A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"By the Gods," Kaya murmured. "That's insane… It's incredible. Your mission must have gone far better than planned. Would you tell us?"

"Later," Oliver said. "But you're not wrong. There was far more to it than initially supposed. Not that I am particularly complaining, not now that Skullic has seen fit to give me such a reward for it." Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire

"Indeed, my Lord," Jorah said, "for your goals – for your route down the path of a General – you couldn't have asked for anything better. And to think that it was General Skullic, of all people, that would give you it."

"Skullic? Is there something wrong with him?"

"No, no! Not that. It's just… Many say he's difficult to work with. I wouldn't have thought him to be a generous man. Though, I suppose they do mention him as a maverick too… A hundred men so soon does fit that persona. Oh!

That isn't to say that I doubt you deserve them, my Lord."

"No, I know what you mean," Oliver assured him. "It surprised me as much as you. Maverick certainly seems the right word for the man, but there's a cunning to him. I don't doubt that he's figured this reward will somehow work in his favour, and it's going to be us that are forced to wait and find out just how."

"That's a worrying thought…" Jorah murmured. "What kind of favour could be gotten from the likes of a hundred men?"

"Too weighty a one to worry about so soon," Oliver said, glancing over their shoulder and into the Central Castle, looking amongst the crowd of the leaving students for his target.

"Will we be ready in a month?" Kaya mumbled to himself, unsure.

"Huh? That's loser talk," Karesh said. "'Course we'll be ready. I'm ready now, I don't know about you. I can at least match the worth of one common soldier. I wouldn't hold you back."

"Common soldiers are used up like dry wood in a fire, though," Jorah pointed out. "I think Ser Patrick intends to see to it that we're stronger than that before he brings us."

"Indeed," Oliver said. "Your odds would need to be better than that for me to have use of you. General Skullic has already given me a hundred men after all."

It was a harsh point, but a true one. There were likely to be complications if he brought them, whether he cleared it or not. If they were not to be valuable additions to his fighting force, then those complications wouldn't be worth enduring.

Finally, he spotted Blackthorn. Or more accurately, she spotted him, after Amelia pointed him out.

The familiar trio came over.

"Were you waiting for me?" Blackthorn asked, curious.

"I was," Oliver said.

"You're back from your mission," Blackthorn noted, seeing the blood on his boots and his rather lacklustre state of dress – he still hadn't had time to go back to his room to change, after all.

"Indeed, I am," Oliver said. "I've reported to General Skullic, and asked about bringing you on the next one." He could already see her eyes flicker with hope. Oliver figured he would be hard-pressed to find a woman in all of the Stormfront as eager to prove themselves in battle as Lasha Blackthorn was. "And… Well, it's not up to him, nor me. There's a law in place.

The only real chance you'd have of bypassing that law would be to use Princess Asabel as leverage."

"How do you mean?" Lasha asked, tilting her head. It would have been an endearing gesture, if her eyes weren't burning with such a hunger.

"Your father has pledged your house to the Asabel Branch, so you too belong to her. If I were to bring you as a representative of Asabel, that would be a rather tenuous way that we could bypass the law. Of course, we would need to meet with her before we can decide anything like that," Oliver said.

Lasha was unable to hide her eagerness. "When do we meet?"

"My Lady…" Pauline counselled worriedly. "We should be approaching a meeting with royalty as carefully as we can..?"

"When?" Lasha said again.

"This afternoon, perhaps," Oliver said. "Verdant's gone to try and ensure a meeting for then. You would be more than welcome to join us."

"You'd meet with royalty on such short notice?" Pauline said, horrified, her eyes as round as coins.

"What did you expect from him?" Amelia said with a dismissive sniff. "He never stops flaunting proper tradition. It's no wonder that he makes so many enemies."

Oliver couldn't refute that, though Pauline still flinched at Amelia's words. "Amelia…" Pauline cautioned. "It was one thing before, but now more than ever… you really must work on speaking to Ser Patrick properly. He too is an associate of royalty, after all."

"Oh," Amelia said, as though she'd only just realized. "I suppose you're right… But to suddenly say 'Ser Patrick' all the time would feel wrong."

Pauline sighed in defeat.

"We'll make this afternoon," Lasha declared, after a moment of thought. "We have a dress ready, do we not, Pauline?"

A rare glimpse of Lasha carrying herself like a proper Lady. It was hard not to watch it with a considerable amount of curiosity – at least for those that knew her well, as Oliver and his retainers were beginning to.

Her petite retainer stood up a little straighter at the change in Blackthorn's tone. "I think we can, if we push, my Lady… But we must send a letter in advance, to be proper. Even if Lord Idris has asked on Ser Patrick's behalf, we must declare for ourselves that we will be joining them, even if it's implied that we were allowed."

"Amelia. Will you see to that part?" Lasha asked, her tone bearing the same authority. Amelia reacted similarly, her expression serious. She nodded.

"I can do that, my Lady, fear not," she said.

Anyone would have thought that they were preparing for battle from the look of them. A proper Lady and her retainers, behaving as one would expect them to. It was a sight to behold. It was so contrary to the quiet Lasha that they kept the company of so often that none of them could think of anything to say as they watched.