Chapter Twenty-Five
Everything hurt, not in the achy way, but in a deep, throbbing way that went down to his bones. He had been in and out of consciousness, remembering only a few things here and there: Jos, covered in blood, waking up to an awful stinging sensation in a camp near the castle, the young squire insisting they were both going to be fine... He hadn't realized how close to each other's age they really were. Jos had seemed so young, but Link was only four, maybe five, years older.
With the pain and the injuries, came a strong fever, and with the fever, twisted, vivid dreams, no, nightmares was more accurate. He dreamed of the fall of Hyrule at the hands of Ganon. He dreamed of the Twilight Realm, completely destroyed and barren. He dreamed of Midna, dying from exposure to the Light Spirit, Lanayru. He dreamed of failing them, of failing all of them.
He remembered waking in a soft bed, not the cold, hard ground, and he remembered hearing scattered voices. "Past the worst of it," he heard one say. "Needs a doctor to remove the arrow, though." The voices seemed familiar, but he couldn't place from where, and his head hurt enough without trying to strain and think about where he might have heard them before.
"Needs a shaman," he thought he heard another voice say. "Don't tell the Queen," he heard the voice say in a much more serious tone. "She doesn't need the extra stress, given her condition." Link tried to think of where he had heard the voices before, but just as he thought he was getting somewhere, unconsciousness took him once more.
He woke with his head much clearer than it had been for days, or maybe weeks. He wasn't entirely sure how long it had been since they had left Kakariko Village. He could only remember bits and pieces of what had happened, though. There had been a traveler, she had been hurt, and then he had woken in a tent, next to Jos who had been covered in blood that wasn't the squire's own...
"Link?" he heard a voice, a female voice ask. For a short moment, he thought it was Midna, that she had returned, that she was back, and that everything was going to be all right. But the voice was all wrong to belong to the Twilight Princess. It was too authoritative, too proper. He turned and saw Zelda, sitting in a chair by his bedside, working on some figure with her hands, and tried to ignore the throbbing pain that came with the motion. He was able to better localize where everything was coming from, though: his head, his leg, his chest, and his arm. He glanced down and felt sick when he saw the arrow sticking out of his upper thigh, a bandage tightly wrapped around it. At least they had been smart enough to leave it while he healed. "It isn't as bad as it looks," she said, and took his hand.
He nodded, and shut his eyes tightly, gritting his teeth. Every small motion hurt more than the last. "Jos?" he asked, his voice hoarse from under-use. He needed to know the squire was okay, that he wasn't hurt getting Link back to the castle. Goddesses there had been so much blood...
"Is fine," Zelda assured. In a clear mind, Link would have doubted her, would have assumed she was lying to keep him calm. But her tone was sincere, and he doubted she would lie to him in this state. "Shaken, but fine." Link nodded again, despite the pain the agitation caused. "I've spoken with his knight. He's agreed to let Jos squire for you permanently instead," Zelda spoke after a moment. "He did save your life, after all." Link took a shaky breath and stared at the ceiling, wondering if that meant he would be allowed to train again, maybe even to fight again.
"Epona?" Link carefully turned to face Zelda once more, looking into her eyes, thinking just for a moment he saw concern in them.
"Also fine," Zelda assured. "I'll never know how he managed to get all of you back safely, that's for sure." Link breathed a sigh of relief, and took several deep, even breaths. He glanced down at the arrow once more. "We've sent for Renado to look at it," she squeezed his hand, though Link wasn't sure if the gesture was meant to comfort him or herself. "I don't trust Dr. Borville to remove it." He was glad she had enough sense to realize that the Castle Town doctor was a fraud at best, a criminal and a murderer at worst. "Are you in pain?" she asked when he turned to face her again. "We've been giving you potions to ease it, and to help with sleep."
"I'm fine," Link tried to insist, but cried out when Zelda accidentally touched his injured arm. He sighed and watched as she crossed the room, returning to her seat with a red potion. He reluctantly drank it, willing to do anything to make the pain go away. She sighed and gently pushed his hair away from his face, a gesture that confused the Hero. She had seemed so cold before, but her worried state made her seem infinitely more human. He thought there was something else different about her, but he couldn't quite place what.
Just as he thought he was getting close, sleep took him once more.