“Well, let’s have it. Where do you think we should go?”

“Saoleord.”

Siobhan and Conli both froze. Saoleord? The city that no one ever visited and only natives could find? “Why?” Conli asked slowly, blue eyes studying Fei’s face.

Fei seemed to take a breath before admitting quietly, “Because I think we’ll need help very soon.”

“Fei, I’m lost. Why would you want to go home?”

“I have seen this pattern before. The last time that one country was pushed into an economical depression by another country, it led to war.”

Siobhan’s blood froze. “War?”

“Can a war even be possible?” Conli objected. “A skirmish I can see, one guild or one city attacking another is very possible. But to have a war, an actual war as you mean it, you’d have to get several main guilds to cooperate enough to fight in a united front. We can barely get them to agree on trade agreements.”

Fei shook his head, mouth set in a grim line. “Orin is desperate. They will band together to pillage and loot, if nothing else. I tell you, the history that I learned showed this exact set of events happening over and over again. We are primed for war but we are not ready for it. If Orin pulls together an army and marches against us, they can destroy us city by city without anyone being able to stop them.”