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Chap. 50: Fort Hateno
Zelda's horse, Nightmare, had been at least a little broken in by the staff at the Stable, but the charcoal and ash-white stallion was quite unruly as Zelda introduced herself to him once again. She had caught him what felt like months ago, though it might have been four weeks if she were unlucky. While the pair had formed a bond (of sorts) in fleeing from a decayed, broken-down but firepower-heavy Guardian, that respect seemed to go no further than necessary.
She had mounted, echoes of her Champion's voice reverberating wordlessly, soundlessly even, in her mind, offering advice she could not remember or understand.
Fortunately, Rensa was there to guide her through feeding the good-sized horse, starting and ending with an apple, along with several handfuls of barley, wheat, and regular grass. He had been kept a little hungry, Rensa explained, so that he would eat more from her, which would help the bonding process and get used to her being the one to feed him.
Zelda had decided over breakfast to take the more direct route west, ignoring the more well-traveled road between Fort Hateno, which separated West and East Necluda, because backtracking north and then south again seemed like a complete waste of time. She knew, now, that the Blatchery Plain and Ash Swamp were littered with the ruins of Guardians, some of which were still active. Even the dormant, dead ones were terrifying, though Zelda now knew she could get several useful parts from them with a bit of scrounging.
She didn't want to waste time, however, so the direct route it was.
Of course, she ran into a problem with that fairly early on when she countered a small camp of red Bokoblins near the southern edge of the swamp.
Nightmare, true to his name, didn't want to stop. He didn't even want to slow down from the canter Zelda had been teaching him pacing with.
So as the trio of little red beasties leaped up from their midmorning meal, Zelda was forced to draw her Boko Bow, and let fly while on the run.
She was an excellent archer, and only one of the first volley of five arrows missed its mark completely. But not one hit the vital organs she had been aiming for, thanks to Nightmare's sudden increases in speed, or how he dodged and weaved in a near-panic while trying to both obey her nudges and commands, and avoid the terror that must have been all-consuming for a previously wild animal that would never let itself get this close to Bokoblins normally.
Still, in that five arrows, three of her hits were enough to bring one of the Bokoblins down, and the last hit pinned the arm of the second monster to a tree while she ran past.
Thankfully, that alone bought her enough time to wheel Nightmare around. "Come on, Nightmare, you can do it! Straight through them- overrun them if you want to!"
She didn't know if the horse truly understood, but the princess' steed suddenly burst into motion as she got him facing the Bokoblin's archer. She loosed another arrow, but missed again, this one sailing high overhead. She was nearly unseated as Nightmare leaped over a hole she had not seen in the tall grass.
She landed leaning against her mount's neck, off-balance and almost sliding from the saddle, but the stirrup on her right had caught her foot securely. The archer's scrabbling claws caught a few strands of her hair as she hauled herself upright, but in trying to grab her, it had signed its death warrant. Nightmare's left rear hoof crashed down onto its knee, sending it to the ground. Crippled, it would stand little chance against either her or the frantic horse, who whinnied shrilly, but kept running, already turning back without her guidance to make another pass.
Less luckily, she had dropped her bow. It was getting worn, but would probably at least have lasted the battle, so she was a bit frustrated as, bouncing and swaying in the saddle, the princess fought to string her splintering spiked Boko bow with its fraying line. Without her direct commands or guidance, Nightmare was weaving back and forth, but still wheeling generally around. The changes in momentum and inertia were making things harder, so by the time she had the bow ready, the third Bokoblin, slowest to rouse, was armed with the club dropped by the first one, and its own, while it came charging toward her.
It received only a kick for its trouble, right to the face. Zelda's boot connected with a satisfying thunk, but she was simply not strong enough to give it a truly substantial impact. Still, it bought Nightmare time to carry her further away, and she twisted in the saddle to fire behind herself, trusting the same stirrup to bear her while she stood almost fully, her legs guiding Nightmare a little more accurately purely by coincidence.
She missed again, but this shot was close enough, powerful enough with the heavier draw on the bone-reinforced weapon, to knock one of the clubs cleanly from the Bokoblin's hand. It spun into the grass, presumably lost for good, while the monster shrieked in frustration.
She turned back to the fore and leaned in again, "Hiya! Faster, Nightmare! Straight at the archer! Run him down!"
Zelda cheered with fierce glee as her mount, already far more trusting than it had been a few hours earlier, leaped again. This time, not to cover a stream she had not seen, but to bring both- no, all four- legs down toward the head of the bow-wielding Bokoblin.
Three of the four connected, she felt through the horse's body and saddle, the left foreleg and right rear most heavily. She bounced again as they landed, and Nightmare stumbled twice as he caught his balance, but did not fall. Then he was up and slowing, and she hauled back on the reigns to help slow him, leaning back and half-standing in the saddle once more to shift the balance that much more.
Performing almost like a well-trained warhorse rather than a recently-caught wild one with almost no training, Nightmare reared majestically, a neighing, barking call of his own sent to the sky, and he twisted too, his body coming down nearly ninety degrees to the left of where he had been facing. The turn was sharper as they had to build up momentum again, but Zelda was able to send another arrow at the last Bokoblin on her way in. It didn't hit, but this time the miss was not due to bouncing horse, or her lack of skill. Instead, somehow, the Bokoblin caught her arrow on the tip of its club, desperately raised to block its face. "Shit," she swore, and drew again.
Crack.
Too hard. The bow was stronger than a poor, greenwood Boko bow, but still not able to hold up to the frenetic force Zelda had been applying for long, It had bent too far, and now she held two worthless sticks tied by fraying string. She was also running headlong for a Bokoblin who did not seem afraid of the horse, as he snarled, "Eat you both! Eat you both!"
She let the bow fall, and her hands reached for the best weapon she had in this situation. It was short, clumsy, and heavy at the end, but she knew full well the Dragonbone Boko Club she had on her belt was capable of devastating amounts of damage when wielded properly. She was stronger than she had been, bolstered by the Goddess' magic, but she was also being carried forward at increasing speed by a horse who weighed at least three times what the Bokoblin before them did.
With almost malicious glee, Zelda brought the club over her head. Not to bring it forward and down, but to swing back, in an underhand serve.
Too late, the Bokoblin saw its peril. It had dodged the horse's flying hooves, but not gone far enough to escape the rider's reach.
At near a full gallop, Zelda estimated she was traveling far faster than any sparrow could fly, and she whipped the club forward and up as hard as she could with one hand on the handle and the other on the reigns.
The impact was jarring, and tore the weapon from her grip, leaving burns on her fingers.
It was worse for the Bokoblin, whose jaw was sent flying up into its brain in a single strike. Zelda didn't see it vanish, it was dead long before she could even twist her head around to look, much less bring the frightened horse to heel and trot back to gather up the trophies of her victory.
She was saddened at what she saw.
Yes, a few Bokoblin bones, jaws, and horns, entered her satchel, and one of their bows to replace the shoddy one she had lost early.
The club had not done well, either. Reinforced by the strength of dragon's bones or not, she had hit the Bokoblin hard, and the spiked 'tooth' had shattered along with most of the head, sending fragments all over the dirt, and splintering the haft too. With a sigh, Zelda tossed it to the side against a rock, which finished the job, and knelt to stare at the poorly-dug graves with crude, now defaced signs.
"Six men lost their lives fighting these Bokoblins," Zelda whispered to Nightmare, who was skittish still but calming now that the danger and scent of the Bokoblins was passing.
The graves were not old, less than a year she thought, which explained the only slightly rusty condition of the six common-quality two-handed swords stuck in the ground at the head of each. Well, two had been, one, the first Bokoblin she had slain, had died when it paused to take one from the ground.
That weapon, she returned, but another was picked up with a whisper, "I've avenged them... please don't haunt me. I need this to help us all."
Of course, no ghost whispered dire threats to the princess, but she still bowed her head and prayed for each of the soldiers and their families, before she offered another apple to Nightmare and patted his side to help him calm before she continued on her way.
Three more Bokoblins, and two Chu after that, were slaughtered by the Princess using the claymore and her newest, shoddy bow before Zelda found herself nearing a long, blasted stone wall. For dozens, hundreds of feet before it, one Guardian after another lay, ripped, torn, slashed to pieces. They had done a number on Fort Hateno, but the wall still stood. The worst damage, she saw, was directly around the gate-house, where nearly half of the wall on either side had been ripped apart, torn down, and left with just the barest wood framing to show where it had been. There were other pieces missing, but none so large as those.
The gatehouse itself was intact, but the gate had been burned away long ago judging by the charred remains of wood within it as Zelda slowly walked Nightmare through, watching for any threat or ambush.
That was when she saw her. A dark-haired beauty, with a heart-shaped face, full figure, and a warrior's body beneath the same sort of traveler's leathers Zelda now wore, though her own trousers were shorter and boots taller, held together with a couple of straps of leather. The woman's pack was sitting next to her, half-open as she rooted through it for something, while her other arm stirred a cooking pot.
Zelda's hackles immediately rose, given what had happened the last time she had willingly shared a campfire with a lone woman, but somehow she doubted the distracted beauty was a Yiga in disguise. A round shield painted red with a golden stag on it adorned her pack too, while a broadsword leaned against it on the side. That alone, bearing a visible weapon, helped put Zelda's mind at ease, if nothing else did.
"Ho," she called quietly while still a dozen feet off.
The woman looked up, startled, then around for a few seconds before spotting Zelda herself, "Hoy! You're like... the third traveler I've seen today. Slow day, all things considered."
"Is it? I'm not familiar with these roads," Zelda told her, remaining guarded as she guided Nightmare to a stop.
"Oh? That's unusual," the woman seemed surprised again, and pushed herself to her feet, giving a few more stirs while Zelda's hands tightened on the reigns. She offered the log she had just been sitting on to the princess, "Have a seat if you've a mind to swap tales. This one's much more comfortable, so I always try and sit here when I come through, but you can have it tonight."
"I'm not sure I should," Zelda replied, her hands still tight on the straps, her expression guarded, "It's still a couple of hours until sundown, and I'd like to make good time while I can."
"You can keep going of course," the woman told her, "but the land between here and the next stop is hilly and treacherous if you aren't familiar with it. And Bokoblins like to lie in wait behind every rock and tree, sometimes. Best to wait until daylight."
"Well... I'm not too worried about Bokoblins, but I don't like the idea of an ambush. So let me be plain. I've been ambushed by Yiga twice lately. If you're one of them, best try your best now. If not... well, I'll have my guard up all the same. Please don't take offense."
The woman spat suddenly, scowling, "Yiga bastards. A couple of my good friends are Sheikah. Lasli and Claree. I would give one of those bastards a few good thrusts, if you know what I mean."
Zelda could not help but think that was exactly what a Yiga assassin might say to put someone at ease, but the clear disgust in the woman's expression as she mentioned the traitorous clan helped reassure the princess further. "What's your name?"
"Celessa," the woman replied easily, and offered the seat again, "Yours?"
She hesitated, then said clearly, "Zelda."
It was better, she thought, to get it over with if this woman was indeed a Yiga.
Celessa's eyes widened momentarily, then she laughed, "Only about the most common name for a woman in Hyrule. Not uncommon where I'm from, too. Before you ask, Holodrum. South of here a good... oh, month's sail across the Faron Sea. No, I'm not gonna stab a sickle into you. You can relax. Or not, if you prefer, I suppose. I've made some stew. Won't be a lot, if we split it, but you're welcome to half."
Zelda nodded, then slipped off the horse, careful to keep Nightmare between she and the other woman for a moment as she loosed his saddle and her bags. But Celessa made no untoward move, only kept stirring her pot, then dished some up into her own bowl and what looked like a spare she fished from the bottom of her pack. This time, Zelda kept careful watch of what she had done, but there was no sign she had slipped drugs or anything into the stew, unless it had happened before Zelda arrived.
So she ate in relative silence alongside the woman, one hand always near her weapon. The other woman's hand was near her own, too, she noticed, and she moved with an easy grace of someone who had been well used to pushing their body to its limits and beyond.
"So, what are you doing around Fort Hateno?" Celessa asked after their stews were finished. "I'm just passing through myself, chasing down one lead after another."
"Also passing through," Zelda admitted, forcing herself to take a chance. So far Celessa had been nothing but polite and amiable, if a little guarded herself. "I'm on my way to Hateno Village."
"Same, though I'm hoping to go further. I've got a good tip this time. I'm looking for a place. A mythical place, actually."
She didn't say anything else, so Zelda let silence fall over the apparently well-used campsite for several minutes as the sun started to sink low behind the distant Dueling Peaks. "What, um... what happened here? I noticed all the Guardians on the other side of the wall."
Celessa frowned, as a wistful, sad look stole over her. "I'm... well, my family's from here. Hateno Village, actually. I was born in Holodrum, but they fled after the Calamity, so... Papa and Nana always told me stories. There was a battle, the largest or second largest of the Calamity I think, right here. Somehow, our forces held the Guardians off. Not a one made it past the wall. Honestly, the place is just full of tragic memories. So many lives were lost... but they held. I always try to pay some respects when I come through. My Papa's brother, great-uncle Samuel, died here. I don't know where, or if there was even a burial, because Papa was in Hateno at the time, getting the family ready to flee. He only got word, but they left anyway. Couldn't handle the memories, I guess.
"Still, I grew up on the stories. When Nana passed a couple years after Papa, I told my parents I was coming back. They argued against it, argued, argued, tried to get me engaged to some fop, argued some more... but here I am. All their doubts have been unfounded. They said I wouldn't last a week! I'm still here. Wouldn't find what I was looking for! But I've got my best clue yet, and it's been three months. I even make some decent coin, you know? Not great, but more than enough to pay my way."
"Oh?" Zelda asked, curious despite herself, "What do you do? And your family, for that matter?"
"Papa and Nana were farmers," Celessa told her, "and my dad is too. Mom helps out at the bakery in the small town they live in, called Nessuary. It's nothing special, just a roadside hamlet really, but it's nice if you like a quiet life. Me? I'm all about a bit of adventure."
Celessa finished with a grin that showed a missing tooth, and a flex of one muscled arm. "Me and my blade got our training from some of the men- Holodrum Marines- on the ship that brought me here before it got too dangerous to sail, and it's been good, 'cause I've had plenty of practice to hone my skill."
"How good are you?" Zelda asked. She knew Mina and Mils had some combat training, and could handle (now) a Bokoblin or two if needed. Three between them, if needed, too.
"Four Bokos in one fight, last month," Celessa grinned proudly, "Got a couple new scars for it, but nothing too bad."
Zelda let out an impressed whistle, "That's... honestly, very good. I can handle a few myself, but I don't know anyone else that could. At least, not easily, or well enough to laugh about it after."
"Like I said, I've gotten pretty good with a sword. Bruce, my wall- my shield- helps, too, of course. I've had to replace a few planks and paint him twice, but he's still holding up."
"It's still impressive. I know a few soldiers could handle a quad of Bokoblins, but... just you, in leathers? It shows great skill."
"The trick," Celessa whispered, leaning in conspiratorally, "is to get 'em off-guard. Dodge, hit before they can fight back. Take 'em out while they're sleeping if you can. That sorta thing. You can fight them straight-on, but it's a lot riskier. It's not going to be enough, though."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, I can make money like I said. Been going my way as a monster hunter. But I'm really trying to... well, to find a place, like I said. See, there's supposedly this magic spring in Necluda. Mount Lanayru- that's the tip I got. A Spring that's supposed to give someone guidance if they meditate and pray there. The Well of Knowledge, I think it's called? Spring of Intellect? Something like that, anyway. And I... well, I have a few questions I'd like answered, that's all."
"Is it worth... coming all this way? Putting yourself at risk?" Zelda asked quietly. Something about Celessa's words struck a chord in her, but she could not think of why.
"Now you're starting to sound like Ma and Pa," Celessa laughed.
"I don't mean it like that," she protested, grinning herself, "I only... well, they must be some questions."
Celessa blushed and looked away, staring into the fire. "Not really. Personal ones... but not really all that important in the grand scheme of things, I suppose. Questions about my life, really. What I should be doing with it."
Zelda blinked. "How... How do you mean?"
Celessa sighed, then brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, staring up through the broken canopy of trees near the wall to see a few twinkling stars in the growing twilight as the sun hit the horizon. "Love... Destiny... purpose. I always felt I was destined for something. Not something great and mighty, or... or anything really important, just something. Someone? I don't know. I just know I've always felt a call to find this place. The Spring, or Well, or whatever, from Nana's old stories about it. Like I'm supposed to go, and ask, and then I won't have to wonder. I'll know."
"That would be nice," Zelda admitted quietly, "knowing what you should do with... well, everything."
"I know," Celessa chuckled, "that's why I want to find it so bad. Well... anyway,. I heard it was up near the peak of Mount Lanayru, and that's great to know. It might even be there, it's the most secure lead I've ever had, and from a pretty reliable source overall: an old book that dates pre-Calamity."
"That must be more accurate, then."
"Yeah. Anyway, the problem is, I can fight well enough for a small group of Bokos. I've even killed a Moblin, once. Fucker almost gored my eye with his horn," Celessa poked her cheek where a faint scar could be seen leading toward her left eye from near its center, "but the monsters that hang out up in the snowy reaches... they're something else. Ice Keese. Frost-breathing Lizalfos. Blue, even Black Bokoblins. They say there's even a Lynel somewhere up there."
Zelda watched Celessa shudder. "What's a Lynel?"
"Death," the woman replied simply. When Zelda gave her a questioning look, she huffed, "Death on four legs, anyway. I saw one once, at a distance. And I mean like, through a spyglass, near a mile off. Four legs like a lion or giant horse, broad more like the cat. But where the head should be, a man's torso, with a shaggy mane, and weapons as big as you or me. Weapons it carries in one hand! They're the size of a small house, they say, and seeing it next to a tree, I believe it. But that's not all of it. They can breathe fire, for a hundred feet if an inch. I saw that one do it, right before I ran for my life. It did it toward me, after all! Somehow, the thing spotted me from almost a mile off, hiding behind a tree. They've got really keen senses, and a scholar I knew in Holodrum said it's fortunate they aren't more common, because otherwise they'd have ruled Hyrule centuries ago. They're among the toughest creatures in this broken old Kingdom. Smart, too. They can speak Hylian."
Zelda whistled again, this time with almost nervous energy. "They sound terrifying."
"They are. If you see one, just run. Often they won't go after prey further off, but once one gets their eyes on you... best pray for a quick death. They can use magic, too. Fire, Ice, Lightning arrows, at least, on top of breathing fire, and stronger than five horses. The worst part... well, the worst part is sometimes they like to... play with their food. If you know what I mean."
Both women shuddered, but neither said another word to clarify. It wasn't needed.
Some time later, they were laying side by side, Celessa half-drunk on wine, and Zelda careful once more to only drink from her own flask.
But despite her nerves, despite her worry, she woke up after a decent night's rest to find Celessa packing up her camp quietly. "Sorry if I woke you," the woman said with a smile, looking quite as rested as Zelda felt, "I made you some bread and cheese for brekkies."
"Brek- oh, breakfast," Zelda smiled, "I haven't had just simple bread and cheese in... well, what feels like ages."
"Well, you're welcome to it," Celessa told her, "I should get going soon. You said you're headed to Hateno?"
Zelda nodded, most of her worries from the night before forgotten. If Celessa was an assassin, she would already be dead, after all. "I'm headed that way to meet someone. They can fix something for me, I hope."
"Maybe I'll see you there. Then again, since I'm on foot, maybe you'll beat me by a day or two."
"Maybe I'll stick around, and wait for you," Zelda told her, blushing slightly.
"I... I think I'd like that," Celessa admitted with a faint smile, then hoisted her pack onto her shoulders. "I'll see you around, Zelda. It was good to meet you."
"You as well, Celessa. Good luck finding your Spring, and your answers."
"Good luck with getting your... thing fixed. And remember what I said about the rough road and ambushes."
"I will. You be careful, too."
Then she was gone, weaving her way at a brisk walk through the dense woods on the east side of Fort Hateno, accompanied by the buzzing of thousands, millions, of honey bees.