Crow spent most of the following three days at the camp with the other thieves. With a long journey ahead of them, they wanted to conserve their energy, so they limited their time outside of the ravine. Crow also restricted their individual raids to the southern side of the outer villages so they wouldn’t draw the attention of the knights in the war camp to the north unnecessarily. After all, the last thing they needed was for someone to end up in a skirmish and get hurt before they left for Grimsby.

When the third day came, Simon, Alistair, and Crow said their goodbyes to Rikki, who stayed behind in the hideout to rest as promised. They headed east towards Norcrest, taking the long way once more so they wouldn’t cross too close to the knights’ camp. Fortunately, the thieves managed to make it all the way to their next campsite without running into any patrols this time. They set up in the woods southeast of Whitebridge at dusk, where they spent the night uninterrupted.

The next day, they continued to make their way towards Grimsby. As Crow had hoped, it seemed that they were slightly ahead of the knights now. There was no sign of troops passing through the area as the thieves headed north, which could only mean that they were the first to do so. As long as they kept up their current pace, there was a good chance that they would avoid the knights’ forces completely.

Eventually, they settled down near the outskirts of Grimsby, making camp on a ridge to the east that overlooked the town. As he had done last time, Crow went ahead of the others to alert the villagers about the coming battle so they could start evacuating before the knights arrived. He guided the women and children back to the thieves’ camp, where they would be safe from the fighting that was going to happen the following day.

When he got back, he rejoined Alistair and Simon by the fire pit, watching quietly as the villagers laid out bedrolls and blankets for each other in the surrounding trees. There was a clear air of tension amongst them as they spoke with one another in hushed voices, and he felt a pang of sympathy. There would be no telling whose fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons would die tomorrow—and the same went for the few women who had been brave enough to remain in the village to fight for their homes. The most anyone could hope for was that the Brerratic knights kept the Younisians far enough away from Grimsby to lessen the casualties.

“So,” Simon spoke up as he threw more tinder into the fire. “Same plan as usual, I’m assuming?”

“Yeah,” Crow nodded, turning back to the group. “Rikki isn’t here, so the three of us won’t be able to cover quite as much ground as we normally do. Let’s just hope the knights from our kingdom stay true to their word and leave the villagers alone this time.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Simon muttered pessimistically. “Nobles are selfish. I’d be surprised if even half of them obey that rule.”

“All we can do is hope,” Crow sighed, resting his chin in his palm as he watched the flames burn.

Suddenly, he felt someone tap his shoulder and he turned to see that one of the young peasant boys had strayed from the group and was staring at him with wide, innocent eyes. “When can we go home?” the boy asked. He seemed to have pegged the thief as an authority figure since he was the one who had led the villagers’ evacuation. “I don’t like sleeping on the ground.”

“Soon,” Crow offered him a reassuring smile. “It should just be one night. You can handle that, right, kid?”

“I guess so,” the boy frowned. “Why can’t we go home now?”

“Your home isn’t safe right now,” Crow answered honestly, wanting the child to understand the situation to some degree at least. There had been times in the past when young children who, not able to comprehend war, had snuck away from the evacuees’ camp because they had wanted to go home. Most of them ended up as casualties. “Go back to the others,” he tipped his head towards the other villagers. “Stay with them until we tell you it’s safe to go home.”

“Landon!” a voice suddenly called out. A woman had taken notice of the boy and made her way over to take him by the hand, tugging him back towards their separate camp. “These men are busy,” she chided him sternly. “Don’t bother them.”

“He was no trouble,” Crow assured her with a friendly grin. “Just make sure he knows not to leave the camp. He seems a bit homesick, and we don’t want him getting hurt.”

“Of course,” the woman dipped her head in a curt, yet polite bow before leading the child away.

Crow turned back to the other thieves, drawing one knee to his chest and resting his forearm across it. He met each of their gazes in turn before speaking up once more in a determined voice, “Let’s make sure that kid has a home to come back to tomorrow.”