Chapter 50: Sacrifice
"Sacrifice!?"
The keeper of the shrine looked at him oddly. "Yes, that is correct. Which of you is to die in order to fulfill the contract with Khizha?"
"Nobody is going to get sacrificed!" Link exclaimed.
"Fair enough. I hope that whatever information you were seeking wasn't too important." The keeper sat down in a meditative position and ceased to show any sign that he even knew Link was there. Frustrated, Link made his way back to the base of the altar.
"What happened?" Ritsuki asked when he reached the bottom. "We heard you yelling up there, but it was hard to make out what you were saying. Did you meet with the priest?"
"We're going," Link told them. He started immediately for the steps back to the surface. It would be very tiring, climbing all the way back up, but there was no point in delaying it any longer than necessary. No, more like the sooner the three of them left the shrine, the better off they would be.
"Link, wait up for a second!" Kitsu called after him. A short while later, the other boy came up to join him, stopping a few steps below where Link stood. "What's going on?" he asked. "Just because we found out where to go next doesn't mean we have to push ourselves getting there. It's okay if we slow down a little."
"We didn't find out where to go," Link informed him. "We're going to go elsewhere to figure out what we should do next." He tried to resume his trek towards the exit, but Kitsu grabbed him by the wrist and held him back.
"What's with you?" he asked. "Before now, you were adamant that we had to come here in order to find the path to Hyrule. Now that we've finally managed to get here, we're not going to leave unless we manage to get a solid lead on where to go after this."
"At what cost, Kitsu?! How many people are going to die from our attempt to get to Hyrule? I'm not going to let there be any more sacrifices."
"Sacrifices?" Without saying another word, Kitsu turned and started returning to the bottom of the chamber. Link was about to head off back to the top, where he could wait for the other two, but something was bothering him. Instead of ascending the stairs, he turned in the other direction and followed Kitsu to the altar.
"Is everything okay?" Ritsuki asked as the two of them passed him. They ignored him, with Kitsu heading straight for the altar and Link following. Kitsu began to climb to the summit of the altar, but Link stopped him.
"What are you planning on doing?" he demanded.
"Regardless of what the price is, we need information," Kitsu explained. "If we can't learn what we need without a sacrifice, then there might be something else that the priest can tell us. If that isn't possible… well, then we might have to sit down and think about our alternative options."
As much as Link wanted nothing to do with the shrine of Khizha, he had to admit that Kitsu had a point. He walked around the altar until he managed to find another spot that looked like it led to the top and started climbing. He reached the highest surface a fraction of a second before Kitsu, despite the fact that the other boy had enjoyed a good head start on Link.
"Have you made your decision?" the keeper asked without looking at them. "If you have decided on the sacrifice, then I shall prepare for the ritual."
"No sacrifices, Akhra," Kitsu responded.
"I knew that you would appear one day, little one. My dreams have told me of our reunion, it was only a matter of how long it would be."
"It wasn't really a priority of mine," Kitsu said. "And since when have you cared about dreams? You sound like a priest."
"As the keeper of the shrine, there is not much for me to do except sit and dream," Akhra explained. "Fortunately, the time when my successor will come is also soon."
"Who is this?" Link whispered to Kitsu.
"I am Akhra, Keeper of the Shrine of Khizha," the sitting man answered.
"I met him in Diis Evera a few years ago, when I first left Duun Sedoro," Kitsu explained. "For a short while, we worked with each other, but then he went off to journey elsewhere, and I didn't want to get too far from the village."
"Can we trust him?" Link asked suspiciously.
"We seek a way out of Kiasha, Keeper Akhra," Kitsu said, speaking directly to the seated man. "Is there any aid that you can give us?"
"I cannot," the blindfolded man answered. "I cannot, but Khizha knows many things. If you ask him, you will certainly find an answer."
"We'd like to find a way without any of us dying."
"Your life," the man said, speaking in a flat tone. "Your past. Your present. Your future. Khizha works in ways that are unknowable to men. He may spare you your life, for he has many already, or he may take it as his own."
Link and Kitsu exchanged glances. "I'll do it," Kitsu volunteered.
"No," Link insisted. "I said that I would get you to Hyrule, so it's my responsibility to make whatever sacrifice is necessary."
"You won't get me anywhere if you're dead!"
"He said it might not kill me," Link pointed out.
"He didn't say for sure that it wouldn't. You can't be sure that you have that good of a chance to come out of this alive."
"It doesn't matter," Link told the other boy firmly. "There is a chance, so it's good enough for me." He stepped away from his companion and towards the seated shrine keeper.
"Are you prepared?" the man asked.
"Yes," Link replied confidently. I hope so, anyway.
At Akhra's instructions, Link removed his equipment and tunic, laying them aside. He then seated himself at a place on the altar as Akhra went to retrieve some items for the ritual.
"Are you nervous?" Kitsu asked him.
"A little," Link replied. It seemed like it would have been foolish to try to hide something like that. At the same time, he felt a little at ease, and was even a little eager. After weeks of aimless wandering and searching, things were finally going to start moving. They were going to be able to go home at last, and no amount of nervousness could fully put a damper on that feeling.
"There's no need for you to do this," the other boy reminded him. "You're not alone, I'd take the sacrifice for you if you'd let me…"
Link let his silence be the answer. He would not allow himself to be talked out of this, not when they were so close to finding the answers that they needed.
"I see…" Kitsu turned to descend from the altar, knowing that Akhra wouldn't let him remain up there while the ritual was being performed. As he reached the edge, he turned back one last time. "Try not to die, Link."
Link watched the other boy slowly sink out of sight below the edge of the stone. When Kitsu was out of sight, he turned to find that Akhra had already returned, and was patiently waiting.
"Are you prepared?" the priest asked. When Link nodded his approval, he sat behind the boy, holding something in his hands. As he began speaking softly in a strange language, Link felt a cold sensation against his bare back. It shifted from place to place, leaving only a faint chill behind where it had once been. He tried to make sense of the pattern it was tracing, but could only get the sense that it was related somehow to the pattern of the altar. Something was making his head feel light and hindering his ability to concentrate.
"Is he really going through with it?" Ritsuki asked. The two of them were stationed on the stone steps, allowing them to see what was going on as the blind priest traced designs on Link's back with some dark substance. Akhra's chanting had now grown loud enough that they could make it out clearly, although neither of them knew the language in which the chants were being spoken.
"I couldn't convince him otherwise," Kitsu replied mournfully.
"Would you have let yourself be talked out of it if it was you up there?"
"Self-sacrifice is pointless,"
"But you would have done it anyway." It wasn't a question.
"Of course I would have," Kitsu conceded. "That's me, though. This is different."
"And I'm sure that Link feels the same way about it," Ritsuki concluded.
"So Link gets to have his way, while I'm left just following his lead?"
"You can't have the both of you sacrificing yourselves for each other. That would truly be pointless."
"So there's no way to decide fairly?" It was an irrelevant point, since the decision had already been made, but anything was good if it could take their minds off of what might be coming up. "You could make the choice, Ritsuki… unless you plan on offering yourself instead."
"Nah, nothing of that sort," Ritsuki remarked. "I've got Karina, so I guess I'll just have to be selfish and refrain from sacrificing myself anytime soon."
"What are you going to do when we get the answers we need?" Kitsu asked. The conversation had taken a serious turn, since this was something that had been nagging at the back of Kitsu's mind for quite some time now.
"I don't know. I can't leave her alone…but I don't want to force her into a journey that could be long and dangerous. She deserves better than that."
"As do we," Kitsu added. "That girl irritates me to no end, and we're much better off traveling without her."
"You're treading on dangerous ground, friend," Ritsuki warned him angrily. "Besides, she tries to get close to you because you keep everybody else so far away. There's an easy way for you to hold off her attentions, but I trust that you've already been made aware of my opinions on that particular matter."
"My answer is still the same," the young warrior responded flatly. There was a brief pause where the two of them said nothing, filled only with the ever-louder chanting of Ahkra. "I suppose that this is goodbye, then," Kitsu said, breaking the silence. "We'll go on to Hyrule, while you'll stay behind to live your life out here."
"It's the way it had to be," the swordsman remarked. "But it's not goodbye yet. I may not be able to go with you forever, but I'll stay with you until I can go no further."
"Until we can go no further together, then," Kitsu agreed, watching with Ritsuki as the priest took a glossy black dagger and plunged it into Link's back.
