“We still demand recompense for what they did,” said the lead Shaper.

“I demand recompense for what your leader tried to do,” said Grandview. He stroked his mustache. “Tell me what you want, and I will tell you what I want.”

“Excuse me,” said Master Bao. “Miss Wyndham, what do you want?”

“I want to be free of any obligation to any faction and allowed to go back to what I was doing before I was dragged into this,” said Wyndham.

“Mister Shanahan?,” asked the Grandmaster.

“Where Wyndham goes is where I go,” said the bum. “Anything else is what it is.”

“Your loyalty is commendable,” said the Wu Chi. “Master Shaper and Master Weapon, write down your demands and hand them over. We will talk about what should be done.”

“What if I don't want to do that?,” asked the Shaper.

“Then we're done, and you get nothing,” said Bao. “We both know that the Weapons would rip you apart in an open battle. Grandview is a major threat by himself. Don't think his lazy facade is his fear of your abilities. He just doesn't want to be bothered with resettling your people and your powers.”

Emil put on the widest grin at the words.

The Shaper gestured for paper to write on. He wrote down his demands, folded the paper over, and handed it to the Grandmaster.

Emil handed his over in a closed envelope that he had prepared ahead of time.

“My associates and I are going to consult in the office,” said Bao. “Try not to kill each other before we return. I am sure we will work everything out to everyone's pleasure.”

Wyndham doubted that. She had the feeling that she would be under more obligations before this was done. She glanced at Mister Shanahan. He calmly eyed the Shapers.

He probably wanted to know which one he should break first if a fight broke out. His glare seemed to be making their side nervous.

And Emil wore his casual smile like a light beam. That couldn't be helping the way they felt.

The Wu Chi left the table. Master Bao was last. He gave the group at the table one more glance that said behave before he left the room.

“I can't believe you want recompense for harboring these criminals,” said the Master Shaper. He pointed over Emil's head at the defendants.

“I can't believe Piotor tried to electrocute me with a lightning bolt when I told him we would hash things out after the contract with the Wu Chi was done,” said Emil. “If Mister Shanahan hadn't done what he did, I would have had to do something drastic to preserve my reputation. I don't like working that hard.”

“Pure laziness,” Wyndham whispered.

Shanahan nodded in agreement.

“Do you really think you would have prevailed against the Master Carver,” said the Master Carver.

“I think I would have stood a fairer chance than most people,” said Grandview.

Wyndham sat back and considered the idea for a moment. She thought her former commander was capable of destroying anyone, anything, that he decided to fight. The twelve powers of his spirits allowed him to move around the battlefield, deny movement to others and rip his enemies apart except for a few special circumstances that he should be able to work around.

She had no doubt that if they hadn't struck the deal with him, then he would have ripped them apart easily. That fact that he was willing to give them a grace period at all was surprising.

She supposed there were other options if he had discarded them. He just hadn't wanted to turn to them because of the work involved in shifting his plans.

She would take that as a small victory against the rest of the mess they had been in since they started.

Master Bao led his people back to their seats. He adjusted his robes for ease of movement.

“I see that things have gone well in my absence,” said the Grandmaster. “We have consulted the relevant treaties on this and came to a decision. Master Shaper, give Master Weapon one gold coin.”

The Shaper grumbled but he gave over the penalty after a moment of searching his person. He hadn't expected to pay anything. The two outsiders had caused the trouble. They should be paying the gold.

“Master Weapon, you will owe the Shapers one service to be paid on demand,” said Bao. “We have the contract here. Please sign at the bottom.”

He handed over a sheet of paper. One of the other Wu Chi handed over a quill and an ink bottle. They waited for the weapon to sign the contract. They took the treaty and stored it in a case of papers.

“Miss Wyndham and Mister Shanahan,” said the Grandmaster. “You do owe the Shapers something for your conduct. This is mitigated by the Master Carver attacking you, and Master Grandview. Anything that you don't need from Vassily's arsenal should be returned. When we are done with the rest of our business, you will be free to go.”

“You can't be serious,” said the Master Carver. He stood up in his protest. “Why should they be allowed to leave?”

“Nothing would have happened to your comrade if he had honored his deal,” said the Grandmaster. He leaned back in his chair. “He would have been immune to any coercion by the weapons thanks to his place as the Shaper's controller of space. Instead he broke his word, tried to deny his victim fair passage, and wound up getting killed by someone he shouldn't have even met.”

Bao picked up a blank piece of paper. He fiddled with it as he considered.

“I think the fact that you are getting back most of the arsenal that was taken is a great boon for you,” said the Wu Chi. “It will be something you can show your next space controller to show him, or her, how to do what you expect of them.”

“Why should we allow them to walk away from what they did?,” said the Master Carver.

“You agreed to abide by my decision,” said Master Bao. “Are you not willing to do that?”

Wyndham used her talent on the paper in his hands. It told her there was an invisible threat there. She grabbed Shanahan's arm, and nodded at the paper when he glanced at her. He nodded and eased back from the table in case he had to move fast.

He wondered if the Master Carver understood the implications as well as he did.

“Fine,” said the Master Carver. “We will accept this.”

And you get to live another day, thought Wyndham. She saw that in the way Master Bao smiled at the demand. One more push might have unleashed whatever he had made with his hands. She doubted the Shapers would have survived long after that.

“Most of it is in our supply bags,” said Wyndham.

The Grandmaster nodded. He lifted up his hand and waved for the guards to bring the weapons and bags of the travelers to him.

The guards, not masters, but armed and ready to fight by their commanders brought the objects that were under their care. Wyndham stood and pulled her bag to her. She took out the door key. That went into Mister Shanahan's bag. She checked her bag for anything else she might need. She pushed the bag to the Master Carver.

“This is all of it?,” he asked.

“I destroyed most of it when I destroyed Vassily's house,” said Wyndham.

The Master Carver glared at her. She crossed her arms. The sound of machinery clacking drew their attention to Mister Shanahan showing Bao how a pistol worked.

“This is very interesting,” said Master Bao. “Are these common where you are from?”

“Firearms are the main weapon,” said Shanahan. “Knives also are used. Militaries use bigger versions of things as armies fight.”

“I think I prefer my mastery,” said Bao.

“We don't have anything like the factions where I am from,” said Shanahan.

Wyndham holstered her weapon. She didn't see a need to use it as long as the Master Carver kept to his word. She leaned her rifle against the table within reach of her chair.

“Is everyone happy?,” said Bao. He looked at the assemblage. He shrugged at the looks he received. “No one ever is.”

“Shall we conduct the rest of our business?,” said Grandview. Owing the Shapers a service was nothing to him. He already had treaties where he would support some of their policies as long as they kept the peace on their hex.

If he had to push another Shaper off a cliff, that meant just the same to him.

“Shall we examine Master Yuen's model?,” said Grandmaster Bao. He stood and walked to where three displays had been set up for him and the others.

Wyndham joined the back of the group. She felt Shanahan at her side. Most of the others had decided to look at the models.

“This is Master Grandview's hex across the divide there,” said Master Bao. Wyndham pictured the farming and ranching lands around the central tower city that used to be her home. “Master Yuen?”

“This second model is the cavern system we traveled to the bottom for the source of the dragons that have been attacking this hex from Grandview's hex,” said Master Yuen.

Wyndham nodded at the brief glance she got before the crowd moved to cut off her sight.

“This third model is of the city we found at the bottom of the cavern,” said Yuen. “This spot in the center is where we think the dragons are being grown and released to head to the surface.”

“What do you mean released to come up here?,” asked the Master Carver.

“We couldn't get close enough to inspect this center spot,” said Master Yuen. “The city's inhabitants are hostile to strangers. We are food for them if they can catch us. Our observation from outside the wall before we retreated confirmed that the dragons are released from this central spot.”

He moved to the second model. He changed it to show the interior parts more clearly.

“The second one we saw came up the central shaft here to reach the outside tunnel,” said Yuen. He indicated the parts he mentioned with a finger.

“The problem is their breath,” said Wyndham. “The two dragons we saw could melt the stone around them. All of this cavern could have been cut by dragons until they were able to get outside and tear things up.”

“How dangerous are these animals?,” asked the Master Carver. He concentrated on the model of the city.

“Very dangerous against normal people and animals,” said Wyndham. “Slightly dangerous against faction members. The weak point we found was setting their breath on fire when they tried to kill us.”

“Anything else we can use?,” asked the Master Carver.

“A great deal of physical force,” said Grandview. “A beheading might be the best way with what we have.”

“The secondary problem is we don't know if this is the only city down there,” said Master Yuen. “Someone is going to have to go down and look around for tunnels.”

All eyes turned on Wyndham and Shanahan. She covered her face with the palm of her hand.