Moving On Chapter 6

Lightning danced across the courtyard, along with it two combatants locked in fierce battle. Eightfold longblade firmly in hand, Link dodged every lightning strike with worrying efficiency, hastily making his way to Riju who herself was still struggling to aim her lighting accurately without the help of Link's bow. Guards heard the commotion and despite their worry, Teake reminded them they had to be vigilant of attack lest the worst come to pass. She held faith in her chief to handle an intruder herself. She was a truly strong warrior by now and it was telling that the only battles she lost were the ones that caught her off guard.

Link closed in quick, lunging past a lightning bolt to strike with his longblade that Riju parried with her twin scimitars, striking back with multiple retaliatory slashes before he was able to retreat. Looked like she wouldn't be able to strike him down from afar, her technique wasn't yet refined enough for such a precise attack. Riju lifted her right saber up high and held the left to her side, dancing in a spinning motion, lightning striking the blades as she moved, the charge dancing along the metal of the swords. Her dance flowed into a flurry of attacks as she charged Link, lightning dancing with her, up through her blades and into Link's longblade as he was forced to block. He dropped the blade seconds before the lightning crept up his arm and retreated once again by backflipping.

She had to admit, for an imposter his technique was somewhat close to that of Link himself. And much like Link himself, such a move was not in truth a retreat, but an evasive attack. he lunged forward the second his feet touched the floor, unsheathing a wind cleaver and attacking with his own flurry of attacks.

Despite being close to Link's level, his attacks were nowhere near as fast, so she at least was able to block them though with some difficulty. Riju backstepped away the second she was given the opportunity, a sharp stinging pain running across her midriff and legs as she did. She looked downward to see multiple shallow cuts all over her, she'd forgotten the secondary attack of the wind cleaver, the air itself was her enemy.

He had certainly studied from Link himself, maybe from afar or maybe from personal (Probably near death) experience in battle. Maybe there was something she could learn from Link as well.

This was bad, this was bad. He'd already lost too much time fighting in that hideout, if only he still had that arm, he'd have gotten out much quicker. If he wasn't quick enough now, she'd die, she might even already be dead. Yiga disguises are perfect, even Zelda they were able to perfectly emulate in terms of looks, they'd definitely be able to trick Riju. If he wasn't quick enough, if he was too late, he'd lose her forever, and who knows what'd happen after that, the other sages, they had no idea. If he was too slow... It'd be just like that time, just like the champions. No, he couldn't let that happen, not again.

He felt his muscles growing heavy, the adrenalin was wearing off and he could feel the miles he'd ran, the dry desert air scorching his throat as he panted, heartbeat reverberating throughout his whole being. He couldn't stop, he had to keep going. He wouldn't let it happen again. He couldn't...

Riju approached slowly and cautiously, scimitars held together, static zapping between the two, the charge fizzling up through to her hair. Link was equally as cautious. Riju was first to move, striking the ground to the left of him with lightning, propelling him to dash forward and attack. A thrust attack, good. She caught the end of the blade in her left hilt and parried, retaliating quickly with her right blade but missing the target as Link backflipped, grabbing his eightfold longblade just before he landed and pushed off from his first footfall back at Riju.

Another thrust attack, but far too fast to parry. She dodged to the side at the last second, leaving behind a small charge of lightning as she did, crawling up the blade but doing little more than zapping Link's hand, enough distraction to give her a window. She let loose an electric flurry of attacks, each sword swing blending into another, all landing on their target. A final blow sent Link flying backward, charged with electricity he twitched randomly. The disguise fell away like a shell of paper talismans, revealing a Yiga blademaster. She knew as soon as she'd seen him put his hand on his hilt through the reflection of her polished blade.

He looked to be dead already, seemed she wouldn't be finding out anything from him. Now she had time to breath she realized that if he was here then they knew that the real Link had left and maybe even that he was going to their hideout. In that case he could be in all sorts of trouble by now. She turned around quickly only to see Link charging at her from behind. Another fake? Did they really think that'd work? She readied her swords and attacked as soon as he was in range, only to be swiftly parried.

Link had an incredibly panicked expression on his face, his eyes were as wide as Queen Gibdo's, he was covered in cuts and bruises and sweat.

"Ri-" He panted, breath getting caught in his burnt throat causing him to begin coughing, though that didn't stop him from walking past her and checking the situation. Riju wasn't sure what to think about this, if he was going to kill her, she'd probably be dead by now if the speed of that parry was anything to judge by. And that look of concern, was he the real Link? Link gazed down at the Yiga's burnt body, tears of relief pouring down his red-hot cheeks. The blademaster moved his head slightly to look up at Link, the second he noticed this he unsheathed the master sword and sliced straight through the blademaster with unmatched speed and force, cleaving him in two. In all honestly Riju found it sort of scary. But it was definitely him.

"Link..." She muttered, walking over. He hastily sheathed the master sword and rushed over to her. Seeing the cuts all over her he quickly applied some sort of pink medicine to her wounds, possibly something made from fairies? Though it was a nice gesture, it was a bit sudden and, embarrassing, at least there was no one around she supposed.

"Uhm, Link I-I'm fine really they're not that serious, just light cuts." Which was more than she could say for him. What'd gotten into him she wondered, she'd never seen him this shaken up, and he was seriously overprotective too. He didn't listen and applied the special medicine to every single cut she'd sustained, who knows how valuable all that stuff was.

She looked to be fine now; all wounds healed. he breathed another sigh of relief and stood up face-to-face with her. She seemed perplexed. he just grabbed her and brought her into a tight hug. She was safe, she was alive. That was all he cared about at that moment.

She was shocked to say the least, they were close, but Link was never so physically close. It wasn't often he'd go as far as to touch another person; she didn't know why but that was simply how he was. What was he so worried about? Whatever it was, she got the feeling that he needed a hug more than she did, so she returned the gesture and hugged him back. The act gave her a warm cozy feeling in her chest she didn't get often, not many dared hug the chief of the Gerudo. And she felt something different too, something quite strong, similar to that time she wanted to ask Link to stay with her. Her heart was beating faster.

Link seemed startled by her return of affection, flinching after he noticed she was hugging back and seemingly snapping out of whatever panic he was in. He quickly let go and whispered in a hoarse voice he was going to go rest. He looked like he needed it in all honesty. By the look of him he'd ran across the whole desert himself, she wouldn't be surprised if his throat was in tatters by now.