Chapter 31: One Misty Night

…

The Number Seventeen steam engine continued across the glowing rails of the Spirit Tracks at a brisker pace than her engineer had expected to use in the Lost Woods. The engine chugged strong, taking a feeding from Luggard only once after the encounter with the Skulltulas. Of course, when Luggard fed it, he wanted to make sure that the train was ready in case they had to stop again.

However, the night had ended its cruelty after the crew ran. The Skulltulas, after the train had left the junction clearing, could not chase the train from the ground. Nor did they seem interested anymore, apparent to the boys since they stopped descending from the trees trying to intercept the steam locomotive. Their luck held out for a while afterwards as well because the track they rode continued in the direction of the glowing Spirit Tracks, the following two junctions already set to send them further towards the Forest Temple.

Link remained sitting on top of the office car, agreeing to keep lookout just in case more Skulltulas wanted to try their luck. He sat between two of the beams running the length of the car, his feet and bottom bracing him between the joists against the car's shaking. He held his sword, resting the point at the base of the joist near his feet. The blade still bore some of the green juices from the Skulltula attack earlier, as well as one leg of his trousers which had taken some of the collateral carnage. The muscles in his left arm felt a little weak, and his hand was almost recovered from the sting it took. At one point, he considered his hands and determined that he might need to find some gloves. The air around him felt moist from the surrounding fog and smelled of burned coal from the locomotive. These two factors somehow reminded him that he had not gotten much sleep earlier that morning. After a while, he felt his eyelids taking on weight.

Even thought the pull on the whistle was brief, the sound still startled Link out of his trance. His eyes swept over the trees around the train. That was when he realized that the train had exited the Lost Woods. Fog still blanketed the surroundings, but Link could see that the train had emerged into a field, the grass below illuminated by the cab's lantern. He looked up, finding only a curtain of pure black over his head. No stars, not even a hint of celestial light. He wished he had a little more to see with. Or just a little more to see.

The train shuddered as Luggard applied the brakes. Holding his sword backhanded, he crawled forward so that he had a clearer view into the cab. "What's going on, Luggard?" he called.

"Can' see a thin'," the engineer replied. "I's slowin' so we don' hi' anythin' on the tracks."

Link's eyes swung toward the rear of the train only to find that the trees they had emerged from had already fallen to the black somewhere behind them. All he could make out dwindled to just a few lengths of the Spirit Tracks before the thick fog swallowed their glowing form. Feeling that the danger had passed, he allowed himself a relaxing breath and gently set the sword on the roof of the car. "What about the temple?" he called down.

"Can' see it anywhere," Luggard called back. "If this fog go' any thicker, we'd smash inna it."

"Do you think we might have to camp for a night?"

Luggard waited a moment before replying. Link could see him leaning out of the cab to look in front, his face not visible to Link. "Yeah," Luggard said.

"Cale. Do you know anything about the Forest Temple?"

Cale stood so he could approach the back of the cab. "I believe it has a small receiving bay just inside the entrance. But, otheh than what's common to most temples, theah isn't much to say."

"A'ready 'eadin' for the bay," Luggard called up. He turned back to the office car just as Link stood. But before Link could jump, Luggard spoke up, "B'fore ya do tha', there's a ladder on the back side ya can go down. Ya'll wanna wai' 'til we stop."

Link nodded and retrieved his sword. He frowned, wishing he had something other than his clothes to clean the blade. He wiped both sides of the blade against his left calf, blotching out the bit of leg that had not already been spattered. After sheathing it, he slowly stepped across the office car, his feet trying to keep him standing against the car's rocking. His eyes could barely make out the metal rails of the ladder against the mist beyond.

Just as he hunched low to board the ladder, the locomotive's whistle sounded. Link swung his head towards the sound. The forward light revealed a circle of wall closing around the locomotive, and Link quickly hauled himself onto the ladder and ducked beneath the car's roof before the wall reached him. The train's brakes squealed, and Link felt the momentum thrust him against the ladder. He held on a moment, looking back towards the entrance. Light from the cab showed the black hole in the wall slowly receding, simply a brown mass fading from sight.

The Seventeen ground to a stop, allowing Link to set foot on the ground. After a quick glance back to see the wall swallowed by darkness as well, he rounded the car and approached the locomotive. Luggard was busy with the train's controls, so Cale opened the cab door. "Where are we?" Link asked him.

The locomotive gave an angry hiss, causing Cale to jerk in surprise. "I-inside the Forest Temple," he said, edging to the ladder hanging from the running board. "We-we should be safe foh now."

"Maybe," Luggard said, finishing his handling of the controls. He turned and rested a hand on the wall of the cab. "I'd feel much be'er in the office car."

"I don't think we have much to worry about right now," Link told him, eyes scanning the air above. "If there were any Skulltulas hiding in here, they'd probably be after us by now."

"No' wha' I's worried 'bou'. If it was jus' Skulltulas 'roun' 'ere, I'd feel fine."

"What else could be out here?" Irleen asked, emerging from a pocket in Cale's waistcoat.

"Insects. And plen'y o' 'em. Ya saw those Skulltulas. Wha' else do ya think might ge' so big? I s'pect mos' things 'ere is born t' kill somethin' else."

"And quite possibly poisonous," Cale said as he reached one foot to the ground. "We have little idea since no one's been through the woods foh some time now."

"And it's dark," Luggard said. "Makes 'em more dangerous."

"Soooo… the office car?" Irleen concluded, indicating with a sideways slide.

"Tha's an idea," Luggard said. He turned and grabbed the lantern hanging above the control panel. Then he stepped around to the cab's running board just as Cale dropped to the ground.

Cale's eyes searched through the darkness towards the spot of light cast at the front of the locomotive. He pointed. "Theah ah supposed to be lahge rooms fuhtheh into the temple. Don't you suppose Ryain left something behind in theah?"

Link sighed, his eyes following Cale's gaze to the rock platform resting in emptiness before the locomotive. "I don't know. I have a feeling that anything useful in the temple is already gone. Besides, Ryain seemed more interested in the crypt in his last few recorded moments. I'd prefer to try starting there first."

"Well," Luggard said, dropping to the ground. He turned so the lantern he held shone on all three of them. "I don' plan on doin' much withou' some sleep."

Link gave a weary nod. "Yeah, me, too. Let's go."

…

~~Day 11, night

~~After getting lost, we realized that we can follow the energized rails of the Spirit Tracks straight to the temple. Unfortunately, that required us to stop and get attacked by Skulltulas. We're resting inside the temple right now using the office car for shelter.

~~I'm covered in Skulltula blood. I can't wait to get out of here.

Link shook his head upon finishing his last thought. His hand moved to scribble the line out, then he changed his mind and set the pen down on the desk beside him. Eye wandering to the ceiling, he listened for other sounds. The car was silent save for a writing utensil scratching against paper.

Link glanced down at the desk. Cale occupied the chair in front of it, stroking a stick of charcoal against his assignment book as he bent over it. His head was tilted to one side with a relaxed expression focused on his work. Link pushed away from the wall of the car and leaned over to see the contents of the book. He had to shift to keep his shadow out of the lantern light behind him.

"That's very good," he told Cale. Cale looked up with a puzzled expression, allowing Link to pull the book away from him. One open page had been decorated with a sketch of a Skulltula hanging from the top, outlined in white against black surroundings. Although he had emphasized the skull-like body coloring on the Skulltula's back, he has still made it apparent that the creature he drew was a spider.

"Oh, thanks," Cale answered. "I-I could not bring myself to just describe what I saw. This… well, it seemed easieh."

"I like it. What do you think, Irleen?"

Irleen dropped down from the warm lantern to have a look. She backed up after a short look. "Ugh. I could stand not seeing these things again for long time."

"S-sohry…"

Irleen quickly shook from side to side with a strange ringing sound. "No, no! I mean it's good! It's good. You could be an illustrat—You should be an illustrator!"

Cale's cheeks flushed in the dim light. "Th-thank you."

"Where'd you learn how to draw?" Link asked, sliding the book back.

"Nowheah in pahticulah. I… well, when I'm studying, I tend to staht drawing on my notes. I'd expected to grow out of it, but… it's a habit I just can't break."

"I spen' time doodlin' on me trousers when I was twelve," Luggard spoke up from the topmost bunk at the back of the car. "Couldn' make money off it, though."

"How many people are willing to buy used, dirty trousers?" Irleen asked, her tone speaking of a joke.

Luggard shrugged the shoulder he was not leaning on. "Me mother."

"Your mother used to buy used trousers?" Link asked, astonished.

"Same story anywhere," Luggard said. He paused to take a bite of biscuit. "Me father spen' a lo' o' time in the Fire Realm minin' with the Gorons. He could only send us back so much. So I go' in the Blun' Comp'ny 'n became an engineer. 'Alf o' me pay goes t' me mother 'n brothers."

"'Brothehs'?" Cale asked, raising his eyebrows. "How many?"

"Four." Luggard held his hand up, palm open until he realized he had miscounted. After switching his thumb for a moment, his eyes rolled up as he counted in his head. "Yeah, four."

"Is that a lot?" Irleen asked.

"Ah, well… it's-it's a… um…" Cale stuttered.

"For a family livin' in Library Town, it's too much," Luggard said. "Me 'n me brothers, we's always fightin'. Me mother spends 'alf o' 'er time layin' one o' me father's belts 'cross our butts. I's the oldes', so I grew ou' o' it firs'." He paused to take another bite of biscuit. While he chewed, Link could see an almost nostalgic gaze in Luggard's eyes as the engineer examined his half-eaten food. "Wha' 'bou' ya, Cale? Wha's yar family like?"

Cale pursed his lips while he appeared to think. "Not pahticulahly remahkable," he answered, gaze falling to his assignment journal. "Parents. One little sisteh."

"Hovela?" Luggard asked.

Cale glanced up, surprised. "H-h-how…"

Luggard pointed to his own throat. "Accent."

"Hovela?" Irleen asked.

"My home," Cale said. "On the shore cliffs fah south of Whittleton."

"Good livin'," Luggard added.

Cale shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose. I hadn't the fondness foh it."

"How come?" Link asked.

"My fatheh owns trade in some of the majoh rail companies. A… well, soht of a tyrant without a kingdom. My sisteh and I weh raised moah by the housekeepehs than him."

"Wha' 'bou' yar mother?"

Cale scrunched his face, closing his journal. "I… don't know. My sisteh and I have brought the subject up to Fatheh a numbeh of times. He… he's refused us satisfaction time and time again. I've leahned not to bring the subject up anymoah, but my sisteh… well…"

"She still asks?" Irleen said.

Cale nodded. "But Fatheh doesn't relent. Noh will any of the housekeepehs. I suppose that may be the reason I decided to become a librarian."

"T' find yar mother?"

"I could think of no betteh place to seahch. Most of Hovela's public recohds ah stohed in private access in Library Town." He glanced up at Link. "What about youh family?"

Link shrugged. "I actually don't know. I've only known the Skyriders Company for most of my life; I was practically raised by the company. Whatever time I wasn't in housing on Skyrider Island, I was usually on the Grand Sails. Spent time at other ports, too."

"No' even any siblin's?" Luggard asked.

"I guess the closest I've ever had was my best friend Line. When I made lieutenant, he was my Chief of the Deck."

"Chief of the Deck?" Cale asked, going unnoticed by Link as he scribbled frantically in his journal.

"The Island Sonata was too small for a command crew," Link answered, his explanation directed towards Luggard. "While I commanded the ship, Line directed the individual workings and dealt with the crew."

"Like a conductor on a train," Luggard said. "Directs the crew and passengers, bu' the engineer says where it goes."

"Sort of."

"Sohry, what was the Island Sonata?" Cale asked.

"It was my first shi…" Link, having finally glanced down at Cale, cast a confused glance over Cale's shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"Huh?"

Link reached past Cale and snatched the journal. "Are you making notes about me?"

"I-I-I-I—"

"Is 'e?" Luggard asked with a grin on his face, shifting so that his arms could drape over the edge of the bunk. "Writin' a biography on our fallen captain, Cale?"

"Looks like it."

Cale piled his arms onto the desk with a heavy sound. Despite this, his forehead still met wood when his face fell in embarrassment, producing an unsympathetic thunk. After a groan, he said, "You wehn't supposed to find out. Madame Seilon made gathering infohmation about you paht of my assignment, but she didn't want me to try anything oveht because it would take too much time. I was only supposed to gatheh the facts wheneveh they showed."

"So you were spying?" Irleen asked. "I'm surprised. I didn't think you could be sneaky like that."

"I-I wasn't trying to do that! It's just… well, it just happened that way. Link, I'm reeeeeeeally sohry."

Link offered the journal back. "I'm not mad, just a little surprised. You could've asked; I'd tell you what you needed to know."

Cale shook his head. "N-no, I can't. She told me that I can't lead the convehsation. It has to flow naturally."

"Ya was askin' ques'ions, though," Luggard said.

Cale's jaw open and shut as his mind flailed for words. "Wa-I-I, well, I, uh… I…"

Link put the journal on the desk. "Don't worry about it, Cale. We'll try not to tell Madame Seilon."

"Weeeell," Luggard drawled. He pointed a finger at Irleen. "Tha's us boys. Wha' 'bou' ya, Irleen?"

"Only child. My parents were theater performers, but they sent me to school. I guess they wanted me to do something different."

"Theateh pehfohmehs?" Cale asked. "What soht of theateh?"

"Is that going to go in your book?"

"Uh… n-no…" Irleen fluttered closer to his face as if to stare him down. Cale used a hand to find the journal and close it. "R-really. I-I won't write it if you don't want me to."

"Comedy." Link's and Cale's faces blanked, neither able to provide any reaction other than confusion. Luggard, however, had no problem expressing his thoughts through a light chuckle that quickly evolved into a powerful guffaw. "Oh, come on!"

"I-I can' 'elp it," Luggard managed through his laughter. "If-if I tried t' 'old it—ha ha ha… me breath would bus' me teeth ou'!"

"They didn't strictly do comedy! They did serious performances!"

Luggard pushed himself up on one arm while he pointed at the lantern with the other. "'Ark! Doth I see a gallows, or is tha' a cucco with a long neck? Either way, I's in ser'ous trouble."

"Yeah, that's the last time I tell you anything about my life!" With that, Irleen turned to the car door. But after approaching it, she seemed to think better and fluttered back to the lantern. Then she dropped down at Link.

"Hey!" he cried out as she dove under his hat. He pulled his hat off, and Irleen quickly jumped from his hair into the end of the hat. "Irleen."

"Leave me alone!"

Luggard gave a sigh. "Oh, c'mon, Irleen, I didn' mean anythin' by it. I's jus' playin'." Irleen huffed in response, and Luggard scratched his head. "I's sorry."

Irleen did not reply, so Link set the hat on the desk as gently as possible. "Maybe we should just leave her alone for now."

"I's jus' jokin'."

Link pulled one corner of his mouth back. "It's been rough for both of us. She's the only Sorian on the surface right now…" He hesitated for a moment so he could consider his words. "We're… the only people that she has, that she can rely on."

Luggard let his head droop for a moment. Then he rolled so that he was lying inside the bunk with his face to the ceiling. "I said I's sorry…"

Link ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe we should just go to sleep. Get to work in the morning."

Cale stood up. "Do you know wheah that crypt is supposed to be?" he asked as he removed his waistcoat.

Link unfastened his tunic belt. "It's supposed to be outside the temple, so we'll wait until the sun comes up before we start searching."

"For wha'ever ligh' tha' gives us," Luggard mumbled before he rolled towards the back of the bunk.

Link scrunched his face as he pulled his tunic over his head. "It'll have to be enough," he said, tossing the tunic on the desk chair.

Cale added his waistcoat to the chair. "Which bed do you want?"

Link shrugged. "It doesn't matter; I'm going to stay up for a bit." Cale nodded, kicked off his shoes, and climbed into the bottom bunk. Link reached up and turned the lantern down until he could see his hat glowing.

Then he sat in the chair and rested on the desk, his face peering into his hat. "Irleen?" he asked in a whisper. "You still awake?"

"Yeah," she answered in a small voice colored with a sob.

"Are you all right?"

"… No. I-I don't like people making fun of me."

Link managed a small smile. "I know what you mean. I had a hard time when I was on the Grand Sails. I couldn't sleep sometimes because I was afraid my crewmates would try to fire me out of a cannon."

Irleen coughed out a laugh. "Sounds horrible."

"It was worse when they did try it." Irleen broke into a short bout of laughter, causing Luggard to glance over the edge of his bunk. Link's mouth formed a bigger grin. "Look. Things are probably going to be a little hectic for a while."

"It's not that, Link. It's just… whenever I was made fun of, I was always able to defend myself. Being… well, being like this… I just feel like I don't have that power anymore."

"So we'll just have to make you big again. We'll get you back to Forelight Island.

"I promise."

Link tried to imagine that, in Irleen's silence, she gave her head a nod before saying, "Thank you."

…

The toss to the deck knocked the wind out of him. But instead of finding his feet, he remained flat against the deck boards as the ship began to list in the opposite direction again. The whole weather deck had gone black after the lights on the masts had disappeared. He could still see some of the bulwark towards what he thought was the rear of the ship. He had to get down there like the captain had said, but walking had been a challenge since the vessel came under attack. His hands felt raw from having one of the ropes yanked out of his fingers by the turbulence, so he propped himself up on his elbows to look around.

Crewmen, bare to the abdomen but wearing slacks of mostly earthen colors, lay strewn about the deck, tossed about like a child leaves toys scattered in a room. None of them appeared seriously injured, but most of them were slow returning to their feet.

Then he noticed that the ship had stopped its violent flight. He stood up, slowly, trying to let the feeling of blood rushing to his head alleviate before finding himself on the deck again.

A number of heavy items thudded against the deck; he could feel the impact through his boots. When he looked in the direction he was sure they had come from, he could see in the frantic light of the storm around them a number of ropes hanging seemingly out of nowhere.

Then he saw the cannons in the blackness and looked higher. What he first took to be the dark clouds of the storm turned out to be the black-clad hull of another airship, much larger than the ship he stood on. The ropes had been thrown from the bulwark high above, and things were already descending.

A hand grabbed his wrist. "Come on!" someone shouted as he was pulled towards the stern.

"Ah… Line?!" he cried out upon recognizing which of the Hylian airmen had grabbed him.

"Getting you to safety!"

He heard shouting behind him and looked over his shoulder. The Sorian airmen, along with Airman Albert, were ambushing the creatures descending from the other ship. "Goddesses Above…" he swore to himself. "What is happening?"

"Pirates with a bigger ship!" Line said. He stopped and wrenched open one of the doors to the aftcastle.

Line shoved him into a dark room and slammed the door shut. He immediately found his feet and ran to the door. "Airman Line!" He pushed on the door, but someone on the other side was bracing it shut. "Airman Line, open this door! Open the door no—"

Phah! Phah pha pha pha phah! Pha pah! He felt his heart sink from the sounds outside as some of the shouting died out, allowing thunder to sound once again. His breath caught in his throat, and he backed into a wall away from the door. This was a wise move, as someone wrenched the door open and pulled it shut just enough that a soft sliver of light showed through. The figure hunched low, peering outside.

"Airman?" he asked.

"Shh, keep it down," Line replied. "They've got guns out there; we don't wanna be found."

"Guns?"

"Yeah, big ones. Kind I've never seen before. Not flintlocks, though; it looked like they were lighting them with their breath."

"With their… how?"

"The ones using them were breathing fire."

He dared a step towards Line. "Fire? What are they?"

Line's voice came out a little frustrated as he replied, "I don't know; I didn't get a good look at them."

"What of the crew?"

This time, Line hesitated before responding. "I think they're dead. Whatever these pirates are, I think they just had the last word."

"And the capt—"

Line hissed at him. "Someone's coming. Get back."

He turned and felt along the walls. But all he could determine was that they had hid in a shallow room with no other exit. "Ah… Airman, where are we?"

"Huh?" Line stood up and disappeared from the doorway. Line's shoulder brushed his arm as the airman put his hands on the nearby walls. "Oh, crap. It's that f—"

The door to the storage closet flew from its hinges before Line could finish talking, pulled off by pure strength and flung across the weather deck just as easily. A silhouette formed by the flash of lightning behind it dominated the doorway, its form tall and bulky. In the instant both turned to look at it, it had grabbed Line and tossed him outside.

He felt a large hand, covered in calloused skin, wrap around his slender forearm. But instead of being thrown like Line, he was pulled to the door, although his feet did not touch the deck.

In the light, he spun and met a pair of metal eye sockets empty of all but a tiny glint of blue reflecting in the steel around it. He felt his breath well up for a scream.

In the instant that Link jerked awake, he reeled from a heavy impact to the head. The sound of his skull banging against the top of his bunk startled both Luggard and Cale into slamming their own heads. Luggard growled a number of incomprehensible sounds, as if his mouth was not awake enough to properly pronounce the cursing he had intended to do. Cale merely joined the other boys in moaning as his own head began to develop a large lump.

"What's going on!?" Irleen cried, rising from her sleeping place in Link's hat.

Luggard pulled himself to the edge of his bunk. "The 'ell, Link!" he shouted as he peered over the side, one hand holding his head.

"Agh!" Link growled in response, waiting for the pain in his forehead to go away. "Sorry."

"Another nightmare?" Irleen asked.

Link shook the pain from his head. "Yeah, I guess."

Cale glanced over to the window above the desk. "It's light out. I guess."