As Crow walked down the corridor with Penelope, he was quick to notice that the castle guards seemed much more hostile towards him than before. He eyed them warily as they watched him, standing tensely as if they expected him to suddenly start causing trouble. Their venomous gazes set him on edge, but none of them made any moves to say anything or touch him, so he supposed that his father must have made sure that the knights knew they weren’t allowed to do anything to him. Still, if they thought he was just going to stand by and take their hateful attitudes, they had another thing coming.

Staying close to Penelope’s side, the thief returned any unfriendly stares with a feral glare of his own. To his relief, they made it all the way to the entrance of the castle without any trouble. However, when they got to the entrance, it seemed that their luck had run out as the guards stationed at the door appeared even more hostile than the rest. Crow narrowed his eyes irritably as they fought back against Penelope’s request to get by them. It seemed that their dislike of him ran deeper than their fear of being reprimanded by their king.

“Proof?” he snorted, standing a little taller as one of the guards challenged him. “Why would you need proof? Isn’t it already enough that all of you guards seem to have been told in advance that I’m leaving?”

“I’m not going to take my orders from castle gossip,” the guard snapped. “If you don’t have proof that the king approved of this, then you’re not going anywhere, thief.”

“I’m flattered that you think a peasant like me is skilled enough to spread a false order from the king throughout the entire palace guard,” Crow said dryly. “But unfortunately, you’re wrong.”

“You can talk as much as you want, but you’re not passing if you can’t prove that the king permitted this,” the other guard rested a hand on the hilt of his sword, as if he expected the thief to try and charge past him. “Now turn around and go back to where you came from.”

“Is this proof enough for you, Marden?”

Crow blinked at the sound of a new voice and turned around to see his father approaching. The king had an amused smirk on his face as he watched the two guards blanch and hurry to lean forward in deep bows to him. “I was hoping I would catch you before you left, Crow,” Albin went on, shifting his crystalline gaze onto the thief. “I have something else to give you.”

“Is that so?” Crow glanced back at the knights with a grin. “Maybe I should thank these fools for delaying us then.”

“Oh, they were just being cautious,” his father waved his hand, turning to the guards as well. “Sherrod, Marden, I’m glad to see that you two are taking your work so seriously, but I did give Lockton permission to leave the castle, so I’d advise you to let him through.”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty,” the younger guard, Sherrod, stammered as the knights hurried to step aside. They still had mildly annoyed looks on their faces, as if they were displeased with the thought of letting the thief willingly leave, but neither one said anything more on the subject.

“Thank you,” Albin nodded before returning his gaze to his son. “Now then, this is for you.” He held out a rolled up piece of paper tied with a purple ribbon.

“What is it?” Crow frowned confusedly as he took the paper and turned it over in his hands.

“It’s for situations just like this,” Albin explained with a chuckle. “That paper has my written consent for your journey to the border. If any other knights give you trouble on your way, make sure they see that, and they will know that you are not to be harmed.”

“I see,” Crow studied the paper with newfound interest. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” his father smiled warmly. “Be sure to come and find me right away when you return. Have a safe trip, Crow.”

“Thank you,” the thief said again, dipping his head slightly in a polite goodbye. “I will.”

Having finished everything he’d shown up to do, the king turned to head down another hallway in the castle, leaving the other four behind. As soon as he was gone, Crow turned on the guards with a victorious grin and waggled the paper he’d been given in a flaunting manner, “You heard the man. Let us through.”

Marden curled his lip irritably, but said nothing as he and Sherrod opened the doors to let Crow and Penelope pass.

“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” the thief winked at them mockingly and then turned to Penelope. “Come on. We need to get to Sarton by nightfall.”