Chapter Four: Inside the Deku Tree

Link stared up at the huge tree. There was only one way to describe it: Massive.

The tree was over fifty feet tall, its trunk must have been at least thirty feet in width. It was the only tree here, but its leaves covered almost all the light from the sky above. Similar to the Lost Woods and the Kokiri Village at night, the place was lit only with Navi’s glow and with the glow of the air itself. The tree had knots and dents in its bark that looked like a face, but other than that, it was completely smooth. The roots were three times Link’s height, at least. The tree seemed to be old and weary, but at the same time, very wise and mystical, as if it knew more than the forest itself.

Link stood on the hill before the gigantic tree, and said, very shakily, “Y-you wanted t-to see me, Great Deku Tree?”

The Deku Tree gave the impression of smiling. “Yes,” he said. “Link, I hath called thee here because ye hath a destiny. A fate, a fate greater than anyone hast ever known thus far. Thou art the chosen one. The one who will save Hyrule from the reign of peril that will soon overtake it if the force behind the evil is not stopped.”

Link frowned.

It seemed to go along with what Navi had said.

He wanted to ask questions, but had no idea where to start. Why him? What was Hyrule? The outside world? But he hadn’t ever heard of the outside world, so why did the word seem familiar? And who said he had a destiny anyway? If he did, why did the Deku Tree know?

“I...I don’t understand, Great Deku Tree.”

“Thou means to tell me you hath never wondered why I never sent thee a fairy? Sit down, Link, be at ease,” the tree said to him.

Link sat; Navi flitted onto his shoulder.

“I hath much to tell thee, but there is so little time. You see, there is a great evil within me. An evil that was put there by an enchantment, an ancient enchantment that so many hath long forgotten. A spell put on me by an evil man. I would be right in assuming thy slumber hast been disturbed these past few nights?”

Link nodded, wondering how on earth the tree could know that. There had been a fairy in his dream...he thought. Did the tree know about that too? Could he tell Link what it meant?

“Link, I need thy help. I need ye to pass this test of courage, to banish the evil within me. Thou art brave. Link, art thou ready to prove thyself? I hath need of your courage.”

Link’s eyes grew wide. “M-me? Brave? You...you can’t be serious. Me?”

“Yes. You. Thou art...the only one....” His voice sounded weak. “Link, can you do this? Art thou ready? Can thee pass this test of courage?”

Link stood up, and brushed off his pants. “Listen, I...I think you’ve got the wrong kid. I’m not brave or noble or any of that. I’m just a ordinary person. Just Mr. No Fairy.”

There it was again! Navi frowned. Mido had done more damage than he thought. A lot more damage than Link let on, except now, when he was in the company of trusted ones. She could have kicked Mido, had she been big enough.

“Link, you are far greater than you know now. I hath need of thy help. Thou art the only one who can help me...trust in thyself, and the courage inside thee will light the way....”

Link sighed deeply, closing his eyes for a brief moment. He looked at Navi. He looked at the guardian spirit of his home, in dire need of his help. Then he stared at his boots, as he thought of Saria, how happy for him she was, and he saw her smiling face and smiled a little himself, he knew she would want him to do it.

Link thought ofMido, how angry he would be that Link had gotten a chance to do something that he hadn’t, and of all his brothers and sisters in the forest, who would perish without the tree in good health....

But what did he owe his so called brothers and sisters anyway? All they had ever done, most of them, was pick on him. And he was supposed to save them and their home?

Well, it’s my home too, he thought.

It wouldn’t be easy. But there was a vast difference between right and easy.

He thought of the faith that was being put in him, his abilities. Even if they were non-existent.

Link made his choice. He took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes. Yes, I can.”

And with this, the young hero’s destiny was sealed. There was no turning back now.

“Very well,” murmured the tree. “Enter. And may the Goddesses be with thee.” Link had no idea who the Goddesses were, but he nodded, and entered the gaping hole that was the tree’s mouth.

Navi lingered behind Link. The Deku Tree had opened a telepathic connection, and he said to Navi telepathically, So, I suppose his mother was right about him after all. He is indeed the one.

Navi smiled sadly. There wasn’t ever a doubt in my mind.

***

Darkness. For a moment all Link could see was darkness. Then, as his eyes became used to the dim light, and as Navi entered the cavern with him, he was able to see. Slowly he looked around. He was in the inside of the enormous tree. Spider webs hung from the walls and ceiling, things scurried in the dark corners.

Link shivered. “So, where do I go first?”

Navi scanned the floor. Link had no choice but to follow her; she was his light.

“Well,” she said, “the evil is coming from the roots, spreading it’s way up. So we need to go down. There’s only one tiny complication.”

“What’s that?”

“This.”

Link gasped. He was standing on a gigantic web. He jumped off, but Navi laughed.

“That thing isn’t going anywhere. The only way to break it is to jump on it hard. From the top.” She was telling the truth, she just didn’t think it was such a bright idea.

“You must be kidding.”

“Sorry, but I’m serious. We need to get to the top of the tree.” Navi figured once they got to the top of the tree, there would be something there to help them out. She ran this theory past Link, and he laughed.

“You’re relying on luck with me around?”

“Yes,” Navi said defiantly.

Link looked around. “Well, okay, do we have a ladder around here anywhere?” He thought of his secret entrance to the Lost Woods. “Any vines?”

Navi looked around. “Ah, right over here. I think.” Link went over to the corner of the room, and was about to start climbing when suddenly Navi gasped.

“Stop!” the fairy screeched at him. Navi had seen something moving. She flew up to inspect it.

What Link saw by her light made him draw back in a state of disgust. It was a spider, with thin, long legs, its body covered by what looked to be a human skull. The grotesque spider was almost as big as Link was.

“Skulltulas,” Navi called the creatures. “Deadly, and ugly as sin.”

Link couldn’t have agreed more. He made his way up a rickety ladder instead, brooding. A thought came to him, and he suddenly felt a bit sick. “Navi, I don’t know how to use a sword. The best I ever did was training with a Deku Stick at the training grounds.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you have natural ability.”

“How would you know?”

“You do,” said Navi, ignoring the question. “You’ll see, just wait.”

Link found out quickly that she spoke true. He encountered a Skulltula on the ground, and he attacked it. He did not know how he knew how to hold the sword, which direction to swing it in, but somehow he knew. It wasn’t long before he got the hang of it, and was able to fight his way to a door.

“Navi...how’d you know that I’d be able to do that? Wait, better question, how did I do that in the first place?”

What was she supposed to tell him? “It’s in your blood, because your father was the Head Knight”? Even in her head the words were not right. “Well,” she said carefully, “Everyone’s good at something, right?”

Link wasn’t quite satisfied with her answer, but he decided to let it go. For now.

Cautiously, he entered the room ahead of him. There was light in this room; torches were hanging on the walls. Something rustled in front of him. Navi flew over to it, so Link could see better. It was an odd creature, it looked like a cross between an overgrown scrub brush and a tiny tree. The “Deku Scrub,” as Navi named it, spat nuts at him, which Link broke with his sword. Every time he moved in to attack, however, it would hide.

They played this game for awhile, with Link getting more and more frustrated at the stupid thing, until he got really irritated, and just gave up. He sat down, put his shield in front of him for protection, and stared at the wall. Navi urged him to get up, but Link wouldn’t budge.

“The only possible way out is to go is past this thing, and it’s not moving anywhere any time soon, so I don’t see what I can—OUCH!” The Deku Scrub had crept back out of its hiding place, and shot another nut at Link. It had hit his shield, but Link had still felt the impact.

“That’s it,” Link growled. He got up, and was about to charge the thing, when he noticed the nut had bounced off his shield and was flying across the room. He watched in fascination as it landed on the creature’s head, and the thing fell to the floor. Navi went over to look at it.

“Out cold,” she told him.

“Cool,” Link said, grinning. He proceeded past the object of annoyance through the next door, and was immediately attacked by some freakish looking bats Navi called Keese.

Link roared in frustration. “I thought this was supposed to be a test of my courage, not my patience!” he yelled. It didn’t take him long to kill them all off, however, and the torch in the middle of the room gave off enough light so he could look around.

All the sudden he had a tingling sensation on the back of his neck. Was someone, or something, watching him? Slowly, he turned around. There were three doors. One had bars on it, and an eerie looking eye above it, another one was blocked by a web, and the third was the one that he came through in the first place. He really wished that the eye would stop staring. It was made of stone, but it was creepy all the same.

Upon Navi’s orders, Link lit a Deku Stick and carried it over to the web, almost burning himself because he was looking at the eye the whole time. After being scolded by Navi for almost turning himself into a human bonfire, Link went through the door.

Nothing jumped out to attack him when he walked through the door. He actually stood still for a second, to see if anything was waiting until he let his guard down, but it seemed that there wasn’t a soul in the room but him and Navi. There was a small wooden bridge in the center of the room, held up by weak ropes. It was suspended over a pit that had smooth walls.

Link however, did not notice the state of the ropes, and neither did Navi. He walked across the bridge, and was about halfway across when he started to feel movement under his feet.

“Uh-oh,” he said, looking at Navi, then at the ropes holding up the bridge. They were unraveling. Horror-struck, Link made a mad dash for the other side of the bridge. The second he stepped onto the other side, the ropes gave way, and the whole thing fell down to the bottom of the pit.

Navi sighed. “It just isn’t your day, is it?”

Link ignored her. It was dark in this room, so she had to go down to look for a ladder. There was none. If he jumped down, he wouldn’t be able to get back up.

Link shook his head, trying to clear it. Then he called to Navi, who had flown to the door that they’d come through to look around, “Anything over here? Some vines or something? Maybe there’s another way out.”

Navi flew back over to look, and found some vines. Link climbed up them slowly, keeping alert for any more Skulltulas.

“Y’know what?” Link said. “Maybe today is my day.”

“Why’s that?”

“I haven’t found any spiders.”

When he reached the top, he ran into something big and heavy. It was another chest, just like the one he had found the Kokiri Sword in. Maybe whatever was in it could help him get out of here. Light shone in the chest as link groped around inside. His hand closed over something small and wooden. He pulled it out, and by fairy light, saw that it was a slingshot.

Link wasn’t really sure if he should be happy or upset. Yes, he had a slingshot, but how was it supposed to get him out of here? He should fly on it?

“No,” Navi responded, having flown to the other side of the room again. She was near the ceiling. “Look,” she told him.

Link looked. Wait a second…was that a ladder? Suspended on the ceiling? What was keeping it up there?

“Another web,” Navi told him.

Link felt a certain frustration. His thoughts were the only thing Mido hadn’t been able to take from him, the only thing he could keep to himself, if he wanted. He felt as though Navi was breaking the rules, somehow.

“Don’t read my thoughts!” he said angrily.

Navi’s glow brightened; she was grinning at him again. Obviously, she didn’t realize how much it bugged him.

“How am I going to get it down?” Link asked her, changing the subject.

Navi sighed and shook her head. “Link. Load the slingshot. And don’t ask me with what, because Deku Seeds aren’t just a food, you know.”

Link glared at her, but took aim with the slingshot, loading in the seeds like he used to do with his old slingshot as a child, before Mido broke it. He was a bit rusty, but eventually, he was able to shoot down the ladder. Carefully, Link slid down into the bottom of the room and made his way toward the ladder. Testing it to make sure it was sturdy, he climbed up to where he had started from.

Link was really irritated now.

“That was completely pointless,” he grumbled to his fairy.

“No it wasn’t.”

“Yes it was.”

“No it wasn’t.”

“Yes, it was.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“It was too!”

“It was not!”

“Was too!”

“Was not!”

Silence.

“Prove it.”

“Prove what?”

“That it wasn’t pointless, duh.”

“How am I supposed to prove that?”

Link rolled his eyes. More silence.

“Well, you got a slingshot.”

Link rolled his eyes again. “So?”

“What do you mean, ‘So?’ That’s good!”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Navi sighed. “Never mind, just come on.”

Link stood up and followed her out the door. And once again, hefelt the ever annoying sensation of being stared at.

“That does it,” he muttered. Without thinking, he took aim with his newly acquired slingshot and fired into the stone eye. To his disbelief, the eye closed. He stared at it, and blinked. The bars on the door slowly rose. What got to him was that the bars were pointed, and the bottoms of them looked reddish brown.

Link swallowed, and told himself it was only dirt, and not blood, even though he knew he wasn’t fooling anyone.

Going through the door, he found himself in a brightly lit room, full of water. There was a bridge going across, but the spiky pole on top of it made it impossible to get across in one piece. Navi, however, was once again using her powers of inspection.

Before Link could even move, she had figured out how to get across. This annoyed Link slightly; it made him feel a little dumb. It did, however, appeal to his lazy side. He hadn’t ever been extremely observant, and he was glad not to have to do all the work.

“There’s a switch down there, it’s under the water. When you push it, the pole will more than likely lift up and give you ten seconds to run across the bridge, under the pole.”

“More than likely?”

Navi smiled innocently, ignoring him. “I will be flying over the pole.”

Link glared, took a breath, and dived in.

Link had never learned to swim, at least, not underwater. He could tread water and swim on the surface just fine, but maneuvering himself underwater was something he hadn’t ever quite mastered. Something in him had kept him from asking Saria for help, because he had wanted to please her when he was younger, and he’d had too much pride when he got old enough to take care of himself. He hadn’t ever practiced alone, convinced Mido would somehow find him and drown him, or he would just mess up and drown of his own accord.

Link tried opening his eyes under the water. It wasn’t so bad, once you got used to the blurry vision. Then he tried letting go of his nose.

It turned out to be a bad move. He came up gagging and coughing.

“Something wrong?” Navi asked, with genuine concern.

“No,” Link sputtered, trying to catch his breath.

Navi looked at him closely. “Are you sure?” she asked. Then it hit her. “Wait a second...you never don’t know how to swim, do you?”

Link could feel himself getting red. “Of course I do. Who doesn’t?”

Navi shot him a glare. “Tell me the truth, or I’ll read your thoughts again.”

Link didn’t know all the rules of telepathy, so he didn’t know she could only read his surface thoughts; it wasn’t much except a good threat. But it worked.

“Look,” he told her impatiently, “I can swim above water just fine. It’s going under that’s my problem. No one ever taught me, okay? I was too embarrassed to ask Saria, and to scared to try and teach myself without someone watching, in case I messed up.”

Navi thought she heard him mutter, “As usual,” under his breath, but she wasn’t sure. She was about to ask him about it when he started talking again.

“But I’m learning now, it won’t take me long, I’m good at teaching things to myself.” He smiled at her before diving back in. He had been right. In ten minutes he was swimming like a fish, and having a great time. Navi told him impatiently, “The switch, remember?” Link looked at her. “Oh yeah.” He took a breath and went under, and pressed the switch. Up went the pole. Link swam to the edge, walked up, and ran across the bridge. Navi actually went with him, instead of flying over it. The pole started to fall, and landed with a crash on the bridge. Link jumped to safety not a second too soon. “Soooo, now what?”

“Don’t you ever want to figure it out for yourself?”

“Not really.”

She glared and indicated for him to look up.

Link did so, and saw a ladder.

“I need to start climbing?”

“Well, to steal your line, ‘Duh.’”

“No way. You said if I went up there, I’d have to jump.”

“Well, there’s probably something up there we can push, instead.”

So Link started climbing. He kept climbing. He climbed, and climbed, and climbed...and climbed...and climbed....

When he finally reached the top, he had to stop and catch his breath. When he looked around, it was dark, and he realized with a start he was near the top of the tree, in the central room. He looked down. His eyes widened. The ground looked so far away.

“Well,” Navi said, “I think it’s time to jump.”

Link stared at her. “Jump?”

Navi flew up off his shoulder to see him better. “Yeah. Jump. There isn’t anything here we can push. There’s no other way down. If we don’t jump we’ll die because if we don’t go down there the Deku Tree will die and the forest will go unprotected. And if the Deku Tree dies, we’ll be trapped inside, did you think about that?”

Numbly, Link shook his head and kicked a small pebble over the side of the ledge he was on. It fell down, down, down....

He never heard it hit the ground. He looked down again, then looked at Navi.

“There is no way in hell you are getting me off this ledge.”

“My, my, Link, watch your language.”

“No. I am not jumping. That isn’t courage, it’s suicide!”

“Link, how does a tree survive?”

Link was taken off guard by this question, but answered to the best of his ability anyway. “Um, well, it needs light and food and water, right?”

Navi nodded. “And where does the water go?”

Link looked down. “The roots. The bottom of the tree. Where the curse is,” he added in a low mutter.

Navi fluttered down onto his shoulder. “Exactly where you’re going. I’m going to stay right here, I’m not flying off, I promise.”

Link continued to look down. Words flashed through his mind.

I hath called thee here because ye hath a destiny. A fate, a fate greater than anyone hast ever known. Thou art the chosen one. Link, can you do this? Art thou ready? Can thee pass this test of courage?

Link stared down at the web he was supposed to break. He would fall that far, then even further, and hit the water with a splash. If he aimed right, and fell through the web. And if there was water down there.

Ye hath a destiny.

What if there wasn’t water down there? He might be brave, yes, but not stupid....

Afate.

Well, that meant he would go splat. No more Mr. No Fairy.

Can thee pass this test of courage?

Well, it would make Mido happy....

Link, you are far greater than you know now...trust in thyself, and the courage inside thee will light the way....

Link looked around him one last time...just in case. He didn’t look down.

He took one last long deep breath.

Then he jumped.