The festivities continued until six the next evening. Everyone began heading to their scattered homes, and Kafei and Anju had their hands full. By about seven, all the guests had left, leaving Kafei and his guard the monstrous task of cleaning up after them.
"Get some sleep," Captain Draton told the mayor. "You've done enough for this festival."
Gratefully, Kafei and had bid farewell to Draton and Link (who, with Zelda, had stayed to offer their help), and headed over to his house in East Clocktown. Mikaku and the Indigo-Gos passed him with their equipment as they went to chat with Link and Zelda. Suddenly, a panting Zora rushed up to them.
"Mikaku!" he cried, gasping for air. "Pirates! They have a ship not too far out in the Great Sea. There may be survivors."
Mikaku cursed. "When the cat's away the mice will play," he muttered. "Have you sent anyone out there to check?"
"Most of the force arrived back in Zora Hall just as I left, Mik. Those already there told them about the ship and the immediately armed and swam to help. That would be about fourscore Zoras."
"Will it be enough?"
"Not sure. The rest await your command."
"Rest up here," Mikaku instructed. "I'll go as fast as I can."
Link stepped forward. Take Epona. None can match her speed, even across the sands of the beach."
Mikaku didn't have time to express his gratitude, but Link understood. Link himself wanted to go, but he knew he would be of little help on the open ocean without as much as a rowboat. And he trusted Mikaku's marine expertise. For a while now the young Zora had been in charge of the Great Bay defensive force, most often used to scare away the various bands of pirates and bandits that sailed the sea and often tried to plunder nearby ports and ships. The force was unbeatable in the water, and without the need of marine transportation, they could travel in considerably larger numbers than the usual crew of pirates.
Mikaku ran off and the Zora messenger took his leave in the direction of Anju's Stock Pot Inn.
"I'm sure Draton and Viscen can handle cleanup," said Link to his wife. "I think it's about time we headed back to our own realm."
"Without Epona we'll have to walk."
Link smiled at her. "I don't mind."
……………………………..
Fado called the Gerudo sage's name again and again, but it was no use. She was lost amidst the swirling sands, and now he was afraid that he was too.
"Goddesses," he whispered. Before him, in the same clothes Fado had seen him in over a month ago, ripped and ragged, stood Raven. The Gerudo King was much thinner than Fado remembered, and he clearly hadn't taken the time to keep up his appearance. But it was still Raven.
Fado, recalling how Link had been bleeding and close to death after an encounter with this man, tensed and took a fighter's stance. He cursed. His bow lay uselessly on his bed back in Gerudo Fortress.
Raven laughed, but it was not the same laugh that Fado had heard over the dinner table at the celebration. He spoke, but it was not in his voice. "Are you scared, little Fado?"
Fado, one of the best warriors of Redaya's tribe, had prepared for something like this for over one hundred years, and now cleared his mind of doubts and fears. "Who are you?"
Raven laughed again. "You don't believe I am the Desert General you spoke with not two months ago?
"Oh, stow the bitching," snapped Fado. "We both know you're not Raven."
"The little elf has a temper."
"I am over two hundred years old and I have trained as a warrior for more than half of that. If I am little it is only in stature, a result of my high elven heritage."
Raven sneered at him, and took few steps forward until he was mere feet away from the elf. Fado held his ground, prepared to face death lest in come in the form of this abomination. "Very well, elf. If you must know, I am the Spirit of Hell, once a proud god in Heaven. You may call me Sever."
Fado couldn't help shuddering. The Spirit of Hell?
Sever grinned. "Yes, little Fado, the Spirit of Hell. Scared yet?"
The elf couldn't hide his fear. He trembled at the power he saw in the eyes of the man who was once Raven. They shone and swirled with darkness, and Fado couldn't look away.
"You say you trained for over one hundred years of your life," hissed Sever, so cloud now that Fado could reach out and touch him. "Now don't you wish you wouldn't have wasted all that time?"
His eyes blazed with his full power.
It was the last thing Fado saw.
And Sever laughed.
……………………………..
"Fado?" Sira said suddenly into the empty dining hall from her seat by the fireplace. She sat straight up and looked around. Everything appeared normal.
She settled back into her chair. It was nothing, she decided.
……………………………..
It was the worst day of Fan's life. She sat in the corner of the cabin, sobbing uncontrollably as Rift desperately tried to hold the door. She couldn't block out the sounds of agony and death that were all around her.
Kryn had fought and struggled, and in the end Rift had sent him into unconsciousness with the hilt of his sword.
"Arm yourself, miss, if you want to go down fighting," said the cloaked veteran. "This door's had it. They've been pounding on it for hours. Only one at a time will be able to get through, so if you'd be so kind as to help me, there may be a chance for us."
"I… I," she sobbed, "I can't. I'm… I'm sorry."
"Don't fret miss, I understand. Didn't expect you to have the strength." He looked over at her and there was obvious sympathy in his eyes. Poor girl, he thought. You've lost everything you had. "It's me who should be sorry, miss," he said softly. Then he stepped back and the door burst open.
A scream escaped Fan's lips. The first pirate charged in and struck. Rift moved quicker than her eyes could see, sidestepping and plunging a dagger into the elf's heart. Two more had already gotten into the cabin. Rift deflected a blow from one and struck the other, sending him to the ground.
But the cloaked veteran was only human. Ugly wounds quickly appeared all over his body, and he was slowing down, barely getting his blade up in time. The pirates knocked it from his hand and pressed a scimitar to Rift's throat. Another pirate grabbed Fan roughly.
"If you're going to kill me, make it quick, mates," Rift glanced at the elves surrounding him, clearly not intimidated.
"Captain's orders, leave two alive," growled one of the pirates. "You'd be wise to keep quiet."
"Pity I'm not two, then, eh?" replied Rift. "And you'd be wise to bathe more often, mate."
"I'm no mate of yours!"
"That's right, I don't have any sand-blasted ratspawn for mates."
"You'll be sorry when the captain comes," snarled the pirate, before gagging Rift with a dirty rag and binding him and Fan tightly.
"I've got a few uses for you I can think of, pretty one," grinned a pirate before tying a rag around her mouth. Her eyes widened in fear, and the elves laughed.
Kryn had a strong urge to jump out from his hiding spot under the bed and wipe the smiles from the pirates' ugly faces, but he fought it. He would wait. Wait for the captain.
……………………………..
Nabooru wept silently as she continued on through the desert. The Gerudo sage had no idea where she was going, but regardless she couldn't stop her feet from walking beneath her. As she walked and cried, her lover appeared in the sands.
"Raven?" she whispered.
Sever came closer. "Nabooru. My sweet, sweet Nabooru." He smiled kindly. "Nabooru, I would like you to trust me and follow me to the Temple of Spirits." Without another word he turned and strode away, cloak flapping in the blowing sands. She hurried to catch up.
They finally arrived at a huge structure in the middle of the wasteland. Nabooru didn't know how long they had been walking, but it felt like forever.
"Come," said Sever. "Have shelters from the dangers of the desert." She followed him inside. A stone altar had been placed in the middle of the entrance hall, and on it lay Raven's beautiful battle blade.
"Do you love me?" hissed Sever. Nabooru was startled at the change in his tone. "Answer me, bitch!"
Nabooru began crying again. "Yes," she whimpered.
"And how far would you go to appease me?"
"I would die for you." Her voice was barely audible, but Sever heard every word.
"Then I want you to pay attention," he grinned. "For you and me, love, are going to open the sealed gates of the Death Realm."
She couldn't speak as he murmured ancient spells and called forth spirits that Hyrule hadn't seen in hundreds of years. For what seemed like hours he worked powerful magic as Nabooru looked on, rooted to the ground.
Finally, he turned to her and motioned for her to join him next to the altar. "To open the Hellgates," he said to her quietly, "one must be able to tap into powers unimaginable by the normal being. However, it is still not possible without the final touch, the final key." He brought her face close to his. "A willing sacrifice."
She couldn't breath, terrified beyond any fear that she had ever felt.
"The sacrifice does not go to Heaven, Sanctuary, or even Hell when they die. Their souls simply cease to exist, and their bodies rot forever on this altar." Sever laughed. "Are you willing to do this for me, Nabooru?"
She stood frozen in place.
"Do you love me?" growled Sever dangerously.
A pause followed. "I do," she whispered.
His eyes sparkled. "And are you willing to make this sacrifice for me?"
Her face glistened with tears. "I am."
"Take off your clothes," Sever snapped. "You must die as you were born."
Nabooru obeyed and, though in the middle of the desert, she shivered uncontrollably. She felt like a helpless vessel open to all the spirits of the wasteland as her uniform dropped to her feet.
Sever took the blade from the table and handed it to her. "Get up on the altar, and lay on your back."
Slowly, Nabooru crawled up onto the slab and laid down. She drew in a breath as her bare back touched the cold stone.
"Do you make this sacrifice willingly, knowing that you will be responsible for unleashing the dark spirits of Hell on the land of Hyrule?"
She sobbed. "I do," she said so faintly that even Sever barely caught it. But the ancient gods heard her words very clearly.
"Then take the blade in your hands, Nabooru, and finish the ritual."
Her trembling fingers wrapped around the hilt of the sword, and she lay there, naked and abandoned on the cold altar, her heart pounding in fear for several lonely minutes. Finally, she closed her eyes. "Goddesses help me," she whispered, and plunged the blade straight into her beating heart.
……………………………..
Far, far away, in the blessed realm of Heaven, Nabooru's prayer had moved the goddesses. But they had more important things to worry about.
"We cannot allow this to happen," said Leen. "We must do something!"
"We have never been able to touch the creatures of Hell," Farore reminded her. "The fact that they are now able to roam Hyrule freely does not change anything."
"So we are going to allow the wretches to crawl over our realm? What is needed to stop them?" Din turned to Nayru, the wisest of the goddesses.
"A gathering," she said simply. "A gathering of realms."