Three
"Enough!"
"Oh, thank the Goddesses!" Link exclaimed, sagging against the wall next to him. He dropped his sword and ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair, breathing heavily. The sweat rapidly dried in the intense desert heat, providing no relief whatsoever.
"Here," Akama said, tossing him a full canteen of water.
Link downed the entire container at once, allowing himself to sink to the ground beside the wall once he was finished. He continued to breathe heavily, trying to calm down, and nodded wearily to Akama as she leaned against the wall next to him. Infuriatingly, she was not even breathing hard. Granted, she had been only one of five Gerudo who had been fighting him at once, but still…
"You are improving rapidly," Akama said. "Already you are a warrior to be reckoned with."
Link sighed, shaking the canteen to make sure it was really empty. "Well, I should hope so," he said, hearing nothing. "It's been almost a week of solid combat training." She nodded, so he added, ticking the list off on his fingers, "In the desert. Sixteen hours a day. Almost no rest breaks. Five on one."
Akama laughed. "This is just the basic training we give our children."
Link looked over at her despairingly. "How old are your kids when you make them do this?"
Akama laughed harder. "Ten."
Link spluttered incredulously. "Ten? No wonder you're all so tough."
The Gerudo warrior grinned. "This is just the first tier of training, too. Unfortunately, you don't have time to go all the way through, but with the way you've progressed over the last week, I'm certain you would make it."
"Thanks," Link said, finally able to control his breathing.
The Gerudo were merciless, completely intolerant of weakness, and so he had quickly had to adapt or suffer the consequences. His Triforce had been in overdrive, and Link now felt stronger and healthier than he ever had in his life. He had a few impressive scars on his arms from times when he had been too slow, too. The Gerudo didn't believe in training weapons.
Akama offered her hand to help him to his feet, and she flipped his sword to him with the toe of her boot once he stood. "Come," she said. "Dalaana wishes to speak with you."
Link sheathed his sword, dusting off his tunic. "The final test isn't fighting her, is it?" he asked, dreading the answer. Dalaana always beat him when they sparred, even when he pushed himself to his limits.
The Gerudo warrior laughed. "No, you are finished for today. In fact, your training is finished completely. If you keep practicing what we have taught you, no one but a Gerudo will be able to match you with the blade."
Link looked over at her. "Really?"
Akama nodded. "I am certain most of your progress is due to your Triforce, but you have a natural talent with the sword. You would have become an expert swordsman even if you hadn't been chosen as your country's Hero."
The young warrior grinned. "Thank you."
Akama gestured to where Dalaana stood at the exit to the fortress, a concerned look on the commander's features.
"Well done, Hero," Dalaana said, extending a hand to grip forearms with Link. She indicated that he follow her, and he did so, mounting the steps up to the walkway that ran around the top of the outer wall.
Once they were at the top of the stairs, Dalaana moved to look out at the vast expanse of shifting sand and Link joined her.
She was silent for a while, and Link was glad for the rest. He leaned on the parapet and watched the sun play over the dunes and rock formations spread out before them the desert seeming to shimmer under the heat mirage.
Finally, the Gerudo commander spoke. "We are happy to honor our treaty with your people, Hero. It has been an honor to train you, but the council requests a favor in return."
Link looked over at her. "Sure. What do they want me to do?"
Dalaana met his gaze, her expression serious. "There have been a string of bizarre murders in the capital over the last month. We think there is some sort of creature loose and hunting at night. The council wants you to help us capture the creature and destroy it."
Link nodded. "What do they know about it?"
"Just that it only hunts at night," Dalaana replied. "The murders have been less frequent since we picked up on the pattern and began taking precautions, but we still find another body every few days."
Link frowned thoughtfully. "How are the bodies wounded? Is it the same every time?"
Dalaana nodded. "Two small wounds on the main artery of the neck, but there is never any blood, since the bodies are drained of it. There is almost never any further injury, either. The investigators cannot figure out how something could kill a Gerudo warrior without her fighting back."
Link looked out at the desert again. "Well, I'm grateful for the training, so I'd be happy to help. What do you want me to do?"
The Gerudo commander gestured back down the stairs. "I will send Akama with you. You can be at the city by nightfall tomorrow if you set off this afternoon."
The Hero nodded once. "Let's go, then."
--
--
Zelda looked across the chessboard at her brother, smiling slightly at his thoughtful expression. The two of them leaned over the board, filled with small stone pieces one of their Goron hosts had carved for them a few days ago. They had been playing quite a bit of chess since then, as Zelda discovered that it successfully kept Gareth distracted and happy as he struggled to defeat his sister at the ancient game.
Around them, several Gorons watched with rapt attention. Chess was new to them, since most of their contests were of the more physical kind, and the elders and a few of the other Gorons had been watching the royals' matches closely, attempting to learn this new sport.
Zelda was winning this game, but as usual, Gareth refused to give up. He had only a knight, two pawns, his queen and a sage to protect his king, whereas his sister still had most of her pieces and had spread them cunningly over the board. Zelda knew Gareth had only one move he could make to avoid losing another of his pieces, and she watched him closely to see if he saw it.
Frowning thoughtfully, Gareth reached out to touch his remaining sage, but hesitated, looking at Zelda's queen, which sat only a few spaces away. It was directly in the line he could move with the sage, but if he captured Zelda's queen, one of her knights would then be able to capture his sage.
Still frowning, Gareth moved his sage on its diagonal line and captured Zelda's queen. She took his sage with her knight immediately, and attempted to hide her smile as she saw a sudden flash of insight on her brother's face. In capturing his sage, Zelda's knight had moved out of the way of her king, which sat directly across from Gareth's queen, two spaces over. In two moves, he could win the game, since none of her pieces were close enough to her king to capture his queen should he move it. A pawn, her rook and her other knight blocked the king's way in the only other ways it could move.
Grinning triumphantly, Gareth moved his queen across the board to sit within range of her king. "Check," he said.
Zelda reached out and touched her sage with one finger. "Check," she said, pointing at his king. She laughed lightly as Gareth groaned. In moving his queen, he had left a straight diagonal line from her sage to his king.
"I didn't even see that!" he said in amused frustration. He looked up at the Goron patriarch as the enormous rock-man laughed deeply, reaching out to lightly pat the prince's shoulder before he left.
"I didn't either, the first time I played chess with Grandfather," Zelda said. "He did the exact same thing to me, letting me think I'd beat him and then springing his trap. Now, do you want to see what you could have done differently to prevent me from doing that?"
Gareth shook his head, smiling resignedly. "I think that's enough for today. Maybe next time." His expression wavered slightly as he looked up at Zelda. "Grandfather must have trained Father well, because I never saw you beat him at chess."
"No," Zelda agreed, "I never did win a game of chess against Father. I used to love to watch him and Grandfather play. Their games could go on for hours as the two of them tried to outmaneuver each other. It was almost more exciting than a real battle."
Gareth sighed lightly. He was quiet for a long moment before he looked back up at Zelda. "What do you think Link's doing?" he said, idly reaching out to pluck one of his captured knights from in front of her. He rolled it between his fingers as he waited for her to answer.
"I'm not sure," Zelda said. "He hasn't checked in in a while."
"Do you think he's fighting the man that… that attacked us?" Gareth asked.
"I don't know," Zelda answered. "But I'm sure he's doing everything he can. It won't be too much longer."
"I hope not," said Gareth. He gestured to the chessboard. "All right, show me what I did wrong."
Zelda smiled slightly as she leaned over the board again.
--
--
Link and Akama reached the Gerudo city just as the sun set the next day. The Hero was tired; every time they'd stopped for a so-called 'rest break,' Akama insisted on sparring, pointing out any flaws in Link's technique she could still find. Thankfully, she found less to correct with each match, and Link grew more confident with his skills all the time.
Two city guards greeted them at the gate, and Akama explained in Gerudo who Link was and why he was here. They stepped aside and opened the gate, waving them through.
The city was small and not very ornate on the outside, arranged in square blocks with straight, stone-paved streets. Occasionally, a curve could be seen, but almost all of the buildings were square, and the tan stone of the city wall towered over everything. No building was high enough to see over the wall, but Link thought this didn't matter because there really wasn't much to see besides sand outside anyway.
A young girl took their horses and led them off to the stables while Akama showed Link to the council building. It was square and relatively plain on the outside, like most of the other buildings in the city, which Akama explained was a necessity because of the occasional sandstorms that swept through the area. Any carvings or decorations would not last long against the abrasive sand, even with the protective barrier of the city wall lessening the storms' ferocity.
Inside, the ceilings were low, only a few inches over the tall Hero's head, and the hallways were narrow, lit by torchlight and the occasional skylight propped open with a stick of wood.
Akama led the way through the halls of the council building to where the Matriarch waited. "She is the ruler of our people," the warrior explained as they walked. "Her role is to rule our tribe until the next king is born, and thereafter to train him to assume the throne."
"So she's like your queen," Link said.
Akama shrugged. "Not exactly, but she is the ruler of our people, so be sure to be respectful."
Link nodded. "Of course."
As they reached a set of wooden double doors, two Gerudo armed with spears stood aside to let them through, watching the strange man in green and whispering to each other once the doors closed.
Waiting inside the council chamber, a circular room lined with a ring of plain, straight-backed chairs, was a tall Gerudo woman in her late thirties or early forties with long flame-red hair and tanned skin, like the rest of her tribe. Her clothes were of finer quality than the others, and the jewel she wore on her forehead was set in a fancier mount, but otherwise, she appeared to be a typical Gerudo warrior. An ornate jeweled scimitar hung from her belt.
"Welcome, Hero," she said in unaccented Hylian. "The Gerudo tribe is honored to have you as our guest."
"Thank you," replied Link, touching his left fist to the opposite shoulder in the gesture of respect Akama had shown him.
The Matriarch met his gaze with her amber-colored eyes, an interesting color Link had never seen before. "As I am sure my warriors have told you, we have some sort of creature loose in the city. I request that you help us destroy it."
"Certainly," said Link. "I'd be happy to help."
The Matriarch nodded sharply. "Good. Since you already know Akama, you can work with her to find the creature." Her expression became gravely serious. "Be on your guard. This creature is deadly, and we do not know where it lurks. It could be anywhere in the city." She gestured to Akama. "Both of you, stay within sight of your partner. One thing we do know about the creature is that it only attacks when its victims are alone."
Akama touched her fist to her shoulder and bowed. "Yes, my lady." She looked over at Link. "Let's go."
Link bowed to the Matriarch and the two of them left the council chamber.
--
--
The Sorcerer stood shrouded in his cloak at the top of a waterfall in Zora's Domain. So far, none of the aquatic people had seen him, and he was going to make sure it stayed that way. If the alarm was raised, Zelda and Gareth would disappear while the Zoras fought him.
He extended his senses, searching for the distinctive feel of the Triforce. He felt nothing, and expanded his senses farther still, mentally searching the entire village.
Still nothing. Wait, something to the west, in the direction of the desert. The Sorcerer scowled; he'd just come from the desert, and he'd found nothing there.
He focused on the spark of the Golden Power he had sensed and spread a network of questing tendrils out to discern the Triforce Bearer's identity. It didn't feel like Wisdom, and it was too weak to be Power, so that left only Courage.
The Sorcerer opened his eyes. The Hero. The chosen warrior of the Hylians' gods would almost certainly know where Zelda and her brother were; in fact, he might be protecting them himself.
Frowning, the Sorcerer focused harder on the Triforce of Courage. It was active, and he could sense that the Hero was drawing heavily on his piece of the Golden Power, likely in a battle or other dangerous situation.
The Sorcerer took off, levitating toward the desert where he could watch the situation more closely.
--
--
Link and Akama sprinted through the streets, running after someone in a long dark cloak fleeing them. After an hour and a half of searching, coordinated with several other teams of Gerudo warriors, one of the teams had surprised what they thought to be the creature about to feed on its latest victim.
Link and Akama had come running, and now they chased the stranger in the enshrouding cloak through the city streets by the light of the moon, which was nearly full overhead.
Akama gestured at a side passage and broke away from Link, circling around to cut the creature off ahead.
Link pulled out the bow the Gerudo had given him and stopped just long enough to shoot an arrow at the fleeing cloaked figure's back. The creature stopped, and Link saw a rag-wrapped arm emerge from the swirling cloak to catch the arrow and snap it in its fingers. As it pivoted, Link caught a glance of glowing orange eyes within the enshrouding hood.
He put away his bow and drew his sword as he sprinted down the alley again. This thing seemed to be human, or at least had taken human form, and that surprised Link. He had been expecting some kind of animal.
As the Hero pushed himself to greater speed, he saw the swirling black cloak flutter out as the figure ducked into a nearby building whose door was open. As he rounded the corner, Link heard Akama's voice shout a challenge and an unearthly shriek answer her.
He ran into the building in time to see the cloaked figure shove Akama out of the way and jump down a flight of stairs, the ragged cloak fanning out like an enormous pair of wings.
"You all right?" he asked the Gerudo warrior as he passed her.
She nodded, running down the stairs after him. "This leads into the catacombs," she said. "We bury our dead in this complex."
"Why would it go into the tombs?" Link said, legs pumping as he pelted after the creature, straining just to keep it in sight.
Low, narrow tunnels flashed past him, the occasional torch providing meager illumination. He knew he should slow down to avoid tripping, but the creature was much faster than he was, and he didn't want to lose sight of it in the maze of tunnels.
"Is there another way out of here?" Link asked his companion, nearly hitting a wall as he tried to round a sharp corner without slowing down.
"No," Akama answered. "I will call for warriors to block the entrance. There is nowhere for it to go. It's trying to lose us so it can double back and flee."
Link sheathed his sword as they ran through the tunnels and brought out his bow again. The archery training had been just as intensive as the sword training, and now Link could hit the bull's-eye four times out of five.
He paused at a long straight section of tunnel and drew the fletching back almost to his lips, sighting along the shaft of the arrow at the creature. When he was sure he had the shot, he released the arrow and grinned in satisfaction as it hit the cloaked figure between the shoulders. The creature stumbled and pulled open the door to one of the tombs, staggering inside.
"Ha!" Akama crowed. "We have it now. Be on your guard, Link. Now that it is cornered, the creature will fight even more fiercely."
The Hero nodded as he put away his bow and drew his sword. The two of them stopped on either side of the tomb's door and paused for a moment to catch their breath, their eyes meeting as they readied themselves. Akama nodded slightly, gesturing with her chin for the Hero to go first.
Link shouted fiercely as he sprang inside the tomb, his sword held out in front of him. The tiny circular room held a stone slab on which a white-wrapped body lay, but he saw no sign of the creature. Slowly, he moved further inside the tomb, stepping over the grave goods piled next to the slab. His eyes darted quickly around the perimeter of the small chamber, trying to pick out any shadows that seemed larger than they should be.
His ears pricked at a small sound behind him, but he recognized it as Akama's footstep as she cautiously stepped inside the chamber. Link's senses seemed ten times sharper than normal, and the dark tomb posed no impediment to him as his eyes adjusted to the miniscule amount of light filtering in from outside.
He saw a dark curtain partitioning off another section of the tomb, and he slowly walked over to it, pushing the edge of the material aside with his sword.
"Link," Akama whispered behind him, a note of fear in her voice.
The Hero glanced back at the Gerudo warrior to see her eyes locked on the ceiling over his head. Tightening his grip on his sword, Link slowly looked up and felt an icy tendril of fear slip down his spine.
The curtain was not a curtain at all, but the creature's cloak, hanging draped over a section of the tomb's wall. As he looked up, Link got a good look at the creature's face under its hood. It was vaguely humanoid, with dark gray skin and solid orange eyes, and as it opened its mouth, Link watched in horror as the canine teeth slowly extended out, to the point where they could only be described as fangs.
The creature hissed softly, its face upside-down relative to the Hero's, and it met Link's eyes with a hypnotizing stare, its pupil-less eyes steadily holding his gaze.
Link drew in a shuddering breath, more afraid than he'd ever been in his life, but he could not look away from the creature's penetrating gaze. Its corpse-like lips drew away from its pointed white teeth in a terrible smile, and it hissed again as it crawled slightly towards the frozen Hero, staring deeply into his eyes.
The Hero somehow felt his fingers tightening on the leather-wrapped hilt of his sword, and his breath came in short gasps as his mind raced, trying to think what to do.
The creature overhead growled softly, an almost amused sound. Link saw its arms tensing on the ceiling, and he whipped his sword up just in time as the creature sprang for him, hands trying to fasten around his neck.
He sliced at the creature's hand, but it pulled back and struck Link across the face, knocking him backwards over the body on the stone slab. He scrambled to his feet, but the cloaked figure dropped to the floor and stood, meeting his eyes with its hypnotizing stare again. When the point of his sword began to rise, it let out a loud, eerie shriek, a terrible echoing sound that seemed to stab into the Hero's core.
Link froze, nearly overcome with terror as the creature reached up with its long-nailed hands and lowered its hood, revealing a hairless, skull-like head that looked like it belonged on a week-old corpse. Slowly, growling quietly, the creature took another step closer to the Hero.
"Wh-What are you?" Link managed, bringing up his sword to point at the creature as it continued to slowly circle the stone slab on which the body rested.
The creature cocked its head to the side and bared its fangs again in a gruesome parody of a smile, still staring at the young warrior. Link heard a soft sound to his right as Akama took a step toward the creature and raised her scimitar.
Its smile abruptly vanished as the creature turned and, faster than either the Hero or the Gerudo could react, lashed out with one fist and knocked Akama backwards out of the tomb. It turned back to Link, but the second its eyes had left his was enough, and he sprang at the creature, swinging his sword in a powerful slash meant for the place where its neck met its shoulder under the cloak. It snarled in surprise and ducked out of the way with superhuman speed, catching Link on the back of his head with a powerful blow as he stumbled past.
The Hero fell to the ground and rolled over, bringing up his sword as the creature jumped at him, cold gray hands trying to wrap around his throat. He planted the palm of his other hand on the flat of his sword and held the creature back as it pressed its fangs closer to his neck, growling.
Link grunted in desperate effort as he tried to force the creature away, but it was much stronger than he was and it leaned in closer in a mockery of a lover's embrace, withered lips drawing further back as its teeth sought his neck.
The Hero flexed his arms and pushed with all his strength, forcing the creature back, and their eyes met again as the creature hissed with effort, fangs spread wide. Its eyes glowed with a cold light, and Link felt it trying to hypnotize him again, but he strained against its overwhelming mental force, feeling the now-familiar tingle of his Triforce grow stronger as he drew deeper upon its energies.
Their faces were now only inches apart as the creature redoubled its efforts, and its breath was frigid on Link's skin, its hands locked around his wrists and cold as ice as it tried to push his sword closer to him. The flat of the blade was now all that separated its body from his, and Link felt its icy grip sapping his strength as he strained to push it away.
He flexed his arms and, with incredible exertion, forced the creature away from him. Its mouth only inches from his face, the creature shrieked loudly right in his ears, and Link felt his strength drain away at the horrible sound. Grinning triumphantly, the creature leaned in for his throat again.
Incredibly, Link heard the creak of a bowstring being stretched back, and both he and the creature looked up to see Akama with Link's bow in her hands, an arrow nocked and aimed right at the creature's head.
The creature turned its hypnotizing stare on the Gerudo warrior and let out another eerie paralyzing shriek, raising itself up slightly.
Akama froze in terror, arms shaking as she shuddered, but this proved to be the creature's undoing. Akama's fingers slipped from the bowstring, and the arrow leaped out and caught the creature in the shoulder, knocking it backwards.
Link scrambled out from underneath it and stabbed before it could react, plunging his blade into its chest. The creature shrieked in pain and glared murderously at the Hero, its cold orange eyes meeting his once again. Hissing in pain and effort, the creature's frigid hand locked onto Link's wrist and, surprisingly, it pulled itself closer, its other hand reaching out to grasp the back of his neck.
He brought his other hand up to press against the creature's throat, and it was like touching a block of ice as he pressed it away as it pulled itself closer, fangs opening wide again only an inch from his throat. Link pushed with his sword and his other hand and managed to halt its advance just as its sharp teeth brushed the skin of his neck, shoving it back a few inches.
A booted foot caught the creature in the stomach below Link's sword and it flew backwards, taking the Hero's blade with it. Akama swiped at the creature as it stumbled to its feet, but the creature ducked under the warrior's scimitar and pulled the Hero's blade out of its chest, bringing it up in front of itself.
Akama slashed and the creature blocked, skillfully turning the Gerudo's scimitar aside before lashing out with a long-nailed hand to claw Akama across the face. The Gerudo stumbled back a little, gasping with pain, and the creature grinned triumphantly, stabbing forward with Link's sword.
It didn't get far. Link launched himself forward and tackled it around the waist, driving the creature backwards until its back hit the stone wall of the tomb. It grunted and dropped Link's sword, which he promptly pounced on, jumping back a few feet to raise the point at the creature.
He glanced quickly behind to see that Akama had vanished, but he didn't have time to worry about her, because the creature jumped forward for him again, gray, corpse-like hands outstretched.
Link dropped to the ground and swept his leg through the creature's, knocking it off-balance so that it toppled into the stone slab face-first. He rolled to the side and came to his feet with a scimitar in his right hand, his own sword in his left.
As the creature slowly got to its feet, Link saw Akama run inside the chamber with a torch in one hand and her scimitar in the other. She gestured to the creature with the torch, and Link understood. When the creature swept its long-nailed hands out at him, he turned them aside with his sword and drove the scimitar into its chest, pushing back to pin it to a large, brittle woven basket stuffed full of clothes and blankets, all decades old.
He jumped back, and Akama darted forward and thrust the torch into the basket, turning to run as it caught fire almost immediately.
"I am sorry, sister," she said to the white-wrapped body on the stone slab. She shoved Link backwards through the door to the tomb and slammed the metal door closed, holding it shut with all her strength.
Link heard the awful shrieking of the creature inside as it jumped for the door and slammed into it, trying to force it open as the grave goods and the body inside burned. The Hero pressed himself to the door and helped Akama hold it closed, wincing at the heat coming through the door. The heavy metal door quickly heated up, and it scalded his shoulder through his chain-mail as he pressed it against the panel, but they knew they could not relax and so held the door closed at the creature pounded on it from the other side.
It seemed like hours but was only seconds later that the pounding stopped and all sound save that of the fire ceased. Gratefully, Link pulled away from the door and held a hand to his shoulder, feeling the heat of the chain-mail slowly dissipate. Gingerly, he put his hand inside his collar to check his shoulder, but was relieved to find that he hadn't been burned.
He stumbled over to the wall opposite the tomb's door and sat down, leaning back against it. Akama wearily sat down next to him, dropping her scimitar on the stone floor next to her.
Link gestured to the door. "Is that going to be okay?"
Akama nodded. "The walls are stone and the doors are metal. The fire won't spread."
Link sighed, still breathing heavily. "Good."
The two of them sat in silence, waiting for the fire to burn itself out and silently thanking their respective deities that they had been able to defeat the creature.
--
--
Once more Gerudo came to investigate and guided them out of the catacombs Link slept in the bed he was offered for several hours as if dead. The sun was high in the sky, almost directly overhead as he finally emerged from his room and sought out Akama.
Together, they returned to the tomb where they had fought the creature and found the Matriarch waiting for them, sifting through the charred wreckage with the tip of a spear.
"Nothing survived," she said, turning to face them. "We destroyed the creature's remains this morning and scattered the ashes over the desert."
Akama met her ruler's eyes apologetically. "I am sorry I had to destroy our sister's tomb, my lady, but we had no other choice."
The Matriarch nodded once. "It is all right, sister. My grandmother would be honored to know she was able to help you destroy this abomination."
Grandmother? Link thought. Suddenly, he was even more sorry he had had to burn the tomb. He started to say something, but the Matriarch held up a hand.
"You have honored us with your assistance, Hero," she told him. "No apology is necessary." She straightened and changed the subject to prevent him from trying to apologize anyway. "Is this creature from Hyrule? Based on Akama's description of it and its powers, it is not something the Gerudo have seen before."
Link shook his head. "I have no idea what it was, milady. It resembled a creature Hylians call a 'redead,' but this was much more powerful than the description I received."
The Matriarch glanced briefly at the body on the stone slab, covered in a fresh white sheet in stark contrast to the blackened stone around it. "Perhaps you can consult your country's wise men when you return," she said quietly, looking back over at him. "You are welcome to stay here as long as you like, but your quest likely cannot wait."
Link nodded. "I am very grateful for your training, but you are right. I should be getting back to Hyrule."
The Gerudo leader gestured to his companion. "Akama will see you back to the road to your country. Feel free to return whenever you wish, Hero."
The two of them left the Matriarch behind in the tomb, and Link felt a nagging guilty feeling as they left the fire-gutted crypt behind.
Despite the fact that they had defeated the creature, the destruction of the Matriarch's grandmother's tomb weighed heavily on the Hero, and he was silent as he and Akama left the catacombs.
--
--
The Sorcerer sat patiently in a small hollow in the side of the cliff that separated the Gerudo Desert from Hyrule, his dark cloak making him appear to be nothing more than a shadow on the rock.
He sensed the Hero drawing closer, and he allowed himself a small smile as he spied the green-clad figure atop his horse, paused at the edge of the road back into Hyrule conferring with another mounted figure, a Gerudo warrior.
When the Hero left, the Sorcerer would follow him and force the young warrior to reveal the location of his charges. Then he would kill all three of them.
--
--
Author's Note: For those of you who are interested, I'm next working on an entry for 'Missing Pieces,' my oneshot collection based on my other story, 'The Fourth Piece.' I'm then going to write another chapter in my Metroid story, which you can reach through my profile if you want ot check it out, and then I'm going to alternate between that story and this one until both are completed, so updates will probably come about every two weeks on this story, though it may go faster depending if I get a sudden burst of inspiration. Thanks for reading!