A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"You're afraid, Nila," it said again, in a voice that was almost familiar, though it seemed more like three voices in one, than any individual voice. "You are afraid to follow the path that he's followed. You're afraid of power. You fear the loneliness it will bring."

"I'm not…" even her denial was weak. Her sense of the battle was fading.

"What do you fear more?" The voice asked. "Will you leave them yourself, or will you be taken from them?"

"Neither!" Nila shouted.

"Greedy," the voice replied, she could tell that it was smiling. "Come, Nila, let us be greedy together."

"Damn you, Beam…" Nila said, tears in her eyes. "Just what are you making me? How far down this road do you intend to make me follow you?"

They were words of lament, but the deal was already done. Her emotions were a rage, and they would not be contained. They surged up through her stomach, and around in her chest. They came up all the way into her throat, and tightened it against words. She was a creature of only action now – emotional action it might have been, but it was potent action nonetheless.

"Kaya!" Jorah shouted. "Fall back now, you're going to get caught."

Kaya was tired. Jorah knew how hard he'd pushed him. Kaya had been picking up more slack than anyone else. His ability to restrict Oomly was unparalleled. He was the only one of them that could keep the big man occupied, even if only for seconds at a time. Now that he was fading, Jorah could feel his bridges beginning to burn.

He glanced to the left, and the right – everywhere else was stable. The men were fighting with unimaginable vigour. Those ex-slaves seemed to have hidden reserves of strength that even the soldiers could not tap into. Each one of them was fighting a hero's fight, believing that victory would be theirs.

Jorah was meant to be that route to victory, but he didn't have the tools necessary to execute it. No matter how he wracked his brain, they came up short. Oomly was too much of an unknown. His resilience was otherworldly. They needed something that could take him out in one blow, but with everyone so thoroughly exhausted, that proved to be an impossibility.

In the depths of hopeless darkness, something caught the corner of his eye. Light. Light illuminating a woman's form, tossing her wild red hair up behind her, cloaking her in a heavenly silhouette.

His breath caught in his throat. He'd never seen such a beautiful thing in all his life. Indeed, Nila Felder was beautiful at the best of times. There was a rugged toughness to her, and a competence that Jorah respected to no end. This, though, was almost unfair. How was a man meant to resist against the likes of that?

That look of intensity in her eyes, the sort of look that could bring a kingdom to its knees.

If not for Oliver's shout, Jorah might have found himself giving in to that look, but instead, the reaching hand that his Captain had inspired grasped that bright spark of hope. Without words, Jorah knew what was needed of him.

"Kaya! Follow me, when you've caught your breath!" Jorah shouted. For the first time in their engagement, Jorah intended to commit himself fully. A reckless manoeuvre, abandoning his post of command, it was the only path he could see towards victory. He was forced to trust.

He rushed in with his spear against the giant Oomly. The man's face widened in a childlike smile, as if he was being offered up his favourite food. He grinned, and swung that great sword of his, fully intending to split Jorah in two.

Then Kaya was there, closing the gap with his head down and his fists razed. He pounded at Oomly's body, knocking his greatsword off course. The giant grunted, and swatted at him, but Kaya ducked that blow as well. When it came to fists, it seemed unlikely that Kaya would ever be hit.

They had the man locked in place, but only for now. The second he grabbed one of them, it would be over. The hand that reached for Jorah was not one that he could dodge, but he didn't allow himself to be taken without punching his spear through Oomly's thigh.

The blow hardly seemed to phase him. He lifted Jorah in the air with one hand to his throat.

"N…ila…" Jorah croaked.

Nila found the shadow. The Wolf coaxed her into it, teaching her how a true predator hunted. Never in her life had she felt all her senses working so acutely. Unconsciously, she positioned herself downwind, without need, to mask a scent that couldn't be smelt.

She was given a task, for that greed of hers – the greed that she'd been coaxed into grasping. She wanted it all, but she had to hide that fact from everything, even herself, else her prey would note her intent.

She'd seen it in the woods more than once. Without sound, without scent, when she wanted it most, an animal had suddenly bolted, as if it could sense her cleanly. There was no proving it, but Nila knew that they sensed her want.

She killed that want, and she seized all that Claudia's Boundaries offered her. She punched through, pulling back her bowstring with the strength of a man three times her size – with the strength of a man of the Second Boundary.

She didn't just aim, she predicted. It was that which she'd missed in killing Rivera. Her precision was perfect and she grasped for foresight to match it.

Cloaked in darkness, Nila's arrow came. The most perfect shot that she'd ever sent. Its speed was unparalleled, its angle was unimaginable, and its prediction was perfect. Oomly stepped right into the shot. The arrow pierced his eye, and sped straight through his brain, coming out of the back of his head.

The giant groaned – but he remained standing. That monster, even with an arrow to the eye, showed no more than a stagger. Jorah and Kaya stared at him in disbelief, but with Nila's hunter's eyes, she could already feel the life that she'd claimed.