A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

VOLUME ONE - PART 2: THE PROTECTOR OF SOLGRIM

It took a full two days of rest before Beam awoke again after his battle, his body bruised and battered. He rolled out of his bed with a groan, his eyes struggling to adjust to the world around him. After a while, he finally recognized the familiar surroundings of Dominus' campsite.

Somehow, even though nothing about the campsite had changed, it looked different. Beam squinted, noting that the blurriness of his eyes that he'd felt during combat was still there, albeit to a much lesser degree.

His left eye was finally opened too now, though it was still swollen from the bruising and it hurt to touch.

Aside from those bruises and the shallow cuts, as Beam stood, he felt better than he had in many weeks. The pain in his injured leg was almost entirely gone. It was merely the slightest of twinges now – something that was very possible to ignore. And as he twisted the rest of his body round, he found only stiffness and a moderate pain.

"Somehow, you managed to avoid stitches," Dominus said, noticing that he was up. "Quite the little miracle worker, aren't you? You've got shallow cuts and bruises all over you, but nothing that won't be fully healed up in a few days and nothing to truly hinder you."

"Mm…" Beam nodded, looking at the scratches on his arms. They'd been tended to.

"After you passed out on the field, that big oaf of a man, Judas, carried you all the way back to Nila's house. Her and her mother tended to you again," Dominus said.

"Ah… So she knows that I fought a hobgoblin?" Beam asked with a grimace, expecting a telling off from her the next time they met.

But Dominus shook his head. "I told Nila – and the merchant and his guard – that it wouldn't benefit you to carelessly spread that information. There's nothing to be gained from revealing your skills without reason. As you are now, you could still be easily snuffed out, should you attract the attention of anyone truly strong."

"I suppose so," Beam said with a nod. "It would have been troublesome to have all the villagers talking to me about it as well. I suppose this leaves me more free to do as I want and get myself stronger."

"Indeed. But whilst that is my own opinion, the only reason I forbid them from saying anything is I wished to leave the choice to you. You need not follow my advice on this. If you wish for the people to know your achievement – and a remarkable feat it is too, then you may share it and Greeves, his guard and the girl they'll all corroborate your story. I imagine that too will have its benefits.

There will be greater opportunity for you, as people seek your help to deal with threats," Dominus told him.

"Mm… I still don't really want to deal with too many people yet," Beam said. "And opportunity is just money, isn't it? If I need money, I can just sell corpses to Greeves."

"Beyond money. Nobility might hire you for military work. That would be an opportunity to make your way to the battlefield and hone your skills against the fellow man, should you choose to," Dominus told him.

"I suppose I'll want to do that, eventually. But there's no way I'm leaving now, right when I'm about to pass these tests. You promised to make me your apprentice, after all," Beam said.

Dominus smiled at that. "That I did. Though, you still have a few left to finish. You defeated the evolved hobgoblin – congratulations. But you have yet to finish your quests with Greeves. There is still that corpse soldier.

And you have yet to complete your strength test or your speed test."

"Do I not have to do the unarmed test against Perth and his buddies as well?" Beam asked.

Dominus chuckled at that. "Such a thing would not be a test – it would be cruelty. You have far eclipsed the likes of them with your slaying of the hobgoblin. There is no need to bully those weaker than you. I'll consider your unarmed test passed."

"Awh, I was kinda looking forward to settling the score with Perth," Beam grumbled.

"Spare him," Dominus said. "You only have two days left until our agreed upon time period is over. Though, after your victory over that evolved hobgoblin, it does seem to me that these last few tests are irrelevant. I'm half tempted to write them off."

"Nah, I'll pass them. I'm feeling much better than I was. Didn't you set me the test of improving my reputation as well? How am I doing on that?"

"I'll consider that one passed too. I told you to make a friend as well – and it would seem that Nila fits that criteria quite well. And as a result of your community service work under Greeves, the villagers are viewing you far more positively than they were before.

Rather than the scorn they showed you a month ago and the disgust, there's indifference now and in some places the slightest bit of friendliness," Dominus said.

"Hey, wait, when you put it like that, it doesn't sound good at all!" Beam protested.

Dominus laughed again. "Well, might be time to straighten out that crooked personality of yours and get yourself to being more likeable," Dominus said.

"I don't see you being overly friendly with the villagers," Beam grumbled.

"No. But the difference between you and I is that I am not incapable of such things," Dominus said. "Besides, my time has passed. I did not have the qualities to be a leader. I spent many years isolating myself, merely pursuing the sword. You need not share my weaknesses."

"Ah," when Dominus put it like that, it was hard for Beam to protest. Even if he disliked dealing with people for now, he could not deny that there had been a great many benefits in him doing so. There were now far more options to be had should he need to solve any problems. There were far more people willing to help him. Nila's face flashed through his mind as he thought that.

"Well, since I've only got a couple of days left, I may as well get started on the stones. I'm feeling much stronger than I have been lately."

Dominus motioned with his hand. "Do as you please. Just don't push yourself too much. You've been asking a lot of your body lately."

"It'll be fine," Beam said, wandering up the stones, fighting to ignore the dizziness that had been bothering him since he awoke.

He ignored the first stone this time and moved straight to the second, shifting it up to his chest with ease. It felt more like a stretching exercise than a strength one as he stretched out his sore muscles and groaned with relief. After toying with the second stone for a few minutes, he moved to the third.

"Ah, that's more like it," he said, lifting the third stone as though he were holding nothing more than a bundle of sticks. He hardly felt any strain on his body as he did so. He let out a relieved sigh. "Finally back to where I need to be, it seems."

Dominus nodded. "Aye, it would seem the goddess of progress has taken a liking to you. Go on then, see how well you move the fourth stone."

Beam did as he was told and rolled the fourth stone out. Its size was intimidating, especially after so long, and his heart pounded as he looked at it. He eyed it seriously, before squatting down, wrapping his arms around it and scooping it up.

"Would you look at that," Dominus grinned.

Beam shared the same laugh. It was exhilarating. The fourth stone had moved with such effortlessness it was as though someone had hollowed it out overnight. In rapid succession, he lifted it ten times, matching his previous all time best. By the time he was done, his breathing was only slightly quicker than normal.

"That'll do for today, I think," Dominus said. "It seems you could comfortably complete the test now if you tried, but there's no point rushing it. Allow your body to recover some more and savour the victory.

"Savouring the victory does sound good," Beam grinned. "What about this speed test? You never did decide on a method for testing me."

"True," Dominus nodded, putting a finger to his chin in thought. "Well, I suppose we can tie it up together with your slaying of that corpse soldier. I'll get you to run all the way there carrying the first, then fight the corpse soldier and sprint back before midday. Oh, and you'll be setting off at dawn. So that gives you about two and a half hours to get the whole job done."

"That seems like quite a long time. How far away is it?" Beam asked.

"Mm, about ten miles west of here, on the plains," Dominus said.