Tears were threatening to flow as Edeard thought of the pretty leatherworker apprentice he'd met at the Witham market. He'd never even managed to get her name, gauche boy that he'd been. And now she was dead, every garment or saddle or harness she'd laboured over was gone. Her family murdered.

'It's not your fault, Finitan said gently. 'Stop punishing yourself.

'I should go back, Edeard said. 'I should go with the city's militia and burn them out of the land they've contaminated, every last one of them. He feared me before, and by the Lady he was right to do so. I will bring him and his kind to an end, one way or another.

'Just calm down, Finitan said. 'There will be a time when we confront the bandits, and you may well lead that battle. But there are many things we have to do before that day arrives.

'Why? Edeard snapped. 'If you and Owain combine in Council, you could send every militia brigade we have, and order the provinces to raise their militias with us. An army could descend on Rulan province. These new bandits would be wiped from Querencia for ever.

'Where do they come from? Finitan asked. 'They're not barbarians, they wore clothes. His third hand lifted the repeat-fire gun again. 'More importantly, where do they manufacture this? Do they have a city like Makkathran behind them? Two cities? A continent? We still don't know what lies beyond Rulan, not with any surety. All these things we need to establish beyond any doubt before we embark on some massive campaign to tame the wilds. Such a venture will be deeply unpopular both here in the city, and out in the country.

'And if you don't do it, these invaders will be standing in front of the City Gate within five years.

'That they will, Finitan conceded. 'This is the greatest threat we have faced since Rah led us here two thousand years ago. I am deeply worried, Edeard. Something is out there, some society, moving with a malign purpose. A society inimical to ours, bent on destroying us for no reason we know. More important, they have these Lady-damned repeat-firing guns. You with your strength could ward off the bullets fired at you by one of these guns, maybe even two or three. But I doubt I could withstand such an onslaught; nor could many people. You talk of marching our militia against them. One man armed with this weapon could wipe out an entire cavalry troop. And they have concealment, too. We cannot send our Militia soldiers against them, it would be slaughter on an unbelievable scale. Edeard, I am frightened by this, do you understand? J do not know what will happen.

'Yes, sir. I understand.

'They're not settling, Topar said. 'That's the strangest thing. The lands they have driven us from in Rulan are reverting to wilds; weeds and grass flourish in the fields, animals roam free; the ruins of villages are choked in vines and creepers. Nobody lives there, these strangers are not clearing us out so their own kind can dwell in our place. When we arrived at Ashwell, we had seen no one for over a week, and that was a week of hard riding. It was only coming back we clashed with them. Our luck was foul that day; some lone patrol or spy saw us, and we ran away as soon as we realized they were after us. It was as though Honious himself was tracking us. They were unrelenting. So now I've seen these guns used in anger, Edeard, I know what horror you faced. The Lady performed a miracle when she guided you to safety that night. All we could ever do was flee, and three times even that was not enough.

'Then what are they doing? Edeard asked. 'What do they want?

'I don't know, Finitan said. 'But it is imperative we find out. He stared at the broken gun, abhorrence glowing in his mind. 'If we fail to stop them out in the provinces, then we will have to make similar guns just to survive. Can you imagine the carnage that will unleash on this world? The damage one man can wreak with such a gun, multiplied a thousand fold. For once such a thing is made, it cannot be unmade.

'It's already been made, Topar said bitterly. 'We are not the ones at fault here.

Edeard reached out his third hand, and grasped the gun. He brought it over to hang in the air before his face, probing the complicated mechanism inside with his farsight. In fact, there weren't so many components. 'Have you examined it? he asked Topar.

'I have done nothing less for months, the Master said. 'The whole way home I have studied it.

'Is there some secret part, something that must have come from the ships that brought us to Querencia, or could any metalsmith build it?

'The mechanism is ingenious, but that is all. There is nothing out of the ordinary about it, no magic or impossible contraption. A competent weapons Guild Master would be able to fabricate such components. Even a journeyman should be capable, I suspect.

That caused Edeard to give the Grand Master a sharp glance. 'The long-barrelled pistols came from the Weapons Guild. An ancient design, Owain said.

'Yes, Finitan said significantly, though his mind was tightly shielded. 'It could be they already have this or something similar in their deep vaults. Knowledge or artefacts left over from the ships.

'Is that where the invaders got theirs from, do you think?

Finitan allowed dismay to ease through his mental shielding.

'I find it incredible that after two thousand years, we have never heard even a whisper of another civilization on Querencia.

'Nobody has ever successfully circumnavigated the planet, Edeard said. 'Or so I was given to understand. Maybe that's why. Maybe it isn't geographically impossible, it's just that nobody ever gets past this other settlement.

'If they were that big and powerful, we would know of them, Finitan said.

'Perhaps we should ask the watching widow, Topar said mordantly, then he gave Edeard a keen look. 'Actually

'I haven't seen any souls since Chae, Edeard countered. 'In any case, wondering where they are doesn't help us, it's what they're doing which is the problem.

'If only we could find where they come from, we might be able to know their full intention, Finitan said. He sighed. 'We're arguing in circles. It is my response we should be determining.

'Perhaps a truce with Owain, Edeard suggested. 'Makkathran needs to send scouts out into the wild beyond Rulan and track down the origin of the guns. 'I'd go… he began uncertainly.

'No you will not, Finitan said firmly. 'We need you here to complete your victory over the gangs. Once the city is consolidated, we can start to make more detailed alliances with the provinces. That's what Owain never understands, we can hardly command unity with the countryside if we're unable to instil universal law here at home. Yet that unity must come in the face of these incursions. That makes you vital to my campaign, Waterwalker.

Edeard nodded reluctantly. 'After that?

'When the gangs are banished, and if I become Mayor, then it might be appropriate for you to track down your nemesis. Though the Lady knows how you will explain such an absence to your new wife.

Edeard flinched, he hadn't thought of that. 'Sometime you have to do what's wrong to do what's right, he murmured quietly.

'Indeed, Finitan said. 'In the meantime, I will focus on winning this damn election. That way I can lay the groundwork for the inevitable struggle which is to come.

'It might come sooner than you think, Topar said. 'The provinces around Rulan have already raised their militias. Their appeals to the Grand Council for help will arrive before long, people will come to understand what is happening out on our western borders.

'Not just on the borders, Edeard said. 'Ordinary bandits are everywhere in the countryside, and growing bold. You will have to move decisively once you're Mayor.

'If, my boy, and it's still a big if. Owain is no fool and he has a lot of support in the city. People like his One Nation call.