Chapter 08: Making Friends Along the Way

Link held his breath as a Bulblin approached his tree. The creature walked by oblivious of Link's presence, and Link wanted to keep it that way. His left hand hovered over his necklace, in case he needed to turn invisible to remain undetected. He watched it pass underneath him and return to the pack of monsters that he had started to follow the day before.

The pack was entirely composed of Bulblins and their Bullbos mounts. Link spotted the riders heading south east and decided to follow them. The Zora's Domain resided just beyond Lake Hylia to the southeast, and thus Link reasoned that it couldn't be considered a detour.

If the monsters were headed to Zora's Domain, it would be a good idea to keep tabs on them. If not, well, at least he was still moving in the right direction. The sun had risen, and the monsters were slowly preparing to ride. Link waited to use the pendant, and instead pulled a bottle from his pouch.

On his way out of Kakariko, he stopped at a potion peddler. They gave him a special deal, buy two potions get one free. Link haggled until he managed to convince them into giving him a free bottle along with the free potion. Two of which he had filled with green potion the third with red. Already from the overuse of stealth magic, he had finished one of the green potions. With a shake of his head, Link decided. If he could not figure out their goal today, he would move on.

A horn sounded from one of the monsters. Everyone, Link included, turned to see why the call was rung. One of the Bulblins had spotted a person on a hill a short ride away.

They were all too far away to see any specifics about the person. Link's heart sank as the monsters spurred into motion. Wasting no more time, Link gripped his sword and dropped from the tree. As soon as he landed, he drew his sword and performed the Mortal Draw, killing the closest Bullbos to him. Already several monsters had mounted and rode off in pursuit of their prey...and failed to notice that Link had appeared behind them.

Link grit his teeth as he ignored the monsters around him and charged after the riders, his sword in hand. He knew the others would mount up and ride after him, but he didn't know if the person could fight. If they couldn't, then they were as good as dead as soon as the first rider reached them. Link dashed forward, the Pegasus Boot allowing him to slowly catch up to the four riders ahead of him.

One of the Bulblin riders noticed Link and gave a loud squawk as he ran up alongside the massive boar. Link reached up and grabbed the reigns; the ruby on his gauntlet glowed as Link slammed his feet into the ground and braced. The Bullbos pulled to the side and fell as its reins were pulled with the strength of the Gold Gauntlets and backed with Link's maximized weight.

Link grinned slightly to himself; he had stopped a charging Bullbos with one hand. The beast pawed at the ground and tried to rise as Link drove his sword through the boar's eye and twisted the blade. With a tug he freed his sword and leapt over the corpse, charging after the next one. That time he leapt up to land on the Bullbos' back. The rider never noticed Link as he crashed feet first into the monster. With Link's increased weight, he crushed it and the Bullbos' spine before continuing onwards.

[Damn, I'm not going to make it in time! I hope they can deal with the last one until I can get over there.] Link cursed when he saw that the third Bullbos was being ridden without a bit or reins. With a growl he grabbed the Bullbos by the tusk and yanked. The beast's neck snapped and Link charged forward, unable to do anything but watch as the last monster reached their target. The person had stopped and stood before the Bullbos, their dark cloak concealing their features.

They took a fighting stance, and Link noticed a strange gauntlet on their left hand. Just as the Bullbos reached them, the person jumped up and placed their hands on the boar's head. Then they pushed off the bullbos and landed neatly behind the beast as it barreled past. The hood of their cloak fell back from the maneuver and they made no move to raise it once more. As Link drew close he quickly inspected the man, "Can you fight?" The man nodded, his face was partially covered with a green scarf, and his black hair was pulled back in a ponytail to keep it out of his face. "Byrne." Link nodded briefly and replied, "Link."

The monsters that Link ignored in camp had drawn closer; there were a few more Bullbos and about a dozen more Bulblins. The Bullbos began circling the duo when Link sheathed his sword, an action that drew a curious glance from Byrne. A Bullbos broke from the pack and charged Link. He braced himself as his boots sank into the ground slightly from the increased weight. Grasping the Bullbos' tusks he swung the beast to the side, and snapped the beast's neck. The Gold Gauntlets glowed with power as he threw the monster through the air. It crashed into another Bullbos, and killed their riders upon impact.

Byrne gave a low whistle as he turned away from Link and focused on the Bulblins who has started to fire upon them. A pale green light gathered around his right arm, before he swept his arm forward in a slashing motion. A crescent shaped blade of wind sprung from the swipe, and cleaved a Bulblin in twain. Byrne sidestepped an arrow and aimed his left hand at the Bulblin that shot at him. His fist shot from the gauntlet, and grabbed the creature by the shoulder. The chain that connected the fist to the gauntlet retracted, and drew the monster closer. He punched the Bulblin in the face when he drew it close enough, and then used the stunned monster to block the incoming fire from its comrades.

The Bulblins stopped let their firing lapse when they realized they had just shoot one of their own. With two more quick swiping motions, Byrne sent more wind cutters into their midst before he slammed the Bulblin into the ground and crushed its skull. Link stepped next to Byrne, and scooped up the bow and quiver of arrows from the Bulblin on the ground. Link returned fire at the monsters as Byrne continued to pull more of the archers close so that Link had a steady supply of arrows.

The last monster left alive was a Bullbos, who pawed at the ground before them, as it prepared to charge. Link drew back the drawstring to slay the beast when the Bulblin's bow snapped in his hands. He cursed as the beast charged at him while he was distracted. Before he could move out of the way Byrne stepped in front of him and killed the beast with one final Wind Cutter. Link sighed as he began to pick splinters of the bow off his clothes. Most of the shards could be dusted off, but he was lucky that he wore chainmail under his tunic; it stopped the dangerous pieces from doing any damage.

"You're a good shot, but it seems like you don't know your own strength." Link turned to face Byrne, and noted him cleaning his gauntlet. He first shrugged before he responded, "I guess you could say that. I was worried that they'd kill you before I could get close enough to help but it seems like you can hold your own quite well."

It was Byrne's turn to shrug, "With all the dangers that have become common in Hyrule: you are either strong or you die." Link frowned over Byrne's statement but moved past it. He drew his sword and after he cleaned the blade and checked its sharpness, he returned it to its sheath. [With the hell Ganondorf has put everyone through these past few years; it is not surprising people think like that.]

Byrne gestured to Link before asking, "So...who are you? Your gear doesn't look too impressive but it is not exactly run-of-the-mill is it?" Link looked down at himself. He couldn't just start explaining the relics he carried, but at the same time it wasn't exactly a secret. Nearly every Goron knew who he was and what he could do. Seeing Link's indecision Byrne raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. It is just not everyday that you run across someone who can, and is willing to, fight against Ganondorf's monsters."

Link gave him a meager smile before he changed the subject, "So where are you headed? Crossing Hyrule Field alone is dangerous." Byrne gestured south east, "Zora's Domain. I heard some rumors about some fighters there who fought off some bandits that attacked there on Ganondorf's orders. You know what they say. An enemy of my enemy-"

"Is my friend."

Byrne nodded as Link continued. "I'm headed there myself. Not that you need the help, but there is safety in numbers." Byrne seemed to consider Link's words. Finally the man nodded and stepped forward with his hand extended. "Very well, at the very least I might get to learn how such a scrawny man can throw a fully grown Bullbos like a half empty sack of flour."

"I am NOT scrawny!"

-x-x-x-x-

Link and Byrne made good time to Zora's Domain. They discussed the Resistance along the way. Link left out specifics, as he did not know Byrne well enough to tell him everything but he seemed trustworthy enough to share some information and a bit of their history.

"Wait, so one of them challenged Ganondorf during the siege? And they lived?"

Link laughed, "No no no, there were several of them. I don't know the exact number but it was without a doubt more than one. I also know that one of them gave their life so the others could get away."

Byrne was silent as he digested the information, as well as out of respect for the un-named fallen hero. They walked along the edge of Lake Hylia, heading towards the river that ran south from the lake. The river ran past Zora's Domain and eventually leads to the ocean.

Before either could continue their talks a voice rang out, "Halt brigands! Throw down your weapons or perish!" The two froze and looked around for the source of the voice. Byrne called out in response, "You claim that we are brigands yet how do we know that you are not the thieves here? Show yourself!"

From the water rose a single Zora. He stepped from the shallows of the lake with a spear in his hand and a net hanging across his shoulder. "You are trespassing on Zoran territory. Surrender and we will take you captive until such a time we can establish your motives. Resist and you will die." Byrne growled in challenge, but Link raised a hand to stall him as he stepped forward to address the Zora.

"We mean you no harm. My name is Link, I'm here looking for someone. His name is-" Before Link could finish the Zora before them nodded. Too late he noticed the trap. A fierce pain erupted from the back of Link's head as he slumped to his knees. He saw Byrne fall to the ground unconscious. The world spun as he noticed several Zoras behind them step forward and begin placing bindings around Byrne.

[They snuck up on us while the other one distracted us...damn it.] Another Zora stepped into his field of view and raised the blunt end of their spear before Link's world went dark.