Chapter 7
The walk back down the frozen slopes of Mount Lanayru was the most searingly uncomfortable journey Link could ever remember taking.
Zelda was in the calm of despair. Silent tears kept flowing down her cheeks, and she used the edge of her cloak to wipe them away as she doggedly kept putting one foot in front of the other. Powdery snow fell over her sandaled feet with every trudging step. She didn't seem to notice.
"You might as well say it," Zelda said, when they were halfway down the mountain. Her voice was a little odd from her stuffy nose.
"Say what?" Link said after a beat.
"'Don't worry, everything will be fine.' Or something like it, I am sure." There was a tinge of anger to her misery. Link knew in an instant that whatever he said, it would be the wrong thing. She needed her sealing powers. She didn't have them. Nothing he could say would change that simple fact.
But he had vowed to help the princess in any way that he could. He needed to say something. He wasn't wise... not even as wise as she was. But he had to say something.
He opened his mouth, and hesitated for a long moment. And then the words that came out his mouth somehow managed to surprise even himself.
"You said the Master Sword would speak to me."
She turned to stare at him, equally surprised by the change in topic.
"I haven't heard any voice," he added. He hadn't thought much about it since Zelda had first mentioned it; she had taunted him with that piece of information weeks ago, in a moment of anger when she had been feeling sensitive about her own inadequacies, but suddenly it occurred to him that maybe the two things were related.
Zelda trudged through the snow for a minute. A frown was creasing her forehead, and the flow of tears seemed to have taken a break.
"I expect you will," she said at last. "The legends of the Master Sword often contain elements of a slowly developing power. As trials are faced, as worthiness increases, the Goddess will imbue the Sword with greater and greater strength." Her eyes went up to the hilt of the Sword, sticking up over his shoulder. "That jewel at the base... it is often described as shining with a brilliant light. It only glows a little now. Perhaps that will come later."
Link was quiet for a minute, absorbing that information.
"I know what you're suggesting," Zelda said, that hint of anger creeping back into her voice. "That my ability to use the sealing power will increase with time, too."
He hadn't tried to say anything like that. He hadn't even thought about it. But he held his tongue and waited to see where she would go with this.
"Except you at least have the Master Sword," she continued, her voice growing louder. "You can at least use it, even if it isn't at its full potential yet. I can't even do that much! Something is wrong. Something is wrong with me!"
Link opened his mouth, and for the second time, he was surprised by what came out of it. "You said the Great Deku Tree invited your father to bring his most valiant knights to the Korok Forest to try to draw the Master Sword," he said. "What would have happened if I had tried to take the Sword before that?"
"I..." Zelda shook her head a little, puzzled by the question, but she clearly couldn't resist tackling it. After a little thought, she answered: "In some of the legends, the hero is shown the Master Sword, but forbidden to take it. Not until he has faced trials. I think... I think it would not have been given to you. Not until the proper time."
Link searched for the right words. He didn't quite know where he was going with this, but he sensed something pushing on his thoughts, sending them in unexpected directions. "You... you need the sealing power to defeat Calamity Ganon-"
"I'm well aware!" she interrupted him sharply.
"-but he isn't even here yet."
Zelda stopped in her tracks, staring at him. Snowflakes drifted down, coating her hair. She'd forgotten to put her hood up.
"What?" she said after several beats.
"You don't need it yet. Not until you see him."
Zelda's vivid green eyes had gone wide. "You can't be serious," she said in disbelief. "That... that isn't how it works! Link, when... when a scientist is developing a new technique, or when an inventor is building a device, she must test it in the lab, over and over again, and make sure it works before she ever takes it out into the field for use! You have to make sure it works before everything depends upon it!"
"Maybe this doesn't work like science."
She clenched both hands into fists down at her sides. "You'd better hope it does! Science is the only thing I'm good at!"
"I don't think you really believe that."
She stared at him for a long moment, at a loss for words. Finally, she turned on her heel and began marching down the slope again. She seemed more angry than dejected now. Link decided he almost preferred that, as he hurried to catch up with her.
"What are you going to do?" she asked stiffly after a minute of angry marching.
"What do you mean?"
"When Calamity Ganon shows up. It could happen within a matter of weeks, if the fortune teller was correct. What are you going to do?"
Link frowned. Was that a trick question?
"I'll go fight him," he said.
"Without me?" Zelda demanded.
"You're coming too."
"I'm useless. I'll only get in your way."
"By then you won't be."
Zelda spun on one foot in the snow to lock eyes fiercely with him. "Are you willing to stake your life on that?" she demanded.
"I've already sworn an oath to do that," he pointed out.
"Well, I haven't sworn anything!" He'd never seen Zelda this angry before. She was almost shouting now, her whole body trembling with emotion. "I was born to my destiny – no one ever asked me to swear anything! But I swear an oath to you now, Link: I will not let you die a pointless death because of my failures!"
Her voice echoed off the rocks around them, repeating the words over and over until they finally faded into the chilly air.
"Then we agree," Link said at last.
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"We'll go together," Link said. "You'll protect me and I'll protect you. We'll fight – and win – together."
"And if we die instead?" she demanded.
"Then we'll do that together, too."
Her chest heaved with suppressed distress. "We can't both die! Don't you understand? In the Shrine of Resurrection there's only room for one! And my father will choose me!"
"If that's how to save Hyrule." The princess was the one who carried the blood of the Goddess in her veins; if she died now, without an heir, the line would end with her.
"This isn't about saving Hyrule!" Zelda shouted, a hot tear unexpectedly slipping down her reddened cheek. "It's about saving you!"
They stared at each other for a long moment as the snowflakes slowly coated their heads and shoulders.
"That isn't your task," Link finally said.
The princess tightened her jaw. "It is now. I've sworn it. Nothing more to say."
They walked the rest of the way across the snow field in silence. As the princess had said... there was nothing more to say. Link wasn't fooled by her show of defiance; he knew she still feared she would not be able to perform when the moment came.
But now she had convinced herself that she had to protect him, and as long as that meant she was willing to come with him, maybe that was as good a reason as any.
The late afternoon was slanting through the east gate of Lanayru Road as they approached it, casting long shadows from the four champions who awaited them there.
"Well?" Daruk said as Link and Zelda approached. "Don't keep us in suspense. How'd everything go up there on the mountain?"
Zelda shook her head wordlessly.
"So you didn't feel anything?" Revali asked. "No power at all?"
"I'm sorry, no," Zelda said, clasping her hands and looking down. She had taken off her cloak as they'd left the chill of the mountain, and in her thin white dress she looked as small and delicate as the rare blooms of the silent princess flower she hoped so resolutely would survive out here in the wilds.
"Then let's move on," Urbosa said, not unkindly. "You've done all you could. Feeling sorry for yourself won't be of any help. After all, it's not like your last shot was up there on Mount Lanayru."
Daruk nodded in agreement.
"Anything could finally spark the power to seal Ganon away," Urbosa continued. "We just have to keep looking for that... thing." She glanced at Link.
"That's kind of you," Zelda said in a subdued tone. "Thank you."
Mipha took a small step forward.
"If I may," she said in her soft voice, "I thought you... well, I'm not quite sure how to put this into words. I'm actually quite embarrassed to say it. But I was thinking about what I do when I'm healing. You know, what usually goes through my mind. It helps when I think... when I think about..."
There was a faint rumble in the distance. For a moment it sounded like distant thunder, and then abruptly the ground shook under their feet, and the champions all exclaimed in surprise as they staggered to keep their balance. Link reached out to steady Zelda. Her bare shoulders were cold against his palms. The violent shaking went on and on, and there was room only for confusion and fear as the ground itself seemed determined to buck them off like a poorly trained horse.
Finally, it abated enough that Revali snapped his beak shut with determination and flapped his wings powerfully, rising on a gust of wind to gain a great height in seconds. They heard his gasp from far below, but there was no need for him to explain what he was seeing; even from the ground, the rest of them could see the great black cloud crackling with sickly magenta energy that now swirled over the distant Hyrule Castle.
Link felt his mouth drop open: there was... something emerging from that dark cloud.
Something enormous and bestial, trailing black vapor as it circled over the castle, a supernatural light glaring from its eyes. As violet lightning branched down, the beast tilted its head back and opened its jaws wide, its roar of defiance painfully loud even across the distance. The ground rumbled once more in response. The golden sunlight was dimmed by the gloom.
Revali dropped heavily back down to the ground.
"It's here," Urbosa said.
"This is it, then," Daruk said grimly.
"Are you sure?" Mipha asked hesitantly.
"Positive," Revali said.
"It's awake," Zelda said in horrified certainty, wide eyes fixed on the black cloud. "Ganon!"
Already? Link felt his heart pounding so hard it seemed to be trying to get out of his chest. He thought he would have a little more time. Time to practice more. Time to awaken more of the Master Sword's powers. Time to help Zelda...
The other champions seemed just as stunned as he was. No one spoke for a long moment.
"Let's stop wasting time!" Daruk suddenly boomed out in his gravelly voice. "We're gonna need everything we got to take that thing down! Now champions! To your Divine Beasts! Show that swirling swine who's boss!"
Everyone turned to look at him.
"Link will need to meet Ganon head on when we attack," Daruk continued. "This needs to be a unified assault. Little guy! You get to Hyrule Castle. You can count on us for support. But it's up to you to pound Ganon into oblivion."
His deep voice was so certain that Link felt, for one fleeting moment, that he could do exactly that.
Urbosa put her hands on Zelda's shoulders. "Come. We should go," she said. "We need to get you someplace safe."
"No!" Zelda said. She shook off Urbosa's grip. "I'm not a child anymore. I may not be much use on the battlefield, but there must... there must be something I can do to help!"
"She's coming with me," Link said.
Urbosa shot a look of displeasure at Link. "It's a noble sentiment, but it would be better to hold the princess in reserve, at least until-"
"Wherever we go, we go together," Link said firmly.
"It's already been decided," Zelda said flatly, moving closer to Link so that they faced Urbosa side by side. The Gerudo champion was surprised, looking back and forth between them, but she reluctantly gave in.
"Oh, very well. I suppose you both know your business."
They all hurried aboard Vah Medoh, and in minutes Revali had it airborne and heading back to the peninsula where the other three Divine Beasts waited.
The flight was short, but it gave them a birds-eye view of the horror that was unfolding over the castle. Link felt a dizzying sense of unreality as he stared at it. What was happening inside? Was King Rhoam under attack? Was Father defending him alongside the other Royal Guards? Or would Calamity Ganon be content to wait for the one thing that truly threatened him: The power of the Goddess, held within the Master Sword Link carried and the mortal body of Zelda herself?
We've done this before, he told himself as Vah Medoh propelled them ever closer to the swirling gloom that dominated the sky. We've done this before. We've done this before.
It wasn't completely true. The other heroes weren't him. He wasn't them. He remembered their triumphs, but when the time came, they could not stand with him. It would be him and his own Zelda, the two of them alone against the darkness.
Revali landed Vah Medoh on the peninsula, and the other champions spilled out and ran for their own Divine Beasts. Mipha turned back for a moment to give Link's hand a quick squeeze.
"Please... please be careful, Link," she said, her voice tense.
"And you." Mipha looked so small. For the first time, he felt a touch of doubt. Was it really right to send her to fight? Yet there was a fire of determination in her eyes that gave Link strength.
She let go of his hand reluctantly, and boarded Vah Ruta. The travelers who had been watching the demonstrations earlier were nowhere to be seen. Hopefully they had already fled south, away from the castle. Three soldiers were clustered around the lookout tower, looking up at the fourth who was standing at the summit and shouting down to them what he could see. Link and Zelda didn't bother speaking to them; they'd seen the situation well enough with their own eyes. Instead they hurried over to where their horses were picketed.
It had been tempting to board one of the Divine Beasts themselves, relying on its protective armor to keep them safe as they approached the castle. But the six of them had quickly realized that when Calamity Ganon saw the Divine Beasts coming toward him, he would immediately focus his efforts on destroying them. It would be safer for Link and Zelda to approach in a less eye-catching way while the champions kept him distracted.
They had agreed to have the Divine Beasts spread out and approach from different directions. Vah Medoh was the fastest, as it was unhampered by terrain, and so Revali would give the castle a wide berth before flying at it from the west. Urbosa would pilot Vah Naboris from the south. Since Vah Ruta handled water travel the best, Mipha would take it through the Lanayru Wetlands and approach from the east. Daruk planned to have Vah Rudania climb over Crenel Peak and turn at the Military Training Camp to follow the ridge until he came at the castle from behind.
Link helped Zelda up onto her horse. She hadn't had time to change out of her white dress, but she rode Trigger astride anyway, showing her bare legs crisscrossed with the leather laces of her sandals; this didn't seem like the time to worry about propriety. Link swung up onto Ladybird, and together they crossed Horwell Bridge at a gallop.
Whistling Hill was coming up on their left, the castle ahead. Link glanced to the right, where his old swimming hole was, and was so startled at what he saw that he instinctively pulled on the reins. Zelda shot past him, but she quickly noticed and turned around to come back. She pulled Trigger to a stop beside Ladybird and stared at the same thing Link was staring at, equally shocked.
What had been a clear blue pond only a few hours ago was now a muddy swamp.
The odd horned skull that had once served as a diving platform for Link and the other boys from the ranch still rose above the surface, but now a fountain of muck was gushing up out of the ground beneath it. The mud was spreading out and swamping the greenery all around. Even bushes were being swallowed up by the rapidly expanding circle of filth.
"The earthquake..." Zelda said slowly. "It must have broken something underground. The water's been contaminated."
But there was more than just ordinary mud there, Link suddenly realized. Mixed in with it were strange currents of black sludge swirled with sickly magenta that moved outward in a sluggish stream. It looked... it looked similar to the gloomy cloud currently hovering over Hyrule Castle.
"I don't know what that is," Zelda said a little breathlessly, following his gaze, "but I think we'd better stay well clear of it."
They spurred their horses on and galloped past Whistling Hill. As they rounded it and looked north, they could see Vah Naboris ahead of them, plodding along on its long legs beside the road that led to Mabe Village and Lon Lon Ranch. To the west, Vah Medoh was already dwindling in the sky.
And then they saw what was happening on the broad field to the east, and gasped in unison.
A massive wave of monsters was flooding across the field. Moblins, Bokoblins, Lizalfos. Trampling the grass, brandishing weapons, outfitted in crude armor and shields, and roaring a wordless defiance as they charged northward.
"So many!" Zelda whispered, her eyes darting to and fro across the field. "So many!"
Link felt a strange tingling horror move through his body, from the top of his head down to his toes. They were heading straight toward the castle.
And Lon Lon Ranch and Mabe Village were between here and the castle.
Automatically Link reached back and put his hand on the hilt of the Master Sword, every instinct in his body urging him to ride like the wind straight home to protect the ranch, single-handedly if he had to. Then he glanced over at Princess Zelda, and hesitated.
He couldn't leave her alone here. Not with so many monsters this close. Feeling sick, he looked back and forth between her and the low rise that hid Lon Lon Ranch from view. There were still a few miles between home and danger, but that wouldn't be true for long. What was he supposed to do?
Horses whinnied in the distance. Link and Zelda sat up straighter in their saddles and saw that a large group of mounted knights were coming around the flank of the monsters, then wheeling around to face them head on. Link recognized the banner fluttering at the head of the cavalry, and his heart leaped.
"It's Captain Imbert!" he said. "From Hyrule Garrison!"
Of all the knights he had served with, Captain Imbert hadn't exactly been one of Link's favorites. But the relief Link felt upon seeing him here at this moment was difficult to describe.
The knights clashed head on with the monsters. Shouts and the clang of metal on metal drifted on the breeze to where Link and Zelda watched. Link looked around and saw that a second group of knights on foot had been positioned near the base of Whistling Hill, obviously intended to trap the monsters between them and the oncoming charge. His eyes moved up to the top of the hill, and he saw that it was deserted save for a few Hylian scouts keeping an eye on the battle. In a flash, he made a decision.
"This way," he told Zelda, and together they galloped toward the second group, which was advancing slowly in a line with spears and shields in front and swords behind. As soon as they got close enough, Link recognized Captain Farrimond sitting on horseback holding his banner and headed toward him.
"Princess. Link," he greeted them with a businesslike nod. "You must be headed to the castle?"
"Yes," Zelda said, "if there weren't all these monsters in the way. How can we help?"
"I've already sent our Rito scout flying over to Kolomo Garrison to ask the Sheikah to bring a troop of Guardians to lend us a hand," he answered. "We need to keep the monsters busy here, away from the villagers, until reinforcements arrive." Captain Farrimond looked at Link. "We could use your Sword. Princess, why don't we escort you up to the top of Whistling Hill? It's defensible, and the monsters aren't likely to head that direction anyway. You can keep an eye on the battle along with the scouts. Once we've scattered the enemy, my knights can escort both of you to Hyrule Castle."
Link looked at Zelda questioningly, and she nodded.
"Go and help," she said quickly. "I'll be all right."
Farrimond assigned a pair of knights to escort Zelda up the hill, and Link guided Ladybird into place beside the captain, behind the men on foot. The monsters' advance on the castle had been thrown into chaos by Imbert's cavalry charge, and now there were knots of combatants locked in struggles all over the field. It was apparent, however, that the monsters easily outnumbered the knights.
Seeing the signs that Imbert's unit was getting overwhelmed, Captain Farrimond passed the word for his knights to accelerate their approach. Shortly they were within range, and Link and Farrimond looped their reins around their saddle horns and then took aim with their bows.
The field was so crowded with monsters that it wasn't hard for the two of them to find targets for their arrows. Bowstrings twanged, and monsters staggered or dropped their shields, giving the spearmen in front of them the opportunity they needed to get in their first hits. Soon they were all surrounded by noise and conflict, locked in the heat of battle.
In such a target-rich environment, it didn't take long for Link to run low on arrows. He spotted a trio of monsters menacing a lone knight who was in over his head, and without hesitation he spurred Ladybird in that direction. He pulled his feet out of the stirrups, getting ready, and when the timing was right he hopped up on the saddle and without pause leapt off Ladybird, firing his last three arrows midair before landing catlike in the midst of the fray.
He drew the Master Sword and went after one of the Moblins aggressively. It was a silver Moblin, the toughest variety to beat, and it had taken barely any wounds so far. It roared a furious challenge and tried to kick him. Link was ready for that trick, and pivoted to the side, which put him in the ideal place to slash up at its ribs.
Moblins were big and muscular, and a strike from them would send a knight sprawling, but they were also slow and lumbering. Link got right up in its space, which made it difficult for the monster to effectively swing its heavy claymore at him, and delivered a series of rapid swings and thrusts. The Moblin stumbled to the ground groaning, but before Link could reposition to press his advantage, a blue Lizalfos came skittering up to him so quickly that all he could do was get his shield up in the time. The Lizalfos swung a wickedly sharp boomerang at his face that Link only just managed to bat aside. Dimly he was aware that the armored knight he had come to rescue had positioned himself so that they now stood back to back, an ideal arrangement for soldiers who didn't like getting stabbed from behind.
Link thrust at the Lizalfos repeatedly until it sprawled to the ground, its tongue flopping out and its eyes glazing over. The knight behind him had his hands full with another Lizalfos, a black one that was taking a lot of hits and yet still coming. By now the silver Moblin had staggered back to its feet and came after Link again with a fresh rage. It swung its claymore at his face, and Link lifted his shield to block it.
Unfortunately, his shield splintered into pieces. The Moblin roared in triumph and swung again. Link launched himself up and back, flipping neatly over the swinging claymore in mid-air and landing once more on his feet. The Moblin was so startled by this unexpected move that it wasted a valuable second staring at him in shock, the claymore still dangling from one hand down by its side.
It was a second the Moblin couldn't afford. Link moved in with ferocious speed, slashing and swinging with deadly precision. The Moblin collapsed on the ground with a groan, its heavy weapon slipping from its grip. Link moved in with determination, and it only just managed to get up again before he unleashed another flurry of attacks. This time, he finished the thing off. Allowing himself a moment of grim satisfaction, Link turned to give the knight a hand with the black Lizalfos, only to see him land the killing blow himself.
They both paused for a moment to catch their breaths while the battle raged all around them.
"Wow, thanks," the knight gasped out, and took his helmet off for a moment to wipe the sweat from his face. Link stared at him, his mouth falling open.
"Kester?" he asked in astonishment.
His friend shot him a funny look, and then he put his helmet back on, slapping the top to get it to settle down in the right place. "I thought you recognized me!" he said with a laugh that echoed inside the metal.
"No! You've been knighted?"
"Yep. Passed the test and all. Should I tell you the story now, or should we kill some monsters first?"
A pair of Lizalfos came skittering towards them, and Link quickly stooped to pick up the shield the Moblin had dropped. "Kill monsters first."
"Good idea."
They waded into the fray together, and went at it with a will.
Time moved strangely in a pitched battle. Link could not have said how long he and Kester fought side by side, aware only that there was a continual succession of monsters of every variety leaping in front of them and brandishing weapons. They clashed, they shouted, they took turns helping each other out of bad spots. Once Kester stumbled and then, oddly, seemed to struggle to regain his footing. Link finished off the Bokoblin that had been jabbing a spear at them and then turned to help.
Kester's foot was stuck in something. Mud? Link bent down to look more closely, and realized it was more of that strange black and magenta sludge that he and Zelda had seen seeping out of the ground back at his old swimming hole. It was even thicker and stickier than mud. Kester fruitlessly tried to tug his foot loose, and finally Link grabbed him from behind and pulled with all his strength. Kester's foot pulled free so abruptly that they both sat down on the ground hard.
Kester sucked in his breath through his teeth, instinctively drawing up his knee against his chest.
"Does it burn?" Link asked, concerned.
"No, only..." Kester grunted as he accepted Link's offered hand and got back onto his feet. "Felt like it was sucking the life out of me."
Link looked around and saw that rivulets of the stuff had seeped out of the ground here and there on the battlefield.
"We'll have to work to keep out of this," he said.
And then another pair of monsters came at them, and they gritted their teeth and dove right back into the blur of struggle and death.
The sun was slipping below the horizon, casting red light across the battlefield. Link began to worry they would have to fight in the dark, when he heard the shouts of the men around them suddenly change from exhaustion to elation. He and Kester turned to look and saw one of the strangest sights they had ever seen.
An entire pod of Guardian Stalkers were coming over the ridge from the west, their many metallic legs propelling them with a terrifying speed toward the battle below. Their targeting lasers – like a great eye directly in the center of their spinning mechanical "heads" – flared red as they took aim.
Link and Kester instinctively threw themselves to the ground, but it was hardly necessary. Those lasers had a precision impossible to beat even by a skilled archer. Explosions went off all around them, and monsters fell to the ground in waves. Knights across the battlefield who had frozen in surprise were left unscathed.
For several minutes, there was nothing but the deafening tumult of laser cannon after laser cannon thundering across the field. Monsters howled and were silenced. The knights spontaneously began to gather together in small groups, hands clamped over their ears to muffle the noise, watching in awe as the enemies they had struggled so mightily to bring down were felled in seconds.
And then it was over. Smoke curled up from the many holes blasted into the ground, and a silence abruptly descended. Every monster was down.
The knights still in fighting condition lifted their weapons into the air and cheered loudly, looking in the direction of the Sheikah warriors standing at the top of the ridge who had controlled the Guardians throughout the battle. Link looked up to the top of Whistling Hill and saw Zelda standing there surrounded by Farrimond's scouts. She was too far away for him to see her face, but it looked like she was waving energetically at him. He could just imagine the satisfaction she was feeling right now; the Guardians had performed exactly as she had always hoped they would.
Link exchanged grins with Kester, and then out of long habit, they both turned and began searching the battlefield for arrows to replenish their quivers. Hyrule Castle was their next stop, and there was no telling how many more monsters they might encounter on the way there. But at least now, they'd have a troop of Guardians to blast them a path through any enemies they might encounter.
"I thought you were going to wait another year to be tested for knighthood?" Link asked Kester, pulling an arrow from the ground and inspecting the point to ensure it was still sharp before stashing it in his quiver.
"About that..." Kester was uncharacteristically quiet for a long moment. Finally, he said:
"You know, I thought I was ready for it more than a year ago. And then Ranulf joined the Royal Guard, and I met you, and I saw what you could do..."
He blew out a long sigh. "Well, after that, I realized I was a fool for thinking I could be ready. I wasn't even close to your level, Link. So I held off. Figured I needed more time." He picked up a couple of arrows and took his time cleaning the dirt off them, before roughly clearing his throat and continuing.
"And then that happened" – he gestured toward the Master Sword meaningfully – "and I realized I'd been comparing myself to someone I never should have compared myself to."
"Kester..." Link said, standing still, arrows forgotten. "I'm so sorry."
"Not your fault," Kester said swiftly. "You didn't know either. Did you?" he suddenly added doubtfully.
"No."
Kester whistled between his teeth. "Nice surprise for you." He stopped and looked all around the battlefield, where the smoke was beginning to clear a little. "I wonder where Captain Imbert got to in all this mess?"
"How is it, serving under him?"
Kester shrugged. "Not that bad. I think you disliked him more than I-"
He stopped talking, and they both turned toward the sound of a signal horn being blown.
It was coming from the top of Whistling Hill. The light was rapidly dimming as the sun sank down, but Link could just see that Zelda was still waving at him energetically, as were the scouts with her.
Link felt his stomach drop. This time, he could tell she wasn't celebrating the victory of her Guardian Stalkers after all. Something was wrong.
"What is she pointing at?" Kester murmured.
Zelda was pointing at something behind them, and with some urgency. Now several of the Hylian scouts with her were scrambling down the hill with reckless speed. What was going on? Link turned around, but he saw nothing but slain monsters, exhausted men, and the smoke of the Guardians' laser weapons still floating through the air.
No, wait. There was more smoke than that. Further in the distance, a thick column of black smoke was rising into the air to the north.
From the direction of Mabe Village.
Link felt his stomach drop, and without a word he ran in that direction, scrambling over the fallen as he went. Kester followed him, careful to jump over the rivulets of gloom that crisscrossed the ground. A growing dread clutched at Link's throat as he ran. Had some monsters somehow slipped past them during the battle? Imbert's men had been maintaining the perimeter, but maybe...
He and Kester reached the top of the ridge, panting for breath, and stood still in dismay.
Mabe Village was burning.
The orange flames stood out bright in the fading light, dancing on the rooftops. Many fires, on many rooftops. Link's eyes darted from flame to flame. Melia's home, and Ingon's... and Keli's! The pottery where Link and his mother had often bought dishes for the ranch. A leather tooling shop that had provided beautiful saddles for their horse trainers. Even the scout tower at the edge of the village. All burning.
He could hear the crackling flames from here. Roofs were already collapsing. Black smoke gushed into the air.
In the red light of the sunset, he could see villagers rushing around. Some were forming a line from the well, passing buckets from person to person and tossing water on the flames. Others were bursting out of buildings carrying small children or leading the elderly by the hand, hauling hastily packed bags of supplies. Captain Imbert's men were among them, lending a hand wherever they could. They must have spotted the problem before anyone else thanks to their position at the perimeter of the field.
Oddly, Link couldn't see any sign of monsters. Maybe only a few had slipped through the perimeter and set some fires, only to be rapidly dealt with by Imbert's knights.
His eyes darted over to nearby Lon Lon Ranch, and he was intensely relieved to see that there was no fire to be seen over there. His mother was still safe.
He shook off his shock and put his fingers to his lips, whistling shrilly. Immediately he heard Ladybird's whinny in reply, coming from somewhere behind him. She was well-trained and knew that after a sudden dismount, she was to wait a safe distance from a battle, ready to respond if he summoned her again. Link waited for her impatiently. She could carry both him and Kester over so they could help get people to safety or join the bucket line. Maybe it wasn't too late to save some of the buildings.
"Look!" Kester said, pointing. "That Divine Beast... it's still here!"
Link frowned, and saw that he was right: Vah Naboris was plodding deliberately away from Mabe Village and toward Lon Lon Ranch. Shouldn't Urbosa be long gone and approaching the castle by now? The Divine Beast might step slowly but it traveled quickly, using long legs that could navigate rough terrain in great strides without ever growing tired. It was strange that Urbosa had lingered. Maybe she had seen the fires, and come back to assist?
But it was Vah Ruta that could spray water to put out fires. Link could not think of anything useful Vah Naboris could do in a situation like this. All of its capabilities centered around the generation of electricity, which could only start fires, not put them out.
Maybe the Divine Beast had more powers that Link hadn't seen yet. Right now it was lit up from within with a magenta glow, rather than the blue light he had seen earlier. Urbosa might have figured out a new secret to its operation. In any case, it didn't change what he needed to do now. The villagers needed help urgently, and he could provide it.
Ladybird was in sight now, trotting obediently toward them. Link hurried over to meet her, and Kester followed him.
"How did monsters with torches do that much damage, anyway?" Kester muttered, gazing down at the village as they descended the ridge. Link looked too, straining his eyes in the twilight to see what Kester meant, and his brow furrowed. It was true, there was a lot more damage than just the wooden roofs that had caught fire.
The scout tower in particular... it had been well-constructed mostly from stone and mortar, yet most of the tower had already collapsed. Broken stones were scattered across a wide area. A simple fire could not have done that. Only an explosion.
Suddenly Link felt uneasy. Had one of the Guardian Stalkers somehow missed its target on the battlefield, despite its precision targeting, and hit the village by mistake? Zelda would be beside herself if something like that had happened. She and the Sheikah researchers had carefully taught them to recognize friend from foe.
Ladybird trotted up to him and stopped, waiting patiently for him to mount her. Link put his foot in the stirrup, and then froze.
There was a strange crackling sound in the air, growing louder and louder, and suddenly Link felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He turned, and Kester gasped.
Vah Naboris had come to a stop at Lon Lon Ranch, standing right beside the training ring, facing the stables where the horses slept. The double hump on its back was now wreathed in crackling electricity, sending blue-white flickers of light dancing across the obstacles of the training ring and the wooden boards of the stable's walls.
"No..." Link murmured, shocked into stillness, his hand still clutching the saddle horn. "No, no, no, no..."
"What is it doing?" Kester asked uneasily.
The crackle of electricity intensified. The whole Divine Beast was lit up like a beacon now, pulsing magenta light that washed across the distance, outlining the trees with its strange light. Small branching bolts of lightning crackled between the turbines that formed its back, the electricity running up and down its legs and its long, swaying neck.
"Link?" Kester's voice was tense.
"Turn it off!" Link shouted with all his strength, yanking his foot out of the stirrup and running several steps toward the ranch, but he knew it was useless; Urbosa couldn't possibly hear him from here. He balled his hands into fists. "Turn it-"
Lightning struck. A great, jagged bolt of light that flashed from Vah Naboris and connected with the roof of the stables. The light was blinding. Only a second later, the thunder crashed in response, the vibrations thrumming through Link's chest like a physical blow.
He put his hands up to his head, a panic unlike anything he'd ever experienced before consuming his very being, even as his vision slowly returned.
Fire. Owayn's stables were on fire. A great hole blown through the roof. All the horses inside...
Every part of him seemed to have gone numb. Motion was impossible. Thinking was unthinkable. Link's mind tried to make sense of what had just happened, and simply couldn't. How could Urbosa have made such a catastrophic mistake? She had shown such good control of her Divine Beast only this morning. How could she...?
How could this have happened?
Vah Naboris took a plodding step forward, and then another.
It was moving toward the bunkhouse.
Abruptly, Link found himself able to move again. He turned and swung himself up into the saddle and spurred Ladybird sharply in the direction of the ranch. She bolted forward, instantly understanding his urgency. If he could only get them all out in time! It took a while for Vah Naboris's turbines to build up power again. Maybe he could make it. Maybe...
Mother's little cottage was only a short distance from the bunkhouse.
His mind went blank again.
He wasn't aware of anything but a white-hot, all-consuming need to get there as fast as possible, Vah Naboris's distinctive camel shape filling his whole vision. It was beginning to crackle with electricity once more.
He realized after only a few moments that he was not going to be able to get there in time to clear out the bunkhouse.
Wasn't there any way to stop the lightning? He had some idea of where the power nodes of that Beast were located, although they were almost impossible to see now that it was dark. What were the chances he could shoot arrows into such narrow targets so high up, at night, from the back of a horse currently jolting over uneven ground?
He almost tried it anyway... what else could he do? But his hand stopped halfway to his bow. Wrong. It felt wrong. There was a heat burning deep down inside his chest, born of his fierce love for Mother and for Owayn and all the others at the ranch. A heat so hot he could no longer feel anything else.
That heat couldn't flow out through a mere bow and arrow. It needed something much more powerful to channel it.
His hand went back over his shoulder instead, and he drew the Master Sword with a metallic clang.
Part of him knew it was utter madness to attack an armored Divine Beast that was not even in range using a hand weapon.
Another part of him was implacably certain that there was nothing mad about it. And that was the part that was in control.
He poured all the heat that burned inside his heart into the Sword, and with a sharp motion, he swung it in the direction of Vah Naboris.
He felt the power leave his body, in a way he had never before felt the other times he had wielded the Master Sword. A flare of white light flung itself from the blade and whirled in taut circles, spinning through the air, its path easily traceable in the darkness.
It hit the top of Vah Naboris, its light splashing against the armored shell and briefly illuminating the power node that, incredibly, he had managed to hit despite the poor visibility.
Some of the lightning crackling around the Divine Beast went dark.
Not all of it. It still seemed to be trying to charge up. Link narrowed his eyes and, using the reflex he had only just discovered that he had, he sent another pulse of power from his chest through the Sword as he swung it again, and another beam of light shivered off the blade and went spinning up against Vah Naboris. A little more of the lightning fizzled out.
He galloped on furiously, chopping his Sword forward to hit his third target. Never before had Link felt such focus in a battle. Fear had left him entirely. It didn't even seem to matter how much power he was expelling from his body with each swing; there was always more inside, waiting to be used. He raised the Master Sword for the fourth time, and struck the last power node on its back with the same unerring accuracy as before.
And then he was jolted out of his trance when suddenly another horse was thundering alongside his, and a hand was reaching out to grab at Ladybird's bridle. Startled, she slowed her gallop, tossing her head in an attempt to shake the hand free, but it stubbornly clung on. Link turned to see Captain Imbert racing alongside him, face pale, trying to slow down Ladybird.
"Let go!" Link shouted at him, his voice raw. "We have to get them out!" He risked a quick glance at Vah Naboris. The two turbines on its back appeared to have shut down for now, but that didn't mean they couldn't eventually power back up again. And the laser – the terrible laser cannon that all four of the Divine Beasts were equipped with – the power nodes for that were hidden deep inside the vehicle. It was almost certainly still active. Whatever had gone wrong, it was possible that the targeting mechanisms would simply switch to the laser weapon instead. Evacuation was the only way to be sure everyone was kept safe.
"It's already evacuated!" Imbert shouted back at him.
Link stared at him in confusion, and forgot to continue trying to pull Ladybird away from Imbert's grip on her bridle.
"We saw the Divine Beast attack the village!" Imbert shouted at him urgently. "We guessed it might go for the ranch next. I came here myself to warn them! They all got on their horses and left!"
"My mother wasn't in the bunkhouse!" Link shouted back, his earlier panic back in a flash.
"Link, I put Lanna on a horse myself! A brown and white mare... she called it Pomona!" Imbert seemed desperate for him to believe.
Pomona? Link pulled back on the reins, and Ladybird skidded to a stop. Imbert stopped his horse too, and they both stood there staring at the burning stables of Lon Lon Ranch, their horses huffing loudly from the wild gallop.
The stables were empty, then? The bunkhouse was empty? His mother's cottage, empty? Link stared at the ranch, and realized it must be true. No one had come out to fight the loudly roaring fire that had now engulfed the whole length of the stables. He realized he couldn't even hear any noises from the cattle or the goats. The ranch hands must have opened the gates and set the animals loose. Everyone and everything had left already. They were out of range. They were safe.
Link felt a relief sweep over him so profound that a hot tear spilled down his cheek before he could stop it. He smudged it away impatiently as a third horse came galloping up behind them and then came to a stop beside them.
It was Trigger with Zelda on his back. He could see by the light of the roaring fire before them that her face was stricken.
"Oh, Link!" she burst out, reaching out to grip his arm. "We saw it all from the hill! Urbosa was piloting Vah Naboris toward Hyrule Castle, and then it... it waded through some of that strange black sludge we saw. It didn't seem to affect it – at least not at first – but then a minute later the Divine Beast just... stopped. It stood still for the longest time. Most of the time you and the others were fighting the monsters, it just stood there."
The words came tumbling out of her, as if she could hardly get them out fast enough.
"We could see flashes of light coming from inside, like there was a... a... a lightning storm inside," she continued. "I couldn't understand it, but then... then the lightning stopped, and Vah Naboris turned a different color – it looked so strange – and it started moving again. It went over to the village and... and it started striking everything with lightning, just as the Guardians arrived to help you on the battlefield. Oh, Link! Do you think that... that Urbosa is...?"
She choked, and couldn't finish the sentence.
Link couldn't think how to answer her, so he didn't. A crushing weight was settling down onto his shoulders. It seemed clear to him that the black sludge seeping out of the ground everywhere was some ghastly creation of Calamity Ganon's. It had sucked the strength from Kester when it touched him. It had corrupted Vah Naboris. Somehow Ganon had taken control of the Divine Beast and used it against them. Urbosa, with all her strength and skill, had apparently been powerless to prevent it from happening.
Had she been trapped in Vah Naboris for the last hour, watching it attack the village and the ranch, desperate to stop the destruction but unable to regain control of the Divine Beast?
Or worse, was she already...?
He couldn't finish the thought any more than Zelda had been able to.
"How can we help her?" he asked, feeling numb. Even as the words left his lips, Vah Naboris ground back to life, and began taking slow plodding steps once more. Not toward the bunkhouse, or his mother's cottage. Now it was headed north. Toward the castle.
"Should... shouldn't we chase it?" Zelda asked tremulously.
"Leave it be," Imbert advised grimly. "That thing's laser cannon is still active. I'm surprised it didn't use it to destroy the ranch, or what's left of our forces here."
"It can't," Zelda said. "Urbosa demonstrated the laser cannon for me earlier today. It takes twelve hours to recharge. Though..." Her voice faded to a whisper. "It will likely be recharged by the time it reaches the castle. If that is where it is headed."
"If I were Ganon, it's where I would go," Imbert said.
Link thought of his father, and knew that Zelda would be thinking of hers.
"Can you deactivate it from here?" Link asked Zelda suddenly, touching the Sheikah slate that was still strapped to his belt. "With this?"
Zelda shook her head quickly. "No. We used it to initialize each Divine Beast's mechanisms, but then they became self-sustaining. They can't be controlled remotely like the Guardians can. The only way to deactivate it is to be inside of it. Do you... do you think you could get us inside? Perhaps I can study what has gone wrong and work out how to... to..."
Her voice trailed off.
Link thought for a long moment. The honest answer was "no." It had taken all he had – more than he knew he had – just to shut down the lightning mechanism from a distance. That Divine Beast was taller than Whistling Hill behind them: how could he climb up it alone, much less bring Zelda safely with him, while it was in motion? And even if they got inside, what then? He had a suspicion it would be much more involved than simply fiddling with the controls. Whatever it was that had taken control of Vah Naboris, it had been more than Urbosa could handle.
Link found himself having trouble accepting that fact. She had been so strong. So confident. The strongest of all the champions. Or so he had thought.
He steeled himself for the reality that they were going to have to do this anyway, no matter how impossible it seemed. Urbosa deserved their best efforts to rescue her. And if they didn't stop Vah Naboris here, it would move on to Hyrule Castle. Once the laser cannon had recharged, it could do unspeakable damage to the castle or any other target Calamity Ganon chose to destroy. It might even be able to repair the power nodes he had just damaged, and regain the ability to cast lightning.
"We should send out Rito scouts," Captain Imbert said suddenly. Zelda and Link turned to look at him, and he added: "To the other Divine Beasts. We should warn them to steer clear of that black sludge, if that really is what corrupted this one. We don't want to lose control of any more."
Link and Zelda locked eyes. She looked as horrified as he felt. Why hadn't they thought about that before? Lose the other Divine Beasts?
Mipha! What if she came under attack next? Link felt sick just thinking about it. Or Daruk, or Revali...
What if they were already under attack?
"Wait!" Zelda burst out. "Wait! Perhaps we can see for ourselves! The scope!"
She reached over and pulled the Sheikah slate off Link's belt. With shaking fingers, she turned it on and pointed it up into the sky, where they had last seen Vah Medoh.
There was nothing to be seen with the unaided eye in that section of the sky, but after several long, slow sweeps with the scope, she exclaimed wordlessly, and held it as still as she could. Link leaned over to see the screen for himself.
Yes, there was Vah Medoh, its image magnified by the power of the Sheikah slate. Still hanging in the sky in a way that seemed impossible, its propellers churning away.
It wasn't firing its laser cannon. That was good as far as it went.
It also wasn't moving in the direction of the castle. It was banking in a slow, majestic way, curving to the west.
"The color..." Zelda whispered.
Link saw, and felt the blood drain from his face. Vah Medoh, like Vah Naboris, was no longer glowing with a blue light, but a sickly magenta one.
It had been corrupted.
"How?" Zelda demanded to no one in particular, near tears. "It's been up in the air this whole time! How could the sludge have touched it?"
Link reached out and steadied her hand so that he could keep looking at the image. Vah Medoh continued to turn, now coming around toward the south. There was a strange blur in the air near the Divine Beast, turning the stars behind it fuzzy. He thought for a moment that it was a flaw in the slate's imaging mechanism, but then he realized the blur was moving in a steady twisting pattern.
It was... a tornado. In an otherwise clear sky.
Vah Medoh kept on wheeling around. Now it was pointing east, but then it continued turning. Turning and turning in a perfect counterclockwise arc. The tornado kept pace with it, hovering directly over its back at all times.
"It's going in circles," Link murmured.
Revali wasn't in control of the Divine Beast. No one was, it seemed.
"Look for Vah Ruta," he told Zelda, going cold all over.
She obeyed without hesitation, pointing the Sheikah slate's scope to the east. Mipha should have taken her Divine Beast through the Lanayru Wetlands before turning to follow the Zora River to where it met the Hylia River near the castle. After a tense minute of searching, they found its elephantine shape.
Vah Ruta was standing still in the middle of the junction between the Hylia River and the Zora River. Glowing magenta. Gushing great fountains of water into the air. It looked like Orsedd Bridge south of the junction was in danger of washing out in the flood.
Mipha.
He mouthed her name, but no sound came out. Staring at that sickly magenta light, Link felt...
He felt...
Nothing at all.
There was a strange rushing sound in his ears, and his vision was going gray at the edges. Something happened, and then he blinked in confusion.
All of a sudden, Zelda was pointing the Sheikah slate in a different direction. There was an image of a fire on the screen, even bigger than the one that was currently consuming Owayn's stables in front of them.
"I think... I think that's the Military Training Camp," she was saying in a shaking voice. "I can't see Vah Rudania, but I can't imagine what else could have done that."
Link realized that Captain Imbert's hand was clamped firmly around his upper arm. When had that happened? He pulled away from the captain and stared at him indignantly, then grabbed at the saddle horn as he wobbled strangely in his saddle. He felt dizzy.
"You all right?" Imbert asked, looking at him with a worried expression.
"What are we going to do?" Zelda burst out. "We can't possibly catch up to all of them! And we don't know how to regain control even if we did!"
Vah Naboris was still moving away from them. Soon it would pass the Sacred Grounds where Zelda had formally named Link her chosen knight. After that, it would enter Castle Town.
Link cleared his throat roughly, and managed to find his voice.
"Send your Rito scouts," he told Captain Imbert.
The knight frowned deeply. "To the Divine Beasts? But-"
"To Castle Town. And all the garrisons and villages and stables near where the Divine Beasts are. Warn them about what's coming."
"Yes," Zelda said, quickly catching on. She straightened up in her saddle, her voice growing stronger as her certainty grew. "Tell them all to evacuate. Everyone needs to move south. Away from the castle."
Imbert was looking at them both in astonishment. "You're just going to give up? Shouldn't we at least try to stop that one?" He glanced at Vah Naboris.
"There's only one thing we know for certain will wrest control of the Divine Beasts away from Calamity Ganon," Zelda said flatly.
"We have to seal him away," Link said. "The sooner, the better."
"And we must preserve as many lives as possible until we succeed," Zelda said.
Captain Imbert absorbed this for a long moment, and then nodded.
"Yes," he said, and he sounded resigned. "Yes, I see that. My Rito scout didn't return with the Guardians, but there should be another one posted at Kolomo Garrison. I'll send out a rider right away so the word can be passed along. How can we help the two of you?"
"We need an escort to the castle," Zelda said.
"We'll go straight there," Link said, looking to her for confirmation, and she nodded.
"He knows he'll have to face us," Zelda said. "He'll be waiting."
She looked pale as she said this. Link felt the same way. But it didn't matter how they felt about this. Whether they were ready or not, it was time to face Ganon. There was no other choice.
"I'll get the knights and the Guardians organized," Imbert said, turning his horse back toward the field where the men were now resting from their pitched battle with the monsters. Link turned to follow him, noting that the refugees from Mabe Village had mostly passed the field and were now following the road southwest, torches in hand, walking toward Hyrule Garrison, where there would be shelter and supplies. "We should be able to leave within-"
"Wait!" Zelda interrupted him. "The Guardians!"
Link and Imbert turned back to see her sitting motionless on her horse, her eyes growing haunted.
"The Guardians!" she burst out in horror. "That black sludge all over the ground... did any of them touch it?"
Imbert and Link exchanged looks.
"You don't think..." Imbert said, and suddenly his eyes went wide, and without another word he spurred his horse vehemently, and it bolted toward the resting knights.
"Shut down the Guardians!" they heard him barking at the nearest men as he tore toward the battlefield. They got to their feet slowly, looking confused.
"Tell the Sheikah!" Imbert shouted at them urgently. "Shut them down right now! All of the Guardians! Every single one!"
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's note: I welcome feedback!