Crow crept around the outskirts of the knights’ camp with Alistair following close at his heels. His eyes were fixed on the nearest guard, a man who seemed rather alert for someone who was staying up late to watch a silent forest. Even though he looked to be aware of his surroundings, the two thieves easily slipped past his watchful gaze with well-rehearsed skill. They dipped in and out of the blind spots that Crow and Simon had found the day before, patiently waiting for the guards to look away before they moved from one to the next. All in all, it wasn’t difficult for them to make it to the knights’ weaponry.

Crow ducked down behind the nearest tent with Alistair, studying a single watchman who stood in front of the tent they were trying to get into. He exchanged a quick look with his companion before reaching down to pick up a few small rocks at his feet. Cocking back his arm, he hurled the rocks into the bushes as far from the tent as he could manage. The foliage trembled audibly as the rocks landed, drawing the guard’s attention. The man reached for the hilt of his sword and walked slowly towards the source of the noise, leaving his post behind.

Crow smirked to himself, pleased to see that the simple distraction had worked, and then sprinted out from his hiding place into the now unguarded supply tent with Alistair. With only a limited time before the knight realized there was no one in the woods, the two thieves worked quickly to bag up the swords and arrows they needed to restock their weapons. Once they had what they came for, they slipped back out of the tent and worked their way silently towards the tree line.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Crow turned to Alistair with a grin. “It just gets easier and easier to raid these knights, doesn’t it?” he said quietly.

“You’d think they would’ve learned to set up more guards by now,” Alistair snickered.

“True,” Crow sighed in mock disappointment. “I almost miss the challenge.”

Suddenly, they heard a faint rustling behind them and turned around to see Simon returning with a bag of stolen medical supplies. Crow took a step towards him, “Did you get everything?”

“Of course,” Simon shrugged airily.

“No trouble?” Crow queried, hoping the blonde thief had been smart enough not to draw any attention to himself while Rikki had yet to return.

“There was a physician inside the medical tent working on something, but I knocked him out easily enough,” Simon answered with another shrug. “There were no other guards about.”

“Good,” Crow nodded. “Let’s just hope Rikki has the same luck.”

Almost as if on cue, a fourth figure rounded a tree and stepped into view. Rikki walked up to them with a proud smirk as she held up her bag of stolen food. “Who’s excited to eat chicken again?” she said in a soft, sing-song voice.

“Gods bless you,” Alistair sighed exaggeratedly. “I’m so sick of stale bread and carrots.”

“Me too,” Crow grimaced and then gestured to the others to leave. “Now that everyone’s here, we should head back to camp. The sooner we drop all of this off, the sooner we can go to the Ivory Hatchet.”

“No complaints here,” Alistair grinned.

The four thieves headed back to the tunnels, so caught up in the success of their raid that they didn’t notice the shadowy figures lurking behind the trees around them.