Link could feel the sand against his skin, across his cheeks, tangled in his hair. But no matter how it swirled, it always avoided the vulnerability of his azure eyes. Aloarn stood across the room from him, her tanned cheek bones splashed with dry earth, her stomach imprinted with lines of red sand. The dust was beginning to settle, slowly.
"Honor," whispered Link. A draft of wind ran softly through the cave, and a few pieces of Script flittered in answer. Aloarn's eyes never left him; she was waiting for something, something in his face, his eyes. Her blond bangs drifted slowly across sandy cheeks. Link gazed at the walls around him.
"Strength...cunning...loyalty... " his eyes roamed free through the sand. Navi, for the first time, hovered almost motionless in the dusty air.
"Me'lkmar ," whispered the Hylain.
"The First King," answered Aloarn. Her voice was hushed and slow. "M'ahkt ie me'lkmar. Sorcerer."
"Thieves of Me'lkmar, the shadow of the Desert," repeated Link. Aloarn stepped closer to the Hylain Hero. Link saw her and paused, ever captivated by the haunting gleam in her eyes.
"The Gerudo are cursed, Link," she whispered. Her face was inches from his, her gaze piercing, his breathe caught in his throat. "It is why we steal...why we kill...why we hunt. Because of Me'lkmar. The First King. The Sorcerer, shadow of the Desert. We are strong, Link," her hand touched the cold metal chain around his neck. The golden hoop glittered faintly at her ear. "We are swift, cunning, loyal. The Children of Din."
Her hand slipped down and ran over the cool surface of the silver moon. Link's eyes wavered.
"Me'lkmar betrayed you," he whispered. "One King...for one hundred years. He killed the rest. Disgrace."
"Dishonor."
Aloarn slid away from him, leaving him breathless beside Navi, the sand still drifting about him. The glow in the cavern began to dim.
"It is why you sealed Ganondorf away," she said. A blond bang drifted across her face. "To save Hyrule. To protect the People. To give us honor. To break the Gerudo curse."
The sand was settling now, hovering to waist level. The Scripts fluttered and lay still. Navi flickered as if she had been sleeping. Link, his mind numb, his body moving of its own accord, stepped towards the Gerudo girl.
Aloarn dare not move, but fixed her iron gaze on the Hylain Hero. She restrained a sudden need to shudder as he bent his face close to hers, his eyes locked on emerald plains.
"But it hasn't broken."
Through the cavern walls, the echo of a hundred voices sounded from outside.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Aloarn leapt out of the Fortress' main gate only to have a rain of arrows descend upon her. Desperately, she drew one Gerudo blade and slashed the nearest arrow from the air. Link, sliding down into the sand, grabbed her by the waist and held his gleaming Hylain shield above them. There was a loud, halted grating noise as the daggered arrows ricocheted off the metal.
Aloarn pushed away from Link in a blind rage. In a flash both of her Gerudo blades were out, gleaming from curved, whetted edges even in the early darkness of evening. She paused, seeing the vastness of the army before her.
Every woman in the Fortress assembled there, staring her down with empty yellow eyes behind a mask of purple veil. Horses whinnied loud and pawed the ground impatiently, their bloodshot eyes gazing longingly into the red canyon pass. Hundreds of swords glared through the dark, menacing and cold in the face of the Gerudo Advisor. Bows were notched and bent with poisoned arrows; spears carved with stars and moons were held high into the air and shaken as a woman on a golden bay galloped to the front of the crowd.
As Aloarn's eyes fell on the woman Link, standing beside her, saw her tremble in fury and lunge, headlong, at the army's front. He grabbed her by the waist and hauled her back, cutting fresh arrows from the air as they landed precisely where she had been standing.
"Ramil!" she screamed, breaking away from Link's grip, her fury consuming her, blinding her from the odds around her. The Hka'tie smiled evilly behind her veil as the Advisor shook before her. She was enraged, maddened, unable to speak. In her right hand, Ramil clenched a whip.
"The Code of the Gerudo is sacred, wench," hissed the older woman. "You have betrayed us. You are banished. Leave now or die in pieces."
"You will have a treacherous King for the Gerudos, Ramil? You will have a demon as you're Captain?" shouted Aloarn, her will striving against Ramil's, the fire in her eyes inextinguishable. "He will starve you, he will betray you, he will destroy you -"
"Traitor!"screamed Ramil. The whip descended on Aloarn and she stumbled, dropping one of her blades, her arm torn open and bleeding. Link caught her as she fell and supported her, placing the shield between them and the Gerudo army. He bent down close to her ear.
"Keep her talking," he whispered. Aloarn, still furious, sought him with an angry, bewildered gaze. But at the look in his eyes her temper was subdued; she pushed past him and strode towards Ramil again, picking up the fallen sword as she went. Link silently took out Saria's Ocarina.
"Traitor," she whispered. Blood was running down the length of her arm. Her body was covered in red dust. "Nabooru was the traitor, wasn't she Ramil? Traitor because she would not slay the innocent, would not destroy the ancient Temple, would not sleep with the King of the Gerudo -"
"Silence!" roared Ramil, her eyes ablaze, as she lashed out the whip towards the girl's throat.
But Aloarn's fury had overcome her. As Link finished the last note to Epona's song she leapt, cutting the whip in half in midair, and barreled into Ramil. The woman was too keen and well-balanced to be thrown off her horse, and rebounded against the Advisor with a swift hit in the stomach. Aloarn tumbled onto the ground but regained her footing like a wildcat; a woman beside the Hka'tie threw her spear down at the teenage girl and her blade sliced it in half as smooth as butter. She grabbed the sharpened end and rammed it through the chest of the nearest Gerudo, swinging upon her horse and hitting another woman across the head with the but of the spear. Ramil's blade was out, flashing beneath gold eyes, as she sliced it expertly beneath the girl's arm. Aloarn cried out, her side blazing. She turned but an arrow, loosed with deadly aim, sank into her shoulder. She lost her composure and shook horribly as Ramil lashed out at her with a heavy kick. She hit the ground hard, her world swirling, the wind knocked out of dust-filled lungs. There were too many to fight, too many to run from; the women howled like rabid wolves and galloped forth to finish her.
Two stallions reared and screeched as an arrow tore through their powerful necks. The woman astride the nearest one screeched, her foot caught on the stirrup, and fell as the weight of the animal crushed her into the sand.
Link slipped his arm around Aloarn as she gasped for breathe, her hands still clenched weakly on the hilts of her blades. Epona whinnied loudly, fast as lighting across the earth, merely feet from them. Link pulled the arrow from the girl's shoulder and shook as he saw the black liquid sliding down the shaft. Poison.
A spear grazed his back and he grit his teeth, desperately scrabbling at Epona's saddle. The woman were trying to surround him, enclose him in a furious ring of death, their scarves dangling from their mouths to shows their barred, white fangs.
It was Navi, herself, that fought back as Link struggled onto the mare. She was furious and sped right into the midst of the circle, swirled, and let out a glorious burst of light.
The Gerudo shielded their eyes as Link settled into the saddle with a weakening Aloarn in front of him. He did not need to spur the mare or give any verbal signal; the horse knew her master too well for that. She turned and was away, faster than an arrow, flying across the red sand of the desert, tearing through the canyon pass, the echoes of a hundred other horses haunting her steps. But no horse on earth, stallion or mare, could outrun the wind that Epona was made from. Nayru herself smiled upon the animal, giving flight to her feet as she scattered the sands beneath her in a furious gallop. The thunder of hooves faded behind them as they struck out into the soft grass of Hyrule Fields. The stars above them were bright and cold as the heat of the day faded from the air, and the moon hovered above the horizon, round and full. The silver glow of it glinted faintly off the chain on Link's neck as he pressed a strip of bandage to Aloarn's shoulder.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
"Link, my boy! What a surprise! I didn't expect -"
Talon stopped as he caught sight of Aloarn. Link had already dismounted, and Epona stood stock still as he slid the unconscious Gerudo from the saddle. Navi fluttered above him, challenging the light from Talon's oil lamp.
"Talon, quick, she's poisoned -"
"Silence, boy! There is no time for words!" hissed Talon sharply. "Ingo! Get out here now! Malon, get the medicine book and find the antidote to Ga'miki, Gerudo posion -" Aloarn slipped from the mare's back and Link, his arms holding her up by the waist, saw her eyes flutter open faintly. His heart beat wildly, knowing she was still alive. Bending close to her ear, he picked her up effortlessly in his arms.
"It's ok, Aloarn. Hold onto me. You're going to be fine..." he whispered.
Aloarn tensed, her pride flaring, and tried to get him to put her down. But his grip was firm.
"You're sick..." said Link quietly. His voice shook faintly. "Please, Aloarn..."
Aloarn caught the tremble in his voice and gazed at him, unfocused. Then she slid his arms around his neck and went still.
"Ingo, water! Get her in the house, boy, hurry! Up to Malon's room, she already mixing the herbs...water, Ingo! Hot water!"
Link carried her as fast as he could manage into the stable house, her crimson hair splayed over the front of his chest, her breathing faint and shallow. He swallowed and prayed desperately to Frarore, to Din, to Nayru, to anyone who was listening. Please don't let her die.
Malon ushered him into the room and Link, gently, laid the Gerudo down on the farm girl's bed. The fellow redhead took a bowl of water and a cloth from the dresser and tried to dab the girl's forehead. Aloarn leapt up, grabbed Malon's wrist, and pressed a hidden dagger to her throat.
"Mauh....l'ie rohae..." she muttered, her grip slipping on the blade. Link sat quickly on the bed and wrapped his arms around her as she lost her strength. The blade fell to the floor with a clatter and Aloarn went unconscious.
"Let me tend her, Link," said Malon swiftly. She was used to danger by now and the girl's reaction had hardly unnerved her. "Just lay her down. I need to get her to drink the medicine before the stages begin -"
"Malon!" cried a hoarse voice suddenly as Ingo entered the room. "Where is he? There are more, outside, warriors with spears -"
"What?" shouted Link. The two still did not get along well; Ingo held an eternal grudge against the Hero of Time, and Link had always disliked the sour farmhand. But at the man's words Link, who had been busy laying Aloarn against the sheets, leapt up.
"Where?" he said swiftly. Ingo looked out the door, one hand clenching a jar of hot water.
"At the gate, talon does not know what to do -"
He stopped as a shrill ring filled the room. Link pushed past the man, the Master Sword glaring nobly in the candlelight. There was a soft slam as the Hero of Time shut the front door and ran swiftly towards the ranch gate.
"We have no business with you, rancher -"
"This is not you're home, leave before I set the dogs on you -"
"Try your dogs, we will trample them. We seek the Advisor -"
"The Advisor will not see you," snarled Link, stepping before Talon. The rancher glared at the women before him, all shadows in the dark; all except for their fierce, yellow eyes.
"It is the Hero," said the lead Gerudo. "Weapons down!" she yelled.
"Swords were re-sheathed and bows put away. Spears were lowered. Link tensed, but realized that the vice of the woman was not Ramil's.
She leapt off the horse, swept near to the hero and bowed low on one knee.
"I beseech you, Hero of Time," she whispered. "I come with help. I come seeking the aid of the Gerudo Advisor, whom has not lost all her respect. I come with the last of the faithful Gerudo."
Link did not let down his guard, did not put his blade away. He stepped forth and touched the metal to her throat.
"Prove that I can trust you," he said. The woman looked up at him with bright eyes. Slowly, she undid the scarf around her mouth and smiled up at him.
"Nabooru, Second Star of the Gerudo, at your service, Link."
