A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 17: The Price of Power - Part 11

Beam listened to the list with wide eyes, as though opening them wider would help him process all the information being fired at him. He heard the mention of Battle – the strategy board game that Dominus had been teaching him as of late – and paled. He could hardly imagine scraping a single win past Dominus. In all their recent games he'd been beaten so thoroughly that it seemed like an impossibility.

He paled even further at the mention of making a friend and of getting on better terms with the rest of the village. These tasks were starting to seem impossible.

"…Is... Is that it?" He murmured, almost dizzy from the demands.

But Dominus merely frowned, smacking him on the head. "Of course it isn't, you idiot. You're going to have to get stronger. You're going to have to get faster too. Your stamina needs building… And as well as all that, I suppose I'd better teach you how to swing a sword and how to fight. You won't be much good against the Pandora Goblin if all you have is diplomacy."

Chapter 3 – Blood and Bruises

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The morning of the next day.

For the first time in what felt like a while, Beam was back in the parts of the mountain forest that felt very familiar to him – namely the area where he had rented his house.

Dominus had already split up with him, after giving him his tasks for the day. Beam kept looking over his shoulder to see if he could spy the old knight.

"How are you going to be able to tell whether I've done everything that you've told me to do?" Beam had asked that morning, as he was given his tasks by Dominus for his mission of going into town – well, into the village.

"Whilst I will not be walking beside you – for it would do my reputation no good to be seen with such an unsightly apprentice – I will be watching. You may not be able to see me, but I will see and hear everything that you do. You have no hope of trying to trick me," Dominus had assured him.

And so here Beam was, wrought with anxiousness, carefully picking his way down the muddy paths, finding his pace slowed the further he got to his house. It had been a few days now. Other villagers had definitely noticed the charred remains of his house as they went into the forest to forage, and word would definitely have spread to the landlord by now.

Which meant, that whatever happened as he made his return to the village, none of it would be good. Which brought Beam back to the tasks that Dominus had given him for the day.

"Sort out the problem with your house, so that people aren't out looking for your head. And then go into the village and buy me some bread. See if you can be friendly as you do it," Dominus had told him.

Beam didn't need to be reminded about the friendly part. He twisted his lips in annoyance. It was going to be extraordinarily embarrassing to try to be polite after so long spent being abrasive to everyone around him. They'd definitely think something was up, and they'd definitely think something was weird.

But Beam quickly ran out of time for such thoughts as he spied the familiar side track and cluster of trees that lead to his house. He took a deep breath and followed down it, knowing that whatever happened, it was best to get a look at the state of the mess first, and then he'd at least be able to grovel the appropriate amount.

It had rained the night before – and of course, Beam was caught outside during it, since that was where he had slept – making all the tracks slick with mud. And such mud was like a canvas for footprints. Every step anyone took would be recorded within the earth for a considerable amount of time.

"Damn it…" Beam cursed to himself. It was by the liberty of the rain and the footprints that sprang up in the dirt in front of him that Beam knew he wouldn't be alone at the house.

By the way the sets of footprints kept overlapping, Beam guessed that at least two people had gone towards his house at some time after dawn – when the rain had stopped. Unless they'd left by a different route, the chances were high that there'd still be there now.

Beam's legs just got heavier and heavier. The aches from the amount of physical exertion he'd undergone were one thing, but the awful biting anxiety of trouble was so much worse. He hated things like this. Begging for forgiveness… Begging for anything, really. Asking anything of anyone. He felt weak and embarrassed in moments like that, and his body would put up an incredible amount of resistance to avoid them.

He recalled Dominus' warning – that the entrance into the Second Boundary was always filled with much suffering. Whether it came from the inside, or the out, the natural laws of the universe would reject this new state of being for a time, and, to adjust to the new balance, it would take things from you.

Beam had lost his house after such an evolution. A house that he did not own, and a house that he was now in a considerable amount of debt for. He had also lost the security of his job and the promotion that he had just earned.

Yet, just like Dominus had said, in return for this sacrifice and the giving up of these things, the Second Boundary nourished a person with seemingly boundless opportunity. Once the initial suffering passed, it was as though the current of life was carrying them along with such love that it was almost frightening.