Between Timelines: A Legend of Zelda Fanfic

Chapter 14

Marianna stands across from us, her expression cool and unreadable. The curls that have come loose from her bun sway in a slight breeze, and a stillness overtakes the canyon, the silence deafening.

"When I heard you had escaped," Marianna says slowly, studying me, "I thought I had underestimated you," her expression turns dangerous, and her words sound sharp, "But I didn't. I was simply betrayed. Your deaths will be slow, I hope you know"

No one says anything, but everyone in the enclosed space seems to tense. The kids move quietly behind some barrels. Anni hands Link his sword, which she found before they rescued us. The others behind me find any makeshift weapon that they can, and all of Marianna's soldiers draw their swords and bows.

"We need... something she can't possibly give up," Marianna muses, her eyes scanning the canyon, before coming to rest on some little feet sticking out from behind a barrel. She smiles a cold smile, before commanding softly, "get the kids."

All hell breaks loose. I hear screams and I see blood and smoke, and someone hands me a spear. I can't see anything. Link. Where is Link?

I take a second to look around me. There are blurs of people fighting everywhere. There's Yunobo, bashing someone over the head with a large piece of wood. There's Purah, who's found some Yiga technology and is using it to push soldiers into the pit in the center of the canyon. I turn, ducking a flying spear, and see Sidon and Yona, fighting side by side. Riju is pressed up against a sandstone wall, ducking arrows being shot at her, and Anni and Myer are using their expertise to knock out as many soldiers as they can.

Suddenly, through the haze, Link appears beside me, sword at the ready. He knocks down Yiga after Yiga, but they just seem to keep coming.

"She can't- we can't let her get to them!" I yell over the sound of metal clashing and people shouting, "I can't let her hurt them. Please understand."

"I do understand," he signs with his free hand, "I can't either."

I turn back towards the hideout, to where Marianna was standing, and see that Riju has somehow made her way over, and is confronting her. I try to yell at her, but my voice is lost in the wind and the noise. She shouts something, and I see tears rolling down her face. Marianna looks stony, but slightly conflicted. Then suddenly, a soldier strikes Riju from behind, and she crumples to the ground. Marianna's face falls for a second, but she just snarls at the guard, who looks confused, and starts making her way towards Link and I.

I back away from her, hyperventilating, the wind blowing strands of my hair into my eyes. All of my paths to Riju are blocked by soldiers, and what if I don't get to her in time? What if- I stop, distracted. I can barely stand, the wind is so strong. It's also unnaturally cold, making me shiver in my long sleeved dress. It funnels through the canyon, and mixed with it is a tension, and a slight blue glow. All of it seems to concentrate behind me, where the barrels and wagons are.

I turn and see Tulin standing in front of the rest of the kids, who are backed up against the wall of the canyon. At least ten soldiers are making their way towards them, having pinned the others to the ground. His eyes glow a cold blue-grey color, like an icy storm. Then a wall of wind shoots from his wings, straight towards the advancing Yiga.

They fly through the air like autumn leaves, lifted into the air and dropped, screaming, into the chasm. There is a stunned silence in the canyon for a few seconds, and fighting resumes, with more and more soldiers emerging from the hideout as the other Yiga fall. I run to the kids, using my spear to stab a remaining Yiga in the shoulder. I huddle down behind a wagon with them, holding them close and regarding Tulin with a sense of awe. Link makes eye contact with me before I see his gaze shift to Marianna, who is dodging blows from all directions, and is heading straight for him.