Revelation of Lies will be updated every Tuesday/Wednesday and Saturday until completed.
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
Warnings: Minor violence in later chapters and boyxboy (Link x Sheik). If you're not a fan please don't read.
~*~*~ Chapter Four ~*~*~
The gypsies have taken to calling him Kahael, and he grows used to the name. It doesn't feel right, but he doesn't know what is right. He accompanies Kaylu everywhere. She treks out into the desert daily in search of precious stones, herbs, and spices that can be ground up. He can identify certain edible plants but other than that he's pretty useless. Kaylu denies that and says he's good company.
"Where do you get all your supplies?" he asks one day. They had dried fruit with breakfast that morning and the desert wasn't well known for producing apples. He had wondered a few times how the gypsies managed to survive in the unforgiving desert.
"A few times a year we travel to Castletown," she explains. "We trade the herbs and spices and stones for other things we needs like cookware, livestock and medicines. We make a lot of our own stuff too, goat cheese, butter, milk and we have large stores of dried fruit. We breed and raise lambs and sheep for eating..."
He nods as she speaks. He had learned a lot about the way the gypsies lived by being at the camp, but he's not really listening. Castletown. The place sends a chill through his spine and a spark in his heart at the same time.
"Where is Castletown?" he asks, and he wonders if this will help him regain his memory.
"It's a few days ride through the wastelands, to the Gerudo Fortress and then through the forests and fields on Hyrule," she explains as she examines a turquoise stone before putting it in a pouch strapped to her waist. She raises her hazel eyes and meets his. "Do you think you're from there?"
He shrugs. "I don't know."
She studies him before reaching a hand out to brush his blond bangs off of his forehead. "You have such a unique look to you, with the red eyes and all. I haven't seen many people who look like you in Hyrule."
He feels a wave of disappointment rush through him and Kaylu is quick to amend herself.
"That means you'll be recognized faster though," she says hastily and he sighs and agrees.
He walks up to Sahara and reaches up and grabs the side of her saddle and jumps, hefting himself up onto the camel without straining her knees by making her bend. Once he's settled on the camel's back and picks up the reins he waits for Kaylu and Jemma to get ready to ride back to camp.
Once she's up she grins at him. "Race ya!" she yells and boots Jemma into a run.
He can feel the horse's muscles flexing underneath him as they trot side by side down the dusty path. The horses snort and the blond man beside him on a chestnut mare grins at him cheekily.
"Race ya!" he yells, and the chestnut mare lunges into a ground eating gallop. He rolls his eyes and collects his horse and she springs into a gallop, rapidly gaining on the chestnut mare. He crouches low on the horse's back and she surges even faster. The horses snort in good natured fun and the blond sticks his tongue out at him when he passes them. In front of them looms the gates leading into lake and he sits back and collects his horse before they're flying over the first gate and...
Sahara lurching into a run to keep up with Jemma jerks him from his thoughts as he realizes he's on a camel in the desert, not on the back of a sleek grey mare flying over grass and fences. Jemma breaks to a trot and then finally to a walk and Sahara follows his lead and soon the camels are walking side by side. He's slightly startled by the vision, no, the memory...he wonders if it actually is a memory. He tries to think of who the man is but he cannot think of his name, no matter how hard he tries.
The cowl that covers the lower half of his face doesn't bother him as much as he imagines it should. He figures that he must have worn one before because the slightly suffocating feeling of the cloth over his mouth and nose feels natural. He reaches a hand up and brushes his blond hair out of his eyes as he scans the desert in front of them for any signs of danger.
When they reach the camp they drop the days findings off in the storage wagon and lead the camels to the camel enclosure and sling their reins over a hitching post. He removes his saddle and hangs it over the rail and picks up a brush and rubs Sahara where the saddle sat to make sure she wasn't sore. She groans and leans into his hands as he brushes her. When he's done she shakes like a big dog. Kaylu does the same with Jemma and when they unclip the reins from the halters both camels trot away from the camp where the camel herd is grazing a fair distance away.
He and Kaylu help chop up some type of root that he's unfamiliar with for dinner. Tonight they're having some type of soup. He usually doesn't question, just eats. Sometimes the food tastes foul in his mouth; he's not used to the strong spices the gypsies use to flavour the bland food they often ate.
By the time the sun had nearly set a fire was blazing in the pit and the soup was hot. It was being ladled out in pottery-like bowls, and he was starving. He was sitting straddling the wooden bench by the fire pit blowing cautiously on his soup. He took a bite and was pleasantly surprised that the hot liquid tasted quite good, not to strongly spiced yet not to bland. He ate hungrily and when he was finished he added his bowl into the dish bin. The gypsies took turns washing the cookware, but tonight was not his night to help out and when he offered he was shooed away.
Stark, an older man who was considered the gypsies unofficially leader stood and spoke.
"The days are beginning to grow shorter and cooler," he starts, and Kahael listens intently to the older man, "It's time we start to plan a trip to the markets to restock our supplies."
Kaylu nods and he glances at her and she explains to him that season of summer is ending in Hyrule and soon Hyrule fields will be buried under a blanket of snow and the pass through the mountains to reach Castletown would be impossible. The desert was mostly unaffected by the cold, but if they didn't leave soon they would have to do without necessary items until spring when the snowfall melted.
He listens as people volunteer to go, and others volunteer to stay and they begin to talk of what needed to be bought and what was available to be traded. He stares into the fire and half listens to the talk around him and half day dreams. Kaylu volunteers the both of them to go and it's decided that they'd leave in three days time.
He wonders if he'll find himself after they voyage over the mountains. The idea of going back has his stomach in knots. He gets a chill when he thinks of why he's in the desert…what if what lies over the mountains doesn't want him back?
Just encase…Kahael is Sheik, if anybody missed or didn't understand...I hope not though.