The Next Day...
Does she really forgive me? I know she has told me repeatedly that she does...but I'm just afraid she is going to hold this whole hinox incident against me someday. What if someday my own stupidity results in her getting seriously hurt again, like it did in the snowfield? Will she forgive me then?
Such thoughts flowed through Link's head as he was waking up that morning. When he did get out of bed he hurried to greet Zelda...when he got to her bed, however...
"ZELDA?!" The Princess was nowhere to be found...only a note on some parchment lay where the Princess had spent the night;
"Dear" Link...my soldiers seized that helpless Zelda and took her to my headquarters overnight. If you have the faintest dream of seeing her again, meet me in the Karusa Valley, north of Gerudo Town, and make it snappy!
Your nemesis, Ganondorf.
Link was LIVID. Without a word he stormed out of the stable, hurried through the Gerudo Desert Gateway, and began marching hastily towards Karusa Valley, following the cliffsides on the northern fringes of the desert. The desert is a most hostile place; daytime temperatures far exceed what a normal person can tolerate, it almost never rains, and plant life (and thus food) is scarce. Link struggled and swooned in the heat, but he had too much to lose to afford to rest until nightfall...
CURSE THAT GANONDORF! When I catch up with him -!
Link eventually found Karusa Valley, given away by its oriental (and thus Yiga...the Yiga were once part of the Sheikah tribe) architecture. He hurried up the valley, climbing a few short cliff faces as he went, and eventually found the Yiga's hideout, which was shockingly cold compared to the surrounding desert. When he went inside the cave like hideout he discovered a room with a podium surrounded by torches, with the wall covered with yiga clan banners; using several arrows he had purchased at the Gerudo Canyon Stable, he lit the banners on fire until he found the entrance to the interior of the hideout, at which point he hurried inside.
Feels like there's a lot of yiga scum in here...better go unnoticed. When Link entered the interior of the hideout he discovered a small prison and some mighty bananas (which, if cooked, increase the eater's attack power); Zelda was not in the prison, so Link continued onward. He soon noticed a yiga blademaster, armed with a ram's horn for sounding the alarm, circling a tall rectangular column; Link sneaked behind the yiga, struck him in the back with his savage lynel sword (causing him to disappear in red smoke), and continued down a short set of stairs. A second yiga blademaster was guarding the door...
Hey, wait...aren't yiga clan members OBSESSED with bananas? From behind a short wall Link pitched some mighty bananas within sight of the blademaster; the blademaster promptly abandoned his post and giddily walked over to the bananas, buying Link time to hurry through the door. Link soon entered a hallway with a door leading to a large room halfway down the hallway and a ladder at the end of the hallway; the room had several yiga blademasters, so Link kept going to the ladder and climbed up to a higher floor to get a better view of the situation. There was a tall platform in the middle of the room surrounded by wooden planks forming a veritable web of pathways above the floor, so Link paraglided to the platform and began closely inspecting the floor from above. He soon noticed another door with a yiga blademaster in front of it, and one bunch of mighty bananas later the blademaster had moved far enough away for Link to continue through the door. He next entered a bedroom that seemed to have no way forward...
Rats! I'm stuck! Link kept inspecting the room until he heard what sounded like Zelda's voice on the other side of one of the walls...he pushed the wall with tremendous force and it swung open, exposing an open area with a deep pit in the center surrounded by tall snowy mountains. Near the pit was Zelda, bound in ropes...
"Link!" Without a second thought Link hurried to Zelda...but, as he approached, "Zelda" flashed a psychotic grimace...
"You are an IDIOT, Link!" "Zelda" burst into psychotic laughter as "she" dissolved into gloom...Link immediately knew what this meant.
Damn it, it's a trap! Link turned just in time to see Ganondorf rushing towards him, swords bared; Link leapt out of the way just as he went to behead him, at which point the Demon King laughed scornfully.
"You FOOL! Did you really think I would keep my word?! Zelda is dead! And you're next!" Link believed him...and he was MAD.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Link pulled out his sword and engaged Ganondorf in another battle. It started much as the first; simple swordplay, followed by Ganondorf showing off when that didn't go according to his plan, leaping away from Link's attacks and forcing Link to dodge his counterattacks in order to strike him. After a while Link sensed a second chilling presence behind him...Link leaped out of the way of Ganondorf's phantom, which then began fighting him alongside the real Ganondorf. Ganondorf and his phantom were timing their attacks seconds apart, giving Link no time to catch his breath...for a while it looked like Link was going to lose.
"YOU CANNOT BEAT ME, HERO! JUST GIVE UP!"
"NEVER! NEEEVVVEEEERRRR!" Link flew into a rage and struck down the phantom, at which point it was just Link and Ganondorf again. Ganondorf resorted to firing blobs of gloom off at Link, which Link deflected with his sword, causing them to strike Ganondorf; one, however, struck Link...and it hurt A LOT.
"YOOOUUUUU!" Link began attacking like a savage wild animal, leaping into the air and spinning his sword wildly in the air as he attacked; Ganondorf was taken aback and was soon put into the defensive, Link driving him back towards the abyss at the center of the arena. As Ganondorf began to lose his balance Link knocked away one of his swords, then the other, and finally dealt a horrific gash to Ganondorf's abdomen, knocking Ganondorf into the abyss. The Demon King clung to the edge for dear life...
"Heh heh heh...impressive, kid...your hatred rivals mine! Embrace that hatred and rule the world with me!" Link was horrified...
Wait...what?! I don't want to be anything like this freak! I am the Hero, I am supposed to help people! Zelda would never want me to be acting like this! Link returned his sword to its sheathe...Ganondorf was furious.
"YOU FOOL!" Ganondorf exclaimed as he climbed back onto solid ground, "The greatest purpose a man can have is to rule the world!"
"Says who?!" Link barked back.
"Mother taught me that as a male gerudo, I was destined to rule the world...and my tribe denied me the right to simply rule over them! They didn't even let me in Gerudo Town! So I am bent on proving to them that I deserve to rule...by conquering the world myself, at any price!"
"Your mother was crazy!"
"Who cares?! I will rule the world, whether you help me or not!"
"Oh, will you?" A third voice answered. Link and Ganondorf turned behind them to discover...the Dark Prince.
"You didn't forget about me, did you, dear reader?" Link looked at him confused.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"It doesn't matter, 'Hero'. Thank you for fighting Ganondorf for me...this is exactly what I have been waiting for..."
"GIVE ME THAT SECRET STONE!" Ganondorf screamed out as he rushed the Dark Prince on all fours, like a mad bull that sees red. The Dark Prince didn't react until Ganondorf got close, at which point he blasted him with sickly blue fire from his fingertips.
"GEEYYAAAHHH!" Ganondorf shrieked in agony. Before too long Ganondorf's eyes turned red and his skin sickly yellow...GANONDORF WAS NOW INFECTED.
"Heh heh...your power is MINE, Demon King! Now no one will stop me from reviving my dear mother!" Link rushed the Dark Prince in an attempt to stop him, but Daphnes struck him with more sickly blue fire and infected him as well...Link's skin turned sickly yellow, his eyes bright red.
"Heh heh...your power will make it all the easier for me to revive mother, foolish Hero! Now goodbye...I have plans for the Demon King!" With that the Dark Prince vanished in a sickly blue flame and Ganondorf went with him...Link struggled against exhaustion back towards the yiga clan hideout.
OH CRUD! If he adds Ganondorf's power to the power he already has...have I already failed? I need to get to Gerudo Town and get the next piece of the map! Link moved as quickly as his sickly body could handle out of the Yiga Clain Hideout, striking down any and all yiga clan members he encountered...as he did, the sickening reality that Zelda was gone began to eat away at him...
Zelda...my best friend...is gone...now what am I going to do?! She was my whole reason for being the Hero...I feel aimless without her...this...this feels like losing my family all over again...Link broke into tears as he marched down the Karusa Valley and back into the Gerudo Desert. As he continued marching south in the brutal desert sun a sandstorm broke out...Link lost his way...the heat began to drain him still further...
Ugh...is this...the end? Link passed out...
The Next Day...
"Link...wake up, Link..."
"Ugh..." Link, feeling sick from heat exhaustion, woke up to see a tall gerudo woman (who are muscular humans with big noses, red hair, and dark olive skin, almost all of whom are female) in a black top and black skirt, leaving a muscular stomach exposed; and...Zelda. He was most confused.
"Zelda...I thought you were dead...am I...in the hereafter?" Zelda laughed.
"No, Link! You passed out in the desert...Matilda and I went looking for you and found you unconscious not too far from Gerudo Town. It is a relief you are all right." It was only then that Link noticed he was no longer infected...
Zelda's doing no doubt...but...
"But Ganondorf told me you were dead..."
"Did you fight Ganondorf trying to save me?"
"Yes. And I won...but then the Dark Prince infected him and took off with him. I am very worried, Zelda..." Zelda looked equally worried...
"Oh no...if he adds Ganondorf's power to the power he already has..."
"Let's change the subject...Zelda, how did you survive?!"
"A yiga blademaster kidnapped me while you were sleeping, Link. I struggled desperately for a while as he ran off with me, to no avail...then I got his hand off my mouth long enough to utter the loudest, most bloodcurdling scream I could muster, and he spooked and dropped me. I ran away...he almost caught me again, but Matilda fought him off and saved me."
"Zelda's lucky that I was nearby," Matilda added. "I don't know what would have happened if I wasn't. Regardless...we are currently in Gerudo Town. Normally we do not allow voe [men] in Gerudo Town, but I made an exception for you because you are the Hero."
"Thank you, Tillie..." Link replied without thinking. Matilda was NOT impressed.
"DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT AGAIN!" Zelda looked most embarrassed...
"Regardless...get some rest, Link. We will leave at nightfall...that will be easier on you." Zelda retreated to a nearby bed to rest as Matilda withdrew to her throne near the west of Gerudo Town. Gerudo Town, coincidentally, is a walled town with mud brick walls and has surprisingly tolerable temperatures compared to the rest of the desert. Town center has a number of palm trees; flanking the stairs to the throne room are two artificial streams.
Eventually night fell and Link - having now fully recovered from his heat exhaustion - got up to leave the desert. Zelda had already acquired the map piece from Matilda and had packed her things; miraculously the yiga blademaster had not thought to take her savage lynel bow when he had kidnapped her, so she was still armed. Matilda - now with a secret stone on her right ear - came to see the pair off.
"Link...Zelda...you are Hyrule's only hope. Zelda...you are all I have left of your mother...please, BE CAREFUL!"
"We will be fine, Matilda! Link will keep me safe."
"He didn't do a great job of that the other night..." Link was livid, but before he could reply an urgent message came from the guard post of Gerudo Town.
"Lady Matilda!" the young gerudo soldier barked out, "the Yiga are heading straight this way! Thousands of them!"
"Well then, prepare for battle! We need to hold them back at all costs!" The soldier hurried to gather the troops while Matilda spoke to Zelda.
"Zelda, they are almost certainly after your throat! Hide yourself until we have driven them off!"
"But I am not a little girl anymore, Matilda! I want to help!"
"Zelda, it's far too dangerous! If anything goes wrong they will kill you and Hyrule will be doomed!"
"Just let her help, Matilda!"
"You are a voe, Link! You should feel fortunate we let you into the city at all! Don't go trying to boss me around!" Then a second gerudo soldier came rushing in.
"Lady Matilda, the battle has begun! We need help urgently, we are vastly outnumbered!" Matilda looked irritated...
"Alright, fine...but stay on the wall, Zelda. Do not set foot on the ground." Zelda nodded, and the three of them rushed to the gate of Gerudo Town, where the gerudo forces were outnumbered by a horde of yiga soldiers. Link quickly set about decimating the yiga forces, bouncing from one soldier to the other and striking them down with his savage lynel sword; Zelda stood on the wall and fired at the soldiers using her arrows. In between fighting with her scimitar Matilda used the power of her secret stone to strike many yiga clan members with lightning. The tide eventually began turning in the gerudo's favor...however, while dodging the arrows being shot from some of the yiga's duplex bows (which fire two arrows for every arrow loaded into the bow), Zelda lost her balance and fell! Link was quick to catch her but was now stuck protecting her from an onslaught of yiga soldiers...during the fighting Link was struck in the arm by an arrow, but the wound did not stop him from continuing to viciously fight to keep Zelda safe.
I almost lost Zelda once...it's not happening again! I WILL NOT die alone! Eventually the Yiga gave up and fled...Zelda was unharmed, but Link's wound needed attention. Matilda was quick to get on Zelda's case...
"I told you not to get involved, Zelda! You would have died without the Hero!" Zelda had nothing to say in reply...
"Matilda...Zelda has devoted herself to saving Hyrule from the Plague, and merely choosing to do so means she has to take a lot of risks. Go easy on the Princess..." Matilda opted to listen to Link and stopped giving Zelda a hard time. Rather than leave that night Link and Zelda opted to spend the night in Gerudo Town...Zelda took a few minutes to wrap cloth around Link's wound.
"You have been very brave lately, Link...I deeply admire that."
"You really think so?" She smiled.
"Absolutely. Not many people would go one on one with the Demon King..." Zelda twirled her hair as she spoke to Link...she obviously found his courage very attractive.
"I am willing to do anything to keep you safe, Zelda..."
"Thank you, Link...good night." Zelda returned to her bed and they both fell asleep.
The Next Day...
Link and Zelda slept in late after the exhausting night before...even the urgency of saving Hyrule from impending calamity at the hands of Zelda's rogue brother was not enough to stir them from bed on time. Eventually Matilda had to shake Zelda awake.
"Zelda, time to get a move on! You've got work to do, dearest!" Zelda jolted awake.
"Wh-what...what time is it?!"
"The sun is hot, little bird! But there's too much at stake to simply wait until nightfall...you and Link need to go!" By now Link was also awake from the commotion.
"Alright...thank you, Matilda!" They hurried to pack their things and then left Gerudo Town to much fanfare...Link was blushing beet red...
I am never going to get used to this...the pair moved as quickly as they could under the hot desert sun. Link eventually began swooning in the heat, but Zelda seemed perfectly fine even at noon.
How...the hell...is she moving so fast in this heat?! Eventually they reached Kara Kara Bazaar, a small outpost midway between Gerudo Town and the Gerudo Desert Gateway, where they took a short break. Zelda purchased some hydromelons (a large desert dwelling fruit similar to a watermelon) and cooked them in a nearby cooking pot, after which she offered them to Link.
"Eat up, Link...these will help you handle the heat better." Link did not feel like eating in the heat, but he ate the melons anyway. He felt a lot better afterwards...
Maybe THIS is how she handles the heat so well? After the melons took effect Link and Zelda continued northeast, eventually reaching the Gerudo Desert Gateway. By then it was dark and temperatures had dropped to near freezing...Zelda was struggling a bit in the cold and Link held her to keep her warm. Soon they reached the Gerudo Canyon Stable...Zelda was hesitant to stay the night.
"Link, I was abducted from here a few nights ago...I really do not think it is safe for us to spend the night here. The Yiga WILL be back looking for me...we should find an isolated spot in the canyon and sleep behind it."
"Very true...I'll just get Coal and we will keep going." Link retrieved their steed from the stable and they continued north through the Gerudo Canyon. Eventually, late at night, they found a small cave to hide in near the Gerudo Canyon Pass...it was still cold, so Link and Zelda donned the coats they had been given at the Snowfield Stable. Link laid on his side facing Zelda, who was about a meter away...they had not bothered lighting a fire in the cave lest they betray their position to passing yiga.
"Zelda...I've been meaning to ask you something..."
"About what, Link?"
"Your...your family. I'll never get to meet most of them, so...I wanted to know a little about them." Zelda suddenly looked very uncomfortable...
"If it's too uncomfortable, we can wait to talk about it another day."
"No, Link...I will tell you, it's just hard with me being the last of my family left...where to start..."
"Maybe...how your parents met?"
"Father...his name was Nathanael III of Hyrule. He was the kindest, most gentle bloke you could imagine...but he was most chunder. His health was terrible...so he eventually sought out a doctor to help him. He soon met a beautiful young hylian bird from the Gerudo Desert who excelled as a doctor. Her name...was Sonia. You can probably guess what happened...they married, Sonia became queen, and he gifted her the family secret stone that he had recently inherited from his own mother. With it, mother was able to heal people of even the most grave of injuries simply by touching them..."
"With time my parents had seven children...myself, Daphnes, and my five younger sisters, all named Zelda based off the tradition of the Royal House of Hyrule. Daphnes...he and I were very close. He was hotheaded, sure, but...he just beamed with love for life and people and his family. And I loved my little brother deeply...so deeply..."Zelda began tearing up...
"What I still don't understand is this; why did Daphnes become a cursed traitor when your mother died?" Zelda paused, in visible pain...
"Link...Daphnes was with mother that terrible day the yiga stole her life away. He tried desperately to defend her...but it was for nowt. She died in his arms...I think he died that day too. He started obsessively looking for a way to cheat death, to bring her back...eventually he settled on taking the secret stone, believing it would give him his mother's ability to heal. All his unbalanced heart accomplished...was starting the Plague. In killing and consuming countless innocent people...including his father and all of his younger sisters, who died so that I could find refuge in Akkala. So that I could find you...the Hero...this is hard to say, Link, but...you are the only family I have left now. Please – I beg of you! - do not ever turn on me like my brother did..." Zelda was awash with tears.
"I SWEAR to you, even if I have to die I will never stab you in the back like your brother did...I may have never met the rest of your family, but I'll make sure they know how much I love you..." Zelda was not entirely surprised to hear he loved her, but the thought set her mind racing...
Link...he was brave enough to tell me he loved me...why can I not be brave enough to tell him the same?!
"Zelda?" Link noticed the gears turning in Zelda's mind...
"Oh, it is nothing...Link, thank you. It makes me sleep much more easily at night knowing you will always be there for me..."
"I lost everyone I cared about once, I'm not going to let it happen again. Get some rest, Zelda..."
"You too, Link..." They both fell asleep...