Gem of the Desert

Chapter 1: Blood Upon the Sands

Crap, a new story? This one will be updated periodically (meaning whenever I get around to writing more). It's going to be a long one, guys. The OUTLINE is 60k words. OUTLINE. Yeah. So buckle up, and settle in because this'll be one hell of a roller coaster. ALSO! This is my first 'series'. There's four planned, each one unrelated other than the fact that it carries the common theme of Wild having been raised by a Champion or with a Champion instead of as a Hylian. :3 Technically, the Goron one was outlined first, but Gerudo Wild is too amazing not to write out first. So here's Urbosa's story of motherhood, and Link/Wild's story of childhood (a real one!).

Quick shoutout to my amazing Beta (who actually didn't get the chance to beta this yet because I'm impatient) Sylph. Who tried her absolute best to keep me on track with my other LU stories but ultimately failed because my plot bunnies nibbled a little too hard on other things. You did great, Sylph!

Welcome, to Gem of the Desert.

~~~

It was supposed to be a routine run. A simple check-in with a few of her warriors who were stationed on the Eastern side of the desert. A group of Hylian travelers were due there two days ago, and hadn't shown. An unexpected sandstorm had blown in, and Urbosa had hoped they'd managed to make their way to the outpost... it appeared that they had not.

"Any word?" Urbosa looked at one of her girls stationed at the rest point.

"None." She shook her head with a sigh. "We've tried sending out a few scouting parties, but they must've gotten really lost." She paused. "What were they coming for again?"

"You weren't paying attention, again, Naira? Why am I not surprised?" Jasmine hissed, crossing her arms. "And I really don't think that Naminia's team could get lost. She's one of our best navigators."

"A few Hylian knights were heading over to Gerudo City to help us with our pressing Yiga problem." Urbosa explained. "Since many of them are staying for an extended period of time they were planning to bring their families. We had a few warriors meet them at the edge of the desert to ensure their safety." She frowned.

Any Gerudo knew how to navigate the deserts, but the ones she sent out to meet the group had been particularly adept. Urbosa had a great deal of trouble believing that any of them could get lost enough to put them behind schedule by two days. In all honesty, she would've sent out a party yesterday had the sandstorm allowed her to do so.

"You really don't have to see to this yourself, Lady Urbosa." Jasmine insisted.

"I believe I do." She argued. "Not only are there foreign knights missing, but four of our sisters." She gazed off in the direction they would've come from. "We've wasted enough time talking. They could be in trouble. Let's head out."

Her group of warriors—numbering eight in total—followed behind her without question. The weather was fair, and the sands were calm. It would be best to trace the path that Naminia's team had planned to take and hope they could find the point of deviation.

It wasn't more than a few hours of walking before they hit a rather sheltered area of rocks. Under most circumstances, they would've continued on, but Urbosa caught a flash of something out of the corner of her eye.

Red. It was a bit of brownish red substance on the backside of one of the rocks—where the sand and wind couldn't blow it away. "Halt." She called her girls to a stop as she stepped closer to the rocks. The blood was maybe a day old at most. Frowning, she traced the scratches in the stone. "It looks like they may have been attacked. Search the sands, see if there's anything." She ordered. Instantly, her girls got to work.