Seeking Terms

Rastaban let his hand fall to his side and swallowed hard. “Of course. Forgive me. Your offer?”

“I come seeking terms,” she said. She kept the knife at his throat.

Rastaban’s eyes narrowed, and he glared down at her. Terms - no one had ever dared ask terms of him before. “You do?”

“I do. Tell me the terms of your surrender, and I will tell my women to leave your camp and return to the Steppes peacefully.”

Rastaban arched one eyebrow. “Your women are here?”

Shanka’s laughter was soft, like velvet. “Did you think those were your guards out there?”