Treacherous Intentions
By: dontwaitupxx
Chapter Twelve
Link's mind was swimming. Black spots swarmed his vision, flashing and burning every time he blinked. He must have blacked out briefly, for now he was slung over someone's shoulder, his arms and legs hanging limp and useless. Around him, the castle blurred and swam back into focus, as he heard the Commander's sharp voice barking out orders. Her voice sounded muffled, like he was trying to listen to her from under water. He could not understand what she said, though the tones in her voice betrayed her urgency and alarm.
He felt cold, as the cool winds from outside Hyrule Castle buffeted him, the pale blue glow from the moon casting everything in black and blue shadows. Then, he was back inside, the castle warmer a stark contrast to the outside world. Black and blue shadows were now replaced by red and gold blurs. The corridor itself was noticeably warmer, and yet Link could not stop himself from shivering.
He was barged into the infirmary, and instantly, was placed on a bed. Link was encircled by the shadows of the doctors and physicians. Their faces were blurry – blank – and he could not focus on them. It was all Link could do to focus on one spot high above on the ceiling, to avoid passing out again. Words like 'fever' and 'burning up' echoed around him, yet the words held little meaning as Link straddled the line between alert and unconscious.
His tunic was ripped open as cold, wet cloths were placed on his forehead, under his neck, under his armpits. A physician seemed to pause at his right arm, which was covered still in bandages from the Lynel attack in the cliffs of Death Mountain. It had been a week since the incident, and while Link had rewrapped the cut, fresh blood stained the bandage, as though the wound had been inflicted just that morning.
The smell of infection was poignant as the physician unwrapped the bandage, inspecting the tender wound. Link's head spun as he struggled to stay awake, his body shaking as it struggled to fight off the fever from the infection. He could hear the physicians speaking, though their voices eased in and out with his focus.
"…We cannot heal him, we have no way of healing a Lynel cut of this severity…"
"…I've never seen anything like this. A wound that won't heal? We'll need the Zora to look at this…"
"…Then we need to send for the Zora and have them come here."
"We don't have the luxury of time on our hands. By the time we send for the Zora and have them arrive here, he will have progressed too far along…"
"…Without a proper healer… he won't make it past the week."
"He is the Hero of Hyrule, he cannot die. Without him, all of Hyrule will fall at the hands of the Calamity."
"We need to make haste and send him to Zora's Domain…"
"…Send a Rito Courier up ahead to notify the Zora."
"What makes you think that he will survive the trip?"
"…He has to. It's the only way."
The way to Zora's Domain had been hazy, and Link slipped in and out of consciousness as the enclosed wagon he was being transferred in jostled him around. He was transported across the winding path along the Zora River, the twists and turns making him nauseous. Only vaguely did he realize that it must have been raining on the twisting path, as the sounds of a heavy storm bombarded the top and sides of the wagon.
There must have been some knights, or at least some soldiers, that made the trip with him, for at times in the journey, Link heard the sounds of steel clashing together, the sound of men grunting and crying out, the sounds of monsters screeching and lightning cackling.
They made it to Zora's Domain in record time, or Link was passed out for the majority of the trip. Perhaps it was a little of both. Before he knew it, he was being lifted out of the wagon and into the arms of Zora of various colorations, and being carried off with haste.
And then, there was Mipha.
Mipha's concerned expression filled his vision. Her lips were moving frantically, as she was speaking something urgently to him. His ears registered nothing, however, as all the sounds within the infirmary blended together in a chaotic symphony. He was gently lifted onto one of the beds in their infirmary and was surrounded by the fish people from all angles. Looking from left to right, they all seemed to do something different, either tending directly to his arm, or monitoring his fever, or checking to see if he was responsive.
Then, Mipha appeared at his right side again, with a determined expression on her face. One of the Zora stepped back to give her room and braced his arm, while another held his shoulders. Mipha breathed in and pressed her hands against his arm, glowing brilliant silver.
He had not expected the pain that had accompanied her healing abilities. It had not hurt ten years prior when she had healed his cut from the Lynel on Shatterback Point. Why did it hurt now? He supposed it could have had something to do with the fact that this wound had progressed and got infected. He supposed it could have had something to do with the fact that this wound had not even begun the healing process. He supposed it could have had something to do with the fact that the agents of Calamity Ganon were intensifying, and his immune system might not know how to combat an injury of that intensity.
These were the cold and hard facts and he held onto them as he steeled himself through the pain, before his vision went black.
The next few days found Link in a restless sleep as the infection ran its course. During its progression, he would waken to find himself alone, or with an unknown Zora, or worst of all, with Mipha at his side. She would either be tending to his arm, brushing his sweaty hair out of his face, or, when he was lucky, would be asleep at his bedside.
If he believed hard enough, he could attest this as all being the product of some fever dream.
He woke again some time later in the week. The infirmary was empty, and the moon shined brightly through the window to his right, illuminating the room in soft blues and silvers. Gingerly, he lifted himself up onto his elbows, cringing slightly at the dull ache coming from his right arm. Looking down, he saw it to be wrapped tightly in bandages, and expertly tied off on the end. His fever must have broke some time while he was out, for he no longer had wet cloths on his forehead and joints.
His shirt was missing, as were his pants, but a quick survey told him that they were on a table not far from his bed, with his boots and belts laid neatly below them. Upon careful inspection of his Champion's tunic, he saw that someone had meticulously stitched the front of it back together from when the physicians at Hyrule Castle had ripped it open. Someone must have taken great care with it, too, since the only way Link could tell that it had been sown back together was by looking very close at it, and with the knowledge that it had indeed been ripped.
He could attest that as not being the product of some fever dream.
He shrugged on his undershirt and tunic, and pulled his pants and boots on. He would thank the Zora for their hospitality, but he really needed to get back to Hyrule Castle. It was late in the night as he could tell, and he didn't mind taking the trip on foot, or at least until he could get to the nearest stable to rent out a horse. He needed to get out of here before a certain Zora Princess caught up to him.
"Master Link!"
For the love of Ganon, he was never going to get out of here.
He whirled on the fish, the domain spinning slightly as he focused. Perhaps he was not yet at one hundred percent. A tall, green Zora was running up to him, a webbed hand outstretched, as though he really thought that he could stop him from leaving.
"Master Link," the Zora beseeched, "Why are you out of bed? You have yet to have been cleared by our lead physician."
Well, if Mipha had it her way, the lead physician would never clear Link.
Link schooled his expression, taking in the look of the long and languid Zora. No doubt, he could outrun the trout, that much was certain, but the entire way back was along the Zora River, and no doubt could the fish man out swim him.
He would need to talk his way out of this one, "Good evening," Link said, "Or morning perhaps? Either way, I want to thank the Zora for their hospitality during my stay here, but I really do need to be getting back to Hyrule Castle. The Princess is set to go on an excursion soon, and I really must be there to accompany her."
"But Master Link," the fish protested, "Your arm – it has not finished healing yet. There were toxins found in your blood; toxins that we had never seen before. We need to make sure that you have completely healed before sending you back to the Princess."
"I can assure you, that -"
"Link."
Oh, no.
Mipha came from around the corner, as Link looked towards her. The beginnings of the suns rays were just glowing over Shatterback Point – it was morning, presumably. She glided over towards him as gentle as the rain, her face awash with varying degrees of relief and tenderness.
"It's good to see that you're finally awake," Mipha said, her eyes alight, "You've been so very sick the past few days… you're looking so much better. It's good that you arrived to us when you did. Any later, and we might have been too late."
Mipha took his right arm in her webbed hands. Something must have possessed Link, for he let her, as she slowly unwrapped the bandage on his arm. Link remained silent throughout all of this, as Mipha inspected his arm. In the early rays of dawn, the Zora began to set about their day, and very quickly were the two of them gaining an audience.
Mipha looked around the center of town, a thoughtful look on her face, "Link, do you feel well enough to walk?" Link nodded, "Let's go some place private, and we will get this all taken care of for you."
Mipha then took his hand in hers as she took him out of the center of the Domain. Link, surprisingly, let her, as he saw this as a means to an end. Perhaps once she healed him one last time, he would be let go to go back to Hyrule Castle.
How ironic now was it that the place of his childhood summers was now feeling much like his prison.
She took him across the western bridge in the Domain and up the winding stairs leading to the East Reservoir Lake. As they reached the top of the stairs, Link gasped as he saw the colossal Divine Beast Vah Ruta sitting expectantly near the docks, with its trunk lowered. Vah Ruta seemed to be larger than Rudania yet smaller than Naboris, and yet still towered over menacingly and ominously. Mipha pulled Link forward, a twinkle in her eye, towards her waiting Divine Beast.
Vah Ruta, much like Vah Naboris, seemed to move of its own accord. It made sense, seeing as how correspondence from Zelda suggested Mipha and Urbosa had the best handle on their beasts. As they approached, the trunk of the beast lowered, so that way it was level with the docks. They stepped onto the top of the trunk, and before Link was ready, the trunk was lifted higher and higher in the air. From here, they seemed to be higher than the peaks of Shatterback Point, though Link knew rationally that was unlikely. He could, however, see more of Hyrule from this vantage point, with Hyrule Castle being naught but a spec on the land.
The land seemed peaceful from up here, but Link supposed that peaceful was good: let the country fall into that false sense of security. It would only make Ganon's annihilation of them all the more satisfying.
Yes, it seemed Link was feeling much better.
"I had wanted to bring you up here at sunset," Mipha confessed, not quite meeting his eyes, "The rays of dusk from the top of Vah Ruta are really quite splendid. However," she paused, looking out towards where the sun had just peaked over the horizon, "I suppose that the dawn is stunning in its own right."
Mipha motioned for Link to give her his arm, and he complied, placing it in her webbed hand wrist up. He braced himself for the pain to come from her healing powers, but was pleasantly surprised to find that he only felt a faint tingling coming from his wrist.
Even years later, her healing magic was quite spectacular, Link had to admit. The way the magic soothed and knitted the skin back together was something that Link would never get used to. In his tenure with the Yiga Clan, Link had wondered if their ancient magic could be used as a self-healing technique. However, such a thing had yet to be discovered, and the ability remained an exclusive to the Zora.
"I was thinking," Mipha broke the silence, looking up into his eyes, "This reminds me of the time we first met."
Link couldn't remember the exact first time that he had met her, so he opted for a, "How so?"
Mipha laughed lightly, "You were just a reckless child," she responded, "Just about four years of age when you first came to the Domain. Always getting yourself hurt at every turn. You were covered in bruises, even as a young boy. I remember how your face lit up when you first saw my healing magic. Every time you visited, I would heal you, just as I'm doing right now. I thought it was funny how, being a Hylian, you looked grown up so much faster than I did."
Yes, it was as though the Zora Princess was blissfully unaware in her enamor of him of the stark differences in the aging cycles of Hylians and the Zora.
"I was… I was always willing to heal your wounds, even back then."
Mipha was silent for a moment, as she figured out what words to use next. Link could practically see the wheels turning in her head, as she figured out how to put her thoughts into words.
"Link, I don't want for you to take this the wrong way," Mipha continued, "I know that you had mentioned that your mother had died, and I can only imagine the hurt and sorrow you had gone through. But Link, where did you go? Why did you run away from everyone?"
What could he tell her, the truth? Certainly, he could tell her that the last five years had found him enlisted with the Yiga Clan, worshipping a deity that helped him feel anger and hatred, which was better than nothing at all.
Mipha continued, "It was as though you had disappeared completely from the world. No one had heard from you, no one had seen you, and no one had known where you went. Bazz and the others, we even went as far as to go to Deya Village to see if you were still there. But your home – it had been destroyed. Furniture was broken, curtains were ripped. My first thought had been that you had been kidnapped and killed. Those thoughts haunted me until just this past year, when suddenly there you were, wielding the Master Sword."
"I'm sorry that I had worried you," Link whispered, yet on the inside, he was seething. His mother had died and throughout all of his anguish, Mipha was selfish enough to worry only about herself.
"It's not your fault," Mipha whispered, though Link could see in her eyes that it was not completely heartfelt, "I had just sent so many letters – and after a while, the courier refused to deliver them, saying that there was no one there named Link to accept the mail. Link, where did you go, if not back here to the Domain? We would have been there for you."
Stick to the truths. The last thing Link needed was to be caught red handed in a lie.
"I travelled the world," truth. As a grunt of the clan, he had been sent on field expeditions early on in his career. More than once, did he see someone from his past that would have been sure to recognize him, but with a flick of his wrist and a little ancient magic, he was deemed unrecognizable, and his past would walk right past him.
"But where did you go?" Mipha pressed.
Now Link was getting angry, "Hebra, Gerudo, Akkala – you name it."
"But not Lanayru?"
"Excuse me for not wanting to be confronted by my past," Link snapped, retracting his arm like she had burned him and not soothed him, "and excuse me for not wanting to see the one person that could have healed my mother."
It was a low blow, and he knew it, but he didn't care. Mipha's eyes grew wide as she lifted her hand up, the glowing dying down.
"Link…" Mipha whispered, her voice harsh even in its delicate tones, "If I could have done anything for your mother, I would have. But there was nothing that I could have done, and you know this!"
A webbed hand clamped over her mouth, as the words spilled out of her before she could stop herself.
"That was insensitive of me," Mipha whispered, her voice urgent and pleading, "It wasn't my place to say that, I'm sorry."
Link sighed, giving his wrist back to Mipha in a sort of offering, "I know it's not your fault, Mipha. My mother's sickness was something that had to ride its course. Either she would get better on her own, or she wouldn't: and clearly, she didn't. But let me be clear about one thing. I'm not the same person you knew growing up. My mother's death changed me. I needed a change of scenery, and I did not want to be confronted by anything from my past, whether related to her or not."
Mipha resumed healing, her eyes flickering up towards his, "It was just bizarre to me, how for five years, no one had even caught wind of you, and then right as our efforts to eradicate Calamity Ganon reach its peak, you reappeared, all of a sudden, wielding the Master Sword."
Warning bells went off in Link's head. It was almost as though she was about to connect the dots about his past. All she needed was the last piece of the puzzle, his allegiance with a certain organization. Luckily, however, she posed little threat to him. So long as she didn't mention what she knew to a certain Commander of the Hyrulean Royal Army, he would be just fine.
He played it cool, as he said, "Well, Hyrule needed a hero, so I took a stab at the blade."
Mipha giggled at his bad joke, her eyes casting downwards towards his arm. The wound closed up then, with only a small, raised white scar as proof that he had ever been injured. Link turned his wrist over, flexing his grip. Not even a bit of residual pain was leftover.
Mipha looked back up at him then, her eyes twinkling, "So if this Calamity Ganon does, in fact, return, what can we really do?"
They could all cast their allegiance towards their new Demon King and hope and pray that he would show some leniency and preference towards them.
"We just don't seem to know much about what we'll be up against," Mipha continued, shaking her head and looking out towards the Domain.
"The only thing that we can do is prepare the best that we can," Link replied vaguely, as Mipha nodded.
"But know this," Mipha said, "that no matter how difficult this battle may get… if you… if anyone ever tries to do you harm… then I will heal you. No matter when, or how bad the wound… I hope you know… that I will always protect you."
Link had his face in perfect neutrality as his insides churned. This was about as close as this timid trout was going to get to a love confession, wasn't it? Luckily for him, it didn't seem that she was going to have the guts to actually say the words or demand an answer from him. She was absolutely shaking, with her hands folded in her lap, struggling to keep still.
"Once this whole thing is over," Mipha continued, and Link's stomach dropped, "Maybe things could go back to how they used to be when we were young."
Well, if only that were the case, but as far as he knew, there was no way for Link to ever bring his mother back to him.
"You know… perhaps we could spend some time together," Mipha said, and she looked at him with those eyes that she had used on him when he was just a child, and quite honest, in hindsight it was just as creepy now as it was then.
Link sighed, brushing his hair back from his face, "As much as I would like that, I think for the time being, our efforts need to be focused on the threat at large. There are too many unknowns that go along with the return of Calamity Ganon."
"But… perhaps after?" Mipha pressed, with a hopelessly hopeful look in her eyes.
If he told her yes, just to get her off of his case, she would hold onto those words and that promise until her dying breath.
Which, he could arrange.
And yet, the last thing that he wanted to deal with was a vile thing clinging to him that he would have to shake off like a serpent.
If he told her no, however… it would absolutely break her. And while Link truly didn't care about the trout's feelings, he still held pause in retrospect of his past friendship with her, no matter how distant their childhood felt.
Link sighed, looking into Mipha's eyes for the first time that morning, "Perhaps," he settled on, "You said it best yourself: we just don't know what we'll be up against when Ganon makes his return. Let's talk about this again once all of this is said and done."
Mipha nodded, a large smile encompassing her face, "Very well. I will hold you to that promise."
Should everything go according to plan, once all this was said and done, she would not be alive to hold him to anything.
The Divine Beast Vah Ruta lowered soon after that, and Link was led towards his members of the Royal Guard who had taken the trip with him to Zora's Domain. The first of the two had his arm in a sling, and the second of the two had a gash on her temple: apparently, the two of them had received moderate injuries from the Lizalfos on the path to the domain along the Zora River. It was made clear to Link that two of his guard – two of his knights in the Royal Guard – could not adequately hold their own against a few meager Lizalfos wielding Lizal Spears and perhaps the occasional Shock Arrow.
Link made a mental note to increase his guard's training. It only looked bad on him that his guard was incompetent.
The trip back to Hyrule Castle was to take two and a half days with the wagon. Luckily, there had not been a Blood Moon since he was taken to the domain, and so all of the monsters that had been dispatched along the path had not been revived. However, the journey was slow, and his two guards droned on and on about stories and tales that held absolutely zero interest to Link. It was a special kind of torture. What had he possibly done to deserve this?
There was a small stable at the crossroads of Lanayru: between the way to the domain and the way north, to Akkala and Eldin. Link hastily bid his goodbyes to the two members of his guard at this stable and rented out a horse. Once back to the castle, he could send a servant back to the small stable to return the horse. It was short and stocky – it wouldn't be able to sprint for very long – but it would get the job done.
Anything to get away from the insufferable tones of those two guards.
He spurred the horse onwards, and went off in a lackluster and anticlimactic gallop towards the east, moving onwards past Goponga Village, and into Central Hyrule. The trip back would cut down at least half a day on the journey.
As Link crossed the Thims Bridge, he was met with a lone traveler on the side of the road, his torch illuminating a small radius around him. Link slowed his horse considerably, making eye contact with the traveler. The man said nothing, as Link passed, his eyes bearing into him, as though there were a question sitting on his tongue, unasked and unanswered.
It was not until Link saw the glint of the Vicious Sickle poking out of the bottom of the traveler's jacket that his suspicions were confirmed that he was of his clan. The Foot Soldier had half a mind to let him pass, which was more than Link would have thought, but he still felt a sort of displaced animosity towards the soldier – as though he were staring back at the three Yiga Foot Soldier's in the Gerudo Desert.
It was twilight as Link brought the horse into a slow trot into Castle Town. Link handed off the reins to the horse to a servant boy with a silver rupee, and made his way back into the castle. Truth be told, it felt good to be back: back to the castle, back to his routine.
Back to waiting for his cue to strike down the Princess.
