The Legend of Zelda: After the Wild

Chapter 10: The Checkpoint Over the River

Chapter 10: The Checkpoint over the River

The party continued galloping their way through the curving hills of the Tabantha Frontier. The Sheikah noticed a Sheikah Tower in the area and used it to orient himself around the roads. "Follow my lead, I know where we're going." The party followed him and eventually made it out into Hyrule Field. They saw Hyrule Castle in the distance. They followed the main roads, passing by several wagons and caravans that were headed in the opposite direction.

They made it to a fortress that had a very long line of people being checked on. It was a checkpoint that was monitoring any people that decided to pass through the area. There appeared to be a Guardian walking around the front of the fortress. It was set up on a bridge that crossed a large river.

"What the?" The Zora said surprised. "I don't remember a checkpoint taking this long to look at people."

"Do you think something's up?" Poump asked the Sheikah.

"I have no clue." The Sheikah said. "Wait here, I'll walk up to the fortress and ask some questions."

"Alright, try to convince them to let us pass faster." The Zora demanded.

"I'll try my best." The Sheikah replied and got off of his horse and walked to the front of the fortress. He walked up to a guardswoman who was stationed off to the side of the checkpoint. "Hello there.."

"Ah, a Sheikah Warrior. What brings you here?" The guardswoman asked.

"I'd like to know why this checkpoint is taking much longer to check on people. The line usually isn't this long to get through."

"New orders from Chancellor Aghanim. He's the new power in Hyrule Castle. He wants us to thoroughly check everyone to make sure they aren't a Yiga in disguise."

The Sheikah knew that this was a good point. "That's a very good reason to check on people so thoroughly." He looked at the front of the line and noticed a few Hylians that were being carried away by some guards.

"Let go of us! We're not Yiga assassins, we're just bards!" One of the Hylians in the group said, trying to escape from the guards' grasp.

"You're carrying suspicious items on your persons, you must be further investigated." The guard replied. The Sheikah looked back at the guard he was speaking to.

"This doesn't look like something Zelda would've wanted." The Sheikah said to the guard.

"It's Aghanim's orders, and we need to follow them. Zelda trusted Aghanim with looking over Hyrule, so in the long run we're carrying out her orders." The guard replied. "I'll admit it, I myself don't like this one bit, but I have to carry it out. It's just my job."

"Well would you kindly allow my friends and I to pass through here?" The Sheikah insisted.

"I'm sorry, but even a fabled Sheikah Warrior is going to need to wait this out. We can't just let anyone through right now."

"Alright then. I won't bother you anymore."

"Thank you for cooperating." The guard replied. The Sheikah made it back to Poump and the Zora.

"We'll have to wait this out." The Sheikah said to the party.

"Dammit." Poump said.

"Well dang. At least we have each other to keep company, right?" The Zora said.

"Sure, why don't we play a game? Like 'name the cloud'?" Poump said to the Zora.

"That sounds like fun." The Zora replied.