Doing the final edits to the book before I put it through for printing. The final draft of the cover just got to me, and it looks SWEET! Also making lists of places to do signings and calculating how many author's copies I can afford, which won't be many, so if you out there want a free copy, you're going to have to have a few qualifications.
1. Know me on fanfiction (aka, we've been fanfic friends for an amount of time.)
2. You've proven yourself to be reliable (aka, doing what you say you'll do.)
3. Got to be willing to do something useful with it, like actually read it and then spread the word around about it, since I have to do my own marketing.
If I could think of a good contest for free copies, I'd just go with that, but for now I think that'll do. For those of you who will be getting free copies, I'll also be sending you a signed poster. ^.^ And a bookmark. Ooo, bookmark...a fancy bookmark? Wait, no, um...
Whateves. Here's your weekly update! Please enjoy and review!
Chapter 38
These words set the other brothers up like fire, but not as much as Yorlan, who inflated with apoplectic fury. Link instinctively ducked back to put himself in front of me as the god's teeth lengthened evermore and his face contorted into something inhuman, something demonic.
"We were tricked!" He growled. "We did nothing wrong! Those beastly sluts are the cause of all this! We never went after their children, did we? We never once considered harming the innocent, and yet they have massacred thousands of our own! Our own, beautiful, absolutely innocent children—and you want us to apologize to them!?"
The cave shook as though an earthquake had come by. Link and I toppled off our feet, and for a minute my vision became nothing but a blur of rocks being thrown too and throw. Link's white wings flew over me in a protective shell and I felt his arms yank me hard to him.
Charvus waited until the last tremor slowed before speaking in his same, quiet tone.
"Our children have suffered because of us. If we had paid more attention to what was crawling into our beds, disguises or not, we would have seen. And no matter what the women have done, that should not have been our focus. Our focus should have been those who deceived us. You forget, the goddesses had claimed to have been deceived as well."
"Nayru was the master of wisdom, Charvus," spat Septimus bitterly. "She, out of all of us, should have seen through any deceit."
"Forget that, didn't you see what they were doing?" Yorlan spat, and his spittle sizzled like lava against the cave side. "Disgusting, nasty—they saw nothing, and yet you still think we should apologize? You've grown weak, brother. And stupid."
But Charvas said nothing to this. I crawled my way out from beneath Link's wings to take a closer look at our Father-god's face, which was bowed and heavily lined as the other's were not. He had aged in the time away from his brothers. He had experienced that which no one should have to. Had he really loved us and our predecessors so much? Surely he didn't blame himself for our fall.
"Char-" I started, then paused. "Father?"
He gave me his attention immediately. "Yes?"
"Thank you. For Aspen. We would have died without him."
The smile he gave me had to be the most wan thing I'd ever seen on another being's face. "If only he could have done more. Dozens of times he has tried to lead others to the safety of the island. You were to be the last, Little Hanna." He curled his legs beneath him and ducked his head to my level. "I will give you the home you wish for, where you can raise your little babies in the sun without fear. This isn't your crime to bear, but our own."
"Don't you go filling the children's heads with that nonsense!" Roared Yorlan. "The goddesses have brought this about, and them alone!"
"And now they watch their own children die because of it," said Charvus, a little sharper this time. "Surely there is even a little bit of the love you once held to pity them? Haven't you experienced enough of that same pain yourself? Or have you grown so heartless in your prison?"
Septimus hesitated, even looking a bit unsure, but Yorlan's terrifying features broke into a hideous smirk.
"Yes. Justice is sweet. Pain for pain."
Charvus folded his arms tight across his chest. "And yet here we sit with two, alone, and nowhere closer to finding the true enemy in the darkness." He wagged his lowered head sadly. "Brothers, we are fools. We are selfish, ignorant fools."
"We are gods!" Yorlan protested.
"And all the more suffer because of it."
Septimus, who had been turning his ear to Charvus, nodded seriously. "A thought just occurred to me. How can we ever return the natural order back to balance if we remain alone? We have said it ourselves, male and female are but two halves of a whole."
Yorlan whirled on him, claws extended from his cinnamon colored fingers.
"I will not get back with that witch! Who will bring justice on her for wronging me if not myself, eh? We are the harbingers of justice!"
"And justice we have brought," said Charvus heavily, raising a hand in an attempt to calm his brother. "Have you not seen the chaos outside? Surely this won't bring us any closer to the happiness we felt before."
"Nothing will bring back that happiness! Don't you see the wrong? It's all wrong! All of it!"
And with that, Yorlan's demonic face melted back to his more human, more handsome form, which had clenched its eyes shut in agony. The other brothers fell silent as well, tucking their wings back to their sides and heads hung beneath their shoulders. Link found my hand and clenched it tight as the fire crackled in the quiet. Outside we could barely make out the rumble of the apocalypse. I tried not to think of what could be currently happening to those I knew, or their bodies.
It seemed so strange that, just weeks ago, I had struggled with the reasoning as to why loving a human could kill me. Perhaps it would have been better if Link had been a human. Then, at least, there would have been something to work with in fixing all this.
All the while, Yorlan fiddled with the Triforce piece, flicking it through his fingers and sending shards of golden light dancing on the walls. I watched it idly as I rubbed each of Link's finger's between my own. His callouses scratched against my knuckles, telling stories of years filled with rough work and struggle. He had struggled to protect the goddesses children. He had considered them as one of his own. In all reality, had anything really changed? But no. Either we had to find the connection between our lost mother and the fathers of Hyrule's races, or find some other way to reconcile the gods. Not to mention I was sure neither Link nor I could begin to guess where the goddesses now lived, if they even did, as the spirit's had hinted they hadn't. But immortals could never be dead, never be separated from their spirits...
The Triforce's glittering didn't catch the light of the flames. It was as though it's own brightness defied that of the fire's. Strange, that the goddesses had used their marriage bindings made tangible to grant such great power. You'd think after the war such a thing would have been made useless.
Unless...
"They still love you."
The gods, who had been lost in their own thoughts, blinked at me almost blearily.
"What was that, fledgeling?"
"The goddesses," I said, pointing at the Triforce piece. "They still love you, otherwise that would be pointless, wouldn't it? Powerless, and yet it isn't. It is the binding of your marriage, isn't it? If there's still love, there's still a marriage, isn't there?"
"It doesn't really work that way," said Septimus slowly. "More like the...potential..." But now he was watching the Triforce piece as Yorlan twisted it between his fingers.
The red god's mouth twisted in confusion. "What?"
Charvus was watching it too now, though. The light from the Triforce glowed so beautifully, almost just like the light spirits had just a blink of time ago.
Link, the previous bearer of the Triforce of Courage, however, was the least captured up.
"I don't care what drama you have with your former wives," he growled, wings fluffed and a flash of fang peeking past his lip. "I have friends out there, and family—good people who I know don't deserve this. Open up the cave and let me free! If you can't help them, I will!"
Yorlan's gaze snapped down to his son.
"If you go, you will pointlessly die, without helping anyone." He said, flatly.
"So?"
"Have you forgotten your mate?" said Septimus. "Or the babes she might be carrying?"
Link deflated with an aghast stare in my direction. I couldn't meet his gaze, but buried my face in one of the wings of my father god. Babes. He just had to say that word.
With a frustrated roar, Link tore off a bit of stone and threw it against the cave wall in disgust.
"This is so wrong!"
Septimus made a move to stop Link as he buried his fingers into solid stone once more, but Yorlan stopped him with a look. Thus, another stone shattered against the opening and Link screamed into the quiet of the cave. It echoed all around me, through me, till all I could hear was the screaming.
Innocent one...they had called me innocent. If only I could find the goddesses...
I tugged on the clothes of the god holding me. "Where are they? The goddesses. The spirit of light said they were in a realm unreachable to mortals."
"The spirit of light?"
"You three destroyed them without your...spirits. They were guardians of this world."
"So that's where..." he hesitated. "Hanna, there's nothing you can do. They'd kill you on the spot as they have your ancestors."
"Then why not you go?"
"Without our union to connect us, we cannot enter that realm, otherwise we would have taken our war far away from the land of our children."
"So...you need the Triforce?"
Link, who had quieted enough to catch the last of my conversation, snorted.
"Ganon's dead." He said. "Zelda probably is too."
But the kind face of Charvus had turned thoughtful, watching the turning of the triangle as Yorlan twisted it about his fingers.
"Not all three of us have to go..."
Septimus looked alarmed at what his brother was suggesting, but Yorlan's face twisted once more.
"You are not taking the children into the Sacred Realm."
"The goddesses are in the Sacred Realm?" said Link, eyes wide.
Yorlan ignored him. "They're not going near them. There is nothing we can do. Justice must play it's course, and mercy cannot rob it, otherwise the balance of the universe will be overthrown!"
But Charvus was still staring down at me hard, his eyebrows furrowed, yet his eyes shining brighter and brighter with wonderment. The hand that dwarfed my shoulder started to shake. Then he did the most human-like thing yet: he licked his lips nervously.
"There...there is a way," he said, almost hoarsely.
"Charvus," started Yorlan in warning, but Link had strode ahead.
"Out with it! There's a way to save them, isn't there?"
Still, Charvus hesitated, his eyes on me. I suddenly felt very small next to him. He touched the top of my head, stroking my long black hair.
"Hanna is untouched by this conflict. Completely innocent of any of the repercussions of the battle here. Even her mate, Link, has consequences to some extent for assisting the goddesses, slaying other children of the goddesses, and releasing us." Link winced. "But Hanna...Hanna is key..."
"What are you going on about?" asked Septimus, looking worried. "Don't tell me you're thinking what I think you are. That's mad."
"But it would work."
"What would?" Link protested.
"All of the goddesses children are dying. If Hanna, free from sin, were to go up to them and accept the blunt force that justice has in store in place of all of our wrongs—the goddesses wrongs, our wrongs, our childrens' wrongs, and we were the ones to allow her-justice would be satisfied. The goddesses would be satisfied. Our union could be restored, order restored..."
Link's face had followed his words, body tensed for the deliverance of hope, but it took a full minute for it to sink in for what the cost was.
To save the world...the cost was me.
Link, who had already been trembling before, started to shake so hard he could no longer stand.
"I can't win," he said hoarsely. "I can't win."
"I'll do it."
All of the men looked at me. Yorlan looked furious, Septimus looked awed, but Charvus just looked pained. The golden god closed his eyes just as his older brother turned on him.
"You knew she'd say yes! You shouldn't have said a word!"
"It's right."
"Damn to hell it's right! It's mad! You're mad! Wasting half your strength on that pathetic messenger of yours has gotten to your head! Septimus, surely you're not listening to this?"
"It doesn't matter if I'm listening to it or not," said the blue god. "Hanna has a choice before her. We have no right as parents to stop her agency."
"She'll die! He'll die! This is no different from when he was raging about going outside before!"
"Yes, it is, because this would actually work. Stupidly flying out into the storm wouldn't have done a thing but kill them along with the rest of them. If Charvus takes Hanna to the goddesses as our peace offering, she alone can balance the scales. He's right, she has done no wrong in the conflict. It would end it all. Bring back order. Innocent blood is the price for the corrupted many."
I couldn't make out Link's face, but his voice was very small. "It's just as bad..."
The gold god had ducked his head to the side as well, so I couldn't make out his face.
"Yorlan, give me the Triforce piece. It's mine anyways."
"No way in hell!"
"Yorlan..." said Septimus. "Swallow your pride, you know he's right."
"I will not sacrifice my children for her!"
"Father..."
Somehow, I made my tiny voice heard above the echoes of Yorlan's roars. I had yet to directly address the dark god, and for the first time his furious face fell upon the tiny, dark me, and melted. Any demonic characteristics melted away completely, leaving his face almost as kind as the gold gods, yet breathtakingly beautiful...and sad.
For a long moment, we looked into each other's eyes. He pulled back his hands, as though away from punishment, and his wings, which had spread in his anger, tucked away almost sheepishly.
"Please?" the please sounded almost childish. "Not you, Hanna. Please."
They all knew my name. In each syllable I could hear all of me and knew, by instinct, that they knew every part of my soul. They knew all my faults, all my strengths, all my likes and dislikes, and every thought I had ever had.
But then I looked at the ragged form of Link kneeling on the floor and shaking like a leaf. I didn't want him to die. But if the heartbreak of losing all these people didn't kill him first, then the tragedy would destroy any happiness for him in the future.
I turned back to the gold god. "Tell me what to do."
"That's the thing," he said. "I can only take you there and present you for the slaughter. All you have to do is be willing."
"Somebody wake me up..." whined Link.
Death by gods. Sounded quick. Painless. As for Link...this was simply the last and final way I could show him my love, and pray that his own death was as painless as mine. He probably wished for it anyways, and hopefully, I'd meet him on the other side.
"Can I have a moment? Before we go?"
Yorlan gave us his back, covered in crumpled up wings. His dark hair twisted around the feathers in black strands all the way to the floor. Septimus wouldn't look at me either.
"Of course, but more still die."
As I was all too aware of. I left Charvus to kneel down at Link's side and take up his tear-streaked face in my hands.
"I love you."
I felt like I should say something more to that, something more profound, maybe continue on with how I'd love him forever, that I didn't care what he had done in the past, that my deepest most honest dream was to make him little babes with his face, but nothing came. My throat closed up as his agony seeped through my fingertips like poison. Swallowing a sob, I brushed my lips against his, afraid I'd break him if I pressed too hard, and got up before I found myself glued there forever.
I had to do this. It would never be fair if I got a home at the cost of millions of others. Everyone need a safe place, a family, and a chance to have babies. No one should have to live through the fear I had, and everyone deserved to be swathed in clean sheets, fed good food on clean plates, and allowed to fall asleep on the rug before the fire.
I looked to Charvus and held out my hand. He nodded and looked to the red god.
"Yorlan. The Triforce."
The red god tossed it over his shoulder without a fuss, but didn't look back around.
Face twitching oddly and eyes bright with pearl, Charvus crouched down besides me with his fingers closed tight over the Triforce.
"Yes, this should work. Hanna...my brave little girl..."
Unable to say anymore, he took up my hand. His fingers swallowed up mine.
And then the cave simply faded away.