As the battle raged on, Crow and the other thieves found that they had to pull back a bit more. With no armor to keep themselves safe, they had all started sustaining injuries when their stamina began to wear down. Rikki had come off the worst, taking a stab to the leg that had left her in no condition to walk, let alone continue fighting. In the end, she had to be carried off by some of the villagers to the camp in the east, where she was to be treated by the peasant women.

The remaining three thieves gathered away from the fighting to assess the situation.

“Do you think we should fall back?” Alistair asked with a grimace, clutching at a long gash in his shoulder that was trickling blood down his arm. “I hate to say it, but I don’t know how much longer this village can last.”

“Maybe longer than you think,” Simon said as his eyes swept calculatingly over the knights. “Look at that. The Brerratic knights are starting to avoid the villagers.”

“Really?” Crow turned in surprise. Usually, neither side cared about the fate of the village they were fighting in. He gazed out at the knights and was stunned to see that Simon was right. The villagers were still under attack, but the forces coming after them were overwhelmingly Younisian now. He wondered what had changed to make the knights from his kingdom leave them alone when they never seemed to care before. Whatever it was, it meant that they still had a chance to save the people of Whitebridge.

“We’re not falling back,” he said decisively, turning back to face Alistair and Simon. “Not while we can still do something to help. Come on; let’s get back in there.” After receiving a nod from the others, he led them back into the battle, where they continued to cut down any knights that went after the villagers. There were still some Brerratic knights that got in their way, but for the most part, they found that they were up against the Younisians now.

Crow swiped one of his daggers at a man who was bearing down on a villager, cutting into his throat before he had a chance to react. As the body of the dead knight crumpled at his feet, he felt an unexpected wave of dizziness and had to avert his gaze. [i]Not now,[/i] he thought stubbornly, running back to fight off another Younisian. Even though he had gotten over his fear of blood for the most part, it still appeared, quite unwarranted, every once in a while. However, as long as he didn’t focus on the gore of the battle, he would usually be fine.

He continued to fight off knights, focusing intently on ignoring the blood around him until the brief episode passed. As he did, he took a couple more blows from his enemies’ swords, one to his shin and another to the side of his throat—it would have been a fatal cut if he hadn’t reacted fast enough to get away before the blade cut too deeply—that forced him to pull back for a short time to recover.

He didn’t wait long before rejoining the battle. As soon as he had caught his breath, he dove into it again, making his way towards a group of villagers that were being overpowered by Younisian knights. However, before he reached them, he saw someone else get there first.

Crow’s steps faltered as he saw Penelope cross swords with one of the knights. Having been focused solely on protecting the villagers, he had forgotten that he might cross paths with her in the battle, so seeing her suddenly like this caught him off guard.

He stopped short, watching as she and another Brerratic knight fought off the Younisian attackers, when another thought came to him: Perhaps the knights from their kingdom had stopped ignoring the villagers because she had done something? With the way she was protecting them now, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she had intervened on their behalf.

After standing still for a moment, he snapped out of his shock and forced himself to keep running towards the fight. Penelope and that other knight were still outnumbered three to two, and the third Younisian hadn’t noticed the thief approaching. Even though he was reluctant to get close to her in the war, he couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

While the knight was still distracted, Crow lunged at him from behind, sinking both of his daggers into the man’s back and cutting downwards. The Younisian let out a howl of pain and dropped to the ground. The thief looked up, finding himself face to face with Penelope for a brief moment. Even though it couldn’t have been more than a second, it felt like time had slowed down. He wondered what she thought, seeing him standing before her with daggers dripping in the blood of the man he had just killed. She had once praised him for being kindhearted, but there was no denying that he wasn’t the same man as he had been back then. The war had changed him.

He averted his gaze, suddenly finding himself unable to look her in the eyes, and then turned his back on her to fight off another Younisian that was attacking two villagers.