Tor had murder in her eyes as her brothers held her back. "Let me go!" she raged, struggling against their arms. "I swear to the Creator, if you don't let me go, I will shoot you right between the eyes!"

Brad and Thomas were smirking, Jason was laughing. His dark green eyes looked triumphant. "Just because you got some pretty papers that said you could take your horses from us, doesn't mean we couldn't get you back. Your little princeling? He's going back to his sire. Like a good little boy." He turned and gave a mocking wave to the group of humans who were having a tough time keeping Eric under control. "Bye-bye little human! I hope you enjoy your life among your own kind."

Mick was nowhere to be seen. Likely sent off on some errand that he willingly obliged. He was so spineless. He made Tor sick. "Where are you taking him?!" she screamed, lunging once more and nearly freeing herself. But Brad and Thomas pulled her arms tighter behind her back. Behind her, Idiot screamed his own rage. He hated being confined to the small pen. 

The human man didn't even look back at her. "To his father. He has a marriage treaty to fulfill." He scowled at Eric who was struggling and cursing, trying to fight his way to freedom. With one heavy fisted, he gave Eric a clout to the back of the head that instantly stilled him. "I was told to bring you in alive. Not necessarily in pristine condition." He threw the boy over a horse and stepped into the hands of one of Jason’s men. Tor didn’t recognize him. The man took the humans to his horse, put them in saddlebags, swung into the saddle and rode away at top speed.

Tor didn’t relent her struggles. Idiot would be able to catch the horse if she could just get to him! She lunged in her brothers’ hold. Her shoulders screamed from the awkward angle they were forced into. Tears stung her eyes from the pain. But she didn’t stop. She wouldn’t stop until she had Eric back with her.

"Tch," Jason scoffed. "Throw her in a cabin and lock the door. Don't let her out for a few days." He grasped her chin and forced her head back so she would look at him. He was quickly rewarded with a snot-filled spit to his face. Fury burned in him and he struck his sister across the face. "Listen and listen good. I want my inheritance back from you, you fucking mistake. And you're not coming out until you sign those papers and give it back!" He slapped her again and left to tend to the well-endowed blonde in his bed. No doubt she was already priming herself with some of the bigger humans from among his pets. 

Brad and Thomas dragged Tor off and threw her into the lean-to set up for storage. They locked the door and pushed a cart in front of it. "Just let us know when you're ready to sign over our inheritance!" Thomas jeered.

"Mick already signed over his portion. All you gotta do is sign over all those horses and you can go free!" Brad laughed.

"Suck my dick!" was Tor's answer. "Father left me land and horses and I will not hand them over to a bunch of inbred idiots like you!" She was ready and willing to keep hurling barbs. "My mother may not have been his wife, but at least she wasn't his sister!" There was the sound of a scuffle outside as one of the boys lunged for the cart and cabin only for the other one to drag him off. 

"I hate those goddamned idiots," she muttered as she sunk to the floor. She felt defeated. The windows were boarded up. They had been prepared for her resistance. They had been plotting this. She was going to kill them. Then resurrect and kill them again. 

The next morning, she heard her horse scream and climbed on the stove to see through the slats. Jason was trying to ride him. This made her laugh. "No one rides him but me!" She knew he couldn't hear her but that didn't matter. 

She saw Idiot's head go down, his heels go up and Jason go flying into the boards of the round pen. She grinned when he didn't get up. "Good riddance." Brad and Thomas rushed to the pen and dragged Jason's limp form out from under the boards. But not before Idiot reared and came down on his legs. "Ha!" she laughed again. "That makes what, three? four? people whose legs he's broken. Good boy. You are getting so much love when I get out of here."

Wherever Mick had been sent, he didn't come back for two weeks. Tor's brothers would slip her a bag of food and a canteen of water through the door. She had a hole in the floor to piss in, but that was it. When she saw him at the crack in the door, she rushed it. "Let me out, you spineless bastard!" she growled. "Let me out of here!"

He looked down and away, completely ashamed. "I--I can't, Tor. I'm sorry."

She threw her shoulder into it, but he pushed back and held it closed. "Did you really sign away your inheritance?" she asked.

"I did," he replied quietly. "Jason promised I could stay here. And, and I wouldn't have to manage the books and the land and horses and everything. I, I was never good at that stuff anyway." He dropped her food, closed the door and left. 

Tor spit at the door. "Traitor," she muttered. "See to my horse!" she yelled at him. She knew Brad had been feeding Idiot, but she wanted to make sure Mick looked after him as well. No one had bothered to remove the half-wild stallion's tack but that was just fine with her. It would make her escape all the easier.

For the next week, she met Mick at the door, tried to push past him and failed. She growled as she paced, trying to figure out a way out of here. Then, one evening wrapped in the bedsheets, it came to her. She dragged a stool underneath one of the beams that held up the roof and knocked it over. Then she tied a noose into a bedsheet and slid it around her neck and collapsed to the floor. Mick was due soon. She closed her eyes when he knocked at the door; stilled her breathing when he called her name. She didn't move a muscle when he cracked open the door and looked inside.

She heard him drop the food and come running inside. "Tor!" he yelled frantically. He rushed to her side and hit his knees, ready to tend to her. He was not ready for her fists to come flying, bloody his nose, black his eye and finally knock him unconscious. She surged to her feet, dropped the twisted sheet and ran for freedom. She threw open the gate to the corral and wrapped her arms around her horse's neck. 

The stallion snorted and spooked until he realized just who had a hold of him now. He stood for a moment before dipping his head and pressing his chin to her. Tor moved away quickly, hauled herself into the saddle and turned her mount out of the pen. He was only too happy to surge forward, charging out and to freedom. She made sure to direct him towards the herds and rode straight into them. The horses panicked and scattered, stampeding for wherever they thought safety to be. Oh sure, her brothers would get them back. But it would take them a damn long time. 

She rode hard until she reached the town her solicitor was in. She didn't waste a single moment of time. She didn't have any to spare if she was going to get her Princeling back. When she reached the town, she stormed into his office. "You helped me get my inheritance separate from my brothers'. Now I need you to manage it while I'm gone."

"Gone?" the man asked, a frown pinching his brow. "But to where? Your father's lands?" 

"No. Something was stolen from me three weeks ago. I intend to get it back."

He appraised her with a calm eye. "Princeling is missing."

"My brothers sold him without my permission. Now, manage my herds and lands. Don't let them lay a finger on them. They just locked me up for three weeks without my consent." 

"That is a serious accusation," he said, that frown still in place.

"It's the truth. Go ask Mick, the youngest of the boys. He'll admit to it." She smirked. "I'm not sure Jason is in any condition to admit to anything. He tried to ride Idiot and was bucked off. He hit his head on the fence posts. That was three weeks ago. I haven't seen him since."

One white eyebrow arched and the beginnings of a smirk curled the corner of his lips. "How...unfortunate. Should he die, his portion of the inheritance is to be split among the remaining siblings."

"Mick signed his over. So Jason's massive herd would be split between Brad, Thomas and me?" 

"No. I don't know what kind of hold Jason has over your brothers, but they have signed over their rights as well. If he dies, everything goes to you." 

Now Tor was smirking. "How unfortunate, indeed." She dropped several paper notes on his desk. "This is an advance. See what you can do. But always put me first."

The old man nodded. "Of course. I will go see that everything is taken care of for you. Don't worry. Just go retrieve Princeling." He produced a slip of paper and handed it to her. "Your ownership papers. Valid in either country. But of course, no one in their right mind would refuse an Elder that comes storming in on a big black mustang." He chuckled. "Be safe in your travels. I will see you in due time."

Tor pocketed the paper and left. She swung back into the saddle and headed south. She knew Eric's father's realm was down there, just past the border. If she could get to him in time, she could save Eric from an arranged marriage he loathed.