Chapter 8

Rat swam to the edge of the pool. His boots sank into soft mud and he waded through the lily pads. On the grass, he faced Link, water streaming off his clothing, running down the blade of his sword.

Link wore a casual green tunic with a brown undershirt. An ornate bow hung across Link's back and a full quiver of arrows hung buckled to his belt. He pointed to Rat's stomach.

The boy looked down. A pattern like lightning blackened his shirt. Through the holes, Rat glimpsed bright red skin, blisters. Patches of charred skin.

White misted over his vision. He dropped the sword and fell sideways. Arms caught him and eased him down to the grass. There was a bright pop, then a vial slipped into his hand. Arm shaking, Rat raised the tonic to his lips and drank. Magic concentrated in his stomach and the sole of his left foot, where the shock had jumped into the ground. Slowly, the fog left his vision. He blinked up at the blue sky.

The swordsman's face hovered over him, faintly smiling. Rat sat up and handed the empty vial back to Link. Almost too afraid to look, he gingerly lifted his ruined shirt from his belly. His new skin glowed faintly pink.

"I'm going to have to hunt more fairies," Link said.

Slowly, Rat rolled onto his knee. The swordsman helped him stand and walked him down the road into the shade of a rock overhang. Rat's legs buckled again, and he sat, leaning against a wooden crate. He hugged his knees into his chest and shivered.

Link touched his leather pouch again, and a small jar appeared in his hand, half full of roasted peppers. "Eat a few of these."

Rat clenched his jaw. His lunch wanted to come back up. But everything the swordsman pulled from that pouch was useful, so he accepted a pepper. As he swallowed, spicy heat spread down his throat and warmed his stomach, like coals simmered inside him, heating him from the inside out. Tiny wisps of steam rose from the wet shirt clinging to his arms.

The swordsman sat cross-legged a few feet away, gazing at a school of fish swimming in place in the river.

Slowly, Rat's jaw relaxed. The shivering stilled in his core. "The kids," he said.

"They went up the road with a guard."

It took Rat another moment to speak again. "Did you see the fight?" he muttered.

Link nodded.

Rat glared into the grass. He squeezed his arms, imagining the swordsman peering down through the cracks in the ceiling, arrow nocked on his bow. Rat saw himself through another's eyes, a boy brandishing a stick, running right at the lizard's five-inch claws.

That was unbelievably stupid.

His face grew hot. He scrambled to his feet. "Well, I hope you enjoyed the show—" The world spun. He sat heavily in the grass.

"Give it a minute," Link said. "You don't have anywhere to be." He pulled an apple from his pouch, glanced at Rat, put it away, and traded it for a carrot.

The sound of crunching revived Rat's hunger. By the pond, he saw his rucksack sitting where he'd left it. The swordsman followed his eyes. His arm glowed green; he grabbed the rucksack with his magic and swung it into Rat's lap.

Rat pulled out the remainder of his bread and nibbled at the tough crust.

"Why did you go after the kids?" Link said.

Rat's stomach couldn't decide whether it wanted food in or out. "I don't know," he muttered. He glanced sideways. "I… met them in the market yesterday. I wanted to make sure they were safe."

The swordsman sighed. "That's all I want, too," he murmured. Then he turned his eyes on Rat. "Why are the Yiga so against me? Why would anyone fight for the end of the world?" He looked pained, like he was genuinely confused.

Rat picked at the crust of his bread. "They're insane. But I'm not crazy. I'm not—"

'Rat tried to kill me.'

He swallowed and found the courage to finish. "Against you. Anymore." He flashed a glare. "But I don't like you."

The swordsman cocked his head. He peered into Rat, analyzing him like a puzzle. "How did you come to the Yiga Clan?"

Rat curled into himself, protecting his bread. He drew the pouch close to his chest. His eyes darted around the pond, the shelf above the river. The grass waved in a gentle afternoon breeze. The sun hung lower in the sky, casting a golden haze over the valley.

"I…" His throat caught.

The swordsman sat patiently.

"My mother joined the clan. To follow my father. Then she found out she was going to have a baby. That was me."

"Who was your mother?"

Rat felt himself tightening. But did it matter that the swordsman knew? Everyone was dead. "Her name was Kira. She was a treasure hunter," he said. "She met my father on a dig when he came after her loot. They fought. She tied him up. He got away. She tracked him down. He tracked her down. They chased each other right into the Yiga Clan. That's what my mom said. She thought she could find new leads on treasure if she was a bandit." Rat sat up straight. "Then they died. And left me there."

He stood. The world swayed, but leveled out a second later. He stuffed his bread into his rucksack and started toward the sword lying in the grass. But his momentum died, and he stood awkwardly, halfway between the road and the edge of the pond.

"It sounds like she gave you her spirit," Link said.

Rat bit his lip.

Link unfolded his legs and stood. "So the clan trained you."

"Since I was seven," Rat said.

"You have good instincts. Have you killed before?"

"I hit a bokoblin once with an arrow. I think it died." He glanced sideways. "I couldn't get close enough in the Depths to use a sword."

The swordsman touched his pouch. A simple traveler's bow appeared in his hand. He drew an arrow from his quiver, then extended the weapons to Rat. "Will you show me?"

Rat stared at the bow. He looked up into the swordsman's face, but his expression was closed. A mask. Rat stepped back. "I don't need you to teach me how to fight."

A tiny smile cracked Link's mask. "Would you like to learn?"

Rat's eyes widened. Link kept the weapons extended. His smile remained. Rat envisioned a road unfolding before him: a flat, white path that curved into the distance. He didn't know where it would go. He felt frozen, able to see the path, but unable to take a step. His mother's hand rested in the middle of his back. She gave him a nudge.

Rat took the bow.

Link pointed to a tree thirty yards down river, up a hill. A pinecone hung on a low branch. Rat's stomach tightened.

Try it, his mother whispered.

He knocked the arrow to the string. The shaft was straight and flexible, carved from the wood of a sturdy tree. Red and blue Rito stripes decorated the fletching. He widened his stance, braced his core, and drew the string to his ear. The bow bent fluidly, the wood well-seasoned. He waited for a lull in the wind. Then he released the string.

The arrow grazed the edge of the pinecone, sailed beyond the tree, and disappeared. But it was enough. The pinecone tumbled into the grass.

Link nodded. "Retrieve the arrow. Please."

Clutching the bow, Rat ran uphill. He snatched his pinecone and searched the grass for several minutes until he found the fletching peeking out of a hillock. The arrowhead was undamaged. He ran toward Link.

What am I doing? Bouncing down the hill like a puppy? Go fetch.

Panting, he handed the weapons back to Link. He stuffed the pinecone in his rucksack and flipped his wet bangs out of his eyes.

"First try." Link grinned. He touched the bow to his pouch, and the weapon vanished in a blink of white light.

"How do you do that?" Rat pointed to the pouch.

"Magic."

Rat crossed his arms. He planted his feet wide. "What would you teach me?"

The swordsman crossed his arms back. A grin lifted one side of his mouth. "You heard me talking with Sidon. Where were you hiding?"

"A man keeps his secrets."

Link nodded. His eyes swept down the river and up the green hills, then came back to Rat, heavy. "I would teach you how to survive."

The wind ghosted through the holes in Rat's burned shirt. He felt his mother's hand on his shoulder.

"Most of the boys who've come to me wanted to learn the sword." Link shook his head. He picked up Rat's corroded weapon and examined the blade. "A weapon is dead. It's a chunk of steel hammered into a point. It's nothing without the arm of the warrior." His expression twisted in pain and suddenly closed, like a book snapping shut. He handed the sword to Rat, point facing the earth. "Keep it. You won it." He turned a pivot, and massaging his right arm, hiked up the road.

Rat's mouth dropped open. The swordsman sprang over the large rocks in the road, quick as a deer. Almost like he was running away.

"Hey!" Rat shouted. Gripping his sword, he charged after him. Panting, he caught up to the swordsman's elbow. The man locked his eyes firmly on the road, jaw clenched.

Rat half-ran to keep up with him. "I shot the pinecone!"

Link stared so hard at the road, his eyes almost crossed.

"Hey!" Rat jumped in front of him. "Listen!"

The swordsman jerked to a stop. "I don't want to train you." He glared at Rat. "And you've made it very clear you want nothing to do with me." He stepped around Rat and continued hiking.

Rat shook his head and ran after the man, sliding into his path again. "Finish what you started. You were going to tell me something. Be a man and spit it out."

Link's eyes widened in shock, then a laugh broke out of him. He clapped his hand over his mouth.

The boy crossed his arms and tapped his foot. A part of himself flung warnings at his iron skull. You insulted the Hero of Hyrule. You called him a coward. He could kill you with his toe.

Link glanced over the boy's wet clothing. "Night is coming. Can you build a fire?"

"Of course I can build a fire."

"With what?"

Rat looked down at his rusty sword. He glanced into the grass on the side of the road—the blades sparkled with dewdrops. A fallen tree lay nearby, dark with moisture. Mushrooms sprouted from the sodden bark. He glared at Link. "I'd figure it out."

"You better. Quickly." He began walking again.

Like Link had summoned it, a chilly wind gusted up the hill. Rat's shirt clung to him like an icy skin. He locked his jaw against a shiver. "I'm not used to the surface," he said.

Link kept walking. He followed the road into a short canyon of rock. The walls curved above them like a split tunnel.

Rat's steps echoed around the tunnel as he ran after him. "Nobody works for free. If you taught me, what would you want in return?"

The swordsman thought for a moment. "When I served my father, I cared for his weapons and armor. I set up camp and looked after his horse—anything he needed. Can you cook?"

"As long as you don't ask me to cook bananas."

Link smiled briefly. The rock canyon opened onto a shelf of pines. Link stopped and locked eyes with Rat. "The bond between a knight and a squire is forged on trust. I will rely on your work to sustain me in battle." He looked down at his right hand. "Many people have sacrificed to get me where I am, and beyond, to my goal." He lifted his eyes to Rat again. "The decisions I make affect my friends. My choices impact all of Hyrule. Right now, I still don't know if I can trust you."

Rat's stomach caved in. The knife burned against his calf. He lifted his chin. "Then why are you talking to me?"

The swordsman's eyebrows pinched like he didn't know.

Rat threw up his hands. He spun around and marched down the road into the pines.

"Where are you going?" Link called after him. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried.

"Back to the Yiga," Rat shouted to the birds. "To join a wandering band. I'll bond with a wolf pack. Why do you care? You don't have to deal with me."

"Come here."

Rat rolled his eyes, but dragged his feet around and shuffled back up the road.

"Where are you staying tonight?" Link said.

"Where are you staying?"

The swordsman tilted his head, thinking. He pulled out his pad and swiped his finger across the slate. Rat leaned closer. An image flashed by: lines and curves, glowing dots. Mountains. Rivers. A map. Link frowned at the map, moved it around some more. He shrank one section, expanded another.

Does he even know where he's going?

Finally, Link pulled the pad to his chest, hiding the image. "Wetland Stable."

Rat had never heard of it.

"If you want to continue this conversation, find me there in three days." Link gave Rat a cool smile. "If you can."

"What?"

Link touched the pad. His body dissolved into blue light.

"No!" Rat snatched at the strings of light, but they trickled through his fingers and Link was gone.