Chapter 2: The Great Arachnid      Chapter 4: To the Mountain

Chapter 3: The Princess’s Premonition

Link and Rana made Hyrule Castle Town in about eight hours, which was dusk, by rushing. They were both completely exhausted. It was nine in the evening, and they entered just before the bridge was raised. Link looked around for a healer’s place. The wound in Rana’s shoulder had turned black. She was very pale and wanted very much to stop and rest.
“There!” cried Link, hurrying Rana towards a two story building on the edge of the town square.
“Hello there,” said the fairly young woman inside, smiling at the two children. Link did not waste time.
“My friend is hurt, badly,” he said quickly.
“I’m not that bad,” Rana objected weakly. The woman’s expression changed to concern. As she examined Rana’s shoulder, she began looking quite shocked.
“What have you been doing to get such a poisonous injury? And why didn’t you come earlier?”
“We couldn’t,” said Rana, rather indignantly. “We live in the forest. We were fighting a giant spider-thing–“
“Rana,” said Link. “Do you think anyone will believe that?”
“Actually, I do,” said the woman. “This is serious. If you live in the forest, you made here in good time if you started at lunchtime; that is how old this bite is. Come upstairs, dear, and we’ll have another look.” Rana followed the woman upstairs. Link sat down in a chair and fidgeted with his slingshot.
The woman came downstairs in a few minutes.
“Your friend will be completely fine by morning. It is quite a virulent poison in her, but I have some fairy magic on hand that can deal with spider poison as bad as this. She will stay upstairs tonight; you may see her tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” said Link gratefully. “Good night.” Continue reading →

Chapter 1: Darkness in the Morn      Chapter 3: The Princess’s Premonition

Chapter 2: The Great Arachnid

The inside of the Great Deku Tree was horrifying for the forest-raised children. He was as hollow as a drum, and they stood within a great hollow cavity of rotting wood that reached up into darkness. Ragged spiderwebs stretched across huge spaces like decaying shrouds. Link was very glad he had a small glowing fairy following him.
After staring upwards for a while, the boy took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, his small sword and shield at the ready, and walked forward to a depression in the floor. Before he came to the centre of the chamber, he stopped short. The centre of the ground was actually a deep well, but covered over with a thick gooey spiderweb.
Rana came up behind him and saw it too. “Gosh, this place is freaky.”
An enormous spider, as long, with its legs extended, as Link, scurried across the bottom of the web, making it tremble violently. The spider glared at them with its eight black eyes.
Link shivered. “I agree.”
“Are the spiders poisoning the tree?” asked Rana.
“I think so,” Navi answered. “They’ve poisoned it, and then part dies, and then the ordinary bugs come in and eat. It’s horrible. Let’s get fighting.”
“Good idea,” Link said, adjusting his grip on his sword grimly and setting off in search of something evil he could hit with it. Continue reading →