Chapter two: Infiltration

Darfa hated these parties. General Jara never passed up an opportunity to rub his victory over the Gerudo in the faces of Darfa and his younger sister, Aburah. After all, they were the children of the late Gerudo chieftess, Aranja, who Jara himself had slain. The only reason Labrynna had won was due to their strange mind-controlling powers -something that was carefully hidden from the rest of Hyrule. Somehow, the power didn't work on Aburah, but it was clear why it didn't work on Darfa.

When he was ten, the young man had been sent to work in the gem mines to the north, where he and his fellow slaves were treated horribly. One day, Darfa decided he'd had enough and he fought back. That was the day his power was revealed: the Triforce of Power appeared on the back of his right hand.

It took every guard and soldier in the mine to subdue him, and when they had him facedown in the dirt, General Jara himself came to deal with him. Instead of putting the boy to death, he expressed how impressed he was with his incredible strength and said he wanted Darfa as his personal bodyguard. Darfa had many strong words for this request, however, when Jara threatened to force the other Gerudo to kill themselves, Darfa had no choice but to comply.

From his position, Darfa was forced to watch his people serve the General and his men. He had to watch as Jara pursued Aburah the moment she turned sixteen and threatened her friends with death were she to refuse him. Darfa wanted nothing more than to run the General through with his sword, but with every other Gerudo in the wicked man's thrall, he couldn't risk it. That is, until tonight.

Rin wasn't sure what it was, but there was something terribly off about the Gerudo guards they encountered. They didn't run into very many, as they used an old cistern to get close to the central palace. Ino was ready to strike down the guards, but he was quickly stopped by Rin -much to the relief of Maran and Ferrah.

"There's something wrong with them," Maran said, "No Gerudo would serve a man like Jara willingly."

"Their eyes," Rin said. There was a dreamy, not-all-there look to them. "Just put them to sleep." Ino shrugged and did as he was told, using Shadow Magic to knock the women out cold. Once they were subdued, the team stashed them away in a safe, out-of-the-way corner and continued on. They were able to make it to an area almost directly underneath the palace, and from there it was a straight shot to one of the towers of the palace, where the team could gain access to the upper balcony of the central hall. It was here that Rin began to feel uneasy, it should have been more difficult to get to this point, but it was too late to stop now. General Jara was below them, surrounded by Gerudo who danced and fawned over him. He wondered at their behavior, could Jara be threatening them? Or was this some sort of mind control, like the guards who attacked them earlier.

It was the two Gerudo on either side of the Labrynnian General that gave him pause, however. On his right was probably the most beautiful woman Rin had ever seen, bedecked in finery befitting of royalty, the light blues and dark greens perfectly complimenting her bronze skin. As for the individual to Jara's left- Rin's eyes widened.

The person was clearly a Gerudo, with a strong nose, hawk-like yellow eyes and red hair- but very clearly male; he was broad shouldered and taller than the others. Rin stared for just a second too long, and the man's yellow eyes locked onto his for just a moment. Rin quickly ducked out of sight, but it was too late, the Gerudo man raised the alarm and in moments the team was surrounded.

An infiltration attempt was exactly the distraction Darfa needed to get to Jara. He wondered if the group would forgive him for using them, but at this point he didn't care. Two Sheikah men, two gerudo and four Rito were brought before the General, who would no doubt take his time in tormenting them.

What Darfa was not expecting was Jara ordering him to search the prisoners. Panicking, the man dropped a knife and swiftly kicked it toward Aburah, who picked it up and tucked it away, luckily without Jara noticing.

Rin struggled against the hands of the Gerudo man as his bow, arrows and other tools were taken from him. He struggled in vain as the man's grip was like iron. Rin was wracking his brains, desperately trying to figure out what he could possibly do, looking to his comrades and seeing they were just as helpless as he- when a strange gurgling sound came from the General.

Rin looked up and saw -to his amazement- that the lovely woman who had sat so obediently to Jara's right, held the hilt of a dagger that was currently buried in the General's neck. Moments later, the Gerudo holding his friends let go, stepping back and shaking their heads as if suddenly freed from a spell. The Gerudo who had just assassinated the General stood, covered in blood before them, panting and grinning, gripping the blood-soaked knife.

"Here." From Rin's left, the Gerudo man held out the bow he'd taken, allowing Rin to take it back. All around them, the other Gerudo peered about, murmuring in confusion.

"Friends! You were all under a spell," the blood-soaked woman now said, "You are free!"

"Sorry about that," the Gerudo man said to Rin and Ino, "I needed to distract him."

"He had mind-control abilities?" Ino stood and stretched.

"Indeed," the man said, as the Gerudo woman approached them.

"I must thank you," she said, "My name is Aburah, and this is my brother, Darfa. If it weren't for you, we would still be the prisoners of that horrible man." Rin found himself staring at Aburah wearing a rather dopey grin; somehow she was even prettier covered in the blood of her enemy. She looked his way and his face flushed bright red. He was suddenly very thankful for the mask he wore.

"What of Jara's men?" Darfa gave Ino a feral grin.

"I can take care of them," he said, cracking his knuckles. Ino raised an eyebrow and shugged.

"Do what you will," he said, "My team and I need to get to a place where we can see Kara Kara, our other team should have set out a signal for us by now."

"Very well," Aburah said, "Follow me."

She led them to a tower, from where they could see Kara Kara. Rin and Marni were bringing up the rear when they saw Ino freeze. Marni called out to him.

"Ino? Is something wrong? What color is the flame?"

"It's… it's…" Ino stammered, unable to speak. Darfa now appeared behind Rin, followed by a group of Gerudo guards.

"Aburah, something is wrong," he said, "We can't find any of Jara's men." Rin's blood ran cold and he leapt up the steps three at a time until he stood beside his brother. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Aburah, a hand over her mouth in horror. He looked to the town in the distance and could see what they were so fixated on. The flame was blue, and Kara Kara... was engulfed in it.

Ino hadn't stirred since he first set eyes on the burning town, it wasn't until Rin vaulted off of the tower into the sand below that he finally moved. He shouted his brother's name as the other man rolled onto his feet and began running laboriously over the sand. Rin didn't pause for a moment as he stumbled and even crawled his way through the desert, paying no mind to the frigid night air. Back at the tower, Ino lowered his mask as he turned to Aburah.

"Do you have a way to get there quickly?"

"Yes," the woman said. She turned to the other Gerudo, "Get a few sand seals ready." She turned back to Ino, "It may take a few moments, but the seals are our best bet." Ino frowned, but nodded. She was right, by the time Rin got to Kara Kara, he would be exhausted and in no condition to fight.

It took far longer to hook the seals up to a sand sleigh and set off than Ino liked, and despite their speed, by the time he and his team got to Kara Kara, Rin was already there.

It was a massacre. The bodies of the secondary team and the townsfolk littered the ground between the buildings and floated in the pond in the very center of the town. Ino found Gor-Yubo, Tulli and Shara, all dead and burning. In the middle of it all was Rin -quiet, thoughtful Rin- screaming at the stars as if to curse the heavens themselves; in his trembling arms was the lifeless body of their mother.

"Rin! Mother!" Ino flew to his brother's side as Aburah and Darfa searched for survivors. Vaguely, he heard Marni wail at the sight of her aunt and the other Rito comforting her. "Rin…," he said softly, trying -and failing- to pull his brother to his feet. "Rin, we can't stay here." It wasn't until there came an exclamation from Aburah that Rin finally moved.

"There's someone alive here!"

"It's Ayana," Maran said, hurrying to the injured Gerudo's side, followed by Rin and Ino.

The woman was half-covered in bricks from a collapsed wall and Darfa was working as quickly as he could to remove the rubble from her broken body, though it was clear that it was too late. What skin wasn't bruised or bleeding was burned by the blue flames. The only reason she was still alive was probably because the wall seemed to have smothered the flame when it fell. She was conscious and Aburah was kneeling beside her, holding her hand.

"Ayana," Ino said, struggling to keep his voice steady, "What happened here?" Ayana took a breath and coughed painfully, making everyone wince empathetically.

"It was… a trap," she said, her voice a harsh whisper, "They… knew… they knew we were… coming…"

"How?" Ayana shook her head.

"I don't… know. We must… have had… a spy…"

"Jara," Darfa said, "He had the ability to control others. If there was a spy, they may not have known it." Ayana's eyes widened, she seemed to be unsure of how to feel about this information. On the one hand, it would mean the spy did not betray them of their own volition, however it would also mean that she was most likely the one who brought the spy into their ranks.

"Ayana," Ino pulled her from her thoughts, "Did anyone get away? Where are Jara's men?"

"Naian… and Toba," she said, referring to Tulli's son and Gor-Yubo's grandson, both of whom accompanied the secondary team, "They… took… children…" Ayana began choking again, this time coughing up an alarming amount of blood. "M-mines…" She coughed once more, gasped and then was still. Aburah lowered her head and closed the woman's eyes before standing.

"We need to leave," she said, her voice resolute. She then led the others away, leaving the ruined town to burn. The blue flames against the star-studded black sky made for a spectacular vigil for the Hyruleans who had fallen that night.

Rin wished he could allow himself to grieve, but there was no time to pause. They had to find the ones who had escaped the carnage. Ayana had mentioned mines, but there were several scattered around the Gerudo highlands and the mountains to the east. They would need Shadow Magic to track them.

Ino, it seemed, was thinking the same thing as he cast a seeker spell: making a circle with his thumb and forefinger and looking through it. Not seeing anything in the immediate area, he took a sand seal and circled the town looking for any trace of the fleeing Hyruleans. After a few moments, he returned and motioned for the others to follow him. Rin joined his brother on his sand sleigh, suddenly feeling very tired.

They finally stopped at a mine entrance tucked deep into a ravine in the shadow of the Great Cliffs, north of Kara Kara. As they entered, Darfa paused and took a deep breath before following. He knew these mines better than he ever wanted to.

Ino led them deeper and deeper underground, through the twists and turns of the labyrinthine tunnels. It would have reminded him of home if it weren't for the very different composition of the stone around him, consisting of sandstone instead of granite. He thought about what they could have been mining for, what sort of deposits could be found here, trying to distract himself from the visions of burning bodies that invaded his mind. Thayle would know, he had all kinds of charts and maps, at least one of them had to have the geological profile of the area.

At last, they arrived at what appeared to be a dead end, an enormous bolder blocked their way. However, Ino knew better, no doubt Toba had blocked the way to keep Jara's men from following.

"Damn," he said, placing his hand on the rock. "They're through here but…" Darfa stepped forward.

"Pardon me," he said, before pushing on the rock.

"Um…" Ino looked awkwardly at Aburah, who smiled.

"Just watch," she said. As they all looked on, the back of Darfa's hand began to glow and a triangular symbol appeared. Rin's left hand suddenly began to burn, and he looked down expecting to see... something, but there was nothing there. The huge stone was moved almost effortlessly, allowing the group to pass through. Ino stared wide-eyed at the Gerudo man.

"What was that?" Darfa shrugged.

"That's a story for later," he said, cryptically, and he followed the others into the cavern beyond.