Chapter 12:

"Try and Keep Up"

The kidnapper, whatever it was, had escaped. Link hadn't stopped running the entire time but he had not been able to keep up with it. He had managed to tail it until it reached Zora's Domain, but when he got there, it just climbed up one of the cliffs and escaped. Link fell to his knees and howled wrathfully, still faintly hear Saria's terrified cries for help. Suddenly he noticed footsteps behind him. He didn't turn around to know that it was Zelda, Skull Kid and Cyrus. He looked up and saw Volvagia flying to the top of the cliff. He looked around and then flew down again.

"Whatever it was just escaped. It trampled some foliage though so we should be able to track it."

"Great. Exactly how do you plan to get us up there you idiot?" grumbled Cyrus with a sneer.

"Just follow me," grumbled Volvagia.

Several zoras greeted Link and Zelda as they passed through the area, but were mostly ignored. Volvagia led them past the Royal Chamber into Zora's Fountain. Lord Jabu Jabu was there as always, at the moment, a zora was leaving some fish on the raised platform reaching the height of Jabu Jabu's mouth.

"Hello Link. What brings you here?"

"Suck it!" Cyrus snapped back.

"Please ignore our friend here," groaned Link, "He's a bit moody."

The zora was already giving them a dirty look.

"You realize we all hate you right?" Link asked Cyrus.

"I take pride in that," said Cyrus in a dignified tone.

Link and Zelda both groaned at the same time. They came to one of the rock walls around the Fountain and Volvagia stopped them.

"This is the only way for land-bound creatures to get into these mountains, as far as the books in my family's old hoard could indicate," said Volvagia, who was pointing his index claw at a very solid looking rock face.

"So, do we climb it?" asked Zelda.

"I think so," said Volvagia, "This stone doesn't match the surrounding rock, meaning that it was moved here from somewhere else. This means that this is the boulder blocking the path into the mountains; so unless anyone here can move it, you're going to have to climb it."

"Maybe Darunia could help?" Link thought aloud, "He could probably move it."

"If you can't move it with your Goron Mask on, I doubt he can either," said Skull Kid.

"Whatever," grumbled Cyrus, looking closely at the cliff, "from what I can see, it has handholds carved into it, and it isn't quite as high as most of the other cliffs around here. This is the way up. Now get moving, I can't wait all day."

He flew to the top of the cliff, making the rest of the group except Volvagia feel somewhat pathetic.

"Lousy showoff," grumbled Volvagia."
Link grabbed a handhold and started climbing furiously, trying to rush up the cliff. Volvagia kept pace with him by flying next to him and telling him how close he was to the top. He lost his footing twice before making it to the top. Skull Kid went next, climbing up slowly but much more steadily than Link. He finally reached the top, grabbing the top of the ledge, and pulling himself up.

Zelda hesitated before putting her hand on the first handhold. She heard shouts of encouragement coming from the top, but something was stopping her. She couldn't even tell what was stopping her. A voice in her head just kept saying that she couldn't do it the moment she would reach for the handhold. Using her full force of will, she grabbed the rock and started climbing.

"You can do it Zelda!" shouted Volvagia, "Just don't look down!"

Once she was about halfway up the cliff, she had begun to get the hang of it. Another voice in her head started speaking: "Right arm, left leg, left arm, right leg, left arm, right arm again, right leg— "AAAHH!"

She had lost her footing, and was dangling off the cliff, three quarters of the way to the top. She inadvertently looked below her and a shiver went up her spine. She was too high up and she couldn't go down anymore, she wouldn't be able to survive the fall, or at least not without serious injury.

"You're doing fine!" called Volvagia, "Get your feet back on the wall and you're as good as up!"

"I-I can't!"

"Throw yourself at the wall, and climb with your arms for two handholds!"

"I'm trying!"

"All right!"

Volvagia suddenly noticed Cyrus crossing his fingers and chanting the same word over and over again.

"Fall, fall, fall, fall, fall, fall, fall, fall, fall, fall…"

"Okay then!" agreed Volvagia, "Off ya go!" He pushed Cyrus over the side of the cliff.

"WHAT THE FU—GEEEIAAAHHH!"

Cyrus careened over the edge of the cliff falling right past Zelda, and seven seconds later hitting the ground face first.

"What the HELL!!!!" he roared, "I CHANT SOMETHING AND YOU PUSH ME OFF A CLIFF!?!?!"

"You were trying to jinx her!" shouted Volvagia angrily.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with you?!"

"I taste blood!!!" screamed Cyrus.

"Well, there's a lot of it!" Volvagia answered.

Zelda had managed to make her way to the top, and was hugging Link as hard as she could as if he could protect her from her fear of heights.

"Follow me," said Volvagia, "I'll take you to the place where I saw the kidnapper escape."

"Maybe we can lose Cyrus while we're at it," said Link grimly.

"We can only hope," said Volvagia.

The group started on a course following the edge of the cliff. There were a lot of thorny plants and Link's arms were acquiring more and more scrapes every second.

It wasn't long before they found the crushed foliage that Volvagia had mentioned. Whatever had taken Saria clearly was not taking the time to cover its tracks. The path stretched on for a great distance, and got snowy not too far ahead of them.

"There are definitely monsters are up ahead," said Link, "I can feel it."

"Then we'll beat them into the ground where they belong," said Zelda.

"I see a house," inquired Volvagia, completely changing the subject.

"You're right!" exclaimed Link, "I wonder what a house is doing all the way out here? It looks familiar too."

"What's with all the smoke coming from the chimney?" asked Zelda.

"Let's go see!" Volvagia exclaimed excitedly, before shooting off towards the top of the slope.

"May as well follow him," said Link, managing to cheer up just a tiny bit from Volvagia's upbeat attitude.

They began walking up the mountain. It got cold very quickly, and this seemed to be slowing Volvagia down a lot as he was soon falling behind, even with his head start. It wasn't particularly cold but Volvagia was shivering terribly and his teeth were chattering. Link, Zelda and Skull Kid were all trudging through the fairly deep snow up to the front steps of the house when they heard a weak cry from down the slope. Link turned to see Volvagia huddled in a ball trying to keep himself warm. There were several times in which he appeared to be trying to breath fire, but only managing a small puff of smoke each time.

Link stumbled back through the snow to reach the apparently freezing dragon.

"h-h-h-h-hhhel-lp-p-p-p… n-n-n-need-d-d… w-w-w-w-warmth…"

"Um… alright." stuttered Link, shocked at the brutal effect that the cool environment was having on Volvagia. He scooped him up in his arms and ran back through the snow as fast as he could. He was out of breath when he reached the house, as Volvagia was significantly heavier since he had re-attained his true age. Link looked back up at the house. "I know I recognize this place. I've definitely been here before," he said to himself, "I don't know how, but I have been here." He opened the door and his eyes widened with complete recognition. To his left was a large rack of weapons and in front of him was a large furnace, which Volvagia threw himself into with his remaining strength.

"Hey! Get outta there!" yelled a man who was lying on a large bunk bed, "We need that to make stuff!"
"GRRRRRRAAAAAHHH" roared a large humanoid creature standing next to the furnace. It carried a huge sledgehammer in its right hand and its head was covered with an iron mask.

Three seconds later, small bursts of fire started shooting out of the furnace. Volvagia flew out of the flames and roared.

"Yeeeeeeeaaah! Volvagia is back!" he shouted.

"Don't refer to yourself in the third person you fire stealing skink! People'll think yer crazy!"

"I take pride in everything I do! And I'm not a skink! I'm a dragon! See the not-stubby arms and lack of legs? And by the way, Volvagia can refer to himself in whatever tense he likes!" retorted Volvagia.

"I know you!" jumped Link. You're Zubora and Gabora!"

"Yes, my name is Gabora. But how would you know that?"

"Graahhhhhhhhh… Zubora… Me…" rumbled the hulking assistant.

"Wait, isn't it the other way around?" asked Link suspiciously.

"Are you implying that I am a liar?" asked the one calling himself Gabora sounding more bemused than upset.

"We met in Termina didn't we?"

"Where in Hyrule is Termina?"

"It isn't in Hyr— OHH! I get it!"

"Get what?" asked Volvagia.

"Nothing much. It's just that there were a lot of people in Termina who were a lot like the people here. Like there was this woman named Anju who looked and acted a lot like the woman who raises those cuckos in Kakariko Village, and there was a girl named Romani who looked and acted just like Malon. But in some cases, the people were the exact opposite. There were friendly Deku Scrubs, and although Koumé and Kotake were still witches, they were nice old potion makers rather than insane power hungry hags. I guess in this case, these guys just had their names reversed."

"What about what?" asked the man who was certainly named Gabora.

"I already said. Nothing much."

"I didn't hear you say anything," said a funny voice from the doorway.

"Please tell me that isn't who I think it is," said Link.

"Too bad!" shouted Cyrus, "I'm back and you can't do anything about it!"

"Oh yes we CAN!" shouted Skull Kid. He whispered an incantation and Zubora's hammer flew into the air. Volvagia started shuddering and hid behind Link. The hammer hung in the air for a moment and then spun rapidly at Cyrus' head.

"OW! THE HAMMER! IT HURTS ME IT DOES!" yelled Cyrus.

"And what was with the weird voice?" asked Zelda, "aren't you irritating enough already?"

"You don't like the Zoidberg™ Voice!? Oh dear lord!" exclaimed Cyrus.

"Well, actually, I kind of found it funny," said Link.

"So did I actually…" said Volvagia wide eyed.

"Something's wrong with you then," said Skull Kid, deadpan.

"I dare you to repeat that," snarled Volvagia.
"Point taken."

"Rrrrrruuuuuhhhhhh… Tool… Forge," The hulking form of Zubora lurched over to its hammer and picked it up, before going back behind the counter.

"So, what can we do for you?" asked Gabora, "See, we don't get many customers up here, so we kind of need any business we can get."

"Well, you don't have my sympathy," snickered Volvagia, "You've obviously never thought about the important factor of location, location, location."

"While you do make a good point, I refuse to accept that we have set up shop in a bad place just because we haven't gotten a customer for nine yea—We're moving as soon as possible."

"That would be a wise decision," agreed Volvagia.

"Can we please get moving," complained Cyrus.

"Well, actually," said Link, pulling out the leather sack, "Do you think that you could fix this?" He laid the shards of his gilded sword on the table.

"That's all? We can do that in twenty minutes or less!"

"Really?"

"For a fee of five hundred rupees of course."

Link sighed in disappointment and began to put the pieces of his sword back when Zelda stepped up to the counter and dropped five orange rupees onto the counter. "Deal," said Zelda. Link turned to look at her in shock. "How much money are you carrying with you?"

"Now, fifteen-hundred rupees."

"What if we get attacked by thieves? You're making us a perfect target!"

"Do you want me to pay for your sword or not?" Zelda asked as forcefully as she could.

"…Yes…"

"Here's the money." said Zelda impatiently, "We're in a hurry, so hurry up and get started."

Volvagia sat down next to the forge and decided to nap for a while.

"I can't stand waiting any longer!" shouted Cyrus, "I'll go on ahead to scout the surrounding area. It isn't a favor, it's just so that I can pass the time. "

"Thanks anyway," said Link. Cyrus went outside, spread the wings on his back, and took off. Link followed him outside so that h could be alone. He had nothing distracting him from his failure to keep his best friend safe and tears welled up in his eyes, though he blinked them away. He could hear Zelda talking to Skull Kid inside the house. She must have finally gotten around to trying to get aquainted with the undead member of their party. He also heard the tiny voices of Tatl and Tael, probably recounting their story of how they met Skull Kid in the first place, or maybe trying to rebuke Zelda every time she asked the wrong questions.

"Link, are you all right?" asked an unforgettable voice coming from one of his pockets.

"Oh, Navi. You've been really quiet lately."

The fairy was hovering in front of him, and he put out an arm so that she could sit on his arm.
"I haven't had much to say."

"It feels like two days ago that I woke up after being frozen in time for seven years, and yesterday that I swore I would never fail any of my friends again. I know that that isn't the case, but I've already let Saria get kidnapped. What's wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you. The one at fault here is the kidnapper. You've done nothing wrong."

"That's just it though: I didn't do anything! I heard her scream, and didn't do my best to catch up! They went up the cliff and I just gave up!"

"You couldn't have done anything! You were physically incapable of getting up that wall, just like every other normal non-flying person. You're a strong person and the fact is that you're still going after her. Anyone else would have given up the moment they lost the kidnapper at the cliff. You didn't. You didn't give up, and you found a way to overcome the obstacle and continued."

"But it still escaped from us!"

At this, Navi lost her patience.

"Stop whining! This is not the Link that I know! I didn't come back so that you could wallow in unwarranted misery! I came back so that I could continue helping the Hero of Time! You know that you're stronger than this; you're just blinding yourself with grief! Now, we're going to go out there and save Saria! You can do this! Nothing has stood up against you and was successful, and there's a reason for that! You can do anything you set your mind to, and you know it, so lets get going!"

Link stared wide-eyed at his fairy, but replied. "I can't argue with that. You've never been wrong before and I doubt that you would start now."

"All right!" cheered Navi, "How much longer until they finish with your sword?"

"About ten minutes maybe?"

"Well, I guess all we can do is wait," she sighed.

"Link!" hollered Zelda, "Your sword's finished!"

"Finally!" sighed Navi in relief, "I couldn't wait another second!"

"Good as new, if not better!" said Gabora, "Say, if you have any friends who need anything forged or carpentered, could you recommend us?" He was pleading for the last part.

"Only once you move this place to Castle Town. Even if we did recommend your services, nobody would want to make the effort to come all the way out here," said Link.

"Oh, all right, just take the sword."

Link took his Gilded Sword and swung it a few times to reacquaint himself with it. It was longer than before, but surprisingly, it wasn't any heavier. It was more of a Gilded Longsword if anything.

"Come on!" urged Zelda, "Have you forgotten why you led us out here?"

Link didn't seem to react, but everyone could tell that something had changed about him. When he turned around he was glaring and his fists were tightened, the hand holding his sword clenching the hilt. His mind had set itself back to its rage from before.

"Do you think he's losing it, sis?" Tael asked Tatl.

"No, not yet at least," replied Tatl, "But he's definitely angry as heck."

"We'd better get ready to dash after him," warned Skull Kid.

He couldn't have been more right. Link threw the door open, and started running as fast as he possibly could in the snow.

"How am I going to survive this cold?" asked Volvagia to nobody in particular.

"I can help with that," said Skull Kid, "Get moving, and you'll figure out what I mean."

"Fine, I trust you."

The moment that Volvagia was off the wood porch a small flame appeared from out of nowhere, and jumped onto his back.

"What is this? Some kind of magic trick?" asked Volvagia.

"Tiny fire elemental," Skull Kid corrected.

"That works for me. Lets go."

A wolfos jumped out from behind a tree in front of Link. Before it knew what hat hit it, it was decapitated, and Link had jumped over the corpse. He was immediately surrounded by an entire pack of wolfos, a total of twelve in counting. "Try me," he taunted them. Two charged. The first leaped at Link, but was cut down as Link dived to the ground and delivered an upward slash. It collided with the second, which pushed the body off of itself and got up. It jumped into the air, but it didn't make the same mistake that the first had made. It raised a paw and swiped at Link. He blocked the paw with his shield, which he subsequently used to smash its face. It howled and fell to the ground unconscious. That was good enough. The next two came at him; they both were bisected as they tried to flank him, pounced, and fell victim to Link's spin attack. They remaining eight wolfos realized that they weren't going to take down this morsel by only sending two at a time to attack. They all charged at him, some leaped at him with raised paws like the second had, others tried to pounce, One had even started its assault by trying to take a bite out of his arm right away. He blocked that and one of the paws, but the rest were making their mark. At this point he couldn't even flee. He was entirely surrounded. He tried to perform another spin attack, but he was knocked over by the wolfos that had tried to bite him. He wouldn't survive this unless the rest of his companions reached him soon.

"Die scum!" shouted a furious voice that Link had learned to identify as Volvagia's on the day that they were in the Fire Temple together.

Two of the wolfos howled as their fur caught fire. Two more were suddenly impaled by a slim sword and a dagger. Zelda was there too. He realized that Skull Kid had also caught up when he saw a mound of snow piling itself up behind another wolfos. The frost elemental slammed a pair of linked arms down on the fourth wolfos' head knocking it out colder than the one that Link had hid with his shield.

"He's out so cold that he's out frozen," joked Skull Kid.

"I'll finish off the last three," growled Link. The remaining three wolfos began circling him.

"Listen!" shouted Navi, "Go for their tails, Link! Don't you remember!"

"No. I actually forgot," Link confirmed grimly, "Thanks."

He flipped over one of the wolfos' heads as it swiped at him with both paws, and slammed his sword down on its tail. It was killed leaving only two left. They looked at each other growled at Link, and ran off whimpering. The rest of the wolfos simply lay there.

"This is weird," Zelda noted, "They usually burst into flame when they get killed."

Well we're wasting time thinking about it," said Link, "Let's go".

They quickly arrived on lower ground, as the kidnapper's trail led off the side of a cliff with a waterfall going over the edge. Link dived from the top of the cliff into the water while Volvagia struggled to carry Zelda down quickly without hurting both her and himself. Skull Kid just created another frost elemental, jumped into it, and had it fall off the edge of the cliff into the river below.

"So… Where's the trail?" asked Zelda. She was right, none of them could see any sign of anything having passed through the area at all.

"Right there," said Volvagia pointing to nothing in particular.

"Where?" asked Skull Kid.

"I can smell Saria's scent," said Volvagia excitedly, "She smells distinctly like a flower-filled forest meadow. Since I can smell her, she couldn't have been taken through here too long ago. There's another scent too, but I can't identify it. It must be the kidnapper."

"Well, let's go find them!" urged Link, "Start following!"

"All right! All right!"

Suddenly, they heard someone shout in alarm.

"Do you hear that!?" asked Navi.

"Yeah, and it's getting louder." confirmed Skull Kid.

It continued to get louder until it seemed like whatever was screaming was right on top of them. Technically, it was. Something blue suddenly collided into the ground with an extremely heavy thud.

"Cyrus! Where the hell have you been?" asked Link angrily.

"Sorry but a flock of geese insulted me, the last of them decided that they didn't want to be electrically roasted and attacked me."

"So," said Zelda, "You're saying that you were insulted by a flock of geese, and then got beat up by them? OH! Volvagia, you be Cyrus, I'll be the geese. Honk! Squawk!" she made a few more funny sounding goose noises.

"Why you feathery little bastards!" replied Volvagia, trying not to laugh. He started throwing fake punches at Zelda who made silly flapping noises and squawked a bit.

"HONK!" yelped Zelda, slapping Volvagia on his side.

"GAHHHHH!" cried Volvagia comically, almost slamming himself into the ground.

"Why you obnoxious little bastards!" snarled Cyrus.

"Let's just get moving already!" demanded Link.

"Oh! Yeah! Sorry Link," Volvagia apologized sincerely, "Let's go."

Volvagia didn't have to take them too far before coming to a large stone opening in a rock wall.

"Oh my goodness!" cried Volvagia, It reeks of decay in there! I can't follow the scent in there! I'm so sorry Link."

"Whatever," said Link, oddly relieved, "At least now I know that Saria's definitely in there. We've found her. Now we just have to get to her."

"Yeah!" agreed Navi, "Besides, what's an adventure without a little dungeon crawling."