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Peter Siddle has withdrawn from his Nottinghamshire contract for 2017 due to a persistent back injury. Siddle, 32, has not played since the Hobart Test against South Africa in November, during which he suffered a recurrence of the back problem that had kept him out for much of the previous year.
Notts have been linked with potentially signing Siddle's Victoria team-mate and fellow Australia international James Pattinson, with Mick Newell, the club's director of cricket, hopeful of "quickly securing a replacement".
Siddle, who played for Notts in 2014 and Lancashire the following season, had signed a two-year deal to return to Trent Bridge but was unable to appear in 2016 due to stress fractures in his back. He made a comeback at the start of the 2016-17 season with Victoria and won a Test recall against South Africa before being sidelined once again.
"I guess the years of playing cricket, you always have little setbacks with injury and missing cricket at different stages," Siddle said. "It makes it a little bit easier to take in when you get older. So, I've been able to stay pretty level.
"I don't think I've played this little cricket in an 18-month window since I was an 11-year-old kid and was just starting out. That's the most frustrating thing, not playing the game that you love and your profession. But mentally I'm pretty good. I'm in a good place and I've got some good people around me who give me good support."
Notts have already signed another Australian, Dan Christian, for the NatWest Blast but the arrival of James Pattinson - whose older brother, Darren, played for the county between 2008 and 2012 - would be a significant coup. Pattinson has taken 70 wickets in 17 Tests but missed out on a call-up to Australia's tour of India after Mitchell Starc was ruled out by injury, despite taking a five-wicket haul last week to help put Victoria in the Sheffield Shield final.
Newell said: "I feel for Peter in particular because he's had absolutely no luck in recent years when it comes to injuries. We certainly didn't imagine, when we signed him on a two-year contract for 2016 and 2017, that he wouldn't play a single game for us during that time. It's disappointing because his competitive character and proven ability would have been a real asset for us.
"We never stop monitoring the situation overseas. We're always looking at who is available and who has the kind of quality we need, so we're confident of quickly securing a replacement."


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subset: commoncrawl


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Published on : 2017-04-15 12:28:53
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text:
Part I
Written by Nicholas Sparling
This is a story of death, of betrayal and hatred, murder and mayhem, of dark men and darker deeds and of the ultimate fall from grace. This is the story of a Calatian man who was tossed by fates darkest tides and thus heard tell of a great man named Gannondorf who fought to free the lands of Hyrule from an oppressive ruler. Traveling over the western mountains with hundreds of his fellows, he gladly joined Gannondorfs war machine. This is the story of a man who lost his ideals and forgot his identify, who allowed himself to serve the darkest of masters and paid a price greater than he could have ever known. This is a story of revenge and redemption, of unforgivable deeds and crimes beyond atonement. Herein is the story of Hyrule in its darkest hour.
The Adept (initiate, part ii)
"I have walked the paths; the shadowed roads
that led to terror's breast. I have plumbed the depths of
Hatred's womb and scaled Destruction's Crest.
For every secret left unveiled, for every power learned,
I'd sell the remnants of my soul, regardless how it burned
And still I sought a higher wisdom few could have attained.
'Though I found it, it would leave me broken, damned and drained.
For now I find this power gained is more unto a curse.
My spirit burns with every spell and each irreverent verse.
Despite this strength and knowledge earned, I have paid a heavy toll.
Never should've traded power for my own immortal soul."
C. Vincent Metzen
Nicholas Sparling
Part I
The storm was going to be bad, that was apparent hours before the first brooding black clouds invaded the horizon. The birds had stopped singing; the animals had retreated to their layers, an oppressive blanket seemed to hang over the Calatian coastline. Ah well, Calèk's inhabitants were philosophical about such events. They had more than enough food stored within the storm caves and weather such as this drew travelers off the road who brought news from all over Calatia and stories from even farther. Thus when a lone, cloaked figure slipped into main cavern there were no questions asked. For hours it remained that way as the townspeople contented themselves to question those who talked more freely than this stranger, who responded to all inquires with a chilling gaze and a few cold words. Still, as the day turned to night and the other travelers had finished spinning their tales, more and more people continues to cast glances at the quiet figure hunched over in one corner, apparently combating his own demons. At last the man began to respond, was he from some far distant land? No, he actually came from the city-state of Caer Alo, no more than fifty miles from here. Well had he visited any far away lands? Yes, Where? Across the Western Mountains, Weren't those impassable? Unfortunately no.
Unfortunately no? Why Unfortunately? A long story. We have time. Finally the man laughed, then smiled beneath the hood of his cloak.
"I see that I'm not going to get away with answers such as that. So be it, if some one will lend me use of a full wineskin and is willing to forgive a poor lost soul who has sinned more greatly than he would have once thought possible, then I shall tell you of myself. And what I did in the lands beyond the western mountains."
He paused a second as the wine was handed to him, then took a great draught of it and sighed.
"I shall never forget the lands of Hyrule, the lands West of the Mountains." He said. "No matter how hard I try. I shall never forget what happened there, and a day will never go bye when I don't regret what I did, when I don't regret what I didn't do, when I don't regret everything." He chuckled morbidly, "But I suppose that in my own way, I paid." And with that the man pulled back his hood to reveal dirty grey hair and deeply sunken bloodshot eyes which were surrounded by deeply etched lines, he looked to be a man of his late forties, fallen apon hard times. "No more than a month from now," He said, "I turn twenty six."
It was seven years ago that this all started. I was seventeen, eager for adventure and for money and fame. I had served a brief period of time in the Caer Alo army but had left in favor of being a brigand. My life could have gone down that path I suppose, I could have become part of a notorious bandit group and had that ever elusive fame that I was after, but it didn't go down that path, oh no, It didn't. When I was seventeen I was approached by a single black clad horse man, who probably looked rather similar to what I imagine I looked like when I slipped in here hours ago. Anyway, this dark clad stranger stopped me on the road some time just after sun set and, using my name, asked me if I was content with my lot in life, to which I laughed and replied "Who is?" The man chuckled and told me in that case, to go to the village of Ebandor three days hence. I traveled three more miles before it even occurred to me to wonder how he had known who I was.
Well, I went to that meeting, and its there we were told of the great opportunity before us, of how a land beyond the Western Mountains was under the rule of an evil king and that a great man, Ganondorf, was recruiting people to help him liberate the besieged populace. He also informed us we would be paid handsomely. He told us that Ganondorf ruled his own land, a place where women were desperate for men because a man was born only once every hundred years. Well, as I recall there wasn't a man there who wasn't interested, not a man there who didn't volunteer. It was three weeks later that we left, over two hundred of us, all dreaming of exotic women, piles of gold and more fame and glory than we had ever before though of.
We were led down secret paths, and ways known by only a handful of our guides, we came to a hidden valley at the foot of a volcano called Death Mountain, on the other side was Hyrule, we were told. We waited there, and for a time we kept to ourselves, it was here that I met many people like myself, and made many friends, though there are two I'll never forget in particular. The first was a boy about a year older than me named Roland. Roland was interested in gold, money, fame, but he was a bit more of a cynic than I. The second was a boy several years younger than I, only fourteen when this all started, his name was Alec. Well, the three of us were quite a group, and we all couldn't wait till we were told to serge into Hyrule. Then at last, late one night, the first of us were selected to move in small groups across Hyrule into a place called 'Gerudo Valley' was situated, here we would gather with the rest of the army.
We were all in one of the first groups to cross Hyrule under the cover of night. I road at the fore with Roland and Alec on either side of me. We moved into Hyrule field and were led by our down the road into the south, then slowly looped up into the west. A little while after dawn we finally reached Gerudo Valley.
The man paused, his eyes closed as if he was in deep thought. "Gerudo Valley was an incredible place, a series of massive waterfalls pouring thousands of gallons of water through the ancient canyon. And on the other side of that canyon was Gerudo Fortress, a city carved into the naked rock and occupied women wearing quite a bit less than any Calatian girl Iv ever known or seen." Some of the younger men snickered. "Well, needless to say, me and my friends were thrilled." He glanced at everyone assembled there, "None of you believe me of course, that's to be expected, but all the same, you maybe be shocked by the story that is yet to be told, perhaps you have heard enough?" When everyone had made clear that they hadn't he smiled sadly and sighed. "Fine then, now where was I? Ah yes, Gerudo Valley, how could I ever forget? That is after all where the horror began"
We reached Gerudo valley and for a time staid there. The first night we rode up to the gates and were eyed by the guards.
"Think your worthy to stay in here huh? If it weren't for Ganondorfs proclamation I would kill you myself." She said, though I could tell that it was partially an exaggeration, partially being the key word.
As soon as we had ridden out of hearing rang I turned and looked a Roland and chuckled.
"Charming girl, I really hope I get to know her better."
Roland laughed, "I suspect we'll all be getting to know the girls around here real well even if they are all normally as stuck up as that bitch."
We all laughed and continued on, we were brought to a patch of ground with some tents and told here was where we were staying. Roland was quick to point out that it was hardly the palace we had been promised. Well we woke up early the next day and wondered around the fortress for a while. The women it seemed, were not quite as interested in men as had been first suggested, but considering that they respected anyone with archery or horsemanship skills, and especially a combination of both. My friends and me decided that it might be a good idea to invest some time in their training ground. A few days later we found that our skills hadn't improved as quickly as we had hoped they would, but that didn't matter, because the next day Ganondorf arrived.
I'll never forget the night he came to Gerudo fortress. Roland and me heard the news of his arrival early the morning, and were told of the great festival that was to begin after he made a quick speech. We hurried off and found Alec watching a group of Gerudo soldiers practice they're hand to hand skills.
"Getting a good look?" Roland asked sarcastically when we arrived. Alec just nodded feverishly; his eyes didn't waver for even a second.
"Big festival tonight, Ganondorf is finally arriving, thought you should know Alec."
Alec nodded again. His mouth began to move but stopped before any sound came out.
"Well, we'll leave you to your 'sightseeing' Alec," Roland said, then the two of us left him. We continued on and had breakfast, then waited most of the day, still trying to improve our pitiful archery skills. Then just as the sun began to set a horn blared, followed by hundreds of excited whoops and shouts. In the center large area just outside of the fortress a huge stage had been erected. And there, as if he had appeared out of nothing, stood Ganondorf, flanked on one side by three black cloaked individuals and on the other by the Gerudo leader, some corrupt locale lord, and the leader of the Calatian mercenary army I had come over with.
"I welcome you, my faithful servants, for tonight marks the beginning of a new era! In two month's time everything shall be in position and we will strike against Hyrule! But until then I bid you, celebrate, and know that I, Ganondorf the great and all mighty, shall guide you to victory, for I cannot be stopped!" The entire crowd erupted into screams and shouts. After most of them had subsided he continued. "I bid you now, enjoy my hospitality!"
And with that a great gong sounded and our attention was drawn to massive tables, loaded with food and drink, which had also appeared as if out of no where, also, on another stage a group of Gerudo who had obviously been chosen for their beauty were dancing. Alec was immediately drawn to the dancers while myself and Roland went to the food table. We each took a goblet of wine, marveling at how it seemed as if they filled without draining the container they were poured from. We drank our first cups quickly, then savored our second cups a little more, after that I remember little except for fragments of sound and movement and light. I woke up the next day lying naked in the arms of a Gerudo with the worst hangover I'd ever known, Roland was lying with another Gerudo nearby and seemed to be having an even worse time.
The man glanced around the room, most of the younger men were now listening quite intently along with some of the older ones, sharing lewd winks and chuckles, most of the older women and some of the younger ones had withdrawn to listen to more wholesome tales. "At that time I was under the misconception shared by many young people, that the best cure for a hangover is more wine. Because of this I remember little more than the fact I spent most of my time-sharing my bed with a Gerudo women or drinking myself into a comatose state with Roland. But towards the end of the first week the true nature of Ganondorf and his army became painfully clear. It all started about four days after the first festival, it was the evening and for once I wasn't drunk or with a Gerudo or even hung over, instead myself and Roland were with Alec, discussing how fortunate we were. Well unfortunately, Alec was rather drunk, and as time went on we turned our attention to the three dark cloaked figures that had flanked Ganondorf during his initial speech. Now, these people, hung around the fortress, but seemed to do little else except watch. Eventually however they removed their hoods to reveal that they were apparently human, and two of them were men and one a women, well if we had seen their faces this all would have been avoided, but we didn't. So Alec lurched forward and to say the least made a somewhat crude pass at the women. Then she turned around along with her two companions and shocked us all, they were blind!"
Well, that was my first thought anyway, because their eyes had no pupils, but they apparently could, and can If they are still alive today (which I hope that they are not), can, see even better than most. The women, whose name I would later learn was Zelsis, smiled mockingly.
"I'm flattered that you find me so alluring Alec," she said, plucking his name seemingly right from his mind. "Perhaps I shall reward you with a kiss." Well something about her manner was so repulsive and chilling that Alec desperately tried to flee, but her arm shot out and grabbed him, and after a few seconds of struggle he went limp. Then she kissed his forehead, and as she did he let out a scream of utter horror. She released him and he turned, then careened away, out of Gerudo fortress and off into Hyrule. Roland and me were both disturbed, but we thought that he would be back soon and this would maybe teach him some humility. That night I went to Andriel, a Gerudo woman whom I was friends with, so to speak. Perhaps I should explain that, we spent most of our time together lovemaking but when we weren't doing that we did talk, and found that we had a lot in common. Of course we didn't love each other, and we did lie with others, but we were lovers for a time, and if I ever had a question about Gerudo customs or anything else along those lines I asked her before anyone else. So that night as we lay in each other's arms I asked her who those three dark clad strangers were. She shifted besides me, then sat upright, a frown creasing her pretty face.
"I'm not actually sure, but Lord Ganondorf talks with them a lot, they seem to be very important." She said, "everyone knows they're sorcerers and I've heard tell that they're from some underground nation...Why do you ask?" I considered my answer for a second, then smiled. "Oh no reason."
Well the next day there was no sign of Alec, but we still weren't two concerned, Andriel kept me preoccupied, so to speak. But the next day around noon we were all called into a meeting before the great stage where Ganondorf had first addressed us. One of the black clad strangers was standing there.
"We've had our first desertion," He announced, "I doubt lord Ganondorf will be pleased..." As he talked Alec was herded onto the stage. The stranger grinned. "But I think I can give you some good reasons to stay." He said. No sooner had he uttered these words then four incredibly beautiful Gerudo women stepped onto the stage and began to dance around Alec going faster and faster, their gauzy cloths seemed to always be on the verge of falling off. The men laughed, and Alec grinned, then suddenly a dagger appeared as if out of no where in one of the dancer's hands, then her other hand also held a dagger, as did the hand of every other dancer. Then as one they stopped their dance and plunged their daggers into Alec, then pulled them out and plunged them again, they were good, good enough that it took Alec just under ten minutes to die, and all the time he screamed and screamed. Afterwards the crowd was dispersed, and about an hour latter they set up the wine table again. Myself, Andriel and Roland stood there drinking, trying to take our minds off what had happened when Zelsis made her way over to where we stood. She smiled mockingly.
"I hope you and your friends learned a lesson from the ceremony," She said. I began to respond then didn't, then began again, and stopped then, tried to raise my arm to strike her down but couldn't. Her smile widened. "I suppose that question is a little unfair since the ceremony hasn't quite ended yet, the army still has to finish consuming the wine your drinking so that we can be sure the blood that was left in his body was put to good use."
The man paused again, an incredible look of sadness in his blood shot eyes. "Of course he didn't have enough blood in his body to make wine for us all, but I have no doubt they sprinkled his blood into it. Well, after that I should have left, Roland almost did, but was afraid, I had a different reason. Some how I convinced myself that the stranger had acted on his own, that Ganondorf would punish him for the unjust sentencing, that I needed to be an extra good soldier to make sure Ganondorf did. I probably had to do with the fact that there was some kind of mind altering aura around Gerudo Valley, at least that's what I now believe, I also think they put things in our food. But the biggest factor that made the loss of Alec easier for me was Andriel. She introduced a little something called Blackroot to me." He glanced at the small crowd, a few of the older men and women looked shocked. "For those of you who don't know, Blackroot (which is called something else in Hyrule, I forget what) is a plant related to Redroot, which is a common pain killer. However, Blackroot is a bit more than a painkiller, its a powerful narcotic."
Well, I used Blackroot for a while, then switched to a slightly less powerful drug called Xerxies Lust, its similar to Blackroot, but it doesn't make you hallucinate. It makes you become oblivious to pain, and to fear, and hate, and love, and disgust, to empathy, it essentially makes you lose your emotional feelings about anything and everything for a while. Well, I drank, I made love, and I used Blackroot and Xerxies Lust, and half a dozen other drugs as well. In the end what stopped me from killing myself with an overdose was Roland. He convinced me to stop, nursed me back to health, for you see I had stopped eating. Then he helped me to deal with Alec's death. Well, after two weeks like that we both came out different people, even as we cared for each other we were being changed. Not long after we arrived at Gerudo Valley it became painfully clear, we didn't care about anyone. Now that I think back on it, it must have been something they put in our food, but anyway, after about two weeks of feeding us none stop they began rationing out food very strictly and put us all through rigorous training. Many tried to desert, they were always brought back and tortured in front of us though, some were hog tied then left in the middle of the desert, some put in cages to rot in the sun, some killed in gruesome displays, a few kept as slaves. Then strange monsters came, massive grey or olive skinned creatures called Moblins, lizard men called Lizalfos, and the list went on. These monsters came, talked to Ganondorf, then left. I guess they were messengers of some kind, relaying Ganondorfs orders to their leaders. Then, one day, one of Ganondorfs chief lieutenants came to me.
End of part I
Part II
The man took a deep drink from the wine skin then continued. "The 'stranger' was actually a 'Phenarus' some ancient and evil race from Hyrules past, but I didn't find that out till much latter. Anyway, this stranger told me I had been selected for a special mission, I was going to actually be in the palace when Ganondorf initiated his Coup!" The man smiled, "Of course that would mean that I would be one of the first to whatever loot was stored in the palace, so I agreed, poor Alec already forgotten."
I left two days latter, they gave me guards cloths and told me to just make sure I didn't get in the way of anything before the signal was given, which might take a day or two I was told. Well, that was fine with me I thought. But that very night I was feeling a little cocky about my position, so I found my way into the royal cellar, which though locked, caused little trouble for me because constant similar locks, many better locks in fact, which I had broken into in my thieving days. I remember being surprised how bad the lock was in fact, I guess since Hyrule has a much smaller population than us they don't worry about thieves as much, oh well. I ended up with a fifty year old bottle of Hylian red wine, which I can assure you had a much higher content than any other wine I'd ever drunk. Well I was almost half way through consuming the bottle when I heard a voice call out:
"Who's that? Hello?" I didn't respond, but the voice persisted, accompanied by foots steps that slowly came closer. "I heard you, I know your there, just come out!" I tried to hid behind one of the massive barrels but the wine made me feel sluggish and uncoordinated, and I knocked over and entire case of bottles. "Ahha! I've found you now!" The voice called our triumphantly. I drew the sword that had come along with the guard costume and lumbered up to my feet. I was met with the sight of a very short, very fat bald headed man in a white apron.
"Ahha! How dare you come down here, why I'll report you myself! Do you know how much that wine costs? Well I'll tell you! It-" But then he looked in to my eyes, and he knew even before I did that I was going to kill him. A look of utter horror came into his face and he opened his mouth to scream but I brought my sword down, and as my arm descended it seemed time slowed and I just kept thinking. Its OK, just do it, just get it over with, it'll get easier with time, just do it, be glad it isn't you. The sword cut hit him where the neck and the shoulder meet and it cleaved down, stopping at his collarbone. He stumbled backwards and hit the ground, then struggled to get up, trying to scream but instead gurgling. I pulled the sword back and brought it down again, it slashed across his fat stomach leaving a long red blotch where I cut through his apron. He stumbled back on his hands and knee's, knocking over some more wine bottles then I brought my sword down and it was finally over. I stood there, limp, amazed at what I had just done, and then I turned and fled.
I hid in a back room, waited till the middle of the night then cleaned my sword in the moat. I won't try to defend what I did, but I will tell you that before I came into Hyrule I probably would never have done that. I remained hidden, and I therefor almost did not here of how Ganondorf had gone after Princess Zelda rather prematurely and because of it she had escaped, I considered leaving the palace but didn't, almost a month later the signal to begin finally came.
A tear slowly slid down the mans cheek, "That its, I just killed the man, and then I though that if I kept killing, the killing would become easier." He laughed bitterly. "I tried that, and for a time it worked."
I remember the night of the coup, it was a long and very bloody, I killed seventeen men that night, nine in cold blood, and why? Just so I would find it easier to kill in the future, at that moment there was more evil in me then there was in all the rest of Ganondorfs army put together, or so it seemed. Well, we won in the castle, the towns inhabitants fled to a place called Kakariko Village, leaving us in possession of Hyrules vast central field. Soon however, Hyrules armies mobilized against us, supported by massive militia forces. Apparently my actions caught the eye of my superiors, and, since they obviously didn't have enough officers, my promotion was larger than I could have dreamed. I was put in the position of lieutenant, under my command was a unit of about forty soldiers, mostly swordsman. It seems that aside from the two hundred odd men I had come over with Ganondorf had brought at least three or four hundred more Calatian mercenaries over to fight for him. Meanwhile the Gerudo army probably number around Three hundred, and then there were the Moblin and Lizalfos tribes, which must have each numbered about twice what the Gerudo army was, though they had little or no organization. Mobilized against us were perhaps five or six hundred professional Hylian soldiers and perhaps five hundred more made up of Militia forces. My first orders after my promotion were to secure Lon Lon Ranch, a large walled off area which could be easily fortified and was close enough to the Castle that Hylian generals could use it as a fall back point when they tried to retake Hyrule Castle Town. My group was supplied with horses and we rode to Lon Lon.
When we arrived the gates were closed and there were soldiers on the walls, Hyrules banner, some kind of hawk or eagle in red above three Golden Triangles forming a larger triangle, all set on a field of blue, was waving proudly from the highest tower. We camped about four hundred meters from the wall, sheltered by a small group of tree's, and sent back a few messengers to the man army. Around midnight it rained. And I therefor had a retched sleep, and woke up early in the morning. That day about three hundred Calatian rouges were sent to support my position, under the command of some mercenary captain named Kormand, Kormand had seen more than his fair share of battles, and he was a competent general. Meanwhile we were told that the main Gerudo force was crossing the fields to meet us at Lon Lon. Two days latter the Gerudo arrived and we were given the order to get into our positions.
The attack began with Gerudo horseman riding outside the walls and firing hails of fire arrows into the sky so that they came down inside the walls. Meanwhile on of Ganondorfs agents, some man named Ingo, opened the gate from the inside at which point I ordered my unit to charge. Once inside it was a simple matter of killing all the Hylian troops though the ranch owners were allowed to live since Ganondorf apparently had other plans for them.
After the battle of Lon Lon we moved forward to attack Kakariko village, the place where we suspected to meet the most resistance. We moved across the field to find that the paths leading up to the Village was blocked by a battalion of Hylian soldiers, supported by a large contingent 'Gorons,' some very strong rock-eating race that was allied with the late royal family. The night before the attack I was summoned to Kormands command tent. I entered and saluted.
"Enough of that, you don't have to salute right now." He said almost wearily. "I have a special job for you, we have a problem." He said, connecting his fingertips so they formed a tent in front of his nose. "You see, Princess Zelda escaped about a month before the Coup, and Ganondorf went off after her, therefor we've been robbed of our supreme commander, and therefor each of the Generals is having trouble acting in coordination with any of the other Generals. Now, it seems Hyrule is better organized than we thought, they already have the support of the Gorons, who are close enough to Kakariko that they can supply plenty of support, and I've heard their fearsome fighters. Now, Hyrules other allies, a fish like race called the Zoras have sent an army of perhaps three hundred troops against us, whom are coming towards our rear. I believe that Hyrules plans are to keep us distracted trying to break through their defenses at Kakariko while maybe two hundred Hylian soldiers and the Zora army attack us from behind. Then the Gorons and the rest of the Hylian army sally forth and attack our front, they'll rout us, then pursue us and make sure that we are scattered. That's where you come in, I want you to lead two hundred troops and attack the Zora army. The Zora's are a water based race so their fighting skills on land will be minimal at best, you shouldn't have trouble destroying them before they meet with the Hylian army I suspect is out there, understand?" I nodded. "Excellent, I'll inform some lieutenants their now under your command, oh yes, and consider yourself promoted to Brigadier General."
Well, I was amazed, from a lowly foot soldier to a lieutenant to the second in command of three or four hundred soldiers. Now that I think about I guess that Ganondorfs minions knew that I would make a good soldier, though why they were monitoring me so closely I had no idea, I know now.
I strolled out of the tent very happy with myself, wondering what Roland would think of my now, speaking of which I started to wonder what had happened to Roland, I hadn't seen him in over a month.
Well, I moved down a nameless river and toward the Zora army, I rode on a horse, my lieutenants nearby. Well, we left the next day. At about midday one of the lieutenants approached me.
"Uhm... Sir, I've been thinking, why would the Zora army march overland?" He asked. "Their fishes right? Or something like them and there's a river linking them to our position, theirs no reason for them to come at us overland. I think we saw a few Zora's and a lot of Hyrulian troops... I think we've been duped sir."
I swore. At that moment another lieutenant rode up to us.
"Sir, our scouts have just reported that they've encountered what appears to be a large contingent of Hylian soldiers." He said. I swore again.
"Rally the army, tell them prepare for combat, but send back a messenger, two actually, and order them to travel different routs in case one is killed or gets lost... I'll write the messages myself."
My messages were quick, but outlined my fears that we were being duped. Then I rode to a nearby ridge to survey the approaching Hylians. When I reached the summit I was dismayed to see at least three hundred, half of them Royal Hyrulian Knights. I swore yet again. The Hylian army was obviously aware of our position, they were also obviously going for a pincer movement. They had their Knights deployed in two groups, each of about seventy-five and one on either flank of their army. They then had a large contingent of spearmen forming a phalanx at their center, with archers and reserve soldiers at the back, they were moving towards our position quickly. I had to come up with a plan, and quickly. I decided that the best Idea was to position most of my foot men part way up the ridge I was on, have them form a defensive circle with their spears and pikes under the partially cover of the tree's. Then I had my archers take position at the top of the hill while my horse men rode away, hopefully giving the impression of a retreat, their actually orders would be to try and find a way around the Hylian advance and hit their archers. My army deployed quickly, considering that it had limited training when it came to working in coordination. Now perhaps I should mention at this point, that I didn't simply look at the Hylian army and say "Their going to try a pincer movement" and I didn't come up with the counter tactic on my own, most of it was of course done by my lieutenants. Especially a young woman named Kyri. Kyri was a Hylian by birth, with blond hair, blue eyes and long pointed ears it was clear she was also a member of its ruling nobility. Her mother was some nameless Hylian, probably a whore, and her father a corrupt Hylian nobleman. With her none Gerudo looks and name it seemed odd that she would be working as one of Ganondorfs lieutenants, but to the contrary she was one of his best soldiers. Well, I took her advice and then settled down to wait. The battle that followed was relatively quick but incredibly brutal, the Hylian Knight ultimately had trouble getting up the hill, and the phalanx broke apart halfway to our position as arrows rained down on their unprotected heads. Then the Knights on the right flank of the army attempted to ride up the hill while the left attempted to retreat, neither aware of the others actions. Meanwhile most of the Phalanx rallied and traveled the rest of the distance to the ridge, then attempted to come up it, all the while being peppered with arrows. When they reached my troops they were quickly routed. They turned and fled back across the plains just as my horsemen appeared behind them, hitting their archers, it seems the horsemen had traveled fast than we had thought. At the same time the Knights who had tried to storm our position were also routed, while the Knights who were retreating turned and charge my horsemen. The following melee was slanted in the Knights favor since my cavalry was made up of light horsemen and the Hylians had fully armored Knights. However, I sent most of my foot troops to aid my horsemen and hunt down the remnants of the Phalanx. By the time my men arrived most of my horsemen had been killed or routed, but my footmen did manage to catch the Knights and kill almost all of them, and this basically concluded the battle. The Hylians lost two hundred, maybe two hundred and fifty, I lost about half of that. After that we set up camp on the ridge and I sent out scouts to see if any other Hylian armies were in the area, the next day the scouts returned to report there were none, we packed up and headed back to the main force at Kakariko. When he arrived it turned out that the Zora's had attacked mere hours after I had left, meanwhile the Gorons and Hylians had sallied forth, and our army had wavered, but ultimately the Zora's were beaten back, as were the Hylians and Gorons. Of course if it hadn't been for me, the other Hylian army would have hit us from behind, so I got a hero's welcome. That night I was shown to a new tent, well pavilion anyways. It was massive, came with several servants, and an actual bed and a bath. It also had a fully stocked liquor cabinet. I was informed that there was a meeting of the various commanders of the army and that I was to meet at our command tent in several hours, dressed appropriately. I came to the tent dressed in one of my new uniforms. I was lucky, since it fit me pretty well and looked OK, many of the uniforms had been hands made by slaves and none of them were tailored for me in particular. When I noticed all of my lieutenants as well as the commander of the Calatian army, Kormand, along with one of his aids, there was the Leader of the Gerudo army, Sarhaliash, along with three or four Gerudo lieutenants, then there were several people I didn't recognize. Finally, there were all the individuals who had been with Ganondorf on the day of his first speech. Kormand, who I had already mentioned, The Gerudo overall commander (who I actually learned was in fact just a second in command, the true leader had resisted Ganondorf and therefor being brainwashed, or something, then sent off into the desert to some temple.). Then there was the corrupted Hyrulian lord (Kyri's father), and of course, there were the three, black cloaked figures. When I arrived everyone welcomed me as If I was some long lost friend, though most of the people here had never talked to me before tonight. Then the lead black cloaked figure, a man named Eriach, stood. Eriach smiled coldly. Then informed us that we could not maintain our siege. That we had to withdraw instead, to Lon Lon and to Hyrule Castle Town, and of course to Gerudo Valley and that we had to start working together. He informed us Ganondorf would return soon, and that as of now we were to simply make sure the Hylians didn't leave Kakariko. Instead we would hunt down any rouge Hylians. That essentially was the purpose of the meeting, so he could make those announcements, but afterwards we were all left to socialize and talk about the war so far. Eventually we began to return to our tents. I waited a while, then noticed Kyri leaving and came after her.
"Excuse me," I said.
She turned and looked at me, then smiled. "Ah yes, our great and heroic general, who came up with the perfect battle plan and beat back the Hylians, saving the day." I was taken aback for a second, then realized that she wasn't being vicious, to the contrary she sounded amused.
"Well yes, I'd like to thank you for that, and you know I think I could repay you..." I said, letting the exact meaning of my words become quite clear. She smiled again, she obviously had been expecting that. "And perhaps you can reward me as well."
"What for?" She inquired.
I grinned "For you promotion to captain, of course." I said, allowing my eyes to comb up and down her figure, she looked very good, very very good actually. She smiled and moved into a pose that made my heart beat race.
"Shall we go to your tent then, sir?"
She asked. I smiled and nodded, then took her by the arm. Together we made our way to my tent, the servants saw us coming and quickly cleared out. As soon as I was in and the tent flap back up she was wriggling out of her cloths, then helping me out of mine. I inspected her again, then well fell together onto my bed.
The man looked around the room, almost everyone was now listening to him. "I won't go into detail about what we did, but I'm sure you can guess." He smiled faintly, his gaunt face lighting up for a second. "We spent the night together, but we didn't get much sleep, and in the morning we set out. Both myself and her were going to Gerudo Valley along with about one hundred Calatian troops, sent there to rest briefly, but more importantly to secure more supplies for the rest of the army. We arrived at Gerudo Valley late in the afternoon. I rode through the gates with Kyri at my side. We immediately went and saw the Commander, and talked about securing more supplies. Then I retired to my new rooms along with Kyri. As soon as we arrived I turned and looked into her eyes for a second, then kissed her neck, my hand slipping beneath her uniform and undoing it, hers doing the same for me. Once we were undressed I stepped back for a second and allowed my eyes to catch every detail of her, amazed at her beauty. Then I sighed and embraced her again. We made love together for a long time, then eventually we both fell asleep. I woke up a few hours latter and watched Kyri as she lay asleep at my side. Then I got up, dressed myself and slipped out. I went out and inquired about Roland, where he was, what had happened to him, but was dismayed to find he had been promoted to sergeant and sent to assist a patrol down by Lake Hylia, which apparently was right now under Hylian control. I also had another thing to attend to, promoting Kyri to captain. Now at this point I should mention that while Ganondorfs army may have sounded like it was incredibly rich and well organized, it wasn't. The other officers and myself heaped riches apon ourselves. The common soldiers didn't have uniforms, proper equipment, or in some cases training. Most of them were only mediocre when it came to working together, which was why the few competent soldiers quickly rose to the top. Therefore promoting Kyri would only consist of informing some one relatively high up that she was now a captain in my battalion. Well, I did that, though it took me a while to find the right people to talk to. After that I returned to bed, and woke up early the next morning. Kyri lay beside me, smiling up at me.
"Were going to Lon Lon today." I told her. "We'll deliver the supplies, then I'm going to ask for permission to take a few hundred soldiers to Lake Hylia, clear the Hylians out, and meet with a friend of my named Roland. Of course you'll be accompanying me, captain." I smiled down at her. She frowned slightly.
"Lake Hylia eh? Clearing that area out could enhance your position a lot. Well, of course I'll come with you." My eyes traced across the upper half of her naked form for a few seconds, then I said.
"We don't have to get up for a few more hours and I'm not very sleepy..." Her smile grew mischievous.
We arrived at Lon Lon just before dark and I stated my intentions to Kormand, leaving out the part about meeting Roland, he agreed, but only assigned one hundred and fifty soldiers to my force, leaving my army dangerously understaffed. I mentioned this to Kyri when the meeting ended.
"He thinks that your trying to steal away all these victories from him so you can take over his position as general..." She said as she undressed her self in anticipation of our after dark activities, "This could become serious." She considered for a second. "Iv got three ideas." She announced as she pulled her top off.
"Yes?" I inquired.
"Number one is you try and kill Kormand, secretly of course, then make sure you're in the right place at the right time when the new general is appointed." She began to take off her leggings. "The other option is to simply go and hope you succeed." She concluded. "Or" She said as she took off the last articles of clothing. "You could pretend that he assigned you... Say... four hundred soldiers, tell the lieutenants then march our early." I smiled.
"Sounds good" I said.
Early the next morning we set out with a full four hundred and fifty men, it was a risky venture, it could been seen as mutiny. And if Kormand sent a messenger after us and ordered the men to come back, then I could be in trouble, but nothing happened, and we did arrive at Lake Hylian where we met with Commander Praxis. Now, if you have been listening closely enough then by now you should realize that I said I came over with two or three hundred Calatians. But the number I'm using now imply at least twice that number. Well, many of you probably remember what was called 'The Great Drain' when hundreds of Calatia's young men disappeared. Well they all were being led into Hyrule, in face Ganondorfs army was constantly being reinforced by new Calatian troops. We arrived at Lake Hylia and were informed that about two hundred Hylian troops were apparently on an island
After consulting with Commander Praxis I went into the camp and inquired after the whereabouts of Sergeant Roland Talmius (which was in fact his full name, though I doubted they would know it). Eventually however, it was he who found me, since he heard of my arrival. After we had met and talked to each other of what had happened to us since we had last seen each other (we both left certain parts out, I'm sure), then I informed him of his promotion to captain. I needed Roland of course, I could trust him to stand by my side and I knew him to be intelligent and capable, why I had risen so quickly and he had not I had no idea.
The Lake Hylia campaign was a bitter one, the Hylians were outnumbered, but had a very good tactical position, having cut all the bridges to the Island. For a time it seemed that starving them out might be the best solution, but they were in fact being supplied by the Zora's, who's underwater passages connected Lake Hylia to their home, Zora's Domain. Also, overtime we attempted to launch attacks across the water a large force of Zora's set apon us, and while they were weak fighters at best on land, they were awesome warriors when in water. We waited in stalemate for perhaps a month. Meanwhile the siege at Kakariko had been lifted. Also, loyalist fighters in Hyrule Castle Town were gaining support. The war that most had thought would be over in a month or two was going to drag on for years...
End of Part II
Part III
Everyone in the room was now watching him intently. Outside the caves fist sized raindrops smashed against the cold earth and destructive winds tore away at the few stunted tree's and bushes which dared to live on the desolate Calatian coast, some where nearby some thunder rumbled ominously. The man sighed, taking another deep drink from the wine skin. Then his eyes slowly traced there way around the room, looking at each of the faces in turn.
"Now before I continue I should outline what happened with the siege." He said slowly. "We attempted to take the island by overwhelming its defenses but they had at least two hundred Zora soldiers hiding in the water who sunk our bouts and slew our soldiers when they attempted to wade or swim through the lake. Now I began to feel afraid, if I ended up losing this siege then I would most definitely be disposed of, having been deemed a failure. So I knew that I had to win. But it seems that that was not what fate had in store for me, on the thirty fifth day of the siege, and the eve of our third attack, a traveler came to us."
He was dressed in the black cloak and armor that I had come to associate with Ganondorfs top lieutenants, and his eyes were blank orbs, as if their pupils had been bleached. This was one of the same creatures that had killed Alec, but I didn't care. He came to me immediately, and told me that Ganondorf was going to 'deal' with the Zora's in time, and until then I had another job. I was to bring a small force back to Gerudo Valley where I would be outfitted for a special mission. I left for Gerudo Valley with a small retinue. When I arrived I was asked to come to a wing of the fortress even I had never been allowed in before. I went, and when I arrived some nine odd black cloaked, blank eyed, individuals stood before me, all-smiling coldly. As one they began to speak as if we were already in the middle of a conversation.
"You have talent... General" Said one of them, his voice, soft, yet cold seemed to echo across the hall. Another one, Zelsis, looked straight at me.
"And we have use for talent, General" She said slowly, as if talking to a child.
"Yes" chuckled another, Eriach, one of Ganondorfs prime lieutenants.
"We have plans for you, we need your services." Said the soft-spoken one. "You see, you Calatians are an ignorant race, easy to use, good in combat, willing to follow orders and intelligent enough to react on your own, but stupid enough to listen to us." He paused for a second, glancing at me as if sizing me up in preparation for a fight. "Your race, though similar, are in actuality different to Hylians, the Magick that flows through their blood seems to be absent in yours, at least mostly." His smile widened. "You, General, are one of the few Calatians anywhere, who has magical talent. But unlike our Dark Magick, you, like the Hylians, have a talent for High Magic. And let me tell you General, it is very, very, strong."
And then they revealed everything to me, I had risen to my position because of my abilities, because of my power, and now they wanted me for a special task.
The task, it seems, was something they didn't reveal the true nature of until much latter, but I'll tell you what it was right now. Hyrule it seems, had seven great temples scattered through out its entirety. The Temples were protecting Hyrule from the sorcery of Ganondorf and his servants, the Phenarus. The Phenarus, the group I talked to now, wanted to destroy the temples, but couldn't because of special wards, put in place long ago. These wards were designed specially to stop Black Magick, and therefore even the most powerful spells the Phenarus could summon were largely useless. So they needed me, a potential sorcerer whom had a command of the High Magic used by Hylians. I could perhaps bypass the wards, since they had never been designed to defend against high magick itself, and if I could, they assured me I would be rewarded. And thus my long, rather rigorous apprenticeship began.
"Magick is a complicated thing" The man informed his spellbound audience, "Especially when you don't have a proper tutor. The Phenarus could teach me only cantrips, for they had almost no knowledge of the abilities I commanded. Their magic was almost the opposite of mine, meaning that their practices most fundamental truths were usually the very opposite of mine. Still, they taught me what they could, and under them I learned to read and speak ancient Hylian, the language in which most spell books are written. For almost two years I trained in Gerudo Valley, being taken to one of the seven temple, that of Spirit, which lay out in the desert. Here I learned what I could of the wards that protected it, and its sister temples. I also learned that each temple had a guardian who was a kind of personification of their temples power (though often they didn't realize this).
Meanwhile the war began to turn against us, we had drained out of Calatia, all of the young men who were willing to come with us. Then in the second year since the coup and the beginning of the war, a large force of Hylians and Gorons stormed out into Hyrule field and recaptured Lon Lon Ranch." The man then suddenly looked both sad, and almost proud. "However, soon after the second year of the war had begun myself and Kyri had a son, young and very healthy, and taking after his mother and her Hylian blood. Happy with my new linguistic skills, I named him Meninclear, which meant Child of Darkness.
"Now that I think about it, it's rather ironic I could love Kyri and Meninclear, but kill innocents with barely a second glance. Stranger yet, I was aware of the irony, which is why I gave my son his particular name."
Well, my apprenticeship continued and I almost never left Gerudo Valley. When I had finally reached a skill level that was sufficient for the tasks at hand (though barely so) I was summoned to an audience with Lord Ganondorf himself. I walked into his audience chamber slowly, he waited at the end, sitting apon a massive throne carved from what appeared to be obsidian. Behind him was a massive banner which took up the entire wall, it was a mockery of Hyrules, instead of three triangles in gold, he had a single in red along with a stylized dragon replacing the Hyrulian bird, all on a field of black. Flanking his throne were a pair of black cloaked Phenarus warrior assassins. I bowed, well actually I got down so low that my forehead touched the floor and I was almost lying down on top of my knees. After a second he informed me I could stand.
"Iv heard of you, and I'm very glad that you've been making progress" He said, a cruel smile playing across his lips.
"Yes milord Ganondorf" I said. His smile widened.
"Its time for you to begin, I'm sending you to the Spirit Temple where you shall unravel the first of the ward, you will be rewarded. But before you go, I want to get a good look at you." And that's all that he said, after that I simple waited there, and after a few minutes he told me to go. Soon after three Phenarus warlocks came to me along with six elite Gerudo troops and a captured Hylian wizard. Together we made our way towards the temple, we crossed the desert, through the Haunted wasteland and to the Spirit Temple beyond it, as we climbed the steps I had a strange feeling, but it passed quickly. We continued in and the rituals were followed, the magicks summoned, and I, with the help of the prisoner, unraveled the ward of Spirit. Then from nearby I heard a very high pitched scream which seemed to echo through the entire place, I rushed to where the scream had come from and found a Gerudo women convulsing on the floor, blood pouring out of her mouth.
"So" Said the lead Phenarus, a man by the name of Ashnal Kariez, "She was the sage, stupid Gerudo bitch, oh well, she'll probably recover," He said, though he sounded like he would rather she didn't. Then he walked out, turning to one of his comrades, Jaeriel Adrast, "See that none of the Gerudo guards see her, they'll be upset about her condition" And then he smiled "Now we can leave this cursed place and move on to somewhere I've always wanted to visit." He glanced around "We shall proceed to the Lost Woods, where even know the Kokiri brats play their games, unaware that we are coming"
We rode across the field two nights latter and entered the Lost Woods, we were probably some of the first men to set foot in the entire place for hundreds of years. You see until recently this forest had been guarded by "The Great Deku Tree," a guardian spirit of some kind embodied within a giant tree, but Ganondorf had slain the tree and now, with the aid of a few simple enchantments, you could easily enter. Well, we entered but discovered we were not the only ones, monsters were moving out of deeper, older forests that bordered the Lost Woods, expanding into the lush new territory. Indeed we seemed to enter a virtual battle zone as various Moblin tribes fought over the land against each other and various forest spirits, such as fairies. Well, we avoided the conflict as best we could, and soon arrived at our position, when we entered the clearing however, we were met with an odd sight. A young, green haired girl was sitting on a stump, her eyes half closed, her head rocking back and forth gently as if she heard some song which existed only in her head. Around her flew a fairy, a bright ball of energy with transparent, insect like wings. She looked up as we marched in, a look of horror crossing her face as she dropped some kind of flute from her hands. The fairy then suddenly moved in front of the girl in a rather protective, though perhaps slightly comical gesture of defiance.
"Stay back intruders! You cannot enter!" Declared the fairy, it's voice shrill with fear. Ashnal chuckled darkly. Then suddenly a second, higher pitched voice joined in. From behind Ashnal's back flew another fairy, though it was very different from the one confronting us. This one was completely back, and its voice was full of a kind of malicious hate, is laughed darkly as it came into view.
"Stupid ignorant creature, I have knowledge of such things as you, your are silly and ageless, you live almost forever but never gain true experience, you are nothing when you are born and nothing when you die! And die you shall!" Declared Ashnal, and the fairy recoiled, both at the sight of its twisted cousin and from Ashnal's comment, which apparently had struck some deeper cord within the fairies all too delicate psyche. Then the dark fairy (or Kalafae, as they are correctly called) laughed again.
"You are nothing compared to me friend, your are a weaker version of me and must be destroyed." It said. The girl meanwhile had gotten up. She looked at us, and there was terror in her eyes, but at the same time a kind of courage that impressed me deeply. She pointed an accusatory finger at us.
"How dare you come here, what is it that you want?!" She half-asked and half-screamed.
"Enough," said Jaeriel, ignoring the girl, "Kill her and let's get on with this." Ashnal nodded, then raised his arm, the girl flew backwards as if slapped by some invisible giants hand, the fairy meanwhile seemed to go limp and hit the ground, its delicate body almost folding in on itself. Neither of them moved. And so we continued, and so yet another of the seals was broken, and it was at this time that I was told of how we I would be returning to Lake Hylia for the first time in two years.
Once again the man paused, his eyes closed for a second "I believe that the rain is letting up, we'll be able to leave soon and this tale has gone on long enough." He said.
"No!" Said one of the younger boys there, "Tell us what happened, it can't be that much longer"
The man chuckled, "There you are wrong, the war lasted about six years all told, but very well, I shall bring the tale to and end." And then he continued.
We set out across the fields of Hyrule, the sky seemed to show its contempt for what we had done by spitting rain apon the ground attempted to hinder our process by turning it to mud. Indeed, the entire of natural order of things in Hyrule was soon to fall apart, already the Stalchildren, whom though seemingly deadly, are in fact natural creatures, were replaced by Poes, creatures of concentrated hatred. And as we approached Lake Hylia, for one brief instant, I realized what I had done and what I was about to do, and for a second I was so terrified that I almost fell off my speeding horse. But then I stopped, and, laughing like a demon ripped off my cloak and kicked my horse forward, laughing in horror at what I had become and at myself. And that is how I destroyed Hyrule, we rode across the its vast distance, and every time I destroyed a seal, the Phenarus Warlocks would summon up some monster to guard the new, dark seals which would prevent the Sage of each Temple from awakening and coming to fully command their powers. These ancient demons also brought Hyrule to its knee's. The summoning of Volvagia, the ancient adversary of the Gorons forced them to almost completely withdraw their support from Kakariko while decimating their population. Morpha, the water demon, drained water from Lake Hylia and froze the Zora domain, killing or imprisoning all its population and allowing us to reach the Lake Hylia Islands. And where ever we defiled a temple, we slew its sage, or tried to. For it seems the Sages were immune to most of our magicks, and while we thought we had slain them they in fact woke up latter, completely healed. Well, finally there were only two temples left, that of Light, which was far to powerful for me to destroy, and that of Shadow, which lay in the heart of Hylian occupied territory and whose Sage had already awoken. Its Sage, Impa, guardian of Princess Zelda, was also a Sheikha, a sworn enemy of the Phenarus. The Plan was simple enough, slip into the Shadow Temple using hidden passages known only by the Phenarus and then destroy the seal and release the horrors held within the temple. Then set them loose apon Kakariko, letting the entire village die and thus destroying the last of the Hylian resistance. The plan went OK at first, we slipped through the passages and finally came to a large wall, seemingly built by compacted skulls. Ashnal laughed, for a second he seemed almost boyish.
"I haven't been here for years," He said gleefully, stepping through the wall that proved to be nothing more than an illusion. He pranced in, followed by the other two Phenarus, all exchanging catcalls. They seemed like children for a second, except that they would gladly cut each other's throats if they thought it would enhance their position enough, and whom had a careless cruelty about them which seemed to emanate like an aura. Of course I wasn't much better, a soldier turned to a sorcerer, having abandoned scruples and morals long ago. I was just as guilty as any of them.
We passed through the desolate place, for perhaps ten minutes walking through its crypt like passages before we arrived at the room where I would begin the ceremony. I was about to begin the first ritual when a female voice interrupted me.
"Stop! You shall not despoil this place!" The Phenarus all turned their heads. Standing at the door was a group of Sheikha warriors, the ancient protectors of the Hylian Royal Family, and leading them was the leader of the Hylian Resistance and the Sage of the Shadow Temple, Impa, personal bodyguard of Princess Zelda. Even Ashnal, whom seemed to treat all life as some joke meant to amuse him, snarled, any facade being dropped immediately.
"So you brought some Khariland friends along, oh well, I'll perform the Ceremony myself" He said, his voice dripping with hatred, his sword clanging out of its scabbard. The Gerudo soldiers all went into fighting positions, the captured mage whom we used to help guide us was showing a spark of hope.
"You won't defile my spirit eyeless bastard!" Shouted one of the four Sheikha, then they charged and the Phenarus met them. The battle that followed was very blood. Immediately each of the Phenarus engaged one of the Sheikha, who belonged to an order called the 'Khariland Knights' and were sworn to hunt down the Phenarus Odir, Ashnal went for Impa and the Gerudo Soldiers split up to engage the reaming enemies. I hung back, seeing that those fighting were far superior to me. Actually, it was amazing, in his first attack Ashnal almost slipped through Impa's defenses, but she quickly twisted her wrist and brought her blade down, parrying Ashnal and pushing his blade down. Then, fast than I could see she stabbed at Ashnal's own stomach, but his blade whistled up, cutting at her wrist but being stopped by her armor, still, it managed to divert her attack. They continued, raining blows on each other almost faster than I could comprehend. Eventually one of the Khariland made a slip up, one of the Gerudo's sabers flicked forward and drew blood. The wounded Sheikha began to fall back, soon another cut was made, then another, moments latter he was dead. But two Gerudo lay on the ground with him. Then one of the Phenarus was cut down and we began to lose. At that point I moved in, my blade stabbing at the triumphant Khariland's neck. His blade shot upward, faster than I would have thought possible, and knocked my attack away. I stepped back, regaining my center of balance then slashed at his stomach, the second attack ended similarly to the first. I quickly began to fall back. I would have dyed there, if not for one of the Gerudo who cut down my opponent from behind, only to be cut down instants latter. By the end of the fight there was only the Gerudo Captain, Selhara, Ashnal, Impa and myself. The Magician lay in the corner, his throat cut when he had tried to aid the Khariland with magic. Impa looked at us.
"How dare you destroy the sanctity of this place? How dare you defile this holy ground?" She asked. Ashnal ignored her.
"Destroy the seal, we'll keep her distracted." He said, and I did as he said and began to dismantle the shield. Impa snarled and then leapt at me, trying to stop me, but Ashnal and Selhara both moved in front of her, Selhara was cut down immediately, but Ashnal continued to fight. I desperately blasted away at the shield. And then it was down, and suddenly Impa screamed and fell backwards, her head in her hands. Ashnal smiled, and then.... Time seemed to freeze.
And I was looking apon a young girl, perhaps fourteen, Princess Zelda... I gasped, she looked at me and there wasn't any contempt in her eyes, only sadness. She lifted a instrument, some kind of flute and immediately my head was alive with the simple, yet enchanting song she played. Perhaps it was an illusion, perhaps it was some trick of Impa's, whatever it was, it lasted only a split second, and during that time I suddenly felt all those drugs I had taken so long ago lose their long lasting effect. The magicks cast apon me were dispelled and for the first time in two and a half years I was in control. Then the Princess spoke.
"Don't let her die, you are forgiven, just do not let her die." And then, out of no were I found myself moving, my sword was raised in an arc above my head. I saw Ashnal spin as I came towards him, his looked of jubilation turning to horror as he realized I would finish my attack before his guard was raised. I'll never forget his face as it was contorted with rage and pain when my blade cut into him. Then it was all over.
I guess your wondering what happened...
Well, I fell into a deep sleep and awoke lying in the Kakariko cemetery just outside of the Shadow Temple. I stood up immediately and snuck into the field. I struggled across it, all the time asking myself what have I done? What has happened to me? I arrived in Gerudo Valley two nights latter and snuck into the fortress. I came to my rooms and found Kyri with Meninclear. I told her what had happened, then asked her to come with me when back across the mountain into Calatia. But she refused, she said that Meninclear would have a better life, or chance at life, here then trying to pass what had been until recently considered impassable mountains. I argued with her for an hour, but she wouldn't listen and so we said our good-byes and I left my son and my lover to return home. However, before I attempted to cross the mountains I did find Roland, and he was, unlike Kyri, more than willing to come with me. And so the two of us set out, however, Ganondorf would not let us escape so easily, and sent bands of Calatians after us while we were still in Hyrule. When we finally did leave Hyrule and enter the mountains, he sent groups of Moblins and packs of Wolfos after us, and it was during one of our constant fights with these monsters that we became separated.
The man sighed. "And there my saga ends, I suspect my friend died in the mountains, and as for my son and Kyri, I suspect that they are both still alive, though I shall never know. As for Calatia, it was drained of almost all its young able-bodied men. When it comes to Zelsis and the other Phenarus, I can only hope that they have been killed off by the constant warfare. And as for Hyrule, it suffered an even worse fate. Last I heard Ganondorf was still in command, ruling over a depopulated shell of a country, a mere husk, he has been in control for the last six years, and I believe he will be in control for many more. And as for myself, the dark magick, the excessive drug use... It's all added up to what I look like now." The man chuckled morbidly, then slowly rose to his feat. Outside the wind still howled, but the rain was now just drizzle. He downed the last of the wineskin before letting it drop. His head lolled back, and his eyes slid closed, if he was still breathing then it was barely, for he didn't seem to move at all. No one was sure if he was alive or dead, no one checked. In the morning, when they awoke, he was gone.
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LONDON, Dec 22 (APM) - Drug shortages cost the National Health Service (NHS) 38 million pounds in November, The Times said on Monday.
The paper said that shortages are due to attempts by the government to force down drug prices that mean pharmacists cannot carry on supplying patients with drugs that lose them money.
The government has moved to setting temporary prices based on manufacturers' selling prices, rather than those charged by wholesalers. Manufacturers have accused wholesalers of inflating prices, but wholesalers have denied that they are manipulating the market.
A total of 91 emergency price increases have been approved for November, but pharmacists have said that these are not enough to cover the cost of crucial cancer and anti-psychotic medicines.
Shortages of medicines have cost the NHS more than 200 million pounds since April because it has had to approve a series of price rises of up to 4,000%.
The UK launch of Tesaro's Zejula (niraparib) was picked up on Monday in both the Daily Mail and the Guardian.
The drug was approved in the EU in November as a monotherapy for the maintenance treatment of adult patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed high-grade serous epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer who are in complete response or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy (APMHE 56073).
The Guardian said that in women with an inherited BRCA gene mutation, the time to relapse was increased from 5.5 months to 21 months compared with chemotherapy alone. Zejula was also shown to help women without a BRCA mutation to a lesser degree, doubling the length of time before recurrence.
The death of Apotex founder and chair Barry Sherman was picked up by the Guardian at the weekend.
The paper said Sherman and his wife were found dead in Toronto on Friday.
"The circumstances of their death appear suspicious and we are treating it that way," said police officer David Hopkinson. Homicide detectives later told reporters gathered outside the home that there were no signs of forced entry (APMHE 56095).
Teva plans to increase the prices of some of its drugs in the U.S. in an effort to counter poor recent performance, the Financial Times said at the weekend.
The paper reported comments from chief executive Kare Schultz that he wants to either raise the prices of drugs that are sold at a loss or to stop manufacturing them altogether.
Analyst are not convinced by the plan, however, with the FT reporting comments from David Maris at Wells Fargo who said politicians are unlikely to let a company that is firing thousands of workers to start raising drug prices.
Teva announced last week it is to axe 14,000 jobs to save $3 billion by the end of 2019.
Investors in Shire are urging the board not to sell its neuroscience division without a good reason, The Sunday Times reported.
The company said in August it is considering spinning off the division, which has a portfolio that includes the ADHD medicines Adderall, Vyvanse and Mydayis, in order to focus on its rare diseases business after the $31 billion of Baxalta.
However, some investors are wary that Shire will use any proceeds from a sale to fund another big takeover deal. And others say the company should sell or list the division only if it can secure the right price.
The paper quoted Joe Walters, senior fund manager at Royal London Asset Management, who said: "Unless they can sell it for a premium, which clearly would have some value, then there's no value creation."
The FT on Tuesday covered the approval in the U.S. of Spark Therapeutics' Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl) for an inherited form of blindness known as biallelic RPE65 mutation-associated retinal dystrophy.
The paper said the medicine is the first ever gene therapy for an inherited genetic condition approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (APMHE 56137).
Spark has not yet announced a price for the therapy, but the FT said analysts have put the potential cost of administering treatment in both eyes at more than $1 million.
The Guardian on Wednesday carried a feature covering activist group Just Treatment, which is looking to put pressure on pharma companies to lower the prices of drugs.
Founded just under a year ago, the group has recruited nine patient leaders who have all struggled to get the treatment on the NHS. A total of 40 core members are helped by more than 20,000 supporters who write to politicians and companies, sign petitions and protest.
The paper spoke to group member Emma Robertson who campaign for Pfizer to lower the price of breast cancer treatment palbociclib in order for it to be available on the NHS. It was recommended by NICE in November.
"Too many activist groups just apply pressure on NICE and the NHS to cough up the money for expensive treatments," said Robertson.
"As a patient, obviously I want - and need - the NHS to fund palbociclib, but as a citizen I know there isn't some magic money tree. We live in a society with limited resources, which means not everyone can get everything they need. Patients rightly demand access, but rather than putting more pressure on where resources are allocated, we should be looking at root causes, like why the drugs are so expensive in the first place."
The FT on Friday recorded Roche's agreed $1.7 billion buy of rare cancer specialist Ignyta, saying the deal boosts the Swiss pharma's cancer portfolio. (APMHE 56183).
It said Roche's profits are under pressure as a number of its most popular treatments lose their patent protection.
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Images of similar type appear on an ivory panel from the excavations at Taḵt-e Sangin (Litvinsky and Pichikiyan, Pl.VII), where the hunters are horse-archers with bobbed hair and long moustaches.It is probable, too, that the celebrated allusions in may also sometimes cover notices of the Kushans.
Although several of these inscriptions were dated, uncertainty concerning the origin points of their eras, of which there were certainly more than one, gave rise to much controversy among historians on the absolute chronologies to which they related.
The foundation of the Kushan empire in Bactria and India was the result of a long series of ethnic migrations.
Their history has, however, until recently received minimal attention from Classical historians.
This is because apparently their existence has been explicitly noted only once in Classical literature, by Bardaiṣan (see BARDESANES) of Edessa in his where he speaks of the "Laws of the Bactrians who are called Kushans" and remarks (allegations not yet confirmed elsewhere) on the luxurious lifestyle and promiscuous morals of their women.
This area was at the time dominated by two confederacies of nomadic Iranian tribes. It may be of interest to note that the commander of the Sakā contingent against Alexander at the Battle of Gaugamela was identically named Mauakes (Arrian, 3.8.3) and was most likely a predecessor of Maues as a member of the same longstanding lineage.
In the east, probably centered around the north shore of Lake Issyk Kul, were the group who, in Achaemenid times, had been known as the Sakā Haumavargā (Haoma-consuming Scythians; inscription DSe 24-25). The Yuezhi/Tochari continued to establish their domination north of the Oxus (Āmu Daryā) River, and the second Sakā confederacy were driven southwards, towards the frontier of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom.
The succeeding king, Artabanus II, led an expedition against them, but died (124/3 BCE) from a wound in the arm, perhaps from an arrow (Bivar, 1983a, pp. Here remarkable sculptures depict the Tochari princes, with bobbed hair, and slanting eyes of East Asian type, possible evidence of dynastic intermarriage with Chinese princesses sent to their rulers to seal alliances of their nations against the Xiong-nu.
Friezes illustrate battle scenes in which the Tochari are depicted as horse-archers, defeating Sakā cavalry armed with lances and scale-armor.
One group of these, written in a form of the Indian Brāhmi alphabet, presented unique features. There is considerable evidence for two dialects of this type, sometimes known as Agnean and Kuchean, or more generally, for reasons which will become clear, as Tocharian A and B.
All these sites lie along the northern and eastern sides of the Tarim basin.
174 BCE), the rising chief (, and their chieftain was killed.


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Mens Japanese Yukata & Belt - Made in Japan
Mens Japanese Yukata & Belt
A beautiful, traditional style of Japanese clothing (with Belt) called a Yukata. It is basically a "summer kimono" in traditional Japan. People in Japan still wear them today, at festivals, nice hotels, and some holiday events. This is a 100% cotton garment, high quality, made in Japan.
Size details:
Length/Height (from top to bottom) = 149cm
Shoulder to Shoulder = 65cm
Cuff to Cuff = 133cm
Waist (this is NOT the circumference of the wearers waist, this is the measurement of one side of the material [front or back] from side to side) = 63cm
Note: The male model in the picture is approx. 180cm tall and has a waist of approx. 90cm. Average slim western build. This Yukata should fit most average sized males. If the item does not fit well (too big), it can be tucked in as required
Condition: Item is preowned, but in EXCELLENT condition. See pics for details. We couldn't find any damage or major wear. Belt and yukata both looking very nice. We could not find any discolouration or damage.
One of a kind item - only one available.
Item code (office use): Y1


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Eyes are the first thing people notice on your face. It also gives a judging point to others whether you take care of yourself or not!
Let me explain, if you meet a person with wrinkled yellow eyes, what would you think of him. Unhygienic nah, that lies the same with you too.
But an yellow eye problem is an easy thing to treat, you just have to drink enough water & sleep well. The main thing is eyelashes, they are surely a attention grabber! It just add that extra beauty to your face no matter whether you're a man or woman.
And if you're dealing with those thin lashes, don't worry because it's not that hard to get them thicker & soft.
#1. Give them a Massage
Before you go to bed & after you wake up, just do a 2 min. simple massage!
Here is how it goes:
- Rub both your palms with each other & when you feel it's heat generated, put it on your eyes with a little pressure for a few seconds. Do it 4-5 times.
- With your thumb push gently & massage the upper & lower cavity of your eyes. (For about a min.)
- Close your eyes & rub your lids in a circular motion for 10 times both clockwise & anticlockwise.
Doing this on a regular basis will maintain a great blood circulation over your eyes. And with that your eyelashes will be boomed by nutrients to grow thick.
Also this will not only help your grow more eyelashes but also will deal yellow eyes.
And if you have dark circles this is a must have massage for you. You will see that within a few weeks of doing it, your dark circle starts to disappear.
#2. Green tea bath
What, you thought they are just beneficial to health? soak a cotton ball in the liquid and apply to your eyelashes, it will make them Stronger & Healthier!
Green tea has flavonoids and antioxidants that helps fight inflammation and repair cells, thus helps in slow aging.
So, give your lashes a green tea bath, apply the green tea dipped cotton on your lashes, leave it for a few minutes & rinse them off with water.
This process will be more beneficial for you if you have a lashes falling issue as this will make your lashes root strong & thus prevent them from falling!
Do this once everyday until you get your desired length of eyelashes!
#3. Coconut & castor oil treat
Vitamin E is the one which nourishes hair follicles & promote hair growth & castor oil has a lot of it!
Castor oil is a thick vegetable oil got from the seeds of the castor oil plant. It can be used to reduce thinning edges and prevent hair fall & even in re-growing bald patches. Some also says that their friends noticed a drastic change in thickness of their eyelashes by just using castor oil 2-3 times!
And how can we forget coconut oil which from ancient time is used to boost hair growth and prevent hair loss due to its rich nutrient content.
It creates a protective lipid barrier which prevents germs and impurities from damaging hair.
Both these oil combinely will boost your lashes growth & will protect them from falling.
So don't forget to give your eyelashes this treat every night.
#4. Brush them out
Brushing stimulates growth & gives you thicker, softer eyelashes. It also removes dirt particles from them giving you clean eyelashes.
Brushing your lashes in upward strokes will stimulate the cell below the hair root which will help them grow out faster.
There are some studies that says brushing to get thicker eyelashes is just a myth but then there are some real stories that it works!
So the question here is, 'Do it worth doing it'?
Look, in my opinion, it's just a few seconds stuff to do, also there's no harm doing it. So, ya you should definitely give it a try. Who knows maybe this work out for you!
#5. Egg experiment
Applying the above 4 process can give you thicker eyelashes for sure. But if you wanna give process a boost then this is an extra thing you can do!
Egg as you may know is a protein bomb, it has every single kind of protein required for your body. And so it has keratin which is the protein required for hair growth.
Apply just a little amount of egg white on the eyelashes and leave it for 10 minutes & wash afterwards. Your lashes will turn black and thick in due course of time.
Lastly, I wanna suggest you to avoid artificial lashes, sure they will work instantly but natural is natural! So, be patient. You may not see the results in a few days so don't get demotivated. It's the time your lashes are set to sprout out.
Just do your steps regularly & you surely will get the chance to touch your dream lashes!!
"Let It Happen Naturally, Good Thing Takes Time"
Show your love in the comment box below if the post worth it, share it with your friends and family to let them groom and don't forget to join softiview to get updated to more awesome post like this!
Thanks for reading…


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It's amazing how easy it is to do this.
When I was a girl, I loved watching the older girls tap dance. I wanted to be a tap dancer, and begged my mom to pay for lessons. When I started, I was terrible. But I tried, but always compared myself to the older girls. It was so frustrating, because I couldn't get to their level. So I gave up. After six months.
The other girls practiced for years, and here I was blaming my terrible skills on inability, when I had not put in the time.
It's easy to forget that everyone has to put time, experience, mistake making, floundering, before they find success. A person may make their achievements look effortless, but that is hardly ever the case.
Don't forget, that at one point, everyone sucked. And everyone will be terrible when they first start. That's the beauty of trying new things, we get to grow.
[Quote source]