Chapter 84: We Built This City On… Something Else
…
~~Day 67 (Command, Day 30)
~~After almost a day moving west, I ordered the Island Symphony to turn south for Might Island again. It'll probably be another day and a half before we get back to the island, but, this time, we have the supplies to handle the wait. In the meantime, we're sailing high so that we might see the Moon's Shadow coming for us before they can catch us.
~~I've told Lilly that, if all goes right in the next few days, we'll have her back on Sagacity Island while we buy time for Leynne to produce some funds. She's asked us if there's something she can do while she's aboard. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of anything. But then she pointed out that she might be able to discover where the King and Queen of Hyrule are or may have gone. So we called Leynne in, and he agreed to take her with him to Might Island. We all reasoned that, if Leynne and Lilly were together, they could watch each other's back.
~~Irleen's been mad at me for most of the morning while I was trying to nap. I know I nearly let her down, and I want to set things up so Captain North can't try this whole situation again. So, after we're through with Might Island, I'm going to ask Lilly to become part of my crew, if only temporarily until we can do something about the Skyriders chasing us. If North expects us to take her right back to Sagacity Island and run into whoever he might've sent over there, I intend to disappoint him. As long as we were last seen moving west, he should be under the impression that that's where we're going.
…
~~Day 68 (Command, Day 31)
~~We've changed direction east so we can return to Might Island. Dholit reminded me that, with so many of his airmen injured thanks to Layna ambushing them as well as the deck crew beating the stuffing out of the boarding party, North will probably be looking for a clinic on Might Island. I tend to agree, especially since a surgeon stationed on an airship is generally unable to take care of more than four men at the same time. The wind has been with us, so we're probably looking at maybe less than a full day of sailing before we sight the island again. Once we have the island in sight, we'll drop below the island and come up on the north side so we can dock where I hope the Moon's Shadow won't dock. I'll be looking at the ships' banners; as far as I've seen, the Skyriders are the only ones who use black banners. From there, finding an opening to the technoworks is going to be interesting. Irleen told me that, while each island is only controlled from one point, there may be two or three different sections in the technoworks. Which means we probably got lucky with Sagacity Island. Might Island, with its mountains and potential for many different places to have the entrance, we need a way to find the right one.
…
"Dubbl, you have the ship. Remember the plan."
Dubbl gave Link a salute. "Yes, Kyabtin." Link dismissed the salute.
"But! My Captain!" Link glanced across the deck just as Dholit emerged from below. He found himself surprised by the fact that her stomach bulged underneath her black slacks and faded-green shirt (clothing which he had never seen before). "My Captain, don't go!" she pleaded with a tone befitting a horrible actress, jogging toward them with her hands held up in a fragile manner. "Please, think of ouh child!"
Link and Leynne stared at her in blatant irritation, expressing their ire for pulling yet another stunt of sheer absurdity and utter pointlessness. Link was trying to interpret this latest act as her means of helping lift the cloud of tension that had engulfed the crew since they had fled Tabletop Island, but her wailing about being pregnant was going to catch attention in a port as small as the northern docks of Might Island. Attention that Link hoped to avoid at all cost (which, at this point, might have needed to include tying Dholit up and leaving her belowdecks; he gave it a moment of honest consideration until he realized that she might actually enjoy it). Dubbl's reaction was complete shock, a mixture of surprise by Dholit's maniacal behavior and panic by the fact that her fellow Gelto and crewmate was somehow spontaneously pregnant. Lilly, leaning aside to get a better look, was losing in her struggle to hold back her laughter at the sight, especially when it seemed to put off those around her.
Irleen, hovering over Link's head, first spoke in response after Dholit stopped to lean against the bulwark near them. "That's not very damn funny," she said in a level and snappy tone.
"Dholit, do we really have time foh this?" Leynne asked.
"Well, in lieu of otheh ohdahs," Dholit explained, her expression returning to her usual smirk, "I find being entahtainment to be a useful outlet foh my imagination."
"Really?" Irleen asked. "Because you're a horrible actress."
"Irleen," Link said, trying not to bring his tone too high.
Dholit huffed, although the offense she appeared to have taken might have just been as exaggerated as her outburst. She tugged the front of her shirt out from the slacks' waistband. "Then I shall endeavoh to improve while My Captain is gone."
"Is that my pillow?" Leynne asked after Dholit removed the object she had hidden under the shirt.
"Could be," she answered as she pressed the pillow to the side of her face. She wore an expression of bliss for a moment, and then she asked, "Would you like it back?"
"Not in the least," Leynne replied. "I'll just buy anotheh one."
"Dholit…" Link groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I only wanted to wish you well," she told him, hands raised in innocence. "I just… couldn't resist."
"Try," Leynne told her.
"Except you," she said, pointing at Leynne. "I wish you to fall into a hole and not come back out." Leynne responded with an impatient sound and started down the gangplank.
Link turned to follow him and stopped when he saw a bright grin on Lilly's face. "What are you smiling about?" he asked her in perhaps more annoyance than he intended to show.
"I like this crew," she said, bouncing on her feet. "It's like a big family."
"Maybe," Irleen said, "but a couple of the kids could use a good spanking."
"I volunteah," Dholit immediately said, one hand raised in the air.
"Oh, shut up."
"Get the ship moving as soon as I'm ashore," Link told Dubbl. "We might be able to return to the docks here, but don't count on it. Keep all eyes open."
"Yes, Kyabtin," she replied.
"Dholit…" He paused, one hand raised and clenched as he looked for an appropriate command. "Don't drive the rest of the crew nuts."
"Aye aye, My Captain," Dholit answered with a less bubbly tone. Link then indicated the plank to Lilly, and both descended with Irleen floating above their heads.
The port on the north side of Might Island looked like those of the south side, except most of the buildings were built much closer together. No one painted murals on the warehouses in this area. Instead, some warehouses had a smaller second story built above, usually dedicated living quarters for an owner's family or rented out as apartments. Despite Link's concerns, at the western end of the port, there was not nearly enough foot traffic to provide caution against. A few rival airmen here and there mingling with the locals seemed more inclined to ignore Link than anything else. Of course, Link had probably made himself a little more conspicuous by wearing the same brown robes he had worn on East Iron Island, but he had reasoned that people were a lot less likely to remember a blond kid wandering around in rags than a blond kid wearing a green tunic with a number of weapons attached to him. The Lokomo Sword stood out either way, making Link look as if his left shoulder began directly behind his ear. But if anyone was going to catch attention, it was most likely to be Leynne. Despite giving up his nicer clothes for a plain, blue shirt and brown cargo trousers, he had decided to make a show of protection by having one of the Moon's Shadow's stolen muskets strapped to the outside of his grey backpack. Naturally, they did not have any means of loading the weapon, so Leynne had already decided that, if anything, it would make a decent club.
Of course, if Layna was around, anyone noticing them was just as likely to disappear for the rest of the day.
When they came to the central plaza dividing the port in half, Link was amazed to find that it was just as congested and unkempt as the southern port. Even the rows between offices and warehouses had been stuffed with tents and lean-tos to provide shelters for what appeared to be a whole array of needs. Some of them looked like family homes with children playing as if in front of their own houses. Others sported various types of signage. Barely any effort had been made to leave walking space in the plaza itself. People were using the central fountain as a source of clean water. And Link could not help noticing that a couple of the docks had been repurposed with outhouses and reinforced with overhead structures and sailing rigging. He stopped just outside the thickest cluster of tents as he pondered their surroundings.
This attracted Leynne and Lilly's attention, and they stopped a couple steps later. "What is it?" Leynne asked, giving Link a concerned look.
Link shook his head. "I don't know, I just don't like this," he replied.
"Well, we are wandering around an island while being chased by a captain who is probably a little angry with us," Irleen said as she dropped in front of him.
"No, it's not that," Link told her. He glanced between Lilly and Leynne for a moment. "Don't you think it's odd how cluttered it is around here for a large island?"
"I come from the suhface, Link," Leynne replied. "The fact that I'm on an island floating in the sky is pretty odd."
"I never seen this island before," Lilly pointed out. "But it does look weird."
"I noticed it was the same way when we docked on the other side a few days ago," Link continued. "The city on this island should have enough space for all the people who live on it; there are entire regions of this island which haven't been built on yet."
Leynne nodded his reasoning. "So why would the local population push out into the pohts?" he said in an interpretation of the question Link was attempting to pose.
"Right."
"You feel the peoples out here got somethin'na do with recent events," Lilly concluded.
"I suppose it isn't unreasonable," Leynne said as he looked at the nearby tents. "Do the islands heh have any local publications? Any media?"
"Should be newspapers," Lilly said. "Anyone see a newsstand?"
"Ihleen?" Leynne asked.
"Right, like I know what a newsstand looks like," Irleen replied in a touchy voice.
"Easy, Irleen," Link said. "It was just a thought. Let's try moving down the main road here." He indicated the wider space between the buildings looming over the tents. "Even if we can't find a newsstand, we just might find out what's going on further in."
"Wait a moment, Link," Leynne said, holding up a hand as Link turned. "We might want to avoid the main road. If Captain Nohth is heh, we should take the side streets to avoid meeting any of his crew. Especially now that he knows what we look like."
"Wait, do either of ya know how'a navigate around here?" Lilly asked.
Leynne pointed one hand as he replied, "Nohth. South. And we each have a compass."
She gave him a sarcastic smile. "Why don't we use a side street just back that way?" she said, pointing back the direction they had come. "One that isn't full of peoples?"
It seemed like a reasonable idea, especially since Lilly seemed more at-home in the streets than either of them. She found them a side road which did not have as many tents blocking the way, and they progressed south toward the middle of the island. The buildings grew from three to four stories, and the street they took grew a little narrower. Foot traffic was lighter, and all four strangers noticed that most people appeared to be in a hurry. Link waited to see if any of the buildings had been abandoned, thinking it might be a sufficient clue to matters on the island.
He did not get the opportunity when Lilly stopped them in the middle of the road with a call of, "Wait a moment, you guys." They stopped and watched her jog for another side street of decent size. She stopped at newsstand sitting in a spot that made it difficult to notice from the direction they were moving, hidden around a corner of a street angled slightly toward the north. She talked with the young man sitting behind the stand. All three became intrigued when she put a hand over her mouth in a show of surprise. Then the young man ducked beneath the stand and produced a newspaper. No money switched hands as he gave Lilly the paper, and she folded it under one arm and jogged back to them.
"Monsters," she said as she offered Leynne the newspaper.
"Monsters?" Link asked while Irleen watched Leynne unfold the paper.
Lilly nodded. "The peoples here feel that's what they gotta been runnin' inna."
"Look at that," Leynne murmured to himself. He shared a glance with Link before tilting the paper to show Link. "Front page."
"How about reading it?" Irleen said.
Link hissed at her to be silent just before Leynne cleared his throat. "'—Poht authority has agreed today to make available all space possible foh the residents and business ownehs of the central paht of Might Island wishing to leave the island but being unable to do so immediately.
"'—Dockmasteh Baht has already asked foh any vessel willing to make the two-week jouhney to Sagacity, Timbeh, oh West Ihn Island to make space on theih vessels foh the thousands of residents recently tehrorized out of theih homes. A suggestion to remove some residents to Tabletop Island has also been made by the city council, although most speculation indicates that, due to the recent ahrest of pirate activity on the island as well as the Skyridehs' evacuation and destruction of the island, the city council will vote against the suggestion in open chambehs in the days to come.'"
"Wait, the Skyriders destroyed Tabletop Island?" Link asked, tilting the paper toward him again.
"The Skyriders gotta been searching for pirates this whole time," Lilly explained. "I didn't meanna actually ask it, but Captain North told me that he and his crew evacuated the innocent populationna Might Island and torched Tabletop. He said the mayor of Tabletop was even in on the pirate attacks."
There was a significant pause in their chatter before Irleen, in a flat voice, remarked, "Yikes."
Link shook his head. "That… that can't be," he said. "The Skyriders have never gone after pirates. Their first duty is to fellow ships."
Lilly shrugged. "Thin's changed, Captain."
Link wrinkled his nose. Then he told Leynne, "Keep on reading."
"'—This call foh evacuation of the central pahts of the island has come about due to recent encountehs with mysterious, night-dwelling monstehs roaming the area. Ten people have been confihmed dead while fifteen othehs have gone missing and ah cuhrently presumed dead. Among those missing is the son of Might Island's assistant govehnoh Bahrett.
"'—Both the dockmasteh and the city council have publically advised the population to avoid the central areas of Might Island during the houhs of eight o'clock in the evening to five o'clock the next day. An official request foh presence of the Knights of Hyrule is to be dispatched tomohrow mohning.
"'—In addition to attacks on people, locals to the dangerous areas have noticed that a numbeh of local grocehs and butcheh shops have been vandalized. An estimated twenty-five thousand rupees in meat goods have been repohted stolen to the community leadehs of the central areas, most believed to have been in connection to the attacks. As these vandals have elected to break into these establishments, it is recommended that anyone still owning a grocery stoh oh butchery in the central area make ahrangements to have theih goods moved to a safeh location.'"
Leynne paused to search through the pages. When he came upon a continuation of the story, he took a moment to skim it. "This is interesting. '—In the case of attacks on locals, the fihst attack is believed to coincide with the disappearance of the Sky Lines around Might Island, an event which had been preceded by an eahthquake the likes of which have neveh been encountehed befoh. All three events took place roughly three weeks ago, and the city council has expressed concehn that these events ah somehow related to each otheh.'"
"Three weeks ago?" Link asked. "That can't be right; the Sky Lines have been missing for much longer than that."
"It's an old paper, Captain," Lilly said. "That's why I got it for free. It dates back over a month ago, so the events match."
"I thought you said the creatuhs you encountehed on Sagacity weh all… what did you call them? Stalahmohs?" Leynne said. "From what I'd gathehed, they wehn't interested in the local population."
"They wouldn't be unless they needed to eat," Irleen said. "This sounds like something else. Keeping in mind that it's not like Cunimincus employed just Stalarmors."
"Eat!?" Lilly declared. Then she glanced around quickly to see if anyone else had heard her. Her voice dropped to a hushed panic as she asked, "You mean peoples are being eaten here?"
"Why else would Cunimincus' crew mess with Hylians?" Irleen said. "And when the local Hylians evacuated the area they were hunting, they started feeding on the meat and other food that's been left behind."
"Cunimincus and his crew have been trapped in the Undying Storm for hundreds of years," Link pointed out. "How have they survived without eating their own crew?"
"I'm sure I said it before somewhere," Irleen said. "When the Sorians before sealed Cunimincus inside, they sealed him against time itself. No need to eat, no need to sleep, no need to… to poo…"
Link then remembered something from one of the dreams that he thought Zelda might have taken over. What had it been? She had not felt hunger or fatigue, she merely existed? If that was it, then maybe the same had been true for Cunimincus and his crew. And, once they were outside the storm, they had to eat. The Stalarmors probably had not had that problem, being dead in the first place. He imagined how it might have felt not needing to eat for such a long time and then spontaneously requiring food again, and this caused him to miss what Leynne had said next.
"Look, that's how the legend goes," Irleen snapped at him in a loud voice. "I don't care how unreasonable it sounds. Magic doesn't reason at all!"
"Okay, okay," Link said with a tone intended to sooth her. "Just calm down. Irleen is our expert on this, so we should listen to what she has to say about it."
"I don't need anyone to defend me," she told him.
"Just—Just take it easy, Irleen," Link said. "We believe you on the matter. The question is what we do now. What could be out here?"
"I don't know," Irleen admitted, her voice lower in intensity. "I would have to see it to tell you what it is."
"But theh's no doubt that, wheh Cunimincus' crew is, the entrance to the technowohks is bound to be neahby," Leynne reasoned.
"Yeah, maybe," she said. "It would make sense. Cunimincus' crew would want to stay close to the technoworks' control room. We know they found it because the Sky Lines are gone."
"You would just have to follow them back to the technowohks," Leynne said.
Link put on a thoughtful frown. "It's risky, but it also sounds like a good lead. Irleen and I will go to the central part of the island and look for the technoworks. Leynne, Lilly, you should see if you can track down whatever you need to get us some funds. We don't know how long we'll be gone, but, if we don't find the technoworks, we'll meet up at the plaza on the north side. The fountain would be the best place. If we aren't there by… I don't know, maybe midnight, just see if you can find a place to stay and continue on tomorrow morning."
"And, from theh, stick to the original plan," Leynne concluded. "Right?"
Link nodded. "Good luck."
"You, too," Lilly said.
…
Link and Irleen continued toward the central area of the island, where the buildings numbered at least seven stories in height. As he had expected, the streets were mostly abandoned. Carts ferrying people and possibly goods drove toward the northern docks, and Link took them to be people moving things from the area. After a few hours, the streets were completely empty, giving the buildings surrounding him a haunted feeling as he looked around. He eventually happened upon grocery stores and butcheries which had had their doors demolished and their store-front windows smashed to pieces. Debris covered the road, bones (which he hoped were cow or moink) and trash giving Link the feeling that he did not want to be here. But it was here that he decided to remove his robe so that he had a decent chance of reaching for his sword in case of trouble, rolling his rags and tucking them under his right arm so he could drop them at a moment's notice.
Nothing appeared, and Link found from a clock in a nearby grocery store that it was still a couple of hours before eight o'clock, the time in which these monsters were supposed to appear. So he explored the grocery store. He was mildly surprised to see that the once-fresh fruits and vegetables had been left to rot by both the monsters and the store owner. The meat, however, had been partially ransacked. Two large bodies of beef had been left hanging on a rack in the back of the store, and paper-wrapped cuts of salted moink had yet to be disturbed from their place on the shelves. The almost bare ribs littering the floor indicated that this store had been found, and Link decided to wait here, sure that one of these creatures would be likely to show up to finish off at least the beef that had been left in the open. So Link found the stairs and decided to find a higher vantage point. The second floor turned out to be an office. The third floor was some kind of den or lounge with couches and large, bag-like cushions strewn all over the floor. One couch sat under the window, and Link found that, lying in it, he had a good view of the street below while not being immediately noticeable unless someone decided to look up. So, after deciding to relieve the destroyed store of a bag of nuts, he and Irleen waited in the lounge for the two hours they needed.
After Link finished the nuts, he allowed his mind to wander. He eventually came to ponder Irleen's behavior lately. He realized that she had not spoken much with him since Link decided to surrender to North on Tabletop Island. And he had noticed that most of her speech today had been riddled with sarcasm and bitterness the likes of which he and Line would share with each other when they were mad at one another. His eyes wandered to her sitting on one of the bag-chairs near his feet.
"You're mad at me," Link said. "Aren't you?"
Through almost an hour of quiet and patient waiting, Irleen had been lost in her own thoughts. So her initial response was, in a confused voice, "What?" Link did not respond, but she immediately caught on to his meaning. "Oh. Yeah. Maybe." Then she sighed. "I don't know, Link."
"I know I promised to take you home," he said. "And I'm sorry I almost didn't."
"No," she said immediately. "Don't be, Link." She sighed again and lifted away from the chair. "Link, you and I've been together for over two months now, right?"
Link nodded. "Yeah, something like that."
"Well, as much as I want to get home… I think I should've known that something like that might happen. I'd like to think we know each other well enough. And I should know that you'd risk your life for someone you barely even know. I mean… well, look at me! We only met, what, a week before I found you again? And you agreed to find a way to get back up to the sky for my sake when you could have easily made a living with Meilont. Who but you would do that? I should know that you would risk your life to save Lilly. I ju—… Yeah, I was angry. I don't know if it was at you or just everything.
"I think a part of me wanted you to leave Lilly behind. I wanted you to call North's bluff and continue on to the technoworks here. I'm… not sure if I understood everything that was going on, but I didn't want you to stop. I guess I was just being selfish.
"These past few days… I don't know. I thought you made a stupid decision to just drop everything and surrender. It's like you gave up. You didn't even try to think of a plan."
"I know," he said. "At the time… I didn't know what to do. I guess I sort of decided to just surrender myself, maybe see if I can talk Captain North out of arresting me. It didn't work, really. But maybe we'll see, now that he at least knows part of my story. We'll just have to see how much he believes."
"I've been so angry with you," she said, "I don't think I heard how you got back to the ship."
Link allowed himself a half-grin. "That was Dholit and the Gelto. I guess North's men were going to secure the ship, and the Gelto attacked them. Then they showed up at the meeting and… you know, I think they bluffed North. I mean, I don't doubt Layna would've slit his throat, but it looked like Biluf didn't actually explosives with her. She had a box, but I didn't see it later, and nothing really exploded."
"Sounds like a bluff."
"Then we had to run back to the ship. I guess North was trying to capture us before he had to spend time finding all the airmen the Gelto knocked out and hid. Guns firing around us, men chasing us… I don't think any of us had ever run like that before. You know, in those last moments, I think North was trying to break me."
"Break you? You mean mentally? How?"
Link tugged on the front of his tunic. "He… wanted me to take this off. As a show of faith. But… I just couldn't. I think, in those last moments before the Gelto showed up… I guess I just decided not to do it anymore. I got lucky again. If the Gelto hadn't shown up, I'd've probably been shot. I guess we both have the Gelto to thank."
Irleen gave a half-hearted laugh. "Maybe. But I still don't want to know where you found Dholit."
…
Tunk.
The sound jarred Link out of his nap. It sounded close, and he tried to look around the dark room for the source. Then he glanced out the window.
He immediately snapped to full awareness and slid out of sight of the window. "Irleen," he whispered at the glowing ball on bag-chair near him as he hunched down behind the couch. "Irleen, wake up."
"Huh-blah?" Irleen replied.
"Wake up," Link repeated. "C'mon, they're here."
"Who's here?"
"Cunimincus' crew."
In the next second, Irleen jumped into the air and shook from side to side, her motion creating an audible ring like a small bell. "Oh, crap," she declared.
"Shh," Link hissed at her, one finger over his mouth for emphasis. Irleen replied by ducking low to the floor. Link then stood up on the couch and peered past the side of the window at the street below.
Through the purple darkness of shadows cast by the evening sun, Link could see movement on the street. He was not sure what to make of it; his first glance had been quick and confusing even as he had snapped to complete consciousness. His second glance was not any better. At best, he could make out unusually long, hunched-over forms with definite sight of a tail. There were three of them in the road, the closest one also appearing to be particularly larger. The other two further down the road looked like they dragged some kind of wooden sled already sporting a small mound of stolen meat.
"Lizalfos," Irleen hissed. Link turned to find her peeking out the window from the opposite corner from him. "No wonder meat's been disappearing so much. These things could clear a village and still be hungry. This big one here is a Dinolfos. Their hides are tough. Both are hard to sneak up on; they've got a better range of sight than either of us."
"Well, we need to follow it," he pointed out. "Ideas?"
"We should probably wait until they start moving back to the technoworks," she told him. "The Lizalfos are nasty to deal with. Big, strong… they even breathe fire."
"And they use it to fire their guns," Link said.
Irleen stared at him for a moment. "Yeah," she said. "How did you know that?"
"I-I'm not sure," Link said. "I thought I heard it somewhere before. I don't know who from."
"Well, you're right," she continued. "They carry pistols."
Link nodded. "Like when we found the Horizon's Eye. There were holes in the deck. Bullet holes."
"Keep quiet," Irleen said. "We'll wait until it takes the stuff downstairs and starts to leave. We'll really need to be careful; they're supposed to get pretty vicious if they don't like you."
Link nodded and waited by the window until the Dinolfos below stepped into the grocery store. The vacant second floor made it difficult for Link to hear any sound beneath him, so he just waited some more. At one point, he looked at the nearby rooftops for Layna, wondering if she was the one who had woke him up by throwing something at the window. Irleen ducked out of sight so that her glow would not give them away as light continued to fade. Then, he began to worry, especially since he realized that he had left the door to the stairwell open. The Dinolfos was taking longer than expected, and Link moved to the other side of the lounge with his sword drawn.
"Link," Irleen whispered. "Link, it's leaving."
Link crossed the lounge again and peered outside. The Dinolfos had placed one of the carcasses on its back and was walking down the street back to its companions, who had further added to the sled. "C'mon," Link told her.
He hurried downstairs as quietly as possible. The Dinolfos had probably taken its time because it had been snacking on the packages of moink, their wrappings left all over the floor. He carefully moved around them and slid up to the broken window. The Dinolfos was a couple blocks away, its back completely hidden by the cow carcass. Link waited until it rejoined its companions so that none of them would spot him moving down the street. When they were close enough together, Link thought he heard them talking to each other. The grunts and the growls almost sounded like actual language.
So he asked, "What's that sound their making? It sounds like words."
"Esmond," Irleen replied.
"Esmond?"
"It's the language Cunimincus uses on his ship. I'm sure you realize how difficult it is to order people around when they don't even speak the same language as you."
"Oh." He peered around the corner again and saw that they were on the move south. The sled scraped heavily against the flat stone of the road, making it ideal for Link to follow without being heard.
Link ducked out of the grocery store and followed the creatures by quickly running from building to building and keeping out of sight for as much as he could. When they took a right turn, he immediately dove into the next street and crossed to another street paralleling the first road. He thought he might have lost them doing this, but he heard the sled scraping farther down and hid behind a building just as they stepped into view again. Fearing he might lose them again, he chanced moving closer. Then he panicked when they took another right turn and ducked behind a streetlamp since it was the closest hiding place he could reach. To his relief, he had not exposed himself and dashed for the next crossroad to catch up.
"Link, wait!" Irleen called out as Link was halfway down the road. He stopped and turned back to find her hovering near the entrance of an alley. "Over here! Look!"
Concerned, Link drew his sword and jogged back to the mouth of the alley. He stepped up to the nearby wall and peered around as he had been doing. He saw what Irleen was referring to. The Lizalfos had turned into the alley farther down from him. He waited a moment to see if they would be turning in a moment onto the next street.
Instead, they descended. It was a sight that surprised Link, not having expected them to spontaneously disappear into the ground. Link was unsure of the structure underneath the city, but he reminded himself of the secret tunnel under Hyrule Castle. There must have been a similar tunnel up ahead, probably something that led to the technoworks. After giving Irleen a signal to follow, he replaced his sword and jogged down the alley.
As he got closer, he found that one of the rough granite slabs which served as the level surface inside the alley had been lifted out of the ground. Then, he found himself stopping at the top of a gentle slope of bare rock descending underneath the alley. The slab above the opening had been partially smashed apart before it had been lifted, and its fragments littered the slope. A pair of trashcans had been jammed into either side of the slab to keep it from closing. From where he stood, Link could not see any light from inside.
"This must be it," Irleen said. "Not quite what I was expecting. I guess the residents here just built over the technoworks' entrance without even knowing what they were covering."
"And the Lizalfos found it anyway," Link said. "Think they have a Sorian with them?"
"If they do, he's probably really sick. A Sorian can't live on meat like them."
Link nodded and made to turn as he called out, "Lay—yikes!" He jumped and nearly slipped on the edge of the slope when he found Layna already standing behind him. Annoyed, he sighed and said, "I really, really wish you wouldn't do that."
Layna tilted her head in confusion. "Kyabtin?"
Link indicated the slope in front of them. "Let's go." Layna gave a sharp nod and started down.