Chap. 5 The Dunes
Link awoke in the wee hours of the morning curled up tightly next to Epona. His whole body trembling because it was freezing! He managed to open his eyes. The orange of the desert was now a dull grew, along with the sky. Grodan was still there, sitting on the other side of the dying fire with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her head was slightly tilted to one side, smiling, and waiting patiently. She seemed abnormally serene.
"Sleep well?" She asked.
"Ugh, I wish I could have stayed asleep. At least in my dreams it was warm."
She laughed. "You will wish it was still cold in about an hour. The sun's going to rise soon. She nodded into the distance where some mountains were beginning to turn their colors again.
"Sorry, I couldn't start another fire. There's no more wood for a long way. That will be part of our journey I guess!"
Link got up groggily to his feet and stretched. "So where to now?"
Grodan stood up and pointed far across the Dunes. The sea of sand was just catching the suns rays which also lit the distant mountains on fire. Through the silhouette of the fired peaks, one stood out from all the rest. It wasn't a peak, but looked like the mountain had sprouted a head from it's top and threw it far back to laugh wickedly at the sky. It's goatee and eagle's nose was even more unnerving at how human it was. A shutter ran through Link.
Her voice was flat. "That's Gyde's Rock; that's our destination."
"Wow" Link was astonished. "So, I guess we should get going?"
"Good idea, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave."
The pair made their way out of the sharp rock maze and started the long tread through The Dunes. Epona seemed very unhappy, being much heavier than the two, she would sink deep into the soft sand. It also didn't help that she was laden with the humans' bags and miscellaneous objects. Link and Grodan would always have to pull her out of the sand pockets too. Grodan was getting annoyed. They had only gone about a three miles into the mid-run by noon. Finally Grodan said what was on her mind.
"Are you sure you want to continue with that horse? You could just leave her here you know, animals have a very keen sense of direction" Her voice was hard and annoyed.
" The one thing I'm sure of is that I'm NOT going to leave her in the desert to be eaten by something!" Link was very taken aback at the young Gerudo's suggestion.
Grodan looked a little sad, she turned her back to the boy and looked toward the Mountain in the distance. "It's a long way to go, Link. Are you sure you want to risk bringing your horse?" Link's silence was his answer. She was quiet for a moment , looked down, and put her hand to the sides of her head. Link could tell she was thinking; he was good at guessing what was on peoples' minds. A tug-of-war game was going on in her head, but of what he knew not.
Finally she spoke reluctantly, "My father could pick her up...."
"Your father? What?!"
She sighed and turned to him but not making eye contact. She spoke quickly, "Okay, so we leave it-," she saw Link's warning look, " her here and I tell him she is your horse and should not be eat-" and alarmed look burst onto the boy's face, "um....that was a rash example." She continued, " eaten or any other harmful thing done to her. And only that she should be treated as a queen to the extent that she'd believe she was one after the short time with him."
"You'll tell him exactly that?"
"If it is to your liking."
"Yeah, all except the part about her believing she was a queen, I don't think that would be good for our relationship."
"Sure thing, so you want me to write it?" She took a piece of parchment out of her bag and started jotting down her words in a red quill she had also removed.
Link waved out his hands "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Write it? So, are you suddenly going to have a bird just fly down and deliver the note? Or just throw it in a bottle and whisk it out to this sea of sand in hope that it will reach him in a few decades?!"
"No need to for that now, you were right on the first guess."
Out of nowhere a black eagle zoom over their heads where Grodan quickly tossed the rolled up paper into the air. The noble bird caught it in it's talons and flapped away as quickly as it had come.
Link was dumbfounded.
"You're welcome." Grodan smiled and shook her hair haughtily. Then she picked up her bag and started strutting down the dune.
"Wait, Grodan!" Link screamed, he was angry. She turned around, still smirking broadly.
"I didn't even give you permission to send it! How do I know your father?! Entrust my ride and friend with a total stranger?! That's crazy! And judging by your genes, there's a line of thievery and she's a nice horse. The two don't go logically together!"
Grodan's mouth gaped. "There you go, insulting my heritage again, eh? And by the way, he's not a Gerudo! You seem to not be having any trouble with me, and you've not even known me a day! You're just going to have to trust me on this one too."
Link fumed. He had been TOLD! "W-what if I don't trust you on this one!?"
"I don't think you have a choice now love, the letter's gone. He's going to come!"
"I could ride back with Epona right now and leave you here alone," with that he mounted his horse and started walking down the hill. He felt good telling off the girl. A large grin parted his face.
"Fool! I'm not sure you would want to do that!" Grodan yelled from the top of the sandy mound. The words had barely left her mouth when Link felt a rumbling beneath where he and Epona stood. The nice feeling quickly drained out of him.
Epona whinnied loudly and reared back, throwing Link to the ground. She backed up on her hind legs and tossed her head back and forth, her eyes flashing their whites. From where she and her rider had previously stood, a large snake, the size of a tree sprang it's spiky head out of the ground, shaking sand off everywhere. It hissed wickedly and tried to snap at Epona's legs, but missed by a hair. The poor horse fell to the ground and kicked her legs frantically to regain her footing, but the sand was bogging her down. The serpent rose to strike it's prey with a deadly blow. It's large fangs, the size of Link's sword, shined in their venom.
Link was trying to get up off the sand and save his horse in front of him, but the desert terrain was also taking a toll on him and he couldn't get to her quickly enough.
"NOOOOOO!!!!"
Then in that millisecond before the snake could make his kill, a blur jumped out from above with the skill of being raised in the desert, smacking it so hard on the nose that the sound reverberated off the dunes. The sand snake reeled it's head back and shook it's head in confusion. Little girls was standing between him and this tasty morsel. As his vision righted, the little girls turned into ONE little girl. If a snake could smile, the grimace of that creature was a grin of malice and good fortune. So, he struck at lightning speed, expecting warm, tender human flesh, but he choked on a long pole stuck down his throat and froze. The girl stared him in his golden irises, her eyes were unnerving; black. His lust was sucked out of him and he went limp. He could only listen.
"You will leave now, and never come back to bother any passer in these hills. You will leave, to dig your tunnels elsewhere, and eat heartily in another land. But not here, it is not your time."
The trance of the monster was suddenly broken, for being of such vile existence, he could taste fear from a mile away. The girl's eyes lost their absorbency and a nearly undetectable waver of fright sang out lightly from them. He pulled back taking the girl's stick with him. She gasped, "It didn't work!"
He readied himself again. to strike as fatally as he could, and this time he wouldn't miss. Grodan shrank away against Epona in the feeling of pure dread that numbed her entire body and mind.
"Not now buddy!" Link leaped from behind, wrapping his legs around the serpent's neck and he stabbed his Kokiri blade into the back of the scaly skull with a sickening squish. The snake made a sound then, horrid to the ears. It wasn't a hiss or a screech, but more. It was the scream of something...or someone, who had lived the life of always winning, being on top, and getting what they wanted ;just to be thrust down to below the level of which it killed, of those tiny, tiny, nothings, and then to finally see their own face, and to see, that this whole time, there was nothing there,-only a shadow.
So the miscreation fell , just shy of hammering a trembling Grodan into the ground. It flopped around as it's nerves were too stubborn to give way to reality, and he spluttered dark blood out of it's mouth like a dragon would flame, drenching the poor girl. She stared at the deep redness, all over her hands and face, in her mouth, and soaked into her clothing. It looked into me...and saw...my true fear...It's the only thing that has...to fail. She looked down into the fiend's empty eyes and saw back to when it was born, but the size of a worm, so innocent, with no sight or hearing, and no idea where he was. It was left alone to fend for itself. Its mother of course abandoned its children to the mercy of the desert....he was so scared, and he would cry in his blindness. But then, one day, a mouse he killed, its warm blood heating his coldness, and he writhed with happiness and his eyes came forth from their shells. So began his killings, and he grew and grew, beyond the size of all his kin, to be a lord of the world, at least in his eyes and those of his victims. And in one moment, his life and...everything....it was taken away...he failed. Darkness took her, and she fell back onto the pillow of horse.
Link awoke in the wee hours of the morning curled up tightly next to Epona. His whole body trembling because it was freezing! He managed to open his eyes. The orange of the desert was now a dull grew, along with the sky. Grodan was still there, sitting on the other side of the dying fire with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her head was slightly tilted to one side, smiling, and waiting patiently. She seemed abnormally serene.
"Sleep well?" She asked.
"Ugh, I wish I could have stayed asleep. At least in my dreams it was warm."
She laughed. "You will wish it was still cold in about an hour. The sun's going to rise soon. She nodded into the distance where some mountains were beginning to turn their colors again.
"Sorry, I couldn't start another fire. There's no more wood for a long way. That will be part of our journey I guess!"
Link got up groggily to his feet and stretched. "So where to now?"
Grodan stood up and pointed far across the Dunes. The sea of sand was just catching the suns rays which also lit the distant mountains on fire. Through the silhouette of the fired peaks, one stood out from all the rest. It wasn't a peak, but looked like the mountain had sprouted a head from it's top and threw it far back to laugh wickedly at the sky. It's goatee and eagle's nose was even more unnerving at how human it was. A shutter ran through Link.
Her voice was flat. "That's Gyde's Rock; that's our destination."
"Wow" Link was astonished. "So, I guess we should get going?"
"Good idea, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave."
The pair made their way out of the sharp rock maze and started the long tread through The Dunes. Epona seemed very unhappy, being much heavier than the two, she would sink deep into the soft sand. It also didn't help that she was laden with the humans' bags and miscellaneous objects. Link and Grodan would always have to pull her out of the sand pockets too. Grodan was getting annoyed. They had only gone about a three miles into the mid-run by noon. Finally Grodan said what was on her mind.
"Are you sure you want to continue with that horse? You could just leave her here you know, animals have a very keen sense of direction" Her voice was hard and annoyed.
" The one thing I'm sure of is that I'm NOT going to leave her in the desert to be eaten by something!" Link was very taken aback at the young Gerudo's suggestion.
Grodan looked a little sad, she turned her back to the boy and looked toward the Mountain in the distance. "It's a long way to go, Link. Are you sure you want to risk bringing your horse?" Link's silence was his answer. She was quiet for a moment , looked down, and put her hand to the sides of her head. Link could tell she was thinking; he was good at guessing what was on peoples' minds. A tug-of-war game was going on in her head, but of what he knew not.
Finally she spoke reluctantly, "My father could pick her up...."
"Your father? What?!"
She sighed and turned to him but not making eye contact. She spoke quickly, "Okay, so we leave it-," she saw Link's warning look, " her here and I tell him she is your horse and should not be eat-" and alarmed look burst onto the boy's face, "um....that was a rash example." She continued, " eaten or any other harmful thing done to her. And only that she should be treated as a queen to the extent that she'd believe she was one after the short time with him."
"You'll tell him exactly that?"
"If it is to your liking."
"Yeah, all except the part about her believing she was a queen, I don't think that would be good for our relationship."
"Sure thing, so you want me to write it?" She took a piece of parchment out of her bag and started jotting down her words in a red quill she had also removed.
Link waved out his hands "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Write it? So, are you suddenly going to have a bird just fly down and deliver the note? Or just throw it in a bottle and whisk it out to this sea of sand in hope that it will reach him in a few decades?!"
"No need to for that now, you were right on the first guess."
Out of nowhere a black eagle zoom over their heads where Grodan quickly tossed the rolled up paper into the air. The noble bird caught it in it's talons and flapped away as quickly as it had come.
Link was dumbfounded.
"You're welcome." Grodan smiled and shook her hair haughtily. Then she picked up her bag and started strutting down the dune.
"Wait, Grodan!" Link screamed, he was angry. She turned around, still smirking broadly.
"I didn't even give you permission to send it! How do I know your father?! Entrust my ride and friend with a total stranger?! That's crazy! And judging by your genes, there's a line of thievery and she's a nice horse. The two don't go logically together!"
Grodan's mouth gaped. "There you go, insulting my heritage again, eh? And by the way, he's not a Gerudo! You seem to not be having any trouble with me, and you've not even known me a day! You're just going to have to trust me on this one too."
Link fumed. He had been TOLD! "W-what if I don't trust you on this one!?"
"I don't think you have a choice now love, the letter's gone. He's going to come!"
"I could ride back with Epona right now and leave you here alone," with that he mounted his horse and started walking down the hill. He felt good telling off the girl. A large grin parted his face.
"Fool! I'm not sure you would want to do that!" Grodan yelled from the top of the sandy mound. The words had barely left her mouth when Link felt a rumbling beneath where he and Epona stood. The nice feeling quickly drained out of him.
Epona whinnied loudly and reared back, throwing Link to the ground. She backed up on her hind legs and tossed her head back and forth, her eyes flashing their whites. From where she and her rider had previously stood, a large snake, the size of a tree sprang it's spiky head out of the ground, shaking sand off everywhere. It hissed wickedly and tried to snap at Epona's legs, but missed by a hair. The poor horse fell to the ground and kicked her legs frantically to regain her footing, but the sand was bogging her down. The serpent rose to strike it's prey with a deadly blow. It's large fangs, the size of Link's sword, shined in their venom.
Link was trying to get up off the sand and save his horse in front of him, but the desert terrain was also taking a toll on him and he couldn't get to her quickly enough.
"NOOOOOO!!!!"
Then in that millisecond before the snake could make his kill, a blur jumped out from above with the skill of being raised in the desert, smacking it so hard on the nose that the sound reverberated off the dunes. The sand snake reeled it's head back and shook it's head in confusion. Little girls was standing between him and this tasty morsel. As his vision righted, the little girls turned into ONE little girl. If a snake could smile, the grimace of that creature was a grin of malice and good fortune. So, he struck at lightning speed, expecting warm, tender human flesh, but he choked on a long pole stuck down his throat and froze. The girl stared him in his golden irises, her eyes were unnerving; black. His lust was sucked out of him and he went limp. He could only listen.
"You will leave now, and never come back to bother any passer in these hills. You will leave, to dig your tunnels elsewhere, and eat heartily in another land. But not here, it is not your time."
The trance of the monster was suddenly broken, for being of such vile existence, he could taste fear from a mile away. The girl's eyes lost their absorbency and a nearly undetectable waver of fright sang out lightly from them. He pulled back taking the girl's stick with him. She gasped, "It didn't work!"
He readied himself again. to strike as fatally as he could, and this time he wouldn't miss. Grodan shrank away against Epona in the feeling of pure dread that numbed her entire body and mind.
"Not now buddy!" Link leaped from behind, wrapping his legs around the serpent's neck and he stabbed his Kokiri blade into the back of the scaly skull with a sickening squish. The snake made a sound then, horrid to the ears. It wasn't a hiss or a screech, but more. It was the scream of something...or someone, who had lived the life of always winning, being on top, and getting what they wanted ;just to be thrust down to below the level of which it killed, of those tiny, tiny, nothings, and then to finally see their own face, and to see, that this whole time, there was nothing there,-only a shadow.
So the miscreation fell , just shy of hammering a trembling Grodan into the ground. It flopped around as it's nerves were too stubborn to give way to reality, and he spluttered dark blood out of it's mouth like a dragon would flame, drenching the poor girl. She stared at the deep redness, all over her hands and face, in her mouth, and soaked into her clothing. It looked into me...and saw...my true fear...It's the only thing that has...to fail. She looked down into the fiend's empty eyes and saw back to when it was born, but the size of a worm, so innocent, with no sight or hearing, and no idea where he was. It was left alone to fend for itself. Its mother of course abandoned its children to the mercy of the desert....he was so scared, and he would cry in his blindness. But then, one day, a mouse he killed, its warm blood heating his coldness, and he writhed with happiness and his eyes came forth from their shells. So began his killings, and he grew and grew, beyond the size of all his kin, to be a lord of the world, at least in his eyes and those of his victims. And in one moment, his life and...everything....it was taken away...he failed. Darkness took her, and she fell back onto the pillow of horse.