In a city as crime-ridden as Ecchar, no one took much notice of Link and Sheik. Undisturbed, they walked through the streets, some distance behind Coro. Even if anyone noticed they were following him, no one stopped the pair. If anything, people tended to clear out of the way.

Perhaps they made an odd pair, a Sheikah and a teenage boy armed with a sword.

In fact—Sheik couldn't help but raise a brow as she looked him over. Of all colors for him to choose for his new tunic to be, he'd chosen green? Was he unaware of the connection of green to the legendary hero?

With how so many things were going wrong in the world, didn't he realize people might think he was a new hero?

So much for keeping a low profile…

But, then again, it wasn't like Sheik was keeping a particularly low profile with her Sheikah ensemble. She supposed she couldn't blame Link if they drew attention—not when she was drawing enough on her own.

"How are we going to get inside once he gets home?" Link asked, leaning over to whisper in Sheik's ear. "I can't imagine he'd be fond of letting strangers in."

"If he doesn't let us in, I'm not opposed to forcing it."

Link pulled away, staring at her with wide eyes. "You'd do what?"

Sheik huffed, looking away. "Only if he won't let us in. He sounded desperate, and we're trying to help. So long as we tell him that, he should listen to us." Not liking that Link was still staring at her, she turned back towards him, an almost petulant expression on her face. "And it's not like I'd ask you to do the breaking-in. If it bothers you so much, you don't have to do it."

Though Link looked far too relieved at her explanation, he still shook his head. "No, no, I'll help if I need to." He bit his cheek, looking indecisive only for a moment before he added, "Hopefully we won't need to, though."

Coro suddenly looked both ways behind him then turned a corner, and Sheik and Link hung back to avoid being detected.

"He's worried about being followed," Sheik said, furrowing her brows. "His sister's already been kidnapped…"

"He might have another sister. Or his sister was kidnapped from home," Link said. "If he's checking now, though…"

"Then he probably doesn't want visitors," Sheik finished. "Well. This might get interesting."

Link peered his head out of the corner, watching just long enough to see Coro dip inside a house, presumably locking the door behind him. When Sheik alternated with Link to look into the street, she could make out the man's outline against the window.

He was keeping watch.

He almost certainly had another sister, Sheik realized. There was no other reason he'd be standing guard like that.

"He's definitely defending someone," Sheik said, looking over at Link with a frown. "I doubt he'll open up. And if he made a deal with someone earlier, then he probably has friends in the city. If he starts yelling…"

"You're a Sheikah, aren't you?" Link asked, raising a brow. "Isn't there a way to—I don't know. You guys are known for being shadow-folk, right? Can't you just sneak in?"

Sheik pursed her lips, grateful that her mask hid the expression she was making. At this point, she was getting quite tired of having to prove that she was a Sheikah. Magic was difficult to do, after all, and it was still a wonder how she had it in the first place.

Especially magic that was almost exclusively known to the Sheikah, and carried exclusively through blood.

But she'd deal with that later. For now, she had a job to do, didn't she?

"I… know how to silence the space around the house," she said, closing her eyes to think. "I was never taught how to make myself invisible, though. If we could get around the house and break in through the back, I could silence the area around it long enough to explain that we're trying to help."

Link nodded, though he looked somewhat conflicted. "How can we get behind the house, though? This is a one-way alley."

At that, though, Sheik smiled. "No alley is ever really one-way," she said. At his confusion, her smile turned a little more wild, the corners of her eyes pulling up with it. "Have you ever traveled by rooftop before?"

Link was a faster learner than Sheik had anticipated, but she was grateful for it. It only meant that they could get to their destination faster than she thought they'd be able to. Sheik was sure to cast silencing spells on the areas they traveled, though, half as a warmup for the larger spell she'd have to perform once they were closer to the house.

It was a bit tricky though, as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Whether she silenced their falls or not, their impact still shook the houses they were jumping between. But there was no time to lose, because if they hesitated, they were much more likely to get caught, and that was the last thing they needed.

Finally, though, they made it to Coro's house. Sheik maintained the silencing spell long after their initial leap onto the rooftop, struggling more the longer she had to hold it. But though she was rusty at it, she managed, sweat on her brow as she kicked in a window in the back. From there, she snuck in, Link close behind her. Link made a grab for Coro, quickly putting his hand over his mouth to silence him.

Sheik didn't see anyone in the immediate vicinity, so she figured so long as Coro didn't scream, they'd be just fine.

After a moment's pause, she carefully lifted the silencing spell. Coro let out muffled yells, but Link's hand stopped them from getting very far.

"Don't bother screaming," Sheik said. "We're here to help you, not to hurt you."

Coro looked between her and Link, and, unsurprisingly, didn't look convinced.

"They've already taken your sister. It would be pointless for us to come if we were trying to take her, wouldn't it? Unless, of course, you have another sister. But we're not here for her." Sheik looked at a back room, unsurprised to find the door locked and barricaded. There was definitely a second sister in there. "We're here to help you recover the one that was stolen from you. Nothing more."

Sheik nodded at Link, who released his hand from Coro's mouth.

"How—how did you even know she was taken," Coro asked, looking between them, clearly frightened.

"Overheard you outside the tavern," Link said. "Honest, we're just trying to bring her home."

Coro furrowed his brows. "Look, our family isn't exactly rich…"

"We're not interested in a ransom or a reward," Sheik said, tone flat. "We just want to bring her home. All we need is some information from you."

"…What kind of information," Coro said, tone immediately distrusting again. "If you're one of those underground low-lifes, you can forget about it—"

"We aren't part of that organization," Link said, tone harder than Sheik had ever heard it before. Strange, she thought, but she didn't pay it much mind. "We're just trying to save your sister. The only information we need is any information you have about her. Where she was last seen, what she was wearing, if you saw the men that took her. That's all, okay?"

Coro still didn't look like he trusted them, but what choice did he have, really?

Sheik crossed her arms over her chest. "Any information you give us will be helpful," she said. "And you can stay here in the meanwhile and look after your other sister."

Sweat appeared on the man's brow, but though he looked scared, he gulped down his worries. "And—what is it you want to get out of this? Hena's—Hena's not the princess, if that's who you're looking for." He looked her up and down, as if checking to make sure she really was a Sheikah. "You work for the King, don't you…?"

Sheik shrugged a shoulder. "I don't care what the King wants. Your sister is a person, same as everyone else in Hyrule. I want to see her returned home safely." Link stared at her, but Sheik paid him no mind. "Now, are you going to tell us what you know, or not?"

Coro still appeared to not trust her, but that was alright, because he seemed to have decided on something. He took a deep breath. "Last I saw her, she was just going out to get something to eat. Her hair was dyed black, and she wasn't drawing any attention to herself—she knew better."

"Where did she go? Was she going someplace familiar?"

"She wanted to go to a tavern to get some food. But when I checked the tavern later, the bartender said that no one had even seen her." Coro squeezed his eyes shut, a pained expression on his face. "She must have been taken on the way there."

"How long ago?"

"She was taken last night," Coro said hollowly. "Evening."

Sheik looked down, instant guilt overshadowing her face. Perhaps if that man hadn't seen her last night and forced her into hiding, she might have been able to stop Coro's sister from being abducted. "We'll do the best we can," she said. "That's all I can promise."

Link walked up beside her, a small, reassuring smile on his face. "And, lately, our best has been pretty good," he said. "You might even have Hena back before the end of the week, who knows?"

Link's enthusiasm might have been nice, but Sheik couldn't help but frown. Giving Coro false hope might have been worse than giving him no hope at all, as far as she was concerned. But shooting down Link's optimism would be even worse, so Sheik just stayed silent.

Still, for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why Link was so optimistic. They were about to go on a rescue mission—and, sure, they were doing something good—but it was going to be dangerous.

Sheik had to save them—she had to, because she was the reason they were being hunted down in the first place. But, goddesses, why had Link even taken that job from the King? What was in it for him—what good was this doing for him? Sheik felt guilt pull at her stomach. Right now, all she wanted was to leave and get far away from here—far away from her thoughts, and worries, even though she knew that they would travel with her no matter where she went.

It didn't help that she had no idea where to start looking for Hena, anyways.

Sheik was still barely putting together the pieces. Though Coro had answered their questions, she was realizing all too late that the information was hardly helpful for a rescue. Sure, they knew where she was abducted before she reached the tavern, but how could that help with where she'd been taken?

Unless…

"We'll get started on finding her right away," Sheik said suddenly, determination clear in her voice. Without another word, she hurried out the door, Link close behind her.

"Sheik," he called, catching up to her. "Hey, what was that about? Where are you going?"

"It would make no sense to deliver girls one at a time," she said, shaking her head. "These are people who employ strategy, Link. They're spreading fear and hunting people down one by one. They know they have the upper hand—they're not going to waste resources." Guilt pressed in on her, and Sheik cringed, clenching her hands into fists to avoid a more adverse physical reaction. It made sense that she could think like those creatures—that she understood resources, and careful planning, and how to stay hidden. But that didn't mean she liked having to ask herself what they would do.

"Waste resources how?"

"If there's so many girls in this city, and they're capturing them, then it would make no sense to deliver each of them one by one. They have to be held somewhere before they're sent out." She bit her lip, trying in vain to find any large buildings that might have been used. But her guilt threatened to overwhelm her, and she felt as though the skyline was spinning around her. "I have no idea where they're being kept, but they're here somewhere. I'm sure of it."

Sheik didn't give him another chance to speak. She was in a panic, now—vertigo made it difficult to run, and no matter how she tried to tell herself that her guilt was irrational so long as she was doing something about it, it wouldn't listen.

Panic started to well up, and Sheik had to stop before the road swallowed her up entirely. She leaned heavily against a brick wall to her side, sweat beading at her temple that had nothing to do with the distance she'd run.

Images rose in her mind, and she found she couldn't block them out. Girls her age and younger, forced into captivity, separated from their families. Hurt and confused—taken against their will—probably being beaten and starved or worse.

All because of her.

The guilt made her feel physically sick, and Sheik found herself unable to run. She leaned against a brick wall by the side of the road, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself.

It didn't work.

Flashes of girls huddled together, scared, alone—girls separated from the only homes they'd ever known—girls who probably had families, friends, loved ones—

Sheik squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to force the thoughts back. But there was no magic in the world that could perform such a miracle.

When Sheik stopped so suddenly, though, she should have known that Link would be right behind her. He walked up beside her, though seemed hesitant to approach closer than a few steps. "Are you—is something wrong?" he asked, reaching a hand towards her, though not nearly close enough to touch her. "Sheik… If you—if there's something I can…"

"I'm fine," she snapped, eyes flashing as she looked up at him. Though her skin felt grey as the glamour in her hair, Sheik tried nonetheless to muster up a fire in her voice. "We just—we need to find them, alright? We need to find them."

Before she could turn and leave, though, Link caught hold of her shoulder, stopping her. "Sheik. What's this about? You looked like you were going to be sick."

"It doesn't matter," she said. Just as so often before, she hadn't managed to find any inner fire—but perhaps ice would do instead, if she could manage even that. The more she tried to summon it, though, the more sue realized that not even the cold was coming. All she could manage was something numb—something detached as ever. She supposed it was better than the trembling she felt on the inside. "The only thing we should be focusing on is finding the place they're being kept."

Link's expression hardened, if only slightly. "Sheik, you're the one who stopped," he said. "Will you be alright if we keep going?"

"I'll be just fine so long as we find them. That's all," Sheik said. She closed her eyes, thoughts still on the forefront. She knew, though, that if there was no way to get the images out, then the best she could do was pray that they wouldn't overwhelm her. So she took a deep breath, forcing the vertigo to subside enough to let her walk, and continued on.

If Link was still worried, he didn't say—but Sheik didn't miss the concerned glances he kept throwing her way.

"It might be on the outskirts of the city—or totally outside the city," Link said, breaking the silence.

For hours, they'd been searching for anything that even looked like it could be a holding area. But they'd found nothing. It wasn't a surprise, really—if it was easy to find, concerned parents would have already found their girls. But that didn't mean it wasn't discouraging.

"If it's that far, how do they get the girls inside?" Sheik closed her eyes, rubbing her temples. "That's what doesn't make sense. They wait till they're alone, but—how do they get know they're alone in the first place? How many of those creeps are here? Or do they lure the girls away, somehow? I just—everyone is on such high alert. I don't think I've seen a single girl my age out here. So how are they still getting them? And how on earth are they managing to kidnap them with no one noticing?"

Link was quiet for a moment, face settling into a frown. "I don't know about the rest," he said slowly, brows furrowing in thought. "But I think—I might know how they're being moved from one place to another. Ecchar has a lot of underground passageways—they're not well-known, but…"

"Why didn't you speak up before?" Sheik stared at him, somewhere between shock and anger that he hadn't breathed a word of this earlier.

"I didn't think—it's still pretty unlikely," Link said. "It's just—Sheik, the tunnels under Ecchar… they already belong to a group of criminals. That's why I thought it was unlikely for the kidnappers to be using them."

"It's already owned by criminals! Why wouldn't the kidnappers use them?!"

"Because criminals don't mess with other criminals," Link said, raising his voice to match her own angry tone. "If something already belongs to one group, others tend not to mess with them, because no one wants a turf war. Especially not in a city as overrun as Ecchar."

Sheik narrowed her eyes at him, stopping where she stood. "And who's to say that the criminals who own the tunnels aren't also responsible for the kidnapping?"

Link looked away. "I—It's possible," he said, in a voice that sounded almost guilty. "But I doubt it, Sheik. The criminals who own it… They aren't those sorts of criminals. Or at least—they didn't used to be. A few years ago, I wouldn't have thought them capable, but… I suppose… there's a possibility they might be behind it, yeah."

Red flags went off in Sheik's head immediately. Not just because of what Link had said, either—but because of some of the eyes on them. Whether monsters of men were watching every street-corner or not, this was sensitive information.

Secret tunnels, a criminal organization that Link had far too much information on—especially since Sheik had never even heard of them, and she'd been in Ecchar more than once…

"Follow me," Sheik suddenly said, keeping her voice low. "We need to find somewhere more private to talk."

Link's eyes strayed to some of the people on the street. Without another word, he nodded and followed her.

They were on the outskirts of the city before Link opened up again.

"They have huge passageways along the sewers," he said. "Big ones. They used to hold meetings underneath the marketplace. They always had the tunnels guarded, and the passageways were completely secret. No one else is supposed to know about them—and, honestly, if you tell anyone what I'm telling you now, I might not live to help you find anyone." When Sheik raised a brow, he shook his head, voice more sober than she'd heard it ever before. "I mean it, Sheik."

"Alright, I won't tell," she promised. "But do you remember the layout? Would there be anywhere far enough underground that no one would hear the girls' cries for help?"

"There was nothing deep enough last I checked," Link said. "That's also part of why I didn't think it'd be relevant. Those tunnels took a while to build, so I doubt they've been able to expand. They're ancient—been around since Hyrule's last war."

"So, nothing deep enough…" Sheik frowned, testing the thought for a moment. "Do they connect to any homes? Any entrances or exits you remember?"

Link closed his eyes, clearly trying to remember. "There were a few, I think, that had cellar doors. Some of the owners of those doors didn't even know what they had. Others were part of the—the underground. A tavern or two, I think. I can't remember which ones."

"Taverns," Sheik said. "A tavern…"

Sheik's eyes widened as she remembered what Coro had said. "A tavern, Link," she said. "Hena was heading to a tavern."

"But they said she never made it." No sooner than he'd said it, though, did Link's eyes light up in recognition. "If the tavern owner was someone who had participated in her kidnapping, though…"

Sheik nodded. "I think that tavern might be our best bet, Link," she said. "We have to ask Coro which one. If she's there, then—"

"No," Link said suddenly. "We can't ask him. We can't let him know where his sister might be being kept. Especially not if she's so close-by."

"And why not?"

"He has his other sister to protect. And if he finds out where Hena is, what's to stop him from going after her and leaving his other sister alone? When that other man was talking to Coro, before, he said that some people were breaking into homes now. We can't let him leave her." Link's face was set into a grim expression, and though Sheik wanted to disagree, to say that it was Coro's right to help find his sister, she knew he was right.

Sheik sighed. "Then what do you suppose we do? Go to every tavern and hope we find the one she was taken to?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I think—if we look at the ones near Coro's house, I might remember which one it is."

It struck Sheik, suddenly, that Link had said these tunnels were secret—and that he could be killed if anyone knew he'd told her. And if he knew all of this, and might be able to remember which tavern had a tunnel entrance point, and 'a couple of years ago, he wouldn't have thought them capable' of being kidnappers…

Sheik couldn't help but wonder just how Link knew all of this.

Still, she had skeletons in her own closet. The last thing she needed was to pry into Link's.

"Wait," she said, stopping him when he stood to go back towards the city. "You said it was always heavily guarded…"

"There's not much we can do about that," Link said. He pulled his sword from its sheath on his back, examining it with a rueful smile. "I… I just hope that it's not—that it's just those creatures that vanish into smoke that's down there."

"And if it's not?"

"I won't kill them. I'll incapacitate them, I'll hurt them, I'll disable them—but I won't kill them, Sheik. Do you understand that?"

Sheik shrugged a shoulder. "Fine. Do what you have to. So long as we can get in and out and get the job done, it doesn't matter to me."

The relief on Link's face put a strange feeling in Sheik's heart, but she didn't dwell on it. What was it to her if Link had seemed all too happy that he had the freedom to decide?

"Anyways, it might not matter. I don't know about you, but I have a feeling that even if some of them are Hylians, the majority of them are going to be monsters. When we get close enough, I'll do my best to detect their magic. Stay close, though—if we get split up, you'll have to figure out whether they're monsters or not on your own."

With that, Link nodded, soberly shielding his sword. "I'll stay with you," he promised. "Now, to the tavern…"

It was mid-afternoon by the time they'd retraced their steps and, after several rejected taverns, found the one Link recognized.

"This is it," he breathed as they approached it. "I can't remember where the entrance is—and they probably have it hidden and guarded anyways. But this is definitely the one."

Though Sheik still wasn't sure how he could tell, she didn't argue. "Do you have a plan for how to find the entrance?"

Link shook his head. "I was hoping you could figure that one out."

Sheik closed her eyes, planning already. "Well," she said, finally dropping the glamour on her hair, returning it to its natural blonde, "I know one way to get inside. Hold this, will you?"

She handed Link her scarf, mask, and most of her outerwear. She couldn't have anything identifying her as a Sheikah, after all—and she was just starting on undoing her bindings when Link suddenly reeled in shock. "Sheik! You can't just—"

"Do you have a better idea?" Sheik already had one hand on her bindings, planning on undoing them to make it more obvious that she was a girl, as her face alone was often enough to convince people that she was a boy. Usually, it worked in her favor—but now, she cursed her masculine features and sharp eyes. Before she could even undo the first row, though, Link's face turned scarlet and he caught hold of her wrist.

"What are you doing?!"

Though Link's expression was one of thorough embarrassment, Sheik hardly raised a brow as she pried his hand off of her wrist. "Trying to get caught, obviously. If I look like a boy, they might not go for me."

Link shook his head. "Sheik, you can't be serious," he said. "There are other ways to go down there, I'm sure of it."

Grudgingly, Sheik moved her hands away from the bindings. "I'm not seeing an alternative," she said. "We don't know where the girls are, so we need someone to take us there. And there are guards everywhere, meaning we can't take them all out and explore the tunnels on our own, even if they are just illusions…"

"Why wouldn't we be able to take them on?" Link asked. "I've seen you fight people before. You're good at what you do."

Sheik scoffed. "I'm only as good as I am fast," she said. "I can hold my own and defend myself in a pinch, but taking on guys twice my size in a corridor with nowhere to hide, no ledges to jump from, and no exit in sight? Not a chance."

"But what about at Telma's? You took on a bunch there," he said. "You were going on tables and everything—"

"Yeah, that's the point. At Telma's, I had terrain I could use to my advantage. In a tunnel, there's no cover. Nothing to use as leverage, nothing to jump off of but the walls themselves." Sheik pursed her lips. "And I need them to take me so we can find where the other girls are being kept. And if they take me, they'd take my weapons. Not a chance I'd get to keep them."

"Wait. Wait," Link said, closing his eyes. "I think—between the two of us, we might be able to come up with something."

"You have an idea?"

To her pleasant surprise, Link nodded. "Yeah. It's a longshot, and I'll be surprised if something doesn't go wrong, but yes. I have an idea."

Sheik smirked. Though the thought of truly being caught was less than pleasant, to know that they might have a chance at saving these girls was a relief. "I'm all ears."

A timid expression wasn't one Sheik wore well. Years of putting up a braver front than what she felt had hardened her into true courage—so having to act as if she was frightened went wholly against her nature.

And, as she entered the tavern and took a seat alone at a barstool, she had to resist the urge to hold her head up high—proud and defiant as she was used to.

But, no—she had to lower her head as if she was a meek little girl and look at all the people around her. It drew even more attention to her, of course, though the part she was playing didn't have the common sense to see it. So Sheik took a seat at the bar, wide-eyed and innocent, even going so far as to fidget where she sat.

"Do you—do you have anything low on actual alcohol?" she asked, forcing her voice into something softer. "I'm supposed to be meeting my brother here when he arrives from Oxon…" She chose the city only for the closest one she could think of—yet, still two days' travel. Plenty of time for something to happen to her in the meanwhile.

"Oxon, huh?" the bartender asked as he poured her something. And, goddesses, Sheik could already tell that this man worked for some kind of criminal organization, because the bottles he was pouring together were certainly not low alcohol.

In fact, Sheik was suddenly quite worried about getting drugged.

Sheik wondered if that was how they got some of their victims—drugged drinks or getting them too drunk to understand what was happening to them. Perhaps it was what had happened to Hena…

In any case, when the drink was passed back to Sheik, she didn't drink it, instead just nervously tapping the glass. "Oh, yes. I passed Oxon on the way here. It was smoking an awful lot… Was there a fire recently?"

"You mean it's not anymore?" The bartender looked genuinely curious. Sheik cursed internally—no one would have come there and back yet to check on it. "Huh…"

"I sure hope he wasn't caught in the fire, if it really was on fire," Sheik said, brows angling up in concern. She expended a true effort to make her temporarily-green eyes well up with tears, but none came. "Oh, dear… He came a while ago—do you think he might have gotten caught up in it?"

"It's possible," the man said. Sheik saw the greedy glint in his eye, and internally, she reeled with disgust. "Will you be needing a room, then, if his travel was delayed?"

"Probably," Sheik said, voice a sigh. "I thought I'd be the late one, but… I don't see him anywhere…"

The man looked her up and down once, then seemed to settle on something. "Well, drink up, girl, and I'll set you up somewhere upstairs, how's that?"

Sheik pretended to be indecisive. She couldn't make this too easy, or else it might be suspicious. But after a moment, she nodded, giving the man a timid smile. "Well… I suppose… I could wait for him here… This is the tavern he plans on meeting me in, after all…"

Just as she was saying it, Link slipped through the door. She didn't turn to look at him, but she saw him from her peripheral. He made his way to the restroom in the back without a word, drawing no attention from either customers or the bartender.

Sheik thanked the goddesses that the plan was working well so far.

Still, pretending to drink the glass would be much more difficult, especially if he was watching her like she was.

If she could only cast a fire spell, maybe she'd be able to distract him with something burning… But as it was, she'd have to improvise.

She waited until someone else had come and needed to be served, then stealthily froze small portions of the drink. She didn't swallow the ice cubes, instead storing them in her mouth just long enough to spit them out into her hand and allow them to melt, then subtly drop to the ground.

The tavern was busy enough that she didn't worry too much about being seen doing magic. In fact, the only real worry she had wasn't 'drinking' her drink.

Still, as he looked over expectantly, Sheik realized that he was expecting her to start acting like someone who was drugged. As someone who'd never catered to her own needs, Sheik wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for—but she'd certainly been drunk before, and half-drunk off of exhaustion.

Hoping she was at least playing 'vulnerable victim' well enough, Sheik half-closed her eyes and started to sway where she sat. Not enough to fall and attract attention, but definitely enough to let on that she wasn't able to defend herself very well. "Do you… have some water? Just plain water," she said, voice drowsy and slightly slurred. "I don't know why, but I'm feeling a little sick…"

"Sick, huh?" The man smiled—a little too much—and Sheik hoped that this act was working well enough. "I don't think water would help much, sweetheart. You look like you need to lie down. Rough night last night? Where'd you stay?"

"Was on the road last night," Sheik said, closing her eyes. "I've been traveling a lot these days…"

The message she hoped she was giving was one of 'No one will look for me if you take me.' It seemed to be delivered, with the way the man was quick to come alongside her.

"You know, how about we set you upstairs now, rather than later, huh? You can pay me tomorrow morning."

Sheik had no doubt that they'd raid her purse of anything useful, and she was glad she'd set aside a few dozen rupees just in case she'd had to purchase more drinks before the man attempted to take her.

While her eyes were half-lidded with her feigned drugged state, the bartender lifted her from her seat, supporting her as he made his way to a staircase. But instead of going up, he went down.

Jackpot.

Though Sheik couldn't get a good look at exactly where she was without drawing attention, she did hear the banging of cabinets, and then the squeak of an old trap-door, and then the moving of a metal grate. She prayed that Link was watching—or that he remembered where to look for this entrance.

It scared Sheik, really, just how much she was depending on this boy.

If he wasn't there on time, she'd have to fight out of this alone. Goddesses, she was the one they were looking for. Panic surged through her for just a moment, but she forced her breathing to stay steady. She couldn't allow herself to panic—not here, not now.

And especially not when the man turned back around and patted her down for weapons.

She didn't have a single dagger. No knives, neither big nor small, and certainly not her katana. She had nothing to defend herself with. Which, while good for her cover, was doing nothing to abate her panic. Still, she forced it down, down, down, till she wasn't sure she even remembered how to breathe.

"Don't you worry, girlie," the man said as he moved her down into the cellar, into the secret passageway. "I'll make sure you get right where you need to be…"

Sheik allowed her eyes to slip shut as she was led down the tunnel, far away from anyone who might hear her cry out.

She could only pray that Link wouldn't be far behind.

Though everything was going according to plan so far, there was still so much room for everything to go wrong. And if Link wasn't in range for her silencing spell to allow him to walk undetected, then she hated to think about what might happen if he was caught.

So, as she was carried, slung over the man's shoulder, she kept one eye open for Link. And as the minutes dragged on, and she was led deeper and deeper into the tunnel, she couldn't help but worry.

Because Link still hadn't shown.

Sheik couldn't help but wonder, as dread started to sink in, why she'd ever thought to trust him in the first place. Next time, she wouldn't make the same mistake—so long as she lived for there to be a next time, that was.

((Haha, sorry for the cliffhanger. But hey, thanks to everyone who's started reading this—and especially to everyone who's reviewed. I know last chapter was during finals week, so a lot of people were busy—but it really means a lot to me when people take the time to review. I treasure each one greatly. So please, if you like this (or even if you didn't!) review! It'd mean a whole lot to me.))