They had set a watch. It didn't help them.

They came early in the morning, it was the middle of the last shift for the watch. They must have known they were there the entire time, just waited for the perfect opportunity. The soldiers on watch had been killed quickly, before they could sound an alarm. The rest of them tied up before they knew what was happening. Dark, not needing sleep, had tried to fight back, but one of them had gotten behind him and managed a solid blow to the back of his head before he could do more than stand.

When Dark comes too it's noon. The sun high in the sky and the shadows nearly nonexistent. He tries to move his arms to shield his eyes from the blazing brightness and finds his hands tied behind his back. Blinking away the glare as best he can, Dark takes in his surroundings. The Gerudo soldiers and himself seem to be tied to posts sunk deep into the sand in a semi-circle. All of them are facing a crumbling platform with cracked and broken mirror and a large black stone slab coming up from the middle of it. Two chains are sunk into the stone on either side and held up by those chains Dark sees Link.

Link pulls at the chains binding her to the black stone. In front of her, just beyond where her toes can stretch is the Master Sword, a taunt left by their captors. The stone against Link's back is like ice, despite everything that says it should not be.

Yiga Clan were scattered around the ruins they were in. Keeping watch over their prisoners and others scouring the area for pieces of the broken mirror. Link had seen them on occasion come over to the mirror in front of her and fir pieces back into the frame of it. It was still missing pieces, holes showing through the obsidian glass. Link wishes she had some clue as to what they were planning. She tugs at the chains again. The Yiga don't even look up at the rattle anymore, secure in the fact she couldn't escape this.

Dark has made a note that the Yiga seem to mostly be ignoring himself and the soldiers. It was irksome to him, but he wasn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth. The shadows may have been small, but they were still there. That meant that Shadow could manipulate them.

With careful concentration, he managed to go down the line of soldiers. Each was bound to their post with simple rope, easy enough to slice through with the limited shadows at his disposal. He was careful to watch the soldiers as their binds loosened, but they seemed to know that at this time it was best to act as if they were still bound.

Unfortunately, he was not capable of freeing Link, there weren't enough shadows near her and the chains would have been a different problem entirely given his distance. It was while he was trying to figure out how to get to Link or free her that some of the Yiga began to move in with what looked like they may have been the last shards of the mirror. One of them stepped forward and drew the attention of the rest as the final shards were placed in the frame.

"Welcome fellows and guests. Today we are in for a treat. The Hero has come to us as a sacrifice to return our Lord Ganon to power. So, it will be that by his blood and the Mirror of Twilight, we will bring our Lord back to this world to bring revenge upon those that cast us aside."

Link's eyes widen as, who she assumes must be, the Yiga Clan's new leader draws a large blade from his back and steps closer to her. She pulls at the chains, straining to reach the Master Sword. The Yiga leader stands before her, the sword held firmly in both hands and prepared for a thrust strike into her gut. The sun was just moving past high noon, casting her into the shadow of the stone slab she was chained to. The Yiga leader makes his move, thrusting the blade forward. Link braces for the pain of being impaled, closing her eyes on reflex.

Instead of the feeling of cold steel running her through there is a loud clang and a thunk that she can feel reverberate from the stone just beside her hip. Opening her eyes, she finds Dark in front of her, sword and shield held in a defensive position, deflecting the large blade of the Yiga.

There was a pause as the Yiga surrounding them tried to register the sudden appearance of someone that should have been tied to a post. Even the Gerudo soldiers seem to pause before springing into action, not having known how they were free, just that they had been.

Link was staring at Dark's back, he was back in his black tunic and floppy hat that she had found him wearing when they first met, as opposed to the Gerudo voe armor he had borrowed from her.

The pause that had hung in their air suddenly broke and Link made a second slash at the Yiga leader in front of him, driving the man back from Link. Using the space afforded to him by that he spins and strikes one of the chains holding Link in place. As the Yiga leader sees what he is doing and makes a lunge at Dark, the shade completes his spin motion and releases a spin attack on the enemy, flinging him back a few steps. Dark is quick to strike at the second chain, freeing Link entirely.

While Dark had been fighting off the leader and freeing Link, the soldiers and Buliara had managed to get the drop on the rest of the Yiga. They took their weapons and had them mostly dealt with, though a few had opted to simply flee from the area, not feeling they stood a chance.

With Dark standing by her side Link bends down and picks up the Master Sword, drawing the blade and holding it out in front of her.

"What! No! How did you get free?" The Yiga leader was looking between Dark and Link, though it was clear his last question was aimed more to Dark.

"Yeah, I'm not going to answer that." Dark slashes at the leader then spins to the side as Link follows in with a second slash, catching him on his unprotected right side. The leader screamed as he was flung back from the strike before righting himself and bringing is large blade to bare.

Before he could do anything else though a blade was at his throat and drew the attention of all three to Buliara and the rest of the Gerudo soldiers now standing around them having dealt with the rest of the Yiga.

"Drop your weapon and surrender."

The Yiga leader looks around him at the soldiers then back to Link and Dark.

"You may have won this time Hero," His sword clangs heavily to the ground. "But we will not rest until we have destroyed you and your precious Hyrule."

The soldiers were quick to bind their prisoner and take him over to where the other Yiga that had been knocked out were. They then proceeded to tie them all up.

"Hey, you ok Hero?"

Dark turns to Link, giving her a concerned look. She just nods to him.

Dark looks around and spots the mirror again. It was fairly complete. Cracks ran through the dark glass and there were a few gaps here and there, but overall it seemed to be intact.

"We need to obliterate that thing."

Link, following Dark's gaze, nods in agreement. "It's dangerous, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It was used at one point to seal Ganondorf, the mortal incarnation of Ganon."

Link looks up at Dark then back to the mirror. "Were you there?"

Dark nods, he remembered the Hero of Time being asked to attend the execution of Ganondorf. It hadn't gone as planned, but they had used the mirror to seal him away. Dark wasn't sure where he was sealed or how the mirror was shattered, but he had a feeling that it being intact would only cause problems.

"How? It was in so many pieces and they reassembled it."

"Shatter it again and haul the pieces to Death Mountain. At the very least the lava will melt everything into a slag."

Link shrugs at that, it wasn't a bad idea. "Just curious, what happened to the armor you were wearing before?"

Dark looks down then glances over to the post he had been tied to. There was a haphazard pile of clothing and armor there. This was also when Dark started to feel the heat. "I'm just going to go change back into that."

It was soon discovered that with their prisoners in tow and their sand seals most likely miles away, the soldiers, Buliara, Link and Dark would have to walk back to the city. The problem with that soon became that they didn't know where the city was.

Link was quick to check for her Shiekah Slate and had found it missing, along with most of her equipment.

"We will help you look, they most likely brought our things with us." Link nods in agreement with Buliara and the soldiers not needed to watch the prisoners or deal with taking apart the mirror are sent to search the ruins around them for their things.

They were eventually found in a sand sledge behind a crumbling wall.

With their equipment restored Link was quick to pull up a map on the Sheikah Slate and point them in the correct direction. Dark was fascinated by the object and was currently examining it while they all walked toward the city.

"This is the thing you used to make that bomb with back in Zora's Domain, isn't it?"

Link gives a small nod, before taking the slate back from Dark and tapping a few things on the screen. Suddenly, there appears a glowing blue bomb in her hand. Unlike last time though Dark does not freak out over it appearance, knowing by now that Link wouldn't blow him up.

"So, what else can this thing do?"

Link dismisses the bomb and then places a finger to her chin. "Well, it has the Magnesis, Stasis, and Cryonis features. They let me manipulate metal objects, stop time, and create a frozen pillar of ice."

Dark studies the item in her hand for a long moment. "That seems helpful."

"It has been." Link then moves it to attach to her hip, securing it in place. "After we get back to the city we'll need to head out for Goron city on Death Mountain."

Dark thinks for a moment on the route that they will have to take. "We going to stop by and check in with the princess on our way?"

Another nod from Link. "We probably should, if only to let her know the Yiga have been dealt with."

The rest of the trip was surprisingly quick, for having to cross a desert, and they arrived at the city as night was falling. Dark looks at the lean to beside the gate with apprehension then to the Yiga Clan that were being led into the city.

"How come they get to go in but I have to stay outside, again?"

With a sigh, Link turns to Dark. "The prison is inside. I'm sure they'd happy to put you in a cell, but I think you may not like that very much."

Dark scowls at the response.

"I shouldn't be long, we can cross the desert to the oasis and stay the night there. I just need to speak with Riju about what happened and let her know we're all safe."

"Can't the soldiers do that?" Dark glares, making a decent point.

Link shrugs. "Sure, but I think she'd be upset with me if I didn't at least see her myself."

"Fine, I'll wait here then." Dark grumbles and heads over to the lean to.