“Where are they?” He looked up at Gutoh, the researcher who was closest, who opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The man’s face was stricken as he just shook his head quickly. He looked at the other researcher, Roe, who did not even respond, his face still colorless, his eyes wide.Link turned his gaze towards Vinn, who was pulling his own pack up onto his shoulders. The guard noticed him and half-heartedly shrugged.
“He—took a few things.” He jerked his head towards the bloody, strewn corpse of the other guard, Narif, who was left at the edge of the clearing. “Get them yourself.”
After tying his sword and scabbard back onto his belt sturdily, Link walked over towards the carnage, holding his breath. Trying his best to ignore the carnage of the strewn, clawed body that was missing some limbs that were roughly, brutally torn away, he focused on the small pack on the man’s back that had been torn by the claws and teeth of the Wolfos. He undid the metal fastenings on the leather encasement, and pulled out the contents, only hesitating when he unfolded the cloth with the gold leaf insignia of the royal family. His hands shaking, he set it aside, then quickly unearthed his glass jar of honey and the leather packet with the engagement necklace inside, both unharmed. He picked them up and left everything else as he hurried away from the body.
“We have to leave, before they come back,” Faron said, his voice a little raspy now with strain, but firm, as Link finished tying his pack together, everything inside.
“He’s coming with us?” Gutoh asked uncertainly, glancing at Link then back at Faron, then at Vinn, who just folded his arms tightly.
Faron wearily ran his hand over his eyes, shifting uncertainly, but said, “If those monsters come back, we’ll need everyone we can.”
“Agreed,” Vinn said, glancing towards Narif’s corpse, shuddering slightly.
Link felt the eyes of the researchers on him and grabbed at the thongs around his shoulders tightly, pulling them up firmly. “I’m not going to tell anyone about you people being in here, and I never wanted to.”
“I want to believe you, but, if you didn’t intend to do so, then why did you have the contract?” Faron asked. He still had his crossbow out, and while it was far from being ready to use, the man was gripping onto it tightly.
Before Link could do anything, Vinn muttered a curse and said, “I planted it, Narif wanted to—” He cut off, muttering and kicking at a chunk of frost on the ground, then speaking up again, “We saw he had the insignia, but we couldn’t get rid of him without something else, could we? You lot would have raised a fuss, might’ve paid us less. That’s what Narif said, anyways.” Folding his arms more tightly, he glared at everyone else, and when no one spoke up, he turned away, saying, “Let’s get moving before those beasts come back.”
Faron narrowed his eyes at Vinn, but slowly eased his grip on his crossbow, saying, “Very well. Everyone, get out your lantern or grab a torch of some sort, then douse the fires. We need to keep moving.”
As they moved into the woods, led by Faron and Vinn, who were grumbling at each other for a little while, Link hung back, his lantern attached on his belt letting off plenty of light for him and Roe in front of him to see the path. His eyes quickly adjusting, Link began to look around in the woods for any sign of Truett’s faint, light teal fairy light, but there was no sign of her. Slowing, he turned around and looked the way they came, squinting at the dark shapes of the trees and the bare ground, but there was nothing.
Soon all turned quiet in the group. They kept walking, the evening fog dissipating, replaced with a windless air that was devoid of clouds to keep in any warmth in the world. While they followed a faintly trodden path, Link noticed they remained on one level along the mountainside, not going up or down significantly, but maintaining the same altitude.
The woods were utterly quiet. Every step they took on the frost and ice seemed to magnify and echo in the emptiness. Only once or twice in the night did they hear noise from the distance. The first time was a soft thump, like snow falling off an edge or a large tree limb. The second time it was a loud snap, like a frozen twig being stepped on and broken right behind them. They all froze, Link instinctively turning towards the noise, hand on his hilt. The sound of Roe’s teeth chattering from the cold was unbearably loud as they stood there breathless, peering into the dark woods. Faron snapped at Roe to be quiet, and he tried unsuccessfully several times, even as they began to move again.
When his senses were not on alert by a sound or by the silence of the forest, Link pulled his cloak up around him and warmed his hands in it, rubbing them together furiously. Several times he noticed how cold his head felt, even with his hat, and realized it was because Truett was gone. Then he would look around for her again, doing so more frequently and for longer periods as the sun rose and the woods slowly lightened in the grey morning light, but each time he was disappointed.
After they could see the sun peeping through the trees at last, they soon arrived at a tiny clearing. The air remained still, without even the whisper of a breeze. As they stopped in the clearing, Link noticed that the tree branches far above were still swaying ever so slightly. At first he guessed that there was a current up there, then remembered what Truett said about the forest being awake. Sitting down on the hard ground, the coldness immediately numbing him, he looked out at the forest again for any sign of the fairy.
“We’re trying to leave the forest now, right?” Roe asked, his voice weary. His teeth had stopped chattering, and now he was rubbing his eyes constantly.
“Yes. Hurry up and get something to eat,” Faron answered, also sitting down, his crossbow beside him. The others sat down eventually, though no one made any move to eat anything.
Slowly Link curled up, pulling his knees to him, leaning his arms and head down on them, pulling cloak around so it made a shell all around him. They sat there for a long while, the soft sound of the faintest of rustlings amongst the trees sounded like whispers lulling them to sleep. Link felt his eyelids drooping, and Faron’s slow, regular breathing turned into faint snoring as he let his head loll forward, his chin and beard on his chest. Every now and then, Vinn would stand up and pace around the clearing, then sit back down. As the day lengthened, he began to get up less and less, and soon stopped doing so at all. Gutoh had lain down on the ground, ignoring its coldness, and the only sign that he was still alive was the occasional snort amidst his silent breathing.
“Link.”
Jumping out of the edge of sleep, his head in a fog, Link jerked his head up and looked around, blinking quickly. Soon he realized it was Roe who had spoke, as he was staring at him now. The young man looked very tired and worn in his enormous coat that now had dirt, scratches and tears on it, with heavy circles under his eyes and specks of dirt and possibly blood on his face.
“Are you awake?” Roe’s voice shook a little as he spoke.
“Now I am, yes.” Link frowned, looking at the rest of the party. Even Vinn let out a snore, making Link quickly stand up, saying, “I’ll stay awake. You sleep with them for now.”
Quickly Roe shook his head, a small, high-pitched laugh escaping him. “I haven’t slept at all ever since they tried to kill you back at the campsite. And Faron, too! He’s my cousin!” Leaning forward, Roe shook his head miserably, his short brown curls shaking limply. “They’re all insane, that’s what it is. And Talno’s the worst for starting this stupid expedition in the first place. I shouldn’t have come here.”
Unsure how to respond, Link sat back down, looking at Roe who just continued staring at the ground, muttering, “We’re never going to get out of here. All yesterday we just wandered in circles, even when the monsters began to follow us.” He shuddered noticeably, even with his enormous coat on. “And then Narif, they—” Gulping, he looked back up at the woods, then at Link. “Don’t you care? Don’t any of you care at all? Half of him got eaten for—” He cursed. “I felt like a weak fool, acting like I did—”
“It’s normal,” Link spoke over him quickly. “Especially if it was your first time seeing something like that.”
Roe just shook his head again, and began to talk quickly, feverishly, about how he had thought coming to the forest would be safe and simple. Link tried to listen, but the man quickly went into such detail that he could not follow. Looking back at the forest, ahead, then behind them where it rose up in a sharp, snow-covered incline, only thrice as tall as he was, topped with shadowed, black trees that bore low gnarled branches gleaming in ice. He could see the hazy shapes of smaller trees behind the ones at the edge of the incline. Squinting up at them, his eyes caught a shadow of movement in the distance above.
Immediately Link stood up, pulling his cloak back, his hand on his hilt. Ignoring Roe, who was still rambling on and staring at the ground, he took several steps back, looking up the slope and behind the trees just above. As he watched, he saw a figure in the shade, slowly rising as if standing up to look at him. He tensed, gripping his hilt, ready—suddenly, the figure darted back out of sight.
“What are you doing?” Roe asked finally, his voice clearer, though he did not move from his spot.
“Something is up there,” Link replied, not moving, his eyes darting quickly among the trees, looking.
“What? What is it?!” Roe jumped up and hurried over towards Link, leaving the others still asleep.
“I don’t know.” Link took in a breath and listened for the crunching sound of something walking in snow, or snapping ice or frost, ignoring the whispers of the trees and their swaying, the snores, the sound of Roe shifting his weight on the hard ground.
After a few minutes, or maybe two seconds, he heard the slow, faint, unique grinding sound of someone walking on snow that had not frozen over, but still yielded, bending and dipping underfoot.
A figure reappeared among the trees, and he immediately knew it was not a Wolfos; it was too short, too small. Just as he was trying to discern what sort of animal it could possibly be, a glowing ball of bright blue teal light appeared, floating by the figure.
Link smiled widely at the sight of Truett, even as Roe spotted her and pointed, hissing, “A fairy! And I can see the person there—there’s someone there!”
“Someone?” Link looked at him, his smile fading. “Who would in this place?”
“It must be a forest child.” Roe bit his lip, still pale, but his eyes were still remarkably bright and awake. “No one has seen or heard of them for so long. Didn’t you hear about them from us, or something?” Without waiting for an answer he went on in a hushed voice, “I can’t believe I’m seeing one. I could be the first person to see one, or to even see a fairy, for I don’t know how long…”
Link looked back to Truett. “I think they want to help us.”
Roe shook his head slowly. “I don’t know…what are you doing?” he hissed as Link walked towards the incline, making to wake up the others. “Don’t go towards him, you’ll scare them away!”
Link looked back at him, then back up at the incline. “They’re still there. Let’s get everyone else up and follow them.”
Not waiting for Roe to decide, Link went ahead and woke the others.
Vinn stood back, staring at the figure and the fairy, his mouth hanging open, rubbing his eyes repeatedly and looking up again, his expression surprised each time. Roe whispered excitedly to Faron and Gutoh about how he spotted the fairy and the “forest child”, while Gutoh continued to quietly exclaim, “Fantastic”, “Unbelievable” and other such words repeatedly, while Faron kept stroking his salt-and-pepper beard uncertainly, his eyes wide.
When they had all stood and stared for some time and showed no sign of actually doing anything, Link stood in front of them, saying, “We should follow them.”
The researchers looked at each other while Vinn snorted, saying, “You’re crazy, that’s what you are. You want me to follow some forest imp and some pixie through this insane place? They’ll lead us right back to those Wolfos! We should keep going, on our own.”
“That, that’s ridiculous,” Gutoh said, frowning severely at Vinn, then at everyone else as if they had all suggested the same thing. “Fairies are good-natured, and in the legends they always helped out people in the Lost Woods. Same thing for the forest children. Besides, fairies don’t stay around evil creatures, and pixies don’t exist. We should follow.”
Roe was nodding in agreement, and Faron sighed heavily, then said, “We have little choice. I did not mention it, because I hoped I could find the way again, but we’ve been lost, lost ever since the Wolfos started stalking us and we altered our path.”
Vinn’s face lost color, then he gritted his teeth, turning red, clearly about to shout when Link spoke up again, “Whatever you’re doing, I’m following them. Goodbye.”
Turning on his heel, he headed towards the incline, and then went towards the right edge where the dirt and rocks had collapsed due to a flow of water years ago, creating a slightly more gradual slope, winding up towards the trees above. Behind him Vinn was shouting, with Faron responding in kind, but a few moments, Link looked back to see them following him up the rocky slope. He grinned to himself, relieved, knowing he would have had a hard time trying to convince them fully.
Arriving at the top, he looked towards where the forest child had been with Truett. There was nothing there. He walked over to the spot and looked around, spotting them in the distance. He could still not make out much about the distant, shadowed figure, but he could clearly see Truett bobbing up and down, and he knew her wings were fluttering quickly, impatiently. Looking back again to be sure the others were up out of the slope, Link followed after Truett and the child. He heard some grumbling behind him, mostly Vinn, but ignored it as the others followed him through the forest.
The land turned upwards steeply as they walked, yet the air did not grow much cooler. The trees were squatter and more gnarled, still very close together, their limbs bearing more snow, reaching down low with their burdens, sometimes brushing the heads of the travelers with their long fingers.
Through the forest they followed the child and Truett for several hours. The going was slow due to the incline, yet neither Truett nor the child seemed to have any trouble staying the exact same distance away from them. Link’s ears were popping, and several times he rubbed them, trying to assuage the discomfort that eventually turned into pain.
The day was growing late, and the child and Truett seemed to be further away than before. Link began to hurry but was quickly chided by those following him into slowing down. His back ached under his pack, and his ears were stuffy, his head aching and throbbing like a bruise.
“Look!”
Link slowed to turn. Roe was behind him, pointing at a tree they were passing. For a moment he stared at it, unsure what he was supposed to be seeing, then realized that its limbs were higher, less gnarled, and most importantly they were not bare or naked. It was a holly tree, bearing the dark green, prickled leaves, but it was taller than any other such trees he had ever seen. Turning back ahead, he spotted more and more hollies ahead of them even before Roe and Gutoh began to excitedly point them out, his voice growing louder and louder until Faron hushed them.
Soon they were surrounded by the evergreen trees. Some bore bright red berries, standing out sharply, while others were simply green. Every now and then there was a rustling amidst their branches and leaves, as if creatures were hurrying about in the shelter.
The path began to level, and even though the trees were further apart, their limbs and leaves all mingled, creating a solid ceiling separating them from the sky, darkening the area. Any sunlight that filtered in was not as pale as a normal winter sun, and seemed warmer. The ground was still cold and hard, but there was no longer any sign of ice or snow.
Following the child and Truett’s lead, they turned a corner onto an even path, lined by the trees. These were planted closer together, preventing visibility on either side, but leaving an open path, like a natural tunnel. Here there was soft snow on the ground, with no shell of harsh frost.
Ahead of them down the long tunnel was sunlight, though it was clearly waning. Fog was seeping slightly into the area, blanketing the end of the tunnel in a reflection of shining ice crystals. The child and Truett slipped into the fog and disappeared.
Letting out a shout, Vinn rushed past Link towards the fog, with Gutoh then Roe and Faron following behind. Link hurried after them, noticing by the sweat collecting on his brow and under his heavy, hot cloak that while there was snow, it was warmer than before. Rubbing down on his ears once again, he exhaled and popped them painfully. Even though he was not running very fast, he was gasping for air and his breath felt shallow.
We have to be on or near the summit of the mountain. But why is it so warm?
He followed the others into the haze of the fog, and just as soon stumbled out of it into clear afternoon sunlight. Everyone else had frozen, looking around; Link did the same, not minding that his mouth was hanging open.
The clearing before them was enormous, full of small, young hollies and unfrozen ponds and grass that was not harmed by the cold, though snow was strewn about in patches. They could see the sky clear around them, the only clouds passed around their legs and then swept away; Link wished he had the energy to climb one of the taller holly trees, sure that he could confirm that they were really at the summit of the mountain of the Forbidden Woods.
In the middle of the clearing, capturing their attention, was an enormous yew, the only evergreen that was not a holly. It was swaying, like the trees in the woods, save it did so more freely, more boldly, as if it was absentmindedly stretching.
“Come this way.”
Link turned around, hearing the small voice, and looked to see Truett at the line of the holly grove surrounding the clearing. Near her, half-hidden by a tree, was a small child. He had gold blonde hair, wore a dark green, upturned, pointed hat and a matching forest green tunic with darker, long sleeves. His face was pointed but pleasant, with small, narrow eyes that reminded Link less of the squinting faces of foxes and more of how a cat contently narrows and closes their eyes when it purrs.
Soon the child and Truett began to hurry along the edge of the trees. Link followed them, with the others trailing behind, silent save for Gutoh, who was saying, “I never imagined we’d get here, never in all my days; just look at this place…the sun is shining…and I can’t believe it, that tree must be—”
As they circled around to the other side of the enormous yew tree in the center, Link noticed several bumps on its far side. As he drew closer, he thought someone had carved an enormous face into the side of the tree. But then one of the wooden eyes blinked, and the chin was swaying slightly. Now on the other side of the yew, they all stood in front of an enormous wooden face, with deep-set eyes, a large round nose, an enormous, round, heavy chin, frowning thin lips, and a prominent brow that was furrowed severely, making the wood creak and splinter slightly. The tree’s face was ancient, strongly defined, and very alive, and not at all pleased to see them.
The Legend of Zelda and characters copyright Nintendo
"The Legend of Zelda: Deluge" writing and original concepts and characters copyright Mahira / Mahira-chan
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