The Mask of Majora - Chapter 6: Your Duty as a Warrior
In a vain attempt to rescue her drowning partner, Tatl dived underwater once more; her delicate eyes tightly shut, but they still stung. It was a senseless maneuver, but the girl was desperate. Link had to be the only person that would be determined and crazy enough to help her get to her little brother. He practically put his life on the line. Tatl emerged from the waters, flailing and coughing violently. There was nothing she could do...
The sudden feeling of isolation was just too much for her to bear. "Help!" she shouted out towards the trail they had just come from. "Someone help me!!" She prayed to the goddesses for a miracle to emerge from that trail. But much to her surprise, the miracle emerged from the trees above... pulling the young hero from their safety of the tree vines and onto land...
That horrible, acid taste... he hasn't experienced such revolting savor... not even in those disgusting energy-restoring potions he always had to drink. In fact, he actually missed the taste of them. This world really was much different than Hyrule. Link just hoped it wouldn't get any worse or stranger...
He stared to feel the blood flowing through his veins normally. Finally. He wondered how many times since the beginning of his journey has he almost passed out completely. When his vision cleared, he only wished that he would wake up the same way he had when taking horseback-riding lessons in Lon Lon Ranch. Facing his dear fairy Navi and his best friend, Malon... but now, to think such thing is like expecting a rubbish fairytale to unfold. What he faced instead was a lot more unanticipated.
Link cried out in surprise. He was back in dry land-- well, moist land, really... since they were still in the mold-abiding swamp. Sitting up straight, he coughed out excess water still attempting to clog his lungs. What had surprised the young hero? He had stared right into the face of his savior: an innocent forest monkey. Link arched and eyebrow at the creature before finding his ability to speak once more. "Er... thanks..." he muttered. The little ape smiled, motioning behind him at two other monkeys.
"It was nothing, really," he said, triggering another raised eyebrow from Link. "I don't really deserve all the credit-- my brothers helped me carry you to shore. My, you sure were heavy!" he chattered.
Link narrowed his eyes but still managed to smile politely. "Well, thanks again," he paused to cough. Tatl flew over his head, trying to hide her relief. She was glad to see he was okay, but she certainly wasn't going to admit it to an unfamiliar like him...
"Geez, why don't you watch where you're walking through next time, kid?" she scolded lightly. "I mean, even a doofus would have noticed the water changing colors!" Link looked out the swamp's water source and ogled the magenta poison that floated over the surface of the water as the fairy continued. Tatl scoffed. "Well, at least you're okay... so let's get on with the mission..."
Without a word of protest, Link stood up and nodded. He reached his hand over his shoulder to touch the kokiri sword's hilt -making sure it was still there- and started walking along the water's edge, away from the poison. Not even five steps later, he was stopped. The three monkeys that had pulled him out of the water stood in his way, gazing at Link with admiration. "So you're on a mission? Are you a warrior?" one of them asked.
"Umm... well..." he began. Tatl flew as close as she dared to the apes and frowned at them.
"Look, I know you saved my partner and all, but we have much more important things to do than playing around," she said, momentarily shifting her gaze to the moon worriedly.
The monkey that had spoken for his brothers held up his hands in assurance. "Oh, no! There is no time to play! There is too much to explain!" he cried out.
"Explain? What--"
"Please, follow me!" The trio of monkeys dropped on all fours and ran along the path of the swamp. Not having much of a choice, Link ran after them, careful not to slip on the moss that trailed under his boots. Past the trees and over the boulders, they reached a more open area in this swamp. Link stopped to take a break, resting his hands on his knees and taking in deep breaths. He knew the monkeys were right beside him.
"How much... farther...?" he asked between breaths.
Doing an acrobatic jump, the lead monkey landed next to the boy's feet and looked up to him with a knowing look. "We're here..." he said with a grin.
"Here where?" Link didn't even bother to look up. Even though he hasn't waded in the waters again, the air still reeked of venom and made him dizzy.
"You sure ask a lot of questions..." the monkey commented; his two brothers snickered quietly. "Just stay low... I'll explain everything..." Link agreed (too fatigued to refuse) and ducked down between some odd bushes and Tatl flew into his cap to hide as well. The boy practically flopped down to the ground exhausted as the apes continued to stare oddly. They did that a lot.
"So what's going on?" he said after catching his breath. He sat up on his knees and peeked over his hiding place. He gasped inaudibly at the sight of a foreign edifice... a structure so well guarded; it might as well be suited for royalty. Deku Scrub guards stood at its gate. As he continued to study this place, the monkey explained.
He sighed sadly. "Late last night, the princess of the deku scrubs -and our best friend- had disappeared. She was headed to the royal temple of Woodfall when she just vanished... without a trace..." Link turned his head towards the little ape. He was staring down at the ground distressed, but still continued to tell his plight. "We have tried to save her, but we did not know where to begin... and we can't go before the king ourselves... he has gone on a rampant rage! He is sentencing to death every creature that is not a deku, accusing them of being in cahoots with her daughter's disappearance." Link stared wide-eyed. "So, you see our plight..."
Link nodded, but was unsure of this. He didn't have a lot of time to find these four strangers who Link did not have a single clue to how he could find them... yet he didn't have the heart to just leave a king in distress and a princess missing when she was surely in trouble. "But... what do you wish for me to do?" Link asked slowly.
Tatl emerged from the bottom of Link's cap and winced. "You sure do like helping people, don't you?" she said with a roll of the eyes.
"You are a warrior!" The monkey put plainly. "Please head down to Woodfall and find the princess for us! Please! She is our good friend... her family needs her back safely..." he asked pleadingly.
"But the entrance to Woodfall is through the Deku Kingdom!" Tatl pointed out. "How are we going to get across without the guards spotting us?!"
Link smirked a little. "Don't worry, I've done this before. All it takes is some charisma, stealth and if that doesn't work: bribery." Tatl giggled mockingly.
"This isn't Hyrule anymore, kid... you should know better," she said; now it was her turn to smirk.
"Yeah, I know," he said with a shrug, not really caring much for the remark. "No harm in trying, though." The monkeys gave him a signal of good luck and darted up into the sycamore-like trees so they could get a better view. Link walked out of the hiding place and towards the gate as vigilantly as possible. "Okay... so far, so good..." About to walk past the deku guards with a wave, the leafy creatures stood in his way with a stern look.
"This is the Deku Kingdom," one of them said. "This is no place for outsiders like you! Turn away."
Link squinted at them with an incredulous look. After a pause, he blinked and just turned away muttering under his breath. Tatl did not come out, but Link could hear her laughing under his green, flaccid hat. He groaned at that and sat down at a distance from the guards. Sighing, he looked down and his eyes trailed off from his brown boots to the wooden Deku Mask he had forgotten about. He unfastened it from his belt and held it in front on him. "If what the salesman said was true... I should be able to wear this and... change form again...?"
Daringly, the child put the mask back on. That same strange pulse he had felt before... like that of his body changing as he stood-- it came back. It hurt. But the boy bared it. Shaking his head from the dizziness, his vision cleared and looking at himself, he grinned. He was back to his temporal deku body. Unsure if this might be unchanging all over again, Link reached to the back of his head and felt a weird jagged line. It was the rim of the mask! Now all he had to do was remove it and he was back to normal.
He walked past the entrance with ease and without interrogation-- the guards told him to enjoy his stay and Link voiced a thanks to them. Tatl flew out and looked back, seeing they just passed the gate. "Wow, moving..." she said.
Link glanced around as he continued to walk towards Deku Palace. The dekus roamed liberally as a race... they looked so independent and free, unlike the dekus in Hyrule. Back in Link's home, the dekus were though of as pests and adversaries. But here one could walk past a Terminian and they would just wave them off. There was so much peace between tribes... Link envied this sort of connection in this land.
Walking past the main door of the palace, Link found himself in a large area with abundant foliage and beautiful colors. But his greeting inside the royal chambers was far from welcoming.
"WATCH OUT!!" Tatl suddenly screamed. And like a reflex, Link automatically rolled out of the way. He stared back with wide eyes to where he previously stood to find a flaming spear stuck to the ground. The chamber was crawling with utter chaos. Deku scrubs ran in every which way and it was impossible for Link to see who had just attacked him. A scrub ran past him and towards the exit, not even bothering to pause at the sight of such a young child between all the pandemonium.
"The king has gone mad!!" he cried out before vanishing down the hall.
Link shook his head, completely freaked out and turned to Tatl. "What's going on?! Tatl, can you fly higher to see what's happening?!?" he said to her as loud as could over the noise. With a nod, the girl fairy hovered higher until she could see the Deku King's throne. Four guards surrounded his royal Highness as the King paced, holding a spear similar to the one that almost ended Link's life. Tatl flew closer to them until they were at earshot.
"Your Highness! I am begging you! Please calm down!" one of the scrubs said. He very much stood out from the other guards and had a royal essence about him. Tatl figured this was the king's butler. "If we do not hurry and send out our troops to find her, the princess might end up in great peril!"
"Silence!!" the enraged king demanded, throwing the spear in his hands and sending everyone present into frenzy. "Nobody moves until I find out who is responsible for such a crime! It is an insult to the royal family!! ...You!" he pointed at the guards. "Make sure nobody leaves the kingdom! Find your best guards and keep an eye out for anybody... and you!" He turned to his butler. "Anybody that tries to sneak into my palace... report them to me at once." The Deku Butler bowed lowly in reverence and left from his side of the throne. Tatl shrank back, fearing she may have heard more than enough. She flew back to Link, who had been crouching behind a decorative vase to prevent being barreled into somebody else.
"Well?" he asked expectantly, gripping the vase for it to not topple over from the wind of running dekus. "Did you find anything that--?"
"We gotta get outta here, now!!" she growled, pulling on the collar of his tunic. Link gave her a questioning look. "There's no time! We gotta get out of here before the deku butler--"
"Excuse me!! Young man!" a voice called out from behind Link. The boy hero froze, knowing he had just been caught. With a little scared noise, Tatl darted under his hat; her shaking in there wasn't helping Link in any way, either. The voice spoke up again. "You shouldn't be anywhere near these parts!" He felt the cold, hard grip of an angered deku grab him by the wrist. No use in fighting, Link spun around and came face to face with the deku butler. His irked expression dramatically changed when his eyes met the young deku's. His voice suddenly hushed and shaky. "You... you are..." he managed, kneeling down next to the boy.
Link saw sympathy and grief in the butler's eyes. He did not know why this was, but he dared not speak against it. He lowered his head and started to turn away. "I'm sorry, sir... I'll find my way out of the palace..." He took two steps toward the exit and was again stopped by the grip of the butler. This time he did not seem pressured; it was like a kind parent willing to help a young toddler reach his way across the road.
The deku butler sighed, out of the unusual and mournful trance. "Listen, I won't report you to His Highness, but there is no way out of the palace without stumbling onto the guards." He stood up and looked around him cautiously. "Please, follow me closely." Hesitating at first, Link followed the king's butler unnoticed across the room and past the throne. Deku scrubs were rounded up by officials and forced to stand before the Deku King. Guards stood on Link's way, making him lose sight of the butler he was following.
Link jumped back surprised at the stern looks he was given. "Oh, hi," he said meekly. "I-- I'm... I'm just going with--"
"Rest easy; the youngster is with me," said the butler, coming in at the nick of time and scooping the boy up on his arms. Link wriggled a bit, realizing he had never been cradled this way before. He stopped. It was so benevolent of the man... Link almost felt like if he had known this deku all along... like if he... was his father. Link shook his head. What a ridiculous feeling he thought it was.
"Oh, sir!" the lead guard stood straight. "We didn't know you recuperated your son! Please, forgive the intrusion. Move along."
A quick nod and the deku butler dismissed himself, disappearing behind the king's throne and into a secretive cave. Further into the tunnel, Link could see the gentle glow of the early afternoon sun against the rough granite walls and could smell the bitter poison in the air. They were almost outside. Sighing in relief at all the past close calls, Link looked up at the butler half-lidded.
"Hey, I can still walk-- don't worry," he said with a light laugh.
The butler coughed nervously and muttered an apology as he put the young boy down. But Link just let it go with a smile. His curiosity got the better of him soon, though. "So, you have a son then?" he asked.
The other deku did not respond at first, but kept walking ahead of Link, so his expression went unnoticed.
"...had a son, really..." he finally said in a low voice.
Link was caught off guard. "Ohh... I'm so sorry..." He couldn't see the butler's face, but he sensed a hint of grief. The very same grief he had seen in his eyes when he had hesitated at first sight.
"I have to admit; you do have an extreme likeness to my son that it is almost astonishing," he said, still looking down at the path he walked on. Link knew this man had too much pain in his heart to bear talking about his greatest loss... he knew just how he felt, really. But amazingly, the deku butler continued. "My boy... he was too young to defend himself... falling into the hands of a simple forest child..." he clenched his fists, but sadness still lingered in his voice. "It just wasn't impartial."
Even Tatl was captivated in this small, heartbreaking news. She shook her head. Skullkid was surely going way too far... to be responsible for a harmless deku boy's death. But... she did not remember ever being present when that happened. She and her brother were often with Skullkid, but most of the mischief he has done was away from the eyes of both fairies...
"The King was also very fond of my son... and so was his daughter. When my boy went missing, the king assembled his best troops to search the land for that little forest demon. But now that our beloved princess is missing, the king has been unable to keep his cool..." he paused. "He had forgotten everything else and now searches for the culprit. I fear that if we do not look for the princess, she may be caught up in some kind of trouble, just as the monkeys claim..."
Link looked up at him, walking a few fast paces until he was walking by his side. "You know the monkeys?" he asked.
The deku butler smiled weakly. "Of course. They were my son's and the princess' playmates in usual days. They would always fool around in the palace garden. But after the King's decree, they are unable to enter our kingdom."
The boy hero almost did not become aware that they were now outside of the cave and in a place very similar to the swamp. Link remembered the monkeys mentioned something about a temple in Woodfall, but the only unnatural structure he could see was a royal shrine... and past that was another cave. The butler pointed to it.
"That is the exit. You should be able to go through without trouble. Please, just leave as soon as possible." He gently put his hand on the boy's head. "And thank you for listening to my laments. I know it may have been hard for you to handle, but I really appreciate you for just listening to me..." Exchanging a last smile, the deku butler turned away, back into the shadows of the secret entrance of the palace.
Making sure he was not seen, Link took off his deku mask and shape shifted back to the Hylian boy he truly was. He stood there immobile, hundreds of thoughts dashing through his head. For some reason, he remembered that song he had been taught by the Happy Mask Salesman. How it had the power to put an aching soul to rest and encasing it in a mask. Then Link realized something-- Link could not have been what was described as an aching soul. Could it be...? That when the Skullkid had converted him...? Another soul overtook his body...?
"--I said, snap out of it!" Tatl repeated, barreling against the side of the hylian boy's head. Her dragonfly wings flapped exceedingly quick as she hovered backwards. She pointed at the deku shrine. "Look! There's someone up there!" Link put his thoughts to rest and squinted at the shrine. Sure enough, on top of its platform was some sort of being. Link jumped over lily pads and on river rocks, avoiding the venomous water until he reached the tall, wooden structure. And sitting on the base of a ritual altar was a young deku girl. She had beautiful gaudy earrings, a plain but formal dress and a flower adorned her hair. This had to be the deku princess!
Overjoyed, Link stepped up to her. "Princess! You're okay! Your father has been looking all over for--"
"Huh?? Who are you...?" she said, slowly backing away from this stranger. "Did father send you here??"
"Well, not really. But--"
The princess rushed up to him a grabbed his arm. "Oh, please! Don't tell father I'm up here! Don't tell anyone!!" Link arched an eyebrow. She certainly reminded him of a particular princess back in Zora's Domain... "I'm serious! It's a trap!"
"A trap?" Link asked.
Storm clouds slowly began building up around the south sky. But before anyone could even make a comment about it, Link was rudely shoved forward by the blunt end of a spear. The deku princess cried out in surprise and Link stood up to see they had both been found by the Deku King and his royal guards. The deku butler was not far behind, a look of fear and surprise across his face.
The king turned to face him. "Ha! I knew you have been hiding something from me! Lucky I followed you out here with your so-called child!" The butler cringed as the king now turned back to Link, if possibly more enraged than before. "You!! So you are the one who kidnapped my precious daughter!! I sentence you to an immediate death!"
"Framed and busted... ouch," Tatl muttered.
Link stared ahead in shock, not sure about what to do now. Make a run for it?
The deku princess stepped up between them both. "No, father!!" she yelled out harshly. "This boy has done nothing wrong!! Please, you must get out of Woodfall at once! All of you!"
The storm clouds blotched out the golden afternoon until the skies were as dark as a new moon night. The sound of faint, tribal drums filled the atmosphere. Woodfall started to rumble loudly; several guards falling off the shrine and into the waters. Link tried to keep his feet firmly on the ground as well as everyone else. And from the very deepest of forests emerged a giant. Link ogled this monster in astonishment. The giant's face was concealed with a hideous mask that seemed to scorn those at its presence. In its hand was an immense sword and in the other was a shield. He took a menacing step towards the shrine.
It was ready for battle.
And so was Link.
To Be Continued...