Chapter XX: Bloody Roar

She stabbed him in the chest.

He punched her in the face.

She jerked backward at the force behind the reflexive blow, the cross-piece of the Master Sword hitting her in the head hard enough to throw her against the wall as the lift rose. The force of the rising block and the passing wall pulled her down hard enough to drop her to her rear, while Link recoiled, blood flowing from his chest. He planted his shield hand against his torso wound, the barrier shielding him from any attacks while the Master Sword rose to defend.

It wasn't bad, he quickly realized. He could still breathe without any trouble, and she'd obviously missed his heart. No vital parts were hit.

Damned lucky, Link realized as she kicked up to her feet. A moment later, the elevator came to a halt, the pair finding themselves standing at one end of a short corridor. Immediately, the Gerudo leapt backward off the elevator, and Link moved to pursue.

The moment his boots hit the stonework off the elevator, she was attacking again, her scimitar flashing and cutting. It rang against his shield as he raised and lowered the barrier frantically, and the Master Sword hacked and slashed around it, Link's heavy and defensive blows a marked contrast to the Gerudo's sheer speed. Her scimitar picked off his counters almost as easily as he was blocking her attacks with his shield.

Link did have one advantage, though; they were in a corridor, and he was stronger and more heavily armed. Once again, he pushed her back, bulling ahead steadily with his shield and cutting with the Master Sword to keep her from trying to circle around him. She seemed to understand his intentions, and was trying to break off to move around him.

Bad place to choose to fight, Link thought as he pressed on, the Master Sword chopping more aggressively. Her blade kept singing against the sword and shield, but now there was a much more defensive character to her stance as he advanced. They were almost to the end of the corridor, and she would soon either have to break off and flee through the door or be pressed against the wall.

But then she jumped off the wall and kicked Link between the eyes.

He stumbled backward, and then her blades sang against his shield. He ducked and took a few steps back, defending on raw instinct and experience, and the Master Sword struck twice in rapid succession, intercepting two potentially deadly cuts and deflecting them. He punched out with his shield, catching one of her scimitars and forcing it away, and the Master Sword hacked hard at her belly, nearly disemboweling her.

Gritting his teeth, Link set his feet, caught her charge, and slowly forced her backward once more. He glared back into those yellow eyes, locking onto them as the sword in his hand clashed and parried with hers, his shield intercepting her assaults almost automatically.

She bit back a sharp curse as he kept fighting. She'd felt her blade penetrate his armor, had seen the blood weep forward, but somehow he kept going, he kept fighting, as if he wasn't even aware he was wounded.

As if he didn't care if he was injured.

She looked back into his eyes, her weapons dancing almost of their own accord, and saw a lack of fear in his features. Beneath his hood and cloak and mask, she could only see raw determination and perseverance and pain.

No, she realized, taking a few steps back, now on the defensive, his momentum slowly forcing her toward the wall once more. He was aware of his wounds, and he cared that he was wounded - but he wasn't going to let that slow him down. He pushed it all aside, pressing on, relentless.

Fearless.

His shield slammed into one of her scimitars, knocking it down. The broadsword rang against her other blade, throwing it out wide, and he surged forward, crashing into her with all his not-inconsiderable weight.

She seemed distracted somehow. Link wasn't sure what gave it away, but he picked up a subtle feeling, which was quickly confirmed when he managed to knock both her weapons out wide. His shield and the Master Sword were also spread wide apart, leaving Link without a weapon to bring to bear against her in that instant of vulnerability, so he used the only other thing he had on hand - himself.

They crashed together hard, and he threw her off her feet. The two warriors ended up tumbling down to the floor, a tangle of limbs and blades. She shoved back against him as they rolled on the floor, and Link pushed back, taking advantage of his size and strength compared to her to force her down to the stone. He rolled over on top, shield pinning one of her arms to the floor while the Master Sword pinned her other scimitar against the stone. She released the weapon and reached for her belt, but Link had already dropped the divine blade and snatched up his Kokiri knife. He pressed the little forest blade against her throat, before she could grab another weapon off her belt.

He knew he should have stabbed the knife into her throat, but he held his hand in check.

There was a quiet moment of exhalation as the Gerudo woman seemed to take stock of the disadvantageous position she was in. There was a slight shift beneath the cloth mask covering her face, as if her mouth was changing expressions quickly.

"You're good," she finally said. Her eyebrows rose. "Go ahead, hero. Why stop?" He didn't reply, holding the knife to her neck. An echo of the dying women's screams came back to him, and he found that this close, peering into her yellow eyes, he couldn't bring himself to finish her off.

She stared back at him, and slowly pulled her arm away from her belt, holding her hand open so he could see it was empty.

"Well, now what?" she asked after a couple of seconds. "You can't bring yourself to kill me, can you?"

Link stared back, considering her words.

"No," he replied, shaking his head slowly.

"So, what are you going to do?" she asked, her voice low and quiet. She shifted slightly underneath him, in a way that Link found oddly . . . pleasant. For an instant he was distracted, and she chuckled. Her voice was dark, alluring.

He suddenly was reminded of Malon, somehow.

"Who are you?" Link asked, getting back on track. "You're Gerudo."

"Yes," she replied. "My name is Nabooru. I am the leader of the Gerudo warriors in this Temple."

"Then you know where the Gorons are," he said, and she nodded. Her body moved again beneath him, against him, and Link grimaced at the pleasant distraction. "Stop that." Being an adult brought all manner of unfamiliar new troubles for him.

"Or?" she asked, and he replied by pressing the knife a bit tighter against her neck. "Ah."

She mulled over that for a moment.

"You can't."

"Are you certain?" Link asked, and she chuckled again. Her eyes narrowed after a second.

"You're not a killer, little hero," she told him. There was a second's hesitation, and her gaze softened a hair. "That's not a bad thing, though."

The tension in her body seemed to fade, and she exhaled.

"The Gorons are locked inside the tower in the next area," Nabooru explained, glancing toward the door. "A number of my people guard the area. About fifteen, regularly."

"Do you know where the Megaton Hammer is?" Link asked, surprised at the sudden admission.

"Elevator inside the tower, just like the one we used to get here," she explained. "Takes you to the third level. No guards."

"In this place?" Link asked, and she shrugged beneath him.

"Volvagia," she explained in a single word, and Link nodded. Only a lunatic would try to do anything in a Temple controlled by that dragon.

"So," Nabooru said, shifting again beneath Link. He scowled to hide how good that felt. "Now what are you going to do with me?"

He wasn't sure, but Link knew he couldn't kill her. Not like this. But if he let her get up, she might go for her weapons again. He didn't have a way to secure or restrain her either, which meant-

"Well, let me solve that dilemma for you," Nabooru said. There was a small, subtle shift to her demeanor, which Link didn't catch until her hand flew out, and he caught sight of another of those flash grenades as it leapt from the inside of her sleeve. He jerked back, completely unable to escape the flash, which erupted in his eyes as she rolled away. Blazing whiteness filled his vision as he scrambled back up onto his feet, raising his shield protectively, bracing for her counterattack.

Long seconds passed, Link's vision swimming back into place, the painful whiteness slowly being replaced by the dull red glow of the Temple, and he found that . . . .

She was gone. Again.

The door leading out of the corridor slammed shut as Link lowered his shield, and he grunted angrily. He dashed toward it and slammed into the doorway with his shoulder as hard as he could, not wanting to let her-

"Link, don't-" Navi was saying.

He bounced hard off the door, his shoulder loudly protesting as he dropped onto his rear.

" . . . the hinges are on the this side," she murmured.

"Ouch."

He rose a few moments later, rubbing his aching shoulder. This time, he opened the door more conventionally, using his sword arm and with his shield raised in case of an ambush on the other side.

None came. Instead, Link found himself stepping out into a massive, open area, and for a few seconds he thought he'd actually left the Temple itself. Instead, he realized, he was in a gigantic chamber, the ceiling rising high up into the air, with worked rock walls surrounding the room. In the center of the chamber was a large stone tower rising up toward the ceiling. Rock walls divided portions of the chamber, and short pillars about twice his height were scattered around the chamber at even intervals.

He edged forward, alert for any ambush. Link slowly turned around, getting a feel for the area as he moved forward, toward the tower, and stepped between two of the pillars.

He felt something, a faint hiss of changing air pressure, and then flash of warning. He leapt backward even as he heard the echo of Navi's cry of danger, and a wall of flame roared into place between the two pillars.

"Too close," he breathed as he stared at the raging wall of fire before him. "Thanks, Navi."

"Yeah," she replied, exhaling as well. Her voice was close, right in his ear.

"What was that?" Link asked, looking around the room at the pillars.

"Magical trap of some kind," she explained, and he nodded, pulling a bomb out of his pouch. He stepped around to another set of pillars, and, staying a fair distance back, tossed the bomb through the gap.

A wall of flame leapt up instantly, searing the bomb and igniting its explosive contents. Nodding, he pulled out another bomb and moved to another pair of pillars.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he tossed the bomb through the gap. A sheet of flame obliterated that one as well.

"There has to be a way through these pillars," he said. "The Gerudo got the Gorons through so . . . ."

This time when the bomb sailed though the gap, no fire erupted. Link stepped through the safe spot, scooping up the bomb, and threw it through the next set of pillars. Fire leapt up, incinerating the bomb and setting it off at the same time.

Through trial and error - and about ten of his bombs Link thought ruefully - they negotiated the fire-trap maze, and reached the center of the chamber, with the tower looming up overhead. He drew the Master Sword and readied his shield, and moved up to the incongruous door set into the wall.

The flames bit into the rents and tears in his hide, and pain flared through his body - pain which he hadn't felt in a long, long time. It woke him up, sharpened his senses, and sent a surge of strength through the stone and iron running through his body.

Darunia clenched his fists as Volvagia bit and tore, and slammed them down into the dragon's skull. It shook, but held on stubbornly, and Darunia struck again, and again. Each impact was chased by a furious shout, the blows gaining momentum and his yells intensifying in fury as he hammered away.

There was a faint shift in the pressure against his torso, and Darunia twisted, thrashing violently, hammering Volvagia as its breathed its spiteful fires into his body, and suddenly he broke free, giving the dragon a hard uppercut that would shatter a boulder. It recoiled, and he punched it again with all his strength, knuckles smashing it on the nose so hard that it went flying backward.

"I am not! Dead! Yet!" the Goron chieftain roared in defiance. "A true son of the Goron people does not lay down and surrender, dragon!"

Volvagia came about, the chamber bubbling and hissing with its fury as it did so.

Your spirit is commendable, Goron, it said, jaws clacking. The Goron chieftain heard a sudden intake of air, and leapt aside as the dragon loosed a narrow cone of white-hot fire that scorched and bubbled the rock where he'd been standing. As Darunia came out of his roll, he slammed both fists into the ground, and flexed his mighty muscles.

Volvagia dove after the burst of flames, straight for Darunia, jaws wide and preparing to snap down on him again. Just as it reached him, the Goron whipped around, bringing the hunk of stone he'd torn up down on the dragon's head so hard that the rock shattered on impact. Volvagia recoiled, and Darunia punched it again, scoring a blow right on one of its bulbous green eyes.

The howl of pain from the dragon was one of the most satisfying things he'd ever heard.

In retrospect, openly walking into the area where the Gorons were being held by a number of armed guards wasn't a terribly brilliant idea. But then, neither was dodging magical fire traps with explosives. Both of these things occurred to Link as he desperately tried to keep his face un-perforated by Gerudo scimitars.

The room he'd entered was a long hallway lined by iron-barred cells, and inside the cells were the lumpy, rocky forms of the Goron prisoners. The warrior women guarding them had spotted and attacked him almost immediately, about half of them moving straight toward Link while the remainder lingered by the Goron cells. The mountain folk themselves had begun shouting and slamming against the cell bars, and Gerudo guards were yelling back, jabbing with their scimitars at the noisiest of the captured warriors. A couple of the Gerudo were also standing on a ledge over one line of cells, refusing to move from their position.

He moved his shield back and forth, deflecting attacks from multiple directions, and was glad that the hallway wasn't too wide - it prevented them from flanking him unless they moved close to the cell walls, which would put them in arms-length of the Gorons. Even so, Link was working hard to keep a half-dozen scimitars at bay, the warrior women pressing him viciously, their blades hammering at his shield and the Master Sword. With the fury of their attack, he couldn't even get in a single counter.

He had to get out of this before they overwhelmed him. His first thought was the door he'd come in through, but that would just reduce them to a stalemate. On the other hand, in this room . . . .

Link took a step back, parried two slashes with the Master Sword, and deflected another strike with his shield. He ducked and spun under a pair of chops, hacking across with the holy blade and taking one of the Gerudo in the thigh. She dropped to one knee, crying out in pain, and Link stepped around her, keeping her between him and his foes for the second he needed.

Link released his shield hand's grip, and with a flick of his wrist and a punching motion, he discarded it. With his unencumbered hand, Link snatched the clawshot off his belt and deflected another attack with the Master Sword, the blades scraping together. His right hand shot up toward the ceiling over the ledge, and the clawshot lanced out, striking the rock ceiling. The metal talons clacked together, digging a purchase into the unworked stone. As the Gerudo women closed in on all sides, he shot up into the air.

Link twisted the clawshot's trigger as he flew over the ledge, and the claws released. He dropped to the ledge, rolling with the momentum, just as the two Gerudo on guard duty rushed toward him. As he shot to his feet, Link saw what they were defending: a switch set into the wall.

He didn't have his shield, so that meant a shift in his stance. Link moved his left foot forward, and twisted the clawshot's trigger, opening the talons. The Master Sword lanced up, parrying a scimitar, and he ducked beneath another cut. He twisted and spun in place, rolling around the Gerudo, the Master Sword working over his head to deflect a rain of scimitars. As he came out of the spin, Link launched into a counter, the heavy blade hacking left and right against the Gerudos' smaller curved weapons. They rang and scraped in rapid succession, and he drove one of the women back.

The style was familiar. It felt like years past when he was using this same fencing methodology with sticks and his Kokiri friends . . . .

The second Gerudo stepped around to his right and tried to attack his flank while he was facing her partner. She stabbed both blades at him, one high, the other low.

He whirled toward her, dropping into a low crouch, and the clawshot rose, firing. It struck the lower blade, and the impact caused the talons to snap shut over her weapon. The force behind the clawshot sent the scimitar flying out of her hands and across the room.

Link dropped the clawshot, spinning below her striking blade, and came out of the rotation with his right elbow leading. It slammed into her temple, hurling the surprised warrior off her feet. He quickly kicked her other scimitar away, and came about in time to parry and deflect two more cuts from the other warrior. The Gerudo snarled a curse at him as he knocked her weapons aside, and he stepped into the gap before she could reset her defenses. Link's shoulder met her chest, and he launched the smaller woman backward, off the ledge.

That taken care of, Link ran toward the switch and threw it, guessing its purpose based on the guards' presence.

Below, he heard the clatter of cells opening, the jubilant shouts of Goron warriors, and a moment later, the meaty impact of stone on flesh.

Movement out the corner of his eye caught his attention. The Gerudo he had disarmed was sitting up, and he leveled the Master Sword at her. She froze in place, eyes locked on the blade pointed at her throat.

After a second, Link lowered the weapon.

"Go on," he said, gesturing toward the door leading out of the chamber. The Gorons were too busy fighting the Gerudo guards to block it off. "Leave this place, while you can."

She glanced to her scimitar, lying on the other end of the ledge, then back up to Link, before rising to her feet. With a venomous glare, the Gerudo ran to the edge of the platform, dropped off, and disappeared out the door.

With her gone, the Hylian turned and looked back down over the chaos below. He retrieved his clawshot, setting it on his belt, and then dropped down into the chaos.

The Gerudo were skilled warriors, and a small number of Gorons wouldn't have been able to overcome them. Indeed, the Gerudo had been capturing Goron patrols piecemeal, two or three at a time, over the last few months. Link, however, had released more than two dozen of the mountain folk in an enclosed space, and they rolled into the Gerudo like a rockslide. Even unarmed, they were excellent warriors in their own right, and the lithe Gerudo women were unable to use their speed and agility in close quarters.

Within a couple of minutes, the Gorons, with Link's help, had killed or incapacitated all of the guards using raw, brute strength. A number of them bore nasty gouges in their stony hides from the Gerudo weapons, but none of them had been killed in the brutally one-sided escape. The mountain folk hammered their chests and the walls, cheering and shouting as they stood victorious over their foes.

"Stranger!" called one of the Gorons, laughing and waving his hands at Link. "The people of Death Mountain owe you a mighty debt!" Link nodded, and then belatedly realized he was about to get swept up into another bear hug. He gritted his teeth as the Goron warrior crushed him up against his chest, but the hug was nowhere near as painful as Darunia's legendary glomphs.

"I, uh, did what I had to do," Link replied as he found himself being surrounded by jubilant Goron soldiers.

"What is your name, Brother?" one of them asked. Link hesitated, and then pulled down the cloth mask over his nose and mouth. Gorons preferred things direct and blunt anyway.

"My name is Link," he said. "Sworn Brother of Darunia."

There were a couple of heartbeats of surprised silence, but then the Gorons were so loud that Link thought the room was going to collapse on them. They jumped up and down, bellowing and cheering, arms slamming against their chests.

"I knew Darunia would not abandon his people in their hour of need!" yelled one of the Gorons, and the others echoed the sentiment.

"Where is our Chieftain now?" another asked. "Is he smiting more of the puny flammable Gerudo?"

"Worse," Link replied, not sure how to break it to them. He hesitated, and the Gorons seemed to calm down, and then grew a little unsettled by his silence.

"He's fighting Volvagia," Link finally said, settling on the simple and blunt.

The Gorons' response was just as rock-shaking, but nowhere near as cheery. They let out roars of dismay and shouts of anger, and the stamping of a dozen enraged Goron feet filled the chamber. One of them let out a cry to war, and the others assented, shouting curses and oaths against Volvagia and Ganondorf.

"Wait, no!" Link said quickly, holding his hands up to placate the Gorons. By now they were getting very worked up, some grabbing the fallen Gerudo scimitars, which looked like letter openers in their hands. Others were hammering the iron bars of the cells, trying to pull them loose in their anger. "Listen to me! You can't-"

"HEY! LISTEN!" Navi suddenly yelled, her voice blasting Link's eardrums in such close proximity. He jerked, shocked at how loud she could be, and the Gorons stopped in mid-riot.

"Look, you can't," Link said as his hearing began to come back, a painful ringing in his the ear closest to Navi. How had she pulled that one off?

"What do you mean, Brother?" demanded one of the angry-sounding Gorons, slamming his fists together.

"Darunia sent me to rescue you," Link explained. "He was going to keep Volvagia busy, while you escaped."

The Gorons paused, looking back and forth between each other, murmuring in surprise and confusion. They started to whisper and jabber among themselves, which somehow made Link think of a thunderstorm trying to be stealthy. He watched them argue and discuss, and knew he didn't have the time to wait on them.

"Look, you can argue this all you want," Link yelled, catching their attention again. "But Darunia told me to get you out of here."

"We won't abandon our Chieftain!" one of them shouted. The others assented.

"What good can you do?" Link replied. They had to see reason, though these were Gorons . . . . "This is Volvagia you're dealing with. Darunia is fighting it now to give you the time to escape! Do you want his sacrifice to mean nothing?"

That got their attention. The Gorons looked back and forth, hissing and mumbling to one another, and finally there seemed to be some form of group assent.

"If Darunia's last wish is that he wants us to flee, then we can't let him down," replied one of the Gorons, and the others rumbled in agreement. Link found the grimness of his tone disturbing.

"It won't be his last," Link replied, and the Goron leader nodded.

"If there's anyone who can save our Chieftain, it would be his Sworn Brother!" The others rumbled and shouted, agreeing with their impromptu leader. He pounded his chest, the impact shaking Link's teeth.

"May Din and the fire spirits protect you," he added. "But I do not think you can defeat Volvagia without the Megaton Hammer."

"Darunia asked me to find that too," Link said, and the Goron nodded. He pointed to the door at the other end of the cell block.

"There should be a lift past there that will take you to the chamber where we stored the Hammer. I do not know if the Gerudo moved it, but I doubt their little muscles were able to even lift it."

Link nodded in thanks, and the Goron pounded his chest again in salute.

"We leave, Brother," he spoke, his voice solemn. "Keep our Chieftain safe."

"I will," Link promised, and hoped he could keep it.

Fire poured into his face.

Darunia roared, recoiling, and then belted Volvagia across the head with both fists. The dragon flew backward, hissing and snarling, the lava in the chamber bubbling in sympathy. The Goron stepped backward, clutching his face with one hand as molten rock streamed from his body.

Your end is inevitable, the chamber shook. I will have you, mighty Chieftain. A most satisfying meal-

Darunia punched Volvagia in the jaw, snarling. He raised his other hand to pound down into the top of the dragon's skull when it whipped around, slamming him with its boiling-hot serpentine body. Darunia's hide hissed and darkened as he rolled backward, and pushed himself up to his feet. Pain lanced up his arm as Volvagia snapped its jaws down on his wrist and bit, twisting and thrashing like a savage wolf.

Darunia's fist hammered the dragon as it bit and tore, its claws digging into his hide. He kept punching the malevolent, flaming beast as it attacked, his clenched hand beating its eyes as he shook and thrashed right back.

Suddenly, Volvagia reared up, releasing his arm, and Darunia punched out with all his might, hitting the masked dragon on the nose and rocking its head back. He leapt at the beast, wrapping one arm around its neck at the base of its skull, and kept hitting it. The Goron grit his teeth, molten rock rolling from his hide as he pounded his foe. Fire jetted from its throat, and he felt his skin being scorched and slowly heating up from contact with the dragon's burning body, but Darunia pushed through it, refusing to yield.

"The Gorons . . . will . . . be . . . free of you!" he yelled.

The Volvagia lifted up, and shot into the air, dragging Darunia along with it. The roaring, screaming dragon whipped about and crashed into the wall where the doors were set into the stone, and the Goron felt a massive impact.

Stone ripped, iron bent, and they slammed straight through into the antechamber of the Temple itself. Growling in determination, ignoring his horrific wounds and the pain lancing through his body, Darunia held on, refusing to surrender.

Link stepped off the lift beyond the prison block, and found himself standing within another massive circular chamber, dominated by the long, winding, wide staircase running up the left side of the room. He quickly pulled up the cloth mask as the scathing air beat down against him, and started up the stairs, seeing an immense platform up above at the top of the steps. In the air above, he could spot more of the burning bat-like creatures circling around, but their movements were aimless and they showed no signs of noticing him.

A few minutes later, Link had reached the top of the stairs, frowning as he walked toward a wide stone platform, upon which was placed a large stone box. Goron runes he couldn't read festooned the box, and Link could see it was set with many small gemstones and worked silver.

It wasn't locked or latched, and Link tried to open it, only to find the lid didn't want to budge. Link stepped back, frowning again, and wondered if there was some other way to get it open, and then remembered a simple fact: this thing had been built by Gorons, after all.

He exhaled, popped his neck and slapped his hands together, and then grabbed the top of the lid. His muscles tightened and bunched, and he lifted quickly and suddenly. Link grunted and strained, slowly raising the lid, and in the back of his mind he was grateful that he hadn't suffered any loss of strength during his long sleep. The lid slowly lifted backward, and Link moved his hands around to grip the top underneath the lip, and pushed as he strained.

Suddenly, the weight slackened, as the lid got high enough up that gravity pulled it in the opposite direction. It crashed loudly against the floor, and Link exhaled, his muscles aching from the strain. Trust the Gorons to require sheer brute strength instead of keys and locks. He rubbed his biceps as he looked down into the chest, and was momentarily dumbstruck.

Within the chest, sitting on a stone rack, was a glittering, polished warhammer two-thirds Link's height. Its head was enormous, as long as his chest was wide, and the head's width was half across as its length. It was inlaid with hundreds of runes and markings, with tiny etchings of Gorons running around it. Despite its age and the hellish conditions, the hammer seemed flawless and undamaged, still retaining its polished sheen.

Link reached down and picked up the Megaton Hammer, grunting as he tried to lift it. The weight was incredible, and he found he couldn't even lift the weapon without using both hands. He carefully hauled the weapon up, straining his already aching back, and marveled at how strong the Gorons' champions had to be if they could use a hammer like this with ease.

There was a low rumbling in the chamber as Link hefted the hammer, wondering how he was going to get this thing back down to Darunia in time. He turned away, and started walking down the steps, his arms hurting just trying to carry the thing. Finally, Link set the massive weapon down and reached into his pack, pulling out some rope. It would be easier if he just carried it on his back with the rest of his gear instead of tried to use his arms . . . .

The low rumbling came back, and he felt a vibration run through the chamber.

"Link, you feel that?" Navi asked, and he nodded. He quickly began to tie the rope around the Hammer, and then the rumbling sounded again, much closer. A rasping scream sounded somewhere below, and Link swore it felt like the Temple itself was crying out.

He froze, then dropped the Megaton Hammer, and drew the Master Sword, just as the floor of the chamber far below shattered upwards, rock and debris flying into the air. A sinewy form leapt through the hole, a hulking stony shape holding onto its back, yelling and punching with its free hand.

"Darunia!" Link yelled as the dragon slammed into one of the walls and started flying up it, trying to scrape the obstinate Goron off. Link looked around the room, trying to find a way down to the chamber below, but realized the only safe way down was probably the lift he'd just taken to get up there.

Volvagia whipped around suddenly, trying to throw Darunia off with raw momentum, and succeeded. The Goron's grip failed and he went flying back down below, crashing into the stone tower in the center of the room and then dropping to the floor below. He shook his head, trying to stand and ignore the pain running through him, and he paused, thinking he'd heard an echo from somewhere above. Bits and flashes of fire went off in random parts of the room, doubtless the flame traps that had been set in this room, now shattered and broken.

He turned, facing the dragon as it came about, dropping into a dive. Fire bloomed from its mouth, washing around its teeth as it descended, claws wide and ready to dig into his hide, jaws, open and slavering little rivulets of lava. Darunia grunted, setting his feet, and clenched his fists. He prayed Link had at least managed to save his kin, because he had almost run out of time to hold the monster off.

The ground shook, and Darunia heard an impact of metal on stone about fifty feet away. He looked down, peeling his eyes away from the dragon, and heard a sudden screech of surprise from Volvagia, rippling off the walls of the vast chamber.

Lying in a small, cracked crater of stone, was the Megaton Hammer.

Gorons weren't credited for their speed, but at that moment Darunia dispelled any notions that their breed was slow. He bolted across the room, laughing in unbelieving hope as he did so, and Volvagia shifted its angle to target the hammer.

Link saw it diving to intercept, and he slid the Master Sword back into its sheath, before pulling the enchanted bow off his back. He drew an arrow from the quiver at his waist, nocked it, and drew the string back.

"Sorry," he heard Navi whisper helplessly in his ear, and he shrugged.

"Not your fault," he replied, sighting down the arrow. He held his breath, lined up his target so far below, and released.

Volvagia was only a dozen meters away, and Darunia heard a sharp inhalation of coming hellfire. He gritted his teeth, holding on to his one last hope, and knew that he probably wasn't going to last much longer. Another burst of flames would cut right through his stone hide and into his body, and then-

Volvagia screeched, and a tiny flare of burning wood appeared on the monster's flank, right above where its spindly arms met its body. It whipped around, cries of agony exploding from the walls and echoing over again. Flames belched from its mouth, the arrowhead buried in its back where it would be a nightmare to dig back out.

As the dragon roared and thrashed, it didn't hear the shout of fury from the Goron Chieftain, nor did it see the glittering head of worked, magical steel whip about and swing toward its skull.

Volvagia did, however, feel it most acutely.

The monster flew backward, tiny shards of its mask fracturing and flying into the air. Its cries of agony reverberated off the walls, deafening both Goron and Hylian.

"Now, I stand on even footing, dragon!" Darunia roared, pushing back the pain and weakness he knew was going to end him soon. "Come now, and face me with honor!"

Fire lanced down at him, and he lurched out of the way. The dragon descended as the floor where Darunia had stood bubbled and popped, and its jaws snapped and bit at him, gouging deep furrows in his hide. He let out another yell of defiance and came around, the Megaton Hammer descending.

The mask broke. Bone and metal shaped around the vile dragon's skull shattered, flying in all directions. A thrill of elation, a taste of true, satisfying victory ran through Darunia

Volvagia's head, now a naked shape of flame and evil, snapped back around as he raised the Hammer, and then all the Goron Chieftain knew was sheer, undeniable heat.

From his position, Link couldn't get a good shot at the dragon - or at least, he wasn't confident he could get another one. Instead, after he'd dropped the Megaton Hammer to the floor far below, he dashed back toward the lift that had led him up this high in the chamber.

Link emerged from the cell block in time to see Darunia sink to his knees The Hylian came to a halt as he saw the Goron's body, the stone hide blackened in places and glowing red hot in others. Ashes and cinders surrounded him, and Link realized with horror that these were parts of Darunia's skin, fallen off during the savage struggle.

He raised the Megaton Hammer, struggling to his feet, and then Volvagia, its flaming face exposed, crashed into him, a screech of enraged triumph resounding from the Temple itself.

Link was moving, dashing toward the confrontation with the Master Sword raised, and was distantly aware of a pain in the back of his throat.

Not again. Not. Again.

He heard Darunia roar, the dragon snarl, and saw a tangle of stone and blistering fire. There was flashing light, the impact of stone and metal, and then a sudden, drawn-out thunder of elation and victory.

Volvagia whipped about, and a blackened mass of rock, crumbling and charred, flew into the air and rolled past Link. He spun out of the way, and then heard Navi's gasp of shock and disbelief.

Link didn't look back. He didn't need to.

He saw the Megaton Hammer lying on the floor beside Volvagia, a Goron hand still gripping its handle, and a wave of painful guilt rolled over him, chased by hatred and rage.

He was back in the depths of the Forest Temple, looking at the specter of Ganondorf, and its blood-stained spear. Knowing, without a doubt, that his oldest friend, who he had been playing with less than a month ago, was dead - murdered. His knees weak, his body locked up in shock and grief, and his mind clouded by unbreakable fury.

Except he could have done something about it this time, if only . . . if only he . . . .

The Master Sword twitched in his hand, and that tiniest of tactile sensations brought Link back to here and now. He looked up, hearing the rush of flames descending toward him.

Volvagia dove down at him, fire billowing from its exposed face, shining green eyes glittering with malevolent hunger.

Its jaws snapped at Link, the dragon not bothering with flame up close for such a relatively easy victim. The fangs, sharp enough to rend stone and the jaws behind them strong enough to break rock, instead scraped against Link's shield. He sidestepped, redirecting the monster's mighty momentum, and with a furious shout of rage and pain, he brought the Master Sword down.

The holy blade bit into the dragon's fiery hide, parting the flesh and sending a gout of heat blasting outwards as it passed. Volvagia recoiled, crying out in pain, and Link followed through with another mighty, infuriated cleave. The blade cut in once more, striking the dragon across its chest, and it leapt away, its agonized howls clawing at his ears.

Link knew he couldn't let the same rage he'd felt in the Forest Temple drive him, but the flashing image of Darunia's corpse flared up in his mind, and Link somehow knew that his anger and the hatred he was feeling, beating against his skull and his chest like a righteous fury, was somehow right. What had Sheik told him?

"You have to be careful, tempering your passion with all other feelings and emotions. Rational thought must balance your fury. Otherwise, this war is over before it begins."

To hell with that. Who was he to tell Link what he should and shouldn't feel? Was here, now, fighting this dragon? Had he just watched it fling aside the body of one of the greatest heroes and souls he'd ever known?

He was the goddessesdamned Hero of Time.

Volvagia came about, trying to recover, and the Master Sword cleaved again, biting through foul, burning flesh. Link let his rage speak, hacking and slashing at the dragon, the divine blade seeming to encourage his frenzy of violence. This was not the Forest Temple. This was not an enemy goading him into mindless rage. This was right. He knew that in his heart - the same righteous fury that had come over him when he'd held that little carved ocarina, Saria's . . . .

The image of her face, now so distant, welled up before Link, and the Master Sword, despite its entreaties to continue smiting his foe, suddenly felt slack in his hands.

Saria. What would she think of this wild rage? Was she watching now? Looking at him as he fell into his own uncontrolled fury?

Volvagia's claws flew up, slamming into his armor and hitting Link right where Nabooru had stabbed him. He flew backward, blood welling up from the still-fresh wound, and he let out a cry of pain as he rolled away.

That . . . that sword.

Link scrambled to his feet, and his shield rang against Volvagia's claws. He slid into a guarded stance and countered with a quick swipe that nicked the dragon's arm, making it leap backward and circle around, hissing and snarling. Link watched it back away, and knew his momentum had been lost in that instance of self-doubt.

I know that sword. Volvagia glared down at Link, the chamber crackling and hissing as it spoke. That means that you are the Hero.

Link stared back, matching its gaze, and heard the chamber rumble, as if the dragon was laughing.

You stopped me from razing the village. I suppose I should return the favor. I've already consumed that obstinate Goron, so now I should move on to easier prey.

Link glanced down, at the blackened mound behind him, and steeled himself. He set his feet, turned back toward Volvagia. His rage was still burning, but Link pushed it back, holding it in check, lest he leap into another frantic, savage emotional charge. It was goading him, wanting him to attack it.

Several long heartbeats passed, the two meeting each others' gaze even and unblinking, and then the dragon snorted.

Volvagia dove, body snapping like a fiery whip and with a howl of hunger. Link struck, arm pumping with a blast of vengeful fury and a yell of rage.

The dragon rolled aside, screeching once more. A chunk of molten stone flew through the air, in the shape of one of its horns, neatly severed. It whipped back toward Link, loosing a burst of flame where he stood.

He was already diving back and to the side, and as he came up, he pumped his sword arm. The Master Sword, with what felt like a song of elation, leapt from his hand and hurtled through the air. It tumbled end over end, gleaming with holy light in the shining golden fires, and plunged straight through the incredible heat of the dragon's breath.

Volvagia's scream shook the chamber, and it toppled backward, a meter of solid, divine steel buried in its mouth, locking its jaws open. It thrashed and twisted, scrabbling at the unyielding metal that burned with heat it had never felt before, searing away at its very malevolent existence. The dragon rolled and thrashed, twisting and howling, leaving long, burnt trails on the stone floor from its body.

Its claws repeatedly touched the blade, but every time it grabbed the sword, the dragon felt impossible agony fly through its whole body, as if it was being smote by power beyond its comprehension. It struggled against the weapon, seeking an escape, any relief it could against the pain.

Then a blow of impossible suffering flew through the dragon's body, and Volvagia flopped over, dazed and shocked and still burning from the holy weapon thrust through its mouth. It rolled onto its side, body limp for a heartbeat, and looked up.

Link, Hero of Time, Sworn Brother of Darunia, stood over it, holding the Megaton Hammer. His face was red with exertion underneath his mask as he carried the immense warhammer, but his blue eyes pierced into the dragon's own, and Volvagia, the scourge of Death Mountain and thousand-times cursed enemy of the Goron race, felt a very chilling and alien emotion running through its fiery body.

Sheer, stark terror.

Link said nothing - or at least, nothing articulate. He let his rage and fury and hatred roll out in one long, echoing cry, and those emotions fueled the strength he needed to raise the Hammer one last time, and bring it down.

And for an instant, the entire Fire Temple shook.

-

Author's Notes: Well, that took too damn long.

This chapter was originally significantly longer, including scenes where Death Mountain is cleansed and Link and Darunia's chat after the end of the battle, but it didn't work well with the dramatic end to this chapter, so I moved things around.

With this chapter, I've started touching on another element of Link's rather unique condition, where he's finally starting to become truely aware of the differences between being an adult and a child. I'm interpreting him as being around his very late teens - generally, eighteen or nineteen years old, and as such he's dealing with some hormone issues and a whole mess of biological impulses he wasn't even aware of when he was a kid. That's why the adult Link in this story is so easily angered and gets moody. And, of course, he's going to have to deal with the unfortunate fact that every woman in Hyrule is after a fine young hunk of Hero when he really doesn't need that kind of distraction on top of the massive range of other issues he's got to deal with.

Until next chapter . . . .