A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"You ought to keep your eyes on your foe," Oliver chided.

The General snarled. "You know why I looked away."

"But of course," Oliver said. "They heeded my call."

"You cannot claim chance as yours," Talon snapped back. "Foolish boy. No one can claim to control the tides of progress. No one can predict the instant of a Boundary Break. Just a single flank side victory is not enough – we will overwhelm you elsewhere."

"Dominus knew far more than you gave him credit for," Oliver said. "We shall see just how far the influence of a sword can reach."

There was a threat in Oliver's voice that gave Talon room to pause. The name of Dominus being brought up again lent more weight to it. 'There's a man to be feared,' Talon thought, 'even beyond the grave.'

He looked to the left flank, confirming that he wasn't likely to see another freak accident there as well. The weight of Oliver's words compelled him to. He could see nothing, but that didn't mean that nothing was happening. After all, that last shout that Oliver had given, didn't that contain a true flicker of Command?

Nila had never fought a single man for so long. She would have thrown in the towel ten minutes ago, and declared it hopeless, had she not had Oliver's battle with the Hobgoblin to draw from. She kept reminding herself that victory could be found, even after prolonged effort.

The wounds on Oomly hardly meant anything any more. The man was riddled with them. They'd scored hits multiple times, and there were even two arrows sticking out from his shoulder, but yet the man came forward with relentlessness. After General Talon's shout, he'd been even more fearsome.

What should have been a quick victory, if all went according to their plan, was turning into a slow defeat. Firyr had been forced to join the frontline, and Karesh had gone with him, under the orders of Jorah.

Now it was only the three of them keeping Oomly in check – Nila, Jorah and Kaya – and they were having a mighty hard time doing so.

He seemed to have endless persistence. He wasn't overwhelmingly fast, as one would expect given his size, but he was fast enough, and he was monstrously strong, and he never seemed to tire nor weaken. It hardly seemed like he was human at all, and more like some bald golem, raised up by a sick mage from a country far to the north.

Nila let another arrow off, warning Oomly away from a big swing. Kaya had been caught flat-footed, walking the dangerous line between life and death, as he was forced to stick close to the giant to land his attacks. Oomly evaded the arrow easily enough.

She'd been relentlessly targeting his blindspots, owing to that flash of inspiration, but now she didn't have the time even for that. It was a wonder that they were continuing their assault with as much vigour as they were, but what choice did they have? Oliver's most recent shout had lit a fire under them, and they couldn't disobey, even if they wanted to.

To Nila, it felt like there was someone there, pushing her forward from the back, urging her onwards. She wanted to ignore it, but it was a relentless nagging voice, fighting against her stubbornness.

In the end, she'd thrown up her hands and said 'Fine!' and continued to do what she could, albeit with a certain reluctance.

'Not enough,' it chided her. 'Not enough.'

It was the voice of a wolf waiting at the front door, demanding to be let in. Nila was a hunter, and she knew to fear and respect the wolves. She'd never dare knowingly open the door to one.

Yet it was there, and it was talking. So dangerous, so tempting.

'Power,' the voice said. 'You want it, do you not?'

She tried to ignore it, and focus on her task. Her energy had returned – a second wind, she assumed. She'd always been proud of her stamina. She could go days on end tracking an animal, but she rarely did, lest she worry her mother.

'The power to protect – that's yours, isn't it? Are you going to let what's important get snatched away? Are you not the hunter? Will you allow your own flock to be hunted?'

She pulled her string back to her cheek, her awareness of the blindspots around her was vague. She was making use of them to a degree, but she couldn't spend as much time as she needed really picking the positions. With only three of them, it took all their efforts just to keep Oomly in place. If she wasn't there constantly, someone else would have to pick up the slack.

'Greed,' the voice said. 'Why not be greedy? You've seen how it works for him.'

It was obvious to Nila who the voice was referring to. "Don't you talk about that which you don't understand," she bit back under her breath, loosing her arrow just in time. Again, it ended up being a mere warning shot, buying Kaya the time he needed to disengage, as Oomly dodged out of the arrow's path.

'Is this all you can do?' The voice said.

"It's beyond everything I can do," Nila said, half-delirious. No one looked at her oddly for her muttering to herself. On the battlefield, such strangeness wasn't unusual. It was understood. Walking the line between life and death, between victory and defeat, one was allowed to be a little strange.

"WRONG!" The voice thundered. Nila could have sworn it was in the real world now. "Yours is a voice of lies," it said, that same wolf, full of tempting words. "You've seen what you can do yourself – that feat against Rivera? You know what lies beyond it, don't you?"

"Stop," Nila said.

"You're afraid," the voice chided.

"Leave her," a female voice interrupted. "It is not your place. It's his place to say it."