The bow Red returned with was a clearly altered shortbow, as if Link had made it so I'd be better able to use it – something which immediately caused a bit of an argument with Ezlo.
"Just how can you tell the difference?" he asked.
"I've stolen a few before, and I've even sold a few on – for the right price," I replied, while Red took aim. I've never used one,so I kind of hoped he'd get it right.
"That hardly makes you an expert on bows, Manic," Ezlo told me.
"I'm not saying I am, but if you're going to sell something up, sell it for something more than it actually is, you have to sound as if you do, and in order to do that, a little basic knowledge comes in helpful. I know things about all kinds of things I'm probably never going to use myself, but had to know so I could get rid of them again."
"So you buy it for a little bit and tell them it's worth more? That's-"
"Immoral, we know," Red sighed. "Do you mind keeping your righteous indignation to yourself so I can concentrate? This isn't as easy as it looks."
"Want a hand?" I offered.
"You can have an arrow in a moment if you don't give me a chance," he told me irritably. Isn't he just as charming as I am?
He finally loosed the arrow, which managed to embed itself in the eye that in turn closed, breaking off all but the tip inside and opening the door beside it. This was immediately a problem as four more skeletons, attracted by the sounds of our presence, all ran from the room beyond to the doorway, only to stop being a problem when two of them got stuck in the doorway, bones entangled in each other. The other two milled around behind them.
Red again proved his difference by wordlessly taking the Pegasus Boots off me, then repeating our earlier trick by running into them, sending the bones scattering and clattering around both rooms in a matter of moments.
"It's all clear," his voice came back after a moment. "Nothing in here but them and a door. Shoulda nicked your shield do though," he added after a moment, wincing slightly as he touched a rib. "Slamming into them..." he shook his head, handing me back the boots as this time I poked my head into the next room.
"All quiet," I muttered to myself. "Looks like some dirt, and nothing else. Come on you, we'll find some more skeletons for you to play with," I told Red, heading in. The light faded somewhat here and out of a habit I slowed and started to move more silently. When the night is your natural ally, some habits get too deeply ingrained to just overlook.
Ezlo felt no such need to keep quiet however, his voice echoing around the narrow corridors the hard dirt formed.
"You're a dreadful person, Manic," he told me severely.
"You're only just realizing that?" I replied, unruffled. "I thought you managed to get over most of your issues with me, anyway."
"That was before we got the bow. How can you justify making something sound like something it isn't, just to swindle people?"
"The same way I justify making a statue of Zelda to fool Vaati into thinking its the real thing," I answered. "It does what I want it to, gives me something I want, things like that."
"It's taking advantage of people!"
"Yes, I do believe some people call it that."
Ezlo was left speechless there.
"What, you think he wouldn't admit it?" Red chuckled. "He knows what he is, Ezlo, same as I do. You're not gonna have much success reforming him. People have been trying for years. Manic, back here – there's a ladder just in here," he told me, pointing me past an opening I'd not checked.
"Give me a moment, I'm going to check what's ahead just in case," I replied, though all I really found were a few more rupees.
Upstairs was much the same as below with more dirt, but it was spread further apart instead of arranged in narrow corridors. There was still a considerable lack of light though, but having passed through below and allowing my eyes to adjust as we went, this was no problem for me.
"I can arrange for some light you know," Ezlo said. "Can't see my hand in front of my face. Or, you know. Whatever I have. My brim?"
"Your big beak?" Red suggested, and I quickly had to suppress the urge to laugh. I'd irritated him enough for now.
"Do you mind?" Ezlo demanded.
"Not really. Why, did you?"
Ezlo spluttered for a bit, but evidently decided to give up. One of me was bad enough – imagine what he had to put up with once there were four!
There was a light coming from a door frame ahead, illuminating a ChuChu that was oddly purple, and turned into a mass of solid spikes when it got close to me. I left it with a bomb and then quickly retreated, blasting it apart instead and splattering the walls with its jelly, then moved on into the next room, lit up around the edges by some suspiciously lit up torches, burning merrily.
Ever noticed you don't see anyone come into these places before you, like the people who go around replacing the candles and stuff and lighting them for you?
It wasn't the brightest light, but it let me see that there was a very deep pit below that was of course going to be a very bad idea to find out what the bottom of was like. Floating in the otherwise empty air were a series of moving platforms that would allow me to make my way, eventually, from this ledge to one opposite where there was a locked door with two eye switches, one on either side, or head to the east, which was exactly the same.
Red, still armed with the bow, shot the two eyes opposite us to open the door even while I started across the platforms, then he started to follow. I waited for him to catch up by the door – except there was something clicking, and as he caught up the door closed again, the two switches spitting out the tips of the arrows.
Red immediately headed back, not needing any words to know what I had in mind now. He shot another pair of arrows and I listened intently at the frame, waving Ezlo into silence until I found a panel I tore off to reveal a mechanism – which stopped working when I pulled out a variety of cogs. The door no longer closed itself.
Beyond were two large stone statues which, like the small metal ones outside, had only a single eye. Unlike those previous statues, they didn't appear to be mechanical as such, nor were they armed, and a quick look behind revealed they didn't have a power gem either.
The only other things of note were two switches right in front of them. The two of us weighted them down, causing the statues to 'wake up' – though this just meant the eyes opened, and they slowly started to hop towards us with a crunch of stone.
It was immediately clear exactly how we were supposed to deal with these things. Eye opens, the only bit of them that's not stone – it's pretty easy to figure out. Red must have too, as he quickly started shooting arrows at the nearest one, while I kept the other one busy following me.
They didn't appear to be able to hop towards us and turn at the same time, so it was fairly easy to stay safe simply by constantly circling them. I had to stop once Red finished off his statue, after shooting the eye only three times, then I just led it back toward him while he repeated.
"Someone oughta tell Link these guys aren't really challenging," Red observed. "Least once you figure out what you gotta do to 'em."
"Not my choice," Link's voice murmured, though it could have been my imagination since the louder sound of a key fragment dropping also echoed around the chamber. I now had the first piece of the boss door key, given to me for only a few moments easy work.
"If it's all the same to you, I don't mind it," I said after retrieving it. "Let us save our strength for the boss later, and for more evil plots against Vaati."
"We're the good guys, we're not allowed to plot evil stuff," Red protested.
"Better we do than Vaati does," Ezlo said. "Are you boys going to stand around all day or are you going to actually move on? You did say we were on a schedule, Manic."
"Yeah, I know, but we're way ahead of Vaati. As long as we don't slack off too much, he's as good as beaten already."
Unsurprisingly, we headed east after I once again dismantled the mechanism that would have tried to close the door on us. I suppose we could have shot it from up close, or I could have retrieved Red and done it all myself, but for some reason it never occurred to me.
Light streamed into the next room from a crack in the ceiling, and then down through another gap in the floor which in turn showed the floors below where I'd earlier looked up to here. The place was oddly deserted, but also left us no means of progressing except for push on a large stone block with Red's assistance.
We shoved it aside only to find it was the same problem again, so after a quick look we pushed again, this time northwards instead of east, letting us reach the far side of the gap where the only thing to do was pull on a switch. Something ground away above, then through the crack something glinted brightly as it plummeted all the way down. After a moment there was a metallic tinkling sound.
"A key?" Ezlo suggested. "If it is, we'd better go after it before something happens to it. Wouldn't want to have you to steal it off someone else."
"Please! No one steals from me."
"Bet?" Red said, grinning as he held up the Boomerang.
"Oh, gods," Ezlo sighed despairingly.
Without missing a beat, Link's voice said, "I'm a little busy right now, but Manic can take messages for me."