Crow nodded at Penelope’s mention that it would be difficult to travel out of sight when they reached the edge of the forest. He wondered what the local guards would do if they saw him carrying the staff though. He knew that they couldn’t take it back from them even if they tried, but he was curious what they would think if they saw a peasant with their symbol of divine right. Would they lose faith in their beliefs? Or would they think he had been granted authority over their kingdom by Aeklora despite not being a noble? If they hadn’t been in such a hurry to leave Younis, he would have wanted to see what sort of effect he had on the native people by simply holding onto the staff.

He smiled in amusement when Penelope went on to hurriedly list out all of the things they needed to do on their way back to Brerra. “Don’t worry, love. We’ll get everything done,” he said confidently. “I couldn’t climb into the castle with the extra weight of my bags, so I left them back in the citadel, but I did take this.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew a fat coin purse. He had packed it full to the brim so the coins wouldn’t jingle against each other when he moved. “This should be plenty to cover any supplies we need when we find a market,” he grinned, tossing the pouch once in his hand and then stashing it away again. “Besides, there are markets everywhere in this kingdom. I’m sure it won’t be long before we stumble into one.”

Up ahead, William abruptly stopped walking. He held up his right hand in a fist, signaling for silence. Crow eyed him curiously for a moment before he heard voices coming from the south side of the forest. Quickly understanding what was going on, he crouched down to hide behind a large bush with the others until the sound of footsteps and voices faded away.

“It appears word of our route has already reached these parts of Younis,” William said once they seemed to be in the clear again. “Dammit all. I wish we still had our map so we could travel a different way and throw them off course.”