Chapter 36: The Battle of Death Mountain
Ganondorf leaped off Storm, his horse gave a loud neigh as it reared and slowed itself behind him. When he landed, the camp followers all scurried away from him. "Stop the horses!"
The wagondriver, Aveila, pulled at the reins of the horses. She called for them to stop as all his equipment rattled together. "What is happening, my king?"
"I need you to set up my tent, now."
"But," the driver started, glancing up toward the top of the mountain. "Of course, King Dragrmire." She jumped from her perch, shouted for a few others to help her and ran to the back of the wagon. Together they pulled at several of the boxes until they yanked the tent free and started constructing it as fast as they could.
Around them, the other drivers were slowing or stopping along with the few warriors that he had left to guard the baggage train. It must look insane, the battle was about to start. They needed to reach their position of safety and set up their defenses. And here he was slowing the entire process to ask for his tent to be put up. This is why Nabs keeps calling me mad.
As the others worked, Gan pulled himself onto the wagon and pushed through his various pieces of equipment until he found the large box of enchanted Deku wood.
"What's that?" came a child's voice. He turned to see the one that Bethe had taken under her wing. The one that had so obviously tried to kill him only a few days before. Gan had expected the child to disappear, quiver in his boots whenever Ganondorf walked past after the thrashing he gave him. Or at the very least show some deference and respect for being spared. Not, this youthful precociousness.
KILL HIM. KILL HIM NOW. CUT HIM DOWN AND STICK HIS HEAD ON A PIKE.
Gan closed his eyes and forced himself to block that part of his soul away. It was the same as when he first laid eyes on the child. When Ganondorf opened his eyes again, the boy had gotten himself up onto the wagon and was looking at the wooden chest. His hands reaching out. "It is none of your business, assassin." Ganondorf stood up, taking the box well outside the boy's reach. It would be easy, right here. All he needed to do was simply summon his sword and follow what his dark conscience demanded. It would feel so good to do it. To just let go. "Don't you have work to do?"
The boy puffed his chest out and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. Not in a threatening way, more of an air of self importance. Ridiculous as it looked coming from a child of what? Ten? Eleven? Too young for whatever this was. "I am working."
"What are you doing?"
He puffed his chest out even further, now looking comical more than anything. "Commander Nabooru told me I'm to guard the supplies. And that's what I'm doing."
Ganondorf had to hold back a laugh.
"Link," said one of the other camp followers. "Stop bothering the King." A vai, a Hylian by the look of her. Must have been someone else the caravan picked up on the journey grabbed him by the elbow and started to drag him down off the wagon. "Sorry, sorry."
"It's fine," Ganondorf nodded to the pair, and walked past them both toward his tent. Hoping that losing sight of the child would make the screams in his head go away, and would let him think about what he was going to tell the lizards.
It was a marvel how fast his sisters worked when they needed to. In moments the tent was constructed, probably not fully secured for the night, but it would do for his purposes. "Do not let anyone enter here," he said as he shut and fastened the tentflap behind him. He would need silence and focus, and hopefully, he could find a way to get this insanity going the right way.
He placed the box down and opened it.
"Please," the fairy squeaked. "Free me. I've told you everything I know. Please."
"Silence," Ganondorf said, as he reached around it to grab his map and demon bone top.
"I just want to return to the fountain. If you release me I won't-"
"I said silence," he mumbled the words of the spell and let the top glide over the page. It stopped on a section of the mountain just below the crown. Right where King Dodongo was supposed to be. "If you are wise, you'll wish me good fortune today. If all goes well you will be returning to your fountain soon."
"Do you mean it?"
"Yes. Now, be silent and let me work." He took the skull mask and placed it over his face and let his spirit soar across the mountain. When he opened his eyes he was surrounded by lizards. King Dodongo's back was toward him, the one armed Lizalfos was already falling down to his knees.
"My king," the lizard hissed. "We did not expect you to-"
"Get King Dodongo's attention. Now."
"Of course," the pitiful creature struggled back to his feet, but before he made it the other lizard's hissing and calling had done the work for him, and King Dodongo deemed Ganondorf interesting enough to look upon.
The creature roared and snorted.
"King Dodongo asks, graciously, what you wish. The battle is about to begin, and he wishes to give the matter his full attention. For your glory, of course."
"There has been a change of plans. The Gorons have played me for a fool and have marched on you. They will be taking the right flank that was meant for me. I will not be able to maneuver my army around them. What was going to be a pantomime battle will now need to be fought in full."
The massive Dodongo roared and stomped, a puff of smoke retched from his throat.
The one-armed Lizalfos glanced back to the Dodongo before looking back at Ganondorf then he averted his eyes low. "King Dodongo thanks you for informing him."
I bet that's what he said. "At the very least you now know they are coming, and know that we will not be able to directly aid you, but neither will we be in a position to aid the Gorons. Smash them as hard as you can, we still need to draw the defenses of the Crown away, and putting the Goron chief in danger is still the best means of accomplishing that."
"It will be done, great king," the one armed Lizalfos said and bowed again. But he spoke before King Dodongo said anything, and if anything the large creature seemed more enraged with this last thrashing about and growling.
"What is he saying?"
The lizard's tongue flicked out. Was it delaying, trying to think of a way to not anger him? "He says that the battle will be hard fought, but the Dodongo will be victorious."
Gandorf looked directly at the Lizard King. "This change of plans was not my doing. Stay true through the day, and you and you peoples will be greatly rewarded."
The Dodongo stomped.
"We will, King Dragmire, we will." The lizard bowed, and all those nearby did as well. All except King Dodongo who held his head high.
It is not the nature of kings to subjugate themselves, Ganondorf knew that from his own life, his own vows of fealty to the Hylian Crown.
King Dodongo was planning something.
"My other task," Ganondorf said, careful not to give any hint to King Dodongo what he was speaking about. "Did you accomplish it?"
"Yes, my king," the one-armed lizard said without lifting his eyes. "Yes, I did."
"Good. I will see you on the battlefield, King Dodongo." He took off his mask and the world went black before it formed into the dark browns of his tent.
The lizard was plotting something, he was certain of it. Ganondorf went back to his map and spun the demonbone. "That which I have marked, I call to you. Reveal yourself to me." He thought of King Dodongo, the great firebreathing lizard the once ruled all of lizardkind. The top spun as it searched for the new target and spun precisely where it had gone when Ganondorf searched for the Lizalfos. The one-armed lizard did it. Finally. How difficult could it possibly be to touch someone?
He picked up the bone, frowned. He fiddled with it around his fingers a few times. I'm being paranoid and need to sleep better. There's no way it could be him, he was dead or if he wasn't there is no way he'd be stupid enough to join up with the Gerudo army. No way at all. But he could not shake that hatred he had for the child.
"That which I have marked, I call to you. Reveal yourself," he dropped the top and it spun twisting over the parchment until it landed on some unmarked position almost to the top of Death Mountain. Right outside Ganondorf's tent in fact. Right where he had seen the boy not a moment before. Foolish and paranoid. And I do not have time for this nonsense.
There is no way that the child could be the one he saw standing beside the princess. There is no reason for the two to be the same person. It would be a mind-boggling coincidence, it would be an act of the Goddesses.
But he watched the top spin there for a moment longer. Then he plucked it up, put it into a pouch before he rolled up the map and did the same. Then he tucked them in his armor. It was uncomfortable, he could feel it pressing against his chest, but he'd fought battles in worse conditions. And if King Dodongo tried something, then he wished to be able to find the beast as fast as possible.
He placed the mask back in the box.
"Please," whimpered Telti. "I just wish to see the moon again."
Ganondorf swallowed as he closed the box. He could not stand the whimpering. As his mothers told him, a great leader must make their heart as harsh as the desert winds and as cold as winter nights when they need to be.
The Hylians did worse to my people. I am going to release this pitiful creature one day. It will be worth it. It will all be worth it. But the thoughts gave him little comfort, especially with that dark part of him laughing at the poor creature's misery.
He left the tent and handed the box to Aveila. "Thank you, strike the tent and get yourself into position for the battle."
"Of course, my king," the wagoneer nodded. "Come on, vai!" She waved and ran to the tent.
"What were you doing in there?" came the boy's voice from far below him.
Ganondorf glared down at the child all while his mind screamed. "You do not seem to be defending the train."
The boy's face scrunched up. "There are no Lizalfos." And he paused. "And that's not an answer."
"Quiet," came a servant's voice. "I'm sorry, King Dragmire," the Hylian girl grabbed Link by the shoulder and pulled him away, taking a ridiculous bow with every step she took. "He doesn't know how he's supposed to act."
"Neither do you," Ganondorf reached for Storm and pulled himself into the warhorse's saddle. "You are with the Gerudo now, vai. The Gerudo do not grovel, even to kings." Without him even needing to spur the horse on, Storm broke into a gallop running back out of the baggage train.
It took him half the ride to reach his army before Ganondorf realized he was clenching his jaw and his fingers were griping Storm's reins as if his life depended upon it. He needed to calm down. Nabs could fight angry and be better for it, but he needed to keep his mind steady. The last thing he wanted was to lose control and harm his own people. He forced his mouth to open and his hands to relax, took a deep breath of the cold mountain air.
The mountain was strange, halfway up and the horses struggled to get through the snow and every one of his companions shivered as they rode. But the closer they got to the Crown, the warmer the air became. There was still snow on the ground, but it was only a few finger widths thick in places.
He glanced up toward the peak. So that was it. He had scryed the place countless times when he had been planning the battle. But there was something different about actually seeing it before him. Stark and beautiful, even centuries past and still he could make out the claw marks of the dead dragon. The last of the Guardians, and the first to die.
A creature sent by the Goddesses themselves, whose power was only matched by his boundless wrath. When Ganondorf had learned of the Guardians and the treasure they protected a decade ago the dragon was the one he most wished to meet. Certainly the Great Deku Tree was renown for his ability to craft the bravest of warriors, and Jabbu-Jabbu's insight was unmatched. But Volvagia had power unlike any creature in Greater Hyrule, along with a wrath so deep it eventually consumed him.
There's a lesson there, about what will happen should I ever lose control. Even those I've spent my entire life protecting will turn on me, as the Gorons did their Guardian.
What advice could the great beast have given him? What warning to know how to control himself? Perhaps there was no real control, and it was just an endless fight all your life, to control that black part of your soul.
With that sobering thought, he reached the rear of his army. His soldiers made way for him to pass, giving respectful nods or waves as he rode.
When he reached the front of the army, he had found his calm. Or at least his wrath was focused and controlled like the point of a blade. That was wrath he could use.
"Well?" Nabooru said as he rode up to his commanders. "How'd big scales take it?"
"The Dodongo have been warned and will plan the battle accordingly."
"Hmm," Nabs turned her head, hawked and spat into the snow. "What's wrong?"
"I don't trust them. King Dodongo he seemed…"
"It's a lizard," Dessi said. "How do they ever seem like anything?"
"Spitting fire clues one in on their inner thoughts. As much as they have them." He looked to his commanders and gave a small smile, these were the warriors he trusted most in the world. Whatever happened, they would not disappoint him. "When we reach the left there will be no room to maneuver at all. We need to get our lines organized before we get there. I want our fiercest to dismount and take the frontlines, shields and spears. I don't know for certain what the lizards are doing, it is possible that they are still following my orders. Defend yourself against any attack, but do not pursue. I need someone solid and dependable. Bethe?"
"It will be done."
"Dessi, what room you have can be used for archers. Again, make a show of things, loose arrows but we're not trying to kill any more of the Lizalfos than we have to. If Bethe sends word that the lizard resistance is harder than expected you are free to end them."
"Fooling Gorons doesn't seem so hard."
Ganondorf sighed. "I hate taking the reserves, but it's the best place for me. I want continual reports about the enemy movement, and the Gorons as well. If anything worse happens I will need to react immediately." And I can't do that fighting on the front lines. What will my people say? I built a legend fighting where the danger is thickest. How long will it survive with me hiding in my tents and at the rear of a battle?
"What of me?" Nabooru said.
"Divide your forces evenly among us."
"What?" Nabs snapped. "I'm not commanding anything?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Take our fastest riders, to go ranging. Between the Gorons and the Dodongo one of them will try and pull something, I feel it. Send word as soon as you find out what that is." She tried to hide it, but after all these years it was easy to tell when she was disappointed. Ganondorf placed his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed. "I know you want to cross swords with something, but I need you for this."
"I didn't say anything."
"I know," he pulled her in to a hug. "Thank you. Stay safe."
"I'd say the same to you," she said as she broke the embrace with a sly half smile. "But someone is going to be hiding in the reserves."
"Owww," Gan said in mock pain, but no one around seemed in the mood for jokes, including himself. He gave his dearest friend one last look. "We drink at battle's end?"
"At battles end." Nabooru said as she pulled her horse away and rode off shouting for several names to follow her. He shouldn't feel worried for her, Nabooru could take care of herself better than anyone else in his army. He had sent her to meet the charging spears of a hundred knights, to ford rivers while Zora tried to drown them, and storm the walls of castles. He had even sent her into the pits of Kakariko and she had always returned bloodied, but alive.
But then she always would, right up until she wouldn't. That was the way of war. How many sisters had he seen snatched away in battle?
"Dessi, Bethe, you have your orders."
"No hugs for us?" Dessi joked. "Now you're just playing favorites."
Gan grabbed the woman and yanked her off her horse. She shouted, as he held her with one arm over the ground as he squeezed her just hard enough to be uncomfortable.
"Stop, stop, put me down!"
"You jealous as well, Bethe?"
"I'm fine right here."
"Good," Ganondorf his sub-commander back down on her mount. "If you're both satisfied, to your posts. Stay safe."
"It's a battlefield," Dessi said between her fits of laughter. "It is not supposed to be safe." Then she tugged at the reins of her horse and rode off, Bethe a pace behind her.
Please Goddess, I do not ask much from you. No more surprises, just let my misgivings be wasted. If the Goddesses heard, they gave him no sign. But they must listen, why else would they have given him their prophecies? Even if he had lost them, that must show some favor. They must like him at least a little.
This is ridiculous. How many battles have I fought? Have I gotten so used to playing both sides that the mere thought of not knowing everything has me so worried?
He pulled back and gave the orders to the various lieutenants to let Bethe and Dessi's forces pull ahead. Within an hour the army had organized itself and reached the site of the battle.
The field was cramped. Fighting on the side of the mountain, so near its peak was difficult. In a normal campaign he would never have gotten his army stuck in such a position. Rocky outcroppings and batches of trees made the ground uneven, choppy, and near impossible for his cavalry to maneuver.
And this terrible terrain was everywhere, except a straight path to the Crown and its opening. There the land was relatively flat, or at least, it was. Now it was covered in Gorons, getting their own lines prepared. Before them he knew the lizards were positioned but he could not see them.
He could not see much but the backs of the armies, really. Usually a good reserve force was perched on a hill, where they could get a good look at the battle and charge downhill fast toward wherever they were needed. Or perhaps held in some secret position where a signal could let them attack with surprise.
But, he had neither of those, the angle of the mountain meant that the lizards had the high ground, and they would keep it. If anyone had a clear view of the battle, it was King Dodongo. One more advantage given to someone he had no reason to trust.
Drums sounded. The Gorons smashed their weapons against their own stony hide and stomped their feet. The beat echoed across the mountain turning into a rumbling wave of thunder.
Then as the beat grew faster and stronger another sound joined them. His sisters gave the trilling battle cry of his people. Somehow punctuating the beat of the Goron drums perfectly. A violent urgent energy that grew louder and louder and louder. Until it was all Ganondorf could think about. Gone were the plots and the fears. Only the beat of war drums and the call of his shriekers could be heard and understood as the call for one's blood to boil and others blood to spill.
DEATH!
Steel clashing against steel rang out and the duet was broken. Black darts shot through the air as Desqueza called for the first volley, but he could not see where they were landing. Don't kill too many of them.
In all the battle, there was only one group that Ganondorf did have a clear view of. Across from his position, at the rear of the Goron force a few of the soldiers worked on crude looking catapults. Small things, as far as catapults go. Not designed for battering against castle walls, but for hurling some rocks at an enemy formation.
More trouble than they were worth in Ganondorf's experience. Deploying them always vastly slowed down how fast his army could move, and in most battles he'd rather have his cavalry riding about and loosing arrows and skirmish to disrupt the knights formation when he needed it. But they weren't totally useless. He still deployed them on occasion, usually when facing a well defended Hylian camp.
Had the lizards set up a camp right outside the Crown? That wasn't part of the plan, and it would be a terrible place for one, practically begging the defenders within the mountain to try and collapse them from below.
So why were the Gorons using them?
He squinted as he watched the Goron technicians set up the catapults, and start calculating where they were supposed to aim. It was fairly impressive. The foolishness of Gorons was a common joke among-well - practically every other peoples in the land. But these ones seemed to know their business. And with a care that seemed almost impossible for the big burly bodies of the Gorons they started placing black rocks into the steel bucket of the catapult.
But there was some kind of rope hanging off the black rocks, tying them all together. Why would they ever do that? Surely having the rocks spread out when flung would be more effective.
Then one of the Gorons took a torch and let the rope. He shouted and the arm of the catapult flung forward, its cargo flying through the air and out of Ganondorf's vision.
The earth shook.
A great black cloud burst above the sky. The mountain is erupting!
Storm reared and gave a loud cry as Ganondorf tried to pull him back down.
"What is that?" one of the soldiers behind him shouted.
He almost called for his people to retreat, to try and run back down the mountainside. Though in all likelihood being this close to the volcano would mean escape was impossible. But even in the face of death one must always fight.
But the Gorons did not move. And when he looked again to the black cloud he saw it was starting to disperse. It wasn't coming from the top of the volcano at all, it was just ahead of the Gorons. Where the Lizalfos force should be.
The engineers loaded another of their catapults and lit the cord. Once more the black stones flung into the air together landing out of his sight. But there was no mistaking it this time, when they landed the mountain shook once more and another great spout of flame and smoke rose through the air.
"They're going to bring the mountain down on us." Ganondorf whispered as he watched the Gorons carry the black stones into another catapult. Or slaughter all the lizards so completely they will not be able to do anything. "Mulli!"
"Yes, my king?" the vai said as she brought her horse to him, still averting her eyes.
"I need you to get to Chief Darunia, tell him he's going to cause an avalanche or crack the mountain wide open. I don't care what you tell him, you must get him to stop."
"I won't fail you again." she said as she spurred her horse out onto the open fields between the Gerudo and the Gorons.
Storm sputtered as another burst of fire and smoke came from the mountainside. "Calm boy," Gan rubbed at his neck. "Calm." But the horse was spooked, and not just his. All along his army the horses were scraping and stomping and trying to pull their riders away from this dangerous new noise. And by the look of his soldiers many of them wished to let their horses take them away.
Even the bravest soldiers in the world know fear in the face of some new and unknown danger. He would need to fix that.
"Would you look at that, sisters!" Gan called over his shoulder to his people. "It looks like our allies have the battle well in hand! Haha! I'll have to get me some of that new weapon!" He let his laugh carry far. Hoping his confidence spread to those whose hearts were shaken. "Easiest battle we'll ever have to fight!"
It seemed to work, a few of them started to laugh with him. Then someone far into the middle of the army started to sing. A high and loud voice, it wasn't pretty or well trained or anything. It wasn't even anything particularly on any consistent key. But the voice was strong and sang an old marching tune every soldier knew.
They stole our lives and waters, while feasting on sweet plum
But now they tremble in fear, for now the desert has come.
Now the desert has come.
We broke their backs at Satori, raided across their field.
Took down their stone towers, shattered weapons that they wield.
But still they laughed and mocked us, offering not a crumb
But now they tremble in fear, for now the desert has come.
Now the desert has come!
And from that one voice another picked it up, then another, until half the reserves were singing in a jumbled chaotic mess. It was beautiful. Decades ago, his mothers had forced him to learn the organ telling him that music was just another kind of magic that he must learn. And as in most things, they were right. As the voices rose over the battle, what else could you call that feeling of power, but magic?
When this battle is over, I'm going to find whoever that was and promote them.
From the Goron camp a rider came, hurrying down the steep mountainside. When Mulli reached him, she was so pale, Gan worried she might freeze to death. And she did not dare meet Ganondorf's eye.
"What did he say?"
"I'm sorry, my king. I couldn't think of-"
"Mulli, look at me."
The young warrior peaked up at him, She was still terrified. How many times had they fought side by side, they charged into lances together. And now a mere glance from him and she turned into this. Why had he done this to her? "What did Darunia say, exactly."
"He said, there is not enough snow to cause an avalanche, and that he would not presume to tell you how to hide from the desert sun, so do not tell him what his mountain can take."
Ganondorf let out a breath in a low angry growl. "When this battle is done, I am going to have a long talk with the Chief of the Gorons. Thank you, Mulli, I know you tried."
"But I failed."
"And I should not have given you an impossible task. The best negotiator can't deal with those stone-minded buffoons. Now make sure your horse is rubbed down in case we need to ride."
"Thank you, my king. But, there is something more."
"What?"
"Darunia was near the front of the conflict, I saw the Lizalfos army, as much of it as I could."
"How are they handling… that," he waved at at catapults still lobbing the new weapon into the air.
"Not well, but that's not the point. I looked for him, he's hard to miss, but King Dodongo is not on the field."
"What?"
"I asked if perhaps he had been hit by the catapults, But none of the Gorons had seen any sign of a Dodongo of his size. Actually they said they only saw a handful of them the whole battle. I thought you would want to know that."
"I most certainly would. Take a breath, Mulli. You did all I could hope for." Ganondorf stood up in his stirrups, even with all his height he could not look far over the backs of Gorons and the jagged spikes of mountain rocks. Where could a gargantuan lizard the size of a barn hide himself? Surely he should be able to see it, shouldn't he?
Scowling he reached into his breastplate and fished around for the small pouch he had tucked inside hours before. Dismounting Storm he tried to find a spot of ground that was level, or as close to it as he could find. Wiping off the thin dust of snow he placed the parchment down and cast his spell.
The bone spun circling around the mountain before it stopped as near the peak as it could get. "Right where he should be. What is this?" He looked around the battlefield again before he picked up the bone and paper and stuffed them back in their pouch. Perhaps the rock was not as even as he hoped?
The earth shifted beneath his feet again, nearly sending him to his knees. He managed steady himself and looked up to the mountain to glower at the explosion, but there was no new burst of black smoke. Ganondorf let out a long breath. Something was wrong. No, there were a dozen things wrong, but something right in front of him.
He puffed out his cheeks and blew. There was nothing. His breath did not create a gray mist on the air.
Was it getting hotter? He knew that the closer he got to the Crown the warmer it became, but there was still snow on the ground at this point. But even the snow was starting to melt, revealing a barren dead looking grass and mud.
"What is going on?" He knelt down and pressed his hand against the ground, as it shifted again. Pebbles slid about his boots and a slap of mud fell off one of the larger rocks to his side. The ground was warm. Warmer than the air. They had done it. The Gorons they must have awoken the mountain!
One of his soldiers gave a shout, and he looked to see the ground by a group of his soldiers expand into a massive bubble of pebbles and dirt. As if the land was being boiled like the broth of a stew over a fire. The bubble grew near the size of a horse.
"Get back!" Ganondorf shouted and tried to run toward the misshapen earth, calling whatever magic he could to him. "Get back!"
The ground burst far too quick for Ganondorf to do anything. The Gerudo standing closest to it disappeared in a spout of flame and earth. A rock the size of a fist smacked into Ganondorf's breastplate and sent him tumbling backward.
He had only a moment to recognize just how hot the ground beneath him was, before it started to expand. It pushed him up, almost to his feet. He used the momentum to spring forward and whirl around and called his great sword into his hand. Swinging the massive enchanted steel blade before him he braced himself behind it as this second bubble exploded sending stone and flame all around him.
Screams and dying cries surrounded him, punctuated by the scraping grind of the ground expanding just before it exploded. "Cover!" He tried to give orders, but he did not know if anyone could hear him. "Take cover!"
From the first of the holes came a puff of red flame. This is it. Lava. An enemy I can't outrun and can't out fight. But perhaps he could slow it. Perhaps with the right spell he may be able to let some of his army retreat.
But lava did not come from the hole, instead, a green snout poked from the earth, followed by a massive claw that turned the small hole wide and the mystery of where the Dodongo went was answered.
The great beasts burst from the ground, dragging their scaly mass out of the holes belching fire and biting at everyone that came near them.
"Defend yourselves!" Ganondorf ran toward the nearest of the beasts. The great lizard met his eye, snarled and raised it's claws swiping down at him. It was big and strong, but slow. Ganondorf ducked beneath the strike, stepped wide and let his sword swing down upon the creature.
And his blade barely scraped the creatures hide. He had used it to break the armor of knights, to cleave through four men in a single blow, even to hack apart a Goron a handful of times. But the hide of these beasts proved tougher than all of them.
"Die!" he cried as he brought the blade down again and again. Making certain each strike hit the exact point he had struck before, even as the creature thrashed about. He did not stop until the limb was severed and the creature had stopped moving completely.
THEY ALL DESERVE DEATH. KILL THEM. KILL THEM.
And for once, Ganondorf new that dark part of him was right. This was no mistake. The tunnels must have taken days to build, even for creatures as strong as Dodongo. King Dodongo had been planning to move against him, all this time.
He called witch-fire to surround his blade. "Storm!" The great black horse appeared from the smoke, slowing down just enough for Ganondorf to grab onto him and swing into his saddle.
"For the Gerudo!" he shouted above the sound of flame and death. Storm knew what to do, darting through the now broken Gerudo lines it brought him to each of the great beasts and circled around them. Moving from one to the other, outrunning their claws and getting behind their flames. Staying close enough for Ganondorf to swing his blade or blast them with Wtich-fire. "With me, my sisters! With me!"
Someone gave a piercing scream. Mulli. It had to be Mulli. When he turned to look for her he did not believe what he saw. Burns covered her right arm, and half her side. It did not look like the arm would ever be useful again. But still she fought, spear in her weak left hand and yet still she thrust the weapon with a practiced precision. It took one of the creatures in the mouth.
Red and orange started to spew from the Dodongo's wounded maw. Mulli screamed again and pushed the spear in deeper. The flames leaped up the length of wood.
Ganondorf slammed his sword down with all of his might. The head of the beast struck the ground, cutting off its flames, and shattering the weapon still in it's jaws. "Run!" he shouted as the beast clawed at Mulli, too wounded too slow to get out of the way.
He leaped off Storm, and landed hard on the beast's back. Witch-fire surrounded his fist as he punched down with all the force he could muster. Something broke beneath him and the monster howled before it went still.
"I'm sorry," Mulli whispered, as she dropped her useless spear. "I wasn't-" and the burned woman collapsed.
Ganondorf rushed to her, scooping his guard from the ground and cradled her in his arms. She was still breathing, but her right side was covered in stone still steaming from when the heat of the Dodongo attack. She must have been close to an explosion, and still she had fought them off.
Mulli was not the only wounded, or dying. King Dodongo had laid his trap well. Bethe and Dessi were still stuck on that terrible terrain where they couldn't maneuver. Bethe's infantry completely out of position, and Dessi's archers would do more damage to her fellow Gerudo than they would to the Dodongo with every volley.
Is this it? Is this what loosing feels like? To a brute minded lizard? Disgraceful, putting that two-faced beast in the same position of honor as the Queen Zelda? No. No, that would not do.
"I'll fix this," Gan said to Mulli. "I'll fix this."
The one saving grace to the whole situation was that the Dodongo hit the Gorons just as hard as the Gerudo. The catapults were destroyed. King Dodongo himself rampaged through the Goron's forces. The massive creature threw Gorons form him as effortlessly as Ganondorf could swat at flies.
Maybe when all this was done, he could still find a way to enter the Crown in the chaos and get the Ruby. But first he needed to get his people safe.
Ganondorf laid Mulli overtop Storm and got back onto his horse. This was no position for a fight. "Fall back!" he called through the lines, swinging his blade at any beast that was close enough, making certain not to disturb Mulli any more than necessary. "Fall back. In order! To the supply camp! Move, sisters move!" He rode as fast as he could, calling just a touch of magic to make his voice carry farther. "In order! Reform ranks! Ordered retreat my sisters!"
A Gerudo horn sounded, piercing the din of battle better than his voice ever could. A short triple beat, the signal to march back. A retreat, but not yet a sign of defeat. He could regroup and find his way to victory.
The horn blared again, and this time the horns of those ahead of them did the same. Bethe and Dessi had heard. Their forces were still largely untouched and their formation was strong. They might not be able to move fast, but they'd be able to cut their way to the camps provided they do not stop and give King Dodongo time to try something else.
Then a new sound filled the mountain air. A drum pounded overhead, Ganondorf turned to see the Gorons, battered and broken, carrying dead and dying with them away from the battlefield all while a small pocket of Goron warriors held off the Dodongo, including the beast's massive king.
They were brave, Ganondorf had to give them that. And even at this distance it was clear who was leading this last pocket of resistance. Chief Darunia stood tall, in one hand he held the massive steel hammer of his ancestors in the other one of the black stones.
Darunia flung his new weapon at King Dodongo, it hit the creature in his face and exploded in a ball of black and red. The Lizard King roared but it seemed more out of anger than pain. Then Chief Darunia raised his hammer high and charged at the beast.
KILL THEM. KILL THEM BOTH. WHILE THE ARMIES RETREAT THEY ARE YOURS TO REAP.
His fingers twitched. It would be so easy, he could just announce his plan to fight with them while his armies retreated. Once no one could see he could finish them both. Burn them with witch-fire, cut them down with his blade as he had done a hundred enemies before them.
Then who could stop him from getting the Ruby? The defenders of the Crown? Were there any left or had they come rushing to aid their chief when they saw the Dodongo's trap?
He could do it. No one could stop him.
Across his lap, Mulli groaned. Her eyes still closed, her face contorted in pain. Ganondorf gave one last look across the battlefield to the two titans dueling each other, before he turned his horse around. "Stay with me Mulli, I'll fix this."