The next morning, Crow was the last to wake up again, but no one said anything or made any snide remarks now that they knew the real reason why he was resting so much. He sat up on his bed and stretched tiredly, looking around to see that the others had already finished packing up most of their camp. The only things that were left were his bedroll and a pot of what he guessed to be the cold leftovers of the other thieves’ breakfast, left out for him to eat whenever he woke up.

He climbed slowly to his feet and ambled over to pour himself a bowl of porridge. The food had definitely been sitting out for a while, and it smelled bland—Simon had probably made it—but he was too hungry to care. Once he had filled up a dish for himself, he made his way over to join his four companions, who were all sitting around on the other side of the camp, talking casually. It looked like they had purposefully moved as far from the sleeping area as they could so as not to wake him while he had been resting. He shifted slightly at the realization. He still felt strange receiving special treatment from them all, and he wished they would just go on with their lives as if nothing had changed.

As he approached, Rikki was the first to greet him. “Morning,” she chirped cheerily, though he could see it was clearly midday. “How did you sleep?”

“Good,” he answered, taking a seat between Hazel and Alistair. After what had happened the previous morning, he wanted to keep some distance between himself and the female thief. “I see you’re all ready to go,” he commented with a good-natured smile. “Looks like I have some catching up to do.”

“I can help you get ready,” Rikki said quickly.

Crow rolled his eyes, “I can do it myself, love. Don’t bother.”

Hazel glanced between them for a moment before turning to Rikki with a friendly smile, “If you really want to help someone, I could use some extra hands to pack up my herbal supplies.”

“Sure,” the female thief perked up slightly.

Crow shot Hazel an appreciative look, at which she just shrugged nonchalantly and averted her gaze. Despite her harsh exterior, he knew she had a bit of a soft spot for her patients, even one she didn’t necessarily like. After treating all sorts of people of all sorts of illnesses, she knew better than anyone how coddling and special treatment typically only served to make a sick person feel useless, especially if it was unnecessary. He was grateful that she was willing to intervene to keep Rikki from doing just that.

The two women left to put away Hazel’s remaining supplies, while Crow finished off the rest of his food and Alistair and Simon discussed the best route to take to avoid patrols. Once he was done eating, Crow packed up his own bags and shouldered them as the group prepared to leave. It didn’t take long before everyone was ready, and they headed out to their new camp.

--

After a long walk with only two breaks for meals, the group finally arrived at the northwest riverbank just after sunset. Crow looked up at the waterfall that cascaded over the edge of the drop-off, crashing loudly into the pool at its base. Even up close, he couldn’t see the entrance to the tunnels the others had told him about. All it looked like to him was a simple ridge covered with mossy vines. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it as far as he could see.

Beside him, Rikki began to fidget excitedly. She looked up at him and grinned, “Ready? Watch this.” She reached to grab his hand and led him to the edge of the waterfall. Now even closer, he narrowed his eyes slightly as he could see the edge of what looked like a cave behind the curtain of water, masked by the misty spray.

“See?” the thief went on proudly. “It’s perfect! Those knights won’t ever find us again.” Tugging on his hand, she shimmied around the rim of the water to lead him behind the waterfall. Crow followed after her, cautiously watching where he planted his feet along the narrow pass. He still didn’t know how to swim well, so the thought of slipping and falling into the river was unnerving to him. Fortunately, it wasn’t too difficult to get to the cavern entrance, and he made it without any trouble.

Ducking down slightly—the opening was a bit short for him—he stepped inside of the tunnel after Rikki and looked around. In the low light, it was hard to see, but he could make out that they were standing in a larger cave that seemed to branch off in three different directions. He straightened his posture as he realized the ceiling stretched high enough over his head that he didn’t have to crouch anymore. Glancing back at the entrance, he saw the other three come in after them.

Hazel’s eyes widened as she looked over the space, and she whistled, “Impressive. If you all hadn’t told me this was here, I don’t think I ever would have found it on my own.”

“How [i]did[/i] you guys find this place?” Crow asked, looking between his companions curiously.

Simon and Rikki exchanged a knowing glance, while Alistair averted his gaze, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. “Let’s just say that one of us decided to take a piss in the river and fell in,” Rikki snickered, elbowing Alistair in the side. “When we fished him out, Simon noticed something behind the waterfall; and when we checked it out, we found these tunnels.”

“That was pretty lucky,” Crow laughed, glancing up at the ceiling of the cavern as he listened to his voice echo off of the rocks.

“So, I guess you could say I was the one who found this place,” Alistair stood up a bit straighter.

“Oh, shut up, piss-for-brains,” Rikki snorted. “All you did was fall in the river and nearly drown yourself.”

“Yeah, but if I hadn’t done that, you never would have seen the cave.”

“If anyone should take credit for the discovery of these tunnels, it’s me,” Simon puffed up proudly. “I saw the entrance first.”

“I don’t care who found it,” Crow shook his head, hoping to put an end to their squabble before anyone threw a punch. “I’m just glad we’ve got a new camp.”

“Seconded,” Hazel nodded, wandering around the edge of the cavern as she explored its layout. “No one will ever find us here.”

“It’s a great spot,” Crow agreed. “It’s well hidden, close to the border, next to a fresh water source, and close enough to the knights’ camp that we can keep stealing from them if we need more supplies. Good job, everyone.”

“Now all we have to do is set up our camp, and this place will be our new home,” Rikki grinned, rolling her shoulders to drop her bags.

“Right,” Crow nodded, following her lead by taking off his own packs. “Let’s get to work. I want this camp finished before we go to bed tonight.”