Chapter 18: Daughter of the Sage of Shadow
He emerged in the heart of the Kakariko Graveyard, which was not the geographical centre, but rather the vital area around the reconstructed Royal Family's Tomb.
Link's head was still spinning. How was he even going to find Sheik? And, if he find her, what would he say? It was quite a shock even to him, what Impa had said, and he was only indirectly affected. For the first time, he realised how little he knew of Sheik. This did nothing to improve his mood.
He looked over at the midday sun, watching it make its slow trek across the sky, and felt that he was moving quite as slowly.
But, there was no real reason not to wander the streets of Kakariko Village; it was true that he had a final Sage and medallion to find, but it was equally true that he had no sense of where to even begin looking.
It had not escaped his notice that all of the Sages thus far were people he had known in childhood. Was Zelda perhaps the Sage of Spirit? She might have the right personality, but….
An image flooded his mind, again, a memory of the stained glass window in the basement of Hyrule Castle, millennia hence. A woman with bright red hair, holding up an orange medallion with the familiar symbol of the spirit element embossed on it. She had yellow eyes, darker skin than anyone Link had ever met, and wore revealing clothes—a shirt that covered little more than a woman's brassiere; loose, billowing pants. But, the most important thing was: he'd never seen anyone with such an appearance.
And, with no idea where to begin looking, he had no recourse anyway, but to seek out Sheik.
Kakariko Village had repaired itself gradually following the attack by Bongo Bongo. Link'd pushed past construction crews and the fire brigade to make his way to the apothecaries' shops. It had taken an effort of will to remind himself that the way he could best help these people was to ensure that their guardian survived, and to defeat the monster that had set Kakariko to flames to begin with. No one questioned why he didn't lend them his aid, and in a way that made it worse.
He entered the tavern of before, where he and Sheik had shared a meal together as she explained what was to come. Would she perhaps be there? Did she even have a home? She'd called Impa her "aunt"; did that mean that she lived in Impa's house?
He expelled a focused puff of air, blowing his bangs off his forehead, as he looked around. A woman with reddish hair stood behind a counter, watching him. Waitstaff, girls and boys, bustled about the room, occupied despite the hour.
He saw no sign of Sheik. But, perhaps someone here would know where she was.
A minute later, he left the tavern, strolling along the still-busy streets of the Village. He approached Juna, remembering that she'd wanted to ask him a favour. Maybe she'd seen Sheik, too, but he doubted it.
"Oh, it's my brother, Orim," she said in a distracted sort of voice. "I suppose it doesn't matter anymore, but he left behind his pet cucco, Cojiro. I was hoping that you'd be able to find him on your travels…aren't those the clothes of the forest folk? He said that he was bound for the Lost Woods, although for what cause, I don't know. Will you give him Cojiro, if you find him? I'll give you extra supplies to care for Cojiro until you find my brother. And, if you need more, just let me know. I don't think Cojiro is used to…a less extravagant lifestyle, but don't mind him. Will you do this for me?"
Right. He couldn't find his friend, Sheik, so perhaps he'd have better luck finding a man he'd never seen. Well, at least he could ask the Woods for help. He couldn't do that with Sheik.
"I will. But while we're speaking of looking for people, have you seen Sheik?"
Curiously, Juna didn't even know who Sheik was.
After he'd described her as best he could, he learnt that Juna hadn't seen her. He bowed his head, gave her a small smile as gratitude for her attempt to be helpful, and as reassurance that he would find Orim, and continued walking the town. According to the clock soldier seven years ago, Impa's house was open to visitors. Perhaps, Sheik was there? If that was the case, then her house was no longer open to the public.
He knocked on the door to Impa's house, waited, and after a moment, a man with short hair that stuck straight up opened the door. He'd been there seven years ago, too, wearing the same sleeveless shirt and green pants, or an outfit identical in appearance.
"I'm looking for Sheik?" Link asked, cringing a little inside at the uncertainty in his voice.
"No one lives here but me, and my pals from Hyrule Castle Town. I haven't heard of any 'Sheik', and I'm not sure you're not making him up. Don't you know that it's rude to go nosing into people's business? What sort of manners did your parents teach you, huh?"
Link clenched his fists, and bit his tongue. The man didn't know any better, but that was no excuse for his insults towards Link's unknown parents.
Something of his thoughts must have shown on his face, because the man continued in a softer voice, "Look, kid, the recent fires have everyone stressed and overworked. I didn't mean anything bad about your folks. But, me and my friends have our work cut out for us as it is. I'll tell 'im you were looking for him, that sound good? Good."
For all the man's talk of rudeness, he still slammed the door in Link's face. Link should have mentioned Impa, instead.
Along his circuit of the village, he managed to help some with reconstruction, aided by the hookshot's arbitrary ability to latch onto roof tiles (true of most roofs in the village, hurrah!), and checked in to see that the well was once more filled with water. Whether this was a recent development, or had happened a month or so after he had defeated the dead hand, he didn't know.
He met the wife of the head of the carpenters who had expanded the town, who told him that her husband was out west, working on something or other. Rebuilding a bridge? Link didn't understand it all, but apparently, Juna was her daughter, and Orim her son, and she was alternating between fretting about her husband, who should have returned by now, and her son, who most definitely should have returned by now.
It was only after he offered to check in on the leader of the carpenters that he learnt that the destroyed bridge was the one leading into Gerudo Valley, the mountain pass that led to the base of the gerudo thieves.
As in, Ganondorf's people. But, he had made an offer, and it was too late to retract it. He'd have to go…if he could find the way. Perhaps, after he'd saved Hyrule, though!
Juna's mother didn't know where Sheik was, either, but she promised to keep a lookout, same as Juna.
In return, Link decided that it was about time he saw whether or not he could find Orim. He played the "Minuet of Forest" in a suitably secluded spot—behind the wall once guarded by the clock soldier to whom he had sold the Keaton Mask.
The song whisked him back to the Sacred Forest Meadow, and he inhaled deeply, breathing in the woodsy smell. Nothing quite like a homecoming to take the sting out of recent failures. At Kakariko Village, the sight of the many repairs still to be made would have kept his spirits underground. Here, the Woods immediately welcomed him, its whispery voice circling around his head like a health faerie, chittering.
"Link Sylvanus! You have returned! How fares your quest against the evil? Have you found all of the Sages yet? Will you come back soon? How long are you going to be here? Have you seen Kokiri Forest recently—it's blooming!"
Kokiri Forest was the only place that would be blooming with winter approaching. Already some of the more cold-sensitive trees of the Woods were changing colour, just slightly. They'd never lose their leaves, but the Lost Woods would take on the trappings of the season.
He swayed on the spot, overcome by the Forest's enthusiasm, and walked over to sit on Saria's tree stump. A brief flicker of possessive indignation sparked in the Forest, but it decided that if anyone deserved to sit on Saria's stump other than the woman herself, it was Link.
"I'm looking for a man, only I don't know anything about his appearance," he said, head in his hands. "But, I'm sure that few people who aren't kokiris or faeries enter these Woods, isn't that right? There can't be many humans, regardless. Do you know where he is? I have something from his family to give him."
The Woods seemed thoughtful. There was a sense of division, as if part of the Forest's consciousness left, weakening the pull of what remained. But, a moment later, the Forest was back to its usual levels of energy.
"What an odd looking man, with that strange, spiky hair!" Link's head shot up. Spiky hair? But, who knew how the Forest interpreted such things. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but he could think of only one hylian to whom that description seemed to fit—the man he'd met once under the tree near the entrance to Kakariko Village. The excitement of the Woods darkened into menace when it continued.
"And, what a shameless vandal. He has stolen some of our substance for his own selfish purposes…he speaks of an apothecary in his village who can make some manner of ointment for him. But, its importance must be worth less than our own integrity! Retrieve from him what he has stolen. We will restrain ourselves in punishing him, until he has made amends. If he part quickly and without protest with what he hath stolen, and leave us forthwith thereafter, we shall spare him, in respect for you. But, go now. Find the trespasser. We shall open a way for you."
Link was made wary by the threat, the menace he heard in the unvoice of the Woods. He stood in haste, raced over the maze, and only encountered the path the Woods' had made for him after he had left the maze, and stood in the less holy, winding paths of the Woods. He watched as trees bent aside, forming a path for him to walk through, until he found himself in a familiar clearing. Once upon a time, he had befriended a skull kid, here. Now, a man with heavy rings under his eyes leant against a tree stump, fast asleep.
Link needed no instructions on what to do. He pulled Cojiro out of his inventory, and held him out to Orim. Upon seeing his master, Cojiro began to crow with happiness.
"What…is that…Cojiro?" asked the man, eyes wide. "Cojiro, how have you come to be here?"
He looked at Link's outstretched hands, noticing Link, seemingly for the first time. "Cojiro is letting you hold him? But, Cojiro only lets nice people hold him. So…then…if Cojiro lets you hold him, then you must be…a nice person. Please, Mr. Nice Person, you have to help me. I came here for special ingredients for an important medicine for the witch in Kakariko Village…but I'm lost here in the forest, and I can't find my way out."
Link sighed, set Cojiro down nearby. "I'm afraid it's not that simple," he said. "The forest won't let you leave until you return whatever ingredients you gathered here. It feels that you've stolen from it—a bit as if someone had entered your house and robbed you, I suppose. And, it won't let you find a way out until you return everything that you've taken from here."
"You…you can talk to the Woods?" asked the man, arms shaking. He might look skinnier and frailer than he had seven years ago. What ailed him? The leader of the carpenters had suggested that his son was merely lazy, but a lazy man did not cross Hyrule Field, make his way through the woods, and hunt down ingredients to help an old woman make medicine—not even for selfish reasons.
Orim reached down, picked up Cojiro, and wrapped his arms around the bird, as if Cojiro would protect him.
"But…that medicine. If I leave without the ingredients…."
Link had some suspicions as to what the medicine was, and just how important it was to the man. He also knew that the forest was implacable, and irrational.
"If you don't give back whatever it is you took, the Forest will punish you. Please, just give me whatever you took. I'll find someone who can return it to where it belongs."
The man shrank back from him, holding Cojiro out as if as a shield. Link sighed, crouching down to speak to the man at eye-level.
"I grew up in Kokiri Forest, and my best friend and protectress wouldn't let me even enter the Lost Woods until I had a guardian faerie proving that I belonged here. I understand taking what the Woods gives you, but I don't have the clout to protect you if you've taken something more important. We kokiri gather firewood and game, not to mention nuts and berries, from these Woods all the time. If the Forest is upset, you must have taken something more important. So, please, just hand it over. If you leave quickly enough, the Forest has promised to spare you. Please."
He stared the man down, and, slowly, Juna's brother reached into his inventory, and pulled out a bundle. Even from this distance, the pungent aroma of forest mushrooms was easily discernible, despite being wrapped in burlap. There were other things in the cloth bundle too, he was sure, but he wasn't sure that he wanted to know exactly what they were.
"Thank you," Link said, straightening. "You'd do well to remember this again in your wanderings in the Woods. But, I think you shouldn't press your luck. These are called the 'Lost Woods' for a reason, you know. Fado used to tease me about it. She told me 'Those who get lost in the woods become stalfoi'. Do you know what a stalfos is?"
Orim nodded. Link nodded in response, heading for the way out of the Woods—the rope bridge.
"Well, are you coming?" he asked, and the man's eyes widened, as he slowly climbed to his feet. He looked emaciated, as if he hadn't had a square meal in months. Link averted his eyes, leading the way to the rope bridge. If need be, he could be a ladder for the man to climb up onto the bridge. But, innocent or not, Link was not going to let him enter Kokiri Forest.
"So close…was it here all along, the way out?"
Probably not, but Link thought he'd already adequately made his point.
He saw Orim back into Hyrule Field, and then wandered back into Kokiri Forest to spend the night. It was rather strange, trying to sleep in his too-short bed, after what was but didn't seem seven years of absence. He slept with his legs hanging over the end, but woke up feeling better rested than he had in a long time. The Forest was cheerful again, humming and watching as he prepared to leave.
"I have to go now," he told the Forest, quietly. Kokiri Forest seemed to have a slightly mellower disposition than the Lost Woods, but Link had yet to decide whether or not they were one entity. "But, I promise I'll come back after I've saved Hyrule. I think I'll have to have my wedding here, somehow."
This did not stop the overwhelming impression of melancholy from crashing over him. The forest tugged at him, at his emotions, begging him to stay, petulant as a child, fierce as the loyal dog. Link sighed, shook his head, took out the Ocarina of Time. He dared not to leave his home; even with the Forest clearing the way for him, it still took half a day to make his way out of the Lost Woods. In the middle of the night, he'd managed to sneak into his house unnoticed, but now that it was full light out….
Link played the "Nocturne of Shadow", returning instantaneously to Kakariko Village to report his success to Juna.
Then, he realised that there was no way that he should have been able to make the journey so quickly otherwise—he was suspicious. The warp songs were conveniently inconvenient, or inconveniently convenient.
He returned to the tavern despite the early hour, to see a familiar figure seated in a table in a corner. Sheik looked up, and nodded to him as he came in. He quickly made his way over to her table, and sat down.
"Sheik!" he said with a broad smile. "I looked for you all over town, yesterday. I did it! We did it! Impa and I defeated the monster in the Shadow Temple…she said it was a god of war…maybe."
He shrugged, as if the matter were of no consequence, which, next to the information he was about to impart, it wasn't. He was sure that, for the moment at least, Sheik was smiling, as she sipped at her water through the mask. It must be magic, he decided. He waited for a few seconds, to give her a few more seconds of normalcy before the impossibility of reality broke through.
"You look as if you have something to say," Sheik said, raising an eyebrow, and Link blushed, looking down at his feet. He fidgeted, unable to meet her eyes, and injected the necessary gravity into his features and voice when he spoke.
"Yes. Impa…she had something she wanted me to tell you…right before she gave me the Shadow Medallion. A secret she was keeping from you. This might not be the place to tell it."
Both eyebrows rose at that statement. "There are few places devoid of eavesdroppers, Link. At least here, I know every nook and cranny, and can tell if someone is coming close enough to hear. If it makes you feel better, you can whisper whatever you have to say."
But, he doubted her response to his news would be as quiet.
"As you wish, then. She told me to tell you that she was lying to you all your life when she told you that she didn't know who your mother was," he said leaning forward towards her despite himself. Sheik nodded, as if not even listening, stirring her drink with a spoon. A pointless gesture, the best proof that she was listening.
"She told me to tell you that…." Now his courage failed him, as Impa's had failed her. Why couldn't he be braver? But, he wanted Sheik to think highly of him, and burdening her with new truths at such an otherwise strenuous point in her life…was that something that a friend did?
He swallowed, hard, glancing over at Sheik, whose spoon had paused in the middle of the air. "She told me to tell you that she is your mother!" he blurted out.
Time seemed to stop. He hadn't spoken very loudly, but there was that seeming, caused by the event—such a huge secret, revealed for the first time in the open air. (Not for the first time, surely; someone must have known that Impa had had a child, right?)
The spoon clattered into Sheik's mug, as she leant forwards towards him, hands clasped before her, eyes wide. There was something very familiar about that pose, but Link couldn't place it.
"Impa is…my mother?" she whispered, as if eager prying ears surrounded their table. He rather suspected that she'd stopped breathing. He reached out a hand to lay over her clasped ones, a wordless show of support.
Sheik sat there, as if frozen, as one of the girls who worked there came over to replace the spoon, and then to question Sheik's health.
"He's fine," Link said. "Just a bit of unexpected news, is all."
He waved the woman off, and replaced his hand where it had been. "Hey, Sheik, are you alright?"
Sheik bowed her head, turning away lest he see her expression somehow, against all sense. "All this time," she said. "All this time…. Link, are you sure that that's what she meant?"
He nodded, unable to speak. She sagged, hands flying to cover her face. "I can't believe it…all this time. How could she not have told me?"
There was something lost and broken in her voice, and Link wondered if the jagged edges of the skull torches had impaled him after all. Or, perhaps he'd broken one of his glass bottles. This feeling…a sharp pain, as if he'd been stabbed in the heart.
Words eluded him. He sat there, and stared at Sheik. If he knew how, he'd give her his strength. She needed it more than Impa. She was usually so strong…but this news must have struck her as if a blow too.
"Sheik, are you…?"
She stood, abruptly, throwing down two red rupees on the table. "Link, I need some time to myself, to think. The next temple is in the desert that lies beyond Gerudo Valley. The gerudos don't trust men, so be careful. You'll have to somehow earn their respect if you hope to make it to the Temple. I need some time to myself, but I swear that I will meet you at the Spirit Temple. Good luck."
She threw something that made a bright flash, and then she was gone.
"Forty rupees… but her drink was only thirty-five," said the serving woman. Link put a hand to his head, and sighed.
That was a dramatic exit. So much for subtlety.
Link understood how far away Gerudo Valley was only after looking at Kaepora Gaebora's minuscule map. Navi traced the route that they would have to take in a line of glowing blue light, explaining as she did. He followed her finger to the far west of Hyrule, pausing to notice that Lake Hylia was located almost as far west—more-or-less due south of Gerudo Valley. He'd never come to Hyrule Field from Lake Hylia, had he? He'd always used warp songs and portals to travel. He hadn't realised just how far away Lake Hylia was.
He did have an idea, however. Rather than warping to Lake Hylia, and making the long trek north on foot, he walked instead to LonLon Ranch, returning to the ranch at night, to avoid Ingo.
He was surprised to find Epona and Malone in the centre of the corral, just where she'd been when she'd taught him "Epona's Song", seven years ago. She gave him a broad smile when she saw him. He noticed that the bruise on her cheek was completely healed.
"Faerie boy! It's great to see you again!" Great news! Mr. Ingo is back to normal again, and Dad took control back of the ranch! Everything's alright now, and it's all because of you! Dad told me you got him moving. Now, we're a family again. Although…I sure wish Mama could be here…."
She frowned, and her expression grew distant. Link's brows furrowed as he considered her words. Did that mean that her mother had finally come home?
"Would it be alright if I borrowed Epona for a few days—or maybe a couple of weeks?" he asked Malone. The distant look left her face, and she laughed.
"Oh, faerie boy…don't you remember? Ingo gambled Epona in your competition, and you won! She's your horse, now, silly! What have you been doing?"
There was far too much to say about that, and too little time in which to say it.
"I'm sorry, Malone. I didn't mean to be pushy. I'm glad that everything is back to normal, although how you could forgive Ingo so quickly…."
Malone laughed lightly, and gave him a playful shove. Perhaps it was unsurprising, as she was a farmhand, that she didn't seem to know her own strength. He swayed to the side, as she covered her mouth, perhaps to hide a giggle, as he straightened back up.
"It doesn't matter though…I'll always consider Epona your horse. But, thank you for letting me travel with her for a while. I really appreciate it!"
Malone smiled, laughed, and waved him off, but he ignored all that to sleep in the protective circle around the ranch.
Even on horseback, it took a day to reach the sudden barren land that provided the entrance to Gerudo Valley from Hyrule Field. It looked as if, when Farore had given life to all things, she'd overlooked this one corner. And, was it just him, or was the sun suddenly hotter? Maybe Farore wasn't the only goddess to pass this place by.
He eased Epona up the sharp trail, through a broad pass, under an arch, and then to a narrow wooden plank over a lake fed by a waterfall. The sight of water amidst such an arid land was incongruous. The makeshift bridge was a matter of concern. He dismounted, and tried to lead her across, gently, on foot.
Epona obediently followed him across the broad water, but Link relaxed only when they were on the other side, standing on a desolate cliff, bounded by walls on two sides, by the pond he had just crossed on a third, and by a canyon, with a churning broad river far below, on the other. The broken remnants of a bridge stood on either side, the ends shored up by imported grey bricks which stood out against the red earth. He peered over the canyon, saw the river cutting a straight path through the valley.
He looked across at the remaining slats of the bridge that had once connected the two sides of the canyon. Far to the right, the river originated in a great waterfall spanning the width of the canyon. To the left, the river hastened out of sight. There was a strip of more-or-less level ground at the base of the falls—right next the basin—but Link didn't think he could reach it…not unless he tried to force his poor cucco to hold his weight. He wasn't a child anymore, after all.
He pulled out the hookshot, reconsidered. What if it didn't catch on the wood? He peered across the gap, at the bleached white tent standing near the cliff wall, at the tall arches leading around a bend, at the fallen debris blocking sight of what lay further on—and by the same token, hiding him from any scouts.
Perhaps, Ganondorf had destroyed the bridge deliberately; perhaps it had been destroyed in a storm; perhaps it had been poorly made, and had not held up under a load. The wooden slats looked fairly old and weathered, but not that old. As a kokiri, you needed to know your woods. Link felt confident that the wood wasn't old enough to have broken on its own. That didn't rule out the possibility of storms, however.
He turned to Epona, and looked back across the gap.
"What do you think, girl?" he asked her, remembering her leap over the wall around the Ranch. That wasn't all that he was thinking about, however. He hadn't forgotten that the gerudos were notorious thieves. Would they steal Epona?
Epona nuzzled his shoulder, and he cocked his head, studying her. She was staring across the bridge, as if saying "Let's go! I can do it!"
He swung himself into the saddle, and backed up with the greatest misgivings, despite her previous feat. He backed up almost to the pond itself, and then Epona charged, almost immediately settling into a gallop, then leaping across the chasm. (What was this horse, that she could do such things?) There was a moment when he was airborne; it was so similar to gliding across the bridge on Outset using the Deku Leaf, and at the same time, very different.
There was the rush that comes with danger, of course, and the thrill of flight, but tempered by the fear that Epona might hurt herself in the crossing, or miss the other side, and plummet into the water far below. Could she survive such a fall? Could horses swim? She seemed to shy away from water. What if—?
But then, they landed on the far side, and Epona raced up the grey bricks onto the cliff, and then reared back, turning her head to show her triumphal defiance. He patted her head, and stroked her mane, and leant forward to praise her extravagantly, because there was no such thing as hyperbole when describing what she had just done.
"Epona, you are amazing," he said.
"Link! That was so careless!" Navi squealed, crawling out from under his sleeve. "What would you have done if something had happened to Epona?"
"Well, the same would have happened to me," said Link, trying to sound as if he hadn't thought of it. "We shared the risk, after all." That might have been what Navi meant, come to that. But, he pretended that the thought hadn't occurred to him, as he continued to praise Epona.
Navi huffed, but said nothing more, seeming to think she'd satisfactorily chastised him for his decision. Well, he supposed he might have checked to see if the hookshot could catch on anything, but what if he'd needed her help in the hideout?
How far away was it to the hideout? Heat seemed to be distorting time the way it did the air. The closer he came to the desert, the more punishing the sun on the back, the fierce wind that scraped at his skin, and tore at his clothes. He pitied and admired Epona, who lacked his defences. But, would she be alright, in the thieves' camp? Well….
He turned to the tent sitting almost up against the wall of the pass. Then, he turned to the boulders littering the field. He pulled out the Megaton Hammer, and set to clearing a path through the rubble. He paused, occasionally, to check back on Epona, who was faring remarkably well.
A man emerged from the tent—one familiar, in his blue jacket and white pants. The sun gleamed as it struck his unprotected scalp. The man folded his arms, staring at Link.
"Making quite the racket, aren't you, son? Well, at least you're a hard worker, unlike my boys. We were hired to rebuild this bridge between Gerudo Valley and Hyrule Field—an offence to the name of carpentry, is such a shoddy construction—when my workers all decided they'd rather go live it up in the thieves' hideout. The fools. Wouldn't know a good thing if it stared them in the face. Ungrateful, lazy wretches. Well, but I'll never get this bridge built without my crew, now will I?
"They've been gone two days in that place, so I figure they're not coming back unless someone fetches them. I'd sure appreciate it if you did me a favour and checked up on them. Make sure they're not in deeper than they can handle, and all. Get them back here, if you can. Only if you're going there, mind, although I can't think why else you'd be out here, unless you're like that fool running man what hired us."
"Uh…" said Link. He shook his head, trying to force his thoughts into meaningful sentences. This was a twist. What, should he now sneak around the hideout, and try to find this man's crew, or try to meet with their leader, whoever was in charge other than…Ganondorf. Yeah, that latter was a really stupid plan, wasn't it?
"I'll look for them," he said. "If you have any advice for me…?"
"That's mighty kind of you to offer, kid. You've got a strong set of morals, I see. Your parents raised you right, unlike the hooligans I have working for me. Good man. That's a mighty fine horse you have there; you might want to hide her from the prying eyes of the thieves—they like their horses, and archery. They'd steal that horse in a heartbeat."
He turned to look at Epona. She snorted, and shook her muzzle. He had the feeling that, as with Ingo, any thief who tried to steal her would regret it.
"You can ask my employer for more information. He's a bit quirky, mind, but don't mind him. He's harmless. Just go in this tent."
Was "quirky" the reason that the man hadn't come to see what had caused the racket Link had recently been making? He turned to the head carpenter, and then pulled aside the tent flap, and walked inside the tent.
Leaning against the back wall of the tent was a man in sandals, short pants, and a white shirt. His hair and sideburns were that bright red that seemed so common in Hyrule—but his was closer to Navi's blood-red. When he saw Link approach, he started, and then a broad grin split his face.
"Well, well. We meet again," said the man, and Link bowed his head, closed his eyes, and made a fervent prayer that this was not another man with a grudge. He'd never met the man before, which meant that he'd go back in time and meet him at some point. Or, perhaps, that the man was mistaken, but that seemed incredibly unlikely.
"It's good to see you again. Ha! Thanks to you, I've become the fastest man in the world—as fast as the legendary rabbit! And, it's all thanks to you…oh, I'm sure you thought I wouldn't recognise or remember you. It has, after all, been…what, seven years? But, could I ever forget someone who had such a dramatic impact on my life? Most certainly not!
"I still spend all my time running around the world—it wouldn't do to get rusty, after all—but those rabbit ears gave me such speed, such energy, why, I think I finally did it, and got in touch with my inner rabbit! What a marvelous feeling! I should have paid you even more money than I did! The joy at achieving my lifelong dream was worth any price!"
His expression, staring up at the sloped, pointy ceiling of the tent could only be described as rapturous. It was so intense that it was alarming. Wait a minute…rabbit ears? Was this the man to whom he had sold—will sell—was going to have sold—the Bunny Hood?
"Thank you! Thank you! It's thanks to you that all of my dreams have come true! If you ever need anything, just tell me! Although…if I could be a bit greedy, there is one small problem with my dream…that bridge…it's out…I've nowhere to run but this boring valley. But come, tell me something I can do for you!"
Link blinked, repeatedly, at the situation he found himself in. This was not what he'd been expecting when he entered the tent. But, the man was leaning forwards, expression still intensely focused.
"Uh…would you mind reminding me of where I found you? Or what your route was?"
He could feel Navi's stare bore through him. Incredulity seeped through their connection in waves. Really, Link?
"Ah, yes," said the man, nodding as if the request were not unusual in the slightest. "I don't think you ever did know my route, did you? If you want to compete against me, you'd do well to do some running on my route. It's very difficult! See here!" Suddenly, a map was in his hands, and he spread out the scroll of weathered paper, pointing at a winding route far to the west.
"Here, is where we are now. I have a number of routes, but I distinctly remember that the one I was following the night you sold me those rabbit ears was…hm…a route that runs past this grey boulder, here, up past the ruins of that old wall…down under the cliffs almost facing each other that mark the entrance to Gerudo Valley, bypassing Lake Hylia cutting between Lonlon Ranch and the old castle…ah, here! Right here! You found me as I was taking a rest for the night at the top of a hill—even I need to rest, you know, and back then, I didn't have as much stamina! It's a special place, whose significance is etched into my heart. I should put up a marker there…. Was that all you wanted?"
"Have you been in the thieves' hideout? Do you know what I can expect?"
The man frowned, chewing on his lip. "Ah, no. I'm not suicidal. I stay well away from that place. I know exactly as much as everyone else—they're a race of all-women thieves. I don't want anything to do with the danger I'm sure they pose. The carpenter I hired seems convinced that they're expert archers and horsemen (horsewomen?), and a sight to see with their odd, curved blades. That's just what I've learnt from him and his men, mind. He talks about them a lot. Well, I hope I've been at least half as much help to you as you've been to me. Good luck in whatever you're trying to do!"
Still somewhat dazed, Link nodded, and stumbled out of the tent. The head carpenter took one look at Link's dazed expression, and seemed to understand.
"You just go through that pass, sonny, and you'll find the hideout. I haven't been there, so I don't know what you can expect. But, you better watch your back!"
Link climbed onto Epona's saddle without thinking, and nudged her into a walk. They rode up through the path he had cleared, and followed a broad, but winding path, leading up at a low grade through red walls of earth.
A sign appeared—a familiar one. He was by now out of his reverie, looking to left and right. He'd noticed, but not fully understood the significance, or the sudden high walls of brownish stone. But, the rope hanging across the path, and the symbol painted on it—that crescent moon—the symbol on the mirror shield, and the silver gauntlets…were these the people who had made them? He remembered the stunning beauty and superb craftsmanship. If they had made them, they were far more than mere warrior-thieves.
He dismounted, turning Epona loose, trusting her to defend herself. That symbol must mark the entrance to the gerudos' hideout. Hence, he must continue on foot.
There was an opening in the sheer cliff up ahead. It wasn't until he reached it that he realised that it was for a steep staircase, chiseled into the rock, leading to a level area of the same brown stone that had probably marked the entrance to the Fortress.
Unfortunately, now that he was in the heart of enemy territory, he also had to watch out for guards.
She saw him before he saw her, making her usual rounds. She wore a mask over her face, a shirt without sleeves, with a low neckline, and leaving the stomach exposed. Her billowing pants, as with her mask and her…shirt…were a vibrant violet. Bright red hair was kept out of her bright yellow eyes by being tied back in a ponytail. She had dusky skin, unlike everyone Link had ever met. Yes. This must be the race of the Sage of Spirit.
And, he was being arrested, and thrown into prison.
"You! Man! Surrender peacefully, or we will use force!" she said, her voice dripping with contempt. Beside her, several other women dressed similarly, and with similar hairstyles, closed in, each jabbing long spears at him. He'd never reach, except with the bow, and he'd rather not attack these people. They couldn't help it that their leader was evil. And, he'd hardly made a good first impression. He nodded, holding his hands up, as Navi hissed her reproaches in his ear.
He understood the risk he'd just taken a bit better when they threw—literally threw—him roughly through a hole in a wall, and he landed in a cell far below.
"Stay there, and don't try anything!" snapped one of the guards, and then he heard her march away.
"Link, are you alright?" Navi said, forgoing a chance for further scolding. Link winced, pulling himself to his feet. He'd taken falls from greater heights, however. He rolled his shoulder to placate its complaints, and looked over at Navi.
Apparently, the upside of his being a man captured by misandrist thieves was that they underestimated him. He stared up at the small window through which he'd forcibly entered this room. There was a wooden ceiling.
He smiled at Navi, holding out a hand to her, with a small smile.
"I'm fine, Navi. But, something tells me that those carpenters aren't faring as well. Not if my treatment is anything to go by. Do you see how out-of-the-way and inconvenient this cell is? I have the feeling it's not intended as a cell at all. But why put me there…unless their actual cells are already full?"
"The carpenters?" Navi said, gasping. "You think they captured them and locked them up?"
Link nodded, pulling out the hookshot, and taking aim at the wooden beams above the window. He'd just have to hope this worked. He sent out the chain of the hookshot, waited while it latched onto the roof-beams, let it carry him to the narrow windowsill. He crouched down, peering over the side at the guards making their rounds far below.
The thieves hideout was a series of square holes chiseled into rocky structures too small to be the actual residences or buildings of even the population he'd seen. The passages were almost certainly simply entrances to the fortress (and it was a fortress; he could see that now) proper. The majority of their fortress must be deep inside the rocks of the cliff face.
To his right was a tall wall, all of stone, but for a great wooden gate. A woman at the top of a turret looked out over something vast and hazy that lay beyond. A ladder led up to her lookout place, similar to the one that the women had climbed up to throw him in his prison. Another woman stood guard at the bottom.
He looked back to the left, watching the guards surrounding the staircase. There was a beaten path leading up to the same ridge, and it was right beneath his feet. If he'd known to wait, or sent Navi to scout, perhaps he would have been able to evade capture. Perhaps he was being overconfident, underestimating his enemy? Why hadn't he done that?
He saw that he could leap to a roof with another entrance to the fortress from here. It was higher up; the shock of the fall would be less than if he simply let himself fall to the ground. To be absolutely sure that he made it, he exchanged the kokiri boots for the hover boots, but then he thought better of it. Even higher up, there was a crate stationed on a ledge nearer the height of the fortress. The hookshot was still in his hand. He might as well see.
The hookshot latched easily onto the sturdy crate, pulling Link along as the chain coiled back around itself. In a moment, he was standing on top of the fortress, looking out. The guards were not looking up. That was lucky for him, but he couldn't count on any luck holding.
With no knowledge of how this fortress was set up, he might as well start at the nearest of the doors, and wander through the passages inside the cliff one by one. He shrugged, entered the nearest of them, found himself almost immediately at a junction. Left or right? How to decide? He picked the right-hand path, thinking to himself that the left-hand path seemed to be sloping upwards. There wasn't much in the fortress higher than the door he'd entered, other than the entrance to his jail cell.
As he watched, a guard in the same purple clothes came into view around the bend at the far end of is corridor. He ducked down behind a supply crate. He turned to Navi.
"Yes, yes. I'll try to help guide you. But keep in mind that the things that allow me to escape the notice of monsters won't work on humans. Unlike you, I don't have a means of escape if they capture me, so I have to prioritise not being found. But I'll do my best. She went back around the corner!"
Link shot up, immediately heading towards the crate that the woman had passed by. It was right next to the corner. He found himself wishing he'd worn the hover boots. They would have muffled his footsteps more. He closed his eyes, willed the hover boots on. Navi peered around the corner.
"She's walking into a broad room with a wooden shelf that you could use as a bridge across to the top of the stairs on the far side. You'll understand what I mean when we get there. The point is, she's going back into a central chamber. Do you smell that? Something smells delicious…i think we might have found the kitchen."
Link sighed, but eased around the corner, watching as the woman walked down the corner in measured paces, turned to the right, and headed out of sight. He followed with the borrowed quietude of the hover boots.
He saw the wooden beam sticking out of the wall—a shelf, he realised—and then the landing of the staircase that Navi had mentioned. That landing led to another winding tunnel, that quickly veered around a leftward corner. There was another flight of steps, that the guard he had followed had descended, into the kitchen. He glanced at the stew bubbling away on the fire, and tried not to think about his own, sparing fare.
No passages in the room below. He'd do well to cross to the landing on the far side.
He ran silently across the gap onto the wooden beam, and then again across to the other landing, and kept going until he came to the corner, whereupon he stopped, peering round the corner to stare down a long hallway with a decorative skull—probably that of a cow, to judge by the shape—that hung on the far wall. It seemed to be a dead end.
But, Link had not come here to quit that easily. He hurried down the corridor at such a pace that he nearly missed the sudden left-hand turn cut into the wall, despite the fact that the hover boots made even the rough stone of the interior—those familiar grey bricks—seem slick. The left-hand path led him on a circuitous, downward path, before ending in a huge, tall chamber.
The first thing he noticed about the chamber was that the wall to his left was suddenly interrupted by a stretch of iron bars arranged into a metal net, and the locked door that sat nearby.
He didn't know how to pick locks. Why hadn't it occurred to him that he should be on the lookout for keys? Still, there was a door on the other side of the room. Perhaps he—
"Hey! Young man, look over here, in this cell!" called a voice. There was no one else but him in the room, but he knew that he mustn't let down his guard. Keeping a wary eye out, he approached the cell door. Inside was a man with a huge mouth, an unflattering haircut, and squinting eyes. He wore a blue vest, and pink pants. One of the workers, no doubt about it.
"Wow! You must be really brave, sneaking around in here!" the man said. "I shirked my job, and came here to see if the gerudos would hire a thief…but they're mean! I don't want nothing to do with them no more! Get me out of here! But, watch out…there's always gerudo guards around…somewhere…Ah! Look out!"
Link felt the presentiment of danger even as the man gave his warning, and rolled under the blow of a curved blade. A woman in the same outfit as the rest of the guards here, only in red, backflipped, holding one curved blade over her head, and the other in a defensive position before her.
Link frowned, and drew the Master Sword. He didn't want to have to hurt any of these people. But he held up the hylian shield to block her attacks as best he could. He watched her carefully.
Unlike a stalfos, she didn't constantly try to circle him to get at his back. Instead, she watched him, turning as she had to to keep him from stabbing her in the back. He'd have to do this very carefully. he could only heal her injuries if she lived to recover from them. And, he was sure that she would aim to kill or at least incapacitate.
He rammed the shield against the sword, eyes widening as he realised that he was driving it towards her, and meanwhile, here came the raised sword.
Not that, then. He backflipped, twice, to gain some space, and saw her seem to sink into herself, muscles bunching as her two swords simultaneously moved, opening up her defences to unleash a truly devastating attack.
Somehow, he somersaulted out of the way of a jump attack like none he'd ever seen before, the movement a flurry of the two blades, as they closed in on each other, wrists twisted so that it would have been the hilt, and not the blade, to connect.
A knockout blow? It looked as if she needed a lot of space to use it. He'd just have to stay close enough to get in a hit, not giving her enough room to launch that attack, but leaving enough room that she didn't make full use of the fact that she was using two weapons, and he only one.
For a while, no one moved. Then, her eyes narrowed in a feral expression, and she lashed out with both swords simultaneously. Link took the opportunity to hit her, hard, on the head, and she staggered back, narrowed her eyes, and leapt backwards.
What were these people made of? That blow should have knocked her out!
His eyes narrowed, and he stared. Navi landed on his shoulder, giving up the ghost, but he was focused on the woman edging in on his side. Oh, this would be tricky.
He sliced into her side with his next move, then yanked the sword out, leapt back, somersaulted out of the way of the predicted jump attack. It was all too fast for her. She landed, swords swinging, and peered around, wondering where he'd gone.
He leapt, sword held to the side, but not gathering energy, and the force of their collision knocked her to the floor. One sword implanted into the ground. He pressed hard against the hand holding the other blade. He had the sense that if she could move her face, she'd be glaring at him.
"The key," he asked. She stopped trying to remove her buried sword, and reached for a side pocket, pulling out a small key. What?
He replaced the sword at his side, and took the key from her. Then, he wrested the sword out of her other hand.
"Do you want some life medicine? I cut you fairly badly."
She stilled, and he stood, slowly, his own sword lowered at her back, and then at her heart as she turned over. "Drink some. It'll help you recover, I promise."
She gave him a dubious look, but wordlessly took the bottle he offered her. She even gave it back after she'd drunk some. Then, before he could react, she leapt back out of the room though a hole in the roof, high above.
Yeah, these women were something else. He waited for several minutes, but when no more guards appeared, he walked over to the carpenter's locked door, where the first of the carpenters was silently celebrating his victory.
"Yeah! You were amazing!" he said, as Link fitted the key into the lock and pulled the door open. "I've never seen such a fight! And you won! You know, I really wanted to become a thief, before…but the moment they saw me, they hated me! They threw me in here, and left me to rot! Oh, my name's Ichiro, by the way. But…knowing my boss, he's waiting for me impatiently. I'd better go back to base. Four of us were captured here. I don't know if you've found any of the others, but if you haven't please look for and free my three fellow workers. I swear we'll make it up to you, somehow!"
With that, he pushed past Link, and ran up a slope and out of sight. Link prayed that he make it out, and not do anything foolish, or get himself captured again.
Well, one carpenter down, three to go. And the way Ichiro had gone was as good as any. Of course, it led outside.
He was still fairly high up—there was a steep incline to the path Ichiro had taken—but he was lower than he had been before. He stood on one of the roofs of the Fortress, with two other roofs nearby on a level with the one on which he now stood.
The one to the left backed up against the wall of the cliff. It was bounded by two blocks of quarried stone that served as entrances ordinarily, but in this case, one of them had no visible entrance, and the other had none accessible by the cliffside roof. However, he could enter it if he crossed the too-broad gap between his current roof and a third roof, which had two doors set into the same dwelling-block, which made an angle, with the two doors in the two different lines of the angle.
He walked onto the cliffside roof as a midway point between the first roof and the third. He peered down below, noticing another door in the same side of the cliff as the one he now stood on. He walked over to the roof granting access to two doors, and chose the one to the left, at random, to enter.
Several hours later, he was beginning to seriously question how any of the gerudos ever found their way through their own fortress. He'd encountered a number of seemingly purposeless dead ends, several stations filled with purple-wearing guards, and even a second kitchen (at least, he thought it was a second one). Unlike a dungeon, there was no handy map to help him find his way, and all of the rooms looked very similar. And yet, despite this, he felt that he was beginning to understand the layout of their fortress.
There were still several rooms he hadn't been to yet—none of the lower chambers, for instance—but he finally found a second dungeon cell, at the bottom of another sharp decline, through the second door of the third roof. It looked identical to the previous one, complete with carpenter. This one wore white pants, but his haircut was no less brown or stupid than his fellow's. In fact, they were identical in build and face shape, as well. It was rather eerie, how similar they looked.
"Hey, young man! Look over here, in this cell!" he called out, as Link walked across the room.
He sighed, and approached the man.
"Wow! You must be really brave, sneaking past all these guards! You're a real man, so strong, and stealthy…. I wish…. But that's not the main thing right now! You gotta bust me and my friends outta here! Come on, help me out! We just wanted to join the thieves, but they made a mockery of us, took us for everything we owned, and threw us into these prison cells! Just for walking around! Please free me! But watch out. There's always gerudo guards watching…somewhere around…here. Watch out!"
His eyes widened as he stared at something behind Link. Typical.
Link ducked and rolled to avoid the same knockout attack the previous guard had used. He could tell that this was a different guard, although this one, too, wore red instead of purple. She fixed him with an intense stare, studying his movements as he rose to his feet out of his roll, and drew sword and shield.
He moved in closer, not willing to give her a chance to use her knockout blow if he could help it. He held out the hylian shield protectively, and waited. She waited. Eventually, she took a risk, and Link twisted to the left to avoid the blow, letting it ring against the sturdy hylian shield, taking himself out of range of the other sword as he swung at her side. He was sure that she could take the blow, but his eyes widened as it cut into her unprotected side, and she growled, eyes narrowing further, as blood coated the Master Sword. He drew back. He had no desire to kill her, although he suspected that she had no qualms with killing him. He'd just made her angry.
He managed another sideways somersault out of the way of a return flurry of blows, and struck at her left shoulder as he passed. She pinned him with eyes narrowed almost into slits. She backflipped twice, giving her room to use her special attack. Link saw it coming, leapt to the side at the last moment, and in her brief moment of confusion before her guard went back up, he pushed her down, leaning his weight into her injured shoulder so that she stumbled and grimaced from the pain of the wound.
She dropped the sword in her right hand as she landed, hard, on the floor, on her back. Her injured shoulder wasn't up to defending her when Link kicked the other scimitar out of her reach, stepping firmly but carefully on her right arm, as he pushed aside the scimitar she still held in her left. He drove her arm back at an awkward angle, and then dropped the hylian shield to grab hold of her left wrist with his right hand. She spat at him, and he grimaced, but kept his gaze on her, watching carefully. He wrenched the other scimitar from her hand, and held it awkwardly with his right, aiming it at her throat.
"Give me the key to this cell, and I'll give you some of my life medicine to heal those injuries. Please?" he asked.
"She's not going to listen to you, Link," said Navi, arms crossed, shaking her head. The woman just glared at him.
"Navi, can you lift a small key?" he asked.
Navi seemed to have to think about it. At last, she shrugged, and flew down to where the previous woman had kept the key she held. A moment later, she lifted something out, with a great effort, and dropped it by the woman's side. Link smiled at her.
He relaxed his grip, slightly, and the woman wrenched herself out of his hold, glaring daggers at him. She leapt out of the room via a hole in the roof before Link could offer her the medicine of life. He winced at the thought of how her injuries would heal without it…but perhaps the gerudo had their own healing potions. But then…what about the first guard?
Link turned the question over in his mind as he walked over to the carpenter in his cell, who also had his hands lifted in a triumphal cheer. Link inserted the key into the lock, twisted the key, and felt it vanish in his hand. Of course.
Still, he told the door to open, and it obliged. A moment later, the carpenter in white pants had come to the door.
"Wow, you were amazing! I've never seen anything more impressive than that display back there! And you're a real cute kid, too…. Heh, some people have it all, right? But I'd better get back to the boss. I'm sure he's been worried about all of us. Well, better a carpenter than a prisoner in a cell! Don't worry, I'll find my own way back. Oh, and by the way, my name is Jiro! I don't know if you've met any of the other carpenters, but there were four of us in all. Please save the rest of us! We'll make it up to you…somehow! I promise!"
And with that, the man ran out of the cell, and up the path through which Link had entered. He was fairly sure that no gerudo guards lay on the way to the exit.
Link stood there for a moment, but, unlike the previous cell room, there was no other way out but the one Jiro had taken. He shrugged, and backtracked to the cliff with two doors set into it. The carpenter Jiro was nowhere in sight. Down below him, a gerudo woman—the same one who had arrested him—made her rounds across a platform at the top of the stairs. To the left, a dirt path wound up the cliff, leading to parts unknown. He'd explore there, later, but for now, he needed to search every room of the fortress proper. It made sense to have all of the important buildings and cells together, after all.
He carefully timed his drop over the side of the cliff for when she was far away, on the other side of the landing, and dropped down behind a crate, hurriedly ordering the door to open, and rushing inside.
Within was a zigzag maze of corridors, just like in the rest of the fortress. He'd been here a full day already. This was quite the task he'd set himself, but…if he wanted to get back across to Hyrule Field without risking Epona, he'd have to do this. And he couldn't very well leave her on this side of the divide….
Besides, he was learning a lot about the fortress this way…and much about the gerudos themselves, as well. They were truly amazing, no matter what gossip in Hyrule Castle Town had said of them. He felt something—indignation—spark at the thought of these people, bound in servitude to such an evil man as Ganondorf, just because of the accident of his birth.
As he walked, he came to a barricade—a tall wall stretching halfway up the wall. He had no idea what its function was, but a beam overhead provided a way across. He pulled out the hookshot, and hoped that it would latch onto the wood. It did, carrying him over not one, but two barriers. On the far side was a third (or maybe the second) kitchen, filled with gerudo guards for their dinner break.
He looked immediately for the wooden shelf, found it, bypassed the room entirely, even as his stomach rumbled, and he held his breath, but the gerudos were not too solemn and business-oriented to refrain from idle chatter. It formed a cover for his noise, and he slipped across to the bend around the corner. He turned around the bend, and continued along the way, eventually reaching a downward slope that he suspected was actually subterranean.
A man with brown hair in a haircut that might have looked good on someone without his long, broad, face, and blocky chin, stood up as Link approached. He had green pants, but other than pants and haircut looked just the same as the other two carpenters. Link was beginning to wonder if the carpenters weren't human at all, but instead were produced by some amateur wizard who didn't know how to do complex details in his spells yet.
"Hey, young man! Look over here, in this cell!" called the carpenter, and Link obediently walked over to the cell door, after a perfunctory scan of the room. No guards yet, but that would soon change. They probably were listening, and could hear the carpenters prattling on.
"Thank the goddesses you came…. I wanted to live an exciting life, and doesn't being surrounded by competent women sound like a dream come true? But the twits threw me here, in this cell."
Link frowned at the man's tone and words, eyes narrowed, and the man backtracked.
"It's been a stressful few days. And they haven't been very hospitable. But let's talk about that later. There always seem to be guards hanging around…somewhere…. Behind you!"
Link turned, ducked one of the swords, and blocked the other with the Master Sword. He pulled the shield off his back, and drove it against the woman's chest, pushing her back harshly, knocking her off-balance. She stumbled, and Link swiped at her side, wrenching his sword under the hilt of the sword she carried in her right hand, and knocking it out of her hand with a swift blow.
She stared at the sword as it flew, but quickly refocused her attention on Link. Her eyes widened, and then narrowed, and she leapt backward. She couldn't use the finishing move without both swords, so Link let her jump out of the way. He kicked the dropped scimitar, sending it skittering into a corner.
Now, it was an uneven fight. He'd broken the rhythm of her dance, robbed her of a key weapon, disoriented her. Despite that, she was able to hold her own quite well, blocking every blow he made with ease, seeming to recognise all of his attacks. He didn't want to hurt her, and thus avoided the spin attack, but when he leapt at her, she blocked his sword, and pushed him down, and he had to roll out of the way of her blade as it swung down. Wow. He'd never had anyone block that before, had he?
Navi called out the occasional warning or advice, but Link paid little attention, analysing the attacks even a gerudo with a single sword made.
Eventually, he backed her into a corner, forcing her against the wall. She tried to swing at him with the sword in her left hand, but he dropped the hylian shield to reach for it, forcing her fingers open one by one, until the sword dropped, and she bowed her head, loose red hair falling over her face.
"What do you want then, stranger?" she asked. He blinked. It was the first time one of the gerudos had spoken to him. To be honest, in this far corner of the world, he'd wondered if they even spoke hylian.
"Just the key."
"That man is hennefeg—what you would call a bastard. He has no respect for women. He deserves to be locked up. Or are you just like him, a man without honour, who thinks women are weak, good only for the service they provide for men—good only as wives and providers of children?"
"Goddesses Three! Of course, I don't think that! I've never fought anyone—or anything, even—that fought with such skill as you displayed, here and now. Besides that, my girlfriend is an impressive figure herself, not to speak of her mother…I know full well what a woman can do." He considered adding Navi, but he had no great knowledge of her skills, and she was right there to say something if she wanted to. He glanced at her, silently asking, but she shook her head, smiling.
"But, there's a problem. The bridge leading to this place is out. If I want to leave, the boss of the carpenters needs all four of his workers. So regardless of what sort of hennefeg this man is, he's needed for work.
"But, it should please you—when they all finish their work, they'll go far away, and you won't see them again. And, if I talk to their boss, maybe he can teach them some respect. I think you're amazing, and that this fortress is something else…I've never seen such a structure before. I can't think how it could even be built at all…. Look, please, just give me the key. I swear on my honour that, one way or another, he'll never bother any of you at all, if you let him go."
She stared at him, as if peering into his soul, and then reached, slowly, into her pocket, to withdraw a key. She held it up to him, put it into his hand, and nodded.
He released her, and then headed over to the corner, where he'd kicked the scimitar.
Link sheathed the Master Sword, and then picked up the scimitar, walking back to where she leant up against the wall, breathing heavy, in shallow, ragged breaths. He handed her the scimitar, hilt-first, eyes locked on hers. She gave him a brief nod, and then ran into the centre of the room, leaping back up out of the room. He bent to pick up the hylian shield.
He went back to the locked door, inserted the key, turned it in the lock, watched it disappear, opened the door. The third carpenter approached, arms up in the customary triumphal pose. Link frowned, but then his expression cleared.
"Thank you! You're a real man, taking on the thief like that! These women have all the dignity and mercy of dogs! I've never seen such inhumane treatment. I must have been here three days already, and they haven't given me a single meal. Not one! What's a woman good for, if she won't even cook?"
Link frowned, reconsidered freeing the man. The guard had a point; this man had no respect.
He placed his hands on his hips and stared the man down levelly. "Now listen here. Perhaps you didn't notice what just happened, but that woman held her own quite well against me, and I've taken down monsters you can't even imagine. She's one of the most impressive swordsmen I've ever met, and strong as a bull. Were you watching our fight at all? Look," he said, raising a hand to his head and applying pressure, because this man was a headache. Also, most likely, both a figurative bastard, and hennefeg, whatever that meant.
"Look, I appreciate that you're grateful to be free, and I have no idea where this disrespect comes from, but from your words alone, I can't fault them for throwing you in prison, at least. They've seen little enough admirable behaviour from men, and then you insult them and treat them as inferior just because they're women? There were plenty of women among the guards of both the hylians and the zoras, so I have no idea where your ideas even come from. Just…perhaps you should be thankful that they showed you greater respect than you showed them."
The man's mouth was gaping wide, but he shut it tightly, staring Link down. It was clear that his ideas had not changed a jot, but he was grateful enough to be free, at least, to pick his battles.
"I am Saburo, the carpenter. There were three other carpenters with me when I was captured. If all four of us come together, we should rebuild the bridge in no time. I'm going back to camp."
Link narrowed his eyes at the man, still blocking the door, and the man continued, "Really, I swear."
Link stood aside, let him pass, watched him race up the incline out of sight, followed more slowly. The only set of passages left unexplored were the ones set into the cliff directly beneath his prison cell. At least if he was caught, he wouldn't have far to go to come back to where he left off. Unless they locked him in one of the carpenter's cells. Then, his quest was doomed.