The Triforce Wars (4/15)

[spice_mix]

Chapter Three
Let It Be

It wasn't good news. The letter Sheik had received had detailed information of skirmishes and raids, targeting border towns and lone outposts. While no lives had been lost, more than one farm had lost its livestock - stolen, not slaughtered, whisked away to never be seen again.

It was only a matter of time, the letter said, before fatalities began to occur.

The mood in the castle that afternoon was somber. Eldir paced the library floor, Zelda fidgeted. The two Sheikah were engaged in a rapid-paced conversation in a language Link didn't recognise - the Sheikah language, he assumed, pausing for a moment to simply listen to the melody and flow of it.

Glancing back at Zelda, the princess shrugged. It had been her idea for Link to attend the meeting, knowing that he had experience in war - it wasn't pleasant experience, but perhaps it could help.

"And there's no pattern to it," Eldir burst out in frustration. "We think they're beginning to progress, but then they fall back. And then they move back to the same avenue of attack they used before..."

Link frowned, glancing down at the map - while they were constrained to one area (the densely populated region around the lake and the valley), there was no real rhyme or reason to the attacks.

"And you're sure it's not the Gerudo?" he frowned - Nabooru might have been a noble thief, but the rest of her people weren't quite as kind as her.

Zelda shook her head. "No - Gerudo raids tend to involve more, ah, ravishing." She turned a little pink. "This isn't really their style. This has some theft, but it's mostly breaking things for the sake of breaking things."

Silence fell for a few long moments. Finally, Eldir spoke up again. "We'll need someone to investigate. Sheik, leave at nightfall after we dine."

Link's head snapped up the moment Sheik murmured a, "Yes, Your Majesty." They were going to send him in? On his own, with knowledge only of violent raiders?

"No, that's stupid!" he protested, "He'll be by himself and we have no idea what we're up against, it's not safe!"

Sheik ignored him, turning to Eldir instead. "Would you require me to simply gather intelligence, or to sabotage their efforts as much as possible?" he asked, voice steely - he was, quite simply, having none of Link's over-protectiveness.

Eldir considered for a moment, then suggested, "Intelligence for now, but if you can safely sabotage them, then I will let you use your best judgment on that."

Hands balled in to fists at his sides, Link didn't say anything. He had a very bad feeling about this - he was sure there was something they were overlooking, or perhaps they were overestimating Sheik's skill or underestimating their enemy's... all Link knew was that he did not want Sheik going in to danger like that.

"Zelda," he murmured to the princess, "Please let me go with him? It'll be safer, won't it?"

Zelda looked torn, but still, she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Link..."

Shoulders slumping, Link nodded and slumped back. Zelda bit her lip, then reached over to give his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Sheik is extremely good at what he does, and, well... having you around may be a distraction," she told him gently. "Unless he says he wants you there, it'd be best to let him do this on his own."

Again, Link simply nodded, and if he registered the frown Sheik was aiming at him, he didn't speak a word of it.



The hours seemed to fly by with indecent haste. All too quickly, it was nightfall, time for Sheik to depart.

But Link had been ready since the meeting. At the stables, he cornered the Sheikah as he readied his horse.

"Let me go with you."

"Absolutely not," Sheik told him, buckling the saddle in place. "This is a stealth mission, and you're about as subtle as an explosion."

"I can do stealth," he promised, the Gerudo fortress coming to mind. "You just never asked me if I could. I managed to sneak around the castle guards when I was ten!"

Sheik snorted. "Those imbeciles? Any child with a modicum of self-preservation could do the same." And he reached up, adjusting the bridle and setting it in place.

Link frowned, moving to catch his hand - instead, he found himself with an iron grip wrapped around his wrist and an intense pair of red eyes glowering up at him. (Much to his lasting embarrassment, it was the sight of both eyes at once that temporarily rendered Link speechless, not the fingers pressing in to the pressure point.) "Don't," Sheik told him, voice brittle, "I don't need help. Especially not from you."

And he let go, swinging himself up in to the saddle. "Move or I'll trample you," he said shortly - Link scowled, then stepped aside.

"You're making a mistake, let me go with you!" he pleaded, then had to leap back even further as the horse stormed out. "Sheik, wait!"

But it was too little, too late - Sheik was already a dim blur making for the horse road.

Link stood there for a moment, almost rooted there in shock. Then he set his jaw and headed back to the castle, making his way to Zelda's room - she had showed him the way there the night before, had given him an open invitation to go there whenever he needed her help.

Well, now he needed it.

"Sheik just left," was the first thing that left his mouth when she opened the door, hair already loose around her shoulders - it seemed that she had been getting ready for bed.

The princess sighed, then stepped aside to let him in. "Link, there's nothing we can do," she said tiredly, "And he's not exactly incompetent, you know."

Slumping down on the seat she offered, he nodded. "I know - but what if he gets in trouble without me? It could be really dangerous on his own..."

The Sheikah girl frowned, then pointed out, "But you did dangerous stuff by yourself all the time, didn't you? Why's this different?"

Link's mouth opened, then snapped shut again. "It - it just is, I'm - well..." Okay, so he didn't have a good answer. That didn't mean that he wasn't still worried. "One of the last times I saw him, he was getting thrown head first down a flight of stairs by an invisible monster he couldn't fight. Wouldn't you be... concerned?"

"Didn't it knock you out as well?" Zelda reminded him dryly, and Link ducked his head. He had said that, hadn't he...

But still, Zelda gave him a sympathetic smile. "Look - if he doesn't return by morning, then you can go after him. But I can't promise he'll be very happy about it, okay?"

Link almost sagged in relief. "Thanks. I just... have a bad feeling about it." A gnawing in the pit of his stomach, ice in his veins.

Zelda cast him a worried look, then nodded. "It'll be fine," she told him quietly, "I promise it'll work out."

He nodded again, then slumped back against the soft seat and sighed. "I hope so."

The morning seemed to be a very, very long way away...



Morning arrived, and still there was no sign of Sheik. Link, who had been awake since before the sun had risen, was ready to leave even before much of the castle was awake, Master Sword strapped to his hip, ocarina in its pouch, a borrowed bow and quiver slung over his back. A hookshot wouldn't have gone astray, either - but still, he'd go after Sheik no matter how under-prepared he was.

Zelda had also risen early, it seemed - shortly after he had arrived at the stables, she did too, bleary-eyed and tailed by her Sheikah servant as well.

"Good luck," she murmured, then handed Link a couple of bottles - the blue substance inside them sloshed heavily, and Link nodded gratefully.

"Thanks," he told her as he tucked the potions away in the horse's saddlebag. With some luck, he wouldn't need them - but on the off chance that they would, it would certainly come in handy. "I'll be back as soon as I can - preferably with Sheik."

Still looking worried, Zelda nodded, then stepped back. Link gave her an unsteady smile and launched the horse out of the stable, making for the horse road - and, hopefully, Sheik.

No time for sightseeing, now. It was still early enough for the land to be shrouded in mist, and Link rode in silence - he'd make for the pass where Sheik was to head in to investigate, then see what he could find there. Any moment, though, he half expected (half hoped?) to see him appear through the mist, successful and safe, all of Link's worrying in vain.

For one fleeting moment as he approached the lake, he thought he was right. But no - the horse that appeared had no rider, half-staggering, frothing slightly, and covered in arrow wounds - setting his jaw, Link dismounted and moved to approach it.

Sheik's horse, then. And injured - his instincts had been right, then. Grimly, he led both horses to a secluded spot with a small stream and fresh grass, then collected one of the potions and pressed on on foot.

Link was certainly no tracker. But he still recognised the signs of a skirmish - grass bruised and bent, scuff marks in the mud, the shape of something large having hit the ground. Hoof marks tore off in the direction he had just come from, but in the other... well, the rain the day before came in handy. A dozen or more booted footprints led off in the other direction to where Sheik's horse had fled.

For a long moment, Link lingered there. Then he hurried off in the direction of the prints with scarcely a thought for his own safety.

The prints led to a cave - well, he had half-expected that. Moving more slowly now, he approached - there were no torches lit, and daylight was quickly running out as he moved deeper - one hand trailed against the wall lightly to keep his place, feeling each new spot on the floor with his feet before letting his weight rest there.

Ahead, he could hear sound - voices, arguments, a fierce debate about something he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. Swallowing, he continued to move forward, sticking close to the walls as soon as light began to appear at the other end.

The cavern looked temporary at best. The lanterns they had set up were rough, makeshift, and the furniture seemed to consist largely of large rocks and wooden crates. A large stash of weapons rested to one side, a few cloths were scattered around, and, in the centre, a small group sat and conversed.

Hylians, mostly, although he was sure at least one or two were Sheikah. Mostly rough-looking, they looked as if they had been living wild for some time - if nothing else, their speech was certainly rougher than their appearance.

"I say we kill 'im and leave 'im for King Boy."

"Sure about that? Don't want them knowing about us yet - maybe we should just dispose of him."

"Nah, nah, gentlemen - we should have some fun with the kid then kill him and send him to the King."

"Hyeah. Fine body like that, it'd be a waste."

Link felt his stomach clench - they couldn't be talking about Sheik, could they? Because he was quite firm on the idea that he'd kill anyone who tried to do that. Taking a steadying breath, he glanced around -

And that was when he saw the booted foot extending from beneath one of the cloths.

His breath caught. He had seen that boot, of course - it was the same type Sheik had been wearing when he had stormed out of the castle. Glancing warily up at the group, Link started inching along the wall, trying to make his way to the shadowed spot where the cloth - and Sheik - were.

This would be complicated. If he startled Sheik, they could attract the attention of those men, and he didn't know what state the Sheikah would be in. Would he be able to fight his way out? Link didn't like his chances of fighting off a dozen heavily-armed fiends with Sheik to protect as well.

Now that his eyes were adjusting, he could see more detail - could make out, beneath the cloth, where his knees bent, the line of his torso. Both arms were twisted beneath his back, it seemed, the wrists bound together - they were, at least, facing him, but he'd be looking in the other direction, unable to see his rescuer.

Link bit down on his lip, then silently inched closer to his head - and, through the cloth, he whispered, "Don't make a sound."

Sheik stiffened, then nodded - he could see that motion, at least. As well, he could see the way he shifted his arms - Link nodded again, then withdrew the pocket knife he had taken from the castle and slowly reached beneath the cloth to slice the cords on his wrists.

Right - that was one less obstacle. Leaning in again, he whispered a question - "Can you walk?"

This time, Sheik hesitated before he nodded and shrugged at the same time. Link frowned, then slowly began to inch the cloth off him.

What he saw wasn't pretty. The side of Sheik's face that he could see was a mass of bruises, nose bloodied and his lip split open, an open wound on his forehead trickling blood through his hair. Lacerations covered his back even through the suit, and one boot was utterly gone - the foot that had been hidden was a swollen mess. He looked utterly unwell.

"Potion," he whispered as he uncorked the bottle, tilting a little to Sheik's lips. Just a mouthful, for now - enough to get up him and moving, and he could have the rest once he was safe.

Slowly, carefully, he slipped an arm around Sheik's upper body, helping to drag him in to a sitting position - and then an outraged shout of, "Hey!" rang out.

Link swore - and not just because Sheik's fingernails had just dug in to his arm.

"Sorry in advance!" he told the Sheikah, then scooped him up in both arms and ran like their lives depended on it - which, quite frankly, they did.

"They have arrows!" Sheik warned him breathlessly, squirming to try and twist around and see. "They're - poisoned ones..."

Poison? At least that explained Sheik's illness - and his horse, he realised belatedly. Still, there was no time to worry about that now - if only Link’s horse remained, they'd just have to ride together.

Now, they were close enough to shoot. Link bit down on his lip, then shifted - ducking around a bend, he turned to face them. "Get on my back, hurry," he said urgently, "I need my hands free."

Sheik did so, surprisingly agile despite his wounds and poisoning. And Link raised both hands to the ceiling and slammed then down again, smiling grimly when a flickering blue halo covered them both.

"Nayru's Love," he told Sheik as they ran on, "It only lasts a few minutes, but..."

There! A few minutes was all they needed - already, he could see daylight. And just in time, too - arrows were starting to fly past them, a few pinging as they bounced off the barrier he had created.

"Nearly there!" he shouted over his shoulder as they plunged back in to daylight, Link's boots slipping and sliding in the mud that had aided them earlier. Already, he could see his own footprints from earlier -

And that was when the barrier started to sputter - right as the gang spilled out of the cave. "Stop right there or we'll shoot you dead!"

Well. That wasn't good.

Taking a steadying breath, he turned to face them, drawing his sword. "Can you do that teleporting thing with Deku nuts?" he murmured to Sheik, feeling more than seeing his nod. "Good. About two hundred paces in the direction we were going - the horses. Get out of here. More potion in the saddlebag."

He'd stay and fight, give Sheik a fighting chance. Let him escape - anything else was just secondary, now.

"Bet you fancy yourself a hero, huh?" one of them drawled, fingering a knife in a way that just wasn't healthy. "Hyrule's finest! Charging in with a sword and a bit of bravery! This is real, kid."

Another stepped forward, and now Link could see for certain that he was a Sheikah - Sheik's arms tightened around his shoulders, and Link had to fight the urge to turn and frown at him. Why hadn't he escaped yet?

"Be reasonable, lad. Hand over the boy and you can go on your way," he said flatly.

Link shifted in to a fighting stance, Master Sword held aloft. "Eat Moblin shit," he practically snarled back, and he had the bizarre thought that Saria would have clipped his ear for that. "Where he goes, I go."

"And where we're going," Sheik told them softly, "Is away from here."

And without warning, there was a blindingly bright flash of light. Disoriented, Link staggered - right in to the side of his horse.

"You carried us both?" he asked, almost impressed, then crouched to let Sheik down. "I didn't know you could do that."

Sheik didn't answer immediately, and neither did he let go of Link. "...Exhausting," he finally muttered, clinging to Link for more than just support. "We have to go."

Link paused, then nodded, turning to try and find the other horse. He frowned at what he saw - it was shivering from the poison, succumbing to it faster than Sheik himself was. "...Ah," the Sheikah sighed, "Sorry, Telor. Link, I will ride with you."

"Are you sure?" Link frowned, then sighed. They really had to leave. "Okay."

Climbing on a horse with an injured person was not exactly easy, especially considering Sheik could put no weight on his left foot and seemed to be about to pass out from exhaustion. But finally they were on - and just in time, as the sound of the bandits was beginning to approach.

"Let's ride!" Link told him firmly, and the two tore out of the cave just in time for the bandits to see them disappearing in to the distance.



Link was pretty sure he was wearing a crease in to the floor.

He had barely stopped pacing the floor outside the healer's rooms since they had returned. Sheik had succumbed to unconsciousness during the trip back, nearly giving Link heart failure - every bit of energy had gone in to making sure he stayed on the horse and safe (or, at least, as safe as he could be while injured and poisoned), and he had been whisked away the instant they had returned.

Zelda and the Sheikah girl (and Link had to find out a name for her - he simply couldn't see her as 'Sheik', but anything else felt so impersonal) waited with him; Eldir had been by and then been ushered off to a meeting, worry etched on his face as he had gone.

The door opened, and Link practically jumped out of his seat, ears pricked as the healer turned to Zelda. "The Sheikah is through the worst of it," he explained, and Zelda practically deflated as well. "Although he may have some scarring where he had to extract the arrow heads, and it will take some time for the poison to be purged from his system. It's fortunate this young man was able to get there in time."

Link smiled weakly. "Can we visit him?" he asked immediately, so full of nervous energy that he wasn't quite sure what to do if the healer said no.

Giving him a searching look, the healer finally nodded. "If you like. He won't be saying much, though."

Link barely heard the last part - he was through the door in an instant.

Sheik's bed wasn't hard to find - it was the only one occupied, a screen giving him a bit of privacy. Link took a breath, then slipped around it, movements slowing as he saw Sheik's state.

He was stretched out on his front, head pillowed on his arms, a light sheet covering him (aside from one foot, which had been bandaged expertly and elevated). Where the sheet slipped down his back, Link could see dressing - pads of material, some stained pink.

There were near-identical stains on the front of Link's tunic. He really should have considered changing.

With the blood cleared away, the bruises covering him were even more visible, muddy purples and blues against the paler than usual skin. And his face was uncovered, too - while his expression was slack from unconsciousness, Link found himself gazing at him.

The sweep of his jaw, the curve of his lips - even the bruises couldn't distract Link from his observations.

With a sigh, he reached out to brush a strand of hair out of his face - Sheik made a pained sound, then frowned in his sleep.

Link withdrew his hand, then found a seat nearby and pulled it up to the bed, glancing up only to give Zelda a weak smile as she headed in. For a moment, Zelda looked startled, then nodded.

"You'll stay with him?" she asked him, and Link nodded.

"For as long as he'll let me."



'For as long as Sheik'd let him' turned out to be several days, at least. Link remained at his bedside, leaving only for the rare spot of sleep (the healer, seeing how he hadn't wanted to go far, had permitted him to use one of the beds on the strict order that he was to vacate it if it was needed) and to wash. Even his meals were eaten at Sheik's side - not always an easy job, given how frequently the Sheikah was ill as he worked the poison out.

By the time consciousness and lucidity began to return to Sheik, Link was running on his last reserves. He was exhausted, four days of little sleep beginning to take a toll - indeed, he had been napping, head pillowed on his arms, when he had felt the hand in his hair.

Blinking his eyes open, he was rewarded with the sight of Sheik, awake and watching him in... sadness? Well, that was odd - as was the fact that as soon as Sheik caught sight of him watching, he withdrew his hand and carefully schooled his expression back to neutrality.

"Got to... report to El-Eldir," he forced through uncooperative lips, "Tell him..."

Link frowned, sitting up and catching his hand. "He's waited four days - he can wait a little longer," he argued, "You're not well, and -"

"Four days?" Sheik immediately frowned, pulling his hand away and trying to push himself up. It didn't seem to do very much good - almost immediately, he collapsed back on his front. For a moment, he laid there, defeated. "...Told you not to come after me."

"If I hadn't, you'd be dead," Link snapped, then frowned when a rather displeased look crossed Sheik's face. "You said so yourself that the arrows were poisoned..." He glanced away. "I'm sorry about your horse."

Sheik simply sighed in defeat, turning his face away. "She was just an animal," he muttered, but there was sadness evident in his voice. Link glanced away, then rested a light hand on his mostly-undamaged shoulder.

"They're never just animals," he murmured - if he had lost Epona, he wasn't sure what he'd do.

For a moment, Sheik didn't respond. Then he turned back, giving Link a small, tentative, sad smile. "No, they're not." Link smiled back, almost just as tentatively - that sad little smile was the first overture of friendship Sheik had offered the entire time he had been there.

And then he turned away again, and the moment came to an end. Link sighed, and settled back in his chair - well, he had waited days for that first gesture. He could wait for another.



Things progressed quickly once Sheik had awakened. Although he was to remain in the healer's rooms until he had made a full recovery (from the concussion, from the wounds on his back where the arrow heads had been removed, and from the poison - the sprained ankle he would have to deal with on his own), it was now a bustling little place, Zelda and her Sheikah guardian frequent visitors, Eldir popping in a few times a day.

The first time he had arrived, it had been quite the briefing - with Link in attendance to give his version of what had happened, Eldir had asked Sheik to recount the entire thing.

He had been ambushed, Sheik had explained - a rain of arrows had fallen on him, others catching Telor the horse. Sheik had been thrown, explaining the sprained ankle, and then set upon by the bandits. He had lost consciousness and awakened in the caverns, arms twisted behind his back and a throbbing in his head (both from the poison and the head wound they had inflicted).

Over the course of the night, they had interrogated him - a variety of questions that seemed to have little in common with the last. He hadn't answered, and that in turn had led to more punishment - until he had been left to one side, drifting in and out of lucidity until Link had arrived.

And was it Link's imagination, or had he sounded almost... grateful, as he described that last part? Even Eldir had privately thanked him afterwards.

Maybe, just maybe, things were starting to improve.



Things were definitely starting to improve.

Now that Sheik was on the road to recovery, he and Link had managed to spend more time actually conversing. It had been terse, at first, tense and awkward, little exchanged words interspersed with long silences. But now, almost a week since Sheik had woken up, and things were...

Almost comfortable, really.

Link, however, had been dwelling on something for most of that week. Finally, in the middle of a light, almost carefree conversation, it came out. "How come you didn't like me at first?"

Sheik stopped in the middle of his sentence, looking a bit like a rabbit being considered for dinner by a hungry wolf. Fleetingly, some oddness of expression crossed the part of his face that was visible above his usual mask, then he shook his head. "I suppose I... well," he started, sounding more unsure than he had in the entire time Link had known him (which, admittedly, wasn't long).

"Well?" Link prompted, and Sheik sighed, shoving lightly at his shoulder.

"...I was... jealous," he muttered, barely audible. "You had all these skills... Zelda was all over you..."

Link's eyebrows shot sky high. "Were you jealous of that?" he asked almost incredulously. "I - well, I only see Zelda as a new friend... if you're interested in her, I wouldn't be in the way." And his voice was almost steady as he said that - of course, Sheik would be interested in Zelda. She was funny and warm and pretty, wasn't she?

A frown crossed Sheik's face. "You're not interested in her?"

Link shook his head. "Nope. She's nice, but I like her as a friend. Anyway, I -"

He paused, the 'don't like girls that way' he had been about to say halting on his tongue. "...have - had - have my eye on someone else."

Curious - Sheik had looked almost... intrigued. Maybe he had aspirations as a match maker - or perhaps he wanted gossip. "I see..." he murmured, but didn't pry further.

Then he took a breath, offering Link a tentative smile beneath the mask. "In three weeks, there's a Sheikah holiday in Kakariko. I'd like you to come."

And Link found himself smiling more broadly than he had all week. "I'd like that."

Sheik smiled back, and Link felt something in his chest flip. The next three weeks were going to be quite interesting...


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