Copyrighted 1999
Chapter Five
I spent about a year serving as second-in-command under Ganondorf. His campaign was slowly growing, and so was my distaste for him.
There were many things I’d come to dislike about him, but the main thing was his style. He killed. Ruthlessly, needlessly, just for satisfaction, or for “examples.” He had killed all of our soldiers on the expedition, I was certain. And by now, we were still losing tons of valuable soldiers. Yet he continued.
One day, I decided to do something about it. I was almost fifteen now, and even more bold than I’d been when almost fourteen. My plan was simply to sneak into the Spirit Temple and mess up Ganon’s plans. And maybe grab some riches along the way . . .
The problem was, you either needed to be very small or Ganondorf himself to get in. There was a small hole, too small for me. And there was another doorway, but it was blocked by a huge, carved stone. I pushed and pulled as hard as I possibly could, but I was unable to move it. Ganon was the only one strong enough for that.
So, I stood by the hole, trying to figure out a way in. Could I widen it, could I make it bigger, could I make myself smaller . . ?
It was then that the blonde-haired, green clad, blue-eyed boy followed by a fairy walked in.
I stood up hastily and addressed the boy. “Hey kid, who are you? What are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “Nothing much,” he answered boldly.
The wheels in my head were turning. That boy was small enough to fit through the hole.
I got some information from him; his name was Link, his fairy was Navi. And then, I dropped the bomb. “Are you on the same side as Ganondorf?”
“So what if I am?” he answered warily, giving me fisheye.
I laughed. I decided I liked this kid. Bold, cynical--kind of like me. “It’s all right, I’m only kidding.” I said. “No need to get upset.” Then, I changed my tone. “Hey, could you do me a favor?”
He shrugged. “Okay.”
I nodded. “Listen, kid, this place is Ganondorf’s hideout. I want to go in, steal some treasure, and mess up his plans. But to do that, I need the main treasure inside this temple. It’s an item in a huge treasure chest. I want you to go in through that hole, find that treasure, and bring it to me. Got it?”
He shrugged. “Got it.”
I grinned. “Good. And once you get it, don’t forget to bring it back.”
He gave a swift nod, turned, and crawled into the hole.
I stood by, waiting. It had been morning when the boy called Link had crawled into the hole; now the sun was beginning to set. I was beginning to figure that the boy had ripped me off when I heard a shriek from behind me. Turning, I saw two creatures appear. One’s hair was made of ice, the other was made of fire. Their skin was green, and they were shrieking horribly. Witches!
With a cry of war they dived upon me. Shaking them off the way one would try to get rid of bats, I ran from the temple. They followed me! They chased me around a bit, and then split up. One to the left, one to the right, the rest of the Desert Colossus, as it had come to be called, was behind me, the Spirit Temple in front of me. I spun in circles slowly, unsure of where to run. I was trapped.
And then, the witches attacked me. I shrieked in surprise, and then saw the kid, Link, on a ledge up above me. He had the item! The one I needed!
But it was too late. In a last, feeble attempt, I shouted a warning. “Hey, kid! Get out of here while you still can--aaaaiiiiii!”
I was sucked into a pool of swirling magic, and then, I was gone.
“Oh . . . ugh . . .” I groaned, reaching up to touch the bump on my head. But something was wrong. My arm could only get to my shoulder.
I was in chains!
Looking up, I saw the two witches circling me, discussing what was to be done with me, “that weird girl in awful clothing.” Looking around, I could see that I was chained to a wall, by my elbows. A really uncomfortable position.
“Oh, look, Koume, she’s awake!” cried one of the witches.
“What do we do with her, Kotake?” asked the other one.
“Why don’t we boil her up and then feed her to Ganondorf as ‘Traitor Stew’?”
I figured it was time I spoke up. “Hey, come on, you two, let me go!”
“Yeah, right. You were going to betray Ganon. We were watching you,” accused Kotake.
I spat at the mention of Ganon’s name. I was surprised at myself; normally I would have lied and said I was still on Ganon’s side to get me out of trouble. But something was different. I couldn’t do that. And I couldn’t betray that blonde-haired kid and his fairy. I just couldn’t do it.
“You let me go right now or I’ll . . . “
“You’ll what? Go tell Ganon?” Koume asked pointedly.
“Of course not. I never want to see that pyschotic coward again, and you can tell him that. I’ve had it up to here with Ganondorf. I’ll never be loyal to him again.”
“Oooh, strong words,” teased Kotake. “Well, we’ll see how strong you are! You cannot possibly resist our spells!” With that, they began to chant an incantation that made me shiver to listen to. But I was not listening. I was screaming. “Let me go! Let me have a fight with Ganondorf! Let me fight you, you cowards! Let me go! Let . . . me . . . go . . .”
A ball of bright light exploded in the room. I blinked trying to rid myself of it, of the flashing dots. The world beneath me seemed to spin, and then, I fell asleep.
Chapter Six
I have no memory of what happened after that. Link later told me that I was brainwashed, and I suppose I can accept that. But the real shock was that it was for seven years. Seven years! I still can’t believe it.
According to Link, I was put into the body of an Iron Knuckle, a horrible mechanical beast with a huge, sharp sword. He defeated the Knuckle and I was set free.
That was next thing I remembered . . .
Chapter Seven
I was on the floor, on my hands and knees. I looked up in confusion, gasping for breath. Where was I? Who was I? What was going on here?
I heard someone shout at me. “Nabooru!”
I looked up. There was a man standing there. He had blonde hair, blue eyes, green clothing. He looked like . . .
He looks like that kid. But . . . how can that be?
Then, all at once, it came back. Who I was, what had happened . . . the witches! There they were!
Run!
I jumped up and raced from the room, but not fast enough. My muscles were sore, and I wasn’t used to moving. I hadn’t moved on my own in seven years, though I did not know it had been that long at the time. But the point is I was not fast enough. The witches zapped me just before I got to the door. After that I was . . . no memory of that. I can’t remember.
For the next thing I knew, I was in the Temple of Sages, in the Sacred Realm.
But . . . how did I know that? Sages? Sacred Realm? What was going on?
For about the millionth time in my life, I felt confused.
But then, I knew. I just knew. It was there, in my brain. Everything. I now knew who I was. I was Nabooru, the Sage of the Spirit Temple, awakened by Link, the Hero of Time. I had to protect the Spirit Temple, help the other sages defeat Ganon. I spoke to Link, and then felt something in my hands. A medallion. Orange, with the Spirit symbol on one side, the Triforce symbol on the back. I grinned, and handed it to Link. “Great job, kid,” I said. “Now go! Defeat Ganon!” And then, in a flash of white light, Link was gone.
Epilogue
I looked up from the crackling fire, taking in the reactions of the other sages. “You know what happened from there. Link went to Hyrule Castle, defeated Ganondorf. And here I am, sworn to protect the temple. The Temple of the Spirits.”
The other sages stayed quiet. I guess my story had stunned them. I wasn’t surprised.
That was why I had never told anyone my past. They would never believe me. They would accuse me of lying. Prejudice against the Gerudos wasn’t exactly scarce. Plus, I was not allowed to give out any information about the Gerudos because it could make them easier to conquer. But at this point, I didn’t care. I wasn’t really, truly, a Gerudo anymore. Physically, maybe, but not mentally. I had changed too much.
“That’s amazing, Nabooru,” said Ruto. “Is that what was troubling you? Your past?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” I shrugged, not wishing to think about what had really been troubling me anymore.
“But Nabooru,” prodded Saria, “there’s one thing I still don’t understand. How could you just turn on Ganondorf like that? It couldn’t have been that easy. Yeah, if you had spent a decade or two despising him, then I could see that. But according to you, it was only about two years that you worked with him. What made you change?”
Figures. Saria looks like a kid, but she’s not much younger than me. And anyhow, she has the wisdom of someone much older, or so it seems.
And she also had a habit of bringing up whatever was wrong that someone wanted to just forget. At least, she did now.
“Uh, gee, I don’t know,” I mumbled. Then I smiled to myself. “That’s for me to know and you to find out, I guess.”
I noticed a couple of the sages shooting me looks, clearly not pleased at being left out of something. But Saria only nodded. She smiled at me.
I smiled what I hoped was a friendly smile, and shrugged to everyone around the fire. But, as the conversations went on, my thoughts began to wander back. Back to what Saria was referring to. To all the parts I hadn’t told them. The years I left out. Those . . . those . . .
My past needs to remain a secret; it’s better not to worry over things that have already happened. What I had to concentrate on now was the future. Amazing, that such a greedy little arrogant brat could become what I was now. I had friends. I had a future. And for now, that was more than enough.
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