Chapter 23: Monstrous Company
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The following days Link spent disguised in Gerudo City weren't quite as… eventful. After gaining access to the palace, he was able to keep watch over the Princess' room each night as usual, and during the day he followed her at a distance, allowing the various vendors to snag him away (although he deigned from buying anything) so that she wouldn't get too suspicious. There were no more assassination attempts, for which he was grateful, and as far as he knew, the two guards who saw him had kept silent about his identity. That was a stupid thing to do, he cursed himself.
He carried the necklace he'd bought for the Princess with him at all times, telling himself he'd give it to Urbosa to pass along but always losing his nerve whenever the opportunity arose. It baffled him that he could take on three assassins without batting an eye and yet when it came to giving a gift to a girl - even indirectly - his heart would freeze up and he began to sweat profusely.
It shouldn't be this difficult!
After four days in the city, Urbosa summoned him early in the morning before the Princess awakened.
"She'll be heading to the ruins today," she explained. "You'll come with us most of the way, but when we reach the site, you'll head east to fight the Molduga. Try to drag it out - give her as much time as possible. I know this will help her."
Link chewed his lip gingerly. "I'll… do my best," he promised. "Er, what… what exactly is a Molduga?"
Urbosa's eyes widened. "Oh - I didn't think you wouldn't know. Is this truly your first time in the desert, boy?"
He nodded, fiddling with his hands anxiously. "No men in the city, remember? Only… only female knights ever get sent out here."
"Right," Urbosa sighed. "Well, listen closely. A Molduga is a massive creature nearly the size of the leviathans of legend. It has four short legs, a tail, and a spinal fin. Its skin is much rougher than anything else you'll come across in this world; even touching the inside of its mouth would draw blood. It has a blowhole and some sort of bone structure jutting out from its lower mandible, which we think helps it dig into the sand and attack from beneath. It's incredibly sensitive to vibrations and will investigate anything it detects on the surface."
Link winced, imagining it. "And… how do you defeat it?"
"Explosives," Urbosa said calmly. "We've manufactured a lightweight bomb that can be attached to arrowheads and explodes on impact. This allows us to draw out the Molduga from a safe distance, stun it, and then rush in with our weapons. With ten of us working together, it takes about an hour."
"And… with just one?"
Urbosa winked. "That's why this is ideal for getting you away from the Princess today - while still looking out for her safety."
Link rubbed a hand through his hair, anxiety squeezing his lungs. "Alright, then," he said. "Only… I don't have a bow, or any of these… bomb arrows."
"I'll bring those for you when we meet you outside the city," the Gerudo Chief assured him. "Now, you'd better get out of here and change into that armor I gave you. Fiery explosions, running around in the hot sun… it would be incredibly foolish not to take the necessary precautions."
Link grimaced, remembering Death Mountain. "Fine. And - and you're certain the Yiga won't go out to those ruins? She'll be safe?"
"I won't let her out of my sight," Urbosa promised. "In fact, I might even call Vah Naboris out to bring her back when we're done. She's been itching to investigate the role of electricity there. And no Yiga could ever get inside - I've seen to that."
"Very well," Link nodded, turning to leave.
He hesitated, heart beginning to pound, his hand going to the little green bag at his waist. Summoning his courage, he faced the Gerudo Chief once more. "Actually," he gulped, slipping the bag from his belt, "I… had something for her. For… the Princess. I - I thought she might like it. W-would you… give it to her for me?"
Urbosa stared at him, a soft smile gently tweaking her lips. "Yes," she murmured. "Of course."
A bead of sweat dripped down his face and with a shaking hand he dropped the bag into Urbosa's hand before all but bolting from the empty throne room, pulling his veil back over his face on the way.
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The Princess was deep in animated discussion with Urbosa when the two of them, accompanied by several guards guiding a rookery of sand seals, walked out of the western gate to the city. "You have to tell me!" she exclaimed excitedly, and Link's heart lurched when he noticed the necklace he'd bought around her neck.
Urbosa chuckled, shaking her head. "Where's the fun in that, Zelda? I think he was shy - you're the Princess, after all."
The Princess huffed exasperatedly.
And her gaze landed on Link.
"Were there any other men waiting outside of the city?" she asked him with more delight than she'd ever possessed in his presence.
Link opened his mouth to reply, his pulse accelerating dangerously. If I told her it was me, she probably wouldn't like it anymore.
And I was inside - I didn't see any other men!
"He wouldn't have seen anyone," Urbosa intervened. "He was… well, it's not as if there's only one Molduga threatening my people. If he wasn't protecting you, he might as well protect something, so I sent him after them."
The Princess' shoulders slumped. "Oh. Then… I'll just have to hope that whoever it is reveals himself soon. It… it was a man, wasn't it?"
Urbosa nodded, winking at Link. "Undoubtedly."
He blushed, fighting the urge to duck his head. Stop giving her hints! Please!
The Princess shook her head slowly, smiling to herself. "Well, we'd better get moving," she said, her grin widening as she turned her gaze southward. "A wonderful beginning to what should be a wonderful day." She glanced back at Link again. "What… what exactly are you wearing?"
He shuffled his feet awkwardly, forcing himself not to wrap his arms self-consciously around his chest. "Heat protection, Princess."
She raised an eyebrow at him, her cheeks slightly pink. "And… must it be so… improper?"
That's it - I'd better say goodbye to my head.
"Well, I couldn't have him running around in a tiara like you, Zelda," Urbosa smirked. "It would be much too feminine."
I'm beginning to dislike you, Urbosa.
"It's traditional Gerudo armor for males," the Gerudo Chief continued. "In this realm, it's considered perfectly modest."
"Alright," the Princess sighed. "But I do hope you have your regular attire with you to change into later in the day when it isn't quite so warm."
"Yes, Princess," Link assured her, as Urbosa handed him a golden bow and a quiver full of arrows tipped with round bundles of explosives.
The journey to the excavation site went much quicker than Link had anticipated; the sand seals seemed truly to swim through the dunes at incredible speeds, as fast as a charging horse but with greater endurance. After a meager two hours of travelling, they had reached the southern edge of the desert, where several tents had been set up seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
"Excellent," the Princess purred, stepping off of the round Gerudo shield she had used and wobbling a bit on the shifting sands. "Well, Sir Link, you should be on your way."
"Yes, Princess." With one last glance at Urbosa, and after receiving a reassuring nod from her, he gave the rope connecting him to his sand seal a quick tug, sending it diving back into the sand, swimming rapidly towards the northeast.
Goddesses above, please keep her safe.
It was another hour or so before he reached the tall plateau upon which the Southern Oasis perched. The morning was already halfway spent, but though the sun burned overhead, he didn't feel hot - just pleasantly warm. It's working, then. Good.
He slowed his seal's pace, taking it around the plateau. There were several stone pillars surrounding it, but he couldn't see any sign of a monstrous sand-leviathan creature. Where is it? It probably knows we're here, right? If it can sense vibrations?
A hint of motion caught his eye, and he turned his head to see what appeared to be a massive mound of sand moving towards him. Ah. Well, that's it, then.
Tugging on the rope, he guided his seal towards the rapidly approaching mound, before remembering that they attacked from beneath. Pulse quickening, he whirled his seal back around and snapped the rope, urging it to go faster. The roar of tumbling sands grumbled nearer; Link could feel the vibrations through his borrowed shield all the way up his legs. "Go!" he shouted, not wanting to find out the hard way how a Molduga attacked.
His seal seemed to sense their danger, putting on an extra burst of speed as they careened down the side of a dune. From behind there came an explosion of sound similar to crashing waves, and Link looked over his shoulder, his courage wilting a bit at the sight of the behemoth that had lunged out of the sand, hanging for a moment in midair before flipping onto its side and falling back down, wriggling as it burrowed back under the ground. Like water from a whale's blowhole, a burst of sand shot up from the freshly formed bulge rising from the dune.
Link moisted his lips. This is going to be much more difficult than I thought.
The telltale mound of sand rising towards him was picking up speed again. Facing forward, he led his seal away from the plateau, hoping he could find somewhere to observe the creature from a distance and figure out some sort of plan -
A sudden jarring impact directly beneath his feet, sending pain shooting through his ankles as he found himself suddenly flying, tumbling through the air, screaming, watching the dizzying horizon flip over and over and over again until he slammed, hard, into the side of a sand dune. Helplessly, winded and aching, he rolled over and over and over again down until he reached level ground.
Battle instincts kicked in and he shoved himself to his feet, clutching at his throbbing chest, the air forced from his lungs.
His first thought was to run, run and try to get to one of the stone formations scattered near the plateau, where the Molduga would not be able to come up beneath him.
But it was still too close - the instant he tried to flee it would be on him.
And there wouldn't be a shield under his feet to protect him this time.
Coughing as he sucked air back into his lungs, he watched the displaced pile of sand above the Molduga moving back and forth nearby before sliding away.
Link waited a moment more as it rolled closer to the plateau and disappeared behind it. Then he bolted, running on bruised feet as fast as he could towards the nearest slab of rock, his heart beating a tattoo into his neck, breaths coming in frightened spurts. He all but leapt the last few feet to the stone, flinging himself onto its level surface and pausing a moment to revel in his survival.
He sat up as a familiar distant rumbling caught his ears. The Molduga had drawn nearer to investigate, but as he watched it turned back, apparently realizing that what it had detected had disappeared. Interesting.
He took a moment to scan himself for injuries. His right side was scraped where he'd initially hit the sand. It wouldn't be pleasant to clean the grit out of his skin, but it hardly counted as an injury. The soles of his feet and his ankles were undoubtedly the worst off, having taken nearly the full force of the Molduga's initial attack. Even his shins were sore.
Carefully he slid off the special sand boots and stockings Urbosa had given him and pressed down on the bones in his feet and ankles, feeling for anything broken or out of place. Through some miracle, it seemed that he was mostly just bruised, but his left ankle felt sprained.
Not good - especially when I need to be fast. As fast as possible.
He untied the cloth meant to keep the tassets from chafing at his thighs and wrapped it instead around his ankle. It was made from thick fabric, and it fit several times around him, encasing his foot in a somewhat-stable brace. That'll have to do.
After massaging the area for a while in an attempt to relieve some of the soreness, he pulled his boots back on and got to his feet, turning his gaze back out to the sea of sand around him. With a twinge of guilt, he realized that his sand seal was nowhere to be seen. I hope I didn't get it killed.
He couldn't see any sign of the Molduga. Apparently it had gone around to the other side of the plateau.
Closer to the archaeological site - closer to the Princess!
He wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers, trying to quell the rising panic within him. Heart hammering, he stepped off of the rock and into the sand, jogging towards the next-closest stone formation. A lump of sand in the distance appeared from behind the plateau, moving swiftly towards him, and he increased his pace, kicking up sand behind him, jumping the last few feet to the uneven pile of rocks clumped together.
The Molduga didn't slow, but as it reached him it merely let out another large spray of sand, sending little grains falling down like rain. It circled the area before turning once more back the way it had come.
No you don't!
Link launched himself back into the sand, sliding the golden Gerudo bow from his back and stringing it as he ran after the monster. It turned towards him again, a terrifying mass quickly gaining speed, sending tremors vibrating through the ground. Link spun on his heel, running the other way, deftly nocking one of the peculiar bomb arrows. Goddesses, let this work!
Just before the Molduga reached him he put on an extra burst of speed, legs pumping wildly, and there was a massive sucking sound just behind him and a shadow loomed over him. Nearly stumbling, he turned to see the sand creature high above him in the air, just beginning its descent. Perfect!
Pulling the arrow back to his cheek, he aimed carefully, tracking the monster's trajectory, and let it fly.
A sound like angry thunder cracked through the air, and an orb of flame and smoke struck the monster just as it hit the earth.
It lay still on its side, stunned, and Link sprinted towards it, whipping the Master Sword from its sheath and praying that he wouldn't trip. His breaths came in rapid spurts as sweat trickled across his bare skin, mercifully cooling his body as it was supposed to as a result of his armor.
For an instant, when he reached dazed creature, he was confused. How do I kill it? Where do I strike?
The bomb arrow had created a dark scorch mark on its belly; he supposed that was as good a place as any. With renewed determination and an angry roar he plunged the Master Sword into the wound, instantly stunned by the resistance he was met with. It has skin thicker than a Goron's!
Desperately he hacked away at the wound, struggling to make it deeper - piercing a large enough artery will definitely kill it - until the monster began to move again, flopping down onto its belly and releasing a furious screech. Link backed away quickly as it plunged down into the sand, sending it flying in every direction.
For a moment he couldn't see any trace of it. Then, after another spray of sand flew upwards, the bulge betraying the Molduga's presence returned, directly beneath his feet. Heart racing, Link held still as it began to move again, hurrying away from him.
Didn't like that, did you?
When he felt it was far enough away, he began to run again, wiping sweat from his brow with his free hand as his feet kicked up a spray of sand behind him. Breathing hard beneath the pounding sun above, he watched as the monster turned back towards him, gathering speed. Link spun around, running away from it just as he had before, sheathing the Master Sword to grab his bow, slip another bomb arrow from his quiver, and nock it to the bowstring.
The telltale vibrations running through the ground warned him of the Molduga's approach and he sped up, heart pounding hard in time to the slap of his feet against the ground. All at once the sand was still; that ominous sucking noise filled the air and the Molduga's shadow hovered over him. Link whirled around and fired up at the beast, striking its back this time, and once again it crashed to the ground, stunned.
Link sprinted over to the wound he'd already worked on deepening, sliding the Master Sword free and hacking away at the creature's side and grimacing as its blood spurted out at him, black and oily. Is this enough to kill it?
Maybe - but it'd take a few hours at least. Not fast enough.
Struck by a sudden idea, he took several steps back and readied another bomb arrow, firing directly into the wound. The explosion knocked him off his feet and he yelped in surprise, rolling a ways before pushing himself back to his feet. The Molduga was shrieking in pain; a chunk of charred flesh was hanging free from the widening wound, badly charred. It flopped onto its belly and wiggled back into the sand with a high-pitched squeal, multicolored eyes burning with anger as it disappeared.
And this time, it had gone too deep for him to see the mass of displaced sand directly above it. Well… that's fantastic. It could be -
The sand caved beneath him and he lost his footing, screaming as the bony protrusion of the Molduga's jawbone collided with his side and sent him once more careening wildly through the air. The thought occurred to him that if he landed on one of the stone formations, it would all be over, he'd be broken all over the place - wind whirled and roared around him and the ground rushed up towards him and he slammed into it, wheezing as the breath left his lungs.
He lay motionless for a moment, eyes tightly closed, his entire body sore. His right hip and thigh had taken the brunt of the blow and they ached terribly, waves of pain radiating from the area through his body.
Then he opened his eyes and saw the angry Molduga on the surface of the sand, much like an oversized sand seal, charging towards him. With a breathless squeak he staggered to his feet and took off running the opposite direction, heaving for breath, ignoring the sharp pain shooting through his right leg.
The ground trembled beneath him; the monster was closing in on him and he'd lost his grip on his bow after that last attack. The next slab of stone half-buried by the sand was too far; he could feel the spray of sand in front of the charging Molduga hitting his exposed back and arms. Its hot breath challenged the power of the sapphires in his armor, making him feel trapped in some sort of oven.
Desperate, he snatched a bomb arrow from his quiver and threw it over his shoulder, turning for only the briefest moment to see it land directly between the creature's eyes. It flinched back, screeching in agony, flopping forwards onto the stand and lying still, dazed.
Link stared at it, heart hammering as his chest heaved for breath. The eyes! He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before. From what he'd gathered standing over the Princess' shoulder as she pored over various diagrams, eyes were connected to the brain. And if I get its brain, it'll die, right?
He yanked the Master Sword from its sheath and charged the monster, dashing over its protruding jaw until he reached the flat, craggy snout. Both eyes were positioned above its upper mandible, above a formidable layer of massive teeth and jagged scales. Lips twisted in a feral snarl, he plunged his blade hilt-deep into the beast's eye and instantly it writhed in agony, thrashing; he tightened his grip on the Master Sword and yanked it free as the Molduga flung him from its jaw, sending him flying yet again across the sand, rolling partway down the side of a steep dune.
He staggered back to his feet and watched as it continued to shake itself madly from side to side, one eye tightly closed and oozing thick black blood. Link's heart hammered and he waited eagerly, but the creature did not seem to be dying. His shoulders slumped. The Master Sword isn't long enough…
Then the creature jerked towards him, jaws parted wide in an ear-splitting screech as, once again, it charged him with deadly speed. Running out of ideas, Link grabbed another bomb arrow and threw it down the beast's maw and dived out of the way as it wriggled past, its movements more sluggish than before. A muffled explosion reached his ears and the monster stopped, smoke drifting out between its jaws as once again it howled in agony, convulsing violently before finally, slowly, falling still.
Link held his breath, feeling somewhat nauseous with dread.
But more and more moments passed, and the Molduga didn't move again.
It's… it's dead. It really is dead.
I did it.
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Guest Reviews
Chicwa88: Thanks! Yeah, if I was writing from the Yiga's perspective it would have been something like this - they go into the city dressed as normal travellers, hide out at the inn or something, wait until night starts to fall, then change into their assassin clothes and sneak off to a less-public entrance to try and get to Zelda. Thank you! You too! ( :
LowTwilight (Guest): Thank you! I'm so happy you liked it! As for that, we'll just have to see how everything works out… ( ;