The sun seemed to vanish as Link plunged into the woods headlong, the dense foliage blotting out the light so utterly that it seemed as though night had fallen in the blink of an eye. A few dappled rays of gold filtered through the gaps in the leaves and shattered the illusion, but the woods would only deepen from here. Faron Province lay ahead, and Link could only pray that Talo had not journeyed too far.
There was a reason that Faron remained uninhabited, even all these years after the unification of Hyrule. As a boy Link had been taught the history of the Unification Wars, the bloody battles that had raged throughout the valley before the Royal Family had united all the various tribes into a single kingdom. Beneath these trees had been fought the vilest battle of Hyrule's blood-soaked history, a massacre that had left the forest-dwelling Farons food for worms.
While Hyrule grew up around it, Faron woods remained untouched, either as a memorial to the tragedy that had befallen their occupants so many years ago, or because of the rumors that the souls of the restless dead took umbrage with those who dared venture inside, and the entire province remained unoccupied. Link had never believed the old ghost stories, at least not after Rusl had taught him how to navigate the hunting trails and which landmarks led which way, but a mere boy like Talo wouldn't know how to find his way out again once he lost himself among the trees. And besides that, Link knew that monsters were known to make their homes deep in the darkest heart of the Deep Forest, the grounds of that vicious massacre, where the soil itself was still soaked red with spilled blood. If Talo ran into one of them…
His grip on the sword hilt tightened, and Link found himself running even faster, pelting past Ordona's Spirit Spring and making Faron Bridge rock with the tumult of his passage.
"Talo!" he shouted, not sure if he expected an answer or not. There was none, and Link scanned the earth for signs of the boy's passage the moment he reached the trail's first fork. There was an old hermit, Coro, who was known to live within the woods alone. If Talo had passed by that part of the woods, perhaps the man would have seen him…
The darkness thickened as he continued on, spotting a broken branch here, a footprint of a little sandal there, the trail showed some signs that a frantic young boy had barrelled through here not long ago. Link was no huntsman, tracking wasn't something he practiced often, but in this moment of crisis it felt as though his senses were sharpened, and he searched with the keenness of a starving wolf as he struggled to track down the boy.
"It's your fault," a voice in the back of his mind accused, "he only ran off because of the slingshot you gave him. If you hadn't been so preoccupied with that sword…"
Link shook his head, dispelled those thoughts. There would be time to consider his blame in this, but time after he had brought Talo home, safe and alive with a little luck. The woods seemed to blur around him as he sped along, and Link tried to recall the maps that Rusl had shown him in the past detailing the crisscrossing paths and trails that a prospective traveller would need to know top to bottom to navigate the woods.
"Steady now," he reminded himself, "You won't be saving anyone if you end up lost yourself."
He carefully navigated a treacherous bend, making sure never to stray from the path even by a few steps. Even a meter or two and the trail would practically vanish from all sight, leaving him lost to wander until he eventually joined the ghosts in their never-ending trek. He hoped that Talo at least had carried enough sense not to stray into the trees and lose himself completely. The boy should have known better that to ever come this way; children were never to cross Faron Bridge or they would face severe punishment. Talo, in all likelihood, had decided that he would rather face that punishment, or even face death before disappointing Link by losing the slingshot. Link would have preferred it if the boy had done the reasonable thing and come to see him before rushing off into the most dangerous place an Ordonian could find themself.
Ordona was peaceful isolated from the problems of wider Hyrule, and Faron was the barrier that kept everything and anyone out. Practically everyone in the province knew each other, and aside from one or two monsters wandering out of the woods every few months, and occasional brawl between irate farmers there wasn't much in the way of danger so long as one remained on the correct side of Faron Bridge.
Link came up short as the mouth of a cave loomed up before him. The trail led directly inside, and while he could leap off the path to try and scale the hill and skirt the yawning mouth, Link was canny enough to recognize what a bad idea that was. With that said, the cave mouth was as black as pitch and he had foolishly not brought a torch or lantern with him to light the way. Anything could be lurking inside, from bears to bokoblins and while he was reasonably sure that the cave led out on the other side of the hill, a wrong turn inside would leave him without any sort of lifeline.
He was considering turning back to fetch a lantern, or tinderbox or something from his house, but before he could talk himself into it his gaze settled on something just inside the egress that made his heart leap into his throat. It was a short stick, a rag tied around one end and another, smaller bit of branch messily knotted to the first to form a crude toy sword. Talo was almost never seen without it, and now it lay, snapped in two within the jaws of this cave.
His mind was made up without hesitation, and Link hurled himself into the darkness without another thought for his own safety. The boy had come this way, that was all he needed to know, and Talo would not have let go of his toy sword unless someone or something had taken it from him. There was no time to lose. Link's heart hammered in his chest as he ran, and he forced himself to slow down and feel out before him as the darkness closed in around him.
When he peered behind him, the light from the entrance of the cave had all but disappeared from sight, and the dark pressed in on all sides. Dry leaves rustled underfoot, and Link's hand crept to the hilt of his sword when the sound of fluttering little wings came to his ears. Bats were usually more frightened of him than he was of them, but Faron caves were home to hostile keese as well, which were known to swarm the unwary with a flurry of swiping claws and lamprey teeth. He would need to be careful, bites from keese, even if not fatal injuries themselves, often carried sickness. He couldn't make the journey to the capital if he was bedridden.
"As if that's going to happen now," he chided himself, "after a catastrophe like this, losing a child in Faron Woods? I don't deserve the honor…"
A few minutes of creeping through the dark, bumping into walls and feeling for the right way to go left Link wishing more than anything for just a little inkling of light. Anything at all that could help guide his way in this blackness would have been welcome, and every second wasted was another moment that Talo could be…
Link didn't want to think about the worst-case scenario, and instead drew the sword from the scabbard fully. He could still hear keese and other small creatures rustling in the dark, but saw nothing. A stone clattered to his left, and Link drove into the darkness with the sword, feeling the shock up his arm as the point pierced flesh and sank deep. A strangled screech erupted from whatever it was that he had struck, and before he could pull the sword free something had seized his arm. Knobbly fingers gripped his forearm, keeping him from dodging away, and a sudden impact crashed against his shoulder. Something large and heavy had struck him, and Link felt his right arm dislocate. A warbling, gasping cry of equal parts pain and triumph assaulted his ears and Link recognized the cry of a bokoblin warning its fellows. Somewhere nearby, around a bend that he could not see, hands scrabbled in the dirt and flapping bare feet slapped against stone. This bokoblin was not alone. With his sword still stuck in its chest, the monster flailed its arms at Link, and he lifted his left arm to ward off the blows. The sword hilt had slipped from the nerveless fingers of his right hand, and his enemy could see in the dark better than he could. Still, it was hardly a warrior by nature, and while they possessed strength to outmatch all but the stoutest man, bokoblins could be considered intellectually the midpoint between man and animal.
A fist struck him on the jaw and stars burst in his vision. Link reeled back, ears ringing, and then flung himself forward bodily. The grasping fingers of his good left hand found the bokoblin's scrawny throat and as his weight bore them both to the ground, Link gripped tight. The bokoblin struggled wildly, its animal strength nearly flinging Link off, but he held on with tenacity. He could hear commotion as the other monsters drew nearer, and his hand closed into a tight fist on the bokoblin's throat. He felt rather than heard the crunch and the monster's struggling grew weaker. It struggled to draw breath, couldn't, shuddered, and twitched and expired as Link stood shakily. His head throbbed and his right arm was numb and limp, but he was still alive.
Planting a foot on the corpse, he felt around blindly for the hilt of the sword in his good hand and tugged it free. Link was left-handed by nature, that was well and good, but Rusl was not, and had always tutored him in swordplay with his right hand. Fighting southpaw was not something Link was accustomed to, despite his proclivity for it, and a battle in the dark against who knew how many monsters was hardly the best time to try it out. But there was no time to try and pop his shoulder back into its socket himself, already he hollering of monsters was so close that he knew they were nearby, and now the inky black of the cave was beginning to grow more definitive. Garish orange light cast flickering shadows as it grew steadily brighter and Link nearly wept in relief; the bokoblins were bringing torches. They could see well in the dark, it was true, but keese would bite anyone they wished, monster or man, and fire was a reliable way to scare the batlike little creatures off. It was almost unbelievable that the monsters had come to Faron Woods more prepared than him, but if he could see he could fight, and Link readied himself just around the bend in the cave to ambush his enemies when they turned the corner.
The first bokoblin's head parted from its shoulders as it stuck its neck out around the cave bend, warbling out something in the guttural tongue these things spoke. It spoke no more once Link had cleaved off its head, but his swing had gone too wide. The blade of the sword, designed for the battlefield, not the close confines of a cave, glanced against the cave wall and nearly shivered to pieces as he held it. The steel had been too brittle, intended as a show piece more than a proper weapon, and Link fought the urge to scream out a curse as he held the broken blade out in defense.
The second bokoblin and third rounded the bend, carrying torches, to find Link standing over the forms of their two fallen comrades, bearing a broken sword and with an arm hanging limp at his side. Both wasted no time in advancing on him. One was armed with a club like the first had been, the other carried a wicked looking dagger. Link gave ground, holding the broken sword out to ward them off. The cave was tight, there wasn't enough room for them to flank around him, but it was still two against one, and Link swallowed thickly as both creatures regarded him with cruel eyes.
He had heard tell that bokoblins liked to skin their victims and tan their hides into leather for their clothes while they were still alive. Or, he had heard as well that sometimes they hacked their unfortunate prey limb from limb while they struggled and screamed and bled, and the bokoblins would drink the spewing blood fresh until there was nothing left to sup. Neither fate seemed preferabl to him, and he quailed to think of what he would find had become of Talo if he survived this encounter.
"Rusl trusted you to do right by Ordon," he reminded himself, gritting his teeth against the pain of his injuries and tightening his grip on the sword hilt. "You will bring Talo home!"
With a shout, Link sprung and swiped upwards, aiming for the bokoblin closest to him with the dagger. A blow from the club he could shrug off with some difficulty, but if the blade of that dagger was poisoned, and the possibility was very real, then he would not survive the next week. The jagged broken tip of the sword slipped past the wild swing of the dagger, and Link twisted his body to do the same, feeling another shock travel up his arm as he dug the broken sword into the bokoblin's belly. There was a shriek from his enemy, and then a heavy blow across his back made him scream. Link released the sword hilt to grasp at the bokoblin;s wrist as it drove its dagger at him, and he kicked out with one leg to drive off the other monster before is shattered his skull with another blow of that branch.
The two combatants struggled, Link no match for the bokoblin's greater strength, especially with only one arm, and inexorably the dagger point began to push closer and closer to his neck. Again the second monster struck him, the club slamming into the back of Link's knees and bringing him to the ground. The dagger jerked closer, and now it was inches from his throat, and Link could guess that the other one was winding up for another swing to finish him off.
Desperation could not lend him more strength, but it did offer him wits, and perhaps the key here was not to overpower his foes, but to redirect them! With a shift of his weight, Link stopped struggling against the dagger and hurled himself backwards. The knife blade whistled just past his throat and his felt the back of his head crack against the knees of the second bokoblin. It howled in surprise and pain while Link's vision flashed red, and he found himself on his back, legs bent back under him, looking up as one bokoblin hopped away, clutching its leg, while the other recovered from its strike and approached him again. Link rolled to the side, freeing his legs and tumbling against the wall of the cave. The bokoblin raised the dagger and lunged, but Link lifted a foot and drove his boot into the hilt of his sword still embedded in the thing's belly. A strangled howl burst from the creature and Link scrambled to his feet while his enemies regained their senses. His fist crashed against the bokoblin's jaw while it plucked feebly at the broken sword that skewered it, and the bokoblin dropped both dagger and torch, tumbling to the floor of the cave.
Link dropped to his knees, scrabbling for the dagger, but instinct told him to move, and he flung himself back against the wall as the club from the other bokoblin thunked to the floor. While the monster stumbled, off balance, Link grabbed the club's heavy head and hauled as hard as he could, throwing his weight into the pull. The bokoblin staggered, gripping stubbornly onto the club and Link slung it against the wall hard. It sagged tot eh floor beside its friend, and Link grabbed for the dagger before either monster could recover. His fingers closed around what he thought was the knife hilt, but as he shoved the object forward, he saw that it was the torch he had taken, and the burning head drove against the face of the bokoblin that still doggedly clutched its club. The bokoblin bellowed out its anguish, and the air was filled with the rank small of toasting monster flesh. The sound drove panicking bats and keese swarming around them to escape the cave, and Link swung the torch to ward them off, squeeing his eyes shut against the maelstrom of leathery wings and raking claws.
The second bokoblin, the one he had stabbed, was still somehow still conscious, and it was crawling pathetically for the dagger by the time Link had recovered from the swarm of bats. Link drove his boot into the bokoblin's side, rolling it onto its back, and planted a foot onto the sword hilt that still protruded from its stomach. The bokoblin wheezed and tried to push his foot off, but Link had had enough. With a scream of rage, he stomped and kicked like mad, impacts shuddering up his leg as he laid into the bokoblin with fury and fear. When the bokoblin had gone still, Link collapsed to the earth beside it, his head throbbing, arm still limp and painful, breaths heaving in his chest.
Talo. Talo was still in trouble. With difficulty, Link struggled back to his hands and knees, and set about setting his shoulder back in place. Rusl had taught him how to treat some basic injuries, and he was thankful that the bone was only dislocated and not broken. He gritted his teeth, hissed through them, and popped the bone back into the socket where it belonged. It hurt, a lot, and Link let out a short cry, but shook it off and rolled his shoulders. He flexed his fingers, hoping that feeling would return to his right hand soon, and took up both the dropped torch of one of his dead foes as well as the sturdy club to replace his ruined sword. He suspected that these bokoblins had been left in the cave to watch for followers like Link, and if that was the case, then Talo and his kidnappers would not be far. It could only be hoped that the monsters hadn't decided to lop anything off of him already.
The cave wound deeper and deeper into the side of the hill, and Link did his best to ignore the pain of his injuries as he moved along as fast as he was able. A mess of footprints and the remnants of a hastily disassembled camp told him he was heading in the right direction, and before long Link could see the dampened sunlight of Faron Woods filtering through the mouth of the cave. He was out, and fast on Talo's trail. The monsters had seemingly possessed enough sense to keep on the trail leading from the mouth of the cave, and as Link listened, he thought he could hear a faint cry from further along. There was no guarantee that it was Talo, but if it was he couldn't leave it alone. He was deeper now into Faron Woods than he had ever been before, and had left far behind him the trail that would have led quickly through to Eldin Province and a main road. Wherever the monsters were hoping to take their captive it was not outside the forest. Likely they just wanted to bring the child back someplace convenient to eat or skin him, but Link would die before he let that happen.
He increased his pace, ignoring the pain in his limbs and that throbbed behind his eyes. His boots pounded against the packed dirt of the trail, and he seemed to fly as his legs churned. Here and there branches whipped at his face but Link never dared to slow down as the sound of a child's cries began to grow even louder in his ears even over the rushing of wind. A clearing stood up ahead, and within it Link could see a small fire, a wooden cage and several beasts with skin the color of bruises and apelike faces leering around it.
He came upon them without warning and burst like a thunderbolt upon them. With all the momentum built by his wild chase, Link slammed the club he carried into the back of the first monster's head, sending it sprawling with its skull split. His eyes took in the scene quickly, and as the other five bokoblins looked up in surprise at the intruder, Link spotted Talo curled up pathetically inside the cage alongside a terrified looking monkey. His enemies overcame their surprise quickly, grasping for weapons even as Link skidded to a halt in their midst. He wouldn't give them time to arm themselves. The club cracked against one of the bokoblin's wrists as it lifted a sword, and it dropped the blade with a howl. Link swung the club in a wild uppercut to the jaw of the same monster and watched it's head snap back as the branch broke in two with the force of the strike.
Without stopping for breath, Link hurled the torch, now barely smoldering from the speed of his passage, into the face of another bokoblin who was hefting a short heavy spear, and snatched up the dropped sword. The blade was rusty and poorly maintained, but it would do. With a roar of fury, both to bolster his own nerves and rattle theirs, Link charged the spear-wielder. The bokoblin thrust the head at him clumsily, and Link shunted the blade to the side with his free hand, stepping inside his foe's reach and pushing the sword through its neck for a quick kill. Four more, he thought, and turned as the four moved to surround him. Two with clubs like the one from the cave, another with a short bow and the last carrying a long-handled splitting maul.
The bow was too dangerous to be left alone, and Link darted for the bokoblin holding it before it could nock an arrow. The others rushed to strike at his exposed back, but Link was faster, running the sword through the bowman as he scrambled to escape, before pivoting around him to place the dying beast between him and his attackers.
"Close your eyes!" Link bellowed to Talo, but he didn't bother to check if the boy had actually done it. Steel flashed and blood ran, and all he knew from that moment forward was murder.