Chapter 33: Link and Cale, Tomb Raiders

…

Link paused near the bottom of the staircase for two reasons, one hand held up to tell Irleen to duck behind him. The first reason was that the lights in the next room were already on, signaling that someone was down there. Originally, he thought that Cale may have found the means to turn on the lines in the walls; it had not been difficult for Link to discover. But the second reason was the sound Link could hear from the room. Crunching, like someone chewing on a mouthful of cereal. It was not a single sound; it reminded Link of the sounds airmen tended to make when they were all ducking duty in the galley at the same time. Link had not wanted to get close to that sound on the Grand Sails, so entering a room in a crypt from which that sound came gave him more reason to hesitate.

"What is—"

"Shh!" Link hissed at Irleen. He hunched low and slowly continued around the spiral of stairs until he was peeking out the doorway at the bottom.

He saw a large chamber, much larger and taller than the one above. This made sense to Link, as the trip down the stairs felt longer than the first flight he had taken minutes before. The floor and walls were the same glass and lines theme as before, perhaps with even more lines to aid illumination.

The difference was the creatures roaming about the floor. Brown, ball-shaped creatures with a single spike on their heads waddled about on little more than a pair of feet. Short worms about the size of a cucco, sporting a soft body of puke-green skin, climbed about the various statues and coffins arranged on the floor and in recesses in the walls, making identifying the owners of the crypt even more difficult. The crunching sound, Link realized, was both kinds of creatures feeding on some of the roots growing from the center spire, which appeared to have thinned out as it descended to the floor of this vast chamber. The ball-like creatures formed a line and seemed to take their fill of the roots before going about their business elsewhere on the floor, while the worms preferred to slime over any vertical surface they could find, including a much higher feeding ground on the spire.

"What are these things?" Link asked himself.

"Spinuts and Blastworms." His forehead forming confused furrows, Link turned to find Irleen hovering further up the stairs. She rocked her body, producing a bell-like jingle. "They live in forested areas like this."

"How could you possibly know that?" Link asked. "You've lived in the sky for most of your life."

"I fight them all the time."

Link glanced back out at the floor. Then he turned back to her and said in a loud voice, "Haah?"

"We—not in reality, Link!" she replied. "It's a book game. The other librarians and I played them all the time. One of you tells a story while the rest of the group plays as characters in the story. The story finishes after you go into a dungeon and rescue someone or find treasure or something." Link stared at her in silence. "It's a fun game." More silence. "Okay, stop staring at me."

"I still don't see how you know what these things are," Link said.

"They're creatures from the monster manual. Most of the creatures in the monster manual are made up of creatures known to the surface world."

Link gave a sigh. "Okay, so, what can you tell me about them?"

"Spinuts are mean little things that like to chomp at anything fleshy. And watch out for that spike on the top of their heads; it's poisonous."

Link's eyes swiveled out to the chamber again. Near one of the closer coffins, a Spinut gave a strange barking sound at one of the Blastworms crawling on coffin's side. In response, the Blastworm dropped from the side and curled into a ball in front of the Spinut, producing a number of spines from the surface of its skin. Undaunted, the Spinut lowered its head and charged into the Blastworm.

BOOM! The Blastworm exploded, sending the Spinut hurtling across the chamber. It hit the wall far behind it with a disgusting splat and dropped to the floor, unmoving. Link's eyes turned back to the Blastworm's location to see grey entrails coating the floor.

Link gulped. "And… Blastworms?"

"Uuh… yeeeeaah, pretty much just as the name sounds."

Movement in the room suddenly changed. Spinuts lined on the far side flocked to the remains of either the Blastworm or its victim and began chewing on it. Link put on a disgusted face as he watched Spinut teeth tearing apart the newly dead. "Ugh."

"The manual didn't say anything about cannibals, though."

"I think we should just avoid becoming part of the menu. We have to find Cale."

"How about up there?"

Link turned his attention back to the chamber. Spinuts were swarming and pushing each other out of the way for a taste of flesh, and some had even starting butting heads together. Link's eyes traced up the center spire and saw that a platform sliced through it about halfway up. The chamber offered lines of light enough that Link could see the black roots that Cale might have fallen through. Unlike the rest of the chamber, the platform looked like fresh wood. Blastworms crawled along some of its edge and the bottom, and Link could just barely make out spots in the wood where the Blastworms might have chewed into it. His eyes fell to the wall across from the stairs, and he could see the dark shadow that must have been another set of stairs leading up to the platform. He would have to hope so, anyway; he could not see any other way up. But he was concerned about crossing the chamber. How would the Spinuts react to him?

"Will they attack me if I try running across?" he asked.

"Weeeeell… Whenever I was playing a game, Spinuts normally chased after us. I… got killed by them a couple of times. It's… well, it's actually a little embarrassing."

Link's eyes swept across the chamber. He realized that the Spinuts had formed two large groups around the entrails, and no others seemed interested in mindlessly wandering about. And, if the demonstration moments before was a good sign, Link just had to avoid touching the Blastworms.

He steeled himself and said, "Okay. We'll sneak past them while they're eating. Follow me."

Hand on the hilt of his sword, Link stepped out into the open. The Spinuts did not appear interested in him as they continued to brawl, so Link moved along the adjacent wall where the Spinut from before had not hit. He kept his distance, of course, because Blastworms were travelling on the wall at about head-height with him. Shifting his eyes between the nearby Blastworms and the Spinut hordes, Link moved behind a row of stone coffins on his way to the other side. His heart pounded with fear, knowing full well the kind of damage setting off a Blastworm could do. He waited until he was under the platform before venturing into plain sight, sure that the Spinuts would not bother him from there.

Now that he was closer to the spire, he saw that the Spinuts had chewed it into almost a point. The stone looked like jagged, brown marble, and water dripped onto the floor. Link stepped closer, casting a cautious eye to the Blastworms above, and felt the surface with a hand. "I wonder if they're eating this rock because of the water in it," he said to himself.

"Link," Irleen said, "I don't think this is a rock. These markings look like rings on a tree."

Link rapped his knuckled against the surface, producing very little noise. "Feels like a rock."

"I think it was petrified. I think we're looking at the roots of a petrified tree."

Link followed the sound of her voice so he could give her a confused look. "How could this be a tree? We didn't see any up above, except as part of the Lost Woods."

"Maybe that's what those rocks up there used to be. You saw them, right? If I had to say, this root sits right under that rock that we fell into."

Link looked up as he considered it. "Huh. Maybe you're right."

"Maybe?"

Link sighed and moved towards the doorway. "Okay, you're right. Come on. We have to find Cale. I don't see a hole, so he's probably above us."

"Uuh, that… might be a problem."

Link stopped short of the stairway when he saw what she was referring to. The lights inside were on, revealing Blastworms crawling on the curved wall inside the stairway. Craning his neck to see inside without actually getting close, it appeared to him that they covered the wall for some distance above. Link groaned. "Okay, now what?"

"Well, maybe if we make one of them blow up," Irleen said, "it might clear the rest out."

Link nodded slowly. "Okay. Okay, that could work. But how?" He drew his sword. "With this?"

"Mmm… maybe not a good idea. You might not get away from the blast."

Link replaced his sword and glanced around, hoping to find a loose rock on the ground. "You think I can throw my shield at it?" he asked.

Irleen circled Link for a moment, then she moved to the doorway to compare its width. "That's going to be a hard throw, Link. The doorway is barely larger than that shield."

Link stepped back to the spire and tapped what he thought to be a rock with the toe of his boot. He found that the rock, about half the size of his fist, was not attached to anything and picked it up. "Okay, I think I've got it," he told Irleen. Irleen dove back towards him as he heaved. The rock sailed into the doorway.

Tonk. Clop copcop.

And bounced back out, landing halfway between the stairs and Link. Nothing followed.

"I think you missed," Irleen said.

Link nodded in irritation. "Thank you, Irleen," he said as he picked the rock up. He stepped to one side so that he could throw it up into the stairway. Then he underhanded it into the doorway.

B-B-B-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! The sudden force of the Blastworms exploding almost at the same time hurled Link onto his back, causing the shield to knock into his head. He lay dazed for a moment, trying to let the room stop spinning before he dared stand. When he got to his feet, he saw that the inside of the stairway was coated in large blotches of grey goop.

He shook his head and said, "Maybe we should think about that a little more next time."

"Uh… L-Link?!" The panicked tone in Irleen's voice caused Link to snap his eyes to her. She hovered just to his left, staring at the chamber behind him.

Link turned his head. "Wha—YAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He was dashing for the stairs in the next moment he realized that the Spinuts, alerted by the blast, swarmed at him from across the chamber. His feet slipped on the grey entrails of the Blastworms, forcing him to take the stairs using his hands and feet to keep him balanced in the correct direction. He ran full out, never looking back to see where the Spinuts were. He wanted to get away before they decided to make a meal of him.

He dove out of the top of the stairs, collapsed onto the wooden surface of the platform, and crawled forward for good measure. When he looked back, he saw that the Spinuts had not followed him all the way to the top. From the chewing sounds echoing from the stairway, he guessed that they were too busy making a meal of the Blastworm remains.

He flipped over to sit up. Then he found Irleen hovering above him. "Okay, that was definitely a stupid idea."

"I won't tell anyone if you won't."

"Uuugh…" Link's head spun to locate the groan from somewhere behind him. What he first took for a lump of Blastworm entrails shifted and sat up. "Wha-what happened?"

"Cale?" Irleen asked, floating closer to his face.

"Ihleen? Link?" Cale pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped the smudges of grey slime from his face. "What was that explosion? The last I remembeh, I was about to descend the staihs, and… what…"

"Sorry, Cale," Link said. "That was us."

"You mean that was you," Irleen said. "You set them off."

"It was your idea!" Link countered.

Cale blinked at them. "Uh…" Then he used a finger to clean one ear. "Could-could you repeat that again?"

Link frowned at him. "Cale? Are you all right?"

"Uh… no, I have three."

Link exchanged looks with Irleen. "Cale, can you hear me?"

Cale squinted at Link, focused on his mouth. Then he said in a loud voice, "Wait, wait. Can you repeat that sloweh?"

"Can. You. Hear. Me." Cale glanced down at the handkerchief in his hand. Then he offered it to Link. Link slapped a grim-covered hand into his forehead. "No. No, I suppose you can't."

Cale tilted his head closer. "What?"

Link wiped his forehead with one sleeve of his body suit. "Never mind, let's get going." He stood up.

Cale quickly followed. "What's happening?"

"We're going back." Cale frowned at Link, so Link pointed a finger to the ceiling. "Back to the surface."

Cale glanced up, and then he nodded at Link. "Yes, that was a ratheh amazing fall. I've no clue how I suhvived."

"Forget it, Link," Irleen said. "He's deaf as a leaf."

Cale's face snapped in Irleen's direction. "Ihleen? Ah you speaking a different language?"

Link gave him a confused look and pointed at Irleen. "She's been speaking Sorian this whole time."

"No, Link, that breakfast was te—why ah you changing the subject?"

Link glanced to Irleen. "What's going on? I thought the gem translated for everyone around me."

"It does," Irleen answered. "But I suppose it can't translate if a person can't hear correctly."

"What's she saying?" Cale asked.

Link sighed. "Let's just get him out of here."

He turned, but Cale quickly grabbed his arm. "Wait, wait!" he said in an excited tone. "You have to see this!" Cale then began to stumble around the roots melding into the floor, making his way around the central spire. Link traded a glance with Irleen, and both followed him.

Similar to the floor below, recesses in the walls on either side housed both coffins and Blastworm occupants. But the statues had not been touched, revealing that the inhabitants had been somewhat similar to Hylians in general appearance. One statue that caught Link's eye was of a short, elderly man with a circle beard and a large ball of hair that doubled the size of his head. He held an angular cello against the ground with a stick poised like a bow ready to slide across invisible strings. The chair he sat in encompassed his whole lower body, shaped vaguely like an egg with a triangle-and-wings emblem on the front.

"What is he?" Irleen asked Link.

Link shook his head. "I don't know." His eyes fell on the next statue. This one was also a short, elderly man in a similar chair. He also had a large ball of hair, but no facial hair. And instead of an instrument, this one held a spear twice his own height. "Cale?" Cale stopped and turned to him, but instead of risking another misunderstanding, Link indicated the statues with a finger.

Cale appeared to think for a moment, then he nodded. "Ah, yes. Those ah statues of the Lokomo tribe. They used to inhabit this land before Hylians arrived. Evidently, the Lokomos who lived in this forest made theih final rest heah. Which is strange since Lokomos ah rebohn yeahs lateh anyway."

"They probably thought that this was a quiet place to rest," Irleen said to Link.

Link eyed the Blastworms on the nearby wall. "Not so much anymore, probably."

"Oveh heah." Link quickened his pace until he was standing beside Cale. Cale pointed out a chewed-up blanket and a sleeping mat on the floor in front of him. "I think this might have belonged to Ryain."

"And he just left it here?" Link asked.

Cale's eyes went wide, and he quickly held up his hands. "No, no, I don't think we need to use it, Link."

Link pressed one hand against his brow. "Do you think he'll understand if you smack him?" Irleen asked.

"It's tempting at this point…" Link answered.

"I also found this litteh." Link removed his hand from his face. Cale squat down next to the blanket and pulled it away, revealing the dried remains of dirt and leaves. "I was once in trouble foh playing an adventuah game while I was supposed to be studying. And we weah not very accurate with the surroundings, so, as punishment, Madame Ahneed made me read two books of botany. I can tell you foh cehtain that these leaves came from the forest area south of Diggehton."

"How does this help us?" Irleen asked.

"Uuh…"

Link sighed. "So, you're saying that Ryain's home was south of Diggerton?"

Cale's face turned pale. "Y-you want to do what with a cucco?!"

Irleen shot straight for Cale's left ear. "Snap out of it!" she screamed as loud as she could.

"Dyah!" Cale jerked away from Irleen and fell over the sleeping mat with a hand over his ear. "Ow! Ihleen!"

"I don't think that helped," Link told her.

"Maybe not, but it made me feel better."

Link gave a shrug. "Well, at least we have a location to check. We should lea—"

"Link, look!" Irleen fluttered toward the edge of the platform. Link followed and found her circling a large box with a curved lid. The box was composed of wood with a metal frame and flat latch holding it shut. "It's a treasure chest!"

"Okay," Link said, finding himself more interested in leaving.

"Open it."

Link gave her a repulsed look. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because I want to go."

"Come on. Just open it."

"Why?"

Irleen circled it once more before pulling to a stop in front of Link's face. "Treasure chest! Treaaaaaasure! Yooo-o-o-o-ou mu-u-u-u-u-ust oooooooooopeeeen, Liiiiiiiinnnnnnk."

Link shook his head at her. "What is wrong with you? This is a crypt. They probably left valuables in there. I don't wanna take them."

"No one has to know." She fluttered over to Cale. "Ħo, Cīla. Kahì Locono otàk ta kil tlīnwat klátālat?"

Cale, in the middle of digging into his left ear with a finger, stopped and stared at her. "Uuuuh…"

Irleen shot back to Link. "Cale says it's okay."

Link pointed a finger at him. "He can't even understand you!"

"Details, Link. Open it."

"No."

Irleen huffed. "Fine. I'll open it." She dropped to the latch on the front of the chest and began tugging on it.

After a couple of minutes, Link grew tired of listening to her grunt and groan against the latch. He reached a hand forward, causing Irleen to back away. The latch gave a pop, and then Link pushed the top open. He was surprised to find the interior rather lacking, so he picked up the only item inside.

What he first thought was just a leather pouch about the length of his forearm turned out to be a little heavier than he expected. When he opened the flap on one end, he found a red jewel recessed in a steel frame. He pulled out the object and realized that it had two, identical, leg-like branches, likely wood painted yellow if he judged its weight correctly. As he examined it, his thumb accidentally pressed the jewel into its recess. The branches sprang open, startling him. They rested with a click at almost a right angle to each other, and when Link tried to press the branches back together, he found that they had locked into place.

"Wow!" Irleen said. "A boomerang! I've never seen one so mechanically complex before."

"Mechanically complex?" Link asked, locating a metal switch between the two branches. He pushed it, and the branches snapped loose enough that he could push them back together.

"These Lokomos must have been pretty smart to design a boomerang that could be easily stored. You should hang on to it; it might come in handy."

Link shrugged as he replaced the boomerang. "I suppose." After examining the belt clip on the other side, he reached around the back of his tunic belt and hung the boomerang over his left buttock. "Can we go now?"

"Hey, Link?" Cale called. Link glanced over to see that Cale had paused scribbling in a journal.

He walked back to Cale. "What is it?"

"What's that sound?"

"You have your hea—" Irleen began.

Link immediately hissed at her. Beyond the silence, he finally heard the chewing sounds. A thought occurred to him, so he softly stepped past Cale and up to the center spire. Then he slowly peered around one side. His eyes found movement in the stairwell among the Blastworm remains. The Spinuts had moved up the stairs and were about to fall onto the platform. Link glanced down at his tunic, realizing that he was still spattered in Blastworm and Skulltula entrails. These creatures would want to feast on those.

"Time to go," Link said.

"I-I'm not finished with my notes," Cale told him.

"You're going to have to be," Link said as he jogged back to the edge of the platform.

"Wha-wha-what's going on?"

Link ignored him as his eyes fell upon the floor below. He could not make out any of the remains of the Blastworm or Spinut that had been devoured earlier. He also did not see any surface that would be comfortable to land on. Never mind that, it was too far down to jump anyway; even if they survived, he and Cale would likely be unable to move due to breaking bones on impact.

"Link?" Irleen asked.

"Those Spinuts are coming," Link told her. "Cale and I are covered in guts. They eat guts."

"Okay, yeah, that's bad."

In frustration, Link kicked the raised ledge of the platform.

And he discovered that the ledge was loose.

For a moment, Link's mind blanked. In the next moment, he was piecing together an escape.

"Link?!" Cale's worried cry called Link's attention back to the other side of the platform. He ducked behind the statues on the right as he snuck back towards the stairs. The first Spinut had just set foot on the platform and was licking up the smear Link had created when he had fallen minutes before. Even if he could come up with a safe way to get back to the floor below, the Spinuts might find them before he could put his plan into action.

Movement caught Link's eye, and he looked at the wall above the stairs. A Blastworm was crawling just above the doorway. And if it dropped from there, it would create more mess for the surviving Spinuts to feast on.

"Cale, take cover!" he shouted while is left hand pulled open the flap on the boomerang's pouch. He removed the boomerang and pushed the jewel with his palm. Then he switched his grip to one of the wings. There was no time to lose; another pair of Spinuts had found their way onto the platform. Link stood poised to throw. He had never thrown anything as large or complicated as a boomerang before, so he decided in the split-second before he threw that he would put his whole arm into it.

When he released, the boomerang spun fast enough to look more like a disk. It had a slight curve to the right, and Link thought its flight looked a little wobbly.

It struck the wall with a hollow, wooden sound. For a moment, Link thought he had messed up. But then the Blastworm he had been aiming for decided to curl up, causing it to detach from the wall. Link only had a second to dive back behind the statue before the Blastworm detonated upon contact with the floor. Link's ears rang for a moment. Then he stood up to survey the damage. The handful of Spinuts that had made it to the platform had been thrown at the nearby walls. In addition to the Blastworm entrails on the platform, the wood had a noticeable divot where the Blastworm had landed. Link located the boomerang near the Spinut that had splattered against the wall closest to him. He jumped out of his hiding place and retrieved it. Not wanting to wait around for the Spinuts to come back and swarm the latest kills, Link dashed for the edge of the platform.

Cale, uncurling himself from behind the center spire, stood up and followed. "Wha-what did you just do?"

Link closed the boomerang and replaced it. "Bought us some time. Give me a hand."

"What's the plan?" Irleen asked.

Link kicked the platform's edge. "If we can knock this loose, we might be able to make a slide out of it." He kicked again, and then again. Cale watched until the fifth kick before he joined in Link's work. The wood began to creak, then crack, then finally snapped loose from the nearby wall to their left.

But Link's final kick had knocked the loose end out of reach. Cale exchanged a concerned look with him and asked, "Was-was that suppose to happen?"

"Uh… Ideally, no," Link answered. "Come on; we still have the other end."

"But… we can't possibly lift that," Cale said as they moved to the opposite side of the platform.

Link placed a hand on the ledge and tried to pull it back. Cale was right; the ledge was too heavy for them to lift, and he could not pull it back onto the platform. So Link took in a breath and said, "So we'll just climb down from here."

Cale's eyes jumped from Link to the ledge, to the floor below, back to the ledge, and then back to Link. "Have you lost youh mind?!"

"Would you prefer to go that way?" Link asked, pointing towards the stairs.

Cale followed his finger and saw that the Spinuts were on the approach again. "Ahp… no."

Link was already straddling the ledge with his back toward the loose end. "Then come on!" Pressing his chest against the smooth surface of the ledge, he slowly pushed himself backwards. Cale climbed on next and did the same thing, if a little slower than Link.

As they moved, the loose end of the ledge began to drop. Link had counted on this, figuring that even if the ledge did not reach the floor below, they might be hanging low enough that they could simply fall the rest of the way to the floor.

Krrrrrak! The upper end of the ledge gave a jerk, and the loose end swung. Both boys wrapped their arms around the wood as their legs fell off, Cale screaming at a high pitch as the ledge threatened to sling them both at the floor. Link saw the nearby wall closing fast and shut his eyes in anticipation of smacking into the glass. More groaning, and the ledge stopped swinging. Link opened an eye to find that the wall had stopped about two arm lengths away from him. He gave a sigh and adjusted his hold on the ledge, trying to think of the best way to continue.

Cale, however, could not maintain a tight grip on the ledge and began to slide. "Link!"

Link had just a moment to realize that Cale's leather shoes were descending towards him. He closed his eyes again and turned his head to protect his face. Cale collided with him, and Link's grip faltered, causing both boys to drop. Both cried out as they fell. They landed on the floor below with a soft thup not far from a coffin. Link's back took the brunt of the damage, feeling the pain distributed by the wooden shield still slung over it. Cale had landed on top of him, so it was a few minutes before he could groan in pain. Cale, meanwhile, had felt his neck crack on the sudden stop, and his hand and feet were sore from the impact with the ground after their wild flailing during the fall. He rolled off Link and curled himself up for a moment as he waited for the pain to subside.

"You two okay?" Irleen asked when she finally reached the floor after a softer descent.

Link winced at the pain in his chest and rolled to one side. "I think some of my old injuries are back."

"I think I've broken something," Cale said in just a little more than a whisper.

"Yeah," Link agreed as he pushed himself off the floor. "My back."

"Okay, well, I know you guys are in a lot of pain right now," Irleen said, "but you might want to get moving to the stairs."

"Why?" Cale groaned as he looked up at her. Link's hand found the nearby coffin, and he started pulling himself up.

"Mostly?" Irleen asked, turning towards the center spire.

"That."

Link looked up as the Spinuts started swarming their way around the spire. He turned to Cale and grabbed the back of his waistcoat by the collar. "Let's go, hurry!"

Once Link hauled Cale back to his feet, both boys were half-running, half-limping towards the tall stairway on the opposite side of the chamber. Although their pace was by no means fast, they got to the stairway just as another explosion from a coffin somewhere behind them flung Spinuts in all different directions. However, without turning back, Link and Cale took the stairs as swiftly as they could until they were almost halfway to the chamber above.

Link, five steps higher than Cale, collapsed first. He turned around and stretched his body against the stairs, hoping that it would alleviate some of the pain. Cale huffed to a stop and leaned against the wall, feeling most of his extremities throb.

Irleen approached them from below and said, "Looks like you guys are good. That last explosion opened up more food for them."

Link nodded slowly. "Good. I can't run anymore."

"Noh I," Cale agreed. Then he gave Link a smile. "But that was awesome. I've nevah been in such a spot befoah. Do you do this regulahly?"

Link gave him an exhausted sigh, not believing that Cale had just turned a dangerous situation into a thrill.

"Maybe in another life."