Leon and his family meandered their way through the market of the city they were stopping at for the night. Only two days remained until they reached Andalus, the capital of the Cortuban Alliance, and the place they were supposed to leave Santiago and his other bandits, yet Leon still had yet to reach a definitive decision regarding the man.

He needed to speak with the Cortuban more, he knew that, but he felt like he needed to work out what exactly he wanted from the man, first. Alix, Marcus, Alcander, Gaius, Valeria, and even Anshu to an extent, he expected would follow him for a long time, even into the Nexus and further. But Santiago, he was a little less expectant of—if he were to recruit the man, he couldn’t ever possibly trust him unless something drastic were to happen.

He was coming around to the idea that that was all right, and that he could have uses for men and women who weren’t completely loyal to him, but it was still a hard step to take. Beyond that, he might have to go to bat for the man if they couldn’t ignore the request that they’d received to escort the bandits to the capital for punishment. It was an unofficial request, fortunately, so there wasn’t a paper trail, but for all Leon knew, the authorities had called ahead and relayed what they’d asked of the caravan to their counterparts in the capital.

All of this was on his mind as he walked arm-in-arm with Elise, picking their way through the packed and colorful market as the sun above slowly sank toward the horizon. Leon, being rather hungry, paid special attention to the foods that were available to choose from. They were far from any major rivers or the sea, so fish was out—not that he particularly liked fish—but there were good selections of various breads, fruits, and even a few butchers here and there selling fresh meat—mostly various kinds of poultry.

The market itself was incredibly lively—it was a huge forum located at the southeastern end of the city, closer to the richer agricultural zones, and was filled with an extremely orderly series of tents, each made of brightly colored fabrics that were designed to demand attention. Each tent was set up on a set-aside lot, so while the forum itself was packed with people going about their shopping, the tents were laid out in a ruthlessly orderly grid, and Leon noted that they couldn’t go more than a couple of tents without seeing a group of two or three well-armed guards keeping the peace and watching for thieves. It was a sharp contrast to the northwest of the Alliance, where there were few uniformed guards to be seen—possibly because they had all gone rogue with Santiago, but he couldn’t be sure.

Leon was also rather shocked at seeing the diversity of people around. He’d seen a great many people of various dress and skin tones in Ariminium, but they’d mostly kept to the port and the neighboring districts. Most of the city was still the relatively pale-skinned people of the Bull Kingdom. Here, however, were people seemingly from all corners of the world, selling silks and other fabrics, various instruments, clothing in more styles than he could count, books, and even a few people using their tents as places to play music or recite poetry for small crowds. Leon also realized that he couldn’t understand what most of the people were saying, hearing more than seven different languages being spoken throughout the forum in addition to the standard common tongue.

It seemed like a diverse and prosperous place, and one that he hadn’t quite expected to find so far inland. He supposed it made some degree of sense, though, for it was a major highway cutting through the civilized lands of the northwest, so there were going to be many people bringing their wares through here. When he marveled at it to Elise, she quickly informed him that the city was also the capital of one of the petty Kingdoms that made up the Alliance, which meant that there were a lot of moneyed people around, attracting even more merchants from all over the world.

It was delightful to explore—at least, for a while. There were so many things to see, so many things that were being offered for just a few silvers that even Leon, as miserly as he was, wound up spending a few coins on meaningless things. But they stayed in the forum for long enough that its charm started to wear a little thin, and Leon began to see the ugly side of the city.

Running around here and there, always sticking to the shadows or the interiors of the tents where they could remain mostly out of sight, were young children dressed in simple garb, with leather collars around their necks, occasionally speaking with the tent owners and running off, or ducking in and passing the merchants a note or a parcel. And once Leon started noticing them, he began to notice some of the more well-dressed man and women watching over the tents had faint collar-like tattoos applied to their necks.

Slaves.

Intellectually, Leon knew that there were more than a few Kingdoms that practiced slavery, but it was the first time he’d really seen any, himself—or rather, the first time he’d seen any and known about it. Given how deep they were in the Cortuban Alliance, he figured that it was probable he’d seen some before this point and just hadn’t recognized them.

He noted that there didn’t seem to be anyone watching these slaves—the guards around the forum would likely stop them if they ran, but other than that, their masters seemed willing enough to let the slaves work without much active supervision. When Leon asked Elise about this, she said that slavery was a complex thing, and that these slaves were likely cared for and quite trusted if they were handling money. Educated slaves weren’t particularly common, she said, and that it wasn’t the worst thing ever to be one.

Leon, who prized his freedom and autonomy greatly, disagreed, though he wasn’t about to get into it right then and there in the forum. However, he picked up on Elise’s qualifier: ‘educated’ slave. He asked about those who weren’t educated, and she quietly responded that they were mostly used for labor and weren’t prized quite so much. Everywhere was different, but for those states that practiced slavery, back-breaking labor on a farm or in a mine was the usual sentence for serious crimes that didn’t warrant the death penalty, or for captured prisoners of war.

These slaves looked no less happy than everyone else around the market, but Leon swore in his heart right then and there that his would never be a Kingdom built upon forced labor. He despised the idea of slavery, and the more he thought about it, the less he liked it.

But with three gorgeous women with him and other problems fighting for his attention, it was soon enough that the prospect found itself being pushed from his mind. There were no slaves being abused there in the market, after all, it was just something there in the background, always there but not shoving itself in his face if he wasn’t looking for it.

The problem of slavery here wasn’t one he could solve, but the problem of what to do about Santiago was.

To that end, that night, he sought out the rest of his retinue, and then went to speak with Santiago once more. The man was sullen and taciturn, but it was clear enough from his attitude that all of his professed loyalty to the Alliance was gone, and he didn’t intend to replace it with anything else.

When the conversation was over, Leon sat down with his retinue to ask them their opinions.

Anshu, surprisingly enough, was the first to offer his thoughts. “He’s powerful,” the Indradian stated. “Stronger than everyone here, save for you and the daughter of Ellalan. Such strength would be put to great use in your company.”

“I disagree,” Alix passionately protested, drawing a venomous look from Anshu. “You don’t just need strength, you need people you can trust. That man is less than a mercenary; I think that if you were to undo his bindings, he’d run away in the night, regardless of what he might say. Given that he’s a bandit, better to turn him over to the Alliance. What’s more, do we really want a bandit in our ranks? Especially one like him? I think he actually said the words, ‘** loyalty’ in there.”

“Sixth-tier mages don’t exactly grow on trees,” Marcus offered, “but neither is there much of a shortage of them on this plane. There will be others, and we’ve no great need of strength right now. What rush is there to build a strong army? What pressing need do we have to take such a risk on a known criminal who, himself, professes to hold no love in heart anymore for anyone but himself?”

“A man out for himself is not one to trust,” Alcander whispered in agreement. “I would rather I not fight alongside such a man. We need to trust those to our right and left, and I don’t trust him.”

Leon sighed as he sat back in his seat, feeling justified in his thoughts about Santiago now that he was seeing them reflected in his retinue. However, as his eyes turned back to Anshu, he was struck once more by the fact that his and Santiago’s situations weren’t that different, though they differed in just the right ways.

“I don’t think I like the man that much,” Leon said after it became clear that neither Valeria nor Gaius wanted to offer their opinions just yet. “He’s kind of like you, Anshu.”

The Indradian slowly nodded to Leon, accepting the comparison as valid.

“I recruited you. I trusted you. So far, I haven’t been let down. But that doesn’t mean that I want to be taking these kinds of risks often. I turned down Kaouther, and she was seventh-tier. I can refrain from making this sixth-tier an offer and sleep soundly. I can’t just try and recruit every single person I run across. That’s no way to build a retinue.”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming,” Marcus observed.

“But,” Leon cheekily said, “a sixth-tier mage isn’t that big of a threat to me. He is to all of you, but not to me. And that’s part of the reason why I wanted to get your opinions of him. If I were to recruit him, then he’d need to be tied down with more than loyalty, for I’ve inspired none in him. If anything, he’d have reason to slit my throat in my sleep, not follow my orders.”

“All the more reason to pass on this guy,” Alix firmly stated.

Leon went quiet for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face.

“You don’t look convinced,” Alix observed.

“I’m not,” Leon replied. “I’m still thinking this over. You know, trying to give this matter the serious consideration that it deserves. And I haven’t reached a conclusion yet. I’m just arguing in circles with myself, constantly switching back and forth from taking the chance or not. I was hoping for more opinions to help with that, but so far, while you’ve helped swing me away from recruitment, I’m still not quite convinced.”

As he spoke, Leon glanced at Gaius and Valeria, the two members of his retinue who had yet to speak.

Gaius sighed and said, “People are employed all the time who aren’t exactly ‘loyal’ to their employers. It just depends on what they want and what you provide. What does Santiago want, and what can you give him? What do you even want from him? If you can answer those questions, and you are willing to pay his price, then I think he’d be a worthy addition to your forces. Just remember that he’s not going to be the most reliable man and give him due responsibilities.”

Leon nodded in gratitude.

“I mostly agree,” Valeria said. “Or, I agree on principle. Santiago himself is where I disagree. He’s a bandit, we shouldn’t recruit former criminals. We don’t know what he did during those couple of years he was raiding his own country, and we don’t know what response might be waiting for us from the Alliance. I’ll follow your lead, Leon, but I don’t want to fight against a Kingdom for a bandit that I neither like nor trust, especially when I don’t think he deserves such treatment. Just give him to the local authorities and let’s be done with him—there’ll be other opportunities for strong recruits, there should be no problem in passing on this one.”

Leon nodded again, taking her words to heart.

He honestly hated this kind of thing, but he understood it was absolutely necessary. It was on him to spearhead the recruitment for his retinue. Eventually, it would grow on its own as others were given more responsibility, but for now, it was still small enough that the responsibility was entirely on him.

But the risks were shared by all. The best case they could hope for if Santiago were to betray them was if he simply ran away in the night. Worst case, he might try to kill them all, or sell them out to someone who wanted to do them harm.

Leon, with those thoughts in his head, finally made his decision.

—

Andalus was an enormous city—not quite as large as the capital of the Bull Kingdom, but easily the largest city they’d come across on their journey. Leon estimated at least half a million people lived within its enormous walls, let alone those who lived outside of it, for the city had outgrown its sprawling walls.

He couldn’t see much within, though, for the walls were warded against his magic senses. But they were able to get a good look at the city’s interior as they came in through the hills to the city’s west, being just high enough to mostly see over the walls without needing magic senses.

While there was little that Leon wanted to do more than to relax and then maybe see the sights a bit, he knew that he had other business to attend to, first. To that end, he and a few other Heaven’s Eye personnel paused at the checkpoints leading into the city and asked where they could drop off their prisoners, for Leon was recruiting none of them. As impressive as it was that Santiago had managed to keep his people alive and together throughout their troubles in the northwest, ultimately, Leon couldn’t let go of his doubts, and he figured that if he had doubts about anyone, then they weren’t worth recruiting.

Better to let him reap the rewards for his banditry and maybe win some goodwill with the Alliance while he was at it. The Cortuban guards informed him that those manning the first gatehouse through the city’s walls would be able to take the bandits off their hands.

And so it was that Leon finally handed off Santiago to the commander of the guards at the gatehouse, a darkly-tanned sixth-tier man who signed several papers taking formal possession of the bandits, and then led them into the gatehouse. Leon didn’t know what might happen after that, but it was no longer his business. As Santiago was practically dragged away in chains, he could only hope that he hadn’t let a golden opportunity slip through his fingers.

With that done, though, Leon was finally free to turn his attention toward the city of Andalus itself. It was impressive, with many concentric layers of walls protecting and segregating the various districts of the city.

In the central, most heavily defended district, he saw an enormous citadel made entirely of visually striking bricks either blood red or faded pink in color. He didn’t see any gardens or other ‘leisure’ areas around the citadel, which spoke volumes about the citadel’s inhabitants, but he was impressed nonetheless, for the citadel was quite possibly the single largest fortified structure he’d ever seen, dwarfing even the Bull’s Horns.

The citadel was more than twenty stories tall, had no less than twenty directly attached towers, and more than ten baileys. Combined with the multiple layers of city walls cleanly dividing the city into more defensible districts, and Leon could envision that taking this city would likely be just as hard as taking Ariminium.

In the neighboring districts were the sort of palaces that Leon had been expecting: vast, sprawling, sumptuous complexes attended by hundreds or thousands of servants, expansive gardens filled with exotic flowers and plants of all shapes, and nearly all built with the same red and pink brick as the citadel. The palaces were blocky in design, and while all were built of the same materials, they were all accented differently, with many featuring marble courtyards and pavilions, some featuring enormous windows of stained glass, and some choosing a smaller, more natural look with greater emphasis on gardens over structures.

The most impressive of all these palace complexes, however, was the Heaven’s Eye enclave within the district. It was easy to see, for while the palaces were red brick, the tall Heaven’s Eye Tower was built of familiar white stone, capped with roof tiles made of lapis lazuli, and at twenty stories tall, was matched in height only by the upper floors of the citadel.

Surrounding the Tower were a series of smaller palaces made of red and pink bricks that Leon assumed to be the rest of the enclave, where the local Tower Lord lived and where he and the rest of the convoy would be residing for their stay in the city.

Sure enough, the caravan began to make their way in that direction, and Leon continued to inspect the city as best as he could, only getting a few flashes here and there as they passed through the various layers of warded walls. He noted that the red brick used in the palaces, unlike white stone in the Bull Kingdom or black glass in Samar, wasn’t used exclusively by the wealthy as a sign of their station, but rather was used as the most common building material in the city. Nearly every building, whether run-down slum or opulent palace, was built largely of red brick—though the lighter pink bricks were reserved for wealthier estates, he noted.

It was a beautiful style, he had to admit, and accented well by the sheer amount of greenery that the city sported along its main thoroughfares. Tall trees and lush bushes provided cover from the sun and gave the interior of the city an almost close-to-nature feeling that Leon quite enjoyed. However, the effect was ruined somewhat as he began to notice the lesser parts of the city.

There were slums here, to be sure, as there were just about everywhere, but what really captured Leon’s attention was that nearly every walled-off city district had at least a few segregated streets filled with people who were obviously enslaved. Most were dressed in the simplest of garments, barely more than cloth sacks, and were each and every one of them fastened with iron collars. The streets they lived on were clean and cared for well enough, but their homes were ramshackle, and many people who seemed to be living there looked dirtier than anyone should’ve been who had access to running water—implying that they didn’t have such access, whether magical or otherwise. After some inspections, Leon saw that not a single slave in any of their ghettos were stronger than the first-tier, and even those who were that strong were rare.

“Lots of slaves here,” Leon quietly observed with distaste dripping from his tone.

He and the rest of his family were riding with Emilie for this final leg of the journey, and his mother-in-law, understanding what he was talking about when she noticed the direction of his gaze, explained, “Owned by the Alliance, I believe. They’re public servants, keeping the streets clean and tended to.”

Leon clicked his tongue, but said no more. Not that he had a solution for any of it, but it disgusted him to see people forced to live in such conditions. He tried to put it out of his mind, to squint past the city’s imperfections, but it was proving impossible, for now that he was keyed into what to look for, he saw people with collars or collar tattoos everywhere along their journey, constantly reminding him of something he couldn’t change.

“I hate this place,” he muttered as they drove further on into the palatial districts.