Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Warnings: Minor violence in later chapters and boyxboy (Link x Sheik). If you're not a fan please don't read.

~*~*~ Chapter 10 ~*~*~

Kahael watches despondently as Link leads the horses away back up the stone entrance to Castletown to the Castle's stables. Link said he had matters that he needed to deal with when they had returned from their ride. He watched Link's retreating back until he disappeared through the heavy wooden doors leading into Castletown. He turned around and was startled to see Kaylu standing beside him, her gaze trained on where Link had entered into the city. She fell into step with him as they walked back towards the Gypsy camp, side by side.

"He seems...nice," Kaylu said finally as they stopped just short of the camp.

Kahael smiled. "He is," he agreed.

"And very handsome," she added, which made Kahael blush, but agree again.

"He is, isn't he?" he said, smiling.

"But...he's the Hero of Time," she said as she looked away from him, troubled.

"He told me about it...I cannot imagine myself the way he describes, but it must be so," Kahael says. He feels unnerved by the way Kaylu was acting. She was the one who encouraged him to meet with Link and begged to meet him. Now that she knew who he was she was acting oddly.

"Kahael," she says softly, and he meets her eyes. They are full of sadness, and it makes an uneasy feeling crawl up Kahael's spine as he watches her. "The Hero of Time is engaged to the Queen of Hyrule."

Her words stun him - he freezes, uncomprehending for a second until the words, and their meaning, sink in. When they do he reels back, as if physically hit. It hurts.

"You...you must be mistaken," he stammers, his ruby eyes staring at Kaylu desperately, but the desert girl just shakes her head slowly. "You must," he insists. Link wouldn't lie to him. "You must," he says again, quietly.

"There is much talk of the wedding," Kaylu says, and her words make the ache in his chest increase. "It's to be held on the first of the month."

Kahael's world has suddenly been flipped upside down. He thought he had finally found where he belonged...he thought he found somebody who loved him. Tears burned in his eyes and he fought them back, turning away from Kaylu to try and hide his emotions from the girl. His stomach was in knots, and his chest ached with an intensity that made him cringe. He was lost all over again, and this time he didn't know where to go for answers. Kaylu wrapped her arms around him gently, and at first he tensed up at her touch but he allowed himself to relax into her hold.

He couldn't stay here, not while Link weds another. Not if he was willing to feed Kahael lies and offer false love. But why?

"I'm so, so sorry," she whispers into his ear as the first tear runs down his cheek.

"What do I do now?" he asks, voicing his fears.

She squeezes him tight and steps back. "Come with us."

He nods, but in his heart he knows he won't be staying in the desert for long.

The mood in the camp is tense. Kaylu mentions that Shantelle had told the rest of the Gypsies of Link's engagement - out of concern, not to hurt him - and now everybody was walking on eggshells around him. The cheery mood from last night as they sat around the fire trading tales is long gone. It made him feel more lost and out of place than ever before. He was sitting off on his own, staring out at the horses as they grazed in the fading rays of sunlight. He had his knees drawn up to his chest, his chin resting on them, with his arms wrapped around his legs. His original plan was to stay in Castletown with Link. The man had requested he stay when the Gypsies left to travel back to the desert. He had agreed, and the smile he had been awarded was beautiful.

Thinking back on it made his heart break a little more.

There was no way he could stay here now. Not when...not when he was nothing more than the Hero of Time's whore. The thought made tears burn in his eyes again, but it made everything make sense. The Queen had disposed of him. That was why he had ended up in the desert with no memory of who he was. She wanted to get rid of her future husband's bedwarmer...his whore...another tear escaped down his cheek and he wiped it away angrily. Link's whole story about "Sheik" was probably a lie too. He never helped the Hero defeat the King of Evil...a lie. Everything was a lie to draw him in and snare him.

That night Kahael got little sleep and what sleep he got was plagued by haunting images and nameless nightmares. He got up before the sun and rounded up all the Gerudo horses and hitched them to the fences. He ran a rug brush over them to clean their coats of dirt to prevent the saddle from rubbing before he tacked them all up. He left the two cart horses standing by the gates waiting to be hitched to the wagon. He was cleaning their feet of debris when Kaylu walked over to him.

"We are almost ready to leave," she said softly. "You are coming with us?"

He steeled his face into an emotionless mask. "Yes," he answered. Where else would he go?

Kahael wanted to leave as soon as possible. Link was planning on meeting him in the afternoon to go for another ride through the fields, and Kahael had originally been thrilled at the idea of going for another ride with the man, but now he just wanted to get away from him. The sun was just cresting the mountains when the Gypsies finished hitching the horses to the wagons. Kahael was already mounted Miyran, the black Gerudo mare, waiting. He found himself missing Calibri, the little grey mare he rode when with Link.

As the Gypsies began to move out, Kahael looked back and stared at Castletown one last time. He never planned to visit the city or meet its people again, for as long as he lived. With that final thought he turned Miyran around and clucked to her, trotting to catch up with the gypsies. He kept his head held high and avoided the looks that they gave him - pity, and sadness - and focused forward on the road.

He didn't know where he was going to end up, and despite his attempt to look strong, he was broken and crumbling on the inside.

Link finished saddling Calibri and led her outside to where Epona was standing hitched, already tacked. He swung onto Epona's back with ease, and led the grey mare alongside them. Castletown market was hectic as usual, but the sound of hooves on the cobblestones sent people scattering to get out of his way. Calibri danced at the end of her reins, head high and nostrils flared. Link rolled his eyes at the mare's antics and patted Epona's neck. He didn't know what Sheik saw in the little mare. She was flighty and difficult to control. Link much preferred Epona, brave and honest, willing to please and sensible.

He was lost in his thoughts when he was nearly jerked out of his saddle when Calibri balked at the drawbridge, planting her feet and refusing to cross it. After some coaxing, she stepped onto it daintily and crossed. The guards opened the heavy wooden doors for him as he approached, nodding in greeting at him, and when he exited into Hyrule field he took a deep breath and smiled.

It promptly melted off his face.

The gypsies were gone, their camp vacated. His heart started to pound in his chest as he looked around and didn't see them anywhere in sight. The horses were gone from the field beside the city walls. They were supposed to leave until later that day but it was only mid-afternoon and their camp was gone - everything, the tents, the bedrolls, the wagon, everything, gone. He turned to the guard who gave him an odd look.

"The camp, the gypsies, when did they leave?" Link asked.

"At dawn this morning," the man said.

Link swung down from his saddle quickly and led both horses back into the city without a word. He went to various shop stalls and collected supplies before heading back the castle. He slung both mare's reins over a hitching post and headed into the castle to his personal chambers. He strapped the Master Sword on his back, the weight of it familiar, along with his shield and arrows. He felt naked without the weapons, but Zelda said he shouldn't wear them around Castletown now that peace had been restored to the land, that it might give people the wrong impression.

Now that the King of Evil was sealed away his monsters were scattered, rare, but still out there and he wasn't taking any chances. He strapped all his supplies on Calibri and swung onto Epona's back again before leaving Castletown. Once he reached the open plains of the field he pushed the horses into a ground eating canter, but didn't push them into a full gallop. The gypsies had a few hours head start on him, but they would be traveling much slower. He had to catch them before they reached the desert or he'd never find them...

He couldn't risk losing Sheik again. Not after he had finally found him. He had no idea why he had left...but he had to find him, he had to know why he would leave.

He just prayed that he could catch him in time.

Kahael shifted in his saddle. He was stiff and sore for riding so long, but the gypsies wanted to reach the Gerudo encampment by the early morning of the following day. They were worried about snow in the mountain passage. The trek was already harsh, and it would be deadly with blowing snow and ice. The horses trotted forward willingly. The Gerudo breed was praised for their stamina, and they could cover many miles steadily without rest. They had already ridden much farther than he had Link had ever ventured out before.

"How're you holding up?" Kaylu asked him as they trotted their mounts side by side.

"I will be fine," he answered, giving no emotion what-so-ever. He'd rather hide the pain away than try to deal with it.

She gave him a dubious look but said nothing more. "We will be stopping soon, there is a small pond where we can let the horses drink and rest, plus night will be falling soon so we will camp there and the horses can graze."

Kahael nodded. He glanced behind him and saw an expanse of fields scattered with small copses of tress scattered throughout, but he didn't see any riders in the distance. He didn't know if this was what he wanted, or if the thought that Link didn't care about his departure made the lingering pain his chest increase or not.