Chapter 16: Guide Out of the Ivory

…

The walk back to the ship felt like it had taken twice as long as the walk into the settlement. Link caused this by dragging his feet, his thoughts still dwelling on events back at Maroon's shop. Irleen was in the same mood as she hovered along by Link's shoulder. Her light even seemed weaker as they passed over the invisible plain between the settlement and the Island Symphony. Layna only kept her pace slow for Link, her face a concerned look aimed at his back for most of the walk.

Link's primary problem was the pang of dread he was feeling. He had thought that no one could come to harm so long as he was careful. Even if Irleen said that their brand of life was too weak, it still hurt that they had met someone and lost him in the same day. It dragged up memories of those lost when Cunimincus made his move on Hyrule. Worse still, he remembered the dream he had had last night, the dream in which those same souls had accused him of being responsible for their deaths. Try as he might, he could not come to terms with everyone. He lost one of his own airmen to Cunimincus, and he had nearly lost his best friend. The same dreadful thoughts kept popping into his head. What if it was happening again? What if his crew really was in danger?

What if he could not stop it this time?

Once he was aboard the Island Symphony, he dismissed Layna with a tired word. Irleen continued to follow him into his cabin. Once inside, Link turned on the light and looked around. There was still a stain on the floor where he had thrown up, and his bed looked like it had been tossed about. Irleen, without a further word, settled into her own bed. Link simply kicked off his boots, took all of his belts off to drop them on his footlocker, turned the light back off, and collapsed on the cool, sweaty bed. His fatigue fought with his paranoia over what he should be doing now. He feared another nightmare, but he did not want to be awake all night and look like a complete mess in the morning. He took off his hat to place it between his face and a pillow. His feelings conflicted for a little longer, but his fatigue conquered. Just a matter of minutes later, he fell asleep.

When he woke up, it was because of the sunlight above him. His bed felt like it had turned to grass. He had to open his eyes to find out what had happened to his cabin.

As he stood, he found that his cabin was simply gone. The grass beneath him had been pressed into the ground, as if he had fallen onto it. Surrounding him was a large, open field. He had about a five-pace diameter of simple grass to himself.

The rest was a field of flowers. And not just any flowers. Link found himself gazing across a whole field, reaching beyond his vision, made of folded paper flowers.

He stepped to the edge of his lonely patch of grass and tore a blue flower free of its thick, rolled stem. His fingers carefully probed the folds of the petals and popped loose the silver button serving as the flower's center. He unfolded the flower gently, trying to follow the creases so as not to tear it. What he got was a square sheet of blue paper which he marveled at for a moment, awestruck by how such a simple thing could appear so elegant with just the right folding.

His eyes wandered the field again in search of an answer. He could already feel that things were different with this dream. For one thing, he was certain it was a dream. These kinds of dreams had played with his perception before. He knew by the way he was thinking that this could only be a dream, that he was not really standing in a field of flowers. He was back on the Island Symphony, sound asleep. That being his conclusion, he feared that this would become another nightmare. He would have to wait for some kind of surprise to pop out of the flowers to scare him back into consciousness.

But then, that would skip over his second piece of evidence that he was sleeping. She sat on the ground among the flowers to his left, where his peripheral vision just barely noticed. So Link turned to face her.

Princess Zelda rose, revealing herself to be wearing a white airman's tunic with a belt held closed with a triangular buckle pointing up. Her long, blond hair had been woven into a braid that she left draped over her right shoulder. When she opened her blue eyes, they stood out brighter than ever with the midday sky at her back. Her hands were gloved, although… there was something about them that he could not quite figure out. He watched her carefully step through the flowers around her, the legs of her white slacks gently pushing them aside. She was barefoot, and this made Link wonder to what extent Zelda chose her current outfit.

This was nothing new to Link, although Zelda had changed her appearance compared to that single day he had spoken to her before the Island Symphony left the realm. Two years ago, she had obtained one of Irleen's magical stones. This one, originally given to a Sorian captain, contained an "imprint" of Link's mind. It was supposed to have been used so that the captain could deal with Link's Hylian crew, but circumstances had forced him to pass it on to Zelda. Zelda had a kind of magic of her own, a magic described as "making miracles". At first, Link exchanged dreams with her, her nightmares of being captured and imprisoned on the Smiling Gunner for his experiences on the surface. Then she had learned how to control the power and would affect Link's dreams so that she could converse with him. The experience had been disorienting and tiring, but it had also been the only thing keeping both of them from losing their minds. Well, they hoped they had not lost their minds. Zelda had perfected the magic until she was able to interact with him outside a dream, but the one thing she had always done best was replace his dreams with something she had invented so that they had been able to talk. Up until a few months ago, she had even switched out their dreams, if only to embarrass him on occasion. It had ended when she had spied on a dream that Link could not remember but had clearly left her hating his company for a whole month.

Link breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, I'm glad you decided to take me away from my dreams," he told her.

"You've had nightmares." Her voice was confident; there was no question in the tone. She kept her face unreadable, and this quickly raised warnings in the back of Link's mind.

He took in a deep breath and told her, "Yeah."

"Dark," she said, stopping at the edge of his clearing. "Violent."

Link nodded. "I've had… I've had a lot on my mind lately. This place… somehow, the creepiness just gets to you."

"You found the island?"

Link nodded again. "And the library. We're still exploring; we've only been here for two days."

"Two days…" the princess repeated. She cast her attention to one side as if she was trying to process the thought. Link tried to do the same with his own concerns. He felt something very… wrong? Dire? Whatever the matter, it was clear that he should be worried.

"Link, something is wrong with your dreams," she finally told him.

Link blinked for a moment, entirely dumbfounded by the statement. He glanced around. Then he said, "I don't think this is mine."

Zelda shook her head. "No, Link. I cannot have you doubt me now. You are in danger. You should leave."

Link put on a confused frown. "Leave? Leave what? This dream?" Zelda shook her head. "Leave… leave the island?" Zelda nodded. But Link shook his head. "We can't. We don't have the—"

"Link," she interrupted him. She took another stride forward. "Please take me seriously."

"I-I am," Link replied.

She offered her hands out to him. He was hesitant at first, but he took them into his own hands while thinking that it might not be as appropriate as it seemed. His hands touched something sticky, and he looked down.

Her hands were covered in bandages. Flesh that had not been covered by the many small bandages had been cut. Link thought they looked like a cucco had scratched them up.

"Holy shit!" Link said as he turned over one of her hands to examine the palm. Her palm had been wrapped with a larger piece of gauze. "What happened to your hands? Is this—is this real?"

"Yes, Link," she replied. "Throughout the day, I had been folding flowers until they were all that I could dream. I had to focus on something else. I had to contact you."

Link looked up and found her leaning close enough that her brilliant, sky-blue eyes made his heart soar with childish anxiety. Once he was beyond his original reaction, he could see that her emotionless mask had dropped. What replaced it caused his heart to beat in his ears like it was trying to escape his head. The concern, the sympathy, the panic… she had let all of these feelings show so strong that more warning flags rose in Link's mind.

"I had to find you again," she told him. "To warn you."

Link swallowed a lump in the back of his throat. "Of what?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

She leaned just a little closer. For a moment, Link thought that their lips would touch.

"Your nightmares are watching you."

He wished she had not whispered it; it only made the situation that much creepier. A shiver ran up his spine. He wanted to laugh it off, wanted to tell her that it was absurd. But he knew better.

Wind kicked up out of nowhere, surprising both of them. They stepped apart so they could cover their faces as dirt blinded them. The flowers around them tore from their stems. Link heard Zelda cry out and dared to look at her.

A dark shadow had taken her from behind. It held her by her hair, forcing her to yield to the shadow or else have her scalp ripped clean. Link recognized the shadow, especially when it stepped from behind her. It was not the princess. As mundane an observation that was, Link truthfully almost saw the princess in that shadow. But once she turned Zelda to gain better control of her, the shadow turned back to Link to show that its face was shattered. A large chunk of glass was missing from its forehead above its left eye. Cracks covered its face, including bisecting its left eye and cheek all the way to its jawline. Slivers of its lips, nose, and right eye had also disappeared. Its left thigh and its right forearm were among places where the surface of its body sported white, spider web-like cracks under the surface. Its left hand was missing the thumb. As it pulled Zelda away from him, it gave him a cold glare.

"SHE'S MINE, BOY!" the shadow said with the high-pitched voice of a little girl speaking through a mouth full of broken glass.

Link was only taken aback for just the few second he needed to recognize the shadow. He proceeded to shout, "I'm not scared of you!"

Then he cried out when something struck his right cheek. It had been small, but it had felt like a rock. He put his hand on his cheek. When he felt warmth, so he glanced at the hand. Blood, a smear across his fingers. He looked to his right into the wind.

The shadow gave a shrill laugh as Link was suddenly pelted with Zelda's flowers. He raised a hand to protect his face from what felt like more rocks. One of the flowers caught in his elbow, and he used his other hand to grab it. He flinched when his hand closed around the petals, and he dropped it to where the wind was pushing it against his chest. It afforded him the opportunity to see that it was still one of Zelda's flowers.

But it was made of glass.

A stronger gust coupled with even more glass knocked Link to the ground. He landed on his side, but he rolled onto his stomach as yet more glass began to pelt and shred him. His back was exposed to the biting wind and flayed so bad that he caught himself screaming and dug his chin into the ground. His arms were torn as he kept his head covered.

Just when he thought it would not end, he could feel the glass lift away with the wind. He was cautious as he looked up; the last time he had fought with this "shadow", she had not been without her own form of cruelty, especially when she had looked like now.

Instead, he looked up to see that the shadow was holding a hand over Zelda's mouth while Zelda struggled against her. One of Zelda's wrists slipped her grasp, and she pulled the shadow's hand away. "Link!" she hollered as the two of them rose into the air with no reason. "It's in the tower! What you need is in the tower!"

"What tower!?" Link shouted back.

"ENOUGH!" the shadow screamed. Link watched as she summoned a handful of flowers to her hand. Zelda immediately tried to pull the hand away as the glass formed into a long dagger. The struggle, though, resulted in Zelda's hand slipping from the shadow's wrist. The shadow plunged the dagger into Zelda's chest, and Zelda froze with a wide-eyed look on her face.

Link felt his whole body grow cold. He wanted to call out to her, to do something to make sure what he had not seen was not real. He had completely forgotten that it was a dream and that Zelda should be all right.

He was reminded when he started to run toward her and bashed his knee into the bulkhead behind his bed.

The sound caused Irleen to holler in surprise while Link released a pained shout. Irleen rose from her bed and cried out, "Link, what's wrong!?"

Link let out a groan and rolled over as he held his knee. "I hit my knee," he moaned.

Irleen heaved a sigh. "Link, we really need to nail pillows to the bulkheads," she told him. "And maybe the deck. These dreams are getting intense."

Link blinked as he recalled events from the dream. It seemed to push aside the pain in his knee. "No," he said as he slowly sat up. "No, it wasn't a dream. Zelda was trying to warn me."

"Zelda? I thought she wasn't talking to you anymore." Then Irleen, as she rose, shivered side to side, creating a bell-like ring. "Wait a minute. Warn you? About what?"

Link paused as he raked a hand through his hair. Then he slid the hand down over his eyes and gave a frustrated sigh. "I-I'm trying to think," he told Irleen. "She said… she said… that my nightmares were watching me."

Irleen allowed a moment's pause. Then she said, "Well that's perfectly cryptic."

"I don't think she had a lot of time," Link said. "I don't know how, but… even though she was controlling the dream? It turned into a nightmare."

Irleen fell silent again, a little longer this time. "Did she say anything else?"

Link blew out another sigh. "I'm trying to remember. I know she wanted us to leave right away."

"Do we have the supplies to get back?"

Link shook his head. "We only just found water. We need food."

"Did she say anything else?"

"Ugh… Something about a tower, I think."

"A tower? What tower?"

Link placed both hands behind his neck and let his arms hang powerless for a moment. "She didn't get that far. She said… she said, 'It's in the tower. What you want is in the tower'. Or something like that."

"Link, I was in plays that were less vague. My parents were in plays less vague." Irleen paused to think about her statement. "I don't think I ever understood how their characters followed what they were being told. They seemed to run on a weird kind of logic, really. I mean, if you know the princess has been kidnapped, why would the little mushroom-headed guy know where the princess was taken, and how does the hero know where the bad guy lives?"

Link let his arms drop and looked up at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Convoluted plots."

Link rubbed his fingers in his eyes. "Okay, well, the only towers I know about are all on the surface. We can't build towers here in the sky."

"Hang on a minute, Link. I think you're missing something. There is a tower in the sky."

"What tower?" Link asked, confused.

"Are you serious? Link, just what do you call that large building in the middle of the island?"

"What, the…" Link began to ask as he pointed at the far bulkhead and the island beyond it. Then it struck him that she was right. He felt stupid for a moment until he asked what seemed to be an obvious question. "How would Zelda even know about that tower?"

Irleen hovered in a small ring in the air as if she was imitating an eye roll. "C'mon, Link, she's a princess who talks to you in your dreams. Are you really gonna question what she has to say?"

Link heaved a sigh. "I guess not, but I've got a bad feeling about this."

"That's just part of the territory we're in," Irleen told him as she settled back in her bed.

"Okay," Link said with a relenting tone. "I'll take a look in the morning."

"Link. Look out the window."

Link glanced at the frosted-glass windows at the back of his cabin. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as he saw that a few broken rays of sunlight had already found their way inside.

…

Link did not jump right into work. Instead, he managed a short nap to help stave off his fatigue before gearing up. He left with Irleen still taking a nap under his cap, her own fatigue catching up with her. After a word with Lilly and Stan, the nightshift cook, down in the galley about cutting back on using their supplies, he dug out one of the two-year-old crates of rations. As he breakfasted on one, the bland, preserved taste meant to last for the next ten years reminded him of days spent sleeping in a mining barracks, running from his fellow Skyriders, and surviving the maw of a demonic bird. It seemed to him that those months were much easier than the past two nights. But then, he told himself that it was only his drowsiness talking. Once he had the ration down, he found that he was a little less sleepy. He hoped that he would be a little more ready for whatever the day had for him.

When he came back onto the main deck, he found that some of the dayshift had already showed up for duty, at least half of them in varying states of drowsiness. At the same time, Leynne and Gold returned. Link gave Leynne a few instructions regarding the day crew before recruiting Line and Gillam to accompany him. Once Link had made the selection, he became aware that Layna had disappeared from sight and told her out loud to remain behind. The answer was Layna returning to Dholit's side, surprising Dholit in a manner everyone was familiar with. He also told Leynne that he wanted to see the command staff (and Airman Lawrence, who had been more receptive of meetings than his direct superior, Chief Sello) to address the crew's thoughts from last night. Personally, he refused to believe that the island was causing the crew to have bad dreams and insomnia. However, he had to admit that Layna's report of being watched still bothered him.

Silence filled the walk to the settlement, the only sound heard being shuffling clothes and Line's new pair of boots clapping against the stone expanse. Although Line and Gillam had not reported it, Link suspected that they might not have slept well, either. Link was still feeling better, but the walk seemed to drain his motivation. It turned the walk into a lengthy boredom that he hoped would end soon.

Once they set foot in the settlement, Link set his sights on the tower in the middle of the island. He was grateful that Zelda had directed him to this building rather than any of the other buildings around the settlement. Being back in the settlement yet again caused Link's stomach to turn. Maroon's death quickly surfaced to his mind. Of all the death he had encountered, none had shaken him so bad as how quickly Maroon had been lost. He remembered how he had lost Airman Albert, one of the crew lent to him by Captain Alfonzo. Albert had been onboard the Horizon's Eye when Cunimincus had attacked it. From what Line had reported, Albert had been among those lost just before Cunimincus' crew had boarded the Sorian airship. Link had only known the man for a single day, just as Maroon. He had thought that he had come to terms with Albert's loss, but it felt to him that the regrets just came back stronger than ever. He had to force the feeling aside, recalling an old Gelto proverb Dholit had quoted to him those couple of years ago.

"Wish the thoughts of monsters to flee, for it is the monsters within our sight which threaten us the most". It amazed him how relevant Dholit's words could be after two years. On any other day, she had never seemed as profound.

Going beyond Maroon's shop revealed streets built over rougher terrain, forcing the Hylian settlers to lay down steps in groups of eight to ten. Yet again, the streets had narrowed due to the wider structures that no longer looked to have been grouped into blocks. Roads were forced to bend around circular buildings, forcing the bricklayers to break their stock in various places. Even then, this area looked more the nightmare than the rest of the settlement. Some of the bricks in the road had not been seated right, causing them to protrude enough to catch an idle wanderer's foot should attention not be paid. The cloth over various doors and windows had been torn, some even shredded to ribbons to reveal the interior. Holes had been worn into some of the outer walls. Only half of these had been patched with metal plates haphazardly nailed to the exteriors. The broken remains of crates, wagons, and a few wooden items neither Link nor his airmen could identify littered some of the streets, often enough that a pile higher than Gillam would force them to take another route.

"I gotta say," Line said at one point. "I think I'd feel better if the rest of the island looked like this."

"Yeah," Gillam agreed. "At least then you could be comfortable simply leaving."

"Just the sentiment I was going for."

Link could agree with the thoughts as well. This area of the settlement looked like it had been built and then abandoned. With Irleen still napping under his hat for most of the trip, there was no way to tell if someone actually did live here. Not that Link was interested in finding anyone in the first place; what lived in this area could not be friendly.

By the late morning, Link, Line, and Gillam stood at the base of the great tower in the center of the island. Standing this close, they could see that the tower had been made with large, curved slabs of stone. The exterior was a sort of outer layer of arches and high ceilings like a portico wrapped around the tower. Another tower, cylindrical and made of the same material, had been built on the inside with strictly vertical walls. From the outside, they could see that the exterior structure only extended up half the height of the tower to give it its taper; the rest looked to be the vertical walls of the interior tower.

Gillam let out a long whistle. "Big building," he commented.

"How many stories do you think it is?" Line asked.

"Are you kidding? I don't think I can count that high."

Line glanced back at the path they had taken. Then he looked at the tower again. "I don't think I like this."

Link looked up at his brow and asked, "What do you think, Irleen?"

Irleen emerged from his hat and took a few moments to examine the building, fluttering about above Link's head to change angle a few times. When she came back to eye-level with Link, she commented, "Well, it's a tower."

Link pointed as he asked, "Anything in it?"

"Looks quiet enough. Not that it means anything here."

"Quiet," Gillam repeated. "As is 'no one lives here'."

"Anyone that lives here is probably asleep," Link said over his shoulder.

"Yeah, that makes it better…" Line uttered. Link pulled his flare gun and checked the breech. Then he pulled a smoke shell to load it. "What're you loading?" Line asked over Link's shoulder.

"Red."

"Good."

"Good?" Gillam asked just as Link clapped the gun shut. "What's the red one for?"

"It means we're definitely in trouble," Line said.

Gillam rubbed his brow. "Great Goddesses, what'd I sign on for…?"

"Look, we still haven't had any serious problems since landing here," Link said over his shoulder. "I'm not denying that there's something wrong with this place, but we've at least seen that we're safe in daylight." He raised a hand to beckon them to follow.

They had barely taken a few steps under the portico when Gillam said, "Captain, hang on."

Line and Irleen stopped to turn toward him. Link was a second slower than them. "What is it?" he asked.

Gillam approached one of the narrow structures at the base between the arch they had just stepped through and the one to their right. He leaned over to look at the very bottom stone. "I think this is an addition," he told them.

"Huh?" Link and Irleen asked at the same time.

Line gave an indifferent response of, "So?"

"This," he said, pointing at the ceiling above them. "This is all… this is recent."

"I repeat," Line said. "So?"

"Shut up, Line," Irleen said.

"How do you know?" Link asked, looking up at the ceiling.

"I used to be a building inspector for five years," Gillam explained. "After the Royal Knights rejected me, I became an airman." He pointed out the separation between stone blocks in the support. "This is pitch. It's not as common back in Hyrule anymore because of cement mortars, but a lot of old buildings still have this kind of mortar. See how it's black?"

"So?" Line asked.

"'So'?" Gillam repeated with incredulousness. "It means that, if these people are Hylians, then they've—"

"They've been here for decades before us," Link finished. Gillam gave Link a confused look. So Link explained, "I think that the people here came in an airship meant to travel long distances. They would've been sailing for years before finding this island."

Gillam nodded and said, "Okay. Okay, if that's the case, then who built that?" He pointed at the wall behind them.

All three glanced around at the wall. Then Irleen said, "Hylians probably weren't the only ones to land here. Although I can't think of who else was here."

"Again—" Line began.

"If you say 'So?' one more time, I'm gonna fly down your throat and kick a hole in your voice box," Irleen immediately told him. Line clapped his jaw shut.

"You can tell the difference?" Link asked.

"Building inspector," Gillam reminded him. "I noticed it when you opened your gun; the barrel reflected on the wall. The mortar's… something else. It shimmered when that light hit it."

Link glanced back at the inner tower. "Do you think it's safe?"

"I think we'd be better off if someone else walked in front," Gillam said. He placed a hand on his chest. "May I, sir?"

Link nodded and said, "Sure."

"Line, it's been a nightmare working with—"

Line stomped a foot. "Oh, shut up and go die!" he hollered.

Gillam smiled and started walking past Link and Line. "Boy, you don't take jokes too well, do you?"

Link heaved a sigh and followed Gillam into the inner tower with Line and Irleen trailing behind. But the moment Gillam stepped through the doorway, he froze. The hairs on the back of Link's neck stood, and he quickly pushed his way in with his left hand prepared to draw his sword.

And then Link stopped in his tracks. The interior was a large entryway with the next room divided from it by a low archway. Without illumination, the only indication of the other room was whatever light could reach in through the doorways beyond and even behind them. This entryway was narrow from the interior support columns on either side of the door holding up the ceiling. In the dimness provided by the doorway behind them, Link could see that someone had tried to put plaster on the walls. But now, it looked as if the plaster was falling apart, leaving bare stone blocks of the surrounding walls and ceiling open to what few elements existed in the sky.

Perhaps its most surprising feature was the heat. The air felt warm and muggy, a kind of environment that made Link feel uncomfortable from head to toe. The difference between the outside and inside was staggering, and Link turned around as if to find the reason for such a change.

Line stopped short of the doorway. "What?" he asked. "What is it?"

"Come in here," Link said, backing a step so that Line could enter. Gillam also moved aside.

Line set foot inside, and he put on a disgusted face. "Whugh," he uttered. "I've been in bars that weren't this nasty."

"What the hell's causing that?" Gillam asked. He leaned over to look through the archway into the adjacent room. "Something inside?"

"Must be," Link agreed as he peered into the other room. There was very little light reaching the room beyond, so he pulled out his flare gun. "Watch out, Gillam."

"You're not gonna fire that—" Gillam began before a click from Link opening the gun's breach silenced him. He watched as Link pulled a blue flare shell from his belt, double-checked it in the dismal light, and replaced the red smoke shell already in the gun. Then Link stopped and looked at Gillam. "Never mind, sir," Gillam said, one hand raised in apology.

"Back up a bit," Link said as he aimed the gun into the other room. Gillam did as he was told, and both he and Line put their fingers in their ears.

FZZZZZZZZZZzzzzz! The shell disappeared into the dark room beyond. A second later, the flare ignited lightning blue. Link reloaded the smoke shell and holstered the gun.

Gillam headed the group inside, followed by Irleen and Link. The next room was massive, so large that the flare's light barely reached any of the walls. The floor looked and felt like well-sculpted marble, the quality of which seemed much richer than the tower let on. Its only flaw was the thin layer of dust on its surface. While the flare failed to show many more features, they could at least a mezzanine that circled the whole room and paintings which decorated the walls. The paintings were paired on each wall between doorways leading outside. Only two sets of stairs led up to the mezzanine from underneath the structure, one to east and west (as far as Link could tell; his ability to track his own direction was a little confused) where corresponding entryways should be. The ceiling above at least showed some kind of ornate, circular cap of metal, but details were hard to make out with the flare's meager light.

"Well, Mister Gillam?" Link asked. "You were the building inspector."

"Aye, sir," Gillam replied as his eyes wandered the mezzanine. "But I've never been in a building like this before. I can't even see anything, but I can tell that much."

"Hey, Link," Line spoke up. Link, Gillam, and Irleen turned to find him standing next to the nearest painting. "Check this out." Line then put his hand up to show them that the painting had a large gash across its surface, the canvas split diagonally. "Not much of a housekeeper around."

"Can you tell what the painting is?" Irleen asked.

"Nah, it's too dark."

"Hang on," Gillam said as he strode in Line's direction. However, instead of joining Line, he continued further toward the dark behind him, toward another entrance. For a moment, the best Link, Line, and Irleen could make out was a dull blue blob moving around where Gillam had disappeared. Something nearby clattered, and the echo caused both boys to jump in surprise. "Oh, yeah."

Gillam's voice had come with an air of success, so Link called to him, "What is it?"

"There's a rack of torches over here," Gillam said. There was a pause before he told them, "They're soaked in… Hmm. Something. I bet we can still use them."

"You brought matches?" Line asked.

"Nope," Gillam said as he stepped into view again, a small bundle of torches under his arm. Instead of walking back, however, he walked over to the blue flare. Link, Line, and Irleen moved in that same direction. They came close enough to see Gillam press one of the torches onto the flare. When he pulled it away, he showed the boys that the flare had taken to the torch and produced a normal flame caged within a thin, metal framework that almost looked like the bottom half of a lantern. "Don't tell me you didn't think of that."

"We'll need two more," Link told him.

Gillam passed the first to Line and pulled another from under his arm. "What're we looking for in here, Captain?" he asked as he pressed it into the flare.

Link let the question hang in the air. This caused both Gillam and Line to turn to him in alarm. He offered them a weak smile and gave the slightest shake of his head as he told them, "I don't know."

Gillam raised the torch he had just lit over his head to look around. "Well, there're plenty of places to look," he said with a resigned sigh.

"All right," Link said, more to help psych himself up rather than indicating that he was ready, "Irleen will come with me, and—" He indicated the stairs behind him, which he was sure was east. "—we'll check out this side. You two poke around the other side. Anything happens—"

"Scream as loud as possible," Line finished.

Link gave Line an annoyed glance. "Don't separate."

"Be careful, Captain," Gillam said as he offered the torch to him. Link nodded, accepted the torch, and turned to walk toward the stairs with Irleen in tow. After lighting one more torch and leaving the rest on the floor near the flare, Gillam and Line started for the west side.

Link's first thoughts went to the paintings on the wall near the stairs. He found that they had been slashed similarly to the one Line had examined. Even more interesting than that was the fact that the canvas was blank on both. There was definitely a layer of paint; they were simply gray and lacking any features. He wondered if they had been painted over.

"Hey, Link," Irleen said as Link slowly held the torch close to the second painting, examining the blank frame. "Look at the wall."

"What?" Link asked, not seeing what she was talking about.

"The wall around the frame," she clarified. "Doesn't it look a little discolored?"

Link thought that might have been what she was talking about, but he still didn't see it. It was not until he ran a finger against the wall near the frame when he realized that there was a discoloration. A lighter color surrounded the painting, showing that something with a larger (and perhaps more elaborate) frame had once been here. He carefully set his torch against the wall.

"Wait, you're not gonna take it off, are you?" Irleen asked.

"It's just a painting," Link told her as he carefully put his hands on the frame. He lifted it and slowly removed it from the wall.

On the other side, all he found was more wall, its color a little lighter than the uncovered area. Link realized that he was holding his breath and let out a sigh.

"A little anticlimactic," Irleen remarked as Link set the painting on the floor.

Link let out a sigh and picked the torch up. "Yeah, that was kinda disappointing." He glanced at the nearby stairs. "Let's try upstairs."

Irleen looked across the room. "You'd better hurry," she told him as they started for the steps. "Gillam and Line are already up there."

"It's not a race," Link said.

The stairs were wooden, and the creaking they gave off as Link climbed felt more like it came from his own spine. They lacked a banister or even a handrail. Link decided that this was all right since it let him hold the torch in his right hand while his left hand was free to draw his sword at any time. The stairs ended in a landing that curved into the mezzanine. Now that there was light up here, Link found that there were more pictures on the wall. He could also see that most of the mezzanine floor was stone; the only other material was a wooden rail that circled the outside to keep people from falling over. Another stairway far on the north end led up into the ceiling. Since Link could see Line and Gillam slowly approaching it, he thought that he would do the same from this side.

"Link, wait a minute," Irleen said just as Link turned in that direction.

"What is it?" Link asked. He glanced over his shoulder to see that she was looking in the opposite direction.

"There's… something over there."

Link turned toward the south side of the mezzanine. No stairs, but more pictures at least.

Including one that had not been slashed.

"What, that picture?" Link asked.

"It's more than that," Irleen said. "I couldn't see it because it's been right above us this whole time.

"I think something's alive over there."

Link felt this heart punch the inside of his chest. He had never felt more haunted by words. Something alive? With all these former Hylians on the brink of death all around them, hiding away in the shadows, how could something actually be alive? Of course, Irleen did not sound very sure of herself. But compared to the fright she had when looking at what remained of the settlers, this came across more as a curiosity. That should have been a reason to be relieved. Right?

Link reached around his back to pop open the pouch holding his boomerang. It would be the first thing he grabbed if something went wrong; it worked as a decent blunt weapon in a pinch. "Okay then," he told Irleen. Then he started walking.

He had to admit some misgivings about walking away from Line and Gillam, mostly because, if something happened to him, they would have to round the room just to reach him. He found himself glancing over his shoulder to keep an eye on their progress, allowing Irleen to take the lead. It felt like it made his walking slower, but before he knew it, he had to stop and find Irleen's light. By then, she had come to a halt in front of the painting.

Just like the others, this one was a canvas of gray in one, solid blank. But this one had a more elaborate frame to it, its edges curving and jutting out to follow the floral pattern on the frame's black surface. Link realized that this frame looked more like the space left by the missing painting downstairs. It was also taller and reached almost to the floor in a way that Link had seen for a full body portrait. This left little doubt in Link's mind that this painting, although still lacking in any sort of picture, was one of the original paintings placed in this tower.

"I don't get it," he told Irleen. "It's just the same, blank painting."

"I don't see it anymore," Irleen said.

"See what? Life?"

"Yeah. I thought I saw something glowing behind the painting, but… I lost sight of it halfway, and now it's completely gone."

"You mean… there's someone behind this one?"

Irleen gave a moment's pause. "I-I guess?"

"All right, let's take a look," Link told her as he set his torch against the wall once again.

"Be careful, Link," she told him.

"I'll be careful," Link said as he pressed up against the painting so that his hands would reach either side. "You get ready to scream if something attacks me."

"Yeah, that about sums up my life at this point," she said, her voice empty as she watched.

Link lifted the painting first, and he felt it detach from the wall. Since he had placed his torch on the right, he stepped sideways to the left. He scraped the top edge of the painting against the wall, but he felt that, should he lean backward at any time, the painting would come down on top of him. It took some effort because it was so awkward, but he finally set the painting down once he was sure that he had uncovered the wall behind it.

"Whoa, Link," Irleen said with an air of awe. "You've gotta see this." Link backed a step to get a better look.

The wall behind the painting had a recess just large enough that Link might have been able to squeeze inside if he could press himself flat standing up. Hanging inside that recess was what looked to be a shield. It was triangular with its top side curved inward and its bottom sides bowing slightly outward. The bare metal frame was held in place with a thick clamp in each corner, each one sporting a large, flat-topped rivet. The field looked to be solid purple. This was most covered by white bands that, when Link angled his head correctly, stood out from the surface. What really caught attention, though, was the eye-like shape that appeared to peek out through the bands in the left side of the shield. It was like looking at an eye without a face, just a ball with an amber iris that stared for eternity.

"Is this thing alive?" Link asked as he slowly reached both hands inside.

"No, it isn't," Irleen said. She watched him take it off the wall. Then she fluttered into the recess while Link turned away with the shield. "I don't get it. There was something in here."

Link angled the shield so that his torch light would reflect off it better. It felt about as heavy as any other shield he had encountered. He looked hard at the eye peering between the bands. Then he wondered if he should have been doing that, given that he knew little about this shield. He had to admit that, on an island covered in a people slowly dying, this was one of the more bizarre things they had found.

The shield blinked at him.

"Yikes!" Link thrust the shield away from him as he jumped backwards. The shield clanged loudly on the mezzanine's stone floor, the sound almost mocking as it came to rest.

"What?!" Irleen cried in alarm. "What happened?!"

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Link quickly told her. "I just…" He trailed off as he looked at the shield lying on the ground just a few paces away, staring at the ceiling as if nothing had happened. Link could not see how it had blinked at him. He considered the torch for a moment. Then he told Irleen, "I-I'm probably seeing things. I could almost swear the eye on that thing blinked."

"Link!" Link turned to see Line and Gillam halfway across the mezzanine. He held up a hand, and the two slowed to barely a walk.

"It doesn't look like it's blinking now," Irleen said, having moved to hover over the shield.

Link stepped up to the shield and picked it up. He turned it over to find that the back side was a single plate with a pair of small straps bolted to it. No guige, which caused Link to frown at it. He ran one finger over a crude shape carved into the surface above the left strap, a circle with some type of round, oblong shape cupping the circle's bottom half. He slipped his arm into the straps and held it up for Irleen to see. "What do you think?" he asked.

"You're not actually taking that thing with you, are you?"

"I think I could use a shield."

"Look, just because you lost that one the king gave you—"

"I liked that shield," Link interrupted her in an irritated tone. "Of the three shields I had, that was the only one that someone actually gave me. And I didn't lose it; Cunimincus ate it."

"You see, I never seem to catch anyone having these kinds of conversations," Gillam said as he and Line stepped up behind Link. "You okay, Captain?"

"I'm fine," Link said as he turned to them. He held up the shield for them to see. "What do you think?"

"Creepy beyond belief," Line told him in a slow, deliberate tone.

"Eeeeh… yeeeah," Gillam said. He jerked a thumb at Line. "I gotta agree with him. I think that thing's looking at us."

Link let out a sigh. "Fine, it's a little creepy," he admitted. He used his free hand to point across the foyer. "Find anything over there?"

The two exchanged a look. Then Line said, "We did, but you're not gonna like it."

Link gestured toward the other side of the mezzanine. "Lead the way."

They led him around the mezzanine in the direction they had just come from. Link was a little surprised that neither one said anything to each other. Or at least give him a hint. They took him to the bottom of the stairway. But instead of climbing, Line just pointed up. Link held his torch high to see beyond the black above.

Then he let out an exhausted sigh. "You're right. I don't like it."

The darkness did not yield. It simply blocked out the top of the stairs like a black trap door.