Chapter XXV: Not the Party We Expected

Zelda swatted at the hands of her handmaidens, who continued to fuss with her hair as they all moved down the hallway toward the balcony where she would give the day's commencement address. Bartimus was grumbling about something as he hurried along behind her and the two young ladies. Zelda heaved a sigh, "What is it now, Bartimus?"

"I really must express my concern— at least once more— about the contents of your address, highness," he whined.

Zelda rolled her eyes as they turned a corner to the right. "What else wrong is with it?" she asked disinterestedly.

"Oh, nothing new," he answered worriedly, "just the one thing I mentioned to you earlier this morning… and yesterday… and last week when you first showed it to me."

Zelda stopped in place and physically bent over to show her exhaustion with the subject. She stood upright again, turning to face Bartimus and glancing over her shoulder at the opening to the balcony. Looking back to her counsellor, she said, "What really worries you about it, Bartimus?"

"I told you, highness," he answered. "The people are expecting a rousing address, something to kick off a day of celebration! Your address… it is a little more somber than they might be expecting. They may not know how to respond."

Zelda shook her head, "Yes, you already told me that. Now tell me what's really bothering you."

He glanced nervously at her two handmaidens, and Zelda took the signal and dismissed them both. Once they had turned the corner and their footsteps faded, he looked at her and said, "The people will hear your address and may indeed not know how to respond, but that is because they will miss whatever it is you are referring to in it." He took a step closer to her, "Highness, you have spent a great deal of the past six months traveling, to whatever ends— we do not ask because we trust your leadership. And when you are in state, you spend all hours with those… foreigners, peeling through ancient books in your father's library."

Had his concern not been well-founded, she might have been provoked by the boldness of his behavior with her now. But she was also beginning to realize that darker times were ahead, and that the clouds would likely one day reach over their own skies. One day soon, there would be no hiding it. She nodded, "Go on."

He seemed to sense her availability for his concern, and relaxed a little. "Something is afoot, highness. I haven't spoken of my concerns with the others, but if I have begun to worry then I can only imagine what conclusions a brighter man like Remus would entertain."

Zelda looked once more over her shoulder, and she could hear the impatient roar of the crowd in the courtyards beyond. She gave Bartimus a kind look, "You're right. And I haven't yet informed you— my counsellors— because I hardly understand just what is happening myself. I will soon have to make another journey, likely within the month. Before I go, I will answer your questions."

His brow creased with worry, but he seemed to accept her offer. With a nod, he stepped back and nodded towards the opened window. She turned and climbed the few steps toward the balcony and, after taking a deep breath, stepped out to the uproarious welcome of the people of Hyrule.

Mary tugged excitedly at Medli's hair, squirming as she sat atop Medli's shoulders. "Look look look— it's the Princess!"

Medli squealed a little at the pulling of her hair, but her complaints were drowned out by the incredible noise that rose up from the crowd in their midst. Jasper must have noticed it, giving her an apologetic look as Lucy squirmed upon his own shoulders while Gavin sat disinterestedly upon the ground at his feet. She smiled to let him know it wasn't a big deal, and their attentions were again captured by the distant balcony as trumpet calls rang out over the courtyard. Zelda stood there, radiant with regal beauty and a shining, gold diadem christening her brow. She lifted a hand, urging the crowd to silence as she prepared to speak over the day's celebrations.

"People of the Kingdom of Hyrule!", her voice cut through the chittering quiet in the courtyard, "nobleman, craftsman, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters alike— I bid you welcome to our Feast Day!" The crowed bellowed at her greeting, and Medli couldn't help but smile a little to see her friend at work. Again the Princess lifted her hands to calm her audience, and she continued her address. "Thousands of years ago, the prophets of the Ancient Order of Sages peered into the future, and foresaw that a darkness would one day descend upon our lands! And ten years ago, the sorcerer Gannondorf arose and plunged our kingdom into a darkness rivaled only by the legends our grandfathers told us!"

And even the shuffling of the great crowd went silent, all eyes fastened on their leader and all minds called to the recollection of what had easily been the darkest days of their lives. Medli noted many shoulders in her sight draw taught with tension, and many hands seemed to reach for others that were no longer there. Having watched the strongest thing in her world— the great dragon Valoo— fall to that same sorcery, Medli felt she knew, at least a little, what these people might be feeling now.

"But it would not have it's way with us, no matter how dark its purposes!" she cried out into the troubled silence. "For there was a light in the darkness, and that darkness has not overcome it! And that light was not a man; not a fisherman plucked from southern seas and given a sword, bidden to strike down the foes of a kingdom he did not know!" Medli could hear the emotion beginning to color the tone of her voice, and she began to worry that Zelda would not be able to restrain the grief that she still wore like such a weight. It was hard to be sure at such a distance, by Medli thought that Zelda's eyes lost their focus for a moment.

But then her back seemed to straighten and she spoke on, and Medli noted a settling in her voice, a release. "And despite what you may think, I am not that light either!" she said. The crowd began to shuffle nervously, unsure of where this was going. "My people… my friends," she called, "the only power that such hatred and evil have is the despair with which we answer it! The light in the darkness is the promise afforded us by prophecy; it's the will of a man who took up his courage and smote a sorcerer! It is the search for the way forward— the quest of a girl becoming a woman to find the road that would lead us through! It is the answer of a people— against the shadow of despair we will hold to the light of hope!"

At that the harrowed peoples of the Kingdom of Hyrule cried out, their voices straining with emotion and tears drenching so many cheeks. Medli felt her own eyes well, and she sobbed silently as she looked on at a woman who was taking the heartache that had threatened to crush her very soul and shining it as a light for all the world to see; Medli wept as she listened to the truths painstakingly learned by her dear friend.

Guil was ushered in hurriedly by one of Grayson's manservants along with the fifteen or so others that had been able to attend the evening's meeting. Though he wasn't terribly surprised to see so few in attendance, he couldn't help but giddily chastise his absent brothers for missing so important a meeting. The notice had been brief, but alarming to say the least! "Tomorrow at sunset, we will meet to discuss several particular details of the prophesied designs unfolding in our time. Tomorrow at sunset, we will receive a long expected guest." Guil giggled as he began to climb the stairs in Grayson's lobby.

Favel pulled at his autumn cloak against the chill of the soon to descend winter, blowing in through the great gape in the wall. He gave Guil a nudge in the ribs, "This place is a mess! What do you think happened here?"

Guil turned his head and for the first time realized the incredible state of disarray in which their brother's lobby lie. He had been too preoccupied with his excitement to notice. "Wow, you're right! It looks like some kind of storm must have blown through here!"

One of the walls had collapsed, debris and rubble scattered about. Several of the decorative tables and bas-reliefs had been removed, possibly destroyed by whatever happened there. A manservant standing at the top of the stairs must have overheard their exchange, and halted them with a raised hand. "Forgive my presumptuousness, masters," he said with a bow, "but the eastern wall collapsed earlier this week. The Ildur estate is considerably old."

Favel nodded knowingly, "Ah, yes. Well it looks like you've quite a bit of work ahead of you, but I can tell you've already done much to make it presentable. Well done, young man."

And the manservant bowed again, "You are too gracious, master." Rising he added, "But please don't let me keep you. My master is anxious for your arrival."

Favel nodded, "Yes, we'll be off. Keep up the good work— I'll be sure to put in a good word for you with your employer." He said the last with a friendly grasp of the man's shoulder, at which the man smiled warmly. Guil and Favel turned and proceeded with the last of the group to make their way in toward the chambers where they held council. It was only a short walk down the east wing of the second story— and Guil was grateful for the short length of the walk. He and stairs were no longer agreeing on much these days…

They entered the meeting chambers to find Grayson standing at the head of the room with another man whose features were shrouded by a cloak. The men were hurrying to their seats around the dark wood table, and taking them began to chatter amongst themselves in excited but hushed tones. Guil gave a gleeful, sidelong glance to his friend as Favel took the seat next to him. And again Guil noted a desire to reciprocate pained by some kind of hesitation. He would have asked but once all the men had taken their seats, Grayson approached the podium and struck the gavel upon it a few times.

"Welcome, brothers!" he called into the room as the gathering fell silent. "I thank you for your willing response to my summons, despite it's short notice and the state of things out east."

Some of the men mumbled assentingly at that, and Tarian raised a finger interjecting, "Pardon, leader, but you work in the courts. Have you heard anything that might explain the exodus from the eastern districts?"

"Yes, the number of homeless in my neighborhood has positively skyrocketed in the past month," Milosh added. "What is going on out there?"

Grayson nodded, though seemed a little impatient. "No pardon needed," he offered, "and yes I've heard a little. There isn't much I am... permitted to tell you. I do know, however, that things will only get worse before they get better." The men seemed discomforted by that, so he added, "It would be wise if you stay away from the eastern districts."

Several began to whisper among themselves, and apparently out of interest in keeping things moving along, Favel spoke up, "Pardon again, my lord, but who is that behind you?" The chatter died down and Guil gave his friend a grateful pat on the leg. Favel smiled nervously at Guil as Grayson spoke on.

"Yes, thank you for asking, Lorefather," their leader said. And the men fell attentively silent at that. "The initial purpose of our brotherhood," he reminded them, "was to unleash forces upon our world that could finally break the chains that have held it captive for thousands of years. These were the exact words of our founder as he gathered us from the ends of this empire, like a teacher gathering his disciples."

He looked out on the gathering of expectant men, men who had waited for ten years to see their sick world healed. Guil was positively anxious to hear confirmed what he had hoped this might be. Grayson looked back at the man who stood behind him, and then turned and said, "We have done that. And now, the very image of those forces stands among us. His knowledge of our cursed history, and of our hopeful future, far exceeds anything I could tell you." He paused, seeming to swallow at a lump in his throat. Perhaps he was as emotional as Guil was! Lifting his left hand in welcome, he said, "Gentlemen, I give you Gabriel."

At that the men jumped to their feet and thundered the room with both applause and cheers. Guil could hardly stand for the emotions that swirled within him. Ten years ago he had been a joyless man, dissatisfied by a hollow life in an empty world. Tears ran down his cheeks as he recalled the day when an unusually dark skinned man took him by the shoulder and told him that the life he had been longing for could be his… and that he need only seek it. Over those next few years he learned that the moral decrepitude that characterized his society, that the emptiness that seemed to eat at his heart his whole life wasn't just the way things were… that the world was sick.

And the cure for that sickness, the answer for the question, was right there. This was the one who would free humanity from the curse that had perverted it for five thousand years.

The cloaked man took the podium, and raised his hands to call for their silence. "Please, be seated," he bid them in a cheerful tone, and they took their seats. His voice was incredibly deep, and seemed almost inhuman. Made sense, as far as Guil was concerned— he was, after all, an angel. At that thought his eyes seemed to shift within his cloak and fastened upon Guil's, and for a moment Guil thought he sensed something, some kind of... other presence, roaming his mind.

Then the man shifted away and spoke, "Well, I am admittedly surprised by your eager welcome, but pleasantly so. If ten years of waiting has worked such a joyful harvest in you, then I can only look expectantly toward my own… for I have waited millennia for such a time as this." He laughed to himself— again, a cheerful sound, though with something of an alien cadence. "You call me Risen and Angel; and rightly so, for that is what I am. But you do not truly understand what these words mean."

At that he reached out his left hand, palm uplifted, and suddenly the room seemed to dim. Guil heard the men around him stir with both surprise and shock, for their senses seemed to depart their bodies the way they did when they used that relic Grayson called the Eye of Gabriel— a thing well named, apparently! And before their eyes swam a vision of a world unlike any they had ever seen.

Forests crowded with trees of ruby foliage, fields of sapphire grasses and purple-indigo flowers… Translucent rivers and lakes and seas of emerald green guarded lovingly by mountains that are deep brown like a dark chocolate. Even more captivating are the cities that dot its lands, peopled with soaring towers that seem to have been cut from enormous diamonds; and colonnades of gold capped with a white marble— the same white marble that seemed to pave the very streets. The houses were additionally surprising, built from lilac and rose tinted whitewoods. Little stairways led from the sides of the houses up to the gables, where instead of shingled roofs sodden gardens capped their homes. Some were decorated only by the blue verdure that characterized the plains, but still others smiled with honey-wheat and infant, crimson trees. The very air was shimmering with color as light-shadows were traded amongst the structures of the prismatic cities.

But more beautiful than all of it was the light that cradled the wonderful planet. Guil thought he saw a star in the incredible distance, thought he knew it by a name he couldn't pronounce with his lips but only with his heart. He tried to think of it like the sun that lit his own world, but he realized he could not. It wasn't a star but something more than that— for it's light did not fall on the surface of a revolving planet, but embraced it perfectly so that there was never any night. And in his thoughts Guil imagined that such a color and light soaked world would have been obnoxious to behold, much more to inhabit; but somehow he knew this wasn't the case. He knew that this was some kind of paradise, a place that existed outside of the space and time humanity knew.

And just as suddenly as the vision appeared before their eyes it was wrenched away, and their senses returned. Some in the room were silent with wonder, while others trembled with shock; still others, like Guil himself, wept with a longing for something they had never known existed and that seemed so unattainable. And Gabriel told them, "Human, you call yourselves. Angel is just a word— albeit, a word for your tongue and not of our language— by which we referred to our selves. It was the name of my people. And while I did indeed rise from death, in a sense… I will be Risen because I seek to rise again unto the lands from whence I came."

Tarian voiced a question that seemed to be on all their minds, "You mean… that place is… real?"

Gabriel laughed, amused by the young man's wonder. "Yes, little one. It was my home. But I was cast out, shunned by my people. And from the grave that served as my prison for an age I watched as they grew decadent and descended upon this realm, and cursed it. They weren't worthy of it, much less of the Light that birthed them. So, we will take it back."

Another man spoke out as the men whispered excitedly amongst themselves, "You're going to take us there with you?"

Gabriel nodded enthusiastically within his cloak, "Oh my, yes." And again he thrust out his hands, parting them as though he were throwing doors open. At these simple gestures the chairs in which the men sat were dragged back from the table, carrying the men there seated with them. With another rising gesture from his left hand the table before them was overturned and thrown violently against the wall opposite him, splinters erupting about the room. He swatted the podium before him to the side as though it were a gnat, and leapt inhumanly from where he stood into the center of the gathered men.

Holding out his hands to his sides, two of the disoriented men flew from across the room to where Gabriel stood as though pulled by some unseen force. He grasped them both by the throat, and a horrible black-violet fire burst out about them and consumed their entire bodies. The two men cried out morbidly, their screams more hideous than anything the men had or ever would hear. And just as quickly Gabriel released the two writhing figures, who dropped to the ground trembling and twitching. Their clothing had been entirely destroyed, and their flesh eaten away by the nauseating fire. But they were not dead, destroyed though they were.

Gabriel giggled, child-like, as the two once normal men stood beside him— now terrible to behold. Their forms were still vaguely humanoid, but apart from this they had no human features. The pink and red sinews of muscle and cartilage were now visible, but charred black and brown by the fire that had revealed them. In places bones could be seen, ribs and knees and elbows and other things for which Guil didn't have names. A black, ink-like pus oozed from certain places all over their bodies. These men… no, these things, had the aspect of centuries long dead who had risen to walk and haunt and menace.

"You see, as I passed the time," Gabriel explained to them casually, "I got started a little early getting the army ready. I mean, my former brothers and sisters probably won't be terribly excited to see me. Might even be a little cross, I daresay. So! An army to storm the enemy fortress it is." He turned and observed the things he made of the ones who had once been men, the others about the room still paralyzed with horror. "And because of your heritage and the… magic that flows in your veins, your transformation is something quite special."

The men began to stir, the shock of what they had just witnessed wearing away. Those closest to him backed away in terror, crying out irrationally and unintelligibly. Milosh, who had been somewhat near to where Grayson stood transfixed, turned and accosted the man indignantly. "What is the meaning of this, Grayson?!" he bellowed. "Did you know that this is what you were inviting us to?!"

As Grayson muttered some inane response, Gabriel turned and leapt from where he stood to where the terrified Milosh shook his leader by the shoulders. Gabriel clutched at the older man's throat venomously and exulted jubilantly, "Fear not, simple mortal! You will be my generals, the princes of my dark army! Rejoice! Again I say, rejoice!"

Suddenly the evil fires that had consumed the other two men sparked and enveloped Milosh's body, and Gabriel laughed maniacally as the man writhed and was converted. The room erupted in pandemonium as men threw each other aside in their crazed efforts to flee. Some were trampled and others even thrown to the alien Gabriel that those who abandoned them might escape unscathed. Men turned and tried the doors, but found them unusable. As they became gradually aware that there would be no escape from their fate the panic in the room grew sickeningly worse, while Gabriel continued to go from man to man destroying them as he had done the others.

One by one they were all transfigured, the genocide of an ancient bloodline nearly complete. Guil looked on with intermingled sorrow and distress as his closest friend in life was murdered right before his eyes. Favel writhed and clawed with vein intent as his flesh burned away, and the smell made Guil's stomach turn. He got sick, the vomit spilling out on onto his clothing and on the floor before him.

He looked up as Gabriel came at last to stand before him, and he groveled in the pus and vomit that drenched the floor on which he knelt. "B-but… you were supposed to be our savior, our angel. You were supposed to save our world!"

Gabriel drew in a deep breath, and then thrust back his hood. His features were worse even than the corpse-like men that now crowded the room— black and gray flesh that peeled in certain places, much like the necrosis that Favel had described to him. A shock of hair blacker still fell in unkept locks on his shoulders, greasy with oils that smelt of death. Worst of all were his eyes— red and glowing, seeming to peer unwelcome into Guil's very soul.

Gabriel reached for his throat slowly, a confusingly sympathetic look upon his face. "Oh, my dear man… I'm so sorry for the misunderstanding. No, I haven't come to save your world— not in the way you seem to imagine." He drew Guil's face uncomfortably close and whispered, "No, I have come to ravage it; to impregnate it with my hatred, and to turn on and molest the very forces of creation. You," he seemed to assure him, "will be the heralds of a new age. My age."

Then pain consumed Guil, and he felt his voice rip and tear as he cried out in immortal pain.

The sun was setting on the kingdom now, and red-gold light danced upon the rooftops above them. They strolled the cobbled roads talking and laughing of the days events, stopping every so often to exchange pleasantries with revelers who were still about the celebration. It had been a little while now since Medli had last been able to enjoy a good, long walk among the city's streets. Much had been on her mind lately, and she had forgotten to take the time she needed in order to let peace again disentangle her heart from matters at hand. And it wasn't quite the same as the solitary walks she had come to enjoy, but… She looked down as young Mary squeezed her hand and giggled, and couldn't help but smile.

"So, Lucy," Jasper queried as he jostled the giggling girl who sat on his shoulders, "what was your favorite part?"

"I liked the music!" she answered enthusiastically. "Especially the flute lady! She danced and played at the same time— how does she do that?!" she agonized.

Gavin loped along in front of them. "The food," he chanted slovenly. "I think I ate… five whole turkey legs." He rubbed at his belly with a satisfied groan, which provoked an impressive belch.

"Eeewww!" Marcy and Lucy chastised in unison, and Jasper laughed.

"Weeeelll," Medli pondered sardonically. "I think my favorite part was the Princess's speech."

"Oo, oo, oo!" Mary cried, practically hopping as they walked along. "Is is really true that you are friends with the Princess?!" she implored.

Medli chuckled, "Yes, dear. Zelda and I met more than half a year ago where I grew up. We seemed to understand each other and have been friends ever since. You know," she told Mary, stopping and kneeling to speak to her at eye-level, "Your papa's met Zelda, too."

Mary looked over at Jasper, who had also stopped to watch their exchange, with eyes of wonder. "Really, Papa? You met the Princess?"

Jasper laughed. "I sure did, honey. She was having tea with Medli at our tea shop."

Mary's eyes went wider, "The Princess drinks tea, just like me?" After a moment she approached her daddy and tugged at his shirt, "What else is she like? Is she nice? Oo, oo— is she pretty?! I bet she's pretty!" All the words came out in a flurry as Jasper laughed.

"Sure," he assured her with a smile, "she's… she's very pretty." His eyes found Medli's as he said it, and for whatever reason she felt her face flush with heat and had to look away.

"'Scuse me," a gruff voice said just behind Jasper, "but can ye help a fella find where we are on this here map?"

"Sure!" Jasper answered, starting to turn. "Let me have a—"

But he cried out suddenly as the gargantuan man before him shoved a mighty fist into his gut. Lucy fell with a crash from his shoulders, knocking some barrels and pots that were sitting behind them all about. Medli tried to grab at Mary as another man scooped her up. The first man took Lucy by the arm and held her off the ground, her feet dangling with panicked kicks. She cried out to be freed but the larger man gave her a vehement slap across the face, rendering her unconscious.

"Don't you dare touch my little girl!" Jasper growled, jumping to his feet and raising a balled fist. But the smaller man pulled a sword from a sheath at his waist and, kneeing Jasper in the crotch, struck the back of his head with the butt of his sword as Jasper recoiled from the blow. He collapsed to his knees and fell unconscious. Gavin cried out and ran to his father, crouching fearfully beside him.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Medli demanded. She tried to reach for Mary, who cried as she squirmed in the grasp of the man with the sword.

He held up the point of his cutlass toward Medli, and grinned evilly. "We be pirates," he told her. With a glance at his massive friend, he commented, "Though 'tis been some time since we done any real piratin'."

The larger man laughed, a raucous and discomforting sound. "We be doin' some Piratin' right now, Zuko."

And Zuko grinned knowingly at the other, "I know Nudge— that be the joke."

Then something seemed to come over Nudge and he gave Zuko a curious look. "Hey, I think I gots an idear. What say we take these chitlins instead o' the lady here?"

Zuko's brow leapt. "Nudge, that be the best idea I think ye've e'er had." He grinned and gave Medli a darkly pleased look. "Aye, let that be the way."

Medli fell to her knees and held out her hands in a reaching gesture. "Please," she begged, "please just let the girls go. I don't know what you want… but please. I'll go with you, I'll go. Please take me instead, please…" Medli wept as the words fell from her trembling lips.

Zuko laughed. "Oy, we don't actually want you, woman," he told her. "We want our cap'n back. Jes' tell them snobby royals to bring Tetra Wolfbane to the harbor by mornin'."

She raised her hands in a supplicating gesture, "I don't know who that is! Please!"

Zuko shook his head, "They'll know who we mean. Jes' tell 'em."

Medli called out after them as they began to back away, Lucy and Mary in hand. "If we do what you ask… will you give them back to us?"

"Aye," Zuko nodded. "Once the cap'n is aboard the ship an' we put out to sea a bit, we'll toss the girls overboard an' they cin swim back to ye."

Medli's eyes went wide with worry. "But what if they can't swim?!"

Nudge grinned at his accomplice, and told her, "That be yer problem, not ours."

Medli began to rise and go after them, but Zuko held up the tip of his sword again. "If I catch ye chasin' after us, I'll make ye watch as I slit the little one's throat. I done it before, I'll do it again. It'll be on you to explain to her daddy how ye got his little girl killed." Both men laughed cruelly as they turned and, shouldering both girls, ran off down the street. Medli again collapsed to her knees, frustration and panic wracking her mind.

What do I do now?!