***ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY**
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In Sotto Voce
By The Wolfess
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Chapter 21
"Not there, stupid," the Moblin commander growled to the Bokoblins dragging the body toward a set of rusted shackles on the ground. "That one's special." A sick grin spread over the commander's fanged maw. "She hangs." He pointed a long, clawed finger toward the shackles hanging from the highest point in the ceiling. The Bokoblins nodded and dragged the body there instead.
It took a few failed attempts—she was bigger and heavier than them, and the Moblin commander wouldn't help—but they finally locked the final shackle and let the body drop. It fell in the air like a stone, and something in the shoulders popped. Despite the weight and the violence of the fall, the body didn't hit the ground. It hung from the chains and swung in the air.
"Oh, come on, be more careful," the Moblin growled. He shuffled over and jerked the body's shoulder. The joint, dislocated by the rough handling before, popped back into place. Somehow the woman didn't respond to even that intense pain. "The Master doesn't want her to die yet, remember? Now, go get bandages. Fragile thing will bleed out if we don't patch her up."
The Bokoblins growled something in the guttural language of monsters and backed away. The Moblin shuffled after them and locked the gate behind him. As their torches flickered in the distance, disappearing around a corner, the prison was engulfed by darkness. The body swayed in its chains in the dark. Its chest rose and fell, a steady breathing giving away that the damned soul was still alive.
In the darkness, the woman's face was slick with sweat. Beneath her closed eyelids, her eyes flitted side to side and a whimper sounded in her throat. A poe's nightmares were nothing to be laughed at. Even monsters like the jailors that soon returned to crudely patch up her wounds did not laugh at that. Though her body would heal with their medicine, there was little chance that she would be waking up any time soon.
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Zelda traveled through the night. She stopped to rest when she had to, but eventually she found herself atop a ridge looking down on a terrifying sight. Stretched before her were the black armies of the enemy horde. "Horde" was the only word that came to mind, for the monsters were many and varied. The black mass of bodies stretched as far as her eye could see. They ran drills in the west, marching in formation in preparation for their next attack. In the east, they seemed to still be marching in from the dark hovels of the world. The north side of the encampment, nearest her location, appeared to be mostly scattered, off-duty forces circled around bonfires for warmth and waiting for orders.
As much as a thorough knowledge of the layout of the rest of the camp was essential for the next part of her plan, it was the tents on the south side of the encampment that most interested Zelda. They were large and ornate. She almost snorted and how obvious it was which tent belonged to whom. The bright red one was clearly Volga's tent, the purple one belonged to Wizzro, and there were more which she didn't immediately recognize. They were so garish and self-important that the Queen almost didn't see what they were all guarding: a small, black hole in the base of the mountain the whole encampment was butted back against. The queen could feel a part of her pull in that direction. Impa was there. Zelda could feel her presence. But something else was there as well—something more evil and more powerful than anything she had ever encountered before. Something somehow…familiar.
Zelda retreated from her viewing point and retreated to a safe distance. She couldn't light a fire, that wouldn't be safe this close to enemy lines, so she tucked herself in a shallow crevasse in the rock that would shelter her from the wind and from any prying eyes that may fly overhead. Closing her eyes, she brought up the mental image of the enemy encampment and the surrounding terrain. She compared it with her knowledge of the terrain—she had been studying the geography of Hyrule her entire life, after all. A monarch that was not an expert of her own land did not deserve to rule over it—at least, that is what her father used to say.
"Evil has always had a foothold in Gerudo Desert." She could hear Master Shaddrick's voice droning on. He had taken her to the library one day and pulled out every chart and map of Gerudo Desert and the surrounding lands that they owned. They spread the charts out over every table in the library, and even on the floor. It was a strange thing for him to do, and it had mystified her. "The lands are quiet now, dormant, but history tells us that there is a good chance that the next threat to Hyrule will come from the desert once again. So, it is imperative that you know the terrain. You may not have firsthand knowledge of it, but I will impart upon you an encyclopedic knowledge of everything we know about its geography and its history. Should you find yourself in a compromised situation, rely on this lesson and search out the old places. For even a place so ruled by evil once praised the Goddesses. I believe that there are spirits there that still pledge their loyalty to your line. They will aid their mistress when she is in need."
It hadn't made sense then, but she had studied the dusty tomes dutifully. Now, sunken deep into a rocky overhang on the side of a gerudo mountain, she closed her eyes and brought up the images from her childhood studies. There had to be something in the desert that could help her.
An image swam before her mind's eye. She could see two palm trees growing along the shores of a pond long dry. If it still existed, it was within a reachable distance. Zelda didn't know what she would need to do when she got there, but the queen would figure it out.
She waited until nightfall before she left her spot. She backtracked a bit and went due east to a sandy part of the desert once covered in Leevers. The green monsters used to rise from the sand and swarm in a circular pattern around anything that moved. They were extinct now, or so she had been told, but the desert still held its dangers. She tread softly upon the sand, hopeful to not disturb anything that may lie in wait for its prey just beneath the surface.
Sand blew in Zelda's eyes. A night wind had picked up and it tossed the sand about her in a painful whip. The queen pulled the cloth wraps covering her face tighter and kept moving. After about an hour of slow going, she looked about and realized that a full sandstorm had mysteriously kicked up. She couldn't see any landmarks about her, nor could she see the stars. Swallowing her panic, she took a deep breath and said a prayer for guidance.
When she opened her eyes again, the sand seemed to part before her. She saw a large wooden pole with a ratty red banner flapping in the wind. She walked over to it, only to see another in the distance. This one she walked toward as well. One after another, she followed the poles until she found herself at a squat building half covered in sand. She hesitated at the entrance. Inside was a short, dark staircase leading down into who-knew-where. Eventually, however, Zelda drew her Sheikah knives and willed herself to enter.
At first there was nothing but darkness around her. Her footsteps on the stone stairway sounded louder than possible, like surely they would wake up whatever dark spirits lived in a forgotten place like this. But when she reached the bottom of the stairway, she found herself in a small stone room. There were two torches lit on the back wall that cast their dim light into the chamber. It was nondescript, really, except for a small, raised platform with a single wooden chest sitting there. An inscription chiseled into a stone plaque next to the chest read:
"Thou seeker who dost wish to traverse the Wasteland,
look not with thine eyes but with thine ears
for all will be lost who traverse this cursed sand
except for those stalwart hearts able to shirk their fears."
Zelda swallowed and reached out to the chest. She unlatched it and threw it open, flinching back from whatever it was she was supposed to be afraid of…but nothing came out of the chest. Confused, she bent over the wooden box and looked inside. All at once, her eyes lit up and she reached down to pick up the item inside: a small golden harp, much like a family relic she had at home.
"How curious," she muttered to herself as she looked at the item. It was a blue harp shaped like ocean waves in a typhoon. Stepping back from the box, Zelda held the harp to her and strummed a note. Electricity buzzed around her fingers, causing her to gasp and almost drop the instrument. The electricity hadn't hurt her, however, so she tried a few more notes. Around her, lightning crackled in the air. Eyes wide with amazement, she held it out in front of her for a moment and looked at it with renewed amazement.
Remembering her purpose, Zelda held the harp close, pulled the wraps back up over her nose and mouth to protect her from the sand, and walked back up the steps into the raging sandstorm. There was one more set of steps on the building. This second flight of steps led up to the roof, where another stone plaque waited. This one read: "One who plays a stormy melody shall be guided to the Spirit Temple by an inviting ghost." She mouthed the words to herself, and then shrugged and pulled out her harp. She only knew of one "stormy melody", so she plucked out the notes of the Song of Storms.
Lightning cracked overhead. A thundercloud appeared out of nowhere over the building. A bolt of electricity flashed and struck the top of the stone at the same time a sudden downpour of water began to fall. Zelda clutched her harp tight and looked about. There was a strange sound in the storm—a laughter that surrounded her in the air. Then the laughter seemed to condense to a single point, and a small ghost swirled into sight. The queen gasped and stepped back, but before she could run she remembered the words of the stone inside: she had to shirk her fears and listen.
Sure enough, under the sound of the storms raging around her was a voice. It whispered something so quiet she almost couldn't hear, but as she took a step closer to the ghost to better hear it, the creature floated away toward the stairs. She stepped toward it again, and again it moved away. A grin slowly broke out on her face—the "inviting ghost" would be her guide. She broke out into a run toward the ghost, which floated away at the same pace as if she were walking. It took her in the strangest twists and turns, but eventually it stopped a ways in front of her. As she got close, the ghost laughed and disappeared. So, too, did the sandstorm fade away, leaving her in a hidden place in the desert. The sand had reclaimed much of the structure, including what appeared to have been a large building of some sort in the distance. But the building, whatever it was, is not what she had come for. It was the two palm trees on the east side of the area that drew her attention.
The queen ran over to the spot. It was exactly as she had seen in the notes Master Shaddrick taught her those years ago in the library at Hyrule Castle: a shallow, dry oasis with two palm trees on either side. As the woman moved closer, she could feel a familiar energy crackling about the place. Something was there for sure, but no matter how many times she circled the oasis or called out, it would not show itself. "What must I do," she pondered, and then she remembered the ghost in the desert. If the song of storms had worked to awaken that kind spirit, perhaps it would work here as well. So the queen played the song on her harp. Storm clouds formed again, and it began to rain over the oasis. As the water filled the dry basin, a shrieking laugh resounded all around her. Some sort of bright, pink energy spewed out of the spring and swirled in the air.
"Ya ha ha ha!" a voice cackled. The pink energy condensed in the air and then popped like a bubble.
Zelda shielded her eyes from the burst of light, and when she looked again she could see a giant woman with long pink hair covered in nothing but ivy. The queen blushed a little, but she bowed low. She knew that the being she stood before was a spirit of tremendous power, a Great Fairy, and was deserving of her utmost respect.
"Ahhh," the fairy sighed. "It has been so long since someone gave homage at my spring. How delightful." The storm Zelda had conjured up was just starting to clear and the stars shone overhead. The fairy turned her attention from the rain to the small woman who conjured it. "And, little goddess-descendant, it has been many more years since one of your line visited my spring." The fairy flipped over in the air. She lay on her stomach with her feet in the air and her face down closer to Zelda. The fairy clicked her tongue. "My, but aren't you quite beautiful," she said. "Do you want to stay here with me for a while?"
Zelda blushed and cleared her throat. The legends said that Great Fairies tended to be flighty, but they didn't mention anything about how forward they were. "Ah, I am flattered, truly," she said. "But I have come for your help."
The fairy pouted. "Oh, fine," she said, flipping back over to her former reclining position. The ivy covering her breasts floated loose, and Zelda's blushed deepened. "What is your request, Daughter of Hylia?"
"My love is being held captive by the forces of darkness deep in their camp. I seek your help. I need a way to reach her without being caught."
The great fairy quirked an eyebrow and tapped her lips with one long, manicured nail. "You seek to save the Sheikah woman? Alone? I know your kind have always had a fondness for your pets, but risking everything like this is new. All the millennia I have served the Goddesses, and yet you daughters of Hylia continue to surprise me." She sighed and then shrugged. "This intrigues me. I will help you. Now, hold still."
The great fairy twirled around and leaned forward, puckering her lips. Zelda stepped back, but the giant kiss landed on her cheek anyway. Blushing ten shades of red, Zelda waited for the fairy to tell her what she was going to do to help.
"Well?" the fairy said. "You may go."
Zelda frowned. "But…you have not done anything yet."
The fairy rolled her eyes. "Look at your reflection in the water."
The queen stepped to the edge of the oasis and looked down. Looking back at her was an ugly red Bokoblin. Zelda jumped back, but then realized that she must be looking at herself. Her eyes widened. She looked down at her hands, but they didn't look like bokoblin claws. They just looked like her hands. "I do not understand…" she said, her tone apologetic.
"I haven't changed you into a Bokoblin," the great fairy said, sounding equal parts amused and annoyed. "You merely appear like one to others who look upon you. This will last until you meet with your Sheikah pet again. Beware, daughter of Hylia: this is merely an illusion. Should anyone try to touch you, they will soon find out the truth. Likewise, the melodious tones of your voice will surely give you away. Be cautious."
Zelda bowed low. "Thank you, from the depths of my heart," she said.
The great fairy winked and blew the queen a kiss. "Come back to see me sometime!" With that, she laughed and a flurry of pink energy swirled about her. As suddenly as she appeared, she faded again into the oasis. The last of the pink energy went into the water with a pop. It scattered about and left little floating pink lights all around.
Zelda gazed upon the lights in amazement. It took her a few moments to realize that the pink energy left behind were little healing fairies. "Oh my!" Cursing herself for only bringing one bottle with her, she dumped the water inside onto the sand and quickly scooped up a fairy near her and put the cork firmly in place. The little creature buzzed against the glass a few times and then seemed to resign itself to its new prison. "I am sorry, little one, but I may have need of you." Tucking the bottle safely away, Zelda turned back the way she came and prepared herself to make her way back across the Wasteland.
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It took Zelda well into the morning to make it back to her safe nook in the canyon above the enemy base. Exhausted and hungry, she tucked into the crevasse where she was sure she would be safe and slept during the daylight hours again. She woke as sunset began to fall. Knowing she had no food to eat and it wasn't safe to leave her spot until the darkness of night, the queen stayed put and reflected on her plan. She tried to think about what she might encounter inside or how she might free Impa, but she didn't have much experience in this sort of thing. With a sigh, she pulled the blood-stained handkerchief out of her armor and ran her fingers over the cloth again, reflecting the reason she was here in the first place.
Eventually night did fall, and Zelda left her alcove. She tucked the cloth securely back into her armor and stretched to make sure she was limber after staying put for so many hours. Finally, she made sure her armor was secure and her weapons were strapped on. The harp had come with a make-shift holster, and Zelda suspected it would make an efficient weapon based on what she experienced in the Wasteland. Limber and prepared as she suspected she would ever be, Zelda said a prayer to the Goddesses Nayru, Din, and Farore and walked to the edge of the cliff.
It took time to scale down the rock face. She may be dressed as a Sheikah, but she wasn't trained as one and it wasn't easy. Finally, her feet hit the ground and she turned to face the enemy encampment. She swallowed. This was completely insane, even with the Great Fairy's help, but it was worth it to have a chance to rescue the woman she loved. Steeling herself, she crouched down into a posture she hoped would look familiar to them and began to hobble toward the enemy horde.
The monsters huddled around campfires eating and talking to each other in a guttural language that sounded like intelligible growls to the Hylian. Most of them seemed too absorbed in what they were eating to pay much attention to another of their number shuffling by. This isn't so hard, Zelda thought. She was approaching the edge of the recreational area. Next was a set of tents likely belonging to much stronger monsters. She thought she had seen some strange lizard animals flying in and out of this area, as well as some very large, armored knights, but she had been so far away. It was hard to tell for sure what she had seen.
But as the Hylian approached the tents, she could see clearly now. Huge, eight-foot-tall knights with claymores as big as her whole body lounged in common areas and moved in and out of tents. Tall, terrifying Moblins talked among themselves in words she couldn't understand, and winged, fire-breathing lizards the size of average Hylians flew about in the air.
Zelda was so busy staring at the giant, terrifying monsters around her that she didn't see the Moblin hunched over in the path in front of her and ran straight into him. He roared and stood up, spinning around. He rose above her, at least six feet of large, angry ugly. She shrank back from him, shaking with fear.
"What're ya doin' here?!" the Moblin roared. Zelda was shocked to realize she could understand him. She was about to answer when she remembered that he would hear her voice if she spoke. Instead, she pulled the harp off her back and pointed at it, hoping he could see it. He must have been able to, because he bent over and peered at it. "What's that trinket ya have? Give it 'ere!"
He reached for it and Zelda shuffled backward. She shook her head, clutching it to her, and pointed at the cave entrance where she was sure Impa was being kept. The Moblin ignored her and reached for it again, and again she backed away and shook her head, pointing more emphatically than before. Finally, the Moblin seemed to sigh. "Fine, but they don't like little buggers like you wandering in there. You're beggin' ta be food." With that he shook he head and walked away. Zelda breathed a sigh of relief and kept going, more conscious of what's in front of her than what's around her this time.
Although she slowed when she walked near the tents of the various big, garish tents she had seen from far away perfectly clearly, she remembered the confrontation with the Moblin and kept going. She wasn't sure she would be able to fool a commander the same way she fooled that dumb beast.
Finally, she reached the mouth of the cave. It was much larger up close than it had looked from a distance. Not wanting to draw attention, she slipped inside and ducked to the side, pressing herself against the wall in the shadows until her vision could adjust to the darkness. Eventually, the shapes in the cave started to be clearer. She found herself in a large opening chamber. Stalactites and stalagmites hunt from the floor and ceiling like teeth in the maw of some giant monster. It made her shiver to think that she could very well be walking straight into the jaws of the beast and not know it.
Looking toward the back of the cavern, Zelda could see two different tunnels branching off of this room that led deeper into the mountain. She looked from one to the other, unsure which one she should take, until finally it dawned on her that she had a built-in compass. She closed her eyes and focused on Impa's life force, so very present to her though their connection. Once she focused on the woman she loved, it was obvious which way she needed to go.
Still focusing on Impa's life force, Zelda wove from one maze-like tunnel to the next. There were surprisingly few monsters here, just some keese that fluttered overhead and paid her no mind. She didn't think much of it and kept going. She was getting closer—she could feel it in every step. Any moment now she could round the corner and find the woman she loved there. Between her excitement and the confidence lent by her disguise, Zelda found herself moving with less and less caution. After all, there was no one here and her disguise had gotten her this far. Who was to say that it wouldn't take her all the way?
After winding through various tunnels and small, underground passages, the Hylian was surprised to find herself exiting into a second big chamber. She could hear water running on the other side of the large cavern. There was a single tunnel that led off to the left. Spotting it, Zelda pressed herself to the wall and followed it around, careful where she put her feet as she moved around the cave formations jutting out of the ground.
Zelda was halfway around the edge of the room when she heard an unexpected sound, like a soft moan, echo from the direction of the pool of water. She frowned and hesitated, then shook herself and kept moving. There it was again—this time a pained whimper. Cursing herself, the queen detached from the wall and began edging her way toward the black water. She could hear a faint trickling in the cavern walls as she got closer, letting her know that the mysterious liquid was being fed from somewhere deeper in the cave, likely an underground stream of some sort. But the queen paid less attention to where the water was coming from than she did to the pale form lying with her hips and legs submerged in the water. Her face and arms were on the stone, but the faint movement of the running water in the pool lapped up the front and soaked her clothing.
Zelda squinted as she drew near. Pale hair, turquoise cloth and bandages handing from a bruised and battered frame…. "Oh my Goddesses!" Zelda exclaimed, breaking into a run. She dropped to her knees beside the body and dragged it out of the water. Tears beaded in her eyes as she gathered the body of her love, her Impa, in her arms. "Impa…Impa, can you hear me?" she brushed the wet hair out of Impa's face and gently patted her cheeks. "Come on, please wake up." She bent her cheek close to the Sheikah's mouth, feeling for breath. The breath was there, and it was strong, so the queen breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ze…Zelda?" Impa's voice sounded hoarse and weak, but the queen was so overjoyed to just hear her love speak her name. "Where am I?"
"You are behind enemy lines, my love, but I am here. I will get us out of here. Can you stand?"
Impa started to sit up and winced. "Ouch, ugh, no, I don't think I can." She reached a hand over to her side and felt around the bandages. She pulled it away red, and that was the moment that the queen realized how big the dark spots on Impa's clothes were or that the puddle around her body had been a different, darker color than the water.
"Oh, Goddesses, Impa…" tears welled up in Zelda's eyes. "No…oh please no." She reached over and peeled back the wet, blood-soaked bandages. An open wound pulsed blood out over the ground. Zelda shook her head and clutched Impa to her. "Not again. On, please, goddesses, not again!"
"Ugh…" Impa moaned. Suddenly, Zelda could see how simultaneously pale and greenish her skin looked. Her eyes were sunken and her body was thin. She reached a weak hand up and placed it on the back of Zelda's neck. Her thin fingers gripped tighter than they should be able to. Fingernails dug into Zelda's skin like claws. The queen looked over at Impa's face again and saw a horrible fire burning in the red depths of her gaze. "This is all your fault…" she spat.
Zelda squirmed, pain shooting through her neck, but Impa's grip was too tight. She dragged the young queen closer, her lips spread in a horrible, toothy grimace.
"Impa, please, let me go. You are hurting me."
"Let you go? Like you have ever let anyone go…you hurt everyone you care about. Me. Link. Your father. You killed him, you know. It was your fault…"
Zelda gasped, half from the pain shooting through the base of her skull and half from the shock of Impa's cruel words. She kept looking at the Sheikah's toothy mouth. It seemed bigger than she had ever seen it before, horrible and twisted as it consumed her lover's face.
"No," she groaned, her hands curling into fists. She pushed as hard as she could against Impa, causing the Sheikah to lose balance just enough for Zelda to bring her elbow down on the arm gripping her neck. Impa's elbow buckled, and the queen was able to twist out of her grip and dance back away. "You are not her," she spat, rubbing at her neck. Deep scratches there were starting to burn and bleed. "You vile creature. What have you done with her?"
The grin on the fake Impa's face widened more and more. The rest of her face seemed to darken and sink in. A purple cloak pulled over the face and hid the body, floating into the air. That horrible mouth grinned and laughed. "She is my…guest. The Bokoblins have taken very good care of her. Just like they took good care of your father…."
Zelda shrunk back from the creature and looked at her exit options. There was no way she would be able to reach either exit before that creature caught up with her. It was a trap. She had been lured here and was now trapped behind enemy lines, miles underground, with the very creature that murdered her father.
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Author's Notes:
Hello everyone! Two of our best friends are getting married this week! Since my wife and I will be away partying all weekend in another state, I thought I'd upload this before I go. So enjoy the early chapter and have a happy memorial day to everyone who celebrates.
Also, I feel I should probably apologize for all the torture I've put these characters through...but those of you who've ready my work before (i.e. The Doppelganger Trilogy) already know this is pretty on par for me! Enjoy the roller coaster.
-The Wolfess
