Wayward Brothers (Fans of Zelda)

A Story by Turnip

Fan-fiction short story for fans of the Zelda series. The events of the great war mentioned in OoT. A dark story inspired by Alice in Wonderland and Lord of the Rings.

Two boys sneak through the woods on a moonless night. The boys crouch low, to avoid casting a long shadow. The light from a massive fire lights the area. Link looks back to see the profile of a rearing horse and rider, backlit by the flames of the boy’s burning home. His older brother Bron immediately pushes him in the back, forcing him forward.

They hear an ominous thunder of hoof beats, the sound of one massive warhorse approaching. Bron grabs Links arm, “Run,” he says. Bron sprints into the darkness of the forest pulling his little brother behind him. The sound of hoof beats closes in upon them.

“This way!”

Bron knows an animal trail through forest behind their house and he follows it. The boys run down the trail as fast as they can, in near darkness.

“Here!”

They jump behind a massive gnarled root. They both curl up tight against the wood to hide. They hear the horse approach moments later. It stops and stamps the ground. The horse is breathing heavily.

The terrifying voice of the rider is heard, “Now I will kill you, I’ll end this war before it has even started. What good will your precious courage do you, helpless child?”

There is a massive creaking of wood, along with a powerful rustling of leaves then a tremendous impact and the ground trembles. The rider curses, then begins to chant a spell and sends an enormous fireball at the tree. The tree lands its second blow with a sickening crunch of metal and bones.

The root the boys are hiding against curls around them, completely enveloping them in a thick wooden shelter. The sound of battle is still faintly heard outside. A small child sized tunnel in the wood becomes visible in the pitch blackness as a swarm of lightning bugs come streaming through to illuminate the inside of the Great Deku Tree.

“Let’s go,” Bron says.

They crawl into the wooden tunnel. It slopes downwards gradually into the tree’s massive root system. A rush of water comes from behind them. It pushes the boys along like a water slide. They pop out in a stream, in the middle of a small primitive village. Soaking wet and freezing they clamber onto shore. The sound of battle is completely gone, replaced by the melodic whistle of an ocarina. Bron spots a campfire and they head towards it.

A group of three children dance around the fire. The biggest one stops dancing and points toward the pair. They all stop. The girl gasps and comes running towards them.

“Good Hylia! Are you guys alright!”

“I’m fine,” Bron says motioning to his brother, “but Link is freezing.”

“Hmmmph. You must be cold too. Come to the fire, have some soup.”

She leads them all up to the fire. She picks up a bowl for each of them and scoops some soup from a pot over the fire.

“These guys are freezing,” the girl says, “Turnip! Hurry up! Get them some dry clothes!”

“Oh, right, sorry ma’am,” says the smallest one and he runs off.

“Right. Everyone, this is Link and…”

“Bron.”

“Link and Bron eh? Well those are pretty weird names if you ask me,” the biggest of the boys around the fire says.

“Well I don’t recall anyone asking you Loach,” the girl says, “My name is Saria, the little one we call Turnip, and this is Loach. We call him Loach cause he is about as smart as your typical Hylian Loach.”

Turnip comes racing back. He slips in the mud and falls, dropping the clean dry clothes he is carrying and soiling them. He picks himself up and shambles guiltily back to them.

“Turnip! Those were our only spares!” Saria says, frustrated.

“Sorry…”

“It’s okay Turnip. Anyways Bron, these will be better than what you have now.”

She hands a green tunic each to Bron and Link.

Bron is running again, pulling Link along. The rider is behind them, getting closer and closer. There is no escape. Bron has a sword in his hand.

“Link, don’t stop… running… no matter what.” Bron says between gasps.

Bron pushes Link out in front then let’s go of his brother. He stops and turns around, holding his sword out in front of him. He see’s the rider bearing down on him. The rider blows on a mighty war horn, and Bron is jolted from his sleep.

Bron looks around and sees that dawn has just begun to crack. They are in a little shed with no door, laying on bales of straw. Everything is silent and still, Link is still deeply asleep next to him. The sound of the war horn is heard again, and Bron feels his heart skip a beat. He shakes Link awake.

“Hurry wake up.”

Bron steps outside. He see’s Saria running towards him. Saria grabs Bron’s arm and pulls him in

“What is going on? You two are in some kind of trouble aren’t you. Tell me!”

“Someone is trying to find us, trying to kill us. I have to protect my brother… Last night a man came. He was a sorcerer. He came up to our home and asked our mother where Link was. My mother would not tell him, and so he… he… our parents. Link and I ran into the woods, I ran to the Great Deku Tree hoping it would protect us…”

“He came to kill your brother? So that means… your brother is… the hero.”

“No. He is nothing like that. He is just a normal kid. Just my brother.”

“But you want to protect your brother don’t you? TURNIP! Sound the alarm!”

Turnip shambles out the door of his little hut rubbing sleep out of his eyes, and then takes off running through the town shouting “Alarm! Alarm! Alarm!”

Everyone comes out of their homes. Loach comes up to Bron and hands him a bow.

“I hope you know how to use this.”

“TURNIP!” Man the watch tower!” Saria shouts!

Turnip climbs the ladder on to a platform.

“What do you see?”

“Oh. Don’t worry guys. It’s just some funny guys who look like pigs. HEY PIG GUYS!”

“Turnip you idiot! Get down from there! Bron, Link, go back inside. I think you should hide for now.”

A couple of moblins ride into the little village. They are holding up a large sign. It says, WANTED, there is a picture of Link.

All of the child inhabitants of the village have come outside now, there are about 20 of them all armed with bows.

“Attention Kokiri,” says one of the moblins, “if any of you are to spot this child, you should turn him in to us immediately. We are offering a substantial reward. Whoever turns him in to us, we won’t kill when we come back here with Lord Ganon. Got that.”

There are several nervous glances among the Kokiri.

Saria looks up at the moblin and very seriously says, “We got it. If we see him, we will turn him in.”

“Well you better hope you do, because soon we will be coming back here to kill every last one of you until we do find him.”

Bron shoots an arrow, it flys to the right of the tree he had been aiming for. He spots a large owl in the sky, it is flying towards him. The enormous brown owl swoops over his head, and from its claws drops a long rectangular package, wrapped in white linen. The owl flies away and Bron runs over to the package. He unties the knot and unwraps it to find a sword. He picks it up. The steel sparkles marvelously, his hand fits the wood pommel perfectly. He swings the blade a few times experimentally. Then he notices a scrap of paper that was bound with it. He unfolded the paper and read the note.

Bron,

You and Link are not safe. I hope that this blade may protect you.

We are all thankful that you are both alive. The events of last night were an omen, we are entering a dark and bloody age Bron, I do not have the power to prevent this. But with wisdom, and courage we may fight the evil ahead and prevail.

Make your way to the castle, it will be safe for both of you here.

With love and hope,

Princess Zelda

“Saria!” Bron shouts, “Saria come have a look at this!”

Saria comes over and glances at the paper. “Princess… Zelda.”

“I don’t know Bron. How do you know it will be safe there?”

“It will be safe because it is a castle! What safer place could there be?”

“I guess… but the journey will be dangerous. What if the moblins find you? The kokiri will guard you on your way to the castle.”

The wailing sob of a child is heard, Saria recognizes Turnip’s cries and knows that something terrible has happened.

“Turnip! What is it?” She yells as Turnip runs towards them.

“The… The Deku Tree! She is dead! Dead!”

“What? No.”