The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Mini Dungeon 3 - Frostbar's Favor

            …and into the cave. It was dim on the inside, and wet. Not so much cold, certainly not in comparison to the snowy gales outside. Ice lined everything. Light reflected from somewhere further in the den, but from what, Link didn’t know. Bruce skidded in behind Link. He said, “Well…I was expecting something warmer.”

            “It’s really clever,” Freya said. “It’s a trap for prey. If something wanders in here, it would slip down that tunnel, and right into the den. It would have no chance once it got down there, or even smarter, the wolfos would have food for a nasty blizzard and not have to risk hunting.”

            “Then that would be the quickest route down to them,” Bruce said.

            “If you wanted to fall for the trap. There must be another route that the wolfos use to get down there,” Freya replied.

            “Do you not wait?”

            Yore flew in through the cave entrance. He landed on a stone and watched them.

            “We may be in a hurry, but not so much of a hurry that leaving your guide behind would be of any use.”

            There was a growl down the hall. Everyone froze as a shadow began to come up the slippery trail. Link slid his sword out, trying to make as little noise as possible. The blade came out without a sound.

            A white wolfos came around the corner. It walked on all fours, its yellow eyes standing out in the weak light. Snow whirled around its sides and it looked like a ghost from a distance. The wolfos raised its nose up, its mouth parted a little. The snowy swarm parted and the wolfos disappeared.

            Link turned, his sword parting the wolfos down the middle. The snow settled, and puff of smoke came up from the earth. Link shuffled the snow beneath his feet. Anywhere, one of those creatures could spring up and attack.

            Walking up to the edge of the tunnel, Link said, “The wolfos came up this way, which means this is the only way down. There must be something then that separates the trap and the den that the wolfos know about as a pack. But there’s only one way to find out what that is…”

            Bruce asked, “You don’t mean we have to just dive in there blindly? We’ve got nothing for grip. We’ll slide right down there.”

            “Yore could fly in.”

            “Then they would knew we’re here,” Link replied. “He’d bring them back to us as soon as he found out.”

            “Then we just chance it?” Bruce inquired.

            “There don’t seem to be many other options,” Link stated.

            Freya said, “I don’t know about you, but I can get down there without sliding. I could tell you which way to go.”

            “What if you run into a wolfos?” Bruce asked.

            The anouki confidently patted her antlers. “I think I’ve got it. Besides, I could just dodged them. Even the wolfos would slip, but I won’t.” The anouki walked up to the edge by Link. She said, “Just follow closely.”

            With that, Freya stepped onto the icy path. Her boots gripped to the ice and she just kept walking. Link and Bruce watched her go around a bend, before they decided to follow. Link stepped out onto the ice. Immediately, he felt his balance going, but he managed to hold onto his footing for a few steps. Brue toppled over almost as soon as he hit the ice.

            Bruce’s fall knocked Link off his feet. The knight slid on by and down the slope. Link kept his sword out and he followed suit down the slant. They caught up with Freya shortly after that. The anouki watched them go, before she skated down after them. The anouki passed Link and Bruce quickly. She would look down the forked tunnels, and then tell them which way to lean.

            After a bit of sliding, the three came out on a pile of snow. Link looked up cautiously, worried that they might have alerted something. Nothing moved. Ice crept down from the cave roof. Snow slid over the clear ice floor. Link pulled himself out of the snow pile. They were on a frozen lake.

            Freya jumped up out of the snow, landing lightly on the ice. She asked as she skated around the lake, “Should he cross it?”

            “I’m still awake, guys,” Bruce replied as he struggled out of the pile. “And I’m not that big, thank you.”

            Yore glided down to the tunnel.

            “This place has not seen the light of day in years, centuries even. This ice should be strong enough to hold up most anything.”

            “Then there is something that could break the ice?” Link asked.

            “Most definitely. Anything warmer than ourselves would melt it. The gorons probably would do some damage to it.”

            Something moved beneath their feet. It was a dark outline, and Link couldn’t tell what it was. Pairs of eyes would glance up at the surface, before going down deeper into the mountain lake.

            Freya inquired, “What’s down there?”

            “I dare not even guess what evil lurks down there. There are somethings even older than the evil we face now. Somethings that have endured time, and somethings left out of legend and tale. Somethings that even the present darkness would avoid.”

            Link looked down at the shapes once more, before looking out across the cave. Deep moans came from beneath him. He said, “We should move on.”

            Skidding across the ice, the threesome made their way deeper into the system. Eventually, they left the frozen lake behind, and everyone’s nerves eased off. The moaning left Link behind as they went. Endeavor’s words echoed in his mind as he wondered what could possibly live down there for so long in the dark and in the cold.

            They began to find wolfos in the halls. As they went, the more the wolfos became solid, and the less likely they were to disperse into snow. That didn’t make them any easier though. The less magical wolfos were tougher than the snowy ones. But they progressed anyway.

            Many of the wolfos would halt in front of Link, pace for a step, before continuing to attack. It was odd, because out in the snow, none of them had hesitated to attack him, and they still didn’t hesitate to attack Bruce or Freya. Link was still adjusting to the effects of this twilight magic, but he wasn't sure if he would get the hang of it entirely. Nor did he really want to.

            The snow piled up as they got deeper into the cave. Overhead, they heard wind whistling down through the tunnel from the entrance. Animals complained and cried for help from some pit mixed with yelps of pain and injury. These animals were caught in a trap, and Link doubted many of them would get out.

            Wolfos loamed around every corner now. They attacked all of them without hesitation. Yore drove off some when they began to circle. There was nothing advanced about the cave, though. No puzzles or gates. It was inhabited by wolfos, what did one expect? Its challenge came from the sheer numbers of those who dwelt within it.

            Eventually, after many hours of searching and fighting wolfos, they found themselves in the heart of the cave system. The snow lay in piles around the walls. Link got an uneasy feeling about it. Of course, after so many jumping snow wolves, that wasn’t really a surprise.

            A shadow loamed up out of the back of the cave they were in. The whole room shook from the huge step. Bruce sighed, raising his sword, “Are these things always so big?”

            They couldn’t even see it entirely, but Link knew it was big. He could sense it. This was the thing they had come to fight and this was the thing that would appease Frostbar. He gripped his sword a little tighter, not ready to let something get the best of him again. The shadow continued towards them…