The King had filled them with great hope before his departure to Hyrule again. His speech was uplifting and full of promise.
"Do you feel the winds of change?" he had said, pride and confidence in his voice. "No longer will we suffer and die by the cruel hands of the desert. After today we will prosper."
And then he majestically rode down the desert path. Was she crazy, or had he made eye contact with her directly more than anyone else? Did she imagine the desire that he gazed at her with? Or was it the same way he looked at all of the Gerudo?
She had pushed her way to the front of the group to see him off. Every fiber in her being screamed to stop him and beg him to stay. Not out of wanting, but fear. As the hours passed by, that fear ate at her until she was wrought with worry.
"He should have returned by now," she said, imploring her comrades. They stood around the fire, their source of heat, in the common area of their stone fortress. Some pulled up chairs, others sat on the floor, where she preferred to stand.
"Do you lack confidence in our King?" she was questioned cruelly.
It was difficult to hold her tongue from the nasty words she wanted to retaliate with, but instead simply said, "I do not lack any confidence or loyalty. I am pointing out that this is the longest he has ever taken to return."
"Do you think he abandoned us?" a woman asked.
"You should be executed for that statement!" another said.
"What are you suggesting, Ganondora?"
She swallowed. In one way, she despised her name, but she never had the chance to ask her mother why it was chosen for her. Some of her comrades resented her for it. On the other hand, it filled her with pride to have a name so similar to his. "We should go after him."
"He would kill us," said the majority of the women with her.
"Or he could reward us," Dora replied. "Did he tell us we had to stay here until he came back?"
A woman, slightly taller than Dora, stood from her seat and approached her swiftly. Once their faces were so close they could feel each other's breath, she jabbed her finger in Dora's chest and warned, "If you interrupt his dealings with the King of Hyrule the entire plan could be undone. As your commander, I order you to stay here, or I will execute you as a traitor myself."
Dora stared into her commander's deep forest green eyes for several seconds while her mind raced. She needed to listen to her instinct and was certain Ganondorf should have returned already, but she was not sure if he was in danger. However, Dora always seemed compelled to disobey, and she never backed down from a challenge. Running would only make them give chase and could cause more harm than good. "Fine. You will see that I am right, and regret not taking any action." She turned her back to her superior and stormed off to her room like a child.
With a great and heavy sigh, she threw herself on her cot bed and pulled the pillow over her face. Why did she have to be surrounded by morons? She rolled over onto her side to try to get some sleep before sneaking out.
Sleep did not come easily. Her mind was plagued with thoughts of them, of the past. Ever since she was a little girl she admired him for his power and ruthlessness. The women had raised her, but no one taught her more lessons than Ganondorf: Discipline, honor, loyalty, and respect for those that deserved it. To her, he was the only one that did. What about the time she snuck out all on her own to bring food back for the starving children? Her commander, disgusted, had immediately sent her straight to him for punishment. To her surprise, Dora was praised. Not only did she bring back food when it was needed, but she was skillful enough to do it on her own. She recalled his words exactly: "The Gerudo should be looking to you as a leader and you should be proud."
A content smile spread across her face at the memory.
What about all the times after that when he chose her specifically to spar? In the beginning, the result was her laid up in the infirmary for days. As she progressed, and her trips to the infirmary decreased, she began to see respect in Ganondorf's eyes when he dueled with her. Her childish admiration slowly became something much more forbidden. There were nights, sometimes sleepless, that she would lie and wish he was there with her, longing for more of the closeness that occurred briefly during their battles.
She could feel the changes in him also. Their matches began when she was only thirteen, and he treated her just like the child she was. He was arrogant, cold, condescending, and uncaring in battle. At times, she deserved it for the stupid mistakes she made. As she aged, filled out her form, and those mistakes decreased, she sensed a change in the way he sparred with her. Gradually, he fought her as an equal, not a pupil. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine they were locked in a beautiful sword dance. It made her wonder if he still called on her to practice to increase her skill, or just so they could spend intimate time together.
The favoritism she was shown was not unnoticed. Her peers treated her with a cold shoulder and often excluded her from events. Dora was the kind of person to take this as a challenge though and refused to fail. Instead of being jealous, she realized they were jealous of her, and maintained focus on being better than them.
What if this was a challenge too? What if he was waiting for her? Sleep did not come, but the sun set a couple hours ago. It was time to act. Dora knew where she belonged and she hoped it was not too late to take that chance. Swiftly, she rolled from her cot and onto her feet. She donned her bracers, her leather boots in exchange for her padded shoes, her bow, and lastly her sword. In the moment she stared at it, she recalled the overwhelming emotions, pride greatest among them, that brought her near tears when Ganondorf presented it to her. She glared. To think that the rest of these women would just sit and wait was a disgrace.
Dora snuck out of her room and easily avoided the guards since she had their schedules and habits memorized. Expertly trained, she kept her breathing calm and controlled as she moved through the maze that was the Gerudo Fortress to reach the stables. The guard there was walking away to relieve herself, on schedule, and Dora took the opportunity to take her horse from the stable and walk out the exit with him. Only once they were a mile down the path did she mount her horse and gallop toward Hyrule.
Infiltrating the castle was going to be complicated. Dora's skills were unsurpassed, but normally she would have a layout from a scout that she could use as a guide. Going in blind was reckless, but exactly what she was ready to do. Her first stop would be the dungeons: If the King of Hyrule had discovered Ganondorf's true intentions they would have arrested him. During the thirty minute travel to Hyrule, she tried to imagine Ganondorf as victorious, rather than his head impaled on a spike as a trophy.
Dora left her horse a half mile away by a large tree and some lush grass to keep him occupied. She entered through the western gate, most commonly known by the Gerudo for its lack of patrol. Immediately though, she climbed the building on her right, frequently used by her comrades, and traveled to the castle silently by roof tops. She would take time in between to rest and make sure there were no signs of being seen before continuing on to the next. The thrill of the hunt was what kept her coming back, but this was even more exciting, and she struggled to maintain a calm heart rate.
Finally, she reached the last house before the wall that separated the castle from the rest of the village. As expected, the gate was closed, so she would need to be creative to gain entry. She spanned the entire castle with her eyes and searched for a way in. To her right was a tall tree that almost reached the top of the wall. It would be difficult, but she was confident.
From the rooftop nearest the tree she stretched her arm out as far as she could and was barely able to reach the leaves. She was going to have to jump. Dora took a few steps back, rushed forward, and leapt into the air. In midflight, she felt weightless, probably the most terrifying sensation she ever felt. She reached out and gripped the first limb she made contact with. A film of sweat suddenly covered her skin and the night air chilled her immediately. She held on for dear life for a few moments before she opened her eyes. The ground was a dizzying distance away. She pulled her body upward and found stable footing to climb to the highest limb she could reach that would hold her weight.
There was one more jump and it would prove the most difficult. Not that it was farther but the landing would be worse. In front of her was the corner of the wall attached to a turret with a window. The guard just started his scheduled patrol to the next corner so a new guard would be arriving at her corner. That left her with a very narrow window. When the guards shift was about halfway, she lunged forward and gripped the windowsill with all the strength in her slender fingers. Her body came into the wall hard and she did her best to hold in a groan of pain. The side of her face hit the stone wall. Fortunately, she suffered only a few scratches.
Using the strength in her arms and legs she yanked herself through the window and immediately into the dark shadows behind a crate until the guard passed. He stood there, an arm length away from her, for around five long minutes while she breathed as little as possible. She imagined herself as one with the darkness and was rewarded when the guard walked away none the wiser to their intruder.
The moment the guard was half way to his next post she leapt over the other side of the wall and into the castle's garden. A bush cushioned her fall but also made more noise than she needed. She waited silently for guards to come and thankfully, none did. With the moon light shining like a lantern the rest of the infiltration was done by clinging to the shadows made by the variety of plants and trees in the garden, until she reached the dungeons. A flickering glow from within illuminated a metal grate door at the bottom of a gentle slope. There were five guards, so force was going to be necessary.
To dispatch the first guard she stood behind a tree and pulled him behind it as he passed. She twisted his head so his neck snapped and he crumbled to the ground. She dove to the ground and crawled behind a bush, snagging the next victim to snap his neck also. The next three stood immediately at the door and so she used her bow. From the cover of the bush she aimed her arrows individually and fired rapidly. Each target made its mark in the throat of her victims. Barely a groan was uttered before they died. Hastily, for fear someone was alerted to her presence anyway, she grabbed the keys from the guard closest to the door and unlocked it. She entered the dungeon and was unsurprised to see Ganondorf the only prisoner residing there, but shocked at his weakened appearance.