Chapter 15
Negotiations
Outside Vigau, Arielle, Bonaventure
Mordekai stood in the middle of a barley field several kilometers outside the city limits of Vigau. His thumb drew slow circles over the transmitter as he waited. He could feel the disturbance in the air currents before his eyes could catch the faint shimmer in the sky as the essentially invisible craft approached.
It set down about three hundred meters from where he stood and a hole opened up in the underside as something like a gangplank extended to the ground. A lone figure descended down the gangplank. Mordekai knew her from her presence well before she came into view. It was Kamellia. She was dressed in what looked like a workman's coveralls and had a collar on her neck that he imagined to be a more advanced version of a binder.
After she walked a short distance from the craft toward Mordekai, it lifted up and took to the sky once more. Mordekai did not take the opportunity to rush to her. He let her approach him. He could not let his emotions get the better of him. He had to be on his guard for any traps laid by the enemy.
Kamellia stopped a few paces from him, observing prudence under the circumstances as he would expect of her.
"Hello, Mordekai," she said.
"Hello, Kamellia," Mordekai replied. "Did they hurt you?"
"I chose to be cooperative," she said. "I'm sure they would've made the experience far more unpleasant if I hadn't, and there's the girls to consider as well."
"I trust your judgment," Mordekai said. "So they sent you to act as negotiator."
"They didn't seem too eager to do it themselves, and I'm sure they thought you'd be more positively disposed if they sent a friendly face."
"None friendlier," Mordekai replied with a grin. "I trust they're listening."
"Listening, watching... And of course they have their ways of... encouraging a correction of my behavior if I should lapse in my cooperation."
"Let's start with their demands."
"They want you to surrender yourself to them, to place yourself under their control."
"And if I decline this ever so appealing offer?"
"They will destroy you," Kamellia said bluntly. "They'll destroy the whole planet if they have to."
"I don't imagine they would be bluffing about such a thing," Mordekai replied. "So that is the stick. And the carrot? Will they set you free?"
"I'm afraid not. Mages are something of a valuable resource to them, so they mean to recruit me, the girls, and every other mage on the planet. They did say we'll be treated well if we prove to be obedient, useful and loyal to their Emperor."
"Why do I get the feeling that 'we' doesn't include me?"
"They didn't tell me much, but I know they see you as a threat, threat enough that they're willing to destroy the planet."
Mordekai adjusted his glasses and said, "Then as a threat that outweighs the value of a planet and everything in it, allow me to offer a counter-proposal. Return what you've taken, this woman, those girls, the familiar, and any other of our people, and withdraw from this world. You can have the Ancients. As I understand it, they are yours. I will mete out justice to our people who are responsible for their mistreatment, beyond what you have already done. If you wish to treat with this world on the basis of foreign diplomacy, you may do so once my reign is secure. What say you?"
There was a moment of silence and then the field was bathed in blue light. Mordekai could feel a great power gathering up in the sky—no, beyond it. Kamellia could sense it too and only a single word managed to escape her lips.
"Mordekai..."
Anything more she might have said was consumed by the light, along with everything else.