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“Watch out!”
Hyrule dodges sharply to the left. He feels the displacement of the air as the black-blooded moblin swings its club down. The dirt sprays as the club meets the ground. Hyrule twists his body to swing his sword at the moblin’s legs, crippling it. He takes the reprieve as a chance to yell a thanks to his savior - Twilight, only a few paces away from him.
“Thanks Twi!”
“Yup!”
“Focus, you two,” Warriors scolds, swinging his sword roughly down into the skull of a bokoblin.
“Yeah, yeah,” Hyrule mutters. He turns back to finish off the moblin and then backs into a tree to survey the situation once more.
The portal had opened straight into a monster camp, giving them no time to gather themselves before entering the battle. The moblin had rushed Hyrule practically immediately, but he takes the time now to understand his situation.
There are a few sparse sections of trees in pairs of twos, but for the most part, the area is a vast empty field. There are probably about fifteen moblins and twenty bokoblins to fight - thankfully no lizalfos to deal with on top of it all. The bright blades of grass beneath their feet are dampened by black blood - and some red, Hyrule is now realizing. His spine stiffens at the realization; one of his companions is injured, but he can’t tell with all of them moving in flurried blurs.
Hyrule takes a deep breath and throws himself back into the fray.
He isn’t quite as good a fighter as some of the others; this Hyrule knows. But he is a Link, and he can certainly hold his own.
In most cases, at least.
“Ah,” Hyrule yelps as something pierces through the meat of his calf. He stumbles, catching himself before he falls flat on his face. He raises a shield to meet the bokoblin in front of him, craning his neck to look behind him at the source of the damage as the monster batters at his shield with a spiked club.
No monsters are forthright; whatever struck him must have been sent his way accidentally in the chaos.
He turns back to the bokoblin. Before he can swing his sword, his injured leg buckles beneath him. He gasps, grunting as he tries to get his foot back under him. The shield stays firmly in place. He’s practically crouching behind it, feeling as each blow wears on his arm.
A particularly vicious swing from the bokoblin knocks the shield from Hyrule’s hands, so he swings his sword up to parry the next blow.
“Hyrule,” someone yells. It sounds like Four, but Four is all the way across the field and if he’s the only one who has noticed Hyrule’s plight, then Hyrule is screwed.
Each swing clangs against Hyrule’s sword like a death knell, and still his leg refuses to move from its place. A feeling of dread creeps into his soul as he feels his grip weaken, and the sword falls from his grasp.
“Someone get to Hyrule, now,” Four screeches, closer than he was before. Hyrule allows himself a moment to feel grateful at his trying, even if it isn’t quite enough to save him this time.
The bokoblin raises its spiked club as Hyrule stares up at it.
The club swings down, and -
“Hyah!”
Hyrule feels arms close around his back, pushing his head to the ground as his body is covered. An orange glow surrounds them, and a man’s voice yells out wordlessly.
The bokoblin screeches as it dies.
Despite the sounds of battle around him, Hyrule’s head is silent. He feels his companion’s strong heartbeat against his back, and the two of them are still on the busy battlefield.
And then the body against his back moves, gripping Hyrule’s arm to pull him up as he goes.
“C’mon, lets get you out of here,” Wild says.
“What was that,” Hyrule breathes.
Wild shakes his head. His face is pale, and his breathing is rapid. But his face is stony, and he throws Hyrule’s arm around his neck so they can limp away from the battle.
Hyrule struggles. “Stop - stop! We need to stay and help!”
Wild growls. “Can you use a bow?”
Hyrule scoffs. “Obviously.”
Wild uses his weird magic stone to summon a bow and a bundle of arrows. He thrusts them into Hyrule’s hands and pushes Hyrule to sit on the ground against a tree stump.
“Fine. Then stay here and use it, and I’ll go.”
Hyrule wants to argue, but he knows he’s too injured even to walk. Before Wild can leave, Hyrule interrupts. “You don’t happen to have any potions, do you?”
Wild blinks and then slaps his own forehead. “Right,” he admonishes himself. He pulls a potion from the slate and hands it to Hyrule.
Hyrule grits his teeth and rips out the shard that has pierced his muscle - it’s a giant splinter of wood. Perhaps someone had clipped a tree and sprayed some shrapnel his way.
The taste of the potion is as disgusting as it always is, but the bleeding slows and then stops in the time it takes for Wild to rejoin the fight. He’ll heal the rest later, but for now, he knocks an arrow and sets to helping from the side.
To be truthful, he isn’t sure how Wild can stand it. As useful as it is, having someone to cover with arrows, it feels selfish to stay on the side like this. And he isn’t as skilled as Wild is with a bow, so it isn’t as effective besides.
But he does take down two bokoblins with the arrows, and by that time the rest of the monsters have been felled by his fellows.
Warriors jogs over to Hyrule’s side, dropping to a squat to evaluate him. “Are you alright?”
Hyrule nods. “Thanks to Four and Wild.”
Warriors grips Hyrule’s leg and rotates it a little so he can see the wound. Hyrule winces slightly, but allows the man to determine if there’s cause for worry.
(Hyrule knows there isn’t, but Warriors will always worry.)
Warriors nods and grips Hyrule’s shoulder. “Let’s get you set up at a camp.”
Hyrule sighs in relief.
He carefully stands, using an offered hand from Sky to pull himself up. Putting pressure on his leg causes it to ache, but he can walk and the wound won’t be getting any worse.
“Good to walk,” Time inquires shortly. Hyrule nods, so the group sets off to find an un-bloodied patch of ground with enough tree cover to keep them nicely hidden.
Hyrule quickly falls to the back of the group, injured as he is, but he can see everyone keeping an eye on him. He sighs, resigning himself to the mother-henning typical of several of the Links.
Four, the shortest of the group, falls in step with the limping Hyrule. His boots brush loudly against the tall grass as he walks. “Um. Sorry, Rulie.”
Hyrule smiles calmly. “Don’t worry. You were caught up.”
“But I…”
“You called for help. Sometimes that’s all that can be done.”
Four nods gratefully, a smile gracing his features. A moment of silence passes; Hyrule matches his dragging pace to Four’s so the beat of their steps is the same. Then, Four speaks again.“So Wild helped you then?”
Hyrule furrows his brows. “Yyyeah. Actually, I don’t really know what he did.”
Four furrows his brows. “What do you mean?”
Hyrule tilts his head, thinking back to the rushed scene. “Well he blocked the blow, but I didn’t see a sword or shield anywhere when we got up.”
Four hums. “Maybe he stashed it away in that magic plate of his. Or,” his face takes on an annoyed tinge. “maybe he broke his stuff again.”
Hyrule laughs at Four’s disdain. “Maybe! But I didn’t see any broken pieces around. He probably stashed it, like you said.”
Four nods in agreement.
The group settles down to camp in a dense thicket of trees; their sleeping bags are strewn about wherever there’s room and a small cookfire can be seen just barely peeking through the trees from where Hyrule has set up his own spot.
He sits down on the padding of his sleeping bag and ignores the rough terrain beneath it for more pressing matters.
He pokes at the wound on his leg and grimaces. It isn’t too painful, but the nature of the wound makes it likely to become infected. He sets to work healing it. He listens to Legend and Wind bickering through the trees as he does, until finally he can leave it to be wrapped, just to keep a nice-feeling pressure on it.
He falls half asleep, and then Time is calling everyone to dinner.
Wild passes out skewers of fish and mushrooms, seasoned with salt and something else Hyrule doesn’t have the skills to place. Hyrule takes a bite of mushroom and then uses the opportunity to speak.
“So Wild,” he asks, mouth half full. “what was that orange light earlier?”
Wild’s face flips; where before there was an easy smile and bright eyes, there is now an uneasy frown and furrowed brow. “Ah. Uh.” He takes a bite of meat before answering, clearly stalling for time. Hyrule raises a brow, until Wild finally answers. “It’s called Daruk’s Protection.”
Wind tilts his head. “Daruk,” he questions, barely understandable through the food in his mouth.
“What is it,” Legend asks.
“It’s - it’s magic.”
Sky gasps. “You have magic and you didn’t tell us?”
Time frowns disapprovingly, and Wild rushes to explain, shaking his hands in front of him wildly. “No! It’s not really mine, I’m just kind of borrowing it.”
“Borrowing,” Legend says skeptically.
Wild glares at him. “It’s complicated.”
Hyrule frowns. “Well why haven’t you used it before?”
Wild sighs wistfully. “I wasn’t sure it would work. I didn’t know if they came through the portal with me?”
Hyrule blanches. “You didn’t know if it would work?”
Wild rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well. I had to try.”
Twilight grumbles. “Haven’t we all agreed not to sacrifice ourselves for each other?"
Legend huffs, crossing his arms. “When did that agreement happen?”
“Well otherwise, we’ll all be throwing ourselves over each other like Wild here.”
“It worked, okay?”
Time raises a hand, effectively silencing the group. “Wild. You said something…you said you didn’t know if ‘they’ came through the portal with you?”
Wild frowns. “Mm.”
There’s silence for a moment. Time seems to stare into Wild’s very essence, and Hyrule is truly grateful that he isn’t on the other side of that stare.
Wild falters and then stutters out a response. “The-the other champions. They kind of - help me. Well-” he seems to gather himself, and his next sentence is blunt. “They’re dead and they haunt me. Their souls follow me and I can borrow their powers.”
Hyrule gapes.
“I didn’t know if they came through the portal with me but - hey, at least Daruk did!”
Warriors comes back to himself. “Ah. Well that’s good to know then.”
Wind flaps his hands excitedly. “What else can you do?”
Wild grins, meeting Wind’s excitement head on. “Well, if the others are here than Urbosa can help me conjure lightning!”
“Lightning?”
“Yep! And Revali can help me summon a gust of wind so I can glide. And Mipha brings me back when I die.”
Hyrule feels like he’s died and gone somewhere else. “When you die?”
Wild grins and nods excitedly. “Now that I know she’s here, I’ll be a force to be reckoned with, you’ll see.”
“What, because you’ll let yourself die,” Twilight barks.
Wild frowns. “Well don’t say it like it’s a bad thing! I’ve done it plenty of times before.”
Legend pinches the bridge of his nose. “That’s an issue.”
Wild scoffs. “You’ve died once, you’ve died a million times.”
Sky frowns. “What happens if you don’t come back?”
Wild blinks. “I don’t think that’ll happen. Not ‘til I’ve defeated my Ganon.”
Hyrule wrings his hands together, getting close to Wild. “I - if it comes down to it, if you think you might die to do it, just don’t save me.”
Wild gawks. “Am I just supposed to watch you -”
“Please,” Hyrule adds, staring with widened eyes.
Wild sighs. He bites his bottom lip. “Fine,” he grinds out, frustrated.
Time nods approvingly. “Now that that’s settled, let’s finish eating.”
Hyrule watches Wild gnaw on his meat skewer and frowns.
He gets the sense that this isn’t settled at all.