Chapter 7: The Road to Kakariko

Dawn, June 28, 610 GK, The War of Imprisonment, Day 353

Somewhere in Central Hyrule

As the early twilight of dawn began to rise in the eastern sky, Link drifted through several strange, disconnected dreams. For a few moments, he was running down a smoke-filled, dark corridor. His heart was pounding and tears were streaming from his eyes. "Mama! Papa! He screamed as he frantically searched through the destruction for their bedroom." Next, he was trapped in a cold, dark room. His hands were bound and he could not move. Ahead of him, in the darkness, a low, deep growl echoed toward him. Link shook with absolute terror as the wicked, cruel face of a large moblin came into view. "P-p-please... n-no..." he begged as its hot breath washed over his face.

For a few seconds, Link passed to a chaotic dream of battle. He was riding Epona -charging into a sea of moblins and dark beasts. His heart was filled with terror. Not of the monsters beside him, but of someone he loved in terrible need. His mind kept flashing over and over, "I have to get there! I have to save him!" But this dream quickly passed and Link drifted into the last before dawn.

He now lay in a soft bed, content and at peace. He was on his back, bare-chested, as a beautiful woman gently pulled herself from his side, onto and across him. She too was bare, and the soft silk of her skin felt wonderful gliding across his chest. "Mmmm" she softly moaned, content with her lover's embrace. Link's eyes were closed, but he slowly reached down and wrapped his arms around her. She was the most perfect... most beautiful thing in the entire world... and she was here... with him.

The squire was jarred from his wonderful dream by a sudden whiney from Epona. The strong mare was reared up and kicking her fore-hooves at a large shadow in the branches above them when Link's eyes shot open. He quickly grabbed his sword from the ground beside him and whirled around, searching for the approaching attack. Finding nothing on the ground, he looked for his mare and what she was disturbed about. His gaze followed hers into the treetops just in time to see the large shadow leap into the air and glide away on elegant wings. Epona's turned her head to follow it as it fled, and gave the shadow one final angry snort as it disappeared from view. "You nearly scared the life out of me girl!" Link scolded with a chuckle as he sheathed his sword and walked over to her. "I didn't realize birds scared you so much." he finished as he patted her muzzle.

The two continued their journey north as soon as Link had bound his bedroll to the saddle and picked the few remaining berries for a quick breakfast. The north-south run of the king's road, in Eastern Hyrule, followed the west bank of the Zora River. Because of this, trees and brush were plentiful and offered good concealment from unfriendly eyes, but several breaks in the trees allowed the grasslands of Central Hyrule to come right down to the water's edge. The young squire and his trusted mare would peer out of the cover of one thicket and carefully scan the horizon for any sign of danger before dashing at a hard gallop across the grassland to the next cluster of trees. Away to the east, the rolling highlands and mountains of Lanayru began to tower over them as they steadily drew closer to the Kakariko pass. Here the King's road reached a critical junction: one road westward to the capitol, another stretched north, skirting between the Eldin mountains and the capitol city -eventually turning northwest toward the Tabantha Frontier, and finally the third turned east through the pass and on into Kakariko Village.

Link had hoped to reach the safety of the village's garrison before nightfall, but as he and Epona had to move carefully, it became obvious that he wouldn't arrive until long after dark. Twice, the mare's alert ears warned him of approaching danger. She would suddenly stiffen and raise her head up in the direction of the sound. The squire would turn and narrow his eyes to spy a patrol of moblins coming down the road, or a small camp of them blocking passage. The two would then silently turn off the road and stealthily creep along through the tall grass west of the road, before returning to their original path. Smiling and patting Epona's neck, Link was grateful for his companion. "I am glad you are not as dull as a moblin Epona! They'll never spot me as long as I have you!"

As the sun began to set in the west the travelers reached the crossroads and turned east up the mountain pass. Here Link paused and studied the path ahead. The King's road offered cover and opportunities for escape, but the Kakariko pass was narrow and sheer sided. If any danger approached them, he would have to fight. Epona shifted nervously as Link considered his next move. "There's no other way to reach the village that I know of girl... We'll just have to chance it." He whispered, as he nudged her forward.

Behind him, from the direction of the capitol gates, came a sudden blast from a bone horn. Epona started and began to anxiously tramp as Link turned to see four dark shapes swiftly charging down the king's road toward the crossroad. It had been a moblin's war-call, but these were moving much too quickly to be moblins on foot. With no alternative, the young soldier cried, "HYAH!" to his mare as he dug his heels into her flanks. The great mare dashed forward, over the bridge across the Zora River, and on to the rising pass. Seconds passed as hours as they raced up the slopes into the Lanayru Mountains.

Link glanced over his shoulder to see four armored moblins mounted atop four very large, very terrifying wolves closing fast behind him. He reached down -beside his leg- and lifted a soldier's bow from its strap. "Keep steady!" he shouted to Epona, as he twisted round and loosed the first arrow at the pursuing enemy. As she dodged and turned passed boulders, fallen trees, and small avalanches of stones, he doggedly tried to put down the monsters with his bow.

He managed several good hits, but these moblins were covered in thick ring-mail which easily turned his arrows away. With only a few arrows left in his quiver, Link now shifted his attack to the wolves. As the first came in close to snap at Epona's hind legs, the fleeing soldier brought his bow downward and fired directly into its eye. The wolf screamed in agony and collapsed - throwing its rider directly into a large boulder on the path.

The beasts now furiously fired their own bows at Link's back. Several skipped off his shoulders and sides, and the boy was very thankful for his own mail shirt, until one bolt struck him squarely in the back – directly over his spine. A painful, electric surge shot through his body, followed by a terrifying numbness. He could not tell how badly he had been hurt, but he was still able to turn in his saddle, and dropped another wolf and its rider.

The aching numbness slowly spread over his ribs and around to his chest as Link slowly grew weaker and found it difficult to stay in the saddle. "Come on Epona!" He cried, as he leaned forward and gripped her mane for dear life. "Don't fall, don't fall, don't fall!" he silently urged himself as his faithful companion now leapt clean over the boulders and continued to dash up the mountain pass.

His back began to seize up as the last of twilight faded into darkness. He grunted and strained to remain in the saddle, but every movement or flex of a muscle now brought searing pain. Behind him, the largest moblin from the patrol, lifted a large, heavy spear and took careful aim. Link desperately clung to his mare's neck, quietly urging her on, "You can do it! Keep going!", when a sudden, heavy thud rippled through her body.

Epona's eyes shot open wide as she lifted her head and screamed in pain. The mighty horse stumbled, tripped over a large stone on the road, and rolled into a fallen tree-trunk along the side of the path. The squire was thrown several feet through the air until he landed hard and rolled to a rough stop in the darkness.

Link's senses were shattered and in disarray. The world was spinning and whirling around him as sound became distorted and warbled. With a deep groan, he struggled to push himself up and look for Epona. His right eye was swollen and stung very badly, but with his left Link was able to find her lying on her side against a large tree trunk, a short way behind him on the path. The remaining two moblins had dismounted now and let their wolves snap and bite at her freely for sport. The great mare valiantly kicked and snorted at both of them, but remained helpless as long as she could not get up. Badly disoriented, Link tried to reach behind his shoulder and draw his sword, but his hand kept grasping at empty air. "You... you... get back... get... get away..." he mumbled as he staggered toward the moblins, who regarded him with amused contempt. The only sensation Link could feel in his body was a dull ache, but the rub of his clothing or the stones under his feet were absent to him.

With a disgusting snort, the first moblin stepped up to him and raised a crude saber to slash at him. With a measure of good luck, his hand finally found the hilt of his sword and swiftly drew it in time to parry the attack. Link continued to stumble and stagger drunkenly as the amused Moblin lazily hacked and slashed away at him. Its partner stood ready with a notched arrow in its bow, but waited for its comrade to finish having fun.

The two wolves moved in close and cruelly bit at Epona's hooves and neck as she desperately thrashed to keep them away. Her cries of pain urged Link on and drove his adrenaline to clear is head -though it still pounded furiously with pain. His hands were shaking and his body was becoming weaker. There was no way he could battle this moblin and win through brute force. He had to draw it in close and surprise it.

As the beast came in for another strike, Link stumbled to one side and leaned against the stone cliff that flanked the pass. He feigned a bout of dizziness, and let his sword droop to the ground, shaking his head. It stepped in close, and reached to grab him by the throat. With all of his energy, the squire whirled in a brilliant spin, and brought his sword down upon the moblin's neck and through to its torso, smashing through its mail shirt. With a sickening gurgle, the monster sank to the ground -twitching in its death throes.

Link's chest was heaving as he desperately gasped for air. It was taking everything he had left to kill one moblin; how would he finish the other? The world blurred and seemed to spin more furiously. At any moment, he was going to retch and collapse – but Epona was still helpless and her pitiful cries echoed across the chaotic path to him. Somehow, he had to find a way to save her. The final moblin roared angrily as it raised its bow to finish the boy off.

The squire tried to tear his sword from the dead enemy before him, but he lacked the strength to pull it free. His hands kept slipping from its grip and he legs began to shake. Dropping to one knee, Link could feel the last of his strength failing. He lifted his one good eye and watched helplessly as the monster aimed for his throat. Time seemed to slow and all sound died away. His body had gone numb and his spirit was breaking. "You did well… but you're just a boy." A faint voice whispered in his mind. "It's ok, it will be over soon. The boy barely muttered aloud, "I'm sorry Malon..." and prepared himself to die.

In the inky blackness above him, a sudden breeze and the rush of wings swooped low over Link's head as a great, winged shadow crashed down upon the final moblin. A violent, avian shrieking mixed with the beast's own cries of pain as the great bird mercilessly clawed at pecked at his eyes. The moblin flailed and thrashed until it collapsed onto the ground and kicked wildly at its attacker. The great shadow flapped its wings and lifted itself lightly into the air and turned now to the two wolves attacking Epona. With another shrill scream, the giant bird landed on the mare's side and flapped its giant wings at the menacing beasts. The wolves, unsure of what to make of the intruder, now drew back and turned their attention to their former master. The fallen moblin shrieked with renewed terror as its own mounts seized its arms and dragged it helplessly down the pass toward the Zora River.

Silence steadily fell over the stony pass as the adrenaline in Link's blood faded, and the aching pain throughout his body returned. Leaving his sword, he crawled on his hands and knees over to his fallen mare. She was laying still now, her sides slowly rising and falling with weak breath. The boy's savior remained perched upon the side of the saddle, staring intently at the battered squire with those large, blue eyes. "You..." groaned Link as he drew closer, "I thought... you were a dream..." The great bird cocked its head to one side and looked at him curiously, "Maybe I still am, young lad." its voice echoed. He knelt beside his mare and carefully searched her body for wounds. The bottoms of her legs, just above the hooves, were badly torn and bleeding from the wolves' bites and a large spear stuck out from the right side of her hindquarters. A steady stream of blood was already trickling down the path behind them. "Be swift, lad!" warned the great owl, "She does not have much time left."