A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 1919: Poison Fangs - Part 1
"Tempest, Verdant, that is my name," Oliver said. "I share no blood with Dominus Patrick. He was my teacher."
Verdant withdrew his eyes. Oliver drove his heels into his horse, intending to breach the edge of Hod’s engagement with the enemy. To secure an attack on the rear of Tiberius’ men as he reunited with his own forces. Verdant kept pace, surprising him. Oliver looked over. The man’s expression was as serious as Oliver had ever seen it. Oliver waited, expecting that harsh judgement from the man who had already said such harsh things.
"Your grandness, my Lord, it overwhelms me."
"What?" Oliver said, caught off guard. Not only for what he said, but for the title that Verdant gave him.
"You are a peasant by birth, are you not?" Verdant said, grinning wildly now.
"I am," Oliver said strangely lucid, but almost as frightened of Verdant as he had begun to grow frightened of Tiberius.
"Then, you are a creature beyond even my reckoning," Verdant said. "You have eternally accused me of having too high an opinion of you – but now it is evident. My opinion of you has never been high enough. Those scars on your back, those are the marks of a slave, are they not?"
"They are," Oliver said.
"Then you are my Lord," Verdant said. "You shall remain that forever, with a certainty. There is none that I would rather serve than you. Your story shall not end here – I do not know how we shall overcome that which is in front of us, but now I am certain that we shall. I thank you my Lord, for allowing me into your confidence."
Chapter 29 – Poison Fangs
Queen Asabel did not die quickly. Tiberius made sure of that. She was both the strength that bound Blackwell’s grand force together, and in the end, she was the very reason that it had weakened.
There were many pleasures that Tiberius made sure to snatch out of the world whilst he was still existent in it. Pleasures guaranteed to him by his title of Emperor. But exacting the suffering that he did on the rebellious army of Queen Asabel and General Blackwell, few pleasures had come close to that.
For the mark that Karstly had left on his cheek, Tiberius had made sure to see him pay. The man had broken even more quickly than the rest. Tiberius would not have thought that either. But the collapse of Asabel had been his own collapse. Tiberius’ blade had found his gut, and left him dying by the side of his saddle, until Tiberius had dealt with the rest of the army, and could pay him the parting gift of a short amount of torture.
Blackwell had been courageous in mounting his resistance. His Queen had been dying behind him, and he’d lost his competent General in Karstly, but the man had pulled together with Broadstone and Skullic, and he’d been valiant. And, in truth, their valiance had made the pleasure of breaking them all the better.
They had tried to mount their defence, and gather their remaining men, but already there was a song of victory playing for Emperor Tiberius, with a sweet and lilting note, that came whenever he raised his hand to give the signal. The sword thrust through Queen Asabel would turn, ever so slightly, emitting the most wondrous of screams. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
The key to their demise, that was what she was. The terrible screams of their beloved Queen. Hardly was there ever a quicker way to see the morale of an army crushed. Their Generals had tried to hold their resolve, but they too had quickly been crushed by it. Blackwell had fought, always looking over his shoulder, knowing full well that in losing Queen Asabel, he had lost regardless. He’d fought, even as Skullic was slain by Tiberius himself, and Broadstone fell amongst the melee.
Tiberius had made sure, once more, that Blackwell would fall by his hand. He had circled him, and the remaining few hundred men that he had, and he’d ground every last drop of pleasure that he could out of the display.
"Wonderful little creature of House Black, dance for me," Tiberius had said. "You do know the rhythm of this song... How does it go?"
The screams of Queen Asabel had answered that question for him. When the battle had quietened down some more, he’d had her bound, exhausted, and dying, and dragged over, from the back of the horse, so that Blackwell could see her face, as he struggled towards his death.
"My Queen... Please forgive me," Blackwell had said, tears and blood staining his face, when he saw the state that his monarch was in from so up close.
"There is... naught... to forgive... Lord Blackwell," she had said, bravely. Sickening was that bravery. Tiberius had put a knife to her cheek for that, not enjoying it, and he’d left his first mark on her, evoking a roar of rage from General Blackwell.
"You bastard," he had growled, like a lesser man. "Justice will find you."
"THEN HAVE IT FIND ME!" Tiberius had shouted back, disliking the empty threat. "You have your glaive – have it find me!"
Blackwell had fought towards that end, as Tiberius continued with his knife on Asabel in front of her. He’d fought until he could hardly stand on his unsteady legs, and until there was not a single ally left standing around him, only a wall of well-plated men.
"Well?" Tiberius said, raising an eyebrow at him, sneering at him through his opened lip. "Is this it? Is this the justice that you promised me?"
Blackwell only glared back in reply. Eyes still full of fire, just as much as they were drowned out by sorrow. Tiberius hissed, and he severed Queen Asabel’s nose in reply, making uglier the beautiful face that he had already so marked. Blackwell wilted, but he didn’t break. Nor did she. The two of them – there were still sparks of life there, sparks that should have belonged to Tiberius, that he desperately tried to make his own, before they departed from the world that they currently existed in.
"You are a truly pathetic creature," Queen Asabel told him, her voice strong, and terrifying. She had not said a word in so long, and her breathing was shallow enough that it could hardly have moved a fly – yet she gathered herself for that single pronouncement. Terribly malformed as she was, she made sure to look him in the eye as she said it. Bravely, proudly, all the way to the end.
