The Archaeologist

Chapter 9

"He is just using you, you know?" Ahura glanced towards the surrounding shadows. "Once he's done with you, he'll dispose of you. Kill you, probably in the most painful way possible." Dark's hands placed themselves on Ahura's shoulders. He wouldn't allow her to turn around and face him directly.

"Let me go," Ahura growled. Her eyes narrowed as she glared ahead of her.

"If you can't fight me off, how do you even plan on fighting him off?" Dark leaned in towards her ear and whispered, "If you want, I could protect you. I could make sure he won't hurt you. You'll just have to be mine."

Ahura jerked her shoulder away from him. "Let me go!" She flung her head backwards and made contact with his nose. He screamed and disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Ahura turned around and looked around for him to reappear. Her eyes landed on a larger log. With both hands, she picked it up. Before she could prepare it to swing at anyone, a sword was pressed against her neck.

"Do not do that again you wretched Hylian," Dark growled viscously. "You do not want me to be your enemy."

"It looks like you already are."

Dark pressed more pressure. Blood started to run down Ahura's neck. She winced and froze. Her breathing stopped as she waited for him to kill her. Without warning, he disappeared once again. Ahura fell to the ground and felt her neck. It was a small gash, not enough to kill her.

She rose back to her knees and made her way back to camp. Her hand still applied pressure to her neck to both stop the bleeding and to try and prevent others seeing what happened. Any inter conflict could only slow down her efforts of stopping the genocide.

Ahura ducked behind a tree. Her eyes glanced both ways. No one was there. Quickly, she darted to her tent. Upon opening the flap, her eyes rested on two figures. She gulped and tried to make her way in as quietly as possible. Both men didn't pay attention and kept their backs to her.

Ahura opened her bag and took out some bandages while wrapping it around her neck. Her pointed ears twitched towards the two's conversation.

"My lord, may I ask what will you do when you overthrow the Royal family? The other races can only be useful for so long. And might I remind you that all of them turned their back when your people were being killed. It was only my people that stuck by you."

"What do you suppose I do when and if I become king, Dark?" Ganondorf stood up straight from his position of hunching over a map. "I have no people left. Your people are in an entirely different realm, of which the bridge between here and there has been destroyed. A king is nothing without his people."

Dark glanced over to Ahura and smirked. "And what of the Hylians? They've turned their backs against all races of Hyrule. Surely they will be eliminated."

Ganondorf remained quiet for some time. Ahura tensed and looked over at him. She questioned if Dark was right, if the Sage of the Water Temple was right in his warning. She began to tremble. Fear, anger, sadness, confusion. All of those emotions were pulsing through her.

Suddenly, she stood and ran out of the tent. Ganondorf turned, but Dark held a hand out and urged the Gerudo to focus on planning their next stage of infiltrating the Forest Temple. Ganondorf sighed and turned back towards the map, tracing out the winding maze of the forest.

"Ahura?" a Sheikah questioned and watched as the Hylian ran past. Quickly, the Sheikah stood up and followed. "Ahura, wait!"

Ahura slowed in her tracks and hung her head. Her hair covered her face. The Sheikah caught up and place a hand on her shoulder. His eyes traced to the bandages covering her neck.