Once again, Atau had been forced to play the role of a diplomat. However, this time he felt much more comfortable with his responsibilities. This time, he didn't have to negotiate some fragile alliance between lords; and he didn't have to pick between any number of Villca heirs either. This time, the negotiations were about war, and he was here to intimidate people.

“Official Atau, what great fortune to meet once again.” Across from Atau sat Lord Vareo, who looked smug as he pretended politeness. What a great feeling it must have been for Port Ulta's ruler to lord it over the man who had slighted him in the past. Even more so now that he would feel safe. After all, they had met within the salon of Vareo's private mansion inside his own city; and while Atau had come alone, Vareo was backed by a host of guards and guests who stood at attention behind his seat.

“Yes, it sure has been a while, Lord Vareo.” Atau narrowed his eyes as he ignored the known and unknown faces meant to intimidate him. “You don't have the guts to meet with the representative of your king in even a neutral location, is that how it is? We had to meet in your own little town?”

“King Corcopaca might be a great military leader, but he is no great ruler. At the very least, he is not fit to be this lord's king and holds no power here.”

“What, you want to switch sides to the north just because one of those foreign mercenaries did something stupid on his own?”

Rather than angry, Atau looked sour at the lord's flat rejection of Corco's influence. When they had first arrived in the south, Mason had used cannons to force Vareo into giving them supplies for their journey across the country. The little solo adventure had caused them nothing but trouble since. As far as excuses to betray the southern kingdom for a more lucrative offer went, it was indeed a good one. However, to Atau's surprise, the lord didn't rely on Mason's attack to justify his actions.

“No need to shift blame onto a dead man, Official Atau. This lord has heard that the man you have made responsible for the incident has already received his just deserts. Though whether or not he truly was the one who launched the cowardly attack on this lord's estate remains uncleared, it matters little, as this lord is magnanimous. Such a minor incident would not force this lord to become disappointed with the southern kingdom. Starvation, however, would.”

So this is the angle he wants to play, huh?

“You're exaggerating.” Atau tried to play down the difficulties of Port Ulta during the war. Although he had come to pick a fight, he would feel much more comfortable if he could appear righteous.

“Sure, you didn't get to buy grain from Saniya for a bit, but we were already working hard to solve the problem at that point, and we told you as much. You only needed to be a bit more patient and your magnanimous king would have given you all the wheat and rice you needed.”

“And how was this lord supposed to know that Official's mission was to be a success?” Bemused, the lord raised his cup and drank some wine, time enough to order his thoughts. No matter what, he was a traitor by all rights. He needed good excuses if he wanted to avoid exclusion from the other lords in the future.

“For that matter, how was this lord to know that there was a mission in the first place? Could the entire search for new trade routes not have been an excuse to make the lords endure throughout the winter? All the people of Port Ulta knew for certain was the color of our grain silo's floor, and that the king's own greed and dealings with craftsmen had caused needless friction with the central kingdom. Thus, the lords of the center were not willing to sell us the grain we needed to live. When even our own king had denied us support even though he sold to others, what else were we to do than turn towards those who were still willing to supply us?”

Since he knew that their side was in the wrong, Atau was unwilling to discuss the point further. No matter what excuses he brought up, it was true: Corco had prioritized other regions over Port Ulta and sold their limited grain to areas he could exert some control over. However, that was still no excuse for Vareo to work with foreigners.

“Fine, Saniya won't hold this matter against you. Still, now that the grain of the southern kingdom is secured and the war is about to come to an end, Lord Vareo can once more swear his fealty to King Corcopaca. No one will judge you, and you will be treated like all the other lords within the kingdom. We will just forget about the entire incident. All you will have to do in return is to hand over Epunamo Villca.”

Again, Atau looked at all the faces standing behind the lord. Unfortunately, he didn't find the face he was looking for, the oldest Villca heir who had hidden inside the besieged Cashan all these months and had since escaped.

“This lord has never sworn his fealty to King Corcopaca, so there is no reason to do so 'once more'.” Vareo laughed and sipped some more wine. The longer their conversation lasted, the more comfortable he seemed to be in his role as a rebel. “Further, this lord does not know Lord Villca's location.”

Even calling him Lord Villca as if he's already the master of Cashan, huh? Looks like there is no point in playing nice anymore.

“You know, your two friends also never swore fealty before. Those great lords also thought they could escape the influence of the southern kingdom and stab us in the back at the crucial moment of the war. But once Corco won his battle with Pacha and came back south to hand them their reckoning, they got smart pretty quick. By the time I reached their fancy mansions with my offer, they had already changed their tune and buried me in treasures and excuses. Do you want to do the same, or do you want to see the southern army at your doorstep before you are convinced?”

At this point, Atau really had no interest in any more nonsense. Before Corco had to release the warriors of the southern estates and thus dismiss the southern army, at least they could still have some fun with it and make up for previous mistakes. However, Vareo only laughed in the face of the threat, his languid body sprawled over his lounge chair.

“Unlike my former allies, this lord does not fear death and would rather fight than live under control of a tyrant with no sense of justice.” Atau wanted to explode at the self-important attitude already, but Vareo raised his hand just before the captain was about to jump up. “Before Official offers any more empty threats to Port Ulta: The Port is not weak like the other estates in the east. We are one of the great estates of the south, no less than Cashan, and do not fear your armies. Not to mention, we have made some valuable friends in our search for grain, and this lord is convinced they will support us in times of need, even in the face of an unjust invasion.”

For the first time since he had sat down, Atau looked out of the large, east-facing windows of the salon, towards the Arcavian ships moored in the distant harbor. Just the number of vessels here was comparable to Atau's fleet on the east coast, and from experience he knew that their cannons were even more potent than his own. Worse yet, there were many more ships like these across the Weltalic Sea, ready to get involved should a real war ever break out. Meanwhile, Atau had no way to get any more reinforcements. Although their new shipyard would soon produce its first galleons, it was built on the wrong side of the Isles and would only ever release ships into the western sea.

At last, the view of the distant fleet made Atau understand an uncomfortable truth: Whether or not Lord Vareo really was willing to work with his new masters from Arcavia, he didn't have much of a choice either way. Not with all those cannons aimed right at his head at all times. His position was different from the other lords, whose estates were situated inland. With these ships, the Arcavians had complete control over the Port, and Atau doubted they would just leave if Vareo asked them nicely.

After some strategic talks with Corco and Fadelio, he understood quite well what the Arcavians had tried to achieve with their surprise attack on Cashan. If they controlled Port Ulta and the two estates to its west, they would only need Cashan to control a complete strip of land leading from the Weltalic Sea all the way to the Narrow Sea, and eventually into the Verduic Sea and Chutwa. All this time, the Arcavians had tried to establish their own trade route to the distant west, and here was the chance to establish one they could control themselves. Better yet, it was the shortest possible land route across Yakuallpa.

This far south, even the Sallqata Mountains were much lower in altitude and thus much easier to cross. After they used the grain sales to gain control of the three crucial estates during the war, all the Arcavians had to do in order to complete their trade route was to win Cashan. Why else would they have taken Epunamo, the nominal heir to the dead Lord Villca's seat, as well as his mother and entourage?

However, Corco's swift victory had ruined their entire plans, By now, two of the three lords allied to the Arcavians had already switched sides again. Backed by their seaborne cannons, they could only hold onto Port Ulta, the final bridgehead they had managed to create within Medala.

As such, Atau understood that Vareo, just like Epunamo, was little more than a puppet for them. The important people were standing behind him, quite literally. Again Atau looked past his negotiation partner's seat, where he found two old-familiar faces stand among the crowd of observers. Unlike all the guards and servants, they didn't look in awe of the local lord whose guests they played.

“Devaerter, Margrave Hakon of Padrava. Long time no see.” Both of them were old acquaintances of Corco's group. Back during their time in Arcavia, Margrave Hakon had helped them fleece Duke Herak before they left for Medala. Their relationship with Devaerter was even closer. During their days as the Fastgrade Merchants, they had been allies with the merchant from Etra for years and had shared both hardship and profits.

Thus, while Hakon only had a dry “Captain Atau, what a fortunate meeting,” to offer, Devaerter looked much more uncomfortable. Only for a second though, until the merchant hid his weakness and played friends.

“Captain Atau, I would never have expected that we would find ourselves on opposite sides of the table. How truly regrettable. I hope this will not reflect poorly on our future relations.”

“Yeah, truly regrettable,” Atau sneered. He wasn't dumb enough to believe the merchant had no idea he would be going up against his old allies when he had taken on the job as the official merchant of the Arcavian expedition. “You remember the last time Herak tried to go up against Corco, don't you? You remember that showdown during the auction? That was Corco without an army, and we still crippled him so bad he had to travel half the world to redeem himself. You really think you will fare better this time, now that we are backed by an entire country?”

Like a true merchant, Devaerter smiled through the threats and pretended to be troubled.

“Captain, I really did not have much of a choice. Since both sides could not decide on a merchant to oversee the economic operations in the far west from within their ranks, the two kingdoms needed a neutral merchant of high repute instead. As the richest merchant in the entire south-west and a native of Etra, I was the most obvious choice for them. However, please believe me that it was never my intention to stand against Master Corco. With the power of Cahlia and Borna behind them, I had no choice but to take their offer. Really, what could a single merchant do when pressured by the two great kingdoms?”

“Yeah, sounds like you had a hard time. Though I guess the pay isn't bad.” Atau smiled at his old friend and grasped the giant mace he had picked up on one of Devaerter's ships back in the day.

“If nothing else, I should at least be compensated for my troubles, should I not?” Even now, the merchant still held that unreadable smile.

“You've always been too greedy for your own good, even back then. I'll give you some friendly advice, for old time's sake: Don't think we are pushovers just because we were nice to you when we were allies. You best crawl back to Etra as soon as you can, because you sure as death don't want to meet us as enemies.”

With a heavy thud, the mace landed on the table between Atau and Vareo and smashed apart the plates of dried fruit. While almost everyone in the room jumped in shock, the merchant, lord and margrave remained calm. It was obvious they considered themselves untouchable.

“I will keep the warning in mind,” Devaerter answered with a smile that implied he wouldn't. By now, Atau understood that neither offers nor threats would lead anywhere. No matter what, the Arcavians were determined to cling onto Port Ulta, and Vareo was determined to help them.

What a waste of time, he thought as he stood up and shouldered his mace.

“Treasure your time in your little port town,” Atau said to the three as he turned to leave, “it won't be around much longer.”

Hermit's Notes: I guess this might end up serving as the epilogue to book 4, maybe. It wraps things up better and leaves fewer open questions while retaining tension. The two 'new' characters are from Book 1 by the way. I make special reference to the auction towards the end of that book.