This chapter is dedicated to my reader and reviewer Pjittrik, who fought and won the incredible battle against cancer at 21 years of age. Pjittrik, you have my utmost respect for the strength you've shown, and all my best wishes for the future! Stay strong, stay epic, and stay healthy!
DR
Chapter 20
"Watch the teeth, anticipate their landing!" Rusl called. Auru and Ashei voiced their understanding.
The courtyard was home to half a dozen new Wolfos, likely birthed from the extreme cold that reigned in the secluded manor. Ashei had spotted them first, and the Group instantly ran into a protective half-circle around Link as the six Wolfos charged them. Yeto growled, smashing his oversized fist into the first unlucky monster while the others tackled the rest.
Thankfully Link hung back, gently rubbing his head. Auru could see that the inaction pained him, but the discomfort of his fractured skull seemed to overshadow even the humility of having to rely on someone else's protection.
"Secure the area and watch out for Keese," Auru instructed. He then approached the Hylian youth as soon as Rusl and Ashei were out of earshot. "How's the pain?"
"More than yesterday. Maybe I aggravated the fracture during the fight with the monster, but I don't think I hit my head."
"Fractures take weeks to heal. Just give it time. Has Midna been able to track the Mirror at all?"
"Sir Auru, finally," came Midna's whisper from beneath Link's feet. "It's good to hear you're okay."
Auru smiled and inched closer to Link, crouching to inspect the snow at the door. He had not been able to speak to his Twili associate since their arrival due, largely, to Rusl's constant presence. "Same, friend. How has the cold been treating you?"
"Better than my arrogant companion," she whispered angrily. "He didn't tell me he had a fractured skull."
"I didn't want to worry you, Midna—"
The little imp kicked him in the heel from the shadows hard enough to make him stumble. "Shut up, Link! Worrying me was your only concern? What about your health, your safety, your own life? One more hit on your head and it could've been over, do you hear me? Over! No more hero, no more mission, no more frickin' Light World."
"It's really not as bad as you think," he replied in frustration.
"You've been leaking blood all over the place for a week now!"
Link grimaced and looked at Auru, who followed the fight with a strange mixture of amusing indecision and painfully familiar remembrance. Auru's heart clenched with longing, now more than ever, for his former wife's legendary beratings pummelling him into the floor like a giant hammer whenever he'd returned from a mission battered and bruised, stubbornly ignoring the kisses and praise with which he showered her until she finally yielded to her own joy. He knew better than to turn his memories into a teasing comment, fearing for Link's safety as much as his own.
"Midna hasn't been able to track the Mirror," Link answered Auru's question from earlier. "She said it's not the same kind of magic as the Fused Shadows, so she's blind to it. Perhaps the monster has already left the manor and is outside in the mountains somewhere."
Auru pursed his lips, sweeping his gaze across the battlements clouded in a mist of snowflakes. While that could be true and the Mirror might have already left this area, his gut feeling told him otherwise. There was next to no wind coursing through the inner court, and yet his beard was already crystallised with frost and his hands had gone numb inside their thick rabbit-skin mittens.
One look at Link's pale, ghoul-eyed face showed a similar doubt in this theory despite it being his own. It had likely been uttered for one reason only; Link wanted the Mirror gone from this place, gone from the two Yetis he had befriended, creatures just trying to live their happy carefree lives in peace.
"This place is unnaturally cold," Auru agreed. "It could just be a result of the monster infestation here, but I believe it's the other way round and the cold is the reason there are so many monsters in the first place. You feel it too, right?"
"You think this cold is not natural, but some kind of… evil cold?"
"It could be. And the Mirror is likely at its centre."
"The bedroom," Link stated. He turned and pointed at the dominant tower in the manor's back centre. "Yeta said she dropped the key to it after the monster attacked, and can't remember where she lost it."
"I managed to sneak inside, Sir, and saw nothing out of the ordinary," Midna muttered. "Link has a feeling it's in there, though, and I'm willing to believe him. It's the only place it could be, apart from outside the manor in the mountains."
Auru frowned; this was news to him, likely left unsaid the night before so he and Link could plot their next move without the other members interfering. "Why would Yeta take the time to lock it if the monster was already running loose? Was she trying to lock herself in?"
"No, she said she had valuables in the bedroom she wanted to protect," Link answered.
"Yetis have valuables?"
"I don't know, she's very… touchy about the subject. It doesn't matter anyway since she lost the key."
"Don't forget who you're allied with," Auru smiled, tapping the dark leather satchel at his waist. "There's no lock I can't get through."
"Except the one in the Arbiter's Grounds," Link smirked.
"We'll just get another brazier from the dungeons if I fail. I'm sure Yeto would be happy to oblige."
"He hasn't been able to break through either. Whatever that door's made of, it was built to withstand attacks from something large. Sir," Link leaned in further, glancing nervously at Ashei and Rusl in the distance. "If the Mirror is in there, I need you to keep everyone out until I've dealt with it."
Auru nodded gravely while gazing at the tight bandage around Link's head. Not today, son. You're not ready for that yet.
Ashei called to them then, standing inside the keep's doorway leading into the lower storerooms. The monster Link and Yeto had killed the day prior was still lying on its back in the middle, black blood frozen like tar on its chestpiece and gorget. Rusl lifted the visor and stood back, covering his mouth in disgust. The monster's face looked like freshly chaffed meat ready for stuffing. No distinguishing feature remained, no nose or eyes, not even a mouth.
"You got it good, Link," Ashei muttered, choking on a gag. "Drove your sword through possibly the only weakness in its armour, the space between the visor and coif. Very clever."
"I had lots of help from Yeto," Link hastened to add. "Even so, it doesn't matter. It wasn't the creature we were looking for."
"Curious to see it wear one of these armours," said Rusl thoughtfully. "It's like they were tailored for it."
"The Noirenoix family might indeed have been taming these monsters," Auru interjected. "Perhaps they are even the cause of this manor's decline. Whatever the case, this doesn't get us closer to finding the Mirror. But Link had a thought that might be worth investigating."
They filed back out into the court to gaze up at the tower. "That's one massive door," Rusl muttered, pointing at the iron braces, rods, and studs that adorned the entryway and made it impassable. "Suppose the Noirenoix didn't want any intruders, especially not one of their shady tames gone rogue. The locking mechanism alone was designed for one very special key. You won't have any luck getting through that one with your picks, Auru."
"Never hurts to try," Auru grinned, beckoning them to follow him up the ramp onto the battlement level. "That's a triple-bolt breaker, the largest of all door locks, held in place by folded steel bolts. The cold might have weakened the steel—"
Quicker than lightning Link appeared before him with his shield raised. "Watch out, Sir!" he called. The steel shield gave a strange bristling clank as something shattered against it. Link groaned and staggered back, one hand glued to his forehead.
"Get behind us, Link!" Rusl called, puffing himself up next to Auru and Ashei who had run up to meet them. Yeto, too, joined them and gently pulled Link into his arm's looming shadow.
Above the bedroom door, an overhang in the tower structure had accumulated a veritable sheet of massive icicles that reached down like roots. One had broken off and fallen to the ground at their approach, shifting, melting, morphing, and freezing into a bipedal ice figure. It stood at the ready with its frozen spear tucked close. It had no face, only two lateral spikes extending like cow horns from its head. Behind it, more icicles shattered to the ground and were rebirthed into similar shapes. The sound of air crackling with the chill from their frozen bodies accompanied their slow advance towards the Resistance.
"Chillfos," Auru said. "Speedy buggers. They have the high ground. Strike hard until they fall apart, and don't let them touch you."
"Kilton's everlasting wisdom," Ashei grunted, sidestepping a thrown javelin and slipping awkwardly on the icy ground. "Don't lose your footing, friends!"
Rusl's heavy broadsword was the winner in this fight, its tempered edge and considerable weight acting like an oblong axe that cleaved the Chillfos in half. But just like the Lizalfos in the Lanayru plains, the greatest danger was being crowded in and stabbed from the sides. Auru knew that, and guided his companions into a wedge formation with Rusl up front tanking through the Chillfos head-on while Ashei and Auru drove the flanking ones back to the front. And to his relief, Link did not join the fight even though the youth had equipped his father's blade before exiting the house. A quick glance back showed him wedged into Yeto's furry side, immobilised and annoyed.
The icy wind sliced across the walkway when the last Chillfos cracked and splintered into a heap at their feet.
"That's it, my hands have gone completely numb," Ashei said, flexing her mittens.
"You still had some feeling in them?" Rusl chuckled. "I'm surprised my fingers can even wrap around the hilt properly and keep a grip on it."
Auru was startled by Link's hand settling on his shoulder. "We should head back, Sir," he muttered through lips cracked and blue with cold. "Something's very wrong with this place. The cold is much worse than it used to be. If we're not careful, we could freeze on the spot."
The Resistance leader glanced up at the fortified double door that spanned the wall before him, the likes of which he had seen only in Hyrule Castle. Its lock beckoned, a prominent brass case at its centre with a keyhole the size of a spoon.
"Sir, your lockpicks will just fall through," Ashei commented. "If it hasn't frozen shut already."
"Indeed. Then we should retreat for now, return to the living room, and get warm."
He had just turned his back on the door when a faint scream floated towards them, riding the wind. He spun around, saw how Ashei had placed her palm on the door, and felt an inexplicable terror grip his heart that urged him to grab and tear her hand away. Rusl, meanwhile, jogged to the balustrade and gazed down into the courtyard.
"I think that came from the house. Sounded like… a girl?"
"YETA!" Yeto bellowed and surprised Link by scooping him up like a doll, pressing the youth so close to his chest that the latter was muted and incapacitated.
"Hey! Put him down, beast!" Rusl roared and charged after them back down the incline. "I swear, if you hurt one hair on his head…!"
The living room was a mess. Cushions spilled across the floor and flocked around the upturned sofa where Yeta was hiding beneath, with the dozen dogs scattered like sheep in the living room, barking and growling at her. Humley, who had stayed behind to watch his animals, had his sword and shield drawn, calling all the while at his lead dog, the largest of the pack.
"Fofo! Down, boy! Come here!"
"What happened?" Auru asked, fearfully glancing at Yeto who rushed to his wife and lifted the sofa. Link, too, knelt before her to speak urgently to her.
"They just went crazy!" Humley wheezed. "I heard a scream from the living room and the dogs all rushed in here. I don't know what happened—"
A thunderous crash sounded from the kitchen. Glass shattered, the walls shook, the fireplace hissed. Dust rained from the rafters and made even the agitated sledge dogs tuck their tails in and huddle close to Humley.
Rusl ran into the kitchen. "Avalanche!" his voice drifted over to them. "Get away from the wall!"
Finally the noise quietened, and Auru ran in a crouch towards the sofa. The scream could only have come from Yeta, who was weeping and coughing quietly. Yeto knelt before her, gently stroking her arms. Her cough had worsened and she was gasping feebly for breath.
Auru sought Link's gaze, and frowned when he saw the terrified expression on the youth's face.
"Link, what is it?"
"That scream, I've heard it before. Oh no…"
His eyes unfocused as if trying to remember a distant dream. Slowly, his expression turned hard, his sickly paleness reaching a new shade of white. "Sir, make them leave, please."
Auru didn't hesitate and ordered Ashei and Humley to join Rusl in his assessment of the damage outside.
"Yeta okay, Yeta brave," Yeto said calmly, patting her back. "All over now."
"Yeto," Link commanded as soon as their allies were out the door, his voice like steel. The snow beast looked up, his saucer eyes oddly frightened. Frightened of Link.
"Yeto sorry for snow river…"
"You keep apologising for the avalanches, Yeto. Why? What is causing them?"
Despite the tremendous size difference, his hard eyes seemed to make Yeto shrivel beneath them.
"It was her," Midna's voice echoed from the carpeted floor. "Yeta caused the avalanche. Didn't she, Yeto? She caused all of them. She's been overtaken by the Mirror Shard."
Yeta gazed at them, eyes sparkling with tears, and shook her head violently. "Link and friends must leave this place! Bad things happen around Mirror! Please, Link, must leave!"
"Is the Mirror in the bedroom?" Link continued, his voice steadfast. "I can break it with the shiny sword, Yeta. It won't hurt you any longer."
Auru's brows rose at the reference. Yeta had likely seen Link use the Master Sword on monsters before and knew of its power. A good argument to use, if she indeed still had the bedroom key and was just refusing to put them all in danger by using it.
Sadly, it wasn't quite enough. "Yeta don't know where key is," she repeated, shaking her head with eyes closed. "Link must leave before get hurt."
"Is the Mirror in the bedroom?" Link repeated.
"Yeta don't remember," she answered despondently.
"Sir, there is some artillery in the courtyard," Ashei stepped in, startling Auru. "We could blast the door apart with a cannon shot if we find powder that's still useful."
Auru's first instinct was to refuse, to allow Link the decision of exactly how to deal with the Mirror shard. He was treading on dangerous ground now, and any faux-pas could expose the youth's carefully concealed identity or endanger the Group needlessly. But looking at Yeta's terrified countenance yet unswayed by her new friend and even her husband, they needed more time to break her. Time was now his only ally in keeping Link's secret, and his crew members safe.
"Go to the armoury and find the powder. Take Rusl and Humley with you."
"I can go by myself, Sir, no need to—"
"Take them with you, Captain, that's an order. Stay together, and don't fire that cannon until I give the all-clear."
She looked perplexed, but acquiesced with a sharp nod.
"No! Ashy come back!" Yeta called, staggering to her short, velvety feet. "Mirror not safe!"
Auru watched her faltering on the edge of uncertainty, pawing at her belly and scratching her upper arms. Nervousness, he reckoned. It wouldn't be much longer now.
"Yeto not think wife safe anymore," Yeto said, his barrel-voice surprisingly soft and loving. "Yeto know Mirror make Yeta sick. Not normal sickness. Snow rivers happen when Yeta upset. Monsters not attack when Yeta near. Link and little Humans here to help. Where is Mirror, love? Where is key?"
Auru sensed the tension in the room like a cold pressure, darkening the shadows, and dimming the firelight. Yeta's eyes seemed to briefly glimmer with red malice as she stared at the ground. Then her face dropped, and she plummeted to her backside.
"Pumpkin," she whispered.
"What?" Auru asked as Link bolted to his feet and hurried into the kitchen. The gourd in question sat half-hidden behind more crates of produce, a massive round boulder the likes of which could only be grown in the southern provinces. Without hesitation, Link ripped off the mushy top where the pumpkin's stem had once been cut for harvest and plunged his hand into it, pulling it from the rotting centre; a large skeleton key with intricately shaped teeth, definitely the one fitting the breaker outside.
"That why Yeta not want pumpkin in soup," Yeto grumbled behind them, looking sadly at the mutilated squash before they headed back into the living room.
"Thank you, Yeta," Link whispered and gave her a pat on the shoulder but remained at a distance, holding the large key behind his back. "I'll deal with it."
"Link, your fracture," Auru and Midna said simultaneously, but the youth shook his head.
"No time. She's suffered enough. I'll be fine."
He rushed out the door before Auru could stop him. Outside in the courtyard, Humley had gathered his dogs around a large twenty-four-pounder cannon and was busy sweeping a half-frozen ramrod through the bore to clean it. Ashei's and Rusl's voices echoed faintly from an open door that presumably led to the armoury. Auru ignored them and hurried up the incline after Link.
"If you get struck again, your head might be damaged beyond healing," he hissed and tried to pull Link to a stop.
"You saw her eyes, Sir," Link whispered. "She's suffering, and she might be dangerous. I don't want anyone involved in this fight, and right now everyone is occupied. Yeto will keep an eye on her, and once I lock the door she won't be able to stop me anymore. I'll be okay."
"I'm not concerned about her, I'm worried about you!"
"Listen to him for once in your life, Link!" Midna hissed and attempted to dissolve the key, but Link had already twisted it. Despite the bitter cold breezing around the chamber door, the lock's many bolts slid free with ease.
"Sir Auru?" Humley called from below when, with a mighty push, the left wing creeped open half a yard. "Did you find—"
"Yeta stay!" Yeto's voice echoed through the mansion.
"Sir, watch out!"
"NOT TAKE MIRROR!"
Auru and Link were thrown off their feet as an icy gale knocked into them, exploding like a whirlwind from Yeta's body that came rushing towards them.
Rusl and Ashei shouted out below them, but Auru heard their voices only through a wall of constricting snow. He found himself on his side, unable to breathe, unable to move. Burning cold pressed in on him from all sides, and he choked out a weak cry for help.
His vision was beginning to blacken when, finally, his face was freed of its choking blanket, and he drew in a loud breath. Link's ashen face appeared before him as he clawed and scratched at the compacted snow like a dog digging for a bone.
"Sir, are you hurt? Can you hear me?" he wheezed, coughing in between movements; his hair was chiming like a glockenspiel as shards of ice clinging to his strands knocked into each other.
Auru pushed and freed his legs with a growl, working the ice free of his pant legs. "I'm okay. Was that Yeta? How did she—"
"She's inside," Link answered, already drawing back towards the door, the large key in hand. "It's much worse than I thought. She's being controlled by it! I have to help her. Please, Sir, keep Rusl out, don't let him come after me."
"He won't," Auru answered, but his promise grew brittle when he saw Rusl and Ashei racing up the battlements as fast as the icy ground allowed, frantic Yeto mere feet behind them "Hurry!"
Link banged the door shut and clicked the lock, and the male Yeti let out a terrifying roar that shook the remaining window panes like drum skins.
"NOT HURT YETA!"
With a mighty growl, he threw his monstrous weight against the locked door.
0
Link barely had eyes for the luxury that greeted him; lush red carpet, a magnificent four-poster with flowery sheets and copper cushions, armour stands and tables much like he'd seen in Ralis's royal guest chambers. Those were peripheral details that he picked up on instinct and his mind used to concoct a strategy plan.
He knew only fear for Yeta as she approached the large vanity at the back of the circular room, a piece of furniture half-covered by a fallen banner. A low pulsing seemed to emanate from it.
One pull on the banner revealed the black shard resting in the empty frame that had once held the vanity's mirror.
"Yeta, stop, please!" he yelled and started running towards her as fast as he could.
"Don't, Yeta!" Midna called from his shadow. "Bad Mirror, hurt you!"
"So pretty," he heard Yeta murmur. Finally, he had reached her and grabbed her furry arm, trying to pull her back.
Yeta spun around, and Link was shoved harshly to the carpet. He watched in horror how Yeta's entire face twisted into her furry hood like a doll's head, and was replaced with a nightmarish, fanged grin; the face of the Mirror's curse.
A mighty bang resounded through the hall, making him turn to the sound sharply. The door rattled and shook from the impact, and Link couldn't tell if it was Yeto or the cannon that pounded against it. All he knew was that he had to free Yeta, quickly, before they broke through.
Bitter cold air swirled around her and caused a whirlwind of ice shards that engulfed Link's boots and froze the leather solid. He crawled backwards before the ice consumed him and staggered to his numbed feet, battling to keep his balance. Yeta's woolly body was now floating in the air towards him. The black Mirror shard was clasped in her hands, encased in an ever-expanding mass of ice.
"Link come to Yeta where is safe," she cooed, her voice a grating growl that barely resembled her usual tone. "Yeta not hurt Link."
"It's not you, Yeta!" Link cried, stretching out his hand and splaying his fingers wide. "Midna, the sword!"
Midna's magic weaved the Master Sword out of the shadows and into his hand.
"Please, Yeta, snap out of it!"
"She can't hear you!" Midna called. "You have to break the shard away from her!"
Link's instinct alone saved him from being frozen on the spot as she swooped in to ram him. He raced to the room's opposite side and heard the large four-poster shatter behind him as she crashed into it. Splinters and wood chips pelted him from behind, shredding his wool cloak, scraping his neck and back. He had not worn his chain mail for several days and regretted its absence when a larger chunk buried itself in the small of his back below his shield. He grunted, stumbling to his knees.
"Yeta not hurt anyone!" she screamed behind him, a shrill gurgle he remembered too vividly. The same scream had ridden the alpine wind just before the avalanche had chased him down the mountain. It has been her voice calling it. In his recovery time, cradled by her warm, sisterly presence, he had not thought to make that significant connection even though it had been there all along, purring him to sleep.
"You saved my life!" he cried back, not even registering the tears that spilled from his eyes and left cracking shards on his cheeks. "This is not you, Yeta!"
"Yeta save lives!" she shrieked and dove after him again. This time he was ready, his sword angled at the frozen Mirror piece clutched to her belly. The sacred blade chipped off a significant portion of the dark ice and caused her to falter, but he inevitably absorbed her momentum and was thrown back against the tower wall. His body folded in on itself on instinct to protect his head, but the impact still jostled his brain hard enough to make him crumple to the ground.
"Link, get up!" Midna's voice cleared his mind enough to stagger back to his feet, the pain in his cracked skull barely registering.
"Midna, I need my bow and a bomb arrow," he called, stumbling along the wall and past the door that was jostled with another harsh impact from outside. His lungs struggled with the harsh cold air he was forced to breathe. "It'll break the Mirror off of her and push her back long enough for me to… incapacitate it. How do I stop the Mirror from corrupting her further?"
Midna worked quickly within the shadows, speaking in a hush while he kept himself far away from Yeta's rampage. "You may be able to suppress the Mirror's influence with your sword, just as you kept the demon in the Arbiter's Grounds in check while we helped Auru."
"Are you sure?"
"No, but what else can we do?"
"I'll figure it out."
The bow appeared before him ready to grab, and his lit bomb arrow floated right beside it, already aiming at Yeta's hovering form. The moment she turned to face him, Link fired.
The bomb's fuselight was strangely muted in the chilled air that left crystals on the furniture, but the explosion knocked back the cold with a radius of heat that broke the last of the remaining window panes around them. Yeta screamed, falling to the ground from a cloud of black smoke. His aim had been slightly off, and when the Mirror was broken from her hold it flew in an arc to his right and slid to a stop by the tower wall.
Just as he started forward, a mighty crash sounded behind him. The double door swung open and revealed Yeto's massive bulk among the milling figures of the Resistance.
No!
"YETA!" Yeto bellowed.
"Link!" Rusl screamed, lurching in his direction.
"Get out!" Link roared. "Don't give her another target!"
"You shut up and get over here, sport!" Ashei screamed, her wide eyes trailing Yeta with stunned shock.
"Out, everyone out! That's an order!" Auru was already on the move trying to pull her back through the door, with little success. "Rusl, stay away! Let him deal with it! This is not your fight! Humley, stop!"
"Fofo, attack!" the Anouki bellowed and whistled sharply; twelve dogs spilled around Yeto's bulk and charged into the room in a flurry of fur and angry barking.
Even if the Mirror was no longer attached to her, Link could see what looked like a tether of black smoke that spanned between Yeta and the shard. The connection followed her as she once more rose into the air and swooped down like a hawk catching a field mouse. That field mouse turned out to be Yeto, the largest target in the room.
"Hum, stop!" Ashei hollered somewhere.
Link forced himself to turn around, turn his back on the Resistance group and his newfound Yeti friend, to run towards the Mirror shard with every ounce of speed he had left.
"Come to Yeta, my love," he heard her giggle, and a moment later a shattering crash sounded as she knocked into the male Yeti, two sledge dogs, and Humley running beside them, sprawling them on the ground and coating Yeto's stomach in a solid sheet of ice. Link looked over his shoulder and saw the beast man desperately punching at his iced belly to regain his mobility. The two dogs lay unmoving at his feet, and Humley had disappeared beneath a blanket of frost. Ashei screamed in distress.
"Link, come back!" Rusl, who was hard in pursuit, cried out behind him.
"Get out, Rusl!" Link screamed back. "Out of the room! Run!" You promised!
The Mirror was right in front of him. He couldn't afford to pay attention to the unwanted newcomers, not now when the end of the battle was just seconds away. But Rusl did not listen and appeared in his peripheral vision just as Yeta skimmed across the ground in the same direction.
"Bad Human, make Link hurt!" Yeta screamed and rushed back into the air. "Yeta promise to keep Link safe!"
Link glanced back. She was not aiming for him, trying to stop him from severing her connection to the Mirror.
She was flying straight at Rusl. If she ploughed into him with that kind of velocity, Rusl would be flung against the stone wall like a porcelain doll. Upon impact, his head wouldn't fracture.
It would shatter.
NO!
Link braced backwards for a full stop and turned around. Two steps to the left were enough to put him right into Rusl's path.
The snow in the air stilled. Yeta slowed. Sounds swooshed in their attempt to catch up with reality. He saw himself from a new perspective, as if his spirit had exited his body to observe the situation from above. He was his own herald of the future, every possible outcome laid out before him, fuelled by lifetimes of experience; a horizontal parry would drive the sword back into their throats with the force of Yeta's plunge; shoving Rusl out of the way would negate their opposing momentum, locking them both into Yeta's path; a swipe, a twist, a shove, all would end in their deaths. There was only one possible solution for Rusl's survival. For his own.
Link felt his consciousness shoot into every single muscle strand in his body. The sword's tip came up in between them like a ward of silver light, guided by his servant muscles that placed it upon Yeta's chest with surgical precision. He knew where he had to strike to stop her, where he needed to be to save Rusl's life.
Speed returned to time with a jostling crash. Yeta knocked into him and pushed both him and the flailing Rusl towards the stone wall. Link's hands shrieked in pain from the impact but held on to the Blade of Evil's Bane as if it was the only bond to reality he had left. He pushed with everything he had until his breath gave out, and crumpled to the ground in tandem with Yeta's wheezing form.
What greeted the survivors in the manor's former bedroom was a crystal silence, as if the air itself had been encased in ice.
0
Panting, gasping for breath, Link lifted his pounding head and was greeted with a horrible sight; Yeta's immaculate white fur, splotched in dark red splashes that sullied her wool's pearly purity. She lay on her side, his sacred sword embedded in her chest. Her quick, shallow breaths made it rock back and forth like an unhinged seesaw.
"Yeta…" he gasped and scrambled towards her, his hands and feet slipping on the frosted carpet. A sob escaped him when he eased her onto her back, slowly, gently. The dark tether binding her to the shard had dissipated. Her face was hers again, velvety brown skin crumpled in pain as she stared up at him with gritted teeth.
"Yet-Yeta s-so s-sorry…" she gasped. When she lifted her seeking, trembling hand to her chest and touched the metallic intruder there, a feeble whine escaped her that shattered Link's heart.
"No, Yeta, stay calm, we're going to help you," he said, flinching back when his tears collided with her cheeks and soaked into her fur. "You'll be alright. Just stay with me, okay? Stay with me."
Sobbing and whimpering, he slowly eased the Master Sword out of her body. It came to him drenched in warm blood; Yeti blood, after all.
Rusl's presence was palpable behind him but he barely acknowledged it. A larger, more prominent shape approached from the other side and made him look up. When he saw Yeto's unnatural expression, a grimace of agony twisted his features. The beast man lacked the necessary muscles in his face to appear distraught, which forced him to stretch his features in a taut display of gaping, wide-eyed shock.
"Yeto, I'm sorry…" Link choked out, curling his hands into Yeta's soiled fur to slow the bleeding. He had impaled her through to her back, and her essence was running out of her too rapidly for him to stop it. "I'm so, so sorry…"
"Yeta leaking…" Yeto mumbled. "Still sick. Must stay warm. All frosty."
He approached his downed wife and knelt, staring at Link so intently that the youth felt himself wither.
The wind howled through the broken windows. Ice patches covered the carpeted floor like polished tiles. A distant scream distilled from the air, riding it like a distorted song from another time. Link saw the black shadow rise behind Yeto, spiralling around the beast man in a slow whirl. Yeto's gentle eyes unfocused, a red shimmer tainting them with sudden malice.
Link bolted to his feet with his sword in hand.
"Link, no!" Rusl called out behind him.
Five running steps propelled Link onto the shard, his sword held aloft, and plunged the blade's tip onto the shimmering surface. The Mirror pushed on him with savage, repelling brutality that made him scream and brace with his feet, but his sword pierced the relentless stream of malice and shielded him from the onslaught like a vessel ploughing through a hurricane. It rang with blue radiance as the darkness slowly seeped into it.
"Mirror… Where is mirror…?" Yeta's slurred words accompanied his battle like a death chant. When the force receded, he braced himself on its black surface with his left hand.
"No need mirror, Yeta," Yeto murmured calmly. Link grunted when the darkness surged and made another break for the large beast, almost touching him. He ensnared it with every ounce of power he had.
"Look into eyes of Yeto. Look at reflection of Yeta. There true beauty."
Yeto's anguish fuelled Link's resolve; Yeta's gentle chuckle gave him courage.
"My love…" she breathed, and stilled.
Link's left hand was on fire, but he kept it rooted to the pulsing Mirror shard. He could feel the blackness inside it diminish the more it was absorbed into the sword, but like a drowning man it tried to surface, and fought against him with desperate brutality. Golden light from beneath his glove clashed with the dark fog emanating from the carved glass. Finally, after what felt like hours, the push stopped. A few last whisps danced around him as if trying to caress him, and entice him to let go.
Tenderly, like holding a new-born child, Yeto cradled his wife and carried her across the room, out the door, and into sunshine. The ice melted where his large feet walked, leaving a trail of water behind.
Link held on until long after the Master Sword had stopped ringing. Midna's gentle whisper finally broke the tension that had gripped his body. With a sigh, he sagged to his knees, and only his unrelenting grip on the Master Sword prevented him from collapsing entirely. He felt like every bit of energy in his body had been absorbed along with the Mirror's curse.
He saw Auru, good old Auru, approach him hesitantly. "Stay back," Link wheezed, extending a shaking hand at the Resistance leader. "I… I don't know if…"
"I will. Are you okay?"
Link managed a small nod, but his left knee slid off the Mirror's edge when he tried to stand up. His limbs—his entire body—felt like they had been pounded with a hammer. His head seemed magnetically attracted to the ground. Looking down he saw his own reflection blurred by thick strings of blood that dripped from his nose. His face was caked with it.
What would he have given for Yeta's embrace right now? To feel her smothering warmth, her beastly compassion, her unending kindness?
Everything, he concluded. His freedom, his happiness, his life. Everything to see her alive and smiling again. In that desperate moment he would have given it all away, if he'd known it would bring her back.
Sniffling, he looked around. The spot where Yeta had fallen, and Yeto's footprints leading out of the room, were the only areas on the carpet devoid of ice. Leaning against the wall behind him sat Rusl, unhurt and dazed, enjoying the reward of Link's bargain with death. Somewhere outside the room, the surviving sledge dogs barked and yelped. Humley lay on his back near the door, swathed in ice, his frozen eyes staring at nothing. Hands folded, muttering something only she could hear, Ashei knelt beside her fallen kinsman. It was she who first raised her voice, and brought to Link's mind some much needed grounding.
"We've lost one man, two dogs, and an allied creature, Sir," she reported almost mechanically. Her voice was like steel. "We've got wounded, too. Our first priority should be to find shelter after we've secured that wretched thing. But first…"
She rose and stepped forward, slipping on the ice and almost toppling sideways. It was only when she was close enough that Link saw the tears streaming down her face.
"First I want to know just what exactly happened. What in Din's name came out of that shard and what happened to the Yeti? And what is the deal with—Who the hell do you think you are, Link?!"
The frozen ground fled from beneath her, and she folded like a cracked trestle buckling under too much weight.
Auru straightened then, reaching out to steady her. His expression was subdued, a countenance that brought chills to Link's skin. It was over; he knew that look, and there was no stopping what would come next. Auru would do what he himself could not.
"Link is our saviour," Auru said, sadness wrinkling his compassionate face. "He has been chosen to fight for our cause. He wields the Blade of Evil's Bane in the name of the goddesses. Link is the greatest ally we could have hoped for. Please, show him the respect he is due, Captain."
Link did not wait to see Ashei's expression and turned away to watch the shining blade tumble from his hand onto the icy ground. Tears threatened to spill forth and make his grief and shame known to his new… disciples. He felt like vomiting.
"What?" Rusl's voice, a mere whisper, made his skin break out in goosebumps.
"Let it be known that what happened here was not Link's fault," Auru continued. "His actions were heroic, and without his intervention we would have all succumbed to the Mirror's curse. He freed Yeta from a terrible fate. He freed us."
"You knew?" Rusl asked, now turned towards his former mentor. "You knew all along?"
"I learned of his role, his identity, after he saved me from a demon in the Arbiter's Grounds. I vowed to keep his secret, as an ally, as a friend—"
"As a conspirator," Ashei sounded close to breaking down. "You kept this from us this whole time? Sir… We took an oath, we vowed to tell the truth even if it leads to our death. To protect the Agency. To work together. We were supposed to be one unit!"
"There are far greater things at play than truths and lies here, Captain. Our very existence rests in the hands of this young man, and we must do whatever it takes to help him, to guide him, to support his cause and ensure that light once more—"
"My kinsman is dead because he kept quiet about it!" Ashei screamed.
"Humley was killed by the Mirror's curse, Ashei!" Auru roared back. "Link had no part in his passing! It was Ganon, Zant's false god, who killed Humley."
"I'm sorry," Link whispered.
Auru, suddenly frightened, twisted in his direction and crawled past Rusl to grab Link's shoulders firmly. "No, Link, do not put this guilt on yourself. You did nothing wrong. Humley did not listen to our commands and walked right into his doom. You did the only thing you could have done."
"I can't believe this!" the captain called. "You're defending him? Condoning his actions? Saviour or not, by withholding who he is and what this Mirror shard can do, he negated our chances to defend ourselves. He indirectly killed a member of—"
"He did the only thing that—"
"Shut up, Auru, and take your hands off of my son!"
Like a blur, Rusl knocked into Auru and tore the latter's hands from Link's body. Link barely felt the tug; his eyes were glued to Humley's corpse in the back of the room. He took little notice of the grapple that ensued between Auru and Rusl. Even as Midna's ebony hand reached up to clutch his own in a sympathetic show of support, hidden from view between his knees, he only registered it through a thick tactile haze. His eyes saw nothing but his horrible deed repeated endlessly in a loop of guilt and regret.
If he had told them who he was, he could have persuaded them to wait outside. Humley would have stayed out of harm's way. Rusl wouldn't have run after him and forced Link to choose between saving Yeta and saving his father.
My silence killed two innocent people.
Yeta's and Humley's faces were like images tattooed to his retina. Link saw their last moments, again and again, until he thought he could see nothing else. It was torture to witness the agony in Yeta's eyes, the mortified fear in Humley's before the wave of ice engulfed him, to hear his cry fill the air and abruptly cut off, to feel her hot Yeti-blood flow across his hands. But he watched it happen, on the surface of the cursed Mirror, the fibres in the crimson carpet, the leathery mesh of crosses and lines on his bloodied gauntlets. His mind drowned out all visual perception and instead showed him a maelstrom of images he could not control. His guilt played out the scenes with excruciating care to details. As he deserved.
Then, like a ghostly apparition chilling the back of his neck, Colin's fear-stricken face appeared on the Mirror's surface; another haunting memory conjured by his mind's whirling descent into guilt-riddled mania. Link's heart gave a lurch of pain as the colour drained from his face. He wanted to scream, but no sound escaped him. His throat was frozen shut.
It's not real, it's not real! the Wolf barked within him. It's happening again. My mind is running its own course. Control it!
A black pond, silvery moonlight, a million tiny flashes on the muddy, weedy ground. The feeling of sinking in further and away from the surface. Loneliness, guilt, self-loathing, and a crushing desire to punish himself for the wrongs he had caused, to inflict the same pain upon himself he had inflicted upon others, through any means he had available.
I can't let the same thing happen again! the Wolf screamed. I have a chance to make it right before it can get worse. Focus! Breathe! I can't let myself drown in guilt again. I have to be better. For Yeta, for Midna, for Colin, I have to BE BETTER!
With the canine entity's help, Link was able to finally breach the endless stream of imagery feeding his self-deprecating thoughts, and focus once more on the present. It was not safe to stay out here; cold still shrouded them and slowly, relentlessly, worked on freezing the very blood in their veins. But Link's body was numbed, a mere vessel for the inner struggle that raged on within him. Physical discomfort was not important now. The Wolf had handed him the lifeline he needed to grab to make a step in the right direction. He felt his entire being drawn in that direction, as if twisted and forced to look there by invisible hands that had grabbed his shoulders.
Be better!
Be stronger!
Be better!
Groaning, he allowed the Wolf to pull him back to reality and to his feet. He knew what he had to do.
Ashei, who had lurched towards the two tussling adults and attempted to break them apart, let out a warning shout when she saw Link plummet to the ground next to the fallen Anouki. Slipping awkwardly on the icy ground, she made her way back to where he attempted to lift the much larger man from the frozen ground. Shards of ice from the body cut into his fingers.
"I'm sorry, Ashei," Link murmured. His body shook with tremors of effort. "I didn't mean for this to happen."
She held his gaze for a long moment, her eyes flickering with unshed tears. The emotions passing across her face betrayed the hurt, the anger she was desperately suppressing. Link found himself briefly sliding back into a desperate desire to provide retribution, wishing she'd hurl at him every last razorsharp word she wanted to pelt him with just so that he would feel like he'd taken at least some punishment.
But that was the easy way out. He had to be better. He had to bear her hatred and its repercussions exactly how she chose to. Only then would he feel like he'd earned the right to remain in her presence.
"Let go of him," she finally answered, and her tone was nothing like he'd expected. Subdued, drenched in sadness which made her voice guttural and vibrating.
"I didn't mean for him to get hurt," Link answered hoarsely, drawing away from the body. "I'll… I'll take care of it. I'll bury him for you, or I'll carry his body back to the Township, whatever you need me to do."
She blew out a scoff. "I don't need you to do anything," she spat, fixing him with eyes so piercing that he backed away. "He was my responsibility, and I failed it. Let me salvage what little honour I can and spare me your miserable squawks of repentance. That's the last thing I need."
She shoved him aside and lifted Humley's body on her own. Although he was larger than her, she held herself upright and steady as she shuffled towards the broken down door.
The self-hatred once more tried to broach the mental shields Link had raised. If it consumed him again, he knew he would be helpless, just another burden for his companions to deal with. He could not let that happen; not again. Kakariko was in the past. If he reacted now in the same way he had before, confining himself within a prison of guilt and gloom, it would only mean he had learned absolutely nothing. He had to be better.
Mutely he approached the shard and placed both palms onto its glassy surface. There was still a slight rumble to it, low and threatening, as if the curse upon it had left a lingering shadow. His hands tingled and stung where they touched the smooth glass. Auru and Rusl both said something in the background, but he ignored them. Softly, he breathed Midna's name, asking her to make the piece disappear. He heard her finger snap from within his shadow, but the shard remained intact.
"Something's not right," she whispered. "I can't break it apart. The structure doesn't allow my magic to touch it."
"Is it still cursed?"
"No, but… There's something about it that feels… wrong. Link, please be careful."
Leaning forward, Link slowly let her words sink in; his mind was beginning to fog, and the headache had increased dangerously.
"Link?"
"I'll take care of it," he muttered, and reached out to slide the Master Sword back into its sheath on his back.
If he'd known what the shard was made of, he might have understood where its sheer weight came from. Some of it could not be from simple mass; a different kind of pull made him think of an invisible sail attached to it that amplified its resistance. He had to not just lift it up but push it forward, every muscle in his body taut and straining.
Rusl and Auru both attempted to help him, and both times Link had to yell at them to stay back. After his second call, his knees buckled anew and he almost sat down with the shard on top of him. The air was crushed from his windpipe in a strangled sort of moan, but he managed to stay upright. Barely.
Like a death march, they filed out of the tower one by one. No one said a word. The leaderless dogs that were gathered in a clump before the incline approached with tugged-in tails, shrinking away from the softly humming Mirror shard. In a paradoxical show of bitter warmth, the sun breached the clouds to touch them with gloomy light.
He made it to the entrance hall, his body howled from the exertion and the weight he was supporting. Ashei knelt by the first sleigh where she had laid Humley's body on the platform, covered by his own cloak, and was busy tying his limbs to the sled as if he was just another parcel in need of delivery. Her face was pale and emotionless, with only her red nose giving it a prominent dot of colour.
The second sleigh was by the entrance. If he allowed the piece to collapse onto it, it would likely break it in half. Never before had he wept from carrying a great weight, but lowering the Mirror onto the sleigh's cargo hold was the equivalent of being tortured on a rack, his limbs instead pulled apart by the Mirror's unrelenting pressure. When he finally let go of it, the negating drag on his body caused him to perform a bizarre self-hug while his legs folded like a stack of sticks. He came to rest with his back propped against the stone frame of the hall's massive doors.
"Son…" Rusl murmured some time later. Through blurry eyes, Link watched while his foster father used a rag to clean his face. He shook his head mutely when he was asked if he was hurt. There were footprints in the ice coating the main entrance hall, just like in the bedroom; round Yeti-marks and splotches of red that led out into the mountains. Suddenly gripped by desperate hope, Link folded over himself and somehow managed to find his footing, staggering out onto the front porch.
Mountains of snow as far as the eye could see. Broken rocks, snapped trees, discarded shrubs littered the ground around the stone steps leading into white. Only a narrow gully carved by Yeti-hands provided an escape route through the countless avalanche remains behind which, in the distance, the black cliffs of Snow Peak stared with jagged contempt at the crumbled manor. Yeto and his wife were nowhere to be seen.
Sounds of scraping metal and huffing dogs made him turn back. Ashei had attached six of the remaining ten mutts to Humley's hearse and drove the sleigh down the staircase, heedless of its skids tortured on the stone. She kept her gaze planted forward as she passed him, and gave the new lead dog a slap with her whip.
Protect them from the Mirror. We don't know if the curse will return. Thus the Wolf, his Voice of Reason, spoke in lieu of his defective mind. He blessed it silently, and went by his duty. Shoving Auru and Rusl aside, he picked up the whip and drove the Mirror's sledge and their remaining four dogs after Yeto's trail that led them northward through endless sheets of white, until a gentle snowfall gradually erased every proof that the fabled Snow Peak Yetis had ever passed by.
Frozen. All was frozen; the air, whirling shards of ice with each inhale; blood spatters from Yeta's body that lay in the snow like frigid rose petals; Ashei's face paralysed with numbness; Auru's silence; Rusl's shock; Link's mind perfectly petrified with a single mantra pinging back and forth like the reflection of two mirrors facing each other: be better. Be better. Be better.
Be better.
Endlessly, it kept him going, until his feet were gone and his ears had fallen off. Be better.
Be better.
After what felt like days, Auru gently guided him to shelter. The cave held no warmth even after the Resistance leader led resistance against the cold and lit a small fire. Link awoke from his apathy long enough to find himself huddled close to the exit, his left hand resting on the Mirror shard, gazing at the cottoned night sky, Auru's voice knocking at his consciousness to demand entrance.
"...did not listen to my commands, therefore it's… What happened to her could have been prevented if Rusl had not…"
If I had been better. No use lingering on mistakes. Move on. Be better.
"… Link? You need to warm up."
His neck cracked when Link turned towards the voice and the faint smell of herbal tea. "I'm warm, Auru," someone using his voice said. His propped-up legs kept the warmth locked in. Surely.
Silence, frozen in time, waiting to be broken once more. "Please, I'm begging you—"
Don't shut me out like this again.
"—lie down by the fire and warm up."
"I'd like to be alone, Auru," he heard himself answer, before resting his chin on his shoulder. Sleep took him in fits and starts, broken by Auru's and Ashei's hushed voices in the distance.
Silence. Shuffling.
"Is it true, son?"
Don't shut me out like this again.
Eyelids were now frozen too. Link rubbed them to clear his view and take in the image of his foster father kneeling by his side. For once, the mantra stopped. All became still.
"Everything," Link replied. "Everything I told you in Ordon. Everything I kept from you. Everything that led to this."
The Master Sword rested poised upon the Mirror at his side, a ward without which he would not have allowed himself to hibernate. He touched its handle, frozen in cobalt blue.
"So that means I… That night in Ordon after the raid… I really attacked—" Rusl's hand covered his mouth as tears gently froze in his beard. He traced Link's scarred temple with a finger that chafed. "A wolf?" he whispered. "But… How can this be possible?"
Be better, the mantra resumed pitilessly, goading his fingers to find Zant's cursed arrowhead in his pouch.
The possibility manifested itself soon after with fur and claws that sprung from Link's prone form and drove Ashei to her feet. The crystal disappeared in his chest, and so did the pity he felt for his companions. Auru scrambled, conflicted, for his dagger and for Ashei's, keeping both frozen in mid-air, as the last of his hated secrets burst forth into the night. Rusl remained kneeling before his son and basked, for the second time, in one of his pleads fulfilled.
Your turn to shut me out, Rusl… Father… Dad.
But he didn't. Before Link could react, before Ashei could turn her instinct into an attack, before Auru could decide whether to stop or help her, his father's hands embraced his furry cheeks; gazed into Link's clouded azure eyes; pressed their foreheads together. Link breathed in Her Grace's touch from afar for the first time, and his body dissolved back into a heap of mushy muscles, battered bones, and torn tunic. The words coming from his lips seemed foreign and detached, but when they wisped across the cavern they soothed even the whipping wind.
"This fight was my responsibility, and I squandered it by trying to protect myself from your judgement. My silence got your kinsman killed, Captain, and there is no forgiveness for that. Auru was hurt in the Arbiter's Grounds because of my reticence. Yeta died because I lacked the skills to save both her and Rusl. And I gave you my word, Rusl, that I would trust you to be safe. I broke my word first. I will not allow anyone else to get hurt because of my mistakes. I have to be better. I will be better."
There was movement; a head shake; from Ashei.
"It was not your mistake that killed him, Link, but mine," she said without compassion. "And his. Hum did not listen to my orders, and that's what got him killed. Rusl and I did not listen to Auru's orders, and that got Yeta killed. People die in battles; that's just the way it is. We had expected a battle and were unprepared for it. Even prepared, we wouldn't have stood a chance. You're right, your silence put us in danger, but it was also Auru's silence. In the end, you stopped that thing from taking over any more Yetis, or any of us. Times are too unpredictable to linger on past mistakes. Auru tells me you're the only one who has a chance at ending this war?"
Numbly, Link nodded, and the female captain stepped forward to place her hand on his shoulder. She did not smile; the betrayal still sat too deeply. But her words were genuine. "Then you have my support, in any way I can give it."
"I am guilty of hypocrisy, but my incentive was centred on our success," Auru said softly. "You have my continued loyalty, if it is still of value to you." He placed his heavy hand on Link's other shoulder.
"You're my son," Rusl said simply, perfecting the trinity with his palms cupping Link's cheeks. "Anything you need, I will give you unconditionally."
Lowering his head, shaking beneath the three pledges he had been given, Link found himself wavering on the brink of surrender. Midna's gesture of trust on his scraped left knee finally broke the dam that allowed Link's tears to break through his mind's lethargy, and through the ice that had settled over his heart.
"She's dead…" the boy wept. "They're both dead… and I couldn't stop it."
000
Author's note: I wrote this last part in a nightly frenzy a few days after my husband and I were called to help a stranger going through an incredibly hard time, subsequently saving his life by staying with them and calling an ambulance. The encounter touched me deeply. I felt small parts of pride but mostly relief that we had been in the right place at the right time to help that stranger, and were able to work together as husband and wife, me staying with the person to calm them down and give them strength while my husband called and talked to a 911 operator. And while this chapter is only fleetingly related to this incident, sometimes it takes a certain frame of mind to write a particular scene, and this was it for me. Such an experience reminds us that we are all humans in the same boat (or planet) and that we have a common duty to watch out for each other and help one another. I was shocked to hear from the police that night that most people would have walked on by or even fled the scene without doing anything, hence the small bout of pride I felt that we did stay to help. Of course, sadly there are criminals out there who will pray on the helpfulness of others and subsequently rob them, but I will use this moment to implore you: help someone in need if you see them suffering, and if you can be sure that you yourself are not in danger. It will remind you of your humanity, and of that of others.
Pjittrik, sorry if this chapter is not particularly happy compared to your amazing victory against your illness, but I hope you will still like it and find strength in it.
All the best,
DR