Chapter One
The sound of pounding hooves thundering off the cliff walls rang in Link's sensitive ears as he raced Epona to the end of Hellsfire canyon. He was being chased by an unknown enemy that had appeared out of nowhere on the last day of his five day journey through the gorge. Destroying the creatures was nearly impossible. They rode boars four times the size of normal ones that sported huge tusks which appeared to be stained with blood. Link figured the monsters used them to tear apart their enemies. The riders of the great beasts wore black plated armor that protected them from Link's arrows; even his ice and fire arrows didn't faze them. He could sense they were not human even though he could not see them. They wielded black jagged blades that appeared to have never been cleaned, which didn't surprise him as the creatures and their riders appeared filthy anyway.
The thought of his visions drove him on. They were of a strange girl standing helplessly alone, she was surrounded by ruins high up in the mountains and was pleading for him to come to her. He could see the desperation in her eyes and an intense fear he couldn't explain. That was why he was in the canyon in the first place. He was traveling to a kingdom he had only just recently heard of to try and find her.
They were nearing the end of the canyon and could see a wide mountainous expanse spreading out before the entrance. All the time the monsters were shooting arrows at them but he had erected a magic barrier around himself and Epona that deflected the missiles.
Link guided Epona through the rocky canyon, each time they had to go around a big rock they lost speed which gave the monsters time to catch-up to them. They were getting to close for comfort and Link could tell Epona was tiring from the chase. "I need to think of a way to get rid of those things!" Link thought desperately as he concentrated on keeping the barrier up and guiding Epona through the rocks. "Epona won't last much longer, if I can't get them off our trail they will catch us for sure and I don't know if I could handle all of them at once." Link looked ahead at the mouth of the canyon. He noticed that there had been a rock slide recently which had left the entrance to the canyon partially block so that the path was only about ten feet wide. He saw that the rockslide had left several huge boulders loosely supported by smaller rocks at their base.
"The next time it rains hard enough those smaller rocks are going to loosen and send those boulders crashing to the canyon floor, which would probably create another…." Revelation lit Link's face as the thought struck him. "That's what I could do; I could create another rockslide by blowing out the smaller rocks supporting the boulders!"
Link reached behind him and opened the large belt pouch at his waist that held his bombs, some leather strips that he used to wrap around the hilt of his sword for better grip, and a few other things. He grabbed a bomb and then an arrow out of his quiver. He secured the reins on his saddle horn to free his other hand and used it to get a strip of leather from the pouch as well. He managed to hold the bomb to the end of the shaft just above the arrow head and tied it on with the lather strip. He did the same with one more arrow then reached behind him and grabbed his bow. He notched one of the bomb arrows onto the bow and pulled back on the taunt string. He steadied the bow and aimed for the base of the first boulder; next, he concentrated on the fuse and gathered a small amount of energy, guiding it to the fuse. Then saying the simplest of fire starter spells he lit the fuse and sent the bomb arrow flying. It lodged between two smaller rocks under the first boulder. Then he did the same with the other bomb arrow and it lodged under the second bolder. With the bombs lit, he and Epona would only have about 30 seconds to get out of the canyon before they were either buried by the slide, or trapped with the monsters.
Link knew Epona was running on the last of her energy but he urged her to go faster. Epona sensed his urgency in the request and found a new will of power that had always been pooling deep inside her. It was the power to keep her very best friend from being killed by their pursuers. In a burst of speed, she ran the fastest she had ever run before. Amazed by his friend's new found speed and energy Link leaned even closer to Epona's neck, they moved as one and flew as fast as the wind.
Just as they reached the end of the canyon and shot past the last of the rock walls into the meadows the bombs went off. They could hear rocks and boulders crashing to the ground behind them. Dirt and dust filled the air making it hard to breathe. When they had gone a couple hundred yards from the entrance, Link pulled Epona to a stop and turned her to face the canyon. When the dust had cleared, he could see that the rock slide had completely blocked the entrance and none of the evil riders had made it through.
"That was a close one Epona." He said patting her neck; her ears swiveled back at the sound of his voice. "Let's hope we never come across those things again."Link sighed and looked at the newly formed rock wall before finally turning Epona away from the canyon in the direction of the lake.
The Sabetra Meadows were a beautiful expanse of lush green grasses and gently rolling hills, they spread about three miles north to south and six miles east to west. A small lake lay against the base of the mountains on the northern side of the expanse. The lake, partially surrounded by trees, had an abundance of wildlife living around it. They had entered on the northeast side of the meadow and would have less than a mile to ride before they reached the lakeside, they would spend several nights there resting and replenishing their supplies. Link was running low on food and needed to hunt; he had been living off of dried elk meat and longed for fresh version of the venison.
The Silver Blade Mountains towered above the meadow and surrounded them on all sides. The only way to get out of the Sabetra Meadows was through Silver Blade Pass, Which was where they would travel in the next few days.
Sore muscles and exhaustion made the short ride to the lake a painful experience. When they had finally arrived, Link dismounted and unsaddled Epona. He took off her bridle, and brushed her vigorously, he used the brush to massage her muscles until they relaxed then he let her wonder off to the edge of the lake to drink. Link wasn't afraid of Epona running off. She wasn't just a normal horse, She was different she had a sense of loyalty and was always there when Link need her the most.
As Link set up camp in the shade of a tree next to the shore he thought of why he had traveled so far from his home land Hyrule. The people there no longer need him, for he had finally defeated his greatest enemy, Ganondorf. Ganon had made a fatal error in there last encounter which was all Link had needed to plunge the blade of his sword through Ganon's skull, thus freeing Hyrule from his evil grasp. With the three peaces of the triforce now in Princess Zelda's keeping she sealed them away in the Temple of Time, after that she had released Link from his duty to Hyrule. Link rejoiced in the ability to do as he pleased, he traveled all over the kingdom and at first, he had enjoyed it, but after several months, he started to feel out of place as though he no longer belonged in Hyrule. That's when he started having visions in his sleep. They would lead him to ruins that appeared high up in the mountains, then it would change to show a confused and helpless young women wearing strange clothing that hugged her body. He would wakeup and lay there for hours thinking about what it could mean. Every time he slept the dream would come back and each time he would wake and wonder about the girl. He knew the vision was real and he wanted to help the girl but he had nothing to go off of. He didn't have a destination all he new was that the girl was probably in a mountain range somewhere near some ruins. Each time he had the dream he picked up a new clue. First it was the ruins then a rare bird that only appeared in the Silver Blade mountains and every time after that he saw an animal that was only indigenous to the Silver Blade mountains. That's when he decided he would travel there.
First, he had gone to find information on the Silver Blade Mountains. He didn't know much about them except that he would have to travel to a whole new land that not many people in Hyrule had set foot in. Because of the mysterious lore that originated from the kingdom, the people of Hyrule feared venturing into Valerea, therefore there was no trade going from kingdom to kingdom. He needed to find someone who could give him a map of Valerea, he discovered a map merchant near the palace who supplied him with what he needed. Then he was off to find supplies and was on his way to Valerea.
Once they had started into the gorge, the trip had gone relatively well, with the exception of a few brief downpours. It was on the last day in the canyon that the monsters had appeared. Link couldn't explain where they had come from but he did know that they had been transported through magical means. Which meant they had either been a group all their own or they served someone who obviously didn't what him here. Link thought it more logical to go with the last since that's how it had always been in the past.
But what about the girl? Who was she and why did he feel so drawn to her? Something warm blew into his ear, the thought slipped away as he opened his eyes to see Epona standing over him playfully lipping at his hair. He sat up and looked around. He hadn't realized he had lain down, but that seamed to happen almost every time he got to thinking to hard about something.
Link reached out with his hand to scratch Epona's head. When she leaned into his hand, he scratched harder and Epona's lower lip drooped and twitched in pleaser.
"I don't know what I would ever do without you girl. You're the best steed a guy could ever have." Epona snorted as if she understood then lifted her head and turned away to find a good spot to graze. Link looked down at the poor state of his cloths, they were filthy. "How did I get so dirty?" He said brushing himself off while he stood and stretched. His back felt sore and he realized he had been lying in the grass with his shield, sword, and quiver still strapped to his back. He pulled them off, set the shield, and quiver next to the saddle.
He brought his sword with him to the side of the lake were he set it down within easy reaching distance in case he had to protect himself. Then he stripped and waded into the crystal clear water until it lapped up around his waste. His body started to numb almost instantly from the icy cold water. He stood there for a while to allow his body to adjust. After a while, little fish started gathering and nibbling at his legs, he took a deep breath and dove into the water. Ignoring the biting cold, he swam along the shoreline, when he could no longer hold his breath he swam to the surface and scrubbed himself vigorously with his hands. When he was sure he had cleaned himself pretty well he waded out of the water and onto the beach were he dried himself of with a towel he had gotten from one of his saddlebags. He dressed and put his filthy cloths into the one of his packs. He hated washing clothes and would put it off as long as he could.
The sun had started to set and his exhaustion was finally caching up to him. He yawned and called for Epona to come back to camp for the night. Epona looking just as tired as he felt sauntered over to him and lowered herself to the ground. Link did the same, lying on his back he looked up at the stars wondering about what was to come. When sleep finally took them into her comforting arms not even an army could have woken them.