Crow glanced at Gavin as the knight asked if he had his own food. “I do,” he answered with a shrug. “But I didn’t bring very much, and I wasn’t expecting to begin camping out on the very first night I left.” He folded his arms over his chest and held the knight’s gaze evenly as he went on. “Despite your accusations, my companions and I only took the bare minimum of what we could afford to steal from your camp. I’d like to conserve the little that I have.”

“So, you expect us to give you what we brought instead?” Gavin said annoyedly.

“I understand if you don’t want to,” Crow replied with a careless look. “Besides, you don’t have to give me anything. I can just eat what I have now and replenish my supply at your camp tonight. You nobles have more food than you know what to do with anyway.” He smirked as he saw Gavin stiffen slightly, but the knight had realized the thief’s trick too late. He was now trapped between willingly handing over his food to a criminal or refusing to share and being the cause of another small raid on their camp. In either case, Crow would win.

“You’re a manipulative little bastard,” Gavin grumbled and then sighed in defeat. “Fine. You can have some of the lunch I brought for us.”

“Thank you for your generosity,” Crow grinned, enjoying how easily he could wrap the knight around his finger. Of course, he had brought a small amount of money for the purpose of replenishing his supplies, so he could have just eaten his food and bought more in Whitebridge, but tormenting Penelope’s ex suitor was much more fun. Besides, he hadn’t lied when he had said he wasn’t planning to camp as much as it looked like he was going to, so he wasn’t sure if he had enough money to last him the whole length of the trip anyway. It was entirely likely that he would have to borrow food from the knights regardless of the preparations he had made.

[i]I need to sell off those medicines as soon as we’re finished with this hunt,[/i] he thought as they all slowed to a stop in a small clearing for lunch.