Forbidden flame: A Zelink story

Chapter 7

Somebody knocked on my door, making me jump out of my skin. Link was waiting for me when I opened it.

"Link? What are you doing here?" I questioned.

"My apologies, princess. The king sent me up here. He told me I needed to escort you out of the castle today."

"Oh, so you talk now?" 

Link's eyebrows furrowed the slightest bit as he looked down at the floor.

"I'm sorry, rough morning. Where are we going?"

"Lanayru. Mipha needs to meet with you."

"Couldn't she have come here?"

"Apparently not."

I closed the door behind me and began down the hallway. Link followed a little behind me.

The walk was long and tiresome. For the first half hour, neither of us said a word. Link walked a little forward for direction purposes; I followed suit. 

"So, Link, where did you come from?" I asked rather awkwardly, breaking the silence as best as I could.

"My family is from hateno village. Was."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

The silence returned.

"What's your favourite meal?"

"What?"  

"Nevermind."

The footsteps became almost unbearable to listen to. I was getting bored out of my witts. 

"I heard Romeo got fired."

My head snapped up. "Who?"

"Romeo. The one who..." Link looked at his arm momentarily.

"Oh. Right. Yes, I made sure he was fired."

"How did you know I was injured, princess? If I may?"

"I heard noise coming from the training area. It sounded like somebody was in pain."

"Really? So you weren't watching me from your balcony then?" I felt my cheeks flush red as Link shot me a downward smirk.

"Oh, you knew about that?"

"It's okay, I didn't mind. But it was a little obvious."

"I promise I wasn't being creepy or anything, I was just fascinated by your combat skills."

"Fair enough. But it isn't that difficult, really."

"Oh? Is that so?" I was just happy that I was finally getting some words out of him.

His eyebrows furrowed. "No, I just wanted to make you feel better." He said as I chuckled in response.

Just then, as we were walking side by side, my hand brushed against his. I pulled my hand away immediately and moved a little away from him.

"Sorry. That...wasn't on purpose."

"It's fine." I briskly said right before I heard heavy footsteps behind me; but it was too late. Before I knew it, I was hurled onto the ground, right next to a small cliff's edge.

"Princess!" Link shouted, throwing me a panicked look before he unsheathed his sword and began attacking the wretched monster. 

I began to pick myself up as Link was hit badly in his chest, sending him plummeting towards the ground. I called out to him in terror, but the monster was already coming for me; it swung at me so hard that I felt my ankle slip as I was pushed off the edge of the cliff.

For a moment my heartbeat stopped; the world seemed still. But before I could comprehend it, Link jumped down, wrapped his arms around me tightly and landed on the grass on his back, me on-top of him.

His breaths were shaky and his eyebrows were furrowed. For a millisecond, just a millisecond, he looked into my eyes deeply as if he were asking me if I was alright.

Then he groaned at the pain coming from his back, releasing me as I got off of him.

He sat up, asking, "Are you okay?" 

"'Am I okay?' Are you okay? You just..." I tried to steady my breathing. "You just saved my life."

"Yep," Link nodded through his winces. "that's my job."

"Are you in pain?" I asked him, almost stupidly. I tried to help him, but he refused. 

"Yes, a little bit." 

"Do you need help?"

"No, I should be okay. But we need to get back up ontop of that mountain, or else we won't get to Zora's Domain."

"Oh, shit." I whispered. It wasn't too high up, but high enough that one had to climb. I hated climbing with every fibre of my being.

"We're gonna have to scape it."  

"I hate climbing."

"God, I feel so guilty. If your dad knew I was making you climb-"

"My father doesn't need to know anything. Besides, you're not making me climb. My fate would be worse if we didnt-" I turned around and backed up against the rocks as I saw the deep, long drop below us. "If we didn't climb." I managed to get out as I gripped the rocks, petrified of falling off this ledge.

"It's okay, don't look down." Link encouraged as he stood up and began fumbling around with a rope on his belt. "Here." He stuck an arm under my shoulder and the other arm under the opposite shoulder, pulling me close to him. He began feeding the rope through, wrapping it round my waist and tying it. He did the same for himself, on the other end of the rope. "Now, I can climb and if you fall, you're completely safe."

"Are you sure?" I asked, hastily.

"Yes. And when I reach the top, I'll just pull you up, easy as anything."He began climbing the wall, but when I didn't, he looked down at me. "You've gotta climb, that's the catch. Don't be scared, my princess."

And so, I did. I did not look down once, I just latched my fingers into the natural slots in the rock and moved myself upwards. Once Link was at the top, though, I felt a drop of rain hit my forehead.

"Oh, just my luck!" I shouted.

"It's fine! He shouted down to me, as the rain began to pour. "I've got you!"

The slots were harder to find, but once I was high enough, Link just pulled me upwards until I was finally at the top. Our hair was wet, our clothes soaking, as both of us sat at the top of the mountain, exhausted. We both began to laugh hysterically at the whole situation itself. 

"I did it!" I yelled over the rain.

"Yes, you did." Link smiled warmly into my eyes. My heart began to quicken its pace just then; and it wasn't because of the climbing.

"My father can not know about this." I said as I began to untie my rope, but Link did it for me. He then kept apologising again and again for making me climb, even for making me get caught in the rain, neither of which were intentional.