A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"Too soon," Verdant muttered, for what must have been the hundredth time. He'd been murmuring that to himself as he lay down on his bed after Asabel's people had deposited him, but now he finally had the strength to say it as he sat up.

"What is?" Jorah asked pointedly. The same question that was on the tongue of all of them.

"Their movements," Verdant said. "They moved far too soon… It's only been a day. Or has it been two? Ah, no, merely a day. They shouldn't have had the information leaked so soon."

"What information?" Jorah pressed. Verdant looked up at him, staring through him, with his pale blue eyes. He seemed to come to some sort of decision as he studied him, as he sighed aloud, and muttered to himself.

"They are the ones who propose the taboo, not I… There is no reason to… And they're trustworthy enough. They have a right to know – a reward for their loyalty," he murmured to himself, half-delirious. The poison had not made him a particularly presentable man. His fingers continually shook with spasms, and his forehead was clammy with sweat. He pushed on regardless.

"You know of the Boundaries, Jorah?" He asked.

Jorah hesitated. "I know only that it is taboo to discuss them… and those strong individuals amongst the assassins were of the Second Boundary, and that they've received a Blessing of some sort…"

Verdant nodded. "A Blessing from Claudia."

Jorah did not look particularly shocked, not as much as Kaya and Karesh did. "A Blessing from a God..?" He mused. "What are the conditions of such a thing? Is it arbitrary? Is it only for the nobility?"

"No, it is not arbitrary. One has to meet the requirements of progress, responsibility and suffering for Claudia to deliver her Blessing. Forgive my impatience in explaining this, but that is all I can summon the energy to say, with the hope that you will be able to understand what I state next," Verdant said.

"I think I understand," Jorah nodded firmly. "Can I confirm that yellow-shirts are capable of the same things?"

"The Gods do not discriminate like we humans do," Verdant said.

Jorah looked relieved, and nodded once more. Karesh and Kaya looked more unsure and Verdant noticed that. "I'll explain it to them later," Jorah told him. Verdant looked relieved at that. He was having trouble merely speaking.

"Then, let me continue. Oliver Patrick, our Lord, has passed the Second Boundary at the earliest age in our history. That caused a stir. It is the sort of event that isn't mentioned lightly. It's the sort of thing that few people believe – he's too young for it. Eighteen, seventeen – those are the genius years.

Fifteen is an impossibility. The faculty agreed to keep it relatively quiet, in light of the taboo, and more so because few believed it in the first place," Verdant said.

"I see," Jorah nodded. "So his early ascension has attracted the wrong sort of attention, is that what you're saying?"

"No," Verdant said, hesitantly. "It isn't merely that. Our Lord himself has not said it explicitly, but the Minister of Blades and I saw it for ourselves. In defeating the Boulder Crab, he managed to break through to the Third Boundary. Even my connection with Bohemothia gives me no assistance in explaining that. Lord Galvin was similarly as troubled, but he was forced to report it nonetheless."

The room went quiet as Verdant paused his explanation for a moment. The three retainers shared looks of disbelief. Even Kaya and Karesh who did not understand the talk of Boundaries fully were following along well enough to realize just how impossible such an achievement was.

"Out of curiosity… How old is a man typically of the Third Boundary?" Jorah asked.

"If you passed through to the Second Boundary and twenty, and achieved the Third by thirty, you would have been praised as a genius," Verdant said.

"I believe I'm beginning to understand the unease that his enemies feel," Jorah said.

"Indeed," Verdant said seriously. "The old enemies of Dominus Patrick feel the growing threat. They expect that as Oliver Patrick's power grows, the danger to their own lives grows. They're moving to quell that, unaware that he doesn't seem to particularly care about past grudges."

"This assassination attempt then…" Jorah asked.

Verdant nodded. "It was their first attempt. Even in that, they underestimated him. They thought him to be a fledgling of the Third Boundary, and treated him as they would normally treat a man who had newly passed through to the Third.
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But our Lord defies their understanding – he defies our understanding, too, though I feel I have a better grasp on his truth strength than many… I simply can not explain yet why it is so."

"They fumbled this chance, but they'll strike again," Jorah realized, but Verdant shook his head in response.

"No, I expect not," he said. "This was their only true shot. If they could have killed Oliver Patrick in that corridor, then that would have been their most perfect outcome. Now they've made it clear to the Kingdom – even those that do not speak it – that they want Oliver Patrick dead. If they move again, blatantly, people will begin to ask the wrong sorts of questions.

I do not believe they will risk such a thing."

"And yet," Kaya said, clenching his fist. "They have him rotting in a cell – just because he defended himself."

"Not because he defended himself," Verdant corrected, "but because of who he is that he dared to defend himself. Even through outright lies, as long as their statements contain enough truth in them, they will spread across the Kingdom as the whole truth, and people will believe them. Their plan, from the start, it was already checkmate. We were caught flatfooted.

We didn't expect an attack to come so soon."

"What do we do, then?" Karesh asked. "We bust him out? We escape?"

Verdant shook his head. "No. Even if that was an option, Oliver Partick would not stand for it. It would mean to cut himself off from all that he aims to achieve – no, he would never tolerate such a thing. Our only hope – if one can call it a hope – is to pray that our Lord has more allies than we previously assumed… With Lord Blackwell away on his campaign, he has no truly powerful allies.

Perhaps it might be time to finally pay a visit home myself…"