The Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ Gerudo Forest ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Melissa woke up in a sweat and had to kick the covers off. The room had become very warm and for a second she had forgotten where she was. She looked around and everything that had happened the day before came rushing back to her. What was she to do now? She needed to figure out what her next move was. She didn't really think Ganon would send her home even if he knew how. Nor did she think he would feel obligated to help her find a way even if she had just saved his life. At least she didn't feel indebted to him. Her conscience was clear. She would just have to find someone else who could help her but who that person was she wasn't quite sure yet. Melissa stood up still feeling a little drained as she walked to the water pitcher. It seemed someone had filled it while she had been asleep. She poured the water into the basin and washed her face. At least the water still felt fairly cool. There was a knock at the door before she heard the lock being opened. She tensed up thinking it might be Ganondorf coming to ask questions but let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was just Chara. She had come to take her to breakfast and Melissa had to admit she was quite hungry. As they walked Melissa tried to keep track of which way they went. If she was to escape eventually she would need to know where she was going. Soon they got to a bit of hall she recognized. Melissa looked down the way to Ganon's room and wondered if he was still recovering or if he would be in the dining hall. As they arrived at their destination she looked to the throne but it was empty. No sign of Ganon and strangely she didn’t know if that made her happy or sad. Chara was beckoning her to come and sit beside her and apparently whatever the Gerudo had thought of her yesterday seemed to have vanished in the night. Actually they seemed to be pretending she wasn't there which suited her fine. Without their king brooding over them the hall was full of life. There was laughter and shouting. A few of them were playing instruments in the corner while another group practiced dancing. Melissa sat beside Chara and just stared at her food. She didn’t know what the animal was but its head was still attached. Melissa pushed the bowl away grossed out by the eyeless holes staring at her. “You no hungry?”Chara asked giving her a funny look. “I am.” Melissa replied “But it is hard to want to eat something while it is staring you in the face.” Chara laughed. “You are funny person.” She said and proceeded to eat a chunk of hers. ”You better eat. You will need the strength today. Rumor is that you will be taught.” “Taught what?” Melissa asked not sure if she liked the sound of that. “Taught things.” Chara said not being very helpful. “Such as?”Melissa pressed. “Magic of course.” Chara said like it was common place. Melissa wasn't going to complain if they were going to provide her means of escape. “It is strange for you to be taught because usually there is only one apprentice per teacher.“ Chara continued between mouthfuls. “Who is the apprentice now?”Melissa asked curious. “Me of course.” Chara said grinning back at her. “I can see why they want to train you. Your ancient is flawless. Unlike mine.” She said frowning. “I think you speak pretty well.” Melissa said trying to cheer her up. Chara smiled at that. Melissa was still unsure she would be able to do a thing but she would give it a try. “Eat.” Chara said pushing her plate back in front of her. Melissa just picked at it. It wasn’t the worst thing she had ever tasted. Just the creepiest. When they had finished Chara proceeded to lead her to a room they used for magic practice. “So… any news on how the king is doing?”Melissa asked trying to be respectful. She wasn’t sure if it was right to call him by his name. Chara looked at her like she wanted to say something but then looked away in thought. “He is sick and resting.”Chara responded flatly looking to the side as she had said it. That usually was a sign of deception but Melissa guessed it wasn’t really her business what happened to him now. She had done her best to help and that was all she could do. They entered the room and Koume and Kotake were already there. The weird thing is they were talking to a young man who looked to be Gerudo but she knew that had to be impossible. He had the same tan skin, yellow eyes, beard, and red hair which was even pulled up the same way that Ganon’s was, but there was no way. A male was born only every 100 years. He looked to be in his late 20’s early 30’s. He almost had Ganon’s build. Their faces even looked similar now that she thought about it. His pants were black and had almost the same style of the women’s. His shirt covered over one shoulder leaving the other one bare where she could see a feint crescent scar. The shirts black fabric clung tightly to his chest showing of how muscular he was. A band of leather also went around his chest like if he wore a scabbard but there was no place for a sword. Instead it was more decorative. On it was a gold metal imbedded with the biggest looking red ruby she had ever seen. At least she thought it was a ruby. It had been cut in the shape of a triangle. She guessed it stood for the Triforce for some reason or another. He also wore fingerless gloves. Though she didn’t understand why he would need them. Must have been a fashion choice she thought. All in all he wasn’t a bad looking man. “Who is he?” Melissa whispered to Chara. She didn’t seem to know how to respond once again. “Uh he is…”Chara stalled seeming to be either thinking of the word or of an answer for which to tell her. “A prince or something?” Melissa offered trying to help? “Not quite.” Chara said once again looking away. “So he is Gerudo?” Melissa asked. “Oh yes.” Chara said still not looking at her. “But aren’t men born like every 100 years?” Melissa asked again. “You ask too many questions.” Chara said now looking annoyed with her. “That’s because I'm such an idiot.” Melissa said sticking out her tongue. They both just started giggling. This brought the witch twins and the man’s attention to them. “Ah! You’re here.” Koume said flying up to them. “We didn’t here you come in.” said Kotake. Melissa started to feel very nervous. What if she couldn’t do any magic at all? She didn’t want to disappoint them but she felt she was going to. She thought back to all the times her and her sisters had pretended to do so when they were little and nothing had ever happened then. “So as I am sure you know by now,” Koume said looking at Chara. “There is usually only one apprentice at a time here. But…” She smiled at Melissa. “Due to your knowledge of our language we have decided to see if you can be taught gerudo magic.” Melissa felt the butterflies filling up her stomach. The man finally joined them. He had that same kind of walk that Ganon had like he owned the world. “Only I will be your teacher.” the man said with a deep familiar voice. Chara looked like she was jealous. Why would she be jealous of this? Who was he? “I am Armos.”He said like he had read her mind. He gave her a small bow. Well at least he was polite. “We will use this side room for your training.” He said ushering her away before she could ask any questions about how Ganon was doing. Well Koume and Kotake looked happy so he must not be doing too bad. He opened the door for her to step through. The room was fairly big. It looked like it had seen some major magic practice. Holes pocked the walls. The only thing that had seemed untouched was a carved statue of women with a snake winding around her. There seemed to be a second level held up by huge pillars, but the stairs looked to have been a practice target to. Armos walked to the middle of the room and waited for her to catch up. “So…” Melissa said letting out a deep breath trying to calm the butterflies in her stomach. “I didn’t know there were any other men here. I thought your king was the only male.” He didn’t answer. “Um… Speaking of him… how is he? They said he was feeling sick but didn’t tell me if he was doing better.” Melissa was unsure why she wanted to know but her mind kept drifting back to thoughts of him. Maybe she thought if she knew this answer it might stop. “He is fine.” Armos said quickly studying her. “I was told of what you did last night. Where did you learn that from?” “To be honest I had only heard of it. I didn’t even know if his body wouldn’t reject my blood. Nor how much I could spare.” She admitted. He looked at her with that same amusement she would see on Ganon's face. “So you risked your life for him.”He stated bluntly. “I guess I did.” She replied looking away from him embarrassed she would do something so foolish. They stood there in silence for what seemed an eternity. “So what now?” She asked. “Now…we will see what you can do.” He replied. They tried for hours. He showed her how and she tried to copy. Nothing happened of course. She didn’t think it would. She couldn’t even make a fire ball which he had told her was one of the easiest things to do. Every time nothing happened he would yell at her. She was starting to hate this. She couldn’t help she hadn't an ounce of magic in her and after being berated three more times she had had enough. “Look if I can’t do magic I can’t do it.” She said angrily at him. “I know you said this language has something to do with it but I have spoken nothing but this since I was little and nothing even remotely magical has ever happened to me. Everyone at home speaks this language and magic is still a myth.” He looked thoughtful at this news. “Maybe I am going at this all wrong then.” He sat down and started to think of a new strategy. ”After all this I don’t think I want to learn.” Melissa said tired of being berated before turning and leaving. She didn’t really think he would follow her. Chara was still practicing when she exited. She had what looked like a ball of fire in her hand and was throwing it in the air and catching it. When Kotake and Koume approached her Melissa didn’t even slow down. “How did it go?” they asked following her. “I bet you were a natural” Koume said. Melissa stopped. “I’m not anything.”Melissa replied turning around to reveal tears running from her eyes. She was just so frustrated and just wasn’t in the mood to see the disappointment that spread across their faces. Chara on the other hand looked pleased with this news. Then she spotted Armos by the door. “You could teach me?”Chara said with a smirk on her face. Melissa just needed some air. She didn’t stay to hear his reply and strangely no one tried to stop or follow her. After yesterday they must have figured out she wasn't much of a threat. She searched for what seemed hours before she found the way outside. She needed badly to just get out and feel the fresh air and as she walked out she looked around. The courtyard was full of activity. A lot of Gerudos were practicing sword technique and horseback archery. The heat was horrible but the breeze made it bearable. She spotted a pool of water on the other side. She decided to walk to it to try and calm down. This pool might be one of the last remaining bits of the way this land used to be. The water was so cool. She decided to walk in. Who cared if her clothes got wet. They could probably use a washing anyway. Nobody even paid her any attention. The middle looked deep but she couldn’t tell how much. She had waded till the water was up to her neck before she felt hands grab her from behind. She struggled as the invisible person pulled her backward. She elbowed whoever it was and they let her go. She dove under the water and resurfaced a little ways away from her would be attacker. When she had cleared the water from her eyes she saw that it had been Armos. “Are you trying to drown?” He asked upset that she had hit him. “I can swim.” she replied back and swam to the middle and floated there to prove her point. She guessed not many Gerudo could swim living in a land without much water. “I thought you were trying to…” he started but Melissa cut him off. “Do I look suicidal?” She said all calm the water had brought leaving her. She dove down into the water while holding her glasses so as not to lose them and resurfaced behind him. The water was too clear to have snuck up behind him. So she splashed him as fast as she could before diving and swimming off. When she resurfaced he looked like an angry drowned rat. Melissa laughed at how comical he looked. But he hadn’t found it as amusing as she had. He started gathering a ball of water in his hand. It got to the size of a watermelon before he hurtled it at her. She knew she could have dived to avoid it but had frozen in a panic. As the ball reached her a high wall of water sprung up. They stared at each other surprised. “You blocked it.” He said realizing what had happened. “What?!?! No I didn’t.” Melissa said confused as to why he would think that. “Well there is one way to find out.” He said with a mischievous smile crossing his face. This time he sent a volley of balls her way. Once again the wall of water blocked it. This time she felt a drain from her. When he stopped she felt so tired she could barely swim. She almost didn’t make it back to the shallows. She stood there shaking trying to catch her breath. He smiled pleased at his discovery. “What if that had been a fluke?” She asked out of breath. “You could have killed me.” She said angrily. Her legs felt like they were about to give out they were shaking so badly. “This drain of energy you feel is natural.” He said going back into teacher mode. “I told you I don’t want to learn. Just leave me alone.” She said starting to walk back to land. All the Gerudos had stopped what they were doing to watch them. Out of the water she felt heavier. She just couldn’t stand anymore. Armos caught her as she fell. “That is the end off your lesson for today.” he said swooping her up in his arms. “This isn’t right.” She said looking up at his face as he carried her back in. She could hear whispers as they passed. “How so?” He said a look of amusement crossing his face again. ”How could I be doing magic and not be aware of doing so.” She could barely keep her eyes open now but she wanted to hear his answer. “I don’t know.”He replied” but I will tell you this, not many could pull off the spell you just did on their first day. Actually even your friend Chara for all the magic she has mastered couldn’t pull that off.” Melissa let a smile cross her face and then passed out in his arms.