A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

With a single quick movement, he swung his leg back over the side of his horse, hoisting himself into the saddle.

"About turn. We proceed to the east to make camp," the captain said. His orders were repeated by another louder soldier under his command, and soon the whole army was once again moving as one, snaking back along the road that they had come, before splitting off towards the east.

It was only then that Beam saw the many supply wagons the men had brought with them, coming out over the horizon, dragged by oxen, heading to the same spot in the east that Captain Lombard had marked out.

Greeves sighed with relief as soon as Lombard disappeared out of sight. "I knew nobility would be a pain in the arse to deal with – they always are – but to think he'd be that bad," he complained, before sinking back into his seat at the table. A roast chicken was sat steaming in front of him, and he eyed it for a second in thought, before tearing off a leg and biting into it.

The Elder shook his head in distaste. "That food is not for you," the old man said.

"No? Well, that fucker certainly doesn't want it. Seems to me that either I clean it off or the birds will," Greeves said, not slowing down his eating at all. He saw that the rest of them were still standing around staring. He pointed at Beam and Judas and then nodded at the chicken. "You want some Judas?

What about you lad?"

Judas broke out into a simple smile. "Go on then," he grinned, reaching in with a mucky paw to grab his share of the chicken.

"Fuckin' hell, look at the state of your hands. You been digging graves or something? Naw don't touch it when you're in that much of a state – I'll tear a bit off for you," Greeves said, complaining, before tearing off another of the chicken's legs and handing it to Judas.

"Thanks boss," Judas grinned, before taking a hearty bite.

Their little display was subject to the attention of the entire village, as everyone still stood stock still, not daring to move. And yet the merchant sat there, the sweat on his brow, a frustrating look in his eyes, as he heartily dug into all the food he'd prepared for the captain. It was he that managed to break the spell of the crowd as they finally remembered to breathe.

Some people echoed the Elder's words of disgust, whilst other people laughed, saying that it'd be a shame to let such good food go to waste – and that they fancied a bit as well. Greeves ignored them, and the murmurings of the crowd only continued to raise in volume, until people were well and truly freed from their trance and they began urgently discussing what had just occurred.

"Mm, you sure you don't want any, lad?" Greeves asked, as he and Judas quickly polished off the rest of the chicken, before moving onto the mountain of baked potatoes that had been prepared. "Judas, why don't you go and fetch that wine, eh? It's a nice bottle, be a shame to let it go to waste just 'cos that stuck up bastard doesn't know what pleasure is."

"Nah, I'm not particularly hungry," Beam said, as he watched the two men burn their way through the table of food.

"You're a foolish man, Greeves," the Elder said. "If the captain hears you talking like that, he'll have every right to kill you – such is the way things work in the city."

But Greeves just shrugged. "I'm subject to the man's whims anyway. Since it seems there's no pleasing him, I'm not gonna bother. May as well take what I please."

Beam had to admire the guts that Greeves had in the strangest of places. But Beam figured it was less bravery, and more that he hated someone telling him what to do. There was no way a man as ambitious as Greeves could settle for being beneath anyone.

"Well, if we're done here, I'm going to leave," Beam said, stretching. Some of the villagers were already beginning to filter back to their homes. He saw Nila's red hair through the crowd as she moved away with her family. She must have felt Beam's gaze, for she turned back to wave to him. Beam nodded in return.

"Please yourself, lad. I promised you a few silvers for this, didn't I? Since nothing happened, what's say we put that down to half, mm?" Greeves said.

"Yeah, no. It's a pity about the captain stealing half of your profits on the supplies you brought, but that's just how it goes, don't take it out on me," Beam said, already starting to walk away.

"Hah… You better keep that other stuff coming! That's one of the few threads of profit that's keeping me afloat lately. If any more of them get severed, I'm going to be in the shits," Greeves called after him.

Beam merely held up a hand in farewell as he left. He felt the Elder's gaze on his back as he went, along with the coldness of his soulless attendant, but Beam did not turn. Instead, he broke into a jog – he wanted to catch a glimpse of the army setting up camp, if he could, if only out of interest.

The days that followed were days of much progress for Beam and his associates. Nila worked hard with her hunting, whilst Greeves worked his underlings hard, making as much profit as he could from the soldiers' arrival. Beam, for his part, looked to get stronger.

In the mornings, he was drawn to the mountain river. That place where, just a short time ago, he'd absolutely hated to be when the coldness of dawn was in the air. But since it was in such a place that he had found the inspiration he needed to defeat the hobgoblin, his opinion of it changed.