Evil's Bane


Delivered Swiftly
The sun was setting. It was going to be a cold night.

Rougii shook the satchel hanging over her left shoulder, debating whether to switch it over to the other side. After a moment's thought, she decided it wasn't worth the trouble – as far as she could see, she was almost there.

The 'River of Sand' of the Gerudo Desert was the product of a wind that blew without cease from the south. It could turn from a thin, wispy line of sand trickling across the landscape into a full blown sandstorm in the space of minutes. Right now it moved slowly and gently, a ribbon of silk illuminated by the setting sun. It served as an unspoken border: right across the river laid the mountain ranges that separated the desert from the plains, and thus the People from the kingdom of Hyrule. For their part, the Hylians could never hold their ground once they crossed the river, pushed back both by Gerudos and the elements.

Rougii walked through the river without a second thought; her eyes were fixed firmly on a building not far away. The Hylians had erected an outpost right at the lip of the mountain trail, just as Lord Arado had told her. Lucky thing. Going any deeper into the mountains would mean falling into the net of forts and barricades that were said to lie along the mountain trails. If there was a reason that the People didn't control part of Hyrule yet, it was the way that the opposing army had wormed their large numbers into these mountains as a last defence. For a single girl, a border crossing was suicide…

Luckily, she wouldn't have to get any closer to this outpost. The wooden supports of the building didn't look very sturdy, as if the Hylians half-expected it to be torn down within weeks by desert storms and Gerudos. It was small and flat. There couldn't be more than a few dozen soldiers inside, probably less.

She kept walking, drawing closer and closer to the Hylian encampment with each step. There wasn't any sign of movement through the torch-lit windows, and for a moment she wondered if nobody was inside or if they weren't even on guard. Then, three figures emerged from one side of the building, all wearing Hylian armour and all carrying spears.

"Who goes there?" the middle one shouted. Beneath the thick Hylian accent, his voice wavered.

"Who do you think?" Rougii called back, raising her arms in a universal gesture of peace. "I am a Gerudo messenger. I mean no harm."

She was getting close enough to make out their eyes even in the dimming light. They all looked like they were in their early twenties, and they all seemed to be unaccustomed to the desert weather.

"Don't – don't come any closer!" the same soldier shouted, raising his spear. "Stop!"

She did.

"I am a Gerudo messenger," she repeated. "Who is in charge?"

The question was apparently a surprise to them; they muttered amongst themselves for a few minutes. She stood there patiently, rehearsing the major points of Lord Arado's message in her mind. Even so, in the quiet of the desert she could hear most of what they were saying without any real effort.

"What do we do?" said the soldier on the left.

"Damned if I know," said the middle one, who'd been addressing her.

"Should we kill her?" said the soldier on the left.

"It's a trap," whispered the one on the right with certainty. "They don't send messengers. She's probably one of their assassins. Trying to destroy this post."

"Maybe we should kill her before she can," said the soldier on the left.

"No, get Gergoff," said the middle one.

"Okay…" The soldier on the left seemed glad for an excuse to run back inside, turning and darting away before he'd finished speaking.

The remaining two exchanged glances and then turned to stare at her warily. The middle one took a slow breath. "Look… um… woman… just don't move. The captain – he'll be here in a minute. You can talk to him."

Rougii suddenly realised that they were far more intimidated by a single Gerudo girl than she was by them. She suppressed a smile. She'd been holding up her arms for a few minutes now, but they weren't even beginning to fatigue. When she'd been about eleven, one of the saiflah (teachers of the fighting arts) had made her hold her arms out like that for nearly six hours straight, and this paled by comparison. She'd tried her best at the time, of course.

She had always aspired to the strength and skill embodied by Gerudo men. Males were a rarity amongst the People; a male child was born only about once every hundred years. They were blessings from above; demigods in their own right. Everyone was rightfully proud to serve under an alpha male; for Rougii it was even more of an honour as she was directly descended from Lord Arado himself. This parentage didn't afford her any special privileges in its own right, but the thought of being a blood relation had certainly inspired her to train harder, push further and bleed more. With any luck (not that luck had anything to do with it) one day she would be the second-most respected Gerudo warrior, the right hand of Lord Arado. Right now that honour belonged to Lamoora, a woman twice Rougii's age and without the wits. It couldn't be too hard to replace her, surely.

Flights of fancy aside… another man decked in armour emerged through the door. As he did, the others deliberately took the opportunity to back further away from Rougii. Stripes on his shoulder plates indicated that he was superior to the other soldiers. Attached to his belt was a sword in its scabbard, a weapon much more useful than the spears looked. He surveyed Rougii with an expression on his face that went slowly from incredulity to worry.

"I am Captain Gergoff, commanding officer at this outpost," he declared. "Name yourself!"

"I am Rougii of the People," she said, slowly and carefully.

"You're a Gerudo?" Captain Gergoff said, silently shaking his head as if hoping that it was all just some big misunderstanding.

"Yes," said Rougii. "I must deliver a message to your King."

"Oh, no," said Gergoff, crossing his arms. "No Gerudo's making a border crossing, alive or dead."

Rougii managed a half-smile. "I know," she said. "You will pass this message on for me."

"And if we don't?" said Gergoff.

"You will. It's important." Rougii glanced at the building thoughtfully. "We will talk inside."

She took a step forward, and instantly the three subordinate soldiers had their spears raised defensively. There was still so much distance between them that it would have been laughable if the situation wasn't so serious.

"You're not getting any closer than this," said Gergoff. "I'm not an idiot. I know you Gerudos… if I let you too close you'll kill us all and raze the building to the ground."

"I don't want to kill you," said Rougii. That was true. "I am unarmed." That was less true, but they wouldn't be able to tell that without thoroughly examining her.

"Why can't you deliver your message out here, then?" said Gergoff.

Rougii blinked. "It's dark out here."

The army captain stared hard at her for a few long seconds, his face belying some internal struggle. Then, he blinked and nodded. "All right," he said. "Walk over here. Slowly. Now, let me warn you – there are more soldiers inside. We're armed to the teeth. So try any funny business… and we won't hesitate to kill you."

"I understand," said Rougii.

She let her arms drop to her side, and started walking towards the building. As she neared them, Gergoff raised a hand, signalling for her to stop.

"Wait," he said, hands sliding to the sword on his belt. He nodded at one of his subordinates, the one who had been doing the talking before. "You! Make sure everyone's in a defensive position!" That soldier nodded and dashed inside, and Gergoff glanced at the remaining soldier. "Check her," he ordered. "Make sure she's unarmed."

The man nodded and walked towards Rougii, stopping just out of arm reach like he was afraid that she'd leap up and bite him. He circled Rougii, looking at her from every side with a mixture of fear and duty and perhaps even a hint of lust. She kept her eyes fixed on Gergoff, who stared back with forced calm.

"I don't see anything," the soldier said after about a minute of this. "Can't be anything hidden under her clothes. She's unarmed." The moment he said this he took a step back from her.

"Wait, you moron," said Captain Gergoff sharply. "The bag. Check what's in her bag."

Frozen on the spot, the soldier looked at his commanding officer as if he had just been asked to stick his head into a lion's mouth. He worked his jaw a couple of times, finally managing one word: "But…"

"Freyson, if you don't go and check the Gerudo for concealed weapons right now I will have you discharged," snapped the captain. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." The soldier took a step towards her.

Rougii crossed her arms and stared the man straight in the eye. "Don't touch me," she said bluntly.

His immediate response was to clutch his spear even tighter, angling it vaguely in her direction.

"Was that a threat?" said Captain Gergoff from behind him.

You found that aggressive?, thought Rougii incredulously. Granted, relations had always been uneasy between Hylian and Gerudo, and certainly they were at war, but these people were treating her like some sort of deadly psychopath. This, she reminded herself, was one of the reasons why peace with Hyrule would never be an option for her people. Years of ignorance, pride and paranoia on the Hylians' part had ensured that.

Anyway, at this rate the exchange was bound to turn violent very quickly, which wasn't in Rougii's interest when the only weapon she had was the dagger concealed beneath her leggings, tiny and useless.

"If you lay a hand on me," she said, "we will start killing prisoners." That was a lie; today her safety was entirely her responsibility, but they didn't need to know that.

"Prisoners?" said Gergoff sharply.

Rougii smiled victoriously. "Let's go inside."

The captain glared at her for a few long seconds. Then, defeated, he nodded. "All right. But remember, we outnumber you. So much as think about hurting us and we'll kill you…" – he snapped his fingers – "…just like that. Understand?"

"Yes… sir," said Rougii. She straightened the satchel strap and walked towards him. When she reached him, he was standing right in the doorway, blocking her. With the air of authority, he deliberately turned his back on her and led her inside.

'Inside' was littered with chairs, spears and empty bottles. Torches placed dangerously close to the wooden-looking walls were buried in the sand – apparently the military hadn't even gone to the effort of providing itself a solid floor – and a doorway which was more like a gap in the wall led to a collection of bunk beds. The air smelt so strongly of alcohol it was a wonder that the building hadn't just caught fire of its own accord. Standing here, Rougii could just picture this small band of soldiers whiling the hours away, wasting their lives waiting for an attack that they could never hope to fend off.

There were eight soldiers as far as she could see, including the captain. Aside from their leader they were all doing the frightened-spear-waving thing. It was worrying, but there was still a chance that this exchange could end peacefully and so she pressed on.

She walked up to the large table in the centre of the room, swept the playing cards and Rupees from it with her forearm, and sat on it, facing the army captain.

Gergoff was looking at her with nervousness disguised as distaste. "All right, here you are. Who are the prisoners? Is that your message?"

Rougii dropped the satchel onto the table beside her. "Our wise lord, Arado Dragmire of the People, has sent me to…"

"Get to the damn point already," muttered a soldier (naturally, the one farthest from her).

"We took prisoners," said Rougii, maintaining steady contact. "After the battle a week ago."

"You never take prisoners," said Gergoff, returning the stare quietly.

"Not usually," said Rougii, letting herself slip into a recital of her blood father's message. "Lord Arado knew that your little royal prince was leading those hundreds of doomed soldiers. As a gesture of… kindness towards your leader, he instructed our warriors to avoid killing people of higher rank. In total four of your army survived unslain. One of them died…"

"You filthy murderers," muttered someone to her left.

"…died trying to escape," continued Rougii. She let a smile slip onto her lips, the same one Arado had made when he had given her the message. "A true Hylian hero. You'll make statues in his honour, naturally…"

She could feel the soldiers' glares upon her. One of them angled his spear forward but Gergoff held up a warning hand.

"Get to the point or I will let my men kill you," he said to her, his face remaining admirably passive.

"Three prisoners," said Rougii. "Two battalion commanders. One prince. Better?"

Captain Gergoff stared hard at her for a few seconds, digesting this information. Then he laughed mirthlessly.

"Of course," he said, a grimace forming on his face. "You have our prince and now we must let you through the border straight into our Goddess-given kingdom." His tone turned sour. "Oh, but wait – you won't show your prisoners to us, right? Too dangerous… wouldn't want them to get rescued. I'll just have to take your word for it and pass it on to my superiors, eh?"

"Hear!" shouted the three soldiers who weren't scared to death.

"You're right," said Rougii, "Lord Arado isn't about to stick the royal brat in front of your noses. But…" She fished into the satchel by her side and procured a small ruby brooch in which a distinctive shape was carved. "You'll find this has your king's seal on it. That should be proof enough."

Gergoff shook his head. "Even if it's the real article, all that proves is that you took a ring from the body of our beloved prince. Nothing else."

"That's for your king to decide, isn't it?" said Rougii, tossing the brooch to Captain Gergoff. He made no move to catch it, a defiant expression on his face, and it bounced off his chest and onto the sandy ground, where it settled quietly.

The captain looked unconvinced, but he seemed to acknowledge that he didn't have any leverage. "Fine, woman. This will go to the King. But I assure you, he will hardly take a single piece of jewellery as proof that his son survived the massacre."

"I'm sure you're right," said Rougii. "Take this as well. I'm sure your king will recognise this." She reached into the satchel and pulled out a small bundle of tightly-wrapped fabric, patterned with small brown stains.

"What is that?" said Gergoff immediately, but she knew he knew. It was there in his face.

"Can't you guess?" she teased, momentarily forgetting all about the spears levelled at her.

No response aside from even icier glares than before. She unwrapped the cloth fold by fold, wincing slightly as she neared the centre where the blood was thickest.

"With any luck…" she began. She removed the last fold and held out, for all of them to see, a bloody disembodied hand. On the fourth finger was a golden ring carrying the royal seal. The blood had clotted, and so, grotesquely, the hand retained a little of its colour.

The soldiers around her stiffened, staring at the severed appendage.

"Goddesses," whispered Gergoff, taking an involuntary step forward.

She pressed a finger against the palm, and nodded with grim satisfaction. Proof – of the grisly, unfriendly kind – but proof nonetheless. They would definitely pass this message along.

"That's… but… Din's mercy…" mumbled Captain Gergoff.

"It's still warm," said Rougii, smiling.


Prince Verdin Hyrule was sitting in a darkened, torch-lit cell in Goddesses-knew-where. He was staring at the spot where his right hand had been just a few hours ago. The pain was incredible, just as much now as it had been when they'd cut it off, and the leather strap that the Gerudos had tied roughly around his forearm to stop the bleeding was torturous in its own right.

Across from him, slumped against the walls of the cell were two commanders, all that remained of the massive army which had followed him into battle.

One of them (brown-haired and tattered armour and Verdin just couldn't remember his name any more) shifted and muttered something under his breath.

"What did you say?" said Verdin weakly, glad of a distraction from his injury.

"I said we're pitiful," said the commander with tattered armour tiredly, slumping back against the stone-and-clay walls of their small prison. "Hyrule's finest."

Verdin laughed despite himself. "Yes, what a bloody mess. The Goddesses aren't smiling upon us."

They had watched the previous evening, restrained and sleep-deprived, as several Gerudo women planted iron bars and reinforcements around what once must have been a store room. Now, that wall of bars separated them from an empty, darkened corridor where a solitary torch flickered on the wall.

"There aren't any guards," Verdin observed. "We're alone."

"Yeah, but what good is that?" said the other man, black-haired and diminutive. "We're unarmed, beaten, trapped in the middle of nowhere. Even if we broke out of this cell, and got through this hive of Gerudos, where would we go? We're as good as dead."

Verdin shook his head, shoving those words of doubt out of his mind. "We'll be rescued. Once he knows we've been captured my father will send soldiers from every corner of the kingdom to get me out of here. Us out of here."

The black-haired commander smiled. "I hope you're right, Prince."

"Hope's all we have," said the commander with tattered armour. "I wonder why they even…" He stopped, eyes widening.

Footsteps resounded down the corridor. Several people were walking leisurely towards the cell. The three prisoners exchanged glances and then stared out through the bars looking for the smallest sign of movement.

"…a wise decision indeed, milord," spoke the voice of a Gerudo woman, a thick accent colouring her vowels. "That will be a great victory for the People."

"Of course you say that," said a man's voice, which could only belong to the leader of the Gerudos. "But for good reason; I have rarely been wrong. Isn't that true, Lamoora?"

Another woman's voice, sharper and nastier-sounding: "Milord… I am hardly qualified to judge the fruits of your wisdom."

The Gerudo warlord laughed. "Lamoora, Lamoora… so afraid of having to think more than a step ahead… you're lucky that you have such talents elsewhere."

"Yes, milord," muttered 'Lamoora' docilely as the five Gerudos came into view on the other side of the bars.

There were four Gerudo women, all wearing the same sort of loose leggings and short well-woven tops. Three of them had their clothing dyed purple, while those worn by the woman at the front were a bright white. All of them had pairs of curved swords sheathed against their bare backs, and they regarded them so casually that it was a whole brand of passive intimidation in itself. The Gerudo lord was olive-skinned and red-haired like his female brethren, wearing folds upon folds of brown leather in what appeared to be a massive construction of organic armour. It looked like it weighed a horse but that wasn't evident by the natural, smug way he walked.

Lord Arado Dragmire turned his head in Verdin's direction and smiled. Verdin felt a chill run down his spine and for a moment he couldn't help but recall–

The Gerudo lord and the woman in white burst into the cell, trailed by two other Gerudo warriors in guard robes. Verdin and the two commanders he was trapped with sprung to their feet.

"Block the door," said Lord Arado, waving a hand behind him at the two guardwomen, and they fell into position, cutting the prisoners off from the open door of the cell.

"What are you doing?" the black-haired commander half-shouted at him. "Why are you taking prisoners? You never…"

"Lamoora," said Arado, and the woman in white robes whom that name belonged to nodded and walked over to the commander.

"You don't scare me," said the commander defiantly. "I demand you release us right now, or…"

Lamoora twisted and slammed the blade of her right foot into his stomach. The black-haired commander yelled at the moment of impact and fell back to the ground, heaving.

"Us? Release the prisoners?" scoffed Arado, looking between all three of the Hylians. "This is war. Never before have we had to spare the life of filth like you…"

"I'd rather die than be your prisoner…" began the commander in the tattered armour.

"I wasn't talking to you," said Arado, making a signal with his hand, and Lamoora crossed over and shoved the man to the ground.

"Do you have any idea who we are?" said Verdin, clenching his fists. "Who I am?"

"Yes, Prince, I know exactly who you are," said Arado with a wide smile on his face. "Are you sure you do?"

"What in hell are you talking about?" said Verdin.

"I mean that you're going to be of great use to me," said Arado. "One way or another, you're going to help us take your kingdom. And I'm sure you'd prefer to do it without all the pain…"

"So you're going to torture me?" said Verdin.

"First things first," said Arado.

He reached behind his back and slid out a single sword, nearly shoulder-height and impossibly heavy in appearance. Whatever metal it was made of it was jet-black in colour, though around its edges it appeared torchlight red.

Verdin and his fellow prisoners exchanged confused looks.

"What are you doing?" said Verdin.

"Hold out your sword hand," said Arado.

"What?" said Verdin.

"I'm about to cut off your right hand as a message to your father," said Arado. "Hold it out."

"You've got to be joking," said Verdin, taking a step away.

"Lamoora, hold out his hand," said Arado.

It took Verdin a split second to realise what Arado was saying, and then he started to twist around. The evil-looking woman who was Arado's second-in-command was already behind him, shooting out a hand to grab his wrist but he twisted away. Her eyes narrowed and one hand moved for her swords.

I'm going to die now, Verdin thought, panicked, and his gut told him to fight back, to do whatever necessary to scrape a few more seconds of being alive. He swung a fist at her face–

–and she batted it to the side with one hand, right before it hit her, and grabbed it painfully with the other and he tried to pull away and she slid her elbow under the elbow of his exposed outstretched arm and he didn't see what happened but a moment later they were both on their knees and his face was pressed into the stone floor of the cell and his right arm was contorted out to the side and he could pull it free and her grip was vicelike and he looked up and the grinning face of Arado looked back at him and he couldn't help but stare at the sword which Arado know gripped in both hands and then Arado laughed and the sword came crashing down in all its jet-black unholy splendour and he felt the air rushing at his arm before it hit–

–and then Lamoora was still holding his hand but nothing else; the Gerudo warlord had made a single clean cut just missing her hand but severing Verdin's. It took him half a second to register this and then the pain hit him like a tidal wave and he fell to the ground, screaming. And the other prisoners were yelling furiously but nobody was doing anything, and Arado slid his sword back into its sheath.

"Lamoora, stop the bleeding," said Arado, snatching the hand – Verdin's hand – from her. "I'll give this to the girl. The one you said was my eldest."

"Rougii?" said Lamoora, pulling a leather strip and a pair of needles out of nowhere. She started doing something to Verdin's arm but he couldn't tell what; the pain was in the way and everything was getting hazy.

"Yes, her," said Arado. "With any luck, his hand will still be warm by the time the girl gets to the border."

Lamoora nodded but now she was talking to Verdin again. "This will slow the bleeding until it clots," she was saying. "You won't be able to remove it without a knife, but you're welcome to try. You'll probably find some swelling…"

Everything was going red…

Arado and Lamoora and the three other women stood outside the cell. Arado procured a key from within his thick leather armour and unlocked it, letting the door swing open silently.

"It's a very sturdy prison to have been built so quickly," he remarked.

"A testament to Gerudo ingenuity," murmured Lamoora subserviently.

"Yes, yes," said Arado, looking through her. His eyes snapped towards Verdin. "How's the hand?" he said, and there was a malicious grin on his face.

"You bastard," said Verdin weakly, but he knew better than to stand up.

"Oh, forgive my poor manners," said Arado, putting a hand to his face in mock apology. "I meant to ask, how is your hand, Prince?"

Verdin looked away, his mouth firmly shut.

"Answer me," said Arado warningly.

"Go to hell," said Verdin, staring at a crack in the stone floor.

For a moment there was a nasty silence in which he could feel the Gerudo lord's eyes burning into his head. It took all his effort not to look up.

"Well," said Arado after what felt like an eternity, "let's go."

"Where am I going?" said Verdin. There was no response, and after a few seconds he conceded and looked up into his captor's eyes.

"You," said Arado, "are going nowhere. You are the crown prince of Hyrule, and we're giving you special treatment, something I'm sure you're used to. You're going to stay in this room, and tell us everything we want to know, or rot to death, maybe both."

Verdin glared back defiantly, and Arado continued:

"Your two friends here, these men who were foolish enough to follow you into battle… they, on the other hand, aren't special.They will be treated to something different entirely."

As he spoke, the Gerudo women moved silently into the cells, grabbing the two commanders roughly. They put up a little struggle, but within seconds they had realised it was useless to resist these impossibly fast and strong Gerudos.

"You can't do that!" said Verdin, rising to his feet.

"Oh, I think we can," said Arado contemptuously. "They're not worth keeping around."

"My Prince!" shouted one of commanders, the black-haired one who was a little shorter than Verdin. "Don't let them get anything from you! Protect our great kingdom!"

"No!" said Verdin. "I mean, yes, I won't, but they can't kill you! It's unfair; Hyrule never kills its prisoners!"

"That's because you never manage to take prisoners," sneered Arado, as the Gerudo women began to drag the commanders out of the cell.

Verdin was scared and he had absolutely no idea what to do and so he began to whisper under his breath: "Farore, Din, Nayru… Goddesses, please, don't let these men die."

"Prince!" shouted the other commander, the brown-haired one with the tattered armour, and one of the Gerudo women tried forcing her hand over his moth to quiet him. "When you get out, tell His Majesty I'm proud to have served this country! Always was, always will be!"

"I… I don't even know your name," said Verdin, staring back blankly.

The man laughed; first hoarsely, then bitterly, and then he held nothing back and laughed as if it were the best joke in the world. He was still laughing as they disappeared out of sight.

Verdin stared through the bars at the empty corridor. As the footsteps receded, he strained his ears as the laughing faded. Just as they left earshot, he thought he heard the commander shout back, "Does it matter?"

But it was probably his imagination.

With a jolt, he realised that Arado was still standing in the cell in front of him.

"Prince," Arado said.

"What do you want?" said Verdin.

"A lot of things," said Arado wistfully. He moved towards the door of the cell. "We can talk about this in the morning."

"What time is it?" said Verdin.

Arado raised his eyebrows at the question. "Evening," he said.

He stepped out of the cell, locking the door behind him.

"Sleep well, prince of Hyrule," he said, walking away.

Left in the dark with his thoughts and the ghosts of the dead, Verdin knew that sleep wouldn't be coming any time soon.


"It's still warm," said Rougii, laying the severed hand on the table. "Go ahead and check. He's very much alive."

"Goddesses…" whispered Captain Gergoff, staring at the hand. Then he swung his eyes up to stare down Rougii. "You! You cut off his hand… the King will see that your lord and his harem pay for this in blood."

"I'm just the messenger," said Rougii, standing up and holding her hands out.

"Kill the bitch," said Gergoff viciously, but the eight spear-armed men surrounding Rougii needed no orders to do that. They all stalked towards her, the circle closing in, and their faces glared with hatred.

"That's unfair!" said Rougii half-heartedly, reaching for her concealed dagger, which she knew wouldn't be any help at all. "This wasn't my doing, sir Captain."

He didn't respond and so she pulled out the dagger, waving it in front of her threateningly. Perhaps half a minute ago it might have made them pause but they ignored it under their bloodlust and the obvious fact that their spears were ten times as long as her blade.

Two of them suddenly shouted and charged into the middle of the circle, spears angled forward and she moved, years of training possessing her body and unconsciously directing her actions. She sprung to the side, so that one of them missed and deflected the spear of the other one with the painfully short blade of her knife.

The movement had disrupted the circle and she made to slip out through the gap. One of the soldiers was smart enough to stick his spear in the way and instead she grabbed his arms and spun around, wrenching the spear out of his grip. She didn't stop to pick it up but instead grabbed him in a chokehold with her knife against his throat and started backing away towards the door.

"Do anything and I'll snap his neck," she said, making each step carefully.

"Liar," said Gergoff, loathing evident in his every syllable as she neared the outside world. As he spoke, his soldiers fanned out around her, trying to find a way through the human shield. "You'll kill him anyway."

"I'm not like you," said Rougii, and as she stepped outside she felt a blessed cool desert wind. She shoved the soldier in her arms forward, sending him stumbling into the other men who scattered around him. She didn't stop to watch; instead, she was running the moment her hands were free; running out into the safety of the desert.

"You'll pay for this!" Gergoff shouted after her.

Behind her there were yells and she thought she heard the thud of a spear being thrown into the sand behind her. She didn't look back, though. No need to dwell on failures.


A/N: The original hope here was to show that there existed 'good' and 'evil' on both sides of the battle front, but I think this ended up casting the Hylians in a better light. (Oh, well…) I'm really starting to like Rougii.

Now, as far as gore and profanity goes – this is pretty much the bottom of the barrel. There won't be very many chapters with violent drunken uneducated soldiers running around hurling lustful obscenities at Gerudo women as someone-or-other gets tortured.

Please review! A little ego-stroking never hurt anyone, and it might actually help me pick up my game.