A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"I think I probably might be," Beam said. He was about to decline her offer for lunch out of habit, but through his conversations with Nila, even the socially inept Beam was beginning to learn somewhat. He was making it difficult for them by constantly refusing any attempts they made to repay him. "If I'm free at lunchtime, I'll stop by. That sounds nice."

Both women blinked in surprise at his agreement, before they smiled, nearly at the exact same time. "It seems even you're learning a bit," Nila said teasingly. "You'd better make sure to come. These rabbits that I've caught aren't just any rabbits – they're the tastiest, I made sure of it before I caught them."

"Right right. I'm sure they're great. I'll do my best to come," Beam said. "But for now, I'd better go before it gets any darker. Good night."

"Good night, Beam! Careful on your way home."

"Make sure you don't walk into a tree."

Beam waved as he turned his back and made his way across towards the village square and towards Greeves' house. The merchants were already packing up their stalls as he neared the marketplace. He noted one stall selling clothes for the winter and he remembered that he was in dire need of new trousers.

He'd been walking around the past few days with half a trouser leg on one side cut off, and he was beginning to feel somewhat ridiculous.

He made up his mind to buy a pair if the merchants were still around when he finished with Greeves.

He knocked on the door to Greeves' house and Judas answered a moment later. Beam looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Even in the evening, you're quick to answer," he said.

"Not as late as the sky would tell you, just 'cos the days are getting shorter. The boss keeps me working eight hours a day, so no matter how dark the sky gets, it doesn't make no difference to me. Are you coming in?" Judas said.

"Yeah, I've finished up some quests," Beam said, stepping up into the house.

"Oh? Your leg feeling better already? You've got some lizard blood in you if you're healing that fast…" Judas said, glancing at his leg. "Mm… it looks much better than it did when I last saw ya, but damn, it's still in a bad way. You sure you should be out walking on this?"

"Probably not, but there's stuff to do," Beam said, as they made their way deeper in to Greeves' house. Candles had been lit as well as fires, and they cast a dim glow on the walls as they passed through.

"Well, the boss'll be pleased to hear it, I tell ya. He's been having some rough interactions lately – so hasn't been in the best of moods," Judas told Beam, just before they crossed the threshold into Greeves' office.

"Who's not been in the best of moods?" Greeves asked icily, without looking up from his work. He was busy scribbling on a piece of paper with a quill in hand. Only when he'd finished his sentence did he finally set the pen aside. "Ah, the man of every hour. Young Beam, mm? You'd better have some good news for me, boy, cos I'm up to my eyeballs in shit right now."

"I finished the wood quest and the food quest and I've finished filling in the ditches too," Beam told him, noticing that there was shattered glass all over the floor, presumably from where Greeves had thrown something at the wall.

"Hoh, now that is good news," Greeves said with a nod. "The two longest quests are all done. Excellent, excellent. How long did that take you to recover? Ten days? You back to full health now?"

"Not quite," Beam said, "but I'm slowly getting there."

"Mm…" Greeves tapped his finger against his desk as though irritated. "And this matter with the Hobgoblin? You still willing to take it on?"

"I am. In around a week," Beam said.

"This is getting to be a more serious matter than it was before, boy," Greeves informed him. "See, the balance of things has fallen out of my favour. Some of the little schemes I've had set in place are starting to tumble. They need something to prop them up. The corpse of that Hobgoblin you slay will do just that – it'll keep me in the green. Y'see now that there's more riding on this, don't ya?

If you fuck up, that's it for you," Greeves told him, pointing a finger at him as he spoke his threats.

Beam had to stifle a laugh. "Greeves," he said seriously, "I'm going to be fighting a Hobgoblin. Threatening to kill me outside that lacks meaning. If I fail, I'm dead anyway."

"Mm… True enough, but you're really going to piss me off if you fail. I'll sell your corpse as dog meat," he said, meaning every word. "And what kind of blade are you looking for? You better not be setting me too out of pocket with it."

At that question, the sword that immediately flashed through Beam's mind was his master's gently curved long sword. It wasn't quite as long as the swords that warriors often used, nor was its thrusting power as good, but as a tool of slashing, he couldn't imagine a more elegant blade.

"Have you ever seen a long sword with a slight curve in it? It's a bit shorter than normal," Beam asked.

"Not happening," Greeves said dismissively. "Those swords come across the Salt Sea – no one uses em' around here. Would have to get it custom-made at a smith. Be far too expensive. Definitely not happening. But if you want a blade that's slightly shorter, without the curve, then you'd want a bastard sword.

I can get you one of those."

Beam frowned a moment in disappointment. "…I suppose that'll do."

Greeves grunted at that and wrote something down on a scrap of paper. "Now, back to those quests. You sorted wood, food and the ditches in the roads, yeah? Good. A little letter to Ferdinand and that should keep me in the green," he reached into his drawer and withdrew his coin pouch, plucking out a silver coin and five coppers, before sliding it across the table to Beam.

Beam reached for them, but Greeves kept his hand clamped over them in place as he looked the boy in the eye. "Your name will be on the Elder's mind now. I don't care what the old bastard does – do not let it interfere with these quests. They need completing. If you fail in this, you'll have lived out your use to me and we will once more be enemies."

"I don't consider you anything less than that now," Beam said evenly.

Greeves grinned nastily at that and released his hand, letting Beam take the coins. "We've run into luck with the iron quest. After two years of digging, those digger boys have finally uncovered a bit more of that iron vein. Speak to the smith and he'll tell you how much iron he needs, and you'll be able to get it done in one fell swoop.

Other than that, don't forget the scouting quests or the last of the monster-hunting ones."

Beam nodded. "Is that it then?"

"Always impatient. You're a pain in the arse to deal with – especially when I'm already pissed. Yeah, go on, get going. I'll look into getting this sword of yours and you can choose what you want next time you're here. But you get those quests done and you get your leg healed up, there's no room for failure," Greeves said.

With that, Beam nodded again and made to leave. Judas walked him out.

"You really need to stop pushing the boss like that," Judas told him as Beam was going out the front door. "One day, he's going to snap and things will get nasty for ya. I've seen it happen a couple of times."

"I'll keep that in mind," Beam said as he stepped out.

Judas shook his head as he closed the door behind him.

It was already nearly completely dark outside, but some of the merchants were still busy putting away their stalls. Beam hurried up to a couple of the clothes dealers and managed to get himself a new set of trousers and a new coat, of higher quality than anything he'd worn in the past. Dark blue trousers of wool and a matching dark blue coat, with white wool collaring his neck.

With that, Beam made his way back to the forest, concluding the tenth day.

On the eleventh day, Beam had begun training with his master again, practising his martial arts and running and the stones. His leg still bothered him, but he forced the progress anyway and slowly but surely got his range of motion back.