Chapter Text
Chapter Fourteen: Pushing Too Hard
The next morning dawned cold and bright. The three of them had taken turns keeping their small fire going through the night, and the shallow cave in the rock wall of the cavern had protected them from the winds. The three of them had brought bedrolls in their packs, but sleeping on the cold stone did not make for a comfortable night's sleep, even when ignoring the howling winds and other, unknown sounds of the night.
Teba and Tulin went out together in the early morning light to hunt and brought back several rabbits, which Link cooked up over the fire. He didn't have his cooking supplies, so the breakfast was blander than he usually liked. It was filling, however, and all three of them felt better after eating something other than dry rations.
"So we're directly under the storm," Teba said after breakfast. They had run out of dry wood, and the fire was dying down. Already, it felt much colder in the cavern than it had earlier. "What now? You're still wanting to try to find a way to climb those islands?"
Link tightened down the straps on his pack, tying them off, and then secured his shield. "That's right. If Zelda's here, she's here for a reason. She's got to be trying to figure out the blizzard."
"Without telling anyone." Teba's tone was flat, and his expression annoyed. He didn't like being kept in the dark, and well, neither did Link.
"She'll have her reasons," Link said. "But that's why I want to find her. She might have even allowed Tulin to see her to get us to follow."
It was a stretch. He knew it was. Perhaps Zelda had known he would come here after recovering, and maybe she'd known he would pursue her if Tulin told him about her. There were far easier ways to achieve that goal, however, and the distraction of seeing her had very nearly gotten Tulin killed.
But it was all he had. Link had to find her.
"It's going to work, Dad," Tulin said, confident as only a youth could be. "I would bet my beak that she's gone up there to fix the storm, and she probably wants help doing it!"
Teba crossed his wings over his chest but didn't contradict his son. "We'll see. Something about this isn't sitting right with me. You're sure you saw Zelda?"
"Yes," Tulin said, exasperated. "I know what she looks like! It was her."
Teba met his son's eyes, considering, and then nodded. "All right. But that still doesn't answer the question of how we're going to get up there."
"That's easy! We do what we did yesterday. Link can glide with his paraglider, and we can pull him up."
"While circling the blizzard."
"That won't be as bad as you think," Tulin said, clearly growing excited. "The wind should be more in our favor as we get higher up."
Teba snorted, a plume of mist shooting out of the twin nostrils in his beak. "It isn't that simple, and you know it. The winds nearest the storm's wall will be some of the worst we will encounter, and the presence of the islands will create a lot of turbulence."
Tulin wasn't discouraged by Teba's words, and Link appreciated the youth's enthusiasm, especially after what he had achieved the night before. He had reason to believe Tulin when the Rito said he knew how to get somewhere.
"Regardless," Link said, glancing between them. "I will find a way to reach those islands. Maybe my powers can assist us." He raised his Zonai arm, concealed beneath his sleeves and gloves. Last night, around the fire, he had finally shared the full story with the two Rito, revealing the power bestowed upon him by Rauru and Zelda.
Teba nodded. "I figured. I'm with you, Link."
"So am I!" Tulin said, shooting to his feet, eyes wide with excitement. "Let's get up there and figure out how to stop this storm!"
Link and Teba both rose, donning their packs and putting out the last embers of the fire. Then they ventured back out into the blizzard.
The climb up the backside of Mount Hebra wasn't difficult, as far as climbs went. The mountain was steep, but its northern slope was traversable on foot. In fact, Link knew it was a popular place for some of the more experienced skiers and sledders in Hyrule—albeit one full of hazards.
However, the exposure made the climb miserable. The whole way, they were buffeted by winds that seemed to have a mind of their own, shifting this way and that, and the temperatures only plummeted further. Ice formed on Link's scarf, in front of his mouth, and he was forced to wear his goggles to protect his eyes.
His breathing grew more labored as they climbed. In the past, when he had summited Mount Hebra, the air certainly felt thinner, but whether because of his injuries or the storm, Link found himself needing to take several breaks just to catch his breath. The muscles in his legs burned with every step.
The Rito both fared better. Accustomed to higher elevations and cold temperatures, ascending Mount Hebra was easier in that way. Even they struggled with the temperatures, though, which Teba said were lower than any winter he'd ever experienced.
And this, in the middle of summer. Link dreaded to think of what a winter would be like with this storm overhead. If they didn't manage to fix this, then the Rito would likely need to abandon their homes completely and travel east, assuming the storm didn't expand to cover more of Hyrule.
Zonai ruins dotted the mountain. Most were just chunks from the islands overhead that had fallen during that initial upheaval. Everything from loose bricks to entire sections of wall or ground—a grim reminder for Link of Purah's tales of homes crushed by the falling debris. He hoped Kakariko Village was faring well and made a mental note to visit there as soon as he could.
At the peak of the mountain was a large piece of Zonai architecture. It looked to be an entire building or platform, standing upright and buried in the snow and ice, like a sentinel keeping watch over the land. That was their destination—the place from which Link hoped he could get onto the other floating islands that spiraled vertically from the mountain and up to the storm overhead.
"What do you think keeps them in the air?" Tulin asked as they rested in the shadow of a ruin that may have once been a building up on the Zonai island overhead.
Link rested his head back against the wall, eyes closed, trying to catch his breath. He had started feeling lightheaded as they climbed, necessitating this break, despite getting close to the peak. He'd climbed this mountain before, and it had never been as much of a struggle as it was now.
And to make matters worse, his arm was aching again. He felt that burning sensation from his shoulder all the way down to his fingertips. It wasn't incapacitating, but it still distracted him.
"Rauru said something about…" Link racked his brain to try to remember, but it was difficult. "Zonai-something… Zonaite! Refined Zonaite. Something about that helped the islands to fly, though he couldn't tell me much about it."
Teba handed Link a waterskin. "Drink this. You look like you're barely awake."
Link took the water gratefully, pulling the cap off and taking a large pull on it. It tasted pure and refreshing, and its icy chill helped clear his mind some. He looked up the mountain's slope, at the peak, still at least another hour's climb at the very least.
"Are you going to be all right?" Teba asked, noticing Link's grimace.
He sighed. "This climb was never so difficult for me before."
"You realize that the air is only going to get thinner the higher we go." Teba craned his neck, looking straight up. "We'll probably be at least half again as high by the time we reach the upper reaches of the clouds—maybe even higher. It's going to get more difficult. Dangerous."
Link closed his eyes again, focusing on his breathing. He was starting to feel better. The air wasn't so thin that breathing was difficult, though he could certainly feel the difference. He didn't know how it would be as they rose above the mountain, however.
"I have to at least try," he said, opening his eyes and meeting Teba's. "It's probably the only way to stop this blizzard."
"Hey, did you hear that?" Tulin asked, standing up and looking around, frowning.
"Hear what?" Teba asked, looking about warily.
"I thought I heard a voice…"
Link sat up straighter. "Zelda? Was it her voice?" He remembered the way she used to communicate with him back when she fought to confine Calamity Ganon to the castle.
Tulin shook his head and hunched his head slightly, embarrassed. "It was probably nothing. Maybe just the wind?"
Teba nodded slowly. "Maybe. Still, probably a good thing to get moving again soon. Are you ready?"
"Yeah," Link said, forcing himself to his feet. His legs burned, but he could ignore the fatigue for a while longer. He did wish he still had Mipha's healing abilities, though—he had never realized during his journey to defeat Ganon just how much he relied on those abilities to keep him going. "Let's keep going."
It was oddly peaceful at the Hebra Peak. While the wind still blew about them, it felt muted. From their vantage, they could see the entire mountain range, though the constant snow made it difficult to see much further in any sort of detail. At times, when the winds shifted just right, Tulin said he could see Rito Village, but that was beyond Link's Hylian eyes.
Overhead, the swirling column of cloud and snow dominated the sky. Lightning flashed often, and Link caught more glimpses of the hulking shape within. Large and boxy, he couldn't deny what it looked like.
A ship.
"I think it's probably just one of these islands," Tulin said when Link pointed it out. "We would have noticed if a giant ship were floating around above the mountains."
Teba, standing next to Link, grunted. "You'd think we would have seen these floating islands, too."
Tulin didn't answer his father but squinted his eyes at the floating island nearest them. From their position atop the Zonai structure on the peak, they were a little higher in elevation than the island, which floated just off the side of the mountain. Beyond that island, others formed the chain that led higher and higher into the air.
Once more, Link was struck by the fact that this whole trial, so to speak, was seemingly made for the Rito. The island structures looked intentionally arrayed to allow someone with wings to travel from platform to platform. The only reason that the Rito hadn't yet attempted this was due to the powerful winds that prevented anyone but the strongest flier from doing so safely.
Conversely, the islands were certainly not arrayed for Hylians to traverse. While it did appear that some of the islands were connected or close enough to each other that they could be navigated with the paraglider, Tulin and Teba both assured him that was not the case as they got higher.
"Let's get started," Teba said, and Link nodded, beginning to unfold his paraglider. He felt the wind at his back and hoped it would propel him forward enough to reach the lowest island without requiring additional assistance. He had remade the rope harness and wore it uncomfortably around his waist, but they all agreed that it would be best to take it slow and preserve the Rito's wing strength until the ascent grew more challenging.
"Wait!" Tulin said, holding out his wing to stop them from moving. The Rito closed his eyes and tilted his head, as if listening to something only he could hear. He remained like that for a few seconds before opening his eyes again and looking at Link and Teba. "Okay, now we can go."
Link didn't feel any difference in the wind but didn't argue. As the two Rito spread their wings, he leapt free of the mountain. The wind immediately caught his paraglider and drove him forward, towards the floating island.
For a few seconds, he was alone in the open, snow-filled air, but then the two Rito joined him. Tulin moved ahead of him, settling into a position just ahead and to the left of Link. Teba glided just behind him and to the right.
Something about the formation helped guide their flight, as if Link were being pulled along in Tulin's wake. Their speed increased while Link's descent seemed to slow. Tulin banked his wings, turning slightly, and Link's paraglider appeared to follow of its own accord. The wind shifted direction slightly, pushing him to the side, but Tulin's turn counteracted it so that when Link's feet touched down, he was nearly perfectly aligned in the center of the floating island.
The island was long and narrow, constructed of brick and mortar rather than the semi-natural land mass that Link had woken on. It was canted just slightly to the side and back so that the part before Link and the Rito was higher than the section they'd landed on. There were no railings to either side, though the path was wide enough that Link didn't need to fear a single misstep.
It was not all on a single plane, either. Some stairs led higher, further along to a second landing and a large, pillar-like section that rose high into the air to reach yet another landing, some fifty feet higher up.
The island didn't appear to serve any purpose that Link could see. It didn't appear to be a broken piece of a larger whole. It had a few straight-edged overhangs like fins that jutted out from its sides, which struck a chord with Link for some reason, though he couldn't put his finger on it.
"That wasn't so bad!" Tulin said, touching down in front of Link and spinning around. "The wind practically did it for us."
"Well, thank the winds, I suppose," Link said, smiling as he folded his paraglider so a gust wouldn't catch it and send him flying over the edge of the platform. "Now, if it could just keep that up, that would be great."
"Don't count on it," Teba said, craning his neck and looking up.
"It won't be so bad!" Tulin said, looking excited. "You'll see."
They began to climb the shallow incline, approaching the opposite edge of the floating island. An icy gale cut across the path, causing Link's cloak to flap and billow, and he tugged his scarf up further up over his nose. Lightning flashed, and a low peal of thunder echoed through the mountain range beneath them.
They climbed the stairs, and that's when Link saw the first sign that they might not be alone up on these remote Zonai islands. Though the construct wasn't functional, Link couldn't mistake the pile of rounded components for anything else, even if half of it was buried under a snowdrift.
"What's that?" Tulin asked as Link knelt by the old Zonai machine.
"The Zonai called it a construct. They served a lot of different purposes back in their day, including as guardians. I had to fight a few after I woke up on the big island."
This one looked to have been nonfunctional for a very long time. While its structure was mostly intact, its pieces locked together in hibernation, parts of it were cracked and broken, and it was pockmarked with weathering. He thought it might have been one of the stewards, rather than a soldier, though in its inert state, it was hard to tell.
"Hopefully they're all shut down like this one," he said, standing back up and pulling his scarf down so he could more easily speak. "They can be difficult to kill with conventional weapons."
Teba grunted. "We'll keep an eye out, regardless."
"I could scout ahead," Tulin offered, too eagerly in Link's opinion. The young Rito was so desperate to prove himself or to just show off. He worried Tulin's excitement could prove to be a liability if it wasn't tempered by caution.
Teba appeared to agree with Link's assessment, because he shook his head. "No. We stick together. The last thing we need is for you to get engaged by these constructs while Link and I are unaware or unable to assist."
Tulin looked like he wanted to argue, but when Link nodded in agreement, he relented. "Okay, if you say so."
"Good," Teba said, sounding pleased. He stepped past his son to the edge of the island, looking out at the next one in the chain. This one was situated slightly higher than the platform they were on, and Link suspected that they would need to fly with the ropes again.
"It would be easier to get over there if we could take off from up there," Tulin said, looking up at the overhead landing held up by the pillar. Link's eyes followed his, and then he looked to the pillar itself.
Like the construct, it was weathered by the years, with pockmarks and chipped sections aplenty. He was confident that he could climb it, though with the thinner air and how quickly he exhausted his strength, it would be a difficult thing.
That knowledge was largely pointless, however, as the platform overhead extended out on all sides from the top of the pillar. There would be no way over to the sides of the platform to finish the climb.
Not normally, anyway.
"I think… I can get myself up there," he said, looking intently at the climb. It would be the first time he tried such a thing, and any number of things could go horribly wrong. He could end up plummeting to the ground far below, he could suffocate, he could get turned around and come out the wrong side.
But he distinctly remembered the feeling of swimming up through the ground with Rauru guiding him. He wouldn't have to swim up the entire pillar, either—he thought he could start by climbing it before passing into the rock.
"How are you going to manage that?" Teba asked, looking at him imperiously.
Link merely smiled at the Rito and moved over to the pillar, which had to be at least ten feet wide. His eyes traveled up the weathered surface, identifying several routes he could take to begin the climb. As he stood there, however, another idea occurred to him.
Instead of reaching for a handhold, Link instead placed his palm on the brick. When he'd slipped through the wall of the monster fortress, he'd been able to do so once he realized that the whole was made up of multiple parts. He had to focus on passing through everything. This time, he only focused on passing through one thing.
A single brick.
His fingers curled, entering the stone as though it were water. Its surface rippled with greenish light, and Link wondered if it were his hand that was becoming incorporeal or the brick itself.
Carefully, he set his hand onto the brick just beneath the one he reached through, trying hard to will it not to give. And this one, as if responding to his will alone, remained solid while the brick just above it still rippled as his fingers moved.
A grin formed on Link's lips, and he reached up with his other hand, reaching into another brick and forming a handhold from the one beneath it. His feet followed, slipping into some stone while standing firmly on others. It didn't matter that he wore gloves or his boots—his power seemed to work just fine with them as it did without.
"What in the skies above are you doing?" Teba asked, stepping up to the wall.
Link was only eye level with him—he hadn't climbed more than a couple of feet. He smiled at Teba and shrugged. "It's something Rauru gave me." Then he pushed one arm further into the wall to demonstrate.
"Oh, wow," Tulin said, eyes wide. "That's incredible, Link!"
"And you're going to climb all the way up like this?" Teba said.
Link nodded. "That's the idea. I'll meet you at the top."
Tulin laughed, spreading his wings and shooting into the air. He circled the pillar in a tight spiral before slipping out of sight.
Teba grunted, following his son before fixing his gaze on Link again. "Yell for us if you need help." Then he, too, took off, climbing to a higher altitude more slowly than his son and with greater effort.
Link watched him briefly before turning his attention back to the wall in front of him. "Okay… Here we go."
He began to climb.
With his abilities, the climb wasn't difficult, and as he ascended, the act of slipping his fingers and feet in and out of the stone grew easier. The physical effort of climbing was still certainly more difficult than it had been for him before losing his arm, but so much of the challenge in climbing was in finding good hand and footholds.
Tulin reappeared, gliding down and circling the pillar. "Almost there! We'll be able to get to the next island no problem from above."
Link flashed the younger Rito a smile and looked up to see that he had nearly reached the underside of the platform. Next would be the more difficult and intimidating part of this effort. It was one thing to treat a solid object like liquid, but swimming through it?
He reached the top and took a deep breath before reaching straight up and through the ceiling. At first, it felt like he was reaching into nothing. He found no purchase; no handholds. His hand penetrated the ceiling, but it slipped back out just as easily.
He took a deep breath, focusing, expecting his hand to find resistance. And then there it was. He felt solid stone gripped in his hand, like the rung of a ladder. Carefully, he reached up with his other hand, finding purchase more easily now.
Now he hung precariously on the wall. Both of his arms were extended up and into the ceiling while his feet still perched on the wall. A strong wind gusted, and he felt his foot slip. For a moment, he imagined falling—simply losing his grip on the stone and brickwork and plummeting some fifty feet back to the very solid ground below.
He felt his hand drop several inches, and he banished that thought. Focus, he told himself, gritting his teeth. And then, after taking one last breath, he pulled himself up, into the ceiling—and utter darkness.
Immediately, he felt a stab of panic. Link was not someone ruled by fear. Throughout his life, he'd learned how to confront even his worst fears, pushing through the strongest desire to lock up. That ability to move even when his body demanded he freeze had saved his life dozens, if not hundreds, of times over.
It likely saved him again now, for plunging his head up into the enveloping darkness, where there was no light, no air, and nothing to tell him which way was up or down was surely one of the most horrific things he could remember doing. The idea of being entombed in stone—unable to find his way out, suffocating in darkness, surrounded by nothing but cold rock—it terrified him.
He felt his feet dangling beneath him. He'd lost his foothold on the wall, and his lower half kicked feebly in the open air. He fought down the rush of terror, focusing on the need to move. To climb. To rise.
He pulled himself up into the stone completely, feet slipping through the rock, which rippled with that greenish hue before settling again into solid stone. Outside, Tulin watched, amazed, as Link disappeared, and then he quickly flew back up to the top of the platform to wait for him.
Once fully encased, Link tried hard to think of the stone as a liquid. He was just swimming up from a deep pool of water—up towards the light and air once more. Except he couldn't see any hint of that overhead.
He kicked his legs and passed further into the stone. It didn't feel like water, exactly. In some ways, it felt more viscous, like trying to swim through molasses. At other times, it felt far less substantial—barely more than air.
Should it be taking this long to reach the top? How thick was the platform? He should have confirmed that with the Rito before trying this. He hadn't gotten turned around, had he? Was he still swimming straight up? What if he was swimming horizontally? He had no way of knowing. Should he just drop? As long as he hadn't gone far, maybe he could catch hold of the wall again before he fell.
His lungs burned. Why couldn't he hold his breath for long? Surely, he'd only been in the stone for a few seconds, hadn't he? It felt like it had been so much longer.
He pushed on, though his mind and body fought to freeze. And then, suddenly, his fingers felt something cold. An icy breeze that he could feel, despite his thick gloves. There!
He gripped the stone and pulled, kicking his feet a few more times until his head broke the surface. He gasped sharply, filling his lungs with thin, icy air, and opened his eyes to a blinding light. The storm billowed and swirled overhead, and snow blew all around. Two Rito stood, watching him with wide eyes.
With a grunt of effort, Link pushed himself up the rest of the way, pulling his legs out of the floor and setting his feet back on solid ground. His legs shook slightly as he stood, but he smiled at the Rito.
"Are you all right?" Teba asked.
"How did you do that?" Tulin said, clapping his wings together.
Link took a few more deep breaths of the crisp air before shaking his head. "I honestly don't know. I'm just… glad it worked."
Teba frowned. "Was that in question?"
"I knew it could be done, but I'm still getting a handle on these abilities. That was the first time I'd done that on my own."
"It was crazy!" Tulin said, laughing. "You've got to show me that again. How did you make all your gear go with you? Could you take someone else with you, too?"
"Tulin." Teba gave his son a sharp look. "Take it easy. Give him a chance to breathe."
"Oh." The feathers around Tulin's neck puffed out slightly, embarrassed. "Right."
Link smiled at Teba and then Tulin. "It's all right. I'm still figuring it all out, myself. But I'll tell you as I figure it out."
Tulin gave him a bright look, relaxing. "We should be able to get to the next island easily from here. We probably need to use the ropes this time, though—there's a big updraft at the next island and I think it could shoot you off like an arrow if we're not careful."
Link nodded and patted the harness around his waist. "Let's keep going. No reason to delay now." He looked up at the storm cloud overhead. "We've got a long way to go."
"Indeed." Teba reached out and took the length of rope as Link proffered it. "Doubt it's going to get any easier, either. There are some steep climbs ahead."
"I just swam through solid stone. I figure it can't get much more challenging than that." He grinned at the Rito, who rolled his eyes before tossing one side of the rope to Tulin.
"Let's just get moving."
The two Rito positioned themselves at the edge of the platform with Link between them. Like before, they each held a length of rope that connected to his harness. He held the paraglider in his hands, careful not to let it get caught by a stray gust of wind.
When all three were set, they took off just like before, leaping from the precipice. Link held aloft his paraglider and, almost immediately, he felt a gust jerk him to the side. Tulin and Teba appeared prepared for that, however, turning and flying with the wind's direction rather than against it. The rope pulled taut, and suddenly Link was propelled forward again, fighting to keep the paraglider level.
The wind howled, and snow bit the exposed skin around his eyes like sharp pinpricks. Twice more as they crossed the gap between the two islands, they were hit with crosswind gusts, but each time, the two Rito managed to counteract it with skill that Link hadn't seen in a hundred years.
For all that Tulin was an expert flier, Teba was no slouch either. He followed his son's lead with precision, banking, rising, and diving at nearly simultaneously. It was beautiful to watch, and he could tell that the two Rito were enjoying it as well.
They looked at each other as their wingtips nearly touched, and while Link couldn't see either of their expressions, he was certain that Teba looked on with pride.
Then, ahead of them, several winged creatures emerged from behind the floating island. Huge leathery wings, bulging eyes and wide mouths, long tails—these were the creatures that Tulin had chased the day before. Aerocudas, or so Link thought, based on the pictures he remembered seeing as a child.
There were three of them, and all of them flew straight towards Link and the Rito.
He wasn't sure if any words passed between Teba and Tulin, but they both banked to the left and down, dragging Link along in their wake. All at once, the air grew choppy, causing Link's stomach to drop as the paraglider was jolted to the side and then suddenly up, caught by the shifting winds of the storm.
The creatures gave a cry, and one of them came straight at Link, folding its wings and barreling towards him like an arrow in flight. He cursed and tried to adjust his flight path to avoid colliding, but a moment later, he was forcibly pulled down again. The aerocuda passed just overhead.
Beneath him, Teba and Tulin continued to fly in formation, holding tightly to the rope connecting them to Link. An aerocuda dove towards them just as the other had done to Link, but the Rito parted, opening the gap between them enough that the amphibian-looking creature passed harmlessly between them.
The other tried to intercept them, but again, they wove around it and turned, speeding towards the island again. Flying with Link in tow, they couldn't fight back, but if they could reach the island and set him down, they could start wielding their bows.
The aerocudas made more piercing cries, and the one that had missed Link came for him again. It flapped its huge wings to regain altitude, but a gust of wind caught it, pushing it back and forcing it to turn, flying in a wide circle to loop back around towards him. The other two were recovering as well, angling back towards the Rito.
"Watch out!" Link cried, though his voice was lost to the winds.
Teba and Tulin each banked to avoid the aerocudas, but this time they did so in opposing directions. The ropes in their talons each grew taut, and Tulin lost the grip on his. At the same time, the winds shifted for Link once more, and he felt himself plummet several feet as he was hit by a downburst.
Tulin recovered quickly, spinning through the air to avoid another of the flying monsters and raking its back with his extended talons before flapping his wings with enough force to send the aerocuda into a tailspin. The young Rito shot back towards Teba and the loose rope flapping in the wind.
Before he could reach the rope, however, Teba was hit by another gust of wind, shoving him hard to the side. Link heard the older Rito cry out as if he'd been hit, and Teba flapped hard to regain control of his flight.
The aerocuda that had been coming back around for Link struck. It slammed into him with enough force to take the wind from his lungs. His wrists, strapped in place to prevent his grip from slipping, screamed in pain at the sudden force upon them. The aerocuda grappled with him, grabbing onto his cloak with its frog-like appendages and lunging for his face with its teeth.
He twisted and managed to slam his forehead into the side of the creature's face. Stars burst into being in Link's vision, and the aerocuda made a pained bark, pulling back but not releasing him from its grip.
Groaning, Link tried to kick it off, but with his wrists secured to the paraglider and the creature hanging onto the front of his cloak, his options were limited. He could get his wrists free of the cords securing him to the glider's handholds, but that hardly seemed a better option.
The aerocuda reared back again, baring its rows of sharp teeth, and Link swore, thrashing in an attempt to throw it off. And then, suddenly, it stiffened, releasing his cloak, and falling limply.
Tulin shot past a moment later, his bow carried in his talons, another arrow held in his beak. The Rito did a tight loop around the rope still connecting Link to Teba and, with one smooth motion, lifted the bow with his feet and somehow nocked the arrow, gripping the string with his beak. He straightened out his body, drawing the bow back, and launched another arrow at a second aerocuda.
This shot also struck true, piercing the creature's wing straight through and causing it to cry out in pain. It lost control, spinning as it flapped its wings, trying to right itself. It nearly managed to right itself before another gust struck it. Its injured wing bent back, and though Link couldn't hear the crack over the roar of the wind, he saw the bones in it snap. It went down.
Unfortunately, that same wind caught his paraglider and flung him to the side. He briefly spun out of control, facing the wrong way, until his rope grew taught and yanked him back around. He heard Teba cry out, and when Link turned, he saw that the Rito flapped hard while still holding the rope but clearly couldn't counteract the wind's push.
"Let go!" Link called, suddenly fearful that what he witnessed happen to the aerocuda might happen to his friend. "Teba, let go of the rope!"
Teba didn't. Perhaps he couldn't hear Link, or perhaps he was just too stubborn—either way, he pressed on, flapping his wings as he was towed backwards by Link's paraglider.
Link struggled to grab hold of the paraglider's handholds again, rather than hanging on by the wrist restraints. If he could get control over it again, maybe he could angle it in such a way that it wasn't pushed so hard by the wind. Right now, he was flapping in the wind like a kite, the glider angled back so it caught the full brunt of the storm's gusts.
He got one hand in place, but the constant jostling had only seemed to make things worse for Teba. Though he still flapped his wings, Link could tell that he was flagging. The strain of fighting against the storm while dragging Link along in his wake was too much for him.
Teba looked back and met Link's eyes. Link saw pain there and concern. He called out again, telling Teba to release the rope, but the Rito looked away and seemed to redouble his efforts.
Tulin flew by, but his attention was on the last remaining aerocuda. He shot an arrow, but this shot went wide, pushed to the side by the wind. The aerocuda, in turn, dove for Tulin, forcing the younger Rito to dart to the side.
"Tulin!" Link called, but again his voice was swept away by the wind. "Dammit!"
He struggled to grab hold of the other handhold on the glider, again jostling the glider and Teba both, but finally wrapped his fingers around the wooden pole. Finally! He immediately shifted his weight on the glider, angling its nose down and into the wind. It appeared to help, as Teba managed to stop being dragged backwards.
Tulin, noticing Teba's struggles, called something to him that Link didn't catch. He was unable to help, however, due to the last remaining aerocuda, which tried to grab onto him with its feet while he was distracted. Tulin banked hard to the side to avoid the reptilian creature and then shot off ahead of it, faster by far.
Tulin spun in the air, turning his body around so that he was flying backwards, facing the aerocuda. For several seconds, the two fliers remained like that, facing each other while navigating the terrible winds of the storm.
Then something happened that Link didn't understand.
Tulin spread his wings and then brought them together in the aerocuda's direction, and the flying monster suddenly looked as though it had flown into an invisible wall. It struggled to maintain forward momentum, fighting against a sudden, strong gust that seemed to originate from Tulin's wings.
Tulin shot off like an arrow, propelled in the opposite direction by the same force, spinning in the air to face forward again and diving towards Teba. As he did so, Link kept his eyes on the aerocuda, fascinated by the display. It still fought a powerful force pushing it back, and Link thought he could see evidence of the gust—a column amid the snow-filled air where the snow all blew in a different direction, towards the aerocuda.
And suddenly, a heavy crosswind from the storm cloud struck. Link's paraglider was positioned so that he wasn't as affected by the blast of icy air, but the aerocuda wasn't nearly so fortunate. It struck perpendicular to Tulin's gust, and the creature's wings folded, one bending backwards so sharply that Link thought he might have even heard the bone snap. The aerocuda screeched in pain and crumpled, falling towards the peaks below.
"Hold on, Dad!" Tulin cried, flying towards the loose rope he'd lost his grip on earlier. He got hold of it with one foot while his other still maintained its hold on his bow and flew forward to get into formation with Teba.
The younger Rito guided the three of them to the side where the wind suddenly seemed less hostile and turned them back towards the floating island they'd had as their destination. Though the two Rito flew side-by-side, Link could tell that Tulin was the one actually pulling him along while Teba merely fought to keep pace with his son.
Landing on the island was a challenge. The storm's winds formed a powerful updraft on the island's windward side, creating a great deal of turbulence as Link's paraglider entered the airspace just over the island. The two Rito continued, pulling him down, below the worst of the winds, and he angled his glider to descend.
The two Rito landed hard on the brickwork, and he followed a few seconds later, falling to his knees as soon as he touched down, holding his paraglider before him to keep it from being caught by another gust. Teba collapsed onto his side, breathing hard, and Tulin immediately ran to his side.
Getting free of the leather straps binding his wrists to the paraglider was typically difficult without assistance, but this time, Link did so with barely a thought, using his Zonai abilities to allow his hand to pass through the leather and wood without resistance. He folded his paraglider, sliding it into its carrying case, and then hurried forward as well.
"Teba! Are you all right?"
Teba groaned, eyes closed, laying on his back, chest rising and falling rapidly. He didn't respond.
Tulin glanced at Link, worried, and then looked back at Teba. "Dad?"
After a few seconds of labored breathing, Teba's eyes opened, and he attempted to push himself upright with his wings. His right wing gave out almost immediately. He settled back with a groan of pain, reaching over to clutch his right wing with his left.
"Dammit," he muttered, looking up into the overcast sky. "My wing's done."
"Same as yesterday?" Link asked.
Teba nodded. "I should have rested it longer. Even a fledgling knows not to fly on a hurt wing."
"But—" Tulin started, but then cut himself off, clicking his beak. "Do you think your wing will be okay? I'm sorry for not—"
Teba turned a sharp look on him. "Don't." He began to try to push himself up with his one good wing, and Link helped him. When Teba was upright, he looked again at Tulin. "You flew incredibly out there today, son."
"But your wing! If I hadn't let go of the rope, then maybe—"
The older Rito snorted. "You were right to keep those things off us. If you hadn't, we would have been sitting ducks."
"But how are we going to keep going?" Tulin asked, looking at Link briefly before looking again at his father.
"We won't." Teba fixed his eyes on Tulin. "But you will—and Link. You two are going to keep going and leave me here to rest. After a day or two, I should be able to glide back down to the village."
Tulin's eyes widened. "But—you want me to—Dad, I don't—"
Teba chuckled. "How many times did you demand I let you investigate the storm, and now that I'm telling you to do it, you're wavering? Kid, do you just look for ways to argue with me?"
Tulin's beak snapped shut. He looked towards Link, lacking any of the confidence he'd shown earlier.
Link hesitated, looking from Teba to Tulin. "I agree. We still need to investigate that storm and figure out what's causing it."
"But the winds—"
Teba snorted. "Give me a break. I wasn't helping at all there at the end—that was all you. You can clearly pull Link along by yourself. If anyone can get up there, it's going to be you."
"You really think that?"
"I know you can." Teba grunted and reached out with his left wing, placing it on Tulin's shoulder. "You're going to be one of the finest warriors the Rito have ever seen. Just don't forget that you aren't alone out there. Work with Link, and I know you'll be fine."
The older Rito turned his gaze on Link, and despite his confident words to his son, Link could see worry in his expression. "And you. Take care of my son. Get to the bottom of this and put an end to it."
Link nodded. "I will, Teba." He glanced at Tulin. "We will."
"You're sure you'll be able to fly back down?" Tulin asked.
Teba took several moments to reply. "I'll be fine. It's just a sprain. Leave me some water and food, and I'll shelter here for a while. Getting down isn't the hard part."
Link wasn't sure if he believed the Rito's words. Depending on the severity of the sprain, the recovery could take much longer than a day or two, and the winds here wouldn't make gliding down easy.
Tulin didn't look entirely convinced either, but after a few moments of consideration, he nodded. "Okay. We'll keep going, Dad. We'll figure this out."
Teba smiled. "I know you will."