Chapter 43: Depths of Mystery
…
Naturally, one only traveled by holy lift for as long as necessary. Line powered the Conductor to an open field on the western edge of the forest and let the boat down. Link called for the last coil of rope his shore party had not used and tied a bowline on a bight to use as an emergency bosun's chair, which they then used to haul Flower onto the Conductor. This stop also had the fortune of revealing damage to the rope net, caused not by having a tree trunk thrown into it but by Sello's engine. When they hauled in the net, Dholit and Line found that the net had been scorched where the net had hung in front of the metal exhaust pipes in the transom. If their lift to the field had lasted longer than a minute, the net might have caught fire, and, eventually, the whole boat.
Link piloted the launch back to the Island Symphony while Line and Dholit used the few scraps of an old first-aid kit to splint Flower's leg. Once they were close enough, Link fired a purple smoke shell into the air to signal the ship of the emergency. As they landed, Leynne hustled Nester and the rest of the deck crew into the boat deck. Link, Line, and Dholit lowered Flower over the side, where Leynne and Brandon loaded him onto a stretcher. They rushed him to the sick bay. Sello, who had returned to consciousness by then, chose to go halfway down the ladder before slipping and falling the rest of the way. Link helped Dholit and Biluf secure the Conductor before grabbing the mystic lantern and hustling after Flower.
When Link entered the sick bay, he heard a sickening crack.
Ktak!
"D'oh-ho! Agh!" Flower hollered.
"Number Two, go see if I have a sling in that cabinet in back," Nester told Leynne, one hand indicating the far end of the sick bay.
"Yes, Doctoh," Leynne answered.
"By Din's bounce bags, Doc," Flower groaned as he slowly rolled onto his right side. "Why don't you just nail it back in place?"
"Somebody swiped my hammer," Nester replied in a dry tone. Then he carefully placed a hand on Flower's left arm. "Stop whining and roll back here so I can see that leg."
"How is he, Doc?" Link asked.
Nester glanced over at him. Then he returned his attention to Flower. "For a moment, I thought you guys brought me a jigsaw puzzle," he said. "Dislocated shoulder, broken leg, head injury… what happened?"
"The Night threw a tree at us."
Nester paused to give Link a bewildered look. "It… w-what?"
"It what?!" Leynne asked as he hustled back to Nester with the sling.
"It ripped the tree we were using as an anchor out of the ground," Link explained. "Then it chucked it at the launch. He was still on the ground trying to pass Sello up."
"Goddesses above…" Leynne uttered.
"Mister Flower," Nester said, snapping his fingers twice to direct Flower's attention away from his broken leg. "Do you remember getting hit?"
"I don't know," Flower replied. "I'd just shoved the chief up onto the boat… the next thing I know, I'm on the ground with a pounding headache and the captain's asking me if I'm all right."
"Did it look like he was unconscious at all?" Nester asked Link.
"I-I don't think so," Link replied. "Dholit hollered to get my attention, and it looked like he was moving around. We grabbed onto the net, and Line lifted us out as soon as possible."
Nester heaved a sigh as he probed the break in Nester's leg. "I hope whatever you guys were doing out there was worth it," he grumbled.
"D-ouch!" Flower hollered.
"Will he be all right?" Link asked.
"The only thing I'm worried about is his head," Nester said. "I can set this leg, and I've reduced his shoulder, but he's gonna be off the roster for at least four months."
"Four months?" Link repeated.
"That's roughly how long it's gonna take before these bones set right," Nester told him. "And unless they set right the first time, I may have to rebreak the leg."
"Wahba-doo, huh?" Flower stuttered.
"And to make sure I don't have to do that, he's gone off-duty just this second," Nester concluded. "You're gonna feel a little pinch here."
"GAH!" Flower hollered, hands wringing out the bed sheets. "AUGH!"
"Tricky break," Nester commented.
"Still waiting for that pinch, Doc," Flower growled as he tried to swallow back the urge to shout more. "And maybe some pain killers?"
"It'll have to wait until I fix this leg. Captain, I'm afraid you're gonna be sleeping in the cargo bay."
"Do I need to get my gear out?" Link asked.
Nester clicked his tongue at the equipment near Flower's feet. "Let me finish setting this leg," he said. "Then you can get your junk."
Leynne, after setting the sling on the bed, put a hand on Link's shoulder. "May we step outside, Captain?" he said, disgust prevalent on his face. "I… I'm afraid I don't have the stomach to watch this wohk…"
Link nodded and said, "Sure."
Leynne led Link back into the cargo bay. Then he turned around and asked, "How did the excuhsion go?"
"Oh, yeah," Link said once he remembered the heavy lantern in his hand. He held it up for Leynne to see. "Paid off."
Leynne, however, gave the lantern a difficult look. "I cannot say I would repeat the sentiment," he admitted.
"I know, I know," Link said. "It looks bad."
"A lantehn without a wick oh candle doesn't pahticulahly suhprise me," Leynne said. "From a previous discussion with Ihleen, it seems that Sorians have a habit of enchanting strange items. But was it broken when you found it?"
Link looked at the lantern. "Oh, man!" he whined as he used his other hand to turn it. One of the glass panels was missing, only a couple of small shards in the frame indicating that it had once existed. He sighed and said, "No, it wasn't broken…"
"What happened?" Leynne asked.
"It must've happened when we got back to the Conductor," he said. "Maybe I dropped it; I-I don't know. We were in such a hurry to leave, I guess I wasn't paying attention."
"Do you have any idea what it is supposed to do?"
Link sighed again as he let his arms and the lantern fall to his sides. "No," he admitted. "Sello and I left the moment we found it."
"And The Night didn't touch you?" Leynne asked.
"It almost sucked me back in," Link said. "It doesn't seem like it did anything to me, but I've already warned the shore party. You might wanna pass the word around to say something if I start acting strange."
"Of couhse," Leynne answered. "Howeveh, I have to admit some reluctance. It isn't as if the crew has had the best judgment lately."
Link shrugged. "It'll have to do."
…
Once Flower was finished screaming, Link and Leynne retrieved Link's equipment and set it in a bench next to the cot he had been using in the cargo hold. He paid Beech a visit and discovered that, although he looked sickly, he was forcing himself to at least join the other crewmembers for meals (for what was left of mealtime, considering they had had to switch to rations). According to him, Dholit had been straightforward with her own misgivings about him. Link found him to be such a motormouth that Link could not quite keep up with his thoughts. The best he could follow was that Beech understood the crew's feelings better.
Following that, Link returned to his cabin to talk to Irleen about the lantern. She spent a few minutes circling it.
Then she told Link, "I… don't really get it."
Link, sitting at his chair with the lantern directly in front of him, gave her a confused look. "You don't have anything?" he asked.
"I see life, not magic," she replied. "Never mind that this is simply a branch of magic that… well, it probably leaves the mystics themselves stumped. There's no life in it, so we know that whatever it does, it's simply pure magic. The problem is that I can't read mystic devices like I can Grey devices. Only another mystic can figure out what it's for."
Link turned the glass with the eye emblem toward her. "But this is one of the mystics' objects, right?"
"Of course. But it doesn't mean much since we don't really know what it's for. It could illuminate the mine for you, but then, we can't be sure if it would just do it automatically or if you actually have to light it."
Link tilted the lantern up to look at the bottom. "Did we miss some instructions or something?"
"Mystics aren't usually in the habit of jotting down instructions. A bunch of their magic is taught orally so that it stays with the mystics only."
"Are the Greys the same way?"
Irleen hesitated as she alighted on the desk so that her glow illuminated the bottom of the lantern. "Not really," she admitted. "Don't get me wrong; the Greys are pretty smart in their own field. It's just that their work is so technical they have to write things down. Casual practitioners are the same way. It's kinda why I wouldn't really count on finding any of the mystics' plans around here."
Link set the lantern down. "You mean they wouldn't leave instructions so others could continue their work?" he asked in a worried tone.
Irleen heaved a sigh. "Yeah, it's kinda one of their quirks. I wanna say that it all has to do with the fundamental laws of language. That no one can really tell the truth because language always obscures the truth. Writing things down is worse because meaning can change depending on a single stroke. Or something like that."
Link frowned. "So… if all their teaching is done orally, how do they know it can be trusted?"
Irleen groaned. "What can I say, Link?" she answered in a defeated tone. "They're mystics. It's a mystery on-par with figuring out how Sello loses his couch. How'd that go, by the way? Taking Sello into the mine?"
"I don't know if I'd count on making it too far even if this works," Link replied. "When we woke it up, it grabbed the tree Sello and I were anchored to and spat it out at the Conductor. Flower thinks the tree hit him; broken leg, dislocated shoulder, and he can't remember being hit."
"Ugh," Irleen uttered, shivering as if to cringe. "Is he gonna be okay?"
"Nester said that his head might be the biggest problem. He'll be watching Flower for the next few days. But… it's another man down; his leg won't be healed for another four months."
"Yeah. Cale and Line have been trying to keep me in the loop. Isn't Flower one of your shift supervisors?"
Link nodded. "He supervises the night shift. Leynne's been more active for the night shift anyway, so we should be covered."
Irleen sighed. "I wish I could do more, Link," she said.
"You're doing plenty giving us some of the minor details," Link said.
The cabin door opened, causing Link to look up in surprise. The person entering was Cale. "Ihleen, ħakī kapùwa?" he asked.
Then he froze just two steps into the cabin. He had gone from uninterested to wide-eyed surprise so fast that Link could not help but notice. Link was sure this was because Cale realized that he had just barged into Link's cabin, something which he must have gotten used to since Link had not been using it very much in the past two weeks. He could hardly blame Cale, especially since Irleen could not answer the door.
Link grinned at him and asked, "Come for Irleen?"
"Y-yes, saah," Cale stuttered. "I-I'm sohry, I didn't mean to intrude."
"No, it's okay," Link said as he stood up. "We were just chatting anyway."
"And you misspoke my name again," Irleen told him in an irritated voice, giving both boys the impression that she had crossed her arms in the following huff. "I've already told you it annoys me that you keep forgetting the last syllable of my name."
"How can you tell?" Link asked while Cale mumbled something and glanced down at the deck. "I thought it didn't really matter whether we were speaking Hylian or Sorian because all you hear is Sorian."
"From the person holding the gem, it's practically perfect," Irleen explained. "There's always some interference from people not holding the gem. If they're speaking a different dialect, the gem gets a little sloppy. Names are always the worst, but no one really knows why."
Link pulled the gem from his pocket and gave it a flat look. "Man," he said. "When you say 'technical', you really mean it, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know, we are a society of weirdos," Irleen said.
"I-I don't mean to intehrupt," Cale said, "but we did intend to go to the library this aftehnoon…"
Link glanced over his shoulder at the window behind him. "It must be partway into the afternoon now," he pointed out to Cale. "I don't think you'll have enough time. And Line already went out with my shore party earlier. I don't think he's up for another one."
"Mistah Huntah volunteahed to accompany us," Cale explained. "Nestah has just cleahed him foh duty, and he said that he's going stih-crazy being inside foh so long."
"Still, it doesn't sound like a lot of time," Link commented. Then he asked Irleen, "Have you been getting close to finding what you need?"
"I think so, but it's still gonna take a bit," Irleen said. "I think I can knock out a few shelves."
Link nodded. "Just make sure you're back quick," he said. "I don't think The Night will be in a good mood tonight."
…
~~Same Day. Evening.
~~We almost lost Flower. When we came out of the mine, The Night pulled out the tree we were using and threw it at the Conductor! Flower was still on the ground while we were loading up, and the tree might have hit him. Dislocated shoulder, broken leg, head injury. Nester says he isn't gonna be able to work for four months. It's apparently the cost of an item the Sorian mystics left behind. Even then, I'm worried it might not amount to much. The lantern we retrieved was broken at some point. We can only hope it works; we still don't know what it does.
…
When Link woke in the dream world that night, his first clear thought led him to roll off the cot in defense of himself.
Thump. "Ugh." He only succeeded in bringing a fresh wave of pain from landing on his left side. He took in a hiss of a breath and groaned, "Maaaan…"
"Your hero, ladies and gentlemen," a female voice chirped up from nearby.
Link grunted as he pushed himself up. "Could've been worse," he said as he used the cot to help himself up. "I could've still been awake when I did that. Besides." He rested his arms on the cot to look at Janni, who stood on the other side of the cot with her arms crossed and a smug grin on her face. "I remember the last time I wanted to go see The Night when it was mad at me."
"Yeah," Janni said with a deepening grin. "Your doctor should be glad he didn't have to clean up that mess."
"I'll take your word for it." Link hauled himself to his feet and stretched for a moment. "I'm surprised it's even allowing me to wake up at all."
"You know?" Janni said as she glanced around, curiosity decorating her face. "Me, too. It was plenty pissed when it threw that tree at you." She grinned and looked at him. "Which, by the way, looks absolutely hilarious when you're watching from the side. Did you see that thing flying?"
"I was busy trying to get my crew out," Link told her, having stopped in the middle of twisting his torso to deliver an annoyed glare.
Her smug grin returned as she told him, "Oh, don't act like I'm supposed to care about your crew like that. You're still deluded if you think you've got it beat just because it hasn't killed you yet."
"Well, that's the fun part," Link told her as he rounded the cot. Janni quickly popped up from the deck and floated out of the way, as if she was expecting Link to hit her. Instead, Link started grabbing his gear from the bench sitting against the bulkhead. "As long as I'm here, it hasn't beaten me, either."
"Yeah, sure," Janni told him in a dismissive tone. "Let's remind The Night how insane you are."
Link was about to respond when he realized something. The lantern he had found was actually lit. He had first mistaken the light as coming from the lamp nailed to the bulkhead above. However, he saw that it had a faint glow inside. Even stranger, the source of the light did not flicker like a flame. He picked up the lantern and held it close to his face. Once he saw the shape of the light source, he glanced around to confirm what he thought he had seen. Then he looked back at the light just to be certain.
It was just as it appeared. The light was not any sort of combustion or electricity. Instead, the "light" was a small, glowing model of the deck around him. The outer edge must have been just a stone's throw away from where he stood. The lantern even allowed him to see the inside of the berthing deck just on the other side of the bulkhead, even into the corner of the sick bay although quite faint and vague. Then again, so was the rest of the image he saw. The glow offered no definite shapes. A blue shape just barely recognizable as a human form stood at the center of the orange-yellow scene. From the way Link stood, he reasoned that the blue form was him. Janni also had a corresponding image in a green lozenge standing nearby. And Layna on the cot behind him…
Purple. Almost black.
Link turned around to look at Layna lying on her own cot against the hull. The bandage on her neck had been changed recently. The flicker of lamplight over her body only suggested movement. Link had to lean in closer to see that her chest was only barely rising and falling, and she hardly made a sound. He knew that she was an alert sleeper, so it was a little disturbing to look at her and not have her react to him.
Then, in the faint light around the cargo hold, he saw a small shimmer fall from her eye.
Link set down the lantern and pulled the Dreamweaver's Shield on. Then he picked up the lantern again and started for the stairs. His words were terse as he told Janni, "Let's go."
…
Link went about his nightly routine of gathering up a few spare odds and ends from the orlop before taking the Conductor out. Seeing Layna on the cot had lit his determination to see through his execution of The Night. The more he thought about her, the more he realized he could not give up. The Night had made a mistake in feeding her the impulse to slit her own throat, just as it had made a mistake attacking the boat directly and injuring Flower. They only ensured that Link returned to fight once more.
These were the thoughts that repeated in Link's head as he sailed over the island to land in the mine again. The storm around them gave its distant roar and flash of light perhaps a little more tonight than any other night. At least, that was Link's impression. Despite attacking earlier in retaliation for bringing Sello in, The Night did not conceal the mouth of the mine. If anything, The Night had decorated the exterior of the cave with stone pillars bearing shallow cauldrons at the top, both lit to show the Sorian buildings nearby. He brought the Conductor nearby and dropped over the transom, not even concerned with mooring the launch to something.
As Link approached the mine, he was reminded that he was still in The Night's realm. He stopped between the pillars. And he said to himself, "Okay, let's try to play this smart."
"That's probably the only way you'll make it through this," Janni said as she fluttered in front of him in her fairy form. "Oh, but I do love it when you charge in, too. Remember when you smacked into that wall in the river technoworks?"
Link had just switched the lantern to his right hand and was trying to hold it comfortably while also making it possible to see the lantern past the edge of the Dreamweaver's Shield. "Just counting the cuckoos bouncing around my head," he told her. He twisted his wrist a couple of times. "How am I…?"
"You could hold it in your other hand," Janni pointed out.
"I need my other hand for the sword," Link said. He raised the lantern to eye level, held out just enough that the light was not blinding him. Then he noticed that there was no light from one side of the lantern and turned it in his fingers. The side of the lantern that did not let him see his surroundings was the same side with the glass missing. "Hmm," he grunted as he turned the lantern again so that side was facing away from him. "This is gonna wear out my arm pretty quick."
"I'd offer to hold it for you," Janni said as Link pulled his sword out. "But that would make things too easy for you. Call it a weakness, but I love watching you do things yourself."
Link gave her an annoyed look. "Then why do you even say anything?"
"Because it bugs you."
Link started forward. "If I needed someone to bug me, I'd bring Line."
Once Link was across the threshold between what he had loosely began to identify as the "normal" dream and The Night's dream, he immediately realized that The Night had done something quite different. Of course, Link did not expect to step into the same corridor as he had twice before; both Janni and The Night itself had made it clear that The Night did not function in that manner. However, Link expected that it would have kept its premise of plunging Link into pure darkness.
So when Link saw dark grey clouds swirling at the top of his vision, he was quite surprised to see that the corridor he now stood in was open to the air above. A look up revealed that the walls of this wider corridor stretched high into the air, black edges framing the clouds beyond. Link's best estimate of the distance said that it would be impossible for him to jump that high with the feather in his pocket. And the presence of the clouds caused a shiver to charge throughout his body. What could it be planning this time?
"Janni," Link said as he stared at the clouds, his footsteps slow as he looked in awe. "A sky."
"Oooookay…" Janni droned with a tone of mild bewilderment.
"That's… not normal for this place, is it," Link said.
"This is definitely a first," Janni said. "I mean, I can't say I go in here very often, but I have never seen anything like this. Well, I've never seen anything in this technoworks."
"I thought the theme was supposed to be 'pure darkness'."
"I'm sure you did. But it isn't."
Link looked at her. "What is it?"
"It's a mystery."
Link gave her an irritated look. "Really?"
"What?" Janni asked in genuine innocence.
"Do I look like I wanna deal with guessing games right now?"
"I was answering you, you rock head."
Link's face changed to a confused expression. "What do you mean?"
"'Mystery' is the theme. I've told you twice now."
"You… did?"
"Yes! Mystery. The unknown. What could be worse than an enemy standing in front of you?" Link's response was a shrug. "How about an enemy standing in front of you, and you can't even see it?"
Link shivered again. "You gotta be kidding! Wouldn't that be the same as the river!?"
"Nope," Janni answered in a delighted tone. "The river made you question whether what you saw was real or not. Whether the corridor was really there, or if someone just happened to paint a wall to look like a corridor. Whether a door was just a door or a massive, killer trap. (Which I still think was hilarious.) Are things as they appear, or is there something there you don't see? That is not this place. Here, you don't even get the luxury of guessing whether things are as they appear. Do you know for sure what crushed you to death that first day?"
"Yeah," Link said. "A giant."
"Really?" Janni asked with a challenging tone. "You saw it? For sure?"
"We—… well, no…" Link admitted as he recalled that all he saw was something green spontaneously dropping out of the sky.
"At least, when you got decapitated that first night in the river, I could tell you that it was that statue you walked by. But here? You've been killed four times trying to get through these technoworks, and neither one of us can say for sure what killed you every time. Oh, you came close the last time. But that's probably as close as you'll ever get."
"I still don't get h—" Link started.
Then he froze mid-sentence. Something was wrong. Every fiber of Link's being suddenly felt like it was screaming at him. He did not know what it was, but something had changed in the span of him attempting to argue his lack of understanding and reacting to nothing he really noticed. He glanced to his left.
And a flash of red disappeared from the wall next to him.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx… The sound was rough, almost like the wind blowing if the wind was made of two massive sheets of sandpaper scraping against each other. Just the noise itself made Link cringe. XxxxxxxxXXXXXXX… And it was raising in volume.
"That ca—" Janni started to say.
GARRSHHHHHH! The piercing sound of impact heralded the roar of stone collapsing. A gust struck Link from behind while the floor under him jolted, forcing him to adjust his stance. However, he found nothing but black when he looked over his shoulder.
Then he had to look away from the ensuing blast of dust. "Agh!" he growled as he used the back of his left hand to wipe away the dust. He had to holler over the continuing sound of something nearby collapsing, "What happened!?"
"I don't know; I can't see anything!" Janni hollered back. "Wow, what a wreck!"
From among the lingering rumble of the first impact, Link just barely heard another sound. Xxxxxxxxxxxx…
Link gave a loud cough against the dust building in his windpipe. "Janni, it's co—" Link's throat choked up, forcing him to cough again.
XxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXX…
"Oh, crap…" Janni uttered.
GHARRRSHHHHHH! The second crash overwhelmed Link's senses. The sound was so loud that he suddenly felt deaf. The ensuing burst of force flung him off his feet and onto the floor hard, causing him to land on his left shoulder blade and strike his head. Both the lantern and the sword fell from his hands. He was lost in the dark and kept his eyes pressed shut against the pain and the dust flying through the air. He felt pebbles pelt his body for a moment.
Once things seemed to clear, he dared to open his eyes. On the floor before him was the glowing form of the lantern. He grabbed it and pulled it close to examine it through the dust stinging his eyes. He could make out the parallel walls and the floor of the surrounding corridor aglow in orange. He could not have been very far into the technoworks, but it appeared that the corridor stretched backwards beyond where the entrance should have been. He saw the blue form that should have been him lying on the ground and a green point of light hovering nearby.
And right next to where he lay, almost touching the blue figure, was a large wall revealed to him in almost a blood-red color and set perpendicular to the corridor to cut off the entrance. A smaller wall (likely appearing smaller because of the distance) just beyond the first appeared as another red wall. Although he could not see his surroundings, he realized that he would have had to walk through those walls in order to get where he was. And he quite certainly had not needed to walk through a wall.
He grunted as he willed his muscles into forcing him off the ground. "C'mon, Janni," he said with a heavy tone. "We gotta get outta here."
"I will when the bell stops ringing…" Janni groaned from nearby.
Link turned with the lantern held out to locate his sword. He quickly spotted it to his right, aglow in the lantern's light.
Xxxxxxxxx…
Link hunched forward and yanked his sword off the ground. "Now! Let's go!" Link hollered.
"Which way?!" Janni cried out, genuine panic coloring her voice.
Xxxxxxxxx…
Link glanced at the lantern. If the red walls were gonna appear on the way he came from…
XXXXXXXX…
Link pointed in the direction away from where the lantern was showing the red walls. "This way!"
GHARRSHHHHHH! The same chaotic choir struck up again on top of where Link stood, a crescendo of heavy metal striking stone followed by the thunder of the latter material falling in defeat and ruin.
And if it had struck half a second sooner, it might have landed on top of Link himself.
Link could hear the aftermath of the impact. Once it settled down, all he had to listen to was the thrumming whoosh whoosh of the invisible architecture nearby as his boots carried him down the corridor at incredible speed, Janni a flicker of black-green light trailing him. His footfalls felt clumsy here and there, the effect of trying to run while not being able to pump his arms. He had to keep the lantern in sight so that he could see when he was reaching a turn or (should The Night feel so cruel) dead end. He did not have time to stop and replace his sword, so he held it at arm's length at his side in case he needed to swing it in a hurry. With the rush of air flowing past his head, he could not hear much else going on around him; even Janni's voice was drowned down to an incomprehensible noise.
GARRRSHHHH! This made it hard to tell when the next wall was falling. Link's speed dropped to normal as he stumbled. He recovered easily and returned to his previous speed.
GARRRSHHHHH! Again, Link fell to normal speed for a moment as he tried to keep from tripping. That one sounded closer. As in it was not only much closer behind him, but it fell a little sooner than the previous wall.
GARRRSHHHHHH! Link hoped the dust taste in his mouth was from the wall further back. The rocking floor forced him to slow for a little longer so that he could avoid falling face-first.
GARRRSHHHHHHH! The corridor stretched forever! At least, that was Link's belief as, yet again, the impact threatened to send him tumbling to the floor. He needed a turn or something to hide behind. The next one—
GHARRSHHHHHHH! They were coming too fast! Link was sure the next one would catch him.
GHARRSHHHHHHHH! Dirt spat into his face as he slowed to save himself from falling. His vision blurred. He just bar—
There! Link suddenly turned left. He did not have time to slow for the stairs. He simply flung himself into the narrow gash.
GARRSHHHH!
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" Link cried out as he fell.
