The Legend of Zelda: Wisdom and Courage

Chapter 15: A Sheikah's Suspicion

"Why would you curse me like this if all its doing is making me sick and slowing my down?" Link muttered under his breath to the sorceress, knowing she would give him an answer in one form or another. Ever since he had left the forest in the early hours of the morning that day, his condition had gotten anything but better; though the pain he had been forced to endure at Veran's hands earlier had finally faded, it was replaced with an even more intense burning fever, coupled with heavy exhaustion, bitter chills, dizziness, disorientation and nausea. Even if there was some kind of medicine or remedy that could cure him, the hero knew that he had no time to find it. The orange glow of the setting sun was already blanketing Hyrule Field, signifying the end of yet another day as Link rode Epona across the sweeping landscape, simply trying to maintain his balance upon the back of the horse lest he fall off completely.

Veran didn't answer the hero's wonderings right away, but when she did, her voice echoed throughout his mind, annoyed and exasperated, but thankfully she didn't inflict the curse upon him this time. "How little you know of anything, hero…" she scoffed coldly. "First of all, my curse is not what's making you ill; you seem to be doing that yourself."

"What are you talking about?" Link asked wearily, too tired to project any form of confusion in his tone.

"Most people, when subjected to the dark magic of my tribe, do not suffer the kind of symptoms that you seem to be…" the sorceress explained, her tone thoughtful, as if she were perplexed herself. "In fact, most Hylians do not even notice any ill effects whatsoever. And yet… it would appear as though something within you is trying to resist it, trying to fight it off and oust it from your body… But it's no use. The curse I placed upon you is too strong to be fought off with any mere strength of will or the like. You are merely wasting your life energy away, which, in turn, is weakening you and making you ill. So, I'd be careful if I were you, hero… If you don't hurry up with finding those Fused Shadows, there's a very high chance that you could meet an early grave…"

Veran let out a sinister laugh as her voice faded from the hero's mind as he tried to focus on what she had just told him, but he was feeling too weak to do even that. So, instead, he simply shook his head, knowing that he had to get the Fused Shadows not only for Zelda's sake but for his own as well.

As Link thought of the princess while he rode away from Death Mountain and in the direction of Lake Hylia, he was overtaken by sudden longing as he watched the descent of the warm sun. How long had it been since him and Zelda had sat on these very same hills to stare at this very same sight, before any of this catastrophe they were now in had begun? How many days had passed since the two of them had stood on the peaceful sandy shores of Termina's ocean, enveloped in both the sun's dying glow and the warmth of each other? How many moons had gone by since they had stood side by side in blissful freedom looked up into the large silver orb of the night with their hands intertwined, knowing nothing of the nightmares that plagued their existence now?

"Link…" Zelda had said on their final night of peace, a gentle, beautiful smile filling her features, one that only made the hero miss her more as he envisioned it now. "Out of anyone I could be here with, I'm so glad that I'm here with you…"

Would they ever know such simple days again? Or would Veran's dark designs enshroud all they knew and loved in perpetual fear and dread? Such thoughts began to frustrate Link as he brought Epona to a full gallop across the fields, even though doing so made his already strong headache pound even more. He had three full days left. Three days until he would finally be free of this deadly curse, three days until he could see Zelda again, and three days until Hyrule's fate would be decided. And yet, this now-fading day had not gone in vain. Wasting no more time then he already had, the hero had arrived at Death Mountain by noon and had retrieved the second Fused Shadow long before sunset, even despite his pressing exhaustion. The hero had been lucky that there had been nothing to impede the second leg of his quest; the second Fused Shadow's hiding place was within the Dodongo's Cavern, a place that Link had visited before as a child and so he knew its layout well enough to find the relic with relative ease. The place was long-empty of monsters, and the Gorons that mined their rocks from the there were not about on this particular day, leaving the hero with no distractions. And yet, the second leg of his quest was not deprived of danger; just as it had in the Deku Tree, the piece of the Fused Shadow hidden away within the cavern also called out to the hero in a seductive voice, urging him to take on its dark power. And even though Link remembered Veran's warning of what could happen to him if he did, he was unable to resist its tempting call as he approached it.