Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Zelda: The Ballad of Fallen Angels ❯ Breaching The Other World ( Chapter 22 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 22: “Breaching The Other World”

“The air in this world is much sweeter than in Termina,” was Descrod's first observation of Hyrule after he set foot in the Lost Woods. His forces had easily tricked Saetoushei's and gotten to Hyrule far ahead of anything he might do. Now he surveyed his great army.

Descrod's new Grand Imperial Army of Ikama was about ten thousand strong. Had all of them been fighting the Battle of Clock Town, he was sure that he would have been victorious. Although, he had to admit to himself, he had been caught off guard by the arrival of that brigade of skeletal horsemen that had ridden out of Ikama Canyon.

But Descrod was confident, perhaps overly so, that there was no way that he would be beaten in what he perceived as his destiny. He had the map that Saetoushei himself had drawn nearly eight years before, on his first quest in Termina. By comparing that map of Hyrule to the ancient legends and tales, coupled with what Jasper had learned from Saetoushei during his time as a Bomber, Descrod would find the Triforce, the one true material artifact that would grant him the power of the gods.

The Mayor's Residence had sustained only minor structural damage to it's front exterior during the invasion by Descrod's forces. It was here that the Insurrectionists and their allies assembled to decide what to do next.

Saetoushei sat with his head in his hands at the head of the conference table. Keeta and Mikhail sat next to him. Gabriel, Anju, Quindle, Lybia, the Rosa sisters, Romani, Cremina, and Hikari ranged down the table. Queen Melondia stood on one of the chairs, being short enough that she wouldn't been seen sitting in one. The Queen had brought her commanders with her; Dispurcro, Epstig, and Trikg stood around her chair. Tatl and Tael floated in the air above the table. Swiftstroke, Reguge, Anastasia, and Localo stood at the opposite end of the table. Igus de Ikama, Marin, and Keeta's Captains milled about the room, taking in the books and leafing through maps and sheets of paper on the table.

Anju's eyes were red and raw. Kafei had died in the massacre. He had died defending the door of the Grand Pot Hotel from Descrod's forces. Grammo had fallen during the battle itself. Kari's leg was getting better, but Reguge, who before assuming the throne when his father had passed on had been an educated and experienced doctor and surgeon, had expressed his opinion that she would limp for the rest of her life.

“Now what?” Romani asked. No one wanted to be the one to answer, but Tael eventually did. “We don't know. We don't know what to do now.”

Igus came up to the conference table and struck it with his fist. “I know exactly what to do; we fight! Keeta, leader of all my forces, take your captains and rally the army! Rulers of other nations gather your forces! We march to Hyrule and pursue this man who has defiled my throne and my crown, and we hang him from the nearest tree we can find!”

“Hold, Ikaylimu,” Reguge said wearily. “We do not know anything about this foreign land, we do not know which way Descrod and his army may have gone, we know absolutely nothing. It is better to not leap blindly into the fire before we know we won't get burned.”

Igus frowned but nodded. “Well spoken, Kaiser Zarana.”

“General Keeta?” Tatl asked, “Could we mass forces and follow him?”

“General?” Igus asked incredulously. “What is this?”

Keeta made a gurgling sound in the back of his throat like he was clearing it. “Um, well, yes, I was promoted and appointed leader of the combined forces for the battle, but I still bow to you, my liege.”

Igus nodded, “Just wanted to make sure loyalties had not changed. Well done, Keeta, congratulations.”

Marin walked up to the table. “I want to fight.”

“We all do, in one form or another,” Romani said. “But we're not sure how.”

Saetoushei's head dropped even further. “I don't know, I just don't know anymore.”

An uncomfortable silence descended on the room. Everyone fell into their own silence, reflecting on what they thought would be best.

Mikhail stood up. “I want to fight. I want to travel to Hyrule and hunt down Augustine Descrod like the dog that he is.”

Amid murmurs of agreement, Swiftstroke stood as well. “I commit my Gorons to your cause.”

Melondia jumped up onto the table, being barely tall enough to be seen from the chair. “We're always with you. The Dekus will never stop fighting!”

Reguge braced himself against the table. “Our waters will never be completely safe, so long as that madman lives. The Zoras are with you.”

Anastasia nodded, “Ay, as are the Wave Brethren.”

Igus, Keeta, and the Captains held a brief, whispered conference in a corner of the room and returned to the table. Igus extended a hand. “I commit all forces of the Kingdom of Ikama to your cause, and,” he continued, pointing at Saetoushei, “we wish for you to lead the attack!”

Saetoushei was taken aback. “What? Why me? It's my fault we're in this mess in the first place.”

Anastasia waved a finger at him. “Now don't be takin' that attitude with me, boy. `Tis nobody's fault. Without you and the girls and the fairy, Descrod would have probably taken over everything by now.”

“She's right, my lad.” Keeta said, clapping a large hand on Saetoushei's shoulder. “Besides, none of us know how to make our way around in your little country. We need you to be our guide.”

Saetoushei looked up at them. “Who in your armies will serve under me? After all this, who would?”

“Oh they will, Saetoushei, do not worry about that.” Melondia said, patting Saetoushei's hand.

Abruptly, the Hylian stood up. “Then we leave before today is done.”

Zelda, Queen of Hyrule, sat in her antechamber writing her daily notes. Early that morning, she had received the latest shipment from Ms. Malon, who ran Lon Lon Ranch, and would not be seeing her until about the middle of next month. Techyna, Captain of the Royal Guards, still did not like her Queen taking walks alone during the night. For the life of her, Zelda couldn't understand her Captain's anxieties.

A knock sounded at the chamber door. Zelda knew it had to be Impa. Very few others were allowed in this part of the castle.

“Come in,” Zelda called.

True to her thoughts, the door opened and Impa walked in. Impa was one of the last living members of the Sheiklan, the race of human warriors that had protected the royal family of Hyrule for countless generations. Impa had been Zelda's nanny and guardian since the time of her birth, but now served Zelda as the Chief Magistrate of the kingdom.

“Impa,” Zelda said, smiling up at the older woman. “How are things?”

Impa did not smile back. “Your presence is needed, Your Majesty.”

“Whatever for?”

“We may have a very dangerous situation on our hands.”

Impa had led Zelda down to the main foyer, where Techyna and a full score of soldiers met them. “Your Majesty, you are urgently needed at the outer gates. I believe that we are being threatened.”

“Threatened?” Zelda said in shock. “By whom?”

“We do not know, Your Majesty.” Techyna said.

Zelda stared off the top of the battlements, looking down towards Hyrule Field. As far as her eyes could tell, the land had turned black. Thousands upon thousands of black-clad soldiers had surrounded the castle battlements.

“Are we under siege?” Zelda asked Techyna.

The Captain of the Guards shook her head. “I don't know, Your Majesty, I was just commanded to bring you here.”

“By who?” Zelda asked.

“By me, Your Highness.” A mail-clad man stepped up to them. General Batavian, the commander of the Hylian Army, bowed to his Queen. “I apologize for the rudeness and abruptness of all this, but I really don't think we have a choice. Their leader wishes to speak with ours, in order to propose a peace treaty.”

“Peace treaty?” Zelda sounded incredulous. “What would we need a peace treaty for?”

“Because if we do not sign one with them,” Batavian replied grimly, “they will attack.”

Stunned, Zelda stammered out, “Send for their leader. I will speak to him.”

Less than ten minutes later, the invading hordes parted to allow a single man to stride confidently forward. He was tall, strikingly handsome, with blond hair and a muscled build, hidden under what Zelda took to be his ceremonial robes and articles of rank. She was sure he was a ruler of some sort, and was now glad that she wore her crown.

Walking to the edge of the battlements, Zelda peered over and called out, “Intruders to my lands! I am Zelda, Queen of Hyrule! I respectfully demand that you identify yourselves and state what business you have here!”

The blond man tilted his head back to lock eyes with Zelda. “I am Augustine Descrod III, the Ikaylimu and supreme ruler of the great Kingdom of Ikama. My business is this; I demand that you hand over, to me and no one else, the Triforce!”

Impa gasped. Zelda barely registered it, but she would have noted after-the-fact that her former guardian almost never lost her composure. General Batavian closed his eyes and crossed himself.

“Never.” Zelda's voice was flat. “No matter what, you shall never possess the Triforce.”

Descrod shrugged. “Alright.” Turning on his heel, he started to walk back down the aisle that his army had made for him.

It took Zelda a minute to let this sink in. “Wait a minute! That's it?” she asked incredulously.

Descrod turned back to look at her. “Oh yes, I nearly forgot. As of right now, you are under siege and we are at war.”

Saetoushei stood with Commodore Trikg on the lowest platform of the clock tower in South Clock Town. The entire combined forces of Mikhail, Igus, Melondia, Reguge, Anastasia, and Swiftstroke stood at attention underneath him. The survivors of Clock Town all stood around the edges of the army.

“Have you ever seen a force this large, sir?” Saetoushei asked Trikg, “or this diverse?”

The old Deku shook his head. “No. It's a beautiful thing, in it's own way. All the separate races and peoples of Termina, finally united together. It's so sad that it had to happen in this way.”

Saetoushei nodded. “In Hyrule, the peoples are also united together. And just like in Termina, it took a war to do it.”

“War is funny like that,” Trikg said. “It brings about death and destruction, pain and misery, yet in the end, all are united, and after war, peace reigns for a time. It is only natural, however long it may take, that the races will drift apart again, and eventually, war will strike once again. It is the natural order of things. We cannot prevent it, however, we can try to ensure that the wars that do happen do not last for long.”

Saetoushei nodded, before stepping to the edge of the platform. The crowd underneath him shushed itself.

Saetoushei spoke. “First of all, let me make something very clear to you all. No one is forcing you to be here. Nor is anyone going to force you to fight if you do not want to. I am asking you to leave this country, the universe even, to follow me, and fight in a different one. If you do not want to, then please let it be known now.”

Not a single creature spoke. No one broke rank to leave. Everyone stayed. Saetoushei breathed a sigh of relief.

“Very well. If you will follow me, we leave immediately for Hyrule. The force that massacred the residents of this city are there now, planning to murder and pillage from more innocent people. They need to be stopped. We need to stop them.” Saetoushei looked out over the crowd. He watched Anju dry her tears, watched Madam Aroma stand beside Sensei Quindle, and cry for the first time that Saetoushei had ever seen her. He watched Romani, Cremina, and Hikari stand side-by-side, ready to do battle with their friend. He watched Igus de Ikama and General Keeta stand together on the side of the army, two old comrades eagerly awaiting the battle, just like they had done in life, and continued to do in death. He looked into the crowd and recognized one of the Dekus that Melondia had contributed; Ariel, the brave girl who had destroyed one of Descrod's zeppelins single-handedly.

Saetoushei raised his head and spoke again. “If no one has any objections, then I say, let's be off. Now, to battle!”

The army roared as Saetoushei and Trikg climbed down from the platform, and led the combatants through the double doors into the depths of the clock tower.

The first assault began with absolutely no warning. Zelda was visiting the sentries posted on the upper battlements when one of them began gurgling and lurched forwards, an arrow seemingly growing out of his neck. As the sentry fell, a virtual hail of arrows whizzed by over the battlements. Batavian knocked Zelda flat as the arrows shot by overhead.

“Your Majesty, you must leave the battlements now!” Batavian commanded, hauling Zelda to the stairwell. Royal Guards waited to receive the queen.

“Your Majesty,” Techyna said, “Please come with me.”

Zelda did so, but turned to Batavian before departing. “General, do whatever it takes, but don't let them in.”

With Zelda on her way back to the castle proper, Batavian called to his troops, “Archers, rally to me! Form three ranks here on the battlements. That's it, men, line yourselves up right behind each other, we've done this before.” Seeing the archers in position and as ready as they would ever be, Batavian called, “Alright, first rank, bows loaded. Ready? Fire!” As the first line of arrows shot down into the Dark Hordes, Batavian said, “Good, now, first line drop and reload. Second line, up, ready, fire! Second line drop and reload. Third line, up, ready, fire! Third line drop and reload. First line, up again, ready, aim, fire!”

The archers kept up a constant pace for hours, sending shafts of death raining into the seemingly-infinite masses of Horders.

“Good so far,” Batavian said to himself, “but it can't last. We'll run out of arrows sooner or later.”

Saetoushei breathed in the cool air of the Lost Woods. It had taken quite a while, but they had managed to transport the entire army across the dimensional break. Now, they stood in Hyrule.

Saetoushei looked back at the force. He was amused to see the different reactions that the separate races had on this place. The Dekus were in heaven, complimenting the trees and the soft grass underfoot. The Zoras were muttering to themselves about the heat and lack of water, the Wave Brethren simply resigning themselves to the fact that they would be walking and not sailing. The undead remained neutral, accepting the fact that they were in a forest, although some of them, Igus included, were commenting on how infinitely different the woods were from the canyon, being so green and all. The Gorons were too busy eating the rocks that they were digging up to notice much else.

Marin suddenly stood beside him. Saetoushei had been reintroduced to her on the journey to Hyrule. He was shocked and saddened by the changes in her. Marin had told him not to worry about her ever again, and tried to return his sword, but Saetoushei had insisted that she keep it.

“Do we rest here?” Marin asked him, “or do we press on?”

Saetoushei looked back at the army again. Many looked exhausted from the trip through the portal, some were complaining of recurring headaches.

“It's probably best for everyone if we camp here for the night.” Saetoushei replied. “It would do nobody good if we walked all night, only to have them try to fight in that condition.”

Saetoushei raised his voice to the entire force. “Listen, we camp here for the night. Eat well, drink, wash, do whatever. Just remember; get as much good sleep and rest as you can, because tomorrow,” here Saetoushei paused, trying to think of some of the phrases Ryojen used to use when he commanded the Bombers, “tomorrow, we will engage the enemy upon the open field, and we will make a river out of their blood.”

Augustine Descrod sat in his tent, pouring over the books of lore that he had taken with him upon leaving Ikama. He studied them, absorbed them, trying to figure out the best possible way of retrieving the Triforce from the castle, looking for a clue as to it's location. It was in the castle, of that Descrod was sure, but for the life of him he couldn't any true indication of it's location.

A tap on the front flap of the tent made him look up. A Horde runner stood there. Descrod acknowledge him.

“My lord, the scouts have returned from the mission you sent them on.”

Descrod stood up. “Did they discover what I told them to find?”

The runner nodded. “Yes my lord. A drainage pipe protrudes into the castle's moat, to the left down the defense wall. It is only covered by an iron grate that leads to the other side of the wall.”

Descrod grinned. “Excellent! Tell those scouts to report to the recruiter, and turn in their running shoes. All three of them are to be promoted to lance corporal, and you yourself can share a cask of good wine with them.”

The Horder saluted smartly, and hurried off to inform the scouts of their good fortune. Descrod waited `til the runner was gone to laugh out loud. “Tomorrow that wall will fall, and after that, I won't need an army any more, for I will be a God!”