Legacy of Silver - Prologue
#1 of Legacy of Silver
Legacy of Silver
Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Redwall series or any of it's characters.
Prologue
It was a warm bright night in Talsia, a small peaceful farming village resting on the border of the nearby forests and expansive plains. As the moon rose higher into the sky, any creature awake could have told you that it seemed as if the shadows were dancing.
Only one creature of the village was awake this night, Dirge Silfang, Son of Silas Silfang, the village mayor of sorts. He was sitting in front of the window in his room watching the full moon rise as he always did when it was full.
He couldn't help but think of the stories his father had told him, of the long ago wolves that used to draw many miraculous powers from the energy of the moon. The Silvias wolves or the Silver Patrol as it was once known. However those days were long gone, just stories of heroics for the young.
His father had told him once that he had a great destiny ahead of him; he couldn't believe that he was right, "just a simple creature like me? How can I have a great destiny? I'm not even full wolf!" he sighed as he thought to himself as he recalled the training he had been receiving from his father and mother for the past two seasons.
He enjoyed the battle training his father was giving him, but the tedious work of learning how to heal wounds was boring to him. "I can barely even tell one plant from another!" he groaned as he lay back, staring up at the ceiling.
Twelve seasons old, he couldn't bear sitting in the house for hours on end learning about plants, it felt dulling. "But I guess it could save a life one day...probably even my own..." he mused as he thought of the wounds he might one day receive, he knew he would be glad of the training then.
As he sat up he could have sworn he heard a shuffling, "Huh? Hey who's there?" he called as he edged towards the window, "Mara? Is that you?" The next thing he knew, screams were splitting the air and fires were starting to spring up all over the village.
"What the?! Father! Wake up we're being attacked!" Dirge yelled at the top of his lungs as he raced for his parent's room. As he reached for the handle the door flung open and his father rushed out in full gear.
"Whatever happens Dirge do not follow me, got it? Keep your mother and the family sword safe, they must not have it!" Silas told him as he bolted out the door, his blade instantly clashing with another before pushing the offending blade to the side and taking the head of the creature who had weilded it.
"Come on Dirge, we need to hide now. Your father and the rest of the militia can handle this." She said as she was pulling him towards the secret room under the house. "But I want to help!" He protested.
"Dirge, you're not ready for this, out there it's real, not practice, you could get hurt." His mother was staring him straight in the eye as a shadowed creature busted into the house. Before Dirge even knew what happened the creature that broke in was lying dead on the floor, a throwing knife stuck in his eye.
As he finally nodded they went down into the secret room and lit the candles to give it some light, it was a decent sized room, and on the back wall hung a sword a relic from older times.
The Silvias blade, forged from an unknown metal, its blade never dulled, never bent, and never yielded to any kind of armor. It was the village's sacred treasure, his family treasure. The last proof that the stories told weren't just stories, but history.
"Fall back! Get to the training ground!" Silas' voice rang through the air. This scared Dirge, in the times he had actually seen his father fight, and he had never said those words. "We're losing..." Dirge said, tears starting to form in his eyes as he felt true fear for the first time in his life.
Then they heard the pounding of foot paws on the floor above them, then blades clashing for a moment before a loud thud sounded throughout the room and the door was flung open.
"We need to get out of here now! Grab the sword and let's go!" Silas roared as he fought off another attacker. As his mother grabbed the sword Dirge hurried to his father's side, seeing that one of the dark creatures had gotten behind him Dirge pulled out the small dirk his father had given him two seasons ago to celebrate his coming of age to learn how to fight, Dirge struck at the creatures ankles, severing the tendons making it crumple to the ground where his father finished it off.
"Thanks Dirge, where's your mother?" he asked, "She's coming up now, what's going to happen to us father?" Dirge asked, his paws shaking from his first blood. "I don't know, but we can't talk about it now we have to move!"
As his mother came up a flash of steel whisked above his head as a knife flew from his father's paw, striking the creature that had come out of the shadows as Dirge hauled himself up next to his father, his mother right behind him.
Then just as the the strange creatures stoped appearing, Dirge could hear strange words, he had never heard anything that sounded so fluid. A moment later a large fireball shook the building they were in, setting it ablaze. The color started to drain from Silas' fur as he realized what had just happened.
"What?! No, no it can't be!" Silas had a look of horror on his face as he whispered one word, "Lyfang..."
As the mage entered the room another fireball flew at Dirge, stunned by shock he stood locked in place, his eyes widening as the projectile flew towards him, closing his eyes as he felt the heat of it getting closer. He heard the explosion, but he felt nothing.
Opening his eyes he saw his father in front of him, kneeling down as his armor was blackened from the vicious attack. "Damn you! How did the likes of you escape the seal?!" Silas yelled at the creature who just laughed at this.
"Dirge, take the sword and close your eyes..." his mother spoke up next to him, handing the sword to her son as she took her place beside his father, whispering into his ear, it was a moment before he nodded and Dirge heard the same strange language that came before the first fireball rocked the home.
Doing as his mother told him he closed his eyes, he could hear his parents thoughts in his own head, "I'm sorry my son, this isn't how I had ever hoped to have to say goodbye, but it will not be forever, we will meet again. I promise you." his father's thoughts flowed through his head before his mother's while his father's true voice kept speaking that strange language.
"Grow up strong Dirge, never forget right from wrong, and never give up! This is last thing we want to do but we love you too much to let this happen, please, forgive us!" his mother's thoughts flashed through his head before his father's voice stopped and choked out the last words.
The last word his father had said was lost to his ears as his vision changed to black and he felt himself being tugged by some unknown force in an unknown direction. "No! Father! Mother!" He yelled in vain as the wind hid the words and stole the breath from his lungs.
He was laying next to a small pond somewhere further north of where his village once was, all alone with an ancient treasure and a menacing promise told to him in his head. "We will find you and that damned blade, I swear it, and the Lyfang will have their vengeance!"
Dirge awoke with a start, that dream had taken him again, forced him to relive that horrid moment when his friends and family were all taken from him. He put a paw to his face as he stared at the moon from where he was lying on the ground, feeling the fresh tears that had come in his sleep.
"Three seasons...how can I fight what I don't even know?" he whispered to himself, feeling helpless as he searched in vain once again for an answer as he thought, "Mother...Father...I miss you..."
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Edit 12/19: Fixed some spelling and punctuation errors as well as smoothing out the fight scene a little. I will do my best to keep the number of times I have to edit any of these chapters to a minimum if at all.