When Crow was woken up by Simon the next day, he felt much more tired than usual. Sitting up slowly on his bed, he found it difficult not to lay back down and go back to sleep. He shook his head and stretched in an attempt to clear away some of the grogginess. It seemed like staying up until nearly dawn had taken a bigger toll on him than he thought.

As he continued to look around, he blinked in surprise to find that they weren’t alone anymore. One of the other thieves must have gotten up early to evacuate the villagers, because their camp was now surrounded by peasant women and children. He shuddered as he realized he had slept through the whole thing. Even with his illness, it wasn’t like him to sleep so heavily. He needed to be able to wake up if knights or bounty hunters found his camp, so it was unnerving to find out he hadn’t even been roused by half of an entire village.

Suddenly feeling more awake, he got up and joined his companions for breakfast. Fortunately, it seemed like he wasn’t the only one who had gotten up late that morning. Alistair, Rikki, and Hazel were all still bleary-eyed as well. He guessed that Simon must have been the one to get up early and make all of the preparations as well as wake up the rest of them.

Since none of the thieves had gotten very good sleep that night, they didn’t speak much as they ate their meal of bland porridge that Simon had prepared. Crow’s mind wandered back to the upcoming battle as he realized it was going to be happening soon. He and all of his companions had been exhausted by the last fight, so he hoped they would be able to handle this one as well. He didn’t want any of them to put themselves in unnecessary danger if they were too tired to continue.

[i]The knights have to be just as exhausted as we are though,[/i] he thought, swallowing another bite of food. [i]We’ll be fine. Everyone is going to be on equal footing.[/i] Feeling a bit reassured by the thought, he finished off the rest of his breakfast and stood up. “The knights from our kingdom are probably going to be here soon,” he said, glancing between the others. “We should leave as soon as everyone is done eating, so we get there ahead of them.”

“Of course,” Simon nodded.

“Ugh,” Alistair groaned. “I’ll be glad when this is all over, so I can go back to sleep.”

“Me too,” Hazel yawned. “Although I might even take a little nap while the four of you are gone.”

“You should,” Simon said with a casual shrug that Crow thought looked forced. “You’re doing quite a bit for us, so you should get some more sleep if you need it.”

Hazel eyed him for a moment before breaking out in a grin, “Alright, then I will.” Shoveling down the rest of her porridge she climbed to her feet and turned to head over to her bed. “Wake me when you get back,” she said to them, raising a hand in a lazy wave without looking back as she walked off.

“Well, I’m jealous,” Alistair muttered.

“You’ll get to sleep soon enough,” Crow assured him. “Once this battle is over, we all will.”

Once all of the thieves had finished their food, they collected their weapons and headed down the ridge to Grimsby. The time was near midday, as the sun had almost reached its peak in the clear blue sky above. Crow couldn’t help but think it was too nice of a day to spend fighting in a battle, but unfortunately, they didn’t have much of an option. He adjusted the bow on his shoulder as he looked out over the forest around them and then stiffened as he saw movement through the trees.

“Um, guys,” he glanced back at his companions and gestured towards the distant figures. “Looks like we’re not quite as far ahead of them as we thought.”

Simon cursed under his breath. “We can still beat them if we hurry,” he said, turning towards Crow with a concerned frown. “Do you think you can manage a faster pace?”

“Anything less than a run,” he nodded, already picking up his pace. “Come on. We need to get to Grimsby before they do.”

The four thieves hastened to a light jog as they covered the rest of the ground between the ridge and the village. As they had hoped, they managed to arrive far enough ahead of the knights to regroup with the villagers who had stayed behind to fight. Fortunately, the Younisian knights in the area didn’t question them either, since they just looked like ordinary peasants.

When they reached the villagers, tension was thick in the air, since everyone knew the majority of this battle was going to happen right in the middle of Grimsby. Simon, Alistair, and Rikki attempted to organize the people with their limited knowledge of battle tactics. Meanwhile, Crow went off to look for a place to set up away from the main road, where he guessed most of the fighting would take place.

He walked along a side street until he came across a stable that was located a fair distance away yet had a good view of the street. After looking around to make sure there were no knights around to see him, he slipped inside and began searching for a place to position himself where he would be able to use his bow. Trying to ignore the strong odor of goats, he walked down the corridor between the animals’ pens, his eyes sweeping over the small space. Eventually, he glanced up at the ceiling and a smile crossed his lips as he noticed an opening near the roof above the rafters that faced the main road. [i]Perfect.[/i]

The thief made his way over to a stack of crates and climbed up until he was able to pull himself up into the attic-like space. The wood creaked dangerously beneath his feet, and he winced, praying it would hold his weight. He took a hesitant step forward and let out his breath in a relieved sigh as the wooden beam groaned but didn’t give way. With catlike balance, he maneuvered his way across the beam until he reached the small window. When he reached it, he peered out and was pleased to see that he had a direct view of the main road.

Crow lifted his bow from his shoulders and steadied himself on the rafter, his heart racing with adrenaline as he watched and waited for the battle to begin.