Before moving on, Harun and the others gathered up a small group of warriors as Harun had suggested. They rode with the rest of the convoy for a little while longer, looking for a way up to the wooden walkways on the side of the cliff from which the Hylians had attacked them. When they finally found a way up, Harun and the others left their mounts in the care of the convoy and bid them farewell, leaving Laine in charge while Harun was gone.
The way up they'd found appeared to be a lift of some kind. It was a wooden platform attached to a rope and pulley system that stretched a great distance upward, with a second platform attached to the other end up at the top. There was a heavy metal box sitting on the lower platform, and a couple of barrels visible on the upper one.
"Kyra, give me a hand with this," Harun commanded, stepping onto the platform and pushing against the box. "You, you, you, and you, climb on as well," he ordered Emri and three of the other guards.
"Yes, your highness."
With the six of them on the platform, Harun and Kyra pushed the box off of it, but the lift did not move. "We're too heavy," Harun muttered. Perhaps it was for the best. These structures had been built by the Hylians, who were noticeably smaller and lighter. If the lift had begun to ascend, perhaps something would have snapped under their weight anyway. "Alright, one at a time, step off."
One of Harun's guards stepped back onto the rocky ground, but the lift still did not move. However, after one more did, they suddenly weighed less than the barrels on the upper lift. Finally, they ascended.
"Wahooo!" Kyra cheered.
Emri was less enthused by the speed at which they rose upward. She ended up clinging to Kyra for the remainder of their ascent, eyes firmly shut.
The lift stopped moving once the other platform reached the ground. Kyra was the first to step off of the lift, and Emri stayed clinging to her until they were on solid ground once more. The third guard they'd brought along joined them soon after, with Harun stepping off last.
Looking around, the prince saw they were on a large, flat, rocky surface, about two-thirds of the way up the side of the cliff. There were various tools and pieces of mining equipment scattered about, along with more wooden structures and pathways. However, there was nobody present aside from them. The Hylians had likely abandoned it and fled to Yarna for safety after the Gerudo revolted and took Taafei.
"Prince Harun," Emri said, pointing to a crank mechanism near the lift. "Can we bring the others up with this?"
"Hm. Yes, but not all of them at once." He wasn't sure how strong the lift was, or how capable they would be of turning the crank if there were eight people aboard the lift. Walking over to the edge of the cliff, he looked down. "We will bring you up!" he shouted to the rest of his guards. "Two at a time!"
"Yes, your highness!" Two of the warriors stepped onto the lift, and Emri and the other guard began turning the crank. It appeared to be working, as the lift was ascending.
"Two at a time?" Kyra asked. "This'll take forever."
"Have patience," Harun told her. "If this device breaks, we will have to search for another way for them to get up here."
"Hmm. Good point, I guess," Kyra agreed. She stood beside Harun, watching the lift ascend, but soon, she began tapping her spear against the ground. Harun glanced at her. She was fidgeting impatiently, mere seconds after being told she had to wait. He supposed that was to be expected. Kyra had always been the type who preferred to keep moving, never wanting to stop and wait for anything.
The prince sighed. "Kyra, go look for a way to reach the top of the cliff," he ordered. "If you manage to reach the plateau, take a quick look around, but try to stay low and don't let the enemy spot you."
Kyra smiled, stomping her foot as she positioned herself to salute him. "As you wish, my prince!" she said enthusiastically before darting off down one of the wooden walkways.
Deciding to take a moment to rest while the other members of his warband ascended the lift, Harun found a wooden crate to sit on, placing his trident down beside him. Reaching behind his back, he took the mirror shield in his hands and held it in front of himself, examining it. The macabre design of the screaming face stared back at him unsettlingly. With all the chaos of the past few days, he'd nearly forgotten about the mysterious artifact.
The monsters… They're up to something. If only we could work with the Hylians to investigate…
He sighed to himself. He knew there was something bigger going on, but his people had been sidetracked by this war that was only beginning. A lot of time - and lives - would be wasted. He hoped whatever nefarious plots were going on would not get worse while the Gerudo and the Hylians busied themselves with killing each other.
All we need to do is take Yarna. There will be no need to prolong this conflict beyond that.
He didn't know if that was him being optimistic for once, but at least the Hylians had not physically occupied the desert or the highlands. Retaking just the canyon and the valley would not be nearly as time consuming as a large-scale war across the entire Gerudo region.
"Prince Harun," Emri spoke, her soft voice jolting Harun out of his thoughts. "May I sit with you, please?"
Harun glanced over at the crank and saw it was now being operated by the warriors who had just arrived, giving Emri a break. "Certainly," the prince said, gesturing to the crate next to him.
"Thank you." Emri sat down, but she did not say anything. She watched her compatriots turning the crank, absentmindedly fiddling with her spear. A few times, she tried glancing over at Harun, but she always looked away again at the last second.
"Are you nervous?" Harun asked, trying to sound understanding.
"What?" Emri replied, meeting his gaze.
"Do not fear. I am actually hoping to negotiate with the Hylians if we find them atop the plateau," Harun explained. "But even if things do turn to violence, I've seen you fight. You fought well at Taafei, and on our journeys through the desert."
"O-Oh," Emri said, exhaling softly. "Thank you, your highness. I may not be as capable of a warrior as Kyra or Laine, but I will do my best to serve you."
What she said made Harun think about the way Emri had always acted during training. Ever since they were children, she'd always been willing to put the work in as much as the others, but something was always missing. She didn't really seem to have the drive or the motivation to become a warrior, yet she trained for it anyway.
"I asked you before what you would do if you did not have to fight," Harun said, reminding Emri of their earlier conversation. "Surely there must be something that would interest you beyond fighting in a war or guarding me."
Emri smiled weakly and fidgeted more with her spear, casting her gaze downward. "Um. Well, my grandmother was a great seamstress," she said. "She used to show me how to weave with fine silks, and make beautiful clothing and tapestries. I still do it a little back home, after training and everything…"
Harun was surprised. Emri never talked about herself, so he had no idea of her other skills and hobbies. "I see. So you wished to follow in your grandmother's footsteps? Why did you choose to become a warrior instead?"
"Well… it was my mother's wish for me to do so," Emri admitted, looking ashamed. "N-Not that I am not proud to serve you, your highness!" she added quickly.
"Of course. And I am proud to have you in my company," Harun replied, hoping to ease her discomfort. He felt bad for her. By 'It was my mother's wish,' she likely meant 'My mother forced me to.' Her mother probably saw the opportunity to improve their family's station by attaching her daughter to the future king, and disregarded her daughter's own wishes in the process.
I hope none of the others were put in similar situations…
"Prince Harun!" came a shout from behind him.
Harun quickly climbed to his feet and turned around, then tilted his head back to look up. Kyra was standing atop the cliff far above him. "Keep your voice down," he called back to her, worried her shouting would attract the enemy.
However, Kyra seemed completely unworried about that. "Look!" she shouted, pointing upwards behind her. "Get up here. You're gonna want to see this."
Harun narrowed his eyes in confusion, unable to see what Kyra was pointing at. He decided to walk further from her so he could get a better angle, and when he did, he could see it. There was a pillar of black smoke billowing upwards in the distance, likely from somewhere in the center of the plateau. "Is it the Hyrulean camp?" Harun called up to Kyra.
"I think so," she shouted back. "There's a battle happening there right now."
"A battle?" Harun muttered aloud to himself. "Has the queen sent her warriors ahead of us?"
"Prince Harun," Emri said, stepping up next to him. "We are all here now. Should we join Kyra up there?"
Harun glanced around and saw that his entire detachment of warriors had safely made it up the lift and were now standing in a semicircle around him. "Yes," he said with a nod. "We must move quickly." Before he left, he directed his attention back to Kyra. "How did you get up there?"
"There's a ladder. It's that way," she called back, pointing to her right.
Harun nodded. "This way, ladies," he ordered, setting off down the path along the wooden scaffolding.
When they reached the very tall ladder that led the rest of the way up to the plateau, Harun and his warband climbed upward, with Harun going first. Kyra was there to meet him, and she took his hand to help him to his feet.
"Look, Prince," Kyra said, pointing across the plateau.
The Hyrulean encampment was some distance away; about halfway across the plateau. It was located at the foot of the cliff that led up to the next level. The buildings were mostly small wooden structures, likely meant to serve as a mining camp or some sort of base camp for Hylians traveling across the plateau as a shortcut through the canyon. The largest building in the center of the cluster was on fire, and even from this distance, the sounds of shouting, clanging metal, and warhorns could be heard.
I really do not wish to fight… but if my people are in danger…
"We must join them," Harun declared. "Onward."
"Yes, your highness!" several of the warriors replied.
As they ran towards the encampment, Harun's mind began to drift. Without wanting to, the sounds of the fighting made him flash back to the day the Gerudo had taken Taafei. The chaos and the confusion had been unbearable. He hoped he would not feel the same way during the battle.
However, as they got closer, Harun spotted something he did not expect. A Hylian attempted to flee the encampment, running out of one of the buildings towards the open plateau, but it was not a Gerudo who pursued him. A green-scaled Lizalfos sped out from the same building that the Hylian had left, catching up to the short man with ease and leaping onto his back, pinning him to the ground. The Hylian man screamed as the Lizalfos bit into him, tearing him apart.
"Monsters!" Emri shouted in surprise and fear.
Harun stopped running, and everyone else stopped with him. His instinct was to assess the situation first. Now that they were closer, he could see more of what was going on. Hylians and Lizalfos were battling in the camp, not Hylians and Gerudo.
"It's not our battle at all," one of Harun's warriors commented.
"Serves 'em right," another added.
"Let's just wait for them to fight it out, then finish off the winner. Right, your highness?"
"What?" Kyra asked. "No! Where's the fun in that? Let's get in there and slaughter them both!"
"We did not come here to fight monsters," another warrior reminded her. "There is no reason for us to get involved here. Should we not simply return to our sisters in the canyon below?"
"But what if the Hylians win?" someone else added. "They'll just come after us next."
"What say you, Prince?" Kyra asked Harun. "We gonna fight, or what?"
Harun felt his heart palpitating fast. He wasn't sure whether it was the urgency of the situation, the sights and sounds of the battle in front of him, the unexpectedness of encountering this scenario, or the fact that the decision was his, but he felt a sudden and enormous weight on his shoulders.
The Hylians are the true enemy.
Ganon's words echoed in his head, but he was determined not to listen. He'd come up here with the intention of negotiating with the Hylians. Perhaps this unexpected situation was an opportunity presenting itself.
If we save them, perhaps they will see that we do not need to be enemies.
"We shall help them," Harun declared.
"Fantastic." Kyra grinned, gripping her spear tightly. "We'll help them finish off the last of those Hylians."
"No, we shall help the Hylians," Harun clarified.
"What?"
"Why would we do such a thing, your highness?"
"Is that not the opposite of why we've come here?"
The Gerudo in Harun's warband were clearly confused, and immediately began voicing their displeasure at the suggestion.
"Prince, let's be realistic," Kyra said, eying him with bewilderment. "An innocent child is one thing, but the Hylians here are clearly enemy soldiers." She did not mention the younger Princess Zelda by name, but the mention of a child made it clear what she was referring to.
Sighing, Harun turned to Emri, hoping at least she would back him up. However, she gave no opinion, which made Harun think she probably disagreed with him, but was too nervous to voice her objections.
Listen to them, young voe.
"I am the prince," Harun declared, more to Ganon than to anyone else, but no one but him would recognize that. "I have made my decision. Move in and defeat the monsters. Spare the Hylians. I wish to speak with them afterwards." After giving his orders, he drew his trident and his mirror shield and headed into the camp. He was half-worried his warriors would abandon him, but he soon heard footsteps following him, and Kyra appeared at his side.
The first one to see them coming was a young-looking Hylian man dressed in the uniform of a low-ranking Hyrulean soldier. He'd been running to the other end of the camp, and stopped to do a double take when he saw Harun and his warband running towards him.
"Gerudo!" he shouted to warn his comrades, but while he was looking at the supposed enemies coming his way, he failed to notice the Lizalfos coming up behind him. Kyra threw her spear, causing the soldier to dive to the side. The spear did not hit the Lizalfos, but it forced the monster to halt its advance, leaping backwards to dodge the projectile.
With the Hylian out of the way, Harun was safe to send a lightning bolt from the tip of his trident, shocking the Lizalfos as it attempted to advance once again. The monster fell to the ground. When Harun reached it, his boots slid across the rocky ground as he came to a stop. He then raised his trident and stabbed downwards, finishing off the creature before it could recover.
Kyra, Emri, and the rest of his warband circled around him, but he wanted to try talking to the Hylian he'd just rescued. "Fan out in teams of two or three," he ordered them. "Move!"
"Yes, your highness!" the Gerudo warriors agreed, moving into the camp to continue the battle.
By then, the Hylian had managed to climb to his feet. He pointed his sword at Harun, looking him up and down nervously, likely realizing who he was.
He thinks you're a demon.
"Are you hurt?" the prince asked in the Hylian language.
"What do you want?" the man demanded.
"I wish to speak to whoever is in charge here," Harun requested. He spoke calmly and plainly, holding his shield up but keeping his trident lowered.
"We'll tell you nothing, traitor!"
Traitor? That's a new one.
Harun sighed. He probably would not get much information from a common footsoldier. He decided to return to the battle and look for the Hylian commander on his own. "I am going to join my comrades now." Dismissing himself, he took a few steps away from the enemy soldier, but kept his eye on him. As expected, the man charged at him the second it looked like Harun was giving him an opening.
"Ahh! Agh-" The Hylian's battlecry was cut short. Moving quickly, Harun bashed the sword out of the man's hand with his shield, then dropped his trident in order to grab the man by the neck. The Hylian stared up at him in terror, clearly in awe of the younger man's height and of the strength with which he held him.
"I do not want to hurt you," Harun said, tossing him to the ground. "Do not follow me." He retrieved his trident and ran off, not giving the Hylian a chance to try anything else.
Further into the camp, Harun came to a more open area. On all sides of him, he could see battles taking place. Hylians against monsters, Gerudo against monsters, and Emri's group appeared to be some Hylians and Gerudo joining forces against the monsters.
The Hylians are not fighting us… This might work after all…
It will never work.
Ignoring the other voice in his head, Harun turned towards the next Lizalfos he saw running towards him. This one carried a spear and held it outwards as it moved, keeping its body low to the ground. Getting into a defensive stance, Harun raised his shield.
Unexpectedly, the monster stopped in its tracks. The expression on its reptilian face was not easy to read, but its mouth hung open as if in shock. However, it soon recovered, focusing its bulbous, rotating eyes squarely on Harun. Emitting a raspy scream, it charged once more, leaping at him.
The prince moved his shield to block the monster's spear, and the Lizalfos landed in front of him. Harun moved quickly to stab it with his trident, but the Lizalfos leapt backwards an almost absurd distance. However, it soon ran at him again, this time circling around to his side. Harun raised his trident and summoned lightning, but he unleashed his spell too early, missing his target as it continued to run around him.
When the creature finally attacked again, this time Harun bashed it with his shield, knocking the spear out of its hand. Hoping to electrocute the Lizalfos when it went to retrieve its weapon, Harun began summoning another bolt, but the Lizalfos did not do as expected. Instead, with an angry screech, it rammed into him and latched onto his shield with its scaly hands.
"What in the-?" Harun was confused as he fought for possession of his shield, tugging it back as the Lizalfos attempted to pry it from his hands. Acting fast, Harun stabbed the creature in the side. It emitted a shrill scream of pain and let go of the shield.
The Lizalfos, disarmed and wounded, decided to flee. However, it seemed to have an alternative goal in mind. It ran over to the corpse of one of its fallen brethren, then reached down to retrieve a slender warhorn the other monster had been carrying on its waist. It then leapt atop a crate and up onto the roof of the nearest wooden hut. Raising the warhorn, the Lizalfos blew into it several times, as if to relay a specific message.
Harun felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. All the other battles taking place around him suddenly stopped as the monsters leapt away from their human opponents, perking up at the sound of the horn and directing their attention to the one making the noise. The wounded Lizalfos atop the building pointed down at Harun and screeched.
In seconds, Harun found himself surrounded. The confused Gerudo and Hylians ran towards him as well, but Harun was already backed into a corner as the lizard monsters advanced on him, spears and boomerangs drawn. All of them had their gazes set on one thing - the mirror shield.
What is this infernal thing?
Even while he was in imminent danger, Harun took a moment to acknowledge that he'd been right. When he'd heard about the Temple of Time being attacked by Blins and the Water Temple being attacked by Lizalfos at around the same time, he'd hypothesized that these groups of monsters were collaborating somehow. The fact that the Bulblins he'd encountered at the Arbiter's Grounds and the Lizalfos he was fighting now both wanted the mirror shield seemed to confirm that.
When this fight is over, I'll simply explain this to my people and to the Hylians. We can work together against these monsters…
Ganon's laughter echoed inside his head, taunting him for his naive optimism. Harun ignored him and focused on the task at hand. Thinking quickly, he had an idea. Raising the mirror shield, a shadow appeared over it as the prince began working a shadowbinding spell. He'd never been able to create an accurate phantom of himself the way Elder Kobami could, but a relatively small, inanimate object like a shield should have been easy enough.
Harun brought his arm back as if readying to throw the shield, then swung it forward. Six separate phantom shields were tossed into the crowd of Lizalfos, spread out in an arc. Immediately, the monsters all began scrambling for the closest shield, fighting each other to grab what they must have hoped to be the real one.
However, Harun had not thrown his shield at all. Instead, while the monsters were distracted, he charged through the center of the crowd, shoving several Lizalfos out of the way in order to join his warband on the other side.
"Prince Harun!" Kyra called as they reached one another. "Are you harmed?"
"I'm fine. Now hurry, attack!" As he gave the order, the Lizalfos were beginning to realize they'd been deceived, and they were once again turning their attention to the prince. The Gerudo let out a battlecry, and the fighting began once again.
The fight was by no means easy. The Lizalfos outnumbered the Gerudo two to one. Harun hadn't realized how much magic he'd expended, but he was suddenly beginning to feel the fatigue that came with overexertion. He decided to stick close to Kyra and Emri, fighting side by side with them to avoid being flanked by his opponents. Together, they managed to slay several of the monsters while the rest of the warband did their part as well.
The odds had shifted and the Lizalfos were the ones who were outnumbered by the time the first Gerudo had fallen. Harun heard the woman's pained scream as a boomerang got lodged in her shoulder, shortly before another Lizalfos lunged forward to impale her with its spear. Harun, too far away to do anything to stop it, could only watch in fear. That momentary distraction proved disastrous, as he soon felt a sharp pain in his leg.
"Augh!" he screamed, falling to one knee. A Lizalfos had thrown its spear at him, and it managed to penetrate one of the weak points in his armor.
"Harun!" Emri shouted, grabbing him and pulling him back away from the battle. Several other Gerudo noticed what had happened and moved in closer to block the advance of the remaining Lizalfos. "By the gods, oh no…" Emri muttered as she continued to drag him further away.
"I'll live," Harun insisted, trying to calm her down. He was bleeding, but he was pretty sure a wound like this would not be fatal.
The battle continued without him from there. Only one other Gerudo warrior fell before the battle ended. Once only a handful of monsters remained, they withdrew from the battle and scattered, running off in all different directions. Harun was soon joined by the rest of his warband, who gathered around him to see if he was alright. After removing the spear, Emri had begun tending to the wound, using what knowledge of battlefield medicine they'd been taught by Lady Averla over the years.
"Do not fear," Harun told them. "I am certain we-"
"Attention, Gerudo!"
Harun flinched at the voice of a Hylian man. In the heat of the battle, he'd forgotten about them, and he hadn't stopped to wonder why they were not aiding them against the Lizalfos. Supported by Emri and Kyra, Harun was pulled to his feet, and the Gerudo warband turned to face those addressing them.
The prince was surprised to find a battalion of Hyrulean soldiers, at least four dozen strong, standing before them. Perhaps reinforcements of theirs had arrived during the battle, or perhaps they had simply regrouped after the initial confusion had worn off. Either way, if the Gerudo were going to fight once more, they would be even more heavily outnumbered this time, and against much more intelligent and organized opponents.
The man who had spoken stepped forward. His armor was of higher quality than the others, and the helm he wore was decorated with a feather. He appeared to be their captain. The cloth covering part of his chest armor was emblazoned with a sigil that Harun did not recognize, but he knew from his studies of Hylian culture that it was probably a family symbol of some sort. When he got close to Harun, four of the prince's guards stepped in his way, pointing their spears at him. The Hylians behind their captain raised their weapons and stepped forward in response, but the knight raised his hand to stop them.
"You're him," the knight said, looking up at Harun. "The demon king's heir."
"Do not call me that," Harun said. He spoke calmly, but only because his wound and his fatigue had left him too tired for hostility.
He speaks the truth, young prince.
Harun clenched his jaw, wishing he'd never connected with Ganondorf's spirit enough to allow these interruptions of his thoughts.
"But you are him. Prince Harun, the Gerudo voe," the knight reiterated.
The prince eyed the knight suspiciously. The Hylian man was not particularly menacing, but he still had a small army behind him, and there was a definite air of disdain in his words. "I am," Harun confirmed, despite not truly needing to. There were no other Gerudo voe to be mistaken for him.
The knight looked down. "I see you are wounded," he noted. "As thanks for defeating those monsters, I shall see to it that you are properly healed."
Harun felt a spark of optimism. Perhaps the knight had no ill intent after all. "Thank you, sir," he said.
"I am curious about something," the knight went on. "Why is it that the monsters swarmed you? And what was it you threw as a distraction?"
They watched the entire time. They did nothing to help you.
"The shield I carry," Harun replied. Now seemed as good a time as any to inform the Hylians of their common enemy's plans. Still being supported by Emri under one arm, Harun reached for his shield and displayed it to the knight.
The Hylian man eyed it with confusion. "Interesting design," he said. "What is it?"
So they know nothing of these items either.
Harun had been hoping the Hylians possessed intel he was missing, but this one at least appeared to be in the dark as well. "I am still unsure myself," Harun replied. "But the monsters want it. I am hoping to continue investigating why that is."
"I see." The knight nodded, mulling things over for a moment. "Well, tell your troops to give up their weapons. We will tend to your wounds and see to it that the shield is kept out of monster hands."
Harun was shocked. "Give up their weapons?" He wondered if his understanding of the Hylian language was flawed. Perhaps the knight was saying they should lower their weapons.
"Correct," the knight confirmed. "You are in no condition to fight, and you are clearly outnumbered. It would be best for all of us if you surrendered without any further violence. I give you my word that none of you will be mistreated."
He lies.
"We cannot trust him," Kyra said, speaking in Gerudo so that the Hylians could not understand her. "We must fight."
"I agree, your highness," another warrior joined in. "A single Gerudo is worth ten Hylians in battle. We can take them."
"Just say the word," another added, readying her spear.
"Silence. Allow me to handle this, please," Harun said to them before turning back to the knight. "Sir, there is no need to make prisoners of us. We have come here on a diplomatic mission. Please escort us to Princess Zelda. She must hear what I have to say about the monsters and their machinations."
"A diplomatic mission? Please do not make a mockery of my intelligence," the knight replied, narrowing his eyes. "You have an army marching through the canyon towards Yarna as we speak. Now, on with it. Throw down your arms and come quietly."
You must fight.
Harun's breathing became heavy. He was beginning to see Ganondorf's point, but he couldn't fight in this condition even if he wanted to. Both the knight and Harun's guards seemed to take his silence as refusal, which it was, if Harun were to admit it. The Gerudo women moved in front of Harun again, lining up and stepping forward.
The knight stepped back with a sigh. "I should have known your kind were not the type to go down without a fight." Waving his hand, the Hyrulean soldiers advanced and spread out, circling around the Gerudo warband. "Take the prince alive," he ordered. "As for the others, kill all those who do not surrender."
"Protect the prince!" Kyra shouted as the Gerudo circled around Harun.
"Stay close to me, Harun," Emri told him, still helping to hold him up.
Harun nodded, then tried to cast a spell. However, the magic was not coming to him. He watched in horror as another battle began. His people easily cut down several of the much smaller Hylians, but he knew it was a losing battle. Within seconds, he watched a sword stab through one of his guards. "No!" he shouted feebly.
I can defeat them.
"No," Harun repeated firmly, speaking to Ganondorf this time.
Give me control. You must.
The prince watched as a second Gerudo fell. The defensive formation was already beginning to fail.
We will all die.
Harun took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and prayed he would not regret this. "Fine."
The effect was immediate. Harun felt an ocean of power flowing through him, and he no longer felt pain in his wounded leg. Unlike his previous times being possessed, when next he opened his eyes, he was still conscious and could see his true surroundings, but he had no control over his body.
Moving Harun like a puppet, Ganon lifted his foot and stomped it down onto the ground. The earth beneath them shook, causing everyone to lurch this way and that as they lost their footing. A moment later, spires of rock shot out from beneath the ground in a circle around them. Dozens of Hylians were knocked back, some of them crushed or impaled.
"Harun!"
"My prince!"
"Your highness…"
The Gerudo surrounding him were in awe, but Ganondorf ignored them. As the Hylians began recovering from his attack, he raised his hands to the sky and lifted himself into the air, hovering above the ground. The area around them began to darken as a mass of swirling, dark purple shadow formed above his head. However, the shadowed mass soon lit up with brilliant light. Unleashing a warcry, Ganondorf swung his arms outwards. The glowing mass above him split up into wisps of ball lightning the size of his head, zipping around in all directions. One by one, they collided with the Hylians below, electrocuting them to death.
"By the gods!"
"Demon!"
"You'll pay for that!"
The surviving Hylians began screaming in fear and anger. Ganondorf floated forwards and dropped himself back onto the ground. He landed in front of a soldier who looked up at him in terror and tried to back away, but Ganondorf quickly grabbed the man by his neck and snapped it like a twig. He then took the sword out of the man's hand and, with an incredible display of martial prowess, began cutting his way through the rest of them.
When the last Hylian fell, Ganondorf stood tall and looked over the battlefield, surveying his work. There was only one Hylian still moving. The knight commander, bleeding on the ground, was trying to crawl away. Ganondorf's footprints were heavy as he approached his enemy. "You were courageous, I will grant you that," Ganondorf said, his own voice layered over Harun's. "But that was not enough this time, I'm afraid."
The knight rolled onto his back, looking up at him with something beyond fear. "Please…" he begged, barely able to speak through his wounds. "I was only doing my duty!"
"So was I," Ganondorf replied, placing his boot on the man's face. "My duty to my people. To my homeland." He paused for a moment as the knight struggled beneath him. "Hyrule will enslave Gerudo no longer. I hope Alkawbra sends you to the worst hell imaginable." Ganondorf pressed down harder on the man's head.
"No! Please!" A second later, the knight's skull caved in, crushed beneath Ganon's boot.
With his enemies vanquished, he walked forward and looked out over the cliffs, pausing to reflect.
Enough.
Harun had done nothing but watch helplessly as the Demon King slaughtered them all using his body. He wished there had been some other way, but now that the threat had been removed, he wanted his body back.
You have done enough. Return control to me at once, elder one.
Ganondorf stood there silently, and for a moment, Harun feared the demon had no intention of relinquishing the reins. "There is still much to do," he said aloud. "You must finish what I started."
Harun flinched, suddenly realizing he was himself again. However, he immediately collapsed to his knees, feeling as if he'd just spent a week's worth of magic in five minutes. His leg wound opened up again, spilling more blood onto the ground.
"Prince Harun!" The surviving members of his warband rushed to his aid, gathering around him.
"Your highness, are you alright?" Emri asked with concern.
"How did you do all that?" Kyra asked. "That was absolutely amazing!"
"It was not me," Harun said, coughing. "It was the Demon King."
Several of the warriors gasped, muttering amongst themselves.
"So it's true."
"By Nephysis!"
"The Old King lives once more!"
Just as before, Kyra and Emri lifted Harun to his feet, helping him stand. "My shield and my trident," Harun said weakly. "Retrieve them," he ordered.
"Yes, your highness." Two of the warriors rushed off to collect his discarded equipment from amongst the battlefield.
"We make for the cliffs to the east," the prince went on. "We must regroup with the others."
Harun lay awake atop his bedding. Some of his guards stood outside of his tent, but he was alone for now. In the distance, he could hear the faint sounds of yet another battle. At that moment, Queen Urballa was leading the attack on Yarna. Commander Bularis had wanted to wait until morning so their warriors could get some proper rest beforehand, but Elder Kobami had advised them that the Blood Moon would occur on the next night. They did not want to risk getting stuck outside the city's walls when the dead began to rise, so taking the city sooner rather than later was essential.
Although it had been some time since Ganondorf had possessed his body, Harun was still severely fatigued, and his wounded leg had not yet fully recovered despite being tended to by their healers. After rejoining the convoy, he'd spent the rest of the journey through Gerudo Canyon in the back of a wagon, unable to effectively move or fight on his own. So, rather than participating in the battle, Harun had been left behind in the base camp they'd set up outside the city. He did not mind, however. He had seen enough bloodshed for one journey.
Bloodshed you caused.
"I did not," Harun argued against the demon's voice in his head. "That was your doing."
At your request.
The prince sighed. "They left us no choice. They meant to kill my friends."
They would not have done so had you surrendered.
Harun tried to roll over, feeling uncomfortable, but stopped when he felt a pain in his leg. "I could not allow us to be taken hostage."
Precisely. Hyrule means to make slaves of us all. We have no choice but to fight back. Your queen takes Yarna as we speak for this very reason.
There was not much he could say to that. Harun did not wish to fight the Hylians, but as Ganondorf pointed out, he had no choice. He wondered if Ganondorf had been in the same position two hundred years ago when he was king. Maybe this was how it started. Maybe he truly would follow in the Demon King's footsteps in the end. "The fighting ends after tonight," he rationalized. "Taafei and the canyon are already ours. Yarna is all that remains of Hyrule-controlled Gerudo territory. Once we have it, there will be no need for war. We can have peace once again."
There can be no peace with Hyrule. You will learn in time.
"Silence!" Harun ordered.
The sound of the tent flap being opened alerted the prince to someone entering. "Did you say something, my prince?" Laine asked, leaning in through the entryway.
"No, Laine. My apologies," Harun replied.
"None necessary, your highness. Please get some rest." Laine bowed before ducking back outside.
"I will. Thank you." Harun closed his eyes, muttering to himself. "By the time I wake up, this will all be over."
