The Fields Grown Wild

Link took a deep breath. The trees were smaller here, the scent of the air different. Even the birdsong had changed. Ahead of him stretched an open space wider than anything he had ever seen, full of rolling green grasses; bushes growing in strange lines and no more than three or four times his height. Lit by the afternoon sun, the expanse of blue sky above wide enough to fall into, it was like nothing he'd ever seen.

Still in the shadow of the trees, he tightened his grip ever so slightly on the rough bark of the tree beside him. A few more steps, and he would have left the forest.

If he left the forest, he would die. The Great Deku Tree made sure all the Kokiri knew that, so they would be safe.

But the Great Deku Tree was dead. And with his dying words he had told Link to leave the forest and go to the "castle"…

Maybe I'll only die slowly, Link thought. Maybe, if I can get back in a few days, I'll just be ill for a while. He could handle that. Strong and quick though he was, he got sick far more than the other Kokiri. He didn't like it, but he could handle it. Saria had said that maybe he could leave because he was different. Maybe that was why the Great Deku Tree had made him a little different to the others.

He wanted to ask Navi. Navi, do you think we can make it in time? But if he did, and she wasn't sure, if she didn't know – would he be able to leave? Would he dare?

It didn't matter how it ended. The Great Deku Tree's dying wish was for him to go. Link took a deep breath.

No matter what, I have to go.

He lifted his hand from the tree and darted out, racing light-footed along the deer track and out into the green, into sunlight that seemed brighter than it ever had in any clearing in the woods. Running as fast as he could, Link dashed to the nearest line of bushes – still as far away as from one end of the Kokiri village to the other – and stopped in its shadow. The tangle of exuberant greenery beside him was calming. He looked back at the forest, green sylvan shadows of undergrowth between the old trees offering paths, safety, shelter, comfort.

I don't feel any different yet.

He felt Navi moving in his hair as she squirmed out from under the brim of his hat, and the thought that his new fairy partner was with him made him smile, just a little, as he looked up to see her blue light dancing in an erratic hover.

"Are you okay, Link?"

"I think so," he said honestly, glancing back at the forest again. "I don't feel any different." He cast about for something else to focus on. "Uh… do you know which way the castle is?"

"Northwest," Navi told him. "Wait here; I'll take a look!"

Link tipped his head back to watch her as she shot up into the sky, a blue light almost vanishing against vivid blue. He squinted, tracking her as she circled twice and dove back down to rejoin him.

"There's a path beyond the next hedge," Navi said triumphantly. "If you turn right when you get there, you'll be going the right way. I think there are some houses further along, too."

Link nodded, turning a little to peer through the line of bushes, the hedge. Where the grass near the forest was fairly heavily grazed, on the other side it was long and thick, already reaching almost to his shoulders though it was still only spring. He could see a couple of small trails – far too small for him, these, made by mice and rats and other smaller animals – and turned to walk along the bushes, trying to ignore the tightness in his chest. He'd been feeling that since he said goodbye to Saria. It was fine.

Before long, his sharp eyes spotted a gap large enough for him, kept open by some animal's regular passage. Link knelt down, the faint scent of it suggesting a fox often came this way, and squirmed agilely through, Navi flitting unhindered between the tangled twigs above. He stood up on the other side, dusting his tunic off, and plunged into the tall grasses beyond.

It felt very strange pushing his way through them, as if he were some sort of giant in the forest, taller than the tallest trees. The hedges – now that he thought about it, they did look like the ones in Saria's favourite spot, growing in rows all tangled together – limited his vision to an extent, but nothing interrupted the immensity of the open sky above him. He kept glancing up; he couldn't help himself. Other than the birds flitting between the hedges or soaring above, there was nothing up there at all.

The second hedge was even easier to get past, as Link made for a gap in it only to discover it was filled after a fashion by a partly-collapsed wooden gate, sagging from rusty hinges nailed to a stone gatepost. He hopped over it without effort at the other end without even disturbing the sun-bleached wood, and only rustling the spreading branches of the hedge that were reaching for one another over the top of it.

On the other side, a wide path of bare earth wound from left to right, curving gently uphill. Grass grew on it in tufts and clumps, softening twin parallel furrows, one near either side of the path, that didn't look natural and that Link couldn't work out any reason for. He stopped briefly to examine the near one, peering into it for a few moments before the pressure grew too strong and he started moving again with a sharp breath, turning right as Navi had told him and heading up the hill. He didn't know how long he had, and he had to get to the "castle".

"What is it, Link?"

"Why are there these… channels?" Link kicked the edge of one, his sturdy boot knocking a clod of earth free.

"They're wheel ruts from a cart," Navi explained. "You have a little wheelbarrow by your house, don't you? A cart is like that, but much bigger, with wheels on either side. It looks like carts used to come this way a lot."

"Not any more," Link observed. The ruts looked to be kept clear by the fact that they'd channel water when it rained and little else. The entire path seemed to be gently surrendering to nature, although a narrower track along it indicated it was still used now and again.

Navi said nothing, landing back on his head, and Link picked up the pace, a steady fast walk he could keep up for hours on end. He glanced upwards periodically, and aside at every strange noise or foreign birdcall, but the land around seemed peaceful. Perhaps getting to the "castle" wouldn't be too hard…

. . .

Hours passed, and the sun began to set, dipping below the gently rolling horizon. Link had seen several houses, or what Navi said were houses – they weren't trees, but were made of cut wood and piled stone, more like the tall building by Saria's favourite spot. He'd seen people, too, taller than anyone he'd ever met, working in tended fields between trimmed hedges, a far cry from the wild ones he'd passed through on the edge of the forest and reminding him somewhat of the scattered, haphazard plots where he grew food, not far from his own village. And then he'd left those houses behind, and reached another wild area, and then there had been a fork in the path, which by now was much broader and clearly well-travelled. Navi had told him to turn left, so he did, but as he'd looked right he'd seen what looked like the remains of more strange dead houses, outlined in stone and broken rafter, daylight visible through the empty roofs, doorways empty and gaping. They'd looked abandoned and dead, and he was glad enough to be avoiding them.

After that, and another little cluster of houses, they'd come to what Navi called a town, a gathering of stone-and-wood houses so large and close together that there seemed to be almost no plants at all and full of strange tall people in odd clothes bustling to and fro. Link had stared at it for several moments before opting to go around, veering off the path to circle outside its wooden walls. Even the path itself seemed unnatural, a broad scar across the land, no longer softened by even a single tuft of grass but instead worn away by the constant traffic of feet and hooves. There were people on it everywhere now, especially near the town, but most of them merely wished him a good or blessed day as they passed, and he nodded and wished them the same back, trying not to stare. As the day began to fade, however, there had been fewer and fewer of them, and now he was the only one he could see anywhere along it.

Link pressed on in the gathering dusk, keeping up his steady pace. The "castle" was along this path somewhere, and the further he went before he rested, the faster he would get there.

"Link…" A soft, almost shimmering sound was the flitter of fairy wings as Navi slipped out from under his hat and took off from the top of his head. "We should find somewhere to rest soon. It might not be safe to travel at night."

Link had been about to protest, but her mention of safety stopped him from speaking. He nodded instead, glancing around in the gloom for somewhere he might be able to camp. An isolated copse not far from the road seemed like a likely choice, with any one of the trees likely to offer him a safe haven. He pointed even as he turned towards it, veering off the road without a thought.

"How about over there?"

Navi bobbed up and down in her hover, a fairy's exaggerated nod for someone who couldn't see her through her own light. "You should be safe in one of those trees!"

It was exactly what he'd thought, and the prospect of being able to rest, somewhere at least slightly familiar, heartened Link as he scrambled over a piled stone wall into another abandoned-seeming field, trekking through it along a straight line, pushing his way through the long grasses. Somewhere between one side of the field and the other, the sun sank completely below the horizon, but the red-gold sky and the low-riding moon still gave him more than enough light to see by. Link scrambled unconcernedly over another wall, no more obstacles left between him and the copse beyond an expanse of unkempt grass.

He heard a noise, suddenly, something scuffling and shifting, something like a badger digging but bigger, and turned towards it, sharp eyes scanning the shadowy ground. He saw the soil tremble and part, turf splitting enough to let slim white shapes rise through.

Bone.

Stalfos?

Link knew about stalfos, though he'd never actually seen one. The ones in the forest belonged to the forest; the fate of all outsiders who dared take from it was to become a stalfos and protect it forever. He'd never wanted to see a stalfos, and he didn't know if stalfos from outside of the forest would think he was an enemy. He didn't belong there, after all.

"Naviiii…" Link managed, his voice shaking with tension and fear. Another sound from behind him made him whirl, snatching the Kokiri Sword from its scabbard and his shield from his back, fumbling the shield and nearly dropping it, his hand shaking as he clenched it tight about the grip and gritted his teeth. Another set of small slim bones, and this time he caught the smooth cream curve of skull beginning to rise-

"They're stalchildren!" Navi called from behind him, and he spun again to face the first one to see that it had fully emerged now, a skeletal figure barely his own height, soil clinging to it in places, reaching out towards him with bone fingers, oblivious to the fairy rapidly circling its hollow skull, the jawbone lost somewhere long ago. "Don't be afraid! Attack quickly!"

Link forced himself to move, his mouth dry, obeying her words to slice at the oncoming stalchild. His hasty overhand cut hit pale humerus, skidded down it, cut through a brief resistance at the elbow – and suddenly the stalchild's forearm fell away, its bones clattering against one another and bouncing silently apart on the short, springy grass. It paused for a moment, turning its empty skull with a tilt that lent it an air of macabre curiosity, passing its remaining hand in front of the stump of its other arm as if it expected to still feel bone there.

"And again! Quickly!"

Link aimed just below Navi's rapidly circling light, stepping in again to swing with all his strength. His sword chipped into a vertebra, knocking it clear out of the spine with no muscle or tendon to hold it in place, and the stalchild's skull fell off to roll down the hill, the rest of its bones collapsing at once as the force that had animated them fled.

"Behind you!" Navi shouted, flying arrow-straight past him, so close he felt the beat of her wings pass his ear as he spun to his left: the second stalchild was coming for him, completely unperturbed by the collapse of its fellow; lifted its right hand as if to slap him – Link raised his shield, letting his turn spin him faster, further than he'd originally intended to block it. The blow struck only solid forest wood, not nearly as strong as he'd been afraid it would be, and the stalchild staggered, briefly off-balance, but Link lost precious moments of his own reversing his turn to bring his sword to bear, and was almost too late to strike back, hitting it in the shoulder and chipping bone without, this time, cutting through. It staggered again, and he leapt at it with a yell born of something between determination and desperation, attacking with full force with his sword catching it full on its cracked collarbone and cleaving it in two, down into ribs that suddenly gave way unsupported as the stalchild collapsed.

Link looked around wildly, his breath harsh in his throat, but there were no more.

"It's okay, Link. You did it!" Navi hovered in front of him, her tiny voice as welcome a beacon as her small light. "Now hurry to the trees! Stalchildren can feel your motion through the ground!"

Link didn't waste time on words, turning and racing towards the black silhouettes that meant safety, fleet and agile over the uneven ground. He barely slowed as he entered the copse, twigs slapping at his head and shoulders and something thorny catching his leg as he almost threw himself at the first good-sized tree he came to, scrambling up with all his forest-born agility until he was several forks high, high enough to feel the comforting gentle sway of a living tree in the wind. There he stopped, settling into the fork with a lifetime's ease, leaning back against the sturdy supporting branch and looking out.

In the moonlit night, he could see a third stalchild, wandering without purpose partway across the field. It hadn't noticed him, and he breathed out a shaky sigh. He was safe.

Navi flitted down to hover in front of him, and he raised a hand for her to land on only to see it trembling, the events of the long, long day catching up with him.

"Why…?"

Navi hovered above his hand, not quite risking a landing. "Why are there stalchildren?" She hesitated. "Well, Link… sometimes, when people die in bad circumstances, it leaves an imprint of their death on their bones. Especially children… The Great Deku Tree told us that evil was falling across the land. That could be enough to awaken a stalchild, if they died within the last century or so."

Link blinked at her mention of the Great Deku Tree, silent tears loosed to run down his face. The Great Deku Tree was dead… even though he had fought and killed the terrifying monster gnawing at his heart, the Tree had said it was already too late. Would it have been too late if he'd been faster? He pushed the thought aside.

"S-so, so children died here?"

"Or somewhere near here," Navi said, sadly. "They wander each night and rise from wherever their bones last fell. The ones you cut down will reassemble themselves tomorrow night. But don't worry… their spirits left long ago. The bones are all that's still here."

Link nodded, scrubbing the back of his hand across his face. He wiped it on his tunic before offering it to Navi again, no longer shaking. She landed, looking up at him: a tiny slender figure of a woman half-obscured by her own blue glow, bare feet only the slightest weight on his hand, delicate wings folded into a train behind her like a moth.

"I guess, we'll have to stop early every night. Won't we?"

Navi nodded. "There could be stalchildren anywhere in Hyrule."

"Is that why those houses we saw were ruined?"

Navi hesitated again. "Actually, Link, I think it's the other way around." She paused for another moment, choosing her words carefully. "The stalchildren probably exist because villages like the one we saw were destroyed, and the people who lived there killed, including their children. People probably won't go back there now."

"Oh, okay." Link accepted the information as he had everything else. He hadn't known what to expect from the world outside the forest, so it wasn't exactly a shock. It was hard to imagine somewhere even bigger than the Kokiri village all being destroyed, though. "What could destroy a village?" He frowned. "Something like the – the Gohma?"

Navi sighed, shuffling her wings in their train. "Other people. Evil people like the man who cursed the Great Deku Tree."

"Oh."

The Great Deku Tree. The question Link had been asking himself since they left still gnawed at him. Was Navi thinking it, too? It seemed to hang in the air between them. He had to ask. He had to at least know what she thought.

"Navi, if…" The words suddenly spilt out in a rush. "If I'd been faster, if I'd not taken so long getting there, if – do you think the Great Deku Tree would still be alive?"

Navi made herself think about it, giving the question the consideration it deserved. Link watched her, anxiety and unhappiness etched across his features.

"No, Link, I don't," she said slowly. "When the Great Deku Tree sent me to you, he said he didn't have much time left. I don't think there was anything either of us could have done." It still hurt. The Great Deku Tree was far older than Navi, guardian spirit of the ancient forest and a friend and elder to all its denizens. Father to the Kokiri; father to Link. But Navi believed his words, and Link had fought so hard. She didn't want him to think it was his fault.

Link sighed, his trust in her as his companion fairy lifting some of the weight from him. "I wish there had been."

"So do I, Link," Navi said quietly. "So do I."


The title here is part of a line from a song I'm working on. One day I'll post the whole thing, but I'm expecting it to run to 50+ verses, and fitting it all to tune in a sensible, enjoyable manner is a lot harder than just writing a story. Here's the relevant half a verse:

Land still haunted by the last
War not yet faded to the past
Children's bones walk nightly in the fields grown wild