First off, I'm sorry for taking so damn long for these updates. Second, it'll probable take just as long to get another chapter out. I, once again, am without a computer so I have to go to the damn library to write this shit. I'll try and get in to a groove with my writing so it doesn't take to long; but I would expect anything from this story for the next few months.
Chapter eight: Into the Fire
They felt it the moment they crossed the threshold of the mine; the intense, damn near oppressive heat.
"Din almighty, it's hot it here," Midna said, taking off her hoodie and revealing a black, sleeveless mid-drift top and glowing tattoos from her fingers to her elbows.
Link took off his hoodie as well. "Well, that's a little better," he said as they both threw the hoodies on the ground near the entrance of the mine.
The three of them walked through the first chamber of the mine and observed the shape of it. The cavern had rusted metal girders lining the walls and railings along the ledges to keep any passersby from falling into the lava below. The mine itself seemed similar to the Forest Temple in the way that it seemed just as old, but also very different. Where the Forest Temple was crumbling from the passage of time, the forest itself having slowly retaken it over the centuries, the mine was ugly and decrepit even though it had been used very recently.
"Guys, get close to me," Zelda said. Link and Midna moved towards Zelda as she commanded. She closed her eyes and put her hands together. A small blue light appeared between her hands, and she then extended her arms out to form a dome of cold air around the three of them.
"Wow, this'll come in handy," Link said.
"Yeah, this is pretty good," Midna added, a bit more impressed by the feat. "You just started to study magic, right?"
Zelda nodded, "Yeah, just this week." They continued to walk through the mine into another lava chamber. "Renado actually took me up to the summit of Death Mountain to learn how to control fire and heat. This was the first thing he taught me." She motioned to the cold barrier.
Midna just nodded. "Impressive for a beginner." Zelda smiled at the compliment. "I've never been all that great with the elemental stuff, myself," Midna continued with a shrug.
"So what was it you were doing in the Forest Temple?" Link asked.
"Shadow magic. Nothing special really. Me and Zant have studying it for years."
Link nodded silently. He couldn't help but chuckle at a thought. "Y'know, it still seems pretty wild to me that I actually know two people who can use magic. I mean, I never thought this kinda stuff really existed." He paused for second, "It actually reminds me of all these old stories my granddad told me and my sister when we were younger."
Zelda nodded. "My grandma told me stories about the Hero and the Triforce as a kid too." She then thought of something, "Hey, do you think they knew who we were? What we'd do one day?"
Link scratched the back of his head in thought. "Hmm, maybe." He then turned to Midna and asked, "Hey Mid, did your grandparents tell you any stories like that?"
Midna took a moment to recall any memories of her grandparents. "Well, I never met my mom's family. But Jerik's parent's used to always tell me that my mother was a whore and all I'd ever be good for is laying on my back," she said nonchalantly.
Zelda stared at the Goth, dumbfounded at how indifferently she spoke; like the venomous words were no different than saying hello. Link, not as surprised by Midna's family dysfunction after what happened in the van the other day, could only ask, "How are you not a lot worse than you are?"
She just shrugged again as they enter another chamber and stopped in their tracks. The three of them stared in awe and terror of the giant lizards that stomped past them, each one about the size of a bus. Snapping out of his stupor first, Link grabbed the two girls and dragged them behind a fallen piece of debris.
"Are those the Dodongo?" Zelda asked.
"Cor wasn't kidding," Midna said, still in shock. "These things are huge."
Link looked around the room, trying to figure out a way to get around the Dodongo without being spotted. He noticed a walkway high above the Dodongo's slow procession. "Hey, Midna?" He got the Goth's attention away from the giant lizards. "Think you could get us up there?" he asked, pointing to the walkway he saw.
She followed his line of sight and found where he wanted her to get them. She nodded her head and grabbed hold of Link and Zelda. After a moment of concentration, she teleported the three of them to the higher path. Link and Midna walked out of the room while Zelda looked down at the Dodongo marching below. She saw one beginning to sniff around where they had been hiding and silently thanked Nayru that Midna had gotten them up here when she did. She turned away to follow the others, failing to notice the Dodongo looking up towards where the three young people walked off to.
They walked through a few more lava chambers before coming to a room without lava and a number of strange round plants littering the ground. Link walked over to one and picked it without thinking. "Hey, check this thing out." He held the plant up for the girls to see.
Zelda realized quickly what the plant was and yelled at him, "Link, throw that away, now!"
As soon as he picked the plant, the steam started to smoke. Link looked at her, cocking an eyebrow, "Okay... Why?"
Zelda rolled her eyes and telekinetically sent the plant flying out of his hand and against the wall.
"What was...?" Before Link could finish his sentence, the plant exploded. Link looked at where the explosion just happened with wide eyes.
"That was a Bomb Flower," Zelda said calmly with Midna standing close by with a look mild surprise at the incident. "It's a special plant that only grows here in Death Mountain. The plant's fruit has juices similar in chemical composition to nitroglycerin. If the fruit is improperly picked, it will explode in a few seconds," she explained further, gesturing to the blown out wall.
Link looked back to Zelda. "Well... Thanks for that."
Zelda just smiled and started to walk past him towards the exit.
Before they could leave, a Dodongo crashed through the same wall that blew up. The Dodongo roared and Link drew his sword and shield.
"Guys, get down," he called to the girls as he rushed the giant lizard. He dodged a breath of fire and slashed at its head and legs, but the sword glanced off its scaled skin. He backed away from the Dodongo only to see it spinning around to hit him with its tail. With not enough time to get out of the way, Link held his shield up to take the brunt of it, but the force of the hit still sent him flying back.
Midna and Zelda ran over to him as he sat up. "This thing's skin is like steel. I can't cut it."
Zelda looked at the Dodongo, then got an idea. She grabbed the bow off Link's back. "Can I borrow this?" She then snagged the quiver of arrows before he could say anything. "Thanks!" She drew back an arrow and shot it right into the Dodongo's eye. The Dodongo roared and attempted to breathe fire at her in revenge, but she created a shield to protect herself and the others.
Link looked around and saw some scaffolding leading to an overhead catwalk the Dodongo was standing under. He climbed to his feet and started scaling the structure. Once he was above the Dodongo, he jumped down and stabbed his sword into the giant lizard's other eye. Link {scrambled} off the Dodongo's head, and immediately ran for his life as the Dodongo began spewing fire out of his mouth in rage and pain.
"Nice going!" Midna yelled as the three ducked behind anything that could provide cover from the flames. "Now it's blind AND pissed!"
Peeking over the rock she was hiding behind, Zelda tried to take another shot at the Dodongo. She had to duck a few times to keep from getting roasted, but when she finally saw the perfect opportunity, she pulled back an arrow, filled it with ice magic, and loosed it. The arrow flew right through the fire and into the Dodongo's mouth. When the fire stopped, Link and Midna came of their hiding places to see the Dodongo coughing. It tried to breathe fire again, but nothing came out. It started hacking up ice, and frost began to encase its entire body. After about a minute, all that was left of the Dodongo was an ice sculpture.
The three came out of hiding and inspected Zelda's handiwork. Link put his hand on Zelda's shoulder to congratulate her. "That was great, Zelda! You saved our butts."
Zelda blushed heavily at Link's praise.
"Yeah, after you two nearly got us barbequed by blinding this thing," Midna said as she more closely examined the frozen Dodongo. She didn't even notice Link glaring at her as she realized the lizard wasn't just encased in ice; it had been turned into ice. This was some seriously advanced magic. "This really is impressive, Zelda. When did you learn to do this?"
Zelda shrugged. "Just now."
That really got her attention. "Just now? Seriously?"
Zelda nodded.
"Well, that was awesome." Link said enthusiastically. "Did Renado teach you how to shoot like that too?"
"No, actually I've been practicing archery for years now." Zelda said as she handed the bow back to Link.
Link pushed the bow back into her hands. "I think you should hold on to that. I have a feeling you're going to be a lot more useful than me with that thing. Especially with those Ice Arrows."
Zelda smiled and nodded as she slung the bow across her back.
"And again, I'm the only one without a weapon," Midna said while Link and Zelda smiled at each other like love-struck idiots.
They left the frozen Dodongo behind to melt and after going through a few more chambers, found a large crane attached to several platforms; most likely to help the Gorons mine ore and rocks in the more spacious cavern. The volcano's lava flow was far enough below the cranes that Zelda's cold bubble was unnecessary.
They walked on to the first platform and took a look around. It was just as rusted as everything else in the mine. Link noticed a lever on the far side of the crane. When he pulled it, the ancient gears ground into each other, giving off a horrible screeching sound. He quickly turned the machine off and looked to Zelda and Midna. Zelda looked concerned, Midna just looked irritated.
Link looked around some more, and he saw three more platforms like the one they were currently standing on gradually ascending up to a ledge he guessed was the way out. The only problem was there was no way of getting to the other crane platforms. No catwalks, no ladders, not even ropes to swing between them.
Link looked back to Midna. "Hey Mid, you see that ledge up there?"
She looked up to see the ledge Link saw, realized what he wanted, and said, "Sorry. I can't get us up there."
Link's face fell. "Why not?"
"I can't see the top of it," she said simply.
Seeing Link's confused face, Zelda decided to explain, "Teleportation is a tricky spell to master. I just learned it today, but I know you need one of two things for it to work," she held up one finger, "Either an anchor, some form energy that the caster can focus on," she held up a second finger, "Or a direct line of sight with your destination."
"And we don't have either from here," Midna pointed out.
Link swore under his breath, "If we can't use magic, then we need to get up there the old fashioned way." He turns back towards the girls, "Look around. There had to be a way for the Gorons to get to those other platforms back in the day. We just gotta find it."
"Alright, then," Midna said quickly before grabbing Zelda's arm. "Me and Zel will look over here." She dragged Zelda away before either her or Link could say anything.
"Oh, sure, 'cause it's not like I wanted to spend some time alone with Zelda or anything," Link muttered to himself as he started searching.
Instead of helping him, Midna led Zelda off the platform all together.
"Uh, Midna? Shouldn't we be helping Link look around?"
"Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute. I just wanted to talk to you first – about magic."
For some reason, the way Midna said that made Zelda very uncomfortable. "Um, okay? But... y'know I've only been studying magic for a week. I don't know that much about it."
"That's my point," Midna said, crossing her arms in an unintentionally imposing way. "You know a lot more about magic than you should – like the Ice Arrows. How'd you do that?"
Zelda was officially confused now. "I just covered the arrow in ice and... shot it. I thought the best thing to do was to freeze the Dodongo from the inside out."
"Hey, where are you guys?" Link called out.
Midna rolled her eyes in irritation before yelling back, "We're comparing bra sizes! Give us a minute!" She turned back to Zelda. "You didn't just freeze it, Zelda. You turned it into ice. How'd you do that?"
"I-I don't know. I just did it."
"Look, despite what most people think, magic doesn't just happen. Someone who's only been training for seven days shouldn't be able to perform a transfiguration spell that advanced."
"Look, whatever you guys are doing, I think I've found something!" Link called again.
"Just wait!" both Midna and Zelda yelled, and then turned to face each other again.
They stared each other down for a second before Zelda finally spoke, "I don't know tell you Midna. I just did it."
Midna sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Zelda, I told you..."
"I know, "magic doesn't just happen." I guess I'm just special."
Midna looked her over, then sighed again and ran a hand through her hair. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry. It was... it was just bugging me, I guess. Let's just forget about this, okay? Come on, let see what that idiot wants."
Midna walked back to Link, but Zelda stayed behind for a moment. She looked at the back of her right hand before joining the other two.
When she found them, Link asked, "What were you two talking about?" Midna and Zelda shared a glance.
"Nothing important," Zelda said. "So what did you find?"
"Uh, right." Link looked between the girls, but didn't say anything. He led them to a part of the crane facing another platform. He stood in front of a slightly raised metal slab connected to some kind of machine. "Check this out." He stood on the slab, causing another slab on the other side of the machine with three raised sides on the sides and back to lurch upward slightly.
He stepped off the slab and the other one fell back down. "I think I figured out how the Gorons got around on these crane things. One Goron would curl into a ball and slam down on this pneumatic plate here…" he pointed to the slab he was just standing on, then to the other plate, "Then anyone or anything standing on this other one gets flung over to that platform up there." He finished his explanation pointing to the higher crane platform.
Zelda and Midna looked up at their destination, then at each other; coming to the same realization. Zelda turned back to Link, "Link, it was impressive that you managed to figure all that out, but the thing is…"
Link cut her off, "Look I know it isn't the safest plan, but don't worry; I'll go first just to make sure everything goes okay," he said with a reassuring smile.
"Yeah, but…"
"That's a great idea, Link." Midna said, cutting Zelda off again and grinning wildly. "Do ya need any help?"
"Yeah…" Link pointed up to the cranes gears, "Grab one of those gears and drop it on the pneumatic plate." Link stood on the flinging plate as Midna used her magic to pull out one of the rusted gears and leveled it over the pneumatic plate, with a wicked smile on her face the whole time. 'Wait, what are you smiling…"
Before he could finish his sentence, Midna dropped the gear and sent Link flying through the air, yelling. Instead of leading safely on the higher platform, he got racked on the railing. Zelda winced, imagining the pain Link must be going through. She bumped Midna in the shoulder as she stifled laughter.
Link crawled over the railing and slowly got to his feet. He turned back to the girls. "Okay, your turn. You guys are lighter, so I don't think… that will happen. And I'll catch you."
"No problem, Link." Midna placed a hand on Zelda's shoulder and in an instant, they were standing in front of him. Link looked at them, stunned. Midna just smiled at him as she said, "I couldn't see up there, but I could see up here." Zelda stood next to her with a small apologetic smile.
Link just looked between the two of them for a minute. He felt really stupid for not figuring that out himself. "Let's just get out of here."
"Ya sure you don't want to try the gear thing again?" Midna couldn't hold it in any more and just burst out laughing at the expression on Link's face. The Goth teleported them to the other platforms, making their way to the exit. Midna stopped laughing, but kept smiling as they left the cavern behind.
The three of them walked into another chamber that thankfully, didn't have any lava in it. It seemed like the higher up in the mines they went, the less molten rock they encountered. Unfortunately, as soon as they entered the room, a loud, annoying, screeching noise could be heard. All three young people covered their ears as the sound grew louder and louder.
"For the love of Din! What the fuck is that noise!?" Midna shouted, the noise driving her nuts.
Finally two humanoid lizards jumped down, seemingly out of nowhere, brandishing weapons. "What are these things?" Zelda asked.
Link drew his sword and shield. "Not sure. But I don't think they're friendly."
Sure enough, the lizards rushed the group. Link brought up his shield to block the lizard's blade and pushed it back to duel the creature.
Midna used her magic to push the lizard that attacked her and Zelda, allowing the Princess to draw her bow and loose an arrow into its shoulder. The lizard stumbled back, then faced two girls and spat a fireball at them. Zelda stood in front of Midna and cast a barrier spell to protect them. Once they were out of danger, she pulled back another arrow, turned it into ice, and fired. The lizard dodged out of the way, rolling into a ball towards them and leaping into the air to bring its sword down on them. They dodged out of the way, and Zelda loosed another arrow, but the lizard knocked it out of the way and turned towards Midna. Midna ensnared the lizard in her energy field, but it just spat fire at her, causing her to dodge out of the way and loose her magical grip.
Link parried one of the lizard's strikes, giving him an opening, and he kicked it away. He looked over to his female companions and noticed that Midna was about to be attacked by the other lizard. He moved towards Midna to help her, but the lizard he was fighting rushed him. He blocked the sword attack.
"Okay, this has to end now!" Link pushed the lizard back and bashed it with his shield, then stabbed it through the chest, successfully killing the creature.
Before Link could end his fight, the lizard attacking Midna was about to stab her to death. Zelda shot it in the back, getting its attention. The lizard turned to Zelda and spat another ball of fire at her. She jumped out of the way, knocked two arrows, and shot them into its stomach and sternum. With the creature stumbling towards her, Zelda fires one more arrow into the lizard's skull.
Link ran over to Midna as she got back to her feet; the lizard fell down dead. "Mid, you okay?"
Midna brushed herself off. "Yeah, I'm fine." She then looked over to Zelda who was currently pulling her arrows out of the lizard's corpse. "But I think I'm in love with your girlfriend."
Link just chuckled softly. Zelda walked over to the two cooks. "Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah, nothing broken," Link said nonchalantly. "And Midna wants to marry you."
Zelda looked at Midna with a look of surprise on her face. Midna put a hand on her shoulder and said, "I just think we would make beautiful children together," with a smirk on her face before she and Link burst out laughing.
Zelda looked annoyed at them laughing at her. Link managed to calm down first. "Okay, sorry Zelda. We were just joking."
"Oh... okay." She played with the strands of hair near her ear. "Uh, can we keep going?"
"Yeah, sure." Link sheathed his sword and walked towards the exit, followed closely by the two girls.
Thankfully, there were no other major impediments from that point on. They managed to avoid the other Dodongo that they came across, and there were no other lizard men to attack them. They eventually came to one of the old Goron forges. The three of them looked around the room, taking notice that most of the weapons that adorned the walls were far from mint condition.
"I think the Goron Ruby might here somewhere. Or if not here, then another armory." Zelda said.
Midna and Link shared a glance, then looked back at Zelda. "What makes you so sure?" Link asked.
"When I visited the Gorons the first time, I sat with a group of children as one of the elders told folktales about the tribe," she started, " and one of these stories was about how they traditionally worshipped Din. It was in the development of weapons. 'It is in the service of the Goddess of Power that we make these tools of war.' That is an old Goron prayer that was said before work in the forges could begin. It would only make sense that the Goron Ruby would be in one of the forges."
"That does make sense actually," Midna said, musing about what Zelda just told them. She then turned to Link, "And you remember what Shad told us? 'The second key is in an ancient forge.'"
"Right." Link turned to Zelda. "So where do you think it is? "
"I'm not sure. We should look around, and if it's not here let's look for another forge." The cooks nodded in agreement and the three of them started searching the room for anything that might hold the ruby.
After looking around for a minute, Link found a cache of old bombs. "Hey, check these out." He held one up so the girls could see it. It was one of those old timey round bombs with a fuse at the top, and was a bit bigger than a handful. "You think they still work?"
"Considering the conditions of the rest of these weapons, I kinda doubt it." Zelda said while running her hand over a decaying sword.
Link spotted what looked like a zippo lighter and picked it up to look at it. From the weight, he guessed it was completely solid, meaning there wasn't any fuel inside. He opened the lighter and noticed it lack the metal chimney or a wick; only the flint and flintwheel. The flintwheel was slightly bigger than what other Zippos had; which he guessed meant that it didn't make fire like most lighters, but instead caused just enough of a spark to light the bomb's fuse. "Well, let's try it." He used the lighter to light the bomb and threw it across the room so none of them could get caught in the blast. After a second, the bomb went off. (Would put more stuff here about people's reactions to the bomb.) "Guess they still work."
"I guess so," Midna said. "These might come in handy. Grab a few more."
Link did as she said, grabbing a bag and tossing about fifteen bombs into it. He slung the bag across his back, took a quick look around, and said, "I don't think the ruby's in this one. Let's head to another forge."
The two girls agreed and followed him out to search more of the mine. They wondered more of the mine, avoiding any fights when they could. Only having one or two more run-ins with the lizard men, the three were able to use Link's newly acquired bombs to clear out certain pathways to reach places in the mine they couldn't before. Thanks to this, they managed to find two more Goron forges; unfortunately, neither forge held the Ruby. However, as they traveled, they found themselves going further down into the mountain, and once again found more and more lava pits.
They found one more forge. "I swear to Din, that damn ruby had better be in here or I'm fucking leaving," Midna said, the constant heat, walking, and searching getting on her last nerve.
Link just shook his head slightly. "Mid, come on..."
"No, Link. I'm serious! I'm fucking leaving!"
Zelda smiled at the darker girl before scanning the forge. Something caught her eye; one of the walls seemed...off. She walked up to the wall and placed her hand on it. Link and Midna exchanged a glance, and then Link asked, "Zelda, is something wrong?"
The wall didn't feel like the other walls in the other forges. She knocked on the wall while putting her ear against it. It sounded hollow. She pulled away from it and said, "Guys, I think this is a fake wall."
"Wow, another one?" Midna said without thinking.
Zelda looked at her, confused, "Another one?"
"Never mind," Link said as he walked up to the false wall. He pulled out a bomb and placed in on the floor near the wall before lighting it. The three turned over a nearby table and hid behind it, just in case something ricocheted towards them. The bomb went off and demolished the wall, revealing the Goron Ruby sitting on a pedestal.
Zelda's eyes lit up when the faint light of the red gem shone through the gaping hole in the wall. "We found it!" She smiled as she and Link ran towards the spiritual stone.
"Finally!" Midna shouted, throwing her hands up into the air and slowly followed.
Link grabbed the Ruby. "Well, that's two keys down." He held the stone out for Zelda to look at as well. They could see that, like the Kokiri Emerald had Farore's symbol, the Goron's Ruby had Din's symbol engraved into it.
Zelda nodded once and took the stone in her hands. "Now that we have the stone, we just have to figure out how to get the Dodongo to leave the mine."
Link just stared at her for a moment. "What?"
"We have to get the Dodongo out of here," she stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Midna walked up to Zelda and put a hand on her shoulder. "Um, Zelda, honey, sweetie… love of my life… We came here for the stone. We have it – so let's get the hell out of here."
"But if we go without getting rid of the Dodongo, the Gorons will have to come in here and risk getting eaten."
"And what about us?" Midna asked incredulously. "Zelda, we just barely survived fighting one Dodongo. How are we gonna get all of them out?"
"I don't know." Zelda gripped the stone and looked down at her hand. "But, I mean... I'm the Princess, right? I should be helping the people of Hyrule, shouldn't I?" She looked up at Midna and Link.
"Zelda, I get what you're saying," Link said to her. "But this really isn't our business. We have our mission, and we have to focus on that."
"Yeah... but..."
"I want to help the Gorons too," Link continued. "But there are only three of us. What can we do, especially when we don't know where the Dodongo came from?"
Zelda looked down for a second. "I guess you're right." She handed the Ruby back to Link. "Let's get back to Goron City. The least we can do is tell Darunia what we've seen here." Link nodded and the three of them moved to walk out of the forge. But as they came to the center of the forge, they heard a monstrous roar.
"Ah great, is that another Dodongo?" Midna asked.
"I'd guess..." Before Link could unsheathe his sword, or even finish his sentence, the floor beneath them exploded and the three fell down into another lava pit.
Zelda sustained the least damage of the three of them, thanks to a split second shield spell. She could see that they were about to fall into the molten rock, so she grabbed the two cooks and teleported them to a ring of cooled rock surrounding the pool of lava. But as she did, the heat and fumes from the lava made it extremely difficult to breathe, and she fell to her knees.
Midna was coughing hard as she asked, "What the hell just happened!?"
The three looked behind them as heavy footsteps could be heard behind them. A Dodongo easily twice the size of the others they'd seen with spikes sticking out of its skin walked up to them, stopping a few feet away. "I'm guessing he had something to do with it."
The giant Dodongo roared, causing the young people to scramble away from it. It opened its mouth and took in a deep breath. Taking a guess at what might be coming next, Zelda stood in front of Midna and Link and erected her cold barrier as a blast of fire rocketed towards them. The Dodongo's fire only lasted about twenty seconds, but even that was too much for Zelda, as she collapsed right after dropping the barrier.
"Zelda!" Link knelt down to check on her. She was sweating bullets and breathing heavily; Link guessed it was probably heat stroke. He looked up to the king-sized Dodongo and saw that it was curling up into a ball and starting to roll towards them. Link grabbed Midna's arm and dragged her toward the rolling Dodongo.
Midna screamed, "What are you doing?!" Link brought both girls close to his chest as he dove towards a gap in-between the Dodongo and the wall, allowing the Dodongo to roll past without crushing them.
"Oh... Okay... Good going, Link." Midna looked over to Link still holding Zelda. Zelda herself was coughing near constantly; it was clear she was getting worse the longer she was here. She then turned her eyes to the Dodongo to see it moving back towards them. "Link, what are we gonna do? I can barely breathe. I doubt I could move all that much. How are we gonna get out of this?"
Link looked from Midna to the Dodongo. "I think I have an idea. Keep Zelda safe, okay?" He handed Zelda over to Midna before struggling to his feet and shrugging the bomb bag off his back. He pulled the lighter out of his pocket and lit one of the bombs as the Dodongo took another deep breath. He put the lit bomb back into the bag and runs towards the Dodongo to throw the whole bag into its open mouth. The Dodongo swallowed the bag and a second later, the bombs exploded inside the King Dodongo's stomach. Blood spilled out of the Dodongo's mouth slightly before it fell to the ground in a heap.
Link fell to his knees, the heat and fumes finally getting to him. He crawled back to Midna and Zelda; collapsing against the wall. "Well…" he sputtered out in between coughs. "I won."
"Yeah. Now how are we gonna get outta here?"
Link looked around the lava pit quickly. "I don't think we can. No tunnels. No passageways. Which actually makes me wonder how the Dodongo got in here? And you can't get us back to the forge up there, right?"
Midna shook her head. "Not from this angle, no."
"Well..." He shrugged in a way that suggested there really wasn't anything they could do. He then got a rueful smile on his face. "Kinda makes me wish I hadn't killed the Dodongo. Getting eaten might have been preferable to slowly baking to death." He then looked to Midna. "Sorry I got you into this, Midna."
"Hey, I pretty much forced you to take me along. And after what happened at the Forest Temple, I kinda figured something like this would happen."
"I can get us out."
Link and Midna snapped their attention to Zelda. Zelda sat up out of Midna's arms and coughed a few more times. "I left... an anchor... at the entrance of the mine… I can teleport us there."
Link and Midna glanced at each other quickly, then Link said, "Zelda, are you sure? You... don't look that great."
Zelda smirked. "Did anyone tell you you're a real sweet talker?" Link smiled slightly. "And besides... If I don't, we are going to die."
Link had to admit she had a point; he nodded, willing to let Zelda do what she needs to do. Zelda sat up and concentrated on a green light between her hands to prepare her spell. Link and Midna put their hands on Zelda's shoulders, and a second later the three of them disappeared in a flash of green light. They reappeared at the opening of the mine, and Zelda collapsed again.
"Zelda!" Link grabbed her to keep her from falling on her face.
He put her head on his shoulder and saw that her eyes were closed, and a smile was on her face. She gave a sigh. "No more lava."
Link chuckled, "Yeah. No more lava." She moved closer into his arms, and he brushed some hair out of her face while smiling down at her.
Midna smiled at the scene, but the moment was ruined by someone clapping. Link and Midna looked up to see a man in an army uniform.
"I must say, I am impressed. I honestly didn't think you would make it out of the mine. You do have skill, Hero."
"Who the hell are you?" Link asked, gripping Zelda slightly tighter.
The man put his arms behind his back and took an "at ease" stance. "General Augustus Onox of the Hyrulian army. I came here for the Goron's Ruby, which I'm guessing you now possess."
Link just glared at him as he looked down at Zelda's barely conscious form. "Could I assume the Princess isn't dead?" Link shook his head. "Too bad. Would have made my job a bit easier."
"Ah, great. Not another one of these guys," Midna said as she tried and failed to stand up. She wasn't going anywhere, and taking a look at Link, she had a feeling neither was he or Zelda.
That didn't mean he couldn't at least try. Link grabbed the hilt of his sword, but Onox just laughed at him. "You have spirit, Hero. I commend that. But, let's be honest, you have nothing left. You used the last of your power in the mines. Do you truly believe you can even lift your sword, let alone battle me on an even field?" Link just held his hand on the sword and glared at Onox. Onox just chuckled, "Oh, you do not disappoint, Hero. Very well, let's get this over with." Onox moved towards the three with a sadistic grin on his face.
Before Onox could get too close to them, three Gorons slammed down between him and the young people, then others slammed down behind him. One of them stood up, revealing himself to be Darunia. The large Goron patriarch stared down the general, who was almost at eye level with him.
"Am I under the impression that you mean to do harm to our guests?"
"I did, actually," Onox said with no hint of fear for the imposing rock creatures. He took a look at the three Gorons protecting the Hero and his allies, "But I suppose I can let the Hero live for now. Though I doubt the master will be pleased that I failed to get the Spiritual Stone." He turned to Darunia, a sick smile on his face. "And do not worry Darunia, I will be sure to get the Dodongo out of your mine. They have served their purpose."
All eyes widened at that statement. "Wha...Are you saying that you are responsible for those monsters threatening our people!?" Darunia thundered.
Onox just smiled again. "Yes."
Darunia reared back a fist and with a mighty roar, threw all his considerable power into a punch directed right at the general's face, but Onox stopped the punch with his bare hands, sending him skirting back a couple feet. Onox shook his hand slightly and chuckled. "That almost hurt."
He looked at Link. "Recover soon, Hero. I wish to see if you are truly the challenge Lord Ganon says you are." He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a plume of smoke and flames.
As soon as Onox disappeared, Link relaxed and let go of his sword. He looked back down at Zelda, who was just barely conscious, but seemed to hear and see everything Onox said.
"Darunia!" Link called out to the Goron Patriarch. "We need to get Zelda to a doctor or something; I think she might have heatstroke."
Darunia walked up to the Princess in the Hero's arms and nodded; he turned to one of the Gorons standing nearby. "Take the Princess to Goro Tok and have her diagnosed."
The Goron nodded and took Zelda in his arms, then proceeded to walk up the mountain as carefully as he could, considering his cargo. Darunia faced Link once again. "Now for you two..."
"Yeah, we can't exactly… what's the word..." Midna said, snapping her fingers a few times. "Move. So I think we're just gonna stay here and die." She then fell back, unconscious.
"Yea, I'm kinda with her..." Link said, passing out as well. The Goron leader chuckled softly as he ordered the two remaining Goron to take them back to the summit as well.
Goro Tok assured Renado that the three young people would be perfectly fine. Zelda didn't have heat stroke as Link thought, but she had over-exerted herself. All she needed was a good night's rest. The next day, Zelda, Link, and Midna were feeling much better, especially after a good meal provided by Renado and Luda. Just as Onox promised, the Dodongo left the Goron mine, allowing the Goron to mine the more nutritious rocks held within. Despite the looming threat of both Onox and the Dark Lord, the Gorons held yet another fest to celebrate the mine's reopening and the presence of both the Princess and the Hero.
Unlike the first time Zelda came to Goron City, Darunia and the outsiders had much more important issues to deal with while the other Gorons partied outside.
"Onox... is troubling," Darunia said, sitting again in a lotus position surrounded by the Goron elders, along with Link, Zelda, Midna, and Renado. Link and Midna had already explained what happened in the Goron mines while Zelda was resting, including the number of Dodongo they had seen (they theorized that there were probably a crap ton more that they hadn't seen) and their battle against the King Dodongo.
"If the Dark Lord has someone with the power to control the Dodongo, he is far more dangerous than I ever expected." The Goron Patriarch was pensive about the situation Hyrule had found itself in.
Renado turned his attention to the young Princess. "Zelda, what do you know about the Dark Lord?"
With all eyes on her, Zelda spoke, "Not that much, actually. Prof. Dragmire is said to be one of the foremost experts of ancient Hyrule folklore and history."
"Probably because he was actually there for most of it," Midna threw in offhandedly.
"And unlike me and Zelda, he actually seems to remember it," Link added.
"And if he's smart, he'll learn from his past defeats and come after us before he actually tries to take over the country." She lowered her voice slightly. "In fact, he already did." She shot an apologetic look at Midna.
Getting that the sandy haired girl was feeling bad about Zant, she waved it off and gave her a light "don't worry about it" smile. Zelda let out a small breath of relief before continuing. "Considering that, I have to wonder if Prof. Dragmire's credentials weren't forged just to get closer to Link and I."
Darunia listened to the Princess and the others, and finally decided to say something. "The Hero and the Princess must continue their journey. If the Dark Lord sent Onox to take the Goron Ruby, he must have also sent someone to take the Zora Sapphire as well." Renado finished his thought. "And he or she will almost certainly do something to harm the Zora tribe in order to get it."
Link stood up. "Then I guess we should help 'em out before that something happens, huh?" The patriarch and shaman both nodded at the enthusiastic Hero.
Darunia dismissed the meeting and all in attendance exited the Patriarch's home, while the Goron Leader himself stayed behind in a meditative state with his eyes closed. When Zelda looked back at him, she could swear he was praying.