Chapter 36: Malgorg's Home
Link walked hurriedly, Dark Link on his back, toward the mountain whose peak rose far above all the others. He looked back and could still see the ancient castle from which they had come. Dark Link was heavy and the ground was uneven, with jagged stones all about. Link was trying to go as fast as he could, but he slipped and landed face first in the stones, Dark Link tumbling to the ground also. Link gazed resentfully at his other half. Why should he not just leave Dark Link? Why should he even care? He could get along just fine without his evil side slowing him down.
He drew his sword and prepared to stab Dark Link. He would end this. He didn't need this dark thing in his life. He started to plunge the sword downward, straight at Dark Link's face, but something stopped him. It was like trying to commit suicide, and Link wasn't suicidal in the least. He sighed and put his sword back in its sheath. Link thought back to the strange events at the castle. He thought of how the Master Sword had spontaneously appeared in his hand when he prepared to fight Dark Link. He thought of how he merely had to utter words and he could control his enemies.
How had he known the sword he was holding was the Master Sword, anyway? Was he regaining memories from a past life? He may very well have been. Was the power put into his words the power he would experience with the full Triforce? Was this some kind of preview of what was in store for him? If he could still use that power, he would probably be able to heal Dark Link. Link had torn strips of cloth off Dark Link's clothes and wrapped them around Dark Link's stomach to clog some of the bleeding, but the cloth was starting to drip anyway. Link hoisted Dark Link onto his shoulders once again and moved again, this time at a light jog, toward Eldin Volcano.
The land was hot and rocky, with steep inclines everywhere and meager vegetation. There were shallow streams that sometimes trickled down from the mountaintops above. When Link ran across these streams, Link bent down and drank some of the water, which quenched his thirst despite the fact that is was warm. Link also poured water into Dark Link's mouth, so that he wouldn't get dehydrated. Sometimes, Link heard Dark Link mumbling things, like, "You don't want to know me. Go away. Leave me alone. Leave or I'll kill you!" These didn't seem to be directed at Link, so he assumed Dark Link was having horrid dreams of past events. He picked up Dark Link and continued on.
Link still walked, coming ever closer to the mountain. It wasn't as close as Dark Link made it sound. If Link hadn't tied that cloth around Dark Link's stomach, he'd probably be dead by now. Link tore more cloth from Dark Link's tunic and replenished the bandage. The first one was drenched in hot, wet blood. As Link continued on his journey, he heard a few rocks tumble behind him. Was somebody around? He glanced at his surroundings and determined he must have been imagining the noise. He started to continue when he heard a voice. "Hey! Over here!"
Link turned to see a Goron standing on top of a ledge, his well-defined muscles prominent even in the distance. "Does he need medical attention?" The Goron asked, making a general motion towards Dark Link.
"Yes. He suffered an arrow to the stomach."
"Ah, I see. Come inside," the Goron offered, and he descended the other side of the ledge. Inside? Link climbed the ledge, which was only about ten feet high but took Link a long time, having to manage the bodies of both himself and Dark Link. When he got to the top, he found he was standing on top of a small plateau, and that there was an indentation in the middle with a circular metal hatch. It was open. Link descended down the ladder inside into a small, cozy cave.
The room was rustic, with stone chairs and a not-quite-circular stone table. There were no doors. It was all one room. There was a bookshelf bearing several old leather-bound books and another shelf bearing miscellaneous metal trinkets, none of which Link could tell the purpose. In one corner sat a massive drum with two heavy-looking mallets. The Goron Link had talked to was standing at a small iron furnace, brewing some sort of earthy smelling concoction. "Welcome to my humble home," he said.
"Thank you for your kindness, sir. I thought I would have to walk all the way to Eldin Volcano."
"Sir?" he said with a chuckle. "The Gorons never say 'sir.' We're all brothers, us who walk the earth."
"All right then, brother, thank you."
"You're welcome. Grab a seat and set your injured friend down on the table."
Link did as he was instructed. Then he asked, "What's your name, brother?"
"My name's Malgorg. And yours?"
"I'm Link."
"Pleased to meet you. Who's he? You could be twins."
Link decided to use Dark Link's alias, rather than give away his true identity. "His name's Nimoran."
"Nimoran, huh? I like your name better, Link."
"Um…" Link wasn't sure how to respond to that. He decided to change the subject. "To you call everyone in your race 'brother' or 'sister'?"
"There are only brothers. No sisters. The Hylians and Zoras have both brothers and sisters, but for the Gorons there are only brothers and the pools to which brothers go to cast in their essence. More brothers rise from the pool when we are done."
"That's…nice," Link said awkwardly.
Malgorg laughed, a deep, hearty, genuine laugh that shook the room. "It's nicer than the way Hylians do it, if you ask me."
"Do you even call your leaders brothers?"
"The patriarch? Yes, he is a brother just like anyone else. Like I said, we're all brothers, us who walk the earth. The potion is ready. Free him of his tunic."
Link removed Dark Link's tunic, mail, and Phrygian cap, leaving the gaping wound naked to the air. Malgorg came with a can of red, bubbling liquid, and poured it into the wound. Slowly, the wound began to close up. The mark from the arrow shrank until it was almost completely unnoticeable. Dark Link stopped bleeding. His eyes opened lethargically and he glanced around. "Are we inside Eldin Volcano?" he asked.
"No, Nimoran." Dark Link nodded as if he got the message to use his fake name. "We're inside the home of a very kind Goron, Malgorg. He healed you with a potion."
Dark Link mumbled a few inaudible things, then fell asleep. Every time Link looked at that face, he felt like he was looking in a mirror. "Let's let him rest," Malgorg said. "Why don't you spend the day here while he does? I'm working on an important project and I could use some help."
"Sure," Link replied. "What's your project?"
"I'm trying to find the key to perpetual motion. I'm trying to build a machine that you can start once, and, no matter how long it runs, it will never stop. To fulfill the goals of this project honestly, we must use no magic. We must only use our hands and earthen tools to construct the machine. It will be a device of weights, driven by gravity alone. Others have ridiculed me, but I think it's possible. By Din, I think it's possible."
"Sounds like an interesting project. When do we start?"
"As soon as we get this hunk of human flesh off our table. I don't have a bed here, but I'll roll out a few blankets for him to lie on. Now, while I'm doing that, I'm going to describe some bits and pieces from the shelf over there, and you're going to try and find them for me. You got it?"
"Got it!" Link answered.
They worked for hours on end. Malgorg was continuously asking Link for various pieces, then attaching the pieces together and giving the little contraption he had just made a little push. Malgorg would sit and watch whatever his new for a long time until he said, "It's slowing down," and stop it. He would then make tiny adjustments, ones that were barely noticeable to Link. When he was satifsfied with the adjustments, he would give it a little push again and watch, until he said, "It's slowing down," and repeat the process all over.
Sometimes Malgorg would test a device a few times, then completely scrap it, pull it apart, and attempt something new. He made things that resembled running horses and walking men. More than these, though, he made circular contraptions that resembled what Link always imagined the sun's course around the earth was like, if there were many suns and the earth was round. Finally, after much experimentation, Malgorg rubbed his forehead and said, "We're done for the night. Get some sleep. I'll cook up some Dodongo bacon in the morning."
"What's Dodongo bacon?" Link asked.
"You'll like it, I promise," Malgorg replied with a smile. "Now lie down on the blankets next to your friend and get some sleep.