Well everyone, here it is. The latest installment of my little story which i sadly do not own any anything off. Regardless. This chapter for some reason was extremely hard to write. It just didn't want to cooperate at all. Had to beat the thing out a few times, so i have this horrible feeling that it sucks completely, but i wanted to get it posted ASAP for all my wonderful readers. After all, you guys are the important ones here and i really really hate making you have to wait. So, if it is terrible, i apologize but at least i had good intentions right?
Storming the Fortress (Part Two)
At first, Dark's plan was to ride valiantly right up to the fortress and slaughter everyone in sight. In his anger-hazed mind, this seemed like a good idea. 'Find Link. If someone gets in the way, kill them.' However, the merits of simple and easy to follow plans fell thought as he suddenly realized that if he was fighting a horde of trained female warriors, while he had no problem defending himself, he'd never fought on horseback…sighing, he pulled Epona to a stop and climbed down, giving her a gentle pat on the flank.
"Thanks for bringing me this far. You should go back now. If something happened to you, Link would never forgive me."
The horse snorted and turned to trot back. Dark wondered if she was just trying to shrug it off if indeed she even understood. Dark still didn't know for sure, but she sure acted like she did. Eh, whatever.
Really, it hadn't been that long of a ride. The breeze it generated was what had helped clear his head in the first place. Without the benefit of air circulation, suddenly the concept of a fortress-wide massacre to rescue Link from his almost certain peril was starting to sound like a good idea again. Very unlike Link, Dark jogged down the stone corridor and past the stairs to follow Link's trail. He didn't want to wait for all the guards to be facing away but though it was difficult, he curbed his instinct.
C'mon Dark, pull yourself together. What would Link say if you came to rescue him all covered in blood? I know he'd say something…ehh…but my tunic is black; it wouldn't show up. Still… he's always going on about doing things the right way…
Link slipped quietly down the chilly halls of the thieves' hideout. For some reason, the rooms and halls were disconnected, always leading back outside, forcing him to enter through a different door. When his first 'area' exited back out, it was to the main entrance of the fortress and all the security it had to offer. To the right, a low wall of wooden crates was all that shielded him from the guards and beyond that he had no desire to risk his neck to find out. Another door sat off to the left and only when he heard the sound of retreating footsteps did he dart towards the fortress door and the darkness inside.
Outside, the sudden flash of the blinding noonday sun had robbed Link of his night vision, so as he ducked into the dark halls inside the hideout, he spent his first few seconds blinking the little white dots out of his vision. Once he could see again in the dim halls, the first thing to greet him was the large horned skull hanging from the walls.
Apparently the Gerudo like to keep trophies of their spoils, he thought as he shook his head. The concept seemed kind of vain to him. Never mind that each dungeon he'd sacked, he always came out with a souvenier bow, a hammer, a new pair of boots, two extra sets of clothes. Or, back when he'd still been a child, he'd gotten a slingshot, a boomerang and a bracelet. But of course, that was completely different.
What was it even from? An ox? A buffalo? The skull seemed to grin at him from the wall dead ahead. It seemed to be a T-junction with one wooden crate blocking off half his hallway. Maybe it made him feel young again but Link actually liked getting on the ground to inch his way around the box to see down the hall. Left was, of course, a dead end with nothing whatsoever in it. Link sighed. For some inexplicable reason, dead ends bothered him to no end. Down the hall in the other direction, Link saw a hall branch to the right and another to the left at the end. He decided to take the first corridor, since a Gerudo was disappearing down the far hall, or not necessarily a Gerudo but someone carrying a long bladed staff and getting into unnecessary fights would not be in his best interest.
Once he felt the coast was clear Link slipped out of his hiding spot to take the first fork right and take the ramp up and out into the sun again. Back outside, the heat crashed into him like a wave of scorching ocean water, though the salt water that drenched his face was not from the ocean, but his own sweat. Up on a ledge of the tan stone, the sun was merciless in its attempt to ignite the boy where he stood. Sweat ran in shining rivulets down his face, making his eyes sting. Goddess, it was like the Fire Temple all over again. As he reached up to wipe his face on a sleeve, the sudden sound of footsteps right around the corner made him freeze.
Step. Step. Step… Scuff… Step… Step…
Peering around the corner, Link saw the purple-clad guard strolling the other way. Not that there was much room to stroll to on the small balcony, so while he had the chance, Link slipped around the corner and into the cool darkness that the Gerudo was supposed to be guarding.
The constant changing back and forth from heat to cold, light to dark, was really starting to mess with both his body's temperature control and his eyesight. A tightening in his shoulders foreshadowed the pounding headache that would come brutally knocking at his skull several hours later when all the adrenaline cleared his system. Until such time as it did, however, Link would descend the ramp before him into the bowels of the fortress once more. Readjusting back to the darkness again made his eyes ache and he had to half slide down the ramp, keeping his eyes shut till they'd adjusted more.
Again, descending into the bowels of the sandstone fortress took Link to an open room with a prominently displayed jail cell in the wall, and in it a rather frightened-looking carpenter. Link couldn't tell the difference between him and the first one.
"Hey! Young man! Look over here!"
Link sighed, already smelling a habit in the making. Apparently no one had ever taught these carpenters the meaning of quiet.
"Yes, now please keep quiet while I figure out how to open this." If the gods were feeling generous. If the oaf hadn't already alerted the local security.
"Be careful though. There's sure to be a Gerudo guard somewhere…around…here…woo, watch out!"
Apparently they weren't feeling generous. Just as before, a scarlet-clad Gerudo guard dropped from the ceiling. She had the same weapons; two identical scimtars, the same catlike grace and the same apparent desire to show off as much skin as reasonably possible.
She noticed him staring and winked. "C'mon boy, you wanna dance? We already know about you and we don't fall for the same tricks twice." Link rolled his eyes. He'd never been one for pre9battle banter. Trash-talking opponents just wasn't something he normally did since most creatures weren't capable of talking.
Hissing like a coiled snake, she attacked like one also, relying on quick stabs and vertical slashes that slowly pushed him back towards the wall. Even if he could get off the defensive and find an opening to attack, he already knew the dual blades defense and his "Dark" move would only work on horizontal slashes. The fast, relentless assault of stabbing blades made it through the Hero's guard, leaving him with multiple shallow cuts along his arms.
Like with Dark and the giant Stalfos, in fact anytime Link was in a crisis, his first habit was to mentally check his pockets to perhaps use a different tool to accomplish the job and his mind fell on such a simple, devious…admittedly, it was also a cruel and unusual plan, but still. Perhaps it was the heat, but Link was finding himself very short-tempered. So, he decided to try something different and go along with his cruel plan.
Using the wall for momentum, Link pushed off with a heavy diagonal slash. The sudden change in his bearing forced the Gerudo to back off for a minute and that instants open sealed her fate, for when Link turned, she saw him throw something at the ground and then a bright flash of light and nothing after that.
For Link, the Deku nut was a very simple item, in fact one of the first he ever got. When broken open it would release a flash of light that would temporarily paralyze anybody caught in the blast radius. And the Gerudo woman wasn't moving so it had apparently been successful. Stunned, she could do nothing to stop the Hylian from strolling up and casually pick-pocketing the key that was hanging from her belt before heading off down the nearby hall to hide around the corner. He didn't want to open the cage quite yet.
Another effect of the exploding Deku nut was that after the paralysis faded, the Gerudo guard wouldn't know that any time had passed. From her perspective, there'd been a flash of light and the intruder had simply vanished. She glanced around cautiously, looking for some sort of ambush. When she went to take a step forward, she kicked something round and heavy, like a rock. Four rocks.
Link, who was lying in wait around the corner for her to move, had his bow in one hand and a fire arrow already nocked and ready. Aim…fire.
The bombs all went off in order, like dominos falling, and the resulting explosion blasted the Gerudo off her feet and flying into the hard sandstone wall behind to slump to the ground.
Yes, the heat was definitely getting to him. Normally he wouldn't have considered something so brash but this place was really starting to grate on his nerves.
He turned and unlocked the cell door cell door, letting the carpenter man out, but when he turned back around to put the Gerudo in the cell, she was gone. Frowning, he looked around for where she could have slipped off to. High above, the defeated guard gave her report to the Gerudo Leader. She leaned back in her seat, toying with a long red braid thoughtfully. Perhaps this kid was worth looking into.
"Hey, thanks for saving me! You're a cute kid."
Link stared for a minute, horrified. This fat, ugly middle-aged man was hitting on him? The thought made Link more then a little ill, and his mind jumped to Dark; the only other male to do so…to Link's face anyways. At least Dark wasn't horrendous; after all, he was modeled after the Hero of Time himself, and while Link didn't think his looks were anything special, the number of his female acquaintances who regularly took time out of their day to go and flirt with him and, not to mention the random multitudes of women who would give him a suggestive smile as he strolled through town, indicated that perhaps he was a fair bit more attractive then he gave himself credit for.
Having had the opportunity to look at someone nearly identical to him, he could see why. They weren't exactly alike though. Aside from the obvious differences in the colors of their hair, clothes and eyes, Dark was also slightly shorter and slightly less muscular, but still cute in a childish sort of way…when he wasn't downright leering at the blond, that was.
The carpenter, however, didn't seem to notice Link's rather obvious distaste and went on, "Man, those women are scary! I'm getting out of here. Being a carpenter doesn't sound so bad anymore. Please save the others. If you do, we'll give you something nice."
Before prancing off, the man went so far as to wink at him. Link didn't reply. He was too busy resisting the urge to vomit. After all, where in the rules of being a hero did it say that just because he was a pillar of justice and righteousness for all the land to follow that he had to put up with this kind of blatant sexual harassment?
Grumbling irritably, he continued off down the stone corridors of the hideout. As expected, the tunnel led back out into the brilliant sunlight, temporarily blinding the Hero once more. Hissing against the light as he covered his eyes with a sleeve, Link stumbled his way out onto the ledge. Once his vision cleared, Link stood on a seemingly dead-end area. He looked around but aside from the way he'd just come through, two walls and a drop down to a lower ledge. He thought about just jumping down but upon closer inspection, the wall straight ahead was pitted with holes and jagged rocks that might give enough of a foothold to climb to the ledge above.
Fortunately for his hands, Link was wearing gloves. Otherwise, scaling that wall would not only have sliced into his palms but after sitting out in the glare of the hot sun for hours on end the stone fortress was quite literally hot enough to fry an egg on. That exact fact had been proven several days before up on the roof of the fortress, though eggs fried on the ground tended to be somewhat more crunchy then eggs cooked normally.
Aside from taking the front gate, there really was no other entrance for Dark to take, nor any other path to follow than to walk the footsteps of his Hero. The side entrance, wait till all the guards are faced away then run across in into the dark halls of the fortress. The chill breeze inside surprised him. Dark would have thought that with as hot as it was outside that in here it would be baking like an oven but it was just the opposite. Oddly it was just the opposite.
Shrugging, Dark began his casual stroll down the halls. As a warrior, Dark was always cautious, but he lacked Link's need to be sneaky. The swordsman didn't believe in all that 'sneaking around' crap, especially when it was clear that no one was there. The first room, empty. The jailcell sat open and the brown shards of glass littering the floor indicated that someone had already been through and pillaged the pottery. Yep, Link had definitely been here.
But not anymore. Dark only spared enough time to give the room a quick going over before moving on. Not a sound could be heard in the dark stone tunnels aside from the echo of his boots and his worried sigh as he moved back up the hall and out into the small boxed-in plaza. The heat crashed down over him like a flaming blanket, suffocating him. Dark was reacting to the heat far worse than Link had been. He avoided the sunlight whenever possible.
Though he would have preferred to take his time inside, the need to track down Link before he hurt himself was enough to speed the shadow down the halls, practically jogging. When he got to the split fork, he followed after Link by taking the first one he came to and, like his Hero, ended up on a ledge cringing away from the sun. Dark went jogging right on through and back into the fortress, down the ramp and past the second empty jail cell. Apparently Link had been here too. The residual smell of gunpowder in the air attested to this but no sign of the Hero's current whereabouts.
"Dammit Link, where are you?"
By now, Dark was full-out sprinting as a growing feeling of unease in settled in his stomach. He didn't stop to notice trivial things. For him, the only way to go was down, so that's what he did. The short drop left him standing right in front of a door and relief from the heat. Following the corridor around a corner, Dark again entered into a larger open room with a prison cell set into the wall, but this one was occupied.
"Hey! You, young man! Look over here."
"Sorry. Too busy to deal with you," Dark muttered, not even deigning to give the man a passing glance as he strode towards the far corridor. The man stared, horrified as his hope of salvation passed him by.
That was when a Gerudo dropped from the ceiling to eye the warrior speculatively.
"Mmm…I'd heard we had a rat but I was expecting someone a little more…impressive looking. Our boss wants to see you . Come quietly and you won't get hurt too much, little boy," she whispered huskily.
Dark rolled his eyes. It was just one thing after another today. "I don't have time for you either lady so get outta my way," he growled.
Thinking it was Link, the Gerudo just laughed. "We've already heard all about your tricks and they won't work again. The leader said we're to stop going easy on you. We were just supposed to measure your abilities but now she wants to see you, so you're coming with me whether you want to or not."
The Gerudo drew her scimitars, glaring and hissing and waiting, tensed to strike. Dark was unimpressed. So unimpressed, in fact, that he didn't even bother to draw his sword and instead walked right past the woman.
To be so ignored was extremely insulting. Intent on teaching the boy a little respect, she lunged forward, both blades moving smoothly into a series of quick slashes that would disable both of his arms, leaving him defenseless against strikes at his legs and stopping his mobility, which would leave him open to a knockout move.
Theoretically.
As the Gerudo lunged forward to slash at him, Dark slipped between her blades and caught hold of her wrists. "Listen, bitch. I warned you already. Don't. Get. In my way," he snarled, swinging her over one shoulder and slamming her into the floor.
The carpenter stared at this unchecked display of brutality, horrified. Even though the Gerudo women were scary, this guy was like a nightmare come to life. He cringed back as Dark opened the door and tossed the unconscious Gerudo into the cell.
"Go on. Quite your sniveling and get out of there."
The carpenter nodded hesitantly and exited the barred area. "Th-thanks for saving me. I'll tell you something interesting I overheard. Some Gerudo were talking about how you would need something called the 'Eye of Truth' to cross the desert to get to the Colossus. Apparently that's where their headquarters, the Spirit Temple is."
Dark nodded. "Thanks. And don't worry about her. She'll be fine sooner or later," he said, glancing down at the Gerudo as he locked the cell door.
"Oh no sir, I'm not worried at all. Do you know what they were going to do to us?" he asked in a terrified whisper. When Dark shook his head, the carpenter pointed up at another of the Gerudo "Decorations."
Hanging from the wall was…what seemed to be a man. His head had been shaved and he was hanging upside down with both legs broken at the knees so they could point in opposite directions. His arms had been sewn with colorful feathers to look like the wings of a bird.
"They killed a guy and had him preserved…and he's not the only one. I've seen three others." The carpenter glanced around nervously, flat-out running when Dark pointed him towards the exit.
Following the hall, Dark came to another room. He stood at the top of a ramp that ran down to the right and beneath him was what seemed to be a sort of mess hall. On the other side of the mess hall was an identical ramp leading up and out, but he couldn't cross the room due to all the guards. He looked around frantically for some way to cross, knowing it was only a matter of time before someone looked up. He saw an opportunity and he took it by making a run at the wall. A few of them did glance at the door, but they wouldn't see anything suspicious as Dark glanced down from his position, crouched up on top of a rafter.
Though there wasn't much room between the rafters and the ceiling, Dark was physically fit enough to leap from one rafter to the next. Of course, if he missed his footing, he'd plummet to the ground, probably making a mess and getting some women very angry at him. As entertaining as that would be, there was a certain blond in here somewhere who demanded his immediate attention.
So, Dark had to forego his fun as he dropped to the ground on the opposite ramp to slip out the door. Fortunately, when this ramp led him back up into the sun, another door was sitting right there, so his night vision didn't completely die. The familiar dark stone halls once again embraced him, chilling the beading drops of sweat on his forehead. Gods, but that was exhausting. Every time he walked through a door he was assaulted by the exact opposite of what he'd gotten used to. It kept his body in a constant state of readjusting and he didn't like it at all. The place should have been an oven, cooking its inhabitants like roast Cuckoo. Why then? Why was it so cold?
The stone walls conducted sound. He knew his boot steps would echo so when he heard talking somewhere down the hall, he had to be very careful to avoid making any noise, creeping close enough to make out what they were saying.
"… looking to waste."
"I don't know. I'd like to be able to see him every day."
It sounded like a group. Dark poked his head around the corner and grit his teeth. There was Link, bruised all over and hanging by his wrists from some wall-mounted manacles as a green-clad Gerudo trailed her fingers down his chest. His sword lay discarded off to the side.
"Well, I think we should have some fun with him first. He is pretty cute, don't you girls agree?"
There was a murmuring of general approval from the group of eleven surrounding Link.
"Of course, I'll have him first but don't worry, ladies. You'll all get your chance to take a turn with the 'prisoner'," said the one wearing green.
With a satisfied chuckle as no one disagreed, the Gerudo leader leaned in towards the captive Link, lips parted slightly as though for a kiss.
That did it. Dark burst out of his hiding spot and stalked out into the room with a feral snarl. The Gerudo leader turned to see what was interrupting her and with her all eyes turned to stare at the boy who had so foolishly walked right into the middle of a large group of hostile trained warriors.
"Well, now. The Goddess has seen fit to give us another boy-toy. We'll have to have an extra celebration for this." The group chuckled appreciatively. "You've got guts kid, we'll give you that, but you don't stand a chance."
In that instant, Dark found himself in the middle of twenty two sword points aimed at him should he resist.
Link watched anxiously as Dark stared coldly at the leader of the bandit group. There was something different about the way he held himself. The Dark he knew would grin, crack a joke or make a snide comment.
Unflinching, each word formed with icy precision, Dark drew his blade.
"I stand as helpless as a hunter in a herd of cows and I intend to butcher you all like the cattle you are."
That's Link was seeing in Dark's eyes. His ruby gaze glowed, shining like the blood he planned to spill without remorse. Full intent to kill. Dark had always, even in his most flirtatious moments, had a childlike innocence. Seeing him here, ready to kill without hesitation, scared Link even more then all the Gerudo combined.
"No! Dark, please. Do not kill them." He flinched at the look Dark gave him. "…for me."
Dark eyed Link impassively for a moment before nodding. "Fine. But you're getting out of here as soon as you can. Wait for me outside."
Several more guards poured in from behind them. Dark didn't bat an eye.
"Dark, are you serious?"
"You do not want to know how serious I am. Get out now. You owe me this at least for ditching me back there."
Link sighed. Dark had a point. He knew it was a bad move, knowing how Dark felt about the matter. But at the time he'd felt justified in doing so. So, with extreme frustration, Link sent up a prayer to the Goddess Farore to carry him back to where he'd originally cast the spell. The Gerudo watched on in silence as the two argued, unsure how to react.
That was when their prisoner suddenly disappeared. The manacles he'd been caught in stayed shut and attached to the wall, but Link was gone.
Now, all twenty two blades that had been pointed at him before just out of habit were now aimed in dead earnest. "Where is he!" the lead thief shrieked, but Dark's icy glare never faltered.
"You should be thanking your gods that the one person dear to me has asked that your lives be spared. Make no mistake, if I had my way, I would see each and every one of you dead."
And then he swung. Even surrounded by so many people, Dark was still putting up a fight. Even against the trained warriors, his unorthodox way of moving made all their training as easy to read as Link, so it was no hard task to spin his blade like a fan and deflect five, six, seven attacks at once. Plus, seeing as how he was lacking in any sense of fair play, he had no problem grabbing any Gerudo that got too close and using her as a shield or even a projectile weapon. There were a few occasions where the girl he grabbed soon found herself barreling into her peers. It was a way to keep them on their toes while clearing his way to the wall.
The Gerudo seemed to think that it was a good thing to get him backed up into a corner.
Wrong. That was playing right into his hands, for that corner was where the Master Sword rested. Wielding one blade, Dark was fearsome. Wielding two, he was a nightmare. He hissed, baring his fangs at the group of women who'd dared to lay a hand on his Link; now that he had the last thing he needed from this fort it was time to start dishing out punishment.
The scimitar was a well-forged weapon. Compared to the Master Sword, or Dark's ebony blade, they might as well have been using sticks. Finally unleashing his full strength, each swing Dark made was accompanied by the sound of shattering metal as he sheared through the steel to snap the ends of their blades off, leaving them open to a sword hilt smashing into a jaw.
In accordance with Link's wishes, he wouldn't kill anybody. But he could sure as hell break some bones. One thing to be said for the Gerudo tribe however was their indomitable fighting spirit. Even with a broken jaw and no weapons, they still continued to attack, and worse, the commotion drew more. Even though he was more skilled by far, Dark couldn't avoid every attack. His black tunic was made so that his scratches blended in. It never looked like they damaged him at all, but he still felt all his injuries.
In the end, Dark had to flee.
When he teleported back into the empty first cell room, the first thing Link did was head outside. After all, those were Dark's instructions and unlike some people, Link was actually capable of following directions. He snuck back out the way he came in and waited for Dark.
As it turned out, he didn't have to wait all that long. Dark came dashing out of the uppermost window and started jumping down balconies to the ledges below. The thirty guards followed close behind him. Dark hit the ground running and so did his entourage. The three ground level guards even joined in the chase after Dark, who was sprinting away as fast as he could.
"Link! Run!"
He didn't need to be told twice. The two raced down the canyon side by side and Dark took the opportunity to hand back the Master Sword right as the chasm over the river came into view. Link had just reached the edge of the chasm, looking down into the rushing waters of the river when he noticed that Dark was no longer with him but back waiting to hold off against the oncoming horde.
"Dark! Get out of there!" he screamed, pushing magic into his voice to layer it with the authority that just might get the boy to heed his command. Instead of turning and running as the wave of screaming purple banshees descended upon him, Dark simply vanished as Link felt something burning against his chest.
That's right. Dark was connected to the Water Medallion. He was safe, then; Link knew instinctively. With his partner out of danger, Link gave the furious female army one last smile and a wave before leaping off the cliff to plummet down into the raging waters below.