"How did you do, child?" I was asked, as me and Nabooru sat around the morning camp fire, bleary eyed and tired.
"You threw me into a barrel," I replied.
"Sorry, don't remember a thing last night." Then she smirked. "Though I do remember this morning."
"You found somebody then."
"Maybe..." she said smugly.
"Who?"
"You want to know his name?" she asked incredulously.
"You don't know?"
The leg of pork that Nabooru had been wrestling at with all the ferocity of a very hung-over Gerudo gave up its last tatters of flesh and she tossed it away and rose.
"If we meet him again I'll show you. Come, we have a hard days riding to do. With any luck, we'll reach home by noon."
"Wake up, child. We are here."
"Wha? Whazzat?"
I stretched and yawned and found I was laid on a bed of hay.
"We have reached your new home."
I opened my eyes, only to find myself staring at a horse's ass. I laughed.
The room we were in was a stable, I knew as much. Metre wide stocks lined the walls, many occupied, and hay covered the floor. The sounds of many horses all champing and stamping and whinnying filled the place. There were no windows, only burning torches in sconces, and the walls were roughly cut. I guessed this place had been carved straight out of rock.
"This is Gerudo fortress?"
Nabooru nodded. She was busy unfastening the buckles and removing the saddle from her horse. That done, she threw the lot over her shoulder and moved out into the aisle, closing the stall door behind her.
"Where are you going?"
"Tonight you will sleep here with the horses. Just tonight. It is tradition. It will teach you humility and it will humble you. Oh, and this place is guarded so no escaping, ok?"
"But-but-but-"
"No buts. You must honour tradition."
"What about the smell?"
"I'm sure the horse's wont mind."
"What if it rolls over and crushes me?"
"Then you shall learn an important lesson in sleeping with horses. Goodnight."
"Stupid, stinking horses," I growled, an hour later, when I still couldn't sleep.
I got up and went looking around for a free stall but there were none. In doing so though I found the place was much larger than I before predicted. It was about the length and width of a cathedral. There must've been at least 300 hundred horses there.
When I got back, I found that Nabooru's horse had gotten out and had its head stuck firmly in the grain bag, which was odd as I could've sworn I'd locked the door behind me. I spent several minutes trying to yank the beast away from the food until, defeated, I unhooked the bag from the wall and took it into the stall with me. After coazing the animal into a corner, I chose the opposite one and threw myself down onto a bed of hay.
My body connected with something soft beneath me. I gave a small yelp as the hay erupted around me and two arms rose through the dark to clamp painfully around my mouth, nose, and under my chin. Two legs tied themselves around my waist and squeezed, forcing the air from my lungs, winding me.
To say I was tired, winded and fighting half-blind in the darkness I fought well. I managed to get to my feet and smash the thing on my back against the walls a few times.It screamed each time and dug its nails in until the blood ran down my neck butstill it clung on like a limpet in a storm. And, while it still had my lungs in an iron grip, it was only a matter of time before it took me down. The room began to grow fuzzy and distant. The crushing pain eased into a vague warmness.
My legs wavered and buckled. I fell, the heavy weight pulling me down. A few centimetres from the floor, an arm passed my face and stopped us both. Just before I drifted into unconsciousness, I felt my head being lowered gently to the floor.