Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, or any of their franchise products, including the Four Swords on which this is loosely based (very loosely thanks to the Minish Cap, though this on a side note).
-
Chapter 14 – Crenel Mountain
-
Things were going much better this day. They were able to leave earlier than planned because William was only 1 hour late instead of 2, so it was just past noon when they reached the foot of Crenel Mountain. There were several paths up to the mine at the top of the mountain, but most of them were interrupted by lava streams. They left their horses at the bottom and chose a path Mertok assured them was safe and started climbing it. Mertok's information on the Wizrobes had indeed been accurate and though they obviously were a different kind than the ones at Lake Talus. These were hunting in groups of three, with red fiery eyes underneath their large hat, and flames sprouting from their hands. Well, nothing Malon's arrows couldn't handle, really. Several times, the youngsters had to backtrack, because the path was blocked by a flow of lava that was too hot to pass, and now they were back where they had begun, at the foot of the mountain.
-
"Okay, how are we supposed to get up there?" Franklin grumbled as he paced around, "every damn path is blocked by lava.
"Pacing around isn't going to help," William sighed.
"Oh, and fondling Malon's hair is?" Franklin spat back.
William felt caught and removed his hands from Malon's neck.
"We're missing something," Franklin continued.
"Oh?" William regained his posture, "and what are we missing?"
"I don't know," Darmani said, causing William to startle, "but we are missing something."
"It's clear as day," Mikau continued, "but I can't seem to put my finger on it."
"And who's to say that the shrine is in the…" Franklin suddenly stopped and looked at the twin.
Darmani snapped his fingers when he realised what he was missing.
"What?" William asked, "what is it?"
"There's a mine on top of the mountain," Mikau said, "but why put a mine there? A mine always digs down, so you might as will put a mine at the bottom of the mountain and dig straight through."
"So?" William frowned.
"So," Malon answered, "we have to find some mine entrances around here too, and use those to reach higher."
"But we haven't found any," William shook his head.
"Mertok," Dekaru asked the young wizard, "how long have these mines been inactive."
"About ten years," Mertok replied, "I think they were shut down shortly before the Black Death came. There was no more ore in them, and we started mining at the east side of the mountain."
"So, all we have to do now, is look for abandoned mine shafts," Franklin shrugged, "should be easy enough."
-
Easy was of course relative. It took them several hours to find an old mine shaft, not far from a small path that had been cut off by a lava stream. Inside the shaft, the air was hot, like the inside of a furnace. After a few wrong turns, the kids finally made their way up a wobbly ladder and emerged on the surface. They found the path again, and continued their way. Fifteen minutes later, the path was interrupted again by a flow of lava.
"Well, so much for that idea," William sighed.
"Wizrobes," Darmani hissed as he got his bow and arrow out.
The kids dropped to their knees and looked in the direction Darmani pointed. Three Wizrobes came hovering closer, scanning the area for intruders. William jumped up and shot his bow, but the three Wizrobes quickly shot a fireball, incinerating the arrow and nearly William, if Malon hadn't pulled him out of the way. Darmani and Dekaru shot their bows and killed two of the mages before they could vanish, while Mikau drew his sword and glanced around to see where the third Wizrobe would appear. A flash to his left made him swing his sword instinctively and he would have missed, if a sudden flash of blue light hadn't come out of the tip of his sword. The Wizrobe shrieked loudly as he watched the flames at his hands freeze and before anyone could react, the Wizrobe had turned into an ice statue. Mikau frowned and slowly stepped to the Wizrobe, expecting some kind of trick, and touched the Wizrobe. The mage just shattered into small pieces. Mikau looked at the place where the statue had been and then to his sword, which gleamed with a blue-ish light, frost slowly forming on the blade.
"Well," he said, "we were told these swords were magical."
"Do you think I can do something like that?" Dekaru asked as he drew his sword and started swinging it.
"No idea, but don't test it here," Franklin grumbled, "you'll poke your eye out."
"Now is not the time," Malon snapped when Dekaru reached for his Deku stick, "we still need to find the Fire Shrine."
"Man, are you so anxious to get your ass kicked?" William whispered to Franklin with a grin, "you know you can't beat that guy, right?"
"If you could drag your eyes away from Malon's ass for a second," Franklin hissed back, "then maybe you'd get a clue."
"What's that supposed to mean?" William frowned, but Franklin just followed the others who had spotted another mine shaft.
-
This one was a dead end, and they had to backtrack until Darmani found another one, not far away, near a lava flow. In this shaft, it was even hotter than the previous one, and at some point, lava even poured in the shaft, only leaving them a small ridge to pass. Mertok nearly didn't dare to pass, but Mikau and Darmani were able to persuade him. When they finally left the shaft, Mertok laughed out loud, thanking the Goddesses he had survived. When Darmani tackled him and a fireball seared just above him, he knew he had better not done that. Dekaru grabbed his sword and swung it towards the vanishing Wizrobes. Nothing happened.
"Oh, come on!" he grumbled as he turned around, still clenching the sword.
The Wizrobes reappeared on his right and he spun around to strike. He slashed the closest one in half and a bolt of green energy hit the second one. Plants seem to grow over him and then he crumbled to dust, drifting away on a hot breeze. The third Wizrobe tried to vanish but was hit by a bolt of blue energy and froze to a statue, just before he shattered.
"I think I get it now," Mikau said as he investigated his sword a bit closer, "it won't work when you don't have a target, so you can't hit someone by accident."
"Wow," Dekaru whistled, "guess the Minish knew how to make magical weapons."
"Whatever," Darmani grumbled, "I think we're close to the top, but we still might have a long way to go."
"Jealous that you don't have a magic sword?" Mikau asked, trying to hold back a grin.
"Aw, shut up," Darmani grumbled as he passed his brother.
-
After two more detours through mine shafts, they found a path that wasn't blocked by a lava stream. On the contrary, it seemed to run right next to it. After a long walk, they finally reached a large mine shaft right next to a large pool of lava of which the stream originated.
"This is it," Darmani said as he pointed towards the top of the shaft.
A large fire symbol was seen carved out of the charred wood.
"So, now what?" William asked.
"The same like before," Franklin said as he started to set up camp, "those guys go play hero while we stay here and try to stay alive."
"You think it's safe to camp here?" Mertok asked.
"Look at that lava pool," Franklin pointed, "you see those bubbles in the middle? I'm ready to bet ten to one that the flow originates from somewhere inside the mine, so that means that inside, it's even worse than here. I'd say we're safer up here than down there," Franklin said as he motioned towards the mine shaft.
"Guess… guess we will camp here then," Mertok gulped.
"So, what do we do?" Darmani asked the others as he looked at the setting sun, "camp and get a good night's rest or go down right away?"
"Go down," Mikau said, "I'm already pumped up on adrenaline."
"Go," Dekaru nodded.
"Let's go then," Malon decided.
"Maybe I should go with you," William told Malon.
"No," she shook her head, "you have to stay here and protect Franklin and Mertok. It'll be dangerous enough here."
"Okay," William sighed, "I'll stay, but only because you ask me to."
"We'll be back soon," Malon smiled.
"Guess we'll be pulling an all-nighter too then," Franklin sighed as he readied his bow, "good luck to you and get out alive."
"Will do," Darmani grinned as he stepped into the mine.
-
AN: This Author's Note was supposed to come last chapter, but was forgotten due to the frustration that lead to this AN (how ironic). Time seems to be short again and the fact I didn't have my computer for a couple of days (thanks to some virus/spyware) not only cut down in my writing, but I also wanted to check out some other stories. I don't know when I'll have the time to read some other stuff, but I will try to when I find some time this weekend (but I can't make any promises, other than I'll try). Now that this is out of the way, know that I have big things planned for this series. I'm working on a story line for the next part, and I'm also working on some sort of sequel for this one. It's not really a "sequel" sequel, but it will feature one of the side characters from this story (which one I won't tell), and thus won't have any of Link's kids in it. Why should you read it then? So I don't have to put a footnote in a chapter somewhere in the future in the final installation of the series saying "oh, and he/she/it had a big adventure and ended up in Hyrule…" I'll give you one clue though. If I don't find a better idea, it'll be loosely based on A Link To The Past (if that's indeed the one with the Shadow World or whatever it's called).
Oh, and reviews of course urge me to write more! I thank Dra Gan for his support, but I know he's not the only one reading this, so you others review as well! (BTW, Dra Gan, who's Ashra? I searched the net, but couldn't find any mention of that name for any Zelda game. Guess that means he/she/it won't appear.)