Legend of Zelda: Deluge November Part 4

     It took Link and Auru a good ten minutes to cross the castle grounds along the winding, main road and reach the east side of the castle. Link looked up to see the scaling towers and peaked roofs far above them. The sun was hovering towards the west, casting their side of the castle in shadow. With the chill wind blowing freely from the northern mountains, they shuddered in the shade. The knights, none wearing an additional cloak or cape, were rubbing their hands together, moving around to keep warm. One tall knight stood apart from the others, his lance slack at his side, looking away towards the mountains.

     Auru approached the other knights, who stood up straight, their expressions curious yet still rather bored as he asked, “Is Bolek around here?”

    “Bolek? Yeah, he’s over there.” The knight who had answered them jerked his head towards the tall knight standing off in the distance. “Who are you, though?”

     “You look similar to him,” said another, younger knight. “Are you his brother who keeps writing to him?”
     Auru frowned. “Yes. Does everyone know about that?
    “Only because his manners are so horrible.” The young knight was shaking his head contemptuously. “He doesn’t keep it a secret that he ignores your letters, even though you’re his only family. Everyone knows about, because he doesn’t shut up when he’s off duty. And the way he talks to his superiors…Really, is everyone from his village like that?”

     Immediately Auru turned away, striding quickly towards his brother. Link followed, hurrying to keep up with him, glancing back to see the knights talking amongst themselves. Turning back ahead, he caught up to Auru as they reached Bolek.

     “Bolek.” Auru’s voice was calm and even, but it was unusually hard.

     He turned around, a distinctly bored look on his face. His expression transformed into one of shock; he started back away from them. Staring, he noiselessly formed out their names as he began to scowl.

     “What are you two doing here?” he asked gruffly, standing up straight and holding his lance more firmly in his hand.

     Auru slowly drew his hand over his brow, kneading it, saying in a long-suffering voice, “Oh, just wishing you were six years old again and I could knock some sense into you.”

     Bolek glared at his brother. Auru was still a little taller than he, but lacked the stalwart, muscular build that Bolek possessed. He was still growing into it, but even so his stature was much more formidable than Auru’s or Link’s.

     “What are you really here for?” Bolek asked, his finger tapping impatiently on his spear.

     “Just some news that might interest you a little bit. It regards our family, even though you obviously don’t care about that anymore—but our family is about to get bigger.”

     Bolek stared at him, his lips pursed. “You’re…getting married? Really?” He raised an eyebrow, a grin creeping onto his face. “You?”

     “Yes, me, guy who didn’t run off to be a knight and left behind the village that admired him without a word. Do you have any idea how worried everyone was? And once you got here, did you bother to let me know, anyone know, that you were alive?!” Auru was shouting as he railed on, “No! And once you get here, do you make yourself a proper knight, one to make me and the village proud?! No, apparently that’s too much of a bother for you!”

     Bolek tried to speak up for himself but his brother talked over him, listing out the ways he had heard and imagined that Bolek had made a complete idiot of himself and gave the village a bad name.

     Link noticed the other knights were staring and began to wish that Auru would be quiet and just knock his brother one in the jaw if he was so upset. But he knew that Auru had never really been able to use physical force to try and chastise his brother, who had been bigger than him for most of their lives. So he had always stuck to verbal volleys, though they had never worked, and they did certainly did not now. Bolek was not able to shout over Auru, but he did not look cowed, just bored and annoyed. When he realized Link was watching him he shot him a glare, as if it was all his fault. On instinct Link clenched his fists and returned the glare, but did not say anything.

     When Auru finally stopped to draw a breath, Bolek cut in, “Alright! So who are you marrying?”

      Auru exhaled slowly, then took a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm himself, and replied shortly, “My fiancée is Layrel.”

      Groaning, Bolek looked at Link contemptuously. “So this means this dumb idiot is going to be my brother now? Perfect. That’s just what I needed, a couple more idiots in the family to take care of.”

     “Too bad this isn’t about you,” Auru snapped.

     “Too bad you can’t just not marry her.”

      Finally Link spoke up, quickly before Auru could say anything, “Don’t be ridiculous! They’re not going to not get married just because of you.”

     Inside he winced at how severe his voice sounded, but, he reminded himself that this was Bolek. Floating into his mind was the strong memory of when he had tricked Link into going down the wrong way in the woods. Misdirected, he proceeded to get lost for a week, almost died of exposure and spent two days sleepless in a tree after a bear had attacked him.

      He deserves it, Link assured himself, focusing on the old wounds that were reopening.

      Yet Bolek did not seem to have noticed that Link had said anything, as he carried on, “I mean, she’s what, how many years younger than you? Honestly, couldn’t you wait to see if there’s someone else? She’s just a kid!”

     “That—”

     Link interrupted Auru, “She is not ‘just a kid’—”

     Once again, Bolek ignored him and carried on loudly, “I mean, think of some of the girls in the other villages. There’s at least one beauty down there who is a scholarly nerd like you, I bet. Think about it, do you really want ugly, scrawny kids in the family? That girl has always been so thin and—”

     Shoving past Auru, Link was nearly bristling. “The one who needs to worry about looking ugly is you.”

     Bolek stood up straight, leaning away from Link a little, his eyebrows raised in surprise. “Ohhh, Link! I didn’t notice you there. Were you finally saying something, or just grunting and mumbling like usual?”

     “I was saying you should stop talking.”

     “You must know a lot about that.”

     “Hold on you two! You guys aren’t kids and this isn’t the village. Calm down!” Auru’s voice was a little high, worried, but it was easy to ignore. He tried to put his hand on Link’s shoulder, but he shrugged him off.

     “Just don’t insult my sister again,” he said in a low voice.

     “Or what?” Bolek leaned down to Link’s eye level, sneering at him. “I’m covered in armor, you’ll just bounce off. I can say whatever I want. If my family is going to include your little, ratty brat of a sister, I’m—”

     He was cut off as Link’s left fist connected solidly with his unprotected nose. Auru was groaning in exasperation, grabbing at Link’s shoulders again to pull him back. Bolek recoiled, letting his lance fall, holding at his nose. It was not quite broken, but it was bleeding.

     “Stop! Stop, you two!” One of the middle-aged knights was running over to them. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you can’t assault—”

     “I don’t need you butting in old man!” Bolek snapped, his voice a little thick as he tilted his head back, trying to stop the blood flow.

     “You—” The knight shut his mouth firmly, looking furious. Turning around towards Link, he grabbed his arm firmly, saying, “I don’t care, just get out of here! I don’t want any more trouble from you two!”

     “I can go on my own.”

     Link shrugged roughly out of the knight’s grasp and stormed away. Hesitating, he quickly glanced back to Auru. The hot exhilaration of adrenaline that had come with his confrontation with Bolek died. Auru was looking pale and tired as he tried to talk to his brother, reaching out as if to help. Bolek shouted at him and turned away, his body tense and his expression furious.     Any feeling of excitement utterly vanished, Link turned away and walked out towards the hilly castle grounds, in mind to head for the gate that they had entered through and wait there.

    

      Finally, Link stopped. He was surrounded by gigantic holly bushes, twice as tall as he was. He supposed that he must be in the giant castle grounds maze that Purel had told him about. He had lost track of the trail on the grounds, tried to find his own way and wound up here. For at least five minutes he had been trying to find his way out, only to find himself at yet another dead end.

     Sighing, he steeled himself and started walking again. Spotting a dead branch, he snapped it off, dragging it in the ground to mark his progress.

     I probably should have done this earlier, he thought sullenly. But then he thought back to the scene with Bolek. As satisfying as it had been to punch him, he realized now how much harder he had made things for Auru. Even though Auru was upset with his brother, Link knew that he wanted things to be peaceful and close in their family. Otherwise, he would not have bothered to come all the way out here.

     Stopping in his tracks, Link realized he had come to another dead end. He lightly slapped his face with his cold hands.

     Focus, focus or you’ll never get out of here.

     Keeping his mind wholly on his progress in the maze, he turned out of the dead end and continued. Eventually he began to pass trails he had marked and quickly learned to avoid them or to follow them until they branched off to a new trail. Eventually he found himself on the last unmarked path and followed it. The holly kept the wind away from him, but as he walked, he could see his breath. Dropping his stick and blowing on his hands, he broke out into a quick jog.

     The end of the maze came into view and he slowed down a little. Rubbing his hands, he grinned morosely, wondering if Auru was still talking to Bolek. Or perhaps he was searching for him.

     A strange shimmering noise, like the leaves rustling in the fall and the sound of steel wind chimes, reached his ears. The sound was so unusual he froze, frowning, peering ahead cautiously. When the noise did not return, he kept walking, but this time slowly and softly as if he was in the woods.

     Suddenly the sound erupted as if someone was violently shaking a fine bell. He could also hear the sound of male voices. Yet it was all muffled, coming from behind the right side of the holly bushes. Link walked along them, leaning down, trying to peer through the winding dark green holly leaves and sparse red berries. There were a few open patches, but all he could see was the end of a stone courtyard with very low, dead hedges. He kept going until he was almost at the end of the holly, then stopped.

     Through the bush he could see a couple knights, both young, hunching around one of the bushes as if studying it. Smiling to himself, Link felt a little silly for being so anxious. But then the shimmering noise returned.

     One of the knights was holding up a bottle, smiling at it unpleasantly. Inside was a teal ball of light with four delicate, insect-like wings. The light bounced at the bottle furiously, trying to break free.

     A fairy! Link’s mouth was hanging open, but he quickly shut it. Wondering what the knights were trying to do, he watched them attentively, his right hand tracing his scabbard. The knights’ voices were louder, laughing, and carried over through the hedge.

     “Finally! Thought we’d never get ‘im,” said one, grinning, stroking at his small mustache. “I wouldn’t have thought of using a bottle, Georg. Good call.”

     The one holding the bottle, Georg, looked at the fairy closely, squinting his small eyes. “This is perfect, she’s in fine condition. You owe me for this, Werin. Once we sell her tonight, we can finally get back to the city.”

     Link turned away, dashing out of the holly maze. Taking a sharp corner, he ran into the small, open courtyard where the knights were. They spotted him and ducked away, trying to hide the bottle behind them.

     “What are you doing here?” snapped Georg loudly.

     Link glared at them. “What are you trying to do with that fairy?”

      “It’s none of your business, kid,” Werin said. He walked back, picking his lance off of the ground. “Now, get out of here before you get arrested!”

     Link’s hand rested lightly on his sword’s hilt. He walked slowly towards the knights, yet stopped before he was within the lance’s reach. “Let her go.”

     Grunting furiously, Werin hurried towards him, thrusting his lance out as Gerog began to run away. Link sidestepped the lance, grabbing and directing it down into a patch of dirt, driving it in deeply. Werin lost his balance, and before he could recover Link shoved him, knocking him over.

     Georg was running away, shouting, “Attack! Attack next to the maze!”

     Sprinting, Link caught up with him and used his elbow to hit him in an unprotected area of the back. The knight was thrown to the ground, the bottle and the fairy flying out of his grasp and into the air. Lunging, Link caught the bottle and tripped over the fallen knight. Twisting he landed on his side, holding the bottle to himself, keeping it from shattering.

      Breathing quickly, he heard the noise of approaching knights in the distance. Hurriedly he grabbed the bottle’s fat cork and, after a moment’s struggle, pulled it open. The fairy darted out just as a group of knights came into view, running into the courtyard.

     Link screamed as the fairy dove down and directly into his shirt. He could feel her warm light, but when he looked down, he could not see it through his thick, faded green shirt, nor was there any bulge.

     “Get up.” Armed knights were glaring down at him, their lances pointed directly at him. One of them Link recognized as the old knight who had let them in through the gate. He looked tired and annoyed. Behind him the knights who had captured the fairy were standing up, dusting themselves off.

     Link stood up as they were furiously explained, “This guy appeared out of nowhere and just started attacking us! He was after that bottle!”

      Realizing he was still holding said bottle, Link immediately held it out, saying, “No, I wasn’t. I don’t want it.”

     The bottle was taken from him as the old knight was rubbed his eyes, asking, “Why would you do all that just for a bottle?”
     “Well, he’s obviously poor,” Georg said with a small smirk. “Some of these people will do anything for just about anything they can’t own.”

     Link rolled his eyes, looking back at the old knight, saying, “I’m telling you, that’s not why I’m—OW!”

     Something sharp had bit him hard on the stomach.

     He could feel the fairy’s warmth down there, but she went behind him, up his back. He could hear a small, slight voice whispering, “If you say anything about me, I’m going to pull out the hairs on your chest. And that will really, really hurt.”

    Link muttered back, “But I’m not, I’m—”

     “SHUT. UP.”

     The fairy bit him again, twisting his skin. He cringed, leaning away, hissing, “Fine, fine! Stop that!”

     The knights were staring at him, looking at each other, unsure. The old one spoke up again, “Boy, there’s something wrong with you.”

     “Sir Quin, let’s just throw in him the dungeon, eh?” Werin suggested to the old knight, his expression and tone hopeful.

     The other knights were nodding, but Quin looked skeptical. “Whatever this boy is, he is related to a knight. We need to bring him to his family and do this properly.”

     Link thought about mentioning that Bolek was not his brother yet, and even when he was he would be a poor excuse for one. But he kept his mouth shut. As the knights led him inside, he felt the burning stares of the two knights who had tried to capture the fairy. Trying his best to ignore them, he looked ahead as they walked towards the large, lowered drawbridge leading into Hyrule Castle.

The Legend of Zelda and characters copyright Nintendo

"The Legend of Zelda: Deluge" writing and original concepts and characters copyright Mahira / Mahira-chan