Noble by Nature

Chapter 43

It had been a long and miserable night.
Somehow Zelda couldn't seem to remember what it felt like to be warm. Or to not be scared.
The evening had been relatively good, considering. She and Link had assembled a few volunteers to help them place the bodies back inside the stable where they'd lived.
They had used the beds to create makeshift biers, which they lighted as some kind of funeral ceremony.
At first Link hadn't wanted to let her see them at all, but Zelda insisted she'd seen worse. Besides, she already knew what their fate had been as soon as she laid eyes on the ruins of the stable.
Together they had made sure to give them as much respect as they could muster, until they had gone up in flames, the entire stable with them.
It had been painful to see it all burn, even more so with the sorrow so clearly on display on Link's face. But there was nothing else they could do. It only strengthened Zelda's resolve to make sure the Rito wouldn't share the same fate. Or any other innocent soul for that matter.
Shortly after lighting the giant fire she caught a glimpse of a formidable dragon flying through the clouds, it's body emitting a warm glow in the grey gloom.
     Zelda had seen the dragons before, but it still caught her breath each and every time.
     That they were able to lay eyes on Dinraal now only fuelled the fire in her heart, convincing her that there was still hope.
     She grasped onto Link's hand, hoping to pass on her determination, watching the dragon move through the clouds before they eventually turned back to their camp.

Most of their warriors had scattered around small fires, where they were talking to friends and roasting what little food they had.
     Zelda and her knight shared a fire with their closest friends. She was almost able to convince herself it was no more than a peaceful night traveling with the people she loved most.
Still, they remained cold and hungry, and deep down she was constantly on edge, alert on any sound out of the ordinary.
When they finally got into their sleeping bags she was relieved she could crawl close to Link, revelling in his scent and - more importantly - his warmth.
Most warriors shared a sleeping bag with someone else to find every extra bit of warmth they could.
It made Zelda smile to herself to see Reeza and Laine crawl in one together. It was no surprise, considering how close they already were. Still, she secretly wondered when Reeza would find the nerve to confess her feelings.
It had to be horrible for her. Not knowing how to tell Laine, afraid of losing her best friend. 
Zelda hoped they would work it out together, desperately needing something good to happen in all this misery.
'What are you smiling about?' Link whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.
'Just happy to be close to you,' she whispered back.
He simply tightened his arms around her in silent agreement.
Their breathing had slowly synced up after that, until Zelda finally fell asleep.

It wasn't the end of her night, though.
She couldn't have slept more than two, maybe three hours, before the first of the chaos broke out.
     The shrill voice of a young Rito sounded through the night, screaming at the top of his lungs as he circled above their camp.
     'Attack! Monsters! Get up! Arm yourselves!'
     Zelda shot up, but was abruptly pulled down by the sleeping bag stretching between her and Link. The fabric tightened around her chest, squeezing the air out of her lungs.
     'Oohmpf,' she breathed, dropping back down.
     Despite alarm still being raised, Link laughed, his voice warm and lovely in the night.
     'Is that Tulin?' He then said, suddenly fully serious. He looked up, trying to locate the white blur still circling above them.
     'What?!' Zelda exclaimed. Her hands were busy finding a way out of the sleeping bag. 'What's he doing here?'
     'I imagine he refused to stay behind,' Link said drily. 'It's his home after all.'
     'He's too young!' Finally she got the bag open and was able to get up, looking around frantically for any sign of danger.
     'Let Teba deal with that,' Link said, getting up too and unsheathing his sword.
     The princess shook her head, distraught by the young boy being so close to danger. There was no time to dwell on it, though.
     'That way!' Reeza shouted, pushing past them while stil fastening her long red hair.
Laine was on her heels, a dagger between her teeth, buckling her belt around her hips. She grinned around the blade at Zelda and raised her eyebrows, as if excited for some action.
'Come on,' Link said calmly, seemingly undisturbed by the chaos around them. 'Let's see what's going on.'
Zelda followed him through the camp, waving their way around fires and sleeping gear, as well as the rare person still sleeping through the noise.
People were running to and fro, searching for the cause of all this panic or looking for a friend, one of the Zora frantically asking them whether they'd seen the spear he'd dropped.
As they approached the edge of their camp, though, things seemed to calm down.
Yunobo stood on a few rocks up ahead, his head sticking out above the masses. He was waving his massive Boulder Breaker in the air, shouting commands at his men.
Zelda had never seen him like this.
He seemed to know exactly what he was doing, creating order in the chaos without a single stutter or awkward glance.
Just past him fighting had broken out, judging by the weapons flashing through the night and the sound of metal on metal.
Finally Link managed to guide Zelda through the masses, getting close enough to the Goron to shout up at him.
'Yunobo!' He called out. 'What's going on?'
Their friend seemed to sag in relief at seeing the pair of them, a hint of the familiar anxiety returning to his features.
'We were attacked!' He called back. 'I only just took over the watch from Lady Riju.' He shook his head. 'It was so dark out there, I never saw them coming.'
'Do you know what they are? Or how many?' Link asked, patting the Goron reassuringly on the only part he could reach - his foot.
'The usual monsters,' Yunobo said. He paused to shout at a Goron to fill in a gap at the front, before turning back to Link. 'No worse than some Wizzrobes as far as I can tell.'
Zelda exchanged a glance with Link. The fact that they were there at all was proof enough.
Ganondorf knew they were here.
'There's not enough to defeat us,' Yunobo continued. 'We'll beat them back.'
'Very well,' Link said. 'Keep up the good work.' He turned and grabbed Zelda by the shoulder, pulling her along.
'What are you doing?' She asked. 'Shouldn't we take over command?'
The knight shook his head. 'He is just getting them to pull together. Taking over now would only cause more chaos.' He smiled. 'He has it under control. It'll do him good to be the one to beat them back.'
She shook her head, amazed at how Link was thinking of boosting his friend's confidence in a situation like this. It told her he wasn't too worried, though, which was all she could hope for.
'Where are we going?' She asked instead.
'To avenge a few needless deaths.' He smiled grimly.
Zelda raised her eyebrows, surprised by his sudden change of heart about her safety, but there was no time to comment.
They had reached the heat of the fight.