Chapter 12: I Can Only Take So Much Damage

…

The crew, after ten more minutes of travel, realized that they had to pull the Island Sonata out of the Sky Line some time before reaching the island. The ship had to resort to sailing under its own power for a while.

Because the Sky Line flowed through the island. As the Sky Line turned to the south, Link ordered the ship out when he saw that the two lights hovered over their flight path. He ordered Line to increase their altitude so that they sailed on an altitude in between the two beacons, expecting them to be some kind of guide. The sky, due to the storm and possibly the night outside, made seeing the island itself difficult.

Until something large broadsided the schooner. The Island Sonata listed to port as the offending unknown scratched along the starboard hull. All three airmen on the weather deck were knocked onto their stomachs and pressed their fingers into the space between the deck planks to keep from sliding. Link, still standing on the bridge, lost his footing and collided with the port bulwark. He only had a few seconds to realize that Princess Zelda, who had been standing starboard of Line, was barreling right at him. He caught her, losing the wind from his lungs when the princess's elbow jabbed him hard in the gut. Line managed to hold the wheel.

"Hhhhhh… hhhhhhhhh…" Link wheezed, unable to recover his breath.

"Skipper, are you all right?" Zelda asked, pushing away from him.

Link turned his head to keep from coughing in her face. "Hard… to port…" he managed.

"What'd he say?" Line called, trying to keep the wheel centered.

"Hard—hard to port?" Zelda asked Link. Link nodded. She immediately hollered over her shoulder, "Hard to port!"

"Got it!" Line replied as he planted his feet firmly into the deck. He had to pull counter-clockwise on the helm against the force both the list and gravity put on the booms. Fortunately, with the list, Line had some extra pulling power. He straightened the booms, and then he pulled the ship to port. The ship corrected itself with a brief rock, and the retreating helm clocked Line's chin from underneath. Line barked with pain, but he put himself behind the helm again and straightened the ship.

The rock also threw Link off the bulwark. His arms flailed and wrapped themselves around the first thing they could reach. However, Zelda was not any steadier, and the skipper accidentally tackled the princess to the deck with a surprised scream escaping both of them.

Link took a moment to realize who was underneath him and quickly pushed himself up. "I-I-I-I-I'm sorry!" he said. "A-are you okay?"

One hand holding the side of her head, she nodded and replied, "I will be fine."

"Skipper, we—" Flower started to say as he reached the bridge, but he quickly stopped himself upon seeing Link and Zelda against the deck. His face formed a silly grin. "Uh… if you'll forgive the liberty, Lieutenant, this isn't the best of time for that sort of thing."

Link's face formed a scowl, and he was on his feet in the next moment. "That's not funny!" he shouted at Flower, standing in a pose of childish indignity with his fists clenched.

Flower snapped to attention, but his face cracked with the urge to laugh. "No, sir, not funny at all!" he agreed.

"Line, stop the boat and find the wind!" Link snapped. Line, attempting to hide his own amusement, did not reply as he brought the throttle for the steam engine to a stop. Link offered his hand out to the princess as he asked, "What did we hit, Airman?"

"Not sure yet, sir," Flower replied. "I didn't see it until it already hit us, and I didn't get a good look at it."

"Here, let me help you," Link said when the princess stood and started dusting herself off. He started brushing her back.

His hand went lower than he meant, and in the next instant, the princess whirled on him. Link hit the deck hard, his left cheek stinging where the princess's sharp backhand had struck. His head reeled for a moment before he pushed himself to his feet again.

"Perhaps it would be best to keep your hands to yourself, Skipper," Zelda told him with a harsh tone, rubbing the pain out of her hand.

Link stretched out his jaw. "Noted," he replied, rubbing the sore cheek. He heard snickering and glanced over to find Line and Flower attempting to hide their laughter. He scowled at them. "Airman Flower, go find out what we hit."

Flower saluted. "Aye, s-sir," he answered, unable to maintain a straight face. Link's answering salute was sharp, and Flower quickly bounded down to the weather deck.

"Shut up, Line," Link groaned at the airman as he dusted himself off. "What about the wind?"

"Uh…" Line droned for a bit. He licked his forefinger and held it up. "I can't find it. I'm not sure if we have any."

Link looked up at the sails. With the ship stopped, the sails would want to drift in the direction the wind blew. But they simply swayed back and forth with the subtle listing of the ship. If there was a breeze coming off the bow, it was far too weak for Link to feel.

"Well, this is definitely odd." Line's words interrupted Link's search. "The whole place is dead."

"I prefer the term 'quiet'," Link replied. "We'll hold the ship here for now. Go below and see if we have any damage." Line nodded, locked the helm, and went down the stairs.

"Skipper, you've gotta see this," Flower called up to the bridge, his tone sounding tentative. Link made for the stairs, and then he stopped and looked around the bridge, surprised to find that he was the only one left.

When Link reached the weather deck, Flower called to him from the starboard side, "Over here, Skipper."

"What is it?" Link asked as he stepped up beside the airman.

"See for yourself, sir," Flower replied, holding up a shaded lamp. The beam of light joined two others as they brushed over the starboard edge.

They revealed a tree. This alone would have been surprising enough; with no inkling of the direction they needed to go, it was perfectly plausible for the ship to hit a tree if one was large enough. But as the beams crossed foliage almost as large as Link himself, he saw that the green mass of the tree stretched across a wider area than the Island Sonata occupied. The taller of the beacons they had seen came from some kind of point at the top of the tree, too far above and distant for the crew to see or their lamplight to reach.

"That's not all, either, Skipper," Albert, standing closer to the bulwark, spoke up. He beckoned Link to the edge and aimed his lamp down. It shone on a large branch hiding behind the massive leaves. The branch was bare. It was also flat along the top, wide, and sported two large knots in the end.

"A boarding plank?" Link asked Albert.

"Or a giant spoon, sir," Albert replied with a smirk on his face.

"No damage be—holy shit!" Line suddenly hollered as he jogged up behind Albert. "Is that what we ran into!"

Link hissed at him. "Keep it down, Line."

"Sorry," Line replied, scratching the back of his head. He looked up at the tree. "But still. That's gotta be the biggest tree I've seen."

"You're not alone in that area," Albert agreed.

"Line, go let up on the ballast a bit," Link told him. "We're going to try docking."

Line's brow furrowed, and he stepped up next to Link. "Where at? It's a tree!"

Link pointed. "Look at that branch. I think we can step off down there."

"Are you sure it's safe?"

Link's face scrunched as he thought. Then he looked over at Leonard. "Find some scrap we can spare and put it in a bag. Bring it up here."

"Yes, sir," Leonard replied, saluting and nearly clocking himself with his lamp.

"Line, at the helm," Link continued. "Hold on until someone tells you to drop; we'll test it first."

"Got it," Line saluted.

"Skipper," Flower spoke up. "If I can find a light rope, I might be able to lasso one of those knots."

"What about the mooring line?" Link asked.

Flower shook his head. "Too heavy. But if we can get one rope on it, I might be able to make a mooring line if we pull it in."

"You good at tossing rope?" Albert asked him.

Flower shrugged. "Spent enough time to roping and tying my little sister up."

Link gave it a moment of thought. "That sounds good enough to me," he agreed. "See what you can find."

"Shouldn't be too hard; we've still got those emergency supplies Captain Alfonzo gave us."

"Go," Link said. Flower saluted and left. "Albert, see if you can find something we can use as a plank. If we disembark, we'll need one."

"Got it, sir."

As Albert jogged off, Zelda emerged from Link's cabin. She spotted him from across the deck and approached him. "Link?"

"Something I can help you with?"

She nodded. "It's Rireen. She's awake, but she is in dire need of food."

Link looked around for a moment, then he grabbed one of the lamps hanging over the edge of the bulwark. "We have some dry rations in the galley. Will that work?"

Zelda nodded. "She'll eat anything."

"Come with me," he told her. They crossed to the hatch and started down the steps. "I'm sorry that we didn't have any meals planned earlier."

"No apology necessary, Skipper," Zelda answered. "Considering the great task which I have placed in your capable hands, it should be expected that some needs might be neglected."

"Well, maybe," Link admitted. "And my crew is limited to four airmen. Only one of them knows how to prepare food, and I can't seem to remember who it is." He sighed and added, "I'll have to hire a crew once we return to Castle Island."

"In regards to having no meal, perhaps I will partake of these rations as well."

Link shrugged. "If you want to, but I can't guarantee that they taste good."

"You may find this hard to believe, Link, but I have had my own share of horrible meals."

Stepping onto the floor of the galley just under the hold, Link found the luxury to glance over his shoulder at the princess. "Really?"

She gave him a smile. "Some cooks have significantly strange tastes in flavor. I remember one dish which none of my family could eat because it was too spicy."

Link's face formed an inquisitive look. "Huh. I guess I'd never considered it." He opened the door to the galley and found piles of storage sacks scattered across the floor. "Uh oh," he moaned as he placed the lamp on a nearby hook. "It looks like our listing made a mess after all."

"Is anything ruined?" Zelda asked as he picked up a package.

"No, I doubt it," he answered. "These packages might be a little dirty, but it's not the packages you'll be eating."

"What is in them?"

"Nuts, dried fruit, jerky… and some kind of rock-like stuff I've never been able to figure out. I chipped a tooth trying to chew it, and since then, I just hide it in my mouth and spit it overboard the first chance I get. Knowing this life, it's a… uh…" Link quickly aborted his joke as he handed over two of the packages.

"What?" Zelda asked.

Link shook his head. "Never—never mind." He found a flask lying on the floor and brushed off the outside.

"Is there anything to drink as well?" Zelda asked as Link pulled the flask's cork.

"Yes, but I don't think you'll enjoy it," Link replied, removing the lid from a nearby barrel. He dunked the flask inside and let it fill. "It's grog."

"Grog?"

"Yeah." Link removed the flask and let an orange liquid drip on the floor for a moment. "It's a combination of water, fruit juice, and… alcohol. Uh… w-well, not enough to make you drunk, of course."

"I'm sure," Zelda replied as she took the flask, a teasing smile on her face. Link considered for a moment that she did not believe him.

They returned to the weather deck and parted, Zelda to Link's cabin and Link to his crew gathered at the starboard bulwark. Flower gave Link a hearty, "Hey, Skipper."

"Are we ready?" Link asked.

Metal clanking sounded near his head, and he turned sharply to find Leonard holding an old mailbag. With the lamplight around them, Link could see the glimmering edges of scrap metal through the holes in the bag. "Found this scrap in the engine room, Skipper," Leonard told him. "I think it's left over from when the boiler was refitted."

Link's brow furrowed with confusion. "The boiler was refitted?"

Leonard looked taken aback. "That's what I assumed," he replied. "Why else would this scrap be sitting next to the boiler mouth?"

Link thought about it for a moment, then he gave up with a shrug. "I don't know."

"So, if it's not connected to anything, then we don't need it," Leonard concluded. With a satisfied smile, he lugged the mailbag further up the deck. He planted it on the bulwark and sighted it over the edge.

"Think you can hit it?" Albert asked, laying a thick plank against the bulwark.

"Hope so," Leonard replied. "I don't think we have anymore scrap we could randomly dump over." He pulled the bag into position. "Hey, Flower. How about helping me heave this thing over? Just to make sure we hit it."

"Wait, you're going to throw it?" Link asked.

Leonard shrugged. "I figure if it can survive having this scrap metal fall on it, it's safe enough for us to walk across."

"Makes sense," Flower grunted as he lifted the bag from below. "This thing's got to weigh about as much as me."

Both men looked at Link, waiting his approval. This gave him time to make an appropriate assessment of the situation. "Airmen, you have permission to throw a mailbag full of scrap metal over the side of my ship to make sure that we can safely dock to a tree."

Albert snorted. The comment also received smirks from Leonard and Flower. "Yes, sir," Leonard chimed. "On three.

"One…

"Two…

"Three!"

Link, who had been standing next to the bulwark behind Flower, looked over the side. The bag did not travel far, but it did not need to in order to hit the branch. It landed with a thud and a heavy jingle right on target. The branch wobbled under the weight for a moment, then settled with the bag on top of it.

He stood up straight and addressed his airmen. "Nice work. Put a rope around it, have Line bring us down, and dock us. I'll inform our passengers."

"Aye, sir," all three saluted.

Link returned their salutes and crossed the deck to his cabin. As he took a deliberately slow pace, he could not help feeling particularly proud of how things appeared to have gone well so far. They had made it through the storm to the island, and they were now docking with it. No serious incidents had taken place (although he felt his pride falter when he remembered the conversation with the princess hours before), and his crew had operated efficiently and without the desire to stuff him into anything. A fair day, indeed.

He stood in front of the door, but he did not open it immediately. A few thoughts as to how the rest of the day would play out crossed his mind. He held on to the hope that whatever inhabitants they encountered were friendl—

WHAM!

The cabin door flew open without warning and met Link's forehead just as he leaned over to grasp the knob. His head reeling, he flopped backwards onto the deck hard.

"Captain!" Zelda cried out as she dropped to one knee. "Link! Link, are you okay?"

Link could not respond. The only thought he seemed to have while he was attempting to fight his way through the cloud in his mind was, "Somebody…

"Just kill me, please."