Hi ! It's me again ! I am not dead ! ^^'
I'm back at school so I think it will take a bit longer for me to write, please forgive me. I will try to compensate by making slightly shorter chapter but more often. At least I will try.
If you see some mistakes don't hesitate and tell me !
See you !
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Chapter 9
She looked at the entrance.
The strange symbols decorating the sides of the 'door' looked a bit like...well it looked as if a bear put its paws in paint then on the door frame. Strange. She wondered if it had an aesthetic purpose or if it was supposed to be some kind of threat for enemies.
She chanced a glance in the cave that -according to Alinor and Sheik -was the Gorons city and hesitated a bit. Last time she entered a cavern, she had been attacked by a mini dragon. She sighed and walked in staying close to the two others.
Sheik said he had to talk to the Goron chief about something important and Alinor and she had supposed it was about Ganondorf and the Princess, maybe they would do some kind of revolution. Of course it could also be that they just wanted some news about the situation in the mountain. One or either. It unnerved her a bit that the young man still didn't want to tell them about his mission, of course they weren't best mates and all but still, they had spent nearly a week climbing here together. She believed they had the right to know at least a few things about him. He hadn't even taken his face mask yet. For someone with a curious nature like hers it was pure torture not to know what his face looked like. Last time she asked he had rudely embarrassed her and she certainly didn't want it to happen again.
However Alinor and her had talked about it a bit when he had been too fast and had left them trailing behind. Each had a different theory : the fairy thought it was a tradition or something like that whereas Sasha firmly believed that he just had something to hide.
But back to the topic, the long corridor was lightened by the outside light -even if it wasn't much as the sun was setting -and by torches that could be discerned at the end of the long path. The walls were smooth as in natural caves when water smooths the rock. They arrived in a huge hall and the girl's breath caught in her throat.
Right before her was an enormous cavern 'built' in circle. Surprisingly it really looked like a city. Just under the mountain. Imagine some kind of troglodyte village on three stories. Torches compensated for the lack of light -and the girl pondered on that fact. Was it really healthy all this dioxide ? Maybe the Gorons didn't mind. She, on the other hand, wasn't sure if it was. She frowned a bit upon noticing she could breathe normally in the city and after a few more second she finally noticed the small holes near the ceiling. They were so discrete that she didn't see them at first but with a bit more prepared look, you could easily spot them. It was clear they were the reason of her non suffocation as they probably were related with the outside and in consequences let the pure air flew in. The walls -that were as smooth as the ones of the corridors -were decorated with symbols and engravings. Not in a subtle way but all in all it was still beautiful.
It probably could have been much more if it wasn't for the large cracks that were running on some of the houses. It looked like something really hard had been throw against the walls and had damaged them. She vaguely noticed that a door had crumbled down forbidden the access to what laid behind and her hands became sweaty as she tried to spot a living being in the cave-village. However she found no one. The heavy silence gave the place an eerie and uncomfortable atmosphere.
She gulped. Something bad had happened here, the rumours Alinor had been talking about earlier were obviously not totally unfound.
It scared her a bit. If the Gorons were as strong as her friend had said what could possibly had happened to left their village like that ? Surely the Guardian couldn't have already killed all of the poor Gorons, right ? She didn't want to believe that she would never meet one. Alinor had told her so much about them it was just IMPOSSIBLE.
« Where do you think they- » she began to ask.
« Quiet girl. » Sheik interrupted her.
Sasha lifted an eyebrow. Should she point out at this rude boy that 'girl' wasn't her name ? Maybe he just forgot it, in that case she should remind it to him. And write it down (we never know, goldfish memory did exist after all) for him. Unfortunately she hadn't enough time to do so as he began to lead them through a maze of corridors and stairs.
« What is he looking for ? There is no one here. » the girl asked softly her fairy.
« I've no idea but I hope we won't stay too long. I have the awful feeling that someone is watching us. » the fairy answered quietly.
The girl looked around wondering once again how people could know if others were watching. But who was she to say that ? She could feel it when Sheik was looking at her after all. By the way she still didn't know how she did that. Not like she did it on purpose but it was here and she couldn't stand not understanding something her own body did. Maybe she should ask him, he would surely know -it was his eye that did it after all.
At this point Sasha had to let go of her thoughts because a strange noise reached her ears. As if a mini bomb had exploited under a cushion. She frowned and turned to her companions.
« Did you hear i- Alinor ? Sheik ? »
She looked around her with a startled expression. She couldn't possibly have lost them. Right ? No certainly not. They were just after this corner. Yeah, that was it. She rounded said corner and re-entered the main hall but on the second floor this time. She frowned and quickly scanned the place but in vain. She didn't saw them.
Sam, Scoobidoo I will never make fun of you ever again.
Pushing the idea of monsters- or whatever gave the impression of being watched to Alinor- away from her mind, she took a deep breath preparing to call out for them not noticing the creature that was creeping behind her.
« Alinooor ?! Shei- What the- AAAAAAH ! »
Her scream echoed in the whole cave so loud that dust fell from the ceiling.
Sheik stopped dead in his tracks and didn't even bother to turn around already knowing that the girl he was supposed to protect wasn't with them anymore. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts he hadn't noticed she was no longer following. What a stupid mistake. Especially since he was thinking of HER. Well not exactly her but her role to play in Hyrule's destiny.
During almost seven years he had to watch Ganondorf destroy his beloved country and terrified its inhabitants. He will never admit it out loud for he had too much respect for the Princess's prophecy but he had began to loose hope. Every day Ganondorf power grew and the Hero still slept. It was alarming. And then the Princess had dreamt. Dreamt of a HER. Someone who could make the difference for as long as Link would not been able to do so. The fact that it was a girl had surprised him at first but nonetheless the word honoured wasn't even closed to describe how he had felt when the Princess asked HIM to be her support in her quest. Not that he would let anyone know. He was a Sheikah after all.
But then he was cruelly reminded that life and fate were unfair : he indeed...met her.
She was probably the strangest creature that had ever walked the holy lands of Hyrule. First was the strange tattoo he had seen on her back when he had to bath her. The Princess had told him that in her dreams the girl had wings on her back but he hadn't exactly expected them to be like that. It wasn't an important detail but it had still unsettled him.
Then, there were her personality and her mood swings. The first few days of their journey to the Goron village had been punctuated with her isolating herself at times, her growls (yes growls !) and complains about nearly everything then a second later her being nice and smiling. He had thought it was because of the heat or something- despite the fact that he was sure the fairy knew something he didn't- but now- for the past three days- she had been nothing but...normal. It was slightly nerve wracking.
To finish there was her surprising luck- or lack of it (it depends on how you see things). As they climbed here she had slipped so many times he had stop counting, she had nearly die by falling off the cliff at least three times. By digging near the pane of the mountain- the Goddesses know why- she had been very near being crushed by a rock. Not forgetting her meeting with a Dogodo that had almost got her and her fairy killed.
He rapidly understood that staying too close to her for too long wasn't healthy even when she wasn't awake. He clearly remembered her trying to bite him and almost succeeding in breaking his nose when he tried to wash her. She obviously didn't remember it herself (even though he had come to have a doubt about it when she tried to crush his ribs on the horse) but she had vaguely regained her consciousness thanks to the cold water and according to the fight she had put up when she had noticed what he was doing ; hadn't appreciated the attention. Thankfully he was much stronger than her and had been able to hold her still before she literally drowned herself in the river.
At least she was a bit street wise. After all she did manage to seal the first Guardian on her own. Granted she almost died but she still did it.
No matter what he said he also had to admit that she was quiet funny. She was desperately clumsy but still didn't want to recognise this simple fact. He often wondered if every girl in her world were the same but strangely also often found himself wishing they weren't.
He shook himself out of his thoughts and with the girl's fairy, turned back on his heels and tried to find her. The fairy took off to the ceiling and tried to spot the girl from up there while he searched traces of her footsteps in the dust of the floor. He had to go all the way back to the second floor before he finally found something. He couldn't believe he had lost her so soon without knowing it. He must have been more engrossed in his musings than he thought. He followed her tracks as they stopped where he deduced she had noticed she was left behind. He saw much larger tracks and frowned. Something had followed her. What deepened his frown was that he was sure those were the prints of a Goron and recent ones. So they were hiding. But why did they take her ?
Muffle baritone voices suddenly reached his piercing ears. Too low for a normal person to hear but he was no normal person for he was a Sheikah. Young compared to the famous Impa but still well trained. In a second he knew where they were.
Sasha desperately struggled against her bindings. Mentally praying for Sheik or Alinor to have heard her cry; she was sort of happy to have finally managed to get a sound out of her damn throat while she was scarred. Even though she would have preferred not be scared in the first place of course. The giant creatures that had captured her had however made sure she didn't emit any other by stuffing a piece of cloth in her mouth so large she would probably suffocate soon. She had been laid on some kind of table with her wrists tied so tight with a cord that her struggles were making them raw but she refused to give up. Sheik would come and once again showing what a super warrior he was, he would kick their rocky ass. They were what ? Ten ? Fifteen ? Er...Yeah ! The fingers in the nose ! And then Alinor would take care of her wrists.
« We can't let her go now ! » One of the beasts said for the umpteen times.
« Brothers, I think he is right, now that we tried to defend ourselves she will tell Ganondorf and he will send us Vul- »
« Don't speak his name » hushed another one as the atmosphere of the room grew fearful.
« Then we will have to kill her. » a third said.
An icy silence rang in the room and her eyes widened considerably. They couldn't be serious ! She hadn't done anything wrong.
« We have no other choice. Go fetch a hammer. We will make her pay for all the others. »
The activity in the piece became hectic as they tried to find the weapon. Her heart stopped before its beats speeded up even more than before. They were about to torture her ? She redoubled her struggles definitely not wanting to die like that. That would teach her wanting to help people who didn't want her aid. She could feel tears built up in her eyes.
« Are you sure ? » a creature said all of sudden.
The room calmed down as everyone turned toward the huge beast that had talked. She looked at him with shining hopeful eyes.
Yes ! Keep on talking little one !
« I mean are we sure she is with Ganondorf ? She could be a simple hylian. »
« Have you seen her ears ? She is no hylian ! Anyway what a human would come here for ? » the Goron put a large hand on his brother's shoulder. « Don't let yourself being fool Akitra, nobody will come to our help. »
« The Chief doesn't believe the same. »
Another heavy silence stretched itself during which Sasha cursed every people in the room- except for Akitra- for deciding to kill her just because of her ears. Suddenly one of her bindings loosened a bit. She stilled.
« The Chief is waiting for Link, as we are all but SHE is not our brother. »
Link ? Their brother ? There must be some kind of mistake. If they were talking about the Link she saw, they had nothing in common. She heard metal ringing against stones and busied herself with the cords once again. One of her hand finally came free and she would have sigh in relief if she had been able. A relatively loud noise echoed in the room making her jump and she turned her head, curious, as she recognised it as the noise that had drawn her attention earlier (you know the mini bomb under the cushion ?).
« Bless you. Be careful with the dust ; don't forget she has friends here. »
A sneeze ?
She raised an eyebrow and a Goron looked at her with hard eyes which then went up to her bindings. He froze upon seeing one of her hands free and she paled pleading him with fearful eyes.
« Brothers ! She is escaping ! »
All heads turned to her and she shook her head trying to deny the obvious comment, not exactly knowing why. The closest creature hurried to her side and pinned her hand back on the table nearly breaking her wrist in the process. She winced in pain and the tears finally escaped her eyes when she saw a Goron coming closer armed with a huge hammer and a determined gaze. She tried to scream but it only came out as muffled whimpers.
He raised it above his head and she was attempting to cower away when the door of the room opened letting light pour in the dark piece. Once again every heads turned to the new trouble makers. She saw the soft pink glow of Alinor next to Sheik. The bright light that was coming from behind him made him look like a real shadow except for his red eyes that was shining. It was terrifying yet she couldn't stop the relieved tears that were sliding down her cheeks.
When the door opened Sheik ran his eyes on every faces in the room until they made contact with the clear grey eyes he was looking for. He didn't know why but when he saw her tears, pain erupted in his chest.
