Chapter Twelve: Heated Words

After eating, Mori flew anxiously behind Lila as she stormed down the lonely mountain path. He couldn't get a single word through her ranting.

"I can't believe that jerk! Why did he set me up like that? Did he seriously think he could fight Volvagia? He's an idiot if he does! And he has the nerve to call me weak. I was sent on this mission by Lady Ganondra herself! I am not weak!"

"You shouldn't say that so loud."

"If I were weak she wouldn't send me on these quests, you said so yourself. I had to work hard to get her approval. At least, I think I have her approval. She doesn't really tell me about her plans."

"Seriously, you should shut up."

"I don't even know what she wants with this stuff. What good will new chainmail and gauntlets do? They don't even fit her! Unless they're for me. Why does she want me to get this stuff? Maybe something big's going to happen."

"Lila, shut up!"

"That must be it. She must have a plan. I wonder what my role will be—"

Mori flew right in Lila's face. "Stop talking."

Lila blinked and stopped in her tracks. "What—?"

"You can't go mouthing off about the chieftess's plans, even if you don't know what they are," Mori chided in a hushed tone. Lila had never seen him so angry. "Anyone can hear you out here."

"We'd see anyone—"

"We have passed several bushes and crevices where someone can hide. Now, will you be quiet?"

Lila's heart pounded. How could she have not noticed? It was the same situation as last night, only this time she was the one revealing secrets. She looked around, searching for anyone. She didn't see people, but the shadows seemed to jump out at her. She started running down the mountain.

How can this day get any worse?

Finally, she made it to the bottom of the path. People were milling about the town, everything so peaceful and normal. The valley floor was filled with laughing and talking. The sight made Lila sick.

"Let's get back to the caves," she muttered to Mori. She wasn't going to take any more chances.

"I couldn't agree with you more."

Lila kept her head down, but her eyes darted around, keeping a look out for anyone suspicious. No one paid her any attention, even when she passed Ruggy's shack. When she got to the entrance to the mines, she leaned against the rock and sighed in relief.

"Keep moving," Mori urged. "We should get into the secret tunnel."

Lila nodded and followed him. She looked around one more time to make sure she wasn't followed then slipped into the darkness. Lila lit her torch and followed the path. This time she kept her eyes open for any mythical bomb flowers. She really hoped Zale was right about them because she wouldn't be able to continue if she didn't find any.

It wasn't long before she came to the crater left from her first explosion. There she turned right and entered the lava room. Monsters of all shapes and sizes had crawled their way back into the chamber. One of them noticed her walk in and charged.

Lila had her sword out in an instant. The two-legged creature raised its club, and she knocked it out of its hands. As it looked for its weapon, she slashed its head off. It fell into a pile of dust, alerting one of its buddies. This one blew a horn, and two new ones came to attack her.

"Watch out! He's calling for backup!"

"Yeah, I got it," Lila muttered. As the two bokoblins charged, she ran at them, but only to get close to the one with the horn. At the last second, she changed direction, slashing at one of the bokoblins in her wake. She didn't bother to see if the monster disappeared and instead went right for the ally caller. The monster jumped and ran in the other direction on its stubby legs. It was no match for Lila's momentum, and it also fell to her blade.

Adopting a defensive stance, she turned around to the last creature. It was charging at her with sword raised, leaving room for an easy attack. Lila shifted her feet slightly so she could swing her sword into the monster's side. The momentum of the beast's charge caused Lila's sword to slice it nearly in half. Like the others, it disappeared in a puff of dust.

Lila let the tip of her sword drop as she wiped the sweat from her forehead with her other hand. Now that it was safe, Mori chose to join her.

"Nice job," he chirped.

"No thanks to you."

"I warned you about the horn."

"I knew about it, weirdo. Not a help." She continued down the path, careful to avoid the lava flowing on her right. "But it's no different than any of my fights. You like to spout out useless facts I already know." The two of them arrived at a wall that looked as though it had been created by a rock slide. "Now the question is, which way do we go?"

"You seem to know everything. Why don't you figure it out?" Mori teased.

"Fine. I will." Lila promptly turned around to look for some clues. She noticed a few islands in the river of lava. By jumping from island to island, Lila could reach a protuberance that looked to have another pathway.

"That looks promising," she pointed out. Without waiting for a reply from the keesee, Lila carried out her plan. With a running start, she was able to jump on the islands to her destination. Perfect. Mori followed lazily.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

As Lila landed on the island, her foot sunk a little into a hole, and a door opened up in the wall. Inside the wall was a bomb, resting on a pile of leaves.

"I just confirmed the existence of Bomb Flowers," Lila gloated. She walked toward the flower, but the hole closed as soon as her foot left the hole. She ran forward, but it was too late. "Dang it! How am I supposed to get the bomb?"

"Maybe you should put a rock on the button," Mori suggested.

Lila got an idea. "Mori, come here for a second."

"What?" he asked without moving.

"Come look at the glyphs on this wall."

Slowly the keesee moved forward. "What's so special about glyphs?"

Before Mori could react, Lila snatched him out of the air and shoved him into the hole. He wriggled and shouted, "Hey!" but couldn't escape.

"Thanks for finally helping me," Lila teased, and then she snatched the bomb off from its bed of leaves. She stashed it in her bomb bag and walked back to Mori. Behind her, she heard a little sound and looked back to see the bomb flower growing another bomb.

"Hey, that's cool!" she said and took the new bomb as well.

"Are you going to let me out?" Mori complained.

"When my bag is full. Don't worry, it only holds ten bombs."

Mori grumbled incoherently just for the sake of grumbling. Once Lila had all ten bombs loaded in her pack, she finally released her companion. She then hopped back across the lava and to the weak-looking wall. This time Mori didn't follow her all the way.

In excited anticipation, Lila placed one of her new bombs in front of the wall and then lit it. She hurried back out of the blast radius and waited for the explosion.

There was a loud noise, a bright flash, and lots of dust. Once it cleared, Lila finally had a way to progress through the dungeon.

"Yes!" she cheered. "Let's keep moving."

"Alright, let's go then."

Lila peered through the opening to find more lava. To the right, the river of lava fell into a chasm and continued throughout the room. Islands stood much higher than in the previous room, and a large bridge was suspended above her about one floor up.

"Which way next?" Lila asked.

"Up."

"How?"

"You'll have to explore a little more, won't you."

Lila sighed, tired of arguing with Mori. "Okay, fine. Let's start this way."