As the battle raged on, it became clear to Crow that the Younisians didn’t even have a chance at leveling the battlefield. Unlike the last two fights, the Brerratic knights were the ones to drive their enemies back into their own kingdom this time. The thief let out his breath in relief and shouldered his bow, pressing a hand against the tree trunk as he moved to stand up. He perched precariously on the branch as he watched the Younisians retreat in the distance, their camp having been destroyed by the knights of his own land. It looked like the fight was over.

With no more reason to stick around and risk being seen, he descended from the tree and headed back to Whitebridge to find the rest of his companions. He left his arrows behind, since he couldn’t easily retrieve them while the Brerratic knights were still there, but he made a mental note to come back after nightfall and pick them up if they hadn’t already been collected by the nobles by then. After the first battle had gone so well, he was certain the knights would push to retake Grimsby, so he wanted to be armed and ready with as many arrows as he could fit in his quiver.

When he got back to the village, he took a moment to look over around. A pleased smile crossed his lips as his gaze fell on the villagers. They were already celebrating their kingdom’s victory and the fact that they hadn’t needed to fight this time around. It looked like the evacuees had already returned as well. As he walked down the main road, he passed by couples kissing passionately and families crying and embracing in relief. It was a much happier sight to come back to compared to the ones he had faced after the last few battles, where the villagers had been collecting the bodies of their dead and widows had wailed for their lost loved ones.

After a while of unhurried searching, he found the other thieves sitting with Hazel beneath a tree in the evening shade. The herbalist was wrapping Simon’s forearm with bandages, but otherwise, they all looked like they had remained unharmed. He stepped over to sit between Hazel and Alistair and grinned, “Looks like it’s been a good day, huh?”

“I’ll say,” Alistair nodded. “After the knights from our kingdom did so badly in the last few battles, I wasn’t expecting them to actually keep the Younisians on their side of the border. I only killed two of them this time.”

“Three here,” Simon chimed in, sitting up a little straighter and casting Hazel a glance as if to make sure she was listening.

The herbalist narrowed her eyes slightly as she inspected her work on his wound and then gave a curt nod, “Alright, Simon. You’re good to go.” She patted his arm lightly and looked up at him with a smile. “As long as you don’t shift the bandages, you’ll heal just fine.”

“Thank you,” Simon said in a tone that was more respectful than anything Crow had ever heard come out of his mouth before.

The thief snorted softly, finding his companion’s change in behavior amusing. “As much as I’d love to stay and celebrate with the villagers here, we should probably go back and pack up our camp,” he said, glancing between the four of them. “Since Brerra won today, the knights are going to keep pushing north and attack again at Grimsby. If we want to stay ahead of them, we’ll need to leave tonight.”

“If they keep doing this well, they should have those Younisian soldiers out of there in no time,” Alistair said confidently, leaning back on the palms of his hands.

“I hope so,” Crow nodded. “It would be nice to come back to all of this twice.” He looked up to watch as a small family walked by, chatting and laughing jovially amongst each other, and his gaze softened slightly. “I’m glad the people of Whitebridge didn’t have to bury anyone else today.”

“Me too,” Simon murmured in agreement, following the same family with his eyes. “Let’s just pray the same will go for Grimsby.”

“Hear, hear,” Rikki finally spoke up, though she continued to avoid Crow’s gaze.

They all sat for a while longer, enjoying the scene of the celebrating villagers, until Crow finally stood up again. “It’s almost sunset,” he noted, twisting at the waist as he stretched his lower back. “Let’s go tear down the camp.” The other thieves murmured their agreement and got up as well. Once they were all ready, he took the lead to go back to the eastern forest, where they had left the rest of their supplies. While the battle that day had gone well, he didn’t want to let himself grow complacent. There was still one more fight left to prepare for, and he was going to be ready when it came.