Chapter 41: Found and Lost

…

~~Day 15

~~It's early in the morning by Leynne's guess. I'm writing this by light of a small lantern which Leynne let me to use while he surveys the area around us.

~~We arrived at the Iyuk Mountains. And we found evidence that an airship, more than likely a Sorian airship, is nearby. While there isn't any solid evidence that it is the Horizon's Eye, I feel it in my gut that it couldn't be any other ship. Leynne expects us to find more wreckage further up the stream in the ravine below us. I'm not sure if I'm as eager anymore, but we have to move on. If it is the Horizon's Eye, I have to know what happened to my crew. And the princess. I don't know if it's some kind of captain's instinct or not, but I seem to be more concerned for my crew than her. Maybe it's because I've known them longer than her, especially Line.

~~Valley and I were attacked by a pack of Wolfos towards the end of the day yesterday. Well, Valley was attacked; I was just stupid enough to fall in after her, thinking I could defend her. I almost had my leg torn off. When we set up shelter about an hour's walk away from the Wolfos attack, Leynne finally got mad because he could hear the limp in my step. It's hard to keep footsteps quiet around here with all the mud and rainwater covering everything. Fortunately, the wounds weren't deep enough for serious damage. Leynne says they should close in a few days. He's got it bandaged now so it won't bleed, but my left boot is covered in blood. I feel a little naked because I had to cut off the lower legs from my body suit. Now there's a drafty spot around my knees because I cut them too short. I'll have to get a new suit when I get back up to the sky.

…

The rain fell harder, forcing Link and Leynne to keep their heads bowed against it pelting their eyes. Mist shrouded the bottom of the ravine they followed, and the increased rainfall cut visibility to half.

"Hey, guys, I sees something over dere!"

Except for Valley.

Leynne groaned and said, "Valley, I hope this isn't anotheh bouldeh; you've found three so fah."

"But I really seeeeeees something dis time!" Valley insisted, bounding in front of Leynne to stop him. "You isn't even looking! You keeps staring at the ground."

Leynne looked up, shielding his eyes with a hand. "I don't like rain in my eyes. Besides, you can't see anything out heh; theh's too much rain!"

"I saw da boulders," she said, a finger pointing at Leynne's nose.

Leynne indicated the slope to his right with an arm. "They wehen't that fah away!"

Link sighed and stepped up next to him. "Leynne, why don't we rest for a bit? My leg's beginning to throb."

"Ah the bandages bothering you?" he asked.

"N-no, no," Link quickly said. "It just hurts a bit."

Leynne gave him an irritated look. Then he told Valley, "Okay. Wheh is it?"

"Over dere," she replied, one hand pointing toward the ravine.

Leynne gave another groan as both he and Link stepped closer to the edge of the ravine. Leynne removed one strap of his pack so he could get into one of the side pockets. In a moment, he jerked his fist, producing what almost looked like a canteen to Link. Link took notice of the pair of lenses in the front when Leynne put the other end of the device over his face. "What is that?" he asked.

"It's a duoscope," Leynne answered.

"A… duoscope?"

"Something I put togetheh a few yeahs ago. It doesn't magnify like a telescope, but it makes judging distances a little easieh." He paused to make an adjustment on a small wheel in between the device's twin cylinders. "While the angulah telescope is fine foh suhveying, this is a lot simpleh and pohtable."

"The… angular…"

Leynne took the duoscope away from his face for a moment. "The thing that looks like it used to be a pictograph box," he said in an annoyed tone. Placing the device to his face again, he added, "I can't possibly use that out heh because it would be too much to cahry. And I don't have level ground to… set…" Then, he sighed and put the duoscope against his chest. "I can't believe how incredible heh luck is."

"Huh?" Link asked.

But he turned to Valley. "How can you even see that? I had to pull out a telescope just to see it."

"I just looked for da funny colors," she answered. "It looks all whirly and shiny from here!"

"Whihly and… shiny…" Leynne shook his head. "You have a gift foh description."

"Why? What is it?" Link asked.

"Have a look," Leynne said, handing him the duoscope. Before Link looked through it, Leynne pointed to the right mountain on the other side of the ravine. "The base itself is hahd to see, but if you look above that, you can see it."

Link put the duoscope to his eyes. He could see a few more details on the mountain Leynne had indicated, so he started looking around. But when his vision suddenly took on a green color, he pulled the duoscope away and said, "Irleen, your glow is in the way."

Irleen gave an irate "hmph" as she jumped from Link's hat. When Link put the duoscope to his face again, she fluttered into the left lens and said, "Excuse my curiosity."

"Cut it out," Link said, leaning over to look past her.

And he saw it. It was a little difficult to make out against the muddy mountainside, especially since its flat form let it blend into the slope. But now that Link was looking at it, he found his heart pounding against his chest. At his best guess, it was a rudder. The smooth inside slant that would have sat flush with the ship's stern, the stylistic, outer double-curve which kept the piece light while offering more lateral control from the boat's underside… The Horizon's Eye had been controlled by the ship's wheel, so the tiller should still be with the rest of the vessel.

"Anything you recognize?" Leynne asked after a moment.

Link nodded. "Irleen, can you see where I'm looking?"

"Yeah, why?" Irleen said, sitting on top of the adjustment wheel in between the cylinders.

"Can you tell if that's Sorian out there?"

Irleen moaned as she sounded as if she was concentrating. "I see something which looks like Sorian wood," she said, "but I-I can't tell what it is from here."

"That's fine," Link said, lowering the duoscope. He glanced aside at Leynne. "It's a rudder."

"A ruddeh?" Leynne repeated. "As in a ship's ruddeh? Used to control a ship's direction?"

Link nodded. "It's usually a strong piece; you have to ground a ship to snap it off. I might have a better idea of what happened if we can get closer."

"Heavy?" Leynne asked.

At this, Link shrugged and handed the duoscope back. "Not especially. Most of the weight on the stern of an airship is in the aftcastle; the forecastle usually has to be weighed down in order to balance the ship. It should be a relatively light piece in order to save weight, but since it's on the outside of the hull, it's likely to come off due to something hitting it."

"Do all of you sailing kinds have this level of detail stohed in youh minds?" Leynne asked as he slung his pack around to replace the duoscope.

"If I understood right," Link said, "the Horizon's Eye and the Grand Sails were both rigged the same way. They used square sails for travel, and they can't be turned by a wheel like gaff-rigged sails, so they have to use a rudder for steering. This, well… it's something I had to know as an airman on the Grand Sails."

"They evidently lost a serious well of infohmation when you fell," Leynne remarked in a surprised tone.

Link shrugged. "It's… something any airman should know about a ship. The question is how we're going to get over there. We haven't seen any bridges or anything around here."

"Agreed," Leynne said with a nod. He indicated the ravine with a sweep of his hand. "If we follow along heh, we might find a path across." He turned to the slope behind them. "We must be reaching an apex soon. Then this mountain will begin to slope down, and we might find a place to cross."

…

Almost an hour later revealed a descending slope along their path, followed by another mudslide which bridged the ravine. Although the bridge appeared dodgy, the trio crossed without incident. The other side was a rock slope clear of mud, so they rested there. Leynne quickly set up one tent so that he could look at Link's leg in a dry environment. The rain had seeped in through the holes in his boots and soaked the bandages around his leg, so Leynne changed the bandages and tied a long, wool stocking around the boot to prevent rain from soaking the new bandages. He told Link that he had applied alcohol to the wound (which Link did not need to be informed of, considering the kicking he did during the application), but he might need to take some medicine when they returned to the Forest Realm in case he had an infection. To Link's fortune, whatever infection he might have picked up from the Wolfos' teeth, the alcohol was staving it off so far. Link was not particularly worried about the bite; as long as he could walk on the leg, he determined that it would be all right.

After eating, they rounded the base of the mountain. The slope on what Leynne had deemed the southern side of the mountain was covered in mud and dead patches of grass.

Link spotted the rudder first and picked up his pace. "Here it is!" he called behind him.

"Link, slow down!" Leynne shouted to him. Then Valley rushed past him. "Wait!"

"Hurry up!" Valley shouted back.

Link stopped next to the rudder and dropped to his knees. One hand brushed the damp, warped surface as if to be certain it was real. "Irleen?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, Link?"

"Is this it?"

She jumped out of his hat and hovered over the rudder. "Yep. It's definitely Sorian wood. Only some of its timbers still appear to be alive."

"Dat means what?" Valley asked. She glanced over as Leynne stepped up next to her.

"It's about as old as that board we found yesterday," Irleen said. She moved closer to the wood.

Then a stream of gold mist flowed up from her as she mumbled something to herself. All three Hylians stared in awe while the stream formed a ball around her. Then—"Wah!"—it suddenly forced itself at Link, causing him to fall backwards in surprise. His back met the mud in an undignified splat, and Leynne quickly rounded the rudder to help Link up.

"What was dat?" Valley asked.

"If I did it right, we'll see," Irleen replied as she moved away from the rudder. Leynne helped Link to his feet, and Link glanced down at the board.

Link was astonished to see the same gold mist flowing along the lighter grains in the wood, swirling like a building cloud forced into a faster pace. It was faint, and one board in the middle of the rudder did not show any at all. "Wha… what is all that… swirling?" he asked, using a finger to trace one stream.

"That's the life flow of the wood," Irleen said. "And the result of an experiment."

"An experiment?" Leynne asked.

"I wasn't sure at first until Valley spotted the rudder earlier," she said. "I don't know how she sees it, but it looks like Hylians can see the life flow in Sorian wood. I just used the life flow in one board to allow Link to see it."

"You means…" Valley had to ponder for a moment. Then she pointed a finger at the rudder. "Da wood noes shines like dat? I just sees things?"

"Valley, when did you fihst staht seeing it?" Leynne asked.

"I noes knows," Valley said with a shrug. "I noes saw wood do dat before. You said it's Sorian wood, so I just thinks dat it's suppose to look like dat."

"There's your answer, Leynne," Link told him. "That's how she saw the rudder before you pulled out your duoscope."

"Yes, but that doesn't explain how she sees it in the fihst place," Leynne said.

"She must have come in contact with Sorian materials before," Irleen said. She turned to Valley. "Have you bought anything weird lately?"

"I noes thinks so," Valley said. She put a hand to the tip of her ear and started rubbing it. "I just bought da supplies with me. And… maybe a new earring? But I left dat at home."

"Something to be concerned about?" Link asked.

"Well, when Leynne told the story about finding your compass," Irleen said, "I began wondering if any of my gems might have also found their way on the market in Library Town. I want to see that earring when we get back."

"Okay, but I wants to keep it," Valley told her.

Leynne stepped forward and slipped his fingers under the rudder. He lifted it with a bit of effort, then he released it. "Well, it feels heavy enough. I suspect that this mountain may yield ouh crashed vessel."

Link, Irleen, and Valley looked up the side of the mountain, following its slope up until it disappeared into the rainclouds. And Valley pointed and said, "Look! More shiny!"

Link could see it, too. It was a dim spot further up the mountain; a rock formation would have blocked it if he had not seen the glow. He judged it to be much larger than the rudder. It was definitely taller.

"Leynne," Link said as the inventor reached for his duoscope. "I think we've definitely found our mountain."

"Yeah," Leynne said, placing the duoscope on his face. "It'll be an interesting climb from heh."

…

They started up the slope with ease. Their first climb brought them close enough to inspect the other object. Link judged it to be a mast due to its size and the broken quarters slung across its round, battered length. The investigation also yielded large pools or divots in the mud further up the mountain. They followed these further up. Thanks to Irleen, Link was able to spot more vessel fragments with Valley as they continued further up. The number they reported to Leynne convinced them that they were on the right track. Many of the smaller fragments were higher up, where the rain was not strong enough to wash the mud down the mountain right away.

They reached high enough that they were climbing through the rainclouds wrapped around the mountain. Leynne used the rope from his pack to tie the three of them together while Irleen kept the way lit. While she was not helpful for seeing through the rainclouds themselves, her light allowed them to find holds on the steeper rock further up the mountain. And they needed every handhold they could find; the rock was slick due to the rain, and none of them had brought proper climbing equipment. Fortunately, after Leynne outlined the consequences of falling from their current height (citing the mast they had found as an example), Link and Valley were very certain to not lose their grips. They had to stop at a relatively level spot to rest and eat, and then they changed clothes. Link exchanged his poncho for his tunic, offering his shirt to Valley. He also gave her the fur-lined jacket Leynne had packed in the bottom of his pack, reminding Valley that his usual outfit was made for cold environments. Cold, but Link quickly realized that, as they resumed their climb, his tunic and body suit became useless once sufficiently wet. Which took only a few minutes.

The cold worsened when they reached another level area, which was covered with a thick layer of snow. Leynne was the first to get his arms to the top, and Link followed close behind. After pulling himself up, Leynne moved over to help Valley up the side. Link rested against a bare rock sitting on the edge of the mountain, slowing his breathing and hoping that the new cold he experienced would help relieve the soreness in his arms. His eyes closed, he could hear Leynne and Valley panting nearby. He let his head loll in the cliff's direction, and he found himself gazing across the top of the rainclouds that obstructed the mountain range below. From here, only a couple peeks stood above the clouds with them. His eyes wandered up, spying a ball-sized cloud much higher in the sky. The Undying Storm, cast red against a deep blue as the sun set somewhere behind him. It amazed him that, although they had climbed so much in the past few hours, the storm still lofted about in the sky far above them. One hand crushed a handful of snow. He could not believe how far he had fallen.

"Interesting climb," he told Leynne, his eyes still focused on the Undying Storm.

"Interesting view," Leynne replied. "That stohm fohmation… it looks fah too high. What is it?"

"That's the Undying Storm," Link answered. "It surrounds the Sorian's home. They call it the Storm of Purgatory."

"Why's dat?" Valley huffed.

"There's a demon airship inside," Link said. "That's what shot down the Island Sonata."

"Link…" Irleen whispered from somewhere nearby.

"Hang on, Irleen," he told her.

"No, Link," Leynne said. "Look."

Link looked before him. Valley was leaning back on a rock like him, only her chin visible because she allowed her head to rest at an odd angle on the rock behind her. Leynne had dropped to the ground close to her, looking a little more relaxed. His eyes focused on a sight to Link's left, so he turned his head in that direction as well.

Fragments of timbers littered the ground near them, and Link could see a large patch of bare rock showing through the snow. The skid mark led to the wreckage of an airship, her stern permanently listing to starboard and part of her hull collapsed under what had undoubtedly been a tremendous fall. From where Link sat, he saw that the aftcastle appeared intact and most of the ship's length was still whole along the weather deck and maybe the first deck beneath that. He used his rock to pull himself back to his sore legs so that he could move closer. The port face was visible to him, and he saw that one mast had snapped against the rocks to the left after the landing, its lines strewn about.

But, most of all, he could see the hull glowing with life. Half of the ship was dead, mostly the hull below the bulwark.

"Irleen," he said, untying the rope from around his waist. "Do you… know if the Horizon's Eye had any outward identifiers? Markings or anything?"

Irleen, hovering not far from him as she stared up at the airship, shook from side to side. "Sorry, Link. I don't know."

"Dis is… horrible." Link and Irleen turned to see Valley staring up in awe at the vessel. "It's… Goddesses above, it's so…"

Leynne, standing just over her shoulder, heaved an audible sigh. "Come on, you two. If we'h to discoveh wheh this aihship came from, we'll have to boahd it."

Link walked close enough to touch the hull, but he avoided the urge; something in his mind told him to wait. Instead, he grabbed one of the stays dangling from the bulwark high above. After a tug, he told Valley and Leynne as the stepped closer, "I think we can climb up this. It feels secure enough."

"Let me see," Leynne said, squeezing through the narrow gap between the ship and Valley. He took the stay from Link and tugged it in the same way. Then he jumped and hung onto it for a moment. When he released, he said, "You'h right, but we should leave the packs heh foh now. I don't know about you two, but my shouldehs ah soh."

They discarded their packs and used the stay to haul their aching bodies onto the weather deck. Once Link was on, he almost recognized the deck from the dream he had had so long ago. Almost, because there were still a few things out of place. First, the forecastle, along with most of the bow, had been smashed apart from the fall and crash into the rock face at the front of the airship. Second, the first time he had seen it, it had been from behind the helm on the aftcastle, where the captain would have stood.

Third, the weather deck had not been covered in signs of battle. Holes had been blown into the deck amidships. All three masts had been torn out of the deck, taking some of surrounding deck planks with them. There was no sign of the bowsprit; Link remembered that, in his dream, one of the shots from the other ship had blown it to bits. Only the rigging for the mizzenmast littered the deck; most of the stays for the foremast and main mast were missing, and the rigging looked to have been wound and piled against the bulwark only to be tossed around when the ship had crashed. Link could not be sure what to make of this. He did not give a lot of time to think. Instead, his attention had fallen to what those lines were covering.

Blood had soaked into the deck boards. Someone had attempted to scrub it out, but it had only spread the blood around. Most of it covered the starboard side of the deck. Holes also peppered the deck. For a moment, Link thought he forgot to breathe.

"Goddesses above," Leynne breathed, breaking into Link's thoughts. "Link… just… what happened heh?"

Link looked down at his feet. "They were attacked. Just like I dreamed."

"Like what?" Leynne asked.

Link stalled, removing his hat so he could run his fingers through his damp hair. "I had a dream, a… vision, I guess. I saw a ship under attack. I had forgotten about it until the Island Sonata reached Forelight Island. I couldn't figure it out until Irleen told me about the storm and the gem she gave Captain Koroul."

"Captain Koroul?" Leynne asked.

"Gem?" Valley asked.

"I placed an impression of his crew on one of my magic gems," Irleen spoke up. "Anyone who holds it knows as much about Link's crew as Link. Sometimes it causes the holder to share dreams with whoever's impression is on it."

"Somehow," Link continued, "I had a dream of the attack on the Horizon's Eye a day before it happened. I saw it all from the eyes of the Horizon's Eye's captain, Captain Koroul. I couldn't warn the crew in time and had to chase them in the Island Sonata. That's… when we were shot down." He looked across the deck again. "This is… all that's left of the Horizon's Eye. There's no doubt anymore."

"But… who attacked the ship?" Leynne asked.

Link sighed. "If what Irleen told me about the Undying Storm was true, it was probably Cunimincus's ship, the Smiling Gunner. In fact… I know it had to be. I saw the ship in the storm while we were approaching the island."

Leynne attempted a smile, but he faltered. "It… it sounds like some kind of fairy tale," he said, his voice colored with a humorless chuckle.

"A bad one," Valley said, stepping closer to Link to place a hand on his shoulder. "You's gonna be okay?"

Link shook his head. "I don't know…"

Leynne glanced to the south, where the Undying Storm hung over the kingdom. "It's traveled a long way from that stohm, Link," he said. "And, somehow, I don't think it came undeh its own poweh. We should look around."

Link sniffed and nodded. "Yeah…" Without another word, Link turned and wandered towards the open doors of the aftcastle. Valley, Irleen, and Leynne watched his back for a moment before spreading across the deck in search of something to look at.

Link had stepped into what appeared to be the captain's cabin. Unlike his cabin on the Island Sonata, Captain Koroul had had a vast room for which to sleep, eat, and command his ship. He had a fair-sized bed on the right, reminding Link of how large the captain had looked when they first met. At the foot of the bed was a small cupboard, its doors left open so that extra pairs of boots could spill onto the floor. A wardrobe with one of its doors broken from a hinge revealed extra clothing, multiples of the same red, sleeveless uniform hiding whatever else the captain might have worn. In the middle of a room sat a desk and a large table. Link saw that maps had been tacked to the table. Most of the items that had sat on top of the desk, pens, books, a complex-looking compass, had all found their ways onto the red rug on the floor. Drawers on the table had slid out and fallen to the floor as well, scattering their contents as far as the wall next to Link. The windows in the back were intact, but the glass had been cracked, probably a result of the hard landing. On the left side of the room was an empty wine rack. Only a couple of bottles had survived the crash. The rest littered the floor as shards of glass and purple stains in the deck boards. A small closet sat in the corner to his left. The door had been knocked open, showing Link where the captain would relieve himself. Looking down, Link saw a few droplets of blood that had soaked into the boards. To his relative relief, it appeared that no one had been killed in here.

Link crossed the cabin to the windows. He gazed out at the large spot of bare earth in the middle of the snow-covered rocks. Then his eyes slowly moved up until he saw the bottom of the Undying Storm hanging from the top of the window. He could not believe how far the ship had come. Who had sent it so far out? How had it been able to sail it after the attack? What happened to the captain? To the crew?

To his crew? Line? Albert? Flower? Leonard?

Princess Zelda?

Whose blood stained the deck?

One tear. Then two. The soft sound of sobbing came after. Link's lips shivered as he tried to control his voice. But he could not think of any other conclusion.

His crew… the princess… Captain Koroul and his men… They all had to be dead.

Link slowly slumped to the floor. His back against the bulkhead, he sat and curled up. For what seemed like eternity, he sobbed into his knees.