My Silent Knight

Fairytales

Zelda's POV

With each step, I could tell he grew in more pain, but he did his best to conceal it. I would aid him with his movements when he would allow me, but he mostly continued on without any help. I could sense his anger with himself, being vulnerable, being weak. He hated the feeling, and with each jolt of pain caused from the stab wound, he tortured himself more and more over it. It pained me to see him so angry with himself. 

No matter what, we kept moving. Soon, slow drops of rain started to fall from the sky, making splashes occur with our steps below us. We held each others hands, pushing through the anxiety and pain. The steep hills mixed with the rain made our feet begin to slide but we did our best to stay stable. My heart was pounded harder with each step, I feared it would give out on me at any moment. Each step of mine was infused with anger, fear, and sadness. We truly would never know peace, having to flee from my own castle, our own castle. Thunder starting to cry in the clouds above us, the rain mixed with the salty tears on my face. We continued to run, making our way around the steep hills of the castle, nearing the front gate where we would flee into the shadows of Castle Town and then slip out without being spotted. My legs did their best to support me through the pain, my thighs screamed for rest as I continued to move. I couldn't even imagine how much pain Link was in. I tried to focus on anything else but the pain. I thought of the beautiful castle being restored, I thought of my dear friend Impa being restored to her younger self, I thought of the knight holding my hand as we ran together in the pouring ran, unsure of the future. 

I thought of the fairytales my mother would read to me when I was a child. I thought of the princes in those stories. I thought of Link, and how he was a Prince from a fairytale, my Prince in my fairytale.

My daydream was broken by an arrow that was shot towards us and stuck in the ground next to Link's feet. He grabbed both of my shoulders and pushed me into the hill behind us, shielding me with his whole body. Archers. They now had archers, and though we didn't look like the Princess and Knight they were hunting for, they still shot at us. From the rain I imagined their line of sight was poor, so they began shooting at anything that moved, I prayed for Paya and Cardan. Another arrow shot in our direction, landing near the first one, I pulled Link into me in fear one of the arrows would strike too close even though they couldn't see perfectly. I knew now wasn't the most perfect time for fear and tears, but I broke and collapsed to my knees. Link slowly moved down on one knee to support me. I cried into my hands as I felt Link reach out to me, I grabbed onto his arm and pulled him in again, sobbing into his chest. 

I knew time was running away from us, I knew we had to keep moving. What if I couldn't move anymore, what if I was completely broken? 100 years I have been fighting, maybe for once, I didn't want to fight. I opened my eyes for a second and looked into Link's and those thoughts instantly left me, I couldn't be foolish. I had to keep moving and fighting, if not for me than for him. I pulled myself up and he rose with me, grabbing his hand again I began moving close to the hill, tears still streaming down my face but I ignored them. Keep Going. I reassured myself and with that we began running again, now watching for the flying arrows of archers above. 

My mind wondered back to those fairytales... the princess always had her prince in the end. The endings were always happy. Please let this have a happy ending too.

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We continued to push through and with the assistance of few guards, we were unsure of who we could truly trust anymore, we made it through Castle Town's walls and then made the sprint to the plains. The rain slowed but didn't end completely, almost as if the Goddess herself were sharing my emotions. We made it to old ruins laying within North Hyrule Field. Once inside the once standing, now crumbled, stone walls we quickly dropped. Our breathing was synced, taking in deep breaths at the same time attempting to rest our lungs. Our legs couldn't bare the thought of standing once more. Our heads spun from stress and fatigue. We did it though, we made it from the castle safely and now waited for our steeds so we could make the rest of the way to Rito Village on horse back.