Ancient Cistern [Blonde Tsuill]

Marcus listened to Chimera's story, only half-registering the sounds of Luna's footsteps behind him. It sounded like the typical Southern Hyrulean's tale: death, loss, and betrayal. He himself had one very similar. "Not everyone's out to hurt you," he said, his voice softening. She had experienced trauma and isolation since early childhood, and as a result it seemed that her view of the general Hyrulean population was low. "There are good people, just like there are bad monsters." He had to remember to keep his vocabulary limited in order to clearly (and safely) express his thoughts. He couldn't really think of anything else to say, so he didn't.

Loft was sandwiched between rotten jell-O and a pack of rabid dust-bunnies. Standing where Falconer (Loft liked that better) couldn't see, hiding behind a cluster of rocks to the side, was bad stuff. An enormous ReDead popped up from behind the purplish boulders and advanced silently, pulling its giant, rusted sword up and freeing it from the clingy straps of decaying red cloth, tugging it along as it came closer. Loft's difficulty was that he'd been forbidden to talk, and the monster was drawing every nearer. He quickly reviewed the rules in his head: mouth shut, don't touch Falcon, no funny business (Loft didn't know what that meant), and finally to stay put. His brain buzzed as a brilliant solution whirred into existence. He pulled out a Deku Nut and threw it as hard as he could at the ReDead. Its sword slashed upwards, slicing the nut in two and causing it to explode in its undead face.

Chimera sighed when Marcus told her not everyone was out to hurt her. “Know. But... Safer to think are. Then ready when it happens.” She watched the hallways in front of them, peering at every nook and cranny that could house so much as a keese. She didn’t put her sword away, instead preferring to be able to spring to action as quickly as possible.

The Gerudo could sense that Marcus was a bit uneasy so she assured him. “Not worry. Not likely attack people in group...” She pondered for a moment. “Except maybe red hair man. Dangerous.”

The 'red hair man' that Chimera spoke of, had to be Horus. Luna failed to fully suppress her scoffing at the Gerudo. Horus, dangerous? Who was she to speak? Horus had used blunt force on Loft once, in his aggressive way of defending her, but Chimera had threatened Marcus, who was completely harmless, more than once without any visible trigger at all. At least anyone could tell when Horus was going to jump into action, as well as what he was going to do. "Horus is not more dangerous than you are," she said to the woman, admittedly sounding less hostile than she felt. "At least he doesn't do anything without provocation."


It was a miracle that Luna's group didn't hear Horus, for he minced neither curses nor volume when he was caught off-guard by a bright flash in front of him. He wanted to turn around and grab Loft by the collar to chew him out, but stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted the monster in front of him. Muttering to himself that he knew it, he leapt at the stunned ReDead. His sword made contact with the thing and knocked it back, but this seemed to nullify the effect of Loft's Deku Nut and the Redead screeched.

Now, Horus KNEW he was used to hearing, seeing, smelling and subduing ReDeads, but even after fifteen years his muscles still tensed up and he froze solid when one screeched at him. When the thing started shuffling towards him, Horus started struggling, willing his body to move before he'd have to take a blow.

Marcus frowned as Chimera continued to search for possible threats. "There's a difference between being prepared for an attack and pushing everyone away," he said, but he tensed up when he heard a clattering sound to his left. He relaxed; it was only a stone knocked from the ground by one of their shoes. Marcus was shocked to hear Luna speak; so far, she had only spoken to Horus, and even then, she was hardly verbose. He agreed with her, his eyes automatically straying to Chimera's buckler before quickly diverting them to the surrounding area, but didn't say so. Horus was just an irritable red-head with a sword; Chimera was... well, wild. Still, he doubted she would hurt them. Hoped, anyway.

Loft saw Falconer leap at the armed ReRead, but he got distracted by something shiny on the ground and crouched down to take a look at it. "Ooh," he thought- thought, but didn't say, since Falconer had forbid him to open his mouth- "shiny!" The ReDead's screech ripped through the air around him while he stared at the pretty rock, and while he shivered in terror, he wasn't frozen. It wanted to eat Falconer, not him, and Loft had been intelligent enough to duck his head. Unlike Falconer, of course, who had been silly enough to stare into its dead eyeless face. Dumb-dumb.

Loft nearly started forward, but then remembered the rules: he was not to move, or speak, or do anything silly. Did this mean he could only thrown Deku Nuts? No, he had another secret weapon up his sleeve. He pulled out a throwing knife as the ReDead advanced on Falconer, the ginger frozen like a non-icy block of ginger ice. With his other hand, he withdrew a Deku Nut and threw it at the ReDead. It was as much a dummy as Falconer; it sliced the Nut in two, freezing in place from the bright flash. Loft followed it up with knife, burying it in its head. It staggered, no longer frozen, and Loft withdrew another Nut/Knife combo in case the ginger cookie was still cooling.

Chimera looked back at Luna for a decent while, her hand twitching as it held her blade. She pondered if she should deem this woman as dangerous as well, considering she was often with him an had just defended him. 

She thought back, going over what she'd seen. Luna had so far provided few to no combat feats outside of enchanting things. This made her more support than anything. So, no. Luna wasn't a sufficient enough threat that she had to be eliminated here. 

With a sideways glance to Marcus, Chimera brought her sword down. "Will see. See anything not like, attack." She then continued on, still looking around. "When tunnel end? Sword hand getting... Restless."

Horus finally succeeded in willing his body to start moving, not that it was any use because he was immediately blinded by a new Deku Nut. "Are you fucking DONE?!" he shouted, just about ready to snap the kid's neck before dealing with the ReDead. "I can't fight like this!" He fought ReDeads so often. And not just the slow, rotting, weaponless variety but this kind of ReDead, too. He knew he could take it on his own, but he had to not have his head spinning from a Deku Nut every five seconds.

Realizing he still had the Needles in his left hand, he threw all three of them in one movement, holding up his hand to see if he had to conjure up more of his weapons. Seeing that the needles did little, he decided he had little choice but to close the distance and use brute force to get rid of the undead. He started running for the thing, not having his Roc's Feather to cross the large horizontal gap, but while he did so, he sheathed his sword. He consciously stopped brusquely on the moist ground, sliding past the ReDead to buy himself the time necessary to bend forward, pull his dagger out of his boot, and ram it into the ReDead's ribs.

Using his dagger gave him more speed and maneuverability, and damage output was hardly a concern when dealing with something that would fall apart as soon as he pierced the magical core keeping it moving. Now if only he could find it...


When Chimera did not insult Horus further, Luna left her for what she was and walked ahead of the Gerudo and the healer. Her Sense did not warn her of anything, although she became increasingly unsettled as she ran her hand over the metal bars that had, over time, come up to her side. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to split up, after all... The bars made an unpleasant sound as her fingers strummed along them not unlike the strings of a harp, and for a second she thought she remembered something from a time long past... but she shook her head to get the mental image out, having to focus on the here and now.

Marcus breathed a sigh of relief as Chimera decided not to attack Luna for speaking her mind. He would be happy, so happy, when he left their company. She was far too willing to kill, and her barely veiled threat did little to settle him. Luna walked ahead, running her hands lightly over the metal bars fencing them in, and Marcus thought she looked aloof, melancholy, distant, and ethereal, all at the same time. "I don't know," Marcus said to Chimera, mumbling a quick apology before quickening his pace to catch up with Luna. "What's on your mind?" He asked. "Something wrong?"

The scent of something wonderfully sweet began to waft around his head as they walked on, closer to what appeared to be a grove of bright red poppy flowers. He yawned widely, suddenly aware of how far they'd gone without resting. What he wouldn't give to stop and rest, to take a few minutes break from tip-toeing lightly around hostile companions and undead monsters....

---

Ooh, Falconer was a bad screecher. Loft wanted to yell that his momma bird would have washed his beak out with pigeon droppings if he didn't watch his tongue, but that would violate one of The Rules: to keep his mouth shut. It seemed that now he had to add another rule to the list: don't use Deku Nuts. He wanted to help Falconer, but since he couldn't move, couldn't speak, and couldn't do anything silly (still not sure what that meant)... what could he do? He watched Falconer sink needles and slice daggers into the ReDead's flesh and knew he'd be fine on his own. He sat down, kicked his legs back, and watched the show. Like Falconer said: he did this stuff for a living. Loft grinned, his lips tightly sealed; he'd get to watch a professional zombie slayer! How cool was that?

Horus struggled with the ReDead for a while, wincing at the screaming but being far too pumped on adrenaline to be more than a little numbed. Finally, he saw the pulsing orb of energy that had thin tentacles spreading out to all bones in the ReDead's body. As if that wasn't telltale enough, the orb radiated a sensation similar to what his crossbow did whenever Luna enchanted it. Grinning, Horus grabbed the ReDead's arm, twisting it so it couldn't be used against him. In the same motion, he bent his own torso and that of his enemy forward, ramming his dagger between the ribs and into the core.

The ReDead screamed one last time, after which Horus grabbed it by the shoulders and threw it off of him, unintentionally tossing it in Loft's direction. Once done, he looked around, trying to find more enemies. "Anyone else want to have a go?!" he shouted. When no response came, he put the dagger back into his boot. "I hope that was the last one for today."


Luna didn't look up when Marcus asked her if she were okay, but neither did she shake her head. She didn't know if anything was wrong. For her, yes, because she was alone right now, but objectively speaking, nothing was amiss... She honestly didn't know. Upon reacing the field of flowers, Luna ignored the scent and blinked at the sight.

Flowers... in Faron Woods, Luna had seen a few, but other than that, she had never seen flowers that she could remember. It was a very alien sight, and she bent forward to pick one. As she held it, the scent making her and her allies drowsy, she looked at it from several sides. Maybe she ought to show it to Hor- She interrupted her thoughts with a loud scream, kicking almost directly upward from the side with her left leg, and connecting the toes with the bud of a very ugly, half-decomposed and apparently carnivorous flower. The bud froze, but only for a second, and when Luna kicked again before having to set her foot down, it dodged.

Loft watched as Falconer boxed with the ReDead, wishing that he had some crystallized jell-O to munch on. He would have cheered when the mighty hero conquered the fell villain, but his lips were sealed. It was one of the Rules. Suddenly, there was fifty pounds of rotten corpse-flesh being hurled in his direction like a sack of putrid daisies. Loft felt a single moment of terror, torn between self-preservation and the cognitive Rule, which was all the time that that pus-filled three day old cucco burger needed to smoosh on his face. It was everywhere, in his nose and lungs and heart, and the ground was falling over as he tried to get it out of his stomach and it was creeping along his arms and tenderly stroking his face and he wanted it off off off off off! His throat was burning, his spattered face stung by what had been its own, and he tried to throw it off but it had his arms pinned and he couldn't think and it was everywhere and where was Falconer?

Marcus let out an involuntary scream of terror as the dreamy peace was shattered by Luna's scream and the carnivorous plants all before them. His mind was still muddled by their potent scent, and he found himself thinking about the flowers instead of her. It must have been a predatorial thing- lure and enthrall victims into... into eating.... Farore, why was thinking so difficult? He knew why it was, even as he reached reflexively to pull her out. The flowers were dying, rotting things, probably from the putrid entrees on their menu. Undead bokoblins... were hardly... nutritious. Farore.

He staggered back, the several feet already between him and Luna feeling like countless miles of hard exertion. Moving was hard, thinking about moving was worse, and this train of thought... train of thought... what was that about trains? He shook his head, hard, and hoped dimly that Chimera would be able to help Luna.

Chimera stood by as the other two walked into the flowers, almost as if entranced by the things. Chimera never saw the point of such things as 'pwetty fwowers', but if her companions were stopping, there wasn't much use in moving ahead, especially not without Marcus. 

When she heard both scream, Chimera flew forward at full sprint, utilizing her quick draw to close the distance as fast as possible. Steel flashed out of it's sheath towards Luna's neck. Marcus was trying to get away, so obviously the woman had attacked him. She wouldn't allow him to be harmed. 

At the last moment, though, Chimera saw the zombified baba, diverting her blade enough to slice the head off the monster. It tried to jump up at the Gerudo to take a bite out of her, but she slashed out with her blade, cutting it in half. 

Unfortunately, this meant a splash of whatever zombified pus filled the thing was now flying towards Chimera. Not that she really cared, but she wasn't quite sure what it was. Chimera primed her blade around her, now ready to clear out whatever was left in the garden. 

Placing her feet apart, the Gerudo spun, pulling out three more Babas that were lying in wait. They drifted into Chimera, promptly being slashed and bashed by her scimitar and shield. One had died in the attack, the first of the remaining dispatched by a quick power beam. Chimera quickly thought how good it was to have a healer. Normally this deep into an excursion, she had her power beam robbed from her. 

With the last one stunned from being bashed with her shield, Chimera had plenty of time to slash along it's open maw, the green goop yet again splattering. 

Chimera held position, sword out in the middle of the garden. That smell was just overpowering... It was a good thing Chimera fought entirely off of instinct, not thought.  "Think.... Safe to.... Move on...." Her head was woozy though, probably from the Baba gunk. "Chimera.... Poison again, think... M-Marcus heal out?"

Horus had wanted to watch Loft struggle with the ReDead and considered helping him come out from under it. As he turned the thing over with his foot, though, his train of thought was rudely interrupted by a familiar pitch. "LUNA!" he roared, turning around and rushing into the direction that her scream had come from. When he reached the remains of what looked like it had once been a cage, with metal bars jutting out of the ground and barring his way, he ran until he could grab the bars. On the other side, he saw the ice mage, the healer, and the psychopathic swordswoman.

Luna looked upset, but safe. She must have picked up the sound of his hands hitting the bars, for she turned around and her face lighted up. "Horus!" she called, coming over to him. She grabbed his hand through the bars, but this was far from satisfactory for Horus and he started pulling on them violently. They were rusted, dang it! There was no reason why they should resist him as hard as they did!

On the other side of the barrier, Luna looked around for a way to take it down. "Marcus," she said, "We need your help here..."

The flowers were gone, the smell already fading. This, combined with the distance he had already established between himself and them, were doing wonders to clear his head. While he was still not operating at maximum... capacity? Was that the word? Marcus pinched his nose; he had heard somewhere that that was supposed to help a headache. Perhaps he was doing it wrong, but it didn't make him feel any better.

"It's the smell," he said absently to Chimera, "it'll fade soon." Someone crashed into the nearby bars, and he looked over to see Luna and Horus reaching for each other desperately. Huh; looked like there was definitely more between them than just friendship. He blinked; did Luna just directly address him? He stumbled over. The bars were rusted, yet Horus was having a difficult time breaking them.

"I have an idea," he said. He pulled out his Blue Candle and applied the freezing flame, colder than any of Snowhead's ice, and applied it to a part of the bars. "Step back," he said. With the bars now freezing cold, he pulled out a small rod from his bag. He pointed the jeweled tip at the bar, breathed deeply, and poured so much of his magic into it that it fired energy so powerful that the very air around the blast bent all around it. It slammed into the bars and shattered the rusted, freezing sections.

Marcus staggered back. His head had already hurt, but now it felt like someone (like Loft) was busy tossing Deku Nuts into his head, exploding in painful bursts of light behind his eyes. "I need to sit down now," he said weakly.

Chimera nodded at Marcus' answer, looking back towards the bars to see Horus and Luna. This yet again put her on edge. She didn't trust the redhead. Unfortunately, it seemed as though other people did. 

The Gerudo saw Marcus' magic blast and tilted her head, leaning on a wall not far from the healer. What a strange manner of attack... Was that something her shield could stop? Or would it go right through and hit her? She found it a potentially scary method of killing. Feeling safe behind a shield, yet not knowing that your metal wall does nothing to stop the attack. 

Her analysis was accompanied by a slightly worried face as she looked at Marcus' rod. Eventually though, Chimera shook her head and looked back down at the flowers. They were still playing hell with her head.

In truth, Chimera didn't care much about the happy-feely reunion between Horus and Luna or Marcus and Loft, mainly because it was now more people to constantly watch. With a sigh, Chimera looked to the hall they should continue to, wordlessly. 

Horus crossed what was left of the bars to embrace Luna, holding her to him and not letting go when he turned to Marcus. "The other one should be coming around in a bit too. Are you okay?" Luna looked up at him, wondering if he was going to let her go, just as he did so, gently picking the Roc's Feather off her head to put it back into his coat. She held up the statuette to hand it to him, but he rubbed his forehead, shutting his eyes with a painful and annoyed expression on his face.

"It's the flowers," she said to him as he pinched his nose. "They're making you drowsy. It should get better if you stay here for a little while or if we leave..."

"I'm not drowsy. The stench is giving me the biggest headache in a decade." He crossed his arms. "Okay, so Luna has the statue that we got separated for in the first place, everyone is alive, and no one seems too badly hurt." He nodded to Marcus. "I have to thank you for watching over Luna. Did she do or say anything strange while I was gone?" He didn't even care that he was being overbearing. He had to ensure that Luna had been alright with him not there to protect her.

Marcus still felt very weak; it was all he could do to fumble his head from side to side and manage 'no.' Just as he was doing so, however, another voice cut in, one laced with uncharacteristic grumpiness.

"She swore her undying love to Marcus," Loft said, plopping himself on the ground beside the Healer, "does that count?" Marcus gagged, his vision going woozy as he nearly toppled over. Loft stunk to high heaven of putrid puss and decaying dog feces. He picked out some goo out of his hair and frowned. "Gross," he moaned. "Let's get out of here so I can wash."

Chimera was still just watching, watching Horus for any muscle change, anything that’d indicate an attack. When she heard Loft say something about Marcus, Chimera saw two things she didn’t like. He looked at Marcus with a look of anger or irritation. No chances would be taken. Steel flash out into the air as Chimera placed her sword between Marcus and Horus, the sharp edge facing the Ikanian.

“Attack Marcus, lose parts.” Chimera said, as straight-faced as ever. She wasn’t sure what he was accused of, but Marcus was probably the reason Chimera had made it this far in the place. Gradually she strafed so that she was standing directly in between them.

When Loft chimed in, Horus twitched and glared at Marcus. It WAS unusual for Luna to specifically address and ask for the help of anyone but him. But it had taken her years to warm up to him, so it wasn't bloody likely that she'd grow attached to Marcus in the short period of time they'd been separated. It helped that Luna herself looked confused, resting one hand on Horus' chest as if to stop him from attacking the boy. "Nothing happened," she said quietly, as if she only wanted Horus to hear. "He's lying. He wasn't even here, he has no way of knowing what I did or said in your absence."

Horus took a second to take his eyes off of the healer for any hints of the opposite, but by the time he started to relax and Luna lowered her hand, hell broke out. The Gerudo woman had stepped in between Horus and Marcus and pointed her sword at him. She threatened that he would lose parts if he touched the healer, which combined with all the blinshit that had happened to him in here thus far sent him over the edge.

"What was that?!" He drew his own sword, and it was only due to Luna's excellent skills of observation that she could put her hands on his chest to hold him back in time before he would crash the sword in on the Gerudo violently.

"Horus, don't," she said. "She's stupid. She doesn't know better." She wasn't strong enough to restrain Horus physically for long, so she had to hope that the psychological part of holding him back would kick in soon.

"She's pointing a SWORD at me! She's asking for it!" Horus knew as well as Luna did that there was nothing keeping him from tearing her hands away from him and shoving her off of his back, but even in his blind rage he refused to hurt her, so he let her hold him back. "Let go, Luna!"

"No. I don't want you to get hurt. There's something evil in here and we need you at your best to protect us." She had sensed it before, but not been certain. She wanted to know for absolutely certain that something was actually off before alerting the others, but she knew that right now changing the subject was the best way to calm Horus.

"Lying?" Loft gasped, placing a glop-covered hand over his heart. "Me, madame? Never!" Suddenly, there was a flash! Like lightening! Only less loud! The wild one slashed and bashed, and Loft was grinning from ear to ear as the others went ba-boom-ballistic. Movement from his left drew his eye; Marcus was shaking his head weakly, but he was still too faint to actually do anything. Was this what it felt like to be free? Marcus couldn't do anything to stop him- Loft's grin stretched a little wider. Hehehehe.

"He was totally about to carve him up," Loft said, flitting beside Chimera and glaring with her at Horus. "Look at him," he whispered, "he's dangerous, you know he is; he's like... like... red fire pretending to be jell-O, pretending to be all nice and yummy, but he's really gonna- POW!" He clapped his hands and danced back. He could feel Marcus' glare burning into his back, but he didn't turn round. Then Luna spoke, and Loft gasped. "Did you hear that?" He said to Chimera- all of this was in a quiet voice, too soft for Luna and Horus to hear, but apparently loud enough for Marcus. "She just called you stupid! Like you're some kind of... of... stupid person! How dare he!"

He darted to the side and pointed at Horus, who had just yelled about her pointing swords. "Yes!" He said, shaking his hand back between Chimera and Horus. "She did! She threatened you, and even worse, she threatened her," he pointed at Luna, "earlier! Betcha didn't know that! She wants to take her pointy thing and-" he squished an imaginary bug on the floor. Behind him, Marcus was shaking his head vigorously, but he still couldn't do any more than watch.

Chimera’s blood pumped strongly through her veins as Horus too, drew his blade. Adrenaline was setting in, and it was a rush the barbaric warrior was all too happy to have. Then Luna called her something. She didn’t really understand what it was, but when Loft started saying about how bad it was, she realized it must have been an insult most foul. Her hand twitched towards the Ikanian a few times, but she wouldn’t strike yet.

Then he heard Loft say Horus was planning to carve up Marcus. That was the straw too far and Chimera couldn’t have it. This man would pay for what he’d done and said. So the first part of victory... Was the first cut. Chimera then stood up straight, putting her sword away. The blade was held in her sheath, begging and screaming at the Gerudo to be let out. But no. Chimera stood there, waiting for Loft to finish his words with Horus.

The next chance she had, when she was sure the Swordsman was feeling secure in safety, she ripped her blade from it’s sheath, erupting forward in a full sprint. The first strike would be hers.

Luna needed a second to realize that Horus had shoved her aside and she was now sitting on the ground, having caught her fall with her hands. When she looked up, she saw that Horus had used half a spin attack to bring Chimera to a stop, although she had still shoved him back a few inches. She considered calling out to him to stop him, but even as she considered it she told herself it would be no use. If Horus had gone far enough to shove her off of him, whether that be for her protection or out of rage, he wouldn't listen to her.

Chimera was incredibly strong, Horus felt as her sword clashed with his father's. However, he saw red, and worrying about how strong his enemy was, was not on his mind. How dare she swing a sword at him? But more than that, how dare she be a threat to Luna? When Loft had told him what Chimera had wanted to do to the Ice Mage, it had been the moment he had snapped. He'd show the bitch. He'd show her what happened when she laid a hand on Luna!

Pushing the Gerudo off of him, Horus bent forward to grab his dagger, wielding it in his left hand while he used his sword with his right hand. He was used to double-wielding, and while it would be useless to block Chimera's attacks with, defense was not his strategy. Actually, he had no strategy at all as his face morphed into a hostile snarl and he went on a full-out offensive, slamming his sword straight into the Gerudo's chest.

Normally, Luna would wait for Bertrand to show up and hit Horus on the back of the head, either knocking him out or bringing him back to his senses. However, it wasn't until it was too late that she remembered Bertrand wasn't here, so there was no way to calm the redhead down. But Horus fought with reckless abandon- he'd get killed! But not if Luna had a say in it. She wouldn't idly sit by and let Chimera kill her protector.

The first thing she did was enchant Horus' dagger with ice, so that he could use it to freeze anything he parried or stabbed with it. Secondly, she started conjuring up an ice pike. Underground, it was a lot colder than the room with the Stalmaster in which she had used the spell last, so the pike formed much faster and she had more time to work with, making for a bigger projectile. Once satisfied, she then kicked it towards Chimera, timing it so that Horus' sword and her Ice Shot would hit the Gerudo at the same time.