Chapter Thirteen—Haunted

Nayru had, of course, told me where the temple after Water was, but getting there would be a challenge all my skills of stealth and tracking, and would be even harder for Link. It lay on the far side of a desert which was nearly impassable. Yet even before the desert was more impassable terrain—a fortress of female thieves more skilled in combat than anyone in Hyrule. The Gerudo.

As much as I didn't want to risk using more Hylian magic, I concluded that I would have to in order to pass through Gerudo territory. While I could make myself invisible, it would be far more dangerous than disguising myself: Ganondorf would have no problem tracking me by a spell of such a duration, and besides that, what if I needed to talk to someone? So, just as I had so long ago changed my eye and skin colour to be that of Sheik, I now used my powers of magical metamorphosis to give myself a ponytail of red hair, the darkened skin of a Gerudo, short ears and a long nose, and a purple gem inset in my forehead. However, this wasn't adequate cover to get me into their hideout; I needed the clothes, but I didn't know the details of them well enough to try conjuring some up. I would have to steal some.

Under a spell of invisibility—I really didn't want to use one, but I also really had no choice—I snuck up to their gate, on the far side of a narrow wooden bridge over a dizzyingly high canyon. A single guard was there, holding a spear slung over her shoulder. Moving quickly, I knocked her unconscious with a swift, well-aimed blow to the top of the head. I dragged her away quickly, before the spell could wear off. When we were out of sight of the gate, hidden behind some large rocks, I removed the spell from myself and breathed freely.

I initially felt a spasm of guilt about stealing the woman's clothes, but when I reminded myself whom she answered to and what crimes she had committed against me, my family and Hyrule itself, my conscious was magically clear.

Ganondorf hadn't found me by my magic; that was something to be grateful for. I was also grateful for getting to dress as a female for the first time in far too many years. For a moment before I put my plan into action, I just enjoyed the feeling of being able to look like what I truly was. Or at least, something closer to it.

I hoped I looked confident as a strode up to the main gate, where the two guards who had come, apparently, to relieve the one I had taken care of were instead investigating her disappearance. I also hoped that the Triforce of Wisdom would give me knowledge of the Gerudo language, as it had done with the Sheikah, because I was going for it.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked. To my relief, the words that came out were a foreign language.

"Oh… Ellet left her post early. Not our problem though, it's hers. Ganon'll kill her."

The guard who had spoken shook her head. The other sighed. I forced myself to give a short laugh.

"Can you believe her? Well, like you said, her problem," I said, walking past and holding my breath. They didn't stop me, and I hoped it wasn't audible when I exhaled the tension. Now all that was left was the hope that my vague lie, which even I knew was far-fetched, would pass inspection. I knew the importance of confidence in lying; make people believe you're their superior, that you know more about what you're talking about than they do, and they'll believe anything.

It was hard to miss the vast gate which vaulted up into the sky to separate the civilized Gerudo Fortress from the untamed Haunted Wasteland. It, like the gate I had already come through, was guarded, but not heavily; the woman who stood there evidently served more to discourage overly adventurous young Gerudo girls than to keep out intruders or any other serious purpose. I approached her boldly, though my heart was hammering in my chest.

"I need to get past," I said.

"Sorry," she said simply, shaking her head.

Trying to look annoyed at her insolence, I informed her, "I'm on Ganondorf's orders. Important business at the Desert Colossus."

Frowning, the woman observed, "You don't look familiar to me."

"Well, no," I acknowledged, now putting on an expression of surprise as though I thought she was a bit slow, "because I've been part of Ganondorf's personal force living in his castle for…five or more years now. Since I was young."

"You're still young," she observed.

I shrugged. "Most of the force is. Now, you gonna let me through, or what?"

"What is this important business?" she asked sceptically.

Narrowing my eyes, I demanded, "Do you really think I'm gonna tell you that? All you need to know is that it's secret enough that he sent a member of his personal force here to deal with it, so obviously he doesn't want anyone else in on it! All the information on important government issues stays completely within the personal force. Not even other ranking officers hear about it. In times like these… Look, if I say any more, I'll be saying too much. You can never tell who's a spy for Nabooru," I added, lowering my voice conspiratorially.

Looking vaguely confused, the woman nodded. She let out a shrill whistle, which must have been the signal to the woman in the watch tower above to lower the gate. As it rumbled down, sinking into the sand, the guard asked me, "Do you know how to cross? I mean, if you've been living at the castle…"

She was trying to be nice now. See? It's all in the confidence.

"You're right, I don't know," I agreed.

"Well, just follow the flags for the first bit, but watch out for the quicksand. There's a whole river of it at one point that you might have trouble crossing. Anyway, after the flags you'll find this stumpy little building. Then you have to follow…"

She paused here to smile indulgently, then continued.

"They say it's a ghost you have to follow. A spirit guide or something. I don't know if I believe that, but I guess you'll find out when you get there, huh?"

I nodded. "Thanks."

With her warnings ringing in my ears as I entered the Haunted Wasteland, I wasn't sure if the easy part or the hard part was behind me.

At first, it seemed my nerves were unfounded. Following the flags was easy enough, and I soon arrived at a box that stood between two of the flags. I was glad to stand on the box, since wading through the sand had not proven as easy task thus far, in order to look ahead. What I saw showed me that the Haunted Wasteland wasn't as simple as I had been starting to think. Wishful thinking, I guess.

Before me stretched an expanse of quicksand flowing so quickly that I understood why the guard had used the term "river" to describe it. I could see across it to a box flanked by flags, like the one I was standing on, but it was definitely much too far to jump. The river reached out to my left and right as far as the eye could see, which admittedly wasn't very far, given the constant state of sandstorm that the desert was in, but I didn't like to think where I would end up if it caught me in its current. I had only one chance to cross it; I would have to plan my moves well, and I would have to have good aim.

After careful deliberation, I decided that the best course of action would be to jump for it and use my hookchain to grab onto one of the flags on the other side. From there I could, with any luck, swing across gracefully and land lightly on safer and more solid, if not totally so, ground. I braced myself, wrapping the hookchain around my wrist so that it wouldn't slip from my hand, fixed my stance for an explosive and effective burst of energy, and—went for it…

The feeling of suddenly being in the air was terrifying, so much so that I nearly forgot to fling out my hookchain. Gravity released its hold on me briefly, I hung in the air for a moment of time too short to measure but infinitely long while I was experiencing it. Then I was falling, slowly, gaining speed— I couldn't help letting out a desperate cry of effort as I whipped my hookchain across the expanse, praying it would find solid grip.

I saw it fly out. It lashed itself to one of the flags. But I was still falling, not swinging gracefully as I had imagined… though, really, I thought bitterly, how had I expected that to work? The physics didn't make much sense.

It doesn't matter. I have a lifeline.

I started trying to pull myself along that lifeline before I hit the river. By the time I had landed, floundering, I was already clawing my way out of it, pushing against whatever semblance of ground I could find, entangling my hands and fingers in the chain that was holding my onto life, and just fighting against the forces of death that dragged me down.

"No… I won't go down… I won't go down… I'm fighting… I won't…give up… No…"

I'm not sure how much I was actually saying, growling out from between tightly gritted teeth, and how much I was just thinking, pounding across my own brain like a mantra.

I do know that when I finally pulled myself up out of the current and lay down, weak and limp, on the box that was my goal, I felt as close to myself as I have ever felt in my life. Somehow, right then, I knew exactly who and what I was. I felt my essence as a living thing tingling through every part of my body.

Despite everything, I had a soul.

More flags were beyond that. They were still easy to follow, though I felt oddly detached from the physical after my experience at the river. I thought no time or distance had passed behind me or lay in front of me, for there would never be a change, but then suddenly a low building appeared. I stopped and stared; was I imagining things? Then I remembered that the guard had told me there was a building. Snapping out of my reverie, I ran up to it.

The howling winds were less fierce here, in the slight shelter of the building, which was made of brick the same colour as the sand, so that it looked like the desert had carved itself into this shape. I entered its low doorway and blinked in the strange clarity of a place where sand wasn't trying to blind me. There was nothing inside the single circular room, except two unlit torches on a platform, and a few feebly burning sconces on the wall.

"Hello?" I asked, remembering that there was supposed to be something or someone I would follow. My voice echoed slightly in here; out in the desert, the endlessness of the world had swallowed it. Either way, I received no answer.

I hesitated before leaving the building, because I didn't want to miss my guide or give up the safety of the place. Once outside, however, I noticed that a ramp spiralled around the building, leading up to its roof. I walked up, squinting against the continually blasting sand and bracing myself against the whipping winds, and found on the roof a square carved stone that reminded my unpleasantly of a grave. I managed to make out an inscription informing me of the spirit guide I could follow, provided I had eyes that could see the truth. I looked around, but saw only swirling sand. Did that mean I couldn't see the truth?

"Hello?" I called again, thinking that maybe this guide was just hiding. I thought I heard a sinister, cackling laughter in reply, close enough to make my skin crawl, but I still saw nothing.

"Are you the spirit guide?" I called out loudly. Looking around desperately, I tried to get my bearings. I knew I wanted to go west, but I had only a vague idea of which way west was. There was no visible sun to follow, and if I guessed my direction wrong, I could easily end up miles from where I wanted to be… lost in this boundless desert…

Irritation struck me. I was irritated to cover my fear.

Then, as softly as that laughter that I might have imagined, I felt something light and cold slip past my arm.

"Hey! What am I supposed to follow?" I shouted out into the emptiness.

The desert was howling malevolently at me. I gave an annoyed grunt.

"Fine," I snarled at nothing. "I'll figure it out on my own, and if I die, it's your fault."

Taking a deep breath to prepare myself for doing what I knew had to easily be the stupidest thing I had ever done in my life, I said a quick prayer.

Please, goddesses, guide me…

Even as I thought it, it was answered. A shimmered cloud of light formed before my eyes. I thought I was hallucinating, until I realized that it was blowing along unaffected by the tempestuous winds that churned up the sand. It had to be divine.

I jumped down from the roof on which I stood, slipping in the soft drifts of sand I fell into, and began to run after it—or rather, wade quickly through a desert that was trying with infinite hands to pull me under.

The cloud led me along a fairly straight path and didn't go too far ahead of me, but that didn't make the trek easy. Soon some enemies appeared, green blob-like monsters that emerged from the ground and spun their way towards me. For the most part, I tried to dodge them, but the sand provided an indefinite supply. By the time I could make out two flags nearby, my legs were cut up and bruised from constant attacks. However, the flags renewed my energy; my goal was in sight. With a hoarse cheer, I found the strength somewhere to drag myself to it.

No sooner had I broken through the edge of the last sand storm than my joy evaporated. The journey had gone too smoothly. It had taken much less time than I had anticipated. That meant that I would have to wait here for Link for who knew how long. It could be days. And this place was clearly not made for long-time habitation. There wasn't another person in sight, only a few evil-looking black birds and more of those accursed green blobs. There were a few large rocks, carved into arches and formations by centuries of wind, some of them so large they were like walls in the middle of the desert that separated this place from… nothing, most likely. The only intentionally built structure was a massive statue of a woman sitting cross-legged with her hands palm up on her knees, and a huge snake carved of stone wrapped around her head like a bizarre turban. This was the Spirit Temple Link would have to battle through to awaken Nabooru.

As I walked slowly across this much calmer area of desert, which wasn't trying to pull me down into itself, a sinking feeling grew in my stomach. I couldn't stay here. But how could I ever cross the Haunted Wasteland again?

Just as I was beginning to formulate a dismal idea of how I could survive in this barren landscape, I noticed something. It must have been divine intervention again, or else just good luck, that drew my attention towards one of those huge rock walls. There was an irregularity in the stone at one point. I approached and examined it closely; in addition to being a different texture, it was also slightly softer and made a different noise when I struck it. Logic told me something was hidden beyond it, but I didn't want to blast the wall away with a great force of magic. I was playing with fire as it was, and part of me kept saying that there was no way Ganondorf could have missed my presence. So, to be safer, I used intercorporeal sensory perception to peer into the minds of anyone who might be lurking inside.

I can sense all presences in my mind, girl. Even yours.

I jumped; someone had sent me a telepathic message through the wall. Composing myself, I sent one back.

Who are you?

You should know. The Great Fairy of Magic.

Of course. I couldn't believe I hadn't realized that such a suspicious place was the home of a fairy.

Do you need something? she asked.

Well, actually, yes, please. I don't know if you can help me…

Although she used no words, I registered an emotion of annoyance at me that I would dare to think so little of her.

…but you probably can, I amended. I need a way to return here easily. I know how to use Sheikah magic to teleport, but that's really limited, and it takes a lot of energy—

Sheikah magic is only tricks and illusions, she thought scornfully.

Yes, I know it is. But I can do real magic, too.

Then why don't you know the real way to teleport?

My mind went blank. I…don't know.

Well, then, I'll teach you. Here. We call this Farore's Wind.

Before me materialized a small crystal, which radiated from within a green light. I took it in my hand; it felt cool to the touch, but quivered with power.

Touch this to the ground of a place like this one that you wish to be able to return to, and clear your mind completely. Allow an image of the place to appear within your mind's eye. Then, at any time, you can return simply by touching the crystal and allowing the memory to return. Unlike your Sheikah magic, there are no limits on distance with Farore's Wind.

She sounded so degrading that I wanted to tell her who I was and put her in her place, but I resisted the temptation to be so ungrateful and rude.

Thank you, I thought politely. I even smiled sweetly, though I knew she couldn't see me.

Good luck in whatever it is you're doing… as long as it's not in alliance with Ganondorf.

Zelda is my queen.

Then may the goddesses go with you.

I smirked. They will.

The Great Fairy sensed that I was hiding something and almost laughing at her, but I broke our telepathic connection and began to walk away before she had a chance to ask about anything. Now she had something to think about.

Farore's Wind solved half my problem, getting back when I needed to, but there was still the issue of how I was going to get out of here in one piece. Maybe I could use Sheikah magic to teleport myself to the home of the spirit guide, then follow the flags back. It would mean crossed that river again, and it was always risky to teleport myself to a place I didn't know well, but if something went wrong, I could come back here with Farore's Wind. It was worth a shot.

After establishing my teleport point near a palm tree, I stood at the flags which marked the beginning of the Haunted Wasteland. I looked back only briefly, wishing there was a safer way to do this and trying not to be nervous, then teleported in a flash of light.

Endless hot winds and one River of Sand later—it was a bit easier this time, now that I knew what I was doing—I emerged on the other side. I must had looked more than a little bedraggled and dusty, but the guard was impressed just to see me alive.

"You finished your business, then?" she asked, looking me over with raised eyebrows.

"Yes. Well, for now. I'll be back, I would imagine. See you."

I gave her a friendly smile and waved, setting off for Lake Hylia.