The Waters of Nayru
Chapter 17: Survival
By, Frank Hunter

You don't have the slightest inkling of what you've allowed to happen.

"Shut up," Rigo uttered, out loud now, and why not? Who was there to hear him anyway? What did it matter if he was crazy or if there really was a lingering spirit who'd taken residence in his head?

That cup is going to create a war, Nabooru insisted.

"Shut up, shut up!" he shouted. "Amili!"

Though the stones over the doorway had done a thorough job of collapsing in on themselves, there was a tiny space on the right side, just over Rigo's head, where he could still see the sunlight shining in. The hole must have been no larger than the apple he had stolen all those weeks ago, and it was too high up to peak through, but he tried. The maddening thing about it is that the sunlight sparked in him a flicker of hope. He couldn't help it. It was a reminder that there was an outside, and that Amili was out there somewhere, and if he could just get there then maybe he could do something.

He still wore the silver gauntlets on his wrists. Trying to recall the power he felt course through his arms up above the vault, he pressed his palms against the rubble and gave the best push his tired body could muster. He drove his legs into the ground and put his back into it. "Move!" he yelled. But it was no use. He felt no magic, and the stones did not give way. The gloves were either drained of their power, or the magic just refused to work toward a means other than the one for which they were designed.

You about done? Nabooru asked.

"No!" he cried. "For Goddess's sake, no, she's out there, and I've gotta save her. I can't let Sooru take her. I can't…"

Rigo slumped against the rubble and collapsed to his knees in a new fit of tears and guttural choking. He thought of his grandmother telling him not to be so emotional. Goddess, his grandmother. He would never see her again, never get to say goodbye. She would live out the rest of her days alone, believing whatever lies Sooru made up about him. That he was a thief, a traitor, and that he was dead in the desert.

Though the death part would be a reality before long.

Though the kids had both eaten a bit of dried pork throughout their explorations as rationed, it had been the better part of the day since Rigo had taken any water. The skins were too heavy to carry with them, and they weren't expecting to be in the temple so long. As he sat there his body began to notice the heat and thirst, and understood that if he stayed, he wouldn't need skeletons or scorpions to kill him.

"Another way," he mumbled. He struggled and got back to his feet. "There's gotta be another way out. Nabooru? Right?"

Are you talking to me now?

"Just tell me! Is there, like, a back door? Or an underground passage?"

A back door? Inside the temple?

Rigo let himself get himself hopeful. "Yeah?"

No, Nabooru said simply. And even if there was, do you actually like the idea of digging deeper into this place unarmed?

Rigo deflated. "What about the roof? We could climb down from there too."

That's a heck of a fall, kid, and you're not gonna find a rope long enough for the climb.

"So what then? Do we just stay in here and die?!"

Not sure where you're getting this 'we' stuff from. I'm already dead, she said facetiously.

Rigo scowled and turned back to try and climb up to the little hole to the outside again. As he pulled himself up he slipped on some gravel and dropped back down to the floor, accomplishing nothing.

But no, Nabooru added. I don't think you're gonna die.

"What do you mean?" Rigo asked.

I think you've got a way out.

"What is it?" Rigo prodded. His hope was starting to build up again. There might be an escape? Was she telling the truth?

I'll tell you, don't worry. But understand, kid. You can't actually do it yet. If you bust outta here and that army's still outside, they're just gonna kill you. You won't accomplish anything.

"I thought you were itching to fight 'em just a few minutes ago."

Well, maybe. Or maybe I wasn't thinking completely clearly at the time. I'll admit it wasn't my brightest idea. Don't suppose you wanna put me in charge of things now though? I have some better ideas now.

Rigo crossed his arms and waited.

Can't blame me for asking.

"Tell me how we're getting outta here," he said.

Well, Nabooru said, I think that entirely depends.

"On what?" Rigo asked.

On what the big woman put in your pocket.

He paused for a moment. "Huh?"

The tall one, the attendant. The one who grabbed you, Nabooru said. She didn't need to reach her hand under your cloak to do it. I know sleight of hand when I see it, kid. I was pretty good at it myself when I was alive. What'd she give you?

"Pureet?" Rigo asked, as he patted his chest under his black cloak. Sure enough there was a bulge in one of the folds of the tunic, something there that hadn't been before and that he hadn't noticed. Something that wasn't his. He reached his hand into the pocket and pulled it out. It was a small tightly wrapped package made of brown canvas. Inside the canvas were tiny grains of a black substance. It was similar to sand but of a chalky consistency distinctly different from the coarseness of the desert surface.

Ah, Nabooru said. Blasting powder. It must be the stuff they brought the doorway down with.

Rigo eyed it with wonder. Pureet had given it to him? Did that mean she was still on his side? Still wanted to help him? He knew she hadn't had a choice about throwing him into the temple; Sooru would have killed her on the spot if she didn't obey. But if Sooru was really planning to go back to the pueblo and declare him dead and gone, this was more than just an act of defiance. This would be considered open rebellion, treason, if she ever found out. Why would Pureet risk so much?

It didn't seem worth it. Rigo had no idea what would happen to him if he ever got back to the pueblo. Would the people even want him back if Sooru had already become the undisputed leader? If she was such a good Stewardess, as Amili's mother had said, maybe they'd all just be happy he was gone. Maybe going back would be like walking into a trap. Saving his life seemed like a fruitless effort.

These were all things he would need to sort out later though, assuming he survived. He would not leave Amili to Sooru. Nor would he leave her Chalice. He couldn't, if it was as dangerous as Sooru and Nabooru both seemed to think it was.

His eyes wandered back up to the little hole at the top of the rubble.

I think if you stick the blasting powder into that opening and ignite it, you might end up with something big enough to wedge through, Nabooru said.

Rigo nodded. "I got it," he said. "How long do you wanna wait until it's safe to blow it?"

I'd say tomorrow at least, Nabooru said.

Rigo swallowed and felt his throat pinch as he did. "I don't think I can wait that long," he told her.

Why? Oh, Nabooru said, grasping the problem immediately. Kid, you've gotta at least take a couple of hours or it's too much of a risk. Do you think you can last that long?

"Yeah," Rigo nodded. "Yeah, I can try."

If you go back and get some of those planks you put over the quicksand, you might be able to make a little ramp for yourself to see out the hole. So you can at least make sure the army's not right there when you make a break for it.

That was a fair idea, and it was something to keep him busy, so Rigo decided to go back down the stairs and pull some of the planks as Nabooru suggested. It was harder work than he'd anticipated. Carrying the boards down the stairs with Amili was nothing compared to dragging them up by himself, but he worked with resolve. It was better to have something to do.

Besides, it gave him the chance to ask Nabooru a few questions.

"Can you tell me about the Chalice?" he grunted as he pulled one of the more sturdy boards up and over the stairwell.

What do you want to know?

"For starters, why did Sooru think that she could use it to take over Hyrule?"

Nabooru considered. How much do you know about Hylian mythology?

"Not much," Rigo admitted.

Well, the short version is that Hyrule was created by three goddesses. You had Din, the goddess of power, who made the earth; Farore, the goddess of life, who made the creatures on it; and Nayru, the goddess of wisdom, who created the laws living creatures would follow.

"The Gerudo priestesses never said anything like that," Rigo interrupted. "I always learned that the Sand Goddess created the living world from the desert of time. She rules everything from there, watching over the Gerudo, the chosen who live closest to her, and the other weaker races, who can't live in the heat and the sun."

Kid, every culture has its own legends. The trouble about the Hylian ones is they have a habit of coming true. I'm sure you've heard of the Triforce.

"The golden triangles?"

That's right. The Triforce was said to have been set by the goddesses at the place where they finally left this world. Everyone thought that was just a story, too. But then your predecessor, Ganondorf, found it. The power he would have had if he'd gotten all three triangles might have made him into a god. But two of the pieces passed on to others. One went to the Hylian princess, Zelda, and the other to Link, the Hero of Time. Together, the two of them were more powerful than Ganondorf and his single triangle, and they were able to banish him from Hyrule and bring the world peace.

"This all sounds like Hylian legend, too."

No kid, this is fact. I lived it. The Sages helped to bind the seal and put and end to everything.

"Something I still can't believe you did," Rigo muttered.

Rigo, trust me when I tell you I understand. I was Gerudo, too. I know the kind of honor that comes with being a part of the tribe. And given what just happened outside, you gotta feel a little sore about the idea of treachery. But reality was reality. The man was power-hungry, and careless, and egocentric, and cruel. He needed to be stopped, for the good of everyone.

"Whatever," Rigo said. He had never been the most devout believer in the influence of Ganondorf, but he felt a distinct difference between questioning his predecessor's actions in the solitude of his home and actually talking with the traitor who helped bring him down.

"So how does the Chalice tie into it all?" he asked, coming back to the subject at hand.

It's said that when the Triforce was first hidden, the Hero also helped the goddesses hide away other relics, including a fountain whose waters would bring eternal life. The fountain was something crafted by Nayru which she thought would help people.

"It would turn you into a god too?"

Sure, maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it would just make you run super fast for half an hour and get hungry. Who knows? Whatever it did, people used to fight over it. They'd kill over it. When it was finally sealed away, it's said Nayru filled one chalice, that chalice, and gave it to the Hero as a reward. The chalice, filled with the Waters of Nayru, would still bring power to whoever drank from it.

"But the chalice was empty when Amili and I found it," Rigo pointed out.

That didn't really seem to dissuade the Stewardess back there, did it? Whether or not the Waters of Nayru are real, she believes in the legend. If that woman marches an army of Gerudo into Hyrule looking for the fountain, she's going to get hundreds, maybe thousands of people killed on both sides. If the Hylians win and discover that the Gerudo have survived, their backlash could bring them out into the desert. They might wipe out the whole tribe this time. The cup will bring nothing but death.

"How would it have even gotten here in the first place?"

It must have been captured by a Gerudo war party at some point and brought as tribute to the Sand Goddess, along with everything else. Whoever sacrificed it into the coffers would not have realized what it was. Like you said, the Gerudo priestesses don't teach the Hylian legends. And the few priestesses allowed into the coffers in the days before weren't allowed to remove anything. It would have been safe in there for as long as the temple remained sealed.

Rigo sighed. "Damn," he said. What an incredible mess.

He thought of the possibilities of war, of soldiers coming to the pueblo and hurting his grandmother and Amili. The pain of his friends. The death of Gerudo. It was more than he could bear. Nabooru was right. The stakes were too high. Sooru needed to be stopped.

They continued to talk as Rigo dragged several more planks up the stairs to act as support in his ramp. He built it as he went, and as he returned downstairs for a final piece of wood, the thirst was beginning to get to him. He paused as he passed over their first makeshift bridge and just looked down at the shifting, rippling surface beneath him.

"Hey. Can you drink quicksand?" Rigo asked, slightly delirious.

Nabooru sighed. Kid, go back to the doorway and sit down. Just rest until it's time to go, okay?

"Yeah, okay," he said, and he did.

Time passed slowly, and it was too hot for any real recovery. Sweat just beaded on Rigo's forehead and ran down his skin while he waited for the moment, the proper time, when he would be able to leave. It couldn't come soon enough.