The Waters of Nayru
Chapter 14: The Goddess's Vault
By, Frank Hunter

Amili roused slowly. She seemed almost content as she came around, so much so that Rigo was momentarily afraid she had lost her memory of where she was, maybe believing she was back in the oasis again. But remembrance hit her hard when it did and she jerked up into alertness with a shout.

Rigo held onto her, soothing her and stroking her hair until she realized that they again were alone and calmed.

"It's alright," he told her. "We're alright." He pulled a piece of dried pork from the satchel at her waist and gave it to her. She took it, eyed it confusedly for a moment, and then lay back down and took a small bite.

"What happened?" she asked when she'd finished chewing.

"We got attacked. By the skeletons, remember? They hit you on the head."

Amili took a deep breath. "Where'd they go?"

"Can you sit?" asked Rigo.

Amili said she could, and they decided to carefully try. As he propped her up, Rigo pointed toward the center of the blue-lit chamber. "They're right there," he said, and she followed his finger to the piles of motionless bone that lay on the floor, scattered here and there.

Amili was speechless. "How? …you?"

"Don't worry. I took care of it."

Amili looked bewildered. "Oh my gosh…all by yourself?! What did they teach you in those combat lessons?"

I was wondering the same thing, Nabooru contributed.

Rigo just smiled at Amili, disregarding the spectre. "Not so useless after all, huh? Guess I still owe you one though, don't I?"

The tension in her shoulders relaxed and she settled back into Rigo's lap, taking another bite of her dried pork.

"I think we'll back out for today, so you can get some water and rest. We'll go deeper into the temple tomorrow."

Amili didn't mind, and that's precisely what they did. As far as the kids could tell, Amili was not concussed. She had managed to take the brunt of the blow on the small of her back instead of her head. There was some very unattractive bruising between her shoulder blades, and it hurt her a bit to move her left arm, but otherwise she was still functional.

The slow, casual pace was welcome after the ongoing momentum of the trek through the desert, at least by all but Nabooru, who was eager to get moving after so much inactivity. But Rigo, who still was not comfortable with the idea of a potentially dangerous spirit riding in his mental sidecar, did his best to remain optimistic and unaffected by her nagging, bullying, and protesting. Not to mention that there might be more traps and danger inside the temple. Neither of the kids had ever seen anything like the skeletons that had ambushed them, and even had their lives not been at stake, the experience would have unsettled them badly.

"You're sure you still want to go back in?" Amili asked that evening as they sat beside a small campfire. She seemed hopeful that Rigo wouldn't want to.

"Yeah," Rigo said reluctantly. "I have to, Ami. You know I do. Are you sure you still want to come?"

"Of course," Amil answered. She cuddled up next to him and watched the flames. "I can't just let you do it alone."

Later in the night, after Amili fell asleep, Rigo retreated into his head to consult with Nabooru. He felt uneasy planning behind Amili's back, but the spirit had been right about the weirdness of the situation, and he didn't want to concern Amili with interfering spirits, mysterious voices, and, he worried, the possibility that it was all just his own insanity at work.

You remember me now, huh? Nabooru asked when Rigo approached her again. It's funny because I thought maybe you'd gone deaf, after your little squeeze woke up.

Don't call her names, Rigo said.

Or what, hero? You gonna slice me up? Sheesh, you're so sensitive. You should think about growing some thicker skin. You'll probably need it before all this is up, and not just for words if you get my meaning.

That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Rigo said. There was a way of conversing with Nabooru that he had to get used to, of letting her insults and comments slide off him and pushing forward into conversation. It wasn't easy, not rising to her, but he was working on it.

I know there might be more of those…

Constructs? Nabooru added helpfully.

Yeah, those.

Rigo could hear the smugness in the spirit's tone of voice. She could tell how afraid he was. Thinking about giving over control again? she asked.

Not a chance, Rigo said.

Suit yourself.

But…do you know exactly where those traps are? Do you know what we can expect in there?

Do I know? Nabooru teased. This temple might as well have been mine for near a decade. I know every little nook and cranny inside, she said, then adding, Besides what the Hylians built onto it. There are booby traps everywhere.

Rigo's stomach turned. So we'll have to deal with things like that in every room?

It's likely, Nabooru admitted. But don't feel so down, kid. The thing you want is on the roof, and it's a relatively straight shot there. Maybe just a couple of nasty little surprises on the way. And my offer to help still stands firm.

Right, Rigo said.

The next morning, though, it turned out that not only was Nabooru right, but the kids had apparently found an even deeper stroke of luck. It appeared that many of Nabooru's anticipated traps had already been triggered, and locked doors unlocked. The path to the back of the temple was, undeviatingly, straight, and actually just a short walk past where they had been delayed the previous day. There was a moment of brief fear when some strange, dark rats flooded out from the chamber walls, but even Rigo was capable of holding his own against these, with almost enough flair to convince Amili that he'd really been able to fight against a dozen skeletons in her absence.

It looks like someone else must've already cleared this place out, Nabooru said. He must have just flat out missed our friends yesterday. I have a guess who it was.

Are you sure the treasure will still be there, then? Rigo asked.

One track mind. I couldn't say a hundred percent. But if it was him, he wouldn't have taken it even if he found it.

Amili was also regarding Rigo with more suspicion than ever. His sharper sense of direction was unusual, and although she hadn't forced him to talk it over with her, she hadn't forgotten his episode before their battle, when he'd begun talking and yelling at himself. She was very concerned for him, and didn't know what to do about it.

"Why are we going this way?" she asked as they passed through the blue-lit chamber and walked straight on.

"Uhm," Rigo stalled. He was, of course, moving on Nabooru's instructions, but didn't want to tell Amili that. "When I beat the monsters yesterday there was a…a light."

"A light?" Amili asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah…yeah, a light. It came out from the last skeleton, like after he died. And it whooshed down the hall, down this way. I wanna follow after it. I think it was important."

Smooth, said Nabooru.

Amili didn't call him on any of this, again not wanting him to add her concerns to his own while they were already so on edge. She intended, swore even, to talk to him when they got done for the day, though she didn't know what she would say.

When they reached the rear of the temple, they found a tall, cavernous chamber with an expansive pillar. The pillar reached for the high ceiling and was wound with a spiral beam that looked like it might be a rail for some kind of vehicle, though not anything Rigo'd ever seen. He kicked it with his boot. It still seemed solid.

You're gonna do a little climbing now, Nabooru told him.

On that thing?! Rigo asked.

What do you want from me? When I was last here, there was a stairwell. Now there obviously isn't. You still gotta go up, so yeah, on that thing. Just climb and hold on tight.

Ugh.

Amili walked up to the rail and stared into the expanse above them. "Look at the size of that pylon," Amili marveled. "I wonder how high up it goes."

Rigo swallowed. "I guess we're about to find out."

Amili squinted at him. "What are you talking about?"

Rigo gestured around. "There's nowhere else to go, right? Gotta go up."

"Uh uh," Amili protested. "No way, that is not safe. What if we fall, Rigo? We're gonna be dead. There are other rooms to check, back the way we came. I don't wanna go up there."

"But the light woulda gone straight…"

"The light?" she scoffed at him. "Rigo, do you even know what you saw? How do you know it wasn't, like, a dream? Or a hallucination?"

You wish, Nabooru said.

Shut up! Rigo hissed at her. She, at least for the moment, complied.

"Look," Amili said rationally. "Isn't it more likely that a centuries-old vault would be hidden below? Like, underground? How could it possibly be up there? Think about it. We're risking too much for this."

"Ami," Rigo said, taking her hands in his. "I just…I need you to trust me on this."

"But it doesn't make sense, Rigo."

"I know it doesn't, but you have to trust me anyway." With some effort, he got her to meet his eyes, but what he saw there was distant and afraid. "I know the vault is up there," he said.

"How?" she asked.

"I just do," he said. "I promise, I'll tell you why later on, but for now will you please just trust me?"

She didn't. She couldn't. But still, she wouldn't leave him to die. She thought on it for a moment. "And what if the vault isn't there?"

Rigo had no answer for that. "…I don't know."

You're sure it's up there? he checked with Nabooru.

Do I really have to say it again? she responded.

"If the vault isn't up there," Amili said, "then…we're done."

"What?!" Rigo injected. He wasn't expecting that.

"You're risking our lives to do this, Rigo. This is quite possibly the most dangerous thing you could be doing, even in a dungeon filled with magic and monsters. We don't need to be taking unnecessary risks. If you're certain the vault is up top, I'll come up with you. But if you're wrong, then we need to be done. That would mean your judgment is way off, and this is getting too dangerous. It's not worth dying for."

Did she suspect that he'd been possessed, or something similar? Maybe he was wrong to expect that she would just blindly trust him, but he was still hurt. He thought she would stand by him through anything. She wasn't wrong, though. He could see being just as concerned in her shoes, but he didn't know what to say to make her feel better. At this point, the truth would definitely only make things worse.

He couldn't help asking one more time. You're sure it's up there?

Dammit kid, YES! If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'. Which would be kinda freakin' redundant, don't you think? You ain't getting any younger or prettier down here, so get moving!

"Fine," he said. "Fine, if I'm wrong, we'll stop. We'll turn back to Jirin tomorrow. Deal?"

"Thank you," Amili said.

As much as he wanted to, he couldn't be mad at her for being so reasonable. But he was comforted by the fact that he, most likely, wouldn't be wrong. If it really came down to it, he wasn't sure if he would be able to just up and leave.

The kids set foot onto the spiral rail and began climbing slowly upward. Years of running across rooftops and dangling down from rafters aided them here. Although the rail was fairly thin, no wider across than Rigo's boot, it wasn't much more difficult than what they were used to, and they moved at a fair pace. Rigo slipped only once, on a caked-in pile of grit about halfway up, but recovered his balance and managed to stop from going over the side.

"Are you alright!?" Amili shouted from behind him.

"Fine," he said, trying not to dwell on the close call. "Just watch your step there."

They both reached the top nervous, and unhappy about the looming prospect of needing to go back down. But Rigo didn't miss a beat. On Nabooru's instructions, he pointed out the direction, and Amili was along right after him. A few more landings and bridges ahead released them into a wide-open room, atop yet another pillar, with railing along the walls stretching down into a rounded pit. Looking over the side, the kids could see something below: an enormous skeleton belonging to some giant dragon that must have been dead for ages. Several of its bones and its skull were shattered.

"Dear Goddess," Amili swore.

Whaddaya know? Nabooru said incredulously as Rigo peered down at the remains. I thought he was supposed to be up in Death Mountain. Wonder how he got here.

Amili, more afraid than judgmental at this point, just shook her head. "What if we had come up here and that thing was alive?"

"Guess we just caught a lucky break," Rigo said. The dead thing wasn't holding his curiosity, and he wasn't interested in alternate history at the moment either. "Come on. I think we're almost there."

Away from the dragon and out another door finally put the kids on the roof of the temple. They ascended one last spiral staircase and came out into what must have been the center of the arena-like structure built around the temple's walls. The size of the place was overwhelming.

In the center of the arena stood the frame of what had been an ancient mirror, atop a pedestal. The mirror seemed to have been shattered beyond repair. There were still fragments of reflective glass everywhere, strewn about the floor around them. It glittered in the sun. Rigo guessed the walls of the place kept the desert winds from sweeping the pieces up.

"I wonder what this was," Rigo said, venturing out into the arena.

Amili answered. "It looks like…some kind of ceremonial grounds. The Hylians must have built it, it's definitely not Gerudo. The mirror must have been something really important to be the centerpiece."

"It's probably magical," said Rigo. "I wonder what it did." He bent down to pick up one of the larger shards of mirror by his feet, but Nabooru's voice stopped him in his tracks.

DON'T TOUCH THAT!

The sound of her shout carried over what felt like the whole of existence. Rigo did his best not to cry out at it, but must have at least cringed because Amili was again staring at him.

"You okay? she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, fine. Just great."

What is it? he asked Nabooru. Hylian magic?

No! That thing is an abomination! she said. Rigo got up and backed away from the piece which, he realized now, was doing something odd. Though it caught the light of the sun, instead of reflecting light back, was somehow generating a sense of darkness and depth. It seemed to reverse the impression of a normal mirror. He had to work to keep from looking into it.

That was one of Ganondorf's pet projects, back when he kept us headquartered in the Spirit Temple, Nabooru went on. Rigo had never heard the place referred to as the "Spirit" Temple, but he guessed that names changed over time. He didn't interrupt.

It's one of those things your history books would blame me for. He forced me to help make it, she said. The mirror acts as a portal, connecting this world to another, a dark world of twilight. Ganondorf had intended to enslave the people of that world and use them in his bid for power in Hyrule.

Enslave? Rigo asked. The word was strong, used in a way that just would never be used in his books and studies when referring to his predecessor.

Yes, and he would have done it without hesitating. If he hadn't gotten his hands on the golden triangles so quickly. Once he had those, Hyrule fell, and he never had to use the mirror. I've got no idea why the Hylians dragged it up here or what they ever used it for, but it can't have been good. Better that it's broken.

"Okayy…" Rigo drawled. He walked around the arena, trying not to step on much of the broken glass.

Amili had wandered over and was examining a large boulder across the way from the mirror. There was a hole set in it that looked like a particularly sharp sword had been driven in deep. She ran her fingers over it. "What are we looking for?" she asked.

"Not sure yet," Rigo said. He relayed the question to Nabooru.

There'll be a lift shaft in this arena, dead center. If you get on the lift with the keys in hand, it'll descend into the vault, and you'll be able to pick out whatever relics you need to offer as sacrifice in your new temple.

The center of the arena. Rigo looked around him. But the mirror's dead center. Is the lift on the pedestal?

Nope, under the pedestal, kid. You're gonna have to move it.

He stared at the pedestal and a chortle forced its way out of him. Amili glanced his way, concerned, but didn't otherwise bother about him.

You want me to push that? he asked.

Is there a problem? Nabooru retorted.

Uh, yeah. It's solid stone. I won't be able to make it budge!

Ye of little faith, Nabooru said. I already told you, the gauntlets are the key to the vault. If you're wearing the gauntlets, you'll be able to get in.

She paused to let her words sink in, and Rigo thought about it. He looked at his hands. He remembered how the gloves had shifted to fit him when he put them on, and saw how beautifully they glistened in the sunlight. Were they magical too?

Do you understand? Nabooru asked.

Yeah, Rigo said. I think I do.

He stepped up to the pedestal and took the edge of it in his palms. He half expected nothing to happen, just that he would look foolish and the spirit in his head would ridicule him for being dimwitted. But still, he tried to push.

After a moment of exertion, he felt something stir in his hands. The strength in his muscles intensified. Power flowed down the length of the gauntlets into his arms. He felt like he had just been given a tonic. It was an exhilarating sensation of overwhelming strength and power. He could knock down a tree if he wanted to just by punching it. He could lift a boulder and throw it fifty feet. Push the pedestal? Ha! It would be a piece of cake!

Putting all of his strength into it, RIgo shoved forward. The platform began to scrape and slide across the surface of the arena, displacing the broken glass fragments in its path and unearthing a layer of dust that had been untouched since forever.

"What the?!" Amili exclaimed. She stood beside the boulder and just stared after Rigo as he pushed what by all rights should have been an immovable object as easily as if it were in a wheelbarrow. "Rigo?! How?!"

"Still think I'm crazy?" he grunted as the pedestal slid clear of its original position, revealing a square panel in the floor of almost the same size. At the center of the panel were two indentations that almost looked like handles. It was clear what he needed to do.

Amili trotted up to him, a look of disbelief still etched on her face. She leaned over onto the pedestal to check its weight. "How?" she repeated.

"The gloves," he said. "They're magic."

"Is that how you knew…about the vault?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. Kinda."

Amili punched him in the shoulder. "Why the heck didn't you tell me? I'm here worried you're going nuts, and you've actually got magic gloves showing you the way!"

It would have been a better excuse than your skeleton light thing, Nabooru agreed.

"I'm sorry," Rigo said. "I didn't know if you'd…I wasn't sure you'd believe me."

"You jerk," she said, and gave him a hug. "Just tell me next time! You'll save me a world of worry."

"I will," he said, and still felt awful that he wasn't giving her the whole truth. But he knew he'd rectify it later, and for now anticipation got the better of him. "Just brace yourself," he told Amili. "I think it's gonna get a little bumpy."

Rigo reached down and took hold of the two handles in the floor. A white light spread from where his fingers gripped the stone and outlined the panel the kids were standing on. The panel shook briefly, and there was a whirring and a sound that signified old magic coming to life. An instant later, the panel began to lower. Amili and Rigo looked around in wonder as it lowered slowly through the floor and into the room with the dead dragon beneath them. As it reached the top of the pillar in that room, another door lit up in the solid floor and slid open to allow the lift to fit inside and continue its descent.

It continued downward for several minutes in darkness before the faint glow of charmed firelight rose up around the seams of the lift shaft. When the platform finally cleared the shaft, it entered a new open room through the ceiling, one that living beings hadn't seen since Nabooru's day. One that had been sealed away. The sight was beautiful.

Immense torches set in the walls reflected off of coffers and shelves piled with gold, silver, and precious jewels that put even the gauntlets Rigo now wore to shame. There were bracelets and tiaras, doubloons and coins of every culture there ever was, the trophies of hundreds of years of conquest and victory. The treasure of Gerudo stretched about them in an expanse unlike any that either of them had ever seen. Save for once.

Rigo smiled. All of it looked just as it had in his dream.