concluding business.

Inside the city gates Alex and Raven joined Julian at at the lead wagon.

"We're going to be heading first to the market center to meet with the merchant warehousing guild I'm affiliated with. Once I've spoken with the branch clerks I'll come back out to settle our accounts while my guards begin unloading our wagons into the storehouses as we're directed."

Raven made a dismissive gesture, "I was paid in advance. But I can wait longer if you wish to say another goodbye."

Alex shrugged, "I have a few things in town before I find a suitable place to stay."

Julian nodded, "All the same I would like to settle everything properly. I have a reputation for being more than simply professional in all my dealings."

Both agreed and the conversation fell into silence.

Alex took time in the lull of the conversation to analyze the streets and people they passed. Just outside the city gates was nothing but sand, but inside the walls the waters that flowed out from the temple of time at the top of the city were enough to keep the soil moist, so the streets of the slums were all mud once you stepped off the hard sandstone of the main roads, but even those were covered in a perpetual layer of grime.

Mud and dung were the primary building materials in the slums, the very water ways that cascaded water beautifully down from the city summit was also used by the upper tiers as a sewer system. Alex had spoken with an architect here in his younger years who showed him maps of the main street plan and explained how the patterns suggested that the slums were originally intended to be a garden, however the slums were now so putrid that nothing grew down here and that it would take centuries for the soil to return to something habitable for a garden down here again.

Yet somehow amidst the rampant filth, perhaps despite it, festering in the slums people huddled here to escape the desert. It was no surprise that Raven, given his restless nature, had chosen to join a passing nomad tribe rather than live like this, but Raven was a very rare kinda person. The soil wasn't the only thing that was poisoned in the slums, the very souls of the people seemed to be just as sick and withered as their bodies while they huddled together waiting to die in whatever plague took them next.

Perhaps the slums were more responsible for the safety of the city than the walls and desert. Who would want to lay siege to a city if you were going to first need to hazard a place so toxic as the slums of Tut 'Tal.

Alex's nose wrinkled in disgust, memories of the first time he came to the city returning to him like all the other ghosts of past failures. Only, these slums weren't a failure of his, but of the city itself. Few merchants took the route into Tut 'Tal without being paid handsomely, but the priests who ran this city had no interest in the money or quality of service.

Without any natural resources to work, without any agriculture to sustain itself, without any manufacturing of any sort the religious sects and the libraries they guarded were the only draw to this desolate place. And those religious sects were ruled by the priests of Pyrotheo and his strict ban on anything that could be considered tasteful or lovely. However his staunch oppression on frivolity didn't apply to gaudy self-indulgences so long as they could be justified as an act of devotion. So his priests were among the most corrupt in the whole land who mooched off the wealthiest nobles who came here to have their fates read in the stars and were willing to pay these practiced charlatans who had mastered the arts of the scam. To these nobles the slums were beneath their notice as anything beyond a last great trial to make their goal.

Climbing up each tier of the city were a pair of ramps on each corner that met in the four middles with a new gate that actually let you into the next level of the city. Getting to the 2nd tier would allow you to see over the outer walls, and while the smell was not as bad here as down in the slums themselves the filth of down there was still clear to see.

Alex looked away from the sight of a cluster of dirty naked children chasing a rat while shrieking in joy.

Raven had seen it too, but the look on his face was something altogether darker and more veiled than the disgust that Alex had felt, and he took longer before he too looked away.

The numerous sects of faith in the upper tiers would never see those children, and there was nothing you could say to them to impart any degree of importance their lives might have. None of those children would ever live anywhere else in this city unless they first gained wealth in another city, which was unlikely. Most of these children would never leave the city, they would age and procreate a new generation into these same conditions never realizing that a simple risk of a few weeks at most could put them in an infinity better position to live and enjoy living, all they they needed to do was leave their misery and take the chance.

As miserable as Alex had been, by comparison he was greatly blessed to have been the bastard of a noble who barely acknowledged his existence. And yet the true prison that held these people in this endless cycle of suffering was their own ignorance of what their lives could be they took the chance on something else.

Raven had taken that chance, and while his life might not be glamorous or famous, there was simply no comparison to the levels of poverty between the slums of Tut 'Tal and his current level of comfort. Yes every day risked the desert, but he was well fed and could laugh with his whole being.

He caught Alex looking at him as they left the slums into the merchant and civil servant tier and a simple twitch at the corner of his mouth carried the full weight of his opinion on the matter. A sneer so slight and quick that if Alex hadn't been looking to his face he would have missed the gesture of absolute disgust from someone who had probably been closer to those slums than Alex ever would be, pity would not be accepted.

Julian and the guards seem to not even give much thought to the place that they left, instead they're entire thoughts were focused on the completion of their mission. No doubt they had seen and experienced plenty in their travels that left them desensitized, but on the same token in the moment Alex felt a pang of resentment for their apparent apathy to the situations of people so overlooked they were perhaps beyond assistance.

Alex wrestled with these thoughts all the while they meandered through the second tier of Tut 'Tal. This level was like pretty much like any other city in Myrioth, although it was sandwiched between the walls leading up to the next tier of the city and the two story buildings that doubled up as the outer wall for this tier, making it feel narrow though not particularly cramped.

A notable difference was the lack of throngs that a complex dedicated to military or merchants would normally garner, let alone a district dedicated to both of them. In any other city the convoy would need to press their way through the crowds, but here the streets were mostly empty and progress was rather easy for the bison.

When they arrived at their destination Julian went inside leaving the guards to start with the unfastening of the cargo, they would undo the animals once they knew were to take them, as it was not good to simple release the bison who were ready for a barn without knowing where in the barns to lead them.

Alex and Raven having nothing to do with this part of the convoy stood off to the side together. Conversation didn't happen, Alex and Raven were both in sour moods. So they stood by in pensive silence waiting for Julian to finish his business with the clerks.

When Julian emerged from the central market office he started directing his guards and they got strait to work with stabling the beasts and unloading the cargo. With the crew having their marching orders Julian approached Raven and Alex with something of a weary look.

"Thank you both for waiting," he began, "And thank you both for escorting us on the trip down. We would have no doubt been much later if it hadn't been for your help."

"Raven was the guide," Alex cut in, "I was a hired sword who ended up being unnecessary."

"Unnecessary and on hand beats the alternatives." Julian countered, "Raven, lad, you were worth everything you charged. I would like officially state that I will probably call on your services again if I ever have the chance."

"I'm not the only guide who can provide the service I gave," Raven remarked offhandedly, "many are just as good in the loose sands as I am."

"Maybe they are," Julian answered, "But I know that you are worth the cost so if it's all the same I'd rather hire the guides I already know and trust when available."

"As you desire."

Julian changed the subject lightly, "What are your plans for now?"

Raven shrugged, "I need to stop by the temple of Sakhmet, and then I suppose I should visit my mother. I might have been born in this city, but I don't like to be here longer than I need too."

Alex nodded, "I need to visit an armory for a few things I need, and then find a place to sleep for the night. I already have a mission that will take me back out of the city as soon as I can get onto it so I won't be staying for longer than I need to be here."

Julian sighed, "I suspected as much. It will take me some time to get everything together for my next assignment, Tut 'Tal is always a difficult place to trade with if your picky in the quality of your dealings as I am."

"What are you hoping to to gain while here?" Alex asked.

"Manuscripts if the monks are willing to part with them. Idols if they are not."

Alex and Raven shared an empty look before Raven replied, "Best of luck with either of those."

Julian sighed, "Fortunately I have some connections that I will need to look up for both of those. Assuming they aren't in need of something I do not have I should be able to acquire some artifacts that will fetch a profit elsewhere."

"Again," Raven remarked, "Good luck with that."

Julian made a non-committal gesture before shaking hands with the two other men and leaving.

Once he was gone Alex asked, "Care to join me for an evening meal?"

Raven nodded, "Best food in the city is at the 'Shadow Scryer' on the west side of this level."

Alex nodded, "I'll meet you there around sundown then."

The two shook hands and parted ways.