Gerudo Forest

Chapter 26

The heat hit her like a wave. Everything had a red tint to it due to the huge lava pit that filled the bottom floor. The layer she was on was made of metal platforms connected by rope bridges. She looked around for any sign of Ganon and Darunia and spotted them a layer below her. Ganon had just finished taking out a few fire kesse like they were flies.  

Damn they were fast but she could catch up easily if she took a short cut. She smiled at having the opportunity to spread her wings and jumped off the side of the platform. She aimed for a stack of crates closest to her. As she glided she noticed the heat had made little currents that wanted to take her in the wrong direction.  

It took a little effort but she managed to reach her goal and landed a little harder than she had intended. She hoped they hadn't heard her less than graceful landing. She peaked around the boxes and couldn't see them anywhere. Had they already moved to the next room? She listened for the sound of footsteps but only heard the sound of lava bubbling below. As Melissa crept forward she kept a watchful eye out for where they could have gone and for any creatures that could be lurking about.  

As she neared another tall stack of crates she saw the door. It looked exactly like the one at the spirit temple. Shouldn't Darunia be showing Ganon the door? Maybe Darunia was keeping what Darmani had told her a secret. Darunia still didn't get that they were on the same side and was hindering the quest. It was starting to make her angry. She needed to find them and address this issue now.  

As she moved past the crates something slammed into her hard and held her back against them. Her head had hit the box behind her making her vision swim. The hand that she felt tight on her throat loosened after a second. Melissa was having problems focusing her vision but she was kicking furiously at her attacker.  

"Stop that!" she heard a familiar deep voice say.  

"What are you doing here! We told you to stay in your room." said another.  

Melissa stopped realizing who it was. Ganon released her and she just slumped to the floor.  

"Are you okay? I could have killed you." She heard Ganon say worriedly when she didn't get up.  

Melissa's head hurt and she could already feel the bruises forming on her back. Her vision was slowly returning and she felt him brush the hair out of her face.  

" Are you alright?" He repeated lifting her head to look at him.  

"I think so." She finally said when her head stopped spinning.  

Ganon was kneeling beside her checking how badly she was hurt. She could tell he was upset at what he had done just by the look in his eyes. 

"See this is what I was talking about! It isn't safe for her to be anywhere near you." Darunia said not helping the situation.  

Ganon gave her a sad look. Was this what they had been arguing about in her room? She lifted her hand to his face and tried not to wince.  

"You didn't know it was me. Don't worry I'm fine." She knew that he hadn't done it on purpose.  

He had thought her a monster or possibly even one of Agahnim's lackeys. She wanted to smack the hell out of Darunia for even saying such a thing. Ganon still looked upset with himself but it was enough for him to be able to compose his face into something more neutral before turning to scowl at Darunia. Melissa realized he was hiding his emotions now. She had noticed that even around the gerudos he tended to do the same thing. She guess he had an image to uphold and was grateful that he didn't hide all of them from her.  

" We need to take her back." Darunia said giving her a disappointed look.  

"No!" She almost shouted it at him. "I am not going back." She got slowly to her feet then started walking.