“Hmm,” Crow grunted with mock thoughtfulness. “No, I think I’ll put you down when we get back.” He laughed softly and casted her another wink, enjoying teasing her.
When they reached the edge of the camp, he let her down from his arms and walked her over the rest of the way to the bed. Lingering back slightly, he gave her room to lay down and then knelt beside her, running his hand fondly along the length of her side once she seemed to have settled comfortably. “Sleep well, love,” he said with a soft smile. “I’ll see you in the morning.” With that, he pressed one more kiss to her lips and then stood back up again to take up a guard position beside a nearby tree.
He leaned back against it with his arms folded over his chest, waiting patiently for Penelope to fall asleep. He looked around the clearing to keep a halfhearted watch, although he felt rather certain that his companions would be safe during the night, but kept most of his attention fixed on her resting form. Since he didn’t want to get close to her and make it clear that he was waiting for her to pass out, it was difficult for him to tell from a distance whether she was sleeping or not.
Eventually, after some time had passed since the last time he had seen her shift on the bed, he carefully moved away from the tree and stepped back, his eyes flitting cautiously over the bodies of all his unconscious companions as his heart began to beat a little faster. The herb had worked. Even the other thieves, who usually slept just as lightly as he did, seemed to be out cold. All he had to do now was finish sabotaging the interrogation and make it back in time to wake Olivia for her shift. Easy, right? He hoped so.
Without wasting another second, he turned and ran silently through the woods to Wheldrake.
--
Now that his illness didn’t plague him nearly as badly as it used to, Crow was able to keep up a fast-paced run the whole way to the village and made great time. He kept watch for any local guards as he hurried along the main road towards the tavern, but luckily, it seemed like there weren’t any in the area. He smiled to himself. With no trouble so far, it looked like his plan was going to go just as smoothly as he had hoped. He picked up his pace slightly, eager to make it to the building before the owner closed up for the night.
It didn’t take long before the familiar tavern came into sight up ahead. The thief slowed his pace as he noticed a figure standing in front of the door. He studied the man for a moment before he recognized him to be the tavern keeper. He felt a wave of relief as he realized he hadn’t missed his chance. Trotting up to the man, he raised his arm in a wave to get his attention.
The tavern keeper turned towards him, knitting his brow in a deep frown, “’M closed up for the night, thief. Yer gonna have to come back tomorrow if ye want a drink.”
“That’s not why I’m here,” Crow said, panting softly as he caught his breath from running all the way to Wheldrake. “I’ve come with a warning.”
The man eyed him concernedly, “Not about the war, I pray?”
“No, no,” Crow shook his head. “Nothing like that.”
“Then wha’ tis it?”
“There are knights on their way here,” Crow said, inhaling deeply as he shook off the last of his exhaustion from the run. “They’re looking for a group of people—about seven strong—who supposedly passed through here recently.”
“Oh yeah,” the tavern keeper nodded. “I remember ‘em. Rowdy lot, they were, but they brought in a lot o’ money too.”
“The knights are trying to arrest them,” Crow said with a twinge of urgency in his voice. “They’re going to come here disguised as peasants and make up some story about how they’re looking for a specific member of the group, but they’re really out for blood. I need you to spread word around the village tomorrow; make sure everyone tells the knights that the group went further inland towards Azmar.”
“But why do the knights want ‘em dead?” the man frowned, seeming wary. “I don’t want no troublemakers in my tavern.”
“I can assure you, they’re far from troublemakers,” Crow lied. “The knights have framed them for an attack on their camp done by the Younisians.”
“Rotten bastards,” the tavern owner spat. “Knights’ll pin us common folk for anything that suits their fancy.”
“I know,” Crow shook his head despondently. “That’s why we need to protect them. We still have time to send the knights off track if you can spread the word by midday tomorrow. Do you think you can manage that?”
“O’ course I can,” the man stood up a bit straighter. “I know e’ry bloke and dame in this village. They’ll all know the word by mid-morning tomorrow. I can promise ye that.”
--
Crow was feeling pleased with himself as he made his way further west of Wheldrake. His weariness from the long night was beginning to catch up with him as he jogged through the woods, and he wished he could head back to the camp to sleep next to Penelope. However, he still had one more thing left to do before he could finally settle down to sleep. His eyes roved over the trees around him as he searched for signs of motion.
Three days had passed, and the time had come for him to meet with Jaxon again to give his first report. His heart pounded with a mixture of anxiousness and anger at the thought of facing the man again, but he had already given his word. He was just going to have to bury his reservations and do it. Besides, it wasn’t like he was going to stay long. All he had to do was say his piece and leave. It couldn’t be that bad, right?
Unfortunately, his hopes for a peaceful meeting were quickly dashed when he caught sight of a flash of silver in the corner of his eye. Quick on his feet, Crow skidded to a stop to dodge the sword that cut just in front of his face and drew the daggers he kept at his belt. He turned with narrowed eyes to face his attacker, only to find that it was someone he recognized.
“Well, well, look who it is,” Colton, one of Jaxon’s thieves, drawled with a grin as he recognized Crow. “I never thought I’d see your face again after you ran off with your tail between your legs. Are you back to beg for Jaxon to take you in again, stray?”
Crow rolled his eyes, “Hardly.” He shifted his weight slightly, keeping his eyes fixed on the other man’s weapon. “Although I did come to speak with him. Let me pass.”
Suddenly, Colton let out a braying laugh, “Ah, calm down, Crow. I was just messing with you. Jaxon already told us you would be visiting.” He sheathed his sword and waved a hand for the other thief to follow him. “Come on, I’ll take you to our camp.”
Crow hesitated for a moment before putting his own blades away and trailing after him. After running into one of the more bloodthirsty thieves he had traveled with before, he was reminded of why he had left the group in the first place. The thought of willingly stepping into their midst again left him with a pit in his stomach, but he forced himself to ignore it by taking a deep, calming breath. This is all for Penelope, he thought sternly. It’ll be over soon.
--
The first thing that Crow noticed when he arrived at the thieves’ camp was that their numbers had grown sizably. His green eyes swept cautiously over the men—and a few women—who were lounging around the outskirts of a large clearing. He wasn’t great at counting higher than ten, especially when he had to do it quickly, but it looked like there were close to thirty people in the area, nearly double the size of the band he had left a year ago.
He swallowed nervously, shifting his weight as their numerous gazes set him on edge. Most of the thieves observed him curiously, but the few who were left that had known him personally glared at him with hostile expressions. He hoped Jaxon had enough control over them to keep them from attacking him while he was giving his report.
I feel like a sheep amongst wolves, he thought, turning his gaze to look straight ahead as Colton led him to a man who was standing alone in the center of the clearing: Jaxon.
The thief leader smiled coldly as he approached, “It seems my runaway dog has come home.”
Crow gritted his teeth, despising how powerless he was to fight back against the other man’s degrading words. He wanted to defend himself or call him names or even spit at him if he could, but instead, he restrained himself and held his gaze with a forced mask of calm.
“So,” Jaxon went on when Crow refused to speak first. “What news do you have for me?”
Crow’s eyes flitted to the audience of criminals before returning to Jaxon’s face. “None of the knights know where you are,” he said after a moment, launching into the report he had come up with for the thief leader. “The patrols I know of are searching for you between Wheldrake and Azmar, but they’ve found no leads that would give away your true location.”
He shifted from his left foot to his right, “Well… there is one patrol that’s going to look for leads in the village of Wheldrake, but I already went ahead and spoke with one of the villagers to alert them. The knights won’t learn anything new from their interrogation tomorrow now.”
“Excellent,” Jaxon nodded, seeming pleased. “You’ve done well, Crow. Keep it up, and I may even let you and your other mutts have a portion of the plunder from our next raid.”
“Next… raid?” Crow faltered, blinking in surprise.
“Of course,” Jaxon grinned cruelly. “The Younisians are paying us a small fortune to bring them Brerratic supplies. Why would we stop now, while there’s still so much money to be made?”
So, they took the deal that Younisian baron has been offering me, he realized, studying Jaxon silently. Now it made sense. Jaxon and his group didn’t join the war because they cared about the outcome. They were after the gold that the Younisians promised in return for their allegiance. “I suppose you wouldn’t,” he said, forcing himself to keep his voice level, despite the growing frustrations inside of him. He wished he could warn Penelope somehow, but he wasn’t sure what to do without giving away his meetings with the other thief. He felt trapped.
“That’s all the news I have for you,” Crow said after another brief pause. “I suppose I should get going before my absence is noticed.”
“I suppose you should,” Jaxon agreed. “Meet with me again when the patrol you mentioned is finished investigating Wheldrake. I want to know if your ploy to throw them off worked or not.”
Crow nodded, “I can meet you in the forest on the west side of Myrefall in two nights.”
“Excellent,” Jaxon said again before waving a dismissive hand. “You may return to your group.”
Crow nodded once more and turned to leave, feeling a chill creep up his spine as he turned his back on the other thieves. He was just about to walk back to his own camp, when a familiar voice hissed his name. He turned to see who had called to him, and then his eyes widened in surprise as his gaze landed on the face of a young man he hadn’t seen in over two years: Hartley.
--
For the rest of the trip back to the camp, Crow’s mind was reeling. He couldn’t believe Hartley had joined Jaxon’s band of thieves. Didn’t he know what kind of people they were? Was Hartley like them now too? He wished he’d had time to question the Younisian boy about everything, but he needed to get back to the knights before daybreak, so they wouldn’t notice he had been gone. The interrogation would have to wait for another day.
When he finally arrived back in the small clearing, he swayed slightly on his feet from exhaustion. After spending most of the night running back and forth, he felt like he was going to collapse. The thief stepped tiredly over to where Olivia laid sleeping and crouched down to shake her shoulder, rousing her to take over the next watch. Like Penelope, it took quite some effort on his part to get her up, but she managed to sit up after a bit of prompting. She looked up at him, blinking in confusion, “Where’s Penelope?”
“Sleeping,” Crow whispered with a shrug. “She was tired, so I offered to take over her watch.”
“Oh,” Olivia yawned widely as she struggled to rise to her feet.
Crow studied her for a moment before doing the same. He stepped over to grab his water flask. Then, positioning his body to hide the motion from the knight’s view, he uncapped the top and dropped in the remaining piece of valerian root he had hidden away in his pocket. There, he thought in satisfaction. If she wasn’t too tired to stay awake before, she will be now.
Turning back to Olivia, he held out the flask. “Here,” he offered her a tired smile. “I just filled this up earlier, and you look like you could use some.”
“Thanks,” she nodded appreciatively. “I’m parched.” She lifted the container to her lips and downed a large portion of the water inside.
“You’re welcome,” Crow yawned this time, stretching wearily as he made his way over to lay down next to Penelope on his bed. Once he had settled down comfortably, he snuck a quick peek at Olivia to see that the knight was already teetering on her feet from the sedative’s effects. He smiled to himself, closing his eyes and nestling closer to Penelope as he finally drifted off to sleep.
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