prelude

The campfire flickered around the feet of the rebels, and shadows flashed over their faces.

Their leader propped his chin on his palm, his elbow on his spindly knee.

“For years, the Wizards have been oppressed,” he started, “forced to kiss the asses of the untalented, unimpressive humans that have controlled us. Well, no longer. We are the beginning of a new movement, a revolution. We have freed ourselves and we will free the rest of our kind. We will draw the blood of those who have harmed us until they draw their final breaths. We will not be defeated. We will only grow stronger.

Tonight is our first victory. Tonight we strike our first blow.” He slowly straightened his lanky body to its full
6’3” and cast a shadow even longer.

“Bring out the slave-driver.”

Two shadowed and hooded rebels wrestled the overseer to the corridor between their fire and their leader. The leader unsheathed his knife and gathered the man’s shirt in his hand. The cold blade kissed the overseer’s neck. His eyes froze and his body shuddered.

A grin snaked up the leader’s cheekbone.

“Any last words?” But the overseer’s tongue was frozen and his jaw locked.

The leader let out a laugh that chilled the air. “Don’t look so scared. We can’t kill you yet; you haven’t even been useful. Now,” the knife bit its single tooth into the man’s neck, “do you know a man named Phobos Dike?” The overseer let a hoarse croak escape his dry throat.

“Yes.”
“Do you know his students?”
“I don’t-“ the knife pressed harder and the overseer. “Fine. One is Hades Poseidon. The other one is just a legend.”

“You’re lying,” the leader growled, punctuating his sentence with another push of his knife.” The overseer grunted through the pain.

“I’m telling the truth. No one has ever found her, and no one ever will. Dike made her up to distract from the other one. He told me himself.” The leader let a sigh roll through his growl as he slid the knife away from his captive’s neck. The overseer held his hands over the blood and looked at the leader.

“Go.” The leader snapped. “You’ve been useful enough. Just don’t tell anyone about what happened here tonight. And if word gets out, I will skin you like a deer and use your pelt as my shower curtain. Understood? Now get!”

The rebel leader watched the overseer scuttle away, but, of course, he couldn’t bring word to his superiors. They would just have to find his body and do their own speculating.

The rebel leader hurled his bloody knife. It landed in the small of the man’s back
with a crunch and a thunk. The overseer slumped forward and the leader turned to his second in command.

“I don’t like taking chances.”