Richard walked into the room. "Well, Leonidas, You'd been so quiet recently I had almost forgotten you were there."
He turned to see the Gerudo. "Before we're all captured? Please, don't think I am not going to believe that you aren't one of these... people..." He said, spitting the word people out as if it were venom. He unsheathed his sword, and raised it to within inches from her nose. "Now, kindly get out of our way, so we can rescue the Zora Princess your master took."
Rosalinde looked rather amused, not all that phased about a sword hovering right in front of her face, she flicked it aside.
'My master? I suppose you mean Ganondorf? He's no master of mine,' Rosalinde said, swiftly moving around them and running halfway up a wall to the window, 'Have fun fighting off half an army of Gerudo, normally I'd join in beating up a pair of males but I'm kinda busy trying to escape.'
There were hundreds of footfalls from all directions signifying the approach of more than just a few Gerudo, Rosalinde just ducked out of the window and climbed onto the roof, idly surveying the area for a moment.
A Zora Princess? Strange... What would Ganondorf want with a Zora? She thought.
'Sure' he muttered under his breath. Richard turned to Leonidas, "Listen, this room is soon to be flooded with Gerudo, and though I would love to wipe this land clean of those dregs, the odds are considerably against us." Richard looked toward the window that the Gerudo so gracefully jumped through. "As much as I hate it, we have but one choice, we have to follow her." Richard backed to the wall opposite the window, and sprinted forward. When he was about fifty feet away from the window, he lept, barely grasping the bottom of the window with his fingers, and heaved himself up.
When he reached the roof, he saw the Gerudo little more than ten paces away. "You know, it isn't very polite to leave in the middle of a conversation." he pulled out his slingshot, but not wanting to knock her out, he fished around in his pocket untill he found one of his Deku Nuts. He loosed the nut, and shielded his eyes from the flash when it landed no more than five paces infront of her.
Rosalinde's natural reflexes saved her from the brunt of the flash, managing to half turn her face away, she blinked a few times with her eyes watering, staggering a bit on the spot.
'Polite!? Damn it boy, in what backwater town did you learn your manners?' Rosalinde growled, gripping the hilts of her scimitars, listening carefully for his footsteps as her eyes weren't the best at the moment, 'Why are you bothering me anyway? Go rescue your princess and leave me to my escape.'
Cursed Deku Nuts...
"Well, I don't hang out around here much, and since you are one of them, I figure you know where you all keep your prisoners. Tell you what, you seem to be in a hurry to escape your friends down there, and I am sure I don't want to know why. Regardless of why you are in such dire need to escape, we need to find the Zora's princess. You help us and we will stop bothring you. You don't... we will inevitably be captured... and believe me, if I die here, there is nothing I would like more than to take one... or all... of you gerudo down with me. So, do we have a deal?"
'Help you!?' Rosalinde said incredulously, 'You're unbelievable. I have been sitting in a prison pit for quite awhile so I have no idea what Ganondorf has done with your princess, if she's here then she's probably in one of the prisons deeper inside the fort, and that means lots of Gerudo to get passed.'
She blinked her eyes a few times more, they were slowly recovering so she could properly teach this kid a lesson or two.
'So you'll probably get caught and sold to someone if you try and be a hero, now if you'll excuse me I have to be somewhere,' Rosalinde said, moving off along the rooftops, fly tackling a sentry as she went along.
Richard quickly persued the Gerudo. She was going to help him whether she liked it or not. He had come this far trying to save the Zora Princess, and he wasn't about to give up now, and since Rosalinde was appearantly not trying to kill him, he needed her... as much as he hated to admit it.
As he ran past, he kicked the sentry in the face, for good measure, and watched as the Gerudo lept to a lower rooftop. "Fool." he thought, and performed a flying leap, tackling the greudo. He rolled off her, kicking her scimitars out of reach, and leveling his sword across her throat. "Now, I wouldn't have any regrets about removing your head from your body right now, however, my friend and I find ourselves in need of a guide. Now, if you are a good girl and help us find who we are looking for, Ill let you live... If not... well... y'know..." He his lips turned up into a half-smile as he pressed the sword to her throat to make his point crystal clear.
Rosalinde's eyes flashed dangerously and she clenched her fists.
'What ever gave you the idea that I could be a "good girl"?' Rosalinde asked, quite rapidly slamming a heel into the Zora's crotch and letting her foot fly out and slam into the Hylian's crotch too, she nimbly pulled herself over and behind the Zora, knocking him into the Hylian before running over to her scimitars, roughly kicking them from the ground to her hands.
'Don't ever pull any cheap tricks on me like that again,' Rosalinde said furiously, giving her scimitars a flick.
Several Gerudo were swarming onto the rooftops now, leaping to and fro like acrobats as they bounded between rooftops.
'Ugh fine, I have a feeling you're going to get me captured either way, follow me if you can,' Rosalinde said grumpily, sheathing her scimitars and running off the building, catching the edge and slinging herself through a window inside the building, landing in what seemed the kitchen quarters, a vast pot cooking something in the centre with several tables around. Fortunately it was empty as everyone was out searching for the intruders.
"Shoulda just cut her head off." Richard grumbled. "Well, let's go."
Richard lept through the window landing directly behing the Greudo. "Oh, and don't think this means I trust you. If I even think you are going to betray us to your friends out there, you will find my sword impailed through your heart faster than you can think." He checked to make sure his sword was clear in it's scabbard, just incase.
'Oh please,' Rosalinde said, flapping a hand at him, 'I may be a treacherous thief and all, but I still have my honour. If I wanted to get rid of you I'd do it myself, I'm not just some ordinary Gerudo.'
She ran a hand through her white hair absent-mindedly as she scanned the room one last time.
'Going on the fact they lost us, they'd initiate a search pattern which would originate from the edges of the base inwards to the prisons, it's likely we have about three minutes,' Rosalinde said to no one in particular as she moved off toward a door. There was a rush of metal on metal and several thumps before Rosalinde came back out half carrying a Gerudo guard, dropping her backwards through the other door.
'And if they did see us disappear in here that will make them think we went the other way, come along,' Rosalinde said, giving her scimitar a little flick to indicate they should follow as she moved through the door she previously vacated a Gerudo.
She moved through to a room similar to that of a barracks, many weapons adorned the walls and there were somewhat soft mats around the floor that made landings a little less painful. Fortunately it was empty too, which made Rosalinde a little curious.
'How did a Hylian and a Zora end up travelling together anyway?' Rosalinde asked over her shoulder as she continued to the next door, a long hall way deep inside the fort with a prison room at the end.
"Aww I didn't know you cared," Rosalinde said dryly, "If you had been paying attention you might have heard that I don't serve Ganondorf? Lately that's been reason enough for anything around Hyrule. I just hope Nabooru is okay..."
She listened carefully for any sounds from the next room.
"I hope you two can fight properly, if this princess is in the prison there will be at least two or three jail guards, and they'll probably call for a dozen other Gerudo," Rosalinde said.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about me..." Richard said, absently checking to make certain his sword was clear in it's scabbard. "Let's just say I spent several years training with a Swordmaster from a distant land."
He stopped for a second. "Nabooru?... Why does that name sound so familiar..." He shook his head... He hasn't had anything to do with the Gerudo since that day... years ago.
((Addition to previous post... Flash back thingie... 😄))
The rain was pouring in buckets across Hyrule Field. "Sokra!" Richard screamed. "Sokra! Where are you?" He looked toward the bridge to Castle Town, which was raised as it was the dead of night. "SOKRA!!! Damn, why is she out here, in the rain, with Stal Childs everywhere..." As if on que, a Stalchild rose up and began to strike at Richard, but Richard slammed his knife into the Stal Child's forehead, then turned, cutting off it's legs. Then kicked it in it's head for good measure..."
Richard came back to his sences to see Leonidas and the Greudo staring at him questioningly. "Hmm?" he asked looking between the two of them. "What are we waiting for? We have a princess to save."
Rosalinde looked back at the Hylian and raised an eyebrow questioningly but remained silent, her expression mostly hidden behind her white veil.
"Yeah... By the way, I'm not afraid to run off if you two start losing, but I'll happily pick the lock of the prison, I doubt you'll be able to muscle through its reinforced bars any time soon," Rosalinde stated before continuing up to the door of the next room, looking inside and finding it suspiciously absent of guards, though Rosalinde knew it wasn't actually unguarded, she'd been one herself once upon a time so she knew they were hiding.