Chapter 649: Skirting the Desert’s Edge

When the morning after Leon’s infiltration of the arena came, Elise left the guest house to hunt down any information of what had happened that she could find. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to find much, with the official statements from the two Royals in the city merely being that the situation was contained and that no one should worry. They were being incredibly hush-hush about the details, and Leon could understand that, but it also left him in the dark, without answers to many of the questions that seeing that channeler had left him with.

However, Leon noticed a huge increase in Cortuban patrols in the city following the previous night’s excitement, and he chose to remain in the guest house for at least the remainder of the day. He took some comfort in the fact that it seemed like he, Valeria, and Maia all got away without being seen, for there weren’t Cortuban authorities seeking to put them in chains, but just for his own peace of mind, he didn’t want to leave the Heaven’s Eye enclave until he absolutely had to.

Fortunately, that gave him plenty of time to spend with his lovers, and he made good use of it. He chatted with Elise, sparred with Valeria, and meditated with Maia, enjoying their company immensely. His own training was time-consuming enough that he felt like he didn’t get enough of these moments, so he savored each and every second that he was with them.

But, of course, he had other business to attend to. After the information he’d passed along to everyone the night before, he knew that while most of his retinue was still behind him despite learning about Amon, Gaius was having some trouble with the information.

So, after dinner, Leon tracked his retainer down to have a chat about the issue, with it being hopefully easier to discuss now that Gaius had a whole night and most of a day to process the information.

—

“So,” Leon said as he and Gaius took a seat in a small private meeting room in the guest house, “let’s talk.”

Gaius grimaced and remained quiet for a long moment, but Leon was determined to wait him out. As far as he was concerned, Gaius needed to give voice to his problems before Leon could start working with him to solve them.

Eventually, Gaius said with slow deliberation, “I… I don’t think that I have much to say… Not after having had some time to think.”

“‘Not much’ isn’t ‘nothing’,” Leon observed.

“No, it isn’t,” Gaius agreed. “When you first told us about your… contract… with this Xaphan, I have to admit that I considered abandoning you.”

Leon nodded in understanding, though he was a little disappointed. He’d told his retinue about Xaphan while they were still in the Bull Kingdom, and Gaius hadn’t even been his retainer for an entire month, yet.

Gaius continued, “I couldn’t help but think that I’d made a terrible mistake in signing on with you, knowing that you’re connected with a demon.” Leon noted his use of ‘connected to’, rather than ‘worship of’, and he started to relax, picking up on the fact that Gaius was, perhaps, not as hostile to his demonic partner as he’d feared. “But I suppose I can’t really say much, can I? I never knew you before you possessed that contract. I can’t say if it changed you or not. I don’t know you well enough to say if that demon has had a detrimental influence on you. I just… don’t know.”

Leon nodded again. “I can understand that,” he stated. Gaius was nervous because he didn’t know how to handle this, it was an unknown.

“I trust you, the you that’s here now, the one that’s contracted to that demon,” Gaius insisted. “I do. I wouldn’t have stayed with you after that particular revelation if I didn’t. If you say that you’ve got this in hand… then I think that I can accept that…”

“… But?”

“But… my entire life I’ve been taught to hate and despite those associated with demons. I have to admit that knowing everything that I do now makes me nervous. It’s one thing to know that the man I’m following is contracted with a demon. It’s another thing entirely to know that because of that contract, I now have to worry about vampires and their insanely powerful demonic Lord coming after us. I wish that you’d told us about this sooner.”

Leon grimaced. “I know, and I wish I did, too. It’s always better if allies understand the situation and its risks. Safer for us all. And for not telling you about Amon before now, I’m sorry. That was an oversight on my part, and I’ll do my best to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Thanks,” Gaius responded. “Just hearing you say that means a lot.”

“And, hey,” Leon continued, “if you see me going off the deep end to all these demon shenanigans, I can trust that you’ll do something about it, right?”

“Of course,” Gaius replied with a smile. “Now, what say we get out of here and get some training done?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

—

Ten more days passed within the Cortuban Alliance. There weren’t any more big engagements like the games that Leon and the rest of the visiting Heaven’s Eye leadership had been invited to, and for that, Leon was grateful. It gave him even more freedom to spend time with his lovers, and after everything calmed down after the events at the arena, he was able to relax enough to enjoy himself.

In the days following the events at the arena, Andalus went into a state of extremely heightened security. The guard patrols were tripled, and the arena was locked down, leading Leon to believe that Alfonso and Isabella weren’t in on the demon worship going on under their noses. He wasn’t sure what happened when Alfonso raided the arena since that was being kept well out of the public eye, and he didn’t have the position or the level of trust to just ask. Still, it was enough to know that the King and Queen were reacting as Leon expected them to if they had been attacked, rather than if they were simply trying to keep a secret.

Still, this kept Alfonso busy, and with Isabella having a rather low opinion of him, that meant that no one in the Alliance came to bother Leon at all during these ten days. The next time he saw either Alfonso or Isabella was at a small party that Heaven’s Eye threw the night before their convoy was set to leave, and even then, the Royals only stayed for a few minutes, just long enough to politely say their goodbyes in person.

But all of this was coinciding with a few rather curious events: some members of prominent merchant clans had been arrested, several high-ranking bureaucrats had been fired, and word was that the fourth of the Cortuban pentarchs was returning to Andalus from the east, where he and the other two pentarchs had been monitoring the war with Asturias. These details were spread out enough that it wasn’t immediately apparent, but to Leon, who’d been paying very close attention to everything happening in Andalus during this week and half, it seemed that he’d started something within the Alliance that Alfonso and Isabella were determined to finish.

He considered himself fortunate that it didn’t seem they suspected him of anything. Or, at least, they hadn’t tried to get in contact with him, which he supposed didn’t mean as much as he wanted it to. Regardless, it seemed to him that he was free and clear, no one the wiser that it was him and his retinue that had infiltrated the arena that night. He supposed if he were in Alfonso and Isabella’s place, though, he might be a little more focused on the demon-worshippers than the people who broke in, too.

Leon had to admit as he climbed into his family’s carriage that the stay in the Cortuban Alliance hadn’t been at all what he’d been expecting. Some political dealings and heading out into Andalus for a while, sure, but dealing with bandits, the business with Santiago, and then finding that Amon had a presence in the Alliance’s capital all practically came out of nowhere. The latter, especially, was something that had knocked him off-kilter a bit. What had been supposed to be just a simple, relatively risk-free recon mission had become something so much more, and Leon was enormously relieved that he, Maia, and Valeria had been able to get away.

Perhaps he might’ve been able to do something more concrete about the burning figure down below the arena, he couldn’t say. He’d replayed that scene many times in his head in the week and half since, half-heartedly wishing that he’d done something before running away, even if all he did was throw a single lightning bolt. But there was no way to know if anything he could’ve done would’ve killed the channeler or done anything else of value, and his priority had been to ensure that he and his lovers escaped unharmed.

He didn’t regret leaving so quickly, but he knew that Amon needed to be dealt with at some point, and he wouldn’t be able to just run away every time he encountered the demon’s acolytes. At the very least, Xaphan didn’t seem that disturbed, and he all-but said that there would be better times to strike at his rival demon. This demon business in the Alliance was something he was content to let be, at least for now.

So, Leon put all of that out of his mind, for the time being. He’d act when he had more information, and right now, he just didn’t, and his current position as a de facto representative for Heaven’s Eye made seeking that information problematic. For now, it was all he could do to just watch out for any signs that Amon’s forces were coming after them after revealing the channeler below the arena and exposing their cult to the Cortuban authorities.

With four eighth-tier equivalent beings in the convoy, though, he doubted that even Amon’s vampires would be so bold as to attack them, even if he’d been identified by the channeler and followed out of Andalus. So, for now, he focused on his training as the convoy slowly made its way first out of the city, and then further and further toward the southern border zone that the Cortuban Alliance had with the Ilumerian Wetlands.

The Ilumerian Wetlands were sparsely populated, so it wasn’t like there were going to be many human threats coming from there, but that lack of human habitation itself made some risks. Since the Wetlands had no people, that meant that the local wildlife was free to grow without human interference. That, in turn, meant that there were greater numbers of powerful beasts that could make trouble for what few human settlements existed in the Wetlands, and which might migrate out of the Wetlands and into more densely populated regions.

For his part, though, Leon was quite interested in seeing the Wetlands. From what he’d heard, they were swampy and disgusting, but it had been a long time since he’d gotten much of a chance to practice his hunting skills, and he feared that he was growing rusty. Training was all well and good, but he felt like he needed to get out and do something a little more practical, and hunting some strange, powerful creature in the Wetlands seemed like a promising thing to do.

To that end, he’d asked Emilie if there were any real regulations or policies for such expeditions. He didn’t want to just venture out into the Wetlands as they were passing through on the off chance that he’d find something worth hunting, after all. She then informed him that Heaven’s Eye would often handle bounties that the local city-states would put out for dealing with dangerous beasts that threatened trade through the Wetlands’ rivers and swamps. If Leon wanted something to hunt, then accepting a bounty would be a good place to start.

After a week of travel, they’d fully left the Cortuban Alliance behind, and moved from the warm and dry, but still productive land of the Alliance’s heartland, into regions that were bordering the Screeching Desert to the northeast, the Ilumerian Wetlands to the south, and the Halcyon Federation to the west. The land was still rich enough to sustain life, but it was clear from the lack of forests and large farms that they were slowly leaving the world of humanity. The land of large cities and populated hinterlands was behind them, and they wouldn’t reach a heavily populated or urbanized region until they’d passed through the Ilumerian Wetlands and reached the edge of the Ilian Empire.

Fortunately, this lack of humanity had its perks, the biggest one that Leon found was that he didn’t have to worry too much about the convoy being attacked again. The people in this region weren’t wealthy by any means, but their lack of numbers made the Heaven’s Eye convoy more than intimidating enough to ward off anyone with eyes bigger than their stomachs—not to mention this route being the key to trade coming through the Wetlands made it fairly heavily patrolled by the Cortuban authorities. They passed by a Cortuban patrol at least twice a day, and while they weren’t particularly large patrols, they were enough to keep the peace.

Leon supposed this was what passing through the Alliance’s northern regions should’ve been—would’ve been—if Santiago’s people hadn’t gone rogue.

For the most part, there weren’t any cities around large enough to have Heaven’s Eye enclaves that their convoy could stay with, so the second day after they left Andalus was the last time they slept in proper beds. After that, everyone in the convoy slept in their carriages. There were a few invitations given out by the important people of these more sparsely populated regions, but as far as Leon was aware, no one actually accepted any of those.

One day, though, Leon found himself rather bored, unable to focus on his training, and mildly curious about the regions to the northeast. He’d heard of the Screeching Desert before, but he knew precious little about it. Apparently, it had gotten its name from the desert’s constantly shifting sand making almost musical sounds. Often deep, but sometimes shrill and high-pitched. Naturally, there were many stories told about the many ghosts and phantoms that haunted the place, but Leon was assured most of those stories were pure fiction.

However, these stories were joined by more verifiable stories of the actual desert monsters that lived out there, and Leon thought that they sounded more fascinating than terrifying. There were more standard creatures that skirted the edges of the sandy wastes like foxes, sheep, camels, and others, but those didn’t interest Leon as much—they were familiar and had familiar needs. Rather, it was the creatures that lived deep within the desert that caught his interest, such as massive dragonflies large enough to crush one of the convoy’s carriages with its weight alone; desert owls that could deafen a third-tier mage with a beat of their wind magic-assisted wings; huge lizards like overgrown geckos with twelve eyes that breathed lightning; enormous blood red sandworms with gaping maws larger than the gates of the Bull’s Horns, filled with teeth twice as long as a full grown man’s legs, and that made burrows in the sand the size of palaces; mantises that traveled in packs that numbered in the millions, bringing great clouds of sand with them wherever they went; and more kinds of horrific desert-dwelling insects that he could keep track of.

In short, while the Screeching Desert was utterly inhospitable for any but small groups of hard men and women, it was hardly devoid of life. Leon, in his boredom, decided to take a day off from training and transformed into his avian form, letting him properly stretch his wings for the first time in a while. Accompanied by Elise and Maia on Anzu, and reluctantly carrying an ecstatic Valeria—who was hanging onto not his feathers, but leather straps tied around his chest that Leon insisted wasn’t a harness or saddle—Leon left the convoy to continue on. They didn’t go so far that Leon couldn’t watch the convoy’s progress with his magic senses, but it was enough to satisfy his curiosity.

About a hundred miles into the desert, Leon and the others touched down on a small rocky plateau surrounded on all sides by an endless expanse of sand. They didn’t stay on the plateau long, what with the heat and the vicious sun pounding down with an almost physical pressure on every square inch of exposed skin, but they stayed long enough to appreciate the serene beauty of the desert and to listen for a while to the distant wailing sounds of shifting sand dunes.

“Beautiful,” Elise had said, summing up their collective feelings about the desert, “but not really something I’d want to visit again.”

She didn’t get her desire, though, for once they returned to the convoy, she and Valeria spent the rest of the day with Asiya and Cristina talking about their sightseeing trip, and once she heard about what was supposedly out in the Screeching Desert, the Princess just had to do likewise.

So, the next day, Leon found himself escorting not only his lovers, but also Cristina and Asiya out into the desert. Fortunately, after a day of travel with their Saternan horses, the convoy was now close enough to the desert’s outer edges that Leon’s family could use their flight suits to travel, while the Princess and her guard rode Anzu.

Dame Maxima had tried to insist on going along, but with Maia and Leon present, Cristina made a good case that she was safer in her group than Maxima would be with the convoy. Leon was also extremely reticent about carrying anyone else in his avian form, and when he weighed in that he would watch the Princess like a hawk, Maxima backed down.

It was a fairly strange experience, though. Cristina was bouncing with excitement to head out into the Screeching Desert, but once they found a good spot to land and rest, Cristina had calmed down quite a bit, to the point that she was practically morose. She sat down on the sun-backed ground and stared out into the desert, completely silent. It was such a strange departure from her previous demeanor that it took a while for anyone to work up the nerve to ask her if something was wrong.

Valeria was the one to finally approach the Princess, and Cristina’s only response was that she was still coming to terms with just how big the world was. Valeria sat down next to the Princess, and the two barely moved for an hour, during which Leon watched the Princess slowly slide closer and closer to her former guard, until she was practically leaning against Valeria, staring out at the sand dunes that seemed almost to endlessly blanket the east. Valeria didn’t seem to care about the Princess’ relaxed behavior, so he didn’t say anything about it.

When the heat and the sun started getting to everyone, they made their way back to the convoy, though they had to stop for a moment so that Elise and Valeria, after having exhausted most of their magic power using their flight suits, could climb onto Leon’s back. He wasn’t happy to be used like a horse, but for them, he could make an exception.

Everyone’s mood was lifted slightly when they finally saw something other than rocks and sand, though: some massive flying reptilian creature off in the distance, with two thin, scaled legs, a serpent’s head at the end of a long, feathered neck, and a pair of bat-like wings. Its tail was long and barbed, an obvious weapon, and every inch of its body that wasn’t feathered was instead covered in dull tan scales, perfect for hiding in the sands of the Screeching Desert.

For all of its ferocious appearance, though, when it glanced in their direction, it made eye contact with Leon in his Thunderbird form, and immediately turned and flew away about as fast as it seemed capable, great gusts of wind produced by each wingbeat kicking up sheets of sand on the desert floor more than a hundred feet below. Leon could understand its reaction: it was only sixth-tier, and wild animals were rarely so suicidal as to attack something obviously stronger than it, especially when it had already lost the element of surprise.

Still, if he didn’t have his family and a couple of friends with him, Leon might’ve followed it out of simple curiosity. The wild world had always had far more allure to him than the civilized one. But he restrained that side of himself, taking comfort in the knowledge that the Wetlands and their mysteries were waiting for him not too far away.

There were no more trips out into the desert, not even for sight-seeing. Everyone simply stayed in their carriages, and after several days, their environment started to get much lusher and more humid. They had reached the edge of the Ilumerian Wetlands.

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