The Wind Waker

XXVII

"TETRA," LINK pled, "please. Put away your sword. We'll just talk this over."

"NO!" she bellowed. "I will not be held hostage by a little stowfish!"

Link just barely drew his sword in time to connect with Tetra's attack. She struck multiple blows at him, and one by one he glanced away her powerful strikes.

She tried to move him towards a column, to get his back up against the wall. He jumped to the side, thwarting another hit.

She made several thrusts, and Link leapt backward out of the way while guarding with his shield.

Tetra hung back.

"Stop this Tetra!" Link begged. "I'm not going to fight you!"

She didn't respond.

She jumped closer, and made a strike.

Link moved out of the way, and made a strike at her, but she parried it.
It was difficult. He didn't want to hurt her with his blows, and it made it hard to make any meaningful impact in the fight.

As he continued to defend against Tetra's onslaught of attacks, Link's heart became overcome with grief. He thought he had started to see a different side in Tetra, but now she had bloodlust in her eyes.

The vicious sound of the clanging blades filled the hall, and was the only noise in the otherwise silent room.

As the fight drew out longer, Link tired more and more. He could barely think of his exhausted muscles and heavy breath though as he struggled to hold his own against a far more accomplished fighter.

Tetra grabbed a knife from the folds of her clothing, and began incorporating the additional weapon in her fighting to exert greater pressure on him.

Link jumped backwards, not wanting to engage her any longer. Out of her reach, he rapidly back pedaled into the hallway to the courtyard.

"Come back and fight like the warrior you claim you are!" Tetra demanded.

"The kind of person I want to be," Link called to her, "is one who doesn't kill his friend!"

"I am not your friend!"

She ran at him. Link prepared to engage her charge, but at the last second, she stopped.

He was caught off guard by this, and she used his hesitation to nearly slip a thrust past his almost-missed parry.

Her sword was difficult for him to fight against, with its slightly curved blade. She also was skilled in fighting with her knife in her other hand.
She used it, he thought, as a way to scare him, her frenzied attacks seeming to have no clear pattern. Gerudo, she fought dirty.

She sliced him on the arm, cutting through his tunic. It bled slightly, but didn't seem like a serious cut. It did feel like a warning however, and it momentarily shocked Link.

They continued their dance of sword strokes, and Link finally began to feel like she was tiring. It was a short lived moment.

Tetra unexpectedly hid away her knife, and began striking with the force of a hammer against him. He found himself barely able to parry, and having to let his shield take most of the force. With her more intense blows, Link soon had retreated onto the grass of the courtyard.

"Please!" Link pleaded as he wearily guarded against another blow, "please stop!"

"I," she struck again, "am tired - of everyone - trying to tell me what to do - and tell me - who I am!"

"I'm not!" Link said.

She surprised him by kicking him painfully in the chest, and he fell down to the ground.