Chapter 2: Climate of Evil

The Dark is rising. That was exactly what he had felt last night.
That was what he was beginning to feel again now.

~Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising

On some level, he knew he was dreaming, but he'd never had a dream like this one before. From the rain that plastered his shirt to his body, to the dark storm clouds that swelled overhead, to the mud that sucked on his boots and the torchlight spanning the drawbridge in front of him, everything about it felt real.

Especially his fear.

It wasn't a fear of death—his death, at least. His friends in the forest were safe, but there was someone else behind that drawbridge whose friendship he had come to cherish, and she was in danger.

Startled by the rattle of chains, he turned to watch the drawbridge fall. A white horse appeared through the fog inside the city, throwing up bits of pavement, splinters, and mud as it passed over the drawbridge and out into the field, giving the boy from the forest a fleeting glimpse of a rider and passenger.

The passenger…it was her! With gentle hands drawn white with fear, the girl held onto her escort as the older woman drove the horse at reckless speeds. She had time only for one glance at the little boy watching her. Then she was gone.

The boy glanced after the vanished white horse, then turned back, frightened by the snort of another horse he had not heard approach. Black fur and crimson eyes gave the beast a demonic appearance, but its rider was far worse.

"You!" The man spoke, turning his eyes on the boy. "The white horse. Which way did it go? Answer me!"

The boy remained silent, suddenly afraid of his own death, too, for he saw it in this man's eyes and in the way the man's red cape seemed to call for blood. Innocent blood.

His blood.

Dawn.

Fog lay over the forest. Silence hung in the air, but it would not last. Today, Kokiri Forest would wake to find that its guardian, the Great Deku Tree, was dying.

"Navi. Navi, where art thou? Come hither."

A fairy appeared in front of the Tree, her body about the size of a man's fist.

"Dost thou sense it? The climate of evil descends upon this realm. Malevolent forces even now are mustering to attack our land of Hyrule."

A groan escaped the Tree's branches. "For so long, the Kokiri Forest, the source of life, has stood as a barrier, deterring outsiders and maintaining the order of the world. But before this tremendous evil power, even my power is as nothing. It seems the time has come for the boy without a fairy to begin his journey, the youth whose destiny it is to lead Hyrule to the path of justice and truth."

"Navi…" His voice faded, struggling to regain its force. "Go now! Find our young friend and guide him to me. I do not have much time left. Fly, Navi, fly! The fate of the forest, nay, the world, depends upon thee!"

Mido rarely dreamed, but when he did, it was almost always pleasant, and it was always of himself. He had spent hours replaying the fight with the monster, dreaming of another world in which he, Mido, had saved the forest as Link lay on the ground, dead or at least unconscious from his wounds.

Now, as he sat on the edge of his bed, Mido recorded his epic deeds by reciting them and drawing them on the wall with a flaming branch.

"So there I was," he said, "knowing that the fate of the forest depended on me."

Three images, all of Link's brutal torture and his own triumph, were already etched above the bed.

"The monster had tried to throw me off. It had tried to burn me." The fourth image formed quickly as he pressed the branch into the wood with his thumb. "But I didn't give up, even though Link had almost been killed."

Satisfied with his work, he snuffed the fire with his thumb and forefinger, then leaned back to survey the gruesome panorama.

"I was never afraid. I knew all along I could win, and I did." Another pause. "I jumped off and ran to Link's body, grabbed his slingshot, and aimed it at the eye." Dropping the branch, he turned to face his audience. Three chairs, a bed, and an old chest made of ash wood hung on his every word and gesture.

"The shot was perfect," Mido said, pointing a finger at one of the chairs as a smile played on his lips. "The eye exploded, and the monster died in the fire."

He took a bow and waited for the inevitable storm of applause.

"Hey! Listen!"

Mido spun around to find a pair of fairies—his own and one he had never seen before—hovering above the bed.

The strange fairy spoke first. "I'm Navi."

Mido frowned at Pol. "I thought I told you to keep everyone out."

"She came in so fast," his fairy protested. "I didn't see her!"

Mido shrugged, turning to the newcomer. "What do you want? I don't have time for—"

"I'm looking for the boy without a fairy!" Navi said.

"You mean Link?" Mido lunged out and kicked one of the chairs so that it fell and cracked the lid of the old chest. "What do you need him for?"

"Please, it's important. The Great Deku Tree is dying!"

The heat in Mido's eyes evaporated. "What?"

Link awoke with a start, sure that something was terribly wrong. Vivid memories of a man with dark eyes and a red cape clenched his mind as he tried to sit up.

The party. The monster. Saria!

The reality of last night's events hit him all at once. He moaned and swung a leg over the edge of his bed. "What's happening?"

He heard voices below, in the clearing. One seemed familiar, but he had never heard the other. Were they looking for him?

Suddenly afraid, he leapt back into bed and closed his eyes, willing the voices away. If this was reality, reality could wait.

"Hey!"

Feet clacked up the ladder to his house. The shout had come from just outside the doorway.

"Wake up!" A high-pitched voice disrupted his thoughts, but he pretended to be asleep.

"Hey, Link!" The footsteps stopped at the edge of his bed, the two voices blending together in his head.

Mido?

"Wake up!" The same high voice repeated its obnoxious call, but its source moved back and forth, up and down in agitation. "Can Hyrule's destiny really depend on such a lazy boy?"

Link curled up in a ball. "Leave me alone."

A fist grabbed his tunic from the back and yanked him off the bed. Furious, Link stood up and cocked an arm to punch whoever had dared disturb his rest.

"Just try it." Mido glared back at him, chest thrust out, hands on his hips, unafraid.

Link let his arm fall back to his side. "What are you doing here?" Just then, he noticed there were two fairies hovering at Mido's shoulder. "Who…?"

Navi spun a circle around Mido's head before stopping in front of Link. "I'm Navi the fairy. The Great Deku Tree asked me to be your partner from now on!"

A soft gasp hissed through Link's teeth. "What did you say?"

"You have a fairy now…me!"

After years of yearning for just such a moment, only one word came to Link's mind. "Why?"

"I should probably take you to see him first."

Mido had already turned to go through the door, but Link could make no move to follow. He couldn't get the dream out of his head. He knew something was wrong.

"Hurry!" said Navi.

"Wait." Link rubbed his temples. "This has something to do with that monster last night, doesn't it?"

Navi landed her tiny frame on his shoulder. "Let's go!"

Link nodded, dizzy with the feeling that things had changed and would never be the same, here or anywhere else in Hyrule. On a hunch, he picked up the Deku Shield Saria had given him, hooked his arm through its leather straps, pulled on the new tunic she had left at his bedside to replace the torn one, and followed Navi out into the village.

The forest stood silent, still as death in the morning light.

An hour before dawn, Saria had left her house for a hike in the woods, hoping for a chance to sort through her thoughts. Her sleep had been dark and miserable, dreamless but rife with foreboding. She had taken her ocarina with her, but not even its quaint notes could comfort her as they always had.

She wept by the stump where she had tended to Link's injuries, but none of the forest creatures joined her. Every branch, leaf, and breath of wind had fallen silent. Only when the sun rose over the treetops did she look up at last, grief clawing her face in the form of a dozen teardrops.

If this evil can kill even the Great Deku Tree, how can we possibly fight it? She watched as a single ant skittered across the stump. And who will protect us?

Feeling like the ant, and angry at herself for her helplessness, she raised her thumb to squash it, but immediately regretted the thought. No. She lowered her thumb and turned away, finally resolved to act. Even if he dies, there is always hope.

She pushed herself up and eyed the trail that led back to her home. With a deep breath, she took a step forward, and the more steps she took, the less she noticed her fear. Before she knew it, she had entered the woods.

"I must share what hope I have," she whispered, "even if I don't have enough for myself."

Nearly ten minutes after he had summoned her, Navi returned to the Great Deku Tree ahead of Link, Mido, and Pol. By then, the sun had risen, but its light scarcely penetrated the gloom that clung to their hearts. Even with half his leaves gone and a sickly mold eating at his bark, the Tree still represented everything they had ever cared for.

"Oh, Navi, thou hast returned."

"Great Deku Tree." Navi dove from Link's shoulder and flew up to touch one of the Tree's branches. "I found him. The boy without a fairy."

"Yes. Link."

Link freed his arm from the Deku Shield and left it on the hill at the edge of the clearing as he approached the Tree. Mido kept his distance, trying to hide the pallor spreading across his face at the sight of the Tree's helplessness.

"I'm here, Great Deku Tree." Link bent to one knee, covering his face with his right hand to conceal his tears.

"Welcome, Link. Listen well to what, I, the Great Deku Tree, am about to tell thee." A shudder split three branches near the Tree's highest point. "Thy slumber these past months must have been restless and full of deadly nightmares. As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land and causes nightmares to those who are sensitive to it. Verily, thou hast felt the climate descending."

Link shuddered, too. The man with the deathly eyes and blood-red cape would haunt him long after the nightmares faded, he was certain.

"Alas, I had hoped to suppress the evil, but you can see where that has led. I fear there remains but one hope for us all."

Link's control slipped, and a lone tear soiled the ground beneath his face. "What hope?"

"The time has come to test thy courage. I have been cursed, and I need you to break this curse with your wisdom and courage."

Link shook his head. "I can't."

"You doubt the life that flows in thy veins?"

"No."

"Then you are ready, for Courage itself is in thy blood."

Link craned his neck upward. "What about Mido?"

The Tree did not answer, but Link knew. Mido had stayed on the hill rather than asking to be included. That was answer enough.

"Dost thou have courage enough to undertake this task?"

Link replied with less hesitation this time. "Yes."

"Then enter, brave Link, and thou too, Navi."

A hairline fracture appeared in the Tree's bark and grew until it had formed a mouth-like opening large enough to step into.

Link returned to the hill for his Deku Shield, ignoring the hatred in Mido's eyes. Navi trailed at his waist, following when he turned his back on Mido, on Saria, and on the forest itself.

Thus he entered the Great Deku Tree.