Chapter 60: Ice Caves

At the top of Goron Prison, Link came to a wall made of ice that showed a dark tunnel behind it. Using Din's Fire, Link was able to melt the ice wall and made his way into the tunnel. But the moment he stepped in, the floor became icy and moved in a downward slope creating a makeshift slide. Link tried to keep his feet steady as best he could, and managed to reach the bottom without falling.

Before him was a long cave with a solid ice floor. There were several Blade Traps moving from left to right and Keese flying around with blue fire trailing behind their wings. Steadily, Link made his way across the ice while avoiding the Blade Traps. But when the Keese spotted him, they immediately swooped down and breathed the same blue fire that was on their wings which caused a nearby Blade Trap to freeze in place. Using this to his advantage, Link was able to trick the Keese into freezing the Blade Traps which in turn caused the bars on a door at the end of the cave to open.

On the other side of the door, Link came into a narrow stone hallway with icicles on the ceiling. But the minute he stepped forward, an icicle fell down. It would've pierced Link's head, but luckily he got out of the way. So he made a mad dash down the hallway as icicles were falling right behind him. Making it to the other side, Link came across a large chest that appeared out of nowhere and opened it. Inside there was a pair of leather boots that looked exactly like the ones Link wore only they had metal spikes underneath.

Link examined the boots until he came across a label that said, 'Ice Boots: Better for Traversing Icy Surfaces than Regular Boots'.

"This label looks the same as the one on that Zora Steam Propeller I got in Hidden Lagoon," Link noticed. "I bet this was made by the same person."

So Link tested the Ice Boots on another ice slide located behind the large chest and found that he was able to walk steadily down without slipping. He came into a similar cave that was like the first one only instead of Blade Traps there were moving statues made of ice with glowing red eyes sliding in diagonal patterns.

"Those things are Freezards, Link," Proxi said. "Be sure not to bump into them, or you'll turn into a human popsicle."

Heeding Proxi's warning, Link avoided them as best he could. But when several Freezards cornered him from all sides, Link used Din's Fire to melt them into little puddles of water. As he approached a locked door nearby, Link found a small chest with a silver key inside. Using it to unlock the door, Link came into a room with spiked icicles coming up from the floor forming an icy maze. Navigating his way around, Link had to avoid more Freezards that were hiding near dead-ends and Wolfos with white fur. At one dead-end, however, Link found another silver key in a small chest.

Eventually, Link came to another door that had a silver lock like the first one and used the matching silver key to unlock it. There was another ice slide waiting for him, only this time there were icicles on the ceiling.

"The Ice Boots will slow me down," Link said as he quickly removed the Ice Boots and put on his regular ones.

This in turn allowed Link to slide down as the icicles began falling. Further down there were icicles that stood up like sharp spikes at various points. Link tried his best to avoid them by shifting his feet slightly while still keeping steady. This strategy allowed Link to reach the bottom of the slide unscathed and into a circular room covered with ice. But as soon as he stepped in, a door shut behind Link.

The floor suddenly rumbled, followed by a gigantic white paw punching through the ice. This paw in turn was attached to a large white bear with milky eyes wearing a blue and silver helmet. On its chest was a silver breastplate while it also had elbow and knee armor plates.

"In case you're wondering, the creature's name is Bryce," Goshawhk said as he appeared on the other side of the room. "He hasn't eaten anything in several weeks, so he's likely to be more aggressive than usual. Be sure to keep him busy, okay?"

Then Goshawhk vanished leaving Link alone with the bear known as Bryce. It roared loudly upon seeing Link and used its paw to smash the ice. As a result, the ice broke into several pieces including the spot Link was standing on. Bryce then sank under the exposed water and swam around till he resurfaced near Link's floating ice island. To defend himself, Link used the Zora Steam Gun to force Bryce back into the water and waited for him to swim away before hopping to another ice block.

Bryce eventually surfaced and hopped onto an ice block further away. While he wasn't looking, Link threw a Bomb onto Bryce's ice block which exploded and forced Bryce back into the water. After a couple more times doing this, the breastplate on Bryce's chest fell apart. Bryce became even angrier as a result and pursued Link fervently based on scent alone. So Link took out the Fairy Flower whose sweetness not only disguised his scent to the bear but he also used its expandable leaves to lift small ice blocks into the air in Bryce's direction. Right on target, Bryce was knocked backward by them till he was forced back into the water.

After a few rounds, Bryce sank into the water and came up as a frozen statue. But due to the enormous weight of the creature, Bryce's statue quickly submerged. Once this happened, a gold chest appeared on one of the ice blocks. Immediately, Link hopped to the ice block with the chest and pulled out a golden key from it.

To be continued…