Zelda slid down a steep slope and jogged to a halt on the flat landing. She paused to observe the cloudy sky, which still clung to the remnants of sunlight along the fringe of the horizon. A deep breath in and a release through the mouth of a stranger gave air to the princess' lungs. She twitched alien fingers.
She'd come too close for a moment. She had begun to forget whose body she was in; she'd let passion overcome her mind and instinct lead her hands.
What was worse, she'd done it in front of the fairy. No doubt Link would hear of Sheik's bizarre behavior. Too many mistakes, this was the last thing Zelda needed.
A whirring noise caught her thoughts and pulled her head in the direction of the sound.
She ducked blindly.
An arrow zoomed past her face, her hair whipped back by the wind off the fletch.
She ducked lower, listening for the next shot. She rolled to the side as an arrow flew to her right, burying itself in the hard dirt. Sprawled flat on the ground, Zelda could barely hear another arrow being clumsily notched by a novice.
Bracing her fingertips and toes, she propelled herself forward as the arrow was loosed. Her feet caught the angle of the ground as she began a full sprint in the direction of the attackers.
Arms crossed, tiny knives slid into her palms. She darted to the left, another arrow whizzed by. Her arm whipped forward and a knife flew silently toward the enemy.
A scream echoed, and Zelda changed direction.
She stopped short, moving back as her path was blocked by a Gerudo warrior. She whirled; another to her left. They were faster than she'd expected.
Both were armed with scimitars and various smaller blades. Zelda cursed silently and built a pulse of magic in her hands beneath her knives, wishing she'd armed herself properly.
"Sheikah," said one of the women, "you're going to die."
Link walked up a short hill of brown stone, taking in the cool night air. A week imprisoned in the desert had destroyed his tolerance for heat.
"...and no one'll look for us there," Navi was saying.
"... yes."
"Link? Are you listening to me at all?"
"No," he answered honestly, "Sorry."
The silence was ripped open by a shrill scream from below.
Without pausing to consider the possible situations awaiting him, Link rushed up the hill and stopped at the top, looking down over the scene.
At the bottom of the slope, Sheik stood in a guarded stance between two Gerudos. Link pulled his bow free from its strap and reached back for an arrow. He notched it and drew the string back, eyes trained on the taller of Gerudos.
"Sheikah," said one of the women, "you're going to die."
He released the arrow.
The impact hit the Gerudo's arm, and her sword flew to the ground as she cried out in pain. Sheik ducked away from the second attacker, flinging a throwing-knife at her and missing.
Link slid down the hill and rushed past Sheik, replacing his bow with his sword and charging at the uninjured Gerudo.
She threw herself at him, scimitar curving down over the Hero's head. His blade caught it and halted the attack, giving Link time to kick the woman in the side. She pulled back, but remained upright. Link faked to the left and leapt forward, his right hand closing around the Gerudo's throat.
She lost her grip on her sword as Link pushed her up against the rock wall of the mountain. He leveled his sword at her throat, just above his tense fingers.
Her hand made a quick movement and he dodged back, releasing the Gerudo. The knife in her hand swiped at the air, but caught the hilt of Link's sword. The sacred weapon went flying, landing point-first in the dirt.
Link judged the distance between himself and his enemy, reaching for a hookshot tucked beneath his shield.
The Gerudo lunged, but was jerked to the side as one of Sheik's knives slammed into her ribcage. She stumbled back, hand reaching futilely for the knife.
Pulling out the hookshot, Link aimed roughly and fired the weapon at the dying woman. The spearpoint punched through to her heart and retracted to its origin as the device rewound itself. The Gerudo fell, dead.
Link looked to Sheik, who was walking toward him.
"A bit gratuitous," Sheik said, a trace of amusement in his voice.
"I didn't want her to suffer," Link was unsure if he was telling the truth.
Sheik reached Link's side and stood there, panting. The body of Sheik's opponent was visible over the man's shoulder.
"Well," Link smiled, "Does that make us square?"
Sheik glanced at Navi, who flew to Link's shoulder and hovered there. Link waited for a response. The one he got was unexpected.
With a rush of motion, Sheik grabbed Link by the arms and thrust him down to the ground. Link tried to fight back as a bright glowing shape careened into Sheik's side, sending him flying backwards.
Link turned quickly on the ground, seeing another Gerudo running at him. She threw aside a bow and drew a long knife, one of her legs bleeding deep crimson through her red pants.
With a guttural shout, Link rolled away from her attack, her blade just missing his head. He kicked at her, his foot making contact with her wounded leg. She screamed and buckled, landing beside him.
Link realized belatedly that his hookshot was still in his hand. Improvising, he ducked away from the Gerudo and swung the thing mightily at her head.
There was a cracking noise at the impact, and the woman fell lifeless to the ground. Link kicked away her knife and leaned forward, checking her for a pulse. None.
"Sheik?" he asked the air, turning.
A loud groan from several yards away was his answer. He followed the sound and saw Sheik lying on the ground in front of a jagged boulder. Link thrust himself to his feet and jogged over, Navi flitting ahead of him. As he neared the Sheikah, he realized the glowing shape had been an arrow, which was now lodged firmly in the flesh above Sheik's right hip.
"By the goddesses," Link swore, kneeling.
The arrow had gone clean through Sheik's body, but was so far to the right that it was doubtful it had hit anything vital. Sheik's left shoulder, however, was in ugly shape.
"How did---" Link began, but Sheik cut him off.
"The arrow..." Sheik breathed heavily against the pain, "tipped with magic... The force threw me against this rock."
Over his shoulder, the blue and white cloth of his shirt and scarf had been ripped away, along with much of his skin. The joint was clearly dislocated, and what skin was intact was bruising a deep purple. In the fading light, Link could barely make out Sheik's face, but saw a glint beneath the man's eyes that Link could only assume was the beginning of tears.
Sheik braced his useable hand against the ground and tried to push himself up, but gasped in pain. His abdomen tensed against the wound in his side as Link's hand found it's way to his chest, pushing him back down.
"Navi," Link said, taking note of the eminent nightfall, "fly back to the Great Fairy and---"
He was interrupted by a rattling sound and a tremor through the ground. The rattling intensified to a loud roar, and Link's mind rushed with thoughts of the volcano erupting. A deafening boom echoed, the fiery light of an explosion emanating from above. But it was too close to be from the crater. The roar continued for a few moments more, then faded suddenly into the steady cackling sound of burning.
Link wondered wildly if something hadn't gone horribly wrong in the Goron's lair on the other side of the mountain.
"Link!" Navi hissed shrilly, "We were just up there!"
He looked up, a dark thought working it's way into his mind. Sheik stirred beneath his hand, causing the Hero to look down.
"Great Fairy..." Sheik managed.
Link looked to Navi, who wordlessly darted off, disappearing over the top of the slope to their left.
"You really think," Link surveyed Sheik's shoulder, "Ganondorf would kill her?"
"I think..." Sheik's head moved, "...he just did."
Link shivered, "Does he know we're here?"
"Probably."
"Link!"
The Hero glanced up to see his fairy rushing down to him.
"It's gone!" she moved back and forth in panic, "The Great Fairy's fountain, completely gone!"
Link opened his mouth to speak, but Sheik was faster.
"He won't... kill us now," said the Sheikah through gritted teeth, "because he needs me."
In utter shock, Link stared and waited for the man to explain,
"He needs me... to..." he groaned as he accidentally shifted his shoulder, "... to get to Zelda."
Link felt a sharp pull at his heart, "You know where Zelda is?"
"Yes."
"Is she alright?" he urged, "Is she safe?"
Sheik dragged his right hand across his body, supporting his wounded shoulder, "...After a fashion."
"What in the four hells does that mean?!"
"Link," Navi interrupted, "What if Ganondorf's still here?"
"No..." Sheik muttered, "He never was... sent the Gerudos here, he can trap us whenever... he... wants..."
The Sheikah broke off, unable to speak. Link touched the man's uninjured arm gently.
"Are you sure of this?"
"Yes..."
"Then we'll stay where we are," Link said firmly, "for now."
Sheik made no response other than to release a breath of pain. Link leaned forward over him.
"What do you need me to do?"
"I... don't know," Sheik's hand moved uselessly against the ground, "help me... sit up."
Link laced an arm gingerly beneath Sheik's injured shoulder and closed his hand around the fabric surrounding the man's chest. As Link pulled him, Sheik cried out, the arrow in his side jostled by the movement. Link propped the man up against the boulder, leaving room between the tip of the arrow protruding from Sheik's back and the brown rock.
"Careful," Navi hovered nervously.
Link glanced at Sheik's left arm. The skin of his hand was nearly white.
"Sheik," Link said softly, "I have to push your shoulder back in place. Otherwise you'll lose that arm."
Sheik simply nodded, grunting.
Link wrapped an arm around the man's chest, holding Sheik's frame close to his own to support the beaten body. He fingered the bleeding shoulder, wondering if there was a least painful way to correct the joint.
"Just... do it," Sheik breathed in frustration.
Link closed his fingers around the bruised skin of Sheik's upper arm.
"Sorry," he said in advance.
He lifted the arm quickly, then pushed it back. Sheik screamed in pain as the stretched and bleeding flesh was further strained. Link pushed on the space beneath the joint, making sure it was in place. He pulled back, releasing Sheik and feeling him go limp.
"Thank you..." Sheik's head dipped forward, his scarf falling away from his face.
"Now what?" Link asked, momentarily concerned that Sheik would pass out.
"Here..." the Sheikah lifted a hand to the arrow. He closed two fingers around the wood, and it severed with a flash. He tossed aside the fletch end of the shaft.
"You'll have to... pull it out."
Link nodded, taking off his scabbard and shield and letting his travel bag fall to the ground. He opened the leather pouch and dug around, finding only one length of cloth.
"Use this..." Sheik pulled weakly at the white scarf around his neck.
Link moved forward and gently removed the cloth, at once concerned and curious. Although they'd met on many brief occasions, Link had never seen Sheik's face. As he pulled the cloth away, he noted the flat line of Sheik's mouth and his soft jawline.
Sheik looked up at Link, their faces only inches apart. Link was struck by the familiarity of the face before him. He felt he'd seen the man before, but couldn't place where. Sheik's blond hair fell back as he turned his face, and Link was surprised to see that Sheik's eye, usually covered by hair, was blue, in solid contrast with the red-brown eye Link was accustomed to seeing.
"Er..." Sheik glanced up and down Link's face.
Link, registering the confusion in Sheik's eyes and realizing he was staring, backed away, scarf in hand. He looked at the sky, embarrassed, and saw that the last of the twilight was on its way into darkness.
"Hero..." Sheik said, bringing Link's eyes back down, "you will need... your sword."
Link looked quizzically at the Sheikah.
"To seal the wound..."
Link paled, not comprehending, but turned and stood, walking to the spot where the sword had landed upright in the ground. He eased it from the hard dirt and wiped it on the edge of his tunic. He was distracted by the blood on his arm and realized with a jolt just how much of it there was. As he walked back to Sheik's side, he sent a prayer heavenwards in hopes that the goddesses might hear.
Sheik leaned forward, a harsh sigh escaping his lips as he clasped a hand to the shaft of the arrow, stabilizing it. Link held out a hand before the Sheikah's quivering frame, afraid the wounded man might collapse forward. But Sheik sat up as straight as he could and looked directly at Link.
Link saw the fire and pain in Sheik's eyes and waited for an instruction.
Sure enough, Sheik held up his hand and reached for the blade of the sacred sword.
"I'll heat the metal..." his voice was losing strength, "and then..."
"I understand," Link said quickly.
Sheik nodded weakly, his fingers brushing against Link's arm as the Hero moved closer, sword in hand.
Upon the touch, Sheik's hand jerked back slightly, and Link paused to look at the man a moment. Why had he recoiled? He brushed the question away and watched Sheik shift himself slowly to lean on his left hip, bleeding arm dangling limply by his side.
Link took the moment to lean away and use his sword to cut even strips of the white scarf. He laid them one by one in a line behind himself.
Sheik made a weak sound and Link turned.
"Now..." Sheik whispered.
Link felt a surge of concern and panic rise, but quelled it. Now was not the time for fear. He took hold of Sheik's good arm and positioned it away from the wound.
"The less you can move when when I do this," Link kept his voice level, "the less it will bleed."
"I... know..." Sheik answered.
Link noticed the irritation in the man's voice but made no response. They were both accustomed to Sheik being the one in control of the situation, other than a bizarre incident involving the town well in Kakiriko.
The Hero pulled a small knife from his boot cuff and slit the fabric of Sheik's shirt surrounding the arrow. Sheik hissed as Link peeled the cloth away from the torn skin.
"Sorry," Link mumbled, cutting the shirt down the side and pulling it apart. The ends of cloth fell to hang loosely around Sheik's muscular frame.
Link held his sword in front of Sheik, whose shaking hand extended to close around the sharp metal. The blade began to glow at the tip, and Sheik's hand fell away as a light smoke rose from the sword.
"Ready?" Link asked, closing one hand around the arrow just above the head.
Sheik grunted, which Link assumed meant yes.
Using his foot to brace Sheik's leg, Link pulled down, hard.
Sheik screamed haltingly into Link's ear as the Hero covered one side of the bleeding wound with his hand and lowered the glowing sword tip to Sheik's skin. The Sheikah's body jerked involuntarily, but Link held the blade steady until he was sure the burn had sealed. Pushing Sheik forward he pulled his blood-soaked hand away from the back of the wound and pressed the heated metal against the flow. He used his free hand to grasp Sheik's good shoulder and hold him in place. A moment longer...
Link pulled the blade away and saw the heat had mostly stemmed the bleeding. He reached first for the thicker bandage, hearing Sheik mumble something as he pressed it to the wound.
"Hang on," Link found himself repeating softly, "Hang on, you're alright."
"Nn... ln..."
Link glanced at the Sheikah's face. Sheik's eyes were unfocused and barely open, tears streaming from beneath the lids.
"Din's blazes," the Hero cursed, wrapping the wound with the white cloth as quickly as he could. His arm snaked around Sheik's middle to pull the bandage forward.
"Link..." Sheik whispered into his ear.
Link caught the Sheikah as he fell, unconscious. Checking the remaining number of bandages, he placed Sheik's head in the curve of his shoulder and continued wrapping.
Navi flew closer to lend light, as darkness finally quenched the remainder of the twilight. Link watched his own steady hands move the bandage in circles around Sheik's body, but his mind was far elsewhere.
He wondered if for a moment, he hadn't succumbed to the panic, or the shock, or even the fatigue. The voice that had spoken in his ear had been Sheik's.
But it had sounded exactly like Zelda's.