A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1496 - 1496: The Need for War - Part 4

"It has. And still I do not have the sense that I ought to be anywhere else. I am exactly where I should be," Queen Asabel said. "All this is to say that Lord Blackwell might be full of emotion, and rightly, but that does not mean his opinion carries any less weight. Perhaps it is we who are blind, without the hand of the Gods to guide our hearts as they have his? Nevertheless – I wish to see justice carried out."

"You say it confidently enough that I could almost delight in the fact that my mission has been achieved already," Oliver said, feeling somewhat guilty now, for he wasn't entirely sure that Queen Asabel had grasped the full extent of what he was asking her, even though she seemed to be on the very edge of whispering her support.

"Will you ask me directly, General Patrick?" Queen Asabel said. "I give you my assurances that, for the sake of justice, I shall act readily. I shall do whatever it takes. If he believes there to be a Lord behind this all, lashing out at him for the sake of jealousy, then we will see that Lord rooted out, and tried for his crimes."

"Ah…" Oliver said, finally understanding for himself the supposition that Queen Asabel had come to. "Naturally, you assume it to be a powerful person," Oliver noted. "Lord Blackwell is most certainly in agreement on that. However… However I do believe that, rather than a powerful person, who Lord Blackwell points his finger to as the perpetrator is indeed the most powerful man in the kingdom."

Asabel's eyes flashed with understanding, and then uncertainty, as she spoke the title of the man that they aimed to war with. "The High King…"

She looked around warily. There were none but the four of them in her empty tent, but even then, the words they spoke carried far too loudly for any of their liking. Treason is what it was. And whispering was the only appropriate speaking level for treason.

"Are you certain, Oliver?" Asabel said, losing her regality just for a second, and that fiery aura about her. She was once more a girl, grasping in the darkness for a hand of support. Oliver felt guilty, being the one to bring that about in her. He felt a dishonourable man, knowing his task was to toy with that heart of hers, and see her convinced. Was there a way to do that with the utmost in honesty, without being one of the manipulative political weapons that he so despised? He wasn't sure.

"I am certain that Lord Blackwell thinks as much," Oliver said. "And I am certain, in my own mind, that the High King is on the list of candidates. I understand that you are shocked, and your pillars bear the same shock, but who has had to bear the needling of the High King for so long? Surely you were not blind to the pressures that were put on him? You went out of your way to relieve him from such pressures yourself, my Queen. You must have realized the extent of his perilous position."

"But that is one thing," Queen Asabel said. "Those are the pressures of politics, in building something up out in the open, and dragging someone down, according to those political manoeuvrings. It was a noose around Lord Blackwell's neck, but at least it was one we could see. Assassins in the dark, dare I go as far as believing that our… our ruler has fallen so low?"

"You believed it when those swords were pointed my way," Oliver pointed out. "You knew by whose hand those faux Yarmdon came marching upon Solgrim. You and General Blackthorn saw them dealt with, and you must have known whose mark all of those men bore."

General Blackthorn growled his discontent, but he said nothing. Oliver took that to be agreement.

"That is… That is quite another thing, isn't it? To openly stage an attack on a Lord's son… What reason did he have..?" Queen Asabel said.

"The tournament," Oliver said. "Would you play the devil's advocate for me, Lord Idris? If say, your Queen and I were enemies, to what degree would this tournament frustrate you?"

"…To extensive ends," Lord Idris said, with the same calculating manner that Verdant might have done. When they held their chins like that, and narrowed their eyes, seeming to look into the future, one could quite easily tell their relation – they seemed mirrors of each other. "If you had seen a Silver King invited, a rival to ours, as you did now, then that would be even more troublesome. For a man of your rank to be the… centrepiece in organizing this. It would undermine any false ideas we might have had on your limited power, given your rank. It would point to a growing influence that should not be – the very sort of fire that should be snuffed out before it grew too large."

"…You speak more honestly than I thought you would," Oliver admitted. Even in a hypothetical, he thought Lord Idris would choose his words carefully, so he would strongly appear against Oliver's side.

"That is what my Queen requires of me," Lord Idris said. "I wish to see her swayed, towards safer paths, at times, and I have counselled her towards it in the here and now. But if I am to play my position properly, I ought to grow the other side as well for her to see. I would not narrow my Queen's vision."

"…This tournament was truly that much of a threat?" Queen Asabel asked. "I thought it to be only natural that Ser Patrick would be able to organize something like this."

"Others did not," Lord Idris said. "It ought to have been difficult for a high standing Lord to do it, but a mere low-noble, with just the backing of a single House? It was beyond unexpected. I found myself surprised at its happening. Those that would be threatened by such things, indeed, they most certainly found cause to panic. That could explain more… irrational, forward actions."

"What do you believe, Lord Idris?" Queen Asabel asked. "You talk around the issue, and you wish for me to avoid doing anything drastic, but do you believe that it was… the High King… who orchestrated this attack?"