A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"Games, Hod. My time is short, and perhaps the boy's is even shorter. If you have something to say, speak it," Skullic said impatiently.

"You seem to forget that I am a Minister when you address me, Skullic," Hod said.
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"And you seem to forget that I am a General when you address me, Minister," Skullic replied, towering over the smaller man in his weighty armour. Even though Hod was dressed in nothing but the plainest cloth, he didn't seem intimidated in the least.

The Minister of Logic smiled. "Even when our interests align, you give no ground, do you? Well, I suppose I shall stop pushing for now. Your irritating ways aside, there's a man who is being considerably more irritating as of late. I come bearing a warning, just in case you might have missed it."

"The warning was the letter itself, was it not?" Skullic said. "Or do you believe that I wouldn't have received it."

The Minister smiled at Skullic. "A competent strategist you are, Skullic, but have you ever once beaten me?" Hod asked. It was a comment that made the General go painfully quiet. "As I stated – there is something that you have overlooked. Or rather, not yet been informed of. The bastard Hoovel Macalister is dead."

"Impossible!" Skullic said, nearly shouting. "We received the missive just last night. Are you saying you have an information network that's fast enough to defy such recent news?"

"Ah, assuming such news was accurate," Hod said, smiling. "The trouble with you, Skullic, is that you still have some shred of trust for systems that were corrupted long ago. I am jaded enough that the facts you take as self-evidence are the very facts that I question. A little digging confirmed my suspicion – Hoovel Macalister has been dead for over a week.

You understand what this implicates, do you? How about you, young Patrick? Can you foresee the trap that you've fallen into?"

Oliver didn't need to consider it for all too long. "If Hoovel is dead, yet the forces are still there in rebellion… and the High King deliberately concealed that information…"

"Go on," Hod said, encouragingly.

"He must have replaced Hoovel with a man of his own," Oliver dared to finish.

"Indeed," Hod said, putting the final nail in the coffin of that all too potent truth.

"Damn it!" Skullic cursed, grinding his teeth. "We've been had!"

"I'm afraid so," Hod said, though he still seemed to be remaining impossibly calm.

That was basically all the advantage that Oliver had, he'd assumed. Skullic had assumed the same as well. They'd thought that, given Oliver's strength as a Sword, there would at least be no individual present on the battlefield who could match him in single combat.

If the High King had been involved in setting the Commander, as Hod suggested, then that one variable seemed to also have been dashed firmly from their favour.

"He has more than a few Generals under his command," Skullic said bitterly. "And they're competent enough. Whatever tricks the boy can learn in Command will never be able to match theirs by the time they do battle – and it remains to be seen whether he could beat them in single combat either."

"Indeed," Hod said.

"You're too calm," Skullic said, irritated. "I thought you came here to nurture your precious 'Tigers'? Why are you standing here, smiling, when one is being sent so obviously into the grave, along with a hundred good men."

"You're a precious creature, Skullic. For you to care as much for the Serving Class as you do – it is a quality much of the nobility would do to emulate. I'm afraid, I cannot say I share the same opinion. Whilst I believe in the power of the masses to afflict change, I believe it will always, more likely, inevitably fall to the presence of a few great individuals who see that change happen.

I can not promise to save your men," Hod said, "no matter what you might ask me."

"Then what can you promise, you who claim so quickly to be my superior in matters of strategy?" Skullic asked, more than a little disgruntled at being made to seem inferior to the small Minister.

"Nothing," Hod said, his smile widening.

Skullic's eyes widened at the same rate that Hod's smile did, and a vein appeared on his forehead. "And why do you seem so content about that fact?"

"Because I have belief," Hod said. "In the place of all strategy, it seems to be a fitting substitution when the matters cannot be calculated. Oliver Patrick, where would you say you stand at the moment?"

"That's a broad question… Minister," Oliver said, carefully.

"Intentionally so. Your interpretation of it will reveal more about the state of your mind than anything asked directly," Hod said. "Answer it instinctually if you at all can."

"I stand… In a zone of progress, currently," Oliver said, responding as if it were Dominus asking him the particular question. It was only Dominus who had ever asked him anything of the like, after all, and Oliver had always responded similarly, as he felt the walls of his own limits, and tried to navigate towards a higher plain.

For some reason, Skullic looked taken aback by that answer, whilst the corner of Hod's eyes crinkled in delight.

"You strengthen Tigers on strong prey, good General," Hod told him. "The High King has doubted Oliver more than once. What do you suppose the reason behind that is? Incompetence? Do you suppose they simply didn't have sufficient information on his current strength?"

"Unlikely," Skullic said, "given the amount of spies that man has, that would be all but impossible."

"Indeed – and so why did Oliver manage to sidestep the assassination attempt so strongly?" Hod asked.

"He progressed at a rate that they could not conceive of," Skullic replied, cautiously.

"Do you see your route to victory, Oliver Patrick?" Hod said. "They've estimated your strength to a certain degree, and they've met out all that they believe they need to bring you down. He is no longer cutting corners. What you are doing in that village you've acquired has not escaped his attention, just as it has not escaped mine.

This will be the boldest attack that he can make on you in a good while – survive this, and you will have the period of peace that you are looking for."