LoZ: Dark Times

Konbei stopped and immediately felt relief when Niamh's little arms wrapped around him. He put a hand on her shoulder and held her close to him as he glared back at the stranger standing before him. Without panic and rage blinding him, Konbei took in the person, or rather boy's, appearance. He couldn't have been much older then twelve or thirteen years old.

"He what?" Konbei said as he stared at the boy, his tone still defensive.

How had he managed to save Niamh instead of Konbei? The fact that a child seemed to had done Konbei's job irked him somewhat but he was nonetheless grateful Niamh was okay.

"Can we go back to Mama now?" Niamh asked. "I'm scared."

Shadow watched with a frown as the girl ran to her father. "Doesn't know how lucky she's got it," he muttered bitterly under her breath as he watched the happy reunion with a silent, embittered scowl. And when he finally looked up at Shadow, the boy returned the look with his calm, unchanging gaze.

However, that didn't last long, and Shadow averted his eyes to the town behind them. It was burning, darkness was engulfing it... Shadow remembered the man who had summoned the dark portal, commanded all the monsters, and he snarled in anger.

"I don't know who that bastard thinks he is," Shadow spoke with a growl, loud enough for the man and his daughter to hear, "Summoning dark creatures and controlling them to destroy innocent civilians..." He looked back at the pair, his expression unchanged. "But I do know, you two can't go back there. It's too late for that village and anyone left in it."

Atticus continued to carve through the crowds, until he got near to where Konbei and his daughter were.

"Hey!" he shouted through the turmoil.

Konbei was quiet for a moment, the boy was right. He cleared his throat. "...Thank you," he muttered to Shadow. A distant voice carried over the hill and Konbei turned, still clutching Niamh by his side and saw Atticus.

"I couldn't less about the village now, I need to take Niamh somewhere safer," he added.

"Get out of here!" Atticus shouted, pointing over to one side of the village. "Theres a path that leads to the cliff. Both the entrances are covered. Now go!"

Konbei gave Atticus a stiff nod and started heading towards the path with Niamh. He looked back at the boy who had saved her. He hesitated to do so but jerked his head for him to follow them before turning back and continueing on.

Niamh continued to cling tightly to her father, she was still very scared.

Once the village was behind them and the sounds of battle were mere echoes in the moutains, Konbei set Niamh down and properly checked her over. "Are you alright?" He said gently and concern laced his voice.

Niamh nodded, she felt safe with her father, but she was still scared of what had transpired.

(ignore)

Konbei could tell she was obviously still a little shaken up, as was he. He took her hand and gave it a slight squeeze. "Come on, we'll go back to Mum," he said as he walked with her. The castle wasn't too far off, it wouldn't take long for them to get there.

There was a rumble of dozens of horses approaching from castle town. The armored horsemen stopped a stone's throw off. Moonlight gleamed off of the points of lances leveled at them and provided just enough light for them to make out their loyalist banner.

"Identify yourselves!" demanded Miles. "What happened at the town?"

Konbei came to a halt and ushered Niamh behind him. "Konbei Lorbane, and she's my daughter..." he said with a gesture to Niamh. "An army ambushed Kakariko, no need to tell you who was behind it..."

Miles swore under his breath and signaled to his men to lower their weapons, which they promptly did. "I should have known something was up. I don't suppose you can tell us anything about the attackers? Numbers, composition...any bit helps."

Konbei shrugged and frowned a little as he tried to remember specific details. "Some were men, others had been summoned via some kind of dark magic. There's no way that village can be saved, his army was massive..." he told Miles.

Miles mulled this over for a moment before dismounting. He walked forward and held out the reigns to them and said, "Go quickly, our forces need to know about this. Maybe this shock will be enough to get command in order. The rest of us will stay here and slow them down if they try to advance any further."

Konbei nodded his thanks and lifted Niamh onto the horse. He pulled himself up behind her and tugged on the reins to turn the horse around, he nudged his heels into its sides and the horse moved into a steady canter back to the castle.

He watched them go. Admiral would get them back safely. He turned to his soldiers and began barking out orders. These mostly consisted of sending out some scouts to monitor the enemies movements. The rest of them were broken up into teams to capture any enemy scouts or harass advance parties. Hopefully they would only have to hold out for the rest of the night and the army would be mobilized in time.

Niamh leant back against her father, she truly felt safe now that she was leaving.

It wasn't long before they came to the gates of the outer wall of the castle. The guards must have recognised the horse as they didn't hesitate to let Niamh and Konbei through.

Konbei wooed the horse to a stop, he climbed off and held his arms out to Niamh.

Niamh climbed down into her fathers arms, holding him tightly.

Shadow had frowned, but said nothing when Konbei gestured for him to follow. Still, a bit curious, he had followed somewhat behind- that is, until the soldiers showed up. Swearing under his breath, he took a step backward, grateful for the night in that it hid him well. One show of his magic and they would easily think he was one of the monsters who attacked the village. And while he didn't mind going up against a couple monsters or swords... a hundred lances, well... He'd rather not.

He watched as Konbei and his daughter were hoisted up the horse. Scowling, he walked beside the horse and said to him, "You two get out of here. I'm going to go search the town for survivors." Without another word, he turned and began to walk back to the destroyed town, which was still in the state of battle, as some soldiers had moved up to fight the endless horde of shadow monsters.

Shadow remembered how he had said the town was lost... And he still thought it true. Most likely, all those inside were lost as well. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try.

Snarling, tightening his fists in anger, Shadow ran up the hill as he charged into the fray- determined to see if there was anyone still alive, and to figure out just what the hell was going on herel

Konbei walked the rest of way up to the castle holding Niamh, he glanced over his shoulder every now and then as he watched the boy disappear back towards Kakariko... or whatever was left of the village by this stage. In the back of mind he wondered what exactly the boy's deal was - at first glance he seemed like one of the shadow beings Arthur had summoned but he was... good? Konbei frowned curiously but pushed his thoughts aside as he entered the castle.

The town was nearly entirely destroyed, but still Arthur continued his mad reign of destruction, laughing as he rode through the death and chaos of the destroyed town. His shadow creatures, nearly indestructible, continued to slaughter everything in their path. The town was his.

=

Bursting out from the crowd of monsters and soldiers fighting, a horse galloped away from the town, blazing past any and all attacks and neighing wildly as it sprinted as fast as it could go, urged on by the heavy weight of its two riders, and the heels of her master which dug constantly into her side.

"Hiya, Mare! Hiyah!" the girl riding atop the horse shouted, leaning forward in her saddle and urging her horse on loudly and with panic in her voice. They rode away from the crowd, and worriedly, the girl looked backwards- but not at the town, but at the crumpled form of the old woman who lay draped over the horse's back behind her.

"Hang on, Mother," Lyn muttered under her breath as she looked back ahead, continuing to ride away from the wreckage of the burning town. "We'll get you help...!"

Not long passed before horse and riders arrived at the castle itself, and, desperate, Lyn rode up to the first people she could see- Konbei and his daughter.

"Please," she gasped, her normal attitude of bitterness and coldness all but gone, "My mother...! Can you give us aid?" She gestured to the silently groaning old woman riding weakly on the saddle behind her.