"I wish to see the princess!" The guards stepped back, allowing the Gerudo woman through. Impa snarled as she entered the private chamber, taking a fighting stance. The woman laughed, flipping her long red hair and lazily opening a single gold eye. The Sheikah growled again, though she lightened her stance. Zelda, only half-dressed and without her cap, peered from behind her closet door warily.
It took her a few moments to realize that the woman in front of her was working underneath the one she saw as a threat. But something was different about this Gerudo. Despite the fact that she was one of them, there was a connection between the two. The princess couldn't put her finger on it, and decided that the best approach was one of fear. "Who... are you?"
As Impa stepped forward, another bonding rope snapped into place, leaving the three spiritually connected. It was definitely not a physical thing, and it seemed that her nursemaid could not sense it. "Why did the guards allow you in? The princess is not ready for common eyes yet! Begone and wait like everyone else!" Zelda took a few steps from her hiding place, boldly stepping in front of Impa. The woman stared down at her questioningly, but did not move. The Gerudo too was confused, her eyes narrowed and her hand sitting on her blade.
"Please, could you tell me who you are and what you want? If you have been allowed into my private room, then it must be important." She flinched, feeling the aftershock of the bonds that Zelda had noticed earlier. Awkwardly she bowed, her long hair hiding most of her features like a veil.
"I am Nabooru of the Gerudo, princess, and I bring horrible news. Your father is sick, and he may never recover."
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"Okay Link, look. We probably shouldn't go rushing in like that again, okay?" The Kokiri was yelping with pain, rubbing his blackened backside as Navi flew around him. Despite Navi's warning of not charging ahead, he had done so anyway and had landed rear-first into a pool of lava. The wooden shield that he had forgotten to replace had burned away, leaving him with no defense as a swarm of Keese descended upon him. It took near ten minutes just to knock them out with his slingshot, and within that time period he had suffered more bites and burns than ever thought possible.
And so Navi deemed it 'not his day'. He was obliged to agree.
They were sitting on the entrance ledge again, this time carefully observing their surroundings. At least, Link was. Navi was bouncing around screaming 'Hey!' and 'Listen!', trying to figure out which one gave a louder, longer echo. It was really quite annoying, and if he could figure out a way to shut her up, he would.
"You can use this song to contact me, Link." Saria smiled at her friend, lowering her own ocarina onto her lap. Datl snickered, while Navi looked at her questioningly.
"How does that work... and what's the trollop laughing about?" Datl scowled, buzzing behind Saria and allowing her charge to explain.
"Well, it sends a static shock into Navi, allowing her to connect with Datl and letting me speak to you! Isn't that wonderful?"
Navi had said something else after that, but Link couldn't bring himself to remember it. All he wanted to do was shut the damn fairy up. While his guardian was distracted with her echos, he played Saria's Song softly on his ocarina. Almost immediately after he was done playing it Navi fell to the ground whimpering. Blue static surrounded her, and she gasped. "W-would you like to speak to Saria, you bastard?" He nodded, deciding that he didn't want her to feel pain for no reason at all. Especially since she seemed incredibly pissed off.
"Link, is that you? Oh, hold on... Datl, suck it up! I'm getting to talk to Link... I know he can't talk, but Navi can talk for... Just hold on a minute, okay?" The single person bickering continued for a few minutes, with Navi moaning and gasping in pain, "Sorry about that. Datl's being a baby. I see that my song impressed the king of the Gorons? I'm so happy!"
A few seconds of girlish squealing later, Saria cleared her thoat and spoke yet again. "Anyway, be careful, okay? If you die... I'll never forgive you!" With that Navi stopped sparking, coughing as she rose again into the air. She was still obviously upset, but now that the pain was gone she was also grateful.
"Hey! Tell me if you're going to do that again, right? Seriously, that stings! Anyway, let's take a look around, shall we? It seems like we're in the main cavern right now. See those spinning statues, Link? Those are Beamos. They dislike smoke." Link glared at her. She glared back, obviously amused, "If you're going to be a bastard, then you're going to have to figure out my hints mean. I'm not just going to hand out answers if you're going to just punish me later."
He scowled, carefully stepping on the wooden bridge leading to the center platform. The Beamos suddenly stopped turning, its slow blinking causing a loud creak to be heard. His beating heart was the only other noise present. Finally it continued to turn, deciding that the pressure it had felt was truly nonexistant. Navi flew forward, glowing yellow as she circled it. As usual, it ignored her. Link stepped onto the platform, and the beast turned suddenly. A beam began to form in its eye. "Link! Run!"
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"W-what do you mean by that? My father was fine just this morning!" Impa took a hold of Zelda's shoulders as she tried to charge at Nabooru. The Gerudo shifted backwards, nodding sadly. She took out her glaive and placed the handle in her right palm and the blade in her left. Impa growled, shoving Zelda back and marching up to the stranger.
Taking Nabooru by her necklace, the Sheikah glared at the fifteen year old consort before throwing her to the ground. "The king is fine. He was just in the throne room, as you should know. Your kin was just within having a council meeting." Nabooru shook her head.
"No, no. He's acquired a rare desert disease. Perhaps it was from the food we gave to him as a gift... We have no idea, but while we can spread it we are immune. This trip we allowed only the clean with us, and so when the king fell we took him to his bed," as Impa began to move towards the door, Nabooru blocked her way, "Only we may see him. It can be spread to the Hylian kin and the Sheikah. If it balloons out of control, you entire region may be wiped out. Please, just bear with us."
Impa stopped in her tracks, her teeth gritted together. Nabooru sighed with relief, then tensed as the large woman spoke without turning. "If I find out you're lying, whelp, I will personally rip your organs out of that pretty little stomach. You understand?" Zelda gasped at her nursemaid's threat. Usually the Sheikah was gentle and kind, albeit a bit fierce. Never had she made such a comment, though. Nabooru bowed, knowing that Impa could not see her.
"Of course, Sheikah. I respect your threat as one of truth."
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Link leaped out of the Beamos's path, rolling to the side and nearly skidding off the edge of the platform. He pulled out his Hylian shield, panting as he slowly made his way back to the center. The Beamos wasn't done, however. It circled once again before striking, its beam creating a small valley as it moved. Link yelled, bouncing to the lowering platform to his back. Navi swooped after him, leaving the Beamos to believe that its target had been eliminated.
As the platform rose again, Link leaped to the right landmass. Another Beamos was present, but it seemed less sensitive than the center being, circling casually despite him standing only a yard away. A bomb flower grew to his side, and next to it was a stone wall. It was significantly thinner than the rest of the cavern; small crags actually allowed one to view a bit of the room hidden behind it. The Beamos hummed happily, suddenly picking up his being and blinking slowly. Navi shoved him out of the way, her tiny bit of weight knocking him to the ground.
Again the statue lost its target, beginning to spin again. Navi punched Link in the cheek, and while he rubbed it whispered into his ear. "Beamos dislike smoke. Think about it, hero." Without any thought he chucked a bomb flower at the statue, causing its eye to blow off the body and errupt in midair. Navi whistled as the chunks hit the ground, turning into dust.
"Nice going, though I'm going to assume that you didn't use my hint to figure out that bombs blow shit up, right? Now blow up that wall and let's get a move on!" He obeyed, throwing another bomb and backing up as it exploded. The wall collapsed, allowing them to casually walk into the tunnel. Navi suddenly yelled out, turning yellow and hovering over a growing mound in the ground. A tiny worm-like lizard appeared, squeaking miserably as it shuffled its way towards Link.
Navi loyally hovered above it, shouting at her charge from the air. "These are Baby Dodongos. Be careful when you hit them, because they explode when they die!" It was too late, though. Link had already struck, and the tiny worm-thing was glowing a bright red. The creature exploded, flinging the Kokiri about a yard back and significantly damaging the already beaten up young boy. He panted, sitting on his knees before slowly rising. Navi hovered above him, back to her normal blue coloration.
"Maybe you should learn to listen sometimes, huh? You know, I shout at you for a reason. Maybe one day you'll get that through your thick skull!" She growled, floating ahead of him. Link sighed. It was going to be a long dungeon.
A/N: Blah, not a big fan of the second part of this chapter. Anyway, this is part one of the Dodongo's Cavern chapters, and I hope you at least kind of liked it!
Also, don't expect any updates over the week. I'll try and get some in, but we're heading to Florida so don't be hoping for any.
As usual, comments and reviews are welcome!