The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Dungeon Chapter 26 - Turning Around

            ….into the armory. The snow outside didn’t follow them inside, and once more, Link found a room coated with ice. Freezards skated across the room, aided by a lone bugler hovering above the huge furnace that allowed the room to double as a smithy in a better climate.

            Link started to switch back to his hammer, but changed his mind and kept the Sage’s Rod out. He held the rod up and aimed it at the bugler. He fired once, only to have the icy spirit dodge the attack. Link lowered the staff, wondering how this particular bugler could be so much better at defense than its companions had been.

            “Over here!” Bruce shouted. Link looked at the knight. He was standing next to a cannon. “This looks useful.”

            “So long as you don't take out the wall, I would agree,” Frostbar commented.

            Bruce grabbed the cannon’s handles. “Just get to the bellows. I’ll take this guy out.” He ran his armor against the side of the cannon, creating a spark. An iron ball flew out, taking out several freezards. They were quickly replaced though, and Bruce raced to reload the cannon.

            Leaving Bruce in charge of the cannon, Link started to dodge through the skating sentient ice cubes. He switched back to his hammer, taking out anything that got too close to him. With the bugler still floating above him though, his efforts wouldn’t do much good. He sent a rock wall up behind him as he reached the bellows.

            The bugler began to descend towards Link, realizing how Link was to the heat source of the room. Link raised his shield, only to hear a heavy thud above him. Something bounced off his shield, shocking his arm. Link took a step back as a cannon ball dropped to the ground where his feet had just been.

            His stone wall collapsed as Bruce managed to reload the cannon again and fire. Link hit the floor as another cannon ball came barreling towards him. The cannon ball had successfully taken out most of the freezards in the room, before it planted itself firmly into the opening of the forge, sparks flying and lighting up the sodden logs. Link pulled himself back up and began working the forge. Air rushed in beneath the wood and coal. The fire began to grow and climb up and out of the massive furnace.

            Ice shattered behind Link. The ice coating began to melt, and color returned to the room. The remains of the cannon ball began to roll out of the furnace, before a partially melted hunk of metal landed on the ground. Steam rose up off the object as the sphere cracked in half. A key remained as the rest of the ball melted into the floor. The hot metal began to run down the floor with the rest of the water created by the melting ice.

            “Looks like we have a way back into the other half of the mansion,” Link said as he picked up the key.

            Frostbar replied, “Then lets get going before this storm lasts much longer.”

            With the key on the top of his pouch, Link pulled his hammer back out and started back towards the entrance off the mansion. With the heat coursing through the building, they didn’t meet much on their return through the silent halls. A few ice keeses, but there was no ice for freezards and no cold window for buglers to return through. Wind hollowed through the mansion though, putting Link on edge as they got closer to the mansion's parlor.

            Ice crept out from the remaining locked door. Link took a step back as the ice began to engulf the floor outside the door. Eventually it stopped halfway through the room. Link looked back up at the door, having taken several steps back to avoid being engulfed by the crawling frost as well. Something was sitting on the other side of that door, and it did not want them to proceed.

            “This would be the gallery,” Frostbar stated. “Other than the heater on the far side of this room, there’s nothing stopping them from expanding their reach. Seems like a poor idea to me. I would put a guard's station here, instead of defenseless artwork.” The yeti shook his head. Yore dove down beside them.

            “I would not be surprised if this is also where the key to that great door is. Not many other places to keep it and it seems the strongest threat after the frozen serpent we already faced will be behind this door.”

            Link walked up to the door and put the key into it. He pulled out his bomb bag and slid into the room. With a bomb already lit, Link tossed his small explosive blindly into the room. He heard ice shatter, and a few keeses screech. He had hit something at least.

            Drawing the Master Sword, Link walked further into the room. The chill was sinking in even more as the door shut behind them. He looked up and saw two buglers hovering over the room. Their frosty breath was sending the room deeper and deeper into an icebox. Freya shivered behind them. “They’re going to freeze us to death.”

            That seemed generally like the plan. And by the looks of it, they looked just as agility as the last bugler Link had encountered. Link pulled out his slingshot, launching a seed at one of the buglers. It dodged, of course. He had no choice but to use ranged attacks, now he just need to figure out how to hit them.

            Not wanting to waste too many of his seeds, which weren’t overly abundant here, Link switched to the Sage’s Rod. He figured he had more hope with that weapon and its near infinite ammunition than his slingshot.

            Bruce kept himself away from the battle. His weapons would only get him frozen by these enemies. Frostbar advanced, taking out several freezards and keeses in one swing with his massive arms. Freya weaved in and out of his feet, taking out anything that got too close to her with her short, but dangerous, antlers.

            With the Sage’s Rod extended to its full length, Link aimed at the buglers. He tried to line them both up, so one wouldn’t be able to see his shot. Out of sight of one, Link launched a fireball at the buglers. Like he had expected, the one closer to him dodged. The second one, not being able to see the attack, was slammed with the powerful blue flame. It flew backwards, before evaporating into a puff of steam.

            One of the buglers gone, the approaching freeze began to slow down. The remaining bugler, infuriated, began to bellow icy wind from its mouth. The freeze began to expand rapidly again, the layer of ice thickening beneath their feet. It even caught a few of the freezards off guard.

            Link glanced down the hall where he saw the outline of an archway. Behind it was another large furnace, which Link figured would turn the tables back in their favor. Still holding the Sage’s Rod, Link raced towards the furnace…