When the Sun Blades made contact the bloodshed increased one hundred fold. Most of the Kairin soldiers were already mortally wounded from the fire and could mount little resistance as the Hylian rebels wreaked their devastating revenge upon the occupying forces. Kairin swords met Hylian spears, axes, daggers and all manner of blunt cudgel as the Blades battered their way through the melee.

Rael looked around the fray for his Second. He turned slowly, effortlessly knocking away strikes and cutting down his aggressors. The Banner of the Sun flew high over the battlefield, marking Rinick’s position about thirty feet away from him. Five Hylians rushed past on each side of Rael, bravely running ahead into the Kairin’s back lines. “Wulric!” he shouted, his voice failing to carry far over the noise.

“Here sir!” boomed his Second’s familiar voice. Rael spun around to see the bear-like man defeat two foes with a single battering from his broad sword.

“Clear up here,” commanded Rael, “I’m going ahead!”

Wulric affirmed the command and ploughed back into the melee.

Rael rushed out of the close-fought battle, running into the nearest Taran Kaey street. His first footfalls on the roads of his hometown were a moment of golden inspiration. With his steel primed he ran towards the rising sun, courage coursing through his veins.

A twenty-strong unit of Kairin was marching towards him along the road, like a snake of steel wending through the roads. Rael gestured his right hand, forcing his magic into the earth beneath their feet. The ground erupted in an explosion of rock and sand. The Kairin were thrown into the air, crashing sideways into buildings or else falling flat on their faces. Rael graced through them, inflicting mortal wounds or striking deep gashes into their sword wielding arms. With light feet he leapt over bodies, fire dancing between his fingertips.

He felt no remorse for his actions, nor was he surprised at his total lack of regard for life. The Kairin had shown no mercy when they chased his kin and townsfolk away from their homes, taken no man a prisoner if he had dared rise up against them. Here they had murdered his father, and torn his life apart. But for that event, Ralis...

Rael rounded a corner, and ducked as a mace rushed towards his unprotected head. Rael rolled forwards, bringing his blade upwards towards a Kairin head, striking in the exposed gap under the chin. Blood poured as he retracted the blade, spun, and severed the arm of a second attacker. Rael finished the soldier with an efficient strike to the neck, then looked up to get his bearings.

An entire band of Kairin were filling this narrow road. Upon seeing him they charged, not anticipating the strength of the one they faced. Rael directed magic into the earth, and elected to pull the ground downwards. On either side of the street walls crumbled as the street caved in, houses collapsing upon unsuspecting foes. The Kairin were buried in the rubble, the heavy stone battering down upon helmets and breastplates and sealing them as though in a grave.

Rael turned and took another road, rushing past sealed windows and barricaded doors. Most of the citizens of the occupied town had retreated within their homes, fearing for their lives. Today his people would be set free from occupation, liberated by his just hand. In this moment he was the arbiter of justice for Hyrule, the one elected by fate to scourge evil from his land. No depth of darkness could stand against the driving plough of the Sun Blades’ vengeance.

Rael stopped to catch his breath, slipping into the shadows of an alleyway. Leaning up against a wall he examined himself for injuries. He had sustained some minor flesh wounds to his legs and arms, but had incurred no serious harm. With his heart racing and soul spilling out magic he could barely feel the sting of the wounds.

A group of Sun Blades hurried past him along the main road. They were shouting raucously and too focussed on their task to notice their commander. Rael let them go ahead without making his presence known. Moments later he regretted it as the sound of steel on steel resounded mere paces away, and Kairin tongues took up a deep war cry.

The driving plough of vengeance? Had he truly thought such a thing? Vengeance was an expression of anger, not a tool of justice. Hatred was far from righteousness. The Kairin had taken his Da away from him, and had butchered many other mothers and fathers. Yet how many children had Rael just made fatherless by his vengeance, how many husbands had lost their lives to his raging flame or the sword still gripped between his fingers?

Rael stood gathering his breath and steadying the beating of his heart, and as he rested some words came to him. Whether they were from a memory or a dream he could not remember. ‘...This is war. War always has casualties... I’m sorry there are no words that can comfort you...’ Rael wanted to be sick, to expunge all his anger from within his heart, but he could not. Anger... made him strong.

A unit of Kairin ran past him chasing the direction the group of Sun Blades had just run through. “Die!” he screamed, as flame burst from his hands. The fire engulfed the Kairin, burning them even as they fell to the ground in pain and terror. Regret stabbed Rael in the heart like a blazing dagger. “Son of death!” he yelled at the heavens.

Rael’s body was pulsing with rage as he stepped out into the road. He could feel magical energy surging through himself like white rapids trying to burst a high dam. If he did not release it now, surely it would tear him apart from the inside. Suppressing his urge to lash out, Rael resumed his journey through the streets.

Everywhere he turned now he could see skirmishes between Sun Blades and Kairin forces. His army was filled with as much dread determination as himself. Though disadvantaged by their inexperience and rough armament, the Blades were nevertheless fighting the Kairin back into submission. They fought with cheers for Hyrule, and rather than their Queen they honoured their saviour Prince.

Rael encountered handfuls of Kairin, and dealt with them swiftly. His sword was too fast for them, his movements too fluid and responsive for their blades to catch. Swift strokes to the gaps in their plate mail defeated the over confident enemy, their heavy encumbrance being their downfall.

The roads and buildings were steadily becoming more familiar to Rael as he journeyed towards the town’s eastern quarter. He had never made any specific place his goal when moving through these old streets, but now he realised that his feet had been taking him to the place he knew best, drawing him back to the centre of his world.

As the battle went on Kairin resistance seemed to be diminishing, which was very pleasing to Rael. Bizarrely though, it seemed that the Sun Blades’ numbers seemed to be increasing. Rael did not know every man in the small army, but when he saw some of the faces he began to realise that many of the men he saw were not those he commanded at all. There were Taran Kaey men, young and old, leaving their homes to help cast off the Kairin.

By the light, they were winning the battle! The Kairin were in retreat, but there was nowhere they could run to any more. The last bastion of Tadian’s invasion force was crumbling before his eyes. “For Hyrule!” shouted Rael, “for the Queen!”

“For the Queen!” boomed a deep voice behind him.

Rael turned to see Wulric running towards him, his sword waving dangerously as he ran. “Wulric!” exclaimed Rael, “what news?”

“The Kairin are fleeing sir,” he said, breathlessly. He caught up to Rael and sheathed his blade on his back. “I hear they’re making for the docks.”

“Get after them!” Rael said sharply. “No ship is to leave the harbour.”

Wulric saluted. “Yes Highness,” he said, “are you not coming?”

“I won’t risk destroying good ships with fire,” Rael said, “and I’m only one sword.”

“You’re more than one sword,” said Wulric.

“Go,” Rael said again, “I have my own business.”

“Yes sir,” said Wulric. He saluted again, and hurried away.

Rael turned to look up the street again and started running. He saw places he knew well now; the local baker, the butcher, the old carpentry house. That last he regarded with special fondness. The slate roofed buildings here were of a darker brick, front doors becoming steadily closer in the rows of tightly packed terraces. Many of his old friends had lived here – how many were still here? He would surely find out soon.

Then at last Rael saw that which he had been drawn to. It was a small dwelling, though it stood apart from the terraces, with two floors under a dark slate roof. Rael had been traversed the many lands of Hyrule though desert and plain, fog and rain, valley and stormy sea. He had slept in numerous beds and in many open fields and plains, but nowhere compared to the place he saw now. He was home.

Rael glanced around to ensure that the area was clear, and crossed over to the house. The front door was unlocked and swung open freely when Rael turned the handle. He stepped inside cautiously and closed the door behind himself, the latch clicking quietly back into place. The air seemed thicker in here, full of dust.

The kitchen looked the same as it had ever been, though it felt drab and unlived in. The table in the centre of the room was dusty, as were the chairs and the cabinets. A vase of flowers on the windowsill contained withered, dead stems, and was surrounded by dry fallen petals. They were devoid of life... like she who had placed the flowers there.

Rael crossed the kitchen into the retiring room. He partly expected to see a decomposing Kairin soldier on the floor, a fire poker still thrust through his eye. He discovered no body. His father must have evicted the corpse on the night of the invasion. Indeed, Resh’s favourite armchair had been set upright again. Much of the leather was burned out, but it was otherwise in a good condition. The room was so familiar, it was rather surreal. The chairs were still in the same place, the heavy curtains covering the windows, the fire crackling gently, the many books lining the shelves. Rael smiled at the books. He had always wondered why his carpenter father was so secretive about where he had learned to read. That was no longer a secret – there were no secrets left any more.

Rael sighed deeply. It was incredibly strange to be back here now, after everything that had happened. This place held so many happy childhood memories. “If this room could speak,” Rael whispered. The battle in the town was far from his mind now as thoughts of the past flooded his mind. He sheathed his sword and collapsed into his old fireside chair, where Mara had been sitting on the night of the invasion.

Visions of the past came to Rael as he sat, lulling him into deep memories. He could still hear his father’s smooth voice, deepened by years of smoking pipe leaf. Mara’s happy tone echoed in the room, the sweet voice that had once made him blush in shyness. Ralis’ warm voice recounting tales of his day’s trading, his dry wit filling the room with laughter. There had been so much love in his house... Bu now...

Rael saw something to break his concentration. The realisation was at once infuriating and terrifying. The fire was alight! He cursed his stupidity. At once he was on his feet, looking down at the small flames. How long had it been burning? Was somebody living here in the house?

A faint footstep was all the warning Rael had. He spun to face the sound and saw the Kairin soldier, lunging from the kitchen with sword barred. Rael tried to reach out for his magic, but in the terror he was unable to get a grip. He ducked on instinct, dropping to the floor to dodge the sharp steel. The Kairin lunged again and Rael kicked up at him knocking him back.

Without time to unsheathe the Father Blade, Rael grabbed the nearest object he could see to use as a weapon. With a mighty blow he rammed the object into the Kairin soldier’s face, killing him instantly as hot metal seared his brain. His body dropped limply to the floor, hitting the carpet with a dull thud.

“Oh...” moaned Rael as he scrambled away from the body. A dark guilt and fear washed over Rael as he gazed upon his attacker, sprawled on the floor... with a hot fire poker thrust through his eye. “No...” he groaned, rocking forward onto his knees. “No, no, no...” he whispered, tears welling up in his eyes.

His gut churned with confusion. “Ralis...” he said, wrapping his arms around his head and bringing himself low to the ground. Tears spilt from his eyes as all his grief overflowed from his hurting heart. With a feverish wail he cried out his pain, like a lonely child lost and abandoned, stripped of innocence and left to die cold and alone.

“Why!?” he shouted, pounding his fist into the floor. “Why us!?” he demanded.

No answer came to him. He curled up, tucking his legs into his chest and wrapping his arms around his knees. “It’s not right...” he whimpered... “Not fair...”

Rael felt so tired. He was too weary from war and hate. He wanted to surrender his body to the ground and give up his spirit to the heavens, and escape his earthly sorrow.

“Why...” he whispered.

“Because,” said a hard voice, “we are who we are.”

Rael had never felt such terror in his entire life. Slowly he uncoiled, looking past the dead man, to his father’s old chair. There was seated the man who had sworn to destroy him. Those dark blue eyes bored hoes through his soul. Rael breathed out the only word he could manage. “Ralis...”

when i first opened up this post, i didnt think id read it. but i started reading it and actually started to like it. i read the whole thing. it was pretty good man, nice job!

Gosh, really?

That is great to hear, thank you.

I am surprised - this is something like the 85th chapter overall...

That you were able to read it here and take enjoyment from it is good news.

This is the 18th Chapter of the 4th volume of a longer continuous saga.

If you are interested to read more, to go back to where the story began, follow this link...

www.fanfiction.net/~shadowoflink

The first Volume is called Twilight Falls.

Or of course you can just keep reading from here. It might be hard to follow at this stage though!

Thanks again,

DS

I haven't this many words since the time I was at a word convention.

OH NO I DI-N'T