A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1661 - 1661: The Counter Assault - Part 2

"…Don't engage him in a contest of strength," Tavar said, scrunching his eyebrows together. "But that ought be obvious from a single look at the man. It has been near a decade since the Treeants removed him from the Academy. I dread to think the strength that he has now. And King, nonetheless? I suppose that to be evident. For a post inherited by strength, who is likely to be stronger than he? I ought only be surprised that it has taken so long. And the number of men that he brings?"

"That remains to be seen," the Chief Strategist said. "But I doubt they shall disappoint us."

"No. That is true. For their oath, they can be trusted," Tavar said.

"I told the High King much the same about you," the Chief Strategist said.

Tavar narrowed his eyes. "The King doubted me?"

"Naturally. I would ask that you take measures to reassure him, if you and he are to cross paths. As it stands currently, the greatest impediment to his Majesty's cause is his Majesty himself," the strategist said. "As much as it pains me to admit it, on these matters, he is a thorn in his own side. And all of us here have sworn a duty to see him defended – even if against himself."

"I will do what I can," Tavar said. "And of you two? You see no reason to doubt me?"

"I trust in the oaths that you have sworn," the Chief Strategist said. "And the loyalty of your House, even if at the same time I acknowledge the closeness that you have with our enemy. Minister Hod finds himself among their number, I do believe. Will you be capable, Tavar, of striking down those that you have such a closeness for, when the time does come?"

Tavar stiffened. "I shall do what is necessary."

"You will not hold back?"

"It would be an insult to, even if it is as you say, and I have a closeness for them."

The Strategist smiled. "Then we shall have no issues. I have a great amount of faith in you. Our Silver Kings are sending trouble as their representatives, and if anyone shall be capable of binding them together, I do believe that it would be you. Wyndon has set loose Tiberius. We expect him to arrive today."

"…Tiberius?" Tavar said, gritting his teeth. "If ever there was a name that I wanted to hear less than that. Gods be good – what is that King Wyndon thinking?"

"I think that to be evident," the Chief Strategist said. "He is afraid. After what happened to the Emersons, fear is at the forefront of his mind. And he is right to fear. The High King has an anger lately, and I do not think that I will be much use in holding him back from it."

"Nor I," Justus added.

"The likes of Tiberius seems a poison far worse than the other wound might be," Tavar said. "It's hard to call what he is an ally, even if he might bring men with him."

"But he is capable. There is no denying that."

"That is the very problem with him," Tavar said. "He's far too capable. He'll set the realm aflame."

"And it will be your job to rein him in. He attended your Academy as well – you know of him a little, before the Wyndons too snatched him from your grasp, so that they might educate him themselves," the Chief Strategist said.

"For all the good it will do me," Tavar said, shaking his head. "And the Emersons? Any word from their King? Do they have any more men to send our way?"

"There has been no word," the Chief Strategist said. "I do believe he remains in shock, after the defeat that your man Oliver Patrick dealt him."

The Chief Strategist eyed Tavar carefully as he said that name. Tavar could feel the searching in his eyes, and he returned it with a hard look of his own. "It was a grand victory from what I hear," Tavar said evenly.

"Too grand," the Chief Strategist said. "What sorts of little monsters have you been creating, Tavar? Will we have you to blame if we fail to put this one down?"

"I was hardly his teacher," Tavar said. "He had a far better one than me. That man's influence still remains hovering over him, pulling him towards growth. It's a ghost that we fight, gentlemen. And it's a ghost that has every reason to be angry with the crown."

"The matter with Dominus Patrick will ever be a stain on the crown's history," the strategist admitted. "But for the effects to carry this far into the future… One would not have thought. But then, one would not have thought either that Dominus Patrick had a son. Or even that he was alive. For a man who had once seemed so straightforward and honest, those latter years of his life were truly an unpierceable shroud of complete mystery."

"Mystery, and absolute overwhelming achievement," Tavar said. "To have beheld a man that pierced through the Sixth Boundary… Merely to have looked at him, and felt his aura, that would have provoked change."

Justus nodded his agreement. "It is regretful that we were unable to catch a glimpse."

"…Such is talk that I do not understand," the strategist said, looking between the two of them, and trying to digest their excitement. "Claudia did ever scorn me with her Boundaries. Which I suppose, is why I have become the poisonous little pusher of pieces that I am today." He chortled. "Yes, there's enough bitterness still in this old body of mine that I shall be surprised if I do not linger long enough to be a ghost."

"The halls would be far more terrifying for your presence," Tavar said. "No doubt you will play some rather cruel tricks."

"Oh, indeed," the strategist laughed, his eyes aglow as he imagined it. "Indeed."

…

…

A full hour they were made to wait before the arrival of one of their would be allies. And when he came, it was not by way of a quiet knock at the door. His approach was heard all the way from the gates of the palace, in the form of furious shouting, bellowed loud enough to shift the grey clouds hanging in the evening sky.