"Sorry, who were you, again?" The Crown Prince looked at Remian as if puzzled.

"This is Remian Vin, King of the Wildlands!" Asda declared.

That's way too exaggerated!

"Uh, no, I just have some influence over one small piece of it…" Remian said, but in a voice so low that only the wolfcats next to him could hear it. Yet he cleared his throat and said, "The point is, I have overwhelming military advantage and if you don't surrender, I may very well just destroy the city and take all its people captive. From what I hear, there's not much else of worth in it."

"Oh, but there is!" The Second Queen a.s.sured him. "The Imperial Palace is full of valuable treasures. The treasury might be empty, but the cutlery alone is worth its weight in gold. A lot of it IS gold."

"That makes no sense. Shouldn't cutlery be silver? You know, to test for poison?" Remian asked.

"Gold is more valuable." The Second Queen shrugged.

"It's a wonder the Desert King hasn't died before now." Remian shook his head.

"The royal family is highly resistant against poisons." The Second Queen explained. "Getting stung by scorpions and surviving is a regular rite of pa.s.sage to prove their bloodline."

"And they all survive?"

"Three out of five do."

"That's high! Yet you're okay with it?!"

"It's a very big family, with a lot of infighting. Asda is in more danger from her siblings than she is from the scorpions."

"Back to the point…" the Crown Prince interrupted. "What makes you think you deserve our surrender?"

"Like I said. I have airs.h.i.+ps, Wilds and an army already in your city. You can't keep my forces out and I can destroy your city right now."

"No, you can't." the prince shook his head. "Even if you could, you wouldn't. Fal'Herim has many friends, and you can't fight us all. If you destroyed our city today, our friends would come and destroy you tomorrow. The losses on your part would far outweigh your gains."

"It makes more sense for you to support my faction as allies rather than conquer the city yourself." The Second Queen agreed. "That way, you are a friend of Fal'Herim, and thus a friend of our friends, not an enemy. At least, on the surface."

"Actually, I was curious about that. Why are you supporting her? You should support me." The Crown Prince said. "We're the rulers of neighboring countries, of the same age, and you seem like the reasonable sort. We could be of great help to one another. We could be good friends, you and I."

"Ah, but you can't marry him." The Second Queen explained. "I can."

Remian choked. "No, thanks! I'd rather marry Asda!"

Hidden nearby, Tim choked.

"Can't, sorry. Mom's promised me to the general's son." Asda said, somewhat regretfully.

"And you're okay with that?" Remian asked, surprised.

"He's a softie." Asda explained. "I can bully him forever."

The general choked.

"We can discuss the details later, but the point is, we share a common ideal! The slaves must be freed!" the Second Queen stated.

"Do they?" the Crown Prince asked Remian. "Can't you just drop the idealism for pragmatism? The economy of Fal'Herim will collapse if we let go of slave labor."

"Can't. I have close ties with the Iron Legion and Ashdale. My friends and I are really not big fans of slavery." Remian said plainly. "If you're so keen on dropping the old ways, you should drop slavery too."

"Like I said. It's an economic problem. Right now that's a bigger issue than approval ratings."

"Only if you remain here." Remian said. "You should leave."

"Leave?!" the Crown Prince was stunned.

"Take your people and move to the Frontier." Remian explained. "Where there's plenty of fertile land and water. The Fire Crystals are already depleted. There's no reason for you to stay in the desert any more."

The Crown Prince paused. He considered it. He really did.

But the Queen Mother jumped like a scalded cat. "Never! We serve Khar'al-dras! My family will never leave the sands!"

"But you can't afford to stay." Remian tried to explain.

"No! Khar'al-dras will bless us! We need only return to him!" she insisted. "My family, the Dunar line, will never abandon the Desert or the Sand Dragon! Before Khar'al-dras, I vow it!" she turned to the statue's head looming at the front of the hall and bowed.

Remian started feeling irritated. "Look, I'm going to make this really simple for you. I demand your surrender. Whether you stay or go is something that I will decide."

"Surrender? Hah! You come in here with dogs and pigs and you expect us to surrender?" the Queen Mother scoffed.

[Spike. Come on in.] Remian invited.

There was a terrible roar, and the whole temple, in fact the whole central square shook. Then there was a heavy thud powerful enough to make the ground quake. And another. And another…

"No! You can't!" the Queen Mother gasped as she realized something enormous was coming. "This is the holy temple of Khar'al-dras…!"

BANG! The walls of the temple came cras.h.i.+ng down as a giant spike-back lizard poked his head in and said, [h.e.l.lo.]

He took another step, trying to enter the temple itself, but considering the size of his sh.e.l.l, the attempt did not go well for the temple. The entire left wall crumbled as Spike tried to nudge his way in. [You called?]

By then, half the delegates were already screaming and calling for guards.

"Artillery!" One of the Crown Prince's generals was barking orders.

[DD, take down the Crown Prince's forces.] Remian sent. [Feel free to bring the wolfcats too.]

More shaking occurred, this time on all sides as the boars went on stampede. There was one shot from the nearest artillery nest, just one… and then the only thing coming from there were screams.

DD crashed through the other wall, leaving a gaping hole in the murals. [Wait! How do I know which ones are the Crown Prince's forces?]

[Not sure. Better trample all of them just in case.] Remian advised.

"Airs.h.i.+ps!" the Queen Mother shrieked. "Bring in the airs.h.i.+ps!"

[Mindy, they're bringing their airs.h.i.+ps out to play. Would you be so kind as to entertain them?]

['Kind' isn't the word I'd use.] Mindy replied. [But we can definitely meet them and have fun on our part.]

Wait. Now even Mindy could mind-talk? But Tim could, so why not Mindy too?

Commercial-grade and industrial-grade airs.h.i.+ps and weaponry against military-grade airs.h.i.+ps… a lot of sand people crews were going to regret going to work today.

Meanwhile the wolfcats at Remian's side were chasing the royal guards around the temple.

"YAHOO!!" Asda exulted.

"Stop! Please, stop! There'll be nothing left of the city!" the Second Queen pleaded.

"Aww." Asda pouted.

"ENOUGH!" the Queen Mother thundered. "Such insolence! I will show you today the reason why House Dunar is and will ever be the greatest house in all the desert! Behold, the power of Khar'al-dras!"

"Yeah, yeah…" the Crown Prince glanced at the door as if contemplating a tactical retreat from the summit.

But the Queen Mother took out a crystal, raised it in front of the gold-plated statue of the dragon that had its body running around the upper walls of the hall, and screamed, "Sior kri za'un, Khar'al-dras!"

There was an explosion without sound, like a shaking in the fourth dimension itself, and then the worst possible thing happened.

The 'statue' opened its eyes.