Chapter 29: Among the Enemy
"Rise and shine, Hylian," someone tapped Link on the side of his head. His eyes opened to see the bleary dark-haired girl as she continued to tap him.
"You can stop, Barkan" Link said as he pushed her hand away. "I'm awake."
"Then get up. We got work to do."
Barkan was only about three or four years older than Link, if he had to guess. But she had already taken charge of many of her fellow servants. Or, more likely she bossed others around and no one else cared enough to disagree with her. Link grabbed his clothes and held them up. He should just get dressed and not think about it, but he did not like putting on these clothes. The Gerudo had taken his tunic and replaced with with these thin poorly fitting shirts and pants. Everything felt too loose or whispy for his comfort.
If anyone tried wearing this stuff if they were ever out in the woods, it would get tangled up on every bush or tree branch. But then again, there didn't seem much in the way of thick woods here on the mountain. Link put on the clothes and then strapped on his sword and shield before heading outside the tent he shared with some of the other servants. It had been days in this camp, but he kept his equipment close. Who knows if he would need to start using?
The sun was just starting to rise over the cliffs, but Link turned his back on it. No need to think about that, there was work to do. He followed Barkan to the wagons and helped her cut up onions and pieces of salted pork. Others cut pieces of some green-brown vegetable stalks or some fruit that Link had never seen before.
When the faeries told their stories about the horrors of war, Link had always just thought about the soldiers and knights marching off to kill each other. He did not really think about everyone that came with them, and there were so many people. Most of them were Gerudo women and little girls, and most of those did not speak Hylian.
But that was not all. Hylian girls from nearby villages who fled their home to join the warrior women of the desert. Young boys who just wanted to see adventure. Merchants who would peddle whatever novelties they carried. And a large group of young men. Mot of whom never gave Link any straight reason why they followed the army, only passing knowing smiles between themselves whenever Link asked.
For the most part, Link found them friendly. The servants and the warriors, both.
Once Link had finished with the onions and pork he walked it over to the fires where other workers had set several pots up to boil. He dumped the food into the pot and then went back to cut more, delivering the food to the pots until every one of them was filled and cooking.
He got a little bit of a break while the pots cooked. So he found Barkan. "Hey," he started. The older girl gave him a withering look.
"What?"
Link pulled at the whispy shirt. "Any chance you could tell me when I can get my clothes back?"
"Look, voe," Barkan said. "I don't have time to just fix up your clothing. There's a lot that still needs to be done."
"You keep calling me, voe," Link said.
"Of course, because you're a voe."
"But, you're not a Gerudo," Link said. "You don't look like them. You have brown hair, and you're not nearly as tall as."
"I'm still more of a Gerudo than you'll ever be," the girl hissed. "Now here," she took four bowls and handed them to Link. "Go fill these up and make certain the warriors have get their morning meals."
Link sighed, if he had thread he could have fixed his clothing already. But he knew better than causing any fuss about it. He took the bowls, got them filled with the sludgy soup and balanced them along his arms before walked to the front of the camps where the warriors were starting to get out of their tents. He made certain not to spill any of the bowls as he went. He had dropped one his first day, and Barkan had given him an earful.
The sun was risen, or as risen as it could be with mountains covering up most of it. Didn't think about her, Link thought to himself. Which was exactly the wrong thing to think about he realized. The image of Navi and him sitting atop Lon Lon Ranch and watching the sun filled his mind. He frowned and tried to focus on the task at hand. Four bowls. He could move them without spilling a drop.
The largest tent opened and a woman stepped out and stretched her arms high and then rolled her shoulders. "You're still here?" she said, interrupted a bit with a yawn.
"Yes, Lady Nabooru," Link said as he handed her one of the bowls. "You told me not to leave. You said the road wouldn't be safe to travel alone."
"Didn't expect you to listen," she took the bowl and took a big gulp of it and started to chew on the pork. "You give off that feeling, like you are looking for a way out." She took another guzzle.
"Hmm," Link said. Not much he could think to say to that. A moment later a few more women came out of the tent. Link handed each of them a bowl until he had run out. "Are we going to actually move ahead this today?"
"Impatient, are we?" Nabooru said.
"He is not alone," the biggest of the warriors said. The one called Bethe that Nabooru had left in charge a few days back, when she had gone to visit their master. The murderer.
"Then you and the others will all be happy, word is we leave today. Go get yourself your own meal then make yourself useful, voe. Take down the tents."
Link rushed back to the cooks, telling the other servants as he passed that they were finally moving out. Most of them greeted the idea with sighs or grumbles. But some, including Barkan gave gleeful cheers. "Finally," she said. "let's see an actual battle."
While the servants worked at the tents, the warriors started training. The same as they had every morning. It made sense, Link supposed. They needed to keep their skills sharp if they were going to go out and fight on the battlefield. But, still it didn't feel fair to Link as he pulled up the pegs of tents and folded them up while others were having fun playing with weapons.
They took down three tents before Link got close enough to watch them out of the corner of his eye. Their leader was the best of the lot, as far as he could tell. She did not seem to fight, she just flowed around whoever she was training against. And at the perfect moment her weapon would lash out and crack her opponent across an arm or against their helmets.
He had watched them fight every morning he could, with sword and spear, or practicing aiming with their bows.
"Hurry up," Barkan scolded as she nudged him to keep going.
"Sorry," Link mumbled as he returned to untying the ropes from the tent spikes.
When he got the last of them untied and pulled the spikes from the ground he stepped back as some of the bigger workers took the canopy down from the wooden frames.
"You have to pay attention," Barkan was saying. "You keep looking over at them you're going to mess up and slow all of us down."
Before Link had a chance to respond, one of the warriors called. "You, voe!" It was the big one, Bethe or Bethmassy or something. She looked directly at Link and waved him to come over to her.
"See," Barkan said. "See? I told you, now you're going to get it."
"Hmmph," Link said. He hadn't done anything wrong. So what if he was a little slow untying knots, it wasn't as if the warriors were finished training and there wasn't more he could do taking down the tents anyway.
"Come," the big warrior said again with a tone that told Link she would not ask for him a third time.
Link walked over to the warrior and looked up to her. "Yes?" Was he supposed to bow? Some of the servants bowed or averted their eyes when they talked to the warriors. But they never really did that with each other. And it wasn't like they were princesses or anything. So he just folded his arms in front of him and looked up at the big woman. Let's just hope it's just a reprimand. I didn't do anything wrong.
"You watch us fight." The big woman said, her voice thick with the Gerudo accent.
"Yes." Was this not about how he was working with the tents? "Did I do something wrong?"
"No," the big woman shook her head. "It is good. One must watch to learn the ways of war." She nodded toward Link's sword. "So you know to use."
"I do know how to use it," Link unsheathed the blade. "I've already fought Lizalfos and a giant- and a monster. I know what I'm doing."
"Hmm," Bethe said. "Would you prove it?" Then she frowned and scratched at her cheek. "Like! That word. Would you like to prove it?"
"Bethe!" came Nabooru shaking her head. The two of them engaged in a lengthy discussion in their language that Link couldn't follow. He looked back at the servants and found that Barkan was staring at him. Her arms folded, waiting to see what punishment he would get.
"Why not let him?" Bethe said, switching back to Hylian.
"Because he is a child."
"So was I when my mother first taught me the way of the spear. So where you and our king. The boy reminds me of that guard. The one that," then she frowned and started to speak again in Gerudo apparently given up trying to convey her thoughts in Hylian. There was one word he caught, though. Ganondorf. She repeated his name twice. It felt wrong that she was invoking his name in front of him at all.
But whatever she said, it seemed to work on Nabooru. The woman threw her hands up and stomped away from the two of them before turning back frowning and shaking her head.
Bethe looked back down on Link and smiled. "Let us see how you fair." She moved a few paces away from Link. "No lies. Tell me true, voe. You know how to use sword?"
"I wasn't lying. I've fought monsters with it."
"Good," Bethe lowered her practice spear until the padded tip pointed directly at him. "So have I."
Link swung his shield around him and took hold of it. His opponent didn't move, her spear was completely steady in her hand, she could have been a statue.
Silently, he ran toward the woman, raising his shield high as he did. The spear thrust toward him. He twisted away from it, and let the point brush past his shoulder. Another step, then another. He was almost within reach!
The pole of the spear hit him on the side of the head. He stumbled and fell to his knees.
"No." Bethe said.
"That's not how you spar, voe." Nabooru called to him. "Show your partner some respect first."
Link shook his head, it hurt. He touched the side of his head, then looked at his fingers. He wasn't bleeding, but the woman had cracked him good. When he got back to his feet, the world wobbled for a moment.
The big woman stepped away from him, then pointed her spear once more at Link before she raised it high, until her hand was level with her mouth and the spear was pointed directly toward the sky. It was a sign to start the fight, like the one that he had seen the two knights perform to each other when they fought at the Sun Festival.
"You're using a knights sword… sort of," Nabooru said. "So do the knight's salute. Lift your sword up, that's right point it to the sky." Link followed her instructions trying to remember exactly what the knights had done. "A little higher, so the crossguard is just under your eyes."
He lifted the sword a little further, so was looking at Bethe past the steel that almost covered his eyes.
"Good, now sweep the blade to your- ahh, you're left handed. Sweep the sword down your left side until the point is lowered to the ground."
Link slashed the sword down, it didn't quite feel natural until he saw another of the warriors miming the action herself. Mulli he remembered that one's name. He lifted the sword up and tried again, this time following precisely the movement Mulli showed as she winked at him.
"There we go," Nabooru called. "Now you can begin."
Link advanced toward Bethe, he kept his shield up, matching the angle where Bethe's spear was pointed.
"When facing a new opponent, you have to make a quick decision," Nabooru called from the side. "Are they weak enough for you to run down? Then attack quick, attack deadly. Are they skilled? Are they stronger or quicker than you? Then you have to be better. You can't just rush in."
"I am stronger than you," Bethe said. "If wondering."
"I know!" Link edged himself forward. He knew what he was doing. He'd faced down three Lizalfos alone… mostly alone.
Bethmasse took one large step back to keep the distance between herself and Link. Her legs were so much longer than Link's, even walking backward it would take two or three of his steps to match one of hers. But while he puzzled this problem, the practice spear drooped low, very low. As if she was trying to aim at his feet.
He lowered his shield, seeing if he could make the angle still work, stooping over to make it so the shield protected his legs. But then his head was exposed. No, this couldn't be right.
But before he could figure out how to fix this, Bethe pushed the back of the spear down, angling the point straight toward his head. He tried to wrench up his shield. But as hunched over as he was it was too slow.
The spear came toward him.
And stopped a finger's width from his nose.
His shield finally came up, and bashed the spear away.
"That is trap," Bethe said.
"I know," Link muttered.
"Being active with your shield is good," Nabooru said. "Whoever taught you knew what they were about. But you can't twist your body up. For the parts of your body that are too far away to protect with the shield you'll have to trust your ability to move aside or back. Bethe, do that move again. This time, don't lower your shield down all the way. Stay straight, and when she thrusts at your legs. Notice how long it takes to make that spear move the whole distance. Bethe?"
The big woman pulled back the spear and angled it back down toward Link's feet.
"Ok," he said as he put his shield back into position. He held it around his middle, hoping that was roughly where the woman meant to hold it. Bethmasse thrust the spear, and immediately he knew what Nabooru had been talking about.
Like everyone else, Bethe's arms were high on her body. That meant her arms and by extension her weapons could attack high, easy, and fast. She could strike toward his head, or thrust at his torso. But aiming toward his feet? As long as he wasn't panicking about the attack, it wasn't particularly hard just to move his feet out of the way.
"That is risk attack," Bethe said. "Not only is it slow, but here. Step toward me."
Link did as he was told.
"My spear down, but, what the word, Nabs?"
"You're too close now for her to reposition her spear up." As Nabooru said, Bethe wiggled her spear and it knocked harmlessly against the edge of his shield and bounced away. "She can't get a good hit on you until she brings her spear back."
Bethe repositioned her spear back down. Then made a large show of pulling her arm back and raising the spear until it pointed toward Link's head. "All this time. I weak."
And that was how it went, until the tents were packed and the warriors were finished with their drills. Only once did Link even land a hit on Bethe, and he had the distinct impression she let him hit her. Nabooru called for the spar to finish, she walked up to Link and ruffled his hair.
"You're not bad, voe," she said. "Sometimes your footwork gets away from you. We'll focus on that tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Link's eyes widened. This was going to be more than one morning entertainment? "Yes. I'll be there. Thank you!"
She gave him a nod then headed to her horses with the rest of the warriors. Link headed back to the servants with a wide grin.
"Have fun?" Barkan said, her arms folded. She did not look particularly happy.
"Yeah?"
"Get to the carts, voe. We still have work to do."
The caravan stopped, when the sun was still high in the sky. They had been traveling for days up the mountain and nothing made them stop.
"What's going on?" Link asked.
"How should I know?" Barkan said. Her mood had not improved over their travels together. As far as Link could tell she had made no attempt to begin fixing his clothes in the time. And he knew better than to ask her for anything.
"Do you think we're there?" They were well up the mountain by this point. Not at the summit by any means, but the Gorons didn't just live on the summit.
"Again. How should I know?"
"Fine, I get it." Link stood up and jumped off the cart.
"Hey," Barkan shouted after him. "Hey, where are you going?"
Link raced around the carts and horses toward the front of the vanguard. Some of the servants and even a few of the warriors that had fallen back to mingle walked about also trying to see what was going on. Link did his best to just move around without disturbing any of them. He was winded by the time he actually reached the front of the army.
"Careful," Bethe said to him as he reached her horse. "Don't get…" she paused and looked to the sky thinking. "Horse-stepped on."
"I won't," Link said as he peered around her warhorse. They were stopped before an entrance carved directly out of the side of the mountain. Before it stood a line of Gorons all holding massive cudgels and blades far too large for any person to wield.
Among the Gerudo one rode out, Nabooru in her full regalia of armor. Her bow along her back, arrows in a bag hanging by her legs, a spear in hand and a sword at her hip. "Is this who we have to greet us? A row of weapons?" She called to the crowd of Gorons. "I'll admit, I'm usually bored at the celebrations the Hylians throw, but this is a bit aggressive isn't it?"
From beneath the mountain a drum sounded. Then another followed it and another. The sound swelled, the entrance to the tunnels funneling the sound toward Link and the Gerudo. The beat grew louder and louder, until Link had to cover his ears and clench his teeth to keep them from rattling. Some of the Gerudo did as well, but Nabooru simple sat on her horse. Taking a moment to spit off to her side.
The Gorons parted and one of them marched out from the shadows with a dozen drummers following him. Big and muscled, his arms were near as thick as a horse, but there was a wary sagginess to him, as if age was bringing the proud man low. Some of the other Gorons had small tufts of hair around their ears or on their chin, but this one had thick white hair in pointed spikes that made a circle from his chin to the top of his head.
He stopped before Nabooru and the drums behind him made one last rolling beat before silence. Link looked around him, to see the warriors were starting to take their hands off their ears before he joined them. There was a ringing in his ears, but after a moment the noise went away.
"Chief Darunia," Nabooru said as she stuck her pinky into one of her ears and wiggled it around. "It has been a time."
So this was the leader of the Gorons. Zelda had mentioned him as a potential ally. He wanted to rush out at this very moment to tell him about Ganondorf and his plans. No, that's stupid. I can't be stupid. How would it look if he did that with nothing for proof? He lost Zelda's letter. That was exactly the kind of stupid thinking that made Navi leave him. He would need to be smart about this.
"Nabooru, Arrow of the Desert," the big Goron said. "Where is your master?"
"No time for pleasantries?" Nabooru gave a mirthless chuckle. "And I thought we had gotten so close after the peace. King Dragmire is behind me, maybe a day. I'm just the vanguard."
"I have no time for pleasantries. Every hour my people are being slaughtered. Where have you been? The Lizalfos and Dodongo have begun their assault on the Crown."
"Then there is no time to waste, chief. Allow me and my best into your city and together we can get started on a battle plan. Have something halfway sorted by the time my king gets here."
The chief folded his arms, and took a long time before he nodded. "See that your warriors understand who they are fighting and who they are helping. Then you will be allowed into my city." Then without another word he turned and walked back into the tunnels.
Gorons came forward to Nabooru and her warriors, taking the reins of horses and ushering them inside. None of them seemed to pay Link any mind, so he followed them. Making certain he stayed out from underfoot of the massive stony people. Once Bethe caught sight of him, but just gave him a small nod.
They entered the cavern, reddish-brown stone surrounded them. The deeper they went the less sunlight he could see, until the only light around them was in lanterns and torches hung around the wall. The Gorons led them deep into the heart of the mountain. Until the tunnel turned into a wide cavern, where the stone glistened by the light of a massive fire that made gems sparkle along the ceiling.
From that central room span dozens of tunnels, with their own fires and Gorons walking or rolling through them. It would take years to search through this place. Somewhere in this underground maze was the Ruby, and Ganondorf would arrive sometime within the next day and claim it for his own.
I'm doomed.