Disclaimers are in Ch. 1
Ch. 2
Here sighs and cries and wails coiled and recoiled on
the starless air, spilling my soul to tears.
-Dante Alighieri
That night the dream was stronger.
The roaring of the flames was deafening, and he tried to block it, the heat searing him through his thin working tunic. There was a sudden change in pitch of the sound, and it seemed to become laughter. The laughter was harsh and wild. Link would have been terrified of the sound, if he were the type to be afraid. Instead, he brought down his arms, and peered through the violently flickering wall of fire, to where a blur was making itself known. It appeared and disappeared rapidly, making his eyes hurt from the strain of watching.
Suddenly, it was coming. Charging through the raging fire, becoming larger and larger, the sound of laughter becoming louder and louder, until, faintly, in the distance, the sound of weeping...
Link awoke with a cry of pain, muscles tensed and flexed for a battle that was not real. He struggled within the confines of his tangled blanket, finally ripping it away with a sharp tearing sound. A light suddenly shone in his eyes, and he was aware of voices.
"Link, oh Link, wake up!"
"Hold him still 'afore he hurts hisself! Ingo, bring that torch over!"
The light was suddenly very bright, and his eyes opened to bring in the familiar faces. He suddenly remembered where he was, and drew in a ragged breath. Ingo pulled the torch away, and grumbled under his breath. He put it in a sconce on the far wall, so it shown down on them, and then left for his own cot.
Malon sat on the cot beside Link, and touched his sweat soaked brow. His breathing was coming in ragged intakes, and his hands were still clenching and unclenching in the dark.
"Shhh, Link, it was only a dream." She put out a hand to touch his shoulder, and the young man finally took in a deep breath. He stood up, shrugging the hand off of his shoulder. Around him, the ripped blanket fell away, and he watched it with a lost expression. It was strongly knit, and made of a thick wool, but in the throes of his nightmare, he'd torn through it as though it were the thinnest of papyrus.
Talon put a strong grip on his shoulder, forcing him to look at him.
"It's all right lad, just a blanket, no harm. Come on and have some warm Lon Lon milk, it'll fix ya right up."
Link allowed himself to be taken to the low-slung wooden work table, while Talon went to warm some milk. Malon came over and sat beside him.
"I'm sorry about the blanket, Malon," He finally managed to say. His voice was dry and harsh, and he swallowed reflexively, inwardly wincing at the rawness. Malon smiled though, and patted his hand.
"Its fine, Link, it can be re-stitched."
He looked up guiltily. "It was your mother's, Malon. It can never be the same."
She shook her head. "Perhaps not, but maybe twill be stronger, and finer, for the fix. Sometimes thats how things are."
Talon came back with a small jar of the milk, and Link managed to drink a little bit of it, soothing his throat. They sat around a while longer, before Malon finally spoke again.
"Want to talk about it?"
Link shrugged. "Nothing to talk about. It was just a dream." He put the empty jar down with an air of finality, and stood up.
"You should both get back to sleep, tomorrow is a long day, if we're going to try with that horse again."
Talon finally nodded, stopping Malon from protesting with a fatherly look, and rose to take the torch. Malon followed behind him upstairs, and Link watched until they shut the door, plunging the downstairs room into darkness again. He gave a sigh, and looked over to where Ingo's shape could just be made out, his back to them. Already low snores were drifting up.
Link felt his way to his own cot, and sat down on the edge, feeling around until he found the ripped blanket. He held the soft material in his callused hands, rubbing a thumb over the thick texture. Shaking his head, he lay back down on the makeshift bed, and closed his eyes. Eventually, sleep came.
*************
Link fed the rope out distractedly, his eyes far away. The troublesome young horse, which Malon had fondly named Rascal, pulled at the rope in annoyance as it slacked, neighing angrily at the young man who was ignoring his fierce show.
He tried to come around to tangle Link up, but Malon's warning shout jarred Link from his thoughts in the nick of time to tighten the rope and cut the slack. Rascal jerked at the cord, but it was taut now, and he was unable to thrash about as he had done before. Out of Link's sight, Malon gave him a worried look, before quickly looping a knot in her own cut of rope, and throwing it over the prancing horse's head. She tightened the slack, and tied the rope off expertly on the corral's gatepost. Link followed, and the horse was now confined outside of the corral.
"Are you okay?" She asked, as soon as Talon had come in to saddle and tack the horse. Link flexed his hand where the rope had burned him before, and shrugged.
"Fine, just a burn."
Although she had not been speaking of the wound, Malon eyed his hand. "Still, you'd better go dress that up, Link. It looks bad."'
"I will later. Come on, lets help your father."
They ran over to where Talon was struggling with the horse, and Link thought no more of the dream for the rest of the morning.
*************
Neither Malon nor Link had extra time for working with the horses after the early morning. Soon, they both went to clean up and change clothing, as it was market day. They would take the old wagon from the stable, and Delka, the retired racing horse of Talon's, to the Hyrule Town market, to pick up food and supplies for the month. Ingo had been assigned to make the trip before, usually taking Link along with him, but now that they were older, the duty fell to he and Malon.
Link felt a strange impatience as he put on his finer traveling tunic, a soft blue long-sleeved one he wore only on the days he went to the town market. He usually enjoyed the monthly trip to the market, but today the feeling was more of a need. He slipped on his leather riding shoes snugly, and then stepped outside to where Ingo was hitching up Delka. The horse was sweet-tempered and gentle, and was especially fond of apples. It snuffled at Ingo's pockets while the man grumbled and pushed him away.
"Go on and be still, Delka!"
Link grinned and took the reins up from Ingo.
"I'll take it from here."
Malon came outside shortly, also clad in a nicer dress and soft, well-worn, walking shoes. She came around the side of the wagon, and pulled an apple from behind her, holding it out to the delighted Delka, while rubbing him behind the ears.
Talon came out from mucking the stalls, and leaned on a pitchfork.
"Don't forget the special oats! Old Bessa's come down with a fine cold, and she'll need 'em."
Link nodded to him, and swung up into the wagon seat, taking the reins up again. Malon followed suit, and settled beside him in the seat, clutching on to the pouch of rupees for the supplies.
Link swished the reins along the horse's neck, and Delka started off at a steady pace, careful of his riders in the wagon. Malon turned and waved to her father, as Ingo closed the gate, and then faced forward again, to take in the Hyrulean field they were emerging onto.
*************
"Let's see..." Malon held up the supply list, and called off several items. "You take the tools, and I'll take the food, all right?"
Link agreed, and they both set off in different directions. He checked the list, and headed towards the Potions shop to collect the specially made oats Talon had sent a request for. He walked slowly by the Bazaar, and watched as a soldier stepped out, whistling cheerily and holding something in a dusty brown cloth under his arm. He felt a sudden desire to make this stop first, but checked himself, and headed towards the Potions shop.
Inside, a handsome young Hylian waited behind the counter. This was the young shopkeeper that Malon was so enamored with. His eyes were a darker cobalt blue than Link's own, and he sported wavy locks of dark brown hair. He smiled, recognizing Link, and leaned over the counter.
"Hello there. Where's your pretty young friend?"
Link gave him the list. "Haggling in the street market, I guess."
The man nodded, and went to the back of his shop, sorting through to collect the supplies Link needed.
"Well," He said, bringing a bag of oats to the counter. "Tell her I said hi, huh? And here are those oats Talon needed. They were a pain to get. Damn old woman in the village doesn't part with her secrets easily."
Link nodded, and paid him for the supplies. After he left, he headed towards the Bazaar. The impressively huge Hyrulean who owned the shop was a blacksmith as well as a trader. He loomed over Link from the other side of the counter, and squinted at him.
"Well?" He boomed.
"Lon Lon Ranch order for some horseshoes and tackle."
The man peered over at him as if he'd never seen him before, and finally nodded, heading off to the smaller room at the back where he worked with metal. Link was left to look about the shop, and looked around as he always did curiously, finally letting his eyes rest on a Hylian shield, freshly polished, and reflecting light from the window. He forced himself to look away, and fiddled with the list again.
Lon Lon Ranch had, on occasion, the rare thief or two, who came to steal horses or tools. They were usually a cowardice bunch, though, and all it usually took was Ingo lighting a lamp and brandishing a pitchfork to chase them off. There was never really a need then, to be equipped with fighting tools, and aside from a rusty old sword that Talon supposedly kept somewhere in the upstairs room, there were none. All the same, Link was always frustrated when the thieves offered no fight.
Link was tough by nature, and had tried at one point when he was around thirteen to sign to become a soldier. However, soldiers were picked from a choice amount of young men who lived in town, and he was turned away.
Now, he slowly walked over, and ran a finger down the shield front. It was cool to the touch, and smooth in texture. He put his fingers under it, and tried it's weight. It was heavy, and to his liking. Finally, Link grasped it with his left hand, and lifted it, fixing his right arm into the straps on the inside of the shield. He tottered back at the alien weight, but felt his body react instantly to the feeling of the shield in his hands.
It felt right to him, and he slowly eased it off the table, stepping back to brandish it as he had seen guards do. So absorbed was he in the feeling, that he missed the shop owners reentrance, and was startled back to reality at the deep laughter.
"What's the matter, kid? Never seen a shield before?"
Link felt embarrassed, and eased it back into its spot on the table.
The man nodded towards it. "Eighty rupees, and its yours."
Link shook his head. "No thanks. Just the tackle and the shoes."
The man shrugged, and pushed them across the counter, holding out an enormous paw of a hand to take the rupees for them. He paused, and looked back curiously at Link.
"Sure 'bout that? You look natural at it."
Link shrugged and took the supplies.
Outside again, while waiting for Malon to finish, he let his bored gaze drift towards the castle of Hyrule, which even at a distance, was large and grand. Seeing it again brought back memories of his childhood, when he had once snuck inside of the castle to meet the princess.
Many young men tried this, to either test their courage or get a glimpse of the young princess Zelda. Link had done it on a strange whim, climbing up at night and sneaking past dozens of guards, just to see the small girl at a window, peering through to watch her father in a meeting. She was strangely unimpressive to Link, who had somehow pictured her as perhaps more regal, more alien to things he knew.
She was instead merely a girl with large intelligent eyes and a long pink dress, not so different from any girl he'd seen before. The interesting part of the meeting came when she showed him her own ocarina, one that was of a red metal, and with several different royal symbols on it. She taught him a song that she had been singing. A lullaby. One that he would teach to all he met in the future, a song that played to him in his dreams.
He hadn't seen her since, aside from the formal visits she made to the town with her royal escort and mysterious Guardian Sheikah, who followed her closely. Link had always wondered if the princess taught everyone the song when they came sneaking through the gardens, or if it had only been him.
His thoughts were interrupted by a strangled cry, and he whipped around to see a cloaked man on a dark horse bearing down on him. His immediate reaction was to crouch, and brace himself for the attack, but as soon as the rider was upon him, he seemed to flicker, and then abruptly disappear.
Link was left staring up at the spot where the rider had just been. Several people had turned to look in his directions where the cry had come from, and Malon was rushing over to him. He let her drag him back up to a standing position, but could not forget the look of startling hate in the strange man's glowing eyes, nor the way his mouth had opened in a laughing sneer...
"Link...Link!" He finally focused, and found Malon crouched in front of him. The food supplies she had collected were scattered out on the ground, and some kindly town folk were stopping to collect them, and Link's own goods.
He stood up abruptly, and looked around him.
"The...rider!"
Malon looked around also, but turned back to him in confusion.
"Link, what rider?"
Link looked around wildly. There was no sign of distress. No screams of fear or clomping of hooves. In fact, the only out-of-ordinary occurrences seemed to be him, and the fallen goods on the ground. Now he was truly worried.
What was happening to him?