Chapter 10 - Snowpeak

The bitterly cold winds blasted Link and Zelda as they rode through open snowy fields. They had been travelling for no more than an hour, but Link thought waiting another day for better weather would have been a better option. Still, it wasn't an entire waste. The clear sky allowed the moon to light the way for them. Despite the harsh conditions, the soft light gave an ethereal beauty to the snow-covered plains. Ilia and his child were still in danger and that meant any time wasted would have been utterly unacceptable.

"Link, I believe I see a forest up ahead", Zelda shouted over the wind.

Link had seen the line of tree silhouettes in the distance too. He felt a little better that there would soon be a break from the freezing winds.

"Let's head straight for it" he shouted back.

They were riding a little slower than normal. There was a risk that the horses could slip on an unseen patch of ice. The only way to avoid that was by riding carefully. Link thought back to the time he had come through the Snowpeak mountains with Midna. He had taken very little equipment to help deal with the harsh temperatures. The journey this time was far better, thanks to Zelda getting some of the best possible equipment for them.

Link and Zelda had both donned a fur coat that had been treated with a special wax to further retain heat. The result was comfort and warmth, even in high winds. It did little to protect their exposed faces though.
They both rode at a steady pace and soon enough, they came upon the edge of the forest. Within a moment of entering the dense trees, the cold wind weakened.

"Much better. Is this the route you took with Midna?" Zelda asked plainly.

"Yes. Crossing that open field was a nightmare the first time. The forest made things a little more bearable. Won't ever travel the snow without furs from now on though."

Zelda nodded and looked around. It was far quieter here than they had realised. The treetops were barely rustling either. Link was aware too. A simple breeze, a gentle stream, birdsong and many other things were part of life in Hyrule. In this place, it was as if time had stopped. His paranoia started to manifest itself. Zelda looked composed, but her eyes were wide and she was taking quicker breaths. Then he heard a wolf howling in the distance. Looking around, he tried to at least place the direction it came from. The trees made it difficult but his intuition told him that it came from a hill ahead of them. If he was right, it was the same area where he had fought a wolf pack before.
Zelda seemed calmer somehow. Perhaps she felt better knowing where threats were rather than guessing.

"There's a good chance we may have to fight a pack of wolves when we go further up the mountain." Link said quietly, his voice almost echoing in the clearing.

"Very well. Have you any advice for me then?"

"We fight back to back. Wolves try and come at you from all sides. The alpha will be the first one to attack if they do. No matter how we move, we have to stay glued back to back."

She listened intently and he could tell she had already detailed several ideas on how to deal with the possible threat.

"Even with the moonlight," she continued, "we will still be at a disadvantage. Wolves move quickly from what I recall and fighting in the dark would not be easy. Is it worth camping here until we have daylight? It would make it easier to see where they are coming from, should we have to defend ourselves."

"True, but to my knowledge a wolf only howls for three reasons. To tell others where they are, to tell others about any threats..." he paused, feeling awkward at having to share the most alarming fact.

"And the third?" Zelda pushed

"To tell other wolves where prey is. If we decide to rest, even in shifts, we become easy prey."

Her eyes widened slightly. Link had heard stories about wolves as a child and had been an actual wolf for some time himself. He knew that wolves had many more reasons to howl, but most would do it to communicate the three things he had told Zelda.

"Let us eat something then. I would rather have stable nerves for this."

She was already rummaging through her pack. She brought out a piece of seasoned cuccoo meat, cut it in two with her hunting knife and passed a piece to Link. The smell hit him before he even raised it to his nose. It smelled of herbs, butter and pepper. His mouth already watering, he took a bite. The flavours danced on his tongue and made him momentarily forget his surroundings. He chewed slowly to savour the full taste. He was disappointed a moment later when he had eaten the meat in two bites. Feeling a piece was stuck in his throat, he coughed a couple of times and pounded his chest to try and shift it.
Feeling it move only slightly, he moved to Epona and got the first bottle he could see. His Hylian whiskey.
He popped the cork in it and took a mouthful.
As he swallowed, the whiskey mixed with the impeccable savoury flavour and made it richer, with the benefit of it warming him.

"What are you drinking?"

"Whiskey. Nearly choked and grabbed the first thing I saw. Works quite well with the meat thankfully"

"May I try some then?"

Raising an eyebrow, he thought carefully. Alcohol dulled the nerves but also reaction time. He didn't doubt she could defend herself, but would rather not take too much of a chance with the princess of Hyrule.

"Alright...but a small measure. Don't want to dull your senses." he said shyly.

"I am no fool, Link" she shot back.

He felt his cheeks turn red, grateful that the cover of night would not reveal them. He passed her the bottle and she took a single cap full of the potent drink.
She drank it gently after her final mouthful of the delightful cuccoo meat.
She looked thoughtful as she decided on the flavour.

"Not too bad. I would say wine would work better with it. But that warmth at the end? Delightful out here."

"It's the first time I've tried it with food. Never thought to before now." he replied.

"You drink regularly?"

He paused for a moment. Zelda knew exactly what drove him to find any available distraction. How could she ask him this? It wasn't wrong of him to want a distraction, to his mind at least.

"Every time I think of Midna, it feels like I get closer to a breakdown. The whiskey helps to keep that at bay, happens to taste nice and works quickly."

"I believe I understand, Link."

"Do you?" he retorted, more loudly than he intended.

He hung his head, annoyed at himself. Here she was, in a frozen forest, defying her councillors to help him and all he could do was snap at her.

"Link-"

"I'm sorry. I've been on my own for a year now and only recently-"

"Link!"

He snapped his head up. Amongst the trees, there was the unmistakable silhouette of several wolves. Link slowly looked around the tree line. More wolves. He counted ten, though he couldn't be sure under the dim light of the moon. His heart sank as a bank of clouds settled over the bright moon, casting them into darkness.
His heart began beating quickly, the adrenaline beginning to flow into him.

"Dismount and let's get in front of the horses."

With a soft crunch of snow, Link's feet hit the floor, followed by Zelda a moment later. He withdrew his lantern, lit it and placed it in front of him. In the darkness, its light didn't reach very far, but it was more than enough to see several feet ahead of them. Epona was an experienced warhorse and didn't whinny at the threat before her. Zelda's horse however was not as seasoned, was beginning to move around unpredictably and whinnying at a higher pitch.

Link swore under his breath. If the horse bolted, the wolves would attack it. Zelda was already trying to whisper calmly to it as she kept her eyes focused forward. The horse wasn't soothed and continued to get more and more nervous.
Link couldn't see the wolves but he was certain they were waiting for their chance. Attacking a group was a dangerous idea but wolves were intelligent. They would strike when the moment was right.
In the clearing, it was quiet. The forest around them stopped the wind and the near-total darkness was unsettling.

"Stay together" Link managed to say, more for himself.

Then, the growling started. From the alpha wolf, several more wolves started to growl as well. The low and threatening noise sent a shiver up Link's spine. A minute passed as his body remained tense, ready to draw the Master Sword. In the periphery of his vision, he saw Zelda maintaining her ready posture but she was breathing faster.

"Don't move." he said, trying to reassure her.

It did little to help. The wolves were growling louder and Zelda's horse was getting more and more panicked.
It was shifting around on its feet constantly now and its whinnies were getting more frantic.
Link prayed to the goddesses to calm the horse. Then the wolves started barking.
The din reverberated off of the trees, echoing slightly.

The horse had had enough. With a high-pitched squeal, Link heard it spin on its spot and the thunder of desperate hooves running away as fast as they could. He kept his eyes forward and drew his sword, ready for whatever came next.
As the horse ran for its life, Link heard the patter of wolf paws in the snow at a frantic speed. It seemed like all of them were running at once. Raising his sword for the first swing, he realised he should have been able to see them by this point. Dismayed, he realised what was happening. He dared to look around and barely managed to see wolf silhouettes running around him, through the trees at the edge of the clearing.

"No! They are all going for my horse! Link, we have to go after them!" Zelda barked frantically.

Before she made more than a footstep, Link grabbed her shoulder.

"No" he said flatly.

"What?! Link, they will kill him!" she said desperately.

Link didn't release his grip.

"If we chase them through these woods, we'll be at even more of a disadvantage than we are now. And we are in a severe one already."

Zelda kept trying to pull away. Link kept his grip as he heard more wolves move through the woods.

"Zelda..."

She stopped struggling and he felt her shoulders slump, accepting the grim reality. He let go of her shoulder and she didn't try to chase after the wolves.

"I'm sorry. Believe me, I don't like this any more than you do. But we need to move. Now"

She nodded wordlessly. Seeing her face more clearly, he saw immeasurable sadness in her eyes. Before he could start feeling bad himself, he picked up his lantern, snuffed the flame, mounted Epona and extended a hand to Zelda to help her up.

"Can your horse support both of us?" she asked quietly.

"Yes. She's a dependable warhorse. Didn't even flinch when we were chasing Ganondorf down."

"Cyd was dependable too, Link. Now we've left him to be chased by a pack of wolves."

She extended her hand and grabbed his. Link then pulled her up smoothly as she planted a foot in a stirrup. As she shuffled around Link to the back, he spoke.
"Zelda, I'm sorry. If it was Epona running away, I would want to go after her and try to catch her. But the reality of that actually happening is nearly impossible, so I wouldn't. Wolves and horses are very fast when they run."

"I know, Link. I know... It just hurts to think of Cyd alone out there. I have known him since he was a foal."

Link knew they had to press on but he felt terrible. Telling Zelda to leave her horse had hurt. Unfortunately, as hard as he tried, he just couldn't think of anything to say that could help. Before he let the miserable situation get any more dreary, he took the bottle of whiskey and passed it back to Zelda.

"Take another sip. He's a strong horse. There's still a chance we will see him again."

Zelda said nothing, but took two mouthfuls and passed the bottle back to Link. He took a few mouthfuls too. On the third one, it burned his throat and snapped him out of his misery a little. They were too tense for the alcohol to impair their judgement.
He urged Epona onwards through where the wolves had appeared. He and Zelda rode in silence for some time, being careful to navigate the dense forest as well as keep watch for any more wolves. Link managed to carry on in a roughly straight line by looking straight up at the moon to orientate himself now and then.

Later, they saw the edge of the tree line extend out onto some rolling hills. Behind them, the cliffs and slopes of Snowpeak rose high above them all.
Eventually, they rode out and started on the long ascent. Looking around, Link saw a path leading up the mountain. It looked similar to the one he and Midna had travelled so long ago. Alone with his thoughts, he recalled the journey they took through the Snowpeak mansion and how he had his arm broken, but rested in the freezing mansion until he was well enough to move again.
He wondered what it would take to kill him, considering all he had survived so far. Perhaps it was luck or intervention from the goddesses. Perhaps both. As he recalled his extensive injuries, Zelda was the one who broke the silence.

"Link. Look up to the right."

He saw a large ice cliff, almost entirely flat and reaching up an enormous distance. Craning his neck up, it looked as if it would take them right next to the summit. Or at the very least, not so far from it.

"Looks like a solid climbing surface, but I don't see any points up there where we can rest. It'd be a long climb-" he said, trying to rationalise the idea. "-but if you're comfortable trying it?"

"Yes. However, once we reach the top, I would like to rest until daylight. This night feels as if it has lasted for an eternity."

Link let out a dry, short laugh. "Agreed. Though I have to say, it's a lot better doing this with someone else."

Zelda managed a small smile. As they closed the distance to the ice sheet, it reflected more of the moonlight, making it far easier to see. The ice looked thick and seemed to be fairly smooth. It would be ideal for their ice axes and boots. Link began to unpack their equipment and don his. Zelda passed him one of the small brown cubes she had eaten earlier on.

"It may be wise to eat this once we are halfway up there..." she trailed off as she looked up.

"Nervous?" Link asked, his nerves testing him.

"It looked so much easier from further away" she replied plainly.

Link couldn't help but laugh. She was right after all. Half of the things he had experienced had followed that mentality at some points.

"Think we're ready?" he asked.
They had secured their equipment firmly, packed some pitons and rope and prepared a water bottle each.
Zelda then walked to the edge of the cliff and kicked her spiked ice boots into the monolithic ice wall. The spikes pierced it easily.

"Let us get it over with"

Link nodded, walked over and planted his boot into the wall as well. He felt some slight resistance as he did, but he was already fond of the boots. He then pushed himself up and swung the tip of his ice axe further above him. It pierced the ice but resisted more than the boot spike had done. He pulled himself up and planted the other boot. He was only a few feet off the ground, but he felt exhilarated. Zelda had put both boots and ice axes in and was already ascending. Link looked up, the ice glowing slightly under the moonlight. He felt a rush of determination hit him and he began the long ascent.

Some time passed as they both kept a steady pace. They paused briefly to gather their breath.
Link looked over his shoulder and let his jaw open. In the distance, he saw the lights of Castle Town as pinpricks in the night. Death Mountain glowed a warm red colour near its peak, illuminating its own slopes. Under the moonlight, he managed to see a faint outline of treetops towards the horizon. Gazing in awe, he tried to burn the image into his mind. He would never want to forget the sight.

"Your domain looks beautiful from here..." he said quietly.
Zelda looked over her shoulder and her eyes went wide as she gazed in wonder. She took a moment to take in all of the details. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"I...never realised how wonderful it looked..." she whispered.

"Nice to be out of the house for once, isn't it?"

She smiled and nodded, utterly content. Her anxieties had faded and her focus came back. She turned to him.

"I do not believe I will ever forget this. I am willing to bet that it looks even more resplendent at the summit though. Shall we?"

Link nodded happily and they resumed the climb. As they ascended, they hammered strong pitons into the ice and threaded their climbing rope through them. If either of them fell, the rope secured around them would prevent them from falling. At least Link was hoping they would.
They climbed for another ten minutes and stopped again. From their position, they guessed they were around about halfway up their climb. Link looked back at the grand vista whilst Zelda fiddled with her pockets and withdrew two of the small brown cubes.

She ate hers and passed one to Link. He was already curious and wanted to see how it tasted.
As he chewed, a warm rush of energy came over him. The sweetness was enhanced by the sweet milk and with it being crumbly, it was a delight to eat. He felt he could easily eat a full bag of them. After that, a powerful wave of energy swept through him and revitalised him. He was already in good physical condition, so he was only slightly worn down, but the strange snack had still worked wonders.
After eating, Link and Zelda just sat there, looking over their shoulders across all of Hyrule. The sky on the horizon was beginning to change colours and illuminating the world slightly.

"I want to be on the summit before the sun rises. Let's go!" Link said as he was already resuming the climb.

Zelda said nothing but did her best to keep pace. Links' enthusiasm seemed to be spurring her on.
They continued the climb, having to slow down as the ice changed its orientation a bit further up.
Sometime later, the sky was even lighter and there was no cloud to be seen. Link kept up a consistent speed, leaving Zelda behind a little, but he wouldn't be stopped.
As he neared the top of the wall, he swung his ice axe into the ice again but once it found its mark, the small web of cracks near the ice axe began to expand. Slowly, the cracks frayed further across the giant section of ice.

"Oh no..." Link whispered faintly.

If the cracks continued and went across the entire section of ice, there was a chance that part of the ice cliff could collapse.

"Zelda! The ice is cracking! Hurry" Link bellowed.

She didn't need telling twice. She doubled her pace and caught up to Link in less than a minute. Link had waited for her, but now the cracks were spread out over a third of the width of the ice shelf. They were getting louder too. They both moved as quickly as they could, but with each swing of the ice axes, more and more cracks appeared, their webs connecting into the large split forming beneath them.
Thankfully, they climbed over the ledge at the top and moved away from the edge. Link quickly undid the rope tied to his waist. He didn't want to think of what would happen if the weight of an ice cliff crushed the rope into his torso. Zelda was undoing hers when an enormously loud crack resonated around them.
They stumbled as they felt the ground move beneath them.
This time, Zelda was the first to react.

"Run!" she shouted.

Before Link could even think, she grabbed his hand and pulled with all of her strength. They ran as hard as they could, but they didn't seem to be moving any further forward. Horrified, Link looked at his feet as he ran and saw the ice beneath their feet being dragged towards the edge of the cliff with them still on it.
His mind went blank but his body worked furiously to keep sprinting as hard as he could with Zelda. For every two steps they made forward, they moved back by three. They were going to fall at this rate.

He looked ahead of him, desperate to see any way out. There were several dead trees with solid-looking branches ahead of him.
Daring himself, he reached for one of his clawshots. They rode the sheet of ice closer to the edge of the cliff as he raised the device and armed it. He only had one chance. Zelda was breathing heavily, close to giving up. Releasing the trigger, the chain shot forward with incredible speed. The claw never reached the tree. They were just barely out of range of it.

Zelda screamed with unrestrained horror, Link's fear completely overwhelmed him and he cried in terror too as they saw the ice shelf slide over the edge of a rocky mountain edge. The useless claw shot lay hopelessly on the solid rock that had been hiding under the ice.
Link felt his entire body go light as gravity took hold of him and started to pull him down, mercilessly.
Then, he saw something strange. He and Zelda were falling, but the chain wasn't falling the same way. It seemed to hang in the air slightly as they began to fall. Looking up, Link saw something that he had trouble believing.

Before he had time to think, the chain went fully taut. Their momentum cancelled, he was pulled back by the stuck chain. Holding on with all of his might, he lifted Zelda as hard as he could. She drifted closer to him and he managed to wrap his arm around her waist just before the shock of the stop made her slip from his grip.
As the shock from stopping himself and Zelda from falling ran through him, he clenched his teeth as his muscles cried out in agony. It felt like his arms were burning, begging to release the tension.

Zelda wrapped her arms around his waist as she hung on very tightly. She would not stop looking down. Link dared to look too and saw the entire ice cliff, that they had just climbed, fall into the ground and split apart with great ferocity. Chunks of ice were ejected everywhere and the sound of loud cracks echoed all around them.
Less than a minute later, it all went eerily quiet again.

"H...how...a..a...are we a..alive?" Zelda stammered. Shock had taken hold of her. Her grip around his waist was like iron. He was finding it hard to breathe. He had to try and calm her down somehow.

"Zelda. Please listen to me. You are going to be fine, I am going to be fine. Please loosen your grip a little. I can't breathe very well." he said slowly, trying to conserve what energy he could.

The chain seemed to support them both but if he ran out of breath, he would lose his grip on the clawshot.

"I'm going to try retracting the chain. It will pull us up. Once we get to the top, we have to climb over the edge again, then get as far away from this cliff as possible."

Zelda didn't respond, but he did hear her breathing get a little calmer. She also managed to loosen her grip. Only a little, but it was enough.
Grateful, Link tried to retract the chain, but the device refused to move.

Dismayed, he tried again but got the same result. The device couldn't lift both of them. Now, he was starting to feel desperate.
He looked at the cliff. Now that it was free of ice, he was hoping they could climb that. His heart sank even further when he saw no footholds or rock that looked soft enough. They also appeared to be in front of an overhang.
He looked around fruitlessly. To his left, more overhanging cliff. To his right, the exact same.
Then, out of ideas, he looked back over the horizon.

The sun was beginning to crest over the horizon. It cast the entire realm in a golden light. Death Mountain looked glorious as its shadows made it all the more distinctive. The remaining trees of Faron Woods looked almost sacred from this distance away. Castle Town and its tiled roofs cast a slight blue hue over the capital.
Link thought that if he was to die, then he was happy that this would be the last sight he saw.
Just by thinking about the prospect of dying, he seemed to snap out of his fatalistic thoughts. He didn't want to die. He still had to see Midna. He wished she was here, to see this sight with him. How much they could both still do, especially with the Twilight crisis over.

His heart hurt as he thought of everything he would miss out on if he made no progress towards opening a new portal. As his emotions began to well once again, he screamed into his mind 'I want to survive this! Please, make this device strong enough to pull any weight up'.
He let his feelings pile up on top of each other as they began to threaten to overwhelm him. He looked straight up and directed his intent to the Triforce symbol in his left hand, currently in the glove of the clawshot.
He felt his anxiety and panic begin to recede as a bright golden light shined out of the glove. Its radiance warmed him as the last of his fears dissipated into the power of the Triforce of courage.

The chain of the clawshot, in the blink of an eye, had turned into pure-looking gold, the glow of his glove almost dazzled him.
Now, he was eager to try again. He squeezed on the mechanism, and the chain began to retract. It pulled him and Zelda straight upwards as if they weighed nothing. Zelda, startled by the sudden movement, tightened her grip once again.
It was getting painful now, but that didn't matter. The edge of the cliff was almost within reach again.
As the glove came to the edge, he saw that the claw at the end of the chain had wedged itself into a crack in the cliff. The gap was just the right width to let the chain through, but not the claw. It spread the force out more across the rock, so there was little danger of it being overloaded. It was the mechanism in the glove that wasn't strong enough.

He decided it would be too dangerous to try and convince Zelda to climb up him and over the edge, so he started carefully choosing his handholds as he slowly made his way up and over the edge.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity dangling nearly four hundred feet from the ground, he crawled over solid ground, as far away from the edge as possible. Zelda was still clinging on to him.

For a moment, he just lay there, letting his sore muscles relax finally. After a few minutes, Zelda finally released her grip, rolled off of him and onto her back. She stared at the sky as she tried to regulate her breathing.
Uncounted time passed as neither of them said anything. Merely being grateful to be alive and letting relief seep into them.
Once they had finally both calmed down, Link dared to get to his feet. Very carefully.
As he stood, he turned around to face Hyrule.

The sun, now fully above the horizon, illuminated all of the country that they could see and revealed all of its beauty. There was not a cloud to see, even at this height. There was no anxiety any more. Peace came over Link as he stood, staring vacantly over the world.

"We're never coming here again. Might want to witness this once in a lifetime sight, Zelda"

She got to her feet slowly. Standing next to Link, they both stared in wonder and silence.
Eventually, the cold started to make them shiver a little, so they moved further back from the edge of a cliff and lit a small fire from the dead wood of the tree he had tried to save himself with.
They cooked a portion of meat that had been magically sealed for travel and after they ate, felt themselves to be calm once again.

"Well, Link. I believe I owe you a debt of incredible gratitude once more. Not only did you save us from Ganondorf, but now you have stopped me from falling to my death."

Link looked at her, unsure of what to say.

"I don't think the goddesses were on my side there. That was pure luck, I think. But thank you."

Zelda looked thoughtful for a moment.

"This is the first time I have truly been out to experience the world. Some of it terrifies me you know. However, the more I think about it, the more I realise that you have to deal with life-threatening situations like this a great deal more."

Link nodded, electing to say nothing. She was right, but he didn't really like being praised so much. It was nice that people recognised it, but he didn't feel as if he deserved it. He had had a job to do after all.

"I am sorry Link" Zelda said, surprising him.

"Why?"

"That I could not assist you more during the Twilight crisis. I should have found more ways to try and help you. Nobody should ever have to go through the horrors that you have endured."

"Zelda, please do not worry about it. That job is done now. Also, as we're in a time of peace, you are providing me with a great deal of support. I don't begrudge you for being held captive by Zant and Ganondorf. It's hard for prisoners to get things done after all."

Zelda smiled a little. They both sat quietly for a while longer, letting the fire warm them some more.
Eventually, Zelda stood up and stretched.

"We are almost there Link. Shall we finish this?" she asked brightly.

"Oh? Didn't you want to rest once we got up here?"

"Well...we just did. Besides, I would rather not sleep on a mountaintop that tried to kill us."

Link laughed. She was a quick wit and pleasant to be around. He got to his feet and performed some stretches of his own.
Once they were both ready, they carried on, further up the slope to the peak. The walk was far easier this time as there were no cliffs to climb now. After a few minutes, they set their feet on the highest point in all of Hyrule. Death Mountain was enormous, but Snowpeak had still managed to reach itself higher.
At the top, there was a small plateau. Fresh snow covered it and crunched under their feet. As they walked over it, they saw a wide hole in what looked like the centre of it.
As they neared it, they saw a circular stone staircase receding into the mountain itself.

"Well... this is...surprising." Link uttered, baffled as to why anyone would build anything in such a remote place.

"This is likely the work of the goddesses. I imagine they wanted to make it difficult for anyone to find pieces of the Triforce of power. Not many people would want to risk death by climbing up here."

"Ah, that makes sense" Link concluded.

Then, something struck him about what Zelda had suggested.

"Following that idea... the goddesses making things difficult? It would make sense if there's something in the mountain that's going to be a nightmare to deal with"

Zelda nodded glumly. They both realised that there was a risk in searching for Triforce pieces. Already, they had overcome difficult challenges. They could only hope that what waited for them wouldn't be impossible to deal with.

Slowly, they began to walk down. The smell of rotting flesh rising from the bottom of the stairs quickly shut down that hope.