Five mine carts as large as wagons, the lead and rearmost being flatbeds with rails, and three standard carts between them, rattled along tracks suspended above the magma. To the Sheikah, Impa, it wasn't a problem; distributing her weight to maintain balance was as natural as breathing to her, but it did worry her a bit. She turned back to the Goron behind her and examined him. Darunia was looking ahead with a touch of a smile on his weathered face, the red glow of the magma lighting it from below to give it a craggy look, but what she noticed were the wounds on his arms and ribs and the slight wince he made every time the carts gave a jolt.

He noticed her watching him and he gave her a toothy smile. "Those Moblins put up quite a fight, eh?" He laughed, though she noticed he shifted his weight to his good side to ease the pressure on his ribs.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

He shrugged nonchalantly, resisting the urge to wince though it didn't escape the Sheikah's notice. "Just a scratch, milady. Barely even a bother."

She was worried, all right. It wasn't easy to scratch a Goron, let alone wound one. With skin as hard as granite, it took a lot of pressure to cut deep enough to draw their magma-like blood. The Moblins were fierce fighters and clever as well. They had smelled the magic she used to shield herself from the intense heat of the volcano, and while she had used kunai to keep her distance as she attacked them, there had been a few close shaves, the pig-like beasts nearly impaling her with their heavy javelins. Their only hope of driving back the Moblins from the mountain was to free the captured Gorons. But to do that, Darunia first wanted to find the legendary weapon that they kept here. A weapon of immense power that was said to cleave through armies like paper and had once been used to destroy a dragon. Some even claimed it had been forged by the goddesses and blessed with magic so that only a few chosen could wield it. Impa did not know how much of it was true, but any advantage they could gain over their enemies was worth investigating.

Suddenly she froze. Her finely tuned senses were alerting her that something was wrong. Immediately she turned to the magma below for she felt the danger was there. But what could be...

She reacted half a second before the creature even breached the surface. It snapped its jaws in the spot where she had been only moments before. It vanished just as quickly before Darunia even had a chance to react. Retroactively, he jumped forward to shield the Shiekah and he growled, "Are you all right, Lady Impa?"

"Ready yourself," she said, drawing her twin daggers. In the back of her mind, she realized that she had put the Goron Chief in grave danger by taking him out here where he was dangerously exposed. How could she have forgotten? Volvagia was free and as a dragon could use the magma to hide himself to ambush anyone foolish enough to cross here. But too late for "what ifs" now, all she could do was trust her instincts and training to see them through this.

Volvagia burst out of the magma ahead of them, snapping his jaws on the rails and twisting them apart. Realizing what was about to happen, Impa yelled, "Hang on to something!" then leaped onto the next cart, grabbed the lever on its side and flipped it. With a horrific screech of metal on metal, the carts braked, throwing them forward. Darunia only managed to grab the rails to avoid being thrown into the magma. The carts then began to reverse course.

Impa knew what Volvagia was trying to do, so immediately after she flipped the lever, she threw a kunai at him. In the split second she had to assess him, she realized she could not aim for his eyes for his entire head was shielded by a helmet of obsidian and his dragon hide everywhere else was nearly as tough as Goron skin, so she had aimed for the only opening he had: his mouth.

The dragon was too quick, however. He twisted his head and the blade bounced harmlessly off of his helmet. Then he plunged into the magma and vanished though he wasn't gone. Impa gestured urgently to Darunia and said, "To the front, hurry!" though she knew already it was too late. The dragon emerged on the other side, snapped the rails in his jaws, and wrenched it apart.

They were trapped. Out in the middle of the magma lake in a cart hurtling straight for a vengeful dragon. There was no escape, and yet the Sheikah still relied on her training to find the highest ground to overcome her enemy. First, she had to stop the cart...

Someone seized her as she began to act and lifted her over his head.

"Chief!" Impa gasped in shock. "What are you doing?"

Darunia didn't answer but instead with a mighty grunt threw her toward the dragon. Twisting herself, she sailed over Volvagia's head even as he twisted to snatch her out of the air. With the litheness of a cat, she landed on the rails behind the dragon only to find he was looking straight at her with a look of pure hate. She could guess why. It was the Sheikah whose magic had sealed him in the volcano and the time he spent chained to the bottom must have given his hate the time it needed to solidify and refine itself. It was her he wanted. It was she who would pay for what her ancestors had done to him.

He did not get that chance. The carts rattled up to the section Volvagia had destroyed and derailed. With a roar, Darunia leaped off and grabbed the dragon by the neck. The dragon howled as both he and the Goron Chief plunged into the magma. Neither of them resurfaced.

Impa stared at the spot where they vanished. She shook her head and hissed, "Darunia, you fool! Why?" But she didn't stay long to grieve. There was still so much to do, and if there was any course of action to be taken, the Sheikah took it without hesitation. She would honor his sacrifice by completing their mission: free the Gorons and drive out the Moblins. She began to run along the rails in the direction they had been going before Volvagia had appeared.

...

From atop his perch near the mouth of the volcano, Sheik had witnessed the whole thing. The heat haze didn't make it easy, even with his trained eye, but he saw enough to know the outcome and it left him conflicted. Should he have intervened? Could he have saved the Goron Chief? ...No, Impa had warned Sheik to keep away from Ganondorf's minions, warned him that they could smell magic and would know instantly the true nature of the magic he wielded. He rubbed absently at the back of his hand, which was wrapped heavily. Even so, there was a telltale golden glow shining through the wraps. The red light of the magma in the volcano diffused the glow from the rest of his body, somewhat disguising its true nature but it would never fool them. Impa was right. If the Moblins found out who he truly was... If Ganondorf found out... and this was war. It was inevitable that lives would be lost. It was frustrating to lose the Sage of this temple for without him that was less power they would have to wield against the King of Evil. Frustrating but not entirely hopeless. There were other Sages. Sheik would recognize that the Goron Chief made a noble sacrifice for the Sheikah, who were, after all, the Royalty's chosen defenders. Impa was the more capable of the two and it was only natural that she was spared. The loss of the Sage was truly lamentable, surely, but what could he have done? Any intervention on his part would have only complicated the situation and possibly even made it worse. If he had intervened, it could have been that all three of them would have been lost, and then who would be left to save Hyrule?

This was the rationale he gave himself: his mentor knew best. Yet there was a small voice inside of him that whispered that these were only excuses and the true reason he didn't move to save the Goron Chief was because of cowardice. And worse than his cowardice was his cold disregard for anyone save for Impa. He didn't care about anyone else and it was that which prevented him from taking action.

Sheik was aghast with himself. Was he truly so callous - no, cruel - that he would weigh lives like this? Giving value only to their worth on the battlefield? He had become a Sheikah to change his ways, and yet in the seven years he had been apprenticed to Impa it seemed he had not shed that terrible skin, still playing innocent people as pawns on a chessboard with little regard for their lives. Seven years ago, he had made a terrible mistake that had cost thousands their lives, and this casual dismissal of the Goron Chief's sacrifice only showed he had learned nothing.

He was too preoccupied to notice the sound of crunching rock, at first. It wasn't loud enough to concern him then as it was a common enough sound in the volcano where rock was constantly grinding in its molten form - gas bursting through with a pop and a hiss, driving machines that clanked and screeched - but as he turned his gaze, he saw something out of the corner of his eye that caused him to turn in astonishment.

A part of the volcano wall was churning, opening into a hole as though the wall was developing a mouth. He tensed his body, reaching for the bow on his back in case whatever was making the hole was a threat.

Then a young man stepped through the hole. Sheik was astonished to realize it was Link. There was no mistaking his distinctive cap or the fairy that hovered near him. With the silence of a cat, he leaped off the contraption and landed a few feet from Link, out of reach of his sword that he instinctively drew before realizing who it was.

"You have come," said Sheik by way of greeting.

Link wasted no time with formalities. "Where are they? Are the Gorons all right? Where is Impa?"

Sheik pointed. "Down below. Lady Impa has gone to free the Gorons, though I fear for her safety."

"You want me to find her?"

"Yes. But be careful. Ganondorf's minions are everywhere. Don't let them catch you. If you free the Gorons, you might be able to fight back against them but not before then. Please don't do anything reckless."

"I will not let him," Navi told the Sheikah with a grim smile. "Rest assured, I have been guarding him against his foolish impulses for seven years now."

"We were asleep for those seven years," Link pointed out. "So technically, you haven't even been doing it for a year."

"Does it truly matter? You are still alive, are you not?" his fairy returned, her expression serious, which made Link smile.

Beneath the balaclava, Sheik's mouth twitched upward. The bond these two shared... he was almost envious. He shook his head to clear it and proceeded to his task. "Before you go, there is a melody I must teach you should you find... the Sage of this temple." A flash of panic went through his chest and to his stomach but he gave no outward sign of this save for the momentary pause. Instead, he pulled out the lyre from his back and began to strum.

"Fire is a force pure and mighty. An agent of both creation and destruction. It can soften the hardest metals to be shaped into tools, but it can also reduce living things to ash; thus, it demands our utmost caution and respect. Once there were Sages in this temple who knew all its secrets but time has seen them gone and their wisdom dwindle. You can see the remnants of their work below you, but if their secrets are to be recovered, you will need to awaken the Sage here. This is the melody that will do that. This is the Bolero of Fire."

Sheik strummed his lyre and from the instrument came notes that were quick but unhurried, soft but powerful. They spoke of the flickering of small flames, then as the music grew quicker and louder, the flames grew bigger to bring their full force to bear until the climax of the music and then both music and fire settled again. Then Link pulled out his instrument.

The lesson didn't take as long as it had before. Link felt his proficiency with the instrument was getting better, the notes smoother and more powerful. Every cell in his body was humming with power by the end of his lesson, the instrument which Saria had crafted for him glowing with magic. Little by little, he felt his strength and confidence increasing. If he kept this up, he'd soon be a match for anything... and anyone...

I'm coming for you, Ganondorf, he thought darkly.

...

The Fire Temple was not the typical chapel. Rather than being one building, it was a scattering of depots within the volcano, situated near areas that provided the richest ore and the greatest energy output, and connected by tracks on which mining carts ran. It was as much a factory as it was a place of worship. Sheik explained that the Moblins were holding the Gorons captive in one of the depots - most likely in the Repository, one of the more fortified stations in which was stored treasures of legendary worth as well as some of the more dangerous contraptions that had been built. Why the Moblins would hold prisoners, Sheik could not tell as the barbarians were not renowned for their mercy. Even the fact that Volvagia chose to remain in the volcano rather than escape to wreak vengeance upon the world for his imprisonment was a mystery to him. Perhaps they were all part of an elaborate trap to draw in and eliminate threats, Navi had offered though Sheik had pointed out that the volcano was unfamiliar to the Moblins and just as dangerous to them as any threat they wanted to eliminate. Volvagia, perhaps, felt at home here but it seemed more likely that he would want to escape the volcano as it had been his prison for millennia. Whatever the case might be, Link felt he had no choice but to face the dangers to free his brothers. Their freedom and safety was the priority here.

The hookshot Impa had lent him was invaluable in this regard. From the ledge overlooking the volcano from where he had entered, he made his way down to other ledges scattered along the volcano wall. They all appeared to be simply ledges, but two of them proved to be hiding alcoves with iron chests tucked inside them, the first containing bombs that Link tucked into his bomb bag, and the second bundles of the strangest pair of gloves he had ever seen. They were too large for human hands and were tipped in something like claws except they were squarish, narrowing to chisel-like ends. Link wasn't sure if they would serve as weapons for the Gorons, but after he and Navi debated it, decided it might be useful to take a few. A ladder led down from this aperture onto a wharf. The cart tracks that slithered around the volcano crossed over the stone, making this a stop. There was no cart here at the moment, but off to the side was a small structure that supported a large metal disk suspended by wires that seemed almost too thin to hold it up. What appeared to be a club, its head wrapped in white fur, sat in a nock in the structure. It was a gong, according to Navi, which seemed to be set up to ring for a cart if a Goron happened to be stranded here. The two of them seemed to be stranded themselves though Navi didn't think it was wise to ring the gong to call carts over. Likely as not it would bring the Moblins instead.

Link mulled that thought. Unless they wanted to bring them over. He could try walking along the rails as they were just as wide as his foot, but if something came along while he was crossing, he wasn't sure he could keep his balance and defend himself at the same time. But if he brought them here, he could pick them off with his bow as they approached. Navi looked around the volcano for other options but the closest landmarks were the cart stop leading into a massive tunnel in the volcano wall, which must have been the true entrance, and the obsidian tower just beyond it. The Forge, it was called, and according to legend was created when a gout of magma was met by a mighty waterspout and solidified. After that, the Gorons hollowed it out and shaped it into an altar, dedicated it to Din once it was complete, though some stories claimed it was, instead, another goddess named Hera. Seeing no other option, Navi reluctantly agreed to let Link ring the gong to call the Moblins over.

Link was surprised by what came out of the gong. It was indeed loud although he wasn't sure that was what alerted the Gorons as they communicated to each other around the volcano. The very air seemed to vibrate with it, sending ripples through his insides, cutting through the cloying heat like a knife. Having your stomach jiggle unnaturally like that would surely get you to look around to see who had caused it.

But for several minutes nothing happened. No Moblins appeared to see who had rung the gong. Link rang it again, putting more oomph into it this time, and then rang it a third time after his eardrums stopped rattling. Then Navi alerted him to movement on the Forge: two Moblins coming out and looking his way. Even from this distance, their hulking forms gave them away. It appeared they were having a discussion and, judging by the way one pointed his direction, they knew he was there.

"Perhaps now might be the time to disappear," said Navi nervously.

Link shook his head. "No, not yet."

His fairy looked sharply at him. "You have a plan?"

Her expression was so reminiscent of their old adventures together that Link couldn't help but grin and reply, "Wait 'til you see it."

She stared at him for a long minute. Then she blew out a breath and murmured not without some irony, "You haven't changed one bit."

So they waited. At length, the Moblins discussed - argued, it appeared from the abrupt gestures, perhaps coming up with a plan of their own to capture or kill the intruders waiting on the cape. Afterward, the first Moblin disappeared into the Forge while the second stood watching on the platform, keeping an eye on Link. At last, the first Moblin came with three more and then the first two headed for the station where a train of carts awaited. Link thought he could see what their plan was: send a few Moblins to capture the Hylian but leave a few behind to wait and watch, maybe send for reinforcements if something went wrong. They were a lot smarter than they looked, Link was beginning to appreciate that, but he had a few tricks up his sleeve he could use to best them. He just had to be smarter.

The train started coming his way. The grind of wheels on rails was barely audible above the bubbling of the magma, the cracking of rock, and the clanking of giant machines. The young man felt his muscles tensing as it drew closer and he forced himself to relax. He couldn't afford to cramp up now. He had to be prepared to take on these dangerous beasts with all the strength and brains he had.

"Your bow, Link," Navi whispered when the train was halfway toward him.

"Not yet," he whispered back.

His fairy gave him a sharp, frightened look, but he ignored her and focused on the Moblins on the train, making calculations in his head. One next to the lever that drove the train at the head of it and the other standing a distance behind him, his arms cradling an enormous spear and his yellow eyes fixed on the young Hylian. If Link shot the Moblin driving the train, the other Moblin would probably try to reverse the train, but he would have to get around the first, which was time wasted for him that Link could utilize to fire a shot at him. He reminded himself it had taken several arrows from Sheik to bring down the Moblin guarding the Forest Temple but even wounding the Moblins would give him an advantage against them.

He waited until the train was slowing down to stop and then in one smooth motion he drew his bow from his back, nocked an arrow, drew back the string and fired. The Moblin at the controls reacted a half-second too late. Link had aimed for his throat, but when it saw what he was doing, it twisted, catching the arrow in its shoulder instead. The Moblin snarled in pain but managed to apply the brakes as the train came to a stop at the terminal. The second Moblin didn't run for cover as Link had hoped but immediately leaped off with its spear lowered. Link fired an arrow at it but the arrow flew high. There was no time to fire another one or even sling the bow over his back, so he dropped it and rolled away as the Moblin swung its spear at his head, missing him by mere inches. He jumped back up to his feet with his sword drawn and shield raised. He raised his shield as the spear swung his way again and was thrown backward by the force of the blow. He landed with a backward roll and was on his feet in an instant again though he was still reeling from the shock of the strength by which he was thrown.

"Focus, Link!" Navi barked.

His back was to the wall with the magma bubbling to his right. The second Moblin was coming at him with its spear lowered while the first that he had wounded was coming up from behind. There wasn't much room to maneuver here and it seemed likely that the wounded Moblin would kill him even if he managed to defeat the other Moblin coming at him... if he relied solely on swordplay, that was.

He danced out of the way of the Moblin's spear while at the same time he pulled a bomb out of his bomb bag. After a quick tug on its stem, he tossed the hissing explosive underhand at the wounded Moblin. Its yellow eyes flew open wide and it backpedaled to avoid the blast. But the limited space played into Link's hand here. Even as it scrambled onto the train, the blast sent the Moblin somersaulting over it with a howl until it landed with a kerplunk into the magma and vanished. The blast also sent the Hylian back against the wall and staggered the Moblin to the side of him. Navi managed to avoid the full impact of the blast by flying straight up, catching herself again when the shockwave threw her off balance.

The Moblin was soonest on his feet and came at Link at a run. Throwing his full weight into the motion, Link used his shield to deflect the spear to the side and thrust his sword into the Moblin's ribs.

The Moblin's hoarse cry was cut short and it collapsed at Link's feet, sliding off the Master Sword as though it were a scabbard. Link wiped the sword clean on the Moblin's wiry fur. He turned to the train and glanced at the Moblins waiting on the Forge. They seemed agitated, gesturing furiously at each other. The young Hylian could guess why.

"They're beginning to learn that I'm a real threat to them," he said with a wry smile as he sheathed the Master Sword.

"Don't underestimate them either," Navi warned him. "War is their mainstay and they have numbers against you."

"Only until I free the Gorons," Link reminded her as he gathered up the bow he had dropped. "Didn't Sheik say they're being held in the Repository, the northernmost depot?"

"We won't be able to use the tracks there," Navi answered. "They were destroyed..." She hesitated as though afraid to ask how it had happened.

Link was silent for a moment as he considered the implication. Finally, he shook his head and said, "Then we'll just have to find another route." He moved decisively toward the train.

Navi bit her lip in thought. Then she shook her head and followed after her Kokiri. Waiting around here wasn't going to solve anything, she realized. And plans could only do so much to mitigate the dangers. They would just have to take the risks and adapt as they could... fortunately, Link was good at adapting. Extraordinarily so, in fact. Perhaps this was why he had been chosen. He was reckless at times, true, but she was there to temper him and keep him from his more foolish actions.

That is my purpose, she thought, and it gave her a sense of deep satisfaction. This is why I was born. Why I'm so different from other fairies. Oh, Great Deku Tree... Her breath caught in her chest and tears stung her eyes. Taking pause, she closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath. I hope I'm doing you proud.

Since the direct path to the Repository from where they were had been destroyed, they started back in the direction the Moblins had come in from, but rather than pull in to the Forge, they went around it. The Moblins watching him gathered at the stop to greet him but when they realized he wasn't coming in, they began to move into the Forge. One was stopped and put back at the stop, no doubt to watch in case he came back, but Link kept going. One less Moblin to worry about.

Coming around the Forge's eastern face, there were more depots where they could disembark. The closest one was an outcropping of rock that looked remarkably like the bomb garden in Dodongo's Cavern except this had rows of mini-volcanos that erupted frequently, showering the field in tuff. North of this was a massive pillar inside a frame that must have been to hold it in place. As he watched, he realized the pillar was slowly moving upward until it reached the top of the structure and suddenly dropped to hit against something beneath the magma with a muffled thud. The field of mini-volcanos reacted with more gouts of pyroclastic material.

"The Gorons created something to generate a controlled eruption?" Navi murmured to herself, impressed.

There were other islands further east but their train pushed northward, leaving their function to be determined at a later time. Link focused on the Moblins gathering outside the Forge. There was a train on this side too and at least five of them were getting on, likely to chase after him. He fingered the hookshot at his belt and rehearsed the invisibility spell in his head, knowing he may need them soon and hoping they would be enough.

Then he heard a loud, penetrating gonging. After a wild moment, he spotted the gong ringer on the north face of the Forge. The Moblin was tapping out a rhythm on the instrument that Link gradually realized must have been a message.

"There may be Moblins waiting for you at the Repository," Navi warned him. "It's well known they use signals like these to communicate over distances. Their ability to coordinate with each other like this is one of the reasons why they were feared so much in the early wars."

Link looked to the distant island thrusting out of the magma like a giant spine, the Repository. He couldn't see anyone moving there, but the distance was too great for him to tell with certainty. Behind him, he heard the squeak of another train full of Moblins chasing after him.

If there are Moblins on the Repository, I'll be surrounded, he thought. It made him nervous, so he rehearsed the invisibility spell in his head again and felt in his bomb bag to count the number of bombs he had.

Gradually they drew closer to the Repository though it was still some distance ahead. He trained his ears on the squeak of the train wheels behind him but they didn't sound like they'd gotten any closer, so it seemed he had some time before they caught up to him. With any luck, he'd take care of any Moblins waiting on the approaching island and have time enough to work out an ambush for the rest of them. Perhaps he could even free the Gorons on the island and they could all stand against the brutish invaders.

They were drawing closer to the Repository now. Link strained his eyes to spot anyone waiting for him, but the longer he looked, the more certain he became that the island was empty. And it puzzled him. Weren't the Gorons being held in the Repository? The northernmost depot? And wouldn't that mean they would have guards?

Link shook his head in distress. "Where are they?" he hissed out loud.

"Behind those falls, perhaps?" Navi suggested though she sounded uncertain.

They came to a stop on the embankment of the Repository. Magma flowed from its peak and down its sides. It fell in a sheet before an entryway glimpsed between gaps in the flow. Link climbed out of the train and started looking for something that might help them get past the magma - a lever or even a secret door - but just as his foot touched the ground, he heard a musical clinking noise begin.

"What..." the young Hylian slowly swiveled his head, trying to locate the source of the sound.

Then Navi pointed and exclaimed, "There!"

At first, Link couldn't see it. Then he noticed just in front of the falls that what he had thought to be a rock was a round machine of some sort. A sphere of rotating rings covered in spigots and knobs. One of these knobs had a large lens fixed to its end and as it swiveled, facing first Link and then Navi, it gave the impression of an eye evaluating them. Link warily gripped the Master Sword's hilt and raised his shield. He whispered to his fairy, "Is it dangerous?"

"I'm not..." she began.

Without warning, the orb launched into the air, kicking up a billow of ash that bit the skin of Link's face and stung his eyes before he could properly shield himself. He coughed and rubbed his tearing eyes.

"Watch out, Link!"

Doing his best against the pain, he squinted at the mechanical orb. It was coming at him, propelled by flames jetting from spigots on one of its lower rings. As it came, two white-hot blades extended from spigots on its upper rings and started spinning. He had a sudden flashback of the peahat blades that nearly cut him in two back in Hyrule Field. A flash of panic sent his shield in front of him to block the attack.

There was a thud that sent his shield upward. This was what saved him. The machine ricocheted into the air, its white blades still spinning in a deadly ring. Without even thinking about it, Link ducked under it and leaped backward to give himself some distance to face it, his sword in his hand and his shield raised. A moment later, he felt his body go numb in shock when he saw what the machine had done to his shield.

A gash the breadth of two fingers had it nearly split in two. The wound was still glowing red and even as he watched, the glowing metal oozed down the crevice and sloughed off to the ground. He felt his head spinning, and his lungs seized. The thing had cut right through his shield! Pure luck alone had kept those white blades from going straight through his head.

"N-Navi..." he choked. "Wha... what is that?!"

"I... I don't know!" she cried. "I... I think its a Goron invention! I've never heard mention of it before..."

Out of the corners of his eyes, Link noted the train carrying the Moblins drawing close, but much of his attention was on the killer machine as it came down. In one smooth motion, it angled toward him, the blades pointed inward like a drill. Link ducked under it and leaped backward, knowing that he needed to stay well away from those deadly blades. The machine swooped in where he had been, tumbled over and then reversed direction.

Link had never faced so deadly an enemy before. An enemy's blunder usually gave him room to catch his breath and plan his attack, but this one, while he was managing to avoid it, transitioned from a failed attack to a new attempt so quickly and smoothly it was like a dance, with Link awkwardly trying to keep up. It was all he could do to keep the distance between him and it, yet it was never far enough from him for him to be able to blast it with a bomb or hit it with an arrow. The machine's blades were strong enough to cut through metal, so he wasn't sure he could risk the Master Sword against it. But he had to do something. If he kept up this deadly dance for too long, he would tire out and sooner or later the machine would hit its mark.

"Behind you, Link!"

He sensed more than heard something coming at him. He rolled away as a Moblin's spear sailed into the area where he had been a split second before, meeting the machine's spinning blades head-on. The blades chopped the head in two and threw the rest of it to the ground, though for the first time the machine stumbled.

Link wasted no time. He pulled out a bomb, jogged backward to increase the distance between them, tugged the stem and hurled it at the machine. A moment later, the bomb exploded, sending the machine spiraling through the air.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for it to recover. As it turned over, its jets gave a burst and it launched itself at Link again, the white-hot blades still spinning with deadly intent.

"HOW?!" Link howled in frustration as he ran. "How am I supposed to kill it?"

"Perhaps the magma..." Navi offered, her breathing ragged as though she too were being chased by the mechanical dancer.

With no other idea, Link decided to try it. He placed himself in front of the falls and then ran out of the way when the machine came at him. It plunged through the falls and then surged back out again, its body glowing red but otherwise unhurt.

Now Link was close to tears. There was no stopping that thing! He couldn't kill it and he was growing tired. He was one stumble away from being chopped to bits, and if that wasn't bad enough, he was running toward the horde of Moblins gathered at the front of Link's train and readying their spears. He was trapped.

With a scream of pure primal anger, Link whipped out the hookshot and fired it at the Moblins. The kickback staggered him in his tracks but he was suddenly yanked through the air when the head of the hookshot burrowed into a Moblin's chest. The Moblin roared with pain while the four others lowered their spears to run him through when his momentum carried him into them.

Link threw his legs forward and caught himself on the edge of the train then heaved himself back with all his might. The Moblin staggered forward, drawn by the hookshot. As the Moblin drew closer to Link, his eyes burning with hate and rage, he lifted his spear intending to stab it through him. But Link didn't care anymore. He was going to die anyway, but he wanted to take as many of the Moblins with him as he could.

He got his wish in an unexpected way. The machine that had been behind Link rocketed forward and cut the Moblin in half. Link collapsed onto the ground and the top half of the Moblin, a snarl locked onto his ugly snout, fell on top of him. Warm entrails spilled onto his legs and in a throe of revulsion and horror he shoved the body off and scrambled to his feet.

Meanwhile, the machine danced around the four Moblins as they attempted to fend it off. They split away from each other to prevent the deadly machine from cutting into all four of them at once. One waved his spear despite the machine chopping it piece by piece while another brought his own up and hurled it at the machine. This sent it spinning away, one of its white blades grazing the Moblin's arm. In both pain and bloodlust, the Moblin roared and with what remained of the spear's shaft smashed it on top of the machine. The machine slammed to the ground, rebounded toward the Moblin, stabbed him in the stomach and with a spin sliced him in half.

Three Moblins remained. Link trembled in horror at how quickly the machine was cutting through them all. The Moblins for their part faced it fearlessly, trying new tactics to disable it but it seemed even their sheer strength and cunning couldn't prevail. Whatever metal it was made of was strong enough to withstand the force of their blows and its dancer-like grace left them little room to regroup and counterattack. Link was certain it wouldn't be long before the deadly machine finished with them and came for him again. His only option it seemed was to find a way inside the Repository before the machine finished.

Pocketing the hookshot, he ran for the entryway blocked by the cascade of magma. "Navi, help me!" he cried as he searched the surroundings for some kind of device that might open the way through. With a breathless, "Right!" his fairy zipped about its face, scanning for anything out of the ordinary.

"I-I don't see anything!" she gasped.

"Keep trying!" Link pulled the Master Sword out and used it to prod the wall beneath the magma for a hidden latch or button.

Shaking her head in despair, Navi turned back to the Moblins fighting the machine. The blood drained from her face.

"It's coming, Link."

Her ward panicked. "There has to be something here! There's got to be a way past that magma!"

"I... I don't think there is, Link," she confessed to him in a weak voice. "The Gorons themselves are resistant to heat. They can cross through the magma without harm, so it's the perfect barrier against intruders."

Sobered by that revelation, the young Hylian turned to face the machine as it came for him. "Then what do we do?"

Navi turned her gaze to the oncoming machine and whispered, "We pray for a miracle."