Chapter 20: Tooth and Claw

The road to Death Mountain was fraught with falling rocks from the active volcano. Link was careful with every step. He was more surprised to see Tektites littering the mountain trail, and the fact that he hadn't seen even one Goron on the way.

There was nothing about him that expected a Goron to remember Darmani. He became the Sage of Fire before any of these Gorons were even a thought, during the Great Freeze when Death Mountain was nothing more than a frozen wasteland. He had no idea who the next Sage could be. He hoped Darmani's spirit would find a way to guide him.

The rest of the walk up the mountain was long and tiresome. Link had to duck into a few crevice's in the side of the volcano to avoid rocks, but eventually, he made it into Death Mountain, to Goron City.

It was dead silent.

Link had expected to hear something, anything, that would suggest that Gorons lived inside, but there was nothing.

He went through the entire Goron City until he reached a sealed door on the bottom floor. He tried to lift it, but it didn't budge. Banging on the door, he called, "Is anyone in there?"

The door lifted only moments later and a small Goron with wide eyes stared up at him. The young Goron's face began to quiver, and tears fell from his eyes.

"I wanted Dad! Who are you?"

Link stepped up beside the young Goron, making sure he was on the other side of the door, and knelt down. "My name is Link. I've come to help. What's happened to all the Gorons who live here?"

"Link?" He asked. "My name is Link! I was named for the great Hero! What a cool name!"

Link nodded, confused by the subject change. "It's a very cool name. Do you know what happened?"

Link the Goron sat down and began to cry again. "Ganondorf took all the Gorons to the Fire Temple! He took Dad! He would have taken me too, but Dad saved me and made me hide, but I want to be there with him, not all alone!"

"How do I get to the Fire Temple? I can go look for your Dad and the others."

The young Goron pointed to a large statue behind him. "It's through there. But you'll burn inside the volcano. Come to the shop!"

Link the Goron led Link the Hylian to the shop in the next room and rolled behind the counter. He grabbed a red tunic and handed it over. "You'll need this to get inside."

Link studied the tunic, hoping this one wouldn't dig into his neck. After taking it, he could feel that it was made from a stretchy fabric, not at all what he had expected. It was still more detailed than he'd thought, with plenty of designs and the symbol of the Gorons painted on.

"Go ahead, put this on and meet me in Dad's room! You won't burn up when you wear that!"

Leaving his own shirt on the store counter, he pulled on the tight tunic, unsure if he should even consider it a tunic at all, and rolled his arms a few times, trying to give some movement to the stretchy fabric. It was tight, and he felt like he couldn't breathe in it, but he'd come to expect no less after the Zora's Armor.

He met Link the Goron in the room and the statue had been pushed aside, leaving a massive wave of heat to pour into the room.

"I'll stay here in case anyone returns. Please come back with my dad."

"I will do my best," he promised before stepping into the heat of the volcano.

Immediately, Link wanted to die.

The heat was overwhelming, and he tried to find the temple as quickly as possible. A broken bridge prevented him, and he had to go around, prolonging his heat exposure. He wanted nothing more than to rip off the tight material, but when he lifted it up ever so slightly, he could feel his skin begin to sear. He didn't know what magic protected his entire body through use of the shirt, but he resigned himself to keeping it on.

The temple wasn't far at that point. He could see a ladder leading below, and to his relief, the air was very slightly cooler.

Immediately, Darmani appeared in front of him. "Link! I'm glad you made it. The Sage is here, I can feel it. He's one of the captive Gorons. Had to come to you now. The beast who killed me, she's a flying dragon who lives in the lava itself. She's eating Gorons too quickly, and I don't know if the Sage will make it. You must hurry. I cannot stay out here too long without my body, otherwise I'd help you. Free the Gorons and find the Sage! That dragon is flying fast and could appear at any moment. You need the hammer! Find the hammer!" Darmani said before disappearing.

"Great," Link sighed. "Find the Sage, find the dragon, find some Gorons, find a hammer. This is not going to be a quick one."

At first, only bats flew out at Link. He used the bow from the Forest Temple to quickly cut them from the picture, and he ran though several rooms, searching for a Goron prisoner. When he reached a room with bars across one wall, he knew he was getting close. He crossed into the adjoining room and was finally met with the stares of about ten Gorons in a cell. There was one other figure inside, and as Link approached, he sighed.

"You couldn't resist, could you?"

Zelda, dressed again as Sheik, shrugged. "You took forever getting here. I figured I'd get the head start."

Link looked around for a keyhole or some way to release them. "You're doing a great job."

Zelda grabbed at the bars, still keeping her voice disguised. "Do you plan to get us out, or just make jokes?"

Suddenly, three Lizalfos' jumped down from a top ledge. Link looked over at Zelda with a sigh. "Did you call them here so we could reminisce?"

She watched carefully as Link walked around the Lizalfos, trying to keep the three in front of him. "Yeah, just like old times."

Rolling forward, Link wasted no time cutting one of the Lizalfos' tails off, causing it to shriek and howl in pain. In another motion, he brought the sharp sword back, decapitating the foe with ease.

The other ran at Link and swung its tail down hard. Link blocked the blow with his shield and pushed the lizard off him, slicing and hacking at it until the second on finally managed to hit him with its tail. Link rolled backwards to his feet and finished off the one he'd been fighting.

"I remember this being harder," he called to Zelda.

"I remember us being smaller."

With barely any effort, Link dispatched the final Lizalfos and wiped the blood from the Master Sword before returning to the cell. "Hey, Princess, can you ask them if they know anything about a hammer, and a father of a Goron who wasn't taken? And if they know where the dragon is…"

Zelda leaned through the bars to whisper to Link. "Do you want me to ask them anything else? They're not stressed out at all in here with a carnivorous dragon on the loose. And call me Sheik. You and Impa are the only two who know."

"Sorry."

Zelda turned and went to the back of the long cell where most of the Gorons had moved to during the Lizalfos attack. Link could hear her talking while he looked for a switch.

An eruption of embers burst up from the lava as the dragon reared its head, heading straight at Link. He stumbled backwards, unprepared, and could see the fire inside the dragon's mouth as it came for him.

Link waited until the flame was ready to burst from its throat before moving. He ran to the nearby torch and climbed up, jumping onto the ledge above. The dragon crashed into the wall without enough time to turn, but besides the slight earthquake from the crash, the dragon remained unaffected and spun its lithe body to follow Link again.

He realized why he'd need a hammer. The dragon wore armor across its face. How it managed to put it on was a different story, but for now, its vulnerable face was protected.

There was another door, and Link ran through it, feeling the forceful impact of the dragon collide with the door or the wall. He waited a few minutes before peeking inside. The dragon had disappeared beneath the lava once more.

The switch was on the floor, something that required pressure. He stood on it and listened to the creak of the metal open.

"Hey, Ze—Sheik! I can't get off this thing until they're all out. Let me know."

After a moment, she crawled up the ledge. "They're out."

He moved towards her and looked off the ledge. "Holy Hylia, that thing is huge. What did they know? The sooner we're out of here, the better."

"Some Goron named Darunia has the hammer. He's also the one who saved his son. He's their leader. He just might be the Sage, too."

Link sighed. "I hope not. I promised his son I'd try to bring his dad back."

Zelda grabbed Link's hand and squeezed it. "You almost called me Zelda for the first time today, and you had to switch to call me Sheik. What a shame."

Link grinned and bowed his head. "Can't get too informal, Princess."

She scoffed. "Please. Nice shirt, by the way."

Her eyes were on his stomach where the shirt hugged him closely. Link chuckled. "Same to you."

"And you call yourself formal! You're supposed to resist!"

Link shook his head and gestured to the Gorons below. "Can you get them out of here safely?"

Nodding, she let go of his hand and jumped down. "They said there are more of them around, too."

"Be careful."

"You too."

Zelda proceeded to lead the Gorons through the door and Link headed back to the room he'd hidden in.

It was awhile before he found any other Gorons, but when he did, he found them all. Running up to the cage, he could immediately spot the Goron leader, Darunia.

"Do you have the hammer?" Link asked quickly.

"I do," Darunia responded.

"I'll get you all out. You have to go before the dragon returns."

Link searched for another switch when Zelda soundlessly dropped beside him.

"The others are out."

"Darunia? Your son is safe. Please, give me the hammer so you can go to him."

Zelda hopped up onto the ledge this time, and the gate began to open.

"No offence," Darunia said, "But a little Hylian like yourself would have a hard time with this. I'll come with you."

"Don't argue, Link!" Zelda called before Link could even answer. The dragon was appearing from the Lava once again. "Are they all out?"

"Not yet!" Link called as Darunia hustled them along, sending them through the door.

The dragon was drawing closer and closer to Zelda, but the Gorons still weren't all out.

"Tell them to roll! This is going to be close!"

"Move!" Link called.

Zelda dodged out of the way just in time to avoid the fire breath of the dragon. She jumped up and landed on its neck, holding tightly to a scale.

Link and Darunia rana across a long bridge, following the flailing dragon as it flew away and into a hole leading to the next room. Darunia rolled his way there, while Link sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him. When he finally reached the door, he could see the dragon heading straight toward the ground, hissing in pain, still trying to shake Zelda off of it. She jumped, landing with a hard roll on the rocks.

Link helped her sit up while Darunia ran at the dragon's head, smashing away with the large, heavy hammer. Drawing the Master Sword, Link ran for the dragon's body, splitting its stomach. It wailed, and Darunia hit it once again with the hammer.

Curling up its tail, the dragon snatched Link in its claws and slammed its tail around, rolling itself toward the lava.

Rushing as fast as they could, Darunia and Zelda could hear Link's cries of pain. It wasn't like the sound she'd heard when his arm was broken. This was worse. They couldn't get there any faster, and the dragon was making its final attempt to take one of them with it.

The dragon screamed out and unclenched its claw, dropping Link. The Master Sword was covered in blood from Link's final attack, and the dragon crashed into the lava, turning to molten rock as it did.

Zelda and Darunia continued to run towards Link. He was lying on his back with three large gashed claw marks across his chest. His breathing was heavy, and his skin had begun to turn red with the rip in his shirt.

Darmani appeared, and Zelda noticed the identical scars across his chest and stomach. "Get him out of here! Now! I will take care of Darunia."

Zelda lifted Link into her lap and held him tight. "This isn't going to feel great."

Slamming down a Deku Nut, with a flash of light, Link and Zelda were gone.