Navi was back in the Great Deku Tree meadow, Link standing below her. Link had been there over a year ago, when Mido had dared him to climb the Great Deku Tree. He still marvelled at the size of the meadow, which was as large as the centre of the Kokiri Village. But the meadow was still almost completely filled by the Great Deku Tree. At the ground, its roots almost touched the edge of the meadow. Above that, the main part of its trunk was almost three hundred feet in diameter. The main part of its trunk was at least nine hundred feet tall! He remembered how scared he had been climbing it, but it was healthy then! Now, the Tree, his guardian, and guardian of all the Kokiri, was obviously ill!
Navi announced their presence. "Great Deku Tree…I'm back!"
"Oh… Navi… Thou hast returned…" replied The Great Deku Tree. Navi looked in horror at the tree… Its decline in just the past three hours was chilling. The tree looked like it might not live to the end of the day.
"Link… Welcome…" The Deku tree continued. "Listen carefully to what I, The Deku Tree, am about to tell thee… Thy slumber these past moons must have been restless and full of nightmares… As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land and causes nightmares to those sensitive to it. Verily, thou hast felt it. Link… The time has come to test thy courage… I have been cursed… I need you to break the curse with your wisdom and courage. Dost thou have courage enough to undertake this task?"
"Yes, Great Deku Tree" Link replied. "But I am just a boy. Is it possible that I can help?"
The Deku tree told Link "Thou art surely a man now, though thou still be young… Thy courage will help thou win… Navi will guide thou … Enter, brave Link, and thou too, Navi… Navi the fairy… Thou must aid Link… And Link… When Navi speaks, listen well to her words of wisdom…" The Deku Tree opened a portal into its heart, almost as if it were a mouth. Link and Navi went inside.
Link and Navi were astonished at the inside of the Great Deku Tree. It had been made into a labyrinthine dungeon, typical of the evil magician Ganondorf had become. The main chamber resembled the inside of a castle tower. It was two hundred feet in diameter, and at least that tall. A spiral catwalk went around part of the inside, and a circular catwalk was close to the "ceiling" of the chamber. There were vines on the walls in several places, and large spider webs everywhere, including over a large hole in the centre of the floor. There was a ladder to Link's left, behind a deku baba. To Link's right, there was a section of vines, with some fairy help plants to the right. This looked like the better choice. Link's life force was lower than it should have been, because Navi had to sip from it to keep alive and able to function. If she didn't have him recover his life-force from one of those help plants, he wouldn't last long.
Seeing this chamber, Navi knew that the Great Deku Tree had already waited way too long. The Tree might finish dying before they even found the immediate source of the curse, let alone lifted it. Navi thought to herself "This isn't too bad as far as dungeons went, though I always preferred sacking them to solving them. Ganondorf couldn't possibly confine himself to a place so rustic, as he loves only stone and desert. He only left a magic monster behind, probably a giant spider by the looks of things. Should be a perfect training ground for the kid. Pity I won't live long after the victory! I'll just take another small sip of Link's life-force, direct him to that fairy help plant over there to top him off, and we'll get down to business."
As she sipped at Link's life force, she accidentally brushed his heart with her tail. This time, her tail was instantly drawn into Link's heart! She started to struggle, then panic. She didn't want to kill a boy, especially not this one, but her dried, tired body was doing just that. Or was it? For the life force was strong Kokiri life force, not Hylean. Was Link really his father's boy? And no modern Kokiri could take the shock her body was administering to his heart, but his heart was still strong. Navi was feeling stronger than she had in years. She could see now, not just with her eyes, which now worked perfectly, but with her mind also, as a proper Battle Fairy should! Raising her body up now, it was no longer a hard burden to put off light! In fact, with being out of practice, she was having trouble restraining it! In this Hylean child was a Kokiri Warrior of old, and he had the makings of a good one at that! But Link did stagger.
Navi looked more closely. She saw that her accident would not only preserve her own life, but probably Link's as well. For his heart was indeed fully Kokirish. And while Kokiri had been known to live without fairies, that life was particularly fragile. In Link's circumstances, with the difficult times he would surely have ahead of him, the lack of a fairy would indeed have been fatal.
Yet it was not a fairy he lacked now, but life-force itself! His heart was huge, but not limitless yet. She had sapped his life-force by over two thirds! Fortunately, it was Kokirish life-force that flowed from his heart, so his normal diet and sleep would easily sustain them both. It was time to hit that help plant though.
"Link! To your left! Those are fairy help plants! Cut them with your sword now! And don't get too close to that deku baba yet!"
Link staggered to the help plants, and did as he was told. The plants had enough life-force to heal Link and Navi both. Now, they were in business!
"Navi, what just happened to me?" asked Link. "And why did cutting that plant help?"
Navi answered "Link, it's what happened to us, remember? You see what's happened to The Deku Tree? How much life-force do you think I could draw from it? I was as close to death as this tree is, until just now. I tried to hold off until I had got you a little closer to those plants, but I didn't quite make it.
"When a guardian fairy is bonded to a Kokiri, they are normally both newly born and in perfect health. They don't feel the joining of their bond because both are full of life-force. I am an old guardian fairy, who was nearly starved to death. I am bigger than a newly born fairy, and was almost empty of life-force. You felt the life-force level out between the two of us as we bonded. Do you know what life-force is?"
Link replied "Not really, Navi. Please tell me."
"Life-force is the energy in your heart that keeps you alive. And by heart, I mean that place where you love, think, feel, and are, the place where your body and spirit are joined while you live. Every living creature has some life-force. How much depends on what the creature is, how healthy it is, and so on. Old fairies like me, who can see life-force measure it in Hylean hearts, or just hearts for short. A Hylean has one heart at eleven years, and no more than three connected hearts at their strongest point in their life. Their life force container shrinks from age and wear on the body, and breaks when they die. A Kokiri has two almost separate life force containers at eleven. Their hearts hold more than a Hylean heart container, and the life-force itself is stronger. But they normally grow no more. Their hearts are almost unaffected by age, and Kokiri survive physical injuries easier than non-Kokiri peoples. But their hearts can be injured directly much more easily by grief, loss, and loneliness. This is why the loss of a life-mate is usually fatal.
"You are different from all that. You have three Kokiri hearts now! Since the number and size of heart containers is tied to your body, and grows when your body does, you will probably have six when you are fully-grown. This will make you almost unstoppable in battle. You will be like the Kokiri Warlords of legend!"
Link said weakly "But what about…"
"Saria?" Navi finished, reading Link's thoughts. "I don't know how many hearts she has now. I was almost blind with starvation, and a fairy needs to see perfectly in the magic way to gage hearts. But as strong as her love is for you, they must be large. Even numbed at the brink of death, I felt it strongly!" Link blushed as Navi continued. "If you want her to have the same number of hearts of life-force as you have, that can be done, but she'll have to travel with you. When you defeat a magical monster, like the one we're looking for, you can usually capture its life-force heart right after you kill it. If you do, and hold it to your chest, your body will absorb it. The residue of the monster's life force, purified and cleansed of evil by its death, is very powerful indeed! You will not only recover all life force you've lost to injury, but you will have an extra heart's capacity for life force as long as you live! But even a Kokiri with a fairy cannot carry the heart except by absorbing it forever. Some magicians have found ways to preserve life-force hearts so that Hyleans, who normally can't absorb or even touch one, can handle a life force heart, and so the life-force heart doesn't spoil, for normally they disintegrate in a minute or two. The coating allows Hyleans to absorb the heart and increase their life-force capacity, if they can eat it within about an hour. The coating even makes them visible to people without fairies. This allows these magicians to trade in hearts removed from wherever. But this coating does not work for those of Kokirish heart. The Kokirish life-force radiates a power that dissolves the coating instantly! The second you touch one, it's yours! No magician would let you hold one unless you paid first, and you could never bring one home with you. You can take her to the markets with you after you're married. Then, you can buy them for her. Remember this, though. They can't preserve whole hearts. They are preserved and sold in fourths. When you absorb a fourth, it will heal you of any sickness or injury. But otherwise, it just sits there, doing no harm, but doing no good until three more pieces join it. The pieces will meld, though. If you get four of the same quadrant, or if you get four pieces from four hearts cut differently by the magician, they will still become a healthy heart.
"But we must get going! Look to your left. See how the vines are growing on that section of the wall? We might be able to climb them up. Let's go!" Link tried to climb the vines. They easily supported Link's weight, and he quickly climbed up to the catwalk. He looked to his left. The catwalk sloped down, to the ladder, and a very agitated deku baba. To his right, the catwalk climbed up to a large wooden chest. Behind the chest, there were more vines. Three large spiders were on the vines. Link walked up the catwalk.
As they walked, Navi said "Link. Those large spiders are skulwaltullahs. Stay away from them for now. We need to open the large wooden chest."
Link was in front of the chest when Navi finished speaking. The chest was four foot tall, four foot wide, and three foot deep. The top half was a rounded lid. Link kicked the lid with his left foot. The lid sprung open. Link leaned inside the chest, and pulled out a sheet of parchment. It had an almost magical feel about it.
"That is the dungeon map, Link!" said Navi excitedly.
"Who made it, Navi? And why should we trust it?"
"It was made by whoever made the dungeon, Link. And even evil magicians have to follow some rules. In order for a dungeon's magic to work, there should be at least one true magic map, and there cannot be any false ones! If there is a false map, then it makes all the evil magic a simple lie, and it is dispersed! But if there is a map, the evil magician can hide rooms in the dungeon that can't be found without the map! The map chest can also be booby-trapped if the dungeon is large enough. This dungeon is small, though, and the Great Deku Tree's good magic reduces the strength of the evil magic in here." They looked at the map. There was a room that opened to the end of the catwalk, on the second floor. Link walked towards it. About half way there, the catwalk was missing for a length of five feet. Link jumped the gap with a running start, and walked to the end of the catwalk. He turned left, opened the door, and walked into the first room.
As he walked into the room, a deku scrub raised out of the floor. Link raised his shield, and Navi helped him aim it. The scrub shot a deku nut at them. Without help, Link was pretty good at reflecting these attacks. With Navi's help, he easily hit the deku scrub with its first shot! Right after the scrub was hit, iron bars, which had been blocking the door to the next room, withdrew into the ceiling. Link drew his sword and went to finish the scrub off. It spoke, which surprised Link, though he didn't let it know of his shock.
"Spare me, master, and I will tell you a secret! If you do a roll attack when you land, you can jump from great heights without getting hurt! I can't guarantee it working, though, if you jump from really great heights! Try it if you dare!" Link waived his sword at the scrub, motioning it to leave. It giggled quickly, and disappeared!
"Navi. Should I have killed that scrub?"
"No. You won't see it again, anyway. Unlike the mad deku scrubs you're used to, that kind is very difficult to kill. If you let it go, it puts down roots far away. It also remembers you. If you let it go without trying to pursue it, it won't ever attack you again, or anyone with you."
"What were the bars over the other door, Navi? And why did they pull up into the ceiling when the deku scrub was hit?"
"Link, those bars are called a portcullis. They are normally found in castles, to provide an extra gate behind a drawbridge. When you find them in dungeons, it means that you must either defeat a monster or solve a puzzle to leave through that door. Let's see what is on the other side of the door, Link!" Link opened the door, and they entered the next room.
The room was about forty feet square. The first half of the floor dropped about twelve feet from the level of the entrance hall. The back half raised twenty feet from there, with climbable vines on either side. There was a large chest on the other side of the room. Off to the left, on the other side of the room, was a small alcove, twelve feet from the floor there, with climbable vines leading up to it. Above the end of the entrance hall, there appeared to be a ladder stuck in some spider webs above the end of the hall. Floating in the middle of the room, there was a floating platform. Link jumped to the platform. When he landed on it, it started to shake. He jumped quickly to the back half of the room, right before his jumping block fell out from beneath him and vanished!
He looked back towards the entrance hall. There was a ladder above it. There were no vines at all on the wall, though. It would be almost impossible to knock the ladder down with a deku stick.
Navi, reading Link's thoughts, said, "If we have to, we'll be able to get that ladder down! Let's open the chest, and then check the alcove out." Link opened the chest, which was a twin to the one that held the map. Inside were a slingshot and a bag full of deku seeds. Navi said, "That's a fairy slingshot, Link! It's more powerful than an ordinary slingshot. It will make a good weapon."
"How much tougher will it be to use, Navi?"
"Not at all, Link! Kokiri, like you can use it easily! But non-Kokiri can't use it at all!"
"But will I…" Link started to say, with just a little fear in his voice.
Navi cut him off, saying, "If you weren't Kokiri, you wouldn't be bonded with me! Let's shoot the ladder now, to prove my point!"
Link put a seed in the slingshot. Navi helped him target the middle of the ladder. He drew the seed back almost effortlessly, and released it. The seed flew with almost the strength of an arrow! It hit the ladder squarely, shaking it loose from the spider webs. It fell perfectly to the ground, right in front of the entrance hall!
"Now, Link, we've secured our way out!" Navi announced with satisfaction. "Let's explore that alcove."
Link was speechless. He climbed up the vines into the alcove. In front of him was a small chest, about two feet long and tall, and one foot deep. He kicked it open, and felt a rush of energy and health.
"That is what happens when you find life-force, and don't need it, Link!" said Navi.
"Ok, Navi. Is there anything else in here we need?" Link asked.
"No, Link. Let's get going."
He climbed down the vines to the main room, and down more vines to the lower part of the room. Before they climbed the ladder, Navi had Link cut the help plants again. One gave up a rupee, the other gave up some deku seeds! "These help plants and other plants you cut with the fairy sword, will give you many different things you need, Link. Sometimes, they will give you deku seeds when you are running low." They climbed up the ladder to the entrance hall. They walked through the hall, the room where the deku scrub was, and back to the catwalk.
"Now that you can kill the skullwalltulahs, it's time to climb up to the circular catwalk." Navi said. Link jumped the broken catwalk section, and ran to where the chest stood. He shot the first giant spider, and it fell dead to the catwalk. A deku nut rolled out of it! "Link! Grab that deku nut! When you kill a monster with the fairy slingshot, you sometimes get treasures from them." Link grabbed the deku nut, and aimed at the next spider. It yielded three rupees. He collected those, and aimed at the third spider. It fell very close to Link, and yielded three more rupees.
"Link! Don't let them fall on you, even when they're dead! They will still hurt you!"
"Sorry, Navi! I didn't think I was that close."
"Just be careful, Link! When you get hurt, I feel it too! It doesn't injure me, but it still causes me pain! And if you run out of life-force and die, I will quickly die, too! I'm not ready to die yet Link, thank you very much! Let's climb the wall."
Link climbed up the wall, to the catwalk overhead. To actually get on the catwalk, he had to climb up, down, sideways, up, sideways again, and drop.
He looked around. Up in the spider webs, he saw a large spider! Its body was slightly larger than Link! Link asked "Navi, what is that huge spider? Can I kill it from here?" "Link, it's a Big Skulltula. You can't kill it from here with what you have. Its shell is too strong. But they attack only when they're suspended from their webs! Get close, but not so close it can reach you. It will drop, and show its underside to lure you closer. You can kill it by stabbing its underside twice, or shooting its underside twice with your slingshot. I recommend the slingshot when you can use it. When you hit it the first time, it spins rapidly! It also attacks if you are too slow stabbing it. If it hits you with one of its legs, it will hurt you badly." Link approached the giant spider carefully, slingshot drawn. He stopped when it dropped to his level. When it spun its underside to Link, he shot it with his slingshot. It spun rapidly, and raised itself up towards the ceiling. It dropped down again and showed its underside as before. Link shot it again. This time, it dropped to the catwalk, and disintegrated. Navi said "Good work, Link!" The two continued to explore the catwalk, walking counter-clockwise around the main chamber. They killed a second big skultullah, and this one gave up three rupees. Link grabbed the two that fell on the catwalk. The third one fell to the floor of the main chamber, and disappeared.
"Link, when you get treasure from a monster, it only lasts a short amount of time. If you don't grab it quickly, it's gone. The treasures are always good, but sometimes, the treasure is meant to distract you from other monsters that you are fighting at the same time. Always remember this! If you have to choose between claiming a treasure and attacking another monster to preserve your life, ignore the treasure!" "And live to fight another day?" asked Link. "Right, Link!" "I've never wanted much from life, Navi. Your advice should be easy to follow." "We can all be tempted, Link! Just be careful. We need to explore the room to our right."
They entered the room, and a portcullis immediately slammed shut behind them! Link looked around the room. It was lozenge shaped, forty foot in diameter by one hundred feet long. He was standing on a platform, about fifteen foot deep that filled his end of the chamber. On his platform were two torches, only one of which was lit. On the far end of the chamber was a platform that was the same as the one he was on. On the left were two fairy help plants. On the right was a deku baba, waiting to pounce. In the middle was a large chest. There was an alcove on the left side of the center of the room. A big skultullah blocked it, and it contained a small chest. The middle of the room was twelve feet below the two platforms. There were three pads in the middle of the room that didn't match the rest of the floor. The only climbable vines in the room led back up to the platform on which he stood, and were guarded by a deku baba. He examined his platform more closely. There was a unusual grayish gold block with sloped sides next to the lighted torch. It was about a foot and a half tall, and two foot square at the base. Link asked Navi "What is that block by the lit torch?" Navi examined it and said, "It's a floor switch! It might raise the three platforms in the middle of the room. Step on it, Link!" Link stepped on the floor switch. The three platforms raised up, and they heard a loud ticking noise! "Quick, Link! Jump across to the large chest, before the platforms lower again!" Link jumped across the platforms, and ran straight to the large chest. He ran so quickly, that the deku baba didn't even have time to snap at him! He opened the chest, and found a blue metal item that just filled the palm of his hand. It had a glass top, and a needle was suspended inside it. "That's the magic compass for this dungeon, Link!" "What's that, Navi?" "A normal compass has a iron needle in it, that is made to always point at the North Star. Many people think they are magic, but all good magicians and silversmiths know it's only a force of nature put to use." "I remember!" answered Link. Gowan the silversmith said that all I had to make for him before he declared me a sitting silversmith was a magic box that always found north, but he wouldn't show me how until I was a man!" "That's right, Link! A normal compass is easy enough to make. But this compass is magic! It will help you find important things in the dungeon, including the master's keep, where the monster you must kill is located! But it will only work in this dungeon! After you've defeated the master monster, and collected any other treasure out of a dungeon, it is useless except as a souvenir. Because its body is made of iron, you can't even make it into a normal compass, and there is no way to remove the crystal. In fact, the crystal is actually solid, the needle is a magic apparition! Let's hit those help plants, then go to the floor of the dungeon. We may have to open the small chest before we're allowed to leave, and we'll need to kill the big skultullah first!" The help plants yielded deku seeds, filling Link's seed bag. He jumped down to the floor of the main chamber and approached where the big skultullah hung.
It obligingly dropped down where Link could kill it. After killing it, he turned his attention to the deku baba, which guarded the climbing vines back to the entry platform. He killed it with a couple quick slices of his sword, climbed onto the platform, and stepped on the floor switch. He jumped across the raised platforms to the alcove. Inside the alcove, with the small chest, was an unusual spider. This one had a mostly golden body, and spun around on the wall where it sat. It made no attempt to attack Link, it only scratched around on the wall.
Link asked Navi what it was. She replied, "It's part of a curse that was placed on a very rich family because they were too greedy. They were a father and his five sons, who ran a counting house. A Hylean nobleman asked the family to let his family stay with them for a few days. They refused, saying that it would cost them too much money. The nobleman, who also knew some magic, was so infuriated that he cast the curse upon them, turning them all into giant skultullahs. He then sealed the curse into one hundred gold skultullahs, which he scattered throughout the realm! The family will remain cursed until all one hundred gold skultullahs are killed, or will die after one hundred years!"
Link asked, "Was the nobleman just in doing such a horrible thing to those people?" Navi said "Maybe at the time. But this family has suffered long enough for their mistake. Go ahead and kill the spider. Shoot it twice with your slingshot." Link did this, and it transformed into a gold skull shaped token. Navi said, "Collect the token. I can't help you find these spiders, or hit them, but once you've killed one, I can help you claim the token if you can. If you find the family with the curse, they may reward you for killing the spiders. If you don't find the family, you can melt the tokens down, for they are pure gold!" Link answered "I won't want to carry too many of these things! This one weighs five pounds!"
They turned their attentions to the small chest. It contained more life-force. This was not wasted, as Link had been nicked by the deku baba as he killed it. They went back to the entry platform, to try to figure out how to open the portcullis. Navi noticed the unlit torch sconce. She said "Link! It looks like this torch was burning not too long ago. Maybe lighting it will open the portcullis?" Link didn't have any better ideas, or for that matter any ideas at all. He took out a deku stick, lit it with the burning torch, and relighted the extinguished one. This opened the portcullis! Link extinguished the deku stick and put it away. He then looked around the room one last time. Seeing nothing that looked important, he and Navi left the room, returning to the main chamber.
A quick look around the chamber told them that the three big skultullahs had returned to life, or at least the two Link had killed had been replaced. Link killed the one closest to his left, and claimed deku seeds as his treasure. He and Navi surveyed the main chamber from their lofty perch. "It looks like we need to climb below the spider webs in the main floor, Navi! I can see water below them. But I see no torches close enough to light a deku stick to burn them away. And they supported my weight when we walked across them! Will my sword cut them?" "Try cutting the web next to us, Link. It's the same stuff!" Link tried to cut the web, and failed. He didn't damage the web at all! "Link. If you jump, you might break through the web. It will be dangerous for us, but we have to try it for the Deku Tree's sake! I can't think of anything else." Link looked down at the web again. It looked like it would stretch when he landed on it. "Unless there's a bigger drop below it, we should do ok, shouldn't we, Navi?" "I think so, Link. We have to try, though. Be ready for anything down there. Sometimes I can see around corners, but I see no more than you do under that web!" Thus warned, Link knew to be on his guard. He ignored his fear, and jumped for the center of the web!
He hit it on the edge, though, and didn't break through! He wasn't hurt, though, and he got a closer look at what was below the web. The drop below the web was only forty feet. The web would slow him down a lot, and if it broke at all, would release him lower than that. There was water beneath the web to break his fall, so he would do ok unless he was attacked by something when he landed. He and Navi quickly climbed back up to the top catwalk, killing the three skullwalltullahs, and one big skultullah along the way. Link jumped again. This time, he hit the web squarely, broke through it, and fell safely into the water below.
The shore on the southeast corner of the room was the easiest to climb onto, but there was a deku baba guarding it. He swam to a shallow part of the water and stood up. He was able to climb onto the northeast platform. From there, he looked at the room as a whole. The room was the same size and shape as the main chamber above, but not nearly as tall. Checking the map, it connected with two other rooms on the same level. There were climbing vines on the east wall, which led up to the main chamber. There were platforms at the southeast and northeast parts of the room, and a third platform that took up the entire western third of the room. The northeast and southeast platforms could be climbed onto from the water, but they could reach the west platform only from the room to the west. On the northeast platform, where he stood, there was an unlit torch sconce, and a floor switch. On the southeast platform, there was the deku baba, two help plants, and an area blocked off with spider webs. On the west platform, there were four very tall torches, two deku babas, and a large brown stone block. The block had a crescent moon and a spider painted on the one side he could see. On the climbing vines, and on a set of wooden bars that blocked off an alcove on the north end of the rooms, were two gold skultullahs. Link quickly killed them, claimed the tokens, and returned to the northeast platform.
He stepped on the floor switch. This lit the torch sconse, burning away the spider webs that were covering it. This also revealed a small chest. He opened it, and claimed the life-force that was inside it. He examined the southeast platform more closely. There were spider webs where the door to the next chamber should have been. He looked at the bottom of the pool. The shallow part, which was less than six inches deep, ran unbroken from the northeast to the southeast platforms. He had an idea.
He took out a deku stick. He lit it from the torch sconce, and ran to the spider webs on the southeast platform, dodging the deku baba as he went. He lit the spider webs, burning them away, just as the deku stick burned completely away and had to be dropped. "Good job, Link!" Navi said. Link opened the door to the next room.
The room they were in was about thirty-five feet in diameter. It held four fairy help plants. The door to the west, their right, was blocked with a portcullis. As he entered the room, Link saw a deku scrub rising up to attack! He raised his shield, and with Navi's help aimed it. He hit the deku scrub with its first shot! It begged Link for mercy as he drew the fairy sword! "Please forgive me, master!" it cried. "I'll never do it again! If you spare me, I'll teach you something important!" Link nodded for it to continue. It said "You will never beat my brothers up ahead unless you punish them in the proper order. The order is two, three, one! Twenty-three is number one! Do you think I'm a traitor?" The scrub ran out of the room, leaving Link and Navi alone.
"Should I believe it, Navi?" Link asked.
"They are not known to lie outright, Link. But they can sometimes be tricky! His brothers will have no warning from him, but be extra careful just the same.
"Look at the west door. The block with the eye carved into it is an 'eye switch.' Shoot it with your slingshot and see if the portcullis raises." Link shot the eye switch. The eye, which was open, closed! The portcullis rose. Link cut the four help plants, getting two rupees, and refilling his seed bag. He and Navi opened the west door, and entered the next room.
This room was thirty feet wide and sixty feet long. The main part of the room was flooded. A smooth topped raft moved quickly from Link's end of the room to the other. It barely passed under a spiked log, which spanned the entire room, rotating like a deadly, unjumpable spit! The platform on the other end of the room had no climbable vines. It could be easily jumped onto, but only from the raft. The raft was moving far too quickly for Link to climb onto from the water. He looked more closely at the bottom of the pool. On the south side of the bottom, right below the spiked log, he saw a floor switch.
"Navi, do you think that the floor switch is worth a try?" he asked.
"It couldn't hurt, Link."
He jumped into the water and swam to where the switch was. He dived down with all the force he could muster to push the switch. The force didn't hurt, but wasn't needed either. The switch tripped without any problem. Link rose back to the surface. The water level quickly dropped five feet! They could also hear a loud ticking noise.
"Link, that water must be timed! Hurry!" Navi didn't need to say this, though. Link had already figured out what the ticking meant! He quickly climbed up the ramp, which was on the south end of 'his' platform. He jumped on the raft as soon as it crossed back to his side. He ran to the far end of the raft as it moved toward the west platform. He jumped up as far as he could as the raft touched the west platform! He grabbed the edge, and pulled himself up.
He now surveyed the platform on which he stood. It took up the westernmost twenty feet of the chamber. It had two help plants in the northwest corner, and another large block along the west wall. The block looked like he might be able to move it. He would have to be able to move it to get to the west door, after killing the big skultullah that guarded the door.
He approached the big skultullah so it would show him its underside. With Navi helping him aim, he dispatched it with two well-aimed shots to the underside. He cut the help plants to refill his seed bag. He then examined the block more closely. It was sitting in a large groove in the floor. It could only be moved, if he could move it at all, between where it was, and beneath the west entryway. He grabbed it to try pulling it first, to see if he could do that. He didn't think he would be able to pull it, but the block was lighter than it looked. With his grip being strong, even for a Kokiri, he was able to pull it to where it needed to go! He climbed up onto the block, then up to the west doorway.
The room they entered was thirty feet in diameter. It held two help plants, two deku baba, and three torches, two of which had gone out. There was a portcullis over the other door, which opened to the north. Link said, "Navi, it looks like the torches may open the portcullis. What do you think?" Navi answered, "I was thinking the same thing, Link. Of course, we should also kill the deku baba first. They may be what keep the portcullis closed, and they will be in the way, too!" Link eliminated the two deku baba. He was bit by the first one, and collected a deku stick from the second. He cut the help plants, and was healed. He then took the deku stick, lit it from the burning torch, and lit the other torches. The portcullis raised, and Link put away the deku stick before it burned away completely. "Link, saving your deku sticks is good. But how did you figure that out?" Link answered "Navi, I read at night sometimes. I make my own candles. Harvesting beeswax can be painful, and it takes time to spin the deku fibers into a good wick. I'm used to lighting them only when I need them lit, and putting them out to be used again. I just used the deku sticks the same way, out of habit." "Good thinking, Link!" Navi answered.
She continued "But you won't need candles at night to read with me around!"
"Wouldn't you have to stay up too, then?" Link asked.
"Guardian fairies require almost no sleep themselves, Link. We either sleep in your thoughts during the day, or in your dreams at night. You can also speak to me in your thoughts, instead of speaking out loud, Link!" Link blushed in embarrassment. "Don't be embarrassed, Link! Most Kokiri learn this because they get newborn fairies when they are born! You got a grown fairy on the day you became a man. You're learning a lot quickly! Now let's see what the next room holds!" They opened the north door, and entered the next room.
The room was slightly larger than the one they had left, and had two entry halls. They were standing in the one on the south side of the room, the map showed one to the west. A big skulltullah was blocking the door. It was already showing it's underside. Link killed this one without Navi's help. He was about to walk into the room when Navi stopped him. "Link, stop! Look up at the ceiling!" He did, and saw three white egg sacs. Each one was three foot in diameter, had red blotches, and was wiggling! Navi continued. "Those are gohma egg sacs! A gohma is something like a spider, except much bigger, and tougher to kill! Shoot the egg sacs down from the ceiling before they hatch! I won't be able to help your aim, so aim steady!" Link took aim, and shot down each egg sac one at a time. They disintegrated before they hit the ground.
Navi spoke again. "It looks like the master monster here will be a queen gohma. If it has a chance, it will crush and eat you! To kill it, you must first stun it by shooting it in its one eye! It's eye gives off light, so it will be easy to see. Once you've stunned it, attack its head with your sword! After you land several blows, it will come around and retreat. When it does this, use your slingshot to stun it again. If you try to attack when it isn't stunned, it will eat you! It can also lay hatching egg sacs when it's on the ceiling of the chamber you find it in! If it climbs onto the ceiling, you must keep shooting to stun it! If it lays egg sacs, they will hatch baby gohmas! You will then have to kill them before you can attack the mother! The mother won't attack while the young gohma are fighting, and it won't have to!
If you attack quickly and well, you won't have to face the babies. You will only need to stun and attack the mother two or three times to kill her. Let's finish exploring this room." They found two fairy help plants along the north wall. Link cut them several times, until he had refilled his seed bag. They also found a withered deku baba. Link killed it, and claimed a deku stick. There were spider webs over the opening to the east entranceway, and an alcove to the north. There was one lighted torch, in the west end of the room, right next to where the deku baba had been. Link took the deku stick, and quickly burned the spider webs, burning the ones in the east entryway just as the stick burned up. Link went back to the north alcove and looked at it. Navi said "That alcove doesn't look as deep as the map says it should. We may want to return here someday when we have something to knock down that back wall."
Link said, "You talk as if we won't be done when we've saved the tree. Why?" Navi didn't want to let Link know everything at once and get distracted. She answered "You are already one of the best warriors of the Kokiri. The Tree sent for you to save it! It bonded you with me, not a newborn fairy. Your intended life-mate is as strong woman, who loves you enough to travel with you, or tolerate the Tree sending you to do its bidding! Who else would it send, when it needs to send someone?" "But I'd have to leave the forest!" Link said. "Kokiri aren't allowed to…"
Navi cut Link off, saying, "It's the magic of the Tree that keeps the Kokiri in, and the dangers out! The Deku Tree has sent warriors out in the past, to protect the forest. It will have to send them again. But you need to concentrate on lifting the curse here! Let's crawl through the tunnel over there, to the next room!" They went to the east side of the room, and crawled through the tunnel.
They were on the west platform of the room they dropped into. One thing they could see from here that Link didn't see from the other side of the room was the hole in the floor, which was covered with a large spider web. He tried to jump on it several times, but it would not break or weaken. He looked through the web. There was water forty-five feet below, and a climbing vine up to the edge of the hole that he could easily use to climb out. He looked at the large block. It was in a grove in the floor. He could not push it into the hole, or move it to one of the sconces. But he could push it off into the water between the west end of the room and the northeast platform. He could light a deku stick there, and run back to the web to burn it away, then climb down to the water below. Or, if he fell through while burning the web, the drop was not bad, and the water would break his fall.
He pushed the block into the water. He ran across to the northeast platform and lit a deku stick from the torch. He then ran back, jumping from the northeast platform to the block to the west platform. He swung his burning deku stick on the web as he ran over it. The web burned away just as he reached solid ground again. There was only one climbing vine patch, though, and it was right next to one of the deku baba. He quickly killed the monster plant, claimed the deku nut it yielded, and climbed down the vines to the water below.
He was in a lozenge shaped room, one hundred feet long by eighty feet wide. The pool of water he was floating in took up most of the room. The north end of the room had three deku scrubs waiting for him! He said silently "Navi. Are those the three scrubs the other one was talking about?" Navi answered, "I think so. I can sense the queen gohma very close, so they would have to be them!" Link was ready for them!
He climbed to shore between the second and third scrubs, almost ignoring the one on the left… for the time being! He had Navi target him on the second scrub. He hit it with its first shot! He immediately turned to the third scrub, ducking a shot from the first one. Navi aimed Link and shield, and the third scrub fired. Link and Navi scored another direct hit! They almost sprinted to the first scrub! It was visibly scared, yet still fired! With Navi's aim, Link vanquished the last scrub. He cornered it, and drew his sword. It asked, "How did you know our secret?" Link answered, "We met a friend of yours. He didn't ask us to greet you for him, but we do anyway!" "How irritating!" the scrub responded. "It's so annoying that I'm going to reveal the secret of Queen Gohma to you! In order to administer the coup de grace to Queen Gohma, strike with your sword while she's stunned. Oh, Queenie! Sorry about that!" All three of the scrubs vanished. The portcullis, which was blocking the door Link couldn't see from the pool, raised up.
Link took a quick look around the platform. There were three fairy help plants along the east side of the platform. He hit them, claiming more rupees, and refilling his seed bag. He took a quick look at the map. Sure enough, they were right outside of the queen gohma's chamber. Navi said "Be sure to listen when I tell you something in there! I will explain anything I tell you, but you will have to wait until after we win!" Link was afraid. But he had learned the secret of overcoming fear years before. He answered Navi "Right. Steady my aim, and my nerves if I need it. Let's get this done!" Link and Navi entered the queen's lair.
They entered an entryway nine feet wide and twenty-five feet long. At the other end of the entryway was a room one hundred feet in diameter with a forty-foot high ceiling. The queen gohma was up in the rafters, appearing to sleep. Link was about to shoot at her when Navi stopped him. She said "Save your fire! You won't get a deku seed through her eyelids!" Link relaxed his draw. He made sure the lanyard on the slingshot was attached to his wrist, so he wouldn't lose it in the heat of battle. He cautiously entered the main room, slingshot at the ready! As he entered, a large stone door dropped from the ceiling, closing the only door behind him! The queen gohma woke up, quickly crossed the ceiling, and dropped twenty feet in front of him! It uttered a battle cry that would curdle stone!
It was a horrible beast! It looked like a giant cross between a spider and a scorpion! It had two huge legs, and a large scorpion tail, complete with stinger! It also had fangs, but size alone with this monster could kill! And it was fast! He had his first shot off before he realized, and scored a direct hit to its evil eye, stunning it! But it had closed the distance by half! He started with a jump attack, hitting the beast squarely with his fairy sword! He then chopped, slashed, and stabbed as quickly and forcefully as he could! He was so fast, he appeared almost a blur! Chunks of gore from the beast flew almost to the walls of the chamber! No person could have stood to Link's fury! Yet this beast recovered enough to run back, and climb to the ceiling. Link drew his slingshot again! He fired shot after shot to keep the fiend from spawning young, and hoping to stun it again. His ninth shot at the retreating monster scored, and the monster fell to the ground, stunned again! Link led with another jump attack, then resumed his furious swordwork. This time, he vanquished the beast! It drew back, uttered one soul-shaking groan, and fell dead. It quickly disintegrated, not with a flash, but with a fizzle. Where the beast stood, a large heart-shaped crystal appeared. It was filled with life-force, and even more amazingly, radiated purity! Navi said, "Well done, Link! Grab that life-force container! After you grab that, run to the light to your right." As Link moved, he asked, "What is that light?" Navi answered, "It is a magic portal. When the wizard or monster of a dungeon is defeated, a portal opens up to take you back out of the dungeon! That way, you don't have to fight your way out of the dungeon! Wizards have to put those in too, or their magic will fail!"
Link collected the heart container. As he lifted it, he felt a sudden rush of strength, energy, and well being envelop him! "Your heart is even bigger, now!" Link told him. They moved to the light, and were carried out of the heart of the Great Deku Tree.