A Link to the Heart Chapter 30
To Kinesha the Forest was a strange and alien environment, its nature utterly foreign to the Gerudo. They were a people accustomed to wide vistas and open spaces, even their fortresses boasting huge windows. To them the Forest was a fearful place, so enclosed and cramped and threatening. The way the trees leant over them felt conspiratorial and every shadow held hidden menace, concealing enemies and monsters. The air was too close, the light too dim and the noises echoed wrong. Kinesha had never known what claustrophobia was before, but she felt it now.
Behind her a score of Gerudo proceeded on foot. The horses had refused to enter this forest, no matter how they were cajoled, so Kinesha had reluctantly ordered her warriors to leave them behind. These Gerudo were her finest blades, veterans of battle and raids but she had never seen them so fretful as they were now. They clumped together, seeking to press their backs against a friendly barrier lest some monster leap out of the gloom and gobble them up. Weapons twitched and jerked as the Gerudo pressed deeper into the woods, starting at every chirrup and cheep from small animals.
Gurd was holding her glaive in both hands as she muttered, "I don't like this."
"Silence," Kinesha snapped, "Don't betray our location."
"You think they don't know we're here?" Gurd hissed, "I feel a thousand eyes upon us."
"Stick to the path and we'll be safe," Kinesha growled as she followed a well-trodden route through the bracken and hoped she was right.
Yet Mahee muttered, "I am not so sure of that. These woods are not right, there is power here that does not sleep. Eyes... eyes watching our every step and resenting our intrusion."
The assembled Gerudo cowered at her proclamation but Kinesha snapped, "Are we cowards or Gerudo?! We do not run from a shadow in the night!"
Yet Mahee whispered, "I sense a font of divine energy, power flowing from a sacred realm into the world. It is similar to the Spirit Temple but different, less esoteric and more seasonal, an elemental presence."
Kinesha was losing patience with this talk, "The Hylians passed this way, their tracks are everywhere. If they can pass we can too."
But Mahee warned, "The presence I sense tolerates the Hylians, so long as they respect the Forest. It does not tolerate us, it wants us to leave. One misstep and we will be lost forever, condemned to wander twisted paths that could lead anywhere."
Several of the Gerudo were glancing back the way they came and Kinesha whirled about to growl, "The relic is near, you told us it was here!"
Mahee nodded reluctantly, "It is close and getting closer. I can smell it, we cannot be far but the woods distort my sight. Someone resists us."
"You got us close enough," Kinesha declared, "We can use our eyes to get the rest of the way. The tracks lead into the woods and we shall follow. We will find these Hylians, kill them all and take the relic for the Gerudo! That is my command!"
The Gerudo quietened down as Kinesha led by example, putting one foot in front of the other. They would not be ashamed before their leader and her dauntless resolve stiffened their spines. She led them down the winding path, steadfastly ignoring the lurking menace of the woods and the hungry eyes that dwelt in the shadows. As they progressed she began to hear strange noises, the distant sounds of children's laughter and the lilting music of pipes playing. It was oddly enticing and without meaning to she found her feet taking to the very edge of the path. It was so tempting to step off the marked route and chase the music, following it into the shadows and be led forever into the trackless maze of the Forest.
With a sudden dread Kinesha forced her mind back to the moment. She knew that she had nearly succumbed to the wiles of this place, becoming ensnared by the glamour's and lures laid out for hostile intruders. Kinesha refused to fall for such petty tricks, she would not be led astray. She was a Gerudo and her only task in life was to end the curse of her race. No matter what tricks the guardian of this Forest has prepared she would not be diverted from her course. She forced her feet back onto the path and kept her head down as she muttered, "You'll have to do better than that to stop me."
Kinesha suddenly found herself confronted by a sharp gorge, one filled with tangled briars. It was crossed by a rickety bridge, one that looked like it would fall apart any second. Kinesha refused to be daunted, striding across the expanse with her head held high. The bridge proved surprisingly sturdy and she crossed without incident. But then they hit a problem.
On the other side lay a fallen log, wider than she was tall. The path led into its dark interior but Kinesha could not set a foot within. Somehow in her mind the log had become a fearsome monster, its maw yawning wide to swallow her whole. The knots and whirls of the bark were its many eyes and the path running into it a tongue. She could hear its breath in the passage of the wind blowing through it and felt the hair prickle on the back of her neck, as if she were a mouse before a snake.
Gurd gasped, "It's going to eat us!"
Mahee cried, "I warned you!"
But Kinesha refused to yield and shouted, "Its only an illusion!"
"Seems pretty real to me!" Gurd wailed.
Kinesha ground her teeth together as she forced her eyes to shed the veil of deception. She pushed aside the image of a snarling monster and forced herself to only see a log, nothing more. She hated this forest and she made that her sword, using her revulsion as a weapon to penetrate the disguise. Her fear of the curse became her shield, a stalwart and unmoving barrier to repulse the wiles of the foe. The illusion resisted her efforts, struggling to press itself into her eyeballs, but Kinesha's will would not be bent and with a titanic effort she forced her foot to move a single step.
Suddenly the illusion shattered. The bough was abruptly nothing more than a log and the path only a beaten track. Kinesha stumbled into the space and nearly fell on her face but managed to turn it into an awkward sprint, recovering after a few steps. The power denying them entry was smashed and the rest of the Gerudo blinked as their eyes adapted, seeing nothing but inert wood. They abashedly straightened up and tugged their robes down in embarrassment as Gurd lied, "Wasn't that scary."
Impatiently Kinesha waved them onwards, drawing her scimitars as she did so. The log was only a dozen paces long and she crept through the tunnel, spying a silhouette on the other side. Silently she stalked up and spied a young Hylian standing at the exit of the bough. He must have been left as a sentry but he had dozed off, leaning against a makeshift spear as his head drooped. Kinesha's lips drew back over her teeth as she saw the Hylian's had trusted their safety to a slip of a boy, a young idiot who had fallen asleep at his watch. It seemed the people of Hyrule couldn't dispel their notions of safety. Kinesha crept up behind the dozing lad and before he could stir drove the point of her scimitar into his spine. The youth jerked upright and let out a gasp of alarm but he had no air left to scream as the metal plunged into his body.
Kinesha let the corpse drop silently to the ground as she withdrew her scimitar, forgetting the sentry as she looked beyond his position. What she beheld was a small village laid out in a clearing. There were tents and houses carved out of tree stumps and the first signs of log-pile houses being erected. Teams of men and women worked among those dwellings, labouring over day-to-day tasks as they chatted and sang work songs. The picture of a peaceful village, ripe for the spoiling.
Kinesha drew back into the shadows and whispered. "You're sure the relic is here?"
Mahee nodded, "The scent grows stronger by the second, the warrior in green must be nearby."
Kinesha lifted her wet blade and hissed, "Then let us draw him out of his hiding place. Make ready sisters, this day will live in the songs of our people. No more bloody miscarriages shall blight our nights, no more will we weep over empty baskets. The Gerudo will live free of fear and know hope once more, but only if we are strong this day. Be relentless and ruthless in your hearts, showing no mercy. We fight for all Gerudo and for their sake, we must prevail, no matter how much blood it costs."
It was a good speech but Gurd snorted back, "There's no need to fire us up. After the massacre of Kasuto we all ache to claim a blood debt."
From the back a Gerudo hissed, "My lover died under the swords of their Knights, I burn for vengeance."
"I shall slay a dozen Hylians for my lost daughter," another snarled.
Gurd grinned as she hefted her glaive and crowed, "That's the spirit sisters, we'll go through them like a sharp knife through a piñata fruit."
Proudly Kinesha lifted her blade and said, "Mahee, hit them with fire. Then when they are running scared we attack. Ready… now!"
Mahee drew back her arms and then stabbed forward, flinging a fireball into the clearing. It struck a pile of wood and erupted into a bloom of flaming petals, flinging burning cinders over a wide area. Another fireball flew forth, setting alight a tent and another struck a wooden bridge hanging between two tree stumps, causing it to collapse in a shower of flaming debris. The Hylians screamed at the sight but by then the Gerudo were already charging, weapons held high as they shrieked their wild battlecry.
A heavy man wearing nothing but a pair of breeches stumbled out of a tent screaming, "The Gerudo have found us!" Kinesha cut him down with one sweep of a scimitar, ending his life with a single slash. Another man ran at her with a crude spear, bravely trying to stab her. The Gerudo weaved back then spun on her foot, dodging the thrust as her scimitar slashed high, taking the man in the neck. Then an unrecognisable figure ran out of a burning tent, covered head to toe in flames as it screamed in torment. Kinesha ended its misery in a heartbeat, sending the burning corpse to the grassy ground.
Everything was calamity and alarm, running people and screaming women and children. All around the Gerudo laid into the helpless foe, killing indiscriminately. There was no mercy or hesitation in their strikes, they had travelled too far and suffered too much to stay their hands anymore. War had made them cruel and vicious and none were spared their wrath.
Mahee cackled as she unleashed fireballs at fleeing bodies, chasing Hylians with bolts of flame. Elsewhere Gurd ran an old woman through the heart with her glaive as she shouted, "That's for the lost blood of Kasuto!" Other Gerudo were fighting tooth and nail, hacking down any who came near them and shrieking wildly as they took revenge for their losses. The madness was in the air, it was everywhere and Kinesha felt the bloody joy of violence rush over her. Yet she alone kept her head, remembering this massacre was not for its own sake, it served a vital purpose.
As the Gerudo carved into the heart of the village Kinesha held her scimitar aloft and cried, "Find the swordsman, find the swordsman in green! Bring him to me so I can slay him once and for all!"
