Chapter 71: Last Rites
Rauru's face slammed against the stone floor of the temple. Pain erupted from his cheek and chin until it overwhelmed his whole body. His vision blurred as the Gerudo warrior pressed him against the ground. She had attacked him. It took a moment for the concept to take hold. Someone hit him, with the intent to hurt him. He could not remember a time when anyone ever so much as threatened him, much less struck him. Even as a boy, he had avoided the rough horseplay of other children his age. And watching his father's bloody work in the butcher shop made him sick.
But here he was, panting for breath. On the floor. He was half certain he let out a rather pathetic gasp when he landed on the ground. He was in a fight. A Gerudo warrior struck him. Within one of the most holy sites in all the world. It was sacrilege. But that did not change what was happening. A knee pressed into his back, and his arms pulled back far past the point his old bones could bend. Another gasp of weakness.
His blurred vision returned, just in time to watch helplessly as the King of the Gerudo swatted aside Navi the fairy and walked into the Sacred Realm in triumph.
Rauru opened his mouth to say something, but he only could taste the iron of his blood. Even if he could speak, what was there to say? No words could describe the depth of his failure. For thousands of years the Temple of Time guarded the Sacred Realm and the power contained within. Generations of priests dedicated their lives to maintaining the temple, safeguarding the secrets of the past. Preparing every one of them for this day, the day that the Chosen would reveal themselves. And all his preparation, all his training had not been for nothing.
His magic had been nothing against the Gerudo King. A spell he had once been so proud of, that he had hoped would be all he would ever need to defend his temple. Binds of golden light that no mortal power could destroy, and yet, Ganondorf broke the unbreakable. And before he could even think of what else to try he had already lost. Rauru never imagined in his darkest dreams that this would be the end of things. The fate of the world not decided by his magic, nor his knowledge, nor his faith, but his inability to take a hit.
The Goddesses must be so ashamed of him.
The Gerudo warrior got off him, grabbed him by the front of his robes and pulled him to his feet. "Listen to me, priest," she said as she grabbed a sword and pointed it at him. "I've fought beside my king for several years. I know what it looks like when he prepares to cast a spell. You so much as twitch in a way I don't like I will run you through. Now, I don't much want to do that. And I'm certain you don't want that either. So, you are going to stay absolutely still."
Though she spoke, and Rauru could understand each word, somehow their meaning didn't reach him. She had attacked him. And he lost.
As a young acolyte, he had dreamed that he would be the one to guide the Chosen to the divine. But he never believed it would be him. In truth he never wanted it to be him. Let others come after him to live in important times. Let heroes write their names in the annals of history. All he wanted was to help, to be a footnote. After Father Hinton passed the position of High Priest was passed to his assistant Father Rauru who did his duty for forty years and was remembered fondly. That's all he wished his legacy to be.
He could never live up to the challenges of gods and the great chances of the world. No matter how he practiced, how he prayed, how well learned he became, he was still only the son of a butcher who happened to pick up a talent for reading and praying. He happened to draw the attention of the last High Priest of Time. He was not a lord, nor the descendant of an honored prophet, nor of the lineage of a hero. No one important, he never should have been anyone important.
Just a priest. That's all he wanted to be, a good priest.
"You hear me, priest?" The Gerudo slapped him in the face, and another spike of pain tore through him. "He's out of it. Here, give me a gag and rope."
"No," rasped another of the Gerudo. This one a heavy-set woman with a cane in one hand and a dagger in the other. "I like to hear them beg as we cut them."
"This one knows magic," the one that slapped him said. "And we're in a temple. We're not going to cut them."
"You do not order me what I will or won't do. During the war, I used to burn down these temples all across this kingdom. Lock the priests inside as I set the flame. They burn just as hot as anyone else," she laughed. "Scream just as loud as well. I will hear this one's screams."
Rauru looked away from his tormentors, Impa and Zelda stood at the base of the stairs. Both of them already bound, with their hands tied and the princess gagged. A third Gerudo stood behind both of them, just finished with their binds and now prodded them with the edge of her sword. He looked about trying to find the fairy, but he could not find her.
"I'm sorry," Rauru met the princesses' eyes. "I should have been-"
"What's that?" the old Gerudo snapped at him. "You get your senses back, old fool?"
"I should have been better. I trusted in the protection of this sanctum, when I should have trusted your intuition."
The woman struck him in the stomach with her cane, sending him back to the floor, coughing. "Pathetic, the lot of them. Let's finish this quick, Makeela go slit the throat of the princess. I want to hear what this one has to say about that."
"I will do no such thing," the one that tackled Rauru said. "These are our prisoners. And they didn't just surrender without a fight, they fought, they gave their best. That earns them their lives, that's Gan's ways."
"He will make an exception for these three," the older one laughed. "Especially the princess. There's no saving her, that I guarantee you." She grinned to the child. "Here that little brat? You die today. Maybe I'll place your head next to your father's? You can decorate our new castle gate. You were always such a lovely little thing, I bet you'll be all the prettier when no one has to listen to your prattle."
As the pair bickered, Rauru refused to move from the floor. He tried to pull whatever magic he could to him. But there was nothing. Spending hours healing the weak had taken their tole from him. And when King Dragmire shattered his spell it took so much out of him. Perhaps if he could reach the artifacts he could use them to channel his spells. But there was no way he'd reach them before the Gerudo caught him again.
He shut his eyes and whispered. "Golden Three, please forgive me. Nayru I have been foolish, ignoring the dangers of the world. Farore my courage has faltered, I am afraid of these women and what they will do. Din I am… weak. Please, blessed ones do not abandon me, even though I have failed you."
Nothing came. The Goddesses did not answer. Even with the Sacred Realm open before him, no divine retribution came forth. No holy word to wipe the temple clean. No judgment to punish the wicked. No sign. Nothing.
It never should have been him. Of course, the Goddesses wouldn't listen to him. What had he done to prove himself worthy? It should have been the fierce Father Gisrolb, who kept the temple safe during the burning of Castle Town. Or the legendary Mother Minra, the Grand Collector. Or even his own teacher, Father Hinton. There had been a wise and mighty scholar, with the conviction to act, whatever was required of him. All the qualities Rauru only played at.
It should never have been him.
A tingling energy started at his cheek and flowed through his entire body. At firs a trickle, but it flowed deeper and deeper until he felt as if one of his own students offered him their magic. He opened his eyes and saw a faint blue light just before him.
"Make use of it," the fairy said, as she climbed up his face and nestled by his shoulder. Pressing what felt like little hands to his neck, and wherever she touched, Rauru felt strengthen.
"You start begging?" The elder Gerudo laughed. "Speak up, I don't want to miss it. Let's hear you pray for your gods to smite me down. That's what you were doing eh? That I should fall over and die? Or are you more creative. Got a way you want me to go, specifically? There was one that prayed I'd burn in holy fire. But no fire ever came. Well, except my own." She took him by the shoulder and pulled him back to his feet. "Well, did they answer you this time?"
"I believe so."
Rauru breathed deep and called the power to him. Forming it within him before he spread his hands and fingers wide. Chains of light swirled through the air. Shackles formed around the two Gerudo nearest him. Their hands, arms, ankles all surrounded in shimmering gold. The chains went tight, pulling the two of them into the air.
The younger of the two roared and struggled against the binds. The old Gerudo chief acted fast. "The princess! Kill the princess!" She screamed at the only Gerudo left unchained.
"Nayru!" Rauru called upon spells he had not used since he first learned them decades before. Back when he first trained to be a guardian of the temple. Spells that he hoped he would never need, almost forgotten to the back of his mind. "Let your love protect those in peril!"
The unbound Gerudo swung her sword down at the bound princess. The girl's eyes wide in pure terror. With her gag, unable to even scream.
The blade stopped a finger's width away from the back of the girls head. Stopped by a gleaming blue light. The warrior struck again, and with each attempt the blade only rang against the blue shield that surrounded Zelda.
Lady Impa managed to free her hands from the binds. She stood, a long-bladed knife in her hand as she moved to strike the Gerudo. Rauru was no warrior, but a dagger did not seem like much a weapon against a sword.
"Farore!" Rauru called. "Let your winds carry the meek to safety!"
A swirling green wind encompassed the Sheikah, the princess, and the Golden Harp of Hylia that laid at her feet. For a moment Rauru saw the princess tearfully reaching toward him before the wind was all there was. Just as quick as it came, the wind disappeared and they were gone.
The Gerudo chief's screams sent shivers down Rauru's spine. There were no words there, or meaning, beyond a rabid feral howl for blood.
The other chained Gerudo was more coherent. "Forget the princess! Get the priest! Don't let him talk!"
The last of the Gerudo warriors advanced on Rauru. He backed away struggling to come up with some more energy to cast his spells. But there was nothing left. No matter how he dug he could not find enough magic within him to even light a candle much less face a trained warrior. But this had been a proper end. He saved the princess, and from her there was hope that Hyrule would not fall. Not completely. Not tonight.
But once more, a little voice whispered in his ear. "Take everything I have. For Link."
One final surge of energy, before the fairy's hands slipped from him and he felt the figure collapse. But all she had, had been enough. One final spell. The most destructive one he knew. One he hoped he would never have to use. "Din!" He shouted. "Let your flame burn away the unrighteous!"
"Stop him! Throw your sword!" the chained Gerudo tried to yell before he finished the spell.
Fire.
Screeching.
A heat so intense Rauru could hardly bare it, even though the flames never touched him. It lasted only a moment. But Rauru would never forget the horror he witnessed. All that remained of his assailants were two charred corpses still hanging with golden chains, and one more no longer even a corpse, just scattered ashes strewn across the floor. And the smell, he had not prepared for the smell.
He couldn't breathe. He collapsed on the floor. Why couldn't he breathe? No, that wasn't quite right. He was breathing. Harder than heever had. His heart pounded louder and faster than when he thought he was about to be killed. His chest hurt. His lungs hurt. His limbs trembled. He tried to move them, but they flopped against his chest. He clutched onto himself, and could not stop the shaking.
"Rauru?" the little blue light climbed from off his shoulder. Her wings flapped, but weak, and slow. She could not reach the air. "You did it."
"I…" Rauru whispered through gasping breathes and clattering teeth. "I killed them." He turned from the two corpses hanging from golden chains, only to realize his feet scraping into the ashes of the third. He pulled his legs back to his chest, leaving streaks in the dust. He yelped. "No, no. I killed them."
"I know," the fairy said.
"I've never- I- I'm a priest. Oh Goddesses. What have I done?"
"What was necessary." The fairy climbed to his chest. "Look at me. Watch my light. Try and match your breathing with my light." Her faint blue light slowly grew more intense then just as slowly dimmed.
"Breathe in," Rauru told himself. Just as he instructed all his students. Just as his master instructed him. Focus on your breathing. Go slow. Be precise. Be calm. "Breathe out."
It took him a few breaths before his heart slowed down, and his breathing returned to normal. It took even longer for his arms to stop shaking. "Thank you, gentle Navi."
"Thank you, you saved everyone."
"We saved them."
"Those spells, I've never seen anything like that. Where did you send them?"
"In truth, I do not know. But away from here, where they should be safe. What of you? Can you fly? Can you find safety yourself?"
"No. Not until I rest near some powerful magic. And even after, I wouldn't go," the fairy shifted about so she looked toward the wall of black flame and the Door that stood behind it. "I won't leave him again."
"I can't promise he is safe."
"He's alive," the fairy's voice left no room for argument. "I can feel him. He is… near, and yet so far. I can't explain it."
Rauru nodded, and scooped the blue light into his hands before he got to his feet. Careful not to disturb the dead. "I have an idea. But it may be hard for you."
"I'll suffer through it."
Rauru could only shake his head and marvel at her. Accepting without question, without hesitation. Heroes all of them. The princess, the boy, the Needle, and now the fairy. They were the ones that these difficult times needed. He would do his best to live up to them.
He carried her away from the smell of burnt flesh, and the sickening feel of ash in the air. Into the furthest part of the temple and the vault where all the greatest magical treasures of the realm were stored.
She gasped as they entered. Moving to the tip of his thumb to get a better look at the arrangement of artifacts.
"Will this sustain you?"
"Yes. This is incredible."
He carried her past the dread mask and the cape of roc's feathers to the silvered bow. He placed his hand beside it and let the fairy crawl from his thumb to the weapon. "For how long?"
"I could live down here for years."
"Let's hope it will not take that long." Rauru picked up one of the weaker of the items, a wand of simple illusions, it would have to do. "Whatever happens, King Dragmire must not find any of these artifacts. Should he return and discover you, you must be willing to destroy them all. Can you do so?"
"I think."
"That is not good enough, Navi. This is not the time for modesty. Can you destroy them?"
"I can absorb the magic from them, rendering them useless. I can… I can start a small fire on the books. Not like the one that you made. But it should work."
"That will have to do." He walked out of the vault and put his hand on the door. "I'm going to seal this room, so hopefully no one will be able to find it. To you, this will be a simple door. But do not open it unless your boy returns. Once you do, my spells will no longer work."
"I understand."
Rauru lifted his chin. "Then I pass my charge onto you. My final duty, guard these so that they cannot be used for evil. The realm may fall tonight, but its people remain. And these must not be turned against them."
"They won't be."
"Then, I can only wish you well. May the Goddesses ease your suffering. And may Link return to you unharmed." He closed the door.
Once he could no longer be seen he pressed his forehead to the wood and took a deep breath. Goddesses guide my hand, let this be the correct path.
One more deep breath and he straightening up. He raised his wand and began to weave the spells into being. The wand could make simple illusions with ease, but he needed something more powerful. Deeper and stronger than a glamour. But he could release its magic and use that to shape what he wanted from it. It would be slower work, using a tool not for its intended purpose always was. But it could be done.
First, he bound an enchantment around the door so that it could only be opened from within. Then he used the wand as a stylus and etched magic runes of protection onto the door and nearby walls. Making them as sturdy as Goron steel, so no axe nor sword could ever pierce them. Charms to divert any attempts to scry within the walls so they revealed nothing but dirt and stone. Every protection he could think of, until the wand was near spent. Then last, he used the wand for its intended purpose and spread the image of the wall across the door.
Until there was only one last thing that could reveal the secret entrance.
He walked back to the portal to the Sacred Realm, and once more looked over his handiwork strewn across the room. It still filled his heart with guilt and shame. But there was no stopping that now.
Or was there? One final temptation, he supposed. Call upon the most dangerous of spells himself. Just as he told all his students to never do. Perform the Song of Time and rewrite all his past mistakes. But that was more a dream than an actual option. None of the greatest mages in history had ever truly mastered the spell. Some only had been lucky a handful of times. But every story of a mage shaping time itself with their magic ended one way: with untold damage.
There was no harm in dreaming of some perfect world where your mistakes never happened where you could right every wrong. But that is not the real world. That was not what it meant to be alive. All you could do is try to be the best person you can be in the time you dwell. Sins and all.
He snapped the wand in half and tossed it into the black fire. It sizzled to a crisp, consuming its magic and destroying any last hope of that magic could fix all the wrongs he beheld.
Those three deepest mistakes he could not return to life, or change their stories. But he could do his best. For however little it would matter, he could not leave them. He would not let his last act be that of a killer.
He moved to one of the shackled corpses, he took hold of her charred flesh before he dispersed the magic that held her upright.
The charred body was light, far too light to be a full person. And yet the weight of her felt heavier than any Rauru had held. He laid the body upon the ground.
"You were named Makeela. I do not know all the rites of your people. I understand that your funerals involve singing. I am sadly not much a singer. Nor do I know the proper songs. But I can only say, you seemed a loyal warrior. May you be judged by the nobility of your intentions rather than the destruction you have caused. I am sorry you now will never have the chance to learn from any mistakes you have made. Be at peace."
He took the charred and ash ridden swords closest to her and laid it over the remains of her chest. That was how the knights were buried, it may be the same with the Gerudo.
Next he released the war chief among them. Laid her out the same and put the dagger over her. He tried to do the same with the remains of her cane, but it still smoldered from Din's Fire. "I did not know your name, but I listened when you spoke. I do not know what horrors you experienced that led you to become the woman you turned into. What terrors in war, what miserable influences turned your heart to hatred. But may that rage be quenched in death, and whatever comes from your soul in the next life be given a new start. Be at peace."
And last he went to the ash that no longer even bore the shape of a person. He sat down beside It and lowered his head. "Of you I have no name, nor words. I know you followed an evil master, but not the choices that led you to them. I hope that your end was painless. I do not know if any who find us will even recognize you as a person to sing over. Please accept this song for you, it is the best I can do."
He cleared his throat and thought to the first funeral he ever officiated. The first child he'd sat at her bedside trying to heal though none of his magics worked. He thought of this last day, of trying his best to keep all who sought him safe. He had never been much of a singer, but he had led songs of prayer for most of his life.
On this night, on this night
When wind whiffs out the candle's flame
Unknown dark thy fear unkind
On this night, on this night
Fear not the lands in shadows lay
For mercy thou wilt find
Love shall guide thee
To bed and rest thy weary mind
Love shall guide thee
To a land evil shalt ne'er bind
He stopped before the next verse, it mentioned Hylia more directly and he thought that perhaps the souls of these Gerudo would not appreciate having her name sung over them. He rose to his feet. "I hope the three of you find peace."
He did not hear the man return through the Door of Time. He did not know how long he had been there. But once his last words were done he knew that he was no longer alone. He turned to face the doom of Hyrule. The black fire no longer sealed the Door of Time. But the realm of light was nothing next to the figure that stood before him. Rage etched on his face, and his right hand bearing the symbol of the Three and their Chosen.
"Who did this?" The man went to the first of the corpses, the one called Makeela.
"Only me."
"And where is the Princess?" the monster snarled.
"Somewhere safe."
"Don't be so self-satisfied, you have not won."
"Do I look satisfied to you?" Rauru sighed. "The kingdom is yours. I cannot stop you. But some day, someone will."
The Last of the Chosen raised his sword, and all Rauru could do was bow his head, and whisper one last prayer to the Three. Hoping that what he had done was enough.