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

It explained that it was experimenting with their crop, and had been growing a large flower outside to see how well it did.

“That one, yes?” Link pointed.

“Yes – and I see you have a Goron Bracelet. Go ahead and see if you can pull up the flower.”

“But aren’t you trying to grow it?”

The Goron chuckled. “Looks like you’ve never picked one before. As soon as you do, another grows in its place!”

“Oh.” He was about to try pulling it up when he realized something – the Goron’s voice wasn’t booming. He looked up at it in surprise. “Why aren’t you as loud as the others?”

“You think we’re loud?”

“Yes. Don’t you?”

“Not really. But when we’re outside, we whisper so we don’t disturb the birds and such.”

“You’re whispering?”

“Of course. Now let’s see if you can pick that flower.”

Right. Sure. Pick the flower. He went to it, bent down, and place his hands on its round sides. It didn’t feel much like a flower, he thought, and tugged. With a small popping sound, it came free, and Link laughed with delight. He’d actually picked one of them!

A second later, the laugh turned into a gasp as the globe began to pulse orange and heat emanated to its surface from deep inside. “Uh-oh.”

“You’d better throw that away somewhere,” the Goron advised unnecessarily.

Link looked around quickly, trying to find the best place to toss it. If it really exploded like Darunia said, it might cause an avalanche (Frega used to talk about those) that would damage Kakariko Village.

The pulses grew quicker until it was strobing almost too fast to see. Desperate, Link went to the edge of the cliff on the other side of the smaller fencing, and tossed it over the edge.

The explosion that ensued was much noisier than the boy had anticipated. In fact, it sounded like a great deal of material was still hitting the ground long after the explosion itself had faded. He looked over the edge to see what had been hit by the flower and made out a pile of stony rubble far below illuminated by the light of a full moon. The Goron came to stand beside him, also looking down.

“Oh! How smart you are!” the large being exclaimed. “I don’t know why I never thought of that!”

Thought of what? “Um, what?”

“Now the Dodongo Cavern is unblocked and we can eat again!”

Ah – it must have blown up that huge boulder. “What about the monsters inside?” Or the Goron sitting in front of the cavern? Uh-oh.

The Goron’s glee faded. “Oh, yes. Those. Can you destroy them?”

Link was genuinely confused by this request. He was ten years old, and what – four feet tall? The Gorons, on the other hand, were massive and seemed to be made of rock. Why couldn’t they go fight whatever was in the cavern themselves? Darunia certainly seemed brave and strong enough.

As if it had heard and understood the boy’s thoughts, the Goron  said, “We used to be a race of warriors. We helped the King of Hyrule in the past to defeat his enemies. But something has happened. When that evil man from the desert came, he cast a spell or something on all who could be a threat to him, and now…now we starve, now we are weak, now we do not have the will to fight. Can you help us, shield-bearer?”

Ah, so that was it! Because he had a shield and a sword, they must have assumed he was some kind of warrior himself. Link stared up at the Goron, not sure what to say. On the one hand, he felt these creatures deserved honesty from him, to be told he was only a child of the forest who was new to this world of enemies and danger. On the other hand, he had fought and defeated the terrifying Gohma and a bunch of other deadly things…

The Goron was giving him a hopeful look, and Link heard himself say, “I can try. I promise.” Wait – did I just say that? Aw, heck.

“Thank you! What is your name, friend?”

“Link.”

“You will be remembered for this, Link! Thank you!”

With a weak smile, the boy nodded – remembered? For what? Getting himself killed? Sheesh. “Guess I’d better get going, then, yes?”

“Good-bye, Link! The Goron people are in your debt!”

Not yet, you aren’t, he thought, glum. The moon had only moved a little, and he figured he had at least a couple of hours in which to sleep before the sun came up. With a wave, he left the Goron to guard the new flower that had sprouted up moments after the other had been picked.

“What are you going to do, Link?”

“Sleep, Navi. And get something to eat. Then, in the morning, I’ll have some breakfast if I can, and...Yeah. I’ll go into this cavern of theirs and see if I can survive long enough to help them.”

Had Link been able to see Navi’s features, he would have caught a look of pride shining in her eyes. “Good thinking! Let’s go!”

As it turned out, Link had decided not to wake anyone up in the middle of the night to ask for somewhere to rest, so he’d gone into the mill for warmth and curled up in a corner. The crowing of cuccoos had wakened him a few hours later, and without taking time to check further into the mill’s interior, he’d gone out and knocked on Anju’s door.

She’d been very kind, giving him a hearty breakfast and wishing him well in his quest when he left. When he approached the guard at the gate to the mountain pass several minutes later, the man greeted him with a friendly smile.

“Glad to see you survived! I wasn’t on duty when you came down – the other guard told me you’d made it, though.”

“Oh.” He hadn’t really noticed, not that he would have been able to discern the other man’s features in the dark anyway. “Thanks.”

“Hey, you going to Hyrule Town today, by any chance?”

Yes. I though I’d try to get there by way of this mountain… “Not really.”

“Aw, too bad. I was hoping you could check out the Happy Mask Shop for me.”

Feeling ashamed for thinking crabby thoughts, he looked down, frowning. He honestly wasn’t in any hurry to deal with whatever was big and bad enough to frighten huge people made of rock, and the man seemed to want to do something nice for his child… “I suppose I could go.”

“Really? You’d do that? Wow, what a great kid you are! I’ll pay you back when you bring me the mask – we don’t get our pay until lunchtime around here, or I’d give you the rupees for it now.”

Link couldn’t imagine something like a mask costing more rupees than he had at the moment, which was more than he’d collected in his whole life. The spider-cursed family had given him an adult-sized wallet that could hold up to two hundred green rupees, and the thing was full. “It’s not a problem. I’ll go now.”

Not until he was out of the village and halfway down the mountainside stairs did Navi finally speak. “You promised the Gorons you’d go into the cavern, Link.”

“I know, Navi. I plan to keep that promise.”

She uttered a tiny sigh and said nothing else about it. The boy appreciated this, not being at all in the mood for getting nagged all the way to Hyrule Castle Town.

It was midday by the time they crossed the drawbridge; wasting no time in the storage building – Link wasn’t even sure the same guard would be there – he headed straight for the shop at the far end of the Town’s large square. It was easy to recognize as a mask shop because the entire front of it was shaped, well, like a mask.

A man stood behind the counter, who greeted Link with a grin. Behind him was a wall of shelves. Odd, the boy thought, that only one mask was on it, sitting alone amid a lot of nothing.

“Hyeee! Welcome to the Happy Mask Shop!” The man’s smile barely moved out of place. “We deal in masks that bring happiness to everyone!”

“Thank you.” Link gave him a nod and began to study a board nearby on which mask prices had been listed. He studied it for a while, trying to make out its meaning, and finally concluded that the masks weren’t really for sale. Or some such thing. What he couldn’t understand was the why or how of it.

Even less logical to him was that there was only the one mask to choose from. Perhaps others had already taken the rest. He went to the counter, biting his lip, and stared at the mask with a frown. He pointed at it. “What do you call that?”

“A Keaton Mask. It’s very special and extremely popular at the moment.” Grin.

“And I pay you to take it?”

“Not exactly. How would you like to be a happiness salesman?”

“Huh?”

“I’ll lend you a mask, you see. Then you sell the mask and make that person very happy. Then you bring the money back here and make me very happy.” Grin.

Sounded like an awful lot of extra work…

“If you want to read the fine print, take a look at the sign right over there.” Grin.

Was the man blind? What did he think Link had been doing a few seconds ago? “I did, sir, but I didn’t understand much of it.”

“Ah. Well, the important thing to know is that after you’ve sold all the masks, you will become happy yourself!” Bigger grin.

“Wait – what do you mean ‘all’ the masks? There’s only one.”

“Yes. There is. Right now. Have faith, boy.” Massive, scary grin.

“S-sure. Er, how much is that one?” He pointed to the Keaton mask again. This guy would make an interest Stalchild.

“Ten rupees!”

Whoopee! “Okay.”

The man took down the mask and handed it over, reminding Link that he didn’t need to pay him until the mask had been sold to to someone else. “Why, you can even wear it yourself until then, and show it off!” The grin was beginning to look painful. “You’ll be a popular guy with it on!”

Yeah, that’s what I want to do…Link thanked the man and left as quickly as he could without losing all sense of dignity.

“We should really go back to the mountain, Link.”

“Yes, Navi. I wonder if the guy has fairy-sized masks.”

“You’re very strange sometimes, Link.”

The boy controlled a snicker and headed back to the drawbridge.

By the time they reached the guard, he was getting ready to end his shift and asked Link if he’d passed his replacement on his way there.

“I didn’t pass anyone. Here.” He took out the mask. “The guy in the shop says it’s ten rupees. Is that okay?”

“You got it! Guess that really does make you a hero, wha-ha-ha! Here.” He reached into a pouch under his breastplate and dumped a handful of green rupees into Link’s hand. “Is that enough?”

Link counted them. “Actually, it’s too much. You gave me fifteen.”

The man laughed and put the mask on. “Keep the change, kid! You earned it!” He chuckled, his voice slightly muffled by the fox face covering