Stenwold forced his way out of the automotive again. 'Put up your bows!' he called. 'Hold!'

The Collegium soldiers waited tensely, the snapbowmen with their weapons still levelled above the shields of their fellows. The Vekken force mirrored them, big shields steady, crossbows loaded and aimed. There was a long, fraught pause while Stenwold caught his breath.

'We cannot go on like this,' he declared at last. The Vekken ambassador eyed him as though he was mad.

'Put up your bows,' he said again without anger, sounding only tired.

The officer repeated the order with obvious reluctance and the barrels of the snapbows lifted.

'What is going on?' Stenwold asked.

'As I have said, these men were given their last orders before Tactician Akalia's force was defeated.' That defeat was obviously a bitter memory for the Vekken.

'And now?'

'They will seek further instructions, on the off chance that their orders will now be changed.'

'Off chance?' Stenwold exploded.

The Vekken's expression suggested that attacking Collegium agriculture was an eminently appropriate thing for bands of Vekken soldiers to be doing.

'And are there any more of these soldiers?'

There was a pause while the Vekken remained silent, obviously communing mind-to-mind with his kinsmen. 'Yes,' he replied at last. As Stenwold drew breath to speak he said, 'I have suggested, as an officer of Vek, that this band recommend they too seek new orders. I have no absolute authority, however, and they may disagree with my assessment.'

And you secretly hope they will. Stenwold felt an urge to strangle the man. He cautioned himself: Diplomacy, remember. He had tried so hard, so very hard, to make things work. He had started with this premise: they are people, just as we are, but he should have known better. Since then he'd had plenty of cause to remember that Ant-kinden were not remotely like the sort of people he understood.