient because it packed enough information for airmen to act as they should without having to worry that they needed to hear an explanation at the top of the captain's lungs.

Fortunately, the people of Whittleton were just as perceptive. A group detached from the line ahead of him, two carrying torches in their hands. Six people dashed past Link and collided with the pursuing Bulblins while two others grabbed Link. They hauled him to the torchlight as swift as possible while more, after a horn sounded from the darkness, ran to join the fighting.

Link was deposited on the ground just on the edge of the torchlight, and one of the adults that had been carrying him took a knee in front of him so as to meet him eye-to-eye. "Wha's goin' on?" he asked in an urgent tone.

Link took a moment to catch his breath; he was quickly losing the steam built up by the excitement back in the forest. "The Bulblins are attacking from behind," he said to the dark face in front of him. "They… they dug tunnels underneath the town; we found one in the forest."

The other adult grabbed his uninjured shoulder to spin him into a face-to-face conversation. "Are yeh sure?"

Link nodded. "I saw the hole myself. And I killed the Bulblin that climbed out of it."

"Link?" Responding to his name, Link looked up as a third shadow approached. He could vaguely make out Talein's form in the light behind him, both hands wielding his great axe. "Is tha' yeh, boy?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"I though' yeh were s'pose ta stay with the others hidin' in the forest," he growled.

"You needed to be warned," Link replied, brushing off one of the other men's hand as he stood to his full height. He took a step forward. "They're crawling all over the town. And the people in the forest are trying to locate any more tunnels leading behind your defense line."

Talein, his face a blank to Link in the dark, was taken aback. Only five days before had this fragile boy been found possibly dying in the wreckage of an airship fallen far from above. But now, that same boy acted as if he barely had a scratch. The man huffed and called over his shoulder, "C'mon! The Bulblins are behind us!" Link made to turn, but one of Talein's meaty paws had already grabbed his upper arm. "No' yeh, Link. Stay here in the light."

Link meant to protest, but Talein had already shoved him to one side on his way to engage the Bulblins. Another horn sounded from somewhere in the shadows dancing about the town, seeming to summon more fighters from the other side of the defensive line. Feeling fatigue cloud his head a bit, Link took a knee and wiped the dark blood from his sword onto the half-dead grass at his feet. Then he swung his left arm about, trying to work out the pain in his shoulder.

WHUMP!

The deep sound of something heavy being hit with something even heavier caused Link to start. His eyes scanned the darkness to find the source, but nothing appeared particularly out of the ordinary. Still, he had a bad feeling curling every nerve in his body.

WHUMP! There it was again. Link realized that it had sounded from behind him, and he turned to look at the defense wall. As high as any mast he had seen and sporting logs twice the thickness of the kind of trees he was used to seeing, Link could see that they had been planted firmly where the train platform met the ground and braced up both from behind and on either side of the tree houses serving as lookout towers.

Wait a moment. He had seen people standing atop those towers not long ago. What happened to them?

WHUMP! This time, Link jumped back in surprise. Something had struck the wall from the other side.

About then, he realized something both ingenious and horrible at the same time. A lot of the townspeople had left their station near the wall to engage the Bulblins emerging from behind Whittleton.

But was there not a force building up outside the town, which necessitated the defense wall?

WHUMP! Krrrrk! One of the supports holding two of the middle logs bent and snapped.

WHUMP! Krrrrrrk! There went another. Those two middle logs dislodged from the rest of the structure.

WHUMP!

BAM!

One of the logs fell, nearly crushing a pair of men trying to keep it erect.

Almost at once, a high-pitched whistle sounded from nearby. Link looked up to see Meilont leaning out of a window. He heard her call out, "Breakthrough! They're breakin' through!"

As if to confirm this, a large animal suddenly bounded over one of the logs and tore off into the town. Link could feel his heart sink with fright.

"Link! Look out!"

Meilont's voice commanded Link's attention just in time for him to realize that another large creature had just burst through the wall.

And this one charged straight for him!

"YAAAH!" Link dove to his left, leaving the mount to trample the ground he stood on only seconds ago. And mount was right, for Link saw that the creature had been harnessed like a draft horse and mastered by a Bulblin. He rolled to find the creature, but, having taken down a couple of the nearby torches in the process of its attack, it disappeared into the darkness.

"Run, Link!" Meilont shouted at him.

Link ran all right.

Right for one of the downed torches. He pulled it out of its stand, finding that it remained smoldering. Quickly, he ran to the other downed torch as more of the creatures continued to invade one by one. The stand to this torch had been smashed to pieces, and he took one leg into his hand. Having to stretch his arms out quite a bit, he touched the smoldering embers of the torch he held into the end of the leg. Then, with the embers on the leg, he dropped the torch and carefully blew on the large stick of wood. If he did this right, he would be able to find the sword he accidentally dropped.

"Wha' are yeh doin'?!" Meilont screamed at him. "Get movin'!"

The end of the stick suddenly flared up, nearly scorching his face. He pulled it away just in time to realize that another of those creatures was charging at him again. Lacking any other immediate option, Link swung his improvised torch.

"Rheeee!" the enormous bovine squealed, veering to get away from the moving fire that threatened to strike its face. Link watched as the animal, no longer heeding its rider's commands, steered itself towards the thick growth of trees nearby and smash head-first into one. WHUM! KRUT! The animal came to a dead stop, hurling its rider into the wounded tree.

Link did not have time to see whether the rider survived. He had to find his sword. Presently, the air filled with the sounds of men and beasts shouting at each other as full battle commenced in the darkness about him. The soft tun tun of bowstrings loosing their charges would have barely reached his ears if he had not been standing so close to the towers, now alive with archers.

Wait! There it was!

Link made a break for it, only to hear the battlecry of another mount as it hurtled towards him. He planted his feet firmly and swung the torch again. As the first, this one veered towards safety only to careen into the thick base of a tree house. The creature broke through in a crunch of wood, but its rider met the exterior wall with an unceremonious thud that took him clean from his mount's back.

Another horn alerted Link to the wall again, and he saw Bulblins on foot running in with all sorts of weapons raised. So he thrust the burning end of the stick into the ground at his feet to put it out, dropped it, and rushed to pick up his sword.

But what should he do now?

He did not have time to think about it. A Bulblin was already charging at him.

Link fit both of his hands onto the hilt of the sword and swung it level. The Bulblin raised its club, laden with what looked like shards of glass, to intercept the blow. But Link's strike had power behind it, and the Bulblin's wrist snapped backwards from the recoil. Link managed to recover before the Bulblin could raise the club again and stabbed his sword into its chest. Not wanting to listen to the creature's last sounds bubbling into its throat, Link withdrew the sword and rushed past it.

Another waited, and this one was already bringing down a weapon that Link almost did not recognize as a sharp and potentially dangerous shard of metal. He raised his sword and successfully blocked, choosing to then counter with a low blow towards the creature's legs. The Bulblin jumped back before the blade landed. To taunt Link, it gave off a snide, laughing snort while it brandished its weapon of choice.

Its mocking was short-lived, however, as the moment it stopped taking the battle seriously, an arrow impaled the crown of its head. In its last moments, it gave Link a confused tilt of the head before it fell backwards. Link, having seen the angle from which the arrow had entered, followed its path back to the tower. Meilont, in the middle of nocking another arrow, gave him a firm nod as if to say "yeah, that was me".

She immediately took aim at him. Link's eyes went wide, and his first instinct was to dive out of the way. This turned out to be the right course of action, as the arrow she released embedded itself into the shoulder of a runaway pig which had been barreling up behind him. The creature wailed in pain and crashed into the tree house Meilont stood in.

Link watched as the creature smashed through a sitting room. A torch somewhere inside the building must have fallen in the process because, just seconds after the impact, the house began to light up with flames.

Meilont immediately noticed the flames as they lit up the rest of the room behind her. "Link!" she called out.

Link dashed toward the house until he stood under the window. "Meilont!" he hollered. "Get out of there!"

Smoke filled the room, causing her to cough. "I can'! The way out's blocked!"

In response, Link dropped his sword to the ground. "Jump!"

Meilont leaned her head out the window to escape the building smoke. In the process, she took note of the fall Link was proposing. "Are yeh mad?! I'm no' gonna jump!"

Link held his arms out. "I'll catch you! Hurry!"

Meilont glanced back at the flames once more. Deciding she had no choice, she climbed onto the window sill and dropped almost immediately. Link had only seconds to realize that neither of them was in the correct position for him to catch her correctly. He could only widen his stance. Her weight suddenly fell across his arms and chest, and his legs buckled. She landed with little injury, while Link felt all of the air leave his lungs in the most painful way he had ever experienced.

Meilont pushed herself up and looked over her shoulder at the burning house. "Nice catch, Link."

"No… problem…" Link croaked in response. After she stood to retrieve the bow she had dropped, Link slowly climbed back to his feet.

"This is gettin' outta hand," she commented as she watched three of her peers jump into the nearby trees from the top of the house. "We have ta do somethin'."

Link found his sword again. "There's only one thing we can do right now," he told her as he picked it up. "We have to fight."

"Ideas?" she asked him.

Link sighed and shook his head, scanning the surrounding for enemies.

And he saw one of the mount creatures wandering near the inside of the wall.

"I have an idea," he told her almost immediately, sheathing his sword.

She only followed him with her eyes questioningly while he rushed up to the creature. When she began to comprehend what he wanted to do after seeing him take the reins of the beast, she immediately asked, "Wait. Yer no' actually thinkin' of ridin' a Bullbo, are yeh?!"

Link clambered onto the creature's back and steadied himself on the patchwork saddle. "Why not?" he asked. "How hard can it be?"

Meilont opened her mouth to argue, but, once she thought about the humorous side of this idea, she found herself giving him a mischievous look. "Lead on, then."

Link smiled. He circled the reins around his right forearm once, pulled his sword with his opposite hand, and delivered a blow to the Bullbo's flank with the flat of the blade. The Bullbo gave a shriek in response, tearing off as fast as it could. Although he found that he could give the Bullbo some guidance by tugging the reins in one direction or another, the creature was more inclined to carve out its own path no matter what it ran over.

This suited Link for now, for he greatly intended for everything in its path to be one of the attacking Bulblins. His first strike was to a clothesline, though, ripping the poles holding the ropes out of the ground with little resistance and scattering clothing across the ground. Stupid, but incredibly lucky at the same time, because as the Bullbo steered past a Bulblin Link was trying to aim for, one of the flailing poles the bovine dragged behind it delivered a powerful smash to the side of the Bulblin's head just as it prepared to strike down a woman with her back turned.

The Bullbo managed to toss the ropes, giving Link enough of a chance to jerk it to the right. This time, the Bullbo obeyed and trampled a pair of Bulblins who appeared to have been arguing over a fallen youth instead of taking notice of the doom flying at them.

Link's hold on the creature was tenuous at best. With one hand commanding the reins, he had to use his other hand in conjunction with his thighs to keep himself from being thrown. He had already lost his sword again, his focus completely centered on trying to steer an animal which clearly did not even like him. The ride reminded him of trying to keep on his feet during a rough journey through the Sultry Sky Line; in particular, he remembered not being able to keep his feet. Fingers jammed between the tight saddle and the beast's furred hide, Link continued to try jerking the beast into the direction he wanted. But other than a few buckets, a barrel, and another clothesline, he found the Bullbo was not quite as willing to run things over as planned.

Mounting the hill to the southwest of the town, Link at least coaxed it into turning about. He saw that one side of the wall now burned, casting orange light and tall shadows on most of the homes. The creature was descending the hill in a minute, keeping him from evaluating how well the battle was going. Gritting his teeth, he wrapped the reins around his arm once more. Approaching a pair of Bulblins who had just chased a pair of women archers into a house, Link gave a commanding jerk. The Bullbo's neck wrenched, and it steered as if to relieve the stress. Neither Bulblin saw the Bullbo until they were crushed under the bovine's large hooves with the horrifying sound of bones breaking. Link did not dare look back as another Bulblin ran for a man occupied with fighting. Link had to jerk left, forcing him to balance himself in the opposite direction to keep from falling when the Bullbo agreed. The Bulblin landed on the mount's face. The Bullbo, releasing an angry snort in the midst of its heavy breathing, idly tossed the nuisance aside, straight into the outer wall of a house.

And then Link had to cover his head as the creature barreled through a small patch of trees. As he had seen before, these trees were brittle and hollow, allowing the Bullbo to pass through unharmed. Link was saved from taking any injuries due to the deflection off the creature's aerodynamic face. He could not believe the amount of punishment this creature could take, pulling on the reins to turn it around again.

An arrow flew from a gap in the light and embedded itself into the Bullbo's flesh just above Link's right kneecap. The creature bucked in response, forcing Link to huddle against it before it threw him. Daring a glance to one side, he spotted another Bullbo being ridden by two Bulblins. From what little he saw, one commanded their beast while the other took aim with a bow. Link jerked his Bullbo back towards the middle of the village. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that they were pursuing him.

Link only had a second to look forward in time to spot Meilont. Surprised, he jerked his Bullbo to the right. Meilont's response to the pursuers demanded no further description past "swift" as she pulled an arrow from her quiver, took aim, and let it fly. The arrow pegged the Bullbo driver between the eyes, causing him to fall back on his passenger. This elicited a misfire before the Bullbo careened into one of the practice contraptions bearing the childish rendition of a Bulblin. The device tripped up the Bullbo, sending all three flying across the ground.

Link, stopped next to Meilont, looked down at her and said, "Nice shot."

But Meilont gave an irate huff as she prepared to nock another arrow. "I was aimin' fer the other one."

Trying not to smile, Link attempted to get the Bullbo moving again. When it did not budge, having taken an interest in the nearby water trough, Link pulled out the dagger Meilont had given him. Although he did not want to do it, he reached around and gently stuck the tip of the dagger into the creature's hide. The creature broke into a full run again, and Link was ready to steer this time, pocketing the dagger as he weaved the Bullbo through the houses.

Lacking any visible targets, Link scanned the area around him. He rode along the edge of the training field, where neither townsperson nor Bulblin had set foot. He had to steer the Bullbo back through the tree houses, where the fighting still took place. But the Bullbo was not running as fast, and two of the Bulblins he attempted to run over dodged just in time to avoid being trampled. Link decided that he could not use this beast anymore, but he was not sure how to stop it again.

Then, ahead of him, he saw a mounted Bullbo chasing down one of the men from the village. Seeing this opportunity, Link steadied himself with his free hand as he slid his left leg over the side. After finding that his Bullbo was rushing straight for the other, he unwrapped his hand from the reins. Only seconds before impact, Link slid from the saddle while one hand tugged out the arrow still in the creature's side. The Bullbo released an angry cry. Link hit the ground and tumbled forward, allowing his shoulder to take away some of the shock as he rolled. On a reflex he never knew he had, he stopped himself so that he kneeled and faced the Bullbos. He only saw the aftermath: both Bullbos were on the ground (one flipped onto its side), and the Bulblin stumbled about while trying to piece together what hit him.

"Kid, look out!" Link reacted to the shout given by the man he had just helped and turned to his right to follow the direction he was pointing. A Bulblin was nearly upon him, a dull, black-iron blade raised to strike. He just barely had enough time to get to his feet and jump out of range of the attack. An arrow found its way into the Bulblin's shoulder, causing it to wail in pain.

"Link!" Link spun in response to Meilont's call. She removed Link's borrowed sword from her belt and threw it towards Link. He had to reach out to catch it by the handle. As he spun back to meet the Bulblin, the sword's blade already sliced through the air in a horizontal strike that opened the Bulblin's chest. A returning, upward strike ensured that the Bulblin did not rise again.

Feeling his left shoulder protest, he switched to his right hand again. Seeing a Bullbo charging at him from the side, he jumped out of its way while flailing his sword. The tip found flesh, causing the Bullbo and its rider to broadside a house in the ensuing surprise. Link's attention was immediately on the next pair of Bulblins that had charged towards him, both wielding clubs. He intercepted one attack with his sword, deflecting it away from him, then took the opportunity to deliver an elbow strike with his free arm right into the Bulblin's jaw. The second one unwisely decided to swing its club at about head-level and clocked its retreating fellow in the back of the head. In the moment of confusion, Link whipped his sword across the second's back, sending it sprawling to the ground with a large gash across its spine.

Almost out of nowhere, a Bulblin charged from Link's side. Link only had seconds to respond, jumping out of the way as a stolen sword sliced through his shirt and cut his arm. Giving a cry of pain, Link spun so that his arm was not as exposed. He blocked with his sword at an odd angle, and the Bulblin's sword stung his hand when they made contact. Another of Meilont's arrows struck the Bulblin in the chest, causing it to rear back in surprise and pain. Seeing the opportunity, Link lunged forward and drove the end of his blade into the Bulblin's stomach.

"Link, look!" Meilont called out as the Bulblin fell.

Link followed her eyes towards the front of the town. The whole left side of the wall was ablaze, most of the remaining logs now orange embers floating to the clouds above. One Bulblin stood with its back to the wall, wailing on a horn as loud as it could. From all sorts of dark spots in the town, Bulblins made a break for the one calling on the horn. They filed out of the town as best as they could, pursued by the townsfolk. Both Link and Meilont gave chase as well. By the time they stood with the crowd, the Bulblins had disappeared through the opening in the wall.

Huffing their exhaustion, Link and Meilont looked to each other with a free hand raised. "Are you all right?" Link asked at the same time Meilont echoed, "Are yeh a'right?" Without answer, they turned back to the wall and watched with the rest of the townspeople for a silent moment only broken by the crackle of burning wood before them.

Then, a call of "huzzah" rose into the air. Link allowed his arms and back to relax as people cheered around him. He felt tremendous relief come from out of nowhere, seemingly forcing his body to return to his frail state.

Arms suddenly wrapped around him. "We did it, Link!" Meilont cried above the cheering around them. "We did it!"

Taken up by the relief, Link returned the hug. "Yeah!" he agreed. "We did it!"