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The breeze was gentle, the morning cool. Dew stuck to the thick leaves of the sparse vegetation, and the layered cliffs glistened as dawn broke. The sun rose, bright and blurry and deep, deep orange over the plateau. It chased away the hazy morning, throwing long shadows amidst a golden glow. Next to Link, Zelda sighed dreamily.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked, drawing her hair over her shoulder.
He shifted his gaze to her, offering a slight nod.
Zelda held her slate, peering at it. They’d only been awake long enough to have a light breakfast, but she was nothing if not resilient. Link wasn’t particularly keen on her royal highness sleeping in the dusty dirt, but she would accuse him of thinking her weak if he said anything. Besides, she was the boss, and it was only his job to protect her. Link glanced up, searching the pale blue sky. The wind came up from the east, carrying another arid day on it.
“The ruins aren’t far,” Zelda said, showing Link her tablet. “We could be there before noon.” She paused. “Ah, but we’ll likely have to take a break to put on cooler clothing, won’t we?”
Link glanced down at his armor.
Zelda giggled. “You can take that off sometimes, you know. The monsters here aren’t any worse than those in the field.” She paused, face falling. “Even if they’re getting worse…”
The monsters are getting worse …Link’s head hurt. He looked at his hands–was he forgetting something…?
Zelda shook her head, determined. “No matter–you’ll be able to stop them, and I’ve been working on my archery lately.” She beamed, drawing a fist to her chest. “We’re going to uncover something big today, I can feel it!”
Wild drew in a sharp breath, opening his eyes. He searched aimlessly. His head spun and he closed his eyes, trying to ground himself. He took in a controlled breath, feeling the cool grass between his fingers, the bark of a tree behind him. And there was…grunting? Clanging?
Wild opened his eyes again to see Twilight drive the Ordon blade through the throat of a beastly moblin. The monster stumbled backwards with a wheeze and Wild couldn’t help but flinch as the rancher tore his blade sideways, nearly decapitating the thing. It teetered backwards before its footing gave out and the massive beast fell to the ground hard enough to shake leaves out of the surrounding trees.
Twilight panted, bringing his shield up with a warcry as a second moblin drove a spear at him from the flank. He turned, slicing with his sword, but the moblin jumped back. Twilight faced it, his face and clothes splattered with blood. Wild saw another dead moblin at the other side of the clearing–there was a deep wound directly through its sternum. The champion’s hand brushed his own chest, an empathetic pang making the scars hurt.
The moblin drew back his spear in a wide swing. Twilight grunted, gritting his teeth as it met his shield with a solid thwack , pushing him off to the side. He charged forward with his sword en pointe, dodging under another swing of the spear’s shaft. The moblin raised its other arm as the rancher dodged his spear and then drove the side of his shield into Twilight’s face.
“Twi!” Wild cried, getting to his feet. He patted himself down in a panic. Needabowneedaswordneedashieldneeda –
Twilight got up to his hands and knees. He spit out a mouthful of blood and staggered up to his feet again, taking a guard stance. The moblin did the same. The opponents crept in a circle before suddenly clashing again.
The moblin swung the spear, Twilight dropped his weight and in a twist, cut the beast from groin to rib in a deep slash. The moblin roared in agony at the wound, staggering backwards. Twilight moved into his ready stance at the blink of an eye and raised his sword.
He let out a cry of shock and pain as an arrow pierced his sword shoulder. His arm fell involuntarily, the arrow deeply embedded in his back. A second arrow punctured his back just beneath the first.
He shook it off and switched his sword hand. It was a trick the others didn’t realize was happening until they started sparring to learn each other’s techniques. Time insisted, he said it’d help them foster their teamwork. Wars agreed and added it would boost camaraderie. Twilight was left handed in most things, but Rusl trained ambidexterity into the rancher’s fighting. At the drop of a hat, sometimes using it as a feint, Twilight could switch hands.
The moblin had not prepared for the switch and before it could raise a proper guard, the sword was through its heart. Twilight used a foot to push the monster off his blade–he’d sunk the sword in up to the hilt. The moblin was dead before the blade was fully removed and it fell to the forest floor.
Twilight let out a haggard breath, looking at the arrows in his shoulders with an icy glare in his eyes. His gaze swept the treeline for the archer. He bared his teeth, raising his shield. The arrow dug into the painted wood with a solid sound.
Wild tried to move, but he stumbled with a yelp of pain, falling to his hands and knees. He looked over his shoulder to see something was very wrong with his leg. Something he hadn’t noticed until the shock of waking up in battle wore off. He clenched his fists, cursing himself.
“Don’t move!” Twilight snarled at him.
Wild knew it was just the rancher’s fighting temper, that he wasn’t cross with him, but he couldn’t help but take the tone as a confirmation that he’d failed . He’d let Twilight down. If Twilight died here, he’d be letting the rest of them down too and what about Ordon? And Snowpeak?
Twilight’s eyes narrowed and the wounded rancher lunged into the trees with a yell. Wild couldn’t see what happened just beyond them. There were a few disgusting noises–the kind that made his whole body ache with recognition at the damage being done. He could only pray it wasn’t Twilight’s body being sliced apart on the edge of a sword. There were two wet crunches, a piggish squeal, the sound of skin tearing and after a moment of silence, a waft of heavy blood.
Twilight hobbled back into the clearing, trying to catch his breath. His sword was slick with black blood, his face and clothes stained with it. His left ear, nose, and lip bled. A black bruise spread across his cheek and his dark eye swelled shut. The arrows still stuck in his back. There was a gash in his thigh and a thin cut in his forehead. The edge of the rancher’s shield was wet with dark blood but there was bone and viscera stuck to it too.
Wild wobbled, falling to the side. The pain seized him, tears beading in his eyes. He could feel his left leg, he just couldn’t move his foot. There was a visible bulge in the shin and his foot lay at a right angle.
Twilight cleaned his blade on the grass before sheathing it under his shield. He limped over to Wild’s side, crouching down with a concerned look on his face.
“Don’t move so much,” he said, voice quiet. “It’ll hurt more if you do.”
“I–what happened…?” Wild got out through his teeth.
Twilight shook his head. “Moblins got the jump on us. You recovered a memory right when they did.” Twilight’s face fell. “I’m sorry–I didn’t realize. I didn’t guard you.”
Wild’s eyes widened. “No,” he managed. “I’m sorry it happened at all. You needed–” He got out a grunt of pain. “You needed me.”
Twilight offered a dry smile. “Well I think I handled it.”
“Look at you!” Wild argued.
Twilight nodded. He reached back, flinching in pain as he broke half the shaft off either arrow just so they didn’t stick out so much.
“We should find someone, huh?” Twilight said casually. “C’mon.”
Wild protested, but the rancher crouched, hoisting the champion up into a carry over his shoulders. Wild frowned softly, fingers spreading into the pelt. Twilight’s limp grew worse as they neared the village. His sweat smeared his blood across his skin. One eye was useless because it was so swollen, the other was getting there because of the blood dripping into it.
“What’s got you so down?” Twilight asked, glancing at Wild.
Wild knit his brow. “What do you mean?” he pressed. “Look at you! And it’s my–”
“Ain’t your fault,” the rancher said firmly. His tone made it clear it wasn’t up for debate. “I did what I wanted to do. If I didn’t wanna get hurt, I coulda just left you there.”
Wild looked away, fists curling. He sniffled. “Watching you get those arrows…” he mumbled.
Twilight sighed. “I know,” he said. “You don’t gotta say it.”
“I’m sorry,” Wild got out shakily.
“Stop apologizing already. I’ll throw you to the moblins if you tell me you’re sorry one more time, you hear?”
Wild felt a smile on his face. “Fine,” he said, sucking up some snot.
“Will you tell me about it?” the rancher asked. “Whatever came back to you today, I mean. Doesn’t hafta be today. I guess you don’t gotta tell me at all.”
Wild nodded. “Sure,” he said. “I think you earned it.”