The Legend of Zelda: The Warrior Prince

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Chapter 25: Lendu's Gate

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—EEEEWW.

A puff of unnatural smoke surrounds Raidon's body, and he transforms from a wolf-man back into an elf, opposable thumbs back where they are supposed to be. Raidon reaches down to his flute, but he doesn't even have time to draw the instrument from its protective hard-leather sheath when he hears an unearthly music.

They've appeared in a grassy clearing in the middle of what inexplicably appears to be a forest, where the Desert of White Bones should be. The pine trees are narrow and less than three times the height of any of them, but there is a definite forest around them.

A soft tune emanates, light and abrupt. Strangely, the music has a truth in it, something so appropriate to the place that it feels so natural, as if the trees themselves could be whispering the notes.

Raidon looks about, but sees no source of the music until he spots Navi, centered in the Fairy Lamp and pulsating slightly in time with the music. Though he can't see it, he can feel something familiar about it. "What is that?"

Link jerks, suddenly ripped from a minor trance state. He lowers the ocarina that he didn't quite get to his lips and states, "This place is a teleport point, Navi is taking the energy and emitting the notes that will harness it."

The troop looks around and slowly breaks up to check out the sheltered valley. Zelda goes one way, but Raidon's attention is grasped by a question from the Hylian knight. "So, what is this place?"

Raidon takes a moment to glance around. No matter how many times he sees one, they never cease to amaze him. Ironic that I never saw such a lush place until I went to live with the Sandmen of the Gorgon Wastes. "That depends on who you ask. Lots of us Dunlarians call these 'islands' or 'nangsami'. They're small pockets sheltered against the desert winds." He ducks down to look at something near the ground, then gets back up and continues searching.

As the prince starts scrutinizing the surrounding ground, one of the Dunlarian soldiers ponders aloud, "If this is the Light Sphere, and there was a labyrinth in the Shadow Sphere, what's back there now?"

Captain Koyu looks up from curiously watching the prince. "Go check. My prince, do you know which island this is?"

Raidon looks up and crosses his arms in mild frustration as he continues looking around. "We used them while hunting sandworms, Gorgonites would leave a cairn marking a large rock or boulder. The boulder would have a map of nearby islands, with directions to head back to the Gorgon Wastes."

"Hey, Raidon!" Link's voice floats out from just behind a copse of trees. "We found a working Lendu Gate."

Raidon keeps himself from making a confused face as he briefly looks up in the direction of the knight's voice, then back down, looking for any rocks, for any sign of a Gorgon map. "What is a 'Lendu Gate'?"

Link trots out from behind the thick clump of trees he was standing behind and looks curiously at the searching prince. "It's a teleport gate that takes you to its twin in a distant area. What're you looking for?"

Raidon kneels down to look at the base of a red-brown rock protruding from the dirt. "There should be a boulder marked by a nearby cairn." He grunts in aggravation and stands up to resume looking.

The knight shrugs. He'd searched through most of the tiny valley when Zelda ran off after the gate. "Haven't seen any of those, just trees."

The prince kicks a branch. "Damn." He looks up at the Hylian, and realizes the dark blue glow of Navi is absent from his lamp. "Where's the fairy?"

Link leans casually against the trunk of a tree and looks up at the sky as he answers, "I left her in the Lost Forest to regenerate."

Raidon glances dubiously at the Hylian teen. "How did you get all the way there?"

Link crosses his arms in a slightly smug pose as he replies, "That's how I know the gate goes to the Lost Forest, I went through it. It was either that or let Zelda try it out."

Before the warrior prince can continue the conversation, one of the Dunlarians in studded leather armor jogs up, and he bows to them as Koyu joins them. "Sirs, there is a small temple back at the . . . where the entrance to that lair was."

Koyu absent-mindedly runs his hand along the steel vambrace on his left arm as he thinks out loud, "Hmm. I suppose that those are the choices of destination, but which should we investigate?"

Raidon steps on a small branch, a crack echoing through the valley as he sets off towards the knight. "The gate. I want to see this portal that Link was talking about." He pauses, despite being uncertain about his truthfulness, he hasn't been let down yet by the brave knight. "Maybe the Deku Tree can help me with the Shadow Sphere."

Various sounds of agreement echo from the gathering group and the soldier departs to get the last one as the rest make their way to the 'gate'. A few trees pass by, and remarkably quickly they come to Zelda, standing in what appears a nondescript point in the forested valley. The Dunlarian teen looks critically at Link. "Where is it?"

Link looks aghast, and it takes Raidon a moment to see that it's a mock gesture. "This is it."

Raidon shoots a dubious glance at the knight before marching closer. "This circle of little rocks?" Granted, they are arranged carefully into a circle, but whoever hewed them must have made mistakes, because each stone is just slightly off from the others. On second thought, there is a sort of symmetry to them.

Princess Zelda seems to have enough waiting, because she uncrosses her arms and with a flicker of large, evergreen trees, disappears. The prince stifles a gasp, but then the knight follows, stepping into the circle and vanishing in like manner.

The Dunlarian in graceful mithril plate-mail steps through next, and the prince blinks. He hadn't expected the Fountain Guard to be so close, or ready to step into a mysterious portal to who-knows-where so shortly after the last time doing so destroyed his comrade in a freakish off-world. The two soldiers in studded-leather follow, and Koyu reaches down to run his fingers along a long sword at his hip as he approaches.

Raidon takes a deep breath, then walks forward and is again surprised. When Zelda and the others stepped into the gate, the teleportation looked so sudden, but when the prince enters, he feels a gentle tug, and the Lost Forest fades in around him.

The troop is all there, plus one new face. She appears to be a girl with green hair, eyes, and tunic, though her clothes are edged in brown that could very easily help her blend into the forest. She bows politely to the warrior prince. "I am Saria, voice of the forest. The Deku Tree has been waiting for you."

Link and the Dunlarian teen make eye contact, and then exchange with the other members of the band of fighters. Link's blonde eyebrow arches as he asks, "He's been waiting for us?"

"Well, specifically the warrior prince from the west."

Raidon points at himself in surprise, to confirm that she's talking about the right person, despite the fact that he's the only prince there. After the Kokiri nods, his incredulity still hasn't diminished. "Why me?"

"You saved the Deku Tree by killing the dark counter." The tone of her response hints that she believes the prince to be playing stupid.

The Hylian knight shrugs and starts trotting forward, the prince picking up the march a half second later. Saria holds up a hand and the confused troop stops. "Some steps must be taken alone."

Raidon looks back to Link, expecting the resident expert to enlighten him with some secret bit of knowledge of the Kokiri, but the knight just shrugs and motions for him to follow what appears to be the little girl of the forest. After passing through a maze of trees, he enters the familiar gully and meadow.

A gust of wind swirls around the meadow, drawing his eyes up to the gargantuan tree. "WARRIOR FROM BEYOND THE BLEAK DESERT, YOU FOUGHT WELL TO SAVE KOKIRI FOREST."

The fairies swirl in its branches, and a metaphorical crushing weight slams down on the prince, physically bringing him to his knees. "D . . . Deku Tree . . . I lost—"

"NAOMI PERISHED DURING YOUR STRUGGLE, OF THIS I KNOW. NAVI RELAYED THE TALE TO ME WHEN YOU SPOKE IT TO THE HYLIANS."

Raidon gasps and surges to his feet, his hands going to a pouch on his belt. Guilt grips him, it was one of her last requests and he forgot! "Naomi wanted me to . . . bring her . . ." The prince slowly halts, his breath hitching in his throat and horror filling him when the pouch he carefully put Naomi no longer contains the tiny creature, wrapped in the silk handkerchief.

Instead, it is filled with a yellow powder that he could swear has its own luminescence. "I don't understand . . ."

Another breeze flows through and a groan sounds from the Deku Tree as it shifts its branches. "WHEN A FAIRY DIES, SHE TURNS INTO FAIRY DUST. I THINK NAOMI JUST WANTED TO RETURN TO THE FOREST."

Raidon starts untying the pouch, but the Deku Tree puts a stop to that with a quick statement from its booming, powerful voice, "NO, WARRIOR. THERE IS NO USE THAT I HAVE FOR NAOMI'S FAIRY DUST, BUT SHE MAY YET SERVE YOU."

Hesitantly, the Dunlarian nods and acquiesces, retying the cords. A green light descends around him, and he feels his eyelids grow heavy. They close, but he opens his eyes to see a wispy green 'mist' swirls around him, through him. After a few seconds, it takes some distance and starts to coalesce into a green sphere like the fairies. A bright voice like a girl pipes, "Wow, your mana is powerful!"

The Deku Tree smiles. "AH, I SEE RUTH IS EAGER TO GREET YOU. NOBLE WARRIOR, THIS IS YOUR NEW PARTNER—"

"NO!" The entire forest seems to stop at the prince's bellow, and he takes a sharp breath in subconsciously to continue, "I am not giving up on Dimitri!"

There is a long silence, and the green glow obliviously asks in her usual peppy tone, "Are you all right?"

Raidon drops respectfully to one knee. "Deku Tree, please forgive me. I was in the Shadow Sphere with my dodongo steed Dimitri, but we had to split up, and I couldn't call him. My body changes in the Shadow Sphere and I can't use my equipment." He reaches to the damnable moon pendant, and Ruth swirls around it, her sphere partially breaking into the wispy light. She takes shoulder-height to the prince and returns to the form of a green bauble.

"YOUR MOON PENDANT IS INCOMPLETE. YOU REQUIRE THE KAREN JEWEL TO PRESERVE YOUR FORM IN THE DARK WORLD."

Raidon drops his gaze, his eyes darting back and forth. That would solve everything. More than just a little overexcited, the prince blurts, "Well, where is it?"

The Deku Tree closes its eyes and its branches softly rustle. "THAT I CANNOT TELL YOU. THE BEAST WHICH DRAINED ME IS TRULY DEAD, BUT IT WILL BE MANY YEARS OF HEALING UNTIL I AM RESTORED. I CAN EXERT MY MAGIC IN THIS WORLD, AND LOOK INTO THE DARK REFLECTION WHERE LIFE HERE IS STRONG. THOSE WHOM YOU CALL MORIHOTH WEAR SUCH GEMS, BUT I SENSE NONE OF THEM IN THIS DOMAIN." The Deku Tree half-closes his eyes and stares at some point high above. "YOU MUST GO BACK."

The Deku Tree's eyes close, and though it doesn't have lungs for snoring, the young warrior has the feeling that it has fallen asleep. With only that one lead, the Dunlarian turns around and walks back out of the gully. Saria is waiting for him, and begins leading him back towards the meadow. "You seem quite attached to this dodongo."

Raidon looks away and huffs in an uneasy manner. "I am a Warrior Prince. It is not the Dunlarian way to leave a comrade behind."

Ruth's glow changes and Saria recognizes the sprite's equivalent expression of a knowing smirk. Saria herself can't stop the smile that tugs at the corners of her mouth. "I see. Much like the Hylians."

The prince looks at the leaf-ridden forest floor and lets out a dejected sigh. Saria gives him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. It's easy to underestimate the power of an elf's resolve."

Raidon's eyes have drifted up, but they aren't focused on anything in front of him. His mouth drifts open and he mutters softly, "One at a time . . ."

"What?" Saria's green eyebrow quirks, wondering what he was saying.

The Dunlarian glances aside at the Kokiri girl, the eternally young voice of the forest. His eyes are devoid of the bright, almost fearsome light that burned behind the eyes of every other elf she met. "I wonder if I'm cursed."

Ruth butts in, guessing what he's really talking about but trying to lighten the mood. "Nope. I would'a sensed it if you were."

The teen only looks more despondent and Saria tries a different tact. "Why would you say you are cursed?"

Raidon lets out a breath and states in a cold, steady tone, "Never mind. It's nothing." His dejected look betrays that it obviously isn't nothing.

"You can't go yet."

The prince stops and states in the same cold tone, "Why not?"

"Navi hasn't finished regenerating. She'll be a . . ." The little mana sprite is cut off by a Kokiri armed with a short bow sprinting through the trees ahead of them. Then another and another.

"What's going on?"

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