A/N: I had to make Inside Jabu-Jabu's Belly less a dungeon and more the inside of a whale's stomach. The whole sucking through walls thing got to be too much maybe, but I had to have three different "caverns" and I didn't hardly know what else to do, without making it even grosser. Of course, that might have been fun, but...

A Hero's Path

Chapter 17: Horse-Borne

"Almost there," Link thought aloud. He was totally exhausted. Every muscle ached and the wound from Barinade was stinging.

"Do you need... for the night?" he heard Navi say. Her voice was cutting in and out.

"I'm sorry, what?" Something about the night. But they had traveled all night, and now the sun had risen. It was almost to the top of the sky now, shining bright on the travelers. Ahead was Hyrule Castle Town, the familiar white, stone walls and open drawbridge awaited them. And Link felt very cold.

"Navi, is it just me, or is there a cold wind?"

"...kidding me! If fairies sweat... raining on your head!"

"Fairies don't sweat?"

"No. We glisten." Navi took a good look at Link. His face was very pale and exhausted. There were heavy bags under his eyes. He was slightly hunched over and he would absent-mindedly clutch his stomach every few steps. He started tripping over his own feet.

"Link? ...okay?"

"Yeah," he said between exasperated pants. "We gotta get to Zelda."

Navi flew in close and touched his cheek. She whipped her hand away and shook it from the heat. "Link, you have a fever!"

"I'm... I'm okay!" Link fell flat on his face.

...Thunder blasted in the air, and the sky was lit up by lightning. As fast as it was light, it got dark again, and all Link could see was two torches hanging in front of him. All he heard was the pitter-pattering of rain falling on the field around him. Then he heard falling of a drawbridge, and the clatter of horses running. As lightning lit the world around him again, Link saw the wall between the torches in front of him fall, and two people on one horse rode out on it. One was Impa, the other Princess Zelda. As the horse came closer, it finally turned and passed beside him. Zelda stared at him desperately, and they rode off. As Link was pondering Zelda, and where he was, another horse came riding up to him. It was a scary, dark horse, and on it rode a scary, dark man. Ganondorf. This horse stopped in front of Link, and the evil man laughed. He raised his hand in front of Link, and fire erupted from his palm. The fire formed a fist-sized ball and flew at Link...

When Link opened his eyes, he was staring up at a thatched roof. He was laying in a bale of hay. "Where am I?" he said.

"Oh! You're awake!" Someone was standing just out of Link's vision. Someone with a little country girl's accent. "Navi! He's awake!"

"Oh no. Please..." Link said.

"Link?" Navi flew right over Link's head. "You okay? You were out all day and all night!"

"Why am I always findin' you knocked out in the middle of the way?"

"Is that Malon?"

"Yeah. She's been takin' real good care of ya, sugar," Navi laughed.

Link moaned and picked himself up into a sitting position. His stomach no longer hurt so bad. He felt a little restriction in the stomach area though. He had been bandaged. His hat, boots, ocarina and equipment had all been removed and set in a corner with some farming tools. He was in a small, stone hut with Navi, two four legged, black-and-white-spotted animals and Malon, who was currently pouring something into a glass. She brought it over.

"Drink up." It was white.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Why, don't be silly, silly! It's milk! And it's what's been makin' ya feel better."

Link downed the milk as fast as he could. In his experience medicine always tasted terrible. This milk, however, tasted terrific. He held out his glass and said, "More!"

"A'right, hun. Just lemme get ya some more." She started squeezing little pink nozzles on the belly of one of the beasts. White liquid was coming out.

"Ew! That's where it comes from! I'm done!"

"You gotta milk a cow to get milk, sugar. Duh. Don't it taste good?"

"Well yeah, but it's coming out of an animal! Did you just think, 'Hey, I'll squeeze this thing's... uh..."

"Udders."

"Udders, and drink whatever comes out!"

"No, silly! It's gotta be cleaned, and then Daddy mixes all kinds of extra vitamins and minerals in so it heals you up faster 'un you can say, 'Doctor!'"

"Doctor." She was right. Link was feeling better already. "So you're sayin'... er, saying that he puts rocks in it?"

"No."

"But you said-"

"I said minerals, sugar, there's a difference. You got your iron, and..."

"Iron! Now I'm eating metal? You're not a doctor! You're a quack!"

"Quack? I ain't no duck."

So their argument grew larger again, until Malon dropped another glass of milk down his throat that tasted even better than the last. "Iron, huh?"

"Yep. And calcium, and vitamins a, b, c, d..."

"You put the whole alphabet in here, too, huh?" They laughed.

"Link, I'm glad you're feeling better and all, but have you forgotten something?" Navi asked.

"Huh?"

"The Stones!"

"Oh yeah! Malon, this has been fun, but I've gotta go see Princess Zelda."

"Again? Ya just saw her last week! What, you think you're royalty or somethin'?"

"No. I just... I..."

"Everytime I find you and help you, you say, 'I gotta see the princess'. Why can't you see me?" Link pondered that for a moment. It was true, though a coincidence, that they had met twice now on his way to see the princess, but he didn't choose to live his own life. Inwardly he did wish to stay and spend time with Malon. Malon recognized his pause. "I ain't gonna stop ya, fairy boy, but could you atleast meet my best friend?"

Navi was gesturing with her whole body toward the door. "I..." Link started.

"Come on," Malon said. "It'll just be a few minutes!"

Link couldn't refuse. He put on his boots, his hat, his gift from Saria, and put on his sword, shield and bags of things, then they stepped out of the hut.

Outside the hut, a field layed before them, confined in a high, wooden fence. Horses roamed the field, but most stayed within a pin in the middle of the field. On the other side of the field were a couple of buildings, one on either side of a large gate.

"So where's your friend?" Link asked as they walked through the field in seemingly no real direction.

"She's right here," Malon said as they came upon a group of horses. There were three full grown brown horses and one red-haired foal. "Her name is Epona. Isn't she cute?" She hugged the young horse around the neck.

"Your best friend is a horse?" Link asked.

"So much is explained," Navi said.

Suddenly, the horse whinnied and kicked and ran off.

"It seems like Epona's afraid of you, fairy boy," Malon said. "We gotta calm her."

"How? She just ran to the other side of the field. You can calm her. She doesn't like me. Besides, I gotta go..."

"See the princess, I know. But I know Epona would like you if she got to know you. It's that sword of yours I bet. Here, she really likes this song. My mama made it." Malon started softly singing a sweet tune.

"I don't think she hears you," Link said.

"Of course not. If I got too loud, it wouldn't sound so pretty. Here, that's an instrument around your neck, right? Why not play this song?"

"Link! This could take all day!"

"I think I've got it," he said. He recalled all he'd learned from Saria and figured out the exact notes on his ocarina.

"How'd you get to be so good at that?" Navi said. Link played louder, and louder, until they knew Epona could hear it. After a few moments, Epona neighed again and came galloping back. She passed right by Malon and stopped in front of Link. She started flipping his arm up with her nose.

"She wants ya to pet her, fairy boy!" Link started scratching her behind the ears. Then he petted her mane for a while.

"She's really sweet," Link said. "I like her."

"Too bad. She ain't for sale. She's my horse."

"I wasn't saying I wanted to buy her."

"Oh. Of course. Everybody's always comin' and askin' for her. She's the cutest thing, and she's almost as fast as the full-grown horses already!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna start entering her in races soon enough!"

"Well we gotta get going," Link said. "It's been a lot of fun. I'll be back soon."

"Oh, be careful. My dad still don't know you're here. Don't let him see you."

"Okay. Thanks a lot for all your help. Bye!"

So Link and Navi made their way to the gate. As they got close, they heard someone say, "Hey you!" They turned and saw Talon laying up against the wall of one of the nearby buildings.

"Uh-oh," Link said. "I wasn't supposed to let you see me."

"Hah! That ain't possible when I'm always watchin' for customers! Anyway, I saw Malon drag ya in here. I didn't say nothin' cause I thought it was cute. What happened to ya?"

"I got sick."

"In the middle of the field, with nobody around? Yer just a kid!"

"Yeah."

"What's with all that stuff there? A sword and a shield? You ain't a wanderin' cowboy are ya?"

"No. I don't squirt milk out my udders!"

"No, no. Cowboys go around helpin' people by fighting off danger."

"Oh."

"I guess you kind of are a cowboy, Link," Navi said.

"Link, eh? Malon really seems to have taken a likin' to ya. How would you like to be her husband?"

"I kinda already told Ruto I'd be hers..."

Talon started laughing. "I was just kiddin'! Just kiddin'! I think you're a little young for that, ain't ya?"

"I don't know..."

"Here, kid," Talon said. Link walked up to him and Talon handed him a bottle filled with milk. "This is our ranch's pride and joy. I'm sure Malon's given ya more 'an a sample?"

"Yeah. It's good."

"It's good for ya too. You'll be energized from the moment ya drink it!"

"Okay. Thanks." Link opened his pack and put it in next to his other bottles. They were suspiciously filled up with milk as well.

"Alright," another man said walking up to Talon. He had a crooked moustache and walked like he'd just been dealt an atomic wedgie. He held a pitchfork over his shoulder and wore pink overalls. Later, the image of this man would make Link chuckle everytime he brought it into his mind. "I've mucked the stalls, milked the cows, pinned the horses, fed the cuccos, and hammered in the new fence posts. Am I done for the day?" This man had a very large lack of southern accent. His voice sounded like it was straight out of Hyrule Castle Town.

Talon made an if-y, thinking sound. "A'right. Show this fella the way out and you can clock out, Ingo." The man named Ingo made to grab Link by the shield and drag him out, but Talon said, "Not that kind a' showin'!" And Ingo repented. He walked Link out the gate, all the while complaining to him about how he does all the work on the ranch and it should be called "Ingo Ranch" instead of "Lon Lon Ranch" and he should own it and Talon should do some sort of work, and how he really hates the smell of horse poop (though Link couldn't help but notice a good amount of the smell on this hired hand's own body).

After that, Link and Navi were on their way again.

"I hope you don't mind that Malon gave you a bath," Navi said.

"What? Why does she always have to do that!"

"Well in her defense, you smelled like fish and she kept your under-shorts on."

"She makes me so mad!"

"You don't think it's cute the way she calls you 'Fairy boy'?"

"No." Link crossed his arms as they walked. The sun was setting behind Lon Lon Ranch as they made their way down the road to the castle. They watched as the gate started closing.

"Great. Are we going to be stuck outside all night again?" Navi said. They kept walking toward it anyway.

"If nothing else, we can stay in the river all night," Link said. As they drew close to the city walls, they noticed something very odd about the city. It was covered in a heavy rain shower. They passed under the cloud cover as the sun finally set. Almost as soon as Link stepped in, he was soaked. With the darkness, the cloud, and the heavy downpour, Link could hardly see three feet in front of him. He did see two torches a little bit away, about where the gate should be.

"Link, we can't just sit here and..."

"Navi, it's happening."

"What?"

"My nightmare."

He could hear the clanking of the drawbridge. Lightning struck and he saw the bridge coming down. It landed in its designated spot and he heard horses galloping toward him. Impa and Zelda came riding out of the gate on a white horse and rode past him.

This was it. His dream taking place. He watched as they started to ride off. Zelda threw something toward him. It flew over his head and fell in the river under the bridge. They rode off over a hill and out of sight. Then another horse came riding up.

It was a black war horse, covered in armor. On it rode the man Link had only caught a glimpse of six days ago, but had seen right here so many times before. Ganondorf.

"I lost her," he growled as he stopped in front of Link. "You there!" He stared at Link. His evil stare almost caused Link's knees to buckle. "Little boy. You must have seen the white horse gallop past just now! Which way did it go?"

Link just stared at him. He knew defending Zelda could cost him a lot. Perhaps this was his time to fight the man who had caused so many problems in the peaceful land of Hyrule.

"Answer me!" Ganondorf drew closer. Link remembered Lord Jabu-Jabu, the Dodongo's Cavern, the Great Deku Tree...

A fire welled up inside Link. He took a step back and put on the fiercest stare he could to retaliate Ganondorf's.

"You think you can protect them from me? You've got guts, kid." He started to laugh. The laugh Link had heard so many times.

Link drew his sword. Ganondorf laughed even more.

"You want a piece of me! Very funny! You're the boy who fought the Stalchildren? I like your attitude!" Ganondorf was laughing at him!

Link charged forward, raising his sword above his head and holding it with both hands. He shouted in rage for everything he'd fought for. Now was the time to strike. Now was the time for vengeance. Now was the time for justice. Now was the time for a battle, to decide the fate of Hyrule.

As Link came to Ganondorf's mighty steed, the Gerudo man just held his hand in front of Link. Fire burned in the palm of the man's hand. It formed a ball the size of his fist and rushed right toward Link's face. Too late to react. Link had only focused on offense, and now it was too late. He laid, sprawled out on the ground.

"Pathetic little fool! Do you realize who you are dealing with!" were the last words Link heard as he blacked out.