A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
HAPPY BELATED THANKSGIVING! How was everyone's holiday? Mine was pretty fun. Had a week off, went home, lounged around, ate turkey. Also got a mild head cold, but nothing too terrible, it was just a twenty-four-hour thing. Now I'm back in school, and the workload's about to crush me...finals and final projects. ::sobs::
Well, as promised, here's the new chapter. Enjoy!
***
Chapter 21
Rogue Sister
When Saria welcomed the Gerudo into her temple, Zelda thought she'd taken leave of her senses. "Are you mad?" she whispered fiercely out of Azura's hearing. "She and her sister Arjuna have tried to kill Link and I countless times. They delivered us to Ganondorf!"
"It wouldn't hurt to hear what she has to say, would it?" Saria said calmly.
"It could! What if she's got an entire army hidden somewhere in the forest?! She could intend to slaughter all of us! It's been her intention since the moment Link and I met her!"
The sage closed a hand over Zelda's wrist, gazing up in her face. "Zelda, do you really think that we are unprotected?"
"I–" Zelda blinked. "What do you mean?"
"The goddesses placed a ward on this temple a long time ago. No evil can touch this place. If anyone sought this temple with evil intentions in mind, even the Black King himself, they could walk right into our midst and see nothing but trees."
Zelda stared down at her. "Then...that means..."
"That Azura has no evil intentions in mind," Saria confirmed, smiling.
Zelda thought about that for a moment. "I still don't trust her," she said at last, her mouth setting into a obstinate line.
"Trust me, then," Saria suggested, leading the way back inside the temple.
Inside the temple, Azura defiantly faced the stunned thieves. "Miss Zelda, why is she here?" Marek demanded, sounding angry. Zelda couldn't blame him.
"I'd rather like to know that myself," she replied, glaring at Azura.
Azura met her eyes coolly. "I need to speak with you."
"Speak, then."
"In private," Azura added pointedly.
Zelda was about to snap back that she could speak here or not at all when Saria called, "This way." She directed the Gerudo to the door leading to the courtyard of the temple. Zelda ordered the thieves to stay where they were and followed, fuming. What was going on? Why would Saria invite Azura inside her temple, evil intentions or not?
In the courtyard, Link was on his feet before he remembered that he didn't have a weapon; Impa held him firm in a vice-like grip. "What the hell is this?!" he demanded furiously, trying to throw off Impa as he glared first at Azura, then Saria.
Saria returned his gaze calmly. "Azura has requested an audience with Zelda."
"He can hear it too," the Gerudo added derisively, nodding toward Link.
"Are you calm now?" Impa asked Link. "You need to learn to slow down and think. Stop letting emotions get in the way of rational logic." She let him go, then clapped him on the shoulder and headed back inside the temple with Saria. Zelda stared after her, wondering when she and Link had gotten so familiar.
Link caught Zelda's gaze; she saw plainly the question in his eyes: what's going on? She gave him the barest shrug and stared hard at Azura.
"Well?"
Azura drew herself up proudly, her chin haughtily lifted. "I do not come offering war."
"That's a first," Link snapped. "What do you want?"
Zelda found herself rather admiring the Gerudo's resolve as she coolly, defiantly, faced her enemies. "It doesn't matter what I want. What matters is what he wants." Her face darkened; a hard glint appeared in her emerald eyes. "Isn't that what has always mattered? He always achieves his ends." Her voice was rising in pitch and volume with each successive word. "Even when my sister pleaded for mercy. Even when she fell to her knees before him and begged him to spare her life–a Gerudo warrior, begging! But he got what he wanted in the end!"
Zelda stared at her, stunned enough to forget her animosity toward the woman. "What are you saying? He killed...your sister? Ganondorf killed Arjuna?"
"Slaughtered her," Azura confirmed bitterly, her eyes as hard as diamonds.
"Farore's mercy, why?" Link demanded. "Why would he kill his own agent?"
Azura met Link's eyes defiantly. "Because of you, my bitterest enemies."
* * *
"Azura. Azura, wake up."
The Gerudo warrior frowned against the voice intruding into her dreams. "Go away, Arjuna."
"Wake up!" Arjuna insisted. "I've something to tell you."
Azura opened her eyes and stared irritably up into her sister's face. She sat beside Azura's prone form in the tent they shared in the midst of the Gerudo fortress. "What's so important that you had to interrupt the few hours of sleep I get before my guard shift?"
Arjuna glanced around as if checking to make sure they were alone in the tent. Her face was pale and her eyes were bright and feverish. Azura sat up and stared hard at her, frowning.
"Arjuna. What?"
Arjuna met her eyes. When she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper. "They escaped."
A chill prickled up Azura's spine. She knew, instinctively, who her twin meant. "That's not possible."
"I know, but it still happened. Gan–the master is furious." Arjuna's voice was low and frightened. "He sent us a message. We're to go and look for them immediately, and kill them on the spot."
Azura experienced another chill up her spine. "What does the master think we can do if even he couldn't kill them? They must be–they can't be human!"
"They're goddess-protected," Arjuna said slowly. "I'm sure of it."
Azura stared hard at her twin. She know all too well the expression on Arjuna's face. "Arjuna, no! You're not thinking–"
"The master is wrong to want their lives," Arjuna said quietly.
"Arjuna!" Azura threw open the flat of the tent, looking around wildly to see if anyone in the vicinity was close enough to have heard. She let it fall shut and looked at Arjuna, resisting the urge to slap her. "What's the matter with you?!"
"It's the truth," Arjuna said calmly.
This time Azura did slap her. She wanted to knock some sense into her fool of a sister. "Idiot! Do you want to be killed? Don't you dare say such things!"
"Who would you rather contend with, Azura? The master or the goddesses themselves?"
Azura hesitated. "The goddesses don't exist."
"That's a fool's answer."
"Yes, but..." Azura stopped, clenching her fists. This very conversation could cost them their lives!
"Azura." Arjuna met her eyes, completely serious. "Let's run away."
"Arjuna!" Azura stared, horrified, at her sister.
Arjuna shook her head and stood. "Goodbye then, Azura."
"You don't seriously mean...?" Azura demanded.
Arjuna's eyes flashed as she looked at her sister. "We're on the losing side, Azura! Din has forsaken the master. Not even the Triforce power could destroy Link and Zelda. If they destroy the master then where will we be? Will the master send us to die first? Will he kill us himself because we're having this conversation? Will he not care that we, his loyal followers, have served him as best we could since the moment of our birth?"
"How long have you been thinking about this foolishness?" Azura cried in frustration.
"A long time, Azura. Too long." Arjuna sighed heavily. "Do what you think is right. I must do what I think is right, even if that means saying goodbye to my sister."
Later Azura discovered from the Gerudo headsister that her twin had been summoned into Ganondorf's presence. She was relieved at the news. Perhaps the master had a new task, something that would distract Arjuna from her ridiculous thoughts of leaving. But why had only Arjuna been called?
Some hours later, a white-faced messenger from the citadel came riding into the fortress. "The Black King wants you," she gasped to Azura. "You're to take my horse and go immediately." A Gerudo helped her gulp down a skin of water, but the messenger suddenly waved her away, fell to her knees, and vomited in the sand.
Azura felt a sudden chill down her spine and wondered where it had come from. "What happened?" she demanded of the messenger. She realized she sounded frightened.
"You must go," the messenger managed to gasp out.
Azura didn't waste another second. She leapt astride the horse and kicked it into a gallop. She rode hard and fast toward the citadel, her mind oddly and strangely blank. The ride seemed to pass in mere seconds, though it was really an hour by horseback. Upon her destination she tumbled from the horse's back and charged inside the black citadel.
As she strode rapidly through the cold, deserted stone corridors, the most horrible sound reached her ears. She had heard something like it only once before; the screaming of a cat that had once been half-trampled under a horse's sharp hooves. A Gerudo had had to put the creature out of its misery while Azura watched, hands over her ears to try and shut out the sound.
She followed the sound, goosebumps rippling everywhere across her flesh. Her mind was still quite calm and composed.
Until she saw the blood seeping across the floor of the dungeon and realized the horrible, tormented screaming was that of her sister.
* * *
"He tortured her," Azura told Zelda and Link, her voice flat and her expression oddly detached, "and then he murdered her. In front of me. He warned me that the same would happen to me if I ever defied him, as Arjuna had tried to do. He let me bury her." Her lips twisted bitterly. "A small mercy."
Zelda stared at the Gerudo, appalled and horrified. She'd known that Ganondorf was evil, but to murder his own follower in such a terrible way? She met Link's eyes and knew he was thinking the same grim thoughts. If Ganondorf was crazy enough to murder Arjuna, his loyal follower, he'd stop at nothing to destroy them as well.
"Azura," Link began. Zelda was surprised at the gentle tone in his voice. "What is it that you want us to do?"
Azura gave him a glare that would have stripped paint, raising her chin haughtily. "I ask nothing of your charity," she said vehemently. "I am here to offer my services to you."
Zelda stared at her. "To us?"
"To you," Azura said shortly, nodding to Zelda. "We–my sister and I–once heard the prophecy that you were to defeat Ganondorf and become the Queen of Hyrule. I offer my loyalty and my services to you."
Zelda exchanged another glance with Link. He nodded to her, indicating that she should ask the question. Zelda looked at Azura again.
"How can we trust you?" she asked quietly.
Azura's chin raised proudly. "I am a Gerudo warrior. We live to fight and we are no liars. Ganondorf betrayed and murdered my sister. In return I intend to betray and murder him. You may trust me because I loved my sister, and on her grave I swear I shall have my revenge."
* * *
To be continued.