In the days and weeks that followed, normal life returned. In parts of the city that hadn't been destroyed, stalls overflowed with a wealth of goods from the rulers' cellars.
Meanwhile, the new rulers had adapted well to their new status and eagerly made use of their newly acquired wealth to celebrate their freedom exuberantly.
Deep in the forest, however, escaped minotaurs gathered, wanted by the new regime and considering their next steps.
Finally, someone took the initiative as they marched up the river to Port de la Montagne, an old fortress used by the minotaurs to gather their slaves.
The fortress looked strong, high on Mount Faron, and surrounded in three places by a raging sea. (CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR MORE BACKGROUND INFO IN THE BLOG)
On the side where there was no sea, only a narrow road gave access to the fort.
Menetavro, Asterion's military commander, was one of the few minotaurs who hadn't attended the banquet that evening and had survived the minotaur extermination. Here he now stood, awaiting the mermen's envoy.
The wait wasn't long. Menetavro kept being impressed by Atlantic I, no matter however often he saw him.. Menetavro explained the situation, and that the revolution posed a threat to the slave trade between minotaurs and mermen.
The message apparently got across quickly because that same evening, strange-looking creatures with carbon membranes over their ears to allow them to breathe began climbing the rocks on which the fort stood.
They spoke to no one and gathered in the fortress courtyard, breathing heavily through the membranes of their artificial lungs.