Chapter 36

Stalfos

"Where does the shrine open on the side of Death Mountain?" asked Link. "I've only seen the secret entrance in the room where we found you."

The descending platform was now only a little way above the raised dais in the room they had left earlier. It ground to a halt and then, suddenly, faded into nothingness. Link and Darunia dropped to the other platform, but it was only a small fall and they landed on their feet, quickly regaining their balance. Looking up, Link could see nothing in the ceiling of the room that indicated it held any secrets or led to any hidden way.

"I will show you now," said Darunia, answering his question. "But we must also give a thought for my people. They are imprisoned within this shrine."

"Okay, do we search for them first?"

"It would seem wise to me to do so. If we slay the dragon it may take a long time and be a fearsome battle. In that time, their guards could kill my people in cold blood, and we would have achieved nothing." He led Link out of the room back into the passageway towards the room where he had for so long been a prisoner. "We will go first to the place I think they are being held. If we can free them, we will have struck a great blow against Ganondorf's dark reign."

Down the passage they walked, moving quickly, Darunia gripping the goron hammer in both hands and Link fidgeting with the hilt of the Master Sword in its sheath every few paces.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, Darunia opened the door and led his friend back into the room where he had entered the shrine. Link looked to his right but the door back to Goron City was entirely invisible, just as the magical platform had been.

They strode quickly across the space to the opposite door, but when they reached it Darunia paused and indicated to Link that they should move cautiously. Then in one smooth motion he pulled the door open and stepped through it, bringing the hammer up to strike any foes on the other side. Behind him, Link loosened the Master Sword in its scabbard as he moved to flank his friend.

On the other side of the door was a huge cavern, bigger than any he had seen since leaving Goron City. The light made him blink, too, for it was not the light of the torches in the previous room or the strange ethereal light of the upper floor: it was daylight.

He did not have much time for thinking about the space or the light, though. Four moblins were grunting and turning to them, slowly and ponderously pulling their jagged blades from their belts. Quick as lightning, Darunia swung the hammer of the gorons and slammed one of the beasts to the floor. It grunted and died, its chest crushed. Wrenching his sword out of its sheath, Link took two quick steps and swung the blade around neatly, slashing it into the neck of another of the beasts. He ripped it out again as the creature stumbled lugubriously over as its body received the message that it was dead. The other two moblins hesitated, looking at these new foes.

In the pause, Link had a better moment to look about him. He still had the door to the antechamber at his back, and to his right sunlight streamed through an opening in the rock, presumably the main entrance to the shrine from Death Mountain. He was stood on a rock platform perhaps thirty feet wide, and beyond it was what looked like a sheer drop into an abyss, stretching across the room. A single bridge of rock stretched out across the chasm, but the far side of the cavern was shrouded in gloom and Link could not make out what end the bridge came to.

Standing to his left, Darunia squared his shoulders and stepped forwards to battle one of the moblins. Holding his sword in a light grip, Link looked to the other of the creatures. It stepped towards him, brought its sword up and slashed at him. Link saw the attack almost in slow motion, and brought the Master Sword up to block. The two blades slammed together, Link felt the strain in the muscles of his sword arm as he pitched his strength against the moblin, and his whole body vibrated from the clash of their steel. Grunting, the moblin stepped back and hacked at him again. It was too slow, and Link sidestepped the swing, slamming his sword forward with all his weight behind it to stab the moblin squarely in the chest.

The force of his blow forced the creature back and it toppled over, crashing onto the rock floor. Link gasped, and took a second to catch his breath before pulling his sword clear. A bestial scream distracted him, and he looked up to see the final moblin topple of the ledge they stood on and into the black chasm. Darunia stood two feet from the edge, feet planted, hammer raised following the strike that had forced the moblin into the abyss.

He turned and grinned at the hylian warrior. "Four moblins are not enough to even slow us, my friend!"

Link opened his mouth to respond, but before he could another noise caught both their attention. It was between a roar and a shriek, and if Darunia did not know it Link did: he had heard it two nights earlier in Kakariko Village. It was the call of the argorok, circling Death Mountain.

"This way!" cried Darunia, and dashed past Link towards the opening. Link paused long enough to clean his blade on the leather jerkin of the moblin he had slain, and turned to follow his friend.

He emerged on Death Mountain and looked about him. The rock face fell below him in crags and pinnacles down to the lowlands. Surprisingly close, he could see the other mountains of the range, passes that led between them, and the peaks reaching into the sky, though few were as high as Death Mountain itself. He knew immediately that he was looking towards the north east; Kakariko and the rest of Hyrule lay on the other side of the mountain, out of sight behind its rocky peak.

Turning to look behind, he saw that the peak itself reared above him. He had known he was close to the top of the mountain, but seeing it a mere fifty feet above him, considering how much stretched away below, was a strange sensation. Din's Fire blazed above them, and Link guessed it was mid afternoon. For a moment, he wondered if it could truly be the end of the same day he had begun in Goron City, preparing to enter the secret path to the shrine.

There was no sign of the dragon. The two companions stood, looking warily about them.

After a minute they heard again its great shriek, closer now, and they felt the rock beneath their feet hum with its cry. Then it swept into sight, the beating of its wings making them raise their arms to cover their faces from the wind it stirred up. It shot past them, wheeling around and disappearing behind the mountain again.

Straining their ears, they could now hear the thrum of its beating wings as it circled the peak. This time when it flew back into sight it was moving slowly, and turned ponderously towards them. It had seen them or caught their scent, but either way it was aware of them.

For a moment it seemed to hang in the air, unmoving, and then it beat its wings and accelerated impossibly quickly. It darted towards them, opening its great jaws wide. Link and Darunia reacted, flinging themselves to the side on the plateau in front of the entrance to the shrine. The jaws snapped above them but missed them, and the argorok blasted back into the clear sky.

Clambering to his feet and still holding the goron hammer, Darunia looked at Link. "I will take care of this beast! You must save my people!"

Link stood, sword in hand. "I'm not leaving you!" he cried.

Above them, the dragon wheeled in the sky and came sweeping down towards them again. It honed towards Darunia, and Link watched, momentarily frozen. The goron did not flinch, but clutched the hammer and at the last moment swung it towards the argorok. The rocky muscles in his arms bunched and the steel head of the hammer slammed into the argorok's head.

With a scream, it fell out of the sky, crashing into the plateau. Snapping its jaws in rage, it floundered helplessly, and then its eyes set upon Link, closer to where it had fallen than his goron companion. Its great black head and rows of jagged teeth lunged towards the hylian. Link ducked backwards and the argorok snapped after him, but before it could reach him Darunia appeared before it. He swung the hammer, slamming it again into the monsters head, and a great clang rang out as the flat steel thumped against the iron hard scales of the dragon.

It staggered backwards, and flapped clumsily into the air, momentarily retreating. Making the most of the respite, Darunia almost hurled Link back towards the shrine. "Save my people!" he roared. Link looked at his friend, and the light of battle was in his eyes. "Sorry, brother. The dragon is mine!"

Acknowledging the deeper need, Link turned and re-entered the shrine. He hesitated, thinking. His warrior's heart yearned to go back out into the dying light and fight the dragon, but he forced himself to breathe calmly and think clearly. Three ways were open to him: the opening behind him where Darunia fought the dragon, the door to the left leading back to Goron City, or the bridge across the chasm on his right. Two of those ways he knew, and neither led to the goron prisoners. That left only one way.

Sword still in hand he moved to where the bridge jutted out over the black oblivion. For a brief second, he looked into the darkness, wondering with a shiver of vertigo how deep it was. He wrenched his eyes away and began to jog across the bridge, squinting into the darkness ahead. He could see a torch flickering, but was too far away to be sure what it was lighting.

As he got closer, shadows resolved themselves and he saw an opening, six feet high and perhaps four across, crudely formed. It was not a neatly built tunnel. Reaching the end of the bridge, Link ducked into the opening.

Slightly hunched, he was forced to move more cautiously now. There were torches lighting the passage, but it was cramped. It twisted to the left, and Link crept around the bend, suspicious of what sentries might be waiting for him. The cramped passage was not the sort of place he wanted to have a pitched battle with Ganondorf's guards.

No one was waiting round the turn, though, and he continued on carefully and quietly, still walking as quickly as he dared. The passage bent again, this time turning right. Hugging against the wall of the tunnel, Link carefully peered around and could see that after another twenty feet it opened out into another room. He paused holding his breath, because he could see the distinctive, bulky shapes of moblins moving around. He waited until he was certain they were not aware of him, then began to creep around the corner in order to try and see more of what was happening in the open space.

Craning his neck, he could see that there were several doors lining the far wall. They were all closed, and Link could see no clues to tell him where they led. He gripped the hilt of the Master Sword, ready to make his move, trying to make himself breathe calmly and steadily.

Before he could begin a mad dash forwards, hoping to take at least some of the moblin guards by surprise, he heard another noise that made him pause again. There were footsteps coming from the passage behind him, back towards the room with the chasm.

Link gritted his teeth. He was now in plain sight if any of the moblins looked directly down the tunnel, but he could not slip back around the corner as he would give away his position to whoever was coming from the other direction. He raised the Master Sword, hoping he could deal with this new foe in the tunnel quickly. Either way, it would give away his position and the moblins ahead of him would be immediately aware of him. The tall beasts would struggle in the narrow confines of the tunnel, though, so perhaps if they came in after him, he would have a chance.

These thoughts flashed through his mind in a moment as he waited, and the footsteps came closer. Link raised his sword high, ready as the steps reached the corner, and then he stepped round to surprise whoever it was.

His breath left him a gasp and he was forced to check the swing of his sword, slashing instead at the air instead of at the head of Link of the gorons, where he had first aimed his blow to fall. Eyes wide in shock, Link glared at the young goron. Goron Link's eyes seemed to blaze with joy as he looked at the hylian warrior, and he opened his wide goron mouth.

Clamping his free hand over his friend's mouth Link shook his head furiously and bullied the goron back down the passage. After they had gone a few feet from the turn, he stopped. Glaring at his companion to remain silent, he edged back and peered around the corner, checking there were no moblins charging towards them. He could not see that anything had changed: the guards did not seem to have noticed anything amiss or come to investigate.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Link returned to his friend and ushered him along the passage back to the bridge over the abyss. When they were back in the opening of the cavern, Link scanned their surroundings to see they were alone before hissing, "What in the name of Din are you doing here?"

"I couldn't leave you and Dad all alone! I know Dad told me to back to Goron City, but what if you need help?"

"And what if you get killed trying to help and I have to explain to your dad that his only son is dead?" whispered Link fiercely.

Goron Link hesitated for only a second. "Well, what if you and dad both get yourselves killed?" he retorted. "I'm staying, I can do my part. I may only be small, but I can be brave. Besides, I'm bigger than you were when you went into the dodongos' cavern!"

That made Link stop and think. There wasn't a lot he could say to dissuade the young goron after he had pointed that out. Wise words and courageous deeds, he thought to himself.

"Fine," he bit out. "There are moblins in the room at the other end of this passage. Do you know what else we can expect to find down there?"

"That's the bit of the shrine I know. Gorons come here to pray and seek the fire spirits. You have to have courage to cross the dark abyss, and then the rest of the shrine is where we go to find solitude and contemplation. There are lots of rooms with altars to the fire spirits, but not a lot else."

"Well, we've done the dark abyss, but I think I've had enough solitude and contemplation already. Where do you think the other gorons are?"

"There are rooms for people who stay in the shrine for a long time. At the end of this passage there is an antechamber, and the prayer cells are all accessible from there."

Link nodded. "I saw the doors. I wondered where they went." He thought for a second. "Okay. We'll go back down the passage, but from now on you listen to me and do what I say!" He waited until Goron Link had silently nodded his acquiescence, then continued. "When we're round the last bend we'll have to move quickly and take the moblins by surprise. I suppose at least with two of us we've got better odds of fighting them. I don't know how many there are. After that, we'll have to try and get the gorons out."

He turned and began to go quickly back down the passage, straining his ears to make sure there was no one ahead of them in the tunnel.

They met no one, though, and were soon at the turn where Link had hesitated earlier. He waited only a second, steeling himself, before he threw himself round the corner and charged the short way into the room.

His mind did quick mental calculations as he entered the room: there were four moblins, who turned in surprise at this sudden intruder. Link leapt towards the nearest one, swinging the Master Sword up high and severing its pug-like head from its body. Immediately moving on, Link took no notice as the tall body ponderously collapsed to the floor, but turned to face the next moblin, which was quicker to react and had its sword ready to block Link's first attack.

Behind him, goron Link charged from the passage, leapt into the air and tucked his limbs in close to his body. The momentum of his run and his jump turned him into a crashing boulder that careered through the room and slammed into a moblin before the creature knew what was happening.

His mad roll halted by the impact, the young goron unballed himself and leapt to his feet, delivering a devastating punch with his rocky fist to the moblin's head before it could rise. As he turned, he saw Link drawing his sword out of the chest of the moblin he had been fighting.

Link looked about him, and realised there was a creature that had been hidden from his view before he exited the tunnel: it was something he had never seen before. As tall as a hylian, it was staring at Link grotesquely, a skeletal warrior holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. It gave an obscene chuckle as it edged towards Link, holding its shield ready. A strange, golden light lit the hollow eye sockets of the grisly skull, marking the magical possession that held the monster together. For a moment, Link couldn't move, standing dumbstruck in wonderment at what dark magic was holding the bones of the creature together, clear of flesh or sinew.

The moment passed, though, as Link recognised the golden gleam that as the light that shone from Ganondorf's eyes, revealing the malice within: it was the power of the gerudo thaumaturge, and the triforce, that gave life to the sweaty bones.

He knew nothing of the stalfoes, these generals of Ganondorf that he had reanimated with his dark power to command his forces. As king of Hyrule he had few lieutenants, trusting no one and preferring instead to use his own magicks to maintain control not only of Hyrule, but of his own armies. The stalfos had been left to guard the gorons, and now stood in front of Link, called back from beyond the shadow of death, an unquestioning soldier of the king in Hyrule Castle Town.

Link strode forward and whipped the Master Sword towards the creature, which easily deflected the blow with its shield. It stabbed at the hylian, who stepped to the side only just in time to avoid being run through.

The stalfos attacked again, hacking towards Link. The warrior parried, stepping back away from the creature. It followed, attacking again, and Link again blocked. He tried to back away and give himself room to mount his own attack, but the undead skeleton had more skill than he did, knew more how to use its weapon. Link was forced to react furiously, blocking as much as he could, ducking and dodging where he had to, trying now just to avoid being killed. He knew that if he could not find some way to change the way the battle was going, he would be dead within moments. He did not know where his companion was and could not afford the break in his concentration to look.

Desperation filled Link, he could feel his hands sweating in his gauntlets as the inevitable end of the combat drew nearer. In that moment, he felt again what he had felt in the Forest Temple: his sword reacted to his opponent not as a blade of steel in his hand but as an extension of his arm itself. His movements stopped being frenzied and panicked but became fluid and dangerous. He felt the magical cord that tied him to the blade of the ancient weapon, forged long ages before by the Sages who had governed Hyrule. It was as if his consciousness flowed down that thread, became one with the steel, and the blade suddenly glowed with a cold blue light.

The stalfos, the magically reanimated deathly warrior, paid no heed to this change. The golden light in its skull had no interest in the sudden blue radiance. Seeking to press its advantage, the creature raised its weapon in the air, slashing it down towards Link's neck.

Moving to block the attack, the hylian warrior raised the glowing Master Sword up high. The two blades met, the blue gleam grew brighter, and the ancient weapon sheered through the sword of the stalfos. The severed end of the steel blade spun through the air and clattered harmlessly to the floor several feet away. Stunned, the stalfos stepped back confusedly. With a wolfish grin, Link stepped forward to finish the creature off. The glowing Master Sword swung through the air again.

Trying to gather itself together, the stalfos raised it shield to block, but again the strange magic of the sword was too strong. It cut easily through the shield and bit into the bone below. There was a strange flash as the magic struck the theurgy that animated the skeletal warrior. The stalfos glowed golden for a moment, the power that had given it its twisted un-life reacting to the ancient strength of the Master Sword. Holding up its glowing forearm, the creature pressed against the steel. Link gritted his teeth and re-exerted his strength, forcing his sword down. He clung to the strange connection with the weapon. There was another bright flash of gold and blue, making Link blink and stagger, but the sword had already passed through the bony arm of the stalfos.

It clattered to the floor, its magic defeated and withered. Link looked down on it as the golden glow in the empty eye sockets faded until nothing remained but black shadows in the skull. It was dead.