Chapter 51: Molava, Subterranean Peril
…
"Oh, my head…"
"Cale?"
"Link? What happened?"
"We fell. Again."
"Oh… s-sohry."
"Līīīīīīnca! Cīīīīīīīīla! Kàptòhaaaaaaan?"
"Wha' the 'ell's ya speakin'?"
Link felt shuffling near his left leg. "Cale? Is-is that you moving?"
"Oh, is that you?"
"My leg."
"Right, I'll move oveh… I'll move oveh heah."
"Ya boys a'righ'?" Bolen called down to them.
Link glanced around, unable to tell which direction was which in the dark. He finally saw a small point of light above him. "Yeah, we're fine," he replied. Then, in a regular tone, he asked the darkness, "Right?"
"I think so," Cale groaned. "That was quite a fall."
Link gave the light above a thoughtful look. "Aaaah… maybe a three out of ten. I've been hurt worse from a fall."
"Really?"
"I once fell off a yardarm. My support rope swung me into the mast, and it dislocated my shoulder. I was out on sick leave for four weeks." He frowned. "I still owe Line for that."
"He helped you during the fouh weeks?"
"Nah, he was the reason I fell."
Silence answered for a moment. "Oh," Cale uttered.
"Where ya boys a'?" Bolen called down. "Ah can' see ya from 'ere."
"It looks like we're pretty far," Link replied. "It's dark, too."
"I can't even see my hand in front of my face," Cale commented.
Link heard voices echoing down to them for a moment, but none of them were clear. "Kay, boys," Bolen called down. "We's go'a send down a lan'ern. Tell us if ya can reach i'."
"Okay," Link replied.
"What is this material?" Cale asked.
"What material?" Link said as he watched the light above get larger in small steps.
"This material we landed on. It's almost like bundles of some kind of fibeh."
"What, like cloth?"
"No, not cloth. It's fah too lahge and loose. Thick, and maybe a little sticky. Like a web."
Link glanced in the direction he thought he heard Cale's voice from. "Please don't tell me there are Skulltulas down here. I had my fill in the Lost Woods."
"I don't think they'h Skulltula webs. They ahn't sticky enough to restrain me. And I would suppose that the fact that they ah undehground as opposed to a forest suppohts the idea."
"'Ow's i'?" Bolen called down.
"You're not even close!" Link said. "Wow. How did we survive this fall?"
Cale stamped his foot. "These bundles feel quite soft," he said. "We might have landed on a lahge nest of them."
There was a moment of silence as Link watched the light above them flicker. Then someone shouted, "Sh—LOOK OUT!"
"Watch it, watch it!" Link said, turning around and shoving into Cale. Both of them stumbled and crashed to the ground. Thup. Link sat up to find that a lantern had fallen to the bottom of the shaft where he had been standing, the Rope whip coiled on the ground next to it.
"Ya boys okay?" someone from above called down.
Link stepped back into the shaft and picked up the lantern. "Yeah," he replied as he pulled the Rope's head off the lantern's handle.
"Ya's down there a way," Bolen said. "We're lookin' fer rope righ' now."
"Okay," Link said. "We'll wait here."
"Link." Link glanced over his shoulder to find Cale looking into the tunnel they had fallen into. So he turned around.
As the lantern revealed the tunnel, Link fell into awe. While it was not as massive as the tunnels dug by Crunchy, it was still quite large to have been dug by hand. The rough walls sported thick, grey strands upon almost every surface: floor, walls, and ceiling. At first, Link thought that the lantern was getting brighter. Then he saw that the strands themselves had begun to glow as if in response to the lantern. He watched as the strands slowly spiraled in two different directions, revealing a tunnel stretching almost into infinity. From where they stood, there only appeared to be one branch off the tunnel to the left and away from the manmade tunnels above.
Link shook his head. "This is just…"
"Amazing?" Cale suggested.
"Wild."
"Wild. Wild would have been my second choice."
Link turned and looked back up the shaft. "Hey, Bolen?"
"Yeah," Bolen answered.
"Are there any more tunnels around here? More mines or anything?"
There was a moment of silence, and Link imagined that Bolen was exchanging comments with his fellows. Then Bolen said, "No, no' this close t' us. Why?"
"There's a massive tunnel down here covered in glowing… webs." Link turned toward the tunnel again and exchanged shrugs with Cale.
"Did ya jus' say 'webs'?"
"Yeah."
"Tha's wha' Ah though'."
"Rope?"
"We's lookin'. If we's lucky, we ain' burned i' all."
"Did he seriously just say that?" Cale asked.
"Yeeeeeah," Link droned a moment. "I don't think he was joking. Can you call Irleen down here?"
"What foh?"
"Just to see how deep we are. I want to see how long it takes her to come down."
"But can't you just call up to heh?"
Link shook his head. "She can't understand me; we're too far apart. I was hoping you could call her down."
Cale frowned as he took a moment to think. "I believe she did teach me the wohd 'come'. Pehhaps now would be a good time to try." Link stepped out of the way so Cale could stand in the shaft. He cupped his hands around his mouth and called up, "Ihleen! Cut! Cut!"
"Nūc!?"
"What'd she say?" Link asked.
"I don't know; I've neveh heahd that wohd befoah," Cale replied. Then he called up again, "Cut! Ihleen, cut!"
Link leaned in and watched a green light descend through the shaft. He glanced back out into the tunnel to remember how far the ceiling appeared. From what he could tell, there was a fair amount of earth between the mine and the tunnel. It must have been sheer dumb luck that he and Cale had stepped on the shaft. He would have to remember not to walk so close to Cale the next time they were exploring. Maybe Valley would not be as magnetic to falling.
"Do you have any idea what you were saying?" Irleen asked when she came into range.
"I… I-I assumed it was 'come'," Cale said.
"That's wasn't even close."
"Oh… wha-what was I saying?"
"Fart."
Link gave Cale an awkward look. Cale scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I, uh… apparently need to wohk on my pronunciation."
"Fortunately, I could tell what you were trying to say," Irleen pointed out. "Did you want something?"
"I just wanted to see how far down we were," Link explained.
"Yeah, it seemed pretty far."
"That's what I was thinking," Link said with a nod. Then he pointed over his shoulder. "What do you think?"
"Wha… oh," she replied. "Uh… yikes? What is all that?"
"Don't know. Wanna take a look?"
"Sure."
"Ah," Cale spoke up. "A-ah you suah it's… safe?"
"I'm just curious," Link said, handing him the lantern. "We won't go far. If we're not back by the time they get a rope down, call us." He made to turn, then he reached down and picked up the whip. "Be right back."
"O-okay."
Link turned toward the left side of the tunnel, where he had seen the branch. After Irleen had confirmed they were out of range for Cale to hear, she asked, "What's going on, Link?"
"Didn't you notice how warm it is down here?" he asked as he coiled the whip.
"Yeah? So?"
"So. Everyone on the surface is freezing. Even in the mine, we were cold. How come this tunnel is so warm?"
"Well, I suppose we could be underneath a volcano," Irleen said as they turned the corner. "That's what the Mountain of Fire is supposed to be, right?"
Link frowned as he glanced at the ground, noticing that they were travelling down a small slope. "Maybe. But if the Mountain of Fire is supposed to be a volcano, wouldn't this tunnel be flooded with lava?"
"Do you really want to point out that we should be walking through lava right now?"
"I was just thinking tha—"
"Link. Freeze."
Irleen's voice had a jarring tone of urgency, so Link stopped mid-step with eyes still focused on the ceiling above. He found Irleen hovering near his head, then he looked forward. He was just a few steps away from walking into a massive chamber still bringing itself into illumination. There was movement on the far side of the chamber, revealed by another source of light at the bottom of a large pit. A long, wide, tube stretched into a large, spherical mass on the opposite side of the pit from them. Link then noticed the low rumble in the air, seemingly timed with the muscles pulsing on the fleshy tube. As the light from the strands illuminated the far side of the chamber, they showed that the spherical mass was made of some type of red clay. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this creature, other than the fleshy tube it bore, was the lack of visible eyes inside a face chiseled into a permanent scowl.
Link slid to the side of the tunnel as if to blend in with the wall. "What is that?" he whispered at her.
"I-I don't know!" she replied. "How would I know?"
"We—I don't know! You didn't seem so helpless in the crypt!"
"Sssssh!" Both of them glanced over, but the creature did not stir. "With any luck, this thing's deaf."
"Look at that tube it's using," Link said, standing on his toes to look into the pit. "Doesn't it look about the same size as that shaft we fell through?"
"Hmm. Might be. You think it might've dug that shaft looking for food?"
"Depends on what it eats. Think you can take a look?"
"Yeah, hang on." Irleen fluttered to the top of the chamber and slowly moved along the ceiling, flinching a couple of times when the creature gave a cough. Link thought she had frozen completely at the edge of the pit, but then she returned the same way. "Lava."
"Huh?"
"It's drinking lava. It looks like the end of that tube is made of rock. There's an open pool of lava at the bottom of that pit."
Link put on a pained look. "We can't even tolerate being near that stuff."
"Yeah, I know. I wonder if that's why the Fire Realm froze over."
Link shrugged. "Who knows?"
"What do you want to do now?"
"We should probably get back to the shaft. I don't think we wanna let it know we're down here."
Kaugh! Both looked back at the creature. Its feeding tube was shriveling and withdrawing into its mouth. The rock formation Irleen had mentioned fit into the opening in its head, and a pair of flaps on either side of its face closed over top of it. Its head rose. Kaugh! Kaugh! The sound echoed through the chamber.
Then its face turned in Link's direction.
"Uh oh," Link uttered.
Kaaaaaaaaaaugh! The creature lurched to one side on about a hundred pairs of short, scrawny legs. As it started around the pit, Link saw that it was much larger than it let on. Five segments of equal size to its head followed it out of a tunnel behind it, trailed by a fleshy stub the size of a human head. When it reached the corner of the pit, it turned and charged in Link's direction.
"Oh, crap, RUN!" Irleen screamed, already sailing back down the tunnel. Link turned and chased. "How'd it know we were here!?"
"Who cares!?" Link shouted. Dust fell from the ceiling, forcing Link to cover his brow as he ran. He glanced back just in time to see the creature break off some of the tunnel as it turned to get in. Link tried to pick up speed, but his legs were already aching from the race with Crunchy and the fall. He turned the corner at the end of the tunnel and dashed straight for Cale.
"Link, what's going on?" Cale asked. "I-I heahd—"
"Did they get a rope down yet?" Link asked him, stopping next to him.
"They told me they just found one," Cale said as he watched Link undo the sword belt around his waist. "Wh-wh-why?"
Link thrust the sword into Cale's hands. "We've got a problem."
"A big problem," Irleen said.
There was a crash behind them as Cale made to fasten the belt around his own waist. They turned in the direction that Link had come running from. The creature had cut another corner trying to chase down Link, but this time, it paused at the tunnel. Cale pulled the belt tight, eliciting a squeak from his lips.
"That problem," Link said, pointing a finger. He watched Cale's face pale. Then he saw a rope drop next to him. "Cale, ta—"
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Link did not attempt to look back at the creature; he figured it would be coming. He grabbed the rope, wrapped it around Cale's waist, and quickly tied a bowline into it. "Take him up! Take him up!" Link shouted, tugging on the rope.
Kaugh! Link jumped out into the middle of the tunnel and dashed in the opposite direction from the creature. Kaaaaaaaaugh!
"What's the plan?" Irleen asked as she followed.
"Run!" Link answered. He glanced over his shoulder and received a flashback of Crunchy's cutter head as the creature chased him. He looked forward just in time to see that there was another tunnel on his right and turned into it.
Kaugh! Kaugh! Link ran to the other end and found himself back in the creature's feeding chamber. His eyes shot back and forth across the chamber until he decided on a nearby tunnel on his left. Kaugh! Kaugh! After daring a glance back, he ducked to one side and followed the wall to the other tunnel with as little noise as possible. The other tunnel curved back towards where he had come and had a slight, downward slope. Link ducked inside and pressed his back against the wall as he moved down. Kaugh! Kaugh! He could hear a slow rumble and moved further down until only a sliver of the chamber remained in sight.
He caught his breath and pulled back when he saw the creature's face peer inside. He could hear a low, rasping sound nearby and carefully backed further away. KAUGH! The sound almost knocked him on his back, and his ears rang for a moment. One hand wandered towards the sword on his hip until he remembered that he had just given it to Cale.
Just when he thought he would be fighting it face-to-face, the ground rumbled again as the creature pulled back. Link dared a few steps forward on his toes. Kaugh! He froze for a moment, and then took a few more steps. When he saw the end of the tunnel, the creature was slowly moving past the tunnel.
Irleen carefully rounded Link and approached his head. "Now what?" she asked. "Sneak back to the mine?"
Link considered it. The creature was on the prowl, and Link would have to hope that it did not turn back as he was making his way back up to the shaft. He had no idea if the creature could see or if it navigated by something else. He assumed some other form of navigation if the tunnels were usually dark. So he looked down at the whip in his hand. The Rope's eyes had been replaced by a pair of olive gemstones. Link supposed that the gemstones were nicer to look at; he could understand being disturbed by a pair of dead eyes looking at him every time he took the whip into his hands. A distraction.
A… distraction?
Why not? He had done it before.
Link took the whip by the handle and let it drop to the floor. Then he looked up at Irleen.
"Ooooh, I don't like that look," she told him. "Is it safe to say you'll actually try sneaking past this one?" Link, with a grin on his face, shook his head. "I hate it when you get like this."
He pressed his lips together to avoid laughing. Then he stepped to the middle of the tunnel, shaking his arm to get a feel for the whip's weight. He hoped that he understood how the whip worked from that single demonstration; he might not survive if he messed up. The creature's final segment was passing the mouth of the tunnel, so he slid up to the mouth with his arm poised to swing. He was not sure of the distance the whip would travel. He had never used a whip before. When he saw the fleshy stump at the creature's rear, he did not take his time aiming. He just swung.
The whip sank its fangs into the stump. Imitating the movements of the miner who had used it before, Link spun his shoulders and grabbed the Rope's tail. He could feel the whip's soft exterior tighten under his fingers.
KAAAAAAUGH! The creature picked up speed.
And Link was yanked off his feet.
The sudden power the creature put into its movement pulled Link off balance. If not for his shield, Link would have bashed his head as he flipped over. He tucked his chin to his chest and held on as the creature dragged him back into the main chamber. He could feel every bump along the ground, bouncing as the creature rampaged around the pit. At one point, the creature must have turned a corner, because Link bashed into a wall. His hands lost grip on the whip, and he lay on the ground for a moment so the world would stop spinning around him.
"Link!" Link was pulling himself off the ground when Irleen flew up to him. His head still reeled, probably even more so because he had gotten up faster than intended. She bounced around in front of his face for a moment. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I guess," Link said before giving his head a shake. His vision managed to clear, although his head hurt as it should after bashing into a wall. His eyes wandered the pit. "Where'd it go?"
"It disappeared down one of the tunnels," Irleen said. She motioned to the tunnel in front of Link on the far wall.
Link squinted. For a moment, he wondered if the strike to the head was still playing with his sight. Then he realized that the whole cave was going dim. "We're running out of light."
"Are you done antagonizing it yet?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'd say I'm done." He quickly stepped forward and picked up the whip.
Kaaaaaaaaaaugh!
"Good," she told him. "Because I don't think he is."
"Right." Link started running while he tried to stuff the whip's coils into his belt. Then he pulled his shield off and just about had his arm fit through the straps.
"Watch out!" Irleen's warning prompted Link to stop in his tracks. His peripheral vision caught movement, and he held his shield up around the edges just in time for something heavy to bash into it. The force of impact drove him into the wall behind him. His shield was ripped from his hands, and he looked up to see the creature's mouth retreating across the pit.
Kaugh! Kaugh! Link watched in amazement. Through the dimming light, he saw that the creature had effectively jammed its mouth shut using his shield as a lid.
"Are you gonna want that—" Irleen began.
"Nope, I'm good," Link quickly replied before running toward the exit.
"Link, watch it!" He slipped trying to stop and fell on his bottom. It was not particularly graceful, but the creature's mouth bashed into the cave wall next to him just an arm's length from his face. Link flipped around and scrambled the opposite direction. "Link!" This time, Link slid, steadying himself by planting a hand onto the ground, just in time to avoid the mouth trying to crush him against the wall. "Sword! Sword!" He already had his hand on the grip after remembering the weapon strapped to his back and drew it fast enough to lay a shallow strike on the fleshy part of the creature's feeding tube.
"Kyaaagh!" the creature shrieked after retracting its mouth. It bucked and started slamming its head against the tunnel walls while Link retreated into the nearest tunnel to him.
"Okay…" Irleen said as Link pressed himself against the wall. "Now what?"
Link steadied his breath and sighed. "I don't know. But I don't think it's going to let me go easy."
"Think you can lose it in one of these tunnels?" she asked, indicating the back of the tunnel with a shake.
He glanced down the tunnel as he considered it. "If I go any further, I might get lost," he decided. "Besides, it's getting too dark, and I don't have a light."
"Well, the longer you stay here, the more likely that thing's gonna come get you. So what now?"
Link's free hand dropped against his thigh after a shrug. The hit reminded him of Irleen's explosive gem still in that pocket, and he pulled it out. He looked at it, then up at Irleen. "How far away can you trigger this?"
"Uh… just as long as it hears the magic words," Irleen replied. "It doesn't even have to be me as long as it's Sorian."
Link pointed at her. "You'll do."
"Naturally," she groaned.
When Link jumped back into the chamber, the creature was banging its jaw against the ground. Link thought it might be trying to dislodge the shield from its mouth. He gave it a moment, then he struck his sword against the wall. "Over here!"
He jumped aside when the creature launched its mouth at him. He had jumped right, so he used a quick upswing to slash into the feeding tube. He was not sure how deep he cut due to the creature retracting immediately. Kyah! Kyah!
Link hit the wall with his sword again. "C'mon! What're you waiting for?" he taunted.
This second time, he had to take a guess at when he needed to jump aside. To his fortune, the wounds he had already inflicted slowed the creature's attack. Again, he leapt to the right. Warm liquid sprayed him, and he tripped against the feeding tube. With the bomb gem pressed to his palm, he slid his hand across the creature's flesh until he pressed it into the wound. The creature hollered with pain again as it retracted, the rock-like mouthpiece clipping Link and almost sending him sprawling into the pit.
He rolled away from the pit and clamped his hands over his ears. "IRLEEN, NOW!"
"And the world goes boom!"
BOOM! The explosion shook the chamber. Link could feel its force permeate his body and pressed his eyes shut as if to protect them.
"Nn-GYAAAAAH!" The creature's scream was horrid, and Link opened his eyes to look around. The chamber had been lit again, probably from the bomb gem. Across the pit, the creature writhed and whipped around, spraying bright red blood across its side of the chamber floor. It dashed out of its hiding space and scrambled about the chamber for a moment. Then a few of its legs slipped on the edge of the pit. It slammed into the floor, and then it slid off the edge. Link took a step forward to watch the creature splash in a distant pool of lava. It squirmed for a moment, then it simply faded from sight.
"Yes," Link hissed under his breath, giving his free arm a small pump.
"All right!" Irleen declared, circling him. "Skipper three, monsters a big. Fat. ZEROOOOO!"
Link glanced down at himself. The creature's blood had already begun to soak into his tunic, staining it an ugly brown across the left shoulder down to his hip with spots all across his stomach. He saw that the Lokomo Sword was also covered in blood almost to the hilt and whipped it in an X to fling it off. After a quick glance, he replaced the sword.
"And the world," Irleen said. "Hey, Link, we still have it!" She flew to the side of the cave near the exit tunnels and hovered over a red rock on the floor.
Link shook his head as he jogged over to retrieve the bomb gem.
