Author's notes: Okay, this is my first attempt at a story challenge. I got the challenge from the 'Zelda story challenge' forum (never would've guessed that, huh?). Anywaaaaays... here was the original challenge:
Characters:
Link
Nabooru
Setting:
Hyrule Castle
Objects:
Candle
knife
Vase
I used these requirements rather loosely, but they're all in there! Read and see!
... and... if something doesn't make sense... don't blame me. Blame the minions of senselessness, for they do all kinds of weird, senseless stuff. Especially when you're up at 3 a.m.
On with the story!
"Agh!" Nabooru cried out in frustration, hurling her spear to the ground, "Is this all I'm ever going to be! A stupid guard in this fortress! Why should I, Nabooru, the greatest of the Gerudo thieves be stuck with such a menial chore!"
A low chuckle sounded from behind her. She turned quickly, drawing her scimitar, "Who goes- oh… Ganondorf."
"That's Lord Ganondorf," He smirked, striding past her, then stopping. The prince of the Gerudos turned his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye, "and why aren't you kneeling?"
Grudgingly, Nabooru kneeled for a moment, grumbling resentfully, "Long be your reign, Prince of Theives."
"That's better." He grunted, and continued down the corridor.
"Hmph. Thinks he's hot stuff, huh?" Nabooru muttered under her breath, retrieving her spear from the dusty floor. She held it at her waist, like Ganondorf's sword, rudely imitating his arrogant walk, "'Look at me, I'm Ganondorf, the best Gerudo Prince ever. Obey my every whim, or I'll give you a slap on the wrist and make you clean my bathroom.'" She turned the corner, not watching where she was going, "Hmph. Pompous son of a-"
She stopped abruptly. Ganondorf stood directly in front of her, glaring, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"…a golden angel." She continued sweetly, "Surely his wings will surpass his mother's in greatness!"
Suddenly, she found herself lifted off the ground by a strong hand gripping her neck.
"You think you're pretty smart, eh?" Ganondorf growled, smiling slightly as Nabooru struggled, "You think you can best the Prince of Thieves?"
He released her. She fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
"Then go to Hyrule Castle. Sneak inside, and bring me a…" he considered a moment, thinking of items he had seen when he had first visited the castle. His face lit up with an idea, "A candle from the throne room."
"… that's it? A candle?" She glanced up at him incredulously.
"One of the lavender scented ones from beside the throne."
"Lavender…?" What the heck is that? Nabooru thought, oh well. I'll figure it out. "And… then you'll admit my superiority to you…?"
He gave her a terrifying glare, then smiled, "I'll admit you as my equal in thievery."
Nabooru smirked slightly, "… and you'll promote me from a sentry, to second-in-command?"
"Don't push it." Ganondorf growled, turning away. "Oh, and one other thing."
Nabooru stood, brushing herself off. Her hand paused at the sound of Ganondorf's voice, "Yes?"
"You must give it to me by sundown."
With that, the Prince of the Gerudos continued about his business.
"Hm… sundown, eh?" Nabooro picked up her spear, "I'd better get busy then!" She hurled the spear out the window. Several alarmed cries rang out from the courtyard below. "Oops. Heh heh heh…"
-
-
One hour and twenty-six minutes later…
"…Finally." Nabooru strode through the gate into Hyrule Castle town. It was the middle of the afternoon, "I'm gonna have to do this quickly if I'm gonna be back by sunset…"
"HALT!" the guard to the right of the entrance shouted.
"What? Why?" She raised an eyebrow.
"YOU LOOK LIKE A GERUDO, ARE YOU?"
"...Yeah… so?"
"GERUDO'S ARE THIEVES!" The enthusiastic guard pointed his spear at Nabooru's heart threateningly, "YOU DON'T HAVE ANY INTENTIONS OF STEALING THINGS, DO YOU!"
"Stealing? Me?" Nabooru smiled innocently, pushing the spear away gently, "Of course not! Why, wherever did you get that idea?"
"… UM…" The guard scratched his helmet, "… NOT SURE. I THOUGHT IT WAS A FACT OF LIFE?"
"Of course it's not a fact of life!" the sly Gerudo guided him smoothly back to his post, "Now, why don't you just stand here and keep watch for any real thieves. I've heard they sometimes disguise themselves as cows, in order to sneak into the city."
"YOU DON'T SAY, COWS?" the unwitting guard saluted, "I'LL KEEP A SHARP EYE OUT FOR ANY BOVINE BURGLARS!"
"… you do that." She patted him on the shoulder, lifting his sentry badge stealthily from his back pocket.
"Heh heh, he didn't have a clue." Nabooru tucked the badge into her sash, and continued to the town square.
It was filled with people, all milling about, chatting idly and such.
She shook her head and sighed, "So many pockets… so little time."
However, she refrained from cutting, (too many), purses, and went straight for the path to the castle.
Two spears crossed in front of her, barring her path.
"Halt. Where, exactly, do you think you're going?" One of the two guards asked suspiciously.
"Keep your britches on," Nabooru waved a hand dismissively, "I'm just going to stea- uh, see the castle. You know. Take the tour. They do give tours… right?"
The guards exchanged glances. "No. Now get lost!"
-
-
She returned to the fountain in the middle of the square to get a drink and to ponder, "How to get inside…?"
A nearby shop was selling pastries of all shapes and sizes. The delicious smell of fresh bread and cinnamon wafted through the air.
An idea popped into the Gerudo's brain.
She slammed her hand down on the counter to get the clerk's attention, "I'll take a half-dozen of these cinnamon ones, two of those twisted rolls, and a few of the pancake-looking things."
"You want 'em in a box?" The rotund baker asked.
Nabooru pondered this for a moment, "… why not? Wrap it up nice for me."
"Sure thing, Miss." In a flurry of paper and string, the package was done, "Here you go. That'll be 46 rupees."
"Or… you could let me have them for free." Nabooru suggested.
"What? I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I'm afraid I can't-"
"I said, you could let me have them for free." Nabooru repeated, drawing her scimitar and running her finger along its edge.
"… or… I could…" The baker gulped, then smiled nervously, "Let you have them for free!"
"Good idea." Nabooru smiled, putting away her sword.
And with that, she picked up the package and strode off towards Hyrule Castle.
-
-
"You again? What do you want?" The guards crossed their spears in front of the path again.
"That guard near the gate, you know him, right? Well, he asked me to deliver this to the castle." Nabooru gestured to the package she held.
"… how do we know you're telling the truth, and not just trying to sneak inside and steal a small item in order to prove your thieving abilities?" One of the unusually perceptive guards asked.
"Because of this!" She shifted the package to one arm and whipped out the gate-sentry's badge from her sash, tossing it to the unusually perceptive guard. "He told me to show it to you, and you'd let me through. So, let me through already! I've got better things to do than stand here and argue!"
Both guards exchanged glances as they inspected the badge, "… right! Okay. You can go through."
The iron gate creaked open, "Thanks." Nabooru plucked the badge from the guard's hand and continued up the path.
-
-
At the entrance to the castle…
"Leave it over there, around that corner, by the door." The sentry instructed.
Nabooru looked around the corner, seeing the door to a storage room, "Why can't I just take it straight inside the castle?"
"Sorry, lady. We don't let just ANYBODY in, you know!"
"… fine. I'll leave it by the door…" Nabooru grumbled, walking around the corner.
As soon as she was out of sight, she began to search for a way into the castle. The small, storage room door was locked from the inside.
"Heh heh, no problem!" Nabooru chuckled as she picked the lock with a small, metal lockpick.
'Click'
The door swung inward.
"Easy as- what the heck!" She stopped dead in her tracks. The entire storage room was filled with crates of… "Lon-Lon Milk? Who could EVER drink forty boxes of Lon-Lon Milk?"
"There has to be another way…" The Gerudo grumbled, closing the door to the storage room and continuing to look. A small hole in the wall with water flowing out caught her eye.
She inspected it, "Hm… this has… possibilities. Kinda small, though…"
In the end, it turned out to be the only other way into the castle. She squeezed in, barely able to squirm her way forward.
"Great… just great…" She stood dripping in the small fountain on the other side, "It's going to take forever for these pants to dry out…"
Now, the difficult part began; finding the way to the throne room.
Nabooru walked on the opposite sides of hedges to avoid guards who, apparently, couldn't hear her, or see the wet footprints she left behind.
She paused to listed in on a conversation a couple of guards were having.
"… so you see, our jobs are actually quite easy. All we have to do is throw any intruders we happen to see out of the castle."
"What if it's someone important?"
"It doesn't matter. So long as they're intruding, we aren't required to make inquiries about who they are; we just throw them out!"
"… Awesome!"
"Hmph. Brainless as boulders…" Nabooru scoffed, "The Gerudo would never be so careless as these dolts!"
-
-
At long last, she came to what appeared to be a small courtyard. Looking inside, she saw a young boy, and young girl doing… something.
"Playing marbles?" she squinted, "Weird. Anyways, better avoid them. They might alert the guards…"
She backtracked a bit, looking for the ever-elusive way to the throne room. Strangely, however, there wasn't one! All other doors and/or windows were closed and sealed with some kind of impenetrable force! That force being an amazingly thick, sturdy layer of rust.
"What kind of castle is this!" she muttered, heading back towards the courtyard. "Rusted-shut doors… How's a thief supposed to get around?"
Nabooru paused at the entrance to the courtyard. Examining it, to make sure this wouldn't be a waste of time.
A small moat… grass and flowers… the two kids playing marbles (a.k.a. Link and Zelda)… and… a window. Two windows!
She could see into one.
"The throne room…" Nabooru murmured. She stood just outside the archway leading to the courtyard. "Hm… now, how am I going to do this?"
"And what, pray tell, are you going to do?"
"Eek!" Nabooru squeaked in a very, un-Gerudo-like manner, whirling about to see a tall, stern-looking woman (a.k.a. Impa) standing directly behind her. "Uh…"
She stood, feet apart, arms crossed, glaring apprehensively at the Gerudo intruder. "Hm, let me guess, you were just leaving?"
"Um, yeah… that was it!" Nabooru grinned and sprinted for the guard-filled gardens.
Running recklessly fast, she turned a corner, skidding in the grass, the tall woman close behind her.
What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do! Nabooru thought frantically, recalling the sight of a fierce-looking knife in the woman's belt. Rounding another corner, she spotted a conveniently-placed, decorative vase with a small bouquet of flowers in it sitting on top of a wooden crate. A gift from a guard's girlfriend, apparently.
Without hesitation, Nabooru grabbed the vase, and stood holding it above her head just out of sight on the other side of the hedge.
A moment later, the tall woman came sprinting around the corner.
'CRASH!'
Nabooru brought the vase down on woman's head with all the force she could muster.
The woman staggered forward a bit, and collapsed.
"Whew!" Nabooru breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the tall woman's still form. Now she just had to get past those kids… No problem, right?
Hurriedly, she returned to the courtyard.
Throwing caution to the wind, she strode boldly into the open.
The children, at first, were too engrossed in their game to notice her.
Suddenly, a small ball of light zipped out of the boy's hat, shouting, "Hey! Who're you! What're you doing here! Why're you all wet! Link, look! Hey! Listen to me! LOOOK!"
"Navi, I am looking!" The young boy said, standing quickly, and drawing a small sword, "Zelda, get behind me, I'll protect you."
"Relax, I'm not gonna- Ow! Cut that out, you little gnat…" She swatted at the fairy, who pulled at her orange hair.
"Are you supposed to be in here? Where's Impa? IMPA!" it screeched zipping out of the courtyard.
"Get back here!" Nabooru hissed, "Be quiet! Do you want all the guards to hear you! Darn, that little firefly's gonna get me killed…"
"Are you from the desert?" The young girl asked, looking at her fearfully, "Leave us alone!"
"Look," She snapped, "I'm just trying to get to the throne room. Just let me get through that window, and I'll be on my way, okay?"
Navi came zipping back in, "Impa's out cold in the garden, and all the guards won't listen to anything I say!"
"… somehow…" Link said, "That doesn't surprise me."
"You're working for that Gerudo, Ganondorf, aren't you!" Zelda cried, "Leave my father alone!"
"I don't care about your father!" Nabooru shouted, "I just want a stupid-"
"I'll never let you hurt the king!" Link yelled heroically, brandishing his Kokiri sword and Deku shield.
"Oh, come on." Nabooru drew her twin scimitars, "You don't really want to fight me, kid. Just let me through."
"Never!" He cried, lunging forward.
"Watch it!" Nabooru dodged to the side, slapping him with the flat of her blade as he went by. She glanced at the window; now guarded only by the girl. Nabooru rushed forward, grabbing her by the arms, and jerked her away from the window.
Of course, now that she got a good look at it, the window was small. And narrow. For her, at least.
Zelda struggled, almost breaking away from Nabooru.
"Hey, wait, you!" The Gerudo tightened her grip on the princess, holding her firmly between herself and Link, "Alright, kid, you'd better do what I say if you want this girl to stay in one piece."
"Zelda!" Link lowered his small sword.
"That's better." Nabooru smirked, slowly maneuvering away from the window, "Yeah, put your little toy on the ground. There. That's good. Now, listen close. You're gonna climb through this window… sneak over to the throne… and get me a candle."
"A candle?" the boy, Link, looked somewhat stupefied by this request, "That's all?"
"Yes. A candle." Nabooru growled, "A lavender scented one. From beside the throne."
"Are you nuts!" the fairy cried, "Breaking in here for some silly piece of wax!"
"I'm waiting!" The impatient thief pressed her scimitar's blade lightly against the princess's throat.
Link slowly moved to the window, and crawled through.
"Good. Heh heh heh. Now all I have to do is wait for him to come back in here with that candle, and I'm good to go." Nabooru chuckled to herself. The young princess looked up at the thief strangely, "Erm… did I say that… out loud?"
-
-
The young hero slipped through the window into the throne room, Navi hovering close-by. Fortunately, it wasn't in use at the moment. The king was away, taking care of important state business with the Zoras.
An array of candles stood on a pure-white marble table behind the large throne; there were tiny, little candles, regular, normal-sized candles, and huge, mondo-sized candles.
"Hm…" Link paused before selecting one, "Navi… what's lavender?"
"Er… I don't know."
"What? You mean, the one time I actually ask you something, you don't know!"
"… that about sums it up! Hey, I don't know everything!"
"… could've fooled me." He said, picking up a small, red, and distinctly cinnamon-scented candle. "Maybe this is lavender."
"Looks good to me. Let's go." Navi squeaked, and zipped back to the window.
-
-
"It's lavender, right?" Nabooru growled as Link crawled back into the courtyard.
"Um…" he glanced at Zelda.
"… Link… that's not lavender…" She sighed, shaking her head as much as Nabooru's scimitar allowed.
"… What is lavender?"
"It's…" she paused, "Uh…"
"Oh, come on!" Nabooru groaned, "Neither of you know what lavender is!"
"Well," young Zelda gulped, "I think it's purple-colored… but I'm not sure…"
"… purple-colored… Right, kid, go back and get a purple-colored candle!"
"Why do you want-"
"IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Nabooru shrieked, "JUST HURRY IT UP!"
"Okay, okay…" Link grumbled, climbing back through the window, "Purple, purple… hm…"
The only purple candles on the table were the size of small barrels.
"Does it look like lavender?" Navi queried, examining the king-sized candle.
"It's purple," Link observed, hefting the large chunk of wax, "so it must be lavender."
-
-
"So… really… what is it about this candle?" Zelda asked curiously, still in Nabooru's grip.
"Look, I said it once, do I have to say it again? It's none of your business! And why are you asking questions!" Nabooru snapped, "I'm the one in charge here, remember?"
"Alright, here's the candle." Link crawled through the window… again. Suddenly, he stopped. Impa seemed to have recovered, and was stealthily approaching Nabooru from behind, her Sheikah knife in her hand. She signaled to Link to get the Gerudo to release Zelda, "Er… so… now let Zelda go!"
"Right. But first, give me the candle." Nabooru held out her free hand, unaware of the Sheikah woman behind her.
Link pulled back, still holding the candle, "Let her go first."
"No. First, give me the candle, then I'll let her go."
"No way. Let her go first."
"Just do something already!" Navi yelled.
Nabooru sighed, and growled through her teeth, "Alright then. How about this: you throw the candle to me, and I'll let go of the girl so I can catch it."
Link nodded, "Fair enough." He tossed the candle; a little harder than necessary.
Nabooru shoved Zelda towards Link, and leaped backwards to catch the large candle.
"Oof!" She crashed into Impa at the same instant she caught the candle. "What the- AUGH!" Nabooru turned and held the candle up as a shield as Impa brought her knife down on the Gerudo.
'Thunk!'
The knife was imbedded in the wax up to its hilt.
Impa jerked back on the handle of the knife. It refused to move. She looked up from the knife, meeting Nabooru's gaze.
Nabooru stared back. An odd sense of familiarity came over her… almost like she knew this woman… almost.
"Aha!" She shouted, jerking the candle, and with it, the knife, backwards.
Impa smiled, releasing the knife. Nabooru stumbled back, slipping on Link and Zelda's game of marbles.
"Agh!" She cried out, struggling to regain her footing; finally standing on solid ground.
Link retrieved his sword, "Get her!"
"Oh, no you don't!" Nabooru smirked nervously, running into the garden. "AAAAAAH!" She yelled hysterically, running directly in front of one of the guards, "I'M AN INTRUDER!"
All the guards in the next five rooms perked up their ears, "An intruder!"
"No, wait, don't-" Impa called, too late.
The guards ejected Nabooru from the castle, (in record time, I might add), and left her sprawled out in front of the castle gate.
"…" Link looked out the window at the Gerudo on the path.
"… I think it's time to retrain the guards." Impa shook her head resignedly.
-
-
Outside the castle…
Nabooru stood, dusting herself off, "Well, that went better than expected!" She made a face in the direction of the castle, "So long, suckers!"
The thieving Gerudo hurried out of Hyrule castle town, and raced through Hyrule field.
She glanced at the sun, starting to sink below the horizon in the west.
"Darn it!" Nabooru growled, running harder, "Almost sundown!"
-
-
"Hm… almost sunset…" Ganondorf stood at a window overlooking the fortress. He smiled evilly, seeing Nabooru shove her way past a couple of her fellow Gerudos below in the courtyard in her haste to get to him.
"Ha, Ganondorf!" Nabooru burst into his quarters, panting hard, yet holding the large, lavender candle triumphantly.
Somewhere, a demented wolfos howled, signaling the setting of the sun.
"Hmph." Ganondorf smirked, crossing his arms, "You're late."
"W-what!" Nabooru snarled, "What are you talking about! I've got your worthless candle right here!"
"My point exactly." Ganondorf strolled over to her, "If you'll recall our agreement, you were to give me the candle before sundown. As of now, I have not yet received anything of the sort."
"Wha- but you- how-…? AAAAGH!" Nabooru hurled the candle at Ganondorf, "HERE'S YOUR STUPID, LAVENDER-SCENTED CANDLE!"
"…And don't forget to retrieve your spear!" Ganondorf called after her, picking the candle up off the floor. His comment was rewarded with an outburst of curses from his would-be equal in thievery.
He grinned again, sniffing the candle, "Hm… so this is lavender… Heh heh heh…"
The End
Haha! First story challenge... COMPLETE!
Yeah, so review if you want. Feel free to tell me how weird it was...
Or... you could tell me how good it was... -runs finger along the edge of borrowed scimitar-