Right of the Victor
Chapter 4

As promised, I ended up sleeping in the packed room, then being introduced to a broom and dustpan in the morning. It wasn’t long before I got bored of sweeping the giant areas, and simply set the broom aside. An activity that was normally almost fun to me had now become tedious. Leaning on a wall, my eyes jumped back and forth between the various people bustling around. The day-to-day activities of bandits were remarkably normal. People were carrying around food, cleaning like me, or practicing weaponry. Due to all of this being underground, someone was in charge of keeping candles lit and exchanging them when they burnt too low. Occasionally looks would be traded between a few men after glancing at me, undoubtedly judging from a distance. I was out of useful things to do, and didn’t feel as if a fight could hurt, so I beelined for the table from which most of the judging seemed to be coming.

“Do you idiots have nothing better to do than stare at me?” I didn’t care that there were five men here, all much bigger than me. If I had to, I would incur their honor and fight each in a solo duel.

“I don’t like talking to little kids. Leave us alone.” One of them replied, not so much as glancing in my direction. Spurred by a burst of anger, I had my weapon at his throat in the blink of an eye.

“I’m not a kid. Fight me.”

The moment my blade was shown, so were those of the four men I hadn’t threatened. Taking a few steps backwards, I prevented myself from being surrounded and kept all of them on one side. Five against one…I didn’t like those odds. Hopefully they weren’t any good. Throwing caution and intelligence aside, I let them approach with my sword ready, stupidly choosing against fighting each one separately.

Unsurprisingly, I shouldn’t have done that. I held my own for a short while, metal flashing and clanging as my sword knocked away my opponents’, yet I only disarmed two before I was overwhelmed and ended up against a wall with three blades pointed at my throat.

“I don’t know why Vargos keeps you around. You’re useless.” The man on the left said, smirking down at me. I hated that I’d lost, even though the odds were stacked against my success. I was supposed to be good enough for this.

“Let’s just kill him. I don’t think Vargos cares that much. Besides, he started it.”

“Fine by me.”

The brief exchange of words was ended by Vargos himself showing up behind the trio of men with hands clasped behind his back.

“I can’t let you do that just yet, boys. Going to have to preserve this one…and teach him to be better, I think.” He didn’t look happy with me at all, but I was secretly glad he’d stepped in to save my life.

“Don’t think that takes you off the hook, Lengin. Come over here.” He gestured for me to come away from the wall and towards him. I did as he said silently, well aware that something unpleasant was coming. Before I got a chance to say anything at all-whether it be a defense or an apology- Vargos’ fist collided with the side of my head and sent me to the ground that I’d been cleaning half an hour or so before. The burns on my back flared up, but that was the least of my concerns. Before I could even try to go back to my feet, a heavy boot was pressing down on my chest.

“What’s it going to take for you to learn your place? I can deal with you the same way I handled Arnold, but I don’t think we want that.” Vargos stared down at me. I remembered Arnold to be the man who’d lost to me and been shot for it. Angry Vargos was not the version of him that I wanted to deal with. I suppose it was my fault, though.

“You can’t kill me. I’m better than you are, so it would be a waste.”

“Ah, but I have hundreds of other men who are obedient. I’d take any one of them over you, and you’d best keep that in mind.” He finally relieved the pressure on my chest, stepping off me and letting me stand.

“It’s useless to keep me in a cleaning job. Even you should be able to see that.” I tried to make my speech sound more respectful than usual, but it likely didn’t come across that way. Vargos paused for a few seconds before replying firmly.

“You’ll stay at this for a week. Then you can get to something else. But if you cause any more problems, it’ll be the end of you.” It was very clear that there would be no bargaining or second chances after this. While I hated that I would be subject to a week of this humiliation, I could do nothing but nod in acceptance and lower my gaze. My end goal of revenge on the murderer of my family remained, and I couldn’t get to that if I died early. So, for one week, I would stay in line.

The week passed incredible slowly. Cleaning floors, tables, counters, and walls was usually satisfying work to me, but it never seemed to end here. There was always a drink that was spilled, or the remnants of a table to pick up after a drunk man got out of hand. Some of them seemed to do it on purpose. They knew I hated the job, so they’d cause more problems for me to fix knowing I could do nothing to stop it. Eventually it’d all pay off, though.

I spent the last day of the week waiting to be pulled aside by Vargos, Audent, or any of the other men I’d learned were higher up in the Torris gang. After wiping off a table, I turned around to replace both Audent and her husband towering over me.

“I can hardly believe you made it a week without causing issues, but you did. Well done.” Vargos sounded more glad than I would have expected. At this point it wasn’t clear if he hated me or liked me. Setting the cleaning supplies I’d been carrying aside, I crossed my arms.

“Good. So, you’re finally going to let me do something else?” If they said no, I planned to simply leave. I didn’t know what the Torris did to those who deserted the gang, but I wouldn’t have another choice. Except maybe to stay cleaning floors the rest of my life, but the way I saw it that was no choice at all.

“Tomorrow Vargos has another expedition to the forests planned. Looks like he’ll be taking you along, doesn’t it?” Audent chimed in. “You can prove yourself. Or you can fail again, and you’ll see what happens then.”

“I haven’t failed yet…” I muttered, “When do we leave?”

“Dawn. Don’t be late, or you won’t be coming.”

The conversation ended with the two of them walking away. I smirked. Seemed they’d finally start to realize I was worth more to them when I wasn’t working like a house maid.