The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Overworld Chapter 27 - Up the Frosty Path

            …and back into Hyrule Field. Link sighed as he and Epona caught up with Bruce. Bruce asked, “You’ve got your ticket covered, right?”

            “Why does everyone assume I don't have any money?” Link replied with a laugh. “Yes, I can pay for it.”

            Bruce laughed as they climbed up onto the station, looking away as he did. Bruce fished through his pack until he found his order form. The ticketmaster on the platform waved them through, after taking an orange rupee from Link and handing them both a ticket.

            Epona settled down in the car quickly. Wind tossed his head, nervous about the closed-in area. Bruce sighed. “Does your horse have to keep showing mine up?”

            “I think so,” Link replied as they sat down. It was nearly empty in the car, save a few more knights on board. Link asked, “Do you know what’s going on in Frostbite? I just heard there was a massive storm.”

            “That in it of itself is pretty bad,” Bruce said. “I mean, they don’t call the place Frostbite for nothing. That is bitter cold; an chills like that can go right through you in a second. There are really only two races suited for it up there: the Yetis and the Anoukis. Knights can’t stay longer than a month without losing something. Then again, most of them skip Glenwood to get to the fort up on the mountain, so it doesn’t surprise me. They focus too much on getting there than preparing.”

            “That’s quite the contrast in races,” Link said, thinking of size difference between an Anouki and a Yeti.

            “Seems to work well enough,” Bruce answered. He pulled out a flask from his pack. “Of course, our troops are pretty stuck up there because the Yetis refuse to talk to us. Don't know about the Anouki, but they aren't much more help fighting than a Korok. Think you can do something about those Yetis for us?”

            “I might,” Link said as Bruce passed him the flask. It had something warm in it.

            Bruce muttered as he took his flask back, “I hope the people at Glenwood can help us. I’d rather not freeze to death on the other side of the world.”

            The ride took hours. The train stopped several times to pick up people. Despite the fierce heat, they stopped at Sandsought. Most of the other knights got off at that stop, and Link figured why. He  figured it was to trap some heat in the cars since they were about to go up into the mountains. The heat clung to the car as it had before, but Link worried about how long that would last when they got up into mountains.

            Three hours after they started, the train started to rise. The warmth of the car started to dwindle as they rose. A shiver ran down Link’s spine. Epona lifted her head as Wind leaned into her. The horse snorted, unhappy, but didn’t walk away.

            Again, Bruce pulled out his flask. Link appreciated the warmth it brought with eat drought. He tried to spare it, but the longer they rode, the colder it got.

            A wind burst through the top of the car. A head poked itself in, before a man dropped down into the car. Link started to stand up, but the man unmasked himself. He tossed a couple of blankets towards Link and Bruce, before handing out some more to the rest of the people in the car. “Keep warm, gentlemen. We’re going to be arriving at the station in an hour, and it’s another hour up to Frostbite. You do not want to get too cold up here.”

            After he was done, the man jumped back out the roof of the train. The hatch closed again. Link wrapped the goat wool blanket around him, the wind starting to come through the sides of the car. Eventually, he built up enough heat in the blanket to keep warm, even blazing under the heavy material. But he knew that removing it would be foolish.

            Link asked, “How far away is Glenwood from the station?”

            “I don’t know, look at your map,” Bruce replied, sinking into his own blanket.

            Link pulled out the map Kaepora had given him. He should have looked at it more, but he usually knew where he was heading. He traced his finger along the map until he found a set of runes near Frostbite. Bruce said from inside his bundle, “It’s call Last Sun Village in Ancient Hylian. Find it?”

            “I think so,” Link replied. He found the train station on the map and said, “It looks like it's about a half hour from the station, but it goes up into the mountains a little more than the trail up to Frostbite does.”

            “Then it’s about the same as heading to Frostbite as far as staying warm goes,” Bruce said. “But if we get to Glenwood, then we should be able to find something to keep us warm no matter where we head up here, which will be worth twice as much in the end.”

            “You think so?”

            “Well if I’m wrong, we won’t be getting to Frostbite in one piece, I can assure you that,” Bruce replied. "We might never leave Glenwood again for that matter, since we can't be certain when the next train will be after we get there."

            “I don’t think that helps,” Link said.

            “Then hope I’m right,” Bruce answered.

            The train rolled into the station. Without taking off their blankets, the two mounted their horses and rode out of the car. Epona shivered as she set hoof outside, but the horse continued on. Reluctantly, Link had to hand over the blanket. The cold quickly began to bite into his tunic.

            Bruce rode up beside him. He said, “We’ve got a half hour to get there. If we don’t reach it, we’re going to freeze out here.”

            “You got anything positive to say?” Link asked.

            “Yeah. That sword looks great,” Bruce replied, before he asked Wind on into the storm. Link shook his head, and asked Epona into the storm. They only had so long, and he couldn’t waste a minute of it.

            The wind howled around them as they dove into the snowstorm. It didn’t take long for the train station to sink out of view. Link turned away, focusing on the road ahead. He pulled his map out and held it down on his saddle. Now he hoped he just didn’t get lost…