4

I woke long before Sarah the next morning, motionless as the reality from the night before sank back in. For a good while I felt no urge to get up from the warmth of Sarah's body, fearful I would never feel it again should I let go.

Yet I knew what needed to be done. So far as I knew, no one but Sarah had survived the onslaught, and she was in no condition to do anything at the moment. Reluctantly, I let go of her and collected myself. I pulled myself up to a stand making sure not to wake Sarah from her slumber, thankful that her cough had reduced to a faint wheezing and allowed her to get some sleep.

With daylight peeking through from east of the treetops, I could make out the dim outline of the remnants of Mycenia. Thin trails of smoke wafted into the sky, bringing the smell of it along the gentle wind. It almost masked the stench of death that permeated the clearing. Eyes adjusting to the low light, I saw just how extensive the damage from the night before truly was. Homesteads were nothing but crumpled heaps of black wood, charred and relinquishing nothing of what once was inside them. Fences were hacked and split apart with little care as to how, as if passing through them had carried an immediacy to it. Not even the crops were spared, most of them being trampled and dug up with the same indifference as the fences around them. Familiar faces could be seen on the ground, as unmoving as when I had stumbled upon them the night before. This all stretched across the clearing from edge to edge.

It was a demoralizing sight. I didn't know where to even start. Stretching to get the sleep out of my system, I decided to try by checking what remained of the toolshed at the edge of the village.

There wasn't much left of it. Any useful weapons or tools inside the wreckage were no longer usable, causing me to decide to scrape up whatever I could find amongst the various rubble in the clearing. It would also be an opportunity to check if anyone else was still alive, though a part of me knew that it was unlikely.

My mind wandered momentarily to Uunco. Was he okay? Had he survived the night out in the wilderness? Had he managed to find food and shelter? I knew he had the axe with him when he fell into the ravine, but did he lose it in the fall or when he was swept away by the river? There were too many variables, and trying to account for every possibility was stressing me out before the day even began.

"Hang in there," I said, as if he could hear me. "Just hang in there, Uunco."

I took a deep breath in preparation, then set out to retrieve whatever I could find amongst the ruins.

It took two hours for me to finally give in and end my search. The smell of scorched timber and the burnt taste it left in my mouth had coupled with cooked flesh to make lingering around the ash piles too much to bear. I put distance between me and the homesteads as I contemplated the results of my efforts.

It had not been fruitless, considering just how vicious the attack had been. Through sheer luck, a shovel had retained its integrity during the attack, and I made sure to grab it in preparation for grave digging. One body still had a functioning satchel, which I decided to make use of in case I came across any small tools. At the very least, it could hold any food I came across. I ended up using it for that very purpose as I pocketed some surviving root vegetables not completely devastated during the attack.

During those two hours, I had found little in the way of survivors. Near one smoldering heap I discovered a villager clinging to life, unconscious, but their wounds were too grievous and they were unresponsive. Another body passed in my arms, reacting to me cradling him weakly before going limp and joining the ranks of the dead. By the time I returned to the former survivor, they too had passed on. I found no one else even remotely alive after that.

Not ready to process the new deaths (and how me waking earlier could have possibly prevented them), I instead made my way over to the center of the village, a makeshift shared space now empty save for the occasional body. This was where I was going to begin setting graves for everyone. I found a suitable spot where the soil wasn't too hard, and with a deep breath I set myself to digging the first grave.

I wasn't the best with a shovel, but I did have experience digging holes, which helped to save a little bit of time. That said, fatigue settled in and I had to take a break partway through the first grave to regain my strength. I took a swig of the water in my waterskin and wiped the sweat from my face. The sun was in the process of rising still, telling me it had not yet hit noon. The awfulness of my surroundings had not changed, so I decided to try to cheer myself up by checking on Sarah.

She was still out when I reached her. In the light of day, the burns I caught last night looked redder against the paleness of her skin. She looked as if she had rolled around in dirt, her dress splotched with grime and legs smeared with it from our crawling and stumbling the night before. Her breathing was slow and light. The fact that she hadn't woken up set a slight panic in me, and I had half a mind to wake her then and there to make sure she was okay. It took everything within me to convince myself that she needed sleep and to let her get some rest. I kissed her lightly on the forehead, then returned to the gravesite to continue digging.

It was starting to become clear to me, looking down at my hole a few feet deep, that repeating this process for every body in sight was going to be infeasible and take days, if not weeks. Were Sarah in better shape, I would ask her to help with the digging, but obviously that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. A morbid part of me considered putting the process off and finding Uunco to help, despite that action leaving bodies out to sit for likely days.

No, I told myself. Just keep digging. Shovel into the dirt, foot down on the blade to give it more of a foothold in the earth, then leverage to scoop the soil out. Repeat until I needed another break.

I startled when a voice called out to me. "Link…?" I looked up from my work to see Sarah wandering over slowly, uneasy on her feet.

"Sarah!" I called out, climbing out of the hole to approach her. I caught her as she shook and lost balance. She coughed and clutched onto me like a lifeline as I eased her back to a stand. "Are you feeling better?"

"I don't know," she said, then coughed again. It was an ugly sound. "It...it hurts to breathe." It sounded as if she'd been crying.

That wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I didn't let it show on my face. "It's okay…" I held her close, and she kissed me in return. "We'll figure something out. Maybe I can grind up some medicinal salve to try to treat your burns."

"The elder might have some left," she mumbled into my tunic.

I jolted with sudden realization. The elder! That's right! I hadn't thought to check his hut and see if he and Therel had survived the attack. Elder Jaq had been the last thing on my mind after the shock of the previous night. "We should probably check up on him."

She coughed as I stroked some light tangles out of her hair. "Are you digging graves…?"

"Yeah. Trying to, at least."

"I don't know if…" She sniffed. "I don't know if we have time. Those...things could come back."

It struck me how dull and overwhelmed my mind was from each new issue it processed. There was too much to consider for the next course of action; I needed more information. "Let's sit down. Tell me what happened last night." I helped her down to the ground, and we took a seat as the sun began to bear down from its noontime position.

She didn't know where to begin. "Link, it was dreadful. I...I don't want to think about it."

I leaned in close, holding her hands for comfort. "I need to know what we're dealing with to keep us safe. You don't have to go into details, honey. Just as much as you're comfortable with."

She was quiet for a moment. "I never saw the monsters themselves. Not really. I was...I was in the house when I heard shouting and...and a scream. Caw came in and…" She trailed off.

I squeezed her hands. "I'm glad Caw was looking out for you. I don't know what I'd do if…" His face, marred and unmoving, appeared in a flash of recollection, and I couldn't finish my sentence.

"He, he told me to hide under the bed. That…" She was sniffling now. "That you'd be back soon. He left after that. I didn't see anyone else because he closed the door. But I...I heard them. There were…" Her eyes welled up with tears. "There were screams, and shrieking...the things, they, they sounded like…like animals. They, they…" She shook. "Oh Wind Fish, I can't—"

"Shh." I held her close, and she gave no resistance as she began sobbing. There was no need for her to go on. "It's okay. I'm here. It's over…"

We stayed like that for a while, her letting out her grief and me unable to think as I comforted her. Our world seemed small at that moment, with nothing mattering but the two of us. I was made acutely aware of each cough that punctuated her sobs, and it was all I could focus on as I ran my hand through her hair. I really needed to grab some salve to treat her burns sooner than later.

She ended our embrace as she turned away and hacked out more of whatever was in her lungs. "W-what do we...what do we do now?"

I stared out at nothing, concentrating entirely on our options. The most immediate one was to grab Sarah, gather whatever we could and head straight for Elder Jaq's hut with the vain hope that he or the medicinal salve we brought in offering had survived the monsters. Survivors and medicine meant a better shot at outlasting whatever was to come after this tragedy. Alternatively, we could stay and focus on paying respects to the dead as I resume work on the graves for my fallen people. The amount of time it would take was a powerful variable, one that could be mitigated if Therel or Uunco arrived at the village in the following day or so. Finally, given the assumption that I find a safe place for Sarah to hide, I could set out and find Uunco as I had meant to do since we were separated. This was risky and impulsive, but a part of me needed to know he was okay that I could not completely silence. His relatively unknown fate was almost worse than the finality of Caw's to me.

"Link?" I focused on her as she coughed again, waiting for my answer.

"Let's go find the elder," I said with finality. Sarah's health was priority number one right now. "We need to see if he's okay, and we need to treat your burns."

"O-okay." I helped her stand up, and for a moment our eyes lingered on the half-finished grave. "We should...we should bury Caw."

My gut twisted with the thought. "Your health comes first."

"I know. I know, but…" She seemed to almost reconsider, likely realizing that it meant seeing Caw's body. "We need to. It's the least we can do."

I thought about my friend and everything he had done for me. His loyalty and his attempt to protect Sarah in my absence. Leaving him above ground to rot would make me sick. "Okay. We can't bury him deep, but I can put him in the hole I've started. We'll do that." I nodded, reassuring myself. "Yeah, we'll do that."

I told her to stay put and went to retrieve his body. He was right where I left him, gazing at the sun and unmoving like a statue. I crouched down and found that he was now cold and rigid. His skin was pale save for where his body touched the ground, discolored a light purple I realized was from his blood.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you," I told him, receiving only silence as a reply. "Thank you for everything, old friend. I'm sorry." Lifting him up, I powered through the strain of the dead weight and made my way back to the center of the village.

Sarah had to look away as I slowly brought him to the makeshift grave. It upset her to have this image of him ingrained as a final memory, and I didn't blame her when she turned entirely away from the grave. Setting him down on the ground, I hopped into the hole before gently lowering him to the bed three feet in. I climbed out and gave him one last look before taking the shovel and beginning to pile dirt onto his corpse.

The process of refilling the hole was much quicker than digging it. Sarah watched me quietly as I worked through it gradually, feeling exhausted from the day's work. Eventually my task was finished, and where Caw once lay stood a small mound of dirt. Dropping the shovel, I made my way over to the heap that was once the mess hall and found a suitable plank of blackened wood. Returning to the grave I set it in the ground as a marker, the best I could do for Caw in the limited time we had.

I approached Sarah and helped her back up. She leaned on me for support, and I felt a bit overprotective given her precarious state. I thought she might ask me to bury her parents, but she must have known from my lack of mentioning it that they had burned alive in their home.

"Are you ready?" I asked her, wanting nothing more than to finally leave this desolate place.

"Mhm." Taking her hand and giving one last glance to the solemn grave, I led her out of our former village and towards the elder's hut.

We made a stop to pick some edible berries to serve as a meal. It wasn't enough to sate me given the manual labor I'd exerted all day, but it was a start that I greatly appreciated now that I was away from the horror that was Mycenia. We saved some in the satchel for later, giving me an opportunity to take inventory. The satchel itself held the aforementioned berries as well as enough root vegetables to last us a few days. While Sarah had nothing but the dress on her back and her marriage bracelet, I still had my knife and waterskin on my person to cover water and a touch of security. Despite knowing it was there, my hand subconsciously went to the pendant around my neck, running fingers over the smooth jewel encased within. I let Sarah rest for a moment before we resumed our journey.

We had seen nothing of the creatures that had devastated our home, and their absence was somehow more worrying than comforting. The forest was quieter than usual, which put me on high alert anytime I heard the snapping of twigs or brushing of foliage. Each time I tensed at a suspicious sound Sarah's hand gripped just a little bit tighter, and no moment felt truly safe.

It was not long before we reached the stream. I let Sarah gulp down the last of the liquid in my waterskin before I refilled it. Taking a moment to splash our faces with clear water let us feel just a small bit rejuvenated before we began the trek north upstream.

It was surreal, making this journey with Sarah a second time. Where three months prior we had been rushing up with firewood and barely having room to breathe, now we moved slowly with purpose, taking in the glow of the forest as our sense of dread gradually increased. Supporting her as we walked let me feel each cough she let slip, and my mind wandered to her condition. I was beginning to fear that her breathing situation would never get better, and the idea of it scared me.

I forced myself to think about our upcoming encounter with the elder, and a sinking feeling weighed me down as I remembered my transgression against the village creeds. An upsetting notion filled me that the attack on the village could very well have been my fault. Had our breaking of the Wind Fish's creeds caused us to lose its blessing?

"What's wrong?" Sarah had caught on to my sudden apprehension.

"I…" A sigh escaped my lips. "I think this is my fault, Sarah."

"What do you mean?"

I couldn't bring myself to look at her, so I focused on looking out for the mysterious monsters as I explained to her the details from yesterday's hunt. I grew nervous as she said nothing and let me talk, her attention entirely on my words. A feeling of wanting to retract everything I'd said creeped up, but I pushed through.

I shook my head as I finished. "Everything that's happened has coincided with our hunt from yesterday. It must be punishment from the Wind Fish."

Her hand squeezed my shoulder. "Link. You can't know that until we confide in the elder. Until we know for sure, you can't beat yourself up over it."
"I absolutely can, and will."

"Then I'll make sure you don't." She stopped us so that she could hold my head to hers. "Right now, we need to survive. We can make amends and offerings later. I'm just glad to be alive."

"I know. I know." I shook my head as we resumed the trek. "You're right. We need to move forward first." Smiling back at her I added, "It's good to see you a bit more composed. I was afraid...of the fire and its effects on you."

"I'll be okay." She coughed. "I think. We just need to find the elder and…" She trailed off, and I followed her line of sight.

From the distance it became clear to me that the bank near the river was disturbed and the sand trampled. Closing the gap I made out more of the large boot prints and unusually sized hoofprints that had littered the grounds of the village. They trailed in from the forest and made their way northbound, and I realized that they were heading straight for the elder's hut.

My mind blasted through many possibilities. Whether the elder was alive or not, whether the monsters were still there at the hut, whether they were lying in wait for survivors. I took no action until Sarah prodded me to suggest we keep going. We said nothing and moved forward, hoping against hope that Jaq and Therel made it out okay.

By the time we reached the slab of stone the elder's hut sat upon, the sun had begun to tilt westward and push the shadow of the hut to our right. As we grew closer my nervousness subsided and was replaced by confusion.

The hut seemed untouched. It stood as it did three months prior, aged and worn by the weather but structurally sound. The tracks that we had followed up now made a circular motion around the perimeter and scattered various directions into the forest. On the inner rim of the tracks towards the hut was a near perfect inner circle of scorched earth, as if a ring of fire had risen from the earth and shielded the property.

Making sure Sarah could stand on her own for a bit I crouched down and inspected the burnt dirt. "What in the world happened here?"

"Maybe the Wind Fish acted and protected the elder's home?"

A part of me found something awful and cynical in that idea, but I chose not to voice it. "Given the tracks are all moving in random directions, whatever was here probably got frightened."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. Uunco would be able to tell for sure, though."

She noticed my expression darken at the reminder of Uunco's whereabouts. "He'll find his way back. Everyone knows he was getting to be the best hunter in the village—"

In the distance, the crack of a branch rang.

We shut up immediately. I motioned for Sarah to get down, and she stifled her coughing as she found a tree to hide behind. I lifted myself up from my crouch so that I could make my way towards the forest.

The sound came from the west. I held my breath, listening. Through the nearby thickets, I caught the stirring of grass. Every step I took was a creeping motion, parting dirt beneath my feet. My knife was now drawn.

I exhaled. The sound closed in. My body tensed, and I drew in another breath to prepare for the motion of stabbing.

The thickets shook. I waited to make my move.

Bursting from the shrubbery came Therel, a crude club in his hands mid-swing. He had a wild look in his eyes as he locked on to my forward motion to meet him. Recognition hit us both partway into the act, and we both careened violently to the side in an attempt to halt our blows. I caught myself on a tree to the left as Therel made a sharp turn and spun in place, slowing to regain his balance.

We took a moment to process what had just happened. Adrenaline was still high in our systems. Sarah peeked out from her hiding spot.

"Therel?" I said after a moment.

He said nothing as he looked between me and Sarah, as if registering that we were in fact real and in front of him. "Link...I thought you were one of the beasts."

I slumped my shoulders in relief. "Thank the Wind Fish you're alive! We'd assumed the worst."

"I could say the same to you." He lowered his club. "I didn't fully believe the elder when he told me to wait for you...but here you are."

"Wait, the elder was expecting me?" My heart sank, and Sarah and I exchanged looks.

Therel began making his way to the hut. "Follow me. We'll be safe inside." We decided to take him up on his offer.

The interior, while mostly untouched, was more barren than last I saw it, and it contained a couple of oddities that drew my attention. While the altar and marriage setup's absence made the space roomier than before, one of the beech beds had been overturned, the mattress taking up considerable space on the floor. My eyes lingered on that for a moment before being drawn to the fireplace, which was lit but missing the cooking pot above it. Most strange, however, was the fire itself: it glowed not orange but a blue lighter than the sky outside.

"You caught me coming back from checking one of my traps for rabbits," Therel said as he set the club down at the table. He approached the strange fire and stoked it. "I figured you wouldn't appear in such a small window of time, but look how things turned out."

"What...is that fire?" I asked. It lit the interior with a bluish tint, but oddly enough the room felt cooler than the outside air.

"And where is the elder?" I thanked Sarah internally for keeping us on track.

"This flame is a gift from the Wind Fish. It is a sacred fire that, so long as it is lit, will drive away the foul beasts that have descended upon this forest. The elder, in the meantime, has gone to convene with the Wind Fish regarding what has transpired." He turned to face us, his expression grim. "I have been passed a decree from the elder to deliver to you, Link. It's imperative that you follow it, for it is the will of the Wind Fish itself."

I swallowed spit. "Of course. I'm ready for it."

Therel spoke now with an authority rarely heard from him, as if he were channeling Elder Jaq's very spirit in his decree. "Link, son of Mycenia Village, that which is no more: upon this cycle of the moon you have broken the creeds of your people and defied the good will of your patron god. Your actions have brought great misfortune to these woods, a dark stain that cannot be washed out. For this, the Wind Fish commands: Take upon yourself the sacred offering beneath a bed of beech. Hold close the token of your manhood, that which defines you. Set out for the east, for you are to be exiled from these lands, never to return. So speaketh the Wind Fish."

I felt the color drain from my face. My body went rigid, my mind reeling from the words. My fists clenched, gripping at nothing. I dared not look at Sarah to gauge her reaction.

"Do you understand?"

"I…" I knew it. Of course. Of course this was my fault. How could it not be? All I had needed to do to avoid this tragedy was to have gone home empty-handed when Uunco challenged my stupid suggestion. His fate, Caw's, and all the others were on my hands, and I no longer belonged to this home. Exile was the lightest punishment I could have received for this.

And yet… "I still need to find Uunco. I can't leave without him."

Therel was not deterred. "You are exiled. Nothing you do or say can change what the Wind Fish has decided. It'd be most unwise to challenge it."

"He's still out there. He shouldn't be punished for my actions, Therel."

"Regardless of how you feel, you must leave this forest. Even if you tried to locate him, the beasts out there have likely found and killed him. Link, don't contest this."

I would have done exactly that had Sarah not grabbed my arm. "Link, there's nothing we can do," she said.

"But—"

"We don't know what could happen if you press this. You said he fell down a ravine, right?"

"Well, yes…"

"I'm not in any shape to be climbing up or down those kinds of inclines. Assuming we even find that same area you guys wandered off to."

I made a face in response. "Obviously you wouldn't be out there doing that kind of traveling. You'd be—"

"What? Waiting here in the elder's hut?" She stopped to cough for a moment, then regained composure with a fierce expression. "I'm not leaving your side, Link. Not after what happened last night!"

I looked to Therel for help, as if he'd reassure me that he'd watch over Sarah here, but he took no part in the argument. "Sarah…"

"I wouldn't be able to stand it. Wondering if you were going to come back, or if you were alive or dead...clearly you feel that way about Uunco, but you're not even considering that I'd feel the exact same way about your departure." She looked on the verge of tears. "Think about my feelings for once. Please."

I relented. "I...okay. I'm sorry for not considering your feelings, Sarah." It was not going to be easy to hold back my concern for Uunco, but I needed to focus on what was right in front of me. I turned to address Therel. "The elder's decree mentioned to take some of the salve offerings. Is there any left for me to treat Sarah with?"

He motioned towards the overturned bed in the corner. "The elder had me keep some of the offerings as backup in a small cavity in the floor underneath his bed. It's been overturned so that he could bring them as emergency offerings, but he left a pouch of it for you to take with you in your exile."

I made my way over to the corner, stepping awkwardly around the overturned mattress. As Therel had said, a small indent in the stone floor was now revealed, and within it a small pouch the size of my palm. I crouched and lifted it off the floor, palming it to get a feel for how much of the paste was within. About half full, maybe a bit less. It was enough to work with.

Placing the pouch in my satchel, I returned to Sarah's side and faced Therel. "I guess this is the last time we'll see each other."

"It will be. I wish you luck out there; the elder has spoken of nothing but horror beyond the veil of the forest. Know that should Uunco arrive here at the hut, I will grant him sanctuary until the elder returns to pass judgment."

"Thank you." That alone passed for comfort despite Therel's final words. It'd likely be all I had for the foreseeable future regarding Uunco's safety.

He bowed. "May you find the Wind Fish's blessing again one day."

I thanked the Wind Fish for at least giving me a treatment for Sarah. Returning the bow, I helped Sarah out of the hut. Giving one last glance back at the beacon of safety, we steeled ourselves and began the trek eastward.

As the day gradually crept into twilight, we found ourselves stepping into a part of Lyna Forest that neither of us had seen before. Unlike the western reaches of the forest, where the boles of trees became thicker and sturdier, here the canopy thinned out and undergrowth flourished from the stronger sunlight. Shrubs littered the open space between tree trunks, and my eyes lingered on rhododendrons in the last stages of bloom with magenta flowers.

The entire way, miraculously, we came across no monsters. The most threatening thing we experienced was a light spook from a bush rustling until a pair of rabbits dashed out before us. The absence of whatever horror had descended upon Mycenia was lulling me into a false sense of security, but deep down I knew that we still had no idea what we were actually facing out in these woods.

Despite taking a moment to apply some of the salve to Sarah's burns, it did nothing to alleviate the issues with her lungs. Her coughing gradually returned to an awful intensity that mirrored the night I rescued her, and my concern could not be hidden behind a facade of comfort. "I'll be okay," she insisted at one point in our travels while doubled over between chokes. "I just need...just need to sleep it off." That did nothing to assure me, but at her insistence we carried onward.

Soon, daylight began to fade into the amber glow of twilight. Our feet and calves burned from the long journey, and my stomach rumbled from a hunger I had resisted the whole way. I let Sarah sit down and took to preparing a campfire for warmth. Sarah watched as I brought various twigs and dry brush into a small pile and started a small fire. Pulling out some berries and root vegetables, I handed a few to her before taking a few bites myself. When she choked and gestured at me I passed the waterskin, and she took a deep drink before returning it to me in thanks. That seemed to soothe the beast that was her ailment for a bit.

We were quiet as the light faded into darkness, watching the flames licking the air and listening to the crackling that accompanied them. I spaced for a moment, mesmerized by the reminder of last night's events. As if from nothing, the bodies flashed before my eyes in recollection, and the smell of cooked flesh returned to my nose. My appetite faded with the remembrance. Caw's face, marred and gazing at nothing, appeared as a phantom in the flames, and I shook out of the trance. Glancing over at Sarah, it was clear that she was taking the fire about as poorly as I was.

I touched her arm, and she jolted as if I had shocked her with electricity. "Link…"

"It's okay," I said. "It's over."

"I know." We returned to silence, and I took a swig from the waterskin. Seeking a distraction from the fire, I looked up to the sky.

Through the opening in the canopy, the night sky had faded into a stellar blanket of indigo. I made out one of the constellations of the summer sky despite the treetops blocking part of it. Seeing familiarity above me had a calming effect, and my mind focused on connecting the dots in the sky. My hand grasped the pendant about my neck, rubbing the smooth gem and feeling the metallic touch of the silver casing.

"...Say." Sarah's quiet voice drew my attention. "Your trip into the forest."

"Mhm. What about it?"

She searched for words. "Why...why did you go so far out of your way to find a big catch for the village?" She let the question hang in the air before adding, "It was really uncharacteristic of you, both the hunting and the breaking of the village creed."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Yeah, I suppose it was."

"I've been thinking about it. Ever since we got married, you've been acting oddly. I know you have, because you won't talk to me about it."

"That wasn't my intention."

I heard her readjust her sitting position. "I know. But I can't help if I'm being shut out. Sometimes it feels like I'm talking to a wall, my words being bounced back at me without being taken in." My eyes shot open when I felt her hands settle on my arm. I met her gaze. "You need to talk to me, Link."

I was at a loss for words as the brilliance of her eyes reflected the dancing flames. It took a moment for me to compose myself. "Yeah…yeah. I've been really bad about that lately." I thought back to all the moments I could have opened up to her, but simply chose not to. "It's something that I was thinking about, the other day...a need to apologize."

Recognition flashed in her eyes. "Wait. Did you head that far out into the forest for me?"

I looked away, embarrassed to admit it. "Well, Caw said I needed to do a proper apology, maybe with a gift...I figured a big catch would be just the thing to start that conversation off."

She hit my arm playfully. "I can't believe you. Why didn't you just talk to me?"

"It's complicated."

"No, it's not. You just made a mountain out of a molehill, didn't you?"

I didn't want to answer that, and my obvious embarrassment and childishness seemed to finally do the trick. She started laughing. "It's not funny. I was really worried that I was ruining our marriage!" She laughed harder, and her mirth erupted then into the worst coughing fit yet. I hurriedly steadied her from falling to the side. "Careful! You're going to hurt yourself if you don't take it easy!"

After a moment she croaked out, "I'm okay, I'm okay." She collected herself with a final cough. "Just...it's funny. Is this our first marriage spat?"

I didn't know how to take that, and paused. "Why is that funny?"

She leaned up against me, her face nuzzled into my neck as I wrapped an arm around her. "I always thought it was going to be over something big and dramatic, y'know? But here we are, and you won't talk about your feelings." She giggled. "After everything that's happened, it seems so silly."

I thought it over as we rocked back and forth, my eyes back up to the sky. "I guess it does seem a little silly."

Sarah sighed. "I hope this is the worst of it. That everything after doesn't compare."

"I hope so, too."

That was all that needed to be said. We took in the moment wordlessly, two lost souls under a sea of stars. In the quiet embrace of the forest, warmth radiating from the lit fire before us, I thought to myself just how lucky I was that I still had Sarah here, in my arms. I wanted the moment to never end. The warmth of her body was something I clung to, refusing to release her. She felt ethereal, out of reach. Like I was going to lose her forever if I let go.

She kissed me softly. I was reluctant to part lips. "I love you, Link."

"I love you, too."

Sleep came easily that night.

I awoke to early daylight creeping into my vision through the lens of Sarah's black hair. My immediate reaction was to assume that Sarah had woken me with a coughing fit; her body shook and jerked lightly as she seemed to be stifling one. I groggily raised my head to look over her shoulder and confirm my suspicions.

Oddly enough, she was wide awake, hands clasped over her mouth as she tried to keep in control of her lungs. She glanced at me with frightened eyes and looked forward, so I followed her line of sight.

A monster was in the vicinity of us.

It was bipedal, humanoid in shape and perhaps standing five feet tall. Hunched over with bad posture, it took cautious steps into our camp with hooved feet. Green, beady eyes cast glances about the area and contrasted against discolored, wrinkly skin the shade of plums. In the lanky creature's hand was a club that it held lazily to the side.

It hadn't fully noticed us yet, some thirty feet away. My pulse spiked with a sudden surge of fear as it wandered closer, sniffing the air curiously. "What is that?" came Sarah's nearly inaudible whisper.

"Stay here," I murmured back, then dared to push myself up from our position on the forest floor. My deliberate movements caught the attention of the creature, and it froze as I slowly rose to a stand. My hand rested on my knife, ready to draw it in case things went south.

"Hey," I said, testing to see how it would react. It merely cocked its head, one of its droopy ears twitching in curiosity. "You understand me at all?" I kept my voice low and non-threatening.

"Link, be careful," Sarah whispered, her voice scratchy as she struggled not to cough. I nodded back as I slowly reached into my satchel.

"Look," I said, pulling a few berries out and holding them forward, "we're no threat. There's no need to attack."

When it did nothing, I carefully tossed the berries down in-between us. It croaked with a voice that was somewhere between a bird and a frog and took a tentative step forward. It reached the berries and leaned down slowly to grab them. Holding them in its free hand, it sniffed them for a moment before opening its thick, jutting-forward maw. I caught sight of dull molars in its mouth before it closed, chewing on the berries tentatively.

"There, see?" I relaxed the tiniest bit. "Food. I'll give you a bit more, just leave us alone."

It seemed to be enjoying the snack well enough. There was a strange disconnect between what I was seeing and what these creatures had done to my village. A part of me wanted to exact revenge on the creature, but the less energy we wasted on such things the better.

Finishing the berries, it licked its lips and seemed to relax a bit. The creature began looking down at the forest floor as if expecting more. It struck me that the creature was quite dumb, which would be our best bet not to provoke it—

Sarah coughed, a sound that in the quiet tension was like a tree cracking in half. She'd tried her best to stifle it, but it was unreasonable to expect her to hold out any longer given her condition. I straightened up sharply in surprise, but the creature's reaction was more exaggerated as it leapt a good foot into the air. It screeched, a terrible sound like something scratching behind the eardrums, and changed its stance into one that was more aggressive. I cursed and drew the knife, closing the gap to strike.

Despite my general lack of combat experience, I hit a stroke of luck as I let out a cry meant to intimidate the beast and lunged for the throat. My blade met its neck, piercing flesh, but in the act my inexperience revealed itself: I hadn't considered the fact that it was right-handed and I left, giving me no means to counteract the club now descending upon me. I relinquished the knife to back out of the way, letting me barely avoid the strike. The creature gurgled and dropped the club, clutching at the weapon in its throat.

I made it back to Sarah, pulling her up. "C'mon, we don't know if it has friends." It began stumbling around behind us wildly.

"What about the knife?" She was answered by a chorus of awful screeches from the woods behind the beast.

"I'm not about to stick around for it," I replied, pulling her into a run in the opposite direction.

Our flight was swift but panicked, slowing occasionally for Sarah to stop and hack. The hollering of the creatures hounded us, out of sight but ever present. The increasing sparseness of the forest floor made it difficult to properly lose them, but I was beginning to get a feel for their speed as their volume gradually began to decline the more progress we made.

We made a sharp turn in a new direction as to confuse our pursuers, and slowly but surely the hoots and screeches died down to nothing as we managed to shake them off of our tail. Even as we had to force ourselves to stop for Sarah's sake our blood was pumping and adrenaline kept us in high tension.

"I think," I gasped, "that we lost them."

"I don't...don't think I can...keep running…"

"I'll carry you if I have to," I said, but my legs wobbled at the idea.

She made to reply when a growl resounded in the clearing. We froze, turning slowly to the direction it came from.

The thing had already begun to advance towards us, giving me little time to register it. It was tall and well built, thick muscular legs and huge boots carrying it with large strides. It wore light armor, and its scrunched-up, doglike face glowered at us with bright red eyes. It wielded an axe with thick, broad blades worn and dulled by the elements. My knees went weak as it closed the gap quickly.

"Link—" Sarah began, but the beast was already upon us. It raised the axe and prepared a horizontal swing.

There was no time to think. In the face of such a creature, only my wife's safety powered through the terror. I made a split-second decision: I shoved Sarah to the ground.

The flat of the blade struck me then, and Sarah's shocked face was swept away in a blur of greens and browns. I realized, amidst the floating sensation of weightlessness and a slight spin, that I'd been sent flying, and right as I caught a low roar and a scream my body hit something like a wall and it all went black.

I came to, groggy and struggling to open my eyelids. For a moment I forgot where I was and what I had been doing, and blinking to clear my blurry vision revealed that the light of the warm sky was being filtered through some ferns above my face. I was on the ground wedged between a tree and some ferns that had gathered around it, and for the most part I seemed to be concealed. The forest rang with life, giving no indication that anything else remained in the vicinity until I could get a better look.

I made to get up and seethed as my left side exploded in pain. "Augh, Wind Fish above," I breathed, clutching it with my left arm. Rolling onto my back, I winced at the sore muscles and definite bruises on my right arm where the broad side of the axe had struck. I'd be feeling that for at least a week. More importantly, touching my left side gingerly told me that I'd probably cracked a rib or two. I prayed that I hadn't broken it, and tested sitting up. "Agh! Damn it!" Looking up, I saw that the tree had bark chipped and ragged from where I'd apparently collided with it. Smarting from my physical efforts, what had transpired earlier flashed through the pain into my memory and an urgency filled me. Thinking of Sarah, I carefully brought myself to a slow and painful stand.

The clearing nearby was empty. Sarah and the monster were absent, with little in the way of signs of a struggle. I wanted to call out to Sarah, but the risk of bringing whatever that was back was too great. I ambled carefully over to where we had been before I was knocked off of my feet (had I really been sent flying twenty feet?) and inspected the dirt. There were signs of misplaced soil, likely from Sarah pulling herself to a stand. A faint trail of disturbed dirt led out further into the forest, and I chose to follow it.

"Don't you dare give up on me now, Sarah," I said to myself. I couldn't lose her, too. Not like Caw and Uunco.

The trail became harder and harder to track as the soil transitioned from soft dirt into compact ground, which made following it increasingly difficult as I continued through unknown woods. Unlike Uunco, this was not my expertise, and I grew more and more frustrated as my efforts felt more and more fruitless. I couldn't rush in my movements as any heavy exertion or breathing brought searing pain to my side and kept me in check. Like clockwork, I would glance about every so often to make sure that no monsters were in my vicinity as I had nothing to defend myself with.

"No," I mumbled, finally realizing that I had lost the trail. In fact, had I lost it early on somewhere and not realized it? "No, no, no!" I inspected the forest floor, looking for anything to give me a lead, but I found nothing to help put me back on track. The two of us were now lost and separated from each other.

I leaned against a tree, breath shallow as I tried to think of a plan. Anything to avoid the conclusion that Sarah was dead. There wasn't much I could do; I was lost, alone, and without a weapon, and my injuries made fighting a stupid idea unless absolutely necessary. Rescuing Sarah would be a death sentence even if I knew where to find her. Even praying to the Wind Fish was now a useless endeavor given my exile. While I was thinking about it, I pulled out some of the salve and applied it to my bruises. It alleviated the sting but left me with maybe half of the stuff remaining.

I came up with nothing.

All I had was hope. Hope that maybe Sarah survived and escaped. Hope that maybe Uunco had survived his tumble and made it back to the elder's hut. Hope that maybe, just maybe, he'd come across Sarah and keep her safe while we were separated. I was no longer part of the equation.

Thinking about my own course of action, there really only seemed to be one hope. "Get help," I said aloud to myself. "I need to find help." I was going to have to gamble on what awaited outside the forest. Find a safe place to heal my wounds and then figure out the course from there. I straightened myself and continued towards what I figured was east.

For probably a good hour I trekked alone through the woods. It felt much longer, and my lingering pains throbbed as reminders that my progress had been slowed. I missed Sarah's company terribly, and the forest felt bigger without her by my side. I hoped against hope that I was going the right way.

A sight answered my prayers. Up ahead, the trees parted and revealed what I could see was most definitely not the woods, a splotch of blue and green hemmed by curtains of branches. I was at the edge of the forest.

I hesitated for a moment. The elder had spoken of nothing but horrors awaiting beyond the veil of the forest, and it was likely that should I come back here, it would be changed from whatever I experienced. This was a pivotal moment in my until-recently uneventful life, and I had no idea what would be waiting on the other side.

I steeled myself for what was to come.

"Here goes nothing."

Taking a deep but measured breath, I took the plunge.