Sins of the Past Chapter 2
By Patron Angel Tabris
Getting inside the town took almost no effort. Four bags of sleeping powder thrown into the guard towers allowed an easy entrance up the wall without being spotted. Then a few jumps across some rooftops and some sneaking through back alleys brought them to their rendezvous with the scout who signaled them earlier. All this took a bit more time, though, to get Zagita to the spot because of her ailments.
The scout told them that they still had five minutes until the others allow them an entrance to the Temple of Time and the Sheikah headquarters. Until then, they needed to stay put where they were, out of sight in an alley near the market area.
Jereth couldn't help but look around at the sights. He'd never been in Hyrule Town before and it was interesting to see what the people did here. There wasn't much to see, though, since everyone except the guards who they hadn't incapacitated was asleep.
But the stone statue in the center of the market caught his eye for some strange reason. It looked like it had been there for some time, maybe seventy years or so, and it was two people, a man and a woman. The man wore a tunic outfit that looked like what his mother had told him was of the Kokiri, the forest people, and he held a shield and sword in his hands. The woman looked as if she was a member of the Royal Family.
Jereth had to somehow get a closer look at them, but he didn't want to risk being spotted. Instead, he moved around a bit to see it from a different angle, and saw there was an inscription on the statue's base. He was lucky he was still in his trance stasis to be able to see it from his distance:
"Link the Hero of Time and Princess Zelda, Beholders of Courage and Wisdom."
What was that supposed to mean?
No longer interested in the sight, Jereth turned to move back to the group.
Don't remove the key. Don't release him.
There it was again! Jereth jumped again at the voice he had heard earlier, almost ripped his blades from their sheaths, having to stop himself because the sound would give away his position. He searched for the source alarmingly.
Nothing. Just like before.
But he could've sworn he heard it this time, it seemed almost twice as loud.
And to make matters worse, he thought the sound came from the statue.
Don't be ridiculous. Statues don't talk. Fine, then who or what made the sound? And why is it telling me this?!
"Jereth!"
He turned his head to see Zaniia glaring at him. He immediately forgot what had just happened, or at least he tried. "What?"
"What do you mean 'what’? You're practically in the middle of the market! Get back here where they can't see you! We're about to move in!!"
Feeling a bit stupid for letting his guard to falter like that, he followed her back into the alley where everyone was gathered, where many were also giving him harsh looks. Zagita, on the other hand, paid no heed to his behavior that almost cost them the ambush. She was staring at the small pocket watch that the scout was holding, counting down the time until they had to move in.
"Five, four, three two, one-"
Several loud cracks erupted from the Temple's direction. They sounded like powerful Deku nuts.
"Now's our chance! Let us move quickly!"
The five Sheikah guards atop the outside balcony of the Temple were even more bored than the guards at the town's walls. Disgruntled too. Nothing was going to happen tonight and they'd rather be inside with the others getting some sleep than joining the others at the two other balconies standing watch. Fifteen guards was too many for too little.
"I swear, I heard some noises out there."
You're just hearing your stomach, the eldest one thought. Her younger, scrawnier male comrade and the masked watchman (she never caught his or her name) were the only ones taking their jobs seriously tonight. "Stefan, I keep telling you that there is nothing out there. We've been chosen to stand watch on one of the most uneventful nights of the year. Therefore, we were stuck with a bad job tonight."
"But Beatrice, I heard someone speaking down there. And something sounded like some cracks a while ago. That could've been a signal or something. Maybe someone's planning an attack or-"
"Stefan, what you heard was probably someone walking outside to get their pet or put out something for the morning. And you didn't hear any crack. You're just getting paranoid." She couldn't help but sigh in frustration at his annoyance. The other two on the balcony were half-asleep and paid absolutely no attention to what was going on. And at least the masked one was quiet at his job.
Nothing happened on the other balconies. Those over there were even more exhausted than they were. Feel lucky; you don't have this idiot who won't shut up.
Beatrice couldn't keep her eyes open any more. She began to slide down the wall near her. A little sleep wouldn't hurt anyone.
But before she went to sleep, a loud crack and cloud of smoke erupted from the two other balconies.
"Beatrice! What was-"
His sentence was cut off as a crack erupted from their own balcony, causing their world to go black.
The groups of Gerudos were charging toward the Temple now, not worrying about being spotted because there was now no one to spot them. Jereth began to feel more and more energetic. Now he'd finally get a real fight for a long time.
Seeing the massive building before him as he ran, he couldn't help but be impressed by the sight. It's architecture compared with palaces, and yet it looked like a cathedral. To its sides, it seemed that some parts of it were newer wings, extensions of some sort. They had balconies overlooking the courtyard below and… was that smoke drifting from them? And an arm drooping between its railings?
It must be where the others struck.
They now approached the front doorway, Jereth drawing his swords. He made a swift kick, knocking the double doors in…
And to his surprise, he ran into a great hall, empty except for an altar with jewels on it and a massive door.
He stopped, causing all those behind him to halt as well. Something was wrong, if this were a siege, they'd immediately run into a room full of startled warriors and begin the battle. If the room was empty, then they no longer had the element of surprise. "Zaniia, I think we've been tricked."
"No, we haven't. They'll be here."
They'll be here? They knew we were coming?!
As if to answer his question, from all the second level balconies of the room and the two doors opening up to each wing, the so-called "they" ran or jumped into the great hall to meet the intruders. The blue clad guardians gathered in front of the altar as if to protect whatever was behind the door, their weapons drawn. The tall, muscular woman in front, apparently their commander, stepped forward to address them.
"May I ask what in the name of Nayru you are doing here?!"
"I will answer that." Zagita said from behind. The Gerudos parted to allow her to step forward. "You have something I want. Are you going to give it to me, or am I going to have to force it out of you?"
The Sheikah commander had to grin in defiance. She wasn't going to be scared by this; they outnumbered them by at least thirty right now alone. "I'm afraid you're going to have to earn it, woman. And don't think you can back out of this. We have reinforcements on their way, and there are sentries outside already alerting the palace guards of your presence. Your best bet is to surrender and save yourself from losing your lives."
"Really??" She couldn't stop herself from laughing at this. "Well then, shall we get started?" Zagita snapped her fingers… and two explosions erupted behind the Sheikah, dropping at least fifteen of the warriors. "Attack!!"
And then all hell broke loose. The sound of metal clanging against metal rang throughout the hall.
Jereth ran forward, meeting the first Sheikah, a man with two daggers. Expendable. The fight with him ended as soon as it began, the man had attempted two slashes to the midsection, both dodged, and then received Jereth's boot heel to his nose. There was a wet snap; a spray of blood, and the man hit the floor. Too easy.
Now he approached three fighters, two men and a woman, with staffs and a sword. Easily taken care of with a few swaths of his blades, slicing through their weapons, and a roundhouse kick falling two followed by the butt of his blade against the back of the other's head, rendering him unconscious. Meanwhile, the rest were fighting the Temple's guardians with spears and scimitars flying. Losing those fifteen had cost the Sheikah direly. They now had more of an even fight, but they almost seemed no match for the Gerudo. True, many of them were more skilled, but the Gerudo had been training for this for a long time. The odds were no longer in their favor.
Now Jereth approached a female with a katana, slicing at two opponents on the way, dropping one of them. She slashed. Parry. Kicked. Block. Dropped to trip him with a sweep. Jump and slash. Parried.
Good, someone who has some skill. He backed away, still facing the woman, circling her like a predator. She mimicked him. I'm afraid there's only one hunter in this game, girl.
He quickly tired of the fight, and ended it. A swift rush and punch to her stomach doubled her over, too fast for her to block, and a hard elbow in her back brought her down. I take it back you didn't have any skill. Just be glad you’re a woman, otherwise you'd be dead.
To the side, Zagita watched as her son brought down two, three, four more Sheikah without even trying. She'd trained him well; he was going to win her the Ocarina for sure. She smiled widely.
And felt a knife touch her back, followed by a masculine "don't move."
She froze. Obviously one of them sneaked behind her to capture her and force them to surrender. "Turn around slowly. Any fast move, and I'll kill you, woman or not."
She complied and faced the tall man, knife still ready to stab her. He seemed confident in his capture and couldn't stop grinning. "Nice work, Sheikah," she said. "I do believe you have gotten the best of me." At that she began to laugh hysterically. Now the Sheikah's smile faded, why would she laugh in the face of death? She stopped suddenly and stared at him, and said "Farewell," followed by a loud bang from within her cloak. The Sheikah took a look of shock and horror, and fell to the ground, dead from the musket ball now in his stomach. She'd had a pistol hidden within her coat the entire time.
Jereth stayed focused on the fight, but he wasn't unaware of the attack his mother just made. He knew that she did what she had to fight for her life, but he also had a sense of honor. Hiding a weapon like that and shooting someone was like stabbing in the back or fighting with a sword against an unarmed person. It was an unfair advantage. He didn't like seeing such an effrontery of honor, but he didn't have time to think about such things. Not that there was much to focus on, he'd dropped nine already without any real challenge.
His sense of hearing was what now saved him. The sound of a flying object got louder, louder… until he dropped one of his swords and spun to catch a small dagger thrown at his head. The attacker who had thrown it across the room stood in dead shock of this immortal skill; long enough for Jereth to fling it back into his heart and leave him to die. He picked up his sword, shaking his head in disgust. Such dishonor, I thought they were supposed to be valiant as knights, not cowardly thugs. Isn't there anyone here worthy of a fight?
He finally met someone of some caliber before everyone had been defeated. A woman, dressed in blue like the others but wearing a mask to cover her identity. Hmm, interesting. She pointed her weapon at him, a double-bladed broad sword that looked very heavy. It took someone a lot of skill to use one of those, so this promised to be a good fight. Finally.
Zagita watched as her son faced the Sheikah, preparing for more of a dual than a brawl. But something caught her eye. She saw a glint from the body of the man she had killed, something tucked in his belt satchel. She bent down to get a closer look, never taking her eyes off her son either, who had now closed in on his prey and began to attack. Pulling out the item, her eyes went wide from the find.
It was the lens that could see what normal eyes could not. The Eye of Truth.
An incredible find indeed, it was one of the few treasures the Gerudo had not been able to pillage. Had they had this before, than plans would have been changed, for this could seek out the princess and the Ocarina!
Never stopping in her grin, Zagita placed the lens up to her eyes and began scanning the hall for which of the Sheikah was the target. She looked across once, twice.
And stopped, staring right at it. She never stopped smiling.
Jereth couldn't have been happier that he was fighting someone worthy, but at the same time he was getting a little frustrated. The girl he was fighting off had dodged or blocked his every move and countered with her own, despite the fact that he was in a semi-trance. He slashed at her head and feet at the same time, and she brought her weapon to block both, twirling it to come down on his head. He brought his own two up, crossing them to stop her blade, locking weapons. This girl was strong, much more than the rest. His muscles strained a bit, and he brought his leg up to kick her in the stomach-
-only to be blocked by her own. Then she suddenly let her sword go up, bringing the bottom end up between his legs. A swift back flip saved him from being sliced in half from the bottom up, but not quick enough to save his leg from being cut. He landed awkwardly, but still on his feet, wincing from the pain that pumped out his thigh. That had been the first time he had been hit for a very long while.
"First blood's on you, it seems," he smirked, somewhat amused that someone had gotten a shot on him. When he received no response, he continued, circling his mark, almost laughing as she did the same. This time it was the girl to attack first, thrusting her weapon toward his heart. He blocked with one blade, slashing a counter with the other. But again his blade only met her other end, only she wasn't even facing him. Now she spun on the ball of her foot, attacking with a barrage of twirling slashes at his face, stomach, and legs. Keeping up with her was more than an exercise for him, and he couldn't risk attacking or she'd land a blow. How could she be this good?
Her blade kept flying at him, almost in a blur. His own swords were steadily getting too slow for him to keep up. She was now forcing him back with her impossible skill. Then it happened. She very suddenly stopped her attack, while he was still reeling from it, struggling to stop his own swords, giving her an opening. She rushed him, holding her blade horizontally, slicing first his abdomen, then his back, and just missing his swinging long hair.
He dropped to his knees from the shock. Now it was getting serious. This girl was stronger than anyone he had ever fought in his life, and she was about to launch another attack. He'd have to switch to a last resort to stay alive, mission be damned. He closed his eyes, feeling his hunter aura rise, opened his eyes, saw the girl… and lost connection with the world.
Zagita saw everything happening, and was more than worried when Jereth's opponent got three good hits on him, but forgot all that when she saw her son begin to fight in a trance against the girl. He was now moving supernaturally fast, putting the Sheikah's past moves to shame. She lasted about ten seconds by blocking with her own weapon with some rather desperate and rash moves, and then she could no longer keep up. He was attacking her relentlessly, like some soulless monster thirsty for her blood. Zagita watched in horror as Jereth sliced her leg, then her arm, her side, and her shoulder.
No! He's going to kill her!
The mission would have been lost had she not seen the figures in the shadows on the second floor. She then turned out to her fighters, who had done a fine job bringing down the Sheikah.
"Gerudo! Scatter!!"
Everyone suddenly stopped their fights with the enemy and ran from the center, leaving the few Sheikah left standing there, and Jereth still attacking. She was now on the floor, covered with gashes and cuts, blood pooling around her, and he was about to slice open her chest.
And explosions happened all around him and the Sheikah. The shock and scent of the smoke stopped his trance and brought him to the floor.
When the smoke began to clear, all the remaining Sheikah were on the floor, panting for breath. The room was now filled with a purple fog and bodies, dead and alive, littered the ground. Seven of the Gerudo had been slain, and three more were wounded, but every Sheikah that was fighting was down. Some were killed, either by Jereth or others who had no choice but to kill. Jereth, too, was at his knees trying to get air and sore from his exercise. He was no longer in a semi-trance, and one of the side effects was that afterwards his muscles were tired from continually being flexed.
"You almost killed our target, Jereth. You should never lose control like that when a mission is on the line," Zagita growled as she walked out of the shadows where she stood watch. She stopped before him, and then turned her eyes to the fallen girl. "Isn't that right, Princess Liliana?"
The girl looked up at the old woman with a mask of horror, albeit in tremendous pain. How did she know? Then she saw what she was holding, the Eye of Truth. Liliana couldn't help but lay her head back in defeat. What she really wanted to know was how had she lost to this the man. What by Farore’s Wind happened?
Zagita wasted no time to retrieve the Ocarina from the princess's satchel, holding the blue crystal instrument in her hand, gazing at it dreamily. It's more beautiful than I imagined.
She turned, seeming ecstatic, to the altar and ordered the other Gerudos to stay with the fallen Sheikah. As for Zaniia and Jereth, she told them to come.
Jereth finally got to his feet and sheathed his weapons while following his mother up to the altar and toward the commanding Sheikah, who had been disabled by Zaniia's glaive. She was one the floor clutching her badly wounded leg, and spoke in a pained voice. "How did you do this? And why didn't we get help?"
Zagita smiled and snapped her fingers, bringing five Sheikah warriors to her side. They all removed their masks to show their supposed white faces and blonde or brown hair, and wiped their cheeks to reveal a tan skin underneath make-up. "You should've paid more attention to your subordinates. These women have been hidden in your ranks for years posing as Sheikah, gaining your trust and doing your bidding." They all then pulled out of their satchels several Deku nuts that seemed larger than usual. "A special blend I prepared for this. That's why you were attacked at my finger-snap. And your 'reinforcements', I'm afraid, had the misfortune of running into them along the way." She leaned close to the Sheikah's face, "And I wouldn't bet on your sentries alerting the palace. They were rendered useless before we even got here."
She turned away from the woman, now terror-stricken by the news. The Gerudo had been sabotaging them for years, right under her nose.
Jereth watched as his mother and Zaniia stood before the altar with the jewels, an emerald, ruby, and sapphire. She brought the blue Ocarina to her lips and began to play a soothing tune that somehow sounded familiar to him, though he didn't know why. As she played, his eyes drifted up to the symbol above the door behind the altar, the three triangles that he had on his necklace. The triangles began to glow brilliantly, shining in a golden color like the sun. And before he could truly gaze at its beauty, the giant door opened loudly, revealing a new room devoid of anything but platform in the center.
Liliana wasn't too far away from the Gerudos that were opening the Door of Time. She had failed to stop them from doing what the Sheikah had sworn to never let happen again. But she still felt confident; they couldn't do any harm without… wait, what's that?
She could see from an angle through the Eye of Truth that the shorthaired Gerudo was now holding. It was looking at the boy she had fought, but there was something different. His hair… it's brown? Not red?
Huh?
But there was something else. Around his body was a strange glow, somewhat greenish, and a golden light was shining from his hand. She couldn't quiet see it. But then it dawned upon her, even more horrifying than the fact that the old Gerudo knew whom she was.
Din's Fire, it can't be! That's… that's the Hero of Time!!
She tried to scream, but found she had no breath yet.
Jereth now followed his mother up into the other room, a bit more confused because this was all new to him. She had never told him of this before. And there was a sword on the platform… but there was something about it. It looked… holy.
Wait a minute. That's the same sword the statue was holding.
"There it is! The Master Sword!!" Zagita laughed insanely. Now Jereth was getting scared of his mother. She turned to him. "Now Jereth, our future is sealed! Go, take your sword that is your destiny!"
"Mother, what are you talking about?" This met him with a less than pleasant look from her. She wasn't herself tonight, what was going on?
"Do not hesitate, boy! Now remove that sword!!"
At the moment, he felt it wasn't a good idea to disobey her. He'd get his answers later. So he began to walk towards the relic she called the Master Sword, hearing her still giggling with some strange delight. And from behind them all, he heard someone call out weakly. One of the Sheikahs.
"Don't remove the key. Don't release him."
Jereth stopped dead in his tracks and turned, taking a more than surprised look. Those words again! What the hell was that?!
"Shut up, you whore!" a voice shouted from the hall, followed by a loud slap.
"Don't listen to her, Jereth, its nonsense."
He stood frozen for a few seconds, not sure what to do. But what does it mean? Who is this "him"? And what "key"?!
“Did you not here me?! TAKE THE SWORD!!” Her face was red, and she was almost fuming now. Best to do what she says. He nodded and turned back toward the altar.
He was now on the steps where the sword was apparently stuck in a pedestal. All the while he gazed across the platform. It had six different symbols, and in the center around the sword was another one of those triangle figures! What where these things?!
His eyes returned to the sword stuck in the stone pedestal. How was he supposed to remove that? Oh well. He placed his hands on the handle, pulled… and found it come out quite easily.
Before he could speak, a blue beam of light surrounded him and the platform glowed, and energy shot through his body, feeling like his pain was taken away. It was incredible!
But the beam abruptly stopped and red flashes of lightning shook the room. A new crimson light formed above the pedestal, growing larger and larger. Freezing cold winds blew from it. And a large form was emerging from it, like a great man, along with a deep, sinister tone of laughter. Over the din, Jereth heard his mother mimicking the laugh.
"Yes! He returns from the void! Our King Ganondorf!!!"
The form seemed to look down at Jereth. He didn't know why, but something told him he had made a horrible, horrible mistake.
TBC…