Chapter 86: Gatolfos, Reptilian Armorer

…

Link and Layna took a moment to rest, exhausted from the walking, the fighting, and the heat. Link's arm felt sore from the swordfighting, but he was focused more on Layna's arm, worried that the Dinolfos had harmed her more than she wanted to admit. Not that he considered pursuing the matter. Between knowing that she was a killer and now realizing that she had a penchant for bizarre behavior (switching personalities, sneaking up on him, being startled easily, and randomly kissing him in the middle of a dangerous situation, although he wondered if that last reason might not actually be strange for a Gelto), he was not sure if he should try pushing her about her injury out of fear that he might join the Lizalfos and Dinolfos around them. However, when she decided she had enough time resting, the first thing she did was fling one of her circular blades into a corner. Link was impressed to find that she could make it ricochet back to her. He was even more impressed when she caught it with what he thought was her injured hand, although he wondered how she managed to catch it in her palm without slicing her hand open. Her glare at him afterward seemed to indicate that he should not bring anything up to her again. She busied herself with hiding the bodies, which included checking the two Link had targeted to make sure they were definite kills.

Link rose a few minutes later and contemplated the bracelet he had taken. He asked Irleen, "So, does it matter what block goes where?"

"Not particularly," Irleen replied as he closed the bracelet over his left wrist. "But you'll probably find that it would be easier to just push them into whatever wall they were pulled out of."

Link glanced at the nearby wall, which was not missing any blocks. "You know, I can see the seams between the blocks, but I don't see how the Lizalfos pulled them out in the first place."

"Oh, that's easy. Place your hand on one of those floor tiles, and then slowly raise it."

Link took a knee where he stood and placed his left hand on a tile on his side, one of the tiles with the spiral pattern. Then he slowly picked it up. He was surprised by the sound of something crumbling, and he had to angle his head so he could see past his hand. A handle had formed where his hand was, and he gripped it and pulled the tile up. He was amazed at how light it was, especially since most indications said that it should be like picking up a lead weight. As expected, the tile was a cube, and its other faces were pink, just like the larger blocks.

"That's pretty interesting," Link said as he examined the block. "There's almost no weight to it at all."

"You could even pick it up with your other hand," Irleen said, "though you need to use that hand to make the handle appear. The technoworks respond to the proximity of the bracelet."

Link carefully slid the block back down and took his hand away. He watched the handle melt back into the tile's surface. "So I suppose we should put all these blocks back."

"It'd make our job easier, especially if we're going to connect them back to the rest of the technoworks. We shou—… What is she doing?"

Link followed the direction Irleen was looking in and saw that Layna was dragging the Lizalfos that Link had killed toward one of the cavities in the wall further down. When she got it to the edge of the cavity, she stood on the other side and rolled the Lizalfos into the cavity. There was a hiss and a puff of smoke, and she watched the body for a moment before moving to the last body lying in the open. "Oh," Link uttered. "It looks like she's using the heat from the exposed technoworks to burn their bodies. That's… Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea."

"Burn, nothing," Irleen said. "The moment we reconnect these blocks, the technoworks is going to consume their bodies. I know it sounds gruesome, but I kinda like the idea. It'd put these bastards to some good use."

"Soil and water," Link said. "You're right, that sounds like good use." He cracked his knuckles as he looked around. "So. Let's see how this bracelet works."

Link found a block that had only been pulled out halfway and pressed both of his hands against its tile surface. He could feel that the block was much lighter than it appeared, but he found that he could not push it like that. So he braced a shoulder against the tile and shoved it with all his strength. He was a little surprised when the block budged under his push, and, when the block exceeded the range of his reach, he stumbled forward and whacked his head on the surface. The next few minutes were spent with him cradling his head while Layna, having finished disposing of the Lizalfos' bodies, tried to show him a little sympathy by placing a hand on his shoulder. Irleen tried not to laugh and voted to keep silent lest she say something to further annoy Link.

After he recovered, he pushed the block back into its space, making sure that he kept moving his feet so that his shoulder was always pressed against it. Its placement was not perfect; Link found that he could not fit it back into its space exactly. Irleen told him that the technoworks would square it up once it was told to reconnect them, so Link moved around the room and started replacing blocks, recovering Irleen's bomb gem in the process. Five of the blocks had been merely pulled out of their spots, and Link pushed them back into place with no trouble. The problem came with the six blocks which had been moved away from their slots in the walls. Link had to line the blocks up with their spaces and push for a moment, and then stop and double-check that he was moving it in the right direction. The tiles on the floor made it easier for him to follow a straight line, but he found that pushing in a straight line was difficult. He had to do it right since he could only push the blocks from one side. Twice, he reached the blocks' spaces and found that he had been off by enough that the block would not fit inside correctly, forcing him to pull the block out enough for him to push it back into place. The process was quite exhausting, and Link had to pause for a break after replacing the blocks in that large room.

They then moved into the smaller room so Link could push those blocks back into place. This included kicking out the bridge the Lizalfos had left and replacing the block dividing the room from the corridor, which was not much of an issue since the larger room had access to the corridor.

When the last of these blocks were put into place, Irleen said, "Well. It's beginning to feel cooler in here already."

"Oh, yeah," Link replied as he tried to catch his breath, resting against the block he had finished replacing. "I might need another shirt or something." He wiped his forehead and pointed at his bicep. "I really wish I hadn't forgotten that thing, that… cloth, or whatever you wanna call it."

"Charm?"

"Yeah, let's call it that."

"Kyabtin." Link glanced at Layna, who had been observing him this whole time from the side. She offered him what looked like a strip of leather. When he took it, he found it to be a pouch barely larger than his middle finger. He squeezed the sown edges together to open the mouth up and peered inside to find a small amount of green liquid. He glanced up at her, and she mimicked a drinking motion with one hand. So he put the pouch to his mouth and turned it up.

The liquid had a powerfully tart flavor. The way Link had consumed it caused him to swallow it in a strange way, and he quickly leaned forward and coughed hard. Layna backed off in surprise. Irleen started laughing hysterically. Link felt as if he had just swallowed a mouthful of alcohol, but he was able to keep his senses about him so he could tell Irleen in a raspy voice, "It wasn't funny."

"Oh, that was hilarious!" she wailed. She threatened to drop out of the air as she continued to laugh for a moment. "C'mon, Link, you just coughed up green!"

"I wonder what was in it," he said, peering into the pouch again. Then he offered the pouch back to Layna with a fake smile plastered on his face. "Thanks, Layna, that was… extremely disgusting." Layna, giving her head a confused tilt, accepted the pouch. "Let's get moving before she gives me something else."

"If she does, I want it to be red."

"Shut up…"

She giggled at him as he walked past her. "Spoil sport."

They went out into the corridor through the larger room. After kicking the remains of wood and metal that had once been a bridge over to the opening in the wall on the left side of the corridor (where they started to smoke as the exposed technoworks started burning them), Link made to step into the room with the ladder to the corridors above.

However, Layna grabbed his shoulder, stopping him before he set foot on the improvised bridge over the exposed technoworks. Link wobbled where he stood, surprised by the grab, and looked back at her. "Wha-what is it?" he asked. She removed her hand and pointed to one of her ears.

Link listened for a moment. It was subtle, but he could hear something echoing through the corridor. It sounded like a low hum, but when he stepped off the bridge and moved further down the corridor toward the block hiding the other end, he realized that it was actually something clicking extremely fast. He could not place the sound; he had never heard such a noise before.

He found Irleen hovering a little higher above his head and asked, "What is that?"

"I don't know; I've never heard it before," she replied. "There really shouldn't be any moving parts down here. Unless…"

Link took in a breath when he realized what her statement was leading to. "The Lizalfos did something."

"We'd better find and stop it," she told him. "I can't expect that the Lizalfos could actually make something that could be harmful; they're not supposed to be that bright. All the same, we should take a look."

Link nodded in agreement and strode over to the block. He took a moment to examine the block, and then he squeezed his shoulder into the gap between the tile face and the wall. It felt awkward for him, especially because he stood a breath's distance away from melting his face against the exposed technoworks. He managed to shift the block enough to fit the rest of his body into the gap, and he pushed the block back into the wall. The other side revealed a stretch of corridor almost the same length as the area they had already seen. This also ended in a doorway, and now that it was in sight, all doubt as to the source of the clicking had been cleared. Layna took the lead from Link before they could start for the doorway. Link saw a blade in one of her hands, but he decided to wait before pulling the Lokomo Sword. If anything attacked, Link was sure Layna would attack it first.

They emerged into a large, square room with a step-down area three tiles away from the walls. Just like the other rooms, this one had a number of its tiles pulled out, although they were only pulled out by small fractions. A number of tables had been improvised by a mixture of wood and metal nailed together and scattered all over the room. There were also a few crates sitting next to each other, most of which had been left open due to being filled with many long, narrow scraps of metal. A small furnace sat in one of the far corners with tools scattered all over the floor around it.

The main attraction was the caped figure standing in the middle of the room. It looked like a much larger Lizalfos, but the face was flat, wide, and sported a much longer muzzle with its upper teeth decorating its lower jaw despite its mouth being closed. Its eyes were much closer together and stuck out on the top of its head. The flat surface of its head was covered by a plate of metal specifically fitted for its face. Its right shoulder and part of its body were covered by what looked like a royal blue bedsheet. It wore a cuirass and a full sleeve of armor on its left side. Its neck was covered by a bevor which looked to have been crudely put together. Over the armor, it wore a sleeveless coat of thick, wool-like material that hung as far as its knees. It wore boots, something which Link had not seen on any of the other Lizalfos wearing. Its tail whipped around as it watched Link and Layna stand side-by-side.

The corners of its jagged mouth rose. "Aaaaaaxh," it spoke. "Haihlinqa. Zah, toghihxhse bexh mogh axghen shabixghagh imbex mbeg. Fixk ngahlom. Xashoxghen, smexht ixghweg imbex ngale."

Link could feel his whole body tighten up. Something about this creature's high-pitched voice made him anxious. "I guess we didn't find them all," he said aloud.

"It figures we'd run into another," Irleen agreed. "And a meaner one; this looks like a Gatolfos."

The creature's chin rose. "Qopexh jigh Xghito," it spoke in an intrigued tone.

Link narrowed his eyes at it. "What was that all about?" he asked.

"Tān kakòrōl ahà, Rītò?"

Link felt the color drain out of his face. Although his exposure had been limited, he still recognized the language Irleen was prone to spouting whenever no one held her translator gem.

This creature, this "Gatolfos", spoke Sorian.

Irleen sounded equally as stunned when she stuttered, "Y-y-you-you can't."

"Kīt ahà," it replied. "Kil huk kiħawāp."

Link looked up to see Irleen shivering. "You piece of shit!" she hollered at it.

The Gatolfos broke out into a screaming laugh that sent quakes up Link's spine. "Hòt kálin!" it declared. "Kīt pat, kūltùpirah kònucpa! Hōn citap kacìlòk!"

"H-him?" Irleen uttered. Then she shouted, "Where's the Sorian with you!? I know you have him!"

The Gatolfos gave its left hand a dismissive wave as it said, "Ħacìlòkat ō. Ħatòt. Ħatùpat. Hīlīħán ħanùl ħacīh. Ho hōn hì 'Kil Toròlcita kacàtī, katàl ta ō Hīlīħán klánūka' ħa káwitat. Toròlcita ħacàtīh. Àt kácánih. Ho kláħòħòtut tanì."

It laughed again, and Irleen did not seem to have a response. So Link asked, "What'd it say?"

Irleen's voice came out a little haunted as she said, "The Sorian they brought… it said he pleaded and cried. He wanted to save the Hylians. So it told him that he wouldn't see Hylians hurt if he got rid of the Streamways. And when he did that…

"When he did that… they ate him."

That last statement left Link a little stunned. He had hoped to find another Sorian alive down here. Or at least one who had not been as tortured by his actions as Airman Kaheel had. He was not sure if the fate of this one had been any better, but it certainly left quite a queasy feeling in his stomach. He gulped as he looked back at the Gatolfos.

Then he steeled himself and grabbed the handle of the Lokomo Sword. Irleen must have put on the same resolve, because her next words prompted him to draw as he had never done before. Slow, and with intent. And with the urge to level some vengeance upon an evil creature.

"Get him, Link."

Link raised his sword and stepped down to the Gatolfos' level, prepared to run at him full-speed so that the boots would let him strike before it could see him.

But then the Gatolfos threw back its cape. It revealed to Link what he will forever know as the most horrifying gun he had ever seen. Six barrels mounted to a revolving base spun from the bedsheet being thrown off of it. It had a battered cylinder for a body, and it was held up by a tripod of both wood and metal. The Gatolfos placed a large bar of metal into a slot on the top of the body and put a gnarled, scaly hand on a crank on the side. Link froze his advance.

And the Gatolfos directed the barrels at him with a gleeful laugh. "Shoxghaine, Haihlinqa! Shoxghaine!"

Its following cackles of delight were punctuated by a rapid-fire report as the Gatolfos cranked the handle. Link had no idea how he survived the first rounds that left those barrels. Maybe it was more of his luck holding out. Maybe it had something to do with the Gatolfos' careless delight at using the weapon. But the moment he registered that the sounds he was hearing behind him were lead bullets pounding into the wall, he dove left behind a pair of nearby crates full of metal scrap. Layna, taking advantage of the Gatolfos' distraction with Link, kicked over a nearby metal table and ducked behind it just in time to avoid a spray aiming for her.

Behind his box, Link cringed at the ta ta ta ta ta ta ta of bullets thumping against the crates, concerned that one of those would be able to punch through and hit him. When the Gatolfos redirected its aim at Layna, Link dared to peek around the side. Unfortunately, this attracted the Gatolfos' attention, and Link withdrew behind the crates again just as more bullets ripped the side of the crate apart.

"What is that thing!?" Link shouted above the sound of gunshots and ricochets from bullets skipping off the scraps behind him.

"I have no idea!" Irleen, ducking behind the same crates, cried out. "But it's tearing up everything! You gotta move, Link!"

"If I move, I'm dead!"

"You're not much better if you don't!"

Link sheathed his sword and waited. The moment he heard the fire redirect, he leaned past the far side of the crates to get a better look at what cover he had. There was a pile of metal scrap not far from him. If he lay on the floor, he could hide himself. Then, if he survived that, there was a larger pile of scrap which would serve as better cover. He glanced at the Gatolfos a couple of times. Convinced that it was having fun targeting Layna, Link took two strides forward and dove to the floor behind the pile. It was just in time; the Gatolfos, with a wider field of vision, had spotted him moving and swung the gun around to try to catch him. Bullets bounced all over the place. Link could hear them hitting the metal scrap next to him hard and covered his head with his arms.

"Lahjexh! Lahjexh!" the Gatolfos cackled. "Mwes tahvi lahjexht asu! Shoxghaine vaagh, Haihlinqa!"

"Kyabtin!" Layna hollered.

The gunfire lifted from Link's hiding spot, and he pushed himself up to see that the Gatolfos had spun to fire at Layna while she was running for another table. There was a heavy crash as she shoved the table over, and Link, thinking that he might be able to make it to his next bit of cover, rose and dashed to the next pile. It paused to swing the gun back at Link.

Tink! "Axghgh!" the Gatolfos howled after being struck between the eyes by one of Layna's throwing blades. "Haihlinqa zoxh!" He opened fire on Layna again, leaving Link to crouch behind what looked like a mess of discarded carriage parts. He glanced over the top of a metal door frame to see that Layna had hidden behind a wooden table that was quickly being rendered into splinters.

Then the gun stopped firing. The lack of sound was almost as deafening as the gun itself. The only thing Link could hear was the metallic clicks of whatever mechanism allowed him to fire so many rounds so rapidly.

"Link, he's out of rounds!" Irleen suddenly declared. "Layna, go! He can't shoot!"

Link pulled his sword with the intention of pulling off the attack he had intended in the first place. Both he and Layna leapt from cover as the Gatolfos took a step away from its beast of a firearm. Link rounded the scrap pile, and Layna prepared to throw another blade. They were both poised to converge on the Gatolfos from the front, which meant that Link would not be in danger of taking the flying blade himself should she miss.

But the Gatolfos had other ideas. It put both hands into its coat and whipped them out again. Link and Layna barely had time to realize it was holding a pair of pistols before it fired.

Link spun in response to heat piercing his right shoulder and, taken completely by surprise, collapsed to the side of the scrap pile he had used for cover. Irleen screamed in horror somewhere nearby. The Lokomo Sword dropped next to him, but he did not dare try to pick it up as he pulled himself along the floor back under cover. When he was safe again, he sat up against a solid sheet of metal and looked at the wound in the surrounding light. There was a clear hole in his bodysuit on the outside of his shoulder, and blood was already staining his sleeve crimson. Unsure of what to do, he tried pressing his gloved hand against the wound.

"Link!" Irleen shouted as she descended on him. "Oh, geez, Link! Are you all right!?"

"I'm fine," Link said.

"What!?"

"I'm fine, Irleen!" Link told her in a louder voice. The pain felt like it was searing throughout his shoulder and upper arm, and the disturbing amount of warmth crawling down his arm made him wish it were anything but blood. "Where… where's Layna?"

"Layna? Oh, Layna!" She rose above the scrap pile. "I-I think she's back behind the table."

"Is she hit? Can you tell?"

"I don't see her."

The room suddenly erupted in another bout of rapid shooting, but Link was surprised to find that the bullets were not directed at him. He slid to his right and peered around the pile to find that the Gatolfos was using the gun to chew the table apart.

"Oh, crap, Link!" Irleen cried as she ducked back behind the pile. "What are we gonna do!? You can't approach him with that kind of firepower! Wha—… Wait, what about your bow?"

"I'm hit in the shoulder, Irleen," Link growled, trying to bear his pain and frustration. "I don't think I can handle it."

"You've gotta do something!" she cried out. "Layna's in danger!"

Link set his left hand back on the floor and pulled himself back into better cover. "I know," he told her. "But I can't use my bow, and I don't think my boomerang will do anything."

"Well, you can't wait until he runs out of bullets! That coat he's wearing is full of those little pistols!"

"I know! I ju—…" Link paused when he looked down at the tile under his left hand. Having barely lifted the hand, a handle had partially formed in the tile. Quickly, Link pressed his hand against another tile that was not trapped under the scrap pile and revealed another handle. This one, he pulled up on until the small cube of technoworks came out of the floor. He test-lifted it for a moment. Then he found Irleen in the air and said, "Remember those flying tiles in that crypt we found?"

"Yeah?" she replied, her tone confused.

Link jerked his head at the cube he held. "I have an idea."

Her response was not immediate. But when she said something, it was with an evil glee. "I love it."

Link curled his right arm against his stomach so that he was not moving it so much, giving him less pain to worry about. Then he turned around so he was facing the scrap pile. He rose carefully so as to not attract the Gatolfos' attention.

Then he hefted the cube and threw it in the Gatolfos' direction. The cube hit the floor and skipped past the Gatolfos' tail. It paused its assault to look over its shoulder at him.

"You missed!" Irleen snapped at him, disbelief coloring her voice.

"Bad shoulder!" he snapped back, pointing at his arm. When he saw the Gatolfos turn the gun at him, he cried out, "Duck!"

The air exploded with gunfire bouncing off Link's hiding space. He backed away and took out another cube from the space next to the first one. Unable to actually see the Gatolfos without having his head blown off, Link took his best guess and flung the new cube out into the open. No good, though, as Link heard the sharp crack of the piece of technoworks bounce off the floor.

"Haihlin zoxh!" the Gatolfos howled in anger. "Shoxghaine vaagh!"

Tink! Tink! Two more hits from Layna's blades. Link breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled out another block. It meant that Layna was still all right. "Axghghhhh! Fix! Fix nwadexh! Shoxghaine shoxghaine shoxghaine!"

Bullets then started pelting the wall behind Link as the Gatolfos swung the gun around like a madman. Link watched as the impacts caused the walls to form bright red dots. This had to stop before it shot up enough of the room to cause necrosis. But the wild shooting gave Link enough time to rise and see where the Gatolfos stood before throwing the next block.

Crrrrrck-ssssssssssah. "YAAAAAAH!" the Gatolfos wailed as it not only felt the full weight of the technoworks block crush part of its tail, eliciting the painful crack that could only be bones breaking, but also felt the unpleasant burning from the block's extreme heat. The Gatolfos continued its painful scream as it focused its wild spray of bullets back on Link, forcing him to dive back under cover.

Tink! The gun suddenly stopped shooting, something Link only realized when he was halfway finished pulling out another block. He removed the next block and looked over his cover. The Gatolfos was trying to pull at a circular blade embedded in the body of the gun. Then Link looked closer and saw that it was not the body of the gun. Layna's blade had wedged between the body and the barrels, preventing the barrels from rotating. Link took the opportunity to throw the block he had at the Gatolfos.

Crrrck-ssssssah. The Gatolfos let out another of its high-pitched screams of pain after the block slammed its left forearm, struck and slid off the back of the gun (causing the gun to swivel up and bust the Gatolfos' lower jaw, taking out a couple of teeth), and landed hard on its foot. The scream came when the block burned the boot apart in a matter of seconds, much too fast for the Gatolfos to react in time to save its foot. It backed away from the larger gun and drew a musket with a large barrel from its coat.

Link had already thrown another cube, and the Gatolfos had to dodge. This allowed Link the opportunity to reach out from cover and retrieve the Lokomo Sword by carefully taking the blade between his fingers. He was back behind cover just in time to avoid the blast from the Gatolfos' musket, which peppered the scrap metal with large shot. Link did not quite avoid this, as he felt one round make it through the pile and tear a wound open through his trousers and into his thigh. It only bothered him a split-second, and then he was pulling out another block from the floor. He looked over his cover to find that the Gatolfos had discarded the musket and pulled out another pistol. He flung the cube just as the Gatolfos fired, revealing that the guns it carried were flintlock weapons. Link spun and ducked again when the bullet grazed his left side, but it gave him great timing to reach down and grab the Lokomo Sword off the ground. He did not even wait for the block to hit, jumping back to his feet and running out of cover again. The Gatolfos dropped the pistol while dodging the block. Then, when it saw Link trying for another charge, it reached into its coat for another already-loaded pistol among the two dozen it kept under there.

It could not even pull this new pistol from its holster in time.

Against the protests of his wounded thigh, Link ran at the Gatolfos, and his boots reacted by speeding him up faster than the Gatolfos could react. Link held the sword behind him, level with his shoulders. No thought was given to whether this reptile had fire breath as well, nor did Link really care if it had a blade to stop him with. He was going for the kill, and the kill was exactly what he got. Between the speed at which he traveled and, likely, the strength boost he received from the Sorian power bracelet, when Link swung his sword around as he ran past the Gatolfos, he felt so little resistance that he wondered if he had actually missed. He jerked to a stop some distance away from the Gatolfos and, turning his shoulders, raised the sword in case he needed to strike again.

Then the Gatolfos' head hit the ground near his feet with a sick splat and clink from its minimal helmet. As if finally taking the message a second later, its body fell sideways. It had been a narrow opening, but even with the bevor, Link had found enough exposed neck to completely decapitate the monster in one, powerful strike. Link relaxed his stance and glanced at the blade to find only a few blood drops sticking to it. He gave the blade a couple of swings and found that the blood had been whipped off cleanly and completely. Then he gave a heavy sigh of relief and sheathed the blade. He looked at the body satisfied, glad that he was able to avenge the Sorian and the Hylians that these monsters had eaten. If he was lucky, it was the last.

"Link!" Irleen suddenly screamed across the room. "Oh, Great Elders, Link! You have to help her!"

Link felt his stomach fall through. He immediately found Irleen hovering over a wooden table that had been split in two with both halves shot up quite well. He dashed over to her and rounded the table.

Layna lay on her side in a pool of her own blood.