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The battle seemed to, finally, be coming to a close.
Wild heaved a bone deep sigh, both in relief that the fight was over as well as steady his panting breaths. After being dropped in Legend’s time right in the middle of a huge monster camp, he and his brothers had been fighting for what felt like an hour straight. Fortunately, none of the fiends had been black-blooded; the problem had mostly stemmed from the fact that there had been so freaking many of them. He was used to fighting big groups of enemies back home, but this had been more akin to the hordes of Warrior’s Hyrule.
As he turned to survey the remains of the battlefield, Wild noted how there were still a few bokoblins left standing, though they were easily being routed by Twilight and Four. Everyone else seemed to be in a similar state to him, catching their breath after a hard won victory. Seeing no major injuries among his brothers, Wild sheathed his sword and stooped to begin gathering the materials the monsters had left behind.
Just as he was reaching for a horn, a chill raced up his spine. Wild froze, fingers slowly inching away from his spoils to grasp at the hilt of his blade once more. The feeling of being watched was nothing new to him. He knew better than to ignore it. His eyes scanned the treeline of the clearing, hoping to catch his would-be ambusher before they could make a move.
Suddenly, Legend voice shouted from somewhere to his right, “Watch out-!”
Wild let out a pained yelp as a bolt of something collided with his shoulder, sending him sprawling on his hands and knees. He grit his teeth as the energy crackled against his skin, much like an electrical attack yet different in a way he could quite place. There was a twang as three bows were simultaneously fired, arrows soaring over Wild’s head and piercing the now shrieking culprit. He turned his head just in time to see a wizzrobe, a kind he didn’t recognize from home, dissolve into smoke, robe fluttering to the shaded forest ground that had concealed it.
Hearing boots running towards him, Wild sat up on his knees, gingerly feeling his shoulder trying to assess the damage.
“Are you alright?” Time asked, kneeling in front of the champion a moment later. “What were you hit with?”
“Not sure,” Wild hissed as his fingers found the tender patch of skin beneath his tunic. He flexed his shoulder slightly, finding the movement was hindered or abnormal. “I think I’m okay, though.”
A flash of blue in his peripheral signaled Warriors’s arrival, moving to sit behind Wild as he lifted the hem of his undershirt. Wild bit back a reproach that he really seemed to be fine, knowing Wars wouldn’t listen until he had verified the damage himself. Instead, he craned his neck, trying to get a look at whatever the other knight was seeing.
All that remained from the attack was a small starburst of a burn, no bigger than Four’s hand, against his skin. Even the remnant stinging was already beginning to fade, leaving the burn as the only evidence it had even happened.
“Seems to be surface level,” Wars mumbled, mostly to himself. He placed two fingers against the edge of the scorch mark and gently pressed. “How does that feel?”
“Well, obviously not great,” Wild quipped and rolled his eyes, hearing a small snicker from Legend somewhere in the group. “But it’s manageable.”
“Manageable for you tends to have quite the range of actual damage,” Warriors deadpanned. After inspecting Wild’s shoulder a moment longer, he sat back on his heels, a perplexed look on his face. “Well, apart from the mark, there doesn’t seem to be any further effects.”
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked, kneeling down to stare Wild in the face, as if daring him to be dishonest about his condition. Wild stuck his tongue out, earning a reluctant smile from his mentor. “Wizzrobe attacks are hardly known for doing nothing.”
“Well maybe this wizzrobe was just weak as hell,” Wind laughed before being elbowed in the ribs from Time.
“Keep an eye on it for now,” Warrior said, speaking to Wild as he helped get his tunic back in place. Heaving a grunt as he got to his feet, he held out a hand to help the champion do the same. “But let us know if anything,” he fixes Wild with a halfway accusatory stare, “feels off or wrong.”
“I’m fine, really,” Wild groaned, dusting the dirt off his knees. “C’mon, we’re burning daylight. Let’s get moving before the sun leaves us behind.”
Wars sighed but didn’t argue any further, leaving the group to disperse and prepare themselves to move on. Wild rolled his eyes again at his brother’s (well-meaning) concern, before turning to continue gathering their spoils of war.
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A few hours later, most of the group seemed to have forgotten about the whole thing, or at the very least let it rest for now. Seeing Wild continue to act like his usual self without any hint of discomfort or complications seemed to assuage most of their fears, though the biggest mother-cuccos of the group, namely Time and Twi, still occasionally hovered around him, refusing to let sleeping dogs lie.
Some time after the sun had reached its midpoint, the trees gave way to a ravine ahead of them, splitting the forest in half. Roughly a couple dozen paces across, the ridge they stood on was slightly taller than its twin, and when Wild peered over the edge, he found it wasn’t too deep either, perhaps ten meters. In the past, this had likely been a river that had since dried up. And, to their good fortune, just several steps to the left was a small but sturdy looking bridge connecting the two sides.
The rest of the group moved to make their way across the bridge, and Wild was about to do the same before Wind sidled up next to him.
“Y’know,” He said slowly, a familiar mischievous grin spreading across his face. “We could follow everyone else and take the bridge. Or…” Wild followed his line of sight, seeing how he eyed the difference in elevation between the two ridges. It was perfect for gliding across.
“Race ya?” Wild grinned, already taking out his paraglider. Wind laughed and pulled out both his deku leaf and a bomb from his pouch.
“Go when the bomb goes off,” He lit the fuse and quickly tossed it into the gully, hurrying to get his own glider situated in his grasp.
The two waited with baited breath, muscles tensed and ready to run. The second an explosion sounded from below, Wild took off running, gaining momentum before leaping over the side of the cliff and snapping his paraglider open above his head. Wind laughed behind him, following the archer through the air as they beelined to get to the other side first. Wild heard cheering from the bridge, the starting explosion having drawn his other brothers’s attention to the competition.
Seeming to always have the advantage of his namesake, Wind breezed past him after only a few moments, whooping all the way as he took the lead. Setting his face in a determined smile, Wild angled himself to gain a bit more speed, competitive spirit set ablaze by the sailor.
All that was ruined when he heard a small rip above him.
Eyes widening, a sick feeling spread in his stomach as he lifted his gaze to fit a tear slowly but surely growing wider and wider in the cloth of his paraglider. No… Wild thought, panic overtaking him for a moment. It’s never done that before! Why is it ripping now?! Not having a moment to think about it any longer, he banked left as hard as he could. If I can just grab onto the bridge before it tears completely…
The group on the platform watched in confusion at his change in course, faces one by one morphing into fear as they spotted the source of Wild’s distress. Several began rummaging in their bags, likely looking for something to either grab him or something for him to grab. The rest reached out with their arms, trying to give Wild as many handholds as possible. He could hear the fabric giving way beneath the stress, the sound of ripping growing louder and faster with every second that ticked by. It finally gave way completely just a few feet from the bridge with a heart wrenching rrrrRRRRIP. Wild lashed out with his arm, looking to grab the bridge, an outstretched hand from his brothers, anything.
He missed.
His fingertips barely brushed against Four’s hand before gravity had him in its grasp. He heard the sound of someone’s clawshot ringing above him, its cold grip closing around his forearm for a second of false hope. But the momentum was too great. It tore him from the claws digging in his shirt and skin with a painful yank.
All at once he was plummeting, wind whistling past his ears as he fell towards the rocky ground. Realizing all he could do was brace himself, Wild closed his eyes, tried to protect his head, and waited for impact.
His legs hit the ground first, thankfully with his knees bending the correct direction. But any relief from that small mercy was vaporized when he heard a sickening snap beneath him. White hot pain laced up his right leg, a choked scream getting caught in his throat as he was sent careening forward with the remaining speed. Instinctively his hands flew out to catch him, absorbing some of the shock, but his chest still collided harshly with the stone, knocking all the wind from his lungs.
Gasping for breath that refused to come, Wild lay on the ground, mind reeling both from what had just happened and the massive amounts of pain radiating from his leg. It was all he could feel, lancing up his spine and straight into his skull, overriding all thought. It felt as if he had stuck his leg into the lava pools of Death Mountain. Prying his eyes open, he could hardly make out his surrounding through the darkness that had encroached on the edges of his vision. Willing his lungs to cooperate, he managed a single sucking breath before devolving into coughs, ribs aching with every spasm.
He heard yelling above him, some far off part of his brain reminding him of his brothers after a long moment. Wanting to give them some signal that he was alive, Wild summoned any strength he had left to gather his arms beneath him to try and flip onto his back. Taking as deep a breath as he dared, he heaved himself up and over.
And immediately regretted it.
At the slightest hint of movement, his leg sparked with pain anew. It felt as if knives were slicing his limb apart from the inside, bone fragments piercing and grating against each other. Any breath he had gotten back was lost as he screamed, though he hardly heard it as the blackness in his eyes rushed forward to consume him entirely.
He wasn’t sure how long it had been before the darkness finally receded, giving him a view of the almost offensively blue sky above him. His eyes stung with tears, drops forming trails through the dirt that clung to his cheeks. Pain still pulsed through his leg, each wave of agony beating in time with his own frantic heartbeat. There was a scuffle of boots growing closer, but Wild no longer dared to move a muscle.
“WILD!” He heard a scream as someone slid to their knees beside him. Twilight’s face swam into view, panicked expression warped by the water gathered in the champion’s eyes. Wild couldn’t respond, voice tied down somewhere in his throat. All he could do was hiss through his teeth as the rancher carefully lifted his protege’s head, placing his pelt beneath to act as a pillow. Wild tried to focus on the feeling of soft fur against his neck as the other’s voices bled in from the edges of his awareness.
“How bad is it?” That was Time, his usually steady and stoic voice now clipped with concern. Wild couldn’t help the small whimper he let out as his pant leg was bunched up.
“Not good,” Wars responded, hissing in sympathy at the bruise that was no doubt already forming. Another choked yell fought its way from Wild’s throat and darkness swam back in as the captain gently felt along the injury. “It looks like the bone completely snapped in half. We’re lucky it didn’t pierce through the skin. Hyrule, do you have enough magic to fix it?”
“N-no,” The traveler’s voice wavered somewhere out of sight. “The fight pretty much wiped me out. We’re out of green potions as well.”
Warriors cursed. “Well, first things first we need to set the bone. Any healing won’t do him any good if the bone is misaligned. Sorry, champ,” The captain’s face dipped into view as he leaned into Wild’s sightline for a moment, a rueful smile on his face. “This is gonna hurt like hell.”
Couldn’t possibly be worse than right now, Wild thought before gritting his teeth, managing to wheeze “D-do…what you need to.”
Warriors nodded grimly before disappearing from view again. “Rancher, hold down his arms. Hyrule, get his other leg. He will start thrashing, so be prepared. Wild,” The champion felt a brush of fabric against his face, and managed to turn his head just enough to see Wars offering a rolled up corner of his scarf. “Bite down on this.”
Prying his jaw open, Wild did as he was told. He tried to focus on his breathing, taking in as much air as his bruised ribs would allow as the others got situated above him. Feeling Wars’s hands settle on his leg, he braced himself as the captain counted down. Three… Two…
It could, if fact, be worse. Oh goddesses, it could be worse.
Pain exploded as Warriors pushed against the bone. The scream that tore from Wild’s throat sounded downright animalistic as he bucked against the restraints of his brothers’s hands. When the darkness came rushing back in, Wild welcomed it this time, letting it claim him and drag him under, away from the agony that had become his entire being.
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A second heartbeat in his leg is what slowly roused him. Incessant and unyielding, it felt as though needles was being plunged into his flesh with every pulse. Whining, Wild tried to turn and escape whatever was assailing him, only to find all the strength from his limbs gone, effectively restrained by the single blanket that covered him. Wait, blanket?
Other senses gradually returning to him, Wild pried his eyes open to find the formerly blue sky now fading into the orange of dusk. The rocky walls of the ravine stood guard above him, though the crevice now teemed with the familiar sounds of camp, a crackling fire and hushed conversation somewhere nearby. He took a deep, aching breath as a new wave of agony throbbed in his leg, and he felt a hand gently lay on his shoulder.
“Back with us, champion?”
Wild turned his head to find Sky sitting next to him, a relieved smile spreading across his face.
“Sky?” Wild winced at the raspiness of his own voice. His throat felt raw. He wriggled against the blanket confining him, the chosen hero helping to release him from his prison and slowly sit up. He bit back a gasp as the movement aggravated his leg, reaching down to touch it before stopping in confusion at the bandages that covered both it and his forearm. “What happened?”
“What happened was you fell about thirty feet straight down!” Legend’s voice sounded, and Wild looked behind Sky to see the veteran leaning against a nearby boulder. “Gave all of us a heart attack and a half! Especially the rancher.”
At his words, everything came rushing back. The race against Wind, his glider tearing, missing the bridge, pain pain pain pain pain-
The touch of cool glass against his skin startled him back to the present, seeing Sky pressing a red potion into Wild’s hands.
“Drink this,” He instructed. “It’ll take a few days for your leg to heal completely with it, but hopefully Hyrule will recover enough magic to help it along soon.” Nodding his thanks, Wild downed the contents of the bottle in a single gulp, grimacing against the taste at first, but sighing in relief as it helped to ease the ache in his leg.
“Where’s my paraglider?” Wild asked. He’d let go of it once it had torn, and was worried about the extent of the damage it might have suffered.
“Got it here,” Legend said, pulling the item up from beside him. The fabric was already sewn back together, the former tear near invisible save for the line of stitches that stretched across the design. “It was a simple fix.”
“Thank goodness,” Wild sighed. “Zelda would have killed me if I’d damaged it beyond repair.” He paused, thinking about the bizarreness of the accident. “It’s so weird. That thing has never gotten so much as a tear before, so why did it rip now?”
“Probably that damn wizzrobe,” Legend snarked. At Wild’s confused look, he continued. “Your most trusty piece of equipment oh-so-conveniently breaks right when you need it? After what happened today, I’m willing to bet that fiend hit you with a misfortune curse or something. Cursed thing tried to take you out post-mortem. Damnit Wild, why’d you have to do the most dangerous possible thing immediately after getting hit by that thing?!”
Wild smiled, sensing the concern the veteran was secretly holding beneath his false anger.
“As terrible as this sounds,” Sky suddenly spoke, his face pale when Wild turned to face him. “But it might have been for the better that you had that race with Wind. If you had been on the bridge with the rest of us…”
He hesitated, but he didn’t need to finish the sentence anymore. If I’d been on the bridge, Wild thought, feeling suddenly ill at the possibility of what could have been. It could have been the bridge itself that broke. Wild shook his head, refusing to even think about what might’ve happened if that had come to pass.
Legend’s face blanched, not having considered that possibility.
“W-whatever,” He stammered, hauling himself to his feet to place the paraglider next to Wild. “What’s done is done and no one ended up killed. The curse should wear off by morning, if it hasn’t already, so try to not do anything else dangerous in the meantime, alright?” With that, he stomped off to join where the rest of the group sat by the fire definitely not eavesdropping.
“Well,” Wild said shakily, trying to distract himself. “We’ve got some time to kill now that we’re waiting on my leg to heal. Want to help me check my gear for anything else the curse might’ve messed up?”
Sky nodded eagerly, also wanting a distraction from the morbid line of thought he’d put himself on.
“I’ll join, too” Four joined in, plopping down to the ground next to Wild. “That thing might have affected your weapons, too, and goddess knows you already don’t know how to properly care for a blade on the best of days.”
Wild laughed at his ribbing, giving the smithy a playful shove before handing over the sheikah slate.