The Legend of Zelda, its characters and locations are all property of Nintendo. Any and all OCs and original locations belong to me unless specifically stated to belong to someone else.
The Voice
28 - A Discussion of Equine Emesis
Sheik registered the energy spike early in the morning. Most of the time he didn't pay much attention to the Shrine of Resurrection, or the Great Plateau for that matter, since that place was more or less dead (pardon the expression, Link!). Besides, the entire grid in that area was in a state of constant flux due to the incredible amounts of power the Shrine itself drew in order to keep itself running. The only thing keeping it alive these days were the auxiliary source provided by the Tower, which mostly ran on solar power and stored the electricity in extremely efficient power banks located in its base.
This spike, however, was unusual in that after the initial load, the grid for the whole Plateau immediately seemed to stabilise...and Sheik could no longer get a reading of the Shrine at all. It was like the whole thing had just gone dark, and he could not even find its energy signature. No attempts to re-establish communications with it succeeded; not a single ping was answered. The Tower's sensors reported no unusual readings other than a temperature increase within the Shrine itself, but that had been building for a while, and Sheik had just assumed there'd been a coolant malfunction of some sort.
For a moment, all he could feel was relief; relief that it hadn't happened while Link had still been asleep within it. Who knew what would have happened to him if that were the case?
Then his suspicious mind began to ponder the event.
Had the Shrine shut itself down because of the heat? As far as Sheik could tell, it'd been well within operational limits, so that made no sense. What, then, could cause the whole facility to just...shut off? In times like this, he really wished the Sheikah Towers had more ways of collecting data than just the sensors embedded at various points in their regions. They were amazing, no doubt, but not enough. If only the Towers had some sort of remotely operated drone or something, anything with a camera he could use to gather visual data. As it was, he was completely helpless, and had no way of actually investigating the issue without bringing it to Link's attention...and right now, the Hylian didn't need even more trouble on his plate.
The last few days had been tough. Sheik could tell that from a mere visual inspection; the tension in his shoulders, in particular, gave it away. If anyone wore his heart on his sleeve, it was Link. It was something Sheik adored about him...but also bemoaned, if only because it meant he had no way of hiding himself from those who would take advantage.
Between meeting (and being judged by) the Deku Tree, nearly getting killed by the Master Sword, remembering pieces of his past, and finally convincing the Sword that he was still worthy of wielding it, his Hylian's nerves were getting stretched far beyond what they should be.
Not that Link would admit to that, of course. It wasn't pride that prevented him, either, though Sheik would definitely like to see Link carry himself with a little more of that. No, Sheik suspected that Link wouldn't admit to it because he was afraid of what would happen if he actually did. That if he went out and said that he was close to a breakdown, it would happen immediately.
The annoying bit about that was that Sheik had a feeling Link was actually right. If he let himself slow down for even a little bit, it'd take a gargantuan effort to get started again...and who knew if he'd have the willpower to do that? Oh, sure, Link had convinced the Master Sword with his whole "Keep trying" spiel, but what guarantee was there that he'd be able to follow through?
Listen to me, doubting him, Sheik thought. What a piece of shit I am. As if he hasn't already exceeded my expectations at every turn since we met. Hasn't already accomplished so much more than I ever anticipated. I said I'd whip him into shape, but it seems he's doing that all by himself...and I'm just there to provide commentary. Whoop-de-fucking-doo, Sheik, aren't you a useful companion?
Still, he didn't want to cause Link any undue worry. If that meant distracting, then so be it. He'd keep an eye on the Shrine for now. He knew for a fact that the place had a backup plan, a protocol for restarting itself. Most Sheikah tech did. He wasn't sure what would trigger the Shrine's in particular, though. Hopefully it was just a counter that measured the downtime, and re-initialised the damn thing once it hit an unacceptable number, and then—
"Sh-Sheik?"
"Yeah?"
In the conversation that followed, his attention mostly focused on Link, he missed a faint, almost invisible heat signature emerging from the Shrine's cave, detected by the Tower. It quickly darted into the surrounding forest, and disappeared, shielded by the ambient background radiation.
This would prove to be his undoing.
"I d-don't like th-this."
"Neither do I, but it's the quickest way to cross the field. Unless you want pass in front of the castle? Going north and around the Korok Forest would take forever, and pass through rough terrain...and then you'd have to climb up a fairly vertical wall of smooth rock—not that you'd have much difficulty with that, but it'll take an eternity. Believe me, Link, I have looked at our options, and none of them are good. For what it's worth, enemy patrols along this route seem very rare; not to mention it gives us a good view of the enemy stronghold."
Link failed to see the positive aspects right at that moment, and he had a feeling he'd be forgiven for doing so, crawling on his stomach through the tall grass covering the ridge that overlooked the back of Hyrule Castle. The stronghold itself was a fair distance away, at least a few miles, but the vantage point made it seem nearer...not to mention the malevolent atmosphere surrounding the place. The purple energy of Calamity Ganon was one thing, but there was just something eerie about seeing a once mighty fortress reduced to its current state.
The anthill-like appearance of Ganon's minions crawling all over the place certainly didn't help. Link made an attempt to count just how many enemies he could see swarming the grounds and parapets, but had to give up after a few minutes. Bokoblins, moblins, lizalfos, Guardians, lynels...even a few Yiga members, whose bright-red outfits and white masks did little for them in terms of stealth.
Link's breath hitched in his throat. He had no chance of overcoming odds like that, even if he by some miracle managed to get inside those walls. He'd be vaporised by the Guardians within minutes, or buried beneath the bokoblins, or have his throat slit by a Yiga, or...or...
"Hey," Sheik said quietly. "Don't even think about it, okay? We're nowhere near ready to take that place on...but you will be, and by that time you'll have an army at your back. You're not facing it alone, yeah?"
"Easy t-to s-say," Link muttered, but turned his gaze away from Ganon's fortress, and back to the west. "H-Harder to kn-know."
"Like Sharky's even going to let you attempt to attack Ganon on your own."
Even worse, saying that. Knowing Sidon would be in the fray would only make him worry. But he still nodded.
"Plus, I want to see what he's capable of. I mean, if he's even half as fierce as the story about the oktorok made him out to be..."
Not really a topic he'd expected to be brought up right at that moment, but Link appreciated it all the same. He had to agree, too, that seeing Sidon in a fight would be...interesting. Invigorating, even.
He did not say this out loud.
Sheik would have a field day if he did.
"Another few hours, and we should hit the road here," Sheik said as the map on the screen lit up, a circle appearing on a road that north-west, twisting up a mountainside. Another circle appeared in a circular lake surrounded by more hills and mountains. "Rito Village is located here, surrounded by Lake Totori. Once we hit the road, we'll have a few days' walk until we get there."
"W-Wish w-we had M-Maladict here," Link said, studying the map and committing as much of it to memory as he could. He pulled his scarf a little tighter around his neck as a gust of wind blew through the thicket of bushes that served as his shelter for the night. "W-We'd travel f-faster w-with him."
"I keep telling you, we can go back to South Akkala and pick him up, but a certain someone doesn't want to teleport," Sheik said, exasperated. "Sure, it might make you vomit, but isn't that a fair price for the comfort of riding?"
Link took a moment to re-consider the idea, as he'd done several times before. He remembered how miserable he'd been the first time Sheik had teleported him to the stables in the east of Akkala, how it'd felt like his stomach was trying to turn inside out, and the hours upon hours it'd taken for him to recover. Then he shook his head. No, not an option.
"O-Only emergencies," he said firmly. "As agreed."
Sheik sighed. "Of all the things to—"
"You'd have t-to t-teleport us b-back, t-too," Link reminded him. "I can't t-take t-two rounds."
"All right, all right, fine, no teleporting," Sheik huffed. "I just don't see why we bothered getting Maladict in the first place if we're not going back for him. He handled teleporting just fine, as I recall. Stronger constitution than yours, that's for sure."
"He's a horse," Link deadpanned. "They're g-generally pretty s-strong. And they c-can't throw up."
Sheik paused. "Wait, what? They can't?"
"N-No," Link confirmed.
"Bull. Shit. I'm going to look that up, you know," Sheik said disbelievingly. "I have a vast informational database on flora and fauna."
It almost sounded like a challenge, and one Link was more than willing to take up...especially if it distracted Sheik from haranguing about the benefits of teleportation and why Link was a knob for not indulging in it. "D-Do it," he said.
"All right, you little shit, I'm doing it!"
Link sighed happily. Ah, blissful science...for about ten seconds. He kept forgetting how quickly Sheik could access and look up that treasure trove of information in the slate...or did he get it from the Towers, perhaps?
"Well, what do you know," Sheik said begrudgingly, "they can't. A remarkable number of physiological features and mechanisms are in place to ensure a horse's innards are, more or less, a one-way street. Interesting."
Link nodded knowingly, having no idea what the fuck Sheik was talking about. He didn't know why a horse couldn't throw up, he just knew it couldn't!
...why he knew that in the first place wasn't something he was willing to find out.
"Why are we t-talking about th-this?" he asked.
"You're the one who brought up Maladict."
"Ah..."
"And getting right back on topic, teleportation would save us a lot of time..."
The Hylian set the slate and rested his forehead on his knees, wishing they weren't too close to the road to risk making a fire. Bad enough that he had to listen to Sheik just talk and talk without having to freeze to death as well.
"If y-you're g-going to keep me up a-all night, a-at least tell me a-a story, or something..."
"Oh, it's a story you want, eh?" Sheik asked, his voice suddenly taking on a gleeful edge. "How about a scary one?"
"C-Can't be w-worse than listening to teleporting and h-horse vomit..."
"Oh, my dear, let me prove you very wrong," Sheik said. "How much do you know about Sheikah folklore? Don't answer that, it was a rhetorical question. There is one tale frequently used to scare children into obeying their elders. The real me—the real Sheik—was absolutely terrified by it, if my own reaction to it is any indication. Let me tell about a creature called the Dead Hand..."
Little sleep was had that night.
Short (and uneventful) chapter today, many apologies!
