“I suppose all your complaining about William distracted me from noticing.” Penelope responded with a simple shrug. The knight began to tune out the rest of their conversation as she noticed the speed of the cart began to decrease. While it might not have seemed like a big deal, she figured there must be some reason for slowing down since William would never slow the cart without one. 

She glanced at Hartley and opened her mouth to say something but fell short as the cart came to complete stop. “Be quiet for a second.” Penelope whispered instead of what she originally was going to say. The sound of unfamiliar voices greeting the two knights that rode outside made her tense up. She slowly crept to take a peak outside the cart and found a small group of local knights had approached William and Abraxas.

“Greetings.” Said one of the knights as he took a step forward. He eyed the two and then the cart behind them. William dipped his head in greeting. Penelope could tell that the older knight was struggling to come up with a way to get himself out of this mess. Abraxas, on the other hand, was looking expectantly at William for orders as he fiddled nervously with the reins. 

Penelope ducked away and turned to face the two thieves. “We need to go. Now.” She said urgently. The knight was tempted to grab a sword but settled for a simple dagger instead. She quickly reached for a small bag and proceeded to stuff a few things of food and a canteen of water. She tried to be as quiet as she could, not wanting to draw any attention to the back of the cart. “There are real knights outside.. We’ll just have to try and get out of here while they deal with William and Abraxas. They don’t know we’re back here yet so hopefully we can keep it that way.” She said. 

Even though she remained calm, Penelope couldn’t help but feel a wave of guilt over having to leave behind William and Abraxas. Despite William’s hot-head and Abraxas’ obliviousness, they were still her comrades and they were meant to look out for each other. However, there was a mission to carry out that threatened war if they failed so all she could do was pray for their safety.

The knight raised an eyebrow at the two, already finding them a bit strange but he went on like normal anyways, “What brings you into our town? It seems you’re on a long journey with that big of a wagon.” He commented. 

“Just.. Passing through to get back home.” William finally responded in possibly the worst attempt of a Younisian accent. It immediately set the real Younisian knights on guard as they eyed the two with clear suspicion and moved in closer on the two.