|3. Pursuit|
In the following days, by some miracle, they found their way through the western pass with little protest. The five-day journey from the cabin to the pass had been a tense one—for fear of being followed, they slept without fire and ate raw fish from the river their path occasionally crossed.
Maybe it was just Link's exhausted mind, but he could've sworn Sheik was gaining proximity as the days dragged by. From a closer stride to a bedroll unfurled a bit nearer every night, Link wondered if it was truly happening or it was just the tricks paranoia played when their distant company seemed to be heading in the same direction as they were.
And even if it had nothing to do with that, it was not as though Link minded.
He liked Sheik.
A lot, it seemed.
To meet someone his age, from the same country, and sporting the same sorts of battle scars…it was unprecedented. Link had been wholly prepared to spend the rest of his days in solitude—it was something with which he truly had no qualms. And with the arrival of Sheik a month ago, so long after the follies of his career in the Royal Army, he had had ample time to twist his mind. It almost felt like some prophecy.
Sheik's words from nights ago kept resonating with him—perhaps I'm here to help you find your sanctuary. Yes, perhaps this man had been guided to him so Link could attempt to mend his past. Nothing could atone for the lives he had taken…but Sheik might be his best and only chance to, at the very least, try.
Finally divested of the claustrophobic mountains, the western lands unfolded before them in a patchwork collage of foothills, farms, and bare trees, houses just slight blemishes against the landscape. White still blanketed the land like a great spill of paint but brown freckled the snow like bruises where it had begun to melt.
If things had been different, Link would've left in another week when the ice and snow had truly started to disappear. But he could live with the foot of snow they trudged through. Now, regardless if they were still being followed, they at least had more directions to go. While Link had planned to revisit the Glass Lake again this spring, he wondered if it was such a good idea. Though it lay west, they would be forced to pass through a village unless they took the extra four days to go around.
Was it worth it?
"Where to now?" Sheik inquired, moisture puffing out even through his cowl. The stress had started to leave the Sheikah's eyes and Link felt himself relax in return.
So Link offered the lake idea—it was still such a strange experience to debate the course of his journey with someone else now. It was strange to double his ration calculations. It was strange to have such an intelligent but vastly different mind to confer with. But where it was different, it was mostly welcomed. Link had often wondered if he had slipped into madness at certain times. He had no doubt made some awful decisions in the years past; would he have made them if someone like Sheik had been around?
"If that's where you had intended to go, let's keep that course," Sheik decided, twisting his staff idly into the snow as he seemed to consider their options. "As far as the village…we will need supplies. It would be much simpler to purchase them there rather than procure them from the wilds."
"Yes, but is it worth the risk?"
Sheik gave a shrug. "Worth the risk of what? That Hylian soldiers await us in shacks? Now that we have left the mountains, I feel we're safe. Unless you wish to add four days needlessly to our travels, I recommend we go through the village. Quietly, of course."
Sheik made some great points, convincing points even. But Link couldn't shake the feeling that, although they were physically out of the woods, they were not completely free of them. The line between suspicion and paranoia had always been a thin one for Link. Did he trust the objective logic of a warrior like himself or the worrying thoughts his mind had grown since the war?
"Okay," Link said finally, "we'll go through the village. It's a day's walk from here. We can decide, once we're there, whether to stay at the Inn or move on to camp in the woods."
Sheik agreed with a quick nod and a reassuring look. Link wondered if the Sheikah knew the importance of Link's concession—he wouldn't address it, however. The level of mutual trust had grown exponentially in the month together and, as hardened and quiet warriors, feelings were a territory perhaps forever uncharted for them.
The look they shared before continuing on said it all. Trust. Companionship. Compatibility.
And Link couldn't quite shake the notion that, given they weren't killed, their alliance would last for an indeterminable amount of time. In many ways it was jarring—solitude changed a man—but in other ways, it was wholly welcome and even…exciting.
Alas, Link shoved the idle thoughts away as the crunch of deep snow and slight pants became a hypnotic and ambient sound. His mind cleared, and his eyes remained ahead with a long-trained blank concentration.
Once over the first hill, several slivers of smoke could be seen winding their way into the gray skies—the village was only a few hours away and Link was thankful for that. They would soon lose light and his paranoia would not allow for torches in the night. Sheik concurred with the sentiment and they picked up their pace.
A wooden fence had been built around the village's proper, nothing but an old man and a rusty sword guarding it. Sheik tensed beside him in the very dim light, but Link felt more at ease.
"Link? That you?" he called quietly as the duo approached.
"Good to see you, Len," Link returned, making a true effort to unbury his social skills. "It's been awhile."
"That it has, boy." Len propped the sword back onto a frail, sagging shoulder. "Need a coop for the night?"
"If the Inn would be so kind."
"'Course. Daisy will be happy to have you back," the old man assured. And then his eyes shifted over to Sheik, the expression of distrust coloring his wrinkled face. "And who is this?"
Fully prepared to handle the introductions, Link was surprised when the Sheikah stepped forward to extend a now ungloved hand. "I am Sheik, a Mage from the east. It's a pleasure to meet you, Len."
The man seemed to visibly relax, Link's reassuring glance chasing away most of Len's remaining suspicion. "So, are you from that Hyrule kingdom like this boy?" Len inquired, pointing a lazy hand in Link's direction.
Long since had Link ceased bristling at the term 'boy.' After a solid punch to the jaw a few winters prior, Link had learned well that Len had undoubtedly earned the right to call him such. Because, compared to such an ancient thing, Link was a boy.
Sheik nodded obediently.
"Well, I s'pose you check out all right." Len gave one last scrutinizing look to Sheik and shook his head. "I don't mean no offense, but I reckon you ought to cover that blind eye of yours, Sheik. Folks in Lyton are suspicious—no, superstitious—of things as silly as a battle wound like that."
"Oh," Link huffed in frustration, "don't give us that fodder, Len. We just need a room for the night and a shop to buy supplies from in the morning. That's all. Sheik is an honorable warrior and, if anything, his scars should be viewed as a medal of valor, not a source of black magic murmuring nonsense."
At this, Len just started laughing. Sheik looked puzzled, but Link lacked the energy to explain the enigma that was the old man before them. Len liked back-talk and banter. He rarely got it so, if nothing else, Link's sass would be their spoken toll into refuge for the night. Len opened the gate and attempted to swat them inside.
"Tell Daisy I sent ya," Len snorted as he began to close the gate once more. "I'll warn ya, though, she's only got one room tonight. We have some other strangers in town as well."
The gate clattered shut and the whole perimeter seemed to shudder from the impact. Within Lyton's walls were clusters of wooden cabins and shacks, ranging in all sizes in a mismatched sprawl. Lyton had grown a bit since Link's last visit but he could hardly analyze it as Len's words filtered through his mind.
Not the only strangers…
None of the citizens were milling about and that was no surprise—winters brought shorter days and frigid nights. People would be well settled at home before the darkness fell so nothing but the flicker of a few torches illuminated their short walk to the Inn. It was one of the largest buildings in the village and yellow light wavered through its warped glass windows as they approached it.
"You're concerned about these strangers," Sheik stated quietly.
"And you're not?" Link tossed him a frown.
"I'm concerned about everything," he sighed. "But we're here and we need rest. The moment we see anyone suspicious, we leave."
"Alright."
The Inn's pub held somewhere around twenty people, a normal night in Lyton's only haunt. No one suspicious, no sight of the crests of Hyrule. Many people recognized Link and nodded in his direction, others raising a drink to him. Despite the—what was it, a year?—since his last visit, he was marginally surprised that so many people recognized him.
As they approached the bar, Link prepared for the encounter with Daisy, the daughter of Len. She was a slight woman with hair so blonde it could look gray in the right light. It was pulled into a long braid that hung over her shoulder as she leaned her arms against the bar and gave them both a hard look.
"Good evening, Daisy." That expression wasn't good news and Link sincerely hoped he wasn't going to have to wrestle with this woman, too. Daisy had an even harder punch than her father and kept a wickedly sharp dagger in her belt under a rag.
"Link," she said in a tight voice, eyes no longer on the Hylian but on the Sheikah at his side. Everyone in the room was layered up with cloth and fur, but none were in stark white; Sheik couldn't be more the center of attention. A quick sweep around the pub confirmed that all eyes were on them. Some were just simply curious, many nervous, and a few were looking a bit angry. "I would hope you're not here for a room."
Here we go.
"Len sent us. We're fine with one. We'll be gone at sunrise, Daisy," Link explained quickly as Daisy's expression turned stonier.
"Not him," Daisy said in a low voice, glaring at Sheik. "People like him shouldn't be here."
Len had simply been annoying with his superstitious warning—Daisy's outright revulsion infuriated him. Link leaned over the bar, invading Daisy's space and meeting her eye to eye. Maybe, years ago in Hyrule, Link would've backed down from such a severe woman and complied with such ridiculous demands. Solitude and hardships had cemented his resolve, however, and he glared right back.
"This is Sheik, a mage of the Sheikah, comrade of my country across the sea."
"Those eyes are evil," Daisy hissed, narrowing her own as she continued to glower at the Sheikah. "I've never seen eyes like that and I can assure you it's an evil omen—"
"Miss," Sheik interjected, stepping closer to pause beside Link, "I am of the Sheikah, a race of desert people. Iryo has a race with amber eyes, a bit more golden than my own. Both of my eyes, at birth, were the red you see. It was during battle that my left eye was slashed by a dagger." He paused to pull his cowl out of the way, revealing a patient and calming expression. "I mean no one here any harm and, as my companion said, we will be gone in the morning."
Link glanced back and forth between the two, surprised that Sheik had even bothered. Daisy was the kind of person that never changed. Now a bit past the age of childbearing and with neither a husband or young, she was bitter and more close-minded than the King of Hyrule.
But somehow, Daisy's face was softening. Thin eyebrows pulled out of their furrow and the hand that had been hovering by her belt rested back against the weathered bar. It wasn't an exactly polite expression, but it was no longer malicious and mistrusting—how had Sheik even managed it? Shock was all Link could feel as the woman reached somewhere beneath for the room keys. Another hand extended towards Sheik as she snapped, "Twenty rupees."
Before Link could go hunting for his share, Sheik procured the appropriate currency and handed it over immediately. By the sound of the pouch under Sheik's furs, it was clear he had even more.
"Room six," Daisy said gruffly as a patron warily approached the bar for more mead. "Don't make a ruckus up there like the others have—I'll boot you all out."
Still jarred by what had just happened, Link took the keys from her and led the way to the stairs. Daisy's voice seemed to almost reset behind them, somehow getting ruder with the very drunk man asking for his fifth pint.
The hallway was narrow and barking laughter could be heard behind doors on either side as they reached the door with a deeply carved 6. Once safely inside the stale but warm room, Link finally turned his eyes back to Sheik.
"How did you do that?" he asked incredulously. "I've never seen anyone subdue Daisy so quickly. Even Len fails sometimes."
"It's a skill of the Sheikah. Not really a spell but a persuasion of sorts. It doesn't always work but if the person has a weak enough sense of self, I can manage to steer them." The man dropped his pack against the wall and sat tiredly on a creaking chair in the corner.
The room was small, a very unappealing cot shoved in the corner that would barely fit one person on it. There was no doubt they were be sleeping on the floor in their bedrolls. The walls were a dark wood and layered with years of dust, ash, and cobwebs. But it was better than outside so Link couldn't find it in him to complain.
"Did you use that persuasion on me when we met?" Link quipped in a tired voice.
"I said if the person has a weak sense of self."
It was an unexpected compliment. Sheik wasn't necessarily a playful person, so to speak, but he did possess his own quiet wit as he made little underhanded jabs at Link. Getting an earnest compliment was a little less common and it made Link smile a bit after such a long and stressful string of days.
They heated up some beans over the flames in the tiny fireplace and ate in silence. When exhaustion finally overtook them, they unfurled their bedrolls, Link silently taking note of only the arm's length of space they had both seemed to mutually agree upon.
Link wouldn't analyze it for long, however, as sleep quickly pulled him under.
Morning brought painful cold, the nighttime fire having long abandoned them leaving only crumpled ash. Below their feet were boisterous voices, presumably the loud patrons Daisy had complained of.
When they descended to the pub, the counter was swamped, the hope of returning their key rather slim.
"Let's buy our supplies, then," Link suggested quietly as they moved away from the large group of people laughing and badgering a furious-looking Daisy. "Hopefully this crowd will be gone by the time we get back."
They stepped outside into the wicked morning cold, flurries spinning in frantic eddies above their heads. Lyton was alive once more, its hardened and freezing citizens milling down the main road to begin their day. Sometimes Link wondered whether it was harder to be a wanderer or part of a village—both scenarios seemed depressing for very different reasons.
They found the market, a group of stands under an old wooden overhang. Despite the overall drab appearance of the village, their goods weren't half bad as Link spotted some decent blades, healthy grains, and bright red meats. Having agreed the previous night on what would be purchased, they split up to speed the process. After emptying the last of his wallet, Link looked around to join Sheik but didn't see him. Furrowing his brow, Link glanced back out into the street to find the Sheikah crouched by an old woman sitting cross-legged on the permafrost.
Link crossed the path to join his companion, surprised to see a collection of instruments on a thick fur before her. The woman sold everything from flutes to small skin drums. A lute missing two strings caught his eye, but it was clear something more unique had captured Sheik's attention. In his hands sat a wooden ocarina, an instrument Link hadn't seen in years. They were incredibly popular in Hyrule, originally an instrument of the forest people that spilled across the land. They were small enough to travel with and easy enough to play.
"Carved it myself," the woman growled, her weathered smile lighting up as another customer bent down to look. "I saw one in Gold Harbor a few years ago and have been trying to replicate it."
Sheik turned it over in his hands and Link wondered out loud if he would buy it.
"No, I…I already have one," Sheik replied quietly. "My father gave me one before I left."
Link blinked in surprise—Sheik had never mentioned an ocarina, let alone brought it out to play. Now he was unbearably curious, opening his mouth to pester further when a hand came down on his shoulder.
"Come with me." It was Daisy and her other hand gripped Sheik's white furs. There was a danger in her eyes that Link had yet to see so he obeyed, leaving the old woman with the instruments to follow her down a narrow alleyway.
Sheik was close behind as they hurried behind shacks along the fence line, Link's confusion growing by the minute. He had never seen Daisy from behind that bar, let alone looking so serious. Anger was a common expression on the woman's face, but this was different. A glance back revealed an equally alarmed Sheikah and Link was about to ask Daisy where they were headed when they seemed to reach their destination.
A small section of fence was pushed aside to reveal a man-sized gap filled with snow. Daisy began shoving the ice out of the way as she said, "I don't even know why I'm doing this, but those men…I don't like them."
"Daisy, what is going on?" Link demanded, his heart picking up at her words.
"They stayed the night, the ones I was complainin' about last night," she snapped, now using her boot to kick out the remainder of snow. "When they rented their rooms, they said something about heading for the mountains to look for someone. They weren't from Iryo with their gold uniforms and swords…just like yours, Link."
And his stomach dropped at this. He shared a look with Sheik, seeing the mirrored panic there.
"They said they were lookin' for a man with red eyes. I don't know if it's even you they're looking for, but folks around here can't keep their mouths shut when they see something different. Lyton doesn't need this kind of trouble—I was thinkin' I would turn you two in."
"Are you turning us in?" Link asked, confused considering this clearly wasn't Daisy turning them in.
Daisy paused for a moment, gnawing at her lip and frowning deeply. "Those men…they look like killers. I knew the moment they came askin' this morning…that they'd kill you both. I don't like either of you, but Lyton has seen enough death. I'll tell them you headed for the mountains. Go through here and get as far away as you can."
Link gave her the most grateful look he could muster. "Thank you, Daisy. I'll find a way to repay you for this."
"You can repay me by never comin' back," she retorted harshly. "We don't need this kind of trouble so stay away next time."
"Of course."
Loud voices could be heard on the main street now, the accent clearly from Hyrule and only a few houses from where they were. Daisy let out a quiet curse and shoved Link towards the gap with a hissed Go. Sheik followed suit and they squirmed their way through the gap and into freshly fallen snow.
Bursting out from the confines of the village was a complete change in atmosphere but the anxiety did not abate. The moment they were free, they were running. The snow hindered their pace, but they soldiered through it to reach a copse of pine trees ahead of them. Cover, they needed cover. There were no voices heard from behind them and the walls of Lyton were far too tall for anyone to spot them for a while.
After what felt like an eon, they reached the trees and fell into them well out of breath. Pushing through until they could no longer see Lyton, they both dropped to the cold ground to recuperate from the flight. The freezing air was painful as Link gulped desperately for it. Sheik didn't appear in any better shape.
"Well," Link huffed, "that was fun."
Sheik groaned and leaned his back against a tree. "I should've heeded your paranoia. You were right."
"There's no…right or wrong here."
Sheik gave him a horribly pained look, the expression seemingly deeper than just exhaustion and worry. Link decided very quickly he hated the expression and plopped down next to the man hoping to provide some sort of comfort. Their shoulders rested against each other as they caught their breath.
"They were looking for me. What are the chances of another person with red eyes in Iryo?" Sheik asked quietly, leaning his head back to rest against the tree. "Are you certain you still wish to travel with me? We could part ways now and—"
"No," Link cut him off, giving him a sharp glare. "We've already been through this. And they were heading east to the mountains and Daisy confirmed that was our path, so there should be no danger now."
"Forgive me if I'm doubtful of that," Sheik replied with a frown.
"You're forgiven."
And this story is back from unofficial hiatus now. Sorry, y'all. Every time I tried to start editing this chapter, some life event would happen and derail me. We back, tho.
