Chapter 50: Bad Crunchy! Bad Crunchy!

…

~~Day 21

~~I'm convinced now that the nightmares I've been having actually belong to Princess Zelda. I don't know what changed or why, but I seem to have become more conscious of the contents of these nightmares. Then again, what I saw last night could hardly be called a nightmare. It felt like a nice dream, and I can't help wondering if she got to see it, too. If the past nightmares are any indication, she's been suffering ever since that day I lost the Island Sonata. At least I know she's still alive.

~~It's still early in the morning. I managed to catch a bit more sleep since I woke up from that dream, but it hardly feels like enough. Fortunately, it wasn't as disturbing as before, although I can't seem to remember any of the previous dreams other than the one where I thought I had seen the Island Sonata being blown out of the sky. I remember that Irleen said people using a gem like the one she gave Captain Koroul causes people to share dreams. I think that, sometime after the Island Sonata was destroyed, the gem passed into Princess Zelda's hands. I've been wondering if she saw any of my dreams. I hope that my dreams can comfort her a bit. I wish I knew where she and Line were, whether they took the Horizon's Eye out of the storm or not. It seems likely that at least Line got away. This only serves as proof that I have to get back to the sky kingdom as soon as possible. I have to know what's going on.

~~We're at a mining settlement in the Fire Realm, and they need u—well, they mainly need Sello to look at some of their machines. We have a deal with the owner of the mines: if Sello can fix his machines, he'll mine some salt and have some of his men spread it on the tracks so we can reach the Gorons' town. He also said that he'll give us some more fuel so we can retrieve some supplies from the Gorons.

~~I'm waiting for Irleen to wake up so I can ask her before we head out for the morning.

…

"It's completely impossible!"

"Okay, okay!" Link shouted back at Irleen. "You don't have to scream at me." His plan to ask Irleen earlier that morning had failed when rapping at the door to the barracks they borrowed had woken everyone up. From there, they had met a large, well-built man named Bolen who had taken them to an early breakfast of liquid cereal which could loosely be termed "food" based on taste. Then Bolen had led them out of the station and onto a large plain of ice.

And ice was all they could see. Bolen led the pack with Luggard and Cale directly behind him, wrapped in blankets they took from their bunks. Cale also wore what Link could best describe as an oversized black sock over his head which he had apparently found in his bunk last night. Eyeholes had already been cut out of it, but Link still was not sure if Cale should be wearing that over his head. Sello, from what Link could tell, was too busy drinking from his flask to notice the cold, although it looked like he was wearing a sock around his neck and walking with an awkward (well, more awkward than usual) gait. Link, for the most part, was not as bothered by the cold. With his trousers and tunic in addition to his bodysuit, Link's body was well protected. Only his arms felt uncomfortable, having nothing thicker than the bodysuit for warmth and feeling the black spots on his right sleeve doing better at conducting the cold. Link had his hat tugged down over his ears, and the tight feeling around his head kept Irleen from retreating under it. Not that it seemed to bother her as she floated around his head.

Link shrugged and said, "It was just an idea I had."

"Link, you don't understand one thing about magic!" she told him. "That's not how that gem was supposed to work. It takes semi-conscious knowledge, sorts it out, and provides the holder with the knowledge they need."

Link held his hands up. "And I understand that. But it does weird things. Didn't you once say that it causes people to share dreams?"

"Did I?" Irleen circled his head as she thought. "Oh, yeah, it does. But only dreams. And not nearly as often as you think."

"Well… how often?"

"Rarely. As in never three times a year. Maybe not even twice. It's too much to assume that you can spontaneously start sharing dreams with someone. How do you know it's even her? What would she be doing with the gem I gave to Captain Koroul?"

Link sighed. "I-I don't know…"

Irleen landed on his shoulder. "Look. I know you're probably worried about her and your crew. But you've gotta think… Are you sure these nightmares aren't just you wanting to believe that they're all right?"

Link did not reply right away. Irleen had a valid point. What if he really was just having dreams? What if it was just wishful thinking after all, something which was affecting his dreams? It made sense; most of the time he had had a nightmare, it seemed like it had always been after his thoughts had drifted back to the Island Sonata and his crew. Knowing that the Smiling Gunner was in the Undying Storm merely fueled whatever his unconscious mind's twisted sense of fantasy could provide for him.

In the end, Link simply reasoned that he could not possibly be seeing Princess Zelda's dreams. He bowed his head against the cold. "Maybe," he muttered to Irleen.

"I'm sorry, Link," she replied. "I know you want to believe… but…"

Link just shook his head. "No, it's okay. I… You're right, I probably just… just wonder if they're all right or not."

She let out an exasperated sigh as she jumped up from his shoulder. "Okay, you're getting depressed, and you're gonna get me depressed."

He gave her a relaxed smile. "Sorry."

"That's better."

"Be'er be 'live back there!" someone ahead shouted. Link looked up to see Bolen waving at them. "We's a'mos' there!"

"Okay!" Link called back, giving a return wave. "Come on, Irleen." He started jogging, and Irleen flew ahead of him.

The next settlement they reached, much like Dark Ore Station, had been dug out and built into a large pit. From the edge of the pit, the group saw that it was oblong with its wider reaches almost perfectly stretching east and west. Men, most of them large and burly like the multitude of airmen Link had known over the years, walked about a large plaza in the center of the town which Link first thought had been laid out with railroad tracks. Then Link saw one man pushing a mine cart across them, and it made sense to him why the tracks appeared smaller and simpler than railroad tracks. The buildings around the edge of the pit looked to be made of stone or brick, only a couple buildings in the immediate vicinity having any sort of wooden structure. This reminded Link of the plight of Whittleton, how all the trees had been dying off because of the haze that once blocked off the sky. It made him wonder if Whittleton had improved since he had left.

"Kay, boys," Bolen said, one hand itching at his thick beard as he waited at the base of the steps. "No' lunch ye', so whacha wa'a do?"

"Beer time!" Sello hollered, swaying on the steps with a big grin framed by rosy-red cheeks.

"Yeah, we know wha' ya wanna do, Sello," Luggard replied. He glanced up at Link. "Wha' 'bou' it?"

"Well, if it's not really time to eat yet," Link reasoned aloud, "maybe we should have Sello look at the broken machines. He can at least get an assessment and determine if they can be repaired."

"Heh," Sello said, leaning on Cale's shoulder. "Dat zoundz like fun, too."

"A-a-a-ah these machines… s-s-st-st-s-stoahd in a w-wahm place?" Cale asked.

Bolen sniffed and pointed. "Storage yar' on the eas' side. Ah'll take ya there."

As they walked, Link noticed that none of the buildings nearby sported any kind of signage. The same was true for the buildings further down, but Link did notice that there were holes in the ground outside many of these buildings which might have held signs at one point. He was not sure what to make of this, but he felt it lent to the idea that things in the Fire Realm had become drastic since the trains from the Forest Realm were cut off. Few of the men appeared to overtly notice the newcomers; Link tried to dismiss the unfriendly air as a sign of toil. Every one of them seemed to be carrying something: coal in a mine cart, scraps of metal, tools, tool chests… one man exiting a metal-plated building even looked to have been carrying sticks with a rope in the middle.

"Oi, Larrin!" Luggard shouted at one point. He turned, almost bumping into Sello, and waved one hand in the air. "Oi! Oi, it's me, Luggard!"

Link stopped and turned to look at who he was shouting to, but no one had responded. He asked, "What is it, Luggard?"

Luggard slowly lowered his hand, a stunned look on his face. "Me brother. A' leas'… I though' 'e was. Migh' be me mistake."

Link shrugged. "If it was, maybe he was just busy."

"Everyone around here looks busy," Irleen said.

"More ya work, less ya thin' 'bou' the cold," Bolen said as he stepped up behind Luggard. "Social hour's a' lunch; le's go."

Bolen continued on, and Luggard brought up the rear as he cast his eyes backwards for a long moment. After a minute, Bolen led them to a row of buildings at the far end of the pit. These ones were made entirely of metal with large doors on the front. The mine cart tracks led into the large doors, but none of the men at the settlement seemed to be delivering anything to them. In fact, this side of the settlement appeared to be empty. Bolen walked to the closest building and opened a normal-sized door on the near side.

When Link stepped inside, he thought he was in some kind of dock. The floor sported a number of tool chests and parts, and there was a catwalk above them. In the middle of the room was what Link first mistook to be the rear half of a locomotive. But its coal tender was much shorter, and the boiler was box-shaped instead of cylindrical. There was a massive disk on the front end, roughly twice the height of the body. Link stepped towards the front of the machine to see a number of large, gear-shape protrusions on the front end of the disk.

Luggard let out a long whistle. "Wha's this?"

"Our answer t' the rock 'roun' 'ere," Bolen said. "Diggerton Special Two-Nineteen. Call 'er 'Crunchy'."

"I think I'll call her 'Bowel Mover'," Irleen said as she explored the disk. "What do you use this thing for?"

"Drillin' tunnels," Bolen said as Link, Luggard, and Cale climbed into the cab. "The cu'er 'ead does mos'a the work. While i' spins, those big gears ya boys see crush the rock in fron'a i'. I's go' more drill bi's on the edges'a the 'ead so the small stuffs can ge' ou'a the way."

"Whoa…" Sello said as he approached the boiler. "Heh heh. She's like… a goddezz."

"Easy with the blasphemin', Sello," Luggard told him from the cab.

"Why, what'd he say?" Link asked.

Luggard showed him a grin. "Called 'er a 'goddess'."

"Is this the only one you have?" Cale asked.

"Only serviceable one," Bolen said. "Go' three others, but they's in pieces. We's tryin'a use 'em t' fix this one, bu' they's older 'n smaller."

"What's wrong with it?" Link asked.

"Mainly's the cu'er 'ead. She won' spin, 'n we 'ad 'er 'par' fer a'mos' a week. Can' fin' the prob'm."

"Ge' all tha', Sello?" Luggard asked, leaning out the cab again. He put on an annoyed look when he saw that Sello was licking the outside of the boiler, grunting as he did so. Luggard sighed and said, "Righ', we stay 'ere, I's gonna puke."

"You're a sick man, Sello," Irleen said as she hovered over the boiler.

"Bu' nuthin' in a hat," Sello replied as he rubbed a cheek against the boiler.

"'Ow does this thin' drive?" Luggard asked.

"When i' don' 'ave a track, i' drives with this gear a' the back," Bolen explained, pointing to the back of the coal tender. "Digs in the groun', moves i' 'roun'."

"Ah theah any supplies Sello can use?" Cale asked.

"I think the question is, 'is there anythin' tha' Sello don' use'," Luggard said. "Where's yar kitchen?"

"Other side'a the se'lemen'," Bolen replied. "Why?"

"Jus' in case," Luggard said as he stepped off Crunchy. "Sello. C'mere."

"Yup!" Sello replied, taking two large steps toward Luggard.

Luggard had to lean back so Sello did not smash their foreheads together. He gave a disgusted sound at the smell of Sello's breath and pinched his nose shut. "You 'ow wha' t' do?" he asked.

"Huh-yeah," Sello said with a nod which Luggard leaned further from before their heads met. Then Sello shook his head, a stupid grin still on his face. "Heh-nope."

"We 'eed ya t' fix Cru'chy," Luggard explained.

"Figz wha?"

"Cru'ch—" Luggard took his hand off his nose. "Crunchy! Agh." He pinched his nose again.

"Oh, yeah," Sello said, nodding again.

"'Ow lon' will ya need?" Bolen asked.

Sello sniffed and looked over Crunchy. "Two."

"Two?" Luggard asked. "Two wha?"

"Two." Link, Cale, and Bolen stepped off Crunchy just in time to see Sello pull the two-headed screwdriver from his tool belt. Cale and Irleen jumped out of the way when they saw Sello step in their direction and leap over the wall surrounding Crunchy's cab. Thump! "Dohf!" Sello failed to land on his feet and slammed flat onto the metal floor.

"Am… I the only one who thinks this might be a bad idea?" Irleen asked.

…

Luggard, Cale, Irleen, and Link spent some time afterwards speculating what Sello had meant when he had told them "two". They concluded that two seconds would not be enough time to get Crunchy running. Bolen took them to see the remains of two other machines. One had its boiler torn apart and scattered all over the floor, and the only part of the other machine that was still intact was the cab. They checked back after about three minutes to find Sello missing and a large pot, which Bolen identified as one of the porcelain crucibles from the scrap shop two buildings away, sitting next to Crunchy's cab. They decided that they would check back in two hours.

Bolen took them to the mess hall on the north side of the settlement, near the center. As they settled down for lunch with the mine workers, they met Luggard's brother Larrin and their father. Larrin explained that he could not speak to Luggard earlier because he was taking tools to the mine for his boss. They agreed with Bolen that working helped distract from the cold. The mess hall only had a mild amount of heating from the wood furnaces arranged around the building, but Link thought it felt comfortable. After lunch (which seemed to be mostly dried foods which Link suspected came from emergency rations), Bolen showed them around the different buildings to help kill some time while Sello worked. The two-hour mark passed as Bolen showed them the smelting facility, which received material from another mine further north. It was another half-hour before someone realized that they had lost track of time. It was still early in the afternoon when they started back to the shop where they had left Sello.

They did not even make it to the door.

Luggard was in the middle of an engineer's joke which Link and Cale were sure would end dirty. They were only about twenty paces away from the shop when a large growl filled the air, causing them, Irleen, and Bolen to stop in their tracks and listen.

"What the hell's that noise?" Irleen asked.

Bolen shrugged at her. "Ah don' know, ah never 'eard tha' 'fore."

KIIIIiIIiiIIiiIII! The oscillating screech that followed forced all four Hylians to cover their ears while Irleen squeezed under Link's hat. "The 'ell!" Luggard shouted in a mixed tone of frustration and confusion.

"Tha' sounds like the cu'er 'ead," Bolen said over the sound. "Ain' been oiled since i' broke down."

"So he's got it working?" Link asked.

KUH! KrrrIIIIIIIGH! All four looked up. The metal slats comprising the larger door of the shop twisted and ripped loose from the frame. Metal teeth chewed on them before the torn pieces dropped to the ground or, in the case of at least one slat, went flying down the road. The three workers who had been standing in front of the shop when the noise started scrambled out of the way as Crunchy's massive cutter head slowly dragged itself over the door's remains.

Bolen clapped his hands as Crunchy continued to roll out. "'Ot damn!" he declared. "The drunk did i'!" Crunchy rocked left and right as it mounted the rails in front of the shop.

And Sello appeared behind the cutter head, both of his hands held up in triumph. "WOOHOO!" he hollered. "Look wha' da chomp-chomp can do!"

Link and his group, along with some of the nearby miners, felt their stomachs fall through when Crunchy turned toward them. "Oh, no," Cale muttered.

"Please say there's controls up there," Luggard told Bolen.

A plume of black smoke suddenly spat through the openings in the cutter head, causing them to take a half-step back.

"Ya go'a be shi'in' me!" Bolen said as he took further steps back.

Chug.

Luggard paled through the soot all over his face. "I don' like tha' sound."

"Does that thing have a train engine!?" Link shouted at Bolen, eyes glued to Crunchy as its wheels squealed against the tracks.

"A small one!" Bolen replied.

Chug. Chug. CHUG!

"RUN!"

"Whoa, LOOK OUT!"

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

CHUG! CHUG! CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUCHUCHUCHU—! People scattered to the sides of the plaza as Crunchy started its advance, carts and tools and ores left forgotten in the mad contraption's path. Not that Crunchy seemed to mind as it started its rampage. Carts were torn in half and rendered partway into splinters. Tools caused it to jump along the tracks; Sello was thrown off with the first awkward rock over a pickax. Ores became ammunition as the cutting teeth flung them aside with enough force to embed the rocks into the metal and stone walls of the nearby buildings.

And trapped in front of it was Link. While Cale, Luggard, and Bolen had the right idea to dive to the sides, Link turned and bolted straight down Crunchy's path. He had enough of a start that Crunchy was barely catching up to him at top speed. Link dodged around the discarded items in front of him, acutely aware that if he stopped, he had a very good chance of being caught in Crunchy's teeth. The mass of miners that crisscrossed the plaza in the center of town parted only seconds before Link barreled through. People shouted at him to get out of the way, but Link could not think straight enough to dive off to one side. His eyes were locked firmly ahead, unaware of the swerving Crunchy did as it followed the tracks.

He tripped.

A rail running parallel to his path stuck up high enough that its head caught the toe of Link's advancing foot. His foot stopped, and he tumbled forward and smacked into the bare ground. His head was fortunate enough to fall short of the steel rail in front of him. His senses knocked sideways, Link could not make heads or tails of his situation for a brief moment. This moment was far too long for him to realize that Crunchy was about to chew him to shreds.

If Crunchy had been directly behind him. Instead, the insane machine swerved along the track, dodging to Link's left far enough that Link's rising head was only a hand's span away from being scalped. Link reacted by ducking his head again and covering with his arms, although Crunchy had already sped off long before Link's covering could to any good. He quickly looked up again as Crunchy swerved to the middle of the plaza again, spewing black smoke out the back.

"Link!" Link was hauled to his feet by his arms. He saw that a pair of miners had pulled him from the ground just before moving to assist others. "Link!" He turned to see Luggard, Bolen, and Cale running up to him.

"Ya good?" Bolen asked while Luggard and Cale doubled over. Link nodded, suddenly aware of his heavy breathing as if he had not done it the whole time Crunchy was following.

"Whoa, geez," Irleen groaned as she left Link's hat to fly confused circles in front of him.

"Where's… where's…" Luggard huffed for a moment. "Where's it goin'?"

"Ore sortin' 'n the mine entrance," Bolen said.

SLAM! Link spun around in time to see Crunchy disappear into the tunnel on the far end of the settlement after smashing aside a metal rail cart. He turned back to Bolen and asked in an alarmed tone, "Is there anyone in the tunnel!?"

"I 'ope no'," Bolen said as he dodged around Link. Link and Luggard chased after him, Cale and Irleen slowly falling behind as the power to follow failed them. Around them, shouts for a doctor or medic rose through the air to mingle with the swear words spouted by the settlement's population. But as Link's eyes wandered around, he saw that everyone was still alive and moving, often confirmed by the cursing if nothing else. Some rushed to get their fellows inside, others stood by to place pressure on an open cut on the leg or arm. No one appeared to have any life-threatening injuries, and Link could only be thankful for that.

The three of them stopped short of the mine's opening, aware of the black smoke billowing from the top of a tunnel four times Link's height. Bolen stepped to one side and picked up a lantern. "Wai' a momen', boys," he told them as he used a match to light it. Link could still hear the cutter head squealing somewhere in the dark tunnel along with a low rumble which had to be Crunchy destroying whatever equipment had been left in its way. Bolen uttered an irate string of curses under his breath before telling them, "Ge' those hats o'er there 'n slide the masks on."

Luggard retrieved three metal helmets from a nearby crate that had escaped the rampage and handed one to Link. Link remembered seeing these during the small tour Bolen had been giving and fit it over his regular hat. After ensuring the chinstrap was tight, he reached under the wide brim and tugged down the fabric mask until he could fit it under his chin. He secured it to the snaps in his chinstrap and tugged more on it until the eyeholes were positioned right. Then he folded down the glass face shield. The shield was difficult to look through due to the number of scratches and amount of dirt the glass had absorbed.

Bolen, after getting the lantern lit, set it on the ground and put on the helmet Luggard offered him. Then, after a muffled, "Le's go", he led them into the tunnel.

The smoothness of the walls left Link surprised. It reminded him of the tunnels inside Sello's volcano, although the walls of those tunnels had been quite jagged. The smoke from Crunchy obscured the upper half of the tunnel, but none of the three were tall enough to really notice it.

They only walked for a couple of minutes before Bolen stopped. Link and Luggard stopped as well and watched him look around the area. "What is it?" Link asked.

"'Ere's where the tunnel collapsed," Bolen told them. "Looks like Crunchy cleared i' a'righ'."

"Tha's good, righ'?" Luggard asked.

"Yeah," Bolen said with a nod, "bu' we wa'a stop tha' thin' 'fore i' causes another collapse."

They proceeded further down, following the smoke above when it came to deciding which branch of the mine Crunchy had taken. Their walking picked up pace after all three of them had the energy, and they were jogging up to the contraption when they reached it. Crunchy had stopped at the end of a tunnel, squealing and kicking up dirt like a cornered animal. For a moment, they stood around looking over the complex additions Sello had made with junk he had found around the settlement.

Similar to the Seventeen's water trough hopper, Sello had rigged a metal slide to an overhanging piece of someone's tin roof and attached a mine cart missing its bottom half so that Crunchy had a coal hopper feeding into the firebox. The coal tender was missing, replaced instead by a large, upright crucible with a network of pipes feeding around Crunchy's control panel and in to the boiler. Sello had not sealed the crucible all the way, allowing water to slosh out the sides and shimmer in Bolen's lantern light. The smokestack on top of the boiler had been replaced by a thick, angled pipe which forced smoke to billow toward the back. Link remembered that a type of fairing had been fitted over the back side of the driving gear. Not only was that missing with the rest of the tender, the teeth of the driving gear had been lengthened by what Link could only describe as small bundles of railroad spikes glued to the end of each tooth. The gear itself turned very slow, likely because Crunchy had stopped at a wall that it was attempting to devour. From what the three of them could tell, most of the levers had been replaced by various pipes and two metal ladles.

"Uh… 'ow do we stop it?" Luggard asked.

"With luck," Bolen said as the three of them turned in response to footsteps quickly approaching.

Two more miners stopped before them. One was a burly man bearing a second lantern who, just for the sake of caution, kept his head low. The second was a smaller, slender man with a length of rope in one hand. Link could not see either of their faces due to their helmets. "Boss said ya coul' use some 'elp down 'ere," the slender man said.

"Yeah, ya could say tha'," Luggard replied.

"We go'a pull the thro'le control," Bolen said, indicating Crunchy. "Bu' we don' wa'a be near i' if tha' drivin' gear slips." He looked at Link. "Where'd the cover go?"

"Knowin' Sello," Luggard answered for him, "prob'ly somewhere inside the boiler."

"Which one's the thro'le?" the slender man asked, unraveling his rope until he held only the end in his hand.

"Oh…" Bolen droned, followed by a curse lost to the racket Crunchy put up. He used his free hand to wipe off his face mask. After looking hard, he pointed. "Tha' ladle in the mi'le, on the righ'. If ya jus' tug i' down 'nough, we can ge' to i' eas'ly."

"A'righ', stand back," the slender man said. Luggard and Link stepped away as he took a stance next to Bolen. Link looked down at the rope and realized that it was a whip made out of a blue Rope. The burly man held out a hand to force them further back.

The slender man swung the whip, launching the Rope's head at the control panel in an arc. For a moment, Link thought that the head would not make it. Then the head whipped forward, and the mouth exposed a set of long fangs which closed around the head of the ladle. The slender man, keeping the whip taut with a hand wrapped at the base of the Rope's connection to the whip's handle, pulled on the whip until the ladle's handle pointed toward them. The noise Crunchy made dulled a bit. Bolen quickly stepped forward. The slender man relaxed the whip by releasing the Rope's tail, and the head released the ladle just in time for Bolen to press it the rest of the way down. Bolen then yanked another control, and Link saw the light around the firebox die down. Another lever, and Crunchy's cutter head stopped spinning.

Quiet settled in the tunnel, and the slender man started coiling his whip.

…

~~So, as it turns out, Sello not only got Crunchy (the miner's tunnel-cutting machine) operational, he made improvements to help Crunchy dig through the earth around here. According to Bolen, our guide, Crunchy dug further into a tunnel which they were having a hard time with due to using only hand tools and having to deal with some kind of iron ore which would be easier to dig out with a bigger tunnel. They decided to leave Crunchy in the tunnel for the time being while they try to remove the stuff their boss, Roland, ordered for us. It's barely into the evening right now. Everyone's already had dinner, and they're trying to make sure they have the salt and coal we'll need to make it to the Gorons' town. Bolen also informed us that they'll be melting and purifying some of the ice they've harvested from the plain so that we can put more water into the Seventeen's tank. I guess it didn't occur to me that the engine needs a source of water, too.

~~Other than a quick look at what Sello's insanity uncovered, we're supposed to be returning to the Dark Ore Station before nightfall. They apparently have a pest problem between the station and the settlement at night.

…

Clink. Link gave the rock a curious look before he tugged his sword away from it. The sword released with a bit of resistance, and Link examined the blade for a moment.

"Magnetite," Bolen told him, allowing the light of a nearby lantern to reflect off the smooth, black, angular surface of the rock he held.

"Magnetite?" Cale asked, looking at the wall Bolen had broken the rock from. "Can it be used?"

"Oh, yeah," Bolen said, tossing the rock into a wheelbarrow as another miner pushed it past Link and Cale. "We can shape i' fer magnets. Bu' mos'ly, we smel' i' fer the iron conten'."

"How much is there?" Link asked, sheathing the sword at his hip.

Bolen patted the wall. "Looks t' be a good load. Prob'ly save half'a i' fer us, send the res' ou'."

"How long will it be until you have the supplies we need?" Irleen, hovering above Link, asked.

"Prob'ly can' ge' i' ou' 'til late t'morrow mornin'," Bolen said. He gave her a grin. "Tha' eager t' ge' away from us, miss?"

"That eager to get away from anything Sello can modify."

"Well, with him and Luggard back at the station," Link said, "it's not very likely he'll be modifying anything else tonight."

"We just have to hope that he finds some liquoh befoah the night's through," Cale added. "Othehwise, he might get bohed and staht modifying the Seventeen again."

"'Again'?" Bolen asked.

"He modified the locomotive we use before we came out here," Link explained. "And it's a good thing, too, otherwise that giant Malgyorg might've eaten us."

"Aaaah, so ya did mee' Smiley," Bolen said.

"Sm-Smiley?" Cale asked.

Bolen gave his head a side-nod. "Tha's wha' we call 'im 'roun' 'ere. Smiles and shows ya 'is big teeth 'fore 'e eats ya. Smiley."

"Not to criticize your whimsical naming convention," Irleen said, "but that's really kind of grim."

"Ya ge' like tha' 'roun' 'ere, 'specially if ya've been 'ere lon' as we 'ave." He stretched his arms. "Well, tha's all ah've go' t' show ya. Rea'y t' 'ead back?"

"Well, we've seen the salt, the coal, and the magnets," Irleen said. "I've had enough."

"We'll want to be rested befoah the trip to the Gorons' home," Cale agreed.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Link said.

Bolen pointed up the tunnel. "Le's ge' movin' then."

They followed Bolen toward the exit. But as they passed one of the mine's branches, Cale stopped in front of it. Link and Irleen stopped when they realized Cale was not with them, and Bolen came to a halt when he could not hear them following.

"Something wrong?" Link asked.

Cale indicated the other tunnel. "What's down heah?"

"Tha?" Bolen asked.

"Yeah, I don't think you showed us this one."

"I thin' tha's jus' a dead end. Nothin' 'appenin' down there."

"Ah you cehtain?" Cale asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"You don't feel that then?"

"Feel what?" Irleen asked.

Cale held up a hand. "This tunnel. The rest of the mines feel only slightly wahmeh than the outside, but this one… it feels as if theah's a heateh oh something in heah."

"Le's see," Bolen said as he, Link, and Irleen moved over to him. He and Link held up their hands. "Yeah, ah see wha' ya mean."

"Me, too," Link said. "You said this tunnel's just a dead end?"

"Shoul' be," Bolen said. "Ah know in cer'in places, the ground feels warm, bu'… ah never fel' this 'fore."

"Do you mind if we have a quick look?" Cale asked. "I'm just the faintest bit curious."

Bolen shrugged. "S'pose i's a'righ'. Jus' be careful."

As they started into the tunnel, Irleen said, "You know, this feels strangely like that volcano in the Snow Realm."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Link said. "But this feels a little more… distant."

"Yeah," she said, "it does."

"Could all of the ruckus Crunchy made have opened up something in this area?" Cale asked.

"S'pose i' could," Bolen said as he stopped to examine the rock with his lantern. "Looks like jus' a layer of sedimentary."

"Sedimentary?" Cale asked as he and Link continued forward.

"The magnetite ah showed ya back there is igneous rock. Tha' was spa' up by the Moun'ain'a Fire when i' was active. Bu' sedimentary rock prob'ly go' washed down 'ere from the moun'ain's outside by wind or rain. Somethin' like tha'. I's where we find thin's like sal' 'n coal."

"Feel that?" Cale asked Link. "It's wahmeh heah."

"Careful, ya two," Bolen told them. "This stuffs' sof' rock, so i' can come loose pre—"

Shoof!

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Bolen could only watch as both Cale and Link suddenly fell from sight.