"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.

But his instincts, no matter how rarely they proved wrong, weren't enough to exonerate her. Unlike Summer, Leon believed in the law. He followed orders, performed his duties as perfectly as he could, and always acted in the kingdom's best interests.

The kingdom was first. Always.

Their journey resumed at the break of dawn the following morning.

They left the mountainous terrain behind. The landform ahead was dominated by plains and hills, wearing lush coats of green. Vegetation was heavy except on well worn paths and near human settlements where farmers worked the land.

The weather, too, would soon change. This far south in the kingdom, the climate never grew too cold even in winter. And this early in the spring, it was rather warm.

On flat land the road was wide enough for their horses to walk along side by side if they so wished. Leon, closely watching Summer, got to see her sucking in everything around like a curious child.

She still rode behind Ida, with her wrists bound. This morning she was back to her cheerful self, and Leon guessed that they would never again witness Summer losing her temper as she had the night before. Her merry, often sarcastic disposition was nothing but a façade for a much deeper character. Leon wondered if anyone ever truly knew Summer.

He also noticed another disturbing fact about her. He didn't know if she did it at will, or if it simply happened accidentally. He reckoned the former. She was very, very good at going unnoticed.

Over the next few evenings, he paid careful attention to their captive. Sometimes he even forgot she was there, and it took him a few seconds to locate her though she was often in plain sight.

She sat quietly, moving only when she had to. She also seemed to find the shadowy spots that people normally avoided in darkness. Summer, he realized, could have gotten away from them at any moment without them noticing.

She was good at being invisible.

Leon didn't know yet how that skill would save their lives the following evening.

They were riding hard. Leon was restless. He wanted to get back to his son as soon as possible. That was the only excuse he had for not paying enough attention to his surroundings.

He had felt odd the entire day, something was bothering him. But he brushed aside his instincts, something he rarely did. It came back to bite him in the behind.

They had just set camp for the night, all of them exhausted from the hard day of riding. Al and Leon lit a fire then prepared dinner while Felix took care of the horses. The night had fallen not long before when Felix wandered off, to check some plants he spotted a short distance back.

Ida was busy untying Summer's wrists when Felix reappeared. With company.

Leon and Al turned as one with swords drawn out. The man holding a blade to Felix's throat clicked his tongue. "Easy, boys. You wouldn't want something to happen to your friend, eh?"

"I'm sorry-" Felix whispered, his voice wobbly from fear.

Leon calculated the odds quickly. If he made a move for his throwing knife, the man could freak out and hurt Felix. He had to get Felix away first.

"Come on, men!" the man called.

Men. At least a dozen. Burly, heavily bearded and armed with machetes, blades and one with an axe, broke through the cover of trees. Heart heavy, Leon glanced around him. Ida was pushed forward by one of the men. Confused, Leon looked again.

But Summer was nowhere to be found.

Their wrists and feet were painfully bound. Ida, Al and Leon were securely tied to a tree trunk.

The bandits were all quite young. But they were smart enough to know their only chance in getting them to cooperate was to keep Felix hostage. Felix, also tied up, was sitting right in the middle of the group of men.

The cutthroats had emptied all their bags and were sifting through their possessions.

"If they find the royal guard badge, we're dead," Al whispered.

"We're lucky they haven't slit our throats yet," Ida said.

"Where's she?" Leon asked.

"She was right next to me," Ida said. "I took my eyes off her for one second and she vanished."

"You're getting sloppy, Ida."

"This is not the time nor the place, Al, shut up," Ida hissed.

"If I could just get hold of a knife..." Al said.

"I told you to let me keep my knife," a familiar voice said from the darkness behind them.

They froze. Leon looked at the bandits. They were a short distance away, near the blazing fire, but their voices and laughter were loud enough to drown out any noise.

"Please tell me you have one," Ida whispered.

"I do."

Al sighed, then, "well, what are you waiting for then. Hurry."

"Hmm, why should I?" Summer said, obviously enjoying herself. Al cursed.

Ida glared at him. "Not helping, Al."

Leon was torn between irritation and amusement. He was mostly irritated with himself. He was responsible for everyone with him, and he'd not sensed the bandits although they'd probably been watching them for at least a few hours.

"Maybe I'll help Ida out," Summer said, her voice closer to Leon now. "Girls must stick together, you know?"

He felt breath on the side of his neck. "What's the plan, big master. If I get you all free, Felix may get hurt."

"And you care about what happens to Felix?" Leon asked.

A pause. She chuckled. "Always careful, aren't you? Rose seemed quite fond of him. She'd be upset if something were to happen to him."

"I see," Leon said. "Loosen up the rope for now."

"There are fifteen men in total," she said. "You think you can handle all of them."

"Yes. But Felix has to be safe first. We can't do anything if they're holding a knife to his throat."

"I'll take care of it."

She cut the ropes around his wrists, then crawled forward, her body part of the dark forest ground, and freed his ankles.

The rope binding him to the tree was loosened soon after, but he kept it in place in case the men looked their way. Al and Ida were soon free, as well. Summer disappeared.

Leon's sword was in a heap of weapons near the cutthroats. But he didn't need his sword. He was angry enough to do some damage with his bare hands.

Leon watched Felix. The medic was squeezed between two burly men, facing away from Leon. He wondered where Summer was when he saw Felix glance up. There, hidden among tree branches like a monkey, was Summer. She had somehow gotten Felix's attention.

In a few seconds, Felix stood up, announcing loudly he would like to go relieve himself. Some of the men laughed, others were too drunk to care. One of them accompanied Felix away from the circle of men and disappeared into the darkness.

"Felix is safe," Summer said a couple of minutes later, behind him.

"The man who was with him?" Leon asked.

"Taking a nap," she said, slipping a knife into his hand.

"Alright," he said, hoping her word was true. "Stay out of the way. Al, Ida, maim, don't kill."

Leon wasn't as sneaky as Summer. His size alone made that difficult. But he was fast.

In one leap, he cleared the distance between him and the closest bandit. A hit to the temple fell the man to the ground with a muted thud. They had attracted attention, though.

Al, Id and Leon worked in a cohesive unit. They had trained then fought together for years.

The laughter-filled clearing lost all its merry mood as all bandits realized what was going on. Three men had already fallen, four if Leon counted the one Summer took care of. A fair fight, considering the eleven bandits left were young and inexperienced fighters, even with the weapons. They were also drunk. Their movements were slow, their strikes imprecise.

Leon dodged a machete aimed at his side, its owner swung with the weapon's heavy weight and fell on his own. Leon kicked another man in the stomach and elbowed one in his temple, then took the fallen man's machete. It made the remaining thugs hesitate and expedited the fight.

Leon had just knocked the hilt of the machete to one man's temple and was holding another by the throat, when he spotted Al struggling with one particularly large bandit on the edge of the clearing. The order not to kill made things much harder for Al.

Leon was too far to intervene, but he had no need to. A shadow dropped from a tree right on top of the bandit. Summer's legs constricted the man's throat. It was all the assistance Al needed. With a punch to the ribs and a low kick, the last bandit fell on the ground, gasping for breath. Summer rolled gracefully away, moving like a cat.

Securing the thieves was the harder part. When they ran out of rope, they used straps of clothing. Some of the bandits were in too much pain to resist, some tried to crawl away, others resisted in vain, the drunkards were the easiest to deal with, they resigned gracefully to their fate.

Overall, Leon and his company were lucky most thieves loved drink too much to be cautious. When all the bad guys were tied securely to trees, Leon searched the pile of weapons for a specific dagger, then he threw it to Summer.

"Here, girl."

She caught her dagger midair. Her face was as surprised as he ever saw it.

One of the bandits said in a sullen voice, "I told you there was another person!"