Chapter 56: Well, That Wasn't Supposed to Happen

…

FZZZZZZZZZZZZ! A yellow bolt flew from Link's flare gun and, with a pop, erupted into white light to make the next chamber visible. It probably should not have surprised Link to see skulls adorning the marble floor, many of them piled against the walls as if to make a neat path to the next staircase. The sudden flash of light gave Link only a glimpse of what appeared to be black insects covering the walls. However, the "insects" fled, leaving walls of carved stone to show off reliefs of various plants Link had never seen before. Link made sure to check the ceiling, although this only yielded mild admiration of a painting of the creature he had just slain.

"Yay," Janni groaned as they crossed the room. "A room full of skulls. How original."

"Boy, when you say you're done with the fun," Link commented, "you really mean it, don't you?"

"I can't remember the last time I actually hated something. Now I'm just bored with everything."

"Anything behind me?"

Janni paused to glance backward. Then she fluttered back to Link's side and said, "All clear."

"Good. I'd hate to think something's been following me this whole time."

Janni groaned. "Yeah, you know, it's thoughts like that which inspire him. Might not wanna think about it too much."

Link gave her a half-grin. "Or the Dreamweaver just might make it happen?"

"That's assuming you don't spawn it on yourself."

Link stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Great, now I've got that thought stuck in my head," he said as he craned his neck to follow the curve of the stairs. "Looks like there's light up there. Saves us from having to make another flare."

"Great. I get to rest my brain…" Link shook his head at her before ascending.

The next room had the same look as the room they had just traversed. However, instead of skulls, the floor was bare, allowing the marble tiles to gleam in the warm light of the room. The ceiling was painted in an orange sunset, which served to reflect candlelight from the glass chandelier hanging in the center. The next staircase was on the opposite side of the room. And situated halfway there, against either side of the circular wall, were a pair of statues looking at each other. Link at first thought they were suits of armor, each one bearing a sword with a thick blade jammed into the pedestal at their feet. However, when he leaned over to get a different perspective, he realized that they were stone, their surfaces almost perfectly smooth with no sort of pits.

Link showed Janni a cocky smile and asked, "Living statues again? Really?"

"He probably just wants to see if you remember what happened the last time you thought a statue was just a statue," Janni pointed out.

"Yeah, that was a pain in the neck…" Link grumbled as his free hand rubbed his throat at the memory. Then he drew his sword. "You look left, I'll look right."

As soon as Link turned his head, Janni said, "That's the left, Link."

"Oh." Link corrected his direction and started moving. His pace was slow as his eyes shifted between the tiles beneath him to help keep track of about where he stood and the statue, which he expected to come to life at any time. He walked sideways with the shield raised in case the first move was to throw something at him. He wished his back was just as protected, but, since Janni was helping out, he felt he would be safe. The center of the room was where Link fully expected an ambush to happen. To his confusion, however, the statues remained statues. No hints that they were watching, no subtle movements to indicate that they were alive, no sort of odd pieces from which to surprise him. He wanted to believe that the statues would simply remain there, and he wondered as he approached the other staircase if his hopes were actually blocking the Dreamweaver from attacking.

"Think we're close enough to take our eyes off them?" Janni asked.

Link dared a glance at the stairs and noticed the banister was still outside his reach. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "How easy would it be for them to throw those swords?"

"As easy as the Dreamweaver wants it," Janni said. "You could probably take cover behind the banister once we're there."

"Just a little more," Link said.

"Just a little more, but oh so far to go."

Link and Janni froze in place. Then they turned around to face each other. "Who said that?" they asked in unison.

"Yoo-hoo, over here," the odd voice replied, the tone that of a pleasant, young man. Link and Janni turned to follow where they thought they had heard it from.

They almost could not see the face hidden in the ivy relief on the wall at the foot of the staircase. Then the ivy blinked, the stone relief actually opening and closing on a smooth layer under the relief. Then they saw the mouth, also outlined in the ivy relief, curl into a large grin.

"Thaaaat's it," the wall told them, its mouth moving precisely with every word. "There you go, now you see me."

Link leaned over to Janni and said, "The wall is talking to us. That's a new one."

"A Facade," Janni replied. "The kind of wall you don't want talking to you."

"Oooh, I'm honored," the Facade said. "You're so well-traveled, it seems hard to find anything new to you, Captain."

Link glanced at Janni before asking the Facade, "Am I talking to the Dreamweaver, or…?" He trailed off, tracing a circle in the air with the tip of his sword as he looked for a different explanation.

"No, you're not," the Facade replied. "I'm just another figment of the dream the Dreamweaver thought up. A façade of a Facade, you could say." The Facade chuckled at his own joke.

"The Dreamweaver can do that?" Link asked.

"It's not particularly unusual," Janni said. "Keep in mind, you've been fighting what seem to be living creatures in this dream. It's only strange because one is actually taking the time to talk to us."

"Well, even us figments get lonely," the Facade said. "We may only be alive once a night, but we've got to go each night waiting for something to happen. And then poof! It's all gone."

"This is probably just the Dreamweaver stalling us," Janni told Link. "Let's keep going."

"Hey, now," the Facade said as Link put away his sword. "You don't really expect me to be that harmless, do you?"

"You're a wall," Link pointed out. "Unless you plan on falling on me, you're not that much of a threat."

The Facade bobbed side to side for a moment. "Yes, perhaps," he said. "But, uh… you see that?" The Facade looked up at the top of the staircase. Link and Janni followed his gaze to find that the way to the next floor was blocked by a massive set of bars with a lock set in the middle. "I'm not just a time taker; I'm a gatekeeper. If you ask nicely, I might let you through."

Link glanced at Janni again. Then he asked, "Would you please let us through?"

"Nnnnnnah, I'm not really feeling like it," the Facade replied. "Besides. The Dreamweaver doesn't want you to go any further."

"You're not the Dreamweaver, but you know this?" Janni asked.

"Of course," the Facade said. "Did you think you'd be able to climb the tower without the Dreamweaver knowing? You're just walking into your doom. No matter what you do, the Dreamweaver will eventually stop you. Whether it kills you, Captain, or morning comes, you'll never make it."

Link shrugged. "I'm still gonna try," he said.

"Oh, there's no doubt about that," the Facade replied. "But how many more tries do you think you'll get? How long do you think it'll be before all this stops being amusing to him?"

"Hold on, Link," Janni quickly said just as Link was ready to retort. "You know something we don't, wall face?"

"A whole lot, actually," the Facade told her. "Even as we speak, the Dreamweaver's planting the seeds. Your crew will give you the idea."

Link reached around to grab the hilt of his sword. "Is the Dreamweaver gonna kill my crew?" he asked.

"Your crew is already dead," the Facade said. "But nothing as immediate. No, your crew will be alive when you wake up, Captain. But they'll get the message. Oh, will they get the message."

"Link," Janni spoke up. "Remember, this guy is just another creature in a dream. Do you think you can rely on him to tell the truth?"

"What reason do I have to lie?" the Facade asked, giving them an indifferent look as if to shrug at the idea.

"To keep us here," Janni said. "Maybe to even get Link to wake up so he can check on his crew. That'd certainly make your job easier."

"Ha hah!" the Facade laughed. "Oh, it would, it so would. But, you see, my job is easy whether he wakes up or not. If I can't get him to leave the easy way…" The ivy serving as eyebrows drew his eyes into a sinister glare, his mouth curling into a gleeful smile. "I'll just kill him."

"Wall, remember?" Link pointed out.

However, Janni had turned to check the room. "Uh, Link?"

The worried tone reminded Link that there were still those armed statues behind him. When he whirled around while pulling his sword out, however, he found that they were the least of his problems for now.

Because a couple of the marble tiles had risen from the floor.

"Oh, crap, not again…" Link breathed.

The closest of the two tiles flew at him. Link brought up the Dreamweaver's shield and braced himself for the hit. PWANK! The force behind the impact drove Link backward. He had to stumble to keep from falling. However, he had so little room that he quickly backed into the banister, almost bending his lower spine over the solid structure. The tile had deflected to the side and simply fallen to the ground. Link slid sideways to get away from the banister. Then the second tile flew at him. Link barely had time to raise the shield again. When it struck, Link's elbow snapped, and one corner of the shield jabbed into his throat. This time, the impact drove him backward into the wall right over the Facade's relief.

The Facade gave a loud cackle once Link, relieved of the force of the tile, had a chance to lean forward. "Oh, I'm gonna looooove this part!" it told Link.

Link watched as two more tiles rose from their spots on the floor. He twisted and jabbed the sword's pommel into the Facade's relief, which only provoked another cackle, before pushing himself away from the wall.

Link knew he could not let the tiles hit him; if they did not simply take off his head, he just might behead himself defending from the impact. The first of the new pair to approach Link started straight at him. Link crouched low as he approached the tile and, upon rising to his full height, threw his shield up to deflect the tile higher. This tile sailed over Link's head and smacked into the banister hard. The following tile was too close for Link to dodge. To Link's fortune, though, this tile had risen as if expecting a vulnerable part of his body would have jumped at him. Link felt the upper portion of his shield arm shatter as well as his shoulder ripped out of its socket. The crack was enough that Link thought he would throw up. However, as Link twisted and let his arm swing to help soften the impact, he found his arm swiftly return to normal while the tile fell against the floor with a heavy thud.

"The game's afoot now, isn't it?!" the Facade screamed in delight.

"Incoming, Link!" Janni declared from the ceiling.

Link turned as another tile soared at him. With little time to react, he tried jumping aside, his arms high as he tried to move them out of the way as fast as possible. Crkkk! Link hollered out as the tile clipped his right pectoral, snapping some of his ribs. He cringed in the brief stab of pain, pulling his arms close as if to cover the wound up. This gave him an advantage against the next tile. Once he saw it coming, he braced his right forearm with his opposite hand and swung his shield into the tile, knocking it high and into the ceiling.

Then Link felt his left leg crack from another impact he had not seen coming. He fell to the floor, catching himself on his elbows and nearly slicing his face open with his sword. He let the sword drop against the floor and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. To his horror, he saw the tile directly in front of him release from the floor and slowly rise up to eye level with him. Then the tile swept backward into an arc. Link easily saw what it was about to do; it was about to smash him in the face.

"Hey!" the Facade suddenly snapped. "What are you doing!?"

Link did not worry about turning around; if the Facade was distracted, he had to take the chance. He rolled to his left, his hand taking up his sword as he moved. The tile followed the same arc as it had taken when it lifted into the air, but it simply swept through the air where Link's head had been and just clattered to the floor.

"Can't aim at what you can't see, can you?" Janni taunted. Link stopped on his back and sat up to see what was happening. Janni's fairy form dangled a curtain in front of the wall where the Facade should have been.

"Don't get involved in this, princess," the Facade warned her, his pleasant tone changed out for irritation. "I have no compunction about killing you, too."

"Oh, that's perfectly fine," Janni told him, waving the curtains around. "I'd love to see Link smash in your smug face."

"You think I have to see where he is?" the Facade asked. "You think tiles are the only thing I can manipulate?"

Link quickly turned to see one of the statues break loose from the floor and rise up. The statue itself was still immobile; the Facade had simply raised it the same way he was raising the tiles. Which he was still doing, of course; five more tiles detached from the floor with it.

"I'll just fill the whole room with things to kill him!" the Facade declared.

"Oh, joy," Janni said in a snide tone. "I can't tell whether this makes things easier or harder for us."

"Harder!" Link hollered as he ducked below a tile looking for a standing target. "Definitely harder!" Another tile flew at him from a different angle, which he only noticed out the corner of his eye, and he had to lean to one side to avoid it.

CRSH! The marble tile smashed into the wall nearest Link. Link glanced over to see what had broken. The tile had rebounded off the wall and fallen back to the floor with a piece of one corner chipped off. No, what had made the sound was the wall. The relief had been shattered, and the stone beneath it cracked from impact. He set his sword down and reached out for the tile to see how heavy it was.

"Well?!" the Facade demanded. "Is he dead yet?!"

"You don't know Link like I do," Janni said. "He's practically dancing around your tiles. Leading one of your statues."

"You're such a stupid liar," the Facade replied.

"The only thing that's missing is the music," Janni continued. "I bet you wish you could see it. You know, with all this stuff flying around, it shouldn't be too hard for you to hit me. Go ahead; this is just a curtain on a rod."

"Yeah, right," the Facade said. "Do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to hit myself in the face?"

"Honestly, not really," Janni said. "That's why he's gonna do it for you."

"Huh?"

Janni dropped the curtain and quickly ascended out of the way. The Facade had only a single second to see Link.

Link, with a tile in his hands, swung.

The Facade let out a bark of pain as the tile shattered the relief composing his features. Link felt the tile rebound off something and released it in surprise, just barely stepping out of the way before the tile could smash his toes. Large chunks of the relief fell away to reveal a panel of lightly-colored flesh underneath. A soft area, something Link readily recognized as a weakness. His sword left on the ground behind him, he quickly thrust his hand into the lift reel and ripped it free of his belt.

The Facade's eyes opened up on the fleshy area, revealing a pair of pained, completely black eyes. As soon as he saw Link wind up for a punch, his expression changed. "Oh, fu—"

Splorch! Link thrust the left reel into the Facade with a left straight, a cry of rage escaping his mouth just as the blade pierced. Red blood spattered Link's arm and chest, and he quickly recoiled and backed a step, both hands raised as if to continue boxing. However, the Facade's face was gone, leaving a bleeding lump of flesh hanging out from behind the fragments of the relief. Link took another step back to give himself a little more room. One breath, two breaths, three breaths… he finally felt his heart fade to a subtle beat. He turned around, nauseated by the grotesque wall, to see that the statues and tiles had fallen back to the floor. He looked at his arm. Then he closed his eyes and wished the blood gone from his clothes. When he opened them, he found them clean. Even the lift reel was spotless. He heaved a sigh and reattached the lift reel to his belt.

"That was brutal!" Janni said as she descended from the ceiling.

Link started across the room to retrieve his sword. "I know," he said. "It kinda caught me by surprise, too." He bent over and picked up the sword. "What was that all about? Him calling you 'princess'?"

"Don't look too deep into it, Link," she told him. "He was just being a jerk." Link shrugged and replaced his sword. Janni giggled and asked, "Did I really hear you say, 'oh, no, not again'?"

"Is that what I said?"

"Yeah, right before stuff happened."

Link groaned and started back toward the staircase. "That… wasn't the first time I've had tiles flying at me like that," he explained. "Down on the surface, I was in a crypt trying to find Cale. One of the rooms was some kind of trap, and I accidently triggered it. Though, the tiles weren't nearly as heavy as these things." He glanced at the Facade as he passed it. "I'm glad I could at least pick it up." He looked up after climbing a few steps. "Oh, man…" he groaned. "The bars are still here."

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me," Janni said. "How's the Facade supposed to open it when he's dead?"

Link sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I don't know," he groaned. "I kinda thought it just would."

"Good," Janni said. "Keep thinking that; we can use it."

"Oh, you mean…" Link trailed off. Then he focused on the bars, his glare drilling into the lock as he willed it to open. Then he jumped aside as the box with the keyhole in it simply dropped off the bars. The bars then silently slid aside, receding into the ceiling.

"Well, we're making progress," Janni said as Link started up. "I kinda wish we were going faster, though."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Link said. "Well, he did his job wasting… our…" Link trailed off as he set foot on the floor above.

Because the room was anything but vacant. Link counted five Lizalfos standing at the far end of the room, directly between him and the next staircase. These were not the same brand of Lizalfos Link had encountered before in Hyrule nor were they made of metal like the Dinolmos from the river. They each wore a suit of armor tailored for their bodies and plates serving in place of helmets. Two bore swords and shields, one held a halberd, one readied a battle axe with two heads welded on top of one another, one— "Uh oh."

Link quickly ducked behind the banister upon perceiving a musket aimed at him. The familiar cli-POW of the flintlock trigger sounded almost at the same time. The round struck the wall over Link's shoulder, its shooter not fast enough to adjust for Link's dodge. Link knew he would have to take out the musketeer quickly, or else he would be shot while fighting the other Lizalfos.

Unfortunately, the others quickly charged across the room, allowing the musketeer to drop into seclusion in order to reload his weapon. Link glanced back down the stairs. Then he rushed back to the previous floor, one hand pulling his sword.

"Got a plan?" Janni asked as Link turned at the foot of the stairs.

Link saw the Lizalfos stop at the top of the stairs. "Uuuuuuh, not really," he said.

The Lizalfos with the battle axe stepped to the middle of the group with the axe raised over its head. Link realized what it was about to do and quickly moved to one side. The axe came down the stairs a breath later and skipped off the floor where Link had been standing.

"You're not gonna get anywhere backing away from them, Link," Janni said as Link moved to the center of the room.

Link slipped a flare shell off his belt with his right hand. "When I say to, light this," he told her. The Lizalfos started down the stairs, and Link shouted as soon as their feet were in sight, "Now!"

The flare lit into a yellow flame, sending a bolt of blistering-hot pain up Link's arm as it flew from his hand. He watched for a moment, fearing that he had not been able to aim the flare very well. However, the shell landed about where he had intended: on the stairs where the Lizalfos were about to step. The flare delayed too long, and one Lizalfos stepped over it without even noticing it. The two trailing the group saw the flare burning on the steps ahead and quickly turned around. PAW! The flare erupted into blue light that caused the second Lizalfos in line to suddenly grab the banister with its free hand, dropping its halberd. The sound caused the lead Lizalfos to jump a step and land hard on the following step. This Lizalfos tripped and rolled down the rest of the stairs onto the floor.

How it had landed on its feet, Link could not be sure. The Lizalfos turned and charged at him, sword raised to strike the moment Link was close enough. Link raised the Dreamweaver's shield to intercept. The Lizalfos took an astounding leap to Link's right, far enough that Link had to turn to defend his shoulder.

The Lizalfos had not counted on the floor being uneven. It had landed both feet where a tile had been removed, and a digit on its left foot crunched against the adjacent tile. This caused the Lizalfos to give a high-pitched cry of pain and hop straight upward, its sword hand reaching down as if to grab its foot. Link immediately pressed the advantage and put his step into the thrust he launched at the Lizalfos. Link's sword tip deflected upward from impact with the Lizalfos' breastplate and met the Lizalfos' throat instead. Link quickly swept the sword aside, carving an arc of blood into the air. The Lizalfos twisted and collapsed onto the floor.

Link turned back just as the second Lizalfos bearing a sword and shield jumped over the banister onto the floor, having watched its halberd-bearing companion slip in the pool of the Facade's blood at the foot of the stairs. Similar to the first one, this one charged Link. However, it leaped into the air with the intention of either thrusting its sword through Link's head or flattening him with its combination of weight and speed. Link jumped aside and flailed as his landing was botched by his left foot finding the edge of another missing tile space. With his heel falling, Link tilted backward and landed on his bottom. The Lizalfos had one foot slip on the floor as it changed directions to approach Link out of the jump. Link quickly swatted the incoming stab with his shield and used that momentum to roll. This roll gave him the opportunity to get his feet under him, and he rose as he turned back to the Lizalfos. PANG! The Lizalfos landed a strike with its shield, a quick blow to the forehead which left Link staggering backward with a dazed look. The Lizalfos then twisted its sword arm and aimed a horizontal swing at Link's chest. Link's head cleared just as the sword slashed open the front of his tunic.

However, the damage the blade could have done was lessened by the presence of chain mail between Link's tunic and his bodysuit. Link still felt the sting from the blade hitting him. However, without injury, Link simply raised his sword and clocked the Lizalfos in response. The plate on top of the Lizalfos' head bent under the blow, and the Lizalfos scrambled out of the way as quickly as possible. It recovered after nearly tripping over a misplaced tile and raised its shield to Link.

Then Link noticed it glance toward the stairs which, at this point, were over Link's left shoulder. Link dared a look over that shoulder and realized that the halberd-bearing Lizalfos was charging him from behind. Not that it lasted long; covered in the Facade's blood, its attack was halted when one foot slipped. It hit jaw-first on the floor. Link turned back to the other Lizalfos just in time to watch it give a disbelieving arm drop, as if to say "well, so much for that". Of course, it quickly raised its defenses against Link.

So, Link decided to go on the attack. He closed the distance between them and used the Dreamweaver's shield to strike the Lizalfos' shield. The Lizalfos backed a step and crouched. Link saw the low slash aiming for his left leg and swung his sword down to intercept it. The swing batted the Lizalfos' sword wide, and Link once again struck their shields together. This time, the top edge of the Lizalfos' shield struck the end of its muzzle. The Lizalfos stood up and hid its head behind the shield. It tried to thrust its sword at Link, but, being unable to see, it did not realize that Link had subsequently stepped to its right in order to get at its exposed shoulder. Link spotted the thrust and quickly raised his own sword. The Lizalfos' sword gave a clatter against the floor when the Lizalfos dropped it after the powerful downward strike stung its wrist through the back of its gauntlet. It lashed out at Link with the shield. Link ducked under a blow meant to hit his neck and thrust his sword upward. The end of his sword found the fleshy space inside the Lizalfos' jawbone and pressed straight up into its muzzle, causing the Lizalfos' cry of anguish to be cut off by its jaw slamming shut.

Instead, Link gave a cry of anguish when he felt a blade strike him from behind, breaking his right collarbone. He let his legs collapse under the weight of the blade and used his now-empty left hand to pull the blade out of his shoulder. The blade belonged to the halberd, which its owner quickly jerked out of Link's grip. Link turned to realize that the Lizalfos holding the halberd was about to thrust it into his exposed stomach. Feeling his shoulder return to normal, Link twisted and knocked the halberd aside with his shield. His empty hand found its way into the lift reel, and he ripped it free of his belt as he spun with the shield, allowing his arms to stretch the length of the Lizalfos' reach. Before the Lizalfos knew what Link was doing, the lift reel's heavy body delivered a ringing strike to the plate covering its head. Link then turned some more and drew back the lift reel. The arrowhead-shaped blade of the lift reel caught in the couter protecting its elbow. Link jerked hard, and the Lizalfos' shoulder gave a disgusting pop as it dislocated. The Lizalfos gave a shout of pain before retreating. Link did not want to give it a chance to recover, so he aimed the lift reel at the Lizalfos' head and fired. The Lizalfos did not realize that the blade could shoot free and bore the full force against the right side of its head. The blade punched through the thin plate it used as a helmet and toppled the Lizalfos.

"Link, here comes the guy with the axe!" Janni hollered from overhead.

Link turned back toward the stairs. The Lizalfos with the two-headed axe was not as fast to attack, instead approaching Link with simply a swift walk. This gave Link the chance to retract the lift reel, yanking it free of its latest victim's skull. When the Lizalfos was on him, it raised its axe over its head for a quick downswing that would have cleaved Link's head in two. Link stepped to one side and turned his shoulders so that the axe would miss. Then he widened his stance and twisted to deliver a right hook with the Dreamweaver's shield directly to the Lizalfos' face. The blow jostled the Lizalfos' head, and it inadvertently dropped the axe. Link then repeated the movement with his opposite shoulder and planted the blade of the lift reel into the unprotected back of the Lizalfos' neck with an overhand punch. The Lizalfos jerked with pain, and then it crumbled to the ground when Link pulled back the lift reel with such force that the blade tore more violence into the Lizalfos.

"Gun! Gun!"

Link heard Janni's shout and immediately spun toward the stairs. He almost did not spot the musketeer hiding near the top of the steps with its musket pointed at him through the balusters. Once he had, he raised the shield to protect his head. Chi-POW!

"Agh!" Link cried out as he felt hot lead pierce his unprotected left thigh. He collapsed to one knee and let out a cough as he willed the pain away. Then he retreated toward the second Lizalfos as he placed the lift reel back on his belt. The Lizalfos having stopped moving long ago, Link kicked its shoulder to roll it onto its back and grabbed the sword still stuck in its jaw. With a single tung, the sword released its victim. Link then turned and dashed for the stairs. The musketeer Lizalfos threw its musket aside and pulled a pistol from its belt.

However, in aiming at Link, it did not anticipate Link suddenly jumping into the air from the bottom steps.

Link sailed at the Lizalfos so fast that it squeezed the trigger while it was turning to retreat back up the stairs, firing its single shot at the nearby wall. Link almost had the distance to reach the top of the steps. He had to settle for landing just a few steps short. The Lizalfos turned to see that Link had not made the distance and drew a dagger from its belt. It then wheeled on Link with the dagger raised for a downward stab. Link's landing had been rough; he had not realized the danger of a sudden leap up a flight of stairs and had thrust his right knee hard into the edge of one step, snapping his knee cap. He was vulnerable with both hands resting on one step, his sword having been dropped two steps below.

However, when Link looked up, it was not with surprise. It was with determination. Against the pain in his right knee, he brought his opposite foot up and jumped again. This time, he leaped clear over the Lizalfos' head and onto the floor at the top. The Lizalfos had to wheel around and close in a few steps in order to put itself into strike distance again. Link quickly spun with the Dreamweaver's shield raised. The Lizalfos lost the dagger to the blow from the backhand it had received from the shield. Link continued to spin and landed an uppercut to the Lizalfos' jaw. The Lizalfos reeled backward and slipped off the top step. It tumbled down a few steps, halting itself with a hand gripping part of the relief on the nearby wall.

Link started down the stairs, and his footsteps alerted the Lizalfos. It found its discarded musket nearby and grabbed it by the barrel. Link's sword was only a few steps above, and Link was close enough to retrieve it when the Lizalfos returned to its feet. Musket stock raised like a club, the Lizalfos swung just as Link was reaching to grab the sword. The poorly-aimed swing missed, and Link closed in with sword in hand before the Lizalfos could prepare for another strike. Link, without room for a full swing, used the pommel to deliver a downward strike to the Lizalfos' pate. The pommel strike caused the Lizalfos to fall where it stood, dropping the musket again. Link then turned the sword in his hand and thrust the blade downward into the Lizalfos' exposed neck. The Lizalfos writhed under Link for a moment before falling still.

Link pulled the sword free and retreated up the steps for a moment. His mind racing with the memory of the fight, he rested a shoulder against the nearby wall and let himself calm down again. One breath, two breaths, three breaths… Once he was back to normal, he turned his back and trudged up the last few steps.

"You okay, Link?" Janni asked as she fluttered up behind him.

"Yeah," Link said with a breathy sigh. "Whew! I wasn't expecting that to last so long."

"Or be so nasty," Janni said.

Link nodded and pushed away from the wall. "Yeah, well, when the only part of the body not covered in armor is the head…"

"I know. It's a good thing this is a dream; you might've been dead meat otherwise."

"Yeah, why didn't you warn me about that one sneaking up behind me?" Link asked as he started across the floor, rolling his right shoulder in memory of the halberd attack.

Janni giggled and said, "Sorry. I forgot that I was trying to help you this time. I got a little lost in the fight."

Link replaced his sword and pressed a hand against his chest. "Not lost enough to not give me mail," he pointed out. "Thanks for that, by the way."

Janni let out an indifferent sound. "You didn't really need it, though," she said. "You would've recovered fast enough. I just figured that you'd finish the fight faster if you didn't have to flinch with every clean strike."

"Maybe. That probably burned up a lot of time. What do you think?"

Janni heaved a defeated sigh. "I imagine we're not gonna make it at this rate. With all these attacks, we'd probably be lucky to make it halfway up before morning comes."

"Do you think what the Facade said is true? About the Dreamweaver ending all this soon?"

"I can't say it would surprise me if it were true, Link. But it isn't as if that was anything new; I've always figured your crew would be added to the island as Obeetans. Assuming they survive."

Link paused at the bottom of the next staircase to look for bars. When he saw none, he proceeded upward. "We'll all survive," he told Janni. "We'll get through this."

"What makes you so confident?" Janni asked, a smug tone in her voice.

Ggggggggggg… "I don't know, I'm just feeling it."

"Better get out a flare; looks like it's dark ahead."

"Yeah, let me ju—"

KARSSSSSH!

Link suddenly jumped out of bed and landed hard on the floor, his head ringing with pain. He groaned as he tried to bear the pain and focus on what it had been that had smashed him into the stairs in his final moments.