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Leon said his final goodbyes to those remaining behind, as did the others. In addition to Cassandra and Elise, Penelope, the Lord Protector, and the Grand Druid had come to see him off. Sofie, too, had come for Alcander, Leon having permitted Alcander to tell his lady that he was leaving for an indeterminate period of time. As for Anastasios and the Grand Druid, while he didn’t explicitly tell them that he was heading for Kataigida, he was ninety-nine percent convinced they knew already, as both had rather emphatically wished him good luck.

Once their goodbyes were over, Leon and his people took off into the sky. Technically illegal, but given his position in Heaven’s Eye and Anastasios’ tacit permission, that hardly mattered. Not that he was planning on being caught, anyway, since as he and his people rose over his villa, they activated their darkness enchantments and vanished from sight. Even Red in wyvern form became essentially undetectable to any but themselves, thanks to some upgrades that Leon had created to ensure they were able to keep track of each other while they were invisible.

And with little fanfare, they turned south and began making their way toward the Pegasi States.

---

It wasn’t difficult for Leon to find his rendezvous point with Anshu. The Pegasi States were generally fairly dry, but there were some swamps closer to the coast. Only one was large enough and located close enough to the Veins of Vigilance to be where he needed to go.

As he and his retinue dropped closer to the ground, Leon got out his comm lotus and kept in contact with Anshu, whom he’d ordered to keep his lotus nearby despite his general reticence to use it, and had his secret retainer talk them down to the specific landing location.

Anshu and only a handful of others were there when Leon and his retainers touched the ground and returned to visibility. It had been a hard flight, but his retainers had weathered that challenge marvelously, landing in more than fighting condition. Judging by the power of those few with Anshu, he guessed that his people could kill them all without breaking a sweat, even before they’d had a chance to rest from their long flight.

“Leon!” Anshu called out as Leon and the rest of the retinue made themselves visible. “It’s good to see you! You made good time!”

Anshu’s comrades weren’t quite so welcoming, all of them giving Leon’s group some amount of side-eye, but Leon spared them no more mind than he needed to asses them as little threat.

“We were in a hurry,” Leon responded as he walked forward and grasped the Indradian’s wrist. “Is everything in place?”

“We’re ready on your word,” Anshu said.

“Then lead on.”

With that, Anshu led Leon and his other retainers deeper into the swamp, just enough boats to carry them all—so long as everyone remained in human form—expertly hidden within the swampy brush. Some of those whom Anshu had brought were water mages, and they, using their power, made the journey through the swamp quite easy. Leon himself, his own small measure of skill in the element informing him, was rather impressed with how easily they maneuvered through the swamp, avoiding many of the dangers he could sense within it, from strong monsters to natural obstacles.

Eventually, they reached a thick cluster of trees as large as a palace about two or three miles from the coast and the Veins of Vigilance. This comparison wound up being almost accurate as Anshu made a sign in the air and Leon sensed light magic at work. Their boats proceeded onward, apparently on a collision course with one of the outer trees of the cluster. However, just as they were about to make contact with the tree, the boat pierced through some kind of film of white light which Leon immediately recognized as the outer edge of an illusion created with light magic.

After passing into the illusion, a whole outpost was revealed where the tree cluster once was, with warehouses, a small dockyard, and several large residential and commercial buildings. Leon had already been briefed on the place by Anshu, so he knew that this outpost was run by the Saltwater Road, one of if not the largest smuggling operations on the entire plane. As a result, while it was a smuggling outpost, Leon found it quite orderly, and he was able to pick out where the tavern was relative to the Saltwater Road offices. He only knew thanks to Anshu’s briefing, though, as every building there was fairly well-enchanted—not enough that he wouldn’t be able to blast his way in if needed, but certainly warded against magic senses.

Without a word, Anshu led the boats to the docks, where they disembarked, and with nothing more than a nod from Leon, continued onward to the tavern.

The tavern was hardly a ramshackle place, but it was relatively small and dark. It was the first floor of a three-story building, the other two stories reserved for temporary guest quarters set aside for the use of visiting smugglers. Anshu had claimed that he’d gotten Leon’s group a room from where they could conduct their business.

As they moved through the outpost, they got a lot of looks. Leon noted that just about everyone stared and that all but two of the smugglers Anshu had brought with him separated from them once they left the docks.

[We’re not welcome here,] Gaius whispered to him using what little darkness magic he’d learned in the past few years.

[Not a surprise,] Leon replied. [Are smugglers known for celebrating new arrivals to their dens?]

[Point taken.]

Leon frowned as they entered the tavern, using his magic senses to look back once more at those out on the street. They numbered a little over thirty, but he knew there were more—Anshu had counted upwards of seventy at the outpost’s busiest times, but Leon could easily imagine there being a hundred or more in the office buildings that Anshu had never seen before. Regardless, Leon felt a little unsettled at just how much attention they were getting, despite what he’d said to Gaius.

So, as they entered and Anshu led them to the stairs in the back, he ordered Gaius, [Take a few minutes to get situated, then go invisible and post up on the roof. I want to know if our presence has stirred up the nest.]

Gaius gave him an almost imperceptible nod in response.

“We can set up in here,” Anshu said as he led Leon’s group into their main room above the tavern. The two men who’d accompanied him took up positions just outside the door and closed it behind them.

“Val, check the enchantment scheme,” Leon ordered. “Make sure that we’re truly in private.”

Valeria nodded and grabbed Alix and Marcus to assist her.

“Who are those two outside?” Alcander asked.

“Subordinates of mine,” Anshu explained. “They’re loyal to me, no need to worry about them.”

“I’ll worry about them anyway if it’s all the same to you,” Alcander replied as he leaned against the wall next to the door.

“How much longer must we wait?” Red asked aloud, showing hardly any sign that she’d only relatively recently learned how to speak out loud.

“Until we know we’re secure,” Leon answered. “Once we do, I’ll make a call and clear things up with our friend.”

Red scowled and slumped down on a sofa. “Better to kill the lot of the humans here. They are parasites, are they not? None would miss them.”

“I’d rather not make a habit of killing everyone that we run across,” Leon replied. “They have made no hostile movements, no need for us to stir up trouble with powerful smugglers.”

“Yes,” Anshu agreed, responding surprisingly rapidly and without much of the vehemence that Leon would’ve expected, given his usual attitude. “Our job here is going to be hard enough, leaving some friends behind here can only serve to aid our cause.”

“What need have we of these pitiful humans, hiding in the swamps out of fear?” Red grumbled. “Had they anyone worthy enough of allying with, they would stand up against those whose laws they subvert instead of creeping about the wild like field mice, ever-watchful for predators…”

“It’s good, then, that we’re not here to join them,” Leon responded. “Neither are we here to judge them. That’s the job of the local Pegasi city-state.”

Red clicked her tongue in displeasure, and for a moment, Leon felt through his connection with Maia that his river nymph lover felt much the same, clearly agreeing with what Red was saying.

“I’d… rather we didn’t leave these people behind us, either,” Marcus said as he finished up his sweep of the room. “Ignoring smugglers… doesn’t sit right with me.”

Leon grimaced. “This is not our business… you want us to get involved anyway? Dealing with smugglers down here is not our job.”

“Anshu,” Alcander began, his tone serious, “what sort of things have been smuggled in and out of this outpost? It’s quite large, so I imagine they move a diverse range of goods.”

“Just about everything that can be smuggled, is smuggled through this outpost,” Anshu said with some trepidation, his eyes flickering around the room as if gauging how everyone was taking this information.

“Gold?” Alcander asked.

Anshu nodded.

“Drugs?” Marcus inquired.

Again, Anshu nodded.

“Some Pegasi States practice slavery; do slaves pass through here?” Alcander pressed.

Anshu repeated the same gesture.

“What about captured beasts?” Alix asked as she joined them in the center of the room.

“Yes,” Anshu confirmed. “Even a few wyverns from the last hunt, as I recall. They’d like to put chains on you, very much, should they learn what you are.” He bowed his head slightly towards Red, making it clear who he was talking about.

Red scowled, and Leon felt her killing intent spike.

“And vampires?” Marcus continued. Leon felt Xaphan’s attention momentarily drift up to monitor the conversation.

“They have some connections with certain groups of leeches,” Anshu responded. “None bound to fire demons, but there are still a fair number of vampires that pass through here. I’d even be willing to bet there’re few times when there isn’t at least one vampire staying here at any given time.”

“Where?” Leon growled.

“In the main office building,” Anshu answered. “They’re ‘honored’ guests and clients and get good treatment. Wined and dined by the outpost captain.”

A brief silence fell over the room as everyone turned to look at Leon, who sat there listening to the conversation, his mood growing fouler with every word. He made eye contact with all of his people, judging how they were taking this news.

Alix, Alcander, and Marcus stared at him imploringly, as if they hoped that he would make shutting down these smugglers his business. For that, he empathized with them; hearing of all that was smuggled through this outpost had him quite tempted to burn the whole place to the ground. This was the main reason why he hadn’t asked Anshu during their planning exactly what goods the outpost moved, not wanting to feel compelled to get involved.

Red and Maia, on the other hand, seemed more bloodthirsty than anything else. Red glared at him, her killing intent flickering through her aura, grinning in a way that seemed more like she was baring her teeth than smiling. Maia, however, averted her gaze fairly quickly until she was looking out of the window, and Leon could feel through his connection with her that she felt rather disgusted and kill-hungry.

Of all of them, Anzu seemed to care the least, and yet his reaction had Leon more willing to do something about this outpost than any of the others. The griffin-in-human-form was just watching and listening, but the innocent way he looked to Leon as if wondering what Leon was going to do and ready to learn from his actions, and Leon felt no small amount of shame in contemplating what kind of example he was setting for his ‘little brother’.

Before he could say anything, Valeria finished up her more in-depth sweep of the room and reported, “We’re clean. Privacy wards have been reinforced, and I found no surveillance enchantments.”

Leon smiled at her, and she gave him an expectant look, a quick glance at Anshu explaining just what she was expectant about.

“None of you are making this easy, you know,” Leon said with playful bitterness. “We have problems enough without adding to them, but what can we do after all of that? What is everyone suggesting? That we massacre this place? Slaughter everyone here? Or something as simple as letting the Pegasi States know this outpost’s location? I doubt they’d even arrive in time to do anything of worth.”

It seemed, for a brief moment, that Leon had stunned his retainers into silence, until Red simply stated, “I’d like to kill them all, yes. If these creatures want to capture and enslave me, then I will burn them first.”

She rose from her seat but before she could take a single step, someone knocked on the window, drawing everyone’s attention. No one was there, apparently, but Leon nodded to Valeria, who went and carefully opened the window. Something unseen flitted in, detectable only by the air they displaced as they entered.

A moment later, Gaius appeared as Valeria closed the window. Gaius pulled off his helmet and reported, “We have movement within the central office. People are assembling there, and sentries have been posted around the tavern downstairs.”

Leon grinned. “Looks like the decision might be taken out of our hands, then. I was hoping we could simply use this as a rest stop before proceeding onward, but I suppose I should’ve more readily expected something like this. All right, I guess we’re going to have to go with plan B.”

As soon as he said this, Anshu sprang to his feet and made his way to the door. He handed one of his two people standing watch in the stairs several spell scrolls, and the man nodded, stuck one of the spells on the wall, and went down into the tavern, leaving the other man to continue his watch alone. At the same time, Valeria began walking around the room putting up more spells on the walls to add additional protections to the room.

Everyone else, meanwhile, prepared themselves for battle. Most of Leon’s retainers armored up and took out their weapons, save for Red, Anzu, and Maia. Only Maia had any armor, and none of them fought with conventional weapons.

Marcus and Alix, each with thunder wood bows, went to the windows and posted up while everyone else encircled the door.

While Leon hadn’t gone into this outpost hoping to fight, he’d at least come up with a plan just in case they were attacked. They would wait for the other side to make the first blow, ensuring that they were in the right when they struck back. Based on what Anshu had confirmed, however, Leon supposed they could make the plan a little more aggressive after first blood had been spilled.

“There’s a group gathering outside!” Marcus called out. Leon projected his magic senses and found that there was a small, but growing group of armed individuals outside, staying out of sight of the windows but not otherwise hiding themselves.

“We should hit them first,” Red declared, and Leon instinctively agreed with her. However, these smugglers weren’t their enemies yet, and he restrained himself from making them enemies himself.

“Not yet,” he growled. “If they are to be our enemies, then it will be by their hand, not ours.”

As he said that, someone obviously very important walked out of the central office, followed by several dozen relatively powerful mages. The one in charge was seventh-tier, while everyone else was fifth or sixth. No challenge to him or his in a straight fight, but Leon wondered if they knew how big of a bite his people were. As this group began marching toward the tavern, some splitting off to approach from the tavern from the back and sides, three sixth-tiers even taking off into the air with the aid of some of his older flight belts to watch the sky over the tavern, Leon sighed.

“Is it arrogant of me to assume that they’re coming here for us?” he asked aloud.

“No,” Anshu replied. “I’ve been working with that one leading them. He doesn’t leave his office for any but the most important reasons, those usually being powerful clients arriving at the outpost. He’s coming here for you, no doubt about that.”

‘Fuck,’ Leon silently cursed. He alone remained unarmored, wanting to project some measure of control and confidence, but he still had to fight his instincts to armor up and jump down there to confront the smugglers. Instead, he contented himself simply by walking to Marcus’ window and looking down at the group as they surrounded the tavern.

As he did, the man leading the smugglers assumed a position of prominence in front of the tavern, standing between it and the warehouses. Even from within the tavern, Leon could feel the air swirling about him, his magic already saturating the environment.

’Wind mage,’ Leon identified.

And then the man looked up, making eye contact with Leon, gave him one of the most shit-eating grins Leon had ever seen, and walked into the tavern.