The next morning, Penelope woke up to the sounds of voices outside of her tent. The knight ignored it at first until she realized that she must have slept in too late. [i]Crap it sounds like half the camp is already up![/i] Despite her grogginess, the knight shot up from her bed with alarm and quickly scrambled to throw on her armor. Perhaps there was still a chance she could catch up with Nina. As she got ready, the knight slowed her actions as she became more aware of the talking going on outside. Most voices were muffled and too far to understand but nearly all of them seemed panicked. She even caught the words of a few yells.

"-they're dead!"

"Our supplies-!"

"Someone get the barons!"

Something was wrong. Penelope froze as she recalled the raid Crow and the other thieves were going to do on the camp and she felt her heart sink. Had they been caught? The knight stormed out into the chaos of her camp, feeling a flash of worry coarse through her. However, it was far from the sight she expected. Around her, her comrades were scrambling to wake everyone up in a panic and as she walked further towards the middle, she was quick to notice a number of dead guards on the ground. Penelope felt a hint of panic welling up in her as she took in the sights. Something must have gone rather wrong during the raid but it seemed like the thieves had gotten away. 

The knight faltered as her gaze landed on the body of Millicent. The archer was slumped over on the ground with an obvious wound on her neck caused by some sort of blade. Penelope quickly averted her gaze away from her dead comrade, immediately feeling a wave of guilt. She should have just kept her guard duty, then there would have been no reason for Millicent to die. 

"Penelope! Oh thank the gods." 

Before she could even react, she felt two strong arms suddenly wrap around her and hold her tightly. Penelope blinked, looking up to see Gavin. The male knight trembled with relief and finally let her go as he met her gaze concernedly. "I-I thought you were dead. I knew you were supposed to be on guard duty last night and.." he frowned and shook his head. 

"I had Millicent take over my shift.." Penelope shook her head and glanced over at the archer. The female knight shuddered and looked up at him. "Gavin.. Do you know anything about what happened? What's going on?"

"From what I've heard, all the night guards were killed and nearly half of our supplies were stolen last night."

Penelope's eyes widened with alarm and panic began to wash over the knight. "A-Are you sure?" she stuttered. 

"That's what Layth and Tomas were saying before they ran off to get the barons." 

The knight felt sick at his response. It was one thing to merely kill a couple guards to keep from getting discovered but it seemed they had all been killed rather mercilessly, leaving not even one left standing. [i]Is that why he didn't want me on guard duty?[/i] She trembled and brought a hand up to cover her mouth in horror at the realization that Crow had likely been planning this. For a moment, the knight tried to think of any other possible reasoning, wishing that there was another explanation for so many of her comrades deaths as well as their large amount of missing supplies. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to. 

"Penelope.." Gavin took her hands in his giving them a small squeeze. He glanced around before pulling her off to the side, behind a nearby tent in hopes to get them some privacy. The female knight didn't resist and followed after him silently, whirling from everything that had happened. He met her gaze with a concerned look. "This.. This was him wasn't it?" 

Penelope remained silent. 

"Please don't tell me you're still protecting him after this, Penelope." 

"I-I just.. I don't know. We don't know what happened last night, I just need to hear his side of the story first.." Penelope said shaking her head. A heavy feeling of guilt and betrayal churned in her stomach. She had never asked too much about his plans because she had trusted him. The knight never would have expected him to leave her camp in such a devastated mess, regardless of whatever reasoning he had. As hurt as she felt, she couldn't just turn on him though and that was something Gavin didn't seem to understand. 

"He killed our comrades ruthlessly and took enough of our supplies to leave us more than vulnerable for the next attack. Does it even matter what his excuses are?" Gavin asked with an edge to his voice that made her flinch. He exhaled softly and shook his head. "I know you cared a lot for him but you have to see how dangerous he is now."

"I do but.. I just need to hear what happened." Penelope mumbled meekly. 

"Ah there you two are!" 

Penelope and Gavin jumped slightly and looked over to see Olivia hurrying towards them. The other female knight looked quite relieved to see them as she joined them behind the tent. Her gaze immediately focused on Penelope. "What's going on? Do you know anything about what happened last night?"

"Not really.." Penelope paused then lowered her voice as she spoke to Olivia. "Crow told me he was planning a raid but... I-I didn't expect this."

"Lover boy really stabbed you in the back this time, huh?" Olivia frowned, lowering her own gaze and seeming rather bothered by Penelope's words.

Gavin wrapped an arm around Penelope's shoulders. "We'll figure out a way to properly deal with this." he mumbled. "But we should head off to the center of camp. Everyone's suppose to gather there to hear what the barons have to say."

"I imagine it's nothing good." Olivia sighed. 

Penelope glanced up at Gavin. Though he had his arm around her, she didn't fight it, instead finding it a bit comforting. With Crow's betrayal, she felt less than inclined to keep her promise to the thief at the moment. She wasn't even sure where she stood with him now. Her trust in him was wavering and the hurt she felt weighed heavily on her heart. He might not have been willing to hurt her, but the damage he had done to her camp couldn't be excused easily. The knight let out a shaky sigh and followed her friends as they headed towards the center of camp.