Fan Fiction Friday: The Era Without A Hero – Part 54

||  Part Fifty-Three  ||  Part Fifty-Five  ||

Part Fifty-Four

“Thank you, Your Grace,” the kindly woman said, her eyes hiding amid the wrinkles around them.

Zelda wiped a bit of sweat and grime from her forehead and nodded to the woman as she lifted her basin of water. She poured the dirty water out near a makeshift latrine and then moved to refill the bowl near the well.

For three days, she had been attending to the injured and sick. The refugees that flooded out of Castletown and made it to Kakariko numbered in the thousands. Tents and temporary shelters were erected all across the city, Impa had assumed the temporary governorship of the region, and there had been no words from the scouts who had gone out.

There hadn’t been much in the way of time to discuss everything that had happened either. When Zelda, Mido, Yoon, and Lindsey reached the summit of the hill and saw Castletown in flames, the attack had only been going for about an hour.

“They laid siege to the city in minutes. Some soldiers turned on one another, monsters poured out from the sewers, and others simply climbed enormous ladders right over the walls,” Impa said on the first night.

“How? How could they effectuate this level of assault so fast?” Mido asked.

“They had help from the inside,” Impa said bitterly.

“Rutela has been flushed out. Osmond is after her,” Zelda said.

“Not her. She was a pawn, likely dead by now out of fear she’d be a liability. This would have to be somebody higher up, somebody with decades worth of influence. I think it’s what Liam has been investigating all this time. He feared the truth and went into hiding to verify it.”

None of them said anything.

Liam had saved them from the Lynel just outside the city, however, he was already deeply wounded. Before they reached the Bridge of Eldin, Liam had passed out on his horse. Some rudimentary medical care had been given, but it was not the sort of long-term care he needed.

He was laid up in the inn where the others had taken up residence. Together, they were rotating shifts of watching him and tending to his wounds. He had made a few mutterings in his sleep, but nothing that was helpful.

“The only information he’d been able to give me was this Sheikah seal,” Impa showed them a small press for making wax seals on envelopes. “He warned me off of showing anybody I didn’t fully trust. Then we were ambushed and separated.”

Since that first night, the group had been divided and tending to their respective duties as best they could. For her part, Zelda did her best going around the makeshift shelters and offering to help anybody still sick or wounded.

With her basin full, Zelda turned to leave the well and head down another row of shelters and tend to the sick and needy there. However, when she turned, she bumped into a face she’d not seen in what seemed like a lifetime.

“Mr. Henry!”

Henry, Osmond’s uncle, stood as surprised as Zelda was.

“Your Grace!”

Zelda quickly noticed a large cut on Henry’s arm and immediately set about caring for it with water and a bandage. He laughed and assured her that he was alright, but Zelda insisted. He relented and they sat on a nearby stone while she worked.

“Have you heard from Osmond?” Henry asked.

“Not since we went separate ways at Kingdom Bay. He was setting off after Lady Rutela while I was following a different path.”

“Still seeking his destiny then, eh?” He smiled.

“What do you mean?”

“That boy has two feet in the air and his head above the clouds. He’s a dreamer. He sees the world and all its flaws, yet can’t help but try to set it right. It’s part of why he wanted to be a knight so badly.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad. In fact, it’s probably a bit of why I fell in love with him.”

“You’re probably right,” Henry chuckled. “You’re the same way. You can’t help but be kind and loving.”

Zelda blushed a little, “Thank you.”

The two talked for a little while, discussing many of the events that had led them too here. Henry had actually fought off a few bokoblins as the city came under attack. He’d used an old wooden sword that Osmond had play fought with when he was younger.

“It worked well ‘nough till the moblins and stalfos showed up. Tha’s when I had to abandon it. I grabbed a few personal things, shoved ‘em in a bag, and joined the fleeing.”

“That’s very brave of you. I’m happy to know you got out. What will you do now?”

“Well, I reckon I can set up shop temporarily round ‘ere. Then at some point, head back ‘ome. Once the Knights and the Hero of Time arrive.”

Zelda paused. The idea of the Hero of Time returning to save the people was one she’d heard floated, but not one that she necessarily thought anybody held firm in. Then again, why wouldn’t they? When he had appeared to defeat Ganondorf just over a hundred years ago, he had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

However, there were facts that the Royal Family, the Sage council, and some church leaders knew that were not part of the public knowledge. He had been sleeping in the Sacred Realm for seven years and had already been working to end Ganondorf’s power as far back as his childhood. After defeating the dark lord though the Princess of Destiny, Zelda’s grandmother, returned the Hero to his original time. Meaning if there were to be a hero in their generation, it would be in spirit only.

Many of the churches danced around this issue, taking up the mantle of saying that the Hero of Time was sent by the Goddesses and would be again if Hyrule ever found herself in such peril. Thus, a rift between theologies developed over the years: those who believed the Hero to be a singular man to which time did not apply and those who believed the title of Hero something more spiritual and granted to those in favor of the ruling deities.

Zelda often found herself among those who held to the idea that the Spirit of the Hero was not something specific to one man, but possible to find in all who lived and breathed. At certain points in their history, it was given to an individual because that was the only way to save Hyrule. At other times, such as the Civil War that preceded the Era of the Hero of Time, it was found in all men who fought for peace and justice.

“You know, I suspect there’s a little bit of the Hero’s courage in all of us,” Henry said out of the blue.

“I believe that as well… Especially in many of the Knights.”

“You mean Osmond,” Henry smiled.

Again, Zelda blushed.

“He’s a good kid, and he’s lucky to have you.”

“I hope he’s alright…” Zelda said placing a hand on her stomach.

“I’m sure he is.”

“Henry, may I ask you what happened to Osmond’s parents? How’d he come to live with you?”

“Well, his father was a soldier and his mum a schoolteacher. They had been livin’ in Kakariko and was on their way to Castletown. His dad had been reassigned and so they were travelin’ by wagon. Them and three or four other families. Now, with kids mind you, travel ain’t as simple, and so they stopped to camp just this side of the Bridge of Eldin. Sometime durin’ the night, a pack of wild wolfos descended from the mountainside. They stumbled upon the camp and figured they’d found a golden plate, so to speak. Because it was so unexpected, they had little time to react. Only a few of the people survived the ambush. Osmond was obviously one and he survived cause his mum, my sister, handed him to one of the Zora fathers and they dove into the river to get away.

“As to how he came to me, I was his only living relative. It may not have been ideal at the onset, but a few years later I was as good as any other dad. He was barely a year old when they passed away, so I’m all he’s ever known.”

“What happened to that Zora? The one who saved him?”

“Dunno. Hardly could tell ya his name, to be honest. Wanna say it was something like Mikael? Mikau? Mik-something. Think I heard he went north and left Hyrule. Blimey, are you alright?”

Zelda dropped her basin and clutched her head and stomach at the same time. The wave of dizziness and nausea passed over her like a cloud and she was fine.

“Guess it’s just something that comes along with pregnancy.”

Henry’s eyes widened.

It then occurred to Zelda that she hadn’t said anything to anyone about the matter, save for those who’d traveled with her. It also occurred just then that she’d never spoken the words aloud.

“Pregnancy?”

“I’m sorry, I should have mentioned it properly.”

In an instant Henry had his burly, hairy arms wrapped tightly around her. He squeezed and smiled, his face turning beet red and tears welling up in his eyes.

“Bless you, dear girl! Bless Osmond! Bless the lot of ya!”

“Thank you.”

They talked for another hour or so, mostly about Osmond as a baby. The struggles of parenting, the challenges of parenting alone, and the stubbornness that was Osmond. All the little questions Zelda was curious about, and plenty that she wasn’t.

As the sun began to sink, their conversation drew to a close.

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

“Why are you thanking me? If anything, all the information you gave me is going to at least start me off on the right foot. I should be thanking you,” Zelda smiled in response.

“It was nice to ‘ave a normal conversation again. No worries ‘bout monsters, no worries ‘bout Dark Lords or traitors. Just two adults, talking like the good ole days. It’s one of the small things I miss.”

Zelda nodded.

They said goodbye and went their separate ways. Henry, towards one of the tent neighborhoods, and Zelda towards the inn.

When she entered, Impa and Mido were seated at a table not far from the bar. Zelda took a seat with them and took a small piece of bread from the loaf that was sitting in the middle.

“Feeling alright?” Impa asked.

Zelda nodded. “I’m doing okay. I had a small spell earlier, but I’ve been fine ever since. Thank you.”

Impa eyed her intently, “have you been drinking enough? Did you stop for lunch? You didn’t fall at all, right?”

“Oy, let ‘er be. If she says she’s fine, she’s fine. No need to interrogate her,” Mido rolled his eyes and took a drink of his ale.

“I’m merely trying to ascertain the safety of the princess and her child.”

“You’re nagging.”

Impa glared at Mido, who ignored the Sheikah woman and general. The steely eyes of Impa would often scare other men down from their stances against her. Not Mido though. He simply went on munching and sipping.

“Thank you both,” Zelda said. “I am fine, and I don’t mind the questions. Though, perhaps wait until I’ve had a bit of time to rest.”

Swallowing her bread with a swig of water, Zelda rose and headed towards the steps that led up to the rooms. Just as she reached the bottom of the staircase, the door to the inn opened and Kalia and Sagesse stormed in.

“My feathers are going to turn snow white and fall out at this rate!” Kalia hooted with an uncharacteristic edge.

“I did warn you,” Sagesse said with a laugh.

“Having trouble with the recruits?” Impa chimed in.

“I’m not going to say I told you so,” Sagesse to the drink as if to ask for one of his own, “but you have to remember that Kakariko is not the same warrior bastion it once was. Many of the people here now are as soft as the people from Castletown now.”

“That’s because they are from Castletown. All the people native to Kakariko who can wield a sword have already enlisted and moved up or are too old for anything other than the town watch.”

Kalia slumped his feathered shoulders, his crimson cape sliding down under the edges of his wings.

“How are we supposed to build a force strong enough to retake the city like this?” Kalia asked.

Zelda, returning from the stairs, sidled up next to Kalia at the bar.

The Sage of Light straightened his posture. “Apologies, your Grace. I seem to have lost a bit of decorum.”

“It’s alright,” she placed a hand on his back. “We’ll find a way.”

“What about the Gorons?” Mido barked.

“We’ve already sent word to them,” Sagesse turned to say, his face looking somewhat downtrod at the idea. “Our messenger should be back in due time.”

“Should have sent me. I’m sure there’s some old debt between the Kokiri and them that they owe up on. Could’ve called it in.”

“Thank you, Master Mido. Perhaps I’ll have need of that if they decline.”

“Do you really think they would decline our call for aid, Lord Sagesse?”

“Unfortunately, there is cause for concern. With Lord Huron out on the Western front dealing with the radicals in the Lanayru Mountains, Master Erie is acting chief again. Lady Claire, though her intentions will be to aid us, will be faced with some tough opposition.”

“I knew we shouldn’t have sent him out there,” Kalia muttered.

“It was his call. You or I would have ended up out there, and then we’d really be in a mess here,” Sagesse replied.

Kalia nodded in acknowledgment.

“Any update on Lord Liam?” Sagesse asked.

“No, my lord,” Impa said. “He’s still asleep.”

“I do hope he wakes up soon. I am certain he has much information to share with us after his disappearance.”

“At the very least, he’d be able to whip these recruits into shape,” Kalia said.

“Indeed.”

Evening faded into night. Impa took up her turn watching over Liam.

In the stillness of the night, she laid down next to him and listened to his breathing. It reminded her of nights many years earlier when she had laid next to him. Back then, the only wounds they were nursing were inside one another. Pains that were invisible to the world around them.

“Wake up, Liam… Please…”

As if on command, Liam sucked in a great breath and sat upright.

Impa recoiled, gasping herself.

She stared up into his eyes and listened to the words he said with great attention.

“Osmond and Fado are in danger! We have to stop them!”

 

This story is an imagining of the final days in Hyrule prior to the Great Flood talked about in the opening cinematic of The Wind Waker. The story is getting an audio version in podcast form set to begin releasing in early 2022 and there’s a complete soundtrack for the first volume here. Head over to erawithoutahero.wordpress.com or follow the story account on Twitter @ZeldaTEWAH where you can keep up on information regarding the future of the podcast, soundtrack, and other TEWAH news that will be coming soon! Every Era Has Heroes…