Alright, so I'm finished with my semester which is a huge relief. So far this story has been a thrill to write, and I know it can be slow but we're going to be ramping up things pretty soon. I don't have much to say but thanks for the support I've been receiving, hope everyone enjoys it!
The Ranger
The purple fields of lavender swayed as the wind swept across, creating the illusion of a great purple blanket shifting and fluttering like waves of sea. The winds drifted in the from east and went westward with the fresh smell of lavender with it, bringing it through Lurelin and greeting the villagers to a sweet morning. The sun hadn't yet peaked up from beyond the hill yet and by request of the Rangers the villagers would not leave their homes until the sun was fully gazing upon the people, so this moment of peace was enjoyed by few in the village.
Overlooking the field of lavender on the small hill Lurelin sat upon was a young man enjoying the cool morning breeze and the peaceful, dancing fields below. The young man's shoulder length brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, he sat in his simple brown, short sleeved tunic with white leggings and thick brown boots with a composite bow and quiver full of arrows sitting beside him. His eyes, which hummed with a sort of blue glow watched the horizon with a watchful care.
The calm peace was interrupted when the soft steps of his much larger partner approached from the town. Colin turned towards Ezlo, greeting the older man with a nod in his direction before glancing back down at the fields below.
"Sleep escapes you?" Ezlo asked as he took a seat besides him. Ezlo may have appeared older with his grey hair and beard, but he was fit, walked with almost as much youth in his steps as Colin did and could swing a broadsword as easily as a child could swing a stick.
"I slept..." Colin replied, his voice soft, as if fearing anything louder would disrupt this peace he treasured so. The look of doubt from Ezlo made Colin quickly adjust his claim, "For a bit."
"She haunts you...?"
Colin looked up towards the sky, taking in a deep breath of the fresh air before closing his eyes. Even now he could so clearly see it – the deep sea with the woman in the white dress calling his name. "It's getting worse." He admitted, "Before I would float along with her and she would speak to me so softly... it was peaceful, I would be at ease, yet now I no longer float... I sink."
Ezlo ran his hand through his beard, thinking about the painful words from his younger partner. "She is trying to speak to you."
"She is making me suffer." Colin replied back quickly, his thoughts conflicted and emotions flayed by the lack of rest.
"No, it is not something to fear." Ezlo stated, putting his hand upon Colin's shoulders, "Not until you can truly speak and understand her message will you see that this is a gift, not a curse..."
"How can you say what I am could possibly be anything but a curse...?"
Ezlo fell to silence, looking over the horizon and taking in a deep breath, letting the morning air fill his lungs, "We are all curses upon this world, Colin. We reap whatever we wish, kill and maim whom we want and divide how we see fit. Hylians, Humans... Rangers... we all have our curses, what matters is that we use our own curse to make this world a better place. A safer place. You have that opportunity in more ways than most people do."
"I know my duty..." Colin nodded solemnly, no matter his youth, the things he had experience had aged him far beyond his peers, "It's a difficult weight to bear, however..."
"You will come to terms with it, someday. We all do..." Ezlo stood up from the ground, motioning for Colin to do the same. "Now come on now, our hunt begins today..."
The two of them moved through the lavender and went southward to where the children claimed they were playing in the nearby wooded area. There was thin lair of mist below the trees, the ground wet with due and the air moist and sweet smelling. The distant sound of a creek ahead of them was the only sound aside from the birds and insects that made their presence known.
"The children said they were just beyond the creek," Colin echoed the information they had gained yesterday. They had taken much needed time interviewing villagers and gaining as much information about the people and the town.
The child – and the only one who went missing – was horribly young, ten years old with shaggy brown hair and was wearing a simply white tunic when he went to play. His name was Kinov, he liked pumpkin pancakes and goat milk like most boys around Faron. More relevant was the fact he was the best hider in his little group, often finding up high places to hide where the kids would not look (or were too afraid to look).
"We are trailing behind this thing you know..." Colin reminded as they approached the creek – small and perfectly easy for young children to cross without harm. There was a small little makeshift bridge the children had put together to get across without getting wet which indicated they were on the right path, "Kinov went missing over a week ago now. If this thing follows the same pattern it's been, it's already long gone."
"Well that's what we are here to figure out. What do we know of it so far?" Ezlo asked with a small glance back towards Colin.
"Hm?" Colin hummed, following Ezlo across the creek.
"Tell me what we know of it. Come on, memory of fact is important to hunting."
Colin shook his head of annoyance as he thought back to what they knew, "There has been no distinct pattern of attack. The first victim was an old goat farmer, the second a lonely widow on her farm and the third now this child. There has been no bodies we could find and the creature has never stayed long enough to hurt more than one person. It only travels in the nights which tells me it's vulnerable enough to be hunted – so it fears being caught."
"And it only attacks outsiders, which tells us that it wants to stay far away from humans as possible. Perhaps there has been far more wildlife victims, perhaps killing these humans were more of an accident." Ezlo added.
"It moves far faster than anything on two legs. And it's silent... it grabbed that kid without anyone hearing so much as a scream. Which is very peculiar, this forest is very quiet and I'm sure those kids would have heard someone."
"I agree." Ezlo confirmed with his own thoughts, "Now keep close and let's have a look around. See if we can find anything that may help us track this thing."
That was a long shot, with it being over a week ago much of the needed information would have been lost over this time. Blood and tracks would most likely be long gone, they would be looking for more permanent signs of its presence – a struggle perhaps, upheaval of ground or damage to nearby trees that a normal creature would not have done.
Colin bent close to the ground, breathing in the air for any abnormalities. Rangers had heightened senses and although Ezlo's was far more attuned, Colin could do well enough to catch the scents he was looking for. He ran his hands against the ground, feeling the moist morning dew against his fingers before pressing it close to his face and smelling it deeply.
"The earth..." Colin spoke, "It has wept deeply. Something unnatural has scarred this land." He crept softly along the ground, doing his best to place himself into the role of Kinov...
"Count until ten now, and don't you peek!" Colin imagined as the six children broke from the circle they had formed. Each running off into different directions, another child named Luv followed close behind Kinov (he was the final child to see him, as they determined from their previous interviews) as they raced along the forest. North, Luv said, along the creek they raced.
"Where will you hide, Kinov?" The younger child had asked Kinov.
"I can't tell you!" Kinov laughed, "Go now!"
"Okaaay, just don't climb anywhere too high!"
It wasn't difficult to piece together the conversation that likely occurred after they had spoken to Luv. Colin walked along the river, his eyes tracing the ground carefully to look for anything unusual, "No, no, he didn't find his hiding place yet. Must have been further off if none of the children had seen his assailant."
Luv had continued off north across the creek, Kinov didn't cross the creek nor did he go back, so he likely went westward – deeper into the forest. Colin could almost see it as Kinov raced away into the forest, eying every tree carefully as he decided which had more cover to hide in.
"These are too sparse... I can see up into them easily..." Colin moved deeper into the woods, Ezlo following shortly behind him as he himself seemed to be coming to similar conclusion. Colin could feel his heart begin to pick up pace, like Kinov would have been...
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five... The seeker would have been shouting. Kinov would have been searching for a spot quickly now, knowing his time was running out and he needed time to climb. He couldn't have gone too much further in. Four, three, two, one, here I come!
Colin stopped in his tracks, his eyes turning upward into the taller trees that laid before him. He eyed every tree carefully, looking for anything that might have given a hint to where he had been.
"He was a good climber, everyone said so..." Colin spoke to himself quietly, "He would have spotted the perfect tree right away." Colin laid his eyes upon a thick oak tree with strong branches and a great many grooves to help a young child climb into. The Ranger walked around the tree, his eyes immediately catching the sight of a broken branch that hung by a thin piece...
"Kinov climbed up here, put his weight on a week branch and it snapped. He didn't fall though, he kept moving higher..." Colin pulled himself up the tree, following Kinov's tracks carefully. "He would have found the branch that gave the ground the least amount of sight." Sure enough, a hefty branch concealed by other branches caught Colin's sight. He carefully pulled himself up the tree until he reached the branch, finding some engrained markings on it, perhaps Kinov had carved something into the tree with a rock or knife he had.
"What do you see up there?" Ezlo called from the ground, "I can barely see you from here!"
"I can see so much!" Colin replied, indeed the branch gave a beautiful view of the forest ahead. "But what did you see, Kinov...?"
Colin scanned the horizon with care, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary in the view. The forest seemed to grow the further out it was, large trees, perhaps thousands of years old stood in the far distance. The villagers had aptly called it the 'Forest of Old', it reminded Colin of the Lost Forest not too far from where he grew up...
Yet something caught his eye – it didn't seem like much at first, yet there seemed to be a sheen cascaded over a good bit of the trees close to the Forest of Old, once staring at it for a bit it differently stood out as unusual and he suspected Kinov had been up here for awhile, eventually he would have spotted it too.
Colin slid down the tree and landed expertly next to Ezlo.
"Well?" Ezlo asked as Colin dusted himself off.
"West. There is something unusual stringing across the trees..." Colin explained, "Could be nothing..."
"Perhaps, do you think Kinov would have ventured further out alone?"
"He was brave... he would climb these tall trees when no one else would, so yes, I think when he wanted to do something he would do just that."
"Excellent," Ezlo said with an approving smile. The two Rangers moved further into the forest with the intent to investigate it further. Colin knew where they were going easily enough, Rangers didn't get lost so easily. The sun was shining brighter now when they got closer, yet the sun could barely get through the canopy of leaves that covered them.
"These trees are ancient..." Ezlo said placing his hand against the worn trees, "The things they must have endured. Better Rangers could speak to the trees, you know?"
"Did they?" Colin simply wondered how that could be or what they would say... "There is much I do not know."
"You will learn over time. We never stop learning." They walked further until Ezlo raised his hand. "Hold it... do you hear that?"
Actually, what Ezlo meant by that was the lack of anything to hear at all, the birds had halted their incessant chirping and insects seemed to have vacated the area as well. Colin lifted his bow over his shoulder and placed two arrows into his hand as they carefully advanced further.
He could imagine Kinov walking through these woods, he wondered if the child had noticed the vacancy of life as well? If he had, did he try and turn around? Colin could not guess any further... he would have to see now. He knew he was getting close.
It was then they had seen what caught Colin's eye before – strung across the surrounding trees was a vast entanglement of webbing. Not just on the upper trees but on the lower end as well.
"By the Goddesses..." Colin said in shock but not another word crept from his lips as both men prepared themselves for what could be ahead. They stepped a bit deeper, the webs high and low had small balls of webbing for what appeared to be small animals that had been trapped and stored within the webbing.
Colin lifted his head into the trees and caught eye of something that immediately made his heart drop. One of the sacks had a similar size that a human child would be, perhaps exactly the same size that Kinov would be. Colin motioned towards the sack and then began to climb up the tree towards it, hoisting himself onto the branch closest to the sack he pulled out his dagger and gently slit open the sticky webbing.
"Kinov..." Colin whispered to what he presumed was the boy. A child that matched Kinov's description of brown short hair and dark eyes, was visible in the sack unmoving. He looked down at Ezlo and gave a look that could only confirm what they had feared. They needed to bring him down from the tree and get him home now...
Colin gently cut parts of the webs that were holding him until it was just a thick single web of webbing that he used to gently lower him down towards Ezlo.
Whatever had done this was no doubt close, and sure enough as Kinov's body was close to the ground when Colin caught sight of something– the glint of something hiding in the shadow of the tree. It was fast and in a mere moment something came charge out towards Ezlo. "EZLO!" Colin shouted, the older Ranger turned fast as the creature lunged at him. The creature was something Colin had never seen before – long, oversized spider with four legs on either side and a hardened shell over its torso. It was large enough that, when standing on its hind legs, it was twice the size of Ezlo.
Ezlo reacted in such a quick, inhuman way, when he rolled directly out of the creature's way Colin might have doubted the older man's age. Ezlo drew his blade and Colin let Kinov fall the rest of the small distance to the ground, grabbing his bow and preparing his arrow.
"Well, you're not supposed to be here..." Ezlo was more than a little stunned and he brought his broadsword in a defensive stance. The creature attempted to close the distance between the two but Ezlo kept it back with quick jabs of his blade.
The creature was hissing at Ezlo as it tried to circle him, so focused on the older Ranger that it didn't pay any attention to Colin who had notched his arrow and taken aim. He released his arrow, which flew down with perfect accuracy and lodged itself right into the notch between its outer shell and its legs, not going deeply but deep enough to make green, acidic blood pour onto the grass. It roared, and before Colin could notch another arrow it had charged again – this time away, running in the opposite direction and towards the deeper part of the woods.
Colin let off another arrow that bounced harmlessly off its armor and in a mere moment it was gone into the darkness. The Ranger slid off the tree and onto the ground, ready to give chase when the heavy hands of Ezlo seized him.
"Stop!" Ezlo called, catching Colin by disbelief.
"W-What? Come on we've almost got it. Let's go finish this thing!"
"No!" Ezlo roared, "We aren't prepared to fight one of those things, let alone how many others are out there!"
"So what are we going to do, leave it?" Colin asked in disbelief.
"No..." his partner replied with a shake of his head, "We are going to bring this child back and we are going to properly prepare. Then were going to kill this thing, on our terms."
Colin felt angry and in disbelief, how could they just let that thing go after it had senselessly killed Kinov? It was then he realized that he was taking this far too personally, Rangers had to be calm and collected in these circumstances, not consumed by feelings that bogged humans down. Colin had no idea what they were facing and it seemed Ezlo had some sort of clue and knew that going after it recklessly would be dangerous. A Ranger never entered a situation without properly preparing themselves to face their hunt.
"O-okay..." Colin agreed, "Let's get Kinov back to his family."
On their walk back Colin couldn't help but wonder what was going through Kinov's mind when it all went down. Did he get caught in the web? That creature moved so fast that Kinov stood no chance of getting away from it. He wanted to feel sad for the child, but he knew he had to distance himself, this was his job and this would not be the first or last time he carried a dead child.
They stopped at the creek and carefully cut away all the webbing that was attached to the child.
"Been dead for over a week," Ezlo began as he looked over his body, "The body is being preserved by the venom but that smell is undeniable rot. He was bitten in the chest, not viciously, almost gently..."
"Gently...?" Colin questioned glancing at the two fanged wound on the boy's chest.
"It could have ripped his skin clean off his chest, but it didn't. The boy died from the poison," he gently took some of the secreting liquid from the wound and held it to his nose to smell, "It's a paralysis actually. Had this been you or me, we would still be alive, but a boy his age wasn't able to resist this type of level of toxicity, his organs shut down no doubt."
"...So what was that thing?" Colin said as he gently closed the boy's eyelids and picking him back up.
"It was a Gohma." Ezlo explained with a sour look, "They never leave the Lost Forest. Under treaty with the Rangers, they stay there and we leave them alone."
Colin had to repeat that in his head, he found it hard to believe the Rangers would ever make a deal like that, "So then why was it here? They broke the, ugh, treaty?"
"That I do not know. But... it seemed scared."
"Perhaps that's why it's been running as much as it has..." Colin theorized as they crossed the creek.
"Maybe, but it will not run any further..."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because the Forest of Old reminds it of home and something tells me it misses home..."
That was beyond Colin's ability of understanding, but he saw it's reasoning – it stayed there for over a week or so since it arrived and likely would not leave again. Which was fantastic for them, they could properly prepare and next time they would finish it off and ends this dark creature's life. Ezlo seemed far more concerned about the broader implications of this, Colin wouldn't concern himself with such things right now – they had a mission that Colin was ready to complete.
The Banished
The pilgrims path had been fun at first and the idea intrigued Rhoam more than he would let Urbosa know. It was a road supposedly so holy that if any theft, murder or other crimes committed on this road it would make you a sanctioned outlaw across all of Gerudo lands. The road stretched across many city states and countries of the Gerudo and if you followed it you could easily find the largest cities in this region along it. There were massive shrines dedicated to the Sand Goddess along the way and there was always caravans of pilgrims making their ways to the temple to pay their respect for their goddess.
It was rather fun at first, yet at they made their way deeper into the territory it became far less entertaining. At the start of the journey they stayed in hotels and slept well, but as they moved further from civilization and deeper into the vast uninhabitable Gerudo Desert things became a bit more tense. The crowds became sparser and just the other day they found a girl who had gotten lost with her family while following the road, she had told the two of them and a couple of other pilgrims that the rest of her family had died and she had eaten her brother just to stay alive. That gruesome tale took the fun right out of the journey but Urbosa seemed to care little.
"Stick to the road and we'll be fine..." Urbosa reasoned with a shrug of her shoulders before they carried on with their journey.
The deeper they went the more Rhoam wished he was battling angry assassins rather than dealing with the horribly hot days and freezing nights. The weather was so unusual that they timed their journey well, venturing out in the cool morning hours and stopping during the height of the sun and hiding under their tent, then going out again before nightfall when they would huddle together as the temperature dropped quickly.
"Do you think we should be worried?" Urbosa asked one night as they laid huddled together in their tent.
"About what...?" Rhoam muttered as sleep tugged away at his conciseness.
"The assassins from before."
"Nah," Rhoam mumbled as he buried his face into the blanket for warmth, "I'm far more worried about freezing my privates off right now. Blasted cold."
The next day they were off early in the morning again for another day of traveling through the seemingly endless desert. The sun was beginning to rise high into the sky now and the heat was bearing upon them harshly, Rhoam pulled the hood further over his face but surely they would call time to rest soon enough. He had been so busy trying to resist the urge to faint that he barely noticed a figure off in the distance waving towards them.
"Hello!" The woman in a black hood called over to them. "Traveling pilgrims, please stop for a moment!" She urged, the woman was on her knees and didn't look to good.
"We don't have the supplies to help anyone," Rhoam reminded Urbosa. They had packed well but who knows how much longer they would need to survive out here, they couldn't spare anything to a another traveler.
"It won't be a sin to let someone die on this holy road..." Urbosa merely responded as she pulled her horse to a stop, "Sav'aaq, traveler. What is the problem?" The term sav'aaq essentially translated into 'good day'.
"My horse was stolen from me last night," The woman, who seemed young, perhaps in her late teens spoke to them with a weak voice, "It had all my provisions with it. Now I am without my horse and none will stop and help me."
Perhaps because this reeks of a scam, Rhoam thought, glancing around to see if they had just walked into an ambush. Urbosa may have believed in the sanctity of the holy road but to Rhoam it was just a road. He had no doubt others had similar views.
"I couldn't let a fellow vehvi of the Goddess go without. Come, we are about to set up camp until the midday sun passes, you may join us." Rhoam knew how to speak the language of the Gerudo fairly well but certain words were lost on him, he thought she might have said 'child' but honestly he didn't care enough to ask.
"Bless you," The woman thanked sincerely. They road for a few more minutes until they found a good place to set up camp about a mile down the road,a small grove of trees and cacti. While Rhoam dismounted and began to set up their tent Urbosa went to bleed the cacti of water for them.
"I do not often see Hylians in these parts," The woman said to Rhoam as he propped up the tent, the shade was a welcome relief from the sun, "What brings you here...?"
Rhoam didn't want to talk but he could feel the woman's gaze on the back of his skull and it wasn't letting up, "I'm a slave, not much of a choice really."
"No you aren't."
Rhoam shot her a look, confused by her statement, "Then what a joy that must be. I am free now, apparently..."
She laughed at his sarcasm, "No, no, a slave owner would never let their slave have such a fine weapon like that outside of the fighting ring. So who are you really? Obviously someone who doesn't want to be figured out... Hylian right? Hmm, that accent... sounds like you're from central Hyrule... fine blade too, perhaps you stole it? Perhaps it is yours...?"
Rhoam didn't much like this line of questioning at all and this kid was getting far too close to the truth, which shocked him profoundly. In all his time here he had never met anyone who much questioned his story like this child was. Should he kill her? She was getting close to the truth after all and she was rather annoying too.
"Oh relax..." The woman waved off, "This is a pilgrims road, I do not care who travels on it really, we are all equals here. Hylians, Gerudo... even slaves, dare I say."
"Hm..." Rhoam kept an eye on her as she slipped off the cloak, revealing what was certainly a woman in her teens with long red hair, green Gerudo eyes and dark skin. She wore as little as possible while still being decent for Gerudo standards. Rhoam pulled the cloths off his head that was acting like a cloak and paid the woman no mind, thankful for when Urbosa came back with more water for them.
Urbosa stripped off the unessential clothing just as they did, wearing only light cloths that covered what was necessary and letting her body breath. He might have taken the time to admire her body but the heat was too much and all he wanted to do was sleep it off.
"Here, drink," Urbosa said after she poured the water into the bowl. The girl took a drink first before passing it over to the two of them, each taking turns to sip the water. "You seem rather young to travel here all alone, if you don't mind me saying."
"Perhaps," she agreed, "But the call of the goddess can be ignored by none. It's been my desire to make this pilgrimage for awhile now."
"I've been here twice, my mother would preach the words of the goddess where I grew up, always saying how important it was to make the pilgrimage. On the holy road, all are equal." Urbosa said with a bright smile as she thought back to her mother. It has occurred to Rhoam that he actually knew very little about Urbosa's parents, he avoided talking about his family so he never really asked about hers.
He used the hood as a cushion and laid his head back as the two of them talked on. He didn't care for the damned sand goddess and he certainly didn't care about this damn pilgrimage. This was ultimately a waste of time – gold was his god and this week had been time he could have spent earning it.
After the heat of the day passed they continued their travels with the girl in toe, she had said her name was Barta and that she was traveling from a town down south. They were close enough to the site now that more travelers were a frequent sight now that the roads from all over the region were converging. Signs of civilization – albeit simple – were beginning to appear with small villages built in the outer portion of the sacred ground becoming visible. The village were filled with monuments and hotels and merchants selling to the weary along with perhaps many thousands of pilgrims that were beginning to arrive for the sacred day.
"Finally..." Rhoam said to himself as the sign of people were a welcome delight. "So, explain to me what will happen now..." He whispered over to Urbosa as they dismounted their rides and began to lead them through the crowded streets.
"The pilgrims will crawl on their hands and knees to the spirit temple, leave our offering by the goddess statue and return. After three days of prayer and minimum consumption of food, we will return to the spirit temple and receive blessing."
"Crawling on your hands and knees? Minimum consumption of food? Oh, this sounds dreadful." Rhoam didn't like the sound of that. He was thankful that he did not intend to do anything like that nor did Urbosa expect him to. He would likely sit around in one of the hotels and drink away the three days, which sounded far more entertaining than what she was going to do. "Well you have fun with that. Getting close to your goddess and all, sounds like good fun."
"You don't have to take part in this but I would advise you to keep your opinions to yourself. There are many here who will kill if you insulted the Goddess." Urbosa reminded, "Now shall we find a place to eat before the crawl begins? Barta would you like to join us?" She asked glancing back towards Barta who had been tailing behind them shortly.
"That would be wonderful." The three of them found an inn that served them some traditional Gerudo food of mashed chickpeas drizzled with olive oil and served with a fresh bread and lam roasted in garlic. Rhoam washed it down with a stiff, sweet smelling alcohol that was probably among the strongest of liquors he had ever had. As they ate down their food without much conversation three men dressed in dark leather armor stepped into the inn, looking through the guests who watched them with uneasy gaze. Rhoam felt uncomfortable as they silently ventured into the inn, glancing among the people before leaving without a single word spoken.
"What was that all about?" Rhoam question caught the voice of a nearby patron.
"They been here all day, searching for some Princess or something..." He responded back, "They won't harm no one. Unless you hiding the Princess of course."
"No Princess here," Urbosa replied with a small chuckle, "Just pilgrims."
Well, perhaps a Prince... Rhoam kept his thoughts to himself. He made a glance over to Barta who looked rather uncomfortable by it all. He wondered if she had something a bit more to hide than she would let on...
He leaned closer to Barta and prodded her shoulder, "They weren't looking too hard were they? Pretty thankful for that, hm?" The look she shut him was enough to confirm his thoughts. He thought it was weird, a girl like her, well spoken and traveling on these roads alone. In fact a Princess that got tired of her escort sounded like a lot more plausible story than having her horse stolen and remaining unharmed.
Barta pushed away from the table quickly and rose to her feet, "I thank you both for the food and help. But I shall not be a burden any longer."
"Burden?" Urbosa repeated with surprise with a mouth full of food.
"Good day," She moved quickly to the exit as Rhoam tried to suppress a smile. She had been so smug trying to analyze his secret that she had left herself easy to read.
"What did you say to her?" Urbosa asked with a deep glare.
"Nothing at all really," Rhoam chuckled, "I promise I said nothing to offend."
"Sure... everything that comes out of your mouth can be seen as an offense..." She might have glared further at him if her food didn't beckon. She knew this would be the last full meal she had in awhile and she wasn't going to let Rhoam's stupidity ruin it.
Not long after they had finished their meal did people begin crawling towards the spirit temple. Rhoam rented a room for the two of them and went upstairs with a full bottle of liquor to watch from the third story. He leaned out to the terrace and watched as what appeared to be waves of people begin to crawl across the sand towards the temple, it was actually an astounding sight and the noise of thousands of people moving at once was something Rhoam would not forget. In the distance he could see the spirit temple, with a massive statue of the Sand Goddess in front of the shrine with eight other statues of the Eight Heroines guarding their Goddess.
"Well, Goddess..." Rhoam said uncorking the bottle of strong liquor, "This one is for you!"
He drank down the bottle faster than he should have and before long sleep began pulling at him...
Rhoam awoke from his sleep in the dead of the night with a hand lightly pressed against his face. He moved it off of him and glanced over to his side to see a passed out Urbosa next to him, he must have been too drunk to hear her come back from the crawl and her legs were still caked with sand – obviously too tired to clean before bed.
His head was pounding from the liquor and he had wished he filled up a pot of water before drinking. He rolled out of bed and threw on his shirt before beginning to make his way out of the room. The entire inn was silent, virtually everyone had participated in the crawl and all of them were now sleeping soundly. "Oh, goddesses, why did I drink so much?" He asked himself, the entire town was fed water through a great body of water and it wasn't hard to get some – only problem was that he needed to go outside and in this cold that was a painful experience. But he braved it, pot in hand as he dredged out, the sound of running water and the occasional howl from some nearby dog was the only noise Rhoam could hear.
After he took his first sip of water that silence was pierced by a soft humming sound. Even in Rhoam's drunk state he would admit it was a pleasant, albeit out of place sound, that the more he listened the more in sounded like a soft melody that gently moved through the town. His first thought was someone was playing an instrument at this time, but the streets were so empty he somewhat doubted that conclusion.
Perhaps a smarter person would have simply returned to their room at this time. But Rhoam was curious and the melody was so pleasant he didn't seem to think any sort of threat could have come from it. He followed the sound that grew lightly as he moved, the more he moved the louder it grew and soon he was moving much faster – the draw of the music seemly moving his entire body.
Rhoam was on the outskirts of the town, which was admittedly not far from the inn, and there was absolutely no one in sight. Except the music was still playing, louder now and clearly coming from the desert space that lied between the town and the spirit temple.
"W-What...?" Rhoam asked himself, taking a step forward. Something changed, it was like liquid rolling off the surface, the very fabric of this world seemed to be literally peeled away in front of him. A gold light shined through, briefly blinding his sight as a woman stepped through the tear. Woman was what she appeared to be, but nothing like Rhoam had ever seen before – tall, perhaps seven and a half feet tall, with golden skin that seemed to glisten with light, red eyes and light red hair that fluttered beautifully around her naked body.
He felt like he knew her from somewhere but he could not place where, "Who are you?" She did not respond, instead she simply outstretched her long arm, offering Rhoam to take it. What was he supposed to do? He was so enthralled by it all he took the hand and in a moment a blinding light covered him.
You are the one a voice spoke to him as the light overtook him, The father of power. Great darkness walks this world now. Burden of truth falls to you. The old lands in danger. The voice was like violent whispers bombarding him, he wanted it to all end and felt like his mind was going to explode. He could barely make out the words being spoken to him now and he shouted to make it all stop.
And it did. The voices stopped. The light stopped and soon he was consumed by the surrounding darkness. When he began to regain consciousness it felt like he was being pulled out of a dream, he awakened to a warm, safe glow...
"Ugh," Rhoam moaned aloud, "Urbosa?" He asked, glancing about the surrounding area... to realize that he was not in his room. He was laying in a body of water, actually laying ON a body of water that surrounded a statue of the Sand Goddess and as soon as he realized this fact he fell through the surface into the cold water. It wasn't deep and he quickly found his feet, his breath quickened into a panic as he looked around his surroundings. There was no roof overhead but there were walls, he appeared to be in some sort of garden.
He moved out of the water and fell to his knees, trying to catch his breath and calm himself. Had everything that happened before been real? How did he end up here? And what exactly did he drink the night before?
Rhoam stood to his feet, his legs felt weak and he had difficulty focusing his vision. Thankfully he noticed doorways out of this garden and he began to stumble towards it, briefly falling to the ground before pulling himself back up. "Come on now, strength!" He told himself as he forced himself forward.
Yet before he could reach the door someone stepped out into the garden. It was a woman dressed in a heavy cloak with markings of the Sand Goddess itched in fine gold silk across it, she looked to be deep in thought when she suddenly stopped and stared wide eyed at Rhoam.
"Oh, no, don't-" Rhoam urged but it was too late – the woman screamed.
"Guards!" She shrieked, stumbling back before bolting out from where she came. Rhoam didn't wait, he turned and ran the opposite direction, spotting another door on the far side. But his feet betrayed him, no strength left to run he fell again just as bulky Gerudo men came rushing into the garden.
"Grab the thief!" One roared as they neared him.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Rhoam dug his hands into the ground and threw the dirt into the face of the closest guard before valiantly throwing himself into the other. He barely budged the guard, who grabbed him by the hair and pulled him away from smacking him so hard across the face that he tumbled back onto the ground. He tried to pull himself up but the sudden force of the guards leg slamming into the back of his head and onto the ground welcomed a quick darkness. The last thing he remembered was that golden woman from before staring at him from across the garden and smiling widely.
The Mouse
The Curiosity Shop sparked little curiosity for Mouse, who had made it her life's goal to stay as far away from the building as possible despite knowing little more than whispers about what went on in the place. It was, as one rightly put it, a place of dark curiosities and she wanted no part in what went on within its halls. The building looked like anything in west district – old, years of neglect and leveling of the foundation made it misshaped and in dire need of renovation. A sign hung from the door reading the name of the shop in case anyone was actually interested in entering this dreary old establishment.
"This is it..." Mouse gulped, "You sure you want to go in there?"
"Yes." His voice, unlike Mouse's, was calm.
"Aren't you like, a little nervous? Like I heard some dark things about that shop. Bad things happen to people in there."
He looked at her with his cool eyes, "I bring bad things, child."
Rangers were weird people, Mouse was convinced they were half demons now the way Rusl acted. Normal things didn't bother him, he KILLED a man and wasn't at all bothered by it. Mouse still couldn't get the look on the dead man's face out of her head and she wasn't even the person who killed him.
Rusl pulled his hood over his head and walked up to the building, twisting the handle and opening the door to the shop before entering. Mouse knew she should have left right there, but the curiosity to see what he was going to do in there was too much. She followed the Ranger into the shop where she was told never to go.
The inside of the shop was musky, with great heaping piles of trinkets stashed around the room with seemly little care. The room was lit by the windows facing the door way and a few candles that flicked as the wind from outside rushed in, which was great because the smell was so intense inside that it made the garbage and waste ridden streets of the west district seem pleasant. There was an immense amount of dust on everything, on the trinkets and in the air, and it was clear that the outside of the Curiosity Shop was as well taken care of as the inside of it.
The Ranger had barely stepped a couple of feet in when Mouse followed behind him, "I thought you would have been running down the street by now."
"Yeah, well, I did too..." The hair on her arm was standing up and she felt the urge to run, yet an even greater urge to stay and figure out what this place really was. It was a dark place, but why? She trusted that the Ranger would distract anything bad long enough for her to get away if things got dangerous.
"Hey!" Shouted a voice from across the room, Mouse had to focus her eyes to see a thin, crooked old man standing behind the counter and eying her with malice in his eyes. "No streets rat in this shop. Stay outside!"
"This is no orphan, she's with me and she won't touch anything." The Ranger said, grabbing her firmly by the arm before looking down at her, "Right?"
She'd play the part of loyal daughter for now, "No, I will be good, promise!" The very words soured in her mouth. Good? She'd steal the candy from a baby if given the opportunity.
"Very well then..." the old man grumbled to himself before receding back to his chair that creaked louder than his bones. Mouse could see now the old man was very unusual looking, he was bald with a long nose and faded blue tattoos that stretched from his left jawline up towards a pure white eye (fake or blind, Mouse couldn't tell), the good eye watched her closely and she didn't much like the gaze. She turned towards looking at the items that seemed to all have a thick layer of dust on it.
The Ranger was looking through them too, which she found weird. "I'm looking for something..." He finally spoke, catching the man's attention.
"We have many things here. Anything in particular?" The Ranger traced his hand softly over a table with a great deal of old looking amulets. "Those amulets make great gifts for the Festival of Time."
"You have a lot of people who buy amulets for the festival?" Rusl asked.
"Not many. Especially not people like yourself."
"How do you mean?"
"Outsiders. Non-Terminian." That made the Ranger chuckle before he picked up a single red amulet from the table and walked over to the counter, placing it down.
"In this environment it is especially important to cloak oneself." Rusl was confusing Mouse, but his words and actions seemed to surprise the old man.
"Especially these days." He took the amulets and lightly pressed down on a small button that made the book case to the side budge open. "Be quick now."
"Thank you," Rusl said, "Come on now." Motioning for Mouse to follow him through the dark passageway.
"There is darkness before the light, brother." The old man said as they stepped into the passage way. Mouse was getting freaked out now, was Rusl really working with them? She didn't understand what was going on.
"How did you-"
"Silence..." He quickly cut her off as they walked along the passage, he was waiting until they were out of earshot, "The amulet, it was the only thing not covered in dust. It's been picked up and placed there frequently. I took a chance."
She wasn't sure how he noticed that but it impressed her well enough, no doubt one of the many powers he had as a Ranger.
The tunnel seemed to weave them into another nearby house, and when the light finally came at the end of the tunnel they stepped into a great store room of sorts – the house seemed to have been hallowed out to allow for more stacking of crates with a great symbol of a moon placed on each crate. Rusl walked up to the crate and placed his hand upon the symbol, tracing over it before turning away entirely.
"What is this place?" Mouse asked, stunned. It was hard to see with the few windows the building had not being large enough to illuminate the area. Most of the crates were left open and empty, but there was such a strong odor flowing around the store room that Mouse had to plug her nose to keep herself from gagging."Oh what is that smell?"
"Waste, rot..." Rusl answered as he walked through a row of crates, his hand not leaving the hilt of his short sword that hung from his side. On the other side of the room there was an office that overlooked the storage area, it was empty, but a burning candle told them that there were people around. She didn't have to be told to be quiet.
Rusl walked through into the office and began to go through the parchments on the desk. The office was very refined looking and no doubt the nicest part of this terrible place, with a separate wall separating the two areas and several sweet burning candles to defuse the smell that filled the storage space. "What's it say?" Mouse asked, glancing over the papers Rusl was going through (not that she understood what was being written).
"It's a ledger." She wasn't entirely sure what that was, "Do you know what 'Ikana Assembly' is?"
"Hmm..." Mouse hummed in thought, "They make things there, I knew some people who worked there. Rough place."
"They're making sales to them along with many other places here.. privates residences, businesses. They're making a lot." Rusl stuffed the ledger into his pack before going through other pieces of parchment, "They're bringing in products from all over Hyrule too. Mostly from Wood Fall."
"What do you think they're selling?" Mouse looked back towards the storage area where there was one storage box that had a small hole on its side, not large enough for anything to get out but certainly large enough for a person Mouse's size to reach through. She moved away from Rusl and towards the storage container, where the darkness inside kept her from seeing anything and a pungent smell made her want to gag, but Mouse's curiosity pushed her forward to see what exactly they were selling that was making them so much.
She looked through, unable to make anything out in the dark at first... until something pressed its face against the hole, a wide blank eye staring back through at her. Mouse immediately fell back, her heart pounding in fright.
"Let us out!" A chorus of voices begged, the face looking out of the storage box belonged to a Deku Scrub. Its face looked ravaged with several bloody scars tracing along its wood like skin told her the horrors it must have endured.
"Oh gods!" Mouse cried, covering her mouth to keep any more noise from coming but the chorus of voices from the box was louder than she was. Rusl had already moved to her side now, "R-Rusl, they have Deku in there. Oh gods this is horrible."
"They're slave trading..." Rusl muttered to himself as footsteps from beyond the boxes started to approach. "Mouse, you see that window up there? Climb the boxes and get out. I can't protect you from what's coming."
"W-What about you?"
"Just go, they probably have Kafei here. I have to find him." Before Mouse could protest, Rusl grabbed her by the back of her shirt, picked her up and hoisted her onto the first box. "Go."
Mouse wasn't a hero, and if the Ranger said things were about to get scary than she wasn't going to wait and see. She began climbing the next set of boxes to the window just as a set of men rounded the corner
"What is going on-" A flash of steel silenced the speaking man, Rusl had drawn his blade and gutted the first man so quickly. The blood and entrails spilling to the ground was the last thing Mouse saw before she continued her climb, the roars of the men fighting below and those in the crates began growing louder and louder. She got up to the window and opened it, looking back down at where Rusl was.
"We've been compromised!" One man shouted as he ran from Rusl, blood dripping from the limb the Ranger had cleaved off. He ran, stumbled upon himself before he reached one of the cages. "Get away from me!"
He reached to unlock the cage, pulling open the door to reveal a fairly sized (stood at the height of a large dog, but much wider), lizard-like creature that at first moved away from the light. Mouse wasn't sure what it was, but it was big and it crawled out of the open cage a moment later, licking its lips as it cocked its head side to side, looking at the Ranger with a blank stare. It had a number of deep scars in its scales and looked very worn out, not too much of a threat...
Then it spat oil that caught flame, spraying across the ground and towards Rusl who dodged out of the way. The fire was spreading quickly now onto the storage cases, those in it were struggling to break free and things weren't looking good at all.
Mouse wasn't brave enough to go down there and fight with him... but she could do something perhaps. She quickly moved over to one of the empty storage boxes that had been shook from the fighting below, placed both feet firmly upon it and pushed. Had it not been already tilted to fall it likely wouldn't have, but with little effort the box tipped right down and fell hard upon the lizard creature below. It roared as the box crashed onto it and for a brief moment Mouse felt pretty proud of herself. The creature wasn't dead but the screeching sound it was making was enough to know she had hurt the thing very badly.
"Alright, we're even now!" Mouse shouted below, her conscious clear. She turned to slip out the window.
"Just go!" Rusl shouted back as he moved to the first storage container, thrusting his sword into the side of it and prying it open to allow the Deku inhabitants a chance to flee. The creature had freed itself from the wooden pile it was briefly buried under and very angry now. Mouse wasn't going to stay to watch any of it.
"Good luck, Ranger!" She truly meant that, he was rough with her but he had kept her safe – which was more than what most adults would do. Mouse slipped out of the window, climbed carefully down and onto the streets below where she immediately took off into a dash. Behind her the fire was taking to the rest of the building, and when fires started in the west district they would burn horribly – the building so old and close together, who knows how many buildings would be consumed before anyone could put a stop to it.
Mouse ran for awhile until the crowded streets welcomed her a place to slip into, where her thoughts began to trail back to the earlier events. She had seen some nasty things before, but what was going on in there disgusted her. She hoped most of them escaped before the fire got too bad, she hoped the Ranger escaped... but maybe with some burns of course, he still had to pay for roughing her up earlier after all.
Loud whistling cleared the streets as the city guard rushed towards where the smoke was pluming up into the air, worried people all over were fretting about how serious the blaze was. Mouse just continued on her way, knowing that the Bombers still had a plan to do tonight and she needed some rest and food before doing so.
She seized upon the chaos and nabbed a loaf of bread from a vendor before retreating over to her hiding spot in the rafters of one of the local temples – one of those honoring the Hylian Goddess, Hylia and the Three Golden Goddesses that supposedly created the land.
Below, the priest spoke about the fire to those who had gathered for evening prayers, "Tomorrow is a great festival, but after events like these it is essential we do all for those who have been affected. There aren't many here that have much to give, I know, but anything you can do for those in need would be great."
"How many have died?" One person asked as Mouse chewed through the bread above.
"I do not know. We should remain vigilant as we may have to evacuate."
She felt bad, she wasn't old enough the last time a blaze like this occurred but she had heard it killed HUNDREDS of people. Most of the west district had been evacuated and left to burn during the cold winter she had heard. She hoped things wouldn't be as bad this time...
As the people below began to sing hymns, Mouse began to doze off. The music was comforting and soft and it quickly pulled her into a dreamless sleep that she needed to digest her big lunch. When she awoke, the temple was empty.
"Ohhh, I hope I didn't sleep too long!" She said as she slid back down and out of the temple. The sun was still out, which was fantastic but it was setting. A dark haze in the sky from the smoke said the flames had not been put out, but it was in the opposite direction of where she needed to be so she assumed the plan was still on. She hurried along the streets to where the Bombers would be preparing the ambush for later.
Bombers were good at blending in, but she could easily spot her fellow thieves amongst the crowd. She even spotted Rat sitting against the building with that same dull face from before. She doubted he would believe the day she has had.
"You still being grouchy?" She asked as she approached him, sitting down by her friend. He didn't much respond, just gave a weak glance over at her. "Ugh, okay whatever don't talk."
"They're moving up the plan..." Rat instead said, "That blaze has got the Gorons spooked, they aren't waiting as long as they normally do to move the product. They're moving earlier so we moving earlier... shouldn't have to worry about guards though, they're all busy with the fires."
"Yeah... any idea how bad it's getting?"
"Heard they're containing it at the river." That was a relief, that means it wasn't spreading too far. "If it was spreading much further they probably would have canceled the shipment all together. But we got people watching them and they appear to be on the move still."
They fell to silence, Mouse was racking her head trying to think of a way to break it. Should she tell him about the Ranger? Or maybe the factory? No that would probably worry him more.
"I'm sorry about this morning, Rat." Mouse instead decided to say, "It's not that I don't care, you know? I just don't think sometimes is all."
"...It's fine." Rat responded which gave her some relief, "Let's get through this and get out of this district, just in case things get bad, okay?"
"Oh yeah, sounds good to me." Taking that as a sign they were on good terms she seized him by the had and ruffled his hair, "We're gonna be fine my friend! Just you see!"
Night had descended upon Clock Town, Mouse and Rat had moved up to the building tops to watch the streets below. As they waited they watched the flames in the far distance, it was almost pretty when you didn't think of the disaster it was causing. She actually found herself worrying about the Ranger and she wondered if he had found Anju's man before the flames got too bad.
"Where do you think it started?" Rat asked and if he had seen her face it would have been one of extreme guilt.
"Oh, uh, I don't know... maybe close to that curiosity shop." Mouse tried to hide the guilt in her voice, thankfully the sharp whistling of other Bombers caught her ear. It was the signal that the convoy the nearing the location now and it was time to get into position.
"Alright, stick to the plan," Rat whispered as the crawled down to a lower building and laid down low to watch as the convoy would come in. Thankfully for Mouse, Rat had explained the plan very clearly – a caravan of three different wagons would ride in. They were guarded by a Goron escort who would take them through the city and to the armory which was their final destination. The Bombers whistled twice which meant there were two Gorons, which did complicated things a bit.
The Bombers had paid to have the main street blocked which would divert the caravan through one of the smaller streets, once they were in target range they would overwhelm the drivers and ride off before anyone could react. Confrontation with the Goron were to be avoided at all costs.
"Here we go..." Mouse whispered to herself as the caravan moved slowly into their view. The Goron were mighty creatures, huge bulky brown and stood around seven to eight feet taller, wide bodies and a tough rock shell on their backs that made the only way to effectively attack one to go head on, which considering their sheer strength it was never a good idea.
About halfway down the street they halted the wagon having seen the blocked road up ahead, the people started arguing amongst themselves, clearly on edge having been redirected several times only to end up here. "This doesn't feel right!" One of the drivers shouted down as the horses became skittish from the arguing.
"This city is on fire and we're here stuck in the streets, gods, can you get the streets open?" The Goron in the front simply nodded and started to move towards the blockade of wood and trash they had set up ahead. The Goron reached the blocked road, and reached to start to disassemble it when movement caught his eye. He stopped, watching closely before realizing that things were about to get very bad...
"It's a tra-" A flicker of flame reached down and touched the blockade, instantly bursting in flames from the oil they had soaked into it. Flames and Gorons were not new things, Gorons lived in climates like that, but they weren't immune to it. The flames burst and the oil splashed against the creature, covering him in the flames.
Mouse hadn't known about the oil and the screams from the Goron were frightening, and soon the quiet streets were engulfed in terror as they tried to react to the sudden flames. The Bombers flowed out of the alleyway, the older and stronger members leading the charge with jagged blades and makeshifts weapons against the armed guards of the caravan.
"Come on Mouse, let's go!" Rat tapped Mouse on the shoulder as he jumped up from hiding. Mouse's legs shook from the violence and fear but she promised she would have Rat's back, so she pulled herself up and pressed forward.
Several men had leaped out of the back of the caravan with weapons in hand as the Bombers swarmed around them. The middle wagon was being cornered by a group of Bombers who had already pulled the driver from the seat and in a fit of chaos stabbed the man several times. "Come on, on the wagon!" Mouse yelled as she pulled herself up, Rat following closely behind. In the back of the wagon Mouse could see clearly what it was they were after; stacks and stacks of explosives lined the wagon. This type of fire power was intense and likely to be sold to other mining operations in the region... what did the Bombers want with this type of stuff?
She could see the Goron in the back moving up to the middle wagon with quick speed as he tried to fend off the Bombers from the caravan. "Let's move, let's move!" She shouted, hoping they would seize the front cart so they could get moving already.
Suddenly the wagon ahead took off as the horses and driver panicked, they made a hard left and the wagon tilted, detaching from the horses and falling right into the flames. A silence seemed to unfold around them as Mouse watched with wide eyes.
"Oh shit, get down!" Rat screamed as he grabbed Mouse and leaped off the wagon, the first wagon caught flame and very quickly exploded in a ball of flame. Mouse wasn't sure what was going on, but the loud noise had left her ears ringing. It was a moment later the noise from the flames and screams of the wounded became clear to her once more.
"Rat? Hey, Rat!" Mouse budged the older boy before slipping out from underneath him. The chaos in the streets was unreal, Bombers laid on the group, hit directly from the flames and peppered by the shrapnel that followed. This was certainly not going to plan.
Having glanced over the gore she turned back to Rat, and that, to her horror, was when she saw it – several splintered pieces of wood had lodged themselves into Rat's back.
Mouse's world fell silent, the screams and flames meant little to her, she stared widely at her friend as her entire body began to shake. "Rat!" She screamed, falling to her friend. "Oh gods no, don't you die from this!"
He moaned in deep agony, he was alive and breathing, but for how long?
Mouse seized Rat and began to pull him towards the wagon, she needed to take it and get him to safety as fast as she could. Already other Bombers had climbed upon the remaining carts.
"Hey, hey, help!" She screamed to the Bomber in the front who quickly made a glance down at her, "Help me, he's hurt!"
The Bomber pushed the horse forward instead, the cart blasting off as eager horses were ready to get out of the area. "HEY!" She screamed, stunned as the carts moved down the alleyway towards the opening they had left open. Her heart was pounding, unsure what to do.
"Trash!" A sudden voice roared, causing Mouse to turn quickly to see the second Goron was still very much active. He had just stumped on the head of the wounded Bomber, smashing the poor kid's skull with little effort, "I will kill you all!"
"No, no!" Mouse screamed internally as she darted to Rat, grabbing him she began to drag him away. The Goron grabbed another Bomber who was trying to flee and ended him as well, his eyes falling upon them as they moved away. "You have to get up Rat, you have to. I can't pull you like this. Don't make me leave you, don't you dare!"
She would! She would leave him in a heart beat, after all remember how he treated her today? She had to live. She didn't want to die...
The Goron neared them, "You killed my friends... my friends!" He raised his fist and Mouse knew she had no other choice. She let Rat go, seized her knife and moved as quickly as she could – towards the Goron. He brought his fist down towards her and she slid right out of the way, using her knife she put all her strength and stabbed his under body, cutting deep into the Goron then sliding the knife to the side so to bleed the Goron dry.
It was the first time she had ever done anything like this, sure she had fantasies but they were always more... heroic. This felt dirty and gross, the blood that splashed onto her was warm, sticky and smelled grotesque. And in her fantasy, which had been fueled by heroic stories told on the streets, they never screamed and cried – the Goron did, he fell to the side and hugged his wound, a wound he would no doubt succumb to.
Mouse's hands shook, she dropped her knife and turned back to her friend, seizing him once more before dragging him away from the mess once again. Not far from the mess she found a small wagon that was left empty, she pulled Rat onto it and started to push the small wagon down the street as she fled the area.
"Stay with me, Rat!" She yelled as she pushed him down the street towards the only place she knew.
How long it took Mouse could not say, but when she reached the Stock-Pot-Inn she banged hard on the door until it opened up to the chef who stared down at the two with wide eyes.
"Oh gods," he muttered under his breath, taking Rat into his arms, "Inside, quickly. What have you two done?!
Mouse didn't answer, she hardly said anything as he brought Rat over to the kitchen and she didn't say anything when Anju came down to see what was going on. What the two did was amazing though, they worked to remove the shrapnel from Rat and stop the bleeding the best they could. Mouse just stayed close to Rat, holding his hand which he gripped tightly.
"Don't die... please." Mouse whispered to her friend, her thoughts flashing back to the alleyway where she had stabbed the Goron. His screams were echoing in her head along side's Rats... she had killed, murdered that Goron. In place of the dying Goron she could see Rat in that same circumstance, dying alone like that...
Tears ran down her face but she made no noise. Death came in many ways, and at that moment she felt a little bit of her die right there... she only hoped Rat would not join her in anyway.