Whose Life do You Intend to Take?

I turn away from the sight of Floofy doing good murder dog things and start running toward Rijus' cell.

The prisoners in the cages around me have noticed my escape and are yelling at me to set them free. Luckily, the roar of the prisoners is droned out by the battlefield below, and the Yiga guards are still absent from the metal scaffolding.

I make it to Rijus' cell, and the princess offers a word of encouragement while I thrust a stand of water mana into the keyhole.

This time, I lower the temperature of my water, and it turns into a strong ice key that I use to open the door.

With a little scream of joy, Riju bursts out of the cell, burying her head in my chest for a few seconds, until she looks up at me, fixing her emerald green eyes on my face.

She next stands on her tiptoes and grabs my chin, pulling me down to give me a tiny peck on the cheek.

I stand dazed for a few seconds before she switches demeanors, quickly flicking my nose, and, with a cocky grin, the princess says,

"Follow me, pretty boy, I'll keep ya safe."

We dash through the spiderweb of scaffolding, aiming for a long corridor that leads into a network of tunnels in the canyon.

The source of my direction is actually the stasis chip on my gauntlet, which I formed a bond with when I first found it that let me sense its location.

Nearing the end of the scaffolding, I see something that makes me pause. Riju whirls around, about to call for me to hurry, but I stop her saying, "Just wait a sec."

A figure is in the cell, unlike the other prisoners screaming at me to let them out, this person is just sitting crosslegged, with his gaze fixed on the floor.

I walk up to the bars, and the man looks up. I recognize him as the large, tattooed man I fought on my first day at the prison. He is in much worse shape, with bags underneath his eyes and a few fresh cuts on his arms.

In a moment of spontenuity, I press a cold object into his hands, the key of ice that opens all of the prison cages.

He looks at me, and a horse word forces its way out of the large man's mouth,

"Why?"

Smiling, I say,

"Because. I have no enemies."

"Let the good people out of their cages, good luck."

With that, I continue on with Riju, sprinting into the tunnels.

In stark contrast to the battle raging outside, the tunnels are eerily quiet, with all the Yiga fighting down below. We try to keep our footsteps as quiet as possible through the shadowy passageways and follow my sense of the chip to the armory, where I think my stuff is.

I would just ditch my things, but the stasis chip and Samantha are there, which are irreplaceable. I really should find some way to get storage magic though, maybe Shiekah tech? But that's something for another time.

Riju and I sprint past garages full of expensive Zonai-powered vehicles, which I would have loved to steal if we had the time, and we eventually arrive at an armory.

Lines of lockers line one side of the barracks, and racks of Yiga weapons cover the other side.

While I am entranced by all of the pointy things, Riju calls to me from the other side of the room.

"Arjon... Sinclaire? That you? I think I found our stuff."

I rush over to where she is and see a locker with my name on it. A little water lockpicking later, and both Riju and my lockers are open.

First I throw my nice, monster leather pants and shirt on, before donning my cloak and bandoleers.

The feel of all the goodies in my cloak and new types of shotgun shells is a comforting weight on my body, but I am even more relieved when I feel the familiar heft of my sword, Samantha, and my Guns, Jack and Pot, on my hips.

I adjust the gauntlet on my hand and test out my connection with the stasis chip. Lastly, I uncoil the Throngler, give its five razer sharp wires a few cracks, and play with the magnetic detachment feature.

Riju has also dressed on the other side of the room and is now wearing her usual attire. A silk cloth inlaid with regal gold accents wraps around her hips and a similarly styled silk and gold top fits snugly around her lithe figure.

Her hair had somehow become neat and organized and is arranged around and shining crown.

Two scimitars slide into sheathes at the princess's hips, and I look up, blushing when I realize I've kinda accidentally been checking the princess out.

Riju ignores it, saying to me, "What a strange combination of weapons, but I like the sword."

"Thanks, her name is Samantha. I feel I wind coming from that corridor, let's go."

Everything is going a bit too smoothly, but we press on, following a stronger and stronger source of wind through the tunnels, until we reach a spiral staircase.

We take the stairs up, following the sound of howling wind, and reach a small doorway The doorway is clearly a side entrance, and is made to look hidden in rock. As we step out we are greeted with a beautiful view.

It turns out that the spiral staircase was actually inside of a natural spire, which is connected to land by a natural bridge of rock.

To our left is the rolling expanse of the Gerudo desert, and to our right is a range of mountains and cliffs, behind which is the rest of Hyrule.

Riju steps forward, turning her head to face me while she walks on the rock bridge.

"Arjon we're free!"

"Ye-"

I am cut off by a puff of smoke in the middle of the bridge. Riju and I whirl around, drawing our weapons, as the fierce wind at this high altitude quickly blows away the smoke.

Three Yiga are revealed, two assassins, cackling wildly, and one cold and silent Blademaster.