I hope this works…
Chapter 29
And with the moon you shall escape
The wind was howling like a cub that had lost its mother. The snow and ice lanced down from the sky, pelting anything that dared brave the storm. Everything was white, like a rough blank canvas. Everything except the sky. Clouds as black as sin writhed and roiled in a deadly undulating dance.
Silver could barely see the end of her nose, let alone two feet ahead of her. She didn't why she was here. She didn't even know where here was. It looked like SnowPeak, but no storm had ever blown so strong there, nor had the sky ever been so black.
The snow parted a little, to reveal a white lioness made of swirling snow.
"Who are you?"
The lioness gestured to space behind her, her glassy glowing eyes telling her to watch.
The snow behind her whirled together tighter and tighter in a vortex so concentrated that it was pure white. It was one this surface, that the pictures came.
A great dark shadow looming over a battlefield. A lion, the same one as in Fi's mind, fought it alone. It was glowing so brightly, it was like a second sun. While the lion occupied the darkness, a lioness was leading the people into a town. She radiated a soft white ambient light, a beacon while too faint for the darkness to see, attracted each and every hylian, leading them to safety.
Then the image changed. It showed a black wolf, leaning down over her.
"Honestly, I take my eyes off you for five minutes and you're off." There was pride in her voice as well as frustration. "I swear, you're half mouse or something, the places you manage to get into."
She reached down to scoop the 'camera' up out of what appeared to be a tight lemming burrow.
"Come 'ere mischief, you won't get out of bath-time that easily."
Then the image changed again.
There was fighting. The black wolf from before, and a wolfos. They were fighting a cloud of shadows. They were losing, Silver could see that easily. But they weren't trying to defeat it. Even though they were far away, Silver could see it in their posture. They were buying time, they were the distraction. Then the image began to shake as it whited out, then darkened. An avalanche, Silver had been caught in them hundreds of times, but she was a wolfos, they never hurt her.
The image dissolved into snow once more.
Silver looked back at the lioness, who still stood there, watching the wolfos with those frozen eyes.
"Why did you show me those?"
She didn't reply, instead she dissolved into the storm, leaving Silver with more questions than ever.
Around her, the storm began to die, allowing her to see further into her surroundings.
She could make out tall windswept pines, and blocks of ice. Mist curled around everything. Mostly white, billowing around the trees in a layer of white clouds.
"And I still don't know where the hell I am?"
A darker mist rose before, Link's mist. It took his form, sitting across from her.
"Link?" Silver whimpered.
The mist-wolf dipped its head.
"Is he alright? Where is he?" The questions came pouring from Silver's tongue like a thawing waterfall at the sight of spring.
The mist-wolf shimmered, and in its chest an image grew. It was pitch black. Every now and then the image would flicker and the sound would turn to static. But Silver could still hear it. She could hear the dripping of water, Majora and Nubia's arguing, the click of chains, the rapid beat of Link's own heart. Even though it was impossible to see, Silver still had a vague idea of where Link could be. She could hear it around him, better than he could. She could smell it near him, better than he could. She could sense his prison, better than he could. She could find him.
The image faded, and the mist-wolf stood.
"Don't go…" Silver whimpered.
A gust of wind shattered the image, and Link's mist was gone, dispersed amongst her own.
Link hung there like a rag doll. His arms hurt so much, he could no longer feel them.
His memories were slowly returning. He remembered Zelda. Both as a ruler, and as the little girl who played with him as a cub. He remembered Ordon village, the children and Ilia. He remembered Silver, his journey with her across Hyrule. He remembered Ganandorf, the fight that had nearly cost them both their lives. He remembered Midna, the horror of Ganondorf defeating her, and the joy of her survival. He remembered those happy days following Ganondorf's defeat, before MIdna left. He could even remember the start of their quest to find the sages.
But he still couldn't remember how he had come to be here.
His mind was clearer now. He was no longer trapped like a frightened cub. Though Nubia still had that effect on him.
He could hear them arguing now. Majora wanted to get his revenge on Link. Nubia was warning him off, telling him that they needed him to call the mist. Whether it be literally, or as bait to the current host.
Link longed to howl for Zelda, to warn him of the trap. He knew 'Arri had always been able to contact her charge from a distance, but Link had a feeling he needed the mist for that. And his was miles away by now.
Dammit. He hated being so useless.
Ilia sat watching the girl. She could hear the trees whispering.
The greys. The greys live. Hope has dawned. The greys have returned.
She knew what they meant, but she couldn't believe it. They were saying that the scrawny little girl on the bed was Silver, and that she was one of the last greys left.
It didn't make sense. Silver was a little wolfos from the barren lands of SnowPeak. The greys had lived on the other side of the world, in the forests of the Lost Woods. How could the two be one and the same?
The girl let out a groan.
Ilia's attention snapped to her. She was waking up.
If this was Silver, then they were in for a whole lot of swearing.
Running to the window, Ilia leant out. Zelda and Epona were deep in conversation.
"Princess." She called. "She's getting up."
Zelda nodded and made for the stairs.
Ilia turned back and put a hand to the girl's head. She was still pretty cold. Zelda came to stand behind her.
"How is she?"
"Still cold." Ilia replied.
Zelda perched on the edge of the bed and passed her hand over the girl, the triforce of wisdom flashing on her hand.
"Physically, she's fine. But as for her mind…" she trailed off.
The girl swatted at the air with her hand and turned over so that her back was facing the others.
"She seems peaceful enough."
"Get yer own…waffles…." She mumbled in her sleep.
"Waffles are going to be the least of her problems when she wakes up."
More mumbling, and she over again. Her eyelids flickered, and the girl turned onto her tummy. She stood on her hands and toes (tarzan-style) and stretched like a cat, yawning as she did so. Sitting back on her haunches, she opened her eyes and looked around.
"Morning. You wouldn't believe the dream I had last night." She definitely sounded like Silver.
"I highly doubt that." Ilia muttered.
"Why are you two staring at me like that? Have I got gunk in my fur or something?"
She tried to rub her face with her paw, but only succeeding in slapping herself.
"Ow, bloody-" Silver stopped mid-sentence, looking down at her furless hands in horror.
She moved the hand, following its movements.
"It's yours." Ilia told her, somewhat tiredly.
"5,4,3,2…" Zelda counted down the time it took for reality to sink in. "1"
Silver's strings of shouted curses split the morning air. She leapt from the bed, trying to walk like a canine, but always falling over. She stumbled to the mirror, looking at herself in full detail. Her screaming intensified.
Ilia and Zelda stood to one side, their fingers in their ears.
"I wonder if Link reacted like this when he turned into a wolf." Ilia mouthed to Zelda.
"I didn't hear any screaming, if that's what you mean." Zelda mouthed back.
Eventually, the screams died. Silver was left sitting in the middle of the floor, panting hard and looking absolutely terrified.
"You finished?" Ilia asked.
"I'm…I'm…I'm…human."
Zelda nodded sagely.
"You are a grey, or at least half of one."
Silver did the dignified thing, and fainted.
When Silver came to, she couldn't place herself. For a few blissful moments, she was just Silver again, Link wasn't missing, and everything was just fine and dandy. Then reality came crashing back down. Link was still MIA, most probably being held hostage. And Silver, well, she didn't know who she was anymore.
She wasn't a wolfos, like she'd always believed. She wasn't even a wolf. Neither was she human. No, she was something in between. Neither animal nor human. Link being a grey was one thing, but she herself. That was completely different.
"Wakey! Wakey!" Ilia cooed.
Silver opened her eyes, squinting as the sun caught her eyes.
"You finished panicking?"
Silver nodded mutely.
"Can you stand?"
Silver nodded again.
Ilia supported her as she tried to get to her feet. It was difficult, the leg structure and muscle use was completely different to a wolfos'. Her body felt unnatural and cumbersome.
"Steady." Zelda grabbed Silver's other arm as she stumbled. "Epona wants to talk to you."
Silver nodded again. Epona would understand.
"Getting down the ladder will interesting." Ilia muttered.
Silver looked down the small ladder separating the bed from the main floor.
"Ok, I'll wait for you at the bottom. Try coming down on your own." Zelda said.
Zelda quickly climbed down the ladder, while Ilia helped Silver to get down from above. Gripping the ladder was harder than expected. It wasn't as if Silver had actually ever gripped anything before. But after a few tries, she managed it.
"You're certainly getting the hang of this quickly." Zelda remarked as she helped Silver off the ladder.
Silver smiled ruefully.
As they walked to the front door, Silver managed to catch a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her skin was pale as snow, and her white hair was downy and thick. Her ears weren't hylian, evidently her wolfos DNA spilled over into her human form. They were exactly the same as her wolfos ears. Her eyes were the same colour, a pal amber, like sunset on snow. Her features were angular and almost canine. With a square-ish face and almond shaped eyes.
The second ladder was easier to climb down, now she'd got the hang of things.
At the bottom, Epona was waiting. She caught Silver as she stumbled, using her head to the support the small girl.
"It's strange first time isn't it?" The mare said with a wistful smile.
Silver tilted her head in a distinct dog-like manner, with a curious whine. Despite her earlier stream of insults, Silver felt very unsure about her voice. It sounded strange. So she reverted to the more beastial talk that Link so heavily relied on.
"Most greys don't change shape until they're three years old. Some change early, some change late. You're born in the form that both you're parents share. I didn't change into a human until I was three and a half. I still remember that day."
"I remember King Callum telling me about it." Zelda said as she jumped off the ladder. "He said that you and Ciara had broken a gift from the zora king. You were so scared when he caught you that you turned into a human and scooted up the nearest tree."
Epona chuckled.
"Yeah, that was our first big misadventure so to speak. Ceotheryn was so angry, I thought he was going to eat us. Now that I think about, I spent most of my childhood being chased up trees."
That certainly managed to tease a giggle from Silver.
"But rather than reminiscing about my childhood, I wanted to speak to you."
Epona walked over to a patch of swaying grass. Laying down, she gestured for the others to sit with her. Silver half sat, half fell to the ground beside her. A sharp pain lanced up her spine. Turning round, her noticed her tail, still there. She'd been so preoccupied with her new body, she hadn't even realised that elements of her old one still remained.
Noticing her flinch, Epona spoke.
"That's part of the reason I wanted to talk to you. You're only half grey. So, you're wolfos blood will mean you never become truly human." It was if she could see all of Silver's fears plain on her new face. "No matter what form you take, wolf or human, you will always be a wolfos. That's what makes you different, that's what makes you strong."
"How so?" Silver asked, finding her voice.
"Our forms give us both freedom and trap us. Two dual natures of light and shadow make us strong and weak. That is why greys take on two different forms and why separating ourselves is so dangerous. Our two forms cannot coexist, and it is only the mist that binds us together. But you are different, your two forms are held together by your wolfos blood. You will never be torn in spirit."
Silver felt a little taken aback. She certainly didn't feel strong.
"The other thing I wanted to tell you is that…" Epona looked away. "I hate to ask this of you, but you are the only one who can bring Link back."
"But, what do you mean?" Not that Silver didn't want to rescue Link, but doing it alone sounded very dangerous and very scary.
"The dark is the antithesis of the mist. And just like the mist, it can get inside you. It uses the dual nature of the greys to induce a bloodlust so powerful, you couldn't tell friend from foe. It can create an identical copy of you, a perfect shadow that knows your every move and strategy. Ever new strategy you formulate against it, it's already worked out. You can't destroy it, and it will keep on fighting you until it destroys you. That is the true power of the dark. To turn you on yourself."
"The greys were destroyed in one night. There were signs of fighting, but no enemy corpses were ever found. It was if they were killed by phantoms." Zelda recounted
"Exactly. The one who destroyed the greys all those years ago, was one of our own hosting the dark as you now host Link's mist. Nubia destroyed the greys and now she has Link."
...
Link hung from the wall. He couldn't even feel his arms anymore. The ghost stayed close by him, her soft grey glow chasing back the shadows. She had such a warm familiar smile.
But still, Link's mind was foggy and sluggish. It was dangerous for a grey to be separated from their mist. Link's dual natures were now destroying themselves. Two sides of the same coin as Midna had said. Connected but held apart by the thinnest of membranes.
The ghost could do nothing but watch.
"If only I were stronger dearthair. If only I were still alive."
She was sad. Link wished she wasn't.
"If only I hadn't left. Maybe things would've been different."
And Link could only watch her with glazed eyes while his body destroyed itself.
"Aw, isn't that just touching."
The ghost whirled round, her face contorting into lupine snarl.
"Get out Olcanifail."
"Come now. Is that any way to treat an old friend?" She seemed to have gotten over her initial shock. Yet there was still a hint of fear in her voice and the ghost heard it.
"You are afraid. You thought you destroyed me forever, and yet here I am. You are frightened Chwaer, and I smell it on the air."
"Yes, you see about that." Nubia's eyes swam with darkness, it poured from them like tears and shimmered on her very skin. "That would probably work if I was still your chwaer. But, it seemed that little Nubia would rather submit to me than face you. So…"
Fear spread across the ghost's face.
"You are deamhan."
"Oh I'm much more than that little ceoblaidd. I am the deiradhanden."
Nubia's face twisted into such a gruesome smile that Link visibly flinched. The shadows pulled her lips so wide that the grin stretched right to her cheekbones, and the teeth inside was as black as if they'd been painted with tar. Her mouth writhed with darkness as if filled with a thousand coiling snakes. But the eyes were the worst, they were dead, glassy as death. Only the shadows gave them movement, coiling inside the iris like a living breathing thing. Her skin was the palest shade, the colour of a corpse. What was worst, that the dark had leeched all the vividness from her, so that she was a grey as an on old wartime photo. And she leeched colour from all around her.
"But you cannot be. You, you were destroyed. The first hero destroyed you."
"Yes, when he robbed me of my true form, I was weakened. But I have always come back. I took another form and attacked the second hero. I have kept reincarnating throughout history. And finally, I have found a host able to sustain me."
It wasn't Nubia's voice. It spoke with many voices, coming from the very shadows. Deep and gravelly like a choir of landslides.
"And now, to destroy this cycle once and for all."
When those dead eyes turned to Link, it felt as if all the colour was being leeched out from him too.
"Stay away from him."
"I am not your chwaer. You cannot control me ceoblaidd."
With a nonchalant flick of her hand, the shadows leapt up and engulfed the ghost. Her light went out like a snuffed candle and she was gone.
Link gulped, blinded once more.
"Now, shall we get down to business?"
…
Silver was slowing getting to grips with her new body. Zelda was able to contact Yeta to get some furs for Silver to make her a slightly more modest outfit. As it turned out, what they had taken for furs, was in fact Silver's actual pelt. By the time Ilia had finished sowing the whole thing together, it didn't look out of place. The grey reindeer pelt Yeta had sent blended with Silver's natural fur to create a sleeveless body-warmer and three quarter-length leggings with a loose skirt that came to her knees. It was practical but also meant Silver could pass for a villager, who often wore furs in winter. She preferred to walk barefoot, and often walked on the balls of her feet rather than on the flat of her foot, as she would if she were wolfos. This gave her more of a loping gait when she ran and when she walked, she looked as if she were stalking something. Her downy white hair hung loose around her shoulders wild and untamed. It was enough to make most hairdressers cry for their mothers, so tangled was it.
Zelda also acquired Silver a set of claws. Knuckle bands with long blades protruding between each knuckle. It meant that Silver didn't need to change her fighting style, and with her tail she could still leap around and twist in mid-air as she would if she were a wolfos.
"Can I go now?" Silver asked for the umpteenth time that week.
"No." Said Epona.
"But why?"
"Because you're not strong enough. Your mist is slow to react and it takes you nearly five minutes to change shape."
"But…"
"Try and slit the bag on my back."
Tied to Epona's saddle was a sandbag. Silver's mission was to slice it so that the apple inside fell out. But of course, Epona would be fighting back, trying to use Silver's mist against her.
"Go on."
Silver growled and muttered a curse under her breath. Leaping forward she tried to slash the bag. Epona reared, backing up. Silver twisted in mid-air, so that she missed Epona's flailing hooves, and landed in a crouch. With a growl, she bunched the mist around her. It obeyed her, hiding her in a tight writhing white ball. Now for the difficult bit, getting it to disperse. She sent it out to fill the practice arena. It did so.
Epona immediately countered, using her sheer presence to scatter it and clear a path. But Silver concentrated hard, preventing it from moving. After a brief battle of wills, Silver won. Then Epona clubbed her round the head.
"Bloody hell Epona!" Silver cursed, rubbing her sore head while the mist dissipated around her.
"You did well to hold onto the mist, but you forgot the physical aspect of the fight."
Silver threw her arms up in frustration.
"This is ridiculous. I'm never going to be able to control it."
"It takes years to master it completely." Epona assured her.
"Link didn't."
"Well technically he did, until that day. So he's been at it for nearly eight years now."
Silver grumbled something unintelligible under her breath.
"Epona!" Phaira's voice called.
The mare turned to see the silver deer step from the air.
"Haven't seen you in-" Epona's voice petered out.
Sitting on Phaira's back was a woman, the same ghost that had saved Link.
"Deifiur?" Epona's voice was strained.
The woman's face lit up like a beacon.
"Chwaer!"
Leaping off of the deer's back, she ran to the mare. Epona cantered the short distance, half rearing as the ghost wrapped her arms around the mare. Even though she passed through the mare a little, as they couldn't physically touch. Just the feel of Epona's presence and warmth to her ghostly arms was comfort enough.
Tears wetted the fur around Epona's eyes as she cried freely. The woman too, shed ghostly tears.
The reunion was so touching, as both horse and spirit rejoiced in each other's presence. Reliving a time of peace and safety and love.
After several minutes, the initial onslaught of emotions retreated enough for the two to begin to question the other.
"But I don't understand." There was such sorrow in the way Epona spoke, as all the hope she had had for her friend's survival was dashed. "Why are you? How can you be?"
The ghost woman's face fell.
"Dead? Nubia was very thorough in her genocide. She hunted me down. I tried to fight. She killed my mate."
Epona tried to nuzzle the ghost, understanding her pain and sharing it. The ghost woman lay a hand on Epona's long face.
"I don't even know if my cub still lives." There was a moment's pause. "But what of you? I believed you dead, yet here you are. How did you escape Nubia?"
"It was the alpha. Ceotheryn bought us time. He put Link on my back and told me to run."
"Dadai…" Now it was the ghost woman's turn to have her hopes crushed.
"Nubia chased us into this world. She cursed us both, and if not for the Lead Mare's interference, we wouldn't have survived."
"Alpha Farore came?"
"She sealed my curse, and managed to remove Link's."
"Is he?"
"His physical wounds have healed. But his mental ones…they were deep. She took his voice, he hasn't spoken a word since that day. Lead Mare Farore sealed the worst of it away."
"The worst of it?" The ghost woman was afraid.
Epona hung her head.
"It activated the fail-safe. A few more seconds and…" Epona dissolved into tears once more.
The ghost woman shushed and soothed her. Cradling the mare's great head in her arms and laying her cheek against Epona's soft fur.
"It didn't happen. It won't happen."
Epoan shook her head.
"Nubia has him now, she'll kill him."
"That's why I'm here chwaer. I know where he is. We can save him."
Silver watched the scene. She had never seen Epona open up so much before. The woman too looked so familiar.
"Why is she calling Epona chwaer?" Silver asked Phaira.
"It's their word for pack-sister. Deifiur means more of a blood-relation sister. But horses don't really make the distinction between blood and herd."
"Who is she anyway?"
"Her name is Ciara. She's Epona's childhood friend."
When Epona had finally calmed down. She looked at Silver, and suddenly remembered.
"Deifiur, I should've said earlier. There is hope for your herd yet." Epona stepped back to show Silver. "This is Silver."
But Ciara was already hugging the girl. She was crying again, but these were somehow stronger and more passionate ones than what she had previously shed. Silver gasped as she felt the cold ghostly touch of the woman's phantom flesh.
"My inion. My sweet cail."
Silver just stared blankly at the ghost woman. Shivering slightly as her arms passes through her.
"You survived. You're alive and well and…" her words became incoherent as a fresh wave of tears washed over her.
Epona lifted her head high for the first time.
"Silver, meet your mother."
Well, that enough surprises for one chapter. As for all the celtic terms I'm using, I do plan to explain them. Why celtic? First thing that popped into my head. You won't be able to look it up, because I mashed different celtic words together. Please review, I do love hearing your opinions. And now I have a test to revise for. TT^TT
