Chapter 12

"No," Rat whispered. He slipped over the ledge and fell past the rock wall, vanishing with his Yiga technique and reappearing as he hit the ground. He raced light and fast across the field. Please, please, please, he begged Karta. As Rat neared Link, the three ghost warriors converged, blocking his path, protecting the hero.

Link raised his right hand. The figures vanished into dots of light as they returned to his rings. He braced the sword again and leveraged himself up, then sheathed it as he turned to Rat. "Are you hurt?"

Rat slid to a stop.

The swordsman's face was flushed, his eyes electric with adrenaline. His singed hair smoked and red wisps of malice rose from the cut in his sleeve and the slash through his boot. He curled into himself as he stood, clasping the burned armor around his midsection, and leaned heavily on his good leg. Behind him, the corpse of the demon smoked, then dissolved. Only a couple of black lumps and a longbow remained on the melted snow.

"We have to go," Rat said.

Turning from Rat, Link limped to the corpse and picked up the longbow.

"Now." Rat scanned the ruins, ears primed for the cackle of Yiga laughter.

Link tucked the bow into his pouch, then whistled up the road. Aurora appeared on the crown of the hill, far above the ruins. She whinnied and galloped toward them.

The golden horse gave the melted snow a wide berth and slowed to a halt in front of Link. Gripping the saddle, he took a deep breath. He transferred his weight to his injured leg, wedged his foot in the stirrup, and pulled himself onto her back. He tensed as he settled in the saddle, holding his breath.

"Don't you have a tonic?" Rat asked.

"I used it," Link said, voice tight. He walked Aurora to a fallen tree, then jerked his head behind him. "Climb up."

Rat scrambled onto the tree, then jumped and pulled himself onto the horse. He sat behind Link and held onto the saddle ridge, gripping the mare's wide back with his knees. The swordsman clicked his tongue, and Aurora broke into a trot.

As Link guided her down the road, Rat glanced back. The village was quiet.

Where are the Yiga?

The swordsman sat stiff with pain, bumping with the mare's gait. Red smoke still floated from the wound on his leg. Gloom curled from his arm, close to Rat's nose, carrying the bitter odor of the Depths. Sweat beaded on the back of Link's neck, inches from Rat's nose.

Was that Karta's plan? To kill him with that demon?

Rat glanced behind them every few minutes, but if the Yiga were following them, they didn't appear.

"Where are you going?" Rat asked.

Link rolled his right shoulder. He whistled for Sadee, but there was no response.

They continued down the road. An image flashed over and over in Rat's mind: the red hands, burning with malice as they bore down on him, until Link slid in and struck the hands out of the way.

As they rode, the swordsman's posture bent forward. He ate a raw sundelion from his pouch, and the red smoke diminished a fraction. They slowed to a walk. Dusk fell over the mountain. Still, the Yiga didn't come.

That battle was it.

A wolf howled in the growing dark. Aurora stumbled on an invisible rock and as she lurched forward, Rat fell against Link's shield. The Zora knife in his doublet dug into his stomach, and his eyes flew open in shock.

Am I the assassin? Am I supposed to finish him?

He leaned back from Link, afraid to touch him. To be in the same valley as him. He wanted to rip the knife out of his doublet and hurl it into the valley, far away.

Link slid weakly to the left and Rat caught his shield, pulling him upright. "You should stop."

The swordsman shook his head. "There's a cabin up ahead. You'll be safe there."

"What about Rito Village? Can't we travel there right now?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Aurora."

Another wolf howled. Aurora's ears pressed flat.

Rat groaned to himself. Idiot, he thought to Link. He gripped the shield, holding the man upright.

The night thickened, but as the darkness grew, the snow stopped. The clouds parted, and the moon came out, round and white in a clear sky. Rat let his goggles hang from his neck and craned his head, gazing up at the stars, until Link guided the horse off the road. They climbed a short hill and pulled to a halt in front of a lonely, square cabin.

Rat slid off. His legs quivered as he landed in the shallow snow. He might not walk tomorrow. The swordsman slid off the horse's back, touched down gingerly, and leaned into the saddle for a moment, face pale. Rat ducked under his arm and supported his good side. Link leaned into the boy as they limped up the low steps to the cabin door.

Kicking it open, Rat guided Link into the dark, cold interior. A stone fireplace rested at the end of the square room opposite the door. A table stood on one wall, and a single bed against the other. Rat led Link to the bed and eased him down. Link fumbled with the straps of his hauberk, and Rat slapped his fingers away, then undid the buckles and set Link's weapons on the floor.

"Give me sundelions." Rat held out his hand.

"Aurora."

"Forget the horse. You're dying."

Link's eyes snapped up, sharp, angry.

Rat stepped back. "At least let me build the fire."

Link handed him a fire fruit. Rat built a fire in the hearth, bursting the fruit to catch the wood instantly. He found an iron kettle on a shelf and ran outside.

Aurora was standing where they'd left her, head down, snow gathering on her rump. With a groan, Rat detoured from the well. He snatched up her reins and led her to the back of the cabin, where he found a stall enclosed on three sides, blocking the wind. His numb fingers picked at her buckles until the saddle and bridle came free. He threw them in a corner and rushed to the cabin's tiny well to find the bucket frozen to the stone. Everything was against him, but he hauled up a bucket. Water sloshed against his legs as he carried to the stall.

He dropped it roughly in front of the horse. "Here."

Aurora slurped the icy water. Rat blew on his numb hands. With his kettle, he returned to the cabin.

He found Link sitting on a stool beside the fire. With his left hand, the swordsman stirred a small pot suspended on an iron hook over the flames. He held his right arm close to his chest.

Rat hooked his kettle on a second hook to boil. "Go back to bed. Let me do that." He took the wooden spoon from Link, and the man said nothing.

Black lizard tails floated in the pot. Rat stirred briskly, bringing a red keese eyeball to the surface.

"Slower," Link muttered. "Let it dissolve."

"I know. I've made them before. Lay down and let me work. You're in my way."

Link scooted back several inches, then began removing his boot. Once the boot was free, he pulled up his pant leg.

A red gash split his skin from his ankle to his knee. It didn't bleed. The edge of the wound curled with red smoke and black veins crawled out across his skin. The stench of malice masked the odor of the stewing lizards.

Rat stared into his pot. He stirred furiously, splashing liquid into the coals. He didn't want to see any more. This was the cost of saving Hyrule. Of saving me.

The kettle whistled. With a rag, Rat lifted it from the hook and poured boiling water into a clay mug. He crumbled sundelions into the water and left it to steep, and when he returned to the pot, the liquid inside was sticky red. He poured it into a second mug and set it aside to cool.

The swordsman removed his coat. His undershirt was corroded over the stomach, but his skin seemed to have healed from the mid-battle elixir. A gash similar to the one on his leg traced across his upper left shoulder, but it wasn't as deep. Again, the wound didn't bleed.

Link accepted the tea from Rat and drank, flinching at the heat. After a moment, the smoke vanished from his wounds. The black veins retreated, and the cuts began to bleed. He gestured for the elixir. When he finished the mug, he lowered it with a sigh. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"I'm getting stronger. If this is what Ganon's shadow can do to me, still, after all those shrines… I have to find more shrines. I have to cleanse the curse."

"What curse?"

Link massaged his right arm.

Rat almost didn't want to ask. "What happened to your arm?"

"Ganon destroyed it," Link murmured. "And broke the Master Sword, and cursed me, and banished Zelda. In one blow." He stared, unblinking, into the fire. "This isn't the beast I fought before. This Ganon… speaks."

Rat fetched a blanket from a basket, shook it out, and wrapped it around Link's shoulders. "Don't think about it right now."

"I have to think about it. I have to focus. There must be a way to defeat him. Something I missed—a reason why I couldn't catch her." His fingers whitened as he gripped the blanket.

The boy pulled a second stool up to the fire. He stretched his wet boots to the warmth. "I don't think it was your fault."

Shoulders hunched, the swordsman stared at the coals.

"If Ganon is so powerful," Rat said, "why is he still in the Depths? Why didn't he blow us all up five months ago? The Yiga are afraid of you. Maybe Ganon is, too."

Link lifted his face. He peered into Rat for a moment, like he was trying once again to figure the boy out. "Maybe." He flexed his leg; the gash was a fresh pink scar. He stood and limped to the bed, where he pried off his second boot and unbuckled his belt. Before he dropped it with his weapons, he paused. "Will you feed Aurora? Please?" He touched his pouch and a heavy sack of oats dropped to the floor.

Rat's legs burned. A bruise throbbed on his back, making itself known now that he was thawing out. But he pushed himself up from his stool. "Where does your stuff come from?"

"My friends in the forest." Link smiled softly as he sat on the bed. "They keep it for me. You should see the room—it's such a mess."

"So, there's a secret room somewhere that you keep all your stuff?"

Link nodded.

"How do you know what's in it?"

He pointed to the Purah Pad. "Whatever I ask for comes. Like this: 'bedroll.'" He touched his pouch and dropped a bedroll on the floor for Rat, then pulled back the bedcover and paused. "Thank you for your help tonight." He tucked into the covers and faced the wall, massaging his arm.

Rat couldn't answer. He fed the fire, stacking it up, filling the room with heat. He stopped up a hole in the wall with a rag, blocking any Yiga eyes, then hefted the sack of oats and ducked out into the night to feed Aurora.