Farrow didn't wake Link, as she was sure he knew she'd planned on. When weak, gray sunlight filtered down and lit the shadows of the maze Farrow felt her muscles unlocking. It had been one of the most unpleasant night's she'd camped in the wild, and nothing had even attacked them. Her worst enemy had been her imagination. She doubted she could have slept even if she'd woken Link for a watch.

Link stirred and pulled the wool blanket from over his head. He blinked up at her and the sunlight, working out where he was past lingering sleep. He shot her a bemused look.

'Liar,' he signed.

Farrow shrugged. "You needed the sleep. Besides, this place freaks me out."

Link braced himself by planting both hands on the stone beneath them and swinging himself back and into a sitting position, moving his injured foot carefully.

'Doesn't feel bad,' he signed, and Farrow could see the calculating look in his eyes.

"Do not."

He stood. Well, he wobbled up to his feet and swayed as he kept most of his balance off the injury. He tested some weight on the injury. His expression tightened, but he was able to put a little weight on it.

Farrow stood, ready to play support and knowing where this was going.

Link stooped to pick up his blood soaked boot, now frozen, and made a disgusted face at it. Using the slate he stored it away and took out his other boot. It wouldn't be the best for the snow, but a lot better than nothing.

Farrow stood beside him, letting him lean on her for balance as he wrestled it on.

Once it was on and laced he limped around her for a few paces. 'Good enough,' he signed. 'Lets go.'

She debated telling him he should rest for another day, but she didn't think for a second he actually would. Besides, she got the feeling it would be bad to linger here. She wondered if Link felt the same, and that's why he'd skipped breakfast.

Farrow stuffed the wool blanket back in her pack and regarded the maze before them.

"I've heard that if you pick a wall, left or right, and follow it you can get through most mazes."

'Perfect' Link signed. He leaned against the right wall and limped along.

Farrow stepped around him. "Injured heros don't get to lead in creepy mazes." She drew her knife and turned the first corner before Link could. The passage was narrower here. If she stretched her arms to either side she would almost be able to touch both walls.

She glanced over her shoulder to make sure Link was following. His expression was slightly pinched, but not the grimace of pain Farrow would have expected. Most hylians wouldn't be on their feet right now, not that easily anyway. It was more evidence for her theory that Link had some magic healing ability.

The stone at their feet was oddly clear of snow. It made walking, and looking for magic rocks, easier. Farrow wasn't sure where to look exactly. She figured it might be at the end of the labyrinth, but she'd keep an eye out just in case.

Farrow kept her pace slow, partially out of caution but mostly for Link's benefit. Slowly, the monotony of the walls wore away at Farrow's apprehension. Each turn only revealed more of the same looming walls, gray stone pathway, and no monsters waiting to ambush them.

She did see an occasional pile of bones, but a quick inspection revealed them to be monster bones. They were yellowed and pocked with age. Farrow saw skeletons in the wilds all the time, and with how old these appeared, she did find this alone a reason to be concerned.

Farrow was examining the etchings on the walls again when Link tapped her on the shoulder and pointed up. Farrow followed his gesture to the walls ahead of them and many feet up.

She didn't see anything at first, then she caught a flash of green.

A mote of light as small as an acorn and green floated down, drifting like a snowflake. It bounced lightly off one wall before coming to rest on the path ahead.

They approached and peered down at the item.

It was a stone. It was shaped like a piece of chipped obsidian, with sharp edges, and glowed a blueish green. Farrow found it made her think of the ocean back home.

"That has to be it, right?" Farrow asked.

Link plucked it from the path and his eyes went wide. Farrow watched as his braids floated up around his ears and the edge of his tunic fluttered like fabric in water. Link grinned and let go of the wall.

Farrow's arms shot out, but Link stayed standing and took a few slow steps. He moved like he was walking underwater. His motions were exaggerated and slow, but he seemed to have no trouble walking now.

A laugh broke free from her as she met Link's grin with a smile of her own. He leaned against the wall and held out the stone to her. Curiosity got the better of her and she accepted it. As it left his hand Link's braids dropped back down.

Nothing happened to her though. She frowned and turned the stone over.

'Take your gloves off,' Link signed. Farrow saw his fingerless gloves and understood what he was getting at. She took off her right glove and held the stone.

The pull of the world vanished almost completely. The stands of her hair drifted up around her ears and moved in slow waves as she turned her head. She laughed and tried to walk. It was as if she were walking through water, and when she pushed off to take a step she floated up a few feet, rather than the single step she'd wanted.

She reached out for the walls to steady herself as she drifted back down. When her feet were planted she transferred the stone back to her gloved left hand. Her own weight returned and stuck her to the ground once more.

Beaming she handed the stone to Link, who tucked it into his glove so it was resting on the skin of his palm. It would make walking much easier for him until he was well again.

Farrow craned her neck to look directly up. Through the little window of the labyrinth walls, she could see gray clouds above, but nothing more.

"Where do you think it came from?" Farrow asked.

Link shrugged and jumped. Farrow gasped as he flew high up the walls, and then kept going. She held her breath as he reached the top, slowed and hung over the labyrinth for a few heartbeats. Then the world slowly reeled him back down.

'It looks the same up there,' he signed as his feet hit the ground. 'Same walls, nothing I can see above us.'

"Well," Farrow said, "there's probably more. Let's search the ground as we go."

((0))

Farrow scanned the ground as they went, seeking out another glitter of green. Link's hands rested on her shoulders. He gazed over the top of her head as he floated behind her like a cape in the wind. Occasionally he'd do a handstand on her and wheeze a laugh when she shoved him up toward the sky.

It was faster than the slow floating walk he'd been doing, he'd argued, and Farrow had to admit he was right. It also kept him off his feet.

Farrow turned the next corner.

Malice filled the corridor ahead.

Farrow startled, taking in the oily mass that clung to the passage walls and floor in inky strands. It glistened with a sick sheen and as she took it in she could have sworn it was pulsing. It formed a webbed barrier that reached halfway up the walls of the labyrinth.

Farrow had never seen so much malice clumped in one spot. It started feet away from them in thin veins stretched over the ground and grew from there. She didn't feel the need to back up, it wasn't moving after all, but it still made her uneasy.

A dense clot of the stuff hung suspended from a few strands, and something about it struck her as odd.

It twitched. Farrow backed up, making sure to tug Link with her. His hand on her shoulder tightened.

The clot shuddered and a slit peeled apart down the middle to reveal a burning red and gold eye. It jerked and fixed on them. The pupil constricted to a line as thin as a blade.

And nothing happened.

She'd expected something, an attack maybe, or for the malice to grow. But the eye just watched them. It made her skin crawl. What, exactly, was looking at them?

Farrow realized her hand was on her knife. Link's boots settle back on the ground beside her with a tap. His lip was curled in disgust.

He drew his bow, nocked an arrow and fired. The arrow pierced the eye with a sickening squelch. It withered, and with it the veins and ropes of malice dissolved.

Farrow towed Link away and back around the corner. Too much malice was pluming up from the remains and she didn't want either of them breathing it. After a minute or so she checked the corridor to find it clear.

"I've never seen it with an eye before," Farrow said. She stared at the spot it had been, there wasn't a trace left, and found her face set in revulsion.

'We should hurry,' Link signed, his light expression gone. 'I don't like that it saw us.'

Farrow agreed. She gripped his elbow and he let her tow her along. Her pace was faster now, and her knife was back in her free hand.

A short while later they'd found another sky stone laying on the ground and Link had tucked it away in the slate.

"Should we find an extra, or turn back?" Farrow asked. She was of the opinion they should go. The maze seemed threatening again, and she was ready to leave. The idea of an extra stone was nice, but didn't outweigh the risk in her opinion.

Link regarded the passage ahead. 'When we first entered I heard the voice of one of the monk's. They said a shrine was in the center here. I'd like to find it.'

Farrow nodded. "Okay." She wasn't happy about it, but she knew it was important for Link to get as many of the monk's blessings as possible. And the safety a shrine offered was very tempting.

[((0))]

Farrow groaned. "This is the start."

Link frowned at the corridor they'd camped in the night before and then back the way they'd come, then toward the center of the maze.

'I think I know the passage we missed. We should hug the inner wall.'

Farrow pondered it. "I think you're right." It looked like they'd done a loop around the outer edge, not the inner where the shrine might be.

They doubled back.

Soon night crept in. The gray clouds above darkened with every passing minute and the details of the wall etchings were fading from her sight. It made Farrow antsy to find the shrine. She didn't want to have to choose between camping somewhere in the maze or continuing to wander it in the dark.

But soon the shadows grew and the walls above vanished into the dark of night. She exchanged a look with Link.

'We should keep going,' he signed. Farrow agreed.

They stopped so Link could retrieve a torch from the slate, and Farrow lit it with her flint and knife. The light was a relief in some ways, encasing them in an orange glow, but it made the shadows beyond its reach darker.

When Farrow stood with the torch, Link was turning in a circle, his expression confused.

"What is it?" Farrow asked.

'Did you hear that?' Link signed.

She didn't think he meant the click of her lighting the torch. He'd watched her do it. "No," Farrow said, hairs on her neck rising.

'Zelda said to be careful. She said a blood moon was coming.' His gaze was fixed on the shadows beyond her, searching the dark. He worked the stone out of his glove and stowed it in his pocket.

Farrow's unease sharped into fear. Blood moons were only stories. Her grandmother had told her she'd seen one as a child, but she had assumed it was a scary story to make sure Farrow didn't stay out past dark.

But she'd thought Link was a story. And if Princess Zelda herself was warning Link, Farrow was going to listen.

"Let's hurry up." Farrow said. "Blood Moons are legends, but monsters come out in a frenzy during them, supposedly."

Something clattered against stone behind Link.

Farrow's gaze snapped up to the hall they'd come down as Link spun to face it. His sword was drawn in a flash.

The shadows beyond the torchlight hung like a wall, revealing nothing.

They stood frozen. Painful seconds ticked by, gazing into the black and waiting for something to move. Farrow willed her eyes to see into the ink, to reveal something, but nothing moved. Silence hung over them, the only sound the faint crackle of the torch and her heartbeat too loud in her ears.

"Maybe another stone falling," Farrow finally whispered.

Link hummed. They continued on, but as Farrow looked over her shoulder she could see Link watching behind them.

Farrow strained to hear over the tap of their footsteps and watched the way ahead with clenched teeth.

It was less than a minute later when something rattled behind them. Farrow faced the sound, and Link held his sword ready again. There was no mistaking it for the bang of rock on rock. It had been a long clattering. Like hollowed reeds rattling together, and then a scrape.

Silence again.

The torch shook in Farrow's hand, despite her efforts to calm her racing heart. She stood beside Link again and drew her dagger. He had his sword and shield out.

There was definitely something in here with them. And it sounded close.

Farrow strained her eyes, squinting into the darkness. The wall of shadows revealed nothing.

Then two glowing red dots bobbed into view. A pair of eyes fixed on them. The eyes bobbed as the rattling came again. Before Farrow could try to guess what it was, the eyes darted toward them, the rattling scraping sound a sudden cacophony as it surged toward them.

Link stepped forward, shield raised. The corridor was too narrow for her to stand beside Link, not without him worrying about striking her with his sword. Farrow knew the best thing she could do right now was make sure Link could see. She raised the torch.

The creature neared and the light of the torch finally illuminated it. Light shone on bones yellowed by age. The bokoblin skeleton moved with odd, jerky steps. Threads of malice had strung its bones back together and concentrated in the joints, but some had webbed across the ribs and neck. It rattled with each running step the creature took, and little red lights burned in its empty sockets.

The skeleton lunged at Link, sending a wood spear stabbing at him. Link sidestepped the point and swung for the monster's grinning skull.

The sword banged against the skull, knocking it from the skeleton's vertebrae and into the wall. It shattered into dust and bone fragments.

Link backed up, shoving Farrow back with him and she saw why.

The body still stood. It swayed, spear still clutched in hands that were missing a few finger bones.

Red light washed over them, flooding the corridor. Farrow looked up to see a sliver of the moon peering down on them over the lip of the wall. It was blood red.

"Shit," Farrow breathed.

The skeleton straightened and stabbed at Link again. This time Link dodged and cut at the arm holding the spear. The bones tore from the malice connecting them, strands dangling like roots from the sockets, and clattered to the floor. Farrow's lip curled in disgust.

Link, his hands full, shoved at Farrow and nodded to the passage ahead. Behind them, more rattles and clatters sounded, growing in volume.

Farrow ran. She swiped the torch through the air to extinguish it–they wouldn't need it with the cursed moonlight casting everything red–and drew her bow. Link couldn't run as fast, with his injury, and Farrow slowed to match his pace.

An echoing clatter warned her as she rounded the corner.

In the passage beyond two skeletons snapped to attention as they caught sight of her. She raised her bow and shot the closer one in the eye. The skull shattered.

Link flew past her as the second skeleton advanced with a raised sword. He met the blade with his raised shield and knocked the weapon back before slashing across its body. It fell apart into a pile of bones and writhing veins of malice.

Link looked back to make sure Farrow was following and she vaulted over the bones threading themselves back together to meet him.

As she did, an arm struck like a snake and wrapped around her ankle. The boney fingers dug into her skin through her pant leg.

Panic bubbled up her throat and stuck there as she kicked and stumbled. The hand remained viced around her ankle.

Link ripped the limb off her and threw it into wall. It broke apart at the elbow as it fell.

Neither hesitated.

They ran, the rattles and clatters growing behind them. Farrow would turn to see eyes at the end of the corridor and shoot them as she could.

Farrow considered using the stone to get up higher and out of the maze, but an arrow came whistling out of the dark, slicing through her sleeve and nicking the skin of her arm. She raised her shield to ward off further arrows. That ended her floating idea. They would be full of arrows before getting halfway up the wall.

More turns, more skeletons dispatched by Link, but there had only been two at a time at most.

If they were pinned in a dead end or surrounded they wouldn't last, and they couldn't keep up this pace for much longer. Farrow could see dark stains appearing on the bandage around Link's leg.

The passage ended at a wall with a metal panel.

Link stowed his sword with a huff of frustration and tore the slate from his hip. Farrow spun and raised her bow . A swarm of skeletons lurched round the corner and staggered toward them. They shoved against each other, each trying to fit past the others to get closer. It slowed them down somewhat. As Farrow shot again and again, each one only slowing the horde by a moment, she heard the scrape of metal against stone behind her.

The sound stopped and a hand hooked her belt, tugging her back. She let Link tow her back, twisting to follow his lead and running into a little alcove. The skeletons were almost on them.

Another scrape and the metal panel, which was actually a huge cube, scraped back into place, sealing off the skeletons. She could hear them rattling on the other side, jaws snapping and bones scraping against the wall.

Farrow looked at the new passage and found a wall with ladder leading up. Wordlessly, they climbed. Farrow had a hard time seeing past Link, but it looked as if the ladder ended at a doorway in the wall. She didn't hear anymore rattling, and hoped that meant the skeletons couldn't reach them here.

When Link reached the top he disappeared into the doorway, then reappeared a moment later to help her up the rest of the way. His face was light with relief.

They stood in a large room. It was empty of monsters, and at the center a shrine shone against the red glow. Link set the slate to the pedestal and the way opened. As it did, the wall the shrine faced slid open revealing the entrance passage of the labyrinth and the tundra beyond.

Farrow kept glancing back at the ladder, waiting for more glowing eyes to appear. It was only when the platform lowered them gently into the shrine that Farrow allowed herself to feel relief.

The platform settled, and Farrow took in the shrine. It was much smaller than the others, with tiers of stairs leading directly up to the monk's pedestal. On either side water rippled through small reservoirs. As far as Farrow could tell there was no puzzle or trial.

Farrow hadn't realized how much the red light of the blood moon had strained her eyes until the blue glow of the shrine eased them.

Link went to say hi to the monk and Farrow collapsed on the stairs. The shrines had proven secure, she told herself, and found she actually believed it. Even while Link had been unconscious for a hundred years the calamity hadn't managed to breach them. They were safe, and in the morning the skeletons would be gone, she'd bet.

She splayed out on the floor and melted in relief.

AN: Hope you liked the spookier chapter! I think I let the Halloween spirit get to me a bit lol. Let me know if you enjoyed it!