Selphie: Just over a month. Not too bad. Maybe I'll have another over the weekend if I finish hemming those costumes (loves being on costume crewfor this show!).

Darunia: Disclaimer! Selphie Louise does not own anything Zelda-fied. It's all the property of Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo.

Tingle: Though she does own the characters of Selphie, Sakon, Dimitra, Curt, Mace, Gremlin, Daena, Daieno, Saeda, and Fiyero, plus most of those nice guard guys, like Pile, Dellius, and Norris. Also that Bag of Bones monster.

Goddesses: And Patrick owns Ravick and Shadow.

All: Read on.

Chapter 19:

Bag of Bones advanced shakily but steadily and fairly quickly, eyes focused on Gremlin and Navi. "How Gremlin gets out?" Gremlin asked. He shifted his feet, making small squelching noises.

"Based on past experience, you have to kill this monster and then the water will stop and the boss key will appear," Navi answered. "Kind of strange, really, I've never had to do this with anyone but Link… Hey!" she called out two seconds later when she realized Gremlin wasn't standing next to her anymore. Hoping to attack the monster, he had rushed forward but found it ready each time he made the attempt to attack. It was able to anticipate his moves purely by sight: its eyes, despite providing one of its only two senses, were so effective that its physical reflexes were nearly instantaneous. And it didn't help to try to move behind it because the eyes could rotate in three hundred and sixty degrees.

Gremlin quickly gave up and climbed up the wall to avoid Bag of Bones' quick advances. If only it were a creature, Gremlin might be able to reason with it. Unfortunately it was no more than an incarnation of organic material imbued with a spirit, much like a Stalfos, only poorly constructed.

In the end all Gremlin could do for a few minutes was crawl around the walls of the room, looking for a weakness. It was tough because Bag of Bones was able to watch him constantly. "Hey, you! What was with ditching me?" Navi demanded once she'd caught up with him.

"Gremlin was thinks try kill monster be better," Gremlin answered. "But monster too quick."

"Well, your best bet would be to play to your strengths then," Navi responded.

"What that mean?" Gremlin asked.

"I mean what special abilities might you have that it doesn't?" Navi elaborated.

"Um… Gremlin haves clawses, but no cans get close 'noughs use," Gremlin replied.

"Well, what else do you have?" Navi asked.

"Gremlin climb walls, hear goods, smell goods," Gremlin tried to list off his talents.

"Those are only good for keeping away from that thing," Navi said.

"Gremlin cans sees darks," Gremlin added. "But not darks in room." Gremlin looked down at the floor of the room. It was covered in dirt, yes, but the water from the "doorway" and the constant moisture caused by the steam had turned most of it into mud. Gremlin looked at Bag of Bones. The monster would see it coming if Gremlin threw mud at its eyes, but…

Gremlin looked at the torches around the room. "It Gremlin put out torches, monster no see and Gremlin has a'vantage!" Gremlin exclaimed, dropping to the floor momentarily.

"What?" Navi asked confusedly, as Gremlin scooped up two handfuls of mud and climbed back up the wall with the other two. "What are you doing?"

"Gremlin have plan. Watches," Gremlin instructed as he crawled to the nearest torch. Upon reaching it, he used one handful of mud to smother the flame. The light in the room dimmed slightly, and Bag of Bones didn't seem to notice it. Gremlin moved on to the second torch and used his second handful of mud on it. Still Bag of Bones didn't seem to notice. It wasn't until the fourth and final torch was out that Bag of Bones recognized its dilemma.

Gremlin, who could see just fine in the dark, now leapt down from the wall and dashed up to the monster, slashing with his sharp claws at the membrane that contained the monster's bones. It was fairly tough and didn't always tear when Gremlin slashed at it. Finally Bag of Bones' nervous senses kicked in, and it knocked Gremlin back with its arm. One of its abilities as a sub-boss was to restore the torches once it realized it needed them. But the damage was done: Gremlin now knew the monster's weakness, and he continued to exploit it, attacking in the dark until the skin was gone and the bones couldn't stay together.

Link was standing outside the room, behind the waterfall. He had tried going back and pulling the lever in the other room to get Gremlin out, but it hadn't worked. Link feared the worst and couldn't stand the waterfall standing in his way. So it was to his great surprise when the flow of water suddenly ceased and he saw a chest materialize in the room beyond.

He entered cautiously, but it didn't take long for him to spot Gremlin and Navi rushing toward him. "Guys! What happened? How'd you get the water to stop?" Link asked, relieved that his friends were, indeed, okay.

"Link, you should have seen it! Gremlin was incredible! This monster like a bag of bones appeared when we pulled the lever and wouldn't let us out, but Gremlin came up with a strategy all on his own and killed it!" Navi explained excitedly.

"It nothing," Gremlin grinned, pleased by the praise.

"No, this was an advanced monster. There's a big key right there to prove that point," Navi pointed out, indicating the ornate chest in the middle of the room.

"Wow. That's incredible," Link replied, genuinely impressed. "I think the pirates could barely handle a couple kargoroks."

"It nothing. Gremlin was only wants stay lives," Gremlin replied. "We go 'head save friend now, yes?"

"Right, that's probably a good idea," Link agreed. They crossed to the chest first and retrieved the key, then exited the room and found, unsurprisingly, that the third waterfall was gone. Link stepped toward the ladder leading up to the first basement level. As he shifted his weight onto the grate, however, it gave way with a rusty crack. The pit of Link's stomach dropped as he started to fall, but Gremlin quickly grabbed him back.

"Talk about your shoddy building construction," Navi remarked as they stared down the gaping hole that now sat in front of them. A few seconds later they heard a clang and a shatter. Not lingering on it, Navi started upwards, "Let's move on."

"Wait a second," Link stopped her by holding up his hand and reaching into his pocket with the other. "That ladder leads down somewhere." Indeed, the ladder, unlike most of those he'd seen, led up and down from where he stood. It was more suspicious because the lower part would have been inaccessible if the grate hadn't broken.

"So? All I know is that the twins are up and we have the key to get them out," Navi replied.

"Yeah, but Navi," Link continued, opening up the map. "According to this map, we're on the bottom level right now." He pointed out their location on basement level two and the distinct lack of a basement level three.

"Why no put on map?" Gremlin asked.

"I dunno, but I wanna find out what's down there," Link replied, pocketing the map and, jumping to the ladder, descended into the dark below. Gremlin followed as soon as Link was out of range of his tail. Navi waited a few seconds until she was sure they weren't going to change their minds, sighed exasperatedly, and followed.

The ladder led some distance down a narrow tunnel. It was getting increasingly more difficult to see, and so it came as a surprise to Link when he ran out of rungs. "Hold it, Gremlin," he called out so that Gremlin wouldn't climb down on him. "I ran out of ladder."

"Can we go back then, please? Or do you like the idea of wasting time?" Navi asked.

"Waits!" Gremlin spoke up. "There floors under ladder and chest."

"I think a chest is good reason to finish exploring down here," Link said, climbing down to the bottom rung. He held on with both hands and asked Gremlin if it was okay to drop. When Gremlin answered in the affirmative, Link dropped to the room below. The second his feet touched the ground, Link was able to see, but that was because a ring of candles had lit up around the edge of the platform he was standing on. Link had indeed landed on a floor, but Gremlin had failed to mention the bottomless pit that surrounded it. And there was no visible way of climbing back up.

"Gremlin! Don't come down! There's no way back up!" Link called when he saw the creature dangling near the bottom of the ladder. He looked around and only found the large chest sitting opposite him on the edge of the platform, although he did notice that the floor was wet, probably from the water draining from above. 'I guess that's one way to get rid of the extra water…' he thought, glancing toward the abyss beyond the edge. He crossed to the chest and couldn't think of anything to do but open it. At the floor of the chest were two items. He removed them both.

One was a pair of yellow boots, or perhaps boot covers (they looked like they would fit over his boots like the iron ones he'd found at Ice Ring Island), with little wings on the sides. The other was a book with an eye symbol on the cover. "Wait a second…" Link thought, taking a closer look at the cover. "I've seen this before… This is the same as that eye I got out of Seiryu's painting. But then why would it be here?" he wondered aloud. Link opened the cover of the book but was only met by ancient markings in the old language.

"Link! Are you almost done down there?" Navi called.

"Yeah! I'm done, but I don't know how to get out of here!" Link answered.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before jumping down that hole!"

Link growled quietly. 'I bet that's the point. Anyone who actually gets down here can't get out again with the treasure… brilliant really…' Then he thought of something and realized he might not be trapped afterall. "Hold on, guys! Clear the bottom rung!" he called. He put away the book and boots and pulled out the grappling hook. He swung it around a couple times and threw it upward at the ladder. It caught. "Gremlin, make sure the hook doesn't come loose while I'm climbing!"

Once he'd reached the ladder again, Link rolled up the rope and followed Gremlin and Navi back up again. They climbed off at the second basement level so Link could show them what he'd found. "Hover boots!" Navi exclaimed when he pulled them out. She zipped right over and circled, examining them before exclaiming, "They really are hover boots!"

"What that?" Gremlin asked.

"These were the sacred treasure of the shadow people, the Sheikah!" Navi replied.

"I actually kind of figured that one out from this," Link pulled out the book and showed her the eye on the cover.

"Let me look inside real quick," Navi requested. When he opened it and showed her the ancient text, Navi seemed to become angrier, almost incensed. "I can't believe this!" Navi exclaimed. "This guy has some nerve!"

"What are you talking about?" Link asked.

"Don't you get it?" Navi asked. "Whoever Sakon got to attack the Sheikah must really have a grudge against them. He stole their treasure and Impa, the Shadow Sage's book!"

"This belonged to the Shadow Sage?" Link asked, examining it again.

"How can tell?" Gremlin asked.

"Because it explains how to make a pair of hover boots," Navi explained. "Impa is the one who developed them. This has to be the journal of her experiments, and this guy stole it!"

"Calm down, Navi," Link told her. "We're going to get rid of him anyway, just don't get so worked up. Now, what do these boots do?"

"This is one of the most useful tools you will ever find," Navi informed him. "The hover boots allow you to float across empty space for a few seconds without being subject to the effects of gravity."

"They let you walk on thin air?" Link responded in disbelief.

"In a word, yes. But I still would like to know how he got his hands on a pair. As far as I know, only one pair exists: the pair that Impa made and left in the Shadow Temple; the same pair that Link found and that should have been returned to the Shadow Temple when time was reset at the end of his ordeal as Hero of Time," Navi elaborated.

"Well, I'm not sure I'll be able to get them back to the Shadow Temple, but-."

"Oh, believe me, they're better off in your hands than the hands of that scoundrel!" Navi said. "Won't he be surprised when you show up with his plunder."

"Speaking of which, shouldn't we be moving on?" Link asked.

"Yes! We go kill bad man!" Gremlin replied enthusiastically. With that, they returned to the ladder and, this time, climbed upwards.

SMACK! "How can you sleep at a time like this!"

Daena had just woken up and was offended that Daieno could sleep when she was so clearly in danger. To remedy this, she had smacked him in the arm to wake him up. "I can't believe you. I'm your sister. Don't you care about whether or not I'm safe? I could've been dead, and you're just laying there unconscious!" she harangued him.

Daieno opened one eye to look at her, realized his head hurt like hell, and let his eyes fall shut again. "You're still not waking up!" SMACK!

"OW!" Daieno woke up this time. She had smacked him across the head. "What was that for!"

"For not waking up! In case you've forgotten, our village got attacked and we were dragged off by ghosts! How do you sleep through something like that!" Daena demanded of him.

"Someone knocked me out! What's your excuse?" Daieno shot back.

"What makes you think I was asleep?" Daena retorted indignantly.

"Because otherwise you would have nagged me awake hours ago," Daieno replied smugly.

Daena's first reaction was outrage, but then she coolly rejoined, "And what makes you think your lazy butt would have waken up?"

They stared each other down for a few minutes. Finally Daieno sighed, "This is ridiculous. It's pointless to argue about this when we've already been kidnapped."

"You're still supposed to be the protector…" Daena grumbled, always hating it when her brother took the high road.

"Look," he told her. "If you want me to do something, probably the best route to take is not to make me mad."

"Why, because you'll be distracted?" Daena said sarcastically.

"No, because I might just leave your butt behind when I figure a way out." Daena closed her mouth. Finally Daieno had a chance to look around. They were in one of several cells opening into a very large courtyard. It was a very secure structure, it seemed. The walls were hard and the doors were sturdy and the floor was made of wide square tiles from wall to wall and even across the courtyard. Daieno could look between them up at a clear night sky with a waning moon.

They were on the western side of the courtyard. To the left the roof over the cells sloped up to a retaining wall. To the right, there was a wall with a large wooden door closing off the courtyard, and behind that was a tower. There was just enough light for him to see a dark figure in the light from a window.

Despite the size of the castle and the army that had taken them, there were very few soldiers guarding them. In fact, there were only two, and they were sitting off to Daieno's right somewhere, playing cards and clearly not paying attention to the conversation being held between their two captives. More troublesome, though, was the lack of other prisoners.

"Hey, Daena. You haven't been awake long enough to see them take away any other villagers, have you?" Daieno asked worriedly.

"No. Why would I have wasted my time on you if there were other folks around," Daena replied.

"We can't have been the only prisoners…" Daieno said to himself.

"Have you figured out a way out yet?" Daena asked.

"Nope, there doesn't seem to be any way out," Daieno answered.

"What? Well, that's just great. You're incredibly useful," Daena remarked cynically.

"Well, would you like to bust us out?" Daieno offered.

"Why should I? That's what you're for, although you obviously don't have any fear of death or else you would have found an escape already!"

"Get over it, they don't want us dead," Daieno shrugged, sitting down again.

"Oh? And how do you know that?" Daena asked.

"You would've been dead hours ago if they didn't want you alive," Daieno answered. "You'd've been dead years ago if it weren't for that twin bond thing…" he added under his breath.

"Then what are you proposing we do?" Daena asked, realizing he was getting comfortable again.

"Sit back and wait to see what happens," he answered, folding his arms behind his head.

"…You can't be serious!" Daena exclaimed.

"I can, and I am," Daieno responded. Daena gaped at him for a moment.

"ARGH!"

The first indication that our heroes had made their way back up to the first basement was a scratching noise that caught the attention of Lieutenant Pile, who was sitting in his room, nursing the empty socket where his arm should have been had Ravick's shadow not ripped off the limb.

Pile, hearing a small sound in his personal lavatory one floor below him, initially ignored it as rats or something, but when it persisted he decided to investigate and maybe take a ghostly leak. When Gremlin suddenly popped off the shower drain, a grate like the ones they'd seen below, and burst in through the new hole in the floor, Pile certainly did empty his ghostly bladder, but he missed the toilet.

"Guys!" he screamed, but was quickly silenced when Gremlin shoved his head into the toilet.

"Come on, they might have heard that," Link said, quickly leading the way up a spiral staircase to Pile's room. They peeked into the adjoining bunkroom, were glad to see the soldiers were all asleep, and then crept quickly down the aisles of beds and out the other door. Back in the hub where the three bunkrooms met, they took the southern door to get back to the corridors they began in. To the right at the bottom of the stairs was the door blocking off the next part of the Phantom Citadel. They quickly unlocked this door and found a tiny room with a solitary ladder leading upwards. Link quickly pulled out the map, aware that the soldiers could come looking for them at any moment, and checked where this would lead.

"Let's go. There's a stairway on the other side of the room up here that will lead right to the twins," he said before taking hold of the rungs. He led them up and into another small room. Beyond the door there they found a large hall.

"This looks like the assembly hall," Navi commented. "The king used to hold court here, and sometimes balls too." She looked around a moment more. There was a set of grand double doors at one end of the hall, and the wall opposite it had several doors and a stairway that led up a wide tower. Opposite where they stood was a second set of double doors, though not quite as grand, and that was where they needed to go.

"Move, men! We've got to cut them off!" The three sets of eyes widened at the sound of Pile's voice behind the grand double doors.

"Go!" Navi squeaked in panic, following quickly as the other two dashed for the door on the other side.

Pile and his men flooded the room about two seconds later. "Dellius and Norris, check the stairs to the prisoner's cells!" Pile ordered. "Everyone else take a door and look for them. I don't want them escaping!"

Dellius and Norris quickly made for the doors and nearly broke them down when they burst onto the stairs. They glanced around quickly in the night air and made a dash up the stairs. They were outside and wrapped around the tower up to the second floor where they ended in a wide landing outside the courtyard the prisoners were being held in. When Dellius and Norris reached this landing, they had not found Link, Gremlin, or Navi yet and opened the door into the courtyard.

"Toma, have you guys seen any intruders come through here?" Norris asked.

"They were about yea and yea high with big pointy ears and a green hat," Dellius added, showing completely the wrong heights with his hands, tugging on Norris' ears, and lifting Norris' helmet to demonstrate the hat. Norris smacked his hands away and came close to clouting him across the head, but he doubted it would make any difference.

"No, we haven't seen anyone come through here, but could you let Captain know that the prisoners are awake?" Toma answered, he and his partner having been alerted to Daena's conscious state by her loud yell.

"Will do," Norris answered, closing the door. "Well, at least we seem to have cut them off," he said as they descended the stairs and reentered the hall.

Gremlin, Link, and Navi watched them close the door and finally breathed a sigh of relief. "That close…" Gremlin said. Gremlin was holding onto the wall above the door with two hands and his feet while he held Link up with the other two arms. They had climbed up just before Norris and Dellius had broken in.

"Let's get down and go. We still won't have much time," Link said. Gremlin dropped him gently to the ground and followed up the stairs.

Ravick was pacing nervously about his room, worrying whether or not Sakon had heard about their little slip-up.

"Come on! Just go down to the holding block and wait for the freaks to show up and kill 'em on the spot!" Shadow urged. "You're the Captain of the Hylian military and you know shadow spells these people have never even heard of hearing of." When Ravick didn't respond, Shadow dove into the floor and popped up beside him. "Hello! Unheard of shadow spell speaking! Come on! I'll take one of them! It'll be fun! Like old times!"

"Sorry, Shadow," Ravick responded. "I'm ready to kill the kid, but I'm just nervous about Sakon. The original plan was to not let anyone find us. I'm pretty sure I won't get off easy on that one." As much as he loved killing, he was terrified of the power Sakon and the others had.

"All the more reason to go down there and wait them out! If he's dead before Sakon comes-."

A few seconds passed and Shadow didn't continue. "What was that, Shadow?" Ravick asked, turning to look at him. He wasn't there. Suddenly Ravick realized his torches were out and his room was dark. "Oh, Farore, help m-!" He was suddenly hit by an invisible force, but he was fairly sure of who it was. "Before you say anything-!" he pleaded.

"Is there a reason, Mage, why we can't turn our back on you for one night and not have you screw up your duties!" Sakon demanded, throwing Ravick against the wall.

"Sakon, I-!"

"Did I not tell you expressly to make sure that the boy did not get in the way again?" Sakon cut him off again.

"Funny thing you should mention that, because I just punished my lieutenant for not doing that," Ravick tried to force out a laugh.

"That sounds like an excuse, Mage. Tell me, do I tolerate excuses?" Sakon asked.

"No, you don't. And I'm sorry it happened, but-."

"Zorry? What iz zis zorry?" Dimitra cut in.

"Sorry doesn't get rid of that boy, Ravick!" Sakon shouted.

"Sir, I understand that the prime concern is keeping the Sheikah in custody. So if I can get rid of the boy before they can escape-."

"Funny, I was just about to suggest the same thing," Sakon said without a trace of humor in his voice.

"Really? We must have some kind of mental connection going, right here!" Ravick pointed to his head and then to Sakon's head, which he actually couldn't see, so he was motioning to thin air.

"Mage, I don't know that we've made it quite clear how our relationship works," Sakon said.

"If you are going to work wiss us, you muzt do eczactly as we say or elze you and your men will be zee grave dust, non?" Dimitra explained this to him once again.

"And right now we are saying you must get this boy out of our hair for good," Sakon said.

"Right! I'm on it! I was just about to go when you called!" Ravick said. "Boy, will Shadow be happy. It's been a few hours since he killed anything."

"JUST GO!" He was smacked very hard in the direction of the door. Ravick continued in that direction when they were gone. Just as he reached the door, there was a knock from the other side. Ravick opened it since he was there and saw Pile on the other side again.

"Unless you're here to tell me that the boy has escaped from the sewers and your men have him detained somewhere, Lieutenant…" Ravick said. He paused a moment. "Why are you all wet?"

Pile glanced down at his wet self and suddenly forgot why he was there, "Well, you could have told me they were going to come out of my shower! I pissed myself when the four-armed one popped out! And then he gave me a swirly!"

"Do you mean to tell me they escaped!" Ravick yelled, grabbing Pile by the collar.

"I'm sorry, sir! They caught me by surprise! But we've searched from the main hall to the holding block, and they're not there, so if we guard every entrance to the main hall, we'll definitely catch them before they reach the Sheikah," Pile answered.

"Lieutenant, have you ever heard the expression, 'It's better to be proactive than reactive?'" Ravick asked, releasing his subordinate.

"No, Captain," Pile replied.

"That would explain why you are waiting for them rather than searching for them," Ravick answered, glancing to see that the torches were lit again.

"…Is that what you would like me to tell the men right now?" Pile asked, unnerved by the sudden calmness in his Captain's voice.

"No, Pile, I will do that myself if need be," Ravick answered, putting his arm around Pile's shoulders and leading him into the room. "Pile, I will admit, I have failed to be proactive with you all these years. But I'm about to fix that, Pile." He faced Pile and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Um… don't you mean Lieutenant, Captain?" Pile asked nervously.

"No, not anymore. Does the spot where your arm was hurt?"

"Not as much, sir…"

"We'll fix that then." Ravick snapped his fingers and suddenly Pile was screaming as a barrage of shadow spells were shot through him. Then he was gone and Shadow was standing in his place. Another snap of the fingers and Shadow was on the floor again. Ravick spun toward the balcony with a dramatic swish of the cloak. "If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself…" He stepped out the balcony and glided down to the courtyard the twins were imprisoned in, knowing that the boy was probably already there.

Selphie: Y'know, I had the idea for Bag of Bones months ago, and it seemed so very cool and I thought I'd write about it forever, but then I didn't... Something about it just didn't work.

I had also intended to make the scene where Link finds the hover boots a lot more dramatic, but, again, it just didn't happen that way. Oh, but that book. That book will come into play next chapter. I might just have to make Navi read it.

Daena and Daieno's scene. Foreshadowing. I'm setting them up for something. Just you wait to find out what.

Dellius and Norris just don't get along, do they? Hehehe... I've been wanting to have Link and Gremlin hide on a wall for a long time! That was funny! ...To me anyway...

Oh, and I know in the last chapter Ravick said something about Link being the Hero, but I realized (looking back at my outline) that he wasn't supposed to know who Link was. So, I went back and changed that (in my copy), and I'll go back and change it here at some later date. I tried writing it as Ravick knowing he's the Hero. He had to explain Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker to his Shadow. Then Sakon had to force him to kill Link. But then I thought, Ravick really wouldn't kill the Hero. He's better than that. But he'd kill Link if he thought he was some random kid, so that worked.

We got that mental thing, right here! (points between craniums) And I don't feel bad for Pile. Do you? I felt bad for Shadow because he didn't get to kill him before. Oh, and yay for dramatic cloak swishing! No story is complete without it!

In news completely unrelated to this story, next Thursday is opening night for Once Upon a Mattress! (sings) "We have an opening for a princess; for a genuine, certified princess. Tell us when you intend to end this dilemma we're in!" I'm sooo excited! And we're almost done with costumes! I have a couple repairs to do and three more need to be hemmed. I brought two of them home so I could finish them. I love my sister's sewing machine. But because next week is Hell Week, I can almost guarantee I'll get the urge to write. This usually happens.

Oh, and I'm sorry I haven't posted the maps of devART, but they're too big to save to a floppy and move to the main computer (because our wireless router died and I can't get online from my laptop.) I'll try to figure something out, so eventually they should be up. Anyway...

KIT & KIR. Hasta, folks!