Chapter 29: In the Dragon's Den

The structure looming before the two sisters was a massive, circular building of indeterminable purpose, built with massive ashlar rocks and surrounded by six tall pillars rising high above the main structure, adorned with the Hylian crest of bird and Triforce. Smaller pillars and auxiliary structures surrounded it, all of them deserted and devoid of any proof of habitation, recent or otherwise.

It was the time just after sunrise, when the chill of night had gone, but the scorching heat of the day could not yet be felt, and not even the omnipresent desert wind was blowing at this early hour. This short reprieve from the usually relentless climate combined with the utter stillness of the imposing structure before them made Koume and Kotake feel as though they had stepped out of time, into a strange and insulated place that could not have been many visitors over the centuries.

"Eerie," Koume said as she set foot on the first step leading up to the main entrance. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"How should I know," Kotake replied. "I've never been here. But I doubt there are more buildings like this in the desert. Come on," she said, moved past her sister and climbed the stairs. "We wasted so much time looking for this place, we might as well go in."

"Don't talk like I forced you to come," Koume defended herself as she followed her sister. "You agreed. And besides, it didn't take that much time."

"No, only a damn cold night riding in circles through the darkness until we stumbled across this place by sheer luck."

"Aren't you usually the one telling me to stop complaining?" Koume asked. Kotake snorted and chose not to grace her with an answer.

If she had a good reason against coming here, she would have told me in no uncertain terms, back when I suggested it. She's just complaining for its own sake. Maybe her scar is acting up or something.

They arrived at the door, which seemed to consist of a single stone slab with no visible handle or lock. Kotake began moving her palms up and down the door, probably looking for a more subtle opening mechanism, but Koume decided to be more straightforward. However, knocking at the door with her fists did not only hurt, but also did not make much of a noise, so she made a few steps back, put her hands to her mouth and shouted: "Hello? Anybody at home?"

"No need to give up so soon," Kotake said and ceased her fumblings, looking annoyed. "I would have found a way in if you had just given me a minute or two."

"You think breaking into the home of a man who owns a dragon is a good idea?"

"You and that dragon. It wasn't that big... and not that scary."

"Oh, it was. It definitely was." Koume shuddered. There was no way she was going to be on that green monstrosity's bad side ever again. She wanted to meet the Arbiter, but not without him knowing and instructing his 'pet' to behave.

A minute passed without any signs of life coming from within the large building. Koume shouted again, walking back and forth along the curved wall, and even got her sister to reluctantly join in. But after several more minutes, there was still no answer.

"He's probably taking his cute little dragon for a walk," Kotake said mockingly. "Or he's drilling for water in the inner desert. Or flying through the air chasing mirages." She grinned. "That old man wasn't quite there, if you know what I mean."

"Oh shut up," Koume said. "You agreed to this. And he's bound to know more about magic and stuff than Garanth, or anybody at the oasis." She checked the pouch fastened to her belt for the thousandth time since escaping from Keeptown, just to make sure the Triforce piece was still there. Thankfully, it was. "If anybody knows what this thing is and what exactly we are supposed to do with it, it's him."

"He's still a Hylian," Kotake griped. "How can we trust him?"

"You admitted yourself that he was nice enough when we met him. So either come up with a good reason not to trust him, or be silent."

"Ooh, I'm scared. Not so meek anymore, eh, sister?"

"I was never meek," Koume protested. "You were just overly confrontational." She looked at her sister's leg, where the deep red scar was visible beneath the matching cut in her trousers. "Maybe your near-death experience simply mellowed you a bit."

"In your dreams," her sister snorted. "Now shut up."

"No, you."

"I hate to interrupt this highly intellectual discourse of yours," a man's voice suddenly sounded from above, "but could you please explain why you're making such a ruckus at such an ungodly hour?" The sisters looked up simultaneously, dropping their argument, and saw a man sitting on the outside of a window sill of the highest story. His bare, tanned legs were dangling from below a green, wrinkled robe that was far too short for him, and his long, white hair was unbraided and dishevelled. A deep scowl adorned his leathery face, and he looked like a grumpy, old man who had just been roused from his sleep by a bunch of disrespectful youngsters.

Which is exactly what happened, Koume realized. It's still early in the morning, after all.

"Well? What do you have to say in your defence? Seriously, if all my visitors were as discourteous as you..." His voice trailed off and paused for a second. "Now that I mention it, I don't really get any visitors these days, so I'm willing to forgive your transgression. Now, who do we have here?"

Before either sister could answer, the Arbiter had vanished from his sill and instantly reappeared right in front of them, and Koume noted with satisfaction that neither she or her sister flinched, since they had already been acquainted with the concept of teleportation. The wizard rubbed his sleepy eyes and inspected his would-be guests, and recognition set in almost immediately.

"Ah, you're the young ladies from... uh... from before. How long ago was it again? I'm sorry, I can't be bothered with a calendar, so I often lose track of the days."

Koume noticed her sister stiffening next to her, and remembered that the old wizard's carefree attitude had already angered her when they had first met. She, too, had strong feelings in that regard, but it was not resentment for his carelessness as much as envy for his power. It was a pipe dream, naturally, and not one she had spent much time on ever since their first encounter, but the thought of perhaps learning a bit of magic themselves was extremely attractive.

"It was about ten days ago," she hurried and shot a glance at her sister that said 'don't say anything rash that will put him off! "When you were out with your dragon looking for water."

"Did you actually find water?" Kotake asked in an admirable attempt at small talk.

"No," the Arbiter replied, "not yet. But we've only covered about one thirtieth of the desert so far, so I'm not giving up hope." He was quite pleased that Kotake remembered and took an interest in his project, albeit feigned (which he seemed not to notice). "Progress is going slow, however, because of Ixis. He can be truly energetic when properly motivated, but most of the time he's just sleeping, and even I can't get him to go outside, even if I merely want to take him for a walk." The old Hylian sighed. "He's lazy even for a dragon."

"That's... too bad," Koume said, unsure of her words, since the strange wizard still was an enigma to her. "Maybe you should get a different one?"

"Oh, no, out of the question," the Arbiter said and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "It is not proper to abandon one's pet for such a trifling reason! And besides, dragons have become very rare these days. Whenever a dragon reaches maturity, some misguided hero usually appears out of nowhere and slays him. It really is highly aggravating."

Will somebody think of these poor helpless beasts? The gall of these heroes, Koume thought to herself. But she did not say that out loud, because the Arbiter, while old and eccentric, was clearly far from senile, and would have picked up on her sarcasm immediately.

"But I'm rambling," the Arbiter said and looked at the sisters. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Koume opened her mouth to answer, but he started speaking again and cut her off. "Oh, how discourteous of me! While I can't volunteer my name for reasons of secrecy, and hope that the honorific title your king gave me shall suffice, I have yet to ask for your names, young ladies!"

"I'm Koume," Koume said, and pointed at her sister. "She's Kotake. Don't worry if you mix us up, it happens all the time."

"I'll do my best," the Arbiter said cheerfully. "But I'm forgetting my hospitality. Let's go inside, shall we?" Koume nodded, and the sisters turned toward the heavy stone door, waiting for the wizard to open it for them. The old man gave them a curious look, then understood and shook his head.

"No, we're not going in through there. Don't take me wrong, I'm not above using doors, but just look at this thing! It must weigh a ton. I could blast it away, I suppose, but I'd rather leave the premises intact while I'm borrowing them."

"Borrowing?" Kotake asked. "You didn't build this place?"

"Oh no. The ancient Hylians did, centuries ago. It served as their main base in the desert region, but after the last of the great wars between Hylians and Gerudo, it was abandoned when the Hylians withdrew all of their forces."

Koume knew almost nothing about history, nor did her sister, but that did not prevent Kotake from exclaiming: "Ha! I guess our ancestors showed them what's what!" The Arbiter, however, shook his head.

"Actually, the old Gerudo suffered a decisive defeat. But for some reason, the Hylians withdrew from the desert after their final victory and never again bothered to return."

"Yes, they were satisfied with containing us in the desert," Kotake spat.

"What didn't they ever come back?" Koume asked.

"An excellent question," the Arbiter said. "But to be painfully honest, I cannot answer it, since I did not bother learning many details about history before my exile. I acquired a bit of an interest after moving in here, but the Gerudos' tradition of oral history only dates a few generations back, so there wasn't much to learn for me in that regard."

"What do you know about our traditions?" Kotake asked suspiciously.

"No need to get suspicious, Lady Kotake," the Arbiter said, "I am not spying on your people. All the knowledge I have about you stems from the time I was asked to arbitrate between your two princes, and I took the opportunity to have several nice, long chats with your tribe's elders."

"Oh. Yes. That time," Kotake remembered and fell silent.

"How did you do that, anyway?" Koume asked. "I mean, convincing Astalor to let Garanth become king, even though he was the older brother."

"I'm sorry," the Arbiter said firmly, "but I am honour-bound to exercise strict discretion on that matter. But it wasn't very exciting, so I doubt you would even be interested. Oh, and I assure you that there was absolutely no mind control of any sort involved."

"We weren't implying anything," Koume said quickly. "No offence."

"None taken," came the Arbiter's friendly reply. "But I'd really prefer to continue our conversation inside, so if you would prepare yourselves?" The twins glanced at each others, and both knew that he was going to teleport them again. Koume noted that her sister even seemed to look forward to it, intrigued by the old man's powerful magic as much as she was.

We really have to ask him to teach us one of these days. In a roundabout way, of course.

They sisters nodded at the wizard, and with a small gesture of the Arbiter's hand, their surroundings changed instantly and completely. Koume found that it was much less disorienting when one was prepared, and immediately looked around. They were in a large rectangular room inside the building, generously illuminated by the sun's beams shining in through a window. The stone walls were lined with shelves upon shelves of books and nothing else, except for a writing desk and a huge armchair situated in the very centre of the room.

It looks like one would imagine a wizened wizard's study, Koume thought. Much tidier than that of the Sheikah woman.

"You were sleeping... in here?" she heard Kotake's surprised voice.

"No, this is my library," the Arbiter replied. "My bedroom is next door." He looked down his own body with a critical expression on his face. "In fact, I seem to be still in my sleeping robes. Allow me to go and change. Feel free to look around." Without waiting for the twins' answer, the wizard left them, using the wooden door at the far end of the room like a normal person.

"He's his usual charming self," Kotake mumbled, but her sister did not reply. Instead, she snatched a random volume from the closest shelf and opened it. Although she dared not have hoped for something along the lines of 'Magical Self-Training for Beginners', she still was disappointed when she found that the book was completely in Hylian letters, as were, upon further inspection, all the others.

Of course they would be. He's a Hylian, after all. What a shame...

"Damn it! It's all in Hylian," she heard Kotake say, and smiled inwardly when she realized that her sister had had exactly the same intentions as her. "Maybe he'll read it to us, if we ask nicely," she replied, which only earned her a critical frown from Kotake. "Don't get your hopes up," she said as though she had not shared the same hopes, "the books probably aren't even about magic."

"About a third of them are, actually," the Arbiter's voice suddenly came from the direction of the door, which made both of the sisters flinch and almost drop their respective books. "Why, are you interested in learning magic?" he continued as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him. "Is that why you came here?"

Koume looked at the Arbiter, surprised that he had already returned, and told herself to calm down; after all, they had been allowed to look around. He was wearing sandals now, as well as a beige robe that did not look much different from the first, except that it was longer and actually reached down to his feet. He had also combed and braided back his hair, which made Koume realized how unkempt she and her sister must appear in comparison after days of travelling, hiding, almost dying, more hiding, and more travelling.

"You... you would allow that?" Kotake asked incredulously.

"I have had many students of magic in the past," the Arbiter said and walked past the sisters, moved his armchair so it faced them, and sat down. "I believed – and I still believe – that magical knowledge should be spread, because it can be used for great good. Great evil, too, of course, and I am always concerned about that. But it is only when one approaches a certain power level that the dangers outweigh the benefits." He folded his hands and looked intently at the sisters. "Which is to say, I'm not opposed to teaching you, and I might actually find it enjoyable, like I used to."

This is great! Who could have thought he'd be so-

"However!" The Arbiter lifted a finger, interrupting Koume's internal jubilations. " I have made it my ironclad rule to never teach anybody without getting to know them first. Judge their character, you know. After all, magic can be used to heal as well as to hurt."

"I see," Kotake said coldly. "It's because we're Gerudo. We can't be trusted with the Hylian secrets of magic."

"No, no, absolutely not!" the Arbiter protested. "I have left such concepts as race behind me decades ago. As I said, it's a rule that applies to everyone, and has always applied to everyone, Hylians, Sheikah or otherwise." He cocked his head. "Of course, you two would be the first 'otherwise', but..."

"Actually, that isn't really why we're here," Koume interrupted him. "I mean, not the main reason, at least." I have to change the topic, or Kotake is going to say something to anger him. "We wanted to show you something and ask your opinion about it." Kotake glared at her, her unreasonable suspicions against the Arbiter reignited, but Koume was the one holding the cards, and she would stick to the original plan. Ignoring her sister's stare, she produced the Triforce piece from her pouch and held it in front of the Arbiter's face. "Do you know what this is?" she asked.

"It's certainly shiny," the wizard replied immediately and leaned forward in order to take a closer look at it. "It looks like enchanted gold, but-" He stopped in mid-sentence, opened his mouth wide and leapt out of his chair. Without thinking, Koume jumped backwards in reflex, and Kotake stepped in between them with one of her sabres drawn and pointed at the Arbiter. But instead of backing off, the old wizard seized the sabre at its tip with his right hand, performed a quick gesture with his left, and Kotake screamed when the blade's metal instantly turned red-hot, melted and dripped off the hilt to the ground, where it left a steaming puddle of rapidly cooling liquid iron. The Arbiter, too, screamed and withdrew his terribly burnt and disfigured hand.

Koume jumped to her sister's side as soon as she had registered what had happened and seized her hand. Kotake had dropped the charred wooden hilt almost instantly, but her hand, too, had been burnt, though nowhere near as badly as the Arbiter's, and she clenched her teeth and hissed in pain when Koume took a closer look at it.

Why do you have to be so protective! He wasn't going to take it, he was just surprised! Damn it, what now? How do I treat this wound?

A soft green light suddenly illuminated the room, and Koume looked up to see the Arbiter pressing his palms against each other. The light was emanating from his healthy hand and expanded around its ruined counterpart. After a few seconds, it faded again, and when the Arbiter raised his completely restored hand, Koume realized that she had witnessed healing magic at work once again, but this time, much more potent than the one contained in the Sheikah woman's spellsphere.

"My sister!" she pleaded with the wizard. "Help her, too!"

Without words, the Arbiter nodded, stepped forward and seized Kotake's burnt hand. Her sister shied away from him, but Koume grabbed her shoulders and held her in place long enough for the Arbiter to cast his spell a second time, with the same resounding success as with the first application. Koume breathed a prolonged sigh of relief and, after making sure that Kotake was not about to do something reckless again, stumbled forward and collapsed in the Arbiter's armchair, closing her eyes.

This is just too much. I want to get back to stealing from Hylian farmsteads again.

"Pardon me, Lady Kotake," she heard the Arbiter speak, "but I must insist that you do not point any more sharp objects at me. You see, even at my age, my reflexes are still good, and I wouldn't want to seriously injure you by accident." His voice sounded utterly unshaken by the rapid series of events, and even went so far as to giggle slightly. "When I told you that magic could both hurt and heal, I wasn't planning on a demonstration like this. No hard feelings, I hope."

"No... hard feelings?" Kotake whispered incredulously.

"Splendid!" the Arbiter said, misunderstanding her. "Now, to get back to the topic at hand..." Koume opened her eyes and saw that he had turned around and was standing before her. "I wasn't actually going to take it without asking. So, could you let me have a look at this for a short time? I promise I'll give it back to you."

In her current state, Koume probably would have handed the Triforce piece over to Darion if only he had asked her nicely, so she stretched out her hand that was still clenched around it, opened her fist and allowed the wizard to take the golden triangle. Kotake hissed, but made no sudden movement against the Arbiter, having learned her lesson well. Holding it with three fingers, the wizard raised it in front of his eyes and inspected it closely for a minute. Then, to Koume's shock, he repeated the same hand gesture he had used to destroy Kotake's sabre, but the Triforce piece did not even glow slightly, let alone melt. The Arbiter pursed his lips and nodded to himself, then directed his attention to his visitors once again.

"If this had been made from gold, as it looks like, that spell would have turned it into a puddle on the floor," he said flatly. "Therefore, I conclude that it is what I think it is."

"So you know about it," Koume said. "I had hoped you would."

"To think that it could be split into pieces... I assume there are three of them, yes? But the individual pieces have no power of their own, or I would have felt its approach long before you arrived on my doorstep."

"So it is true?" Koume asked while she manoeuvred her sister, who was still in a dazed state, into the now empty armchair in spite of her weak protests. "These triangles, when brought together, give the owner the power of a god."

"Which is why it is the most closely-guarded secret in the kingdom of Hyrule." The Arbiter frowned and looked at the two sisters again. "I wonder how you got your hands on it?"

"It's a long story," Koume said quickly, unsure whether the wizard's loyalties still lay with his own kind, even though he had protested that notion before. "Let's just say that Hyrule is in turmoil right now, and this thing kind of... fell into our laps."

"Fell into your laps?" the Arbiter asked and raised both eyebrows. "That's hard to believe, considering the security measures that were in place last time I checked. Which was twenty years ago, but still. That must be some pretty big turmoil." Koume was wary to provide any more detail, and to her relief, the Arbiter did not request any. It seemed as he had lost any interests in the affairs of his homeland long ago. "So what do you plan to do with it?" he asked.

"To be honest, we don't know."

"You could try to re-assemble it and make a bid for absolute power," he suggested.

"Uh... yes. The thought has crossed my mind." The thought had not, in fact, crossed Koume's mind, since any attempt to gather the remaining Triforce pieces would have required them to kill Darion, and she did not plan to get anywhere near the mad prince in the foreseeable future.

"Of course, now that I know about your plans, you have to kill me, don't you?"

What the hell? Is he joking? Koume asked herself, and was relieved when the Arbiter grinned and shook his head. There's no way I'm going to try and kill this guy. I value my life, thank you very much.

"I jest, of course. As do you. If that was truly your intention, you would not have come here and created a security risk by telling me. The simple truth is that you are in it way over your head, and have no idea what to do with it. Perhaps you're even being pursued?"

The sisters had anticipated pursuers, naturally, and taken measures to throw them off their track. Once they had entered the desert, there was no way anybody could follow their trail, so Koume considered herself safe. At least until Darion led an entire army into the desert to get back what he thought belonged to him.

"There's somebody after us, after the Triforce," Koume admitted, "and we don't want him to have it. And we thought, since you're a wizard, you know what to do with it. Maybe destroy it?"

"Destroying it is not in my power, I'm afraid," the Arbiter said. "Of course you could always just throw away somewhere in the sand, never to be found again... but that wouldn't protect you from your pursuers, because they'd believe you still have it. My, what a predicament."

Yes, now that I think about it... we have given Darion a reason to go to war against the Gerudo. Garanth was right: We are troublemakers.

"So why don't you keep it?" Kotake suddenly said from her chair, having recovered from her shock. "You knew the Triforce existed, so you obviously never had the motivation to go and get it yourself. And you're a powerful wizard – you can defend yourself against Da... against our pursuer."

Actually, I was about to make that suggstion. And I expected you to protest against simply giving it away. He must have made an impression on you, sister.

"Even the most powerful wizard can be easily done in by a knife to the heart, or a blow to the head," the Arbiter said sagely and took a musing look at the Triforce piece that was still in his hand. "But I have always feared that something like this might happen... that strife might some day erupt over the ownership of the Triforce. Maybe that's why I left," he said in a reminiscing tone. "I didn't want to be there when things went to hell, like it sounds they did. Quite a cowardly act, if you think about it."

"No need to feel ashamed," Kotake said. "That's how everyone is. Concerned about their own safety, I mean."

"Ah, but you don't know!" the Arbiter exclaimed. "In a way, the Triforce is my responsibility, because it was I who discovered the portal to the Sacred Realm, and the temple that housed the Triforce."

"You did?" both sisters asked simultaneously.

"I did," the Arbiter nodded. "I wasn't much older than you back then, and the youngest member of the Seven Sages in recorded history. Quite eager to please, too, and so I told the king about my discovery. If I had hidden or even collapsed the portal instead, then that 'turmoil' currently happening in Hyrule – and I have a feeling I don't even want to know the sordid details – could have been prevented."

"So you would keep the Triforce piece?" Koume asked. "Or at least help us defend it against our pursuers?" The thought of the Arbiter's powerful destructive magic being brought to bear against Darion warmed her heart.

"I will consider it," the old wizard said. "But even though I'm an exile, I must learn more about what happened in Hyrule. Until I make my decision, please take it back into your care." He handed the Triforce piece over to Koume, who accepted it without objection and put it back into her belt pouch. "So yeah, about what's going on in Hyrule..." she said, and promptly hesitated. "Actually, we don't even know that much about it, just bits and pieces we overheard."

"It's not pretty," Kotake interjected. "Conspiracies, torture, murder, war – the whole shebang."

"From the beginning, please," the Arbiter said, at least outwardly unmoved. "Everything you know, that is."

But before either sister could speak up, the door to the library was thrown open and a skeleton walked into the room.

Wait, what?

"Help! I need help!" the skeleton spoke – yes, it was actually speaking, Koume realized, and with an almost ordinary-sounding voice, too. "Please, help me."

"What is this thing?" Kotake shouted and rose from the armchair, but seemed hesitant to draw her remaining sabre. Koume, too, chose not to do anything rashly – after all, the Arbiter was powerful enough do defend all three of them if it came to that.

It must be a Stalfos Knight. It's wearing a helmet, and there's a sword on its back! But I thought they only existed in stories...

"To think that we would be joined by another visitor," the Arbiter said calmly, as if the new arrival was at all comparable to the flesh-and-blood Gerudo sisters. "I haven't had any guests in years, and they're almost piling up today."

"Please, I beg of you," the Stalfos continued to plead, "before I succumb to his orders! You must... no." If a skull could look bewildered, then this one certainly did now. "It can't be! It's you!"

"Have we met before?" the Arbiter asked. "I don't usually associate with the undead – not out of prejudice, mind you. You could say I don't usually associate with anybody. Regardless, you-"

"Sage Mudora! It's you, isn't it?"

Turning his head ever so slightly, the Arbiter made a step forward and suspiciously eyed the tall skeleton in front of him. "I haven't been called by that name in twenty years," he said. "Who are you?"

The Stalfos laughed; a strange, sorrowful sound that would have been unnerving even if it had come from a living throat. "Of course you don't recognize me," he said. "I am General Belemor, commander of the Hylian army. We met many times at the court of King Artaxis." His panicked voice returned before the Arbiter could even answer. "But there's no time for this! I beg of you, as a fellow Hylian! Kill me, please!"

"Aren't you already dead?" Kotake asked, which Koume found very tactless. Even though neither of them knew anything about proper etiquette concerning the undead, this one was clearly wrecked with some deep sorrow.

Wait, I'm empathizing a bit too fast. I mean, he died already. How much worse can it get?

"General Belemor?" the Arbiter asked. "Now that you say it... your voice sounds familiar. And that helmet proves it, too. Yes, I remember. You died in combat years before I left the Keep. How did you-"

"There is no time for that!" the Stalfos general shouted. "I am slave to a cruel master now, and I can't delay his orders for long!"

"Yes," the Arbiter nodded absent-mindedly, "That's the predicament of all Stalfos, to obey the one who raised them, until that person dies. But there's no reason for despair, my friend. There might be a way to release you from the invisible chains that bind you. I read about it in a book, but I never had the opportunity to test it." He turned around and walked to the closest shelf. "I think it was somewhere around here... or was it over there?"

The skeletal general opened his mouth, but no sounds escaped. Instead, he sank to his knees and looked pleadingly at Kotake, then her sister, as if he expected them to fulfill his request where the Arbiter would not. Before Koume could seriously consider it, he was pressing both of his hands against his skull, as if he was suffering from a severe headache.

Do skeletons even feel pain? This is all so bizarre.

"I think it was in this one... damn, why doesn't it have an index?" The Arbiter had taken a book from its shelf and was now skimming through the pages with his back turned to his visitors. "I'm sorry, general, this might take a couple of minutes."

"Can't... no time. Please..." Koume could barely understand the Stalfos whispering to himself, but his desperate tone upset her. She exchanged concerned looks with Kotake, but both sisters kept a respectful distance from the skeleton. Then, without warning, he rose to his feet, drew his large sword, leapt forward and struck at the Arbiter from behind. The blow connected to the old man's head, and he collapsed immediately, without even knowing what had hit him. Koume shrieked in horror, but drew her sabres even as she did so.

"I didn't kill him," the Stalfos said with audible relief, then turned around to face the Gerudo sisters. Indeed, Koume saw, there was no blood around the motionless body, which meant the undead fiend must have used the flat side of his blade to knock the Arbiter out. She wondered whether it had happened by accident or intentionally, but had no time to wonder.

"You! You are the ones! The Gerudo thieves!" the skeleton said and made a step toward them.

"Bah! Even dead Hylians are prejudiced against us!" Kotake spat out and moved to Koume's side, pointing her remaining sabre at the Stalfos. Actually, we are thieves, Koume wanted to say, but found it too silly; after all, a random reanimated skeleton could not possibly know about–

"Darion!" Koume shouted when realization struck her. "He sent him after us!"

"He even commands the dead?" Kotake asked with a hint of fear.

"You have the Triforce piece! Give it to me! You have to!" The Stalfos' words clearly confirmed Koume's theory. "I don't have to kill you if you give it to me!"

"Ha, nice try," Kotake mocked his pleas and looked at Koume. "We're taking him down!" she said and lunged at the skeletal warrior, who deftly parried her sabre with his broadsword. His strike was strong enough to send Kotake reeling back, which forced Koume to jump in and take the heat off her sister by attacking the Stalfos from the side.

How can he be so strong? He doesn't even have any muscles! That's magic for you, I guess.

Koume managed to stab their opponent's side with her right sabre, and the blade entered his ribcage, piercing the empty air in his chest cavity. Yeah, great success, she thought as she staggered forward, unbalanced by the force of her own thrust that would have absorbed by the enemy's flesh, if only he had had any flesh. She managed to regain her balance before colliding with the Stalfos, but her right sabre had been stuck between its ribs and she had to abandon it when the enemy swung his sword at her in a wide arc that would have mutilated her if she had not pulled back her hand quickly.

The only way to hurt him is to sever the bones of his limbs, Koume thought and gripped her remaining sabre with both hands. We can't crack the skull because of that garish helmet. And it even has a neckguard so we can't cut off the head, either. She got a glancing hit in at the Stalfos' upper arm when he turned around to swing at Kotake again, but the angle of impact was way off, and so she merely left a scratch on the yellowed bone.

"Don't give up!" Kotake encouraged her while dodging a massive blow targeted at her. "We can defeat him!"

"Please give the Triforce piece to me!" the Stalfos shouted pointlessly. "Or I will take it from you! I was ordered to!"

"So what?" Koume asked. "Don't you have a mind of your own? I mean, what's in that skull of yours, air?"

"You don't understand! The magic is making me move on my own! I can't stop myself!"

Controlling someone's body against their will? The notion was indeed terrible, and Koume sympathized; not that it changed the fact that she was fighting for her life. Darion really knows no limits. Even if I ever learned magic, I wouldn't do something like that in a hundred years!

"If you don't give it to me, then kill me!" the Stalfos yelled with a desperate voice that sounded very strange coming from an ancient skeletal warrior. "Please, kill me! I beg of you!"

"I'd love to kill you," Koume said and tried to cut off the Stalfos' right arm, but missed when he span around to parry a strike from Kotake. "But it would be so much easier if you would just hold still!"

"Kill me," the Stalfos whimpered, ignoring Koume's entirely reasonable request. "Please..." His voice trailed off, and he continued to attack the sisters with all his unnatural strength. Even though they were coming at him from two different directions, they could scarcely take advantage of that, since their surroundings were rather unsuitable for close-quarters-combat: More than once, Koume's sabre got stuck in one of the wooden shelves, and she had to temporarily abandon it until her sister distracted the Stalfos long enough for her to pull it out. Not to mention the Arbiter's unconscious body was still lying in front of one of the shelves, where he was in constant danger of being stepped on or even hit by accident.

"We should move the fight somewhere else," Koume shouted to her sister, and Kotake nodded in agreement. She nimbly circled around the Stalfos after dodging one of his thrusts and joined her sister who was closer to the door. They quickly slipped through the frame, threw the door shut and turned the key. They had entered a narrow corridor that was just as unsuitable for fighting as the library had been, but there was no going back now.

"Which direction?" Koume asked between two hurried gasps, enjoying a short reprieve as the Stalfos banged against the door from the inside.

"Doesn't matter," Kotake replied, and Koume chose the left side since the next corner was closer there. She came to regret that choice when, an instant later, a huge armored boar with a spear turned around that same corner and looked at the sisters with a surprised smile.

"Hello there!"

"W-what kind of freak show is this?" Koume shouted in disbelief. The boar ignored her insult and lowered his spear while still smiling. "Where's the boneman?" he asked and advanced toward the sisters. "You better not killed him!"

"Come on!" Koume heard her sister's voice, and, shaking off her surprise, followed Kotake back into the opposite direction. They had just passed the locked door to the library when the Stalfos' broadsword tore through the wood and came uncomfortably close to impaling Koume.

"Don't stop!" Kotake yelled and raced down the corridor, away from the armored boar. "This is our chance!" Without asking what she meant, Koume followed her sister, and only realized upon turning her head that the large sword acted as a temporary barrier against their pursuer. Strangely enough, he seemed happy to see the Stalfos and even helped him cut down the splintered remains of the door. "Boneman!" his voice echoed through the corridors as the sisters took a corner. "Time to hunt!"

"What's a Moblin doing here?" Kotake asked, though clearly not expecting her sister to come up with an answer.

Moblins! Yes, that's what they're called. But I thought they only existed in... wait, I already thought that once today.

The fleeing sisters passed several closed doors, but ignored them, since any of them could have led into a windowless room that would have been a death trap for them. After another turn, they reached a spiral staircase leading up, and although they would rather have gone toward the ground story where the exit must be, Koume and Kotake had no choice but to follow the stairs.

"Are they even following us?" Koume asked. "Not that I'd take the chance to-"

"Little girls! Are you still there?" the Moblin's enthusiastic shout echoed from below them. "We get you now!"

"There's your answer," Kotake said and laughed wryly. "At least one of them is enjoying himself."

They followed the staircase for at least two stories' worth, until it suddenly ended in an inconspicuous stone door that, for one heart-stopping moment, looked like an immovable part of the wall. There was a lever next to it, and before Koume could point it out, Kotake had already pulled it, and the door slowly opened to a large, badly lit room. As soon as the opening was wide enough, the sisters slipped through it. The first thing Koume noticed was the sand beneath their feet, but a short glance at the high ceiling told her that they were not outside, but at the bottom of a large, circular pit with unscalable stone walls

"Damn it, there's no lever on this side," Kotake cursed. "We can't close it."

"Then we have to go forward," Koume said and made another step on the sand. Suddenly, a soft yellow light suffused the cavernous room and illuminated it, perhaps triggered by her movement. It came from no discernible source, and was probably magic in origin, considering who lived in this building. There was nothing in the room except sand and more sand. And a large, green dragon whose familiar red eyes turned toward the two arrivals as soon as there was enough light to see.

"You've got to be kidding me," Koume said under her breath and turned around on the sport, since she would rather face the Stalfos and the Moblin than fight that green monstrosity again.

"Wait!" Kotake shouted and seized her hand. "It knows us already! It's not going to hurt us!"

"Th-that's a bit of a gamble, don't you think?"

"Come on," her sister said and pulled at Koume's hand. "Don't walk too fast, or it'll feel threatened."

"It will feel threatened? How about us?" Koume asked, but allowed herself to be dragged toward the centre of the room, where the dragon's large body was coiled up. "We probably woke it up," she whispered, "and it's not going to like that." She almost shrieked when the dragon lifted its horned head, rose to its feet and made a step toward them.

"Hello there, boy," Kotake said with an unusually sweet voice. "Ixis, wasn't it? There are bad people following us. How about you eat them?"

This is crazy! That thing is not going to listen to her!

The dragon made another step, then lowered its head again until it was level with the sisters and sniffed, drawing in huge amounts of air through its nostrils.

"That's right. You know that smell, don't you? Your master told you we're nice people, didn't he?" Kotake approached the dragon and actually touched its lower jaw with her hand, and at this point, Koume had to turn around: She did not want to see her sister's head getting bitten off, or whatever the dragon might do to her.

I wonder where our pursuers are... ah, there they come.

Koume watched the Moblin and the Stalfos enter through the stone door and promptly freeze in their tracks at the sight of the dragon. The Moblin looked particularly surprised, and his small eyes almost seemed to fall out of his skull.

Yeah, you better be scared! At least as scared as I am.

"When I was little..." the Moblin spoke, and he sounded close to choking up. "My biggest dream was... a fight with a real dragon!"

He's completely insane. Even for a Moblin.

"Boneman! Get the triangle!" the Moblin shouted and pointed his heavy spear in Koume's general direction. "I take the dragon!" The Stalfos obeyed, incapable of refusing, and ran toward the sisters, while the Moblin made a wide right turn toward the dragon's tail.

"Ha!" Kotake shouted eagerly. "So it's us against him again, and we have enough room in here. Let's finish him!"

Koume disliked the idea of letting the Moblin out of their sight, but she trusted that, if he attacked the dragon, he would at the very least be occupied, and hopefully get himself killed in the process, too. The sisters spread out, moving nimbly on the sand that covered the floor and forced the Stalfos to pick a target.

He chose Kotake, and Koume approached him from behind while his sister kept him busy. But the Stalfos, too, took advantage of the large room, or rather, the high ceiling: After forcing Kotake to leap back in order to dodge his strike, the skeleton jumped backwards, high into the air, and landed behind Koume, who spun around on the spot in order to face him. She heard Kotake's cursing voice, now behind her, and fell back in order to reunite with her.

"I didn't know he could jump that high," Koume said when she reached her and the Stalfos came close again, swinging his sword wildly in an attempt to hit at least one of them. Kotake jumped sidewards and opened her mouth, but her remark was drowned out by the dragon's loud scream. Koume's head turned almost automatically, and she saw the the Moblin had actually managed to thrust his spear into the dragon's tail and wound him, even if only lightly. The tail lashed out at him, but missed, and its owner slowly turned around to attack the Moblin with its forward claws. The Moblin was faster, though, and slipped through beneath the dragon's legs and took a jab at its soft underbelly, but it proved too high for him too reach.

Come on, kill him! Crush him! Burn him! Koume cheered the dragon on, at least in her mind, when she was interrupted by her sister's annoyed yelling.

"Will you stop gaping and help me?"

Koume turned around and saw Kotake once again engaged with the Stalfos, who was giving her real trouble now that she was facing him alone. "Sorry!" she replied and resolved not to be distracted again, no matter what happened to the dragon or the Moblin, and dashed toward the Stalfos to relieve her sister. But once again, the skeleton made a huge leap backward and landed behind Koume just before she could cut off his thighbone.

Does he have eyes on his back?

Come to think of it, he doesn't have any actual eyes. So he probably has some sort of magical sight. I think I'd rather fight the Moblin. Ixis roared again behind her, furious and maybe even in pain, possibly injured again, but Koume held fast to her promise not to turn around. Then again, maybe not, if he's even giving a dragon trouble.

After another jump, the Stalfos landed almost exactly in the middle between Koume and Kotake. Both sisters charged at him while he remained still, only turning his head once, and then jumped again when they were almost upon him. Koume gasped when she realized that they were about to impale each other, and threw herself to the side on the ground, and Kotake managed to leap over her without stumbling, and held off the skeleton's renewed attacks until Koume was standing again.

Gods, are we stupid or what? That was, like, the oldest trick in the book.

Perhaps encouraged by his ability to confuse the sisters, the Stalfos jumped through the air with increasing frequency, covering greater and greater distances, sometimes immediately leaping back to the spot where he had just come from; apparently, magically raised skeletons could not get dizzy. All the while the Moblin continued to fight the dragon in the other half of the pit, happy like the proverbial pig in the mud, taunting his opponent and, judging from the dragon's roars, occasionally getting a hit in. It was as though there was an invisible line dividing the pit in two half-circles, since none of the combatants ever ventured into the others' half, if only not to further confuse the already chaotic fight.

We only have to delay until the Arbiter wakes up, Koume thought. He'll make short work even of those two. The Stalfos made a daring aerial attack, pointing his sword down at her while descending, but she sidestepped it and counterattacked; but before she could hit the skeleton, was was already airborne again.

But he got hit pretty hard. He might be out for hours, if he hasn't been – no, you can't kill a wizard that easily!

After a few more minutes of running around, chasing after the Stalfos and guarding against sudden aerial attacks, Koume was thoroughly sick of this spectacularly stupid way of fighting, and began to wonder why their enemy insisted in jumping all over the place. Why not jump on the dragon's neck instead and cut it? Not that she wanted him to do that, of course, but it would have made much more sense.

But he can't fight the dragon, she realized. He was ordered to get the Triforce piece from us, and he has to obey that order.

Which still doesn't explain why he can't seem to stay on the ground. I mean, he wants us to kill him, right? Why doesn't he sabotage himself just a little bit?

After jumping in the air for what must be the hundredth time now, The Stalfos descended toward Kotake, who quickly moved away from the spot where he would land, like both sisters had been doing for a while now. This time, however, the Stalfos surprised both of them by throwing his sword toward the spot where Kotake would end up, which made her reflexively jump back – right back to where the Stalfos now landed. With his momentum, he knocked Kotake on the pit's sand floor and pinned her down with his arms so that she was unable to move or strike against him and was reduced to cursing at him.

"Kotake!" Koume shouted and dashed toward her, but the Stalfos moved too fast for her: He twisted Kotake's right wrist, which made her scream in pain and drop her sabre, then seized her by the collar and rose, pulling her up with him. Before Koume could reach them, he had her in a secure grip again, with one bony arm around her neck.

"Don't move!" he shouted, and Koume obeyed instantly. "Good. I'll break her neck if you make another step toward me."

Damn him! That was his plan all along, to lull us into complacency with his jumping antics. Oh, Kotake, don't do anything stupid! Don't fight back!

"Which one of you has the Triforce?" the Stalfos asked, his demand punctuated by a pained howl when the Moblin was hit and injured by one of the dragon's claws; but they could as well have been fighting at the other end of the desert for all the attention Koume payed them now that her sister was in mortal danger.

"Who has it?" he repeated. "Answer me!"

"I... I have it!" Koume replied.

"Don't talk to him!" Kotake admonished her. "Attack! He lost his sword!"

"Give it to me now!" the Stalfos called out to Koume. "This is your last chance."

"Don't do it!" Kotake cried. "He'll kill me anyway!"

"Be silent, woman!" the skeleton barked at her and tightened his grip around her neck. "I'm trying to save your life!" He looked at Koume again. "Don't you two get it? I don't want to kill you! What reason should I have?"

"He ordered you!" Koume shouted and pointed at the Moblin who had buried his spear in the dragon's thigh and was now holding on to the shaft, laughing like crazy, while the dragon tried to throw him off between furious roars.

"He ordered me to get the Triforce piece," the Stalfos corrected Koume, "but he said nothing about killing you. So if you hand it over, I can let you escape!" His voice sounded pleading again, like back then when he had begged the sisters to kill him. "If you can't save my soul by killing me, at least save yourselves and surrender the Triforce!"

"But we can't!" Koume shouted. "It's-"

"Is it worth more than her life?" the Stalfos cut her off.

"No," Koume replied instantly. "If you put it like this, then no. It's not." She realized that there was only one thing she could do, and loosened the pouch containing the Triforce piece from its belt. Kotake, too, seemed to have come to the same conclusion, for she did not raise any more protest.

You could have said "Don't let him get away with this, even if he kills me!" Koume thought as she removed the Triforce piece from its pouch. But, neither of us is the type to say that, isn't that right? And why should we. It's not like the world ever did us a favour.

Koume hesitated slightly when she remembered Darion, and what he might do with the 'power of the gods' when he got it. Then she realized that this would only be the second piece in his possession. Let the Zora or whoever bleed and die to stop him from getting the third. We've done enough.

"Put down your weapon and come here, then give it to me. Don't run." The Stalfos extended his left arm, while keeping the right around Kotake's neck, and Koume obeyed, parting from the Triforce piece without regret.

"Good. Don't worry, I'll let her go soon," the skeleton said and dragged Kotake along with him to where his sword lay, picked it up and released his grip. Taking no chances, Kotake immediately broke away from him and rejoined Koume, who refrained from embracing her only because the situation was still deadly serious.

"I have it!" the Stalfos shouted out loud without turning his back to the twins. The Moblin, who was fighting on the ground again, still somehow keeping a creature twenty times his size at bay with a single spear, heard him and shouted something in confirmation. He took a final jab at the dragon's eyes when it lowered its head to bite him, missed, and then raced along the pit's circular wall while pulling his spear alongside, dragging a shower of sparks behind him and laughing and grunting like a maniac. The dragon, visibly surprised by his sudden disengagement, did not give pursuit.

"Why are you still here, you fools?" the Stalfos asked fearfully when he saw Koume and Kotake retrieve their sabres. "If he orders me to kill you, I won't be able to stop myself!"

"He's right," Koume said, "let's hurry to the exit."

"No," Kotake replied, "that way, he'll catch up to us. Follow me." She seized Koume's hand and dragged her straight through the centre of the pit toward the dragon, bypassing the Moblin who followed the wall's circumference. Koume felt rather queasy walking toward the injured beast, but it was not so badly wounded that it was unable to tell friend from foe, and did not attack the sisters when they arrived in its shadow.

"Took you long, boneman," they heard the Moblin's loud voice from a safe distance when he rejoined with his slave and took the Triforce piece from him. "But that's good. Left more time for me to fight." He turned back and looked at the dragon, completely ignoring the two Gerudo next to it. "Sorry, but I have to leave. The wizard said to hurry." He raised his blooded spear and waved. "Maybe I visit again and finish this. Don't die until then!"

The dragon eyed him suspiciously, but it was a territorial animal and not vengeful by nature. If the Moblin was going to leave, it would let him leave and start licking its wounds. The Stalfos, too, looked back, but at the women, not the dragon, his expressionless skull utterly unreadable. Koume suspected that he must be happy to have at least made a little difference in the face of his unsurmountable slavery. In spite of all his crazy jumping, her second sabre was still stuck in his ribcage, which looked kind of funny. "Come on, boneman," the Moblin grunted at him, and the two creatures left through the stone door.

"Pheeew," Koume breathed out and sat down on the floor, which was pleasantly cool as opposed to the hot desert sand. "That was too close." She looked up at Kotake and grinned. "Why do we always lose two against one?"

Her sister sighed. "Maybe sabres just aren't our forte."

"Could be."

"I hope he isn't seriously injured," Kotake said and inspected the wounds of the dragon, who had lain down on the ground again looking indifferently at the two puny creatures in front of him.

"Careful, don't poke in its wounds or anything," Koume warned her and rose again. "We should check up on the Arbiter first. He can look after his pet. Probably knows alot more about dragons, too."

"Agreed." Kotake hesitated. "But what about the Triforce piece?"

"What about it?" Koume replied nonchalantly.

"You don't want to pursue them and steal it back, again?" Kotake asked suspiciously. "I'm kind of surprised."

"You shouldn't be," Koume shook her head. "Fighting the good fight almost got you killed, twice. I'm almost glad we got rid of that thing. And now Darion has no more reason to attack us." She crossed her arms over her chest. "We don't have to save the world. Let somebody else do it."

"So you've finally seen reason," Kotake said gravely. "Come on, let's go."

The Gerudo sisters backtracked through the corridors of the Arbiter's home and returned to the library, where they found him still lying on the floor. His chest rose and fell regularly, and, recalling that his bedroom was supposed to be next door, Koume and Kotake carried him there.

"I'm positively parched," Kotake said after laying the unconscious wizard down on his bed. "He must have a water supply somewhere, probably close by. I'm going to look for it." With that, she had left the room, leaving Koume to watch over the Arbiter. She did not mind that, though, since she actually liked the old man, eccentric though he might be.

Besides, by caring for him even though we don't have to, we demonstrate our strength of character, and he may agree to teach us magic. That would make the whole ordeal worth it.

Prompted by the crunching sound of feet walking on sand, Koume looked out of the bedroom's sole window and saw the Stalfos and the Moblin leave the building through the main entrance. The skeletal slave climbed its master's back (an oddity that barely managed to raise her eyebrows) and they vanished behind one of the main building's auxiliary structures, presumably on their way back to Hyrule.

And with that, I hope that our part in this drama is over.