A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"Well, I suppose that is how it goes," Rofus said with a chuckle. "Seems that we might not have drawn the short straw after all. At the very least, it seems like this squadron's going to be the least likely to get shot."

There came a few grateful murs of agreement at that. The last thing a soldier wanted was for an arrow from his blindside to take him out of duty, or worse. They were the biggest hazard with missions like these, missions that involved a good amount of landscape that was suitable for setting traps.

The man at their feet began to start moaning again and he cradled his knees, cursing them whenever his pain subsided enough for him to do so. It was Amberlain that silenced him this time with a massive boot as he came trudging back through the snow.

Northrun joined them from the opposite direction along with a handful of his sergeants, his Vice-Captain Cormrant amongst them.

"What's this?" He said, eyeing the semi-unconscious man. "We don't have the space spare for prisoners, Ser."

"A tool for keeping alive," Oliver said, nudging the man back awake with the tip of his boot. "I questioned his comrade. He gave me some interesting tidbits. There were only two men in the woods, or so he says."
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"That fucker tattled, the coward—" the man began to say through gritted teeth. It was Gamrod's turn to kick him this time.

Northman nodded. "Seems to be right information," he said, "or that man's a better actor than all the whores that Cormrant sleeps with."

The Vice-Captain pulled a face at the joke but didn't refute it.

"Good work, Ser," Northman said. "I'll tell the man to harness the horses and get moving. I'd wager that you saved us a good hour, dealing with them as you did. Though, I can't say I wasn't a bit nervous… Skullic said you were good and to be trusted, so I left you to it… but if you get an arrow in you on my watch, I ain't going to be in a good position for it."

"That isn't what I kept him alive for," Oliver said, as he grabbed the man by the neck, drawing him upright. "You've got something else going on, don't you?"

"What the fuck do you mean by that?" The man spat.

"Your friend talked more than you know."

"About what? The weather?"

Oliver tightened his grip on the man. He wasn't as confident as he seemed. Fear permeated his body. Looking into Oliver's eyes, the man gulped. "You've stationed half your forces in the forest opposite the fort, have you not? You're planning to attack us from the back the moment we commit fully to the attack.

The man's eyes widened. "How the fuck!—That damn coward!" The man roared.

It was better than an admission of truth, even more certain than what the man had confirmed before. Oliver looked up at Northman to gauge his reaction.

The man wore a troubled expression as he stroked his beard.

"Is that all the information you have for us, Ser Patrick?" Northman said, more carefully this time.

"It is," Oliver said, over the noise of the man beneath him.

"Do you have any further use of this man?" Northman said.

"I do not," Oliver said.

The Commander drew his sword from his belt and slid it through the man's chest, silencing him. Oliver noted a hint of frustration in that strike.

"Commander?" Vice-Captain Cormrant prodded when Northman said no more. "Are we going to act on this information?"

"You're damn right we're going to act," Northman said firmly, his fist clenched. "My problem is… what would we have done had we walked straight into that? Even against peasants, it would have crippled us. There would have been no completing the mission."

The surrounding men went silent at his words, as the impact of the information struck home.

"We knew to be on our toes, though," Cormrant said. "With this sort of terrain, we knew to expect an ambush."

"And now we've confirmed it," Northman said. "We know exactly where they are. An ambush that you've confirmed the location of are mere pigs waiting for the slaughter. We crush them before we move on to the fort. Have the horses harnessed. They'll need to be managed more carefully now that we've lost two.

We'll deal with this before the end of the day and spend the night within the fort."

He said those orders with his usual self-assuredness as the sternness crept back into his voice and the doubt began to leave him. "What are you louts standing around for? Prepare to march, the lot of you."

His dismissal was obvious. Even the Vice-Captain was moving. Somehow, Oliver didn't think the Commander was talking to him. He remained in place, as the others began to move, waiting for the Commander to speak again.

Only once the rest had disappeared out of earshot did the Commander put it to Oliver honestly.

"You could go home now if you wanted to," Northman said.

"Pardon?"

"I said, if you wanted to, you could go home," Northman said, speaking more loudly, a tinge of bitterness in his voice. "I can't say I'm pleased too pleased about it for the sake of my pride, but for the sake of my men, I'd thank you nonetheless. You saved more than a few lives with that information there. If you wanted to go home now, you could.

You've all but ensured that this job would be a success. When Skullic sent you my way, I didn't think it'd be strategy that you cleared the damn way on…"

"I'll stay," Oliver said. "Until I see the men there for myself, I'd still take the information with a fair bit of salt. It's only useful once it's actually been useful."

"True enough," Northman agreed. "True enough…" he said again, this time with a sigh. "Damn it. We were that close to walking straight into a trap. I would have liked to think that I'd have sensed it… but I don't know. You seemed to know the second before even the archers began to shoot.

What were you looking for?"