Chapter 31 Heroes of old…

Chapter 31

 

Heroes of old…

 

 

Gerad’s mind tried to work as fast as possible to think of a way out of this one. What did you do when the strongest enemy of mankind was standing not twenty feet away from you?

“Don’t tell me that’s who I think it is.” Sheik said shakily.

“Well he definitely isn’t the muffin man.” Gerad replied gripping his sword tighter.

Ganondorf laughed a full deep laugh, throwing his head back, “I like you kid, you choose interesting friends my son.” He replied turning his gaze from Gerad to Dahrin.

“Yes, you are correct young Shadow, I am Ganondorf.” He replied turning his gaze to Sheik.

He had no idea why but Sheik was expecting a flash of lightning and/or roll of thunder. But slightly to his disappointment only crickets chirped. Sheik began to breathe again when Ganondorf turned his attention back to Dahrin.

“What do you want?” Gerad asked him cautiously.

If Ganondorf had wanted to kill them he’d have done it already that much was obvious, so that left him wanting what Gerad didn’t know but was sure he wouldn’t like it.

“So this is my supposed son?” Ganondorf mused looking Dahrin up and down.

Dahrin said nothing only gripped his swords tighter and shifted his weight.

“Well, you definitely have your mother’s glare.” Ganondorf chuckled.

To Gerad’s senses it looked like Ganondorf vanished then reappeared next to Dahrin who had turned so fast to block he had become a blur. Ganondorf disappeared again.

Gerad felt a presence behind him and turned in time to see Ganondorf back hand him across his face. Gerad flew sideways from the force of the hit, landed, and rolled to his feet. He faltered and fell to his knees his head spinning. Ganondorf had barely flicked his wrist and had sent him flying at least ten yards.

Aerica drew back her bow to shoot at Ganondorf but he disappeared again reappearing behind her. She jumped away from him, her reflexes taking over, and she was also expecting it. She fired but missed when he dodged and pressed in.

He hit her in the solar plexus knocking the wind from her. She landed on the ground and skidded toward Gerad who stopped her. Ganondorf side stepped a swing from Dahrin who followed with another that was dodged again.

Ganondorf palm struck Dahrin in the ribs cracking at least one of them. Dahrin landed and Lucius jumped over him as Dahrin rolled past. Lucius blocked the first strike from Ganondorf. Ganondorf laughed as he kicked at Lucius who blocked it with his spear, the force of the kick was too great and it landed.

Lucius rolled away as Meria stepped up. She swung her staff in a horizontal arc in front of her and Ganondorf backed up to dodge. He was slightly over balanced and then couldn’t bring his foot up to step in to attack. Glancing down he saw his foot sunken into his shadow.

He looked toward Sheik who had his hands pressed to the ground where his shadow fell. Ganondorf grinned as he ducked the next swing from Meria. When she came around again he caught her staff in one hand then hit her away as well, yanking the staff from her.

Ganondorf then shoved the staff through his shadow the other end coming up and butting Sheik in the chin forcing him to release Ganondorf. G-Link attacked with his hammer.

Ganondorf dodged the blow drawing the sword at his side. He swiped the next blow forcing it to miss him as he stepped in and bashed G-Link in the stomach with the hilt of his sword. G-Link’s body folded over from the force of the hit. He fell to the ground clutching his stomach.

Ganondorf laughed at all of them as they tried to stand to their feet. His eyes finally came to rest on Calhan who hadn’t moved during the whole fight.

Ganondorf sneered, “Well you’ve certainly changed Rauru.”

“I’m not him, that man was my grandfather. My name is Calhan.” Calhan replied not making any move to draw his sword.

“I see; then if you are the new Lore Sage it must mean that Rauru is dead. Unfortunate, I was looking forward to repaying him for having a hand in my defeat.” Ganondorf mused, “I had expected better of the Sage descendants, but you all are a bitter disappoi-“

Ganondorf stopped mid-sentence when Selene bashed him with her mace in the back, the force of the hit made him take a step forward to retain his balance. Ganondorf turned a smoldering gaze toward her then had to shield his eyes from the brightness of her Sage glow.

“Cursed Light!” Ganondorf fumed backing away more as the light seared his skin.

Dahrin used Selene’s distraction to attack from Ganondorf’s left. Ganondorf either sensed him coming or saw him because he dodged at the last second.

Gerad was prepared for Ganondorf’s dodge and had anticipated the path Ganondorf would take. He was waiting for him when Ganondorf moved away from Dahrin. Gerad swung his blade horizontally and nicked Ganondorf on the arm. Gerad would have taken his head but Ganondorf had barely dodged.

The light from Selene’s Sage glow disappeared as she collapsed to the ground exhausted. Ganondorf looked down at the scratch on his arm, his blood leaking slowly from the small cut. He chuckled softly and shook his head.

“Nice one. You’ve taught them well, Lore Sage.” Ganondorf sneered as he studied Gerad, “This kid must be that brat’s offspring. And if I’m not mistaken, that twit with the light must be that wench’s daughter.”

“Actually they’re brother and sister, Link and Zelda are their parents.” Calhan replied, Gerad wasn’t sure but it seemed to him that Calhan had moved slightly from his original position.

For some reason Ganondorf found this information hilarious, he threw his head back and laughed long and hard. For a minute they weren’t sure if he was going to stop.

“Amusing.” Ganondorf said wiping a tear from his eye.

“I don’t see what’s so amusing about them marrying each other. But then again you always had a twisted sense of humor.” A disembodied voice echoed around them.

Ganondorf’s grin grew wider, if it were possible, as Impa appeared seemingly out of nowhere next to Sheik. Sheik was startled by her sudden appearance.

“Ah, the Sheikha woman; nanny of the princess Zelda.” Ganondorf sneered.

“You have a problem with Sheikhas or nannies for that matter?” Ruto asked from where she stood next to her son.

“Mom, what are you doing here?” Lucius asked her holding his broken arm close to his side.

There was a sudden crash to their left and Darunia stood up from the crater he had created with his body.

“We came to save you.” Nabooru answered.

Ganondorf sneered down at her, holding his head back to keep his neck from getting slit by her sword. She had appeared like the rest out of nowhere, grabbing Ganondorf’s wrist and twisting it behind his back and holding her sword to his neck.

“Well, hello sugarcakes. How’s my favorite w***e?” Ganondorf sneered.

“What are you doing here?” Nabooru asked her voice cold and harsh.

Ganondorf chuckled harshly turning his gaze back to Dahrin who was sitting on his knees holding his side.

“Just playing.” Ganondorf smirked, he moved so fast Gerad swore he had phased out of Nabooru’s grasp and hit her away.

Impa moved in to attack as Ganondorf cackled. He slapped his hands together and a thunderclap rolled. There was a bright flash of light and Ganondorf was gone. Only the mocking sound of his laughter left.

Everyone stared at each other in stunned silence. Slowly the adults tended to the children. Lucius’s arm was fractured from his wrist to elbow. Dahrin’s ribs were broken, again. Aerica had landed on her wrist and had sprained it badly. A couple of Sheik’s teeth had been knocked out. Meria’s nose was broken and still bled slightly. Gerad’s jaw hurt profusely but was miraculously unbroken. G-Link had a huge purple bruise on his belly from where Ganondorf had hit him.

The only one not injured was Selene, but she was passed out from using up all her Sage energy. Calhan took her pulse and assured Gerad she was alive just tired.

“Was it just me or did we get our butts royally handed to us?” Sheik asked spitting out some blood. Impa tsked at him as she gently grabbed his face to inspect the damage.

“I would agree that wasn’t one of our finest moments.” Lucius replied levelly as Ruto splinted his arm.

“I thought ya’ll did well, considering who you were fighting.” Nabooru interjected as she smiled tenderly at Dahrin and moved a stray strand of hair behind his ear.

“What I want to know is, why now?” Gerad mused tenderly probing his jaw.

“Maybe he happened to be in the neighborhood?” Meria suggested her voice was somewhat nasally due to the bandage she had pressed to her nose with her head tilted back.

“What like, ‘Oh I was just on my way to the market and happened to see you guys, and thought I’d pop over for a visit’?” Sheik asked imitating Ganondorf’s deep bass voice.

“Nah, I think he would strut not pop.” Gerad said with a chuckle.

“What, no waltz?” Dahrin asked with mock surprise.

“Heck no, he would definitely strut.” Nabooru chided him jokingly.

The rest of them joined in the laughter and the tension slowly eased as everyone realized that even though they had encountered Ganondorf, they had emerged alive if not unharmed.

“So, how did you guys appear out of nowhere?” Sheik asked his mom as she tried to straighten out his hair.

Impa sighed, “We had been tracking him.”

“Well, not the physical him.” Nabooru clarified, “Ganondorf, we believe, is not quite up to strength, he’s been holed up in some other dimension and operating through minions. Not the evil henchmen kind but the evil vessel kind.”

“We’ve discovered that they’re crows with red eyes and silver collars.” Ruto said from where she sat next to Lucius. Ruto had been very liberal with the bandages, the result being Lucius’s arm looking rather mummy-like.

“That still doesn’t explain how you swooped in out of nowhere and pulled our buns out of the fire, so to speak.” Gerad pointed out.

“Being sages has its privileges. One of them is being able to travel in spirit form.” Calhan answered.

“And spirit form is?” Aerica asked.

“The sage’s body becomes a mass of energy that can move a thousand times faster than the fastest race horse. The reason it seemed they arrived out of nowhere was because they technically did.” Calhan replied going into teacher lecture mode.

Sheik raised his hand, “I have a dummy question.”

“Yes?” Calhan asked turning to him. He clasped his hands behind his back and waited patiently for the question.

“If you knew that there was this kind of transportation. Why on earth have we been walking?” Sheik asked.

“Because you guys are not old enough to use it.” Impa answered before Calhan could go into a long lecture about complicated mathematics and physics.

“Why not?” Sheik asked his voice shrilling slightly.

“Because we’re still alive, that power only passes to the descendant when the previous is dead.” Ruto answered.

“Oh.” Sheik replied.

“So what now?” Gerad asked rubbing his eyes, “Even if it was just a pseudo Ganondorf we still got royally beaten.”

Calhan took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “I don't know.”

“I will be taking Sheik to train him more in the way of the Shadows.” Impa stated as she stood up.

“Wait, what?” Sheik asked shocked.

“As pointed out by Gerad, you and the others are far from ready for Ganondorf. And as such I will be personally taking over your training.” Impa replied folding her arms across her chest.

“Wait, don't I get a say in the matter?” Sheik asked standing up as well, he wobbled slightly from the blood rush.

“No, you do not.” Impa replied returning his pleading gaze with cold eyes.

“But, mom, I don't want to leave my friends.” Sheik said in a small voice, slowly realizing his mother wasn't going to bend on this issue.

Impa's gaze softened slightly as she replied, “Sheik, I know you love your friends, but your friends need you to train yourself to become better. So that the next time you have a better chance.”

“She's right Sheik.” Meria said, “Go, train with your mom, become stronger. We'll see each other again soon.”

Sheik seemed to gain some spirit back from Meria's words, “Alright, I’ll go. Don't die on me in the meantime.”

“Not on your life.” Meria promised with a smile.

“Guys, take care, I’ll be back.” Sheik promised them as Impa and he disappeared with a bang and a cloud of smoke.

“Link and I will be heading back to Death Mountain to train as well. We will meet again.” Darunia stated as he curled up into a ball and rolled off at a break neck speed. G-Link smiled at his friends and followed after his father.

“That fickle rock! No good-bye. Good riddance.” Lucius mumbled to himself.

“We are leaving as well, Lucius.” Ruto told him softly.

“I understand. Don't go messing with anybody's mind while I'm gone, got it?” Lucius said pointing his finger accusingly at the rest of them.

Gerad chuckled and held up his hands, “No promises, man.”

Lucius rolled his eyes and left with his mother. When they were about twenty feet away from the group a giant ball of water swallowed them and raced toward Zora's Doman.

“Anybody else?” Gerad asked turning to those remaining. Selene was still passed out on the ground next to Calhan. Aerica stared sheepishly at her boots.

“Go, it's alright.” Gerad told her smiling softly.

“I will get better, and I will come back.” Aerica promised.

“We will send your horses and supplies to you once we return to Kokiri. Take care.” Saria told them as she and Aerica left.

Gerad watched them disappear out of view and turned back to the rest of the group. Meria had gone and sat down next to Selene.

“Well?” Gerad asked her.

Meria looked up, “Well what? If you hadn't notice I’m the only Wind Sage, Gerad. Calhan's got all the answers for me.”

Gerad shrugged, “Fair enough, and you Dahrin?”

“We will travel with you to Gerudo Fortress, and figure it out after that.” Dahrin replied. Nabooru nodded, she stood up and looked to the setting sun.

“So the Heroes of old will train the next generation. It will definitely be interesting.” Calhan sighed.