A Princess's Problem.

Cowering Heroes.

Zelda threw herself at the door, punching and kicking to no end.

Daruk pulled her by the shoulders away from the huge stone rock that served as the front door to the Goron shelter.

"It's no use Princess! It takes more enough of my own energy to move that thing!" Daruk pleaded as he struggled to keep Zelda steady and not let her run back at the door.

When Zelda finally gave into Daruk, she looked at the inside of the cave.

She saw what must have been the entire Goron City population, crammed into the small space.

There was a small campfire in the middle of the cave.

All eyes snapped to the entrance when they heard someone scream.

Zelda knew that voice, and all the blood in her body curdled when she heard it.

Link never would have screamed in fear... That meant that he was in pain. It definitely sounded like the scream of agony.

It went on for what seemed like hours to Zelda, when in fact, it was only a few seconds.

Zelda's heart sank, and tears started to stream down her face.

***

Link's breath came out in short gasps. His head was spinning from the waves of pain resonating from his chest.

All three Dodongos closed around him. Link's eyes settled on the biggest one, the one with his blood all over it's claws.

Link fought the next wave of pain and refused to go unconscious. Instead, he lifted the Mastersword and used it to heave his way up to his feet. Link felt another wave of agony, but denied himself the pleasure of rest. Both the fate of the Gorons and the fate of Zelda rested on him now.

Link saw the smallest one approach him from behind, right before it tried to pounce onto him. Link sluggishly lifted the Mastersword and slit the monster's belly wide open. The Dodongo fell down onto a patch of sharp rocks, killing the thing instantly.

***

Zelda lifted her head up, unwilling to just sit and wait for Link to die. She had to take matters into her own hands...

Zelda knew that one day she would have to rule Hyrule as Queen, meaning she would have to do lots of public speaking. She always knew that   she couldn't pull it off as well as her father did it, that was another reason why she didn't want to take part in the Knight ceremony for Link. But now was the time for a speech, one that would save Link...

"Hey! Cowards!" Zelda bellowed across the cave, at the Gorons that huddled inside it. All eyes were on Zelda as she made her way down to the campfire. Many Gorons looked furious at being called 'cowards'.

"Yeah, I mean you lot!" She turned around and looked at the croud.

"What are we doing here, huh? Anybody?" Zelda tried to stare intently at every person in the room.

"You!" She snapped at a rather large looking Goron, "What are we doing here?"

The Goron looked rather taken aback at the simple question. "I uh... We are... We, we-"

"We are hiding!" Zelda screamed.

"The almighty, proud, Goron warriors are cowering in a ditch, waiting for a slow death of starvation! You are Gorons! The most powerful race by muscle alone! You are warriors! Warriors that have chosen to leave a sworn Brother in danger even when you hear his cries of pain and suffering! Brothers look out for one another! They don't close their doors to them in a time of need!" Zelda let the tears run freely from her eyes. The Gorons around her looked at each other, realising the truth in her words.

Zelda tried to finish her speech but the tears kept coming, so Daruk took over.

"She is right, brothers! Link is out there, on his own, defending us! If we go down, we go down like Gorons!" All the occupants of the cave cheered and started to hand out weapons.

Zelda stopped the flow of tears from her eyes and found herself a light metal bow and arrows. Her Mother had taught her as soon as she had learned to walk. Sadly, she died before anything real became of Zelda's bow skills.

Daruk pushed the massive boulder out of the way and led the Goron force out of the shelter and into battle. Zelda followed, notching an arrow onto the bow.

There Link was, facing off against two of the biggest beasts Zelda had ever seen. His Champions Tunic has a rich colour of crimson red, producing from a single deep cut that stretched from his left shoulder, and down through his abdominals, to rest at his hip.

Daruk swung his huge club down onto the smaller of the two, making the thing squeal in pain. The bigger one, looked behind its back, to the approaching Goron warriors.

Link saw his chance, and he took it. Link used what energy he had left, to push himself underneath the biggest creature, exposing it's soft underbelly. Link scored a hit but the great Dodongo scooped Link up and threw Link into the sky.

As Link fell, he tossed the Mastersword straight at the beast, embedding itself between two of the creature's scales and slicing through it's brain.

On impact, Link slumped down onto the ground and fell unconscious...

The Goron force managed to take care of the last Dodongo, and ended with cheers from everyone. Well... Almost everyone...

Zelda got to Link first, before Daruk did. Zelda looked at the slash across his chest and the pool of blood under his body. Zelda wept on her knees as Daruk lifted Link up and whistled for Epona.

Daruk fixed Link onto the saddle and helped Zelda up behind him.

Taking the reigns, Zelda led Epona into a sprint for the castle. Epona, smelling the blood of her best friend Link, in her back, made sure they made it to the castle gates before nightfall...