Chapter 8
Mountain Sledding

"Darunia?" Link asked in surprise.

"It has a name?" Brayden cowered behind Link as he said this.

Before them stood the Goron king in all his rock hard might, with hands on hips and an agitated expression on his tattooed face. "Yes, Brother. You disappear for five years and when you turn up again, even pass by our home, you do not visit us?"

Link met his accusing gaze with one full of shame. "Sorry…it's just that…I was in a hurry and…" he stammered at a loss for words.

"This thing is his brother?" Brayden could be faintly heard whispering to Zelda in the background in disbelief.

Darunia grinned. "I did not mean to unnerve you Brother, but for your rudeness you must accept a Goron hug. It has been much too long."

Link's eyes widened in mock terror and he backed up a few steps in response. His embarrassment was not an act, however. "No offense, Darunia, but I think I'll have to pass."

"Nonsense," the grinning Goron said with arms outstretched.

Thinking this hilarious and easily catching the astonished Link off guard, Brayden gave him a hard shove from behind.

Link stumbled forward and Darunia caught him in a tight embrace. There was a distinguished snap as his back popped. When he was finally free, he staggered back and appeared totally mortified.

"Now then, why are you in such a rush? Surely you could have briefly stopped to see us lowly Gorons off the only mountain route there is on Death Mountain? And who is this rude one that so blatantly referred to me as a thing?" Darunia asked, indicating Brayden with that last statement.

"Well, Brayden here is of Hyrule's 'nobility', so I can only assume that he doesn't get out much," Link said going for the easy question first. "And the princess has been having some problems that we are journeying across the mountains to hopefully have cleared up."

Brayden was indignant at Link's disregard of his nobility status, but his ears perked up in interest at the fact that there was something wrong with Princess Zelda. After all, he knew relatively little as to why he was traveling in the first place-only that Impa had asked him and that he was hoping to please the princess by acting as an escort of sorts.

"Very interesting…" Darunia looked to Zelda then, "and what kinds of problems are these?"

She blushed at his attention, "Well, there's this…spirit…that's…"

Link abruptly cut in and quickly finished for her, "…controlling her body anytime it takes over, which has been happening frequently lately and this spirit just recently tried to kill the king."

Brayden gasped and Darunia seemed bewildered. "But how? Do you know where this spirit comes from?"

"Our plans are to get it exorcised as soon as possible, and we did find out that its name is Sheik…but…"

"Interesting, well I best not keep you since it seems you've got a long way to go in such short time, or so I assume by your lack of a visit. Best of luck Brother, but stop by on your way back if you can," Darunia turned to walk back into the right of the two caves on Death Mountain's top.

"Wait," Link said to stop him. "Where are all the monsters that used to be here?"

"My Gorons took care of those foolish enough to remain. We have not ventured to the mountain's backside though, so be careful."

Link nodded, "Thanks."

Brayden stared open mouthed after the receding Goron, and once that source of his confusion and fear was out of sight he turned on Zelda, "You're…possessed…by a spirit? An evil spirit? And you all dragged me into this without telling me?"

Link pushed him away from her, "It's not her fault. As much as I'd prefer you not to be here, Impa was wise in not telling you our reasons for this journey."

"And you said we're going to exorcise the spirit? What, are we going to that nut job Abel Marion, too?"

Link narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "How do you know this man?"

"And you said I never get out much, huh?" Brayden retorted bitterly.

"I'm sure he hears things," Zelda rose in his defense, although she felt miserable for how poorly Brayden was taking her condition.

"We do go to see Abel," Link said slowly and immediately dropped the subject after that. "All right, let's go. Going up wasn't terrible until that last part, but getting down the other side to get to the main mountain pass is going to be interesting."

Brayden did not protest the topic change as they walked around the cave entrances, after Link had picked up the food pack again, to where they could view the steep incline of the mountain's other half. Several more mountains ascended in front of them, but a clear path could be seen from their vantage point. He also noted that the sun was beginning to set. "Wouldn't it be safer to make camp up here for the night?" he asked.

Link shook his head, "We haven't gone nearly far enough today and we've still got daylight left, so we might as well use it."

He tossed the food pack Brayden's way not expecting him to catch it anyways, and undid his shield and set the front side of it on the ground. "I thought you said we weren't making camp?" Brayden asked confused.

"We're not. You and Zelda are going to slide down on my shield and you are going to hold onto our food and Zelda's bag while I pick my way down without any additional weight to carry."

"W-what?" Brayden stared in disbelief. "You can't be serious. How about you slide down on the shield and we'll meet you at the bottom."

"It's faster this way," Link said and Zelda obediently sat her small form in the shield's basin.

"You sure this'll work?" she asked him just to affirm.

"For the most part, yes," Link said. He gently handed Zelda her own bag to hold onto for the ride and she took it silently. "All right Brayden, once you get on I'll give you all a boost to get going down the slope."

"It's much too dangerous. I'll go with you and if Zelda wants to sled, then she's welcome to it."

Link placed a menacing hand on Brayden's shoulder. "Get on and get on now. Zelda is much too light to keep it from flipping. Your weight will keep it upright and hopefully keep it from going airborne too much."

Brayden gulped and sat. He had finally realized that he was not putting on a very brave front for the princess. Link placed the fallen food bag in his lap and before the cowardly noble could change his mind, he hurried to the back and shoved it off.

Watching their bobbing forms slide swiftly away, Link began his own descent. There was no time to worry about his continually throbbing arm as he maneuvered down the steep slope by use of his own two legs. Several times he let the gravelly surface carry him down before he'd have to pull his shoes out of the dirt and move on his own accord, though for the most part he was able to alternate. Balance was difficult to maintain on the downward incline, but he prevailed and made good time, though by now he hoped they had safely made it to the bottom because he could not see them.

The muscles in his arm, though as badly injured as he figured they were, were not as merciless in their pain now, so that had to be a sign his arm was healing…right? He would have to survey the damage as soon as they settled somewhere for the night, but until then he could only hope for the best.

Eventually Link crested a slight hill and found he still had a ways to go. He saw no sign of Zelda and Brayden except for the trail the shield had left behind, but even at the mountain's base, there was nothing. He kept going nevertheless, and all the while the sun continued on its sinking path.

Link had been making plenty of noise, unafraid that something might hear him, but when he heard the sharp intake of breath behind him, he froze and slowly turned around. He dodged the oncoming spout of flame, and beheld a Dodongo that had somehow materialized there on the mountainside.

The creature watched him with hungry eyes, and Link struggled to maintain his footing as he circled around it, knowing full well where its weak point was on the tail. The creature was fast though, and moved to block him from its rear. Link took the necessary move and stood in place for a second to lure it into using its flamethrower again, and when it did so, he rolled around to the back. The tricky footing required to carry this out proved too much for him though.

He managed to get a good strike in on the monster's tail, but then he slipped and slammed into the slope. The creature had jerked around rapidly at the blow to its weak point and opened its mouth wide to get at him while he was down. As the pointed jaws closed in on him, Link acted quickly and stuck his sword through the creatures jaw and when it slammed shut in its greed, the sword went right through from the inside out.

The Dodongo roared as blood spurted from the wound and its green scales flashed a red warning color. It had been a long while since Link had run into one of these creatures before, so this delayed his realization that he needed to get away, and fast.

Leaving his sword behind for the time being, he crawled away at first until he could regain his feet and then took off running as fast as the slope would allow him without falling. There was a distinct boom behind him as the creature's remains detonated.

He skidded to a heavy stop and turned around to see smoke rising in the area where a sooty circle lined the ground. In the midst of that sat his sword and he carefully retrieved it, glad that it still remained in tact after the bomb-like blow to it.

Now that he had finally run into a monster, Link felt that as he journeyed farther downhill, things would only get worse.

It was another half-hour before he spotted Zelda and Brayden, but he was still far enough up that they could not see him. What worried him though, were the other dark shapes that surrounded them in the onset of nightfall.

He pushed himself harder to get down there and finally when he slipped and went sliding, he did not try to stop it. He was certainly already dirty enough from all the rubble.

Eventually he slowed himself as more cover began to appear down the desolate slope in the form of large boulders and maneuvered quietly under their cover, trying not to send down any small rocks that might give away his position. As he got closer, he realized that he had been wrong about other forms around them. They sat peaceably enough together along the beginnings of a path and what he had thought were people were really just boulders slightly smaller than the ones he currently hid behind.

Sensing no danger in the immediate vicinity, Link hurried along like before and breathed a sigh of relief when he took a step on level ground for the first time in a while.

By now the sun had completely set and he had only the light of the moon and stars to see by. As he approached Brayden and Zelda, he once again became worried. What worried him was that they were not moving. Sure that could mean they were asleep, but something told him that was not the case by the close proximity of their bodies.

He carefully stalked up to the boulder they leaned on and found their hands bound together as they sat there in an unconscious state.

The only warning of the attack came when he heard a whistling in the air behind him. Then something hard and metal smashed into his head, and out he went.

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This chapter's length is definitely shorter than the last two, but consistent with the earlier chapters. I'm glad people seem to be enjoying this fic, though. Hopefully this chapter wasn't…icky…for lack of a better word, lol. Once yonder characters get over the mountains, I have a lot in store that I'm really excited about. I just need to get to writing it…

-blondie91