The guard looked over the top of the letter at him again, his brows creasing in bewilderment.
Link scowled. The guard must have read Zelda's letter a dozen times already and still wouldn't let him pass. If Link didn't climb Death Mountain he couldn't find the second stone!
"Er…look, kid," the metal man finally said. "I'm not saying this isn't Princess Zelda's signature…and I don't know what sort of game you two are playing."
"I need to go up the mountain," Link insisted again. "It's important."
"The mountain's a dangerous place, kid. You need at least need a proper shield!"
With effort, Link swung the heavy Hylian shield off his back. Not being strong enough to hold it up, it thunked into the dirt at his feet.
The guard gave him a skeptical look, then shook his head. "Alright, Mr. Hero," he chuckled. "Do what you need to do. But don't say I didn't warn you!"
With another shake of his head that grown-ups seemed very fond of, he unlocked the gate barring the trail and slid it aside. Link hefted his new shield onto his back and waved at the guard before sprinting up the rocky path.
It wasn't long before Kakariko became nothing more than an outline of red and blue rooftops in the valley, and the guard was gone from sight. Even so, it took Link most of the day of hiking up the uneven and rocky terrain before he reached the halfway point.
The dusty brown peak of Death Mountain rose still higher above him. Link wondered if the mountain's top sat higher than the sky itself, since it pierced the cloud cover.
His curious musings were interrupted when the ground started shaking. Confused, Link spun in a circle, trying to find the source of the sudden earthquake. Was the mountain erupting!?
A large and odd-shaped boulder came barrelling around a bend in the trail, headed straight for him. Before Link could move out of the way, it jolted to a stop next to him.
Link grabbed the Kokiri sword off his back. To his shock, the boulder moved, unfolding into stocky arms and legs, a round head and bulky body.
The boulder turned to Link, wide brown eyes blinking at him curiously. Link took an uncertain step backwards.
"Hello," the boulder spoke, freezing Link where he stood.
"What are you?" Link asked.
Rather than be offended, the boulder's wide mouth grinned, showing large, rectangular molars. "I'm a goron," it said.
"I've never heard of a goron." Link frowned.
"Really?" The goron tilted its round head to the side. "Why are you wearing green? Not a lot of Hylians wear green."
"I'm not a Hylian! I'm a Kokiri!"
Warm brown eyes lit up. "A Kokiri! Here? Oh, this is so exciting!" The goron started to jump up and down in his joy, causing the earth to tremble under them.
Navi, jostled out from under Link's hat, surveyed the bouncing goron.
"They're the inhabitants of the mountain," she explained, her fairy senses providing her information. "One of the races of Hyrule. They're friendly, and quite close with the Hylians and the Royal Family. They also eat rocks."
Link's head snapped to Navi. "They eat rocks!?"
The goron had stopped jumping. "You must go to Goron City," he told Link. "Elder Darunia will be so happy to see you!"
With another show of his tombstone teeth, the goron curled up again and rolled off down the mountain. Perplexed, Link watched him roll until Navi tugged on his earlobe.
"This way," she said impatiently.
Following the trail, they soon came to the gaping mouth of a cave. In front of it was a wooden gate with a faded banner over it, painted red with symbols Link couldn't understand.
The blackness of the cave soon melted away as torchlight further in illuminated the way. Soon enough he was in a massive, surprisingly bright underground chamber. It was noisy, too. The sound of many more gorons rolling around echoed off the walls.
The home of the gorons was divided into rings, all rising at different levels from the bottom of the main chamber. From these levels, several tunnels snaked off further into the belly of the cave.
Spotting a downward-leading set of stairs etched into the rock, Link made his way through the maze-like tunnels and levels until he found the bottom. The temperature had spiked, and he wiped his brow with the back of his hand.
Navi huffed. "It's so hot in here!"
A couple of gorons stared at Link curiously as he passed by, but didn't stop him. He approached one of them, unsure what to say.
"I was told to look for Elder Darunia?" he tried, stumbling on the unfamiliar name.
Gorons all looked remarkably similar, though some had eyes that were further apart, and some were different heights. The shortest of the gorons who had gathered around him perked up.
"Are you a messenger of the Royal Family?" he asked.
Link breathed a sigh of relief. He passed Zelda's letter over. A murmur of excitement swept through the crowd of watching gorons.
"To the Elder!" the short goron rumbled.
Pushed along in a mass of marching boulders, Link was brought into a second chamber on the bottom level. This one was quite small and rectangular, and very sparsely furnished. Aside from a few tables and chairs, the only thing there was a large statue of a goron, chiseled out of the rock wall.
In front of the statue stood the largest goron Link had seen yet. Unusually tall, with a muscular frame and coal black eyes, the goron wore a fierce expression on his grim mouth. His wild white hair that sprouted from his head and chin in angry spikes aided his intimidating aura.
"What's this?" the big goron grumbled.
If regular gorons could shake the room with their happiness, this goron could bring down the mountain with his grumpiness.
"He's a messenger from the Hylian Royal Family!" one goron piped up.
"He brought this, Elder Darunia!" another said, offering Zelda's letter.
Darunia took the letter in one meaty fist and scanned it with his beetle-black eyes. He grunted and tossed it away as if it were worthless.
"I've got bigger problems," he grumbled, looking down at Link. "Goron problems," he emphasized, making a shooing motion with both giant hands. "Beat it, kid."
"What's wrong?" Link asked.
Link couldn't tell if the look that crossed Darunia's stone face was surprise or incredulity.
"We've had a poor harvest of bomb flowers, dodongos have returned to our caverns, and to top it all off, the entrance has been sealed! We've been unable to eat the tasty rocks inside and we're going hungry!"
He finished his angry outburst by crossing his massive arms over his chest and glaring down at Link.
The angry huff the Goron elder let out and his posture stirred a comparison in Link's mind. Whenever Mido was angry, he would cross his arms and huff the exact same way, even tap his foot or stick out his bottom lip in displeasure.
He reached for Saria's ocarina and brought it to his lips. Saria's Song was a simple but infectious tune. It had always worked to calm down Mido.
The playful, mysterious notes of the song echoed around the stone chamber. The gorons around Link began to sway, eventually raising their stocky legs and stomping their feet in time.
Glancing up, he saw that a strange fit had overtaken Darunia. The massive goron was leaping from one foot to the next, his flyaway mane flying as he danced about the room with his arms raised. The smile on his broad face was wild.
Darunia's dancing was enthusiastic enough to shake the ground beneath Link's feet. He hastily stepped back from Darunia's flying limbs.
As the song faded, Darunia stooped to catch his breath.
"Whoo! What a good beat! Just like that...all my worries disappeared." His shrewd eyes landed on Link. "Hey, kid! You really want to help my people?"
"I want to save Hyrule," Link said. "That's why I need the Spiritual Stone."
Darunia exploded with laughter. "The Spiritual Stone?! You think I'm just going to give a little kid like you the Gorons' Ruby?"
Link shrugged. He didn't see why not; he needed the stone to save Hyrule.
Darunia finally realized that Link wasn't laughing. He inhaled deeply and said, "Look, if you're so eager to prove yourself, why don't you destroy the monsters inside the Dodongos' Cavern? Then I'll think about it."
Link stashed the ocarina, beaming. "Alright! Where's the cavern?"
The boss of the gorons shook his head in disbelief. "The entrance is sealed, but we can fix that with some bomb flowers." Darunia shot Link one last look, sizing him up. "I hope you're ready for what lies in that cavern, kid."
Link managed to lift the Hylian shield from his back before he dropped it to the ground. Darunia sighed and pulled a large gold ring from his finger. He tossed it to Link; it was much too large for his hand, but it fit comfortably on his wrist.
"That should help," Darunia told him. "That way even a lil' fella like you can lift our bomb flowers. You'll need them."
At Darunia's order a pair of gorons escorted Link back through the many rings of the city. As they climbed one level after another, Link watched the daily life of the gorons with fascination.
Unlike the people of Castle Town, they were all friendly and welcoming. They didn't find it odd for a Kokiri to come visit them. They seemed to spend their days mining, smithing and eating, as far as Link could tell. Their simplistic way of life appealed to him as it reminded him of the Kokiri.
The gorons were also fans of music and dancing. A few of them asked to hear Link play his ocarina once more or offered to play music for him. Whenever he stopped to talk with a goron, Navi tutted impatiently. Link's goron escorts weren't bothered at all, however.
When they at last reached the city's exit, it was sunset. Having spent the whole day inside the home of the gorons, Link blinked in the sudden change of light. Despite their cavernous dwelling, the city was well-lit.
Link and his companions followed the mountain trail until they reached the enormous boulder blocking the mouth of a cave.
"This is it," one goron rumbled, tapping his fist against the huge rock.
"We'll clear the way," the second goron told Link, curling into a boulder. "Just wait!"
The pair of them rolled back up the path, leaving Link and Navi standing before the cave. A minute later, a round, dark blue item dropped from the sky and landed in front of the rock.
"What is that?" Link asked, bending down to inspect it. The thing looked like a very fat flower blossom, with tiny leaves decorating the crown.
"Link, get back!" Navi trilled.
Link leapt out of the way as several more of the flowers rained from the sky. A faint fizzling sound came from them, and soon they began to expand. Link flung the Hylian shield off his back and thrust its point into the dirt. He crouched behind it just before the blasts of the bomb flowers went off.
In the cacophony of explosions and falling rocks, Link heard the two gorons call down from the cliff above.
"It's all clear!"
"You can go on in, now!"
Navi, still shaking, poked her head out from behind the shield. Link swung it back onto his back and picked his way through the remains of the boulder. The entrance of the cavern stretched wide and black before him.
Retrieving the lantern Talon had given him and lighting its wick, Link tied it to his belt and reached for the hilt of his Kokiri's sword. He walked on and on into the cave until its consuming darkness swallowed him whole.
~oOo~
The Crow's face was tightly drawn. Her stern mouth pinched, her hawkish eyes narrowed, her cheeks pressed in. She was displeased.
In all the years Dark had lived at Palardine House, he had seldom seen more than three expressions on Ms. Crowe's face. The first was her habitual, neutral look which made her look stern. The second was exasperation. The third was the unpleasant one she wore now.
"Come," she commanded, barely sparing him a glance before she turned sharply and walked away from him.
He knew she expected him to grateful for springing him. Spending the night in a cell hadn't been the most exciting experience of his young life, but it was still preferable to spending it in the Crow's company.
They stepped out of the guard outpost—one of a dozen in Castle Town that was used by the town's soldiers to conduct business and hold small-time criminals—and took a left. Palardine was only a few streets away.
At her usual brisk pace, Crowe trotted down the road ahead of Dark. He wandered after her, aimlessly kicking at loose stones.
"Should have known," Crowe muttered to herself. "Knew you were trouble."
She sighed and shot a narrow-eyed glance over her should to ensure he was still following. Dark ignored her.
"Thieving!" she suddenly spat. "No wonder," she added, pinning him with a nasty sneer. "Considering your background."
Dark ground his teeth together until he felt his jaw crack. He felt like spitting in her stupid, pinched face. The disgust in her eyes made his blood boil under his skin.
Luckily they reached the orphanage before she could make any more comments. She unlocked the front door with the heavy key she kept on a chain around her neck, then held open the door for him. He marched inside without looking at her, intending to go straight upstairs.
"Hold it." She let the door slam closed, then seized him by the shoulder and spun him to face her. "You are not to leave the house for any reason. You are not permitted in the yard. You will serve in the house's kitchen until you have repaid me and learned your place."
Crowe barely kept the calm level of her voice. Dark twisted out of her grasp, ignoring her tight-lipped fury, and headed for the staircase. Other kids hung out of their doors as he passed each landing of the house, some curious, others snide.
"Have fun spending the night in a cell, halfer?"
Dark turned his head at the sound of the voice. It was Treyan, one of the other kids around his age. His entire family had been killed in the war.
"Shut up," Dark snapped.
Treyan came out of his room and joined Dark on the landing. "Better get used to bars," the other boy taunted Dark. "It's nothing less than what a Gerudo-halfer like you deserves."
Dark wound up and punched Treyan square in the face. A collective gasp came from their audience. The boy reeled back, his nose spurting blood. Too shocked to hit back, he touched his fingers to his face and stared at the blood there.
"Dark!" Crowe had arrived on the scene.
Her displeased expression had morphed into outright rage. Her hand whipped out and caught Dark on the side of the face. Her nails left marks on his cheek.
Dark refused to let her win. He stared back into her hateful face, willing her to feel how much he despised her.
Crowe took a step back, then diverted her attention to Treyan. She sighed heavily. "Let's get you downstairs," she said.
Crowe took Treyan by the shoulder and escorted him down the stairs. One by one, the other kids slipped behind their doors and shut them. Dark, alone in the hall, looked towards his door.
He didn't go inside. Instead, he climbed to the top level of the house and walked to the door at the end of the hall. It was here, in a seldom used storage closet, that there was a ladder leading to a trap door. It was this little secret that let him out onto the roof of Palardine.
Scooting across the roof to his favourite perch, Dark sighed and wrapped his arms around his knees. At least it was quiet up here. Castle Town was just waking up; he could hear doors opening, windows squeaking open, people calling out.
Dark lost track of time as he watched the sunrise over the faraway peaks of Death Mountain. He was used to the noise and bustling of the town, but some days he longed for a bit of peace.
"You're so predictable," Sienna said from behind him.
Over his shoulder he saw her climb through the trap door to join him. "You've probably heard all about it," he replied, going back to his brooding.
"It's all anyone can talk about at breakfast," she confirmed, sitting next to him and tucking her legs under her. She handed him a bowl full of porridge and a spoon.
"Thanks. How's Treyan?"
Sienna gave him a sympathetic look. "Your tone tells me how genuine your concern is."
Dark snickered. "I'm more curious than anything."
"He's fine," Sienna said, to his disappointment. "Just a bloodied nose. But he's milking it, of course." She shook her head and rested her chin on her palm. "What a little brat."
He laughed. "You sound like a disappointed mom," he teased.
Sienna turned her hazel eyes on him. "What did he say to make you hit him?"
"Nothing," Dark growled, pretending to be more interested in his porridge. He felt her eyes drilling into his skull. "Fine," he relented. "He called me a halfer."
The look she gave Dark made him turn away. Sienna had stuck by his side even as the other kids started to learn words like "halfer" to fling at him. Her best guess from her many books and his description of his parents from memory had led her to conclude that his father had been at least part Gerudo. That hadn't stopped others from assuming he was a half-blood.
Living in Castle Town, they'd overheard more than one prejudiced conversation. Hylian relations with the Gerudo had been tense for years, and they'd hit an all-time high recently.
"It doesn't matter," Dark said. "It won't happen again."
"...You won't hit Treyan again or he won't insult you again?"
Dark scoffed and set down the bowl. "Neither. I'm never going to see Treyan again." Sienna's brow knitted with confusion. "I'm leaving Palardine," he explained.
"You mean...permanently," Sienna said.
He nodded. "As soon as I'm able. I have everything I need except for one thing."
"What's that?"
He looked back to the fuzzy gray outline of Death Mountain and replied, "Revenge on Sakon."
~oOo~
"Watch out for the lava pits, Link!"
"There's lava pits everywhere, Navi!"
Navi tsked. Link wiped the sweat from his brow and planned his next move. He hopped over to the next rock that looked stable.
Dodongo's Cavern turned out to be a gigantic maze of either mining tunnels or treacherous, lava-filled rooms. This one featured a giant rock pillar surrounded by smaller rocks and platforms Link was currently using to move around.
Aside from being lost, the only problems Link had encountered were keese and baby dodongos. The biggest threat the tiny, armless and legless reptiles had posed was the fact that they blew up after being stabbed.
Link shrugged the heavy Hylian shield off his back, letting it thunk to the ground. "This place is so frustrating!"
Navi fanned her face. "And hot," she complained. "How can you carry that shield around?"
Link pulled his cap off and messed up his hair. "My Kokiri tunic helps. Can't your fairy senses tell you anything?"
"They have their limits," Navi replied, her wings vibrating with irritation. "Come on, we should keep moving."
He slung the shield back on and leapt over the next lava pit onto a larger slab of rock. A godawful screech echoed through the room. From a nook high up on the central pillar, two greenish shapes leapt down.
Jerking back, Link found himself face to face with two giant lizards. They stood on their hind legs and moved with surprising agility.
"They're lizalfos!" Navi winged around Link's head frantically.
The closest lizalfos squeaked; Link cringed. Gripped in the lizard-monster's talons was a wicked sword. How a lizard could wield a sword, he didn't have time to wonder before the nasty-looking blade was slicing at his face.
Link ducked and rolled away. The sword bounced harmlessly off his Hylian shield. Enraged, the pair of lizalfos screamed and slammed their swords into Link's shield while he huddled underneath it like a turtle.
"What are you doing?" Navi screeched.
"Staying alive!?" Link shouted back.
"Aim for their bellies!"
Peering out from under his shield, Link watched the dimwitted lizards hack uselessly at him. Seizing a chance, Link gripped the Kokiri sword and thrust it upwards into the beast's unprotected abdomen.
Rearing back in surprise and pain, the lizalfos dropped to his back, dead. The second one leapt out of the way of Link's next stab, squeaking angrily. Throwing its head back, a plume of fire billowed out of its open mouth. Swinging to Link, it aimed its deadly breath his way.
Scrambling to hide behind his shield, he was relieved to find that it withstood the fiery attack. When the beast once again drew close, Link dispatched it with another well-aimed swing.
With the lizalfos dead, Link passed through the lava-filled cavern into a blessedly cooler one. By far the largest he had seen, it contained what looked to be the skeletal remains of an enormous dodongo. Its skull took up most of the space, its mouth hanging open in an eerie grimace.
"Through there," Navi whispered. "I can feel the monster's energy."
"You want me to go into that thing's skull?"
Creeped out, but knowing he needed the stone that Darunia possessed, Link walked towards the dead dodongo. Through its gaping mouth was another chamber, completely bare.
"What the-? Where's the monster?" Link spun in a circle.
Without warning, the ground beneath him cracked open and crumbled away. Startled, Link fell through the floor, landing unsteadily a short distance below. This cavern was completely covered in lava, save for a strip of rock along the edges of the room.
More concerning than the lava, though, was the absolutely gigantic boulder moving towards them.
It lumbered forward on all four, its diamond-shaped head swinging low to the ground. Its hide was scaly and greenish-blue, its talons as big as Link. The giant monster opened its mouth in a roar, showing off its double row of sharp teeth.
The king of all dodongos reared back onto its hind legs, dropping back down with so much force it made his teeth chatter. The beast's white, glowing eyes lasered on him.
Then it charged.