Chapter 38: Koume and Kotake

Whoever misleads the upright into an evil way
will fall into his own pit.

~Proverbs 28:10

Somehow, the Knights and the carpenters, now five in all, found their way to the third cellblock without incident. Arswaine knew it should have given him hope, but the closer they came to their objective, the more he became uneasy.

By a silent agreement, they all entered the cellblock at once. As with the other blocks, there were two cells here, one of them empty. Daphnes unlocked the left-hand cell and waited for Shiro and Jiro to wake their brother. With a snort, Ichiro jolted to his feet and lunged out at them as if they were Gerudos come to rake a whip across his back.

Jiro grabbed his brother's arms and quickly whispered an explanation.

Ichiro muttered to himself. "Dreaming again…"

"No." Arswaine took one of the man's arms and led him out of the cell. "The danger is real, as are our hopes if we can complete our escape."

"Sir." Glamis spoke quietly, but the tone of his voice made them all stop and look up. A single guard had walked into the cellblock and turned to face them as if she had known they were there. She had not drawn her sword.

"Do not waste your words on denial," she said, breaking the silence. "We know who aided your escape."

Glamis tightened his grip on his scimitar. "If you know this much, you must also know that we are able to defend ourselves."

"I know far more than this. Three of you are Knights of Hyrule, a foe who should have died out long ago."

Daphnes dropped the keys to the cellblock. The guard's answer was so unlikely that he knew it would be impossible to refute. "How, in the name of the King, would you know—?"

"Nabooru was foolish to think she could hide her deception for so long. There is not a woman among the Gerudos who shares her skill for thievery; nonetheless, I have observed her without her knowledge these past three years."

"Yet…it seems you did nothing." Arswaine ran his thumb along his chin in thought. "Would you not have been rewarded for betraying us all to Ganondorf?"

The guard smiled. "Perhaps I would have been suspected as an accomplice."

Shiro scratched an elbow. "Why are we wasting time talking? There could be thirty more Gerudos lining up out there ready to spear us the minute we walk out."

"Yes." The guard's smile faded as she approached. "There are many who have waited for a moment such as this. What began seven years ago must be completed. If indeed there is a remnant of the foes of Ganondorf gathering, we must not remain idle."

Daphnes stood at Arswaine's side, ready to step between his lord and the Gerudo's blade if necessary. "You mean to stop us?"

"No." The guard bowed slightly. "We intend to serve with you."

In communion with a darkness both physical and spiritual, the two witches hovered across from one another on brooms made from the wood of the Great Deku Tree: a trophy of their conquests seven years ago. With the runes on their black robes lit in gold fire, they saw a vision of the temple and the three intruders now on their way to this place.

"Curse them." The blue witch shook a shriveled fist. "That shield should have been destroyed, Koume."

"And it will be, Kotake," said the other. "Nabooru isn't herself. We know her weakness, even when she tries to hide it, don't we? We know how to…confuse her."

"We should have killed her when we found out she was stealing food."

"But you know that would have upset Ganondorf."

Kotake said nothing, and the two of them sat in silence until the room echoed with the sound of a door closing. The vision disappeared instantly, and they swerved to face their guests.

"Looks like someone is here, Koume."

"Looks like it, Kotake."

Link and Nabooru, with Navi between them, stepped forward onto the square stage that filled most of the room.

"I knew that one day Din would repay you both for the blood on your hands." Nabooru pointed her sword at them. "I didn't know she would ask me to be part of it."

Koume chuckled. "Did you hear that, Kotake? They came to offer themselves to Din."

"Just like Muhjah," Kotake said. "She offered herself, too—and Din accepted her!"

Nabooru balled her fists. "Link…"

Link shook his head. "I won't let them control you!" With that, he took up his bow and shot an arrow at Kotake. Before it got there, a wall of ice materialized in front of the witch, and the arrow clattered to the stage, covered in frost.

"Looks like the boy wants to be first." Koume adjusted her broom so that the handle pointed at Link. Flames licked at the tips of her fingers but did not burn her skin.

"Nabooru?" Link returned the bow to its place and picked up his sword. "The Mirror Shield?" When no response came, he looked and saw that Nabooru had gone stock-still, and her eyes were brimming with an expression of absolute hatred.

Navi's voice interrupted. "Link, watch out!"

At the last minute, he rolled and avoided the fire spewing from Koume's broom. It hit the stage where he had been standing and spread out in a five-foot radius like a puddle. Nabooru had jumped away and was sprinting towards the north end of the stage. Link followed her as closely as he dared.

He heard one of the witches muttering. "Oh, he'll get a surprise now, won't he, Koume?"

A sizzling sound in the air, alike and yet different from the sound of Koume's flames, sent a warning to his brain, and he threw himself aside. From the corner of his eye, he saw the stream of ice meant for him beginning to envelop Nabooru, but somehow she twisted herself so that the Mirror Shield took the brunt of it. The magic bounced off the shield's surface, the angle such that it redirected the attack at Link.

In a split second, the ice had caked around his body, and he had lost all mobility. Navi beat herself against it, but this proved unnecessary, since the ice shattered of itself after a short time.

Before his body could readjust to the temperature of the room, he felt Nabooru push him over, and he saw her kneeling over him with one of her scimitars raised above his head, her hate-worn eyes flowing with tears. He heard Koume cackle and say, "Now we can take care of both traitors at once!"

With a grunt, he seized the wrist of Nabooru's right arm, stopping the motion of her sword. Then he grabbed her other arm, still holding the straps of the Mirror Shield, and yanked it across his body so that the shield was the first thing to meet the onslaught of Koume's flames bearing down on them. He tried to keep his arm steady so that the shield would reflect the attack back at Koume, but his strength wavered just enough for the flames to miss and strike Kotake instead.

Kotake screamed as her sister's flames boiled the ice magic flowing through her body. Steam rose from her robes. She gurgled and collapsed to the stage. Link gathered his strength so that he could push Nabooru off and try another shot at Kotake with his bow. This too proved to be unnecessary.

The moment Kotake screamed, the terrible expression had left Nabooru's face, and she became aware of herself again. "I'm sorry," she said. "They made me think you were one of—"

"Them," she had been about to say. But Link had already slid out from under her and fixed an arrow to the string. The shot pierced Kotake's right shoulder, and the witch began to convulse.

"Oh ho." Koume, hovering at her sister's side, seemed unmoved. "Time to get serious, Kotake."

Link had been reaching for another arrow, but something made him hesitate. Already, Kotake was showing signs of recovery, but it wasn't this that drew his attention. The witches had begun circling each other on their brooms, inching closer and closer and moving faster and faster with each turn until their bodies touched in a blinding explosion of fire and ice.

When the air cleared, they saw that Koume and Kotake had vanished. In their place, a much younger woman hovered over the stage, lithe and beautiful, holding both broomsticks in her hands. Instead of hair, jets of fire and ice protruded from the back of her skull like tentacles.

"Now what?" said Navi.

"We stay together," Nabooru said, glancing at Link. "When the witch attacks, use the Mirror Shield. If she falls, I will attack." As she handed him the shield, her features hardened. Link thought that look more terrible than the one she had had while under their spell.

They heard a laugh, more youthful than the cackling of Koume and Kotake, and turned back to face the witch. With a sly wink, she raised the broom in her left hand, pointed it at them, and sent a column of ice spewing from the end of it.

Link stood in front of Nabooru and ducked behind the Mirror Shield, bracing himself. This time, instead of bouncing off, the magic simply died as if absorbed into the shield. A bright blue gleam the color of the ice burned on the shield's glassy surface.

He wanted to ask Nabooru what it meant, but the next volley came before the words could form on his lips. Again, the witch used the broom in her left hand, and again the ice was absorbed into the shield. The blue gleam grew fiercer.

"Their toy isn't working now, is it?" The witch floated toward them with a smile on her sun-darkened face. "How will they like our magic without it?"

"Move!" Nabooru pushed Link forward, and they dashed underneath the witch to the opposite side of the stage.

The witch turned to follow. "No way out, striplings. It's time you learned Twinrova's penalty for intruding so boldly into her temple." With this, she paused, raised the broom in her right hand, and loosed Koume's fire.

Nabooru knocked the Mirror Shield aside and shoved Link to the ground. The flames passed over, leaving Link unharmed but lighting the bottom half of Nabooru's pantaloons. She screamed and rolled over, slapping at the silken fabrics.

"Why did you do that?" Link helped her put out the flames and pulled her to her feet.

She moaned. "You saw what the flames did to Kotake, and the shield is full of her ice magic."

Link shivered at the implications of that but had little time to consider it, because the witch had lifted her left broom, and the ice gathered on the fibers. A moment later, the ice was hurtling into the shield—but this time, the reaction was different.

The shield seemed to get brighter and brighter, like a rising sun, until the blue of the ice magic became pure white. Suddenly, the light burst from the surface of the shield, and the pent-up magic spat out at the witch in a mockery of her own attacks.

Clouds of steam rolled off her body, and the wail that left her throat was more like the guttural tones of Koume and Kotake than the sensuousness of this younger self. Wobbling, she drifted to the floor, and Nabooru was there to meet her with both scimitars out.

"You made my mother a slave to Ganondorf." Nabooru gritted her teeth at the writhing heap in front of her. "You destroyed the worship of Din and tried to make us slaves to your so-called laws and your perversions." She paused. "Your years of bloodshed are over."

Link winced at the blow she delivered, thankful that Nabooru was an ally.

Navi whispered in his ear. "That's it, isn't it? We've found the last Sage."

A dozen replies spun through his mind. It seemed like months since he had set out from the Temple of Time on the quest Rauru, Sage of Light, had given him.

Now, it was almost over.