"You’re making a lot of noise for a guest who wasn’t invited, Kael of the Central Plains," Kaya projected her voice clearly. "State your business, or turn around. We are running a business here, and you are blocking traffic."
Kael let out a barking laugh, stepping back to look up at her. "A business? You think you are a merchant, little human? You occupy a fortress of war! By decree of the Lion King, all territories bordering the Central Plains are subject to the protection tax. Since you have conveniently hoarded all the wealth of the West in this canyon, you owe the King a tithe. Fifty chests of gold, and a steady supply of grain. Pay it, and the Lions will graciously allow your little ’Free Clan’ to exist."
"A protection tax?" Kaya repeated, her voice dripping with mock confusion. "Protection from who, exactly?"
"From us, you ignorant ape!" Kael snarled, losing his patience. "Pay the tithe, or we will return with an army of ten thousand and tear these walls down to the bedrock! Your snake guards will be slaughtered, and your Vulture pet will be shot from the sky!"
Veer let out a low, dangerous chuckle, his eyes locking onto Kael like a targeting reticle. The Vulture chief looked like he was about to dive off the wall and decapitate the envoy on principle.
But Kaya held up a single hand, stopping him.
She leaned slightly over the parapet, looking down at the angry, posturing Lion. She didn’t look scared. She looked profoundly bored.
"Kael," Kaya said, her voice dropping the theatrical projection and taking on the sharp, clinical tone of a modern CEO addressing a failing competitor. "Let me explain basic economics to you, since your King apparently missed the lesson."
She gestured behind her, toward the bustling marketplace that Kael couldn’t see through the gates.
"The merchants that your King used to extort on the open plains are now safe inside my walls. They pay me a fraction of a percent for the privilege of trading without fear of being mauled by overgrown housecats. With that money, I pay my guards an actual, living wage. Because my guards are paid well, they don’t eat the merchants. Because they don’t eat the merchants, more merchants come. It is a highly lucrative cycle of positive reinforcement."
Kael’s eyes narrowed. "I don’t care about your ledgers, human! I care about the gold you owe my King!"
"But that’s the point, Kael," Kaya smiled, a cold, predatory expression that sent a shiver down Sarn’s scaly spine. "You don’t have leverage anymore. You are threatening to bring an army of ten thousand Lions to lay siege to my walls. Do you know how much it costs to feed ten thousand massive, warm-blooded predators during a prolonged siege? It costs a fortune in meat and grain. A fortune that your King no longer has, because I currently control ninety percent of the grain flow on this side of the continent."
Kael froze. The absolute, unshakeable confidence in his posture wavered just a fraction.
"If your King marches his army here," Kaya continued ruthlessly, driving the nail into the coffin, "he will bankrupt his entire kingdom in a month. His soldiers will starve outside my walls while my people feast inside them. You are standing at my gates demanding a protection tax because your King is broke, Kael. He is bleeding out, and he is trying to use intimidation to stop the hemorrhage."
The Lions in the vanguard shifted uneasily, looking at each other. They were warriors, not scholars, but even they understood the brutal reality of an empty stomach. The food rations in the Central Plains ’had’ been getting lighter over the past few weeks.
"You lie!" Kael roared, his face flushing with fury. He raised his broadsword, pointing it directly at Kaya’s chest. "The Lion King is absolute! We do not beg! We conquer! I will return to the Plains, and I will bring the full might of the Pride to crush you!"
"You can certainly try," Kaya said smoothly. "But before you go marching back to a starving King, I want to make you a counter-offer."
She reached into a pouch at her belt and pulled out a heavy, forged gold coin. It caught the sunlight, gleaming brilliantly. She tossed it over the edge of the wall. It fell a hundred feet and landed perfectly in the dirt right between Kael’s boots.
Kael stared down at it, his brow furrowed in deep confusion.
"That is a Free Clan coin," Kaya declared. "I am currently expanding my outer perimeter patrols to ensure the trade routes remain absolutely secure. The Snake guards are excellent, but they are cold-blooded. I need warm-blooded, heavy-hitting infantry for the night shifts."
She looked Kael dead in the eye.
"I am offering you a job, Kael. You and your vanguard. Defect from the Lion King. Swear allegiance to the Free Clan. If you do, your men will eat fresh meat every single night, you will sleep behind impenetrable walls, and you will be paid triple whatever your starving King is failing to give you right now."
The silence that fell over the canyon gates was absolute.
Up on the wall, Sarn nearly dropped his bow. Veer let out a sharp, delighted laugh, burying his face in his hands. It was the most audacious, insulting, utterly brilliant maneuver in the history of tribal warfare. She wasn’t just refusing to pay the extortion; she was actively trying to buy the extortionist’s army right out from under him.
Kael’s face cycled through shock, profound outrage, and finally, apoplectic fury. To a proud Lion of the Central Plains, loyalty to the Pride was everything. To be treated like a cheap mercenary by a human girl was the ultimate dishonor.
"You dare insult my honor?!" Kael screamed, his voice cracking with rage. "I am a Vanguard of the King! I would rather die in the mud than serve a hairless ape!"
"Suit yourself," Kaya shrugged indifferently, turning her back on the edge of the wall. "But the offer stands for your men. If any of you get tired of starving for a King who can’t pay his bills, the gates of the Free Clan are always open."
She looked at Sarn. "If they try to bash the gate again, shoot them in the knees. Veer, let’s go. I have a ledger to finish."
Without looking back, Kaya walked away from the parapet, disappearing into the fortress.
Down in the dirt, Kael stood trembling with fury. He looked at the heavy gold coin resting in the dust. He wanted to spit on it. He wanted to leave it there. But as he looked back at his two hundred warriors, he saw the way their eyes were locked onto the gleaming gold. He saw the hungry, tired glint in their expressions.
Kael gritted his teeth, snatched the coin from the dirt, and shoved it into his pocket.
"We march back to the Plains!" Kael barked, turning violently on his heel. "The King will hear of this disrespect! We will return with an army!"
But as the Lion vanguard turned and began the long march back toward the Central Plains, the rigid, arrogant swagger they had arrived with was entirely gone. Kaya hadn’t fired a single arrow, but she had planted a seed of doubt that would spread like a cancer through the Lion King’s army.
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