Link's Awakening

Chapter Twenty Nine: Eagle Tower

I was surprised, after managing to reach the top of the next ledge, to find that the entrance to Eagle Tower was both unguarded and wide open so that anyone could enter. Of course, given the tower's location, and how difficult it was to even get there, I also couldn't imagine that most people were willing to even make the journey. I couldn't go in right away, however, no, I needed to catch my breath after such a long and grueling climb… as I was going to need my strength in order to free Marin from the rider's clutches.

Given the size and height of the tower, Link had been expecting to find a fully manned fortress, filled with traps and barricades made specially to prevent the advance of young heroes, but in reality the place was just… empty. It looked like this might have been an important site at one time, with banners and furniture, along with all kinds of decorations, but much like the sanctuary beneath the Tail Cave, it appeared to have been abandoned for a long time. The banners were ripped and faded, the furniture was nothing but dried pieces, and once again there were no footprints in the layer of dust on the floor except for his own.

There were many rooms on the first floor, some of which might have been sleeping quarters for soldiers, and one that was maybe a, uh… kitchen at one point? Whatever the original purpose of this place, there was no sign of Marin or the rider, but there was a large spiral staircase located at the very center of the tower, covered with tatters that might have once been an expensive rug and going up… and up… and up. The young man dreaded the idea of more climbing after what it took just to get there, but he supposed that stairs were better than bare rockfaces, so he quietly started upwards.

Just because there were no guards or hostile creatures around, that didn't mean that the rider wouldn't be able to hear any noise that was made within the tower, especially if he was at the top… oh man, please don't let him be all the way at the top. Link kept hoping that he would find his two targets, or at least Marin, on one of the floors along the way, but no matter how many he stopped and searched, this whole place was like a giant tomb. Why was it that some places on Koholint Island were brand new and pristine, while others were left to rot as if nothing but a forgotten memory?

Zelda's house, the Tail Cave, this place… what was it about them that caused such decay? If this was all really just a dream of the Wind Fish, then shouldn't everything have been the same everywhere? Or was it the presence of the nightmares keeping it asleep that was causing certain places to fall apart? As much as the young man wanted to find the answers to all the mysteries he kept encountering on the island, he wanted to wake the Wind Fish and take Marin back to Hyrule just as badly, so the mysteries, well… if the island was still there afterwards, then maybe there would be time.

Up and up… and up the stairs kept going until the point where Link was no longer choosing to stop and investigate the different floors, more like needing to stop and rest a while after every other level. Based on how the sun was moving into later afternoon, at least another hour must have passed between walking through the entrance and when the young man finally reached the top of the tower. Aside from the entrance to the stairwell, and a large flagpole on the southern edge, the roof of Eagle Tower was nothing but a smooth, flat surface. No, wait a second… there was something at the bottom of the flagpole… someone was tied to it.

"Marin!" Link exclaimed, running toward her. "Marin, I'm coming!"

The young woman was standing there against the flagpole, tied to it in such a way that she would have probably fallen from the tower if she tried to free herself without assistance, and with a gag in her mouth. What was the point in gagging the poor girl? Who was she going to yell out for all the way up there? Moving as fast as he could, the young man was almost to her, when he was stopped by a powerful gust of wind as the giant bird he had seen in Mabe Village rose up from below.

"Made the climb all the way up here, did you?" The rider called, pulling back slightly on the reins to make the bird hover. "Good show, my lad, but you'll never get your hands on the Organ of Evening Calm, and the girl belongs to me… so have at you."

With a flick of the reins, the giant bird flapped its wings once, knocking Link back with the resulting gust of wind, and then making him stumble and fall to his hands and knees with the next one. Once he was down, the rider hit the reins again, this time making the bird glide down past Marin, where it landed gracefully on the roof of the tower. The young man got up as soon as it landed, drawing his sword and advancing toward the giant bird, only to have to back off in a hurry after it raised one of its legs and slashed at him with the talons.

"Let Marin go, you coward!" Link yelled, trying to get close but the talons getting in the way again. "She has nothing to do with this!"

"On the contrary, good sir, the girl absolutely does." The rider replied, moving the reins so that the bird kept facing him as he circled. "Even if you get all the instruments, they are worthless without a voice to lead them in song… so after I've dispatched you, Marin will stay here with me forever."

Spurring the great beast, the giant bird squawked as it went on the offensive, snapping at the young man with its beak and kicking at him with its talons while walking toward him. The young man raised his shield to defend himself, but the force of the bird's next kick knocked him off his feet, and then he had to roll out of the way in order to avoid getting stomped. The giant bird circled him as he rolled, now trying to bite at Link with its beak, putting little scratch marks in the roof's stone surface while the young man desperately swung his sword in an attempt to drive it back.

Snap! Suddenly the bird reared up, making a backwards circle as it moved away from him, not because the beast had been wounded, but because Link's desperate flailing with the blade had resulted in one of the rider's reins getting severed. With only one left to hold on, the rider tried to regain control, but the giant bird wasn't having it; rearing up so sharply that its master flipped over backwards as he rolled off the bird, crashing hard onto the tower's roof while the beast flapped its huge wings.

Up into the air, the giant bird let out a loud squawk as it spread its wings, and then the beast glided off into the air, quickly vanishing from sight, and leaving the rider to fend for himself. This person had not only attacked Link, but kidnapped and threatened to hurt Marin as well, so the young man leapt at him just as he was getting up to his hands and knees, pinning the rider back to the ground as the blade sunk into his back. Pulling the sword out, and then stabbing him again, the young man was only dimly aware that his enemy had a small musical instrument on a sling that went over his shoulder… the Organ of Evening Calm, he assumed.

"Why… why do you want… it all to end?" The rider groaned, coughing up some blood onto the stone. "You're… you're inside of… the dream… too."

Ignoring his enemy's words for the moment, Link slung the instrument over his back, and then ran over to Marin, using his sword to cut the ropes, and then pulling the young woman down from the edge while removing the gag from her mouth. Once free, she hugged him tightly, and the poor thing must've been really scared, because she was shaking. So the young man held her for a few minutes, and then she kissed him. This wasn't some quick peck like after the honey festival, this was a real, passionate, heart-melting kiss that made Link hold her just as tightly.

"We need to get out of here." He said once they separated. "Come on, we need to go before that bird decided to come back."

"Don't… wake the… Wind… Fish." The rider coughed weakly as his own blood pooled around him. "Please… don't… doom… us…

There might have been more to say, but after another cough, the rider fell silent. Marin looked away, and Link didn't want to see this anymore either, so they made their way over to the stairs, and started down. Holding hands so that they wouldn't lose their balance, it took just as long to get back to the bottom of the tower, if not longer than it had for him to get up there in the first place, but it was just as rewarding to leave the tower as it had been to reach it. Of course, now the young man had to find a way back down, and… and why was there a trail of packed down earth beginning at the entrance and circling around?

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Link grumbled when he realized what it was. "There's a road?"

The trail circled around behind the tower, and then curved back toward the center of the island, meaning that if the young man had taken a little more time and looked around, he probably could've had an easy stroll up into the Tal Tal Mountains. Oh well, it was better to find it now than discover it after they were back down at the bottom, so Marin took his hand again as they started walking. There were still a few hours of daylight left, maybe just enough time to get back to the village before it got dark, and then if Agahnim managed to get the last instrument, well… then it really was decision time now… no more putting it off.

"Marin, I'm going to wake the Wind Fish." He said, finally making up his mind completely. "After I do that, we'll all be free to leave the island, and… if you wanted, I mean… I'd like you to come back to Hyrule with me."

"I'd love to." The young woman replied happily, without hesitation. "I've always wanted to see other places, and…

Instead of finishing her sentence, Marin kissed him on the cheek, and then they walked in silence for a while, following the road toward the center of the mountains… where the giant egg of the Wind Fish was already visible.