The Waters of Nayru
Chapter 45: Beginning of the End
By, Frank Hunter
"To the right of the entrance, set up on a dais, is the gate to the Sacred Realm," Rigo told Amili, based off the information Nabooru was able to glimpse through Tydus. "To the left is the grove where the Pedestal of Time is. We need to secure both locations."
"Door's on the right, lock's on the left," Amili repeated.
"Right, and we'll need the Chalice to open the lock. Tydus will have it on him. We'll have to get to him. He'll probably be near the door." Rigo knew for a fact he was.
Amili nodded. "Alright. I'll lead half our tropps to take the Pedestal, you get the door and the Chalice with the other half. By the time you secure it, I should have cleared a path for you. As long as we can keep the gateway secure, we can open it and protect the way inside. We can find the Waters, and end the battle before it turns too bloody."
"Alright," Rigo said, not liking the idea of splitting up with Amili, but knowing that it made the most sense for there to be leadership on both sides. "It's a plan."
Amili passed the strategy around to her squad leaders and divided them up into two groups, each with one objective. When they were briefed, recovered, and ready, there was no more stalling. It was finally time to fight.
The Gerudo army took to the tunnel quietly, saving their cries and shouts for when they reached the other side. Rigo positioned himself at the halfway point, at the back of the gateway squad, while Amili kept to the rear behind the pedestal squad. The first squad leader, a woman named Cila, marched beside Rigo as they entered the tunnel.
"It is an honor to fight alongside you, my Prince," Cila said. "I've dreamed of this day since first the Stewardess reclaimed the crown for you."
Rigo shook his head. He could never wrap his brain around the sheer level of devotion some of the people felt, always had felt toward him. "Doesn't any of this scare you at all?" he asked Cila.
"No, my Prince," Cila said. "The Sand Goddess watches over you. And you watch over us. I have faith."
He wanted to tell the woman not to put so much stock in her faith, to take some of her destiny into her own hands, but he knew how well that would work if he tried it with Pureet. This would probably be the same. Instead, he steeled himself, and just looked forward to what was ahead.
When the first of the Gerudo reached the exit, they let out a shrieking war cry that almost made Rigo cover his own ears. It grew and amplified as it was taken up by the troops behind them, following suit and screaming for their lives. Cila screamed out, "ATTACK!" and by the time Rigo made the entrance, the battle proper had begun.
The Hylians had been startled and taken off guard by the screaming force of Gerudo that came down upon them like a wave, but they were recovering fast, gathering and countering the oncoming army. The first thing Rigo noticed was that the so-called Sacred Grove was not a particularly large space. It looked as though it were comprised of the ruins of a single building, and Rigo guessed that this was actually the physical remains of the Temple of Time as Nabooru had known it. Even fitting the two armies here in the best of conditions would be tight. This was going to be a close-quarters fight any way you sliced it. That was dangerous.
The second thing he noticed was the looming form of Tydus. The man was up on the dais, exactly where Nabooru had said he would be, and as Rigo entered and glanced up, Tydus was already looking down on him, the expression on his face the usual twist of anger and fear, though Rigo was beginning to suspect he saw more of the latter now. Tydus had obviously stopped presuming he knew everything about fighting the Gerudo, and about fighting Rigo. He had been truly shaken by what he'd seen at Gerudo Valley. He knew he'd need the Waters of Nayru for Hyrule to stand a chance against the invaders. And he was beginning to worry he wouldn't be able to get to it.
"Form up!" Tydus shouted at his troops. "The enemy is upon us! Hold them at the gates!"
Rigo pulled his bow and released a hasty arrow in Tydus's direction. The big man ducked and quickly drew back behind the doorway, out of sight.
Rigo scowled. "Would'a been too easy…" he said to no one in particular, and in that moment, the Hylians were upon him.
Flanked by his own people, part of his own army, Rigo found himself in the middle of combat. An armed Hylian soldier was suddenly before him, taking a wide, two-handed swing with his cleaver of a sword at Rigo's chest. Rigo ducked, attempting to parry the blow with his bow. He succeeded in not being cut, but at the cost of the weapon. It shattered upon impact, and Rigo had to disregard the useless thing on the floor.
Buying a precious second was more than enough, though. As the Hylian recovered from the swing, Rigo drew his own sword, and when the big blade came back, he was ready to counter it, swipe it aside, and slice back at the man holding it. He swung his own succession of quick, vicious strikes, putting the Hylian on the defensive, ducking behind his shield. He felt his confidence bolstered as he was joined by the pushes of his people around him, in unison. The Gerudo were fighting with the passion and bravery and strength of a people oppressed for centuries, a people fighting for their own freedom, their own right to be. And they knew that, and they appreciated the risk, and they wanted nothing more than to win their home back. The Gerudo would not take anything short of death for an answer.
When the soldier slipped up, Rigo was able cut his blade down over the man's chest. The armor deflected most of it, though a few circles of chain link went flying off in random directions, but it put the man off balance, and another swing to the helmet knocked him over. Once on the ground, the other Gerudo were upon him, and before long it was clear he would not be getting up again.
The Hylians defended their position strongly, but not nearly strongly enough. As the Gerudo continued to push them back, their line broke into pieces, and Rigo found himself upon a series of stone blocks that appeared to have once been a stairwell. It was rubble now, but with enough of an incline to climb up and reach the top of the dias. He pulled himself up, one arm after the other, until he reached the top. Until he reached…
Tydus!
As Rigo's head popped over the top, he was treated to the sight of Tydus's blade, the big man's sword coming down straight at his head. Rigo shifted to the side and the sword clanged against the stone stair instead, a spark shooting off of it, warming Rigo's cheek. Rigo retaliated with a swipe to the man's legs, but he jumped it easily. As he was about to make another attempt at Rigo though, he was hit in the side by a wooden arrow, which lodged into his chain link. A quick look off to the side showed Cila there, positioned with a couple of other archers who'd separated themselves from the main fighting, taking quick shots at Tydus, protecting Rigo from a distance.
None of the arrows were well aimed, but they were enough to drive Tydus back into cover to protect himself, and Rigo pulled himself up onto the dais and stood, facing the man.
"Sorcerer," Tydus cursed at Rigo as he got his feet under him.
"Coward," Rigo swore back.
The man wore the most cracked, sinister scowl across his face as he pointed his sword at Rigo with his right hand. Clutched tightly in his left was the Chalice of Nayru.
"You have no looming orders from the Queen this time, brat," he shouted. "No armies of bloody ghosts to protect you now."
"No," Rigo answered. "This time it's just you and me."
Without another word, Rigo lunged at the man, swinging his blade with all the power he could muster. The Colonel blocked, his sword knocked aside, and Rigo swung again, putting his anger behind each swing, remembering everything this man was, everything he was trying to do. Picturing the faces of Amili and of his grandmother, of everyone, and remembering that every single face was a reason why this maniac had to be stopped.
"Do you see yourself as virtuous!?" Tydus mocked as he swung at Rigo's neck. Rigo blocked and was forced a step backward. "Are you the Hero himself, come to kill me!? Does that make you feel better!?"
"You're insane," Rigo said. At the end of the day, Tydus was a bigger man. He had a longer reach and a bigger sword, and it was difficult to get inside on him.
"You lie to yourself, mongrel," Tydus said. Rigo tried for another swipe. Tydus parried and, to Rigo's surprise, swung out at him with his other hand, with the Chalice. Caught off guard, the Chalice hit him in the face, cutting him under his eye and knocking him backward.
"It's easy for you to label me," Tydus said. He swung out at Rigo now, pressing his advantage, again and again. Rigo blocked, backing up. He tried to move enough to expose Tydus to the ongoing battle below them, to try and open him up to the archers that had helped before, but when he clambered out from behind the doorway, it was clear that they were now gone, preoccupied with the rest of the battle. Rigo was alone.
He tried to shove aside the pain, but distracted by it, he slipped. One misstep and he was down on the ground, and Tydus wasted no time. A heavy boot came down, crushing Rigo's wrist, pinning his sword to the ground. Rigo tried to lift it back up, but Tydus just pushed down harder, just short of the pressure he'd need to crack bones in Rigo's arm. Rigo cried out in pain.
"You are the one invading my home. You are the enemy. You are the threat. And I am here to protect my people from you and yours!" Tydus raised his sword up, high over his head and prepared to come down on Rigo with the force of a killing blow. Rigo threw his free arm over his head to do what he futilely could to block it, but knew it would do no good. This would be it.
"We've known one Ganondorf," Tydus said. "Never again!"
As the sword began to come down and Rigo prepared for a quick, sharp pain and a bright white light, suddenly the pressure on his wrist was removed. Tydus grunted and was knocked aside. Rigo looked up, and saw the form of Pureet slam into the big man from the side, knocking him back into the far wall.
"You do not touch him," Pureet said, positioning herself between the two of them. Rigo couldn't see where she had come from or how she had gotten up alone, but she was here, looking out for him still.
Tydus recovered from the blow and looked over her. He looked suspicious, as though this blind woman surely must be some kind of joke, but as she made another attempt with her sword in his direction, he decided not to risk underestimating her. He came at her with everything he had, and it was overbearing. However Pureet managed to get herself around, impressive as her ability was with her handicap, it was definitely not due to any superhuman sensation or divine power. Her blindness, Rigo could see clearly now, was a liability. And lack of sight did not aid her against the full power of Tydus. And as Rigo scrambled for his sword and for his balance, he was forced to watch, almost in slow motion, as Pureet lost her bearings, tried to attack at a locationthat Tydus was no longer in, and saw the big man came down on her from the side.
"Pureet, look out!" Rigo yelled, but it was too late. He watched as the Colonel's sword pierced through his old teacher's chest, how the tip, covered in precious scarlet blood, emerged from between her shoulder blades in back. He heard Pureet gasp, an awful, horrifying, stifled sound, and saw her shrink as her final breath left her body. She transformed before his eyes into a lifeless shell, the thing that had once been his teacher, his confidant, and his friend.
"Disgusting swine," Tydus said as he dropped her body to the floor in an irreverent heap. It was enough to push Rigo over the edge.
"You bastard!" he yelled, and he was upon the man without a moment's hesitation.
No words could take in his anger as he assaulted Tydus, who was immediately put on the defensive, guarding against Rigo as though the boy were a force of nature. There were ladders, Rigo could see out of the corner of his eye, and more Gerudo were coming up them onto the dias now. Obviously they were close to controlling the gateway entirely. Pureet had just been the first. But, Rigo didn't care about any of it anymore. The newcomers stood back, stayed out of Rigo's way, and just watched. They were wary of him and the hateful power he had in him then. They were right to be.
Tydus tried to hold him off, but Rigo wailed, again and again, and it was all the big man could do to retreat around the small platform and block. He had no way of pressing an advantage, no way of striking back, and Rigo's energy in his rage was boundless. As Tydus's arms began to tire from taking hit after hit, his muscles grew looser by no choice of his own, and he sagged under each blow too much. That was when Rigo saw his chance.
The chain mail that Tydus wore fell down to his shoulders, no lower. On Rigo's next blow, he took aim, and though the Colonel tried again to block the onslaught, Rigo's blade connected at Tydus's left elbow exactly where Rigo wanted it to, with the full force of the Gerudo's fury behind it. The sharpened steel cut clean through flesh and muscle and bone, and the hand that held the Chalice of Nayru was sliced clean off. It collapsed to the floor.
Tydus himself cried out and fell several steps backward, toward the lip of the dais, dropping to his knees and staring in disbelief at the stump that had once been his limb. His mouth moved like a goldfish, but he looked as though he just couldn't make sense of it. He dropped his sword and touched the bloody mess at his elbow. Rigo could already see his eyes glazing over as he went into shock at the injury. Good. He wanted the man scared. He wanted him in as much fear and pain as possible before the bitter, inevitable end he was going to face right here.
"Bleed out you evil, fucking devil!" Rigo spat at him, and with those words, kicked at Tydus with every ounce of strength he could muster. The man was knocked backwards, and went tumbling off the dais, head over heels. He fell down into the slaughter below, collapsing to the forest floor in the middle of his own battleground. The armies, each now fighting for their own survival, could take no time to notice this man, the fallen leader. And Rigo turned away once he saw him he laying there, bleeding into the grass.
Tydus's severed arm still lay where it fell, tangled in the blood soaked rags that had once been his cloth sleeve. It still clutched to the Chalice of Nayru as though it continued to serve its old purpose, as though no one had told it that it was no longer attached. Rigo grabbed the cup and kicked the limb away as he did, turning toward Pureet's body. As he walked to her, he could hear murmurs coming from the Gerudo around him. They were watching him with veneration in their eyes. He could hear repetitions of the word "King," but he couldn't pay it any mind just then. He turned Pureet's body over, looking for even the smallest sign that she might still be alive, that she might still be saved. But she didn't stir. She didn't breathe. She was entirely gone, taken by the villain and left with nothing but the smile that, even on her cooling face, still looked warm. She had died still believing in him, in everything he represented, and fully certain that her death would mean he could go on, that he could finish this and lead their people to victory.
"Damn it!" Rigo swore, tears filling his eyes. "Goddess, damn it all!" He didn't know how long he sat there with Pureet cradled in his lap. It can't have been long, but it felt like forever. He just wished the battle would be over. Wished that he didn't need to go on fighting it. She hadn't deserved this.
"Your Highness," he heard spoken from above him. He was tempted to ignore it and just stay in his own world, but knew that wasn't a choice. He looked up and saw Cila's face hovering above him. She was dirty and bloody and looked exhausted, but still there she was. Still she was ready to go on.
Surely he could too.
Rigo set Pureet down and got to his feet to look at Cila.
"What are your orders?" the squad leader asked.
Rigo looked over at the several Gerudo now perched on the dais beside him, and down at the battle where the bodies were beginning to pile up, but the battle formations showed him that the Hylians were surrounded, fighting the Gerudo from the middle of the Grove, on both sides.
"We hold the gateway?" Rigo asked Cila.
"Yes, m'Lord," Cila responded with iron in her belly.
Rigo looked down at the Chalice. So much. So much gone wrong over this stupid little thing.
"You do not give up this position come hell or high water, do you hear me?" Rigo asked.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"I am going to open this gate. When I do, it will become the only thing here that matters anymore." Rigo clapped her on the shoulder. "Over your dead body does anyone get in here. Do you understand?"
"I've got it," Cila said.
Rigo nodded. It wasn't over yet. He still had work to do. They all did.
In a flash, Rigo was down off the dais. He jumped and landed on his feet, plowing into a line of Hylian soldiers sword first. They didn't have an instant to see him coming, and Rigo barreled them aside as he passed, working around the center of the Grove, through a majority of Gerudo to get through the ruins and to the pedestal he knew was on the other side.
As he made it past the bulk of the fighting, he saw Amili waiting anxiously in the doorway there, flanked by guards. Behind her was a stairwell leading up. At the sight of Rigo, she visibly relaxed, and she looked just as grateful to see the relic he held in his hand.
"Are you alright?" she asked when he got within earshot.
"I'm fine," he said. "We've got the Chalice and we control the gate. Let's do this." He pushed past Amili and headed up the stairs.
"Watch the entrance," she ordered her guards, and followed after him. "Rigo, you should know. There's a problem here."
"Just one?" he shot back. He got up to the top of the stairs and out before him was the pedestal. Immediately, he could see the problem Amili was talking about.
"The Master Sword is gone," she said.
Rigo didn't stop. He strode over to the pedestal and Amili followed right behind him. "That's not a problem. We don't need it."
"Okay," Amili said. "But where is it?"
"Amili, with all due respect, I don't care. We just need to get the Chalice on there. This makes things simpler." He knew he was being short with her, but there was too much on his mind to be any other way.
"Did something happen?" she asked.
He swallowed. "Pureet is dead." The statement had an obvious impact on her. She rocked on her heels and her face froze stone cold, but she otherwise tried to hide her anger at it.
"The more time we waste, the more people are gonna die with her," Rigo went on. "So let's get moving. Let's stop this right now."
Amili nodded, clearly in disbelief over it, but her eyes were drawn to the Chalice Rigo held, and when she saw it, she got out of his way.
Rigo stepped up to the Pedestal and Nabooru, who made a habit of staying silent unless she had something practical to contribute, spoke up. You're gonna place the Chalice right on top, right where the Master Sword should be.
Should I be concerned that it's missing? Rigo asked.
Be concerned about whatever you want. That's how you raise the Fountain.
Her tone was testier than normal, but Rigo was in no mood to be concerned or irritated by it. He just plowed through for the information he needed. And then what?
Then the Fountain will be revealed on the other side of the gate, and the gateway will be unlocked.
Rigo stared at the cup, and it wasn't hard. It still had that attraction, that draw that had first pulled his eyes to it in the Sand Goddess's treasure room. This close to serving it purpose, it seemed to glimmer and shine even more brightly, eager to fulfill its function. Rigo thought it was time to let it.
Slowly, gently, he placed the Chalice of Nayru down onto the Pedestal of Time. When the silver touched the stone, he felt a rumbling. It was as though a small tremor passed through the earth and groaned its way up out of the ground, into the ruins of the Temple of Time itself. Everything shook slightly, and if Amili had not looked up and noticed, he might have believed he'd imagined it. But as they stood there glancing around at their surroundings, it ceased, and all that was left were the sounds of battle from outside.
"Is that it?" Amili asked.
Is that it? Rigo asked.
It's done, Nabooru responded. Get across before the Hylians do.
"C'mon," he said to Amili. "We need to cross over into the Sacred Realm now."
He ran down the stairs with Amili behind him and emerged once more onto the battlefield. He couldn't see across the sea of combat and gleaming armor, but he hoped beyond hope that Cila still held the gateway, and that no one had yet gone inside.
Amili reunited with her guards and they came together with Rigo to form a small, keystone squad of their own. "We'll go up the side, where you came down. We stop for nothing." Rigo gave a curt nod, and beckoned for the group to come with him.
But they didn't get the chance.
Before they could move more than a few steps into the fray, a harsh, screeching sound came from overhead. The noise echoed into the Grove at a pitch so high it hurt to listen to it. Some of the combatants pulled away to clutch at their pounding ears. Others just turned to the sky. And what they saw there was startling. It was a bird, one the size of a small house, and it was diving toward the battle with purpose.
The soldiers, all of them, were thrust apart when they saw the monster. It descended rapidly and unstoppably and seemed prepared to plummet straight into the ground. The fighting momentarily stopped as they all came to grips with this new intruder. Those directly in its line of flight cleared away, giving whatever it was room to land. But it did not. As it drew closer, RIgo found that it resembled an owl, though it was obviously larger than any owl he'd ever seen, and it was carrying something in its talons. As it neared the ground, it spread its wings wide, wide enough to catch a thermal and cease its descent. And released its talons, dropping its parcel.
The bird flapped with colossal effort, causing massive gusts of wind across the Grove and kicking up dust and grass into the air. The flapping slowed it, and gradually it again began again to climb. Its parcel however dropped to the ground, rolling and tumbling as it hit, coming to a stop between Hylian and Gerudo soldiers who had paused to get a glimpse at what it was. And once they got a good look, they all froze in place.
As it stopped rolling and came to rest halfway across the battlefield, Rigo could see the distinct outline of its legs, spread out to either side to stop its momentum, and he first realized that this was actually a person. A man. He was dressed in brown leather boots, and a tunic of forest green. And when he stood, Rigo could also see the hat, streaming out behind him in that distinctive way it always did in the pictures. It was colored green to match the tunic.
The man looked around himself, apparently not expecting to have been dropped in the middle of a bloody war zone, and took in the shocked and awed looks from the soldiers around him. When he'd seen it all, he turned for the doorway to the Pedestal of Time and found Rigo and Amili standing in it. His deep eyes, brown as tree bark, went wide at the sight of Rigo, mistaking him, as they all did, for the villain he was not. Thinking he recognized Rigo as the man that he, Link, the Legendary Hero, was forever destined to fight.
Well, there's something you don't see every day, Nabooru marveled.
"Hell," Rigo said out loud, forgetting himself. Of anything he might have expected to encounter here, this was not on the list. And he made no mistake, Link was an obstacle. Whatever the Hero had come for, Rigo knew one thing.
It wouldn't be good.