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Hello, welcome to my story thread titled "Tale of the Wolves". It's a medieval fiction novella divided into chapters written by yours truly. So without further ado, enjoy!

 

Prologue - The "Hero"

 

It was bright daylight and the sounds of horses' hooves and the rolling wheels of a caravan can be heard through the otherwise silent forest. It was a peaceful day and if one looked closely, they could see the trees' shadows as if they were moving, or are they?

 
"Y'know Eric, I'm surprised not many people passes through this forest. If nothin' else, the view makes it worthwhile." Garet remarks. Eric stayed silent, his eyes focusing on the road. "I'm glad they told us to take this detour." Garet continued. "I needed this, y'know. This job wasn't as easy as I thought, very... stressful." "Be quiet Garet." Eric finally replied, before continuing to focus his gaze on the road. Garet replied with a sigh. "Always the buzzkill Eric. Y'know, sometimes y'need to appreciate the little breaks life throws y'know. My pops used to tell me that." Eric doesn't respond. Grant sighed again, and decided to admire the scenery silently.
 
Halfway across the forest, a hachet suddenly landed in front of the caravan. A tall burly man jumped down from one of the trees. "You're here after all. Now if you want to keep your two little heads, you're gonna get off that wagon and scuttle off." If Eric was afraid, he was doing his best not to let it show on his face. "And why should we do that? There's two of us and only one of you." A gust of wind blew through the trees. The burly man smiled, "Ya sure about that?" Eric cursed under his breath. Garet was confused. "Why haven't we jumped on him yet Eric, y'said there's two of us and one of them." He whispered to Eric. "Because Garet, that is clearly not the case." Eric whispered back irritatedly. The burly man was still smiling. "So boys, are we doing this the easy way, or the hard way?" Garet is starting to panic. "What do we do Eric?" He asked, no longer whispering. Eric however, didn't take his eyes off the burly man, who is still grinning widely. "It's alright." Whispered a voice inside the caravan. "What--" Garet was about to ask before being interrupted by the voice inside the caravan. "Don't worry. Let them come." The voice whispered. A few seconds passed by, the burly man was getting visibly impatient.
 
"Alright." The burly man said, breaking the silence. "I gave you boys a chance." He paused for a moment. Seeing that Eric and Garet haven't responded, the burly man took a deep breath. "BOYS. PARTY TIME." More men started dropping from the trees both in front, on the side, and on the back of the caravan. "We're surrounded!" Exclaimed Garet while Eric gritted his teeth. As they got closer Garet grew more anxious, looking towards the caravan? "They're coming, what now?" He asked not quietly. The voice didn't respond, and if the bandits heard it, they didn't seem to care. So Garet turned to Eric, who ignored him like everybody else. As they got closer, the caravan suddenly fell apart, revealing uniformed soldiers to be inside. The bandits were surprised. As the soldiers got off the caravan, the bandits started to back away. The burly man looked surprised as well, it didn't seem like he was expecting that to happen. Cursing under his breath, he then shouted "Retr--" Suddenly interrupted by an arrow on his chest, the burly man then slumped backward.
 
Seeing their leader dead, the other bandits scattered in panic, becoming easy pickings for the soldiers, who stroke down those who tried climbing the trees and shot the ones who ran with arrows and crossbow bolts. It was a one-sided battle. The soldiers left no bandit standing, and it seemed unlikely that even one of them escaped. After the bandits have been killed, a man jumped down from the caravan's now destroyed wagon. The man was not uniformed and does not look to be one of the soldiers. "And they said that my plan was stupid and unrealistic." Garet recognized the man's voice as the one who spoke from the wagon. "You... you planned all this?" He asked. The man turned to Garet and smiled. "I did indeed. Great plan don't you think?" The man turned around and started to walk away, before stopping and turning to Garet again. "Oh, I need to thank you and your friend as well. You were great back there." The man continued. Eric was not pleased. "Was our lives a big joke to you?" He asked to the man angrily. The man looked at Eric and smirked. "I assume you meant 'were our lives' and no they weren't. I took your lives very seriously. But it was a necessary risk I had to take to find and pacify this group of bandits who have taken the lives of many merchants not including the things they brought with them. Wouldn't you agree?" The man replied before walking away and inspecting the bodies of the fallen bandits. Eric fumed in silence, cursing under his breath. After a few minutes, the soldiers started dragging the bandits' bodies and putting it on top of the destroyed wagon. After they were done, the man motioned towards Garet and Eric. "Time to turn this caravan around." He said before pausing. "Unless you don't want to get paid that is..." He continued. Eric started cursing again while Garet was confused about why he was so angry. "We saved the merchants and got rid of the bandits, isn't that good Eric?" he asked. Eric looked at Garet angrily but didn't respond as they turned the horses and the caravan around back towards the town. Eric spent the ride back to town in silent rage while Garet had no other choice but to be silent as well.
 
The group was met with surprise from the townsfolk. "Are those the bandits?" one asked. "I can't believe he pulled it off." Another said. Reaching the guards' barracks, the head guard was waiting with a smile on his face. The soldiers along with Garet and Eric started  carrying the bodies while the head guard approached the strange man. "You know, I wasn't expecting you to actually pull it off." He said to the man. "You wound me sir, was my guarantee not enough to gain your faith?" the man replied. The head guard laughed. "Well to be fair, I didn't exactly know you. I'm assuming you'll want a reward for this?" "Well if you insist..." The man paused. "I'll take 10,000 gold pieces." The head guard's eyes widened in surprised. The man laughed. "I was merely jesting. The safety of the townsfolk is enough reward for me. Though I don't suppose I could trouble you to arrange for some dinner and a feathered bed for the night?" The head guard laughed nervously. "Of course, it's no trouble at all." The head guard motioned towards a soldier and gave him instructions before sending the soldier away towards the town. Looking at Garet and Eric, the man added "And give those two a little extra for me. They did exceptionally well back there." The man said, before heading towards the city himself. The man took a few steps before being stopped by the head guard. "I almost forgot, the town would probably like to know the name of the hero who slew the bandits." The man turned around towards the head guard, smiling.
 
"Oh? The name's Gregory."

 

Chapter 1 - Mining for Gold

 

The tavern. The place in every town, city, and village where you can get the best drinks, as well as the best rumors. After all, nothing gets people talking like a shot of alcohol. If information is gold, then taverns can be called gold mines. However, as in actual gold mines, said gold are mixed with many materials of lesser worth.

 
Gregory took a sip of his mead, there was no shortage of talking circulating around the noisy tavern. Being near the sea, the town of Havner was never empty with sailors and merchants from all over the country (and sometimes even other countries) stopping by the city on the way to their respective destinations. That also means that the town is a gold mine of information. Since entering the tavern this morning, Gregory has already heard how a ghost pirate ship has been raiding ships along the west coast, how the northern lords have formed an alliance and is planning to invade the southern lands, and finally how mercenary group "White Wolves" liberated a city besieged by Calmican forces and rescued the crown prince.
 
Sadly, Greg hasn't heard anyone talk about how he single-handedly saved the village Grontlov from the bandits that have been plaguing the village for 3 years. When you live in a continent like Vislidia, there's always enough things happening as it is that people would never start talking about what happened at some forest village in the frontiers. Not that Greg will complain. If people knew about everything he did, he wouldn't be able to go anywhere without people asking him favors. Greg can't imagine what it would be like to be a part of the White Wolves.
 
"You have a deathwish mate?" Shouted a big raspy voice halfway across the tavern. The tavern certainly isn't known for being peaceful, so such kinds of threat are not really that uncommon. Greg glances over to see what the commotion is. A large, brown skinned man with golden hair is towering over a poor sod less than half his size. "Foreigners always causing trouble..." someone muttered a table away. Greg looked to the person and grinned. "Say that to his face why don't you?" Said Gregory before walking over to the two men.
 
After making his way through the crowd watching the commotion, Greg finally got close enough to get a closer look at the situation. The big brown man has reddened eyes, smells of alcohol, and looks to be struggling to keep his balance. Greg could easily tell that he is quite drunk. While the man down on the ground is sweating heavily and seems genuinely scared about his life. Classic case of drunken rage. Approaching the man down on the ground, Greg knelt down, helping him to get up. "You're really drunk aren't ya Frank, picking fights in the bar." The man on the ground, still sweating heavily looked and Greg, "W-who are you?" he whispered. "Just go with it." Greg whispered back. "Apologies for the trouble, we'll be on our way." Greg said while slightly bowing to the larger man. As he was turning around however, Greg suddenly felt a punch to the side of his head, slamming him to the ground a short distance away. Delirious, Greg could hear the large man shouting some unintelligible words at him before he passed out.

 

This is actually the first time I ever posted a writing online so any kind of feedback or critique is highly appreciated. Tell me if you liked (or disliked) the story and whether or not you're looking forward to their continuation. Cheers and thank you.

Edited by A Random Player
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Nobody asked for it as far as I recall, but I added chapter 1 anyway. We got 70+ views so it can't be all that bad, right? Feedback is still appreciated. If you don't like it, feel free to tell me why so I can improve the story. Or at least write a better one next time. Cheers!

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