Chapter 10: The Checkpoint over the River
The party continued galloping their way through the curving hills of the Tabantha Frontier. The Sheikah noticed a Sheikah Tower in the area and used it to orient himself around the roads. "Follow my lead, I know where we're going." The party followed him and eventually made it out into Hyrule Field. They saw Hyrule Castle in the distance. They followed the main roads, passing by several wagons and caravans that were headed in the opposite direction.
They made it to a fortress that had a very long line of people being checked on. It was a checkpoint that was monitoring any people that decided to pass through the area. There appeared to be a Guardian walking around the front of the fortress. It was set up on a bridge that crossed a large river.
"What the?" The Zora said surprised. "I don't remember a checkpoint taking this long to look at people."
"Do you think something's up?" Poump asked the Sheikah.
"I have no clue." The Sheikah said. "Wait here, I'll walk up to the fortress and ask some questions."
"Alright, try to convince them to let us pass faster." The Zora demanded.
"I'll try my best." The Sheikah replied and got off of his horse and walked to the front of the fortress. He walked up to a guardswoman who was stationed off to the side of the checkpoint. "Hello there.."
"Ah, a Sheikah Warrior. What brings you here?" The guardswoman asked.
"I'd like to know why this checkpoint is taking much longer to check on people. The line usually isn't this long to get through."
"New orders from Chancellor Aghanim. He's the new power in Hyrule Castle. He wants us to thoroughly check everyone to make sure they aren't a Yiga in disguise."
The Sheikah knew that this was a good point. "That's a very good reason to check on people so thoroughly." He looked at the front of the line and noticed a few Hylians that were being carried away by some guards.
"Let go of us! We're not Yiga assassins, we're just bards!" One of the Hylians in the group said, trying to escape from the guards' grasp.
"You're carrying suspicious items on your persons, you must be further investigated." The guard replied. The Sheikah looked back at the guard he was speaking to.
"This doesn't look like something Zelda would've wanted." The Sheikah said to the guard.
"It's Aghanim's orders, and we need to follow them. Zelda trusted Aghanim with looking over Hyrule, so in the long run we're carrying out her orders." The guard replied. "I'll admit it, I myself don't like this one bit, but I have to carry it out. It's just my job."
"Well would you kindly allow my friends and I to pass through here?" The Sheikah insisted.
"I'm sorry, but even a fabled Sheikah Warrior is going to need to wait this out. We can't just let anyone through right now."
"Alright then. I won't bother you anymore."
"Thank you for cooperating." The guard replied. The Sheikah made it back to Poump and the Zora.
"We'll have to wait this out." The Sheikah said to the party.
"Dammit." Poump said.
"Well dang. At least we have each other to keep company, right?" The Zora said.
"Sure, why don't we play a game? Like 'name the cloud'?" Poump said to the Zora.
"That sounds like fun." The Zora replied.
The Sheikah however had some major suspicions about the checkpoint. He observed that both sides of the bridge had two small towers. He wanted more answers. "You two can wait here some more. I'm going to do some investigating." The Sheikah said to the party.
"Oh, that's a bummer. It would've been nice to play with him." The Zora said "He seems very serious all the time."
The Sheikah walked up to a nearby tree and climbed it. He made it above the leaves and started scoping out the checkpoint from above. In the middle of the bridge there was a Turret Guardian stationed in a way that allowed for people to go around it in both ways. He noticed the Guardian's eyes were blue, which was a good thing since it meant they were working with the Royal Family. He teleported out of the tree and on top of the tower and snuck in through the door making sure there was not much noise. The Sheikah tip-toed through the fortress and eventually found a room with a map of Hyrule. There was no one else in the room, so he looked at the map. The map had red lines and blue lines drawn across it, leading to other fortresses across Hyrule. He noticed a note next to a red line that was headed South into the Gerudo Region. 'We'll strike this area first.' The Sheikah was intrigued by what that meant, but he heard the door to the room open up. He jumped onto the ceiling and held himself between the wooden beams that held it up. Some guards walked into the room.
"Patrolling this damn place is such a headache." One of the guards said to the other guard.
"I know it is, but keep your eyes open. You don't want the other guards to find us out." The guard placed his helmet on the table. "Now where were we with this map?"
"Oh yeah, supposedly a bunch of our guys are coming to attack this checkpoint soon."
"That's great. Let's hold our disguises for now until they arrive. Then we'll unleash hell on these fools." The guard walked to the other side of the table and sat down. He downed a drink. "Don't you think it's amazing? That Ghirahim managed to appear before our fallen forces and build us back up as a Clan?"
"Yeah, almost convenient. Our old master, Khoga, was a dufus. He held us back way too much. With Ghirahim's orders, we've been able to spread our fear across Hyrule much better."
The other guard started to have a worried expression. "What do you think would happen once we face the Hero?"
"You mean Link?"
"Yeah, him."
"He's not much."
"I don't know man, I heard that about 30 Yiga foot soldiers were killed by him at Hyrule Castle. And I heard that from a few guys that managed to escape."
"Really? He killed 30 of us?"
"Yeah, they described Link's fighting style as beast-like, without any sign of stopping. He even had good form as well. They said he dodged three incoming attacks at the same time."
"That sounds like a lot of phooey if you ask me."
"You might doubt it, but I've heard Link has killed hundreds of us throughout the years. He's the most dangerous thing to the Yiga Clan right now."
"Someday I'll get to face Link myself and prove to you how wrong you are. I bet he'd go down really easily."
"You are so fucking full of yourself, man."
"What did you say?"
"Hundreds of Yiga have died by Link's hands. Do you really think that he'd be that easy to face in combat?"
"I trained my whole life for combat. I even faced Link myself one day. I'll admit that I nearly died, so I teleported away, but I knew that I could've killed him really easily. His form was lacking. That huge glowing sword he had was carrying him through the fight, I could feel it."
"Ugh, I can't wait to see your foolishness be the death of you."
"Keep wishing buddy."
At this point, the Sheikah heard enough. He drew out his katana and dropped onto the guard that was speaking so highly of himself.
"AHH!" The guard exclaimed as the Sheikah sliced his katana across the guard's neck. What the Sheikah didn't notice was that the guard had some armor on the neck area, which saved him from getting cut. "Intruder!"
The other guard made it to a window in the room and sounded off a horn. The Hyrule citizens started running away from the sound of it. The Sheikah was clashing sword to sword with the confident Yiga. The other Yiga in the room didn't know when to butt into this fight, so he teleported away to fight elsewhere.
Poump and the Zora noticed the commotion. "What's going on?" The Zora said. They looked at the Guardian walking around and noticed a Yiga sneak from behind it and plant something into it. The Guardian's eye turned red and started pointing a red light at one of the fleeing Hyrule citizens.
"No way!" Poump exclaimed. He rode his horse up towards the Yiga that was behind the Guardian, but the Yiga teleported away. Poump took out his sword and swung at the Guardian. The Guardian diverted its attention to Poump. Poump's horse panicked and bucked him off. He got back up and looked at the Guardian which was now staring at him. He grabbed for his shield but it was too late, the Guardian's laser fired and blasted Poump back, putting him on fire. The Zora waved her spear next to the river and caused a small amount of water to surround Poump and put the fire out. The Guardian still chose its sights on Poump.
The Sheikah was going blow for blow with the Yiga in the room. Both of them were very skilled swordsmen with good form. The Sheikah decided to teleport behind the Yiga and attempted to kick him down by going for the Yiga's leg. The kick knocked the Yiga down and the Sheikah managed to knock the helmet right off of the Yiga's head. The Yiga turned around and swung wildly but the Sheikah dodged the attack. "You're good. Where did you do your training?"
"I'm a Sheikah, where do you think I would learn it?"
"Ah yes, a Kakariko Village warrior. Wait a moment, do I know you from somewhere?" The Yiga got up and circled around the table. The Sheikah circled on the opposite side of the table. They both had their blades raised.
"Maybe you do, but I don't care." The Sheikah replied. "Stand down right now, or else I'll end you."
"I wouldn't think about standing down, but I would like to battle you again in the future, in a more controlled environment."
"Where would we meet?"
"You'll know. And you'll regret ever telling me to stand down." And then the Yiga teleported away. The Sheikah observed the room for any other enemies and was thankful there weren't more. He grabbed the map, pocketed it, and climbed out of the window. He noticed that the Guardian at the front of the Checkpoint was shooting at Poump and the Zora. The Zora took cover from the Guardian, while Poump was running in plain view in front of the Guardian, just barely dodging its blasts. The Sheikah looked to the other side of the bridge and noticed a herd of about 12 horses with Yiga assassins on their backs arriving to the bridge. The Sheikah teleported to the other side of the bridge and stood on top of the other tower and readied his bow. The guardsmen at this side noticed the Yiga coming and prepared their weapons for battle. Out of nowhere, the Turret Guardian on the bridge started shooting at the guards on at the front of the bridge. The laser blast managed to hit one of the guards while the others ducked down for cover. The guards had spears, swords, and bows ready to take on the incoming Yiga forces.
Meanwhile, Poump was running straight at the Guardian. The Guardian's 8 large legs allowed it to walk away very quickly from Poump without much effort.
"What are you doing Poump, that's suicide!" The Zora screamed.
Poump took out his shield and the laser hit the shield, cracking it a lot in the process. Then he felt a sudden idea. "This'll show 'em some hurt!" He exclaimed as he brought out his clawshot and propelled himself towards the Guardian. Once he was closer, he grabbed the Guardian's leg and with the strength of his Power Bracelets was able to swing it around in a circle. The Guardian's large body was ascending from the floor, dragging and damaging its legs in the process. The Guardian was in a panic and shot around wildly, almost hitting the Zora and the cucco behind their cover. Poump swang the Guardian around for a good 7 seconds and threw it into the river where it landed head first into the water.
"Are you mad?!" The Zora said to Poump.
Poump was taking deep breaths. "Let's just say I had a stroke of inspiration."
Meanwhile with the Sheikah, he decided it was best for him to take care of the Turret Guardian in order to keep it from shooting the guards in the back. They already had 12 Yiga assassins to deal with. The Sheikah teleported behind the Guardian and sliced at it several times with his katana. His damage didn't seem to do much, but the Guardian turned its attention towards him, which is what he wanted. He swiftly jumped to the side of the bridge and climbed down the side of it and narrowly avoided the Guardian's laser.
The Zora noticed the Guardian at the center of the bridge was shooting at the Sheikah. "Poump, we need to help him out!"
"I'm on it." Poump ran straight at the Guardian. It diverted its attention to Poump. All of a sudden a blob of water rose from the river and covered the Guardian's eye. Poump turned around and noticed the Zora was waving her spear around. He looked back at the Guardian and punched it, although the punch did absolutely nothing. The Zora let go of her water magic and the water splashed down and caused Poump to slip and fall. The Guardian raised it laser towards Poump again, and just as it was about to fire, the Guardswoman that the Sheikah spoke to jumped right in front of Poump with her shield raised up and parried the laser right back at its eye, causing the Guardian to blow up.
"You're so foolish trying to take these Guardians on up close, but I will say that was an impressive throw earlier." The Guardswoman said to Poump.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Poump said as he was fascinated by the ability to reflect a Guardian's laser.
"That's called a Shield parry. It's a very risky technique that puts your opponents off balance." She pulled Poump up. "It's a special technique that was taught to me by the Hero himself."
"Oh… Link…" Poump said under his breath. The Zora rode up to the two of them on her horse.
"That was crazy!" The Zora said.
"It sure was, now you two must go now." The Guarswoman said. "The Yiga are attacking this checkpoint right now. You must leave!"
"We were headed to Hyrule Castle!" The Zora said.
"Hyrule Castle?!" The Guardswoman said with a panic. "You'll need to get through those Yiga assassins!"
The Sheikah appeared from behind the group riding on his horse with Poump's horse following behind, and what seemed to be a few Hylians on their own horses. "Get on!" The Sheikah said to Poump. The Sheikah shot an arrow and managed to hit one of the Yiga off of their horses. The Yiga and the Guards were fighting it out.
Poump got onto his horse and rode beside the Sheikah and the Zora and made it through the otherside of the checkpoint. As they passed by, the Sheikah threw a throwing star at one of the Yiga and killed him in the process. Poump turned around to look at the Guards fighting the Yiga. They seemed to have it handled.
The party rode their horses forward for 5 minutes, and then they stopped at an area where everything was calm. "Thank you so much for freeing us, Warrior!" One of the Hylians said to the Sheikah.
"It's no problem." He replied. He noticed there were notably fewer Hylians than he freed. "Wait a moment, weren't there more of you?"
The Hylian on the horse looked around him and saw much fewer Hylians behind him. "Oh, we might have lost the others back at the checkpoint."
The Sheikah gained a sneaking suspicion. He pulled out his bow and shot the Hylian off of his horse, and he landed onto the ground wearing Yiga attire. The other Hylians booked it on their horses back towards the checkpoint. The Sheikah shot another arrow at one of the fleeing Hylians but ended up missing. He rode off towards the checkpoint. Poump got off of his horse and went up to the fallen Yiga, who was barely alive.
"What really happened with those other guys?" Poump said, interrogating the Yiga.
The Yiga was coughing blood, but seemed to be laughing. "Those guards, we outnumber them now. That checkpoint is ours." Poump punched the Yiga in the face and dislocated his jaw.
The Sheikah rode up to the checkpoint. He saw several Yiga tossing the bodies of the guards into the river. After scoping out the area a little bit, he determined that there were 5 Yiga outside on the bridge itself. He teleported behind one of the Yiga and sliced their head clean off. This alerted another Yiga, but they were promptly stabbed from behind by the Sheikah. The Sheikah turned around and threw three throwing knives at the remaining three Yiga on the bridge, causing them to fall over in pain. A Yiga footsoldier charged from behind him, but the Sheikah parried their attack with his sword and stabbed them through the abdomen. The Sheikah ran across the bridge towards one of the towers, which a Yiga assassin was shooting arrows from. He cut each of the arrows in mid-air, ran up the wall, and sliced the Yiga as he made it to the top. He stopped suddenly once he saw two Yiga assassins with their swords above the Guardswoman from earlier.
"Don't think about anything funny, Sheikah!" One of the Yiga exclaimed. "Move one step, and she's dead! She's the last of the guards here!"
The Sheikah calmed his mind down. He'd seen this before, and it cost his whole world.
"Don't do it, Warrior." The Guardswoman said through bloodied teeth.
"Put your weapons down and she lives!" The Yiga said.
The Sheikah put his sword, bow, and quiver down.
"And don't forget to remove your other weapons!"
The Sheikah put his throwing stars and throwing knives down. He reached behind his back and pulled something off.
"Yeah, that's right. Disarm yourself! That's what we like to see!" The Yiga said.
The Sheikah then teleported behind the both of the Yiga and slammed their heads together. He took one of their weapons and sliced one of their heads off, and then kicked the other one in the ribs. He grabbed the one he kicked in the ribs, teleported out of the tower, dropped the Yiga, and teleported back in.
"AAAAHHH!" Splat. The Yiga had a broken neck after the fall, and couldn't live any longer.
"Are you okay?" The Sheikah asked the Guardswoman. He helped her back up. He picked his weapons back up as well.
"I'm going to need medical attention. They cut me up really badly." The Guardswoman replied, feeling her sides.
"I'll take you with me. We'll make it back to Hyrule Castle." The Sheikah said, as he carried her down the tower's staircase. "What's your name?"
"My name is Priscilla."
"Alright Priscilla, we're gonna make it. We're going to drop you off at Hyrule Castle."
"And what is yours?" The Gaurdswoman asked.
"Excuse me?" The Sheikah said, confused.
"Your name. What is your name?"
The Sheikah stayed silent for a little bit. "My name is…" He paused for a moment. "Zhago."
"Zhago? That's a nice name." The Guardswoman replied. "Why did you hesitate to say your name, Zhago?"
"Because…" The Sheikah continued carrying her. They were already out of the tower and were walking across the bridge, which smelled awful because of the dead Yiga and dead guards on the floor. "Because I haven't said my name since…" He propped her up on the horse and got on and rode back into the direction of Hyrule Castle.
The ride back was quiet. The Guardswoman didn't feel like talking, especially after seeing all of the other guards dead. She knew she hit a sensitive subject with the Sheikah, so she didn't want to make it worse for him. She watched as the bridge went further and further into the distance. Her vision went blurry, but she wasn't dying. She knew she was safe, so she closed her eyes.
Zhago decided to break up the silence. "You promise not to say my name to anyone else, right?"
"Yes." Priscilla said softly.
The Sheikah pulled towards the other party members. "Hey, who is she?" The Zora asked the Sheikah.
"Her name is Priscilla, she was the guardswoman that helped both of you at the bridge." The Sheikah replied.
"What about the other Hylians?" Poump asked with a hint of concern.
"They're dead now. They were Yiga in disguise." The Sheikah replied dryly.
"And what of the other guards at the checkpoint?" The Zora asked.
The Sheikah solemnly looked down. "They died in combat. She is the only survivor." He looked down at the Yiga with the dislocated jaw. "Is this what you wanted?" The Sheikah got off of the horse. "To paint the land in blood, and for what, a cause?!" He started kicking the Yiga on the floor. "Do you have any idea what it's like to lose someone you care so much about?" He kept on kicking the Yiga with great fury.
"Whoa, you should tone that down." The Zora said trying to calm the Sheikah down.
"Absolutely not!" The Sheikah said as he kicked the Yiga even more. The Yiga's Hylian face was crying in agony from all of the physical pain.
"Stop…" The Hylian said just barely audibly. "Stop it please…"
"No!" The Sheikah kicked the Yiga to death. He breathed heavily, and went back onto his horse. "We'll ride for the castle now."
The Zora and Poump looked at the dead Hylian on the floor. Poump felt a bit distrubed.
Seeing what looks like the face of someone who could've been him. The Zora comforted Poump and they both got onto their horses. They silently followed the Sheikah on their way to Hyrule Castle.