“I’ll be frank and tell you our demands,” Yuri Ho began. “Release your citizens. We’ve already prepared a surrender agreement that your family may wish to accept.”
“Very well. Let me tell you what we’d like in exchange. The Bof family’s standing will remain the same,” Clarine replied.
Yuri Ho sighed with disappointment. “Listen here...” He trailed off and sighed once more. “Why does this have to be so drawn out? Sir Kien, maybe you know the reason.”
“I can’t say I do.”
“Is this what the Cultural Academy teaches people? There is a course on negotiations, isn’t there? Something definitely went wrong somewhere.” Yuri Ho rubbed his forehead with his fingertips. “Let’s not mince words—I told you to release the civilians. That’s simple enough. It works in your favor, since it means fewer mouths to feed. I’m obviously not going to let your family persist in its current state in exchange for something so simple.”
“But you want our people, don’t you? You can’t expect us to give them away.”
“There’s a limit to my generosity. I already told your husband that if he’d voluntarily relinquish the title of lord-supreme and hand back his territory, I’d let his family continue as landowners. How does that sound to you?”
“I cannot accept,” Clarine replied with a smirk. “Guarantee us sovereignty over the city of Bisreft and the surrounding land for the next hundred years, in addition to independent authority over our own army. Then you’ll have a deal.”
“Okay, we’re done here. Leave.” Yuri Ho shooed them away with his hand.
“Leave...?” Clarine furrowed her brow in confusion.
“There won’t be a negotiation. You’ve left me no choice but to capture Koturah. Needless to say, you can’t expect any mercy now. You’ve got about a week to prepare.” Yuri Ho fixed Clarine in his gaze. “One week. Enjoy your final days. I will kill you, mark my words.”
“Such insolence.” Clarine scowled at Yuri Ho’s bold claim.
“What about you?” Yuri Ho asked Einora, making no attempt to hide his foul mood. “Einora, was it? You haven’t said anything. Haven’t you got a brain of your own? Hiding behind mommy isn’t going to save you. I’ll kill you too. I’ll find you no matter where you run.”
As Einora’s face contorted with anxiety, Tigris saw it clearly.
Without warning, there was a bang! and, for a moment, the whole table rose up. Yuri Ho had kicked it from underneath without leaving his seat. His guards reached for the hilts of their swords, but Yuri Ho showed no concern.
“I gave you an offer to live out your last days in peace. I can’t understand it. You want more, even after you sold out your own kingdom? Let me ask you one more thing. This is my final question.” Yuri Ho spoke softly as the rest of the tent fell silent. “You have a choice between retiring to a peaceful life with a sizable fortune to live off of, or putting up a futile fight that ends in your brutal death next week. Which do you prefer? Pick one.”
Tigris shivered. Yuri Ho clearly meant what he’d said. Something about his attitude suggested it was more than just a childish threat. The man who’d captured Sibiak in just ten days couldn’t be taken lightly.
“We choose neither,” Clarine said. “Do you really think you can take our people unharmed by attacking our city? I’ll order our army to kill them first.”
Tigris couldn’t believe it. She’s an idiot.
“This is absurd!” Kien Rube roared as he slammed his fist on the table. “Knights exist to protect their people! You say you’d not only use them as shields, but also turn your blades on them?! The name Bof will forever—”
“Sir Kien,” Yuri Ho interrupted his speech. “You’re wasting your breath on this fool of a woman. Let her try her stupid idea.”
“But—!” Kien Rube could barely contain his emotions as he stared at Yuri Ho.
“Think about it—suppose this buffoon actually does give the order she just proposed. Do you think her soldiers would actually obey?”
Kien Rube was, of course, intelligent enough to realize how unlikely it was.
“They might carry out such orders if a popular commander like you demanded it, but it’s out of the question for her,” Yuri Ho continued. “Your name was Clarine, wasn’t it? Essentially, you’re going to ask family members to share meals together one day and then kill each other the next.”
Soldiers would willingly kill criminals among the populace, but not their own families. A band of immoral mercenaries might obey such an order, but not the soldiers gathered in Koturah. They’d sooner rebel.
“If you want to attempt it anyway, then you’d better be quick. I’ll drop flyers from the sky just like I did before. The next ones will say that I plan to seek out and execute every last soldier who killed a civilian. If you think they’ll still obey you after reading that, then just try it. Your soldiers will rebel, and you’ll be the one they hang.”
Tigris knew that Yuri Ho was correct. The Bof family was out of options. Surrender was the only choice remaining. What alternative could Clarine possibly be considering?
“Then I’ll order my most trusted servants to poison the wells,” Clarine shot back. It was another ridiculous idea.
“Hah... You think that’ll work?”
“I’ll order my soldiers to only drink the water from the Bof family manor. That way—”
Tigris interrupted her, speaking for the first time. “Lady Clarine.”
“You stay out of this.”
“No, I must have my say. What could such an act possibly achieve? Especially when the Ho family has already made an entirely reasonable offer. You’ll have your own land and live with considerable wealth.”
“Silence.”
“Stubbornly holding out for more won’t get you a better offer. Your best option is to swallow your pride and surrender.”
“Have you lost your nerve, Tigris Harmon? You’re a disgrace to your ancestors. They considered your brilliance so great that they broke all the rules to make you, a woman, the head of their family. But now look at you.”
It’s hopeless, Tigris thought to herself. There’s no getting through to her.
The idea of poisoning the wells was perhaps no more than a bluff to scare the enemy, but Clarine could only worsen her negotiating position by claiming that she was desperate enough to resort to such self-destruction. If there was any room for negotiation, it would be minor. Clarine was demanding a major city; the enemy would never agree.
“Lord Einora, do you have nothing to say?” Tigris asked him. “Your mother just said she intends to massacre your people by poisoning the wells.”
“Ngh? Mmh...” Einora only made these strange sounds before falling silent.
There’s no hope...
“Then how about we make this more interesting?” Yuri Ho said. “Why not have the fight here? Let’s see how many of the Ho and Rube family’s most elite you can take down.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Tigris drew the weapon at her waist—a sword that was just a little too long to be called a dagger. In the same motion, she cut so deep into Einora’s broad neck that she felt her blade hit the tough bone within.
Clarine was wide-eyed as she watched. “Y-You’ve gone mad!”
Tigris pulled her blade free and swung it toward Clarine, cutting through her much narrower neck as she attempted to stand. Clarine’s head rolled to the ground as Tigris severed it effortlessly, like cutting a branch from a tree.
Having taken two lives with two swings of her sword, Tigris returned it to its sheath. The five Bof family guards had surrounded her, their spears ready. With her final act of service toward the Bof family completed, she calmly waited to be impaled.
“Stop!” a voice called out, just as the guards were about to skewer Tigris. “If you kill her now, I’ll have no choice but to retaliate against you. It’s too late to help your master, but you can still return to Koturah and arrange the surrender. We’ll take this woman into custody.”
There was no reason that Yuri Ho should kill the guards. It would mean nothing to him if they executed Tigris for her act of betrayal. But despite the obvious flaw in his reasoning, it was enough to make the guards lose their will to fight.
Tigris removed her sword from its sheath and laid it flat on the table.