Chapter 39: On the Front Line
"You're certain?" Link said as he helped Rosa lay down on one of the bedrolls set out for the wounded.
"Yes," she said, but she winced and breathed in a strained hiss until she reached the ground. And even then, she grimaced. "I won't stay here long. Just until one of the healers can spare a look at me."
"Are you thirsty? I have Bethmasse's water skin."
"That's for the commander," she shook her head. "Why do you have her water?"
"She told me to bring her some."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because I wanted to make certain you made it… here." He looked around the wide space set aside for the wounded. Bringing Rosa to the healing tents seemed a good idea when he had it. But now that they had arrived, he wasn't certain.
They weren't so much tents as a few wide tentsheets held up on poles, with everyone underneath exposed to the winds. And most of the wounded were not lucky enough to find a place beneath them. The smell of burnt flesh and rot filled his nose. People with torn faces, and missing limbs lay scattered about beneath the sky. The bedrolls they laid on trampled with mud and red drenched snow. Soldiers and servants, all mixed together, wailing in pain or cursing their misfortune. Some begged for their parents or ancestors, others prayed to the Three and some of the servants to Hylia.
Those seemed the fortunate ones. Two bedrolls away from Rosa lay a man he'd seen since the second day he joined the warband. He tended the Gerudo horses, a Hylian camp follower like him. Link never heard him speak, except to the horses, where he whispered so soft and caring it made Link miss his family and Malon and everyone behind him on his journey. A glance would make one think the man slept, healing from the wound already bandaged around his chest. But Link had not seen him breathe since he helped Rosa find an open bedroll.
The dead man lay forgotten, mixed with the rest of the wounded. How can anyone heal here? What will they even do without fairies to help them? They'd get sick, and the sickness would spread. How many would pass from that?
Every story about the horrors of war that the Great Deku Tree tried to instill in him rushed back. There was joy in fighting. The clanging of steel, the weight of a sword in his hand. He never felt alive as he did when fighting. Even when terrified, it was still somehow wonderful.
But this was what happened after.
"Link, listen to me," Rosa grabbed his arm, pulling him away from his thoughts. "Bring the water to Commander Bethmasse. She'll need it more than me."
Link did not think that likely. Healing made you thirsty and so far Bethmasse hadn't been injured at all except for a minor scrape along her elbow. But why argue? Barkan always got her way in an argument, why would Rosa be any different?
He didn't know what to say, so he patted her on the shoulder which just made her wince again. "Sorry," he said. Then he backed away hoping to cause no further pain. As he made his way out of the healer's tents he stopped as he noticed someone massive standing among the wounded. Ganondorf loomed over the wounded, as dark as death itself.
There was one among them that he was watching over. A woman with burns all along her side, and her face wrapped in bandages. He whispered something, slow and long, to the wounded. The giant man made some sign over her but was careful not to touch the burns. Once finished, he looked away and for only a moment met Link's eyes. Their yellow glow shifted in an instant from sorrow to hatred. A deeper anger than Link had ever seen before. But it was gone just as quick as it came.
The King of the Gerudo gave him a polite nod and headed out.
Thankfully in a different direction from Link. After the Lizalfos were driven from the camp, Bethmasse ordered him to thank Ganondorf for saving his life. But this was still the man who killed his father. The one doing all this evil, responsible for every single person who died in this war. Link could not bear the thought of it.
And yet, he had saved his life. Coming in to rescue both him and that woman and her child. Just like the hero Link had always told himself he would be.
It was all easier when Link could hate him. When he was that dark evil figure that caused destruction wherever he went. Not… whatever he was. Not a real person.
"Pardon me, sorry, watch yourself, goro." Yadunby waddled through the tents, five people on his back or in his arms. Each of them wounded, but alive. He survived! A few fresh scratches on his thick hide, but that was it. Link could not help but smile.
And Yadunby was so gentle with everyone he carried. He moved at a slow but steady pace, not letting himself rock too much with his steps to avoid any jostling of the wounded. "See we're almost there," he said to the one in his arms. "Pardon me."
Link wanted to go speak with him as well. But he seemed to have found something important to do, and it would be best not to get in his way. He left his friend to his work and went about his own.
Bethmasse stood just outside the camp, among Gorons and Gerudo all forming their ranks. Gorons at the front, with massive weapons resting on their shoulders or dragged along their sides. Gerudo with spear and shield arranged between and behind them.
The low sun framed the massive woman as she bellowed orders loud enough to rival the Goron's drums. "You two," she called in Gerudo, "shoulder to shoulder with the Gorons. They will not fall on you. You must not leave a gap." Then she looked to one of the Gorons and switched to Hylian. "Brodni! Keep voe, aughh, straight. Keep voe straight. There!" She pointed the direction she wished them to face.
The biggest of the Gorons looked at her confused as he waded through the ranks to reach her. "I don't understand."
Bethmasse gave a curse in Gerudo that Link did not know the translation of. One of the words involved taking someone, but that's all he could get. "You," she said when Link reached her. "What took you so long?" She took the water from him took one swig before she poured a little on her hand and splashed around her throat.
"I-"
"Tell this lump of stone to keep his people in proper ranks. Our right flank is in disarray and we will need them strongest of all. Tell him to unbalance the line, put more weight on that side."
"Commander Bethmasse," Brodni said, "I do not understand your language. If you would please speak-"
"I'm translating for her," Link said to Brodni.
Brodni looked down to him and nodded. "I will trust your words... young hero."
Link glanced over his shoulder at Bethmasse, but if she understood what Brodni had called him, she did not react. "She says that the right flank is too weak. You will need to take." She hadn't told him how much. He went back to speaking Gerudo. "How unbalanced do we want the flanks? Will one in four work?"
"It will suffice."
"Take a quarter of the Gorons from the left flank and put them on the right. Make their ranks deeper. And make certain that they all face that way. We'll be marching soon."
"Is this wise?" Brodni whispered. "Can this one be trusted?"
"Yes," he said. Though in truth he didn't know if she could. He wanted to trust her, and Nabooru and Mulli and all of them. But he didn't. Not completely. "For this battle. The Gerudo want it ended the same as you."
"Then I will see it so, goro." Brodni nodded to Bethmasse, before he tucked his head down, wrapped his arms tight until he looked like a boulder. He flung himself forward and rolled toward the flank.
"Does he understand what I want of him, squire?"
"Yes, commander."
"Good," she frowned. "Where is your shield?"
"I didn't-"
"How can you enter a battle with no shield?"
"Commander Nabooru said I wasn't to join the fight."
"Nabs is not here," Bethmasse looked over the soldiers. "And we will have need of every hand. Including yours."
"I'm ready," Link said. "I can fight."
"Fight? I need a squire not another soldier. You must be my shadow. You remember what I told you to do? If I say fetch me water, you fetch water. Not lounging around as you were. If I tell you to hand me my sword, you give me the sword. If I tell you to drag someone from the battle, you pull them to safety. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Commander Bethmasse."
"Good. But one must still have your own sword and shield. If I die, or you find yourself with no other alternative, then you must have your arms with you. Go. Get them and return quickly this time. Once Brodni fixes our wings we march."
Link ran back to the camp, scrambling over wagons and dashing around ruined tents. He did not stop until he reached the one where he placed his equipment. It wasn't the same tent he shared with other servants for most the journey. That one had been trampled in the fighting. But the survivors among his tentmates managed to find one of the soldier's tents in one piece and claimed it as their own.
So far no one came to take it from them. Link did not like to think why that might be.
He found his sword and shield, ocarina and slingshot. He slung them all into place, adjusting his belt to hold the sheath. The sword resting its comfortable weight on his hip. Last he picked up his ocarina. It had no place on the battlefield. Yet, he did not want to let it go. He fingered a few of the notes to Saria's song before he tucked it back into his sheets. Wish me luck, Saria, father. Navi.
He ran back, only stopping when a large group of riders, fifty at least, passed before him. Each of them grim-faced and armored in leathers, mail, and plated lamellar. Some he noticed from the murderer's personal guard. At their head rode Commander Nabooru herself. He waved as she passed. Her eyes met his, took note of his weapon and shield and frowned. But she did not stop or say anything. It wasn't until the riders passed that he realized they weren't heading north toward the battle, but east.
He puzzled over where they might be heading as he returned to Bethmasse. He could think of nothing that direction but rocks, at least as far as he knew. But then, it wasn't as if the generals felt the need to make their plans known to him.
When he reached his master, she knelt before him. She pulled at the strap of his shield and tugged on his sheath. Satisfied they would not fall off in the fighting, she nodded. Then handed him her mace and axe to carry, while she kept her longspear, curved scimitar at her hip, and her shield on her back. "Pay attention, voe. If I call for one of them, hand it to me quick."
"I will."
A horn sounded, and Bethmasse went walking before her line of warriors. Link heaved the weapons in his arms and tried to find places to store them as he followed her. But they were made for someone Bethmasse's size, not his. He put the axe in his belt, and its weight dragged his pants down. So, he kept a grip on them as best he could.
Wherever they went, the commander gave additional orders, demanding they fix some small issue, or informing them of some detail they would face in the advance. "I can walk through that hole, tighten up!" She'd yell and the Gerudo would obey. Or she'd say, "Squire, tell the Gorons to not break ranks when they meet the rough ground fifty paces ahead. They must be a wall." And he would convey her meaning to them as best he could.
They went through the entire line. Link did not know how long it took, but it felt like an hour at least. Then why did she tell me to rush to get here? But Link did not dare ask. It was only after they had gone down the entire line and were making their way back that a horn sounded somewhere in the distance.
"Good," Bethemasse put on her helmet and pulled on the cord that tightened the cheek guards. Then nudging Link forward, they returned to their place in the line.
Another horn took up the call, followed by the beat of the drums. The Gorons at the front moved in a thousand footsteps all aligned in a single strike of the ground. And the line advanced. From Link's perspective it looked as though the stones of the mountain itself rose to defend it.
Link kept close to his master. Which proved harder than he liked as he maneuvered around crevices and over crags, past jutting rocks that looked like spiked teeth and claws, and dead trees. Only once did he fall, and Bethmasse grabbed him by the shoulder and plucked him up and got him marching again. And if anyone else stepped out of line, she would shout at them until they moved where she wished. In much the same way she trained him, silent and judgmental until anyone put a toe out of line and she'd pounce.
Only now she taught an entire army. Shouting orders to those who would listen, and berating those who could not correct themselves as quick as she'd like. As they drew further up the mountain she shouted less. Did that mean the army formed together and did not require her attention? He couldn't tell, between the massive stonemen and the tall warrior women, Link could only see backs and legs all around him. Pressing like the crowds of Castle Town. With perhaps a glimpse of what came ahead as the bodies swayed.
They climbed until Link's legs burned, and his arms ached from holding his master's weapons. The air pressed around him, hot from the thousand bodies, while sweat pooled around his back and under his arms. The mountain snow churned to mud beneath their feet, and the heat grew until he struggled to breathe.
Then the horns gave one last call, and the drums rumbled to a stop. Bethmasse halted, and Link almost ran into the back of her legs.
"What's happening?"
"Hmm," Bethmasse was a tall woman, but even she craned her neck to look over the frontline of Gorons. "Good enough."
"What's good enough?"
"I do not see any gaps."
"But what's happening?"
"Voe, I have a battle to run. I cannot be answering all your questions."
Link clutched her weapons tight to his chest and ducked down, squeezing between the lines. Pushing forward, through legs or around the great stone-skinned figures until he stood just behind the front rank. The Lizalfos stood before them, a tangled mass of scales and fangs. All crawling around each other, hissing and shaking their weapons. Spears and shields lowered ready to meet the Goron's charge.
But they weren't moving.
"Squire!" Bethmasse shouted. "Fool voe, to my side."
Grumbling, he took one last look around but found no new hint, before he headed back.
"I was only-"
"Never do that again," she let go of her spear, and it fell back to land on her shoulder. With her free hand she grabbed tight around his arm, squeezing so hard he gasped from the sudden pain. "I said you were to be by my side. And at my side you must stay."
"But nothing's happening."
"No excuses. You listen or I send you back down the mountain."
"Yes, Commander Bethmasse."
A low clatter rose from the front. Link turned to see what made the noise as a wooden shaft struck a Goron and splintered apart. A wooden needle flew past Link's eye and another pierced into a Gerudo soldier's leg.
"Shields high!" Bethmasse roared, she let go of him and lifted her shield as she picked her spear back up. But she angled her shield wrong, only half covering herself. If he'd done that in training, she'd make him practice holding the shield high in the correct position so long the muscles in his arm would give out. It took Link a moment to realize she placed it to cover him as well.
Link tried to lift his own shield, as all the other Gerudo did around him. But as he fiddled with the equipment in his hands he dropped Bethmasse's axe. He bent down to pick it up.
"Leave it," she ordered. "Do you wish to become a pincushion for arrows? Shield high."
He raised the shield of his father, not a moment too soon. An arrow struck the rim of Bethmasse's shield, and it tumbled down until it embedded itself in his own with a thunk. He found himself stepping even closer to his master's side. He'd stay there until the arrows stopped, then he could get the axe.
Only, the arrows did not end. Volley after volley crashed down on them. With each rain of iron and wood brought further pain upon them. At first the Gorons only grunted, the arrows struck their stone-hewn flesh and bounced off or shattered. Leaving only chips and divots on their skin. But each arrow took more. Their grunts turned to shouts of pain. A Gerudo squealed behind him, Link looked around to see the shaft of an arrow piercing straight through the woman's thumb down into their hand.
Someone fell. Then another. The Goron standing before Link gave a gasp as an arrow appeared jutting from his neck.
"Back!" Bethmasse said. She struck him in the chest with the pole of her spear, forcing him to stumble away as the Goron crashed to the ground. Slamming onto the dropped axe.
"I saw it!" Link shouted. The stoneman still breathed, groaning, pulling at the arrow. Link reached out to help him.
"No." Bethmasse did not ease up her spear, pinning him back.
"He's dying."
She did not seem to care. "Brodni!" she called. "Close up! I see gap! Many gap! Brodni! You hear! I know you hear!"
"Why are we just waiting here? They're right in front of us!"
"Because that is our part to play."
"But our people are dying."
"That is war."
A javelin clattered off a Goron's head leaving a crack on his stoney scalp, bounced and landed on a shield, piercing a good way into it. The Gerudo holding the shield near tumbled over from the force. She managed to right herself, but her arm wobbled and that was all it took. An arrow found the gap, struck her under the arm and into her chest and she was gone.
Link stared at her, she hadn't done anything wrong. She had been holding her shield in the right position. It wasn't her fault the javelin pushed it aside, that would happen to anyone. She did not even have time to scream.
"Keep your shield high, voe." Bethmasse snapped, only then did Link realize his hand had drifted as he watched the battle.
"I'm sorry," he said as he adjusted it.
"Don't apologize, keep yourself alive."
But it was random. How could he keep himself alive if chance could kill him?
The Goron that laid before him pulled the arrow from his throat. But as he did blood spurted from the wound. He died smiling.
This was madness. If they attacked, then they could stop the arrows. They could at least fight, instead of suffering deaths and doing nothing about it.
I need to do something. What if he got the Gorons to charge? Could he? What if he made his way to Brodni and got him to order the attack? Would he trust the 'young hero?' He must, that was the only way to end the rain of death.
It would mean disobeying Bethmasse. But she was as likely to die as anyone else. They were losing people, and they could stop it. The lizards wouldn't be able to stop a charge of both Goron strength and Gerudo skill. They would break.
He had no choice. He was going to do it. He took a breath and gave one last look at Bethmasse. "I'm sorry."
"Quiet voe. No apologies, just survive."
That's what I'm trying to do.
A horn blared loud and long. It rang through the field, followed by the sound of a dozen Gerudo singers giving their trilling battle call. But it didn't come from within the line. It wasn't even coming from the sides with the cavalry.
It was coming from in front of them. It was coming from the Lizalfos.
"That's the signal! Sound the horns! Beat the drums! Forward!"
The shields lowered and the army charged. The Gorons leaped high and tucked themselves into boulders, flinging themselves into the Lizalfos. Crushing some, forcing others to scatter and weaken whatever cohesion they had. A wave of Gerudo steel followed them. Link ran with them, staying as close to the commander as he could. But the axe. He forgot her axe! What if she needed it?
He didn't have time to think about it before the sounds of battle made it too hard to think of anything. Crashing and shouting and screaming and grunting. All Link could do was hold his shield and try to bash away the speartip or sword strike that happened to get close to him.
Bethmasse seemed more monstrous than those they fought. She moved along the fight, thrusting her spear into the gaps before pulling back. Every attack drew blood and wherever she went the line pushed further and further down. And when it got too far, she would fall back, find a new spot to enforce and ran to it.
Behind the Lizards the Gerudo horn and shrieking grew louder. Link watched, mouth agape as Nabooru and her fifty riders rode past. They were covered in mud and blood, as if they had already gone through an entire other battle. But tied to their horses, they held the pots- the bombs that the Gorons had made for the battle. Some of the warriors lit them with their torches and hurled them into the backs of the lizards. The pots exploded. Spewing black smoke and red flame across the lizards. Causing far more destruction than the arrows ever did.
Where had they come from? How did they even get behind the Lizalfos lines?
He did not get his answer until the army crushed the enemy halfway to the Crown. The line shifted apart as the soldiers moved around a massive hole in the ground. The tunnels that the Dodongo used to ambush the army that morning. Link near fell into one, but as he picked himself up his hand pressed into the corpse of a Dodongo. Hoofprints pressed around it, and dead Lizalfos filled the hole.
Had they fought through the tunnels? That must have been it. That was the only way he could see for Nabooru to get there.
"Squire!" Bethmasse shouted. "Mace."
"Coming!" Link straightened and ran to her, holding out the large steel flanged mace. She yanked the weapon from his hands and dropped her spear at him. He grasped at it from the air, making certain it didn't slip out of his hands and tumble onto the ground as the axe had.
"Stay back." Bethe pressed through the soldiers, squeezing through Gerudo and Goron until she reached the front. A roar sounded, and a bout of flame. A Dodongo thrashed at the soldiers nearest to it. The spears and swords of the Gerudo barely scratched the hard scales of the monster. The only things having any effect at all were the Gorons trying to smash at it with their clubs and fists.
With a loud shout, Bethe leaped high, stepping on the Gorons in the front to propel herself into the air. She landed on the back of the beast. Smashing down with the mace in both hands. The monster thrashed as the mace crashed into its head. It tried to roll about and bite at her ankle or arm, whatever drooped too low.
And that was all Link could see. The mass of soldiers moved and the press of the fighting pushed him aside and the small nook he could see through was gone. The sun had nearly set and even if he could peak through the soldiers, he could not make much out.
"Keep pushing!" Link called. But he did not know why. No one was going to listen to him. What was it even going to do? He wasn't full grown, he wasn't strong as any of these soldiers, much less the Gorons. "Commander Bethmasse! Commander Bethmasse!"
He was pushed again, and now he could no longer even hear the monster. Had it run off? Did she kill it? What was going on?
"Bethmasse!"
A Lizalfos fell forward, and tumbled to the ground, its mouth open, it's eyes wide and lifeless. But the fall created a gap as two Gorons stepped around it. That was his chance. He needed to see what was happening.
He ran to the gap, scrambling over the corpse. He took a breath of what he hoped was fresh air, but there did not seem to be any to be had on the battlefield. Everything tasted of grime and iron. Did the air taste of the corpses littered across the ground? Grotesques twisted in pain and death, trod upon by friend and foe alike. Some may not have been dead before the mass of soldiers surged over them, crushing them in the mud.
A shield knocked into him from behind and almost sent him into that deathly mud. Where was Bethmasse? A Dodongo lay broken on the ground, he climbed over it, its body still hot. Was this the one that she fought? Did she kill it? Or was it that corpse over there? Or that one still alive and spewing flame?
The Lizalfos fell back. But how far did they have left to retreat? Behind them, obscured by the smoke of bombs and Dodongo breath lay a massive steel door. Goron symbols shaped from its gleaming face, but it was not whole. Huge gouged marks tore through it and the stone around it. Almost looking like scratches from a claw. But what in the world could be big enough to make those? Even the greatest of Dodongo could not have been a quarter of the size of whatever marred the door.
That must be the Crown, where the Ruby was being held.
A scream came before him, before it muffled. A Gerudo fell almost atop him, a Lizalfos gnawing at her face and tore at her stomach until the scream died. Then it looked up. Its eyes met Link. Blood and flesh dripped from its wide jaw and it lunged forward, snapping at him.
Link screamed and pushed his shield forward. Ravenous teeth latched onto the edge, piercing into Deku wood. The monster pulled its neck back and took the shield with it. Link stumbled forward, out of the safety of the line.
"Get off me!" He tried to angle Bethmasse's spear to hit the creature, but it was far too big. All he was doing was knocking the creature's shoulder with the staff. He kicked at it, but that did little better as the Lizalfos tore at the shield.
Then the Lizalfos was on the ground. Flattened like an insect. A great club, pressing into it.
Link's eyes went up the club to the Goron that held it. One he had never seen before, just another soldier among hundreds. He lifted his weapon from the dead enemy, gave Link a quick nod and advanced on. As if it was nothing.
"Thank you!" Link said to the Goron's back.
Link searched around him, but that seemed to be the end of it. Lizalfos and Dodongo fled the field. Falling backward toward the Crown until there was nowhere left to go.
A roar shook the mountainside.
The largest Dodongo Link had ever seen joined the rest of the lizard army. Flame poured from its mouth and lit the dark battlefield between its breaths. Blood dripped down its forelegs and side, spewing from deep steaming wounds. Blackened scales covered half its face and one of its sides.
It roared in pain and anger. The sound sent chills through Link. The fairies often warned, a cornered wounded animal was more dangerous than any other.
The Dodongo whipped its tail around and thrashed its massive horn side to side. Goron and Gerudo flew as though both were light as leaves. It roared again, and a spout of flame came from its mouth. The soldiers before it dived away or were consumed by it.
All except one, who walked through the fire as if it was nothing.
Ganondorf stepped before the gargantuan monster, brandishing his black blade. He spoke to it, though Link was too far away to hear. Whatever it was, the Dodongo did not seem to like it. It struck at Ganondorf with claws and tail, but the King of the Gerudo avoided each with the slightest step or knocked the blow aside with his blade.
Several soldiers ran behind Ganondorf and threw the Goron bombs at the beast. Most struck the creature and exploded. But that only fueled the beast's wrath.
"Surround the monster!" Link shouted. "Come on! We have him!"
Soldiers broke ranks to charge howling at what must be King Dodongo. Link ran to keep up with them.
The Dodongo saw them, its eyes flashed along the entire battle, and must have only seen its doom coming. With one final roar it jumped at Ganondorf.
That seemed to finally take the Gerudo by surprise, Ganondorf could not get out of the way in time. One of the monster's claws struck him in the chest, the force sent him sprawling back.
That was it! The beast could kill him! Right there, end it! Once it slew Ganondorf the soldiers could kill it. The war would be over! End this entire disaster.
But it did not reach for King Dragmire. It rushed at those that pelted it with bombs, and scooped them into its hands and mouth. Whipping around it threw bomb, Gerudo, and Goron behind it. The bombs and soldiers landed, some fell into the creature's own army, others smashed against the steel door of the Crown.
"No!" the murderer shouted loud enough for the entire mountain to hear as he rushed back toward the fight. "No, don't let him-"
The Dodongo opened his jaws wide and fire burst from its throat, roasting not its enemy, but its own people. Lizalfos and smaller Dodongo were incinerated. But Link did not have time to think of how disgusting a betrayal it was, since the flames found the bombs as well.
The mountain shook.
A wave of force swept over Link.
He fell to his knees. Others did the same or slipped completely as the ground shifted beneath them. Then came the sound. One so loud that Link had never heard anything like it before. An explosion that shook the teeth in his skull and made his head hurt.
Rocks crashed, scraping against each other. People yelled and cried, howling in pain and rage. Small pebbles struck his arms and the top of his head. He raised his shield to protect himself, and felt the drumming continue upon it.
Dust flew into his eyes, and all around him was black.
Link was laying on the ground. How had he gotten here? Everything hurt. His back, his arm, his legs. Even his throat felt sore, as if he had been screaming for hours.
He did not remember falling, or screaming, or dropping his shield to cover his ears. But that all must have happened. He tried to open his eyes, but they felt heavy. He rubbed at them and found dust and small pebbles filled his eyelashes and pooled around the edge of his eyes.
When he got his eyes open, the world was still dark. All dark.
From the blackness came a few shapes, then a blurring of light. More of a speck, a twinkle as if from a distant star. But he wasn't looking at the night sky was he? No. That was the mountain. He was definitely looking at stones…
The Crown. He was looking at the Crown. But it wasn't the massive steel door, it was a wall of stones, with just one speck of light coming from within.
He tried to stand, but his legs wobbled, and he slipped on the pebbles back to his knees.
Fine then, rest first. No one was trying to kill him. The battle had to be over now.
He rolled onto his back and spread his arms wide. He took a deep breath and coughed. Dust still hung in the air. Covering his mouth with his fingers he tried to breathe again, and that helped a little. Everything hurt. Everything. And he hadn't even been fighting, not really.
Still alive. See father? I'm still alive.
A roar broke him from his thoughts.
Had the beast survived as well? Was the battle still raging? How could it possibly be continuing? How could anyone still want to fight?
But he was back on his feet and his shield was in his hand before the thought finished.
He saw no monster, well, he did not see the one he expected.
Ganondorf stood before what had once been a metal door. The steel had been blasted to pieces; chunks scattered about the ruin of the lizard army. Stones the size of a house collapsed over the hole.
The warrior-king's head was thrown back as he bellowed at the sky. Only a bloodied Nabooru seemed brave enough to get close to him as he raged. Everyone else cowered as though he was as destructive as the explosion.
He screamed one more time, before he seemed calm enough to speak with Nabooru. Link got closer to try and hear what was being said.
"Not enough," Nabooru said. "Most of what we had left King Dodongo just used. We can't clear it."
"Very well," Ganondorf said and lifted his hand. Black and purple energy surrounded his fist that seemed to suck what little light remained. "I'll do it myself. I'll tear that lizard limb from limb."
"King Dragmire," came a low voice from the crowd. One of Chief Darunia's advisors came forward, limping heavily on his cane. "You cannot."
"Why?"
"It is a miracle that the Crown did not collapse with King Dodongo's insanity. If you were to destroy that, a chunk of the mountain might collapse. The chunk we are standing on."
Ganondorf growled, and stepped toward the Goron, his teeth barred like an animal. The Goron shrank back, as if trying to make himself as small as he could. And for a moment, Link worried that Ganondorf would attack the man. "Then dig it out. Now."
"Yes, yes. We will." The Goron hobbled away as fast as he could.
Ganondorf turned back around staring at the rocks. "See to the wounded." He said, not taking his eyes away from the remains of the door. "Find me when I can enter the Crown and cut that lizard's head off myself." He turned away from the rubble and walked back through an army that parted before him.
Commander Nabooru took up command, giving orders and sending everyone scrambling about. Seeing to the wounded, giving space away from the fallen rocks. For their safety, and to not disturb the Goron miners when they arrived. Leaving Link alone and unnoticed beside the rubble.
They couldn't get the Ruby. At least not yet. But the stones would not hold him out for long. Link found his way to the rocks and pressed his hand against it. It all certainly seemed sturdy. It would take some time for even Gorons to get through.
But then what was the plan? Try and run in before Ganondorf and steal the Ruby? That wouldn't work. He needed to get inside now.
What of that light? That speck he saw. Was it still here?
As if answering his prayers, as he walked along the wall, the smallest light caught his eyes. A thin light, less than a candle coming from a crack within the stones.
Link pressed his head to the light.
It wasn't a candle, it was a blaze, something still burned from the Dodongo's attack. Around the light he could see smooth floors.
This was it. A path into the mountain, one that Ganondorf would never be able to fit into.
Link pressed his fingers into the hole and pushed around. Pebbles and dirt fell away from the wall and spilled out at his feet. The rocks above it didn't shift. In fact, they all seemed secure. He scooped around the hole, making it wide. Big enough to put his head inside, then after a few more sweeps maybe he could fit his shoulders.
He could do it! He could squeeze inside.
From within the mountain the roar of the massive Dodongo echoed. It was still alive down there.
"This is a terrible idea," Link whispered. "I could really use your help, Navi."
He glanced around to make certain no one was paying him any attention, then he placed Bethmasse's spear against the rocks and pushed himself into the hole.