Into the Legend of Zelda

The cadence of Envoy and Epona's hooves had been steady for hours now. We had been riding through the night, the light of the moon guiding our travel. Every once in a while, a group of skeletons - the human-looking ones seemed to command the beast-looking ones - would pop up from the ground only to be trampled by one of the rapidly moving horses.

But even Envoy, the horse with the most endurance I had ever heard of, would get tired. In fact, he was already tired. So was Epona. They both needed rest and frankly, so did I.

I pulled back gently on Envoy's reins, urging him to slow with a soft "Whoa..."

The buckskin stallion came slowly to a halt. I removed his bridle and saddle, rubbing him down before allowing him to move around. Epona waited patiently as I did so, watching me with the uncomplaining eyes of an animal that has done a lot of waiting in its life.

"I know you don't like me much Epona," I told her, remembering how she refused to allow me to ride her for long back in the forest. Link and I had walked to the tree where I had first appeared in Hyrule because she refused to carry me any longer.

The mare simply looked at me, not confirming or denying my statement. Of course, it was crazy to think that she could, but I did.

"I'll get Link off you and then I'll rub you down, okay?"

Epona held still as I pulled Link off her back, trying my best not to simply let him fall to the ground and only halfway succeeding. My arms might be stronger from being in Hyrule for however long, but they weren't strong enough to hold up a fully grown Hylian boy. Well, I guess man is the proper term here, but I have a hard time thinking of him as anything other than a boy even though he appears and acts mature. Must be the ears.

Once I had him safely on the ground, I took off Epona's saddle and bridle and rubbed her down as well. She didn't move very far away from Link, glancing over at her master frequently as she walked along.

Link was shivering in his unconsciousness, his teeth chattering. When I got closer, I saw the goosebumps around the cut on his arm and the sweat on his brow. I took both Envoy's and Epona's blankets and put them over the shivering Hylian, whose shaking slowly subsided.

"You're gonna be alright," I told him as he slept. "We're not too far from Kakariko now. If we at least walk all day tomorrow, we'll make it there by sunset. You'll be alright."

I did my best to make a fire. Before, Link had always done this. I had never once had to make our fire before now. So it was a challenge for me, but I finally got it done. It was pretty much dumb luck that I ended up with any flames at all.

So I added one more stick (which I had found on the ground nearby) to the fire and then nestled next to it. The horses would let me know if anything happened.

-

Link did not wake up the next day. This made me even more nervous than I already was. He shouldn't be sleeping for this long. He should have woken up by now. His breathing was also much shallower and his fever had gotten even hotter. I was really worried about him.

I kept the horses going on a brisk, but not too fast, pace as we crossed the giant field. I wanted to keep going all day today and that wouldn't be possible if I tired the horses out early on.

Meanwhile, Link got continuously worse as we got continuously closer to Kakariko. I started pushing the horses faster. We needed to get some help before it was too late. No more crying, only action.

The horses were at a full out run by the time we reached the path to Kakariko. If I hadn't been so worried about him, I would have marveled at how Link stayed on Epona's back even though he was unconscious.

The guard at Ron Ron Ranch's path recognized Envoy and tried to stop us by standing in our way.

"Get out of the way!" I screamed. "We're not stopping!"

Envoy was only a couple feet away from the guard when he apparently decided that we really weren't going to stop and that he should definitely get out of the way. Good plan, smart one.

We charged into the village at a high rate of speed. The Kakarikans all looked up from what they were doing - it was noon, the busiest time in the village (and half a day earlier than if I had walked the horses the whole way) - to see what all the commotion was about.

I pulled Envoy to a stop, practically throwing myself off him before he had even stopped moving. "I need help!" I shouted to the villagers around me. "He's been injured and he's sick! We need a doctor!"
For an agonizing few seconds, nobody even moved. Many of the villagers' faces took up concerned expressions, but nobody offered their help.

Then, from out of the crowd, a young man stepped forward. He was about a foot taller than me and had chocolate brown hair and eyes. He wore long, loose sleeves and breeches that were also fairly loose (at least by the standards of Hyrule). A cape circled his shoulders, which were surprisingly narrow for one so tall. His feminine features (even a little more feminine than Link's, and Link is pretty feminine) paired with his warm eyes were both calm and comforting. I felt I could trust him, yet he seemed secretive at the same time.

But I didn't have time to think about this man's secrets - Link was hurt.

"Come with me," the man said. His voice was higher than I had imagined, but I had heard men with higher voices before.

I grabbed Envoy's reins in my left hand and Epona's in my right. When the man turned his back and began to walk away, I followed.

We hadn't walked far when Terra came out of the crowd. Her daughter Sheena was clutching onto her skirt with one hand and holding Blackie the cat like a vice with the other.

"Wait a second!" Terra said. "You can stay in my house!"

The man ahead of me whirled around. "If you would not mind," he said agreeably.

Terra nodded fervently. "You brought my husband back to me," she said to me.

"And she helped me get Blackie back!" Sheena reminded her mother.

"Right," Terra agreed, patting her daughter gently on the head.

"Thank you," I told her as we followed her to the wooden shack which she occupied. It looked the same as the last time I had seen it - nothing special, but new compared to many of the residences in this area.

A man stepped out of the shack as we neared it. I recognized him as the first one Link and I had healed back in the cave on Death Mountain.

He looked alarmed at Link's unconscious state and immediately offered to carry the unconscious Hylian inside - an offer which I took up immediately.

I hesitated before following Terra's husband inside. I was worried about the horses, especially Envoy. I was almost sure that somebody would come and steal him back.

"What are you waiting for?" Terra asked from behind me.

"I was worried about the horses. We didn't get the stallion by exactly... legal... means..."

To my surprise, Terra laughed. "I heard about that and I was glad that somebody finally did it. I was even gladder when I heard it was you."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. They had been abusing that horse up there for much too long. You go in the house and watch over that young man you've got. I'll take care of the horses."

Ignoring her reference to Link as my man (but hearing it all too well), I thanked Terra and went into the shack, finding the room Link would be staying in easily by the sound of the men's voices coming from it.

Three people looked up when I entered the room. Unfortunately, the third was only Sheena.

Terra's husband excused himself, taking Sheena's hand as he did so. I could hear her complaining as they headed away from the room.

"Explain to me what happened," the man said once Terra's husband and daughter were out of earshot.

So I explained falling into the trench, seeing the little light, following it out, seeing it attack Link, and Link's rapid descent in health.

"I see," the man said thoughtfully. "I have heard of the trench monsters. They attack in the light so that their venom will be able to work."

Oh. Well that makes sense - wait. Venom? Did he just say venom? So Link got poisoned?!

"The sun's rays activate the poison. Luckily, your friend only got a scratch. He would have been much worse off if he would have been bitten."

"Is there anything you can do?"

"He will have to stay out of sunlight until the poison is gone from his body."

"How will we know when it's gone?"

"He will wake up."

With that, the man began to remove Link's left arm and shoulder from his tunic and undershirt. At first, I was afraid he was going to take the whole thing off and was about to yell at him for not warning me, but he only bared Link's shoulder and arm.

Carefully, he removed the bandages Link and I had worked so hard to put in place. He examined the gash with a careful eye. What he was looking for, I didn't know.

"You did well bandaging it," he told me. "It helped to hinder the full effect of the poison."

I nodded, simply glad to hear that one, Link didn't have the disease and two, he was going to be fine. I shuddered to think what would have happened if we had made it to the desert, however.

The man cleaned Link's wound and bandaged it with new, clean cloth, teaching me how it was properly done as he did so. When his work was finished, he stood up.

"All we can do now is make sure no sunlight can enter this room."

So we did just that, covering the window with thick drapes and hanging a dark curtain over the doorway, even though the door could be shut. The man informed me not to enter and exit Link's room too often, but to pick one or the other - in or out - to be for at least three hours at a time. Longer, if possible.

He then took his leave, telling me he would be at the motel if needed. "Just ask for Marin."

I sat at Link's side, watching him sleep. Some of his blond hair had fallen into his eyes, fluttering every time he took a breath. I brushed it away. "That Marin guy says you're gonna be fine," I told him, not feeling the least ridiculous even though I was talking to an unconscious person. "It kinda sucks that you have to be in the dark, but you won't know the difference. You're asleep anyway."

Even though it was the middle of the day, I fell asleep on the floor next to Link's bed.