A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1777 - 1777: Demands of the Wind - Part 2

"I understand your excitement, General, I do," Hod said. "And I understand your desire to see the victories of these past days turned into something more certain. But I warn you against rushing in too soon. Indeed, General Patrick has done well – but Germanicus still does live. Germanicus is even rawer than the peasants we brought with us. He has no true battlefield experience. Every defeat that he bears and lives through, he grows more dangerous for it. That, and the fact does remain of the scale of their army, and the magnitude of the General in Tavar that heads it."

"You give him respect beyond his station," Blackthorn said. "I will admit, he is a problem. Alone, perhaps I could not overturn him. But he has conceded too much. There will be a price to pay. One can not continue to give and give, and expect to see victory in the end."

"Tavar can," Hod said. "Tavar will see us bitten the moment we overextend."

"So what then do you propose, Minister?" General Blackthorn said, folding his arms in discontent. "Is your advice simply to do nothing, when you yourself warn us of the danger of waiting, you would still have us stand still?"

"Not nothing," Hod said. "We will continue to wear them down, and we will continue to win."

He turned to Oliver then as he said that. "We will continue to rely on the advantage provided by General Patrick. I will tie Tavar up, to the best of my abilities, as you say, General Blackthorn. And you yourself, General Blackthorn, you shall ensure the battle atop all walls is won. And then, in that pocket of freedom, we shall leave to operate by his own discretion General Patrick."

"You give me command of all the walls again?" Blackthorn asked.

"I do," Hod said. "You asked for a victory. There is a victory in attention. If we can hold off Tavar with a lesser degree of men, then we shall see the personnel freed up, eventually, for the counterattack that you do so desire. But it is a thing that will have to be built by itself, for currently, I do not see whether the option exists."

Blackthorn smiled a fierce smile, showing all his teeth. "Now you are talking with strength, Minister. Very well, I will see it done. I'll see them held off by my lonesome – I'll see them crushed against the walls that they continually attempt to climb."

"...And what of me?" Oliver said, nervous about the answer. "What would you have me do, Minister?"

"All you can," Hod said. "You operate best with a degree of freedom, General. A fact that General Blackthorn has pointed out to me. So I give you that. Choose a thousand men for yourself, and detach yourself entirely from all engagements. You will sit in the centre of Ernest, and you will find yourself to be an entirely detached fighting force. Besides, that is how you are used to operating, is it not? That is where your experience as a Captain lies."

It seemed as if Hod was removing Oliver of responsibility. That was what Oliver wanted to believe, but he knew that to be an illusion. When the officers of their meeting started to disperse, Hod confirmed that suspicion for Oliver, when he saw him stopped, and gave him further words to dwell on.

"Do wait a moment more, would you, General Patrick?" Hod said, before he could go any further. Oliver sighed, knowing what would be coming his way was likely to be troublesome. The last of the leaving officers scurried past Oliver, out of the open door, and then saw it gently shut behind him.

"How can I help you, Minister?" Oliver said.

"Your hand," the Minister said bluntly, gesturing towards the bandage on it. "Your work, I presume?"

"Now why would you make that presumption, when I have been hard at battle all these days? I could very well have received it elsewhere."

"And yet, you didn't. You did not bear it yesterday, at the meeting. Nor is that bandage that you wear fresh. You saw that wound tended to the previous night, did you not?"

"That does not mean that I inflicted it."

"Are you saying that someone else did? Someone that we ought to be wary of? That information ought to have been given to us long before now. If there was someone that dangerous within our own walls, what an effect it would have on our strategies going forward."

The way Hod looked at Oliver as he said those words told him that the Minister believed not the slightest shred of it. Oliver sighed again, and took a seat back at the table, saying nothing further.

"A great victory you achieved yesterday, and again today. Yet it does not appear to delight you," Minister Hod noted. "That does not seem to be the attitude of the young man that I have grown used to. Have you lost your taste for battle?"

"Perhaps," Oliver replied.

"Or have you lost your taste for power?" Hod said.

Oliver stirred slightly at that, but said nothing further.

"A wound to yourself. A strange thing. A man apparently on top of the world. You're the man of the hour, General Patrick. You step into the shoes of your own destiny. You walk its paths, with the hands of the Gods at your back. Your name is on the tip of many different tongues – a man as young as yourself, and what an effect you are beginning to have on the war effort. And it brings you no pleasure. Indeed, the opposite, I see a fear in you. What is it you fear? Do you fear that you might be overwhelming beyond measure? Is that the arrogant nature of your assumption?"

"Of course not," Oliver snorted. "There will always be a man, or multiple men together, that will match me, no matter how strong I become. Besides, there has already been such a man in Dominus Patrick. I could not suppose such an arrogance."

"Then why?" Hod asked. "Why do your own victories wound you enough that you would draw dagger on your own flesh? That girl – I thought she was good for you. A strong-willed woman, that woman, but with caring little eyes. She'll see through you, if you don't hide yourself properly."

"She already has," Oliver said.

"And what did she say, when the mighty Oliver Patrick turned on himself?"

"...I don't want to see that look on her face again," Oliver said.