09 : Awakened

Once Naizhen was safely on the ground, Link drew his sword. With his free hand he smacked Naizhen's mare across one flank, calling, "Hup! Epona, home!"

Normally he would fight from horseback. His and Kale's horses were trained for it, and Zelda and Sheik's were at least calm enough not to endanger their riders in a battle. But between Naizhen's inexperience riding and the unknown nature of the mare they'd selected for her, better not to risk it. Epona would guide the horses to safety.

With the animals out of the way, their hoofbeats like muffled thunder fading into the distance, the field of battle clarified around Link. Four Stalfos surrounded them. Dirt encrusted the skeletal warriors' bones, weapons, and what little armor they wore. Sheik, Zelda, and Kale formed the other three points of a compass rose around Naizhen, weapons drawn and stances low and steady. Their arguments over taking an untrained, unknown young woman on such an important mission skipped through his thoughts again, but there was no helping it. All they could do was protect her.

Other than the faint scrape of bone against bone, the Stalfos were silent as they advanced. His spine went rigid at the weight of a hand pressed against his lower back, but it was only Naizhen steadying herself. He could only spare her a glance before a Stalfos jerked forward, swinging its sword down toward his shoulder.

He caught the strike with his own sword, the shriek of steel rending the night. The blow made him grunt and stumble a bit, far heavier than he'd expected from a creature made of just bone. He thrust outward, pushing the Stalfos' sword away.

A second Stalfos took a swing at him. Link blocked the blow, and as he sent the Stalfos staggering back, Sheik slipped between them and darted forward at the creature. Link returned his attention to the first Stalfos, arcing his blade toward its ribs more to distract than to attack. The skeletal warrior sidestepped his blow and Link ripped his sword back the other way, cutting it up across the Stalfos' chest.

Steel met bone, an odd scuffing sound that echoed what Link heard from behind as the others fought. The Stalfos leaped out of range, part of its rib cage crumbling and dropping away.

Link spared a glance around to check on the others. Sheik had a Stalfos' sword in hand and was swinging it toward the creature, which was now weaponless. Kale blocked wild attacks from his grounded opponent as he struggled to pull his boot from its rib cage. Zelda, whose close-quarters combat style always made Link's stomach drop, was inside the range of the fourth Stalfos. The arm of the creature fell to the ground as she severed it at the shoulder, sword and all.

Link looked back to his Stalfos in time to block an attack he would rather have dodged. The impact pounded through his arms and chest, but he used the moment their swords were caught together to whip a kick through the creature's middle, breaking through the spine. The Stalfos' two halves collapsed to the ground, but its sword arm still swung.

Suddenly Sheik was beside him, the sword he'd taken severing the Stalfos' skull from its neck. Whatever force had held its body together evaporated, bones clattering against one another as they settled into a pile on the ground.

"Thanks," Link said even as he turned to check on the others.

Kale raised his sword from where he'd decapitated Zelda's Stalfos. She had the fingers of one hand against her opposite elbow, pulling her arm around her body to study the dark line of a cut across the muscle of her upper arm. The blood trailing from the wound looked black in the moonlight.

"Is everyone okay?" Kale asked. He kicked the skull of Zelda's Stalfos, sending it tumbling several yards away. The other Stalfos were now piles of loose bone around them.

"Fine," Link said, and Sheik nodded sharp agreement.

"It's not deep," Zelda said, glancing up from her wound and letting her arm drop to her side.

Link turned to Naizhen. She'd sunk down to her knees. Her shoulders rose and fell with shaky breaths. He approached her carefully, squatting down before her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, released a rattling breath. "I thought—" But she stopped. Took another breath. "I'm not hurt," she said finally in her husky voice. She looked up. In the darkness, her hood cast all but her chin in shadow. "Not sure I can walk, though." Link recognized the discomfort on her face. It had nothing to do with the Stalfos.

A grin spread across his face before he could stop it. Still squatting, he shifted around and threaded his arm under hers, getting her arm over his shoulders so that he could help her stand. "You get used to riding," he promised.

"Do I have to?"

Link chuckled. Before he could reply, though, a voice cut in. "There is dark magic throughout Hylia because of the imbalance in the safeguard temples." Nayrune hovered between them and the path to Kakariko Village. "Attacks like these will grow more and more common."

"Not everyone will be able to defend themselves like you can," Farune said from somewhere near Link's ear.

"So, hurry up," Kale said.

"Yes," all three fairies chimed, nearly synchronized.

Link turned himself and Naizhen to face toward the mountain path. She tugged her hand from his grip against his shoulder. Her gait was strained and awkward, but she could walk on her own and was apparently determined to do just that. With a sigh, Link started forward.

Without the horses, the trek to Kakariko would take hours.

Two more Stalfos attacked on their way up into the mountains, but they were easily dispatched. The five of them finally trudged through the village gate shortly after sunrise. Link made weary introductions between Angie, Paul, Zelda, and Naizhen, checked on the horses, and then joined the others in Sheik's old room. Until moments like these, it was easy to forget that this was Impa's family home; Sheik and Kale rarely visited, and Impa even less so.

Someone had already laid out Link's bedroll for him. He could have gone to his bed upstairs, but this seemed like a time to stay with the group. Besides, Sheik's room was darker than it would be upstairs. Not that an earthquake would keep him from falling asleep now, much less sunlight.

Kale was already lying down, but Zelda stared down at her bedroll with a longing expression on her face. "I want to sleep, but I want to wash," she said. Dried blood formed thick burgundy ribbons down her right arm.

She could do what she wanted. Link was ready to fall asleep on his feet. He knelt down and then sprawled on top of his bedroll without even bothering to crawl inside it.

"The temples—"

"If you try to tell me I can't sleep, I will flick you across the room," Link grumbled. He wasn't even sure which fairy had started to speak.

Chuckles followed his threat. He thought he even heard Farune laughing. Whether Zelda decided to go clean up or the fairies spoke again, Link had no idea. Within moments he was lost to the world, more deeply asleep than he'd been in weeks.

And his dreams were finally free of nightmares.

Thank you for reading! Please leave me a review - feedback on work does wonders for artists of every kind. I'll love you forever if you do :P Also, you might like my other Zelda fanfic, The Evil Realm, if you haven't checked it out already!