The Picori Plight

Chap. XXI | Discoveries Are Made

Link brushed away at the dirt that'd set upon his face. Along his torso and arms was the dried grime of the forest's ground. His lungs constrained under the pressure of his own breathing. He placed the shield upon his back; strappings to holding the handles in place upon his back . His muscles quivered under their own usage as he stepped forward. From afar upon the ground was his sword; caked in dirt and the blood of Gharabha. Leaning to one side thus easing a bit of the pain, Link approached the sword, knelt down, grabbed a hold of it thereby sheathing it in its scabbard.

I need to go check up on the Kokirin representatives. Looking off to the sides off him, there was no one except for him in the general vicinity of where he stood; tens of feet away from a nearby ladder. Where's Romulus and everyone else?? They should've been here by now.

Link meandered forward nearing one of the many ladders to the treetop huts. He lifted a leg up and placed it upon the first plank of the ladder. As a result, a surge of burning pain intensified and spread down from his kneecap, through his calf, and ended down at his ankle. Each step up the ladder was a wince-worthy amount of pain spreading throughout both legs.

"Link, wait up!" a voice urged from behind him. Link swerved his head to the side to see Romulus and Rutho and Dubro alongside him. They sprinted forth to meet up with him; mud and grass kicked up from the sides of their feet.

"What happened over here?" Romulus asked as he slowed pace whilst pointing to the mounds of bodies stacked upon each other. "Did you take them all out and Gharabha?"

"Get up here and I'll fill you on whatever you need to know," Link responded. "For now we need to see if Kokirin allies are doing all right."

"You currently had a tough time with Gharabha," Rutho replied. "At least the menace is gone."

Link nodded in compliance and assured, "Yes- but for now. Let it be noted that I decided to let him go though." Pushing his hands upon the edge of the hut, Link pushed himself forward and simultaneously manged to get to his feet.

Sniffling and thus clearly his throat, Romulus assured to him, "Well, I can't blame you for letting him go. All of them versus you."

Looking down upon the ladder thus shrugging off his shoulders and confirmed, "Well, I kind of got help."

"From who?" Dubro's voice arose; quivering but still elevated.

"Let's just say I got help with an evil sorceress named Vaati," he murmured through gritted teeth.

Romulus, grasping upon Link's hand, commented: "That stunted slime. He only sees him as a threat. That's the only reason he helped you," Romulus affirmed; standing at full stature at the edge of the wooden floor. Looking down over to the heaps of bodies below, therefore Romulus asked: "No wonder Gharabha ran away- Vaati took out his entire expeditionary force. Those arrows! Ahh, I see now."

"Yup," Link affirmed in a short breath. "Quite the dastardly effort, hmm?" He pulled up Dubro and he made his way up to the top; shaking his head in quick side-to-side fashion.

"Nice to be up here at last," Dubro commented whilst placing hands upon his waist. "Wait a minute.."

Veering his head towards Dubro's widened stare, Link placed an open palm upon his shoulder thus asked: "What is it?"

"The Kokiri could've easily dispelled the attack placed upon them. They have an efficient tribe that's armed with weaponary, correct?"

Pressing his hand upward, Rutho motioned to them with a side-to-side sway of his hand. "Well obviously- their tribal military isn't here. No wonder they lost. Now please- get me up here."