Disclaimer: Zelda and all of its' characters belong to Nintendo.
Began: 11-8-03
Ended: 11-9-03
Respice Finem
Part One
The galley was quiet for quite some time. Both of them could hear nothing but the remnants of the word "gone" flowing in the air. It took a while for the young woman to regain any sense of composure and make a sound, but all that was managed was a guttural sound, like she was choking on something. In her nervousness, one of her fingers began to twine around some loose strands of her now tan hair. Tetra shifted her weight on one leg to the next as she gave up trying to speak.
Link was no different. His lips were pursed and his eyebrows knitted in concentration. He stared hard at the floor.
In the time that the two were quiet, the ships' planks of wood clashed against each other and emitted eerie creaks around them. The ocean rocked it, like a mother to a child's cradle. Outside, the black fog that had lain dormant around the ship began to close in, flooding the deck. It wisped into every crack and cranny, into the empty beds of the missing crew, and finally into the galley.
The temperature seemed to drop and Tetra shuddered, her teeth clattering. She rubbed her stiff arms and wondered why it got so cold.
Link, who had nothing but a thin sleeveless vest that went to the bottom of his rib cage, fought to keep from keeling over onto the floor to curl up into a ball. He was about to ask aloud why it was freezing when the ship lurched forward, like an invisible hand had thrust itself down onto the bow of the ship. Both of them stumbled and tripped over each other, smacking foreheads and then rolling three feet away from each other.
Tetra's head ached and she stood up furiously, bolting out the door, ramming into a nearby wall when the ship bent sharply once again, but this time backwards. Her right arm went numb under her body weight and she stood up again, grasping firmly the railing.
The Tidal continued its' brutal twisting and turning, and it took a full twenty minutes to make her way up one set of ten stairs. At the top of this flight Tetra was shining with seat, her breathing labored, and both arms equally sore from landing on them. Link was shortly behind her, and seemed to be faring better. The dripping of rain began to sound and the captain wrinkled her face, trying to focus.
She got down on all fours and began crawling up, and found it easier to keep balanced. She soon reached the top and the icy rain mingling with the fog smacked the bare of her skin. Tetra, caught off guard by the drop of heat, lost her balance and found her nose was banging the floor. Pain flared in the middle of her face and she lay motionless for a moment.
Link fingers just barely grazed her arms when she pushed herself up, wiping her face bereft of blood. He glanced at her in slight worry as she found a handhold and stood up once again. He remained kneeling and wobbled as the ship jumped again, the roar of a wave ensuing. Mist sparkled his face, and the fog caressed it just so…his spine crawled and he swabbed his face. A thunk. Tetra had tripped yet again and she was on the ground in front of him, breathing closely. Her hands were clenched and she tried to regain her breath.
Something whistled through the air. Something like…like…the flapping of wings?
The duo looked upwards and saw a figure cloaked in a black robe, face obscured by the fog. Only a glistening pale eye shone through. The person grasped a silver staff, the hand so bony it seemed that the skin was stretched, like a thin layer of butter on toast.
Link's gut feeling was to run, his stomach churning, for this encounter did not feel at all right. His feet stayed planted to the ground, and he gulped, cold sweat swarming his face. He gritted his teeth.
A sucking sound began, lasting so long but then ending short enough for the two of them to figure out it was a breath. His inhale. Their ears perked. The black fog thickened and it felt like they were bathing in freezing water. An exhale. The cold froze deeper, chilling past the skin.
And then a bone-numbing shriek came. Not human. Anything but human. It was not a flat out scream, but filled with clicks of the tongue and hisses from the back of the throat. A primitive language.
Their ears ached, and when the screaming stopped at last it stayed within their eardrums. A heartbeat. Thump-thump. Louder, and louder still! It grew steadily until it became a roar. Louder, louder! Link clapped his hands over his ears and it still grew on. His ears would burst! A scream. His own? Perhaps. It was shrill, lacking of the clicks the previous contained. Another scream. Higher pitched. Thump-thump-thump.
He stumbled and kneeled over, shouting, and yet it could not be heard. The drumming of the heart deafening. He tore at his hair. It still grew, oh; his head would split if it continued anymore! And it would not, he was dwarfed by its' tremendous power, it would grow, and grow, grow, grow! His eyes rolled around lazily.
It stopped.
The silence that followed was heard. Oh, it was heard. His head spun and he vomited, weak and shaky. His arms barely held him up. The black fog was gone and he looked out of the corner of his eyes and saw no man, no enigma of a sound. His strength gave and he rolled to the deck, his cheek pressing against the cool wood. His eyes closed.
Nearby, a raven was perched.
Author's Notes: Geez, I know that was incredibly short. But if I wanted to keep my little oath and update at least once a week, this is all I could produce. And I know I need to work on staying in one viewpoint, but there is always next week, no? Once again I apologize for this mishap. I wanted this chapter to be longer, but it didn't work out the way I wanted it to.
Credit where it is due: Edgar A. Poe's: "A Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Raven" largely inspired me.