I notched another arrow and let it fly into an archer bulbin as it rode by, taking most of them out until I ran out of arrows.
"I'm out of arrows! Do you think you can get close enough now?" I ask and he yells back an "I'll try" before picking up the pace to get closer to the King Bulbin and hit him with his sword a few times. When the others saw their leader getting hurt they all swarmed us to block our path until he could get away.
Link managed to knock off pieces of his armor with every good swing and, after a while of chasing, hit off the last of it —his helmet. Upon impact, the King Bulbin was temporarily knocked out but quickly regained consciousness to ride over to a bridge outside of Castle Town, jumping over a barricade. Link and I followed him over on Epona, the wooden barricade being lit on fire right after by an archer bulbin with flaming arrows.
We stopped at that end of the bridge and watched the Bulbin face us at the other end. He stared grimly at Link and I could only guess what awful things were going through his mind about the green-clad blonde boy that was supposed to be helping me home.
"Get off." Link says, assisting me off of Epona's back, "Stand over there out of the way and don't come out until it's safe to." He pushes me towards the side of the bridge where I was supposed to stay until he got back.
"What's going on? What are you going to do?" I ask him, but he completely disregards my questions, unsheathes his sword, and takes one last glance at me before rushing towards the King Bulbin. At the other end of the bridge, the bulbin did the same, barreling down the path at Link.
Just as they were about to run into each other, Link dodged him to the side and slashed at the bulbin, injuring him further. The two of them continued forward until they reached the sides of the bridge opposite to the one they started on. When the King Bulbin got to my side he stared at me with empty eyes, clear of any human emotion other than hate. He turned back towards Link and they both took off at each other once again. Just like before, Link dodged his attack and sliced at him with his sword, knocking him off the boar and over the side of the bridge.
I rushed to the opposite side of the bridge and watched his fall to his inevitable death. When I looked back up at Link, he was looking down just as I was with Epona standing on her back legs, declaring her own victory. Seeing Link like that made him look...heroic. Like he could do anything, including saving Hyrule from the twilight. I decided I could trust him and that no matter what, I'd be there to help him on his quest. We were in this together now, until the end.
Link caught the boar and untied his young friend from it before taking us all back to the village where the other children and men from before were waiting. The boy woke up slowly, groaning a little.
"...Link...is everyone...okay?" Link nodded and he looked around at the crowd of people surrounding him to see for himself.
"...Good. Beth..I'm sorry. You know, for shoving you. Are you mad?" he asks. The girl he saved from his fate earlier —Beth— shook her head.
"I...I think I finally understand. I understand what my dad meant when he told me I needed to be stronger, like you, Link...He wasn't talking about strength like lifting stuff, he was talking about being brave." Colin lifted an arm into the air, clentched his fist then dropped it back to his side.
"Link, you saved me didn't you." He says, not as a question but as a statement. Link smiled slightly then looked up at me, Colin following his gaze.
"I may have had some help." He says. I smile back at him and wave to the small boy. "This is Rheikah. I'm helping her back home."
"You can do anything. You guys can do something to help the Gorons in the mine too, can't you?" Colin looks between the two of us waiting for an answer. Link simply nods at the boy and Colin looks back at me. I nodded at him and he smiles before passing out in Link's arms. The other children all jump into action, trying to make sure he's alright, one of them even trying to pick him up to carry him. The man from before with long brown hair came and picked up the boy, taking him away to rest, all the children following behind him. Once we were left with only each other for company, Link stood and looked up at the mountain the Gorons supposedly lived on.
I walked up behind him and placed a hand in his shoulder, causing him to tense up until he saw it was only me. I looked at the mountain and smiled.
"Death Mountain, huh? This, I've got to see." I say and begin walking towards the entry way. Link followed me, gradually making his way to walk by my side before leading the way once I realized I had no idea where I was going. He took us through a passage way, to an open area with a big drop off from the mountain. There was a broken ladder on the side, leaving the thick netting draped over the edge as the only way up.
Link started climbing up the net and I took it as my que to start climbing as well. It wasn't long before we reached the top and Link helped me over the edge. Ahead of us, a Goron waited as if he was expecting us to be here.
"Ho! You are back again human! And this time you brought a friend! You'll never pass! You cannot hope to match our brute force!" The Goron says then rolls up into a rock-like ball and rolls himself at us. I stepped away from him, towards the wall while Link just stayed put with his arms ready to grab the fast approaching Goron. I was about to yell at him to move out the way before he was hit, but before I could the Goron was right in front of him. Link grabbed the big hunk of rock and threw it behind himself.
I stared awestruck at the young hero as if he'd just done the impossible which, in a way, he just had. That's when I noticed his boots. The previously dark leather shoes were now covered in heavy metal, tripling his weight if not more.
"Nice shoes..." I say and Link looks down at them then back up at me. He twists a small clip on the side of his boot and the metal retracts.
"They were a gift" He says, then continues walking up the mountain path. "Come on, and stay behind me."
We traveled up the mountain that way, each time a Goron rolled by Link would stop it from hitting us, until we reached an opening. Gorons were everywhere, but that wasn't even the worse part. Out of seemingly nowhere, fiery rocks starting falling from the sky. Before I could even think to take cover, Link had grabbed me and pulled me under a shallow ledge, holding me close to his chest and covering our heads with his arms. I could feel his breath on my neck as rocks crashed down around us, eventually lightening up and stopping after a few minutes. His hold on me loosened up while he looked around to make sure it had stopped. A final, giant rock fell into the center of the area, noticeably raising the temperature of the area. Link stood up and helped me off the ground.
"Are you okay?" He asks, looking me over to be sure I wasn't hurt anywhere.
"Yeah. Are you?" I ask and he nods with a short 'yeah' in response.
"Come on. It won't be long before another one comes" He says and starts toward a Goron. It was strange how one minute, he's saving my life, then the next, he's back to the initial mission. I grab his sleeve to stop him and he looks back at me.
"Wait! Thanks for...that, I guess. It was really brave of you to protect me like that." I say, still not used to people being nice to me. Especially when they risk themselves to do it. He smiled at me, or really more at how confused I was that he helped me.
"No problem"