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Link had been following me for the last three miles. He must have ridden through the night to catch up so quickly. He's been keeping his distance, but I know the feel of his eyes on me now and the feeling has been hovering in the air since I ate lunch. Since I left Tempest at the garrison this morning I was moving slowly and he had the advantage of his training and fitness. I was keeping to the shade of the forest for now, but the steep cliffs that marked the start of the Gerudo territories were visible on the horizon and there would be no shade for me or tree cover for him. He would have to come out and show himself.
Before I knew it, the shade had run out and the mid-afternoon sun was beating down on me over the looming Gerudo cliffs. The climb was steeper than I remembered, but I hoped to camp at the trio of stone circles so there was nowhere to go but up.
I tucked the slate into the makeshift holder on my hip and tightened the straps on my little pack so that it sat flush to my back and the weight distributed evenly between my shoulders. The first ledge was not so far up and I was able to jump and hoist myself up and onto the precarious landing. The second would take a little more work. I stared up for a moment and planned my route. There were five easy handholds and one that would take a bit of a stretch. I took the first steps quickly and adjusted my weight so that I could jam a fall protection nut into a fissure and yank it down so that it was tight into the crack. I tested the strength before reaching up to the final easy hold and stretched as far as I could for the platform. Just my fingertips could reach so I retreated a little before leaping upward to grab the edge.
Then a hand reached out and pushed my leg from below so that it was an easy scramble onto the rock. Link clambered up after me.
"I could have made it up myself," I said shortly.
"I know you could, Princess" he replied. He handed me the nut I had placed on the rock below. "You are a proficient climber."
I glared at him. He was smaller than me and almost certainly also needed to leap for the last few inches. But he never placed climbing protection unless it was for me to use and still managed to push me up while holding on himself. It was annoying how he was good at absolutely everything.
"Let me do this last one first," He said, "It's harder and I can lead the climb for you. We won't lose any protection that way."
I just nodded sullenly at his suggestion. As usual, it was the best option.
He pulled ropes from his impossible pack and tied it to his harness. He attached a belay for me to manage and hooked some nuts and cams to his harness. His habit of over-preparation was not endearing.
Link reached up and grabbed his first handhold and began to climb. He placed anchors regularly up the rock face and I watched carefully for mistakes. He didn't make any. He was fast too. It was going to take me forever to get all of them back out of the rock. I kept the rope taut for him as he had taught me and waited. Somewhere two-thirds of the way up he placed two anchors right near each other and then leaped much farther than I would be able to. He placed a few more anchors after the leap and called down to me.
"Don't worry! I'll pull you through that!"
He finished quickly and disappeared over the top. The ropes flapped loosely as I released my tight hold and Link messed about at the top. I few feet of rope slid upwards to where Link was presumably tying the end to some anchor and setting up for my climb. Finally, his head popped out over the side and he shouted for me to start whenever I was ready. I counted fifteen anchors to clean up on my way.
The first few were fairly easy to remove. I was able to quickly yank them out and attach them to my belts. The sixth gave me some trouble and I worked at it for several minutes while gripping precariously to a too-small handhold. I could feel Link's eyes on me the whole time. I swear the man didn't even need to blink.
When I came to the point where Link had made his huge leap, I stopped and took a moment to catch my breath. I wasn't to the top and already it was twice the amount of time that Link had taken for the whole climb. I was going to have to make the same jump that he had. I could see the problem, of course. It was the smoothest piece that I had ever seen. No fissures, no uneven rock, not space enough for a bird to land. I would have to reach for a large offshoot of rock jutting out above. I pulled out the last anchor before the challenge and bent my knees. I gathered my courage and pressed off the rock with all of my strength. I reached my hand as far as I could reach and grasped the rock firmly in my hand.
I let out my breath in a huff and swung my other hand up to reach for a second hold on the rock. My feet dangled below me and I scraped with my feet looking for anything to press against. I pulled up a little farther on the rock and then I slipped. My hand was just damp enough from the effort of climbing and cleaning up the anchors. I was falling. The rock was scraping against my left side and I could feel my skin tear at the rough contact. Then the rope was tight and air shot out of my lungs.
I had only fallen a short way before Link caught me. He was frantic as he left behind the pretense of me climbing and began to pull me up the cliffside. He pulled the rope hand over hand and hauled me up to the top.
Link took my hand as soon as he could reach and helped me over the top. He backed us up several feet on our knees and frantically began cataloging my injuries with his right hand while his left kept hold of my hand, preventing me from pulling away.
I was fine, with a few scrapes on my left hip where my shirt had ridden up to expose some skin and a growing bruise on my left wrist. I had smacked my hand against the stone when the rope went taut. Link took my injured hand in both of his and inspected the joint. His gentle touches were completely at odds with his wide eyes and uncharacteristically audible breathing.
At length, he determined that I was going to live and calmed down. He didn't relinquish my hand as if he thought I would run the moment I was free. His hand was warm in mine.
"I left three anchors behind," I said, breaking the silence.
"I know, Princess. I'll get them later." He wouldn't look at me. He spoke to our connected hands.
"It wasn't that bad. I've fallen much farther before. I knew you would catch me."
"Yes, Princess."
"Link, look at me." He did. Of course, he always does as I ask. But his hand stayed in mine. Perhaps the contact was for his benefit instead of mine. "Thank you. I appreciate your assistance today."
I stood and tugged on his hand until he was walking with me to the stone circles. He finally relinquished his grip and helped me set up my tent. It wasn't until a fire was crackling and my scrapes were attended to that he went back to the cliffside to retrieve his abandoned supplies.