Chapter 35
The Ancient Hammer
When dawn came, the dim light filtered through into Goron City. It had been bathed in darkness through the night, the faint light of a waning moon providing no illumination in the great cavern. Din's Fire rose over the northern mountains and its rays crept over the red rock of Death Mountain, finding the holes and clefts that allowed the light into the city.
Link had considered going straight up to the top of the mountain the night before, eager to press on and not waste time. He had forced himself to think calmly, though. It pained him to wait longer, but he thought about what Navi or Saria would tell him, and knew he would be better off gathering his strength first. He had eaten from his pack in Darunia's chamber. His goron companion left him for a while to go and find his own food, mined from the dodongos' cavern. Before they slept, the young goron had already explained to Link that it was a search for food that had led him into the living quarters of his brethren, and it had been while he was there in the dark that he had heard Link making his way through the passages. Although he had been full of caution in the open, Link had made a lot of noise shuffling through the darkness, his wariness forgotten as he wound about the dark places of the city.
After a small breakfast, Link hid his pack in the hiding place his friend had used to hide from Ganondorf, and armed only with his sword him prepared to go higher up Death Mountain than he ever had done before. The bow Sheik had given him had been left in the Sheikah caverns.
When they were ready, goron Link lifted a hanging on one of the walls and opened the panel beneath, revealing a dark passage.
"I'm not going through there in the dark," Link stated adamantly.
His friend looked concerned. "What if there are guards?"
"Either this way is still secret and light won't matter, or it's guarded and they'll hear us in the dark even if we're not seen." Either way, he would not step through the doorway without a lit torch in his hand. There were unlit torches in Darunia's room, and Link lit one from the wall sconce outside in the meeting space. He was now ready, and they began their journey deeper into the mountain.
Beyond the door, the passage delved deeper into the rock of the mountain. It was cool, deep down away from the sun. Despite the warm spring day outside, Link was soon wishing he had worn his thick cloak.
The passage was narrow, and soon they could not walk side by side. Instead, the hylian led the way, alert to any danger, torch held in his right hand so his left could go quickly for his sword if it was needed. They heard nothing, and saw no sign that the passage had been used. Initially, Link held the torch up above his head, but soon he found himself lowering it and walking with a hunch as the tunnel got smaller and more crampt. Link found himself remembering that gorons were typically a few inches shorter than hylians. The dark tunnel was beginning to feel distinctly claustrophobic.
Now and again there was a turn, and often Link felt vaguely aware that it was sloping upwards. He felt hopelessly lost even though there had been no turnings or junctions. He no longer knew if they faced north, south, east or west.
They did not speak. Each was alone with his own thoughts of what lay ahead of them, and for his part Link felt unnerved by yet another dark underground tunnel.
Finally, the flickering light of the torch revealed the first steps of a staircase ahead of them. It was roughly carved, not a neat stairway like those of the city, and it wound tightly in a spiral. Hesitating for only a moment, Link began to climb the winding stair. Up and up it went, without deviation. Link's legs began to burn with the constant motion. He had no idea how high they had to go, but he remembered they had entered the tunnel well below the top of Goron City, and that was only a third of the way up the side of Death Mountain. Gloomily, Link wondered how far they still had to go. The darkness had again robbed him of any sense of time. It felt as if it could already be the next day, but his common sense told him he could not have been walking for a day and a night. As the stairs climbed without relief and there was no glimmer of light beyond his torch, slowly his trust in his common sense waned.
To begin with, Link tried counting the stairs, but he lost count after several hundred. His muscles began to burn as he continued to climb, and the constant winding stairs were making him dizzy. The monotonous motion of step after step began to lull his senses and he stumbled several times. After a long while, the torch he was carrying began to die, the flame slowly diminishing before it spluttered and went out. Link was plunged into darkness that seemed to press in on him, stepping ever upwards without being certain what his foot would find. When at last his foot did not find a step he almost pitched forwards, such was his surprise.
"We're at the top of the stairs," said his companion, his voice loud in the darkness. "There's a short passage here and then the door into the shrine."
"I have to rest," Link said, and his voice sounded raw. His throat was dry. He slumped on the floor of the tunnel, his muscles aching, and leaned against the wall. He was not aware of his eyes closing, but he knew he must have fallen asleep when Darunia's son shook him. He was led on the floor of the passage, and apparently he had slipped down the wall in his slumber.
"Was I asleep long?" he asked. The goron shook his head.
"You only dozed for a couple of minutes. I didn't like to wake you to start with, but I didn't know how long we can wait here."
Link stood, stretching his tired legs, and began to pace up and down to try and rouse himself. At the end of the tunnel he found what felt like a wooden door. "What's on the other side?" he asked.
Goron Link's voice came to him in the darkness, and Link could not tell how close he was. "The shrine to the fire spirits. I've never been in there, though. Dad's always told me I was too young."
Link shrugged. "I suppose we're both about to find out, then. He reached for the handle and opened the door quietly. Looking through, he could see a large room completely different to the tunnel and the stairs. They had been carved into the rock, but this had been properly built. The walls were made from square red tinted stones, some of which had strange face-like images depicted on them. Torches lined the walls and the light made Link blink. It took him a moment to focus in the sudden glare. In the middle of the space in front of Link was a short flight of stairs leading to a balcony. On either side of the staircase doors were set into the wall, leading beneath the balcony. It looked as if doors led to the left and right from the raised tier, but Link did not spend long looking.
In the middle of the far wall, at the top of the stairs, was Darunia. He did not immediately see them, and Link could not tell if he was asleep or unconscious. He hung from chains attached to his wrists, which ran up the walls to the ceiling.
"Dad!" Goron Link's wail cut through the silence and he dashed forwards and up the steps. Link hesitated, frantically drawing his sword and scanning the room for guards or other signs of danger. He found it difficult to believe no one would be watching the prisoner.
Nothing happened though, and no creatures leapt out as goron Link ran to his father. Cautiously, still keeping his sword raised, he followed his friend.
As they reached the top of the stairs, Darunia raised his head and blinked at his son. He seemed to be trying to focus on him but was having trouble seeing clearly. "Link? My son? You should not be here."
"But it's okay, Dad! Look who I brought!"
Darunia turned his bleary gaze to the hylian. "You look like Link, my Sworn Brother. But it cannot be. My senses have left me finally."
Link shook his head. "No, Darunia. I'm here."
Darunia blinked again. "Then the goddesses be praised. We may not have much time. You've grown so big since I last saw you! I want to have a man-to-man talk with you, but now is not the time. Ganondorf is causing trouble on Death Mountain again!"
"I know. I've seen the dragon."
"Yes, he has brought a dragon here. He will sacrifice my people as a symbol of his power over Hyrule. Ever he has mistrusted the gorons, knowing we will not be content to simply abide his rule. If I were free, and had the ancient weapon of the gorons, then things would go differently to his plans."
"What's the ancient weapon? Will it help us stop the dragon?" asked Link, feeling a flush of excitement at some advantage over the creature.
"Long ago, the argoroks were common in the mountains. But the gorons fought them, and they were driven from the borders of Hyrule. Their hide is too thick for even the great, double handed swords of my ancestors. So they forged mighty hammers, which could be used to subdue the beasts. One still remains, in this shrine, part of history kept in reverence to the spirits who protect us."
Link began examining the manacles that were holding his old friend. "Okay, lets get you down from here, and we'll go and find it."
"Thank you brother, but it will not be that simple. Ganondorf is determined to have his sacrifice, if we kill the dragon he will immediately slaughter my people!"
"So we need to get the gorons out first. They'll have to go down to the city and hopefully they'll be able to defend it against attackers." The chains and manacles were well made, as they would have to be to hold a goron captive. Without the key Link knew he wouldn't be able to open them easily. He began attacking them with the Master Sword, being careful not to strike Darunia.
"Our first priority must be to find the weapon of the goron heroes. Once we have done that, any move we make will be a direct challenge to Ganondorf's power and we won't have long."
The first manacle snapped with a loud clang and Darunia's left arm came free. Flexing his great stony fingers, he reached over to the other manacle and began to grip it. Link looked on as the goron's muscles bunched in his arms, and he wrenched the manacle apart. "There!" he said. "That is better. The chains could not be pulled loose, but I knew if I could only get a grip on them I could break them."
"How long have you been chained here?" asked Link, slightly horrified.
"The bodies of the gorons are not like those of our hylian brethren. They do not fade as easily or tire as quickly. It was Ganondorf's intention that I should die here. I have lost track of the years I have spent hanging like that."
"Are you sure you're ready to fight?"
Darunia laughed, a great booming sound that stirred hope and confidence inside Link. "Ready? Brother, I have dreamt of this day? All the hosts of moblins and argoroks the world has ever seen could not withstand me now!" He looked about him. "Let us go. This door," he pointed to the left door, "leads to the places of deepest reverence in this shrine. The weapon we seek is there. The other way leads to the places where my people are being held."
He turned to his young son. "But you, my child, cannot accompany us."
"Dad!" Link immediately wailed. "I don't want to go home! I can't just leave you!"
"And how do you think I would feel if you died? You are young, son. You must live. Go back to Goron City. Hide. Survive. If we do not return, wait until the time is right, and escape to the mountains. Go to our brothers in their cities, and wait for the time when Ganondorf may finally be defeated. May our actions this day bring that moment closer."
"But-" the young goron continued to argue.
"No, son. This is my command, as your father, and as Big Brother of the gorons. You cannot join this fight."
Goron Link dropped his head forlornly. Link watched sadly as he turned and walked back towards the passage they had used to get into the shrine. The goron went through and closed the door behind him, and Link gasped. The door all but disappeared.
Darunia saw his friend's astonishment. "Yes, so it was crafted by my people, long ago. Many times I have looked that way and hoped for it to open, and in the end I was senseless when you finally came through it. Our enemies know nothing of it, and I have preserved its secrecy all the time I have hung here and suffered their persecution.
Sword still in hand, Link turned to the door Darunia had indicated. "So we need to go and find this weapon. Is Ganondorf still here?"
"I do not know," answered Darunia. "He came here several days ago, taunting me and telling me what he intended to do. I have not seen him since. He brought great strength of moblins with him to round up my people from all over the mountain, but many of them have been led away now he believes the gorons to be subdued."
"The moblins have left? So there aren't so many of them here now?"
"No. Many have gone."
Link frowned, puzzled. "How have they come and gone with no one in Kakariko realising? Even the sheikah didn't know a whole host of moblins had passed through their village."
Darunia opened the door and led Link into a passageway made of the same stone tiles as the antechamber. "I did not know that. It seems Ganondorf wishes to hide his troops from many in Hyrule. I suppose the stroke of calling a dragon was what he wished to be seen but he still does not wish to reveal his foot soldiers. Even the sheikah could be made to miss something obvious under the power of the Triforce that Ganondorf wields."
"The Triforce again. We don't have a great deal of hope while he holds it, do we?"
Darunia halted and turned to Link. "Hope? Brother, do you not realise? You are our hope. You are the light that shoots out, parting the dark clouds, restoring the land."
Link blinked, shocked. "I've heard those words before."
"Yes, brother. The prophecy of Princess Zelda. She spoke them to the leaders of the free peoples of Hyrule before we opposed Ganondorf's dark reign. She knew then that we had a hope that went beyond the strength of our arms." The burly goron shook his head sadly. "Would that we had listened to her. Perhaps Hyrule would not be in the state it is now when you returned to us."
"You can't blame yourself for that!" said Link, and awkwardly remembered how many times Navi had told him the same thing about his own perceived shortcomings. "But that doesn't make me your great hope," he mumbled.
To his surprise, Darunia roared with laughter. "Oh brother! You sell yourself short." He looked at Link, keenly, and Link found he could not look away from the goron's piercing eyes in that moment. "Tell me honestly, Brother. Since you returned to this land, from wherever you have been these long years, have you seen no signs of new hope? Of peace returning to Hyrule?"
With the eyes of the goron Big Brother on him, Link found himself smiling. Peace returning. "I do not know what hope there is for Hyrule. But I swear to you that I will keep fighting for this land," he said.
Darunia nodded. "Indeed, Brother. Well spoken. As Zelda predicted, Hyrule will not be saved by strength of arms, but instead we must put our faith in wise words and courageous deeds. Perhaps it was ever so."
The big goron turned away and walked down the passage. Link, still smiling, remembered that those had been Navi's words to Darunia before they had entered the dodongos' cavern. He felt glad that, even in a small way, she was still helping him out in his quest.
Following his friend, Link exited the passage into a large, square room with a raised platform in the middle. Pictures were carved into the walls around the space, and as Link quickly ran his eye over them he guessed quickly that they told the ancient history of the gorons. He thought he could see an image of Death Mountain, and of gorons and argoroks.
"This is a place few gorons ever come, brother. I allow you to come here as Sworn Brother of the gorons. Ganondorf looked here but he found nothing that he considered important. A hammer is not enough to make him fear, but we shall teach him his error, shall we not?" Darunia ascended the stairs to the central platform, Link half a pace behind him.
When he reached the top, Link was instantly reminded of the timeless room in the Forest Temple. In the middle of the platform was another pedestal, reminding him of the one that had led him to the room where Saria had been in her enchanted slumber.
"So the hammer is here?" he asked Darunia.
The goron was looking around, and if it was possible he looked a little sheepish. "Brother, I must confess, I do not know the true resting place of the weapon we seek. Our ancient tales tell that this place was built by the Ancient Sages as part of their long war, and many things from that time have been forgotten or lost."
"Let me try something," said Link, stepping towards the pedestal. He still held the Master Sword in his hand, and now carefully placed the tip of the blade into the pedestal and slid it in. Just as in the Forest Temple, there seemed to be a click as of a switch, and the platform began to shudder.
"Again you amaze me, brother!" cried Darunia. "You know secrets that have been lost for ages of this world!"
Expecting the platform to descend into the floor as it had in the Forest Temple, Link gasped in surprise as he realised it was in fact rising into the air. It seemed to lift from the floor, with no support showing what held it up. The magic that had been used to build it pushed it upwards, closer to the ceiling.
Looking up, Darunia and Link both cried in shock and threw themselves to the floor, looking to jump from the platform before they were crushed, when suddenly a wide space in the roof of the room seemed to shimmer, or flicker. Looking on in amazement, they watched as a space the size of the dais suddenly opened when the ceiling disappeared, and the platform rose neatly through the aperture.
It came to a stop, forming part of the floor of the room above as if had always been there. The room they were now in was smaller than the one they had left, and it was lit with a red light as if by a great fire, but no torches were to be seen. Link was reminded again of the otherworldly light in the Forest Temple, and he remembered that this shrine was the work of the same craftsmen. There was nothing else in the plain room, except a single wooden door.
"Well, Brother, shall we explore further?" asked Darunia.
Link nodded. "If you step off the platform, I should be able to take my sword out," he said. Obliging, Darunia stepped off the dais and walked to the door. Link drew the Master Sword out of the pedestal and immediately felt the platform judder again. He took two quick steps to get off it and watched as it lowered itself back down to the room below. Leaning over the hole, Link gasped again when suddenly the space in the floor filled itself, stone tiles appearing from nowhere. Link prodded the stones, and found that they felt totally firm. His foot did not pass through them.
He turned to his friend. "Well, it looks like we're going to need to find another way out, at any rate."
Darunia nodded and opened the door. A passage wound down and to their right. The big goron led them down it, Link following cautiously, wondering what they would discover next.
The passage took a final turn and opened out into a wide space, lit by the same eerie red light that they had seen since they had entered this part of the shrine. It was as if the illumination of some ancient flames, now long extinguished, lingered in the magic of the place.
As in other parts of the shrine, there were pictures carved into the walls around the space. In the centre of the room was a Triforce inlaid on the floor, immediately familiar because it was so like the one in the Forest Temple where he had found Saria. On the far side of the cave was a dust covered altar, and Link could see there were items on its top, although he could not see from this distance what they were.
"Aha," cried Darunia. "Brother, we are on the right track. Here we find the ancient relics of my people." He began to stride forward. Link was distracted for a moment by the pictures, and looking he saw that they did not show the same scenes as in the rooms below, of gorons battling dragons. Here there were images even more ancient, of the six races of Hyrule battling enemy hosts, and a dark monster being imprisoned beneath the earth.
It was this distraction that probably saved them both, for Link was not in the centre of the room when a strange shriek rang out, reverberating from the stone walls, and a creature dropped from the ceiling upon Darunia.
The creature resembled a giant lizard standing on its hind legs. It had clearly been clinging to the rocky ceiling, and leapt upon Darunia before either of the adventurers were aware of it. Reacting as quickly as he could, Link dashed forward and swung his sword in a wide arc, aiming only to get the creature away from his friend.
The lizard leapt off Darunia, high into the air above Link's head, and landed several feet away. It was nimbler than Link had expected. The warrior quickly moved to try and put himself between his friend and their aggressor. The lizard gave another shriek and leapt towards Link. Trying to hack it in two, Link raised his sword, but the creature was too fast and it was on him before he could bring his blade up properly. The lizard wrapped scaly fingers around the wrist of his sword arm, and clutched with its other hand for his throat.
The force of impact from the creature's charge knocked Link off balance and they crashed to the floor, but Link didn't worry as the momentum of their fall meant the long claws that were seeking his neck flew wide and scrabbled against the rock of the floor. The Master Sword flew from his hand with the impact and he was forced into a furious battle of strength, clutching at the monster as it sought to rend and tear at him.
He was saved abruptly when the lizard was suddenly wrenched backwards off of him. Link lay for a moment, stunned and gasping, as he saw Darunia clutching the beast around its middle. The goron had effectively immobilised the creature, but it was clear as the the monster writhed and shrieked that he would not be able to hold it for long.
Rearing to his feet, Link drew his belt knife and took one stride forwards, burying the short blade in the lizard's chest. It shrieked more ferociously than ever and bucked against its captor. Darunia's grip was broken and he was thrown backwards. Blood spurted from the wound to the creature and covered Link's hand, but he kept his grip on the knife and wrenched it out. More blood spouted forth, but the creature was noticeably slower with its injury and Link was able to plunge the knife in again, this time in its neck.
Screaming the monster flailed its long-clawed fingers towards the hylian, but he dived out of the way and watched as the monsters final death throes brought it to the rocky floor. It twitched, the knife still protruding from its neck, then finally lay still. Panting Link walked to it and drew out his little knife, the handle slick with dark blood.
"What was that thing?" he asked, shakily.
"A dinolfo," replied Darunia, standing. "I do not know how it came to be here, though."
"Did we find what we came for?"
"I will search for the hammer," the big goron said and turned towards the altar. Link looked about him, searching for his sword. He saw it several feet away, and walked to pick it up, muttering to himself, "Rule one: never drop your sword."
Darunia examined the altar as Link sheathed his sword and came closer. The goron moved aside various items that clearly did not interest him, while Link considered that they were surprisingly clean, not covered in dust as they should have been after lying here for untold centuries.
Eventually Darunia found what he sought, and with a small click a compartment in the front of the altar swung open. Reverently, Darunia reached inside and withdrew a large hammer. Its handle was several feet long, and the head was large and well tempered. It looked excessively heavy but Darunia had no trouble lifting it.
"This is it," he breathed. "The weapon of the gorons, left here in this shrine eons ago. You have revealed the way, brother. You have returned this ancient legacy of my ancestors to my hands."
"Will you be able to stop the dragon with that?" asked Link.
"There is but one way to find out. Now the question is, how do we return to the other parts of the shrine? The way is closed."
"Is there another way out of this cavern? Surely when this place was built they wouldn't have made it into a dead end?" They began to search, working from the passage they had come down and scouring each wall for a clue. Link ran his fingers over the strange images that seemed to tell some ancient history he had never heard about. He found no sign of a door or a clue as his fingers trailed over pictures of islands in the sky, with no understanding of the stories behind them.
"There is nothing here, brother," called Darunia, after their fruitless search had covered the whole cavern twice.
"We should have a look at the room where we came up. Maybe we'll find a clue for getting back"
"Very well, brother. I have learnt to trust your wisdom and your intuition. Lead on." Still holding the hammer with both hands, Darunia followed Link back across the cave and along the tunnel they had come down. They retreated back the way they had already come while Link ran quickly through their options in his mind. They had seen no other passages or doorways, but they were in a part of the shrine that had been undiscovered for many years. It had been built by the ancient Sages, and they had clearly intended this to be unseen by the masses. It was only accessible by someone who held the Master Sword, the final key to the Sacred Realm, and who knew how to unlock the secrets of the temples. But there was no pedestal corresponding with the room below, and this was a secret Link did not know how to unlock. The only thing that occurred to him was that they now had the hammer, the thing they had come to seek that had long ago been hidden by the shrine's builders.
They walked back into the room, but nothing had changed or stood out. It was square, the walls adorned with none of the imagery that was so evident in the other cavern. The floor was unremarkable, showing no lines or cracks to indicate the space where the platform had indicated.
"Now we are come to it, brother! What do we do?"
Link could only think of one idea, and if it didn't work he had no clue how they were to escape their prison. "Strike the floor with the hammer," he said. Darunia looked at him curiously; if he had had eyebrows, he would have raised them.
Stepping in front of him, Link prodded the floor with his foot and glanced around the dimensions of the room, trying to gauge exactly where the hole had dematerialised.
"Here," he said, pointing clearly to a point roughly in the middle of the room. "Hit the ground as close to the centre of this space as you can. The Master Sword was the key to finding the hammer. The hammer must be the clue to getting back."
He moved backwards to give Darunia space. The goron blinked once but did not question his friend. Setting his feet, he hefted the ancient weapon in both hands, then swung it in a wide arc and brought it down with all his rocky might on the spot Link had indicated.
A tremor swept through the floor following Darunia's strike, but Link thought there was an extra rumble, discordant with the vibrations running through the rock beneath his boots. As the tremor died away the rumble continued, and a square of the floor began to sink below the level of the rest of the room. "Yes!" exclaimed Link, and jumped quickly onto the descending platform. Beside him, Darunia laughed, a low chuckle.
"Again you see the way forwards. Stories of your deeds will be told on Death Mountain for many long years, as long as gorons remain here."
Embarrassed by his words, Link shrugged awkwardly. "At least we're out. What's our next step?"
The big goron turned to his friend, his wiry beard bristling and a wild gleam in his eyes. "Now, my brother," he said in a low voice, "Now we slay the dragon!"