~ by Amanda Pizzolatto

Rolvin Daxley glanced around at his crew hanging out in their secret base. He couldn’t help but smile; his dreams had come true, he had his own band of Merry Men, just like Robin Hood. Except to the public, they were known as the Efthrazoni, the Merry Band. It fit, they couldn’t help it, they were always ecstatic about stopping villains and helping others. And sure, they were more like superheroes, but they were having fun doing it. 

“Oh come on, Gianni!”

Rolvin glanced down; Gianni Ligono and Thoy Kokkiper were playing a game of chess. It looked like Gianni was in for the win. At eight feet, Gianni was unusually small for an urias, but he still towered over the rest of the Efthrazoni. Even after being told time and time again that Gianni was pretty friendly and gentle, the new recruits were always cautious of him until they saw for themselves that he was in fact friendly and gentle. But Rolvin did wonder if it had anything to do with the fame of Liganto’s, Gianni’s alter ego, fighting capabilities. Despite being tiny by urias standards, Gianni was as strong as any of the ten-foot-and-up giants and was known to have held off a dozen lapiths at once.

“Perhaps if you had strategized, you might have won,” quipped Gianni as he flashed his teeth in a triumphant grin. Thoy groaned.

Thoy was the fastest where Gianni was the strongest of the group, and rightly so. A freak accident had caused a massive increase in metabolism, and Thoy found out to his amazement that he could run almost at the speed of light. Thanks to some rigorous training with Rolvin, he was able to become pretty fast at archery, making Thoy and Rolvin equals in the skill. Thoy was also the youngest of the group, as well as the only satyr.

“Shall I sing of the great conquests of the mighty Gianni over the chess pieces of the less-mighty Thoy?” quipped another figure as he walked towards the chess game. His wolfish features really stood out when he grinned mischievously.

Lyrco Donail was a lycanthrope, and used all three of his forms – human, wolf, and werewolf – for the good of the team. He was also the first, and probably the only recruit to have never been afraid of Gianni. Lyrco had a fondness for music; he liked to listen to it as well as make it. As such, he was often picked to act as a decoy or distraction for the rest of the team. He had no problem with it, as he got more chances to show off his husky, bass voice. Some people had the gall to say that lycanthropes could never be good at anything but hunting. But the band enjoyed Lyrco’s singing a lot, probably even more so than some of the popular musicians on the radio. The guy had a real knack for music.

“Yeah, but what would you sing? The mighty Gianni came up with a brilliant strategy, and the less-mighty Thoy lost. The end,” quipped Lyrco’s best friend, a lapith by the name of Arkoud Ipio. “It would get boring.”

Lyrco laughed. “But I could make it work by adding every move.”

“Oh, a sports announcement set to rhyme, eh? That sounds really cool, man . . . and rather boring,” replied Arkoud.

Rolvin chuckled. Arkoud was the brainy one of the bunch, the one with most of the knowledge and all of the movie quotes. His impeccable memory had saved them on numerous occasions, as did his trivia and know-how. They always made a point of never leaving on a mission without him. But he was probably the only guy they knew who didn’t care for sports.

“A song about your girl would be more interesting than that,” continued Arkoud.

“Aw, why that’s sweet of you, Arkie!” exclaimed the pretty brunette as she joined them and looped her arm around Lyrco’s arm.

Kahari Oraio was one of two women in the band. But of the two, she was the only one who went out on missions. She was oftentimes the one who helped Lyrco in the distraction, unless they needed her expertise in archery and gymnastics, and since she was a dryad, her expertise with trees. Out of all them, she alone had taken the name of a legendary figure, that of Adrasteia. The others were confused by the choice, considering Adrasteia only nursed Zeus and kept him hidden from Kronos, but then they found out the little-known fact that she was worshipped as the protectress of the righteous, and didn’t say another word about it.

Rolvin’s thoughts then turned lovingly to the other woman in their band, his childhood sweetheart Marinia Kopelan. Being the mayor’s daughter, she always got the news first. If it was something important, she would draw Rolvin’s attention to it and the band would go from there. This whole thing was basically their dream, having enjoyed hours and hours of playing as Robin Hood and Maid Marian when they were younger. Marinia was always the one to invent new adventures; she had a knack for storytelling that he didn’t have. But he enjoyed acting out her little stories with her and adding his own touches. She went back to those stories, cleaned them up a bit, and published them. They were a pretty big hit.

“You know, one of these days he’s going to get a girlfriend of his own, and he’ll be begging you to write songs for him,” remarked Gianni with a grin.

“If he ever gets a girlfriend,” quipped Thoy.

“I’m sure he will,” stated Kahari matter-of-factly before Arkoud could reply. “He’s the type that will only attract one very special girl.”

Arkoud smiled warmly. “Thanks, Kahari.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The phone rang, interrupting their conversation. Thoy grinned from ear to ear before he became a red blur as he raced towards the phone.

“Efthrazoni headquarters, Tachys speaking,” he said into the mouthpiece.

Rolvin had immediately dashed down the stairs and towards the phone. Thoy turned and was grinning at him as he neared the desk.

“She says it’s urgent,” he said as he handed Rolvin the phone.

“Pravelos speaking,” Rolvin said into the mouthpiece.

“It’s Marinia; I’ve got something huge. Just wait till I tell you the details,” came Marinia’s voice over the phone.

Rolvin glanced at his band. They were waiting and more than willing. Rolvin smirked before turning back to the phone. “Give me the details, Marinia.”