Hyrule under Fire
Call to Arms
Arn ran towards the castle, the echoes of rioting everywhere.
The Bazaar and Shooting Range, run by massive owners, threw out every twerp who dared enter their businesses. The huge men noticed each other and waved, then saw Arn heading to the castle.
"Hey! Where's the other guards!?" the merchant bellowed, one eye small yet fierce as always. A lit bomb sat on his palm so he bit the burning end dead.
"I do not know! Stay in your stores and be safe!" Arn advised.
"Hah hahhh! You don't gotta tell us to stay safe!"
"We'll do what we can for the market!"
The owners cracked their knuckles as more hooligans encroached their property…
The merchant lit a match. "Hey! I got a bomb ready for ya!"
Arn ran along the dirt path, Hyrule Castle visible up ahead. Despite darkness and winds, he sensed something.
"Hey, over here..." a raspy female voice mocked from somewhere.
Silhouettes formed atop the cliffs at either side—arrows whizzed forth, some thudding into the ground while Arn twirled, dodging a few arrows while slashing a couple down.
Unable to see the exact locations of his ambushers, Arn zigzagged and leapt randomly, arrows skipping across the ground wherever he went. Keep going! Keep going!
The clouds overhead parted, moonlight beaming through. Heart beating heavily, he barely managed batting aside moonlit arrows with his sword, yet he kept going even as arrowheads cut his clothes, one grazing his cheek and opening it. Blood ran freely, as did Arn.
"Ahhk! This one's smart!" the raspy voice barked.
Arn gasped—someone leapt before him, dropkicking him. He fell backwards but regained himself, picking up his sword.
The clouds overhead parted, a single shaft of moonlight partly revealing an immense woman, her red ponytail nearly as long as her height. She dryly chuckled. "Did you think you could fool us forever?" She posed, showing off her sex appeal while withdrawing a pair of oversized shamshirs.
Arn raised his sword as the Gerudo leapt, moving like a hurricane of blades. The onslaught of dual swords skated through the darkness and into Arn's blade, collisions of screaming blades erupting into sparks, rhythmically illuminating the veiled woman who sometimes jumped over Arn. He rolled his shoulders, avoiding occasional arrows while pushing his attack, though against two blades, one always defended the wielder, parrying all of Arn's strikes while the other continuously swung at him.
The parted clouds reformed. The frenzied swordswoman danced in the shadows, every move twice bladed, Arn's shirt shredded, his sword heavily chipped yet performing defense. Panting, he found an opening and lunged, intercepting his foe's sword and deflecting it against her other blade, halting the deathly dance.
"Hm!?" The Gerudo was quite surprised.
She leapt over him, swinging mid-air. He ducked, sword raised to deflect the airborne attack. She landed behind him and attacked. He spun around and skipped forth, blocking the shamshirs, all three blades crisscrossing upwards. Arn shoved, all swords' flats pushed against the Gerudo's front, her back to the cliff. She tried to push herself free but, although taller than Arn, could not overpower him.
Her eyes widened. "Hmmf. You're pretty good for a Hylian."
"Why are you here!?" Arn demanded; she winced. "Answer me!"
She kneed him in the crotch. She rolled over his slumped shoulders, scissoring her blades—he spun around, gripping his sword by handle and blade and slamming it sideways against her crossed shamshirs, disarraying them; she flinched. He swung his sword's flat against her face. The Gerudo staggered, dropping one blade as her veil dripped blood.
The Gerudo spat blood, regained balance then posed, sword raised—she squeaked as an arrow whizzed through her ponytail. "Hey! Watch where you're shooting!"
"Sorry!" a Gerudo archer called from above.
A big rock crumbled down the swordswoman's head. Seeing stars, she dropped her sword and flumped, Arn limping away.
"D-don't let him get awayyyYYY!" the dazed Gerudo screeched.
"The cliff side paths end! There's no more room to go further along up here!"
"Then get your butts down here!"
The archers flipped off the cliffs and pursued their prey…
Harassed by arrows, Arn made out the silhouette of the outer gatehouse. "Hey! Close the gate! Close the gate!"
The gate guard snorted awake as he stepped through the door, wondering what was going on. Arrows rained over, some ricocheting off his armor, giving him quite a scare. He rammed the butt of his spear into the ground and the gates began closing.
"What's going on!?" the guard yelled, an arrow bouncing off his helmet.
"Get to the castle!"
Arn and the guard slipped through the closing gate and ran up the path. The Gerudo shot arrows in-between the bars but to no effect due to darkness.
The swordswoman waddled to her sisters. "Why did you shoot that arrow!? I almost had him!"
"Sorry..."
"Stick with obstacle courses from now on! The rest of you, work on your aim!"
"But it's nighttime, we can't see..."
"No excuses!" she snarled but then grunted. "Ow, my face..."
Echoes of mob violence resounded from the castle town.
"Let's get out of here before the rioters come. All we can do is tell Koume and Kotake what happened."