The Prince, the Thief & the Artifact

Chapter 8: Bandits

"Law is made by the wealthy and powerful to protect their own selfish interests."

The words echoed in Leon's mind long after they had been said.

After her long heartfelt tirade, Summer stood up and announced she would go to bed. There wasn't much to be said after that. Leon took first watch as everyone settled down around the fire.

Al turned and tossed for a while before joining Leon leaning against a tree.

"Can't sleep?" Leon asked.

Al shook his head, then looked at where Summer had made her bed. She was curled into a ball under the blanket, almost invisible.

"I can't get what she said out of my mind," Al whispered. "I know it doesn't make sense. Her opinion is colored by her own experience- a very limited experience. She hasn't seen how the rest of the kingdom lives yet."

"Mhm."

"That town is an exception. Just because that one town exists doesn't mean the entire system is useless. It works everywhere else."

"Mhm."

"Stop humming," Al grumbled, "and say what you think. It's clear she loathes authority, and you're the pinnacle of that authority."

"Not the pinnacle." Leon sighed. "The system isn't broken, Al, but it isn't perfect either. And it will never be. It's created by humans, after all. The thing is, people who suffer the most, people like her, don't care about that. For them, they're simply excuses. And I do agree to an extent. With power comes responsibility. The fact that we haven't known about what was happening in that town doesn't absolve us of the responsibility."

"So what's the solution?"

"There's no solution," Leon said. "Like I said, the system isn't perfect. As long as it's made by humans, it will never be. And towns like those will continue to exist, people like her will continue to exist. We can only do the best we can and hope that someone, somewhere under our rule isn't dying of hunger or being forced into a dark path.

"One of the good things that came from this trip, if not the most important, is that it opened our eyes to a gap in the system. Somewhere along the power chain, someone is getting away with not doing their duty properly. When we're back in the capital, we will find out who, how and why, and hopefully, make it more difficult for other places to be like Summer's town."

Leon usually didn't get involved in politics. He hated playing the games that came with it. His brother and sister in law were much more suited to it. However, he would make an exception. He wanted to see that the parties involved were properly held accountable.

It had been a long time since he last got involved in civilian matters. But maybe, just maybe, it was time to come back. Who knew how many towns and villages were suffering out there. It was easy to believe that Summer's town was an exception in Springwood kingdom. There was no guarantee to that, however.

"Do you think she did it?" Al asked suddenly, his dark hair glinting brown under the firelight.

"Do you?"

"If she did, that means she had to have a hand in killing more than a dozen men." Al shook his head. "For some reason I find that hard to believe. She doesn't strike me as a person who could kill. But I'm probably wrong and she's just a great actress."

"Maybe. It's not our place to judge her. That's why we're taking her to the capital." Leon stood up. "I'm going to sleep since you're up anyway."

Leon didn't tell Al, but his instincts told him Summer wasn't involved in the theft.