A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 12: The Price of Power - Part 6

And then Beam wandered off the mountain path, staring down into the ravine as he went, eyeing up the river that would soon be his obstacle. But before that, he noticed an even more pressing problem.

Just a few steps away from his path, and he saw the way down was nearly as vertical here as it appeared on the opposite side of the river. Looking at the height difference between where he stood now, and where the river was, he reckoned it was about the height of a three-story house, which wouldn't be too bad, had the slope been more forgiving.

He took a cautious step onto it with a single foot, testing to see how quickly he was likely to fall down. He felt his impatience growing in him, knowing that Dominus would likely shout at him again if he didn't hurry up… But though it wasn't quite as steep a rise as it was on the other side of the river, it was still damn well steep, and with nothing to grab onto, he'd quickly lose his footing on the muddy slope and slide all the way to the bottom, likely smashing his head on one of the many stones on the way down.

Luckily, there were hardy trees growing out of the slope, and some fallen branches that looked like they might slow his descent somewhat. He eyed up all the obstacles that he could use to help him down, and he took his first attempt at going forward.

Only for the ground where he had placed his lead foot to immediately crumble, causing his foot to slide. Somehow though, instead of losing his footing entirely, his body had the sense to allow his leg to continue sliding, until it came to a dead stop, with him sat in a deep lunge.

Surprising himself, Beam marvelled at how he'd somehow managed to remain upright, glancing at Dominus as though to ask 'did you see that?'.

Dominus merely shrugged upon noticing his glance. "Seems you've got some balance," he said, "but this here is a test of speed and endurance, and you boy, are slow."

Beam couldn't refute that. Despite his little feat of balance that had surprised even himself, he was basically no closer to the bottom. Not only that, but now that he'd moved a little, his tired limbs were reasserting themselves with vigour. Not only were those stones from earlier catching up to him, all the new activity from the past two days were.

"Guhh…" He was feeling the pressure now, and, still sat in that deep lunge of his, was looking for a way to get out of it. He noticed the slight bit of fear that he was feeling after acknowledging the risks of not taking this seriously. Injury was all but certain if a mistake was made. A broken leg or a cracked skull, or if he was really unlucky, death. Despite that, he still wanted speed.

He noticed a tree a short distance away. There was no chance of him reaching it by mere stretching of limbs alone. In fact, it would require a good few steps before he could even try. But being further down the slope than he was, he had no doubt that he would be going at some speed before he met it.

Still, he had to try. He had to take risks to make up for his lack of speed.

Now, instead of fighting the pull of gravity that swept relentlessly down the steep slope, he gave into it, allowing it to pull him a little bit down, granting him increasing speed with each passing heartbeat. And then, just when he thought he wouldn't be able to stop, he met the tree just ahead and just barely managed to bring himself back to safety.

"Well, that wasn't too bad," he muttered to himself.

"You're making use of the terrain – good. You're getting a feel for the gravity too – good. But in speed, you are still lacking. You should have been good at those two things long before now. Come, show me your speed!" Dominus shouted down.

He didn't even have to shout really, for Beam still hadn't made it that far. At the comment about speed, he couldn't help but frown, for he had dared to boast of his speed a little to Dominus the day prior.

When he was younger, and still able to play without worry – a little time before his parents had died – not only was he a little stronger than the other children, by some small amount, but he was faster too. It was a combination that carried his childhood happiness. Being small in stature as he was, he was immensely proud of being able to out-strength kids much bigger than he was, whilst still being faster than even the smallest.

But as he had grown older, and endured slavery, he soon learned those small advantages were nothing in the real adult world. Not in their rawest form anyway.

And just as he had begun to see his strength improve – albeit slightly – he dared to dream of a return to his childhood position, his position as a little further ahead than everyone else.

Perhaps that was another reason that Beam hated losing, because he was so used to being at the top in those childhood years – of course, top is a relative term in this case, for it only meant being at the very centre of the peasant village children in terms of physical achievement and smarts – and he yearned for his place back there. Anything less felt like nothing.

There Beam caught himself smiling. He realized - as he felt his body working and solving a puzzle for the first time since his childhood play – that he was actually enjoying himself.

The fear was lessening now, and he spied the next tree. It was even further away from him than the last one had been, but he leapt for it without hesitation this time, growing bold enough to pick out his next landing point too as he ran towards it.

He barely glanced at the tree as he used it to slow his increasingly fast downward run, before he moved straight onto the next one.

And then on to the next one after that. And the next one after that.

Soon, the closer he came to the river, the quicker he was running out of trees, and instead, it was rotting logs that he grabbed. Logs that weren't attached to anything, but logs that offered just enough respite from the force of gravity to allow him to slow himself and alter his course.

Dominus watched him sprint down towards the river, growing faster the more time went on, and he nodded once. "Ah, but there is a limit."