Two
Link stood at the side of the street in Castle Town where the assassination had taken place, his hands on his hips as he looked at the burns in the stone. He wasn't sure what he was trying to find here, but something kept tugging him to this place.
He had come here after spending two days making sure his charges got settled into the care of the Gorons, who had sworn to defend Princess Zelda and Prince Gareth with their lives. Zelda had spent those two days telling him everything she knew about the Triforce and the enemies he was likely to encounter, filling his head with a veritable encyclopedia of knowledge.
Also during those two days, Link had grown noticeably stronger, his reflexes quickening almost exponentially. During sparring matches with a few of the swordsmen who had come along to protect the refugees, Link had gone unnaturally quickly from novice to on par with many of them, able to defeat several of those who had soundly beaten him on the first day in his next match with them. Zelda attributed this growth to the Triforce of Courage and assured him it was a perfectly natural step in becoming the Hero.
Link still didn't like it, though he had to admit it was exhilarating as his body moved almost without him thinking about it during the matches, as if it already knew what to do and just didn't want to wait for him to tell it.
"We are all mourning their loss," said someone behind him.
Link turned to see an older Hylian man in a brown robe and a dark gray cloak standing behind him. He estimated the man's age at about sixty, since his long hair and beard, mostly black, were shot through with streaks of gray and white and he had lines around his eyes, a few more on his face disappearing into his thick beard. A sword hung from his belt, and his dark green eyes were vibrant, curious, and intelligent.
"The country is in turmoil," the man continued, his voice rich and deep. "The Prime Minister is attempting to get things organized, but the assassination has thrown Hyrule into chaos. Who would do such a thing?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Link replied.
The man raised his eyebrows in interest. "Are you?" he said, taking a step closer to the Hero. "Why? Are you one of the royal bodyguards?"
"In a manner of speaking," Link said, meeting the shorter man's probing gaze. For some reason, he thought he could trust the old man.
The old man studied him curiously for a moment before suddenly breaking into a knowing smile. "I see," he said, gesturing subtly to Link's left hand, which was covered by a fingerless glove. "Come with me. If you are who I think you are, I have things to tell you that are for your ears alone."
Link rested his hand on the hilt of his sword underneath his cloak, picking up his speed to follow the old man as he led the way down an alley, which happened to be the same one Link had rushed Zelda and her brother through during the attack.
When they were out of sight and away from any passersby, the old man suddenly stopped and turned to face Link, holding out one hand to the young warrior.
"Show me your marking," he said, his tone serious.
Link removed his left glove, holding his hand up so that the old man could see the black triangular marking there, as dark as a brand or a tattoo.
"Yes, it is as I thought," the old man said, smiling again. "You have the mark of those chosen by the gods." He reached out a friendly hand to clap Link on the shoulder. "I am Majacen, young Hero. I believe I can help you with your quest."
"How?" Link asked.
Majacen waved for the Hero to follow him. "Come with me. I have something to give you. We'll have some tea and talk about what you are to do next."
"Tea?" Link asked the old man, surprised.
Majacen smiled amusedly, gesturing back the way they had come. "You're not going to find anything more back there. You might as well be relaxed while I explain a few things to you, for it will likely be the last chance you get for quite some time." The older man gestured down the alley. "Come on, my trunk is back in my room at the inn."
Shrugging, Link followed the old man through the alley and down a few side streets until they came to an inn on the south side of town, well-kept but obviously not meant for luxury. It reminded him of Ernst's tavern, though he had to admit it was in slightly better shape.
Majacen led the way up the stairs next to the entrance and opened the third door, down the hall, gesturing inside welcomingly. The old man's room was comfortably furnished with a large bed and a table, two padded chairs arranged on either side of it. A large, weathered trunk sat at the foot of the bed, so battered that it was impossible to discern the original color.
The older man waved his hand at one of the chairs. "Make yourself comfortable, young Hero, while I find what I have for you."
Link sat down in one of the chairs, adjusting his sword as he found a comfortable position.
"Help yourself to the tea," Majacen said, opening the trunk and rummaging through its contents.
"What tea?" Link said, even as he saw the teapot and two mugs next to him on the table. He peered at the tea set suspiciously; he was certain the table had been empty when he had entered the room.
Surprisingly, though there was no fireplace in the room, the tea was hot, and smelled of lemon as the Hero poured himself a mug. He took a cautious sip, smiling slightly at the pleasant taste.
As he watched Majacen dig through the contents of his trunk, Link smirked to himself at the sudden turns his life had taken in the last few days. Three days ago, he'd been just another citizen of Castle Town, moving about a fairly ordinary life. Now he was running from sorcerers and protecting royalty and having tea with strange old men who knew more about him than he did about them.
The new Hero thought somewhat sourly that the only real way to cope was to not think about what was happening too much. He just needed to push on to the next part of his quest and find the assassin who had killed the King and Queen.
"Aha!" Majacen said suddenly, pulling out a cloth-wrapped package and holding it up. "Here we are."
He handed the package to Link. "That is for you, Hero," the old man said, settling into the other chair. "It belonged to one of your predecessors."
Link set his mug back on the table as he untied the cloth, pulling it aside to reveal a shirt of chain-mail, the links small and shiny. It was finely made, of even better craftsmanship than what the Hyrule Soldiers wore. He would never have been able to buy something like this on his own.
Under it was a green tunic designed to be worn over the chain-mail, sleeveless and fastened with loop and button ties. Link understood this immediately; green was the color of the Heroes, and this was essentially a uniform to signify his new position.
He looked up at Majacen. "Where did you get this?" he asked.
The old man gestured to the tunic and chain-mail. "A previous Hero left it with me when he finished his duties and left Hyrule. It will fit you, though since you are much taller than its original owner, it may be a little tight in the chest."
Link wrapped the Hero's clothes back up and set them on the table next to his mug of tea. "Thank you," he said. "So, why did the Hero leave his clothes with you?"
Majacen took a sip of tea before answering. "I am a wizard, and my task is to aid those who bear the Triforce, among other things. Ordinarily, a Hero like yourself would be left to engage in his quest on his own, but this crisis demands swift action. The Sorcerer hunts your charges, young warrior, and you are no match for his power in your current state."
"The Sorcerer?" Link asked curiously.
The wizard nodded gravely. "Your foe, the one you bear the Triforce of Courage to defeat. I do not know his name, but his anger and his power both burn brightly, and I have been following him for several days." Majacen sighed heavily. "I was unable to intervene when he assassinated the Royal Family, but I have been tracking him since he committed that atrocity, and I have reason to believe he has left Hyrule to search the Gerudo Desert."
Majacen took another sip of his tea, meeting Link's eyes as he set his mug back down. "As you know, Hyrule has been at peace with the Gerudo since the Treaty of Sogolon, fifty years ago. Your predecessor was the one who met with Sogolon to help establish the treaty, actually." The wizard gestured to the hilt of Link's sword, which poked out of his cloak at his side. "The desert warriors are among the most skilled wielders of the blade in the world. I believe the Sorcerer thinks you have hidden your charges there with them, and so he has gone there to search for his two remaining victims."
The old wizard leaned back in his chair, stroking his beard thoughtfully. He was silent for several moments, deep in thought, but finally he turned to look at Link again. "You must go to the desert," he said. "Do not try to engage the Sorcerer, but instead learn what you can of the sword from the Gerudo. Since you bear the Triforce of Courage, you will learn quickly, and this will be the first step of your journey."
"What about the Sorcerer?" Link asked.
Majacen shook his head dismissively. "Your charges are safe with the Gorons, young warrior. The Sorcerer is interested only in destroying them, but he will never penetrate the mountain people's defenses unless he has a good reason to think they are there." The wizard smiled. "Thanks to your quick thinking, no one suspects that the prince and princess are in the Eldin lands. Most either assume that they were killed along with their parents or that they are hidden inside the castle for the duration of the crisis."
The wizard stood and went over to his trunk again, opening it. "I almost forgot. I have something else of the last Hero's to give you." He produced a shield like those used by the Hylian knights and handed it to Link. "The Gerudo will recognize this, and will let you pass to their secret fortress deep in the desert."
Link accepted the shield, looking it over. It was lighter than it appeared, made of steel and painted blue on the outer side. A large Triforce symbol was set into the upper portion of the shield, and below it spread the Hylian phoenix, only it was painted in green instead of the traditional red.
At Link's questioning look, Majacen chuckled. "The last Hero was somewhat… untraditional. He painted it himself so that it was more recognizable, since he fought alongside the other Hylian knights occasionally."
The wizard stepped over and clapped Link on the shoulder. "The road to the desert is a long one, young Hero. If you give the keeper of the stables on the east road this," he handed Link a small token, "and mention my name, he will give you a horse that was raised in the desert and thus will bear you swiftly and surely to where the Gerudo wait."
Link pocketed the token and slipped the shield and cloth-wrapped package into the magic pocket Zelda had made for him. He shook the wizard's hand. "Thank you, Majacen," he said.
Majacen nodded once. "I shall remain here in Hyrule and attempt to gather information on the Sorcerer. I will contact you if I find anything."
Link thanked the wizard again and bid him farewell, leaving the inn in search of the stables where the horse Majacen told him about awaited.
--
--
Zelda sat quietly by herself on a metal platform high up on Death Mountain's cone, a lookout platform that faced Hyrule. Wrapped in her cloak, the princess stared at the tall white castle in the distance that had always been her home. A deep pang of sorrow stabbed at her heart within her, and for the first time since her parents had been taken away from her, she allowed it through and buried her face in her hands with a sob.
She had sworn to herself not to let her pain show in front of her brother, and to stay strong for Gareth to help him through his own grief, but she could wait no longer and so had sought out a lonely spot to let her feelings out.
The image of her father disappearing under the lance of fiery orange energy the assassin had hurled at him was forever burned into Zelda's memory, as was the scream of her mother, abruptly cut off as the assassin turned his magic on her next. Secure in knowing no one else was around, she pulled her knees up to her chest and let the tears flow freely.
It could have been minutes or hours later that she heard footsteps on the metal walkway leading up to the platform and hurriedly composed herself, wiping her face on her cloak as she turned to see who approached.
"Zelda?" asked her brother's voice.
Zelda leaned out to look for her brother, and saw Gareth standing a short distance down the walkway, wrapped in his own cloak with his arm in a sling, the white strap crossing his chest under the heavy fabric wrapped around him. His expression was mournful, and he looked like he had been crying himself.
As soon as he saw his sister, Gareth stumbled forward and sat down next to her, wrapping his good arm around her as Zelda put her arm around his shoulders, draping her cloak over both of them. He broke into sobs, and she stroked his hair, trying to comfort him.
"I miss them," he sobbed. "I miss them so much."
Zelda felt another tear trickle down her cheek. "I do, too," she whispered, pulling her brother closer.
They sat quietly, mourning their parents for a while longer before Gareth looked up at her, his eyes red as he attempted to compose himself.
"Why did this have to happen?" he demanded, sniffling.
Zelda was taken aback at the question and was unsure of how to answer. She felt her sadness slowly harden into anger as she thought back to that terrible day.
"A horrible man took our parents away," she answered finally. "I don't know why, but since Mother and Father were very important people, I'm sure it had something to do with Father's policies as King. He was a great man, but there were those who did not like the changes he was making."
Gareth laid his head back down on her shoulder. "I'm glad Link was there," he said. "The assassin would have killed you, too, if he hadn't." He squeezed his sister with his good arm.
Zelda nodded. "We must be very grateful to the Hero," she said, looking up at the castle again. "He is searching for the man who killed Mother and Father so he can defeat him."
"Good," Gareth said angrily. "I hope he kills him."
Zelda was surprised at her normally gentle brother's statement, but could not bring herself to say anything, because she thought the same thing.
Instead, she pulled her brother a little closer, and the two of them sat in silence, gazing out at Hyrule from the safety of their protectors' mountain.
--
--
Link sat in the saddle of his new horse and stared at the cliff ahead of him. The horse under him snorted, and Link fought the urge to imitate the sound in frustration.
He reached down to pat the animal's shoulder. "You sure you're from this place?" he asked, looking at the nearly impassable path ahead of them that led into the desert.
Khamsin the horse snorted again. The man who'd given the horse to him had told Link the name meant 'sandstorm' in the language of one of the desert tribes, specifically the wind that drove the storm. So far, the tan stallion with a long black mane had been fairly accepting of Link as a rider, but he could tell from riding Khamsin that the stallion could run as fast as the wind of his name if he wanted to.
Link shrugged, flexing his shoulders as he pondered how to get into the desert. He heard the chain-mail he wore jingle as he did so, and he tugged at the collar of the sleeveless green tunic he wore over it, adjusting it under the baldric he wore to hold his shield on his back. Wearing the tunic of the Hero made Link feel a little more like a warrior, but he knew he had a long way to go.
Khamsin snorted impatiently, shifting his hooves.
Link chuckled. "Yeah, you're right," he told the horse. "We should just go and figure it out on the way."
Ahead, he could see the remains of a road, though it was in disrepair, and as he urged Khamsin forward, the stallion picked his way over the obstructions with a nimble-footed grace, quickly ascending the path as if he had walked it many times before.
After an hour of climbing and carefully picking their way through the treacherous path, Link and his new horse paused at the top of the cliff to look out over the endless expanse of sand that lay before them. Already the sun seemed harsher, and Link took a drink of water out of his canteen, looking for the fortress Majacen had told him about.
He saw only a wide expanse of rolling dunes and mesas, nothing that looked man-made.
Link frowned. I'd hate to get lost in this place, he thought. Nobody would ever know what happened to me.
Glancing up at the shining disc of the sun, Link estimated that he had perhaps another three hours of daylight, and he looked back out at the desert, attempting to figure out how far he could get in that time.
An amused female voice broke into his thoughts, startling the Hero. "Enjoying the view?" it asked in Hylian, the words clipped with a slight accent.
Link dropped his hand to the hilt of his sword, looking around for the woman. He narrowed his eyes and listened closely as he heard a stealthy footstep behind him. Giving no outward indication he knew where the woman was, he continued to listen to her footsteps, and upon hearing the quiet creak of a bowstring, he tensed his legs in the stirrups.
"What are you-" was all the woman could get out before Link hurled himself backwards out of the saddle, flipping through the air to land just in front of the woman, drawing his sword and chopping the head off the arrow she aimed at him in the same smooth motion.
The robed and hooded figure stumbled back in surprise as the bow dropped from her hands. Barely a second later, her hand disappeared into her swirling tan-and-brown cloak and emerged with a scimitar, which she slashed at Link in a horizontal strike.
He caught the slash on the blade of his own sword, forcing it aside to slash back, taking a step forward. His opponent nimbly spun out of the way, throwing the edge of her cloak up to snap in front of Link's face. He leaned out of the way, bringing his sword up to guard, but she had somehow moved behind him and he had only a moment's warning before a booted foot kicked him in the back.
Link threw himself forward, rolling with the motion to jump to his feet and spin around to catch a heavy diagonal slice meant for his neck near the crossguard of his own weapon.
The woman's blade locked with his, and Link used his greater height and strength to push her back, but with a lightning-fast movement, the woman broke away and swept her leg out in a graceful kick that caught Link across the back of his knees. He collapsed, but was able to keep his grip on his sword, and he swatted her scimitar away as she thrust the point at his head.
Just as Link sprang to his feet, the woman spun in three quick slashes that knocked his sword out of the way, but he slipped one hand back to grasp his shield. Just as she thrust again, Link swept his shield around to turn the strike aside.
To his surprise, the woman backed away and lowered her scimitar, amusement in her vibrant light green eyes. "The Green Phoenix," she said, pointing to his shield. "I know that symbol." She sheathed her scimitar, the blade disappearing into her cloak. "You are the Hero, then?" she asked, meeting his eyes.
Link nodded. "I am."
Amusement twinkled in the woman's eyes, all he could see of her face under her scarf and hood aside from the lower edge of a jewel she wore on her forehead. "You are much too young to be the man who first bore that shield," she said. He saw a glimmer of respect in her eyes. "But, you fight like a Hero, even though you lack finesse."
She lowered her hood and scarf, revealing bright red hair and young, attractive features. Link recognized her as a Gerudo, breathing an inner sigh of relief that he had found one of the desert people so soon.
"I am Akama," the Gerudo warrior said. "Why have you come to the desert, Hero?"
"I actually came here to learn more about the ways of the sword," Link said. "I need to improve my skills in order to fight a powerful sorcerer."
Akama nodded. "I could tell you lack formal training. Your Triforce likely makes up for it through instinct, am I correct?"
Link also nodded. "Yeah, I think so. How did you know?"
The Gerudo warrior gestured to him. "You wear the green tunic of the Hylian Heroes, not to mention your shield. I know a bit about your Triforce, since the last Hero to visit the desert told our Matriarch about his powers." She smiled, crossing her arms over her chest. "With some serious instruction, few could match you."
Akama's smile slowly faded. "This sorcerer you fight, is he a tall man shrouded in a dark robe and cloak, his face hidden by a hood?"
That matched the man he'd seen during the assassination, so Link nodded. "You've seen him?" he asked.
Akama gestured at the desert below them. "Some of our warriors have seen him skulking around some old Zuna ruins near here, and I myself saw him not five hours ago, walking through the dunes toward the cave in that mesa over there." She pointed at a mesa a few miles away, by itself in the expanse of sand.
"Is he still in the area?" Link asked, looking at the mesa the Gerudo had indicated.
Akama shook her head. "He may have gone inside the cave, because I have not seen him since then."
She gestured past Link to where Khamsin stood watching the two of them. "Your horse is of our stock, so he should be able to handle the journey."
Akama put two fingers in her mouth and whistled sharply, and a few seconds later, another stallion of similar size and coloring to Link's horse trotted into view, his mane lighter in color and the saddle of a different design. With a quick, practiced movement, the Gerudo warrior swung up into the saddle.
While Link mounted his own horse, Akama gestured out at the desert. "I will take you to one of our fortresses near here," she said. "I am due to report back from my patrol, so I will take you with me." She turned her horse around and waved back at him with one hand. "Follow me."
Link put his heels to his horse's flanks and followed the Gerudo warrior deeper into the desert.
--
--
The Sorcerer kept to the shadows, moving from building to building in the Gerudo city as he listened to the conversations around him. He knew the language well, and so he carefully listened for words like 'Zelda,' 'Hyrule,' and 'Princess,' trying to determine if the Crown Princess and her brother had been brought here.
Once a search of the castle and the surrounding city had proved fruitless, the Sorcerer had made a list of places where a bodyguard could have spirited his quarry and began searching them. He didn't expect that they would have come to the Gerudo Desert, so that was the place where he had come to search first. He had compiled the list in order of likelihood and was searching in reverse order, starting with least likely in case the bodyguard was a clever sort.
He heard nothing but ordinary chatter, some food orders, some gossip, and some discussion of what to do about the recent string of strange murders in the city.
The Sorcerer paused when he heard about the murders and edged closer to the two women who were talking. From their tone and the terminology they used, he thought them city guards in charge of law enforcement.
"Are the wounds present?" one of the Gerudo warriors asked.
"They are, right on the artery," the second replied. "This body was hidden inside an empty house. Two children found her as they were exploring."
"How long had she been dead?" the first asked.
"Hours," the second replied. "The body was still warm when I went to investigate and she was not yet stiff."
The first Gerudo sighed angrily. "This is the third body wounded like this that has been found this month. Who is doing this? No Gerudo would kill her sisters in this manner."
The Sorcerer puzzled over the strange description momentarily before moving on. This had nothing to do with him, so he quickly put it out of his mind. His quarry was not here, so he made his preparations to move on to the next place on his list.
--
--
Link took another swig from his canteen, pulling at the collar of his tunic. He had long since removed the chain-mail, and now wore only the sleeveless green tunic under the desert cloak the Gerudo had given him. The light material kept the sun off his skin while still letting what little breeze there was through. He hated the desert already. It was ridiculously hot and sand was getting everywhere.
Nearby, Akama spoke in Gerudo to several of her fellow warriors while they waited for the commander of the fortress to finish speaking with her superiors in the nearby city. The commander had received an urgent call through the fortress' Communication Stone, and had been talking for more than an hour to the council in the city.
Link waited in the courtyard in the center of the fortress, surrounded by high adobe walls along which women armed with scimitars and bows patrolled, watching the desert roads and the passage into Hyrule.
Several warriors had set up archery targets and were practicing their marksmanship. Link watched, impressed, as they nailed the exact center of the target almost every time, no matter what the distance. Other targets had been set up at seemingly random places around the fortress, and occasionally, at a sharp command from one of the warriors, an archer would suddenly turn and fire at one of the other targets with barely a second's aim, hitting the bull's-eye each time.
Akama approached him, a large recurved bow in her hands. He noticed it was slightly bigger than the bows the other warriors were using, and was carved with different symbols than the other bows.
"Here," she said, an amused smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Why don't you join the others? If you're going to be the Hero, you need archery skills as much as swordsmanship." She handed Link the bow and a string.
Link had watched the Hyrule Soldiers practicing their archery, and though he had never personally shot a bow before, he knew what to do from long hours of watching and observing what the soldiers did. Or at least, he thought he did.
Fitting the loop at one end of the string to the end of the bow, Link flexed it easily and fitted the other loop onto the other end, looking up at Akama to ask for some arrows. He noted her surprised look, and asked her what was wrong.
She regarded him with a puzzled expression, then shook her head. "Nothing," she said, handing him a quiver of arrows.
He took off his cloak and baldric and attached the quiver to the leather belt, buckling it on so the arrows poked up over his left shoulder. He pulled out an arrow and held it in his left hand, holding the bow in his right.
Akama pointed to the target closest to them. "Shoot!" she said.
Link fit the arrow to the bowstring, pulled it back until the fletching nearly touched his lips, and sighted down the shaft of the arrow at the center of the target. He released, and the bowstring thrummed as the arrow leaped at the target.
It missed the target completely, impacting with the wall beyond.
Link sighed disappointedly and frowned when he heard Akama chuckling beside him. Then he noticed something odd about the arrow he had shot. Instead of splintering when it had hit the wall, the arrow had sunk several inches into the stone. Link lowered the bow and walked over to look at the arrow, peering at it suspiciously.
Akama accompanied him and reached out to pull the arrow from the wall, but was unable to budge it. She looked up at him, impressed, and gestured to the bow.
"It is as I thought," she said. "You have great strength, but lack skill. Have you ever used a bow before?"
The Hero shook his head. "No, I haven't."
Akama smirked. "I didn't think so. Your Triforce must make you very strong, because that bow," she gestured to the weapon he held in his hands, "was made for our last king, and he was the only one who was able to use it. It takes two of us to string it, and only a few can even pull the string back far enough to shoot. We use it in competition to test our strength."
Link looked down at the bow. "Really? I didn't have any trouble at all."
Akama laughed out loud. "Exactly. You should realize how blessed you are to bear a piece of your people's Triforce. But, if you are to live up to the reputation of the rest of your country's legendary warriors, you need more practice."
Without warning, Akama drew her scimitar and slashed at Link's forearm. He jerked back and felt the steel of her blade pass a fraction of an inch from his arm, drawing his sword with his other hand and snapping it up into a guard position. The bow clattered to the paving stones as Akama leaped forward, slashing again and again in a merciless whirlwind of strikes.
Link stumbled back, flustered as he tried to block the sudden onslaught, but he felt a strange feeling come over him, one he recognized from the assassination and other times when he'd had to exert himself. Time appeared to slow down, and his sword arm seemed to take on a life of its own, moving independently from his thoughts to block the Gerudo warrior's attacks.
With a clang, his boot brushed his shield, left where he'd dropped it when he put the quiver on his baldric. Immediately, he slammed his foot down on the edge and flipped the shield up into his grip, quickly moving it between himself and Akama, who began adding kicks in combination with her scimitar slashes.
Link ducked under a slash meant for his neck and blocked a kick with his shield, suddenly planting his hand on the ground and swinging his leg out in a sweep kick.
Akama leaped over his kick, but by the time she landed, Link had sprung to his feet and went on the offensive, turning aside her next slash with his shield to send his sword in for a stab. When he saw that she would not be able to block it, Link arrested the momentum of his arm to halt the point of his sword two inches from her navel.
Both of them stopped, breathing heavily, and as Link lowered his sword, time resumed its normal pace and the rush of strength he had felt faded.
Akama chuckled, sheathing her scimitar. "You learn quickly," she said, raising one eyebrow. "Very quickly."
Link nodded absently as he sheathed his own weapon and returned his shield to his back. He was still unused to the strange feeling, which he thought to be the influence of his Triforce, and it unsettled him. He had never done things like this before, and he wasn't sure whether he liked the feeling or not.
"Impressive, young Hylian," a new voice said. Link turned to see a tall Gerudo warrior standing at the entrance to the interior of the fortress, one hand resting on the hilt of the scimitar at her side.
She walked over to him, looking him over with pale blue eyes that sharply contrasted with her tanned skin. The warrior extended a hand and gripped forearms with Link.
"I am Dalaana," she said. "I am the commander of this fortress. I understand you want to receive weapons training?"
Link nodded. "Yes, I do. I need to learn quickly before the Sorcerer finds the people I'm protecting."
Dalaana nodded sharply. "We will begin immediately."
Suspicious, Link dropped a hand to his sword. "How immediately?"
Dalaana grinned, drawing her scimitar. Three more Gerudo did the same.
"Immediately," the commander said.
Link sighed heavily and drew his sword.
--
--
Author's Note: Readers of 'The Fourth Piece' will recognize Majacen, since he features in that story, also. Silverwolf05 has posted a picture of him as he appears in 4th Piece on DeviantArt, so to reach it, go to my profile, click on the 'Homepage' link, and once you're there, go to 'Browse Favorites' and it should be there. Since he's more than three hundred years younger in this story, just picture his hair as mostly black for how he appears in this time period. More character portraits and other 4th Piece-related art can be found in my Favorites section, so go check those out if you have not already done so. Chapter 3 is almost completely finished, and should be up within a few days. Thanks to all readers and reviewers!