-A Silent Lily- (A BoTW Fanfic)

~'Chapter 8'~

"Link.. Give up, he's surely dead by now.. T-there's no way he would survive 6 months especially o his own i-in this c-c-cold" Zelda stutters out as she hugs her coat closer to her body as she watches her friend prepare his horse for a ride the third time this week. Link lets out a small huff, his eyes narrowing while he fixes his stirrups and grabbing Epona's reins to lead her out of the stable. Link walks out with determination in his steps as he pulls his coat over his head with his free arm, Zelda sighing and running after him. "Link! Li-listen now!" Zelda says sternly as she grabs Link's shoulder to make him stop. Link lets out a shaky breath as he turns around to face Zelda, his ears drooping slightly. "Link y-you're being foolish by g-g-going out now! A s-s-storm is brewing, just lo-look at the clouds!" Zelda says, letting one of Link's shoulders go and pointing up at the sky. The clouds above were gray and closely resembled a balloon about to pop, spreading the snow and wind that's just waiting to be let free. Link follows her finger as she points, nodding in agreement. "But.. If that storm's coming then I got no time to loose, do I..?" Link murmurs. Zelda tilts her head and sighs, now getting real tired of the stubborn Hylian. "The only thing you'll find is his dead body if you're lucky, Link." Zelda says gravely. Link twitches in a sudden jolt of fear as he looks at Zelda befor quickly collecting himself. "If that is what I find the least I can do is to give the Zora's their missing prince back, dead or alive." He speaks in a certain manner. Zelda shaked her head sadly "I can't change your mind.. Can I?" She says and Link shakes his head. "I'll be back, you have my word on it." Link says in a softer tone as he places his hand on her shoulder. Zelda smiles at him and sighs "Be safe" before she pulls Link into a quick hug. Link just has the time to return the hug before she lets go "I'll wait on you by the castle." She says as she strides away from him. Link quickly hops up in Epona's saddle and rides out through Hyrule castle's enormeous gates.

The air got colder and colder and the wind got rougher and rougher by every minute that passed. Link holds his lantern tight in his hand as he screams out "Sidon!" over and over despite the aching in his lungs. A tree falls and crashes into the stony ground below, sending Epona neighing and stepping around in fear in an attempt to escape. Link holds a tight grip at her reins to stop her. Epona gets up on her hind legs and rears while Link grabs around her neck to not fall off. Once Epona gets down on all four again she jumps to the side, sending a shocked Link flying off and her running for dear life back towards the castle. Link huffs as he hits the snow just before the stony shore begins and he quickly gets up on his arms and screams out for Epona. He holds a tight grip around the lantern, who's miraculeously still shining, as he whistles and calls out for Epona. No response. The only sound Link can hear is the raging wind. Link manages to get up on his feet again and brush off the snow from his clothes as he looks around. 'Better start searching on foot then' he thinks to himself as he shuffles in a randomly chosen direction.

For what feels like decades Link manages to hear distant voices. His ears perk as he quickly blows out his lantern to prevent being seen in the now pretty dark forest surrounding him. "...And you got something on your cheek there" is the first thing Link manages to hear completely while approaching. He crouches down by the bushes when he can see two black-dressed hylians standing by an entrance in front of him to prevent being seen. "What is it?" the other voice replies, which belongs to the shorter hylian of the two. The taller hylian leans closer and wipes something blue off from the other's black mask. "You can't go around with blood on your face now can you?" The taller one chuckles, earning small laughs from the other. Link's eyes narrows as he looks at the blue blood on the hylian's fingers as the other two continue their conversation. "I am surprised he's still alive, barely recognizeable as the ""Oh-all-mighty"" prince he was before" the shorter hylian says. Link's eyes widens and he gasps before being able to cover his mouth. The two hylians turn their heads towards where Link's hiding and he realises that there's no use in staying hidden longer.

Link takes a deep breath as he leaps out of his hiding spot, grabbing a branch laying beside him as a weapon. He lands a quick blow on the taller hylian's head and it falls over in suprise. "Link?!" The other hylian calls out in shock before he aswell gets a hit in the head with the frozen branch. Link looks down at them both, seeing how the impact of the frozen solid branch had made the two hylians pass out in the snow. Link simply drops the stick as he walks into the entrance. Once he gets in he's overwhelmed by the comforting warmth inside of the tunnel-like walls. Tiltng his head to the left, Link sees a black cloak close to what the hylians outside has. Without hesitation he grabs it and wraps it around himself. He realised that it's not enough to pass as the hylians outside but enough to make him harder to spot. Link ducks into the dark corners of the tunnel as he keeps on walking, making sure to stay where the faint lamp doesn't shine. The tunnels were similar to the ones dug by a rabbit, paths leading to left and right and thanks to these messy tunnels Link manages to avoid bumping into any other member of this "cult".

Link stops in his steps as he hears two distant voices talking. Link hurries towards the voice, stopping when the floor before him is lit up by a door being opened to the left. He quickly pushes himself against the wall to not be seen. "It have been 6 months, I might as well declare you dead. Why don't you grant yourself a last wish and assure your people safety hm?" A dark voice rumbles and soon after a hoarse voice replies "Over my dead body-..! Send you filthy rats t-to my people is a punishment worse than.. W-worse than death!". Link's heart skips a beat when he hears the familiar voice of Sidon. He's alive. Link takes a breath to gather himself as he continues to listen to the conversation. "Well.. What if I say that we got your dear friend and the princess locked up just in the room next to us?" the dark voice coos. A silence lays over the entire room for just some seconds before Sidon brusts out "No! L-let them be-..! C-cut off all my lims if you like just please leave Link and Zelda alone-..!!" in pure desperation. Link's heart aches by hearing his dear friend's voice wrecked with such pure anguish. The dark voice lets out a chuckle before he mumbles "have fun thinking of that, see you in the morning~" before steps quickly approach where Link's hiding. He looks around in panic before he sees the lamp above him on the high roof. He takes out his magnet and lets it lift him up and attatch itself to the metal lamp above. He looks down, watching yet another black-cloaked hylian walk out and blow out the candles by the room. The wax from the candles inside the lamp burns Link's hands, but he stays quiet as the unknown hylian is now standing right underneath him. Link holds onto the magnet with heavily shaking arms from exhaustion as he stares at the hylian underneath. 'M o v e.' were the only thoughts Link repeated inside his head over and over, quietly praying to not loose grip of the magnet. Just when Link feels like he's going to loose his grip the hylian hurries off and after some mintues the noise of a door shutting echoes through the halls. Link lets go of the magnet, landing with a thump and the magnet clanking against the floor.

Link stands up straight again as he peeks into the room. The floor is pitch black and Link can't see a thing. He sighs as he uses the magnet yet again to shake the lamp above enough to make a candle fall down. He picks up the still lit candle and holds it against the candles by the room entrance. One they catch aflame he finally gets to see Sidon before his eyes. The zora's extremely skinny but yet not skeletal, his fins are ripped and numerous scars and bruises, some still bleeding are freckled allover his body. Sidon's back is turned agianst him as his shoulders are shaking as if he's crying. Link takes a deep breath and knocks on the wall to get his attention. Sidon quickly turns around to face him, his expression describing pure shock as he can't believe what he's seeing. Link smiles from ear to ear as he speaks softly

"Hey".