For a start the smell was...was...undescribable. It hung in the air, thick as syrup, hitting you in the nose like a ton of bricks and sending you reeling. My eyes ran as the smell of 500 people stewing in their own filth filled my brain.
Then there were the people themselves. How a bunch of...thingsthat looked so rotten and disease ridden could still be alive was a mystery to me. It was like walking into a gang of zombies but instead of wanting to eat my brains they'd rather sell me fish, or a cow's head or a 'good time'. Goddeses knew why father had fought so hard to save them.
The path from the castle led straight into the town centre. There was a fountain in the centre of it, spewing a spout of crystal clear water into the air, and I went and sat on it, partly to to organise my thoughts, mainly because I hoped these people would have a fear of water. I'm sure if I'd brandished a bar soap they would have cowered back, hissing and spitting.
The gerudos were a band of all female, very attractive, well rounded bandits. Obviously a band that is completly female needs one thing, even if it was just to do one thing with that thing, over and over and over again. I had the good fortune to be that thing.
I glanced around but there was nobody who could have remotely passed as a Gerudo. Just a lot of walking disease bags, trying to barter through the fits of coughing. A tiny girl, chasing a chicken, ran past. Over in the corner, a young couple were...MY GOD! In public too!
The Gerudos were famous for their entrances. It was a public event. Crowds would often gather to watch as the men were chosen, rounded up, beaten, and carried off. Mothers would wave off their sons, wives would break down. People enjoyed it almost as much as a public execution.
I was tense. My fingers twitched. My kneck had bolted down the vertibrie ready for a garoting attack. The slightest movement made me jump.
"Hi. May I-"
On impulse, my fist shot out like a piston and caught the salesman in the chest. He flew in a gracefull arc across the square and landed in a crumpled, broken heap in a pile of boxes.
"Woops," I said. "Sorry."
The square had gone deathly guiet. People were turning to look at me. Quickly, muttering apologies, I got up, walked across the frozen scene, and into a back alley.
Poor guy. I'd seen him before, up at the castle, some friend of my fathers. Think he sold masks or something.
The alleyway was dark. It ran behind the back of the tavern and thus was full of empty crates, comatose drunks thrown out of the back door, and a whole lot of rats. The floor was sticky with spilt beer. I leaned against one moist, green wall and let out a long breath. Gotta relax...
Something moved in the darkness. I heard the shuffle of steps, the clatter of empty beer bottles being knocked over. I stood up quickly and stared at the darkness.
"H-Hello?" I called.
No answer.
"Anybody there?"
Again, there was silence. Yet I had the weirdest feeling that something was watching me back there. Measuring me up.
I began to back uptowards the bustling, smelly, sunny square.
And instantly, in a crash of crates and beer bottles, I heard something rush up behind me. A strong arm wrapped about my neck, pulling my head backwards till I stared into the sky. I felt the steps of somebody else stepping out from the shadows infront of me. A second later, my lungs were crushed by an armoured fist. I was released, and dropped to the floor, winded, gasping for the slightest breath.
For a few seconds I saw some black-leather, desert boots, and had enough time for aweak smile before I was hit over the back of the head and the world went black.
It was the suddeness that got me. Yeah. I mean as if a girl could have beaten the Prince of Hyrule on even ground. Ha.