Chapter Eight: The Mines
Gor Coron and a group of heavily-armored Gorons escorted Link through the rest of the city, and into the mines that were not too far from the large domed cavern that held Goron City. The warriors all had the armored fists, and were all considerably taller than the average Goron. He was somewhat glad that he didn't have to "wrestle" one of these Gorons, since he doubted he'd fool anyone.
The mines themselves were a massive iron double-door set into a cliff face that was perpendicular to the caldera of the volcano. A great solid beam of iron was dropped into large steel brackets on the front side of the door, effectively sealing it shut and preventing anything from escaping, even Darbus. It took three of the large warriors to move the iron beam aside, and two more to push open the heavy metal doors.
"We will not close it again once you are inside." Gor Coron told him. "I and these brave warriors will remain here to prevent any Bulbins from escaping. I doubt the corrupted creature will try, since we secured it in the relic's room." He was making a point not to mention that it was Darbus that was corrupted in front of the other Gorons. The fact that Darbus had fallen to the Fused Shadows was a secret that Gor Coron was keeping from his people.
"Is there anything in particular I should be looking for? I've never been in a mine." It was around noon, and the bright sun was glaring overhead. It wasn't what was causing the heat, the shimmering air was created by the open pits of black-crusted lava that dotted the landscape near the mine. He had decided to tuck the long hat into his belt, giving up on wearing it when he was sweating so much.
"If there are any unsafe tunnels, they will be marked. You may come across miners or others inside, and if so let them know that we are right outside the open entrance. Help them escape if you can. As for directions…" Gor Coron held his hands out side by side to indicate something square, or so it seemed. "Once you get to the large hub room, the best path to get to the chamber is to take the third path from the left." He moved his left hand up. "If you see beamos, you're going the right away. The proper tunnel will be collapsed in the next hub room, but the topmost tunnel will take you there, it's just a longer path." His gesticulation continued, but he had completely lost Link. "Stick to the rooms with the water and avoid the room with the big lava lake. The room with the relic is past a bridge over a lava river." He looked down at Link, and frowned slightly when he saw his blank expression. "You didn't get any of that, did you?"
Link put his palms up plaintively. "I'm trying, really. I don't suppose you can draw me a map?"
"It's so hot here that paper or parchment will combust. In fact, it's so hot in places, you might combust too, if you weren't wearing that charm." That was a disturbing though. Coron sighed. "All right, we'll go through it a bit at a time, and you repeat until you have it memorized."
After two more explanations and him repeating it back, he felt he had it memorized. "Okay, so it's: big room, third tunnel from the left. Look for beamos. Next big room, top tunnel. Stay by the water, avoid the lava lake."
"Yes, you have it." Gor Coron said patiently.
"Hey, you have to cut me some slack here. Humans aren't supposed to be in these temperatures. I'm pretty sure my brain has melted into goo." Link gave a small smile when a few of the Gorons laughed a little. He ran his hand through his sweaty hair and turned to the entrance. "Don't come in there for me, no matter what. All right?"
"What should we do if you don't come back out?" asked one of the muscular warriors.
"That situation will never happen. I'm going to go in there, get the relic, free any trapped Gorons including Darbus, and come back." Be confident, Barnes said. Hopefully that sounded confident enough. He didn't have anything to add that would have sounded impressive, so he walked through the large metal doors and into the gloom of the mines.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, and he didn't dare move until he could see his own feet on the stone ground. The tunnel was large and shored up by steel beams, with two metal rails in the center that began not too far in. It wasn't quite as hot as it was outside, but there was a bit of an orange-red glow ahead, and the temperature increased the closer he got to it. The room with the glow was large, with multiple tunnels going in different directions, and red pools of lava here and there that slowly bubbled. The rails split into multiple tracks, and went off different directions through different tunnels.
"Ugh, okay." Midna said, still near his ears. She hadn't gone back to the shadow beneath his feet for some reason. "Now I'm bothered by the heat. Look, you can see actual lava sitting there. Just sitting there. Who builds a mine in a volcano?"
"Gorons." Link panted. "I'm not comfortable in here either, but I think I'm safe because of my charm. Maybe if you stay on my body like you are, you'll be protected too."
"That's why I'm still here." she said. The explanation made sense. "Although next your sweaty body is the last place I want to be right now."
"I'm not enjoying it either, and I'm the one who's sweating." He looked at the tunnels. "Third from the left. There." Link started off in that direction.
"Oh good, you actually remembered." Midna said dryly as they entered the tunnel. "I have it memorized in case you forget again."
"Can you not make f-" he was interrupted as he came around a bend to see a large rectangular machine that swiveled towards him on a square platform. It caught him by surprise, and he barely jumped out of the way as a red beam of energy shot out of a glass circle near the top of the machine, turning the ground red-hot where he was only a second before. It shot another beam, and this time he jumped back instead of to the side. It did not fire again, the beamos slowly rotating on its platform as it scanned for targets.
"That's a really stupid place to put one of those things." Midna complained. "You're lucky that you're so fast on your feet."
Link watched as the device slowly rotated. "At least now I can tell when I'm in its range. It keeps spinning like that if I'm too far away for it to notice me, or maybe I'm too far for it to shoot that beam of fire." He pulled the bow off his shoulder. "Anyway, time for me to try out this bow." He held it in his right hand and tested the draw, and found it fairly easy to pull despite the metal framing around the wood. It was almost as if the first owner of the bow wasn't as strong as he was. "If this bow really was owned by the ancient hero, then I'm stronger than he was. This thing is easy for me to pull back and shoot." He drew it without an arrow and released the string from his fingers.
"Stop being impressed with yourself and shoot the damn machine, Link." She seemed a bit cranky, likely due to the heat.
He opened the cap on the quiver and pulled out an arrow, and then set it. It wasn't the bow he was used to shooting, but it was comfortable in his hands. He drew back and then fired, and the arrow missed its target, bouncing off the metal of the rotating machine and clattering to the ground.
"You suck." Midna said insultingly.
"Oh, shut up. That was my first time firing this bow, and normally I'm shooting at Bokoblins, not a tiny little spot on a spinning target." He really was no slouch with a bow, but the circumstances made it harder for him to concentrate. He was hot and sweaty, he had a completely different bow, and he also had her acidic commentary. And to be fair, the target was hard to hit. He pulled out another arrow and set it, and then carefully pulled back, taking a few deep breaths to focus before letting one out and holding it there so his body would move less.
This time the arrow hit the circle of glass, shattering it and embedding itself in the machine. The beamos vibrated as it stuttered back and forth, trying to aim or perhaps fire at whatever was attacking it. Then it was still.
Link lowered the bow and laughed a bit in triumph. "There, see? I'm not a bad shot."
"I mean you shot the thing you wanted to shoot, so hooray for you, I guess? You seem a bit impressed with yourself today." If she was going to continue to behave like this, the two of them were bound to argue before they got to their destination in the mines.
"Have you ever shot a bow?" he demanded a bit testily, hanging the hero's bow across his chest again.
"No, of course not." Of course not? How was he going to know if she never said anything about herself?
"Then shut it." Telling her to pipe down was good enough for now. Maybe later he'd get in a shouting match with her, but he wanted to move on. He cautiously approached the beamos, and when it did not react, he bent to pick up the arrow that had missed. The other one was jammed into the hole where the glass had been, a jagged bit of the thick lens still there, and when he tried to pull the arrow out it snapped. If that was going to happen, then there better only be about a dozen beamos.
Down the tunnel were mining picks, discarded helmets and strange globe lanterns that held lumps of half-molten lava that glowed softly. He had no idea how the lava wasn't melting through the glass, but maybe glass melted at a higher temperature. It might be useful to carry a lantern in this place, but not one of those. He was hot enough as it was.
The tunnel ended at a closed door with a large metal lever nearby, which was currently pulled to the lower of two positions. Down must mean close, so he had to push it up. He tried to pull upwards on it, grunting in effort, but he simply did not have the strength of a Goron to move the thing.
Midna appeared then, an inky black form in the dim red light of the tunnel. "Weakling. Let me show you how it's done." She grabbed the lever with the hand at the end of her hair, and pulled it up easily. The door opened, and bright sunlight shined through. "Ta-da." she sang, and then gestured with her hands at the bright doorway. "After you."
Link squinted in the bright light but could see a steel walkway set into the same red stone that was everywhere else. He stepped through, not bothering to see if Midna had joined him or not. If she got left behind, it was her own damn fault.
It was another large room, but this one was open to the sky, and looked as if it was dug out like a quarry. It appeared to be some kind of ore processing center, with complex machines that he had only read about, but could still identify. There was a pair of crushers to smash down ore, magnetic cranes that were positioned straight up while not in operation, and a conveyor belt going from the crushers to a rail track. Nothing was in operation. There were piles of coal near the machines, the source of power for the massive Goron machines.
There were also Bulbins, who had failed to notice when the door opened, but did not fail to notice a lone man stepping out of it. One pulled out a horn and pulled down its mask to sound the alarm. Link quickly pulled out the bow and an arrow and took out the one blowing the horn, but then immediately put the bow back and drew his sword to handle the other six.
"I can't help you with these, sorry." Midna said in his ears, sounding sincere. "The sun is right overhead."
"It's fine." He wasn't going to bother with the shield, but saw archers in the back near the Bulbin he had shot. He gritted his teeth in pain and reached over his shoulder to grab his shield, and set it on his right arm. Four with clubs, two archers, and Midna can't help. Right, let's do this.
He ran then, ignoring the rush of Bulbins that came for him, dashing around them to go straight for one of the archers. Link ended his rush in a thrust that ran the archer through before it could draw its bow, and he had pulled his sword back out and held the shield ready to deflect an arrow from the other one, which shattered from being fired so close. The Bulbin tried to run from him, but his legs were far longer, and he was far faster. It cried out when he killed it.
The others caught up to him then, and he turned to parry one mace with his sword, and held up his shield to deflect another. Unlike the Shadow Beasts, the Bulbins did not mindlessly rush at him one or two at a time. They were intelligent, and were trying to surround him so they could likely hit the back of his unprotected head. One solid knock on the head was enough, thank you very much. He made like he was busy with the two Bulbins in front of him, but listened to the booted feet of the others as they moved behind him. Link suddenly spun around and rushed at them shield-first. He bowled one over, and drove another one back. The one prone on the ground didn't get a chance to get back up, and he ran it through the throat before swiftly bringing his sword back up to disarm the second Bulbin, tracing a trail of blood droplets in the air as he did so. Then he heard the other two behind him and did a forward roll to avoid what he suspected were downward swings with their cudgels. Two sharp clangs on the metal path behind him confirmed his suspicions.
He rose and with a few quick steps had caught up to the one without a weapon, and slashed through the side of its neck as he continued running, to give himself some space between himself and the remaining two Bulbins. Link turned to face them, and saw that they had only followed a few steps. Their weapons were held low, and they were watching him instead of attacking.
Then one of them said something to the other in its language, and the two of them turned to take off towards a metal ramp that went up to the second level of the quarry, where another tunnel to the next area was. Their cowardice was their downfall, and it was only moments later that they lay dead at his feet.
He was breathing heavily, but it wasn't from the effort of the fight. The pain in his right side was stronger, as if him moving around had somehow made it worse. He set the point of his sword down on the ground and leaned his hands on the pommel, hanging his head as he caught his breath and tried to will the pain away.
"Are you all right?" Midna asked him, still hiding in his shadows. "They didn't even touch you. Are you hurt?"
He wiped at the sweat on his face with his right hand, shield still on his arm. Inside the mines it was so hot that it evaporated from his exposed skin, but out here he was getting sweaty again. "I'm still sore from when that Goron knocked me down the mountain." Link straightened and cleaned his sword on one of the bodies, and sheathed it. He could manage the pain for now. "Don't worry about me, I'm just a little banged up."
"It didn't seem to slow you down at all. You took care of those guys pretty quick." She paused as he went back down the ramp to check the archers for spare arrows. "You should probably drink some water, if you're sweating so much."
He found more arrows, but could fit only about twenty total in the quiver. It was still more than he had started with. "Yeah." was all he said as he looked at the shield on his arm. He probably should hang it on his back, but reaching up over his shoulder with his right arm was painful. The throbbing pain in his ribs was subsiding and going back to the dull ache, so whatever he had done was probably better now. He needed to be careful how he moved.
Link drank some water, doing his best not to chug it all down at once despite how thirsty the heat made him. Then he looked at the wide entrances to the tunnels. "The bottom one is collapsed, so take the top one." He made his way up the ramp and past the final two Bulbins that he had slain, and went into the next tunnel.
The path took them back into darkness that was lit by lava lanterns hung from the heavy iron beams, and Link hoped that there wouldn't be a lot of going inside and outside. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, and the last time he was squinting in the sun while a group of Bulbins charged at him. There were no Bulbins on this route, at least none that he encountered. This particular tunnel brought them past small underground lakes that the metal path snaked around, or occasionally spanned with bridges. The beamos that were in the way were far easier to spot than the first one that took him by surprise, but equally difficult to shoot. The first one was taken down by one shot, but the next two required multiple attempts. Midna did not comment this time around, likely quiet now that she realized he was in pain. She had no idea how much pain though, and he was still doing his best to act like it was no big deal.
"Link, look." the dark creature said from within his shadows. He saw it the same time that she did: there were five Goron bodies laying on the ground in front of a side door. The tunnel continued on past, but the door was well-lit by proper lanterns instead of lava ones, and had a heavy switch next to it like the previous one.
He knelt down to examine the bodies, and saw that they were full of arrows. A Bulbin's cudgel would do little against the rocky armor on the back of a Goron's head, but the rock people were just as susceptible to an arrow as anyone else. The corpses had not been there for long, even though the blood on them had since dried. Anything laying dead in this hot place would begin to bloat and stink of death quickly.
"These guys bleed too, huh?" Midna asked, materializing next to him to look down at the fallen workers. Some of them wore belts of tools and safety helmets. "I don't know why, but I was thinking that they were all rock. They're flesh and blood like we are."
"They were protecting whatever is behind this door." Link said, standing up. There was nothing he could do for the dead Gorons, other than tell Gor Coron about them once he was out of the mines. He put his hand to the solid stone door, and looked at the heavy lever to the left. "Can you open it?"
"This probably isn't the Fused Shadows." Midna said, floating up from the bodies to wrap her hair around the flat handle on the end of the metal switch. "This doesn't use that weird key you have."
"Gor Coron said that people were still trapped in the mine, and if they're trapped we can at least let them out." He saw the flat expression on her shadowy face. She didn't want to take the time to see what was behind the door. "Just open the door, Midna. I'm not going to leave people trapped."
She snorted derisively, but then lifted up the heavy switch to open the door. "Fine, hero. We'll do it your way."
Her comment gave him pause. That was the kind of thing that the hero would do, wasn't it? If people were in need, he'd step up to help without question. Link hadn't even though about how much time it would take to bring a group of Gorons out of the mines safely, only that he couldn't leave them there. It wasn't a waste of time, unlike what Midna thought. They were people who were in trouble, and his innate instinct was to help them.
He stepped through the door into a much-cooler room that was lit with more normal lanterns. It looked like a break room of some kind. There were stone benches surrounding square metal tables, and some bins along the wall that held some kind of stone that was ground up small. It looked somewhat white and chalky, and he realized that it was probably food for the workers. A large tank of water sat nearby.
The Gorons that were trapped inside were not workers, or even children. He had suspected that maybe the Gorons had brought their kids to their job for some reason, but that wasn't the case. Instead there were three elderly Gorons, thin and bony. The youngest of the three, who still had some wiry muscle on his tattooed body, relaxed when he saw a human enter the room. He dropped the heavy metal mace that he had been holding.
"Our prayers have been answered, brothers." said the thin, tattooed Goron. He had dyed his pale hair to match the dark color of his tattoos, the mass of it tied on top of his head with a topknot. "Although this is not Darbus. Who are you, little Hylian?"
"Link." he said, not about to go through a lengthy explanation of who he was or why he was here. "Are you all right?"
"We are fine, young one. The workers outside protected us." said a stooped little Goron that walked with the help of a metal cane. He hobbled over, his long beard trailing down his brown chest. Unlike most Gorons he had no tattoos or body paint. He looked Link up and down and smiled a mostly-toothless grin. "His name is Link, and he's wearing green."
"Oh, now that you mention it, he does look like the records of the child hero, doesn't he?" The tattooed Goron said. "Yellow hair, blue eyes, green clothes. And look...the bow. Young man, can you show us that bow?"
He took the bow from where it hung on his body and held it out to show them. "Gor Coron gave it to me. I'm here in the mines for a completely different reason, but he asked me to save Darbus, and anybody else that was trapped here, as well as get rid of the Bulbin problem."
"The hero has come again." said the third old Goron, who had long hair that hung in thick curls. "The events that happened recently were a sign that he would come. Our home has been peaceful until now."
"Sorry if we're prattling on, young hero." said the taller tattooed Goron. "It's a habit of the elderly. I am called Gor Liggs. This is Gor Amato-" He indicated the small Goron with the cane. "—and this is Gor Ebizo." He gestured to the long-haired Goron. "We are three of the four elders that help govern our people and advise Darbus, the fourth being Gor Coron."
"If you three are government officials, what are you doing in a mine?" It didn't seem like they belonged here.
"Inspections." Gor Amato said, running a gnarled tan hand through his long beard. "They're more of a symbolic thing, but when we come to inspect the mines, it makes the workers so happy. It was most unfortunate that the green monsters attacked at that time. You called them Bulbins, I believe?"
"We were here along with Gor Coron and Darbus." Gor Ebizo said, his mouth also missing a few teeth. If Gorons lost teeth with age like humans did, how did they manage to eat rocks? They couldn't mash them with their gums. It was a strange thought to have at the moment, but like Midna, Link had a running commentary on everything around him, only his was internal.
"When the Bulbins came, Darbus hurried to a sacred place in the mines to make sure that it was safe." Ebizo continued. "Gor Coron and some workers brought us to this room. He may be old, but Coron is quite strong, and can still fight and roll. We certainly cannot at our ages. When the word came that Darbus had been transformed by the magical relic our people had been protecting, Coron had no choice but to leave us behind and exit the mine."
"It was wise of him to do so." said Gor Amato, hobbling over to a low bench and then sitting down with a slow groan. "He was our previous patriarch, and now he is an elder. It should be him making the decisions to lead and protect our people, not us three."
"And he found us the hero." Gor Liggs said with a thin-lipped smile. "I can think of no one more appropriate to carry the bow of the previous heroes."
"Gor Coron told me that some Gorons were left in the mine, but he didn't say who they were. He could have at least mentioned that three important ones were trapped here." Link said, putting the bow back around his chest.
"He likely told you what information you needed to know. Coron is very straight and to the point." Liggs said, sitting on a bench near Amato. "Link, how are the workers outside?"
"I'm sorry, but they're dead. The Bulbins shot them. I think the only reason the Bulbins didn't get to you was because they're not strong enough to open the doors."
Gor Ebizo pressed his lips together and gave a long grumbling hum. "That's a shame. They were brave to protect us, even though they were not warriors." He looked at Link. "If the Bulbins couldn't get in, then how did you get in here? Hylians are certainly not as strong as Gorons."
Link gave him a smirk. "You'll have to ask Gor Coron about that one." He looked at the three Gorons. "You said you're too old to roll out of here. I can try to escort you out if you want."
"No, young hero." said Gor Liggs, shaking his head. "We are safe here when that door is closed. We have food and water, and this room has vents connected to the surface so the air will not grow stale. You must continue through the mines to rescue Darbus. He has transformed into something terrible, and we have no way of helping him."
"You must help the patriarch." Gor Amato added. "If you are the hero that the gods have chosen to protect Hyrule, then this is one of the tasks that only you can complete."
They had just met him, yet these ancient Gorons had such faith in him. They seemed to know much about the hero, just as Gor Coron had. He couldn't let them down. Link nodded to them. "All right. I'll continue on. I'll bring Darbus back here when I'm done."
"Your confidence gives us hope." Gor Liggs said with a smile. "Now go."
He stepped out of the room and went back to the side of the door with the switch, so they wouldn't see how he really operated it. Midna reached out from his chest with a shadowy tendril of hair and pulled the switch back down, shutting the stone door and sealing the elders away from the Bulbins.
"You say I'm impressed with myself, but being confident here is paying off. The Gorons really do respect that." he told Midna as he continued down the tunnel.
"Just don't let your head get too big over it. I'm not a Goron, and somebody talking big without proving he can do things is kind of annoying." She was calling him annoying? Hello pot, meet kettle.
"You should have a little more faith in me. I did manage to get that first fragment of the Fused Shadows, and cleared the Twilight from a good chunk of Hyrule." The gods did choose him for a good reason, right? He was able to do those things because he needed to, just like his fighting ability had increased because it needed to.
"You were able to do those things because I was helping you." She did do some of the work, that was fair. It felt like he was doing the lion's share, both as a wolf and as a human. She certainly hadn't fought anything in this mine.
"Yes, Midna." he said in an exaggeratedly patient tone. "That's called 'working together', which Zelda wanted us to do."
"Okay, you're moving on from annoying to asshole real quick." Midna griped directly in his ears.
"I'm only trying to catch up to you." He growled, running a hand through his lank hair. How is it possible to be this sweaty? Between that and Midna's complaints, he was starting to feel angry.
"I don't get you." she said with a bit of anger in her voice. "You sure seem like a nice guy, but then suddenly you turn around and act like a total dick."
"It's because I run out of patience! Which I might add, I have had a ton of for you and your damned bitching." He gestured angrily, his walk starting to have a bit more of an agitated stride to it. "You seem like you're fine too, but then you say something hurtful, or spiteful, or uncalled for. How the hell am I supposed to react to that?!"
"I do not-" she began hotly.
"You do! You absolutely do! If I do something stupid fine, go ahead. Call me out on it. But don't criticize me when I'm doing my best, or verbally kick me when I'm down. That is what you've been doing to me since we've met!" The argument was inevitable. The two of them had not been able to vent their frustration with one another once he had returned to being human in Faron, but there have been a number of microaggressions towards him that slowly built up, and finally in this sweltering mine with its Bulbin infestation, everything came to a head.
"Me? You're the one with a problem with your temper!" She shouted, loud in his long ears.
"Yes, I do!" Link shouted back. He suddenly didn't want her clinging to his shadows, speaking directly in his ears. He wanted to grab her and throw her off his body, and had no way to do so. He clutched at the front of the green tunic, no longer walking, grinding his teeth in frustration and rage. "I have a problem but I recognize it. I know that I can get angry easily, and trust me, this is far better than I was three years ago. I don't want to get angry when I have an important job to do, but you wear down my patience and sanity, and then I pop off. Like now, Midna, right now! Why can't you understand that the things you say to me are sometimes uncalled for?" He stood there panting from a combination of anger, the heat, and the dull pain in his ribs.
Midna didn't say anything in response. It was like before, when he began on a rant, his voice increasing in volume and vitriol, until he shouted her into silence. Did she feel guilty? Did she even care? Link began walking down the hot mine shaft, passing small alcoves that were mined out by the Gorons with metal picks, trying to cool his anger. It used to be that the smallest thing made him angry. He had come farther than he thought in that regard, to have not screamed at Midna more than two times.
"This isn't me." she said quietly, after he walked in silence for several minutes. "I'm...I'm not like that." When he didn't say anything in response, she continued. "Something is changing in me that I don't like. I wasn't like that when I was human. You can see how I normally am most of the time, but now there's this dark magic that clings to me and influences how I behave."
He stopped again, shut his eyes and breathed a deep breath. "I suspected that." he said more calmly, opening his eyes. "You get worse in the Twilight. I don't think you realize when you're doing it, either."
"Not always. Sometimes I hear words coming out of my mouth that I feel like were put there by somebody else." Midna gave a soft sigh. "I'm sorry, all right? I'm sorry for the hurtful things I've said or done, and I'm sorry for the ones I'll probably do in the future."
The dark magic that had cursed her was somehow making her more cruel, and it was magnified by the Twilight. It made sense: there was the Midna that was mocking, cruel and apathetic, and then there was another Midna that he had started to see. A Midna that was kind and intelligent...the real Midna.
"Apology accepted." Link said. The last time he apologized, and this time she did. Even if they did get in arguments, they at least attempted to make them end well. "If you start acting that way, I'm going to let you know. I'm not going to sit here and bottle up my frustration until I explode."
"I'd appreciate that. I'm trying, but sometimes it's like there's this little voice whispering in my ear, telling me to be cruel. If I do act that way, please don't take it too personally. I don't dislike you, Link. You really do seem to be a good guy, and I've been abusing your good nature, whether I mean to or not."
"It's fine. I understand how magic can affect people." He started walking again. "It's not like my temper, though. There's this thing that's always hiding just beneath the surface, and I'm always doing my best to keep it from coming out. I can't always manage to do that, so if I get angry, understand that it isn't always you specifically that's causing it."
"Is that how you've always been?" Midna asked.
"No. I wasn't that way as a child. Something happened in my life to make me that way." His boots crunched on bits of chipped stone that had been mined loose by the Gorons. "I don't like to talk about it." he added quietly.
"It's okay, you don't have to. We're both a little messed up, which is probably why we clash." She gave a small chuckle. "But when we work together, it goes really well."
"Yeah." He was quieter now, more withdrawn. She didn't want to tell him about how her life was before they had met, and he most certainly did not want to tell her about his. It was better to be quiet for now and not alert and Bulbins to their location. The two of them were lucky that none were close enough to hear them shouting at one another.
They passed a mine cart that was stacked high with rusty volcanic rock. There had been similar streaks of reddish brown in the areas that the Gorons had mined away. "It looks like the Gorons mine a lot of iron in this place." Midna commented. It was a normal comment, not an acidic one.
"They use a lot of steel. We've seen a lot of it in this mine, and in the city: the houses, their armors and weapons, even their roads. If this is the main source of iron for them, I can understand why this mine is important."
"Do you think we can use one of these mine carts?" she asked as they passed another. This one was not full of ore.
"Doubtful. I have no idea if they'd even go in the right direction." Link shook his head. "It looks fun to ride in one, but I should probably stick to walking."
About another fifty feet down the long tunnel they came to a fork: the rails followed the right path, looking as if it sloped downhill a bit. The left path appeared as it did not have a slope, but turned not too far in. He stopped to look up at the metal signs that were above the divergent tunnels. There were a pair of the lava lanterns to light up the area, but even then the words were difficult to read.
"I don't know if I can read those." Midna admitted. "Can you read that?"
"Maybe…?" Link tilted his head, looking at the sign on the right. "The Goron script is a bit different than the Hylian one, even though it's the same spoken language. Their runes are shaped a bit differently. I think...oh, it's phonetic too. Now it makes sense. This one says 'Processing 2, Smelting 2'. The one on the left saaaays…" He read the second sign. "'Exterior Shaft 2C, Supplies'. I don't think where we want to go is outside. The last time we ran into Bulbins, it was in the first processing area."
"That means we should try going right." Midna said. "I doubt supplies would hold a piece of the Fused Shadows."
"I agree." he said, starting down the right path and following along the rails.
As it turned out, their choice was the wrong one. The tunnel continued to slope downhill, and after the it turned to the right some more, they came out into a large cavern with a lava lake in the middle, which glowed with an orange light. There were large crucibles hung from some kind of chain that ran along the ceiling, another ore crushing machine, and piles of iron ore. There was another door on the other side of the lake of lava that was flanked by two beamos, which could have lead to someplace important, but Link had no idea how he could possibly get to it. While there was a wide stone path with chain railings that ran from one end of the room to the other, it crossed the lava itself, and there was no way a human could get that close to something so hot. As it was, he had difficulty standing where he was, it being so hot that it was difficult to breathe. If he didn't have the bracelet, he probably would be dead.
"This can't be right." Midna said. "I can see a door with beamos way over there, but Gor Coron told us to avoid the lava lake."
"It's no wonder. I can barely stand it in here." They were quite literally inside a volcano, a place that normal humans were not designed to go. "I'm going back to the other path." He turned and then stopped, looking up at the walls above the entrance to the tunnel.
There were two horse-sized lizards clinging to the wall like geckos, their hides bright green and yellow. They slowly made their way down the wall, in no particular hurry now that they had cornered something edible between themselves and the lava lake. Link decided to run for the doorway, but when he got closer one of the lizards opened its wide toothy mouth and spit a jet of flame at him, causing him to back up.
"Fire-breathing lizards? You have some scary stuff in the light world." She sighed. "We have to fight these things in this really hot cave, don't we?"
"Unfortunately." He considered drawing his sword and shield, but the creatures were still up on the wall. He drew his bow instead. "They're dodongos. I don't think I need to tell you, but they eat meat."
The shadowy being appeared next to him then, and then immediately wilted in the heat. "Oh, my. Oh." She put a hand to her cheek, her jaw slack. "This is so much worse when I'm not hiding on your body."
"You don't have to come out. I can probably handle it." Probably. But his ribs still hurt, and it was hard to breathe in this room. He likely did need her help.
"There's two of them, there's two of us, and they breathe fire. I want to try to distract one of them so you don't have to fight two at once." She moved away from him then, floating toward the dodongo on the left as it stopped moving down the wall to watch her with its orange eyes. "Let's get this done quickly." she said, sounding tired.
Link set an arrow and drew back the bow, aiming for one of the eyes of the dodongo on the right. It was the only weak spot that he could see other than its mouth, since its back was covered in armored scales. He doubted his sword could penetrate those scales, or if he could even muster the strength to try in this heat.
He fired and the arrow embedded itself in the large orange eye, the eyelid immediately closing on the deflated eyeball. The animal opened its mouth with a snarl and started shooting flame frantically, dropping from where it clung to the wall. It landed on its back briefly to reveal a soft pale underbelly, but he didn't have his sword out, and the opportunity was immediately lost as the dodongo righted itself. It scrabbled back and forth, moving far faster than he expected it to, shooting flame and producing guttural snarls as it did so.
Midna did not exactly begin fighting hers. Instead she moved back and forth, darting this way and that as a mass of shadow while the dodongo on the wall spat flame at her. He couldn't worry about what she was doing, he had to focus on his own dodongo, before he passed out from the heat. Link shouldered his bow and drew his sword, not bothering with the shield. For now, the dodongo was clawing at its ruined eye and spitting flame, although it was spitting less of it. Instead of a neat jet of flame, now it was hacking up globs of flaming liquid, the source of its fire breath.
It focused its one remaining eye on him, and its dim reptile intelligence recognized that he was the thing threatening it, not the arrow jutting from its eye socket. The dodongo inhaled, and coughed up a tiny amount of the liquid. It made some kind of regurgitating movement with its throat, trying to summon forth more liquid, and opened its mouth again.
He didn't wait to see what would come out. Link charged forth with the sword and thrust the blade into the open mouth and up into the animal's brain. It quivered and tried to close its mouth but the crosshilt prevented it from biting down on his arm. He somehow had the strength to push through its skull, and so he somehow had the strength to pull the blade out. It was another one of those things that he should not be able to do, especially under the current circumstances, yet he did. Link backed away as the dodongo twitched, thrashing its tail in agony before falling still.
The sword still in his hand, he considered sheathing it despite the gore on it so he could use his bow again. Midna zipped between the dodongo on the wall and him for a moment, and when she moved back in the other direction, the lizard's eyes did not follow. Instead it fixed its gaze on Link, who was much larger and would likely make a better meal. It gave him a blank reptilian stare, and then dropped off the wall suddenly, its legs moving fast as it charged with its mouth open.
Midna reacted just as quickly. She darted above the dodongo and wrapped her hair around its middle and lifted it up. The animal's legs kept wiggling as it tried to run despite being in the air. The shadow being slowly spun, using centrifugal force to whirl the lizard around and then hurl it into the lake of lava. The creature struggled as flames erupted out of the lava around it, and then sank like a stone.
"I doubt even dodongos can survive swimming in lava, but let's get out of here just in case." Link said. He was feeling light-headed, and all the sweat on his clothing as well as his hair had dried from the heat. Midna lead the way out of the cavern and back into the tunnel, and he followed, still holding the bloodied sword in his hand.
It wasn't long before they were back at the fork, but Midna sagged to the ground to sit before she continued on through the left path. She panted as she sat on the carved stone of the mine floor, and Link wasn't breathing any lighter. "This stupid body wasn't made for this heat." she said weakly.
"Sitting here isn't going to make it better. We should try the other path to see if there's anyplace cooler." He wiped at his brow with his right arm. "'Cooler' being relative." When she didn't move, he stepped up next to where she was sitting. "Are you okay? Do you need me to carry you?"
Midna turned her shadowy head and gave him a flat look before standing up. "No, of course not. I'm not weak." The little imp rose into the air again and began to float down the left tunnel.
"Asking for help isn't a weakness, you know." Link said, following her. "Sometimes people need help. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
"I'm fine." she said stubbornly. "I'll manage." Link knew better than to argue. Sometimes he himself didn't want to worry others, so he left her alone.
The tunnel widened once it turned around the bend, the carved rock mixing with a natural cavern made of shiny black rock, the ceiling hung with sharp stalactites much how Goron City's cavern did. There were a number of crystals lumped together along the walls here and there, sprouting like mushrooms in the dim cavern, and lining the natural alcoves that had small ponds at the bottom of them. The crystals were aqua in color, and glowed faintly in the areas that were not lit. There were a few lanterns discarded by miners, but they were not of the lava variety. It was cool enough in this chamber to use oil lanterns. In fact, it was cool enough in this chamber to make it feel a bit on the cold side compared to the volcanic lake they had just been next to.
"We're stopping here." Link declared, walking off the central path and towards one of the small pools.
"You won't hear me argue." the impish creature said, floating behind him before settling down on the smooth stone next to the water, sticking her tiny black feet in with a sigh.
"Why don't you go for a swim?" he suggested as he kneeled down next to her. "You're small enough."
"I don't know how to swim."
Link stopped to look at her after throwing water on his face, his chin dripping. "What? Why not?"
"Because there was no need for me to learn. There aren't a lot of lakes where I live, at least not close." She splashed water on her shadowy body, and Link saw the strange effect of drops of water rolling down a translucent shadow. "Ugh, I can't even sweat when it's hot. We're lucky we found this water."
He crossed his legs in front of him and pulled out the waterskin. "You can't sweat either? What can that cursed little body of yours do?"
"Talk and breathe. I'm still alive, and I think I still have blood and bones, but I can't do anything that a living thing would normally do. Like that." She pointed at him as he tipped back his waterskin to drink. "I would love to have a drink, but if I tried I'd just get sick and bring it back up." Midna gave a sour grunt. "And believe me, I tried."
He felt a surge of sympathy for this poor woman who was stuck in a horrible form that was so far from human, it couldn't even do something simple like drink. At least when he was a wolf, he could and had drank water. It was a different body, but it was still a normal body for a normal animal. The spiky little creature that Midna had become was so alien and strange, so unlike a normal body. If he was stuck like that, he'd probably sit around and feel sorry for himself instead of what she was doing. Midna did seem like she was much more resilient than he was.
"Then it's best we get that piece of the Fused Shadows, so you can get stronger and fight the King of Shadows." She looked small to him then, a little creature in a weak body made of shadow, her eye lowered to look at her feet in the water. He gently put a hand to her small back in an attempt to be comforting. "We'll break that curse on you and get your normal body back."
Midna turned her head to look at him, surprised by the gesture. So far he had mostly been tolerant of her, when he wasn't angry. It was as if she didn't expect him to be kind towards her. She gave a small smile. "Yeah, we will. Thanks."
They remained there for a few more minutes to cool off, both of them feeling far better than they had when they first entered the cavern. Even if she couldn't sweat, the evaporation of the water that Midna kept splashing on her body cooled her down considerably. Link no longer felt light-headed, although his water was starting to run low. He should have refilled it at the room where the three Goron elders were, but didn't think of it at the time. The water in here could be clean enough to drink, but it was hard to tell. For all he knew, the glowing crystals were made of something toxic.
He cleaned his sword in the water and sheathed it, and then stood up. "If this is Shaft 2C, then we'll be coming up on whatever 'Supplies' is soon. Here's hoping that it's someplace without lava."
"I'm going to stick with you again, just in case. Coming out from your shadows and the protection of that bracelet was not my best idea." Midna told him, her shadow form merging with his body. "But it was necessary. All right, let's go."
"Supplies" turned out to be another massive open quarry, this one far larger than the previous one. The bottom of the pit was full of water, and so there were a number of platforms and metal catwalks above the small lake. Most of the platforms had crates stacked on them, and there were a few carved out rooms set into the rock made for more storage. The left side of the room had a far larger platform that had a few wooden sheds on top of it, as well as another shed at the shore of the lake. The other feature the room had was a large group of Bulbins, likely the largest part of the raiding party that had entered the mine. He couldn't count them right away, but if he had to hazard a guess, he'd estimate that they were a little over a dozen.
Most of them were archers, and they began firing on Link immediately. This was incredibly stupid on their part because they were too far away to reach him, and the arrows either clattered against the metal catwalk or splashed into the water. A few of them were on fire, the arrows themselves igniting with a flash of sparks when the Bulbins drew their bows. They were enchanted with magic, and not simply arrows lit on fire.
"I want some of those." he said, watching as the flame arrows harmlessly thudded into a nearby barrel that was next to some stacked crates on the platform he currently occupied. After the third flame arrow hit the barrel, he realized that they were aiming at it specifically. His eyes widened when he read the Goron runes: it was a barrel of explosives. Unsure of where to go that would be safe, he took two long strides and vaulted himself over the guardrail of the platform, falling to splash into the water below.
There was a dull roar carried to his ears by the water as he sank, the barrel having gone off. Link glanced up and saw an orange light, but it was hard to see beneath the surface of the water. He swam until he was in shadow, and then surfaced, gasping a little at the pain of having to swim with injured ribs. He tread water and glanced around to try to figure out what he should do next.
"What is it with you and big booms?" Midna asked him, her voice close.
"I thought you said I was fun?" His eyes scanned the wooden pylons that were driven into the bottom of the lake, but he didn't see any ladders or other ways up. Of course Gorons wouldn't use a ladder. They probably sank, so they'd have to walk out of the water, not climb. Then he saw it: on the far wall was a stone walkway that was carved right out of the quarry, that had a ramp at one end of it that sunk into the water. Judging from the shadows, he would be out in the open if he swam there. However it looked as if he could remain hidden beneath the line of platforms and catwalks, and stay out of view of the Bulbins until the very end.
"How long can you hold your breath?" he asked Midna.
"I'm underwater right now, you know." she said, sounding a bit amused. "I'm in the shadows between your green shirt and your armor. As long as I'm in your shadow, I'm fine."
"Good, I just need to worry about me then." Easier said than done. Holding his breath underwater a moment ago was painful. He'd have to hold it for longer as he swam along the bottom of the lake, which thankfully had fairly clear water that he could see through. He hoped that by having a few feet of water above his body would alter the trajectory of the arrows enough that they would miss him. Getting out of the water might prove to be tricky, but there was a that building to the left of the ramp that the walkway lead to, so he could possibly run there. He certainly couldn't use his shield while swimming, and pulling it out quickly after seemed impossible with his painful right side. None of it sounded terribly promising, but he didn't have any other options.
Link swam with a sidestroke to try to put less stress on his injured side until he was beneath the final platform, about twenty feet out from the stone ramp. He could hear the sounds of the Bulbins above him as they called to each other in their grating, sharp language, and a few footsteps on the metal catwalks. They were searching for him now. He faced the ramp, hoping he could swim that far underwater without surfacing.
All right, here goes nothing.
He drew a breath and sank beneath the surface to the stony bottom of the quarry lake, and began to swim. The water was clear, not having any silt or plant life in it, and he could see the ramp ahead where it rose out of the water. He began the long swim. His ribs were on fire, but he pushed on despite the pain, knowing that this was the only way. A few arrows hit the water to fall around him, and one even plinked off the shield on his back, but none of them hit him.
The swim felt like it took ages, and in comparison to how well he normally could swim, it somewhat did. Link was already exhausted from the hike up the mountain and the fights in the mines, not to mention the heat and his injury wearing him down. He was already a bit winded when he had started the long crawl along the bottom of the lake, and his lungs burned with the need for air.
Then he was climbing out of the water, slogging up the ramp as arrows rained down around him. He ducked his head and a few hit the metal shield on his back, the Bulbins hitting him in the middle of his torso regardless of the fact that his back was protected. He ran to the left then, huffing for breath and then made his way to the back side of the shed. The sign on the doorway said "Ore Storage", so thankfully this was not one that would explode. He leaned his hands against the dry wood of the shed and hung his head, breathing heavily from pain and from the swim.
"You don't look good." Midna said, sounding concerned. "Are you all right?"
"No…" he admitted, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to ignore the pain in his right side. This time it was far more difficult than before.
"You're still hurt from when that Goron knocked you down the hill, aren't you?" She appeared then, since the back side of the shed was in shadow. He could only see the lower half of her from where his head was, but he felt her small hands on his right arm.
"I think I cracked my ribs. Not broken, but still...it hurts." He had hidden it well enough until this point. "Swimming like that is not a good idea."
"You should have told me you were injured before! I could have helped you out more, or carried you, or something."
He was exhausted. Link wanted nothing more than to rest, to simply lay on the ground and not move, but the Bulbins were shouting at one another from the other side of the shed, likely trying to figure out a way to get to him. He straightened, wincing in pain, and pulled the bow over his head and off. "What would that have changed? I can't do anything about it. I wasn't going to turn around as soon as that Goron ran into me." He reached to the small of his back to grab an arrow, and looked at her, wet hair in his eyes. "I don't have the luxury of sitting in a bed somewhere while I wait for my ribs to heal. I can't stop."
"Link…" she said, looking genuinely concerned. "You need to tell me when something is wrong with you. I can't help if you don't."
That was a fair point. He had already chided her about being stubborn and refusing help, and yet he was being a hypocrite and doing the exact same thing. "I'll rest after I kill these." He pushed his wet bangs to the side so he could see better, and set the arrow on his bow. He inched up until he saw a Bulbin, who also could see him and immediately fired. Its shot went wide, but Link's did not. The green monster gave a cry of pain before falling from its perch on top of a stack of crates to land in the water below.
One by one, he picked them off. They had foolishly moved closer, so it was far easier for him to hit them. Then again it was far easier for them to shoot at him, and more than a few of their arrows were buried in the side of the shed by the time he had killed them all. This time he counted: fourteen. Somehow he had evaded the arrows from fourteen Bulbins. That and the seven before...he had killed twenty-one Bulbins on his own in this place so far. By himself, twenty-one. And one dodongo. He shouldn't think about the numbers, it would only upset him. He was sometimes stronger because he needed to be. He was able to kill more enemies than any other lone swordsman because he had to.
Link considered going out to refill his arrows, but decided the best thing he could do was sit down. He made his way to the back side of the shed, but Midna wasn't there anymore. She could have merged with the shadows on his body again without him noticing. He slowly lowered himself to the stone ground and leaned his head back against the shed, closing his eyes.
"You look pale." her voice was next to him. He felt a small hand on the side of his face and opened his eyes to see the concerned expression on her shadowy face. "You shouldn't push yourself like that. You're no good to anyone if you get seriously hurt."
This time, he didn't mind when she reached out to touch him. It was nothing like getting scratched on the ears. "I know. I can't get by on stubbornness alone." He ran a hand through his damp hair. "I never said I was the brightest person, though."
"Nonsense. I've known you for a few days now, and you're not a dumb brute." She crossed her arms. "My joke about you being a meathead was a bit inappropriate."
"That's what people think when they see me, or at least they did in Ordon. I'm strong despite my size, so it was far easier to let people assume that I wasn't too bright like some of the other young men who worked with me." He shut his eyes again, wondering if he could sleep in this place. Now that was a stupid thought. As tired as he was, he couldn't entertain that idea, and he opened his eyes again. "If they wanted to think that way about me, fine. I'll go along with it. Better than having to answer questions." It hadn't fooled everyone, though. A lot of Ordon did think he was as dumb as Fado, but people like Rusl's family knew different. So did Bo, and of course Ilia.
"There's a lot about yourself you don't want people to know." It wasn't a question. She stopped hovering and sat down next to him, folding her little legs up and wrapping her arms around her knees.
"Yeah. Just like you." He reached behind himself into the leather pouches to try to find some food. Perhaps if he ate something, he'd feel better. It was already afternoon, and he probably was hungry without realizing it. Right now all that he could notice was the dull ache in his right side. "That's why I don't bug you too much when you don't answer my questions."
"I think I know a bit more about you than you know about me." Midna looked up at him. "I'm not going to bug you about it either. We need to focus on the Fused Shadows, not being nosy."
He had fished out the venison jerky, which was still dry due to it being wrapped in waxed paper, but the dried fruit was wrapped in regular paper and was a bit damp. The pouches on his belt were only so waterproof, and actively swimming underwater had let water seep in. Whatever, it was still edible. May as well eat the rest of that, since he couldn't carry around wet food. It wasn't pleasant, but as it turned out he was fairly hungry.
She stood after watching him eat for a few minutes. "While you're eating, I'm going to look around the room. Keep resting, okay? I'll figure out where we need to go from here." The little shadowy being merged with the shadows of the shed he was leaning against, and then presumably went somewhere from there. She couldn't go out in the sunlight, but this particular area had a lot of catwalks and places where she could hide underneath.
It was quiet as he sat there and chewed on jerky and partially rehydrated apples. No other Bulbins had come, and Midna's movement through the shadows was completely silent. He tried to listen for any other sounds, but heard none. The mine was fairly silent, and he had likely killed all the invaders. That was something at least.
"I found something." she said, appearing suddenly out of the shadows, only hovering a few inches above the ground so she could be at his eye level. "There's a big metal slab that looks like it would reach one of the catwalks if it was lowered. There are pulleys on either side of it, so it's some kind of bridge. There's also a pair of Beamos on a ledge near it, so it's probably the right way to go. Oh, and I brought you something." She waved her hand, there was a flash of black squares and one of the Bulbin quivers appeared in the air in font of her.
Link reached out and grabbed it, and then looked in the quiver. There were some normal arrows, but the ones with the red feathers interested him. He pulled one out and saw that the bladed tip had a faint rune etched into it, although the writing wasn't Hylian. He smiled over at Midna. "You did good. I was hoping to find some of these magic arrows. I was running low on regular ones too." In fact he had to be very careful not to miss, and had gotten down to only three arrows left.
"I figured you'd be happy." She vaguely gestured at him, still slightly bobbing in the air. "Finish resting up, and let me know when you're good to go. It's already afternoon, and I don't know how long it will take to finish here and get down the mountain…" she trailed off, and then grinned a toothy smile. Even her teeth were shadows. "Or maybe I do. Remember that portal that appeared at the guard station?"
"Yeah." Link said, half-chewed piece of jerky held between his teeth as he crammed fire arrows into his quiver.
"That wasn't too far outside of town, maybe about twenty minutes of walking. If we go there, I can shave hours off our trip down the mountain by teleporting us to Eldin's Spring."
Link recalled the last time she had teleported him somewhere, which was from Hyrule Castle to Ordona's Sping. "Why do we have to go there? Can't you just teleport me from these mines, or Goron City?"
"I can't use that spell unless I have a portal nearby, and it has to be one I've converted with my own magic. In my normal body, sure. I could teleport around at will." She looked down at her shadowy hands. "My power is limited now. I was able to teleport us from the castle to a specific portal I knew about because we were in the Twilight, and that magnifies my power a bit. Now that a lot of the light world has returned to normal and the sun is out, I can only do so much."
"That's a shame. It would be convenient if we could warp around to wherever we wanted. Even if the last time it made me sick to my stomach." That could have been a reaction he had to the first time he ever was teleported somewhere, though. The Light Spirits' teleportation spell didn't seem to bother him at all. "I think I've put as many arrows in here as I can. I wasn't able to take them all, but I appreciate you bringing them to me."
"Oh, don't worry about that. I have two more quivers stowed away. That one I gave you was the only one with fire arrows, though." She waved a hand at the half-empty Bulbin quiver in his hand and it suddenly vanished in a flurry of squares. It was strange to hold onto something when that happened; it felt cold, and a bit tingly. "If you need more, I can always give you more."
"If you have that much carrying space, I might have to bug you to carry some food that's better than jerky and not-so-dried apples." Not that the jerky was bad. Link liked venison.
"I don't want to be toting around food with the Fused Shadows. You certainly don't put that boomerang in with your food, do you?" She floated off to the side and over his outstretched legs, and then alighted on the toe of one of his boots. Midna peered at his face critically. "You look a bit better. I'm sure your ribs still hurt, but I think sitting around and eating something helped you."
"I needed the rest. I'll be good to go in a few more minutes." He did feel a bit better, aside from the pain in his right side. There really was nothing he could do about this ribs for now. He was unsure of what could be done for them after he left Death Mountain. How long did a cracked bone take to heal? Weeks, maybe? There was no way he could sit and rest when there was still a portion of Hyrule trapped beneath Twilight. Perhaps he could talk to Renado about it. Shamans were known for making medicines, so perhaps the man could make something that would dull the pain.
About ten minutes later he walked back around the shed to try to spot the metal bridge that she had mentioned. It was at this end of the quarry, but in the opposite corner than the one that he was in. A ramp made its way down to a lower catwalk that was level with few metal supports, supports that likely held up the bridge when it was lowered. The catwalk also extended to a smaller stone walkway that had another control console and another winch, the rope extending up into a hole in the wall. The other end of the rope was likely connected to the bridge. One of the Bulbin corpses bobbed gently in the water near the raised bridge, and the nearby Beamos paid it no mind. They seemed to react to living things, not movement in general. Perhaps they were more magical than machine.
Link's eyes traced the path from the catwalk nearest to the raised metal bridge, and along the various connected platforms. Eventually he found the way over: behind the shed was a piece of catwalk that had seemed to go nowhere the first time he saw it, but now looking again he could see that there were chains attached to winches above it. It was raised.
"Midna, can you lower this? I know it's in the sun, but there's no other way for me to get over there." At least it didn't appear so. The wooden pylons that supported the platforms didn't look like they were climbable. He could see the back side of the steel console behind the mesh guardrail. "There's the controls." Link said, pointing.
He could briefly see her dark form come from his body, and blur into the underside of the platform. There was a bit of that crackling dark energy he had seen her wielding before, a dim sort of electricity that surrounded the metal console. Then there was a clunk, and a ratcheting metallic noise as the winches lowered the catwalk until its end touched the ground. A shadow jumped from beneath the platform and into his chest as Midna returned to hide beneath his green tunic again.
"Thanks." he told her, and began walking up the ramp to make his way over to the other side of the quarry. There were other barrels of explosives here and there, so even if he had managed to get past the one, the Bulbins could have tried to blow him up with another. Jumping in the water was a split-second decision and not a premeditated plan, but it turned out to be the best course of action in the end.
The two Beamos were easy to take down compared to the other ones, since they did not slowly rotate like the others had. Since their backs were a wall, the two blocky machines strafed back and forth while searching for targets, and ultimately moved a lot less. It was easier to shoot out the glass lenses on this pair. There was no way he could retrieve these two arrows, since the Beamos were nearly as wide as the stone walkway they were positioned on, and there was no way to get around them. At least Midna had spares.
He made his way down the ramp to the control console, which was little more than a metal box with a switch on the side of a housing for a large winch. Luckily it was the kind of switch that an ordinary human could flick, and didn't require Goron strength. Not so luckily the winch did not move, and Link frowned when the reliable Goron machinery did not work.
"Look, they put some kind of goop into the mechanism." Midna's voice pointed out, and he looked to the left to the other half of the machine. It did indeed seem like there was some kind of thick black substance gumming up the coiled part of the winch, preventing it from turning.
When Link got closer, he could smell oil. "It looks like tar. I think the Gorons sabotaged their own bridge to keep the Bulbins out. You were right, Midna: this looks like it's the right way." He drew his sword and placed the blade against the taut rope going up to the hole in the side of the quarry. "I hate to abuse a blade like this." he said, sawing at the thick rope. "My father would never let me hear the end of it if he was around to see this." he added, muttering to himself. Midna did not comment on that, thankfully.
The rope eventually gave way, and the bridge dropped with a loud clang, bouncing once off the metal supports before landing flat. Startled grunts and the sounds of another language came from the dark tunnel beyond, and then several Bulbins ran out, clubs at the ready. Link cursed and drew his shield, ignoring the pain in his side for the umpteenth time that day. He had another fight on his hands, and he was still exhausted.