I wanted this up a long time ago, but I got sick for a whole month and then got eight projects thrown at me.

Born a Weapon

A Twilight Princess Fan story

Chapter 35

Escort

Once the masked figure noticed Link, the other turned its head in his direction as well as if his companion had warned him, but no words were spoken. Both figures thrust their hands out, and Link saw two pieces of glimmering light reflecting off them. Link ducked his head under the first one and held his shield in front of Epona to block the second aimed at her. Sitting back up, he holstered his shield and took his bow into his hand, ready to send arrows flying.

"Behind you!"

At his shadow's warning, Link's head whipped around to see what was behind him and saw the same knife he had dodged heading right for his head. Left with almost no time to react as the shard of death approached, Link threw himself to the left as hard as he could. The blade eagerly closed in, determined to end its prey, and the sound of metal slicing flesh rang in the air. Link tumbled off Epona, grasping onto the saddle just before he struck the ground. Swinging back onto Epona's back, Link ignored the stinging pain in his cheek and hoped the knife wasn't poisoned. He quickly drew his bow from his back and loosed an arrow at the masked figure with the knife, who arched their back enough to flatten themselves against their horse, causing the arrow to sail over their head. The other figure broke away from battling guards to retrieve a red stone from somewhere on their uniform and point it to the sky, causing a bright red object to fly out of it into the sky.

Shortly after, a large wave of bulbins began swarming the cart and guards. What was once an open field was now packed with soldiers and bulbins, and the cart and its escort were forced to turn away from their course to avoid being mobbed, now only trying to survive. Link found himself swinging wildly into the mass of enemies and desperately throwing his shield in the way of countless attacks. In the chaos, he did not see the masked figure he had fired arrows at charge him, ramming their horse into Epona. Link would have tumbled off if not for an orange hand catching him.

Link thrust his sword forward as he swung back into his saddle, but a knife pushed it aside. Undeterred, the hero slammed his shield into his enemy's masked face. While Link continued to battle, he saw Midna silently float under his opponent's horse and unclasp his saddle, causing him to tumble to the ground. Unfortunately, with his last few precious seconds before falling, he grabbed Link's tunic and pulled with all his might, dragging the hero with him. Both warriors let out grunts of pain as they tumbled across the ground before finally coming to a stop. His body aching, Link began pushing himself off the ground and saw his opponent running towards him, but both combatants stopped when they realized a booming stomping noise approaching them.

Suddenly, every horse and bulbin rider they had passed zipped by them in a deafening stampede. All thoughts of his opponent were quickly cast aside as Link focused on not being trampled. He desperately ducked and jumped in multiple directions, and it seemed he was going to escape unharmed until a horse slammed him in the side of his head, sending him tumbling to the floor where a bulbo's foot slammed into his chest. Fortunately, before any more injuries could happen, the stampede ended.

Link slowly got to his feet again, clutching his chest and head while coughing. Quickly, he regained his bearings only to realize the masked man was already on him, ready to end the green-clad hero before an orange blur sent the man rolling back. Link was surprised that Midna moved with that much speed and power. She had not been able to do that before, so why now? With newfound courage, the imp charged forward, shooting a blast of energy at the man, who dodged it before following up with a punch from her massive hair hand, sending him rolling back. Finally, back on his feet, Link took a few precious seconds to retrieve the weapons he lost during the stampede. He picked up his sword, shield, and bow but found his quiver was a significant distance away, and its arrows were scattered everywhere.

As Link moved in to assist Midna, the masked man pulled out a rectangular dark grey stone that suddenly emitted a blinding flash of light. While Link was only mildly disoriented, Midna fell out of the air with a pained shout, covering her eyes.

While the man was distracted with Midna, Link was able to surprise him, nearly taking his head off, if not for a last-second duck, and slamming his shield into the man, who used the momentum to jump back but dropped the rectangular stone. Before he could land, Link sprinted forward, dodging a knife thrown at him and hitting the man in the chest with a dropkick, sending him to the floor with a deep, pained grunt. Before Link could press his advantage, he had to jump back as the man's horse nearly trampled him. The masked man quickly mounted his horse as it passed, but instead of continuing to attack Link, he rode away from him, right towards the cart everyone was trying to protect.

"Shit! Ralis!" Link exclaimed, snatching the stone dropped by the man and running to Midna as Epona approached. "Midna, get back in my shadow! We need to move fast!" Seemingly not recovered from the flash of light, Midna nodded and melted into Link's shadow just before he hopped onto Epona and sped off after the man, snatching his quiver as he passed, finding a single arrow inside.

As Link approached, he saw that Bryon had positioned his soldiers to form a moving wall that followed the cart, protecting it from the bulbins. The masked man sped past soldiers and bulbins too fast for most to react, and those who could found their lives extinguished in an instant. Reaching the cart, the man leaped from his horse onto the cart, standing on the wooden supports holding the tarp. Link thought he heard a small yelp from inside but pushed the thought to the back of his mind. Using his only arrow, Link shot the man in his hand as he raised a knife to cut open the tarp. The man quickly snapped off the arrow's head and pulled out the shaft, but while he did Link had moved from Epona to the top of the cart, trying to hide the fact that he almost lost his balance.

Both combatants remained where they were for a few seconds, slowly drawing their weapons and waiting, each trying to figure out the best way to fight on such an unstable platform. As Link leaned low to stabilize himself, the cart made a sharp turn and almost went flying when it hit a rock, sending it into the air for a second. The masked man jumped, using the momentum to reach Link almost too fast for him to react, his dagger being swiftly redirected by Link's sword before the butt of the handle was rammed into his masked face. The man shifted a foot back to the beam behind him before thrusting a knife forward. Link easily blocked it but was not expecting another kick, striking him in the shin and knocking him off balance. Link began to fall, but the man swiftly rammed his other knee into Link's stomach and grappled his arm, throwing him off the side of the cart.

Link quickly grabbed one of the beams as he slipped over the side and pulled himself up to the top just in time to see the man swing into the opening of the cart's back. Shortly behind him, Link listened for footsteps and slashed open the tarp around the middle, quickly holstering his sword and shield and shoving his hands inside, grabbing the man's torso armor and violently pulling him back to the cart's roof with an angry shout.

Rushing the masked man, Link's sword was blocked by a dagger, and several blows were exchanged before Link's sword arm was placed in an arm lock with a dagger heading for his throat. Link used his shield to slap the knife out of the man's hand before slamming it into his face with as much force as he possibly could. For a second, upon contact, the shield almost seemed to glow with the power infused into it by the light spirits, and a loud crack rang through the air.

The masked man fell backward, seemingly stunned, and barely managed to roll to his feet to avoid Link's sword. The man remained crouched for a moment feeling something on his mask Link couldn't see until he raised his head, showing cracks spread across his mask and the piece over his left eye missing, revealing a single brown colored eye.

Just as Link was about to move in, the cart made a sharp turn, forcing him to remain still to avoid falling while also blocking three knives thrown at him. Once the cart was stable, the hero rushed the man, swinging at his head, but his arm was caught, and before he could react, he was flipped over the man, landing on his back. The force of Link hitting the cart's roof, combined with all the stress from the battle, caused it to collapse under his weight, sending both men tumbling into the cart's interior. Link collided with a pile of boxes, quickly scrambling to his feet and regaining his bearings.

To his left, lying next to the boxes with a small amount of blood coming from her head, was Ilia. Link wondered what she was doing in the cart but quickly realized it wasn't important. In front of him were two dead guards, killed by precise strikes with a knife. They were supposed to protect Ralis but must have been killed before Link pulled the masked man back to the roof. In the center of the cart was Ralis, lying on an elevated bed that put him at about waist height, and standing on his bed was the masked man with his knife raised. Unable to find any of his weapons, Link grabbed a box lid and threw it at the man. He quickly backflipped to avoid the attack, but it forced him to move away from Ralis.

Link advanced, fists raised, and swiftly backstepped to avoid getting slashed by the knife before delivering a powerful left hook into the man's face, followed by an uppercut with his right. His left jab was ducked under, and he was rewarded with a slash across his chest for his failure, which was luckily stopped by the chainmail he wore. The sharpened metal moved quickly through the air, causing many trails of red to emerge from the hero before he finally managed to grasp the man's arm and twist the knife out of his grip. Knife now in hand, Link swiftly returned the favor and made several cuts on the masked man before the blade changed hands again and was plunged into his shoulder, causing the hero to give a loud cry of pain.

With a swift kick, the man was sent crashing into the cart's wall with a loud bang, and when he tried to regain his footing, Link kicked him again before violently slamming the man's skull into the wall with his hand. After that, the man protected his head, so Link punched his chest in a blur of fists. During Link's swift combo, the man rammed his head into Link, making him stagger back, before using the wall to push himself into a two-footed kick, making Link stagger back.

Before Link could attack again, the man sent his knife flying at Ralis, and Link swiftly threw himself in its path, earning a knife to the abdomen and releasing another pained scream. The man swiftly sent Link to his knees with a right hook and smashed his skull into the wooden support of the bed Ralis was on. Desperate not to get locked into a combo like he did to his opponent, he grasped the man's torso and yanked him to the floor with a knee to the leg. Link swiftly rolled over the man, placing him under him while yanking the knife from his flesh and thrusting at the opening in the man's mask. The blade was stopped inches from the man's eye, and an arm was wrapped under Link's leg, yanking his support from under him and reversing their positions with the knife now thrusting toward Link's throat.

He tried to stop it, but the man pressed all his weight into the knife, so Link's only option was to push away from his throat and keep trying to push the man off him as the blade slowly slid into his flesh as his strength failed. Pain clouded Link's vision, and a long, deep scream of pain tore out of his throat as he realized the knife was pushed away from his throat, only to pierce him in the chest. While the knife came closer and closer to piercing his heart and lungs, Link managed to clear his mind enough to find a weakness, the very part of the body the knife was originally aimed.

Thrusting his arm forward, Link shoved his fist into the man's throat, making him recoil and cough violently. Link quickly tore the knife from his flesh to use, but it was slapped out of his hand and fell to the ground, causing Link to tackle the man to the ground clumsily. The man quickly tried to rise, but Link wrapped his arm around his throat and grasped his head with his other hand. Unable to keep a firm enough grip, the man began to break free, head-butting Link, almost causing him to escape. Slowly shifting his grip through the trashing and stabs in his arm from the knife, he managed to grab the man's head with both his hands and twist them, earning a loud, sickening crack.

Link released the head, now at an inhumane angle, and fell backward as the body tumbled lifelessly out of the cart. Clutching his bleeding chest, knife still in his arm, Link slowly turned around to check on Ralis, seeing him unharmed and a now conscious Ilia staring at him with wide, shocked eyes. Hearing an approaching horse, Link turned back around just enough to block another knife with his arm thrown from the second masked man approaching on his horse, drawing a sword from his back. Attempting to get to his feet and falling back to his knees, Link pulled the two knives from his arm and held them, ready to fight again.

"Link! You can't fight another one of them!" Midna shouted from his shadow, trying to be quiet, but panic increased her volume. A loud crashing noise erupted around them just as the man was about to leap from his horse. From inside the cart, Link could see Gorons rolling through the hordes of bulbins killing many and breaking the formation of those who survived. Turning his attention back to the man, he saw his gaze shift from the gorgons back to Link and held it before sheathing his sword and slowing his horse to a stop, disappearing in the distance.