Sumati uncrossed her arms and lowered them slowly, mouth falling open at the news. "Did I hear that right? There are only hundreds of Bulbins now?" She shook her head. "Wait, no. Don't explain yet. I understand you must be tired, but your mother needs to hear this." She turned to Rennie, who still stood next to Link. "I don't care how tired she is, go get Hida up. She needs to know about this right away."
The large guard bowed slightly and left the room, going down the right hallway to where the head chief was. Even though she was gone, Link didn't feel threatened without his guard. Sumati was here to discourage them, and Hida would be here in only moments.
That of course did not stop Auren from stealing glances while they waited. She was likely trying to be polite, but she probably hadn't seen very many men other than her father and Shad. The way that she looked at him wasn't with open lust or interest, but seemed to be a mix of surprise and curiosity. Sumati didn't correct her, so the young woman's behavior was likely considered "safe" by the other Gerudo.
Still, he stopped looking at Sumati to look back at Auren, and found her amber eyes on him again. "It's the blonde hair, isn't it?"
Auren opened her mouth to retort, and then gave a bit of an embarrassed laugh. Her laugh sounded a lot like her mother's. "I admit it. I've seen blue eyes before, but nobody with your hair color. I don't mean to be rude, sorry."
He smiled and spoke more quietly so only the two Gerudo near the throne with him could hear. "The looks you've been giving me are some of the most polite I've gotten since I came here yesterday. Trust me, I'm not offended."
The young woman gave him a quick smile back, but he noticed that her tan face darkened slightly from extra color. Oh, great. Not another one. Maybe he should just stop smiling. At least Auren didn't shyly avert her eyes. There wasn't much about this woman that seemed shy. Her eyes did move away from him, but that was only because her mother entered the room.
"Auren!" Hida said, coming to stand next to Sumati instead of sitting on the stone throne. She was lacking her usual jewelry, her makeup was smeared, and her hair was not combed. She looked as if she had quite literally just came from bed. "You just left. Why are you back here so quickly?"
"Mother, I have news that couldn't wait." This time she seemed a bit more reserved, although she still had a trace of her youthful excitement. "The Bulbins are much fewer. There are only hundreds left between the city and the Bulbin camp near the Arbiter's Grounds."
"That can't be right." Hida frowned, doubtful. "Your father told me that he was looking at their army's fires from Lakeside Tower two nights ago, and that there were thousands. It must be a trick."
The young Gerudo shook her head, sending her braids swinging. "It is a trick, but it's not what you think. They've been lighting many fires in order to make it seem like their numbers are higher. The Bulbins know we can only approach to spy on them at night, so that's how they've disguised their numbers. I went down there myself to see." She swallowed nervously, realizing what she had just admitted. "Uh, that is...I didn't want to risk my warriors so I went to investigate myself."
"I specifically forbade you from going near the city!" The chief's orange eyes were livid. "It is far too reckless for any warrior to get that close, even you!"
The young woman lowered her eyes to stare at the floor, abashed. "I know that. I understood the risk, and I knew you would be angry with me." She shook her head again and looked back up at her mother. "I had to go. I couldn't risk any of the others, but I could tell something was wrong with the Bulbins. I understand I'm your only daughter, but as one of your warriors I couldn't ignore what I thought I saw from a distance. I needed to go down near the city, mother. Anyone else would have taken a chance to do the same."
"To be fair, I would have." Sumati said. "If there was any small chance that the Bulbins had retreated, I would have investigated no matter the risk."
Hida sighed, frustrated. "Fine. We will talk of this later, Auren." she said sternly. It was strange to hear a mother scold her adult child in such a way. Auren looked as if she was a few years older than he was. "First, I want you to finish your report. Did your archers see any tracks?"
"No, none at all. They had assumed that the wind had blown sand over the tracks, but I knew better. There were hundreds of tracks from the army near the city, like it was still there a day or two ago." The young Gerudo shrugged. "I can't explain it, but I know what I saw. It is a trick, but I can't explain how or why."
"If I may…?" Link ventured, and the women turned towards him to listen. It wasn't his place to speak up here, yet they were willing to hear him out. "You said you saw something strange closer to the Arbiter's Grounds. I don't suppose it was glowing purple with black lines on it, floating about two stories above the ground?"
Auren's brow furrowed in confusion. "How…? Yes, I saw something like that, and it wasn't just me. Other scouts that were near the ruins could see it too."
He nodded. "It's exactly what I thought. The leader of that Bulbin army isn't a Bulbin, but a human sorcerer that came from another land to invade here. Not just here, Hyrule too. We've been having all kinds of problems with him and his army, since he can move it around instantly if he wants to. That thing you saw is a portal, a magical gateway that connects to other ones all over the place. I've seen many just like it, and the situation you're describing sounds like what Prince Ralis of the Zoras told me about. When Zant invaded Zora's Domain, he had hundreds of Shadow Beasts with him, but when I arrived there to help, there were only eleven monsters. He had used the portal to bring them there, and then to leave again."
"You think that Zant is moving his troops away from our city and somewhere else?" Sumati asked.
"Not just somewhere else: Central Hyrule. He's gathering an army there, and I assume he's going to attack Castle Town sooner or later. Or he's going to try, because the walls surrounding the town are thick, and what's probably going to happen is a long siege." He looked over at Hida. "Our two problems definitely intersect. While I'm sure that the Bulbins had planned on invading and taking over your city, Zant probably discovered them there when he chased Midna through the Mirror of Twilight." There was no point in hiding what was going on. What he was about to propose would involve every woman in the room.
"Most of the Bulbin host stayed there while Zant took some of them to Hyrule to gradually take over. Now he's ready to move the rest of them." He glanced between the three of them, considering the words he would use. "I have an opportunity here, just as Auren did. Even if it's only hundreds, that's hundreds less coming to Hyrule to slaughter innocents. I can not only reduce their numbers, but I can also shut off that portal so they can't use it anymore. They won't be able to escape back to here. But I need your help, Hida. I need your warriors. I can't do it alone. Hyrule is in chaos, our military is severely reduced, our knights gone and our king is dead."
"I understand you're worried for your people, but many of us Gerudo don't care too much what happens to most of Hyrule, only Lakeside." Sumati said, crossing her arms with a frown. "Don't get me wrong, Link. I like you, but I don't like your people."
"Things are starting to change, Sumati. You know about the lines of communication I have through Auru." the high chief said, running a hand through her messy hair. "Even so, the information I have isn't what most Gerudo know. They'll feel the same way."
"I understand old wounds still hurt, and it's like that on both sides. Most Hylians have their own negative opinions of the Gerudo, but not all. I have the same connections Auru does, and I know the next leader of the Hylian people wants peace. However, peace between our peoples can't be achieved by doing nothing." He stood tall and swept the room with his eyes, looking at the gathered warriors there. "If the Gerudo are willing to aid the Hylians in their fight in the same way that the Gorons and Zora have, then it will help mend relations while clearing your lands of Zant's forces. Those Bulbins have killed your people and stolen your city. Are you going to let them get away with it?"
Link stood there as tall as he could among the giant Gerudo, knowing that his body language, his eyes, his voice were convincing. He had seen that effect on others. However, he expected silence. Sumati and the rest had every reason to hate the Hylians and not give a damn about Hyrule, even if their problems were the same.
The room did not fall silent, but in fact erupted in chatter and shouts, in both Gerudo and Hylian. Warriors began to call out to him at once, saying that they would help him retake their city. He looked around a bit surprised, not expecting the enthusiasm. Sumati laughed to his left and he could barely hear her over the din.
"You can't leave an open challenge like that hanging in the air here!" she said, raising her voice to be heard. The woman clapped him on the back with strength nearly that of a Goron. "I'll fight with you! There's no way I couldn't!"
Auren said something, but he couldn't hear it. Hida stood up on the throne and raised her arms up with a shout. That made the room fall silent, with all eyes on their leader. "That's better." she said, continuing to look around the room. "I understand how you all feel. I certainly feel the same. If there's an opportunity to retake our home and kill some Bulbins, I want to be the first one there with my swords in hand." The chief smiled down from her perch at the lone Hylian in the room. "It seems the gods chose well when they chose you, Hero of Hyrule. As Chief of the Gerudo, I simply can't refuse your request, not when there is so much at stake. The problem goes beyond being only a Hylian problem, or only a Gerudo one. This is a war that all peoples must fight, and from what you say, it sounds like my people are the only ones who haven't joined."
Hida clapped her hands together. "That ends tonight! Go make preparations, we will be leaving an hour before sunset. Two hours before sunset you will receive further instructions in this room." She said something in her native language, and the assembled warriors in the hall began to leave, some of them practically scrambling to their feet in excitement. Once they began to leave, the chief looked down at him and gave him a wink. She had assumed that he would get her warriors riled up the whole time. He wasn't sure why she thought that, but it had worked out in the end.
She hopped down from the throne and stepped up to the three of them again. "Auren, I'm trusting your information. If you're wrong, it will be the death of us all."
"No pressure." Sumati said with a smirk.
The younger Gerudo looked confident. "I wouldn't have ridden here immediately if I wasn't certain, mother. There are about four, perhaps five hundred Bulbins spread between the city and their camp north of it. Some I couldn't see may have been in the buildings, so there could be more. While some could have gone into the ruins, I don't think it could hold more than a few hundred. If that's the case we have at worse seven hundred to deal with, but it most likely closer to five since the old jail is haunted." She sighed, looking exhausted and rubbed at her face a bit before continuing. "If they were burning all those fires, I imagine they burned up anything that wasn't nailed down in the city. From where I was I could see that the water is still running, so they weren't dumb enough to damage that. Bulbins aren't stupid."
"Unfortunately." Link said. If they were, things would have been far easier.
"There are still a bunch of lookout towers with archers, so if we arrive in numbers, they're going to see us coming." Auren continued. "If we're riding in we won't be able to use our longbows, and won't have a range advantage. I'm certain I can shoot three Bulbins out of their roosts before they even notice me, but even then there will be a dozen more left with bows nearby. Their numbers are lower, but we're still outnumbered."
"Even more so since I refuse to take every able-bodied warrior from this fortress." Hida said. "This could all be a trick to lure most of us out so they can figure out where we came from and destroy our hidden town."
"They would do something like that." Sumati added grimly. "They have a cruel nature and love to inflict suffering on others."
"I'm familiar with that aspect of them. I told you some of this story, but when they broke the arm of my little brother, their king held him up and laughed, taunting me. That's why I chased them all over Eldin and killed at least thirty, although I was so angry I wasn't counting." He looked past them into the distance, trying to remember details but unable to. All he could remember was rage. "I admit I felt some satisfaction knocking the king into a ravine later."
"You look so fierce." the chief said quietly. "I believed you last night when you told me the story, but now that I see your eyes, I know that you were capable of much more. You will be a valuable warrior to bring along."
He didn't look at her and continued to stare off into the distance. "I don't like to think about it most of the time. There's no pride in knowing that you can kill many quickly, even if it's something I need to do." He blinked and looked back to Hida. "I'm capable of doing things like that only because I take advantage of certain things. Like the time I defended my friend from the raiding party. I wounded King Fathead, and after I killed only a few of them, the rest started to run…" He trailed off, an idea just occurring to him.
"That's it…" he said quietly, mostly to himself. "That's it! Ladies, I know how we can do this. Bulbins run in packs like dogs, or more specifically like a herd of cattle. There's usually one leader, a male, and he bosses around the rest of the group, which are all females. If we kill him, the others will run to save their skins." He broke into a wide smile. "That's how we're going to get creative this time. We'll focus on their leaders. It's not hard to spot them, and we'll have mounted archers. Once we take down the bigger males, the rest will be easier to chase down and eliminate."
"A sound plan. I could almost hear the wheels in your head turning as you figured that out." Hida turned to her daughter. "Auren, once you've had a chance to eat and rest, prepare what archers we have here. Be sure to bring fire rounds." The young woman did not appear to be listening, and was looking at Link again, even though he was no longer the one speaking. Hida sighed and jabbed her daughter's shoulder with a finger. "What am I going to do with you? He isn't the first male you've seen in your life."
Color came to Auren's face, and she cleared her throat in an uncomfortable manner. "Sorry. He smiled and...um. You have a nice smile, you know?"
He laughed, even though she was embarrassed. "So I've been told, yes. A friend of mine keeps telling me that I have this effect on people, and it's even stronger on women. I didn't believe her until I started noticing it myself. I don't know if it's a hero thing or what."
Sumati clapped him on the back again. She certainly liked to do that. "Ha! I think your problem is that you're too hot for your own good." He could hear Midna giggle at that comment, and almost laughed again himself.
"Anyway, get used to seeing this smile, and seeing my blonde hair, or whatever else is distracting you. Get that all out of your system because we have work to do later." His smile softened a bit when he saw how uncomfortable she was. "Don't worry about it. I told you that you're really not offending me. As a matter of fact you're the first person close to my age willing to have a normal conversation, so I like you already. It's still morning and we have a long time until we have to go, so maybe we'll have an opportunity to talk more in a bit."
"Oho...are you hitting on my daughter?" Hida's look was sly.
He put his hands on his hips. "It's called 'making friends'. I keep making new friends wherever I go and I'm not going to stop just because I'm surrounded by beautiful women. Besides, some of my friends are already beautiful women." Except Ilia seemed to be gaining an interest in him, Zelda was in a coma, Midna was stuck as an imp and Ashei was busy working with Shad. So much for his pretty female friends.
"You've already earned my friendship, and we only met a couple of hours ago. That friendship will be strengthened in battle later." She slapped him on the back again, this time so hard he stumbled and the Master Sword rattled in its sheath. "I'm looking forward to it!"
"Okay, that one hurt. Can you not?" He rubbed at his shoulder. He was grateful that Sumati had declared herself his friend, since she could probably easily snap him in two. That didn't mean he wanted her thumping him on the back all the time.
"You big baby! It'll toughen you up." The muscular Gerudo laughed again, and then grinned at the other chief. "I'm going to get my tribe ready. I'll find you late afternoon so we can work out some details." With that she turned and left, her leather sandals quiet on the polished stone floors.
Now that Auren was no longer looking awkward, she looked exhausted. "If I may be excused, I need to eat, rest and bathe. In that order."
Hida dismissed her daughter with a wave. "By all means, go. Your mind will need to be sharp later since you have the most information."
The younger Gerudo nodded, and gave a polite little bow to Link. "It was nice to meet you. Sorry for being dumb, but I'm so tired my mind isn't working right."
Link chuckled. "I've found myself in that situation a few times. Go take care of yourself." He continued to smile pleasantly and watched as the young woman left the room. Once she was gone, he quietly spoke to her mother. "That was only because she was tired, right? She normally doesn't stare at young men that age?"
"She did stare at Shad at first, but then they became friends. Auren normally is a polite girl, so this behavior isn't typical." She ran a hand through her dark red hair. "I'm a mess. Listen, I'm going to get cleaned up and painted, and then I'll meet you in my study in about an hour. Go ahead and wander around...you can even go into the town if you want, just as long as Rennie is with you."
"No worries. I'm stuck to him like glue." the tall guard assured her with a little giggle.
The day went by and preparations were made. He met with Auru and Hida in order to get a good look at a map of the city, and did his best to familiarize himself with its layout. Everyone else going there later had either lived there or visited often. Auru confirmed that he was going along when asked.
"I know I'm getting on in age, but I'm still able to fight. It's because I don't use a blade and rely solely on my firearms." The scholar drew one of his matchlock pistols. "I worked along with a Goron engineer to make these. Normally a firearm requires you to pack in the gunpowder and put in your round, and that's a slow process. You can't easily do it on the back of a horse, either." He tapped the gun with one finger, which had the usual curved rounded handle that pistols usually had, but the end of it was squared off and flat. "These hold four rounds each before needing to be reloaded. They also have a mechanism that automatically sparks the gunpowder, so I don't need a fuse. They still don't work in the rain like any other gun, but we're in a desert so it's not a problem."
"You can fire eight shots before reloading? Somebody told me that his rifle can only shoot one at a time. Is your firearm difficult to reload, like a rifle?" He looked at the weapon, but didn't attempt to touch it. They were quite clearly made for Auru, and putting his hands on another man's weapon felt wrong.
"No, I don't have to pack powder or anything since it's part of the ammunition." He undid a latch and slid out what looked like a small tray in the bottom of the handle, and four paper-wrapped bundles were stacked one on top of one another within it. "I think the work that Goron did is brilliant, and I think he's designed the next model of firearms. These things are reliable." Auru slid the rounds back into place and re-latched the bottom of the gun. "Because of that, I know that I'll be able to be useful in a fight." He smiled and put the gun away. "I'm a scholar at heart, but I'm no slouch with my guns."
Hida smiled at her husband. "That combination is why I fell for him. A man who is both intelligent and good in a fight is so attractive." She poked Link in the chest, and he could feel the jab of her finger through his chain mail and padded gambeson. "You're fairly smart too, now that I've listened to you talk. I know that magic sword isn't for show, either. You'll likely impress and find a wife easily. Somebody who is interested in who you are-" She brought her finger up to flick him in the forehead. "-and not just your pretty face."
He rubbed at his forehead and did his best not to be offended. Her wording was a bit blunt as were her actions, but she meant well. Both she and Sumati liked him enough to poke fun at him a bit, and both women trusted him. He only wished that the Gerudo would stop talking about him being a husband. It was not a subject he wanted to think about at this stage in his life.
Since he knew he'd be fighting late into the night, he spent much of the day napping. If he hadn't been fighting and traveling almost nonstop over the past two and a half weeks, he probably wouldn't have been able to fall asleep only a few hours after waking up in the morning. As it was he managed to get about six hours sleep, and he took a meal with Auru, Hida and Sumati later in the afternoon.
He had expected Auren to be there, but her mother said that she was in the bath. She didn't show herself much later, when he was out on his own. After the briefing that Hida and Sumati held in the atrium, he wandered away with Rennie behind him. Unlike the other warriors, she had already changed into a different pair of shoes. Most of the Gerudo had worn gilded shoes with narrow high heels while in Hida's fortress, but the tall guard now wore a pair of flat leather sandals similar to Sumati's.
"I was wondering how you warriors rode horses with those heels." he commented as they made their way outside and away from the bustle of the Gerudo going to prepare.
"Now you know the answer: we don't." She had re-done her hair to tie it up with a few different bands around her ponytail, and refreshed her pale pink makeup. It was strange, but it seemed like the warrior had prettied herself up to go into battle. Or perhaps while she was gone in the afternoon she had slept and then fixed herself up after, since she had spent the night guarding his door. Hida's makeup certainly didn't look too great when she was roused from bed.
"You're not wearing armor either. Is that typical?" he asked as they stepped outside into the shade of the canyon walls, the sun having dipped low.
"Most do not, because we do not want to carry the extra weight. Our way of fighting is different than yours, so we normally would not wear chain as you do." Little did she know that everybody's way of fighting was different than his. "What are you looking for out here? The stables?"
"Yeah, I want to get my horse ready before the stable is full of warriors. Can you point me in the right direction?"
The big woman led him to a large building up against the canyon wall, and he could smell the horses before he could see them. The windows were high and barred like the stable in East Oasis, and it had a step down to a sunken floor like many Gerudo buildings. There were three rows of stalls with two aisles, and nearly every one had a large dark horse in it. There was no way there was over a hundred horses here, so he assumed that there were other stables elsewhere. Even then it took quite a bit of walking for them to come to where Epona and Auru's mare were being held, which was at the far end of the stable.
The palomino stuck her head out of the tall stall, leaning it out as far as she could to look down the aisle as he approached. She had heard his footsteps and recognized that he was coming, and once he got close she whickered at him. He smiled and reached out to pat her neck, glad that she seemed to be clean and comfortable.
"What a gorgeous horse. I've never seen one like that." the Gerudo marveled, watching as the mare pushed at her master with her nose. "She's about as large as our horses."
"My father used to breed Hylian warhorses. Epona, stop." He gave her face a push back when she shoved him too hard. He sighed when the horse lipped at the hair sticking out of the front of his long green hat, making a mess of it. "She's a warhorse, but she's also a big baby."
"I can see that she loves you, which is a sign that you're a good equestrian. It's harder to earn the love of a horse than the love of a man, or so we say around here." She turned to look down the row. "I know I'm supposed to stay with you, but I want to get my own horse ready while I'm here. Will you stay put?"
"Yes, Miss Rennie. I'll be a good boy and stay right here." He could hear Midna chuckle in his ears.
The tall woman laughed her girlish giggle. "I like you. Not many men have a sense of humor when they talk to me, because I'm so tall. They're usually afraid of me, but you're not." She gave a bit of a rueful sigh. "It's too bad Hida said you're off limits, but I know my place." The tall woman turned and walked back the other way, leaving him with his needy horse. Great, now even his guard was interested in him, even though she seemed like she would follow orders and respect him.
"Maybe I do need to put a sack over my head." he muttered to Midna once the Gerudo was a good distance away. He made an attempt to fix his bangs, and wondered if he should be wearing the stupid hat in the desert in the first place.
"That would only solve part of the problem. I think she finds your sense of humor and personality attractive, not necessarily your face. Not all women are superficial." she said.
"I can get that, I guess. I mean being attracted to a personality." He paused to step into Epona's stall. "Midna, what are you attracted to?
"Do you mean physically? It's kind of hard to describe to a guy in the light world, since we Twili all have similar coloration, just like the Gerudo. That's not to say I haven't seen some attractive guys here in the light world. Shad, for example. But...if you mean overall, I'd say I like an intelligent man. I want somebody I can talk to as a peer." She was quite smart, so that made sense.
He was going to reply, but Epona started to rather roughly nuzzle at him, knowing that he had apples hidden on him somewhere. Link made a small, frustrated sound and reached into his satchel to pull one out for her. While the mare crunched it, he began to softly sing to her and put her tack on.
A flash of color appeared at the edge of his vision, and he stopped singing and turned his head. Auren was watching him, or more specifically listening to him with a bemused expression. He hadn't seen or heard her approach, so there was way of telling how long she was there.
"Hi." she said in a slightly confused way, exaggerating the word a bit. "You sing to your horse." It was not a question.
He felt his face become warm. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Not too long. I came to get my horse ready just a minute ago." She pointed at the horse next to Auru's mare. It made sense that her horse would be next to her father's. "Let's see...the words I first heard were 'I felt afraid by myself on that cold morn'. I have no idea how long the song is, but those were the first words I could understand as I came over here." The slender Gerudo put her hands on her hips. "You sing to your horse."
"I thought I was by myself. I don't know how I can explain…" He groaned. "I have no idea how to do that without looking like an idiot. Your father caught me singing to my horse too, but all he said was he recognized the song. He didn't-"
She began to laugh, the corners of her eyes crinkling slightly in mirth. The young woman had re-done her high ponytail and twin pair of braids, and now wore gold eyeshadow and had painted her lips a bright red. Her close-fitting top was almost the exact same red. And as pretty as she was, she was laughing at him.
"I didn't laugh at you." he said sulkily.
"Staring at somebody because they have gold hair isn't the same as singing to an animal." Auren saw his expression and stopped laughing, clearing her throat. "I'm not making fun of you. All right, I guess I am making fun of you, but I didn't mean to." She took one hand off a hip to make a small gesture. "Besides, you made me blush. Now I'm making you blush. Fair is fair."
"I guess. I still want to explain myself, because normally I'm slightly less of an idiot. That song is my family's song, passed down for generations, and this horse was trained to respond to it. So yes, I sing to my horse, because my father sang to our horses." He stared at her face, waiting for her to start laughing again, or to make a comment about the song or its lyrics. He wanted to like Auren, but she was beginning to make him angry.
She didn't do any of those things. "If you keep staring at me with those blue eyes of yours, I'm going to blush again. Then I'll have to make fun of you and make you blush again, and then we'll be stuck in a vicious cycle."
It was quite a bit like what he would have said, if the situation was reversed. He would have turned it into a joke, and that's exactly what she had done. Link continued to stare at her, the beginnings of anger evaporating from his body. Then he laughed. "I told you to get that all out of your system."
The Gerudo came to stand next to the stall door and rested her tan arms on it. She only had a gold bracelet on her right wrist, and other than a simple gold necklace and drop earrings wore no other jewelry. "I can't help it. You're so beautiful."
"You're beautiful too, but I'm certainly not staring." She really was. Auren was the most attractive Gerudo he had seen so far. It was much easier admitting it to this woman he had just met instead of when he had told Ilia.
Auren pointed at him with a long finger. "You were staring right now! Liar!" That made him laugh again, and this time she joined in. It was nice that she had a sense of humor and wasn't uptight around him, but then again she was quite a bit like her parents. She looked like her mother, but had a personality similar to her father's. "I do want to properly apologize for this morning." she said after their laughter faded. "I was riding all night and hadn't slept in over a day. I normally don't stare like that, unlike other women you'll see around here."
He lifted the saddle up to put it on his horse's back. The fact that he had to stand on his toes to do it made him acutely aware of how short he was in comparison to not only his horse, but to the Gerudo standing nearby. "It's really no big deal. I wasn't offended, if that's what you're worried about. You're nothing like the two drunks that did offend me by trying to break into my room last night to get frisky with me."
Her mouth opened slightly and her face took on a look of incredulity. "No…" She shook her head. "No, you're telling the truth. That's not something you would lie about, I can tell. What did my mother do?"
"She didn't do anything." he said, tightening the strap that went beneath the horse's belly. "Sumati disciplined them before Hida even knew about it, since they were from her tribe."
"I'm really sorry. Please don't judge my people by how some of them treat you. Most of us are ladylike and honorable." She reached up to fiddle with one of her braids idly, playing with the small gold ring woven into the end of it. "We don't get many opportunities to see men anymore, and ignoring the fact that we're all expected to have children, some Gerudo are fairly lonely. Imagine how Hyrule would be if there were almost no women. The men would probably behave the same way."
Link had to laugh at that. "Some men are like that anyway. There are guys who look at a woman like they're dying of thirst and she's a drink of water."
The young Gerudo smiled in response. "You laugh easily."
"I suppose I do. I'm normally a happy person." He worked at rolling up the horse's blanket and tying it to the rear of the saddle. "Although there hasn't been much for me to smile about over the past few weeks." His fingers stopped working, and he stared at them blankly. "Imagine you had a simple, comfortable life as a herder in a farming community. You have friends, the children look up to you, the elders respect you...and then suddenly that's all turned on its head. Everything you love is attacked and taken from you, and then after some horrible things happen you find yourself in a green outfit with a lesser god telling you that you've been chosen and you're the hero Hyrule has been waiting for." He stopped staring and began typing up the blanket again. "Imagine you're safe, and suddenly nowhere is safe." he added quietly.
She was quiet for a few seconds before responding. "That's what happened to you?"
"My favorite color isn't even green." he muttered, trying to make a joke out of things but not feeling it. Link dropped his hands from Epona's back and turned to look at Auren. "Some of the things I've experienced and have done are so so terrible that I can't tell anyone about them. I lie, I hide the truth, and I do my best to keep things from those around me so they won't be scared." He lowered his eyes slightly to not look at her anymore, but to stare at the faded wood on the inside of the stall door. "I just did it again. I started talking about myself to somebody I barely know. You didn't ask for me to unload all of that, sorry."
"It's all right. You feel really alone, don't you? It's no wonder you want to talk to people." She was sympathizing with him, even though he felt he was whining.
"I'm not alone. I have a companion that's been with me through everything." He gave a faint smile and put a hand to his chest, where he knew Midna was. "She became my friend, and has been taking care of me the whole time, although it took me a while to realize it. I've stayed sane because of her." He gave a short laugh. "It's rude of me to talk about her when she's listening. Hey, Midna?"
"Hey what, you sappy fool?" her voice said from his torso.
He watched Auren's reaction. The Gerudo's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she didn't react in the same manner as her mother. "Come out and introduce yourself. You haven't met Auren yet." he said.
Midna appeared in the stall next to Link and Epona, and the mare didn't react much other than to turn her head towards the imp. "Hello, Auren. It's nice to meet you. My name is Midna, and I've met your parents and Sumati already." She gave a bow and said something in Gerudo.
Auren responded in the same language, and then switched back to Hylian. "Did you used to be a Gerudo? You have the right color hair and eyes." The young woman leaned over the door and reached out to touch at Midna's spiky arm. "Something terrible happened to you, huh?"
"She isn't a Gerudo, she's a Twili sorceress that's been cursed to look like that. She might be small, but she's pretty powerful. Midna hides in the shadows of my clothing most of the time so people won't see her. We're working together and both doing our best to save both her world and this one. So far-" He stopped talking when Rennie appeared behind Auren, staring at the Twili in surprise.
"Oh, hello Rennie. Nice to meet you in person." Midna said with a little wave.
"You're the voice I heard in Link's room…" the large Gerudo said, still surprised.
"That's me." The imp grinned a fanged grin, and then turned to Link. "You know, maybe I should stop hiding away while I'm here. None of these ladies are going to mistake me for something evil, and it would be nice to be around people again."
"Yeah, and you're not going to be able to fight if you're hiding. I'm sure you want to crack some Bulbin skulls." He patted Epona's neck and then opened the stall door to leave, now that the horse was ready. "I think Hida should introduce Midna to everyone, so they know that she's an ally."
"I agree." Auren said. "Give me a few minutes to ready my own horse, and then the four of us will go together."
Less than an hour later, he was mounted on Epona with Midna seated on the saddle in front of him. The Gerudo had been formally introduced and told that she was the friend and ally of the Hero of Hyrule, to which there were nods of understanding and not much else. A woman had been cursed into a little monster, but she was still a woman as far as they were concerned. The Gerudo had been mounted in the center of the wide canyon and the town that was situated along its walls, and after the introduction Hida began to lead them into the desert proper. She rode ahead of him on her orange-maned dark horse, and following behind her was Auru, with Link directly behind him.
The Gerudo host was one hundred eighty warriors strong, about thirty of them having come from Sumati's tribe. Hida had left a little over forty warriors behind to protect the elderly and the children, with instructions to block off the canyon if necessary. If that failed, they would hole up in the fortress, which would hold against a siege for weeks.
Once the army was out into the open desert, he could see that most of the warriors carried shortbows that were similar to the one that he had. The archers riding with Auren carried slightly larger recurve bows, and then had longbows that were taller than Link strapped to their horses. The young Gerudo had mentioned that they likely wouldn't be able to use the longbows since they can't do it from horseback, but they brought them just in case. He couldn't imagine the amount of strength it took to draw one of them.
The Gerudo were all dressed in sand-colored cloaks and leather sandals, and many of them put on brightly-colored tunics over their midriff tops to ward off the chill of the desert, much as Keela had done. Link himself was wearing his ordinary brown wool cloak as always, the hood up and his long hat tucked away in a saddlebag for now. The temperature was still quite warm as the sun began to near the western horizon, but it would be cold soon.
He felt nervous even though he was surrounded by warriors. What if he was wrong? Risking his own life was one thing, but risking the lives of nearly two hundred people bothered him. What if it was a trick on part of the Bulbins, and he convinced these proud warriors to ride to their deaths?
Do not doubt yourself, Master. The sword's voice was hushed in his mind, detecting his unease. These warriors know the risks and are willing to take them to free their home.
The sword was right. These brave women planned on doing whatever they could in order to retake their city and exterminate the remaining Bulbins there, and he should concentrate on his own role in the fight instead of worrying. He knew that he would stand out, even wrapped in his cloak as he was, and he didn't doubt that most of the Bulbin army would know his description by now. He expected to be fighting the hardest, with Midna helping as always.
The chief lead the army to the northwest at a canter, their mounts kicking up puffs of dry sand as they traversed the dunes. It wasn't long before they reached the road that was marked by tall poles, and Hida turned them west and into the setting sun. They rode through dusk and into the night, the way lit by a single quarter moon and the arching Star River above. Even that small amount of light made the sands around them seem to sparkle and glow, and Link would have thought it pretty if the cold wasn't starting to seep into his hands and face. The other warriors were unfazed by the harsh conditions of the desert they called home.
After two, perhaps three hours of riding, the fires of the Bulbins camp came into view, clustered around a walled city. A large dark stone structure loomed behind the city and the camp, an imposing backdrop to the place the Bulbins had occupied for a year. As they drew closer, he could see that Auren was right; there were many campfires, but not many were occupied at all, and the ones that were only had a few Bulbins each. He wasn't sure where they were getting the wood from. Even if they had burned every piece of furniture in the city, there would be no way for them to maintain hundreds of fires for days.
They slowed to a walk, and Hida raised a hand for them to rein in at the bottom of a ridge of tall dunes. She pointed at her daughter, at Sumati, and at Link and Midna, and lastly her husband. "Come." The chief dismounted and walked up the sand dune, rivulets of liquid-looking sand tumbling down the side from her sandaled feet as she climbed. Link followed with the others and came to stand between Auru and Midna once they crested the top of the dune.
The scholar pulled out his spyglass and peered through it at the camp beyond, adjusting the focus and frowning. "They've built a town of sorts, but it looks deserted. I wouldn't call most of those buildings. 'Shanties' is the word that comes to mind." He handed the spyglass to his wife. "Where did they get the wood to build that? Gerudo City is made of brick and adobe."
"The portal." Midna said as she hovered in the air between Link and Sumati. "If it's connected to dozens of other portals around Hyrule, it would have been easy for them to bring in supplies: food, water, wood, anything an army needs. Zant would have had to teleport them himself, I think…" The Twili stared at the enemy camp while considering something, and then shook her head, dismissing the thought. "Anyway, once we find the portal, if you can get me close enough to it then I'll claim it for my own and they won't be able to use it anymore."
"Mother, can you see it? It's closer to the Arbiter's Grounds." Auren said, staring into the distance.
"Now that I have the spyglass, yes. It's a glowing purple thing in the sky, just like Link described. I wish I had eyes as good as yours, but that is neither here nor there." Hida lowered the spyglass and handed it to Sumati, who peered through it next. "There are archers in the four towers at the corners of the city, and they've erected scaffolds to make roosts here and there. I counted three in the city, one by the southern gate, and then five in the ugly village they built."
"I see them. I doubt Auren's archers will be able to reach with their longbows from here." The subchief handed the spyglass over to Link so he could look, and smirked at the young Gerudo. "You did mention that, though. We'll have to ride to get close, putting the warriors with shields towards the front."
"I guess that means me, huh?" He looked through the spyglass and tried to spot the longer horns of the male Bulbins. It was impossible to see how many were in the city, but he could at least see four seated at fires near a large long structure that had to be a stable. The wooden town was mostly surrounded by roughshod fences in place of a proper wall. "They have a stable for their boars there. I don't know how we could get to it in time to prevent them from mounting up, but we can at least keep an eye on it so we'll know what's coming."
"It's noted, but we'll stick to the plan. I believe much of the fighting will be done within the city walls." Hida said, her breath creating cold clouds in the air as she spoke. "Once we reclaim that, it's only a matter of finding the remaining commanders. We will do our best to get you and Midna as close to the portal as possible."
He nodded and handed the spyglass back to Auru, trusting Hida's judgment. She had more experience with armies and battles, whereas he had none. This was his first, and he could feel a cold lump of anxiety weighing down his stomach. He was far more nervous now than he had been throughout everything else he had done.
After they had made their way back to their horses and mounted up, Hida turned towards her army and repeated instructions that she had given to them earlier back in her fortress. She spoke in Gerudo, so Link couldn't understand what she was saying, so Midna floated up near his ear to translate.
"She's going to ride through with the two men and half of the force to the south gate, where Auru will blow open the gate. Sumati and Auren are going to take their half of the warriors and archers to the east gate, and blow that one up with bomb arrows. We're to kill all we see, since there will be no civilians here. Once we take the city, the structures in the rear will be the target. They're made of wood, so prepare your fire arrows. The goal is to get you, the archers and Auru close enough to the commanders to kill them at range." She didn't need to translate for him; he had heard the plan and helped them formulate it earlier in the afternoon. He knew he was expected to use his bow first.
The Gerudo Chief drew one of her twin blades and held it aloft, standing tall in the stirrups as she shouted a cry in her native tongue. The gathered warriors lifted their own weapons and called back with a response, energized and ready to fight.
"Vigilant in the sun, growing brilliant, Gerudo never outdone." Midna translated the battle cry as Link pulled out his bow. She moved to sit behind him on Epona's rump as Hida led the charge down the high dune and towards the city.
As they rode up, the figures on the wall began to stir, and one in the roost next to the gate stood from where it was lazily seated and began to blow a horn in warning. Since he was the one at the front of the group with a bow, Link set an arrow and drew. The sound of the Bulbin's horn ended suddenly as his arrow hit it in its chest, and it fell from its high roost. There was far more activity along the walls and shouts in the harsh Bulbin language; the horn did its job even though the sentry was dead, and other horns began to sound within the walls in response.
The heavy wood and steel doors to the city slammed shut after the few Bulbins stationed inside hurriedly made their way inside the walls. This was anticipated, since Auru had explosives of some kind and would blow open the gate. Auren had four of Link's explosive arrows for the same purpose on the east side. Before either of them could get close, the archers on the walls needed to be taken care of. Link and the six Gerudo archers with Hida's group made short work of them, since the Bulbins seemed to be scrambling and not very organized. They had not expected this attack.
Auru dismounted and grabbed a long cloth-wrapped bundle that was strapped to his horse, which did not look like the bomb Link was expecting. Instead it appeared to be a portable cannon when unwrapped, and the way that the man planted it at an angle in the sand a safe distance from the gate made it obvious that he was using it as such. He stuffed something down the barrel and lit a fuse, then threw himself to the ground and covered his ears. The mortar fired its round at the door, and it exploded on impact, sending shards of wood, steel and bits of the brown stone walls flying. Once his job was done, Auru wrapped the hot mortar in its cloth and hurried back to his horse with it. As he mounted up, the air was punctuated by the loud pops of the explosive arrows in the distance. Auren had destroyed the gate on her side.
Hida did not hesitate and began to lead her warriors through the ruined gate, which was partially destroyed with one side still hanging from its hinges. Link kicked his heels in to Epona's sides to follow close behind, bow still held in his right hand as he entered the city walls. He took down another archer up on the flat top of a building, and heard the sounds of arrows flying as the rest of the archers in their group did the same, covering the rest of the warriors as they entered the center of the town. A group of about three hundred Bulbins were converging on their boars in the central square, many of them not wearing their usual masks, and some were barefoot. They had been roused out of their beds, but still managed to organize quickly. A large group charged to meet the Gerudo and the battle began.
Link's anxiety disappeared once the fight had begun, and he focused on what needed to be done. He spotted a boar ridden by a large Bulbin with long horns, and shouted to the warriors near him to attack the group around the commander. The Gerudo began to use their swords and spears, taking out the riders in the front and either wounding the boars or the archers that sat behind them. Link quickly drew and fired in succession, and dropped three of the archers himself. He fired again, this time at the leader, but his arrow bounced off the Bulbin's thick armor.
He cursed under his breath and handed Midna his bow, since she was meant to only be his backup at this stage of things. Setting his shield and drawing the Master Sword, he charged in, steering Epona with his knees. As he parried a clumsy attempt by a Bulbin to unhorse him with its heavy club, he saw a rain of arrows from the right hit the Bulbins near the back. Auren and Sumati were now in the city with them.
An arrow flew past his face, but he was unsure where it came from, only that one of the green monsters was shooting at him. He smashed the club-wielding Bulbin from its saddle, and it screamed as it was trampled by Epona. Another arrow came his way and luckily he was facing in the right direction and able to deflect it with his shield. The male Bulbin in heavy armor reached behind himself for another arrow, still hiding behind the bulk of his troops. The commander fired and Link raised his shield again, deflecting the arrow. Another arrow from a different warrior bounced off the armor of the large Bulbin, and he wasn't sure how he was going to get past all the troops the lead male was hiding behind before the brute shot somebody.
There was a loud bang to his left and a spray of blood that came from the armored neck of the commander, and the Bulbin dropped his bow in shock. He slowly brought up a fat green hand to the hole blown in his neck, and then the male Bulbin fell from his saddle. There were shrieks of alarm from the other Bulbins around him as they realized one of their leaders was dead. Link glanced to his left and saw Auru there with a pistol in his right hand. The older man nodded to him. Arrows would not be able to get through the armor to kill the commanders, but Auru's bullets would. All he had to do was get the man close to each of the commanders, since he was the only one who could reliably kill them.
He was soon proven wrong a moment later as another commander near the back of the Bulbins reeled back in its saddle, an arrow jutting out of its eye. After cutting a Bulbin from its saddle, he tried to make a path through the mob to get Auru closer to the next nearest commander. As he did so, he saw a figure in red to his right stand in her stirrups and loose another arrow, this one taking the Bulbin commander in his mouth as he shouted to his troops. In the split second he turned his head to look at her, Auren pulled out the remaining explosive arrow, pulled the fuse with her teeth and fired at the stiffening form of the dying commander. There was a flash and Bulbin screams as the arrow blew up, taking out about six of the enemy with it, and three of their boars.
He found himself grinning at her as she sat back in the saddle, already nocking another arrow for another target. Oh, she was good.
So was her mother. Hida was steering her large mare with her knees much how he was, and using both of her curved blades to mow down Bulbins. She had to be in her fifties and likely wasn't able to move as quickly as she used to, but the leader of the Gerudo was still a swift and deadly warrior. She was right when she had said that her people specialized in mounted combat; while Link himself was reduced to brutish slashes and shield bashes while on Epona, Hida moved with her horse as if the two were one, her golden-hilted blades flashing around her.
Despite their smaller numbers, the Gerudo were clearly winning. The Bulbins within were caught flat-footed when the army had attacked, and hadn't gotten organized as well as they could have. The chaos within the walls resulted in a slaughter, and the ground was littered with green-skinned bodies, but no red-haired ones. There were only two more commanders left in the city, and the two large-horned leaders shouted orders at the remaining troops, which had begun to flee into buildings and make a break for the north and western gates. The retreat became more organized, and the Bulbins in the rear saved their skins while the ones close to the Gerudo army were killed.
Hida pushed forward in pursuit, Link following directly behind her with Auru and Rennie's sister to his left, Rennie, Auren and a few of the archers to the right. The two large sisters were devastating with their long weapons, having the range and the strength to kill Bulbins that were out of reach of the others. They were nearly as fearsome as Hida, and the group managed to get through the northern gates and out into the open outside of the walls.
The Bulbins that were fleeing to join the others ignored the fences that surrounded the shanty town, simply plowing through them with their half-crazed pig mounts. The boars were far stronger and less skittish than horses, and in their flight one of them hit an archer's roost, splintering the heavy supports and sending it toppling over with its two occupants. The Gerudo army wasn't too far before behind, and then there were more horns and arrows flew their way. More specifically, they flew Link's way. He ducked behind his shield and felt one ricochet off the end of his sword. At some point his hood had fallen back, and between seeing his face and seeing his shield, the Bulbins now recognized him. In spite of all the fearsome Gerudo warriors, they determined he was the greatest threat.
They probably weren't wrong. So far, he had only been aiding others, but he knew that if he used Courage or the beast within him, he would be the strongest one here. He hoped it wouldn't come to that; he had no idea how the Gerudo would react.
One of Auru's shots run out, which was strange because the Bulbins had gotten out of his range as they fled towards the back of their shanty town. Still avoiding arrows with his shield, Link looked to the left and saw a writhing Shadow Beast on the ground, a round wound in its chest. That was a problem.
"Don't let them touch you! They'll turn you into monsters!" he cried to those around him, as he heard Auren's bow thrum again to take down another archer in a roost. "Midna!"
"Link!" She came up behind him, clinging to the scabbard on the back. "I see them. At least twenty."
He nodded grimly and watched as a group of nearly thirty dark shapes loped towards them. "Leave the Shadow Beasts to us! Focus on the Bulbins!" After shouting this order to the Gerudo, he looked over his shoulder at Midna. "It's unavoidable. We have to kill them all, no matter who they were. It'll be a mercy." He didn't wait for her to respond and kicked his heels into Epona again, driving the mare into a hard run. There was a dark blur to his right as Midna paced him, ready to fight.
As he neared them, the Master Sword began to glow with a silvery light, not unlike how it did when it removed his curse. Link didn't have time to think about it since the Shadow Beasts were upon him, swinging their long arms. It was far more difficult to fight them on horseback since he was attacking them from above, and their stone masks deflected many of his blows. He had to resort to downward thrusts aimed at shoulders and chests.
There was another loud bang, and Auru dropped another one. Three shots fired. Midna slammed a black monster into the ground with her hair until there was a crack and it stopped moving. The Twili dodged the other Shadow Beasts that made lunging grabs at her, picking up the inert body of the one she had just killed and using it as a grisly cudgel against the others. Link himself managed a long sweep that felled two Shadow Beasts, but then saw an arrow fly past him to sink into the chest of another. Auren was not far behind him, continuing to fight.
"Shit." he swore, angry with the young Gerudo for not listening to him. "Auren! Fall back!"
The archer ignored him and rapidly loosed arrows at a group of Shadow Beasts that rushed her way. He wasn't sure if him calling out to her had made them decide to attack her, or if they had planned to anyway, but his heart skipped a beat as he saw them bearing down on her. There was no way for him to get past the ones he was currently fighting with Midna, the two of them occupied.
Then Sumati was there with a massive two-handed axe, leaping in front of Auren's horse to face the charging dark monsters. The Gerudo had somehow lost her horse, but that wasn't slowing her down. She swung her giant weapon in long arcs with her impressive strength, and crushed the mask and head of a Shadow Beast with the flat side of her weapon. The warrior knocked the mask from another one, and it shrieked at her with a round, toothy mouth set into an otherwise featureless face. It made a grab at her, and then there was a solid thunk as an arrow embedded itself in its neck and it dropped. Sumati came to protect Auren, but Auren was protecting Sumati.
Sumati swung her axe and killed another in a spray of blood, but wasn't fast enough to stop the rest of them. Four beasts grabbed at her weapon and her arms, swarming and overwhelming the startled Gerudo. Link watched in horror as one gripped the woman's arm with two of its large hands, and a leathery black began to spread up her brown skin from where it held onto her. Sumati's eyes widened in fear, but she was trapped and could do nothing.
Without thinking, Link stood in the saddle and vaulted from Epona's back to clear the Shadow Beasts surrounding him, noting that Courage had lit up on his hand. He needed to jump farther, and his piece of the Triforce made him able to. He let his shield hang from its arm strap and put both hands on the hilt of the Master Sword, reversing it and driving it into the back of the Shadow Beast that was transforming Sumati. As he came down, the sacred sword blazed with pure white light, and Courage grew bright. There was a surge of energy not unlike the one that the Master Sword had used on him back in the Temple of Time, and the sacred power flung back about a dozen nearby Shadow Beasts. The one beneath him vanished into squares, and his feet touched down on the ground.
The blackness on Sumati's muscled arm faded, and she stared at it in surprise. The woman raised her crimson eyes to gape at him in awe, her axe held low at her side. It happened so quickly, he wasn't sure she understood how close she had come to becoming a Shadow Beast.
"Get on my horse!" he shouted at her, not wondering about what he had just done right now. Sumati's safety was more important, and she had to leave before the dazed Shadow Beasts attacked again.
"What? No, I'm staying here!" she protested, hefting her axe again.
"Don't be an idiot! Get on Epona and get out of here!" When she opened her mouth again he stepped back and pointed his glowing sword at her. "I didn't just save your ass only for you to get transformed! If you become one of them, I will kill you!"
It wasn't a threat, but a declaration of how he was willing to stop the Shadow Beasts at all costs. The subchief seemed to understand this because she ran to Epona and pulled herself up into the saddle. The mare rolled her eyes, not familiar with this new rider, but obeyed as Sumati turned her and rode towards where the rest of the Gerudo were still fighting Bulbins.
"And you!" Link said angrily, pointing the Master Sword at Auren. "You listen to me! Get out of here, right now!"
She tilted her head back slightly to stare down at him, her amber eyes a mix of conflicting emotions. Then she nodded and wheeled her horse around to follow Sumati. He didn't watch her any more than that, turning towards the stunned Shadow Beasts that were starting to rise. The sacred power hadn't killed them, only knocked them back.
Sword, how did I do that?! Now the weight of what he had done hit him. Somehow he had taken the power of the Master Sword, the holy power that had removed the shard of evil magic from his brain so he could be human again, and combined that with Courage to stop Sumati's transformation.
Even though he was riding high on adrenaline and his emotions were roiling, the sword's voice was calm and precise as it produced the chime of five notes. We will speak of it later, Master. You have more pressing matters to deal with.
It was correct, as always. The Shadow Beasts surrounded him, no longer stunned. There were far more around him as there were when he was on Epona, but now he wasn't limited by the horse. Now he was on his feet, and in his element. He wove in and out of the large hulking monsters, dodging their clumsy grabs and running through chests and necks, removing limbs and heads. Even though he was effectively dodging most attacks, he felt a group of them grab on to his cloak and haul back on it, and he awkwardly reached up to undo the pin, the cloak sliding from his neck and shoulders once he managed to pull it out. He was free, but he couldn't concentrate on what was behind him; only what was in front of him.
"Got your back!" Midna shouted from behind him, and he heard a solid thud as she defended him. He gave a small smile and continued to fight, this time having the help of his ally. Occasionally one would drop from an arrow, shot at a distance from Auren's bow. She was still aiding him, even though she had listened and moved away.
Only moments later about twenty Shadow Beasts lay dead at his feet. Link panted, holding his sword and shield low at his sides, not sure how he had killed most of these Shadow Beasts on his own, only knowing that he had to do it. The bodies remained, so he knew that they were once Hylians. A lump formed in his throat at the thought, that once again he had no choice but to kill innocents. What he had said to Midna earlier was more for himself than for her. It was a mercy, but it stung no less.
"How did you do that?" Auren's awed voice came from his right. She had ridden up, and was looking at him curiously. "Your sword, the thing on your hand, the fact that you jumped so far from your horse, damn backflips…" She muttered something in Gerudo, likely swearing under her breath. "Link, even my mother doesn't fight like that. How can you do all of this? You're my age."
He shook his head, putting his shield back up on his baldric hook. He didn't want this woman to be in awe of him too, and was hoping that she'd be his peer and not care how he looked while fighting. "I try not to think about it. All I know is that I'm as strong as I need to be."
"If it wasn't for your magic sword, Sumati would have been transformed. I saw it." She stared down at him from her mount. "You have no idea how you did that." Again, it wasn't a question. Auren had a habit of making statements instead of asking questions in the first place.
Link looked down at the sword in his hand, and both it and Courage had grown dark. He knew what he did, at least he thought so. The how was what he was hung up on, and he watched as the Master Sword seared away the blood on its silvery white blade. The Gerudo sitting near him also watched without comment. Perhaps she wasn't as bothered by the strange magic he had after all.
All will be explained later, the sword assured him. For now, there is more to do. Only know that you are the Hero of Hyrule, and your own power should not surprise you.
He sheathed the sacred sword and turned to Midna. "Can you get to the portal? We don't need more Shadow Beasts coming here."
"Good point. I can see it from here." She didn't say anything else, but flew up into the sky and towards the glowing purple portal in the distance.
"Come on." Auren said, holding her hand out to him from atop her horse. "There's more we can do, too. The Bulbins aren't gone."
He held up his hand to indicate for her to wait, and found his cloak laying on the sand. The two pieces of the cloak pin glinted in the starlight not too far away, and it was less than a minute before he had it on again. When he walked up to her horse, she still had her hand extended, her left hand. She had watched him fight, and knew which one of his arms would be stronger. Her grip was strong as she pulled him up behind her, and once he was up there he wasn't sure where to put his hands. He knew from personal experience how intimate it was to have someone's arms around him from behind when he rode on Epona; that was one of the reasons he enjoyed taking Ilia for rides.
There was no time to be a prude right now, and as it was his knees were touching her hips. He wrapped his right arm around her bare waist, and that caused the Gerudo to look over her shoulder at him, raising her eyebrows in a joking manner.
"Are you getting frisky with me?" she quipped, her orange eyes amused.
"Only if you want me to." he said in reply, fluttering his eyelashes at her.
Auren laughed, and he joined in. "You're a lot of fun. Speaking of fun, let's go kill more Bulbins."
"Sounds like a plan." He hadn't expected to be sitting behind a Gerudo on her horse, holding on to her waist while pretending to flirt, but here he was. He was acutely aware of how she moved her body along with her horse and how warm she felt after spending time in the cold desert air, and tried not to feel awkward about it. In the end he did feel awkward, not only because he was so close to a woman he barely knew, but also because he realized that he was physically attracted to her. That made him feel a rush of guilt; he thought he only would feel that way about Ilia.
Auren was oblivious to his thoughts as she brought them back to where Sumati fought on Epona, next to Hida, Midna and Auru. The portal was a lot closer now, but it was still purple. Midna hadn't managed to take care of it yet. "She didn't get to the portal…" Link said.
"I tried, but I can't cast magic with all those archers shooting at me." Midna said from where she held a bloodied Bulbin sword in her hair, a slain green body on the ground in front of her. The group of Bulbins they had been fighting backed away and fled once he arrived. "We'll have to try again later."
"Did I give you permission to touch my daughter?" Hida said with a completely straight face. Auru stifled a chuckle nearby, cluing Link in to the joke.
"Did I ask you for permission?" he said with the same neutral expression.
"We're eloping, mother. We're ditching this battlefield and riding all the way to Holodrum, where we'll have ten children and you won't be able to see any of them. It's all because you're being mean to him." Damn. When Auren went in for a joke, she went all in.
Hida's green-painted lips turned up at the corners slightly. "Ah, well before you do that there's a few more Bulbins to take care of." She pointed with one of her bloodied swords at the retreating group. "It seems like they don't like Link very much."
"Cowards!" Sumati bellowed at them, spurring Epona to follow.
Hida called out something in Gerudo, riding after her fellow chief, and Sumati responded with a short "I know they are!" in Hylian without slowing. Auru followed and fired at an archer that had drawn its bow, aiming at Sumati. Four shots, one gun empty. Link didn't know if the man would take the time to reload it yet or not.
"Our army killed most of their commanders while we were busy with the black monsters. Look, the Bulbins are hanging around that big one there." Auren pointed with a long arm at the center of the Bulbin army, which was busy attempting to surround the Gerudo and failing. Even though the Gerudo were still outnumbered, they were far too skilled for the Bulbins to defeat. Their leader was having a hard time of keeping them under control as he shouted orders from where he sat on a massive blue-gray boar.
"Oh, godsdammit! Why can't he just die?!" Link shouted angrily, his loud voice causing Auren to flinch a bit. "I blew him up!" He had, and he had hoped that perhaps the Bulbin leader had bled to death out on the plains of Eldin, but no such luck. The large brute heard the shout and started to look around the battlefield in surprise, recognizing the young man's voice.
"You've fought him?" she asked, pulling out an arrow and aiming at the Bulbin King. She fired and her arrow actually missed its mark, bouncing off the thick breastplate of the green monster.
That got King Bulbin's attention, and his mouth dropped open when he saw Link sitting behind a Gerudo. He pointed at the Hylian and shouted something angrily in his own language.
"Multiple times." Link muttered, and then he raised his voice to call to his nemesis. "Didn't I blow you up?!"
The king laughed, and as they drew closer Link could see that his right arm was wrapped in bandages. The large Bulbin's horns were both snapped off, and he had what looked like burns on the large green hand that he had pointed with. "I didn't get to be king by being weak, little man!" He leered at the two seated on the large horse and pounded his heavy breastplate with his fist. "Besides, it means we get to play some more!"
A shot rang out from Auru's gun, and a dent was made in the thick steel helmet the king was wearing. Five shots. Even though the man's aim was true, his bullets couldn't pierce that thick piece of armor. The king actually looked alarmed, knowing that even he couldn't survive a bullet to the face. He shouted something at his troops, and then turned his boar to ride hard towards the stable a few hundred feet off to the left.
"Follow him." Link told the archer he sat behind. He didn't know why the king was going into the stable, but it was far better to stop him before he came back out with whatever it was. "If we defeat him, this battle is won."
Auren drove her horse into a gallop, racing past the rest of the battle and into the long wooden building. The king disappeared into the structure, and a moment later they rode in following him. Auren reined in her horse sharply, and it half-reared and neighed in complaint. Outside, there was another shot from Auru's pistol. Six shots so far.
King Bulbin had dismounted, and was pulling a massive axe from his back grimly. The right side of his face looked burned as well as his hand, and there were a few more bandages visible beneath his breastplate. "I admit you're strong, little man. Yet you can't kill me, because I'm far stronger than you."
"You have no idea what real strength is, do you?" Link hopped down from Auren's horse and set his shield. "You have a lot of bluster, and go out of your way to be cruel and brutal, but you still have no clue."
"Ha! Like a human would understand. Your race is the weakest one!" He held his axe above his head, the mental glinting in the light of the lanterns in the stable. "We were strong in Holodrum, and now we are strong in our new home! You are only one human, little man. You can't stop us!" He lowered his axe and grinned smugly. "And you can't kill me."
Link drew the Master Sword, sizing up the large monster and not saying anything in reply. There wasn't as much room to move around in this foul-smelling pig stable, and his agility was the only advantage he had against the large Bulbin now that the two of them weren't mounted. As it was, the axe was so large, it must have weighed almost as much as King Bulbin himself. That would make the fight more difficult.
Two more shots rang out from somewhere outside the stable, the last two Auru had. Link couldn't concern himself with what was happening outside, and even though he knew that her father was in trouble, he also knew that Auren wouldn't leave him here. She wanted to fight at his side, and he was unsure if it was because he had made a new friend and ally, or if she had actual interest in him. He hoped it wasn't the latter. The Gerudo tried to fire another arrow, but she couldn't get it past the massive axe as the Bulbin hid behind it.
The large Bulbin struck first, lunging forward with a wide swing. Link dodged backwards, not wanting to attempt to parry the massive weapon. The Bulbin must have been as strong as a Goron to swing the heavy axe and keep it under control. There was no way that his shield was going to do much here; if he caught that weapon with his shield, it very well could break his arm. He dodged again, giving ground with little choice in the matter. While Courage could make him strong, he had no idea how he'd fare in a fight with it against someone with this strength, and this was not the place for experimentation.
If you do not trust your ability with the Triforce of Courage, then you must rely on your own strengths. The sword spoke in his mind, flashing slightly with light as it did so. Auren fired another arrow, this one managed to graze the Bulbin's exposed forearm but do not much else. Even this close range, the king was much faster on the ground than expected, and able to deflect or dodge the arrows.
I know if I can get his armor off again, Auren will have a clean shot. Link said within his mind to the Master Sword as he ducked under another swing from the axe. This one caught one of the stall dividers and shattered the corner of it into splinters. A blow like that would have killed him in one hit. I can't get around him to do that, though. That axe is dangerous.
That is a sound tactic, and I believe with your physical abilities you will be able to get behind him. Try to do as I instruct. Then the sword didn't speak, but instead inserted an idea into his mind. It wasn't there before, and then suddenly he was aware of a different way he could make his body move. He knew what to do.
Link waited until the Bulbin tried a two-handed swing from above and lunged to the right, bringing in his limbs in as he moved into a forward roll. His quiver on his back dug in uncomfortably as he did so, but he ignored it. Once past the Bulbin, he gathered his strong legs beneath him and shot up into the air, bringing the Master Sword along the straps at the side of the armor beneath the monster's left arm, cutting them and leaving a trail of sparks where the sword scraped against the plate.
Auren fired another arrow once he was behind King Bulbin, but her normal rounds were gone. This one was a fire arrow similar to the ones that the Bulbins used, and even though the king's armor was beginning to hang loose, it bounced off the metal to land in one of the nearby stalls. The dry straw within immediately caught fire. King Bulbin snapped his head to the side to stare in alarm at the rapidly-spreading flames that traveled along the straw in the stable, and in that moment Link took advantage of the distraction and cut free his pauldrons with a few quick slashes. The heavy piece of armor fell to the ground with a loud clang.
The Gerudo fired another arrow at the king's exposed shoulder, and it sunk in to his flesh with a sick-sounding thump. The Bulbin gave a low grunt of pain, and then snarled something at Auren in her native tongue. Link had no idea what the Bulbin had said to her, but her face looked like it had lost some of its color upon hearing it. The fire to his right was growing hot, spreading quickly along the one side of the barn.
King Bulbin pulled out the arrow from his shoulder with a grunt, and when he saw that it was still burning, he gave a disturbing grin and tossed it over his shoulder into the straw on the other side. The dry fuel caught fire, and now both sides of the stable were burning.
Link blinked rapidly, his eyes stinging from the smoke and considered how he could attack the rear side of the Bulbin and do damage, or at least get out of the stable and away from the fire. The big brute dropped his axe suddenly and barreled towards Auren and her horse. The Gerudo fumbled with another fire arrow, but the king punched her out of the saddle with a meaty fist, knocking her to the ground.
Alarmed, Link rushed forward while sheathing his sword to check on the woman sprawled on the dirt floor of the stable, and in that moment King Bulbin mounted and rode the horse out of the burning building. He reined in just outside, and began to shout orders to his warriors.
"I'm all right." Auren said, putting a hand to the welt on her left cheek as she sat up. "He's getting away!"
"Who cares? Let's get out of here!" he said, putting his shield up. There was a loud slam and the wooden gate to the stable latched shut, a group of Bulbins quickly wrapping a thick chain with a padlock around it. Link watched helplessly as they sealed off the only exit, the gaps above and below the gate too small for either human to escape through.
King Bulbin laughed from where he sat on Auren's horse on the other side of the secured gate, his yellow eyes malicious. "You've done well to stay alive so far, little man. Let's see how you manage this time. The strong survive!" He grinned and rode off with his troops, leaving the trapped Hylian and Gerudo in the burning stable to die.
