‘Great Fate, woman!’ he cried. ‘I came all this way to hear your offer, to make a just peace with you! Surely you don’t expect me to bend to your demands.’
‘No, Baron, you’re right,’ said Jazana Carr. ‘I didn’t expect you to give up so easily. After all, you’re a man, which means you suffer from boundless arrogance. A just peace, you say? What were you going to offer me? What could you possibly offer me, Baron Ravel?’
Ravel growled, ‘Woman, you misjudge yourself to think yourself my equal.’
‘I am not your equal, sir, I am your better.’
‘You are a woman! You and your wealth are nothing compared to me!’
The sound of Ravel’s rant silenced the gathering. All at once the many gathered faces turned toward the dais. The music stopped. Jazana Carr twirled a thin finger in the air to start it up again. The musicians obeyed, but the soldiers in the room continued staring. Ravel was breathing hard. His face flushed with embarrassment.
‘My lady, you presume too much. I am not a man who yields. I came here in good faith, to strike a bargain that benefits us both.’
‘I didn’t bring you here to bargain, Baron Ravel. I brought you here to show you what you’re up against. You’ve seen my men, the army that I have at my fingertips. I should think my intentions are clear, even to a fat-headed merchant like yourself.’ Jazana Carr stopped smiling. ‘I made a promise to an old friend to take Liiria and make it mine. I won’t be stopped by some horse-trader looking to make a deal.’ With one finger she flicked the remaining ring on the table under Ravel’s nose. ‘This is my offer, Baron — this ring for Andola. You may remain governor, and that is all.’
‘What?’ Ravel erupted. ‘Witch! This insult is inexcusable!’
‘I don’t dicker like a fishmonger, Lord Ravel. That ring is the only payment you’ll ever get from me. Take what I’m offering and you’ll live a long, fat life.’
‘And if I don’t?’ hissed Ravel. ‘What will you do? What can you possibly do to me?’
Jazana Carr leaned back in her thronelike chair. ‘Look around.’
‘Ha! Yes, I’ve seen your army, woman. A bunch of cutthroats. These men that you’ve massed here; my forces could best them in a day. You think you’re rich? You think you have an army? You have nothing compared to me!’
‘I have the means to defeat you, Baron. Somehow, you should force yourself to believe that.’
Ravel struggled with her words. What she was saying was impossible. ‘My lady, if you mean to test my coffers, you will lose.’
Jazana Carr replied, ‘I would enjoy that test very much.’
The statement was unbelievable. Ravel could not fathom her conceit. He rose, looking around the chamber. The shocked faces of his men stared back at him.
‘This is a trap,’ he gasped. ‘Is that why you brought me here? To force this bargain on me?’
‘I told you, my lord, I brought you here for your own good. I intend to take Liiria. I have a point to make, you see, and you’re standing in my way. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can join me and keep the good life you have.’
‘As your lapdog? You must be insane.’
Rodrik Varl rose slowly to his feet. Bern did the same, locking eyes with the mercenary. The silence in the chamber grew deathly. But Jazana Carr remained placid, madly confident.
‘You have a choice to make, Baron Ravel, and you need to make it right now. You can’t believe that I’m more powerful than you. I know; I’ve seen so many men like you that I no longer blame them for it. You’re not really at fault. It’s a product of your arrogance. But this is a time for clear thinking. You may be the richest man in the world, Baron Ravel, but I have the resources to bury you. Please believe that, for your own sake.’
‘Or what?’
‘Or, you can go back to Andola and make ready for war. It won’t do any good, but at least you’ll have the chance to act brave. Men love doing things like that.’
Ravel studied her face and knew she wasn’t bluffing. She was insane, he concluded. ‘And you’ll just let us walk out of here? Just like that?’
Unbelievably, she replied, ‘If that’s what you want. Why would I stop you?’
‘Because that’s what I would do, kill my enemies. I wouldn’t let them just walk out of here!’
‘Perhaps, if I were afraid of you, I would do that,’ said Jazana Carr.
The unnerving answer came with a smile. Too surprised to react, Baron Ravel simply stood there for a moment, his eyes darting around the room, waiting for an attack that never came. His own men sat unmoving in their seats. Bern and Rodrik Varl still stared each other down. It was decision time, and Ravel made it quickly.
‘You are a wild child, Jazana Carr. You may be something special in this dust bowl called Norvor, but in Liiria you will be nothing but a troublesome gnat. Let my men and me out of here and I’ll prove that to you.’
Gesturing toward the doors, the Diamond Queen said, ‘It was nice meeting you, Baron Ravel. I’ll see you again.’
Still, Ravel didn’t move.
‘This is no deception, Baron,’ Jazana Carr assured. ‘No one is waiting to assassinate you. You’re free to go, all of you. Your horses and carriage are in the yard.’
Ravel looked at Bern, who in turn looked at his waiting men. He told them to rise and they did so. To their astonishment none of the Norvans moved to stop them. Even Jazana Carr remained seated. For a moment Ravel thought of plunging a dagger through her breast and ending her mad existence, but he knew he’d only die in the effort. Slowly, he inched his way off the dais with Bern. Again no one moved. Finally sure that the queen wasn’t bluffing, Ravel stepped into the centre of the chamber, told his men to leave, and remained behind while they exited.
‘You’re a very brave woman,’ he told her. ‘But you are only a woman, and there are lessons you need to learn. When you come to Andola I will teach you these things.’
‘Other men have tried, Baron,’ countered Jazana Carr. ‘But if you want your chance to instruct me, I’ll oblige you.’
Her arrogance was hateful; Ravel could stand no more of it. He thundered out of the chamber with Colonel Bern close at his heels, following his men through the hallways of Hanging Man and into the courtyard. Remarkably, Jazana Carr had kept her word. They found their horses there, fed and watered, along with Ravel’s private carriage. Norvan soldiers remained at their posts, but none moved a finger to stop them.
In the shadow of the great fortress, Baron Ravel climbed into his fancy conveyance and prepared for the long ride home.
17
‘Mountains don’t need men. But men need mountains sometimes, I think.’
From her place across the room, Simah puzzled over the brooding words and did not know what her master meant. Ravel ignored her, continuing to stare out the window of his chamber. In the hills surrounding his city he could see countless pinpoints of fire, lighting up the night like stars. They had come like a noose to encircle Andola, building day by day until he could see nothing else on the horizon. Tonight, though, Baron Ravel knew there would be no more of them. There were enough, finally, so many that even Jazana Carr was satisfied.
‘I wish I could go to the mountains,’ he said. It was a lament, because his mountains didn’t really exist any more. They were a memory from his boyhood, and certainly could never be so sweet again. ‘I would hide there, and when I came down from the mountains this would all be over.’
His slave said nothing. She had said very little in the hours since he had sent for her. At first he had thought she would be a nice diversion, something to take his mind off the coming horror, but his lust had shrivelled up and died, and now all he wanted was to stare out the window at the Norvan hordes. He wondered how long his own forces could hold out, and if Colonel Bern could keep his men loyal. He wondered how Jazana Carr had mustered so many troops, marching them so quickly across the border. In little less than a month she had made good on her promise to take away his city.