A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"Oh? Are we not meant to be professors? No, I mean, beneath these pretentious titles of ministers, are we not just professors of a higher rank? And yet you insist it is not our job to correct the boy's ignorance? There seems a floor in that argument, oh dear minister. Would you point it out for me?" The youthful man said, his wit quick, as he lounged atop his seat of stone.

The old man opened his mouth to hasten a reply, but General Tevar cut them both off.

"Silence! Both of you! I will not have you march down the same beaten path with every meeting that we convene!" There was anger in the General's tone, but more than anything, what lay there was exasperation.

"A game then, Marcus, what do you say? Have the boy guess who we are. He clearly doesn't know, and old Lazarus there bemoans him his ignorance, but is a pupil's worth not his ability to learn, his ability to notice? Well, he hasn't been told directly, so let him guess.

Let us see whether the pup of old Dominus has more to him than his father's sword," the man said, his arguments were convincing, and from the way the others shifted in his seat as he spoke, Oliver guessed that he was accustomed to getting his way.

General Tevar sighed, a trace of his earlier strength leaving him, tiredness replacing it.

"If you must have your games, Hod, then have them quickly, before your words weary me more quickly than these years do," Tevar said, his voice dripping with reluctance.

The minister that Tevar had called Hod grinned at that. It seemed an unusually childish expression on his face. What followed that was even more childish, as Hod swung his legs up onto the arm of his chair, giving up all pretence, and lounging as properly as if this were his own chamber. "Go on then boy, impress us, you heard the man. Put the pieces together. It can't be that hard, can it?"

"Well, if you insist… I suppose I'd label you the Minister of Logic," Oliver said.

Hod's eyebrows raised at that, and a silence stretched on for long enough that Oliver assumed him must have been wrong, but the man's face broke out into a quick grin, and he clapped. "Ahh, perhaps we're more transparent than I thought we were. Ah, well, if you've guessed me that easily, the game is already over. There's no point seeing it through.

Go on then, Marcus, continue with your little courtroom."

"No, it was you who started the game, see it through to the end," Tevar said firmly. Oliver thought that such a line likely revealed more about the General's implacable character than anything else could have. He made note of the General's stubbornness – the man was, after all, one of the few who could teach him what he wished to learn.

"Then, I think, the man you were arguing with is likely the Minister of Information," Oliver said.

"Haha! It's too easy, I told you! Of course, the Minister of Logic and Information wouldn't get on – I keep telling you that it's only natural. Even a boy can see it!" Hod exclaimed, but this time he didn't try to get Oliver to stop before he had finished. Discover hidden content at empire

"I would name the man on the Silver throne the Minister of Coin," Oliver said, nodding towards the man decked out in the frilly finery of nobility. "And then I'd assume the man in the boiled leather to be the Minister of Blades."

"I wonder you away, oh Minister of Blades?" Hod said sarcastically. The minister of blades turned to look at him, his eyes narrowed menacingly, his boiled leather armour creaking as he moved. "Yes, yes, glare at me all you will Gavlin. I might fear your blade, but I do not fear your glances."

"Are we quite done with this farce?" The Minister of Coin sniffed, crossing his legs. His blonde hair was golden against the wrinkles of his middle-aged face. The way he looked at Oliver was beginning to grow familiar: a look of contempt. The man did not like him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

General Tevar cleared his throat, and spoke. "Well, Patrick, you find yourself more educated than you did when you stepped within the Halls of Judgement. Now, we finally move on to the heart of the matter. You are guilty of striking Professor Heathclaw, are you not?"

"Some weapons master he turns out to be when he gets tossed around by his own students," Hod said, stifling a yawn. "If you ask me, I think it's about time to get rid of the bore. He's loud, and irritating. If he's weak on top of that, then what use is he to the staff?"

"HOD!" General Tevar thundered, a vein bulging on his forehead. "That's quite enough! We've tolerated your outbursts out of respect for your position. You will now do us the courtesy of holding your tongue."

The Minister of Logic shrivelled back into his chair like a scolded child, and made a show of fastening his lips together, a show that Gavlin almost smiled at, whilst the other two responded with looks of exasperation.

"Well, boy, do you dispute these charges?" General Tevar asked.

"I do not," Oliver said. There were over two hundred witnesses. It would be foolish to claim otherwise.

"Are you aware that the sentencing for striking a professor is immediate expulsion?" General Tevar asked gravely.

"He's been here two days, and didn't even know who we are. How do you expect him to know that?" Hod pointed out. Oliver half expected the General to round on him, after he'd warned the man against interrupting, but Tevar merely grunted in acknowledgement.

"He makes a valid point. You almost certainly were not aware of these facts," Tevar noted.

"And yet, ignorance is no excuse," the Minister of Information chimed in. "If a child murdered his mother, we would not allow the child to escape sentencing, merely because of ignorance."