Chapter 11
I had another bad dream that night...this time a recollection of my final moments with father.
Devyn and I returned to Hyrule Castle mere hours before it fell under siege – most of the soldiers had defected to that damn Voice, and now they were following the Plague Witches that had attacked our fair land. The castle's fall was inevitable...father hurried us into the basement and set us up with a small rowboat at the castle's dock.
"Daughter...Devyn...Anastasia has failed all of us...and because of that failure, The Voice is eating our fair Castle Town alive. Devyn Shroeder of Hyrule, get Barclaya to safety immediately! The two of you are all that I have left to leave behind...and Hyrule's only hope." I wanted to protest about not wanting to fulfill my "destiny", but now seemed like a bad time...suddenly a male Plague Witch with short grey hair, a red robe and pointed hat, and a metal bow ran behind father and bowed to him.
"Pleasure to meet you, Your Highness...such a shame I now must incinerate you..." Father turned to fight the witch...Devyn and I wanted to help him.
"DEVYN, BARCLAYA, LEG IT NOW! THAT IS AN ORDER!"
"BUT-"
"NO BUTS, SON! RUN!" We hurried onto the boat and rowed east, eventually reaching an island to the northeast of the Castle Town. Just as we did...I looked back to see Hyrule Castle ablaze where father had been...
FATHER IS DEAD, AND I AM RESPONSIBLE! I sobbed for hours, and Devyn could do nowt to help me...
Once safely ashore we hurried along the trail, stopping on the Crenel Peak only long enough to change into commoner's clothes and disguise ourselves, until we reached the Wetland Stable, to the castle's southeast...it was an overnight march and we were absolutely knackered upon arrival. Upon arrival Devyn paid forty rupees for us to sleep at the stable, and we spent the day sleeping...only once everyone else was asleep during the night did we dare awaken and discuss our next steps.
"Little Swallow...I have a good bruv in the Gerudo Desert who runs a band of thieves...he is firmly opposed to the Plague Witches. If we can get there he'll protect us both until you are ready to succeed where Anastasia failed..."
"Who says I will not fail also?! Besides, even if I succeeded...it would be bloody temporary at best. There's GOT to be some better way to deal with Ganon..."
"Hyrule has tried everything, sister...that's the only way we are going to hold back Ganon..." We got to arguing for several hours over our next course of action...eventually...
"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"
Suddenly a group of about twenty Voice-maddened soldiers appeared at the entrance of the stable, waking everyone else up in the process. Devyn quickly drew his knight's broadsword.
"NOT TONIGHT!" He engaged the mob in battle and, within about half an hour, knocked them all out. Once the last one had been felled he turned towards me.
"Little Swallow, we have got to leg it out of here NOW!" I quickly packed what few things I had and rushed out of the stable with Devyn...and then I, in real time, woke up.
Now that I am thinking...was Devyn...trying to get me to Namib before he died? Were...were our paths destined to cross? When I stopped pondering that...unsettling?...thought, I awoke to see Namib working on cooking a whole cucco over an open flame (cuccos are a lot like chickens but will attack you as a mob if you give one a sufficiently hard time...Namib must have ambushed it before its bruvs could notice it was gone). I packed up my belongings before I approached my unplanned personal chef.
"Dark or white meat, Your Highness?" I laughed.
"Don't bloody call me that, Namib...just call me Petra. MAYBE Barclaya...I'm not the pretentious prissy type. I don't really deserve it anyway..."
"Ya sure? What if ya turn out to be Hyrule's queen?"
"We're friends, Namib...dysfunctional friends but friends all the same. You don't need to be so formal around me..." He seemed shocked at my admission.
"Ya...ya really think I'm your cobber?"
"Yes." He bowed before me...
"Tttthank ya, Your Highness! What an hhhonor!"
"NO FORMALITIES, NAMIB!" He quickly climbed off the ground and began butchering the now-cooked bird.
"Ahem...dark or white meat, Petra?"
"Dark."
"Ah...I prefer white. Works out well today." We devoured the cucco before Namib put out the fire and packed his things, at which point I climbed onto "Devyn" and we continued our trek to find Linky. We followed the path southeast and soon reached the shore of Zelo Pond, which borders a river almost immediately to its south...we flanked the northern shore of the pond and then followed the river east for a while before hitting a fork in the road. I quickly recognized the fork...
"If we keep heading east we'll find ourselves in Zora's Domain...north and we can visit Goron City, or even Akkala if we so desire."
"I vote for Goron City...I have many cobbers there and, if they have seen Link, they will tell us where he's going." I instinctively wanted to fight his idea, but I REALLY wanted to see Death Mountain...I had never seen the mental peak before; not remotely up close anyways.
"Alright..." I replied. We veered north...the rocks gradually turned orange, the grass more yellow, as we approached the massive, volcanically active Death Mountain in the distance. We eventually reached a fork in the road with white rocks leading towards Akkala to the east, but we continued north towards the Foothill Stable, near the border of the Eldin region in which the volcano is enshrined. When we arrived...it was quite crowded. About a dozen tourists were there, including a slightly heavyset bird in her thirties with curly black hair who stood just over Link's height. She quickly ran to Namib before I could board "Devyn" at the stable.
"Well well well, if it isn't the great Thief Lord!" she enthusiastically greeted him. "How are you doing, boyfriend?"
"Doing okay, fair dinkum," he replied. "Seeking a cobber of my cobber here...his name is Link. Blonde hair, about your height, warrior sorts...seen such a bruce on your travels, Colpera?"
"Why, I did, Namib! Such a young man saved us from monsters near the Zora River a matter of hours ago...he continued up this trail in spite of my warnings about the heat."
YES! Good call, Namib!
"What are we waiting for, Namib?! Let's leg it and catch up with him!"
"You sure are feisty! Who are you, girlfriend?" This bird was starting to get on my nerves...seemed REALLY shallow.
"...Petra..."
"THE Lieutenant Petra?! Surely you and Namib would be eager to help us, then! We are traveling to Death Mountain ourselves, but the road is fraught with monsters and we could use bodyguards. We'll pay you generously!"
"Sure thing, Colpera!"
DAMN IT, NAMIB! They're just going to slow us down!
"Alright then! We'll get to the Toasty Tavern by nightfall! Away we go at once, boyfriend!" Colpera whistled loudly, and the other eleven members of the tour group roused themselves and quickly packed before all fourteen of us began the trek up the Death Mountain Trail...
The trail begins in the so called "Maw of Death Mountain", next to some azure coloured hot springs...they'll heal your wounds if you relax in them long enough, but we did not have time for that today. We were soon accosted by some fire chuchus, barely sentient balls of burning slime...I was about to strike one with my sword when Namib interrupted me.
"Petra, don't attack them up close! They'll explode! Hit 'em from afar!" I complied and pelted them with arrows...surely enough they exploded violently, and while none of us were within ignition range we could still feel the heat emitted from their dying act, like a savage oven.
As we continued on the increasingly hot trail we reached a steep uphill cave, populated not only by fire chuchus but also by fire keese (burning bat monsters). Namib and I fought through many of those wankers...however, I eventually let my guard down long enough for a keese to light my bow on fire. IT BLOODY HURT!
"DAMN ITTTTTTTT!" I screamed out as I abandoned my bow and rolled on the ground to put the flames out. By the time the fire was out my bow was in ashes...I was distraught.
"I've had that damn bow four years! It's practically part of my person!" I proceeded to sob...to my shock, really; never thought a weapon could mean that much to me to make me ball over it. Once I recovered Namib helped me to my feet and we finished our trek to the Toasty Tavern, a small metal shack looking thing to the left of Death Mountain Marker Number 2...by then the air was quite hot and most of us were sweating profusely.
"How the hell are we all going to fit in there?!" I barked loudly.
"You'd be surprised, girlfriend!" Colpera quipped. Moments later an aging, bearded goron – a member of a vaguely humanoid, heavyset race made of stone – came out to meet us. His eyes lit up on seeing Namib.
"Well well well, if it isn't the Great Thief Lord Namib, guiding another party of tourists to my fair Toasty Tavern!" Namib gave the aging stone a rough handshake...clearly this was not the first time Namib had helped Colpera up this trail.
"I had some help this time, Bouldero! Meet my cobber Petra here!" I promptly received my own rough handshake...not exactly how you greet a lady.
"Thank you so much for helping Namib, miss Petra! Business would suffer a great deal without Namib's guarding travelers ascending this summit, so neither of you will owe me anything tonight."
"Ya get what you pay for! How are all fourteen of us going to fit in this bloody dump?!" Bouldero looked offended at first, then laughed heartily.
"Ho ho! You haven't seen inside this masterpiece, Miss Petra! Hurry hurry, come look inside!" He roughly guided me through the door...the entry floor had stone tables and chairs and a small stone kitchen with a metal cooking pot; it was adorned with windows with metal bars to keep monsters out. I still did not see where I was sleeping...
"Now just pull back that trap door over there in the back right corner!" Bouldero instructed me. I complied and laboriously swung the heavy stone trapdoor open...surprise! A set of metal ladders leading to two more floors, each with eight beds - ample for us all. These bottom floors even had their own windows...I was impressed.
"I'm surprised there are people in Hyrule skilled enough to build this, Bouldero...I'd love to meet the architects."
"Sadly they've long passed on, Miss Petra...this tavern was built in my grandfather's day. My own sons have naught an inkling of interest in running this tavern...with me getting old, its days are numbered." That...made me rather sad; the realization of just how mortal, how short lived, everything in Hyrule really is...
We soon climbed back up to the top floor, where Namib and the tour group were waiting. "Namib," Bouldero called out, "can you please help me throw dinner together for all our guests? I'll handle the bird and you'll deal with the sunshrooms and warm saffinas." (The warm saffina is a plant that likes heat.)
"Will do," Namib replied. About an hour later we and the tour group were splitting a HUGE whole bird – dwarfing any I had ever laid eyes on before – and the cooked sunshrooms and saffinas. As we ate Bouldero told us a little more about our dinner.
"This whole bird came from an eldin ostrich, a massive flightless bird native to the Eldin region. They've become quite rare below Death Mountain Marker Number 2, so we have a strict annual quota on how many we can harvest...believe me, I do not waste a single part of these birds. I'll be using the rest to make ostrich stock tonight."
Eventually dinner was devoured and we all began tucking into bed...as luck would have it Bouldero assigned Namib and I to the same second floor. Not that I really minded anymore...it actually gave me an opportunity to ask Namib about the hell scape we were going to march into the next morning.
"Hey Namib!" I whispered to him after everyone else had hit the hay.
"...yes, Petra?" Namib replied, barely awake himself.
"What's Eldin like? Beyond that second trail marker?"
"Hot, hot, hot, rocks, lava, no plants, little animal life, choc a bloc of monsters. Gorons eat rocks and cannot catch fire, so to them it's beauty...but we need special armor simply not to become torches past that trail marker. Fortunately Bouldero runs a flamebreaker armor rental business on the side...we'll get the needed armor tomorrow before we shoot through to Goron City."
"Why would a normal person even visit such a place?"
"To mine. Eldin has many, MANY gemstones unearthed by the endless volcanism...ya can strike it rich if ya don't burn up first." Suddenly I remembered why we were going to Goron City in the first place...
"Hey Namib...did Bouldero see Link per chance?"
"I asked him about it. He said he saw a young bruce by that description...he outright bought a set of flamebreaker armor from him but did not stop to rest. Sounds like we JUST missed him again...argh..."
Damn it...how does this keep happening?!
"Oh well...Link's going to HAVE to rest in Goron City tomorrow. If we're fast we should be able to catch him..."
"Only if we are rested enough to move fast (YAWN)...g' night, Petra..." I paused, unsure how to answer Namib.
"...Good night to you too, Namib...get some rest." Namib was out within minutes and I was asleep not long thereafter.
Chapter 12
I awoke to a very pleasant aroma drafting in from the top floor of the Toasty Tavern...it compelled me to open my eyes early, haul my tired bones out of my bed (which was the top bed of a bunk bed), and sluggishly climb the ladder through the (already opened) trapdoor to find Bouldero cooking soup on the entry floor.
"That soup...it smells ledge, Bouldero..." I said in compliment.
"I told you I'd use every part of the bird, and I did not lie! Thank you, by the way...I'd never hear those words out of another goron. Most of my kind eat rocks and little else...they despise hylian foods. I'm an anomaly for being skilled at hylian cookery." With that Bouldero suddenly stopped and gave me a double take...
"WAIT A SECOND...aren't you Anastasia's sister?!" I was horrified he figured THAT out and tried to lie my way out of it.
"Nnnn...nnnooo...who is Anastasia?!" He laughed heartily before whispering a reply to me.
"No worries, Zelda Barclaya...your secret is safe with me! Anastasia was one of my best customers...every year she'd come up here to find respite from her responsibilities as Crown Princess; she always told me she found the Goron Hot Springs to be her favorite spot to unwind. I still have her flamebreaker armor lying around...it has been waiting in vain four years, fully paid off, for her return, so I think she would mind it not if you inherited it. You're going to need it to go any farther..." With that he opened a closet and showed me the exact set of armor my sister apparently wore while ascending Death Mountain. I was bollocks.
"Th..thhhank you, Bouldero!"
"By the way...about that Link kid...he was reckless, that Link. He tried barging past the trail marker without a set of armor...within moments he returned to me both thoroughly singed on the outside and his pride burned to ashes on the inside. He promptly bought a set of flamebreaker armor...quite an expense; I rent these things for a reason. I don't think he'll stop by here again...you'd better hurry to catch up with him. I'll summon everyone else up here for breakfast now..." With that Bouldero rung a bell and roused everyone else for breakfast. He served a scrumptious soup of eldin ostrich meat and stock, with various vegetables and herbs mixed in, before he attended to renting out the flamebreaker armors.
"Listen up, little guys and gals! It gets HOT past this next trail marker...hot enough that an unprotected hylian WILL ignite spontaneously in the heat. I rent out these flamebreaker armors so that those who cannot afford to drop thousands of rupees to buy the set can still enjoy the majesty of our Death Mountain...it will be 20 rupees per night with the armor. Those on our 'Frequent Fryer' program shall spend merely 15 rupees. Enjoy your trip!" The armors are made of stone...they are bloody stuffy honestly, though at least they allow a better range of movement than you would think. Once the armors were on all of our persons, Bouldero saw us off as we continued our trek up the trail.
We immediately hit a small cliff behind the trail marker, doubtless intended to encourage daft hikers to think twice before going any farther...guess that made us look pretty moronic, didn't it? Almost immediately after ascending that cliff we felt like we had entered the hottest oven imaginable...even with the flamebreaker armor it felt like my eyelashes were going to be incinerated at any moment. We walked past the Medingo Pool (a lake of molten hot lava, which even our flamebreaker armors would not protect us from) to our north before reaching a small clearing guarded by a fire lizalfos (a red, fire breathing version of the chameleon-esque cretins); this one was wielding a steel lizal bow, very high quality. Namib motioned for us to stand back.
"Why can't I deal with that wanker?!" I whispered coarsely. Namib ignored me and, with ledge stealth for a bloke his size, used some nearby metallic crates to sneak up behind and assassinate the lizalfos, at which point he triumphantly seized the bow and motioned for us to come forward. When I approached he promptly gifted the bow to me...I was bowless no more.
"Cheers, Namib..." We continued on the trail, fighting fire chuchus and rock octoroks (octopus like monsters that hide under rocks and shoot molten boulders at you) as we went. Eventually Colpera stopped us before we entered what looked like a canyon.
"Listen up, girlfriends and boyfriends! Up ahead is the territory of the infamous igneo talus, Fred! If you see a huge molten rock, DO NOT approach it! It will try to kill us all!" (Igneo taluses are simply partially molten stone taluses.)
"Speaking from experience here!" Namib chimed in. We continued into the canyon...to our shock, someone was fighting the talus alone, with a blindingly bright blue sword. Before we could get close the mystery warrior shot the talus in its ore deposit with an arrow, causing it to disintegrate and leave behind many beautiful gem stones. I knew exactly who this was...
"LINK!" I yelled out shrilly as I ran to greet my mentor. He was quick to reciprocate and we embraced not far from where the talus had breathed its bloody last. The rest of the tour group quickly approached...but Namib did not; he hung back, looking visibly nervous.
"Where have you been, Link?! I was worried sick about you! Don't just leg it like that!" It was then that Link saw Namib...and his countenance swung wildly. He pulled the Master Sword – a beautiful Sword with a dark blue hilt with the appearance of wings on it, as well as a steel blue blade that is supposed to glow when evil approaches – and began to steadily approach Namib...
"Link...what are you..." Suddenly – to my horror – the Sword began glowing and Link rushed Namib, the Thief Lord barely having time to pull out his own two swords before a violent duel ensued.
"What the hell are you doing, Hero?! I'm no mongrel!" Namib cried out, trying to stop the carnage. They dueled equally, violently, for several minutes...the tour group desperately tried to stop them, but Link was not listening. I was torn who to help...I definitely did not want to harm Link after having worked so hard to find him, but I was not about to let Namib die either. I eventually had no choice...I used my magic and forcibly restrained both Link AND Namib, visibly shocking Link. It was incredibly strenuous to restrain two such incredibly powerful blokes and I quickly began feeling knackered...by the time I could restrain them no longer and collapsed to my knees the fight was over, but Link was still not willing to listen to reason.
"Link, this...this bloke saved my life! He's no wanker!" Link insisted that if the Sword reacted to his presence, surely he must be evil...I admit I knew of no other exception to that; but if Namib was evil he would have tried to bury me alive by then from how I had treated him.
"Just trust me, Link...please...I am not just 'Petra'; I am Zelda Barclaya of Hyrule...we're supposed to work together...and we're best friends...PLEASE, Link, listen to me..." Link...looked stunned, betrayed; rightly so I'll admit, for I had spent four years hiding my real identity from my "best friend". Without another word a depressed Link somberly continued his march downhill, refusing to let me follow him...I was heartbroken. Alone...again...I sobbed until I had no more strength left to sob. When I finally looked up from the blisteringly hot ground Namib was kneeling in front of me and the tour group had surrounded me on all sides.
"Petra, I...I'm sorry I caused all this...I..."
"Don't apologize, Namib...I never knew THIS would happen when we finally found Link...he's never going to accept me as his friend again..."
"Maybe, maybe not," Colpera replied. "If he really cares about you he'll get over this, girlfriend. For now...Namib's still here for you. The two of us have been talking...he thinks the world of you." Namib blushed.
"Cheers, Namib..."
"Now I think we should get to Goron City before nightfall, boyfriends and girlfriends...we've been through a lot this trip. Need some shuteye." Namib helped me onto my trotters before we continued our trip to Goron City...a trip made more burdensome by the feeling that I had alienated Link forever...
We climbed a ladder attached to the north wall of the canyon before reaching the Southern Mine, where the Gorons mine for gemstones (which they sell to other races) and rocks (which they eat). We continued almost due north before swinging east to Goron City...more of a glorified town in my book. The design of this "city" is absolutely daft at best, violating every code you could devise...it's built straight over lava, and the metal bridges have only short guardrails (if they have guardrails at all) to keep pedestrians from falling into that lava and being melted to oblivion. We navigated the "city" VERY carefully during our "visit"...while the tour group explored Goron "City" Namib led me to a large building opposite the entrance, where a huge, very muscular goron was waiting.
"Namib, me brother!" that goron cried out as we approached.
"Maborou, by brother!" Namib replied. They gave each other a rough fist bump before shaking hands, at which point Maborou's attention turned to me.
"And who is this fine lassie who has come with you?"
"The name's Petra, Foreman..." He seemed to show some pity towards me.
"You don't have to tell me...today has been absolute crap for you. You can just listen if you'd like." The two of us sat down just inside his home as Maborou sat on a throne flanked by flowing lava (kids, do not try this at home!).
"Now, Namib...what brings you to my fair abode today?"
"Originally looking for the Hero of Legend. The problem is, we found him...and he immediately tried to kill me. When Petra – his best cobber until now – tried to intervene, he rejected her and stormed off downhill." Maborou held his chin...
"Ah...that there Sword must have sensed that darkness that has plagued you since youth, Namib...I should have expected your meeting with the Hero to go badly..."
"Darkness?!" I asked in shock.
"Namib hasn't told you yet, lassie? Namib was born with a vast inner darkness that has made it difficult for him to feel anything but hate towards others...he does a great job hiding it now, but it took YEARS of work for him to rein it in. Even so, the Sword is probably going to react each and every time Namib gets near it."
Damn it...Maborou then took a closer look at me...
"Zelda Barclaya of Hyrule, is that you?!" I jumped at his enthusiastic inquiry.
"Yyyyyes..."
"This is fantastic! I thought the Royal Family was extinct! Hyrule now has a shot at ending that Voice, if only we can convince Link to let you and Namib work with him..."
Not this whole destiny rubbish again!
"Why can't I just end Ganon?! I don't want to waste my bloody magic on a mere stopgap measure!"
"Oh, ambitious this lassie is! I'm going to go on a limb and say you can probably figure it out...rumor has it that the key to permanently defeating Ganon lies on the Great Plateau. You should go there as soon as possible!"
"Will do, Foreman...thank you." With that we left Maborou's presence and went to sleep at the Rollin' Inn, Goron City's only inn...I spent 20 rupees for my bed. Namib spent 80 rupees for a "goron massage"...sounded REALLY rough, but he said it's an acquired taste. After his massage was done we got to talking as we settled in for the night.
"Both the Deku Tree and Maborou want us to go to the Great Plateau...what could possibly be hiding there, Namib?"
"Naught a clue...but I've wanted to go to the Temple of Time for years. It is said Ganon was born there...could give some insight on how we can make a cactus of him."
"Namib...why didn't you tell me about your 'inner darkness' until now?" He looked embarrassed...
"I...was afraid ya would just run away from me..." I felt awful.
"Fair...do you think Link will ever accept me as his friend again?"
"Seems likely enough. He must have a heart of gold for the Sword to accept him...I have my doubts he'll ever accept me, though..."
"Maybe...maybe if you help us defeat Ganon, he'll change his mind?" That idea seemed to unnerve Namib.
"Are ya sure letting someone with so much darkness fight Ganon is a good idea? Seems real galah to me."
"You'll be fine, Namib! You haven't embraced that evil like that wanker Ganon has..."
"...I'm shocked ya have so much confidence in me, Barclaya...thank ya."
"Cheers, Namib...you've been there for me every step of the way. I'd be daft to not trust you implicitly." He smiled brightly...
"G'night, Petra...get some sleep."
"Good night, Namib..." Namib was quickly out, but his snoring made it difficult for me to hit the hay. While I tried to fall asleep...
I wonder...where does that inner darkness come from? Is he a criminal reborn? I wonder how hard he has to work each day to keep it in check...maybe he just hides it in shame?