Key Quest: Air and Fire by Judy Colella (color ebook reader TXT) 📖

which had blown off, hit the ground, and bounced three times before going over the edge and disappearing into the lava pit.

Link smiled.

The walled-up archway was no challenge at all, naturally, and after introducing it to a bomb flower, he entered what turned out not to be another alcove, but a pathway leading into a new area. Link had learned the importance of caution by now; he drew his Sword and went forward slowly. Less than a minute later, he was glad he had.

Sounding a lot like the emergence of a Stalchild, a scratching noise began a foot or so in front of him, and dirt began puffing upward. And then the ground erupted as a creature that looked suspiciously like a relative of the giant stone face in the main cavern crawled out. Much, much smaller than its stone counterpart, the creature nevertheless looked dangerous and Link backed away.

The lizard-like thing appeared to sniff the air, but soon focused its attention on Link and charged forward, its stubby legs propelled, it seemed, by its long, scaly tale. This was nothing like the little newts Link used to coax up a stick in the Lost Woods. No, those were actually rather cute. These – the boy got out of the way a second before a huge mouth full of needle-like teeth nearly chomped down on his leg.

Uttering his involuntary yell of fear and fury, he slashed downward with all his might. Perhaps it was the Goron bracelet, or maybe he was getting stronger, but his swing took the thing’s head with it.

That was when two more of them burst from the ground, one in front and one beside him. He managed to mortally wound one after killing the other, and saw something really different happening – the dead lizard-creatures, Dodongo babies, whatever they were, had begun to glow red and pulse in a way very similar to the bomb flowers right before they…

“Run, Link!”

He didn’t really need the encouragement, and got far enough away to avoid injury when the things blew up. Bits of Dodongo rained down around him and he grimaced with disgust.

“Look, Link! It opened a hole in the wall!!”

“Where – oh. There’s something blocking the way further in, though.” He went into the alcove and stopped at a huge metal-clad door. Before he could ask Navi’s opinion about it, the thing slid up, giving him access to a fairly large chamber lit by a single torch in its center.

Scratchity-scratch, scritchity-scratch.

Gold Skulltula. Which would have been fine, had it not been for the two bat-like creatures flanking it on the wall where it hung. They were the same kind of creatures he’d encountered in the tomb.

“I know this one,” he said quietly, taking out the sling-shot and arming it. “Nasty things.” He took careful and…done. Now for the Skulltula. A few well-placed slashes with the Sword, and he was collecting its medallion.

“Come on, Link.”

No, really? I so wanted to just hang out in here all day. “Yes, Navi.” He turned right when they went out, looking carefully in all directions for more of what with his luck probably were babies of that Dodongo creature.

What was confusing him a little was why the Gorons, who seemed so peaceful and pleasant, would have any kind of dealings whatsoever with the leg-chewing, exploding lizardy things. And if the babies were this obnoxious, what must their parent be like?

As soon as that question crossed his mind, he regretted thinking it. Something told him with a great deal of confidence that he was going to find out before he got done here.

Two more of the dear little Dodongos burst through the dusty ground and lunged at him, but he killed one and leaped onto a higher part of the path before the second could reach him. Ahead, the path ended at a stone wall, but to his left was another pier-like structure. It wasn’t all that high up, but when he climbed up, the bars over the door to which it led remained shut.

Great. Now what? There didn’t seem to be anywhere else to go. He jumped back down, barely noticing the horned statues on either side of the pier. Between them, was one of those topless pyramid-like things he’d stepped on to activate a torch in the Deku Tree.

Curious, he stepped on it. The door opened. He took his foot off. The door shut again. Dang. Obviously, he’d have to put something on the switch to hold it down so he could access the door.

Navi had turned green and was bouncing up and down over the statue on his left. Link put his head to one side, giving the thing another look. It appeared to be chiseled from stone and had what could have been a shield of some kind across its chest area and was holding a short stone sword in one hand. It was about the same height as Link, but if it weighed a ton, that wouldn’t matter. Still…

With a shrug and a passing acknowledgement that Navi only turned that color when she was trying to make a point, he walked to the statue, grasped the square shield on either side, and pulled.

It moved. Delighted, Link pulled it forward until it was parallel with the switch, then tugged it sideways until it was resting squarely on top. The bars slid up and he stepped away from the statue. The door remained unblocked.

“Ha!” He climbed back onto the pier and went to the door, which opened for him immediately. Cautious, he headed inside.

The first thing he noticed was that he was in a passageway with another iron-clad door not too far ahead. The second thing was the presence of two more of the bat-like creatures, one on either wall between him and the door.

Thwack! Squeak! Thwack! Squeak! He took a deep breath and headed for the door. As he passed the fallen creatures, he gave them a quick glance to make sure they weren’t moving – getting bitten on the kneecap by a ticked-off bat wasn’t something he felt up to at the moment.

The metal door whooshed open, and he stepped through. Immediately, the door closed again, the familiar metal bars slamming down in front of it. Ho-hum. Not so ho-hum, however, was the thing running toward him.

He was in a room that looked as if the ground had been broken up by what he now knew was lava, making small land areas separated by rivers of it. In the middle was a larger pile of rock that went farther up than he had time to calculate.

A sudden, angry shriek made the boy spin about in surprise. A creature that looked like an obscenely large newt leaped across the crack between the section to Link’s right and the one he was on. What was really disturbing was that the lizard was running on its hind legs, was wearing some kind of short, leather-like breastplate, and had a long, sword-like dagger in one…hand? No, claw? Paw? There was no time to waste on that one, nor to wonder why this place was so infested with reptilian beings. The boy’s full attention was being demanded by his need to survive.

He ducked, the large Hylian shield acting almost like the shell of a tortoise that deflected the lizard-creature’s blade. As soon as it struck, it backed off, preparing to swing at him again.

Link used this moment to straighten and thrust at it with the point of his Sword. He felt it connect with the thing’s soft abdomen; it screamed at him and lashed out with its blade.

Ducking under the shield once more, the boy waited until it had backed off again, and this time swiped at one of its legs. The creature shrieked in agony and hopped away, heading this time for a different section to the left.

Before Link had time to wonder if it would be coming back any time soon, he saw that another one had appeared and joined the first. They waved their arms at each other for a second, and the new one charged ahead, taking its comrade’s place.

They went through the same dance, but this time, Link suffered a rather deep slash across his chest – he’d stood up too quickly, and the thing was ready for him. It had possibly been watching and figured out the boy’s tactics.

With a grunt of pain, Link ducked again, this time waiting a little longer to stand straight and attack. He missed, tried a second thrust, and got cut again for his efforts. Not good. His arm was getting tired, his chest hurt, and the heat was making him dizzy.

“Get away from it, Link! Find some fruit!”

Fruit? Here? Was she serious?

The original attack-lizard suddenly bounded back toward the boy as its partner went off somewhere else. Link must have wounded it more than he’d realized. He took a deep breath, allowing his fear to give fuel to his attack, and began a wild flurry of thrusts and parries the second the creature got within range. A moment later, with an ear-splitting scream, the thing clutched its midsection and tumbled to the ground, its blood seeping between the stones and evaporating almost immediately.

The other one returned.

“Dang.” Weary, Link decided to try something new. He reached into his satchel and took out a large Deku nut. When the lizard was only a few feet away, he slammed it into the ground at its feet.

It froze. Link was astonished. The thing had turned a weird bluish color and stopped moving, almost as if it had been turned to stone.

“Hit it, Link!”

He did. Over and over, until it began returning to mobility, but by then it was too injured to fight back. Within seconds, it was over, and it crumpled to the ground beside its companion.

It had become almost impossible for the boy to catch his breath. He was hurt, tired, hot, and thirsty.

“Over here, Link!”

He blinked, squinting, and saw that Navi had flown to the farthest section of ground near another door; this one had been covered by the metal bars as well, but now they were gone. Beside it was something Link couldn’t quite make out. He jumped over, almost missing the edge, and dragged himself to the spot where Navi was floating.

Pots. Clay pots. And?

“Break them, Link!”

It only took a half-hearted swing to do this, but when he did, he found several pieces of the heart-shaped fruit had been inside. Eagerly, he picked them up and ate them, and was immediately filled with renewed strength and energy. The cuts stopped oozing and his skin began to knit together almost instantly. He wasn’t as thirsty now either, but even the fruit couldn’t do anything about the heat or the rips in his tunic.

He went to the door, and when it opened, went through. He seriously doubted he’d find a nice, comfy bed here or a barrel of cool water…nope. A different kind of place, though. The light in this passageway wasn’t the fiery red of the last area, but a serene, restful blue. Strange. Maybe things wouldn’t be so awful here. Maybe – nah. Not likely. And in another minute, Link was going to find out exactly how right he was about that.

Chapter Sixteen

The pathway wound around to