Legacy In Fire (Book 1)

Prologue

“Ready Rob?” Marge said, her intonation not asking, but knowing. Rob was the leader, of course he’d be ready; that was a stupid question.

                        “Always ready,” Rob replied“, we’re getting him back for you today.” He held her hand, and gave her an assuring double squeeze.“That’s a promise.”

                        They were approaching The Underground, covertly, meandering through the shadows. The Underground; the place of fear, the place of shame, the house of torture; The CORE as they called it. They were all donned in black, with the exception of Rob, who wore his dark gray utilitarian ensemble, with the insignia of The Conflagration, a golden flame, incised within. They were symbols of hereditary status; he was a-

                        “Rob…?” a male voice whispered, “I think I hear someone coming”

       “That couldn’t be, if someone was coming I would’ve heard it.” He chided, “You need to get your abil-” he was cut off by the appearance of an armada of CORE agents. They were standing erect, right in front of them, faces painted impassively.

                        “Move behind me everyone!” Rob shouted, gesticulating wildly.

         “But Rob, remember-,” Marge pleaded, her amber eyes, misty. Her red hair and pale face waning every growing second.

                        “I remember” Rob’s eyes were fixed on the rats. His voice firm, he said, “Just get behind me”

                        As if those words were their impetus, the rats surged forward. Rob had misconstrued how many agents were actually there; they were triple the number he thought they were.

                        “When I give you the queue, you guys are going to run,” Rob ordered, he was beginning to kneel on the ground.

                        “But boss-”, someone called from Rob’s task group.

                        “No ‘but bosses’ here.” Rob was beginning to retrieve his signature daggers, and was injecting them unceremoniously into the ground. “When I say go, you guys are going to hitch up your frilly skirts and get the hell out of here!”

                        Sweat had commenced to condense on Rob’s dark-skinned forehead and his fingers were beginning to shake, but he had to try hard to conceal it, keep his composure for the team; that was the job of the leader.

                        “You’re my best team and we’re going to take a detrimental hit, if we lose you.” Rob rooted out one of the daggers and fingered the handle, then he raised his hand and flung, and as expected, it lodged directly in the forehead of one of the rats. Rob was a savant in weaponry and strategic fighting, and he had unerring aim. He could take out a great deal of their number before…

                        “Go!”

       They didn’t have to be told thrice, they sprinted away as Rob dived into the sea of the enemy. And for one peculiar second, had the inapposite thought of what was going to be the becoming of his wife and daughter.