Chapter 11

Note: This chapter contains cross-references to my BotW short, "Chosen." Check it out if you want to meet Sarion!

Rat's body hummed as the magic knit him back together. Grasping the swordsman's wrist, he floated gently down from the air and landed in six inches of snow. He stumbled and gasped for breath, clutching his chest as his lungs remembered to breathe.

Suppressing a smirk, Link handed Rat a jar of roasted peppers, then stomped through the snow towards Snowfield Stable. Rat shoved the jar into his pack and waded after him.

Mountains rose at his back, white with snow, so tall they disappeared into the hazy clouds. Snowflakes settled comfortably on his shoulders and eyelashes. His breath clouded, and he clutched his arms, pulling the swordsman's green doublet tighter across his chest. The gloves were too large; they flapped loosely on his hands, but their fur lining was soft and warm.

The Hebra air felt wet, not like the dry cold in the Gerudo Desert. This cold sank into his bones. The Yiga would freeze out here in their tights.

There's no way Karta can follow us all the way across Hyrule in one day. I'm on my own.

Link's bow and silver bokoblin sword clanked on his back: the Hero of Hyrule, who had defeated Master Kohga four times. A Yiga ambush should be nothing. I'd get to watch him fight, Rat thought. Besides, before I sign up to train with him, I should scout his style. He shook the tension from his neck and ate his first pepper.

As Rat approached the stable, Link turned from speaking with the stable master. "They have a horse for you."

He followed Link around the side of the inn to the barn. Link pulled open the sliding barn door and Rat wrinkled his nose at the smell of straw and manure.

Five horses stood in stalls, crunching their morning hay. Light shone through cracks in the walls, and at the end of the barn, Rat glimpsed a flash of gold. A stable hand unlatched a stall door. She clipped a lead rope to the halter of the horse and walked it into the center of the barn.

Rat stared. "It's gold."

Link smiled and took the lead rope from the stable hand. The mare lowered her head, snorted, and bumped Link's chest. He scratched between her eyes.

"That horse is gold." Rat circled the mare. The horse's coat shimmered, reflecting the light of the stable hand's lantern. He extended his hand, then pulled his fingers back.

"You can pet her." The stable hand smiled as she threw a saddle blanket over the mare's back.

Rat pulled off his glove and ran his hand along the mare's shoulder. The fine bristles rippled in the light, like they were alive. "I'm not riding her, am I?"

"No." The girl laughed. "She only lets two people ride her. You're going to ride Sadee." She pointed down the barn to a paint mare munching hay, eyes half-closed, like she was eating in her sleep.

"Where did you find a golden horse?" Rat asked Link.

"Zelda… Princess Zelda found her," he said. "We spotted her in the wild about a year ago. The Princess tamed her."

"What's her name?"

Link smoothed the mare's white forelock. "Aurora." The mare nuzzled his leather pouch, asking for a treat, and he smiled at her. "Not yet. You have to earn it." He turned to Rat. "This is Harlow. Do what she says." He handed the lead rope to Rat and left the stable.

Rat held the rope awkwardly. The mare lifted her head and flared her nostrils, staring down her long nose at him. He swallowed.

Harlow grinned. "She doesn't bite. Often. Have you tacked up before?"

"No."

"I'll finish Aurora." She handed Rat a second lead rope. "Get Sadee and start brushing her down. You don't want anything under her saddle. It'll give her sores."

Rat picked up a grooming bucket and approached Sadee's stall. She was smaller than Aurora, with a black spot encircling her eye like she'd taken a few too many punches, but her hooves still looked like they could crush skulls. The mare's ears flicked at his approach, but she kept munching. I killed a lizalfos. I can brush a horse. He flipped the bolt and marched into the stall.

Twenty minutes later, Link returned, carrying a leather backpack. Rat held Sadee's reins. He held his breath as Link tugged on the cinch.

"He caught on pretty fast," Harlow said.

Link handed the backpack to Rat. "Use this. Your bag's about to fall apart." He walked Aurora from the barn.

Rat transferred his tattered rucksack into the backpack and fussed with his bow until he figured out a way to tie it to the pack. Then he led Sadee into the stable yard, where Link sat waiting, mounted on Aurora's back.

"Have you ridden before?" Link asked.

Rat lifted his knee and dug his toe into Sadee's stirrup. His leg stretched—it was higher than it looked. She took a step forward, throwing him off-balance, and he hopped on one leg to catch up. He gripped the saddle horn and dragged himself onto her back, like he was pulling himself out of a pond, then swung his leg over her rump and sat tall. He flipped his hair out of his eyes.

"Your reins." Link pointed to the mare's reins, hanging loose on the ground.

Rat scrambled down. He snatched the reins, hooked them over the saddle horn, and remounted.

Link bit his cheek like he was trying not to smile. "Rest your toes in the stirrups. Don't wedge in your foot, or you might get dragged if you fall. Grip her with your knees and relax." He clicked his tongue. Aurora's ears flicked up, and she turned fluidly south toward the road.

"Go," Rat told his horse.

She lowered her head and sighed.

He kicked her ribs with his heels and tried clicking his tongue like Link. The horse sighed again, then dragged herself after Aurora.

The sky brightened, and the sun broke through the clouds, far across the plains of Hyrule below the mountain. Rat sat tall in the saddle, mimicking Link's posture. The swordsman rode ahead of him, spine straight but relaxed, moving with the sway of the horse's gait. Reins loose in his hand, he gazed around the landscape as he rode. As Rat watched him, he noticed a pattern to the swordsman's focus: left and behind, a gradual sweep up to the sky, then down to the road, right, and behind. Then back, mapping his surroundings the opposite way. Until a squirrel, or a wandering moose, or a blue butterfly caught his attention, then he'd gaze at it, fascinated, almost like a child with a new toy.

Rat shivered and ate another pepper. Heat spread through his belly, but it didn't seem to reach his feet. His toes were going numb.

Link twisted in the saddle. "What kind of cave are we searching for?"

"I'm not sure," Rat said slowly. "Large enough to fit Yiga carrying crates of ore. We… they have to ship all the ore in from the surface."

"Then it must be near a road. This road?" He watched Rat's expression, like he was searching for traces of a lie.

Rat locked his face down. "It might not be. You've seen. Yiga can fly."

"Do you know where it is?"

Rat's stomach flipped. "Last night I said it was on a flat plain." He gestured around the snowfield. "This looks pretty flat to me."

Link pulled his horse to a halt. His eyes narrowed.

"The maps I drew weren't very detailed. Things look a lot different in person." Rat's heart picked up. He braced himself, but Link turned from him and pulled out his glowing map. "I'm sure it's here," Rat said quickly. "It has all the features. Flat space, cliffs."

"We'll find it faster you tell me what I'm looking for."

"It's down this road." Rat slammed his heels into the horse's ribs. She broke into a trot, kicking up sprays of snow, and Link allowed the boy to pass him. Rat's seat bounced in the saddle, jarring his teeth with each step south. He felt Karta smiling.

Link came trotting up to Sadee's shoulder. "Lift yourself up. Move with her gait." He raised himself from the saddle and back down in a steady rhythm.

Rat stood up and sat down, moving until he matched the pattern in Sadee's gait. It felt almost like a dance. Riding isn't so hard. The road sat wide and open before him, beckoning. He lifted his heels to kick the horse faster.

"No galloping yet," Link said. "I'm out of fairy tonics."

Rat settled down. The road climbed a hill and his horse slowed to a walk. She yawned and dropped her head. "You gave me the slow horse."

"She's gentle."

"Is she yours?"

He glanced at the horse with a soft expression. "She was the first one I tamed after awakening four years ago."

"How old are you?" Rat asked.

Link smiled. "One hundred and twenty-three."

Rat ran the math in his head. "You were nineteen when you faced the Calamity?"

"When I beat him, yes. But I was eighteen the first time."

"Is that why you failed?"

The man's smile vanished. "We didn't know what we were facing."

"Do you know this time?"

He flexed his right hand. Pain whispered across his face. "I have a better idea."

"You have a plan, right?" Rat said. "You know you can beat Ganon."

Link's eyes locked on the road. His cheeks paled and his gloves squeaked as they tightened around his reins.

As his silence stretched on, fear stirred in Rat's belly. "You… can beat him, right?"

"I have to," Link said in a low voice. "I don't have a choice—I'm their last line of defense. Their entire strategy depends on me." He tapped Aurora's ribs, urging her into a trot, and her tail swished briskly as she pulled ahead.

Rat drifted behind, watching the swordsman's stiff back as he crested the top of the hill. A steep, rocky wall rose on their right, dampening the wind. Snow settled on his shoulders. He brushed it from Sadee's mane and fished out another pepper.

What if Link couldn't defeat Ganon?

Rat's jaw froze mid-chew. He'd never allowed himself to imagine it before. Like most of Hyrule, he'd been clutching the reassurance that no matter how dark the Depths grew, how wickedly Kohga treated him, someone was out there. A hero was fighting for justice, and good always won. He only needed to wait, to survive one more day, and the light would find him. Eventually.

What if this time the dark was stronger?

Rat swallowed, the pepper sticking in his throat. Sunlight glittered on the snow, but he couldn't feel its warmth. Link seemed so small astride the golden horse. Today, in his winter jacket, he wasn't wearing chain mail.

"Get up," Rat muttered to Sadee, kicking her sides, and trotted up to Link. "You can defeat Ganon if you have the Master Sword, right?"

Link's jaw twitched. He shot a side glance at Rat, irritated, as though he wanted to be alone.

"Sidon said you have to find it. Is it missing, like Zelda?" Rat asked.

The swordsman flinched.

Rat got the sense he was asking too many questions—the wrong questions. But as Link curled into his shell, Rat dove in after him. "Why did you become the hero?"

Link's eyes widened in surprise. "Because they asked me to."

"Do you always do what they ask you to? Who keeps ordering you around?"

The man's face softened. "Zelda. But she's caught in her fate, the same as I am."

"Why are you saving Hyrule again? Wasn't once enough?"

Slowly, Link drew in a breath. His left hand drifted to his right forearm, and he squeezed as though reminding himself it was still there. He gazed at the snowflakes drifting down from the sky, then his eyes settled on Rat. "I'm doing it for you. And everyone like you, who's caught in a war they didn't ask for or deserve. Someone has to fight it."

Rat's eyes dropped to his saddle horn.

"What are you fighting for?" Link asked.

The boy's head snapped up. He swallowed, throat dry, and couldn't answer. Link didn't press him.

A brisk morning wind picked up, cutting through Rat's thin pants. He drifted behind Link, and for a while, they rode in shivering silence. His toes ached, but he had heard somewhere that pain was a good sign: it meant they were still attached.

A sick feeling was growing in Rat's stomach. Like when he hadn't met his ore quota for the day, and he was sneaking around the Yiga base, staying small, hoping no one would remember him. He squinted against the glare on the snow, peering up the hill. How far was the abandoned village? Could Karta travel across Hyrule in a day? Maybe—if he flew through the Depths. Had he found a way through the regional walls? Kohga had.

Rat needed more time.

But Link kept riding. Scanning the snow, watching the birds, crunching a handful of nuts from his pouch. The sun crept to its zenith, obscured by the clouds overhead, and Rat's stomach grumbled. He could pretend to be sick. Chase down a deer. Spur Sadee into a reckless gallop, but he didn't want to fall off and break his leg again. The memory of his injuries was raw and tender; he wasn't ready for another potion. The healing was real, but so was the pain.

This isn't how I want you to save me.

Rat drew in a sharp breath. He twisted in the saddle, eyes darting across the snow. Mother's voice had sounded so real. His ear still tingled with her whisper. So close to life. He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to glare at Link's back as the man crested the top of the hill. You aren't worth my mother.

Halfway up the hill, they stopped for a lunch of bread and tomato soup, still warm from the magic of the leather pouch. Link left the horses with Rat and ran off into the wild, chasing a chime on the Purah Pad. He didn't return to Rat's campfire until late afternoon, as the sun was dipping behind the mountain peaks, throwing the region into early shadow. After the shrine, his face seemed brighter. He mounted Aurora with fresh energy and guided her back to the road.

Rat kicked snow over the embers and scrambled painfully onto Sadee. As the sun sank, the temperature dropped quickly. Rat flipped up his collar and ice crusted the wool from the moisture in his breath. He ate another pepper as they approached the crown of the hill.

"What was in the shrine?" he asked Link.

"Constructs."

"Did you kill them?"

"In my underpants." He grinned at the surprise on Rat's face. "It's very motivating. It reminds you to dodge. Want a lesson?"

Rat shivered as a gust of icy snow stung his cheeks. "Here?"

"You still have peppers."

The blood drained from Rat's face.

Link winked. "Next time."

As they rode downhill, ruins appeared through the falling snow: the dark shapes of burned homes and stables, like ghosts. His stomach clenched, and the fear that had relaxed over the afternoon slammed back in force. The village wasn't supposed to be this close. Rat's palms grew sweaty in his gloves. His throat dried. As they passed the first rotting fence, he swept the ruins for Yiga sign—searching for footprints in the snow, or alcoves where an assassin might hide. The snow was clean and flawless.

Link turned to Rat. "Do you shield surf?"

"Do I what?"

"Sled. On snow."

"Give me a shield and I'll beat you."

Link smiled. "I used to come here with my friend." He pointed higher up the mountain. "There are some good runs back there. I'll—" He snapped his jaw shut.

"You'll teach me?" Rat asked.

Link shrugged.

Rat couldn't figure this man out. One moment he was warm, the next he was ice.

Draw him to this spot, Karta whispered in Rat's ear, and keep him distracted.

"Who was your friend?" Rat's voice scratched. He hated his own words.

"Sarion. He was with me in the guard. This was his home." Link pointed to a ruined house on the outskirts of the village. Icicles hung like daggers from the decaying roof. Through the shattered wall, blue mushrooms sprouted from the frame of a broken bed.

Rat tried to imagine the village bustling with people and horses. With carts of vegetables and smoke rising from chimneys, the way Link was seeing it in his memory, with a sad, distant smile.

"You never get used to death," Link said.

Rat rode beside him, stiff, as they passed the crumbled fragments of a stone chimney.

"When you're a soldier, they expect you to be iron." Link stared at Aurora's ears. "They think you don't feel regret because you're killing monsters. But the moment you stop feeling, that's when you lose your soul."

In the center of the village, Rat pulled Sadee to a halt. He gripped the reins so tight, his fingers cramped. "Link."

The swordsman glanced over his shoulder and pulled Aurora up. He waited, calm. The feathers on his headdress fluttered in the wind.

Rat's heart jumped into his throat. "This isn't… where…"

Something rustled in the ruins. The hair bristled on Rat's neck. His gut clenched, like an animal sensing a hunter. Don't hit me, he thought to the Yiga.

Link sat up straight, listening. He sniffed the air.

A shape stirred in the ruins of an abandoned house on their right. A living shadow slid across the splintered planks. It crept up the wall, moving like liquid. Rat squinted at the shape as it congealed and slipped through the broken door frame.

"Run." Link said.

"What?"

Link's blade rang as he drew his silver bokoblin sword. His face was like stone. The snow turned red, and the sky darkened. Wisps of crimson malice smoked from the shadow on the ground, and five arms suddenly erupted from the gloom. Five hands opened, five yellow eyes fixed on Rat, then the shape rushed him.

He froze.

Link slapped Sadee's rump with the flat of his sword. "Get up!"

The horse bolted. Rat clung to the saddle horn as Sadee galloped downhill. His seat slammed up and down in the saddle, and he bit his tongue. He lost his reins, lost his right and left stirrup, then he slid sideways and tumbled from the saddle. He hit the ground, twisting his shoulder, and rolled in the snow. Flailing, he kicked snow and pushed himself to his feet.

The hands bore down on him. They swept over the ground, ignoring snow and ice, bleeding around trees and over stones. Arms weak, he fumbled with the frozen knot securing his sword to his belt. He snatched for his bow, but it lay broken, snapped in half when he fell. He dug his hand into his doublet for his Zora knife. But the hands were upon him.

A red arm shot out.

Link jumped into its path, skidding between Rat and the malice, and struck the arm back with his shield. It recoiled, stunned, but another hand darted in. Rat dropped to his knees and clutched his head. It sailed past him and instead, snatched Link.

It lifted the swordsman, dragging him into the center of the cluster of hands, and squeezed. Link's left arm and shield were pinned to him by the hand, but his right arm was free. Two dots of blue light flashed from his rings and a blue ghost appeared in the snow.

Sidon.

Rat lifted his head.

The Zora king's eyes glowed with magic. His hand flew out and a sphere of water surrounded Link, still in the clutches of the malice. Link touched his pouch, and a bomb appeared in his hand.

Talons snatched the back of Rat's doublet. Ghostly blue wings brushed the side of his head and wind whipped around him, stirring up snow. The talons lifted Rat into the air. He kicked at space as the wings flew him away from the battle. As soon as he was clear, Link threw the bomb into the hands.

The shockwave from the explosion hit Rat, spinning him in the air. A second later, a wave of heat washed over him. The bird-ghost flew him up to the crown of a nearby ridge and dropped him in the snow. Rat's knees buckled, and he caught himself on his palms.

A glowing Rito boy landed beside him. His flat eyes shone with the same spirit-magic that Sidon's did. They narrowed on Rat, like he was saying, 'Stay.' Then the Rito boy flipped a bow from his back, leaped from the ridge, and caught it in his talons. He spread his wings and flew back to the battle.

Another explosion shook the earth. Link stood downhill, hurling bombs at the mass of hands. They curled in on themselves and withered under the blasts. Flames licked from the rafters of a ruined house. Rat crouched on the rim of the ridge, heart pounding, as Link threw one last bomb. As the blast died, the arms collapsed, and the creature shrunk into a writhing puddle of melted snow. Then it was gone.

In the center of the road, Link hunched over, clutching his stomach. He drew a vial of clear liquid from his pouch, bolted it down, and grimaced. He wiped his mouth with his wrist, threw the empty vial aside, and straightened.

Rat crawled to the edge of the ridge and peered over, searching for a way down.

"Stay there!" Link shouted.

Rat froze, one leg over the ridge.

A third blue ghost jumped from Link's rings and a Gerudo woman whipped out two scimitars as she dropped into the snow. The swordsman drew his bow, fitting an arrow to the string. Sidon brandished his spear and the Rito spirit-boy knocked an arrow to his bow, aiming at the earth where the hands had collapsed.

It isn't over?

Rat pulled his leg back to safety. A tall, desiccated man rose from the earth like a living corpse. His hair writhed with crimson malice, and he brandished a slender, black sword.

Ganon.

What have I done?

Rat scooted backward from the edge. No. It wasn't me. Karta made me do it. His arms weakened and his legs felt like they were no longer attached, yet he crawled forward. Steel clashed. He peeked over the edge. Link was fighting with the shadowed man. They parried, jumped back, and whipped out bows.

The ghostly warriors converged on the demon, and Link fired into the cluster of blue bodies. Lightning cracked and thunder shook the earth.

The demon is dead.

Rat clutched fistfuls of snow. But the shadow man thrust aside the ghosts with a sweep of his sword, sending them flying, and rushed Link.

The swordsman back flipped, but the black blade caught his leg, and he tumbled into the snow. The demon kicked aside Link's fallen sword. A puddle of gloom spread beneath the demon's feet, sliding under Link's back, and Ganon thrust with his black blade. Link rolled to the side, but the edge nicked his shoulder. As the demon struck again, Link parried with his bow and stabbed the bow's sharp tip upward, impaling the shadow man in the side.

It was carnage.

Bile rose into Rat's throat. He covered his mouth. War was madness. A fight for survival. One of them would die.

"Come on, Link." His palms slipped off the edge of the ridge, and he caught himself before he tumbled over. When he looked up, Link was on his feet, his shield on his arm, with the demon's own sword in his hand. A roar of challenge erupted from Link's chest.

Ganon snatched up Link's silver sword and rushed in. Link jumped over the blade, spun in mid-air, and swung his sword as he came around. The black blade swept through the demon's neck. The head went flying. Link landed in the snow, falling heavily on one knee, and the body of the demon collapsed.

The red hue faded from the sky, and the daylight returned to normal. Snow fell from the sky, gathering on Link's back and his hair as he remained kneeling, panting. Finally, he tucked the black sword into his pouch and pawed weakly through the snow until he found his silver sword. He dug the tip into the ground and pushed himself to his feet, but his right leg buckled and he dropped, landing on his hip with a grunt of pain.

The memory of Karta's cool voice whispered in Rat's skull, just before he impaled the bluebird. Like the man had been watching behind him all this time.

And wait for just the right moment to strike.