Agh, I need about 5 of myself. One I'll send to school A-days, another to B-days, then one more to keep writing my stories, one more to type them and the last to continue the message boards I'm creating with my friend Jessica. If only cloning worked huh? Anyway, school has started again which on one hand is good because I use all my free classtime to write but bad because I have to do homework when I get home meaning less typing and posting.
Anywho, I am actually pretty fond of this chapter and the next one. I can guarantee I'll have more of a plot going soon but I do like this chapter. Dmitri is probably my favorite character so I try to do more with him. I hope I succeeded. Okay, I still dont quite get the whole tense changing thing I seem to be doing but I've tried to fix it if I find it. I have a new editor that sees it so she promises to help me. Well, I think that's all I've got to say so I'll get back to typing.
--Saira--
--Temple of Spirit--
We rode around all day half the time just going in circles. I couldn't keep but thinking about what Stu could have possibly given Dmitri.
"Stop that" he said when I kept glancing at his bag suspiciously.
"Stop what?" I asked.
"Stop staring. You don't need to know what it is just yet."
I glared. He knows me too well. We stopped by Lon Lon Ranch again that night. Zelda wasn't there so Link was a bit put out.... that is until Malon started paying more attention to him. Goddess, can Dmitri never win? I was happy to leave the next day but I was equally unhappy because Dmitri's mood highly affected mine and he wasn't in the best mood. And since he was sitting with me on the horse, it was even more difficult to ignore. I wish I could slap Link upside the head so he'd notice how Dmitri felt but unfortunately things are never that simple.
The desert smell entered my senses and I realized that I actually missed it. Dmitri even smiled when he saw the familiar rocky path to Gerudo Valley. We reached the bridge and were stopped by a shorthaired White.
"Back already? We figured you'd be gone for awhile," she said keeping her face emotionless.
"Yeah, Tyra, we're back." I said, "How could I could I stay away from a place where I can watch my brother and best friend get beat up by girls. OW!"
Dmitri hit me upside the head so in retaliation I made the horse rear up. He fell straight off the back. Tyra had the briefest glimpse of a smile before she opened the gate across the bridge.
"Nabooru isn't there right now."
"Where is she?"
"She's paying homage to the goddess at the Spirit Temple"
A light lit up in my brain and by the looks on Dmitri and Link's faces, the little light lit for them too. We rode across the bridge but then hid behind some rocks out of view.
"You know, Tyra's the only one who knows we're back and she's always posted out here for long periods of time" I said to start.
"If we can stay out of sight we might just be able to get past the gate and to the temple" Link added
"And as long as we don't run into Nabooru we could explore" Dmitri finished.
"Okay, but one problem" I said "The Gerudos would see us from a mile away. How are we going to get past all of them unnoticed?"
I started thinking really hard but I noticed they just raised their eyebrows and looked at me.
"Saira, who's the best shifter in all of Hyrule?" Dmitri said casually
"Me" I said simply
"Who's probably one of the smartest people in Hyrule?" Link added
"Me"
"Who's the most likely person to get us out of a tight spot?" Dmitri began again
"Okay, okay I get it. The easiest way to get you past though you're probably not going to like" I added with a hint of amusement.
"What?" they said in unison now a bit scared.
Ignoring their tone I used my magic to change their appearance. I'm proud of my work because I changed them both into Red level Gerudos. They took one look at each other and nearly screamed if I hadn't covered their mouths biting the hell out of my lip trying not to laugh. Then slowly a magical mist surrounded me and then ceased so that I was also a Red Gerudo.
"It's not permanent, I assure you, but you screw this up and I will make it permanent, got it?" I said sternly. They nodded and I released them.
I thought it was amazing how easy it was to get by. I did all the talking and there were no arguments as they raised the gate and let us by. Once we entered the Haunted Wasteland, sand engulfed us pulling us into the forever going storm.
"Saira! Look out!"
One of them grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back right before I'd almost stepped off into a river of sand.
"Hey! Come look at this!"
It had been Link who'd grabbed me because Dmitri stood by a worn down sign.
"I'm not good at reading old Hylian!" he shouted over the storm. "Saira, can you make anything out?!"
I stepped forward and shielded my eyes so I could read. "To reach the Temple of Spirit you must overcome two trials. First is the river of sand." I read.
"How the hell do we do that?!" Dmitri yelled.
But suddenly I went deaf to the real world as I slipped into a vision. It was just like the one I had a long time ago when we were trying to get past the archway in the Lost Woods. I was watching Dmitri and myself in almost the same predicament as we were in now.
"I have an idea. If we can throw the boxes in the river and jump on them before they sink, then we should be close enough to throw a rope over that flag!"
"Okay"
"Get the rope ready, then we'll throw the boxes," I said
"Wait, who's going first. We can't both fit on the boxes"
"I'll go first because I'm lighter"
"But if it sinks will you be able to pull me up?" Dmitri asked
"Don't worry about it." I said, "Okay, rope ready"
Dmitri threw the box far enough to where I could still jump on it. I threw the rope and got it around the flag. I pulled myself to the other side. Dmitri jumped on the box and I threw him the rope, and helped get him on the sand that didn't sink.
"Ok, now what?" Dmitri asked shaking sand out of his hair
"We follow the flags"
My vision ended and I repeated what I saw to the confused companions of mine. It was easier to relive it with more people. This time Link went first and helped us get across. I had to hand it to him; he was stronger than he looked.
"Now what?!" they yelled once across.
"See the flags?!"
"Yeah!"
"Follow those!"
We started following Link since he seemed to know where he was going. I sort of had a feeling that I could have led just as well but stuff like this made Link feel important and I'd hate to deprive him of that...well some of the time. I ended up just closing my eyes and letting them lead me along but suddenly the harsh sand stopped whipping against my face and I was able to open my eyes.
A brick building lay before us.
"There is an opening just around here!" Link yelled. "C'mon!"
Link tightened his grip on my hand and then bolted around the corner. Jeez, please take my arm off; I never needed it. However that was nothing since once through the opening, it was a 10-maybe 15-foot drop. I landed hard on Link and Dmitri and all his elbow goodness.
"OW!!!" I yelled. We all calmed down and lay there on top of each other. I looked up stared at the ceiling. "I vote you out of office"
"What?" Link asked confused
"Look at our predicament" I said giving a small laugh.
"Well, now, now Saira, everyone is entitled to some mistakes. Anyway, there are only two other candidates and I don't want it, and I don't want you to want it" Dmitri said.
"Why?"
"Because you seem to find trouble wherever you go"
"I don't find trouble, it finds me," I said pushing Dmitri off and sitting up to have a rain of sand pour over my face from the storm. "So, I wonder why there is a little shack like this in the middle of nowhere"
"Ah, my turn to be smart" Dmitri said still lying down but raising an arm. "The Gerudos talk about a lone building in the Wasteland that is the second trial. Something about a spirit but not many make it to the second trial so not many details are known"
"Wow, Saira actually didn't know something"
I sneered at them. "Ha-ha, actually he just jogged my memory." He hadn't really but lucky for me another vision began.
This time though it wasn't a memory of what Dmitri and I had supposedly done but of Link. He held a weird purple magnifying glass like thing. He walked onto the roof of the building and looked through it. It ended leaving me quite confused.
Link and Dmitri had busied themselves with setting up for the night that they hadn't noticed me.
"You think anyone knows we're out here?" Dmitri asked later on trying to get a conversation going I assume to drown out the noisy storm overhead.
"Not yet. The Purples aren't very perceptive. I've gotten through the whole fortress without getting caught once" Link said
"You know, we're technically Gerudos now" I pointed out. "We did what Nabooru asked."
"I don't know about you guys but out of everywhere we've been I like it here the best" Dmitri said surprising me a little.
"Really? I would have thought you'd hate the strict nature"
"It's not so much strictness but honor. Even though they're thieves, everything is done for honor. The Zoras seem like a bunch of tea drinkers and no excitement, but here, fighting with weapons is encouraged for one, and once I earn their respect I got it for life. And then because of that I learn more"
"Ha, I never thought I'd see the day where Dmitri wanted to learn" Link said attempting for the billionth time to start a fire without my help.
"Well its not book smarts. I leave that to Saira, but when it comes to sword fighting, it's something I'm actually good at. Nabooru even says with enough practice, I could reach an elite level"
I smiled. It was all I could think to do. Dmitri never really had much when it came to admirable talents and I was happy to see him so dedicated and in love with such a talent. We stayed up for a long time just talking and joking around.
When we were so tired that we could barely stay awake we started getting comfortable. Dmitri tried lying on my legs.
"Hold on Dmitri, let me get comfortable first so I won't have to move later"
I suddenly smiled at an odd realization. Since I can remember, Dmitri has fallen asleep on me almost every night. When we were still in the Kokiri Forest, he would sneak out every night and come sleep next to me. I didn't mind because it gave me a sense of security.
Vienne and Stu were worried out of their minds the first time he snuck out. After awhile it was just habit. At the Fortress he still did it to the Gerudos disapproval. And with that thought, I fell asleep happy.
--- That morning we climbed onto the roof of the building trying to figure out how to get across because there were no more flags to follow. I'd forgotten my vision until just now.
"Oh, wait, Link, do you have a magnifying lens of some sort?"
"A lens? I got a cool looking magnifying glass I found a long time ago. It's got this weird eye thing on it, but it didn't work all that well" he answered.
"Eye thing? Let me see"
He pulled out the magic lens from my vision. "Any ideas Saira?" Dmitri asked
"That is the Eye of Truth. I don't know much about it, but anything with that symbol equals magic, a lot of it"
I began hearing another sound whooshing around other than the sand but I couldn't see anything.
"Well, why did you want to know about it?" link asked
"Look through it over there" I said pointing towards the whooshing sound.
Link held up the lens but quickly gasped nearly dropping it. If it weren't for Dmitri's amazing reflexes the lens would be junk right about now.
"Jeez Link, what got into you. That thing you got must be valuable if what Saira says is true," Dmitri said the Gerudo influence coming through.
"Here you look and see what you do" Link said a bit testy
Dmitri took a glimpse but he jumped and just fell into me. I pushed him up and grabbed the lens irritated. I gazed through it but I didn't jump or gasp. I think because I expected something like it since Dmitri said spirit. Through the lens I saw a Poe.
"How sad is it that the youngest one out of us three, and the girl, for that matter, is not afraid but the two brave boys are?" I said. "It's just a Poe"
"A Poe. Really?" Link said grabbing the lens from me. "Oh, it's on the move. C'mon!"
Link held up the lens while running. We followed close as possible. After what seemed forever Link stopped running and we ran into him from behind.
"Hey, what gives?" Dmitri said.
"The Poe stopped." Link said. There was another whooshing sound and the Poe appeared before us. He made one quick motion with his lantern behind him before disappearing as quickly as he'd come.
I just realized the storm had ceased and the Haunted Wasteland was behind us. What stood before us was an amazing structure. The Temple had a huge carving of the goddess the Gerudo worshipped. By the diamond on her forehead you could tell she was highly respected in life.
This part of the desert was calm with a prefect breeze cooling the area more than any other place in the desert. An oasis was to the left although it lacked water so it wasn't much of an oasis. The area was walled around with only one way in one way out.
"Time to explore I think" Link said
But after a few steps the ground started shaking.
"Run" Dmitri said
I didn't need to be told twice when a big ugly Leever popped out with pinchers on top. I'd only seen them dead and I preferred them that way.
"Link, go with Saira, I'll take care of these" Dmitri said
"No, I've got it" Link argued
While they argued, more Leevers popped up. Dmitri stopped fighting and did this cool spin attack just before one about got me from behind. Link decided to do what he said after seeing that.
I ran with Link on my heels but once we reached the stone steps into the temple, the Leevers stopped following. Dmitri took care of several before making a break for it to us. He made it and wasn't marred by a single scratch.
"Leevers pop up during sparring all the time" he said before we could get a word out.
"Dmitri, that was—those moves were—"
"Brilliant" Link finished
"Thanks"
"Well, shall we?" I said
We walked into the black hall leading inside. The first thing I saw was a small set of stairs and two python statues.
"Link, what are you doing?"
It was like he knew exactly where to go. He went up the small stairs and to a small space in the wall on the higher level.
"Don't touch those!" he yelled when Dmitri and I tried to touch two soldier-like statues on the level.
"Why?" I asked
"Something just tells me that we shouldn't"
"So, whose betting we might get banned from the Gerudos rather than being made ones for this" Dmitri asked.
"Nah, Nabooru likes us too much" Link said slyly. "Hey, Saira crawl through there"
"No way" I said, "I don't know what's in there"
"Oh, Goddess" Dmitri said
"What?"
Link and I turned and the soldier-ish statue started shaking and rumbling. Dmitri was slowly stepping back.
The statue then stopped shaking but then it turned and gave a sort of roar before it started coming after us. It grabbed a spear and swung at us. Dmitri pushed me down and the contents of my bag came out.
"Duck!" I yelled as some of my many vials of ingredients broke and mixed together.
"There's no duck!" Dmitri yelled looking around stupidly. I grabbed him then covered my head just as there was a huge explosion and pieces of rock and dust flew in all directions.
But when I looked up, it wasn't because the statue was destroyed; Quite the contrary. But then it began rumbling again flailing about as it changed colors from red to gray. Link jumped in front of it and grabbed its attention.
"Link, look out!"
The statue suddenly exploded right next to the wall where he had Link trapped.
"NOOO!!" I ran over there and used a wind spell to rid us of the smoke. "Link. Oh, goddess, Link!"
He came out from behind his shield.
"They don't give Deku Shields enough credit" he chuckled
"Hey guys, look," Dmitri said
"Well, we've come this far, why not go a bit further?" Link said looking to see the explosion made a large opening. The door to get to where the blast hole led was on our right and locked. We decided to follow the hall since we'd probably skip a lot of trouble. Temples had been made to be maze like to prove worthiness to reach the middle. We went up the stairs to our left. The ground was covered in red carpet with gold trim. The door at the top of the stairs opened by itself leading into an enormous room that echoed our footsteps as we ventured inward. There was a huge stone statue of the goddess again with her arms outstretched.
There were staircases on either side of the room. I saw several torches and thought we could use a little more light. I once again summoned my beads and they flew off to light the torches.
"Wow"
"You got that right," Link said
"How does Nabooru get in here without any keys?" Dmitri asked
"Maybe she only goes to the foyer"
"Huh?" they said lacking in vocabulary even though that was an easy one.
"The entranceway" I said dumbing it down for them. I looked at the walls and carved portraits were everywhere of Gerudo woman dressed in the same rank as Nabooru. I would have loved to earn the rank of Nabooru but I knew that wouldn't happen any time soon. I'm an honorary Zora and if we don't get caught I'll be a Gerudo but I'd never have the skill to move higher than Purple. My fighting skills would put me to shame.
"Nah, she must come through here. These burn marks are fresh" Link said examining an elevated brick area between two torches.
"That or there's something else out here" I added grimly
"I think now is a good time to move on" Dmitri said bored with a couple of burn marks.
We headed back the way we came but we soon had to find a new way because more of the rubble had come down blocking us in. We didn't mind all that much because it meant more exploration. However we stood there for a moment deciding where to go next
"Shh" I hissed. I found a hold in the rubble and there I saw two people I really wish I were hallucinating. Nabooru and Nyssa were standing where we'd been barely minutes ago examining the scene.
Link gazed through the hole and quietly led us back to the main area
"Split up and find an unlocked door" he said quietly.
We ran in separate direction and checked every door on every level. The most we found was a rusted switch that wouldn't budge. Finally it hit me.
"Dmitri!" I cried before Link glared at me angrily but Dmitri looked worried at what could possibly provoke me to say his name "Pick the lock" I added in a whisper
A look of relief spread over him. We ran to a random door and Dmitri almost professional-like knelt in front of it.
"Saira" he said holding his hand up. I pulled a pin from my hair and placed it in his palm. It was like a system. He'd place the pin where it needed to go then ask for another.
"We're lucky you actually bothered to do your hair today" Link smirked
I stuck my tongue out at him before abiding to a grunt by Dmitri for another pin. He was certainly in his prime. Even though one of his best talents was not admirable by most, it could sure get you out of a tight spot.
Click!
"Got it," Dmitri sighed. You could see every muscle in his body relax as he pushed the door open. It shut behind us and we were left in dark.
"I don't like this" I said
"Me neither" Dmitri said
"Saira, some light" Link said
The whole room suddenly lit up
"Wow, great Saira, you're getting better"
"I didn't do that," I said shaking my head.
The room was now visible. Large brick pillars were lining a red carpet. The room turned left leading to another door but something blocked this door. An armored statue sat in front of it. Dmitri walked up and outstretched his hand and barely grazed the sleek metal before it emitted a deafening roar and stood up.
We slowly started backing away. Its feet landed with loud clunks as it stepped forward.
"You always have to touch don't you?" I hissed, "What do we do now?"
But at that point we were all screaming and running as it swung the gigantic axe it carried at us. We each ran different ways and hid behind the pillars. The horrid clunk was still moving closer. Frantically hoping to buy some time I pulled out several vials of ingredients and poured them together and rolled it. His next step should...YES!
That was definitely a hit. Problem, I don't have any ingredients left, well any that would explode when mixed. I saw that Link and Dmitri seemed to be having a small chat unsheathing their swords. I can't help them there. I'd be killed in two, maybe one, second flat.
Link looked over at me and started mouthing. Rice? He's asking for rice at a time like this?! Yeah, I'm going to drop everything and make him---wait, not rice, ice! Ice to make the thing slip. He'd be like a turtle on his back. I nodded at Link then placed both my hands on the ground.
I could see the brick cracking and the tiniest bit of smoke rising making my ice trail visibly to myself. The ice was becoming thicker and more visible as it thickened around the thing's feet.
Metal on ice is the perfect combination to skate but since this is a desert, I don't think they ever learned. It was flat on its back after the next step flailing its arms and swinging its axe unable to get up.
Link and Dmitri finally burst out from behind the pillars and attacked furiously using every technique they learned from the Gerudos to help them. Slowly but surely its movements slowed until finally stopping where it then burst into green and blue flames. My boys jumped back and shielded their eyes. I stopped my ice spell I'd been keeping up if by some chance it got up.
After the thing had disintegrated Link and Dmitri put away their swords and jogged over to me.
"Damn Saira" Link said
"That spell was brilliant" Dmitri added
"What would you two do without me?" I said as they helped me stand up
"Starve" Link said
"Freeze"
"And die"
"Good. Nice to know I'm needed" I said
"Oh, no is that door locked too?" Link asked
"Yeah and this one is trickier. Different mechanisms holding it" Dmitri said expertly after examining it.
"Well we can't go back" I said, "Think you can get us through?"
"It'll be difficult but I think I can manage.... that is with the right tools"
Okay, I have to ask, did you like it? I really liked it, but then again I always liked the Gerudos in the game. Dunno why but I did. Please R&R, I am literally on my knees begging those who usually just read and never review. And for those who do review I bow at your feet gratefully. Thank you! Okay I better go.