A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"He's going to get hurt like this," Karesh said, frowning. "What's he so afraid of?"

Jorah sighed with exasperation, but said nothing. He, like the rest of them, decided that it was probably an exercise in futility trying to explain it to Karesh.

"That being said…" Oliver murmured, narrowing his eyes. "This isn't looking good."

Of all the things that one didn't want to allow a pack of goblins to do, it was to surround them. As soon as the goblins could surround a foe, they could make full use of their numbers and their recklessly coordinated attacks. It was fair to say, that in an encirclement, the goblin's difficulty as monsters shot up a great deal.

And, of course, that was exactly what Kaya had let happen right out of the gate – he'd gotten himself surrounded. He had trouble willing his legs to move, and the goblins had easily rushed past the point of his spear whilst he was still stalling, and put themselves in a ring at his back.

"Behind you!" Jorah shouted. Then the first goblin came, throwing himself at Kaya's shoulder. It was the sort of position that should have allowed it to inflict a near-fatal wound, but when its mouth chomped down, the only thing that met it was metal. The light plate armour of Kaya's father saved him from that attack.

He turned his head, shock written on his face, apparently understanding just how close he'd come to something dangerous.

Now it was a goblin spear speeding towards his midsection. Again, it was Kaya's armour that he was forced to trust in. He wielded his spear, but it was far too late. The attack came in, biting into the area of his stomach. Once more, it was the armour that stopped it, but only barely, for the flint point had managed to gauge a good mark in it, almost breaking through.

It was an embarrassing display, if one viewed it purely in terms of the techniques utilised. It was as though Kaya had never held a spear in his life. Even when the fear gave way ever so slightly to adrenaline, and his feet could move once more, he failed to put any of his hard practice to use. His arms were like those of another man.

None was more aware of how pathetic he looked than Kaya himself.

"Damn it…" He said, seeing the goblin teeth come closer, and closer. He realized that he wasn't going to die. He had people there that cared for him, and they'd stepped in before it went too far, but his body simply wouldn't listen to that fact, and his mind raced with all sorts of unnecessary thoughts that stopped him from using his techniques.

'They're watching… DO SOMETHING!' An angry part of him thundered to himself. 'She's watching too! You look pathetic!'

That was the worst part. This was an opportunity for him to finally show off, and do something. He'd practised, and though he hadn't come up with anything special like Karesh and Jorah had, he thought he'd at least have something to show for it… yet here he was, left with nothing at all.

His classes weren't going well. Even his Lord, Oliver Patrick was aware of that fact. He was in serious danger of being cut from a few of his classes, if he failed any more exams. It was only really combat that could save him, and Kaya was more interested in it than any of them. More interested even than Karesh.

Karesh knew the battles, who had claimed who's head, but Kaya was interested enough to know the why. He knew the history, the dates, the reasons, and even the strategy, at times. Even Jorah was impressed when it came to his battle knowledge. One would think that would make Kaya good at his history classes at least, but even there he couldn't demonstrate a fraction of his worth.

History demanded from him essays that he couldn't even fathom writing – he was just a boy who liked history. Stay connected via My Virtual Library Empire

He had no speciality, and here again, he was failing. This was the one place he could envision himself being – on the battlefield – but even here his body and his talents betrayed him. Fear overran him, and there was nothing he could do.

He was an embarrassment. Both to himself, and to his family. No one would ever look at with even an ounce of admiration, and certainly not the girl that he liked. She was far too high standing for him. Her skills far outnumbered his own. Even against goblins, he could show nothing.

"Kaya!" Jorah shouted to him. "Don't give up! Don't show them your back!"

He'd already done that though. Their encirclement was not something Kaya could easily deal with. He was so painfully, dreadfully embarrassed. He wanted to curl up on a hole and hide. The only thing that started to outweigh the embarrassment was the pain that he now felt in his shoulder, as a goblin clung to his back, and reached with its claws through the cracks in his armour.

His body twisted of its own accord, tossing the creature off, and flinging it over head.

To everyone's surprise – and more so to Kaya's – that little twitch on instinct succeeded in its purpose. More than that – he launched the creature a fair distance.

As the others marvelled in surprise at the sudden display of strength, only Kaya didn't notice what he'd done. Another goblin hit Kaya's back, and the anger began to outweigh the embarrassment.

"Off!" He cried, frustrated at himself, frustrated with the goblins. His spear was of no use in his hands. He didn't know how to use it. Besides, it didn't help much when the goblins were in this close, especially when they were on his back.

He let one hand slip off his spear, and reached over to his opposite shoulder, finding the goblin that was slung there. His grip tightened on it just as the creature found the crevices in his plate, and got its fingers in to pain him. The same jolt of instinct ran through him, the urge to throw the damned thing off, but this time he had a hand to support that want.