Hero by Heart

Chapter 12

Something soft was nudging his shoulder. Slowly Link regained awareness and he opened his eyes to find himself staring up at a cloudy sky, half obscured by the head of a horse.
Apparently Epona had found a way down the steep slope he had jumped off and now stood over him, looking almost expectantly.
Link blinked a few times, his mind still foggy. As he finally realised what had happened a startled gasp escaped his mouth.
The pain was gone, only a little throbbing sensation remained at the places of his injuries. Looking down he realised that his shattered bones were mended. Only a few scars remained on his flesh, visible under the torn fabric of his clothes.
     He closed his eyes and sighed in relief, silently thanking Mipha for her gift.
     Carefully he moved his stiff limbs, making sure everything worked properly. When he was certain he would not die anytime soon, he slowly got up and rubbed Epona on her nose.
     'Thank you, girl.'
     She threw her head up and neighed, as if to answer.
     Link smiled and gave her an apple from his bags, before climbing on her back. He looked up at the sky and judged it was still early noon. He had not been out for long, luckily.
     With a gentle nudge he signaled for Epona to start walking again, up the steep slope across from the Lanayru Road. He wanted to go so much faster, but he did not want to push his horse, or himself for that matter.
     After a little while he looked over his shoulder, down to the plain where the Lynel still lay. It was scorched in places and here and there were dark traces of blood. Especially surrounding the Lynel it was clearly visible.
     Link grimaced as he saw the trail of blood he had made himself, dragging his mangled body over the ground. Thank the Goddess he had made it out of there alive.
     He turned back around, determined to focus on the road ahead. He was far from done. If something happened to Zelda before he could find her, he would never forgive himself.
     When he finally reached the top of the slope, they were standing on a high cliff. Before him the mountainslope ended in an almost vertical drop, making it impossible to walk any further.
     Link dismounted again and took out his paraglider, before giving Epona another apple and patting her on the flank.
     'I'll see you on the other side,' he said, turning around and taking a deep breath. He looked down at the ground far below, but did not let himself feel the fear. Without thinking about it any more, he started running forward and felt how his feet suddenly kicked empty air. He gripped the handles of his glider extra tight and kept his gaze forward, focusing on where he would hopefully land.
     After a couple of minutes, when his arms were going sour and his fingers were aching, he finally landed on his feet again.
     Not far from him were the remains of some old village, stone ruins of houses scattered on the grass. Here and there he saw a trace of monsters, some Lizalfos tails poking from behind walls, or their motionless forms resting on top of them.
     Carefully he walked around the ruins, trying not to attract any notice. Succesfully reaching the riverbank, he looked up at the mountain ahead. Behind that giant creation of nature was Zora's Domain.
     He sighed deeply and crouched down, concentrating on something deep within. After a hesitant little breeze, there was suddenly a gust of air. It caught under his paraglider and lifted him high in the air.
     Link grinned, as he now moved forward instead of up. Rivali might have been kind of a jerk, but he had to admit that his Gale was quite useful.
     Between climbing some steep slopes of mountain and using the Gale two more times, Link rapidly gained more and more altitude.
     When he finally walked up the highest peak he was sore all over, exhausted and hungry, sweaty and thirsty, but at least he made it. The Divine Beast was still there, empty and dark, looking rather lonely sitting up here.
     Link walked past it, to the furthest point of the peak. From here he could see Zora's Domain, some way off to his right. It looked beautiful as ever, warm and welcoming, as light reflected in the water.
     If his calculations were correct, though, Zelda would not be there yet. She should be somewhere along the road up. With the scope of the Sheikah Slate Link started tracking the path, from the bridge into the Domain, down as far as he could go.
     It took quite a while and he started to feel like he would never find her this way, just when he saw movement down to his left.
     Coming out between the rocky sides of a clift in the mountain, there she was. She looked a little disheveled, her hair pointing everywhere, her clothes dirty with mud. Over her shoulders she carried her bags, since she had apparently left Thunder somewhere.
     Link watched as she looked around at the cliffs and waterfalls in awe, her mouth a little open and her eyes big. For a second he was certain that she would see him, but her eyes just passed over him.
     He was just figuring out what he should do, if he should wait for her to reach the Domain or if he should go to her right now, when he saw another movement.
     A little further down the road was a big rock, with underneath the glow of a little campfire. What he hadn't seen before, because they were behind the rock, was that there were three Lizalfos. But now they had gotten up and walked out onto the road, clearly visible to Link. One was silver, the other two green.
     As he quickly looked back at Zelda, hoping to warn her somehow, he noticed that she was still looking up, oblivious to the danger.
     Not even thinking about it again, Link fastened the Slate and grabbed his Paraglider, jumping right of the cliff.