Chapter Four. Eyegore

"See?" Vaati pointed at the drawing in the book. "That's Volvagia."

"Vulvagga," Zelda tried.

"Vol-va-gi-a."

"Vol-va-gi-a," she repeated dutifully.

"He's a dragon!" Vaati's breath quickened in his chest. "He used to live in Death Mountain, but Ganon brought him back from the dead. The Hero of Time killed him!"

"Re-killed him?" Zelda asked, confused.

"Yeah! Turn the page, look." She obliged, and Vaati pointed at the next creature. "This is Gleeok. He's got two heads!"

"Wow!"

Metal heels clicking on hardwood floor alerted the two children to impending doom. Vaati ducked his head, but not soon enough as Impa swatted him.

"What have I told you about corrupting the princess?"

"I'm not corrupting her! We're looking at monsters!"

"The princess doesn't need to know about monsters."

"Yuh-huh!" Zelda protested. She pointed at the roaring face on one of the dragon's heads. "Bad guy."

"Yes, your highness, he's a bad guy. And hopefully the only bad guys you ever meet are political rivals." Impa scooped her up and carried her out of the library, despite Vaati's protests.

"What if she needs to know this, huh? What if she has to fight monsters someday?"

"Don't you know?" Impa smirked over her shoulder. "Princesses always have a hero to fight for them."

***

Sheik was feeling oddly naked as he ran outside. Maybe it was his missing mask, or his hair falling loose around his face. The mask was a symbol of his quest, but there was no one in this abandoned town except himself, Link, and whatever the two of them were running to fight.

The bellow hadn't been far. Link led the way, clearly having more experience at this kind of thing. He didn't say a word, communicating with Sheik through and gestures and, suddenly, grabbing his arm and yanking him against a wall.

"Wha-"

Link pressed a finger to his lips and shook his head. Sheik clammed up and waited, his patience rewarded when he noticed the same thing Link had; movement. Something big, larger than a person but smaller than a building, passed between two of them up ahead. It was… shaped wrong, somehow, like no creature Sheik had seen.

Another bellow sounded from where it had just disappeared, no doubt issuing from the creature itself. Link waved his hand forward, indicating the two of them should follow it. Sheik nodded and they jogged across the street, both holding their weapons to keep from jingling.

They each had a sword slung across their back, but Link had brought along his bow, and Sheik his metal darts. When facing an unknown enemy, it was a good idea to have long-range weapons as well as straight steel.

The creature, whatever it was, bellowed again as they rounded the corner behind it. Sheik nearly – nearly – gasped when he saw it didn't appear to have a head, but Link grabbed his arm again, so tightly that he knew he wasn't the only one afraid.

"I'll run around to the front," he hissed. "You stay behind it, take it out if you get the chance."

Sheik opened his mouth to answer, but Link touched his finger to Sheik's lips this time. He nodded instead.

His lips tingled as he watched Link run back around the building.

The next few seconds were tense, waiting for something to happen, watching the creature stomp through the street. It stopped again and started to bellow, but the sound turned sharper as something whizzed through the gloom. The creature half-turned, revealing a massive eye at the top of its chest, an even bigger mouth beneath it.

The mouth opened wide and another arrow flew inside it. It roared with pain and lashed out; slamming an arm on the ground and making it shake. Sheik heard Link cry out, and his vision went red…

Three of the darts struck the creature in its eye. The first two didn't seem to do anything, but the third made it scream and crash into the wall. A quick volley of arrows followed from Link's side of the building, and Sheik found himself running closer to the creature, closer than he should have, closer than was safe.

It was bleeding from its eye and flailing wildly, so it didn't see Sheik at its feet. He slashed at the knees, shins, whatever you called the body parts of a monster that wasn't remotely human. Whatever it was, it worked, and the creature crashed to the ground with a final cry. Sheik looked up just in time to see one last arrow fly into the soft shell of the eye.

He stumbled backward as it exploded into curls of smoke, and somehow wasn't surprised to find himself held up by strong arms.

Sheik stared up into Link's eyes, barely visible under the starlight, but he could see Link's expression mirroring his own. Scared and a bit confused, but not wanting to let go.

"I- I guess that explains what happened to the town."

"Maybe," Sheik agreed. "But if that was an eyegore, it's probably not the only one."

"Eyegore?"

Sheik nodded. "They appear in a few stories. We… we should probably leave too."

Link's face fell. "It's the middle of the night!"

"I know," Sheik sighed. "I'd rather be exhausted than dead."

"Yeah… I guess we should, ah, get dressed then."

"Um, yeah." All the important bits were covered, of course, but Sheik was very aware of how thin Link's undershirt was, and how bare his own arms were.

As they walked back to the inn, he couldn't help glancing over. Link was hugging his shoulders against the chill of the evening. He had a tattoo of the Hylian crest on his upper arm, not at all unusual for a former soldier. What was more interesting was the small black X on the web between his thumb and forefinger of his left hand. Sheik knew there were cities down south, far away from the capital and the so-called justice of the royal government, that marked thieves in such a way. It was no wonder Link wore fingerless gloves all the time.

"Hey, you know… that was pretty brave."

"Huh?" Sheik forced his eyes up to Link's face.

"The way you charged that thing earlier." He frowned a little. "Kind of reckless though."

"Y- yeah, I know." Sheik sighed. "I'm not too used to this. I never know whether to run forward or back."

"Back," Link said firmly. "If you're not sure, the answer is always back. What kind of travel companion would I be if I let you get killed?"

"You forget, I belong to the quest, not myself. If I get killed in the course of it-"

"If you get killed in the course of it, you won't have finished it!" Link interrupted. "Look, I… like you. So don't die."

Sheik raised his eyebrows. "That's to the point."

"What else needs to be said?"

"Nothing, I guess." Sheik smiled shyly. "I like you too."

When he glanced up again, Link was grinning at him. "What?"

"Nothing, just… Never seen you smile before. Not without the mask."

"And you probably won't again. I don't intend to go without it. I shouldn't have, even now, but… Wasn't a lot of time."

"Yeah." Link was still grinning. "You could though, couldn't you? When it's just you and me?"

"No," Sheik shook his head sadly. "I belong to the quest, not to myself. Not to you."

Link's face fell and he was quiet all the way back to the inn and while they packed up their things. Maybe Sheik had been too blunt, but it was true. No matter how much Link… liked him, Sheik couldn't afford to get close to him. Not with how much he was hiding. If Link was with him when he completed his mission, when he stopped being Sheik, he'd only wind up feeling betrayed. Sheik would stay with Link until he got a better idea of where he could find what he was looking for, then cut off ties. It was the best for both of them.

Even if it hurt every time he looked in those blue eyes.

Once Sheik was fully dressed, mask and all, he slung his pack over his shoulder and went to Link's room. He found him shoving something Sheik couldn't quite see into his bag.

"Ready?"

"Yeah." Link stood up. "How far do you think we have to get before it's safe?"

"I'm not sure. We'll follow the path, see if we can find where the townsfolk went."

Link nodded. "Lead on, oh mighty questor."

Sheik smiled, even though he knew Link couldn't see it, and did.