noon
For one thing , King Yoorkerk 's flamboyantly-named regiments were n't quite as bad as Paula had thought . She 'd been spoiled by the Kragans in her appreciation of other native troops . They had good , standard-quality , Volund-made arms ; they were brave and capable ; and they had been just enough insulted by being integrated into Kragan regiments to try to make a good showing . By noon , resistance in the city was beginning to cave in . Surrender flags were appearing on one after another of the Konkrookan rebel strong-points , and at 1430 , after he had returned to the Island , a delegation , headed by the Konkrookan equivalent of Lord Mayor and composed largely of prominent merchants , came across the channel under a flag of truce to surrender the city 's Spear of State , with abject apologies for not having Gurgurk 's head on the point of it . Gurgurk , they reported had fled to Keegark by air the night before , which explained the incident of the unaccountable aircar and lorry . The Channel Battery stopped firing , and , with the exception of an occasional spatter of small-arms fire , the city fell silent .