'It was a shambles! The merchants had no interest in running a city, and no skill at doing it. The Union administrators, Vurms and his like, were the scrapings from the barrel, men who were only interested in lining their own pockets. We could have worked with the natives, but we chose to exploit them, and when they spoke out against us we called for the Inquisition, and you beat them and tortured them and hung their leaders in the squares of the Upper City, and soon they despised us as much as they had the Gurkish. Seven years, we have been here, and we have done nothing but evil! It has been an orgy of corruption, and brutality, and waste!' That much is true. I have seen it for myself.

'And the irony is, we did not even turn a profit! Even at the start, we made less than before the war! The cost of maintaining the walls, of paying for the mercenaries, without the help of the natives it was crippling!' Eider began to laugh, a desperate, sobbing laughter. 'The Guild is nearly bankrupt, and they brought it on themselves, the idiots! Greed, plain and simple!'

'And then the Gurkish approached you.'

Eider nodded, her lank hair swaying. 'I have many contacts in Gurkhul. Merchants with whom I have dealt over the years. They told me that Uthman's first word as Emperor was a solemn oath to take Dagoska, to erase the stain his father had brought upon his nation, that he would never rest until his oath was fulfilled. They told me there were already Gurkish spies within the city, that they knew our weakness. They told me there might be a way to prevent the carnage, if Dagoska could be delivered to them without a fight.'

'Then why did you delay? You had control of Cosca and his mercenaries, before Kahdia's people were armed, before the defences were strengthened, before I even arrived. You could have seized the city, if you had wanted. Why did you need that dolt Vurms?'

Carlot dan Eider's eyes were fixed on the floor. 'As long as Union soldiers held the Citadel, and the city gates, taking them would have meant bloodshed. Vurms could give me the city without a fight. My entire purpose, believe it or not, the purpose you have so ably frustrated, was to avoid killing.'

I do believe it. But that means nothing now. 'Go on.'

'I knew that Vurms could be bought. His father has not long to live, and the post is not hereditary. The son might only have this last chance to profit from his father's position. We fixed a price. We set about the preparations. Then Davoust found out.'

'He meant to inform the Arch Lector.'