CW: General descriptions of violence and injury throughout the chapter.
Chapter 7 - The Zora
Shortly after entering the Twilight-shroud province of Lanayru, Link realized with a sinking heart that the kidnapping monster was nowhere to be seen. Desperate for any sort of direction, he looked to Midna, who he caught scanning the sky for a brief moment before snapping her gaze down to meet his.
She read his gaze and sighed. "You should probably seek out the light spirit before anything else," she told him. "You can't do much even if you do find that woman, in this state."
Link already knew this, but to hear it spoken out loud made his heart sink. He would, once more, be too slow. Not enough.
Midna's small hand struck him, and Link snarled. "What, can't find any blood trail to follow? She may have been in the air, but certainly there's something you can find if you put your senses to good use."
His ears perked forward and Link opened his mouth, taking in the scene around him. Try as he might, however, Link realized he had no idea what her scent was like. He couldn't possibly tell it apart from anything else, and he was surrounded by unfamiliar scents. This was, after all, the main road into Castle Town.
He sat back on his haunches, nearly forgetting he had a passenger until he felt her unceremoniously dismount, giving him an annoyed look. Still, he struggled to find any familiar scent at all.
Something sharp stuck out to him, just a tickle on the wind before the scent disappeared again. It felt achingly familiar, like something of his own hometown. Someone from Ordon had passed through here recently.
At first he supposed it could have been Rusl, who would certainly take this road back to the village. Something didn't seem right, though. Rusl had the scent of fire and steel and sweat. Link lifted his nose in the air.
There. The smell pulled him forward, towards a culvert at the side of the road. The smell of hay, sweet berries, and pine needles beckoned, recognition just at the tip of his mind.
Link nearly stumbled over something half-buried in the mud, his paw pulling the item loose when he lunged forwards, and the scent struck him hard. The image of a beloved friend knelt over and plucking wild blueberries flooded his mind, whistling an old lullaby to herself as she put her foraged berries into a small leather pack secured about her leg.
It wasn't Isha, but it was something. The smell was still strong, and Link was able to easily make it out on the wind, leading him in the direction of Castle Town. She was alive, and she had been here recently.
"I take it you've found something worthwhile?" Midna asked, picking the bag up and looking it over. "Is this Isha's?"
Link shook his head and jerked his head back to the road, indicating it was time to get moving. He had picked up the trail, and he did not want to risk it disappearing before he could find Ilia.
Midna stored Ilia's bag away and hopped onto Link's back. "Oh, right, you still have another girl to find," she said with amusement. "What a predicament."
Link rolled his eyes and charged forward, his rider shrieking and gripping tightly onto whatever fur she could grab. If he could, the hero would have laughed.
He followed the scent down the road, flying over the drawbridge that lay across Castle Town's moat. He barely registered the tall spires he passed beneath, his focus entirely on his friend's scent.
Link slipped through the never-ending throng of spirits, his nose leading him down winding road after winding road. The city was nearly as large as the entire Faron province, with towering buildings and walls and decorative statues that blocked the horizon from view. His natural sense of direction was quickly thrown off by the maze that was Hyrule's capital city, but he trusted that the trail he followed would not lead to a dead end within this stone labyrinth.
The scent trail guided him down to an alley, the crowds of distressed spirits finally thinning and allowing him to see his surroundings more clearly. It appeared that he was headed down a road that snaked between the sides and backs of buildings, trash lining the walls and attracting all sorts of rats and vermin that pulled at his hunter instincts.
Now was not the time to lose his senses over to the beast that he was contained within. Not when Ilia's scent grew stronger with every scent and he had the opportunity to save somebody, for once.
A door opened ahead of him, bright yellow light spilling out into the dark alley. An incredibly tall woman, her face painted with flashy makeup and small pointed ears adorned with massive hoop jewelry, stepped out, adding another sack of trash to the pile outside. Through the open door behind her, he could clearly see the figure of a young woman with sandy blonde hair sitting with her back to the door. Her white lace-back dress was stained and dirty, yet the fashion was unmistakable. Link's paws could not carry him forward fast enough.
Unbeknownst to the ghostly woman at the door, the massive gray wolf slipped past her legs, stepping into a rather large tavern. The back wall was lined with bottles of brown and amber liquid, the backdrop to a massive wood-top bar that could easily hold twenty. An upright pianoforte sat in one corner of the room, its old keys yellowed with age. There were no patrons in this bar. The lights were dimmed, tables and chairs stashed in the dark corners of the room in a haphazard order.
In the center of the bar, a young Zora child lay upon a makeshift cot, his breathing labored and his scales dull and dry. What made Link stop in his tracks, though, was not the scent of death that clung near to this young child.
No, it was who sat at his side, pouring water over his head and whispering words of encouragement, her bobbed hair brushing the back of her neck, showing bruises and scrapes marring her fair skin.
Link's heart jumped into his throat, and he cursed his inability to speak with her in this form. He wanted to cry, to hug her, to ask her how she escaped, to put her on his shoulders and take her back home, away from the horrors that awaited them in a Twilight-shrouded Hyrule.
Ilia was the first child in Ordon born after Link, and he'd taken to her immediately. The villagers joked that they were siblings of the heart, closer than twins and thick as thieves. She grew up with him at her side, always keeping his wild side in check with her gentle but stern nature. When she'd disappeared, he felt as though a piece of his heart went with her, and the fear of finding her harmed or dead had haunted him every night.
But here she was. Ilia, his lifelong best friend and confidant, the only real family he felt he had left, was alive and safe.
The young girl turned towards Link, her eyes seeing past him towards the older woman who'd opened the door earlier. "We can't let him die, Telma," her voice was thick with emotion, nearly moving Link to tears, himself.
"Just hang in there, little lady," the woman named Telma replied, taking her long red hair down from its ponytail. "I've sent for the doctor from West Castle Town, he'll be on his way as quickly as possible. Try to settle down." She walked behind the bar and pulled a glass from the cabinet, filling it with water from the tap.
Telma walked the glass over to Ilia, who accepted it with a small thank you and gulped down her drink quickly.
"This is so strange," the red-haired continued. "A child of the Zora this far into Hyrule… I fear this may be related to the incident the guards were talking about…"
Ilia gave her a confused look. Telma seemed surprised that she'd spoken her thoughts out loud. "What happened? What did they say?"
"Well, that's what we don't know," replied the older woman, taking a seat on one of the stools and crossing her arms beneath her large breasts. "We know that the water no longer flows from Upper Zora River, but expeditions up there haven't returned. The only Zora left at the lake haven't been able to get up there, either. They've reported a massive uptick in monster activity both at the lake and in the desert."
Ilia's face grew pale and she turned back to the young boy, her hand on his forehead. "It seems we're all suffering unprecedented times…" she said wistfully.
A slender finger tapped Link's head, drawing his attention to his imp rider and companion in Twilight, Midna. "Such a sweet reunion, a girl and her wolf," she teased the hero. "Unfortunately for you, your reunion is going to have to wait until you can lift the Twilight. Oh, but there's still that girl you originally chased after to worry about," Midna tapped her chin, looking at him with a mocking smile. He growled at her, growing tired of her constant attitude. "Most men would kill to be in your position."
Midna kicked her heels into his side. "Whichever one you decide you care more about, you won't get very far without getting rid of the Twilight. So get a move on!"
Link felt he might like to just tear into the impish woman right there, but knew she was right. There was no sense in lingering here, there was no progress to be made. Lives outside of his friends' were still in grave danger, as well. He wasn't allowed to be selfish. With one last morose glance towards Ilia, Link turned and left the bar again, returning to the busy streets of Castle Town.
As he focused on the conversations of the spirits around him, Link quickly found that everyone was worried about what the dried up Lake Hylia meant for Hyrule as a whole. Everywhere he turned, someone was talking about it being the fault of the Zora, the curse of angry Gods, or even the doings of the Hylian royal family themselves in an effort to create scarcity and dependency.
He tripped over a loose brick in the road, growling at the sharp pain that shot through his paw. Exhaustion rattled his bones, but he forced himself forward. No matter how tired he was, he would not let himself rest when so many people still spent their lives in fear. Not when the life of a friend was still on the line.
In his exploration of the city, he found the central fountain empty and dirty, a barren landmark among the sea of souls. So it really is that bad, he thought to himself.
Midna pulled on his ear, beckoning for his attention. "A water shortage sounds pretty dire. Wonder what's going on with the Zora, if it's already so bad here?"
He wished he could question how she knew so much of the land of Hyrule, when she did not appear to be from their world at all. How long had the imp wandered their lands before finding him in the dungeons of Hyrule Castle?
Unable to respond to her questions or ask his own, he looked to the castle that towered above the town and served as a point of reference to help him regain his sense of direction. He knew that the town square lay south of the massive structure, and from Midna's advice he knew the great Lake Hylia lay to the west. Surely, these monsters that seemed to target and chase them down were working in coordination for some larger cause. If he tracked them down in Lanayru, where mysterious happenings dried up the lake, and took down the wall of Twilight in the process, then finding Isha would be far easier.
If she was still alive.
Cold water rushed into her nose and open mouth, awakening Isha with a start. Confused and terrified, she began to thrash and claw her way through whatever she'd landed in, desperate to find air but only find more filthy water to fill her aching lungs. Her side felt as though it were lit on fire. The taste of iron accompanied the gritty water that filled her nose and mouth, and she wondered if she was destined to drown in a pool of her own blood.
Something pushed against her, forcing the water she'd just swallowed back from her throat as she was dragged along, something wrapped about her middle. The water rushed around her, and in her panic Isha began to fight against whatever had taken hold of her, convinced they were headed to the bottom of this unknown body of water.
As quickly as the thought came to mind, they broke the surface and she wasted no time in greedily sucking down air, gasping and choking.
"You're good, I've got you, you're fine," an unfamiliar voice sounded from just behind her, attempting to sound reassuring despite fighting against her struggling. Isha blinked and looked back to find a friendly figure behind her, their head covered with a helmet fashioned in the guise of a large fish's head. Grayish-green scaly skin covered her rescuer's body, jewelry hanging from fins that protruded from the back of their head and sparkling in the evening sun.
Had she not been so panicked, she would have been awestruck as a member of the Zora tribe pulled her ashore to the waiting arms of even more Zora. Each one carried a long, delicate spear that ended in sharp points, shell motifs covering their handles and the Zora royal family's crest carved at the base of the spearhead.
The Zora who'd pulled her from the water rubbed her back with a webbed hand, encouraging her to breathe slowly as she coughed up the last of the water from her lungs. Now ashore and calming down, she became uncomfortably aware of how torn and bloodstained her clothes were, a sharp throbbing pain in her side telling her she wasn't done bleeding.
"Amazing throw as always, Peras," one of the blue-tinted Zoras commented to her savior. "Are you okay, Hylian?"
Isha finally looked up at the gathered group of Zora soldiers before her, trying not to gawk too much at the decorative armor that draped their shoulders, opening up halfway down their arms to allow the fins on their elbows to fall at their side. She had never seen such decorated Zora - rarely did they travel with such finery. They also stood tall, taller than any Hylian she'd met.
The blue Zora crouched in front of her, his face inches from hers. Her lungs ached with the effort to breathe, and wheezing was the only response she could manage.
"Give her a few moments, Zepin," the Zora called Peras insisted. "That was quite the fall, and she's gravely injured."
She blinked, still struggling for a solid breath. The pain in her side was near-unbearable, but she could still move. "I think I'm okay," she finally replied, her voice raspy.
"You're lucky we're stuck down here," the one named Zepin informed her. "I'm not sure where that bird thought it was taking you, but bringing you here was its mistake. Peras here has the best throwing arm in all of Zora's Domain, that bird didn't stand a chance."
"Where… where is here?" she finally managed to ask, looking around at her surroundings. She realized with a start that she was at the bottom of a massive gulch, an imposing stone bridge stretching high above and connecting one side of the crater to the other. Behind her was a small pond, one that must have been fairly deep, considering how long she was underwater for.
The landscape around her was rocky, with little grass or other plants to break up the barren landscape. The entire area smelled of rotting fish, something she tried not to retch at.
"You're at Lake Hylia. Or, what's left of it," Peras added sadly.
She furrowed her eyebrows at this news. To her knowledge, Lake Hylia was supposed to be an expansive lake, one that eventually empties out into the eastern sea in a cascade of waterfalls that not even the most seasoned of thrill-seekers dared to take a boat over. The lake was supposed to be a behemoth, a landmark that not only provided all of Hyrule with clean drinking water, but also the vast home of the Zora, with their royal Domain also serving as the headwaters for Lake Hylia.
The landscape she stood in now did not match any photos or descriptions she had ever known. The pond she'd been pulled from could easily be walked around within an hour, and she doubted these Zora found such a pitiable space to be enough to thrive in.
She ran her hands down her face, the implications of the lake's pathetic state flooding her mind. She also made the uncomfortable observation that, aside from the small gathering here, there was not another living soul in sight.
"What happened here?" she finally managed, her voice a hoarse whisper.
"Why don't we get you bandaged up, and then you can worry yourself with our problems," Peras responded, picking her up in his arms.
"Wait, don't-" Isha began to protest, but Zepin gave her a stern look.
"I don't mean to alarm you," Peras spoke, his chest rumbling against her. "But I'm worried that if you move much more, your insides will spill out." When she moved to look down at her side, the green Zora rushed to cover her eyes. "Take my word for it," he warned her. "Wait until we can get you stitched up."
She allowed them to carry her uphill, away from the pond she'd landed in. Peras recounted her rescue as a distraction. They approached a large tent where a brown-scaled Zora waited, this one appearing to be far older than the three with her. This older Zora nearly jumped out of his scales at the sight of the half-drowned Hylian in Peras' arms, her blood covering them both.
"Valan, we were able to take down the bird," Peras stepped forward. "It dropped her in the lake, thank the heavens."
The one called Valan moved with surprising grace for his age, old eyes filling with concern as he took the girl from his younger companion's arms. "I will do what I can for you," he told her, carrying her into the tent behind him. He nodded to the Zora who had not spoken yet, another blue-scaled male, and gestured for him to follow.
The inside of the tent contained a medical cot and a few bags tossed in the corner. The quiet Zora had crouched over these bags, withdrawing rags and bottles and sharp tools that would have made Isha throw a fit in fear, had she had the energy.
Valan sat her down on the cot carefully and gestured to her side, which she still refused to look at. "I will need to-"
"Just… at least try to leave me with some dignity," she coughed. A blanket was thrown over her chest, and the elder Zora began snipping away at the fabric that covered her open wound. She barely had the awareness to mourn for the sudden end to her gifted outfit. It had been her favorite of the options Uli had given her.
"Do you recall what happened before you fell into the lake?" He tried to keep her talking as he cleaned her wounds.
She thought for a moment. "I lost my bow," she replied sadly. "The beast… it caught me off guard, late in the night. I tried to shoot it, but…" the image of her beloved bow, gifted to her in childhood, falling into that unforgiving canyon made her tear up. "I lost my bow. I lost the fight. I lost my friend, I don't even know if he's okay, if there were other monsters with this one or what happened…" she trailed off as the healer looked at her with pity. "I've lost so much lately."
"We all have," he replied sadly. "Unfortunately for you, you've also lost quite a lot of blood. Mikas," he turned and gestured to a Zora who had yet to speak. Isha had nearly forgotten he was there.
Mikas approached the side of the bed, a clean rag rolled up in his hands. He held it in front of her face and tapped a webbed finger on her lips. She jerked back, a movement she instantly regretted.
"Careful, now. You'll want that to bite down on," Valan warned her. "We must stitch you up, quickly."
Isha took a shuddering breath, looking every bit like she was about to get up and run. "Like… right now?"
He gave her a hard look. "I'm afraid you don't have time to dwell on your fears. This is the best I can do for you. My centuries of experience have been entirely on Zora, but I should at least be able to stop the bleeding. We don't have any anesthetic on hand. Mixing anything up that would be strong enough for you would waste precious minutes, so the best I can offer is something to bite down on."
She looked at the mute Zora, who extended the rag to her once again. Her eyes burned with anxious tears, but she accepted the wadded-up rag and placed it between her teeth. Mikas gave her a long, apologetic look before turning and leaving the room.
Isha nodded to Valan and laid her head back on the pillow, preparing herself for the long procedure ahead of her.
When Isha awoke, she realized it was still evening time. Whether it was the same day or the next day, she wasn't sure.
She tried not to think about how the sun seemed to be in the same position as when she'd come out of the lake. Gods, surely not again…
"Oh, thank Nayru you're awake," Peras thrust a bottle of red potion into her hands, appearing as if from nowhere. "Take this," he instructed. "Mikas worked on it while you were sleeping. Sorry we didn't have it ready sooner, but it should help alleviate the pain. Don't know how much it'll do for actual healing, though."
Blinking away her exhaustion, she moved to sit up, shivering as cold air kissed her bare shoulders. At the same time, a flash of white-hot pain raced up her side. Isha let out a choked gasp at the pain. With great effort, she accepted the open bottle and gulped down the potion. She recognized it by its light and airy taste - Luda often kept this on hand for scrapes, bruises, and the like. The potion took time to make, and the longer it was allowed to steep, the stronger it would be. Since it was red in color, she knew it to be a weak numbing potion.
Any relief was welcomed, and she managed to form her scattered thoughts together long enough to pray that the potion would act quickly. Peras extended his hand to take back the empty bottle, but she clutched it tightly.
"Be careful," he eyed her white knuckles. "I can't imagine you want to get even more stitches."
Isha looked at him with hollowed eyes. "I may have a few more drops of blood in me to spill," she croaked.
He gave her a strange look, but Isha was already focused on the warm sensation spreading from her stomach. It might have been weak, but the potion took effect quickly. Her face relaxed as the white-hot ache in her side slowly ebbed into a mildly bearable ache. Her skin stretched and itched with every breath, but she dare not touch the wound.
Finally, Isha passed the bottle back to the waiting Zora. He read the relief on her face. "I'm glad to see it's working for you, because we need to go quickly. Zepin saw a bunch of monsters coming in from the desert. The cliffs will slow them down, but we don't have a lot of time. Come on!"
She barely had time to clutch the blanket to her chest before the Zora soldier pulled Isha to her feet. She winced, but felt the pain was somewhat bearable. Especially if their lives were at stake.
Peras handed her a canvas bag. "These are usually reserved for fallen soldiers, but you can borrow one of these infirmary gowns until we can find you new clothes. Sorry about your old ones."
"Thanks," she held the blanket tight under her arms and awkwardly accepted the fairly heavy bag. Within she found a pile of thick white gowns, seeming to be of various styles. Peras turned his back while she quickly dressed in one that appeared to be her size. The soft, flowing design of the dressing gown allowed her still-healing wounds to breathe with little irritation. The arm holes were incredibly wide and the garment lacked sleeves, something she lamented as this lake felt no warmer than the mountains.
She followed Peras with great effort, stiff from all that she'd suffered. In spite of her pain, Isha tried to make herself useful and moved to help remove the stakes that held the tent in place. Her hand was stopped, though, when a blue-scaled hand grabbed her wrist. She turned to see Zepin looking down at her.
"Don't think so," he said to her. "Your entire job is just to survive right now."
She gave him a troubled look. "I can't just accept this kindness for free."
"You can, and more importantly, you will," he replied, pulling the tent stake from the ground with ease. "It would be a shame if your wounds reopened and you bled out after the hours Valan spent stitching you together."
Isha's head felt light, and she stopped arguing with the soldier. Hours? Had she really been that badly torn up? The Zora had been adamant that she not look, not know just how bad the wound was. Unsure if her stomach could handle the sight, she'd obeyed so far. She assumed it was gory, sure, but… how close to death had she come that day?
A fuzzy memory came to mind, the one brief glance she'd gotten at her wounds. A lot of red of varying shades with a flash or two of white, but wasn't that just the outfit she wore? No, she didn't remember the outfit using any white in its patterns…
"If you're going to be sick, don't let Peras see you," Zepin's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "He'll lose his lunch right along with you."
Isha ran her hand through her knotted hair. "I look that horrible, huh?"
"I've seen worse, but not on a Hylian." He replied and walked away.
With their supplies packed up, the party quickly departed uphill, heading for an area that was once a lovely cove on the east side of the lake. The rocky lakebed cut through the hastily-wrapped bandages on Isha's feet, meant to replace her ruined shoes that had been left behind with the other remnants of her clothes, but she ignored the pain and continued to stumble after the graceful warriors. Rocks cutting into her feet were hardly anything compared to her side.
Peras led them, with Valan and Zepin directly behind, eyes constantly scanning their surroundings while they had a distracted conversation about dinner. The younger of the two carried the tent pack on his back, its mass not seeming to slow him in the slightest.
In the corner of her eye, Isha caught a flash of movement. As soon as she turned her head, however, whatever had moved disappeared. If it weren't for the others also gazing in the same direction, she would have assumed she'd imagined it. Her heart pounded in her ears. What monsters awaited them out here?
Mikas had taken a defensive position behind their group, stepping with his back turned to their group, spear at the ready. His gaze shot about, tracking the same movements she was. Nothing approached them, and Isha hoped the Zora warriors were fearsome enough to keep trouble away.
Her eyes drifted to Mikas' back, eying the lines of his shoulders and arms, appreciating how his well-defined muscles shifted with his movements. Zora were said to be descended from an ancient apex predator of the ocean. Mikas certainly looked the part.
As if he felt her stare, the silent soldier turned his head to meet her gaze, and she was surprised to find a rather handsome face staring back, scales and fins and all. She blushed at the eye contact and faced ahead again, just in time to catch her foot on a large rock.
Before she could stumble, Mikas grabbed the back of her dress and pulled her back. In the same swift motion, she was swept onto his back, his arms tucked under her knees.
"I can walk on my own," she started, receiving a hard glance from the soldier before he continued forwards. She let out a frustrated growl, loud enough for him to hear her displeasure, but still he did not give her the satisfaction of a response. Clearly, she was not going to get anywhere with the male. The others said nothing.
No longer needing to slow down for their rescued ward, the soldiers picked up their pace, long legs carrying them easily over the dried lakebed. Isha could not shake the feeling that she was nothing more than a burden to the ones who rescued her. She had insisted on walking by herself, yet she'd failed even to do that.
"If any of you happen to have a bow, I can provide cover for us," she blurted suddenly, drawing the party's attention. "I lost mine when that thing attacked me, but I've carried a bow since I was a child. I promise I'm good."
Peras glanced at Zepin and nodded, the latter Zora slowing and swinging his backpack from his shoulders, revealing a small silver composite bow with blue accents along the riser. Mikas stopped next to him and waited while he passed the small weapon up to her along with a quiver he'd pulled from his pack.
"It's my mother's fishing bow," he told her. "But it should be enough to scare the weaker ones. If you hit even one of 'em, you'll be a better shot than me," he added with a grin.
She thanked him, and their party continued forward. She gave the bow string a few test-pulls, finding its resistance to be suitable enough, though she knew it didn't have enough force to carry steel-tipped arrows too far. Still, she would make it work. She prayed it would be deadly enough.
She'd hardly gotten an arrow ready before something moved to the left of the party. Isha immediately loosed an arrow into some sort of black, two-legged creature that carried with it a broadsword, peeking out from behind a large cluster of reeds. The creature stood with a hunch, its long gangly limbs dragging the ground beside it. Its slender neck led up to not a face like anything Isha had ever seen, but instead an almost trumpet-shaped mass that opened to reveal a circle of disgusting red teeth.
The creature let out an ear-piercing shriek as its life left its body, and she felt no pity for the abomination. Below her, Mikas gave her a quick thumbs up. She smiled, but that was quickly replaced with a pained expression. Her movements had agitated her wounds considerably.
They continued climbing higher and higher up the lakebed. From her elevated position on Mikas' shoulders, Isha found it easier to track the few monsters that wandered this part of the basin. Isha knew the red potion was rapidly wearing off, but she refused to lower her bow. A few more monsters met their ends with well-timed arrows to the chest.
They finally stopped at the overturned trunk of what must have been a truly impressive tree at one time. Its years spent submerged had rotted the log from the inside out, leaving behind a thick shell that would serve well as a place to hide.
While the male Zora once again set up the tent and built a fire, Isha stood watch at the entrance, bow at the ready. She slid her fingers absently over the smooth metal backbone, eyes scanning the barren hills before them for any threats. The weapon was certainly different from what she was used to, but Isha didn't mind it. Stronger arrows would have been nice, but they'd been deadly enough with good aim.
There was no sign of the gang of monsters that had been pouring in from the desert. The Zora had made it seem like there were plenty of monsters, yet they'd maybe seen three since leaving their last camp. Who were the monsters terrorizing, if not them?
In the silence, her thoughts slowly turned from monsters to Link. Her last memory of him was his voice calling after her, rising above the wind rushing through her ears and begging her to slow down, to wait for him. Maybe she should have, she thought. Maybe what she had done was foolhardy, but…
She couldn't have lived with herself if anyone in that village was hurt. Especially after just finding their hope for the future again.
The tinkling of jewelry shook her from her thoughts, and she turned to find Peras trodding over to her, a spear and an ornate trident held each in one hand.
"If you're going to insist on standing guard, you might want something a little stronger than that bow," he smiled, handing her the spear.
"I'm just happy to be able to repay you all in some way for my life. Gods know what could have happened to me if it weren't for you." Isha marveled at the shining silver handle. It was cold in her hands.
The Zora laughed. "You may be the first civilian I've rescued who's been this determined to repay the favor. But I won't lie to you, we could really use the help," he sighed. "The others couldn't hit the broadside of Lanayru Spring if they tried, whether with arrows or spears. Always have been brutes that preferred their fists and claws. I've been stuck with them here for so long, I almost forgot what it was like to see someone land a shot on anything."
She blushed at the praise. "I take it you all have been out here a while, then?"
"I wish I could tell you how long, but on top of everything else going on, the sun has frozen in the sky. It had been two days before that."
"I see…" The news made her heart sink. "What happened to the lake? How did you get stuck here?"
"The same day that the sun stopped moving, the Zora River seemed to dry up almost instantly. The lake followed soon after, and at the time we were fortifying our sacred temple…" He took a seat on the ground next to her, his trident placed carefully across his long legs. "We were supposed to go from the temple up to Hyrule proper to search for Ralis, our beloved prince."
"Your prince is missing?" she gasped.
"I hate to drag you into our tribe's problems…" he resisted, cupping a hand over his mouth as he realized he'd rambled.
"I won't pry, but you do have my full attention." She went back to scanning the landscape. "Truth be told, that bird has been one of the least bad things that's happened to me over the last few weeks…"
He laid a scaled hand on her shoulder, his touch surprisingly cool. "Seems to be the way things are these days." Clearing his throat, he continued. "I suppose I could tell you. I imagine it will make the news before too long.
"Roughly a week ago, a strange man wearing a pointed helm appeared outside the throne room, coming through some sort of black portal along with two four-legged monstrosities. He demanded that Queen Rutela break the longstanding alliance between the Zora tribe and the Hylians, and join him in overthrowing the Hylian royal family. He kept rambling on about some God who had sent him Our beautiful queen would have none of this, and admittedly we all failed to see him for the threat he really was." He sighed and rubbed his temple. "We laughed at him. He walked into our throne room using a power we did not understand, and yet we laughed. He unleashed a legion of those four-legged beasts upon us. Our queen fought valiantly to protect our people, and she sent her son to Hyrule to try to reach out to Zelda, away from the monsters. But…" he paused, the memory clearly painful. "She fell in battle. The dark man killed her violently in front of everyone gathered at the throne room, and announced his intent to raid the Lakebed Temple for a powerful artifact that is said to be there. We went looking for him, and that's when all of the water dried up. With all of this going on, we were supposed to find Ralis to tell him of his mother's fate and bring him home. He deserves to know before it becomes common gossip, and our people need a leader now more than ever."
Isha's heart ached for the young Zora she'd not met. "I cannot say I expected to ever have anything in common with a Zora prince," she said slowly. "But it pains me beyond measure to hear that he, too, lost his mother to these foul creatures."
"These are difficult times we are enduring. We just want to bring him home, make sure that Zora's domain still has a leader, and I…" he paused, giving thought to his words. "I hope that I still have a beloved friend."
"You two are close?"
He tapped a broach that adorned his chest, strung between his metal shoulder pads with a delicate chain. It was a crest made of three blue shining stones, one atop the other two, with a silver vine snaking between the three. "I am the leader of Her Majesty's Royal Guard, and Prince Ralis' appointed knight. We grew up together, and he chose me to be at his side throughout his rule."
She smiled at the pride in his voice, despite the earlier dark topic. "What about your friends?" she nodded back towards the others.
"They, too, serve the royal family. Valan is the royal family's own healer. Mikas is his son, and used to apprentice under his father, but joined the guard about ten years ago. I'm sure you've noticed by now that he's not much of a talker - before he joined our ranks, he took a vow of silence. Bit annoying in some situations, but he's real good with close combat. Zepin has been wielding that spear since he was old enough to walk and is incredibly agile, so he's earned his position as my second-in-command."
She wanted to ask more, to learn about these lovely individuals who had taken her in, but the sound of heavy footsteps on rock caught her attention. Her ears twitched and she jumped to her feet, her side screaming in protest.
"Is something wrong?" Peras asked, but she motioned him to stay quiet.
"I hear something."
Straining her ears, she listened for the footsteps again. The lakebed was unnaturally quiet, devoid even of the sound of frogs or crickets she expected at this time of year.
She dared not relax, not yet. Her ears twitched again. Thump, shhhh, thump, shhhh.
There. Somewhere off to their left, something was trying to sneak across the loose gravel.
She gripped the long spear in her hands and nodded her head in the direction of the shuffling footsteps. Together, She and Peras carefully stepped back and ducked behind a piece of the rotted tree. Behind them, the other three Zora moved silently for their weapons, having noticed the sudden mood change.
Thump, thump, shhhhh…. The multiplying footsteps thrummed in her ears, her heart beginning to race.
Mikas was suddenly beside them both, towering over the crouching Isha. He put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back, putting himself and Peras between her and whatever was on the other side of the wall.
She forced herself not to protest, knowing this trained soldier would naturally want to stand between the injured and danger. It's not a contest, she chastised herself.
Th-thump, shhhh, thump, shhhhh. There were so many different footsteps, many more than she could keep track of. Her hands gripped the handle of her spear, palms slick with sweat. With the other three warriors now surrounding her, she forced herself to calm down. She would not fight alone, and these were not the drunk soldiers she fought alongside in Kakariko.
Peras shot to his feet, trident held over his shoulder as he prepared for this throw. A jolt of power shot from somewhere just behind Isha, startling her. Bright blue light enveloped the trident, giving way to a wreath of incandescent droplets that hovered around the weapon. She looked back in awe and found Valan swiping his hands together as if dusting them off, a smile on his face at her expression.
The green-scaled Zora released the trident, hurling it forward into the approaching mob of disgusting black monsters. The trident struck its mark with an earth-shaking crack, and grotesque bodies flew from the force of the impact. A rush of water sprung from where the trident landed, exploding outwards and sending the weapon flying back. As quickly as it had left Peras' hands, the trident returned, the halo of water droplets gone. Another flash of magic, and it was wreathed once again, ready for his next assault.
As Peras continued his attacks, Mikas and Zepin jumped forward, their spears held steady ahead as they ran down the advancing monster forces, picking off those outside of the radius of Peras' trident. Recalling Peras' earlier words, Isha watched Zepin as he seemed to dance across the battlefield, his lithe figure slipping past black clubs and shattered swords. He clutched his spear at one end and swung it in an arc before him, slicing through several monsters and crashing them into one another, causing pandemonium within enemy lines.
Shaking herself from her awe at such a smooth attack, Isha chose to take up the bow once again and placed herself with her back against the trunk, taking a swift glance to determine their enemy's position. Spying a cluster of archers at the back of the approaching mob, she ducked back down and prepped an arrow. Taking a deep breath and steeling her nerves for what she was about to do, she jumped up and twisted her torso around, drawing the bow string tight. Time around her seemed to slow, and she could clearly see the beady eyes of the monster-archers. Her hair whipped around her, catching the evening sun as well as enemy attention, a shining distraction. The wound in her side burned from the movement, but she held her arm steady and let the arrow fly.
Another flash of power, this time the blue light encompassing her arrow instead of Peras' trident. She returned to the ground before she saw the arrow hit, ducking low behind the rotted trunk in front of her to avoid return-fire. Shrieks of pain echoed across the basin, but Isha dared not rise to look at the damage.
Black, rotting arrows pierced the air above her head moments later, shattering upon impacting the ground behind her. The shards seemed to dissipate into the dirt.
Isha withdrew two more arrows, balancing them between her fingers and making sure her grip was steady before repeating her previous motions. Again, Valan enhanced her arrows, and two chain explosions rocked the landscape around them. Again, her side burned, and again, she ignored it.
The screeching of monsters rang in her ears, the non stop explosions taking her breath away with every boom. Her heart pounded above it all, filling her with an excitement she had never experienced before, despite their dire situation. She'd all but forgotten about Link, the Twilight, or her wounds, all thoughts replaced with the rush of battle. She did not hesitate to ready another set of arrows.
When she leapt into the air again, she found several arrows flying towards her. Isha, determined to find her mark despite the danger, kept her eyes glued to the remaining archers beyond, and released two more arrows. They barely left her fingers when something suddenly gripped the back of her dress and pulled her back down to the earth, one low-aimed arrow grazing her forehead as she stumbled back.
Her foot slipped as she landed, but she turned her body around and reached for whatever grabbed her, sweeping her spear from the ground and pointing it at her attacker. Cold scales met her wrist just as she found herself looking into Mikas's dark eyes. He'd once again jumped to her rescue, and now she pointed her spear towards his chest.
"Shit, you scared me, I thought– I mean– I'm sorry, I didn't expect you–" Deep breath, she reminded herself and dropped the spear. You're fine. "Thank you," she finally whispered, her eyes darting away from his. Not the best look, Isha.
He did not respond and instead pointed to her forehead, She felt the blood trickling down over the bridge of her nose from her wound.
"It's just a scrape," she assured him, wiping the stream of blood away from her eyes. "It'll stop bleeding soon."
He gave her a disapproving look, but both of their attentions were suddenly taken by a shout from Peras from further out.
He stood amongst a mass of fallen beasts, his green-tinted scales covered in their disgusting black blood. He was in the midst of throwing another monster to the ground, driving the sharp forked ends of his weapon deep into its chest. It was not this sight that made her blood run cold, though.
Above the cliffs directly ahead of them, a black portal appeared in the sky. From within the ominous mass, the same large beasts that had torn apart Kakariko and the Zora queen poured out, their bodies making a sickening crunch as they hit the ground. Each beast quickly rose to its feet, entirely unphased by their ungraceful entrance.
Their eyeless faces fixated on her and the Zoras, and Isha's blood ran cold, the excitement of battle sapped away by the sight of long arms and spindly fingers driving their great bodies forward over the edge of the cliffs, straight towards them.
The Zora warriors drew close around Isha, Valan joining her side. They all had grave faces, recalling their own horrendous memories of these creatures. In this close proximity, she was able to get a good inventory of their injuries, which she did purely to distract herself from the paralyzing fear that was creeping up her spine.
Peras had a gash in his right shoulder, his left hand twisted in an unnatural way. He clutched his trident close to him, his jagged teeth bared in a snarl at the approaching monsters and his razor-sharp claws extended on his undamaged hand. His torso was also covered with scrapes and bruises, scales bent and torn. At his side, Zepin looked no better, a cut still oozing from the back of his neck down to his left arm-fins, one eye swollen shut. They were both covered in the blood of the unnatural beasts dead at their feet.
Directly in front of her, Mikas appeared the least damaged of the three, though it wasn't by much. One of the fins on the back of his leg had been shredded, bite marks covering that same leg. It was still bleeding.
One of the faceless beasts let out a feral scream, causing Isha's ears physical pain. She cupped her hands over her ears, but even after the beast quit roaring, her ears continued to ring. Around them, the slain two-legged monsters began to rise once more, the thirst for revenge burning behind their scarlet eyes. Even those whose bodies had been torn asunder began to move once more.
While Isha was hunched over, clinging to her ears, the three Zora soldiers pushed forward. As they charged, so did the beasts, closing the gap between them in seconds. The lesser monsters surrounded them, cutting the soldiers off from Valan and Isha, still crouched behind the fallen tree. The healer was trying to say something, but Isha could only hear that shrill ringing.
One of the large monsters reached Zepin and raised its mangled hand, preparing to bear down on the cyan Zora. As it swung, he brought his trident up to block the blow, leaving himself open to a follow-up attack from another beast. Isha's eyes caught the moment he realized his mistake when a second monster lunged from the front line, a spiked club already swinging through the air. Isha could practically see the arc it would take, where it would shred into his unguarded back…
The monster did not follow through with its attack, and instead fell into the dirt, motionless but still screaming in defiance. The monsters closest to the three soldiers all seized up at the same time, their muscles twitching as their backs arched in agony. This went on for several aching seconds, their shrill cries the only sound Isha could make out from the battle. In a burst of black dust, the paralyzed monsters vanished one-by-one, leaving nothing behind. Their cries faded as swiftly as they did.
The three Zora soldiers dropped their weapons in shock.. Even the monsters left alive halted their advance, their attention captured by the sudden and inexplicable disappearance of their kin. The three soldiers took this distraction to recoup their weapons, slashing at the reanimated corpses and using this change in momentum to retreat back to the log. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder and moved in practiced unison, spears jabbing and swinging together.
The group of monsters closest to Isha and Valan disappeared next, screaming as whatever consumed their brethren now turned its malice upon them, each one seeming to burn from the inside out. A horrendous end for a horrendous insult to nature, Isha felt.
Zepin fell to his knees once he reached the rotting, oversized log, breathing a sigh of relief as the last of the monsters finally faded. Even the horrendous, faceless monsters had been slain in the same way before they could revive their brethren once more. Even the air around them seemed a little lighter. Everyone relaxed in the silence, weapons clanging as they were dropped to the floor. They each stared at each other, confused and relieved and exhausted. Nobody moved for several moments.
"Perhaps we have earned the protection of Lanayru," Valan finally broke the silence. The others looked at him, unable to offer a counter explanation. What else could possibly explain what had just happened?
Isha's gaze remained out on the battlefield.
"Well, quit sitting around, everyone line up for treatment," he barked suddenly, clapping his hands.
The young woman did not move to follow the rest of them, instead choosing to lean against the outside of the rotted log. The landscape before her was as still as a picture, no signs of life reaching her gaze. Her ears were still ringing, rendering her strongest sense utterly useless. Blood still poured from the scrape on her head, the droplets splitting on the bridge of her nose and running down her cheeks and the sides of her face. Even her ears felt damp, and she supposed the cut had been a bit larger than originally thought. The dried blood itched at her skin, but she ignored these discomforts and kept watch for any more monsters or the invisible force that had killed them.
She recalled what Link had told her that night at Ordon spring, about his experience with these horrendous realms referred only to as the Twilight. How he, divinely blessed, became a monster fit for such a realm while everyone else faded into spirits when subjected to this curtain of Twilight.
"Even though I can hear and see you, I remain completely invisible to anyone else."
So it's true. Not that she'd had much doubt to begin with. Who or what else could have killed those creatures in such a spectacular way than the so-called hero of legend? What other than the power of the Gods could destroy evil so utterly? Who else would have shown up without a second to spare to save the lives of those who needed him?
Had he seen her with the soldiers? Did he know she was safe? Was he still around, or had he already moved on to find a way to dispel the Twilight? Had he found any new leads on Ilia?
Isha hoped Link wasn't wasting his time worrying about her any longer. If all of this nonsense about Gods choosing regular humans to be legendary heroes was true, then he had far larger fish to fry.
A loud finger-snapping noise caught her attention, piercing through the horrible ringing still carrying in her ears. Isha turned to see Mikas limping over to her, rags, bandages, and a container of some liquid medicine all held in one hand. She looked at him with concern. The scaled skin surrounding his wounds was already swollen, puffed up from irritation. They would need to be cleaned thoroughly, a time-consuming task.
"You should be treating your own wounds, if you can walk all the way over here," she chastised him, stepping back. The incessant ringing muffled even her own voice, much to her annoyance. She tried to get her ears to pop, to clear the ringing, but it persisted. She felt like she had something embedded in them. Maybe knives, if the pain was anything to go by.
He stopped in front of her and gestured over to the medical tent. She put a hand on her uninjured side.
"No," she said again. Was she forming her words correctly? She didn't realize it would be so difficult to speak over the ringing. Her mind felt fuzzy. "I told you earlier, it's just a scrape."
Mikas gave her an irritated look, refusing to back down. He pointed to her forehead, then her ears, then her injured side and finally back to his medical supplies. Each movement was quick and precise to convey that he wasn't asking. She did not look down, did not allow herself to think of the burning ache that had been plaguing her since she'd taken her first shot. No, she was just bruised and sore. These warriors had suffered far greater wounds than she. The blood weighing down her gown was just from the cut on her head, she was certain.
"No," she said again. Their eyes locked in a silent battle of wills.
"You should do as he asks," Peras said as he approached them, his arm already wrapped in a sling and strapped closely to his chest. His scales were shimmering in the evening light from the salve that coated his various cuts. "You'll find it difficult to argue with someone who refuses to speak."
"You're his leader, you argue with him," she snapped, spinning around to face him. Her legs stopped moving, but the world around her didn't. Isha's knees buckled. Mikas's arms shot under hers, once again preventing her from falling. With his face so close to hers, his insistent, silent stare suddenly made her feel very small. She struggled for a moment to straighten her legs and force them to hold her weight. Even when she'd found her balance, though, Mikas kept one hand on her shoulder. His other hand tapped on her wounded side, something that sent shockwaves of pain throughout her abdomen. She gasped and looked down.
Her side was a bloody mess. The bandages binding her chest were soaked all the way through. A dark red stain had spread over most of the gown, clinging to her body and weighed down with the massive amount of blood she'd lost.
She now understood why Mikas prioritized her treatment.
She groaned. "I can't say I was looking forward to stripping in the presence of strangers twice in one day."
Isha didn't know Zora could blush. Peras let out a deep belly-laugh when Mikas quickly released his hold on her and took several steps back. He looked between his leader and the Hylian they had picked up, eyes blazing with unspoken words.
"'Oh, it's not like that, I promise!'" The green Zora said in a mocking tone, his laughter dying down. He turned his attention back out to the landscape in front of them. "You can trust Mikas. He's a weird one, but he's not that sort of weird. I'll keep watch for us." He turned his head over his shoulder and winked at her. "You've been a great asset with that bow. Stay with us a while longer, if you have nowhere to be. Let us help you recover."
She looked between the two Zora again, the will to argue leaving her as her injuries demanded her attention. "Yeah, okay," she finally replied, allowing Mikas to help her limp over to the medical tent.
Link.
A muffled voice called out to him from beyond the murk, his name sounding unfamiliar as it echoed through the empty place he stood in. Or am I floating?
"Come on," the voice called again. He focused on his hearing, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from.
"LINK!"
The voice came from above. He looked up, seeing nothing but more pitch black fog. He tried reaching above his head, tried grasping for anything that would give him a sense of a direction in this awful place, but there was nothing. He couldn't even see his hand in front of his face.
He felt his chest tighten in panic. Was he falling? There was nothing beneath his feet, nothing above his head or to either side. He couldn't recall where he was before this, what had transpired. All he knew was this ominous nothingness that now encompassed him. He squeezed his eyes shut, though it made no difference.
"Quit being dramatic!"
The feminine voice was suddenly incredibly clear, as though she was right at his ear. His eyes shot open, greeted not by the unforgiving fog but instead by a barren landscape of rocky, rolling hills surrounded by massive cliffs rising high into the fiery sky. The sound of water lapping upon the shore reached him from behind, and he leapt to his feet.
Four feet. Right, it wasn't just evening. He was in the Twilight Realm.
Midna, the voice that had brought him back to the waking world, floated in front of him, her glowing eyes filled with relief to see him up. "That was a close one," she sighed.
As his senses returned, Link became acutely aware of just how sore his whole body was. He felt like he'd hit concrete, though his soaked fur told him he'd landed in the small pond behind him. He tried to stretch, joints popping and muscles complaining with every movement.
"So this is Lake Hylia," his companion mused, wasting no time in hopping on his back once more. "There's so little water here, though."
If this was truly Lake Hylia, then "so little water" didn't do the scene before him justice. Though he'd never seen it himself, the Mayor had many photos from his time fishing and rafting on Lake Hylia and the Zora river. Lake Hylia was a behemoth of a lake that sat several hundred feet below Hyrule proper, once a massive sinkhole covering parts of Zora River that tore the foundation from the Great Bridge of Hylia thousands of years ago and formed the basin that would become Lake Hylia over the next decades. It was said that Hylia herself blessed these waters upon the lake's creation, making this lake the main water source for the entire kingdom as well as the home of the Zora Tribe.
He stood now upon the dried up lake bed, shocked that this could be the same place from Bo's pictures.
In fact, he was so surprised at the landscape that he'd nearly forgotten the veritable horror that he'd just endured on the Great Bridge above.
He'd crossed the bridge intending to go north on the trade roads that led straight to and from Zora's Domain, a path he'd scouted from a map up on the bar wall back in Castle Town. However, as he ran across the Great Bridge of Hylia, a strange scent struck his nose, stopping him in his tracks.
Even Midna had detected the smell, a comment forming on her lips when, on either side of the bridge, two Twilight forms of the ever-annoying bulblins appeared and lit fire to either end of the bridge, igniting a strange clear substance that had been splashed across the stone bridge. It lit and burned like lantern oil, but had been entirely invisible to his eyes.
In a desperate attempt to save them both from burning alive, Midna picked up her wolf companion with the massive hand that formed from her golden hair, a feat of magic that Link assumed was something her kind specialized in. Without giving him a chance to register what was going on, she threw him over the side of the bridge, down to the dried up lakebed alone.
Link could think of few things he hated more than great heights. Despite growing up in the mountains, Link had rarely sought out high-up lookout spots, preferring the safety of solid ground beneath his feet. When he crossed Faron Gap for the first time, he'd been convinced he'd die of fear right then and there.
And when Midna had picked him up and threw him from the highest bridge in all of Hyrule…
His knees shook, drawing Midna's attention. She tapped on his head. "Come on now, pull yourself together, pup. The spirit's spring should be somewhere around here. Let's get moving," she clicked her tongue.
He quickly found the landscape of the dried up lakebed to be far too repetitive, no signs of any sort of spring or even cave system anywhere along the bed.
As he ran along the east side of what he assumed was once the shore, Midna suddenly pulled back on his ears, signaling for his attention. She pointed up above them, and his gaze followed.
Towering above them, stone stairs carved from the cliff face about halfway up the wall above them led to a wide opening in the wall, surrounded by statues of snakes, heads raised up high as if frozen in their pride.
Yes, it certainly looked like the entrance to a spirit's abode. But how would they hope to get up there? Link realized with dread that he was not walking along the shoreline, but along the edge of the drop-off of the lake.
"So, that's where we need to be…" his imp companion mused. "It's looking like you'll need to sort out the water level before you'll be able to see Lanayru. But…" her gaze drifted over to a cut between the cliffs, where a dried out gorge cut its way back among the rocks - what was left of Zora River. The riverbed was still far higher than the bottom of the lake. "I wonder how we'll find our way up there?"
With nothing else to work with, Link continued running along the perimeter of the dried-up lake. As they ran along, something on the ground caught his eye. He changed course and approached what appeared to be a pile of partially-burned logs, surrounded deliberately by large stones.
Focusing his canine senses, Link put his nose to the ground and sniffed around, looking for any scent of life. Something had been here, not too long ago, but the overwhelming smells of rotting wood, debris, and dried fish fought for his attention.
His nose suddenly crossed a mixture of scents that filled him with bittersweet hope. Iron, dust, salt, and underlying hints of a musky flower he couldn't recall the name of called to mind the image of a small-town girl with rose-gold hair, sharp eyes as green as the forest he'd grown up in and tongue sharp as a knife.
Isha. It was her blood staining the light rock under his paws. He circled the area, taking in the size of the blood splatter as well as the direction it seemed to be traveling when it struck the ground. He let the scent fill his nose, focusing on this and only this until, finally, his wolfish senses began to lead him forward, the scent trail nearly visible.
The ground trembled beneath his feet, but he took little notice. His paws carried him across the rocks and up a steep slope, its path stopping on a flat area where another burned-out fire pit lay, this one still holding some of the heat from its earlier state. A large amount of blood coated the ground a few feet away. She had stopped here.
Other scents mixed with hers, smells Link was entirely unfamiliar to but yet seemed strangely familiar. These smells were difficult to separate from the stench of the lake, though, and he chose to ignore them.
The ground shook again, a far off rumble echoing off the walls of the basin. Fearing an oncoming rainstorm that might wash away this precious trail, he hurried on but barely made it a few steps before Isha's scent suddenly disappeared. He tried desperately to pick up the trail again, his nose aching from being scraped against sharp rocks and jagged driftwood, but this felt of little consequence in the face of the losing her trail once more. Did that damn bird come back for her?
Another pull of his ears, and he had to fight the urge to bite off Midna's arm. She had a horrible habit of distracting him at the worst of times.
"Don't give me that look, pay attention!" she snapped, a small hand gripping his jaw and jerking his head up to the cliffs ahead.
In the sky he spotted one of the twilight portals he'd continually stumbled across during his adventures, one that he knew would carry any multitude of the massive twilight beasts that crushed homes with their bare hands. No longer fixated on the scent trail, the sounds of a battle reached his ears, steel clanging on steel rising above the din of screaming, dying twilight monsters.
Even with four legs, Link felt he couldn't move fast enough.
Whether Isha or anyone else, he feared no individual would stand a chance against the sheer number of beasts that continued to rain down from the portal above. He rounded a rocky outcropping and was met with the sight of five spirits amongst a sea of Twilight-stricken bokoblins and bulblins. A massive log from a tree that may have once lived for hundreds of years was nestled between two narrowing cliffs, a canvas tent contrasting against the waterlogged trunk.
An explosion suddenly went off from somewhere within the mass of monsters. Focusing his senses once more, Link saw the shape of three strong, bloodied Zora warriors amidst the heat of battle, their long weapons keeping them safe from the shorter range of these smaller monsters. Further back, standing aside the crumbling log, was an older Zora and Isha, her face bloody but gaze determined as she strung her bow. The fins framing the elder Zora's face were glowing an incandescent blue.
Midna shifted on his back, her golden hair turning red as it overflowed with her mysterious power, spitting red jolts of magic at every nearby enemy and freezing them in place. Their muscles seized as the magic assaulted their bodies, their weapons clattering to the ground and screams filling the crater they were destined to die in. Link leapt into each one, his sharp canine teeth tearing apart flesh from bone, showing the dark creatures no mercy as he took advantage of their incapacitated state and cut them down. Slain by a hero wielding the power of the Goddesses, the beasts burned away to ash behind him.
He cut down the sea of forces ahead of him and reached the larger beasts, a blur of fangs and claws and fur and red, twisted magic bringing each monster to a quick death.
He vaguely registered the Zora soldiers continuing to fight, making their way back to the two ducked behind the wall of the log. Link continued his violent assault on the monsters until the final one's dying shriek faded on the wind.
Panting, he turned back to the spirits. They looked at each other with a mix of shock and relief. Isha's state worried him, though. Blood poured from her ears and a gash in her head, a dress he'd not seen before clinging to her, also soaked with blood. The Zora turned and walked back towards the tents, but Isha stayed, leaning against the log and breathing heavily.
He wanted to yell at her for putting herself in such danger when she was barely fit to work out only a few days prior. How long had she been bleeding so heavily? How many of those wounds were from the bird that took her from Ordon, and how many were new?
Those talons can pierce through bone, Midna's words had haunted him. Yet, here she stood, looking as fierce as he imagined she'd looked when she put her life on the line for the younger Ordonians.
He wanted to stay and guard her, to see that she received proper treatment for her wounds before they became fatal. In this form, though, he knew he could do nothing. Still, his ears dropped as he realized he was no longer needed here. He would have to put off getting her back for a while longer.
At least she's alive, he told himself. Having caught his breath, Link rose to his feet again and turned away from the ghost-like figures.
The sooner he found a way to that spring, the sooner he could grab her and bring her back to Castle Town, where she could finally be at peace knowing that Ilia was safe, and they could all go home.
Home. His brief time back in Ordon after weeks away felt like a fever dream now. Returning home with good news had been nearly everything he could have hoped for, missing only his childhood friend Ilia to make it perfect. Even Isha had found comfort and joy among the villagers. Maybe she'd like to spend a while longer with all of them, where they could all be safe and forget the Twilight and Midna and whatever role they all played in this nightmare.
He ignored the homesick pain in his heart. Now was not the time for getting lost in wishes and memories. Lives depended on his ability to focus on the goal ahead.
Thanks for your patience on this week's chapter, and for your support. Made it extra long just to make up for the delayed upload!