Chapter 12
Beyond the Throne
At the very first, Link thought they had made a mistake.
Once his eyes adjusted to the soft torchlight though, he saw that, though still standing in the throne room, its paint was fresh, its walls smooth and flawless. The sconces housing the torches gleamed with new gold. Beneath their feet lay a new rug, the Triforce knit with brilliant gold threads into its dark fibers.
“Wow,” Midna said, still holding his hand tight. A shiver rippled from her body and into his. “So...this is really it? The Hyrule of old, where it all began....”
Link nodded, almost mechanically. It truly seemed bizarre, surreal even. Did they really stand so far back in time, in a place so perfectly preserved...?
“So, Hero, about that volcano, eh?” Midna piped, trying to sound her normal, quippish, all-important-business self.
Link didn’t need to wonder about that detail. He and Sarita had retold that part of the tale often enough for its every re-telling to be etched perfectly in his memory. With a smile, he led Midna over to one side of the throne and began pushing.
After gazing at him curiously a brief moment, she understood and helped push. Soon, the throne began to budge, gradually at first—after all, it had been stuck that way a long, long time...or had it? Traveling through time certainly baffled the mind....
At any rate, the throne soon inched along a bit more easily until, at the last, they’d scrolled it aside to reveal a doorway big enough for them to squeeze through. A blast of heat stifled them, nearly knocking their breath away. As Link looked down though, he noticed something else—time had preserved the red tunic which had protected the first Link from intense heat, and now, he wore it himself! Glancing over, he noted Midna fingering a ruby necklace around her neck, certainly meant to protect in the same way.
“Well,” she smiled, eyes gleaming up at him, “if this is the compensation for a few hours of time-traveling, I’ll have to make a hobby of it once we’re done with this whole quest!”
Link smiled, shaking his head. He slipped through the doorway, and she followed along.
They had entered a dark tunnel of sorts, very dimly lit by a reddish tint shining from beyond its exit.
The tunnel widened, and the reddish light increased. Then, they emerged into the remains of what Link recognized as the ancient Fire Temple.
They stood inside a great volcano, atop a cliff overlooking its boiling depths below. Cliffs ringed the whole area, and before them, a stone bridge spanned across to a rocky plateau, the only way forward. Midna and Link looked at each other and took a deep breath before venturing forward, Link now truly grateful that Sarita did not follow them to such a place. She would have been terrified upon catching the first whiff of smoke, let alone witnessing so much flaming lava below.
Passing across the bridge and through the door, they were met with a solitary square opening in the floor and a ladder reaching down into immeasurable depths. Again, the only way forward. Link had a fleeting desire to motion Midna to go first, but that kind of chivalry was not warranted in such a dangerous place. Taking the plunge, he placed his feet and hands on the ladder and began the descent, Midna following not far behind.
The climb lasted for a good several minutes, and the further they descended, the more ardently Link’s heart pounded, for he knew they delved right into the very heart of the volcano. Indeed, when they finally stepped down onto solid ground and passed through another small door, they had entered the volcano’s innermost chambers, a moat of boiling lava surrounding them almost entirely.
Steep cliffs littered with sharp precipices encased the lava moat; there was no escaping this place or time until their mission was completed—or until death met them, Link thought with a shiver.
Their eyes scaled the towering cliffs encircling them. The cliffs were littered with jutting crags as well as a strange sort of plant; it was black and bulbous with little green leaves, and Link remembered the bomb flowers of which the Gorons spoke, their “special crop”.
Link could barely make out a round, black shape high above and beyond the curling smoke—the sky, their one chance for freedom, save the doors running about the perimeter of the room, including that they’d just entered. Small bridges arched from the doorways to the centermost platform which was cracked in a few places from old age and wearing.
Link and Midna took a few steps forward—
And jumped at the chorus of booms, Midna grabbing Link’s arm tightly. Only when Link’s heart, having jumped clear out of his chest, returned to its proper place did he realize—all the doors had just slammed shut, with no way of reopening. The noise echoed faintly, taunting their fear.
Link and Midna stood close together, examining the cavern half in curiosity, a greater half in fear and caution. Link’s heart pounded, and he almost imagined hearing Midna’s pound in a steady rhythm matching the constant boil, pop, pop of the lava pits. Up and up the cliffs towered, seeming to grow even as they stood watching.
The heat felt abruptly stifling, despite the protective tunic and necklace. Though unharmed, they were still forced to gulp down great gusts of the hot stuff, and that mingled with new fear made Link’s vision blur unsteadily; his head reeled dizzily.
The next moment though, it was forced back into full focus as, with an intense boom, something erupted from the lava moat. Midna ducked under her cloak as bits of fiery rock and lava sprayed in a glowing shower. Link side-stepped then tumbled from harm’s way. Then, looking up, he quickly scrambled to his feet to face the creature now snaking through the sky.
A long, serpent-like creature, scales glistening the same alternating red and yellow iridescent hues as the pools of lava from which it had emerged. Though bearing no wings, it glided through the air, the tip of its tail glowing a vivid crimson. It was a dragon, the Codiya of which the Gorons spoke.
The dragon slinked down to the ground to rest on four, squat arms, releasing a mighty shriek and a stream of fire which Midna managed to just dive under. Link grabbed her, roughly throwing her behind the shield of a boulder. He looked back to make sure she was okay, briefly apologizing with his eyes for being so harsh. Then, he turned his attentions to his new rival.
For a while, Link’s was a game of dodging artfully-aimed flames. Midna drew her small bow and shot arrows at the creature, possibly aiming for the eyes or any other spot she might consider a weak point. However, after several grazed Link’s sleeves, narrowly missing flesh, she ceased fire. He moved around too much for her to safely shoot, and he was too focused dodging embers, claws, teeth, and tail without worrying about arrows too.
While scrambling about, Link tried to surmise a plan, though thinking was difficult when constantly tumbling, diving, and leaping from certain death’s way, bumping along, grazing skin, twisting a muscle here and there, however slightly. All these things slowed him down in ways he really couldn’t afford, however briefly; as time passed, he escaped more and more narrowly....
His one coherent thought was that, according to the Gorons, he was meant to tame Codiya. Which seemed to imply, more or less, that he was not to kill the creature. That was no problem—he didn’t even know how to stun it. But then, how even to stun it? How to control such a massive, powerful creature—?
“Link!” shrieked Midna. “The tail!”
Link dove down, flattening himself as the tail swept in a low arc at him. Then, glancing up, he thought:
The tail.
Its tip glowed much more faintly than it did when the creature first rose from the lava. It might be a clue. In the stories of old, the Hero focused mainly on discovering his foe’s weak point and the tool needed to conquer. After that, the rest fell to skill and speed.
Link made a quick mental inventory. He could try his sword, of course, but the way the dragon constantly flicked his tail made hitting it impossible. How else could he bring the tail to him or bring himself to the tail—?
Scrambling to unlatch the hookshot from his belt, he rolled as the drago
n’s vicious claws swiped down at him. Then, sprawled on his back, he aimed at the tail. It waved back and forth in a steady motion, but if he could time it just right....
The coil sprang, the hook released, grabbing hold of the tail. The chain retracted, and Link along with it. He hung to the dragon’s tail by the hookshot. Before he could imagine what next to do, the dragon began flailing its tail wildly, screeching in rage.
Link looked at the bit of tail the hookshot clung to while clinging on for dear life himself. He frowned; the tail was entirely protected by steely plates. The hookshot held fast but didn’t seem to do any damage—
“Link!”
With a jerk, the dragon flung him and the hookshot through the air. He landed with a hard thud, skidding across the rough rocks and off the edge of the precipice—
Midna caught his hand, yanking him and the hookshot up.
Though stunned, a sticky wetness stuck to the side of his head which he could only guess was blood. Link stumbled towards the dragon, hookshot gripped firmly, shaking his head in an attempt to clear his wavering vision.
“Link!” Midna raced after, grabbing his arm to hold him back. “You can’t—you’ll be killed—come here, you fool!”
Link blinked, washing away the blur, and looked up into her eyes. For the first time, real, unbridled, unhidden fear shone there vividly. His heart melted for a moment. Then, he hardened it, necessarily, granting her a solemn look. If he did nothing, they would both die. Though her eyes glimmered with deep worry, she nodded understanding.
All the same, as he rushed after the Codiya, she followed. He would have to figure things out quickly—he had neither strength nor foresight left to both take down a dragon and keep Midna from harm.
Leaping to the side as one of the dragon’s hooked claws swung at him, Midna doing the same, Link lined the hookshot up once more with the creature’s tail, a ridiculous new plan surging through his head. Perhaps it was truly crazy, perhaps he was just delirious by now. There was no time to wonder though. Pulling the trigger, the hooked claw of the hookshot sped forth.
The hookshot latched onto the Codiya’s tail, and as the spring retracted, Link swung himself through the air in a wide arc, landing hard, uncomfortably, but astride the beast’s scaly back. Codiya released a loud screech of disdain but then fell silent and still. The next moment, he began coughing violently, and his back arched. Link was forced to dig his legs into the rough scales to keep hold. He feared he’d somehow managed to kill the poor creature; perhaps his tail contained some important life force.
But then, something bright green and shimmering spewed from the creature’s mouth, landing in the hands of Midna who stared in surprise, then grimaced.
“Okay, so that’s just nasty and not at all as epic as they make it out in the legends....”
All the same, Midna held the gold-gilded emerald, the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, in her hands. After admiring its sparkling beauty, she carefully slipped it into the folds of her cloak.
With a grin, Link extended a hand, bidding her join him atop the Codiya. The only way out now was surely up, as none of the doors had reopened. Midna reached for his hand—
And was knocked off her feet by an abrupt jerk. She glanced about the volcano, then at Link in concern—
The quake began again and did not stop. The whole place shook frantically;, bits of fiery rock crumbled from above, creating a blinding cloud of ash. Lava in the surrounding pools began to bubble ominously.
“The volcano is going to blow!” Midna shouted, voice quavering with panic as flaming stones rained down on all sides. They landed with exploding booms, spraying dust, searing shards, and embers everywhere. Link winced as they charred his skin but didn’t move from his position atop Codiya. Midna made no move to hop on, not even when Link cast her an imploring look.
“What for?” she cried. “How does climbing atop a mutant, flightless lizard help me? Of all the dragons, you would have to tame the wingless kind—”
In a moment that was swifter than a flash of lightning, he watched the fiery boulder rush at her; he stretched forth a hand as if he could catch her or cast her aside with a magic flick of his wrist—
Midna looked up and barely released half a scream before her world blackened.