Chapter Ten: Blood For the Gerudo Maiden
"I'm nervous," Loraefin said shakily while the Gerudo filed in to form two straight lines around her. At the end of the tunnel they made, was the entrance to the Training Ground. Loraefin inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to calm her nerves as she waited for the morning ceremony to end. Everyone, including Megeara, was dressed in a simple brown robe like herself, and they stood all in perfect silence. Tiamra appeared at the entrance to the Ground and proceeded up the line of women, her eyes focused only on Loraefin. She felt herself go stiff and ridged as the Gerudo leader approached, a chill ran up her spine and she almost had to force herself to keep standing. Megeara was right next to Loraefin, and in the corner of her eye Megeara saw her friend's jaw tighten and the subtle movement of her throat as she gulped. Megeara wished she were the one going in. She reached over and gave Loraefin's hand a gentle squeeze, but Loraefin didn't take her eyes off of Tiamra. They both remembered the stories their grandmothers told about when they took on the challenge on the Ground, it was extremely difficult, and dangerous, but the reward you felt when you finally emerged, with all of your sisters there with you, was one that would never be forgotten.
Tiamra made the sign of Farore's Blessing, and Loraefin kneeled as instructed to do. Tiamra raised her hand in commandment, and the same young girl came forward from the crowd, this time bearing with her a small, clay urn in her tiny hands. Tiamra took it, and lifted it above her head.
"This," she dipped her thumb into the dark urn, lifting it to reveal it covered in a crimson dye, "is to mark the passage of this maid's journey from her childhood to her womanhood. May all here today witness the path she begins," she smeared the dye across Loraefin's forehead as the girl kneeled before her. "And with the challenge of this Ground, may she be tested if she is fit to walk it. May the Goddesses bless and protect you child."
Loraefin rose as all let out three strong, almost hypnotizing whoops into the still morning air. Tiamra stepped aside, and with one last glance at Megeara, Loraefin began to walk down the path of Gerudo to the Training Ground.
Her body slammed hard against the stone wall, that Longshot packed quite a punch still. The room was blazing hot; she could feel it stinging her face relentlessly. Somehow she found the strength in her tired, bruised body to make herself stand once again. She had seven keys in her robe pocket and she could feel them hit against her leg as she walked. Her body was so tired. Throughout this Ground, her arm had been wounded in a fight with a Stafols, her leg had been nearly bitten off by a Wolfos, almost drowned, attacked, it was an amazement the was still standing. Loraefin never expected this of herself. She wondered how much time had passed since she had entered. It felt like forever, but it might not even have been more than a few hours. Without the sun there was no way to tell. Loraefin glanced over her battered robe, over all of the holes it had gathered in so little a time, she only hoped it would stay in one piece until the end. She didn't even know how much farther she had to go. With a hand on her scimitar, she dragged herself to the next door, pulling the switch to open it.
She peered in first, trying to get a feeling for what awaited her before she entered. Loraefin's light boots made little sound on the stone and she kept a firm grasp on her sword. There was a stone ledge running all around the floor of the room, only breaking where the two doors were; the one she had just entered, and the exit. In the middle of the room was a pillar of fire, and inside of it was a chest. She stepped cautiously forward, her feet only making a dim scraping noise. The girl froze; she could hear shallow breathing in the room with her. Or was it her own? She looked around and saw nothing and the adrenaline started to swim in her ears. A crunch of stone sent her whirling around; blades ready as the huge creature lunged at her from the shadows.
It was a Dinofols and it came after her with a swipe of its giant clawed hand. Loraefin dived out of the way, but it caught her by the end of her long robe and held her there. In a panic, she swung her scimitar around and sent it full force into the lizard's arm. The noise it let out was inhuman and it released the girl, who scrambled to her feet. Its blood splattered over the ground and her as well as, leaving little stains in her clothes.
A fierce rage took over Loraefin that frightened her. She could feel it coursing through her veins and into her fingertips where she held her blade. Her icy gray eyes flashed fire and her lips curled back menacingly. She braced herself as a second Dinofols took over for the first one and rushed her, whipping around with its tail to hit her. Her actions were not even her own, it was as if someone had taken control over her body. As it twisted its tail, she jumped over it and met it sword to sword, glaring at it underneath her painted and blood splattered face. From her mouth came a powerful battle cry, none that she had every heard before, yet knew. It was the war cry of the Gerudo that she carried deep within her subconscious memories. The Dinofols blade was rusted and crooked, but the edge was as sharp as glass. It screamed in her face and overpowered her with its strength, pushing her down and nearly crushing her with its foot had she not crawled out of the way. The first Dinofols joined in again while Loraefin was still on the ground and its tail sent her crashing to the floor again. The rage flared. In this place, the place of provocation and honor and courage, the old Gerudo blood stirred within her and spread itself to every inch of her body. It seemed that she was only a spectator of her actions, somehow removed from her body and watching as she tore into the two enemies, cutting and shedding their blood on the ground mercilessly. It was like an age-old dance that Loraefin instinctively knew, proud, confident, and powerful. She was fearful of what seemed to posses her. Her once clean tunic was now splattered in deep red bloodstains and it was smeared across her face and arms and her hair had gone wild about her. She was wild, free…reborn for these few, fleeting moments. She inhaled sharply, her conscious returning to her body once more as the air around her cooled and stilled.
The two bodies were barely recognizable as bodies at all. Loraefin could feel the power subsiding within her and her pulse slowed. She looked over her arms, seeing the blood there in disbelief. She couldn't have done this. The fire around the chest died down, and she grabbed the key within it. Her muscles still pulsed with life and her head swam with the disappearing power as she somehow staggered out of the room. She held just as much pride in her Hylian heritage as her Gerudo, but at this moment, before herself and her Nation, she was only Gerudo.