[IC] Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow was relieved to see the exit of the tunnel up ahead. He didn’t know how much more of Hartley’s prodding he could take, and from the sound of Penelope’s voice, she didn’t seem to have much patience left either. He glanced back over his shoulder when Penelope said she thought he would have won the competition. Even though she quickly tried to backtrack over the statement, her words echoed in his head. He couldn’t help but smile, pleased with the small compliment.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be so against stealing,” Hartley said with a laugh. “Especially when you’re friends with thief after all!”

Crow cast Penelope a sideways look, wondering how she would answer to Hartley’s observation without giving away her status. The boy still thought they were Younisian peasants like him, and Crow wanted to keep it that way. Hartley was friendly now, but who knew how he would react if he discovered they were traveling from Brerra. If he was greedy like most thieves, he might turn them in to the Younisian knights for a reward. Crow didn’t want to risk that.

“There are better ways to earn money,” Penelope said vaguely. Satisfied with her answer, Crow turned away from the other two once more. He almost missed her next words, which were uttered quietly: “But your occupation doesn’t determine if you’re a good or bad person.”

Crow’s steps faltered slightly as he felt the familiar heat return to his face. Is she talking about me? he peeked back over his shoulder, but Penelope was already engaged in another conversation with Hartley. The boy had thrown his arm around her shoulders in a friendly manner that the knight clearly disliked. She wasted no time escaping from his grasp to walk ahead of the group.

As they neared the exit of the tunnel, a worrying thought crossed Crow’s mind. He moved to walk next to Penelope, speaking softly, “Hey, I just realized something: We can fool this kid into believing we’re Younisian natives, but I don’t think William and Abraxas will be so convincing.” He glanced back at Hartley. “If he finds out we’re from Brerra, there could be trouble. We need to lose him before we get back to—”

“What are you talking about?” Hartley said, causing Crow to jump. He had crept up next to them when they weren’t paying attention. Crow narrowed his eyes. The boy wasn’t an experienced thief, but he had definitely mastered the art of walking quietly.

“Nothing you need to know about,” Crow shrugged him off.

“Secrets don’t make friends,” Hartley frowned.

“It’s adult stuff,” Crow snapped. He placed a hand on Penelope’s back, guiding her to follow him as he attempted to put some distance between them and Hartley. “Beat it, kid.”

“‘Adult stuff’?” Hartley rolled his eyes. “Come on, I’m not stupid; I know what sex is. Besides,” he glared at Crow. “I had my eye on her first. You said you were just friends.”

Crow slapped a palm to his forehead and groaned in exasperation, “That’s not what I— Look, just give us one minute, okay?”

“Fine,” Hartley finally caved. He cast Penelope one more flirtatious wink, “I’ll be waiting.”

“Great,” Crow muttered. He pulled Penelope aside to continue their conversation. “Anyway, I was thinking we should try to get rid of him before we get back to the others. I’m not really sure how yet, but I don’t know if we have any other options here. What do you think?”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope turned her head to Crow as he walked up besides her and expressed his worry over Hartley meeting the other two knights. She frowned a little as she couldn’t help but agree. William and Abraxas certainly hadn’t spent enough time working on their accent. She sighed a little as Hartley interrupted them.

She wrinkled up her nose at the young thief when he spoke about how he had ‘his eye on her’ first. I am not an object, excuse me.... Little brat... She thought defiantly. Hartley had already caused them plenty of trouble today and the fact that he had the audacity to act like that got her blood boiling again. In a sense, Crow likely lucked out as her frustration with him was nearly forgotten at the moment.

The knight followed Crow as Hartley gave them some space and she quickly nodded her head in agreement with him. “Well we should definitely get rid of him.” She grumbled. “I think a good option is knocking him out and just leaving before he wakes up... Boy acts likes he’s suave but has absolutely no manners."

Penelope felt like she truly needed to get the point across to Crow that she wasn’t interest in Hartley’s advancements and it caused her to be little distracted from the main reason of getting rid of Hartley. She let out a sigh, trying to clear her head for a moment. Knock it off... Crow doesn’t even care if you like him or not..

“But er, yeah we need to get him out of here somehow... Maybe we can just simply part with him? I know he’s trying to chase after me but that’s one of the main, obvious reasons for him sticking around us, right? If I flat out refuse him and say we’re traveling home or something, maybe we can get him to leave on his own?" She suggested a bit hopefully.

The knight sighed. “Too bad we couldn’t just have William work his magic and scare him off.” She joked lightly.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow quirked a brow in amusement when Penelope suggested they knock Hartley out and leave him while he was unconscious. It was a surprisingly vicious remark, coming from her. Normally, she was much better about keeping her tempter in check, but it seemed that the boy’s last comment had really set her off. He laughed quietly, “Wow, I never thought I’d hear you come up with a plan like that.”

Penelope went on to give a more realistic suggestion of simply parting ways with the young thief. Crow nodded thoughtfully. It was possible that Hartley had just helped them out of kindness or some strange attraction to Penelope, but he doubted it. The boy must have had a bigger reason for saving them and leading them back to the market. He just wished he knew what it was.

“Too bad we couldn’t just have William work his magic and scare him off,” Penelope said with a sigh.

“Somehow, I don’t think even William could scare this kid off,” Crow shook his head. “He’s even more hardheaded than I am, and that’s saying something.” He looked back at Hartley, who was watching them with his arms folded impatiently over his chest, and frowned. “I guess we could try to shake him by telling him we’re leaving. I don’t know what to do if he keeps trying to tag along though. Something tells me he’s going to find a way to follow us even if we tell him he isn’t welcome.”

At last, they reached the end of the sewer. Daylight flooded Crow’s eyes, causing him to squint as his vision adjusted. Hartley trotted ahead of them and spun around on his heels, “Here we are!” He swept out one hand extravagantly. “Not a single knight in sight. Do you want to thank me now, or…?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Crow said reluctantly. He averted his gaze, looking for their wagon. “I guess we’ll be going now. We can’t keep our companions waiting much longer.”

“Hold on,” Hartley said. “I never said I was leaving you both here. I want to come with you.”

“We’re in a hurry,” Crow objected. “We can’t just pick up extra travelers.”

“I just saved your asses though,” Hartley pressed. “You owe me one, and this is how I’m cashing in.”

“But—”

“Where the hell have you two been?” Crow was interrupted by William’s furious voice. He spun around to see William and Abraxas marching towards them. The former went on angrily, without even bothering to attempt a Younisian accent, “Do you know just how much time we’ve wasted in this place?” He caught sight of Hartley and faltered. “Who is this? What’s going on here?”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope nodded her head as Crow mentioned how hardheaded Hartley was. She couldn’t help but agree that shaking him off probably wouldn’t be very easy. She walked on and was glad to step back out into daylight, even if the brightness did hurt her eyes at first. She shook off some of the water from her shoes and bottom of her dress as the other two talked.

“Owe you?” Penelope echoed as she looked over at Hartley with a narrowed gaze. In her opinion, he was the reason they were in trouble in the first place.

She didn’t get any time to comment though as William and Abraxas suddenly came storming over to them. Her eyes went wide as she realized he wasn’t even bothering to speak with accent. Well, there went any hope of keeping their claim to be from Younis. Hartley certainly didn’t miss it and looked up at William with a confused and questioning gaze.

“Woah!” He said surprised but also interested. “You sure aren’t from around here, huh?”

“Damnit William!” Penelope hissed, dropping her own accent momentarily as she addressed the older knight. “You could have at least tried at an accent.”

“Excuse me but I’m not the one who went off with the thief and came back with-with whoever the hell he is.” William said stumbling over his words as he tried to defend himself. Abraxas certainly looked concern as the scene unfolded. He frowned a little and looked from Penelope to Hartley, who was staring at Penelope in shock as she too lost her accent.

“What’s going on here? Who are you guys?” Hartley asked with a grin. His eyes gleamed with curiosity as he looked around at the group.

“What is going on here?” Abraxas asked quietly, his question directed to Penelope.

Penelope let out a small sigh. “Look when we were in the market place, we ran into a bit of trouble... This jerk,” she said motioning to Hartley, “is a thief named Hartley who framed this idiot,” she gestured to Crow, “for stealing. Of course, he had actually stolen a few coin purses and the local knights captured him thanks to Hartley here. I helped him get away from the knights and Hartley helped us hide from them and get us back here.” She explained.

William snorted with disgust. “Another thief?” He growled as he glared down at Hartley. The thief merely looked amused.

“Wow! You nearly look as hateful as those knights!” He chuckled, clearly unfazed by William. “And it seems I’ve come upon something secretive...”

“Yes you have.” William grumbled reaching for his sword. “And because of that we can’t have him wandering freely.” He told the other knights with a stern expression. “He’ll have to come with us.”

“Great~ Then we’re all on the same page. I’ll travel with you guys.” Hartley said cheerfully. William blinked, clearly caught off guard again. “What?” He demanded.

“I was hoping to hitch a ride with you all anyways.” Hartley explained with a shrug. “Label me a prisoner if it helps you sleep at night.” Hartley laughed a little and looked over at Penelope. He smiled at her and gave his usual wink. “Guess we get to spend some more time together. I’d love to get to know you, the real you.”

Penelope rolled her eyes at Hartley and glanced towards the angry and stumped William. “I think the trip just got longer...” She mumbled to Crow as she glanced over at him.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow braced himself, not sure what to expect when William confronted Hartley. He kept his mouth shut, knowing the hot-headed knight would just get more upset if he tried to defend himself. Penelope was quick to explain the situation in his stead, although he didn’t find her description of the events very tasteful. Yes, Hartley had been a jerk for throwing him to the dogs, that much was true. However, he didn’t appreciate her comment about him being an idiot for stealing the money. He preferred to think of it as a precaution. They didn’t know if they would come across a situation where they needed more gold, and now they would never have to worry about it. If anything, he had done them all a favor.

William didn’t seem pleased to see that they had picked up another thief. This wasn’t surprising to Crow, since the knight could barely put up with him by himself. What did surprise Crow was William’s announcement that they would be bringing Hartley along as a captive. He groaned inwardly. The brat was going to get what he wanted, after all…

He met Penelope’s gaze when she complained to him that the trip would be longer now that Hartley was joining them. “That’s an understatement,” he muttered in return.

“Penelope,” William said. “I’ll ride in the cart for this next leg of the trip. I have some questions for our captive.” He glared at Crow. “And a few choice words for our resident criminal.”

“Lovely,” Crow whispered to the female knight. “Now I have two people to talk my ear off…”

As everyone took their positions in and around the wagon, Crow found his spot by the blanket pile once more. He laid down and closed his eyes, ignoring the lurch of the cart as William and Hartley jumped in after him. With any luck, the knight would choose to interrogate his new prisoner before he chewed Crow out for delaying the mission. But luck wasn’t on his side.

He grimaced as he felt a sharp prod in his side. He opened his eyes again to see William replacing his sheathed sword, which he had just used to prod the thief awake. “I’m not letting you sleep just yet,” the knight growled. He held out his hand, “First, you’re going to hand over that money you stole. We unfortunately can’t return it to its rightful owner, thanks to your antics, but I’ll be damned before I let you keep it.”

Crow eyed him in annoyance, “And what are you going to do if I refuse?”

“I can poke you with this again,” William rested a hand on the hilt of his blade. “Without the sheath.”

“Sure you will,” Crow rolled his eyes. “We both know you’re not allowed to harm me.”

“Who told you that?” the knight drew his sword and leveled it threateningly against Crow’s cheek. The cold metal bit icily against his skin. “You just need to be in good enough condition to steal for us. No one said I can’t cut you a little.”

“Alright, alright,” Crow yielded, leaning away from the weapon. He reached into his pocket and tossed William a coin purse.

“I remember Penelope mentioning more than one.”

The thief tossed him one more, “Here. Happy now?”

“Is that everything?”

“That’s all I could get before those knights caught me,” Crow lied. His eyes flickered briefly to Hartley as he silently prayed the boy would keep his mouth shut about the third coin purse. Fortunately, the other thief seemed distracted at the moment, as he currently had his head out the side of the wagon so he could keep talking to Penelope, who rode up front.

William held his gaze for a moment longer before he nodded, “Fine.” He reached out the front window of the wagon, handing the coin purses off to Abraxas. “Hold onto those for me until I can find time to count up what we have. I don’t want either of the thieves finding a way to steal them back from me while I’m in here.”

“Yes, sir,” Abraxas nodded, taking the money and stashing it away in his satchel.

Crow watched the exchange, letting out his breath in relief when William believed that those were the only two bags. He may have lost most of the money he had worked for, but the third and fattest coin purse lay safely tucked away in his tunic pocket.

“Now then,” William growled, raising his sword once again. “What should we do about the thief who delayed us by nearly getting himself arrested for stealing in a market?”

“Let him off with a warning because he’s sorry?” Crow tried with a shrug.

“I don’t think so,” William furrowed his brows in an angry glower. “You’ve caused us quite a bit of time and trouble, thief. You’re lucky I’ve been so merciful to you thus far… but you’re out of luck.” He reached into a nearby bag and pulled out a set of chain cuffs. “Remember these? I warned you that I would use them if you stepped out of line again.”

“Don’t you want to save those for Hartley?” Crow frowned, shifting farther away from the knight. “He’s your prisoner, after all. And I’ve already told you I’m not going to run away.”

“First of all, I don’t believe that for a second,” William said, moving towards him with the cuffs. “And second, this is about keeping you in line, thief. You’ve already proven to me that you’re incapable of behaving on your own, so now I’m going to make you. Now hold still!” He reached for Crow’s wrist, but the thief dodged his grasp by rolling to the other side of the wagon bed.

Crow hurriedly clambered to his feet, standing a bit unsteadily in the moving cart. “Come on,” he said, holding up his hands. “Let’s be reasonable here.”

“I’m done trying to reason with criminals,” William snapped. He jumped to his feet as well, brandishing his sword. “Stand down, or you’re going to hurt yourself, you idiot.”

At this point, Hartley had finally taken notice of the action in the wagon. He poked his head back inside, grinning wildly, “Fight! Fight!”

Crow shot him a glare before he turned back to William, “You know, I don’t normally care about what snotty nobles like you think of me, but I’m starting to get sick of the way you constantly treat me like a disobedient animal.” He reached down into the burlap sack that contained the knights’ spare weapons, drawing the sword he had toyed with on the first day of their journey. He raised the blade towards William. He may not have had the same level of skill with a sword as a knight, and he may not have had a particularly strong stomach at the sight of blood, but he wasn’t about to kneel and give William the satisfaction of chaining him up again.

“En garde,” Crow spat.

William lunged at him with surprising speed for his muscular build. Crow ducked to the side, narrowly avoiding the knight’s blade. He struck with his own sword, aiming for his opponent’s legs, but William was quick. The older man jumped back and rocked on his heels, wasting no time in springing at the thief with a counter attack. Crow rolled out of the sword’s path, but before he had time to recover, William was on him again with another swing of his weapon that forced him to dodge yet again. He cursed. The knight was incredibly talented, keeping him on a constant defense. He barely had time to find footing, let alone retaliate.

Crow’s eyes widened as the point of William’s sword slashed just a hair’s breadth away from his nose. He needed to find an opening… There! Between two of William’s attacks, he spotted an opening at about shoulder-height. The thief lunged forward, his sword sliding right through William’s defense so that the blade hovered next to his throat. The two men stopped, breathing heavily from the skirmish. Crow curled his lip at William, “Now, leave me alone.”

William snorted. Before Crow could react, the knight rushed toward him, tackling him to the floor. He felt his breath leave him as William pressed his forearm against his chest and raised his sword to his neck. William glared down at him with more hate than Crow had ever seen in him before. His heart raced in terror, He looks like he’s actually going to kill me. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the knight’s blade sting the skin at his throat.

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope looked over at William as he addressed her. She nodded her head in agreement before shooting Crow a quick glance. “Good luck.” She whispered in return, knowing fully well that William hadn’t forgotten the detail about him stealing at the marketplace despite the whole Hartley situation. She turned and walked off with Abraxas to the front of the wagon, which felt a bit strange to her since she had grown so used to riding in the back with Crow.

Abraxas kept glancing over towards his comrade as she sat down by him. “It’s weird to see you up here..” He finally commented, stating the obvious.

“Yeah. Definitely a change of pace.” Penelope agreed as she looked ahead. The two didn’t speak much as they took their leave from the small village. It was mostly small talk, that is until Hartley decided to poke his head out to start speaking with Penelope. Asking her where they were truly from and many other questions, all while trying to flirt. What amused Penelope was Abraxas’ interest in the thief and the people of Younis in general. The younger knight often butted in with questions of his own, either extremely oblivious to Hartley’s attempts to flirt with Penelope or simply not caring.

“I have to ask, where did you learn to fake an accent that well? You’re just full of surprises you know?” Hartley mused as he looked over at Penelope.

“Crow taught me.” She answered with a simple shrug, still trying to withhold most information from the new thief.

“Does your kingdom get a lot of travelers?” Abraxas asked before Hartley could say anymore to Penelope. Hartley, at this point, seemed a bit annoyed with the other knight. “I dunno. I don’t really pay attention to that crap.” He answered with an uninterested shrug.

The three spoke a bit more until Hartley became noticeably interested in the action that was taking place inside the cart. Penelope exchanged a look of alarm with Abraxas as the chanting of ‘Fight, fight, fight!’ was heard from inside. “Stop the cart.” Penelope said immediately, fearing that William might have gone a bit too far. It was unlikely that the older knight would seriously wound the thief but Penelope couldn’t help but feel a bit of panic at the thought. She just didn’t want Crow to get hurt in general.

The cart eased to a stop and she quickly jumped down to race to the back of the wagon with Abraxas trailing behind her, drawing his sword as he likely thought Crow was attacking William. She got there in time to see William pressing his sword against Crow’s neck and her eyes went wide. “William! Enough!” She practically screamed at the older knight. William didn’t bother taking his eyes off Crow but he ever so slightly raised the sword away from Crow’s throat.

“I should end you for that.” He spat venomously at Crow.

“You won’t be ending anyone. Stand down, William.” Penelope snapped as she moved to pull William up and way from Crow, only doing so successfully as William willing moved. She moved to place herself in between the two and glared furiously at William. “What in the hell do you think you were doing?! Can’t you control that hot-head of yours for one second!”

“What happened?” Abraxas asked in a quiet voice as he looked around. Meanwhile Hartley watched from the side, looking as entertained as ever.

“My hot-head?” William growled, looking angered by Penelope jumping to the defense of Crow. “That filth dared to challenge me!”

She glanced down at Crow with a questioning gaze before fixating back on William. “You didn’t have to let it go so far.” Penelope stated with a small glare in her gaze. “I’ve seen you fight before, surely you could have handled that without threatening serious harm!”

William tightly gripped the hilt of his sword. “Would you stop treating him like a comrade!” He snarled, making even Penelope flinch at his words. She felt a small sense of panic run through her at the realization William might have been more perceptive of how close Crow and her were. It only escalated more when she thought about him knowing about her feelings for the thief. The faint look of panic that Penelope revealed seemed to satisfy William as he narrowed his gaze at her.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed! The reason he thinks he’s entitled to being treated well is because you’ve been foolish enough to do just that. You let him get away with too much, Penelope. And look, you’ve even managed to get another thief pining after you!” He snapped gesturing to Hartley. “So stop blaming me and start blaming yourself. They’re leeches. They aren’t nice or good people. They’re just using you. It’s all they know how to do Penelope. He will never be anything more than a greedy, disgusting criminal and you need to start treating him like one.” William growled taking a small step towards Penelope as he towered over the smaller knight.

Penelope held his gaze for a moment but she was far from as confident as she looked. Slowly but surely her gaze fell and she avoiding meeting anyones gaze. “You’re right. I apologize, William.” She replied, the words tasting bitter. She didn’t believe them but she certainly didn’t want to make the situation worse than it already was.

[Rogue Sloth]

As William began to press down with the edge of his sword, Crow felt time slow down. His mind wandered to things that were surprisingly unrelated to his situation: The typical near-death thoughts such as memories of the past and people he had left behind during his lifetime, but also strangely simple details such as the feeling of the wood beneath him and the smell of the air in the wagon. Above all, however, was the regret of leaving Penelope behind. The force of the emotion shocked him. He already knew they would be parting eventually, but somehow the idea of losing his remaining time with her stung more painfully than the sword at his throat.

I guess my pride finally got the best of me, he thought as his mind grew hazy from a lack of air. William had been pressing down on his chest so heavily that he hadn’t been able to draw a breath for a while now. His eyelids fluttered as he began to fade from consciousness. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll pass out before he kills me…

Just as Crow was about to succumb to the darkness, the pressure lifted from his body and he was able to draw breath again. He gasped and rolled onto his side, coughing as his lungs filled with air. He opened his eyes to see Penelope standing between him and William. She had stopped the older knight from finishing him off. He sat up slowly, taking advantage of the knights’ fight to regain his composure. Still dazed, he only caught pieces of their argument.

“…do you think you were doing?! Can’t you… for one second!”

“My hot head? …dared to challenge me!”

Crow shook his head, trying to clear away the fogginess. After a moment, he felt pretty clearheaded again, so he was able to follow the rest of their conversation with some focus. Penelope was telling William he shouldn’t have let the fight get so out of hand, to which the latter replied that she should stop treating the thief like a comrade. He shot William a glare for trying to shift the blame onto her. Penelope’s kindness hadn’t been the cause of his frustration. If anything, she was the reason why he hadn’t stood up for himself sooner. She made the trip much more bearable by treating him like a human.

He glanced at Penelope and was surprised to see how pale she looked after William’s comment. He tilted his head curiously. Did her comrade’s opinion still matter that much to her? He wondered why she was so distraught that William knew she had been nice to him. It wasn’t that big of a deal, right? He stared at her intently as he waited for her response.

“You’re right. I apologize, William.”

The words sent a dagger through Crow’s heart. He averted his gaze. How could she turn against him like that—after everything they had been through? Just when he was beginning to think he could trust her, she turned on him like everyone else. I should have known better, he thought bitterly, curling his fingers into fists at his sides. She may have been nice to me, but her equals will always come first.

William nodded, seeming satisfied with Penelope’s answer, “Glad to see you’ve finally come to your senses.” He turned away from her. “Get back to your posts, you two. We’ve wasted enough time in this town.”

“Of course,” Abraxas said obediently, heading back to his horse.

Once the wagon was moving again, William took up his seat in the corner of the cart. He began addressing Hartley with questions, asking him about the Kingdom of Younis. Crow ignored the interrogation as he crawled to a spot that was as far away from William as he could get. With the knight distracted, he took the time alone to lick his wounds, inspecting his body for bruises—he had some on his head, back, and chest—and checking the severity of the cut on his neck. He gingerly touched a finger to the injury, grimacing as he came away with blood on his hand. It wasn’t deep, since Penelope had intervened before William could do any serious damage, but the sight of his own blood made him sick.

Crow drew his knees to his chest and gazed out the side of the wagon, attempting to distract himself so he wouldn’t throw up. He wasn’t about to give William the pleasure of watching him lose his breakfast over a small cut. Besides, as far as he knew, the knight still didn’t know about his aversion to blood, and he wanted to keep it that way.

Aside from the injury, Crow was also still reeling from what Penelope had said. Her words rang in his head over and over like an incessant bell. He couldn’t believe she would betray his trust like that. He had opened up to her more than anyone else in his life, and it meant nothing to her when compared with her companions’ opinions. That’s what I get for trusting a noble, he closed his eyes as another pang of hurt stabbed at him. What made the pain worse were his feelings for the female knight. They made the ache in his heart all the more unbearable. I should never have let myself fall for her.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, Lockton,” William spoke up. Crow looked to see that the knight had finished questioning Hartley—the boy had gone back to pestering Penelope, as usual—and was glaring at him from across the wagon. “Your little stunt just now only reaffirmed that you need to be chained up.”

“Go ahead,” Crow muttered dully. He didn’t care what William did to him anymore. If complying with the knight’s demands would make the journey go by faster, then so be it.

William was quiet for a moment, considering Crow’s change in attitude. “I see you’ve finally learned your place, thief. Good.” He crossed his arms and leaned back contentedly against the corner post of the wagon. “This will make the trip a lot easier.”

“I thought you were going to chain me up.”

“I was,” William said, examining the blade of his sword. “But I don’t think that’s necessary anymore.”

“Why’s that?” Crow eyed him warily.

William met the thief’s gaze and raised his sword, moving to stand up. Crow flinched. He smirked, “Breaking a criminal is just like breaking a horse, and I can see now that you’re quite tame.” He shook his head. “If Penelope had only done this sooner, I’m sure we would have avoided a lot of unnecessary trouble. She has a lot to learn about handling prisoners.”

Crow curled his lip hostilely at William. He didn’t appreciate being compared to a horse, and he didn’t like the fact that the knight believed he had “broken” him. I have quite a bit of spirit left, thank you very much, he thought. I just know how to pick my battles. He kept the thought to himself, however, biting his tongue and laying down with his back to William. If letting the knight have the final word meant he could stay out of chains a little while longer, then that’s what he would do. He closed his eyes to get some sleep.

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope wanted to sigh with relief at seeing that William was satisfied with her answer. For a moment, she worried that her word wouldn’t be good enough for the older knight, though she suspected that he would still keep a watchful eye on her and Crow. As she turned to return to her post, Penelope’s gaze briefly flickered over to Crow as she was still worried that he might have been hurt. She kept walking though, aware that at the moment she wouldn’t be able to help him even if she wanted to. The knight didn’t even realize that he had taken her words to William as the truth.

The rest of the day went by rather normally. She found herself in dull company between Abraxas and Hartley. Most of the time, she was just worrying about Crow and if William had finally relaxed. As the sun began to set, the group went off the main road to make a small camp in a thick patch of forest. William took charge as usual in setting up the camp with the help of Abraxas, Penelope and Hartley, who made sure to lend a helping hand to the female knight as she collected wood. Since they were away from the public, she also took the chance to strap her sword back to her side.

Penelope started to notice the sudden change in Crow’s attitude during this, despite having to keep a distance due to William’s observant nature. She wonder what had happened and began to worry that he had taken her words the wrong way. Unable to actually ask him, Penelope kept quiet with a stern expression on her features, though she did occasionally sneak a glance towards the thief.

With everyone settling down, it finally came time to rest.

“I’ll take the first watch.” Penelope offered William as she walked up to the other knight. William glanced down at Penelope, seeming pleased to have the serious knight he had started the journey with back.

“Alright. Wake up Abraxas once you’re done. I’ll take the last shift.” William instructed before retiring to his thin bed.

Penelope took a seat near the small fire. She adjusted the strap of her sword and sat quietly with her thoughts as she waited for the others to fall asleep. She didn’t know how to act anymore. The knight didn’t want William to lose anymore trust in her or worse, figure out her true feelings for Crow. They might have been comrades but she was certain the older knight would label her as a traitor if he found out. On the other hand, she certainly didn’t want Crow to think that she hated him. Penelope sighed and ran a hand through her hair as she found herself rather troubled. Why did I have to fall for him... She thought in dismay.

The one thing she did find certain was that she needed to talk to Crow. Sometime had past and it finally seemed like most were asleep other than her. Penelope specifically eyed the snoozing William before quietly rising to her feet and carefully making her way over to where Crow was located. Unable to tell if he was asleep or awake, she tapped him slightly. “Hey, Crow..” She whispered.

[Rogue Sloth]

With William satisfied that he had asserted his dominance, Crow’s nap went by peacefully. He eventually woke to find that the wagon had stopped in the forest, far from any town. He yawned and sat up, waking up slowly as the others started preparing their camp for the night. He didn’t really feel like helping set up after the earlier events of the day, and fortunately for him, no one bothered to ask him to do anything.

He climbed to his feet and hopped down from the wagon. The clearing the knights had chosen was small. There wasn’t much for him to do since William would give him trouble if he tried to wander off on his own, so he contented himself by strolling around the edge of the tree line. He gazed longingly into the trees, wishing he could take a walk to set himself straight. Even though he and Penelope hadn’t been friends for very long, he couldn’t deny that she had changed him in ways that would be detrimental to him later on. He had to remind himself of who he really was:

He was a thief, hardened by his experiences in the world. He had no compassion for anyone but himself. He watched none but his own back. He couldn’t afford to get close to anyone or be tied down by feelings for a woman. It was why he had never made long-term friends or settled down in a committed relationship before. Such trivial things would only drag him down and put him in danger. This was the life he had chosen, and he was happy with it…

…Am I really happy?

Crow blinked in surprise as the thought appeared—quite unwelcomed—in his head. It made him pause though. As hard as he tried to convince himself, he had to admit that his time with Penelope had been more fun and relaxing than anything else he could remember. Maybe his lonely existence had been missing out on something after all. But it doesn’t matter, he reminded himself sadly. You heard what she said. It’s over—everything is over between us. She chose her side, and it isn’t with you.

“Crow,” Hartley’s voice jarred him from his thoughts. He looked up to see the younger thief bounding toward him.

“What do you want?” Crow said. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to the excitable boy at the moment.

“Hello to you to,” Hartley rolled his eyes and went on dismissively. “First, I just wanted to say: Damn! That fight was awesome.” He held a hand to the side of his mouth, speaking quietly. “Between you and me, I think you won. If you hadn’t spared that guy’s life, his head would have rolled.”

“Thanks,” Crow winced slightly. He knew he couldn’t have killed William even if he wanted to. The thought of taking another man’s life made his stomach churn.

“Anyway,” Hartley went on, oblivious of Crow’s discomfort. “I came over here because I had a question for you. Man to man, what do you—”

“Man to kid,” Crow corrected, placing one hand on Hartley’s head to emphasize the difference in their heights.

“Whatever. Just hear me out. What do you think Penelope would say if I asked her… y’know… tonight…”

“I wouldn’t try it if I were you,” Crow looked over at Penelope, who was helping the knights finish setting up camp. “She’s a knight, and knights don’t like our kind very much. You’d be lucky to get away with just a ‘no.’”

“But I’ve been working on wooing her all day,” Hartley frowned. “Surely that has to count for something.”

“I’ve been watching you, and what you were doing was not wooing, kid. You have a lot to learn about women.”

“Oh yeah?” the boy crossed his arms defiantly. “Well if you know so much about women, why haven’t you slept with her, huh?”

“It’s not that simple,” Crow sighed. “Like I said, she’s a knight. Even if I tried, we’re from two completely different worlds. She just looks down on us for what we are.” His expression turned dark. “She can’t understand what life is like for guys like us who have to steal to survive.” He shook his head. “Trust me. Don’t waste your time on her. There are plenty of peasant women who would love a kid like you.”

Hartley’s gaze dropped to the ground, “I guess.” He paused for a moment and then looked up again to meet Crow’s gaze. “You know what? I’m not giving up. I’ll just play a slow game. Just you watch: In the next few days, I’ll have her swooning over me!” With that, he took off, returning to Penelope’s side to continue with his “wooing.”

Crow watched him go with a roll of his eyes. The kid’s hardiness reminded him of himself when he was younger. He hoped Hartley never learned just how unforgiving the world could be.

--

Everyone finally settled down for the night when the sun had sunk past the horizon. Crow chose a spot on the ground away from the others, since they obviously didn’t want him around. William and Abraxas unfurled their sleeping pads near the extinguished fire pit, while Penelope took the first watch. Hartley laid down about an arm’s length away from the female knight, giving her a little space while remaining close. It seemed he had been earnest about wanting to keep winning her over.

Crow rolled over on the ground to face the forest. Without a friendly face to talk to, the trip was becoming much more difficult to bear. It honestly reminded him of prison. He exhaled as he began drifting off to sleep, sending a quick prayer to the gods that the journey would be over soon.

--

“Hey, Crow…”

He groaned drowsily as he felt someone tapping his shoulder. Upon opening his eyes, he saw that it was still the middle of the night. He knitted his brow in confusion. What could someone possibly want with him at this time of the night? He looked up to see Penelope staring down at him. Her long, unpinned hair fell around her face like a curtain and her green eyes reflected the moonlight. Her close proximity sent his heart to racing, despite himself, and he had to take a calming breath.

“What’s this about?” he stifled a yawn as he propped himself up on his forearms, meeting her gaze in the dark. “It’s not often that I get woken up by a woman under the stars. Don’t tell me you’ve come to my side of the woods because you’re feeling lonely.” He knew it was petty, but the petty part of him hoped his sordid words would make her uncomfortable.

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope rolled her eyes at his comment as she moved to sit down besides him. “No.” She replied as she looked over at him. Though it was a bit dark, her gaze briefly scanned him over any sign of injuries. He seemed fine but the cut on his neck made her frown slightly. The thought of losing him bothered her much more than she would ever dare to admit, even though their time together was only temporary.

Her gaze finally flickered back up to meet his gaze once more. “William’s being rather vigilant with us now so I had to wait for him to fall asleep.” She explained, casting a glance towards the sleeping knight. She kept her voice hushed and remained alert while she spoke to Crow, though she was more worried about one of her comrades waking up than an actual enemy finding them at the moment.

“I didn’t mean what I said to William back there... you know that right?” She asked, finally addressing the main thing that was worrying her.

[Rogue Sloth]

Suddenly self-conscious, Crow averted his gaze uncomfortably when Penelope’s eyes swept over his body. He didn’t like the concern on her face. It was making it more difficult for him to distance himself from her. He wished she would just say what she had come to tell him and go, that way he wouldn’t have to keep looking at her gentle expression that silently spoke of her care for him, or her long brunette hair that fell in waves around her shoulders, or her strong yet slender arms that were slightly tense with concern, or her soft skin that he wanted to touch, or her rosy cheeks that he wanted to caress, or her slightly parted lips that he wanted to…

Gods, Crow, keep it together, he realized his breath had been coming to him a little heavier, and he forced himself to calm down. He couldn’t keep thinking of Penelope in that way. She was a knight; a noblewoman; his enemy. He would never mean to her what she had come to mean to him. Although, the fear that crept into her eyes at the sight of the cut on his neck made him waver.

“Of course he is,” Crow shrugged when Penelope said William was watching them more closely now. “He can’t just sit back and watch as one of his comrades shows a little human decency. That would be ridiculous.” He winced as Penelope’s previous words came back to him like a ghost. “But I suppose it doesn’t matter anyway. He had nothing to worry about.” She would always choose her equals over him, so William’s fears were unfounded. In the end, status was more important to the knight than friendship.

“I didn’t mean what I said to William back there... you know that right?”

Crow eyed Penelope warily, not expecting to hear her say something like that. He wanted desperately to believe that she was telling him the truth, but he had been hurt too many times in the past to take her words at face value. “Why should I believe you?” he said cautiously, his voice echoing his doubts. “Why should I believe you would choose a criminal over your comrades?”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope frowned at Crow’s cautious gaze. It hurt to see that she might have completely lost his trust. At the same time, she understood why the thief was wary of her after having learned so much about him during the short time they were together. He couldn’t trust nobles, not when most of them where out to get him or just plain greedy. Yet she had somehow managed to show him that she wasn’t like that, even going so far as to become friends. She looked over at him and felt the distance that was building between them because of what she had said.

“Crow, I care about you.” Penelope told him bluntly, feeling slightly embarrassed by her own admission but she need him to understand at least that much. You don’t even realize how much I care about you.. She thought feeling her heart race slightly as she looked at him. “You should know by now that I don’t see you as a criminal.”

She crossed her arms and glanced away. “I just had to agree with him... Can you imagine if I had argued instead? He was already furious, it would have just made the situation worse. He’d probably lose trust in me and who knows what that could mean for the rest of our journey. At least this way we still have a chance of getting back to where we were. Otherwise you’d probably be stuck with William all the time... And..”

Penelope paused as she felt a small hint of sadness at the reminder that their journey would eventually come to an end, “and, I wouldn’t be able to keep my end of the promise if William didn’t trust me.”

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow flushed at Penelope’s next words. She hadn’t done anything particularly special by saying that she cared about him, but hearing her say it out loud made him want to close the distance that had formed between them. Perhaps she wasn’t lying to him. After all, they had bonded quite a bit during the course of their travels. Who was to say those moments they had shared weren’t real? He stayed quiet for a moment as he recounted they many times they had talked alone. Both of them had opened up to each other about their pasts, giving the other personal information that wasn’t typically discussed between a knight and her prisoner.

Penelope went on to explain why she had sided with William. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, her reasoning made sense to him. The older knight had been one step away from killing him, and Penelope had just been trying to cool down the situation. By making William think he had won, she may have saved his life. He was suddenly embarrassed by the way he was treating her like an enemy after she had done so much for him. She had proven she was different from the other knights, and he had let himself forget so easily.

He nodded in understanding when she concluded by saying she wouldn’t be able to uphold her end of their deal if William didn’t trust her. It was true. If William knew how close they were, he would separate them for the rest of the trip. He dreaded to think about how terrible it would be to ride in the wagon with William for a week. Just one day had almost ended in him being decapitated. After I steal the staff, he won’t have a reason to keep me alive anymore either, he thought with a shudder. If William took over Penelope’s watch of the thief, he would be lucky to end up behind prison bars again.

“Sorry,” he muttered, looking away from Penelope. “I’m guess I’m still not used to having someone on my side.” He forced himself to sit upright so he could meet her gaze more evenly. “Also, thanks for watching out for me. William tries my patience more than I can handle. I don’t know if he would have spared me if it wasn’t for you—despite the king’s orders.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope gave a relieved look as Crow seemed to accept her words. She smiled a little and shrugged her shoulders at his apology. “It’s ok.” She assured him quietly. The knight blushed a little at his words and averted her gaze over to where William was sleeping. “I don’t know... He’s going to make the rest of this journey a bit more difficult though.” She said with a sigh. “As infuriating as he is, William isn’t a fool. He’ll be keeping a closer eye on me than I’d like.” The knight wrinkled her nose slightly at the thought.

“Guess we’ll have to just sneak around him until he relaxes.” She mused with a shrug. She smiled, looking a little more relaxed now that she knew her friendship with Crow was safe.

She glanced back over at the thief and shook her head. “I can’t believe you challenged him. I know it’s hard to just bite your tongue and keep quiet but seriously? Even if you had beaten him, you’d still lose. He’d just make me or Abraxas help him if he couldn’t handle you on his own.” Penelope pointed out, clearly disapproving of what had happened. In a way, she was nearly glad William had over-powered Crow as the thought of it going the other way seemed much worse than her simply faking agreement with the hot-headed knight.

She shuddered at the thought of having to pick sides in that moment and decided to focus on something else. Her attention went back to Crow. “Speaking of which, are you alright?” She asked him. The question had been weighing on her for a while now and even though she was rather sure that he was fine, she still couldn’t help but double check.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow followed Penelope’s gaze to where William lay sleeping by the fire pit and nodded solemnly when she said he would make their trip more difficult for a while. He wished the older knight would leave them alone. Penelope’s treatment of the thief didn’t impact him in the slightest. William just wanted to preserve the reputation of the knights as a whole, and he likely feared that his comrade’s kind treatment of their prisoner would compromise everything he had worked so hard to achieve.

Nobles were so arrogant. They cared so much about their status and public appearance that nothing else seemed to matter. Crow wrinkled his nose slightly. He may have been a criminal, but at least he didn’t have the burden of caring about what every single stranger thought of him. In fact, Penelope’s was the only opinion he truly cared about at all in the last decade of his life. It was a strange thought.

“He may be on alert now, but he’s not as great of a watchman as he thinks he is,” Crow reassured Penelope. He slipped the coin purse that he had hidden from William out of his pocket and dangled it in front of her by its drawstrings. “Trust me, we can sneak around him just fine.” He winked at her wryly.

Penelope went on to chew him out for challenging William to a duel. He shrugged nonchalantly, “I don’t remember what I was thinking, to be honest. He was threatening to put me in chains again. I guess I just figured that if I could beat him at his own game, he might respect me enough to let me be.” He laughed quietly. “In hindsight, it wasn’t the best idea. He’s too prideful to accept an honorable defeat by a thief.” He grinned proudly at her. “I bet he was also too prideful to admit that I almost won. William is a talented fighter, but he’s cocky. He let his guard down when he thought he had me, and he left an opening in his defense.” He held up on hand, resting it next to Penelope’s throat. “I had him like this before he so rudely tackled me. I could have killed him if I was trying to.”

Crow lowered his hand and leaned back, resting his palms on the ground to counterbalance his weight as he sat in front of Penelope. “I may not be as skilled as you knights, but I can handle myself just fine when I need to, love.”

When she asked if he was alright, he subconsciously touched the healing injury at his neck. “I’m alright,” he answered her with a comforting smile. “A little sore, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. Just give me a day or two to rest and I’ll be good as new.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope was a bit surprised to learn that Crow had nearly beat William. She hadn’t seen much of Crow’s fighting abilities so she was admittedly a bit impressed that he could take on the knight and win. She gave a soft chuckle and nodded her head. “I’ll have to remember that when I need back up..” She mused quietly.

She was glad to hear him assure her that he was fine. “Good because we never got to get the medicine we needed. You’ve had a real knack for causing more trouble today than usual you know?” She teased him with a small smirk.

Meanwhile, a certain other thief was stirring. Hartley slowly opened his eyes and quickly realized that Penelope wasn’t nearby anymore. He looked around rapidly until he spotted her speaking quietly with Crow. He narrowed his eyes with suspicion as the sight of the two talking close in the dead of night lead him to a couple assumptions. The young thief huffed and hurried to get up. “Hey!” He hissed loudly as he hurried over to the two.

Penelope turned her head, looking alarmed until she realized it was merely Hartley. “Be quiet would you.” She whispered with a look of warning. She didn’t seem to happy to have the other thief join them but it was at least better than the other knights waking. She glanced around quickly, looking to see if either Abraxas or William stirred. Lucky for her, it seems they remained asleep.

“Ok, sorry.” Hartley quickly apologized to Penelope before turning to Crow and glaring. “So what’s going on here? Shouldn’t you be asleep?” He asked with a huff as he moved in besides Penelope.

[Rogue Sloth]

“Err… yeah, right,” Crow stammered when Penelope said she would have to remember that if she needed backup. He had been careful to leave out the detail that he couldn’t have killed William even if he wanted to. Now his bragging had turned around to bite him. “I don’t think you’ll ever need my assistance though,” he said, trying to backtrack. “You’re much better at fighting than William is. You can handle a sword much better than I can… I’m really only good for stealing.”

He rolled his eyes when she accused him of causing more trouble than usual that day, “I was doing just fine until Hartley came along. He caused this whole mess, not me. I would have easily gotten away with stealing that money if he hadn’t drawn attention to me, and William was only in a sour mood because of the delay.” He smiled at her innocently, placing a hand over his heart. “You can’t honestly think this was my fault.”

Crow was enjoying his time alone with Penelope. They hadn’t been able to talk so freely with each other since before Olivia’s arrival two days prior. It was nice to banter without being restricted by the presence of the other knights or the complication of tension between them. He hadn’t realized how much he missed it until he had her to himself once again.

He should have known it would be too good to last.

Crow groaned when Hartley woke up and moved to join them. The boy planted himself possessively next to Penelope, shooting the older thief a glare as he asked: “So what’s going on here? Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“I could say the same thing to you,” Crow said sternly.

“I heard voices,” Hartley shifted a bit closer to the female knight. “And it seems I’ve come across a little midnight rendezvous. Care to explain yourself, friend of Penelope?”

“Oh, I was just inviting her to sneak off with me so we could sleep together under the stars,” Crow smirked mischievously at Penelope.

“What?” Hartley squeaked. “Is that true?”

“No, you idiot,” Crow rolled his eyes. “We were just talking. Now go back to sleep.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope suppressed a laugh as Crow teased the younger thief. She watched in amusement as Hartley nearly believed such a thing despite knowing fully well now that she was a knight. This kid certainly is a dreamer... A thief and a knight... She thought quietly as she glanced over towards Crow then looked away towards Hartley as he spoke.

Hartley wasn’t amused by Crow’s teasing and looked ready to protest as the thief told him to go back to sleep. Penelope sighed realizing that the small bit of peace she and Crow had was now over. “We should all get some sleep. It’s about time I let Abraxas take over for me anyways.” The knight said reluctantly rising from where she sat.

“Oh.. Okay.” Hartley agreed with a small nod, satisfied that Penelope would be going to sleep rather than spending more time with her friend. He quickly cheered up and smiled at the knight. “Guess I’ll go back to sleep too.. Goodnight Penelope.” He said sweetly.

“Goodnight.” Penelope mumbled to both him and Crow before turning and walking off. She stepped over to where Abraxas was laying and woke up the other knight. Abraxas rose, looking half asleep as he nodded to his comrade and got up for his part of the shift. Penelope left him to his duties as she moved to settle down for the night. She noticed unsurprisingly that Hartley was resting near her. He ever so slightly open his eyes to make sure she was going to bed for the night before relaxing enough to fall asleep.

That kid’s a mess.. She thought with some amusement. Penelope laid down and closed her eyes, hoping to find a peaceful sleep now that things had settled down. The day certainly seemed to be the craziest one of their journey, even when she compared it to their time spent in the company of Olivia. Hopefully tomorrow is better... she thought before eventually drifting off to sleep for the night.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow was a bit disappointed when Penelope announced that she was going to sleep so Abraxas could take over guarding the camp. Although with Hartley’s appearance, it didn’t make much of a difference anyway. The boy was too protective of Penelope to leave them alone again after he had found out they were talking together in the middle of the night. The thief let out his breath in mild annoyance. It would be no problem for him to find time with Penelope if William was the only one keeping an eye on them, but with Hartley on the lookout as well, they might have a bit more trouble than Crow first thought.

“Goodnight,” he said, finally letting loose the yawn he had suppressed earlier. He laid back down on the ground and drew his blanket over himself, this time facing towards the camp so he could see the others. He watched as Penelope woke Abraxas to take over and then settled down on her makeshift bed. Hartley naturally took up a spot next to her, but his proximity to the knight didn’t bother Crow much anymore. It was apparent that the boy’s flirting was a nuisance to Penelope. It wasn’t something to be concerned about.

His eyelids drooped as weariness overtook him. His nap during the day hadn’t been enough to restore his energy after everything that had happened. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to drift off as he hoped their next day in Younis wouldn’t be as eventful.

--

Crow woke up to the bustling sounds of the camp being torn down. He pulled his blanket down from his head, blinking against the soft morning sunlight. William was covering up the fire pit while the others were just beginning to stir. He sat up and stretched, looking up at the sky confusedly. The sun had just barely begun to rise over the edge of the horizon. It was much earlier than the group usually got up.

“What’s the rush?” he called to William from across the camp.

“Get up, thief,” William grunted in response as he kicked some dirt over the charred remains of their fire. “We’re making up for lost time today.”

“I see,” Crow muttered. He picked up his blanket and shook it out, sending a cloud of dust into the air as he cleaned the fabric off. He glanced at Penelope—he didn’t want to risk approaching her with William still watching them—to see that Hartley had taken the liberty of waking her up.

“Good morning, sunshine,” the young thief crooned in her ear.

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope began to stir as the noise William was making slowly woke her. She finally opened her eyes as Hartley took it upon himself to full awaken the knight. She leaned away from the thief as she rose, muttering a reluctant ‘morning’ to him in return. Hartley smiled, cheerful as usual, and quickly began to help Penelope with packing up their stuff. Penelope occasionally seemed annoyed by the overly invasive thief but held her tongue as he did prove to be somewhat helpful.

“Are we ready to head out already?” Penelope asked as she walked over to join William and Abraxas. She didn’t bother with addressing Crow at the moment.

William looked up from the map he had been looking over and nodded as he looked around the now empty clearing. “Yes. So let’s get moving. I’ll ride with Penelope up front this time. Abraxas, you’ll stay with those thieves in the cart.” He ordered sending a glare towards Hartley and Crow.

Penelope held back a sigh. Of course he wouldn’t assign her to the back just yet but she remained hopeful that William would rotate their positions now, which with any luck, meant she would be in the back next time. “Alright.” She told William with an obedient nod before moving to take her position.

Once everyone was ready and inside, they set off at a steady speed back down the main road. Penelope found that being up front with William was just as terrible as she thought it would be. The two knights let a heavy silence fall between them, both fixating their hard gazes on the road ahead. Until William began to break the silence.

“Good see you’re focusing back on the mission.” William grumbled.

“I never wasn’t.” Penelope countered, side-glancing at him. “I might have been a bit soft but it’s not like I forgot the reason we’re out here.” Penelope paused before smirking slightly. “Hey, I’m the one who took the time to learn the accent, aren’t I?” She said switching on her Younisian accent.

William gave a small huff and shrugged his shoulders. The two fell silent again but Penelope hoped their small chat would keep the grumpy knight satisfied. She sighed softly and snuck a small glance back towards the cart. At least Crow didn’t have to deal with William back there today.