" Well, here we go again," Link said.
Volvagia shot a blast of fire at him. Link rolled out of the way. Link remembered how he defeated Volvagia last time (of course, that event happens two years from when this story takes place). Link got out his megaton hammer and threw it at Volvagia's head. Volvagia simply swallowed the hammer, like it were no more an attack than it were a rare hectomaloptopus.
" Link!" a voice said. Link looked in the direction of the source of the voice. It was Medli flying back into the chamber. Link's jaw dropped once more. Flying behind Medli was a flock of birds, flying in formation as if they were an elite air force rather than a flock of birds. Medli whistled an arrangement of utterly random notes and the birds spread out, surrounding and attacking Volvagia. She continued to whistle and the birds continued to attack. Volvagia spewed fire in all directions.
" Medli! Come get me! Let's get out of here!" Link said. Meli looked at Volvagia, then back to Link.
" But what about the dragon?" she asked.
" It's no use!" Link said. " We can't defeat it! It's too strong!" Medli whistled one last time and then flew down to Link. Link grabbed on to her legs and they left through the hole in the wall. Through the hole was a long, fairly narrow tunnel. After a few minutes of flying, they finally caught a glimpse of light. The tunnel was about to lead them into the outside. As they left Death Mountain Cavern and caught the first in what felt like decades whiff of fresh air, Link and Medli couldn't help but give a sigh of relief. Medli took Link to the spot where she apparently had taken Ruto during her previous trip. Also, Link and Medli saw that everyone else had exited the cavern and joined Ruto. They all greeted Link and Medli and bombarded them with questions and concerns as they came in for a landing.
" Ruto told us everything!"
" Are you two okay?"
" We were worried sick!"
" What did it look like?"
" How did you manage to survive?"
" Did it have bad breath?"
" We thought you were goners!"
" I'm hungry!"
" We're so glad you're okay!"
For the next few weeks… (Sorry, I meant) the next few minutes, life was good. They were all just glad to be out of the cave and back into fresh air.
" Excuse us for a minute," Link said and led Medli away from the group. Once out of earshot, he continued with Medli. " Look about back there… when you came back for me… with help… well… thanks."
" Don't worry about it," Medli said. " I couldn't leave you back there with that thing." (Don't this just pull at your little heartstrings?)
" You can talk to birds?" Link asked. " Why didn't you tell me?"
" Well," Medli started, " No one else in my tribe can do it. It's just a talent of mine. People always call me a freak because of it. I was worried you might think I'm a freak, too, if I told you…"
" That's not freakish," Link said. " That's cool!"
" Thanks," Medli said, laughing slightly. " What was that thing?"
" That was the terrible fire breathing dragon, Volvagia," Link replied.
" I can't believe Ruto was right," Medli said. " We were being followed."
" Yeah," Link said, as if afraid to admit that Ruto was right and he was wrong. " Well, that doesn't matter now. We're safe now."
Just then, the ground started to shake. Everyone looked around in confusion. Then, the earth felt warm under their feet. It happened so fast, Link did not know what was happening. Volvagia leaped out of the ground and let out a tremendous roar. Medli ran a ways into the trees, whistled then took for the air along with another flock of birds. However, Volvagia was very angry about their last escape. He opened his mouth wide and began to inhale. Like a giant vacuum, he gobbled up all of the birds… then Link watched Medli's panicked face as Volvagia devoured her, too!
" Medli!" Link said, too much in shock and worry to say anything else. Then, a giant boulder hit Volvagia in the head. After a couple seconds of dizziness, Volvagia looked towards the source of the attack. Darunia was on a mountainside grabbing and throwing boulders. Volvagia sprung forward. Darunia, being very heavy from bulk, was too slow to dodge the attack in time and got devoured himself.
" Hey, you!" Mido said. Foolish Mido was behind Volvagia trying to distract the fiend. Volvagia gobbled him up easily. He then turned around and swallowed Ruto whole. Makar was using a propeller of leaves to hover above Volvagia's head unnoticed, ready to drop a seed on his head (Hey, at least he's trying to help). Obviously, this just annoyed Volvagia even more. He looked up and ate Makar. Link could not believe his eyes.
Tingle was floating high above via a big red balloon. He was holding a deadly looking bomb. Volvagia shot a blast of fire at him. The flames caused the bomb to explode while it was still in Tingle's hands. Link knew then he was gone.
Link ran into the forest as fast as his legs would take him. Farther and farther he ran. He wanted to get far away from that place. He did not want to see where he landed. He did not want to see where his teammates bombarded them with their questions and concerns. Most of all, he did not want to see where he last spoke with Medli.
" Had I known that she would be gone shortly after," Link thought, " I would have said something other than what's not really true." He had been on his journey for merely a few days, and already was filling his head with painful memories.
The End
Well, that's the end. Keep an eye out for the second book of my trilogy. It will be entitled, The Turn-Back Clock.