Hey guys! And possibly girls, I don't know…
Merry Christmas, first of all!
Don't have all too much to say about this one, except that I'm really glad that I finally found time to work on it. The problem with being the rookie is that, naturally, you get to have all the tastiest nightshifts during the holidays… Oh well…
Enjoy and have fun!
Chapter 45
Zelda
'My bum hurts…'
Not much else was going through her mind currently, as there was very little that it could busy itself with… The sixth day of riding north-east-ish, first 4 days close to a "road" over increasingly rough terrain and now a day and a half branching off straight into wilderness. 5 and a half days of sitting in the saddle, your brain in that trancelike state between carefully directing the horse through the safest spots and complete mindlessness. She began to suspect that a boy's skin was made of entirely different stuff, as Link showed almost no signs of discomfort… how utterly unfair! Granted, had she always travelled on horseback instead of well-cushioned carriages, her plight might now be considerably less… chafing. And since there was so little here to take her mind off of her smarting rump, she felt every… single… one… of Celeste's steps. Her well-spoken and noble knight would probably remark that she had her mind up her own posterior… A tiny smirk crept around her lips… she'd much rather have her head somewhere else, she thought while throwing poorly concealed glances at her protector, whose hair had grown out enough over the last 3 weeks that he had to bind it in a ponytail. And holy goddess of infinite wisdom, did that ever suit him! When you thought he couldn't get any cuter…
A particularly sharp sting yanked her out of her reverie and right back into the saddle. Din's fire, how was she going to survive the next hours?! It's only noon! Ugh… this would be another night where sleeping on her belly would be her only option…
"How far do you think we are?" she asked, mostly to take her mind off of… things. He glanced back at her for a second, puzzled slightly. It had been a rather pointless question as they both knew their position on the map pretty well.
"One and a half days into uncharted territory… two to three days away from our goal, or where we assume our goal to be, at least…" he explained after a moment's thought. He raised his eyebrow at her quizzically. "Something on your mind?"
Great… now she had to think of something so she wouldn't appear like a complete dolt in front of him… "We should be relatively close to that elusive line that no other expedition seemed to have crossed, right?" Zelda managed, rather pleased with her quick improvisation.
"Hmm… I think so, yes…" he pondered. "Well, the one chronicled expedition we could find… and they didn't mention what exactly made them turn back…" He turned back in his saddle to watch where Janna was going. That was another problem with riding, especially over rough terrain. Conversations were always a bit awkward, as you could never really look at each other… and when they finally stopped for the night, they were both too tired for the kind of interlocution she so loved to have with him. From pointlessly shallow to deep and philosophical… Hopefully they could have a few days off when this first leg of their journey was done…
But damn it, she wanted his attention right now! She felt a bit like a spoiled child, but the crushing force of boredom won over her fear of being obnoxious. "Is it just me or is this forest getting thicker with every passing minute?"
"Definitely just you and your wild imagination." he replied with perfect dryness, shooting her a wry smirk. She chose to answer with a challenging pout. Of course he had caught her questioning the blatantly obvious as the ploy that it was… Why was his mind as sharp despite the unbelievable drabness of the past couple of days?! Her own head felt so painfully underutilized that every thought seemed to come crawling sluggishly through a thick cotton-wool ball…
"No, you're right… I am a bit worried about that, actually…" he finally continued.
"About what, precisely?" she prompted, glad that he indulged her a bit.
"Firstly, if it gets any denser, we will start to have problems making our way through it… Maybe that was actually the reason that expedition had to turn back! If you have to cut your way through the underbrush, that about halves your rate of progress… We, too, might have to turn back, else our provisions run out… and I have yet to spot any game larger than a squirrel…"
Zelda thought about it… a problem, definitely… however, thinking about it let her arrive at the solution to a different conundrum: why his mind had stayed keen during their trudge. While she hadn't thought further than her own nose... or, rather, her own buttocks… for days now, he must have been constantly revising their plans, calculating their resources and travel distance and correcting their navigation… All she had done on the other hand was simply letting Celeste follow Janna while silently complaining to herself about the heavy burden of tedium… Din's fire, right now, she was immensely glad that he had his face turned… she was probably beet red with shame at her thoughtless inactivity. 'Do I need my bloody ladies in waiting to make light conversation so that I can escape o so dreadful ennui? Do something, princess! Work your mind, think about ways to improve your situation! It's not like we sorely lack mysteries that need solving in this looming calamity! Don't let him figure it all out!' she yelled chidingly at herself, both annoyed and strangely amused at her lethargy. Well, she knew what she'd be doing from now on when boredom threatened to claim her thoughts… She couldn't let him do all the work, could she? She couldn't let him bloody win!
A vague and playful sense of competitiveness revitalized her thoughts and seemed to clear the sludge of sloth from the folds of her brain.
"And secondly?" she asked, finding even greater joy in talking now.
He took a few seconds to answer, long enough for her to wonder whether he had even heard her. "Secondly…" he finally responded, "This higher density is… not ideal for our chance at staying clear of monsters… especially Bokoblins." He shifted uncomfortably in his saddle. He was obviously struggling with himself about whether and how he should relay this sobering notion. But despite her already feeling the creeping tendrils of worry slithering into her mind, she thought highly of him for being honest and not wasting time with pointless attempts at sparing her.
"Go on…" she prompted, wanting to give him the opportunity to share his thoughts and lighten the load.
"Bokos are most at home in thick forests… their small, compact stature and surprising strength makes their bodies ideal at moving through tight underbrush, hounding larger prey in groups… not unlike feral pigs they somewhat resemble… Some even theorized a close biological relation, I believe… although…" he chuckled lowly, "I'm sure I'm hardly telling you something new…"
It was true, Zelda thought, there were quite a few theories about possible common ancestry… She had read many… absolute, unscientific nonsense, every last one!
"So, what you are saying is, we are moving deeper and deeper into Hyrule's most prevalent monster's favoured terrain, at a time when attacks by said monster seem to be ever increasing…" she outlined, sighing.
"Exactly…" he confirmed, throwing her a lopsided smile that seemed to convey something between encouragement and an apology. As if it were his fault…
"Still…" Zelda mused aloud, feeling the all little cogs in her brain returning to their usual activity at last. "…as you said, we have yet to see game of any sort… any group of Bokoblin, whose primary food source is meat after all, would be in dire straits in these woods. I don't think that many could survive here…"
Link turned around fully for a few seconds, gazing into her eyes with an expression of surprise at first, then a sort of beaming admiration that made her chest swell with pride… and her cheeks flush with awkwardly sweet sheepishness. "That is a very good point…" he freely admitted. "Maybe I needn't worry quite so much then…"
"Or…" she interjected earnestly, her finger raised for dramatic tension. "…there could be so many of the hideous swine around that they have eaten this whole stretch of land barren… both equally possible."
Now that had been downright nasty… which, of course, meant she relished it greatly! And the very short-lived expression of shock on his delightful face, before he realized that she was only teasing, elicited an almost witch-like cackle.
"True… we've probably been completely surrounded for two days now, mere moments away from death… I wonder whom they will devour first, the incredibly appetizing princess or her lowly, oft tormented subject?" he shot back with an impish glint in his eyes.
"Interesting question… Hopefully they try to work their way to the truly delectable dish through you… In that case, I would have a chance to survive, as the resulting emesis would undoubtedly incapacitate them for a good hour or two." Zelda explained in her best academic voice.
"I am sure you are right…" he answered, equally serious and unfazed. "After all, you too seem to experience a certain amount of gagging whenever you attempt to devour me!"
And then, with one last, incredibly mischievous grin, he spurred his horse on and fled in a panicky, uncontrollably giggling haste.
And rightly so… "You dirty…" she began when her initial stupefaction waned. "…rotten…" she yelled while egging Celeste on to follow suit. "…bastard!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, breathless between virtuous fury and almost hysterical giggling fits.
"Din's hellfire, you better hope the Bokoblins catch you before I do!" she roared, the threat somewhat nullified by her still incredulous laughter. That utter pig of a runt! Their nightly activities had, till now, not found their way into their regular conversations… and their rather explosive entry into that territory right now had, not for the first time, brought forth their incredibly embarrassing, yet still deliciously ecstasizing nature. Zelda knew her face must radiate a fiery red, and not from the exertion of riding. They hadn't done… well… they hadn't very often in the last weeks… irritatingly… Most of the time they simply were too tired, due to travelling, her studying, and Link's training of both her and himself. So… they were still an awkward, helplessly giggling mess when they were… together.
And now, to just… say something this utterly, utterly disconcerting… Dear goddess above! Even with no-one around she wanted the ground to swallow her whole! Actually, no. "May the bloody ground open up and devour you, you indiscreet, filthy cur of an upstart!" she yell-chuckled while still in hot pursuit… and gaining! She still was the better rider! By Din's might, she would catch him, drag him screaming from his mount and then, fuelled by righteous fury, would do unspeakable, excruciating things to him as her terrible vengeance… What precisely these things were, she was, as of yet, unsure… Still, despite their aforementioned inexperience, she already knew a few things that seemed to work quite well as… 'punishment'.
"Zelda! Stop, STOP!" his voice rang urgently through the dense vegetation ahead. The startled tone of his shout made her obey immediately and luckily so! Celeste's last few canter-steps broke through the forest edge, shortly after which the ground… ended.
"Oh…" she uttered, dumbfounded at the sudden sheer drop less then five metres ahead of her.
"Oh indeed…" Link replied at her side. His face had gone rather pale… he must have come quite a bit closer to taking a very unexpected tumble…
With one last look at each other they both dismounted and carefully edged closer to what had almost been an abrupt stop to their adventure, not to mention their lives.
An enormous gorge split the land, spanning dozens of kilometres to the left and right and approximately 25 metres across. Zelda shuddered at the thought of plunging down the dreadfully endless looking ravine, watching the rough looking rock zoom past her at ever increasing speed and seeing the unforgiving ground race right at her… She couldn't even say how deep the eerie cleft was… the impossible straightness of its walls and the odd haze inside it seemed to play tricks on her eyes… At least a hundred metres, though… If she listened hard, she thought she could hear the rush of water down there, but even of that she wasn't sure…
"Well… I think we now can stop speculating what it was that caused the previous expedition to abandon their mission…" Link opined after about a minute of silent staring, carrying an expression that looked about as baffled as she felt. Zelda nodded with a helpless little laugh. She wrested her gaze away from the morbidly fascinating depths to inspect the other side. The forest seemed to simply continue with similar density as if nothing had disturbed its growth, the odd tree-root sticking out of the cliff like mangled arms trying to grab for the other side.
A gust of wind twisted through it, piercing the relative silence with a high, sharp wail that seemed close and distant at once. Zelda's hairs seemed to stand on end, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why that was… Curious, she lay down flat on the sparse grass and moved forward just enough so she could look straight down. Sometimes she was convinced that she could see the bottom, blurred and wraithlike… then, a second later, there was only the mist hanging in the air… When she looked to the left and right, only more puzzles seemed to present themselves. An unhappy frown snuck onto her features.
"What is it, Zelda?" Link asked from behind her. When she glanced back, she saw that he, quietly as a cat, had moved so he was ready to catch her, should anything happen. A tiny smile played around her lips…
"It's all… wrong… or strange, at least…" she began as she stood back up. He inclined his head, signalling that he was listening intently. She liked when he did that…
"Well, I'm no geologist, but… What is that gorge doing here? The land is still pretty flat… and it doesn't look like a canyon dug by a river… I mean, look at it! It's impossibly straight, you can see along it for untold kilometres… and it's sides are completely vertical! It looks…" she paused, frowning because she wasn't sure whether she was about to say something stupid. "…it looks like this land has been… ripped apart?" She eyed him quizzically, hoping he might have answers, any at all, to the many questions she had. "I just don't think a ravine like this should be here…"
He took a while to answer, inspecting the rocky cliffs once more, obviously pondering hard. "I'm sorry to say that I can't really add anything to your thesis… other than that it does indeed look ridiculously out of place." Not the illumination she had wished for, but it wasn't like she could offer any herself. At least he had given her confirmation that she wasn't just talking rubbish.
"I just can't explain this bloody thing! It's almost like it was deliberately placed her to hinder us!" she blustered, feeling personally affronted by the uncooperative piece of geography.
"Well, professor, despite you making an excellent point, the gorge seems woefully unperturbed by your attempt to explain it away…" he teased, putting a gently caressing hand on the back of her neck.
She shot him an eyebrow-intensive pout-smile that clearly conveyed what she thought of his cleverness at the moment. Still, his little massage she graciously accepted.
"Hmm…" her companion hummed, his lips pursed. While it didn't aid their predicament in any way at all, she was still a bit glad that he seemed to be just as lost as she felt. "I think, after this little scare, we can be excused for taking the afternoon off from travelling… wouldn't you say? We have made very good progress the last week…" he said and gave her an encouraging smile.
She thought it over, a bit torn between a bit of comfort for once and the feeling that, somehow, they would let this cursed ravine beat them, should they choose to rest. "True… we have been quite assiduous… but… I mean, we could try to go along the thing, try to find a way across, if you want…"
'Bloody hell!' the ever present critic in her head yelled at her. 'He's giving you an opportunity to rest your sore rear, so bloody take it, you fool!' Zelda bit her lip. She really did hope that their journey would be at an end for today…
"Mmm-no. I can't see anything resembling a bridge for many kilometres. If there is anything, we wouldn't reach it today. Let's take the time to think about our course of action, hm?" His smile was kind… and knowing.
"Hm!" she nodded, giving him a smile in return. She, too, could see that he was not opposed to a half-day of respite. The training regimen he had set for himself was harsh, in her opinion. She most certainly didn't want him to overdo it and cause harm to his health in the end. She needed his energy in more ways than one…
Preparations for the night's lodgings were quickly made. Zelda was already comfortably sitting on their mat, lost in her treasured medicinal handbook, currently in her third time ploughing through it. The more she learned and the more she understood, the more rewarding her studying felt, peeling through the many layers of the science to get an ever increasing insight on the workings of the body. While on one hand she utterly dreaded the thought that somebody's health depended solely on her inadequate skills, she, on the other, itched to try some of the mixtures and recipes. Some of them, when you thought about it, were most definitely not intended for public knowledge… which, naturally, only made them that much more interesting. And here she was, surrounded on all sides by fascinating herbs and critters… and with such a healthy and willing test-subject, all to herself. Good thing said guinea-pig couldn't see her face right now… the smile on her features must be downright diabolic!
Her blessedly unaware boyfriend was currently rummaging around the bushes, close enough that she could still hear him. Judging by the sound of his steps, he was already on his way back, heavily laden with firewood. While the days were still warm, September certainly had made its influence felt and the nights could get surprisingly chilly. Zelda most certainly didn't mind. So far, the only thing that autumnal circumstance had brought was that she and Link could snuggle throughout the night without at some point being forced to push the other away to avoid gradual heat-death… a sad affair all around.
A very loud clatter signalled Link's return. Judging by the sound alone, they should have enough wood to fuel a modestly sized bonfire. Suppressing a little giggle, Zelda felt herself reminded of the one time she had insisted on gathering firewood herself so he could start preparing a pheasant he had shot. When she returned, he had been of the opinion that the amount she had collected in the sweat of her brow was, to put it mildly, hilariously insufficient. She could still see the look of confusion on his face, turning slowly to infuriating merriment as his eyes darted back and forth between her meagre heap to the swiftly vanishing pride on her features. When he had then burst out in a massive laughing fit, the cur, she had been more than tempted to belt him over the head with a log. Vexingly, when he giggled so heartily, any ire she might have mustered was nipped in the bud… and so, her wood-gathering honour had been lost forever. His pheasant, however, had still been delectable, despite the momentary lapse in sobriety.
His lithe steps were drawing close… When he was standing right behind her, the skin on her neck and back turned both hot and cold in anticipation of his touch… a sensation that, to her delight, was still replayed in all its loveliness whenever he was near.
He settled down so she was sitting between his legs, his strong arms wrapped her belly in a gentle embrace and the reassuring weight of his head pressed against her shoulder. A contented sigh escaped him, making her smile, and she leaned back to snuggle her back against his chest. Goddess, she loved when he was holding her like this… no danger, no elusive threat, no insecurity seemed to be able to penetrate the wonderfully warm, protective cocoon of his presence. He very tenderly and silently kissed the entire length of her ear, before settling his chin on her shoulder again. The only grave disadvantage of this position was her inability to kiss him back.
"Not a bad vista, don't you think?" his soft, pleasant voice sounded next to her ear.
She wrested her eyes from the book, a tiny bit surprised, as the thought of this damned gorge being a thing of beauty hadn't crossed her mind. Still, he wasn't wrong… From their sitting point of view they could only see the sudden, intriguing stop in geography, the return of the dense virgin forest on the other side and the vague, sunlit shimmer of high mountains far, far beyond them. It wasn't the sort of panorama that might make a painter twitch for his brushes, but it did hold a certain fascination… an underlying promise of the unknown and of adventure.
"Makes you want to explore, doesn't it?" he added, stating accurately what she had been thinking.
"Makes you want to find a way across, first…" she remarked in humorous laconism, smiling to herself.
His head bumped chidingly into hers. "Spoilsport!" he chuckled.
"Hopeless romantic!" she shot back, leaning even further into his hug, so he supported all her weight. He shifted a bit so he could hold her more comfortably and his leg brushed against one of the sore spots on her posterior… one of the many.
"Ow…" she squeaked, despite herself.
"Hm?" he wordlessly asked. "Something wrong?"
"Mm-mmh. Just some parts of my delicate, silky-smooth skin are a tad galled by riding." she reported with a generous dose of self-mockery.
"Oh no!" he exclaimed with his best 'talking-to-small-children-or-animals' voice. "What dreadful torment must you suffer! Bring ointment for the royal buttocks!" he shouted to their imaginary servants.
"And while you're at it, fetch my pesky underling's muzzle!" she yelled right after them.
She couldn't say how long they were like this, giggling at first, then silent, in perfect comfort in each other's presence. This miraculous sense of calm and belonging he made her feel was possibly what she cherished the most… The sound of his steady breaths, and their warmth on her skin, was, without a doubt, the most soothing sensation. It didn't help with her concentration on Doctor Rask's handbook… normally an unforgivable offence, but… under these circumstances, she was willing to make a clement exception.
The minutes passed sluggishly into hours, but she didn't mind at all. She knew he was reading with her over her shoulder… by now he probably knew a good bit of the book as well. Occasionally they would have animating discussions about ingredients, preparations or treatments… she providing more theoretical knowledge, he interposing more practical considerations. Zelda was convinced that these conversations contributed greatly to their deeper understanding of the matter, in addition to her profound love of arguing with him.
A piercing shriek cut through the silence like a searing blade through flesh. Link was up in an instant, weapons at the ready, his face grim with concentration. Zelda's heart pounded, startled violently from tranquillity to face the unknown. Her eyes darted to and fro as she scrambled to retrieve her rapier, unable to tell where the shrill sound had come from. He, too, was listening intently… if his sharp ears couldn't detect anything, she knew she had no chance.
Quiet returned hesitantly, deceptively… the brittle harmony of the moment shattered by the ear-stinging screech. Soundlessly he turned around to look at her, wondering, thinking. Sadly, she had no answers to give him… It hadn't been a bird, of that she was sure… frankly, it hadn't sounded natural at all!
Link's head whipped back around. He darted further towards the rift so he had a more unobstructed view and… he watched the sky!
Zelda hastened to his side, watching with him… the sun stood low in the west, so she had to shield her eyes. But now… there was a sound… like a thousand tiny knives cutting through the air… Wings!
"There!" Link suddenly cried, making her jump. It took a few more seconds, but then she saw it: A dark swarm, flying low above the canopy, but drawing closer fast. An ominous feeling crept over her skin like a swarm of insects… They were still much too far away to see any detail, but somehow it seemed… wrong.
Without letting the approaching imminence out of his severe eyes, her protector drew his bow and loosely nocked an arrow. "He's being chased…" he mumbled through tightened lips.
Zelda didn't ask what he meant, so not to disturb his focus. It took another endless ten seconds before his meaning became clear. A Rito, young, judging by his size, was flying in front of the swarm, his wings flapping like mad, fear written clearly in the hasty, precipitate way he fluttered about.
"Oh no…" she breathed, sensing the blind, ice-cold terror of the fleeing youth creeping into her mind. Now she also saw what was chasing him: not birds, but hundreds of leathery, beclawed wings, not unlike bats, but with wiry, scaly bodies and glowing yellow eyes. Keese! But in daylight?!
They were gaining… there was no telling how long the poor youngling had already been hounded, but his or her strength was probably failing. They had to do something quickly!
"Give me a window, come on…" Link whispered beside her, drawing his bow and aiming. They weren't flying directly at the two of them, but from the current angle he didn't have a clear shot. The risk of hitting the wrong target was still too great.
Two more seconds passed in breathless anticipation. Then…
There! The child swerved to the right in an attempt to evade his attacker and not a moment later Link loosed his arrow. Zelda couldn't say how long she watched the projectile fly, her nails digging into the palms of her hands… Only that it seemed impossibly long, the shot unthinkably far.
Finally it pierced the compact cloud of claws and teeth. It fell back into the woods, something clearly stuck to its tip. The swarm exploded outward, crooked wings flapping wildly in confusion, swooping every which way for a just a second, any semblance of order lost… Then, another piercing wail, a dreadful lot closer, made both her and her master-marksman slap their hands over their ears. The chaos of fangs and scales consolidated in an instant, resuming the merciless chase.
They had bought the Rito a tiny bit of time, but little more… and Zelda now clearly felt the searing burn in his chest and the sting in his arms. That second he had gained would be among his last!
Link shot a second arrow… his eyes were hard, his jaw clenched… he, too, realized that he had, at best, delayed the inevitable. But he wasn't about to give up!
The missile hit its mark once more, however the vicious cloud dispersed far less than previously, but continued its ruthless hunt with even greater speed.
Her protector continued to loose arrow after arrow, always halting the swarm's progress for a split second to gain time, but it was a losing battle.
Something, though, had forced itself into Zelda's appalled mind… a presence other than the Rito's… sinister, keen and bloodthirsty. The keese were animals, their egos were tiny… but something had them in its grasp… And whenever Link's shot sowed panic in the bat-like creatures' ranks, this something was forced to tighten its leash on their little spirits… Those where the moments when she could feel it, barely, distorted as if it were hidden behind a dozen thick veils of illusion.
Despite her rising fear for the poor boy, she forced her soul to be calm, tried to remember the soothing exercises her sweet Link had devised for her… Nothing they had tried so far had been able to coax even a tiny glimmer of magic from her… all attempts had failed in the most unspectacular ways… as in: nothing had ever happened. But this, finding a presence and perceiving their senses and thoughts as her own, this was something she had always been able to do, most often despite her attempts to keep them out.
She focused on all that disgusted her to her very core, malice, thirst for violence, letting them be a channel that led her to her prey. And this vile monster would fall prey to her will, this villain that would delectate in hounding a helpless child!
Another arrow sniped one of the hundreds, scattering them in fear once more.
This was the moment!
Zelda, without knowing how, lashed out with her mind, fuelled by righteous anger… and found it!
Her wrathful onslaught pierced the creature's deception and bored into its repulsive, cowardly core. With grim satisfaction she felt its profound shock at her sudden presence and its confusion at being under attack itself.
So shaken was it that, just for a moment, its cloak of illusion faltered and she could finally see its true shape: Black as night, long limbs as thin and frail as twigs… strong, dark, leathery wings… a gaping, lipless maw, riddled with rows upon rows of teeth… a true horror of the night!
Pain! Searing pain shot through her soul and disrupted the hold she had over it. The Keese had caught up and a vicious claw had bored into the young Rito's leg. Soon they'd all be upon him!
"No!" she screamed helplessly, fearing her meagre help had come too late. But Link had reacted immediately once the new, obvious threat had revealed itself. Changing aim in an instant he loosed on the nightmarish monster. For a breathless moment she feared it would once again vanish or evade the attack…
The arrow pierced the narrow chest of the disgusting filth, knocking it back violently. It shrieked in agony, long and drawn out, loud enough that Zelda screamed as her ears rang in sharp pain. The cloud of Keese erupted to all sides, fleeing as if all the terror of the world were centred on the screeching monstrosity. Her hands still firmly clamped on her ears, she looked back up, catching one last glimpse of the creature as it staggered away, its wing beat weak but still sufficient, before it turned invisible once more.
"Fuck!" Link hissed beside her. He dropped his bow and sprinted forward and she could see why… The boy was spent, it was obvious. Still 20 metres in the air and precariously close to the gorge, he was falling, only barely slowed by his last feeble flaps. He no longer had any control over his descent and, to her stomach-clenching horror, she saw that he drifted over the edge.
"To me!" Link roared, arms waving as he darted towards the precipice. "One last stroke towards me! You can do it!"
Despite close to fainting from exhaustion, the Rito seemed to hear him. With a weak squawk he managed one ultimate, saving flap… then he fell.
Zelda, running after her protector, saw him catch the boy and being thrown off his feet by his weight. For a nerve-splitting second she thought he, too, might have gotten hurt, but no… she would have felt…
Her hero moved free of the heaving boy, immediately propping him up and supporting his body so he might breathe freely. When she finally reached the two, the poor lad was gasping for air in great, irregular sobs, tears and snot pouring from him as sheer panic still made his eyes roll madly and forced his arms and legs to flail in uncomprehending search for aid.
As soon as she got close he reached for her, desperate to cling to anything remotely stable as his head must be spinning from ungraspable fatigue. She took his hand and held them firmly. Link, standing behind him to hold him in a sitting position, put a calming hand on his head. "Shhh… breathe! In… out… in… out…" he spoke calmly, providing a steady rhythm and a soothing voice he might focus on.
It took a dreadful, endless-seeming minute, but slowly the ragged, hysterical gulps became controlled, deep intakes of air, only interrupted by the desperate sobs of both lingering fear and immense relief.
"It's alright…" Zelda cooed, inwardly shaking her head at the utter stupidity of that phrase. "It's over… the things are long gone. You've made it!" She gave his arms a reassuring squeeze. It was all she could do not to burst into tears herself, seeing this child claw its way painfully back from the brink of madness. He couldn't be older than 12, his light grey plumage still had the infantile wooliness in some places, but mostly it looked adult. She noticed the trickle of blood coming from his leg… she would have to see to that, but only when he had calmed down sufficiently. The poor boy probably didn't even feel it at the moment.
It took a good five minutes of support and soothing words until, at last, his breath had calmed and his features had lost the heart-wrenching expression of mindless fright.
"Better? Are you alright?" A stupid thing to ask, she thought about herself… but there was nothing better.
The lad swallowed heavily. "I think… I'm gonna be sick…" he uttered, his voice still a child's, but on the cusp of maturing.
Link gently patted his shoulder. "I'm surprised you haven't been yet… you're a tough old poultry!" he said sincerely, mixing the rather discourteous term with a genuine praise.
The boy gave a huffing laugh, somewhere between an indignant snort and the hysterical giggle of someone who had all too narrowly escaped death's grasp. Zelda could feel that he was fighting with his tears, born both of stress and relief, which he didn't want to show…
"What is your name?" she asked, smiling gently and letting go of his hands.
"Veneli…" he managed through a tightly shut beak. He looked down at himself… now that the initial shock had passed, the pain on his calf must be taking the centre stage.
"Veneli, listen! The wound on your leg isn't bad, but I need to look at it nonetheless. Our camp is just thirty metres away. Would you like us to carry you over?" she asked, then kicked herself inwardly, knowing that she shouldn't have given the adolescent boy such a subjectively demeaning choice.
And, of course, he shook his head, carefully. "No… I'll walk…" he decided and tenderly moved to stand up.
The poor boy didn't get very far as the pain from moving his leg and the lingering exhaustion made him wobble before he even straightened himself. He closed his eyes and his stomach visibly heaved, but he managed to keep it down.
"It's okay." Link calmed him almost fatherly. "There's no need to be overly brave any more… you have shown your strength plenty today, Veneli. And you cannot impress us any more than you already have, alright?"
The Rito youngling thought about it for a few seconds, still busy trying to maintain order in his innards. In the end, he nodded, accepting the assistance.
Without hesitation, her caring hero picked the lad up and carried him back to the camp. The light had gone considerably dimmer… thankfully he had understood without a word from her and he quickly ignited a small fire while she prepared her utensils… she really hoped it would be enough…
The boy was lying on his stomach, as the injury was on the backside of his calf. Hardly three minutes passed before they were both ready to see to his health, yet he had already fallen asleep.
"Unsurprising…" Link mumbled. Zelda could only nod in agreement… sleeping was probably the healthiest thing to do after such an ordeal. The wound, thankfully, proved to be little more than a scratch. She had no trouble cleaning and bandaging it… all the while her patient didn't even so much as twitch.
"Out like a Goron after a hot bath…" her love mumbled mildly, smiling, but with sympathy and worry swirling in his deep-blue eyes. "His leg?"
"A scratch. Long, but thankfully not deep." She answered, storing bandages and medicinal alcohol back in her case.
He nodded, relieved. Then concern soured his handsome features once more. "Do you know what in Din's name this creature was?"
She hesitated, trying to re-envision the horrid monstrosity that would so mercilessly pursue an innocent child. The memory of its soulless, glowing eyes combined with the glimpse of unfathomable blackness when she had touched its mind sent cold shivers down her spine. "Honestly, I had hoped you might know…" she raised her eyes questioningly towards his.
Unfortunately, he just shook his head in regret. "No… I have never seen or heard of anything that I could associate with that thing." he muttered, clearly unhappy with his conclusion.
"It's also unlike anything I have ever read about. It felt… alien somehow… and old… ancient even!" she explained, trying to fit her thoughts into accurate words.
"It felt?" Link asked, his brow furrowed.
Nayru's wisdom, how to explain? Despite her love for the use of language, sometimes it seemed so painfully limited. "I… This demon, or whatever it should be called, was… enshrouded in an illusion of its own making… But I could, well, sense it every time it had to call its Keese-slaves to order. And when it suddenly lost its invisibility… I did that. I think… I scared it…" she voiced laboriously, thinking how absurd that must sound.
"Riiight…" he hesitated, clearly baffled. "If you are scary enough to frighten that wicked thing, do you mind if I sleep somewhere else today? Somewhere safer like, say, that branch overhanging the chasm over there?"
If Zelda hadn't known that Link wouldn't make light of her without still taking what she said with absolute seriousness, she probably would have tossed him over the edge herself. "Sausage knight…!" she growled in a tone that portended boundless agony… at least to her mind. Judging by his impish grin, it did not have quite the desired grave effect.
"Already she goes and threatens me with the voice of sheer, adorable terror. What fresh hell has been unleashed?" he intoned dramatically, moving backwards with his hands raised in mock fearful supplication.
While she did appreciate the gesture, this was not the time for it… and not even close to the right amount of sincerity. Putting her hands on her hips, she just glowered angrily, doing her utmost not to let her own amusement show. "Link Andrésson, you despicable oaf, if you don't take me seriously right this instant, I will make you my next test-subject!"
"I thought I already was!" he countered, his grin turning intolerably roguish.
Nayru's infinite wisdom and patience, I need you now… and Farore's mercy is what he needs! "I will crack open your mind and stir its measly contents around until its nothing but mush!" she hissed, her face flushing and not from anger.
"Is that what you did to that thing? Does that mean you found a way to control your power?" he wanted to know, switching seamlessly from pure mischief to an expression of bright-eyed wonder and excitement… Damn it all, the look on his face was so cute and genuinely awed, all her (mostly playacted) ire vanished like a burst bubble with a pathetic little bloop.
She sighed deeply. "I… I'm not sure… What I did felt… maybe not quite natural, but at the very least familiar. The option to probe and, well, assault this thing's vile mind just presented itself to me and I pursued it like… an overgrown but still trusted path where my feet carried me without the aid of my consciousness…" she scrunched up her nose at her own words, unsure whether they were merely insufficient or downright trite. "I'm sorry… I really can't explain it any better…"
"I think you said it beautifully!" he replied at once, daring to step closer again. "I would probably have just said 'I did it, but bugger me if I know how'!" The impish smirk was back again, but his eyes nevertheless radiated honest appreciation.
"That would be… a circumlocution which helps a broad comprehension while at the same time being woefully inaccurate." she retorted, smiling sweetly while reaching up to pull not so gently on his ear.
"Still…" he managed, his voice a little strained and his features a tad pained. "…you seem to be making progress, finding these paths… Possibly that's the way you have to learn, discovering them first, understanding them later…"
She pondered his words, her fingers still holding his earlobe hostage. She was always a bit surprised when such verily helpful wisdom just poured out of him… but she adored it nonetheless. "Maybe…" she admitted, shooting him a playful smile of her own, before pulling him even closer, gently this time. Their lips touched and she closed her eyes, trying to convey her deep thanks for his inenarrable help in a way that words never could. The slow, deep kiss filled her once more with reassurance that maybe, just maybe, all these intangible answers could be uncovered, all these riddles about the Threat, her powers, their future… could be solved.
"I think you have succeeded in killing my ear now, dumpling." he whispered and, with horror, she realized she still had it in a vice grip… her mind had, understandably, been rather caught up with the feeling of flying above the clouds… She released it, naturally, but couldn't help returning to their ever delightful bantering. "A small price to bear, I should think…" she cooed, awarding him another sensual kiss while tenderly caressing his poor, mistreated flesh.
"A price for what, I wonder…" he murmured, letting the fingers of his left hand walk slowly up the side of her body, tickling her just slightly.
"You watch yourself, sir knight… Maybe you really should favour that branch tonight as your bedstead… to avoid any accidents…"
Sadly, despite all veiled insinuations and promises, nothing much happened the rest of the night… much to Zelda's chagrin and, she surmised, his too. But the thought of the boy Veneli waking up to, well, them in a slightly compromising position, despite its improbability, was enough to keep them chaste. Bugger… as Link would say.
They, once, attempted to wake the lad to offer him dinner, but they might as well have asked a rock.
Morning came and, to her surprise, Zelda realized she had slept rather well. Were strange, frightening horrors so mundane to her already that she could just switch right back to normal daily routine? Or maybe Link's and her combined resistance was simply growing stronger than all troubling influences these trying times were imposing on them? She liked to think that the latter was true.
The sun was climbing ever higher, yet their little guest continued his slumber without being disturbed. Thankfully he occasionally turned, or she would have started to worry long ago.
The two travellers decided to allow the boy his rest… after all, they couldn't just up and away with him sleeping there, could they? And forcibly rousing him also seemed unnecessarily cruel. So they waited, he practising his swordplay, she studying and keeping an eye on her patient… and, disgracefully often, on her protector's naked and glistening upper body.
It had to be about eleven in the morning when the Rito finally stirred. The boy opened his eyes, frowned then propped himself up on his hands, looking around in distress.
"Calmly, Veneli… you are safe." she soothed. The lad fixed her in his gaze and slowly recognition dawned on his face… followed by recollection. All in all, he handled it well, she thought. "How are you feeling?"
"Alive…" he answered with a pained smirk that seemed to also say 'but not much better'.
"Hey, flying ace! How's the leg?" Link shouted over as he approached, grinning.
" 's fine… thanks to you two…" he mumbled, lowering his face but glancing up shyly at both of them.
"You are very welcome. This is Zelda, by the way. I'm Link. Nice to meet you!"
The princess felt a tiny jolt of alarm as her lover introduced her so casually, but immediately chided herself for it. This was not the face of an agent of some world-destroying villain… "You must be starved." she suggested kindly. "Would you like something? I'm afraid the only thing we have you would stomach is bread…"
"I… I shouldn't… you've already…" the boy started, but with that line he had no chance with her.
"Nonsense!" she interrupted curtly. "Helping you first, then letting you go hungry? Not much sense in that, is there?" With an amused smirk she handed some of the travel-bread over to the slightly ashamed lad.
"I guess not…" he smiled when he finally accepted their hospitality.
"What are your plans now?" Link asked, sitting down next to them. "Have you been separated from a group?"
"No, I was travelling alone." Veneli corrected with a hint of pride.
"Towards home?"
He hesitated, just for a tiny moment as he broke off another bite of the bread. "I… yes." he confirmed, taking another tentative nibble.
"You were going north, weren't you? What is over that gorge?" the older teen asked nonchalantly, though Zelda was positive that he, too, had noticed the Rito's sudden change in mood.
"Not much… More forest." he answered, acting almost convincingly disinterested.
"Pity… we were thinking about exploring over there…" Link thought, a certain furtiveness in his tone that only she would be able to notice.
Veneli seemed to squirm just a tiny bit. "I don't think that's a good idea… it's not safe."
"How so?" her boyfriend wanted to know. For now Zelda was content on letting him lead the interrogation, as he had clearly caught on to something… she was busy analyzing their guest's reaction.
"Well… monsters, obviously!" he replied, with a very nearly real expression of disbelief that he had to state the obvious. "Besides… you can't get over there anyway…"
Link sighed dramatically. "Yeah, that is a problem… but we will have to find a way. We need to get to that tree…"
The young Rito froze mid movement. Zelda watched closely. A delicate moment… "What tree?" he asked, nervousness now distinct in his face.
"A huge one, towering high above the canopy, barren though… and hollow." Link explained, watching the boy predatorily.
His eyes had gone wide and the bread in his hands seemed forgotten. "How do you know of that?!" he whispered, thunderstruck. Then, when he realized that he had just made a grave misstep, he jumped up from the blanket. "I must be going, I… I'm sorry! And I thank you, truly, but I… I have to…" he babbled, shock visible in his yellow eyes.
Zelda's hand shot forward and, gently, grabbed the boy's hand. "Wait, Veneli!" she asked, feeling she now had to intervene, lest he be scared away. "You don't have to flee. We didn't know our question would distress you so and we apologize. You have my promise that we will not inquire any further, alright?" She let a genuinely apologetic smile flash on her lips, hoping he would believe her. The lad seemed to think hard for ten seconds then, indeed, seemed to be calmed by her words. "Please… do sit back down…"
Hesitant but apparently appeased, he did so… and a whiff of shame showed in his gaze. "I… I have to apologize too. You couldn't know that I… cannot answer. And it was rude of me to just jump up and leave when you have more than proven to be friendly. So… sorry about that…" he muttered, his sincere eyes cast towards the ground.
Zelda almost wanted to jump up and cuddle him, so adorable was his apology… but, naturally, she knew that you couldn't just do that to a boy who felt himself on the cusp of manhood. It would embarrass him even further, which was definitely not what she wanted. On the contrary, she felt a pang of guilt herself, after pushing the poor guy so far that he was almost forced to flee in haste. And judging by the face her dear protector was making, he felt similarly… Also… the way the young Rito talked… and the courteous way he had presented his plea for exculpation made her sense a strong air of nobility about him… Odd, given that Rito were more tribal by nature…
""Listen, I think I owe you an explanation, Veneli…" Link began, clearly mulling his words over very carefully. "The reason we know of the tree is very closely linked to our reason for being here in the first place… and I know what I will say now sounds ridiculously grandiose and not a small bit doubtful, but… we two are on a very important quest… you could say of paramount importance, actually…"
The boy was transfixed by her knight's explanation and you could see how anxious he was. Whatever he was protecting, and Zelda was beginning to have a theory what it might be, it was extremely dear to him.
"To ease your fears, we now practically nothing about this colossal tree, other than its existence… and even finding its approximate location required more speculation than actual fact. Nevertheless, it is our goal, though we don't fully know what we are looking for, once we're there… Goddess above, this does not make any sense whatsoever, does it?" he exclaimed, exasperatedly looking at her while scratching the back of his head.
"Not much, no…" she answered, both amused and slightly disheartened by the realization of just how haphazard it all seemed. "All the same, reach it, we absolutely must. And I swear to you, by the holy Trinity, we are not looking to cause any harm or destruction… rather the opposite is true, though I understand how hard it must be to believe that."
She sighed at the increasingly confused expression on the lad's face. "I regret that we have to be so infuriatingly vague, but… we, too, have a highly sensitive secret to keep."
Veneli fidgeted around, obviously trying to come to some sort of conclusion. "Are you… How do you… How will you… Three Winds of Farore, this is stupid!" he grumbled at the whole situation. "All questions are dead-ended because of secrets!"
"Silly, isn't it?" she confirmed, unsure how to proceed herself.
They had all entrapped themselves in an awkward silence, all pondering how best to move forward. Suddenly the quiet was interrupted by a low, steady tone, barely perceptible, as if it were coming from far, far away. A second one joined, higher and slightly dissonant to the first, yet still oddly fetching…
The young Rito's jumped up agitatedly and stared into the distance over the ravine. "Oh no! It's so late! I have to get home, my parents… they'll be furious!" he exclaimed miserably.
"Easy, Veneli! I can promise you, from experience, they will be far, far too relieved to be angry… especially if you tell them what happened."
The boy paced around, hands clenching and unclenching as he looked him in the eyes. He only seemed to get more upset. "I can't tell them! They'll… they'll get mad!" he cried, distress clear in his eyes.
"As Link said, they will be happy you…" Zelda tried to console, but he just shook his head before gazing at her imploringly.
"Not at me! At you!" he yelled, waving his arms in exasperation. "I don't know what they'd do but… you have to leave!"
"I told you…" Link replied with a purposefully calm voice. "We cannot go back. He have to reach the tree."
"But… but you can't even cross the rift! And even if, it's nothing but danger for you once you're past it!" the boy squalled, eyes widened in disbelief.
"Be that as it may… We do not have the option to choose. No danger is bigger than the threat we are trying to avert. And if we have to travel all the way around the gorge and face a thousand monsters we will do so. We will accomplish what we set out to… or death will be the answer to our failure." Link's tone was sober, yet firm as iron… and in his earnest eyes was that expression she adored to no end, that quiet, powerful fire… not aggressive, never that… but adamant, born of a sheer indomitable will… A sight she fell in love with anew whenever she saw it.
Veneli, too, must have felt it, that almost palpable determination he seemed to radiate, from the way his feet stood solid on the ground, to the strict, yet elegant curve of his eyebrows. The boy swallowed heavily under his stare, realizing that while these words would ring hollow from just anyone, when they were coming from Link they were as cast in the very bedrock of the world.
"It's our home…" the lad said with a tiny voice, his gaze lowered. "The one place my people have to themselves alone… our refuge…"
Zelda couldn't suppress a surprised gasp. She had been right! They had actually stumbled upon the fabled nesting grounds of the Rito! She'd indeed had a sneaking suspicion… but to see that it turned out correct was almost too fantastical to comprehend.
"I understand…" her beloved companion uttered gravely. "And I am deeply honoured by your honesty, Veneli. But nevertheless, we…"
"What is your purpose for coming here?" he interrupted, clearly shaken but determined nonetheless. "I gave up my secret… my people's secret… so you could understand. Won't you do the same?"
His eyes, while still brimming with childlike uncertainty, were strong and focused… he understood the gamble he had taken perfectly and now hoped that trust would prove to be the right choice. Naïve, perhaps… but far more endearing and impressive. Link didn't hesitate and neither would she have.
"Not easily explained…" he sighed. "First, may I introduce princess Zelda of high House Hyrule, who, just like me, her protector, has to struggle with a destiny that was neither expected nor wanted… A destiny to face an obscure threat that seems as unknowable as the means to defeat it. We now travel to the supposed resting places of three ancient dragons… places of power… where we hope to find… something that will aid us in our ultimate fight against this evil that threatens the very life of the world."
Zelda couldn't stifle a tiny, exasperated giggle. His words were laughable… utterly ridiculous… moronic… If only they were a bad joke…
Veneli said nothing. For a moment his features were completely unreadable. She couldn't say whether he was about to burst into laughter or leave in an insulted huff. Still… there was something in his golden eyes…
"I am afraid we have very little in the way of proof…" Link sighed heavily. "…but we are convinced that the tree holds the secret… or possibly just a waywiser… to one of those dragons… whatever they might represent." Another sigh escaped his chest… A look of resigned purposefulness showed on his features, leaving no doubt about his honesty, yet not daring to hope for any credence.
"I am sorry… but this is…"
"I will help you." The young Rito's voice had been low and mumbled but Zelda could see pure resolve emanating from him.
"No, friend… we don't want you to get in trouble. Even if we are caught, you can always say…" Link began, but was interrupted with even greater intensity.
"I will help you." A fire, not unlike her hero's, blazed within… a child's flame, maybe… but certainly no less powerful due to that… and undoubtedly purer. The boy's mind was set, though she could not quite tell why… It mattered little. He had chosen to believe them, believe their ludicrous tale… and for that, she was so grateful she could feel her tears welling up.
After no less than five seconds of intense scrutiny, Link nodded gravely. She could tell he was conflicted… but he, too, had felt the lad's grim intentness and had realized that any more attempts to decline would be incredibly insulting.
A little hesitant she closed the distance between them, got on her knees before the suddenly very befuddled and bashful Rito and took his hand between hers. "Thank you… from the bottom of my heart." she said with a heavy voice and squeezed the blushing boy's fingers. "But I want you to promise me that you will not endanger yourself… whether it be peril to your health or your standing with your people. Your aid cannot come at such a high cost..." He was offended… she could see it in his eyes… already he was a proud warrior of the Winds and he disliked being treated as if he were still nothing but a child at least as much as she disliked having to do so… But she felt she had to. He didn't understand what it meant to openly ally with the Princess of Light and her Protector. How could he? How could he possibly grasp the danger if even they themselves were unable to fathom it in all its monumental magnitude?
"Will you promise me that?" She knew he would, despite the deeply dissatisfied expression on his face. He was a sweetheart through and through…
"Alright…" he grated. "I promise. Not because I like it… but because I can't do much anyway…" he eyed them sullenly. "I'll help you across the rift… and tell you where I think you have to go to find your goal, but… I have to go to my family first… I've been gone for too long. And I… I can't betray my people any more than I already am…" He looked first at Link, then at her with big, troubled and regretful eyes. "I am sorry."
As if he had anything to apologize for! It stung her in her heart that they had to cause such inner conflict for such a lovely person.
"Don't be." her Protector said as he put an appreciative hand on the boy's shoulder. "We are grateful for every help you can give us. And I hope… no, I expect you to know what you can square with your conscience and when you have to take your leave. It is your decision to make and no one else's. Alright?"
The lad nodded and gave a tentative smile. She, too, couldn't hide a wry grin… Boys! They simply speak a different language!
"Now then…" she began, standing up again. "Since we don't want to keep you unduly, how do we cross?"
"You can't." Veneli replied immediately. "No-one who can't fly may pass this point. The elders say that the Ancient Guardian, or as you call it, 'the tree', has pulled this land apart with its mighty roots to protect us and our sanctuary. Load of mumbo jumbo, probably." He scoffed derisively as they both hung at his beak... which he obviously enjoyed quite a bit "Still… there is the magic of my people here, of a time lost to history. No ground-bound folk can cross on their own…"
"How will we cross then?" She asked, grinning, eagerly supplying the question he needed.
"Simple!" Veneli answered a tad haughtily as a downright diabolic smirk formed on his feathered face. "I'm going to make you fly."
The camp was quickly repackaged. Zelda could see how urgently their young charge wanted to return to his parents, constantly fidgeting and looking longingly at the sky… but he never once complained. With great sorrow, and for the first time in their travels, they didn't saddle their horses, as their feathered guide insisted that they wouldn't be able to cross. It nearly broke her heart to see Celeste snuffle her riding gear confusedly, then followed her around like a faithful dog.
Once they were set Veneli led them eastwards along the gorge, doing his best not to show that he was favouring is uninjured leg. She thought it wisest to ignore it to the best of her abilities… even though she had to grit her teeth whenever she felt a jolt of pain strike the poor boy's leg.
"It's not far, you'll see… It's the ancient crossing, the one place where outsiders may pass…" he explained.
"A bridge?" Link asked, craning his neck to look at the rift once again, despite knowing that no such thing could have magically appeared.
"Yes and no… It's our kind of bridge, you could say…" he answered enigmatically and made no attempt to clarify. The little scamp clearly enjoyed toying with them a bit. Scallywag!
"What do you know about… well… what we might be looking for if we had any idea what we should be looking for?" Link occasionally had a way with words that made her ears sting.
The young Rito thought for a few seconds before answering. "There are hundreds of stories and myths surrounding the Ancient Guardian… your 'tree'." he added in the snide tone that seemed so typical of his race. "An especially popular one is that it used to be the roost of a dragon in a time before time. You know… usual mythology stuff." The last sentence was said in that particular voice that seemed to indicate that the speaker would, of course, never believe such nonsense himself, no sir!
"Still… I, uh… when I was eight I once snuck down to explore along the Guardian's base… which we aren't allowed to do… and I found what looked like a… a hollow inside the wood, completely hidden below and between the enormous roots. Inside I remember there was one huge drawing spiralling around the circular, carved looking room. A massive serpent, greenish scales and copper horns, in one endless seeming loop until its head loomed menacingly above a rough, wooden door opposite the entrance." He paused in his recollections to swallow heavily. "I, uh… I walked in, right towards the centre of the hollow. When I reached it… I swear the thing's eyes started glowing and I was sure I saw movement in the corner of my eyes."
"What did you do?" Zelda asked, breathless.
"I flew out so quickly I nearly crashed into every root in my way… couldn't sleep for days after that…" he gave an apologetic smile. "I always meant to return, but... well…"
She gave Link an excited look, which he returned… she hoped she had as strong a sparkle in her eyes as he had. "We were right!" she breathed. "We found it!"
"You did, dumpling!" he replied and gave her a lightning fast peck on the cheek, which, oddly, made her blush quite furiously. "I can't wait to see the 'tree'!" he added with particular emphasis in Veneli's direction. "It must be a magnificent sight"
"Yeah… it is…" he muttered and slowed to a halt, his head lowered. They turned around to look and saw him gnashing his beak and nestling with his fingers.
"What is it?"
"I… have to tell you one more thing. There is another reason why I am helping you…" he squawked while pawing the ground.
He hesitated a few moments before finally answering. "My… my people are worried… more than I have ever seen. They try not to show it to the children, but… every smile flickers, every feather trembles…"
"Have you been attacked?" Zelda asked, feeling her own hairs stand on end as she sensed the Rito's troubled heart.
"No… not really… I don't know!" he uttered, spreading his wings in exasperation. "I tried to ask my father and my grandfather about it a thousand times… and even though I know they realized that they can't hide their unease from me, they refused to 'trouble me with that'!" he hissed, the disdain palpable in his voice.
"And, naturally, being the obedient little boy that you are, you saw the wisdom in the grown-ups' words, let the matter rest and, as if through magic, it worried you no more." Link supplied in sing-song, a miniscule hint of sarcasm escaping as if by accident.
"Naturally." the lad snarled back with a short-lived hint of a wry grin. "I chanced upon them whispering in the night. My father seemed upset… angry, even. He said something like 'The signs are already there' and 'Our defences have already been breached'. My grandfather appeared hesitant… stated that he didn't believe some 'lone thief in the night' could pose a threat to the Guardian… that the robber would perish should he dare to 'use it'. My dad called him an old fool… something I'd never have thought he would say… I couldn't understand the next few sentences but it wasn't long before father stormed out. The next day he asked me whether I would deliver an urgent letter to the elder of Swallow's Well, the closest settlement of my people." his explanation drew to a close, his face ponderous, trying to ensure that he hadn't forgotten any precious bit of information. Finally, he shrugged. "You saved me on the return trip…"
"Do you know what he wrote in that message?" Zelda asked carefully.
"No. I didn't want to betray my dad's trust by reading it. I did, however, make him promise that he would tell me what this is about when I returned. He only said he wasn't sure of it himself yet, but that he would recount what he knows…"
"Do you have any idea what might have been stolen?" Link questioned further.
Veneli paused, as if unsure how much he should reveal. "I can think of only one thing that is always under lock and key in our village… a kind of strongbox in my grandfather's nest… Since we're all Rito, and there's not that many of us, securing or hiding things is usually pointless, as everybody would know who the thief is within hours… but that box I have never seen open… I've never even seen the key to it…" For a few seconds the boy seemed lost in thought, then shrugged. "Anyway… we're here!"
With a wide, inviting sweep of his wing the lad indicated… a surprising amount of nothing. "Well, I expected nothing, so I guess I was technically correct…" Link commented after a few confused moments.
"Look over there, genius…" their Rito guide sighed with a very age appropriate rolling of his eyes. Zelda squinted towards the other side of the gorge, but apart from a bush close to the edge, she couldn't'… Wait! There was something the shrub had climbed up on… some sort of smooth stone, a metre tall and almost completely overgrown.
"Don't tell me you are going to tie a rope that we have to balance over…" her fierce protector mumbled with a very doubtful frown.
A wide, proud grin spread across Veneli's youthful face.
"Mountains high and chasms wide,
they matter not for Rito pride.
The feathered's song, the wind it brings;
Will give you courage, give you wings."
Before either of them could say anything the boy flew up with a sudden gust that made her recoil. He smoothly dove to the other side, then landed a tad roughly, having to brake with a couple of rather undignified hops. "Just imagine that that looked sublimely majestic…" Link muttered in her ear, forcing her to suppress a giggling fit by pressing her hand against her mouth.
"Behold!" Veneli cried dramatically over the gap as he had sauntered back to the stone as if nothing unexpected had happened. He pulled away an errant branch, then seemed to press both his hand against the far side of the pillar.
Both her love and she held their breaths… nothing seemed to happen at first… no great thunderclap, no sudden gale… in fact, no wind at all! The constant breeze and the persistent howl it caused as it whipped through the rift… were gone!
Zelda felt an electric tingle that made her skin erupt in goosebumps… subconsciously she grabbed Link's hand, her breath held in anticipation. Slowly, as if a dormant magic had to be arduously coaxed out of its slumber, the mysterious, overgrown pillar began lighting up. Hundreds of fine lines, radiating brightly in a strong blue, formed dozens of fascinating circular patterns that she would have loved to study the meaning of.
Suddenly, with a ear-popping roar, a howling storm lashed through the rift, pulling on her clothes and hair, almost strong enough to push her off her feet. She could barely hear the panicked whinnying of the horses that, up till now, had loyally followed them, but were now fleeing away.
Link pulled her close, shielding her from the brunt of the incoming force, but even he struggled to keep himself upright. The wind was so powerful, she had the feeling she could actually see the singular streams of air that combined into this enormous tempest. The sensation only got stronger as the bellowing bluster continued and after a few seconds she was sure of what she saw: Not one, but two currents, an east wind and a west, channelled through the gorge and clashing in one mighty furioso right where they stood. A truly fascinating spectacle… violent, chaotic and awe-inspiring!
Then, as quickly as it had started, it ended, although… no, the howling was still there, but far, far more quiet, as if heard and felt through thick, castle walls…
On the other side, Veneli removed his hand from the still glowing stone and walked reverently to the edge. Smiling confidently at them, he took the final step that would send him over the edge. Zelda gave a startled squeak… then an stunned gasp. His claw was clearly resting on nothing but air, though she could see strong currents of air break forth from where he stood, as if released from great pressure.
Step by step the young Rito walked over the rift, and more and more she thought she could see the hint of a waving surface, only minimally revealed through the slightest distortions as the wind burst through.
Link, the storm that nearly carried them away gone, already made for the edge, his face both excited and aghast.
"Amazing!" he exclaimed, kneeling down and letting his hand brush over the sheer inexplicable phenomenon. "Unbelievable!"
She released the breath she had been holding in a nervous chuckle. While she definitely shared his fascination, the thought of having to cross that almost wholly invisible bridge sent shivers down her back.
"Behold the magic of my people!" Veneli spoke grandly with deserved pride in his voice.
"Is it… safe for us now?" she asked, wishing her voice didn't sound quite so wavery.
"It is. I've seen a Goron cross a few years back… The only reason I said you couldn't bring your horses was… well… if you can convince them to step on 'nothing', be my guest."
Link, clearly battling both childlike eagerness with prudent wariness, took one last look at her, smiling softly. Then he stepped forward. Zelda felt her stomach turn itself into a knot and she couldn't help but squeak pitifully…
His foot met with resistance and, just like the young Rito, was now standing on air. After a few seconds of complete bewilderment, he started giggling like a maniac, first tapped his foot gently on the 'surface', then jumped boldly up and down.
"Stop that! Please!" she yammered, finding the thought just too unbearable…
"Sorry… come! Join us!" he said ingenuously, holding his hand out for her to take.
She looked over the edge, swallowing heavily. Then with one last deep intake of air, she, too, stepped over the edge. 'Oh well… if we fall, at least both of us do!' she thought with a certain hysterically fatalistic humour.
A soft, slightly swinging feeling greeted her foot and she could feel air gushing forth where her shoe touched the elusive membrane, whipping past her clothes and tousling her hair slightly. It felt like stepping on an incredibly tautly suspended carpet, except… not at all…
To her surprise, she too got a tiny touch of the giggles, and tentatively tried to bounce with her knees.
"Wonderful, isn't it?!" their young guide chuckled. "The two winds are captured and forced to combat each other in incredibly tight confines. The phenomenally intricate swirling and tumbling of the myriads of streams and their ever changing flow create a near solid surface."
"It's breath-taking!" Zelda marvelled, her excitement and curiosity boundless, now that her initial fear had been overcome. Goddess, how she would love to study this wonder to the very last miniscule detail! She could spend weeks here, trying to understand it all…
At Veneli's gentle urging they crossed the gorge. When her feet were once again resting on solid ground, she was actually quite disappointed that it was already over.
The young Rito once again touched the overgrown pillar and, with a short, roaring gale, the magical marvel was dispelled.
A wistful look played on the boy's face as he turned back to them. "Now I really must take my leave… I'm sorry, I wish it were different…" he mumbled glumly.
Before they could say anything, the lad took a big, flourishing bow, the luxurious feathers on his wings spread to show them in all their splendour... Zelda's eyes widened. This was a gesture reserved for only the most meaningful and heartfelt of messages. "Princess Zelda, Sir Link, I am forever indebted to you for saving my life. I humbly apologize for not being able to guide you to your goal, but… I can't. I'm sorry. Please, as much as it pains me to say that, stay clear of my people in these lands! I fear they would not understand… Always stay under the canopy and travel primarily at night, if you can. The place we talked about is on the western side of the Guardian, reachable directly from the ground.
…I thank you once again and… bid you farewell…" His voice was heavy and sad…
She could see he had meant to fly off right after he had finished, but she was having none of it! Especially not after this incredibly noble and moving gesture! She ran up to him and, uncaring of any boyish feelings of embarrassment, wrapped him tightly in her arms. He gave a startled squawk at first… then awkwardly put one of his wings around her.
"We, too, thank you, Veneli, proud warrior son of the Rito. From the bottom of my heart, I wish you happiness wherever you go… you really are a sweetheart and deserve every bit of it!" she hummed, getting annoyingly teary-eyed. She released him quickly, not wanting to prolong his discomfort unduly. Already he was extremely red around his beak…
Link, too, bade him farewell, grabbing each other's forearm in the century old greeting of men. He whispered a few words in his ear, but she couldn't hear them… no doubt they were not meant for her ears.
After they both had had their moment, Veneli wordlessly rose into the air and quickly flew off, quite possibly fearing yet another assault from her.
She and her beloved shared a long, deep look, seeing in each other's eyes the joy of having formed such a remarkable friendship, and the sorrow of having to say goodbye. A painfully short kiss later they both set off into woods once more, which seemed to, if anything, be denser on this side.
Only hours later Zelda realized with a skipped heartbeat that she had left the bandages on the boy's leg…