Chapter 23

Reaching the Island Palace

"So, how are we going to climb down there safely if we can't see anything?" His Highness asked.

We were still standing there by that opened tomb. The pit below was dark enough as it was without it being night out. I didn't want to go to town now, not after finding this secret! But perhaps we don't need to climb down?

"I have an idea." I stated aloud. I brought out the scroll the wise man of Mido gave to me and unraveled it. Perhaps we can just fly down? But I hesitated, I knew this to be the hardest spell I would attempt to cast yet, and we didn't have all night. I expected, like many times before, the prince to criticize my abilities as a magic-user, but he didn't say anything about it. Confused, I turned my head and looked at him, but he simply nodded like he approved of my decision.

I shrugged, shaking off his weird reaction and closed my eyes, repeated the words a few times to make sure I had them. Then, I focused on the sounds of every syllable. Minutes passed, and nothing changed. With every repeat of the spell, I fell more and more into focus, but frustration quickly pulled me out of it. "It's too difficult." I huffed, losing my patience.

"No, keep going." The prince replied. "You can cast it."

I could no longer hold my surprise. "What do you mean? You're always telling me how I can never be a magic-user! Since when are you so supportive?"

"True," He agreed. "But every time I said those things, you always proved me wrong. You showed me that you do have the abilities to cast these spells." He chuckled. "You know, you can really annoy me sometimes. I thought when you were trying out magic, you wanted all of your bases covered. You already mastered swordplay, so you wanted to show off with yet a new skill."

What? Is that what he really thinks of me?

"But I see I was wrong to think that way, you're just trying to solve problems by using the spells you have. I hold no doubt you can cast this one." He finished with a nod, beckoning me to continue.

My confusion still not resolved, I turned back to the spell again. He thinks of me as a show off? When has he felt that way? From the beginning of the quest, or perhaps from the very beginning when I brought his sister home six years ago? Of course, I never tried these spells for my own reputation, I even objected casting the first one, saying it's something I'll never try.

But his words were tinted with familiarity. All of the confidence I have as a hero, was it too much? Was my reputation too important to me? After I rescued Zelda the first time, my confidence boosted, my abilities never questioned from my own standpoint. Should I be more careful? Is this dangerous?

I pushed back the questions for now. This wasn't the time to ask myself these things. We needed to move before more ghosts show up. I looked down at the spell one more time and closed my eyes again. All of my thoughts melted away, leaving only the sounds of the spell behind. Even time felt like it had stopped, allowing what felt like all the time in the world to cast this.

In the solitude of my mind, I spoke the words again, and they answered back.

I felt a light prickle across my skin, and a sensation like I was being pulled to the ground. I opened my eyes and saw grass towering high above me. I looked up and saw the graves like palaces themselves! The sounds of night life were all the louder, and the smell of grass and dirt stronger. I spun around, not knowing what I'll see for my companion. The wise man said that the spell will work on others as well, but I was half expecting to see a giant standing behind me.

But no, what I saw was the prince, at my same height, staring agape at the forest of grass around us. He had a pair of nearly invisible wings on his back, only a whisp of white brushing by it every now and then actually revealed they were there at all. And from the widening look on his face when his eyes rested on me, said that I also had wings. "Link, you did it. Of course, I knew you would, but this is amazing!"

"And since it's working now, we should waste as little time as possible with it. I don't know how long this will last."

He agreed and I turned to where the dark pit was. Taking a few steps forward, and brushing back the grass out of our way, I saw the edge, and then I saw the hole, but this tiny hole resting under the tomb was now like a large canyon, a large, deep black canyon. I hesitated, giving time for the prince to stare down at it as well.

It was this time when I had considered the possibility of flying down there. I haven't used this spell's wings before, is it going to be just as difficult to learn as it was with the jump spell? I hoped not.

His Highness spoke those fears out loud. "I hope it's not as deep as it looks. I'd hate for something to happen that'll make us fall."

I swallowed, trying to think of something optimistic to say about it. In the end, I would rather push on, so I chose to say nothing, and I tried to lift up from the ground. Just like the spell gave a new joint or limb, the wings were surprisingly easy to use, but at the same time, they were different.

I hovered a few feet in the air, sliding slightly downwards, but I was not prepared to practice long. Without thinking much about it, I leaned over towards the dip. The prince followed. Since he was lower than me, he entered the pit first. The wings were now glowing a more frequent clear white and beating quickly, but he struggled, falling down faster than I was. He swung back and forth like a newly hatched bird trying to fly for the first time in his life. I wondered if I looked just as inexperienced?

The further down we hovered, the darker it became. Already, night was taking over, leaving little light as it was, but soon, the only thing I saw was the soft glow of the prince's wings. I reached into my equipment, bringing out my candle.

Even then, the only thing the light brought to my attention was the dirt walls surrounding us. Underneath us, I still saw nothing but a dark uncertainty, and above us, I can barely see the bright stars, being swallowed by these towering dirt walls. How much longer is this downward passage? Even if we were our normal size, we would have been climbing for a long time. Suddenly, I was thankful of the spared task.

But at least this gave us a little time to grow used to this weird spell. If we ever needed to use this again, we'll be more prepared for it. Already, His Highness looked to be more in control of where he was flying. The strokes of his wings where steadier, and he wasn't falling so quickly now.

Finally, I looked down and saw the rocky bottom. But that wasn't all, I could just barely make out a few shadows of something else. Was that some sort of creature?

"Link, be careful." I heard the prince's voice as I flew closer. My candlelight caught on multicolored shells, and then I knew at once this was a pack of lowder. They were now more terrifying at the size of elephants. As one turned to look at me, I could see every single detail about its insect like face. It clicked its stubby pincers and squeaked.

It was interested in me, and soon the others where approaching. But they couldn't fly, and I hovered above their reach. "This way!" His Majesty called above me. I must have been studying the lowder close enough that I didn't even notice him leave my side. Last I knew, he was ahead of me. I followed his voice. His was flying over towards the wall, where I now saw a decent sized hole. The pack of lowder squeaked after me when I left them behind.

But they weren't completely helpless. As I joined the prince's side, the lowder grouped up and began climbing the wall. Taking only a second to hesitate, we entered the opening and flew full speed down it. The lowder pursued us for a while, but while they can easily climb walls, they couldn't run very fast. Soon, they had to give up.

Carrying on, we came across a split in the road. One path to our left sloped upwards, and the other to our right, more steadily down. We decided on the latter.

The tunnel kept relatively straight almost the whole way, and we have been walking for, I'm sure, a few hours. Still, the passage hardly changed. There were no more lowder, no enemies down here at all. We trudged down a smooth, man made, dirt and rock tunnel. The fairy spell wore off quite a while ago now, the wings having grown transparent until they weren't there anymore. And so, we continued on foot.

Still, the tunnel would have been pitched black if it wasn't for the candle. Despite the road looking like it was dug by people, there were no man made tools left behind, not even a torch.

We walked mostly in silence, but both of us were growing tired. I didn't want to stop and rest. Just a little longer, I told myself, surely this passage has to change sometime? But we kept walking, and come across nothing out of the ordinary. Don't tell me we're lost again! Not down a single road with no turns!

I had figured that this will take us to some sort of tool, or perhaps magic, to help us reach the island. Why would it be so far down? There was no way this tunnel will take us to the island itself, right? How would that be? We entered this tunnel from the graveyard, it would be impossible to reach the island through a dirt tunnel! Not even if we were currently under the ocean waves!

But still, the road never changed.

I sighed, feeling aches and pains all over, beckoning me to stop. But I fought the urge. The stress of not going anywhere would keep me from resting anyway.

But eventually, after a long tiring walk, the road started to slope up. I hardly noticed at first because I falling into melancholy. But once my legs began to grow sore from the higher grade, I used the last of my energy to sprint up. "Wait up!" I heard the prince call behind me.

But I didn't slow. I ran up to the top where the soft light of the moon seeped in. The tunnel widened and entered into a natural cave. Like whoever built this tunnel dug it until it connected here. It was just a small bears' den, luckily, it wasn't inhabited. But the moonlight I saw a few minutes ago was now strongly drinking in from the mouth of the cave.

But the outdoors didn't look familiar. I exited the cave and stood under the stars. In almost every direction, we were surrounded by rocky cliffs. And those cliffs led down into the ocean. And the graveyard was nowhere to be seen.

It was dark, being just a few hours away from midnight, but I thought I saw towering spires and rocks in the ocean. They obstructed the view of the wide ocean. Truly, no ship will be able to weave past these rocks, and they protected every side of us. That can't be, was this the island? Were we traversing under the waves after all? How did we reach this in hours instead of days? There must have been powerful magic involved here. This changes everything. I had thought we would find something to help us, not take us directly to the island!

His Majesty came up behind me. The light from the candle flickered across his shocked and confused features. "Are we...?" He asked.

I knew what his question was. "I believe so." I answered.

"Then the palace, it should be here somewhere?"

"In broad daylight, we should be able to find it easily. But we're both tired and we stayed up long enough as it is. Should we rest here for tonight and continue in the morning?"

As if he was released from a long day's work, the prince sighed and sat on the hard, mostly dust and rock, ground. "Fine with me. See you in the morning then."

Without giving a reply, I unstrapped my sword and shield and lied down on the ground. The rock was cool and uncomfortable, but I quickly fell asleep regardless.

I woke up tired, exhausted, and sore, but the thought of fighting the next guardian raised me to my feet. His Highness, like always, was already up and strapping on his equipment. "Are you ready?" He asked, glancing at me as I stretched. "I'm thinking we'll take this road further down the cliffs. We might be able to see the palace from over there."

Once again, back when he first joined me, I would have attacked him saying this was my quest. But this no longer seemed to bother me. The longer he helped on this journey, the more I appreciated his effort and companionship. If only he wasn't so stubborn all the time... True, he is a prince out of his own castle, and I suppose, he hasn't been arguing as much as he had when he joined?

He waited patiently for me to gather my sword and shield before trailing down the only slope forward that didn't drop in the ocean. Once I was ready, I followed closely behind him. Now with the sun up, the land surrounding us looked a lot different than it did last night. Even with the candle out, most of the land was a dark silhouette. Now I can see all the little pebbles mingling with the dust. The spires blocking the island all around were more intimidating and close in the light. There was little shade from the sun here. The only green I saw here, beyond a few patches of dry grass and palm trees further down in the distance, was a few scattered cacti.

Last night, I knew there, in the center of the island, was a tall, rough cliff towering over the rest of the island. But I wasn't really paying attention to it. Now in the light, I saw just how rough it was. There were a few flat surfaces where more cacti grew, but the rest of it was jagged, and the tip was sharp. Sharp enough to pierce the sky, no room remained for anything to rest up there. So where was the palace?

We walked down the path until it met with the sea. Beach sand joined the rock with the ocean, and palm trees leaned towards the water. This is where the path turned north, and as we turned out heads, there was the palace.

It was old, and weather worn like it was sanded down and smoothed. It looked like it was once a solid white temple, but the years, location, and lack of care made it yellowed and chipped. The pillars standing in front of the door were falling over, and a few of the walls had gaping holes in them. From here, it looked deserted. Nothing moved past the missing chunks of the walls, but I knew that the temple was alive with many types of monsters.

But what type of monsters awaited us? Even more important, I wondered who the guardian here is this time? I will have to make my way through the palace and find out.