*Authors Notes*
Well, this has been a long time coming.
I've never completely given up on this, although at times months have gone by since I even looked at it. Unfortunately, this isn't even a full chapter, its closer to a half or a 3rd of what I want the 2nd chapter to cover. I've got most of it written, I just need to write the end, and a section in the middle which connects this bit to the rest of the chapter. I decided to just post what I have done however, and post the rest as another chapter when I've finished the bridging section.
Although I havn't had any comments (the meat and drink of fanfic authors), I did notice this story was getting quite a few hits... an average of 15 a month or so. This has partially inspired me to keep going at it, even if it is still a glacial pace.
Well enjoy the story, and hopefully I'll have the rest finished some time this century.
*Disclaimer*
I don't own the characters or the world-setting. Although both have been warped so far as to be virtually unrecognizable. When you get right down to it, the characters in most N64 games wern't exactly that fleshed out...
*Story*
Chapter II
"You understand where you went wrong?"
Link nodded.
"Then we'll start again."
Link once more put the flute to his lips, and waited for his next entrance into the Song. In most of the forest the Song was barely noticeable, tickling just on the edge of his awareness, However in some places the music focused enough for it to become instantly noticeable. One such place was in the courtyard of the crumbling castle where he had first met Sarah. She was there now, waiting patiently for him to join the Song with his own instrument. The song swirled all around him. He could feel it. It wasn't yet time for him to play, but it was close.
The music of the forest couldn't be heard out loud. It wasn't heard at all, only felt. Those in tune with the forest felt it, and the messages contained within. Outsiders felt nothing. The tree's, the forrest creatures, even the lost children required the song to survive. It was more spell than song, and its magic flowed from a well buried deep in the crumbling castle located in the forests centre. The Song itself was used by the guardians of the forrest to control their realm. It was used to sound out any information they needed, and relay any instructions the guardians might have. It was used to control the way the tree's grew. The guardians used it to make impenetrable barriersblocking access of sensitive sites to possible intruders. It was used to increase the growth of berry bushes if there was not enough food for the animals, to decrease the amount of predators born when the forest could not support them, and all other matters governing the forest. Any intruders entering the forrest would disturb the Song, and all those who knew the Song's meaning would become aware of it. All that happened in the forrest echoed through the Song, and those who knew the song had the power - and responsibility - to protect the forrest from harm.
And now, he was being taught how to play it.
Learning to join with the song was more difficult then he would have imagined, but that was no matter. The going was slow, and he had yet to stay tuned for more than ten seconds, but he was making progress. No matter how long it was taking, he was making progress.
The music flowed all around him. He couldn't remember how long he had been learning the song. Time didn't seem important to the forrest. One day was much the same as a thousand. He knew there was once a time when he couldn't understand even the simplest of messages through it, but now it was as clear as the instrument in front of his face. A tree five miles from here had fallen against it's neighbor. An outsider on a horse was right on the edge of the forrest, right on the verges of entering. The children were running near the borders of the forrest, waiting to lead him astray if he should. A thousand other details were there, just waiting for him to listen. Only once he had fully understood the messages the Song could convey had Sarah asked him to learn to play it.
And then the time was right. The song opened up for him. He pressed his lips against the opening of the instrument, pressed his fingers into the right holes, and started playing. His notes matching perfectly with the silent Song echoing round him.
As he played, he began to feel his music join with the Song. The music continued silently, and his flute played in eerie counterpoint to it, trilling along, going up and down through the scales and complementing the silent melody. Eight seconds he played. Ten seconds. Link grew elated. Twelve seconds… And then his excitement got the better of him and he lost focus.
Link lowered the flute from his lips, and looked at Sarah for encouragement.
"That's great Link. A new record…" Sarah broke off as a discordant note rang through the Song, shrieking of danger. One of the skull children defending the forrest had just been attacked. The outsider on the horse had entered the forrest and was ignoring the Kokiri childrens magic, so the Skull child had tried to turn him back. Sarah and Link could both feel the rider as he made his way past the badly burned and dying skull child. The dying scull child a constant harsh low note of pain in the song, slowly getting softer as his life faded. The rider a completely new instrument, one neither of them recognized, but unpleasant to the ears.
Sarah smiled at Link, the smile being somewhat forced. "I'll take care of this. You keep practicing, ok?" and ran down into the maze.
Link looked at her figure as she slowly made her way through the maze. He knew as well as Sarah did how serious this was. And she expected him to just stay where he was and practice?
Link waited till Sarah had gone, then made his way out through the maze guarding the temple, keeping track of the outsider through the song as he went. Once he was free of the maze, he merged with the Song to increase his pace. Something all the Kokiri children could do, merge with the Song. Become a physical manifestation of it. Moving through the forest in a sort of dance in time to it. But in merging with the song, you absorbed some of it into yourself and the Song absorbed some of you. You weren't quite all in the physical realm. You no longer had to worry about tripping over tree-roots or fatigue. And all people would see if they were watching was a shadowy blur travelling from tree to tree. The problem with it was you couldn't see or hear anything besides the song. You knew all that happened within the forest, but couldn't narrow down to what was happening in your particular area. This was the opposite of what he had been trying to do with the ocarina. With the ocarina he had been trying to influence the song. Gently making changes to it. Here, he was making changes to himself, to become a part of it.
Link was flowing through the forest, the tree's blurring past. He caught up with the intruder just as he was about to encounter the barrier of thorns that protected the Deku tree. Cautiously, he slowed down. Disengaged from the song so he could see again. Peeked out from behind a tree.
The intruder was riding a horse, and wearing some strange clothing, made out of a material Link had never seen before. It looked a little like the bronzed knives that were sometimes dropped by intruders, but this was the wrong colour, a dark, shiny grey.
The intruder didn't look healthy either. His skin was a grayish color, and his eyes seemed... wrong. The intruder was slowly trotting forwards towards the thorns, as though they posed no barrier. Link couldn't sense any of the other Kokiri kids. They must have fled when their tricks hadn't worked. He walked up to the briar patch until it completely blocked his way. Then he pointed at it, muttered something, and the part of the briar patch in front of him was incinerated in a sudden flash, creating a tunnel through the briar patch just big enough for the man and his horse to ride through.
The intruder kicked his horse into a slow trot and moved into the tunnel. All Link could do was watch silently. The intruder exited the tunnel, and entered the grove of the guardians. Seemingly impervious to the songs of sleep and forgetfulness and confusion which were being woven around him by the guardian trees, the intruder dismounted, walked up to the tree, and placed both hands upon it. Through the Song, Link could feel the tree shudder at the mans touch. The Deku Tree and the man stayed connected for a long time - communicating. From what Link could sense from the Song, the man seemed to be making some sort of demand, and the tree refusing. The man stayed still for so long Link was almost tempted to attack him. But the size of the man. The way he had shrugged off all the magic thrown at him. And what he had done to the Skull child. These stayed his hand. The man radiated an aura of malice. Link didn't want to bring himself to this mans notice. Besides, surely the Great Deku Tree was more capable than him to eradicate the man?
So Link stayed hidden, and just watched. Finally, the intruder broke the connection with a grunt of anger. He reached for something at his belt, and Link felt the magic in the grove intensify in a desperate attempt to stop this man. He heard the Deku Tree in his mind, for the first time ever, scared. "STOP HIM!"
By now Link was filled with fear. But the command from the Deku Tree galvanized him into action. Link merged with the song again, and rushed towards the man, hoping to knock whatever he was holding out of his reach. When he hit the man, he suddenly realized why none of the magic worked. The mans grey metal clothing. It destroyed any magic near him, nullifying it completely. Link screamed as he bounced off it. He had run into the armor while being merged with the song, and felt part of himself unravelling along with the song. The man grunted, and reached for his sword. Link ran, clutching his wounded shoulder and fleeing through the forest, sure that the man was following him, that he was instants away from having a sword planted in his gut.
Behind him, back in the clearing, the stranger pulled a small bottle from his saddlebags filled with a dark brown liquid. He dribbled a few drops onto the base of each tree in the clearing before remounting and preparing to leave.
"I will remove the spell if you give the amulet to me"
And the man was gone
It was now two hours later, and Link was waiting for Sara to come back. She had caught up with him not long after his flight from the Guardian tree's, and told him to wait for her where the river entered the forest from the north.
Link didn't normally come out this close to the edge of the forest, especially this area, where the bones of the mountains occasionally poked through the ground in huge black outcrops. Even the plants here looked strange. Only one or two of the giant tree's could survive here. The rest were much smaller trees, with leaves so big you could use them to keep dry when it rained. Different variety's of ferns wherever he looked, and a thick bed of moss covering all the rocks near the river. Very different from the Forest. It made Link feel uneasy. As though the world here was slightly skewed. The Song felt strange, as though the river and the rock somehow distorted it's sound. The river rushing past him into the forest wasn't part of the Song at all, yet it still traveled through the deepest parts of the forest before leaving it from the south. This disturbed Link the most, the idea of something foreign to the forest reaching so far into it.
He was broken from his musings as Sara slipped into his field of vision. She was carrying her pack, and it seemed much fuller than usual. Link immediately noticed Sarah seemed different.
She seemed to have less energy. Rather than bouncing around like a day old kitten, she was acting more like a cat at the end of it's life, carefully and wearily picking its way over the rocks towards him. The wide, mischievous grin, which she usually wore, was gone, in its place her face was blank, except for a small, sad smile whenever she glanced at him
Sara sat down before Link, and prepared herself to speak.
"That man… The one who attacked the Guardian tree's… He was looking for you, Link. "
Link looked on, waiting for Sara to continue.
"The forest cannot protect you from one such as him. "
"He's poisoned the Deku tree. We have been able to reduce most of it's effects, but it's slowly killing them. He wants us to hand you over, but we won't do such a thing. Your no longer safe here."
Sarah hesitated, then continued sadly
"You have to leave the forest Link."
"But I'll die if I leave the forest. The song sustains me, and if I leave…" Link protested.
"Link…" Sarah put her hands on his shoulders. "There's something I have to tell you."
She put down the pack and unpacked it. Inside were some of the clothing the outsiders wore. But much smaller.
"Try them on Link. See if they fit." Sarah was wearing that strange, sad smile again. As though some little joke of hers had been played out, but had turned against her.
Link struggled into the strange clothing. It seemed very dusty, and it was itchy in places and just plain uncomfortable, but it fit perfectly. He looked at her with a question in his eyes, and Sarah sighed.
"Link, Your not one of us. Your not one of the forests children."
Link frowned. Bewilderment crossed his face.
"Once a woman with a child entered this forest, Link. The child was of the right age, so we removed all that made him an outsider, and he became one of us. One of the forest children."
Link nodded. He didn't ask what had happened to the woman. He and the other children had hunted enough intruders for him to have any doubt about that.
She fished out something from the pack. A lump of smoky amber set in some sort of wood, which she told Link to hold. Then she closed her eyes to concentrate, and started humming softly, holding Links head between her hands as she returned his previous memories.
…
Natan stretched, and sleep slowly ebbed from his mind. He lay there on his back, listening to the sounds around him. Instead of the sounds of the castle waking up however, there was the gentle sound of birds twirping overhead. Instead of the sounds of hawkers in the marketplace there was the splashing of a river nearby. And instead of his soft feather bed, all he could feel under him was leaves and dirt. Sleep emptied from his mind further, and he sorted through his memory's idly, trying to remember what had happened.
They had all gone for a ride. A picnic in the woods. At night.
He pondered this for a while, enjoying the gentle breeze that cooled his face and tried to work out why they would have gone for a picnic at night. The matter was beyond him. He would ask his nurse. He finally opened his eyes. Nothing but the canopy of tree's far above. He couldn't see his nurse. He sat up on one arm to look around, and he still couldn't see his nurse. In fact he couldn't see any signs of his escort. No tents. No fireplace. No horses. No one at all. Except a peasant girl sitting in front of him, looking at him solemnly.
Natan smiled. "Hello girl. My names Natan. Do you know where everyone went?"
The girl silently shook her head.
Natan stood up and turned to leave.
"Wait…"
The girls voice sounded odd. He'd never even seen the girl before but there was something about her. And for just a second, he thought he had recognized the voice. He turned around.
The girl had stood up and was offering him something. He took and examined it. It was a clear piece of amber, set in some sort of hardwood. The hardwood had been carved exquisitely to resemble roots wrapped around rocks. The girl smiled sadly at him.
"Please look after it. It's for… good luck."
"Thank you" said Natan, oddly touched by the gift from the stranger.
The girl looked thoughtful for a second, then spoke.
"If you wish to return to the site of your town, there are people up the river who will guide you. Show them what I gave you, and they will help."
Natan looked at the girl. She didn't act like a peasant girl at all. She acted like his nurse.
The girl smiled a soft, sad smile as he looked at her and lent forward and planted a small kiss on his cheek.
"I have to go now. Good luck."
And the girl turned and walked away.
"Wait! Who are you? I want to talk to you." Natan chased after her, around the tree she had just walked behind… but she was gone. Link looked around. There was nowhere for the girl to have gone. It was impossible for her to have hidden in the time she was behind the tree. A faint memory of his first trip in the forest came back. Of another girl disappearing behind tree's. He looked back into the forest, trying to see into the shadows. A melochony tune started wafting through the tree's, played on some kind of wind instrument. He started backing away. Started heading upstream, away from the forest, and up into the valley carved by the river. Behind him, Sara lowered the pipes from her lips and watched with an impassive face as the boy she had met so long ago walked out of the forest. Once the boy had finally walked out of sight, she turned and left.
Natan slowly worked his way up the valley. It was more of a canyon than a valley. Steep sides that sometimes turned to cliffs. And the river surged down it, bouncing over rocks, around corners and off edges, filling the air with spray. All the rocks and the edges of the river were covered in a thick green moss. Ferns carpeted wherever the rocks didn't cover, and smallish tree's grew wherever they could find purchase.
The going wasn't too difficult for him, and he almost found it fun. He was almost running up the gorge. Hopping from rock to rock, trying not to slip in. Slipping between tree's and through the ferns.
But no matter how strange the surroundings, Natan couldn't enjoy them. His mind kept going back to the forest. To his strange awakening. He tried to keep his mind off it. Couldn't stop worrying at it.
What had happened to his nurse and his mother? Why had they wandered off like that? Why couldn't he remember what happened?
And who was that strange girl?
The girl had said the people up the river would get him back to his parents. Once that happened he'd find out what was happening. In the meantime, he just had to not think about it. Not think about the strange forest, and the even stranger girl.
At least that's what he tried to tell himself. But it didn't seem to be sinking in. It all kept worrying away at the back of his mind.
Natan plodded on, slower now. Climbing the ledges the small river sometimes cascaded over. Walking between the large rocks which had rolled down the hillside at some stage. He must have traveled for two or three hours when he noticed something out of place. There was a bridge across the river up ahead of him. A rope bridge.
When he reached it, he wasn't much the wiser. There was no sign of who made it. There was no one in site. There was only the bridge and an old path leading back down the river on his side, and further up the river on the other. Wondering just how long he'd been hopping rocks and climbing ledges while the path ran on beside him, Natan crossed the bridge and continued along the path.
The path led halfway up the hillside, and weaved its way between fallen rocks and tree's. Here and there small riverlets of water ran down the hillside and over the path. Ferns grew either side of him, and above him tree's cast their shade. The path showed signs of being maintained, though it didn't look like it was used all that often.
As Natan continued up the path, the valley gradually got steeper and steeper.
The path itself stopped travelling straight up the canyon, and took to zigzagging up the steepest bits. The river below roared, and spray flung itself up as it crashed its way over boulders and meter-high drops. There wasn't many tree's here as there wasn't enough soil. Moss grew everywhere but the path though, and ferns grew above the moss.
Natan had been travelling for about half the day now, and was wondering just how far away these people were, and if they had any food.
The river turned a corner in front of him, and as he approached it he heard a steady roar gradually grow louder. Much louder than the roar of the river below him. He turned the corner, and stopped in shock. The canyon ended in a sharp cliff as tall as the highest steeple, and the entire river was coming over the edge of it. The roar deafened him. And the entire place was covered with thick spray. He was still many river-lengths away, but the spray still hit him in the face. Still in awe of the waterfall, and glancing at it every time he got a chance, Natan continued.
But the path didn't have that far to go. It weaved its way between moss-covered boulders, before ending on a rocky beach in front of the plunge pool. A few boulders had been moved down onto the beach and seemed to act as seats. Besides that, there was nothing to show where people went once they got this far.
Natan sat on one of the rocks and wondered what to do now.
The plunge pool in front of him wasn't inviting. Most of it was a boiling maelstrom, concealed in spray. The rest had currents which would sweep you straight into the rapids.
The cliff itself seemed way to high to climb. The path ended here, and no matter how Natan looked at it, there wasn't any further way to go on.
He was taken out of his musings by the knife pressed against his throat.
"Outsiders are NOT welcome here"
The voice, though full of malice, was young and reedy.
Natan went to turn but the knife twitched a little, so he stopped.
"Tell me. What are you doing here?"
Natan hesitated, and the blade at his throat pressed a little deeper.
"I'm looking for a guide." His voice came out steady. He was quite proud of that.
The knife at his neck twitched again.
"You lie. You're a spy, aren't you? You've come to spy on our people."
"No. I don't even know who your people are. I was told I would find a guide to take me back to my lands." Natan said, shaken by the sharp object against his throat.
"I'm supposed to show them the jewel hanging from my neck."
The knife stayed in place, and a hand reached around for the jewel at his neck.
"This is… you came from the forest? Who sent you?" The malice was gone from his attackers voice, replaced with surprise.
"A girl from the forrest. She was there when I woke up. My nurse and my mother had…" Natan frowned.
"… Had gone… somewhere. The girl told me I could find someone to take me back to the castle up the river if I showed them the medallion."
His attacker was silent for a while, then spoke.
"You need to see my father"", and the knife was removed.
Natan turned slowly, and saw the oddest creature he had ever seen. His attacker looked a lot like a cross between a fish and a person. It had no hair or clothes, and large black eyes with no pupils. Its skin was a mottled blue and white, and seemed quite thick. Its hands were webbed, and when he checked, its feet were too. It also had three diagonal slashes on the side of its chest, which opened and closed every time the thing breathed.
"Never seen a Zora before?" the creature asked sarcastically.
Natan mutely shook his head.
"Well, follow me… What is your name anyway?
"Natan" he muttered, still getting used to the strange creatures body.
It turned, and clumsily waddled over the boulders towards the cliff face, then hesitated.
"You need to be blindfolded"
___
Natan allowed himself to be blindfolded, and the Zora led him into the water. They paused neck down in the water.
'Hold your breath'
And he was dragged under and through the water. He immediately stiffened, but tried to relax. It wouldn't drown him, would it?
Would it??
Natan started struggling, and managed to break loose from the Zora.
Straining upwards, he broke through the surface of the water. He breathed in huge lungfuls of air and ripped the blindfold from his eyes, his panic subsiding. The Zora popped up in front of him, glaring at him.
'Humans are only aloud in here Rarely, and the first thing you do is try to get away from me? Do it again monkey boy, and I'll slit your throat.'
Natan ignored her, looking around. He was surrounded on all sides by very high cliffs. He was in a pool at the bottom of a chasm in the mountain. The sky was a ribbon of blue far above him, blocked in places by overhanging tropical tree's and ferns. The canyon walls were water-smoothed, and offered no handholds. The canyon floor was a gloomy place; what sunlight made it down was reflected off the black rock of cliff face. There was an equal mixture of ferns, moss and pools, all draining down into the pool he was standing in. Turning around, he noticed the water draining under the cliff through the hole he had been dragged through.
A sharp pain in his leg bought his attention back to the creature in front of him.
'Listen when I speak to you.'
It kicked him again.
'Now follow me. My father needs to see that amulet.'
The creature started working her way up the canyon, wading through the pools, climbing out the other ends of them, and walking past ferns. As they moved, more of the creatures emerged from the pools, falling in behind Natan as a honour guard. Or perhaps they were just gawking. These were fully grown. Some male, some female. The men carried flint knives, or spears of sharpened wood, the woman carried woven baskets with speared fish in them.
They looked at Natan suspiciously, and several of the men kept their hands on their knives. Natan got the feeling they didn't like him much. The younger fish-monster led the procession slowly in the dim twilight up the canyon. When they got near the top end of the canyon, the water monsters fell back, letting Natan and the little monster wade slowly forward alone. Before them stood another of the water monsters, staring at them severely. He waited till they approached, then spoke to Ruo angrily. 'You better have a good reason for bringing him in here.
Ruto gestured towards the amulet hanging from Natans neck.
"I think you should look at that, father'.