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role?’
    Brynd looked towards her. Rika had been impassive for much of the last hour. She had let him do the talking and the work, but now she stood up, and he stepped aside to wait for her to speak.
    ‘He is,’ Rika began, ‘working on my behalf, because of my family’s lineage, and because of the underhand methods that Emperor Urtica used to dethrone me. I have some
connection with the populace. My father’s reign was relatively popular – we expanded the Empire and provided stability. I seek nothing more than continuing stability.’
    ‘Indeed,’ Brynd said, ‘something as stable as a Jamur ruler would be preferable. It would make any transition much easier to withstand. It would help morale, give people
something to cling on to.’
    ‘What’s that to us?’ Coumby asked, and there were gasps then. ‘What’d you do if we all sat here, lass, as we are, and did nothing to help you?’
    Even Brynd raised an eyebrow, anxious to see how she would take such talk.
    Rika smirked, then laughed. ‘You would probably all die, and I would do nothing to stop that from happening.’
    ‘Tough talk for just a pretty thing,’ another merchant said. Coumby laughed into his own smoke.
    ‘What is your name?’ Rika asked.
    ‘Broun, Hant Broun,’ the red-bearded rake of a man replied.
    Rika looked to Artemisia and all she did was nod: the massive warrior stepped towards the merchant, hauled him spluttering from his seat and thrust him against the wall. He skidded smoothly up
the obsidian surface as Brug leaned casually out of the way. With one arm thrust against his throat, Artemisia reached over her shoulder with her free hand and drew a sword out with a slick zing,
and held the point to Broun’s throat. Not one person tried to rescue Broun, whose legs kicked back against the wall to support his weight.
    ‘Um, Lady Rika . . .’ Brynd hissed. ‘Call her off – we need these people on our side.’
    ‘We need no one,’ she whispered bitterly. ‘They should fear us.’
    ‘These men would rebuild our world for us!’ Brynd snapped.
    Rika said nothing but stared angrily at the table. Brynd called for Artemisia to release her grip, and the warrior woman simply removed her hand and let Broun crumble to the floor before she
walked back to Rika’s side under the gaze of everyone in the room.
    Great, just great , Brynd thought.
    ‘This,’ Rika said, ‘this is an example of what will happen to us all. See the might we are dealing with? This is someone who is on our side , who wishes to make a
peaceful union with our nations. You can either work on your own, as you have always done, or for once you can put aside your own little empires and join together.’
    ‘You mean,’ Coumby said, ‘unite to protect yours.’
    Rika turned and glared at him, before nodding. ‘If that is what you wish to call it,’ she said, ‘but what other option have you to hand? None, I can tell you that much. Either
you unite for just a short period, with great rewards at the end of it for those of you who do, or all you’ve ever worked for will be destroyed anyway. We will have creatures much
stranger-looking than Artemisia here coming into our world and destroying everything you have ever achieved, not to mention your friends and your family.’ As the room fell silent, Rika moved
towards her chair and sat down. ‘Everything will be wiped out. Now, we need supplies, we need a building programme, we need jobs and most of all an army kitted out to defend our shores. Put
simply, we need your money.’
    Brynd watched these impassive faces show sudden concern. At one end of the room, Broun was now on his feet, dusting himself down before he snuck out quietly, without his dignity. Someone nearby
chuckled.
    ‘I’m in,’ Coumby declared, ‘should the offer suit me. We can help each other. To our mutual benefit.’
    Following Coumby’s lead, a few other merchants threw in their hand, obviously wanting a slice of whatever was on