Chapter 15

Goron Mines, year 132

Sounds of iron and stone clashing, yelling, and grunting echoed through the black passageways. It was just as Gruth had thought. Even before the Moblins were fully prepared, Gorons had flooded into the mines and attacked with bomb flowers and hefty spears decorated with Helmaroc feathers painted purple and gold and topped with boar tusks.

Gruth's eyes were watering as he spun, ducked, and hacked through the Goron ranks with an axe as if they were butter. What kind of creature was he? Half of him desperately wanted to stop, yet the other half was full of uncontrollable anger. With his tribe, he was regarded as a mere killing machine. All his dreams had been dashed away when he had been told by the tribe elder that he was to be a soldier.

Fighting was a way of releasing his anger about fighting. Since he was forced to fight, he found that it was a good way to erupt like a volcano after holding everything in for a long time. The only problem was, with this fuel, he was seen as a powerful, merciless killer. Was he? He didn't know what to think. The rest of the tribe had warped his beliefs, and it was hard to tell how he felt about some things now.

It was strange. While fighting, he felt as if he were born to kill. He delighted in the feel of flesh giving way to his rough, strong axe and swung it like a madman. Almost as soon as the feeling was over, he felt terrible and cursed the day the elder had appointed him as a soldier. It was as it he lived two different lives, had two different personalities.

He wondered if anyone else ever felt that way. It didn't seem like the other soldiers did. Why was he so different from the other Moblins?

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"Which way did we turn last time?" Link asked wearily as he trudged through the ankle-high ashes strewn across the floor of the tunnel.

"Left, I think," Tael replied, looking backwards briefly. The two turned to the right at the next fork. Their plan was to switch between left and right passageways with each fork. With luck, they'd come out somewhere. They'd both decided to stray from the mine cart tracks to put as much distance as possible between them and Dark.

Finally Link couldn't take it any more. The ashes covering the floor made it difficult to walk, and he was already weakened by thirst. He flopped forward onto the ground, sending up a spray of ashes, then sat upright, coughing. Why hadn't he taken some water in his bottle at the spring?

"Link, are you okay?" Tael asked, concern showing in his voice as he sat atop Link's filthy, mangled nest of hair.

"No, I'm not okay," Link croaked, then coughed some more. Tael glanced around worriedly.

"Well, we need to get moving. The sooner we get out, the sooner we can get rehydrated." Tael's light was already beginning to fade again. "Can you get up?"

"I think so," Link rasped, choking on the burning sensation in his throat. He placed a hand on the wall for support and struggled to push himself up. Suddenly the wall gave way and he fell back down. "What was that all about?" Link asked, turning his head. A rectangular section of the wall seemed to have moved back slightly, leaving perfectly straight edges. A doorway?

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Goron Mines, year 132

Fragments of dead Moblins and Gorons littered the floor of the cavern like a new layer of reddish dirt. It had been difficult to get used to the Gorons' explosive weapons, but the Moblins had triumphed. Gruth leaned against a blackened wall, his axe resting with him after their long strain, watching the remaining Moblins walk carefully through the battlefield and search for the wounded. At any moment they could step on a stray bomb flower and set it off, so they had to keep a sharp eye out.

At long last, the Gorons have been completely destroyed, he thought with a smile. I was just beginning to get tired, too. He shifted his position to avoid the uncomfortable lump of rock jutting out of the wall against his back. It was still there. He turned around to look at it. Wait. What did I just say? His eyebrows crinkled in confusion.

"Great work, as usual, Gruth," his supervisor grunted, giving him a hefty thump on the back. "You were even more destructive than usual."

Gruth's eyes widened. No...had it happened again? It couldn't have! He had tried to control himself...but if he didn't do something, he would just continue killing like this. He had to do something. It was the only way to avoid this... He was sitting down in the same spot, cursing himself, half an hour later when his supervisor came by again.

"Gruth, I need your help with directions to the Gorons' city. We're going to move out in a few minutes to clear it out and make our new home there," the Moblin said while walking by, as if he didn't even expect an answer. Gruth's eyes narrowed. There was no way he would allow them to kill the innocent Gorons living in the city just to claim it as their own.

"No." Gruth was startled at the low rumble that he had allowed to escape his lips. His supervisor stopped and then, without turning around, spoke in a similar tone.

"That's an order, soldier. We all know what happens when you disobey an order."

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"Do you think these stairs ever end?" Tael groaned. He had been sitting atop Link's head ever since they found the secret tower. After climbing for an hour, it had gotten boring.

"I'm the one who should be complaining," Link retorted, grunting as his legs carried him higher and higher up the winding staircase. "I've been climbing these steps so long, I can't even feel my legs. They've just been jerking forward and up over and over by themselves. It doesn't help that there aren't any rails. What kind of person builds so many steps without railings?"

"Someone who's lazy?" Tael suggested. "What kind of person builds so many steps, period?"

Link surprised himself by chuckling. "You've got a point there. It's almost as if this thing just goes up forever." He looked up again and saw just what he didn't expect: the ceiling. "Tael, look!"

Ridges of stone arched from the cylindrical walls and met in a star in the center of the tower a few floors up. Darkness filled the cracks making up the angles between the ridges, causing the giant red feldspar asterisk to stand out. There was a circular depression in the center, where they met, and Link wondered if something had been there. Perhaps a glode rock to light the staircase.

"I wonder what's up there," Tael squeaked, unable to produce anything louder. Being too weak to fly, he remained on Link's head. Link struggled to quicken his pace, although it felt strange to have control over his legs. Twice he stubbed his right toe, which was extended through a hole in his boot, on one of the steps and almost fell off. The second time, he had fallen over, but caught himself.

"When did that happen?" Tael questioned, concerned about how Link's feet were doing.

"I don't know, it wasn't there when I looked them over before the train ride," he gasped, putting his right hand against the wall for support. "We're almost there. I see a little light coming in through a doorway at the top of the stairs."

At long last, the two reached the end of the staircase. Link took a cautious look down the tower and Tael squealed, clutching Link's hair as his head tilted forward. The pit extended downward into blackness, as he expected. He gulped and then stepped through the doorway into another tunnel.

Wait...this tunnel was different. The walls, floor and ceiling were smooth and red. The air smelled much fresher, and he could almost feel a draft. In one direction, the light was stronger, so he carefully walked down the hallway, hearing his tattered boots make comforting, clean slapping sounds against the shiny floor. After rounding a few perfectly straight, ninety-degree corners, he came out on a large room. The walls were chiseled smooth and rose fifty feet to the ceiling, which was dotted with blinding holes.

Link let his eyes adjust to the light a little longer and then gasped. Intricate lettering was etched into the jade walls. Huge, black marble pillars stood in rows along the hallway, covered in dark gray swirls and speckles. The floor was a combination of slabs of deep, dusty purple amethyst and lush jade. Particles of dust lazily floated through the shafts of light penetrating the room.

And at the end of the hall stood a throne. It was made of thick, heavy marble and rested at the top of a few steps. The shock of seeing the whole room caused Link to freeze in place. Tael tapped his head after a few minutes.

"Link, I think it's all right to move now." Link didn't respond, so Tael grabbed a handful of hair and gave it a quick, hard tug.

"Ow! I was about to move," Link complained, scratching the spot where Tael had pulled in an attempt to alleviate the sharp pain.

"So then move!" Tael squeaked. Link obeyed, stepping out into the huge chamber. It made him feel tiny, and the emptiness made him feel as though he were the only person in the world. Other than Tael, of course.

"Where do you think we are? Is this some kind of old castle? Who lived here? Where are they?" The fairy rambled on endlessly.

"Quiet. If we look around, maybe the answers to those questions will reveal themselves."

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