XI.
He woke.
Red eyes stared down at him with an intensity that thrust him into alertness. Light streamed through his small window and he saw Sheik standing tensely next to the bed.
"Evanna has returned."
Link dressed and armed himself swiftly as Sheik paced in a way Link rarely saw. His eyes were hard and his shoulders wound so tight Link could imagine nothing breaking their form. They blasted through the halls, making it to the map room in record time.
Evanna sat languidly in her chair as Zelda and a few members of the council had convened around the large table. It was clearly only the select few that Zelda trusted but it still made Link nervous as he thought about the idea of any of them being Evanna's own spies. Link and Sheik took the seats Zelda had saved for them on either side of her which prompted a grumble of dissent by a few council members who clearly felt their positions were being undermined.
"Now that we're all accounted for," Evanna started carefully, fixing her feline gaze solely on Link, "let's talk about tomorrow."
"Let's talk about the vault in Death Mountain first," Link immediately interjected, before anyone could speak.
He felt anger, but it was a calm anger he seldom felt. Link could sense Zelda tensing next to him but she wanted to know as badly as he did so she allowed it despite the possible insubordination.
"The Order of Hexa has struck again," Evanna claimed calmly, folding her slender hands on the table and tipping her head so her eye lashes cast webbed shadows on her cheeks. "I was in pursuit of them. To no avail, I'm afraid."
"How can we trust that?" Link shot back.
Evanna reached beneath the folds of her dress and brought out a bulbous, glittering blue rock – finally, the source of the entire situation was before them.
The energy in the room twisted as though the substance had disturbed the air and left him feeling nauseous even after she stowed it once more. "That is the last of the Vaspra Foursky and I have. I returned to Amrita to not only pursue the Order, but to ensure my people's safety. I assure you I do not have it."
"So now a group of mad Sheikah have even more of the most powerful substance ever found?" Link demanded.
He didn't miss the shell-shocked look Sheik was now fixing him with but he couldn't address it because Duchess Morsa's father, Lord Bilios suddenly snapped, "I think you should stop speaking, Guardsman. The Queen should be the one conversing with the enemy-"
But Zelda shot him a look that resembled a steel trap.
"I don't wish to speak with the Queen, as lovely as she is," Evanna interjected before Zelda could retort. "I wish to speak with the now two gentlemen descending below. Because, in the end, they shall be the ones saving your luxurious way of life, my Lords."
The Council members bristled and if Evanna weren't so abhorrent Link would've considered thanking her for the jab.
"How will we transport the Vaspra? I imagine it is not light," Link asked a few tense moments.
"It is not. I have a satchel you may use. It will negate the weight of the Vaspra so you may carry it easily through the terrain."
"And what terrain should we expect?"
"From Foursky's accounts, it is an endless forest."
"Once you have the Vaspra, you will leave in peace," Link went on, his voice going harder and harder by each word.
"Of course," Evanna promised, tilting her head and blinking like an innocent. "I care not for Hyrule. I only do Foursky's bidding – I will leave the moment the ore is in my hands."
"And your men?"
"As long as the Royal Army behaves in your absence, they will not attack needlessly. They are not like the Order. When all is completed, they will depart as well," Evanna assured them. She sat back and gave Link a smug look. And for a moment, it was a bit of a staring contest until Zelda broke the tight silence that had stretched over the room like the head of a drum.
"Very well. We've reached an agreement, then?" she asked everyone in a cold voice.
Reluctant voices agreed and a contract of temporary peace was brought forward. From what Zelda had told them the day before, it was the closest thing to a written agreement she could coax Evanna into. The contract itself had little binding – it was hard to threaten an immortal women with imminent death if said contract should be violated.
For now, it was all they could do.
Evanna signed the bottom with a flourish, the parchment then passed to Zelda for the same. The Queen clenched her jaw tightly as her signature was finished and then stamped down the seal of the Royal Family beside it with a loud knock. The wax gleamed in the low lights around the chamber as Zelda sat back in her chair with a tired expression.
"It is done," Zelda said shortly. "This meeting is adjourned."
She had three more meetings to hold afterwards – there would be no discussion with Zelda until later. But Link and Sheik went out to the training grounds and took refuge from the heat in one of the huts to sharpen their weapons and keep from prying ears.
"What have you learned of the Order?" Sheik demanded almost the moment they entered the safety of the hut. "You said they were Sheikah."
Link sat cross-legged in the corner with his sharpening tools and Sheik mirrored him. "Apparently, they are. I apologize for not telling you sooner, but I had only just learned this from Saria. The members of the Order are of the bloodline that fled Hyrule to Termina, generations ago and possibly even more recently as well."
"So what is there purpose, then?"
Link regaled his conversation with Saria, speaking quickly of their employment to Foursky as he tried to obtain Hexa.
"Hexa," Sheik breathed. Spoken in his accent, the word seemed to suddenly buzz with energy against Link's ears. It didn't surprise him that Sheik knew the real meaning of the word – he had an affinity for ancient magic but this one seemed to hit home. "They have the ancient power of the death spell. I thought their use of the word was simply a coincidence. Many have claimed that name but to actually wield it as a spell…" Sheik shook his head, an ill look passing his features.
"You know of it?"
"In my youth, the spell fascinated me but it is strictly forbidden in the Vala, our code and creed. It has never been difficult for our people uphold because it is nearly impossible to be performed without killing oneself; very few managed to do it without dying instantly and they were monstrously powerful magic-users to begin with. It's far too powerful and will drain life force too quickly to intervene. Evanna said the Order stole Vaspra from their Kingdom…that must be how they're accomplishing it."
Sheik went quiet after that, focusing his attention on the scrape of whetstone against steel. Link could only guess at what his companion was feeling – Sheik's people were everything to him. He had watched most of them perish as a child so the news of an entire tribe still in existence was probably a shock. But then to learn that they were performing strictly forbidden magic that went against everything the Sheikah believed? Link couldn't fathom the weight of it all.
"I don't think we should align ourselves with the Order of Hexa," Sheik told him after a while of stone to metal. "It will complicate matters. I cannot anticipation their loyalties if they have gone against the Vala."
Link nodded. "I'll trust your opinion."
The day plummeted into evening and Link and Sheik had spent most of the day resting to prepare for their descent. Night brought hardly any relief from the waking world – Link had managed sleep for only the moon's travel from horizon to horizon. It wasn't much and when he finally gave up, he set about repairing his armor until sunrise.
The morning brought several knots in his stomach as the castle awoke slowly around him. Evanna was in Zelda's dining room for breakfast, much to his dismay, and Sheik was nowhere to be found. Zelda sat stiffly as she ate, face only lighting up when Link entered.
"Good morning, Link. How are you feeling?" she asked as soon as she caught sight of him.
"Well enough," he replied tersely. More than anything he wished Sheik was also present to help quell the anxiety Evanna's presence brought.
Little was said aside from questioning Sheik's whereabouts – in true Sheikah fashion, he was apparently in the armory packing meticulously.
After a tense and mostly silent breakfast he went to find Sheik. As Zelda had said, he was sitting there intently checking their packs for probably the tenth time. Link recognized both of their bags but not the blue one lying next to them like a deflated balloon.
"Evanna's?" Link asked as he settled next to Sheik to go through his equipment.
Sheik nodded. "She kindly made it blue just in case we forget why we were there."
Link snorted; at least Sheik's dry sense of humor was back after such a stressful set of days. As they always did, they focused on preparations to keep their minds away from where they would be by the end of the day.
"How many arrows are we taking?"
"Twenty-five each."
"How many potions?"
"Ten in total."
"Evanna didn't mention when we're leaving," Link prompted after a while. "Any word on when the travel party will be ready."
"High noon," Sheik replied, his voice betraying him a bit as worry crept in between his words. "I've never felt more unprepared in my life. We still hardly know what this place will look like. Will we even be able to draw energy for our magic? "
"We'll have to make due, I suppose."
The day seemed to drag by as they finished packing clothes and armor, trying to choose what would best suit a forest environment. After that they sat on the benches of the armory with fidgeting fingers and knees to wait. And it felt like waiting for a war – inevitable, but unpredictable.
Would they live? Would the depths of the Nether claim them? What about the prophecy? Would his death void it? Hyrule would be lost. Would the Goddesses even be watching over him in their proverbial trash can? All angles cycled through Link's mind like a carousel, perpetuating themselves over and over with no answers.
And then it finally time.
"Link, Sheik," Zelda said from the doorway. She was in her travelling gown and cloak. The hilt of her sword gleamed at her waist in the torchlight and her eyes were war-time hard now. Whatever emotions she'd been letting wild in the past few days were now shut away completely and Queen Zelda of Hyrule was all that was left.
They strapped on armor, weapons, and their bags. There would be no parade to see them out – they took a back passage from the castle to Death Mountain. A dozen guards flanked them as they rode snorting steeds down the path. Evanna rode next to Link, much to his irritation, but she spent the time finally explaining what to expect.
"The transition will be unpleasant. Your body will be torn apart and put back together on the other side, so prepare yourself for a good amount of pain," she told him. "Though the Nether is infinite and timeless, there are major veins of Vaspra running through the ground there, close enough to the surface to dig to. You will be able to sense them. I trust you brought something to dig with?"
They both nodded.
"How will we know how much to take?" Sheik asked from Link's other side.
"The bag I've provided will seal when you've harvested the proper amount," was all Evanna said.
"You're not going to tell us the actual amount?"
She then urged her black steed up towards the front of the party and Link stared at Sheik in disbelief. "I really can't believe her."
Sheik just shook his head. "We will have to store a bit of it in one of our bags considering hers will seal on us."
Link just nodded, mind reeling at the completely unknown quantity of Vaspra they were going to have to dig up. Evanna was telling them everything last minute – he supposed he should be lucky she was telling them anything at all – and it was complicating things even further.
The sun had tinged the sky pink and purple by the time they reached Death Mountain. The volcano itself was part of a larger mountain range that crept north into a neighboring kingdom – this entrance was on the north side of the mountain according to Evanna, in a valley between the volcano and the rest of the range. Though it was mid-summer, a chill hovered in between the peaks as the volcano eclipsed the setting sun and a fog hung over the trees of the valley.
The mountain walls were sheer and gray on either side of them as they snaked through the thickening woods. Evanna was now completely leading the way – she was the only one who knew where the entrance lay.
Darkness had almost completely fallen when they reached the side of the mountain, the forest having become so thick they were forced to move forward on foot. Soldiers surrounded them as they at last reached a clearing. Torches were lit and the flickering light revealed a hole no taller than a child and no wider than a horse. The energy emanating from it was thick and sickening. It would surely drive away any wanderer looking out of curiosity.
"This entrance opens to a tunnel. You will follow the tunnel a mile or so into the mountain. You will then reach a volcanic tube. You must fall down the tube." Evanna's voice was almost piercing in the eerie silence of the wood.
"And you're sure we won't just land in lava?" Link asked dubiously. "Volcanic tubes are part of the volcano, last I checked."
"This tube once led to magma but now redirects to a tear in the plane, much like the entrance to Termina in the forest. I assure you it's there."
For a moment they all seemed to go silent, staring tensely at the gaping hole. Zelda and Sheik were far more skilled than he at sensing really anything…but Link couldn't deny the very wrong feeling he felt deep within the mountain, resonating out through the space before them.
There was clearly something down there.
Evanna pulled something out of her robes and handed it to Link. In his palm, he found a moderately-sized brass bell. It was impossibly old and worn, the ancient words etched into it eroded but not beyond reading. To his surprise, he recognized it to be Sheikah.
"You have a Calling Bell. Why?" Sheik demanded, the accusatory tone unmistakable.
"It was a gift from one of the Sheikah when Foursky first arrived in Termina," Evanna explained serenely, as though she thought it perfectly fine that she had an ancient piece of Sheikah history. "I'll save its explanation then and allow you the honors, Sheikah."
Sheik made a sound of dissent and Link pushed the bell into his companion's hands before anything else could be said on the matter. Sheik should be the one to carry anything Sheikah, not Link. He was cast an appreciative look as the bell was tucked safely into a pocket.
"I wish you luck and good health on your journey." Evanna gave them another too-sweet smile and stepped back to allow Zelda to wish them goodbye.
"Stay safe," Zelda whispered, stopping before them both and a bare hint of emotion betraying her regal cover. "Remember why you're going down there. Don't let that place eat you alive."
She reached out and took each of their hands, sending pulses of energy down their arms and surprising them both. But the look on Zelda's face said very plainly, stay still and shut up. The warmth of it collected in their chests, heating up their entire bodies. It was the same feeling Link recalled from days ago when he and Zelda stood alone in the Map Room.
"Hum the lullaby to come home," she whispered quickly.
Link didn't know how Zelda could've developed such a spell, but he was grateful for it; they could return on their own terms and possibly hide their portion of Vaspra before Evanna knew what was happening. Sheik looked just as surprised as Zelda squeezed their hands again and shook her head just barely to quiet them.
Then Zelda stepped away, leaving them to enter the tunnel and begin their descent.
Sorry for the huge delay! There was tons of shuffling that needed to be done with this chapterblah blah blah excuses. But shits bout to go down, git ready. Thank you 5ever to sagesins and sheikofthesheikah for their time in editing this fodder.