Chapter Five
The Goron Mines
The shuddering created by Link bounding about in his new iron boots sent the Kokiri into a state of panic,
"Earthquake!" Pip cried
The Kokiri ran around, climbed trees or knocked each other out, unwilling to listen to Zane when he tried to tell them it was Link.
Link arrived, desperately tired now but unable to topple over for the weight of the boots,
"Must...take...off...new boots!"
The Kokiri stopped and stared at Link in disbelief.
Zane was rather amused by this as he unclipped Link out of the iron boots a few minutes later, then held him up until he remembered how to put one foot in front of the other,
"They're for the magnets in the mine not the Goron wrestling" He laughed
"Magnets? Why are there magnets in the mines?" Link asked, "Where are the mines?"
"Kakoriko Gorge, west of Death Mountain, there's a short cut to the homestead from the Lost Woods" Zane told him
"Why wasn't that option available to me last time?" Link asked, slightly put out, "27 hours on a plane"
"If we'd taken that route then you'd have had a three day treck to Death Mountain and Zelph would have been stuck because she wouldn't have been aloud to pass through the bi-path to Kakoriko Village"
"Ah, I see, well OK, Zelph can come with me this time can't she?" Link enquired
"If she can win the sumo wrestling match with the elder guarding the entrance to the mines yes" Skit told him, "Perhaps your boots were for her instead, couldn't hurt to have a few practice runs before you go"
"Hmm, with you?" Link asked
Skit laughed,
"Oh no, I run I don't wrestle" He replied, "You need another girl...what about Saria?
"She's real too? Scrap that idea, a child, that's not a fair fight" Link said,
It was at that moment that Zelph arrived,
"Uh, I'm not fighting anyone" She said
"Not fighting as such, more wrestling...with a Goron and iron boots" Link said
"But you can't even walk in them" Zelph huffed,
"But I'm just a boy, I could never be as strong as you" Link said batting his eyelids
"Oh you're smooth" Skit said
Then Link had a thought,
"What if I couldn't walk in these boots because they weren't designed for me, if the one that's meant to wear them is wearing them they'll be able to walk in them, and as for me needing the magnets on them I could always drop in on a metal merchant and attach magnets to the soles of my regular boots"
"You could" Zane said, then to Zelph he added, "Try them"
Zelph tried on the boots and found that they made no difference to her at all, everyone looked at her and smiled,
"What does this mean?" She asked
"You'll remain unmoved while in the ring with the Goron and will have a chance then of winning, that way we can see that mine through together and hoepfully save Borak while we're at it" Link told her
Not wanting to waste anymore time Zelph and Link ventured into the lost woods with Zane,
"We're not following the water this time, do you know the way Zane?" Link asked Zane
"Follow your ears to the reply you get on playing the tune used for the shrine atop of Death Mountain" Zane told him,
Link nodded and took out his whistle, it had holes to make different notes depending on whether he was playing a tune for attention, to open doorways, to get into shrines or travel backwards through time.
This tune was easy enough to remember, he wasn't sure what to expect though and was surprised when upon finding the right key he was presented with two voiced options,
"Goron City West of Death Mountain or Port to Death Mountain" said the voice
"Goron City West of Death Mountain" Link said and in return from a path directly ahead of them they heard the tune from OOT Goron City,
"It works!" Link exclaimed with a laugh
"Of course it works, now if the tune fades you're going the wrong way, if it's louder you're going the right way"
"Uh huh!" Link nodded and the tune trail began,
Link, Zelph and Zane started to make their way through the Lost Woods and whenever they started to get confused Link would play Death Mountain' tune again and listen for the Gorons.
Eventually they came to a stone doorway, beyond that doorway was long passage with fog wafting around and a soft glow of light at the far end,
"Is this it? Is this the secret passage to Kakoriko Gorge?" Zelph asked
"This is it" Zane told them, "But I can't go through with you, I have to locate the next minie statue holder and statue for you" He added, "Good luck you two"
Link nodded and he and Zelph ventured into the passage.
Link and Zelph came out into a cave, they followed the sound of running water until they came across the back of a waterfall,
"There's no way we can get through this" Zelph said
"There's another way out, don't you know where we are yet? Twilight Princess, this is the back of the spring, that houses the light spirit of the era of the Wolf" Link told her
Zelph looked at him surprised and followed Link around to a blockage that would take them out into the village,
Link was searching his satchel for his bombs when suddenly, they heard a fuse being lit, backed up, ran into the wall behind them and covered each other as the blockage was blasted out and standing there in it's place as the dust lifted was a laughing Goron,
"Are you Link Brother?" He asked Link
"Uh huh" Link breathed, absolutely terrified, "We believe the heir to Death Mountain may have been trapped in your mine"
"Oh we know he has and that's not the only thing in there but the leader won't let you two just waltz in there unprepared, if you can't win against him he won't believe you are the true Hero of Time, he'll still let you through Brother but if the monsters in there don't kill you the other Gorons will"
"I can win" Link said
This pleased the Goron no end, he grabbed Link up then slapped him around to remove any dust remaining on his green outfit and any air remaining in his lungs,
Zelph, who was wearing the iron boots was unmoved by the Goron' pat on the back and this caused him to have a very puzzled look about him.
As the Goron left, expecting them to follow, Zelph coughed and gasped for air,
"Oh my God! I can't breathe"
"Welcome to my world" Link told her,
"Come on Brother!" The Goron called back
The Goron took Link and Zelph through the village from the Twilight Princess, past the old burnt out bomb shop and Talon' shop, through an arch and along a twisted road that went up at an angle and then down twice before eventually coming out into a communal area,
Link likened it to an old swimming baths in Rome except that this one was full of male Gorons and their sons,
"Where are all the female Gorons?" Zelph asked, starting to blush
Link found her embrarrassment amusing,
"It's too hot for them" The Goron leading them told her
"Is there an easier way to the top Goron? Or do we really have to climb that peak?" Link asked
"There's a lift Brother" The Goron told him
The Goron led them around the water' edge, up some steps and through a arch to a platform with a statue on it, it's hands outstretched and mouth open as though displaying a sense of shock,
the Goron shut it's mouth and the platform moved up,
Link laughed at this and followed the Goron' lead by turning to face the same direction as the statue. Zelph followed suit just as the platform reached the wrestling ring,
"Ah! You have brought some new Hylians to challenge me" The Leader said
"This is Link and Princess Zelda of the Hi-Range and she is a descendant of the Twilight Princess. The guards have located the missing future Goron Leader of Death Mountain to our mines Brother, I must urge you to let them pass" The Goron told the leader
"If Link is the true hero of time then he will get me out of this ring without his sword or the boots...you really think our ancestors didn't know about them?" The Goron Leader said with a raised eyebrow
Link laughed with embarrassment,
"Link" Zelph began, nervously
"It's OK Zelph, really" Link said taking off his boots and cabbolt and standing in the ring with the Goron Leader,
Zelph was nervous as the Goron, who led them, called for a start but she didn't remember anything after that, Link had been focusing on the ability he needed so he wouldn't have to rely on the sword and was already calling on the use of Stasis to freeze the Goron Leader in place, he then simply shoved him in the back three times so when it wore off the Goron went flying out of the ring,
Link straightened up, rubbed imaginary chalk from his palms and giggled,
"He's the Hero...would" The Goron Leader began, getting up off the ground, "Would the Princess like a go?"
"This Princess never says no to a challenge" She said before adding nervously, "Within reason"
So now it was Zelph' turn and annoyingly for her she had to work for this victory but once victory was hers she slumped like a rag-doll,
"I'll be, are all human Hylians this strong?" The Goron Leader asked
"Uh...sure, sure, why not?" Link said, "So do we have permission to venture into the Goron Mines now?"
"Of course Brother, but be careful, something rampaged through that space not long after the Sheika of the Twilight realm...how they managed it I'll never know, we didn't see any of them approach"
"I think I know, I just don't have the proof, know how or why yet but I will"
Link and Zelph followed the sound of creaking metal and bubbling larva through a seemingly endless tunnel built into a quarry until they finally came across a metal rust coloured door,
They could feel the heat from here as they worked together to move the door asside so they could get through to a large open space with two paths, on which sat carts on bent rails, going left and right and an incomplete path straight across the centre, beyond the gap, on the other side was a cell and in that cell was Borak.
Borak' eyes brightened the second he saw Link and Zelph,
"Yo! Brother! How did you find me!?" He called, "Hi Zelda! You beat the Goron Leader to a wrestling match? That's savage"
"Hi...thanks" Zelph blushed, "I had help" She, added showing him the boots,
"Twilight...makes sense, well played, so long as he never finds out about it"
"How am I supposed to get you out of there? I don't see a gate behind you" Link called
"The Sheika and her mob broke a whole load of mechanisms, blocked off paths to the mines" Borak called then he pointed up towards the ceiling, "That floor needs to come down here, you can only lower that on your own a certain way, enough to get you access to the room I trapped the monster in before I was caught again. I hid the key, the chest hiding it won't activate until the area it's in has been cleared, these bars interact with the mechanism, with each mechanism you fix a new area will be made available and these bars will lower...however this larva has a tide that rolls in from Death Mountain, you haven't got long...or rather I haven't" Borak told Link before revealing the Goron Hammer, "Thought you might need this but I'll need it back afterward"
To Link' shock Borak put his arms through the bars and tossed the hammer,
Thankfully it landed on the edge of the incomplete platform in the centre,
"If that had fallen in the larva...?" Link began as he went out to retrieve it
"You'd have gone back in time and told me to aim higher" Borak said
Link smiled and took the hammer up in his hands,
"I'm going to get you out of there" Link told him honestly
"I know" Borak smiled, "But you need to hurry now"
Link nodded and looked left and right, after a moment's hesitation he decided to go left, he and Zelph got into the cart and it took off, through a small tunnel then out over a large pit,
Far below they could see larva pouring out of pipes,
So transfixed by this were they that they almost went straight into a pillar,
Leaning just at the right time they worked out how to steer the cart through the next tunnel until the track ended and they were faced with a wall of caterpillers,
"Oh my God!" Link exclaimed,
"Uh huh" Zelph said, "Got any fire arrows?"
Before Link could get these ready the caterpillers altered themselves and became fire resistant,
"Stasis!" Link called before embedding the sword and freezing the wall of caterpillers, "We can't let them know what we're using against them or they'll change, they're not going to attack exactly more deflect our choices against us"
"So how do we stop them?" Zelph asked
Link took out three bombs, one after the other and squashed them into the wall of caterpillers before standing back as the stasis wore off and set off the bombs, destroying all the caterpillers at once.
From here they ventured into a new room.
This room was huge and oval in shape, there were three switches attached to the walls, with electrified barriers around them, that Link concluded would make the massive magnet on a chain above him work. There was a platform high up and at this moment he neither had a key, magnetic metal on his boots or a clue as to how he or Zelph were going to get up there.
One more step into the room and a fire Lizard jumped onto Link' back and knocked him to the floor,
Link groaned as Zelph speared it with an arrow so the Lizard would come after her instead, then while Link ate a jelly heart she took a swipe for his spear,
Link slashed the Tri-force symble into the lizard' back and it blew up into purple smoke with a cry of pain.
One of the barriers around one of the switches was deactivated.
"No, let's wait" Link said as Zelph went to activate the switch,
Dust rained down from the ceiling and formed into two Skelfos, neither of which would give Link the time he needed to use Stasis on them,
When these things hit they hurt,
Link defended with the sword while Zelph rumaged through Link' satchel for a bomb that she then secured to an arrow and used to blow up one of the skelfos,
Link was stunned for a few seconds,
"Sorry Link" She said
"A little warning" Link said, "Nice work"
Zelph smiled and distracted the remaining Skelfos so Link could use a bomb arrow on it this time. Once this Skelfos was dealt with, just as Link had thought the barrier around another switch was deactivated,
Link and Zelph looked at each other just as the lights went out, suddenly they were surrounded by three phantoms,
Zelph would use a light arrow to make them whole, Link would slash a piece of the Tri-force into their backs with his sword,
Once Link and Zelph had dealt with all three they combined into one phantom and Link and Zelph had to play light ball tennis with it,
She knew she shouldn't be but Zelph thoroughly enjoyed this part of the battle,
Eventually they got the better of the phantom and with a slash of the full Tri-force symbol the phantom blew up into purple smoke and the barrier around the last switch was deactivated,
Now Zelph and Link could activate the switches,
Not only did it cause the bars in Borack' cell to come down a little it created a cyclone in the centre of the room that the magnet on the chain started swinging past.
Zelph gave Link one of the metal boots and helped him to the middle, once there they were pulled up to the magnet above and swung around the room with it until they were above the platform they needed to be on.
They unclipped the boots and dropped, the boots dropped with them and Zelph put both on again while Link replaced his missing boot. The key to the door on this platform dropped from the magnet and Link had to reach out and grab it to stop it from falling to the ground far below,
Link sighed with relief and he and Zelph venutred through the door.
Here Link and Zelph found another cart and track over a void, they got into the cart and kept an eye out for fire keese so they could take them out before they could be noticed by them, while also using their bodies to tilt and turn the cart until they finally reached the next blockage. This one was just a collapse of the wall but it made Link suspicious.
He was right to be too because after blowing up the wall with a bomb arrow the cart just kept going,
Link and Zelph jumped back in and found themselves in another large oval shaped room, this floor was made up of moving cogs, they had to get into the centre of the room, to do this they needed to work their way around the room, connecting onto a smaller cog, and so on until they were in the centre.
As the cart they were in moved round, Link and Zelph noticed diamond shaped switches with sad faces below them,
Link hit one as they past it, with an arrow, and the face smiled but this was the wrong switch and around they went on the same track again,"Wait, remember the shadow of the waker temple? Look at the diamonds, the circle they connect into are a different colour" Zelph realised,
"Brilliant" Link said,
Once he had the right switches it was much easier to reach the centre. The cart still turned here and Link realised they had actualy travelled up at an angle and were now above the mechanism they'd activated in the other room.
Link swapped his boot for one of Zelph' and looked up at the ceiling,
There he found a switch that required the use of his hookshot, he used this to pull the switch down; the switch then disappeared up into the ceiling and a magnet on a chain came down, this magnet was activated and as it started to spin it took Link and Zelph up,
"I'm not a fan of this angle Link, I have to tell you" Zelph said
Link just burst out laughing.
Three floors below the bars on Borak' cell went down a little further and a shreek was heard from above.
As Link and Zelph dropped down to the next platform Link had a look of unease,
"What is it?" Zelph asked
"We haven't needed to use the hammer at all" Link said
At that moment the screeching reached them,
"What is that?" Zelph asked
"Don't know but it sounded like it was coming from all over" Link said,
With trepidation they ventured through the next door.
In this room they discovered a snake in the walls that fired lasers out at them from tiny holes, but what Link and Zelph also discovered were square tiles within the walls that looked different to all the others they had seen so far, while Zelph used her bow to make sure the snakes stayed away from Link, Link used the Goron Hammer on three tiles,
The whole room shook and revealed enough of the snakes for Link and Zelph to shoot their weak point with ice arrows, once the ice had shattered the snakes hid within the remaining structure and once again shot lasers at them,
This time Link and Zelph swapped angles and Link used the Goron hammer on the unusual tiles on the other side of the room.
Once again Link and Zelph used the ice arrows on the snakes but unlike the last time when they un-froze, this time they went mad and caused the ground to crack open in places with a massive drop to a larva pit beneath,
Link used the Goron hammer on the middle wall and the snakes were stunned, once on the ground Link used the finishig blow on them both and a chest appeared,
Within this chest was the "Boss key", Link smiled and looked all around for the door to the next room.
He had to blast it with a bomb arrow to gain them entry.
Beyond this door was a large but crumbling staircase that Link and Zelph had to use the hookshot to cross the most dangerous parts. How Borak ever got up here after escaping his captives once to even do what he had baffled Link.
Eventually they came out into the last large oval room and the mechanism. It was dark in here and then on the floor there came a purple Tri-force,
"Link between worlds" Zelph breathed
They heard the familiar laugh of Bathilda and out from the purple Tri-force she rose,
"You don't give up do you?" She taunted Link, Link got his sword out, "There's that temper"
"What has Colin got to do with this?!" Link snapped, "I saw him in a mirror in Wolf Link' house"
"Colin isn't your problem...a little weazle like him could never really be one of us, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and let you pass; with that beast of mine you're not likely to make it out of here alive anyway" The Sheika Leader said
She waved her right hand and activated the last magnet, which Link and Zelph used to reach the last platform and door out to the floor they needed to lower down to Borak.
Borak nodded and smiled as the last of the bars came down, however the larva was creating waves now and rising slowly and it was concerning him.
Link and Zelph used two chains diagonal from each other to lower the platform to the door, behind which was the beast,
With a deep breath they used the key and stepped inside.
In the centre of the room was a giant spider with metal armour on it and a track but no cart,
There were several platforms at different heights too, with jars available to them,
Using the track like a ladder they climbed up and around, trying desperately to avoid the legs and fangs thrashing around at them,
After what seemed like an age they got to the top,
Link then startled Zelph by leaping off and embedding his sword into the eye of the spider in the centre,
The spider seemed to deflate and it's legs went askew,
Link did a spin attack and started his climb once more while the legs regenerated and Zelph shot a few light arrows at the eye for good mesure.
Twice more and the spider was dead but Link didn't have time to rest as the room started to collapse, Zelph had to jump from platform to platform as the track crashed down, she and Link then had to run from the room and jump down to the platform now rolling down to meet Borak,
Borak rolled across as the platform reached him and Link and Zelph ran after, after realising the platform wasn't stopping,
As they got to the other side the platform vanished into the larva, which splashed up,
The ceiling started to fall then as Borak, Link and Zelph ran through the tunnel and back into the room with the wrestling ring in it.
The Gorons there, leader included, looked up as a plume of dust followed Borak, Link and Zelph and after a stunned silence Borak breathed, while gesturing towards the mines
"I'd give it a minute"