Chapter 4: The Mountains of Snowhead

Saturday, 7:00, Inner East Clock City, Stock Pot Inn

Alex woke to the tolling of the clock tower, the following morning. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and put on his hat. Standing, he reattached his baldric and the sword and shield accompanying them, before heading to the bathroom for a quick bath. Luckily, the fire was already going, so he managed to finish in 20 minutes. Returning to his room, he quickly ate his crappy complementary breakfast, feeling that it was a bit creepy for the innkeeper to always manage to know when his tenants wanted things, and decided to head out and see what this day had in store for him. If he had known, he would have, probably, gone back to bed.

As the clock tower tolled 8:00, he stepped out into the morning sun, only to be greeted by Lucius.

"How do you know where I am, all the time, old man?" Alex demanded.

"I'm a Sage," he replied vaguely.

"So? What does that mean?" the preteen pressed. Lucius turned away.

"I trust you enjoyed your taste of heroism, yesterday," he said.

"Stop changing the subject!" Alex snapped. "And you asked that yesterday,"

"You didn't really answer," the Sage shrugged.

"Ask my aching muscles!" the preteen shouted, drawing some attention from passersby as they went about their daily business. "I had to kill about a dozen Bokoblins!"

"Yes, and I see that you haven't repaired or cleaned your tunic," Lucius pointed to the cut in the chest and the blood spatters.

"Mind your own business!" was the retort. The sage's hand glowed green and the outfit was restored to being whole and clean.

"You're welcome," he said before Alex could say anything. "Now, it so happens that I've got another task that has been entrusted to me," he pulled out an open envelope with a letter in it. "But if you're already giving up..."

"I can take on anything you throw at me, geezer!" Alex said cockily.

"I wonder..." Lucius sighed and shrugged in resignation, though he smiled inwardly, as his ruse had worked perfectly. "Well, the Governor has received a report about downed communication lines that link Clock City with the Goron City. All who have gone to investigate have failed to return. Sure you're up for it?"

"Yeah, sure. That doesn't sound too hard. I just go see why the lines are down, right?" Alex responded casually.

"I suppose," the Sage handed over the letter. "But don't take things at face value, young man, or you may find yourself in a lot of trouble," He turned and walked off.

"Yeah, just give advice and run off, geezer!" Alex called after him. "I can do this job in record time!"

After a quick detour to the Inner East Clock City food shop to get some jerky and dried fruit as provisions, Alex, grumbling at the high prices, made his way to North Clock Town, making sure to avoid the park, meaning that he had to take a scenic route. It was 10:13 by the time he reached the Outer North Clock City Gate.

"Hey, kid, make sure you watch out in North Termina Field," the guard warned as he passed. "The Dodongos out there are vicious!"

"Whatever," Alex waved him off and passed through the gate, walking towards the stone ramp at the end of the stone path that led from the gate. This ramp, however, was for Gorons to roll up and leap across to the mountain path beyond. Pedestrians, like Alex, had to take one of the two steep stone ramps next to the Goron ramp, pass through the area below, and go up one of the two ramps on the other side. "What a pain..." the preteen grumbled, descending the left ramp. It was hard to avoid sliding down, but he managed. A huge, armored reptile awaited at the bottom, though. It was a bit startled by his appearance, but quickly shook it off and roared. Alex fell backwards, fumbling for his sword. Scrambling back to his feet, he managed to get his sword and shield in hand. It roared and lunged, trying to bite him. He managed to jump out of the way and tried to stab its face. This was a stupid move, as it was armored there and the blow bounced off harmlessly. The Dodongo spun and back-lashed him with its mighty tail. He flew into the nearby rock wall, crashing into it with heavy force and leaving a spider-web crack where he had hit. He fell to the ground, hacking and spitting up a little blood.

'Blast...this is how it ends...' he thought angrily as the monster inhaled to breath a torrent of flames that would incinerate him. Quite suddenly, though, a black vapor appeared in front of him, quickly forming into a dazzling figure in glowing silver. A huge red flamethrower shot from the Dodongo's mouth at him, but a golden sphere appeared around him and the figure, deflecting the flames harmlessly away. The barrier faded as the Dodongo roared angrily at the newcomer, swiping its tail at him. He turned to vapor briefly to let the appendage go through him, and then fired a brilliant sphere of light from his silver staff. The spell pierced the monster's mighty armor and it exploded into slimy pieces. The figure visibly relaxed and gave a sigh of relief as he turned around.

"I commend you for attacking a giant Dodongo head-on, but it was foolhardy," his hand glowed blue as Alex's life-threatening injuries were repaired. "It's a good thing that I was watching through my Scrying Mirror,"

"I guess I should thank you..." Alex grumbled. "But why are you spying on me?"

"Do I even need to waste time answering that?" the Sage pointed at the spider-web cracks on the nearby rock wall. Alex was about to retort, but the sound of a Dodongo's roar caught their ears from the distance. "At any rate, I recommend that we move on before we have another battle on our hands," Alex was only too happy to agree, though he didn't voice it.

"So, you're coming with me, now?" he asked, instead, as they ascended the nearest ramp that led to the mountain path.

"Well, I might as well, now that I've come all the way out here," the Sage said matter-of-factly.

'At least I can just have him do most of the fighting,' Alex thought in an effort to console himself for having the old man along.

Saturday, Snowhead Foothills, 10:38

The path was steep and the ascent a bit arduous, despite it being Spring, but Lucius seemed to have little trouble. Alex, on the other hand, was already breathing heavily after three minutes.

"Hey, old man, wait!" he wheezed. Lucius turned to look quizzically at him.

"What is it?" he asked. "Surely you don't need a breather?" Alex growled.

"No...but-" he was interrupted when a blue Tektite burst out of a bush and jumped at him. He tried to jump back, but his tired legs caused him to fall back, instead. Lucius killed it with a bolt of light from his staff, in midair, before it could land on the preteen.

"It appears that the monster population is as robust as ever," the Sage commented. "Tektites are rarely alone. We must be cautious,"

"Yeah..." Alex muttered. A bit further along, a dozen blue Tektites leapt from behind rocks and bushes to assault them. Alex tried to block one with his shield, though he was bowled over with it on top of him with the shield between them. It snapped at him, but he managed to throw it to the side and stab it in the belly, killing it. Lucius jumped back from three that attacked him and summoned sizeable stalagmites to pierce through them. As Alex scrambled back to his feet, two more Tektites came at him. He staggered away from the attack of one, but was cut across the face by the leg spikes of the other. He cried out in pain, jabbing at it. The Tektite dodged out of the way and its partner jumped at the preteen. He barely managed to get his shield up, though he managed to brace himself, this time, so that he only staggered from the impact. He kicked the Tektite in the face, repelling it and injuring his foot at the same time, as its mandibles were sharp. Lucius fired several bolts of light at the other six that kept leaping at him, forcing him to dodge, and fried them. Alex took advantage of the Tektite being stunned and stabbed through its eye, killing it. The other, however, immediately jumped on him from behind, biting into his back. Lucius blasted it away with a fireball and incinerated it.

"Quite the workout, eh?" Lucius chuckled, his hand glowing blue and causing a brief drizzle of rain to fall on them, relieving any injuries. Alex glared at him.

"I'm still a newbie. Aren't you supposed to take the brunt of the attacks for me?" he grumbled.

"I did," the Sage answered. "You only had to fight three out of twelve. You can do the math, right?" Alex decided not to even bother replying.

Saturday, 11:04, Mountain Village

The duo came to a large, thick, wooden gate, after a few more Tektite encounters.

"Halt!" a Terminan soldier shouted from atop the gate. "What business do you have on Snowhead?"

"We have been sent by the Governor to investigate the communication lines," Lucius responded.

"Oh, yeah...we got a pigeon about that, earlier," the soldier nodded. "You may pass," The gate swung open to admit them and closed after they were through. Another soldier was waiting on the other side.

"So you're here about the comm lines, huh?" he inquired.

"Yes," Lucius nodded. "What information do you have?"

"Not much," the soldier replied. "Only that no scouts returned from Ikana Ridge. It's a dangerous place up there,"

"Don't tell me. We're heading there," Alex said impudently to Lucius.

"Perhaps, but I think that we should gather more information in Goronopolis, first," the Sage replied sagely. The soldier let them by and the duo headed on through the houses and towards the eastern way out of the village. The locals gave them a few looks, but continued about their business. In a community of about 26 people, there was little idle time. The guards at the eastern gate let them by with no problem.

"There are a lot of Wolfos out there, this time of year," one of the guards warned.

"All right, thanks," Lucius said before Alex could retort. The gates closed behind them. The Sage looked to Alex. "See how smoothly things go with a little manners?"

"Yeah, yeah...you've been telling me that since day one," the preteen said dismissively. Lucius shook his head with a sigh before hastening to catch up. There were a few broken up islands here, connected by wooden suspension bridges that allowed safe passage over the water below. Several Wolfos were relaxing in the area, as well.

"This could be problematic," Lucius commented. His word was proved not a moment later when a Wolfos jumped at them from the nearby ramp that led to the Goron Racetrack. Lucius blasted it out of midair with a fireball. Its howls, however, had alerted its brethren.

"Oh, crap! Nice going, geezer!" Alex shouted as several Wolfos charged at them over the bridge and a couple more tried to attack from the ramp. Lucius took these two out with bolts of light while Alex jumped out of the way of the claws of one of the others. Lucius blasted a few more out of the way with wind, smashing them into a distant wall with a sickening crack, while Alex continued to dodge and block the one after him. He tried to counter after every block, but the Wolfos was too fast and dodged his attacks, too, or blocked with its thick forearms for minimal damage. He dodged another attack and bashed it in the face with his shield before ramming his sword into its mouth. It gurgled and lunged at him, cutting his sword arm up with its razor-sharp teeth and slashing across his torso with its claws. Lucius quickly killed it with another fireball as Alex staggered back. He pulled his bloody sword out of the dead monster's mouth with a disgusted look on his face. Lucius quickly healed him and repaired his armor again.

"I think that we should get you some better armor when we get to Goronopolis," Lucius mused. "They have good metal in Goron mines,"

"Whatever stops me from getting mangled every battle," Alex complained, rubbing his sore arm where the horrible fang injuries had just been. They continued on across the bridges, eventually coming to the entrance to Goronopolis around 11:34, approximated judging by the toll of the clock tower. Two Gorons stood guard next the entrance.

"Oh, hello, humans!" one of the Gorons said genially. "What brings you to Goronopolis?"

"We have been sent to investigate the communication lines," Lucius reported, yet again. "Do you know what has happened?"

"Well, it started a week ago, and the lines finally became unusable, as anyone sent to repair them disappeared," the Goron answered. "We sent a few of our soldiers, too, to look into it, but none returned. Whatever is up there must be powerful!"

"Well, now what, old man?" Alex inquired of Lucius with his usual level of respect. "Do we go fight the mysterious, powerful enemy that has slain many men?"

"It seems we have no choice," the Sage sighed.

"The lines are over there," the Goron pointed to a path carved into the mountains on their right. A series of stone pillars were built along the path, telegram wires went through the pillars. "Good luck," Lucius nodded and led Alex down the stairs that were cut into the shelf that they were on.

"First, though, let's find the local shop," the Sage said. "I think I can recall the location..."

He led Alex through the multitude of large, roughly-hewn, stone buildings, finally coming to one with 'The Goron Sundry Stop' carved into a slab of stone next to the wooden door. "Ah, here it is," they headed in.

"Ah, welcome, brothers!" the Goron shopkeeper shouted enthusiastically from behind the stone counter. "How can I help you, today?"

"My friend, here, needs some better armor, and a new sword and shield wouldn't go amiss, either," the Sage responded.

"Oh, yes, that armor looks like it can't really take a hit," the shopkeeper nodded. "Okay, I'll be back," He headed into the back.

"So, if Clock City has the lame armor, where do all the soldiers get their metal armor?" Alex asked.

"There is an acquaintance of mine that provides it, and they also import equipment from the Great Bay and here," Lucius answered matter-of-factly. "You'll find yourself hard-pressed to find any army in Termina better-equipped than the Clock City army,"

"Here you are, brother!" the shopkeeper returned with a chain mail tunic, armor-plated boots, thicker shield, and a Gilded Sword, sheathed in a nice blue sheath. "All together, this should be 1,525 rupees," Alex's jaw dropped.

"All right," Lucius fished out seven silver rupees, an orange rupee, a red rupee, and a blue rupee from his wallet. Alex gaped at him, as well.

"How do you have so much money, old man?" he demanded. Lucius chuckled and, instead of answering, took the equipment and dropped it on Alex, nearly bowling him over.

"There is a restroom here, if you wish to try those on," the Sage pointed to a door, clearly labeled. Alex grumbled and went into the room. Ignoring the stone basin and stone loo, he quickly changed into the new equipment. It was, basically, the leather equipment with chain mail added onto the outside. The hat and tunic were even more stiff and uncomfortable than before, as were the boots. The shield was also heavier than the Terminan Shield, though, he could tell, it would take hits better. The Gilded Sword was longer than the Hylian Sword, and would take some getting used to, but it was, apparently, a lot sharper and thin, but strong. "Ah, the hero emerges!" Lucius exclaimed as Alex came out of the restroom in his new outfit.

"It's stiff. How am I supposed to move in it?" he complained.

"You'll adjust," the Sage shrugged. "Here, I'll take your old equipment off of your hands," he took it and shoved it into the bag that he had over his shoulders.

"How did you do that? That stuff shouldn't even fit in there!" Alex exclaimed.

"I always carry enchanted baggage. It's the only way to carry all of the necessities of an adventure, or daily life, actually," he shrugged. "Well, the day is getting older. Let's go," he headed out of the shop. Alex shook his head and followed.

Saturday, 12:02, Communication Line Path

"Man, how far does this go?" Alex shielded his eyes with a hand as he tried to see the end of the winding path of the lines.

"All the way to Clock City," Lucius replied. "But don't worry," he added at the expression on the younger person's face. "The lines are only above ground in the mountains, and Ikana Ridge is only half-way. We should have little problem,"

"Oh, sure, assuming that we have the energy to fight when we get there," Alex muttered.

They walked on for a while, meeting nothing and hearing only the wind.

"That's odd. There should be Tektites and other monsters here," Lucius wondered aloud. "I wonder what has happened to cause this unwarranted tranquility?"

"Probably nothing good," Alex gasped, struggling to keep going.

The clock tower tolled 13:00 in the distance as they finally came to the first sign of trouble. There was a rumbling sound ahead and the ground shook.

"What is that, I wonder?" the Sage hurried around the next ridge and found the source of the disturbance. A huge, muscular Cyclops was rampaging around.

"Holy Goddesses!" Alex exclaimed.

"Look! Someone is already fighting it!" Lucius pointed to the figure quickly darting around the monster, slicing it here and there, disappearing and reappearing with blue flashes to dodge its moves and to injure it. "I'd say we found what broke the lines," the Sage observed as the stranger warped up several yards from the Cyclops and fired a massive beam of iridescent light at it, annihilating it easily. He vanished and reappeared in front of the duo in a blue flash. Alex jumped as the black-clad, long-lavender-haired stranger appeared before him, black cloak fluttering behind him.

"Fake!" he declared, pointing to Alex. "I challenge you!" He ran forward with such speed that Alex couldn't even follow him and punched the preteen into the rock behind him, leaving a spider-web crack as he sprawled to the ground, barely conscious. Lucius fired a few blasts of light energy at the stranger. He dodged two and blocked the rest with his hand as he glowed yellow. The glow faded and he fired several balls of dark energy at Lucius, who deflected them harmlessly away to explode in the air.

"Enough, Knil!" Lucius shouted sternly. "You should know that Alex is Link's grandson," Knil lowered his weapon and put it away in the sheath on his back.

"Of course I know that," he crossed his arms with his usual frown as Lucius healed Alex. "I was just seeing if he measures up," He looked to Alex. "You shame Link with such weakness. You can't even react to an attack!"

"Shut up!" Alex retorted. "Being fast doesn't mean anything! You just caught me off guard!" Knil humphed and turned away.

"Go back to Clock City, where it's safe," he answered simply. "You don't belong out here," He vanished with a blue flash. Alex growled.

"Stupid show-off...thinks he knows everything!" he raged.

"Knil hasn't changed much, that's for sure," the Sage shook his head. "Rather, he has changed back to being more as he was before..." he trailed off. "Never mind, we should get back to Goronopolis," Alex looked at the long trek back.

"You're kidding, right?"