A Link to the Heart Chapter 14

It had been a hard night's ride and the horses were tired. Kinesha could hear her mount's laboured breathing and feel the heat coming off the broad back. Her own body was hardly any better, she ached all over and her eyes were bleary while her shoulder throbbed painfully with every jarring motion of her steed. She was nearing the limits of endurance and soon would have to stop and rest. But she was determined to reach the rendezvous before then.

The morning sun was rising fast behind them, casting long shadows across the ground as they headed west. The land was empty save for the distant columns of smoke, signs that the rest of the Gerudo attacks had gone well. Kinesha should have been glad of the sight but it only made her jaw clench in ire. Her own attack had been going so well, until it had been abruptly aborted. The Hylians had put up a surprising resistance, first that lone swordsman and then a furious counter charge. Also, her own people's actions had hardly helped.

Behind Kinesha rode the survivors of the attack. They were in a giddy mood, laughing and joking as if all had gone well. They boasted of the kills they had made and how quickly the wooden structures so loved by Hyrule had gone up in flames. Some were even dragging horses and cattle behind them, claiming their spoils of war. Of the dead they did not speak, the notable absences in their ranks going unmarked. A time for mourning would come but right now the riders wanted to celebrate their gains, revelling in their deeds like it was some banal raid.

Kinesha found herself resenting their easy banter and quick laughter. None of these fools seemed to grasp that their attack had fallen short of its objectives. They should have razed the dwellings and slaughtered the sleeping foe without losing a single sister. They should have swept all before them. Instead a quarter of her forces had quit the field looking for spoils and the rest had been winnowed down and driven off. Kinesha wanted to berate her comrades for their laxity and slovenly behaviour, but she knew they wouldn't understand.

Her shoulder pulled again and she winced as the thought occurred that perhaps she was mostly angry at herself. That swordsman had been good, damned good. He had matched her skill with every blow, countering her superior speed with his remarkable strength. There was something different about that one, a sense of dread inevitably and destiny surrounding him. Kinesha had been a fool to challenge him, she could admit that to herself. She should have ordered her sisters to cut him down with a hail of arrows, honour be damned. Instead she had challenged him to personal combat, partly out of a desire to enhance her reputation through a glorious kill, but mostly because she wanted to know who was the better fighter. The idea that someone out there was better with a sword than she was gnawed at her pride.

Suddenly Gurd, who was riding ahead, called out, "We're here!" Before them lay a shallow gully, little more than a cleft in the land. It sat between two short hills, far from the nearest farm or village. Despite Hyrule's considerable population there were still vast areas of uncultivated land, which had served the Gerudo well on their travels. Kinesha wasted not a moment to steer her horse toward the gully and rode into its sheltering embrace.

A sharp slope led them into a narrow ravine and Kinesha was surprised that no one challenged her approach. It seemed her war-party was the first to arrive so she pulled on the reins and brought her exhausted horse to a halt, sliding her leg over the saddle to drop to the ground. Her shoulder ached but she insisted on removing the bridle so her weary mount could breathe and lower its head to sup greedily from a trickling stream that ran down the middle of the stony ravine.

Kinesha waved her sister's to do likewise and called, "Get some rest, we shall wait here for the others."

Her movement must have betrayed her injury for Mahee stride over and commanded, "Let me see that!"

"It's nothing," Kinesha demurred.

"I'll be the judge of that," Mahee hissed as she yanked on Kinesha's arm.

"Gagh!" Kinesha snarled as pain flared in her joints.

Mahee only proceeded to yank down her robe and hiss, "That's inflamed and weeping, why didn't you tell me?"

Kinesha tried to shrug her off but the woman's grip was iron so she could only squawk, "It's nothing."

Mahee snapped, "Idiot child! Leave that as it is and it will fester, you'd be lucky only to lose that arm. Come with me. Sit here and chew this."

The old wise woman pulled a bitter looking root from under her robe and shoved it in Kinesha's face. She recognised a dreamroot when she saw one, a potent sedative and pain balm, and gulped as she realised what was coming. She hurriedly stuffed it into her mouth and began gnawing on the bitter fibre, drawing as much essence as she could from the plant. Between chews she asked, "Don't we… have any… lesser Fairies?"

Mahee was peering at the wound, pressing the flesh with a sharp needle as she retorted, "Pah Fairy magic is for simpletons who don't know any better. The truly wise can manage without… by the Sands there are bits of cloth in this wound. Who did this to you?!"

"It was the swordsman," Kinesha admitted, "He… Yoaw!"

Mahee was digging cloth fibres out of the wound as she asked, "Do you plan to find him again?"

"I plan to kill him," Kinesha muttered as she chewed hard.

"Good, a Gerudo should never leave a rival alive to trouble her another day," Mahee proclaimed, "Now hold still, this is going to hurt."

From her finger she conjured a thin blade of blue flame and Kinesha bit down hard as the searing fire was applied to the wound. A claw of pain drove hard into her shoulder, crawling up her neck and face. Sweat poured over her forehead and she struggled not to kick and flail as her wound was cauterised. It lasted only a second but it felt like an hour until Mahee stepped back in satisfaction and declared, "It is done. Sit still for the next hour and keep chewing, or you'll fall flat on your face."

Kinesha sat and glowered as the Wise Woman leaned back. The pain in her shoulder throbbed like a knife but the juices of the dreamroot kept the pain remote from her mind. She looked over her sisters as they rested and tended to their steeds. They seemed in good spirits, laughing and boasting of their deeds. There was no hint among them that anything had gone wrong in their attack, to look upon them one would think they had scored a tremendous victory.

Kinesha muttered to herself, "Blind fools."

Mahee lifted an eyebrow as she asked, "What was that?"

Kinesha merely sighed, "They act as if this were another raid, not a struggle for the future of our race."

Mahee retorted, "Are you so certain of that?"

Kinesha glanced up and asked, "How can you doubt our cause?"

"I doubt not our cause, merely our leaders. Twinrova craves power and dominion, they are not to be trusted."

Kinesha queried, "You think they mean to cross us?"

"As surely as the sun crosses the sky," Mahee snapped, "They are as the desert viper, biting the first prey it sees, regardless if that is big enough to crush it underfoot. It is their nature to deceive and steal, if they claim the Triforce it will be for their benefit, not the Gerudo's."

Kinesha sighed, "I hear your concerns, but what other choice do we have? The curse must end, nothing else matters."

Mahee sighed deeply, "You let your fear lead you."

Kinesha snorted, "The danger is real, but my fear is that we will live in its shadow forever. My eyes are open, I see the danger and I dare to try and end it."

"And if Twinrova lead us to something worse?"

"Nothing could be worse than the plague of stillbirth that torments us," Kinesha spat.

Suddenly their argument was cut off as the sound of hooves clattered down the valley. Eyes lifted and hands gripped sword hilts as the noise grew but then another party of Gerudo came trotting down the ravine. Kinesha saw red flashes on their bridles and horses' flanks and knew they were not of the Padwe, but another clan. At their head rode Lissc, looking fierce and triumphant, her bearing prideful, as one who had won the day ought to be.

The newcomers pulled up when they saw there were already Gerudo in the ravine. Kinesha hurriedly forced herself upright, head swimming as her balance teetered and the world span like a drunkard. Mahee grabbed her good arm and hissed, "I told you to remain seated."

"I can't face Lissc on my rear," Kinesha snapped, "Give me a second."

After a few seconds the world stopped spinning and Kinesha forced herself to swallow the last of the bitter root. Feeling more confident she took a step forward and approached Lissc. The rival leader was dismounting her horse, glancing warily at the gathering but she settled as Kinesha approached. The wardancer looked flushed and her robes were splattered with blood, signs of a great victory.

Kinesha forced a smile into her face as she called, "Hail Lissc, the Sand Goddess smiles upon your endeavours."

Lissc grinned, "We took the sleeping fools completely unawares. My clan razed a dozen farmsteads in the night, the trail of bodies reaches from here to Lake Hylia."

"Impressive," Kinesha begrudgingly allowed.

"What of your own endeavours?" Lissc probed.

Kinesha didn't want to get into details and demurred, "The weaklings ran from us with tears in their eyes and piss in their breaches. The vaunted men of Hylia are no warriors worthy of crossing blades with a Gerudo."

Lissc didn't sound impressed as she questioned, "You left some alive?"

Kinesha feigned a vexed expression as she snapped, "The point was to spread fear and terror. It's hard to do that if there are none alive to spread the tale. We allowed a few to run, knowing they will carry word to their king. Every voice added to the chorus of lament will be a knife to his heart, goading him to march out and face us."

Lissc sniffed, "I guess it makes sense. But are we certain he will march?"

Mahee interjected, "All Hyrule flees to his walls, thousands of hungry and desperate folk. All those extra mouths will eat through his granaries in a month. He must march out to confront us, else watch his people starve. He will have no choice."

Lissc nodded in agreement but asked, "So we've goaded the Wolfos… but what do we do now we've made him bare his fangs?"

"We must gather our clans together," Kinesha stated, "Not just into tribes but into hordes that will darken the sky with the dust of our passing."

Lissc's eyes narrowed as she ventured, "Open battle? I yearn for blood but I am no fool, even combined into one, the Gerudo nation cannot withstand the armies of Hyrule in an open field."

Kinesha however corrected, "Remember, our goal is not to conquer but to draw out these bearers of the relics. We have struck farms and villages but now we must scale up our ambitions. We shall amass our numbers to raze towns and fortresses, burning larger and larger settlements, as if we meant to burn the whole land down to the bedrock. He cannot ignore such destruction, he will move to stop us but in doing so fall into our trap. We shall force this King to march to our tune and in doing so leave his rear exposed. If he marches to confront us in the west we shall ride to the east and sack any towns we find. If he goes east we shall pillage the south, if he digs in his heels we shall circle him and ravage all we find. His army will not know which way to march, they will become footsore and weary, disillusioned and hopeless. His army will be strung out along the roads for miles, his numbers dropping as desertion and disease take their toll. All we have to do is keep him running in circles until we scent the spoor of this Triforce."

Lissc frowned as she queried, "And if he does not bring his bearers with him? What if he leaves the relics in his castle, behind stout stone walls?"

"Even better," Kinesha crowed, "We can rush the depleted garrison and take what we want before he can hope to stop us. As our mothers taught us, speed defeats strength."

Lissc nodded, "Very well, we shall gather our clans back together and then seek out others. United we shall sow terror and calamity across this land. The Gerudo shall emerge victorious."

Lissc turned to her sisters and Kinesha did the same yet as they walked Mahee whispered, "There is one flaw in this plan, it relies on Twinrova scenting the Triforce and claiming it from the bearers. They will not be some wastrels, the king would only entrust such mighty relics to his very best warriors. Are we sure Twinrova can do as they claim?"

Kinesha grinned in response, "Worry not, if there is one thing I trust Twinrova to do it is grab power when it crosses their path."

And with that they turned their attention to preparing for the next phase of the war.