Crow was roused in the morning by the sound of a bed creaking. He groaned and stretched lazily on his own mattress, rolling onto his side with a broad yawn as he looked up to see where the sound had come from. His eyes fell on John, who was getting up to wake Penelope, and he tensed, reminded of the older man’s insistence to keep them apart. Suddenly in no mood to get out of bed, the thief closed his eyes again and pulled his blanket over his head, hoping the knights would let him sleep a little longer while they got ready for the day. But of course, that didn’t happen.

“Get up, thief,” came the sound of John’s impatient voice as he stepped over to Crow’s bedside.

“It’s early,” Crow complained, burying his head beneath his pillow to get away from the knight’s voice. “Besides, we don’t have as far to walk today as we did yesterday. I can sleep a little longer.”

“That doesn’t matter,” John growled. “We need to get moving, so I’ll only say it once more. Get up.”

“Fine,” Crow exhaled exaggeratedly as he finally pulled the blanket down from his head and sat up, blinking tiredly from his lingering weariness. Though he hadn’t stayed up very late with Penelope the night before, he supposed the shortchange of sleep was still taking its toll. He just hoped he could shake off the rest of his exhaustion before they headed out again.

Once John had unlocked the chain from his wrist, the thief climbed down from his bed to put his boots back on and shoulder his bag. Fortunately, even though he was still a bit tired, it seemed like the rest had done his body some good, because his wound didn’t pain him nearly as much as it had the previous day. If it kept up at this rate, he had high hopes that it would be fully healed within the next two or three weeks.

Crow stepped over to join the other two by the door when he finished getting ready, raising his arms over his head in one more long stretch. As he approached, John edged a bit closer to Penelope and eyed him with contempt. “Undisciplined criminal…” he muttered under his breath before he turned towards the door, addressing the group as a whole, [color=fdc68a][b]“Let’s get moving. The sooner we get to the castle, the better.”[/b][/color]

The knight took the lead as they exited the room, making sure that Penelope stayed close to his side while Crow trailed along behind, shoving his hands in his pockets as he glared annoyedly at John’s back. He’d caught the older man’s comment about his ‘discipline’ and had found it quite unnecessary. Just because he didn’t have the rigid routine of a knight didn’t mean he couldn’t be responsible in his own ways. After all, he’d been the sole leader of a band of thieves for a year. That by itself spoke volumes about his discipline.

[i]It doesn’t matter anyway,[/i] he thought, averting his gaze to look over the village as they left the inn. [i]He may be Penelope’s father, but he’s no different than any of the other nobles in this kingdom. I don’t need his approval.[/i] Feeling a bit more self-assured, he picked up his pace slightly to keep up with the brisk speed that John had set for the group, hoping this day of walking would go by faster than the last.