Enjoyer Of Tri Force Heroes and Twilight Princess

Monsters were everywhere, trying their best to enter into the cave they’d blasted an opening into. A line of Sheikah struggled to keep them back, fighting viciously for their home, and as Link watched, one swept their sword out, knocking back a small wave of beasts.

The warrior turned, and Link realized it was Impa, taking out several monsters at once and twirling her katana with a surprising amount of grace. She seemed to be managing okay, and Link scanned the monsters for the creepy leader on the horse.

He didn’t see him anywhere, and in many ways, that made him more nervous.

Movement in a tree caught his attention, and Link saw Feathers land nearby, watching with a conflicted expression on his face. He tilted his head, looking between Link and the sea of monsters with a look that Link read as ‘are you really doing this?’.

Link just shrugged.

Feathers shook his head in dismay, but didn’t try to stop him, just looked out at the monsters with a grim expression.

“You’re still sure about this plan?” Crai asked as he looked down at the mass of beasts below, and Link did too, stomach rolling.

He swallowed. “No. But we’ve got to do something.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Peash murmured. “Do your thing, wonder boy.”

Link swallowed past his dry throat again and stepped out onto the exposed part of the cliffside, keeping his hood up and lower face covered by the mask. His left glove he yanked off though, and he looked out at the beasts, wondering what exactly he should do. He hadn’t been able to switch on the glowing by himself. And how was he going to get their attention?

“Uh— hey!” he yelled as loud as he could, thrusting his hand into the sky. “HEY! Look at me!”

His voice cracked and was pretty much lost in the din, but as he shouted, the back of his hand started to glow, the triangles lighting up with gold. The monsters below began to take notice as the glow grew brighter, snarling and pointing, and Link’s throat went tight as more and more of them looked his way.

Soon most of the crowd was staring at his glowing hand, even the Sheikah below turning to look, and Link thought he saw Impa’s eyes go wide.

A furious roar swept through the monsters, a wave of sound growing, pounding, throbbing violently in the air.

Then an arrow slammed into the bark of the tree behind Link, right next to his head.

“Move!” Peash said as she yanked him back, Link only saved from another arrow by her quick reaction. His legs unlocked at her shout, and he stumbled into a run as a crowd of beasts began to swarm towards him.

They took off across the ridge without another word, Crai and Peash racing beside Link. The monsters behind clawed their way up the cliff, others racing along below in order to follow and waiting for their opportunity to climb after. Link had never felt so much like a rabbit in his life, chased by countless beasts of prey. He didn’t like it.

The monsters with wings quickly caught up to him, causing a bit of panic, but the trees helped with blocking them off. Crai and Peash kept up with deflecting and dodging arrows too, and swiping at monsters that drew too near.

Link tried to help with that, but his hand was still glowing bright, and it made him too obvious of a target. Crai and Peash repeatedly had to yank him away from an arrow or other projectile he couldn’t see due to the light.

He craned his neck back while he ran, trying to take in the amount of monsters. There was a huge group of them following, which made him excited that his plan had worked, but also... he was being chased by a huge horde of monsters.

Maybe not his greatest plan ever.

The monsters surged closer, and Link clambered up onto a rock, shooting a few arrows into the crowd swarming behind. He hit several monsters in the head, though he noted with some worry that his quiver was starting to run low. He had enough arrows but... not a lot. He’d have to conserve them.

Peash swung two short blades and took out some strange bug-like monsters, and then turned and kept running. Link followed, but not before Crai hurriedly threw some small sharp things at the face of a huge wolf that nearly closed its jaws around Link’s foot.

The forest blurred past them, Link’s heart pounding, monsters howling. The faster creatures kept gaining on them, which meant they had to stop and try and take out a few every couple minutes or else be overwhelmed. Link was feeling his stamina drain, and he could tell Peash and Crai were beginning to grow weary too.

Link had a sudden, terrible feeling that with his plan he’d doomed both himself and his friends.

He didn’t have time to dwell on it though. One of the strange leathery-winged monsters that had attacked the village earlier suddenly burst out of the trees ahead of them, and Link yelped and barely ducked under its claws.

More monsters rushed out of the bushes, and suddenly they were surrounded, Link gulping as he looked around. Not all of the monsters had caught up to them, but it was enough that their path forward was blocked. And if the rest caught up...

Crai and Peash put themselves on either side of him, and the monsters ran at them, howling and jabbering with equal glee and fury in their eyes.

Suddenly they were fighting a lot more than before, and Link struggled to keep up. Lady Impa had never gotten to a lesson on what to do if you were the target of way too many bloodthirsty monsters, but he did his best, and tried only to shoot if he had no other choice.

The monsters went to him like flies to honey, his hand still shimmering with warm gold. Crai and Peash did their best to keep the heat off of him, but they could only do so much. More and more and more monsters kept coming at them.

A thing that looked like a smaller moblin raced forward, and Link stabbed it in the gut, its screech fading to a gurgle. Another followed, and Link barely had time to pull his sword out and stab it too, trying not to feel sick.

A familiar birdcall hit his ears, and Link saw Feathers dive at some smaller monsters, striking at them with his beak and powerful talons. Even with his help the force was beginning to overwhelm them, and a horrible pressure was lurching in Link’s stomach.

You doomed them, you doomed yourself, now mother won’t—

“I have an idea,” Peash panted from nearby as she sliced away a strange long-shaped monster with entirely too many legs.

“Is it better than mine was?” Link wheezed, then ducked under a club something threw at him.

“More like a part two. There’s a gorge around here somewhere, right Crai?”

“Yeah. Pretty close,” he replied breathlessly.

“How close?”

“At the pace we were going? We’d get there in about ten minutes if we kept heading south,” he replied, and grunted as he nearly got his arm gouged by an axe. “What are you thinking?”

“Tell you later,” Peash said, then yelped as a monster nicked her ear. Blood started to drip down her neck, and she grabbed it with a wince. “...We just have to live long enough to get there.”

“Let’s go then, come on,” Crai said urgently. “Focus on one spot!”

They all turned and concentrated their efforts where Crai stood, and managed to break past the monsters’ formation, sprinting through the woods yet again. Link felt like he couldn’t run much longer, but he just... had to hold on.

It’s not too much longer. Just go. Keep going. Keep running.

A spot where he’d been kicked at stung as he ran, his side starting to ache. Peash had blood all over her ear, and Crai still held his arm a bit stiffly from earlier.

But they kept running.

It was that or die.

“Muffle the light,” Peash told him after a couple minutes, and Link put his other hand over his left, somewhat dimming it. Now they could barely see where they were going, the sparse woods dark and shadowy. “Okay, keep running!”

“Peash,” Crai said, a note of something worried in his voice, but she kept running. “Peash we’re nearly—”

“I know! It’s part of the plan!” she shouted back. “Just keep going!”

Link could barely see ahead, but he kept running anyway, his heart pounding. Something dark gradually became visible in front of them, darker than the rest of the ground, and Link realized suddenly it must have been the gorge.

His steps faltered, and he looked behind him. The monsters were only paces away, tearing after them with foam in their mouths and bloodlust in their eyes. But ahead was nothing but a huge drop.

“Peash?” Link asked in a panic, and she shoved him.

“Keep running!”

“But— Crai?!”

“Trust her, Link!” Crai shouted back, and suddenly they were at the gorge, no time to turn back.

Crai and Peash jumped first, and Link leapt off the edge behind them. His feet met open air, the drop stretching down below him into darkness so deep he couldn’t see the bottom.

The other side was much too far to reach. The darkness yawned below him, a certain death he’d willingly jumped into.

Link suddenly had the horrible realization that he was going to die, and he screamed as he fell, his heart lurching straight up into his throat.

Then two hands snatched his arms, and Crai and Peash both held onto him, Peash holding what looked like a small chain with something attached to the end. Suddenly they were all yanked sideways, and Link slammed into the edge of the gorge with a yelp.

That was about when the monsters caught up, and apparently they didn’t realize the gorge was as deep as it was. Maybe they assumed because their quarry had jumped in it was safe for them to do so as well, but regardless, they too leapt over the edge.

A stream of monsters fell into the gorge in front of them, screeches and howls echoing around the stone walls. Peash and Crai held tight to Link as they watched, and the strange little chain retracted, both Sheikah holding onto it as they slowly lowered to a tiny ledge. The moment Link’s feet touched it he pressed his back to the wall, out of breath from the running and jump and sheer rush of the whole night.

Crai and Peash pressed up next to him, and they watched as the monsters poured into the pit in front of them. Link’s heart hammered as more and more beasts plunged through the air, some sort of herd mentality keeping them racing over the edge after each other— or maybe their desperation for what Link had on the back of his hand.

They kept on careening to the bottom of the gorge, screeching and squealing, and it felt like hours before the cacophony finally ceased, and no more monsters fell.

The night fell eerily quiet.

Link let out a relieved little wheeze, and Crai squeezed his shoulder with his good hand, giving Peash a look.

“What?” she said, and he just sighed.

“You could’ve told us your plan sooner. Or at least told Link you took your father’s hookshot.”

“Wasn’t time,” she said with a grin, but Link could feel her shaking a little beside him. “And I borrowed it. Not take. Bor-row. Anyway, boy that was a rush. Good thing monsters are dumb as rocks— they really did just run off the cliff, huh?”

“I think by the time they saw it it was too late,” Crai said thoughtfully. He peered down into the darkness of the gorge. “Regardless, it worked in our favor. Let’s get back up—”

A snarl cut him off, and a moblin poked its head over the edge of the gorge, teeth bared.

Link drew his bow and shot an arrow into its eye, and as it bellowed, Peash shot her hookshot again, hitting a tree on the other side of the gorge. She and Crai once again grabbed Link and the chain, and yanked themselves away from the moblin and the other remaining monsters still gathered on the opposite side.

They howled as they saw the three of them land too far away to reach, and some threw spears and other projectiles. It soon became clear the distance was too great for any of them to reach though, and Link sniped any of the flying monsters that tried to come after them.

The jabber from the remaining monsters grew all the louder and frustrated, and Peash stuck her tongue out at them, Crai looking relieved. Link couldn’t help but smile behind his mask.

His plan had actually worked! They’d lured the monsters a healthy distance from the village, gotten rid of a bunch of them, none of the three of them had been badly hurt, and there’d been no sign of—

The monsters all went abruptly silent, and a chill spread through the air.

Crai and Peash froze, and the chill felt like it went straight into Link’s bones, curling into his stomach like he’d swallowed some ice. The monsters parted through the middle, still silent and staring, and Link’s breath caught as the figure on the horse appeared out of the woods.

A space formed in the middle of the monsters, the beasts leaving a path straight to the gorge, and those eyes stared at Link from beneath the hood, yellow and sickening.

Then the horse reared, and charged for the gorge.

“Can he jump that?” Link breathed, and Crai grabbed his arm.

“I’m not sticking around to find out. Come on!”

He tugged Link towards the woods, but Link paused and shot a few precious arrows at the figure’s horse, hoping he could at least cause his mount to falter.

The darkness around the man increased, and the arrows flew right through the animal like there was nothing there to hit.

Link gawked, and Peash shoved him into movement again, the three of them running for where the trees were thicker. Link kept looking over his shoulder anyway, hair on his neck sticking up, but the trees blocked his view of the gorge before the figure jumped.

“Crai? What now?” Peash asked as they sprinted, and Link looked at him, seeing how stressed Crai looked. He’d said before he didn’t like being a leader, but Peash seemed like she was at a loss for what to do. And Link didn’t have any more ideas.

“Keep running,” Crai decided, jumping over a rock. “His horse can’t maneuver in here. He’d have to follow on foot, and we’ll have a head start.”

“Are you sure?” Link wheezed, that cold feeling still enveloping him. “My arrows went right through it.”

Crai tightened his jaw. “We have to try. I don’t want to get in a fight with—”

The figure on the horse stood in front of them.

Peash gasped and all three of them scrambled to a stop in a small clearing, the thinnest beam of moonlight shining through the trees. Link’s breath caught, and he stared up at the shadowy figure towering over them all. The horse half melted into the shadows, indistinct and wavering, and Link swore he saw its bones when the moonlight hit it.

Worse though was when the figure looked down at him, and pulled off its hood.

Peash made a noise beside him and Link agreed, transfixed on the monstrous man in front of him. The shadows still hid half of his face, but the other half was just bone, pale and bleached. Dull reddish hair hung in thick clumps from the top of his head, two boney horns sticking out of it, and the part of his face Link could see just stared at him, like the sightless eyes of a corpse.

Crai tugged him backwards, hissing something about running, but then the figure raised his hand, and Link more felt the magic that he used rather than saw it. A rust-colored barrier appeared around the clearing, blocking their escape, and Link’s heart raced with fear.

The figure’s eyes stared, yellow with red rims, and Link wanted to take a step back, but he felt frozen in place, trembling.

Crai said it kills everything we can’t beat this thing we can’t we’re going to die—

“Hey, so any chance you’d let us go without a fight?” Peash said, her voice higher than normal as she edged backwards. “I’m sure you’re a busy guy, and we’re kind of busy, and—”

He swung a huge spear at them, and all three of them flattened to the ground, Link feeling it swish past his hair.

“Rude!” Peash said, and the horseman laughed, a deep, throaty sound that made Link’s legs shake.

The horse charged at them then, and Link shot one of his last arrows at his face, the figure easily dodging. Link threw himself out of the way and replaced his bow on his back, drawing his sword again. He had no idea how they were supposed to win this, but— but they had to try.

Even if Link himself was utterly terrified.

The horseman disappeared into the barrier, and that gave Link time to meet with Peash and Crai in the middle, all of them putting their backs to each other. Crai gripped his weapon with one hand, face grim, Peash holding her knives in a ready position, but none of them were prepared when three identical horsemen bolted out of the barrier directly at them.

Link squeaked and hurriedly swung his sword at the one that charged at him, and succeeded in grazing the figure a little. There was resistance from his sword too, and he felt a flicker of relief. It looked like they could hit him.

But only from up close.

They all dove out of the way of several huge swings from the spears, and this time they stayed separated, though Crai still hovered by Link. The horsemen again disappeared, and when one reappeared, Peash raced to slice her knives at the horse’s legs.

One of them hit, and the horse stumbled, but it didn’t fall. It whinnied and reared, the sounds it made like the warped cry of a normal horse, and the other two did as well.

They disappeared into the barrier again, and one targeted each of them as they ran back out. They were all forced away from each other, and Link had to focus solely on his own fight, mind racing as he barely blocked the spear from the horseman.

He grunted as the spear pushed down with a back-breaking force, and he suddenly noticed Feathers sitting on a branch on the opposite side of the barrier, pecking and clawing at the magic with a frantic look in his eyes.

I guess even talking birds can’t get through fancy magical barriers, Link thought a little hysterically, and narrowly avoided having his head chopped off.

“Link! Use your magic!” Feathers squawked, and Link dove under another swipe.

“How?!” Link yelled back at him. “My mom barely showed me how to use it with weapons, I’m no good at it!”

“You need to—”

A cry cut him off, and Link snapped his head up to see Crai stumble back, his already-injured arm now bleeding from a small gap in his armor. The horseman copy loomed over him, but Crai grit his teeth and lunged forward.

The horse couldn’t move in time, and Crai struck it right through the chest, causing it to shriek in pain. All three horses disappeared, and the clone glared, then lunged at Crai.

Link was drawn back into his own fight when his copy of the enemy recovered from the loss of his horse, and swung his spear again. Link dodged, barely, and despite how exhausted he was, fought like mad.

He was winded from the earlier running, shaky with terror, but he kept on anyway, falling into a frantic sort of rhythm. Feathers called more advice, but Link’s focus narrowed down to the fight, his breath coming fast.

Dodge, slice, block— a near miss that grazed his cheek— another slash, a few hits— a heady feeling all over the clearing that made Link feel sick—

His sword slashed across the horseman’s side, and the enemy suddenly disappeared in a sharp puff of smoke. Link startled in surprise. He turned in time to see the other copies also disappear, and the smoke they faded into rushed towards a dark swirl in the middle of the clearing.

Link hurried to join Peash and Crai again, and gave them both a frantic look. Crai’s sleeve was turning more and more red, and Peash had more blood on her face, but they nodded at him, expressions firm and determined past their fear. Link felt a flicker of hope.

Can we really pull this off?

A trickle of blood ran from Link’s cheek, and he wiped at it, gripping his sword and watching the swirl. He didn’t trust it.

Sure enough the darkness flickered once, and the horseman reappeared, only one of him now. He looked more solid than before, but he also looked more angry, ripples of darkness under his feet.

Suddenly he rushed forward, a dark light with red sparking through appearing on the end of his spear. Several bursts of magic were thrown right at Link, and he couldn’t dodge all of them in time.

One struck his chest and sent a shock through him that made his vision blur and body jerk. Time skipped, and suddenly he was hitting the ground, a painful convulsion wracking his body.

Someone yelled his name, Link’s brain too scrambled to register who it was.

It hurt, the magic sending a jittery feeling all over him like he’d been startled. Except it was painful too, like tiny needles pinching his skin.

The pain eased though, and Link raised his head, blinking past the fuzzy spots in his vision. He saw Peash and Crai frantically engaged with the monster, spear and swords flashing, the fight moving so fast he could barely follow it.

But he had to follow it, he had to get up. They needed his help!

Link rolled over with a groan, giving himself a shake. His hand flickered again, and he glanced at it, the golden light gently flickering. He was supposed to be a hero, wasn’t he? Heroes didn’t lie on the ground and let other people fight for them.

Get up.

Link pushed himself to a knee, and immediately swung his sword to block another blast of magic. It was a purely instinctual reaction, but the magic bounced off his sword, and was deflected back at the horseman.

Their enemy dodged and the magic hit a tree, exploding into sparks of black and red. Peash took the opportunity to swing for the horseman’s neck, and when he twisted to avoid her, Crai managed to stab a knife into his shoulder.

Red light flared and in a flash the horseman grabbed Crai’s neck with one huge hand. Crai choked and grabbed at it with wide eyes, but before he could break free, the horseman threw him aside with a crackle of magic.

Crai didn’t immediately move to get up, and Peash threw herself at the horseman, her short-swords raised high.

Link struggled to his feet, not wanting Peash to fight alone. He shuddered again as he managed to get up, leaning against a tree, then shook himself and hurried over to where his sword had fallen. The movement woke him up a bit more, and he felt a little more clearheaded as he grabbed his sword and looked at Peash again.

She was holding her own remarkably well, ducking and swiping and landing a few hits. For all that Crai complained about it, her obsessive training obviously paid off, and Link watched in awe. She even deflected a burst of magic back at the horseman, and in the brief moment when he paused, managed to slash one of her blades across his chest.

The horseman sped up the longer they fought though, even despite the hits. He steadily advanced, slowly pushing Peash towards the edge of the clearing with a glint in his eyes. She realized what he was doing and tried to maneuver around him, but then her foot caught in a root, and the horseman thrust—

And his spear pierced Peash through the stomach.

Link gasped as Peash’s eyes went wide, and past the roar in his ears, Link distantly heard Crai cry her name. Peash looked at the spear like she couldn’t quite believe it was there, and her lips parted, a faint breath escaping her.

The horseman’s eyes creased like he smiled, and he yanked the spear back out with a sickening noise.

Peash fell to the ground as if in slow motion, and Link suddenly felt that thrum in his skin he’d felt at the spring, the anger of injustice mixing with terror for his injured friends, and every other emotion he’d felt tonight. His hand glowed again, blazing, and Link dropped his sword.

He instead pulled out his bow and drew back his last arrow, hands steady despite how the rest of him shook.

The warmth on his hand pressed him, old lessons from his mother ringing in his ears. He pushed the humming into the tension of the bow, the glow in his hand moving to the arrow, and as the horseman began to turn towards him, Link released it.

The light arrow streaked forward, and struck the beast right in the neck.

The horseman lurched, eyes flashing, and then he wailed, an eerie sound that scraped at Link’s ears as the monster clawed at its throat. Smoke wafted from his figure, another wretched screech ringing out, and a blast of magic threw Link backwards, nearly slamming him into a tree.

He raised his head just in time to see the figure lurch away, and disappear into the shadows.

Somehow Link knew he wasn’t gone for good.

The magic barrier disappeared, and Link shakily got to a knee, his head spinning, stomach tight. They’d beaten him. They’d actually beaten that awful thing. And Link had managed to make a light arrow and hold it long enough to shoot! He’d never actually managed to do that before.

A whimper broke the silence, reminding him of what had happened, and he lurched to his feet with a gasp, turning towards where Crai was already running.

Peash lay on the ground, face agonized, blood staining her middle.

“Peash,” Crai said frantically, skidding to his knees. “Hey, just—”

“I’m-m fine,” Peash croaked as Link also reached her, her tanned face paling rather dramatically as she tried to sit up. “I-I can—”

A wave of pain made her cry out, and her head sank back to the ground.

“Don’t move,” Crai said sharply, and Peash’s breath hitched as he gently felt at her middle. “—Oh. Okay, really don’t move.”

“Is she okay?” Link asked in a small voice, and Crai didn’t answer him.

Peash closed her eyes, her breath coming fast, and despite only having one useable arm, Crai carefully ripped away the fabric of her clothes from her middle, his hand steady despite the look on his face. Link tried not to breathe too deeply, the smell of blood nauseating, and he barely noticed Feathers land nearby.

Peash’s hand clenched at the grass, and Link took it in his while he handed Crai anything he needed. Peash cried out as he began to pack and wrap the wound, and Link’s hand was squeezed into oblivion, but he didn’t let go, trying not to shake. She was badly hurt. Crai barely spoke a word, silent and serious, and Peash barely seemed awake, her face screwed up in pain, hand crushing Link’s.

But she held on.

The moon had set by the time Crai got the injury to the point where Peash hopefully wouldn’t bleed out. She looked awful, white as a sheet with blood all over her, but she rasped something that might’ve been a thank you, her voice still tense and shaky. Crai lightly squeezed her free hand.

“You’re going to need more attention, this was only a stopgap. But you’ll be okay for a bit,” Crai said wearily, his own face looking pale. His hands were stained with blood, but at least it seemed like the cut on his arm had stopped bleeding. He looked at Link. “Are you hurt?”

“Nothing bad,” Link whispered. He ached in multiple places, and his cheek still stung, but he could keep going without attention. “You need—”

A monster cried somewhere in the distance, and Link and Crai stilled.

“...You need to get her back to the village,” Link said, and Crai nodded as he gingerly moved his injured arm. “Or, I mean t-to the sanctuary thing where everyone’s hiding. I... I’ll keep going by myself.”

“It’s dangerous to go alone,” Crai said softly, Peash listening in a bleary way. “Especially for you. You could come back and hide with us. The trip could wait.”

Link shook his head. “I can’t. Monsters are still around, I’m sure they’d follow me back. And I have to find the light spirits. Sooner rather than later,” he finished, and Crai bowed his head.

“I don’t like you going alone, Link,” he murmured.

“I know. But I have to do this. And... I won’t be totally alone,” Link said quietly, and looked at where Feathers perched nearby, silently pleading with him.

Feathers visibly sighed, then flew over to land on his arm.

Crai startled, and looked at Feathers in blatant confusion.

“...Is that th-the bird that was following us y-yesterday?” Peash whispered in bewilderment, and Link nodded.

“It’s sort of a long story. But he helped me in the temple, and he can help me now,” he said, and Feathers gave him a slight smile. “And I’ve got some tricks. I won’t go down without a fight. I’ll find the light spirits, and then... maybe I can meet up with you guys again.”

“I hope so,” Peash said shakily, then whimpered. “D-don’t die, squirt.”

“You neither,” Link replied in a wobbly way. He looked at Crai and Peash, and gave them a worried frown. “...Can you get her to safety alone, Crai?”

“I can teleport a short ways. I’ll get us close enough to the waterfall sanctuary that I can signal somebody to get us if I have to,” he reassured quietly, and clasped Link’s arm, a weight in his eyes. “We’ll be okay. Worry about yourself.”

“I’ll try,” Link said through a thick throat.

Crai breathed out, and squeezed Link’s arm. “I still don’t like this, but I guess it’s our only option right now. We aren’t in any shape to help you,” he said with a heavy look. “...Good luck, Link. Head south. Stay away from civilization unless you have to. May... may the Goddesses light your path.”

“Thanks,” Link whispered, and Feathers lightly brushed his ear as a reminder they needed to get going. There were still monsters about. “Stay safe. You guys and the village.”

Crai nodded, Peash’s eyes screwed closed now, and Link stood up, and stepped back.

And then Crai put an arm around Peash, carefully waving his hands in a pattern, and he and Peash disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

“Come on, Link,” Feathers said gently. “They’ll be all right. Let’s head south. This way.”

Monsters were everywhere, trying their best to enter into the cave they’d blasted an opening into. A line of Sheikah struggled to keep them back, fighting viciously for their home, and as Link watched, one swept their sword out, knocking back a small wave of beasts.

The warrior turned, and Link realized it was Impa, taking out several monsters at once and twirling her katana with a surprising amount of grace. She seemed to be managing okay, and Link scanned the monsters for the creepy leader on the horse.

He didn’t see him anywhere, and in many ways, that made him more nervous.

Movement in a tree caught his attention, and Link saw Feathers land nearby, watching with a conflicted expression on his face. He tilted his head, looking between Link and the sea of monsters with a look that Link read as ‘are you really doing this?’.

Link just shrugged.

Feathers shook his head in dismay, but didn’t try to stop him, just looked out at the monsters with a grim expression.

“You’re still sure about this plan?” Crai asked as he looked down at the mass of beasts below, and Link did too, stomach rolling.

He swallowed. “No. But we’ve got to do something.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Peash murmured. “Do your thing, wonder boy.”

Link swallowed past his dry throat again and stepped out onto the exposed part of the cliffside, keeping his hood up and lower face covered by the mask. His left glove he yanked off though, and he looked out at the beasts, wondering what exactly he should do. He hadn’t been able to switch on the glowing by himself. And how was he going to get their attention?

“Uh— hey!” he yelled as loud as he could, thrusting his hand into the sky. “HEY! Look at me!”

His voice cracked and was pretty much lost in the din, but as he shouted, the back of his hand started to glow, the triangles lighting up with gold. The monsters below began to take notice as the glow grew brighter, snarling and pointing, and Link’s throat went tight as more and more of them looked his way.

Soon most of the crowd was staring at his glowing hand, even the Sheikah below turning to look, and Link thought he saw Impa’s eyes go wide.

A furious roar swept through the monsters, a wave of sound growing, pounding, throbbing violently in the air.

Then an arrow slammed into the bark of the tree behind Link, right next to his head.

“Move!” Peash said as she yanked him back, Link only saved from another arrow by her quick reaction. His legs unlocked at her shout, and he stumbled into a run as a crowd of beasts began to swarm towards him.

They took off across the ridge without another word, Crai and Peash racing beside Link. The monsters behind clawed their way up the cliff, others racing along below in order to follow and waiting for their opportunity to climb after. Link had never felt so much like a rabbit in his life, chased by countless beasts of prey. He didn’t like it.

The monsters with wings quickly caught up to him, causing a bit of panic, but the trees helped with blocking them off. Crai and Peash kept up with deflecting and dodging arrows too, and swiping at monsters that drew too near.

Link tried to help with that, but his hand was still glowing bright, and it made him too obvious of a target. Crai and Peash repeatedly had to yank him away from an arrow or other projectile he couldn’t see due to the light.

He craned his neck back while he ran, trying to take in the amount of monsters. There was a huge group of them following, which made him excited that his plan had worked, but also... he was being chased by a huge horde of monsters.

Maybe not his greatest plan ever.

The monsters surged closer, and Link clambered up onto a rock, shooting a few arrows into the crowd swarming behind. He hit several monsters in the head, though he noted with some worry that his quiver was starting to run low. He had enough arrows but... not a lot. He’d have to conserve them.

Peash swung two short blades and took out some strange bug-like monsters, and then turned and kept running. Link followed, but not before Crai hurriedly threw some small sharp things at the face of a huge wolf that nearly closed its jaws around Link’s foot.

The forest blurred past them, Link’s heart pounding, monsters howling. The faster creatures kept gaining on them, which meant they had to stop and try and take out a few every couple minutes or else be overwhelmed. Link was feeling his stamina drain, and he could tell Peash and Crai were beginning to grow weary too.

Link had a sudden, terrible feeling that with his plan he’d doomed both himself and his friends.

He didn’t have time to dwell on it though. One of the strange leathery-winged monsters that had attacked the village earlier suddenly burst out of the trees ahead of them, and Link yelped and barely ducked under its claws.

More monsters rushed out of the bushes, and suddenly they were surrounded, Link gulping as he looked around. Not all of the monsters had caught up to them, but it was enough that their path forward was blocked. And if the rest caught up...

Crai and Peash put themselves on either side of him, and the monsters ran at them, howling and jabbering with equal glee and fury in their eyes.

Suddenly they were fighting a lot more than before, and Link struggled to keep up. Lady Impa had never gotten to a lesson on what to do if you were the target of way too many bloodthirsty monsters, but he did his best, and tried only to shoot if he had no other choice.

The monsters went to him like flies to honey, his hand still shimmering with warm gold. Crai and Peash did their best to keep the heat off of him, but they could only do so much. More and more and more monsters kept coming at them.

A thing that looked like a smaller moblin raced forward, and Link stabbed it in the gut, its screech fading to a gurgle. Another followed, and Link barely had time to pull his sword out and stab it too, trying not to feel sick.

A familiar birdcall hit his ears, and Link saw Feathers dive at some smaller monsters, striking at them with his beak and powerful talons. Even with his help the force was beginning to overwhelm them, and a horrible pressure was lurching in Link’s stomach.

You doomed them, you doomed yourself, now mother won’t—

“I have an idea,” Peash panted from nearby as she sliced away a strange long-shaped monster with entirely too many legs.

“Is it better than mine was?” Link wheezed, then ducked under a club something threw at him.

“More like a part two. There’s a gorge around here somewhere, right Crai?”

“Yeah. Pretty close,” he replied breathlessly.

“How close?”

“At the pace we were going? We’d get there in about ten minutes if we kept heading south,” he replied, and grunted as he nearly got his arm gouged by an axe. “What are you thinking?”

“Tell you later,” Peash said, then yelped as a monster nicked her ear. Blood started to drip down her neck, and she grabbed it with a wince. “...We just have to live long enough to get there.”

“Let’s go then, come on,” Crai said urgently. “Focus on one spot!”

They all turned and concentrated their efforts where Crai stood, and managed to break past the monsters’ formation, sprinting through the woods yet again. Link felt like he couldn’t run much longer, but he just... had to hold on.

It’s not too much longer. Just go. Keep going. Keep running.

A spot where he’d been kicked at stung as he ran, his side starting to ache. Peash had blood all over her ear, and Crai still held his arm a bit stiffly from earlier.

But they kept running.

It was that or die.

“Muffle the light,” Peash told him after a couple minutes, and Link put his other hand over his left, somewhat dimming it. Now they could barely see where they were going, the sparse woods dark and shadowy. “Okay, keep running!”

“Peash,” Crai said, a note of something worried in his voice, but she kept running. “Peash we’re nearly—”

“I know! It’s part of the plan!” she shouted back. “Just keep going!”

Link could barely see ahead, but he kept running anyway, his heart pounding. Something dark gradually became visible in front of them, darker than the rest of the ground, and Link realized suddenly it must have been the gorge.

His steps faltered, and he looked behind him. The monsters were only paces away, tearing after them with foam in their mouths and bloodlust in their eyes. But ahead was nothing but a huge drop.

“Peash?” Link asked in a panic, and she shoved him.

“Keep running!”

“But— Crai?!”

“Trust her, Link!” Crai shouted back, and suddenly they were at the gorge, no time to turn back.

Crai and Peash jumped first, and Link leapt off the edge behind them. His feet met open air, the drop stretching down below him into darkness so deep he couldn’t see the bottom.

The other side was much too far to reach. The darkness yawned below him, a certain death he’d willingly jumped into.

Link suddenly had the horrible realization that he was going to die, and he screamed as he fell, his heart lurching straight up into his throat.

Then two hands snatched his arms, and Crai and Peash both held onto him, Peash holding what looked like a small chain with something attached to the end. Suddenly they were all yanked sideways, and Link slammed into the edge of the gorge with a yelp.

That was about when the monsters caught up, and apparently they didn’t realize the gorge was as deep as it was. Maybe they assumed because their quarry had jumped in it was safe for them to do so as well, but regardless, they too leapt over the edge.

A stream of monsters fell into the gorge in front of them, screeches and howls echoing around the stone walls. Peash and Crai held tight to Link as they watched, and the strange little chain retracted, both Sheikah holding onto it as they slowly lowered to a tiny ledge. The moment Link’s feet touched it he pressed his back to the wall, out of breath from the running and jump and sheer rush of the whole night.

Crai and Peash pressed up next to him, and they watched as the monsters poured into the pit in front of them. Link’s heart hammered as more and more beasts plunged through the air, some sort of herd mentality keeping them racing over the edge after each other— or maybe their desperation for what Link had on the back of his hand.

They kept on careening to the bottom of the gorge, screeching and squealing, and it felt like hours before the cacophony finally ceased, and no more monsters fell.

The night fell eerily quiet.

Link let out a relieved little wheeze, and Crai squeezed his shoulder with his good hand, giving Peash a look.

“What?” she said, and he just sighed.

“You could’ve told us your plan sooner. Or at least told Link you took your father’s hookshot.”

“Wasn’t time,” she said with a grin, but Link could feel her shaking a little beside him. “And I borrowed it. Not take. Bor-row. Anyway, boy that was a rush. Good thing monsters are dumb as rocks— they really did just run off the cliff, huh?”

“I think by the time they saw it it was too late,” Crai said thoughtfully. He peered down into the darkness of the gorge. “Regardless, it worked in our favor. Let’s get back up—”

A snarl cut him off, and a moblin poked its head over the edge of the gorge, teeth bared.

Link drew his bow and shot an arrow into its eye, and as it bellowed, Peash shot her hookshot again, hitting a tree on the other side of the gorge. She and Crai once again grabbed Link and the chain, and yanked themselves away from the moblin and the other remaining monsters still gathered on the opposite side.

They howled as they saw the three of them land too far away to reach, and some threw spears and other projectiles. It soon became clear the distance was too great for any of them to reach though, and Link sniped any of the flying monsters that tried to come after them.

The jabber from the remaining monsters grew all the louder and frustrated, and Peash stuck her tongue out at them, Crai looking relieved. Link couldn’t help but smile behind his mask.

His plan had actually worked! They’d lured the monsters a healthy distance from the village, gotten rid of a bunch of them, none of the three of them had been badly hurt, and there’d been no sign of—

The monsters all went abruptly silent, and a chill spread through the air.

Crai and Peash froze, and the chill felt like it went straight into Link’s bones, curling into his stomach like he’d swallowed some ice. The monsters parted through the middle, still silent and staring, and Link’s breath caught as the figure on the horse appeared out of the woods.

A space formed in the middle of the monsters, the beasts leaving a path straight to the gorge, and those eyes stared at Link from beneath the hood, yellow and sickening.

Then the horse reared, and charged for the gorge.

“Can he jump that?” Link breathed, and Crai grabbed his arm.

“I’m not sticking around to find out. Come on!”

He tugged Link towards the woods, but Link paused and shot a few precious arrows at the figure’s horse, hoping he could at least cause his mount to falter.

The darkness around the man increased, and the arrows flew right through the animal like there was nothing there to hit.

Link gawked, and Peash shoved him into movement again, the three of them running for where the trees were thicker. Link kept looking over his shoulder anyway, hair on his neck sticking up, but the trees blocked his view of the gorge before the figure jumped.

“Crai? What now?” Peash asked as they sprinted, and Link looked at him, seeing how stressed Crai looked. He’d said before he didn’t like being a leader, but Peash seemed like she was at a loss for what to do. And Link didn’t have any more ideas.

“Keep running,” Crai decided, jumping over a rock. “His horse can’t maneuver in here. He’d have to follow on foot, and we’ll have a head start.”

“Are you sure?” Link wheezed, that cold feeling still enveloping him. “My arrows went right through it.”

Crai tightened his jaw. “We have to try. I don’t want to get in a fight with—”

The figure on the horse stood in front of them.

Peash gasped and all three of them scrambled to a stop in a small clearing, the thinnest beam of moonlight shining through the trees. Link’s breath caught, and he stared up at the shadowy figure towering over them all. The horse half melted into the shadows, indistinct and wavering, and Link swore he saw its bones when the moonlight hit it.

Worse though was when the figure looked down at him, and pulled off its hood.

Peash made a noise beside him and Link agreed, transfixed on the monstrous man in front of him. The shadows still hid half of his face, but the other half was just bone, pale and bleached. Dull reddish hair hung in thick clumps from the top of his head, two boney horns sticking out of it, and the part of his face Link could see just stared at him, like the sightless eyes of a corpse.

Crai tugged him backwards, hissing something about running, but then the figure raised his hand, and Link more felt the magic that he used rather than saw it. A rust-colored barrier appeared around the clearing, blocking their escape, and Link’s heart raced with fear.

The figure’s eyes stared, yellow with red rims, and Link wanted to take a step back, but he felt frozen in place, trembling.

Crai said it kills everything we can’t beat this thing we can’t we’re going to die—

“Hey, so any chance you’d let us go without a fight?” Peash said, her voice higher than normal as she edged backwards. “I’m sure you’re a busy guy, and we’re kind of busy, and—”

He swung a huge spear at them, and all three of them flattened to the ground, Link feeling it swish past his hair.

“Rude!” Peash said, and the horseman laughed, a deep, throaty sound that made Link’s legs shake.

The horse charged at them then, and Link shot one of his last arrows at his face, the figure easily dodging. Link threw himself out of the way and replaced his bow on his back, drawing his sword again. He had no idea how they were supposed to win this, but— but they had to try.

Even if Link himself was utterly terrified.

The horseman disappeared into the barrier, and that gave Link time to meet with Peash and Crai in the middle, all of them putting their backs to each other. Crai gripped his weapon with one hand, face grim, Peash holding her knives in a ready position, but none of them were prepared when three identical horsemen bolted out of the barrier directly at them.

Link squeaked and hurriedly swung his sword at the one that charged at him, and succeeded in grazing the figure a little. There was resistance from his sword too, and he felt a flicker of relief. It looked like they could hit him.

But only from up close.

They all dove out of the way of several huge swings from the spears, and this time they stayed separated, though Crai still hovered by Link. The horsemen again disappeared, and when one reappeared, Peash raced to slice her knives at the horse’s legs.

One of them hit, and the horse stumbled, but it didn’t fall. It whinnied and reared, the sounds it made like the warped cry of a normal horse, and the other two did as well.

They disappeared into the barrier again, and one targeted each of them as they ran back out. They were all forced away from each other, and Link had to focus solely on his own fight, mind racing as he barely blocked the spear from the horseman.

He grunted as the spear pushed down with a back-breaking force, and he suddenly noticed Feathers sitting on a branch on the opposite side of the barrier, pecking and clawing at the magic with a frantic look in his eyes.

I guess even talking birds can’t get through fancy magical barriers, Link thought a little hysterically, and narrowly avoided having his head chopped off.

“Link! Use your magic!” Feathers squawked, and Link dove under another swipe.

“How?!” Link yelled back at him. “My mom barely showed me how to use it with weapons, I’m no good at it!”

“You need to—”

A cry cut him off, and Link snapped his head up to see Crai stumble back, his already-injured arm now bleeding from a small gap in his armor. The horseman copy loomed over him, but Crai grit his teeth and lunged forward.

The horse couldn’t move in time, and Crai struck it right through the chest, causing it to shriek in pain. All three horses disappeared, and the clone glared, then lunged at Crai.

Link was drawn back into his own fight when his copy of the enemy recovered from the loss of his horse, and swung his spear again. Link dodged, barely, and despite how exhausted he was, fought like mad.

He was winded from the earlier running, shaky with terror, but he kept on anyway, falling into a frantic sort of rhythm. Feathers called more advice, but Link’s focus narrowed down to the fight, his breath coming fast.

Dodge, slice, block— a near miss that grazed his cheek— another slash, a few hits— a heady feeling all over the clearing that made Link feel sick—

His sword slashed across the horseman’s side, and the enemy suddenly disappeared in a sharp puff of smoke. Link startled in surprise. He turned in time to see the other copies also disappear, and the smoke they faded into rushed towards a dark swirl in the middle of the clearing.

Link hurried to join Peash and Crai again, and gave them both a frantic look. Crai’s sleeve was turning more and more red, and Peash had more blood on her face, but they nodded at him, expressions firm and determined past their fear. Link felt a flicker of hope.

Can we really pull this off?

A trickle of blood ran from Link’s cheek, and he wiped at it, gripping his sword and watching the swirl. He didn’t trust it.

Sure enough the darkness flickered once, and the horseman reappeared, only one of him now. He looked more solid than before, but he also looked more angry, ripples of darkness under his feet.

Suddenly he rushed forward, a dark light with red sparking through appearing on the end of his spear. Several bursts of magic were thrown right at Link, and he couldn’t dodge all of them in time.

One struck his chest and sent a shock through him that made his vision blur and body jerk. Time skipped, and suddenly he was hitting the ground, a painful convulsion wracking his body.

Someone yelled his name, Link’s brain too scrambled to register who it was.

It hurt, the magic sending a jittery feeling all over him like he’d been startled. Except it was painful too, like tiny needles pinching his skin.

The pain eased though, and Link raised his head, blinking past the fuzzy spots in his vision. He saw Peash and Crai frantically engaged with the monster, spear and swords flashing, the fight moving so fast he could barely follow it.

But he had to follow it, he had to get up. They needed his help!

Link rolled over with a groan, giving himself a shake. His hand flickered again, and he glanced at it, the golden light gently flickering. He was supposed to be a hero, wasn’t he? Heroes didn’t lie on the ground and let other people fight for them.

Get up.

Link pushed himself to a knee, and immediately swung his sword to block another blast of magic. It was a purely instinctual reaction, but the magic bounced off his sword, and was deflected back at the horseman.

Their enemy dodged and the magic hit a tree, exploding into sparks of black and red. Peash took the opportunity to swing for the horseman’s neck, and when he twisted to avoid her, Crai managed to stab a knife into his shoulder.

Red light flared and in a flash the horseman grabbed Crai’s neck with one huge hand. Crai choked and grabbed at it with wide eyes, but before he could break free, the horseman threw him aside with a crackle of magic.

Crai didn’t immediately move to get up, and Peash threw herself at the horseman, her short-swords raised high.

Link struggled to his feet, not wanting Peash to fight alone. He shuddered again as he managed to get up, leaning against a tree, then shook himself and hurried over to where his sword had fallen. The movement woke him up a bit more, and he felt a little more clearheaded as he grabbed his sword and looked at Peash again.

She was holding her own remarkably well, ducking and swiping and landing a few hits. For all that Crai complained about it, her obsessive training obviously paid off, and Link watched in awe. She even deflected a burst of magic back at the horseman, and in the brief moment when he paused, managed to slash one of her blades across his chest.

The horseman sped up the longer they fought though, even despite the hits. He steadily advanced, slowly pushing Peash towards the edge of the clearing with a glint in his eyes. She realized what he was doing and tried to maneuver around him, but then her foot caught in a root, and the horseman thrust—

And his spear pierced Peash through the stomach.

Link gasped as Peash’s eyes went wide, and past the roar in his ears, Link distantly heard Crai cry her name. Peash looked at the spear like she couldn’t quite believe it was there, and her lips parted, a faint breath escaping her.

The horseman’s eyes creased like he smiled, and he yanked the spear back out with a sickening noise.

Peash fell to the ground as if in slow motion, and Link suddenly felt that thrum in his skin he’d felt at the spring, the anger of injustice mixing with terror for his injured friends, and every other emotion he’d felt tonight. His hand glowed again, blazing, and Link dropped his sword.

He instead pulled out his bow and drew back his last arrow, hands steady despite how the rest of him shook.

The warmth on his hand pressed him, old lessons from his mother ringing in his ears. He pushed the humming into the tension of the bow, the glow in his hand moving to the arrow, and as the horseman began to turn towards him, Link released it.

The light arrow streaked forward, and struck the beast right in the neck.

The horseman lurched, eyes flashing, and then he wailed, an eerie sound that scraped at Link’s ears as the monster clawed at its throat. Smoke wafted from his figure, another wretched screech ringing out, and a blast of magic threw Link backwards, nearly slamming him into a tree.

He raised his head just in time to see the figure lurch away, and disappear into the shadows.

Somehow Link knew he wasn’t gone for good.

The magic barrier disappeared, and Link shakily got to a knee, his head spinning, stomach tight. A whimper broke the silence, reminding him of what had happened, and he lurched to his feet, turning towards where Crai was already running.

Peash lay on the ground, face agonized, blood staining her middle.

“Peash,” Crai said frantically, skidding to his knees. “Hey, just—”

“I’m-m fine,” Peash croaked as Link also reached her, her tanned face paling rather dramatically as she tried to sit up. “I-I can—”

A wave of pain made her cry out, and her head sank back to the ground.

“Don’t move,” Crai said sharply, and Peash’s breath hitched as he gently felt at her middle. “—Oh. Okay, really don’t move.”

“Is she okay?” Link asked in a small voice, and Crai didn’t answer him.

Peash closed her eyes, her breath coming fast, and despite only having one useable arm, Crai carefully ripped away the fabric of her clothes from her middle, his hand steady despite the look on his face. Link tried not to breathe too deeply, the smell of blood nauseating, and he barely noticed Feathers land nearby.

Peash’s hand clenched at the grass, and Link took it in his while he handed Crai anything he needed. Peash cried out as he began to pack and wrap the wound, and Link’s hand was squeezed into oblivion, but he didn’t let go, trying not to shake himself.

But she held on.

The moon had set, and Link glanced at the sky once Crai had gotten the injury to the point where Peash hopefully wouldn’t bleed out. She looked awful, white as a sheet with blood all over her, but she rasped something that might’ve been a thank you, her voice still tense and shaky. Crai lightly squeezed her free hand.

“You’re going to need more attention, this was only a stopgap. But you’ll be okay for a bit,” Crai said wearily, his own face looking pale. His hands were stained with blood, but at least it seemed like the cut on his arm had stopped bleeding. He looked at Link. “Are you hurt?”

“Nothing bad,” Link whispered. He ached in multiple places, and his cheek still stung, but he could keep going without attention. “You need—”

A monster cried somewhere in the distance, and Link and Crai stilled.

“...You need to get her back to the village,” Link said, and Crai nodded as he gingerly moved his injured arm. “Or, I mean t-to the sanctuary thing where everyone’s hiding. I... I’ll keep going by myself.”

“It’s dangerous to go alone,” Crai said softly, Peash listening in a bleary way. “Especially for you. You could come back and hide with us. The trip could wait.”

Link shook his head. “I can’t. Monsters are still around, I’m sure they’d follow me back. And I have to find the light spirits. Sooner rather than later,” he finished, and Crai bowed his head.

“I don’t like you going alone, Link,” he murmured.

“I know. But I have to do this. And... I won’t be totally alone,” Link said quietly, and looked at where Feathers perched nearby, silently pleading with him.

Feathers visibly sighed, then flew over to land on his arm.

Crai startled, and looked at Feathers in blatant confusion.

“...Is that th-the bird that was following us y-yesterday?” Peash whispered in bewilderment, and Link nodded.

“It’s sort of a long story. But he helped me in the temple, and he can help me now,” he said, and Feathers gave him a slight smile. “And I’ve got some tricks. I won’t go down without a fight. I’ll find the light spirits, and then... maybe I can meet up with you guys again.”

“I hope so,” Peash said shakily, then whimpered. “D-don’t die, squirt.”

“You neither,” Link replied in a wobbly way. He looked at Crai and Peash, and gave them a worried frown. “...Can you get her to safety alone, Crai?”

“I can teleport a short ways. I’ll get us close enough to the waterfall sanctuary that I can signal somebody to get us if I have to,” he reassured quietly, and clasped Link’s arm, a weight in his eyes. “We’ll be okay. Worry about yourself.”

“I’ll try,” Link said through a thick throat.

Crai breathed out, and squeezed Link’s arm. “I still don’t like this, but I guess it’s our only option right now. We aren’t in any shape to help you,” he said with a heavy look. “...Good luck, Link. Head south. Stay away from civilization unless you have to. May... may the Goddesses light your path.”

“Thanks,” Link whispered, and Feathers lightly brushed his ear as a reminder they needed to get going. There were still monsters about. “Stay safe. You guys and the village.”

Crai nodded, Peash’s eyes screwed closed now, and Link stood up, and stepped back.

And then Crai put an arm around Peash, carefully waving his hands in a pattern, and he and Peash disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

“Come on, Link,” Feathers said gently. “They’ll be all right. Let’s head south. This way.”

Monsters were everywhere, trying their best to enter into the cave they’d blasted an opening into. A line of Sheikah struggled to keep them back, fighting viciously for their home, and as Link watched, one swept their sword out, knocking back a small wave of beasts.

The warrior turned, and Link realized it was Impa, taking out several monsters at once and twirling her katana with a surprising amount of grace. She seemed to be managing okay, and Link scanned the monsters for the creepy leader on the horse.

He didn’t see him anywhere, and in many ways, that made him more nervous.

Movement in a tree caught his attention, and Link saw Feathers land nearby, watching with a conflicted expression on his face. He tilted his head, looking between Link and the sea of monsters with a look that Link read as ‘are you really doing this?’.

Link just shrugged.

Feathers shook his head in dismay, but didn’t try to stop him, just looked out at the monsters with a grim expression.

“You’re still sure about this plan?” Crai asked as he looked down at the mass of beasts below, and Link did too, stomach rolling.

He swallowed. “No. But we’ve got to do something.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Peash murmured. “Do your thing, wonder boy.”

Link swallowed past his dry throat again and stepped out onto the exposed part of the cliffside, keeping his hood up and lower face covered by the mask. His left glove he yanked off though, and he looked out at the beasts, wondering what exactly he should do. He hadn’t been able to switch on the glowing by himself. And how was he going to get their attention?

“Uh— hey!” he yelled as loud as he could, thrusting his hand into the sky. “HEY! Look at me!”

His voice cracked and was pretty much lost in the din, but as he shouted, the back of his hand started to glow, the triangles lighting up with gold. The monsters below began to take notice as the glow grew brighter, snarling and pointing, and Link’s throat went tight as more and more of them looked his way.

Soon most of the crowd was staring at his glowing hand, even the Sheikah below turning to look, and Link thought he saw Impa’s eyes go wide.

A furious roar swept through the monsters, a wave of sound growing, pounding, throbbing violently in the air.

Then an arrow slammed into the bark of the tree behind Link, right next to his head.

“Move!” Peash said as she yanked him back, Link only saved from another arrow by her quick reaction. His legs unlocked at her shout, and he stumbled into a run as a crowd of beasts began to swarm towards him.

They took off across the ridge without another word, Crai and Peash racing beside Link. The monsters behind clawed their way up the cliff, others racing along below in order to follow and waiting for their opportunity to climb after. Link had never felt so much like a rabbit in his life, chased by countless beasts of prey. He didn’t like it.

The monsters with wings quickly caught up to him, causing a bit of panic, but the trees helped with blocking them off. Crai and Peash kept up with deflecting and dodging arrows too, and swiping at monsters that drew too near.

Link tried to help with that, but his hand was still glowing bright, and it made him too obvious of a target. Crai and Peash repeatedly had to yank him away from an arrow or other projectile he couldn’t see due to the light.

He craned his neck back while he ran, trying to take in the amount of monsters. There was a huge group of them following, which made him excited that his plan had worked, but also... he was being chased by a huge horde of monsters.

Maybe not his greatest plan ever.

The monsters surged closer, and Link clambered up onto a rock, shooting a few arrows into the crowd swarming behind. He hit several monsters in the head, though he noted with some worry that his quiver was starting to run low. He had enough arrows but... not a lot. He’d have to conserve them.

Peash swung two short blades and took out some strange bug-like monsters, and then turned and kept running. Link followed, but not before Crai hurriedly threw some small sharp things at the face of a huge wolf that nearly closed its jaws around Link’s foot.

The forest blurred past them, Link’s heart pounding, monsters howling. The faster creatures kept gaining on them, which meant they had to stop and try and take out a few every couple minutes or else be overwhelmed. Link was feeling his stamina drain, and he could tell Peash and Crai were beginning to grow weary too.

Link had a sudden, terrible feeling that with his plan he’d doomed both himself and his friends.

He didn’t have time to dwell on it though. One of the strange leathery-winged monsters that had attacked the village earlier suddenly burst out of the trees ahead of them, and Link yelped and barely ducked under its claws.

More monsters rushed out of the bushes, and suddenly they were surrounded, Link gulping as he looked around. Not all of the monsters had caught up to them, but it was enough that their path forward was blocked. And if the rest caught up...

Crai and Peash put themselves on either side of him, and the monsters ran at them, howling and jabbering with equal glee and fury in their eyes.

Suddenly they were fighting a lot more than before, and Link struggled to keep up. Lady Impa had never gotten to a lesson on what to do if you were the target of way too many bloodthirsty monsters, but he did his best, and tried only to shoot if he had no other choice.

The monsters went to him like flies to honey, his hand still shimmering with warm gold. Crai and Peash did their best to keep the heat off of him, but they could only do so much. More and more and more monsters kept coming at them.

A thing that looked like a smaller moblin raced forward, and Link stabbed it in the gut, its screech fading to a gurgle. Another followed, and Link barely had time to pull his sword out and stab it too, trying not to feel sick.

A familiar birdcall hit his ears, and Link saw Feathers dive at some smaller monsters, striking at them with his beak and powerful talons. Even with his help the force was beginning to overwhelm them, and a horrible pressure was lurching in Link’s stomach.

You doomed them, you doomed yourself, now mother won’t—

“I have an idea,” Peash panted from nearby as she sliced away a strange long-shaped monster with entirely too many legs.

“Is it better than mine was?” Link wheezed, then ducked under a club something threw at him.

“More like a part two. There’s a gorge around here somewhere, right Crai?”

“Yeah. Pretty close,” he replied breathlessly.

“How close?”

“At the pace we were going? We’d get there in about ten minutes if we kept heading south,” he replied, and grunted as he nearly got his arm gouged by an axe. “What are you thinking?”

“Tell you later,” Peash said, then yelped as a monster nicked her ear. Blood started to drip down her neck, and she grabbed it with a wince. “...We just have to live long enough to get there.”

“Let’s go then, come on,” Crai said urgently. “Focus on one spot!”

They all turned and concentrated their efforts where Crai stood, and managed to break past the monsters’ formation, sprinting through the woods yet again. Link felt like he couldn’t run much longer, but he just... had to hold on.

It’s not too much longer. Just go. Keep going. Keep running.

A spot where he’d been kicked at stung as he ran, his side starting to ache. Peash had blood all over her ear, and Crai still held his arm a bit stiffly from earlier.

But they kept running.

It was that or die.

“Muffle the light,” Peash told him after a couple minutes, and Link put his other hand over his left, somewhat dimming it. Now they could barely see where they were going, the sparse woods dark and shadowy. “Okay, keep running!”

“Peash,” Crai said, a note of something worried in his voice, but she kept running. “Peash we’re nearly—”

“I know! It’s part of the plan!” she shouted back. “Just keep going!”

Link could barely see ahead, but he kept running anyway, his heart pounding. Something dark gradually became visible in front of them, darker than the rest of the ground, and Link realized suddenly it must have been the gorge.

His steps faltered, and he looked behind him. The monsters were only paces away, tearing after them with foam in their mouths and bloodlust in their eyes. But ahead was nothing but a huge drop.

“Peash?” Link asked in a panic, and she shoved him.

“Keep running!”

“But— Crai?!”

“Trust her, Link!” Crai shouted back, and suddenly they were at the gorge, no time to turn back.

Crai and Peash jumped first, and Link leapt off the edge behind them. His feet met open air, the drop stretching down below him into darkness so deep he couldn’t see the bottom.

The other side was much too far to reach. The darkness yawned below him, a certain death he’d willingly jumped into.

Link suddenly had the horrible realization that he was going to die, and he screamed as he fell, his heart lurching straight up into his throat.

Then two hands snatched his arms, and Crai and Peash both held onto him, Peash holding what looked like a small chain with something attached to the end. Suddenly they were all yanked sideways, and Link slammed into the edge of the gorge with a yelp.

That was about when the monsters caught up, and apparently they didn’t realize the gorge was as deep as it was. Maybe they assumed because their quarry had jumped in it was safe for them to do so as well, but regardless, they too leapt over the edge.

A stream of monsters fell into the gorge in front of them, screeches and howls echoing around the stone walls. Peash and Crai held tight to Link as they watched, and the strange little chain retracted, both Sheikah holding onto it as they slowly lowered to a tiny ledge. The moment Link’s feet touched it he pressed his back to the wall, out of breath from the running and jump and sheer rush of the whole night.

Crai and Peash pressed up next to him, and they watched as the monsters poured into the pit in front of them. Link’s heart hammered as more and more beasts plunged through the air, some sort of herd mentality keeping them racing over the edge after each other— or maybe their desperation for what Link had on the back of his hand.

They kept on careening to the bottom of the gorge, screeching and squealing, and it felt like hours before the cacophony finally ceased, and no more monsters fell.

The night fell eerily quiet.

Link let out a relieved little wheeze, and Crai squeezed his shoulder with his good hand, giving Peash a look.

“What?” she said, and he just sighed.

“You could’ve told us your plan sooner. Or at least told Link you took your father’s hookshot.”

“Wasn’t time,” she said with a grin, but Link could feel her shaking a little beside him. “And I borrowed it. Not take. Bor-row. Anyway, boy that was a rush. Good thing monsters are dumb as rocks— they really did just run off the cliff, huh?”

“I think by the time they saw it it was too late,” Crai said thoughtfully. He peered down into the darkness of the gorge. “Regardless, it worked in our favor. Let’s get back up—”

A snarl cut him off, and a moblin poked its head over the edge of the gorge, teeth bared.

Link drew his bow and shot an arrow into its eye, and as it bellowed, Peash shot her hookshot again, hitting a tree on the other side of the gorge. She and Crai once again grabbed Link and the chain, and yanked themselves away from the moblin and the other remaining monsters still gathered on the opposite side.

They howled as they saw the three of them land too far away to reach, and some threw spears and other projectiles. It soon became clear the distance was too great for any of them to reach though, and Link sniped any of the flying monsters that tried to come after them.

The jabber from the remaining monsters grew all the louder and frustrated, and Peash stuck her tongue out at them, Crai looking relieved. Link couldn’t help but smile behind his mask.

His plan had actually worked! They’d lured the monsters a healthy distance from the village, gotten rid of a bunch of them, none of the three of them had been badly hurt, and there’d been no sign of—

The monsters all went abruptly silent, and a chill spread through the air.

Crai and Peash froze, and the chill felt like it went straight into Link’s bones, curling into his stomach like he’d swallowed some ice. The monsters parted through the middle, still silent and staring, and Link’s breath caught as the figure on the horse appeared out of the woods.

A space formed in the middle of the monsters, the beasts leaving a path straight to the gorge, and those eyes stared at Link from beneath the hood, yellow and sickening.

Then the horse reared, and charged for the gorge.

“Can he jump that?” Link breathed, and Crai grabbed his arm.

“I’m not sticking around to find out. Come on!”

He tugged Link towards the woods, but Link paused and shot a few precious arrows at the figure’s horse, hoping he could at least cause his mount to falter.

The darkness around the man increased, and the arrows flew right through the animal like there was nothing there to hit.

Link gawked, and Peash shoved him into movement again, the three of them running for where the trees were thicker. Link kept looking over his shoulder anyway, hair on his neck sticking up, but the trees blocked his view of the gorge before the figure jumped.

“Crai? What now?” Peash asked as they sprinted, and Link looked at him, seeing how stressed Crai looked. He’d said before he didn’t like being a leader, but Peash seemed like she was at a loss for what to do. And Link didn’t have any more ideas.

“Keep running,” Crai decided, jumping over a rock. “His horse can’t maneuver in here. He’d have to follow on foot, and we’ll have a head start.”

“Are you sure?” Link wheezed, that cold feeling still enveloping him. “My arrows went right through it.”

Crai tightened his jaw. “We have to try. I don’t want to get in a fight with—”

The figure on the horse stood in front of them.

Peash gasped and all three of them scrambled to a stop in a small clearing, the thinnest beam of moonlight shining through the trees. Link’s breath caught, and he stared up at the shadowy figure towering over them all. The horse half melted into the shadows, indistinct and wavering, and Link swore he saw its bones when the moonlight hit it.

Worse though was when the figure looked down at him, and pulled off its hood.

Peash made a noise beside him and Link agreed, transfixed on the monstrous man in front of him. The shadows still hid half of his face, but the other half was just bone, pale and bleached. Dull reddish hair hung in thick clumps from the top of his head, two boney horns sticking out of it, and the part of his face Link could see just stared at him, like the sightless eyes of a corpse.

Crai tugged him backwards, hissing something about running, but then the figure raised his hand, and Link more felt the magic that he used rather than saw it. A rust-colored barrier appeared around the clearing, blocking their escape, and Link’s heart raced with fear.

The figure’s eyes stared, yellow with red rims, and Link wanted to take a step back, but he felt frozen in place, trembling.

Crai said it kills everything we can’t beat this thing we can’t we’re going to die—

“Hey, so any chance you’d let us go without a fight?” Peash said, her voice higher than normal as she edged backwards. “I’m sure you’re a busy guy, and we’re kind of busy, and—”

He swung a huge spear at them, and all three of them flattened to the ground, Link feeling it swish past his hair.

“Rude!” Peash said, and the horseman laughed, a deep, throaty sound that made Link’s legs shake.

The horse charged at them then, and Link shot one of his last arrows at his face, the figure easily dodging. Link threw himself out of the way and replaced his bow on his back, drawing his sword again. He had no idea how they were supposed to win this, but— but they had to try.

Even if Link himself was utterly terrified.

The horseman disappeared into the barrier, and that gave Link time to meet with Peash and Crai in the middle, all of them putting their backs to each other. Crai gripped his weapon with one hand, face grim, Peash holding her knives in a ready position, but none of them were prepared when three identical horsemen bolted out of the barrier directly at them.

Link squeaked and hurriedly swung his sword at the one that charged at him, and succeeded in grazing the figure a little. There was resistance from his sword too, and he felt a flicker of relief. It looked like they could hit him.

But only from up close.

They all dove out of the way of several huge swings from the spears, and this time they stayed separated, though Crai still hovered by Link. The horsemen again disappeared, and when one reappeared, Peash raced to slice her knives at the horse’s legs.

One of them hit, and the horse stumbled, but it didn’t fall. It whinnied and reared, the sounds it made like the warped cry of a normal horse, and the other two did as well.

They disappeared into the barrier again, and one targeted each of them as they ran back out. They were all forced away from each other, and Link had to focus solely on his own fight, mind racing as he barely blocked the spear from the horseman.

He grunted as the spear pushed down with a back-breaking force, and he suddenly noticed Feathers sitting on a branch on the opposite side of the barrier, pecking and clawing at the magic with a frantic look in his eyes.

I guess even talking birds can’t get through fancy magical barriers, Link thought a little hysterically, and narrowly avoided having his head chopped off.

“Link! Use your magic!” Feathers squawked, and Link dove under another swipe.

“How?!” Link yelled back at him. “My mom barely showed me how to use it with weapons, I’m no good at it!”

“You need to—”

A cry cut him off, and Link snapped his head up to see Crai stumble back, his already-injured arm now bleeding from a small gap in his armor. The horseman copy loomed over him, but Crai grit his teeth and lunged forward.

The horse couldn’t move in time, and Crai struck it right through the chest, causing it to shriek in pain. All three horses disappeared, and the clone glared, then lunged at Crai.

Link was drawn back into his own fight when his copy of the enemy recovered from the loss of his horse, and swung his spear again. Link dodged, barely, and despite how exhausted he was, fought like mad.

He was winded from the earlier running, shaky with terror, but he kept on anyway, falling into a frantic sort of rhythm. Feathers called more advice, but Link’s focus narrowed down to the fight, his breath coming fast.

Dodge, slice, block— a near miss that grazed his cheek— another slash, a few hits— a heady feeling all over the clearing that made Link feel sick—

His sword slashed across the horseman’s side, and the enemy suddenly disappeared in a sharp puff of smoke. Link startled in surprise. He turned in time to see the other copies also disappear, and the smoke they faded into rushed towards a dark swirl in the middle of the clearing.

Link hurried to join Peash and Crai again, and gave them both a frantic look. Crai’s sleeve was turning more and more red, and Peash had more blood on her face, but they nodded at him, expressions firm and determined past their fear. Link felt a flicker of hope.

Can we really pull this off?

A trickle of blood ran from Link’s cheek, and he wiped at it, gripping his sword and watching the swirl. He didn’t trust it.

Sure enough the darkness flickered once, and the horseman reappeared, only one of him now. He looked more solid than before, but he also looked more angry, ripples of darkness under his feet.

Suddenly he rushed forward, a dark light with red sparking through appearing on the end of his spear. Several bursts of magic were thrown right at Link, and he couldn’t dodge all of them in time.

One struck his chest and sent a shock through him that made his vision blur and body jerk. Time skipped, and suddenly he was hitting the ground, a painful convulsion wracking his body.

Someone yelled his name, Link’s brain too scrambled to register who it was.

It hurt, the magic sending a jittery feeling all over him like he’d been startled. Except it was painful too, like tiny needles pinching his skin.

The pain eased though, and Link raised his head, blinking past the fuzzy spots in his vision. He saw Peash and Crai frantically engaged with the monster, spear and swords flashing, the fight moving so fast he could barely follow it.

But he had to follow it, he had to get up. They needed his help!

Link rolled over with a groan, giving himself a shake. His hand flickered again, and he glanced at it, the golden light gently flickering. He was supposed to be a hero, wasn’t he? Heroes didn’t lie on the ground and let other people fight for them.

Get up.

Link pushed himself to a knee, and immediately swung his sword to block another blast of magic. It was a purely instinctual reaction, but the magic bounced off his sword, and was deflected back at the horseman.

Their enemy dodged and the magic hit a tree, exploding into sparks of black and red. Peash took the opportunity to swing for the horseman’s neck, and when he twisted to avoid her, Crai managed to stab a knife into his shoulder.

Red light flared and in a flash the horseman grabbed Crai’s neck with one huge hand. Crai choked and grabbed at it with wide eyes, but before he could break free, the horseman threw him aside with a crackle of magic.

Crai didn’t immediately move to get up, and Peash threw herself at the horseman, her short-swords raised high.

Link struggled to his feet, not wanting Peash to fight alone. He shuddered again as he managed to get up, leaning against a tree, then shook himself and hurried over to where his sword had fallen. The movement woke him up a bit more, and he felt a little more clearheaded as he grabbed his sword and looked at Peash again.

She was holding her own remarkably well, ducking and swiping and landing a few hits. For all that Crai complained about it, her obsessive training obviously paid off, and Link watched in awe. She even deflected a burst of magic back at the horseman, and in the brief moment when he paused, managed to slash one of her blades across his chest.

The horseman sped up the longer they fought though, even despite the hits. He steadily advanced, slowly pushing Peash towards the edge of the clearing with a glint in his eyes. She realized what he was doing and tried to maneuver around him, but then her foot caught in a root, and the horseman thrust—

And his spear pierced Peash through the stomach.

Link gasped as Peash’s eyes went wide, and past the roar in his ears, Link distantly heard Crai cry her name. Peash looked at the spear like she couldn’t quite believe it was there, and her lips parted, a faint breath escaping her.

The horseman’s eyes creased like he smiled, and he yanked the spear back out with a sickening noise.

Peash fell to the ground as if in slow motion, and Link suddenly felt that thrum in his skin he’d felt at the spring, the anger of injustice mixing with terror for his injured friends, and every other emotion he’d felt tonight. His hand glowed again, blazing, and Link dropped his sword.

He instead pulled out his bow and drew back his last arrow, hands steady despite how the rest of him shook.

The warmth on his hand pressed him, old lessons from his mother ringing in his ears. He pushed the humming into the tension of the bow, the glow in his hand moving to the arrow, and as the horseman began to turn towards him, Link released it.

The light arrow streaked forward, and struck the beast right in the neck.

The horseman lurched, eyes flashing, and then he wailed, an eerie sound that scraped at Link’s ears as the monster clawed at its throat. Smoke wafted from his figure, another wretched screech ringing out, and a blast of magic threw Link backwards, nearly slamming him into a tree.

He raised his head just in time to see the figure lurch away, and disappear into the shadows.

Somehow Link knew he wasn’t gone for good.

The magic barrier disappeared, and Link shakily got to a knee, his head spinning, stomach tight. A whimper broke the silence, reminding him of what had happened, and he lurched to his feet, turning towards where Crai was already running.

Peash lay on the ground, face agonized, blood staining her middle.

“Peash,” Crai said frantically, skidding to his knees. “Hey, just—”

“I’m-m fine,” Peash croaked as Link also reached her, her tanned face paling rather dramatically as she tried to sit up. “I-I can—”

A wave of pain made her cry out, and her head sank back to the ground.

“Don’t move,” Crai said sharply, and Peash’s breath hitched as he gently felt at her middle. “—Oh. Okay, really don’t move.”

“Is she okay?” Link asked in a small voice, and Crai didn’t answer him.

Peash closed her eyes, her breath coming fast, and despite only having one useable arm, Crai carefully ripped away the fabric of her clothes from her middle, his hand steady despite the look on his face. Link tried not to breathe too deeply, the smell of blood nauseating, and he barely noticed Feathers land nearby.

Peash’s hand clenched at the grass, and Link took it in his while he handed Crai anything he needed. Peash cried out as he began to pack and wrap the wound, and Link’s hand was squeezed into oblivion, but he didn’t let go, trying not to shake himself.

But she held on.

The moon had set, and Link glanced at the sky once Crai had gotten the injury to the point where Peash hopefully wouldn’t bleed out. She looked awful, white as a sheet with blood all over her, but she rasped something that might’ve been a thank you, her voice still tense and shaky. Crai lightly squeezed her free hand.

“You’re going to need more attention, this was only a stopgap. But you’ll be okay for a bit,” Crai said wearily, his own face looking pale. His hands were stained with blood, but at least it seemed like the cut on his arm had stopped bleeding. He looked at Link. “Are you hurt?”

“Nothing bad,” Link whispered. He ached in multiple places, and his cheek still stung, but he could keep going without attention. “You need—”

A monster cried somewhere in the distance, and Link and Crai stilled.

“...You need to get her back to the village,” Link said, and Crai nodded as he gingerly moved his injured arm. “Or, I mean t-to the sanctuary thing where everyone’s hiding. I... I’ll keep going by myself.”

“It’s dangerous to go alone,” Crai said softly, Peash listening in a bleary way. “Especially for you. You could come back and hide with us. The trip could wait.”

Link shook his head. “I can’t. Monsters are still around, I’m sure they’d follow me back. And I have to find the light spirits. Sooner rather than later,” he finished, and Crai bowed his head.

“I don’t like you going alone, Link,” he murmured.

“I know. But I have to do this. And... I won’t be totally alone,” Link said quietly, and looked at where Feathers perched nearby, silently pleading with him.

Feathers visibly sighed, then flew over to land on his arm.

Crai startled, and looked at Feathers in blatant confusion.

“...Is that th-the bird that was following us y-yesterday?” Peash whispered in bewilderment, and Link nodded.

“It’s sort of a long story. But he helped me in the temple, and he can help me now,” he said, and Feathers gave him a slight smile. “And I’ve got some tricks. I won’t go down without a fight. I’ll find the light spirits, and then... maybe I can meet up with you guys again.”

“I hope so,” Peash said shakily, then whimpered. “D-don’t die, squirt.”

“You neither,” Link replied in a wobbly way. He looked at Crai and Peash, and gave them a worried frown. “...Can you get her to safety alone, Crai?”

“I can teleport a short ways. I’ll get us close enough to the waterfall sanctuary that I can signal somebody to get us if I have to,” he reassured quietly, and clasped Link’s arm, a weight in his eyes. “We’ll be okay. Worry about yourself.”

“I’ll try,” Link said through a thick throat.

Crai breathed out, and squeezed Link’s arm. “I still don’t like this, but I guess it’s our only option right now. We aren’t in any shape to help you,” he said with a heavy look. “...Good luck, Link. Head south. Stay away from civilization unless you have to. May... may the Goddesses light your path.”

“Thanks,” Link whispered, and Feathers lightly brushed his ear as a reminder they needed to get going. There were still monsters about. “Stay safe. You guys and the village.”

Crai nodded, Peash’s eyes screwed closed now, and Link stood up, and stepped back.

And then Crai put an arm around Peash, carefully waving his hands in a pattern, and he and Peash disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

“Come on, Link,” Feathers said gently. “They’ll be all right. Let’s head south. This way.”