Once everyone was ready to head out, Crow left the room to gather their horses from the stables. He exited the inn and trotted around to the back, feeling energized by the thought of going home soon. He couldn’t wait to be a free man once again. He already knew where he planned to go first when he escaped: the village of Silverpool. If anyone in the outer villages knew how to celebrate, it would be them, and he wanted to enjoy his first night home in the most extravagant way possible. He could already feel his heart race with excitement at the prospect of spending the day with his own people after such a long time being separated from them.

When he arrived at the stables, he performed a quick once-around to make sure he was alone before he collected the staff and bow from their hiding place and hitched them to the stallion’s belly again. Fortunately, the process was quick and no one else showed up while he was there—he suspected the poorer people in this region of Younis didn’t have their own horses—so he came back to Penelope and William in good time.

William stepped up to take his mare from the thief, and climbed onto its back without hesitation. Crow followed suit, propping his foot in the stirrup and hauling himself onto the stallion’s back with a bit more effort. As it had been with putting on his boots that morning, the wound in his chest didn’t hurt nearly as badly today when he went through the motion of mounting the large animal. He was pleased that it seemed to be healing so well.

Once Penelope had climbed up behind him, they took off towards the southern border of Younis.

Crow glanced back at her as she spoke up. “That would be nice,” he agreed with a wistful smile, resting his hand on her leg. “Even if he doesn’t though, one week isn’t too long. We’ll see each other again soon.” He glanced forward at William and then back to Penelope, lowering his voice so the older knight wouldn’t be able to overhear him as he went on: “Speaking of which, when and where should we meet when you come back? We should make sure we know how to find each other when the time comes.”