A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 48: Battle With The Goblins - Part 14

But that didn't mean they could simply throw themselves forward without a single care.

"If they do, they'll die," Beam's eyes flashed dangerously, as he guessed what was going on behind him. With his back exposed and him clinging to the tree with seemingly nowhere to escape, the first of the Goblins hadn't been able to help itself and it had leapt straight off the top of the slope, its jaws wide, lacking the spear that it had thrown earlier.

Beam turned, surprising it strongly enough that even as mad and as fear-lacking as it was, the creature gave a squeal of surprise, before it fell onto the knife that Beam held extended, plunging itself through the chest.

The sudden change from the hunter to the hunted had left it unable to react in time, and it coughed up a mouthful of green blood as it lay there on the end of Beam's knife. It took but an instant for the anger to take over, as it parted its jaws once more and lunged in manically for Beam's neck.

This time it was his turn to be surprised. He hadn't anticipated that it would still have so much fight in it, even after he'd clearly hit a vital organ. He twisted, trying to throw it off his blade and town towards the bottom of the ravine, but he wasn't fast enough. A few of the little daggers that the Goblin had for yellow teeth, they tore into Beam's flesh and took with it a chunk from his shoulder as a parting gift.

With the tearing of Beam's flesh, the Goblin's last rope of stability also tore and it fell with a squeal down to the bottom of the deep ravine. A hard rock silenced it and it moved no more.

"That was it," Dominus murmured. "He's demonstrating skill far above his supposed level – but that isn't how progress is meant to work. You don't suddenly tap into things. You build them up over time. And that aura of darkness that comes when his eyes flash… The curse manifests itself… Perhaps he's not balanced at all."

With those words to himself, things started to fall into place for Dominus. But he hadn't seen enough yet to confirm his suspicions.

Watching the spectacle, the three Goblins that had just arrived didn't make the same mistake. They descended the slope together, leaving no openings for Beam to exploit. Beam grunted despite the pain in his shoulder and he rolled back onto the slope, allowing gravity to grant him speed as he searched for his next foothold to slow his momentum.

This time it was a boulder, buried into the side of the slope. Beam bounced off it painfully, slowing down just in time before he was dealt a serious injury. But he could wait no longer and it was straight on to the next obstacle. The Goblins were gaining on him with each passing second, and his only hope of salvation was the dark running waters of the mountain river.

"Guh." Every new obstacle that he used to slow himself brought a fresh jolt of pain. He was too panicked to make the absolute best decisions. The best his body could manage was merely keeping him alive as they went stumbling for the bottom of the ravine and the hope offered by the rocky riverbank.

Even as the slope began to grow more gentle, transitioning from cliff to the flat bottom of the ravine, Beam didn't let his momentum slow for a second. The gentler the incline, the more power he put into his legs, sending himself forward, doing what he could to avoid the Goblin attacks as they came.

One flew over his shoulder, just barely missing him as they hit the bottom of the slope. Beam barely spared it a glance as he rolled to his feet, conserving his momentum as best he could.

The creature was in front of him now though, to the left. Even as he worked to avoid it, it still managed to overlap its path with his. But as it lunged, Beam hit it with a well-timed kick, sending it sprawling, buying just enough time for him to reach the edge of the river.

"That's it!" Dominus murmured. "That strange overwhelming dominance… Why can that only manifest itself in flashes? Something is continually pulling it back."

"GOOD!" Beam shouted, even with his lungs so starved of air. For the river – despite being a little harder to reach than he'd hoped – it offered him the hope of crossing in the form of a wet log held fast against the rushing current by three jutting rocks. He knew he wouldn't be able to climb across it, given how slick and unsteady it was liable to be – but he didn't need to. He just needed it to offer some respite against the angry rushing current.

He didn't hesitate. He jumped straight into the river.

All the sounds of the world were drowned out as he was forced underwater – he could only hear the rushing of liquid and feel it as it desperately sought to drag him under.

Here, Beam was met with another near-fatal miscalculation. A rushing under current deep below the surface of the water, grabbing at his feet and attempting to force him down even deeper.

Beam could sense that the river here ran far deeper than one might expect from the lay of the land. There had to have been a cavern under it. From that under water flow, as soon as it got a true hold on a person, there was no escaping. Especially if their swimming skills were as meagre as Beam's.

He thrashed ungracefully to escape it, pulling his legs up into his stomach so the deeper current couldn't reach him and he clawed for the surface as his lungs burned, begging for him to breathe.

His hand reached up first, then his mouth managed to grab the slightest gulp of oxygen before the water forced its way into his lungs instead. He panicked even more and fought to stay upright, coughing as he did.

His back soon found the log that he had spied before he jumped in and it offered him just enough respite from the current to save his life.

He steadied himself on it, as it swayed back and forth, threatening to shift from its hold on the rocks and send Beam straight for the waterfall ahead of him. But Beam was careful with it, he only used it as much as he dared, as he slowly made his way across the river and climbed up the rocky ledge out onto the other side.

Exhausted, he stood with his knife in hand, glaring defiantly at the three Goblins on the other side. They howled angrily, making run attempts, as though seeking to jump the entire river, but then fear would get a hold of them and they'd back off.