Chapter 13: A spell, a ship, and a friend?
Link, Aryll, and Quill just got back to Fisher's Cove when they noticed the ship.
"The SHIPSEEKER!" Aryll exclaimed, pointing at the ship. Tetra noticed it too when she stepped outside from the bar to greet them.
"The SHIPSEEKER!" she cried. Natasha, behind her, spotted the ship also.
"The SHIPSEEKER!" she yelled, and hugged Aryll.
"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Tetra asked when they were all gathered on the dock again. "We should go onto the ship and find that Talon!" They all cheered. Tetra organized everyone into two groups, one to hold off the pirates if they came back, and one to search the ship. Link and Quill were among those to fend off pirates.
"Quill... you don't have anything to fight with." Link pointed out, while they were standing in front of the ramp on the dock. Quill thought for a moment, and spotted a pole lying on the ground nearby. He picked it up and twirled it easily, in front of him, behind, above, and hit the dock with the tip, inches away from Link's foot.
"I do have something, is it too little?" Quill replied, and Link shook his head.
Meanwhile, Aryll, Natasha, Tetra, and a couple of crew members had boarded the ship. Tetra had never been on it before, so naturally she had no idea where the treasure was.
"It's right here, Tetra," Aryll said as Tetra was searching the doors. Then, they tried to pull the door open. After a couple of minutes, they let Niko give it a try.
"Well, they have obviously put a lock on this door," he said after examining the knob.
"Open it already!" Tetra exclaimed, tapping her foot on the wood.
"We would need the key," he said.
"Well, duh!"
"So, they would have hidden the key someplace very... unreachable."
This touched Tetra's nerves so much that she kicked the door. But of course, she was wearing her open-toe sandals, so she ended up walked a short distance away, grinding her teeth in pain.
Natasha peeked in through the small window in the door and saw the glittering jewels and gold, and with her sharp Rito eyes, spotted a single key hanging on one side of the room, next to a lantern.
"The key is in there!" she said, and Aryll pulled out her slingshot. Taking careful aim, she hit the peg that was holding the key. The key fell off.
"Now what?" Natasha asked, and Niko ran off the ship and down to where Link was. They talked quietly and Link gave him something. Niko ran back up and handed the object to Tetra.
"Of course, his Hookshot!" she said, and pointed it through the window and at the key, while bracing herself. The claws and chain shot out, grabbed the key, and retracted with such force that it felt like she was shooting a gun. ("Gods, how does Link get used to that much pressure?" Tetra yelled) Natasha picked the little piece of metal up as the pirate rubbed her arm, and unlocked the door. They pulled it open, and were greeted by the glittering of precious metals.
"...Do you know what we are looking for?" Aryll asked after the group looked around for a minute.
"We're looking for this black box. It's kinda old-looking, like it would fall apart at any minute, and there is a little loopy sign on the lid..." Tetra traced in the air the sign, which was sort of curly at one point and looped around itself. The search continued.
"Hurry up!" Link's voice was faintly heard. "You guys are taking a while! They might be here at any minute!" The search team quickened their pace, when at the same exact second, Aryll and Natasha called out:
"I've found it!"
"Where is it?" Tetra cried happily, but then realized that the two other girls were at opposite sides of the room. Aryll held up a black box that matched Tetra's description, but so did Natasha. There was silence for a moment.
"Hurry up!" Link yelled again.
"Just bring them both," Niko decided, and the group ran out of the room, shutting the door. They ran across the deck, down the ramp. and met the group on the dock.
"See any suspicious activity?" Aryll asked Link, and he shook his head. Then he gestured to the rest of the group.
"They were getting hungry."
"Not me!" Quill said with a frown. Tetra groaned at the thought of labor for nothing, as well as wanting dinner, and the large group headed toward their own ship.
The sky was completely clear, with not a cloud in sight- it was as if the rain never happened...
"Andrew? Andy..." Mark called loudly from Daniel's desk in the corner of the cabin. He seemed to be searching for something, as there were various papers scattered around his feet, and he had an expression of annoyance. His twin walked over from the other side of the room, and stood next to him.
"What are you looking for?"
"The rain spell. Daniel know it by heart, but every time I do it I need the incantion..." He sighed. "But the problem is, I can't find it... And we need to stall the Hero of Winds for a little longer..."
Andrew walked over to his own corner and sat down on the floor. Although he was known as the least helpful of the triplets, he had amazing memory skills.
He closed his brown eyes and thought hard. Yes, just half an hour ago the argument started, and Daniel had realized a flaw in their plan. Mark called him a name and Daniel stormed out, slamming the door shut-
Wait a minute, he thought. When Daniel slammed the door, there was a rustle of paper, and this crackling from the fireplace. So, the rain spell might have fallen off of the desk, and straight into the fire. There was no other explanation, unless Mark had displaced it, or Daniel took the paper with him.
Andrew looked over at the fireplace, and saw the charred remains of a piece of paper. He got up and walked over, inspecting the remains. It was all scorched black, but he could make out very faint writing:
"Thy rain"
"Mark?" Andrew said, regretting what he would have to say, but it had to be done. He mentally braced himself. "About that... rain spell..."
"This is it, boys! And girls," Tetra added, her eyes sparkling with excitement, and the thought of treasure. "Now we can see the Golden Talon, after all these weeks-"
"Tetra, it's only been a couple of days." Natasha pointed out.
"...Right. Anyway, I can't wait to see it!" Tetra selected one of the boxes and pried open the lid. Nestled in the dark blue velvet was a talon, one that was gold and had a sparkle to the sharp tip. It looked like it had come from a Crowhen, but their talons were always a dull gray- right? The whole cabin breathed a sigh of relief, glad that they had gotten back what they came for.
"Wait a minute," Link realized as everyone got up to go on deck. "What about the other box?" The only response was Tetra pushing it into his hands, and whispering, "Keep it." Then, he was alone in the cabin, as the pirate crew and everyone else was on deck, getting ready to sail back to Feather Flats, as well as eat dinner. It was too late in the day to leave now, however.
Link just stood there, holding the box. He wondered what sort of treasure could be in it, and why had Tetra willingly handed it to him? Well, all she had wanted was the Talon, so she ignored all other treasure- but why?
He sat on the floor in the corner, and carefully pried open the lid, wincing when he heard the hinges squeak loudly. Inside, a potato-shaped instrument was nestled in the red velvet. It was blue, with a definite shine to it, and there was the symbol of the Triforce carved and painted onto a painted band around the opening. There were six or seven holes on the instrument's front.
"What a strange thing," he whispered to himself, and picked it up. It felt like he had owned and played songs on it for years.
There was a small plaque on the inside of the lid, and he studied it carefully. It was a line of notes on a staff. And in loopy writing underneath, it said…
SONG OF TIME
Link lifted the strange instrument to his mouth, covered a few of the holes, and blew. It made a sweet sound, sort of like a flute, except it had more body. He looked at the notes on the staff one more time before playing the song.
Suddenly, there was a jerk like someone was pulling on his shirt from behind, and he was falling, falling, falling… through a seemingly endless vortex of white, and the song was echoing in the emptiness and the clocks were whirling backward-
Thump. He hit the grassy ground hard on his feet and he fell back and lay there for a while, on his back, the instrument still in his right hand, and looked up at the sunset sky. Strangely enough, there were no clouds as far as he could see. He had experienced the strangest thing in his life, so incredible that he didn't think he would forget it anytime soon. Link felt queasy, so he slowly stood, pocketing the ocarina, and his legs gave way, so he let himself fall forward on his face, and fell unconscious.
"Kid… hello? Wake up." Something was nudging his leg. His eyes were still closed but he was immediately alert, wondering who it was.
"Wake up, I'm telling ya... Wake up." Another nudge. Aryll? No, it couldn't be. The voice was a boy's. But it wasn't low enough to be a pirate's or Quill's, not even Andrew. And why was the voice calling him 'Kid'? He moaned. The voice paused. There was a thump, like something being dropped on the ground. Then, a rustle like a person crouching in the grass, and two hands were shaking Link on the shoulder. Link cautiously opened one eye, noting the morning sky and a few clouds-
And then he was face to face with what looked like his twin.
He yelped and jumped up, taking a few hurried steps backward as he unsheathed his sword, and assumed fighting stance. The other boy scrambled backward and had his hand on his small sword, but the shield was lying on the ground.
"Who are you?" Link demanded. The boy stood and dusted himself off with one hand, holding the sword with the other, and nervously pushed his blond hair out of his eyes.
"I'm Link," he replied.
Link raised an eyebrow.
"I'm Link, too."
"Weird. I have never seen clothes like yours before- they're so bright."
"You look like some sort of an elf."
"I am. Where are you from?"
"Outset Island." The boy seemed taken back.
"Island? What is an island?"
"You've never heard of an island?" asked Link, shocked.
"No. This is Hyrule, not Island," said the second Link, not noticing Link's reaction.
"W-wait- come again?"
"This is Hyrule."