DarkWinds (Prologue)

Posted by Atei

The black-hooded man opened the door to the vast chamber. It only took a moment for his trained eye to take in the details of the workroom: the vials of multi-colored fluids, the strange herbs, the crates stacked here and there, some almost to the ceiling. The candles were placed around the dark, cavernous room to give off the best light possible, but since they were several hundred feet underground, their effectiveness was limited. A strange scent caught the man’s attention as he entered, and a sinister smile crossed his bearded face.

The various clusters of men and women, some chanting, some grinding on their mortars and pestles, some meditating, all stopped when the door opened. All looked up to see who dared to disturb them, and just as quickly looked away.

All except one. He looked directly at the dark man as he swaggered in, for it was he who the man had come to see. It was he who would be so richly rewarded for succeeding where so many others had failed. He, Sari Prien, Grandmaster of Magery, who would sit at his Lord’s side and rule Britannia with him. Their eyes met, and Prien stepped forward. “My Lord, it is nearly completed,” said the Mage.

“Excellent,” replied the newcomer, his voice gravely with age and contempt. “We must be prepared to go in a fortnight.” He surveyed the room again, and smiled.

“We will be, My Lord.”

The dark man’s stare returned to the Wizard who would dare stand before him, who would not cower in fear. Their gazes locked, and he said, “Take care not to make promises you cannot keep, Sari Prien. You do not want to disappoint me.” He punctuated the last few words with a strong tap of a gloved finger into the chest of the much younger Prien.

“We have divined what the final ingredient is," Prien hurriedly replied. "At this very moment, my most trusted aide is gathering it. We will be ready when you are, My Lord.”

“And the effect will be total, Sari Prien? No magic of any kind? For how long?”

“My Lord, we can sustain the effect for as long as you need. And, a pleasing addition: we have found a way to block the Ether, as well.”

Now it was Sari Prien’s turn to smile as his master’s face lit up with black glee. “Are you certain of this?”

“Yes, My Lord. No magery, no Ether. For as long as you need.”

The old, tired, vile man laughed then, a maniacal, evil laughter that chilled even Sari Prien. He laughed and laughed, until finally, quietly, he looked Sari Prien in the eye and said, “Revenge will be mine.”

---

Luther Middleton, farmer, husband and father, knelt down and breathed deeply of the freshly tilled soil. There was almost nothing he preferred to do at the beginning of a new day then begin planting a new crop. There was something about being near the life-giving Earth when the sun woke that made him feel so very alive.

He smiled as the dawn hit the scarecrow nearby and his thoughts returned to his beloved Angela and their newborn baby girl, Moira. Now, his life was complete. Now, he had everything he could have ever hoped for: his farms, a loving wife, a fine son and a beautiful daughter.

As he surveyed the field before him, and the three others he owned and worked, he smiled again. He reached into his pouch for the corn seeds and began dropping them in a neat little row. He hummed a song to himself as he walked up and down the rows he had tilled, thinking his happy thoughts and planting his crop.

He could not know that he would never see Moira grow up, go to school in Yew, find a husband and make him a grandfather.

At that moment, he could not possibly know or imagine that his daughter had been taken; his wife and son butchered not ten minutes after he left their humble home for the fields. How could he?

He could not know that it was simple chance, really, that led Sari’s apprentice to his home; that the mage had searched and searched the farmlands, going from house to house, until finding just the right one.

He could not know that a dark, vile, evil man had ordered up a very special potion, and the blood of a newborn girl was the final ingredient. He could not know that if he had not left early that morning, just to plant this very field, he too would be dead. So he went on dropping corn seeds and humming, oblivious to the evil deeds in his own house. When he returned to his loving family that evening, and found the carnage and brutality that had been his home, he went screaming into the night, seeking vengeance for his family, and was never heard from or seen again.