On the day of the raid, Crow and the other thieves spent most of their time relaxing together by the riverbank. They wanted to save their energy for when they would have to sneak into the knights’ camp and sneak back out without being detected. For that to happen, all of them needed to be in good condition to run and sharp enough to be fully aware of their surroundings. They couldn’t afford to get caught up in an unnecessary fight when they were depending on this raid to go well in order to make it through the rest of the summer. Everything had to go exactly according to plan.

Crow laid back in the grass with his head propped on one forearm, absently tossing a small rock in the air with his free hand. It was mid evening, and he felt a little lazy after spending most of the day doing nothing. He had taken a short walk in the morning just to keep his energy up a bit, but aside from that, he had been lounging around with the other thieves, conversing idly and finishing off what remained of their food stock in preparation of the night to come.

His mind wandered back to the request he had made of Penelope, and he wondered if she had found someone to cover her guard shift. At this point, he didn’t care who she asked—he would even risk having to slip past her ex suitor—as long as he knew she would stay out of trouble.

[i]She probably found someone,[/i] he thought, tossing the rock again with a flick of his wrist and catching it as it fell back down into his open palm. [i]There are quite a few knights in that camp. Surely one of them was willing to take over for her.[/i] The thought was reassuring to him, so he decided not to worry over it.

As day turned to night, the thieves began their preparations to leave for the raid. Crow armed himself with a number of light weapons—his daggers, a sling, a spare knife in his right boot, and even a short sword—just in case he would find himself in a fight during the heist. His companions did the same until they were all armed to the teeth with various short and long ranged weapons. He could tell they were all preparing for the worst, which was relieving to him. Knowing they had their guards up as well, he wouldn’t have to stress about their safety when they all split up to steal from different parts of the nobles’ camp.

Once everyone was ready to go, Hazel said her goodbyes to them, making sure to remark that Crow had better bring her husband back alive, and the thieves headed out.

They traveled quietly through the forest, treading with light-footed steps in case there were any knights nearby. Crow felt a rush of excitement as they neared the target camp. It was the first time in a while that all four of them had gone out on a raid together. He had missed the feeling of working with a team of such skilled bandits. All of them had different talents and fields of expertise—Alistair was the best swordsman, Simon was the best lock pick, Rikki was the best at slight-of-hand using distractions, and Crow was the best at escaping capture—so together, they made a frightening group of criminals.

Eventually, the knights’ camp became visible through the tree line, and Crow’s heartbeat quickened. He signaled to his companions to stop while they were still far enough away to speak without being overheard. “Alright, everyone, stick to the plan,” he said in a hushed voice, looking over each of them in turn. “You’ve all raided these knights before, so I’m sure you remember where they keep their supplies. Just take what you’ve been assigned and meet up again here when you’ve finished.” The others nodded in understanding, and he grinned. “Good luck out there, guys. I’ll see you all back here soon.”

Having finished his short speech, Crow fanned out with his companions to surround the camp as they each made their way towards the supplies they were going to steal.