Crow nodded wordlessly and followed after her. While it was unlikely that they hadn’t been spotted by now, he didn’t want to risk drawing any more attention to them by speaking. He instantly fell into old habits, stepping lightly as he walked and keeping watch for places from which an enemy might appear. He also looked for places that might give him more coverage in case someone was already waiting for them. As they were now, he and Penelope were completely exposed on the road. They needed to get to somewhere safer, somewhere that an enemy would have a harder time attacking them without revealing his own hiding place first.

Unfortunately, there were only small shops and houses nearby, none of which would provide them with the cover he had been hoping to find. He clicked his tongue in resignation and reached for Penelope’s wrist, giving her a swift tug to get her attention. Once he had it, he tipped his head towards the edge of the road where there were a few dark pockets of shadow between buildings that they could take cover in. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

Crow let go of Penelope’s wrist and moved away from the open space of the road, leaving her to follow him if she chose. When they were somewhat hidden in a patch of shadow, he paused to take in his surroundings once more. Years of thievery had made him patient. He didn’t want to take any risks until he knew where his enemy was, where his exit points were, and where his target was. Unfortunately, in this case, he only knew one of those three things. Familiar the layout of the village, he could easily find escape routes from this area, but he had no clue where his potential attacker was, nor did he know where William and Abraxas had gone.

He cursed under his breath, his pale green eyes flicking between the shadows and studying the corners of the buildings all around them for movement. There were plenty of places for an enemy to hide amongst the old houses, but he had to figure out where the best place to strike from was. That was where someone was most likely to be. He held his breath, his mind racing as he tried to put himself in the shoes of an attacker and decide where he would want to position himself if he was after someone…

A high vantage point.

He froze and lifted his gaze to the roof of a nearby house. A set of narrowed eyes locked onto his. The man on the house was wearing all black and his face was concealed like that of a bandit’s However, what caught Crow’s attention the most was the loaded bow in his hands, its arrow cocked and ready to fly.

“Get down!” he shouted at Penelope. It was too late to try and stay hidden. He whirled around and tackled her to the ground just as the arrow shot past both of their heads. When he looked up again, he saw a number of other cloaked men running towards them from between the buildings near the abandoned wagon. An ambush.

“How many of them do you think you can take at once?” Crow glanced anxiously at Penelope. “I’m not much of a fighter, so I’m sorry to say you’re going to be on your own for this one, love.”