"Naroh, wake up," Shaera said. A gentle sting bit my cheek as she slapped me.
"Five more minutes," I demanded, pulling the itchy wool sheets back over my face. They were my only protection against the beams of sunlight pouring through the window.
"We don't have five more minutes," she insisted. She pulled the blanket off of my face and threw my shirt at me. "Gerudo are here."
"Gerudo?" I asked, still dazed from being woken up. "Where's mom?"
"Talking with them, trying to stall," Shaera said, her bow and arrows in hand.
I got up, fully clothed, and grabbed my sword. It was a dingy, rustbitten thing, but it would have to do.
The Gerudo swarmed outside our humble shack. Most were on horseback, but some had been on foot. They were a speck of orange in a sea of grey sand.
My mother was trying to negotiate with them. "We don't have anything. Please just leave us be."
Only one of the women had drawn a blade. In fact, she had drawn two. The rest kept their pikes at their sides. I assumed she was the leader.
"You know the deal. Your water, all of it, now," she barked. The woman looked over my mother's shoulder and saw me in the doorway. "Ah, you brought out your boy to fight for you?"
I puffed out my chest, trying to make myself seem big. I wondered what would happen if she found out our well had gone dry. My mother tried to say something, but the woman stopped her.
"Come on, little boy," the woman said, pointing a sword at me. "Let's see how tough you are."
I drew my sword from its scabbard and Shaera notched an arrow.
"You Hylians call this place the Haunted Waste," the woman said, inching closer, the grey sand shifting beneath her feet. "The only ghosts here are our foes."
"Do you plan on joining them?" I asked, leveling the tip of my sword at her eye.
"Hmph, strong words from a rusted sword," she said. "Do you want to give me an eye patch? I'd make a pour pirate."
She flicked her sword up and cut my arm. It was only skin deep, but it knocked the sword out of my hand.
I tried to reach for the blade, but her sword fell against my neck too quickly. I stood straight as the blood trickled down my arm. It dotted the sand like ink on paper.
Shaera was still aiming at the woman, but she didn't flinch.
"You've heard of me, haven't you?" she asked. "Surely you Hylians have heard the stories of Aveil the Gerudo. Tell me, what do they say of me?"
"That you kill people," I replied as a bead of sweat rippled down from my hair. "A lot."
"And you will join those people," Aveil said with a soft smile. Her sword caressed my neck, forcing blood to bead along the blade.
Before I could come up with a clever retort and a convoluted escape plan, a knife appeared in Aveil's arm. She dropped her sword and tore the knife out, pulling some soft tissue with it.
Half a dozen plumes of smoke burst around the Gerudo horde, knives launching from them like a swarm of insects around a nest.
Gerudo women fell from their horses and blood seeped into the sand. Aveil shouted a string of curses before she even saw her assailants.
A handful of women in strange blue clothing emerged from where the throwing knives came from. They fought the Gerudo lithely with short swords, relying more on agility and technique than on strength and numbers.
"Retreat!" Aveil shouted as she mounted her horse. Our strange defenders allowed the Gerudo to leave in peace.
The only sound was of hooves trotting away. The near-silence was broken by a cry of anguish.
I turned around and saw Shaera screaming. My mother's head was in her lap, blood spilling from her mouth. One of the Gerudo women must have gotten her during the fray.
I tried looking her in the eyes, but there was nothing there. She was gone.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to do something, I just wasn't sure what. The blood from my arm mixed with her blood in the sand.
I fell to my knees. Shaera held my hand. Her bow and arrows were missing, though I had noted that some of the Gerudo had arrows in them.
The strange women in blue clothing stood a respectful distance away. Except for one. She stepped forward and placed a hand on my shoulder. I reached up and touched it gently, her fingers caressing mine.
"I am truly sorry for your loss, but we cannot stay here," she said. I barely heard the words. I didn't feel like I was there, I was just watching from a distance. This couldn't be happening. "The Gerudo will return, and in greater numbers. We will take you to Castle Town, you will be safe there. My name is Sheik, and you will stay with our people."
I didn't think to question it. I just felt my head nodding, though I wasn't sure I was controlling my actions. What about the shack? The drafty kitchen with the broke cauldron? The tiny bedroom that mom and Shaera shared? The roof constantly fell in the wind?
What would happen to all of that? I would lose it, I supposed.
Next thing I knew, I was on my way to Castle Town with a stranger named Sheik.