Chapter 6

The next couple of days were restless and full of hard work, and Zelda and Link rarely got to see each other at all. Link would be woken before the sun every morning and ordered every which way across the ship, scrubbing floors, digging muck out from the cracks in the woodwork, polishing doorknobs, emptying spittoons, tacking down patches on the hull, and whatever else the pirates could think of for him to do. The only times he got to see Zelda were during the three meals the crew had each day, during which time the Princess would be forced to serve them, Link included.

Zelda did not adapt quickly to the role of cook and servant. The first day, she spilled a pot of broth down the front of her dress, and the Captain had berated her for wasting food. Scarlett made her wring out the broth into a bowl, which she was then forced to take as her own dinner. The pirates shredded up her dress to use as rags for cleaning. Now Zelda wore the loose-fitting slacks and tattered black vest of a common pirate, and she could not have looked less like a Princess of Hyrule.

Yet when she saw Link in the galley she always smiled brightly at him and it made the boy feel a kind of happiness he had never felt. He had never known what it was like to have a friend before.

Link took very careful pains to hide the Sleepstone and almost never removed it from his pocket. He felt tempted to utter the word 'slumber' and slip back into that fantastic world of dreams and go riding on his clockwork dragon once again, but the words of old Impa stuck out in his mind and he didn't dare to go against them.

For one thing, it was obvious that the pirates were quite dangerous, far from the noble rescuers he felt Zelda was deserving of. Indeed, they didn't even seem to like the Princess, much less have any desire to protect her. Link could see the way some of the pirates glared at her as she served the food, and it gave him the feeling that among these miscreants the poor girl was downright loathed.

The only thing that kept him from trying to think of some way to engineer his and Zelda's escape from the vile swashbucklers was Impa's promise that they would lead him to a place where he needed to ensure Zelda's continued safety, although he couldn't imagine how that might be. 'When the time is right to use the stone you will know it,' Impa had said. The more Link thought of this, the more frustrated he became. How would he know it? What if he was wrong or he missed it somehow? Then was everything simply doomed? Oh well, too late, how sad. Link could think of no reason things were so ambiguous.

On the evening of the second day he heard the pirates whispering. They were saying that the ship would reach the Temple of Life in the morning. There was some comfort in that. After all, Impa had said the Temple of Life was where they would be going and validation of at least that much information helped him to convince himself that he was right to heed the old woman's cryptic words.

That night, Link enquired of Zig, one of the pirates who had been part of the party who had rescued him and Zelda, whether he would be going into the temple along with the rest of them. Zig was an older pirate, tall and skinny but built with powerful muscles. His head was bald on top, and he wore what wispy strands of silver hair he still had in a long ponytail behind him. Even on the ship, Zig wore his skin-tight Shiekah jumpsuit. Link found it easier to talk to Zig than the other pirates. Perhaps it was his advanced age, but he seemed friendlier and somehow more peaceful than the other crew members of the Crimson Stalfos.

When Link had asked Zig about going to the Temple of Life, the pirate had laughed warmly.

"You are eager to help Zelda, aren't you?" he said with a smile, "Well, don't you worry. We're pirates; we've done this sort of thing before. I understand that it's frustrating to have to just sit back and watch what unfolds, but trust me Link, you'd only get in the way. It wouldn't help Zelda if you went and got yourself cursed again, now would it?"

Link had desperately wanted to argue his point, and tell Zig and Scarlett and the rest that they needed him with them to stop Nyarlath, but he couldn't compromise his promise to Impa to keep the Sleepstone secret from the pirates until the time was right. Besides, even if he had produced the Sleepstone, how could he expect the pirates to believe him? Having a magic rock that makes you fall asleep wouldn't look too impressive to an observer. Besides, if he did use the Sleepstone in front of them, couldn't they just take it from him while he slumbered? And then what about the Sleepstone in the Dreamworld? If they took it from his sleeping self in the Waking World, would he lose it in the Dreamworld too? There were too many risks involved in letting them know. However, Impa had indicated that he would need inside the Temple of Life to save Zelda.

There was only one thing for it: He would have to sneak away from the pirates and catch up with Zelda and Scarlett inside the temple. Hopefully there would be enough time for him to reach them before something went wrong. He'd have to just make sure he was there when he needed and worry about figuring out what he was going to do when that problem arose.

In the night he rose from his cot among the noisy snores of the sleeping pirates and crept silently past them to the doorway to the upper decks. The moon was enormous, and looked close enough to brush with his fingertips, casting silvery light on the nighttime deck of the Crimson Stalfos. He slinked along, catlike, hugging the shadowy places at the corners of the walls and under the side railings. When he reached the door to the Captain's Cabin it relieved him to see that no lamp was burning inside. Carefully, he crept past the Captain's door to the next door down the way, a little sleeping cabin reserved for keeping Zelda.

He knew the door would be locked, but he went to the little four-pane window set in it and rapped sharply but quietly on the glass, then put his mouth up to the door frame and hissed, "Princess!"

There was no response. Link felt his heart racing in his chest. He hated to imagine what the pirates might do to him if they found him sneaking around Zelda's door at night, but he had to at least let the Princess know he was going to help her, even if he couldn't say exactly how. He held his breath and knocked on the window once more.

"Zelda!"

"Link, is that you?" came the whispered response from the crack in the door.

"Yes, it's me!" replied Link, "The pirates say we'll be at the Temple of Life soon. They won't let me go with you off the ship, but I wanted to let you know not to worry. I'm gonna sneak out and come to help you!"

"No, Link, you mustn't!" pleaded Zelda, "You don't understand, these pirates are dangerous. They might kill you if they catch you! I can't let you put yourself in more danger because of me."

"But Zelda, you don't understand," said Link, "I can help you. I found out something really special, but it's a secret so I can't tell you what it is yet. Just trust me, I can help this time. I'm gonna get you out of all this!"

"Oh, Link," whimpered Zelda, "You are too brave for your own good!"

"Just don't worry Zelda, I promise I will save you."

Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps on the stairway overhead, and Link had to scramble to find a place to hide. Noticing a canvas tarp draped over some barrels, Link stuffed himself underneath and hoped that the toes of his boots weren't poking out. He held his breath and tried his hardest to keep completely still.

A moment later someone came walking up, a lantern in their hand, whistling. There was the jingle of keys and the sound of a door swinging open on creaky hinges. Then the lantern light disappeared. Link exhaled with relief. Slipping out from under the canvas, Link could see that the light in the Captain's cabin was on now. He knew that he had only been seconds away from running smack into Captain Scarlett coming down from the wheelhouse.

"Don't worry Zelda! I'll see you tomorrow!" hissed Link at the door frame, but he didn't wait for a response before quickly and quietly making his way back below deck to lay in his cot, sleepless, and await the coming dawn.

The pirates woke before the sun came up to the cry of 'All hands on deck!' from First Officer Gwendolin. The Crimson Stalfos came drifting down through the misty clouds, the open expanse of blue ocean revealed beneath them. They headed straight towards the rising sun. Off in the East the silhouette of a great temple dominated the ridge of coastal cliffs of some unknown continent, high golden minarets rising up over the horizon and into the sky far above the breaking whitewater waves of the sea crashing upon the sheer rock face.

Link stopped in his morning routine of scrubbing the decks and stood up to regard the scene of otherworldly awe and beauty with starry eyes. He had never seen anything like the Temple of Life before.

"There she is," cried Captain Scarlett, "Ok, men, let's get some food in our bellies, we have a big day ahead."

Zelda seemed particularly somber during breakfast that morning. Her hands trembled as she poured coffee spiked with some thickly spiced, acidic liquor into the flagons of the pirate crew. Link's eyes met hers. She smiled weakly, but the sadness in her eyes made a pang in his heart. He finished breakfast before anyone else and rose to head back above deck and finish his chores.

"Not so fast, little green bug," said Gwen, seizing Link by the back of the tunic, "You're not doing any deck work today. I suppose you think that we pirates are a dull lot? That we'd just leave you running about full well knowing how prone you are to doing stupid things when that Princess of yours is in danger? 'Fraid we're a bit cleverer than we let on. You're spending the day under lock and key, Captain's orders."

Gwendolin lifted the struggling Link off the ground by the back of his collar and held him out in front of her like a dirty diaper. She carried him through the galley and out to the lower deck.

"Hey!" protested Link, "You can't just throw me around. I have legs you know!"

"Too many legs, if you ask me, but keep on struggling and we can find a remedy for that," said Gwen, clearly enjoying herself, "You're going straight in the brig, and that's that!"

"But I haven't done anything!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking," said Gwen, taking Link down a flight of stairs and through a side door to one of the lower decks. Inside was a room of the ship Link had not yet seen, a narrow kind of hallway, beset on either side by cramped cells of iron with enormous locks. Gwen tossed him unceremoniously into one of these and locked the door with a mocking laugh. "There, that oughta keep you out of trouble, Mr. Hero!"

Gwen slammed the door behind her as she went, but Link was hardly left alone for a moment before a portly looking pirate of considerable size came plodding into the room. He grunted unpleasantly at Link, then parked himself on a rickety old stool and propped himself up in the corner with his piggy little eyes glaring at Link directly.

"Oh perfect," Link whispered to himself under his breath, "A big, stupid guard. What is this, a fairytale?"

Once again the world suddenly seemed hopeless. How was he supposed to help Zelda at all while locked up here? Link just couldn't figure out these Shiekah Sky-Pirates. Were they trying to help Zelda or not? Why were they so mean to the both of them? Link was pacing round his cell, feeling anger rise up in him, his desperation fueling it like bellows blowing up a blacksmith's fire. He could feel the piggy glare of the portly pirate guard. His temper broke like a wave on the rocks below,

"Why don't you stare at someone else, you great big idiot!" screamed Link.

"Hur, hur, hur," chuckled the massive pirate, quite unimpressed with Link's raging.

"What's so funny?" shouted Link.

"Yer fancy yerself tuff, lil' man?" said the Pirate, his gruff words barely intelligible, snorted out as if through the gullet of a pig, "Ter ther Captin', yer aren't but a wee morsel. One tha in't fit ter shiny up her boots! Tha Princess too. Tis only ther blood she want, an' if'n a wee pinprick dun't git it, shill stick her dry ta git hands on tha booty o' this curst port."

"Her blood?" cried Link, "Why do they want her blood? That won't work at all!"

"Quit witcha nah, or y'll git me whip!" the pirate thumbed a huge bullwhip which hung upon his belt. Link threw his arms up in frustration and turned away to pace the corner of his cell with fury in his heart.

They meant to take Zelda's blood! How could they? He suddenly regretted ever trusting anything that Impa or any Shiekah Pirate ever said. Had he known what kind of peril Zelda was in, he never would have waited so long to act. He would have spent the last two days searching for a way to save Zelda. Now he was hopelessly trapped, no way out, and only moments from now Scarlett would be bleeding Zelda dry to get at a treasure that wasn't even there. Perhaps if he'd at least told the pirates about the Sleepstone they might have taken it and gone about their way and left him and Zelda somewhere on their own, which would be a thousand times better than the situation they were in now.

With the guard watching him relentlessly there was nothing he could think of to do. He collapsed to the ground in a huff. Sometime later, there was the sound of a gunpowder bang somewhere outside and the pirate guard confirmed that it was the sound of Scarlett's landing vessel deploying from the Crimson Stalfos. It wouldn't be long now before Zelda faced the edge of the knife.

The ensuing minutes passed with dreadful slowness. Link could feel his heart fluttering anxiously in his chest. He couldn't tell whether he should scream or cry, so he just sat there in the middle of his cell hugging his knees to his chest in catatonic hyperventilation.

Only the sudden addition of a new sound to his ears made him snap out of the grief-driven trance. He saw that the portly guard had drifted off and was now snoring loudly, teetering precariously on the little wooden stool. Link felt suddenly inspired.

"When it's time to use the stone, you'll know," he repeated the words of Impa to himself, "Well, this seems like as good a time as any. What have I got to lose? Here goes."

He reached into his pocket and slipped the Sleepstone into his palm. Bringing it out to rest in his cupped hands, he glanced over his shoulder one more time to make certain the guard was still asleep before holding the orb up to his lips and whispering, "Slumber."

The transition was sudden and remarkable. The whole world seemed to shift around him in a kaleidoscopic manner. He was suddenly sitting beside himself, looking down on his sleeping form. He took the Sleepstone, still held in his hand, and slipped it into his pocket. He watched as the shadow of the Waking World counterpart stowed itself in the pocket of the sleeping him as if drawn in by an invisible hand.

The Dreamworld version of the Crimson Stalfos was like looking into a funhouse mirror. The low wooden ceiling of the brig was now so high and shadowy that he could not clearly see it and the bars of the cell were unusually shaped, spaced farther apart in places and closer together in others, giving the place a sort of unreal quality. In the corner where the pirate slept there were now two pirates, but one was awake and dangling a string of yarn, which a little glowing kitten was playfully chasing and batting around.

The pirate didn't seem to notice him. Link was able to slip through a sizeable gap between the distorted cell bars and creep up beside the slumbering lummox. He was laughing gruffly at the antics of the little kitten, which looked to Link, upon closer inspection, made of fairy-dust and light.

"What are you doing?" said Link.

"Awww, wudya lookit tha?" cooed the pirate, joyfully, "Its Matey, it is. Live an' playin' an all! S'been so long tha I seent 'im!"

"Right," said Link, carefully, "Well, he sure does seem… um… playful. So, since you're busy playing with Matey, I thought I would just let myself out to use the bathroom. Think I could maybe have the key to the cell door?"

"Hum?" said the pirate, still gazing at the kitten wistfully, "Oh, yer, yer. 'Ere, take it. I jus' wan' to play wit' Matey."

The pirate barely seemed to notice as he handed over the key to Link. Hoping against hope that his plan would work, Link went over to the bars, shoved the key in the lock, twisted it, and very slowly pulled open the cell door. He went back inside and sat down beside his sleeping self. He took one last look at the surreal sight of the massive pirate, sitting beside his own sleeping self, playing with a cat that wasn't there.

"Awaken!" whispered Link.

The world seemed to spin around him, reshaping itself into the familiar rotting planks of the Stalfos's brig. He sat up, taking a look around. There slept the pirate, same as ever, a pleasant smile on his gruff face and his breaths coming in long, motorized snores. The only difference was that the door to his cell hung wide open, the key still dangling from the lock.

Link checked his pocket to make sure the Sleepstone was still safe and then crept out of his cell on nimble feet. He slipped through the door to the brig unnoticed, the huge pirate still snoring soundly to himself as Link closed the door quietly behind him. The deck was still alive with the shouts of working pirates, but down below where Link was there was no one. Deciding the open deck was too risky, link padded down the hallway deeper into the bowels of the ship on silent feet. Turning down a hall he had rarely seen the pirates frequent, he found himself descending another flight of stairs and coming out into an open room filled with crates and barrels and boxes, no doubt stuffed with the various food and sundries the Pirates needed for their long journeys through the Hylian sky.

Link went further into the dark storage room, groping his way across the boxes and crates, looking for some means to get himself off the ship and down to the ground below. He scrambled up over a tall stack of crates and came to a place where a single iron ladder came down from a hatch in the ceiling. Here there was a pair of big metal bars, like a rack set into the floor of the ship, and giant brass hinges which indicated that the floor itself could be opened, presumably for something to enter and exit the ship. By the look of the big empty rack, Link guessed that this was where Scarlett's landing ship descended from the lofty heights of the Crimson Stalfos, but no similar vessel was anywhere in sight.

Even if he could open the huge cargo door, how was he supposed to get down to the temple without falling? He continued on, unsatisfied there was not some other way. Eventually the storage room narrowed and ended in a wall with a rickety flight of stairs leading up to a little wooden door. Link climbed these and tested the little brass knob. The door was unlocked. Link slipped silently through, closing it behind him. He now found himself in a hallway with such a low ceiling that an adult would have to crouch down to navigate it. He could see light filtering in through little grated windows which lined the walls. The wind whistling in and out of these was fierce and loud and the chill of it cut straight to his bones as he went. At the other end of the hallway, it appeared that there was no door, merely a sort of port cut in the bottom of the airship, and some sort of vehicle with the quadruple wings of a giant dragonfly secured there by metal bolts. He headed straight for this and got inside.

The cockpit of the thing was a little round dome of brass with a single shield of glass in the front to save the driver's face from the wind. The last few feet of the hall that led to it seemed to have a separate metal floor from the wood planks which preceded it, and once Link was inside he saw that this was actually the top of the tail of the dragonfly shaped thing. The machine was a confusing mess of levers and buttons, none marked in any way that Link could decipher. He hadn't any choice though; if he wanted to save Zelda then this was his ride. He would have to just figure it out. After a moment scratching his head in silent wonder, Link shrugged, reaching out to jab a random button on the control panel.

Jets of whistling steam shot out of valves on the side of the thing, and its silken-looking translucent wings began to beat with the thrumming force of a hummingbird. As the wings buzzed with amazing strength, the narrow hall Link had come by began to tremble violently. The iron bands which held the little vessel in place began to whine with the strain of holding it.

"Hey, what's going on here?!" the angry snarl of a pirate came from the little wooden door at the end of the hall. Feeling panic gripping him, Link began to smash buttons and yank levers with reckless abandon. The flying machine tried to shift left, violently ripping the bolt which held it clear out of the bottom of the ship. Link pulled another lever. A brass door slid over the top of his cockpit, sealing him inside. A moment later there was the sound of angry pounding on the door, and Link jabbed another button at random. There was a loud 'ka-chunk' sound. The other bolt came loose, but the little flying machine remained there, now hovering on the strength of its own wings. The broken bolt and chunks of hull still attached to it went plummeting sadly away.

"He's dislodged it! Get clear!" he heard the pirates shout outside. Still unsure of how to proceed, Link gripped another lever at random and pushed it forward full force. The little dragonfly ship lurched forward, its tail breaking away from the little hallway and tearing out some more boards on its way. Link could hear the hull of Stalfos scraping against the top of his little flyer like rocks being dragged across metal. He pulled the lever back. The wings dwindled in speed, and the nose of his little ship dipped down. He began to plummet towards the open ocean.

Link screamed, grabbed desperately at the lever as gravity willed him forward to the nose of the cockpit. As he went tumbling past, the lever came with him. The wings beat with renewed strength as the flyer leveled itself out.

"Ok, lookin' better," said Link, re-situating himself in the pilot seat. Past the windshield, he could see that the Temple of Life lay directly ahead, massive and beautiful atop the megalithic stones of the coastal cliffs. He headed straight for one of the highest minarets, a silver-white spire capped with a massive, onion shaped bulb of shimmering gold. "Alright, Zelda, here I come!"

The little flyer went careening forward at top speed, its dragonfly wings beating madly. Link imagined the Shiekah pirates chasing him in similar little vessels, right at his heel with murder in their eyes. He glanced back and saw through the rear window that he was without pursuers, but there was no time for relief. As he turned around and saw the minaret rushing at him, he realized he had no clue how to stop the runaway flyer!

He screamed as loud as he could, threw his arms up to shield his face, and braced for impact. The little dragonfly machine went crashing into the side of the onion bulb atop the minaret, punching a hole straight into the tower and disappearing from the sky. Link was in a daze as dust and debris came showering all around him. He and the little flyer were falling, tumbling through the dark interior of the Temple's tallest tower. He screamed the whole way down.