Chapter 3—The Meeting

Please Note: I'm tweaking the setting of Hyrule Field slightly; near the entrance to Gerudo Valley, there's now a heavily wooded area.

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Tiring suddenly of the mild trot, Savannah let Shadow pick up the pace. They galloped, on and on, at an increasing speed. Adrenaline flooded her veins as the cool night wind rushed through her hair and brushed her skin. The stars shone brightly as she rode swiftly across the path.

She was headed for the small patch of woods that sat on the edge of Hyrule Field, a place that was—as far as she knew—her own. She called it Woodland Haven. The path led into the lush vegetation and the path grew narrow and hazardous, but Savannah did not slow down. She rushed headlong on, feeling her senses and her body heighten with the adrenaline high.

Savannah could hardly see where she was going or what was around her for the darkness and the shadows of the tall trees that surrounded her, but she knew exactly where she was. There was a turn up ahead. A sharp turn. And then at the bending point of that sharp turn, the path broke off, dropping Goddesses knew how many feet and several wide. It was a long jump and especially dangerous for the turn that one had to swing one's horse into to stay out of the thorny brush.

She could die jumping this small ravine without her sight. One small miscalculation and she could easily die, or be left broken to bleed slowly to death.

Savannah smiled with pure reckless joy as she spurred Shadow on faster. Heeding her heels in his flanks, the horse ran faster, straight for the perilous turn and jump.

She closed her eyes, and in her mind was the layout of the land. She knew the little dip in the dirt right before the turn, the slight way her mount's weight would shift. She was aware of the thorn-tree that bore wicked thorns two to three inches long to her left as she passed through the last of the straight-stretch. She knew the rock facing to her right, every crevice and the layers that the solid wall was made of.

Shadow's weight shifted as he went over the low spot in the ground. She urged him on and suddenly the ground was gone from beneath them. She opened her eyes. It was the awful sense of falling in the pit of her stomach, and the exhilaration of flying for a few milliseconds. It was the way the wind tore at her clothing more furiously for those seconds and the way Shadow neighed his pleasure.

It was the sense of freedom.

Until she and Shadow hit the ground.

The landing was hard, but solid. As they landed on the sort-of-shaky dirt, a horse to her left reared up with a whining protest. The horse was so large, and so close. Her heart stopped beating for those seconds while she gazed up at the thrashing hooves of the beast. She heard a rider call to the horse, something soothing and commanding. Then the horse was back on the ground, and Shadow had carried her away.

The sound of fast-paced racing came from behind her and she turned to see the horse and rider following her. And gaining. The rider said something else to his mount, but she couldn't make out what. Suddenly they came at her faster.

Without thinking, with blind, unreasonable panic holding her hostage, she turned to face forward again, urging Shadow on faster. She knew this land, too, and she took advantage of that.

Within seconds she was going faster than she had been after she'd cleared the jump, but she was still shocked and scared senseless, senselessly, when the other rider came up beside her. The path was narrow and his large mount pushed her over, too near the brush.

As they passed her, Shadow made a strange noise in the back of his throat and kicked up his pace again. She urged him to slow down so that they could fall behind, maybe turn around and beeline it back to Gerudo Valley, but the horse did not heed her this time. He went on, headlong, in a racing pace that even she would have declared madness given the circumstances. Holding on, trying one last time to slow Shadow down, she ducked her head close to the animal's. There was a fallen log up ahead that would knock a rider senseless—kill her at the pace—if she wasn't low enough to miss it.

She listened for the whacking of the other rider's head, but heard nothing beyond the continuing clamor of the horses' hooves in a mad-dash. The rock wall on her left fell away. They were nearing the outside world again and the brush's thickness was slacking off, the trees became less numerous.

She was abruptly next to the other rider again. Shadow took the lead and held it for a few seconds before the other horse nudged ahead.

The rider cursed.

Savannah checked her mental map. The path was narrowing, and soon it would be too narrow for the horses to run side-by-side.

It happened fasted, the approach and reach of that point. The impact was brutal. Both horses raced inward, trying to take the lead of the so-narrow path and both collided with each other. They thudded together, the other rider's horse putting more force into the shove that pushed Shadow out from under her. She went right, without control and suddenly found herself in the arms of the other rider.

She heard her horse squeal, and heard a neighing from the other horse as well. The air was jerked out of her lungs as she hit the ground, the rider under her. His arms tightened around her and she struggled instinctively to be free of him. Despite what seemed an iron hold, he released her when she pull away from him. She rolled out of his arms and off of him, turning around when she wasn't touching him anymore.

And suddenly the mad dash that had happened so fast was over. The air was quiet and calm again and everything was so still. Seconds passed, filled only with heavy breathing and the horses' shuffling around.

Savannah's eyes were transfixed on the Hylian who lay still on his back, his arms flung wide, his chest moving up and down rapidly. Clouds must have suddenly uncovered the moon, for they were all bathed in the pale light.

He'd broken her fall. Whether on purpose or by accident, she didn't know, but he had nonetheless. Her heart warmed as that thought crept into her mind. He'd protected her.

She studied him closely. He had pointed ears like all Hylians did, his eyes were closed though. His mouth looked…kissable.

She almost cringed as the word came to the forefront of her mind. Where had that come from?

He wore regular clothing, cloth brown pants that hugged his legs, and a dark-colored sleeveless tunic. She shivered suddenly for the memory of his bare skin against hers as they fell.

There was a chain handing from his ear, with a glistening stone at the end, and several thin ear cuffs along the upper curve. In the moonlight, his skin looked well tanned and showed off the muscles underneath.

Golly, she'd never seen anything like him before, and something inside her stirred. She reached out with the intent of touching his light brown hair. She hesitated ever so slightly an inch from the thick locks, then touched. His hair was smooth and felt something like silk.

She froze and her breath caught when he opened his eyes and turned his head ever so slightly to stare at her.

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Thawn716 and Spiritual Stone, thank you both for your reviews!