Chapter 21: Vengeful Insanity

The next morning, Balthazar woke up first to check on the herd as they were still cuddled up and soundly asleep. Suddenly the large wolf begins to smell burnt fur as he turns over to see two eyes glowing in the shadows of the woods ahead of the cave.

Balthazar immediately knew that the shadow was Victor as he quietly yet furiously charges at the shadow that begins to run away from the large wolf.

Eventually, Balthazar sees Victor lunging forward over the cliff of a gorge and barely managed to reach the other side before standing next to a tree, covering him with the shadows as the larger wolf stops his tracks for as large as he is, he cannot jump far as Victor could to the other side.

The two wolves glared on one another from their side of the gorge before Victor hissed: "So the sloth is still alive"

"Yep and so are you…You look terrible" Balthazar chuckled, having caught glimpses of Victor's injuries.

"How dare you turn your back on this pack, Balthazar! We would've succeeded if you didn't betray us for that herd" Victor growled.

"You drove what little of our pack we had to oblivion!" Balthazar raged at the alpha wolf before he angrily growls out:

"We were a proud and honorable pack that respected the ways of our home, our code, and everything that made us wolves but then you; ever since you took over, you've been tearing our pack apart for your greed and dishonesty. We were dying, starving and being driven to the ground because all you wanted to be nothing but power and chaos with your tyrannical rule"

"Your precious honor and code mean nothing to me; I wanted to show this tribe that we can be top of our game and top of the food chain that we so rightfully desired but all that's changed now…This herd is on the brink of extinction and I will give it to them with pleasure" Victor coldly spatted.

"Yeah? Well if you dare try to harm the herd again, we will be ready for you" Balthazar warned the alpha wolf.

"And you can tell that yellow sloth you're protecting that he best pray for salvation because eventually, I will give him damnation" Victor threatened before he bolts off back to Forbidden Rock.

Balthazar angrily watches Victor leaving as he growls:

"You will not harm anyone ever again, Victor; I will see to that"

Meanwhile, back at Forbidden Rock, Carlotta was pacing back and forward in fear for her master once she learned that he has fallen and has not been found all night. Leo just stood there, furious at the fact that the plan has failed and the sloth trio he swore revenge on were still alive.

"How could this have happened?! We were so close to getting revenge but now he's gone" Carlotta wailed out.

"Oh quit your crying, if your so-called perfect master had just killed the yellow sloth before when we had him instead of just torturing him like a blithering boasting idiot then none of this would've happened and those three we agreed to hunt down would've been dead by now along with that stupid herd!" Leo angrily exclaimed.

Carlotta viciously glares at the red sloth. "Let me tell you something, Leo; none of this would've happened if my Victor hadn't agreed to your stupid plan in the first place"

"I gave you all you desired" Leo argued.

"And that gives you power over my Victor?" Carlotta hissed. "You don't seem to understand that while you still want your way with those three insignificant fools, My darling wolf will be doing things his way and how it should've to be from the beginning!"

Leo just scoffed loudly and angrily: "So some dumb yellow sloth gave him a few burns and a scar; big deal! But that female sloth is the cause of our people's demises, not Sid! We had a deal and we're sticking to it; no excuse!"

Suddenly cold laughter fills the area as the two animals turn to see Victor standing there hauntingly with burns, all over his body with most of his fur gone after being set on fire by the sloth, it wasn't long before Leo and Carlotta realize that half of Victor's right ear was burnt off, much to the alpha wolf's fury.

"Just a few burns and a scar, hmm?" Victor hauntingly chuckles at Leo.

"Oh master, I'm so sorry" Carlotta woefully pleaded for forgiveness

Victor just furiously smacks the female wolf at the muzzle which causes her to look down in shame and fear. The alpha wolf soon goes to Leo and hissed:

"I've tracked down the herd this morning and I just found out much to my boiling rage that the yellow sloth is still alive"

"What?!" Leo asked, dumbfounded.

"Let me ask you something, Leo…This Sid the sloth; are you sure he's not as dumb and weak as he looks?" Victor coldly demands.

"Are you kidding me? He's the dumbest and weakest sloth on the planet! How he's still alive and standing is beyond my expectations" Leo scoffed.

"Dumb…maybe; Weak? I don't think so…You do realize that out of the strongest and largest animals I had killed over my life as the alpha wolf, that "dumb weak" yellow sloth has got the better of not only Carlotta but also myself; Twice!" Victor furiously exclaimed.

"Beginner's luck" Leo shrugged, trying to find reason with Victor.

"No! That was not beginner's luck! That repulsive thing has not only scarred me but has burned me alive because of his use of fire, my left ear is mostly gone and I am in agony like you wouldn't believe…He's not just a dumb and weak sloth…From this time on, he is considered my true nemesis and I will see to it that he will die by my own two paws if it's the last thing I'd ever do!" Victor bellowed as he swore his eternal lust for revenge on Sid the sloth.

"Forget about him! He's nothing! We had a deal, remember! We swore to kill Carrie and her foolish duo pack for the sake of our pack and tribe that they were responsible for the flooding!" Leo angrily argued.

Victor was at his limit with the red sloth who angrily added: "You owe me big time for all I've done for you"

The alpha wolf furiously pounces on the red sloth before he growls menacingly: "Oh, don't you worry about your precious Carrie and those other sloths…They will join Sid and the herd in death but from this point on, we'll do this my way and they will all learn to never cross with me"

"P-Please" Leo whimpered.

"And therefore, I no longer have any need of you anymore" Victor snarled and lunges his sharp teeth at Leo's throat.

Carlotta, still looking down, can hear Leo's screams of dying agony echoing the mountains before all noises ceased abruptly; the female wolf turns to see Victor, having slain the red sloth by ripping his throat wide open as the blood of the corpse was spilling out like red weed slithering on the ground.

"Carlotta" Victor lowly hissed.

"Y-Yes master?" Carlotta stuttered.

"I shall spare your life; despite the failures you've lately done, you are the only one left I can count on still" Victor replied.

"T-Thank you, sir, I will not fail you again" Carlotta phrased her master and bows before him.

"You best pray that you don't" Victor coldly threatened before he pushes the corpse of Leo to Carlotta then sadistically asked. "Shall we dig in?"

Carlotta wickedly giggles and replies with: "With pleasure, master"

The two remaining wolves feast on Leo's body before the female wolf then asked: "What do we do now since that thing is still alive with that herd"

"We underestimated that sloth twice…So these are now desperate times and desperate measures are called for" Victor answered.

"What do you plan to do?" Carlotta asked.

"Since that back-stabbing traitor, Balthazar, is now in league with them, they will be expecting us to come and finish them off" Victor explained.

"So?" Carlotta shrugged.

"They'll be cautious and keep an eye out for us two. So it's simple, we get off the radar for now; go somewhere private where they'll never find us and while they continue with their lives, I shall remain in the dark to heal my wounds and eventually re-train myself to be stronger and I suggest you do the same" Victor speaks of the plan to Carlotta.

"Ok; we'll wait for a few months and then what?" Carlotta impatiently questioned the alpha wolf.

"Then when we get stronger, we don't wait anymore…we strike him down vigorously" Victor replied.

"And what of Balthazar, the sloths, and that herd?" Carlotta asked.

"If they dare interfered, We will show them no mercy or warning this time especially that traitor" Victor growled.

"Very well then, master. Let's do this" Carlotta agreed with the plan.

The two of them eventually finish eating the rest of Leo's corpse and fled out of Forbidden Rock before running off straight into the misty woods, disappearing into the morning mist and straight out of sight of the valley.

What happens next?

Stay tuned to find out!