A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"It is he…" The woman murmured. There was emotion in her words now, for the first time that Beam had ever heard it. Yet it was a heavy and lamenting emotion. Beam couldn't tell whether it was anger, or something else, something considerably deeper.

Beam tried to pull away, but his movement only caused that woman's eye to focus on him more intently. "He who laughs at us… Oh God of Despair…"

The sergeant had drawn his sword, as he moved to Beam's side. He levelled his blade towards the woman, preparing to rid her of what life she had left at the slightest sign of a sudden move.

"Why..? Why you? Why why why why why why why why why why!?? WHY YOU?" The woman howled, her anger suddenly growing. Her fingernails dug deep into Beam's hand, drawing blood. He could have hit her, and scrambled away, but there was something about the madness in her eye that held him in place.

"Our loyalty… Our sacrifice… It meant nothing…" Those words came out in a whisper, as blood trailed from the woman's mouth.

Her gaze - that had fallen to the floor as she lamented - shot back up towards Beam. She shivered. Her whole body trembled. "Frightening… So frightening…" She murmured, no longer able to hold his gaze.

A moment later, what life she had left finally faded. The sergeant put two fingers to her neck to confirm it. "…That one's gone as well. Perhaps we should have questioned her."

"…Would she have answered us?" Beam asked, his voice quiet.

"A fair point," the sergeant agreed. "Are we done here, then? I think we've got all we can out of this damnable place."

Beam thought for a moment, his lips twisted. They'd certainly managed to cover some ground. The shroud of mystery that had haunted every corner of the village was beaten back slightly. And now they had a true warning, a true certainty of a danger to come – that mage.

For whatever reason, he was lurking near the village. For whatever reason, he was sending those monsters pouring in. Beam riffled through the papers once more, to see if there were any clues as to their purpose.

But all he found were odd diagrams, geometrical marvels, and texts written in languages that he could not understand. Even the letters themselves, at time, were so maniacally written as to be eligible. And throughout it all, there was that sigil of the boar head, burning on the stake.

"They had a use for the children," Beam noted, finally summoning up the courage to dab his finger in that purple powder. Despite his caution, nothing seemed to happen. It only felt like a particularly sharp hand. "Those collars. Perhaps they have something to do with the magic."

"You reckon they were using the kids to keep those monsters coming?" The sergeant stroked the stubble on his chin doubtfully. "But there weren't that many of them, were there? I don't know much about magic, but what about a kid could be so powerful that it'd be able to keep an endless stream of monsters coming?"

Beam nodded in agreement at that. "That is true. It was only last night that a dozen children went missing – and we find them in such a state. Something else had to have been used to fuel the stream of monsters… But then, what of the children? What of those collars? Why are they all so weak and sickly?"

The sergeant shuddered at his point. "…Whatever it was they were being used for, we ain't seen nothing yet. Is that what you're saying?"

The boy nodded cautiously. "We're done here. Bring some papers with you, and that purple dust. We'll show it to Lombard, see if he can make sense of it."

"And the bodies?" The sergeant asked.

"Leave them. We'll forbid the villagers from entering the basement. Lombard can come and inspect the scene himself," Beam said.

"Right," the sergeant nodded, only remembering once Beam had turned away to be self-conscious of taking orders from a boy so young.

As they returned, there were only a handful of children left. Nila looked towards them expectantly. "I heard shouting…" she said. "Was it one of the Elder's servants, as expected? Did you have to..?" Her voice trailed off before she mentioned the word.

Beam shook his head. "No, she was half-dead by the time we got there. She had a few words to offer us before she died for good. Someone got to them before us. The Elder is as dead as his servants."

"His body is in there?" Nila asked, shocked.

"What's left of it, anyway," the sergeant said, a grim expression on his face. "I'd advise you to take our word for it, little lady. That man won't be moving again, nor will those women."

Slowly, Nila nodded, trying to process the information.

Judas hopped down a moment later. "Huh? All done are we? Well, did ya kill the bastard?"

With him, Beam was more blunt. "Him and his servants were already dead."

"Wait, what? Eh? No way! What the fuck happened?"

"You can ask the sergeant once we're out of here. Hurry up and take the rest of the children up. Have the villagers come to collect them yet?"

"Aye, it's a right heartwarming scene up there… But never mind that! C'mon and fill me in, lad. We're pals, ain't we?" Judas said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Beam shot him a look, unable to keep the exhaustion off his face.

"Ah… alright, I guess I'll wait," Judas said cautiously, feeling a tension build.

Nila broke the silence. "With the collars off, all of the children seem to have woken up – but some of them are so weak they can hardly keep their eyes open."

"That's good then," Beam said, hefting one of the children up onto his back. The boy grasped at his shoulders a little too tightly, a little too fearfully, but Beam didn't complain.