A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1494 - 1494: The Need For War - Part 2

Lancelot shook his head. "Whatever it is, it is beyond me. Men of importance await you inside, as does my Queen. They seem to expect the reason for your visit to be a weighty one, as I have. Are you prepared to meet them, Captain Patrick?" The knight opened the way for them, to usher them through.

"It is General Patrick now," Verdant said, seeing fit to correct him. He smiled with amusement, seeing the look of shock on Lancelot's face, and that of the other knight standing guard opposite him – but it was far too late to stop them now. Oliver, and his two closest retainers, in Verdant and Lady Blackthorn, were already striding in through the giant tent.

It was three times larger than any other tent in the vicinity. It had all the weight of a grand entrance hall, or a throne room. That was only added to by the presence of Queen Asabel, on her high carved wooden chair, in place of her usual throne, and with her silver crown of dancing dragons sat upon her head.

To her right, Oliver saw her Pillar of War, in Lord Blackthorn. To her left, he saw her Pillar of Coin, in Lord Idris. The presence of Verdant's father surprised him to a degree. He'd heard tell that the Idris Lord had been on business elsewhere, and had been unlikely to attend the tournament. But here he was, likely when his Queen most needed him.

"Queen Asabel, might I present my Lord, General Patrick?" Verdant said, striding forth to herald the coming of Oliver. He needed not to have. The usual etiquette would have been for them to simply kneel. But Verdant's eyes were far too cunning to miss an opportunity to set the stage in the way that he had.

To her credit, Queen Asabel did not allow the slightest flicker in her regal mask, even upon hearing Oliver's newly founded title. "You may," she said, and the three of them knelt before her, a distance away from her throne, on the red carpet that she'd had laid out across the trampled grass of her tent.

"Rise," Lord Idris told them, when they had knelt for an appropriate amount of time. "And state your business. You name the man next to you as General. By whose authority do you make that claim, Verdant Idris?"

"By the authority of Lord Blackwell," Verdant said. "He recommends my Lord for promotion, should Queen Asabel be willing to carry out the official rituals."

"Nonsense," Lord Blackthorn snarled. "He's a child. Greener than the grass outside. He could barely catch Ferdinand's killer tonight. Lord Blackwell isn't fool enough to name him anything more than a Captain."

"Lord Blackwell has named him what he feels is appropriate," Verdant responded mildly.

"Appropriate for what, exactly?" Lord Idris asked, quickly seeing through his son's words.

"…That is not for me to say," Verdant said, delicately stepping back.

"Do you have news for our Queen… General Patrick?" Lord Idris, considering it for a second, before carefully using the title that was presented to him.

"I do," Oliver said. "The man charged with the assassination of Ferdinand Blackwell has been dealt with. As have nearly two dozen others, charged with such killings, a good few handfuls more that have been charged with arson. Naturally, we can not dismiss such a bout of criminality as mere coincidence. I think we are all in agreement when I suggest that they were acting on orders from another."

"Quite," Lord Idris replied.

"Obviously," Lord Blackthorn grunted.

"And, naturally, Lord Blackwell wishes to see justice brought about for his son," Oliver said.

The two Pillars went quiet at that, along with their Queen. They seemed to see what it was that he was suggesting already, even though he had not given voice to it.

"…You have been raised to a grand military rank, for the role of detective," Lord Idris. "That is rather unusual."

"It is indeed, my Lord," Oliver agreed.

"Which is to say, your Lord Blackwell believes that this has become a military problem, rather than simply a criminal one," Lord Idris said.

"Perhaps," Oliver replied.

The Minister of Coin glanced towards his Queen. "I must warn you, Queen Asabel, that to hear this man out anymore will put you in a delicate situation. This is not a matter that ought to be discussed in a room full of people. Or discussed at all, truly."

"Then you will see the room cleared, Lord Idris," Queen Asabel responded without hesitation.

"…I warn you, my Queen," Lord Idris said. "Merely to hear what he has to say, it will not put you in a positive light. More still, I must warn you against any action. If the slightest whisper of this were to creep out anywhere, then—"

"A dear ally of ours had his son murdered this evening, in cold blood," Queen Asabel said, more ferocious than Oliver had seen her in a long time. "We were unable to assist in the slightest degree. Now, that same man comes to us with a messenger, carrying his concerns, and you would ask that I turn such a man away? Lord Idris, I refuse. I will not have our honour burned away for the sake of safety. Choose who ought remain, and clear the tent."

"…All of you, go," Lord Idris said, raising his voice to give the Command, though there was a clear degree of begrudging there. "General Patrick, send your two retainers away. You will remain alone. Pillar of War, you will remain with me. You and I alone should be sufficient to serve as guardsmen to our Queen, against this lone visitor."

"Naturally," Lord Blackthorn said, apparently insulted, from the glare that he was shooting Verdant's father.

"Verdant, Blackthorn, if you would," Oliver said.

Verdant bowed quickly, giving his respects to the Queen, and to his Lord. He nodded to his father and Lord Blackthorn as well, though that look wasn't acknowledged. Lady Blackthorn watched him as he went about his parting gestures, and then, like a mirror, she followed suit, doing exactly as he had, nodding to his father and her own in the same way as he, not quite realizing how odd it had looked. And then, along with the guardsmen that had lined the walls of the tent, they made their exit.