Link's Awakening

Chapter Two: The Storm

For the first week or so of our voyage across the ocean, the wind was high and the seas were calm, perfect sailing weather as my father once said when he was teaching me. But it was not to last, since the weather out on open water could change even faster than on land, and the waves were getting taller… a bad sign. I remember waking up from my nap when Agahnim warned me of the change, and then I saw the dark clouds ahead… actually, it was like an approaching wall of darkness, and by the time we trimmed the sails, there was no way to avoid it.

"One… two… three!" Link called out as he and the wizard pulled the rope. "All right, I'll hold it while you tie it off!"

Having to yell to be heard over the howling wind, the young man nearly lost his footing on a wet spot on the deck, thanks to the water that was splashing over the side. With the waves getting taller, the small boat was rocked sharply upward, only to come crashing back down harder and harder as they entered the storm, forcing Agahnim to vanish into thin air, only to reappear on the other side of the rigging to avoid being tossed overboard. Between the two of them, they managed to get the sails trimmed, but now it was starting to rain, and there was a crash of thunder as the skies only got blacker ahead.

Even though there were still several hours before sunset, everything was getting so dark that it appeared to be midnight, but thankfully the wizard was able to light the lanterns with some flame from his hand, even though they had gotten wet. The candles inside of the small metal cages bolted to the frame of the boat didn't give off a lot of light, but it was enough to see… barely… oh well, the dim orange illumination that allowed them to see the edges of the boat was better than nothing.

"Junior, tie yourself off with this rope!" Agahnim called out, passing the end to him. "If this storm keeps getting worse, you could get blown over the side, and I'd never know!"

The young man absolutely hated being called Junior, but he hated the idea of being tossed into open water during a thunderstorm even worse, so he took the rope and tied it around his waist. The other end was fastened to the railing, as was the one holding the wizard, so great, at least they wouldn't drown unless the boat sank… a comforting thought. A cloth tarp had been stretched over a large area of the deck, allowing the two of them some shelter as they used the rudder to keep on course while trying not to get turned sideways by the waves, but that shelter only lasted until the cloth was soaked, and then it was just raining a little less on them.

"So, is this how adventures start?!" Link called as they steered. "Getting soaking wet in the rain?!"

"I'm not sure!" The wizard called back, struggling to turn them slightly starboard. "My mother said her adventure started when my father tried to rob her carriage, but I don't want to steal from anyone!"

Both of them had a good laugh at this, reciting the ridiculous dialogue that Agahnim and Link Senior had used during their performance to make travelers passing through Hyrule's Eastern Forest feel like they had been rescued from a robbery. Obviously, neither of them had been there in person, but Agahnim's mother, Lady Miranda, had told them the story several times… never managing to keep a straight face even once when she got to the part where Link Senior fell through the carriage roof because he thought it was solid.

Suddenly there was a crash of thunder, lighting up the sky when lightning struck the water, and then all other noise being drowned out when the thunder followed less than a second later. The wind was getting stronger as well, with the bow of their boat nearly pointing straight up into the air with the next wave, and then coming back down so hard that both of them were knocked from their feet. A large amount of water came spilling over the side this time, extinguishing one of the lanterns while the young man grabbed a bucket to start bailing, but more came in each time he threw it out.

"Reflejer!" The wizard yelled, aiming his hand toward the edge. "This isn't going to work, Junior, we need to set the sails and steer out of the storm before we're sunk!"

"I know, I know!" Link called back, having to grab onto a support to keep from getting knocked over again. "The wind's too strong… can you give me a shield or something?!"

The spell Agahnim had used on the edge of the deck had created a shimmering distortion, like a wall that kept water from splashing over for a time, and it was possible that he could do that for Link, but would it be enough to block the wind and rain… let alone thunder and lightning? The young man didn't need to actually climb up onto the rigging to set the sails, since they were tied off to the deck and the pullys would do the rest, but he was still going to have to be right next to the boat's mast, which was the tallest thing around… not such a hot idea during a storm.

For a moment the wind and rain stopped hitting him as the spell was cast, allowing Link to move freely toward the mast, except for having to hold on when the waves tossed them upward. Still, this allowed him to make his way over to where the ropes were tied, although the young man quickly ducked down when a bolt of lightning struck the water a lot closer to the boat than the last one had done. Agahnim yelled something, probably for him to hurry, but the words were drowned out by the thunder crash that followed.

"I've almost got it!" The young man yelled, loosening the first knot. "Get ready to steer us south as soon as the wind catches!"

"Just hurry up and get out of there!" The wizard yelled, fighting with the rudder on his own. "The lightning strikes are getting closer!"

Yes! The first knot came loose, sending the rope flying upward as the top sails came rolling down, and the wind caught it quickly, but it wasn't enough to get them onto a new course. So Link rushed to the other side of the deck, grabbing the slippery knot and pulling on the end with all his strength… only to lose his footing when the next wave hit. Saving himself from a nasty fall by grabbing onto the rigging, the young man held onto that with one hand, while trying again at the rope with the other. Even though he was tied to the boat, he clung tightly to the rigging, pulling and pulling on the rope until it was just starting to…

CRASH! Suddenly there was an intense flash of light, and the young man only had an instant to realize that the mast had just been struck by an enormous bolt of lightning, before everything around him vanished in a flash of white as he was thrown backwards. At some point Link must've landed in the water, because the next thing he was aware of, was the fact that he was floating. Well, maybe it was more like sinking, but he couldn't move a muscle, probably dazed from the hit.

Slowly the ringing in his ears faded away, leaving no sound but the bubbling water that was all around him as he slowly sunk down… down… down, even more slowly flipping forward around and around, with no sign of the storm, the boat, or Agahnim anywhere around him. Just the cold darkness of the ocean, so… was he drowning? Had the storm knocked him so silly that his body didn't yet understand that he was drowning? Ugh… as the ringing in his ears stopped, the young man became aware of a throbbing pain in his head, and… oh man, it was bad, like his skull was about to split in half.

Still floating downward, spinning and flipping, Link suddenly became aware of something else, but this had to be a hallucination… because it was starting to sound like there was some kind of music coming from somewhere far away. It was clear, though, even though quiet and not sounding like it was underwater at all… and then he hit something solid. Going face first into a solid wall made of a soft substance that clouded the water when he thrashed around, all of a sudden the young man's lungs must have woken up, because they were screaming for air.

Flailing and beating at the solid wall, Link backed away from it out of desperation, only to be shocked when his eyes were filled with light… sunlight. Breathing heavily in and out while rubbing his eyes, it took the young man a minute to realize that instead of kicking away from a strange wall deep underwater, he had simply stood up on the sand of a coastal shore… and was knocked down again when the next wave hit him from behind.

Just before the hit that pushed him underwater again, Link had seen land, so he crawled toward it, splashing and kicking off of the sand below as the water got shallow, and then he dragged himself onto the hot beach sand of an island… at least he thought it was an island. Crawling on his belly like a snake, because the fatigue wracking his body would allow nothing more, Link looked up and saw that there was a forest beyond the beach, and beyond that… it looked like there was a mountain on the center of the island, if this was one, with something… big on top of it.

The young man's vision was starting to go dark as the fatigue took over, forcing him to squint his eyes and strain to see the gigantic pink-spotted white object that was sitting on top of that distant mountain. But then he fell on his face, kicking up some of the sand near his mouth when he breathed out heavily, and… was there someone… coming toward him? All he could see was a blur as the figure moving toward him down the beach got closer, and there was no more to see as his eyes closed… just that same music… playing softly from somewhere far away as Link drifted off to sleep.

That music… it was so… soothing…