here's chapter 12 lemme know what you think.
Chapter 12
Men…
Selene woke up groggy and with a splitting headache. She groaned, and stopped. She tried to talk but heard nothing. She snapped her fingers felt it but didn’t hear it. She started to panic.
“Calm down Selene! There has to be an explanation for this, think girl, think”. She thought to herself. She sat up and surveyed her surroundings, she was in the healing ward of Zora’s Domain, sleeping on the two cots next to her were Aerica and Meria. She could also make out in the dim glow of the lights other female shapes.
Selene swung her legs over the side of the cot and attempted to stand, she made it after a few false starts. Once up she made her way to Aerica’s side.
Aerica was sleeping peacefully; Selene shook her shoulder to no effect. Selene grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her more forcefully till Aerica’s head flopped back onto the cot and she jerked awake.
Selene watched Aerica’s lips move and could make out the curse word she said. Selene watched as surprise then horror moved across Aerica’s face, then watched as she clapped, then snapped, hearing none of it; she looked around wildly searching for something; Selene guessed it was Meko for the fairy was nowhere in sight.
Aerica looked up at Selene and mouthed slowly, ‘Can you hear?’
Selene shook her head.
Aerica signed to her, ‘Do you know signing?’
‘Yes. But you will have to do it slowly I’m not that good.’ Selene signed back.
‘Do you know where Meko is?’
‘No. I haven’t seen him.’
Selene saw movement on the other side of Aerica and watched Meria go through the same thing as she and Aerica had, Meria looked to them and Aerica signed that they couldn’t hear either.
‘We need to find out what is going on’. Selene signed. The others nodded their heads in agreement. They moved to the entrance of the healing ward being careful not to bump anything or anyone. They made it to the entrance to find the door shut. Selene tried to open it but it was locked. She turned to the others and told them it was locked.
‘Is that the key?’ Meria asked.
Selene turned to look where Meria was pointing and noticed a key hanging on a peg by the door. Selene was slightly puzzled by this but shrugged it off.
She took the key off the peg and tried the door. It unlocked and swung open. Selene suddenly had the feeling it wasn’t the brightest idea to open the locked door.
Selene motioned the other two to form up behind her, and looked to see them staring at her in confusion.
‘What?’ Meria asked.
‘Guess you don’t know military signing.’ Selene replied apologetically.
‘No sorry.’ Aerica signed with a smile.
Selene sighed, ‘Ok I’ll give you the basics hopefully you’ll remember.’
Selene taught them the sign for form up, take cover, stay put, and run. She also taught them how they should form up. The whole process took more time than Selene would have liked but what could one do.
Selene motioned for them to form up and Meria and Aerica did it perfectly. Selene peeked around the door to see into the corridor beyond. The corridor was dark with no signs of movement. Selene slipped into the corridor to the right, Aerica and Meria followed.
They hugged the wall as they continued for awhile, the corridor snaked back and forth but didn’t incline or descend.
Selene started to become more worried as the corridor continued on without another soul. They made it to the market cavern where this whole business had begun for them; they stopped in horror at the destruction they saw. Stalls were torn to pieces; wagons over turned, baskets and other containers spilled their contents over the floor. Off in the distance the girls could see smoke rising from different places.
Selene’s ears started to hurt and she could just make out a faint buzzing. She looked to Aerica and Meria and signed to them if they were feeling the same thing. Aerica and Meria nodded affirmative and rubbed their ears trying to make the pain lessen.
Puzzled by this new development the group continued on advancing in leapfrog fashion due to the state of things around them. Selene lead crouching behind overturned barrels and carts, Aerica a couple of paces behind her then Meria a few behind her.
Meria moved forward tapping Aerica on the shoulder as she passed her then tapping Selene as she passed her to another cover a few passes forward.
Aerica did the same and then Selene was in back. The girls made their way across the market cavern not seeing anyone, their hearing slowly returning. Not trusting that they could hear whispering they remained with signing.
Aerica kept a look out for a ball of orange light but never saw it. The girls followed the path that led to the throne room of Zora’s Domain. It appeared that whatever caused the destruction of the market cavern had been making its way toward the throne room.
Their hearing returned completely but they remained silent. The buzzing in their ears continued but remained a dull noise.
Aerica caught a flash of orange out of the corner of her eye and looked to see and orange ball of light floating around and overturned cart.
“Meko!” Aerica cried; Selene and Meria turned around then looked to where she was looking and they saw him.
Aerica made her way over to him still keeping an eye out for anything or anyone. Something was wrong, his color was off; it could be just because of the light in the cavern or due to other innocent factors but something bothered Aerica.
She made it to the cart he hovered around and reached out her hand to him. He caught sight of her and latched onto her hand and bit down hard.
Aerica cried out in pain and shook him off.
“Meko!? What was that for?” Aerica shouted at him nursing her bleeding hand. For such a little mouth the bugger drew a lot of blood. Her green blood oozed from the flesh between her thumb and pointer finger.
Meko hovered at her eye level a few feet from her. She stared at him and stumbled a step back, his eyes were completely red; no iris, no pupil, just blood red.
“Meko?” Aerica asked softly.
Meko hissed at her and flew straight for her face; Selene knocked him out of the air with a piece of wood and he thudded against the cart. He fell to the floor and lay there twitching.
Aerica knelt down next to her oldest friend and scooped him up ignoring the pain in her hand. She studied him carefully; he didn’t appear to be injured other than the bump into the cart.
“What was that about? I’ve never seen him like that before.” Meria said coming to stand on Aerica’s right. Selene stood on Aerica’s left as they stared down at Meko.
“I don’t know, but he’ll be out for awhile.” Aerica sighed and put him in her pocket.
“I didn’t do any permanent damage did I?” Selene asked concerned.
Aerica smiled at, “Nah, that thick skull of his? No he’ll be perfectly fine.” Aerica rested her hand on the pocket she had put Meko in, “I hope.”
The girls made it across the market cavern to the tunnel that led to the throne room still encountering no one other than Meko. They continued their advance down the corridor by leapfrog as they had before. Selene had healed Aerica’s hand; the wound had left a small half circle scar in Aerica’s skin.
They came to the entrance of the throne room still not having run into anyone. They crouched to the left of the entrance and strained their ears listening for any signs of life beyond. Selene could make out the sound of people breathing quietly as if asleep, she looked to Aerica and Meria and signed if they heard the same.
‘There is also another sound that I can’t place.’ Meria said.
‘I agree with Meria, and something is off, it’s odd.’ Aerica added.
Selene nodded in understanding, something was off but she couldn’t place what. She slowly peeked around the entrance and had to stop herself from gasping.
Selene shrank back from the entrance; Aerica asked her what she saw.
‘I found the guys.’
The siren looked towards her ‘subjects’, slaves would be the more appropriate word, mind-controlled better than that. Her one red eye gazed at the men assembled before her, switching from one eye socket back to the other as her gaze swept the room. When the eye left one socket a black smoke that seemed to suck light into it took its place.
It was infernally difficult to sit on a throne designed for beings with legs when one had a fin, but somehow Zara managed it with a grace that defied the logic of a fish out of water.
Zara could sense the three girls that had the smidgen of a chance to ruin her plans of dominance that she deserved, or at least believed she did.
“Gerad, love.” Zara purred to him.
Gerad came forward, like all the other men in the room he wore no shirt, and he shivered from the cold that emanated from the siren. She was gorgeous, well the top half anyway, long blue hair fell to her waist her thin torso glistened with the lake water she had emerged from.
Her skin was blue and when she shifted position it shimmered to different shades; she was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
Gerad gazed at her in admiration and love, half of him longed to have her arms wrapped around him and to feel her lips on his, and the other half wanted to run screaming in the opposite direction. He would prove himself worthy of her by the goddesses.
“Yes, my empress?” Gerad said as he bowed in submission before her.
She smiled at him seductively and Gerad smiled back in response. “There are some ‘guests’ outside the entrance, would you be a dear and bring them to me unharmed?”
Gerad saluted his empress and turned to Dahrin and Sheik, “Follow me.”
The two of them nodded and left the formation before the empress and followed him to the entrance of the throne room. Zora, Goron, and Hylian males parted for them to pass never taking their glowing red eyes from their empress.
Zara’s laughter followed them out the door and down the corridor. There was no one to be seen there so they moved on. Dahrin knelt down to examine the floor and pick up a trail for them to follow; all three of them had their weapons with them. Dahrin stood back up and nodded his head in the direction further down the corridor. The hunting party set out from there; Dahrin led, tracking, as Gerad and Sheik followed.