-Impa-
"Took you long enough," Dawn grunted.
"My apologies, there were things to clear up," Impa approached with Zelda in tow.
"Of course there was..." The man would have said more, but Midnight swatted him upside the back of the head.
"Stop playing around, let's get back on track," Twilight ordered.
Impa helped Zelda climb back into the barrel, and they were back on the road for the night. The ride to the final checkpoint was leisurely. It was approximately the second hour of the morning when they saw the inspection. They were almost there.
Twilight ordered a halt and cursed. Impa felt her gut fall as his professional demeanor cracked. She asked, "What is wrong?"
"That captain- I don't recognize him." The man replied. The other merchants grew tense and discussed with each other how to proceed.
"Are we able to go around?"
"This is the only pass through the mountains. It would require several days to go around it, and then we are nearing where there is an open battle. We're having to do this the hard way."
"What do you need from me?" Impa asked.
"Talk when they talk directly to you, otherwise let us handle it. Girly, are you okay in there?"
"Yes," Zelda said.
"Great. No matter what, do not make a sound. Got it?"
"Yes."
The men shared a glance. They coordinated themselves and situated the cart to look more accessible, open, and less like it was trying to conceal something. Impa relaxed on the back while Twilight took up the reins, and one of them mounted a horse by the cart.
The captain of the guard compelled them to stop as they approached. "Get off," he ordered. "Stand to the side and present your papers while we look over this."
Impa pulled her forged papers while they discussed business. The smuggling leader smiled warmly, "You're a new face. What happened to Sou Mi?"
The guards approached the cart. Impa kept Zelda's barrel in her preferential vision.
"Sou Mi was found guilty of extortion. He restrained the wrong guy through without paying extra and..." The new officer smiled just as warmly. "Lost his head."
Dawn snorted in amusement.
"Well, I must say," Midnight put on the charm. "His loss is our mutual gain. He took a fair rupee off us unless we paid, and it seems you are a fair one. By the book. I like that in a soldier, really lets you know who you can rely on."
Out of the corner of Impa's eye, Zelda's barrel briefly shook. A guard turned his head with a frown. Impa felt her blood chill as the armed guard approached the barrel in question.
Then he pierced it with his sword to the hilt.
"What the realms?!" Midnight barked.
Impa froze in horror. Her every instinct screamed to kill the soldier, seize the princess, and run, but to do so was suicide. There were dozens of men at this post. All she could do was pray to whatever Goddess was listening that it wasn't Zelda's barrel the man pierced with his blade.
The merchants were not much better. They were extremely vocal about their 'product' being damaged. Impa followed the attempt to pretend, but it would all be moot if the soldiers saw blood.
The guard withdrew his sword from the barrel slowly. Impa's eyes were glued to its surface, waiting for the inevitable redness to appear.
Nothing.
The man withdrew his sword from the barrel and inspected it. It was unblemished. He looked to the captain, "It's clear."
The captain nodded, "Sorry for the damage, but it was necessary."
Dawn grunted, "Can we go now?"
The captain nodded and waved the gate to open. Impa climbed onto the cart along with the others, and they proceeded.
With each step, Impa felt watched. Every second from the checkpoint to the next pass was a nightmare. They couldn't go fast without drawing attention. The carriage had to roll agonizingly slow, but her heart was pounding a mile a minute. Impa felt she was on the verge of a panic attack. She wanted -no- needed to know Zelda was alright.
They were barely over the first turn before Impa was knocking barrels off the carriage to reach her. She pried the lid off and gasped. Zelda was covered in blood.
"Princess!" Impa cried.
The men rushed over, and together they lifted Zelda out. The girl helped in lifting herself, but Midnight said, "Do not lift yourself! We have you!"
Twilight, the focused of the three, pointed to Dawn, "Keep an eye on the road! Let us know if anyone comes!"
They lifted Zelda out of the barrel and placed her onto the flooring. Her rags were in tatters, so Midnight took his coat off and handed it to Impa for the girl to use. Impa peeled back her clothes to find the wound was in Zelda's side. The woman poked the gash gently and opened the injury to examine if there was pus or how deep it was. Thankfully the location of the wound wouldn't be lethal. Impa's occupational experience told her so, nor did she see the shade of death on Zelda. They took a cloth, stripped it, and after applying straight alcohol to the cut, once Midnight took a gulp, Twilight bandaged the slash.
Impa felt something was amiss as he sowed it tight. Zelda didn't make a sound the entire time. She didn't flinch away from the pain. When the heavy drink poured on, the princess didn't blink. She should have been in agony, her muscles should spasm in pain, and they should have had to seize her down and clamp her mouth shut, but Zelda was utterly relaxed, even curious.
No longer willing to subject the heir to a barrel, they made a cloth bed for her, laid her on it, and covered her with Midnight's coat. They tore a set of rags from some fabric for the girl's use. Impa threw away the bloody cloth Zelda had worn up to this time. Zelda had been covered in blood, but the sword?
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"How?" Impa finally found it in her to ask. "How did the sword not have any blood on it?! We should all be dead right now!"
"It must have been a miracle of the Goddess!" Midnight proclaimed.
"It was me," Zelda said weakly. Impa looked at the girl in astonishment. She explained, "This sword went through the barrel into my side. When it started to retract, I saw the blood and realized his sword would reveal me. So I tore my clothing off and wiped the blood off as it moved back."
Impa could only stare. The men were not much better. Impa was amazed that even in such a dangerous moment, the young girl found a way to win, but something in Impa's gut screamed something deeply wrong. Zelda didn't expect the sword to pierce the vessel. She should have cried out in alarm or pain, yet the girl hadn't made a sound. Not when the sword pierced her side, not when the wound was bandaged or cleansed, and now that she thought about it, Zelda hadn't made a sound when the men in Kantan were battering her.
"Amazing..." Midnight muttered, unable to find words for it. Even Dawn was left speechless.
Twilight smirked, "Princess, you are gonna be something one day. I hope I live long enough to witness it."
They continued on their journey. With the final checkpoint passed, the group had officially crossed into Qin territory.
Unluckily, there was one more obstacle. The dust cloud following an army of horses racing down the road towards them was an obvious clue.
"We have trouble!" Dawn yelled.
"How did they catch on?!" Midnight exclaimed.
"Who cares! Impa, hold onto girly! Girly, hold on!" Twilight barked. Impa held onto Zelda and the side of the carriage, and after a glance back, the black marketer struck the horses into a full run.
The group sped down the dirt road fast as they could go. Midnight took the barrels and propelled them off the cart to lighten the load. It wasn't enough.
"They're gaining on us!" Dawn yelled.
"We have a bow under a plank! Get it!" Twilight replied.
Midnight yanked up the wooden planks and procured a bow with some arrows in a quiver. The large man positioned himself in the back of the wagon. Impa took Zelda and placed her in the front corner, while the Sheikah herself pulled out her short-sword and balanced as well as she could with the carriage speeding down the road.
The Zhao horsemen came into view and shot the first arrow at them. A volley followed the first. A swift turn prevented any from striking their mark, but Dawn was not so lucky. One stuck out of his shoulder as he rode beside them.
"How much further!?" Twilight yelled.
Impa said, "An army will be there! Trust in the Goddess!" Impa held onto Zelda tightly. Undoubtedly, the Goddesses would not send her there unless for a purpose.
The Zhao force rounded the corner after them, and Midnight discharged his initial shot. He had difficulty aiming right with the shaking, but with a road full of Zhao horsemen, it was hard not to hit at least something. Midnight launched shot after shot, but there were too many of them, and the rumbling threw off his aim. The Zhao came upon them.
An arrow hit Dawn's horse, and it went down in a tumble that would have shattered his bones to dust. The tumble took one of the Zhao with him, and the horsemen fell with his steed.
An arrow pierced Midnight's chest, and he collapsed back onto the carriage. Zelda screamed as he coughed up blood.
No more arrows flew. The Zhao captain yelled, "He wants her alive! Careful!"
The Zhao force drew near, close enough for a number of them to maneuver around the carriage. Seeing the horsemen nearing out of the corner of his eye, Twilight drove the wheels into the Zhao beside them, pulverizing them between the transport and the mountainside.
-Zelda-
Zelda gasped at the explosion of blood. A bloody hand extended up the side of the carriage and clasped on. The 'other' Zelda pulled itself up and crawled across the transport to Zelda. Zelda's legs shook, and she did what she could to step back, but she had the side of the carriage at her back.
The 'other' hissed, "Why do you run? Why do you flee? Even now your curse is at work. Look at yourself! You can't even feel pain! Gentle Midnight just died for you... would you allow them all to die? Would you allow HER to die? Turn yourself over, and she will be okay."
The 'other' Zelda continued to crawl closer. The hands of corpses extended out of the mountain walls to reach for them. The spirits of the dead pointed and judged.
The 'other' demanded, "Are you sacrificing all of them just so you can run?!"
The dead yelled out, "Monster!"
"No!" Zelda cried back. Impa did not know what Zelda was yelling at, believing it to be the situation itself.
"Not going to lie, this doesn't look good!" Twilight yelled. Zhao jumped onto his seat, wrestled with him, and the two fell face forward and tumbled under the carriage. Two Zhao jumped onto the back, and a third-placed himself at the reins so he could pull the wagon to a stop.
Desperate, Impa took a step away from Zelda to fight them. Impa stabbed the Zhao in the front and returned her attention to the other two. As if guided by the Goddess's hand, the horses did not run the carriage off the road. But instead, the opposite, the ride smoothed. At the same time, the back of Zelda's hand started to glow.
"If not a monster, if not a curse, then what are you!" The 'other' Zelda demanded. "What are you?!"
Zelda placed her hands over her ears, but she could not stop their voices. The 'other' demanded an answer from her. The spirits cried out in torment. Their hands reached out for her, and the hollowness of their eyes pulled her in. Impa fought with the men, and more Zhao prepared to leap aboard. One aimed his bow at Impa.
Zelda snapped.
Taking the bow and arrow from the carriage floor, she leveled it at her living nightmare. The nightmare quieted and looked at the arrow tip in fear. Zelda looked back in determination.
She had enough of it. She had enough of her life in Zhao, her weakness, and the nightmare and agony. Zelda decided she would do what the heir was born to do: carry the burden of the dead. If the living and dead blamed the princess for Chouhei, she would make sure the deaths were not for naught. After all, she was the firstborn to a king. The living and the dead were her burdens. Did carrying that burden make her a demon or angel? She would let history decide.
"I am a king!" She answered.
Zelda loosed the arrow. The mark on her hand lit brightly, and a shockwave of light pierced the nightmare before ripping up the road. The bright shaft completely took off half of one of Impa's adversaries in an explosion of blood, threw men and horses into the air, and destroyed the road. The back half of the wagon exploded in splinters. The cart shifted and dragged across the ground as the rear wheels disappeared.
In the aftermath was silence. Zelda breathed a sigh of relief. The 'other' was gone. The dead stopped tormenting her. The pain in her head had lessened. The girl could see now what she needed to do.
-Impa-
The other Zhao and Impa both stared at the girl in shock. Neither had expected for a large, light arrow to pass. The Zhao looked at Impa, decided it wasn't worth dying here, and jumped. In the distance, the second wave of Zhao came into view.
Impa climbed to the front, gripped the reins into her hand, slowed the horses enough for them to move, and jumped onto one of the horses bareback with Zelda in her arms. She severed the ropes holding the horse to the carriage.
They sped down the path quickly without the weight of a carriage holding it back. Impa wasn't as skilled as these Zhao, but her military training wasn't far off. She expertly urged the horse forward, held onto the princess, and swerved the paths. They descended the mountain and into the valley.
Horsemen surrounded them out of the corner of her eye. Impa lowered herself over Zelda, but no blade pierced her. Tilting her head, Impa recognized the flag of Qin on the captain's banner. Qin horsemen surrounded them in a protective shield.
The captain yelled, "My lady! The general extends his best!"
Another group of Qin horsemen came at them, only to ride past and engage the Zhao that followed.
Impa yelled back, "The princess is hurt! We need a doctor!"
"There are doctors at the camp!" The captain replied, "The army is situated just down this way! Follow me."
Without waiting for an answer, the captain escorted them southwest. Before long, Impa found herself riding into the midst of many soldiers. The army of Qin had arrived. The captain called out for a doctor, and her horse directed toward the middle of the camp.
Finally, able to stop, the adrenaline stopped pumping through her veins. The adrenaline, the stress, the death, the fear, the exhaustion, the desperation, it all pooled over, and Impa nearly wept in joy. She ran her fingers through Zelda's wild hair comfortingly. The mission was a success.
(Grammarly 8/19/2020, GradeProof, Scribens 3/12/2020, brief update 4/11/2020)