AN: Hey guys, I just wanted to say thanks again for reading this and I feel bad for not updating as often as I did over the summer. Things are slowing down now so my story should be back on track soon. This story is longer than I thought it was going to be and right now is only almost halfway over. Super special thanks to my followers for sticking around and supporting my story. You're all special to me and I promise to see it to the end for you guys.
Malon made her way through town, there was still debris in the town center that needed clearing out but all the dead had been removed. This was where she felt like her troubles had begun. If whatever had made its way out of the well that night had stayed down below, she would still have Link with her (not Link). She never should have ran from him, she regretted that the most. She reached the edge of town when she heard heavy footsteps behind her. Link, the goron was running after her. "Malon!" He called out, even though he didn't need to get her attention. When he caught up to her, he stopped. "You left without saying anything." He said, "Your dad is sad."
"Link, go home." She told him. "I don't know what's going to happen, and I'm sure there are gorons worried about you back home."
"But I want to go with you." He protested, "I want to go on adventures like my hero."
She still couldn't bring herself to tell him his hero was dead. She still had a hard time saying it to herself. "Go home." She said again sternly. "I can't let you follow me anymore."
The goron child hung his head and turned away, dejectedly. Malon felt a small pang of guilt as she watched him walk away, but she couldn't drag a child into this.
It was still chilly in the late morning and the dew clung to the hem of her skirt, making the fabric heavy and it slapped against her legs, making her skin cold and wet. It was an uncomfortable walk. By mid afternoon she hadn't encountered anyone on the road and she was grateful for that. Although, that really wasn't unusual, no one traveled very much since Ganondorf had usurped the throne seven years ago. The day had significantly warmed but the grass was still wet. Malon made it to the border of the desert by evening.
She saw the scarf she had made waving in the bush like a flag. She untangled it and rolled it up carefully. She looked into the canyon. The stony walls loomed over her menacingly. She knew about the gerudo that lived in the desert but she didn't know what to expect. She stepped under the cool shadow of the canyon, holding her breath.
Sheik had been silent since their confrontation. He had walked ahead. As they were coming in view of the fortress he finally turned around. "We need to be very careful not to be seen from here. The people here don't like outsiders, especially men."
The shadow nodded silently and pulled himself deeper into his cloak. Even though it was unbearably hot, he didn't dare remove it. "Shouldn't we wait until dark then?" He asked.
"That's the plan." Sheik said. "All we have to do is get from where we are now, to right over there." He pointed to a large gate leading out to a massive, barren desert. "Our next destination is beyond that gate."
It looked easy to get lost in and the shadow wondered if Sheik was losing his mind in the desert heat. "You aren't going to tell me what we're looking for out there?" The shadow asked.
Suddenly, the shadow felt something sharp against his back. Looking to his left he saw Sheik with his hands in the air and he put his up as well. That was a mistake. The burning sun against his bare arms made him instantly growl in pain and draw his arms back down. The point dug a little closer to his back with his sudden movement. "Don't move" a very feminine voice ordered. Two more guards came around the corner, both were very beautiful women. Their skin was tan and soft looking, their muscles were well toned, they both had long, red hair and bright yellow eyes. Their coloring reminded the shadow of his creator, these were the Gerudo, a society where a man is born only every one hundred years.
Spears were thrust under both Sheik and the shadow's chins and a woman who was clearly in charge stepped out into view. "What will you have us do with them?" An exceptionally aggressive looking woman with her spear in Sheik's face asked.
The leader raised a lazy eyebrow and examined the two men before her. "The exulted Nabooru is still away. Calm yourself Jillian, for now we will hold them in a cell, like the others." She leaned in close to Sheik and held her fingers under his chin. She looked him in the eyes very closely. "Thought you could sneak in past us? We have guards posted everywhere gorgeous." She winked at him and turned and walked away. The four guards led the two men deep into their fortress and locked them away in a cell.
The shadow could finally throw off his cloak, though the fortress was much colder than the outside. Sheik had his forehead pressed against one of the bars, looking out into the room. The shadow could see his shoulders shaking. "Sheik?" The shadow asked cautiously. The masked man threw his head back and laughed loudly. It was official, he really had lost it.
"I'm sorry." He said. "It's too funny. Here we've come all this way, I was almost at the end, and I'm trapped in a cell, for the crime of being a man!" The shadow must have looked confused at him because he gave another small chuckle and stopped laughing. "No." He said, "You don't get to know why that's funny to me."
They sat down, leaning against opposite walls so they were as far away from each other as possible in the cell. They could see the shadows moving across the floor, indicating the hours passing by. The cold stone against the shadows back wasn't so bad but he still felt the need to draw his cloak around him. From across the cell he could see Sheik had started shivering as the desert cooled down in the evening.
The shadow sighed and begrudgingly stood up and made his way across the room. He sat down next to Sheik and threw the cloak around both of them. He didn't have to do this, he just knew it was the right thing to do. "Thanks" The masked man muttered and pulled the cloak close to himself. The two men leaned against each other on the floor. "The things I said this morning..." He started, "I'm sorry." It sounded like that was hard for him to say. "I've made a lot of mistakes, and I've blamed you for a lot of them and dragged you into fixing them for me. I still hate you, but considering my situation, I should be more humble. You're right, I can't do this without you, and in the shadow temple, you could have left me there to die and you didn't."
"Why?" He asked, "What did I do to make you hate me so much? I didn't even know you!" He was frustrated beyond belief. Sheik was actually trying to be nice and he still couldn't bring himself to just not say 'I hate you'.
"You killed the man I loved." Sheik said straightforwardly. He was looking up into the shadow's eyes. "And you have the audacity to look like him."
"Oh." The shadow mumbled awkwardly and slid himself a couple inches away.
Malon crept towards the fortress. She could see the night guards in the moonlight and she was crouched behind a stack of crates when one passed dangerously close to her. The woman had been pacing around that area for a while, but she was alone. Malon was not weak, she had been doing most of the chores on the ranch for seven years and had built up a considerable amount of strength in the process, however, considering her pregnancy and the fact that the guard had a weapon, she wasn't willing to try her luck in a fight. Malon picked up a large rock and threw it across the yard close enough to the guard to make a noise she would hear but far enough away that Malon could slip past her while she was distracted.
She slipped into the cold, stone fortress and stumbled around momentarily until her eyes got used to the dark. The passages were dimly lit by torches and Malon was afraid her footsteps were echoing to far. "Psst. Hey, over here." She heard an unfamiliar man's voice whisper. She followed the voice. "You're not one of them." He said, "You look different. Me and my fellow carpenters are trapped here in this fortress. Do you think you could let us out?"
"Have you seen a masked man and a shadow around here?" She asked.
"No, but if they're here, chances are they're in a cell. These ladies really hate men. I bet they'd let you join them though. Think you can help us out?"
Malon nodded. "I will try." She promised.