AN: Finally, chapter 3 is FINISHED! This chapter was a pain to write, mostly because I was having an enormous amount of trouble with the buildup toward the fight scene. Originally, it was at the beginning of the chapter. But I moved it because I wanted Voe to interact with individual soldiers more - just to really twist the knife over what happens. I'm also finagling Sheik's personality in this chapter. I realized as I was writing that she sounds like a female Inuyasha... and decided to leave it. Because I am a degenerate consumed by nostalgia and I wanna write a rough, coarse, antihero character. The banter between her and Impani was fun too. They didn't really get the chance to interact last chapter.

Chapter 3: The Battle At Zora's Domain

Voe eagerly looked around at the scenery around him, which was shifting from the sand and wind-sculpted rock of the desert to a wide, grassy plain. Trees - the green giants of the Lost Woods Koume and Kotake had told him about so long ago - lined the east horizon, and casting a dark shadow over the open fields was a massive volcano, ringed with a cloud of fire.

Death Mountain. Voe had heard whispers about it. Of Volvagia, the dragon who lived in the heart of the volcano. Koume and Kotake told him not even Father could control the beast, only keep it contained and satisfied.

How, Voe had never been told.

Looking at it, Voe felt a chill of fear.

But also, strangely, an inexplicable sadness.

Zora's Domain was in the shadow of Death Mountain, cradled between it and the Lost Woods.

Voe could see the outline of the rocks encircling the frozen lake in the distance, as if concealing a secret.

Like the Sheikah Tribe, he thought to himself with a shiver. Even though he'd grown a lot since the days he heard them talked about in whispers when he was seven, he couldn't deny being a little afraid of confronting the people whose stories were used to scare children.

He squared his shoulders and swallowed his fear, looking at Father, who was riding near the front of the company with purpose, for a bit of comfort.

"Feeling a bit awestruck, Your Highness?"

Voe looked over to see one of the soldiers riding on his left. She was one of the older recruits - about seventeen - and, looking at her, Voe couldn't help but feel he was supposed to report to her rather than the other way around. Her only ornamentation on her armor was an agate charm.

"Just keeping an eye out," Voe replied, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. "If the Sheikah tribe are anything like the legends, they could be hiding anywhere."

The soldier laughed lightly. "You're allowed to look, Your Highness. The Territory does have a certain prettiness to it. Especially for one who has never seen it."

"I had no idea it was so massive…" Voe admitted quietly. "Have… you been to the territory?"

"No. Only seen it from a distance, the same as you." She laughed lightly. "I never thought a place could be so green."

"It's a pity we can't stay longer," another, younger soldier with a matching agate necklace said. "This place seems peaceful."

"And I've heard the Hylian men are something to behold," the first said mischievously.

Voe felt his face get warm. "I've heard that, too. But don't you need Father's permission to-"

The first soldier put her finger to her lips. "To marry. Not to have functioning eyes."

The second giggled.

The meadows of the east Territory were far more massive than Voe realized. Zora's Domain was still a good way off when the sun started to sink over the horizon.

"Father, should we make camp?" Voe asked. "I was told that the eastern Territory was… dangerous at night."

"Rumors, and tales to frighten children," Father scoffed. Voe wilted.

"But very well," Father added. "If you think it would be wise to make camp here, then that is what we will do. I appointed you in charge, remember?"

Voe allowed himself a small smile. "Thank you, Father. Everyone, gather around here! We'll camp here for tonight!"

With so many soldiers assisting, they soon had built a fire and set up tents in the grass. As Voe stood up from helping hammer the last stake in place, he looked around, confused.

He could see no sign of Father or his enormous black stallion.

"Where did Father go?" he quietly asked one of the soldiers sitting by the fire. She was the one he'd been talking to earlier. The younger of the two - her sister? - sat next to her, nibbling on her rations.

"Oh, His Majesty went off to scout ahead. See if he could estimate the numbers they have guarding the camp and disable some of the traps. Because, of course, these cowardly shadows would have traps everywhere."

"He didn't tell you?" the second soldier asked.

Voe bit his lip. "Maybe he did and I was just too focused on what I was doing to hear him," he said, trying not to alarm her. "He's been to the Territory plenty more times than I have. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"That's true," the first soldier agreed.

"On other subjects," Voe said. "I don't think I ever got your names earlier, when we were talking."

The first soldier looked surprised, then smiled. "I'm Onouli. This is my sister, Mibori."

"It's nice to meet you both," Voe said with a smile.

"And it's been a pleasure working under you so far, Your Highness," Onouli said. "Captain Nabooru spoke very highly of you."

"Nabooru talks about me?" Voe asked in surprise. He only saw the now-Captain slightly more than he saw her aunt, and Nabooru had never really acknowledged him beyond a stiff, "Your Highness," whenever they did meet.

"She helped oversee some of our training," Mibori explained around a mouthful of dried meat. "She wouldn't shut up about you," she added with a giggle.

"Mi-ri, close your mouth, that's disgusting…" Onouli scolded her sister. "Anyway, I'm glad to hear that her assessments so far have been correct."

"It's… early to make that assumption, isn't it?" Voe said, blushing in embarrassment. "We haven't even seen combat yet."

"And I'm sure you'll do wonderfully," Onouli said. "Captain Nabooru doesn't make a habit of lying. Or exaggerating."

"Thank you," Voe replied. His eyes stung a little, and he rubbed it away. He hoped Father would have a similar amount of trust in him, after this mission was over.

Father did return late that night. Most of the soldiers had gone to bed, save the eight Voe had appointed to stand watch and Voe himself.

The first watchwoman, who had introduced herself as Eobuka, snapped to attention as Father's charger walked into camp.

"Father!" Voe hurried over to Father as he dismounted from his horse, inclining his head before asking, "How did the scouting mission go?"

"I managed to find and disable a few of their traps," Father said. "I would have attempted to get closer, but as it is I was almost seen."

"How many guards do they have stationed there?"

"Not many," Father scoffed. "I counted five or six. I presume they think their tricks and traps would make a heavier guard redundant."

"We should have no trouble surprising them, then," Voe said. "Thank you…" Voe was cut off by a sudden yawn. "Thank you, Father," he corrected himself, his face red with embarrassment.

"You're most welcome, Voe," Father said. "You should get some sleep tonight. Tired is no state to be when leading an army. The watchwomen will handle themselves now."

"Um, right," Voe said. "Good night, Father."

As Voe approached his tent, he saw Father looking at him. The gleam in his eye, for a reason Voe couldn't articulate, made him shiver. He felt a strange warmth on the back of his left hand, pulsing uncomfortably.

But as soon as it came, it passed. Voe shook his head and crawled into his tent, sure he'd imagined it.

That night, however, the nightmare returned, worse than ever. Even more monsters swarmed him, demanding the golden triangle he clutched close to his chest. He felt his breathing rasp and gurgle in his throat, choking out his screams that they leave him alone.

Two of the Stalchildren knocked him down, and Voe realized in horror that, instead of the ragged skirts of grass the skeletons had worn in all his previous dreams, all the Stalchildren were wearing rusted, moth-eaten remains of Gerudo armor. The two holding him down were wearing, around their bony necks, the same charms Onouli and Mibori wore.

"Your... Highness..." Onouli said in a rattling croak.

"It... hurts..." Mibori added.

"Give us the golden power!"

"No!" Voe screamed, and he woke up, lying in his bedroll in his tent. A faint, predawn light had started to filter through the tent walls. For a minute, Voe lay in his bedroll panting, before he sat up, rubbed his eyes, and reluctantly left the warmth of his bedroll and crawled out of the tent, blinking at the slowly lightening sky. He sat down beside the cold, dead coals of the fire, poking them with a branch to coax the embers back to life.

"Awake already?"

Voe looked up to see Onouli standing at the edge of camp.

"Something woke me up," Voe replied, hoping that was vague enough. He still remembered his strong impression not to tell anyone about his dream.

"That was likely me," Onouli said with a frown. "I startled a rabbit. No harm done, although the little creature did make a lot of noise."

"It's okay. I was having trouble sleeping anyway."

"Nervous again?" Onouli asked.

"...A little."

"His Majesty would not have appointed you if he thought you couldn't do it," Onouli pointed out.

"I know," Voe mumbled. "I just… I don't want to disappoint him. Father doesn't like failure."

Onouli frowned sympathetically. "That's true. But he knows as well as I do that a first mission hardly ever goes perfectly. Doing all you can do should be enough."

"Where is he, by the way?"

"He said he was going back to see if there were any changes to the Sheikah's guard. He left a few minutes ago."

"Oh," Voe said.

"You should see if you can rest a bit longer. I assume you want to wait until Lord Ganondorf returns to break camp?"

Voe nodded.

"Right. If you happen to fall asleep before Lord Ganondorf returns, I'll send someone in to wake you."

"Thanks, Onouli."

Voe did fall asleep, and this time, he wasn't troubled at all by his dream. It only felt like a few minutes before he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He opened his eyes to see Mibori standing at the entrance to his tent.

"Good morning, Your Highness," she said with a giggle as Voe rubbed his eyes, still half-asleep. "O-li sent me to wake you up."

"Is Father back already?"

"He just returned," Mibori replied.

"Really?" Voe scrambled out of his bedroll the rest of the way, nearly knocking heads with Mibori, who giggled.

"Yes, sire, really."

"Thanks for waking me up, Mibori, see you in a minute, bye!" Voe called quickly over his shoulder as he scrambled out of his tent.

Father was at the edge of camp, holding his horse by the reins as he talked to Onouli.

"Father!"

Father looked up at the sound of Voe's voice.

"There you are, Voe. I hope this means you're well-rested for the mission today."

Voe nodded, scuffing his foot against the ground. "I… slept longer than I meant to. Sorry, Father."

"I'm not angry at you, Voe. I was already informed that the morning watchwoman had sent you back to your tent to rest longer. Although I expect you to make a habit of starting bright and early on future missions."

Voe nodded. "Yes, Father, of course!" His mind was fixated on one thing Father had said - future missions. Father was already contemplating him going into the field more! He must have been doing better than he thought!

Voe was still smiling from that tantalizing bit of happy news when they finished breaking camp and started riding again.

"Looks like someone's in brighter spirits," Onouli remarked.

"Father's considering bringing me along on military business more often!" Voe whispered excitedly.

"He is? That was a prompt decision on Lord Ganondorf's part."

"Did he tell you that, Your Highness?" Eobuka asked.

"He… well, he hinted at it. He said if I was going to come with him more often I should work on getting up earlier."

"That certainly is a hint," Onouli said.

"I know, and it surprised me - we haven't even finished the mission yet! I knew this mission was going to be my chance!"

"You have been doing well commanding troops considering it's your first try at it," Eobuka said.

"Thanks, Eobuka." He looked at Zora's Domain, inching ever closer. "Do you think we'll be able to catch them this time?"

"I certainly hope so. We've had enough false alarms," Onouli said.

"Father said they barely had any guard, and were dependent on the traps."

"Sheikah traps are something else, from what I heard," Eobuka said. "I'm not surprised."

"Father was able to detect them without too much trouble. I think-" Voe began.

He was abruptly cut off as Father raised his hand, stopping the company.

"Father?" Voe asked softly. "What-?"

Father quickly pointed to a small outcropping of rock poking out of the meadow like a fang. Voe felt a chill as he recognized a figure quickly disappearing behind it.

"Was that a Sheikah?" Voe tried to think if the figure fit the description in the stories, but he couldn't make out enough of them at that distance.

"Yes, Voe. I'm sure of it," Father said.

"Did they see us?"

"Yes." Father sounded agitated, and his horse seemed to share the sentiment, snorting and tossing his head.

"They must be going back to warn the others!" Voe realized. Raising his voice as authoritatively as he could, he shouted, "We can't let that Sheikah get away! Onouli, I need you to take a part of the battalion around the right side! Father, can you take another group and circle around the left?"

Father looked taken aback at being given an order for only a second, before he smiled, satisfied. "Yes. What will you be doing, Voe?"

"I'll take a smaller group straight ahead, to drive the Sheikah toward you." To Mibori, he said, "Mibori, would you be part of that group?"

"Yes, sire," Mibori said.

Voe nodded. "Good. Move out!"

The company split, the group headed by Onouli heading right and the group headed by Father marching left. That left Voe's group, about twenty soldiers counting Voe himself.

Voe spurred his horse. "Let's go."

They galloped in the direction the Sheikah had gone. The Sheikah, only visible as an occasional flicker of movement in the tall grass, kept ahead of them, darting between shadows so fast there was no way they were doing it on foot.

Are they using their shadow power? Voe had to wonder as he urged his mare to keep running.

"No matter how fast we're going, they're always faster!" Mibori cried. "You need to spring this soon, Your Highness!"

"The two groups should be in position," Voe replied. "Back them up against the cliffs."

"This better work…" Mibori muttered under her breath.

Voe was silently hoping the same thing. If he let the Sheikah get away…

Voe crested the hill, grinning as he saw the other two groups converging at the base of the cliff. However, his smile faded to confused dismay when he saw, not a shadowfolk warrior, but a lone bokoblin.

"Hold on, where's the Sheikah?" Onouli asked.

Voe frowned in disappointment. Had he really mistaken a 'blin for one of the elusive Sheikah?

"Shadowfolk can disguise themselves using their secret arts," Father said. "Perhaps this one did so in hopes we would dismiss them as not what we were looking for."

"Right!" Voe remembered. "Take them prisoner!"

The groups converged on the bokoblin, who simply pulled out a primitive-looking horn and blew it.

A low, booming sound echoed off the walls of Zora's Domain.

Then the cliffs of Zora's Domain promptly came to life. Monsters of every type Voe had ever heard of and even some he didn't jumped out from the rocks, crevices, and patches of tall grass, springing at the soldiers closest to the edge of the army first.

"No!" Voe urged his mare forward, intending to help. "Father, we have to-!"

He was cut off when three points of searing pain exploded into being on his back, causing him to scream. The force of it knocked him from the saddle, and his horse fled, wide-eyed with panic, across the meadow which was quickly turning into a battleground.

Voe slowly looked up to see Father, gripping the handle of his trident - the three prongs of which were embedded in Voe's back.

"F-Father…?" Voe rasped, his mouth drying up in shock. He lay there, frozen, internally praying for this to be a nightmare, a test, an elaborate joke.

But it wasn't. He could feel the steaming wetness of his blood on his skin, could feel the cold metal bite of the trident's prongs like icy fingers probing around inside his body, could smell the blood leaking all over the tunic and armor he'd so proudly put on the previous morning.

Father wrenched his trident from Voe's back, causing Voe to scream again as the wounds erupted with pain a second time. Father held it up, the metal gleaming red with Voe's blood. Then he made it vanish with a wave of his hand and smiled coldly at him from atop his horse.

"Well done, Voe. You played your part perfectly." For the first time Voe could ever remember, Father was looking Voe right in the face.

Then he cracked the reins, and his horse galloped away.

"Father!" Voe cried, struggling to get to his feet and follow the black charger. He only managed a few steps before a heavy weight crashed on top of him.

A bokoblin, wielding a cudgel, loomed over him, pinning him down as it raised its club to strike. Voe scrambled for his scimitar, barely managing to block the attack. He quickly flipped the blade so it sliced through the bokoblin's hand. The 'blin reeled back with a screech, and Voe staggered to his feet.

"Your Highness!"

Voe looked up to find Eobuka and two other soldiers desperately trying to land a hit on a moblin. The monster was bigger than even Voe's books had prepared him to expect, towering over the three women and wielding a spiked mace longer than Voe was tall. Voe forced down the pain from his wounds and ran as fast as he could over to them.

"Your Highness, what happened!?" Eobuka cried when she saw the blood dripping from Voe's armor.

"Where did His Majesty ride off to!?" the second cried, narrowly dodging a swing from the moblin. "Is he going back for reinforcements? What?"

"F-Father… he…" Voe trailed off, his throat closing up and tears stinging his eyes.

Father had abandoned them. They had all been led into a trap.

Eobuka's eyes widened. "So, the mission - it was-"

She didn't get to finish, because, at that moment, the moblin swung its mace at her, sending her flying into a nearby boulder.

Voe tried to scream, but this time, no noise came out. He could see that the mace had destroyed Eobuka's right side, which was a mess of blood and crumpled armor.

"Your Highness, look out!"

The second soldier Voe had been talking to tackled him to the ground as the moblin swung its mace again.

The wounds on his back blazed with more pain than ever, but he nodded gratefully at the save as they both got up. However, the second soldier suddenly reeled back, an arrow shaft materializing in her sternum. She toppled to the ground, her breath coming up in little clots of blood.

Then she was still.

The source, a Lizalfos holding a crude bow and already nocking another arrow, gave a hissing laugh.

Voe yanked the third soldier, who had been standing there, shaking, staring at the soldier on the ground, away from the moblin's next attack.

"Fall back!" he screamed over the raging noise of the battle. "Protect each other!" He barely got the order out before a Wolfos slammed into him, claws slicing through his cheek. Voe screamed in pain and surprise and stabbed at it with his scimitar, managing to bury his weapon in its ribs. The monster howled and collapsed, its body dissolving to dust.

Voe put a hand to his cheek, trying to staunch the flow of blood from it. Black spots were starting to edge into his vision, and he blinked frantically to banish them away.

"Everyone regroup!" one of the soldiers shouted. "Protect the prince!"

"There's too many of them! Fall back!" Voe screamed, but no one seemed to be able to hear him over the chaos.

The battle seemed to rage on and on forever. Voe tried to help wherever he could, but for every monster they killed, four or more seemed to take their place almost immediately. There were just too many of them, and the soldiers around him were dying like flies. Ripped apart by the Wolfos. Shot by the Lizalfos archers or fallen upon by the Lizalfos wielding swords. Swarmed by Stalfos and Stalchildren. Beaten to death by the hordes of 'blins. Trampled by their own panicked horses.

Their screams were so, so loud.

Voe was locked in a stalemate with a Stalfos when he heard a scream he recognized, followed by a sickening crunch.

Mibori, scrambling to get a higher vantage point, had slipped and fell, dashing her head on the sharp rocks below. A faint misting of blood drifted across the surface of the lake.

Voe heard screaming, and it took him a moment to realize he was the one screaming. He charged into the skeletal monster, only managing to hack off a bony leg and stumble away from it.

"MI-RI!" Onouli came charging across the battlefield like a madwoman, swinging her scimitar wildly and carving through monster ranks to get to her sister.

However, she couldn't hold them off forever.

Voe forced his burning legs to run faster as he saw the moblin raise its mace over Onouli's head.

"Onouli!" he screamed as loudly as he could.

Onouli looked up at the sound of his voice, only narrowly dodging the moblin's mace, which left a thin seam of blood down her arm where a spike had nicked her.

"Your Highness! You need to get to safety!"

"No! No, I'm not leaving you!"

"Listen to me!" Onouli argued back, narrowly blocking a Lizalfos sword. "One of us has to survive! Better the prince than a lowly recruit!"

"I'm - not - leaving!" Voe shouted back in between blows as he hacked into a bokoblin. His scimitar felt heavier and more out of place in his hand than ever. His muscles felt like lead. His blood hammered through his skull and dripped from the wound on his back and countless other smaller scratches and cuts in larger and larger splashes in the dirt, his vision was swimming with black and red fog and flashing stars, and it felt like every single part of his body hurt.

But he wouldn't give up. He couldn't. This was his battalion.

Father had - Father had already abandoned them. He wasn't going to.

"Your Highness, please-!" Onouli began, only for the moblin to swing its deadly mace right at Voe's head.

The monster was slightly out of time, though, and instead cracked the massive shaft of its weapon over Voe's skull, but it was enough.

Voe was sent flying, landing in the dirt with bloody smears dancing in front of his eyes. He heard someone - it sounded like Onouli, but it sounded too fuzzy and far away to be sure - scream in horror.

Voe lifted his head. His vision blurred and doubled as he tried to get back up. He reached with a shaky hand - which suddenly seemed unreal, as if it belonged to someone else - toward his scimitar, which had been knocked out of his hands by the blow.

He wobbled. His arms had no strength left. He felt them give way underneath him. He felt his head strike the dirt. He felt a burning, stinging sensation on the back of his left hand.

Then, nothing.

:

Hours after the battle at Zora's Domain had concluded, Sheik and Impani were traveling through the fields back to Kakariko Village.

They had a little cart loaded with a few things bartered from the Ranch, and were wearing traveling cloaks and tunics over their Sheikah armor. With the heat of the day approaching, the disguises were sweltering. But it was a necessity. Even thousands of years after the fall of the ancient ruling family, it was too much to risk that someone would recognize the Sheikah tribe symbol, and report seeing it to Ganondorf.

That pig had eyes everywhere.

Sheik searched the road around them, her hand reaching for the throwing knives she had concealed under her cloak.

After the third time, Impani, who was driving the cart, grabbed her arm, stopping the movement.

"Remember, Sheik. We are mere travelers on the Desert Road, traveling home from the ranch. Wandering traders don't make a habit of hiding knives in their cloaks."

Sheik scowled at her foster mother. "They do if the alternative is ending up dead on the road," she countered. However, she pulled her hand back from the tantalizing handle of her biggest, sharpest throwing knife and settled for death-gripping the folds of her disguise's tunic.

"The children will be happy we're bringing apples back," Impani said as an abrupt change of subject.

"They complained about not having them so much. The sooner that orchard Naro insisted on starts bearing fruit, the less annoyed I'll be."

"You say that as if you don't enjoy having apples when we can get them," Impani laughed lightly. "I know you've been missing Eshei's apple tart."

"What I think about it doesn't matter!" Sheik insisted. "Going to the Ranch for anything is always a risk. It's been under the thumb of Ganondorf's pigeons since the ancient days, and-"

"The best we can do is try to support ourselves whenever we can. Until the trees bear fruit and we have the land to keep a small herd of cattle, the Ranch is the only place we have for milk and apples."

"How long are we going to be able to keep the village hidden, Impani?" Sheik asked, tightening her grip on her tunic. "That fire we saw last night was much closer than I'd ever seen anyone camping before. And if that was the Gerudo tribe-!"

"I saw them breaking camp. They were marching toward the lake and Zora's Domain. Don't misunderstand, that's still very close, but we would know if they had discovered us. Now, what business they were up to-" Impani suddenly broke off.

"Impani?" Sheik asked, trying to keep her voice measured.

"Keep your head down. Don't look up until I tell you."

"Impani, what is it?"

"The Twinrova. They're flying overhead."

"What the Hell are those old hags doing here!?"

"Shh-shh. They're not stopping. They haven't seen us," Impani said, putting a hand to Sheik's mouth.

"But what are they doing-?!"

"It… looks like they're flying toward the lake. Zora's Domain seems to be a popular place for the Gerudo today."

"Why? What's going on there?"

"If I knew that, I'd tell you," Impani replied.

Sheik glowered at Impani, who smiled slightly.

As annoyed as Sheik was at the lack of a straight answer, the fact Impani was joking around with her meant that she wasn't afraid of why the Twinrova were doing a flyover of Hyrule, or why the old bags seemed to be following the Gerudo troops they'd seen camping last night.

"They're gone now," Impani said mildly after a minute.

"Nayru above, finally! …Now let's get back to the village before something else happens."