"Hold fast, if you would, Marshal." Ashelia tucked the wax head away and drew her sword again. Just because they couldn't hear the robots anymore, didn't mean the intruders weren't nearby.

"Mark my words closely, you wretched little creature; you will show us to the control room, you will deactivate the security system and you will give us an explanation." She tightened her grip on her sword. "Men and women dragged to this world against their will have laid their lives on the line to save you from the clutches of some powerful intruder with powers apparently completely beyond even your own ken. They could be fighting and dying as we speak, and you seek to brush us aside like so many bothersome flies?"

The queen shook her head. "You have not given us many reasons to trust you, Jessie, and yet we have, through necessity. That ends now. You will prove to us you are worthy of our trust, and you will do so by telling us all you know of your good friend the Lady Kalki once you have deactivated the security system. Are we clear?"