Legend of Zelda: Hero of Birds [T] - NO FLATTERY ALLOWED

((I will explain the title. This place is not where I post my stuff here so people can kiss my feet. If you wanna go do that, there are other threads here whose author would appreciate it. I post here, and I write, to better myself. Flattery does not better me. I would deeply appreciate it if every comment and post here had at least one legitimate criticism - complaints that 'the only thing I don't like about this story is that the next chapter isn't up!' and its subsidiaries are bogus. Eat your heart out, suck-ups - I'm here to be criticized. Read it - unless I'm omniscient, there's going to be something wrong, and (surprise surprise) I'm not omniscient. That not to say I don't mind praise, but only when it is sincere. And only in context. In my opinion, context is when mixed in with constructive criticism.

And I know the title stinks))



Hero of Birds







Part I: Aldorn


Chapter I

They tell of legends. They are carved lovingly into the cold stone of the forgotten hall, torchlight playing on their tales, almost making the figures dance in the dim glow.

They tell of a city. A country. How far away, how long ago, they do not say. They only speak of its name, a name of a country long forgotten: Hyrule. They tell how it was overtaken by a man with the blessing of power, and they tell how courage and wisdom defeated him, and cast him into a realm, a void between reality. They then tell of how courage then disappeared, never to be seen again.

Thus the kingdom continued, bereft of courage.

Until Courage returned.

-------

If they would have listened, they would have heard it in the leaves. They would have tasted it in the murmuring river. They would have smelled it in the wood’s spice. They would have felt it in the caress of the breeze. They would have known it was ground into the earth, carved into the mountains, burned into the sunlight.

Change.

But as it was, they would have had to been part of the forest, lived in it, known the woods’ every burble and whisper. But they were people of the fields, the grassy knolls, the wide open spaces, so they did not know.

After all, change never came to Ordon.

-------


Aldorn blinked through the dust thrown by his horse’s hooves in the ferocity its gallop. Grinning, he pushed Garied faster, his entire body leaning forward in excitement, in the thrill of the speed. He turned to his younger partner tauntingly. “Is that the best you can do?” he asked with a laugh as he pulled ahead of Kyrian, Aldorn's best friend, Link's, horse. Link just gave him a determined look before once more burying his heels into Kyrian’s side.

The two blazed a trail through Ordon woods - or South Faron, whichever your preference was. It was usually the plantation owners that called it South Faron, possibly they didn’t think Ordon was small enough already. At any rate, the wide dirt lane, etched with trenches from carts, was now being ripped apart by the two boys’ horses. Of course, it wasn’t like it was paved or anything, and it helped get rid of that rebellious patch of unruly grass. That was the good thing - the lane was so natural it provided enough thrills for activities such as this. Especially Mountain Bend, it had that one knobby, twisted tree root right on that corner that made you force your horse to jump to make it over it - that is, if your horse didn’t balk at it. It was a rather witchy looking thing. It was wonderful.

Aldorn laughed as Garied successfully made the precarious jump. He’d even managed to keep on the inside of the corner, forcing Link to forfeit is neck-and-neck position at the jump, but Kyrian was a feisty thing and Link was an excellent rider - despite the fact he was two years Aldorn’s junior. This challenge was exactly why Aldorn loved these competitions with his friend.

Once more, Link was right at Aldorn’s side, and the younger boy felt the need to give Aldorn a cocky grin.

“Hah, not bad, but you better watch your sister’s horse - she wouldn’t want it to eat dust!” Aldorn said, again driving his horse to pull ahead. The two boys’ blond hair whipped in the wind, both pairs of vivid blue eyes focused intently on Farmer Migil’s tree - the finish line. The horses, both bays, galloped through the forest, foam flecking their muzzles, ears cocked forward in ernest.

“Hah!” Aldorn shouted in victory as he halted his horse, looking over triumphantly at Link as they pulled out into Farmer Migil’s field. The young boy had a fussy look on his face, sticking his tongue out at Aldorn. “Sore loser,” Aldorn said with a grin before pulling his horse next to Link’s. “C’mon, lets get you home -”

“Hey, you kids! Get outta my field!” A wretched voice screeched.

Both the boys grinned at each other as they once more made the horses to gallop, this time down into Ordon. Before leaving, though, they each helped themselves to an ear of Farmer Migil’s corn.

-------

“Berdak!” Aldorn yelled as the two boys entered the store. “Berdak, what’s new?”

“Aldorn! What have you two beens up to now? So dirty!” The large, amiable man asked, grinning, as he shelved one of his potions.

“Eh, racing, y’know.”

“Can I help you two troublemakers? Parents wants anything?”

“Naw, just wanted to get the scoop on the local news,” Aldorn said with a wave of his hand. Really, the only reason they'd stopped is because their horses needed rest and Berdak's shop's hitching post was right near the river. So, basically, they were in there killing time.

“Ain’t nothing happenin’ beyond ol’ Mrs. Trillian gettin’ in a fight with Mr. Trillian. Pushed him in the well this time, I think,”

“That was last week.”

“Ehhh...” Berdak said, polishing off one more bottle. “Ah! Last ones! Good,” he said in a thundering voice. “Now, what is this I hear of Master Link being as only one year now from manhood?”

“Yah, Link’s nine now,” Aldorn said, elbowing the mentioned. Link grinned.

“Hah, one more year, then you can gets your own horse. Good lad,” Berdak said, wiping his hands on his pants, “all the children be growing up so fast now! Now who will I talk to besides those dull potion-makers?”

“You could just try to sell more than just potions...”

“Not so! I must sell potions.”

“But why such silly ones? I know its fun, but I don’t know how many people would buy these,” Aldorn said, pointing upwards at a shelf unreachable at his current height. “I mean, I’d like to change my eye color and stuff for fun, but adults are dull. ‘Cept you.”

“Ah! Master Aldorn, too kind,” Berdak smiled.

A moment of awkward silence followed. The two boys shuffled their feet a bit before Link elbowed Aldorn and motioned towards the door.

“Uh, well, bye,” Aldorn said, walking out the door.

“Ah!” Berdak replied.

-------

“Link!” Kariah said when she saw her little brother cross the knoll. She waved at him, to which he returned with a grin. It wasn’t long before Link rode up to her, Aldorn following reluctantly. Aldorn always seemed so nervous about her. Her eye began to examine Link’s horse, and a critical look crossed her face as she rubbed her hand along Kyrian’s flank. She then glanced over at Link who was wandering off, nonchalantly. “Link! You get back here,” he turned around with an angelic look. “Link, what have you been doing with Kyrian? Just look at him. You raced him without letting him rest enough again, didn’t you?”

He gave her a sheepish grin and began to saunter away again, but her hand fell upon his shoulder, “Woah, woah, wait a minute. Even if you could talk you aren’t wheedling your way out of it this time. You’re going to brush him. Well, what you can reach of him,” she said, handing him the course brush. Aldorn remained on his horse, fidgeting in anxiety as Link gave Kariah a pitiful look as he held the brush as one might hold the rope that was to hang them.

“Don’t give me that... Aldorn!” She said, looking up at the older boy in such a way as to cause him to straighten on his mount. “You’re worse than him because you know better.”

“Aw, Kariah,”

“Don’t give me that. I’m not like your sister, that doesn’t work on me.”

“But, Kariah, it’s his birthday,” he said with a look at Link, who was still giving her puppy eyes.

She sighed. She then looked back down at Link before snatching the implement of doom and boredom from his hands, brushing a blonde lock from her face as she did so. “It would be on your birthday, pfft,” she said before looking over at Kyrian. The horse proceeded to nuzzle her, and, despite herself, she smiled. “You probably want to see your mare and foal, don’t you? Yes you do,” she said, leading the horse off.

Link then began walking towards his house as Aldorn rode Garied to the door, readying to dismount the horse.

“Link!”

Link winced. “Don’t you go anywhere! I’m not finished with you,” Kariah said from the stable. Aldorn remained on his horse, not quite sure what to do. Gingerly, he slid off the horse before dashing into the house.

He was followed by Link’s venomous expression.

“Link! Link,” Kariah said as she ran up to him. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be holding anything that might cause suffering, but one never knew. “Here,” she said, holding out something in her hand, “‘cuz you aren’t such a bad kid,” she said, before leaving. She never was good around mushy scenes.

Link examined the little piece in awe. It was a hand-carved ocarina - with twelve holes. He then looked down at his own, hanging around his neck, which he’d carved himself. However, that one was much more crude, and had only five holes. He looked back up at the gift, special even more in that it was polished and painted a beautiful blue color, with a yellow triangle at its pipe. It even came with a strap, so he could wear it around his neck like his other one. His eyes brightened as he put it on and lifted the instrument to his lips. He’d played Berdak’s old 12-hole ocarina when the store manager allowed it, so he already knew how to play one, so he already knew how to gently play one of his favorite tunes. The music sounded so much better on a fresh, new instrument than one Berdak’s old one. He looked over at his sister, who was blowing on her own horsegrass flute, trying to teach Kyrian’s foal, Epona, a simple little tune. Link smiled.

She wasn’t so bad, after all.

Excitedly, Link dashed into his house and into his room, hanging up his old ocarina so that it wouldn’t bump his beautiful new one when he wore it. Link plopped himself on his bed and began playing, happily. The warmth of the small room, with the sun peeping in the little window, always gave him some measure of comfort. I wasn’t glamorous, but it was homey.

“Hey, Link, what gives?” Aldorn asked as he walked into the room, “forget I was here? We’re all waiting on you so we can eat dinner, and you know I don’t like to wait,” Aldorn crossed his arms impatiently.

Link motioned emphatically towards his new instrument, but Aldorn wasn’t that interested. Reluctantly, he followed his friend down to the dinner table, which was somewhat crudely carved from a block of wood, and decorated with the array of food set upon it.

Once Link was seated, everyone began eating except Link’s mother, who beamed at her son, “One more year, Link,” she whispered. She then turned to her husband, “It won’t be long now before he’s big enough to fit into Ersias’s favorite tunic...”

“Mother,” Kariah said with annoyance and a bit of pain, “please don’t mention him at the table,”

“We can’t block him out, Kariah, he was a good boy while he was alive. We can remember that, can’t we?”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t miss my brother.”

“I know, honey. But it will be good when Link can wear his chain mail and tunic, in about five or so years he’ll be about your age, then he’ll be big enough.”

“Meat please,” Aldorn said loudly, trying to cut the ooshy-gooshy moment short.

“Here,” Kariah said as she scooted the platter over to him.

-------

Aldorn had left already and had gone home, and the night had fallen. It was a clear night with a pale new moon, warm, with a gentle breeze rippling across the small grassy hill, transforming it into a silver-green sea. Kariah stood, leaning against the house as she watched her little brother playing his new ocarina. She knew he would enjoy such a gift, it was one of the only ways he could speak, through music. He was funny, sometimes he would play background music while someone was speaking. It usually got on the person’s nerves, but to outsiders it was rather comical.

She watched him as he played his favorite tune, the tune the old traveler had taught him when he came through years ago. The traveler had said that the tune would bring birds to whomever played it, and that it had magic that would heal the birds. While she didn’t believe the latter, the former was obviously true, as a small flock of pigeons, sparrows, and perhaps a warbler or jay crowded about him; one even perched on his head.

Link loved the birds. He often left his window open at night and played the tune so birds would come into his room. When he was younger, and had bad dreams, he would often do that for comfort and company. He had a special connection with birds, her brother, it was as if they could understand what he was trying to say, and were probably the only ones. The only people that understood him.

Kariah liked to think she understood him, and though she knew he and Aldorn got along, Aldorn didn’t understand him. The older boy even thought the whole bird thing was silly - their parents were probably the closest to understanding him, especially his mother, but no one could really understand him. Save the equally wordless birds. Who knew what went on in her little brother’s mind? She was certain the birds knew. She was also certain that there was more going on behind those vivid eyes than anyone believed. She knew he was a clever boy, though he had become somewhat dependent, especially on Aldorn, for contact with the sentient world. Sometimes she thought it was unhealthy, but he needed someone, and she wasn’t it. Fortunately, Link had such an expressive face. If he had one of those stone faces he probably would have been regulated to just birds, but his eyes held such emotion as to almost talk for him sometimes.

Kariah continued to watch her brother and the birds before looking up at the moon.

Link was such a special boy. It was a sad thing that almost nobody ever took the time to get to know him.

-------

Pbbbbtthh...

“Link, seriously. You should know how to whistle by now. You can’t just toot at the horses with your new orcmina-whatsit.”

Link glared daggers at Aldorn as he yanked on the reigns to get Kyrian to rear, spooking a nearby horse into trotting a bit closer to the gateway goal. Link then brought his new ocarina to his lips and let blast a fully open, ear-splitting high F. Aldorn winced at the shrill noise, as did every creature with ears within half a mile. To Aldorn’s chagrin, the new ocarina’s high note had the desired effect, and the horses cantered/galloped away from Link’s instrument of pain.

“Well, I guess you can,” Aldorn mumbled as he once more commenced shouting at the horses to herd them in the right direction. “Whatever, we just need to get our dads’ horses in there for the night before sunrise. And we don’t want them deaf,” he said, ignoring Link’s glare, “so you get over there and we’ll work inwards. They’re skittish today, must be the weather,” Aldorn said, bringing up his horse to follow through with his directives. Link skulked a bit before obeying, herding the horses in from another front.

It didn’t take long before the last horse scooted itself into the gate and the boys had it shut. Link began counting heads to make sure the horses were all there while Aldorn got them both waterskins. “I hate days like this. I know it’s both our dads raising horses that brought us together and stuff, but I sure wished he’d picked an easier job sometimes. Sheesh. Ornery animals today,” Aldorn took a gulp of water while he handed Link his respective skin.

Link wasn’t paying much attention, but absently grabbed at the waterskin anyway, continuing to count. Rolling his eyes, Aldorn wrapped Link’s hand around the waterskin before letting go. “Swordtraining with Taryn was good today, though. You getting pretty good, for a nine-year-old,” the comment finally garnered a response from Link in the form of a glare, “don’t give me that, I’m the reason he took you anyway. You know how he is with communication, he wasn’t going to take a mute, remember?” Link ignored him.

“Ingrate,” Aldorn murmured.

Just then, Link began motioning something fiercely. Aldorn watched his hands intently, and managed to figure out that it had something to do with the horses. He couldn’t get much beyond that, though. “Huh?”

Link held up one finger, then pointed to the small herd again.

“Gah, why I let you count I don’t know. Gosh, if you can’t count, I’ll do it. Get stuck at 23?” Aldorn said, grumbling. Sullen, Link crossed his arms and glared at Aldorn indignantly as Aldorn counted once, then twice.

“Oh, darn. We missed one.”

Well, to be honest, I wasn't expecting something like this...

There was the occasional wrong spelling/word missing problem, but I'm quite sure that's not what you're looking for. That's why we go back and read over parts of our work, right?

So, first thing: Aldorn's relationship with Link wasn't quite clear, in my opinion. First I assumed he was a friend. Then I assumed, with a little doubt, that he was his brother. Then, upon reading Aldorn speak of them meeting because of their fathers' profession, I went back to them being friends. Needless to say, I was quite confused. Now I see that I didn't pick up on him leaving their home after dinner, but on my first read, I couldn't see what their connection really was.

Second, these parts:

Originally Posted by Solus Anonymous

“Aldorn! What have you two beens up to now? So dirty!” The large, amiable man asked, grinning, as he shelved one of his potions.

“Eh, racing, y’know. We figured we’d better stop here, being as your hitching post is near the river and all, gives the horses a chance to rest a bit.”

“That be why I put it there!” he boomed, “Gets good business. Can I help you two troublemakers? Parents wants anything?”

.................................................. ....................

“Not so! I must sell potions.”

“But why such silly ones? I know its fun, but I don’t know how many people would buy these,” Aldorn said, pointing upwards at a shelf unreachable at his current height, “I mean, I’d like to change by eye color and stuff for fun, but adults aren’t that fun. ‘Cept you.”

A) It seemed a bit unrealistic, to me, that Aldorn would say all that. Maybe just stop at "y'know.", add an elipsis, start Berdak at "Can I help you two troublemakers?", and put all that about the hitching post in a descriptive paragraph. Something to that effect.

B) Well, first there's the fact that you did the punctuation weird (Should be a period after "height", since the rest of his speech wasn't in the same sentence as the previous bit). Then there's the "by" that oughta be "my". Lastly, there's the usage of "fun". Three times. Twice in the same sentence. Making said sentence sound strange when read.

Overall...I know this is the first chapter an' all, but it needs more conflict. I had to push myself to start reading it, but once we get to talk of Link's situation, I'm in. I dunno how, but you gotta get the beginning to be a bit more interesting.

-Sekal

Originally Posted by Sekal

Well, to be honest, I wasn't expecting something like this...

There was the occasional wrong spelling/word missing problem, but I'm quite sure that's not what you're looking for. That's why we go back and read over parts of our work, right?

Sorry, I read through it a few times but I guess I missed some.

Originally Posted by Sekal

So, first thing: Aldorn's relationship with Link wasn't quite clear, in my opinion. First I assumed he was a friend. Then I assumed, with a little doubt, that he was his brother. Then, upon reading Aldorn speak of them meeting because of their fathers' profession, I went back to them being friends. Needless to say, I was quite confused. Now I see that I didn't pick up on him leaving their home after dinner, but on my first read, I couldn't see what their connection really was.

Eh, I was trying to avoid plot dumping and I guess I got paranoid about telling too much. I put in two references near the beginning relating to them just being friends.

Originally Posted by Sekal

Second, these parts:


A) It seemed a bit unrealistic, to me, that Aldorn would say all that. Maybe just stop at "y'know.", add an elipsis, start Berdak at "Can I help you two troublemakers?", and put all that about the hitching post in a descriptive paragraph. Something to that effect.

Yes, thank you. I've been trying to work on and practice my dialogue, and I appreciate the help.

Originally Posted by Sekal;2145863B

Well, first there's the fact that you did the punctuation weird (Should be a period after "height", since the rest of his speech wasn't in the same sentence as the previous bit). Then there's the "by" that oughta be "my". Lastly, there's the usage of "fun". Three times. Twice in the same sentence. Making said sentence sound strange when read.

Thank you for pointing that out. Fixed.

Originally Posted by Sekal

Overall...I know this is the first chapter an' all, but it needs more conflict. I had to push myself to start reading it, but once we get to talk of Link's situation, I'm in. I dunno how, but you gotta get the beginning to be a bit more interesting.

-Sekal

It wasn't a barrel of monkeys to write it either - I hate exposition and I worry if I do it right. Me, personally, I mostly skim the first chapter of books anyway, as it dulls me, too. I'll see if I can think of any way to make it more interesting.

Thank you very much for the review, I appreciate it.

Chapter II


Link threw up his hands in exasperation.

“Well, what’re we gonna do now?” Aldorn asked, mostly to himself since Link couldn’t really answer in any way that would carry much meaning. The older boy glanced up at the sun, which was setting behind the hills to their left. “Um...our dads are gonna kill us.”

Link cocked an eyebrow and scrunched up his face as if to say No duh.

Aldorn ignored him as he thought. “Well...we could go look for it now but dad’d find out. Um...we look around tonight, after they go to bed, so we can have it back by morning when Dad counts ‘em,” Aldorn said, looking over at Link to see if the younger boy was up to it. Link nodded at Aldorn before motioning over his shoulder. As Link’s father rode up behind him, Link plastered on a large, innocent grin. He stared at his father, smiling widely as the man checked up on the gates, passing the boys in the process.

It Aldorn’s contemptuous expression the finally persuaded Link to cut it out. As the grin melted, Aldorn rolled his eyes. “Talk about looking guilty.”

-------


Fortunately, it wasn’t too difficult for Aldorn to sneak out of the house. The only thing that proved troublesome was when he tried to get a horse; the stupid things were all so happy to see him, and their rapture made enough noise to wake the dead. It was a wonder Aldorn’s mom didn’t ask her husband to check it, though he probably just would have rolled over and told her to go back to bed. Maybe that’s what happened.

At any rate, the end result was that Aldorn couldn’t get a hold of a horse to ride, so he was stuck walking. At first, he wondered whether he should just dump the whole thing and suffer the consequences of losing a horse rather than walk. However, he began thinking of Link, who was probably already there, as the ranch was right near his house. He sighed, he couldn’t really dump the whole thing on the kid, so he was stuck walking.

Despite his inner grumbling, it really wasn’t that far to walk, and it wasn’t long before he reached the ranch gate, and, yes, Link was already there.

“Did you get a horse?” Aldorn asked, motioning towards the corral. Link shook his head. “Why not?” Link began to point when Aldorn waved his hand. “Never mind, sorry I asked. Well, we can get one now,” he said, opening the corral gate. A miffed Link just watched Aldorn, arms crossed.

Aldorn looked around the corral a bit before grasping at a horse’s muzzle, where the reigns should be, only to remember that the horses weren’t wearing any. “Reigns?” Aldorn called out.

Link just continued to watch, before pointing behind him in the direction of his house.

“Oh,” Aldorn said, remembering that all the reigns in Link’s house hung on that rusty nail that Link couldn’t reach yet without something to stand on, a task that would require a fair bit of noise. “Why didn’t you say so?”

Link just cocked an eyebrow.

-------

They would end up stuck walking through Ordon woods alone at night. They had been at it for several hours by now, and Aldorn was dead tired. Though Link, of course, didn’t say anything, it was obvious just by the way he moved that he was about ready to plop down right where he was and doze off.

It never once had occurred to Aldorn that the search would take nearly this long. If he had known, he probably wouldn’t have even started, and even now he was seriously pondering just turning back. It then dawned on him that he was hungry, too. And cold.

Just then Aldorn felt a tug on his sleeve. At first his zoned-out mind ignored it as some briar or other, but it yanked again and he was compelled to look. Link, the perpetrator, now possessing of Aldorn’s attention, jerked his thumb homewards with a weary, half-shut gaze.

Oh, darn it all. Now that Link had suggested it he couldn’t turn back for at least another fifteen minutes so it would be his own idea. “We’ll keep looking a bit longer, okay?” he said in appeasement, as it appeared that mutiny was passing through Link’s mind. Now, Link just drooped a bit more and mechanically began to walk off again, appearing more to be sleepwalking than searching.

Suddenly, however, Link was alive again and he had fallen onto his back, looking frightened up at something ahead. Aldorn couldn’t see anything, and didn’t even know that the status quo had been altered, as Link couldn’t and didn’t make any exclamation that there was to be one. Fortunately, however, Aldorn did notice, and he walked over, eyes rolling, sure that whatever it was wasn’t anything more than an owl. Maybe monkey, but probably an owl.

As Aldorn trudged over, he finally looked to see what it was Link was looking at so he could convince him it was nothing to worry about, and found himself having to keep from making a noise in fear and surprise.

Through that little clearing in the brush, he could see a funny-looking giant lizard, or some kind of raptor thing, wearing armor and walking on two legs in a forward-leaning position. Aldorn ducked down so that they would be difficult to see in the underbrush, and watched, frozen, as the lizard thing was joined by another of the same, the two looking down at something the boys could not catch a glimpse of. By now, Link had scooted himself next to Aldorn, partly because the cover was better where he was and because there was security in not being exposed and alone.

As the two boys watched, Aldorn began to feel the fear wearing off and the curiosity wearing on. Fortunately, Link didn’t begin ‘asking’ to go back home, though for what reason he did not, Aldorn did not know. At any rate, it was not long before the lizard things walked away, and, if Aldorn didn’t know better, with a look of consternation and frustration on their ‘faces’; if you could call it a face. Aldorn waited a bit in the bush for a few more minutes, until he felt that faithful tug once more. He didn’t even look down, knowing what Link wanted. “No, wait. Let’s see what they were doing,” he whispered before rising to his feet and cautiously walking up to whatever the raptor-things were so intent on. Link followed close behind.

Aldorn let out a gasp when the leaves of the shrub gave way to a young woman, injured, with cuts all over her body. She was a harsh-looking woman, with a kind of beauty about her, though it was more of an Amazonian beauty, and her hair, done up in a now mussed bun, was pure white. Around her were strewn several bags, ripped apart and open. Nearby was a dead horse - not the boys’ prodigal, fortunately. For a second the two boys just stared before Aldorn said, mostly to himself, “Well what are we going to do?” If they left her here, she might die, though the wounds didn’t look too bad. If they brought her back home, there would be some serious explaining to do as to why they were in Ordon forest so late, which would lead to them revealing the loss of the horse. Ergo, a big mess. “Erm...she looks tough, and she doesn’t look too bad off. We could just leave her.”

Link, however, apparently wasn’t partial to the idea, and crossed his arms and gave Aldorn his best nine-year-old No look.

Aldorn grimaced. He knew that when Link made that face he was serious, and even mute he could not be budged from his decision. “If we get in trouble, I blame you,” Aldorn muttered as he stared at the woman a few more moments. “Well, how do you expect us to get her home?” Link made a motion as if to grab her. “You can’t be serious. Drag her all the way home?” Link nodded. “...No way,” Link glared at Aldorn. “Look, there is no way I am going to drag her all the way back home. And I don’t think that even with your help we could do it, so we aren’t okay?”

-------

They had been at the task for fifteen minutes, and now even Link was ready to quit dragging her. Link then motioned something to Aldorn. “You go back and get help? What’ll you do to tell them? Wave your arms? No. And I’m not going back, either. I don’t think I could find my way back here at night. I say we leave her,” he said, once more attempting to escape.

The suggestion gave Link newfound determination, and he began pulling harder, when a sound of rustling leaves came from their right. Link froze as he looked over his shoulder at the noise. Wondering if it was another lizard-thing, Aldorn went ahead and peeked, just to get it over with, and grinned. He whistled, calling a black horse, little larger than a foal, to him. Link smiled as he saw their lost horse, and, dropping his female burden, threw his arms around the horse’s neck.

“Okay, good, we found the horse, now can we go home?”

Link ignored him and pulled back from the horse to stroke its neck.

“Did you hear what I said? Can we go home now?”

Link looked over at him impatiently before shaking his head. He pointed to the woman, then to the horse. “Her ride the horse? But what about us? Are we just going to walk home?” Link pondered a minute, doubtlessly weighing the idea of walking all that way. He appeared greatly troubled before he reluctantly nodded. Aldorn threw up his arms, but he knew he would have no peace until the woman was draped over the horse back, so he draped her. It was a bit of work, but he managed it.

Also managed was Link, who found room on the horse and was able to plop down in front of the lady. Lucky

-------

Okay, how do you word this? “Er... Mom?” Aldorn asked, shaking his mother’s shoulder in an effort to wake her up. He might have tried waking his father instead, but right now he was ill, and more likely to be irritable. When she groaned in reply, Aldorn said, “Mom, there’s a lady outside and she’s pretty beat up.”

Another muffled groan. “Mom, there’s a lady and she needs help,”

“A what?”

“A lady.”

Another groan.

“What is it, Marya?” Aldorn’s father asked from the other side of the bed.

“Aldorn says there’s a woman outside,” Marya muttered.

“Tell her to go back to sleep,” Aldorn’s father said, rolling over so that the his pillow lay draped over his bed.

“I’m serious!” Aldorn said, “She’s outside and she’s hurt,”

“You aren’t kidding, Aldorn?” his mother asked.

“No, Mom, really.”

There was a muffled noise as Marya sat up, eyes still shut, and swiveled around to stand up. Though still a pretty woman despite the few wrinkles across her face, she was not looking her best at the moment, with her brunette hair frizzed out in several directions, and one thin lock pointing straight towards the heavens. Aldorn was used to such hair, though: Link never bothered with his hair.

“Now where is this woman, Aldorn?”

“Outside,” he said, grabbing her hand to help her in the right direction. When he finally did get her outside, and she finally did catch a glimpse of the woman, Marya suddenly seemed to come to life.

“Oh! Oh my goodness,” she said, jogging over to the woman, who was still draped over the horse. “Aldorn, get her off the horse and into the house!” She apparently didn’t really noticed Link, who was still mounted on the horse, dozing away. However, when the lady was moved away and his perch disturbed, Link, thus rudely awakened, nearly fell off his mount.

“Yes, Mom,” Aldorn said, grabbing the woman and somewhat clumsily yanking her off the horse. Fortunately Marya was there to keep the woman from crashing to the ground. However, Marya was not strong enough to hold her, and, with Aldorn’s help, she dragged her inside while Link watched them in a weary-eyed state of apathy.

Once within the homey abode, Marya managed to place the woman on the couch while she retrieved some cloth and herbs from various locations about the house. She then carefully began tending to the woman’s wounds, one of which now revealed itself to be more serious - a gash in her side. However, Marya, after bandaging it up a bit, did not seem too worried.

As she wrapped, she began to regain control over her thoughts and she happened to look up from her work at Aldorn. “Aldorn! What have you been doing? You have dirt all over you,” she said, wiping it from his shirt. “You been outside in the forest, haven’t you? You know you shouldn’t do that, you know better,” she reprimanded, harshly. Just then she noticed Link, who was, at the moment, fast asleep in a chair. “You brought Link with you? Aldorn! I’ve told you not to do things like this, but it’s worse when you drag Link down with you.”

Link stirred a bit upon hearing his name before dropping right off again.

“Well, you see...”

“Go on. You might as well weave your story now before you present it to your father in the morning,” Marya said, angered.

Aldorn winced. “Um, see, me and Link, well, we lost a horse this afternoon while we were rounding up the horses and stuff and so we decided to search for it tonight and we did and it’s right here.”

“Is that how you found her?”

“Uh, huh.”

“Hm. Well, whether you brought the horse back or not, you should have told your father and not wandered around all night. There are dangerous things in the woods at night, like whatever did this to her. You and your father would have left in the morning to bring it back, though you would still be in trouble for losing the horse. Though you’re going to be in more for, one, not telling him, and, two, galavanting around Ordon woods. You understand?”

“Mm, hm.”

“What, Aldorn?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Aldorn replied, subdued.

“All right, now, take Link home then come back and get to bed. Day still comes early tomorrow, and so does your father.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Aldorn said, turning towards Link and grimacing. “Link, wake up,” Aldorn shook the smaller boy’s shoulder. One of Link’s eyes half-opened, revealing part of his light blue eye. That was enough of a signal of life, and Aldorn dragged him out of the chair and balanced him on the horse outside before mounting it, himself, behind Link, and riding off.

-------

Next morning, fortunately, Aldorn’s parents were so busied with the woman - Marya tending to her wounds while his father asked around about the woman - that Aldorn didn’t really get reprimanded beyond the lecture the night before. Despite this, Aldorn was very tired that morning.

It was still early that morning, and Aldorn had just finished his morning chores. At the moment, he was sitting, slumped and drained, on a chair in the main room. However, he was jerked out of his state of semiconsciousness when he heard a strange voice.

“What?” the voice said.

It didn’t take him long to identify the voice, it seemed the lady had awoken from her comatose state.

“Shh, here, drink this,” Marya said as she handed the lady some herbed water.

“What? Here, wait-”

“You’ve had a rough night, now drink this...”

“Ardas. Where’s Ardas?”

“Who?”

“My horse,” the lady replied.

“Aldorn, did you see a horse?” Marya asked him.

“Yeah, Mom. It was dead,” Aldorn said, now much more awake.

“Chuh,” the woman exclaimed. Her bright red eyes glanced around the room as if she was thinking. “Boy,” she said, turning to him, “what about the bags it was carrying?”

“All ripped up,” Aldorn replied, making sure to leave out any mention of the lizard things; if Marya knew about them, any trouble he would have been in would have been multiplied exponentially. “And my name’s Aldorn.”

The woman ignored this last statement and instead said something unintelligible.

“Please, Miss, drink some of this. It will help with the wound,” Marya continued. However, the woman just waved her hand.

“I am fine,” she said, swinging her legs around to stand up, but nearly fell over in pain when she put that much stress on her wounded side. “Syrus chev okk.” she said to herself before turning to Marya. “I need transportation. You will be compensated.”

“You are in no shape to ride, and especially not alone.”

“A cart, then.”

“We cannot afford to lose our cart, and we barely know you, so your deals do not hold water.”

“Chuh,” The woman said to herself.

“Perhaps in town you could get a cart.”

“No!”

“Miss, I hope you don’t mind me saying that you’re behavior does not fit your position,” Marya said, getting somewhat annoyed with their house guest.

The woman remained silent for a moment before speaking again. “I feel I can trust you,” she said, lifting up her hand, and showing her wrist, on which was a strange but familiar symbol. “I am an acquaintance of the Royal Family heading south in secret when I was ambushed by the Lizalfos, and now I must get back.”

“Oh,” Marya said, looking down at the symbol in the shape of a crying eye.

Just then, Aldorn’s father came in the room. “No one says they know any girl looking like that and...oh,” he said upon seeing her awake.

“You have been asking about me?”

“Yes, I was wondering who you belonged to,” he replied.

“Chuh.”

“Honey?” Marya said, “Honey, she’s an important person and she needs transportation...somewhere.”

The woman answered, “Now that news of me is spreading around, I must leave quickly.”

“You can’t ride with a cut like that in your side, Miss!” Aldorn’s father pointed out. “You probably shouldn’t even sit up,”

“No, she shouldn’t,” Marya agreed.

“I must,”

“No, no, wait,” Aldorn’s father said. “What if I drove you to...wherever you’re going?”

“Castle Town.”

“Castle Town?!” Aldorn repeated, excitedly.

“Yes, what if I drove you there? That way you could lie down and rest and not strain yourself.”

“Vakar, your health will not allow you to do such a thing,” Marya said. “It was bad enough letting you ask around about her this morning. You’re still ill, remember?”

“I’ll do it!” Aldorn volunteered, energetically. He’d always wanted to go to Castle Town.

“No, Aldorn.”

“Why not, Marya?” Vakar asked. “It might be good for the boy,”

“No, someone more experienced would be better. What about Link’s father? You did explain to him why Link was out last night,” Marya asked.

“Yes, Mom.” Aldorn replied, crestfallen.

“That’s no good, Marya,” Vakar said. “What with me ill, he has twice as much work. He can’t just dump all of that on his daughter.”

“Then we’ll get someone else.”

“No!” the woman said. “No one else must know I am here. Too many know already.”

“Then what are we to do?”

“I’ll do it!” Aldorn again offered.

“Come on, Honey,” Vakar asked. “It would be good for him, and I don’t see any reason why not.” Marya sighed, and remained silent, knowing she was beaten. Seeing this outcome, Aldorn practically jumped for excitement before dashing out the door to hitch up the cart.

At last, an excuse to go to Castle Town!






((Sorry that it is still moving slowly - it will pick up in the next chapter, I promise!))

((I was bored. So I decided to throw these together. It's a map of Hyrule and the surrounding lands per my story. It basically has all the places that I will be visiting in my stories. Read plural - this means that not all of these places will be visited in Hero of Birds. It may be in Demon's Blade or Even Heroes Bleed. But this is just to give you an idea))


-------

This one is nice and simple. If you're observant you may be able to pick out some places you know.



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A political map, woooo! Okay, I hope you can read it because I took great pains to try to make it readable.



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This map is for the people that can't make out the landscape, which is probably most of everybody because it doesn't jump out and bite you. Though this story is set in the adult timeline and thus does not occur on the same timeline as Twilight Princess, I figured the topography stayed pretty much the same in both timelines, so I used its map.



((So there you have it. Until the next chapter - which shouldn't be too long now. I'm proofreading it at the moment))

Chapter III

“Link!” Aldorn shouted when he caught sight of the younger boy. “Link, guess what I’m hitching up the cart for?” Link cocked an eyebrow before shrugging as he leaned against the hitch that Aldorn was currently not hooking up to a horse. “I’m going to Castle Town!” Aldorn said with a grin. The older boy felt pleasure well up inside of him as Link’s eyes grew wide. “Ain’t that great?” Link nodded in awe before looking at Aldorn quizzically. “Oh, it’s because the lady we found last night needs a ride there, and she can’t do it herself.”

Link appeared to think a moment before he grinned. “Hey, Link, why don’t you ask your dad if you can come along, too? The lady doesn’t seem like much fun.” At this revelation, Link’s smile widened in ecstasy and he gave an emphatic nod before he rushed out of the barn. Not long after, Aldorn heard the sound of hooves striking the ground, and he assumed that Link had begun the five minute-or-so gallop to his house. Biting his lip in excitement - going to Castle Town with his best friend was a good reason for the emotion, he thought - Aldorn finished latching the two wooden axel poles to the two horses’ traces. This done, Aldorn decided that his own house would be a good place to wait for Link, and he took the cart there. It would take half an hour or so to get the cart packed with food and supplies for three...or maybe two and a half, whatever Link counted as, so that would give him plenty of time to wait.

When he pulled up in front of his house, his mother already had a small stack of supplies in rows and companies next to the front door, which Aldorn began to dutifully pack. Without fail, however, when Aldorn’s mother saw how the boy was going about it, she proceeded to take down it all and redo it, showing him out to put this or that here so as to take up less space, to put certain things so far from the covered wagon’s side so that it would not fall over or out, how to arrange things so that it would be the most comfortable for their guest to lie on, and so forth. It became annoying.

“Aldorn, you can’t put those pasties there,” Marya scolded. “You don’t want to dig through half of everything to get some food. You put it over here...” she said, motioning, “so you can reach it.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Aldorn replied begrudgingly.

-------

It was almost forty-five minutes later when it was finally packed, and they were ready to leave. Marya had gone inside to get their guest, whom they finally managed to pry the name out of: Ilda. However, Ilda’s unusually deep voice came booming out even through the shut door.

“Not in the day! I can’t leave in daylight.”

Although Ilda was important, Marya was losing patience over her.

It didn’t bother Aldorn, though, as it gave him some time to find Link, who for some reason hadn’t shown up. He should have been here, oh, fifteen, twenty minutes ago. Link’s dad wasn’t one for long lectures, even if he was mad, which Aldorn doubted.

The older boy mounted a horse bareback in search of his friend, first deciding to check on their favorite spot: Farmer Migil’s tree, right next to the aforementioned farmer’s corn field. It provided fun and food at once - fortunately, the two boys loved corn and any of its derivatives. Except for that one cornbread that Mrs. Cairn made - blech.

Sure enough, sitting under the tree was Link, who looked particularly dejected curled up in the tree’s one knob that was formed as if by a chair-maker. Aldorn dismounted his horse, leaving it next to the one Link had ridden, and walked over to Link, who was hidden in the tree’s shade. “He say no?”

Link made a ‘Ffffft’ sound with his lower lip against his teeth before picking up a blade of grass to chew.

“Oh,” Aldorn said. He supposed he should have known better, as it was only the night before that they had lost the horse and sneaked out of the house to get it. Though Link and his dad were close, his dad was strict about that kind of thing. “Sorry.”

Link spat the blade of grass out, attitude showing.

Aldorn’s min began to work, as he knew that Ilda would not be much to talk to, and that Link had really been wanting to go - and doggone it they had meant well when they went out to get the horse! “What if...what if you snuck on board?”

Link looked up at him, with an almost terrified look.

“Yeah... I guess...” Aldorn sighed. This on top of their losing the horse...and Aldorn knew how much pleasing his dad meant to Link. “Hm. Maybe I can talk to him.”

Link looked up at Aldorn, unsure. “Hey, it won’t hurt to try,” Aldorn said. Link bit his lip, eyes darting about as he thought it over before nodding. “Okay, now let’s try,” Aldorn said, reaching out a hand to help Link get up.

-------

“Link,” Link’s father said, “Link, you know you don’t want me to treat you any different than I would treat someone who could speak. I don’t want you to be limited when you grow up, you know that. So whatever Aldorn has to say, you make sure that it echoes what you want said - don’t let him put words in your mouth, because people will try to. A spokesperson should not be used regularly, son. You’re going to have to learn to communicate on your own most of the time.”

Link nodded. “All right, Link. Now, Aldorn, what is it you want to say for him?”

“Well, sir, um, you see, this is probably going to be his only chance or his only chance in a long time to go to Castle Town, and I might need the help with the lady.” Aldorn said, quickly. Strange, when he rehearsed it to himself it seemed a lot longer. Maybe he’d left something out.

Link’s father cocked an eyebrow, showing Link’s resemblance to him. “Do you now? And what do you expect me to do about last night? I can’t reward him wandering off like that in the middle of the night. It might have been him or you instead of the woman you found who was hurt. I can’t condone that,” he said, looking down at his son.

“Sir, it was my fault.”

“I know it was, but I can’t let Link be so easily pulled astray - he needs to learn to think and act for himself. I don’t want you to grow up as his crutch.”

“No, sir,” Aldorn said, kicking the dirt on the floor of Link’s house.

Link’s father sighed before the man knelt down so he was closer to Link’s height. He wasn’t a burly man, one didn’t need to be too much if one raised horses, but he wasn’t a reed either. He had hair the color of dirty blond, of medium length, and parted in the same place as Link: above the right eye. A short beard adorned his rough, tanned face. “Link, here,” he said, embracing his son, then pulling back a bit. “Now look at me. You’re your own man, you are not someone else’s copy, or someone else’s shadow. I know it’s hard for you because you can’t speak, but I know you can do it. I wouldn’t let you grow up normally if I didn’t think you were tough enough to handle it. You’re strong, Link. Someday you’ll see that,” he said, embracing him again. “You have so much of your brother in you,” he whispered. “Now, Link,” he said, getting up, “You may go with Aldorn, but there will be some punishment when you get home. Okay?”

Link smiled widely and hugged his dad before running out the door, Aldorn leaving close behind. His father’s gently smiling eyes followed his boy out into the world.

“Be safe.”

-------

The sun had set, and a cool late-summer breeze was gently brushing the grass and stalks of corn or grain. The plain, bordered on one side by Ordon Woods and on the east by medium-sized mountains, was unbroken except for a small wagon near the forest’s edge.

Aldorn sat perched on the wagon’s seat, Link next to them, both eager to get moving as Ilda was placed behind them - much to her consternation. It seemed she wanted to drive despite the fact that she could barely sit up. Fortunately they managed to keep her down there - Link would have had to move if she came up here. At last, however, Aldorn’s mom was finished with her fussing and the boys were motioned to leave. Or, more accurately, Aldorn’s father found a precious moment in which Marya was silent in which to shoo the boys off.

“Really, Marya, you worry too much,” Ardas said, shaking his head at his wife.

“Bye, son!” Link’s father said, waving to Link, who turned to wave back. Aldorn, however, was so intent that he just kept his eyes on the path between the silhouettes of the horses.

They were off!

-------

Aldorn sat, eyes focused lazily on the wad of grass in his hands as he made some effort to pull out one blade at a time and toss onto the wet ground out to his right. He and Link were sharing the same animal skin to keep warm beneath, as neither of them felt cold enough to share in Ilda’s warmer blanket. The rain pelted the canvas of the cart with ferocity; this fact mingled with the night made it ice cold. They couldn’t start a fire, they’d drench themselves making one outside and they couldn’t make one inside unless they felt like being the kindling, so they were stuck nestled up against each other under an animal skin.

Ilda sat up against the other side of the cart, facing them with piercing eyes. For this reason it was little wonder both boys were staring downwards, at times lifting their gaze to the fascinating ball of grass in Aldorn’s hand.

Though this was incredibly fun, Aldorn felt the need to break the tense silence. “How long till we get there?” he asked, not looking up at the one questioned.

The two boys could feel Ilda glare at them even harder - she obviously wasn’t that fond of being around children, especially if she felt as if she was practically babysitting them. Aldorn squirmed a bit. “Few more days,” she answered cryptically.

Lot that meant, though Aldorn allowed himself to believe that she meant three-ish. He had been taught that a couple was two, and a few was three-ish, so it would be three-ish more days. They had been on the road for three days, so they were halfway there - and already tired of it. Aldorn had exhausted all subjects with Link, and he wasn’t about to try to pick up a conversation with Ilda, so he was stuck staring out at the north ranges ahead of him.

Good thing they were making good time, or Aldorn was sure he would die of boredom. Or weariness; for some reason he found difficulty sleeping at night and difficulty staying awake during the day. Link didn’t, though, but tonight, in the cold, he was up fidgeting next to him.

“Mom says you’re important,” Aldorn said in an effort to keep warm air flowing, “because of the mark you have. What does it mean?”

“Hmph,” Ilda replied. However, she, too, must have been eager for some conversation, as, after a pause, she said, “It’s a mark of my race, Sheikah. We protect the Royal Family.”

“Really? I thought the Sheikah were dead.”

“They are not,” Ilda replied.

A moment of awkward silence followed, as, though Aldorn would have quipped something back as to the obviousness of the statement, Ilda’s red gaze choked to death any thought of it. “Ah, I-”

“Silence.”

“But-”

“Uncouth child,” Ilda muttered before she lay down, facing away from the boys as she made it obvious that she was, one, going to sleep, and, two, going to ignore them.

Aldorn lay down as well, as did Link, but not before Aldorn stuck his tongue out at Ilda and crossed his eyes.

-------

It was a boring wait at the gates to Castle Town, that much was certain. Ilda had to prove to the stubborn gatekeeper that Aldorn and Link were not trying to kill her or the Royal Family. Personally, Aldorn thought it amusing that a guard would be afraid of little Link, who was, at the moment, playing his little ocarina. Maybe the guard thought that was disturbing. Whatever.

At any rate, once inside, things really began to liven up. The walls of Castle Town revealed themselves as they passed it to be thick enough to have houses inside it and a road on its top. Ramps came winding down the walls at a gradual angle so carts could descend to the city beneath - and what a city! The streets were paved with huge stones and were wide enough to be ridden on by four carts the size of the one he was riding if they didn’t mind getting a little close. Despite this size, however, the streets were packed with people as they when about their business in various shops or outside vendors, only scattering when a vehicle came through. There was great noise and bustle of the shopkeepers crying from their kiosks to the passersby, and the people trying to avoid the beggars and eager sellers from latching onto them. As Aldorn looked around, he began to see all the wares he could through the crowd, and the selection was incredible. The scents of all the food, flowers, and tightly packed people penetrated the air, though, as Aldorn was used to being around stables, such odors didn’t bother him. Aldorn continued around to catch more glimpses of the city as the guard walked in front of them, shouting “Way! Way for the Princess’s Royal Guard!” to persuade the crowd to disperse quicker.

At first, Aldorn wondered why Ilda didn’t just leave them at the gate to go back, as he was sure that was what she would do after having to burn under her gaze for the entire trip. Fortunately she did not, though, and they got their view of Castle Town - and now maybe Hyrule Castle itself! Aldorn supposed the reason was that Aldorn’s mother had told Ilda that she had only packed trip for the way there, and that Ilda would supply them with the goods needed to return, and implying for some compensation for their cooperation, as well.

Though Aldorn wasn’t sure of the last, he was definitely enjoying the ride, and, apparently so was Link, as his eyes seemed to get wider by the moment.

When they finally pulled up at the Castle Gates, Ilda was escorted off the cart and into the Castle without so much as a “thanks.” She had, however, mumbled for them to wait there, so that sounded promising. However, they had been waiting now for half an hour, and the surroundings - a drawbridge over a lazy moat blocked from the front and sides by a tunnel-like entryway - were not that much to gaze upon. In front of them, the only visible thing was the big, ominous door and a motionless guard. By now the boys had memorized the path of each vine crawling up the wall, and Link had begun to ply his instrument again. Over the tune Link was making up at the moment, Aldorn could hear sound of an argument through the dark door before it slid open, revealing first a slit of light, then a beautiful courtyard lined with flowers and bushes, and Ilda standing in the midst, trying not to be supported by another guard.

“The Princess requests your presence,” Ilda muttered, obviously irked about the whole thing.

Aldorn’s jaw dropped. “Princess? Princess Zelda? Really?” Wait until he told some of his friends at home! It wasn’t as great as seeing the Princess’s brother, Prince Daphnes, though, but it would do.

Ilda gave them a condescending glare. “Zelda is the only Princess.”

“Wahoo!” Aldorn turned to Link. “You hear that? We’re going to see the Princess of Hyrule!”

-------

“Chosen? You have got to be kidding,” Aldorn said, unbelieving. When they had gotten out of their carts and followed Ilda to the young brunette Princess, Zelda had begun to tell them a tale about how the world began, rambling on about something called a “Triforce” and how it held a lot of power. She continued to drown the boys in her tale, not allowing them a word in edgewise, as she recounted to them the tale of the Hero of Time, which was all well and good, but they had heard the tale before, and by better storytellers.

Aldorn began to wonder if something was wrong with the Princess when she gave them an exposé of a dream she’d been having. The result was that the two boys were beginning to feel uncomfortable. In it she said that she’d seen a blond-haired boy with blue eyes coming out of a forest and something like ‘saving the world.’

It was a pity, really, to come so far to find out that the future ruler was nutty.

“We can’t be the boy from your dream!”

“Only one of you,” she said, quietly, “I have foreseen it. I knew he would come this day.”

“That is very nice Princess-”

“Silence!” Ilda shouted, “You will not continue to speak to the Princess in such a way!”

“Peace, Ilda. They do not understand,” Zelda, who seemed to be only a little older than the boys themselves, said. “Go on,” she bid Aldorn.

“Um,” Aldorn said, taking a step toward the side furthest Ilda. “Why would we be heroes? There isn’t any evil anywhere. Everything’s just fine.”

“This is where you are wrong,” Zelda said, gesturing with her finger. “You recall that the Hero of Time sealed away a great evil, a Gerudo named Ganondorf?” When the boys nodded, she continued. “Somehow, it seems he has returned. We do not know how, and we do not know why, but we only know that the Hero of Time’s reincarnate-”

“Reincarnate?” Aldorn asked, confused by such a large word.

“Heir,” Zelda explained, “successor.”

“I see.”

“Well, only the Hero of Time’s successor has the power to kill him, and I know it is one of you two boys - must you look so alike?”

“Lots of boys are blond with blue eyes where we come from.”

“And where is that?” Zelda asked.

“Ordon Village.”

“Oh,” Zelda said. Aldorn figured that her response was brought on by the fact that Ordona wasn’t really part of Hyrule proper, but south of it, in the Outer Lands, sometimes called sub-Hyrule. It was so sanctioned off when South Hyrule betrayed Hyrule proper in a war, so the Ordona province wasn’t all that popular.

Zelda appeared to be slightly perplexed by this development, but soon composed herself once more. “Tell me,” Zelda asked, “what are your names?”

“I’m Aldorn, and this is Link.”

“Why don’t you let the boy speak for himself?” the Princess asked.

“He can’t speak. He’s mute.” Aldorn said, ignoring the annoyed and slightly hurt glare from Link.

“Oh. So he cannot sing?”

“Um, no Ma’am.”

“Oh! Then the Hero is you, Aldorn. There was a tune in my dream, and Link here can’t possible sing it.”

“Me?!”

“Yes! You are our Chosen One, our Hero.”

Aldorn stared at her blankly for a minute.

“I see you are not convinced,” Zelda said, somewhat disheartened. “Come, I will show you,” she said, motioning for them to follow her. Aldorn shrugged and complied, though he kept his distance from her. His mother had told him to be careful around those that were a bit touched in the head. Link followed behind, a bit overwhelmed by everything.

They followed her through the courtyard quite a ways before she led them to a cathedral-like building, with stained glass mosaics of figures. “Look, Link. It’s the Sages,” Aldorn said, pointing to the different ones as they walked, getting slower to continue to gaze and the beautiful building. “See, look, there’s Ruto, and Nabooru...and what looks like the king of that time. I don’t remember his name.”

“Daphnes, same as my brother,” Zelda said from in front of them. She was waiting at the entrance to the cathedral, a huge archway with an ornately carved door. “Come,” she beckoned. “Here, this is the Temple of Time, where the Hero of Time began his journey. It houses the Master Sword. Only the pure of heart may pull the Master Sword, no evil thing may wield it and live. Aldorn, you must go within, and take the sword from its pedestal. It will take you ahead seven years, there you will see what has happened to the land already, and will be of age to stop Ganondorf. Enter,”

Aldorn never took his eyes off of her as he began to walk through the door. He had to, he couldn’t disobey an order from the Princess.

“Link may not enter,” Zelda said.

“What? No,” Aldorn said, turning to face her. “We do everything together. Either he goes or I won’t go.”

“You must!”

“I won’t!”

“Uncouth child!” Ilda screeched, grasping the boy’s shoulder. “How dare you defy an order from the Princess!”

“Ilda, leave him be. What harm can it do for the Hero to have help?”

“Hmph. You are entirely too lenient.”

“I know. You often tell me,” Zelda said before turning to the boys once more. “You may both go in.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Aldorn said. He didn’t want to leave Link out here alone with Ilda the witch and Zelda the looney, and he didn’t want to go into that cathedral alone, so it was paramount that Link go with him.

The two boys walked quickly through the door to get away from the duo as quickly as possible. Before the Princess shut the door behind them, she said, “Find me when you arrive.”

When the door shut, Aldorn retorted, “Not likely. I want to keep on the opposite side of the country, Princess. Gosh, Link, if you hadn’t of come along I don’t know what I’d do. Maybe laugh for an hour, but then I’d be alone here,” he said, looking at the solemn hallway around them. “It smells old in here. You know what, Link? I bet she’s looney and that this is all baloney. But I guess we gotta go pull the sword out then get out of here. Maybe then she’ll call off this game.”

The boys didn’t have to walk far, fortunately, before they came across a grand pedestal in which was a sword with a blue hilt.

“Well, it sure looks like the Master Sword the storytellers tell us about...” Aldorn observed, beginning to be awed by the place. “Do you think it really is?”

Link, of course, didn’t reply. “It must be!” Aldorn shouted excitedly. “Wait,” Aldorn gingerly walked up to the blade. “She said only the Hero could hold it, right?”

Link shrugged. “Hm. Well...that means if I’m not the Hero I’m sunk.”

Link punched Aldorn in the shoulder before looking at him supportively.

“Well, then, here goes nothing...” He said, reaching out for the blade and slowly sliding it out. It was a bit heavy, but he could handle it. Once the sword’s tip made a ching sound as it was pulled from the pedestal, all went blindingly white...

Then there was nothing.






((Yes, as a matter of fact, this story is inspired by OoT. Read 'inspired' not 'based on.' From here on out, nothing is going to be as it seems, even the stuff you assume. You have entered the Twilight Zone))

((Sorry about the delay))



Chapter IV

Far away, beyond Hyrule, beyond it into the darkness of the Wild Lands, a lock was loosed. A portal was open. A key had been snatched from its latch. A gate that had been shut was now torn asunder.

The demon was free.

-------

Aldorn’s eyes fluttered open, revealing a dark ceiling intricately carved with runes, lit by a dim light from the outside through several stained glass windows.

“Oh, I must be dreaming,” he thought absently. Lazily he glanced about in his field of vision, catching sight of the circle of stone knights surrounding him, and behind them were the stained glass windows, one of which was broken. “I’m thirsty,” he thought to himself before he furrowed his brow. Hm. You weren’t supposed to be hungry or thirsty in dreams. Puzzled, he sat up on first his elbows, then his hands, finding one to be grasping something. Looking down, he saw a blue sword hilt, engraved with a yellow triangular marking. His gaze traveled down to the shiny blade curiously.

There he gasped and jumped away from the sword as a strange face looked up at him from its metallic gaze. In his action he bumped into something. Turning around, he saw what appeared to be a teenaged boy with blond hair, sleeping behind him. He appeared to be, but he was too small. Teenaged boys were twice Aldorn’s size, but this boy was the same size as Aldorn himself; and he looked somewhat familiar, especially around the eyes. As well, something about his long sideburns felt familiar.

He slowly backed away from the stranger, back to where he awoke. There, he poked the sword...the Master Sword! Of course! That’s what it was: in that funny cathedral where Princess Weirdo had left him and Link. Link? Where was he? Aldorn looked around, absently grabbing the sword in case of some attack or something. For some reason, the sword felt unusually light, and everything around him seemed smaller. He looked around for his friend, but all he could find was the stranger. For a moment, he thought the stranger was Link when he saw him out of the corner of his eye, but he knew that couldn’t be.

Just then, a glint of light from the outside hit the blade of the sword just right, and again the strange but eerily familiar face appeared in the metal. In shock, Aldorn dropped the sword, letting it clank to the floor, but the face remained, looking up at him as surprised as he looked down at it. Gingerly, he picked the sword up and held the reflective surface in front of him as one would a mirror. The strange face looked out at him, and as he moved his head, the face did the same.

That face was his. He gasped. But it couldn’t be! That face was the face of one much older than himself, but there it was.

Just then, Princess Zelda’s words came back to him; “It will take you ahead seven years...” Seven years? His glance jerked over to the strange boy next to him, and suddenly he noticed what he had not before: the ocarina hanging about the boy’s neck. Link!

Excitedly, Aldorn walked over to his now grown-up friend and shook his shoulder. Link’s eyes opened slowly before focusing on Aldorn. The moment they did, a look of horror passed over his face before recognition dawned. He pointed his finger at Aldorn and looked at him curiously.

Aldorn grinned and said, “Yeah, I’m-” he cut himself off and held his hand in front of his mouth as Link stared at him. Aldorn looked down at his hand before cautiously saying, “Hi,” and clapping his hand over his mouth again. Link flew into gales of mute laughter, which was more periodic breathing, but you could tell by his face that it was joviality. The younger boy pointed at his friend merrily.

“My voice...” Aldorn thought to himself. What happened to his voice? It was so...deep. “Link, did you do something?!” He accused in his now somewhat baritone pitch.

Link shook his head, grinning.

Aldorn just stared at him a minute as he reached for his throat to see if it felt funny. He pondered a moment before it finally dawned on him. “Oh, yeah...we grew up.”

Link cocked his head and looked at him strangely.

“Remember, the Princess said we would skip ahead seven years. We’re grown up,” he said, till not familiar with his voice. It sounded as if someone was speaking for him. “Just look at yourself,” Aldorn said, handing his friend the Master Sword.

Curiously, Link took the sword and looked in it. He appeared to find the change a bit disturbing, but overall, he seemed pleased as he lifted a hand to touch his new, mature face.

“Well,” Aldorn said, brushing off his green attire. “What do we do now?”

Link shrugged.

“Hm. I guess we could go home on the cart and show Mom and Dad. And your sis,” Aldorn said. Link nodded at the suggestion and stood.

“Aw, nuts,” Aldorn said, a look of annoyance across his face. “The Master Sword-thing didn’t come with a sheath,” Aldorn said, poking out his lower lip. He didn’t look forward to carrying the thing around. He thought a moment...nope...nope, that would not be fun. “Well, maybe we can get one back at Ordon...” just then, Aldorn grinned. “Hey! I’ve got the Master Sword! You know what that means, Link?” He said, turning to his friend. “It means I’m a hero! That’s what the Princess said, isn’t it?”

Link’s eyes widened before he smiled and punched his friend in the arm in support. Aldorn could see the admiration and pride for his friend in Link’s eyes, and it only made him feel a bit more giddy. “I wonder if they’ll tell stories about me - us. That would just be so great,” to which Link nodded. “Um...” Aldorn said, looking around. “Now, which way was out?”

Link pointed, and Aldorn grinned as they began making their way up the short pair of stairways.

“Y’know, Link...” Aldorn said as they neared the door they came in, hoping Princess Loony wasn’t lurking on the other side. “It almost feels like a dream. I hope I don’t ever wake up.”

Little did they know how soon they would.

The boys walked back towards the door they came in, not really looking forward to facing Ilda and the Princess. Too bad it had to be done. Aldorn grabbed the handle for the double doors and pulled, but it wouldn’t give way.

“Looks like it’s stuck, here give me a hand, won’t you?” he said, lifting his hand from off the handle so as to get a better grip and allow room for Link’s now much larger hands. In the process, he noticed how dusty his hands had become from touching the door handle. He looked at his hands in annoyance and shook them off. Link grinned at his predicament before blowing off the handle, making sure that he blew it in Aldorn’s direction. “Cut that out!” Aldorn said, sputtering, before wiping the remaining dust on his hand onto the shoulder of Link’s tunic. The younger boy just brushed it off, smiling, before grasping the door’s handle to help his friend pull it open.

“Come on, here we go...” Aldorn said as they both yanked at the door until there came a cracking noise, and a sound of something fine falling onto stone. The moment the handle was free, the door was slammed open in the wind, nearly squashing Link before he moved out of the way just in time. When they finally caught a glimpse of the outside, the two boys just stared in shock.

No longer was there a neat row of bushes leading to the door, no topiaries of flowers, no little fountains, no decorative trees...not even any grass. All was a sickly blackish-brown, strewn about with the skeletons of what once were shrubs and plants, though their were blown about, and almost seem to disintegrate for dryness. The air was full of dirt and something like smoke, making it difficult to breath, or even keep one’s eyes open if one was facing the wind. You could not tell the horizon - as the walls surrounding them were broken down so once could see the horizon - from the ground, it was all a blotchy grey. Little dust devils, whirls of dead leaves and dirt, twirled every here and there, rustling in the lifeless wind. Thin, writhing black cords of what once were vines spiderwebbed the remaining walls.

As the two boys stared at the lifelessness about them in utter speechlessness, a crunching of dirt and gravel could be heard, and the brown, reptilian head of one of those Lizalfo things peeked around the corner of the cathedral. Catching sight of them, the armored thing immediately leapt at them with a throaty, crackling growl. Terrified, Aldorn swung wildly, forgetting for a moment what Taryn the swordmaster had taught him. Even when his hands remembered these lessons, Aldorn knew that he had to run, the thing was not easily fazed by a blaze of blade, and continued to claw at them with both its own claws and a sword it held in its right claw. Aldorn grabbed Link’s sleeve as they both made a run for it, fueled by adrenaline. Even then, they could hardly believe how fast they were moving - mature bodies were so much faster, they almost seemed to be flying, but they had no time to enjoy it.

The little Lizalfo, now joined by a similar beast, was chasing them, and despite the boy’s newfound speed, the reptilians were faster. Terror mounting as the two creatures grew closer, Aldorn finally gathered the courage to turn around and try to fight.

“Just like a spar...” Aldorn told himself as he tried to focus, parrying and slashing as Link fiddled with his ocarina. “Link what are you doing?!” Aldorn shouted as the second Lizalfo made his way towards the younger boy. Before he could reach him, however, Link had lifted the little instrument to his lips and let loose the highest and loudest F he’d ever done in his life. If Aldorn thought his head was hurting, the Lizalfos looked utterly dazed. “Of course...animals have better hearing!” Aldorn thought before he ran the first reptilian through with the Master Sword. Turning to the next one, Aldorn began to fight it, trying to bring to mind as many techniques as he could. Fortunately, the Lizalfo appeared to be somewhat of a novice, and Aldorn gained the upper hand. He felt so strong in his new form, he found new confidence, and began hacking away at the creature with renewed vigor, until, sweat across his brow, he sliced the slightly taller creature’s head off.

“Hoo...” Aldorn said, weary and gasping. Link was by his side in a moment, forcing Aldorn’s head to look up at his own in an effort to see if anything was wrong. “I’m okay, lizard-boy stunk at fighting. Nice thing you did with your whatsit there,” Aldorn mumbled. Once more he wished that the sword had come with a scabbard. He really didn’t feel like carrying it now, and he couldn’t let Link touch it - only the Hero could, or the person would die. That was what the Princess said, right?

Whatever. He wasn’t about to lose his best friend on a gamble.

“Well, what do we do now?” Aldorn said in despair, looking around. “I... I don’t think we’re going to get help from those lizard back there,” Aldorn said as he looked up at the sky. Up there, he saw the silhouettes of giant birds flit across the sickly looking clouds. “What happened here, Link...? It doesn’t look as if anything’s alive.”

Link just shook his head and look about in sorrow. This dream was quickly turning into a nightmare.

Just then, Aldorn remembered that he had to clean his blade of the blood, or it would ruin the sword. For lack of grass, Aldorn just rubbed the flat ends against the stinking corpses of the dead Lizalfos. Funny, he’d never really thought of heroes having to do something with the bodies. At any rate, he wasn’t going to stick around - the perfume of dead Lizalfo was definitely not pleasant.

“I guess... I guess we walk home...” Aldorn said, quietly, though the same thought was crossing through both boy’s minds, “What if home is like this?”

Aldorn bit his lip before managing to force through his tightened throat, “Um...home is south, so that would be to the right of the sunrise and to the left of the sunset...if we can see it through these dust clouds.” Aldorn thought a moment and look at the scenery around him. Mountains in that direction, plains in that, forests... “South is that way. I remember seeing those twin mountain peaks on the ride up here. At least they haven’t changed,” Aldorn said, beginning to cheer up a bit. Not everything had been trashed by Ganondorf’s goons.

Just then, however, something occurred to Aldorn, and he looked in the direction he was pointing - Castle Town, or what once was it. Castle Town lay between the Time cathedral and Ordon. Aldorn gulped as he caught sight of all sorts of creatures milling about around the city, and he could tell they were evil. Like a caged animal, Aldorn looked around, frightened, as he realized almost all routs were closed to him: to the west and north were mountains, to the south, Castle Town.

“We...we can’t go anywhere but east, Link...what's to the east?” Aldorn said, mostly to himself. The east was a vast plain, and to the southeast were mountains. These mountains had more passes through them, marked by one huge mountain towering above the rest, haloed by a ring of dark smoke. “Death Mountain - Kakariko Village is near there,” Aldorn recalled from the map he’d seen dozens of times on Berdak the potion-maker’s wall. “Maybe they can help us get home. Come on, Link, let’s go,” Aldorn said, motioning as Link looked now eye level with him in hopes that he would come up with something. Link was pretty much willing to follow wherever Aldorn thought was okay, and the idea sounded good. Aldorn could only hope that the town wasn’t overrun with lizards.

-------

No one ever told about this part in the stories.

The Master Sword was only barely being gripped by Aldorn as the end of it trailed in the grass behind him. His head was drooped and his steps were heavy and labored. Link fared no better, but at least he didn’t have to hold on to a silly sword that had no scabbard. Aldorn was tired from walking for a two or so days, with a stop the night before to sleep on the cold dirt. The night, needless to say, was sleepless. They were both hungry and thirsty, having brought no food or water. Fortunately, there were several hardy strawberry bushes here and there, at first very few, but growing slightly more populous the farther southeast they walked. However, a diet of strictly strawberries was not particularly healthful, and neither were feeling terribly well.

That morning, which seemed decades away, they had finally come across Zora River. However, both boys knew not to drink from it, they knew that a couple decades ago it had been poisoned, and they dare not even touch it. Still, it was exasperating, being so thirsty and yet being so close to water - sickly, thick grey though it was. They just followed the river southwards, looking for a way to cross. The river was very wide at this point, so there was no chance of swimming even if the syrupy water were safe to swim in.

Fortunately, they eventually came across a bridge as they followed it south, and though rickety, it still allowed them across and further southwest. Several hours after that, the best development of the journey so far arose.

“Hey!” Aldorn said, pointing ahead and slightly right. It was a small brook right ahead of them, bright and shining, cutting through the dark earth like a knife of light. Despite both boys’ fatigue, the two of them broke out into a run, and were overjoyed to find the brook’s water clean and clear. It was about five or so feet deep, burbling gently over smoothed rocks, and both boys dunked their faces into the water to drink. After a while, instead they were drinking out of cupped hands, though Link couldn’t manage to hold his hands just so to hold it, causing him to give up and just dump his face in again.

They slept that night next to the river, feeling much more satisfied, especially since they had found a few edible mushrooms by the water’s edge. Though it was difficult to sleep on the hard ground and they woke up dreadfully early, it was the best sleep they’d had ever since they left the cathedral.

Aldorn was up before Link, and both were up before dawn broke. Aldorn was still tired, though, so he remained lying down for a while awake. He wasn’t really thinking, he just let his mind go numb. It wasn’t until Link started poking him that he bothered to lift his upper body to an upright position.

“What?” Aldorn said. Link signaled for Aldorn to be quiet and gestured in the direction of the water. Curious, Aldorn leaned over the bank of the river and looked down. “Fish?” he whispered. “What are we going to do with fish? I’m not eating them raw - and we can’t make a fire. The lizard things might see us. Use your head,” Aldorn said, irritably. Link looked sheepish.

“Whatever. Um...” Aldorn said, looking around in the silver predawn light. Spotting Death Mountain, he looked further south to about where Kakariko would be. “Hey! What do you know, the river here is going about that direction. We can follow it down there - hopefully it keeps going,” Aldorn said, hopefully. Link seemed to brighten a bit at the prospect as he eagerly seemed to try to tell Aldorn something, shaking his friend’s shoulder. “What?” Aldorn said in annoyance as Link began pointing to the water, following it with his finger along its southward flow. “I don’t get it - what?” Link repeated the motion with more vigor, this time making a cup with his hands as well. Aldorn waved his hands. “What’s say we skip it?”

However, Link would not give up, and he shook his friend’s shoulder as he tried again, desperately. Aldorn sighed. “Okay, okay, water?” Link nodded his head then made a motion of it going south. “Water...south? Water down? No? Water south? Okay, water south. What about it? Okay, it’s going south, is that it?” Link nodded. It was hard work to communicate in such a way. “Wait, you mean it’s going in the direction we’re going? How is that helping us? We don’t have a boat, and we can’t make a raft, we don’t have rope,” that’s when Link began jumping up and down excitedly as he grabbed Aldorn’s arm. “What now...?” Link dragged Aldorn to what was either a dead bush or a giant tumbleweed, half of which covered a recently uncovered wood canoe. “A boat? Why didn’t you show this to me first?” Aldorn said, excitedly as, with Link’s help, he pulled out the small craft. It was old and worn, but, hey, it was a boat near a river going their way.

Excited, the boys looked at each other and dragged the boat to the water’s edge. “What’ll we use for oars?” Aldorn asked. Though he didn’t think either of them had been on a boat before, he knew enough to know they needed oars. Link looked around a bit before walking over and picking up a longish branch a little smaller in thickness than the boy’s wrists. He motioned to Aldorn cutting one end of the stick so it was flat, something which Aldorn, fortunately, understood. Using the Master Sword, the two soon had themselves a boat and a homemade oar.

“Okay, now, we’re going to have to go in shifts so we make sure that we leave the river or move down the right fork so it doesn’t start taking us away from Kakariko. Okay? You go first,” Aldorn said as he pushed the canoe into the river and held in place to keep it from floating away with the current. Link looked a bit miffed at being chosen for first shift, but he really couldn’t do much about it.

There was some difficulty in mounting the wooden beast without dumping them both in the water, being inexperienced, and by the time they both managed to get in and stay in they were so soaking wet they might just have well had been in the water. Additionally, being the early morning hour it was, the water was roughly the equivalent of liquid ice.

Fortunately the shifts were not long - only until the sun was about at a half-quarter dial, before Link’s was over - though it was still a few boring hours spent trying to discover the mechanics of oaring on a river that was being very merciful in its dealing with them. It proved difficult to make their stops when the need arose, such as to eat, but the two boys managed.

It was during Aldorn’s second shift, in which he was doing his best not to nod away to sleep, that there came their first fork in the river. One little thin sliver of water, barely more than a brook or a small stream, ran off right in the direction they needed to go, while the other side began to veer away from their destination.

“Hey! Hey, Link, help me,” Aldorn said as he tried to lean and splash furiously with his makeshift paddle, but the river was rushing the wrong way. Unfortunately, the rudely awakened Link did little but aggravate the situation. Aldorn soon realized this, as, having no way to help without an oar, Link just added more frenzy. The only thing Link could do was lean, so he did so, but with Aldorn doing the same and paddling in that direction, it culminated into the boat suddenly flipping over.

“Link!” Aldorn shouted in annoyance when his head popped out of the water. He wanted to say a few other things but the water got in the way. “Link! Grab the boat with me and swim for it, kay?” he said, impatiently as he began swimming for their little turnoff, the stubborn boat in tow. Even with Link helping the boat wasn’t really cooperating, and it kept yanking them the wrong way. Finally, they ended up grounding it and walking it to the little brook, wet and muddy.

Aldorn did not really feel like speaking to Link, but he didn’t have the satisfaction of being able to say ‘Don’t talk to me,’ so that drained the point out of his irritability.

-------

The brook didn’t move very quickly, and instead trickled along at a lazy pace. Fortunately, being this slow, they didn’t have to worry about forks in it, so they both fell asleep in the afternoon sun after getting the mud off of them.

The brook got slower and slower as they went on, until the two boys were rudely awakened when they were unceremoniously dumped out of their boat by a miniature punchbowl waterfall into a small, serene lake. At least, it was serene before said dumping. They didn’t need to splash around to keep afloat, the lake only being knee-to-waist deep, but unfortunately it made for a hard landing.

Aldorn spat out water as he stood, once more wet. Fortunately there was still enough sun to perhaps dry out before nightfall. “Where are we now?” he asked himself as he looked around. Despite the fresh-ish lake, it was gloomy as ever here in a canyon between two rock walls formed of mountains. There were abandoned houses in the somber place, unusually dark for this time of day. However, the dirt hadn’t corrupted the water pretty much at all, quite a feat, really.

“Um...let's see...” Aldorn said, looking around for some kind of identification. He wasn’t to aware of the little settlements around or used to be around here, but maybe there was a mapmaker’s house somewhere with old maps. Farfetched, he knew, but they didn’t have much choice. Fortunately, Death Mountain was visible to the north, so they had a reference point.

A wooden sign waving in the wind caught his eye, and he walked over to it, Link shadowing him. Now a bit closer to the main road, Aldorn could see how large the abandoned town was. It wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t just a few houses, either. As he made his way to where he could get a fairly good view of the sign, the reason for the size was made clear.

“Kakariko Village,” he moaned in despair. “This is Kakariko Village.”

-------

Night was falling, so they had made a fire near the side of the lake. Earlier they had gone through some of the houses and had found some salt bins where meat had been preserved, and had thus been eating this and some wild berries which grew near the lake’s edge. Additionally, the search provided for them a small sword for Link; a small one because all the others were in too much a state of disrepair to use.

Aldorn was sitting by the fire, unsure of what to do, throwing small sticks into the blaze just to see them light up for that one second before resuming its ordinary glow. Over to his right, opposite the lake, Link was playing is little orcmina-whatsit to get birds to come to him. It was obviously working, as they were gathered around him. Aldorn sighed in annoyance - that bird thing was just so stupid. Being in the mood he was in, he had to say something.

“Link, you’re sixteen now. Aren’t you a little old for the bird thing?”

Link’s head jerked up to meet Aldorn’s gaze, lips lifting from the instrument and a hurt expression across his face. Aldorn knew that Link’s sister, Kariah, had told him that the birds helped Link think, but that was dumb. Link slowly let go of the little round woodwind and looked ashamedly at the ground as a bird perched on his head.

Great, now Link had to go and make Aldorn feel guilty. It wasn’t fair. With a light groan of annoyance Aldorn looked around in the opposite direction, towards the lake, and, in the firelight, something caught his eye. “Hey, Link, look,” Aldorn said, pointing as he grabbed a larger stick from the fire and held it up as a torch. In the rock on the wall of the lake there were letters carved. Seeing this, the rejected Link managed to forget the recent incident and got up to stand at Aldorn’s side to look at the markings. As Link turned his gaze to him, Aldorn knew he would have to read it out loud. Though Link could read figures and even do some rudimentary math, he was utterly illiterate.

“Um...it's hard to make out some of the letters, but it says something about a bird made of light inhabiting the water, and that that’s the only reason the water and the river is still clean...and it says something about the fact that only Power’s heart and Courage’s blood can heal Zora River or the curse and poison and stuff. Uh, huh...” Aldorn said before bursting out laughing. “Oh, boy! These Kakariko people must have been real doozies. Light birds in the water?” he said with a grin as Link laughed his silent laugh beside him. Turning to him, Aldorn joked, “Look at your boot, maybe we stepped on it on the way in,” Which made Link laugh harder.

As the laughter abated, he looked back up at the words with a large smile on his face. “Next thing you know it’s going to say that the bird is having bug problems.”

Chapter V

They had left Kakariko that morning after rounding up some old but still useable packs and waterskins in which to carry food and water - not to mention a worn old sheath for the Master Sword that was too short and too wide, but, hey, it kept him from having to carry it, especially since they were stuck dragging the canoe. Not long ago, on their way back to the main river they had left earlier so as to travel further south by boat, they had come across an apple orchard, with a few of the trees still bearing fruit despite the trees’ deathly thin and frail demeanor. Because the spot held some food, the two boys had decided to stop there for the night and were finishing dinner.

Crunch.

Aldorn winced as his teeth chomped down on an apple seed of particularly award-winning hardness. “Ow...” he said as he spat out the disgusting little bugger and its shards.

They knew the river just couldn’t be too much farther, as the little brook they had been following, the same one that had led them here, was speeding up. It gave them some hope, as it was no fun to switch dragging a wooden canoe, until they both had to drag it together.

The compilation of these events resulted in two tired boys. Aldorn soon lay down, setting the pack across his body to help warm him, while he saw Link just sit with his back against one of the bedraggled trees, staring at the moon above. Aldorn still couldn’t get to sleep however, and began just lying on his back, looking up at the same celestial body as his companion. The dust in the air and the dark clouds that hid the sun during the day still let a fuzzy blue outline of the moon through, and it gave one hope to see how something could still pierce the darkness.

“I want to go home,” Aldorn whispered to himself. Everything was so safe there. Everything would be all right.

At last, Aldorn rolled to his side and dozed off from sheer exhaustion.

-------

“Darkrist, you an Alfhor take your five and search the east bank, Naraik and Bertran, take the west,” Arkai instructed, pointing at the area indicated on the map. The general would have passed for a somewhat handsome raven-haired Human, except for the pair of pitch black wings mounted on his back, which constantly moved subconsciously to add emphasis to his words.

“Why would Humans would return to Hyrule by the Eldin River?” The blotchy brown Dinalfo asked. Arkai called him Darkrist, even though that was not his name. However, it was the closest non-reptilians could get to his real name, which was more a series of growls in various pitches.

“To retake their country. Foolish zealots, mostly, but we can’t let them spur morale enough to where it reaches the intellectuals. They are a cunning race, you forget.”

“I do not,” Darkrist replied. The second-in-command turned to his group of six other Dinalfos and growled, “Let’s move out.”

-------

“Link, sometimes you make me sick,” Aldorn said, spitefully, while Link skulked. Earlier that morning they had finally come across the clear river and had been riding it for hours, only the river had picked up and turned into rapids during Link’s shift. Their inexperience didn’t help.

So they were sitting on the bank minus a boat. It also looked as if they were going to have to walk to Ordon. Fortunately, they had managed to save the packs, but it didn’t make the situation any better.

“I don’t know why I let you get me into these situations.”

-------

“Darkrist,” Ridohein barked in his native reptilian tongue.

“Ridohein, what news have you from the north banks?” Darkrist said, turning to the scout, barely visible in dim moonlight of the Hyrulian night.

“Two Hylian pups.”

“Hylians? Were they alone?”

“From all appearances, yes,” the raptor-like Dinalfo said, shuffling his clawed feet. “They were not supervised. They appear to be lost.”

“Then it will do no good following them. Where were they?”

“North, near the bank. They were asleep.”

“Good. We shall feast on the flesh of Hylians tonight.”

-------

Link was dreaming of his home in Ordon - of horses, his sister, and his mother’s cooking. Best of all, though, was Dad’s company. How proud he would be to see him now...! However, one of his sister’s horses began tickling his ear. Link reached up a hand to brush it away, but it continued, until the day bust into a very dark, cold night.

Link sat up, suddenly awake, shaking his head as he looked around, slightly disoriented. Again, he felt something tickle his ear. He reached up to brush it away again, only to come in contact with something soft and fluffy. Turning to see what it was, Link grinned when he caught sight of a small white bird that had perched on his shoulder.

Aldorn was apparently only half-asleep at the moment, as one eye popped open to see what was wrong now. He groaned. “What are you now, a bird magnet? Shoo it away and go to sleep; or better yet, kill it and cook it,” he said, turning over to his side. Link looked over at his friend, hurt, before dejectedly trying to drive the bird away.

“You try to cook me and see what happens,” the bird said in a musical voice. Startled, Link nearly lost balance as he looked over at the bird on his shoulder again, nose to beak.

“Ingrates,” the bird muttered. Aldorn, now awake, was staring at the creature.

“Um...” Aldorn said, disoriented. “Am I dreaming?”

“I wish you were. Make it easier for me to keep you alive,” the bird, probably a she, said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Are you that stupid? You didn’t notice the fact that there are seven Dinalfos upriver coming down here to have lunch - not from berries, either.”

“Hey, birdie, we didn’t just get here from stupidsville. Why should we believe anything something that shouldn’t talk says?”

“Repeat that, I don’t think you were intelligible the first time.”

“Shut up.”

“Fine, don’t believe me, but the fastest one - the scout - is right on top of you.”

“I don’t think so, or we would have-”

Just then, in a fraction of a second, Link’s eyes grew wide and he instinctively snatched his sword from it’s half-rotted sheath and slashed at something that had just jumped from the bushes behind Aldorn. The creature, you could hardly see it, landed right on top of Link, pinning him down.

Horrified, Aldorn drew out the Master Sword and began to slash at the creature with the best techniques he could bring to mind and perform. The creature gave a quiet roar in pain before kicking in Aldorn’s direction. Then, the creature let up from his attack on Link, and turned to begin attacking Aldorn. To Aldorn’s relief, Link seemed well, as he got up and began helping him, though blood was dripping down the side of his face.

Though the creature was larger than the lizard creature they had fought before, now that the boys both had swords, the fight was easier, lasting only a few seconds before the two boys came out victorious.

“Come on, you idiots, get into the forest, the rest are coming after you.” The bird said.

Panting, Aldorn turned to the bird, glaring daggers. “Isn’t it just convenient that you happened to distract us long enough to get the Dino thing close to us-”

“You idiot, I woke you up.”

“-and now you want us to go into that forest? Nuh-uh. We aren’t idiots, we’ve seen the maps. We know the forest below Kakariko is the Lost Woods. We also know it’s cursed.”

“Better cursed than breakfast, now get in there.”

“You should talk about breakfast - just reminded me to make a mental note to cook you.”

The little bird fluffed her feathers so as to appear bigger, though she was still as threatening as a daffodil. “You idiots!”

“We go in there, we’ll never come out.”

“I could show you the way through, but now you try my patience.”

“Good, you should come over and try mine some time,” Aldorn said with a scowl. “Come on, Link,” Aldorn said, motioning to his friend, who looked perplexed. “Link, really. You’re too soft on birds.”

However, Link just bit his lip before he seemed to get an idea. He then proceeded to lie down with one ear to the ground.

“Link, what are you doing?”

Just then, Link seemed alarmed about something, and pointed to the ground.

“What is it now?”

“We don’t have time for this you idiots!”

“Shut up. What is it, Link?” As the boy continued to point, Aldorn finally, condescendingly, put his ear to the ground in like manner. Just barely, he could hear the sound of running feet echoing through the ground. Aldorn bit his lip. “How do we know it’s the Dinos you mentioned?”

“You don’t until they eat you, now git!”

Link, distressed, finally just shoved his friend towards the forest. Grimacing, Aldorn finally ran into the woods with his friend, though at the moment, he didn’t feel like calling him his friend.

“This isn’t for you, bird, and I hope you fry.”

-------

“Darkrist,” one of the Dinalfos said, “the Hylians’ scent leads to the Lost Woods.”

“Good. They will die in there along with any other Hylians. Any news from any other scouts?”

“No, sir, no trace of Human or Hylian besides the two pups.”

“Fine. This day and a half have been well spent. Come, we return to General Arkai.”

-------

“I still bet she led us in here to kill us,” Aldorn mumbled to his friend. At the moment, he was fairly sure that, even if Link could talk, he could not refute the claim with any evidence. The woods were fairly well lit by the sunlight, and though everything was a warm, lush green, even the trunks of the trees were slightly aqua-colored, there was a sickeningly sweet feeling, one that vibrated in ones bones, that let you know there was more to this place than first met the eye. Though it only put Aldorn on edge, it seemed to affect Link more, perhaps as a result of his head wound. The going seemed to be difficult for him, and he appeared to be weaker and more tired.

“Hey, birdie, wait!” Aldorn shouted as Link tripped. The older boy helped Link up, slowly.

“No good reason to wait. You’re the important one - the hero. If he becomes a Stalfo, it doesn’t matter. Except I like him more than you. He keeps his mouth shut.”

“Which is less than I can say for you. Besides, he’s dumb.”

“Seems smarter than you’ll ever be.”

“No, I mean he’s mute.”

“Mute? Sheee. All the more reason just to leave him. What good is he?”

Angered, Aldorn suddenly chucked a stone in the bird’s direction, and though it missed, it managed to ruffle the bird’s feathers.

“Ingrates.”

“Come on, Link,” Aldorn said, gently, ignoring the bird as he helped Link up. “Birdie-”

“Stop that. I’m Sil.”

“You got a name? Wow. I should have thought a vulture like you wouldn’t be worth a name.”

“Hmph. I’m leading you through the forest, aren’t I?”

“Truthfully, how are we supposed to know that? And why should you even care? You obviously don’t care about him, and I think that’s awful low. Link’s little finger is worth more than you, filthy buzzard.”

“Sheee. I’m bringing you through because I happen to not like the idea of an ancient demon ruling the land, and unfortunately fate chose a brat like you to kill him.”

“You aren’t very convincing.”

“You’re going too far that way, go left,” Sil said, flying above the trees to get a bird’s eye view of the Lost Woods. “You need to go south.”

“You’re not answering me.”

“I should think you’re savior shouldn’t need to answer.”

“Shut up. Just shut up,” Aldorn knew that they had no choice but to follow her now, they didn’t know the way back, so they were stuck. That didn’t mean he had to like it.

“Sheee,” Sil said, angered. To herself, she said, “If I weren’t under orders, wouldn’t I love to see you rot.”

-------

It was hours later, though it felt more like days, when Sil announced that they were near to reaching their destination. Aldorn wasn’t really sure whether that was a good thing or not.

“Come on you two, you’re both so slow. Why you of all people would be Chosen, I don’t know...” Sil muttered as she flew ahead.

“Where are we going?”

“Must you keep asking? Fine. We’re going to see the Deku Tree.”

“Why?”

“Because there is something you need before you try to kill the demon.”

“What?” Aldorn asked, irritated.

“All these stupid questions, why don’t you shut up?”

“What? What do we need to see the tree for?” Aldorn said, pressing it harder if for no other reason than to irk the bird.

“Hmph. Fine. Really? I’m not sure. I just know you need something, and he’s the closest source of information on such things.”

“Feh,” Aldorn said as he stayed close by his friend, letting Link walk leaning on his shoulder.

A few minutes travel later, they heard Sil say from ahead of them, “Oh...oh!”

“What is it now, bird brain?” Aldorn shouted, but he didn’t have to be kept in the dark long, as they came out into a clearing. It was a clean, circular clearing, not very big, only large enough for a small village. It was peppered with small green and white houses, all quaintly lined up on either side of a small brook that burbled though the center of the clearing. Well, what once were quaint houses. Now the entire thing was burnt, as if in some great fire years ago.

“Oh...dear,” Sil said to herself before taking off to the north too quickly for the boys to follow.

“Whatever, forget her,” Aldorn said, taking Link to the side of the river to let him have a drink. He didn’t seem to be doing well, but the air in the clearing was free of whatever magic held the Lost Woods sway, so he was regaining his strength, and quickly. This gave Aldorn some hope and he did hearten as his friend’s health returned.

“The Tree! The Deku Tree has been blocked off!” Sil said, moaning as she returned from her quick detour.

“Isn’t that just too convenient?” Aldorn said, scornfully. “You have now dumped us both in an abandoned little burg in the middle of a cursed woods. Congratulations, you have effectually caused us grief.”

“Oh, shut up,” Sil said, fluffing out her feathers as she perched on a nearby branch.

“Why should I? You haven’t given me - us - a straight answer about you besides your name since we met you, and you’ve brought nothing but trouble. Now why don’t you explain yourself before I feather you,” Aldorn said, heavily agitated.

However, Sil seemed much more subdued than normal, almost sad, probably because of her distress at not being able to reach the Deku Tree. At any rate, she didn’t seem as willing to keep the information behind double-locked doors. “All right. Fine, whatever. You see, Ganondorf has come back to Hyrule, and he’s searching for those blessed by the Triforce. He is one, the Princess is another, and you, you brat, are the last. I don’t know exactly what he wants you for, but I’m sure it’s something like taking the power for himself and destroying all the other bearers. He also has a hatred for all Humans and Hylians - especially Hylians, and he wants them all killed.”

“Why?”

“How should I know? All I know is that he needs to be stopped, and now the Deku Tree is blocked off inside a mountain by a rockslide. We needed him.”

Aldorn thought a moment, and even though he still didn’t like Sil, it made some sense. Just then, he felt Link tap his shoulder. There was a worried expression on his face, and he looked as if he desperately wanted to tell Aldorn something, but he wasn’t able to. Link motioned to the carnage around them before beginning to play an old Ordonian folk song on his ocarina. Aldorn looked at him strangely before his eyes widened.

If this is what they did to a little town...and Ordon’s full of Humans and Hylians...

“Link...” Aldorn said, feebly.

What...might have they have done to Ordon...?

“Sil,” Aldorn said, commandingly, “Which way is south? Tell us now.”

“What for? We aren’t going south, we’re going west, to find Jabu-Jabu.”

“No, we aren’t. We’re going south. We’re going home.”

“No, you’re going west.”

Just then a fire lit in Aldorn’s eyes as he said, anger dripping from every syllable, “We are going south.”

Sil was silent. “You can’t do that. You’ll ruin everything.”

Aldorn shook his head, ignoring her as the two boys looked up at the sun to gauge direction and left for the south.

“You can’t do this. You have to leave into Hyrule field by the west path, and you have to get to Lake Hylia.”

“Thanks for the information,” Aldorn said, spitefully as they spotted the path she mentioned and immediately began heading for it, this time Link able to carry his own weight.

“No, stop!”

They ignored her.

“...Ingrates.”

Chapter VI

Aldorn rolled his eyes at Sil’s complaints as the two boys left her behind, walking along the pathway. The sweet, enchanting smell of the forest returned now that they had left the clearing, but it was not as strong. As they walked, the vegetation grew less and less lush, until it began to become the sickening grey of everything else they had seen in Hyrule.

Just then, Link stiffened for a moment, and paused, head jerking slightly to his right. “What is it, Link?” Aldorn asked, stopping to turn to face his friend before looking the same direction Link was gazing. In the silence caused by the lack of walking on dry leaves, they heard another noise. Curious, the two boys began to walk towards it, before Aldorn stopped himself and Link.

“Wait. The forest is cursed, remember? If we leave the path, we probably won’t be able to find it again,” Aldorn whispered, motioning for them to go on. “It’s probably something that wants to eat us, anyway.”

Link shook his head and continued looking in that direction before lifting his ocarina to his lips.

“Link what are you doing? They’ll hear you!” However, Aldorn’s warning was too late as Link blew a very soft note, at which the noise stopped. “Great, now we’re toast,” Aldorn moaned. However, Link was unafraid as the sound of feet came towards them.

“What the? It’s a horse,” Aldorn said as he walked up to the creature, a black one with white hocks and blaze. In its mouth was a sprig of strawberries, which it was lazily munching on. The creature didn’t seem at all perturbed by either of them, and appeared to be utterly uninterested in the world, only caring enough to chew his berries. In his eyes was the look of a completely contented animal. Aldorn gently patted its nose, saying, “It’s tame...I wonder why it’s here...but at least it’s transportation. No walking!” he said, happily, before looking around to see if it was branded. Aldorn’s quick search found that, sure enough, there was a marking on the horse’s left haunch. “Link...” Aldorn said, reaching with his finger to trace the marking.

“Link...it’s one of your Dad’s horses.”

-------

“Greetings, my king,” the creature said with a small bow. It must have been the same race as Arkai, as he gave off the impression of being a somewhat rugged looking Human, with brown hair and a pair of wings to match it. He was dressed in black trimmed in red, and though not voluminous, it was obvious by the lovingly crafted embroidery, the rope trimmings, and tassels, and the design of the robe, all made to show off both his rank and still young figure, that he was someone of importance. “You sent for me?”

“Yes, King Naersan,” the figure replied in a baritone, authoritative voice. He was dark of skin, with a hard face as if chiseled from stone, and a beak-like nose. His hair was fiery red, with a slightly modified and small Hylian crown weaved through it. His robes were dark blue and maroon, with gold Gerudoan runes sewn into it. “I have heard news of Humans trying to retake Hyrule from the east.”

“General Arkai and Major General Darkrist report that all remnants have been wiped out over the past few weeks. Of interest, they also report finding two Hylian boys.”

“Hylians? I thought we had killed them off - except for the girl and Prince Daphnes.”

“We believed so, as well, but now these are taken care of.”

“Good,” he said, quietly.

King Naersan’s look went from official to weary and almost sad as he asked, softly, “Sire? I...I wonder. Is this oppression wise? There are those who befriended Hylians and Humans...and many Humans would have joined your cause. Must we kill so many?”

Slowly, the king turned his head so his yellow eyes faced Naersan. “Feel you pity for the unblessed races?” he asked, a hint of sadness in his voice. “I do not like to kill so many, either; but it must be done. Their kind...it has done so much harm to both of our races, and caused so much pain to others. Feel you pity?”

“No, sire, no. I just...it wasn’t the child that hurt us...”

“Naersan...” the king said, compassionately. “Naersan, I know. I know it is hard. It is hard for me, too, to see such death; but you and I both know that it is today’s child that is tomorrow’s warrior, and their conniving is so inbred into them. They were irredeemable.”

“I know, sire.”

There was silence for a moment before the king asked, “You are not the only one who feels this way?”

“No, no I am not. Our armies are willing to fight to the death for you but...we are unfamiliar with the idea of genocide.”

“I know, Naersan, but,” the king said, serenely, almost resigned, “it is the will of Din.”

“Yes, sire,” King Naersan replied before turning smartly to take his leave of his friend. It had always hurt him these long years to know that Din’s will was to so hurt innocents...but he knew, he knew that was what she wanted...and who was he to question Din?

-------

With every beat the horse’s hooves drummed into the ground, the worry rose in both boy’s hearts. With every step south, the more anxious they became to go home and please, please find it safe.

The two boys somehow managed to fit on the horse, though it was slightly smaller than the average horse and the boys were now larger, being ‘older,’ and though it was not very comfortable, it was comfortable enough. They had taken rope and had strung the packs over the horse’s back so that there was a small pack on either side of the horse, and fortunately the typical horse rancher’s clothing included pants, so the rope didn’t cut into them. The horse, whom they had dubbed Berry because of the berries he had been eating when they first met him, proved to be an ornery, lazy horse, but still, he was a horse. He was transportation...

And he didn’t like Link. Sometimes when Link drew near him, he snapped at him with that half-dazed look on his long, stupid face. When Link attempted to mount him with Aldorn already seated, Berry would buck like a steer to throw him off, and would often succeed in that and tossing their packs into some place inconvenient to retrieve it from. This resulted in Link being forced to always ride behind Aldorn, which wasn’t the more comfortable of the two spots; but it was transportation, and it was a lot faster.

Only a few hours after having ridden away from the Lost Woods, reaching Hyrule Field and turning south, Sil had shown up, saying, begrudgingly, that she couldn’t leave them alone for two minutes without them doing something stupid. Aldorn was not pleased, especially when she decided to hitch a ride by nesting herself in one of the packs, in a position most opportune for pecking Aldorn when she perceived him to be getting out of line.

They rode by way of the river they had been following since their departure from Kakariko, minus the detour in the Lost Woods. Near it was a better chance at the stray berry bush, as well as fresh water. It didn’t take long to reach the Outer Lands of Sub-Hyrule, nor to get down to the Ordona Province, where the river broke off and they were forced to leave it to continue south through Faron Woods. Finally, however, Faron Woods cleared, opening up to Ordon Village, orange in the twilight.

It was...gone.

It was still there, the buildings were still there, but everything that made it Ordon Village was gone. Gone was the laughter, the sunlight, the talking the vibrance, the people, the life.

The valley was dead.

“Mom...?” Aldorn barely breathed through a throat that felt as if it was trying to choke him.

Immediately, the two boys began riding as hard as they could towards home. They passed burnt fields, the charred remains of Farmer Migil’s tree, the dilapidated houses, the destruction, the death.

Fear and dread and despair soaked through Aldorn’s entire being, making it difficult to breathe.

At last, at long last, Aldorn yanked Berry to a halt before what remained of his house, abandoned, in which there was no life.

“Mom! Dad!” Aldorn shouted as he jumped from Berry and ran inside, not noticing when Link jumped off to run to his own house. Aldorn, once inside, felt his stomach drop as the entirety of what he was became utterly numb. It was the house he knew, but its vivacity was gone...gone. It was eerie, to see every familiar thing deserted, abandoned - bereft of any care or life or love.

He finally just fell to his knees in front of the fireplace, next to his father’s favorite chair. He didn’t know how long he knelt there, and, really, he didn’t care. The night had now fallen, and it proved to be a dark one - the dust veiled the full moon above almost completely. Aldorn just knew that when he finally made himself he couldn’t feel anything. He didn’t even notice when he walked out the door and stood next to Berry, stroking its head and nose. He just stared straight ahead, silent and still. Even Sil, who had been perching on the eaves of his house waiting for him, knew to keep her beak shut when she saw the eerie, empty expression on his face.

Finally, he mounted the horse and half nudged it’s sides to make it move, feeling as if he had no conscious will at all. He halfheartedly steered the horse towards Link’s house, which, he found as he came up to it, to be in less of a ruined state than his own, probably because it was better built, but it was still empty...like a tomb. The door was swung open, the top hinge undone, allowing the heavy wood to rustle in the wind. Aldorn walked inside the gaping mouth of the house into the dark inside, where there was no light.

He tried to force Link’s name though his tightened throat, but he could not do it. He just stood there in the doorway, leaning on the rotting wooden frame. When he leaned a bit to one side, the bit of light outside streaked into the room and revealed the hunched back of a boy. Aldorn at last willed himself to walk over to Link, and rested his hand on his shoulder.

Aldorn was surprised when Link jerked his head to face him. There was something incredibly deep in his eyes, sadness, yes, but there was something more: hatred. There was a raging fire in his eyes that Aldorn had not seen before. It was almost as if he was looking at another boy.

Link at last stood and walked out of the room, as silent as he had always been, but this time, he seem to soak all noise into his void of silence. There was a more mature, determined aura in his gait and the way he carried himself. It was almost frightening to see the mild boy so...grown up. So angry.

When Link walked out into what was left of the moonlight, the small light there was glinted off something in his hand, and Aldorn caught sight of a small knife, and though he couldn't make it out, he knew what it was - Link’s father’s favorite knife, the one Link’s father had given Link a year ago...or eight years ago. He had seen it so many times. It was handmade, and had a horse’s head carved into it. Aldorn had known how much Link greatly looked up to his father...but when he saw the fire in his eyes, the same that now seemed to now light the blade, he knew that the feeling went much deeper than that of respect.

Aldorn followed Link, who somehow seemed to be taller, now taller than he, himself, was, outside, where Link mounted Berry. Aldorn didn’t know how he mounted Berry, especially when the horse fought the action, but now there was something commanding in his every move. Link looked down at Aldorn, the fire still burning, before he pointed past the house, to where Link’s favorite knoll was, where Link used to play his ocarina for the birds.

It was something horrible, Aldorn knew, just by the look, just by the way he pointed, almost like the death might point. Aldorn turned, and looked behind the house, and just stood there, staring, as the fire that lit Link’s eyes began to blaze in his own.

You could see in the dim light, the reflections and shadows of tombstones. Many, many tombstones. Lined up in little rows, all along the little hill, like an army of the dead. Everyone...everything they knew...everything they loved...was buried on that hill.

Aldorn turned on his heel, fury burning in his heart as he mounted Berry behind Link.

“They will pay.”

-------

The day had ended not long ago, and proved to be a bright, glorious sunset in a fitting eulogy to the day, especially in the Northern Mountains. It was drawing near to autumn now, and several of the mountains were capped by snow, snow that glistened in the sun like beacons in a farewell to the day. Here, in the mountains, from the vantage point of the Aerie, the tallest, largest mountain in the Northern Ranges, Arkai could see all the Northern Lands. As well as being the largest mountain, the Aerie housed a greater portion of those of his race, and served as their fortified city. He could see a great distance from here, especially with his hawk’s eyes as he stood on the naturally formed balcony. However, he didn’t particularly care or notice at the moment as he climbed onto the railing of the balcony, standing precariously on the thin ledge for a few seconds as he looked up and left, higher up the mountain. When he caught sight of an artificial balcony in that general direction, he smiled first gently, then mischievously as he jumped from the ledge.

His sleek black wings spread out to catch the wind as he flew up to that wonderful balcony, buckling his knees as he landed to absorb the shock of his descent, as well as make it more silent. One hand was to the ground as he looked up at the rounded arch that fit the contour of the mountain, carved with little designs around it, fit for the granddaughter of the Sage. However, he was paying not attention to that. Beyond was a small darkened room except for a few torches along the walls, lit, but still not providing a wealth of light. He walked in, doing his best not to make any noise with his boots as he craned his neck to see if he could catch sight of anybody.

Finally, he heard footsteps and he huddled close to the wall, spreading out his dark wings so that he could get his body closer, watching tenderly as a girl walked across the room to get from one lit room to the next. She was young, probably seventeen, only a few years younger than himself, with hair as black as his own, though more feathery. She was pretty, with delicate features, even her undersized wings. It hurt him a bit to see her wings, too small for her, and to know that she was born with crippled wings that could not let her take to the air and fly. She was a frail, thin little thing, and it only made his heart more soft towards her as he quietly broke away from the wall to follow her into the room.

However, she, too, had keen ears, and before she could reach the room, she wheeled around to see who it was, only to be caught up in his arms in an embrace.

“Arkai!” she said, half in reproach and half in joy. “Arkai, you’re back! Put me down,” she said, trying not to laugh.

“Make me, dove,” he said with a laugh before doing as she asked.

“Arkai, you know you shouldn’t come up here like that. Nyrain doesn’t like it.”

“Forget Nyrain,” Arkai said, smiling. “I’ve been away too long.”

“Five weeks!”

“Ah, you were counting.”

“No, I wasn’t - and it was only five weeks.”

“Only eternity,” he grinned, gently lifting her head up to look up at him. “Was my Lya not missing me?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth.”

“Then she was missing me! My dove,” he said with a laugh as he embraced her again.

“I didn’t say that...” Lya said, though she gently returned the gesture. “You silly raven.”

“Silly?” he said, pulling away from her, only this time he had in his hands a delicate necklace of gold, decorated with little golden feathers and one large one as a pendant in the center.

“Arkai...” she said, in a whisper as she touched the dainty, intricate interlacing of gold wires and golden feathers. She couldn’t imagine how much it cost, especially since kargarok feathers were rare in these parts of Hyrule. It was so beautiful.

She gingerly touched it as he held it out to her before he latched it around her small neck. She gently stroked the soft feathers as she looked up at him, before wrapping her arms around him once more.

He grinned. “I was hoping you’d like it the bunch of vulture feathers.”

“Arkai, you’re hopeless.”

“Hopelessly in love. I want you to marry me.”

“...What?”

“Will you?”

“Oh...!” she said, looking as if she could hardly believe he was asking. Especially when he was asking a bird who couldn’t fly. She shivered a bit at the thought before burying her head in his chest. “Yes...yes my raven.”

He smiled before embracing her a little tighter. “Four months?”

“So long?”

“That’s the shortest I can be engaged to the Sage’s granddaughter without a scandal.”

“Oh, oh yes. Four months would be...nice.”

He stood there for a moment, the happiest he’d been in his life. He hooked his finger under her jaw to bring her head up as he leaned down to kiss her.

“General?”

His head jerked up and he turned around to look at whoever was speaking. He found his messenger and friend, Daliel, standing in the same balcony he, himself had just come in on. He couldn't make out that it was Daliel in the dim light outside, but only Daliel, his best friend, would have known where he was.

“Daliel?”

“It is important, King Naersan requests your presence.”

“Oh,” He said, slowly letting go of his dove. “All right,” he said as he walked over to the balcony, Daliel taking off as he reached it. He turned back to Lya and said, before he jumped, “I’ll get back to you on that kiss.”

“Oh...” Lya said, sad to see him go, but smiling, know that he would eventually return. “You silly raven,” she said, shaking her head. “You silly, wonderful raven.”