The Deku Tree Temple: Part 1
Link
The rotating portal had come to a halt with a deep and disturbingly final sounding creak… and all they were looking at now was an impenetrable wall, featureless apart from the wavy grain of the wood of the Deku tree.
They both stared mutely at the place where, just a minute before, the exit to the outside had been… gone with the only two people who might have lent their assistance in here.
Link tried hard not to show how forlorn he suddenly felt, locked in a place that might hold both unfathomable wonders and unspeakable perils, with an enemy of devious powers who had an immense head-start and could lie in waiting at every turn…
He glanced at his beloved and winced slightly at seeing that she, too, couldn't quite keep her anxiety from showing on her enchanting face… With a fiercely clenched fist he vowed that he would see her through this, unharmed, and that he would see her smile happily into the sun again…
Her head turned towards him and a little knowing smile formed on her lips. She was probably aware of what he was thinking… she was probably considering him a dolt, but that was nothing new…
"Shall we go?" he asked softly, nervous, but also eager to leave this depressing, obstructive wall behind and continue exploring.
"Hm." she nodded, in her eyes the same mixture of emotions he felt. They reached out simultaneously and took each other's hand. Then, armoured with each other's comforting presence, they were ready.
Quietly they turned away from the now barred exit and passed sombrely through the wreckage of the once so cheerful looking hall. They reached the corridor where they had first seen Tamali and that ominous woman with the red, glowing eyes… a shiver flashed through him at the memory of those sinister orbs meeting his… it had been as if two gateways into the darkest abyss had opened and vile, searching tendrils had pierced his mind, looking to strangle all will and thought… all while she laughed… A thought so horrible that it nearly took his breath away loomed at the edge of his conscious.
"Zelda…" he mumbled, halting.
"Hm?" Their fingers were still locked together and she gently squeezed.
"I… want you to promise me… If at any point you cannot go on, for whatever reason… I want you to tell me immediately so we can find another way… and to insist on it, if I don't react right away. Beat me over the head and drag me back, if necessary… Would you do that?" his voice was low, as was his gaze. He couldn't bare to look at her right now, in fear of finding nothing but incomprehension.
"What makes you say that?" He could nearly see her quizzical expression without even looking at her; her elegant right eyebrow raised, her full, beautiful lips pursed just the tiniest bit, the lovely little dimple that came from her biting the inside of her left cheek in concentration… He knew her face so well, but still far, far too little to be even remotely satisfied…
He raised her hand to his mouth, where he took it between both of his, almost as if praying, and put a soft kiss on her fingers. "Please…"
"I promise, Link. I promise I will do as you ask. But I want to know: Why ask this of me now?" she asked curiously, extending her index-finger to let it tickle and caress around his nose.
He finally gazed back up into her sparkling sky-blue eyes and couldn't help but smile a little. "Because I know you are just as stubborn and harsh towards yourself as I am towards me."
"In that case…" she replied, echoing his grin with a sweet one of hers. "I demand the same pledge from you. I want you to tell me when you are exhausted… or hurt. And if I'm doing something stupid, I want you to tell me at once and grab me by the scruff of my neck and pull me away. Agreed?"
With that shy, adorable smile she blessed him with, she could have asked him to, from this day forth, only ever wear undergarments and a pink bow in his hair, he would have probably said yes. "I promise. And to seal our pact…" he darted close and stole a tiny kiss from her lips before backing out again. Grinning slyly, he enjoyed how her features went from perplexed to cautioning amusement. "Don't make me beat you over the head already, as you asked, sausage knight…" she growled with her cute, high voice, unable to hide her smirk.
"Well, now that we've negotiated terms and agreements, we can move on!" he replied, some of the tension inside him relieved for the moment.
They made it to the large, round wooden portal where he had first seen the witch and her then mind-slave. The heavy door, which looked like the cross section of an enormous tree, was barring their way forward. There was no sign of any sort of mechanism that might open it…
Zelda stepped close to it, scrutinizing it up and down. "Do you… think it might open like the other one?" she asked, half to herself.
"Possibly… should I try?"
"Hm… let me first… the Rito legend spoke of two who would be welcome amidst the Guardian's children, correct?" she muttered, raising her right hand. Gingerly she brought her fingers close to the wood as Link watched with held breath. A tiny gasp escaped her as a faint, bluish glimmer appeared where she touched the door, though she didn't pull back. "It feels odd… warm, but… sad…" she mumbled, focussing on something he couldn't sense. Shaking her head free of whatever thought had occupied it, she slowly drew the leaf symbol from memory. As she had finished the one-line glyph, a loud ligneous crack made them both jump. The large door, which previously had had no gaps, was ripped out of the floor and lifted up until only the bottommost part of its lower curvature could be seen. Baffled, they both looked back down simultaneously, to see the wound the gate had left in the wood close within seconds until it was once again a smooth, unbroken surface. Both their heads bobbed up and down several times as they gazed back and forth between the mended ground and the visible rest of the door above, which also no longer showed any signs of being a separate, movable object. Finally, they gazed at each other, eyes wide and mouths open, dumbfounded. Suddenly, without warning, Zelda burst out laughing and nearly fell over. "Your… your face…" she exclaimed between giggles.
"Well, yours too!" he replied defensively, but had no choice other than joining into her chuckling.
Their little fit didn't last long, sadly, but still… it did alleviate some of the crampy tension, leaving both their minds all the freer. "By the goddess… if a simple door is able to fill us with awe like this, what incredible wonders will we encounter as we proceed?" she asked, her face flushed and alive from laughter, her eyes sparkling with an irresistible spirit of adventure. Farore's mercy, how he would love to show her all the miracles of this world, experience them all with her by his side without this dreadful executioner's axe of the Threat looming constantly above their heads… Then again… would he have ever been able to go on such an adventure, would he have even met her, had there been no such menace? Was it selfish to find some personal good in such a terrifying evil?
Bah, worthless thoughts! With a mental slap to his face, he snapped himself out of the encroaching mood-swing and instead let her marvellous excitement wash over him as much as possible. There was time for seriousness when it was needed.
"Then let's not waste any more time and get this filth scrubbed out, so we can explore at our leisure!" he announced festively, stole yet another quick peck from her, just for good luck, and onwards they went.
The tunnel forward wound its way through the wood in near darkness. Only some tiny green flickers of light remained, tiny bioluminescent pods of a moss that clung to the walls. Link stood by, silently waiting as his little scientist gingerly collected a few samples, fascinated by the deft movements of her elegant hands… and more than a little amused at how the greenish light gave her immaculate face the appearance of a witchdoctor of the most sinister kind, who was about to cackle at her newest vicious invention. Valuing his life, he refrained from pointing that little observation out to her…
"I can't wait to figure out what these are!" she whispered excitedly, her eyes beaming at him even without the emerald light reflecting in them. "I have never heard of such a plant! It might be completely endemic to this unique environment! We could have discovered a hitherto unknown species! We have to find out what they could be used for, once we're out!"
While he shared her enthusiasm, no person with a heart could have resisted it, he somehow got the strange feeling that he would have the dubious pleasure of 'finding out' while she documented…
When at last he managed to pry the professor away from her new discovery, they stumbled their way on, moving past tiny slippery runlets of water, the occasional root-tuber and some moist vine-curtains, which elicited a small, disgusted squeak from his lovely companion as she ran face first into one. He couldn't blame her… he too had his eyes everywhere at once and more than once had to catch himself before he either slipped or smacked his head. It was strange… they were currently passing through a narrow, winding corridor, covered in near darkness except for a faint greenish glow on the walls, which let every shape in their way appear alien and peculiar… and yet, neither of them felt in the least bit threatened. On the contrary, in all this jungle-like pathlessness, they felt sheltered, at ease… It was… as if they had returned to a house they remembered fondly from their childhood, only now it was covered in dust and cobwebs… as if time and change hadn't been able to wipe away the sense of security it once harboured… At least, he felt like this…
Finally, they reached the end… or rather, they bumped into the door on the far side. Eager to see what hid behind, Link drew the leaf and the door was lifted upwards, once again with an echoing crack. What lay beyond took both their breaths away…
An enormous cylindrical hall, at least twenty metres across and possibly a hundred high… the high humidity in here made it difficult to tell, as mist blurred everything farther away than a stone's throw. In the middle, on their level, was… Link's mind fumbled for words to make sense of what his eyes told him… an oasis. A very gentle hill, covered with sparse grass. The mound was encircled by a gently running rivulet, fed by a spring that emerged directly from the wood of the far wall. The hill was crowned with, well, yet another tree, only about 5 metres high, yet looking incredibly gnarled and ancient. A broad streak of light fell onto the hill and the tree. As he gazed further up, he saw a crack within the bark, about three men high, through which the strong ray shone, strong enough to illuminate the entire height of the hall.
He looked back at the marvel in front of him. With a feeling of profound sadness that he couldn't quite explain, he saw that only one single leaf remained, while the others had fallen all over the ground and had turned yellow, orange, red and brown…
For a long minute Link stared at every detail of the tree within the tree, feeling memories assault his mind that were just barely out of reach… A place of power… a place of comfort… a home… once… Almost without him consciously doing so, he stepped closer, all around him nearly forgotten. The closer he got, the nearer the countless memories of safety and belonging were… but also the deep feelings of endless regret and loss… His ears perceived Zelda's increasingly urgent words, but their meaning didn't make it to his brain.
At last he knelt down at the foot of the hill, right into the crystal-clear, cold water… he didn't mind… he barely even felt it. His fingers brushed over the earth, the thin grass and fallen leaves, then clenched a bit of dirt into trembling fists.
Link… you have come…
Not even a whisper, less than the faintest breath… But it rumbled through his soul as if he once again heard the deep, gentle, tutelary voice…
Once again?!
The spell broke, the flood of scrambled, unreadable memories ceased… and the world around the tree returned. He looked at his hands that had cramped painfully around little pieces of earth and now were dirty.
"Link! What is it? Did you… have a…" she stopped, unsure how to word her question.
He straightened and looked over his shoulder, suddenly very aware of the icy wetness around his legs… but not yet able to rise. Too close was the melancholy still…
Zelda had remained outside of the circle of water, fidgeting, uncertain…
Smart… very prudent, he thought and smiled proudly… but in this case, unwarranted. There was hardly a place in the world that wanted them safer than this one…
"I'm alright…" he mumbled, finally finding the strength to rise with a little splash after he rinsed off his hands.
Overcoming her hesitation, she too stepped into the little stream, uncaring of the cold around her feet. She stepped around him, whose gaze was once again transfixed on the dying tree. "Link, you… you were crying…" she said softly, wiping the tears away from his cheeks with her warm, gentle fingers.
"Was I?" He raised his hand to his eye to check. "I didn't notice…" he mumbled dully.
"What was it?" she asked timidly, her gaze curious, but worried.
"I… don't know…" he answered truthfully.
"Have you… Do you recognize this place?" Somehow he knew that she had nearly asked him whether he had been here before… which would have sounded absurd, of course… but why, then, did it feel like the correct question to ask?
"I… something in me did… I think… Why do you ask?"
"You said something back in the High Chieftain's home… that this valley was not his to lay claim to and that he had no right to deny anyone entrance, especially not you…" She sounded hesitant, as if she wasn't sure how he would react.
"I did?" he questioned, then shook his head. "I don't even remember…"
"It sounded like… it came from a different you… I even thought that, for a moment, you looked a tiny bit different…"
"Hmm… a different me from the past…" was all he could reply. What else could he say?
"What is this place? " Zelda finally asked, gazing around.
"The heart… The very essence of the Great Deku Tree." he answered immediately, without the shadow of a doubt, though he had no idea where that knowledge came from. "…Don't ask me how I know that… It was as if countless memories were pelting my mind, trying to be let in… But they were… of a different life… distorted…" His head throbbed at trying to understand something so alien… so schizophrenic…
"But something apparently reached through…" Zelda mused, gazing into his eyes as if she could decode it all this way. "Little fragments of a past… incarnation? What kind or memories were they? How did they feel?"
Link's face scrunched up in concentration, then mellowed again. "Comfort… security… home…" The faint recollection almost made him smile. "I think… I… he… was raised here… among the other children of the forest… That's why I… he became sad… seeing the Deku Tree like this…" he indicated vaguely back towards the dying tree, not daring to look at it again in fear that sorrow might overcome him once more.
"He is… alive…" his love muttered, staring at the mound in concentration.
"I… heard him… I think… just barely. Do you sense something?" he asked, genuinely curious.
"I… I think…" she answered, biting her lip. She made a hesitant step closer, then stopped herself just before she would walk onto the mound and looked back at him. "Do you think… I can go to i-… Him?" she questioned as if asking him for permission… as if he were the family-member of a dying person. It felt weird and fitting at once…
He searched his mind for a good ten seconds. "I feel that… if anyone is welcome, it would be us… This place is not a… a shrine that must be marvelled at from afar… He always wanted life around him…" he replied with a slightly choked up voice.
A soft wisp of a smile showed on her features and she nodded as if she understood perfectly… as if she, maybe, felt the same thing. Zelda took a careful step onto the hill, sinking a couple of centimetres into the soft soil, dry leaves crackling under her shoe. He heard her exhale a nervous breath, then take another tender step. She stopped, gazed at a low hanging branch and slowly extended a trembling hand. Her fingers grazed against the bark ever so gently…
Zelda's sudden outcry shattered the serene picture. He was with her in an instant, heart pounding at the sight of her startled eyes. "What is…?"
"It's fine… It's fine, Link!" she insisted, taking the hand that had squeezed around her shoulder softly into hers to calm him. "I… I just didn't expect… how silly of me!" she shook her head, smiling wistfully. He studied her, still afraid that she might have suffered some unknown attack, that something might have happened. She gazed at him, eyes alight with fascination. "It was like touching the mind of the land itself… an intellect so immense and unfathomable… it frightened me for a moment… It was just so much…" she explained, her ears flushing a tiny bit in nonsensical shame. A relieved half-sigh half-laugh escaped him and he shook his head. How incredibly jumpy he was…
"Still… I sensed gentleness… kindness…" Gingerly she extended her fingers once again to have but the faintest touch. Another jolt coursed through her and her face scrunched up in intense focus. After only two seconds, she let go, her breath going fast. "He… is dormant… waiting… almost completely inert… and his dreams aren't pleasant…" she panted, then looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, but… it's just too much…"
"You don't have to…" he began, but was cut short.
The loud noise of wood splintering made them nearly jump in the air. It came from all around, making them gasp and look around wildly. Unable to believe their eyes, they saw something emerge from the wooden walls around them… A spiral grew out of the bark, beginning at their level and leading all the way up, as far as they could tell. It grew with cacophonous groans until had the rough shape of a ramp, bumpy and uneven, not unlike the Deku Tree's branches. With a deep rumble, the wondrous growth spurt ceased. Both gazed all about in awe at what had just transpired, trying to collect their thoughts… when suddenly the mood changed dramatically. With an abruptness that startled them both, the gentle murmur of the stream ceased, leaving an eerie silence. The effects were imminent… What had just a moment ago been an invisible bubble of tranquillity burst and the odd feelings of comfort and security dissipated into a dreadful empty nothing. The vibrant colours of the fallen leaves faded to a sickly brown, the water that had appeared clear and fresh suddenly seemed stagnant and infested with algae… Even the ray of light coming through the bark seemed to go frail and dull.
There was an eerie silence all of a sudden that sent goosebumps crawling over Link's skin. The air seemed thick and the hint of rot was carried in it… Breathing it seemed almost noxious and immediately he had to swallow sour spit. Zelda wasn't faring any better… Worried, he saw how pale she had gotten and she subconsciously held her hand over her stomach. Their eyes met, both reading the same regretful understanding… Whatever last vestige of purifying influence the Deku Tree had been able to maintain, He had sacrificed it to grant them passage, had expended the last bit of power He had… and the malicious presence that had invaded this temple had now infested even this last sanctuary. He could find no words for how sorrowful that made him… and how angry! But, judging by the newly lit fire in those entrancing eyes of hers, there was no need to state what was already obvious.
"We have to hurry!" he said simply and she nodded. Her face was pale, grim and determined… hard but incredibly beautiful… even now he could not fail to notice…
He jumped over the rank puddle and she deftly followed. Her glance backwards at what had moments ago been a lively little stream was filled with ponderous compunction. "Do you think… we can help the Tree?" she muttered, even her voice sounding muffled and hollow in the dreadful staleness all around.
He thought for a moment, then balled his fists. "I damn sure hope so! I will not let the Deku Tree die to this witch and her vile influence! There must be something we can do!" Even to his own ears, his words sounded more like a desperate wish than a definite plan. Still, that did not mean he would let anything untried.
"Link, look!" her voice pulled him out of his pondering. Following her extended finger, he noticed that not only was there now a way upwards, but a small hatchway downwards as well. He could have sworn that that hadn't been there when they entered… and apparently she had also just noticed.
"Hm… I wonder what's down there…" he mumbled, trying to decide where to go.
"And why the Tree opened it up for us…" Zelda thought aloud, finishing his sentence. Her face was creased with consideration for a second, as was his… then her eyes turned wide. "Unless… if the water stopped flowing…"
"The roots!" they exclaimed as one, both gazing into each other's eyes, hopeful to have found the solution. They hustled over to the split in the floor, where a wooden ramp softly wound its way downwards. He was just about to lead the way below when he abruptly stopped and motioned for her to do the same.
A few seconds passed where he heard little more than his heartbeat. "What?" his curious partner finally asked barely audibly.
"I thought I heard something…" he whispered, closing his eyes and focussing solely on his hearing. After another moment he shook his head, pursing his lips.
Zelda had waited patiently and now exhaled her held breath. "Sorry…" he muttered.
"What did you hear?" she asked warily.
"Wing beats…" he explained, looking up mistrustfully, wishing his eyes could better pierce the mist.
She swallowed, her gaze unsure. "Rito?" she questioned nervously.
"No..." he simply said with dreadful certainty.
He chewed on the inside of his cheek, unsure how to react. For whatever reason he had assumed that they would knew what to do, that one thing would just lead to the next… but now he found himself standing there, undecided already, fearing that a wrong turn might forever bar the way to victory. Up or down… His heart started pounding in sudden angst, feeling more and more powerless the longer he tarried. But what to choose? Both ways seemed right… Down brought them to the roots that had failed… maybe they could restore some function so the Tree wouldn't perish? Then again… Up undoubtedly led them to the originator of the Deku Tree's ailment… what was this murderous witch doing? And how much time did they have before her plans succeeded, which would undoubtedly result in the Tree's death?
The Deku Tree… a friend… a friend so ancient and so precious that even though Link had next to no memory of it, he felt connected to Him like a child to his father… and he couldn't bloody decide how to help! Link, the would-be hero, who failed to save his friend due to irresolute inaction…
All those pointless thoughts ran amok in his mind in less than a second, constricting his throat and nearly making him sweat… until Zelda's hand grabbed his arm and squeezed. "Hey!"
He stopped his restless fidgeting and gazed into her eyes… "We can do this! We will not fail! I believe in you…" she spoke, her voice going quiet and caring in the end, her cheeks reddening just this tiny bit… Her beloved eyes… they too were full of fears, uncertainties and desperate hopes… but also sincerity… With an odd feeling in his gut, he understood that she really did believe… in him… in the truest sense of the word. In all the madness, all the terrors and all the tribulations, this faith kept her strong and calm.
If he had been asked, he would have thought that such an additional burden would exacerbate his feelings of inadequacy, but… strangely… the momentary panic passed. He noticed the tiny, uplifting smile that just barely played around her lips and he felt his heart calm as if a terribly heavy burden had been lifted from it. Odd, he thought to himself… maybe, sometimes, a little belief is enough… Or, his thinking continued as a small grin of his own crept on his face, maybe it is simply about who does the believing…
"Right…" he muttered, pulling himself arduously out of the sickly sinkhole of self-doubt he had nearly sunken into. "Sorry… My mind seems to be working against itself…" he explained, rather lamely to his ears. He felt his ears go hot with embarrassment at his brief lapse in self-control, but his princess shook her head.
"It's this place… or what has been done to it. The gentle comfort of the Deku Tree abruptly shattered by whatever this sinister power is… It's harrowing… like being woken from a warm bed by being doused with ice-water…" She shivered a little and his sharp eyes spotted goosebumps on her arms. If he had already been so susceptible to what she described, how agonizing must it be for her? She, who he was certain could feel it when an ant bumped its knee within three kilometres… He took her hand and together they went downwards. Only later did he realize that, distractedly, he had simply decided by pure instinct…
"Hmm… I'm sure you're right… Still, I really think your own brain should have the decency of being on your side…" he stated, rapping against his head with his knuckles.
"Pfff…" a very unrefined noise escaped her perfect lips, much to his amusement. "That thing does whatever in Din's hell it wants… That is why, occasionally, you need someone to knock it back into shape!" she cooed syrupily and poked his cheek with a quick finger.
He caught it with his hand, fast as a mousing cat, and placed a quick peck on it. "I suspect this hand will have to do quite a bit of knocking before we have succeeded…" he grumbled, half serious and half in jest. Then his grin widened and he glanced at her wryly. "I also suspect you might be unhealthily eager and happy about that… unhealthy for me, that is…" he chuckled, his warbling voice indicating that a little unwholesomeness would be an acceptable price to pay for being manhandled by a certain someone.
"Your health and safety shall forever be my primary concern…" she intoned with the effusive voice of a politician, her cynical grin playing a beautiful contrast. "As long as you promise to continue doing the honours and pushing me back to sanity whenever it's needed… that might happen no fewer, I fear…"
There was playfulness in her mesmerizing gaze… but mostly absolute sincerity. It was the same sincerity he had hoped to convey himself, which relieved him greatly. Whom else could they expect to wrench themselves back on track when their minds threatened to go astray, other than themselves? Who else understood? Who else had the power?
"Then we have a contract!" He pronounced grandly and placed another little peck on her knuckle, almost as a seal of their agreement.
The brief moment of levity felt frail… every smile twitching, every laugh a bit forced… a hollow attempt to ease the overpowering feeling of stifling evil that seemed to spoil every breath and defile every inch of skin…
All the easier was it collapsed and all the quicker forgotten as they passed the last bend of the gently declining, twisting path deeper into the bowels of the Tree. They had only just gotten used to the oppressive, thick reek when suddenly, from one step to the next, it turned to the most vile stench that seemed to wrench their stomachs with a merciless grip. Instinctively, both retreated a few paces, holding their bellies. Zelda convulsed pitifully with a merciless retch and Link too had to focus on steady breathing to keep his innards from spilling. With wobbling knees he walked over to her to give her what little assistance he could… Mostly, he supported her weight and held her hair out of the way until her heaving stomach settled again…
After what felt like many minutes the gagging finally stopped and only the piteous gasping for air remained… Wordlessly he handed her a piece of cloth and one of the waterskins, unsure where he should look… at her deathly pale face with the reddened eyes and the snot from her nose? Or away, stupidly pretending that he couldn't see her pathetic state? Both seemed idiotic…
"Thanks…" she gulped, her voice raw and congested, before wiping her face and taking a mouthful of water, which she swallowed very slowly and with the concentrated and mildly disgusted look of someone who isn't all that sure whether what went down actually stayed down. She closed her eyes and waited while he still held her hair like a dolt, not knowing what to do with his hands.
"Right." Zelda finally said, gave him a brittle smile, her skin still pale and her cheeks slightly gaunt. "I'm ready. Let's go on."
"Err… right…" he muttered as she gently took her golden strands from him to quickly braid them into a more manageable form. "Are you sure?"
He knew it was a stupid question as soon as it had left his lips, but she didn't take it the wrong way. Instead she cocked her head and showed a very lopsided grin. "Nothing left in there… Now's the ideal time!" she grumbled, delicately patting her belly.
He gave a relieved laugh and slowly shook his head as he gazed into her red-rimmed, sky-blue eyes. No end to the fascination…
"Right…" he repeated with a sad smile. "After me, then."
Slowly and with every muscle fibre tensed in nervous anticipation, they made their way back down. Link tried to take only tiny breaths, hoping he could gauge the exact layer where the overpowering stench began.
As they slowly crept closer, he thought he saw something interesting… and disturbing. "Look there!" he bade her, pointing to a line in the wood, almost invisible in the gloom. "Doesn't the bark from this point down look rather… decomposed?"
It was true… There was a nearly clear horizontal cut, below which the usually dry wood looked mushy and unsettlingly corroded. Zelda followed it with increasingly upset eyes, then gazed questioningly at him. "Acidic gas?"
"Hmm… not sure…" he mumbled, bending down and gingerly touching the strangely puffy ligneous matter. It did indeed feel moist and slimy, as if the very structure of it had been attacked. He let his hand remain below the odd layer for a while, then scrunched up his face. "Yep, the funk is there all right…" he gasped, fighting once again to keep his insides where they belonged as he stood back up.
Zelda quickly grasped his hand to inspect it. "It doesn't hurt though… I didn't feel it burn my eyes or nose either…" he added quickly when he saw her concerned look.
"Right…" she muttered, pondering. "But this horrid fetidness does seem to attack the Tree's substance… And I'm worried whether there's enough oxygen to breathe down there… Maybe we can light a candle and see if it goes out?" she asked him with a quizzical expression.
He shook his head, sadly. "Wouldn't work. That's more of an urban legend than an actual help… Sure, the flame would be snuffed, if there's not enough oxygen, but only long after us… Around Ord almost everyone makes cider or wine from the apples they harvest around this time and hardly a single year passes without someone being found in their own cellar with a fully burnt down, traitorous candle lying next to them."
"Oh…" she exclaimed, looking almost shocked. "I didn't know…"
"Still, there's a way to find out… but I'm not looking forward to it…" he sighed. Then, before she could do anything, he took a few quick steps into where the gas supposedly hung menacingly, turned back around, pinched his nose, took a big gulp of air and sprinted back out.
She made an involuntary squeak, half startled, half outraged and bodily pulled him further up and out of danger. He still held his breath, nose pinched and cheeks puffed out. After a few long seconds where she jittered about him nervously, he shook his head. "The taste is profoundly disgusting… but other than that, I feel neither faint nor nauseated nor pained." he explained calmly, then exhaled the rest.
"You… argh! You could have warned me, you dolt!" she fumed, her cheeks flushed in anger and she pinched him quite viciously at his belly.
"Ow! Yes, I know, dumpling. But you would have disagreed and I would have done it anyway. Less time wasted!" he explained, showing his most adorable, ingratiating smile. She glared at him as if her gaze alone could boil him alive. He knew he was teetering precariously on the edge of what he could get away with, but he just couldn't let any more time go to by unused. Besides… even in this circumstance, it still was dangerously fun.
After being faced with his well-practiced angelic puppy eyes for a couple of moments, she gave a heavy sigh, her ire somewhat dispelled. "You, sir, are a jackass. Don't do something like that any more, please…" she asked of him, half imploring, half threatening.
Great, he thought. Now she has countered my puppy-stare with hers… No contest!… and he felt like a bit of a bastard… Thankfully she was far too understanding of the situation they were in to try and coax any sort of promise from him. She knew it would only be a hollow one. There could be innumerable unforeseeable circumstances that might force him to break such a vow immediately… He knew it and she knew it too…
"Anyway…" she continued, breaking their eye-contact, much to his regret. She bent down and took two pieces of cloth from her backpack, then rummaged further until she found a small, corked vial, no bigger than two of her fingers. Swiftly but delicately, she opened it and poured a few drops on both cloths, then handed him one. "
He took a second, but then understood and grinned. Following her example, he bound it around his head so he breathed in through the dribbled on spot. "What is it? It actually stings in my nose…" he asked, trying to identify the underlying smell.
"I should thing so. It's highly distilled Safflina extract… a few drops will keep you warm in a cold night but it also has a pretty strong and pleasant scent. It should help us gag a little less…" she added, gazing hopefully at the re-corked flask.
"Very nice idea!" he applauded genuinely. "Keep that flask handy, in case we need more…"
"Right… but we shouldn't rely on it too much, else we will get drunk…" she brought up, half in jest.
Now well-equipped for all olfactory combat, they proceeded further down. Zelda's idea was of invaluable help but the reek was nonetheless strong enough to drive tears to their eyes and choke them on their first reluctant breaths.
Their careful steps made a sickly squishing sound on the partially decomposed wood… it made Link's skin crawl at how his feet sank in a few millimetres when they should have been met with a solid, trusty surface…
They reached the end of the winding ramp and yet another of the heavy, round doors… only this one seemed to have gotten stuck during opening. Only an about 30 centimetre high gap led to the next hall and the wood all around seemed just as violated and corroded as the rest. It almost looked as if… they gazed at each other and understood wordlessly… It looked as if the Deku Tree had lust the absolute last speck of power to open this gate, but it hadn't been enough…
He could see Zelda swallow, pale once again due to the horrific malodour… though he had little doubt that he looked just as pallid as she. Slim as they both were, they could slip through the crack with relative ease, but the idea of scraping over the grossly squelching, decomposing wood was none too pleasant.
Link bent down, trying not to touch anything even though he realized it was foolish. He couldn't see much through the narrow opening… A round-ish, wooden, hip-high wall rose a metre into the room. He couldn't see over the rim, but he had a feeling it was some sort of a basin or pool… he could also, just barely, make out roots going towards the high ceiling…
"If I'm not completely disoriented, this should be right below the Tree's heart…" he whispered over his shoulder after he had detailed his findings to his 'lovely assistant'. She nodded, wisely choosing not to speak… he could almost sense how her stomach must roil and twist just by looking into her wide eyes…
"I'll go first… follow only when I tell you!" he commanded and, reluctantly, lay down flat on his stomach and crawled through. He tried his best to ignore the sticky, wet squelching as he felt the moistness all over his skin and had to resist an almost imperative urge to rip his clothes from his body once he stood back up.
He had guessed correctly… the room was almost as big in diameter as the one above and was dominated in the middle by a wide pool of completely still water… four long roots, thick as Ricco's arm, twisted their way down from the ceiling and broke the pool's surface… strangely, he couldn't quite see how deep the water or the roots went, despite it being quite clear… The constricting fetidness was here as well, though mitigated a bit by the pure liquid that had somehow been left unspoilt… But the eerie, unnatural silence dominated here as well…
"Come through! Here…" he ordered in a hushed tone, and offered his hand so he could pull her through as quickly as possible.
Zelda too rose to her feet with an expression of profound disgust. The look she gave the soiled clothes on her body spoke rather clearly of cleansing by fire, rather than water…
The room was even gloomier than the corridor, which had still benefited from the big shaft of light in the main chamber… but the strange pool, mysteriously, seemed to shed a very faint bluish glow… just enough so both their eyes could, once adapted, see clearly enough. Other than the aforementioned roots that wound their way from the ceiling into the water, there was only yet another doorway on the opposite side of the room… This one, however, was closed.
"Why do you think… the Tree wanted us down here?" Zelda gulped, still suffering form her distressed insides.
"We must be able to… I don't know… fix something, or…" he trailed off, gazing around, squinting.
Slowly he started to walk around the rim of the pool, occasionally gazing into it. He now saw that, apparently, the roots were splitting off the main trunks as soon as they dipped below the surface and had formed a dense network at a depth of about one metre.
A sudden, sharp hiss cut through the silence, causing them both to gasp. A fine tuft of smoke rose from one single point within the pool, just below one of the main radices… He looked closer, gazing intently at it, scrutinizing every inch as best he could from where he stood… then felt his skin go cold. "It's cut!" he breathed in sudden horror. "They all are!"
"There's something smeared across it!" Zelda squeaked, pointing at the closest spot. To his dismay, he could see that she was right… a viscous looking, dark green substance was slathered all around where the root was maimed, essentially forming a vile glob around the narrow split. A tiny droplet fell off and as it hit the water's surface, it made the strange hissing sound they had heard not a minute earlier.
"It's ruining them! They can't heal!" Link cried as a sudden panic took hold over him. It was as if something in his very core was filled with utter, delirious horror at seeing the Tree tortured like this… The incredibly faint remnants of this past life that felt so strongly about this place… his emotions were still strong enough to send his heart into a mindless turmoil. He vaulted over the hip high rim into the water and treaded through it as fast as he possibly could over the treacherously slippery roots. His mind registered how icy it was, but he couldn't even feel it. It didn't matter! He simply had to help the Deku Tree, make it so He could heal!
He reached the root and, in blind fright, tried to wipe the offensive sludge away with his hand. The wetness on it hissed and instantly turned boiling hot, making him scream in pain and dunk his palm back under water.
"Here!" he heard Zelda's voice and saw her ball up the cloth she had had around her face to throw it at him. He cursed himself for his lack of sense, as he could have used his own, which wouldn't have robbed her of her protection from the stench, but, gritting his teeth, he caught the piece of fabric, and tried to wipe the gooey substance away.
The cloth started to smoke almost at once and try as he might, the viscous filth wouldn't let itself be cleaned off… it almost seemed as if it hardened whenever he came near… almost as if it had a mind of its own…
The heat on his hands became nearly unbearable, but he didn't stop trying, he couldn't! Looking around in rising panic, he had to find something, there had to be something that could…
"Link!" Zelda's shrill yell resounded through the hall, alarming every cell in his body. His head snapped around to see her recoiling in fear from something next to the basin. To his dismay he saw a large amorphous mass forming seemingly out of nowhere and growing at a frightening rate. His eyes widened and his breath caught… It was the same colour as the sludge on the roots… mostly…
The now man-sized, slightly bubbling mass had, floating within it, dark writhing tendrils of almost utter blackness, except for an occasional dark red shimmer… with a sudden, dreadful realization he understood where he had smelled that awful stench before… fighting that abominable boar in the woods that had been infested with this very substance, reeking of evil…
The repellent blob, waving and pulsing in a simply perverse way, finally stopped growing… and with a nauseating squelch began sliding towards Zelda.
The root forgotten immediately, Link rushed back through the water, half slipping with every hasty step, cursing his lack of speed. Thankfully, she had managed to shake her stunned stupor and ran towards the door which… Link's heart fell… The low slit they had crawled through was gone, pasted shut with the same, filthy green substance.
Zelda realized a moment after… even through his loud splashing he could hear her distraught, whispered "No!". She hammered against the mercilessly unmoving door with her fists, screaming "Open! Please help us! Open!" but he knew it was futile… If the Great Deku Tree could have helped, he would already have done so…
Ever closer the terrifying mass drew, leaving a steaming, scorched looking trail in the wood… She stared at it, her eyes torn open in abject horror as she tried to kick at the goop barring their way out.
Finally, he reached the rim, yanked himself over it and, in one motion, threw a handful of water at the unnatural creature. The few drops hit it perfectly… and exploded into a boiling cloud of steam and hot droplets that fired in every direction. Only the few metres they still had between themselves and their enemy saved them from severe burns, but the heat of the steam was enough to force them to recoil and shield their faces.
The formless but increasingly agitated looking body of liquid had almost reached the door… Link turned and bodily pulled Zelda away from her senseless efforts, basically carrying until they had distanced themselves again. The room was round, with the basin in the middle… they could avoid it by just running away… but they couldn't get out… and this thing didn't look as if it would ever tire…
"Always stay behind me. Think what we could try!" he commanded when he sat her down. Not waiting for an answer he turned back towards it. Had its ponderous speed increased or was it his imagination? Dear goddess above, he hoped it was…
But the deities, as usual, didn't answer his prayers. After a few seconds of him slowly drawing back with his shield raised, he noticed he had already quickened his steps to keep the same distance. He gritted his teeth… What could he do?! Soon they would have to run to continue avoiding it! And then?!
In a desperate attempt he shot forward, took a single horizontal swipe with his sword, flinging a few laughable drops of vile goo into the water… useless. He was about to jump back when, with frightening speed, a part of it bulged out and immediately enveloped his shield. With a startled gasp he tried to tear it free, but it hardly budged a centimetre. The wood around his arm darkened, as if it were burned as it was, with a jarring lurch pulled deeper into the roiling mass, the stuff already crawling towards his hand. With a horrified yelp he pulled his arm free, but the back of his was streaked by one of the dozens of tendrils that tried to pull him in.
The pain sent white streaks across his vision and he cried out piercingly as he finally bolted back.
"Link!" her voice resounded, appalled by his shriek.
"Stay back!" he shouted through gritted teeth as he dunked his hand into the water without thinking. A flash of heat coursed over his skin, but only briefly… only the tiniest trace of the slime had remained on his hand, thankfully.
Still shocked, he saw his trusty shield float around the monster's inside, then crumple and vanish within seconds. A gloopy, wet smacking sound came from the disgusting thing and, after a moment, it once again began advancing.
The cold water had made the pain bearable, but just barely. He still winced and couldn't stop himself from hissing as he pulled it out. A single streak of furiously red flesh, about five centimetres in length where the flesh on the back of his right hand had been seared… Her soft, trembling hand shot out from behind him to pull it so she could see, then shuddered back when she did. "Oh no…" he heard her breathe. He could still move his fingers at least, though the pulling on his skin burned like hell.
Thankfully, it hadn't completely been for nothing… If water didn't help…
"Zelda, give me the flask of Safflina and find a flint in the pack. Quick!" he barked and to her immense credit, with hardly a second of delay she had refocused her attention to the task at hand.
"Hm!" she uttered her understanding and immediately proffered the little vial. Thankfully, she had done as he had said and had kept it close at hand… He could already hear her rummage around while he focused on the inconceivable enemy in front, which was once more speeding up. He uncorked the bottle and poured the entire content on both sides of his blade, letting the thin, oily substance run down most of its length. His breath ran quickly and his heart beat furiously, but his hands, at least, were calm… Hopefully this would work!
Every second felt like a year and Link hoped he wouldn't have to dart back closer to slow it down again…
"I have it! Here!" she finally exclaimed and he took the flint from her shivering fingers.
"Stand back!" he ordered, waited until he had heard her take a step back, then with one hard blow he struck the igneous rock against his steel.
The alcohol ignited quickly like a raging wildfire, bathing the entire room in an orange light and bathing it in a stark heat. Zelda gasped behind him and he could hear her go through her pack for more… bright as ever!
The amorphous monster on the other hand wobbled and waved on its surface, even more violently than before, but most important of all… it abruptly stopped!
A fierce, nasty grin emerged on Link's face and he balled his right fist, taking in the sharp pain.
"Fire with fire…" he growled and dashed forward. With an enormous, rage-filled roar he slashed across the vile creature, once, twice, thrice in a matter of half a second. The whole thing burst into flame as he hopped back, writhing and billowing and bulging. An ear-piercingly shrill whistle blasted around the hall as black smoke erupted from it and the dark, sinister tendrils within writhed and jittered as the filth around it boiled. The stench became nearly unbearable as the flames licked higher and higher. Then finally, with a low bubbling sound, the whole blob collapsed and was consumed by the fire until nothing remained.
"Link, look!" Zelda's hand shot out towards the defiled roots and to his surprise, he could see the sludge at the wounded parts falling off as if it was being melted. When the abomination had finally been vaporised, the roots, too were once again clean.
"There!" she whispered and, following her finger, he saw a tiny green light, the size of a firefly, slowly make its way from where the closest root vanished into the ceiling all the way to the cut. With a crackle of magic, it flared brighter and slowly continued, bridging the gap. Once it had reached the lower part, it fizzled out… and left a small, finger-thick connection of a green, twig-like sprout.
"Hanging on by a thread…" he muttered to himself, both relief and sorrow battling for dominance in his mind.
"Hm." she confirmed, her hand softly squeezing his left. "But we succeeded! For now…"
They stared in awe at the new little strand of life for a minute, their nerves slowly calming.
"Your hand!" Zelda suddenly shouted, making him jump.
"Oh… right…" he mumbled, lifting his right to have a look. It looked dreadful… a thin streak of fiery red skin that looked almost boiled off…
"How bad is it?" she asked, her voice high and agitated. She gently guided it once more into the pool of water, which, oddly, really got the pain going again.
"It's… still stinging…" he pressed out, unable to stop himself from wincing. "But it's already far better than in the first few seconds. In fact, I…"
"Shh!" she shushed him. Confused, he looked at her face…
She had her eyes closed, her expression tense and focused… her hands were warm in the surrounding icy water…
"This pool… this water… There is… something…" she muttered cryptically. With a trembling palm she, extremely carefully, placed the fingers of her right on his wound, eliciting another flash of bright pain, which he fought through with a strained sigh.
Nothing happened for many seconds… He watched her face, her eyes pressing shut and easing up, her jaw tensing and relaxing every few moments. He didn't want to interrupt her… he understood what she was trying to do…
That power that she had… That power he had already experienced… it tortured her that she still had no control over it, when, according to Impa's explanation, it would be needed to combat the ultimate evil… He had come to avoid talking about it as much as possible, as her inability to coax even a tiny spark from her palm continued to enhance her feelings of inadequacy, which led to her being even more anxious about it…
Her fingers pressed harder, causing him to gasp involuntarily.
"Sorry!" she cried out, her wonderful eyes now open wide, scared, and tears of sorrow and shame forming in them. "I… I can't do it!" she whispered, biting on her own lip so hard he was afraid she was going to draw blood. "There's so much life in this water, so much… magic… but I can't… I can't…" she sobbed, but he quickly dropped the sword he had still held, cupped her cheek and tenderly kissed her before she could utter any more nonsense.
"It's alright. Don't beat yourself up, don't panic. Take your time. What do you wish to do?" he asked calmly, trying to ignore the burning smart in his hand.
"I… this water is so… if you irrigated a field with it, you would have ten times the harvest in half the time… it is… the sacred water of the Tree, His nourishment, it's… there is so much… energy…" she babbled, her eyes once again closed.
"How does it look?" he interjected.
"I… what?" her brow furrowed.
"What colour does it have? The energy?"
"I don't… I don't think…" she uttered, puzzled.
"Visualize it. In your mind, bring it into a form you can understand… think it, feel it… then tell it your will…" They had tried this way before, but… for some reason he felt like it just might work… right now, in this situation.
She swallowed, her face scrunched up. His left hand still gently caressed her cheek. "I'm trying…" she groaned, her voice exerted.
"Shh… don't talk. …You're beautiful even if you make that face, do you know that?" he quickly said, staking everything on one card.
"I… huh?" Her eyes opened, her gaze holding utmost confusion... He knew that befuddlement would erupt into Din knows what other emotion in less than an instant, he had to use it!
"Now heal me!" he barked quickly, utilizing her moment of complete baffled thoughtlessness and pointing imperiously at his hand, so her wide eyed gaze automatically followed.
"I…"
A miniscule, short pulse of Light emerged, like a matchstick that was set alight and immediately snuffed.
Startled, both he and she jerked their hands back, looking at them in sudden bewilderment.
Link stared at the back of his right, and his mouth fell open. Where a minute ago had been a dreadful red laceration, there were now some peculiar marks… four to be exact… the size of delicate, feminine fingertips… The wound wasn't gone, but where her digits had been, his skin looked like it had had days to mend and the surrounding area looked far better too… Most important of all, there was hardly any pain left… little more than an itch.
He beamed at her, who stood stock still and looked deeply frightened. "You did it! Look!" he yelled in exultation and proffered his hand proudly. "You did it! You healed it!"
"I… I…" she stammered, gingerly taking his hand in hers as if afraid it was all an illusion.
"It happens when no other thought is impeding you… When your only concern is helping, I think! That's why it's so bloody difficult for you… because you are fretting about ten things at once!" he explained, a very serious component in his little jest.
She was silent, staring intently at his hand for nearly a minute... then a speechless little smile tugged at the corners of her mouth until it had formed into a broad, genuine, delighted grin. "I… I did…" she breathed as an uncontrollable giggle bubbled from her. Ever so gently she placed her fingers on the 4 spots she had cured and laughed happily when they aligned perfectly. Then, completely unbidden, a shadow soured her glorious smile. "I didn't heal you completely…" she mumbled lowly.
With an exasperated sigh, Link snuck his left hand forward, grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "Now listen here, you! If you say something that stupid one more time, I'm going to knock you upside your head, I swear by Nayru's sacred wisdom inducing noogie! You did it, you little fool! We found a way! We got a huge step closer! Now we continue until you can do it without thought. Simple!" he detailed with a wide grin and boldly kissed her, nipping all her silly, self-doubting replies in the bud.
My free time is currently down to zero… sorry for the delays. One out of five of our team has fallen ill, so we remaining four can shoulder his night shifts too... joy!
Also: Damn, writing temples is hard… Can't really do the classical puzzles and riddles… they'd either be impossible to describe without getting confusing, or they'd just be uninteresting, I fear… Thoughts on how I might improve it?
Last question: Do you think I should go back and give all the chapters proper titles? Was kinda toying with the idea for weeks now...