Crow and Percival searched every inch of the forest that they could cover while the sun crested over the horizon, but there was no sign of the missing baron anywhere. Both exhausted from two nights in a row of poor sleep and discouraged by the cold trail, the knight eventually brought their horse to a stop and sighed. “Maybe Naida and your attendant had better luck,” he suggested, peering over his shoulder with a frown. “It’s possible that Theroulde went the other direction when he escaped.”

Behind him, Crow leaned back on his hands and stifled a yawn. “Either way, we should head back to the camp. If we haven’t found him so far, I doubt anything will change if we keep looking.” He glanced at the trees around them in one last halfhearted search for the man, though he knew he wouldn’t see him anywhere. Otto was either long gone by now or had already been caught by his half-sister. He hoped the latter was true, but deep down, he suspected that the baron had managed to slip away from them.

He still couldn’t figure out why Otto had run though. As Percy turned his horse to go back to their campsite, the viceroy furrowed his brows, trying futilely to think of a reason why he would have been acting so strangely. Theroulde was a close friend of his father’s, so he would have thought that out of all of the knights, he’d have the most reason to ensure the success of their mission. For a while, he’d suspected that the baron had planned to usurp the assignment from him somehow to take all the credit for himself, but even that didn’t make sense anymore. If he had wanted to return to Brerra as the champion of peace who’d ended the war, that would have required going all the way to the Younisian castle. Instead, Otto had purposefully neglected to tell the Younisians that they were in the area and had run away when they were barely on the other side of the border.

[i]I’m missing something,[/i] he thought with a frustrated shake of his head. [i]Whatever is going on, Otto’s one step ahead of us. He must know something we don’t.[/i] And perhaps Rayner knew too. He found it hard to believe that the baron would take off and leave his son behind so carelessly. If the lieutenant was in on his father’s schemes, they were going to have to wring out as much information as they could from him.

When Crow and Percival returned to the camp, they were disappointed to find that Naida and Preston had gotten there ahead of them, empty-handed. “So, you two didn’t find him either, huh?” Naida asked, propping a hand on her hip.

“The snake got away,” Crow shrugged and slid down from the horse’s back to amble over to the others.

“Damn,” Naida frowned. “How did he do that anyway? He was on foot, and we were on mounts. We should have caught up to him even if he had a head start. It’s almost like he just… disappeared.”

“I have no idea,” the viceroy shook his head. “But that doesn’t matter. He’s gone, and as much as I hate to say it, I think we should keep moving… We have no idea what he’s planning, but he’s clearly not on our side. We need to get to the castle to get this stupid meeting over with.”

“Do you think he would do something to hinder us?” Preston asked concernedly.

“Who knows?” Crow exhaled, walking over to his tent while the others headed over to theirs to pack up the camp. “Maybe he just bolted because he didn’t want to face us after we found out he didn’t tell the Younisians we were here, but my gut tells me we shouldn’t stay in one place for too long.”

“And what about him?” Percival asked with a tilt of his head toward Rayner, who was still bound to the tree where they’d left him.

“I already told you, I don’t know what my father is doing,” Rayner shifted uncomfortably against the tree trunk. “And I don’t think we should be packing up right now. For gods’ sakes, my father isn’t an enemy! If we leave now, we’re going to leave him behind. He has no supplies of his own, so we should wait here until he returns!”

“If he really isn’t an enemy, he’ll catch up,” Crow replied unsympathetically. “I, for one, am not taking any chances, so he’ll just have to meet us at the castle.” And along the way, they could question the lieutenant further about what Otto was doing. Rayner seemed genuinely clueless to it all, but even if he truly didn’t know what the baron was up to, there was a chance that he could have overheard something important. At this point, he was hoping to hear anything at all that he could use to catch up on Theroulde’s movements.

He and the other nobles tore down their camp, put on their uniforms and readied their horses to continue on toward the Younisian castle. Just as they tied Rayner’s horse to Percival’s—the lieutenant’s hands had been bound with rope since they’d lost trust in him—they noticed movement in the nearby trees though. The two Younisian knights who had stumbled upon their camp earlier had returned on horses of their own.

“Is there something we can do for you?” Percy asked, stepping over to them amiably. Now that the Brerratic group had put on their regalia, they looked like true nobles, and there was no question that they were who they said they were.

The other knights brought their steeds to a stop at the edge of the clearing. “We’re here to escort you to the castle,” the one on the left answered. “My name is Edwin, and this is Osbert.”

“We’re pleased to meet with you under better circumstances,” Percival bowed his head politely. “Or, well… as good as those circumstances can be.” He glanced over his shoulder at their rag-tag group, comprised of one riderless horse and one carrying a man with bound hands.

“Yes, and we’re sorry we accused you of trespassing,” Edwin nodded in return. “We weren’t aware that thief had actually been given a title by your king.” As he spoke, his eyes drifted to Crow, who shrugged.

“I’m just as surprised as you are,” the former thief quipped, lifting himself onto his horse’s back.

Edwin grunted, “Anyway, whenever you’re all ready to leave, we’ll bring you to see our king.”

“We should be about ready now,” Percival said, glancing at the others for confirmation. Naida, Crow and Preston were all atop their mounts, and Rayner was secured firmly to his. The knight climbed on top of his horse as well, and once they were all prepared, the Younisians took the lead, directing them northwest through the trees toward their capital city.

Crow followed along toward the middle of the pack as usual, flanked on each side by Percy and Naida while Preston lagged at the back with Rayner. As they rode onward, Otto remained present in the back of his mind, and he watched the trees around them, wondering if they would indeed meet up with him at the castle or if the baron was working on something else while they headed further into Younis to negotiate for peace with the native monarch. He let out his breath in a low sigh, hoping Rayner was right about his father not being an enemy. They didn’t need anything else to worry about on top of their existing assignment.