Chapter 2. Oh Captain, My Captain

"What?" Tetra exclaimed. "You want to come with us on our ship?"

"That's what I said," I nodded firmly. We were back on the beach and Tetra had finally gotten free of her worried crew long enough to listen to me. "You guys are going after that bird, and I want to come with."

"Do you understand what you're asking?" she said. "We're pirates! You know...pirates! The terror of the seas!"

I just looked at her. She was my age, and, unless I was very much mistaken, a couple members her crew were gay. Not that terrifying.

"What do we get out of bringing some helpless little kid along with us?" Tetra demanded. "I'll tell what we get, a headache!"

I kept on looking. She was not going to beat me down.

She wilted slightly under my gaze. "I know how you must feel, with your sister having been kidnapped and all..." she said, averting her eyes. "But that doesn't really have anything to do with us, does it?"

"And how do you figure that?" a voice said.

We turned and saw Quill, the Rito mailman, frowning at Tetra.

"Quill!" I exclaimed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there!" Gonzo, the pirate from the forest, said. "Just who are you? Where do you get off butting in on someone else's conversation?"

"Please," Quill said. He didn't roll his eyes, but his tone made it clear he wanted to. "All I mean to say is that if you big, bad pirates hadn't come to this quiet little island," his frown turned to a glare, "that poor girl wouldn't have been snatched by that bird."

Tetra bristled. "And just what do you mean by that?"

"Just be quiet for a moment, and I'll tell you!" Quill snapped. "Now, as my work entails delivering letters, I spend much of my time traveling amongst the many different islands. As a result, I hear many things..." He looked at the pirates. "Haven't any of you heard word that young girls have been getting kidnapped lately from all regions of the Great Sea?"

The pirates were silent.

"No matter. Whether you've heard it or not, that seems to be the case. Young girls with long ears like yours have been getting kidnapped never to be seen again. And unless my eyes fail me, that young girl who was just kidnapped from this island also has long ears, does she not? Much like you do, Miss Fearsome Pirate."

Miss Fearsome Pirate looked away.

"My point is that the bird mistook that poor girl for you, and that's why it grabbed her."

Tetra said nothing. What could she say?

"And correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was young Link here who saved you from the monsters in the forest, wasn't it?"

For the first time, Tetra looked surprised. She turned to me. "Is this true?"

But before I could answer, Quill went on. "Oh! And while I'm at it I may as well tell you that the bird that kidnapped both you and Link's sister has made its foul nest to the north, on the heights of the Forsaken Fortress."

"The Forsaken Fortress?" Tetra exclaimed, surprised again. "Isn't that the place where..." She trailed off.

"So, what are you going to do?" Quill asked. "Under the circumstances, I don't think it would be unreasonable for you to give Link a little help, now, would it?"

Tetra folded her arms and hmphed. "I don't need you to tell me that," she said. "Even if I were to consider it..." Despite her words it was clear Quill was getting to her. "Lately, I've heard nothing but evil rumors about this Forsaken Fortress." She turned to me. "You can't possibly mean to go there with nothing but that cheap little sword! That's not brave! It's stupid!"

"Hey!" I looked down at my sword. "It's not cheap!"

She ignored me. "I mean, come on! Even a simple little island like this has to have something you could use as a shield. You know, something to protect yourself with. Anything?"

I frowned thoughtfully. "Well...maybe..."

"Tell you what," she said. "If you come back with something like that, we'll let you stow away on our ship."

"Okay," I said, and started to turn.

"Oh, and one more thing," she stopped me. "Once we leave, you won't be coming back here for a while, so you'd better go say goodbye to your family while you have the chance. I don't want you getting all weepy-eyed and homesick on me!"

I decided not to dignify that with a response, I couldn't think of a good one anyway, and headed home.

Grandma was not going to be happy with me.

The old family shield was hanging on the wall upstairs in our home, or at least it was supposed to be. But when I got up there the wall was bare.

Confused, I went back downstairs to find Grandma and ask her where it was.

She was waiting for me. She had the shield in her arms and was looking at it sadly. "Link... Is this what you're looking for?"

For a moment I was afraid. Grandma didn't want me to leave, I knew that. I'd always known that. But if she didn't give me that shield Miss Fearsome Pirate wouldn't take me on her ship, and if she didn't take me on her ship Aryll would be trapped in that place that even pirates feared... I couldn't let that happen.

But Grandma looked up at me and smiled. "Take it with you," she said.

"Thank you Grandma." I took it from her gratefully.

"I guess it is true," Grandma sighed. "Aryll really has been kidnapped... Hasn't she?"

I nodded. I didn't want to say it out loud.

"What kind of monster would take such a sweet, young child?" Grandma asked, choking.

I didn't know what to say, and I'm not good at comforting crying people. But I adjusted the straps of the shield to fit my arm and tried to look heroic. "I'm going to get her back, Grandma. I promise."

Grandma smiled and patted my shoulder. "May the winds of fortune blow with you."

"Good bye Grandma."

"I love you Link."

"I love you too."

She hugged me, and then I left.

They say you can't go home again, and I'd never understood it until that moment. I didn't know how things had changed so fast, but they had. I would never truly be able to go home again.

Dammit.

Tetra looked dubiously at my shield. "Wow, decrepit," she said. "Are you sure you can still use that thing? Are you going to get splinters and cry?"

I glared at her. "No."

"Well, whatever. If you're ready, then let's go! Are you ready?"

"I'm ready," I said.

"Then get on board, blondie."

"Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow.

She stared me directly in the eyes. "You heard me. I'm your captain now, kid. Are you talking back to me?"

"Yeah, I am," I replied.

We stared each other down for a moment, and then, to my surprise, Tetra smiled. "You're all right, Link was it?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I'm Tetra. You're probably going to die you know."

"Everyone does," I said as aloofly as I could.

Tetra laughed. "That's cute, you think you're tough. I think I'm gonna hand you over to Niko. Let's go."

Some more of my illusions about pirates were broken when I got on the ship. For one thing, it was scrupulously clean. I wondered if that was because of Tetra, or the gay members of her crew.

As soon as everyone was on board Tetra started barking orders. The pirates all hopped to it, obeying her without a word. She didn't say anything to me though, so I wandered to the bow of the ship and looked down at the beach.

All my neighbors had gathered to see me off.

"Good luck, Link!"

"Good luck finding Aryll!"

"Take care of yourself!"

Slowly at first, then more frantically, I waved back at them.

"Ugh... How much longer is this going to go on, do you think?"

I turned and glared at Tetra.

"Do you have an estimate? Are you sure you shouldn't just quit right now?"

"I'm sure, okay?"

"Seriously, think about it." She actually sounded serious. "I can tell you're just going to get more sentimental from here on out. There's still time, you know... Are you sure we shouldn't just turn around and take you back to your island?"

"I'm sure," I said firmly. "I'm going with you and I'm saving my sister."

"Fine. But don't blame me if you die." She turned away and went back to shouting orders.

I stared after Outset until it was nothing but a splotch on the horizon, then went to go ask my captain what to do.

"Go find Niko down below," Tetra told me, waving a hand at me as though to brush me aside. "I told him he could have you."

"'Have' me?" I repeated.

"As his underling. The guy's a beaver, but you're just a kid, so I figure he outranks you a little."

"Great," I muttered. I wasn't sure what she meant by "beaver," but it couldn't be good.

I headed below deck. What else could I do? I knew about sailing of course, what with living on an island and all, but Tetra's pirates worked together like a well-oiled machine. It would be better if I just got out of the way.

It was even cleaner down below than it was on deck. The only sign of any dirt was where the torches had smoke-stained the walls, and even that appeared scrubbed. A pirate I hadn't met before was standing near a doorway across from another set of stairs.

"What's in there?" I asked, peering around him. It looked like a bedroom.

The pirate narrowed his eyes at me and moved in front of the doorway a bit more. "This is Miss Tetra's personal cabin. Why?"

"Sheesh. Just curious." I looked up at him. Seemed nice enough. "Speaking of curiosity...why do you big tough pirates listen to a kid like Tetra? She looks my age. Younger maybe."

"Well, Miss Tetra may look young," the pirate admitted, "but she's actually thirty."

I felt my mouth drop open and my eyes open wider than I thought was physically possible. No way, no way that girl could be thirty years old. She acted like a spoiled little child, not a mature woman. It couldn't be. It just...couldn't be...

Luckily for my sanity, the pirate burst out laughing. "Oh man! You should see the look on your face! I'm kidding, I'm just kidding, take a breath."

I realized that I had not, in fact, been breathing, and did so.

"You're right," the pirate said, grinning. "Miss Tetra is about your age. But she's been our captain ever since our last miss, her mother, died. She has more than proven herself to be fully capable of leading us, on more than one occasion. You probably shouldn't tell anyone I said this, but..." he grinned a bit broader, "Miss Tetra is probably smarter than half of the crew, all of whom are at least twice her age."

I grinned back. "Is she smarter than you?"

The pirate shrugged modestly. "I'm smart enough to tell when others are dumb, and I did trick you."

"That didn't count," I frowned. "I've only known Tetra for like ten minutes. It could have been true for all I know."

The pirate laughed. "Sure kid, whatever."

"The name's Link."

"Sure Link, whatever."

I headed down the other flight of stairs, muttering under my breath. These were the first strangers I'd met in years, and so far I was not getting the greatest impression of the outside world.

There was a large empty room at the bottom of the stairs, probably used for cargo normally. There was a large platform at the near end of the room, and a smaller one at the far end, and between the two was a lowered space with what looked like wooden flats laying on the floor. Standing near the doorway, looking decidedly smug, was a pirate I had seen on the beach. He was short, shorter than me even, with a massive overbite. At least now I knew what Tetra had meant by "beaver."

Niko acted surprised to see me. "Oh! Well now! Ahoy there, swabbie! As of today..." he cleared his throat. "I am your superior...Niko!"

I didn't say anything. It was very tempting to ask if I was supposed to be impressed, but I wanted to avoid trouble. Besides, if what Tetra had said was ay indication, Niko here was the very bottom rung on the pirate ladder. He probably needed this.

"Now, I promise I'll go easy on you so you do as I say, okay?"

"Ooookay..."

"Right!" He clapped his hands together eagerly. "Now, first off, you have to take the test all new pirates have to take. It's a bit of a doozy, so get ready! You watch everything I'm about to show you real careful-like so you can cram it into your no-doubt mushy swabbiebrain!"

I blinked. "Huh?"

"Just pay attention." Niko walked past me to a switch on the floor. "First off, you gotta press this switch. This is the only easy part. Just walk up to it and step on. Presto! Switch pressed!" He hopped on it, and the wooden flats rose up from the floor.

"Now, check it out!" he began.

"Hey, cool!" I exclaimed, ignoring him. "What kind of mechanism is that?" I bent over to peer under the platforms.

"Pay attention swabbie!" Niko ordered. "You're going to have to jump to the platforms. Watch." He took a running jump to the closest platform and landed with a grunt. It seemed to take far more effort than it should have.

"Okay, so I was able to jump on the first one myself" Niko said. "But the next one is too far, right? That's when you gotta do this!" He made another running jump, this time grabbing onto one of the ropes hanging from the ceiling and swinging to the next platform with a wild yell. Once again, way too much effort.

"So, you think you get how to do it? You have to swing from platform to platform and try to get to the entrance of that room over there!" He pointed at the door at the far end of the room. "Here's the problem though, swabbie! The platforms only stay raised for a little while, so if you don't get there by the time they drop you have to start over! It will probably take you at least one year before you're good enough to make it all the way here. One rough year. One tough year, full of bumps and bruises. Of course, if you manage to do it faster, I'll reward you! Now, give it a try! This ought to be good for a chuckle or two!"

I looked at him for a moment. Yup. Bottom of the ladder.

I waited for the platforms to drop down automatically before trying the test. It didn't seem that hard really, but it wouldn't hurt to give myself as much time as possible.

I was right. It wasn't hard. I actually took some time and lined up my jumps for the first couple, but then I realized all I had to do was eyeball it and try to keep from falling when I landed. I made it to the other side of the room in about five minutes. Tops.

"What? You did it already?"

"Yuh-huh."

Niko gulped and tried to reclaim wha ever dignity he'd thought he had. "I... I... I'm proud to have you as... As my... As my... underling!"

"Of course you are. Now, I believe you mentioned something about a reward?"

"Oh...yeah..." Niko muttered something to himself, sounded like something about getting busted, then he turned back to me and said, "All right, swabbie! I'll tell you what! You can have the treasure in that chest over there! It's your reward from the great and generous Niko! Hurry and take it before someone comes!"

I bit my lip to keep from laughing, then went into the room and flipped open the chest. Inside was a bag, a pretty nice one. Unfortunately it was purple, and designed to look like a monster face. I wouldn't have picked it out for myself, but hey, it was free.

"Hey! Link!" Tetra's voice echoed down the stairs. "We're at the Forsaken Fortress! Get up here!"

I scampered up the stairs, not caring how I looked. I was vaguely surprised when I got up ther to see that the sky was dark, but it made sense. So much had happened since morning, it felt more like years than hours. And yet, I was startled by the time the pirate ship had made. One of the pirates had said the Forbidden Fortress was all the way on the other side of the Great Sea from Outset.

Tetra was nowhere in sight on deck. I looked around futilely until I heard her voice from above me.

"Hey! Link! Up here!" I looked up and saw her peering down at me from the crow's nest.

I scaled the ladder as quickly as I could without falling off. Tetra frowned at me as I clambered over the top.

"What were you doing with Niko?" she asked. "You weren't play some stupi game for treasure were you?"

I tried to look innocent.

"Were you?"

"No," I said. Technically, a bag wasn't treasure, right?

Tetra shook her head. "Well, whatever. There's something you need to see." She gestured me over next to her and pointed into the darkness. "That's the cursed isle known as the Forsaken Fortress."

I stared. It looked like it had once been no more than a pile of rocks, but a fortress, huge and dark and forbidding, had been built on it. Now it jutted into the sky, like a monstrous claw tearing at the stars. There were remains of ships floating in the water beneath it, like the corpses of its enemies. Searchlights swept the building at strategic points, and as I watched one it fell on a small window, around which a dozen seagulls flocked.

Seagulls...

"There are all kinds of crazy rumors about this place," Tetra said, staring at it with an odd frown on her face. "All I know for sure is that it used to be a hideout for a no-good group of pirates we used to compete with. But they were just small time. Now the place looks like it's pretty dangerous."

She leaned forward and her frown turned thoughtful. "Ah!" she exclaimed suddenly, her face brightening. "I knew it! Look over there, by that window!" She pointed at the window I had noticed before. "Have you ever seen so many seagulls flock like that before?"

"Yes," I said truthfully. "They do it all the time for Aryll. I don't know why, but gulls have always liked her."

Tetra nodded, smiling triumphantly. "I'll bet you anything that's where they've got your sister locked up." She scanned the Fortress once more and frowned again. "It looks like the place is under really tight guard... Ergh!" She tugged at her hair in frustration. "This won't work! We'd be spotted before we got anywhere near landing there..." she folded her arms and sunk into thought. "Hmm... What do we do now?"

I watched her as she stood there, wrapped in plans. It was still hard to believe a girl like this could command a ship full of supposed cutthroats and bandits, but she certainly did dedicate herself to a project once she'd started it. Maybe, just maybe, she'd come up with a good plan after all.

Then, out of nowhere, she turned to me, smiled, and winked.

That wink froze the very marrow in my bones.

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Notes from the Author

Still using the game script. Added stuff though. I know, I know, but it'll get better Ipromise. And have I mentioned that I adore Tetra? I do.

Next chapter might take a while. Dungeons are hard. Fingers crossed, y'all!