The Rise Before the Fall
Zelda cannot remember the last time Link sheathed the Master Sword.
She watches gore and Malice drip into an earth already saturated with both. It’s all she can see, just like the cold rain sliding down her neck and the blisters splitting her feet are all she can feel. Some of that blood must be Link’s. But he won’t stop. He’s only paused long enough to survey Blatchery Plain.
“We have to circle back,” she says numbly.
His fingers dig into the bark of the massive oak that conceals them from the Guardians. A gust of wind smatters their faces with rain. Someone screams from the battlefield, a thin sound of mortal terror that climbs down Zelda’s throat to seize her heart before it falls abruptly silent.
Link turns his head to look at her.