Link trudged forward, dragging the sled behind him. Each step he took required more effort, each breath he took in became more laboured. He had been making slow progress for hours, and it would be nightfall soon. He had to stop, to change his bandage, and to talk to Erin, if she would listen. A muffled growl from behind the gag he had put on her confirmed that she was conscious. In the distance he could just make out the stone building from which he had called forth the Poe. They could take shelter there for the night.

Finally inside, he out Erin in one corner. There was wood for a fire, and some rough woven sacks they could use as blankets. It would have to do, as if he had a choice. He gathered some wood for the fire in the corner where there was a chimney, used his sword to cut one log up into kindling. Then he took his bow, removed the head from one of his arrow and looped the drawstring of the bow round it, placed the wooden end of the arrow in the kindling and then moved the bow back and forth, which spun the arrow on the spot. After five minutes or so of fast spinning, thin wisps of smoke arose, and then the kindling ignited. Piling some larger logs on, Link then sat with his back against the wall and re-tied his bandage, ever aware of Erin staring at him.

The fire was in full flame now, and dancing shadows played across the walls. Erin stared at Link, the fire reflected in his eyes... and his soul. For the first time in her entire life, she questioned everything she knew of him. She had seen him kill her family, and now, here he was, keeping her alive at great effort, after she had stabbed him! Either his stupidity knew no bounds, or his compassion didn't. But she had seen him do it! How could one so black hearted appear so genuine? She shrugged the traces of doubt from her mind. If he had reformed, it didn't make a blind bit of difference; he was still her family's killer, and the second he lapsed his guard it would be over for him. Link held her stare, and then walked over and removed her gag, and then went and sat back down and continued to look into her eyes.

Thinking of nothing else that she could say and not being able to stand the silence, she spoke.

"Why the hell are you doing this?"

Link suppressed a smirk, and replied;

"I'm not entirely sure."

"WHAT!? I try and kill you twice; you spare my life twice. Now, you are wounded, yet you insist on dragging me along the desert with you, and you don't know WHY!"

"Well, part of me isn't sure. Another part is confused as hell, but the part speaking now has some questions and some answers."

"What are you talking about on about? Cut the small talk, what do you want?"

"Fine. I want to know what Ganondorf is up to, but I have a feeling you will be more willing to answer after this next bit. I didn't kill your family, Ganondorf did it."

Erin burst out laughing incredulously.

"What! Oh please, you really expect me to believe that? You are the murderer, Ganondorf the rescuer, end of story. Well, except it's not the end, but it will be when I kill you."

"I was expecting this. Well, for starters, I wasn't even in Gerudo Valley that night. Earlier on, Zelda had thrown me the Ocarina of Time, before she fled on horse back with Impa, her protector. By the time they reached Gerudo Valley, I had opened the door in the Temple of Time, pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal and entered the Sacred realm, where I was locked up for the next seven years. How's that for an alibi?"

"One without proof or witnesses. I'm not buying. I'm not really willing to believe that my life has been a lie just yet."

Yet Erin was shaken. What if spoke truth? If he had been sealed in the sacred realm, he could not have been responsible. But she had seen him!

"You must have spent a lot of time around Ganondorf. You know the depth of his dark powers, so tell me something. He can warp minds right? He can alter memory, right? Put the pieces together Erin, you have been living a lie."

Erin closed her eyes. She knew Ganondorf could do all of that, and more. But she could not accept it!

"It can't be true" she said quietly

"And the final proof has been under our noses the whole time. You think I am evil, cold and twisted."

"I know it."

"Two words, Erin. Dark Link."

Erin realised. Dark Link was Link's equal in skill, his opposite in personality. Link continued.

"If I was evil, he would be good! Is he? He carries the Black Blade! He wouldn't be able to touch that thing if he was a good man! Likewise, I once wielded the Master Sword, and if there a drop of evil in me, it would have fried me the second I set hand on it. Are you ready to believe yet!

"NO! NOOOOO!" Erin screamed as the full realisation hit her. Her whole life she had been serving the Evil King, the one who really killed her family. She would have tried to kill herself had she not been tied up. She broke into fits of tears.

"Erin, listen to me. I may be a fighter, but I've picked up one or two magical abilities off Zelda in my time. One is the ability to hypnotise. I'm going to break the false image in your mind, and then you can decide whether you really want to kill me."

Erin nodded. This was all too much. Link moved and sat so that the fire was in-between them. He took the Biggoron sword, held it vertical with its point in the ground and spun it. Erin stared at it, the firelight reflecting off the blade, onto the walls, her face, his face. She was mesmerised. Link began to speak, focusing his mind on projecting the words in to her subconscious mind, not her conscious.

"Erin, can you hear me?"

"Yes" The word had come not from her mouth but from her mind. It was working.

"Erin, remember the night your family were killed. Describe it to me.

"A boy in a Kolkiri tunic..." Link cut her off

"No Erin, look again"

As her minds eye began to focus, aided by Link, the small boy grew, darkened, and was replaced by Ganondorf. She saw him decapitate her father, realising that the boy Link would never have been able to reach high enough to do it. She saw him bomb her family's tent, heard again the screams that had haunted her. She saw him as he saw her, as he walked over to her hiding place. He raised his hand to strike her, a blow that would have broken her neck, and then on a whim, stopped. She heard his voice, a voice not particularly evil in itself, but sinister in combination with its content.
'A hand can do so many things. Kill, injure, maim. You shall do these things and more. You shall become the Hand of Ganon."
He raised his hand, not to hurt, but palm open. It began to glow, a dark energy that enveloped her, and blinded the truth of what happened. Not this time.

Link knew she had seen enough. He spun the blade the other way, and eased his concentration. Erin came out of the trance, gave Link one look, her eyes not steely anymore, but full of pain and torment. Unable to take anymore, she passed out.

Link put one of the sacks over her, then put the fire out and went to sleep.

When he woke the next morning, she was still out cold. Worse, the sack he had lain on was covered in blood and he felt as weak as a newborn child. Gathering his equipment and grabbing the rope handle of Erin's sled he made his way out into the sands once more.
After an agonising hour or so, he reached the gate to Gerudo Valley. It was smashed. One gate was hanging off its hinges; the other lay shattered a full ten feet inside the compound. His trained eye took stock. The damage was a joint effort, sword slashes and physical blows. Now he knew why he had not encountered Dark Link. Dark Link had simply ripped the gate apart and left. But the gate was huge, strong and built to last. Link looked down at his gauntlet. I have to assume he has his own versions of all my equipment, he thought, that was my only advantage the last time, and now it's gone. He knew there was a confrontation coming and even if he was at one hundred percent strength it would only be fifty fifty.

Inside the compound, Gerudo guards lay dead. A few still alive tended to the worst wounded, and Riana who had limited mastery over healing magic, hurried back and forth. She saw Link, and ran to him.

"Link! Your dark self, he, well, you can see for your self what has happened here. He broke through this morning. Is that..." she began, gesturing at Erin on the sled. Link finished for her

"The other attacker, Erin, yes. She is not threat any more, at least I don't think so."

Link was feeling decidedly sleepy and light-headed again. He looked around, and saw Hylian soldiers lying in the dirt as well.

"Are they..."

"Hylian soldiers, yes. They arrived last night. This is bad news Link, I warn you."

"Just tell me"

"Very well. They arrived late last night, lead by Princess Zelda and your friend Malon was with them too. We held conference in the Main hall discussing the best course of action. Then, as the sun rose early in they morning, the sentry reported someone that looked like you at the gate. We all ran out into the yard. We realised as the gate was opening that it was not you, and just managed to slam them closed, but it was no good. He smashed them with impunity, and cut through our combined forces like a knife through butter."

"Zelda? Malon?"

"Dark Link took Zelda. Malon was wounded by that cursed sword of his.
She is dying."

"No!" He cried, though as barely more than a whisper. All strength had left him. He had failed his closest friends. His world spun, and he crashed to the ground.

For the next few hours, Link drifted in and out of consciousness. He was lying in a bed, from the look of the walls he was in the Fortress. Then, Riana was over him, speaking to someone outside his field of vision.

"I can't seem to be able to heal him. The wound will not close, by conventional or magical methods" He drifted out.

He next came to about an hour later. Riana was still there. Summoning what little strength he had left into his vocal cords, he spoke softly.

"Malon?"

"Same as you. You are both dying slowly and there is nothing I can do to stop it. I am sorry."

"Erin?"

"Link, Erin is gone. She came round half an hour after you passed out. She escaped her restraints, stole a horse and left."

Link squeezed his eyes shut. Why had she left? He had healed her hadn't he? Had he? Or had she been unable to change her ways regardless? He turned his head to the side to see Malon in the bed next to his, lying still.

"I am unable to understand why I cannot heal you wound. Malon's is simply too severe, but my power should be able to help you?"

"Because the dagger I stabbed him with was cursed." came a voice from behind

Riana spun on her heel reaching for her sword. It was Erin. She held up her hand the show she meant no harm.

"Normal magic will not work on wounds inflicted with the dagger. It will take something a little more potent to heal it. Something like this..."

She brought her other hand out from behind her back, holding in it a bottle, contained in which was a fairy.

"How did you get that?" Riana asked

"I took a trip to the Lost Woods. There is a fairy fountain there, it's the only one I know of"

"You have only been gone a few hours. The Lost Woods are on the other side of Hyrule." Riana was still sceptical.

"I rode real fast." Said Erin bluntly, tiring of the interrogation. "I could take it back if you like"

Riana stepped aside. Erin knelt by Link's bedside.

"For what it's worth Link, I'm sorry. That I stabbed you, that I got you into this situation, that I dragged your friends in as well. This is only a small repayment for your kindness."

As she tried to open the bottle, Link stopped her.

"Use it on Malon."

"What? Link, I only have one of these, and it's for you."

"Please. She needs it more than I. Please!"

Erin saw the iron will in his eyes, and turned to Malon's bed. Malon had been awake and listening the whole time, saving her strength to speak.

"No, Link, you can't." She rolled to face him.

"Malon! You need this, you'll die!"

"And you won't? Link, if the one behind all this misery is Ganondorf, the one you told me about, then I can't fight him. I can't fight Dark Link. No one can beat them but you! And if you don't, we are all doomed. Listen to me. You have to be healed. Use the fairy."

Link knew she was right. It was her or everyone else in Hyrule. It didn't make it any easier.

"I can't bear to see you like this."

"You think it's any easier for me to watch you?" She forced a smile "Take the damn fairy Mr. Hero of Time."

Try as he might, Link couldn't return the smile. He nodded at Erin, who released the fairy.

The healing abilities of a fairy have to be seen to be believed. It circled his body, trailing sparkling energy that was absorbed into him. As it used up its energy, it shrank and vanished. Almost immediately Link leapt to his feet, the wounds on his shoulder and midsection gone, without trace of scab or scar. As her grabbed his equipment from the table beside the bed, Riana spoke.

"What are you going to do?"

Link replied with utter certainty

"I am going to get the Master Sword. I am going to kill Dark Link. I am going to kill Ganondorf. I am going to save Zelda, and I am going to find a way to heal Malon, so don't you dare die on me. I'll be back"

As he turned and headed for the door, Erin spoke

"And I'm coming with you"

Link didn't speak, just turned to look at her. She continued

"I swore that I would have vengeance on the murderer of my family. I though it was you, but I was deceived. I now know that it was Ganondorf thanks to you. I'm coming with you. If I can't kill him, I'll help you do it."

Again, Link didn't speak, but did grin and gesture to the door in a gentlemanly fashion.