'Let it be remembered that your friend and ally came here as a raider,' he said. 'He planned to rob Al Shabah's treasury.' His subtle use of the words 'friend and ally' conveyed the vague implication that the Kingdom of Araluen had given some kind of tacit approval to Erak's raiding. It gave him a step up onto the moral high ground. 'There must be some penalty exacted for that intention.'
Evanlyn conceded the point – she could hardly do otherwise. She countered with the fact that nothing had actually been stolen but Selethen had won that round. She was forced to raise her bid to fifty-five thousand. He said he would consider – consider, mind you – a sum of seventy-eight thousand.
And so it went on. Selethen was clearly enjoying the process. Bargaining was a matter dear to any Arridi's heart. And, after a while, to her own surprise, Evanlyn found she was enjoying herself as well. The man was charming and good humoured. It was impossible to take offence to him. And she had to admit that he was very handsome, in an exotic, swashbuckling fashion.
Eventually, they reached a tentative agreement. The figure was sixty-six thousand, four hundred and eight reels of silver, to be paid in the form of a warrant on the Silasian Council. The odd figure of four hundred and eight reels was reached when Selethen complained that the Silasians would take their commission from the end figure. The fact that delivery of the silver was absolutely guaranteed allowed him to give a little on the figure. But he still resented the commission.
He wrote the final amount on a parchment and nodded several times.
'I will consider this for the next hour,' he said.
He rose, offering his hand to Evanlyn to assist her. Even though she was as lithe and athletic as a cat, she took it, enjoying the contact. She saw Horace's slight frown as she did so and smiled to herself. A girl can never have too many admirers, she thought. Will, she noted, seemed unperturbed by the fact that she retained hold of Selethen's hand a little longer than politeness dictated. But then, Rangers were trained to look imperturbable. He was probably seething with jealousy, she thought.
The others rose to their feet as well, Svengal grunting as he heaved his bulk upright.
'I will have you escorted back to the guesthouse,' Selethen told her. 'I will bring you my answer in an hour's time.'
In spite of the delay, she knew that the figure would be accepted. Halt had told her before they left the guesthouse that the facade of considering it for an hour was simply part and parcel of Arridi bargaining.
She smiled and bowed her head. 'Thank you, Excellence. I look forward to your decision.'
Back at the guesthouse, as they sat around the table in the courtyard, Svengal shook his head impatiently.
'Why do they have to go through all this rigmarole?' he asked. 'We know they're going to accept the figure. They know they're going to accept it. Why not just say so and be done with it?'
'It's a kind of compliment,' Halt told him. 'It makes it seem that you've driven such a hard bargain that they can't accept immediately. They have to appear reluctant. They enjoy subtleties like that.'
Svengal snorted. Like most Skandians, he preferred the direct approach. The tortuous subtleties of diplomacy left him cold.
Gilan grinned. 'I liked his subtle implication that we were somehow involved in the raid.'
Halt nodded. 'You mean his reference to our being "a friend and ally"? It was a nice touch.'
Svengal was still annoyed over what he saw as an unnecessary waste of time. In addition, he was bored, tired with behaving diplomatically and looking for an argument to pass the time.
'Well, in a way, he's right. All this is partly your fault, you know,' he said.
Halt leaned forward in his chair, eyebrow raised. 'Our fault?'
Svengal made a vague gesture. 'Yes. After all, if you hadn't insisted that we stop raiding your country, we never would have been here in the first place.'
'Pardon me if I disagree,' Evanlyn said. 'You surely can't be trying to blame us for Erak's habit of charging ashore waving an axe and grabbing everything that isn't nailed down?' She realised as she said it that it might sound a little harsh so she added with a note of apology, 'No offence, Svengal.'
Svengal shrugged. 'None taken. It's a pretty accurate description of Erak on a raid, as a matter of fact. But the point remains… '
Whatever that point might have been was never made clear, as a servant appeared at that moment, informing them of Selethen's arrival. The Wakir followed a few metres behind, smiling as they rose from their chairs around the table.
'Agreed,' he said and there were smiles all round the table.
'That's wonderful, Excellence,' Evanlyn told him. 'I have a warrant against the Silasian Council in my baggage. All it needs is for the amount to be filled in and for me to add my seal. We can do that straight away.'
Selethen nodded contentedly. 'Whenever it's convenient, your highness,' he said. 'There's no hurry.'
Fortunately, there would be no problem with both sides understanding the warrant. The Silasian Council's warrants were well known throughout the area and although Araluans and Arridi used a different written language, both nations used the same numbering system. The figure agreed and signed to by Evanlyn would be unmistakable.
'I'm sure Erak wouldn't agree,' Halt said. 'When will we be able to see him and give him the news?'
Selethen hesitated.
'Ah… yes. We will bring him to you,' he agreed eventually.
'Today?' Halt asked and again there was that slight hesitation.
'Perhaps it might take a little longer than that,' Selethen said. Halt looked at him suspiciously.
'How long?' he asked very deliberately. Selethen gave him his most disarming smile. Halt remained resolutely un-disarmed.
'Four days? Perhaps five?' Selethen said.
Evanlyn and Halt exchanged exasperated glances.
'Where exactly is he?' the Princess asked Selethen. There was a definite cutting edge on her voice, Will thought. Selethen seemed to agree. His disarming smile became a little less confident.
'In the fortress at Mararoc,' he said. 'It's four days ride inland.'
Chapter 19
'When were you planning on sharing this information with us?' Halt's voice was deceptively calm.
Selethen shrugged. 'Once the bargaining was complete. I had him removed from Al Shabah three days ago, when your ship was first sighted. There was always the chance that we might not reach an agreement and in that case, I wanted the prisoner where his crew couldn't attempt a sneak attack to rescue him.' He glanced at Svengal. 'No offence.'
The Skandian drew a deep breath and let it out very slowly. He was obviously making a huge effort to control himself.
'You know, one of these days, I'm actually going to take offence if people keep throwing out these slurs. And then things are going to get rather ugly. When we Skandians take offence, we do it with a battleaxe.'
Selethen inclined his head. 'In that case, accept my deepest apologies. In any event, now that the bargaining is successful, I'll send word to Mararoc and have the Oberiarl brought back here. As soon as the warrant is sealed and delivered to me.'
'Oh no. I don't think so,' Evanlyn said immediately. 'I'm not handing over the best part of seventy thousand reels until I've seen the goods are undamaged.' For a moment, she was about to say 'no offence' to Svengal for referring to his Oberjarl as 'goods'. In the light of his previous statement, she thought it wiser not to.
They had reached an impasse. Selethen was not willing to bring Erak back to the coast until the money had been exchanged. Equally, Evanlyn was not going to pay until she had proof Erak was unharmed. The two negotiators stared at each other stubbornly. Will finally broke the silence.