Chapter Two

Link lay panting; his chest ached from the smoke and ash that filled the air. He struggled to breathe as the heat from Death Mountain burned his lungs and smothered him. He rolled over and struggled to stand, sweat running down his body and soaking his tunic. Burns from the fire and lava hurt terribly. The great Goron, Dangoro, he had defeated sat in the center of the chamber, his hand on his head. He'd been turned into a monster and sealed in here. Now that he was back to normal, he was terribly disoriented, but no worse the ware.

Link was exhausted from the battle and in pain. He could barely see as he stumbled to his feet and picked up the discarded sword. His gauntleted hand grasped the sword tightly before he sheathed it and stumbled to the portal out of the dungeon. When he was safely beyond the gaze of the Goron, Midna appeared from his shadow and look at him with concern. Though she rarely showed it, she was beginning to care for the Hylian.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked. They had gotten the piece of Fused Shadow from the battle and now had to head for the center of Hyrule to the next dungeon where it would be guarded by a great monster.

In response Link simply nodded and stepped into the portal. He felt a jerk as he was ejected at the entrance to the dungeon and stumbled down the road to Kakariko Village where the children and the Renadoawaited him. Gorons watched him from a distance, only their leader, Darbus, truly thanking him. The other Gorons couldn't believe this tiny Hylian had braved mountain and stilled the quaking of the volcano.

Stumbling along the stone path, Link tripped and fell, his exhausted body refusing to go farther. The Hero shook his head stubbornly and pushed himself along. The village stood before him and children ran to greet him. Collin stumbled up to greet him. He told Link that he had to go help everyone else and to find Ilia, to which Link nodded solemnly. Renado walked behind the children his quiet gaze fell upon Link's wounds.

Link smiled tiredly at the children and looked at Renado, silently telling him everything was safe now. Renado bowed his head in thanks, but said nothing. He came forwards and shooed the children off, specifically Beth and Luda to go tend to Collin. Collin still wasn't very strong, but he'd survived the terrible battle with King Bulblin.

Link watched the children go before Renado approached him. "Come and rest," the shaman said quietly and lead Link down the single street to the old inn. Thankfully, Link climbed the steps and thanked Renado with a dip of his head and opened the door. Collin sat on his bed with Beth and Luda trying to coax him to eat, but they fell silent when Link entered the room. On the far side of the room, Link sank down onto one of the beds gratefully and closed his eyes.

Link could feel the three children looking at him quietly. Collin's big blue eyes were full of concern. "Link, are you okay?" He asked worriedly.

Link nodded. Of course, he seemed to say. His sharp blue eyes softened as he looked at the children and he smiled slightly.

A short time later Renado climbed the stairs and entered the room. He carried a bowl of hot water and a rag draped over his arm. He placed it on the floor at Link's feet and nodded at Link. With a sigh, Link took off his gauntlets and cringed in pain as he had to peel them off of his burned arms. The pain was incredible. With gentle hands, Renado stood up and carefully removed the leather gauntlets from Link's forearms and rolled up his sleeves to assess the damage. The burns were severe and blisters were already forming. They were tiny and covered Link's entire forearms. With a shake of his head, Renado knew this was very bad.

"Luda," he ordered his daughter. "Go get three bottles of red potion from Malo. Quickly." Though the shaman's voice was calm, Luda understood the urgency and ran from the room while Beth clutched her hands and Collin's blue eyes grew wide with fear. Renado knew that the children would react badly to what they were about to see, so he looked at them. "Beth, get plenty of bandages and, Collin, go get cold water from the spring."

Both children left quickly, even through Collin still limped heavily. Once the children had gone, Renado helped Link out of his tunic and his long-sleeved undershirt. The chainmail between the two had burned Link badly through his undershirt and made the young man let out stifled cries of pain. Truly, Renado couldn't help but pity the young man. He'd gone into the volcano with no form of protection and fought who knows what.

He helped Link remove his leather boots and grimaced at the burns the young man had obtained from the iron boots that lay at the foot of the wooden bed. Link gave little protest as he slithered out of his pants, but cringed when Renado looked at a deep gash on his right thigh. It wasn't his only wound, but it was the deepest. With a low sigh, Renado began cleaning the wound with care. His hands were gentle and sure, but the pain was intense and Link clenched his teeth against it. Renado was careful not to aggravate the wound farther and cleaned the dirt from it with the hot spring water before he carefully cleaned Link's dirt covered face. Link closed his eyes and let the shaman clean his wounds, but opened them when he heard running feet approaching. Luda bounded up the stairs and came into the room, the bottle of red potion cradled in her arms.

Beth entered soon, her arms laden with bandages and clean rags while Collin followed much more slowly with a basin filled with spring water. Renado poured some red potion onto one of the rags and used it to clean out the deep gash on Link's leg. Clenching his teeth and his fists, Link refused to let the kids hear him cry out in pain. The deep wound slowly began to react to the potion. It would heal quickly, knitting itself back together, but it would be painful. Renado moved onto the cuts and bruises on Link's chest and face before attending to the many, many tiny blisters that covered his body as well as the much bigger blisters that made it nearly impossible to move now. Renado soaked the bandages in the cool water and bandaged Link's blister covered arms legs, and feet, taking care of the deep gashes.

When Link was able to slump back onto the pillow and close his eyes, he was immensely grateful. Renado drew the covers up over Link and quietly ushered she children to the door. Collin had to rest so he could recover, but Beth and Luda were to stay in attendance to keep an eye on Collin, but also in case Link awoke and needed anything.

As he was leaving, Renado thought of how brave Link had been to go into Death Mountain, but also of how young he was, too young to be doing such great acts.

In the middle of the night, Link woke to find Midna sitting at the foot of the bed, gazing into the darkness, lost in thought. The children were all asleep and everything was quiet, but something had disturbed Link from his sleep, something cold had grasped his heart. Though what it was, he had no idea.

Link propped himself up on his elbows and looked at his clothes carefully folded at the foot of his bed and his boots and sword and shield stationed beside them. To his surprise his clothes had been washed and mended. How long had he been asleep? He shifted and sat painfully up. Midna turned her bright red eyes to him and focused hard.

"Well, have you slept long enough, wolfie?" Her voice carried a note of annoyance, but beneath it, a hidden softness began to form.

Link nodded sharply and stood up. He dressed carefully, taking care to make no sound and wake the children. Hunger gnawed at his stomach, but he could ignore. He made the bed and slipped out of the room, pausing and looking over his shoulder at the children he cared so much for, but he still had to find Ilia. Without waiting any longer, he slipped out the door and down the stairs. He left the inn and looked up at the moon. It had waned to a sliver and hung suspended in the sky among the cold, distant stars. Epona whinnied quietly as she trotted towards him. Placing a hand on the mare's forehead, he looked into her deep brown eyes.

It was time to go. Mounting her, he tapped his heels against her sides and off the plodded, slowly, but diligently. They had so far to go, and yet he could see the wall of Twilight rising up from the darkness as soon as he left the village.

Epona picked up her pace to a gallop and took off across the field that stretched out before them. Though usually Link would have been attacked by Bulblins and Bullbos, he rode the long way around on the edge of the field and saw them only from a distance. The way to the bridge took longer than he'd anticipated, but Epona's galloping jarred his injured body and made spasms of pain pass through him.

The moon was setting and dawn approaching when Link arrived at the stone bridged that spanned the great chasm. He also saw on the far side four shadow beasts prowling. His hands convulsively tightened on Epona's reigns. She whinnied and turned her head to look at him, her deep brown eyes holding his gaze. He sighed and drew Epona to a stop. He dismounted and placed his hand on her forehead. I'm sorry, girl, he though, this is where I leave you. Take care yourself.

Midna floated up to Link's eye level and looked from him to the horse. "Let's go," she said, her voice echoing in its strange manner. Link nodded and looked back at the bridge, but suddenly back at Midna. The little imp placed her hand on the horse's muzzle and said quietly, "He'll be fine."

Epona whinnied and nodded her head while she pawed at the ground. She stood and watched Link draw his sword and walk away, seemingly alone once Midna returned to his shadow. Link crossed the bridge and glazed challengingly at the black beasts, his grip tightened on his sword.

Link broke into an unsteady run, his muscles still ached, but it could be ignored. The four beasts turned to face him as he ran across the bridge, his pace steadying. He glared at them, challenge shining in his fierce blue eyes. Three of the beasts rushed him while the walls of Twilight erected behind him and around him. He turned sharply to the beast on his right, drawing back his blade, his shield raised to protect his open front. He lunged and slashed at the beast bringing his blade down from left to right and finally back down from the felt, his strikes precise. He gave the beast no time to attack as the sequence was carried out in less than a few seconds.

He spun while the beast was still roaring with pain brought the blade down on the shoulder of one of two that behind him. His muscles were tense as he delivered the blow with all of his strength and felt it slice through muscle all the way down to the bone. He pulled back in an instant and drove the blade into the Shadow Beast's chest and withdrew quickly, leaping back to give it room to fall. He was still exhausted and knew he had to finish this quickly. The third beast rushed to take the place of its companion, but Link withdrew quickly. He knew he had to kill the final two beats at the same time, or the last would use a shriek that would not only stun him for a moment and leave him open for attack, but it would also revive its fallen comrades.

Link leaped back to discover the wall of Twilight at his back and another to his right, he had to get to the fourth beast and lured the third to himself also. He pulled back as the third beast swung at him, its powerful arm just missing his head. He slithered between the two walls of twilight into a narrow "hall" and into the opening on the far side where the fourth beast awaited. The third followed him closely. It drew back and brought a powerful strike down on Link's back while the four stood before him and he tried to block its blow with his shield. With a cry from being hit from behind, Link fell into the blow in front of him. Dazed and off balance, he landed on the ground on one of his knees. He forced his eyes open against the pain and drew his bare back, bunching his muscles to deliver a spin attack. He waited for a moment for the two beasts to move closer and stand over him before he leaped to his feet, the blade singing through the air. It cut into the flesh of both beasts, slicing through their throats. Blood gushed from the wounds and glinted on his blade in the light of the rising sun. The beasts crashed to the ground and exploded, their blood spraying Link's green tunic, the barriers surrounding them disintegrating.

Link straightened up and walked towards the great barrier of Twilight before he froze and swung around. The bridge back to Hyrule Field disintegrated into little particles of Twilight and was sucked into the portal above the bridge. Shock and, for a moment, desperation flooded Link.

"There's no going back now," Midna said simply, looking at the yawning cavern and turned away. Link just nodded and walked slowly to the barrier of Twilight. Darkness stretched out from the barrier swallowing up the light from the rising sun. Link looked back one last time before Midna floated through the barrier and a huge orange hand shot out to drag him into the Twilight.

Striking the ground sharply on the far side, Link instantly felt his body shift painfully into that of a wolf. He was pitched forwards as his legs could no longer stand upright and his hands struck the ground an instant after they turned into paws. He shook himself sharply and looked around himself in the darkness. Midna landed heavily on his back, driving the air from his lungs. Couldn't she at least give him some warning before she did that?

"Well, Wolfie," she said, "onto the spring."

Link took off at a bound, his paws striking the hard packed earth and the chain on his paws clinking in the silence.