The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness

Chapter Fourteen

"Man, you wanna talk about pitfalls, this is ridiculous," said Eoghan as they exited the tunnel. The tunnel they had just passed through opened up into a cavernous wooded area containing scattered platforms, but the distance between them was great and they couldn't see a bottom anywhere.

"So what's your plan now?" Siobhán scoffed. Although it was counterproductive for everyone, she found the seeming impassibility of this area to be a small victory over her brother on her part.

"I dunno about you," he said, "but I plan to fall back into Cal's shadow and let her jump the gaps." He looked at the massive white wolf next to him. "If that's ok with you, of course," he added. She nodded in response.

"What choice do I have?" Siobhán conceded. The wind taken out of her sails once again, she resigned to follow suit with her brother. Together they allowed their forms to meld with the shadow cast by Cailin's wolf body. Cailin then set out to leap the gaps between platforms. One by one her paws met the wood's hardness beneath them, each giving her sure footing as she landed on them. Eventually she found a grassy outcropping with another wooded tunnel and an oddly formed tree. Once she stopped to rest, the twins came springing back out to the light.

"What's his problem?" Siobhán said condescendingly.

"Who?" Eoghan was confused. "What are you even talking about?"

"That tree," she clarified. "Just look at it. It's got such a depressed look about it, it makes me want to just give up."

"That," said Cailin who had just returned to her normal form, "is a deku…or rather I guess it's a tree that looks an awful lot like one."

"A deku?" Siobhán inquired with an unimpressed tone to her voice. "Care to elaborate?"

"The deku were a race of people, for lack of a better word, long ago in Hyrule's history. I say for a lack of a better word because they weren't people in the sense that we think of, two arms, two legs, a head on top, essentially Hylian-looking. They were more like intelligent shrubs when you get right down to it. For whatever reason that's just their facial structure, what you see on that tree. They're extinct now, obviously, but there's still record of them being around for a time after Ganondorf was sealed in the Twilight Realm by the sages."

"Sorry I even asked," Siobhán rolled her eyes. "Well, come on, then. We better keep going."

They continued onward through the darkness until eventually they could hear the sound of running water. When the source of the sound was finally in view, the trio found themselves inside some alien structure.

"What is this place?" Eoghan wondered aloud.

"We must be in Termina now," said Cailin. "The question is, how do we reach the surface."

"Maybe if we follow these ramps…" Siobhán suggested, her voice void of its usual contempt. They followed the ramps up, spiraling around a rotating vertical beam, until eventually the floor beneath them leveled out.

"Damn," Eoghan said to himself, "there's no way out." Where there had clearly once stood a doorway, there was a solid stone wall. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"Well," Cailin, suggested, "that beam was being controlled by water power, so maybe if we follow the stream we can find a way out."

Together they made their way back down the scaffolding to where they had entered and observed the waterwheel. After determining the direction of the stream, they followed it down the underground tunnel.

"I sure hope you two know what you're doing," Siobhán chided. "Let it be known that, should this go horribly wrong, it was not me who made this decision."

"Oh come off it for once, would you?" Eoghan snapped. "If you haven't got anything good to say, don't bother speaking at all."

"Have it your way," she shot back. "Maybe when you're in trouble and you need my help I'll just teleport away."

"You don't know how to teleport," he rebutted.

"Yes I do!" she snapped, barely controlling her temper. "I could do it right now if I wanted."

"No you can't," he said, casting aside her lividness. "You couldn't shadowjump until a few days ago, so there's no way you could teleport."

"I couldn't shadowjump because I had no reason to try. I, unlike you, obey the rules. Besides, that's an ability. Teleportation is a spell."

"Why not go ahead and do it, then?" Eoghan chided. "Go on, prove it."

"No," she snapped. "I won't have any part of your foolishness. Besides, where would I go?"

"Whatever," Eoghan said. "You can't do it."

"Yes I can!"

"Oh for Goddesses' sake," Cailin interjected, "give it a rest!"

"He started it," Siobhán hissed under breath.

"Actually," Cailin said matter-of-factly, "I believe you did, and I'm not just saying that to be taking his side."

"Yeah, see?" Eoghan demanded. "She gets it, why can't you?"

"On the other hand," Cailin continued, "you, Eoghan, didn't have to keep after it like you did. You both are to blame. Now, let it go!"

Having been put in their places, the twins continued on in silence. All that could be heard was the splashing of the water with each step they took towards their goal. The tunnel was seemingly endless, going on and on with no end in sight. After many, many uncountable hours they finally could see a light far in the distance.

"It's about time," said a highly annoyed Siobhán.

"Yeah, no kidding," Eoghan agreed.

"Mark the calendars," Cailin said wearily, "the twins agree on something." They were all so tired that her attempt at humor was wasted on all of them. Eventually, though, they reached the end, and they were greeted by the pale light of early morning. Ahead of them to their right was a sandy beach, and next to that, a great ocean.

"Damn," Eoghan said after they'd all taken a moment to let the image sink in. "So this is Termina, huh? Not quite what I'd expected."

"What did you expect?" Siobhán demanded.

"I dunno," was Eoghan's defeated response. "I don't really much care right now either, to be honest. I just want to sleep."

"Two agreements in one day," Siobhán said to herself, "this must be some kind of record."

"There's a house over there," Cailin pointed out. "We can head over there and see if anyone's home. If there is, we can ask to stay there, and if there's not then we won't ask."

"I must be delirious from exhaustion," said Siobhán, "because that sounds like a great idea to me."

They made their way to the house and Eoghan, taking the role of leader, knocked on the door. They waited a moment, and after not having received an answer, took the liberty of letting themselves in. Once inside, they all immediately collapsed onto the floor, too exhausted to go even one more step.

"What's all that bangin' around in there, eh?" came a voice from somewhere beyond them.

"Aw shit, someone's here," Eoghan gasped under his breath.

"Too late now," Cailin replied. "What happens now just happens." Just then they heard a door somewhere in the back of the house open.

"Oy!" shouted the voice of a man, which was now accompanied by footsteps. "I said what's all that – well, now, what's this, then?" He said upon seeing the trio in the floor. "Who said you lot could come in here?"

"No one," Eoghan panted as he tried to get to his feet. "We knocked and no one answered, so we thought the place was abandoned"

"Well, that makes sense that no one answered, I'd say," said the man. "I was out the back, em…takin' care of some business, shall we say. So who are you all, then, and how'd you get in here?"

Once Eoghan had, after much effort, gotten to his feet, he responded. "My name is Eoghan son of Link, King of Twilight. This is my twin sister Siobhán daughter of Midna, Queen of Twilight, and our colleague Cailin, Daughter of the Wind."

Now that he was standing, Eoghan could take in the appearance of this new person. He was a wiry man, a bit taller than Eoghan but not by much, with darkly tanned skin. He seemed to be missing several teeth, and the lower half of his face was hidden beneath a great, scraggly beard. His arms were decorated with swirling tattoos.

"Well, that's all well an' good, Eoghan son of Link an' all that," he said, "but that still doesn't tell me how you got into me house."

"Your door was unlocked," Eoghan said, "so I opened it, and then we all collapsed onto the floor."

"Well what was you all doin' down there?"

"It was not our intent," Eoghan replied. "Exhaustion forced us there. We've been travelling hard for several days."

"Sounds important," said the tattooed man. "Well, if you can make it up, have a seat anywhere you like an' I'll be back in a minute with summin' for ye's." He turned and left the room for another part of the house.

"I'm not sure if we should trust him," Siobhán said warily once he was out of earshot. "Something doesn't seem right about him."

"You mean other than the fact that he's missing teeth?" Cailin jabbed. "He seems alright enough, but I agree with you somewhat. We should stay alert in case he tries to pull one over on us." They each settled themselves on the floor in as comfortable a position as they each could find. Just then the tattooed man returned carrying mugs of something brown.

"Jest a nice porter," he said, seeing the wary looks on their faces. "I know you lot are jest young'uns, but you lot look like you could use a nice pick-me-up."

"You can say that again," Eoghan said and he took his mug from the man.

"So what," the man began as he settled into a wicker chair, "could be so blamed important that you lot come all the way to my house without a break, eh?"

"Well," Cailin began, "we didn't really intend on coming here."

"Well of course not," he interjected. "No one comes to visit poor old Phil anymore. Not even the Zoras come to spend a while like they used to. Can't blame them though, I'd say. Times is hard nowadays."

"What do you mean, 'times is hard'?" Siobhán asked.

"Ever since Zagros took over –"

"Wait," Cailin interjected, "did you say 'Zagros'?"

"Aye," Phil replied. "Oh, I remember the days before he came to Termina. A good life a fisherman could have in those days. There was money to be made, women to be had, an' plenty of time to enjoy life. But then one day a stranger came to Termina an' turned the whole world topsy-turvy. Aye, gone are the days when a man could tame the seas by the sweat of his brow an' that alone. Now it's all politics, an' damned they'll be if those Gerudo pirates don't keep everyone but 'emselves off the seas. Times is hard, nowadays. Times is hard."

"That's all very unfortunate," Eoghan said, "but what can you tell us about Zagros?"

"Oh, don't know too much about him personally," replied Phil. "Never comes out anymore. Used to be that he'd come out an' talk to people, seemed like a good man then. There was summin' about him, I remember. Not sure, but it made you want to listen to what he had to say. That an' he seemed genuinely interested in how things worked here. But then one day summin' happened, an' I couldn't tell you what, but before you knew it, Clock Town was torn down and they were buildin' a great big castle where the city used to be."

"A castle, you say?" Cailin said, and sat up straight. "That must be where he's taken them."

"Taken who?"

"Our parents," Eoghan replied, "and Princess Zelda of Hyrule."

"Couldn't tell you nothin' about any of that," Phil said. "All I know is that things has gone south ever since Zagros made himself King. Aye, times is hard, nowadays."

"We've heard," Siobhán said dryly. "I'd say you're right, though," she said to her companions. "If he's got them held anywhere, I'd say it's that castle."

"Alright," said Phil. "That's enough talk of castles an' Zagros an' all that. You lot need to rest. Hurry along an' finish your porter, an' you can have me bed to sleep in. I'll be out all day anyhow, so it won't bother me any.

They finished their drinks in silence and then allowed Phil the fisherman to show them to his bedroom.

"Thank you for letting us stay here," said Eoghan. "You've been more than gracious to us."

"Ah, well," Phil stammered, "it's the least I can do. Besides, it's not every day an old fisherman gets company anymore." He left the room and went back to the sitting room. After about an hour had passed, he went back to check on the trio. There they were, all sound asleep in his bed. Eoghan, he noticed, had his arm around Cailin.

"How sweet," Phil said to himself. "Oh, to be young again." He paused for a moment, shut his eyes, and then opened them again. "Oh Gods, or Goddess, or whoever's out there, an' young'uns, please…" he paused when he felt a catch in his throat. Finally he finished his thought with a croak. "Forgive me for this."