Chapter 9

After thinking it over for quite some time, Ganondorf decided to take Max with him to Death Mountain. He was still hypnotized and he wanted to show the boy what being evil was truly like. He turned to his two officers Saska and Jaska.

"I want you two to guard this room closely! Don't let anyone in no matter what. Just keep silent if somebody knocks, understand?"

They both threw him a salute and sat down on his bed in the corner of the small room. Ganondorf turned to Max."

"Well, let's go to Death Mountain, kid. Say, what's your name anyway?"

Max threw him a salute.

"My name is Max, lord!"

Ganondorf rolled his eyes.

"I have to get you a better name later on. Max isn't exactly a evil sounding name. But enough about that. We have an appointment to keep. Let's not keep the gorons waiting!"

He used a teleport spell and he gone from the room in an instant. He ended up teleporting himself and Max just outside the entrance to some sort of cave. There was a small path to their right heading up the mountain. This lead to the home of the mountain dwelling gorons. They all had extremely hard skin, so they almost resembled rocks. In addition, They could curl up into a ball and roll wherever they chose They were also all brown in color and had big black eyes. Ganondorf could hear a sound coming from down the path. It sounded like something rolling. When it got closer, he realized that it must be a goron. Only they could roll around a winding path and not fall off. As it was uncurling, Ganondorf nudged Max.

"Hey, Max. Watch what happens if this fool refuses my terms! Consider this part of your training!"

Max nodded.

"Alright, my lord. I will watch very carefully."

The goron was now fully uncurled. He was a very large goron. He had big, bulging muscles all over his body. He also had long white hair that was pointed all at different angles. He also had a long white beard. The big goron looked at the stranger. He looked like a dangerous sort. Why would this strange human want to form an alliance with his people? He bowed to the stranger and greeted him.

Greetings, human. My name is Darunia and I am the chieftain of the goron tribe. Your associate told me that you wanted to speak of an alliance. I like the sound of that. It would be beneficial to both of our

tribes. By the way, what's wrong with that smaller human beside you? His eyes are glowing green."

Max stood there, staring at the goron. Part of his mind was still free, but he couldn't figure out how to regain control of his body. Jaska's spell was surly a powerful one. He put all of his efforts towards freeing himself. He could hear Ganondorf responding to Darunia. The gerudo king laughed.

"I know. He is my apprentice of evil! I brought him with me to show him what it's like to be really evil!"

Darunia cocked his head to one side and looked at him oddly.

"Evil? I thought we were meeting to speak of an alliance!"

Ganondorf laughed in the goron chief's face.

"You old fool! That was just a lie so I could get you down here to offer you my ultimatum! Give me your Spiritual Stone! Otherwise, I will block off this cave behind me!"

Darunia was shaking with rage. He was tricked by this stranger! He didn't want an alliance at all! He looked at Ganondorf and pulled his arm back and attempted to punch him in the face. He punched at him and realized that he was punching air. He heard laughter from above. He looked up and Ganondorf was floating in the air above him. Darunia bellowed at him.

"I refuse your terms, you evil scum! How dare you come here and threaten me like that! If I could reach you, there wouldn't be anything left of you for the dodongos to feast on!"

Ganondorf grinned.

"Temper temper, chief! You refused your terms. Now, your people are going to suffer! Say goodbye to your precious cave. Observe closely, Max!"

Max watched Ganondorf, still unable to break the spell, he complied without question.

"Yes, my lord!"

Ganondorf turned around and noticed a huge boulder just above the entrance to the cave. He held his hand out and began to concentrate. His hand started to glow red. Suddenly, the boulder began to glow red as well. With a grunt, Ganondorf lifted the boulder with his magic. He held it right above the cave entrance and dropped it. It came crashing down and blocked off the cave entirely. Max and Darunia backed away from the cave. Darunia gasped in shock ass her looked at the blocked cave. Ganondorf laughed hysterically.

"What's wrong, chief? Was there something important in there?"

Darunia bellowed with rage.

"You filthy scum! That cave had our food supply in it! Since I can't reach you, I'm going to take my rage out on your accomplice!"

He turned to face Max and walked towards him with his fists in front of him. Max backed up nervously. At that moment, Jaska's spell wore off and he fell to the ground. Darunia lowered his fists in confusion.

"What's going on? Why did you fall down?"

Max shook his head.

"I'm...free? Alright! I'm free from that spell!"

He heard snickering from above.

"Not for long, Max! It looks like you're free for the time being, but I'll fix that!

A blast of magic came from Ganondorf and caught him in the chest and knocked him out. He then disappeared in front of the goron chief. Darunia looked up at Ganondorf.

"What did you do to him?"

He laughed.

"Nothing for you to be concerned about. Now, are you going to give me that stone? If you do, I'll consider unblocking the cave!"

Darunia was shaking with rage. His people now had no food! This human responsible wanted his people's treasure! No! He didn't care if his people starved or not! He wasn't about to hand over the Goron's Ruby to this evil stranger in black armor! Darunia bellowed at the stranger.

"You dirty human! I'd rather die than give you our treasure! Begone from our land!"

Ganondorf sniggered.

"You're a stubborn rock! So, you would rather die than give me your stone? What about your people? Will they share your view as well? I guess you'll find out! Hahaha!"

He disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Darunia groaned as he made his way back to his home. How was he going to explain the situation to his people? Was the stranger right about what he had said? Would they share his point of view? Or would they argue aggressively? He continued to walk home with his head held low. When he got back home, a few gorons rolled up to him. He figured they wanted to know how the "alliance" turned out. Darunia sighed heavily. They uncurled and one of the gorons walked up and poked the goron chief on the shoulder.

"Hey, chief! How did the alliance go? Are we friends with the gerudos now?"

A small goron walked in front of him.

"Hey, chief. Do we have any gerudo children to play with?"

Darunia sighed heavily with each question that was asked. The small goron scratched his head.

"What's wrong with you, chief? Did something go wrong?"

Darunia couldn't take it anymore. He stared down at the small goron sadly.

"Yes, Argus. Something went terribly wrong and it's about time I tell everyone the bad news."

He cleared his throat and looked around at all the faces looking at him.

"Attention, everyone! I need you to listen to me very carefully. I have some terrible news. The meeting was all a setup. He didn't even want to form an alliance. All he wanted was our treasure, the Goron's Ruby. When I refused his terms, he blocked off the cave to Dodongo's cavern. We need to do some quick thinking."

His words caused a panic within all of the gorons. They started to run around the city, screaming loudly.

"You should've given him the stone, chief! At least we would be able to get more food!"

"What's going to happen to us? When the food runs out, we are going to die off one by one!"

"Maybe it's not too late! Maybe we can find that human again and give him the stone!"

The goron chief couldn't take all of the crying anymore. He bellowed at his people as loud as he could.

"Everyone, shut up! We have to remain calm! Panicking isn't going to get us anywhere. We will have to make the rocks we mined yesterday last as long as we can. There is an old legend among our people. It states that when tragedy befalls our people, a messenger from the Royal Family of Hyrule will come to our aid. I am going to my room and try to think of a solution to our problem. Argus, I want you to ration the food for today. Remember to ration it carefully; it will have to last a while. I'm going to lock my door until I either think of a solution or the messenger arrives!"

Darunia walked towards his room, leaving his worried tribe crowded together in a small circle They had some food for the time being, but how long would it last? Argus sighed.

"Alright. I'm going to get our food together and begin rationing it. Everyone will get the same amount. Please no stealing from one another."

He went to the storage room to divide up the food. He frowned worriedly. How were they supposed to survive on an old legend in their tribe? Something needed to be done soon and fast. Otherwise, the whole goron race may be in danger!

Impa guided Link and Charlie outside the Castle town and turned left. She stopped and pointed at a path just ahead of her.

"Follow this path, lads. It will lead you to Kakariko Village. That is my hometown. It is where I trained to be a shiekah and eventually became Zelda's nanny. It's an important village. It has been used as a base of operations in the distant past and who knows? It might get used again one day. Beyond there, you will find Death Mountain, home of the gorons. They have the Spiritual Stone of Fire, also known as the Goron's Ruby. They are a proud people and they won't likely just give it to you. I imagine you'll have to earn their trust somehow."

She turned around and put her hands on Link and Charlie's shoulders.

"Don't worry, lads. We'll find a way to free your friend. These kind of things take time. I've got to get back to the castle. Be careful and watch your backs. We'll talk more later!"

She turned around and walked towards the Castle Town. Link and Charlie walked towards Kakariko Village. They were both had the same thing on their minds, their friend Max. Was he okay? Was he still hypnotized? Would they ever see him back to normal again? Charlie sighed heavily.

"It feels so weird without Max now. Do you think Impa will find a way to get him back to normal, Link?"

Link sighed. His absence felt like a lead weight in his stomach

"I hope so, pal. It tears me up to think about how he is now our enemy. I want him back. He never got a chance to really enjoy it here! It's all my fault. I should have never left you two alone. You two should've tagged along with me!"

He stomped his foot on the ground angrily. Navi flew in front of him.

"Take it easy, Link. Moping around and feeling sad isn't going to bring him back. It's going to get you hurt. If you let your feelings cloud your judgement, you're going to get injured if we run into trouble and I don't want to see that happen to you, Link. Not after the time we've spent together."

Link flashed her a quick smile.

"We met only a couple days ago, Navi. But thanks for your words. I understand what you're trying to tell me."

Navi giggled.

"Then are you going to cheer up?"

Link nodded.

"I'm going to try. Let's see what this village has to offer."