It seems there was a little confusion about the name that the "Mysterious Woman" was calling Sarah. If you were wondering, I did mean Saira, not Saria or something else. :) Sorry if that disappoints anybody.
I think that was all the reviews, but I'll thank you guys anyway—thanks to Bad Mittens, Elizabeth0058, Blake-Hero of Tyme and supersonic50 who reviewed, and to Ray Sapphire *wink wink* who reviewed and favorited!
This chapter will be longer than all of them so far, so brace yourselves for some serious awesomesauce… and forgive any careless grammar mistakes. It's late, I'm tired, and I've been staring at this computer screen and typing for five hours; so I'm not sure everything is flawless. Enjoy. :)
-SS
xoX-Chapter 8-Xox
Sarah
WHAM!
There was a deafening crash, and the steel door broke freer of its hinges and slammed against the wall opposite Sarah's cell. The girl's mouth fell open, eyes flicking between the disembodied door and the one who had kicked it open. She had to try hard not to show her shock at the sheer strength of the strange woman before her. "I always wanted to do that," The figure chuckled softly, a smile showing beneath her cowl. Sarah limped cautiously after her, feeling a confusing mix of respect and fear for the mysterious character.
She had a second to wonder why it was so quiet before she stepped through the open doorway, a cry tearing itself from her lips as she froze to the spot in fear. The two guards she had often heard conversing outside were lying crumpled upon the floor, glassy eyes gazing sightlessly at the ceiling; long flame-red hair spreading out over the stone floor. Pools of crimson blood soaked the floor, staining their violet uniforms red. Sarah swallowed hard, tears welling up in her eyes, unable to tear her eyes from the sight of the mangled bodies.
"They... They're dead..." The girl mumbled dumbly, not even sure she had spoken aloud. A firm hand pressed itself to her shoulder, and Sarah yanked her gaze away from the horrible sight to meet the crimson eyes of her companion. Red, Sarah thought blankly. Her eyes are red.
Red like blood.
"I deeply apologize, Sai- Sarah..." The woman said softly. "...If I would've left them alive, every being in this fortress would know of my presence and your escape." The girl nodded solemnly, careful to not look back upon the two lifeless figures as they passed. She tried to focus on the ever-dark stone halls she was lead silently through, though her mind still wandered back to the guards. She could remember their open eyes, glazed over; forever starting at something she couldn't see. She could remember their blood, spilling out in polls of deep crimson, staining the damp stone floors... Sarah shuddered shaking her head to clear them of the images she couldn't forget.
"...Are you alright, Sarah-sama?" Her companion asked, not turning from the path.
"...F-fine." She muttered. "I'm fine."
But she wasn't, and the woman knew it.
I'm fine, alright. Just wandering through a dark, endless labyrinth, with a woman I don't know. Sarah glared at the floor. A woman who has killed and will kill without hesitation. Yeah, I'm just peachy.
And the uneasy silence didn't help. Sarah knew that one wrong move- one step placed too loud, one breath taken to sharp - and they would be discovered. The enemy would probably kill the strange woman who saved her (a kind woman, but strange nonetheless); and she would be put back in those awful chains, to say the least.
"...Umm..." She swallowed. "Maybe I-"
The woman suddenly clapped a hand over Sarah's mouth, cutting off her sentence. The girl shuddered, confused at her companion's actions, and awed at the speed in which she carried them out. "Sshh..." The woman whispered, casting a quick glance at the Intersecting hallways. Sarah nodded hesitantly, trembling slightly.
For what seemed like eternity, all was silent. Then, if she strained her ears, Sarah could make out the faint sound of light footsteps, echoing in the empty hall. The teen whimpered almost inaudibly, fear lacing her thoughts.
The guards that grew closer were obviously female, striking up a conversation in a foreign tongue. With every footstep they took, the icy claws of fear constricting over Sarah's heart clenched tighter. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her companion soundlessly draw a thin silver blade. The girl swallowed hard, unable to decide what was worse- witnessing two more deaths, or being recaptured and locked back in the awful cell. With a mental cringe, Sarah prepared herself. The woman tensed and tightened her grip on the blade as the guards drew closer... Closer...
...Then the footsteps faded as the enemies strode down another hallway, in the opposite direction of the freed prisoner and her companion.
Sarah let out a shaky sigh of relief, feeling sick at how close they were to being discovered. With a soft shink, the woman sheathed her blade. "I am deeply sorry for scaring you, Sarah-sama." She whispered, seemingly still afraid someone would hear them. "I thought for sure that we were to be discovered." She continued hesitantly down the dark corridor, peering around the corner. "But it seems today that Hylia's grace is in our favor..."
Sarah nodded absently.
Hylia?
Why did she have the feeling she'd heard that name before? Just the sound on its own reminded her of clouds and the sky; a light-filled vibe that was both graced with gleeful joy and stained with a deep sorrow.
Hylia.
The name simply refused to leave her thoughts, echoing in her mind endlessly, in tone with the continuing footsteps scuffing softly. The echoes blocked out all sound and thought, and Sarah failed to even notice the growing exit until it was almost upon them. Her companion waved her back, peering around the door-less archway warily. When no sound or sight revealed itself, she led the girl outside. The dry air smelled of burned land and days without rain. Even the cloudless, pre-dawn sky was painted an emotionless grey against the few glinting white stars that still shone above. Even through the chill of the cell that still lingered on Sarah's skin, she could feel the air warming at the coming sunrise. Not five steps away, the alcove dropped off steeply towards the ground, and the girl could see what lay down below her. Beneath her feet was a massive fortress constructed of red brick, built into a high cliff and closed off to the world by a large, grassless courtyard littered with watchtowers and the dark outlines of few guards. Sarah narrowed her eyes at the massive stone walls and the open metal gate whose spokes glinted in the weak light like black teeth. All this to hold in a fourteen-year-old girl? She scoffed mentally. I'm flattered. Really.
"This way."
Her companion's urgent whisper sliced through her thoughts like a knife. Sarah scanned the searchlight-crowded courtyard nervously, wondering what the odds were of them slipping away unnoticed. The woman lead her charge to skirt along many narrow ledges and slide down small breaks in the clay walls, and soon they had made it to the level just above the ground. The woman danced down the rock face of the crumbling wall, reaching up to help the teen down with a gloved hand. "Here..." she whispered, crimson eyes glinting with anticipation. And with a soft thump that seemed to loud in the silence, Sarah hit the ground. She was breathing hard, horrific excitement boiling her blood as she eyed the huge metal gate not 500 yards away. The cracked, sun-beaten earth beneath her feet seemed to crumble to dust with her every cautious step, and every drawn breath sounded deafening in the uneasy silence.
The searchlights danced around each other, occasionally lighting up one of the guards patrolling the courtyard. All seemed to be tall, dark-skinned figures with flaming red hair and startlingly inhuman amber eyes. And, almost needless to say; they were all women. The facts in Sarah's head matched what she saw before her, but she still refused to accept what her mind was telling her, shoving the thought away with a shake of her head. Gerudo, Sarah? Really? She thought. Not possible.
Her cloaked companion led her farther into the courtyard, until the gate loomed closer, and the shadows of the fortress no longer hid them. Sarah's heart threatened to pound out of her chest with every step closer to her freedom. Can we… Can we actually make it?
Though all too soon, there was a blood-curdling shriek rose from the depths of the fortress, and in one moment, all was chaos. Signal fires were lit on the peaks of the watchtowers, and dozens of guards could be heard scrambling for their weapons. The teen's companion cursed under her breath. One masked enemy pointed at them and shouted something in a foreign tongue. "Go, Sarah! RUN!" Sarah's protector screeched, no longer worried about being silent, having to use all her voice to be heard over the shouts of the guards.
Sarah didn't have to be told twice. Her legs moved on their own at that point, her vision focusing in on the black gate of the fortress. Everything else- the shouts of the guards, the footsteps of her companion trailing her- was blurred away, unimportant.
Move. Run. Faster. Move. Faster.
She chanted over and over in her head, only aware of her own bare feet pounding on the dry, hard earth.
The gate was twenty yards away.
Fifteen.
Ten.
Then the world was darkening.
Darkening? Was the gate closing?
…No. Something was blocking her way. Something dark. Something big.
Suddenly Sarah snapped from her trance, skidding to a halt five yards away from the dark man standing between her and the gate. Frustration burned her thoughts. He stood between her and her freedom. She whirled around, finding that all the masked prison guards had stopped as well, pinning her between their intimidating ranks and the man blocking her way. She turned back, meeting the amber eyes of the dark man before her bravely. The dust from the crumpled ground was swirled by the light breeze about his feet, and a long red cape billowed out behind him. Wait… she thought suddenly. One tall, dark man in alliance with a bunch of Gerudo-like women… so does that make him…?
"I must congratulate you on getting this far, Saira… or perhaps you prefer your disgusting human name…" The man sneered, showing teeth that resembled fangs. "…Sarah." he spat her name out like poison. Sarah opened her mouth to give a blistering reply, but her companion materialized out of nowhere and shoved the girl behind her protectively. There was a sudden change in the man's expression, and he laughed suddenly, a chilling deep sound that sent chills up her spine and shattered the silence in a million ways at once. "Of course…" he shouted between laughs. "Of course you would show up to free the little warrior!" Sarah saw the cloaked woman tense in rage. "It is my sworn duty, Ganondorf… but what do you know about duty? You, who had abandoned and betrayed your people in a lost time… It disgusts me to be in your very presence." The teen pushed away the million questions whirling in her thoughts and instead focused on her wonder at her protector's ability to speak so evenly while sounding so angry. "Why even come, then?" The man called Ganondorf challenged, hypnotic eyes glinting dangerously.
The cloaked women visibly hesitated. "To… repay you…" She muttered icily, almost inaudibly, "…For the damage you did and the light you stole from Hyrule generations ago."
The Dark King narrowed his eyes at her, and a silent argument seemed to pass between them. A trembling Sarah clung to the woman's arm, icy blue eyes darting between her and the man; wishing somebody would explain what was going on. Finally, Ganondorf broke the silence.
"…Very well. Because you have come a long way, and are determined to meet your end in my domain, so I suppose I should humor you before I take back our little friend, hmmm?"
The awful smirk on his face made the teen want to be sick. With a wave of his hand, the Gerudo-like women charged the girl and her protector with wild battle cries. Sarah let out a shout of terror, but the cloaked woman only sighed, shaking her head, uttering a single chuckle.
"You'll never change, Ganondorf."
Sarah heard a sound that sounded like the crack of a whip, then light filled her eyes and she saw no more.
It was hot. Flames burned everywhere, and the sounds of thunder and terrified shrieks reverberated throughout the land.
"Go, Sarah! RUN!" the cloaked woman's voice rang out over the chaos, seemingly from everywhere at once. "Where?" Sarah yelled back, straining to see through the black smoke clinging stubbornly to the cracked earth. "Where do I run?" The girl raced blindly through the haze, the stench of fire making her eyes water. She stumbled over stones and burned her bare legs and feet on the burned ground, but she still ran.
But In one moment, she tripped over a small boulder and tumbled head over heels; squeezing her eyes shut and waiting for the ground to hit… but none came. When she opened her eyes, a scream tore itself from her lips. She was falling endlessly, in the hypnotic void that was Ganondorf's gaze watching her through the confusion.
"I must congratulate you on making it this far, Saira. Or perhaps you prefer your disgusting human name…"
The world burst into white in a shower of sparks, and a high keening noise blared deafeningly. Sarah screamed in terror again as Ganon's voice spat her name from everywhere at once.
"…Sarah..."
In a brilliant flash of light, the dream vanished and Sarah woke wide-eyed and panting, her curly blonde hair plastered to her forehead with a cold sweat. She was lying on the ground, a cotton blanket draped carefully over her. Above her was a red-stone ceiling, looking more natural than chiseled, so she immediately assumed she was not back in the stone cell. Sarah sighed in relief.
"You're awake." A voice said from the opposite side of the small cave. Sarah sat up slowly; leaning on her elbows to look at the still-cloaked woman in black, who sat Indian-style across from her, crimson eyes stone-hard and emotionless. "Are you alright?" The girl reached her arms out in front of her in a stretch.
"I'm fine."
And she meant it this time. The woman blinked at her in silence. "I apologize, Sai- Sarah-sama… I only did what I did as a last resort. I hope I didn't injure you in any way…" Sarah tried her hardest to restrain herself from blurting out the thousands of questions that still whirled in the back of her mind, and instead gave a small smile. "I told you, I'm fine. Shaken, a little… but I'll be okay." The woman just stared at her for a moment before returning the smile. She turned and removed a few thin strands of ragged leather and a couple folded sheets of cloth from a pouch at her waist that Sarah never realized was there. "You'll need these, warrior."
By fifteen minutes later, Sarah was covered from head to toe in new cloth and strips of leather, from makeshift sleeves to leather-bound shoes. The cloaked woman finished off the homemade outfit by tying a piece of cloth around the girl's head to cover her from the bridge of her nose to her chin. "Why do I have to wear all this stuff?" Sarah asked, her voice muffle by the cloth; feeling awfully warm in the multiple layers of clothing. Her protector didn't look up. "Let's see… One, you really do not want to get sunburned somewhere there is no shade; and two, it is better where we're going that people do not recognize you." Sarah regarded her protector's words carefully. "…Is that why… you keep your face covered?" She murmured with gentle curiosity. The woman visibly froze. "…So people don't recognize you?" Red eyes showed a fierce conflict with herself raging inside her mind, filled with memories of sorrow and terror; and it felt like an eternity before she even made an effort to respond.
"…I…Yes."
Then she turned on her heel and strode towards the entrance to the cave, leaving no room for further conversation. As Sarah followed after her, she couldn't help but wonder who the woman was hiding from. I wonder why she'd need to hide… She wondered. I wonder why I need to hide…?
Blinding sunlight brought the girl out of her thoughts, the intense heat of the outside air almost burning her skin through the fabric layered over her. She emerged almost blindly from the cave, only trusting sound of the soft footsteps of her protector ahead to lead her to where they were going. By the time she was able to open her eyes, her mouth dropped open with them. At the entrance to the cave stood the most amazing sight she had ever beheld in her life.
It was an ocean.
An ocean of sand.
An endless expanse of hot, humid desert stretched out before her, complete with swooping, wind-carved dunes, and only a heat-blurred boundary between the scorched land and the still cloudless sky.
Clearly they were nowhere near her home.
The cloaked woman stood waiting for her a few paces out in the sand, a smirk showing in her eyes. "Be awed while you can, little warrior. After we have passed through it, you will probably never want to see sand again." The girl walked out to join her, feeling sweat already forming on her forehead from the white-hot air. "Where… where are we…?" Her protector's smile grew bigger as she turned to gaze over the wind-tossed dunes.
"Welcome to the Haunted Wasteland."
Oh yeah! That was awesome! Sorry ahead of time- I know a bunch of you wanted me to reveal the identity of the cloaked woman in this chapter, but I think I'll wait because she seems to have a lot of popularity right now. ^^ I do want to hear your guesses on who she is when you review, though… I want to see if anyone can get it. :)
See you guys soon!
-SS
