Crow glanced over his shoulder as Penelope moved to the other side of the tree and confirmed his fear that the lock had been positioned out of his reach. “Damn,” he muttered. Apparently the knights hadn’t been completely incompetent after all. He was still confident that he could get to it, but even if Penelope helped him, it would take a long time to maneuver the chains around the tree so he could pick the lock. In addition to that, it would be difficult to keep the chains from rattling during the process and alerting the guards. He wasn’t sure if it was worth the risk.

“I’m not sure,” he shook his head when she asked what his plan was now. “I can’t get out of here without picking that lock.” Tapping his index finger contemplatively against his thigh, he thought over the situation again. The more he looked at it, the more it seemed like he only had two options: He could go with his first idea of working the chains around so the lock moved to his side of the tree, or someone else would have to unlock it for him. He wasn’t sure if he liked either choice. The first was risky because of the noise the chains would make, and he wasn’t even sure if the second was possible. Layth had the real key with him, and Crow was the only one nearby that knew how to use his pick lock key. He sighed in frustration.

Looking up at Penelope again, he thought about her offer to help. Even though she wasn’t a thief, she had been helpful to him in the past, and she was a quick enough learner… But could he really ask her to break him out? He frowned. Once the chains were unlocked, they were going to come loose and fall to the ground, which was going to make a lot of noise. He could afford to draw attention to himself since he was just going to get up and run away, but he didn’t want her to get in trouble for being seen assisting him.

[i]I should at least give her the choice,[/i] he thought. Perhaps she could think of a way to help him without getting discovered. She did know the knights and their routines better than he did, after all. He made his decision.

“I have one idea,” he said softly. Glancing down at his hand, he unfurled his fingers to reveal his pick lock key to her. “If you’re willing, I can teach you how to use this to open the lock on my chains.” He looked up at her again, taking on a serious expression. “However, if you choose to do it, you should know that we’re going to draw a lot of attention over here very quickly. You’ll need to come up with a way to run or blend in if you don’t want to get caught.” He peered back at the other guards for a moment before looking up at her once more, “It’s risky, but it’s the only thing I can think of that might work. What do you say?”