Chapter 45: Heavy Lifting

…

The entire ship jolted again. Link knew from experience that the Island Symphony had hit something. He threw the blanket off and rolled off the cot onto his feet. He did not worry about his boots, but he grabbed his sword by the sheath's strap and slipped it over his head before walking to the stairs at a fast pace. He took the steps two at a time, leaving someone hollering at him from somewhere in the berth deck.

"… do you think you'h doing!?" That was the first thing Link heard once he reached the main deck, stepping out into a morning just barely allowing dawn to show through. At the same time, Leynne was marching across the deck with footfalls befitting an angered superior with Dholit hustling behind him.

"It wasn't me!" Line hollered back from the forecastle.

"What have we told you about falling asleep on the control panel!?" Leynne shouted up at him, stopping a few paces away from the rail.

"I didn't do it this time!" Line replied, leaning on the rail.

"Report," Link spoke up in a calm voice.

This caused Leynne and Dholit to spin toward him, surprised by his presence. Leynne groaned before responding, "Ouh hull impacted the edge of the island. Someone caused the ship to descend into it."

"I was just on the head!" Line hollered. "I nearly shat on the deck when we hit! I'm telling you! It wasn't me!"

"Dholit," Link said. "Go down to the engine room and see if there's been any problem with the ballast. Then check for damage."

"Yes, My Captain," Dholit replied with an air of exhaustion in her voice.

Leynne glanced back at Line before asking Link, "You suspect that the engine crew might have caused it?"

Link shrugged. "I just think it's too easy to blame Line for everything."

"How did you fah in the dream?"

Link shrugged again. "I don't know; I had to wake myself up. I was hoping someone might've noticed whether the island was shaking or not."

"You might ask Brandon; he's on watch now," Leynne answered, giving a small gesture toward the poop deck.

Link turned toward the stern. "Hey!" Line shouted, causing Link to pause and look over his shoulder. "What about me?"

Link shrugged a single shoulder and told him, "You can stay on-duty until you learn not to fall asleep on the controls."

"I'm gonna piss in your ration!" Line snapped as Link walked away.

"Shut up and go fix the gangplank, you nit!" Leynne hollered at him.

"I'm gonna shit in yours!"

Link pinched the bridge of his nose as he listened to more of their banter, slowing his walk so that he did not get too far away in case it escalated. However, the attempt to angrily stomp a few words later indicated that Line had lost the argument, so Link just continued across the deck. He passed by Ray and Biluf, both having stopped their patrol to watch the commotion. He came to a stop as well and glanced back to see Line marching along the bulwark. Then he turned to them and told them, "Fizuban taris."

"Ay'a, Kyabtin," both responded, although without the formal snap in their voices. If anything, Link thought they sounded a little bored.

Link climbed the steps onto the poop deck. Here, he found Brandon staring out at the island with his arms crossed. So, Link spoke up, "Anything happening out there, Brandon?"

Brandon gave Link a glance. "Can't say for sure, Captain," he admitted, intrigue tinting his voice. "This damn storm makes my job a bitch. But I think I saw something happen out there."

"What was it?"

"Well, it wasn't for very long. And the Goddesses know I can't see much in between the buildings. But I think I saw the streets stop."

Link wrinkled his face in confusion. "Iiiii don't get it," he replied.

Brandon heaved a sigh. "Okay, you see the sides of the streets over there, right?" he asked as he used a hand to indicate a few different lines of buildings in his sight. Link was not sure what streets he was referring to, but he nodded anyway. "You see how the shadows just go back and forth on the walls?"

"I think I see what you're talking about," Link answered as he identified one street with a clear view of shadows moving just as Brandon said.

"Those shadows stopped."

Link gave him a glance as if to ask what he was talking about. Then, as he thought about it, he realized what Brandon was saying. If the shadows of the Obeetans stopped for a moment… "You mean the people on the street just stopped."

"Aye, sir. It wasn't for very long. It happened just after the ship shook. What was that, by the way?"

"That was…" Link then cut off his answer. His brow furrowed as a completely different thought interrupted him. The ship hit the island, and, at the same time, the Obeetans suddenly freeze in their tracks. Well, Brandon had said that he noticed it after the impact. He tried to think of what would link the ship striking the coast to the Obeetans' odd reaction. A ship even the size of his father's galleon would hardly merit a simple turn of the head just bumping into a pier. "Hold that thought for a second," Link instead told Brandon after a minute of thinking. To Brandon's confusion, Link returned to the stairs and descended again.

Once he reached the main deck, he saw Leynne supervising Line as Line tried to position the gangplank correctly. It did not appear to be an easy feat; the other end of the gangplank was stuck in a gap between the stone slabs on the shore, and Line was trying to force the gangplank to push outward while holding up the end that was originally resting on the ship.

Link quickly approached Leynne and said, "Leynne, I need a thought from you."

"It is youhs, Captain," Leynne replied.

"Okay, Brandon said he saw the people in the streets stop," Link explained. "And this was right after the ship bumped into the island."

Leynne crossed his arms and glanced past Line to the settlement in the distance. "Well, it's been so quiet around heh, one could heah a tree faht," he said.

BAM! "Yeoooow!" Line suddenly wailed. Link and Leynne glanced over just in time to watch him tug his foot from under the gangplank. He stepped over to the bulwark and rested against it with his back to them, his shoulders shaking.

"You okay, Line?" Link asked.

Line snorted and covered his mouth. "Yeah," he answered through a straining voice.

"You sure? That sounded like it hurt." Line simply used his free hand to show Link a thumbs up. Link just shrugged and turned back to Leynne. "No, I don't think it's like that," he explained. "I don't think the Obeetans would've reacted unless it directly affected them. You know what I mean?"

"I undehstand that you think the impact and the Obeetans reacting ah related," Leynne said. "I undehstand youh skepticism of my fihst response, and I find it hahdly able to qualify as well. I am… ratheh at a bit of a loss. Unless you think that the ship hit a vital spot on the island?"

Link shook his head. "I think it's something a little simpler than that. I think the island moved."

Leynne scrunched his face in thought. "Well, I wouldn't go as fah as to call it simple," he said. "Howeveh, I think I see youh point. Ratheh than think of one affecting the otheh, you think something caused both events."

"You think I'm right?"

"I think it's a possibility," Leynne told him with a nod. "We have seen that The Night can cause the island to shake. And, considering that we ah now undeh the assumption that Line didn't cause the inciden—"

"I told you so!" Line quickly said over his shoulder.

Leynne cast him an irritated look. Then he continued to talk to Link with a level tone. "We might safely draw this conclusion as well. The questions then become 'how' and 'why'." He stepped forward and leaned over the bulwark to look at the island. "Line, how fah below the island did you settle the ship?"

"I try to set it about the same height as the cargo deck," Line said. "That way, if we're in a rush, we can just drop open the doors."

Leynne pulled the flare gun holstered on his back and located a shell from the same belt. He inserted the shell, aimed with his arm dangling over the side, and fired. FZZZZzzzzzzzz! The sound of the flare died away quick, and Link did not hear the small pop that usually accompanied the flare changing color. Leynne continued to lean over the bulwark for a moment longer. And then he stood up and turned to Link.

"The island rose."

"Are you sure?" Link asked.

"Faihly," Leynne said. "The ship is now sitting with the island's edge elevated to about mid-height of the deck below us. Some of the protruding rock undeh the edge is what struck the hull."

Link sighed and tried to think of what caused the island to rise. As far as he knew, the altitude of most islands in the kingdom were quite stable; that was why ships were just as easily able to anchor to the edge of an island or, in the case of small junks, simply tie up to land-based docks. However, that was not to say that Link could not name any place in the kingdom where this did not happen. He remembered the route they had taken to restore the Sky Lines to the kingdom, including a large area where the pieces of a malformed island had instead created a sky full of rocks, each with an active piece of technoworks at its core. They rose and fell almost at a will of their own. And there was one thing that caused them to do that: weight.

How extensive were those mines anyway? The technoworks beyond them? Did The Night's body fill them all? And were Link's efforts enough that he had literally lifted a weight off the island?

"Leynne, what time is it?" Link asked.

Leynne pulled out his pocket watch to check it. Instead, he gave the dial an annoyed look. "My watch has stopped," he said before closing it again.

"I thought it wound when you walked around," Link said.

"It only winds as long as the watch is wohking," Leynne said. "Unfohtunately, it would appeah that I have been neglecting it."

Link groaned. "Know if anyone else aboard has a watch?"

"I am afraid not," Leynne replied with an equal amount of disappointment. Then he noticed that he still had the flare gun in his hand and replaced it behind his back.

"Okay," Link said. "For what it's worth, we'll wait until daylight. Then we'll go have a quick look at the mines."

"And what if it's pissed?" Line asked as he nudged the gangplank with his toe.

Link gave a shrug. "Then we don't let it have any trees this time." This earned a silent, sarcastic laugh from Line.

"Link, you'h bleeding!" Leynne immediately said.

However, Link's response was mild confusion as he glanced down to follow where Leynne was pointing. He lifted his arm to see that his left side had been stained crimson once again by his wound. "Oh," he commented to a horrified Leynne. "I kinda forgot about that."

"That's an insane thing to fohget!" Leynne snapped at him. He stepped around Link and started pushing him by his shoulders toward the nearest hatch. "Let's have Nesteh examine that befoh it becomes wohse."

…

Nester took a moment to look at the wound, telling Link he was lucky it was only a small "leak" despite the level of blood loss. However, Nester also noticed that Link was not cringing or jumping in pain as he probed the wound or rebandaged it.

So, Nester poked a needle in his side. Link was only vaguely aware of something sticking in his skin and leaned away from Nester while he asked, "What are you doing?"

"That didn't hurt?" Nester asked.

"Kinda surprised me, but no," Link told him as he sat up on the bed again.

"What ah you looking foh, Doctoh?" Leynne asked.

"Well, reason, mostly," Nester told him. "Anyone else'd jumped into the ceiling. I've been poking his wound for a few minutes, and he hasn't said a thing."

"What?" Link asked in confusion. "It doesn't hurt."

"There're exposed tissues there," Nester pointed out. "It should hurt. It should've hurt when you got up earlier."

"Ah you suggesting he can't feel anything?" Leynne asked as Link started pulling his undersuit back on.

"Not that," Nester said. "I'm just suggesting he can't feel pain. And I'm talking about something that happened not that long ago; he wouldn't have been this calm about it yesterday."

"You think something happened to me in the dream?" Link asked.

Nester folded his arms. "You tell me. Did something change?"

Link shrugged. Then, once he started remembering the dream, he told them, "Well, Janni told me that I shouldn't be getting hurt in the dream."

"What?" both men asked.

"The dream can't hurt you," he repeated. "No matter what, the dream can't do any harm to your actual body. That's probably why The Night just doesn't go after us with creatures in the dream; we don't know they're there, so how can we be in pain?"

Nester and Leynne looked at each other, and Leynne raised an eyebrow. "It would cehtainly answeh some questions," Leynne commented. "Like why The Night neveh did just that."

"So, what?" Nester asked. "You think it's real, it becomes real?"

"Well, more like if you know it isn't real, it can't hurt you," Link answered.

Nester nodded. "That explains all of this then. Your body's been responding to stimuli from the dream, but, now that we've established this, we don't have to worry about you getting hurt anymore. Which is gonna be a relief."

Leynne gave Nester a confused look. "Doctoh?"

Nester glanced around as if looking for someone listening in. Then he leaned in between the two of them and said in a low voice, "I'm out of painkillers."

Link sighed. "Uh oh…"

"This isn't good," Leynne agreed.

"I wound up giving the last to Geordie this morning," Nester continued. "I'm gonna have to go with a placebo for now, but my stocks are running out. Pain pills, anesthesia, sterile alcohol, bandages… if anything as serious as what happened to the captain happens again, I don't think I'll be able to treat it."

Leynne sighed and laid a hand over his eyes. "Goddesses Above…"

"Does everyone get religious whenever shit happens?" Nester asked Link.

"Just the men," Link answered. "The women kill things."

Nester grimaced and took a step back. "I think I'm gonna sign onto a cruise ship when we get home," he grumbled. "Give me mass dysentery over this nuthouse any day."

"We should let you get back to work," Link said as he made to slide off the bed.

"One moment," Leynne said, holding a hand up to Link. "Doctoh, should we be concehned that Link can't feel pain?"

Nester gave a helpless shrug. "I can't really say," he replied. "I've never run into it before. Do you know when you stopped feeling pain?"

"Not really," Link said. "The last thing I felt was in the dream. I fell to the ground and had my body sort of… crush together. It was a pretty long fall." Leynne and Nester both had blank looks on their faces. "It didn't last very long," Link quickly added. "I still get hurt, but I return to normal very fast."

"Maybe that's it, then," Nester suggested. "You felt so much pain in that one moment, your tolerance for smaller amounts of pain has probably gone up." He looked at Leynne. "It isn't a concern; it'll probably wear off eventually. Just make sure he doesn't get hurt too much."

"Unfohtunately, this ship offehs plenty of oppohtunities to experience pain," Leynne answered as Link slid off the bed.

…

~~10/5, Expedition Day 50.

~~I woke up early this morning after the fight in the mines. I don't know what has happened, but something about the island has changed. It rose! I think I might have an idea as to why, but I won't be able to confirm it until later, when we're sure The Night is asleep. We have to wait for daylight to see what happened to The Night in the mines. And I've just now remembered why we need to get in there. It's been— I just realized that the dates in this book are messed up. But it must've been about ten days ago when Logan told us about the rations. With luck, we'll have some more rations to make the trip home. I just hope they're still good.

…

Link put on his gear and took over the morning watch so that Leynne could get some sleep. It was not for very long, especially since Leynne wanted to be awake in time to set his watch to the correct time once again and needed the noon sun. Link could not help but noticing that he would definitely be seeing it. As Link discovered as he wandered the deck, the storm was significantly weaker than before. Daylight was able to penetrate once the sun was high enough. The clouds appeared thinner and further away from the island, although Link did not believe now was the time to try to escape. He still needed to do something about The Night, or else other ships were going to find their way here.

He took a moment to leave the ship once Dubbl felt she was awake enough for duty. With a bottle with his note inside (the same note Janni had been mocking a few days ago) and a long strip of cloth tied around the bottle's neck, Link sped for the settlement. He jumped on top of one of the buildings with a lip protruding up around the roof and left the bottle in one corner with the cloth free to wave in the soft breeze. He hoped that someone else would find it, although he was also hoping that he would have taken care of The Night so the message would not be necessary.

Leynne had to be woken up so he could take over. Link took Brandon, Hunter, Randy, and Dholit to the mines in the Conductor, his selection based on the fact that he would need some strong men to haul a few crates of rations onto the launch. Dholit, meanwhile, was meant to be a lookout; with no outward indication of how The Night was taking the fight in the mines, Link wanted someone to watch for trouble. Of course, the entire venture would be pointless if The Night was still in the mines. Perhaps it was the fact that there was blue over the island after so long under a storm, but Link could not help but feel positive about their chances.

Link lowered the Conductor into the clearing opposite the entrance to the mines. A glance over the starboard side, where the forest path began, showed him where the tree trunk that assaulted them had last landed: right on the path. He heaved a sigh of relief knowing that The Night was not armed this time. He crossed to port and used a duoscope to peer at the mine entrance.

Rock. Nothing but rock. From the bare path at the mouth to well beyond the entrance of the mine that faded into shadow, there was only solid rock.

"All hands on deck!" Link called toward the cabin where his crew huddled. Brandon, Hunter, and Randy immediately filed out and formed a line on the starboard side behind Link. Dholit, well…

She was Dholit, which meant her walk was a sultry strut that quickly made Hunter, whom she lined up next to, look away while blushing madly. "Ready foh booty, My Captain," she said.

Link turned around to find her leaning against Hunter and stroking his hairy arm. "Cut it out," he told her. "Guys, drop the sandbags. Brandon, I'm gonna need a bowline twist so we can haul crates up to the deck. Then I want all three of you ashore with me. Dholit." He removed the duoscope from around his neck and held it toward her. "I want you to keep an eye on the area, make sure The Night isn't still creeping around somewhere."

"Aye aye!" Brandon and Hunter chimed while Randy gave an, "Arr, sir!"

The group broke apart, and Dholit stepped forward to take the duoscope. "I shall enjoy watching My Captain's backside from heah," she said as she accepted the device.

"I mean it, Dholit," Link told her in a stern tone. "If The Night is still in the area, I guarantee it doesn't wanna see us again."

"Of couhse I wouldn't like to see My Captain hahmed," Dholit told him as he moved to pick up the net connected to the transom. "I have not conquehed him yet."

Link let out a sigh. "As long as you have some motivation…" he groaned. "Help me with this, will you?"

Link was the first on the ground and took a moment to load a flare while Brandon was still rigging up a line. Once all three men were with him, they approached the mine. As they stepped closer, Link could feel the excitement rising in his chest. All looks told him that The Night was gone. The new daylight they had been granted reflected well into the entrance, showing them just bare rock that had been tunneled through with a means that left the mine's surfaces almost smooth. They paused near the entrance so that Hunter could light a lantern.

Link's men followed him inside with trepidation. Link had to urge them to keep up, if only because Hunter was holding the lantern. They found a branch in the main tunnel, and Link decided to follow it since he and Sello had already gone down the main tunnel. This turned out to be the correct course, because, after a bend in the tunnel, they found something.

One section of tunnel had been piled to the ceiling with the same type of oval-shaped crates that Link had been finding in the technoworks. They had been stacked two wide, making it difficult for someone larger than Link to get through the tunnel. However, since this appeared to be their goal, prospects were looking up.

"Randy," Link said, pointing up at one of the top crates. "Reach that for me, please."

Randy stepped past the group and stretched his arms toward one of the top crates. He had to move it with his fingertips until it slid off the edge of the crate underneath, at which point he was able to grab the bottom edge and pull it. He carefully set it down in front of Link. Link used his fingertips to fit under the lid. When he pulled the lid up, it gave with a pop! that startled his party. As he opened it, the lid creaked horribly on a pair of hinges made out of the same wood as the crate.

The create was packed with cloth packages. Link pulled one out to find it stamped with a single line of Sorian writing. He pulled open the stitching on one edge and slipped his hand inside. He pulled out jerky of a type he did not recognize, a slice of dried fruit (again, something he did not immediately recognize), raisins, and a couple of soft seeds. Link placed the dried fruit in his mouth and took a bite. He was surprised by a sweet flavor, although this hardly answered what it was.

"Captain?" Randy asked.

Link looked up at all three of his eager-looking crew. He grinned and said, "Men. We found food."

He quickly regretted this, not realizing the tunnel's acoustic effects on their ensuing hollers of victory.