As a reminder, you can find MORE of this on my SubStar (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it's posted up past chapter 50 there... And if you guys haven't seen an update in at least a week, please let me know! I have a busy life, and I get distracted and forget things. This story (and PTaL) are supposed to be updated WEEKLY from now until they're both caught up with each other (like I was doing with FwB until this weekend).
And if you're just interested in discussing things with other readers, of course, you can go to my DISCORD here: h- t_ t_ p-s -: -/ -/ -discord . g-g / N9yDA8t6Cw (taking out hyphens, underscores, and spaces of course).
A NOTE: Next chapter- not this one- has dark stuff (monster noncon). Just a heads up. ALSO, this is a sort of 'graduation' chapter for Zelda. It's meant to illustrate in some ways how far she's come from the Great Plateau's early days (also the next, actually...). Enjoy. ;)
Chap. 34: (Be)Ginner's Rampage
"Hail," Zelda greeted casually as the woman slowed a dozen or so feet away.
She was a brunette with shoulder-length hair like a page's would be cut, and her clothing held a certain panache that she amnesiac woman personally felt was a little gaudy but not in a terrible way. It at least suited her complexion and she wore it well enough, though it did not match that well with her leather and breastplate, or shield.
"Hail yourself, stranger," the woman greeted with a polite nod. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm Zina," she answered, gesturing briefly at herself, and fell into the now-familiar lie easily, "and I've been heading east for many days, looking for my grandmother's old home town. I'm told it was called Hateno. Is that the township further up the valley?"
The woman nodded casually, and hooked a thumb over her shoulder without bothering to look, "Yep, that's Hateno. Name's Touma."
Zelda exhaled in relief, "Thank Hylia. I was getting worried I'd never actually reach the place. Is- are the roads safe? I've had so much trouble lately, I..."
Touma snorted, and glanced over Zelda's shoulder. "Wearing rags like that- even Sheikah rags- I can see why monsters would want to harass you, but I can also see you carry that claymore like you've used it before. Nothing around here should give you too much trouble if that's the case. But yes, the road is pretty safe. Just killed a Bokoblin a couple hours ago, and haven't seen any others."
"Ah, I s- see. Are you a- one of the guards that patrol the roads?"
"I am," Touma answered politely, though Zelda noticed her hand, the one that had gestured behind her, now rested on the pommel of her own broad sword, and the other was tight on her reigns. "I patrol between Hateno Village's gate and the Quince road. Make the trip every other day or so."
"I see, thank you. It's good to know there are people keeping the roads at least mostly clear. I've... well, I've seen Bokoblins and bandits alike a couple of days southwest, so..."
"Bastards just keep coming back," Touma muttered, casting her eyes overhead, "Every time there's a Blood Moon. Marblod Plain's thick with 'em sometimes. You aren't too far from safety, though. Hateno's just about a six hour walk from here. Stay on the roads, though. The woods between here and there are thick with Bokos, and not just the red ones. Ginner- that's the northern side- is worse, but neither is safe for a lone traveler. Even we trained fighters won't go in without a team of four or five."
"I'll do my best," Zelda assured her, "Um... any other places to avoid?"
The other woman frowned for a moment, then nodded and tossed a glance behind her over the other shoulder, "North of Ginner Woods there's a bit of a meadow- east side of the Ovli Plain, where there's an old quarry. Avoid that place. One of those big stone giants sleeps there a lot. All we can do to drive it away from the fields sometimes."
"A- A stone giant?"
"Yeah," Touma nodded, then gestured vaguely in a way that Zelda supposed- with no real reason why- was meant to indicate great size, "big fuckers, made out of rocks. Throw their own damned arms, then pull more boulders out of the ground to replace them. You ever see the ground start to stand up, run. And do it zig-zaggy, like. Don't go in a straight line, or you'll be crushed. That's some good advice for you."
Zelda paled at the description. She did, indeed, know what Touma was talking about. "I'll... do my best. Any other advice?"
"Yeah," the guardswoman sniffed haughtily, "Get a new wardrobe, that things' hideous. Try Ventest Clothing, in Hateno. They aren't great, but it's better than what you're wearing. Fashion matters, kid. How you present yourself changes how the world sees you."
A part of the princess wanted to recoil at that, because it seemed so... so shallow. Yet, at the same time, it echoed sentiments she had probably been taught as a child but could not remember. "I'll... do that. Thank you, Miss... Touma, was it?"
"Ms., and yes, Touma. See you 'round, Zina."
The two women nodded to each other, and the horse started walking slowly past. The blonde and brunette watched each other for several minutes, until Touma and turned 'round the bend at the bottom of the slope and back up the valley road, and Zelda had crossed behind a boulder. There, she took a moment to lean against it, and exhaled in relief.
It seemed that no, not everyone was out to get her. Though that woman's advice was useful, she was still cold and... well, probably a bit shallow, yes. She hadn't attacked Zelda though, which was definitely worth noting. If she was honest about killing a Bokoblin early that morning, and she'd seemed sincere in the casual way it had been stated, then the roads were probably safe.
... If she took them.
Strangely, despite her usual fear, the call of danger made itself known to the woman as she continued hiking up the steep, dirt road that was occasionally reinforced with old timbers and stones set deep into the earth. If the woods were that dangerous, would... would it help if she killed some of the monsters within?
Could she?
Mina, Mils, and others had said she was a better fighter than most of the trained soldiers and guards that still existed in Hyrule. Could she do what a squad of soldiers was needed for otherwise?
She did have more tools at her disposal. She carried more weapons than a squad would, unless each carried a good backup. Two or three of hers would qualify as enchanted, two, with the energy-blade of her Guardian Sword being the only questionable one.
But she also had Bombs. And those were not to be underestimated, they had helped her slaughter a reinforced camp of monsters just the night before.
That decision would have to wait, though, as a cry for help- a man's cry- rang out from half a mile or so ahead. Zelda scowled, put her hand on her claymore and made sure the clasp was loose, then broke into a sprint.
Running uphill was not easy, but she was close (she supposed) to back into a good realm of fitness. She was at least used to walking all day again, and a long sprint continued to get easier and easier. It still took a few minutes for her to reach the man who had screamed, but the threat was obvious the moment she did.
He was a Sheikah, by the look of him, as white-haired as Mina, though a bit older and duskier of skin than most of their tribe. Tall, and a bit stockier too, she guessed he was, like the siblings, a half-Sheikah. He wore what she had to guess was more like a Hateno traveler's outfit, a thick jacket with many pockets and leather-padded trousers with good walking boots. He even carried a sword in one shaky hand, though he had no shield or other defense aside from the large boulder his back was pressed to.
Facing him? A single red Bokoblin, wielding a large branch as a club.
The kind of Bokoblin she had grown used to slaughtering on the Great Plateau.
Her muscles were burning from the run, and her body felt hot with the exercise, but she was not quite winded yet. So Zelda ran on, her steps continuing even as she fought to draw the soldier's heavy claymore from the sheath on her back.
The Bokoblin shrieked and raised its club.
Then it took a step forward, and the white-haired man raised his blade in a trembling defense.
A half of a heartbeat later, Zelda swung with all her might. The long blade of the claymore touched the Bokoblin's neck the instant her right foot touched the dusty road, and her body leaned in and forward to reinforce the spinning slice.
Her right hand let go half-way through the swing, and her left was just enough to stop the blade before it twisted her whole torso around.
If she had seen herself from the outside, Zelda might actually have been impressed at her form, with both arms back in a forward-leaned stance, her expression fierce as the Bokoblin's head spun through the air, and a fountain of dark blood sprayed upward from the rest of it.
Smoke billowed, and in a poof, both head and body vanished before either hit the ground. One horn and a tooth plopped into the sparse, tall hill-grass a dozen feet to the north, while the club crunched down on the man's foot.
He yelped, and Zelda stood up, bringing her stance in and raising the blade vertical. "Are there any more?"
The man jumped at her stern question, and stammered, "N- N- What? Oh, no, no I don't think th- there are any m-more. That was- That was amazing! I've never seen- never seen anyone fight like that, except maybe Grandpa!"
Slowly, Zelda lowered the blade and used the end of her scarf to clean the remnants of blood and viscera from it before sheathing the weapon. Her pulse still pounded from the run and adrenalin, but things were quiet now. She forced herself to take several calming breaths as she gathered up the remnants the monster had left behind, then picked up the club and threw it down the slope to her right. With any luck, it would bounce and roll all the way down into Camphor Pond, far out of reach of the Bokoblin who had used it.
"No, seriously," the man continued speaking breathlessly, "He was all like- Raaaargh! And he was about to swing, and I thought I was gonna die! But then you were like, whick, out of nowhere! And his head went boing, woing, woing, up and down, and- and it was amazing!"
Zelda felt her face heat. "Thanks, but really, don't mention it. I just got a lucky strike when he wasn't looking."
"But, but really! Oh, I'm Teli by the way! Since you saved me from being monster grub, I want you to have this!"
She was about to turn down his reward, whatever it was, when the man pulled out a small, green-glass bottle with a cork and an old, worn label.
"It's an Enduring Elixir, Grandma said to me, and she told me to use it if I ever need to run for my life. I almost did! But since you saved me, I want you to have it."
"An Enduring Elixir," Zelda murmured, stepping closer now, intrigued. "What does it do?"
"This? I don't know, really," the man replied, pushing it toward her again, "She just said it'd let me run longer if I needed to escape. Oh, and she mixed it with some kind of healing herbs? I think? She gave it to me when I was a boy, so..."
"Well... I suppose it would be rude to turn down a gift freely offered, then," Zelda said with a faint chuckle as she accepted the bottle. The writing was in a script that she definitely recognized the more modern writing she had seen much of in Kakariko Village, but she could not decipher it easily. The ink was just too faded.
She put it in her satchel carefully with her other elixirs, the few she had been able to brew alone or with Giro's help, then turned her attention back to the conversation. "You said your name was Teli, right?"
"That's right! I'm a treasure hunter, if you get my drift. I, uh... Well.. I kind of specialize in Guardians."
Zelda's eyes widened. "R- Really?"
The tall man nodded, and his previously terrified face broke into a wide grin, "That's right! I supply the Research Lab up in Hateno with most of their requests these days. They're always looking for more parts from the things. So I go out and scavenge what I can find, bring it back, and they pay me. It's... actually a pretty decent living. Even if most people just think I am a glorified junk collector."
"Not to mention it's dangerous, I'd imagine," Zelda nodded.
"Exactly! I get attacked all the time! Someone gets it!"
"I do. The roads are... not always easy, and I've been around Fort Hateno. There's a lot of Bokoblins that live around there."
"And those worn out, decayed Guardians that are still functional, too, don't forget those."
Zelda shuddered. Even from her first memories of the actually destroyed ones around the Cathedral on the Great Plateau, she had nightmares about them. Watching one light up near the ruined abbey was far worse. Then, seeing them walking around on eight huge, spider-like machine-legs... "Yes, those are terrifying for sure. I've seen some of them walking around, and- and frankly, I'm lucky to be alive."
"Whew, best be careful if that ever happens again," Teli whistled, "I won't come within sight of one if I can help it! The moment I see one moving around, I'm outta there. Even just one of the old ones lighting up makes me run."
"I don't blame you," Zelda told him. "Anyway, you said you were a treasure hunter and focus on Guardian parts..."
"I do," Teli grinned, "and I have a few to spare. I just left Hateno of course, but the researchers there only buy in bulk. They don't want to bother with just one or two, so... let me look. Ah, yep. I have one each Ancient Screw, Ancient Spring, and Ancient Gear. If you want them, I'd have to sell them, of course."
"That's fair," Zelda nodded, reaching for her rupee purse. "I haven't a ton of rupees at the moment, but I have a bit of the parts myself. I think I'll take you up, if you don't mind? How much for each of them?"
Teli's eyes widened until she could see each ice-blue iris in full, "A- All three? Um... weellll... I'll sell, don't think I'm being stingy. It's just... when I sell them five gears, they pay me four hundred rupees. The others are less, but still, these machine parts aren't cheap. Last forever, they do. Good craftsmanship."
"It's alright, Zelda told him, "I'm still interested. The total...?"
Teli frowned this time, but she watched it turn into a grimace as his performed a brief mental calculation. "I- I suppose I could let all three, the screw, spring, and gear, go for... two hundred and twenty-eight rupees?"
"Deal," Zelda nodded quickly, then started counting out her rupees while the nonplussed half-Sheikah pulled the pieces out of his pack.
She really had no idea what she would do with them, aside from perhaps sell them to the researchers herself, but the princess felt compelled to stockpile as much of the old Guardian parts as she could. If nothing else, the Screws were a decent way to pleasure herself.
"I've sometimes got some of the shafts and, rarely, a Core I can sell too," Teli informed her as they passed the items between themselves.
Zelda nodded eagerly, "I'll keep that in mind. Um... what about buying? Do you need supplies? Because I've got some."
"I suppose I could use some things," Teli acknowledged.
They spent about an hour bargaining back and forth, and Zelda had unloaded half a dozen eggs, several slabs of perfectly-preserved meat that had not aged a moment inside the satchel, fifteen bass, and thirty apples- Teli's favorite- on top of several chunks of amber that he was happy to inform her were frequently used in just the way she was using them: Larger denominations of currency.
The amber alone covered most of the cost of what she had purchased, though Teli didn't seem to notice, so Zelda was happy to walk away with more than twice the rupees in her purse than she had left with. It wasn't as much as she would like, but it was nearly a thousand and she could not complain when the tall, brown-skinned man walked away with a spring in his step, and an apple in either hand.
She'd even already done her good deed for the day, and it wasn't yet noon.
The blue Bokoblin gasped with blood pouring out of three large gashes across its arms and legs. Zelda's arms were shaking, and she was bleeding, too. One of her fingers throbbed painfully, clearly broken from where its club had smashed into her hand where it held the claymore's hilt.
The beast left little in its wake except pain. Zelda didn't care, though. The monster had been laying it wait just off the road and had almost caught her by surprise. It was actually a red Bokoblin that had distracted her the most, however, as she had been focused on shooting it before the further creature, which was keeping watch from a rise to the north, noticed her.
It had certainly seen her now, and its horn had sounded several seconds ago.
She started charging for cover as the second arrow thudded into the grass where the blue beast had been standing a moment before. The first shot had been wider, but it was getting far too close for Zelda's comfort, and the archer was still a hundred feet or more away up the rise.
She could reach it, but not before it peppered her with at least four arrows.
Fortunately, the princess was no more limited to melee combat than the archer itself. Her bow was simple, a standard small-game hunting bow, but it was effective and had more than enough range to reach the Bokoblin.
The cliff face she hunkered behind was not tall, perhaps fifteen feet, but it gave her just enough cover to string the weapon and knock the arrow.
She sighted first, the bow raised before she turned and stepped partly out of cover.
There, just a hint of red as the creature spotted her and turned, lifting its own weapon, the other arm moving an arrow into place.
Her fingers loosened, and the arrow flew.
It sunk into the Bokoblin's shoulder just off the tender neck. With a cry of pain the creature dropped its bow, staggering back as stumpy fingers sought to pull the shaft and arrowhead free. Her second shot, this time on the run, somehow managed to hit the thing's right thigh, and it fell to a knee. Her bow fell from her fingers, and the claymore filled her hands a moment later as her dash forward brought her in range. Another arrow would have finished it, but she wanted the cover of the trees if the monster's horn had called others.
It vanished in smoke a moment later, but before Zelda could celebrate, the sharp tines of a farming hoe slashed into her left arm, digging furrows in her skin as it penetrated through the Sheikah's flexible armor. She yelped in pain too, thrown to the side two steps from the force of the swing. The blue Bokoblin who had wielded the farming implement was strong, but before it could bring the object back for another blow, Zelda had yanked her left hand back toward her body and pushed her right one outward while both shoulders turned as fast as she could make them go.
The leverage spun her claymore, whistling through the air, and it cut across the Bokoblin's arm, bounced upward, and slashed its cheek.
The monster howled in pain, and Zelda let go with one hand to let the momentum of her blade carry it in a wide circle over her head. It came down again in both hands, slashing downard with all the force she could muster. Her aim was not perfect, sparks flew and a piece of steel skidded into the canopy of the trees as the claymore hit the Bokoblin's hard horn, but the blow still cleaved down, cutting half of the monster in two before it dissipated.
She stood up, breathing hard. The earlier run and single strike to cut down a Bokoblin was one thing, barely a good workout.
But this run had been shorter and far more intense, and she had been struck twice during the last minute. And more were coming.
Two more bat-like Keese, their ringed, many-fanged mouths below one great, glowing yellow-orange eye were flapping out of the shadows of the trees, no doubt disturbed by the noise, and another blue Bokoblin carrying a rusted pitchfork was charging from the shadowed forest, too.
Her claymore deflected one blow, catching the tines, but she was able to free it before the stronger Bokoblin ripped the weapon from her grasp. Its second strike caught her in the thigh just above her knee, but thankfully one one tine and it did not sink quite to the bone. She hoped, anyway.
Zelda still staggered, and she took three, four wild swings- one cut deep into a nearby sycamore- to fend the enemy off for a moment.
It thrust again, and she bent at the waist, just missing another hit. She was bleeding in several places, and her finger was broken. She needed to drink one of her healing tonics, or something, but first she had to dispatch this enemy.
And hope no more were coming. At the least, that she would have a respite to chug one of the things down!
It thrust again, then screamed, its long tongue rattling in the gaping mouth, before it lifted the pitchfork overhead, and started to spin.
Zelda grimaced. The tactic was one she had seen before. If it was using a real spear, one with a blade, it might have been effective, too. But with a pitchfork, which could only really stab or serve as a poor bludgeon? No, she could handle this, but it would hurt.
She caught the swing on her blade, one hand half-way up, bracing along the flat. The Bokoblin staggered, but so did she. She stepped closer, a moment faster to recover. It stabbed again, and this time she blocked by thrusting the point of her claymore into the dirt as she caught the tines.
A third thrust did not come, since Zelda spun her blade upward and caught the blue-skinned thing in the groin with the chipped tip.
It grimaced and howled, both hands clutching its bleeding, perhaps severed member, but that only gave her an opportunity to decapitate it, too.
Her weapon came up, chipped, broken, and with a crack down the upper half.
But the forest was quiet. No insects or birds chirped nearby, and more importantly, no Bokoblins, Keese, or even Chu came next.
Very slowly, she let her guard down, but Zelda's emerald eyes continually flicked up and down, around and through the trees as she searched every shadow for some sign of an ambushing enemy.
The claymore stayed in her hand until she had gathered up the remains of each monster and put their weapons in a pile.
The claymore, as useful as it had been, was on its last legs. A few more blows would break it, at most. But she did not want a weapon with its relatively sharp edge and long reach in a Bokoblin's hands. So she braced it against a thick oak, and used the farming hoe to batter the thing until both were useless chunks of metal and wood.
The pitchfork, unfortunately, would have to serve as a poor replacement for now.
At least she had time to wash down the bitter taste of the healing tonic with one of her buttered apples.
The pitchfork lasted just long enough to spear another blue Bokoblin, napping against a tree, through the throat, chest, groin, and face- in that order- and then the red that came up to defend it. The mop, of all things, the red was using to defend itself was her next choice, because it was still marginally better than the blue one's club if only because it was longer.
The decision apparently made by proximity alone as to whether she would take the safer road or brave the numerous monsters in the forest, Zelda finished her second apple and beat yet another sleeping, blue Bokoblin to death with the mop and then its handle. It carried a broom.
Had these Bokoblins just raided a nearby farm house or barn? She knew Hateno was close, just on the other side of the woods. It would make sense... the only thing that would make sense, really.
That broom skewered another sleeper seven, then ten times all-told, piercing crudely with increasingly shorter wounds as she shaft broke again and again, but the Bokoblin was the third- no, fourth- to die without putting up much resistance at all as the late afternoon wore on into evening and more of the creatures settled in to sleep. But at least that one had given her something with an actual metal head again, another stolen hoe.
Ten minutes later, just as she was starting to relax and hope the Bokoblins had mostly been killed throughout the patch of woods, another scream of fright sounded, but was cut off suddenly half-way through.
A woman's scream, and it was not that far off.
