"Let me get up... I have to find Ruu-"
"Maa, you just gave birth!"
"Nan is correct, you must not push yourself so soon, Lady Alysse."
"Dear, the captain is correct." Joshua squeezed her hand. "The last thing Ruuya would want is…"
Alysse ignored him.
"That girl ." Alysse grabbed her cane and struck the floor hard enough that the vase on the nightstand tipped. Nan caught the vase before it fell, broke, and spilled flowers and water all over the forget-me-not blue rug. "Where in hell did she go?"
"I assure you, we will find her." Bazz bowed until all of his dark head-tail was visible. He placed a worn and calloused hand on Nan's shoulder. " Us , not you, milady."
"She's been gone for almost a day…!"
"And she is an adult. The other night, I thought Vaati had sent her out to find ingredients while he worked here," Bazz replied, bowing his head. "But…"
"No one's seen her," Nan muttered.
Bazz nodded, well-aware of the outcome of the recent search through every crack and corner of the village. "And Lord Vaati is deeply troubled to the point of worry."
Alysse snorted. "Because he won't be able to do..." she paused as though mentally correcting herself, "make potions."
"Could you imagine that man covered from head to toe in muck and mire hunting for insects?"
That comment would have usually provoked at least a few giggles from Nan, but not even she laughed. How could she? Ruuya had gone missing, despite that she must have known that Maa and Daa and Nan herself desperately needed her most.
"She wouldn't have gone without me, Cap," Nan said, a few unwanted tears springing from her eyes. In that moment she hated her emotions. Bazz always said it was important for a guard or knight to connect with their feelings and work through them so they could become their master. Right now, however, she was mastered by them; swamped by sadness and regret and fear. How could Bazz have such control? She was a proud guard of Windfall who would one day be a great knight of Hyrule, but she couldn't stop crying and sniffling like a child. "I told you, this isn't like her, we should've started lookin' further than the village limits last night..."
Bazz lowered himself until he was closer to her eye level and nearly in a crouch, placing a hand on her head. "I am sorry, Nan," he said. "It was wrong for me to ignore the concerns of one of my best constables."
She smiled. Not recruit. Not trainee. Finally. "See Maa. We'll find her just fine."
Alysse met her daughter's gleeful and confident smile with a stern look. After a long moment, she sighed heavily and shook her head. "You always were too stubborn for your own good." She gave the captain and Nan a sharp but tired nod. "Alright. I'll wait here."
With that, Maa gave up and fell back asleep.
/-/
"Where is she?" Vaati hissed, arms folded across his chest, cloak pulled tight. "It's been three days already and there is no sign of that wretched fool."
Slowly, Captain Bazz turned to him, a calm expression on his face. How could the Zora have such a cool head at a time like this? "Calm yourself, my lord, it's barely morning of the third day," said Bazz, a hint of dry derision in his tone. "My best scouts are out searching for Miss Ruuya as we speak."
"And yet you still fail to see her returned," Vaati said, jaw clenched. "She is a desert thief who knows this land as well as a man knows the bottom of a lake. Your best are nothing more than headless cuccos if they can't manage to find her given that fact!"
Bazz pressed his lips together. He was proud as all Zoras were – or, used to be. He would not take such a challenge lying down, not even from the master of the village. Setting his shoulders straight, Bazz stared the wind mage dead in the eye. "They have scoured the shore and the nearby woods, but there has been no sign of her or her horse. A few of my scouts are out east, but the forests are thick and treacherous. It's taking them a while to search through it.
"The west is blocked by high walls and mountains, which leaves the perimeter of Lake Hylia last to search. Just in case, I've sent a scout up north to the outpost. If she happened to pass through to Central Hyrule or Dueling Peaks, the guards there will have seen her." He brought his voice low. The bags under his eyes suddenly seemed more pronounced. He rubbed at them with the back of a leather gauntlet. "We all know she hated strangers, we should have expected she might do something like this. We also have had reports of gangs of bandits throughout these parts, but by themselves, she and Jamila will be certain to attract less attention than a group, of course. If she has gone either way, she would want a low profile...though that won't mean people haven't seen her."
Vaati snarled, hands forming fists. "You dim-witted fool! You have no idea what you're doing! She would not have gone anywhere near open fields! She would not go hide in a forest! The ruins out there are full of monsters and that stupid girl wouldn't be so wise as to leave her horse in danger to save herself. She's too sentimental to leave it completely, so obviously she's closer than you think!"
"I never said she…" He paused, released a tired sigh. "We are doing the best we can, but-"
Vaati glared. "Then try harder! If that pathetic apprentice dies before you find her, it will be your head I take!"
Bazz glared back, eyes as sharp as twin spears. "You are not the only one who cares for her, milord."
Vaati choked back a gasp, anger making his staff shake in his hands. What. What. What. How dare this impudent worm say such a thing to his face?! Once he got his magic back, Bazz would be nothing more than a toothless toad!
Something between a smug sneer and a smile crossed the Zora's face for the briefest moment. At last, Vaati's mouth started to work again. He bared his teeth, displaying both fangs. "How dare you accuse me of such a vile thi-"
"Nan." Bazz had already begun walking away by the time Vaati spoke, gesturing at the short brunette as he rejoined the small swarm of guards and scouts. "To ease Lord Vaati's concerns , we will take the lead in this search."
The young girl bounced forward, then gave the Zora a smart salute.
"Let us find Miss Ruuya."
His fear, his concern, the idea that he cared for a mere tool. What utter outrage! Vaati still gasped a little at that very idea. He did not care for that Gerudo! He didn't care, he did not , he only wanted… He needed her safe to complete his plans.
That was all. Nothing more.
/-/
Two Days Ago
A Gerudo… She shook her head as she lowered herself carefully into the dark pit, only a simple lamp hung from her belt. ...doesn't make the same mistake twice, but that does not mean she won't make a similar one again.
That was her mother's addition to that old adage.
Ruuya landed with a splash in a pool of water she did not recall being here the last time she had come to this pit. Of course, the last time she was here, it had been a small cushion of snow that had broken her fall. The air too cold, this place too dark, her body twisted and in searing pain. She could close her eyes and be there and then again, half-frozen underground, wishing for a quick death... She had spent hours down here without light, without comfort, without even a hope of rescue. Ruuya shook her head to clear it, pushing back those memories far enough that they only brought back glimpses and a dull, throbbing pain in toes that existed no longer but still remembered.
Yet, she had come back, though it had taken her until dawn to find this place. No one would search for her here, Ruuya knew. No one would think she would come to the ruins where she had fallen through a pit and landed in a dark hole and nearly died. But when her strength had started to wane quicker than she had expected, she had decided to stop here for awhile, make camp, and hid Jamila carefully under a nearby alcove near the river.
She would come for the horse in five days, she had decided. That should be enough time for the search to fail and for Bazz to give up and return home. The Zora voe was stubborn, but not to the point of foolishness. He, Nan, and the rest of the village would just have to accept that she had made her choice and left them without even a farewell note. It was better this way. If the real Hyruleans found her, they would kill her. And if they knew the village was harboring a Gerudo from the Deep Desert...it would be even worse. She did not want her friends and family slain.
No. She would not let her mind dwell on those things that might have been. They were safe now because she had ran.
She unsnapped the lantern from her belt, inspecting the place that would be her home for the next five days. With a start, her hand froze. This wasn't just a deep hole in the ground as she had first expected. It wasn't even an underground room of the ruins above buried by time as per her second guess. No - her heart skipped a beat - it was far more grand than either.
Ruuya stepped out of the shallow puddle onto a narrow bank. A stream passed before her, flowing from one dark cavern to another, but on the other side of the river, a wide staircase led up to a gold-trimmed columnade on a portico, the entrance to a temple made of thick sandstone bricks behind it. Its door was sealed shut, the Gerudo symbol for the Goddess of Sand carved into the door aglow with a dim white light.
Her heart thumped erratically. What was this doing here? Had it been here the whole time? Should she go back and show Alysse…?
Ruuya bowed her head. No. She could not go back. She could not endanger them even for this discovery.
But, that didn't mean she couldn't find answers herself, poke around a bit and see if she could get that damned door to open and let her in. Crossing an aged bridge of stone, she reached the temple. Rejuvenated by the taste of discovery and a hope for treasure and riches, she looked around the portico, searching for braziers to light or a secret brick to push in or a switch to stand on or a… She smirked. An open crack in the slightly steepled roof of the squat yet beautiful temple built into the wall of the cave. Probably a past cave-in, if the pile of rocks on that side were any indicator.
Ruuya smiled. It was a good thing Nan had taught her to always over-prepare. Thus, she took out yet more rope from her knapsack. These nearly bottomless bags preferred by the Hylians were truly useful tools. Now, she just had to figure out how to get up there and get inside.
Stout, decorative pegs lined the structure just below the temple's roof, she noted. Carefully, she threw the rope up and over a peg, then tugged hard on the other end. Good. She then carefully made a loop and tied the rope as firmly as she could around herself. It seemed steady enough, and hopefully would bear her weight. If not this expedition could end hilariously quickly.
And hopefully it wouldn't fall on her if it snapped. At least the peg bore a lion's maw, so she shouldn't get impaled…though it could still smash her skull in if it fell.
What wonderful imagery...why am I doing this again? she thought, while snapping the lantern back onto her belt once more. But Ruuua knew that curiosity would gnaw at her until she found herself over here again, trying to get in. She shook her head wearily at this realization.
What would Veil say?
Hope you don't fall, Ruu, Veil chuckled dryly. Ruuya almost swore she could hear Veil's wry voice in the wide cavern echoing along the walls and pillars of stone. Veil didn't discourage her from such escapades, but she had never really encouraged her, either.
What a terrible girlfriend.
Taking out the small dagger that she always kept on her person in case of voe or to skin game, she stuck the dagger into a horizontal crack between the bricks. To her satisfaction, she found it dug into the mortar deep enough to make a handhold, but not too much that it got stuck. Satisfied, she precariously scaled the wall, relying more on the strength of her arms than her unsteady toes. At last, arms mildly aching, she clambered onto the peg, then thrust herself through the hole, managing to land on her bum, panting for breath on the uneven ledge of what was once a wall.
This...this was far higher up than she had thought. She took a gulp of water from her canteen, then, slowly raising to her feet, she turned and took in the temple room properly.
The room she lunged into was little more than a glorified closet, thus not a large chamber like she had feared. Gold trimmed symbols adorned the corners and doors, but the rest of the room was bare of decor save for a few lit braziers. Despite this, a large elegant chest sat on a pedestal. A treasure had fallen right into her grasp.
Hopefully it had books inside. You could always find ancient tomes in old places like this! Opening the lid, she let out a disappointed sigh. All it contained was a strange looking hookshot with a claw at the end instead of a spike.
A... clawshot? she mused, inspecting the item despite her initial disappointment. Perhaps there's better things further in. It wouldn't hurt to snoop around a bit more.
Heading to the door behind the chest, she found it locked. Figured. It was a little familiar though, with four chains converging in the center with a silver lock. Staring, it took a moment for the image to click in her head. The palace in the Dark World. There had been an eye in the center of the door leading to the room she had found Vaati in. That had been…
Ruuya blinked. About a year. A year since running away from the desert and her sisters. A year away from Veil, and her raucous laughter and warm lips. A year since those strange wizzrobes had cornered her and sent her to the Dark World and brought her a new beginning.
And now she was leaving her home again.
Something twisted in Ruuya's gut. She took a deep breath and let it out. There was treasure here! The clawshot was proof of that. If she got enough, perhaps she could catch a boat leaving Hyrule and go somewhere else. Somewhere with sands and where no one had ever heard of Gerudos before.
Ruuya shook her head and wound the dragging rope around her waist. She had made her choices. Her regrets would not weigh her down, she couldn't change the past. She took a hairpin out of her braid and inserted it into the lock, determined and focused on the task. After a few minutes, there was a small click . The lock fell with a clatter and the chains retracted into the wall.
A thief did not need a temple key.
The door slid up into the ceiling and a wall of putrid air hit her nose and tongue. Ruuya staggered back, clapping her hands around her mouth, nearly gagging. What the hell is that?
Holding her nose closed with one hand, Ruuya carefully tread into the brightened room before her.
Then the door slammed shut.
"Gack!" She slid up against the door, eyes tearing up. Dear gods, what could be causing this awful smell?
Taking short breaths, she crawled to the edge of the ledge she now found herself on. From this vantage point, she could clearly see why.
Far below, boiling and oozing in a wide canal, was a rippling pool of dark purple goop. It stretched from the wide platform of the...first floor, she guessed, all the way to the other end of the rectangular room, sometimes climbing up onto the walls like strange spider webs made of drippy tar. Her eyes watered again just looking at it. Was this meant as some kind of trap for intruders? A poison that would deter any from going further into the temple? And if they tried…
Ruuya couldn't say that the thought of leaving wasn't tempting. The door behind her would probably open if she lifted a fist, much like the doors in Vaati's palace had, and she could exit the temple and get some fresh air. Just stay by the stream outside with her meager supplies until the five days were up, safe and far away from this toxic sludge.
And yet, the possibility of treasure beckoned her, and new knowledge called her name. She was nearly as broke as the day she had left the desert, and living in Windfall had taught her the importance of rupees. If there was nothing else, she could at least find something to sell to a traveling merchant. Spin a tale of its history and earn a few rupees to help her get going.
This she told herself as she eyed the elevated square by her feet. It was yellowed and browned by time, and… Ruuya's eyes widened. A crescent moon and a star. The ancient symbol of the Gerudo, the one used back when the tribe had been united ages ago.
First the symbol of the Goddess of Sand, then this. She really was in a temple dedicated to the desert. In Hyrule of all places! She didn't understand. The Hylians hated every Gerudo, not just her sisters. That's what her mothers had taught her. They despised them and anyone else who was different! They should have come down here and destroyed the entrance at the very least when the Gr – when Ganondorf had tried taking the kingdom by force four centuries ago. Someone had to have known where the temple was, after all. It couldn't go ignored for hundreds of years.
So why was it still standing? Even with preservation magic running through its veins, she was certain the Hylians would've demolished it long ago.
Ruuya shook her head. She hadn't the time to wonder much more. Bracing herself against the wall, she rose to her feet and carefully stepped onto the switch. It depressed easily beneath her weight.
A few seconds after the square flattened down, the walls began making noise. Somewhere within the temple, things grinded against each other and shifted. The floor beneath Ruuya rumbled, and she leaned against the wall and waited.
The sound of stone grinding against stone echoed throughout the chamber. It was almost as loud as an avalanche in the mountains north of the desert. Pots on the ledge jostled and shook, small pieces of stone fell from the ceiling far above. For a moment, she feared it might be a cave-in, but as she examined the chamber once more, she finally spotted what had caused all that racket. Slowly, a long stone bridge rose from the toxic sludge, the strange tar falling off it in slimy waterfalls and riverlets. The bridge nearly crossed the sloshing lake but it stopped maybe ten feet from the far bank, where the end was yet covered in the strange oozing tar. Great.
Ruuya examined the new bridge. It was grey, unlike the sandstone that most of the temple seemed to be made of. She eyed the distance between the end of the bridge and the other bank, then grimaced. It was too far from the end to jump to. Even if she pole vaulted with her spear she wouldn't be able to make it. The few vines that hung from the ceiling were too high to reach and there were no other switches that she could spot that might reveal something new.
A screech came from the side. Ruuya withdrew her dagger and stabbed a dive-bombing keese. The monster shrieked as its eye popped, then fell limp. It slid off her blade like a rotten apple and landed with a squelch on the floor below. More of its kind filled the chamber, the flapping of leather wings now accompanied the sound of boiling tar. Ruuya closed her eyes momentarily, trying to ignore those features. First, however, she had to get down there safely. Her other problems could wait.
Idly, Ruuya wiped the fluids off the blade on her pant leg. A wipe cloth. Another object for her list of things to acquire once she was out of Hyrule. She took note of where the other keese were. One was above and two others were farther off, flapping above the purple lake. Ruuya clapped her hands until she gained the closest monster's attention, then skewered it. Immediate problems dealt with, Ruuya took the clawshot in both hands and turned it over. It was heavy in her hands, but just barely. Shaking it made a tiny chink sound inside of it and the handle refused to turn no matter what she did.
Ruuya twisted the device in her hands. Her eyes roamed over the shiny metal over and over again. The golden wrist guard caught the light and her warped reflection. She had thought it would have a light coating of dust at least, like anything kept in storage for a long time, but the clawshot was nearly pristine. It had barely been touched by time, if at all. Two words popped into her mind. Magic preservation. Had the treasure been protected, too?
She hummed, admiring the sheen. For a moment, she imagined that the clawshot softly glowed blue, the magic of preservation keeping it free of rust and its parts in working order. She blinked and looked over the clawshot again. The blue glow wasn't disappearing. It was just barely there, practically invisible unless she concentrated, but there all the same. Ruuya held the treasure close. It was ancient and beautiful. Perhaps grabbing it had been worth it after all.
But would it work?
Ruuya pointed the clawshot towards the empty space before her. She slipped a hand into the opening, carefully feeling around as she did. There was a solid bar inside wrapped with leather. It connected to opposite ends of the clawshot, with no clear buttons protruding from it. The rest of the space ended shortly after that, small and rounded for an adult fist. Bracing herself, she grabbed the bar tight.
Something gave.
Click-ick-ick-chah.
Ruuya stared at the bulk of the clawshot. She had done...something, but aside from the center spinning a little, nothing happened.
She relaxed her grip some.
And then the claw sprang out of the device. She nearly felt her snap crack at how fast she turned to follow the jettisoned claw. The item clinked and the device whirred as the chain went out farther and farther.
Then, it stopped. The claw grabbed at thin air and then the chain retracted. In seconds the claw was back in place, ready for use once more.
Ruuya could only stare. It was noisy and slower than an arrow but it had potential.
"Nice." She grinned, patting the claw. "The perfect tool for a thief."
Now all she had to do was use it.
Ruuya looked around her for anything to test her new-found toy. There were sturdy-looking braziers made of wood on the first floor, though they were already lit. Flinging herself at fire was not something on Ruuya's to-do list, so those were out. She tilted her head, staring. Fire didn't burn for long, not without care. Was it more preservation magic at work or some sort of magical eternal flame? Was there any difference? Would Vaati...no she mustn't think about him or the others, she had to find a way down.
After switching her gaze to the ceiling, Ruuya quickly found an oddity. On the ceiling was a grate, like the kinds the villagers had set up around the fields to filter debris out of the water. The gaps between the metal bars were large though. Too large for normal filtration, but just big enough for a hand to fit through. Or a claw.
Using her free hand to steady the clawshot, Ruuya pointed it at the grate and fired.
The rattling of chains was short-lived as the claw hit her target and closed across two bars. She gently tightened her grip-
-and promptly flew upwards, her grip turned iron in panic, her fist smashing into the padding. For a moment, she hung there, disoriented, then frowned. She was still too far above the ground to reach the first floor safely. Perhaps if she had her real toes, it would be a viable option, but...she looked around and spotted yet another grate. That wouldn't work. She couldn't just take her clawshot out and shoot it. No, that might mean broken bones or a cracked skull. She wasn't here to die unmourned, she was here for treasure.
She cursed, then covered her mouth as she inhaled the fumes rising from the sludge too deeply. No, she needed to keep taking shallow breaths less she wanted to gag and vomit.
What would Nan do? she thought, her eyes dropping to the rope around her waist. Right. This grate had to be strong enough to bare her weight, so she unraveled the loop of rope around her waist and started tossing one end up at the grate.
It was a simple matter of feeding it through and looping the rope around one hand. She disengaged the claw from the grate, tucked the clawshot into her pouch, and began easing herself down a little at a time.
The bar did not give. It didn't even creak.
Seeing that her plan was working, she smiled to herself and continued her descent. When she judged the distance to be right, she safely slung onto the nearest bank.
It was amazing how much of a difference ten or so feet made. Focusing on the ceiling, she found several more grates further out. The last ones were actually attached to small broken pillars of some kind hanging from above. The exposed bottoms were dark, as if every one were hollow inside. Ruuya couldn't for the life of her figure out why they like that, so she turned her attention back to her side of the chamber.
There was a large door behind her, yellowed and engraved with the seal of the spirit. Legend held that it was two souls intertwined, following and supporting one another, much like the sisters of the desert. On either side of the door were double sets of clay pots, brown and fragile. A peek in each one yielded ten rupees and a thin old stick.
Ruuya rolled her eyes and tossed the stick to the side. Fat lot of good that would do.
The only other things of note were the two doors on either wall. The one on the right was locked with another lock and chains while the other was bare of anything. Choosing the path of least resistance, Ruuya banged a fist on the unblocked door and watched as it slid up into the wall. For the few seconds it was open, Ruuya took in what the other chamber had to offer.
She grimaced. Inside she spotted moving masses of color and a spider - a giant skulltula sitting on the far wall. She swallowed the lump in her throat and let the door slam back down instead. Nope. The other room had to be better than that.
Making sure the rope was rewrapped around her waist, Ruuya pulled the lockpick pins from her buns again, and crouched next to the locked door. There were probably monsters on the other side of this one, too, but it could just as easily hold another treasure, or even more rupees.
She hoped it was rupees. If she saw another skulltula she was going to... Well she would do something. Probably scream and run back into the central chamber.
When the lock clicked open at last, Ruuya let it clatter to the floor. Once more the chains recoiled into the wall and the strange door opened for her. The braziers behind her lit up a small room with a staircase that dipped down, around, and out of sight. Ruuya stepped through, and unclipped her lantern. She didn't jolt at the door coming down behind her, and for that she was proud. She was already getting used to the oddities of this eras-old temple.
Taking the long, twisted staircase down several flights of steps with only her lantern to light the way, she saw that the room at its base was...a little odd. Torches, lit and not, stood on blocks or on platforms over sand. The door shut. She banged a fist on it but it did not reopen. A few keese, burning bright with fire, flapped about the chamber. A stream ran through the middle along a stone channel, from one wall and out another. Clay pots rested on a thin platform to one side and bars blocked a door higher up on a small tower of sandstone.
Seeing no skulltulas or the telltale wavering on the ground of a lizarfols, Ruuya cautiously stepped forward. It seemed to be a puzzle of some type, all told. The unlit torches seemed to be the key, but there was no way for her to reach them all. An arrow perhaps? Tapping her thigh, Ruuya scowled. If only she hadn't left her bow with Jamila. And her quiver. She sighed.
This won't do, gotta find something else… Ruuya looked around the rest of the room, but aside from the columns and the oddly leveled platforms, there really wasn't much to see. Resigned, she took a few quick steps across the sand to the pots against the wall. Her boots sank some, her heart thundering as she struggled to keep going. It was maybe five feet from sandstone floor to sandstone floor, but she was forced to sit on the edge of her destination and pull her legs out of the suctioning sands.
Taking a deep breath, Ruuya quickly checked the clay pots. Each had smudges of red inside of them, as if whoever had them last hadn't bothered to clean them properly. No rupees or anything really worth while. She tsked. This chamber was a bust.
After killing the keese that filled the chamber, she heard the door she had entered through click. Hoping that meant it had come unstuck, Ruuya took a running leap and made it most of the way across the stream of sand. After another extraction from the sands, she left the room, climbed once more to the first floor and reentered the central chamber.
Pinching her nose, Ruuya steeled herself against the stench. Just a little while longer and she could leave this sewer hole be, she promised herself. She walked to the edge of the floor, crossed her arms, and took another look around the walls of the veritable lake. Purple goop crawled up the sides of the wall, like moss only more insidious. The only gap was at the end of the new bridge, the built up gunk having snapped free. The tar clung to the end of it, half of it still drooping off the sides of the bridge. Crossing the bridge, she spotted three grates above the part covered in poisonous slime. If she did this right, she could use the same trick as last time and sling to the far bank.
Ruuya withdrew her clawshot and aimed for the grate above, the only bar of safety above the sludge. She tightened her grip, and once again the chains rattled as the claw shot across the gap. It hit the grate, clung to it. Bracing herself for what she knew would come this time, she moved her fingers away from where the button was on the clawshot's interior.
A split second later, her stomach lurched. The floor fell away from her and she sped towards the ceiling. A clang , a click , and she grabbed onto a bar of the grate before the world's grip pulled her down. She grunted, the strain on her arm a little much after weeks without much regular exercise beside the new spear kata. Still, she refused to let go. With just one hand to use, she awkwardly stuffed the clawshot back into her bag and unraveled the rope again. She slotted one end through the closest bar then hung onto it with both hands. Carefully, with arms aching, she slung across but did not quite make it, landing instead in the purple tar that clung to the edge of the sandstone shore.
The lake seethed , and the slime began to climb up her legs, clinging to her pants and boots. It burned her skin, but did not smoke. Frantic and in pain, Ruuya crawled away from the toxic sludge; the slime stretched, then pulled back into the disgusting mass. Once she had escaped, she yanked her boots free and cut off the bottoms of her pantlegs, and cleansed the boots with the remaining water in her wineskin before replacing them back on her feet. Looking down, Ruuya stared at the red welts and sores that now covered her legs.
"Shit." Ruuya reached into her bag, teeth clenched. She withdrew a red potion, uncorked it, and chugged half of it before glancing at her legs again. The sores had closed and the welts were no longer an angry red with strange dark edges, but her legs still burned slightly. Ruuya stared and swallowed. The sensation was familiar... It's like acid , she realized. Hopefully, it had not gotten past her skin and entered into her blood. She could only imagine how bad it would be then.
She drank the rest of the potion, and the burning sensation died down to a low throb.
Ruuya let out a breath of relief and instantly regretted it. What the hell is this stuff?
A small sort of popping came from the tar. Ruuya scuttled away from it, eyeing it warily.
A stalk popped up from the tar, long and thin, wobbling as it waggled about. The thing gurgled, a pustule growing on the end of it. It grew larger, she took a step back, and two halves of the abscess peeled back to reveal a blazing, yellow eyeball.
Without thinking, she took out her treasure and shot it, receiving a nice, satisfying pop as the eye burst. The clawshot reeled back in with a click soon after, but Ruuya was not paying much attention to it. Instead, she watched as the tar cleared, like water dissolving under the glare of the sun. The rest of the bridge was free, though too late to aid her.
The door at this end had a large swath of the gunk missing around all sides. As if destroying the eyeball had removed a source of corruption.
A screech echoed against the walls. Ruuya aimed her clawshot again, and nailed a keese swooping down at her. As the monster's corpse fell to the shifting poison below, Ruuya shuddered.
An eye for a patch. How much for the rest of the lake?
Firmly deciding not to think about it, Ruuya rewound the rope around her waist, marched to the door, and tapped the wood. It slid open. Swiftly, she went through to the other side and down the immediate spiral stairs. Torches on the wall gave off some light as she descended. The foul stench lingered, but was distant, like in the other rooms bordering the central chamber. It seemed she had escaped it at last.
The stairs ended at yet another door. Ruuya opened it, and observed what she could of the next chamber.
Blackness. No flickers of light. No skittering of spiders.
The door slammed shut. She opened it again and strained to listen. No rustle of cloth, so no bokoblins or moblins. Another slam, another push. No creaking or shuddering or anything to suggest movement. When the door shut again, Ruuya withdrew the clawshot. She aimed, pushed the door, and in the moment it was open, took her shot.
The claw whizzed into the darkness. A sharp clang echoed and the claw returned, the door coming down right after.
Ruuya took a breath, and let it out. If anything was in the room, then that surely would have alerted it. One more deep breath and then she opened the door. She listened. She looked.
Then...there! Cloth sliding against a sandy floor.
The door came down. Ruuya swallowed. She had her answer.
She didn't know what was on the other side, and she had no bow and arrows to safely take out any targets. It wasn't a skulltula as she had feared, but that was all she knew. She could turn back, but then what? Where would that leave her? Near rupeeless and with nothing to sell.
So with a scimitar in one hand and the other holding her lantern, Ruuya warily entered the room.
In the space of a single breath, the door came down behind her. The sound of it seemed so much louder than usual in the suffocating silence. The lantern's orange light breached the looming dark, but revealed nothing. Not a column or monster or platform. Only a shroud darker than the blackest of nights scarcely exposed by her bubble of light.
Ruuya swallowed hard, and crept forward, ears open for the slightest breath, the smallest movement. She could not see the walls; she had left them behind, leaving her back opened, but keeping her from being cornered.
Shuffling once again echoed in the darkness; this time, it was louder, and right beside her.
She swiveled on her heel, lifting up both sword and light. A voe wrapped in tattered white cloth appeared in the shallow glow, back yet turned to her. A redead, but worse, wrapped in white cloth beneath its funeral shroud. Gnarled fingers twitching at its side. Its head twisted until it faced her, and let out a bone-chilling scream. Ruuya froze, unable to even breath.
No no no no by Din no! she thought.
Faster than she thought possible, the mummified thing leaped, somehow turning in thin air to lash onto her back. But before it could sink its teeth, her feet slide forward and her toes gave way. She fell face first into a shallow stream of water, the mummy splattering in the darkness nearby but off her back and far enough away she could not see it. Life returned to her limbs, Ruuya ran blindly across the stream, and heard a distant click of a door coming unstuck. She shoved it harder than she had ever shoved anything before, and didn't even wait for the door to open completely before ducking through it and into the portal of bright light beyond.
The door closed. Ruuya stumbled forward onto the cool, tiled ground.
"Dear gods," she gasped, leaning against the wall of the narrow hallway, "I hate redeads."
She took stock of her surroundings. There were no enemies in this hall, no strange goo. Not even any keese. Just torches. Blessed light. She breathed a sigh of relief, then chuckled sadly. She had made it out in one piece. Hopefully, wherever this hall led would let her avoid backtracking into that crypt.
When her heart stopped attempting to break through her chest, Ruuya rose to her feet and opened the door on the other side. The glimpse she had of light and sandstone while waiting for the door to shut was enough to convince her of it being relatively safe. She stepped through and eyed the new chamber. Tall blocks of stone sat in the sand, varying meters apart. Some were close enough for a leap, while others seemed too far to get to without climbing up them. Intricate designs wove across the stones, all angles of red and blue where there wasn't flowing script.
Ruuya followed the half-words and partial phrases from where she stood, moving her lips as she read them. "Bl...essed be the one who...eeks? Seeks the...desert brass?" Ruuya hummed. It was her best guess, though it made little sense. She had never heard of such a thing before. Although… If it was unheard of, that meant it was rare.
Which meant it was treasure.
Ruuya grinned, wide and fierce. She could hear the clink of rupees now.
Very nearly cackling with glee, Ruuya examined the rest of the room. Odd translucent diamonds dotted the chamber. Some were on blocks while others jetted out from the walls high overhead. A few keese flapped around the alcoves in the wall, coming dangerously close to lit braziers every so often. She tapped her thigh and tsked. Once again her lack of a ranged weapon was- she blinked, then smacked herself. The clawshot!
Ruuya rubbed her hands together, flexed her fingers, and ran for the nearest block. Her momentum drove her a few feet up the wall and she scrambled the rest of the way to the top. Chuckling, she took out her clawshot, and started aiming for each crystal. With each loud clack of metal on glass, the crystals turned yellow. There were five scattered about and with a little repositioning, they were all hit in no time.
Ruuya shot the grate above a previously barred door, and her stomach lurched as she was drawn across a water duct. Her feet on solid ground, she took a moment to catch her breath then opened the door and took in the next room.
When the door slammed down, she did not move to open it again, however. Instead, smile frozen on her face, Ruuya turned around, and made her way back across the blocks to the other door.
The skittering skulltulas could have somebody else for lunch.
She was curious, not dumb.
Besides, if the "desert brass" wasn't further into the temple then she could easily come back and deal with the giant spiders. With fire, she thought, like they deserve.
Vaati had said one evening that elements were easier to control if they were naturally occurring. Therefore, using her lantern oil and a lot of sticks she could make a roaring fire into a raging inferno with Din's Fire.
At least she hoped so.
With great reluctance, Ruuya left the diamonds and sandstone behind and approached the redead chamber. A few moments to take out her lantern and check the darkness for any signs of tall, wrapped, and gruesome, and Ruuya sprinted through the room. Keeping a little closer to what few pillars she could see, Ruuya crept through the room but heard no sign of the dead revived. Thank the gods, perhaps the thing couldn't survive in water and had thus drowned, but it was better not to check, she decided.
Finally, she came to the door, slamming herself into the other door and onto the staircase. She didn't dare look back and kept going, leaping past steps to get to the top faster just in case she was wrong and the redead just hadn't noticed her. The stench from above was enough to leave a bad taste in her mouth, but she couldn't care less. Bad smells didn't kill.
Her ragged breaths were the only thing she could hear. Ruuya held her breath for a second, trying to pick out any out of place sounds, but needed air. She tried again and couldn't hold off on breathing long enough to hear anything. When she finally could hear over herself, she noted the silence and concentrated on it.
She leaned against the wall with one arm, staring up the stairs. When no shuffling or other inhuman noises came forth, she sighed. Relief flooded her, and she giggled. She had made it past the redead. Again!
Oh, she hoped to the Goddess of Sands that the "desert brass" wasn't down there. She wasn't stepping foot into those nightmares without enough fire and arrows to put down everything moving on the floor below.
Ruuya sighed and shook out her arms, willing herself to put everything behind her and focus. She was alive, all of her limbs were intact, her weapons were sharp and battle ready, and she was just a little thirsty. She dearly wished she had more water. The burning ache had disappeared from her legs, so being poisoned was no longer a concern.
Probably.
She was fine. Everything was fine.
Ruuya held the collar of her tunic up over her nose, and opened the door. Immediately the stench burst through, smothering her, and nearly making her retch. The rancid smell that had clung to the inside of her nose came back twenty times worse. Ruuya staggered then raced through the doorway, swallowing down rising bile.
Good gods this is vile!
She coughed and spat to the side, wiping her arm across her mouth. "Ugh." And she had thought that mucking out horse stalls was the worst reek in this world. Apparently, she had been wrong.
Was there anything here she had missed before heading down the staircase? Hands on her hips, she studied the lake bank, then blinked. There, a switch hidden behind a few pots. Damn, she should've paid more attention to her surroundings. Stepping on it, she heard something rumbling and gears shift behind the walls. The wall behind the pots gave way and steps appeared, leading down to a locked door. Ah. So a key was what was in the spider room beyond the redead. Good. Good. She need not worry about lost treasure now.
Taking the new flight of steps, she picked the lock and carefully entered the next room. It was another, smaller chamber with a wide yet shallow canal filled with columns and purple tar, and a bridge of grates running across the ceiling. Glad to see you have such a wonderful taste in design, dear foremothers.
Ruuya snorted at that, instantly regretted the action. What a convoluted mess.
Ruuya walked up to the edge of the bank, raised her clawshot and fired at the first grate. The claw hit her target and she flew over the burbling eye-making tar below.
Clang! The clawshot rejoined and Ruuya smacked her hand onto a bar before she could drop much. With her current strength, Ruuya couldn't hold on forever. Her hands stinging, she worked quickly. She drew her legs up and tucked the clawshot between her thighs. Her hand freed up, she began unraveling the rope around her waist. As she had done before, she worked the end between the bars and over to lower herself down. Ruuya chuckled lightly to herself. Had she a third arm, she might've even pat herself on the back. She would be across in-
The goo below her exploded in a disgusting shower of sludge and slime, a bone-rattling wail accompanying it.
Stiffly, Ruuya turned her head to the gurgling behind her. She gasped, her grip turned knuckle-white.
It resembled a keese, but it wasn't. The single, sickly yellow eye rolled around, the slit pupil aimlessly rolling in its socket. Two huge fangs jutted out from its wide mouth, streams of violet tar dripping from them.
Then, the pupil settled on her. Her blood turned to ice. Dear gods, dear gods, dear gods, what was this thing?
The slow, heavy flaps of its tattered wings suddenly picked up. The unholy creature screeched, shaking down sand and sending ripples across the poisonous lake.
Uttering a string of curses, Ruuya jammed her hand back into the clawshot, and aimed for the next grate.
Clang! The claw glanced off the ceiling. Ruuya cursed louder. Another rending screech. She lowered herself another few feet, and shot for her target again. Stone cracked behind her, the chain pulled forward, she let go of the rope, and something, many somethings, plopped into the lake. Ruuya's hand smacked into an iron bar. She chanced a look behind her, and swallowed a scream.
The monster had pushed its way through the hanging columns and grates, breaking some off! The remains of these were jagged, cracks spiderwebbing at the edges. The keese-like thing screeched again, showing a mouth full of needle-like teeth and a purple tongue.
She wanted to lower herself again by the rope, but she hadn't the time. The thing might kill her before she got down on solid ground.
Ruuya grit her teeth. Still hanging by one hand, she raised the other, and shot the claw at the creature's eye.
The prongs sank into the pupil and the monster gave an ear-piercing shriek. Ruuya clenched her eyes shut. Her ears rang, the world going quiet. Her ears throbbed. Something impacted the clawshot. She opened one eye to see the clawshot back together. Redoubling her grip on the bar, she looked up at the thrashing monster. Some greenish substance with orange highlights gushed out of its eye. Blood. Unnatural.
Ruuya quickly tucked the clawshot between her thighs again and pulled up the rope to make herself a pulley. She had no clue how long the monster would be distracted, but it likely wouldn't be for long. As she pulled the rope over one-handed, Ruuya kept shooting her gaze at the giant flying eyeball. It didn't take long for it to shake itself off and reorient. She grimaced. The rope wasn't all the way through, but it didn't need to be. She lowered herself the few feet she needed to hit the last grate, shifting her attention from the creature and back again. The monster locked its gaze on her again, glare sharp. Her heart hammered erratically in her chest. Gods, she didn't need this! Its wings flapped harder. Its eye turned red.
Clawshot in hand again, Ruuya shot at her target.
The monster charged, far faster than it had any right to.
It opened its jaws, teeth hovering behind her-
Her stomach lurched-
And the fangs chomped down on empty air, just barely missing her legs.
Her tired hand smacked into another bar, but she barely heard it. A look back at the not-keese and a wicked grin cut across her face. The monster was flying in place, eye rolling. It seemed dizzy or confused. Which, she couldn't tell and she didn't care. Two more grates and she would be on solid sandstone. She didn't bother keeping her legs curled up with the clawshot. So long as she could reach it, Ruuya didn't care. The rope went over, the clawshot went back on, and she fell several feet before the rope lost its slack. There were still yet more columns between her and the beast, almost like a forest of them rising from the channel or hanging down with withered vines, filled with the flapping of wings.
She shot off for the next grate and tried not to scream as the clawshot then pulled her along. Her hand smacked a bar again. Ruuya gasped. Her arms couldn't take much more. Still, she turned to check on the creature.
Its eye was red.
Ruuya gasped and flung up her clawshot arm, the creature already shooting towards her. The claw flew, the chain unwound, and the clawshot punctured the monster's eye. The bat screeched again then plowed through the stone forest like a drunkard.
Ruuya coughed, and went about getting her makeshift pulley put into action. Her arms were just about done. A good jolt from a quick descent would mean losing her grip.
A wild, vile wind blew past her, and she knew her time was up.
Arm coiled with rope, Ruuya lowered herself as quick as she dared. She fired off the clawshot one last time, and her instincts screaming, released her grip on the rope.
She fell. The claw still went, the chain still moved. Red and white and purple filled her vision, a missing meal. The tar came ever closer, the smell denser. The chain, for a split second, stopped.
Then she was yanked. The purple tar and the grotesque green and orange bleeding monster were left behind. The clawshot came together, and Ruuya dropped three feet onto solid ground. Sweet solid ground.
She could have laughed, had the monster not locked its gaze on her. She couldn't hear anymore, and hopefully her last red potion could help with that, but when the creature opened its maw, she knew there was only one thing she could do.
Ruuya waited, one hand holding the collar of her tunic over her nose, until the monster's eye shifted to crimson fury.
Then she lifted the clawshot, and let that abominable eye have it.
By the wind whipping past and the loose sand falling from the ceiling, Ruuya knew it was better not to be able to hear the screams of the thing. It flailed about in the air, crashing into columns, the jagged edges scraping and gouging green tears in the flying thing's eye and wings. Bits of the ceiling rained down, further pummeling the dazed and pained monster.
Ruuya rolled her shoulder. If only she had bombs and arrows. Then she could end this whole fiasco in a matter of seconds.
Instead, she had to wait for the not-keese to try charging at her again and blind it with the clawshot. Pillars and columns collapsed as the monster struggled with being blinded and assaulted by falling stone and debris. It flew into a wall then back into more pillars, more of the ceiling crashing down upon it and plopping into the tar.
The floor rumbled. Cracks spread across the ceiling, faster than Ruuya could keep up with.
And a mass of stones collapsed down onto the monster. The toxic goop undulated with the disturbance, and the tar keese fell into the river of violet sludge.
Ruuya waited, her breathing shallow. Bits of rock tumbled from the pile. She stood, waiting for rubble to shift.
Something shiny shot out from the remains of its giant maw. She couldn't tell the shape, only that it glinted in the light and it was hers.
Shiny!? Ruuya thought. Trea- It plummeted, then fell into the river of tar. Her shoulders her luck that was the Desert Brass, gods...gods. One moment away from being wealthy and screwed by a that hideous keese's hairball vomit… Not that keese had hairballs, right?
Ruuya groaned - surprised she could hear herself at all - and rubbed her face. Skulltula, redead, toxic gunk, and monsters that didn't know how to give treasure away.
"Dear gods," she cursed, sliding down against a broken pillar and took the last gulp of water from her wineskin. That wasn't enough to be anywhere close to refreshing. She'd have to refill it when she left. But she had no worries, there was a fresh stream just beyond the temple. "I hate this gods-forsaken den of keese shit."
She flipped it off, then, tilting back her head, Ruuya finished off the rest of water. She put her wineskin away and withdrew a red potion, the last one she had taken before fleeing. She chugged down the bottle, uncaring of anything but having her ears stop aching and ringing.
She belched, a puff of scarlet escaping her. A little too much strawberry in that batch, maybe. Not that it mattered any longer. Ruuya pushed herself up, and glared at where the tarry keese had been buried.
Only to do a double take of the room. The rancid toxins had lowered. Really lowered. She could see bits of pillars that had been hidden, parts of destroyed columns, and as she watched the gunk lowered another foot, maybe more, in less than a minute. Where the tar had stuck to the walls, it snapped down into the lake, pulled by the draining of the room.
Had the monster's defeat meant part of the temple had been cleansed? Just like that eyestalk in the central if she waited longer enough…
Ruuya grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Treasure! Real treasure! And all she had to do was sit around long enough.
Her sense of smell had been likely destroyed, so Ruuya sat down and eyed the tar levels. The drain became faster at some point, and before too long, the bottom was revealed and there, as plain as day, was the shiny thing. A wooden ladder dropped down by the platform's edge, making a clatter and nearly caused her to jump. It was long enough to reach the bottom, so, grinning like it was her birthday, Ruuya scrambled down it.
Desert Brass, Desert Brass, and it was hers, hers, hers!
She fairly ran the whole way, riches and freedom in her head, and when she came to where the thing had fallen, she found a ruby inlaid in a key. Her grin faded some. This...was not what she expected.
But a key like this must lead to real treasure… For why else would something as valuable as a ruby be used in a key?
Ruuya turned the key over in her hands, and walked back to the ladder. She glanced at the scattered pieces that had once held up the ceiling to the chamber. Familiar script wrapped around them. She found four, five words before she strode over to a mostly intact pillar and found even more there.
"Help the three sisters find their way back home," she read, the Gerudo script curling around it, "and the path shall be open."
Ruuya turned and scanned the empty pit. There wasn't much, but near the center were three braziers, the solid kind, and the remains of barriers or walls around them.
One was lit with a ghostly blue light.
Nope. Not touching this .
A little further in, the ruins came together to make a tall hallway of sorts, the preservation magic of the temple not enough to keep it in one piece. Ruuya gave the central puzzle a wide berth and stepped through a gap in the walls. Most of the hall was damaged, but the further in it went, the more well-kept it seemed. Rough wall gave way to smooth. Dirt and sand were left behind as a long red carpet took their place. Torches along the wall appeared, and were still lit.
And at the very end was a grand room of color and light. Braziers and torches burned brightly in a normal yellow color. Firepits sat to either side of a staircase cutting through a three tiered pyramid of sandstone. The other levels had firepits as well, sitting on flattened stone that would have been traditionally slanted. The expansive scarlet carpet on the ground depicted something vaguely skull-shaped, a thin layer of sand covering it. Pots lined the walls to her left and right, promising something better than dusty old sticks.
Ruuya breathed. The air was cleaner here. No rot had found its way in yet, even with how the chamber behind her had been flooded with that tar for...perhaps centuries.
This was it. It had to be it! There was treasure here, just beyond this room! She could smell it.
First, however, the clay pots. A quick inspection found a mix of blue and red rupees, and a pink, glowing bug, like a firefly, almost, but too round and jingly. Ruuya stared as the little bug flitted about, then, partly by habit, partly fueled by the thrill of treasure hunting, she took out one of her empty bottles and captured it. Maybe she could sell it, too. Hylians were weird and would almost buy anything.
Ruuya put the bottle away and rubbed her hands together, looking back at the top of the odd pyramid. She had perhaps enough for bartering, but the Desert Brass would guarantee her and Jamila passage on the next ship out, no matter how much it might cost.
A grin stretched across her face, and Ruuya started up the steps. The fires were almost welcoming, as if it were a great celebration to come so far. They were safety from the harsh nights, a deterrent to nearly all monsters, and a place to cook hunted game. She could almost imagine past sisters sitting by each one, silent sentries which saluted the one who had made it so far.
It almost felt like home.
Coming to the top, however, was more like finding an elder's personal guard. A double door painted with red and blue patterns stood shut on the landing, statues of sisters gripping spears on either side. The door was barred by a large iron lock, the keyhole maybe an inch around and demanding something special.
Ruuya laughed to herself and looked down at the key in her hands. There was no doubt about it. This was where it went, and where her efforts paid off. A treasure room fit for a goddess must lay beyond. She glanced at the pots on either side. Quickly, she collected a bundle of arrows and more rupees from them, then approached the door. Reverently, she slotted the key into place, and twisted.
Loud clacks and clangs came from inside the doors. The key in her hands vanished to her dismay, as did the lock, and the doors opened up wide for her.
Ruuya stepped through them and into a large cavern filled with chests and piles of gold, gems, and rupees. In the midst of all this wealth, a giant's skeleton sat on a throne, arms crossed, eyes dead. Then, it stomped its foot, causing the earth to quake and Ruuya to lose her balance, reaching for the nearest crate to stabilize her footing. The skeleton rose from its seat, withdrawing one of its twin blades. It flashed golden in the dusty sunlight which filled the chamber, despite that none should have reached them so far beneath the ground.
"What is this?" it said, the blade outstretched and pointed at her chest. "Your appearance is that of the daughters of the desert. You carry our blades and our spear…"
"Of course," Ruuya replied, shoving down her nerves, "I am Gerudo."
"Gerudo?" it asked. Its skull turned from side to side, rattling slightly. "No. You are nothing but a little fox wearing the wool of a lamb. A liar. A mockery." The skeleton lunged forward, blades glinting bright.
"What?" Ruuya leaped back and slid out her spear, gripping the shaft tight, and fending off its next attack.
"A fraud." Its teeth clacked together harshly.
"What…" Ruuya fell into a crouch, careful to back away from the golden blades once more. "What do you mean?"
The skeleton laughed, though she could sense no humor in that raspy noise, like thunder in a sandstorm. "I answer not to traitors like you."
With that, it attacked with a fury of blades. She barely parried, then barely dodged with a horizontal dive, and finally, landed on the tip of her bad foot. That caused her to stumble into a pile of gold in the corner. Great. No dodging… At least no dramatic dodges. Precision. Precision was what she needed. It was all she could really do. She had to remember to land on her feet, not the tips of her toes, just as Bazz had taught her.
Ruuya leaned on her spear and stood up, but instead of attacking, the skeletal Gerudo just stood there. Its arms crossed, its head tilted to one side, its anger from before replaced by amusement.
"What?" Ruuya asked, carefully rounding to the back of the skeleton. She knew she could not overcome this monster without trickery and guile. She needed an opportunity, a way to make this fight short and sweet. She needed...there. "Did I forget to wash my hands?"
"How did someone as clumsy as you get past all our traps?"
"Gumption."
The skeleton threw back its head and let out a cold, mocking laugh. Ruuya took that opportunity to launch her clawshot at its neck and fly upwards. In thin air, she spun around, landing her knees on the skeleton's shoulders and stringing one arm around the skeleton's head.
"Hi sister," she said, pulling off the sash below her chest. "What's up?"
All she received was a guttural growl. The skeleton tried to bat her off, but Ruuya held on with her knees and thighs. It was a bit like riding a skittish horse through harsh and bumpy terrain.
"Damn you, trait-"
Ruuya tied the thick sash around the monster's eyes, then slammed the pummel of her scimitar on the back of its head. It stumbled over its own feet, Ruuya barely rolling off of it in time as it collapsed to the earth, making it quake.
It can't be this easy, she thought.
As if on cue, the skeleton began to rise on hands and knees, its golden eyes blazing like flames, burning away the sash that had covered them. "How dare you! You are not the Chosen One!"
Ruuya shrugged, readied her spear. "I could be the Chosen Second. Or maybe the Third?"
The skeleton let out a hiss then flung a blade at Ruuya's head. This she ducked under easily enough. It seemed the fun was over.
They exchanged a quick series of blows, Ruuya either dodging the skeleton's blades or blocking it. It nicked her a few times, agile despite its size. She was bleeding from cuts on her arm and cheek, the sting ignored and soon forgotten. For all her focus, however, she hadn't found an opening. The skeleton, when not distracted, was too fast, too skilled. And even with her extra training, she was growing too weak to keep up, both feet and loss of muscles draining her. She had to think. Use gumption. She couldn't win an all-out fight.
Dodging a forward thrust she misstepped, stumbling backwards several inches. That made the skeleton crack a grin. Ruuya looked up and beyond its massive shoulders and fiery eyes, a familiar design caught in the corner of her eye.
A grate hung from the ceiling. There, just gotta-
Its blade sliced down upon her and she barely knocked it to the side, but it was a hard enough strike that Ruuya had a chance to run. Sprinting across the sands, she rolled between its legs and landed on her back. Whispering a prayer that the chain of her clawshot was long enough, Ruuya launched it at the grate.
The skeleton moved on its boney heel, growling. The clawshot struck, the sword came near, and at the last possible moment, the chain retracted, a spinning blade sweeping beneath her, taking with it half her braid of red hair. That was too close , she thought, hanging from the ceiling, blood pouring from multiple wounds, energy fading. But if she didn't act fast, she'd have a blade through her skull.
I can't blind it this time. She's expecting me to land on her back. Instead, Ruuya raised her spear, let go, and dove at the skeleton with all her might. Despite its speed, despite its power, the skeleton did not try to dodge. It was too large and too bulky to get out of the way in time. But it did raise a giant golden blade to slice Ruuya through.
She had expected that. Ruuya spun, and let it take a chunk of wooden inserts instead of any more toes. Then, at the last moment, slammed her spear into the crook of its neck and let go.
The giant released a guttural roar, dropping one blade to claw at the twig of a weapon. Even that wasn't enough to defeat the Guardian of the Temple, the strike merely annoying it. But Ruuya had another trick up her sleeve, a thief must always have spars.
If she could get it off in time, that was. She'd need to be precise, need to be fast, and need to let the skeleton almost strike her, and then…
She'd pull out her final secret weapon.
"One more round, sister?" she asked, unsheathing her blades, well-aware that she had not trained with them since her injury. This battle could certainly kill her. Though without her supports... With her ankle throbbing with every heart beat...
"You honorless wretch!"
It wasn't wrong. Swiftly, it struck, blades aiming for hers. She parried, danced clumsily out of the way, but stayed upright. It struck again, and again, and again, never giving her an opening, and purposefully, never coming quite close enough for it to overextend itself.
Ruuya swore, but kept leading it closer and closer to the towering walls. The skeleton knew something was up. Knew she was scheming to trick it somehow. The careful maneuvers spoke as much. She needed to make it overextend its arm herself before it wore her out and killed her.
And from the number of wounds and cuts across her body, she knew she didn't have much time.
As though reading Ruuya's weariness, it pounced, blades swiping close...and...
Finally.
She threw her blades aside at the last moment, drew out the blue cloak from her bag, and disappeared. The skeleton rammed its blades into the cavern wall. The room itself quaked at the strike, rock and dust and sand crumbling then tumbling and crashing from the ceiling, smashing into the great skeleton. But no blood spilt on dust, bone, or gold.
For Ruuya had never returned the Cloak of Invisibility to its owner.
When the dust settled, there was nothing but fragments of bones and sand, and a weary Gerudo sitting upon a giant closed chest, grateful she had remembered to bring three bottles of green potion to fuel her magic. Bless Nan and her lessons. One should always over-prepare.
She released a sigh, and closed her eyes. Rest. She needed rest. She was certain she'd sprained her ankle when she'd jabbed her spear in the skeleton's back, and the wounds, while shallow would need dressing.
In a moment, she thought, her head drifting to her chest. She just needed a quick nap before she took some of the treasures and…
"You are not whom I was expecting," a youthful and somehow distant voice interrupted. "Unless, I suppose, if the gods have chosen one from the Gerudo to host the hero's spirit."
Ruuya pried open her eyes, then gasped. A Gerudo woman stood before her, aglow with a faint white light. Blue flames danced at her feet yet did not spread or give off heat. On her head sat a golden circlet and a hairpiece, both inlaid with red gems and untouched by time.
Dear Din! The skeleton had turned into a poe? Ruuya reached for her blades, but they weren't there. No, they had probably been crushed by the fallen rocks...like most of the treasure that filled the chamber. Shit. She reached for her spear. It was missing in action too. Desperate, she withdrew her dagger, pointing it at the poe with an unsteady hand.
The specter released a dry chuckle, then pushed the blade up so that Ruuya could see its tip. It was flat, the point dulled when she had snuck her way into the temple, no doubt.
Dammit. She was defenseless against a new opponent.
"You're not the Chosen One, right?"
"No, just a thief."
The woman nodded, tilting her head slightly to one side. "I am Riju the Third."
Her heart seized up. Even a wasteland Gerudo knew that name. This was the great chieftain, the legendary last Sage of the Sands, and the woman who had exiled her sisters hundreds of years ago.
"Do not worry," that woman said. "I bare no ill-will towards you or yours."
"Even if you did," Ruuya remarked, weary. "I couldn't stop you."
"Ah! You're not as twisted as you look!"
Ruuya raised an eyebrow at that choice of words. "Twisted?" Didn't she mean stupid or worn out or outright evil? This was a strange thing to say, considering...
"That doesn't matter, I suppose. Ruuya." How did this poe know her name? She hadn't once mentioned it! "You must take my treasure."
Riju the Third, the abhorred banisher, grasped Ruuya's hands in her own, a surge of cold spread up her arms from the contact. At last, Ruuya peered up and met the poe's odd green eyes. They glowed with power unknown and something else vaguely familiar.
Sorrow and remorse, she realized with a start. But why?
"Now, you must flee, daughter of the sands," she said.
"But I…" don't deserve it? Before she could say more, the poe stuffed a curled, bronze horn with no knobs into Ruuya's knapsack. "Why would you give me this?"
"Do you hear that?" Riju asked instead.
She did. It was hard to place for a moment, so muted was the sound. A rumbling that would undoubtedly only grow louder if she went back up through the temple.
With a gasp, Ruuya knew. It wasn't something she heard often, but every time she did, it brought awe and no small amount of wonder.
The sound of rushing water. No… A chill went down her spine. Not water. Maybe a trickle inside, but there had only been the putrid lakes filled with toxic sludge in the temple. The one that drained and revealed ruins of the past. It had to have gone somewhere. Perhaps in the fight, more walls in the temple had broken due to the earthquakes? Breaking open wherever the tar had been kept.
And leaking into the river running past the temple.
She covered her eyes. That water would eventually infect Lake Hylia and flow out to sea. Dear gods...
"Do you understand what you have done, child?" Riju asked gently.
Ruuya nodded, struggled to her aching feet. Her wounds and throbbing ankle would have to wait. She had to warn them. If she didn't...if she stayed here…
Windfall might crumble, slain by a plague she had released upon them. They could not drink the water. If they did…who knew what might happen? That stuff had burned her skin despite that she wore pants and boots. If it got inside...
"Go." Riju flicked her wrist and a circle of light appeared, like the warp inside Vaati's Palace.
She fled through the teleporter the Sage of old created. She did not want her friends to die because she had been such a foolish girl in letting greed overcome her.
Even if it meant the Hyrulians found her out. Even if it meant she would die. They mattered more than safety and treasure.
Some mistakes, Ruuya realized, were worth making twice.