BuzzingBee — Roleplayer Guild

The rest of the journey seemed to go smoothly as the knights traveled through the outer villages. As expected, William made them leave the horses at the border though so now the two were forced to walk the rest of the way, making the last part of the trip home a bit longer. As they neared the inner kingdom after a couple days of travel, the knights began to let their guard down a bit and that was when the mercenaries attacked again. This time the attack was much more well planned and William was injured right away, leaving Penelope to fight desperately to keep her comrade alive as well as keep the staff out of the hands of the mercenaries.

A flash of silver crossed the knight's vision. Time seemed to slow down as pain engulfed her and she glanced down to see drips of scarlet staining her clothes from the long gash that was in inflicted. Vaguely aware, she noticed her enemy, a man that stood tall and muscular like the mercenary that she had once killed, was raising his sword to deliver a finishing blow. Penelope staggered, already feeling herself about to pass out from the amount of pain she was in despite the adrenaline that was pumping through her body. This is it.. She thought with a wince. After all the fights she had been in, this would be the one to take her down. She was scared and wanted desperately to fight back but the wound he had already given her kept her from doing so. 

Her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground, defenseless as the man moved to kill her. She was already blacking out, numbing the pain of wound and making her aware of a different ache, the one in her heart. She'd never be able to meet up with Crow. Never be able to have that life together that she had promised him. Of all the times to die, it just had to be right when she thought they had secured a future together didn't it? I'm sorry Collin... I don't think I'm going to make it back to you.. She thought her heart swelling with a mixture of grief and regret.  

"Penelope!" Came the older knight's fading voice as Penelope drifted off into darkness.

---
It's not your time yet, sweet-heart...

Penelope jumped slightly, finally coming out of the darkness she had fallen into. Where am I.. She wondered as she began to come through her unconsciousness. The knight slowly opened her eyes, wincing at the sharp light that came from the nearby window. She turned her head away from it as her eyes adjusted to take in the room and where she was at. She was in a bed and across the room a woman sat at a desk with her back facing Penelope. What happened?

It took a moment but as Penelope attempted to sit up, pain erupted from across her torso causing for the memory of the ambush to coming flooding back. The staff! She thought with alarm. 

"Oh you're up." The woman mused as she turned to look over at the wounded knight. Her eyes widened when she realized Penelope was trying to get up. She hurried over to the female knight's side and tried to get her to lay back down. "Calm down, calm down. You have to take it easy. That cut nearly killed you."

"Where's William? And the staff? What happened?" Penelope let out a flurry of questions as unease filled the knight. 

"Hm? Oh your comrade.. He's alright. You got the worst of it, it seems." The woman told her with a small frown. "Look, I'll grab him for you... I think he'll do a better job explaining everything then me.. So just relax alright?"

Penelope eyed the woman for a moment, almost as if uncertain. She gave a small nod, which seemed to be enough for the physician. The woman turned and disappeared out of the room to retrieve William, leaving Penelope to lie alone in silence with her thoughts. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest as she recalled her last memories of the fight. The mercenaries attacked... But this time their target wasn't us... it was the staff.. They got passed us and got the staff. I was already injured but I tried to stop the one. She sighed softly as she thought about her reckless and desperate move. William followed. Then.. Her thoughts trailed off for a moment as she finally dared to pull up the shirt she was wearing, eying the long and nasty wound that stretch down the middle of her chest. While not particularly deep, it appeared stitches had still be required to close the wound. 

The knight felt a bit faint at the sight and laid her head back down in the bed. Though she wasn't moving, she could still feel a light pain caused by the wound. It would take quite a while to heal from this. She also became aware of a few other smaller injuries she had sustained. A cut on her arm and a bruise on her side from being hit also caused for a small bit of pain whenever she moved those areas. 

Suddenly the door open and the familiar form of William stepped into the room, limping due to an injury he had received on his leg. His gaze flickered over to Penelope. "Good, you're awake." He muttered with a small sigh. 

"William... What happened?" Penelope asked quietly. "Where's the staff? You got the staff still right?"

William grew silent and a hint of frustration crossed his gaze. Panic began to well up in the female knight as he comrade didn't answer he right away. There was no way that they lost the staff. There couldn't be. They were so close to returning to the castle. She was so close to returning back to Crow. "William!" She snapped finally. 

"It's gone." He growled looking angry, though not with Penelope but rather with himself. "Those bastards nearly killed you and I couldn't get the staff back from them. I was already too injured."

Her heart dropped at his words. After all the work they had done, after everything she, Crow and even William himself had gone through, they had lost the staff. The one thing that could prevent a war between Brerra and Younis, was gone. And though she didn't want to admit to failure yet, her chances of being with Crow were gone. Her family would need her, she wanted to be there at their side during the fights that were sure to come. 

"No. It can't just be over." Penelope said, her voice quiet yet desperate. Determination blazed in her gaze as she formulated a plan. "Ask the king for more time. We'll heal and then track those assholes down and get the staff back." 

"We're in no shape to track anyone down right now. You can barely even more." William grumbled. 

"We'll take time to heal and then go." Penelope insisted. "I think they're just going back to those nobles from before so it should be easy to track them down! Come on William, we can still stop a war. We can still get the staff back." 

William fell silent, seeming to think over her words for a moment. Penelope winced as she forced herself to sit up, meeting his gaze pleadingly. "Come on. Just one more try. That's all we need." The older knight groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"Fine. I'll travel ahead to speak with the king soon. But we're taking time to heal first." 
----

Around a Month Later

"How bad is it?" 

"Pretty bad." William grunted as he pressed a bandages against the wound on Penelope's face trying to slow the bleeding from the cut. 

The two had taken time to heal from their past injuries and then requested for the king to let them try and track down the mercenaries that had stolen the staff. The king hadn't given them much longer, seeming to grow impatient of waiting to take over Younis. The two knights had a difficult time finding leads and most that they did find ended up as dead ends. They eventually ended up finding a mercenary who spoke the same language as the mercenaries from before. It ended up going badly as they tried to get information out him but only ended up in another brutal fight. The fight finished with Penelope receiving a nasty cut on her face and William killing the mercenary. 

Now they sat resting in their room at a nearby, trying to recuperate after another chaotic day. 

"I think we got close to something though. If we can just keep pushing-" Penelope began. 

"No." William snapped, glaring angrily at his comrade. "Listen Penelope, we're done. We tried but there's no way we're ever going to find that damn staff."

Penelope blinked at William's sudden snap at her. Part of her knew he was right. They didn't have anymore leads and time was running out anyways. But she didn't want to give up. Giving up meant that she'd also be giving up her future with Crow. "We can still-"

"No." William cut her off. "Penelope you need to stop. War is coming whether you like it or not and we're just going to have to accept that. No more running around in circles trying to avoid it. The king is expecting us to return back soon anyways. You have to move on and get ready for it like the rest of us." 

His words were harsh but there was an undeniable truth to them. Penelope fell silent, her head hanging as she felt a numbness begin to set over her. After a moment, she finally gave a small nod of agreement, which seemed to be enough for William to relax a bit more. "Good." He sighed and crossed his arms. "I'm going to go inform the local knights about what happened. Keep that bandage pressed on your face. I'll be back." With that said, he stood up abruptly and then walked off towards the door of the room, leaving Penelope alone. 

The female knight waited for him to leave before she buried her head in her hands. Her eyes grew watery with tears she was trying to hold back. Oh Crow... I'm so sorry. She thought as she let out a quiet crying gasp. He probably resented her or thought badly of her never showing up anyways. She had been hoping that if they found the staff, she could get him to understand why she had never met up with him. It was a little over a month now and she finally had to accept the fact that war was coming. She'd get swept up in it in order to protect her family and have to leave behind Crow in the process. 

She collapsed back into her bed and threw the blanket over herself. She closed her eyes tightly, still feeling tears running down her cheeks. For a moment, she let herself sink deeply into her grief over the future and love she had lost, thinking about the journey they had been through together, his kiss, his smirks, his touch, everything. Penelope let out a shaky exhale, allowing the tears to flow more freely now. Once William returned and their journey back to the castle began, Penelope couldn't afford to let her grief control her like it was now. No one there would understand it. No one there could ever know about Crow and how deeply she had cared for him.

Penelope bit back a frown as she watched him prepare to leave. Her gaze drifted over to William to make sure that the older knight was still fast asleep before she turned to face Crow. "I guess so." She mumbled quietly. As he moved to kiss her one last time, she leaned into meet his lips again, closing her eyes tightly as she savored the moment. When he stepped back, she offered him a small smile and watched him run off towards the outer villages. 

She kept her gaze on him until he disappeared from sight and once he did, the forest around her suddenly felt more lonely. The knight sighed to herself and turned to focused back on the older knight that still laid sleeping. Penelope moved to lean back a nearby tree, figuring out the story that she would tell William to make sure he didn't figure out their future plans. She wanted to give Crow enough time to put enough distance between them before she went ahead to awake the older knight as she was sure that he wouldn't let Crow get away too easily. 

Once it was nearing early morning, she figured enough time had passed and headed over to William. She stepped fast, as if in a hurry, and shook the older knight with urgency. "William. William!" He sat up with a sudden burst, looking alert as he seemed to detect the urgency in her voice. 

"What? What? Mercenaries?" He asked quickly, moving to grab his blade. 

"No. I.. I can't find Crow." Penelope admitted with a worried frown. 

"What?" William grunted, turning to narrow his gaze at Penelope. 

"He said he'd take over my watch for a bit so I could get some sleep before waking you. When I woke up, he wasn't around." Penelope explained. "I tried to wait a little and see if he had just wandered off or something but he hasn't come back. I'm worried the mercenaries got him or something."

Anger quick flared across the older knight's face as he bought her story. "Or he decided to run before he got locked back in his cell." He snorted as he rose up to his feet. "Stay here. I'm going to go look for him."

"I'll go with you. He might be in trouble." Penelope insisted glaring at William for his accusations. 

"I think you've done enough." William spat. "Just stay here and keep the staff safe. I'll be back soon." 

William hurried to grab his mare and ride off into the forest in search of Crow while Penelope stayed behind. Once William was out of sight, she smirked a little to herself. She felt strangely proud of the lying capabilities that she had learned from Crow. She tried not to use them often but they had certainly came in handy throughout the mission. The female knight sighed, feeling rather drained after spending the whole night up. It was unlikely she'd get a chance to sleep until the end of day now and she prayed she'd be able to push past how tired she felt. 

William eventually returned back to camp, still seething upon the discovery of Crow's escape. However, unable to find the thief, he insisted that they not waste anymore daylight and continue on towards the castle, merely hoping the local knights would find the thief. Once William cooled down, he appeared a bit sympathetic to Penelope as she pretended to be heartbroken over the 'betrayal'. He still blamed her but hoped that she would learn from her mistakes. He promised he'd deny any rumor that would possibly be spread by the thief in order to help maintain her good name. 

The two set out on the road again. Now in their own kingdom, the two knights noticeably relax a bit more as they head through the outer villages. Penelope hopes that Crow was able to return safely to his home and feels a bit lonely without him by her side.

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