She does, on one condition

"Men of Reznik, keep your weapons sheathed!" Katyana calls out. "We will stand down."

"The order was for you to surrender, my Lady," you tell her. "Your men will throw their weapons to the ground. I am a patient man, but when it comes to threats against my people, my patience is extremely thin!"

"What threats have we made?"

"Draw swords!" you shout, and all around you your troops bare steel. "Lady Katyana, the next words from your lips will be words of surrender. I trust I make myself clear."

Her diamond-eyes glare at you, but she is no fool. "I will surrender on one condition," she says quietly. "You and I will speak, so that I may tell you of my purpose here, in the hopes that we may resolve what is clearly a misunderstanding on your part."

"I accept your terms. Have your men throw down their weapons and my general will take them into custody. Then, we will have words."

Katyana nods. "Men of Reznik! Place your weapons upon the ground. We will surrender."

Your eyes go to the man with the black beard and eyepatch, and you notice that he is the first to unbuckle his sword belt and drop it to to the dirt - not only that, but none of the other men make a similar move until they see him do so. He is the one truly in command here, you know.

"We will speak in my tent," Katyana says, gesturing toward the open flap. "My guardsman will accompany me, as will yours, no doubt."

"Your guardsman is my prisoner, as are you," you tell her. "He will remain outside, but my own guard will not."

Katyana visibly bristles, but of course she has ****. She turns and enters the tent; Sir Magnus precedes you inside, and you follow only after he has given the subtle hand signal to let you know it is safe.

It is dark inside the tent, but your eyes adjust quickly. Katyana stands looking at you appraisingly, and you return the look. She is very young, but her eyes clearly lost their innocence long ago; you have no doubt that she has led a hard and cruel life, and seen much that you could scarcely imagine. She is also quite beautiful, startlingly so, especially since you have met Lord Velimir and he is not what one would consider a handsome man. There is no doubt of her parentage, though; you remember those diamond eyes from the last time you met the Warlord.

"Two of your men have been arrested by the City Watch, for terrorizing my people in the woods," you tell her without preamble. "One of them hurled himself onto my watchman's blade rather than be taken alive; the other fled, but was later found with an arrow in his throat. There was nothing we could do for him except to ease his passing."

"What makes you think these were my men?" Katyana asks.

"Because I recognize the armor of the Warlord when I see it," you tell her. "Because I know what the coin purse with the bear's tooth means. And because the one who was mortally wounded by an arrow revealed the location of this camp before he died. Your men are in the woods seeking the thief known as the Vixen; do not insult my intelligence by denying it."

"I deny nothing," Katyana says. "I am here because my father wishes to open negotiations for peace. Advance word was sent that we would be encamped here; I was expecting you, King Xavier, but I did not expect you would arrive in the manner you did. My messenger must have run afoul of bad fortune. And yes, my people have been seeking the Vixen. We do so for two reasons: because she has accosted my own men, and because it was my intention to turn her over to you as a gesture of good faith."

"It is not your place to send armed men into my woods, Katyana," you tell her.

"With all due respect, King Xavier, I did not have confidence in your ability to capture the Vixen; you have not been able to do so for four years, after all. Furthermore, I suspected she had killed one of my men, and that could not go unanswered. Now that you speak to me of a man with an arrow in his throat, it seems to me that my suspicions are confirmed, and my actions justified."

"Indeed. And suppose I were to tell you that the Vixen is in my custody at this time?"

"I would wish to see her myself," Katyana says, and her eyes flicker for a split-second to a corner of the tent behind you. "Out of curiosity, if nothing else."

"Let us imagine for a moment that I believe all that you say," you say to her. "You claim that Velimir Reznik wants peace with Elyssia. What are his terms?"

"I will not negotiate as a prisoner, King Xavier. If you wish to talk peace, I will do so only when my liberty has been restored, the weapons of my men have been returned to them, and we meet on equal terms."

You nod thoughtfully, then turn and take a couple of casual paces over to the corner of the tent where Katyana glanced a moment ago, where there is a large rectangular bundle covered in a cloak. Quickly, you snatch the cloak away - Katyana steps forward with an arm outstretched, but Magnus' greatsword flashes up between her and you, stopping her in her tracks.

"What a handsome woman," you say, admiring the portrait which you have just uncovered. "Unless I miss my guess, this is Queen Seraphina of Bavaria. But how strange, that you would travel with a painting of a woman who your father murdered in cold blood."

You look back to Katyana; her eyes are blazing with fury, but for the first time there is a hint of fear behind them. "Put me in irons if you will," Katyana says softly. "I have nothing more to say."

"But I do," you tell her. "You, Katyana of Reznik, are not only a liar but a fool as well. You are here to capture the Vixen not because she is a thief, but because she is a princess - the last of the Bavarian royal house. You are here to negotiate for peace because the Warlord prepares for battle, and he wants Elyssia unprepared for his imminent attack. And you think you are in command here, but in truth your father never trusted you with such responsibility. He has not only placed one of his captains with you who will take command now that you have failed, he is himself encamped in these very woods."

"You lie!" she hisses.

"Do I? Take a closer look at your second in command, and imagine him without the eyepatch and a shorter beard, standing about two inches taller instead of slouching as he does now. Lord Velimir likely did not choose someone with whom you are intimately familiar, but you have probably seen him before." The fury in Katyana's eyes turns to confusion as you watch, and then the light seems to dawn. "I see that you now understand what your true position is here," you continue. "Now, I will tell you a truth which I did not before. We did not, in fact, find a man in the woods struck down by the Vixen's arrow. Not one of your men has been killed. Nor have they been tortured or harshly interrogated, for as you know we do not use such methods here. Regardless, we were able to get enough information from those we captured to guide us to this camp, and you can see for yourself that I had enough confidence in that information to lead the party personally. Both your men and your father have betrayed you, Lady Katyana. You may wish to reconsider how much loyalty you owe them - though in truth, even if you wished to tell me all you knew, I can see now that it is probably less than what I have already learned from other sources. I hope you find the tower comfortable, my Lady; you will at least have an excellent view of tonight's festivities."