Chapter 12: Goron City

Thankfully, the rest of the climb up Death Mountain—a name that hardly bolstered Link's confidence—brought no Tektites and no falling rocks. Sheer drop-offs and shadowy ravines made him glad they were taking the journey at night, since that made it more difficult to see just how far he would have to fall if he lost his balance.

"How much farther?" said Navi, saving Link the breath required to ask the question as the path narrowed to a half-yard's width.

"Not far," said the Goron, moving quickly as if he didn't notice the heights. "Are you sure you won't try a rock?"

"Yes," Link said.

"Not even a pebble or two?" The Goron shook its head and flashed a fat-lipped smile. "And I thought my children were picky eaters."

"I'd like to hear the rest of your story."

"Yes." The Goron snatched a glossy rock from a ledge and devoured it. "Ah. Nothing like fresh granite…anyway, back to the story. Our people depend on the mountain for food. Yes, there are many types of rocks, but as with all food, not all rocks have the same taste or the same nutritional value. Granite is common, and though I prefer its taste to many other rocks, it is not as nutritious as schist or obsidian or even a geode covered in lava. Our people consider that a delicacy. But now, thanks to the man from the desert, the best rocks are too dangerous to get at."

These last words and the memory of the dead Knight lying by the gate robbed Link of any temptation to laugh at the Goron's discourse on rocks. "What did he do?"

Rather than answer immediately, the Goron trudged on in silence. Link breathed a sigh of relief as the precipice broadened out at last, leading them into a shelter carved from the mountainside. Though he couldn't read the odd script, a banner strung overhead told them they had reached Goron City.

Ignoring the banner, his guide turned left and stopped at the edge of a natural balcony overlooking the scene of their encounter with the Tektites. Pointing a finger over the edge, the creature spoke.

"You see that boulder down there?"

Link squinted, trying to discern among the shadows. "That big one?"

"Yes. It shouldn't be there. That man from the desert…he put it there! Behind that boulder is Dodongo's Cavern, where the very best rocks are formed. We can survive for a time on the lesser rocks, but the cavern is our central source of food. Unless the boulder is removed, we will perish."

"How long has the cavern been blocked?"

"Many weeks, since Ganondorf's first visit. And he has returned more than once to threaten greater evils. The older sacrifice for the younger, but still the children starve."

Navi fluttered into the Goron's line of vision. "Can't you just get the strongest Gorons together and lift the boulder?"

The Goron held up a meaty finger. "Even if the boulder is removed, we still could not get to the rocks."

Before Link could ask why, the Goron's words were interrupted by a pair of Goron children that burst from the city's cavernous entrance shouting and throwing stones at each other.

"Hey!" The older Goron ran from Link's side, waving its arms at the children and catching several of the rocks before they hit their targets. "Stonethrower! Mountainfoot! How many times have I told you not to play with your food?"

The children hung their heads but said nothing.

Link scratched his ear. Stonethrower? Mountainfoot?

"Go back inside and finish your supper."

"Yes, father." The children retrieved their rocks and slunk back into the city.

"I am sorry," said the older Goron. "Our children are not aware of how serious things really are. We hope to keep it that way." The Goron gestured to the city's entrance. "Come, if you are not afraid to see how things are for yourself. But first, I am Barough, King Darunia's messenger…and also his brother."

"I'm Link. This is Navi."

Black eyes peered at them in curiosity. "What is your story, Link? Why have you come to Goron City?"

"To fight Ganondorf." Link felt the hair on his arms rising as he said it.

"You will not find him in the city."

"I'm looking for something I need to fight him. It's here, somewhere." Link paused, nervous about telling the truth. "The Spiritual Stone."

Barough's expression never changed, but the tone of his voice became more suspicious. "That is what Ganondorf asked for."

Link's eyes widened. "You didn't give it to him!"

The Goron's teeth flashed. "Of course not. That is why he created the boulder to block Dodongo's Cavern!"

Link chose his next words carefully. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, but it's very important I talk to your King. I have a message from Princess Zelda of Hyrule."

"The King will see no one."

Frustration colored Link's cheeks. "You don't understand. She sent me here to find it. It's the only way to…" Save Hyrule, he thought without finishing it aloud. He didn't have time to argue, and he wasn't sure the Goron would believe him anyway.

"You may walk within our city as you please," said Barough. "But do not go near the King's chamber."

Without a further word, Barough stormed through the entrance, leaving Link to stare after him, bewildered at the sudden turn of events and unable to see how he'd ever leave the mountain with the second Spiritual Stone.

When Link finally got up the nerve to enter Goron City, the heat immediately oozed through his pores and enclosed him as if his entire body had become one with the humidity. The stench of molten rock, sulfur, and sickness attacked him from every direction. He saw little at first, but the faint glow of magma from adjoining caverns coupled with torches all throughout the city gradually allowed him to see most of it.

"It's not the forest," said Navi.

Link wiped his forehead. "How can anything live here?"

His eyes roved about, noting that he stood on the city's highest level, a massive ring of stone cut from the mountain's innards. Rings of equal size continued for several more levels going down, but it was hard to see them in detail for the smoke curling around his ankles and eyes and all through the air.

Gorons sat or waddled casually along the edge of the pit; a few rolled, curling into balls as they raced endless circuits around the rings. Some spared Link their glance, but most didn't seem to care. Probably because they were starving, he thought.

"All this for the Spiritual Stone." He shook his head. "I'm surprised they let us come in here at all."

"You can't make things any worse," said Navi.

"Maybe." The sight of two smaller Gorons tussling near the pit at the center of the great cavern drew Link's attention. He approached, curious.

"I did too see it!" one of the children said, shoving the other towards the edge.

"Did not," said the other.

"Did too. Don't you remember Uncle Darunia telling us about it?"

"Yeah, but why would the Royal Family send someone our age? Wouldn't they send a Knight or someone else important?"

Link placed himself between the two combatants. To him, it was hard to tell one Goron from another, but from their talk, he was certain these two were Stonethrower and Mountainfoot, Barough's sons.

The children froze, staring at the ocarina poking out of the pouch at Link's waist.

"The Ocarina of Time!" Both children grabbed at it. "Please let us see it. Our father would never believe that we held the famous Ocarina!"

"Stop." Link snatched the instrument out of their reach. "This isn't the Ocarina of Time." He paused, letting that sink in. "Besides, how do you know about the Ocarina?"

The Gorons' eagerness deflated only slightly, but they did stop trying to take the instrument. One of them, with plumper cheeks than the other—Link thought this was Stonethrower—answered. "Uncle Darunia used to tell us stories about other places in Hyrule. The King and Queen, the Princess Zelda, the Knights of Hyrule…"

Link smiled. "What if I said I wanted to hear his stories too?"

The Gorons quieted at once.

"Uncle Darunia hasn't come out of his room for a long time," said Mountainfoot. "The only person he says he'll speak to is the Royal Family's messenger."

"Don't forget Zelda's Lullaby," Navi whispered to Link. "Impa said it was a signal from the Royal Family to its friends. If they know about the Ocarina of Time, maybe they know about it, too."

Link nodded. Mashing the Fairy Ocarina to his lips, he played the song that Impa had taught him before she left him, barely hitting the notes in his hurry.

The Gorons leapt and clapped their hands. "That's it, that's it. The song, the song!"

"Thanks, Navi." Link grinned, set the ocarina back in its pouch, and turned to the Gorons. "You're right. I was sent by the Royal Family. I need to speak with your King right away. Can you take me?"

"We can," said Stonethrower, "but we might get in trouble."

"I promise you won't." If the King listens to me, that is, Link added to himself.

Mountainfoot nodded. "Follow us."

Link followed the children through the smoke, running up and down stairways that led to other levels of the city. The heat swirled in clouds that threatened to paste his tunic to his body, and the stench of molten rock grew stronger, near to making him sick. Putrid water ran from the walls and pooled on the floor, glistening in the torchlight and forcing him to a slower pace after he tripped three times on the slick wet stones.

At last, what seemed like hours later, the children stopped, their faces buried in wisps of sulfur condensing around the doorway in front of them.

"This is King Darunia's throne room," said Mountainfoot. "He'll let you in if you play that song again."

"Thanks." Link choked on the fumes in his nostrils. I hope I've got the breath left to play it.

Stonethrower nudged his brother's stomach. "Humans. They never appreciate the smell, do they?"

Link clutched his stomach and retched beside the doorway. When the children had left and his strength had returned, he stood and faced the door again, gripping the ocarina.

"Go on," said Navi.

He closed his mouth around the instrument and summoned what breath he could. The tune was barely recognizable at first, but as he kept at it, the notes swelled and came together like the water beneath his feet. For good measure, he played it three times through.

Then the door crashed open.

Link's jaw slipped off the ocarina. The Goron standing in the doorway dwarfed him many times over; its stomach alone could have held three or four Kokiri bunched together. Its arms were thicker than his waist and sported fists that could have smashed his face like a hollow pumpkin.

"What is this?"

The voice, too, was the deepest Link had ever heard.

"Hi," said Navi. "This is Link, I'm Navi, and we're looking for—"

Link wanted to kill her as the King lunged forward and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up to the ceiling of the throne room.

"Who do you think you are?" The King speared Link with his dark eyes. "Only my Sworn Brother, the King of Hyrule, or his messengers are welcome here."

Link squeezed his reply through a tortured windpipe. "Stone…the forest…letter from the princess…we're trying to help!"

The King dropped his victim with a growl. "If you're really a messenger from the Royal Family, the King insults me by sending a kid!" His brows knitted with fury. "Has Darunia of the Gorons dropped so low in His Majesty's sight?"

"I'm sorry," said Link, rubbing his bruised neck. "I just…if you'll just," he huffed, "if you'll let me play the song for you…"

"I already heard the song. Why do you think I came out here in the first place?" The King shook a fist at Link. "Now I'm really angry! Get out of my face, now!"

Link almost swallowed his tongue as he presented the Goron King with Zelda's letter to Cahus. "The King doesn't really know about this. It was Princess Zelda's idea."

"What?"

The Goron King tore the letter from Link's grasp; and when he saw the royal seal paired with Zelda's signature, he yelled and shot a fist straight out, missing Link's head by inches and blowing a boulder-sized chunk of the wall through into the next tunnel.

"We don't need any help from strangers. This is a Goron problem!" The King glared. "And they ask me why I'm in such a bad mood…"

"Yeah," said Navi. "Why are you in such a bad mood?"

"Because ancient monsters have invaded Dodongo's Cavern. We've had a poor harvest of our special crop, the Bomb Flower!" The King gestured at the city behind them. "Starvation and poverty! Disease! Death! Why else would I be so angry?"

Navi pressed forward. "Why can't you kill the monsters yourself?"

"I could," the King said, "but if I failed, my people would be left with nothing. My brother is strong, but he could never lead the people as I do."

Link held up a hand. "I could do it."

That stopped the King cold. "You? Kill the monsters in the cavern?" His anger melted away, and he grasped his stomach with both hands as he roared his laughter. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. You probably couldn't even dance a jig, let alone save the world!"

Link racked his brain for a way to take advantage of the King's sudden humor. At the mention of a jig, he thought of the song Saria had shared with him on the bridge just before he left Kokiri Forest.

Why not? Embracing his Fairy Ocarina once more, he repeated Saria's song for dear life, throwing in a kick every so often to liven it up the more. Navi twirled in circles around his head, shouting "hey" and "listen" in rhythm with the bouncy tune.

The Goron King stood still, eyes bulging, face twitching to suppress his reaction, but to no avail. The humor buried beneath his stark personality exploded; throwing a fist out to each side, he hopped on one giant foot and then twirled, slamming his fist through the throne room door as he danced in a mad circle.

"Oh, oh, oh!" said the king. "Come on, come on, come on!"

Link, frightened to the core, struggled to continue playing as he watched the King's erratic movements. The Goron flapped his arms as if in flight, then he rotated both fists as if stirring an oar through the water. His lips peeled back in a mad grin, and then he kicked a foot against the wall, upsetting a torch. He maintained his hysteria for a good five minutes, winding down only when his breath grew short and his laughter overcame his urge to dance.

Link lowered his ocarina, trading glances with Navi.

"What a tune. I needed that!" The King beat his chest. "I am Darunia, big boss of the Gorons! Was there something you wanted to ask me about?"

When Link had carefully repeated his purpose, Darunia shook his head. "Despite my earlier doubts, I can see the truth in your eyes—but don't get your hopes up. You'll not get the Spiritual Stone that easily."

"What do you want me to do?" said Link.

"If you want it that badly, you must first prove your manhood by destroying the monsters in Dodongo's Cavern."

Link clenched his teeth. "You're coming with me, aren't you?"

"Of course not! If you intend to fight Ganondorf, you'll have to gain your mettle…and you won't do it by relying on me to coddle you!"

Link sighed, wary of spending more time in the mountain's odorous caverns. But there was nothing for it. "I'll do it."

"Good!" Darunia snapped up a pair of bracelets from his throne's great arm and dropped them into Link's palm with a frown. "I'm not really giving you these in return for anything, but take them anyway. They were meant for one of my nephews, but if you wear them, even a little fellow like you can pick up a Bomb Flower."

Link slipped one bracelet onto each wrist. "How will I destroy the boulder at the entrance?"

"Are you deaf? I just told you. We have Bomb Flowers planted all over the cliff above Dodongo's Cavern. Use them to destroy the boulder."

"What's a Bomb Flower, anyway?"

Darunia growled. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

Link spun to escape the throne room before the King's mood could change again. "Thanks. I'll be back soon."

Darunia chuckled, flipping one last note of encouragement Link's way before he departed.

"Kid, if you come back without killing every last monster in Dodongo's Cavern, I'll stick your head in a Bomb Flower!"