THE MAST of The Shrewd Scout swayed back and forth in the cool night air. Link tried with all his hardest not to think about the height, but he would gladly embrace the danger in pursuit of science!
The increased height of the crow's nest gave him a clear vantage point to be able to see. His view of the sky was completely unobstructed, even more than at the lookout tower on Outset.
He held Aryll's telescope tightly. He felt like if he got too close to the edge it would jump out of his hands spontaneously. It was all he had left of...
He extinguished the thought before it seared his emotions.
Link had decided not to take The Stargazer's Guide with him for fear that it would be too difficult to climb, though he had a hard enough time even without it. The swaying of the ship made climbing the rigging very different than the rope ladder at Outset.
He resumed his studies of Din's Fire. Link theorized that perhaps there was a connection between it and the Celestial River. The Celestial River was a very bright stream of stars, with much of the faded diffused light that was reminiscent of Din's Fire.
After studying the Celestial River at length, however, he determined that Din's Fire was different. The faded light in the Celestial River was simply the glare from all the clustered stars. Din's Fire on the other hand, was far off by itself.
Though he was higher up than usual, the moon was brighter tonight, and lessened the light of the stars.
He slid the telescope in his belt.
He could climb back down.
Or...
Link dropped down into sleep. He may have one more night before they reached their destination. He had one more night...
* * * *
Link slept soundly, until of course, Tetra gave him a swift kick in the gut.
"Augh!"
Tetra yanked him up to his feet.
"What," Link spat out, "in the name of all that is good on the Great Sea... was that for?!"
"It was effective wasn't it?" Tetra said. "We're here."
"Okay," Link groaned, his stomach aching. They'd arrived quicker than he'd expected. Link looked over the dark ocean. It was still night-time.
A worn, ruined, stone fortress stood out of the water, light from within its walls draped against the cobbled towers.
It was so big! How was he ever going to find Aryll in that labyrinth?
"C'mon," Tetra said, climbing down from the lookout.
He followed her down the rigging, as scrambled down it with well-honed skill. Link was... less skillful.
Tetra ran up to the ship's wheel, where Nudge was carefully guiding the ship.
"So," Tetra said, "how are we gonna get the kid over the wall?"
"Thinking..." Nudge said.
Gonzo had woken up as well, and watched the light emanating from the fort.
"The fort is rather...active," Gonzo remarked.
"I thought you said it was vacant," Nudge said to Tetra.
"It appeared to be," Tetra said.
"We're gonna run up against some rock soon if we don't change course," Nudge pointed out.
Tetra paused, thinking for a moment.
"Go fetch a compass," she said.
Nudge steered the ship sharply to the right.
The pirates didn't move.
"Isn't somebody going to get a compass?" Link asked them.
"What are you talking about?" Tetra asked, turning to him.
Nudge laughed. "She means to have me skirt around the rock Link," he explained, "it's a seafarer's expression."
"It appears," Tetra said, ignoring Link, "that we have some people occupying the fortress. We'll probably be attacked if we get close enough to drop him on the rocks."
"Tetra," Gonzo turned to her, "I have a suggestion."
Gonzo leaned in to Tetra, whispering something.
"Drop the anchor once we come around to the front of the fort Gonzo," Tetra instructed.
"Aye," he replied, walking away.
"What're you planning?" Link asked.
Tetra turned her head towards him, a thin smile on her lips.
* * * *
"I'm not sure I like this idea," Link said, tightening his sword scabbard and belt.
"Don't worry," Tetra said, "it'll be just fine, trust me. The middle of the fort is all water. We launch you in the catapult, and then you land nicely into the inside water part of the fortress, simple as that."
"How long will I be waiting for you to come back?" Link cautiously asked.
"I changed my mind from before," Tetra said. "We'll stay here and wait. You better get going fast."
"But..." Link said.
"We'll take care of your things," Gonzo said.
Link bit his lip. He hoped that they would, but also that they'd actually want to give it back. The pirates had put a barrel in the catapult, which he would ride in.
Tetra had Mako do some calculations, and after surveying the distance, determined how everything needed to be done. Gonzo picked him up and lifted him inside the barrel.
"Good luck Link," he whispered once Link was inside.
"Once you get inside the fortress," Tetra instructed, "get moving to cover as fast as possible. A flying barrel is going to draw a lot of attention."
Link timidly nodded, his face only peeking up halfway over the lip of the barrel.
"Alright Gonzo," Tetra said, "let him loose."
"Three," Gonzo counted down,
"Two,"
"One."
Gonzo opened up the ratcheted wheel. Link rocketed into the air, his stomach being lurched for the second time that night. The wind bit at his face, the spray of the ocean striking him. He closed his eyes to avoid the sight of the sea far below.
As Mako had told him earlier, when he began to plummet downward, he rocked the barrel backward in his few split seconds left.
The ground approached so fast he barely had any time to be afraid.
The barrel struck the water, and he plunged beneath the surface. After a moment of shock from the impact and the frigid cold, he resurfaced.
He'd survived.
And was in.
Link quickly swam to a shore of rocks, and pulled himself out of the water.
He sputtered out a sigh of relief, and took a moment to take a rest.
He looked around.
The worn fortress had a perimeter wall, with most of the inside deep water. It looked like it had been built on a reef or something.
Link flinched as something moved in his pocket. He reached inside, grasping the object. It was a pendant with a blue crystal at the end.
Link turned it in his hands. The crystal was glowing.
"What is this?" he whispered.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"It's our way to talk to you."
"Ah!" Link flinched again.
"Pipe down," Tetra's voice hummed from the crystal.
"How are you doing this?" Link asked, still in shock.
"Little trinket I picked up in our travels, Tetra said through the stone," "From the sound of your heavy breathing, I'm guessing you made it in alive?"
"Yes," Link said, shivering in his soaked clothes, "I..."
He trailed off.
"What?"
Link went over his things. Everything was still with him. Except his sword sheath was empty.
"My sword," Link muttered, his heart going still, "I... lost it."
Link was about to jump in the water looking for it, but Tetra's voice interrupted him.
"We saw something fly out of the barrel when we launched you."
"How am I going to save my sister without a sword?" Link whispered in a frustrated tone.
"Stealthily," Tetra replied.
Link looked around the fortress. There were faint lights moving around it. There were also large lamps, their light directed with mirrors into the dark ocean.
Whoever it was that was occupying this fortress, they wanted to be left alone.
"That..." Link replied, "sounds a bit hard."
"That is why you are the one doing it," Tetra remarked.
Link made a frustrated sigh. Where would Aryll be? He glanced around. There were about three or four towers on the fort. In one, he saw a window with a faint glowing light.
And seagulls flew around it. There's only one person Link knew that could attract seagulls like that...
Okay, that was one problem solved. Now, he just needed to figure out how to get there.
Link went up some stairs that went to the main grounds of the fortress. Before he reached the top, he peeked up onto the large stone area. It was patrolled by strange creatures, like the ones he had fought on Outset Island.
"What are those?" Link whispered.
"I can't see through your eyes," Tetra said in an annoyed tone, "how am I supposed to know?"
"I was talking to myself," Link said, "they're disgusting creatures that walk like humans, but have tusks and the face of a pig."
"Moblins," Tetra explained, "there's something mysterious at work here."
The patrolling monsters walked with lanterns and spears, making rounds throughout the fortress.
Link had heard of the existence of monsters like these. These were the nightmarish kind of creatures that belonged in the dark legends of the past. It made him shudder to think that monsters like these actually existed.
No matter who, or what was wielding a spear though, Link did not want to be at the tip of it. Link surveyed the fortress again.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to figure out how I'm going to do this," Link answered.
He waited for a gap in the guard, and ran up the stairs into a shadowed area. Link pushed himself against a corner, back against the wall.
"You're breathing too hard," the stone buzzed in his pocket, "rule number one of stealth, hold still, and stay calm."
Rule number one of stealth, Link thought, don't let a pirate cause a ruckus with her enchanted jewelry.
Link sidled slowly against the wall. He made slow progress, only moving when a moblin wasn't walking in his direction or near him.
Link looked to his left, and saw that one of the lamps was directing light near him. The bright light was moving closer and closer.
Link made a quick move for a niche into the wall where there was a ladder going up to the fortress's ramparts. He shoved himself into the shadow, trying to move as little as possible.
After a few minutes, he felt that he could continue. He climbed up the ladder, and after a quick check, pulled himself on top of the wall. He quickly dashed over into a covered passageway, going alongside one of the towers.
At the end of the passageway was a door into the tower, and gripping the old cast-iron knob, he went inside.
He immediately slid to the right of the door, into shadow. There were no guards patrolling, at least where he was at.
Part of the floor was open to show a lower floor. There were moblins patrolling beneath him, the lantern light glimmering up through the floor boards he walked on.
He saw stairs going higher up the tower on the other side of the room. The problem was, the floor in front of him was extremely rotted. Pieces of board were strewn about the floor, and many of the boards had become a dark rotten color.
Link pressed his weight against the floor. It held. He pressed his foot against various places on the floor, trying to find the beams beneath supporting it. He began cautiously walking across. The boards shuddered beneath his boots, sagging precariously.
As he walked, his right foot gave into a particular weak section of board, some of his leg sliding into the hole.
He heard noise from below and the rotted wood struck the floor. He soon began hearing inhuman shrieks.
He'd been caught.
Link took a risk. Seeing a lamp hanging from the ceiling, Link tossed the largest chunk of rotted wood he could find at it.
He missed. More noise came from beneath him. He threw another piece, and this time, the lamp broke off, and plummeted to the ground.
A burst of fire ignited as the lamp's oil spilled on wooden supplies beneath, and the moblin's beneath him were caught in the flames. He quickly jumped the rest of the way across the floor in the ensuing chaos, and made his way up the stone steps inset into the wall.
He found another door, and opened it back outside. He was on a higher part of wall that circled the main tower.
This fortress was very confusing. Link had never seen a structure so large. The towers were higher than the plateaus on Outset island, and were very complex to navigate.
He went up more stairs around the wall of the tower. He paused however, when he saw that there was a spotlight from the searchlights on the other towers that repeatedly crossed his path.
The stairs had come to a landing, and the flat area that he now had to traverse had multiple spotlights shining on it too often for him to not get caught. The stone railing in this section was worn away, so the light would catch him even if he crawled across the ground.
He needed to think of something fast.
"How goes it kid?"
"Where've you been?" Link fumed slightly, trying to think about what to do.
"On my ship. It seems you're not dead yet, so I assume you're doing well."
"I'm not doing well. I'm very close to where I think my sister is, and these searchlights will catch me if I go any further."
"Don't know what to tell ya'. Good luck."
Link looked behind him, a bit paranoid. He hung close to the wall just in case.bHe spotted a window in the tower a short distance away from him. A window meant a room. And a room meant a way that he could progress.
Unfortunately, that window sat in the wall high above the ground, separated from the landing he stood on.
To reach it, he would have to grip onto the cobblestones that made up the wall of the tower.
He took several quick breaths.
This is for you Aryll, he thought.
He placed the front of his right boot into a small hole in the mortar. It held his weight. He grabbed a protruding stone with his right hand above him. He then put his left boot in a foothold, now clutching the side of the wall over empty space.
The wind was very strong up this high. He gripped the rock with all his might. His heart began to race.
He couldn't do this. He couldn't do this.
He swallowed down his fear, and grabbed another handhold with his left hand. Then he moved his right and foot and hand.
He repeated the process, slowly making his way to the window. Thankfully the stones were dry.
As he glanced to the window, he saw the illumination of a searchlight moving towards his destination.
He was going to be caught. There was no way he could escape.
The light suddenly stopped travelling up the face of the wall.
"Confound it all," Tetra exclaimed, "those moblins are tough. We got the one that was about to spot you with FOUR ARROWS. I hope you make that worth something."
"Thanks," Link barely muttered, his body nearly paralyzed with tension.
He finally pulled himself into the window, and fell onto the cold stone floor. Link took a moment to rest.
His clothes were still damp. He couldn't tell whether it was because they hadn't dried or because he had sweat so badly a moment before.
Whatever the case, he couldn't believe he'd survived. That had been really stupid. If he'd thought a moment more, he could've told the pirates to attack the moblins operating the searchlights that watched the stairway. It didn't matter though. He was moving on.
Link was in some sort of supply room. Random heaps of junk were piled in the room. The place made the pirate's cargo hold look organized. As he got up though, he noticed something.
His sword.
He grasped the handle, and felt its familiar weight. The moblins must've found it somewhere, and brought it here as a prize.
As he was about to slide the sword into his sheath however, a moblin entered the doorway.
Link thrust it into the creature's belly, and the moblin disolved into a cloud of smoke and ash. That was close.
Why did they do that? he thought. There was nothing natural about these creatures.
He ran up some stairs, and they once again went back outside, rejoining the other stairs. As he neared the top of the tower, he found a moblin guarding the stairway.
The moblin advanced towards him, a sword and shield in hand. Link quickly grabbed his own shield from his back, and tried to knock the moblin backward, then attack when it was distracted.
He wasn't able to reach far enough with the sword though, and had to go back.
Link noticed that the shield the creature was using was very crude looking, and decided to see if he could break it.
The shield however, was too hard for his sword to get through. Link barely knocked aside the moblin's blade with his shield after his failed shield break.
He slashed his sword low, and knocked the moblin to the ground.
Another thrust of the sword in its back, and it followed the way of the other moblin, becoming a cloud of smoke. He returned his sword and shield to their proper place.
Now, finally at the top of the tower, the level where he had originally sighted the illuminated window, Link stepped through the doorway inside.
The tower had no ceiling. The moon was the only light in the room.
Link could see clear as noonday however, a dungeon cell which held a group of young girls.
"Link!" Aryll cried out, running to the wooden bars.
"Aryll!" Link wept in relief, embracing her through the barrier.
"I'm going to get you out of here," he said.
"You came after me," Aryll sobbed joyfully. "I didn't think I'd see you again."
"Kid!" the crystal yelled, "you've got company!"
The whole tower quaked as something struck the stone. Timidly turning around, Link came face to face with the gigantic Helmaroc.
His blood ran cold. Aryll screamed.
Link ran towards the colossal bird with his sword held aloft. It snatched him with its large clawed feet, and beat its wings, lifting him into the air.
"Link!" Aryll cried out.
Her voice sounded across the fortress, its echo dying away as Link was carried into the night.
"Kid! What's happening!"
"I failed!" he screamed. It was all he could do. "I failed! My parents have lost both their children!"
He had come so far, and now despite the multiple times he'd almost died, he was taunted with the privilege of seeing his sister's face one last time before the end.
One last time to know truly how much he had lost.
The helmaroc carried him to another tower, and hovered in the air. The tower had a structure of fine, dark wood built on top of it.
An imposing, looming figure stood at the balcony in front of the hut. He couldn't make out any features of the person who stood, silently watching him. The figure was silhouetted, wreathed by the flickering torchlight.
The figure thrust out a cloaked arm, pointing into the night.
The helmaroc screeched, and cast Link aside into empty space.
He shot downward toward the water.
It all seemed so unreal.
It was over.
He had failed.
He struck the water, his muscles screaming out in pain, having no protection this time. Link sank beneath the surface. He never even had a chance. He never so much got a swing at the bird. He did not feel like fighting back any more.
As the air trickled out of his lungs, he was enclosed by the ocean depths, and Link of Outset readily welcomed the silent oblivion.