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

“EVERYONE FEELS FAINT FROM HUNGER BECAUSE OF THE FOOD SHORTAGE IN THIS TOWN. WE ARE IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION!”

Extinction? How long had they been without, well, whatever it was they ate? “What, um, I’m so sorry to hear that. What do you usually eat here?” Small boys?

The Goron groaned, scratching himself a little harder. “IT’S ALL BECAUSE WE CAN’T ENTER OUR QUARRY, THE DODONGO CAVERN!” Now it began rubbing what Link deduced was its stomach. “WE GORONS LIVE ON A DIET OF ROCKS, YOU SEE.”

Link almost passed out with relief.  “Rocks,” he said faintly.

“AND THE MOST DELICIOUS AND NUTRITIOUS ROCKS AROUND HERE ARE FOUND IN DODONGO’S CAVERN. BUT THAT SEEMS LIKE ANCIENT HISTORY NOW…” It groaned again.

Unable to help himself, Link voiced  what he thought was the obvious solution. “But you’re surrounded by rocks here. It’s a – a rock cave, isn’t it?” Right. As opposed to a cave made of pollen.

“YOU WOULD THINK THAT WOULD BE TRUE, I SUPPOSE. BUT YOU SEE, WE HAVE BECOME SUCH GOURMETS, THAT WE CAN’T STAND TO EAT ROCKS FROM ANYWHERE ELSE.” It sighed. “I WANT TO EAT THE TOP-SIRLOIN ROCKS FROM DODONGO’S CAVERN!”

Okay, Link thought. Now you’re whining. Geez. “I, um, gee. I wish I could help.” He shrugged, powerless to do anything more than sympathize. Most of his snarky thoughts had been the result of an almost palpable relief at learning he wasn’t about to become this Goron’s lunch. In reality, he did feel bad about the creature’s very obvious discomfort. He knew what it was like to be hungry, even if those few times he’d experienced it were the result of poor planning on his part when he’d gone exploring. What long-term hunger was like, he couldn’t imagine, but knew it had to be highly unpleasant.

“I DO, TOO, MY FRIEND.” With that, the Goron plopped back down and curled up again, becoming once more a strange-looking speckled boulder.

Link walked away, staring around as he went, and discovered a number of doorways in the walls around him. Some of these were covered with woven cloths, others stood open, while still others had stone doors. He was curious about the cloth coverings – could rocks weave? Or perhaps they bartered with a race of beings who could.

At the very center of the cavern, near the ceiling and above the gigantic urn, was a cone-shaped platform. From what he could see, the only way to reach it was to walk across one of the thick ropes securing it to wooden projections coming from the side of the circular walkway. Why would they do that?

And who was Dodongo?

He came to an opening that wasn’t a door at all, but the entrance to a kind of stairwell. Now he knew how to get to the lower levels. The steps went straight down, stopping at a landing, then continued in a direction perpendicular to the first. After a second landing, the stairs ran parallel to the top flight. He realized upon reaching the bottom that this set of stairs had bypassed the second level of the village altogether. Interesting.

So now he was facing the massive urn-thing. On the walls were more of those crazy round flowers he’d seen growing in the stone tunnel in the Lost Woods. Which made him wonder…

“Link, look!”

He saw her fly off, whiz past the urn, and disappear around the other side. What the heck? He followed, and found her hovering over a carpet of some kind that had been placed in front of one of the stone-door openings. Woven into it was the Triforce symbol.

Since something interesting always happened when he played the lullaby, and since he couldn’t see any obvious way to open the door, he took out his ocarina and played…

With a rumbling whoosh, the door slid open. Of course. Mysterious, too, perhaps. He went in, followed a tunnel-like corridor, and came out into a pleasant room lit by large torches. Hangings on the walls depicted Goron-y things from what he could tell, and here and there were shelves with large pots and a table or two.

Straight ahead was a massive chair of some sort, but that wasn’t what made Link pause in surprise. No, it was the individual standing beside it, arms crossed, looking outraged.

Wow, Gorons have beards? What are they made of – moss? He wasn’t being sarcastic this time.

“WHO ARE YOU?” the Goron bellowed at him. “WHEN I HEARD THE SONG OF THE ROYAL FAMILY, I EXPECTED THEIR MESSENGER HAD ARRIVED!”

“I – ”

“BUT YOU! YOU’RE JUST A LITTLE KID!”

“Yes, but I – ”

“HAS DARUNIA, THE BIG BOSS OF THE GORONS, LOST SO MUCH STATUS THAT HE’S TREATED LIKE THIS BY HIS SWORN BROTHER, THE KING?”

How would I know? “I – ”

“NOW I’M REALLY ANGRY! GET OUT OF MY FACE!”

And I’m really confused. If I were in your face, that would mean you were chewing on me… “I – forgot what I was going to say. Sorry. Are you upset because you’re hungry?” For some reason, the furious Goron wasn’t frightening Link at all, despite his obvious ire. There was something kind in the creature’s eyes…

“WHAT’S THAT? ARE YOU ASKING ME WHY I’M IN SUCH A BAD MOOD RIGHT NOW?”

“I suppose so, Sir.”

“THEN I’LL TELL YOU! ANCIENT CREATURES HAVE INFESTED DODONGO’S CAVERN! WE’VE HAD A POOR HARVEST OF OUR SPECIAL CROP, THE BOMB FLOWERS! STARVATION BECAUSE OF THE ROCK SHORTAGE! BUT…” His shoulders sagged and he uncrossed his arms, shaking his head with a mournful look. “THIS IS A GORON PROBLEM. WE REALLY DON’T NEED ANY HELP FROM STRANGERS.” He started to turn away.

“Link, cheer him up!” Navi hissed into the boy’s ear.

“With what, Navi? I can’t remember any jokes right now.”

“With a song, Link! A happy song!”

A happy song. Well, the happiest song he knew was on the ocarina, and it was the one Saria had taught him. The Skull Kid seemed to like it, so maybe the Goron would, too. “All right.” He was still holding the little instrument, so he put it to his lips and began to play.

Darunia stopped, turning back. His eyes widened, his mouth dropped open, and for some reason began swinging his massive arms about, his head swaying from side to side, as he launched into the most bizarre version of dancing Link had ever seen.

The boy took a few steps back, but kept repeating the melody, figuring this rock-man might be a mite miffed if he stopped. Shouting and leaping, the Goron kept up the wild dance, his already wide grin growing and nearly splitting his face in half.

Several minutes of hooting and shouting later, Darunia stopped, his expression pretty much the opposite of what it had been when he’d first seen Link. Lowering the ocarina, the boy smiled.

“HEY! WHAT A NICE TUNE!”

Nice? From the way the creature had been cavorting about, Link was expecting an adjective  that was a bit more extreme than “nice.”

“JUST LIKE THAT – ” Darunia snapped his fingers, “ – MY DEPRESSION IS ALL GONE! SOMETHING JUST CAME OVER ME – I – I SUDDENLY WANTED TO DANCE LIKE CRAZY!” He cleared his throat, his countenance growing serious once more. “AS I STATED, I AM DARUNIA. I AM THE BIG BOSS OF THE GORONS. NOW. WAS THERE SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO ASK ME ABOUT?”

“Well, yes. You see, I’m on a quest to find the Spiritual Stone of Fire and the Blue St- ”

“WHAT?! YOU WANT THE SPIRITUAL STONE OF FIRE, TOO?!”

Uh-oh. It sounded like Ganondorf had already been there. And if the look on Darunia’s face was any indication, it hadn’t been a pleasant visit.

“SURELY YOU KNOW THAT THE STONE, ALSO KNOWN AS THE GORON RUBY, IS OUR RACE’S HIDDEN TREASURE!”

Link shook his head. “No, but I understand. My Sword was the hidden treasure of the Kokiri. Of course, it isn’t hidden any more, I guess.”

Narrowing his eyes, Darunia leaned forward, inspecting Link. “I SENSE YOU HAVE GOOD IN YOU, AND MIGHT EVEN BE SOMEONE I COULD TRUST WITH THE RUBY. BUT WAIT – I’M NOT JUST GOING TO GIVE IT TO YOU THAT EASILY. NO, MY BOY. IF YOU WANT IT SO BADLY…” He gave the boy a shrewd look, stroking his beard with two fingers that were each bigger than Link’s arms. “WHY DON’T YOU GO DESTROY THE MONSTERS INSIDE OF DODONGO’S CAVERN AND PROVE YOU’RE A REAL MAN, EH?”

A real man, Link repeated silently. I’m a little boy, in case you hadn’t noticed…

“THAT WAY,” the Goron continued, “EVERYBODY WILL BE HAPPY AGAIN!”

Yes, including these monsters that get to tear me apart and have me for supper…

“IF YOU DO IT, I WILL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT – EVEN THE SPIRITUAL STONE!”

Easy to promise that to some kid who’s about to get munched. “I, um, sure.”

“INDEED? WELL! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU, THEN. I’M NOT REALLY GIVING YOU THIS IN RETURN FOR ANYTHING, BUT TAKE IT ANYWAY.” He lumbered over to one of the chests near the wall, yanked it open, and reached inside. When he turned back, he thrust something toward Link.

The boy took it with a frown – it looked like some kind of metal wrist-band shaped vaguely like a crown, the symbol etched and enameled in red on one side the same he’d seen elsewhere in this village cave.

“IF YOU WEAR THIS,” Darunia told him, “EVEN A LITTLE FELLA LIKE YOU CAN PICK A BOMB FLOWER.”

Oh, good. You noticed my size. Wait – what’s… “What’s a bomb flower?”

“WHY, IT’S OUR CROP – YOU SEE THEM ALL OVER THE WALLS AND GROWING HERE AND HERE ON THE GROUND. WHEN YOU PULL ONE UP, IT BEGINS TO GLOW. PLACE IT NEXT TO SOME ROCKS YOU WANT TO BLOW UP,  OR MAYBE DO SOME EXCAVATING WITH IT. AFTER A FEW MOMENTS IT EXPLODES!”

So that’s what those plants were! And now he’d be able to pick them, apparently. He slid the metal cuff onto his wrist, not sure if it would be too large, but to his astonishment, it seemed to shrink the moment he slid his hand through, and fit itself securely over his wrist and part of his lower arm. Something told him it probably wouldn’t come off very easily, if at all, but he really didn’t care about that.

In fact, he felt something like a jolt of lightning rush up his arm a second later and gave Darunia a surprised look. The Goron laughed and told him to find some bomb flowers to pick so he could get used to his new strength.

Link nodded, thanked the huge creature, and went out. As he did, he thought he heard Darunia say something about a prophecy, but couldn’t be sure.

He climbed the stairs to the top, not wanting to pick any of the flowers he saw in the village because he didn’t believe the residents would appreciate some kid running around blowing holes in their walls. Maybe he’d find some outside. With this in mind, he headed back into the tunnel that led to the mountain pass. He’d noticed a conspicuous lack of Stalchildren up here, and it occurred to him that they might not be able to survive on mountains for some reason.

It was full dark when he got outside, but that didn’t bother him. He was getting tired, though, and considered going back into Kakariko Village to see if someone would give him a bed for the night.

“Listen! What’s over there, Link?”

Navi had been silent for so long, he’d almost forgotten she was there. “Huh?”

The fairy flitted away, heading for the opening Link hadn’t bothered to explore earlier.

“Okay…” Following, he found himself in a small fenced area that ended at another cliff. In the center of an area with its own little fence on three sides, was one of the bomb flowers. And sitting in front of this was what he now recognized as a Goron in a state of repose.

Link tried to tiptoe past the creature, but as soon as he got within a few feet of it, the Goron groaned and stood up, blinking