Chapter One
It was a sunny day, clear and warm with a comfortable breeze. Unfortunately, Dylan was in the Eldin Caves and therefore shielded from the nice weather. It was almost unbearably hot in the volcanic caves, but Dylan had been sent here to wait for his superiors. He was posing as a merchant, the brownish tunic and trousers he wore concealing all his tools and weapons nicely. Buying drinks for a goron 'friend,' he was doing his best to learn the rounds, shifts, and the locations of any valuables. Just as he thought he might discern something important among the goron's drunken babbling, a loud shriek interrupted his conversation.
A lizalfos, one of the dragon knight's soldiers, had gotten into an argument with a goron veteran several tables away. Tensions were high between the gorons and the lizalfos after the affair with the dark sorceress Cia as the two species had been on opposite sides of the conflict. An uneasy truce had been reached in the caves; the boundaries had been redrawn to reduce the likelihood of an incident in the hopes of preventing another war. Dylan thought whatever had caused the argument might be worth looking into.
"Cursed lizard-men, always causing trouble," grumbled his goron friend, watching the fight and looking a bit like he'd like to join in. "You shouldn't trust anything with scales, especially this so-called dragon knight. How can you call yourself a knight if you've gone around doing dishonorable things like using fairies to guard keeps against their will?"
The drunken goron was drawing the attention of several lizalfos seated at a nearby table. Dylan agreed and egged him on, forgetting the lizalfos could also hear his trash talk. Planning to abandon the goron to the wrath of the other patrons, Dylan listened to the argument as the goron rambled about the dragon knight's foul deeds,there was nothing of value to collect from it and he quickly became bored of the fight.
"Are you going to let your goron brother fight alone?" he interrupted, "the other lizalfos have perked up a bit, they might jump in to back their comrade soon, and that goron will be left by himself! Aren't you going to help?"
"No, no, we'll get in trouble," muttered the goron, hunching over his drink.
"Those slimy green lizards don't look at all worried about getting raked over the coals and you're just going to let this happen?!" Dylan cajoled.
"You're right!" The goron slammed his hand on the table, downed the last of his drink and rolled into the fray. The two lizalfos who had been listening jumped in after him.
Dylan skirted the rim of the crowd that had formed around the soldiers. Escaping the bar, the opportunistic thief left to search old keeps. He found nothing but a few rupees in the pots lining the walls of the nearest keep, but met a challenge on the way to the next one.
"You there!" boomed a goron guard standing at the old outpost. "You're trespassing! What brings you into goron territory?"
Dylan thought briefly before he answered. "Thank the goddess! I was looking for someone of authority! There's a fight between some gorons and those awful lizard things at the tavern! You've got to hurry before things get out of hand!"
"Wh- the lizalfos are causing trouble?! Thanks for the info!" shouted the guard as he rolled down the hill past Dylan.
The brown haired thief snuck into the keep but stopped abruptly once he set foot inside. Power seemed to be emanating from somewhere in the keep, beckoning Dylan to find its source. He blinked in bemusement before moving further in to do so. He couldn't waste too much time looking before his cover of the fight would be gone. After a frantic search of the keep he was ready to give up and move on when he kicked a small metal object across the room. He hadn't noticed it before; it seemed to have appeared out of the ground. It hit the crumbling stone ground with a metallic clink and skittered behind a pot.
Dylan quickly strode across the room and picked it up. It was a ring. A blue stone set in a dark gray metal band. He added it to the rupees in the bag on his hip. It was time to leave. Dylan stood briefly in the keep, wondering why no one ever bothered to mark which doors went where, then decided to go through the door on the right. He turned again almost immediately as a patrol of gorons rounded the corner. The thief walked quietly up the hill, keeping an eye on the gorons behind him. When he thought they were a safe distance apart, he turned to see where he was going and topped the hill.
He was greeted by the piercing screech of a lizalfos at another outpost several yards ahead. When it made no move towards him, he cautiously continued again, tuning before the outpost to avoid getting too close to the large bipedal lizard, and then ducked into the keep next to it. He realized his mistake about halfway across the room.
Volga was sitting alone in the corner of the empty keep, his green-eyed, dragon-head helmet on the table next to him with its long fiery plume pooling on the floor. He was looking over a map of the caves, deciding what he could take in exchange for the crystal mines, when a screech from the outpost outside reached the keep. He looked up as a human walked into his keep from the gorons side of the caves. Tired of the demands for reparations and complaints about his actions during the affair with Cia, the blond knight was in no mood to hear what had brought this man to his keep. However, he was not going to let him waltz through either, so called out, his deep baritone sounding loudly through the room and stopping the man in his tracks.
"What are you doing in my keep?" he demanded. The man's eyes widened as he stumbled over his words, having just noticed the dragon knight.
"I, uh, well actually, I'm lost," he said lamely.
Volga scoffed. "Lost?"
"Yeah. I was looking for someone of high rank," Dylan said, finally finding his words. "There's a skirmish in the tavern, between some of your lizalfos and those greedy gorons."
"Why are you telling me? That's what my captains and lieutenants are for." The man sounded sincere and fights were expected, but something about the man was familiar, and wrong. Volga was debating letting him go when he realized what it was. This insignificant worm had managed to acquire Wizzro's Ring.
"Show me what's in your pouch." Volga demanded, gesturing to the leather bag on the man's hip.
"I, nothing! Theres nothing. Only a few rupees, I'm a merchant, very poor business today due to that fight breaking out, but what can you expect from gorons?" He laughed nervously, trying to change the subject.
Volga stood up slowly, drawing himself to his full height as he towered over the human. The deliberate motion was as intimidating as it was necessary, allowing him to shift to a ready position without drawing attention to his injured leg. The broken bone was a casualty of his last battle against the hero, and while he could work around it during his daily affairs, weakness was not something he could afford to show to his soldiers. He narrowed his eyes as the human made no move to open the pouch, and let a growl into his voice as he repeated the demand.
"Just some rupees," he squeaked. "I, uh, think I'd better go." Dylan reflexively dropped a smoke bomb to cover his escape, before realizing that wouldn't do much to help him as the knight's obviously injured leg would prevent him from pursuing.
An angry roar echoed from the keep and the thief looked back to see something rise above the broken walls, dragonbone pike in hand, with scaly red wings sprouting from its back. The wings paired with the red scaly armor Volga wore made him look like a small dragon, even without the horned gray helmet he left behind. Dylan's eyes widened in shock at the sight as he frantically ran, searching for an escape. In front of him was another keep; to his left, a few pools of lava with a few winding paths around them. He made a split second decision and ran for the keep.
He was not prepared for the roads abrupt ending, loose pebbles sending him sliding over the edge and into the keep below, as he had been checking how close Volga was. He landed heavily on the ground below before hastily scrambling to his feet. Dylan ran for the only open door, spurred on by the heavy flapping of wings behind him. Going into the keep had been a mistake. He made it to the doorway, heart sinking as he saw nothing but a dock sitting in the lava. Two serpentine dragons jumped over the end of the dock, the lava dripping off them, scorching the stone where it landed across the path.
The only escape was past the dragon knight and back up the drop off into the caves. His clawshot could help with the second half, but the first… His eyes darted to the silver glinting from beneath his sleeve as an idea began to form. It just might work. He turned his attention to the advancing knight, thinking that, if he could catch one of Volga's wings he could pull him to the ground and, if he was fast enough, get by while the man was recovering. Another thought crossed his mind as he took aim: if he was faster he might be able to get a knife to Volga's throat and permanently stop his pursuit.
The dragon knight was injured, if he managed to pull that off, he could become a hero amongst the gorons! He'd have fame and fortune ten times what he'd stolen! Dylan grinned and timed his attack.
Volga glared down at the man who dared to bring that ring into his keep. The thief had rolled up his sleeve and there was some metallic contraption shining on his wrist. Volga couldn't quite make out what it was, but it reminded him of a device the hero had employed to bring down Argorok. He carefully lowered himself to confirm his suspicions and get a clearer view of the possible threat. The release and clanking of chains sounded before the clawshot latched onto one of his wings. The thief easily pulled Volga to the ground, keeping his wings from flapping in sync, and he fell, landing painfully in the dirt.
Pain shot up his leg, throbbing with every pulse between his knee and ankle. A roar ripped from his throat as he writhed on the ground, wings withdrawing into his back. The thief ran to Volga, knife in hand. Registering the threat, the dragon knight instinctively took a breath, exhaling a spout of flame hot enough to melt steel into slag. Dylan's battle cry quickly turned to a shriek of pain as he was incinerated, knife inches away from Volga's throat. Volga picked himself up off the ground, leaning heavily on his pike and seething with rage at the charred mass at his feet. He would have kicked it if his leg weren't throbbing so painfully.
"Good for nothing idiot!" he hissed at the mass before turning toward the sound of running feet. Four goron guards stopped at the sight of him.
"What brings the Dragon Knight t-to our side of the caves?" one asked, trembling.
"A thief," Volga whispered angrily. Using his ability to breathe fire without properly preparing his throat had shot his vocal chords, making his voice a hoarse whisper, unable to be heard over the ambiance of the caves.
The goron leaned to his companions. "Did you hear what he said?" he asked quietly. The second goron shook his head, eyes wide. "Could you repeat that?" Said the first, voice cracking.
"A thief stole something very important from your side of the caves. He came to my side and attacked me so I killed him," Volga rasped. The gorons did not respond. They couldn't hear him but did not want to offend or anger the knight, especially since the smoking pile at his feet indicated he may have just killed someone. There was silence as the goron captain decided what to do, interrupted by the arrival of a lizalfos chieftain and a few more of Volga's soldiers.
"Report for you master!" declared the lizalfos, somewhat surprised to find Volga so deep in the gorons territory.
"A lizalfos, ask him what's going on," said the goron captain to one of his fellows. He was getting more nervous and wanted to tag team the situation. Volga sighed in exasperation and beckoned the lizalfos closer, hissing at it in its own language.
"Translate this," he said. "A human thief stole a very valuable item from the gorons. That thief then came to my keep and attacked me, so I killed him."
The lizalfos did so then turned to face Volga for the answer to the gorons next question: what did he steal? Volga hesitated before beckoning another lizalfos to him. He then pointed at what was left of the thief and hissed a command. The second lizalfos knelt and began clawing through the pile as Volga addressed the leading goron.
"He stole the wizard's ring," he said as the second lizalfos stood, gingerly holding something in his hand. "It is currently in my possession and they will need to negotiate for its return."
The lizalfos translated, waiting for the goron's answer as he discussed the matter with his soldiers. One goron turned and headed back up the dock as the captain faced Volga with his answer.
"Thank you for taking care of that," he said, pointing to the charred mass on the ground. "We won't keep you any longer, and we will dispose of…the remains, and send someone to make negotiations shortly."
Volga took the ring from the second lizalfos before sprouting his wings and taking flight. He was pleased they didn't keep him longer, he was very tired of standing there and his leg badly needed addressed.
The goron captain sighed once Volga and his soldiers left, then sent his remaining soldiers to push the smoking mass into the lava at the end of the dock. The lava bubbled slightly as the thief's remains slid under the surface. Once that was taken care of, the gorons returned to their chief to tell him of the events and prepare a negotiator to send to the lizalfos side of the caves.