Checking on the North

(Continued from here)

Hyrule Field

Damien moved with haste across the plains outside of Nabooru. The man from the Northern Hills that he had encountered in town had already gone ahead, and would likely arrive before Damien and Rogue could. Even on foot, Damien moved with a constant determination, bounding over the rolling hills of Hyrule Field.

Behind him, he could see Rogue keeping pace with him fairly well. Sure that she would follow him and keep his trail, he continued on. His mind was far too fixed on the task at hand for him to be overly concerned with the woman behind him.

Eventually, as twilight cast its orange glow across the beautiful Hylian skies, the glow of lanterns in the windows and braziers in the streets of Nabooru sank below the darkening horizon, the trails of smoke rising from chimneys streaking grey tails vertically in the sky.

Without a full day to travel, Damien and Rogue made only ten miles before making camp under twilight's fiery glow.

Damien chose a spot under a cluster of trees and set up a small fire to let Rogue know where he was. Surely, though, it would not be long before she would catch him. Already, Damien could see that she was for more adept at cross-country travel than he had anticipated. There was far more to this girl than looks, he was sure.

"This guy just doesn't like people I guess," she said as she looked around for any signs of where he went off to. All she did was take a restroom break and he was gone. "Stupid men. I don't know why I am wasting my time with this. Why am I wasting time with this? Why am I talking to myself?" She let out a groan. "I guess I don't have anything better to do." She saw a fire and pulled out her knife and stealthily used it to climb a tree. She just watched the man from a small distance away, she was confident that she wasn't seen. She took a bit of a cat nap every now and then until morning.

The man didn't really seem to do anything out of the ordinary except his short dreams were filled with nightmares. She was hoping to gain some sort of intelligence that will get her closer to his fortunes. She began to have a bit of remorse for trying to steal from this man that already had so much on his plate. Regardless rupees are rupees, and men are men. That's all I should be worrying about.

As morning came, Damien stood at the bottom of Rogue's tree.

"Girl... Wake. We cannot linger here. It will be at least three days to the Northern Hills. I have some food cooked. I have eaten my fill. You may take what you need. Do be quick, however. I can feel the darkness getting stronger."

She won't know what that means, will she? No matter, she wishes to figure you out. Let her do so.

She was disgruntled by the fact that she had been discovered, she should have known that he would have figured it out. She finally awoke and jumped from the tree, "You are hard to keep up with. You sure don't wait for a lady to do her business." She grabbed assorted fruits from the vegetation that grew around. She wasn't much into cooked foods, especially meat, though she just assumed that he cooked meat like most Hylians do. She also took the time to fill up a bottle with some water, she assumed that it would be a long day so she might want to fill it up now. She certainly wouldn't drink it to quickly and be left behind by the call of nature. She followed him out of the campsite before asking "so are you ready to talk to me today, you were grumpy yesterday."

"Grumpy?"

Damien looked at Rogue, almost apologetically, for some time. He looked down, almost in shame, though it would have been difficult to tell.

"No... I have far too much on my mind of late. Nightmares have crept into my thoughts. I have been troubled, not angry. I am sorry."

He began to walk back to his dying campfire to collect the remains of the meats and herbs he had cooked. He also had some waybread laying out for Rogue, which he offered to her before packing it away for later rations.

"Forgive me, I never asked.... What is your name?"

Damien finished packing away his things, tightened his belt about his waist with his scabbard attached, and waited for Rogue to get set.

"We must hurry. The darkness grows stronger with each passing hour. Remember, it will be little more than three days to the Northern Hills. We must make haste now, and save rustication for a later day. Perhaps, then, I may tell you why I am what I am, if you do not then already know."

It was fairly early in the morning and she knew that meant they would be able to travel an optimal amount before nightfall. She'd prefer not to sleep outside in Hyrule Fields. Typically they were safe, but when nightfall hits Poes, Stalfos, and all other forms of unruly undead creep out from their underground tombs. "I'd prefer not to know names, less to explain if things get hairy. And the way you talk it's going to get very hairy. I think the people in the south have a name for me. I think they call me Rouge." She awaited for the man to leave and followed shortly behind him as to not be left behind.

"The way I see it, my lady, names are all we, as men (in the generic sense), have. But, call yourself as you wish. Now then... Gather your things and let us be on our way. We must make camp before night fall. Dark things like to creep out at night."

With that, he turned around and set off, with Rogue in close pursuit. Damien, in his usual manner, moved with a determined haste that few men could display. His visage was a stern ambition to reach his destination, for what worth that destination held for him. While he was sure Rogue could keep up, he felt he had to press on. That day, he would stop for a brief midday meal in the plains, and then press on until it was time to make camp, at which time he and Rogue could have a small dinner ration and rest up for the night.

Some distance of travel later, Damien stopped at the edge of a small stream running through Hyrule Field toward Lake Hylia.

He took note of Rogue's earlier choice of fruits and such and chose a spot near a plentiful supply of berry bushes, while he took out his own rations of that morning's cooked meats and waybread. As Rogue arrived, he again offered her some of the bread, knowing that she would turn down the meat.

"Come, sit and eat. We have quite a way to go yet. There is still land to traverse, and we should regain some of our strength for the road ahead."

Rogue began to stop and sit on the ground with Damien as she eat the few remaining berries in her pouch before refilling them with the berries from the bushes around. She still rejected the bread though only due to being independent and not needing help. She refilled her bottle with water from the stream. The fairly uneventful journey took a pause, though she does admit this was a good chance to scout Hyrule Field. She was usually in the south, so it was also nice to take a stroll without worrying if something was about to attack you. She was still cautious of the night though, she had heard stories of Hyrule Field at night for years.

"So what is this darkness that you continually speak of? Are you talking about the fairy tale about when night strikes these fields the dead reanimate?"

"Yes... in part. I do not mean to frighten you, but you should know that those tales are true. When night falls over these normally tranquil plains, some creatures of the darkness rise up and stalk the earth, ended only by the break of dawn.

"These things, however, pale in comparison to the evils to which I refer... You heard that troubled old man back in Nabooru, I assume? It is that which frightens me. I returned to Nabooru, feeling an old power growing somewhere in the world. Almost immediately, this man arrives, speaking of horrible things on the fringe of the Lost Woods..."

Damien looked into Rogue's eyes, seeing what appeared to be a mix of curiosity and anxiety.

"I cannot rightly tell you of what I speak. I can only hope that, should you wish to follow me on the path north, you will see and understand for yourself what I fear."

With that, Damien stood, offering a hand to his smaller companion.

As the two stood, Damien waited briefly for Rogue to gather her things once more. Then, he set off. Oddly, he began to feel closer to this woman. Instead of being overcome with his usual obsession with haste, he moved quickly, yet frequently slowed to let the Gerudo woman keep up with him. Still, she was capable of cross-country trekking, he has observed, and was not concerned for her when he took off with speed.

Again, twilight began to blanket the land. Gradually, the darkness grew deeper, and wolves howled in the distance. As per usual, Damien began setting up his fire, when he suddenly heard a racket over the next hill. As he concentrated, he could see the dim glow of multiple fires bobbing about. This was no pleasant noise, either.

Presumably, much to Rogue's concern, Damien stood tall above the fire and slowly drew his sword, which sang into the night, ringing almost endlessly like a choir of heavenly bells. The orange glow of his small fire gleamed off of the edge of the Faust Sword, showcasing its exquisitely polished, sharpened steel.

Suddenly, a scream echoed through the aging twilight. Without a word, Damien rushed ahead in the direction of the noises and lights. Whether or not Rogue would follow would have to be up to her.

Rogue accepted everything he said and began packing up ready to leave. She was hopping to be somewhere civilized by nightfall to avoid the monsters but she didn't know the geography of the north. She figured it would have more settlements, being such a quaint and safe place.. she was wrong. Endless walking took place before night fell, admittedly her tummy was growling fiercely. She was used to several small meals a day and this was taking a bit of a tole on her, but she knew they would stop soon so she didn't worry too much.

She wasn't planning on raging off into the blanket of darkness but she didn't like not being able to tell what was happening. She was perfectly fine standing there safely until she heard a woman's shriek. She grabbed a piece of drywood that wasn't totally consumed with fire, but the movement put it right out. Irritably she snapped toward the end of the branch, causing her spark ability to cause a small fire that began to burn the wood. She then followed into the dark, she didn't realize that the fire may be more useful than she will know.

She emerged on the scene, but she didn't see her companion. She did however see three or five crazed Hylians running around a broke down caravan.. She calmed down one lady with jet black hair and began to question her but she was too far gone to speak. "I suggest you get into the caravan." She knew that the lady understood as she quickly ran into the caravan. She wasn't quite sure what was happening. She heard awful noises that sounded like bones clattering together and horses neighing. One of the Hylians ran into her and made her fall to the ground, "Watch it you oaf."

She grabbed the luckily still lit torch and held it in front of her as she saw a hand sprout from underground right in front of her. Her eyes grew wide as the bony hand began fighting it's way out from under the ground. Rogue began to take out her knife quickly and slice the hand off, but it still moved as if it were still attacked to the body. She jumped in the air and slammed her knife into the ground sending a shockwave into the Stal that was popping from the dirt. The Stalchild was out of the ground completely as she swung her dagger forward to block a heavy bone club. She couldn't tell, but there was an abundance of Stalchildren and Stalhounds running around. That's not even mentioning the granddaddy of them all, a Stalfos lurking in the darkness just waiting for the right time to strike.

Damien was nearby, hovering over the two butchered corpses of what were, presumably, the men hired to protect this wagon. Both of them lay motionless on the ground, their chests ripped open and the ground around them soaked in a pool of blood. These men wore simple wool and leather, with a chainmail haubergeon each. Such armor had failed both men, and both swords had proven useless. Frozen into the faces of these men was a look of utterly paralyzing terror.

The men of Hyrule know the beasts of the night... Why would they falter now? These are no common terrors that appear before us...

"Father..."

Damien stood and turned back to the wagon, only to see a humanoid shape moving toward the Gerudo woman. Rogue, occupied with fighting the emerging Stalchildren, did not see this larger threat nearby.

The Stalfos ambled forward, pursuing the smaller Gerudo as its first victim of the night. Suddenly, a large, black-clad man lunged toward the monster. A blade of fine steel cut through the air, and the Stalfo's forearm was hewn in two, its sword discarded. In another moment, the Faust Sword severed the thing's spine, and the Stalfos, howling into the night, fell the ground with only a ribcage, half of a backbone, and one-and-a-half arms. Immediately, Damien fell upon the downed monster, planting his family sword through the center of the creature's face. The Stalfos groaned, and was consumed by an inferno of cool flames. Damien stood above the disintegrating remains of the beast, scouring the darkness for any signs of his true quarry.

"My lady... It is as I feared. Finish those things that spawn from Mother Earth. There are darker things afoot tonight."

As he spoke, a team of soldiers marched forward. One would notice, however, that these men were not... human, in the strictest sense. Their flesh was ancient and rotted, and their eyes empty and soulless. Their gear was rusted and battered, yet by some dark magic perfectly effective.

Damien listened to their beaten armor rattling in the night, and when the sound of undead growling and snarling met his ears, he held tightly to his sword.

"Demons... Go back to the abyss!"

As those words hit Rogue's ears her dagger started to glow for a moment. When she swung it at the Stalchild the dagger consumed the Stalchild in flames due to her Gerudo Dragon move. She was not too surprised but she was yet to know what makes it happen. Luckily the undeads weakness were fire so it could come in handy. She then began taking care of all of the stalchildren and stalhounds making fairly quick work of them. They were fairly weak, she checking in on the caravan and saw a woman, two men, and a child. She stood guard outside the caravan pummeling all of the Stal that approached. When she felt like they were gone she grabbed the torch she had earlier, and gave it to one of the men. She realized that they seemed to not attack her when she had this torch as if they were afraid of light. She wasn't quite on the spot but she was close. "You might need this to see those buggers coming. There sounds like a bigger fight out there."

Damien stood a distance from the broken-down caravan, gazing sternly into the darkness. He had his shield out, now, ready to join the battle in earnest. There were, at most, ten of the undead monsters approaching, and there were two capable defenders, only one of which seemed to truly know what was going on.

Indeed, he seemed oddly experienced, as well. As the first of the cursed soldiers came near, the tall Hylian set himself to pounce, and, with the assistance of the Pegasus Boots, shot forward into the fray. His massive frame crashed into the closest monster, and, with a sound of crushing, rending steel, his sword flashed through the air and sliced across the belly of the thing.

The creature recoiled, howling in what appeared to be agony. In another instant, Damien's sword was thrust vertically through the beast's skull.

A second monster charged Damien and swung its old, rusted sword from on high. The notched blade came down with a clang on the Hylian's shield. Yanking his sword free from the first creature's head, Damien spun clockwise and drew his blade across the right leg of the attacking monster. One of its limbs removed, the soulless being collapsed, and was impaled upon the ground by Damien's angry blade.

The remaining undead soldiers began to converge on this Hylian warrior. Damien would have to admit, even he was surprised by the speed and strength he was displaying.

No matter, this was not the time to be impressed with one's self. The Hylian stood tall and prepared to brave the coming onslaught.

With two beasts killed, seven now remained.

Rogue admittedly didn't know what she was getting herself into as she approached Damien. But after she gazed upon these undead soldiers she was about to find it very easy to abandon her new traveling partner. Rupees were the least of her worries. Sadly right before her flee, she was spotted. And three of the seven remaining turned their attention to her. She gulped heavily as she jumped in the air and slammed her dagger into the ground causing a huge shockwave to unbalance the undead for a split second. But that was all Rogue needed to escape, she turned and ran only to trip over one of the undead landing face first in the dirt.

Her very first instinct was to play dead but these beasts didn't care about that, they were hell bent on something and they were destroying everything in their path. She stood and got her dagger out, she didn't even know how to take out one of them little on all three at once. She put on her to do list to get some explosives and stop hanging out with creepy men for rupees as she stood in a defensive position.

Suddenly, one of the three before Rogue stood petrified. An instant later, a sharp, steel blade shot out from the monster's chest. As the creature fell limp, the other two beasts turned to this new attacker.

Damien grunted as his kicked the monster forward and off of his sword. The one just right of the impaled monster began to swing its sword at the Hylian, but the rusty blade was parried. Damien planted his foot on the creature's knee and kicked down. With a response of snapping bone, the leg bent awkwardly, and the cursed soldier began to wobble before having his head lopped clean off by Damien's sword.

Immediately, Damien broke off the attack and stood defiantly between Rogue and the rest of the demons.

The remaining five moved toward the pair of adventurers. Damien stood his ground bravely, showing nothing but the spirit of a true warrior. Rogue, on the other hand... seemed quite frightened, as far as Damien could figure.

"My lady, if you cannot kill them yourself, then leave them to me. You will not be harmed while there is still blood in my veins."

Frightened was not the operative word, maybe defenseless but not frightened. She knew nothing she could do would scratch the beasts. I guess the least she can do is distract one to make it easier for Damien. Maybe being annoying is her biggest strength here. She took out a throwing knife and tossed it at one, awkwardly landing in it's eye socket. The beast seemed as if it didn't hurt at all but it pissed him off. It charged forward and slammed his sword into the ground getting it stuck. What can it say for itself it missed by several feet, though his vision was obstructed.

Dust also flew up and clouded the field, Rogue coughed a bit as she ran behind him. She could tell it was him, it was very imposing even in the low visibility. She stabbed the thing in the back of the skull with the dagger but the thing merely hammered her with a heavy elbow and now she was weaponless. She hit the ground fairly hard as she picked herself up very painfully. The Warrior ran at him and her leg started to flow with power as she used Gerudo Dragon to set the being on fire. He started to twitch upon the heat, it was now apparent they were weak to fire. As the smoldering heap of undead was put out Rogue grabbed her dagger.

With a moments notice the undead sprung to life and grabbed Rogue's leg. Rogue was scared but as she turned around the fire in it's eyes burned away and the grip loosened. "That caravan better pay me for this."

"Do not charge the weak for lending them your own strength by your own will. Better you just open their throats with your own blade than empty their purses for your hand as a shield."

Damien, however, could not help being impressed with the small woman, as she had killed one undead beast with an example of true Gerudo magic. One more soulless beast charged at Rogue, while the other three moved to surround Damien.

The Hylian was nearly encircled, still trying to protect Rogue, though she had just displayed a fine show of combat potential. Damien called upon the Pegasus Boots once more to rush the center monster, severing the thing's undead spine with the impact force of his body. As the monster fell back, Damien reached out, grasping the beast's head with his left hand, and removing it from its shoulders with one, clean swipe of his sword.

"Simply cut at them, my lady. These things are strong, rough, and unyielding, but they are mortal."

Rogue kept admiring Damien's unknown speed before realizing the source was his feet. She actually really wanted a pair of them and fast, no pun intended. If the tall and assumable clumsy man can move so fast there is no telling how much her speed will be increased. She sliced with her dagger and jabbed it into the undead wondering why they keep coming after him. They all began to below at once making a fierce noise, a symphony of the dark if you will. It grabbed the Gerudo by the arm and slung her away as if she was a pesky fly. She began to roll as she hit the ground, luckily she grabbed the dagger before she was thrown for she used it to stop her roll and slow her skid.

She looked up only to see the undead guard kicking her in the face knocking her a fair distance away. Her feet were close to the creature. As he approached Rogue kicked the legs out from under him and sliced its head completely. Rogue then waited for a moment but charged forward to help Damien.

"Kill that one if you wish! Leave this one to me!"

Damien let Rogue display her valor, such as would be the honorable thing to allow for her, while he set his furious sights on the last of what he was convinced were his father's creations.

His sword flashing in the moonlight, Damien brought his full might down upon the undead warrior, which, just like those his father had concocted with Ganon's will nearly fifteen years earlier, withered before the onslaught. Even these reanimated, soulless abominations, for all of their terribleness (spell-check says this is a word... fair enough, Mozilla), could not stand up to the rage of their creator's son.

Rogue winced a moment as the undead warrior jabbed her in the stomach. She fell to the ground hunched over as her opponent came and kicked her in the gut. As Rogue laid on the ground she glanced at the warriors approach. Her emotions got the best of her as her legs started to glow a fiery hue from her fiery Gerudo heart. She did a low sweep and singed off the undead warriors legs at the kneecap. The warrior fell to the ground as she put her foot on his head she inaudibly yelled at it as her foot lit a flame and stomped through the head. She quickly looked over at Damien to see how he was fairing.