Chapter 5 - Between Darkness and Light
Rega looked down in surprise as the Hylian boy was thrown into the cell.
He wondered what had happened, that someone that age could be captured and
treated like that. These Gerudo were no ladies, that much was for sure...
He looked into the boy's blue eyes. A flicker of recognition started across
his features...
"Mi..." he started, before cutting himself off half way.
"Do I know you?..."
"No. It's not that. You just look just like someone I knew once."
"It's not me, then, buddy. I don't know many land-people. Don't know many
Zoras, neither, come to mention it. Old Mr. No-Fins, always the outcast...
They all treat me like some rotten seaweed, or something..." He bit his tongue.
Why was he telling this child he didn't even know how he really felt?
Perhaps because he looks like he's listening. That's a first... "Sorry.
Didn't mean to bore you with my ranting. My name's Rega, by the way."
A second's pause. "I'm Link. If it's any consolation, I know how
you feel."
"Do you? Thanks. It's gonna be better to have someone to talk to, while we're
slammed up in here... What're you doing here, anyway?"
"One of the guards caught me creeping in." He wasn't quite sure he wanted
to reveal his connections and plans here. But if this Zora could tell him
about his past just like that, perhaps he could open up too... He swallowed.
"The desert's going to be invaded. The Hylian army, and - " feeling
strange, mentioning the name so disconnected - "the Fierce Dei-"
"Pesch!" Rega spat the Zoran swearword out. "You're telling me Oni's
coming here, too? He's the reason that I'm in this hole in the first place!
I was escaping from him when I was caught! We've gotta get out of here, fast!
You got any ideas, buddy?"
Link looked around the cell. He hadn't seen any ways out so far, but - ah.
He lowered his voice. "There's a hole up the top of the ceiling - see
it?" The Zora nodded. "Do you think you could help me through there? I can
get the keys off the guard."
Rega looked slightly amused and stunned. "You think you'll be able to beat
a guard?"
"I've done it before."
"Okay..." The kid had guts, he'd give him that. It was worth a try. The worst
that could happen would be that they'd end up back in the same situation.
"Well, let's go. Ready?" He braced his hands under Link's foot, and gave
him a leg-up. With skill dormant for ten years, untested except on the ranch's
apple trees, he grappled at the ledge and hauled himself over.
It didn't take long for a guard to hear the escape attempt and come running
down the corridor. Link was ready, with his sword drawn. The Gerudo laughed
at the strange sight of a child with a weapon like that, and carelessly
underestimated her attack. Before she was prepared, she felt the flat of
the blade against her side. She leapt back in surprise. "So you like to play
games like that, kid? I'll give you..." He managed to dodge the spinning
blades, but barely. This was proving to be a tougher fight than he'd remembered,
but eventually the guard dropped her keys and ran. I didn't do that much,
so why is she leaving so soon? he wondered. As he unlocked the cell door,
he heard something else. It sounded like... No, not already... He
ran across to the window with Rega behind him.
"Nayru..." he cursed."It's started already!" He stared out over the desert.
The war had begun.
-
An invading force swept across the sands. At first, there seemed to be no
opposition, but as they progressed...
Shadowy figures appeared around them. The Gerudo forces came out of hiding
to attack the Hylians. The mounted newcomers looked around, slightly surprised
- they'd never been told they would be fighting women! Too many of the army,
to begin with, were courteous knights. All their lives, they'd been taught
that what they were about to do was wrong.
However, the Gerudos had never had any such qualms. Their attacks ploughed
into the Hylian forces, and they began to push them back slowly.
But not for long...
-
From Link's hiding place, he could see a trail leading through the battling
forces. Felling slightly sickened, he looked closer. He knew all too well
who it would be carving that path of destruction and bloodshed. In horrified
fascination, he looked closer, and could almost make out the white eyes of
the warrior...
"Can you see him?" Rega asked.
Link nodded, his eyes shut. "Yes. I can." He turned to the tall Zora. As
he spoke, he sounded more like a hero than a child. "Rega... you try to escape.
Go in that direction - " he pointed northwards. "I'm hoping they won't see
you."
"What are you going to do? Oh... no. Are you insane? You're going to go out
into that, aren't you?" Link nodded back. "But you're only a kid..."
He winced back slightly. "I'm not just a kid. I'm the one person in this
whole world who has a chance to stop the Deity in his tracks. I have to do
this... Don't try to protect me. You'd only be saving me from myself." He
took in the amazement in Rega's black eyes. "Go on. I can handle what needs
to be done." He sighed. "And if I can't... you'd better be as far away from
here as you can be. Because otherwise..."
Rega sighed, and looked at Link. "I understand. I'll go now." He turned to
head down the passageway. "Thanks, buddy." He disappeared out of sight.
Link looked out of the window for a last time, searching for his own painted face in the melee...
-
For a mere thief, Nabooru wasn't too bad an opponent, Fierce Link thought.
He knew she would fall easily soon, but he was enjoying this battle while
it lasted. It was why he existed after all, to fight...
Nabooru climbed to her feet and span, curved swords flying, towards him.
The old Gerudo trick... He leapt aside and blocked the blows, before holding
out his own blade and focusing a blast of energy at the sage. She fell,
unconscious, to the ground.
...Now to finish what I started...
Before he could deliver the final blow, he was distracted by a yell. "Over
here!" A child's voice?
He looked around. The boy he'd seen in the market, again. What's he doing
out here? Stupid kid. He took a closer look. Wait - a golden sword? Like
the one he'd had in the old days? The more he thought about it, the more
the boy reminded him of how he'd been. Another memory... Perhaps he would
have killed him then, but something intrigued him too much. He paused a second.
"What's your name, boy?"
"My name? My name... is Link."
...What? Impossible!...
Fierce Link yelled, and attacked his younger counterpart in fury. Link blocked the blow clumsily, too used to using a shield and out of practice with either. They tried to pull back their weapons, but for a strange reason the two swords would not part...
Blue eyes met white. A light grew up around the point where helix blade met
gilded sword...
The blaze swept out to engulf them both...
Or maybe there was only the one...
-
Two souls combining, to form a whole severed so long...
-
A darkness one way.
A blinding light the other.
In the darkness - a vicious warrior.
In the light - a brave child.
"Who are you?" Voices echoing around him, all his own, but all different...
Whatever that meant.
"It's your choice... You choose what is in your heart..." An adult's voice...
Who am I?
Link...
"Remember who you are, always..." A child's voice...
He looked to the Fierce Deity and the boy hero.
Which was he?
He looked into the darkness.
Span round, and ran into the light that beckoned.
Immediately, he realised something was wrong, as the darkness followed his
steps. Don't think you can get away so quickly, he heard his own voice
whisper...
It flooded past him, and left him falling back through a tunnel of memory.
He yelled, and blacked out.
-
The bubble of light faded, leaving a still form on the sands, a moment of
silence in the roar of the battle.
Slowly, he stirred and sat up. He pushed hair out of his eyes and looked
around.
Where am I?... The desert, where I...
He stopped.
What have I done?
Only now did he realise what had happened. Both sets of memories clashed in his head, but only one Link remained to perceive them now - and what he saw in his own head appalled him.
He ran across the desert sands, oblivious to the combat around him, just
trying to escape the horrors of his past...
But how can I escape what's in my soul...
Desert turned to plains...
He fled across Hyrule Field. Time stood still as he ran, with the anger of
ten years burning inside him.
Plains turned to forest...
He could have been running for a day, two days, more, but it didn't
matter...
He sprinted through the Lost Woods, oblivious to the stares of frightened
children...
Just to get anywhere, anywhere but the battlefield...
I have to get away...