Ice to see you

[Illidan Stormrage]

Link shivered, arms pressed tightly around his chest. Snow drizzled from above, swaying in the slight wind as it floated down. He heaved a foot free from the knee deep snow, his calf muscles numb save for a gentle tingle, and thrust it down again. It punctured through the thick white layer and crunched as the sole of his boot found the ground. His eyes squinted against the blare of the sun reflecting from the pure snow, and he looked to the horizon for direction. Mountains framed the sky, pale blue and distant. He remembered which mountain it was, with Malu's memory psychically imparted to him even without the Zora mask on. He took a deep sigh, the frigid air tightening his lungs, and trudged onwards.

A bad blizzard thrashed the landscape yesterday. Link was lucky to find an underground burrow left by some unknown creature and waited out the storm there, his Hylian shield acting as a poor substitute for a trap door. When he emerged, he was greeted by the new obstacle he had to fight with each step; knee high snow. Thankfully his fire arrows kept him alive in the burrow, but their flames shuddered and evaporated when the chilly winds blew, stealing away even their smoke. He wished he remembered to conjure some sort of cloak before he resumed his journey, but iced to the bone that he was now, his mind focused on his destination. His body going numb and joints stiffening, Link knew that if he stopped to summon warm garments, his eyes would droop and he would fall into an endless, frozen slumber.

His Loftwing arrived with him, but the icy weather repelled the bird. In any case, the winds that swirled in the blizzard would have killed it anyway. Link thought back to Epona, his beautiful horse that helped him conquer the King of Thieves, but she would suffer a similar fate. Even Malu's skin, while more resilient to the cold, could not withstand the full brunt of the land. Indeed, his exposed scales eventually worsened the issue.

Link twisted his head to the side. The Hero's Shade trudged beside him, sword and shield in hand, unaffected by the snow. Though still transparent, there was more substance to the spirit now. His journey didn't leave a trench of snow in his wake, but a disturbance in it. It was as if two snakes slithered over the white blanket, a windy impression of their bodies left behind. The Hero's Shade looked at him, single eye aglow.

<What is it?> he said, the question only heard in Link's mind.

Link clamped his jaw shut to halt a convulsion of shivering in his teeth, then spoke. "I-I don't kn-know how much longer I-I can g-go on in this c-c-cold."

The spirit scanned the distance. He pointed at an object further ahead of them with his sword. <There is something there.>

A flat plateau of rock stuck out beneath the expanse of snow. Small clumps of white gathered at its edges, and sheer silver ice dotted around its surface. A man, his skin a greyed blue, rested face down on the rock. Dull red ice laid beneath his arm and shackled it to the earth.

Link found a strength inside him and plowed faster through the snow. "H-he needs our h-help!"

Link hoisted himself onto the flat rock, arms shaking, and knelt down. The injured man was only the height of a child, but he was stocky and well built. Scratched armour protected his torso, but an obvious wound in his shoulder was not so well guarded. Link grasped the man's other shoulder in clumsy, cold ruined hands and hauled the short man onto his back. The blood ice encasing his arm shattered as he twisted.

Link put two fingers to the man's neck. He couldn't feel a pulse, but he couldn't feel his fingers touching the man's cold skin either. He watched his chest; tiny, almost imperceptible rises and falls. He was alive.

But he was unresponsive. No colour remained in his cheeks. If not for the shallow breathing, he appeared as a frost bitten corpse. How Link wished he saved a bottle of Hyrule's red potion for the man, or even a bottled fairy.

"We've got to help him," Link said.

<How?> his future self replied. <We have no supplies.>

Link looked around. A small hill nearby shone with light.

"Over there!" Link said, pointing. "There must be someone there. We can talk to them and get help."

The Hero's Shade's eye shrunk, but he said nothing.

Link leapt back into the snow and pushed forward toward the hill. The cold crept back into his legs and groin but he ignored it. It wasn't just his life in the balance anymore.