Hero by Heart

Chapter 27

At the crack of dawn Zelda got up full of excitement. She woke Link, who was instantly alert and ready for any form of danger, something that had saved him countless times before. But as soon as he saw Zelda his eyes softened and he smiled up at her.
     'I'll be ready in five minutes,' he said, his voice still hoarse from sleep.
     Zelda smiled, her stomach doing flips at how cute he was with his hair a mess and his sleepy eyes, but still ready to follow her everywhere, anytime.
     'Take your time, babe,' she whispered, smiling as his eyes grew big. She then quickly turned around and headed out to make breakfast.
     When Link came out to have breakfast with her he never commented on what she had said, but she could see he looked extremely joyful. For a second he grabbed her hand and squeezed it, but released it just as quickly, fully aware of the lack of privacy here. That was the first time Zelda would truly not mind if people found out, but she didn't say anything, instead focusing on her food.
     Finally they were ready to set out and Zelda stalked towards Thunder, almost jumping up and down in excitement. She was dying to investigate the Citadel. Even before the Calamity she had hardly ever been there, so there was so much she didn't know. Now that it was partly destroyed it might be hard to find anything, but she liked the challenge.
     When Link finally caught up to her, she spurred on Thunder and bounded out, up the steep path. She heard Link laughing behind her, the sound echoing between the rock walls along the road.
     Zelda now neared the top, where the ground would level out again, but suddenly stopped Thunder dead in their tracks, making him neigh in surprise.
     On top of the hill, only just visible above the curve in the road, she could see something moving. That would normally not be so surprising, since the lands were now much safer to travel, leading to a rise in the amount of people on the road. What was standing out however, was the amount of movement she saw.
     There were at least ten heads visible, dimly reflecting the early sunlight. And as she stood watching that amount only increased, as smaller creatures appeared on the horizon. She now recognized the pig-like faces and clumsy way of walking. Moblins and Bokoblins. Lots of them.
     As Zelda stood watching with pure shock on her face, Link came up next to her, reigning in as well. He looked up at the creatures, his jaw set and an angry look in his eyes. She noticed how white his knuckles were from clenching the reigns and the tension in his posture.
     If he would ever look at her that way, she would be sure to run. He looked absolutely deadly, definitely with the grip of his sword poking out above his shoulder and the shield swinging on his saddle.
     'Turn around,' he said, his voice a low groan and his eyes never leaving the group of enemies.
     Zelda felt a chill running down her spine, but didn't move. 'I... I can help,' she stammered, barely believing it herself.
     Now Link snapped his head towards her, his eyes only softening a fraction. 'I don't want to hurt you,' he said softly.
     Zelda looked at him in surprise. "I" he said. He didn't mean that he didn't want her to get hurt. He didn't want to hurt her. Himself. It was enough to make her heart pound and a cold sweat break out.
     She meekly nodded and turned Thunder, but stopped there. She looked over at Link, who had returned his gaze at the monsters, which were steadily approaching and pouring out over the horizon.
     'Please be safe,' she whispered, her throat clenched.
     Now he turned his head to give her a tight smile. 'You too.' He looked forward again and in a flurry of movement he was gone, galloping towards the hoard of enemies.
     Zelda sighed, looking over her shoulder at him, but then spurred on her horse and galloped back down the hill, away from her knight. The only person left in this world she truly, deeply cared about.
     Suddenly there was a loud explosion, accomponied by a flash of light and the shrieking of multiple monsters. With a startled yelp Zelda came to a halt and turned to look behind her.
     There she saw Link, sitting on Epona with the Master Sword in one hand and the reigns in his other. Around him lay several lifeless Bokoblins, together with some that were heavily shocking, unable to move. The Moblins had stayed back some more, out of range of whatever had felled the smaller creatures.
     As Zelda stood watching, Link slashed through one Bokoblin after the other. In a short moment of relief between attacks, he sat very still on his horse, his sword held up to the sky.
     Then all of a sudden another loud thundercrash sounded, as lightning came down all around him, crashing down on the creatures. More fell and others seemed too stunned to move, which Link quickly got rid off.
     He then galloped up the hill, slashing at every moving creature he passed. He moved with a certain grace that made it almost impossible for Zelda to look away.
     Within a minute the group of monsters was thinned out to almost half of what it had been.
     That was when she became aware of a group of three Bokoblins, one silver and two red, and one black Moblin. They had stayed back of the slaughter and now made their way further down the road, straight towards her.
     A rush of panic coarsed through her body, as she frantially searched her mind for ways to defend herself. The only thing she had was a knife and no real clue of how to use it properly. Her sessions of sword fighting with Link had been too few and too long ago to be of any value now. Besides, she didn't even have a sword.
     She looked up again at the small group of monsters, that was now definitely coming at her. Behind them she could see Link fighting off multiple Moblins at once, while expertly steering Epona out of harms way.
     Zelda took a deep breath. 'Link!' she shouted at the top of her lungs.
     His head snapped in her direction, scared of the panic in her voice. In an instant he looked at her and then at the small group of monsters, immediately knowing what the problem was. He slashed at a Bokoblin near his right foot and succesfully cut off its arm, before spurring on Epona to rush to her side.
     Before he could reach her, however, he was stopped by a horde of Moblins standing in his way. They had formed a line so that he couldn't ride past them and now started slashing at him with clubs and swords, some even throwing rocks or the smaller Bokoblins. Whatever he tried, he couldn't get past and he now had his hands full with defending himself.
     'Zelda!' he shouted, now hidden from her view by all the monsters. 'Run!'
     She could hear the slight crack in his voice, evidence of how awful it was for him to not be able to protect her. It instantly made her insides turn into a knot and her throat clench shut. But after another glance at the group approaching her she took a shaky breath and rode further down the road.
     Slowly the sounds of metal clashing on metal or wood became softer, until she couldn't hear it anymore over the sound of Thunders hooves on the hard earth. It became quiet around her, making her all the more aware of the blood rushing through her head, producing a constant buzzing sound in her ears.
     At full gallop she approached the stable, where a small group of civilians had formed to see where the commotion was coming from. She reigned in and came to a stop next to them. Only now did she become aware of the silent tears streaming down her face and her ragged breathing.
     'Monsters,' she gasped, evoking some clamour from the little crowd. 'Link is fighting them. We need to help!' She looked around frantically, searching for any form of help, anything that could defeat those monsters.
     'What can we do? We are no soldiers.' One of them said.
     Zelda looked down on him and realised that he was just a regular Hylian. He wore a backpack, but no weapons. He was also one of three males present in the group and the only one who looked even remotely capable of lifting a sword. These people couldn't help her.
     When she looked over her shoulder she could see the small group of monsters, now standing still and watching them from some distance.
     Again she looked around in growing despair. There was nothing she could do. Link was still fighting those monsters up the hill, she hoped. Where did they even come from?
     Her eye landed on a few crates and supplies lying beside the stable. A torch lay at the ground next to it and a pitchfork stood against the dark wood.
     She made her way over there and dismounted to grab both, before going back to the cookingpot and lighting the torch.
     With the fire burning in her left hand, the pitchfork balancing in her right, she shot one more look at the civilians who stood watching and kicked Thunder to a gallop.
     At full speed she raced towards the smaller group, the pitchfork bobbing up and down as she kept her gaze on them, anger flashing behind her eyes.
     The monsters saw her coming and scattered a little, but still looked ready to attack her as soon as she was close enough.
     Just before she would thunder right through the middle of the group, she steered left and slashed the fire forward, making one of the Bokoblins screech. She then stabbed at another with the pitchfork, miraculously hitting him in the shoulder and dragging him a few feet before he got loose.
     She immediately lifted the pitchfork and swept it horizontally, right against the side of the head of the Moblin. He fell down to the earth, leaving her a small path to ride up the hill.
     Kicking Thunder to a gallop she made her way up the road, but not even halfway she had to halt because of the sheer amount of enemies blocking her path. Armed with only a torch and a pitchfork she would never be able to fight them all.
     Still she tried. She slashed at every monster that came too close and actually lit a few of them on fire. That caused some panic, offering her a little room to move forward. And yet, there was still no sign of Link.
     Zelda called out his name, but either he didn't hear her over the screeches of the monsters and their weapons clashing, or he was not able to answer.
     With new panic rising in her chest she pushed forward, slamming straight into a Moblin and sending him tumbling to the ground. Thunder neighed and she smashed the torch in the face of a Bokoblin trying to grab her.
     Enemies started to close in on her from every direction and she realised that this was it. They would overwhelm her and she would die here today. It seemed such a useless way to die. After everything that they had been through, she would be alone, trying to safe Link for a change, and miserably failing.
     Angrily she stabbed two Bokoblins at the same time and pulled back, but the pitchfork got stuck good and it was yanked from her hands, lost in the midst of her enemies.
     A deep desperation now took control of her, but Zelda spurred Thunder further, determined to at least find Link before she died.
     Waving the torch in circles around her head gave her some more room, but the tiny shiver of hope that grew in her was quickly shredded when a big claw grabbed her arm and jerked her from the saddle. With a dull thud she landed on the hard earth, making her cry out in pain.
     Like a mircale, she still held the torch, but her left shoulder was painfully throbbing. Without giving herself time to check it out, she scrambled to her feet and quickly slashed the torch in a wide circle, making sure the monsters would keep their distance.
     Thunder was some way off, having come to a halt when he realised she was gone, and now stood nervously neighing, trying to get out of reach from the Bokoblins grasping for his reigns.
     'Thunder!' Zelda shouted, gaining his attention and causing his ears to spike up. 'Go! Get out of here.' She wasn't sure how much he understood of what she said, but the combination of a simple command and her trembling voice seemed to get the message across.
     The horse reared and turned on his back hooves, landing with his nose pointing down the road and immediately starting a gallop, straight through lines of Bokoblins, throwing them left and right.
     Now Zelda was sure that her horse was safe, she turned her attention to her immediate surroundings. All monsters now seemed to turn their attention on her, barely armed, unprotected and alone.
     With her good right arm she slashed and stabbed the flaming torch at every monster in her vicinity and ran up the hill, in a desperate last attempt to find Link.
     Suddenly the Moblins and Bokoblins higher up started to screech and seemed to panic, running in all directions, completely forgetting about whatever purpose they had here. As the source of their panic seemed to draw closer, more and more monsters took off.
     Stunned, Zelda stood still, trying to see what caused them to flee, but whatever it was, it was too far away and there were still too many monsters in between.
     She did get renewed hope and started slashing at monsters surrounding her, who had all stopped to stare at their panicking kin.
     At least three Bokoblins fell to the earth before the others seemed to realize, but she now made a break through the lines and continued her way up, straight towards the mysterious source of their panic.
     She reasoned that whatever sent monsters fleeing, would be good news for her. At least she hoped.
     All of a sudden she stumbled onto a clear part of road, where the monsters had already fled. She could finally look up the path properly and saw the first hint of what had caused the commotions.
     Sunlight reflected from shining weapons and the golden armour of at least six Gerudo Warriors. The blinding light seemed to move and flash as the women used their weapons to dispose of some more monsters.
     Zelda was deeply grateful to see them, but at the same time she felt a sinking pit in her stomach at the realisation that Link was not with them. Where was he?
     She ran the rest of the way up to meet the warriors, who seemed a little surprised to find her there.
     'Princess!' one of them called out.
     Zelda looked at the small group and noticed how they all wore the same Gerudo clothes consisting of gold and colourful fabric. Each one of them had red hair tied up in a pony tail on top of their heads and they all held a Gerudo Spear, the typical weapon of Gerudo Warriors. No matter how hard she tried, she could barely keep them apart.
     'Are you alright?' one of the women asked, directing a concerned look at her.
     Zelda nodded absentmindedly, but her face still showed her immense worry. 'Have you seen Link up there?' she asked, trying to look past the group of Gerudo and up the hill.
     The women all looked at each other, worry and confusion plain on their faces. Then one of them stepped forward and shook her head. 'I'm sorry, Princess. We haven't seen anyone.'