Negative Forces 3

Link and Sky, the pair in hero's garb, were winding their way back to Sky's home village. Link had the scrawny girl on his back; her leg wounded from their encounter with Old Smokey the dragon and bandaged up. Still bleeding a little it was bound as best as they could manage with what supplies they had.
"It wasn't a total disaster, I got the crystal" the hylian hero comforted her for what felt like the thousandth time. She had been less than helpful and kept apologizing. In a way, it was sweet, but it was becoming distressing not being able to convince her that it really wasn't a total disaster. Admittedly it could have been better, and would have gone better if she had simply stayed out of the way. Despite that, he appreciated her effort to help him.
"It was brave of you to come in and find me, knowing the danger" he told her "a bit reckless considering how unprepared..." he left that sentence hanging, realising that she'd grown tense again. Tact was not his strongest quality. Swordsmanship, yes, fighting monsters and saving people and artefacts, yes, he had lots of qualities, and was happy with them, but tact and subtlety were not among them. Sky tensed at the mention of her conduct in the volcano. The very memory was embarrassing and terrifying, knowing she had been so useless and in fact such a hindrance to her hero was a wound far more raw and stinging than the claw gashes that tore across her legs. Her eyes burned at the corners as she willed herself not to cry, not to be even more pathetic than she already had been. She shifted herself uncomfortably against Link's warm back. Her leg wound was starting to throb and it was pulsing right through her body and head, causing no small amount of nausea. Had there been anything in her, she would have vomited when Link lurched to one side and drew his sword. Sky's head swam and her leg throbbed.
"Hold on and stay quiet" he advised her.
There was a crackling in the undergrowth. Dry, dead plant life, rocks and cracked, dry mountain path made someone's footsteps audible. Link ducked off the path and kept a safe distance while staying within range to hear where the other person was. They had circled around behind him before recognizing the figure.
"Hey!" Sky shouted to the figure, waving with one hand.
"Sky!" Her brother came barrelling back down the path towards them. "what happened? Your leg..." the blood drained from his face and he shot Link a disapproving look. Link let the wounded girl down to greet her brother and the three of them sat down to rest.
"Sky, you can't go-"
"It was amazing! Link fought the old dragon. I got hurt, but it's not too bad. We got the crystal he was looking for and everything" She cut him off.
"Sky, listen, you can't go home" her brother's serious stone and stony face took the wind out her sails.
"What?" both she and Link sat up, alert.
"What happened?" Link asked, with a dark look behind his eyes that suggested he might already know, but needed to hear it from the horse's mouth to be sure.
"They came yesterday afternoon, lots of them, all in armour. Looking for you" he nodded to Link. "Someone told one of 'em where you had gone. I said nothing! I swear! I could tell they were bad news. But they knew you had been through our village and seemed to already know you'd be headed for the volcano. They've ransacked the place, beating people up to get more information. Anyone that's been near you or seen you got the same treatment" He said again, directed at Link, whose face had fallen completely and a haunted look came to his eyes.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know they were this close behind me, I didn't-" Link wasn't allowed to finish what he was saying before Sky's brother turned to her,
"Mam told me to come and find you, we don't think they know anyone from the village went with him up to the volcano, but if you suddenly turn up, or they figure it out, they'll show no mercy to get what information they can out of you. So... as much it hurts to say it... you can't come home Sky. Go, go down off the mountains and find somewhere to stay until it is safe." The large boy gripped his diminutive sister in a powerful embrace.
The three sat in silence for a long time. Sky chewed over everything she had heard.
"Okay" she said, at long last. The two boys looked up to meet her eyes. "They don't know I even exist, and it's better that way. I can't come home, but I'll find somewhere to stay. Tell Mam and Pa that I'm safe, and that I'll see them again..." her voice became smaller and smaller as she spoke and eventually cracked over the last few words. Tears poured down her face. Before he could get near to comfort her, quick as a shot, Link had an arm around her. Sky turned and leaned her forehead on his shoulder, choking and coughing, trying hard to stop the tears.
"You won't be alone" he said resolutely, gaining the attention of both siblings. "I'll make sure you are safe, and that once all this is resolved, you can come again. I'll make sure of it personally." Link looked at the girl dead in the eyes as he spoke.
"Eh... right. Good!" Sky's brother looked on awkwardly before helping her back up onto Link's back, and hugging them both tight. "I'll see ya soon little one" he said with a smile to his sister, and to Link "I'm trusting you, go be a hero and all that cool stuff you do, then bring her back. Okay?"
They shook hands and nodded to each other before he shambled back off down the path toward the village. Without another word, Link left the path and carried Sky down the steep mountainside, into a completely unknown area to both of them. As they passed by under where the village was, there was the distinct rattle of chains, clank of armour, and abusive shouts from varying distances. An aura of danger and dread shrouded the whole area, making them both feel like naught but mice trying not to be seen by a Lion.
By nightfall they had reached a small town in a valley. It was surprisingly damp and green, despite being at the foot of a mountain range topped by a volcano. This was Penyo Town. The two of them felt a wave of relief upon seeing an Inn not far from the town gates and went there immediately.
"Good Evening, what can I do for you?" The girl behind the reception desk greeted them traditionally before looking up. Her eyes took in the bedraggled pair in front of her and she sprung into action. "FAERN!" she shouted through a curtain behind her, "we need you up here!" there was a sound of heavy footfalls coming up stairs as the girl helped Sky off Link's back and lay her down across some seats. A large man with a rosey nose appeared, and immediately began to panic.
"Calm down Faern, take them up stairs to the big empty room and I'll be there in a minute"
The large man did as he was told, scooping up Sky in his strong arms and crashing up the stairs.
"Leave your things, I'll bring them up to you, go with her now" the girl waved Link on, before he had a chance to pick up the various heavy belongings he'd let slip out of his grip upon arrival. The innkeeper girl was short and stout, and not one to be argued with. Link scampered up the stairs to find where the man had taken Sky.
They were in a large room at the end of the corridor. Sky was lain out on the bed there, her wound had opened again at some point in the day and she was feverish.
"Sorry, I didn't get to introduce myself. I'm Faern" the man said, shaking Link's hand in his own massive paw."
"Link", he replied.
"My daughter should be up any moment. She's good at medicine you know, will have your lady here fixed up in no time."
"She's not my –" Link was going to protest before the girl bustled in with a basket of medical supplies and a bucket of water. She was followed closely by a boy, who looked vastly similar to her, who dropped off Link's things before scurrying away again.
"Hold this on her head" she directed her father to press a cold cloth to Sky's forehead,
"Sir, if you don't mind, help me untie the dressing on her leg so I can clean the wound" she asked of Link. He obliged, and did his best to be gentlemanly. He didn't want Sky to think him a pervert or something, but she DID need help, and the two kind innkeepers were under the impression that he had presumably seen her bare legs and underthings before.
He tried to keep the guilt he felt from flooding his mind. It was his fault she was in this state, and no two ways about it. He had taken her to the volcano. He had brought the dark enemy to her village.
Looking at the frail thing lying on the inn bed, he could hardly imagine her chatting and singing they was she had on the first night they met in the tavern, much less teaching him old folk tales of the mountains and sharing lunch the next cold afternoon.
The part that was most difficult to take in was that all this had happened in less than a week. Link promised himself then and there that he would put things right again for her and her village.
"I see you're awful worried sir, your lady here needs her sleep, how about a drink in the bar downstairs?" The innkeeper's daughter patted him on the shoulder, startling him out of his reverie.
"No, thank you" he declined. Being exhausted himself, he decided just to sleep also.
"Right you are Sir," she nodded, "I'll leave this water and cloth with you, if she wakes feverish in the night, wet her head and give me a shout, you hear?"
With that, the father and daughter bustled out of the room, leaving Link to a much-needed rest. While pulling off his boots it occurred to him that there was only one bed. The innkeepers, assuming they were a couple, had given them a double room. This only just occurred to him, as his attention had been elsewhere previously. Deciding it was too late to do anything about it, Link pulled off his gloves after his boots and slept clothed.

When he woke, the sun was already high. Sky was tossing and turning, still asleep, but uncomfortable. He remembered his instructions and soaked the cloth that had been left in the water, and pressed it to her forehead. She settled almost immediately. Link afforded himself a smile, pleased with that good result, and started around the room gathering his things. Gloves, boots, sword, shield, an empty bottle (just in case), and the pitiful few rupees he had.
He set off to explore the town, and maybe hear some more of the legend of Old Smokey the dragon, and the treasure she guarded. True, he had her part of it, but he also had no idea where to begin looking for the claw and the hand. The owl's information had been of hardly any use.

Having seen Link leave, the innkeeper's daughter had gone upstairs to check on her patient, Sky. She checked her temperature, and re-applied the cold cloth. Sky looked up at her foggily.
"Wh..."
"He's popped out for a bit love, you're in Penyo Town, got a nasty gash on your leg there but I've bandaged it up good and tight for you. Fever's going down nicely too, right as rain in no time I recon!"
"Thank you, really, thank you"
"That's no problem, couldn't leave you in the mess you were in, I'll bring some tea up to you shall I?" the slightly older girl didn't wait for a reply before leaving the room and clattering back down the hallway.
Sky took in her surroundings. The pain in her leg was immense when she moved, but was otherwise better than it had been. Clean bandages, on clean bedsheets. She noticed she was wearing a clean white underdress too. She saw some of Link's things scattered around at the foot of the bed, presumably that he didn't need for wherever he was just now, and she noticed that she was in the only bed in the room.
Dragging herself up onto her elbows, she caught her own reflection in the bucket of water by the bed and grimaced. Her hair was no longer held back, and the new underdress was all together too long to be practical. However, she had nothing to wear under her usual cut-off 'tunic' and nothing to tie her hair with.
The stout girl came back with a tray of tea and simple foods for Sky. She looked at them hungrily, before realising it would be prudent to ask how much this would cost her. She had some money on her, but realised that she'd have to be pretty careful with it if she was to survive,
"oh no, no love, we couldn't very well leave you to your own devices so it wouldn't be fair to ask full price. I can't ask for nothing, we need to live too of course, but I'll charge half price and if you recommend our inn to anyone else you know travelling through we'll call it even?"
"You have a deal" Sky felt her face bend into a familiar grin that she hadn't felt in days.
"Now, I've left some medicine out for you, but only take it if you can eat something first or you'll give yourself a sour stomach" she advised, Sky agreed, and was left to her own devices.

Link had no idea how much time had passed, but the morning had been something of a success. He'd spoken to nearly everyone he'd passed in town and found out that "Old Smokey" wasn't the only dragon the folks around here talked about. According to the valley people, the dragon in the volcano had a sister dragon, deep underground in a bottomless cavern.
From what he'd gathered from local children, was that there was several songs about the treasures he was looking for. "The Grave Claw" was underground, supposedly buried with the dragon that slept down there. According to the old folks in town, the Hand was on an island far out at sea, put there by the great faeries themselves to prevent the two dragons from continuing their fight over the three pieces of the immortality amulet. A lot of them believed that the dragon in the underground cavern was already dead, it was only underground because it had been buried, and the treasure buried with it.

By the time he got back to the Inn, evening was approaching. Sky was standing in the middle of their room, her hair chopped haphazardly short and scattered around the floor, sawing at the hem of her dress to shorten it.
"Sky?" Link asked tentatively, a little worried that she had snapped again.
"Link!" She turned and smiled at him, "I got some medicine and my leg feels much better. I borrowed this old dagger, I hope you don't mind." He saw she was holding a rusty old knife he didn't remember ever having and threw her her dark grey tunic, to put on over the newly cut-off undershirt.
They sat on the bed to catch up on the day, Link shared all the information he'd gleaned from the townsfolk and they decided to move on to the next proper city. Whoever had followed Link to Sennohe would be catching on by now that he wasn't there anymore, and this would likely be their next stop. Neither of them wanted to be there to greet them and the sooner they get going, the better. It was a long walk down off the last of the mountains before they reached Hyrule field. Neither of them felt like stopping. Sky insisted that her leg was feeling better, and besides, she wanted to practice defending herself.
"You'd be better with this then" Link said, offering her a short sword that was much too small for him, but only a tiny bit too short for her. "That rusty knife won't do you much good."
"Thanks!" Sky smiled up at him, in spite of herself she was a little giddy that her idol had given her a gift. But she kept a sober expression and tried to look like she knew how to handle it. They walked across the field towards the castle city, despite the night, not a single creature or monster was to be seen or heard. They approached the castle walls as the sun rose and went inside to watch the people set up the market. Link offered to buy them both some food and went off to the nearest fruit stall. Sky used the time alone to check her wounds. She hissed a little at the pain when peeling back the bandage. It wasn't bad at all anymore, just a little messy looking.
"If that still hurts you should have said something!" Link spoke from behind, startling her.
"Ah! No, no. It's not that bad. I was just checking it" she defended her strength.
He sat down next to her and divided up the various foodstuffs between them.
"Where did you get the rupees for all this?" Sky laughed, taken aback,
"I found them" Link replied through a mouthful of bread,
"you found them?" she quizzed, looking sceptically at him.
"yep!" He replied, turning away from her slightly and offering no further explaination.
Fine, she could press it further, but showed more loyalty to her grumbling stomach and ate.

Stomachs full, and a little energy restored after their long night's walking, they made for a small library Link remembered passing once while in the city. His directions were somewhat lacking, and it took them a long while, but eventually they found the tiny place they were looking for.
It was small and dusty. There was nobody else in there. It was populated entirely by books. Link and Sky knew what they were looking for.
"Got it!" an hour or so into their search, Sky held a book over her head and waved it around so that Link might see where she was in the avalanche of paper. He found her, and let her show him what she'd found.
"This is the story about the two dragons. It says there were two dragons, and four faeries. The two dragons fought over the three artefacts, and the four faeries tried to prevent them. Then one of the faeries took all three artefacts for herself, claiming it was to keep them safe and away from the dragons, but she actually intended to use them, and was executed for her betrayal."
"Four faeries?"
"Yeah, but there's no mention of four faeries in any of the books about the three great faeries, so I don't know anything else about them"
"I'll ask one of them" Link said without thinking. Sky just looked at him, unsure if she'd heard him correctly. Whether she decided she hadn't, or recalled that this was the same guy that said an owl had come to talk to him, she let it be at that. "This picture looks like a graveyard, is that where the Claw is buried?"
"Yes, I think so," Sky agreed, "and here, this is the coastline from which you cans see the island the Hand is on. Do you still have that blank parchment on you?" She recalled from the second day they'd met. Link pulled the crumpled paper out of his bag and handed it to her. Sky scribbled down some details and re-drew the locations in the book. "That'll make life easier for us", she said, pleased with herself, and motioned to hand the papers back.
"You hang on to those," Link said, refusing to take the papers back, "you're coming with me."
"What? I can't come with you, I'll hold you back so much..."
"No" Link stated bluntly "you're good at maps and stuff, and we can practice with that sword so you can defend yourself. I don't want to be worrying about what might be happening to you while I'm away. So come with me."
The look in his eyes was intense, as if he just couldn't imagine things going any other way. Sky agreed to accompany him. She looked straight back into his stare and felt absolute terror at the prospect of the dangers ahead, absolute joy that The Hero of Hyrule wanted her with him, would worry about her, and something else entirely making her throat dry and her knees quake more with every passing moment they held each other's gaze.