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“Link?”
Wearily, Link opens his eyes and stares at the child in front of him. He’s sprawled in an ungainly heap across the ground, roots and stones digging painfully into his side.
Colin is looking back at him with eyes wide and fearful. Rope binds his wrists before him at the waist and his face is smudged with dirt, but he’s otherwise been left untouched. “Are we going to die?”
His lips part as he tries to think of something to say before the words die on his tongue. He remains silent.
He thinks could have borne this if they had taken only him. Colin’s admiration of him is touching- he’s honored to have been made to feel so loved at Ordon Village- but he wishes more than anything that the child had stayed behind where he was safe instead of following Link over the bridge.
Once they had encountered the goblins, it had all been over. Link had done his best to keep Colin safe. It hadn’t been enough.
He wants to tell him that they will survive and for it to be the truth, but a sliver of doubt has already entered his heart. He doesn’t know that they will survive this and he doesn’t want to promise something he can’t guarantee.
But he looks at Colin’s face and he realizes that he has to tell him something. “Of course we will.” He tries to smile, but it feels forced.
Colin recognizes this too. His face crumbles and his lip quivers.
“Don’t cry.” Link struggles to push himself upright, a difficult feat when his wrists have been fastened behind his back. There’s a collar around his neck, he finds out, a length of chain running from it to the bonds around his wrists. If he keeps struggling, he’s only going to strangle himself.
He’s forced to give up, flopping back against the damp grass, utterly exhausted.
His head is spinning and he moans. He squeezes his eyes shut and then he sees it. The memory of the demon he had seen so many years before.
With a strangled gasp, his eyes fly open.
He’s staring at the sky once again, only this time, storm clouds are gathering in the distance.
“Link?” Colin is still staring at him, traces of tears on his face. “What’s the matter?”
He needs to be strong for Colin now. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Link forces the dreadful images far from his mind. “It’s nothing,” he lies. He doesn’t try for another smile. Instead, something far more urgent takes over his thoughts. “Listen, Colin, I need you to promise me something.” The boy doesn’t speak, only nods, but his eyes are earnest, even if frightened. Satisfied that Colin is listening to him, Link says, “If you get the chance, I want you to run for it.”
Colin’s eyes grow wide. “What? No!”
“Keep it down!” Link shushes him. He casts as much of a glance as he is able to over his shoulder, but their captors are still distracted. Still, he’d like to keep it that way.
“But, Link, I can’t just leave you!” Colin follows his instructions to keep his voice down, but he still protests.
“I can take care of myself,” Link assures him though he’s feeling considerably less sure of that considering their predicament, but it seems to do the trick. Colin at least appears to feel more at ease, though he casts a wary glance at the goblins.
Their presence so close to Ordon Village is concerning- at the very least, they have the bridge defending them, but it’s not an absolute guarantee if someone unsuspecting wanders beyond the barrier.
At least Epona has escaped unharmed. It’s his one consolation in this situation. He doesn’t know what he would do if anything were to befall her.
The monsters have got a fire going. From the smell, Link guesses that they’re roasting a pig and they’re rather excited about it as well, which keeps their attention off of both him and Colin for the time being.
Colin still looks unconvinced so Link keeps going. “Think of your parents.” Maybe it’s cruel to bring them into this, but if it does the trick then Link thinks it will be worth it. Colin goes still, staring at Link with wide eyes, but at least he’s got his full attention now.
Slowly, Colin nods and Link breathes a sigh of relief. If he can just get Colin away from them, that’s one less thing he has to worry about.
An argument has broken out among the goblins. Link stiffens and Colin goes very still, eyes wide.
He flinches, shrinking back, and it’s the only warning Link gets before he’s seized by the hair and dragged backwards. He gasps, but he can’t fight it. He can only give Colin a look, warning him not to interfere or call attention to himself.
Colin stares back at him, eyes wet with tears, but he doesn’t move. “Don’t watch,” Link mouths. Whatever comes next, Colin doesn’t need to see it, but the boy gives him no indication that his message has been heard.
He doesn’t break eye contact with Colin until his view is blocked by the goblins encircling him. He’s thrown to the ground directly in the center of their little gathering. They leer down at him, their eyes reflecting the light of the fire. The smell of roasted hog still lingers in the air.
The goblins have satisfied their physical hunger. Now comes the time to satisfy their hunger for something else.
“Look at him,” one sneered. It holds a knife in its hands, wickedly curved and jagged. “Pretty boy needs some blood on him.”
“Don’t kill him. He’s still needed alive.”
Link swallows the knot that rises in his throat and does his best to meet their gaze levelly. His heart is racing- if he’s honest with himself, he’s terrified of what might be coming, but he won’t let them see that.
Whatever fate is in store for him, he’ll meet it bravely.
He sees the boot coming a split second too late. It connects with his chin, snapping his head back.
He tastes blood in his mouth and spits it out. He’s not given a chance to recover as they descend on him.
He curls around himself as best he can, but, with his hands bound and the collar around his neck, there isn’t much he can do to defend himself.
A steel-toed boot drives itself into his torso. Link doesn’t scream as the air is pushed from his lungs.
Instead, he wheezes, eyes watering as he struggles to draw in a proper breath.
The goblin standing over him guffaws. “Look at him. Can’t even breathe proper.”
“Careful,” one he assumes to be the leader says. “We still need him alive to bring back to the Twilight Realm.”
This isn’t the first time they’ve said something along those lines. Link still has no idea what that means or why they might need him alive, but the words fill him with dread. The most he can gather is that it has something to do with the mark on his hand.
When the goblins shift, a gap is formed in their ranks and Link can’t resist seeking out Colin, just to make sure he’s still alright.
Except… he isn’t there anymore.
He jerks, panicked, until it occurs to him that maybe he took his advice and found a way to escape after all.
Quickly, he averts his eyes, not wanting to draw their attention to Colin’s absence. The more of a headstart he gets, the better chance he has of actually getting away.
It doesn’t seem like he has anything to worry about though.
Their attention is entirely centered on him. He never thought that he would be thankful for something like that, but if it gives Colin a better chance, he’ll take it.
The goblins number about ten.
It’s not more than he could have handled on his own, but it’s a lot to be dealing with now.
A hand fists in his hair, dragging his head back and exposing his neck. A cold blade is pressed right up against his throat.
The goblin sneers at him. “Lucky that you’re wanted alive,” he spits. “I’d love to stick my knife into you. See if you’re as pretty on the inside as you are on the inside.”
He shoves Link to the ground and moves to stand up.
He doesn’t make it far before he jerks, eyes going wide, and he collapses back to the ground with a gurgle, an arrow through his throat.
Blood trickles from his mouth.
A shout goes up among the goblins and they spin round, drawing weapons with a clang of steel, but no enemy presents itself.
There’s nothing to be seen but trees. Even so, it’s eerie. Link can feel it down to his bones. He shudders, a chill sweeping over him.
“Who’s there?” one of the goblins ventures a step forward and slashing his sword through the air, aiming to intimidate. “Show yourself!”
Instead of an answer, another arrow comes flying from within the trees, piercing one of the goblins through the gap in its armor between the neck and shoulder. It falls to the ground, already in its death throes, blood bubbling from its lips.
A shout emerges from the trees, quickly taken up by a host of other voices.
More alert now, Link raises himself on his elbow as much as he can and tries to make sense of what’s going on around him. What’s happening? Did someone outside the village come to rescue him?
That doesn’t make any sense, but he also can’t imagine that so many would have come from the village itself. Not when Rusl is the only warrior they have.
But that doesn’t change what’s happening now.
A figure crashes through the trees, shouting like a madman and waving a spear over his head, followed quickly by another.
Link can hardly believe his eyes.
Yet another goblin goes down, pierced through the throat by an arrow. This one, when it topples over, falls directly on top of him. He grunts as the air is driven from his lungs. The pointed edges of the armor are digging into his flesh, but he’s incapable of shoving it off as he is now.
“Link!” Rusl slides to his knees at his side and drags the goblin off of him. “Are you okay?”
Link stares at him, open-mouthed. It takes him a moment to fully process who he’s seeing. “What are you doing here?”
“Epona made it back to the village,” he explains grimly. He helps Link sit upright, mindful of the collar around his throat, and sets to work freeing him. “We came as soon as we realized what had happened. I don’t know what brought these monsters here, but I’m not going to let them hurt the people I care about.” His eyes are hard when he says this.
“But…” Link’s eyes drift to the others: men he recognizes from the back at the village. Men who are certainly not warriors. “They’re not fighters. What are they doing here?”
Rusl’s smile is strained when the bindings around Link’s wrists finally come free. Immediately, Link begins massaging feeling back into them. “There was no other option. I armed them as best I could and we tracked you both here.”
“That was a lot of risk,” he says quietly. He knows it wasn’t entirely for his sake that they came: Colin is Rusl’s son.
But still, he’s moved.
Rusl doesn’t break eye contact when he says, “You’re one of us, Link. I would have come for you even if Colin hadn’t been in danger as well. I don’t leave my family behind.”
“Link!”
Before Link has had a chance to process Rusl’s words, Colin comes flying out of nowhere, throwing himself against Link. Startled, Link slowly wraps his arms around Colin. “Colin?”
“I was so scared, Link!” Colin bawls into his chest. “I thought they were going to hurt you!”
Link softens. “I'm okay,” he whispers. “I’m okay. I promise.”
He can't focus on what Rusl said. At the moment, he can feel nothing except stark relief that the boy is okay.