With Penelope in his arms, Crow slept soundly through the night. He had a few fleeting dreams, but none that were vivid enough to remember. It didn’t matter to him though. He was just aware of the softness of the hay and the warmth of Penelope’s body beside him. So, when he felt her tap him on the shoulder in the morning, he just groaned and rolled over in response. “Just a little longer…” he mumbled.

She said something in response that he didn’t catch, but something about her voice sounded strange to him. It almost seemed like she was far away—outside of the stables, even. But that didn’t make sense. She had been standing next to him just a moment ago… [i]Wait a second.[/i]

“I’m up. I’m up,” Crow said, sitting up with a start. He shook his head, trying to clear away some of the grogginess, and located his boots. Throwing them on quickly, he went to gather the rest of his belongings with her. Once they had everything, he stepped quietly up to the door at the front of the stables, cracking it open to peer outside. He could see two stable boys chatting amongst each other and making their way towards them.

The thief cursed under his breath and glanced back over his shoulder, searching for another way out. Unfortunately, there was only one door leading out of the stables. His eyes wandered to the horses in their stalls as his mind raced to come up with another way to get past the stable boys without being seen. His lip curled upward in a smile as an idea came to him. If they couldn’t sneak out, then perhaps a distraction would work.

“Stand back,” he said to Penelope. Leaving the stable door cracked open, he approached the stall of the nearest horse and grinned at the animal. “Hey there, big guy. Ready to get your morning exercise?” The horse just stared blankly back at him. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, reaching for the latch on the stall door and pulling it open. The horse didn’t move. He rolled his eyes and stepped over to grab a looped rope from a hook on the wall. Slipping it around the animal’s neck, he guided it into the main area of the stables and faced it towards the door.

Once that was done, he slid the rope back off and tossed it aside. Walking around to stand by the horse’s backside—he was careful to avoid positioning himself directly behind the horse, since he didn’t want to get kicked—he raised a hand and slapped it on the haunch. As expected, the horse let out a surprised whinny and took off, bursting out of the stables through the unlocked door. Outside, he could hear the stable boys shouting at each other as they scrambled to catch the loose animal.

“Let’s go,” Crow grinned at Penelope and sprinted towards the forest. He kept going until they were far enough from the estate that they wouldn’t be seen. “What a way to start the day, huh?” he laughed after they had slowed to a walk. “It’s a good thing you were up so early or we might have been in trouble back there.”