Link had been in Gerudo for three weeks.
He had thought working a farm would be the hardest thing he would do, and working on the Lulu had its own set of challenges. But training with the Gerudo took it to another level entirely.
The entirety of his body felt bruised. He slept so hard they had to wake him up by jabbing his side with a long staff weapon, lest he come up swinging. He was hungry all the time, it seemed, and the portions he got for meals were unsatisfactory, but complaining was not allowed. They had to work with what they had.
They woke up before dawn every day, stretching and exercising before fighting each other in little one-on-one fights, switching up partners every round or so. Then a quick lunch and an hour of downtime in the afternoon, when the sun was at its hottest. In the afternoon, it was back to fighting, and Arsaba wanted to push Link, so she frequently pitted him against two or three of her best. Then the evening, where they would sit and maintain their weapons, making idle chatter. Link mostly listened as they gossiped, and not much else.
But once a week there was a roaring fire in a pit out on the sands, and they passed around small glasses of a clear liquor, and joked and danced, laughing as they tried to teach him.
"It'll help with your coordination for fighting and… Other things," one joked with a wink.
They taught him how to wield a scimitar, how to use a polestaff, and to always check his boots for scorpions or lizards.
A couple of times, there were also vendors that came to the fortress to hawk wares. Link didn't have any money, but he liked to look at the unique items on display. So-called dragon bones to ward off danger, looking glasses that promised to reveal all lies, daggers and things that he suspected were looted from travelers that succumbed to the desert.
But all the while he worried about Zelda, wishing he could get ahold of her in some way, make sure she was safe.
After what he estimated as three weeks, the cut on his chest more or less healed, he approached Arsaba.
"I think I need to go back. It's been too long."
She nodded her agreement. "Any longer, he may come looking for you."
"I'm worried that if I don't bring back at least a small group of warriors though, that he'll get suspicious."
"Hmm." Arsaba frowned. "You make a good point. Perhaps…" she considered. "i suppose asking for volunteers first is the best way to start."
"He's very dangerous, Captain." Link replied. "I want them to know that. Just in case."
Arsaba smiled. "We embrace danger."
In the end, she was able to assemble twenty warriors to send back. Link had fought many of them, some he won and some he'd lost against.
"Remember that our task now is to buy time and protect the princess, so that the hero is ready to defeat him once and for all," Arsaba called out to them, as they stood in assembly in the main square, Link going to get the carriage together.
The warriors saluted Arsaba, and assembled just outside of the square, where Link had pulled up the carriage. They were to march, as Arsaba did not want to lose so many horses to the endeavour, and she trusted her women to handle the adventure well. She also hoped sending so many would allow one or two to act as messenger now and again, and report back. It was risky, but she felt it was worth it.
They started marching early in the morning, before dawn, so it was still somewhat cold out, the carriage horses' breath faintly steaming in the air. Link sat at the head of the carriage, gathering the reins and hoping he could keep them at a walkable pace for the small army coming with him.
It took almost two full days to get back, breaking at sundown for an evening meal and rest, and starting up again in the watery dawn. Link had to fight the horses to maintain a matchable speed at first, but they soon adjusted.
Hyrule castle appeared on the horizon a few hours before sundown, and the women gasped in surprise. Link's anxiety spiked. He needed to get there.
"Not long now," he called out to the women.
"It does seem closer than I expected," one of the soldiers said out loud.
"Eh, wait until we get a little closer."
The soldiers had started to falter a little in their steps. Link assumed they were pushed too far, and now tired, but then he heard one gasp and point out flowers to the rest of her cluster.
"There's a whole garden at the castle, I promise you'll get to see them," he called out, trying to keep them from slowing down. He had to know if she was okay, he had to know.
The sky was golden with the dying light of the sun. They made it slowly through the front gate and the market. Monsters snarled and approached the carriage at first, then saw Link and shrank back, confused.
Finally they were in the courtyard proper, and Link climbed off the carriage, stopping to collect his bag of clothes with the horses snorting and tossing their heads. The guards looked at Link anxiously, unsure of where to go.
He led them into the great hall, looking around, not seeing Ganon anywhere. "Stay here," he warned them, looking around in confusion. He kept an eye out, and, though he was certain he wouldn't find him, he went through a set of side doors to the gardens to look for him.
He looked around, taking a few steps into the twilit path, and stopped when he saw a woman standing a little ways away and facing away from him, her hair pulled up off her neck, clad in a black, close fitting dress that made her look like a pillar. Link was suspicious of her, taking a few steps forward.
Unexpectedly, she turned her head, and stopped when she saw him.
"Link?" She gasped.
Link stared. "What are you wearing?" It was the best he could come up with.
Zelda ran to him, stopping short of his reach, her eyes huge. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?" He thought he saw a scar on her neck, and he stepped closer.
"Not here," she whispered, her goblin shadow grumbling not far behind. She had lost the damn thing in the garden maze, and it was finally catching up.
"I brought warriors with me," he said.
"You did?"
"Twenty of the best."
"I want to meet them," she said, and offered Link her arm. He hesitated, then took it carefully in his own and led her back into the castle.
"You seem different," Zelda said as they approached the great Hall.
"Yeah?"
"More confident."
"Hm. You seem different too," but he didn't sound as positive.
He saw the guards standing at attention, and pulled Zelda along, stopping dead when they got in the great Hall proper.
Ganon stood before the Gerudo women, and his whole countenance was glowing. Link could see now that all of the Gerudo fighters eyes had gone blank.
"You've brought some impressive specimens," Ganon called. "This is much appreciated."
"What are you doing?!" Link snapped.
"I cannot risk them turning on me while I sleep. Therefore, I'm securing them in my control." He snapped his fingers, and as one, the warriors gave a war cry, and struck a defensive pose.
"Perfect." Ganon chuckled, his hands on his hips as he looked them over.
"You, and… you." He pointed to two of the women. They gave a war cry and straightened. Link knew them; Nabisi was quiet and shy, but liked to play the lute when she had time. Cororu was a massive flirt, but all in fun, and always had a quick comment or retort.
"Come forward."
They did.
"Face each other."
A rapid, synchronized turn on their heels.
"Fight until one of you is dead."
"No!" Link shouted. Zelda gasped in horror, her hands over her mouth.
The guards dropped into defensive positions, Cororu wielding her scimitar and Nabisi favoring her shield and a shortpole with a sharp arrowhead on the end.
They moved like lightning, the clash and clatter of steel echoing in the hall amidst their shouts of attack.
Cororu got the first cut- a deep gash on Nabisi's shoulder.
Nabisi liked to jab quickly from a crouching position, trying to miss swings from Cororu's sharp but heavy blade. Cororu would get in close, then jump to dodge the quick thrusts of the shortpole.
"Stop it!" Link shouted, as the blood ran down Nabisi's arm, dripping off her elbow onto the floor.
Nabisi ducked a swing from Cororu and shoved her shield upward, catching the scimitar and pushing Cororu off balance. Then she stabbed with the shortpole, getting Cororu in the gut, the head of the barb coming out her back. Nabisi ripped it free again, blood and viscera trailing with it.
Zelda turned away.
Link dropped his bag of clothes, and ran forward. Nabisi stopped, standing at rest, as Cororu fell to the floor. Link knelt by her side and scooped Cororu up, holding her in his arms and looking in panic as the blood spread in a pool across her clothes and the floor.
"Do something!" Link screamed at Ganon.
"I could have this one fight you, now," he replied, his arms folded, watching the display with no emotion.
Link turned his head away, his anger at a fever pitch. Ganon heard the buzzing of Link's shard getting louder and louder. His head started to hurt, and then so did his gut, where that cursed holy blade stabbed him.
Ganon rubbed his stomach in discomfort, frowning, distracted.
Zelda heard a faint rattling from the bag at her feet, and wondered foolishly for a second if it was a snake, before picking the bag up and hugging it. She could feel the master sword jittering in its scabbard.
Cororu was dead.
There was blood all over Link's armor and clothes, his hands sticky with it as it dried. The warriors did nothing, standing at rest and staring ahead as Nabisi rejoined them, her arm still bleeding freely.
Ganon sighed in annoyance, debating turning off his control for a minute so the women could clean up the hurt one and prepare the loser for funeral.
Better to not lose a second one to a gangrenous cut. He relaxed, and the crowd did too, blinking and looking at each other.
"CORO!" screamed the closest warrior, Avani, and she ran to Link and her dead troopmate. "Link, what happened?!" She said, her hands shaking.
Nabisi gasped- she and the women around her were looking at the gash on her arm in horror.
"Prepare the pyre for that one," Ganon said, gesturing, "and bandage up that one."
The Gerudo women stared him down, taking him in, and their collective rage grew.
"Do it or he'll just keep killing you," Link called out, letting go of Cororu to her friends.
"Better to die defiant," declared one of the bigger warriors, Dibina, who grabbed her longpole from her back and threw it at Ganon. He dodged it, and whipped a ball of energy back, knocking her off her feet and slamming her into the floor, also now dead.
"Two pyres," he said casually. "Does anyone else wish to die? Do I need to call for more troops and replace the lot of you?"
The soldiers were silent, staring at him.
He grunted. His stomach still ached, and taking control of twenty people, if only for a bit, took quite a bit of effort.
"Carry the bodies away. Quickly. Someone else clean this up."
The guards stared at him, a few glancing to Link, who was trying to clean the blood off his hands. "Just do it," he said quietly.
Link had left the work to the Gerudo women, already feeling sick at his failure to protect them. He took his bag from Zelda, walking away quickly to his room. He didn't realise she was following him until she reached out for his arm and grabbed it.
"Hold on," she said, and he jumped, a bit alarmed at first. "Link-"
"I hate him," he whispered angrily.
"I… I know how you feel," she replied. "I'm sorry that we lost two people already."
"What is he doing to us? What has he done to you?!" He looked her up and down. "What are you wearing?"
Zelda frowned. "It's… he made me change clothes."
"And what-" he saw what he thought he saw before, the thin scar on her neck just above the edge of the necklace. "What happened while I was gone?"
Zelda told him about the clothing search that left a trail of destruction in their wake. Link looked at her arms as well, at the scars there.
"How much longer are we supposed to wait before we can stop him?" he whispered.
"I'm waiting for a vision."
"Princess, I don't think we should keep waiting like this. I think we need to go for it, the soonest we can."
"I've noticed that he often seems to fall weak after working a great deal of magic. He needs us to recuperate his health."
"Yeah, and?"
"I'm-" Zelda felt angry, upset. She'd been so relieved to see him and now she couldn't enjoy it, because they were fighting. "I am trying to determine how we can weaken him for the killing blow. And I need to see if there is any way I can get a bow and arrows."
"Maybe we can get a set from the warriors, you can keep it hidden in your closet."
"That is a good idea."
Link sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry I got peevish. I'm tired and feeling really stressed."
"I know how you feel."
They both looked around suddenly. Zelda's goblin shadow had been pinned back by her willing the hallway to be a private space, and it was not close enough to overhear their talking.
"Where is your…?" Zelda frowned.
"The Gerudo killed it."
"Oh! Good."
"Yeah, he hasn't noticed yet that it's missing, hopefully I won't attract his attention for him to make another. It was the day I got out there, did he seem to… notice it at all?"
Zelda tried to think back. "I don't believe he did…"
"Okay. So we can determine that once these monsters are made, they have no tie to him."
Zelda nodded, biting one nail. "I wonder, then, if what we should do is get him to create a great many monsters, in rapid succession."
Link considered. "He'd need a reason."
"Like perhaps an army attacking," she suggested.
Link nodded. "But how can we get him to summon monsters instead of just… just throwing magic or whatever at everyone?"
"It'll have to be a large army, coming from all directions."
"Right."
"He might take over the Gerudo again, as well. In which case, you… may have to be prepared to kill them."
Link frowned. "I really hope it doesn't come to that."
"We have to assume it will," she warned him.
"So, where are we supposed to get this army?" he said, hoping to sidestep.
"Well… we'll have to appeal to all the neighboring countries. I have to assume if Ganon wants to be emperor, eventually he will be taking one of us around to them to..."
"To attack. I'm assuming it'll be me he sends."
"He may… I'm trying to convince him to attempt diplomacy first, so that I can talk to the people and unite them with us against him."
Link looked down the hall. Her goblin shadow was still there, his teeth bared at them as he studied them, trying to figure out how to get to them.
"Can we maybe go somewhere I can remove this armor for a while?" Link asked.
"Yes, of course. I should have suggested that in the first place."
They went to his room first, so he could put his things away. The goblin was stopped at the door, and it hissed as Zelda shut the door in its face.
Link started pulling off pieces almost before the door was shut, and Zelda started to approach him to help, but stopped herself.
It was a subtle change to him; maybe he looked a little leaner all around. He was definitely more tan, and she hadnt noticed before that his nose was a little sunburnt and peeling.
He was still wearing the original shirt he'd worn out there, and Zelda saw the healing scar across his chest through the rip in his shirt.
"What happened there?" she asked, taking a few steps forward.
"Oh, had to fight Captain Arsaba, and it's not like they had voe clothes out there…"
"Vo..e?"
"Oh-" Link sat down and took off his shin guards. "Sorry; yeah, uh, I picked up a lot of the local language there."
"What is Arsaba like?"
"Well, she hates Ganon. Won't even say his name, spits when anyone does. But she's a hard worker, her battalion are excellent fighters. The ones I've brought, some of them I've never beat in a fight."
"Did you learn a lot?"
"Yeah, it was hard work out there. A lot of vendors are moving to Gerudo to escape Ganon. They say Death Mountain is closed off, so metals and things for weapons are going to be hard to get hold of, and the Zora are moving out to sea to escape."
"Damn."
Link looked down at the cut across his shirt and the blood on his pants and frowned. "You didn't happen to get me any clothes, did you?"
"I… I did, actually." She hesitated. "They're back in my rooms, though."
"Ah. Well, I guess I can wait a bit." He sighed. "I guess I'm just glad you're relatively unharmed."
"Me too. For you, I mean." Zelda was silent again, thinking, wringing her hands. "I'm sorry we lost those fighters."
"Yeah. Me too. I guess in a way I'm glad they fell to him though, instead… it's the way they would have wanted it." He rubbed his nose, the delicate skin peeling up, and he swore under his breath as he rubbed the tender skin raw.
"Let me see," Zelda said softly, approaching him and leaning down to look at his nose. "That looks painful."
"It's not great."
"Hmm."
They jumped at a quick knock on the door, and it opened unexpectedly, a Gerudo warrior standing there.
"Sir, the funeral- oh." She blushed bright red, looking between the two of them. "I… didn't mean to interrupt."
Zelda straightened quickly, Link jumping to his feet.
"I um- I just wanted to say the funeral is going to start, and um… you might want to change." She was still red, staring at the floor.
"Thank you," Link answered, realizing he couldn't step away from Zelda, as the chair was behind him.
"Of course."
She shut the door and quickly scurried away, and Link sighed. "Guess I better get those clothes now."
Zelda nodded, but he could tell by the look in her eyes she was a thousand miles away in thought.