There were actually two main reasons why Remian opted to agree, and two other reasons why it was now a feasible idea.

"Is it because of what I said?" Mindy asked, weakly.

"Actually, yes." Remian nodded.

Mindy had been going on and on about the water gourd and indirect kisses and that he should make a big gesture to Phoebe in response.

"That… that wasn't the sort of big gesture I meant!" Mindy protested. "I was thinking, flowers, or something…"

"Flowers are boring." Phoebe said suddenly. "As far as big gestures go, I like this one."

The other main reason was that they weren't as alone as Remian thought. Upon reaching Fal'Herim, he'd noticed a whole lot of mental buzzing… it turned out that there were no less than five clans of lynxmice already in the city, hidden underground. Apparently, Tim had more than half a thousand lynxmice out here preparing to strike for weeks.

Already, the security of all nineteen of the bazaar warehouses had been breached. Strike teams were in place for six strategic hot-spots, including the airport, the palace, and the main military command center. The plans were already laid; the lynxmice were already briefed, equipped and deployed. All it took was a single word, 'go', and Remian would unleash chaos and furry h.e.l.l upon Fal'Herim.

While Remian had some complaints about Tim's lack of communications, he was very much impressed with how he'd managed to accomplish all this without Fal'Herim finding out. The lynxmice had practically taken over the tunnels under the city, both old and new, and had established a co-existence with the beggars, thieves and brigands that populated it. Remian couldn't be entirely sure but it actually sounded like the lynxmice had been feeding these people…

How did Tim manage all this in three weeks…?!

Anyway. The point was, their forces were ready and waiting. Fulfilling Phoebe's request was only a little add-on, like cherry on a cake.

"But… but what if they attack us back?" Mindy protested.

"How?" Remian asked. "We have the Eagle Lord on our side. They could send a hundred airs.h.i.+ps into the Wildlands and none of them would make it as far as KarGoth."

"What if they attacked your family directly?" Mindy asked. "Kidnappers and a.s.sa.s.sins and such?"

"My family's right under the nose of the Eagle Lord, except for Darian, and he's at Dragon Lake. You wanna try kidnapping my brother in front of all his dragon friends? Good luck with that!"

"You're serious…" Mindy stared.

"Yep." Remian nodded.

"But the Burning Steel forge… don't you own half?"

"They're not a target."

"But Fal'Herim will retaliate, you know? Them and the whole Coalition of Six!"

"Will they?" Remian mused. "I have an idea about that."

***

There was one more party that needed to be convinced. Phoebe handled that.

"You want to do what?! But where are we going to send them?" the Iron Legion commander asked, in disbelief.

"KarGoth. Send them to us in the Wildlands."

"Would they even accept freed slaves?"

"The majority of their population consists of freed slaves and slaves queuing up to be freed. My sister works there and she's fully supported by all the local clans."

"How much support are we talking about?"

"They built a new hospital at the Farm where the entire Harvest Sun clan was emanc.i.p.ated. Now they're building a second hospital in KarGoth where the Desert Moon clan lives…"

"Really?"

"I witnessed all of it with my own eyes. I helped my sister free them with my own hands. It's all real."

"But wait, didn't a whole lot of slaves recently come up from there?"

"Their masters intended to free them there, but then changed their minds and brought them back. It is not by choice that they're here."

"So… you seriously think we can do this…"

"No, sir, you're not going to do anything. My friends and I will handle it. You just wait for the people to arrive and escort them safely southward."

"And then?"

"There will be airs.h.i.+ps to pick them up." Phoebe informed them.

"But…"

"That is all!" Phoebe barked.

The commander sighed. "Understood, Amber Range. Good luck."

"Good luck to you too, Yellow Range."

***

They made a call to KarGoth. George sent out a Sky Fortress.

And then, Remian said, [Go!]

***

It started with the screaming in the marketplace.

People were just starting to run out of the main bazaar when explosions went up all over the main military command center.

Then, the palace collapsed. Flat out just crumbled downwards. The Crown Prince was seen running out the back in a panic, wearing only a pair of pants.

Meanwhile the royal treasury was overrun.

Also, the royal kitchens.

At the same time, the airport suddenly had airs.h.i.+ps loosed from their moorings and floating up, up and away into the sky with n.o.body and nothing to hold them down any more.

All of this took a long time to describe (actually, no, it didn't) but in truth it happened very quickly (uh… maybe not that quickly).

By the way, it could have taken much, much longer to describe. Much could be said about the expressions on people's faces, about how they were bragging of the stability and security of Fal'Herim, and how they said bad things about poor, defenseless lynxmice in general and many provocative things that could take three pages to write about…

But there's really no point, is there?

BOOM! The palace went down and the dust rose up, and already, Phoebe and Mindy were leading the charge into the royal slave-pens, both of them veiled and wearing head shawls in local fas.h.i.+on.

"Who dares?!" the head guard of the Crown Prince, half-taking off his own s.h.i.+rt to give his boss, shouted.

"Surrender in the name of Queen Asda!"

"Asda!" The Crown Prince roared. "I knew it! She's at it AGAIN!"

Meanwhile, the lynxmice had already broken through the slaves' bindings. Phoebe and Mindy took off running in different directions with hundreds of slaves scattering to the winds.

"Leave them! Form ranks!" The Crown Prince shouted. "Call out the reserves! We are at war!"

"With who?" the commander asked.

"With Asda!" the Prince shouted. "Alert the generals! Civil war is upon us!"