Link heaved himself up the railing and vaulted over and onto the archers’ stomach, sending a dagger into his gut. He stood up and blocked a blow to his arm by one of the marksman, and slipped his dagger down, slicing off the archer’s finger and disarming him. Link shoved the dagger into the archer’s throat and kicked his chest, sending him over the railing and to the grass below. The other soldiers had made it to the balcony, their arrival much less graceful than Link’s. He glanced back toward the courtyard below, seeing a scene of carnage before him. He shouted the order to guard all exits to the castle, and he waved for the soldiers that were with him to follow.
He pushed open the wood-framed door to the castle interior and found himself in an extensive hallway with two soldiers patrolling, one for each half of the hall. He quickly shied into a small nook while the soldiers’ backs were to him. The rest of the soldiers with him followed suit. He ducked his head out after a second and saw the back of the soldier patrolling their half. He waited till the guard has completed his turn and once again had his back to them. He motioned for the soldiers with him to stop, then he snuck out of the nook and slipped up to the soldier, burying his dagger in the soldier’s neck. He set the body down slowly and ran up the other guard, this time flinging his dagger at the guard’s throat as the guard turned to face the thumping sound of Link’s running.
Link whispered an order to his soldiers after he pulled the dagger from the soldier’s bleeding throat, and they came out of the nook and followed Link to the next door. He pushed it open to find a stone staircase. He immediately went up, quickly and noisily running, as his soldiers did the same. After ascending three flights of stairs he entered a door, arriving in another hallway. This time three soldiers stood guard, one of which was defending the other door, one with a bow drawn standing in the hallway, and the third directly in front of Link. His dagger did little to parry the strike of the soldier, and his blade was knocked from his hand. The soldier swung again, this time causing Link to move to his left rear, allowing the archer’s now fired arrow to sink into the stone behind him. A soldier he had brought with him stepped forward and jabbed his lance forward. The guarding soldier couldn’t step far back enough, and the lance impaled his gut, going straight through. Link stepped back, withdrawing the lance, as the guard from the other side of the hallway ran forward. The archer stepped back and drew another arrow, this time aiming for the lance-bearing soldier. He sidestepped the arrow, and the archer drew another arrow, lowering his bow this time, and allowing the other guard to engage.
Link ran forward, his sword now drawn, and faked a swing to the soldier’s right shoulder. The guard halted, swinging his shoulder away, and Link flashed his blade to the guard’s left side, gouging the blade deep into the soldier’s armor, and, as blood was leaking from the wound, body.
The archer now fired his bow haphazardly, missing Link by half a meter, turning, and running to the other door. Link pursued, drawing his dagger and flailing it to the archer’s back. It missed his back and, instead, sank into the guards poplit. The guard let out a grunt as he fell; his landing was quite loud, his body crumpling to the lightly carpeted stone, sending out a clang-like thud. Link ran to the archer and pulled his dagger from his poplit, sending it into his throat next, ending his noisy groans of pain.
Link wiped the blood from the dagger on the carpet and stepped up to the door, sheathing the dagger as he did so. He suspected this to be the throne room, as its guarding was a bit more meticulous than the other hallways. And according to their scouting, this was the general area where the throne room lay.
He waved his soldiers over and explained his thoughts to them. They all nodded in agreement, and Link drew his blade. One of his soldiers picked the fallen archer’s bow from the ground. He tugged the strings a little, and pulled the quiver from the archer’s body, slinging it across his back.
Link carefully opened the doo, and found himself in the wrong spot. He was on one of three balconies. The one he wished to be on was to his left, directly behind the prince’s throne. He quickly stabbed the balcony guard and had his archer snipe the other two.
Only seconds later, the door of the balcony adjacent to his opened, and General Impa and her soldiers slipped onto the balcony. Impa saw Link across the way from her, and her own position. She gave Link a look of frustration, and he shrugged. Their plan had been to emerge on the balcony behind the prince so they could jump onto his two royal guards, taking out his prime defense. Then Link could keep the prince on his throne as the rest of their soldiers jumped. They could clean up the remaining throne room guards and seize the castle from the prince’s grasp.
Link motioned to the guards underneath the balconies, and Impa nodded, understanding his new plan, which was to take out what they planned on being the remaining guards. He readied himself on the balcony rail, and his soldiers did the same. Impa’s group readied themselves, and Link counted off three seconds with his hands and leapt off the balcony, rolling as he landed and driving his sword into a guard’s back. The guards were cleaned out in mere seconds, and the group turned to the prince. His royal guards, clad in gold and black armor and brandishing great two-handed claymores in hand, were standing in front of the prince, defensive positions struck.
Link and Impa waved off their troops, and the guards engaged the two leaders.
Link sidestepped the first strike and then jabbed his blade to the guard’s cuirass. But, to his avail, the blade merely stopped at the cuirass and left Link vulnerable for a second, which is all the guard needed. The guard left his blade in one hand and used his other gauntleted hand to punch Link square in the jaw, knocking Link onto his back. Link kept a grip on his sword and rolled away when the guard brought his claymore to the ground. He got to his feet, one hand on his jaw, and saw that, a few meters away, Impa was pulling her longsword from the guard’s throat.
Impa dashed up to the throne, and the prince snapped to his feet, drawing a sword of his own—an elegant silver longsword with a jewel-encrusted hilt. Impa flashed her blade forward, beginning the duel.
The guard continued to push Link to the wall until Link saw a brief moment of opportunity; he jumped back against the stone wall and leapt off, dived at the guard through the air, and tackled him over. The guard lost his grip on his claymore, and Link rolled over, trying to reach his blade, which he had dropped. The guard, however, abandoned his claymore and stood up, kicking Link in the side, causing him to double up, clenching his stomach in pain. Link’s soldiers couldn’t stand to see him risk dying, and they rushed forward, avoiding stepping on their commander, who was now attempting to stand. The soldiers attacked the guard viciously, and he fell after several blows to the head by axe.
Link stood and muttered his thanks to his soldiers. One grabbed Link’s sword and handed it to him.
Meanwhile, Impa was still dueling the obviously experienced prince. He was doing well at parrying her powerful strike, and still getting chances to strike of his own accord. She was beginning to gain ground, though, and when he began to feel trapped, his strikes were less precise, and she could feel him starting to tire from blocking every strike instead of parrying it and dispelling the energy from the force of the strike. His last mistake was trying to strike while she was striking. His blow was too slow, and she imbedded her blade in his leg, dropping him to the floor. She stepped back, and he muttered a few words she couldn’t recognize.
“Hm?” Impa asked.
“I surrender,” he muttered, more audibly this time.
Impa looked over at Link, who gave her a thumbs up.
She turned back to the prince. “Shall we begin negotiations for a treaty?” she asked, grinning lightly.
***
The Trio stood in front of a large wood, also known as Faron Woods. The walk had been muct faster than their previous journeys through the plains, and less tedious as well. Link took the first step into the woods that housed the Triforce of Courage. It was dark—very, very dark. The first few steps were il
luminated by the sun, but when he was a few meters in, Link was forced to light a torch, and his comrades followed his actions.
They walked for an hour or so before they came to a clearing where the brush had blocked off any sort of path they could use. The vegetation had completely blocked off the clearing, save for their entrance. Link shrugged and drew his sword. He hacked at a segment of brush, his blade cutting through smoothly. He made a few more cuts and pushed the brush out of his way. He sheathed his blade. A small puff of air flew down the side of his head and distinguished his torch. He whipped his head up to find the source of the air and found two golden eyes staring down at him.
He threw himself back into the clearing, landing on his rear as the golden-eyed creature dropped from its perch and entered the clearing. It looked like a wolf. Its fur was mottled gray-black, and on each paw it had two claws the size of Link’s hand.
Link pushed himself to his feet as his comrades drew their weapons, and the ‘wolf’ stood. It held itself like a hunched human. It snarled violently and shook its head, spit flying in every direction. Then it howled. The ground was filled with thumps, and the brush around the clearing burst open in places. Many of these creatures entered the clearing.
The Trio back-pedaled till they were back to back, facing each direction, each facing many teeth-crammed jaws. “You guys know what these are?” Link asked.
Sheik furrowed her brows for a moment. “I think they are Wolfos!” she said, and Link groaned. “Doesn’t matter. They’re going to eat us whether we can identify them or not.” She threw her free hand in the air, and a flame shot up and hung over the clearing, providing a light so they could drop their torches, which they did. The Wolfos all snarled and leapt forward. The Trio exploded away from each other, swinging their blades, small and large, toward the beasts.
A spray of blood and fur spread out onto the grass, and Link found himself on the ground, two very violent pains in his right shoulder. He jumped to his fee, and found another Wolfos bounding up to him. He stepped back, preparing to parry the Wolfos’ strike, but his foot sank into the ribcage of one of the Wolfos he had felled, just as the advancing Wolfos pounced. He couldn’t balance himself or unhook his foot from the bones, so down he went as the Wolfos sailed over his body, and into the brush behind him.
His head hit the grass hard, and his vision fogged for a moment He could see blurs of movement from his fellow Heroes as they spun and clashed against the Wolfos. He saw a smaller blur leap over a larger one, slicing its skull open as it did, and landing gracefully. It turned to him, and rushed over. The other blur, which was much bigger, didn’t move gracefully; its movements were rough and powerful. It sliced and ripped the beasts apart, only taking one glance from a beast, which was subsequently slain by the behemoth warrior.
His view of the carnage was then replaced by a foot, the foot of the small blur—Sheik. She moved forward, and he felt something land on his leg. She knelt down, and moved a head, which held a pair of glazing eyes. Sheik muttered a spell under her breath, and Link’s body felt lighter in her hands. She moved him over a little and found a large rock under where his head had been. She looked back at Link, whose eyes were now flickering. She stood up as Impa felled the last Wolfos, her blade sinking deep into its torso.
Impa looked over at Sheik as the brush behind her cleared and another Wolfos leapt out from the darkness. Sheik moved to her right just in time, and the Wolfos, before standing, twisted its body. It began to shake and shudder violently, and it shrunk slightly, but its legs became more buff-colored. Its mouth opened revealing not-so-threatening teeth, and an agitated deep voice came from it. “Put the chosen Hero onto my back,” it ordered.
“What?” Sheik said, in disbelief, “Who are you? No, what are you? What do you want with Link? I’m not putting him on your…”.
“Do it,” the voice interrupted. “The Hero has just died; my words are true. Now put the hero on my back.”
Sheik’s heart stopped for a moment as she took in the beast’s words. She turned, and both she and Impa knew at that moment, from his still eyes and chest, that their Hero was gone. She knelt down next to him, and steeled herself.
***
Cia sighed in relief as Link’s body was placed on the wolfs’ back. She fell to her knees and put her hand to her breast. What had the wolf said? She hadn’t paid attention…she was…so…the Hero was dead. She looked up at the portal and saw the wolf bounding through the woods. What was the wolf doing? Where was he…the Hero…Link…her…only…
Cia collapsed onto her side, her skin cold against the stone. Warm tears flowed down the side of her face and splashed onto the surface of the Valley of Souls. She sniffled, and another onslaught of tears poured out, her weeping heard echoing throughout the valley.
Ch.12.
The Wolf was bounding hard through the woods, each step thundering into the grass as it carried the fallen chosen Hero.
Meanwhile, the other two Heroes strode along the grass, following not too far behind. Impa had launched into a fury of verbal beating at Sheik after the wolf had left. “You listened to the wolf, and your only defense was a feeling in yourself telling you to obey the Wolf?”
The two remained silent to avoid further argument. They simply followed the wolf’s beaten path through the wood. The walk was eerily silent, considering the carnage they had just witnessed, and they could hear only the soft touching of their boots to the grass and the crackle of their torches.
It was half an hour or so before the trail stopped at a wall, a stone wall that spanned into the darkness on either side. The two heroes looked at their feet and saw footprints from the Wolf leading up to the wall. Impa put her hand on the wall. “I wonder if my power will trigger something.”
The wall stayed still, but something felt different after she touched it. Her senses blurred, and she fell to her knees. She saw Sheik doing the same. She tried to stay up, but both of them fell to their sides. Impa blurred into unconsciousness.
“Impa? Sheik?” A voice stirred inside the minds of the Heroes, and a vision of a beautiful woman appeared before them. She stood tall, her hair being the only thing covering her body save for some leaves and little vines. Her hair was the color of ivy, like the ‘garments’ she wore. Her eyes were jade green, and her skin was pearly and white. What really set her apart from anything the two had seen was the cloud of golden fog around her, which was hiding multiple Sprites.
Impa blinked her mental eyes, and stared at the woman. “Farore?” she asked, “Is it you?”
The woman shook her head and smiled. “I am known as…”
“…the Great Fairy of Faron,” Sheik cut in and bowed mentally. Impa followed, and the woman waved her hand, dismissing the bow. Sheik moved as if to speak again, but the Fairy held her hand up, shushing her.
“Be silent, child. The chosen Hero is safe with me inside my cave. He is currently resting in my fountain while we speak.” Impa and Sheik sighed. “His wounds are being healed, and yes, Sheik, his heart is healing as well. He will be at his physical prime when he emerges. That is, if you fail in your quest, that is. If you do not, the Triforce will put him in a state of strength he has and will never know other than then.”
“Is that your wolf?” Sheik asked.
“No, and Yes,” the Fairy answered. “It was a monster prowling the forest, and sot to eat you all, but I reached out and touched its mind and body. It turned into the servant it now is.”
“Where is the Temple of Courage?” Impa asked, and the Fairy laughed gently.
“You don’t need to know this, child. Until your chosen Hero has healed, and passed through the Forest Temple with the Forest Emerald in hand, you need not know. So do not trouble your mind, young one.”
“Why didn’t you let us into your cave?” Impa asked, “Why enter our minds?”
“I didn’t see a need to bring you into the cave, and touching the mind of a mortal is always a pleasant experience.”
“Oh,” Im
pa simply said.
“Where shall we go to await Link’s exit of the Forest Temple?” Sheik asked.
“Follow your heart. It will not lead you astray.”
“When will we return to the physical world?” Impa asked.
“When your Hero is finished healing, which will happen in four seconds. Farewell, children.”
The image of the Fairy faded from their view and was replaced by grass. The two lifted themselves from the ground. Impa looked at Sheik, and she started walking along the left side of the wall. Impa shrugged and followed her, taking one last glimpse of the Fairy’s cave.
***
Forty-two minutes earlier…
The wolf didn’t break its stride as it neared the wall; it simply bound through it into the Fairy’s beautiful cave. The stone was cleaned by fountain water, not covered in grime. The actual fountain was filled with Fairy water, and inside, resting in the Fountain, was the Great Fairy of Faron. The wolf stopped when it reached the water. It stood atop the royal crest adorned chiseled stone just out of the water.
The Fairy stood up, water dripping from her body as she exited the fountain. She breathed in slightly heavier than normal, and a breeze blew around her body, drying the water and wrapping leaves and vines around necessary areas. She moved toward the wolf and lifted Link’s body from the wolf’s back. She breathed out, and a breeze blew through Link. His garments and weapons fell into the air, dissipating into nothing. The wolf nodded toward the Fairy, and a breeze blew through it, turning it to dust and carrying it out into the forest.
The Fairy walked into the water and kissed Link’s forehead, spreading warmth through his body. She set him in the water, submerging him completely, and his body immediately began to heal: skin growing, heart starting fresh and normal, veins connecting, and blood reappearing. His body was at a state of prime in moments.