Alamatar walked down the dirt path that would lead to the spa Jesika had talked about. Belgard and Link were fed, Gywan was napping, and Alamatar wanted to talk with Jesika. Hopefully she had not gone off anywhere, because Belgard wanted to set out by noon and get as far from Melkaban as possible. Alamatar strolled down the dirt path, humming to herself and tapping her staff on the ground in beat to the tune. As the ground turned more rugged, wildlife began appearing; lizards crawled over logs and though vines, squirrels climbed up trees with acorns in their mouths, and birds flew overhead, whistling as they went by. Taking a deep breath, Alamatar inhaled all the pleasant smells of the forest air. Memories flitted back to her, of when she was a small child and would play for hours in the woods near her village, never having to worry about anything. Sometimes she wished life were that easy now.
While Alamatar was climbing over a an enormous tree trunk lying on the path, a piercing scream shattered the silence, and some of the birds that had been singing flew out of their nests in fright. A moment later another scream sent more birds flying. That sounds like Jesika! She jumped off the tree and ran as fast as she could to the end of the path and out into a small clearing.
Right in front of Alamatar was Jesika, pinned to the ground and struggling with an enormous lizard. The beast was lying on top of her, trying to use its two front legs to pin down her arms so it could get to her neck. Jesika's left arm was jammed in its mouth and her free hand was beating the side of its snout; from the look of it, it was hurting her more than the lizard. The beast garbled out a splitting shriek and managed to spit the arm out as well as pin it into the dirt with a twisted foot. Using its stomach muscles, it slithered forward until its face was right over hers, and, rearing back its head and opening its mouth wide, it lunged--
Only to catch the knot of Alamatar's staff right on the tip of its muzzle. With a squeal, the lizard rolled off to the side and was smacked in the face again. Again it rolled to the side--but this time twisting around with its tail to Alamatar--and scurried toward the spring as fast as it could to swim away to wherever it came from.
"Are you okay?" Alamatar asked, kneeling down beside Jesika, who was racking herself in sobs. Whether from pain or fear, Alamatar did not know, but she guessed a mixture of both. She helped Jesika to her feet, and the two limped over to the water and sat down. Taking off her cloak, Alamatar Casted slightly to remove the waterproof Charm and soaked a corner in the spring. Gently dabbing the wet cloth to Jesika's chest, Alamatar ignored her pained winces as she began cleaning the blood from the wound.
"Stop that," Jesika said in a shaky voice. "That hurts." She tried to turn away, but Alamatar grabbed her shoulder and forced her to sit still.
"Don't move. I know this hurts, but I have to see how serious the wounds are." After Alamatar had cleaned Jesika's chest, she started on her arm--and nearly had to sit on Jesika's lap to get it washed. A minute later she understood why Jesika had put up such a fuss with her arm: the skin was almost completely gone, leaving only a few strips clinging to the bone. When Jesika tried to touch the raw flesh with a finger, she recoiled in pain and her body convulsed. "Looks like I'll have to make something for your arm. Come on, let's get you dressed and back to camp."
Alamatar helped Jesika back into her clothes, set her cloak about her shoulders, and restored the waterproof Charm on her own cloak and gently wrapped it around Jesika's arm. As they made their way down the path, any trunk Jesika could not easily step over or around, Alamatar reduced to splinters. She looked up at the sky and almost gasped when she saw that it was well past noon. That took longer than I thought. Belgard won't be too happy when we get back to camp.
"Well, it's about time you guys got back," Link said when he caught sight of them entering camp. "Belgard was just about to--what happened?" He saw the cloak wrapped around Jesika's arm and was immediately on his feet and at her side. Guiding her to where he had been sitting on a log by the fire, he asked, "Jesika, are you alright?"
But before she had time to answer, Alamatar grabbed Link's arm and started guiding him toward a spot on the other side of camp. "Belgard, come here." She could feel Belgard's annoyance flare up in the back of her mind as he came out from the trees right in front of Link and Alamatar. He opened his mouth to say something--probably to demand where she and Jesika had been for so long--but she placed a silencing finger across his lips. "We won't be able to leave just yet." She explained what had happened and Jesika's condition, all the while feeling Belgard's irritation drain into concern. "You and Link go find Gywan and bring me back some headsweed and blueroot. Please hurry."
"But lass, headsweed doesn't grow out here; it's only found near Calystra."
She paused. Belgard was right; headsweed did only grow near Calystra, but usually shops all over the Empire carried it in case she did not have any herself. Unfortunately, she could not simply go buy some back at Melkaban. "Okay, okay; there should be kingsleaf somewhere in this blasted forest….Well, what are you waiting for? Get going!" The two men crossed over to another part of the clearing and walked into the forest to wherever Gywan was and disappeared out of sight.
Alamatar sat down next to Jesika and started unraveling the cloak from around her arm. Jesika winced the moment she saw the horrid wound. "We have to let your arm air out for a little while," Alamatar said, tenderly probing the edge of the sore with a finger. "Try not to touch your arm; it will get infected. I have to go get some water, so I should be back shortly." She grabbed the gourd they used to boil water from its spot near the fire pit and started making her way down toward the spring.
Along the path, the birds were back on their branches, singing their hearts out to any who would listen. She could make out the cry of sparrows and thrushes hidden behind the leaves of the trees and the deeper voices of the jays. The songs followed her all the way down to the hot springs, with some of the birds hopping along the ground at her feet to peer curiously over the crystalline surface of the water at their reflections. One leaned too far and fell splashing into the pond.
As Alamatar fished the bird out of the spring, she dipped in the gourd and filled it to the brim. Setting the bird down on a low branch, she headed back to camp, trying not to slosh too much water on the ground. Jesika was sitting in front of the fire, resting her chin in her right hand and watching the flames lick up and down some fresh logs. She seemed deep in thought, and did not notice Alamatar until she had set the gourd down on the embers of the fire. "What are you thinking?" Alamatar asked, sitting down on the log next to her.
"Oh…nothing really," Jesika replied a bit uncomfortably. "It doesn't matter."
"It must matter to you, otherwise you wouldn't be thinking about it. Come on, tell me. I know it's important; I can see it in your eyes."
Jesika fell silent for a moment and gazed into the burning embers before answering. "It's just that…I'm no good out here. I can't fight, I don't know anything about surviving in the wilderness; the only thing I can do is work around the house. I'm totally useless out here!" She kicked a small piece of wood into the fire before going on. "I just wish I could go back home."
"Oh? Where is your home?" Alamatar's red eyes pierced deep into Jesika's until Jesika broke the connection and looked down at the ground.
"Nowhere really. Not anymore. I guess with Hyrule being gone, I don't really have a home….I'd rather just settle down some place far away from Malchadia and Hyrule and live the rest of my life out."
"Hm…I know how you feel," Alamatar said thoughtfully, stoking the fire to keep the flames high.
"How so?"
Before answering, Alamatar finished moving around the logs and stood up to stretch. "I mean I know what it's like to want to find a place to settle down. I never was much for being away from my house for more than a month at a time. I always loved being around my maids and workers; to me they were almost like my family. And when they were killed, I wanted to go to a small country far away from Malchadia and start a new life. I didn't care that I would have to start from scratch; as long as I could have one I would be happy."
"So why didn't you?"
"Belgard didn't want to. For the most part he hated being home; he said it was boring, and the only way he could get his maids to stop badgering him about his meals was to hide in his gardens. Those were the only things he liked on his entire estate; everything else brought back bad memories from his childhood." Alamatar realized she was starting to talk about Belgard and moved back onto her original explanation. "So I chose to stay with him and roam Malchadite wilderness, guiding travelers through the more dangerous parts and attacking small Malchadite convoys. Then, three years later we found you." She stood up to rebuild the fire and get the water back to a boil. "Hey, Jesika, will you go tell Belgard that I am going to need some red clover?"
"What? Belgard isn't even--" she turned around when she heard some bushes rustle and Belgard emerged--"…back." She watched in amazement as he smiled at her and brought an assortment of plants to Alamatar. "Alamatar, how did you know that?" she asked, a bit fazed.
"Know what?" And then it hit her what she had done: she had known Belgard was about to enter camp even though her back was turned to him; silently she cursed herself for her slip. In her mind, she could feel Belgard's curiosity, but it quickly turned into realization as he figured out what had happened. He actually laughed out loud when he sensed her displeasure, and even harder when she shot him a heated glare.
"Don't look at me like that!" Belgard said between laughs. "You knew they would find out sometime; the cards just happened to fall earlier than you expected." As Alamatar's faced melted into resolve, Belgard's sobered. "Go ahead and tell her, lass. Believe me, she'll only bug you to death if you don't. I'll go see what's taking Link and Gywan so long." With a friendly smile taking in both Alamatar and Jesika, he turned to go back into the woods. She felt his assurances flood her thoughts as he disappeared behind the thick flora.
"Belgard," Alamatar called just before he disappeared from sight, "bring me back some red clover." She fell silent as she concentrated on mashing the blueroot to a pulp and picking the purple petals off the kingsleaf. When she dumped them into the boiling water, it turned purple and gave off a pleasant aroma. "You know all about what happened, right?" she asked, turning to face Jesika, but did not wait for Jesika's nod before going on. "Belgard told you about my Casting through him? Good. Well, you see, of all the types of magic, Black is by far the most unknown; it does things sometimes no one would ever expect to happen. Usually the more dangerous the Cast, the more unexpected and stranger the result, such as the Bond--what Belgard and I share. It seems that whenever a Black Mage uses another person as a focal point to Cast, there is a chance that the magic will create a link between the two. It doesn't happen all the time, or even often, but…it did happen to us, at least."
Jesika sat there for a moment before asking with a slight grin, "What is it like to be Bonded to Belgard?"
Alamatar gave a small laugh. "You have no idea. There is absolutely no privacy; I can feel his pain, his emotions, and even some of his thoughts, and he can feel mine. Although sometimes--more often than not, actually--it is great to have." She peered into the gourd to check on the concoction, and, deciding it was done heating, stuck the handle of her staff into a small hole in its side, picked it up out of the fire, and set it down next to Jesika's feet. She touched her finger to the surface of the water and sent a small stream of liquid ice into it. Steam billowed up as the water cooled down, and when it was lukewarm, she stopped her Cast. "Take the cloak off your arm," she told Jesika.
As Jesika unraveled the cloth from around her wound, she had to turn her head to keep from seeing it; even Alamatar had a hard time looking at the ugly sore, especially since a deal of the bone was visible through the few scraps of skin that were left. "Good. Bring your arm over here. All we're going to do is put it in the water; everything else will happen on its own."
"Is this going to hurt?" Jesika said after looking at the purple color of the water. She began to slowly retract her arm, but Alamatar grabbed it by the elbow and thrust it down beneath the surface. Immediately the water began swirling and bubbling around the area of the raw flesh. The dark purple hue lightened and a moment later the water was crystal clear again and a scab now covered what was the abraded skin.
"There is no need to wrap your cloak around your arm anymore. The scab will cover it just fine. Just…try not to do any work with your left arm for a while, and try not to break the wound open." Grabbing the gourd's brim, Alamatar walked over to the trees and emptied it over a patch of clover, sending up a swarm of small white insects. She hoped when Belgard returned he would have some meat for dinner; she was getting hungry and Jesika would be ravenous in about an hour, after the medicine's side effects kicked in.
As she stood there watching small lizards crawl over the leaf-covered ground, lapping up some of the water she had dumped out, something behind her tugged at the gourd in her hands. Grabbing her knife she kept at her belt, Alamatar whirled around to spear whatever animal was behind her--and narrowly avoided stabbing Belgard, who was jumping out of the way of her blade. "Whoa, easy there, lass. I didn't mean to startle you; I just thought I'd go fill up that gourd so I could boil your clover."
She put her knife back in its leather sheath and handed the gourd over to him, an apologetic smile on her face. "Sorry about that. I was just thinking and didn't notice you come up behind me. Good thing you haven't slowed down any, or I might have speared you like a rabbit."
"No kidding," he replied, a little drier than he had to. "But come on, let's get back to camp. Link and Gywan have a wolf cooking tonight, so you don't have to put up with rabbit again. I'll go fill this up with water, and then we can make your tea." The two walked back to where Link was cutting slices of meat from the wolf and setting them on cooking rocks, Alamatar taking a seat on the log next to Jesika, and Belgard continuing into the forest to the spring.
"Hey, Link?" Alamatar asked, setting her cloak on the ground behind her. "Can I ask you a question? I at least have been wondering, and I'm sure everyone else has, too: what are you going to do now? I mean, you aren't in Hyrule anymore--you're pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Are you just going to stay here and run around the forests forever or will you find a nice place where no one will find you and live there? Or what?"
Link had stopped dead still the moment he heard her first question, and Gywan had to finish cutting the meat and putting it on the fire. From the corner of her eye, Alamatar could see that Jesika's ears lifted slightly so she could hear better; it seemed that Jesika was curious about Link's answer, too. "I had given it some thought," he said moving to a log opposite Alamatar so he could talk to her better. "And…I honestly don't know what to do. I can't just hide out in the wilderness; my own people are captive in Hyrule. But I also can't just walk into Hyrule, kill all the Malchadites, and be the hero."
"Why not?" Jesika asked, lifting her head to look into his face. "You did it once with Ganon. Why couldn't you do it with Malchadia?"
"It's not as simple as that, lass," Belgard said, walking up from the path with a sloshing water-filled gourd. He set it down right in the hot coals, next to the still cooking meat. "Link might have been able to defeat one person and a thousand mindless beings created from his magic, but going against thousands of Malchadite troops and Mages will get him killed very fast--Hey! I'm only being honest!" he said when Jesika shot him a cold glare.
"Jesika, Belgard is right," Gywan said. "There should be thousands of soldiers in Hyrule right now--it's standard procedure for the Empire. I'm not sure how many soldiers will be sent home because it's such a small land, but probably most will stay, among them being Mages and Settings. From what the books say and what I've seen, Link's an excellent fighter….But armies don't even stand up to that kind of a force."
"But then what is Link going to do?" Jesika asked. She opened her mouth as if she were going to say more, but just closed it instead.
Alamatar sat down and stared into the fire for a while, thinking about how she would answer that question. Belgard was staring down at his sword, tracing his finger along patterns in the blade. She could feel that he did not know what to do; Belgard always loved to fight, but going into a land with those odds…that was nothing more than suicide. What can we do? she thought. Nowadays we can't enter any town or city unless we want to risk being turned in. There's not really anyone we could go to except…. "Makaeal!" she abruptly shouted, causing both Jesika and Gywan to jump in surprise. "We can go see Makaeal! I'm sure he'll know what to do."
"Alamatar?" Belgard said, looking up into her eyes. "Are you sure that's wise? He lives on the other side of the Empire and we'd have to cross the Dragons' Nest to get there. I shouldn't have to remind you what lives in that hole." Belgard's accent made the disgust in his voice sound even more sinister, but she did not need the Bond or his tone of voice to know his unease with that place; on their third mission they had to cross the Nest and he barely made it out with his life. But of course he was not worried about himself. He was more worried about Jesika who carried no weapon and did not know how to fight at all.
"Yes, Belgard, I remember what lives there. But it's not changing the fact that we are going. Maybe we can find another way around, but if we have to go through, we will." She saw Belgard open his mouth to protest, but before he could get anything out, she said, "Please don't argue, Belgard. We will just have to watch each other's back very carefully." Belgard sighed and shook his head in consent. "Good. Let's eat and get some sleep; we should get up early tomorrow and set out by dawn."
King Xeros walked down a carpeted hall of Hyrule Castle, looking at the intricate designs on the large rugs hanging on the walls. Most were of either the legendary Triforce or the Hylian goddesses, but a few had pictures of hilltops covered with men and ancient species fighting against large metal giants and a man with a gem encrusted upon his forehead. These tapestries were the most interesting of all; not one Malchadite scholar or historian who inspected them could tell anything about the ancient species or what those metal giants were, and the Hylians themselves refused to talk. It seems this little land has more history than I thought.
At the end of the hallway, the carpet ended and he stepped out onto the crystal tile of the foyer. This was his favorite place of the entire castle--except for maybe the garden--and not without reason: two large marble statues of warriors wielding swords dutifully stood guard on either side of the large hallway leading to the Royal Suites, and smaller versions stood next to the side passages on either side of the room. Long staircases wound up the sides of the walls to a second floor fifty feet above his head. The entire room shone brightly during the day as sunlight streamed through the large glass windows on the walls and the ceiling and reflected off the crystalline marble.
At the end of the middle hallway a door slammed shut, and a person wearing gold-sewn robes walked towards him. Xeros could feel the agitation begin to boil inside of him again as he stormed toward the woman who was gracefully gliding on the carpet. "I take it he isn't cooperating, Seomai," he snarled through almost completely gritted teeth.
"No, he is not," she answered, meeting his fiery glare with her own gentle stare. Nothing ever seemed to phase that woman. "I've talked to him the entire night and most of this morning; I just can't get him to reason. He won't agree to anything I've proposed."
Xeros stood still for a moment, casting a dark glare at the door from which Seomai had come. "Maybe we are going about these negotiations in the wrong manner. I think I know how to get him to agree." Drawing the dagger at his belt, he stomped down the rest of the hall and stood before the door behind which the King of Hyrule was kept. Two Light Suns stood guard with their spears crossed over the door but immediately held them straight upon their king's arrival. A Sun standing to the right of the door pulled a metal ring off his belt and used the only key attached to it to open the large lock on the door handle.
As Xeros gripped the handle and was about to wrench it open, another hand grabbed his and forced it to let go. "Seomai," he gritted, "what are you doing?"
Despite the look he gave her, she still was not phased. "I am not letting you into that room until you calm down. Your anger…has a tendency to take control of you and make you do stupid things--things you will regret later. You are not about to screw up all the work I put in to at least getting the king to talk to us. Do you understand me?"
Had any other woman stood there and said that to him, Xeros would have ordered her arrest on the spot, but Seomai was one of his most trusted advisors and he always had a hard time doing what she said not to do. As her soft yet commanding gaze stared him right in the face, he could feel himself cooling off. The anger and impatience were still there, but at least it was more in check. Turning away from her, her freed his hand from hers and stepped into the room.
The inside of the room was dark with thick curtains covering the windows. The only light came from four small candles, one set in each corner. The floor was carpeted--there was no uncarpeted room in the entire castle--but all the furniture had been removed except one wooden chair which was currently being used by King Zelia. Four Lights stood at attention in their posts at the corners of the chair. "I heard you've been quite uncooperative, Zelia," Xeros said, walking up to Hyrule's king. The man did not acknowledge Xeros' presence. Grabbing a fistful of Zelia's hair, Xeros violently wrenched his head back and said in very controlled words, "Listen, old man, there are a couple of things I want from you, and if you won't give them to me--"
"Get out of my kingdom," Zelia interrupted weakly. But in the look he gave Xeros there was nothing except fierce hatred and anger.
A moment later Zelia was lying on the ground four feet from the chair, holding the right side of his head with hand. Blood trickled down his fingers and the skin was already beginning to darken where the broadside of Xeros' dagger had hit his temple. "This is no longer your kingdom, Zelia; it's mine. Unfortunately, your people will not obey the regent I have put in charge, so here is what you are going to do: you will sign a royal decree saying you will submit to the authority of Malchadia and that all the people of Hyrule will do the same."
"Nothing you say will make me sign that." As weak as Zelia was, he stood on his feet and defiantly looked Xeros in the eye.
With great effort, Xeros kept the corners of his mouth from twisting into a wicked grin. "Sit down," he said, grabbing the old man's shirt and throwing him into the chair with enough force to knock it over. He motioned to two of the Lights to get Zelia to his feet, and he pulled back one of the heavy curtains to look at the bustling village below. It was a normal day--everyone was hurrying around the town; men had their carts on the sides of the roads, selling their wares; little children were playing with dogs in the streets--except for the fact that Risings were posted at every corner and patrolled the streets, but for the most part they were ignored by the people. "Look at this village, Zelia: Hyrule Village. I hear it's one of the largest villages in all of Hyrule. I also hear that the Kakariko and Lon-Lon Villages are the other two largest. Is that correct?"
"What are you getting at?" Zelia demanded, shaking free of the two Suns' grips.
"Let me just say that if you don't sign my decree, I will very quickly turn those three towns into nothing more than charred rubble. Is that qui--"
With a shout, Zelia launched himself at Xeros with surprising strength for such an old age and wrapped his fingers around his enemy's neck. Immediately, the Suns were upon him, two grabbing him by the arms and wrenching his hands away from their king's neck, the other two viciously stabbing his sides with the butts of their spears. "That's enough!" Xeros shouted. "Let him go." The two Suns holding Zelia's arms let him fall to the floor. "You have two days to sign it, old man, or I will destroy those villages." Without another word or a look at the whimpering heap on the floor, he walked out of the room with Seomai right behind him.
"Well, you threw tact right out the window," she said, a small smile creasing her lips, "but at least you got what you want." Her golden robes flowed behind her as she walked down the hall and disappeared around a corner.
Turning to the two Suns standing beside the door, Xeros said softly, "Inform the Dungeon Master that once Zelia has signed the decree an unfortunate accident is to befall him. One so severe that he will not survive." The Suns nodded in agreement, and he walked down the rest of the hallway to the Royal Suites. The doors leading into his room were not nearly as ornate as those in Malchadia, but were marvelous pieces of work in their own right.
As Xeros walked into his room, a man stood up from a chair set in front of his cluttered desk. "Sun Xeros," the man said, bowing his head slightly. Xeros nodded his head in acknowledgement and noticed the Red Sun Sigil on his breast.
"What can I do for you, Setting Mashen?" Xeros asked, sitting in a padded chair behind his desk and motioning Mashen to do the same. Silently, the Setting handed over a couple sheets of paper. "What are these?" he asked, scanning each page but not really interested in what they had to say.
"The top page is a report of the whereabouts of Alamatar and Belgard." Immediately, Xeros stopped flipping through the pages and turned back to the first one. "The first part is the report from a spy near Melkaban and the second is from the Master of Spies as to what their course of action might be." Xeros could hardly keep in his excitement as he read both reports; it had been almost two and a half years since he last received a report this detailed about those two traitorous Suns, and this one had more information than he ever hoped to see. "Of course by now they are long gone from where they were detailed in the report, but we believe they will are heading for the Dragons' Nest."
"Tell the Master of Spies to keep me posted on their whereabouts, Setting….If it's possible." Mashen stood from his chair and bowed slightly before leaving the room. If they are going to the Dragons' Nest, they will probably die inside, Xeros thought to himself. But then again, they have survived things that would have killed anybody else. Oh well, I'll decide how to handle them tomorrow. Reaching a hand up to his right shoulder, Xeros undid the golden chain holding up his cape and hung in inside his wardrobe along with his belt and boots. A moment later, he had changed into a silk robe and slipped beneath the sheets and blankets and fallen asleep.
"How is Aestal?" Nabooru asked, walking into the large dining hall. Or what used to be the dining hall; now instead of rows of tables lining the floor were rows of cots, each one occupied by an injured Gerudo. As Nabooru stood over the bed on which Aestal lay, she could feel the bile creeping up her throat; blood, flowing from four large holes in Aestal's chest where arrows had pierced her, stained the bed sheets, the wooden bedposts, and the stone floor. Aestal herself was just barely breathing and looked on the verge of death.
The woman kneeling by the bed did not speak for many minutes as she wrapped bandages around Aestal's chest and poured a small vial of red liquid down her throat. "She's not doing well, Nabooru," the doctor said, standing up. "She's lost a lot of blood and we don't have enough healing potion to replace it. If we keep getting injuries like this we won't have any fighters or potion left."
Scowling, Nabooru turned away and looked out a small window near the bed. She knew full well how short they were running on supplies and warriors, but there was nothing she could do; as long as those foreigners kept invading, the Gerudo would keep attacking until either they or the enemy were destroyed. Already, too many Gerudo had died. As she stared out the window, one of the guards patrolling the roof of a house on the far side of the village spotted her and motioned her over. "Neirith, I have to go. Try to get some of these women in fighting condition within a few days, if you can." Giving Neirith a smile, Nabooru left her tending to Aestal and headed out into a hall at the far end of the room.
The hall was dimly lit, with only enough torches to light up its corners and bends. There was no carpet or furnishings in the hall, so it was rarely used, and Nabooru's leather boots left deep prints in the dust. After a moment a doorway appeared in the right wall, leading to a small staircase which would take her up to the roofs. As she set foot on the first step, the building violently shook, and Nabooru slipped and hit her head on the edge of a stair.
Crying out in pain, she tried to unsteadily get back to her feet, but another tremor shook her to the ground. This time Nabooru stayed where she lay, waiting for her double vision to fade away. At last, she crawled up to her knees, her head still spinning slightly, and felt hands grip her under her arms and pull her to her feet. "Nabooru!" a voice called, slightly pushing her backwards to lean against the wall. "What happened?"
Neirith stood in front of her, inspecting her injury, while four Gerudo rushed up the stairs. "I only fell and hit my head. What's going on up there?"
"You'll have a nasty bruise on your head for a while, but you should be fine. Can you see okay?"
Plucking a vial of healing potion off Neirith's belt, Nabooru gulped it down and shut her eyes tightly for a moment. The pounding in her head lessened a bit and when she opened her eyes, the spinning had faded. "Yes, I'll be fine." Without another word, she bolted up the three sets of stairs and emerged out onto the roofs and into the starry night sky. What she saw was nothing less than what she expected: there was fighting everywhere, with these foreigners dropping left and right, and, unfortunately, her own soldiers, though not nearly as frequently. Soldiers were streaming through the small mountain pass and into the town, some falling as arrows pierced through their armor.
"Hey, there's one over there!" someone shouted, just barely audible over the din of clashes and screams. Turning around to look in the direction she thought she heard the voice, Nabooru saw two men run over from the far side of the roof, both wielding a sword. As the first soldier reached her and swung, she ducked under his arms and kicked his feet out from under him, sending him thudding to the ground. The other one managed to lightly nick her arm before she got close enough to jab an elbow into his eyes. In a flash, Nabooru grabbed the stumbling soldier's sword and thrust it clear through his stomach, and with a gurgle he slumped down on the roof.
The remaining soldier, back on his feet, charged and swung his sword right at Nabooru's head, but again missed when she ducked under the blade. Over and over he missed hitting her as she dodged each attack and returned with her own. "Hold still, woman, and quit moving around," he growled, muttering curses all the while.
"I think not," Nabooru retorted, bringing her blade down on his sword-wielding hand, sending the sword clattering to the ground along with two fingers. "If you had any skill with the sword, I might have made this an interesting battle before I killed you, but I've seen children who could fight better." In one clean movement, she swept her sword up and slashed it into his face, burying half the blade in his skull. I can't believe the Gerudo are losing to a bunch of third-rate fighters, she thought to herself, freeing her sword and sending the body over the edge of the roof.
Not spending another second to look at the battle below her--she was too afraid to know what was happening--Nabooru headed toward a small ladder at the far end of the roof. As she was about to climb down, the building under her feet erupted and, in a shower of clay and dirt, sent her to the muddy ground three stories below. A loud crack split the air when Nabooru hit the ground, landing first on her right ankle, then on her entire right side. Looking down at her leg, she saw that most of her pant legging, and the skin underneath, was severely burnt.
With all the strength she could gather, Nabooru dug her fingers into the ground and dragged her body a couple inches forward through the mud. She paused a moment to make sure no one noticed her and inched forward some more, slowly making her way along the front of the building until she reached the open doorway. Inside, amid upturned tables and lanterns, Nabooru could see two Gerudo bodies and countless enemy corpses littering the floor, with the many dark shadows hiding the splashes of blood. Painfully, she started making her way inside.
"Nabooru!" a voice cried out of the darkness. Two women emerged from the shadows behind a stack of crates, each carrying a bow and a quiver full of arrows. "What happened to you?" one of them asked, dragging her inside and setting her against the wall. "Bolt the door, will you, Daetrine?" she asked and turned back to Nabooru. "What happened?"
"I don't know," she whispered hoarsely. "the building I was on exploded…just exploded--no bomb or anything--and sent me to the ground. I think my ankle's broken, too."
"This door won't held them for long," Daetrine stated, walking over to the two. "Not if they really want in; all they have to do is pretty much kick it a couple times."
"We don't have any choice," Nabooru cut in, her voice cracking. "If we go out there, the same thing that blew up that building will hit us, too. In here, at least, we can defend ourselves somewhat better." She did not say the fact that, either way, they would more than likely die, but it was plain in the eyes of her comrades. "Help me get to that corner over there." Daetrine and the other--for some reason she could not remember her name--picked her up and all but carried her to the opposite side of the room, well hidden in shadows, and sat her down where she had said. "Do you have any other weapons?"
"Don't we have another bow, Alcine?" Daetrine asked, walking over to a box and routing through all the various weapons inside.
"No, we don't," she answered, slightly peeking her head above the earthen windowsill to peer outside. "It seems like its gotten quieter out there; it could be safe."
"Don't go out," Nabooru ordered raspingly. "Not until you see other Gerudo walking around outside. Alcine, give me your bow; you take one of the swords. I don't know if there are any more of those fighters left, but if they come in here, I need to be able to fight back." Alcine complied, and as she was sorting through the weapons to find a decent sword, a heavy pound sounded from the door. Slowly, she started toward the door and stood to the side with her sword drawn, waiting for someone to burst through. After another two pounds, the door began splintering, and Nabooru situated herself to fire at the doorway easier.
Suddenly, the door shattered in a spray of wood and smoke, and through the haze she could see three people entering into the room. "There they are back there," one of the men said in a deep voice, pointing toward the back of the room. "You get those two, I'll see if this one's still alive." A sinking feeling settled in the bottom of Nabooru's stomach as she heard those words; too many Gerudo had already died today, she did not need another death.
As the two soldiers neared her, she lifted the bow and let the first arrow fly through the nearest one's neck to stick into the wall on the far side of the room. While Nabooru was nocking her next arrow and aiming it at the other figure, something wrapped itself around her waist and effortlessly flung her into the wall, sending her head whirling. Just when she had come back to her senses, it threw her again, only this time against the floor, breaking the bow and her right arm. "That's enough!" the same deep voice shouted at whatever was tossing her around. "Let her go, Selaul; her arm's broken. She can't do anything." With the smoke clearing away, Nabooru could see two people standing in the doorway. One was a massive soldier with a red sun pinned on his breast, the other a handsome woman wearing a black tunic and pants. The soldier approached her and hefted her over his shoulder. "Besides, the last thing we need is your Taint killing her; they're hardly any good any dead. Rising, get the two bodies." The one she had been about to kill walked over from his dead partner to Daetrine, and the last thing Nabooru saw before being carried outside was him peeling away the clothes off her charred body.
The plaza outside the fortress was a much different scene than it had been just a little while before when she had been blown from the building. Carts crowded the streets, some with cages in which many wounded Gerudo lay sleeping or nursing wounds, others holding piles of dead Gerudo bodies, and the rest carrying any treasure or valuable objects. "Open that cage door," the guard carrying Nabooru ordered, approaching a cart with only one other Gerudo inside. After roughly throwing her on the wooden floor, the soldier locked the door shut behind him and walked off to talk to a man throwing a priceless carpet into one of the carts.
"Nabooru, how do you feel?" the other person asked, gently bringing her up to a sitting position and dragging her over to a side of the cage. "You don't look too good." The voice sounded like Neirith's but when Nabooru turned to look at her, she could hardly recognize her face; Neirith had a large cut running from her right temple across her eye all the way to the left side of her jaw and another running across her neck; much of the olive skin on her left arm was black as pitch, with some small wisps of the blackness trailing across her chest and up to her chin.
"What happened to you?" Nabooru rasped out, extending a hand to touch some of the black skin.
"Some of these people can do magic, and wherever the magic touches you, your skin turns black. You see, you have a black streak across your stomach," she answered, tracing a finger across Nabooru's middle. "Can you see okay?"
"Yes. Some things are blurry, though. Usually the ones that are farther away ." As she leaned her head back between two of the bars and tried to swallow some of the saliva building up in her mouth, the cart began its bumpy descent down the mountain pass leading out of the Valley. "Neirith, do you know what they're going to do with us?" Nabooru asked, too afraid to really want to know the answer.
"I don't know for sure," she answered, "but I think I heard a couple of the cart drivers talk about taking some of us to Hyrule Castle and selling the rest in some place called Malchadia." When Neirith's words sank in, it was all Nabooru could do to keep the bile down, but the feeling of sickness in her stomach would not go away. This can't be happening. Her resolve broke, and tears freely trickled down her cheek.
"Where are we?" Link asked, brushing aside a couple fern fronds and stepping out onto a small dirt path. As the others began emerging from the forest, Link looked down the trail to the base of a cliff. The cliff must have extended miles into the sky and much farther into the forest, but from what he could see, there was no opening in the rock wall. "Alamatar, I thought you said we were near the Dragons' Nest."
"We are," she said confidently, and started making her way down the path. "You'll see." For almost the next half hour, they walked down that path--which was much longer than it looked--Link all the while scanning the cliff face for any hole he might have missed. But he still did not see any. I sure hope Alamatar knows what she's doing. As they were about halfway to the bottom, a loud roar behind them almost sent Link jumping straight into the air. Re-gathering his wits, he turned around to see a large lizard emerge from the forest. "This is not good," Alamatar half-whispered. The lizard, looking directly at Link, flicked its tongue in the air a couple times and began to move towards them. "Run!"
The moment the words had left her mouth, Link turned on his heels and bolted down the path as fast as he could. Alamatar and Jesika were far in the lead, gaining more and more ground between themselves and the creature. From the corner of his eye, he saw Belgard fall behind out of view, and when Link turned to look back, Belgard had halted firmly in his tracks and was pointing the tip of his sword at the oncoming monster. I don't believe this, Link thought. Why does he have to kill everything that wants to kill him?
Turning around, Link began to run up towards his friend, but also stopped dead in his tracks when he caught sight of Belgard's sword. Tiny bubbles of every color danced around the blade from hilt to tip, and whenever one touched steel, a design engraved somewhere on the sword would glow briefly. As the lizard tromped ever nearer, Belgard extended his sword all the way out to his left side and swung it with all his might through the air at the beast. A loud thunderclap nearly deafened Link, and everything within about one hundred feet of Belgard's blade split into two; hundreds of trees fell on top of one another and the scaly beast fell to the ground in two halves. Slowly, Belgard turned around and began walking down the path to where the women and Gywan were. The intricate patterns still glowed brightly.
When they joined the others, Link heard Alamatar shout "No!" and watched her slam her staff down on a bulbous rock in the cliff face. "Where is it?" Again, she pounded the same rock three more times before throwing her staff down in frustration. "Belgard, where is the rock that opens the wall?" Her voice sounded strained and her hands gripped her dress so hard her knuckles turned white. "I could have sworn it was this one; the last time we came through here, this was the rock that let us pass. Now it doesn't do anything."
"Well, lass, if it's not that one I don't know which one it is." Belgard approached the wall and tapped it with his sword. After a moment had passed and nothing happened, he tapped it again; when still nothing happened, he began scraping the blade across every rock it would reach. "The Dragons must have changed the key to get in."
"But why would they do that?" Gywan piped in. "From what I've read about the Dragons' Nest, they don't care if people pass through or not; the passage that's here doesn't even go into the real Dragon territory."
"I...wouldn't be too sure of that," Alamatar said somewhat sheepishly. "The last time we passed through, I kind of made a couple new passages." Gywan exploded in laughter, and Alamatar, glowering at him, said almost as an afterthought, "I guess they decided they did not want any more people passing through."
"Yes, lass, you may be right." Belgard began running his hand over every bump and inside every niche on the stone wall, going as high as he could reach and as far as the edges of the forest, but nothing happened. "But we still have to get through. If we can't find an opening…you may have to make one for us."
Alamatar snorted. "Right. The Dragons are already pretty mad at us for the last time. I don't want to give them another reason to hate us. Belgard, you can stop searching; I doubt we'll find anything, anyway. Let's just get down to--"
"Hey, guys," Jesika cut in, "what about this hole? Would this get us in?" Jesika was busy yanking vines away from a small hole near the ground. "I can see through to the other side; there's a floor not far down." Link could hear the pride almost bursting out of her mouth as everyone walked a little ways into the forest to where she was shoveling handfuls of dried leaves out of the tunnel.
This is a little too easy, Link thought to himself as he inspected the growing gap that Jesika was creating.
He was not aware that he had spoken that out loud until Alamatar walked right by him and spoke so softly that only he could hear: "I agree with you. But I'll play the Dragons' games if it will get us to Makaeal any faster." She knelt down beside Jesika and helped her dig out the rest of the hole. After a couple of minutes, it was big enough for everyone to fit through, and one by one, they crawled through to the other side, Alamatar coming in last.
The tunnel itself was pitch black, with the only light streaming in from the small hole, and the amount of mold in the air was almost overpowering to Link; the only way to keep out the rancid smell was to cover his nose with one of his gloves and breathe through his mouth. He saw that Jesika had done the same thing. This humidity doesn't help the smell much, either. The only time he could remember something smelling that bad was when he had to go into Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Alamatar said through the cloak covering her mouth and taking the lead. "I think we came in near one of the Dragons' bathing grounds. It should smell better in a couple of minutes." As they walked down a maze of corridors, the designs on Belgard's sword started fading away, allowing Link to adjust his eyes to the dimness. The cave was not as dark as he had first thought, though; he could make out millions of glowing dots--glowworms, Alamatar called them--lining the walls and ceiling, casting just enough light for him to see his friends and a small portion of the path in front of him.
For a long time, the only sound Link heard was the echo of dirt crunching beneath his boots and, from what he could tell, an occasional waterfall. But at some point during their walk in the cave--he did not know how long; time seemed suspended by the pressing darkness and silence--Link asked, "Hey, Belgard, what was that that you did back there? To that lizard?"
"You liked that, lad?" Link could hear the smile that must have been painted on Belgard's face. "Just another trick I got from Alamatar. I don't usually use magic--it's fairly cheap, I think, for a swordsman--but sometimes the occasion calls for it. I hear you have a couple tricks like that."
"Hush," Alamatar ordered, stopping beside a tunnel and poking her head into it. Link strained to hear whatever it was Alamatar could hear, but aside from the sound of falling water, he made out nothing. She swore under her breath and pulled back into the main hall, furiously tapping her staff against the ground. "We've been walking around in circles the entire time! But none of the paths ever looped backward; they all went forward." With more grumbling, Alamatar tromped down the side corridor, leaving everyone staring after her.
"Guess we better follow her," Belgard suggested after she had disappeared into the shadows, a hint of humor touching his voice. He quickly led the way into the darkness, trying to stay on Alamatar's heels--and nearly barreled over her as she abruptly stopped in her tracks. Jesika, though, did run into Belgard's back side. "Lass, what…" His voice trailed off as his eyes caught what lay in front of him.
Just inches in front of Alamatar's nose was the largest spider web Link had ever seen. Spanning the entire breadth of the passage, the wrist-thick strands were woven so closely together that a small cat could not get through to the other side. If it were not for the layer of gloss coating the black threads, Link would have never seen them in such dim light. "How are we going to get to the other side?" Jesika asked, peering through a small gap between two strands.
"I don't remember Dragons ever being too friendly toward Spiders," Gywan noted as a medium-sized spider crawled up the web and into a niche in the ceiling. "I thought they killed Spiders whenever possible."
"They do," Alamatar answered, poking the web with her staff and having to wrench it free from the sticky surface. "I don't know why there are Spiders crawling this cave. Surely the Dragons know…" She too peeked through slits in the web to whatever lay in the darkness on the other side. "Belgard, we need to get through; do you think that you could cut the web without it sticking to your blade?"
"I don't think so, lass. The webbing looks pretty thick." Belgard picked up a rock on the ground and hurled it into a black thread. It did not bend at all as it caught the rock; nor did it let go. "I don't think my sword's sharp enough to cut through any of this."
"My sword might be able to cut it," Link chimed in, receiving a semi-doubtful look from Alamatar. He walked up to the web and lightly cut through one of the strands; it gave no resistance to the sharp edge of the blade. But when he tried to pull it back out, the two cut strands latched tightly on to the broadside of the sword and would not loosen their hold. Link thought he heard Alamatar mutter something under her breath, but he did not care, for in a moment Galadhad had collected an orange fog around its blade. With great ease, the swirling cloud of fire cut through the black webbing, each thread hissing and smoking when touched by the extreme heat. Soon, half of the web had been burned away, and Link walked through the hole, letting Galadhad keep its glow to help illuminate more of the passageway. As far back as the light would allow him to see, he could count two more giant webs, each teeming with tiny spiders.
"How many of these things are there?" Alamatar wondered, furrowing her brow in thought. "Don't worry about cutting the rest of the webs, Link; I'll just burn them down." Small flames began sprouting from the surface of the webs, their small glow replacing that of Galadhad's as its energy faded away. They burned completely through each silky thread, cracking its surface with loud pops, and consumed most of the spiders that could not make it to the safety of niches in the wall. "Let's see just what exactly is down this hall." Alamatar pulled her cloak's hood over her head and walked through a small hole cut from a still flaming web. The web farther down the hall she only had to poke with her staff in a couple places to send it crumbling into smoldering embers on the floor.
Again Alamatar took the lead down the passage, although this time not at such a fast pace. Link walked with Jesika and let Belgard and Gywan bring up the rear. A small point of light appeared far down the tunnel and steadily grew larger the closer they walked toward it. Link hoped it would lead to passages not as dark as the ones through which they had already passed; there was something ghastly about these shadows.
As they walked farther, it grew into a large archway that opened up into an immense dome. The walls climbed straight up for hundreds of feet before slowly curving inward to meet at a single point high overhead supported by a great column of rock. A river, fed by a roaring waterfall on the far end of the cavern, washed around its base, sending sprays of mist into the air before disappearing down a dark tunnel. All over the rocky walls and under the water grew small mushrooms, illuminating the entire cave with their blue glow. "Let's follow this river," Alamatar said softly, moving down to the bank of the river and following a small set of footprints into the tunnel.
"Footprints down here?" Belgard whispered thoughtfully, not aware Link had heard. "How did they get in the Nest?" He walked up to Alamatar's side and started a quiet conversation with her. Link took up the rear again, pushing small amounts of sand into the crystalline water and watching the dark forms of fish dart away from the small clouds. Gywan walked to his right, his eyes staring into space, and Jesika stumbled around a couple feet ahead. "Gywan," Belgard started, snapping him out of his reverie, "Alamatar says you are a scholar. Do you know if anything except Dragons live here?"
Gywan remained silent for a short time before answering, "Not that I can remember. I haven't read too much about the Dragons' Nest, but what I have, never mentioned anything living inside except Dragons. These prints look like a human's." As they walked into a portion of the tunnel where a couple mushrooms were growing right on the bank, Gywan bent down to inspect one of the footprints. He traced his index finger along the edge of the impression, wrecking the small barriers of sand that divided up the toes. "These are human prints…"
"Come on," Alamatar urged. Her cloak fluttered through the blue light as she turned around and suddenly disappeared from sight when she started walking out of the weak light's range. "Surely these prints lead somewhere."
"Alamatar," Jesika called somewhere in front of Link. "Is there a reason why there is no light in here?"
"I don't know. I guess the Dragons chose not to put any down here when they built it. Or they want to keep something out of it." The river began to grow louder as its current picked up speed and broke across small rocks jutting above the surface, and tiny mushrooms sprouted from small patches of rocky wall, casting a gentle white light on the sandy path.
They did not walk far before a split came in the tunnel. The river, now roaring past, veered a sharp left into a small tunnel even Jesika could not fit through, sloshing a large amount of water onto the high bank as it curbed in its new direction. Their path kept straight, leading into a more narrow tunnel fully illuminated by the white mushrooms. Beneath their feet, white powder replaced sand, tufts billowing up in the air as they walked past. The tiny motes clung to Link's clothing, everything except his cloak, and within seconds he was coated in a fine layer of dust. Jesika beat at her skirt, cleaning small patches of it off only to have it dirtied again, while Belgard just kept on walking and paid no mind to the large cloud swirling around him.
Abruptly the tunnel ended and Link walked out onto a path leading down to the base of an even larger dome. This time, though, instead of a waterfall and river, a small town lay at the bottom. No more than twenty houses and two larger buildings, a steady stream of people milled about on the streets, talking with passersby or walking into their own home. It was not lit very bright; maybe a candle or two in a window, but nothing else to light up the streets outside for the walking crowd. Despite the distance they were from the town, Link could smell the pleasant aroma of cooking stew and bread as the smoke carried it up toward the top of the cavern.
"That smells really good…" Jesika stated, walking up to stand by Link and look down at the small village. "I don't know what they're cooking, but at least it's not rabbit."
"Alamatar," Belgard's muffled voice called out, "come look at this." Belgard was still standing in the tunnel, inspecting something just on the other side of the opening. Alamatar walked up and hung her head and shoulders through the stone portal. "What does this look like to you?"
For a moment she stayed there, examining Belgard's discovery, and then walked back inside. Link saw her frown at a portion of wall hidden from his view. "What do you have there?" he asked back to them, watching Alamatar poke her head out to stare at the dome's large stone wall.
"This wall is strange; the tunnel wall doesn't meet the archway exactly right." She and Belgard moved out into the large cave and stared up at its rock-studded side, running a hand over everything near the opening. "It's like the wall can open and close….Why would the Dragons need something like this?" She scraped it with a fingernail, breaking some small clumps of dirt free from the wall.
"Maybe for them?" Jesika asked, pointing down to the bustling town.
Alamatar paused as her eyes followed Jesika's finger down to the wooden rooftops. A moment later, the surprise on her face was hidden by a mask of suspicion, and her face darkened slightly as she considered the small town. "This is new…" Her voice, calm and controlled, echoed off the high walls and up to the top of the dome.
"Well, lass, are we going to go down or stay up here all night?" Belgard asked, filling in the silence. He took the first steps heading down the small dirt path, and everyone else filed in behind him, Alamatar taking the rear with her staff clicking methodically against the ground. The glowing mushrooms began sprouting from the dirt, bathing the small trail and nearby rocks in their white light.
Long before they had reached the town, the residents had begun to collect at the end of the pathway, pointing up at them and whispering to those nearby. Some of the younger men frowned with glares as dark as the shadows; some fingered knives tied to their belt. The women crowding the base of the trail sent away their children--who were just as happy running through the streets as watching strangers--and planted themselves in their spot almost as firmly as their husbands. "They don't look very happy to see us," Jesika whispered behind Link, more than likely to Alamatar.
"We'll see about that," she reassured. "They probably aren't used to outsiders. Living in this cave, the only things they would see would be the Dragons."
The moment Belgard set foot on the ground, three men moved in and blocked him from going any farther. Two had their knives drawn. "What is this?" Belgard roared, clenching his sword hilt in a tight fist. Link saw his thumb reach back to release two golden chains clasped to the sword guard, and he bared the smallest sliver of the blade.
"You cannot come through here," the one in the middle said, taller than the other two but still a head shorter than Belgard. A fresh scar puckering his left eye made his glare as cold as his voice. "You must turn around." When Belgard took a step forward, pushing the man back a couple steps, the group of townspeople crowded inward, keeping Belgard from going anywhere but backwards. A few people got their knives or daggers too close to Belgard and suffered harsh blows on their knuckles from his free hand.
"What's going on here?" an old, gravelly voice sounded from the back of the group. "Let us through." A small path formed as the villagers shuffled out of the way, allowing three old men to hobble to the front and stand before Belgard. "Get back. Get back!" He shooed the ring of townspeople back a couple feet with an ornate staff carved in the shape of a dragon. "Now, someone explain to me what is going on."
"Magistrates," the man with the puckered eye began, "we were just going to send these people away. We--"
"Hush," the second old man commanded. "That's nonsense; these people have traveled a long way through the Nest to get here. We will not turn them away."
"But the Lord Dragon said--"
"The Lord Dragon is not here anymore," the third magistrate interrupted. "Neither are any of the others. We must make do ourselves." The man gave an ugly scowl and sheathed his knife. All three magistrates, turning to Belgard and looking behind him at the rest of Link's group, smiled at them, and the first one said, "I am the Magistrate The'vre. Welcome to Darkon Shtrea."
A/N: Well, this is the fourth installment of Puppet. Sure took a while to do--sorry about that. Hopefully next time I won't be so late. I know there is still some stuff to edit and revise, but I wanted to get this finished and posted; when I've finished my story, I'll reedit everything. Until next time…