A/N: Whew… okay, man, 43 chapters in huh? Well… How about a word of advice? Do not take phones on roller coasters! *speaking as an experienced person* You will lose them!
Disclaimer: Nope, no own.
Return to the Village
By the time Kakariko came into view, Telma's cart horse was about ready to drop, its tongue lolling out of its mouth and froth coating its neck. Link was very concerned that the poor animal wasn't going to make it, despite the fact that the village was just visible along the walls of the gorge. Dante had gotten off the cart and had been walking or jogging alongside them for a good portion of the journey now. The hero had offered to trade him at one point and the half devil had waved him off with a
"Nah, save your strength, I'll be fine." and a shrug. Despite this Link was a little worried, and he could feel Midna's concern seeping into him too. When he saw the lookout spires from atop Epona he spurred her forward, racing into the town and straight up to Renado's place. The shaman opened the door to frantic knocking with a confused expression.
"Please Renado, there's a Zora child, he's very sick, we're not sure what's wrong with him, they're coming up the road now." the teen explained quickly. To his credit for being woken up by sudden knocking on his door, Renado was very calm as he turned to his daughter and said
"Luda, prepare the sick bed and the medicines, it's going to be a long night." Renado turned back to Link as his daughter went darting back into the house. "Bring him here." The shaman commanded, the teen nodded and whirled his horse around, galloping back in the other direction. The cart horse was barely plodding along when he got back.
"Give me the boy," he said, holding his arms out. Dante jumped back into the cart and gently lifted the Zora boy from the back, despite Ilya's protest, the girl trying to put herself between the hunter and the boy. Dante had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "He's going to be fine," Dante said "besides, we'll be following right behind him." Ilya eyed him warily but moved out of the way. The hunter lifted the boy from the makeshift bed within the cart and then leaned out, handing the kid to Link. The teen adjusted briefly and then took off toward town, trailing dust behind him. The half devil sighed and leapt back down off of the cart, walking beside it once more. His feet ached but by the looks of it, the horse was hurting more so he couldn't complain. Telma looked about ready to drop and Ilya appeared sick with worry. It was rather endearing to see someone who was so concerned with the well-being of others but the hunter was certain that was going to get her in trouble in the future.
The town came up around them soon enough though and Telma hopped off the cart and immediately started unhitching the horse. Dante helped where he could and shortly they were leading the horse to water where it promptly lowered its was already in the shaman's hut after the Zora boy. The half devil stood back with Telma, knowing that his talents were far from healing abilities.
"I can't thank you enough for helping us across the field. I'm no stranger to a good fight but I'm not sure we would have made it past those monsters alone." the barkeep said, Dante just sat down right where he stood, his feet aching and nodded.
"It's no problem, I've got a stake in keepin the kid alive and I'm sure that if I hadn't been there you guys might've been paste on the road. Kid's got a good heart but sometimes it's a bit too soft." Dante closed his eyes but he heard Telma grunt as she settled on the ground next to him.
"What and you're the tough guy to even him out?" she teased, poking him in the shoulder. The half devil opened a single eye and looked over at her.
"Maybe, what's it to you?" he asked. Telma just laughed
"Not sure, maybe I like tough guys." before anything else could be said Link walked up.
"Renado told me to leave the room." he grumbled, taking a seat next to the pair already on the ground. Dante propped himself up on his elbows.
"I'm not surprised, you might be experienced in battle wounds but that's a far cry from disease. At least I think so, I get shooed out of the medical room too." he said. Telma had to laugh at the two warriors as they bantered back and forth, the pair of them were so similar, now that the fighting had ended for the day neither knew what to do. So they floated from thing to thing and right now that was getting shooed away from the shaman trying to do his job.
Link wasn't sure when he fell asleep but he was awoken by Renado's daughter shaking his shoulder. He jolted and lifted his lip half out of instinct, wondering as the rest of his sleep fell away if he would forever be shaking off the canine instincts whenever he was human. He yawned and looked up and Luda said
"My father says that the Zora boy is through the worst of it, now all he needs is rest, and so do the rest of you. If you follow me I can lead you to one of the empty houses, we've put bedding in it for you already."
A/N: A smidge short, I know, but I've got a lot of DM prep work to do currently, sooooo we're going to leave it here!
Till next time,
-Winged Element
