Shoes filled
Annie's head wasn't tied to the pole but she wished it had been. Her head was continuously bashed against it, but she worried if she tried to avoid it her neck would snap from the whiplash. Not to mention the blood still running down her face from her nose was being spread across her face, making it hard to see. She couldn't believe that Collin had endured this; there was nothing she could compare it to. The closest thing she could think of was getting whipped with a foot thick pole, which was basically what was happening. "Dang…that kid's stronger than I realized." Annie had a new found respect for the young boy; she didn't know how much longer she could put up with this. Even on her empty stomach she felt like she might vomit, and did her best to avoid it; not wanting to mix that with the blood, which was bad enough on its own. When they had reached the middle of the field Annie heard a noise behind them, a commotion of some sort; but didn't dare to try and look back to see what was going on. Soon the boar jerked violently to the right, snapping her neck in another direction that she hadn't been prepared for and she cursed silently.
Looking down Annie saw Link upon Epona weaving away from king bulbin after his jab at him. He stole a quick glance up at her and his expression turned form worry to shock then back to worry again. "Just great…. I must look awesome" thought Annie with bitter sarcasm. He must have pushed Epona hard to catch up with the king because he began to drift back into the pack of bulbins and boars trailing behind her; he quickly reverted to his fighting once they had encircled him.
It took no time at all for the five or six mounted bulbins to enclose Link and Epona, and within the circle of monster and man, horse and boar; the mind numbing fighting began. He was drastically outnumbered, yet he was not concerned by this. The enemies with weapons only had bows and arrows while he had a sword; and even though it was an unremarkable blade made by Rusl in his home town of Ordon, it seemed to sing through the air and bite at his enemies with enthusiasm and vigor. Or was it his own? He wasn't quite sure, but made a point to not enjoy the killing, only the excitement of battle. He swung the sword in a semicircle around himself and cut down four bulbins; then did the same on his other side to rid himself of their presence, and with their riders gone the boars dispersed in random directions.
When the pathway was finally clear he spurred Epona lightly in the sides and guided her parallel to the blue boar. Almost unperceptively he jabbed the king just under his ribs, causing him to begin bleeding though Link knew it was minor. A few more slashes and a few more minor wounds and the king blew his horn to call for more back up. It was a repeating process that Link was growing frustratingly tired with. Before the new wave of bodyguards showed up he stole another glace at Annie, who claimed to be a seer. Most of her face was beginning to darken and form a nasty bruise down most of the side of her face that he could see; and the blood still streaming down her face from her now crocked nose did nothing to help her appearance at the moment. He didn't care though; she was alive.
Again mounted bulbins encircled him and Epona, and he began to dispatch them just as quickly as they had come; yet unbeknownst to him a bulbin out of his line of focus was attempting to attack Epona, hoping to get rid of Link in that way. The only thing that made him aware of this and broke into his fighting revere was Epona side stepping away from the onslaught underneath him. This brought out a rage within him that was rarely seen by anyone, and to a certain degree surprised even him. He wasted no time dispatching this foe, he brought his sword up; twisted his wrist and let the motion of his arm aim the sword just above its shoulders. The blade cut through him smoothly, severing his head and leaving the body twitching, still trying to function falling to the ground.
Now that he was free yet again he spurred Epona up to king bulbin and slashed at him yet again, this time not pausing to glace up at Annie. Though instead of calling for more back up the king broke away from the tired horse and her hero and made for Eldins bridge; presumably to make his escape.
"Finally!" said Annie somewhat frustrated. She was going to have a huge lump on the back of her head, and when King bulbin jumped the picket fence onto Eldin bridge she felt premature relief. She had no way of knowing if Link would prevail though, there was no telling how her presence would affect this world and what happened within it. She couldn't help but wonder how her taking Collins place would affect him. Or she did her best to; it was getting harder and harder to think. When the King reached the other end of the bridge he surprised Link but not Annie, by turning around to face him. Promptly, both exits were lit on fire preventing both steeds from escaping; forcing the two enemies to face one another, in their own version of jousting.
Neither wasted any time charging at the other, and just by Link's expression Annie could tell he was out for blood and was filled with rage. Though these things barely registered, her mental acuity was decreasing with every passing moment; to the point where she had to fight to keep herself conscious. When they met it was Link who landed the first blow, and it caused Annie to be jerked hard to one side, and it was this that frightened her; even with her dulled senses. There was nothing appealing to being dangled over the side of bridge thousands of feet from the ground; but the King soon fixed himself back into his saddle and turned his mount around once again, generally unfazed from the blow.
Annie's head began to sag, and her eyes became heavy and unwilling to respond to her mental commands to stay open. She was afraid if she fell asleep she might not wake up again due to a severe concussion or something similar. Her mind seemed to separate from her body and the pain began to dull, and she was only barely aware of it at the far reaches of her own consciousness. Annie saw almost everything, but as if she was viewing it through stop motion with a considerable amount of missing pictures.
At that moment the two enemies collided and blows were given and received, though who was on the receiving end Annie didn't know. Although seconds later she was jerked once again to the side, this eventually told her that Link had managed to strike him; though she had no way of knowing if the King had struck Link. The king leaned hard to one side, and did not immediately recover from the injury as he had before; but in Annie's condition she couldn't even work up the energy to hope the ordeal was over. The boar without the guidance of its rider wandered from side to side jerking Annie even more due to its full on run. The ropes holding her to pole had begun to cut deep into the sides of her arms, wearing off the skin and leaving miniature rivers of blood raging down her arms towards her fingertips. She was definitely going to feel this in the morning; that is, if she made it to the next morning. Soon though King bulbin righted himself and set off in the other direction to face Link once again; though the boar weaved and swerved on the narrow bridge, due to his masters now unsteady hand.
Link on the other hand was desperately trying to get himself back into the saddle after being knocked out of it by the King. He was franticly trying to get a solid hold on the saddle, while he hung precariously close to the edge of the bridge; all the while Epona was still moving at a considerable pace toward the other end of the bridge. Yet King bulbin had gotten a head start on the hero, he had already turned around and was charging back towards him in an attempt to catch Link before he could gain his composure. Annie tried to warn him but no sound came out of her mouth, nothing seemed to obey her command; all she could do was watch and wonder if the life of the hero of time would end here because her. But when Link and Epona reached their end of the bridge Epona slowed due to the lack of room, and only then was Link able to heft himself back into the saddle; sensing danger he fixed his gaze on the King, and once again quickly turned Epona around face him. He spurred the horse hard in the sides though not cruelly; hoping to motivate the horse to put an extra burst of speed. It hurt him to injure the horse in any way, but this was a life and death situation; quite literally. This time though when they met it was different, Link full of adrenalin and self-preservation instincts let go of the reins, grabbed the sword with both hands and put every ounce of strength he had into the one blow. His strength seemed to flow from his arms into the sword and through the sword into the king, causing him to real as if struck by lightning. The mighty blow knocked him sprawling, out of his saddle; he landed hard against the stone, slid awkwardly for a short distance at which point his own body mass pulled him off of the edge of the bridge; much like a whale being beached but in reverse.
Link wasted no time savoring his victory and immediately redirected Epona to catch up with the wandering boar, which still had Annie attached to it via the pole. When they finally neared the boar he jumped to the ground beside it, carful to not spook it; and with a hand on the blue boars reins he look up at Annie, and wondered how he would get the girl down.
The next sensation Annie felt was that of pure ecstasy; she could feel a cool blanket covering her body. The touch of the cool blanket against her inflamed skin calmed her tortured mind; she was only conscious enough to know she was lay on a bed, and was laid out on her back. She tried to open her eyes yet she didn't seem to even have the energy to accomplish that. She heard nothing, but it did not matter; she relaxed for the first time in what felt like a life time, and was lulled back into unconsciousness by the wonderful sensation comfort.
When next she woke Annie felt like she had been body slammed; everything hurt and she could barely move. She felt very much like the Tin man in The Wizard of Oz before Dorothy oiled his joints; figuring it would be best to just get it over and done with she opened her eyes, only to find herself back in her room. Annie tried to move in an attempt to get up, but almost cried when she did; apparently she had been out for a while because all of her rope burns had scabbed over. There was also a quite large knot on the back of her head, along with severe soreness throughout her entire body. It didn't seem like anyone would be coming soon so she closed her eyes and hoped she would fall back asleep; though she felt it would be a long time before it would happen again.
