The Lost Hero

Chapter 1

12 Years Later...

Dahvi's lips pulled into a wicked sneer. He thrust the spear up before him threateningly, but the man only laughed.

"What are you, ten?"

"Thirteen," Dahvi hissed.

This only caused the man to laugh harder. "Oh, kid. You don't have a clue, do ya? Try as you might, but you ain't gettin' into that city, either."

Dahvi twirled the spear confidently and let it set at his foot. He put a hand on his hip and grinned. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah." The man crossed his arms. "Men aren't allowed in that city. That goes for little rats like you, too."

Dahvi shrugged one shoulder, then turned and marched toward the city gates. He let his spear rest on his shoulder as he strode passed the two guards, glancing over his shoulder briefly to see the look of shock on the Hylian man's face. He snickered to himself, then broke into a run through Gerudo City, his bare feet slapping against the warm cobblestone roads.

It was early in the morning, but the air was already hot and the streets lively as vendors busied themselves with their shops and goods. A few female tourists had already arrived, stepping out of their hotel rooms or coming in through the main gates to get their hands on the precious Gerudo goods before they sold out.

The shop keepers barked at Dahvi as he darted between them, and some of the tourists gave the boy dirty looks, but he ignored them as he ran through the city. Riju was there somewhere, and he would be damned if she got away from him again.

Dahvi didn't slow until he reached one of the narrow alleyways. The height of the buildings on either side provided just enough shade to help cool him for a moment, and he held his breath as he listened. He was sure he had heard her unmistakable giggle. Riju was known to play mind games with him. Like him, she was fast and nimble, and despite her mother's scoldings, she scaled the buildings with ease, taking to the roof tops.

He heard her giggle once more. A flash of red caught his attention, and he turned his gaze to the roof just in time to see her braided red hair disappear from the edge. He gripped the spear between his teeth and jumped on top of a nearby crate. He shoved his toe into a crack in the stone and proceeded to climb, pulling himself up over the edge and onto the roof just as Riju was jumping the gap over the alleyway and onto the next roof.

With spear in hand, Dahvi quickly followed behind her, leaping over the gap and landing lightly on his feet. He chased Riju over the rooftops and across the city, ignoring the angry shouts from the Gerudo women below, and back toward the palace. Riju splashed through the waterways, rounding the corner and rushing passed two guards, nearly knocking them to their feet. As Dahvi came around the corner, they reached toward him, eager to stop the child in his tracks, but Dahvi easily dodged them and continued his pursuit.

Riju bounded across the next waterway, scaling another wall with ease, and continued to leap from rooftop to rooftop until she reached the outer wall of the city. She dropped down into the sandpit where the city's sand seals napped in the sun and quickly jumped onto the back of one of them, taking the reins and coaxing the lazy creature forward.

Dahvi followed without hesitation, throwing himself onto the closest sand seal and following Riju out of the city and into Gerudo Desert. He urged his sand seal faster until they caught up to Riju, causing her to shout in surprise. They pushed their sand seals faster still, racing west across the desert until they reached the home of Divine Beast Vah Naboris. Only then did they allow their sand seals to slow as the machine towered above them, sitting quietly in the heat of the desert.