Ascendant

PROLOGUE

"Tene me ne fugiam et revoca me ad dominum Viventium in area Callisti"

(Hold me, lest I flee, and return me to my master Viventius on the estate of Callistus)

Small hands fiddled with the engraved tag that hooked to his collar in the darkness, listening to the sound of his master yelling at one of the other children, the boy begging for his life to be spared as the man threatened to take it from him.

Listening.

Always listening.

The cries of the people echoed in his soul in the late hours, and the angry face of the master haunting the nightmares he got when sleep could briefly hold him.

Finally, the master hit the child so hard he was knocked unconscious and dragged from the room.

The boy that listened was grabbed by his tunic and thrown aside, out of sight of the guards. In the dirty alleyway of the Roman estate, the twelve year old was pressed against the stone wall. "I hope you know it's you who got Flavian in trouble," the older slave, wearing a similar tunic as his, spat angrily at the child. "How hard is it to do what I say and keep your head down?"

"He can't keep us forever, Appius," the boy said plainly, anger in his eyes.

"You leave that to me. And when it happens, you run. Understand me?" he replied sternly, his weathered face harsh.

He didn't answer, yanking his shoulder from the grasp of the man but not leaving...

A stick hit the boy's face and knocked him to the dusty ground. He spit blood from his mouth and looked up at Appius from under his dark curls, the sun baking their heads and shoulders as the day fell.

"You wouldn't be able to take a sheep down with those puny arms. Again!" he said as he stood over him.

The boy got up, grasping his stick with his callused and cracked hands. Standing his ground, he glared at the man and readied himself for his next move.

Appius spun and struck downwards, the boy holding his rod horizontal to block it before quickly letting it slide down the stick. He attempted to smack the man's left side but was met abruptly with Appius's weapon hitting the side of his head again and making him fall on his hands and knees, his head pounding with a sharp pain as he winced.

He gripped the ground as he tried to muster the strength to stand again.

"You think death will wait for you to get up, boy?" Appius provoked. "Up!" he commanded with his staff hitting down on the boy but the child turned on his back and blocked it just in time, a brief moment of hesitation from Appius before the boy shoved his stick aside and threw his body back to its feet with one swift movement. He looked at him with a bloody brow and advanced on the man with a skillful motion towards his knee. His move is blocked and he dove under the man with a combat roll, blocking Appius's attack down on his head the same way he did before but this time he didn't hesitate at all before slinging his stick off his own and swiping the man's leg.

The man was caught off balance and the boy whirled his pole to uppercut his chin and knock him down.

Appius got up on his elbow and held his jaw as he smirked, the child narrowing his eyes.

But that's when they began to hear shouting. And Appius looked at the boy and hissed for him to hide.

Without any thought, he obeyed and ran as fast as he could behind the small dwelling, listening for what their superiors wanted from them.