Chapter 2: Goron Vigilance
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The day began without incident. And, much to Link's surprise, it continued as such. There were taunts and jeers, of course, but nothing he couldn't deal with.
Surprise turned to guilt as the day wore on. What did I expect? he scolded himself. Beatings? Attempts on my life? Come on, Link - these are grown, hardened men, not immature squires. More than that, they're knights, bound to a code of chivalry.
Not that calling him a runt, loudly questioning his masculinity, and laughing at his height was particularly chivalrous. But it was easy to ignore mere words, wasn't it?
Well… they're easier to ignore than fists.
By the end of that first day, Sir Hanvorien's troop had inserted anchors and chains down two of the four crimson cliffs travellers would need to traverse using this faster route to Goron City. And, according to Hanvorien, that second one had been the most difficult. "We're in the homestretch, men," he grinned proudly. "Good work."
Link had no reason to expect the second day would pass by any differently than the first.
The scent of sulfur from the neighboring volcano drew him from slumber as dawn slipped over the mountain, graying the dark red rocks under its pale light. He sat up with a wince, massaging his sore shoulders. Din-cursed chains, he thought grumpily, turning his gaze to the bulging bag beside his bedroll. It was slightly smaller than it had been the previous morning, but still plenty heavy enough to strain his back and shoulders. Hmm… heard there were hot springs around here. Maybe when we're done Hanvorien'll let us…
He shook his head regretfully before he could finish the thought, yawning widely. He'd never do that. And if he did, I'm sure he'd find a way to keep me out of it.
He grimaced, remembering the burning fury in the older knight's eyes the day of the last tournament.
"I'll get you back for this, runt," Hanvorien had growled, wiping blood from his broken nose (Link hadn't meant to do it, but the man hadn't raised his shield in time to block the blow).
A cold ache seeped into his soul, out of place in the warm volcanic morning. I miss Choice, he thought, sliding out from beneath his blankets with a heavy sigh and rolling them back up.
The ache only intensified as he noticed the other knights around him beginning to stir. Good-natured laughter and the harsh smack of friendly slaps on the back broke the quiet morning. Smiles gleamed beneath bushy beards and crinkled the corners of eyes. The air was thick with lighthearted feelings of comradery, and Link felt as if he stood in a pillar of icy winter frost, an arm's length away from the tantalizing warmth of such friendship but unable to reach out and truly claim them for himself.
Alone.
Swallowing thickly, he shook his head again, shouldering the bag of chains and making his way over to the next cliff. C'mon. You were knighted - it's time to grow up. Don't be so soft! Friends? Who needs them? You have Choice, and sometimes the Captain. That's all you need.
But he couldn't shake that cold feeling from his chest.
The day's work commenced. The third cliff they worked on was the simplest, comprised of several ledges that jutted out almost like a staircase. It was a trivial task to set up the anchors and drive segments of the chain into the stone, held in place by the stakes.
"We'll need elixirs from here on out," Hanvorien boomed, wiping sweat from his brow. "Goronbi River's filled with lovely flowing lava. Don't want to get heatstroke out here, do you?"
Link dipped his hand into the pouch hanging from his belt, fingering the little glass vial inside. The other knights were approaching Garmish, whose responsibility it had been to bring and prepare elixirs for the journey. Link had brought a spare, just in case - he always felt it would be better to be over prepared than under.
Initially he'd justified bringing an elixir along in case someone else needed an extra. Now, with the word 'revenge' ringing alarm bells through his mind, he decided he would use it for himself. Wouldn't put it past them to give me a phony elixir. It's not as if that would kill me.
Immediately.
Regardless, he had brought only one elixir, so he decided to wait until he felt it was most necessary.
The final cliff had, at some point, probably been part of a path. After all, there were two Goron-forged metal bridges leading away from it, perched above an ominous river of angry orange lava. Now, the cliff was a mass of hardened volcanic rock, rough, black, and porous. Whatever path was there had long since been destroyed. Link scraped his hands as he climbed up; calloused though they were, they were no match against solid rock.
When he reached the top he slipped the chains from his stiff shoulders and uncoiled them, letting one end tumble down the side. Then he backed away from the edge, running his hand along the chain, and knelt down. He slid a stake from its bag and positioned it through one of the thick metal links before pulling a hammer from his belt and driving it downward.
Once the chain was secure, he pulled a small contraption made from a strange material he'd seen on a few of the ancient Sheikah shrines recently discovered. Straightening the hinge enacted some sort of internal mechanism creating a small, whirring blade of blue light. One of the Sheikah scientists working near the castle had created it - Robbie was his name, if Link remembered correctly. The little bladesaw was a prototype, but it was the most effective tool in the kingdom when it came to cutting through metal.
Link carefully lowered the whirring laser blade to the segment of chain just past the stake he'd placed. It was a familiar procedure by now, but nonetheless he winced at the harsh screeching of the blade against iron.
With the excess chain severed, he began coiling it back up and shoving it into his bag.
He didn't pay any attention to the clunk of his fellow knights' boots on stone and their muttered conversations as they followed him up the cliff until a shadow loomed over him; he looked up to see Groose standing beside him with a sneer. "Pretty important, huh?" he leered, nudging the chain with the toe of his boot. "I hear it took a lot to get chain thick enough for this job. Lots of resources, money, that sorta thing… would be a shame if anything happened to it."
Link's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he didn't stop what he was doing, winding the heavy metal into a neat loop.
Groose snorted. "Hey, what's this I hear about you refusing Garmish's elixirs? Not good enough for you, Chosen One?"
Link chose not to reply, biting his lip. I just wanted to be careful.
"Look at me when I'm talking, runt!" Groose exclaimed, a hint of impatience entering his voice. "You think you're too good for all of us - that it? Too good to talk to us lowly other knights."
"That's not it," Link muttered quietly before he could stop himself.
A sudden massive hand gripped the back of his tunic and hauled him to his feet, and suddenly he found himself eye to eye with Groose's meaty fist. "Listen up, runt," the older knight growled, shaking his fist menacingly. "You think you're so special, don't you? Undefeated in battle, wielder of the Master Sword… sounds pretty good, I'll admit." His eyes narrowed. "Well, I've heard it different. I say, the way you tell the measure of a man is by lookin' at his friends. The way I see it, you don't have any friends, do you? And that gives me, and everyone else, one up on you." With a twisted smirk, he released the back of Link's tunic and bent to snatch up the coils of chain in one hand.
"What are you doing with those?" Link asked, speaking each word carefully to keep his anger and hurt from showing. I do have friends! I have Choice, and the Captain, and… and maybe Mipha…
But it had been several years since he'd last been to the Domain to train the younger Zora warriors, and he had never heard from her in all of that time.
Groose shrugged. "Like I said - it'd be a shame if anything happened to this stuff." With a falsely innocent smile, he turned around and hurled them in the opposite direction. "Whoops! Better go find those before Hanvorien hears, eh?"
Link glared at him for a moment before darting after the chains. Groose was right; they were expensive materials. The beginnings of a shorter, safer route from Hyrule Castle to Goron City, a route that the King himself, and possibly his daughter, could eventually use for diplomatic affairs, required only the best.
The chains had slid down a small hill and right into the middle of a lizalfos camp. And it hadn't gone unnoticed - the seven reptilian monsters were now investigating it intently, hopping from side to side, heads tilted. As Link watched, creeping closer, they began to perform some sort of ritualistic dance. Almost in unison, they hopped forward onto their forelegs, shaking their tails in the air, and lifted one hand and then the other from the ground.
He shook his head slowly. Weird. A ghost of a grin passed over his face. They're inducting it into their clan.
Carefully he sank into a crouch and inched his way closer to the camp. The chain had come uncoiled; one end was sprawled several feet away from the closest lizalfos. I can grab it and run.
Hardly daring to breathe as nervous sweat dripped down his chest beneath his tunic, he slinked nearer, taking brief refuge behind one of the large metal crates surrounding the camp; beneath the midday sun he could feel heat radiating from their battered surfaces. Chewing his tongue, he peeked out at the dancing lizalfos, which were still oblivious to his presence, and took a hesitant step forward. Slow and steady, right?
Halfway from the crate to the chain, he realized the stupidity of his plan. Lizalfos were among the swiftest monsters in Hyrule; how could he hope to outrun them should they notice him stealing the chain?
And how could they not notice him stealing it? They were giving it all of their attention at the moment, inviting it to their tribe or something through their bizarre dance. Shaking his head regretfully, he got to his feet and unsheathed his blade. There's no avoiding this one.
"Hey!" he shouted, and instantly the lizalfos turned their heads to look at him.
Screeching with fury, they abandoned the chain and hurried to grab their weapons. Link darted forwards and snatched the chain, looping as much of it around his chest as he could while they were distracted before turning and racing up the hill. He only made it a third of the way up before an angry squawk from behind alerted him to the coming attack. Teeth clenched, he spun around and caught the monster's forked boomerang on the Master Sword, giving a slight start when the sun glinted on the weapon's jagged edge.
Darkness, all around, nothing but darkness, yellow pinpricks of eyes coming closer -
Forcing the shreds of memory from his mind, he pulled his blade free and lunged to the side to dodge the monster's next attack, watching out of the corner of his eye as the other five lizalfos hurried up the hill towards him.
Eyes narrowed, he blocked the next attack with the Master Sword and reached forward, closing his free hand around the creature's dry, scaly wrist while their weapons were locked together. With a vicious grunt he twisted the creature's forearm the wrong direction and shoved it backwards as it screeched in pain; determined, he raised his sword above his head and thrust downwards, piercing the monster's chest and ending its life.
"Sorry," he muttered, shifting to face the others. "Blame Groose."
He didn't wait for a lizalfos to attempt the first strike; he darted forwards to the closest monster, the flat of his blade facing outwards. The lizalfos raised its shield with a leering grin and Link slammed the Master Sword against it with all of his strength, knocking the monster off balance. Quickly he followed up with a swift horizontal slash that took off its head before whirling around in time to deflect another monster's attack.
By then the remaining four lizalfos had him completely surrounded. And all were attacking at once. Link took the dangling end of the chain in his free hand and snapped it forward, sending two of the monsters jumping back in surprise. Heart hammering, he blocked the third lizalfos' overhanded strike with its boomerang and sidestepped in time to miss the fourth's vicious lunge.
His mind raced and he snapped the end of the chain at the two monsters on his left once again, keeping them away from him as he dealt with the others. Should've brought a shield!
He blocked the next blows aimed at him on the Master Sword, twisting his blade to catch in the grooves formed by the jagged edges of their boomerangs. Grunting from the effort he cracked the heavy chain forward at one of them, striking its arm and sending it scuttling backwards, screeching in agony.
Turning, Link jerked the Master Sword to the side, tearing the other lizalfos' weapon from its hand and leaving it with just a shield. Dropping the chain he reached forward with his left hand and grabbed the edge of the shield, planning to hold it away while he impaled the monster's heart with his blade, but a sudden painful impact from behind knocked him forward, off balance, and the lizalfos cackled in delight, yanking its shield out of his grip and sending him stumbling forward.
Link quickly caught himself before he could fall and spun around, sprinting at the monster he'd injured with the chain as it cradled its wounded arm and thrusting his blade upwards with a cry, stabbing the Master Sword through its chin into its skull. Yanking the sacred blade free, he whirled to face the remaining three lizalfos.
They seemed more hesitant to attack now that their numbers had been cut in half. With a hoarse cry, one of them began hopping from side to side as if trying to goad him, while the others snatched up shields from their fallen kin, holding them protectively in front of their bodies.
Eyes narrowed, Link snatched up the chain trailing from his body and snapped it at the lizalfos hopping up and down, sending it leaping backwards with a frightened squawk. As if on cue, the other two charged, one jumping up with its weapon raised and its tail flailing while the other darted around his right side. Link darted forward, dodging under the first and spinning around in time to stab the Master Sword through its back.
A sudden tug brought his attention back to the second lizalfos, and his eyes widened as he saw the end of the chain he'd wrapped around his torso held firmly in its long, taloned fingers - it had discarded its shield. Jaws parted in a cocky sneer, it yanked the chain forwards, trying to pull him off balance. But Link turned his stumble into a run, thrusting the Master Sword forward into the monster's chest. Big mistake, he thought ruefully as he tugged his blade free.
A sudden cold sting on the back of his shoulder sent him whirling around with a pained grimace to face the last monster. His blood glinted on its jagged boomerang and his heart skipped several beats as he fought back unwelcome memories. Anger burned in his heart and he slapped the lizalfos' next blow aside, following up with a swift strike to its neck. It staggered backwards, blood bubbling in its mangled throat, and Link struck again slicing its head from his shoulders, ending its suffering.
He stood for a moment, surveying the damage. Six lizalfos dead around him, lying in their blood. Six? Weren't there seven?
Doesn't matter - it's gone now.
Heaving a sigh, he turned around, only to find a Goron standing at the top of the hill.
And not just any Goron - the legendary Daruk, mightiest of all the rock folk. He stood twice as tall as Groose and at least four times broader, comprised of nothing but muscles as solid as - as rocks.
"Well, uh, I would've gone down to help, but it looked like you had it under control," the Goron chuckled. "Good one, bud! That's quite a feat for someone your si-"
A blur of motion behind the Goron caught Link's attention - the seventh lizalfos. With a gasp, he lunged up the hill and swung the Master Sword forward just in time to deflect an attack aimed for Daruk, and the lizalfos stamped its foot in frustration, snarling. Link struck its weapon again with as much force as he could muster, sending it clattering to the ground, and plunged the Master Sword through its heart.
Heart pounding, he scanned the area carefully, wary of anything else he might have missed. Seven. There were seven in the camp, right? ...Yes. Seven.
Slowly he turned to face the wide-eyed Goron behind him.
"Well, thanks a heap for that, little guy!" Daruk grinned toothily. "Didn't even see that comin.' I think you mighta just saved my life!"
Link shrugged awkwardly. "It was… nothing." Not knowing quite what else to say, he turned back towards the cliff, eager to return to the others.
A massive hand the size of a boulder clamped down on his shoulder and stopped him in his tracks, nearly buckling his knees. "Hold on, now!" Daruk protested. "I've gotta reward you somehow! Not every day someone saves me! Usually it's the other way around!"
"I've got to get back," Link protested. "It was nothing, really."
"Get back?" Daruk scratched his beard. "There's nothin' else 'round here for… Oh! You must be part of that, uh, that survey group or whatever. The one building a new path to Goron City!"
Link nodded, unsuccessfully attempting to escape the Goron's iron grip. "We aren't… building it yet. Just preliminary work."
"Stuff like that's bound to work up an appetite," Daruk mused, patting his belly. "That settles it, then! That's how I reward you - you and your group'll come to Goron City this evening for a feast in your honor!"
Link winced. Yeah, that'll go down just fine. "A-actually, that's okay, you don't have to worry about anything like that -"
"Nonsense! Go on, show me where the rest of you guys are!"
Link bit his lip. "This way," he said, resigned to his fate.
Updated 6/15
