Veil of Twilight

Chapter IX
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“Ilia,” he said finally. “I -”

Link closed his eyes instinctually as Ilia leaned in, her lips puckered as she hawked back and spit in his face. Time stood still for a second, Link’s eyes still shut as the warm saliva ran down his face.

The humiliating tranquility was both broken and intensified by a hushed snicker. One, and then another. Finally Midna broke, laughing in her devilish cackle, a sound only he could hear, one he felt would soon drive him insane.

He heard Ilia speaking to him in spiteful tones, beneath the sea of derisive laughter.

“Let go of me, you creep! Who do you think you are?!”

Ilia wrenched her arm away from his grasp, hastily stooping for her groceries and hurrying away into the crowd. Link remain frozen in the street for a moment, the sounds of the city lost on him, only the symphony of mockery between his pointy ears.

“Oh, that was too good,” Midna said. His eyes fell to the cobblestone floor to watch his shadow wipe a nonexistent tear from her eye. “See, I told you she would spit in your face. Are you going to wipe it off, or are you just gonna stand there and bathe in it?”

Link continued to stare down at his shadow, his small, set expression gradually shifting to one of pure fury.

“That’s it!” He screamed. “I’ve had it with you! Get out of my shadow and go back to wherever you came from, you damned little monster! Get out!!!”

His screams faded, and he noticed the silence. All around him, the townsfolk were staring. They looked frightened, and rightly so, for what they saw. A young, otherwise handsome young man, something sticky dripping from his face, screaming violently at the ground.

He looked ahead, and once more, his eyes met with Ilia’s. She wore on her face a look that was half terror and half disgust. She turned away and continued down the cobblestone walk, the rest of the citizens following her example. Link was left standing amidst the busy city day, Midna laughing even harder now.

…

Ilia turned down the street towards the stairs to the bar, trying not to look to harried. She didn’t want to appear intimidated, in case that crazy guy was following her.

“Ilia, Wait!”

Great… She turned with a sigh. The guy was still following her, weaving through the crowd of townspeople. He had wiped the spit from his face, one that she thought she might’ve found attractive under normal circumstances. These were far from normal, though. She supposed it was possible that she might have actually known him. She had lost her memory, after all. But she had not liked being grabbed like that, and spitting had been a reflex. In retrospect, it had been a good thing. Even though he knew her name, the boy was clearly nuts. He had stopped everyone on the street, screaming at nothing.

And besides, she thought with a grimace. Look at what he’s wearing… It was some sort of tacky green gnome suit. Ilia didn’t consider herself very fashionable, but it was agreeable to say that no sane person would wear such garments in public.

“Ilia,” he panted, finally catching up to her. “Ilia, what’s going on? Don’t you recognize me?”

“No, actually, I don’t,” she replied, her tone still cool. She didn’t want to encourage him in any way. As she said it, she saw the boy’s face fall. She couldn’t tell if he looked more crushed, or more confused.

“Ilia… it’s me, Link. What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me?!” Ilia yelled. “You’re the one running around in tights and yelling at nothing! I don’t even know who you are! I- you know what, never mind. I don’t have time for this!”

Ilia turned and continued down the stairs. Link stood in confusion for a moment. What had happened? Ilia didn’t seem to know him at all. He began down the stairs after her. In the small nook was seedy little building. Telma’s, the shoddy sign above the door read. Link caught up to Ilia just before she reached the door. She looked over her shoulder, annoyed to see he was still following her.

“Look, I don’t have time for this right now,” she said, opening the door. “I have to hurry.”

Link stepped in after her, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light within the tavern. It was small and cozy, several tables placed throughout. There was a small figure upon one of the tables, Ilia already beside it, along with another, more heavyset woman. The older woman spotted him and frowned confusedly.

“Who are you?” she asked. Ilia spoke up before Link could reply. Much to his dismay, she rolled her eyes as she said it.

“Don’t bother, Telma, he’s a nut,” she said. Link heard another chuckle in his mind, and tried not to feel aggravated. He approached the table, ignoring the stares from both women, bemused from Telma, irritated from Ilia. Link hardly noticed as he examined the figure upon the table.

It was Rutela’s son. It had to be. A young Zora boy. His eyes were closed, and upon his shallowly yet steadily quivering chest was a terrible wound. It looked infected. The prince moaned in his fevered sleep.

“As you can see,” Ilia said to Link, “we’re pretty busy here, so would you please go?”

Link didn’t respond, his face still set with thought, trying her patience. What was with this guy?

“Hello,” she said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. “Do you hear me?”

“I can save him.”

Ilia blinked, taken aback for a moment. “Excuse me?”

“He’s dying. I know somebody who can save him.”

“What are you talking about?” Ilia was looking at him as though he were speaking another language. Telma, however, seemed intrigued.

“You know somebody who can save him?” Link nodded eagerly, pleased to finally be taken seriously.

“Yes, ma’am. Renado, of Kakariko. He healed my wounds, after I traveled through Death Mountain.”

“Renado? The shaman?”

“What would you possibly be doing in Death Mountain?!” Ilia asked incredulously.

“The Goron Chieftain was cursed, so I -”

“Never mind, that’s it,” Ilia interrupted. Every time that boy opened his mouth, something more farfetched came out. “Telma, can I talk to you for a moment?”

Before Link or Telma could say anything, Ilia had pulled the older woman aside, leaving the crazy gnome boy alone at the table with Ralis.

“Telma, are thinking about listening to that guy?”

“Absolutely. Renado’s an old friend of mine.”

“Telma, that guy’s insane! You can’t believe what he’s saying! He just claimed he saved the entire race of Gorons!”

“Yes, but he does know Renado. Besides, we need to do something about Ralis. He’s coming conscious less and less. We can’t do anything more for him here.”

“Well…” Ilia had no argument for that. It was true. The local medics had no idea how to treat a Zora. They had done the best they could to stitch up the wound, but the infection was still spreading. They had asked about taking Ralis directly to the Zoras, but it seemed the golden haze had spread there, as well. The area was frozen solid and inaccessible.

“We don’t have much of a choice, Ilia.” Telma said knowingly.

“I know,” the young girl replied. “I just have a really strange feeling about that guy.”

“I can see that. Such a shame. He’s quite the looker. How’d you meet him, anyway?”

“He walked right up to me in town. He says he knows me.”

“Oh, really?” Telma said excitedly. “What’s the problem, then? Maybe he can help with your memory loss?”

“I doubt it,” Ilia said. She sighed, resigned to accepting help from him. “Well, I suppose we should get back. We can still make it out of town before dark.”

…

“So, it seems your little girlfriend is pretty happy to see you.” The voice echoed through his head.

“Oh, shut up, Midna,” Link retorted. His voice, unlike hers, could be heard out loud. “I’ve had it with you. You made me look like a fool out there.”

“Well,” Midna said wryly, her silhouette shrugging on the ground before him. “You should have expected as much. I don’t plan on letting up anytime soon.”

“Oh, jeez, you are absolutely unbearable, you know that?! I’ll be glad when this is all over, and I won’t ever have to listen to you again!”

He awaited some smarmy reply, but instead, he heard Midna stifling her laughter.

“What’s so funny?” He turned around, his face falling when he saw Telma and Ilia both staring. Telma looked alarmed, to say the least. Ilia just looked annoyed.

“See,” she said to the older woman. “I told you.”

…

They prepared to leave, as the sun began to set. Telma owned a cart, and Ilia had recently come upon a horse. Sure enough, when they reached the city stables, it was Epona that they led to the field and attached the cart to. Ilia had been the only one so far that the horse had taken to, and looked forward to watching Link struggle with the mare, as all others had.

Much to her disbelief, however, Link walked right up to the horse and began petting her head, fastening the cart with ease. He smiled satisfactorily at Ilia, prompting a wave of fury from her.

“How’d you do that?” she demanded.

“Epona has always had a liking for me,” he replied smugly. “You should remember, it’s your horse.”

She tried to remain annoyed, but couldn’t help but be impressed with his skill.

Not too long afterwards, the caravan was in motion, Telma tending the reigns, Ilia in back, taking care of Ralis. Link remained in the back, as well. After a long stretch of silence, the sky having lost the sun completely and the stars shining brightly, Ilia finally attempted conversation.

“So, that’s my horse, out there?” Link’s eyes met with hers, disbelieving at first, and then he smiled, a charming, boyish grin. Ilia could feel her original dislike for him beginning to melt away, little by little.

“That’s right,” he said. “Epona.”

“How do we…” as she began to say it, she found herself almost afraid to ask. “How do we know each other?”

“We’ve known each other all our lives,” Link said. “You’re the daughter of Ordon Village’s Mayor, Bo. We were separated, not too long ago. I’ve been searching for you.”

It was frustrating for Ilia, not being able to remember, much less verify, anything he was saying. Still, he didn’t seem to be lying. If he was being truthful, the whole situation was incredibly romantic. The thought prompted another question.

“So… what are we? To each other, I mean?”

“Well, um…” he dropped his gaze, seemingly flustered as he responded. “We hadn’t quite figured that out yet.”

There was silence, and then Link felt a hand upon his own. He looked up to find Ilia leaning towards him.

“I can’t thank you enough, for helping him,” she said, her eyes falling to Ralis. Link nodded.

“No prob-”

His sentence was cut off as something whirred past their faces. It stuck with a dull sound into the cart. An arrow, It’s tip aflame. Ilia cried out, immediately jumping towards it, stifling the flame. Another arrow came, missing the cart by inches. Link peered out the back to see the aggressor.

It was the ogre, the one that had kidnapped Ilia. He held a titanic, gnarled longbow in hand. He rode atop his giant boar, his eyes burning fiercely in his small head.

Link drew his bow, ignoring the sounds of arrows whizzing by, some hitting the cart, some not. The cart was moving faster, Telma desperately trying to escape their pursuers. Far away, he could hear Ilia shouting for him to do something. All too close, he could hear Midna, crying out the same thing.

He ignored them all. He had to concentrate. He had only used the bow once before, in Death Mountain, and was a terrible shot. Again he thought to himself that he was not cut out for the hero business.

But he shook the thought away, knocking an arrow and taking a knee, his quiver on the floor of the cart beside him. He closed one eye as he aimed, and let the arrow fly.

The arrow shot towards the general direction of the giant, missing by almost a foot. He grimaced frantically.

“What was that?!” Midna cried. He ignored her, clumsily knocking another arrow. He took another shot, and hit. Not where he had aimed, but the arrow stuck into the ogre’s shoulder, and that was better than nothing.

Enraged, the monster spurred the boar on faster, closing the distance between himself and the cart. He could feel the heat of the flames surrounding him, despite Ilia’s panicked attempts at dousing the fire. He grabbed another arrow and dropped it, watching it fall to the dirt ground and crush under the hoof of the advancing boar.

“Come on!” Midna again. I know! He thought. He grabbed another arrow, knocking it successfully this time. The boar was almost close enough to touch. It only made the shot easier.

Link released his fingers and let the arrow fly. It sunk into the boar’s ankle. He heard it grunt in pain as it began to stumble. Force of motion caught up with it, and the boar tumbled, end over end, taking the ogre with it. The two shrank from view, the cart going full speed. He turned to see Ilia struggling with the last of the fire.

He approached and helped her to put it out. The two of them slumped down as they finished, the adrenaline spent. Ilia looked at the young man slouched beside her. He had single handedly fended off that creature. Oblivious to her gaze, Link pulled off his silly green hat, using it wipe his brow.

She smiled at the boyish mannerism. That hat was looking less and less ridiculous all the time.

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Sorry for the wait, everyone. My computer was undergoing repairs, and it took me a while to get back into the swing of things. Thank you all for your reviews and support. I'm really trying to speed up the pace of the story, to make for a more interesting read, so hopefully that'll start happening. Anyway, next chapter before long. Read, Rate, Review, and Enjoy!