Child Of The Forest - Judy Colella (popular e readers .TXT) 📗

“Oh. Of course.” He bent over and hefted it. For something that was as tall as he, it was surprisingly light. He slid it into the sheath at his back, not sure what else to do with it, and continued walking.

By the time the pathway opened into the wide Meadow, he’d fought and defeated two more of the bizarre plants and doubted he’d be able now to fit the sword into the sheath alongside his new stick collection. Not that any of that mattered. He stopped, staring open-mouthed at what dominated the center of the Meadow.

The Great Deku Tree. Nothing Link had ever seen came close to the size and magnificence of this creature. He estimated that close to half of the buildings in the Kokiri Village could fit inside. As he stared up at the Tree, he began to recognized face-like features. Of course! he told himself. This was no ordinary tree, after all, but the Father of the Forest. It would have to have a face!

And then the features moved as what was clearly its mouth opened, and it began to speak. “Ah, Navi,” said a voice that was booming yet like a zephyr at the same time, “you have brought him!”

“Yes, Great Deku Tree. This is Link.”

“Link.”

The solemnity with which the Tree spoke his name was so unnerving, Link’s knees gave out and he sat suddenly, unable to make a sound.

The Tree seemed to sigh as it continued, its words spoken in the formal way of the Ancients. “Welcome, boy. Listen carefully, now, to what I, the Deku Tree, must tell thee.” He stopped, almost as if gathering more energy from somewhere within his being. His next words shocked the boy with their accuracy. “Thy slumber during these past several moons must have been restless and full of nightmares.”

Link almost voiced a confirmation of that, but quickly decided to remain quiet.

“The servants of evil are gaining strength, boy,” the Tree went on, “and as they do, a vile climate pervades the land, causing nightmares to those who are sensitive to it. Verily, thou has felt these things, Link!”

Link swallowed hard, nodding.

“Thus has the time come to test thy courage. I have…been cursed. I – I need you to break the curse with your special wisdom and courage. Dost thou believe thou possesseth enough courage to undertake the task I have set thee?”

In the thick silence that followed that question, something began to awaken within Link’s heart. Something that told him it took courage to accept being different from others, and wisdom to live that way without becoming bitter. In that moment, he knew he could no longer pretend not to understand and accept that he must, indeed, have a destiny, a purpose beyond being a Kokiri, and that this was most likely the reason he’d never felt content with a future that held nothing more than finding a companion and raising Kokiri children. A mature thought indeed for a mere ten-year-old, but not that unusual for one raised by the Kokiri. As he sat staring into the ancient face of the Tree, he realized that it no longer mattered why he was different, only that he was.

Very well, then, he told himself, and pushed to his feet. “Yes, Great Deku Tree. I do.”

Another, greater, sigh escaped the gigantic being, followed by a kind of sliding sound as the mouth began opening wider, then wider still, until it had become a gigantic doorway into the tree’s center.

Something within that place waited for Link, something he would have to meet, fight, defeat, and thereby break the curse of which the Tree had spoken. No wonder he needed the Kokiri Sword! And here he’d been thinking its only purpose had been to get him past those obnoxious plants!

“Hurry, Link!”

Too awed by what had just occurred to be bothered by the fairy’s oft-repeated phrase, he took a firmer grip on the Sword, threw back his young shoulders, and with trembling bravery, entered the Tree.

I can do this…I’m a child of the Forest, and this is part of it – the Father of it. I’ve been given the task because something as powerful as the Great Deku Tree believes I can do it. He swallowed hard, wishing he believed in himself half as much.

The first thing that occurred to him was that the inside of the tree was nothing like what he was expecting. Actually, he couldn’t have said what he’d been expecting, but it certainly was not what he found. The Tree had a central chamber. Ramps wound around its walls, some of these walls covered with the kind of vines with which he’d grown familiar and knew he could climb. A ladder much like the one leading up to his tree-cottage had been attached to a curved wall on his left. Did something, some things live in here? He’d seen trees felled and not even the largest ones had been hollow like this, much less have structural feature like ladders and ramps.

In the very center was a circular opening in the ground covered by some kind of netting. He stepped closer and poked it with his sword, causing it to move a little, but then it bounced back.

What was this? He poked it again, this time feeling resistance as whatever it was made of stuck to the tip of the sword until he pulled the weapon free. Like tree sap, maybe, or…no. More like a spider web of mind-boggling scope. Link really hated spiders. He didn’t know why – they weren’t big enough to pose a threat, and the way they would scurry off when he got near told him they were justifiably more in fear of him. This web, however, if that was what it was, represented a creature of such great size, the mere idea of it almost propelled him back outside.

No, he told himself. You can’t fail only a few minutes after starting! Grow up! He looked down at himself and nearly laughed at that last command. Well, he decided, I’ll avoid the web, then. That’s all. Okay – what else is here?

A quick trip around the perimeter introduced him to a new, more deadly variety of plant that had a huge head, a long, pointy tongue, and a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. The thing snapped viciously at him when he got too close. It took all of that courage he’d been trying to convince himself he had to go after it, using several of the sword techniques he’d learned from Wado. Upon destroying it at last, he found himself staring down at a large seed. “Navi? What is this?”

“A Deku Nut. You use it as a weapon.”

“How? Do I throw it at the enemy or something?”

“Yes! You should gather as many as you can!”

He put it in his pouch, took a few steps, and another of the angry plants popped up. This one actually snarled at him. He swung his sword, barely avoiding the thing’s fangs, and after a few swipes, decapitated it. “Now I have two,” he muttered.

Three Deku Nuts later, he came to the ladder, and started upward. “Navi, will anything attack me when I get to the top?”

“Just be watchful, Link. There are many things here that can cause harm!”

Great, he thought, and wondered if all fairies were cryptic by nature. All he wanted was a simple answer…

A few green plants grew at the top of the ledge where the ladder brought him. He looked forward and saw nothing more threatening than two rather wide gaps, one on either side of a kind of outcropping between the part of the ramp he was on and the next section of ramp. He knew he could jump the gaps easily; they were only a fraction wider than the space between the pathstones near The Shop. In fact, the only thing bothering him at the moment was an inexplicable scratching sound coming from somewhere up ahead.

That morning as he and Navi were heading toward to the Meadow, they’d stopped at the Shop at Navi’s insistence so Frega could show Link how to secure the shield to a hook-like projection on the scabbard’s strap just behind the back of his neck. He attached it now to give himself better balance for the jump, sheathed the Sword, and ran.

He made it safely to the outcropping, so kept going, jumping again a few steps later. This part of the ramp was longer, at least. The scratching sound, however, was even closer now. He looked at the wall beside him which was covered with vines, detecting some sort of movement. The light here was more ambient than bright, and he couldn’t quite make out details of what he saw. Frowning, he walked ahead, but was so intent on figuring out what the things were (there were three of them, from what he could see) that he almost crashed into a large wooden chest.

“Look out, Link!”

The boy stopped mere inches from the side of the chest. It was the same size as the one that had held the Kokiri Sword. Bumping into it would certainly have been a painful experience, and he thanked her, meaning it.

Coming around to the front, he gripped the edge of the lid, and pulled up. This one opened more easily, but had the same bright light inside. “What’s shining like that?” he asked.

“The magic of Hyrule – the mana of Hylia! Quick, get what’s inside!”

“Oh.” He knew what she meant, sort of. Again, he had to haul himself up onto the edge and reach down with both hands.

This time, there was no weapon, no treasure of any kind. No, it was a scroll of dark parchment that crackled when he unrolled it.

“A map? A map of what?” He turned it upside-down, then sideways, trying to make sense of the lines and pictures inked across its surface. The Know-It-Alls had once shown him a map, and then, as now, he had been quite unsure about how to hold it.

“Of the Deku Tree, of course!”

“Are you being impatient with me, Navi?”

Silence. Then, “Sorry, Link. But look! You will know which way to go now!”

“Hmm.” He nodded, almost wishing he had a fly-swatter. He needed a fairy…why? “Okay…ah. Now I see. I’m right here.” He pointed at a spot that seemed to indicate the ramp and the chest. “Which way should – what is that noise?” The scratching was beginning to irritate him and he rolled up the map, shoved it into his belt, and peered around in the semi-gloom.

“Wall-tulas.”

“Um, what?”

Navi repeated herself.

“Okay. And what, exactly, does that mean?”

The fairy flitted away from her post by his left ear and shot up the wall. Her small luminescence was exactly enough to illuminate what he’d been seeing only as a flickering shadow.

“Oh. Dang.” Not only was this thing a kind of spider, it was huge. Its body was shaped like a skull, and it was rotating on the wall. Nothing creepy going on with that… “Guess I won’t be climbing those vines any time soon.” He shuddered and turned away.

“Link!”

He jumped, not having realized she’d returned, his mind still on the Wall-whatever. “What is it, Navi?”

“There are four of them!”

May I go home now? “I see.” Actually, he didn’t, nor did he want to. Four? Three would have been bad enough. He kept moving along the ramp, and soon came to a recessed doorway on his left.

“Listen, Link!”

“What is it, Navi?”

“When you want to open a door, I do believe you need only get close to it, and it will open all by itself!”

“Thank you, Navi.” Because I never would have figured that out myself when I got to it, eh? He bit his tongue and stepped closer to the door.

It slid up into a hidden pocket, allowing him access. He rushed in, praying there weren’t any spiders inside, but a second later, found himself dealing with new problems. He was in a circular room-like area, and while there were no spiders that he could see, metallic bars had slid