“What are you doing in these woods?” The giant tree’s voice came out low, deep, and earthy, reminding Link of sound of an old man telling an ancient tale, of the hard sound of boulders scraping and dislodging, and of a great bear’s throaty growl.
None of the researchers found a voice to answer: Gutoh was staring, mouthing silent words, his face alight but frozen; Roe had shrunk behind the former but too held a distinct expression of astonishment, his wide eyes scrolling over the giant, talking yew; Faron, in front of the other two, dumbly plucked at his long salt and pepper beard, not even blinking, his lips pursed together. Vinn, their guard, stood behind them all, his hand on his sword’s hilt, his face pale.
Link noticed the frown lines on the tree’s face grow deeper in the silence. After quickly glancing at the others to see them still dumbfounded, he spoke up, “These men were traveling to research the woods. I…I was looking for someone.”
The tree nailed its gaze on him, its large round chin tight, as if its gigantic wooden jaw was clenched. It slowly answered, “Then you’re looking in the wrong place. There are no other men on this mountain.”
Trying stop his own jaw from trembling, Link ignored the growing coldness inside of him as he quickly asked, “But, are there any Wizzrobes?”
The tree’s expression did not soften, but its huge protruding brow raised in interest. “No, not for a month. They rarely set foot on this mountain.”
Immediately Link looked away, over to where he had seen Truett and the forest child among the holly trees surrounding the clearing. They were still there; the child was sitting on a holly’s protruding root, his head in his small hands as he watched Link and the others. Truett fluttered around the child’s head in circles, ignoring Link’s gaze.
“You…” Faron barely managed to force the word out; it was dry and stiff. Link turned back to see him still staring at the tree, but taking a step forward as he continued, “Are you the Deku Tree? We’ve heard about you and the forest children in the legends, and—”
“I am,” the tree cut in, it’s voice louder, with such volume that the very air seemed to rumble, making Link tense, clenching his fists automatically, while Roe cowered and Vinn gripped his sword more tightly. “And I do not care how you heard of me, or the children. If you are here to study the forest, then tell me, what is the end and purpose?”
Faron frowned, awkwardly folding his arms, which were barely shaking. “You must understand, our leader, Talno, who is not present at the moment—”
“Answer the question,” the Deku Tree interrupted again, his voice lower. He was once again scowling.
Quickly Faron looked down at the ground, then back up again, answering slowly, “For knowledge’s sake, I believe.”
The ground beneath them shook as the Deku Tree chuckled humorlessly, only the faintest of grins creasing his thin wooden lips. “You believe? Then tell me, where would this ‘knowledge’ lead? To deforestation? To trying to suck away the magic of the woods for your so-called magicians? No, whatever plans your ‘knowledge’ would make for these woods I will not allow to pass.” The tree’s face grew solemn, his wood eyes narrowed. “You will leave this mountain, and you will never return. If you do, I will not hesitate in using all my power to stop you, or any other man who steps foot under the trees of these woods. If you return, it will mean your death.”
Faron’s fists were shaking in fury as he unfolded his arms, glaring furiously at the tree. “But we’ve only just begun to understand these woods! You can’t stop us now—you don’t understand why we’re doing this. Let me explain—”
“My word is final.” The Deku Tree’s voice was lower, but still voluminous, shaking Link to his core, making Roe lose his balance and fall to his knees as the tree continued, “You are fortunate I’m letting you leave alive. But…I may yet change my mind.” When Faron remained silent, and no one else spoke up, the Deku Tree looked over at Truett and the boy at the edge of the clearing, saying, “I will allow Fado and that fairy to lead you out. If you try to return, you will meet worse dangers than Wolfos. Now, leave.”
The Deku Tree closed its eyes, even as Faron began to say, “But you don’t understand! You don’t know what this could mean for Hyrule! And we don’t mean to harm the woods in any way. It has been Talno’s aim from the beginning only to learn for the sake of learning, and to use that knowledge to better our own homes and forests. We will not harm these woods!”
The Deku Tree did not open his eyes, or speak, or show any sign of having heard him. Faron shouted, trying once more to get his attention, but there was no response.
“Stop it.” Vinn walked around the researchers and stood between Faron and the Deku Tree. “Let’s get out of here, now.”
“But this is ridiculous,” Gutoh muttered.
Faron nodded in agreement, saying, “If we can’t convince him now, we’ll never be able to continue our research—”
“And dying is preferable to that for you, but not for me,” Vinn spat. “We leave now.”
Before Faron or Gutoh could reply, Link spoke up, “He’s right. I don’t think we’re going to change his mind.”
“And you suddenly know so much, boy?” Faron shot him a dirty look. “I’m not leaving until I convince him otherwise. I have spent too much time, too much money on this, and I’m not letting it go to waste. And I won’t be able to look Talno or any of our sponsors in the eye ever again if I do.”
“Agreed,” Gutoh was nodding, then dug Roe in the ribs, grinning. “What do you say?”
The young man gulped, his gaze darting amongst everyone around him. “I…” He shook his head quickly, almost whining, “I don’t know! I don’t—he might kill us if we don’t go!”
Link heard a faint ringing behind him, like a bell, and looked to see Truett flying over to him, resting to hover near his shoulder, asking, “What’s the hold up? We’re not going to wait forever.”
The others had gone silent, staring at her. Link looked at them quickly, then answered her, “Some of them want to try to convince the Deku Tree to let them come back.”
Truett snorted derisively. “Sure, they can try. But we are leaving, now. You’ll never get out of these woods without my—our help. So come on.”
Without waiting for an answer she turned and flew away, back towards the boy, who was standing now, waiting.
There was a pause of silence, then Vinn began to follow her, only speaking over his shoulder to say, “I’m not waiting here to die.”
Link followed, but slowly, only picking up his pace when he heard all of the researchers behind him, Faron doing so with a long, weary sigh.
They continued to walk silently throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening. The boy and Truett once again maintained a consistent distance ahead of them, slowing when they did and hurrying faster when they did. They led the company out of the holly woods before twilight, and went down the mountain by an steep but clear and direct path. Link guessed by the feel of the air and how easy it was to breathe that, by the time they stopped to camp in a tiny clearing, they were well over halfway down the mountain.
As he settled down for the night, ignoring the complaints and muttering between the rest of the company, he could see Truett’s light in the distance, where she and the boy had also stopped for the night. At the sight of the fairy, his shoulders slumped and he let out a slow sigh. He looked away from her, rubbing his eyes.
The Wizzrobes haven’t been here for a month? Why did she even lead me here?! He ran his hand through his hair wearily, then sat down on his blanket, gritting his teeth, his face in his hands. I thought Truett knew what she was doing. Ugh, who knows what he could be going through right now—and here I am, wasting time!
He bit back a curse, then got underneath his blanket, his body aching, his forehead sore from having his brow furrowed almost all day. Faron and Gutoh stayed up talking later into the night, but Link did not even try to listen, instead pulling his blanket over his head, blocking out everything from the outside world.
They rose with the sun, putting out the campfire and packing up silently. Just as they finished, they looked to see Truett and the boy nearby, slowly walking away, leading them onwards down the mountain again. They followed, with Vinn in front, the researchers behind him, with Link in the back. Faron and Gutoh talked some again that morning, with Roe also becoming more talkative and less gloomy as the air slightly warmed and the steep path grew more gradual.
It was near noon when Vinn gave a shout, pointing ahead. They could see clear light coming through the trees, and the faintest sight of Hyrule Field’s plains and hills. Truett and the boy vanished from sight, but no one commented, though Faron and Gutoh looked around for them several times as they hurried behind Roe and Vinn, who were nearly running until he got out of the line of trees and into the open field.
“Finally!” Vinn nearly collapsed, sitting on a stone heavily. They were still on the mountainside, but only its very base, which sloped down then back up where it turned into the rolling waves of Hyrule Field. The plains were still white with snow, but there was less on the large grey stones around them and spotted in the distance, and there were even some brown signs of dead grass. The sky was clear and still windless, with no promise of snow in sight.
“We shouldn’t rest too long,” Faron said. “We need to keep traveling while the weather is good.”
Link stayed with them as they all sat down and rested for a spell, but he kept looking back at the trees for any sign of Truett.
“You, Link,” Faron suddenly addressed him gravely, making him turn, sitting up straight as the older man continued, “What were you really doing in those woods?”
“Well…” His shoulders slumped and he looked down at his knees as he answered, “Someone I know was taken by Wizrobes. I—tried following their trail, and it led me here, to nothing.”
Faron frowned, looking away as Gutoh asked, “Why didn’t you just tell us that? We could have told you that Wizrobes almost never come here. They don’t like the woods, for whatever reason. Wolfos are the only monsters that are here regularly. Wizrobes wouldn’t—”
“He didn’t tell us, and that’s that,” Faron interrupted, his voice firm and strong. “We have all made mistakes these past few days.” He stood up, and Link did the same as the man walked over to him, his face stern and lined, making him once again look very old. “I only wish that the different mistakes on all sides had not led to such serious…misunderstandings.” Link nodded as Faron continued, “If you suffered any sort of damages or losses due to our false accusations and all that followed, I swear we will reimburse you fully once we are back to Castle City.”
Link frowned, unsure what ‘reimburse’ meant, but he shook his head, saying, “Nothing was lost or stolen or anything, forget about it. And I don’t think I’ll be going back to city.”
After a few more minutes, the researchers and Vinn got up and headed to leave, turning towards the north, opposite the mountain. Vinn and Roe did not say anything else to him, though Gutoh shook his hand and apologized quickly, not waiting for an answer before he followed the others. Link remained sitting on a short stone sticking out of the mountainside close to the woods, watching until the company was mere specks in the far distance, close to disappearing over the horizon. It was now early afternoon, and he shifted, sighing and leaning back, looking at the pale blue sky.
“I thought they’d never leave,” came a small voice from just behind him.
Springing up and jumping off of the stone shelf, he spun around to see the forest boy and Truett, who was fluttering around the boy’s upturned, dark green hat. The boy smiled, his thin, almond-shaped eyes once again reminding Link of a squinting, contented cat.
“You’re Link, then?” the boy asked as Truett began to hover in the space between the two of them. After Link nodded, the boy said, “I’m Fado. Truett, she found me in the woods the other night. I couldn’t believe there were men in the woods!” He sat down on the stone, his legs dangling off the side.
“Well, I wouldn’t have been there if she hadn’t led me here,” Link said, looking up at Truett, who flew down at eye level.
“Look, it was a trail of the residue of Wizzrobe magic,” she said. “I can’t do this thing perfectly.”
“I thought you said you were really good at it,” Link said, trying to keep the edge out of his tone.
“You’re looking for some Hylian, right?” Fado interrupted, looking at the two of them, his expression sobering.
Sighing, Link nodded again while Truett answered, “Yes, and he got taken by Wizzrobes, that’s why I’m tracking them. Don’t worry though, I’ve got another trail on them. It’s a lot fresher, I can tell.”
“Really?” Link asked glumly, folding his arms.
“Yes, really. Look, being back in the forest really made me feel much more…in-tune with my magic. I was a little worn out, to be honest. But now I’m a lot sharper, you’ll see. It’ll be fine! We’ll find him soon, or at least get closer to finding him. Alright?”
Link raised his hands helplessly, then sat down next to Fado on the stone heavily with another sigh. “Fine. It’s not like I have any other options. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Sounds like you might be traveling around a bit,” Fado said, looking at Link, who nodded again. “But, you have a fairy with you. That means you’re a hero, right?”
Link looked at him, a grin tugging at his lips. “Why do you say that? She’s just helping me out for a little, since I helped her before.”
“But…” Fado bit his lip anxiously, then continued, “No one has fairies with them anymore. Not even Kokiri, the other children like me, do. They’re all gone.”
“I thought there were always fairies in the Kokiri Forest,” Truett said, fluttering down to sit on Link’s shoulder. “That’s part of what gives all the woods their magic.”
Fado shook his head sadly. “They’ve all gone. Not even the Deku Tree knows where or why. The only person we hear about having a fairy with him anymore is the hero from the legends. And fairies won’t stay with normal people, right?”
Link scratched the back of his head uncertainly while Truett giggled, saying, “Well, we are certainly choosy about our company. We don’t waste our time with fools.”
“So, if you’re a hero,” Fado shifted around, facing Link, “could you do something for me while you’re traveling?”
“Well,” he glanced at Truett, then back at Fado. “I don’t know about heroes or anything, but I’ll try to help. What is it you want?”
Fado’s face brightened, and he gave a toothy smile. “Great! Now see, we never get to go out of the forest for a long time. The Deku Tree doesn’t let us. He used to tell us that we’d die if we left. But…” He looked down, his expression darkening as he clasped his hands, saying in a lower voice, “A while ago, some Kokiri left the mountain, meaning just to be gone for a little while. I don’t remember why; maybe it was a joke, or a prank, or something. But while they were out, I think they were captured, because they never came back. And they would never just leave!” He looked back up at Link, his young face lined with worry. “We don’t die when we leave the forest, but we’ll get sick if we’re gone for a very long time, especially without fairies or magic to help us. So, they must be in trouble, somewhere in Hyrule. Could you keep a look out for them? Just, ask around if anyone has heard of children from the Lost Woods in Hyrule.”
Link nodded slowly. “I could do that, yes. I’ll ask around when I go to towns or anything, and I’ll do what I can, I promise.”
Fado sat up straight, then let out a long sigh. “Good. It’s been so long since they’ve been gone.”
“How long, exactly?”
“Uhh…” Fado stood up, cocking his head, frowning in thought. “About ten winters. And there were about…eight kids. I think. But no less than that.”
“Alright, I keep a look out.”
“Right.” Fado beamed at him and Truett, then said, “I need to go back before the Deku Tree gets mad at me. Thank you, Link!”
Link could not help but smile as he watched Fado jump up and hurry back to the trees, only pausing to wave back at them once before vanishing into the dark woods.
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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