5

And now you're telling us that the bandits kidnapped your little brother???"

Brenner Souza raised a brow. "What is it now?"

The king sighed heavily. "My apologies", he said and bowed his head to Brenner Souza. "I guess we just don't trust you. You seem like the typical mercenary and a criminal. If you aren't a bad guy and we can see that there's no harm in helping us out of our situation then.. well, I think we need a bit of extra help."

Brenner Souza gave a small nod. "We have a few supplies, that we will share with you. As long as you keep quiet and follow our rules.", said the king.

"Of course!", exclaimed Brenner Souza.

"Good to hear that we could finally start working together.", chuckled the king and patted Brenner Souza's shoulder. „Now that the bandits are gone, you won't have any problems with them anymore."

The king smiled and turned away. He stopped when he noticed the confused expression of Brenner Souza's friends.

"By the way", he added as he faced the other bandit leaders. "Why don't you join him?" He said pointing at Brenner Souza.

"Join him? He' s just a commoner. You can't force me to work with a thief," one of the leaders replied firmly.

"Why would we want you to work with that thief anyway?" Another asked angrily.

"Because he has saved us and we really need more help. So please, don't refuse my request." Said the king.

After saying goodbye to everyone, the king left. The bandits looked at each other and whispered. None of them thought much about joining Brenner Souza and the bandits. That is except for Brenner Souza who was smiling happily while holding his bloody scalpel tightly. The bandits suddenly felt very terrified.

*** *** *** *** *** *** ***

As the days passed, Brenner Souza and the rest of his band slowly grew closer with the bandits. At first everyone was very distrustful of these mysterious strangers but as the years passed, all their mistrust faded away and became friendship and trust. The most trusted members of the gang became Brenner Souza's closest friends. Even though they couldn't understand some things, they still tried to make the best of everything they had with each other. They spent almost all their time together. Brenner Souza and the bandits traveled together for months without any troubles or fights. Everyone was getting along extremely well.

Brenner Souza's parents decided that it was not possible to stay in their home. They both moved into a castle where the king and queen lived. After the bandits helped them move, their house was destroyed, so they couldn't remain in it. They bought two houses nearby and built them close to each other. The bandits started having dinner with the queen and princess whenever they came by for visits. Soon after, it was Brenner Souza's turn.

When Brenner Souza got married in the future, the bandit's mansion was rebuilt. In order to welcome everyone who joined the bandit's gang and celebrate their union, Brenner Souza decided that he would build a grand wedding hall.

Every year, a beautiful ballroom and banquet hall was decorated with thousands of flowers that Brenner Souza bought from the neighboring kingdom. Every year the bandit king came to the celebration and enjoyed the music, the dancing and drinking. Brenner Souza liked to watch his husband drink and eat while listening to the bandit king's stories. When the bandit king finished his speech, his friends cheered and congratulated him for such a nice and memorable day.

However, it all ended in a tragedy. One night, three bandits attacked Brenner Souza's palace. Two of them were killed immediately and the third one escaped, leaving Brenner Souza and his wife alone on the second floor of the palace. Brenner Souza didn't know what to do. He ran down the stairs but was too weak to fight against the other bandits that kept pursuing him. They caught up with him and pushed him into his bedroom. A moment later, he was dragged down the stairs to the basement of the palace. It smelled of dirt and dust. It reminded Brenner Souza of the dungeons of the castle back then. He was placed inside an iron cage. A large group of men surrounded him and threw him inside. All he heard was screaming and shouts and crying from his wife outside. Suddenly, someone kicked the door hard. Then the screams and yells became muffled and the cage fell silent.

Brenner Souza was still chained up. He wondered why he wasn't taken back upstairs until he realized that the cage was made from metal and iron. It was made to hold him. He sat down, exhausted.

Then a voice spoke next to him, "Don't worry, it will get better." He recognized the voice of the bandit king, who was standing next to him.

"How do you know? You're just a commoner, you wouldn't understand what I'm going through. You probably didn't even survive in the dungeon." Brenner Souza replied sadly.

"No, I understand what you're going through because my brother has been taken hostage by the bandits. You think that I haven't been tortured before? Or that I didn't know that this was going to happen someday?, the bandit king asked, glaring at him coldly. "But I also know how important this family is to me. It is the only thing that matters to me, so don't underestimate my pain. I survived, just like you do. Now shut up and try to sleep already, you look horrible!", he said annoyed and walked off.

After hearing those words, Brenner Souza fell asleep. And in his dream, he saw two boys fighting in front of him. They were dressed in brown leather, their eyes were filled with anger and hatred, and they seemed to be trying to kill the other boy.

Brenner Souza woke up and screamed. His hands grabbed his head painfully and he began to cry loudly, scared by his own mind.

'It was just a dream. Nothing happened. Calm down. It was just a dream...'