Link sat on a rock at the bottom of the shallow crevasse, now brooding about two people. Medli was now trapped in Dragon Roost Cavern with no weapons or water. Unless she planned on taking her harp off her back and bonking some monster over the head with it, she was completely and utterly stuffed.
"This is all my fault. I should have tried harder to convince Medli to stay here and enlist the help of an army of grown Ritos." he moaned. "Or maybe..." Link looked up and his face brightened as he looked at the edge that Medli disappeared over. "I could go in and find her!"
Link jumped up and looked around for anything that could help. The wind spat hot ashes in his face and howled like crazy, but Link was not affected. He climbed to the platform that lead to the Aviary for a better view. A giant boulder was sitting in the middle of a large puddle of water.
"That must be the spring!" thought Link. "I've got it! If I can get rid of that boulder, the water might rise and I can swim to the other side!"
But how would he do something like that? Lift it over his head and hurl it into space? Link took a step forward to take a closer look at his surroundings.
CRUNCH.
The boy jumped back as something made a loud noise underfoot. A few withered plants lay at his feet. They were brown and crinkly and they looked like they used to be blue before they wilted. Link had a funny feeling about them. Like he had seen them somewhere before. As he thought about what they were, he looked down at the water bubbling out of the boulder in the pit.
Link had a plan. Racing over to the puddle surrounding the boulder, he scooped up a bottle full of water. What he had in mind was to put some spring water on the plants that were growing up above and then see if they could help in any way. He climbed back up the broken bridge and removed the cork from his bottle.
"It's a long shot..." Link thought as he poured the water evenly over the five plants. True, it was a long shot but here's the thing:
IT WORKED. IT ACTUALLY WORKED.
Steam and sparks hissed from the plants as the flowers on the sides straightened and the flower itself grew into the air. That's where Link could tell why these plants seemed so familiar.
They were Bomb Flowers.
"Yes!" Link immediately thought of the second part of his plan. Without hesitation, he picked up a bomb flower and tossed it at the boulder in the middle of the chasm. The bomb perfectly landed on top of the boulder as the fuse burned down. It disappeared into the fruit as it throbbed red and blue like an injury in a cartoon.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Shards of rock flew into the air as a giant geyser blasted upwards like a water feature. Slowly but surely, the spring began to fill with water.
"Yes! It worked!" exclaimed Link as he watched the water rising. "Now I just have to wait."
The boy was right. The water was only coming out of a small tunnel in the floor. It was like waiting for a single-tap bathtub to fill.
He waited
and waited
and waited
and waited
and waited.
After what felt like days but was really 10 minutes, the water finally rose to a point where Link could climb the slightly higher part of the broken bridge that he couldn't before. He went into the middle of the arch that once held up the bridge, clamped his nose shut, made sure to shut his mouth as tightly as possible and dove into the water.
Link knew that this was to be expected, but the water hurt. Extinguished ashes caused the water to sting his eyes, the water was pushing him around because of a current caused by the wind, grabbing the edge of the fallen bridge was now a shot in the dark, almost literally.
Link swirled around and around and around. He was hitting broken rocks, planks of wood, dust was cramming into his eyes, it was absolute torture.
Then, Link felt his hand whizzing across something cylindrical and jagged. Gripping it, he forced his eyes open and he found himself gripping onto the bridge on the other side. Using all of his strength, he clambered up the planks of wood and sprawled on the floor at the top. Free at last.
Now was no time to rest, though. Link got up and headed down the path that Medli disappeared down, rubbing his eyes clean.
"MEDLI?" called Link. The wind swooped in, stole his words and carried them off in the other direction.
Calling her was no use. She was probably deep within Dragon Roost Cavern and the wind was so loud, calling her wouldn't do anything.
Link unsheathed his sword and headed down the path until it seamlessly transitioned into a cavern.
Dragon Roost Cavern.
Link was now in some kind of shrine. A calm, rock-walled room with pillars against the walls and a set of three statues up about four steps. The statues were calm, spiky heads atop box-shaped pedestals. On the wall behind them were snaking paintings of green, long, smiling dragons. The boy looked around for any sign of Medli. Nothing.
"How did she get through this room?" asked Link to no one in particular. Looking around the shrine, he walked up the stairs to the statues. There was a small depression in the ground where the statues went. The one on the right was secured by a rock formation and was covered in moss, but the one on the far left seemed different. There was a small extension to the depression in the floor that allowed the statue to… be moved.
"Aha!" Link wrapped his arms around the pedestal of the left statue and, pulling with all his might, he moved it back as far as he could. Now the left statue was a little closer to him. Checking behind it, Link found… nothing.
"Drat!" he exclaimed. "Medli must have come through here! I saw her! What could she have done?"
Link stared at where the far left statue once was. Now that it was out of the way, the middle statue could easily fit in that spot.
Link tried to click his fingers in understanding, but remembered that he never learned how to do that. He rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the spikes of the middle statue. He dragged it into the original spot of the left statue.
"Now for the moment of truth..." Going a little slowly, Link went back to the front of all the statues. Sure enough, now there was a small arch that lead further into the cavern. It had been hiding behind the middle statue.
"Yes!" Link walked through the arch and was blasted by an intense ray of heat. The next room was a lot hotter. Link was in an alcove that stuck out into a large cavern that glowed bright orange. Pillars of lava were shooting in the air and Link was pretty sure he could hear drums beating. Just ahead of him was a short platform that extended slightly into the cavern, lined with white stakes. The ceiling above that platform mirrored it. It resembled a big mouth. As Link approached it, he could see why it felt like he was walking into the path of a giant hair dryer. The cavern ahead of him was formed by giant stalactites over a lake of lava. Large bubbles frothed at the surface and vibrated furiously as they burst. All of the stalactites were connected by short rope bridges but one long bridge lead to a large platform on the end. This platform had a thin cage hanging over a steaming hole in the ground. A giant carving of what looked like a giant armoured centipede stared down at the cage. A little to the left, Link could see green Bokoblins beating on sets of drums as a door opened under the statue. Steam came wobbling out as did large, bulky figure.
Link wobbled a little himself. All this heat was doing him no favours. The boy looked to the left. In the corner sat a large white and blue pot patterned with little raindrops. Link moved as slowly as he could so as not to give himself away and wobbled it a little. Water lapped on the inside.
"Great! I'm gasping!" Link drank about half the pot before putting it down and leaving the rest for later. Moving like a sloth so the monsters wouldn't notice him, he hid behind a 'tooth' and continued to watch what was happening. In the middle of the platform was a Moblin. This was not like the Moblins in the Forsaken Fortress, however. This one was kind of… sea blue. It also looked less porcine-like as did the Bokoblins, instead resembling humanoid figures with hoods, while the Moblin looked like a large, blue troll. He had tattoos like the other ones but he also wore some kind of skull on his head.
The Moblin cleared his throat and made a gesture to the drummers to stop. He took a deep breath as Link hid fully behind one of the alcove's teeth and began to listen.
"Dhanyavaad! Aaj aane ke lie tumhaara dhanyavaad!" boomed the Moblin. Link seemed very confused at this. He tried to remember what Medli had told him earlier.
"They speak a language called Hindi. Monsters have moved into Dragon Roost Cavern and for some reason, they speak that language."
"Be careful if you hear deep voices speaking a language that stands out, OK?"
"So, then. That must be Hindi. Doesn't sound like Spanish to me, so it must be." Link whispered to himself. "Right then. I know what it sounds like, so I won't let a single one of them catch me off guard and-"
Suddenly, a hand closed around his shoulder. "Hey!" came a voice behind him.
"MMMPH!" Link gave a muffled shout of alarm, jumped up and yanked his sword out of his sheathe. Behind him was a familiar face. A drooping beak, messy white hair and…
It was Prince Komali, wearing full-body leather armour.
"Oops!" said Link, hurriedly sheathing his sword.
Komali stared at him in wide eyed horror. "Did you just try and-"
"Look, I thought I'd been caught, OK? You scared me. What are you doing here?"
Sweat beaded at Komali's forehead. "Well, I heard Medli say that she wanted you to go with her to the entrance of Dragon Roost Cavern." started Komali.
"She did." confirmed Link, nodding his head.
"This place is dangerous and when I had processed enough, I decided to go and try to go with her. I can't just let her get killed like this! When I got there, dirty water was everywhere! I had to stand on a plank of wood and row over to the other side! What are you doing here?"
Link looked over at the cavern for any sign of Medli. "Same reason as you. I remembered what Quill told me about the dangers of this place and came in to try and find her."
The Moblin with the skull on his head interrupted the two with a thunderous blast. He was a very loud talker.
"balidaan lao!"
The boys watched as two other Moblins marched into the door and into the steam on the other side.
"What is he saying?" asked Komali, breathing heavily. His breathing was getting more and more shallow. Noticing this, Link dragged the half-full pot of water over.
"Here. Drink the rest of this. You need to stay hydrated."
The prince looked at the water and then at the boy. Finally, he took it and drank some of it. "Thank you." he gurgled over the sound of pouring water.
Distressed squawking and flapping caught the children's attention. They turned towards the scene in the front, causing Komali to spill some of the cold water over himself.
"Medli?! Medli!" called Komali. Link dragged him behind one of the teeth of the alcove and signaled for him to keep it down.
"Is that Medli?" asked Link, his eyes widening.
"I know that voice! That's Medli! What are they doing with her?" panted Komali, terror stabbing into his voice.
The Moblins reemerged from the steaming room. The sound of squawking and flapping got closer as their silhouettes faded into clearly visible shapes. Being forcefully pushed in front of them was Medli. The beasts were clamping onto her wings, which was clearly excruciating due to her sprain from earlier. The two shoved her backwards into the thin cage and slammed the door, locking it behind her. One of the two Moblin grunts left as the Boss Moblin strode over to the cage. Shackles tightened around her wrists the second the door locked. The Boss started to chuckle. His laugh sounded like it came straight out of the pits of lava below them. He pointed his finger through the cage, straight at Medli, now still, who was going as white as a ghost, her eyes were wide open, sweat was pouring down her face and her eyes were dilating with extreme fear.
"Aap, mere priy, hamaaree raanee kee bhaasha jaanane ke lie hamaaree kunjee hogee!" he announced. All the participants cheered wildly. Medli was squawking and flapping like a bird caught in a wire.
Komali's eyes glowed with fury. He looked like he was about to scream at the top of his lungs but Link spoke first. "Keep calm. Don't give us away yet. I have a better idea!"
The prince looked at him in disbelief. "An idea? What can you possibly do that doesn't involve ripping them to shreds?"
Link calmly took his sword out and began moving it back and forwards. "That cage won't be going anywhere."
"What are you doing? Look, I don't know HOW strong you are, it would take a miracle to even reach them, let alone-"
A Moblin walked behind the cage to a large wheel. With all his might, he began to spin the lever and the cage started descending into the hole below. Link hurled Trusty Rusty at the cage. It spun through the air like a boomerang before it clattered into the spinning chains above Medli's cage.
CLANG!
The cage stopped lowering and the crowd looked up at the chains in surprise. The machine was well and truly jammed.
"Yah atak gaya hai!" grunted the Moblin manning the levers, pushing with all his might.
"Nahin! Us talavaar ko hatao!" roared the Boss.
Komali looked stunned at this. He shrugged. "Well, hallelujah!"
Link turned around and began to run down the tunnel that was now to his right. "Now that there's a spanner in the works, we need to be quick! We have to save Medli!" he called. Without missing a beat, Komali sprinted after him.
The children ran through the cooler tunnels. Bursts of air blasted through cracked walls as they passed through sleeping quarters, storage rooms, kitchens and washrooms while shouts of "alaarm ko suno!" and "ghusapaithiyon!" roared behind them. They turned right and almost ran into a stone door. It seemed like one that you would have to push upwards.
"Komali, can you help me push this?"
Komali looked a little daunted by the door, but he nodded. The boys put their hands on the door and pushed upwards with all of their strength. The door slowly began to slide open.
"Dive!"
Link and Komali slid under the door as it slammed shut. Before Link could do anything, Komali was tearing across the bridges to the Boss.
"Unhand her at once! You disgrace the language that you stole from the nice people who made it!" he shouted as he started crossing the last, longer bridge. All the monsters turned to look at him, as did Medli.
"Komali, look out!" shouted Link as he ran after him. The Boss's eyes narrowed and he pointed straight at the prince.
"use maar do!" bellowed the Boss. Medli gasped. Obviously, whatever he had said was nothing good.
A Moblin who had climbed Medli's cage and up the chains to unsuccessfully dislodge Link's sword jumped down and slammed to the floor. The Boss took out a bullwhip and advanced onto the bridge. Link charged down the earlier bridges as he pulled his shield onto his arm.
Komali started backing up as the Boss got closer and closer, unraveling his whip. He let out a beaten whimper.
"Ise lo!" cackled the Moblin, raising his whip into the air as Link sped towards him.
"Komali!" gasped Medli, shutting her eyes tight.
Like a rugby player, Link slid across the bridge on his back holding up his shield.
CRACK!
The whip zapped down and bounced off of Link's shield. It shot back into the air, whacking the Boss in the snout. He shouted in pain, toppling over. The second Moblin that was trying to remove Trusty Rusty earlier jumped over his Boss.
"tumhaaree himmat kaise huee!?" The Moblin brandished a fist as it stormed after Link. Speaking of him, he slid his shield off of his arm and raised it into the air. As the Moblin approached, he brought it down as hard as he could.
SMASH!
At that exact time, the Moblin threw a strong blow. The shield and fist collided. Straining madly, Link pushed as hard as he could to try and overpower the Moblin before finally deciding that he couldn't do this using his strength.
However, he could do it using his tricks!
With little to no warning, the boy leaped backwards, sending the Moblin wobbling forwards. He tottered to the edge of the bridge before tumbling off, causing the entire walkway to shake. Komali and Link held onto the ropes for dear life as the meaty monster roared through the air, disappearing into the lava with a small explosion.
The bridge finally stopped shaking.
"Link! Komali!" called Medli in complete and utter relief. The boys looked up. The gruesome twosome had not managed to remove Trusty Rusty.
Wait, wasn't there a horde of Bokoblins beating on drums earlier? I wonder where they went. Anyway, Link and Komali stepped over-
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!
Well, speak of the devil! A horde of Bokoblins came sprinting down the bridge, wielding drum beaters as if they were truncheons. They charged at the two like a parade of bass drummers.
"Um… You retreat! I'll hold them off!" Link tried to sound as serious as possible but the sight of Bokoblins wielding drum beaters made him snort in laughter. Bemused, Komali stepped back as Link curled his free hand into a fist.
"This can only improve your looks!" shouted Link, leaping at the horde of monsters.
Link punched several Bokoblins off the bridge where they disappeared into the lava with a pitiful plop and a hiss of smoke. Several leaped into the air for a jump attack but Link rolled to the side and shoved them off the edge. At one point, several charged in a line. A single hit with the shield later and they had made like dominoes and toppled into each other, falling over the edge as they went. One last Bokoblin charged at him. "Ha!" Link stood in a fighting stance as the beast charged at him. Blocking its assault with his shield, its beater flew into the air. Catching it like a sword, Link swung at the monster.
WHACK!
The monster toppled off the side of the bridge. Link flourished the drum beater before trying to sheathe it, forgetting that it wasn't his sword.
"Oh, whoops! Ahem! Komali! It's safe to come back! Let's try and help M-"
Suddenly, an ominous growling noise came from the ground in front of them. Slowly but surely, the Boss Moblin started to get up, holding a hand over his nose. Glaring tungsten needles at Link as he uncovered his nose to reveal a whopping scar across it, he coiled his whip repeatedly.
"Door, ap teen inch moorkh!" he growled as he slowly advanced on the two.
"Run." mouthed Link. Komali nodded and retreated to the stalactite before the bridge.
Link brandished his shield and… a beater as the Boss Moblin advanced on him, cracking his whip against the floor to try and drive him back. Link held his makeshift weapon up as the Boss lashed out.
CRACK!
The whip wrapped around the stick. Link sharply tugged it and the whip flew out of the monster's hands.
"ab aap aaee kar kar chuka hai!" snarled the beast. He began swinging his fist in circles, winding up for a massive punch. Before Link's eyes, his fist caught fire as he threw it. Link bounced off of the supporting ropes to dodge it, flying over the monster's head. He ran over to Medli's cage.
"Medli! Are you all right?" asked Link as he turned to face his enemy. Feral, the Moblin turned and walked towards him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit hot at the moment. Are you OK? You're not hurt?"
"I'm fine. I think I've hatched a plan to get you out of here!"
"What is it?" asked Medli. Before Link could explain, the monster was charging at him with his fist lit up again.
"Sorry, no time to explain!"
The monster charged, screaming at the top of his massive lungs and swirling his fiery fist in circles. Link crouched down in preparation. The monster let loose a burning haymaker.
"Eek!" yelped Medli as she flinched.
SMASH!
The punch missed Link entirely, smashing into Medli's cage. The metal quickly dented at the lock as it flew out like a tooth. The monster looked around wildly for the wily Link. Where had he gone? There was a loud clattering as Medli's entire cage lowered a little before Link came flying down to the monster with…
Trusty Rusty!
The monster jumped back, pulling a large karambit knife into a traditional grip, which would have qualified as a sword if Link held it.
"jo hai saamane rakho!" said the Boss Moblin with a hideous grin. Link charged at him with his sword outstretched.
The two shouted as they attacked and so did their weapons as they slid against each other, With no warning, the monster slashed in a different pattern, cutting Link twice. Medli cried out.
Komali flared into life and raced down the bridge towards the monster. Link backed up as the Monster slashed in his direction several times. His stomach felt like it was on fire, his clothes had two cuts across them and blood was oozing out of the two long cuts.
"Aakraman!" bellowed the beast as he charged with his knife extended.
"Stop!" shouted Komali. Whizzing at the monster like a bullet, he leaped into the air and drop kicked the Moblin with all of his force. The Moblin tumbled to the floor.
Link was very surprised at the prince. This time, not in a bad way. He might have just saved his life.
Once more, the monster rose into a standing position facing Komali.
"You little rat on no wings!" snarled the monster in perfect, and scary, English. This threw Komali off guard as he fell backwards in alarm. The monster slowly raised his karambit into the air.
"No!" cried Medli, flinching in sheer terror.
With a look of determination, Link pounced onto the Boss's shoulders and started to choke him with his necklace, which held a key. They both grunted as the Moblin staggered around like a puppet on a string before he finally stepped clean off the bridge. Link fell with him, but he felt a hand close around his arm.
Roaring so loudly that he shook several rocks from the ceiling, the Boss Moblin vanished into the lava below, producing a large fiery explosion.
Link had almost followed him but Komali had reached down and saved him in the nick of time. Link dangled above the gulf by Komali's hand as he desperately attempted to pull him up. Link was fast falling unconscious. The heat of the cavern and lava, the injuries he had sustained, all was catching up to him. Komali pulled as hard as he could and he was succeeding. Finally, Link sprawled onto the bridge.
"Are you all right? Please, hang in there."
Link sat up. "Yeah, a bit worse for wear, but I got this from that… weird, skull hat guy." Link reached his hand up, revealing the Boss Moblin's necklace, The fancy key was still attached to the end.
"Oh, yes!" Komali hauled Link up to his feet. "That must open the shackles in Medli's cage!"
Komali supported Link as they ran across the bridge to Medli's cage. "If those shackles locked when the monsters locked the cage, that means it must also unlock them!" deduced Komali.
Medli said no words. She breathed heavily. After a pause, she let out a wheeze.
"Thank you."
Komali raised the key and placed it smoothly in the lock. The prince turned it left.
CLACK!
The shackles retracted. Medli ran out and embraced Komali as Link knelt forward with his sword planted into the floor for support. Link and Komali both turned red. Link out of weariness and Komali out of surprise. "Are you all right, Medli? Your skin feels like it's burning!" said Komali. He had a point. Medli felt her skin.
"Oh, I say! You're right!" she headed to one of the water jugs at the side and poured the freezing contents over herself. She then stepped to Link and gave him a massive, soaking hug, almost lifting him into the air.
"Eeeek! That's freezing! Wait, that's a good thing in here!" The three started to laugh, which was instantly stopped with Medli when she noticed Link's slashes.
"Oh, no." she moaned. "That looks really bad."
Link looked down at his injuries. Just looking at them flared the pain up.
"Don't worry." he reached his whole arm into his bag, rummaged around and pulled out his med pack. Medli and Komali looked stunned.
"What kind of magic is in that bag?" gasped Komali incredulously.
"Oh, my talking boat gave me a little bag of green powder that made my bag bottomless." Link explained, very simply. Komali looked at him like he had just started speaking a different language.
"What's wrong? Oh, I forgot! I didn't tell you. Long story short, a talking boat is my traveling companion and it made my bag bottomless."
Link wrapped up his injuries as Komali's look of confusion turned to amusement.
"Thank you both. Wait, Komali! I just noticed that you're out of your room! You're OK!" exclaimed Medli. Komali explained to her that he had heard that she was going to Dragon Roost Cavern, so she tried to go in after her but met up with Link. Medli smiled more and more as time went on.
"Speaking of Link..." Komali turned around. "I'm sorry about how I treated you earlier."
Link looked up, a little confused. "What are you talking about? I accidentally pulled out a sword on you because I thought I'd been caught! You had every right to be afraid!"
"No, not that one, I mean… when you tried to meet with me… I saw the letter wedged in the window and decided to read it again. My father made a good point. If I don't brave this challenge at some point, I'll never grow wings!"
"That's also OK. You thought that your life was on the line."
Medli cleared her throat.
"Speaking of that, I've found out what is wrong with Valoo!"
This piqued the boys' interest. They concentrated intensely.
"Those monsters were talking about their Queen earlier. There is also a door up there with a special lock. That must be where she resides. They said that if she keeps 'attacking that eyesore's tail', then he'll eventually give up the pearl. They think that Valoo still holds Din's Pearl."
Link looked at the key that opened Medli's cage.
"That's it! The lock on the cage is the same as the lock on that door! Well, the same design! I bet it opens the Queen's door too!" said Medli.
"All right!" Link stood up and took his sword out. "I'm taking her out! Where is this door? I need to give this Queen a royal flush!"
Medli looked up at the ceiling. A large hole lead up higher into the mountain. "How do I get up there?"
Komali pointed to a jug of water. "The water in that jug is so cold, it hardens on contact with lava. There is also a pillar of lava that roars into the air at random-"
Komali's speech was cut off by a deafening roar. A pillar of lava shot into the air through the hole in the ceiling. Link had been so wrapped up with fighting and relief that he hadn't even noticed it before. It was probably why there was a gaping hole in the ceiling, to be fair.
"I get what you mean."
"Link."
Link turned to Medli. She was holding a rope with a claw on the end.
"This is a grappling hook that I swiped from the monsters. When you get into that room up there, the Queen's room is across a little moat of lava. Said moat actually has a beam of wood to swing across. Use this to get there."
Link looked at the grappling hook. As he took it, he felt like he had already held one before, even though he hadn't. He knew to let some slack loose so it would fly right, he knew to coil it around his arm and even how to swing on it. It was very strange. Opening his pack, he snaked it inside.
"Thank you, Medli." Link hugged her and looked at the hole in the ceiling. "Would you mind helping me get up there? I'll climb down, you throw the jar." Medli and Komali nodded in unison.
Link climbed down the gap to a shore near the lava. There was a little ring in the lava showing where the geyser of lava would come up.
The boy looked up at Medli and Komali as they both held a jug of water. They swung it back and forth.
"3...2...1… GO!" The two threw the jar of water over the edge. It somersaulted through the air before shattering in the lava below. The water fizzed and bubbled in the lava before forming a steaming platform. As carefully as he could, Link jumped on the platform as it rocked about. One mini-heart-attack later and Link had found a way to balance himself.
"Medli, now would be a good time to call reinforcements!" called Link. Medli nodded her head and waved so he could definitely tell what she meant.
Lava began to bubble up under Link's island.
"Komali! If I don't come back… Please send someone to help my sister in the forsak-"
With a deafening roar, Link's island shot into the air and disappeared into the ceiling. Komali seemed horrified about what Link had said before this expression subsided.
"Yes, sir." he responded solemnly as Link's island came splashing back down without him on it.
"Come on, let's go." Medli put her hand on Komali's shoulder and began to walk back across the bridge. Komali couldn't tear his eyes away from that hole in the ceiling as he got to the end of all the bridges and into the living area in the caverns.