-Ouki Mitagi's Army, Link-

The fifth day of marching the army of Qin was roused early. Link rose to find Ganon was already awake and ready, Hei was snoring, and Tou was rousing. Solitare was nowhere to be-

"AAH!" Link walked into someone and fell to the ground in a pile of limbs. He scrambled up to see Solitare under him. "Will you stop!?" Link exclaimed in shock.

"You walked into me. I was already standing here." The boy replied. His eyes spun a bit, dizzily.

"Well-I! You!" Link pouted. It annoyed him how the boy was constantly appearing out of nowhere! He may have walked into him but how was he supposed to know? Link mumbled, "Sorry."

He helped him up. "Are you ready?"

The boy nodded.

"Great." Link stepped up to get a better look. In the far distance was hills, but beyond the hills in the horizon was black smoke.

"That Bayou?" Link wondered.

"Most likely. Pity we could have made it already." Tou said. "Hope they held on..."

Ganon grunted, "And you would all be too exhausted to fight if we did. As it is, we will be spending most of the day walking before we fight. Wake your brother. The army is rousing. Make sure to stick together. The pup can sense me in a crowd if we get lost, and you-" he looked squarely at the Sheikah. "Stay near him. The pup can't seem to see you at all, so you will have to do it for him."

Kagami looked at him as if to say 'you can't sense him either...' Kagami could, being a wolf with a strong smell. He found it amusing how the rest kept being surprised when the boy was always in their midst.

"Who da hell you calling a puppy!" Link barked.

"You're the one that found being compared to a retarded puppy as 'cute'. You are just as loud as one too. No wonder no one wants to set their tent near us." Ganon referred to how other squads around were annoyed. They had quickly become a bit of a black sheep in the army.

The call went out for the army to gather and march. They passed over the valley and hills until the fortress of Bayou was before them. Link laid eyes on the army of Zhao sieging it on all sides. Smoke and fire was lit from the walls, but there was still enough movement on the walls to signify conflict. Bayou had held.

"They held..." Link breathed out in relief.

Ganon stepped up to see. "I'm impressed. Either this Harken is weaker than we expected, or Bayou is strong."

-Zhao-

The forces of Zhao sieging the city saw the army of Qin assembled on the hill.

"Th-they're here. It's time." Mangoku murmured.

"End the siege. Pull all of our forces together." Harken ordered the men around him. His eyes looked up at the hill, earnestly looking for Ouki amongst the masses.

"Yes sir!" His officers replied. Scouts on horseback spread the word quickly amongst the army. Zhao's forces left the walls of the city, and from the plains all around it, and gathered together.

Harken Dragmire as the High General of the army split the forces amongst the generals under his command, Chousou, Shoumou, Kouson Ryuu, Haku, Fuuki, and Mangoku.

"Sir, if I may." Chousou spoke up. "As your lead strategist, may I recommend moving to the east for this conflict? Our scouts report the Qin have a large cavalry force, and the plains east have many obstructions. If we fight here, Ouki will surely take advantage of Bayou's defences and final defenders against us. We will lose our advantage."

"No..." Mangoku said in a ghostly whisper. "Kill them all. Slaughter the city."

Harken continued to gaze at the hill.

"Sir?"

Harken said, "Do as you wish. Bayou was irrelevant."

-Qin-

The army of Zhao moved eastward as one. The cry for battle went out from some of his soldiers near the front, but a steady hand kept them back. Ouki watched them move into the eastward hills. His eyes earnestly searched the mass for Harken.

The Englishman rode up to him. "Sir, they are moving eastward!"

"No, shit." Kei Ki replied.

The Englishman continued, "Eastward is a plains with a ruins scattered across the land. It will hinder our horsemen."

"That will make your army useless." Kei Ki said to the Englishman. "We should head into the fortress, gather the survivors, and raid the Zhao from there as a powerbase."

"No." Ouki replied firmly. "Zhao is already here. They are the ones aiming to destroy as many villages as possible. They are the raiders, not us. They will be the ones to take that strategy while we turtle ourselves."

"Then what shall we do?" Mitagi asked.

"The obvious of course. We are here to accept his challenge."

The army of Qin moved east along with the Zhao army until both sides were in the plains nearby. Behind Zhao was a hill leading into a forest. Behind Qin was the ruins of an ancient castle from the fall of Hyrule.

In the castle behind them a number of officials from Qin had hid themselves. Along with them were travellers from multiple countries. Qin scouts checked out the ruins, and the people peacefully gave up their weapons. Ouki personally entered the ruins.

"General. It is a pleasure to meet you." A young man kneeled. "I am Mouki, son of Moubu."

"Ah, good. You are following in your father's steps, then?"

"Yes, my lord." The young man replied.

"Then stand proud and learn. I expect to hear great things of you when you enter the war."

Ouki looked out across the rest of them. A few of them were people he recognized as students of Qin's head strategist and the Mitagi. One was a young man of the Mitagi's primary family branch. But there were also a few he did not recognize. Three were obviously from other nations. The Goron and Zora were alien and the Gerudo were too dark-skinned to pass off as Qin.

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"And you are?" Ouki questioned them. Namely he saw something in one man in particular. He wore remarkably simple clothes, but also a hint of fur. He looked like a completely normal man, but there was something about his stature that spoke of nobility.

"Great general, my name is Roboku." The man bowed.

"You're accent is not of Qin." Ouki observed.

"No, sir. I am from Zhao."

A number of Ouki's men drew their weapons immediately and pointed them at the man. Roboku, though, was unbothered. Ouki put up his hand to halt them. Ouki's good will toward him disappeared, but at the same time Ouki was carefully unhostile.

"And why would you be here? Why should I spare a man of Zhao?"

"I understand your stance. I am formally an enemy. Yet allow me to defend myself. Because as you can see, I am a nobody. I have lived a life in the north of Zhao. I have not shared in the hatred and anguish between Qin and Zhao, as I have lost no family nor friend to you and your people. I have not earned for myself a name, as you have not heard of me. Killing me would ultimately profit you nothing, as I have explained, I am not worth the effort. I am here to observe the coming battle and report to the king of the events."

"It doesn't matter why you are here!" A soldier exclaimed. "Sir, we must-"

"Leave them." Ouki ordered.

It was normal practice for aspiring strategists and nobles to learn by watching a battle play out. It was considered honourable to leave them in peace, and was one of the few rules of the war. Ouki had spared a number of enemy strategists because of this, but in turn many of Qin were left alone as well. It is true Roboku could be a spy, but what could he learn from observing from here that others wouldn't learn as well?

"I will leave behind a guard," Ouki said. "If I find the guards dead, I assure you I will hunt you and kill you. But so long as you hold your peace and leave in peace, then I will leave you be. Be careful to not be caught in the conflict."

Roboku bowed, "Thank you for this honour, great general."

Ouki departed from the ruins. He ordered a squad to guard, ensure the peace, and protect the civilians.

Ouki ordered the army to assemble into formation as planned. Starting from the left in the hills was Kei Ki with twenty thousand, followed by Mitagi with ten-thousand. In the middle with the vanguard army of fifty thousand was Moubu. On the right was the Englishman with twenty thousand.

Link and Ganon's squad found themselves placed on the front lines of the vanguard army.

Both sides placed their formations and assembled their forces, but still nobody made a move at first. Ouki's attention was on the Zhao force. He saw the command center of the army from the flags on the hill sending signals to the forces below. It was the same command structure he utilized. He hoped to see Harken Dragmire, but alas. He could not see that far.

A single horse rode out from the Zhoa army. Ouki's gaze locked onto it. The man upon it was large and wielded a great sword as long as a spear. He wore no armor, only a large robe. His skin was black as night and hair as red and shining as a great bon fire.

Harken Dragmire.

Ouki clenched his jaw. He remembered the blood that had flowed from the man's face as he cut him down. He still felt his lovers cold hands in his. The stillness that defied life.

Ouki rode forward. "My lord!" The Englishman protested. He rode forward in front of Ouki. "You must know he means to fight you!"

"Do not try to stop me! I know that, but we will fight properly, so that the entirety of Zhao will know to fear me. I know even were I to defeat him, there is an army thirsty for innocent blood. I go to meet him to hear what he wishes to say, and no more. Tell Moubu to join me."

The Englishman clearly protested, but one look from Ouki set him in his place. Ouki was not playing around. He was not merely his comrade, he was his commander.

"A-as you wish. My lord." The Englishman bowed and backed off.

Ouki Mitagi rode down to the front line. As he wished, General Moubu was alerted to meet with him.

"What do you want? I have a vanguard to prepare." Moubu demanded.

Ouki nodded toward Harken Dragmire waiting in the middle between them. "I go to meet them. I wish for you to join me in giving him a few words."

Moubu's composure changed with this statement. At first he was annoyed greatly, but the request pleased him. Even if we was not there with equal standing, he would have recognition. He nodded.

Ouki Mitagi and Moubu rode out to meet Harken Dragmire. A few guards followed them. Harken had no guards. At once this was something that greatly distressed the Zhao commanders, but it also insulted Moubu as if it implied they were being looked down upon. Ouki didn't mind, he had already come to grasp the mind of Harken.

"My lord!" One of Ouki's guards exclaimed. He rode up beside Ouki. "Lord Dragmire comes!"

"Harken is before us."

"Not him, sir."

Ouki stopped and turned to see Ganondorf Dragmire had grabbed a horse and rode gently up to them. Seeing him infuriated the Mitagi, but he kept his composure in check. He had known he was in his army, the red hair was impossible to miss, but he had not requested his presence in this public meeting.

Moubu barked, "What are you doing here?!"

Ouki thought, 'Clearly he had not noticed the Dragmire was in his army.'

"Turn back, Lord Dragmire." Ouki commanded. "I did not call for you."

Ganondorf slowed the horse as he neared and said, "I am aware Great General. However, allow me a moment. I am here, not on behalf of the Majora. I am here on behalf of myself and my own purposes. As you know, the Dragmire are all but gone. There are a scant few of us left. When I heard Harken Dragmire was alive, and present, I felt compelled to see him for myself, so that I may know if the rumor is true. Is it wrong to assume you feel my loyalties are conflicted?"

"You would be correct." Ouki stated. "Your argument in meeting him is that he is among the last of your clan? That only makes me question your purposes here further."

"Then you and your princess share the same mind. You both question me, and that is the mind I wish to put to rest with my open presence. Allow me, as a Dragmire, to stand behind you, against him, before both armies, as proof of my support in this campaign."

Ouki considered it. Having a Dragmire at his back against another Dragmire would put to rest much of his question of Ganondorf's loyalty as an ally. It still left him wondering, though.

"Then give me an answer, Lord Dragmire. Why are you here? Surely laying eyes on him is not enough to warrant your journey."

"..." Ganondorf glanced to Moubu standing silently by as Ouki's penetrating gaze pierced him. Ouki was a very large man. Ganondorf knew he was powerful, and for most of his life he believed he was the most powerful man in the world. But in Ouki's presence he realized just how small he truly was. Ouki was like a demi-god carved out of solid stone.

"Because I wish to capture him." Ganondorf answered. "I wish to question him, questions that pertain to the soul, that follow me and haunt me."

Ouki replied, "I greatly doubt you can defeat him. He is the strongest Dragmire to have risen in generations, and of Qin's warriors, only I have bested him. With that said, I have no intent to capture him. I intend to kill him. Is there a problem with this? Would this cause a dispute between us?"

"If you kill him before I capture him, then I will hold my peace."

"Then you may ride with us, as an ally, but you will hold your tongue, as I am in charge. Yes?"

"Yes."

Ganondorf rode up to Ouki's left while Moubu had his right. Ouki watched him warily, but kept his peace.

"Ouki! Fight me!" Harken yelled as the three neared.

"I think not, General." Ouki replied. "However, I will happily accept your surrender."

Harken narrowed his eyes at him. His red eyes met Ganondorf's briefly. Ganondorf gulped. Harken was equally large to Ouki, but seemed even fiercer. Compared to the two of them, Ganondorf felt small. The two of them were purely gargantuan, even Moubu looked small. Just how heavy was Harken's spear? Half a ton?

"You bring my own kin against me?"

"He came of his own volition. The crimes you commit in the name of Zhao have reached even to his ears, and the innocent blood cries out. I will take it from you, but I will not appease you with a duel at this moment. I will take it from you, and from your army, and from Zhao. I know you, Harken. You work alone, means you are here with an army because Zhao put you up to it."

"They said it would bring you to me. They were right."

"They were. Now I am here. I am here as a warrior, as an avenger, but also a general. You will see what the means soon enough."

Ouki turned around before Harken could respond and rode back to the army. Ganondorf rode off to return to his place. Ouki watched him go.

"Be wary of him," Ouki said. "He did as I requested and kept his tongue, and he showed his open support at my back before all of our armies... but he is still a Dragmire. And they are a treacherous bunch."

"You don't have to tell me twice... troublemakers, the lot of them." Moubu replied.

Ouki looked back toward the Zhao army. Harken had returned to his army.

"Now then, Moubu. Why don't you show me that strength of yours. Show me what you can do with peasants. I will let you have the first blow. Advance when you are ready." Ouki commanded. "I shall return to the command center to observe."

Moubu grinned viciously. "I won't let you down."