Chapter 9

Although Link awoke, he felt sure he was dead. Every inch of his body felt as though it were part of the earth he lay on. Icy, dead, and numb. When he finally prized the frozen lids of his eyes apart, he attempted to lift his arms and raise himself to his feet. But lying upon his back, staring up at the grey sky where snowflakes still fell, he wasn't even sure he had any arms. In a moment of panic he was convinced a wolf must have gnawed his limbs off in the night while he slept. In desperation, he attempted to kick and wriggle and move any part of his body that still remained. He felt his body spasm beneath him, and slowly to his great relief he began to recognise a dull ache of pain where his last new his legs to be. 'That's a relief' he thought 'at least I might still be able to walk'.

Forcing himself to a seated position, he felt blessed again to find that he still had arms, even if the cold had restricted his movement to above the elbow. He looked down at his hands that lay on his lap. They were a worrying shade of purplish grey, with raw and chapped knuckles. He tried to clench his fist. No response. He tried again. And again. He threw his lifeless hand against his back to try and grope the hilt of his sword. He felt a sting as his knuckles grazed against the handle, and easing his fingers around it, he finally unsheathed his blade with tremendous effort. Pressing the blade into the snowy ground before him, Link attempted to push himself to his feet; his knees buckled beneath him and his face connected with the frosty ground once more. Groaning, he slowly, painfully tried again. His legs shook uncontrollably, but this time his knees locked in place and he was able to stand his ground. His head was spinning violently, and his vision swam before his eyes, nausea rose in his stomach and he desperately shut his eyes and swallowed back the sickness as best he could.

Never before in his life had he felt this cold. He could feel nothing, only a faint sickly pain belied the numbness that had taken his body. He had not idea how badly he was hurt; it was impossible to tell; he might have lost a hand or broken a foot – there was simply no way of knowing. Barely able to open his mouth even to moan, his cheeks had lost all feeling and colour of health, taking on instead the blue tinge of the ice that surround him on the landscape. His lips too, were tight with cuts that had frozen over, running his tongue over them they tasted of iron before the saliva froze over. Every breath he took felt like sharp cold steal being forced into throat and slashing his poor lungs to shreds.

Consumed by the cold, Link's mind was barren of all thought. It was only through some primal urge to survive, or divine blessing that the muscles in his body took over and Link put one shaky foot in front of the other, and slowly began to lumber forward. It never even entered his mind to turn back. So forward he blindly walked towards to whatever fate the mountain had in store for him.

And it welcomed him with a cry that would make blood curdle like sour milk.

Walking in his stupor, blinded by the brilliant rays of the sun that reflected all about him in the crisp white snow, he didn't even see which direction the Wolfos came from. Its howl had been taken up by the wind and echoed horribly about the mountains, as the beast came crashing suddenly into his side. Pinning him to the floor as it ran into him, the animal sank it sharp claws into the flesh of his chest, before it leapt off Link and curved around for a second attack. Link made a guttural cry as he was thrown down; his head bounced on a rock that was hidden beneath the blanket of snow; black spots spinning in front of his eyes, he whirled his head around to look at the Wolfos. It stood; snarling with yellow teeth bared; eyes ablaze with mindless rage; panting heavily; its hot breath swirled in thick foggy clouds. It charged towards him again, fangs flashing.

As nimbly as his broken body would allow, Link rose to his feet and flung himself at the monster. As it soared towards him for the second time, its jaws wide in hungry anticipation to take a bite out of Link's side; Link threw his bodyweight down into the beast, grasping fistfuls of fur, and the animal was launched over his head, and the two rolled to the ground in a furious ball of fighting. The beast lashed out, wrapping its razor-sharp claws about Link's back, tearing flesh and cloth alike, Link desperately beat the monster with his fists, suddenly aware that he had dropped his sword as he had fallen. He pounded the Wolfos suddenly on the nose; it snarled and snapped its jaws about his arm in revenge. Teeth pieced through the thick leather of his gauntlets and bore down into his flesh, and scarlet leaked down his arm, staining the yellow teeth of the Wolfos red. Link cried out with a scream that rolled off the mountain and back to him in an echo that refused to die, and tossed with the wolfish beast again, desperately fighting to gain control of the scuffle.

But he was weak, and the animal pinned him down again, its large paws landing heavily of his beaten chest, knocking the wind out of his frozen lungs. Once again his head collided painfully with the stony ground. In a moment of paralysis, as Link's eyes rolled up into the back of his head, all he could see was the grinning face of the evil Wolfos, lips curled back to reveal its gruesome teeth that were stained and gored with Link's own blood, a growl rumbled from deep in its throat, and bloody saliva dripped from its jaw. Crushed into the snow by the animals mighty weight, all Link could feel was the hot breath of the Wolfos washing over his face, stinking of death and decay, and a bizarre wetness where his blood was beginning to pool about his back, and trickle in red rivulets down his fingertips. And as the beast loomed above him, ready to snap up his head, Link could feel his mind slipping from consciousness. Darkness slithered about his vision which was sliding uncontrollably in and out of focus.

Was this it? Was this how the Hero was to fall? His life claimed by the lonely mountains?

'Goddesses protect me,' Link thought,

And he blacked out to the sound of the Wolfos' last triumphant howl.