The Legend of Zelda: Wisdom and Courage

Chapter 16: A Shadow in the Sand

The queen of the Gerudos stood strong, silent, solitary and sullen atop the highest point of the complex Gerudo Fortress in the first rays of dawn. Her proud golden eyes fixed their sharp gaze on the six spires rising up far off from the fortress in the sandy distance as she muttered curses under her breath. Nabooru couldn't believe that the ancient beings who were supposed to guard the forsaken desert prison had completely and utterly failed at their duty. From the moment that she had received reports that the disposed former king of the tribe of thieving women had somehow escaped from the prison, Nabooru was enraged that such a thing could even happen.

When Ganondorf had first been arrested by the king of Hyrule for plotting an uprising, Nabooru had been named the queen of the Gerudos after the entire tribe saw their former leader for what he truly was: a wicked liar. Nabooru had never trusted Ganondorf to begin with; she had always sensed his malevolent ways and had often plotted against him in secret. Yet when the news came that his plots to conquer Hyrule had been revealed by the princess and her young friend, Nabooru had to admit that justice had been served, even if it came from the foresight of two young children. And because of them, Ganondorf was in the exact place he belonged: in chains.

And so, for a little more than seven years now, Nabooru had made sure that it was there that Ganondorf had remained. In truth, it was actually the responsibly of the mysterious spirits that guarded the prison grounds to keep the evil man in check, but Nabooru had never had much faith in spirits, so she had secretly taken it upon herself to keep a close eye on the prison. But even she could do nothing when her spies reported to her that Ganondorf had vanished from the prison completely about two days ago without a trace, and that the spirits had been unable to find him at all.

Outraged at this troubling news, Nabooru had sent her Gerudo troops out across both the valley and the desert to hunt him down and apprehend him again. She knew that the former Gerudo king could not be allowed to be free again, lest he ravage Hyrule like he had intended to do years ago. But when her warriors' searches came up empty, she had sent envoys to Hyrule Castle to inform Princess Zelda of this catastrophe. However, much to Nabooru's frustration and worry, the princess had not responded. In fact, her envoys had returned saying that Zelda had not been at the castle at all. And so, the Gerudo queen decided to take matters into her own hands since the monarchy of Hyrule would not be giving them any assistance. The Gerudo had fended for themselves before and they could certainly do it again, but even the proud queen of the Gerudos had her doubts when it came to Ganondorf. If he was out there in the desert somewhere, there wouldn't be that good of a chance of finding him without losing many Gerudos warriors in the process. And so, all Nabooru could really do at the moment was wait for a miracle.

As the Gerudo queen stood looking out over the vast stretch of the desert that lay out past the valley where the fortress sat, she saw nothing but the empty wasteland of sand. Nabooru sighed in disappointment as she prepared to wake the mostly sleeping fortress, when a small noise coming from the valley's entrance broke through the morning silence: the sound of horse hooves. Immediately, her eyes narrowed as she watched the entrance carefully, her hands already on the hilts of the dual scimitars sheathed on her back. She was well prepared to assault the intruder until she made out the figure of the brown made and its green-clad rider as they slowly neared the fortress at a curiously sluggish pace. Nabooru's lips curled up into a coy smile as she recognized them both, relief filling her even in the midst of her people's plight.

"So," she whispered to herself as she prepared to move swiftly and silently. "The princess finally decided to send us some help after all…"

Pain still dimly pervaded the hero's senses as he entered Gerudo Desert, en route to where the last Fused Shadow was located: the Spirit Temple. He should have known that Veran wouldn't have let him get by telling Impa all that he had without being punished, for she had certainly let him have it the moment he got to Lake Hylia at dawn. Link had almost fallen unconscious again from the immense pain that the sorceress put him through, but, knowing that he didn't have time to succumb to his own physical limits any more, he forced himself to keep going, even though the agony was immense. And so, he pushed on through the Water Temple, despite both the ache coursing through his body and the exhaustion weighing heavily upon him, and he once again narrowly refused the call of the Fused Shadow as he claimed the third one. However, the entire affair had by far taken the longest amount of time out of any of them so far; the evil presence of the Fused Shadow pervading the temple had caused monsters to appear within its watery depths, making the already worn-out and weary hero's task all the more difficult. Normally, he would have been able to dispatch such creatures with ease, but his recurring illness made everything much more laborious. Aside from dealing with the fever that had returned more burning than ever, Link also had to content with the multiple wounds he had received with the Water Temple, though fortunately none of them were too serious. But all the same, such obstacles had certainly slowed him down as he searched his way through the already maze-like temple, and by the time he had managed to crawl out of it in semi-consciousness, another three whole days had passed, meaning that he only had one left to find the last Fused Shadow and return to the Shadow Temple.