Tor was devastated. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, it was practically his default state at this point. When he had woken up on the wagon, his chest had hurt terribly and he could hardly breath. He was scared shitless and just barely kept himself from panicking. He had fought it down and somehow managed to trick his captors that he was still out from the fight. The panic had resurged as he moved his head ever so slightly and realised that he was stacked among a couple of corpses. But he kept his cool, right up to the point that the impossibly strong girl that had kicked him in the fight threw him over her shoulder as if he was weightless. When she sat him down in a chair and he saw the door closing, he knew what was waiting for him.

At that point something snapped and he found that he just couldn’t care anymore. His life had been utter shit since that they Josef brought them into his folds, and whatever pain was waiting for him here would only further cement his misery. That was apparently the central theme of his life now, to be suffering at the hands of those stronger than him. Fucking bring it was all he could think as he faced his would-be interrogators.

But the treatment he received was something completely unexpected. They treated him fairly and rewarded his cooperation with respect. Perhaps respect wasn’t the right word, but they treated him without contempt and made sure he didn’t suffer needlessly. When they shortly after agreed to his suggestion of helping them with improving their defence, he could hardly believe his luck. Being in that village was like a return to his peaceful childhood, where being soft wasn’t considered a weakness and hard work was met with appreciation and respect. It slowly brought him out of the darkness he had found himself in and he began to imagine a future where he was a proper part of this wonderful place.

In the middle of those strangely pleasant days, a young read-headed girl began coming around every now and then, when there were no others around the cell that he and Bert shared. Tor had trouble understanding her motivations. By some misguided reason, she wanted the village to be attacked, and her plans included their escape and future cooperation. Tor wasn’t sure how he felt about it. On one hand he wanted nothing more than to stay in this blissful place. But on the other hand, he still had his brother to look after, and he still couldn’t understand what had caused him to change so much. Bert wasn’t as uncertain, he jumped at the opportunity at escape and did his best to lead the young girl on. In the end, the decision was made for him, like so many other of the decisive moments in Tor’s life. The attack that the village had been preparing for came around, and in the midst of the confusion the girl showed up, carrying both keys to the cell and some equipment for him and Bert.

Their escape was an untroubled affair, they simply climbed over a section of the palisade that had been emptied at the beginning of the battle. Tor debated with the rest of them if they ought to join in on the attack, simply because he feared Josef’s reaction if he didn’t appreciate their choice. The red headed girl, Birgitta, was against it while Bert was all for it, leaving Tor as the deciding voice. By the time it came to him to cast his vote, the battle was already going south, at least from the Wolves perspective. The three of them joining the battle wouldn’t tip the scales at that point, so they decided to wait some distance outside of the village, in order to find any potential survivors.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Just as he had feared, Josef was furious when they met up and he found that they had been in the village during the attack without helping, but the worst of it died down when he learned who the red headed girl was. Whatever plans that motivated him to attack the village in the first place was largely irrelevant now. He had been humiliated there, and pride was everything for Josef. Birgitta came into this mess like a godsend. Not only did she know everything about the village, she could be working as an insider for them, making sure that the next attack turned out differently. The two of them began scheming straight away, leaving the rest of the Wolves to just tag along on the return back to camp. Once they were there, Tor sought out Josef at first opportunity.

Tor surviving his capture and the subsequent escape must have meant something to Josef, because Tor was met with far less disdain than usual. He even got a pat on the back as gratulations for finally growing some backbone. Josef’s approval wasn’t what he was after though. He needed to find his brother, to finally talk to him and find out what had happened in their separation. The cold smile that he got in return for his question sent shivers down his spine. There was a sadistic glee to it, that could only mean one thing.

“Sorry kid, can’t help you”, Josef had said with a light-hearted tone. “Your brother wasn’t as tough as he thought he was. His throat was cut by a dear old friend of mine. His weak attack was batted away as if it was nothing and she left him in the dirt and moved on. It was pathetic really.” His voice was casual, as if he was just retelling an interesting anecdote, but his words shook Tor to his core. Reconciling with his brother had been Tor’s last straw, the last thin thread that kept him going. And now he was dead, cut down as one of many in an anonymous crowd, his death and life meaning nothing in the grand scheme of things. He had sat down without noticing and Josef had laughed and ruffled his hair.

“Don’t lose your mind over it. He just didn’t have what it took”, he had said and moved on, leaving Tor with his fractured world. He felt completely detached, as if everything in the world lacked meaning, and nothing could have any hope of mattering. He didn’t know how long he sat there, but eventually he noticed the sun going down and the chillness of the evening. Reality began to sink in and he realized that he couldn’t remain sitting there forever. He would need to eat and sleep at some point, he just didn’t know why he should bother. Why even continue with this charade of a life? The answer came to him as he thought about it. He wanted revenge. He wanted this world and everyone in it to pay for what it had done to him and his family. Josef was definitely on that list, but so was the village that had robbed him of his brother. He couldn’t take on the entire village by himself, but he didn’t need to. Tor smiled. He was definitely going to kill Josef. Just not quite yet.

Josef had always been driven, but the current him was something else entirely. He was no longer content with being a mere pack leader, he was aiming far higher now. It wasn’t out of character for him, pride alone had spurred him on to always work towards the top. The failed attack against the village had proved that it was a bigger challenge than what could be overcome by a single pack, and that need for more manpower forced him to take a more direct route to secure his advancement. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t particularly hard in a group like the Wolves, and Tor vowed to himself that he would be along for the ride.