They joined the four women out in front of the gate to the desert. All eyes but the ones he was with were narrowed on the dark-haired Hylian. He cleared his throat to divert his attention away from them.
Link made a b-line right for the scary women. Obviously being one of them made them less scary. "Is everything ready?"
The Gerudo leader (who I'm gonna call Samira) bowed her head to him. "The warriors are prepped and ready for battle. But I implore you. My girls are fully capable of handling this thing." She leaned in closer to him. "I mean, do we have to bring him?" Her head cocked towards Knil.
Link just smiled. "Of course." He cupped a hand over his mouth to whisper in her ear. "He's not so bad. I think he's just cranky because he's been locked up his whole life. This'll be good for him."
Samira sighed in defeat. "If you have faith in him, I suppose there's no reason why we can't."
"Good." Link waved to the woman atop the tower. She nodded and started to raise the gate to the dessert.
As the gate rose into the air, Samira stepped in front of the group. "Alright. The winds in this area can be savage. Visibility will be almost non-existent. So, stick close to each other, and follow Brother's lead."
Knil went to stand by Link at the head of the group. It was still the only place he didn't fear an attack. Epona made her way over to Link as well. He grabbed his bag from her saddle, sliding it over his shoulder. The horse nuzzled Link with her head, trying to urge him to get on. Link stroked her nose. "Sorry girl. You can't come, remember? The sand's too light, in this area. You'd sink right in."
She snorted in protest, knocking Knil away with her head. Link grabbed her reins, turning her back to him. "Now, stop that."
"Does that horse still not like me?"
"I'm the only one that seems to like you."
Knil could feel his face flush at the comment. "I still don't get that one."
Link had one of the other Gerudo lead Epona away as they started into the desert. (I'm gonna ignore that you need hover boots to get in this place. Link doesn't quite have enough for everyone.)
Samira was right. The winds alone seemed almost enough to knock you off your feet. Not to mention the sand kicked up by it, cutting into your skin. The faeries each had to take refuge in their master's collars. Knil soon found he was gripping Link's Quiver to keep from getting separated.
It was obvious now why they had entered as a smaller group instead of bringing all of the warriors along. The dry heat, from the air, made it difficult to breath as well as see.
Link stopped, to make sure he hadn't lost anyone. His hand guarding his face, he grinned at Knil, who's eyes was mimicking him, eyes nearly closed against the sand. "And this is without a storm." He called over the roar of the wind.
"Why is the wind so harsh then?"
"You see those cliffs?"
Knil looked to where Link was indicating. "They cause a sort of wind tunnel in this area."
Samira came up behind them, closely followed by her warriors. "How much further is it?"
"There's a small pocket of calm just over this ridge. It's in there." He pointed ahead on the direction he was leading."
"Alright. Well, let's hurry."
"Right." Link started on ahead, with his little band following. Knil pulled up next to him. "How do you know which way you're going?"
"Instinct."
"No, really?"
"When I was searching, I marked my path with these green flags." He indicated one of the flags ahead of him. It whipped violently in the wind, but miraculously stayed in place.
Knil had remembered catching a glimpse of one earlier, but he didn't really stop to think that they were following them. The fact that Link could see them in the first place was astonishing.
"The Gerudo started this system of finding their way through the desert, so I just copied them."
"Make's sense, I guess. And you know we're close by?"
"There are thirty-four flags in all. We just passed twenty-one."
… "Oh." Knil wasn't even about to point out that he couldn't count. It wasn't fair.
Even more bizarre than this freaky desert was what came next. One minute there were violent winds whipped all around… then nothing. They walked into what seemed like an air pocket amongst the sand. The wind had stopped, and the deafening sound was replaced by even more deafening silence.
Knil let go of Link's quiver and looked around. Ahead there was nothing but calm planes, but when he turned around, all that existed was a wall of swirling sand. The Gerudo filed out of it, past him. Ivan flitted out of his collar. Shaking the sand from her wings. Knil reached a hand into the wall of sand, feeling it try to cut through his glove. "Surreal."
"Hey." Link walked up to him, followed by Navi. His hat was in his hands, trying to shake the sand from his hair. "We just got here. You can't go back."
"I'm not going back. I was just thinking that I liked this place."
"What? This spot?"
"Not just this spot." They turned and started heading off. "The whole desert."
Link eyed him skeptically. "Why?"
Knil shrugged. "I just do. It's completely opposite of the temple. And there's no water here."
Link tried to hold back his smirk. "Um, Knil. You do know what an Oasis is… don't you?"
Knil could still hear the amusement in his voice and became annoyed. "Of course I-" He paused, thinking about it a bit more. And as much as he hated to admit it, "Eh… not really, no. Why?"
"Well, just listen."
They both got quite, approaching the cliff where the Gerudo warriors had gathered.
The deafening silence had seemed to fill with an all too familiar noise. They joined the four women, who were looking over the cliff's edge in awe… Knil just felt sick.
At a lower level was a large collection of water, falling off over a step-like ridge, into a river that stretched into a vast grove of tropical trees. It probably would've been a beautiful sight, if it wasn't so wet.
Samira clamped a hand on Link's shoulder. "I'm impressed. So, where's the entrance into the caverns?"
"It's at the bottom of the waterfall. Come on. I'll show you. Just be on your toes." To Knil's surprise, Link stepped back and dived head first off the cliff into the pool below. The Gerudo slid in after him.
Knil walked to the edge, trying to urge himself to follow, but he couldn't seem to take that last step. Whenever he thought he could, the sight of the water engulfing the others just reminded him of what it was truly capable of. And he wasn't sure if he could face that again. Knil had closed his eyes, hoping it would help, when he heard Link call up to him. "KNIL! WHAT'S WRONG? COME ON!"
It was probably only about 40 feet, but it seemed like hundreds. There was no way. "I uh… I THINK I'LL STAY UP HERE! IN CASE SOMETHING GETS PAST YOU!"
"BUT I NEED YOU! JUST COME ON! NOTHING'S GONNA GET UP THERE!"
"NA. I'M GOOD!"
"FINE!" He heard a female voice call back. "YOU STAY THERE!"
"YOU'LL PROBABLY JUST GET IN THE WAY ANYWAY!" Came a different retort.
They were far away but Knil could almost hear them laughing at him. He was willing to bet Link was even laughing. The women followed the young Hylian over the side of the falls, riding down towards the bottom.
Knil watched them go for a bit, before he slumped to the ground, drawing his legs to his chest. Ivan settled on his shoulder, patting his cheek. Knil sighed. "Wow. I'm pathetic."
AN: HA, i just realized i had this written for a while now, and hadn't posted it... my bad
