Chapter 113: The Conclusion of Autumn Island
…
The Hylian airmen in the port were being forced backwards onto the ships, and the Island Symphony, due to its large cargo door and small crew, was being overrun by Geozards and Lizalfos.
Then a torrent of gunfire sounded from behind the line formed by Cunimincus' crew. Those that did not fall spun around to find the rest of North's men charging at them from the main street. Link, by virtue of his boots, powered past the group and then performed a flying leap over Cunimincus' crew, arrow already nocked in the Bow of Light. He landed, spun, and immediately loosed a shard of light that pierced one of the Geozards through the heart and stabbed into the shoulder of the Dinolfos standing right behind it, completely ignoring the fact that the Dinolfos was wearing armor. Link then threw the bow to the ground and pulled his sword. He had an extra moment to grab his shield since his wild stunt had completely boggled the enemy line, causing them to scatter when North's men collided with them from behind.
Knowing the difficulty in attempting to kill what was already dead, Link immediately looked around for any nearby Stalarmors. His first encounter was with a Geozard wielding a spiked club which barely lasted a moment. Link used his shield to intercept the club. But before he had a chance to counterattack, one of the retreating airmen, invigorated by Link's idiotic cavalry charge, rushed up and shot the Geozard point-blank in between the eyes. At about the same time, the rest of the group that had remained around the docks surged forward to further disrupt Cunimincus' crew.
Link caught a glint in the corner of his eye and turned. A Stalarmor was holding off would-be attackers by swinging around a gigantic broadsword, giving itself a wide space to move. Link pushed through the charging airmen to the Stalarmor's location. Just outside the ring of airmen, Link took a fantastic leap into the air with the Lokomo Sword raised. The Stalarmor spotted Link at the last moment, and that was not enough to prevent Link from bashing its head to one side as he came back down. But then Link found that he was landing just a hair's breadth from impaling his face on the spikes decorating the Stalarmor's knees. He kept his head low as he backed up a couple steps, and this saved him from losing his head to the Stalarmor's flailing. One of the nearby airmen, upon perceiving the spike-covered skull flying straight for him, smacked it into the air with his cutlass. Link rounded the Stalarmor and located its life jewel on the backside of its pelvis. He delivered a powerful swing and smashed the jewel to pieces. It probably was not the best of ideas, as the Stalarmor, still flailing about, wound up flinging its bones and parts into the crowd of surrounding airmen. Link in particular took a sharpened rib to the brow and fell backwards more out of surprise than the negligible force of the bone to his head. A cheer rose up as Link checked his head for wounds. He found a small cut that was openly bleeding, but he found it to be minor. One airman helped him back to his feet before he joined the rest of his comrades combating Cunimincus' men.
Link glanced toward his ship. Unfortunately, his vantage point did not allow him much of a view of what was happening on board. He wiped his brow with the back of his left sleeve and started jogging toward the Island Symphony, which was still a good distance down the docks. His pace picked up when a red flare shot into the air from the forecastle. He could only imagine what might be happening aboard without him.
A tail came out of nowhere and smack into the side of Link's head, sending him sprawling to the ground. His vision spun, but he still got to his feet. Unfortunately, as things cleared up, he found his way blocked by a trio of Lizalfos. He turned to find that two more plus an armored Geozard had cut off his means of retreat. He started spinning back and forth, the Lokomo Sword extended so that each turn resulted in a wild slash that kept them at bay.
"Līnca!" he heard Irleen shout from somewhere nearby. "Láħìna, kūl hūta!?"
"Captain Link!" someone shouted.
Link jabbed at one Lizalfos that was attempting to get too close to him. Unfortunately, the armored Geozard took this as a sign to strike. Link was not even aware that it had raised a battleaxe to embed into his skull until he whipped around.
Tink. Link felt something hit his blade. When his eyes settled on the Geozard, the Geozard stumbled backwards with a heavy rasp while its free hand clasped at its throat. It ripped out a blood-coated piece of metal and threw it to the ground. Link looked down to find that it was one of Layna's throwing blades. It did not occur to him how she had made that throw until he realized that she must have bounced the blade off his sword, hence the odd bump he had felt. Beginning to realize that his position was about to be overrun, Link spun and swung at the Lizalfos approaching him from behind. Tink. This time, Link spotted a flash of metal strike his blade and bounce off, embedding itself into a Lizalfos' eye. The Lizalfos screamed, and the sound caused the other Lizalfos to freeze in place as they tried to figure out where the blades were coming from.
Link then lunged forward. Tink. The impact came off the metal edge of his shield and hit the shoulder of a Lizalfos to the right of the Lizalfos who held up a machete to defend itself from Link's stabbing motion. Link's blow was deflected high. Tink. Layna skipped a blade off Link's sword and sliced open the Lizalfos' nostrils, forming a single slit in between the two. The Lizalfos screamed and backed away. Link spun around. Tink. While he was making a slicing motion intended to get any weapons at chest level, another throwing blade skipped off Link's shield, startled one Lizalfos when it missed its eye by a narrow margin, and actually found its way into the back of another Lizalfos' head when it turned to fight off the airmen trying to reach Link. Link's sword was intercepted midway by a Lizalfos wearing a thick, metal gauntlet that covered its entire forearm and hand. Tink. This turned out to be a mistake when Layna bounced a blade off the Lizalfos' own gauntlet and embedded it into the underside of the Lizalfos' jaw. Link pulled the sword out of its grasp and delivered a vertical strike that cleaved its unprotected skull.
The wall of Lizalfos was finally broken when Helo, tucked into a ball, suddenly barreled his way through. The Lizalfos, along with a pair of Geozards who had not even been near Link to begin with, were scattered across the ground. Helo unrolled himself and slid on his bare feet to a stop just short of flattening one of his Geozard tag-alongs. The Geozard was relieved until Helo swung one fist to help pull himself to his full height, which sent the Geozard flying into the side of the nearby Grand Sails. Link exchanged a nod with him before he tore across the docks toward the Island Symphony.
As he approached in a relatively open area near his ship, Link saw that a pair of Lizalfos were aiming muskets at the ship's main deck while another one, sporting a bleeding wound in its upper chest, struggled to reload. He glanced up just in time to see Leynne and Lawrence duck behind the bulwark before the Lizalfos fired. Link changed direction and slammed into the two that had just fired hard with his shield. The Lizalfos, taken completely by surprise, were flung an incredible distance with one landing on top of the other. The third finished reloading and attempted to aim at Link. Link, however, spun and deflected the musket into the air. The impact caused the weapon to fire, and then the Lizalfos dropped it. It immediately lashed out at Link with its claws, and Link felt his left sleeve tear. He twisted and bashed the edge of his shield against the Lizalfos' great maw. Then he twisted again and sliced open its throat, dropping it to the ground.
"Link!" Link turned back to his ship to see that Leynne and Lawrence were now using their muskets to fend off weapons being used by a pair of Geozards. At the same time, Dubbl and Lwamm were fighting against the Lizalfos and Geozards that had invaded the cargo hold.
Link waved his shield in the air. "Layna!" he hollered. Then he pointed the Lokomo Sword at the ship. "Hurry!"
Layna suddenly dashed past Link, dropping the Bow of Light at his feet. Link had to put down the sword to pick up the bow. He slung it onto his left shoulder and picked up the sword again. Then he ran after Layna. He saw Layna's arm sweep through the air, and then she performed a spectacular leap from the dock onto the deck, downing the Geozard that was on top of Leynne with a throwing blade. Link decided to dash straight into the cargo hold. His eyes perceived Dubbl on the deck, her attacker's free hand wrapped around her throat. The hand holding the cutlass, however, was cradled against its chest. Link hopped onto the door, alerting it to his presence. But then Link was already upon it and used his incredible speed to lop off its head with a single, horizontal slash. Then he spun to see how Lwamm was doing.
And she was doing just fine. The Dinolfos attacking her had also been distracted by his boarding in addition to having one of Layna's throwing blades embedded in its ribs. Lwamm, her hands wrapped with first-aid bandage strips, delivered a right hook to the Dinolfos' head that sent it sprawling. She closed the distance between them and spun, driving the heel of her right foot into the right side of its face. The Dinolfos stumbled into Link's direction, and he quickly bashed it away with his shield. The Dinolfos ran into a nearby crate and stumbled backwards towards Lwamm. She hooked one hand around the Dinolfos' ample jaw and took hold of a spine on the back of its head. Then she twisted hard, eliciting a disgusting crack from the Dinolfos' neck. The Dinolfos slumped to the deck, completely lifeless. Her chest heaving and her eyes wild, she looked up at Link. For a moment, he thought she might charge him next.
"Kyabtin," Dubbl said as she pushed herself up from the deck.
Link stepped over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"I fine," Dubbl said, her voice a little raspy. "Monste's. Ub. And down."
A scream sounded, and Link immediately looked down. "Lilly," he said.
"Zey chased down," Dubbl said, indicating the deck with a finger.
"Lwamm, let's go," Link said, gesturing at the stairs. But, when he started for the stairs, he realized that Lwamm was frozen in place. He turned and asked, "Lwamm?"
She looked up at him. Then she looked down at her balled fists. She took in a deep breath and let herself relax for a moment. "Ay'a, May Kyabtin," she said with a sharp nod.
"Let's go," he told her. And this time, she followed him down the starboard stairs.
Their footsteps alerted the Geozards that had wandered into the galley below. Link caught sight of a club just in time to duck underneath it and rolled out onto the deck. Because it was nothing more than wood roughly shaved to serve as a weapon, Lwamm caught it after the swing had lost power and ripped it from its user's hands. The Geozard rounded the stairwell, wondering where its club had gone. She promptly thrust the narrow end in its face, poking out one eye.
Link decided to get back to his feet and hustled past the barrels littering the port side of the deck. Two more Geozards were moving to meet him, abandoning using their small axes to bust apart the closet door toward the rear to cleave themselves some fresh meat. Link started the fight by knocking over a barrel of grog and kicking it at them. In the narrow space, one shoved itself against the hull, leaving his friend to take the barrel to the knees and fall face-first onto the deck. The Geozard reached Link and attempted a quick horizontal strike for Link's face. Link backed up a step to avoid the attack and then lunged forward with a jab that pierced the Geozard's tunic. The Geozard responded with a bubbly grunt and attempted to backhand Link. Link ducked and jabbed again, this time with an upward angle that caused his blade to penetrate the Geozard's bare throat. Then Link used the sword's position to pull the Geozard and toss it to the deck.
The second Geozard recovered only to stumble over its companion's body. It fell, its weight ripping Link's sword out of his hand before he could pull it from the dead Geozard's throat. Link kicked the Geozard in the face, putting out one of its eyes with the toe of his boot. The Geozard rolled, its axe forgotten as it covered its face. Link grabbed the Lokomo Sword and jerked it out of the dead Geozard's neck. But, before Link could get in a strike on the other, it found its feet and scrambled for… some location. Link was not sure where it was going since it was just knocking barrels out of its way trying to get away from him.
He looked over at Lwamm just in time to see her finish bashing the first Geozard's bloody and broken face against a vertical member of the hull's structure. She heard the last Geozard approaching her from behind, glanced over her shoulder, and shoved her unconscious (or dead; it was hard for Link to tell) Geozard into its path. The half-blind Geozard tripped over the body and fell face-first onto the deck again. She grabbed a small crate, raised it over her head, and smashed it on the final Geozard's head. The crate remained intact, and the Geozard's body convulsed before it finally rolled off its companion and lay still on the deck.
Link quickly stepped toward the closet and yanked the battered door open. On the opposite side, amid broken dinnerware and two sacks of potatoes, Lilly and Cale suddenly broke apart their makeout session upon seeing Link. "Captain!" Lilly cried out, surprised by Link's appearance. Cale could only gape in horror.
Link gave a relieved sigh. "Okay," he said. "You guys are fine. Stay here until someone comes to get you." With that, he closed the door on the confused couple. He turned to Lwamm and used a hooking gesture with his arm to indicate the door at the back of the galley. "Let's go check the engine room." Lwamm nodded and delivered one final kick to the first Geozard's battered face. Then she met Link at the back of the galley.
Upon entering the engine room, the first sound they perceived was a loud banging that accompanied the deck shaking underneath them. Link glanced over the side of the walkway to see what was causing it. He found that Harley was wielding a broken bottle against two, sword-wielding Lizalfos who had him backed against the water tanks on the port side. Sello was nowhere in sight. Lidago was the source of the pounding sound as he held the limp, mangled body of a Lizalfos by the tail and continually bashed it against the deck, leaving a bloody mess on the starboard side.
Link carefully placed the Lokomo Sword on the ground and slid the Bow of Light off his shoulder. He nocked an arrow and aimed downward at one of the Lizalfos. The arrow became a shard of light, and he fired it straight into the scalp of the Lizalfos on the right. The impaling caused the Lizalfos to seize before collapsing to the deck. The death caused the other Lizalfos to forget about Harley for a moment as it turned to check on its companion. Harley took the opportunity to switch his hold on the bottle and advanced toward the remaining Lizalfos. The Lizalfos only spotted Harley a split-second before Harley stabbed the broken glass into its pate. The bottle broke more, but the Lizalfos was stunned by the attack and backed away, trying to brush away the glass fragments that had been embedded into its thick skin. To Link's surprise, Lwamm hurled herself off the walkway and landed directly on the Lizalfos' head, rolling once she hit the deck to save herself from injury. She wheeled around and smashed her elbow into the side of the Lizalfos' head next, causing it to reel to one side due to all the damage it had taken. It stumbled directly into Lidago's mess and slipped on the blood coating the deck. In the next moment, it was pulverized by the body of its comrade.
"Oi, Lidago!" Harley shouted at him. "Lidago! Ya can stop now!"
Lidago left the Lizalfos' carcass on the deck and looked up, revealing to Link that he had been hiding his head throughout the pummeling. "Okay," he replied as he released the Lizalfos' tail.
Link slid the Bow of Light back on his shoulder and retrieved his sword. Then he stepped off the walkway and landed on the deck next to the ladder, although his landing was considerably stiffer than Lwamm's. Harley stepped toward him and indicated the Lizalfos bodies with a hand. "This wha' ya do when ya leave?" he asked.
Link grinned at him. "Jealous?" he asked.
Harley broke into a fit of chuckles. "'Ell no!" he replied. "Ya can keep yar overgrown lizards! I'll take the drunk any day!"
Link glanced over to Sello's usual spot to find that Sello's couch was empty. "Where is Sello?" he asked.
"Think 'e wen' tha' way," Harley said, pointing to a door leading to the orlop. Link nodded and motioned for them to follow. He opened the door and quickly moved inside.
He froze in the doorway between the aft compartment and the rest of the orlop. This was mostly because Link had located Sello along with a Geozard aggressor. Contrary to what Link was expecting, though, he found that the Geozard was chasing Sello around the storage cabinet in the middle of the deck. Sello did not seem to realize that there were two stairwells he could have escaped up at anytime while the Geozard could have clearly stopped and waited for Sello to round the cabinet in order to catch him.
"Huh," Harley commented. "I migh' be rethinkin' tha' las' commen', actually."
"Ugh…" Link groaned, placing a hand over his face. "Lwamm?"
Lwamm did not even rush to help Sello. She casually walked across the deck until it should have been obvious to both Sello and the Geozard that she was standing within arm's reach. Instead, they continued to circle the cabinet. Lwamm grabbed Sello's arm and yanked him aside, causing him to stumble and land against the deck. The Geozard continued to circle the cabinet until it finally stopped right in front of Lwamm. However, it reeled as it tried to focus on her. Then Lwamm grabbed it by its tunic and started bashing its head against the cabinet behind it.
Link pointed to Sello. "Take him back to the engine room and barricade yourselves in," he ordered Harley. "We'll come get you once everything's clear."
"Go' i', Cap'n," Harley replied.
"Let's go, Lwamm," Link said as he marched across the orlop to the starboard staircase. Lwamm, having killed the Geozard through blunt force trauma, threw its body aside and followed Link.
Link stopped at the galley to check that they had no more invaders there. When they reached the cargo hold, Link was surprised to find that two more Lizalfos and three Geozards had been added to the bodies lying on the deck. He crossed the cargo hold to see that the airmen outside had moved to defend their dock. He could still hear sounds on the deck above and motioned to Lwamm to go up while he took the port staircase to the main deck.
Upon emerging onto the deck, Link was taken aback by the sight of a Stalarmor and a Darknut on the deck, along with two Dinolfos breathing fire at someone retreating up to the poop deck. The Stalarmor was swinging a sword at the boom of the starboard main mast, and Link saw that Line had climbed onto the boom to escape. The Darknut was standing further aft, apparently looking for someone while dragging an unconscious Dubbl along by her hair. The darkness around them made it hard to get a clear picture, but Link did not see Layna anywhere in sight along with half of the deck crew. Not even the electric lights along the bulwark gave enough illumination to see much.
"Link!" Irleen shouted as she flew up next to Link's head. "What are we gonna do!? His men are everywhere!"
Link dropped his sword and shield. Then he slid the Bow of Light off his arm. "We do this," he said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out Irleen's bomb gem and showed it to her. "And we do this fast."
Irleen bounced in the air as if using her whole body to nod. "You got it," she replied with an excited tone.
Link ran across the deck and up behind the Stalarmor. He quickly jumped onto its back and crammed the gem in between the vertebrae on its neck. Then he let go and backed away as the Stalarmor, now aware that something was messing with it, used a free hand to feel about the back of its neck. It turned around to find Link drawing his pin hammer from his belt. "This is my ship," he told the confused Stalarmor, an angry glare making his words much clearer to the mute monster. It began to raise its sword to him. "IRLEEN!"
"And the world goes boom!" Irleen screamed while Link covered his face.
The Stalarmor's upper half blew apart, its heavier pieces like its head and cuirass/torso falling to the deck while its vertebrae fired in a direction over the starboard side. Link looked up to find a pair of legs stumbling in its place. One of its small ribs, embedded in the deck by the blast, sported its life jewel. Link grabbed the rib out of the deck, took it over to the mast, and smashed the jewel with the hammer while using the mast to brace it. The legs collapsed on the spot, and Link dropped the rib.
"What the hell was that thing!?" Line hollered at him from the boom above, his voice attaining a high pitch. "Holy shit, Link!"
"I'll explain later," Link replied as he replaced Sello's hammer. He looked next to the Darknut.
And he realized that this Darknut was missing some of its armor, revealed by the fact that the arm holding its axe had been reduced to a mail sleeve while its other arm still had most of its plating. The reason appeared to be removing its faulds from behind by jamming a knife into the bolts holding them to the cuirass and breaking them with a twist. The Darknut attempted to kick Dholit away, but it only got her playful laugh as it turned around to catch her since she had already danced out of the way. Link was a little amazed to see that she had managed to take off its helmet at one point, leaving its mail coif exposed.
He cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered to her, "Dholit! Take its coif off!"
"Yes, oh My Captain," Dholit replied as she danced about the Darknut.
Link dashed straight at it as he pulled his boomerang. He opened it and, once he was in range, used it to bash the gauntlet still holding Dubbl's hair. The Darknut's grip faltered, having been taken by surprise from behind. Link dropped the boomerang to the deck and wrapped his arms around Dubbl's chest. He hustled out of the way, finding her lighter than expected. The Darknut made to turn so that it could swing its large axe at him.
Dholit then leapt up and pulled the coif off its head, causing it to stumble when her weight fell on one of its shoulders. She immediately retreated. "I have it!" she called.
But when Link looked up to see, he found that the Darknut was merely headless now. It felt around the empty space where its head should have been, apparently confused by its missing coif. As Link hauled Dubbl behind the starboard mizzen-mast, he remembered that a source of light was necessary to kill it. He contemplated running back to get the Bow of Light.
Then he realized what was still holstered on his back and pulled his flare gun out. He pulled a shell out and loaded it in. Then he looked up to find that the Darknut, even without a head, had caught Dholit and was now holding her by her ponytail. Link immediately charged out of his cover, cocking the gun. He leapt up, a primal scream escaping his mouth. His hand grasped the collar of the Darknut's cuirass, and he held himself up by bracing his feet on the Darknut's shoulders. "LET HER GO!" he screamed as he jammed the flare gun into the cuirass.
He pulled the trigger, and the interior of the Darknut was flooded with green light. Its armor gave a jerk, and the entire suit collapsed under Link, dropping him to the deck. His head hit hard, and he dropped the pistol so that he could cradle the back of his head.
"My Captain!" Dholit hollered. Link opened his eyes to find Dholit hunched over him. And, for once, she seemed to have a look of sincere happiness on her face. "Oh, My Captain," she told him. "I'm glad you ah all right."
"You know," he grunted as he sat up, "that's probably the first thing you've ever told me that I believe."
Two heavy thuds sounded from the other side of the ship, and Link looked up to see that the two Dinolfos that had been chasing someone onto the poop deck had been flung all the way to the main deck, landing at the bottom of the port stairs. His eyes went further up to the quarterdeck, and he was amazed to see that Leynne, Lawrence, Twali, and Layna were standing at the top of the stairs, looking worn but unscathed.
He gave a breath of relief. "Good," he said to himself.
"Link!" Leynne hollered. He pointed over the port side. "Captain Nohth is calling foh you!"
Dholit helped Link to his feet, and Link crossed the deck to the port bulwark. North was standing on the dock, and, upon seeing Link, he hollered, "Captain! Is your ship secure?!"
Link leaned on the bulwark and took a moment to catch his breath. Then he called back, "Aye, Captain North! The ship is still ours!"
Link had not realized that some of his crew had joined him at his side, so he was surprised by the wail of victory that both Twali and Lwamm released. Lawrence and Line hollered out their own cheers, and even a half-dazed Dubbl, being supported by Leynne, managed to make a sound. On the dock, Helo, standing amidst a mixture of North's and Blair's men, raised his arms and let out a booming drone. This caused Biluf, being carried piggyback by Flower, to raise her own victory wail. Then the whole crowd of airmen broke out into cheers of huzzah, swords and guns alike being thrust into the air with each shout.
Link felt something tug at his belt, and he turned his head to find Dholit loading a flare gun. She pointed it into the air and fired, sending a green flare into the sky above.