Author's Note: I can't even right now. I don't know what happened with this chapter, but I don't like it. Maybe because I hate the Forsaken Fortress in general. I should be getting Pokémon Black 2 in two weeks so maybe that'll keep me sane. But I digress. Thanks so much for reading this, you guys. It really makes my day when I see that a review has been posted. I apologize beforehand for the crappy editing on this one. Read, review, enjoy, and don't forget to sleep for eight hours each night. (Ha! Eight hours. I'm so funny.)
Moe was in love.
He was very much in love. Her name was Maggie.
She had big brown eyes that looked like meatballs and a large mole and her hair was lanky greasy, like the noodles he had for dinner on occasion—oh, and the cutest little snout!
Moe missed Maggie. She was all the way up in the jail tower, because the big scary bird had captured her for their master. Luckily, Maggie was not the girl he was looking for, so now Moe could sneak visits to her all he wanted.
Well, except for right now. He had to watch this dumb girl until Shmo came back and they could turn her in.
The Moblin clutched the little burlap sack Maggie had given him as a token of her love. Compared to his big meaty fists, her delicate fingers were absolutely adorable, one of the few things of beauty Moe experienced in this Fortress. She smelled like the best things in the world; Moe always got starry-eyed when she described the magical "trash cans" that she used to root through for food on a regular basis. She promised to show him these wondrous containers once she got out. Moe wasn't sure when that would be.
Moe snuffled the sack. He thought of the other girls that his darling Maggie had to be stuck with. There was a blue girl there, and for some reason the seagulls always showed up around her. That was weird because seagulls rarely ever were seen inside the Fortress. Oh well, more roasted seagulls for Moe. Stupid birds were getting harder to catch, though. At first they had had an entire feast of seagulls, even though the screaming blue girl had been annoying while they had been catching them. Nowadays, the seagulls fled as soon as any monster walked in.
Then there was that other girl, the one whose bright pink dress had 0riginally made Moe's eyes sting (but it was all dirty now so it wasn't as bad), whose shrill voice hurt his ears, and whose sickly sweet smell burned his nose and throat. Maggie said that the smelly girl always said mean things about her when Moe wasn't there. Unfortunately, Moe was unable to do anything about it, since the whiny thing fled to the back of the cell every time he approached it.
The thought of his Maggie being bullied by something so hideous filled him with anguish. What if she was getting bullied right now?!
Still holding the tiny sack, Moe abruptly stood up, toppling the stool he had been seated on. Yes, that's what he would do! He'd go to his love and give her a Skull Necklace! It was the best plan his simplistic mind could think of.
He made a lot of Skull Necklaces in his free time. A small crafts book had been discovered in one of the storage rooms, along with a bunch of supplies. One of the smarter Bokoblins managed to interpret some of the pages. The monsters had taken to it almost immediately, with Bokoblins making Joy Pendants and Moblins making Skull Necklaces at a rapid pace. Beads and string had become the main currency: ten beads for an extra serving of food, two skulls for a roasted seagull—unless you're trading with a Bokoblin, but what kind of Moblin would?
Indeed, the crafting rivalry between the two was quite intense. Only wimpy monsters carried butterflies around their necks! Skulls were brutish and only the dumbest monsters could wear one without feeling embarrassed! A Moblin would never be caught making a Joy Pendant, and a Bokoblin would rather "barf hearts" (slang for dying) than craft a Skull Necklace.
But Maggie liked his pendants. She said they were pretty. Moe's snout twitched with excitement at the prospect of seeing her for the third time today. But ugh, what about this green girl?
"GIRL!" the lovesick Moblin bellowed. His tiny eyes roamed the cell, but he could not find the prisoner.
The girl was missing! Wait no, there she was. He could see her feet sticking out from behind the bookcase in the far corner.
"GIRL!" he repeated.
Slowly, a head appeared. There was a sense of vacancy in the human's expression that creeped Moe out. He oinked.
"I'm going to do somethin'. You stay here!"
The girl said nothing, only stared. Then, as slowly as before, her head withdrew until it was once again blocked by the empty bookcase.
Moe rubbed his right shoulder to get rid of the goosebumps that had suddenly appeared there. He snuffled some more, grabbed his spear and lantern, and left.
On the way out he noticed that the rats were already swarming the barrel Bo was in. Crazy rats attacked any kind of container they thought food might be in.
Well Bo wasn't his problem anymore. He was off to see his true love. Surely he would be back before Shmo's shift was over. And then…food!
Stay here. Where was he going to go?
Link rolled his head so that it pressed against the side of the bookcase.
"Now's your chance, kid! Let's get the hell out of here!"
Link didn't answer. He didn't have to. Billy had been examining the entire cell floor for hours with no avail. Digging didn't work. The bars were too strong. His latest escape plan apparently involved pacing until he managed to wear a hole through the floor.
The boy could hear it resume with his silence.
Vaguely, he felt as if he should help in the escape endeavor, but right now he was just trying not to throw up. They had killed one of their own kind at the slightest provocation. They didn't seem fazed by it at all.
Link had initially clutched the Piece of Heart in an effort to use the sense of joy to keep him sane, but after a while the smell of Bo's body and the feasting of the rats had penetrated the happy memories contained inside the Piece of Heart. The stench was almost unbearable now; that was why he was sitting as far away from the barrel as he could.
Why did Billy complain about salt all the time if he could tolerate this smell? Sky hadn't said anything about it either.
It's because they're heroes, Link answered himself. They're used to dead things. His eyes slid closed, the rotten odor so intense that he was barely able to think.
His mind was swimming now. Bile rose in his throat. Since he was surrounded by such a powerful stink, he became hyperaware of even the slightest relief provided for his nose. Occasionally there were the tiniest changes in the still air, like the much weaker versions of the puffs of air from his old closet's porthole.
Porthole.
Link's eyes snapped open and he lifted up his head.
Sky was at a loss. They had been here now how many hours? He had spent that entire time planted in front of the cell, repeating to himself every adage about patience that he could think of. The smell he could tolerate, but he sure hadn't missed it.
The other spirit guide seemed to exhibit Sky's inner self: he was constantly pacing a set route around the cell, a brooding look growing with each complete circuit. His steps became so forceful that it looked as if he was assaulting the floor. Sometimes he would check on Link, but Sky never saw any reaction from where he was sitting.
Billy, sick of inaction, plopped himself in front of Sky, whose eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
The wolf jerked his head towards Link, arching his eyebrows.
Sky just shook his head. This was the boy's own trial. He had to learn to cope in his own way.
Billy pressed his forehead against the bars. "I have searched this entire damn cell," he said in a low voice. "And I've got nothin'." His paws dug at the ground in vexation.
Sky's eyes instinctively darted to his left. Ah, damn it.
"What," Billy said. It deepened into a growl. "What were you looking at." He flicked his ear.
"It doesn't matter what I was looking at," was the dismissive response.
The wolf pondered the possibilities. He remembered the cell in which Link had found the Piece of Heart. His hackles rose and a snarl rent his throat.
"There's a switch there!" he howled with rage. "There's been a frikkin' switch there all this time and you haven't pressed it!"
"I can't interfere." He was tired of repeating that over and over. He did not need an upstart guide to push the limits of his patience. Did Billy completely forget how violent he could get when he was provoked?
"You can't interfere," the younger Link spat through gritted teeth. "You keep saying that. He's practically a zombie and you…you can't in. ter. fere." He circled around before resuming. "Why can't you interfere."
"I can't."
"Why."
"I can't!"
"WHY?" Billy screamed at the top of his lungs.
"BECAUSE LAST TIME—" Sky screeched. His pupils were dilated and his feathers were standing on end. He saw the surprise in Billy's eyes. "Because last time…," he repeated weakly. He turned away, shame coloring his words. "Because last time someone died because of me."
Billy had no response for that.
How long they would have stayed like that is unknown. Luckily for them, a rough scraping was heard and they both turned to see what it was.
It turned out to be Link dragging a beat-up stool to the crummy old table in the middle of the cell. The guides simply watched as he got on the stool, stepped on to the table, and turned to the bookcase. (Sky personally thought that the previous owners of the Fortress must have been very considerate people if they had taken the time to supply their prisoners with reading material.)
Billy, for the first time, looked up at the top of the bookcase. "There's a pot up there!" he exclaimed. How had he missed that?! Whatever the case, he excitedly bounded on to the table.
Link backed up to the far end of the table, ran, and leaped for the bookcase. Fear shot through him when the thought he was going to land just short of it, but then he managed to snag the edge with his fingertips. His feet scrabbled for purchase, found the lower shelf, and he hoisted himself up.
"Have fun doing that over lava."
"What?"
"Nothing," Billy said and landed beside him.
Link shook his head. Half the time these guys made no sense whatsoever. Turning to the large, dusty, purple pot that sat on top of the bookcase, he tried to see if anything was behind it. He thought he saw something, and in his eagerness to get away from the dead body, he gripped the pot and lifted it above his head. The pot was surprisingly light and behold! It had been obscuring a hole in the wall!
Now the question was, what was he going to do with this pot? Billy was occupying the rest of the space on the bookcase, and he couldn't well set it back down in front of the hole.
"Throw it," Sky and Billy said simultaneously.
Link felt bad breaking someone else's pot, but in this case he supposed that he had no other choice.
"Sorry," he mumbled to no one in particular, and he threw the pot. It went sailing a bit before shattering against the floor into many little pieces. A single green rupee lay amongst the destruction.
It was alarming how satisfying that had been.
Link turned to examine the hole. It looked to be a small tunnel leading…somewhere. If he crawled, Link believed that he would be able to fit. But…
He turned to Sky, who was on the other side of the cell. The bird paused, then walked over to the area where Bo was decaying. He slipped behind him, there was a CLUNK, and the cell door swung open. Link watched him enter the cell.
Billy ground his teeth. He glanced at the boy, who saw in Sky's face such apologetic sorrow that it doused the rage that had been building up in him.
Link said what seemed to be the guide's mantra: "You can't interfere."
Sky nodded, the sorrow deepening.
And that was that. Link looked at the crawlspace, then back at Sky. "How are you going to go through?" No time for anger. Aryll was still up there somewhere.
Sky shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I'll have to be pushed through," he said in a barely audible voice.
Both of them looked at Billy. The wolf's ears flattened against his head and he hunched over. "Ohhh no! No no no no no no!"
"I hate you. I hate you I hate you I hate you."
"Stop talking and push harder."
Link coughed. This small tunnel was very dusty. He was in front, followed by Sky, who had entered rear-first so that Billy had to use his face to shove Sky's beak and not his butt. Using his elbows to pull himself forward, Link silently thanked the gods that he was not claustrophobic. Already the smell was weakening in strength, what a relief.
Soon Link could see a light at the end of the tunnel, causing him to crawl faster. He barreled out of the opening, not realizing that it was actually carved high up on the wall, and landed on the ground with a resounding thud. Yes, he was in pain, but dead Bo no longer clogged his nostrils and he didn't care!
Pushing himself up, he saw Sky's tail poking out of the hole. Then his butt.
"Wait I don't think there's ground out here—"
With one last shove, Sky was out of the tunnel and on the floor in a heap of rumpled feathers. Billy spilled out after him, though his landing was much better. He shook his fur out and announced, "I am never doing that again."
Sky glared at him. Billy pretended not to notice.
A weak laugh came out of Link. Funny. He had just escaped prison. More tired than anything, he carried on. Hopefully, he would never have to smell pork ever again.
The Helmaroc King was lonely in his nest. Sure he had tons of Kargaroc minions, but they didn't exactly offer any stimulating conversation. When he wasn't flying around capturing little girls, he was sitting in this nest, waiting for his master to send him out again.
Or to punish him.
He had brought back the wrong girl again, and that meant another session of painful torture at the hands of his master. The Helmaroc King never struggled; that just made it hurt more.
However, he didn't mind as much this time around. He liked this new girl. She was different from the others. Her mouth was oriented differently from the others, curving upwards instead. The little white birds really liked her, and she laughed a lot.
She spoke of many things that fascinated the Helmaroc King, such as the island one which she lived, or the wonders of sunlight. She talked about trying to learn how to balance pots on her head, pigs, and crabs. Most of all, she described to him her grandma and big brother. The bird was duly impressed and intimidated by this big brother, the list of credentials that the girl defined creating a rather imposing figure in his mind. The Helmaroc King was curious as to what exactly the bravest, smartest, coolest and strongest guy in the whole wide world looked like, but at the same time he despised him. The girl constantly mentioned how he was coming to save her, faith unfaltering as the weeks passed by. This boy might be coming to take the girl away, this girl that was the one source of joy in the Helmaroc King's life. Her words and laughter reminded him of his past life, back when he himself had been human, awakening in him fuzzy images that had long been submerged in darkness.
No, he refused to let this boy take the girl away, no matter how brave or cool he was. Paranoia seized the bird. What if he was making his way to her right now?!
Another visit wouldn't hurt. Master had already hurt him today, and he was finished preening to cover up the new gouges and lacerations in his flesh, so maybe it was time to feel happy today.
Spreading his wings, the Helmaroc King took off.
"No."
"Link you have to."
"NO!" he hissed violently. Cracking the door open, he scanned the room once more.
It was a large room, with an old shipyard visible from below. Three wooden catwalks were located on Link's current level, shaped like a U. At the base of the U was a small set of stairs leading to the door Link needed to get to. On each arm of the U patrolled a Moblin. Link was located on the far end of one of these arms. And there, just to the left of where Link was peering out of, stood two barrels.
"I can run when that Moblin turns around," he speculated.
"You're going to get caught," Billy said bluntly.
Link flinched and shut the door. "Not of I run fast enough!"
"And what if you don't?" Sky asked. "You'll go back in the cell."
The thought of Bo made the boy's stomach writhe. Killing the Bokoblins in the other two search towers had been bad, but he had made it through them by telling himself that at least it was better than being in that hellish cell. The boy hung his head. "But…"
"Link," Sky said as gently as possible. He touched his wing on Link's leg. "You have to get in the barrel."
Link shuddered, but no longer objected. Billy felt bad for him, but what other choice did the kid have?
Opening the door again, Link swiftly stepped into the room and donned a barrel. The smell inside wasn't as bad as what the cell had been like, but it reminded Link that something dead had been in here once.
I would have cried two months ago, he suddenly thought. What happened?
A shove and he was waddling again.
Is that bad that I don't cry?
Was that a nudge? No, probably not.
What's different now?
"Link STOP!"
One of the guides got in front of him and pushed the barrel, hard. Link automatically dropped to the ground, heart thundering. He strained to hear if something was going on, but all he got was silence.
"…don't...move."
Why was Billy whispering so intensely? What was happening?
Outside of the barrel, Sky and Billy stood perfectly still, Sky's feathers standing on end and Billy's ears flattened against his head. They had nudged Link to stop, but the dumb kid had kept walking. Fortunately, they had gotten him to halt just as the Moblin guard saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and whipped around to see what it was. All he saw was a barrel that he could've sworn hadn't been there before. Then, of course, the damn thing lurched right over to the barrel and started sniffing at it.
If Billy wasn't so worried about the kid, he'd have latched on to the Moblin's snout and torn it right off. He could see Sky staring at him, hard golden eyes almost yelling I swear to the goddesses if you do anything right now…
The Moblin kept sniffing the barrel. There was…something weird about this barrel's smell. However, something had recently died in it so that stench was covering up most of the peculiar scent. Huh. Whatever. He had a job to do. The Moblin stood up and started to walk past.
Just then, a rat appeared.
Billy's eyes grew larger as it approached the barrel and smelled it. It began to claw at the barrel. The Moblin turned around to watch it. Billy kept staring at the rat, leaning so closely to it that his breath was disturbing the rat's mangy fur, attempting to mentally communicate with it: Don't you do it. Don't you do it you sonuvabitch!
The Moblin walked back to the barrel. He reached out to lift it up.
Sky snapped.
"NO!" he roared. Billy scrambled back upon instinct. Reaching out with his long claws, Sky seized the rat and with what appeared to be little effort, crushed its skull. Some gore splattered against the barrel and the floorboards. Pivoting on his other foot, Sky turned and chucked the rat into the shipyard water below, screaming "FUCK YOU!" as he did so.
The Moblin watched the rat go down with astonishment. Billy gaped at Sky, who was breathing heavily. The part of the wolf's brain that wasn't in a state of shock urged him to ask, "So how is that not interfering?" but the rest of him wanted to live, so he said nothing.
Sky gave himself three good breaths before he tapped the barrel and muttered to it, "The Moblin is distracted. Move quickly." The barrel, who at this point was very, very confused, shuffled forward as fast as it could. Billy's mouth was still hanging open.
The Moblin was peering over the edge at the rat carcass, wondering what kind of new invisible monster had done that. Well, there was no harm in it now. A rough push of the shoulders and the Moblin joined the rat for a quick swim. Billy ambled off, thinking Yeah, I can do that too.
Link managed to get out of that room without any other…occurrences. When he bumped into the door, he took off the barrel and edged out.
FRESH AIR! It was beautiful after all those terrible, terrible rooms. He was outside now, below Aryll's tower (he could tell because of the seagulls). Three consecutive flights of steps led to a wide stone courtyard, from which grew a long ramp that finally seemed to lead to the top of the tower.
The wind was weaker up here for some reason. Looking upwards, the sky was as dark as when he had started, as if time had not passed. A dim orange light passed by, up on the courtyard. A Moblin was on patrol here. Link unconsciously hugged the wall.
Hunching over, he crawled up the stairs to avoid being seen by the beast. His mind wasn't so much focused on the monster as it was on the barrel he would have to hide under. Sky flew up to the conveniently located barrel at the end of the stairs, while Billy stayed behind to watch the Moblin for Link.
Up on the final set of stairs, Link knew he wasn't going to use the barrel: he could dimly see a black, crooked hand sticking out from the stop. The reek of death pervaded the air. The boy was secretly relieved, as well as repulsed. He could see Sky edging away from it, eyes focused on the Moblin, mentally calculating the best route to take.
Link made it up the stairs just as the Moblin reached the barrel, pivoted, and began the second half of its circuit around the other half of the courtyard. This incited a flurry of wing beats from Sky, communicating, Go go go!
Link didn't even look notice this; he had bolted for the ramp as soon as the Moblin's back had been turned. A boy clad in green and two invisible animals, one a giant red bird and the other a small gray-brown wolf, sprinted across the barren courtyard.
The Moblin didn't notice.
They continued a steady pace up the ramp, Link keen on getting away from all corpses as well as saving his sister. He had put up with two months of hard labor on a pirate ship and a bunch of dead bodies—heck he had almost even died—to get to this point.
Hopefully he'd find his sword there, too. Otherwise, if the Helmaroc King showed up…
Suddenly, a gap in the path.
This place had the dumbest construction ever. Like, the path continued on perfectly fine right over there! Why was there such an obnoxious gap here? On the side of it closest to the wall there jutted out a sliver a stone, a measly excuse for a ledge.
"Can you…," Sky ventured, "Hang on to it by your fingertips?"
Link inspected his fingers. Then he looked at the drop below the gap. He shook his head.
Billy surveyed the area. "Do you see anything? Vines on the walls? A switch you could push? Monkeys?"
Sky flapped a wing. "Wait. What did you just say?"
"Maybe I could sidle across," Link pondered.
Sky flapped the other wing. "I'm sorry what?"
"Well I mean you'd need a whole chain of monkeys. Goddesses know what I had to do to get enough of them. Had to spank a bigger monkey."
"If I stand on my tippy toes and hug the wall I might be able to edge over. I practiced doing it a lot to try and sneak up on pigs."
Sky flapped both wings. "All I'm hearing is monkeys and something about slides."
The other two ignored him. Link placed his back against the wall, sucked in his gut, and sidled across the minute ledge on the very tips of his feet. Sky and Billy viewed this with begrudging admiration.
"Damn," the wolf muttered. "Wish I could do that."
"It would have been useful on occasion," Sky admitted. Without looking, he reached out and grabbed Billy's scruff. A low whine snuck out of the wolf as the bird ferried them across.
On this side, Billy started cracking up. He gasped, "H-His face! Do you see it? Kid! Kid you look like you're friggin' constipated!"
The look of sheer concentration on Link's face did resemble that, but Link blocked it out. He was busy trying not to slip and fall to his death.
Finally across the gap, he continued on, this time purposely ignoring Billy's snickering and Sky's words of comfort: "Don't worry, we all look like that sometimes. Usually when going to the bathroom I suppose but…" (This just made Billy laugh louder).
"Aw come on!" Link shouted as they reached a second gap. It was as if some omnipresent being had constructed this place to purposefully drive him insane. He sucked in his stomach and crept across again.
Two hearts floated on this ledge, just under Aryll's window. Link was tempted to shout her name, to tell her he was on the way, but he thought it was best not to risk it so close to the end. He felt bad as he had to step on the hearts as he crossed. It was like crushing a bubble underfoot, except with a little more resistance. They released a nice smell when they were crushed, which soothed the boy's frayed nerves.
This time, Sky waited until Link was finished before he grabbed the wolf, a little roughly, and went across.
Another climb, Link's stomach now squirming with excitement for the nearing of the end. Aryll was going to be so happy. She was going to love going home on a pirate ship.
Now, arriving at a circular platform. The (rather large) door to Aryll's cell was here! And there, on the ground!
"My sword!" Link exclaimed. A "FINALLY!" and a "That's a relief." arose from behind him. And the Helmaroc King was nowhere to be seen! Elation filled Link, and he couldn't help but jump with joy. This was it! It would all be over in a matter of minutes!
His jumping triggered an alarm.
A long set of mean-looking spikes shot up, blocking off his escape route back down the path he had just come from. A green Bokoblin awoke at the sound of the rising spikes, noticed Link, and yelled in anger. It had a large machete and a wooden shield that even Tetra would have admitted as crummier than Link's own.
Link stopped with the jumping. "Oops."
As the Bokoblin charged, Billy roared, "Well what the hell are you doing?! GET YOUR SWORD!" which triggered Link to duck under a machete swing and scramble to his weapon.
It was weird how much safer he felt with it, an outcome of Billy's combat training he supposed. Now that he had it, he was back in business. The machete came whizzing downward toward his shoulder. Link rolled to dodge, then kept rolling in a tight circle, until he came upon the monster's exposed back. Leaping back up and slashing at the same time, a long, bloody gash appeared on the monster and it was sent flying.
"Hell yeah, back slice!"
Okay, so it was kinda nice having his own cheer squad.
Upon impact, the Bokoblin had dropped its machete, which had wound up on the other side of the platform. Now weaponless, the monster was looking around for it in a panic. This was the perfect time to kill it.
But Link hesitated.
"Kid…," Billy growled. "What're you doing. Kill it!"
"It's not fair," was the response.
"What's not fair? Either you kill it or it kills you! What about that is—"
Sky promptly shoved a wingful of feathers into the wolf's face. "Just pretend we're not here," he said.
Link waited until the monster had retrieved its weapon before running in and delivering an onslaught of slashes. He tried to block out the livid red marks that he was carving into the creature's body.
The first thing to go is the nose. If it starts turning black, the bastard's dead so pull back and save your energy for the next fight. 'Course this is assuming it has a nose. If it doesn't, well…
The nose, which looked kind of like Billy's in a way, was indeed darkening. Link backflipped away, mainly because he thought it was cooler to do so.
The only direction the Bokoblin went now was downward. The sound with which its decaying body landed reminded Link that he was supposed to be feeling nauseous right about now.
And he did, but not as much.
Then something happened. With a squelching sound, something rose out of the Bokoblin's back (which was facing skyward). It was colorful, which was the first thing Link noticed about it. It continued to rise until it floated just above the corpse. It was…
"A butterfly?"
Sky inched closer. "A butterfly necklace," he corrected. He turned to Link. "You should take it."
There, now he was feeling just the right amount of nausea. He recoiled. "But it just came out of the body!"
"It's considered spoils," Sky explained. "Someone you meet just might have a fondness for these…butterfly necklaces. They'll give you something nice in return." He said 'they will' instead of 'they might'.
Link didn't like this at all. But Sky was so intent on this that he was sure that the bird wouldn't let him proceed until he took the thing. The boy shot a desperate glance at Billy. Billy looked away. Whatever man. After I killed a ChuChu, I ate it.
Gradually edging closer to the corpse, Link darted out his hand, grabbed the pendant with the tips of his fingers, and quickly shoved it into the Spoils bag, making a face all the while. He wiped his fingers on his tunic, though they felt grimy no matter what he did. Sky nodded and spread a wing towards the door.
Taking a deep breath, Link placed his hands on the door and heaved.
Inside was a room. That's all he had time to notice because then he saw his little sister. She was petting a seagull. Almost as if sensing his presence, she looked up.
The sheer happiness in her expression made everything worthwhile.
"Aryll!" Link cried. A grin split his face. "I told you I was going to save you!" Billy stood beside him, wagging his tail, but Sky was looking upwards.
BOOM. The ominous noise of a giant animal touching down.
The Helmaroc King had come to intervene.
This was the moment he had trained so hard for!
So why wasn't his hand moving?!
Fighting an imaginary bird in his mind was much easier than looking up at the real thing. His hand only twitched in response to the bird craning its neck towards him. Billy was frantic now, running around Link and barking up a storm. "KID, MOVE! MOVE!" At the last second, he gripped the back of Link's tunic with his teeth in an attempt to do it himself.
Too late, as the Helmaroc King picked Link up like a gull with a crab. The boy was much heavier than the Helmaroc King had expected, but that was because the wolf who was desperately trying to cling to the boy remained unseen.
With a mighty pump of its wings, the Helmaroc King took off.
"BIG BROTHER!" Aryll screamed up after him.
Link screamed in response. No words. Just a scream.
The bird flew them to the very top of the Fortress, where the half-ship was built into the framework. There the Helmaroc King triumphantly displayed its prize. A man stood there, in a black cloak. Link was too terrified to process much. From the way Billy was hanging on, he could just see out of the corner of his eye.
Green skin….orange hair? WAIT—
A twitch of the master's head told the pet bird to get rid of the boy.
Pulling its mighty head back, the Helmaroc King flung the boy as far as it could in an effort to keep him away from the blue girl.
Link went screaming off into the night. Billy was screaming too; he had lost his grip.
Sky, who had just reached the opening to the jail tower, saw them fly into the distance. He sighed.
It may have looked like a peaceful scene to an onlooker: a little red boat, floating around in the middle of the Sea at night. However, the onlooker would have only seen what lay on the surface. If they had the blood of a hero flowing through them, they would have witnessed something slightly different.
A wolf, still dripping from the water, was running around in the boat. He was repeatedly shouting, "KID!" across the Sea. He didn't think that they would land so far apart.
A red bird soared high above, trying to pinpoint the boy's location. He spotted a speck of green amongst all of the dark blue and immediately flew back to the boat.
He touched down in the vessel and was straightaway demanded, "Did you find him?"
Sky nodded, reached for the rudder, and turned the boat in the direction of Link. "I'm glad he didn't sink," the bird said mostly to himself.
The head of the boat turned around. "Spirits, you have seen the boy then? Very well, I will proceed in this direction as quickly as I can." The boat began to creep across the water with agonizing slowness.
"He wasn't looking at either one of us when he said that," Billy said. He circled around, obviously impatient.
"I already told you. He can sense us, but he can't see or hear us." It was obvious that Sky was puzzled as to how the magical talking boat even managed to do that.
Billy didn't give a damn. He just wanted to get the kid out of the water.
After an hour or two of this slow, gradual, mind-numbing cruising through the Sea, the boat finally arrived at the body of a boy clad in the green of fields. His eyes were closed. His expression looked…dismayed.
Without a word of forewarning, the wolf dove into the water and started to push the boy into the boat. Sky grasped at the limp body and pulled it in the rest of the way.
"Now that we have retrieved him," the boat spoke, "I must ask that you turn me so that I face eastward. I know of a place where we can hide until he awakens."
Sky obeyed.
Billy nosed Link's arm. He shoved his snout under it, lifted it up, and let it drop. The lifelessness of the boy created in him all sorts of anxiety.
"He's not dead right?" Billy didn't care how stupid he sounded.
Sky tilted forward. He pulled back. "He's still breathing."
Some tension left the wolf's shoulders, but not all of it was gone. He shook his fur out and sat down. "So…now what."
Sky looked up at the moon and the pale clouds it illuminated. The Sea was vast before them, and they were tiny in comparison: a boat, a bird, a wolf, and a boy. Defeated, but not beaten.
"Now…it really begins."