Thank you, Mimi, I am, as always, glad you liked it! You too, guest reviewer. :-) I may be posting later than usual, but I did it, I got it done - I hope you all like this one just as much!

Chapter 30: Two Steps Back

The hall beyond was even larger than the first, longer and wider and every bit as high: flickering light further along told him so, illuminating partial shapes, angles; blinking as something crossed in front of it. A hiss came from somewhere ahead, followed by a kind of deep-throated squawk, echoing around the giant hall and difficult to accurately pinpoint. Something was out there, it knew he was here, and Link followed some combination of his own instincts and Fi's subtle prompting to hasten to his right, putting some sort of huge shadowy block between him and the lights. Shadows twisted and jumped across it as he moved, eerie and haunting, picking out something that might have been fangs; Link kept his distance and kept moving, sticking close to the wall. More sounds echoed around the immense cavern: strange hissing, snapping squawks like nothing Link had ever heard before. The corner of the hall came into view in his pool of light, a door set into the side wall. Link set his shoulder to it and shoved hard, the heavy door grinding across the floor. The moment it was open enough to slip through, he darted inside, leaning on it to close it behind him with a reassuring heavy finality. Whatever was hunting him on the other side, it wouldn't get to him without warning.

The chamber he found himself in was octagonal, lit by a flickering torch in a sconce in its centre, and crude shelving half obscured the murals on the walls. An opening in the left-hand wall led into darkness, and Link eyed it warily as he stepped cautiously forwards, glancing around himself with his eyes always drawn back to the opening.

The shelves were sparsely scattered with items: metal scraps; crudely cut but carefully stacked timber; a few rupee crystals in chipped but ornate bowls; even some rough weapons and what looked to be shields. Link ventured closer to the rightward walls, conveniently further away from the opening, glancing across them. Spiked balls with a strange mounting; three of the kind of crude blades he'd seen the bokoblins using; a small bow left strung and probably ruined by it; a more slender, delicate sword that at first glance appeared to be of actually good quality; and a large cloth pouch, finely made, with intricate stitching, and why that was with the weapons Link had no idea. He picked it up: it was heavier than it looked, flopping limply in his hand, and…

The careful stitching below the neck – above a design that looked awfully like one of the strange 'bomb flowers' that grew on the volcano's slopes – read "Ledd". Link stared at it for a moment, then shook his head, forcing his thoughts back to the present. Maybe the missing mogma was still alive; maybe he'd just lost this. If he had, he'd want it back. If he hadn't… if he was dead… Link could at least take it back to his friend Cobal. Decision made, he lashed it to his belt, turning away.

Fi sprang unexpectedly from the sword as he did, halting him. "Master Link."

"What is it?"

"I detect Zelda's aura upon this sword."

"What?" Link spun back around as he spoke, looking at the slim, finely-made weapon.

"There is a 99% probability that it left her possession less than two hours ago," Fi continued.

It wasn't Zelda's blade, no, but that was back in her room on Skyloft. If she'd found one on the surface then she'd have carried it with her to defend herself, so it made sense that she would have one, but – for a sword she'd used to be here, in a place that was so clearly used as storage by the bokoblins or whatever else lurked down here…

"No…" He shook his head again, slowly this time, not wanting to believe it. "Fi… Fi, she can't, she – can, can you tell me if she's all right, i-if she's alive?" Somewhere, anywhere, please.

Fi turned, and he had the impression that she was concentrating, her perfect face even more still than usual. He all but held his breath as he waited, desperate, a thousand versions of the same question clamouring to be spoken the moment that he opened his mouth.

"The strength of her aura indicates that she was alive at the time that she passed through this chamber." Her blank eyes met Link's own, seemingly impassive despite the desperate pleading in his expression. "Master Link, it is imperative that you understand that the following information is not a reliable source of data. You must not use it as a guide in making decisions. However, I predict that revealing it will improve your emotional state. Therefore: the signature that I predict I would detect upon the death of the spirit maiden has not yet been detected."

Hope and fear felt as though they would wrench his heart in two.

"Then – then she's still alive?"

"You must not rely upon this information, Master. I am unable to accurately predict what would occur upon the spirit maiden's death. I am only able to inform you that the outcome of her death that I consider most probable, according to the insufficient data that I possess, has not occurred."

"That's…" He swallowed. It didn't help. "That's… Thank you, Fi."

Fi was silent for a long moment before speaking, as if she had only determined that she ought to after the fact. "You are welcome. Master-" For the first time, she cut herself off, her head snapping around and her blank gaze trained upon the gaping doorway in the far side of the room. "I detect danger approaching, Master. Prepare yourself."

She had returned to the sword before he had a chance to reply. Trying and failing to force all his emotions into the back of his mind, Link drew the sword, shield ready in his other hand, and stepped away from the shelves to give himself room to move. Even as he did, something hissed menacingly from the shadows beyond, and moments later a form began to take shape from the darkness, prowling into the room.

It was a lizard, but a huge one: larger than Link, scaly and green with a yellow belly, walking on its hind legs and with a huge, studded metal shield covering much of its left arm, ending in a plated gauntlet. As Link stared at it, it opened its mouth and shrieked what was clearly a challenge, the same kind of sound he had heard echoing around the vast hall behind him.

"What is that?" Link whispered, his eyes locked on his foe, sizing it up even as it clearly sized him up.

The creature is not directly familiar to me, Master. However, I detect that its nature is primarily demonic, similar to bokoblins and moblins. Analysis of its physical and spiritual structure implies that it is significantly more complex than either of these creations, but is likely to have been created in the same fashion, with an intellect inferior to your own, but potentially equal in capacity to a capable human child. From the qualities inherent in its aura, I deduce with 60% confidence that its kind were created by the demon Ghirahim in the period between the raising of Skyloft and the present day.

The information flooded through Link's mind far faster than Fi could have spoken aloud, filling no more than a long breath as the first lizard-creature sprang forwards a pace with a hiss, and Link held his ground; as a second one appeared in the dark doorway.

The creatures are agile and capable of notable feats of strength. The shields upon their left arms are solid metal, which will impede your ability to strike and may bind your blade with its ridged construction. Beside this, their only artificial weapons are the spiked balls mounted upon their tails; however, they possess sharp claws and teeth. Caution is recommended in this engagement.

Link took in the words as they flowed across him, but he was focused on the two lizards, on their motions. Swift and fluid, they shifted their weight lightly even as they stood in one place, just as he'd been taught to do, making them difficult to predict, ready to move in any direction. The second one leapt abruptly towards him, landing short but spinning as it did, pivoting to lash at him with its spike-tipped tail a deadly morningstar. Link caught the blow on his shield, and it almost staggered him, hitting with all the lizard's mass, momentum, and muscle behind it. If he failed to block even one of those blows, at best it would probably cost him the use of a limb! The lizard recovered itself about as quickly as he did, and as he stabbed forward it leapt back, drawing him out; he slashed at it and it ducked; he tried for a feint and- and in the next moment, warned by an instinct half his own and half Fi's voiceless twinge of peril, he flung himself sideways to hit the floor and roll back to his feet as the first lizard's spike-tipped tail swished through the very spot where he'd been standing! They were smarter than the bokoblins, that much was obvious, and Link began to circle to his left, trying to keep one of them out of range using the other as an obstacle.

To his relief, the near one didn't instantly step to cut him off the way one of his fellow students might have tried, hissing at him and brandishing its gauntlet in a gesture of unmistakeable challenge. Hoping to get in close and avoid the deadly tail, Link darted forwards, letting it think he was taking the bait; feinted for its right side and swept around for a strike at the left – one that the lizard only barely, glancingly blocked! He was forced to disengage in the next moment, skipping back to his right as the first lizard tried to come around the other way. With both of them to his sword hand, he kept circling, watching the near one as it watched him with its strange greenish-yellow eyes, assessing his movements so disconcertingly like some of the people he'd trained with. Unlike them, it kept its head turned slightly to one side, watching him with one eye or the other – but even as he noticed that it was moving, starting another effortless pivot with its morningstar tail whipping through the air in a long arc, heavily armoured arm held almost stationary as a counterweight! Link leapt back, narrowly avoiding the blow, and this time kept going, the first lizard darting closer as the motion left his guard slightly open, placing itself as his near-range foe and getting – thankfully – in the other's way as it recovered itself. This one aimed a clumsy punch at him with a hiss, one Link could have laughably countered if it wasn't for the heavy armour that would doubtless knock his sword aside, and he was forced to dodge again, slashing at it at the very limit of his range as it pulled its armour-clad arm back, missing but immediately following through, forcing it to pull back – it caught his next strike with a swipe of its armoured arm; ducked the one after! It stayed ducked for a moment, armoured arm angled above its head in near-impenetrable protection, long tongue sticking out as it made a strange gargling sound and shook its head, almost as if it were taunting him. Link ignored the provocation, but he didn't ignore the opening: the tall lizard would have found it next to impossible to hit one of its own kind in that pose, but from his own lower angle – he thrust forward, striking just beneath the edge of the armour plating, stabbing into the soft joint of the lizard's neck and shoulder! It fell sprawling to the ground with a final gurgle, and he leapt away again, shield at the ready, as the second lizard gave a low screech whose murderous intent needed no translation.

In the next moment it was on him, leaping across the body of its fellow in an agile bound, slamming its tail down with such force that Link heard something chip as it hit the floor less than half a pace from him! Almost before he had even consciously thought it he was striking, taking the hair's-breadth opportunity, slashing down as the lizard began to pull back and just, just connecting, severing the last third of the tail and its spiked tip! The tip of the Goddess Sword hit the stone floor hard enough that part of Link winced inwardly, and for an instant he, too, was horribly exposed, but the lizard missed its chance, shrieking in pain and lashing the stump of its tail, blood spattering across the room. Grim-faced and determined, Link pressed his sudden advantage, driving it back with the ring of metal on metal as it blocked his blade, made a clumsy grab for it and missed, no mercy in his iron determination as he fought the creature that might have killed his best friend, that was standing between him and her if she was still alive. Finding itself backed up against the shelving, it gathered itself to spring, and Link's strike carved a bloody line down its side as it leapt away, landing just a couple of paces out of range. He closed the distance before it could flee, giving it no opportunity to turn tail lest it risk a blade in its back, and it finally took the initiative, clawing at him with its free hand even as the heavily-armoured one swept in for a crushing blow at his shield side – one that he only barely blocked by stepping in, battering its unprotected hand away with a wild slash that cut into the meat of its arm but didn't sever it, the armoured arm trying to close around his back, hot rank lizard breath on his face as it opened its mouth to bite him, as he twisted the Goddess Sword in his hand and drove it home between the creature's ribs! The mouth gaped silently, gasping for a breath that would never come, armoured hand hitting his back with no real force and dropping under its own weight, the claws of its injured arm raking weakly down his own as it collapsed.

Trembling with adrenaline and revulsion, Link stepped back from the bloody corpse, looking around towards the door. His silent question was answered before he could even ask it with a momentary strengthening of his sense of Zelda's path, and he followed it into the shadowy room beyond without a moment's hesitation.

Light shone from another doorway on the far side, and he made his way towards it, following Fi's silent promptings. His lantern had gone out at some point during the fight, but he would relight it if he needed it, unwilling to begrudge the time. As best he could tell from the shapes in the gloom, this room held tools and scraps; nothing worth looking at.

He was almost across when he heard the scratchy crumbling of rock; whirled around with sword up – only to see a mogma's upper half silhouetted against the flickering light of the room he'd just emerged from. It seemed wary, glancing right, left, around – and freezing in shock as it saw him, relaxing a moment later.

"That you, pal?" a creaky voice ventured cautiously. "It's me, Ledd."

Link wasn't nearly as relieved as he would have been a few minutes ago.

"It's Link," he hissed back, stepping out of the flickering light cast by the doorway.

"Good timing," Ledd said appreciatively, nervously. His ears were flicking back and forth, cocked for every betraying sound. "You showing up here has gotta mean something. You know, like fate or whatever. See, I came in here looking for treasure…"

Link was almost ready to turn and go, but Ledd's next words froze him in place.

"...but just a little way's digging from here, I found this room with a big old cage in it, and get this, pal. In the cage was this weird person in white who looked kind of like you."

A storm of emotions choked him, leaving him speechless.

"I figured maybe I could use my trusty bombs to get her out, but just as I was going to roll one over there, this huge great thing jumped out at me. I gotta admit it, pal, I panicked. I hit the rock like I'd just dug into magma. I even dropped my poor old bomb bag…"

"You saw her?" Link whispered, heart in his throat. "Was she all right?"

"Well, she was awake and talking, pal. I dunno how all right she was other than that…" Ledd shrugged and hung his head. "I couldn't get back in there after that. I could hear them moving around." His long, mobile ears briefly lay back against his head before going back to their twitchy search for sounds. "I've been going around in circles trying to find somewhere safe to come up for ages. Then I felt a load of commotion over this way and dug on over so I could see what had gone down once it went quiet. Was that you, pal?"

Link nodded.

"First safe place I've been in I don't know how long…" Ledd shuddered, then shook himself, his coarse fur rippling. "I tell you, pal, this place was a big mistake. I lost Cobal, and without my bomb bag I can't even go help him or your friend."

"Cobal's okay," Link whispered. Well, mostly, anyway. He seemed like he'd be all right. "I met him at the entrance. He wanted to go back in after you, but he didn't dare. He's really worried."

Ledd perked up, even his ears briefly stopping their ceaseless shifting. "You found him, pal? That's great! I'm such a bad pal, leaving him all alone like that in a place like this… I was scared he'd been roasted or worse!"

"Well, I left him waiting in the first hall," Link confirmed. "It's safe there for the moment, or it was. I think I found your bomb bag, too. I found a bag with your name on it, anyway."

"You found it!" Ledd only just managed to keep his voice down in the exclamation. "Pal, I owe you big time. Give it here!"

Link approached the mogma, glancing over his shoulder to check nothing was sneaking up on them, and began to untie it from his belt.

"These things are great. They're the only way to carry bomb flowers around safely. Sometimes you just gotta bring an awkward bit of rock down, you know?"

The cocktail of fear and relief had made the already talkative mogma garrulous. Link held the bag out silently, and Ledd reached out to take it… then hesitated, his clawed fingers not quite closed on it.

"You said Cobal was at the entrance, pal…"

Link nodded.

"Well… we mogmas always pay our debts. And boy, do I owe you a debt. Listen, I ain't gonna lend you this thing… no, I'm gonna give it to ya!" He pushed Link's hand back towards him, the tough skin of his hand warm and rough. "I know exactly how you must be feeling, not even knowing if your friend is dead or alive. Take it with ya, and use it to spring her from that cage I saw her in!" Ledd pointed with one strong arm, diagonally through the wall. "If I ain't got turned around, she's thataway as the mole digs. I don't know how you get there on the surface, but if you got all the way here, I reckon you can find it. You go save her, and I'll go tell my pal I'm okay. Deal?"

Link smiled for the first time in what felt like ages. "It's a deal, Ledd. Thanks."

"Don't mention it, pal. Maybe I'll see you on the outside, eh?" He braced himself to retreat back into his hole, then stopped, looking back. "Say… you know how one of them things works, pal?"

Link shook his head.

"It's real cushioned, and the enchantment on it means no air at all can get into it! Bomb flowers gotta have air or they don't go off. Pop any old bomb flower into there, and it'll be perfectly safe until you get it back out! Then, if you shake it or tap it, it starts from where it left off – so be quick about picking them, pal, or they'll go up in your face when you get them back out. You got that?"

Link nodded.

"Good. I hope it helps you get your friend out. You go find her, pal!"

Once again, Link nodded, stepping back and turning away as Ledd vanished back underground, a gentle scratchy crumbling sound fading into nothingness as he burrowed away somewhere below the floor. He'd have to find his way to her, but with her trail to follow, it shouldn't be hard. Whatever stood in his way, there was no way he would let it stop him. Hope and determination renewed, he turned back to the light ahead, and the way onwards.

. . .

There were no more lizard-creatures as he followed Zelda's trail, something both he and Fi found strange. They had passed through a room that seemed set up as a rudimentary forge; through another where unidentifiable meats were in the process of drying; through a third where a very recent rockfall had destroyed one entire end of the room, obliterating whatever it might have been used for and blocking the door until Link had remembered seeing a couple of bomb flowers growing in a corner of the drying room and jogged back to fetch them in Ledd's bomb bag: the fizzling sound had been nerve-wracking, but the mogma's word had been good, and he'd been able to use one to clear the doorway. The lizards seemed to lead a surprisingly sophisticated life, and yet… there were none of them to be seen.

Reaching another heavy door, Link forced it open, grating across the ground like all the others. The room beyond, lit by a guttering torch, contained metal bars stretching from floor to ceiling, and he stepped in without even a moment's thought, without bothering to close the door behind him. Scaly heaps lay upon the ground in pools of blood, and as he took a few quick steps forward, looking around for Zelda, for danger, for anything, Fi emerged from the sword to hover beside him.

"Master, I detect Zelda's aura in the surrounding area, consistent with her having spent some amount of time here." She drifted away, turning to face him as she did, passing backwards through the bars of the cage. "I detect an especially strong reaction from this chain. I calculate the probability Zelda was bound by it recently at 95%."

"Then – then where-" Words failed him; he gestured mutely around, at the empty cage, at the dead lizards lying on the floor.

"It is apparent that she was able to escape her captivity. I detect the continuation of her aura in that direction," said as she raised one elegant arm to gesture, "and estimate that you are now less than 30 minutes behind her."

"How…" Link shook his head: it didn't matter. Nothing mattered but that he catch up – and he very nearly had.

Whew! I pushed that one to the limit. I hope it doesn't show…

Chapter named both for the saying "one step forward, two steps back" and for Link being about two events behind Zelda.

Patch Notes:
- Cage present in level no longer contains bomb flowers and instead contains actual prisoner.
- Chains removed from nonsensical patch of open floor and placed inside cage.
- Said cage moved for plot convenience reasons. It would be awkward to have it in the main hall.
- Ledd's subplot events reversed for coherency and sense in life-or-death situation.
- Ledd's plot-drop that Zelda is a prisoner moved to more impactful location.
- Evidence of prison break now present.
- Lizalfos given demonic origin story separate to bokoblins and moblins, to suit their respective intelligences and natures.
- Subtle plot threads interwoven…