Author's Note: It's been quite a while, hasn't it? My sincere apologies for the long wait; to tell you the truth, I've had most of this written for a while now. I had been planning to go through the whole dungeon in one chapter...but as time went on and I never continued it, I decided that it would be better to split it into two. I finished up the chapter to a suitable endpoint and uploaded it here. I can promise you that the next one won't take as long; especially since I want to start building up to my big plot twist...ah, but we still have quite some time to go until then. =P Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Chapter VII

The Secluded Underwood, Part 1

The sun was beginning to set as Link and Rendis made their way through the verdant Gerudo Forest, bathing the sky in various shades of red and purple. This posed two problems for the duo: first, once night fell, it would be impossible to navigate through the foliage; and second, they would soon have no protection from winter's chill. The sunlight had kept them relatively warm until then, but at night they would be forced to seek some sort of shelter.

"Of course," said Rendis, "we could always try starting a fire."

"In the middle of a forest?" answered Link. "I'd rather be cold for a night than be burnt to death, thanks."

"Just a suggestion," the Chime said, shrugging.

As the sunlight waned, though, Link started to think that lighting a fire might not be such a bad idea. As risky as it was, he was ill-equipped to spend the night in the biting cold. He was about to wander off in search of firewood when Rendis abruptly stopped moving, the rat's ears perked up as if it had heard a loud noise.

"Do you feel it?" Rendis asked softly.

Aside from the frigid weather, Link felt nothing. He wrapped his arms around himself in a futile attempt to preserve his body heat as he waited for Rendis to elaborate.

"The cache," it murmured. "We're getting closer!"

Without any warning, the rat bounded off in whatever direction it felt the cache in. Resignedly, Link followed; at least while he was running he would generate heat for himself.

Every few minutes, Rendis would pause, sniffing the air as if it expected to smell the cache. By now, the sun had fallen below the horizon, casting the forest into an icy blackness; regardless, Rendis seemed to know where it was going. Besides, Link thought, the sooner they found the magic cache, the sooner they could leave.

And suddenly, the two emerged into a small clearing. What appeared to be snow covered the center of it. Inexplicably, the temperature seemed to have risen to more mild levels in the clearing, which made the presence of the snow all the more confusing. A pleasant aroma wafted through the air that Link thought he might have smelled last spring.

"Is this it?" Link questioned. "Is this the cache?"

Rendis closed its eyes. "Not quite," it replied. "Remember, the Dark One said it was beneath the forest. We're above it."

Link glared at his companion, exasperated. "Then how do we actually get to it?" He had assumed that Rendis had actually known what it was doing.

"As I said earlier, the hero will have left clues. All we must do is find them."

Throwing a dirty look toward Rendis, Link stalked over to the mound of snow to search for these hints.

As he approached it, though, he realized that it wasn't actually snow after all; the mound was made of countless tiny, white flowers, blooming as if it was the middle of springtime rather than winter. They were the source of the scent.

"Flowers…" Link muttered, furrowing his brow. Could this be one of the hero's hints…?

Reaching down, he tugged one up; instantly, another grew in its place. He assumed this was an effect of the proximity to the magic cache.

Curiously, he sniffed the flower. Almost instantly, his head cleared; it was as if a fog that he hadn't noticed had been lifted from around him. He gazed over the clearing in a new light, as if expecting the entryway to the cache to pop into existence right then and there.

It didn't, but he did notice something else; scattered across the edge of the clearing were things watching him from the camouflage of the trees.

As the effects of the flower faded, Link drew his sword, unsure whether or not these creatures were friendly. "Come out right now!" he called into the forest.

Slowly, they emerged; about a dozen of them, none of them reaching above Link's chest. To him, they looked like miniature, living trees, with tube-like noses (or were they mouths? Link couldn't tell) and a mixture of red and green leaves cascading down their backs. In a slightly nasally voice, one of them spoke:

"Put your sword away. We don't like swords."

Hesitantly, Link complied, and waited patiently for an explanation.

When none came, he decided to take the initiative. "I'm Link," he introduced himself. "And that rat right there is Rendis…"

The creature who had spoken earlier answered: "Greetings, Link and Rendis. I am Gol." It stopped speaking, as if that explained everything.

"…Er," said Link, "hello, Gol. Could you tell us, uh, what exactly are you?"

"Deku Scrubs," Gol replied promptly, then fell silent again.

Irritated by Gol's lack of detail, Link was about to demand an explanation when Rendis spoke. "They are the people of the forest. I would not offend them if I were you…the Deku Scrubs are notoriously draconian."

The Deku Scrubs acted as though they had not heard Rendis's words.

"Right," said Link uncertainly, "well, you see…we're searching for the magic cache beneath this clearing…"

The Deku Scrubs suddenly rustled with excitement. "I can take you to the entryway," Gol exclaimed. He turned around and started into the woods without waiting for Link, moving with short, erratic hops. Link scooped up Rendis and followed, the other Deku Scrubs staying behind.

"So…the Gerudo let you stay in this forest?" Link asked.

That question elicited from Gol a noise somewhere between a sneeze and a laugh. "The forest does not belong to the Gerudo," he replied. "They believe that just because the Hylians gave it to them they have a right to it. It was not the Hylians' to give in the first place!" the Deku Scrub added indignantly.

"Regardless," Gol continued, "we are not strong enough to drive them out. For now, at least, we share the forest – even if the Gerudo desecrate it."

Link was surprised by Gol's sudden loquaciousness; it was the longest answer he had yet received from the Deku Scrub.

"…I'm, uh, sorry that Hyrule gave away your forest…" Link said awkwardly. "But really, I don't think anyone knew that you were here."

"They knew," replied Gol firmly, reverting back to his concise and unclear manner of speech.

"If you insist," muttered Link hesitantly. "…Why are you helping me, anyway?"

"You are garbed in the tunic of the hero," was Gol's only explanation.

Link turned to Rendis for further elaboration. "Is he talking about the Link who created the Bell Guardians, or a different one?"

"The very same, unless I am mistaken. On his journey, he saved the Deku Scrubs from extermination…"

"Really?" asked Link.

"Really. He did more than just kill Gerudo, you know," Rendis confirmed, a note of smugness in its voice. "I'd imagine the Deku Scrubs are still grateful for his assistance…"

At that, Link fell silent, mulling over this new information in his mind. He was no longer sure what to think of his predecessor; he had saved one race from extermination, but had very nearly condemned another one to extinction. Of course, he had not meant to do the latter, but he had still been willing to sacrifice innocent lives…

"Here," Gol suddenly declared.

A massive tree loomed overhead, above the opening of a cave; peering in, Link could see its roots twisting and turning through the passage. He caught a whiff of the scent from the clearing; it was faint, but Link had a feeling that this was the way.

"This will lead us to the cache, then?" asked Rendis.

"It should," Gol replied. "Perilous, though. There are things in there…bad things." He paused. "It's dangerous to go alone…take this."

He hopped over to a cluster of bushes and rustled around in them. When he emerged, he was holding a roughly-made wooden shield.

Link expressed his gratitude for the gift before he turned to enter the cavern.

Almost immediately, he noticed that the slope of the descent was steep; he tripped, and had he not regained his footing, he might have fallen for an indeterminate distance. The cave was nearly pitch-black; he had no way of knowing just how deep the drop was.

"This is ridiculous…" Link muttered. "How am I supposed to find my way through here?"

"I will guide you," Rendis replied. "This rat's senses are quite sharp…follow the sound of my voice."

Rendis scurried off. A few moments later it called out to Link: "Here!"

Link groped his way through the inky darkness in the direction of Rendis's voice until he received another order: "Stop!"

A rustling sound along the ground told Link that Rendis was moving again. He waited patiently for another signal to keep going; this time, Rendis's voice came slightly to his left. "There's a straight drop a few meters ahead of you; watch out for it."

Swallowing slightly, Link continued after Rendis.

They navigated in this way for some time, Rendis warning Link of potential hazards. Before long, it was clear that they were far beneath the forest. Link started to notice shrubbery appearing around them; the ground was starting to level out, as well. He couldn't imagine how any plantlife could survived down here, without any sunlight; it must have been a result of proximity to the magic cache.

After some time, Link realized that lights were beginning to appear all around them, casting the cave into an ethereal green glow. Looking around, though, he could find no discernible light source. "What's going on?" he asked Rendis.

The Chime gave a shrug of its rat shoulders. "If I knew, I would tell you."

With the cave illuminated, though, Link was better equipped to analyze his surroundings. In addition to the foliage scattered across the ground, Link now saw that there were trees stretching to the ceiling, their leaves swaying despite the lack of wind. Ahead, the trees grew thicker, clustered more closely together.

"It's an entire forest beneath a forest…" he breathed softly in amazement. He never would have guessed that such wonders could have existed in Hyrule.

Apart from himself and Rendis, though, no animal life disturbed this secluded underwood; the trees and shrubs were its sole inhabitants. Link recalled Gol's words of "things" down here from earlier; if they really were there, they had shown no signs of themselves yet.

Eventually, Link noticed that something else was wrong: "We should've reached the cache by now."

Rendis paused and thought for a second. "You're right. The entrance to this place wasn't that far from the clearing, and we've been walking in its direction the entire time…"

"Are you sure about that?" asked Link. "We could have gotten sidetracked while we were navigating through the dark…"

Rendis groaned. "You're right…I must not have been paying close enough attention. Well, if we can make our way back to the entrance, I'm sure we can…"

It trailed off suddenly, glancing around.

The indeterminate light source started to form into tiny glowing green orbs, which then began to coalesce around the plantlife. Moments later, the orbs scattered around again, illuminating their surroundings…but the plants had disappeared, leaving behind only the barren dirt.

"…That's not good," muttered Rendis softly. "We can't find our way back to the entrance if we don't have any landmarks to go off of…"

Link frowned. "Doesn't this seem odd to you?" he asked.

"Of course it does," Rendis replied. "Everything around us just disappeared, do you think I'm used to that happening on a regular basis?"

Link shook his head. "Not that. I mean…we had just decided to head back, and suddenly our only method of finding our way back disappears. I don't think that was a coincidence…"

"…Ah," Rendis said, comprehension dawning on it. "Then you think the forest itself is working against us?"

The boy nodded his affirmation, the orbs of light giving his face an eerie pallor. "For all we know, we could've been heading in the right direction the entire time, but the forest could have been tricking us somehow."

"Then what do you think we should do?" asked Rendis.

"Keep moving," Link answered promptly. "We won't get any closer to the cache or the exit by standing still..."

"Spoken like a true hero," Rendis commented approvingly. "Lead the way!"

Link shot a dirty look at the Chime, who quailed at his glare. "Sorry," it muttered.

They started moving again; as they did so, the orbs of light once again reformed into the foliage, arranged differently than before. Link plodded onward, his legs aching from fatigue. In truth, he would have preferred to rest; but he had a feeling that sleep wasn't the best of ideas when there were supposed to be creatures lurking about.

He listened to the rustling his feet made as they brushed the ground, glad that there was some noise to disturb the deathly silence. As he stopped paying attention to anything else, he tripped over a root from a tree.

The rustling continued.

"Rendis?" he called out.

"What is it?"

"Stop moving."

The Chime obeyed; Link strained his ears to discern the source of the sound, but the rustling had faded.

"…We're definitely not alone in here," Link muttered. He peered around for any sign of disturbance, but there was nothing.

"Shall we move on?" Rendis prompted.

Link nodded, though with less certainty than before.