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

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow smiled as Penelope kissed his cheek. He met her gaze and nodded as she went on to say they should discuss the formal part of their meeting. He listened quietly as she explained that the next battle would be happening within a week. He couldn’t help but think it was good timing, since he had finally gotten over his illness aside from what was now just a mild cough. With the improvement in his health, he would be in good enough condition to defend the villagers, which he was relieved about since this time the peasants that needed protecting were from his home. He was going to make sure Myrefall made it through the next battle no matter what.

As Penelope mentioned that she was excited for the war to end, he murmured in agreement, holding her a little closer to himself. If her leaders were right that this battle would be the one to turn the tide, he wanted it to go in his kingdom’s favor. For a moment, he contemplated postponing the raid he had planned with the other thieves, but they couldn’t keep pushing it back any longer. The fact of the matter was that they were running out of essential supplies, and they didn’t have the money to purchase what they needed. They would just have to take what they were missing from the knights and hope it didn’t hinder them in the next battle.

“Do you think you’re healed enough to fight?”

Crow blinked as Penelope’s question drew him from his musings. He held her gaze for a moment and then nodded. “I feel well enough to take on any knight,” he grinned at her confidently. “If any of those Younisian curs even try to touch the people from my village, I’m going to spill their guts.” He leaned in to kiss her forehead before going on a bit more seriously. “You don’t have anything to worry about. I’ve already tested myself in a sparring match, and I’m nearly back in pique condition. Whatever is still left of my illness doesn’t even slow me down. I’ll be fine.”

He paused as another thought crossed his mind. Frowning slightly, he searched Penelope’s gaze as he thought about whether he should alert her about the upcoming raid. Before, he had never told her about the thieves’ activities—initially because he hadn’t trusted her with the information, and later because he simply hadn’t felt it was necessary—but this time, it might be worth saying something.

“There’s something else you should know,” he started, shifting on the ground to lay more comfortably against her. “In two days, my companions and I are going to be raiding your camp. We’re short on quite a few supplies, so we’ll need to take more than we normally do in order to restock.” He hesitated for a moment. Even though it was just Penelope, and he trusted her not to warn her comrades and ruin his plans, he felt a little strange to be speaking about the raid out loud. However, it needed to be said.

“The only reason I’m bringing this up is because I don’t want you to get caught up in it and get in trouble with your superiors again,” he went on concernedly. “We’re only going to take what we need, but it will still be noticeable when we’re done. I know you’ve already risked your job for me once, but I don’t want you to do it again. So... if you have a guard shift on that night, you should exchange it with someone else. That way, if blame has to fall on someone, it won’t be you.”

He touched a quick kiss to her lips and met her gaze with a pleading smile, “Please do it for me?”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope relaxed slightly at his confident words. She smiled faintly at him as he kissed her forehead and nodded her head. "Alright, if you're sure." she said, pressing an affectionate kiss to his cheek. As she pulled back, she noticed him frown slightly and she raised an eyebrow questioningly as he met her gaze searchingly. The knight wondered what had crossed his mind for him to make the expression and was nearly about to ask him as his pause lingered.

Crow eventually spoke up again and Penelope listened as he explained that the thieves were planning a raid on the camp. She was still a little confused why he was bringing it up as generally it wasn't something they discussed. Though she was aware of their occasional raids on the camp, the thieves usually never took enough to cause any major problems for the knights so the knight didn't concern herself with learning all his plans. She trusted Crow would never take enough to put them in a disadvantage in the war.

As he went on to voice his concern about her keeping out of trouble, the knight hesitated. He was likely right to advise her to switch with someone else on that guard duty. After all, she was gaining a rather poor reputation for letting the thieves always slip out of her grasps and if it continued to build, it could cause for even bigger issues in the future, perhaps even leading to suspicion of her relationship with the thieves. However, she still found it hard to agree. Penelope still wanted to make sure he was safe and if she kept her guard duty that night, she'd be able to help them if any trouble did arise.

At his pleading look, she let out a reluctant sigh and nodded her head. She knew it was likely better for her to stay out of it this time around. It was just a raid and something that the thieves were incredibly skilled at so it was unlikely anything would go that wrong. Plus she found it quite difficult to say no to him. "Ok, ok. I do have guard duty that night so I'll figure out someone to switch with." Penelope promised. "I need to be a bit more careful after disappearing for that whole day before anyways so you're right." she nestled her head against his and closed her eyes for a moment. "Just be careful."

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow was relieved when Penelope agreed to switch her guard shift that night, even though she sounded reluctant. He had already caused her more than enough trouble when he had gotten captured by her brother’s patrol and when he had lost consciousness during their escape from her comrades. Even though she was eventually going to run away with him to Farhill, he knew she still cared about her job as a lieutenant and wanted to continue using it to help the people of the outer villages. He couldn’t let himself be the one to stand in the way of that. So, he was going to make sure there was no way for her to get caught up in the upcoming raid.

As she leaned further into him, he smiled softly. “You don’t have to worry about me,” he assured her when she told him to be careful. “This is what I do best. Now that I’ve recovered, there’s no way your comrades will be able to catch me again.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “By the time anyone even realizes we were there, my companions and I will be long gone.” Letting out his breath in a contented sigh, he closed his eyes as well, enjoying the remainder of his time with the knight before they would have to part ways.

After a while of lying beside her in silence, he finally moved to pull back from her. “I should let you get back to your camp,” he murmured reluctantly, stifling a weary yawn. “If we stay out here much longer, I’m afraid I really will fall asleep.” Forcing himself to get up off the ground, he offered Penelope a hand to stand as well. Once they were both on their feet, he gathered his clothes from the ground and slipped them back on. As always, he was struck with a longing to be able to sleep beside her rather than go back to his own, separate camp, but of course, it was still impossible. He just hoped they wouldn’t have to part for too long.

Thinking about the next battle, he wondered when they would be able to see each other again. He didn’t want to wait until the battle was over, since that would be over a week away. It’s going to be close this time, he thought. Perhaps we can squeeze in one more meeting before then. Turning towards Penelope, he decided to bring up the idea. “I know you’ll probably be busy with the battle coming up,” he started, stepping closer to wrap his arms around her back. “But do you think you can get away from your camp one more time before it starts? Say… another three days from now?” He simpered at her. “I’d like to see you once more before then if I can.”

[BuzzingBee]

Feeling comforted by his reassuring words, Penelope quietly enjoyed the remainder of their time together. She found it became difficult to stay awake. His warm presence tempted her to try and sneak in a quick nap. She knew it wasn't wise since she'd have to leave soon and was a bit thankful when he finally pulled away. It forced her to wake up a little more now that she was no longer comfortably laying in his arms. She gave a small nod at his words and sighed, "Yeah. Me too."

Taking his hand, she stood up from the ground and moved to collect her clothing. She slipped her dress back on and smoothed out her clothing for a moment before she turned over to Crow as he stepped up to her. At his words, she hesitated to answer, thinking them over for a brief moment. Sneaking out so soon and with a battle coming up again, the knight knew it wouldn't be easy to get away from her camp. But it'll be over a week before we can meet again if we decide to wait.. She frowned a little at the thought. Three days might be a little more difficult to handle but it would be worth it if she got to see him again so soon.

"I'd like that too." she smiled at him and pressed quick kiss to his lips. "I should be able to sneak out so let's meet again in three days." The knight's smile broadened to a grin as she looked up at him. "It'll be nice if we can keep meeting every few days like this." After going nearly three weeks without seeing him, it felt like a luxury to only have to wait a few days in between their meetings. Though, she still couldn't wait for the day they didn't have to part at all.

Stepping out of his embrace, she took his hand in hers. "Come on, we should start heading back." she said quietly before beginning to head off in the direction of the waterfall.

[Rogue Sloth]

“Great,” Crow grinned, meeting Penelope’s lips as she kissed him. He was glad she was willing to make the time to see him once more before the next battle. Now that he was getting so used to meeting with her every three days, the thought of waiting a whole week again felt torturous. Even if she could only get away long enough to visit with him for a little while, it would be worth it to the thief. He could already feel his pulse quicken with excitement, even though they had yet to part.

As she said it was nice to meet up every few days, he nodded in agreement. “I hope things stay this way,” he sighed longingly, intertwining his fingers with hers as she took his hand. It was good to see her so often, but he was also eager to keep meeting with her because of the way Rikki had been with him recently. Now that he knew the female thief’s plan to get between him and Penelope, he doubted he would give in to her temptation, but he also didn’t want to give any room for weakness in himself.

His relationship with Penelope was the most dedicated of his life. In the past, he had only ever been with women that he’d had a purely physical interest in, but ever since he had gotten back together with the knight, he had been trying hard to change that mentality. He loved her more than he’d ever loved anyone else, and he wanted more than anything to stay faithful to her. However, old habits died hard. He knew himself well enough to know that if they went long enough between physical encounters that he no longer felt satisfied, there was a chance that Rikki’s persistent flirting would be harder to resist. He didn’t want to even come close to risking that.

Lost in his thoughts, he barely noticed that they had reached the waterfall that curtained off his camp. He blinked a bit dazedly, coming back to himself as he realized it was time for them to part ways. With a reluctant sigh, he let go of Penelope’s hand to wrap his arms around her in one last embrace. “I’ll see you in three days,” he murmured, leaning his head against hers before pressing a swift kiss to her cheek. As he stepped back from her again, he trailed his hands down her arms and gave her hands a gentle squeeze before letting his arms fall to his sides. “I love you, Penelope. Be safe on your way back.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope walked quietly besides him as they headed back towards the waterfall. She noticed Crow had gone quiet as well, seemingly lost in his thoughts as they walked. The silence was comfortable though so the knight didn't bother to break it. Her weary gaze focused ahead as they walked, thinking over her plans for the coming days as the battle drew closer. It wasn't long before she noticed they had reached the waterfall and she slowed to a stop to say her goodbyes.

She returned his embrace, wrapping her arms around his middle as he kissed her cheek. "I'll see you then." she mumbled with a small nod. As he let her go, she took a small step back from him and smiled softly at the thief as his hands trailed down her arms. "I love you too. Be safe on your raid." With their goodbyes said, she turned and began to head back in the direction of her camp.

--

It didn't take long for the knight to reach her camp and luckily, she had a rather uneventful walk on her way back. As she reached the camp, she was quick to notice an all too familiar figure standing on guard. The knight frowned a little, quickly recognizing Gavin. She had almost forgotten that the male knight had caught her sneaking out to see Crow. He must have switched shifts with Roger to wait for me. She shook her head, knowing he likely did it due to his distrust of the thief. For a moment, she was tempted to slip past him to avoid any questioning or conversation. However, she decided that likely wouldn't be wise if he was waiting for her. She didn't want him to get overly worried if he didn't see her return. Letting out a long sigh, she stepped out into view and began to walk over to him.

"I thought Roger had guard duty right now?" She asked him as she approached. The male knight's gaze quickly flickered over to her and he smiled faintly.

"He did.." Gavin shuffled his feet before shrugging his shoulders. "I just figured it'd be better if I switched with him since.. well you know."

Penelope shook her head. "Thank you but really, I don't need you trying to cover for me."

"I just don't want you to get into any trouble." Gavin sighed softly. "Is it really so bad for me to help you?"

Penelope pursed her lips together and crossed her arms. "I just.. No but I don't want to drag you into that trouble with me. This was the decision I made after all. I'd just rather not get you involved in it." She shook her head at him as she noticed him beginning to open his mouth to argue and moved to walk past him before he could. "I need to get to bed.. Training starts early tomorrow. Goodnight Gavin."

"Goodnight Penelope." He sighed with a hint of defeat in his voice. Penelope continued on her own back to her tent, quickly settling down for the night.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow nodded as Penelope told him to be safe on his raid. “Well, I was planning to make some risky moves, but for you, I’ll make an exception,” he winked at her jokingly. “Goodnight, love. I’ll see you again soon.”

He watched as she walked into the forest, waiting again for her to disappear from his sight before he headed into his camp to sleep for the night.

--

The next day, Crow and the other thieves worked on refining their plans for the upcoming raid on the knights’ camp. Since they were going to be taking more supplies than usual, they wanted to be as prepared as possible to make sure the heist went smoothly. Crow and Simon went out in the afternoon to scout around the perimeter of the nobles’ camp, noting where the guards were positioned and searching for blind spots that they could use to their advantage.

The thieves planned to bring weapons, but they still wanted to avoid using them if it was at all possible. If a fight broke out, it would draw the attention of the other knights who would be asleep in their tents. Being far outnumbered by them, Crow knew that would mean he and his companions would be forced to retreat. They couldn’t afford to do that when their supplies were dwindling so low. This raid would make or break them coming into the fall season, so it was imperative that everything went according to plan.

As the sun dipped lower in the sky, Crow and Simon finished their scouting and headed back to the waterfall to share their findings with the others. They returned to find Alistair and Rikki sparring on the riverbank, while Hazel was sitting off to the side reading one of Simon’s books. When they noticed the two walking back from the knights’ camp, they stopped what they were doing to hear the news.

“So, what did you find?” Rikki asked, trotting over with Alistair to meet the other thieves halfway.

Simon glanced at Crow in a silent indication that he should be the one to explain. Crow nodded and turned back to Alistair and Rikki, relaying everything they had found to the best of his ability. He described the number and positions of the guards in the camp, as well as where the most useful blind spots were. It was difficult to explain it all, since neither of his companions could see it for themselves, but luckily, his explanation seemed to be good enough for them.

When he was finished talking, Rikki spoke up again. “So, what’s the plan now?” she asked. “We have quite a few things to steal this time.”

“That’s why I’m going to assign everyone individual tasks,” Crow smirked, having already thought ahead about this. “Alistair and I will steal the weapons, you will steal the food, and Simon will steal the medical supplies and the medicines we’re going to sell to the villagers.” He had told them all about his idea to sell medicine in Wheldrake earlier that morning. Initially, there had been some pushback from the others, especially Simon, because they all knew it was more efficient to sell weapons to the Younisians. However, he managed to convince them that his plan was better after he brought up the fact that the knights had come after them after they had sabotaged their weapons last time. None of his companions were eager to repeat that again, so they gave in and agreed to his idea.

“I happened to notice you didn’t mention anything about liquor,” Alistair pointed out with a frown. “Are we not going to drink afterwards? If we’re going to be taking this much, I want to celebrate.”

“Me too,” Rikki crossed her arms.

“You two are ridiculous,” Simon scoffed. “Can’t you go one raid without getting drunk?”

“Staying sober after a successful heist?” Alistair wrinkled his nose. “No way.”

“I have a compromise,” Crow suggested, getting their attention. “I’d rather not steal any more than we absolutely have to from the knights, but we can go to the Ivory Hatchet in Myrefall after we stow all of the supplies away.” He glanced between them, hoping they would be satisfied with the proposal. “They make good mead. What do you say?”

“It’s been a while since we’ve all gone out to a tavern together,” Alistair mused with a grin. “I like it.”

“Good enough for me,” Rikki shrugged and casted him a wink that sent a shiver down Crow’s spine. He made a mental note not to let himself get carried away when they went to the tavern. If she was planning to come onto him after they had all been drinking, he wanted to be clear headed enough to combat her advances.

“You three enjoy losing your senses,” Simon rolled his eyes. “When we get back tomorrow, I’m going to stay here and enjoy the company of my wife.”

“Not if we convince her to come with us,” Rikki smirked at him slyly.

Simon faltered for a moment before regaining his composure. He cleared his throat, “Don’t bother. She wouldn’t come with you anyway.”

“We’ll see about that,” Alistair exchanged a look with Rikki, and the two ran off towards the tree where Hazel was reading her book before Simon could stop them.

“Oh gods,” Simon groaned under his breath before taking off after them.

Crow snorted in amusement as he watched the three thieves race to the herbalist’s side. He doubted Simon would win this one. Hazel may not have been the most sociable woman in the group, but she loved a good drink. It wouldn’t be hard for Rikki and Alistair to convince her to join them at the tavern tomorrow night. He was glad she would be coming too. She got along well with Rikki, so if she came, the female thief wouldn’t cling to him as much.

Suddenly more eager to persuade Hazel to join them as well, he made his way over to join the others in arguing against Simon.

[BuzzingBee]

The next day was filled with training for the knights just like the last. Due to the upcoming battle, Penelope was busy throughout the day, aiding Tomas and Mia as they worked on preparations. It made the day go by fast but it also wore the knight out as they finally ended their work for the night. Penelope stretched and looked up at the sky, noticing how day was quickly giving away to night. She sighed softly, thinking about the meeting she'd have with Crow again in the coming days. Due to everything going on in her camp, she doubted she'd be able to stay out as late as she usually did with him. Even though they were meeting so soon again, it seemed their time together would still be a bit restricted.

I'll take any time I can get though. She thought as she focused her gaze ahead. The thought of Crow also reminded her that the thieves would be raiding the camp in a day. She shifted her gaze, glancing towards a couple of guards that were on duty. Penelope pursed her lips together as she recalled her promise to him. She'd have to find someone to cover her guard shift for the coming night to avoid getting caught up in his plans.

Normally, she'd go straight to Olivia to ask about trading shifts but quickly decided that likely wasn't a good idea. Olivia had a bit of an investment with the thieves as well now so Penelope didn't want to set her friend up to get dragged into any trouble. Gavin was an obvious no as well. Both because the male knight was too busy with his own duties but also because Penelope felt a bit strange about putting him in a situation where he might come across Crow. With both of her friends out of the question, Penelope had to start thinking about who else she could have cover her. She walked on quietly through the camp thinking it over. Though she might have agreed to stay out of the way, she could still help out by giving her shift to a comrade who would be easy for them to slip past.

Her gaze eventually fell on Millicent, who was enjoying a quiet meal on her own, and quickly found that the archer was a good choice. Millicent was a strict and decent archer but her overly-confident personality made her a little too relaxed at times. Penelope doubted she'd be able to cause too much trouble for the thieves unless something went wrong. Satisfied with the decision, she headed over to the archer, giving a small wave in greeting.

"Oh, hi Penelope." Millicent greeted. "Did you want to join me?" she asked, gesturing for the knight to take a seat besides her.

"No, I'm beat from all this extra training we have going on but thank you." Penelope rolled her shoulders. "I was actually just stopping by to see if you could take my guard shift tomorrow night."

Millicent crossed her arms for a moment, seeming to think it over. "I suppose I could." she nodded then gave her a questioning look. "Why do you need it covered?"

"I wanted to join Nina for an early morning patrol the next day." Penelope shrugged. "She's been trying to keep track of Younisian activity and I want to check it out myself since we have a battle coming up."

Millicent nodded, accepting her lie rather easily. "Alright. I'll cover it for you then." she smiled at Penelope. "You owe me one though!"

"Of course." Penelope chuckled with a small nod of agreement. "Thank you, Millicent."

Parting from the archer, Penelope continued on her way towards her tent. Night had completely fallen now and the stars were bright in the sky. She nearly thought about staying out a little longer to relax under them but feeling much too weary, the knight retired to her tent and settled down for the night.

[Rogue Sloth]

On the day of the raid, Crow and the other thieves spent most of their time relaxing together by the riverbank. They wanted to save their energy for when they would have to sneak into the knights’ camp and sneak back out without being detected. For that to happen, all of them needed to be in good condition to run and sharp enough to be fully aware of their surroundings. They couldn’t afford to get caught up in an unnecessary fight when they were depending on this raid to go well in order to make it through the rest of the summer. Everything had to go exactly according to plan.

Crow laid back in the grass with his head propped on one forearm, absently tossing a small rock in the air with his free hand. It was mid evening, and he felt a little lazy after spending most of the day doing nothing. He had taken a short walk in the morning just to keep his energy up a bit, but aside from that, he had been lounging around with the other thieves, conversing idly and finishing off what remained of their food stock in preparation of the night to come.

His mind wandered back to the request he had made of Penelope, and he wondered if she had found someone to cover her guard shift. At this point, he didn’t care who she asked—he would even risk having to slip past her ex suitor—as long as he knew she would stay out of trouble.

She probably found someone, he thought, tossing the rock again with a flick of his wrist and catching it as it fell back down into his open palm. There are quite a few knights in that camp. Surely one of them was willing to take over for her. The thought was reassuring to him, so he decided not to worry over it.

As day turned to night, the thieves began their preparations to leave for the raid. Crow armed himself with a number of light weapons—his daggers, a sling, a spare knife in his right boot, and even a short sword—just in case he would find himself in a fight during the heist. His companions did the same until they were all armed to the teeth with various short and long ranged weapons. He could tell they were all preparing for the worst, which was relieving to him. Knowing they had their guards up as well, he wouldn’t have to stress about their safety when they all split up to steal from different parts of the nobles’ camp.

Once everyone was ready to go, Hazel said her goodbyes to them, making sure to remark that Crow had better bring her husband back alive, and the thieves headed out.

They traveled quietly through the forest, treading with light-footed steps in case there were any knights nearby. Crow felt a rush of excitement as they neared the target camp. It was the first time in a while that all four of them had gone out on a raid together. He had missed the feeling of working with a team of such skilled bandits. All of them had different talents and fields of expertise—Alistair was the best swordsman, Simon was the best lock pick, Rikki was the best at slight-of-hand using distractions, and Crow was the best at escaping capture—so together, they made a frightening group of criminals.

Eventually, the knights’ camp became visible through the tree line, and Crow’s heartbeat quickened. He signaled to his companions to stop while they were still far enough away to speak without being overheard. “Alright, everyone, stick to the plan,” he said in a hushed voice, looking over each of them in turn. “You’ve all raided these knights before, so I’m sure you remember where they keep their supplies. Just take what you’ve been assigned and meet up again here when you’ve finished.” The others nodded in understanding, and he grinned. “Good luck out there, guys. I’ll see you all back here soon.”

Having finished his short speech, Crow fanned out with his companions to surround the camp as they each made their way towards the supplies they were going to steal.

[BuzzingBee]

"Gods, can you slow down a bit." Olivia panted as she took a step back from Penelope.

Penelope chuckled at her friend and lowered her sword for a moment. "Come on, Olivia. Usually you keep up better than this." she smirked a little. Training had begun as usual and this time Penelope had decided to partner up with Olivia as a sparring partner. Olivia wasn't as skilled of a swordsman as she was but the other female knight was still a competent opponent. It had been a while since the two had tested their skills against each other, mainly because Olivia usually avoided sparring with Penelope.

"I've spent the last two days practicing, I'm sore." Olivia rolled her eyes. "What I don't understand is why you're not."

"I am but I just try to push past it." Penelope shrugged.

Olivia gave a heavy sigh. "Of course you do." The other female knight subtly smirked and then suddenly lunged forward with her sword. "Think fast!" Penelope quickly deflected the attack, having partly suspected Olivia would try such a move. She had sparred with her enough times to know that Olivia often resorted to some type of trick or surprise to gain the upper hand against opponents of higher skill. In the past, it had worked but now Penelope knew better than to lower her guard around her friend until the sparring match was officially over.

She raised her sword and swiped at Olivia's side. Her friend blocked it quickly, clenching her jaw slightly as she strained. The two clashed their swords a couple more times as Olivia went back on the defensive as Penelope tried to find an opening. She finally managed to slip past Olivia's defense to get close enough to hook a leg out and sweep her feet out from under her. Olivia fell on her back and Penelope quickly advanced on her, pointing her sword down at her throat.

"Yield now?"

"Yeah, yeah." Olivia panted tiredly.

Penelope smiled and sheathed her sword before offering her hand to her friend and helping her up to her feet. "You're improving a lot with your defense. It was hard to find an opening that time." she mused.

"I guess." Olivia shrugged. "I'm not good with swords.. I think I'll just stick to my dagger and mace."

----

The rest of the day went by smoothly and Penelope even managed to have a bit more free time than the day before. It wasn't long before night fell. She spent the evening with her friends and eventually parted with them to head off to her tent. She still planned to go to sleep early, intent on actually staying true to her word about heading out with Nina on a patrol the next morning. As she walked, her gaze drifted over the guards that she passed. It was the night of the raid.

She hoped it went smoothly for the thieves. Penelope didn't worry too much about it. Crow was feeling better and he was a skilled thief so she managed to not focus on any lingering concern as she headed into her tent for the night. Hopefully my comrades won't go crazy about a few missing supplies like before though.. Penelope thought as she settled down in her bed. Closing her eyes, the knight soon drifted off into a deep sleep.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow crept around the outskirts of the knights’ camp with Alistair following close at his heels. His eyes were fixed on the nearest guard, a man who seemed rather alert for someone who was staying up late to watch a silent forest. Even though he looked to be aware of his surroundings, the two thieves easily slipped past his watchful gaze with well-rehearsed skill. They dipped in and out of the blind spots that Crow and Simon had found the day before, patiently waiting for the guards to look away before they moved from one to the next. All in all, it wasn’t difficult for them to make it to the knights’ weaponry.

Crow ducked down behind the nearest tent with Alistair, studying a single watchman who stood in front of the tent they were trying to get into. He exchanged a quick look with his companion before reaching down to pick up a few small rocks at his feet. Cocking back his arm, he hurled the rocks into the bushes as far from the tent as he could manage. The foliage trembled audibly as the rocks landed, drawing the guard’s attention. The man reached for the hilt of his sword and walked slowly towards the source of the noise, leaving his post behind.

Crow smirked to himself, pleased to see that the simple distraction had worked, and then sprinted out from his hiding place into the now unguarded supply tent with Alistair. With only a limited time before the knight realized there was no one in the woods, the two thieves worked quickly to bag up the swords and arrows they needed to restock their weapons. Once they had what they came for, they slipped back out of the tent and worked their way silently towards the tree line.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Crow turned to Alistair with a grin. “It just gets easier and easier to raid these knights, doesn’t it?” he said quietly.

“You’d think they would’ve learned to set up more guards by now,” Alistair snickered.

“True,” Crow sighed in mock disappointment. “I almost miss the challenge.”

Suddenly, they heard a faint rustling behind them and turned around to see Simon returning with a bag of stolen medical supplies. Crow took a step towards him, “Did you get everything?”

“Of course,” Simon shrugged airily.

“No trouble?” Crow queried, hoping the blonde thief had been smart enough not to draw any attention to himself while Rikki had yet to return.

“There was a physician inside the medical tent working on something, but I knocked him out easily enough,” Simon answered with another shrug. “There were no other guards about.”

“Good,” Crow nodded. “Let’s just hope Rikki has the same luck.”

Almost as if on cue, a fourth figure rounded a tree and stepped into view. Rikki walked up to them with a proud smirk as she held up her bag of stolen food. “Who’s excited to eat chicken again?” she said in a soft, sing-song voice.

“Gods bless you,” Alistair sighed exaggeratedly. “I’m so sick of stale bread and carrots.”

“Me too,” Crow grimaced and then gestured to the others to leave. “Now that everyone’s here, we should head back to camp. The sooner we drop all of this off, the sooner we can go to the Ivory Hatchet.”

“No complaints here,” Alistair grinned.

The four thieves headed back to the tunnels, so caught up in the success of their raid that they didn’t notice the shadowy figures lurking behind the trees around them.

[BuzzingBee]

The next morning, Penelope woke up to the sounds of voices outside of her tent. The knight ignored it at first until she realized that she must have slept in too late. Crap it sounds like half the camp is already up! Despite her grogginess, the knight shot up from her bed with alarm and quickly scrambled to throw on her armor. Perhaps there was still a chance she could catch up with Nina. As she got ready, the knight slowed her actions as she became more aware of the talking going on outside. Most voices were muffled and too far to understand but nearly all of them seemed panicked. She even caught the words of a few yells.

"-they're dead!"

"Our supplies-!"

"Someone get the barons!"

Something was wrong. Penelope froze as she recalled the raid Crow and the other thieves were going to do on the camp and she felt her heart sink. Had they been caught? The knight stormed out into the chaos of her camp, feeling a flash of worry coarse through her. However, it was far from the sight she expected. Around her, her comrades were scrambling to wake everyone up in a panic and as she walked further towards the middle, she was quick to notice a number of dead guards on the ground. Penelope felt a hint of panic welling up in her as she took in the sights. Something must have gone rather wrong during the raid but it seemed like the thieves had gotten away.

The knight faltered as her gaze landed on the body of Millicent. The archer was slumped over on the ground with an obvious wound on her neck caused by some sort of blade. Penelope quickly averted her gaze away from her dead comrade, immediately feeling a wave of guilt. She should have just kept her guard duty, then there would have been no reason for Millicent to die.

"Penelope! Oh thank the gods."

Before she could even react, she felt two strong arms suddenly wrap around her and hold her tightly. Penelope blinked, looking up to see Gavin. The male knight trembled with relief and finally let her go as he met her gaze concernedly. "I-I thought you were dead. I knew you were supposed to be on guard duty last night and.." he frowned and shook his head.

"I had Millicent take over my shift.." Penelope shook her head and glanced over at the archer. The female knight shuddered and looked up at him. "Gavin.. Do you know anything about what happened? What's going on?"

"From what I've heard, all the night guards were killed and nearly half of our supplies were stolen last night."

Penelope's eyes widened with alarm and panic began to wash over the knight. "A-Are you sure?" she stuttered.

"That's what Layth and Tomas were saying before they ran off to get the barons."

The knight felt sick at his response. It was one thing to merely kill a couple guards to keep from getting discovered but it seemed they had all been killed rather mercilessly, leaving not even one left standing. Is that why he didn't want me on guard duty? She trembled and brought a hand up to cover her mouth in horror at the realization that Crow had likely been planning this. For a moment, the knight tried to think of any other possible reasoning, wishing that there was another explanation for so many of her comrades deaths as well as their large amount of missing supplies. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to.

"Penelope.." Gavin took her hands in his giving them a small squeeze. He glanced around before pulling her off to the side, behind a nearby tent in hopes to get them some privacy. The female knight didn't resist and followed after him silently, whirling from everything that had happened. He met her gaze with a concerned look. "This.. This was him wasn't it?"

Penelope remained silent.

"Please don't tell me you're still protecting him after this, Penelope."

"I-I just.. I don't know. We don't know what happened last night, I just need to hear his side of the story first.." Penelope said shaking her head. A heavy feeling of guilt and betrayal churned in her stomach. She had never asked too much about his plans because she had trusted him. The knight never would have expected him to leave her camp in such a devastated mess, regardless of whatever reasoning he had. As hurt as she felt, she couldn't just turn on him though and that was something Gavin didn't seem to understand.

"He killed our comrades ruthlessly and took enough of our supplies to leave us more than vulnerable for the next attack. Does it even matter what his excuses are?" Gavin asked with an edge to his voice that made her flinch. He exhaled softly and shook his head. "I know you cared a lot for him but you have to see how dangerous he is now."

"I do but.. I just need to hear what happened." Penelope mumbled meekly.

"Ah there you two are!"

Penelope and Gavin jumped slightly and looked over to see Olivia hurrying towards them. The other female knight looked quite relieved to see them as she joined them behind the tent. Her gaze immediately focused on Penelope. "What's going on? Do you know anything about what happened last night?"

"Not really.." Penelope paused then lowered her voice as she spoke to Olivia. "Crow told me he was planning a raid but... I-I didn't expect this."

"Lover boy really stabbed you in the back this time, huh?" Olivia frowned, lowering her own gaze and seeming rather bothered by Penelope's words.

Gavin wrapped an arm around Penelope's shoulders. "We'll figure out a way to properly deal with this." he mumbled. "But we should head off to the center of camp. Everyone's suppose to gather there to hear what the barons have to say."

"I imagine it's nothing good." Olivia sighed.

Penelope glanced up at Gavin. Though he had his arm around her, she didn't fight it, instead finding it a bit comforting. With Crow's betrayal, she felt less than inclined to keep her promise to the thief at the moment. She wasn't even sure where she stood with him now. Her trust in him was wavering and the hurt she felt weighed heavily on her heart. He might not have been willing to hurt her, but the damage he had done to her camp couldn't be excused easily. The knight let out a shaky sigh and followed her friends as they headed towards the center of camp.

[Rogue Sloth]

The next morning, Crow slept in a little later than usual. However, his drowsiness wasn’t caused by his illness this time, but rather because of how late he and the other thieves had stayed out at the tavern the night before. They had dropped off their stolen supplies without any trouble and headed up to Myrefall right after they’d finished. To Crow’s relief, Rikki had ended up spending most of her time with Hazel and Simon instead of flirting with him, so he had been free to drink a little more excessively than he had initially expected. Of course, he still didn’t get drunk, but he did let go enough to have an enjoyable time with Alistair and a few other men from the village whom had come to join them.

Finally awake, he sat up tiredly on his bed and stretched languidly, feeling good after their raid had gone so smoothly the night before. He glanced around to find that Alistair, Rikki, and Hazel were still passed out on their mats. Amongst the five of them, they had gotten the drunkest, and he didn’t doubt they would all be hungover when they did wake up. He shook his head amusedly and got up to head outside, wanting to enjoy the peaceful morning while it lasted.

Outside, he found Simon reading another book in the shade of a tree. The thief glanced up when he saw him walking over. “I’m surprised you’re up,” he mused. “I would have thought you’d sleep until noon like everyone else.”

“I wasn’t drunk last night,” Crow rolled his eyes as he sat down next to the other man.

“Really? You and Alistair were quite rowdy with those villagers,” Simon quirked a brow at him in obvious disbelief.

“We were just having a bit of fun,” Crow smirked. “You should try it sometime.”

“No thank you,” Simon wrinkled his nose. “I wouldn’t call being unnecessarily loud ‘fun.’”

“Suit yourself,” Crow shrugged apathetically. Switching topics, he went on more seriously, “I am glad the raid went so well though. From the looks of it all, we should have just enough food and bandages to get through the rest of the season.”

“Easily so,” Simon agreed. “All that’s left is to sell off the medicines.”

“I’m planning to make the trip to Wheldrake tomorrow,” Crow said, picking up a rock and absently tossing it into the river. “If all goes well, I’ll be able to see everything off at the market and be back in time for the next battle.”

“Why not leave today?” Simon glanced at him curiously. “You would have more time if you go a day in advance.”

“We were all out late last night,” Crow explained nonchalantly. “I’d rather stay here and rest for a day before I leave for such a long trip.” In truth, he wanted to stay because he was planning to meet with Penelope that night, but he wasn’t going to tell Simon that. Assuming they wouldn’t have much time to be together due to the upcoming battle, he didn’t want to waste any of it going over formalities with the knight. So, he intended to keep this rendezvous a secret and sneak out after all of his companions went to bed. Hopefully, they would do so early after getting sick from how much alcohol they had consumed the night before.

“I still think you should leave as soon as possible,” Simon frowned. “But I suppose it won’t matter too much. Even if you don’t sell all of it before the battle, you can always go back when it’s over.”

“Exactly,” Crow grinned at him and hurled another rock into the river, following it with his eyes as it made a satisfying splash. “We don’t need to buy anything until the weather gets colder, so there’s no rush.”

“That’s assuming the knights don’t come after us again,” Simon muttered pessimistically.

“I doubt they will. We only took the bare minimum of what we needed to get by this time. They would be fools to waste their time hunting us down when they still have more than enough supplies to get through the next battle.”

“You would think, but nobles are fools,” Simon exhaled. “They may be blindsided by their anger and hunt us down regardless of wisdom.”

“Well, even if they do, we’ll be ready for them,” Crow turned to him with a grin. “We’ve learned the routes of the tunnels well enough now to defend them easily if we’re discovered again. If they come to take their supplies back, those knights won’t know what hit them.”

“I suppose so,” Simon turned back to keep reading his book, seeming to lose interest in the conversation.

Crow laid back in the grass and rested his head on his arms, lazily staring up at the blue sky. With Simon’s reclusive side coming out and his other companions still hungover from their night at the tavern, he let his mind roam to pass the time until he could meet with Penelope again.

--

For the rest of the day, Crow spent his time in the company of the other thieves. Since three of them were feeling ill, they didn’t do much aside from lay around by the waterfall. It wasn’t the most entertaining day, but at least it was peaceful. Even Rikki was too weary to chase him as persistently as she usually did, which he was grateful for. For the first time in a while, he was able to enjoy their company without keeping his guard up.

So, when night fell and it came time for him to see Penelope again, Crow was already in a good mood. He laid in his bed with his eyes closed, pretending to sleep while his companions settled down for the night. His heart raced with excitement, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from letting a matching expression cross his face. He didn’t want anyone to know he was meeting with the knight, so he wouldn’t have to bring back any more news for them of the battle.

Eventually, he glanced up to see that all of them were breathing slowly and evenly, indicating that they were asleep. He smiled to himself and silently got up from his bed, only pausing by the entrance of the cavern to put on his boots and cloak and arm himself with his usual set of daggers. Once he was ready, he slipped out into the forest, walking briskly in his eagerness to get to see Penelope again.

[BuzzingBee]

Things didn't settle down easily in the camp. The barons were furious over what had occurred and were already making plans to try and track down the thieves. However, they decided to hold off on sending out any patrols until the next day, mainly due to the fact that the camp needed a bit of extra held in doing damage control. Penelope spent most of her day in a long meeting with the barons and other lieutenants as they pieced together what they would do about the thieves as well as how their shortage of supplies would now force them to postpone the battle plans. For the most part, she didn't contribute to the discussion and merely listened as the others planned.

The female knight spent most of her time silently trying to figure out how she would face Crow in their upcoming meeting. She wanted to know what had happened for him to leave her camp in such a devastated state while also finding a bit of anger beginning to boil inside her. How could he do this to the knights? Even if it was to postpone the battle, he had left them in an overly weak state and not to mention how many of her comrades he had killed.

As the meeting finally ended, night had already fallen so Penelope headed straight to her tent, planning to get ready for the meeting she had with Crow. Her stomach churned anxiously as the time grew closer to see him. She felt very little excitement for their meeting and nearly wanted to avoid it all together. She took a steeling breath and carefully stepped out of her tent, to begin her trip to the meeting place.

"I knew it. You're sneaking off to meet with him, aren't you?"

Penelope jumped as a voice came from nearby shadows and she whirled around to spot Gavin as he stepped into sight. She frowned, realizing that the male knight had likely been keeping a closer eye on her after the day's events. "I told you I need to hear what happened." she said softly with a hint of desperation in her voice. "I just.. I just don't understand how he could do this."

"He's a thief with no sense of loyalty. He used you so he could hurt us, I'm sure of it." Anger flashed in his brown eyes. "You shouldn't see him."

Penelope averted her gaze and crossed her arms defensively over her chest. "He wasn't using me..but something did go wrong here. Maybe I made a mistake and misjudged him.. I'm not sure but that's exactly why I have to see him, Gavin. I need to talk to him. I-I might be able to get him to give us some of our supplies back."

Gavin let out a small sigh and shifted uneasily. He fell silent for a moment before taking a step closer to her. "If you have to talk to him then let me come with you."

"What? No." Penelope blinked and quickly shook her head. "I need to deal with this on my own." That, and she wasn't quite sure how Crow would react if she were to bring Gavin with her, especially after what had happened on the raid. Bringing Gavin could put him in potential danger as well as make Crow much less willing to talk with her about what had occurred.

"What if he tries to hurt you?"

"He won't hurt me." Penelope said. She was at least confident of that much. She didn't doubt the thief's feelings for her, considering he had gotten her to trade her guard shift. It didn't lessen the betrayal but she certainly didn't believe he would try to harm her.

"How can you be so sure after everything that happened?" Gavin questioned with a frown. "Just let me go with you."

"I know him. He wouldn't hurt me, Gavin. Just let me handle this on my own." Penelope insisted. As Gavin opened his mouth to argue, she quickly cut him off. "I'm not going to change my mind on this so please just drop it."

Gavin hesitated then let out a small sigh. "Alright..But please, be safe Penelope."

"I will."

Gavin took a resigned step back and Penelope turned to head off into the woods. As she walked towards their meeting place, the knight tried to think over what she would say to him when she finally met with him again. For a moment, she worried what his excuse would be. He must have been planning for a such a big attack and that also meant he was confident enough about his reasoning to be able to face her again so soon after. I'll have to stay guarded.. He hurt too many this time. she told herself as she looked ahead with a somber expression. Millicent died because I listened to him so easily before. I can't do that again.

The meeting spot eventually came into sight and she slowed her pace. Her began to race anxiously, which was a very different feeling from the usual excitement she had from seeing him. The knight clenched her fists at her side, trying to ready herself to confront the thief as she reluctantly stepped into the clearing.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow leaned calmly against a tree in the small clearing as he waited for Penelope to arrive. While he wasn’t feeling anxious or desperate to see her right away, he hoped she wouldn’t take too long this time. From what she had said at their last meeting, it sounded like they weren’t going to have much time with each other. If that was the case, he wanted to enjoy every second he could get with her before the next battle, since it would likely be at least five days before they could meet again.

His eyes wandered over the starry sky as he thought about what was to come. The fact that the battle was going to take place near Myrefall unsettled him. With the illness still about and uncured in the village, a fight would leave them in a bad state if it carried over into the town. He hoped Penelope was right that this battle would be the one that would finally give Brerra an edge over Younis. If it did, the people of his home would be safe, and the war might soon come to an end. The thought made a faint smile spread across his lips.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps off to the side, and he looked over to see someone stepping into the clearing with him. His heart raced excitedly as he saw that someone was Penelope. In his enthusiasm, he didn’t notice the distant expression on her face as he hurried over to greet her. “Oh, thank gods,” he sighed, wrapping his arms around her in an embrace. “I was starting to think you’d gotten too busy to show up tonight.”

Pressing a soft kiss to her cheek, he pulled back to meet her gaze, only to falter slightly as he caught sight of the look on her face. “What’s wrong?” he frowned, his mind working as he tried to think of a reason why she would seem so distressed. After a moment, he went on with a tentative guess, “Did your baroness blame you for our raid last night?”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope stiffened as Crow quickly wrapped her up in an embrace. She was tempted to return it, suddenly wishing it would be so easy to ignore what had occurred. As he pulled back, the knight blinked as he asked her what was wrong. It sparked a bit of hurt and anger in the knight. Does he really think I wouldn't be upset over that raid? she wondered, narrowing her eyes at him. At his guess, she took a step back from him and gave a snort.

"If she blamed me for that raid, I'd lose everything on the spot and I certainly wouldn't be able to sneak out here." She shook her head and shot a glare at Crow. "All of our night guards dead and half of our supplies gone. Gods Crow, what else would be wrong!" Her voice was sharp with anger. She glared at him for a second longer before dropping her gaze away from him as her anger died down into hurt.

Her voice grew strained with emotion as she went on, "I never ask for details about your raids because I trusted you would never do anything to put my comrades and I at a disadvantage in this war.." she frowned and lifted her gaze to look back over at him. "I know you had to steal supplies but surely not that much and to kill all of the guards too.. That had to be planned. That's why you wanted me to trade shifts so badly isn't it?"

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow knitted his brow in confusion when Penelope said she would have lost everything if she had been blames for the raid. Was she really on such shaky ground with her leaders that they would have forced her to resign? All the thieves had done was take a bit of food and war supplies. He didn’t think it warranted such an extreme punishment, even if she had been blamed for the mess. Although, by her words, it sounded like that wasn’t the reason why she was upset.

He flinched as she went on angrily, but what she said next only further confused him. He and the others had barely taken a fraction of the supplies the knights kept in their camp. It was nowhere close to half. He would have guessed Penelope was exaggerating if she hadn’t added on that all of the night guards had been killed. The allegation made him frown. He and the others hadn’t killed a single person there. Simon had knocked out one physician, but otherwise, they had left the nobles unscathed.

At her final words, he felt a stab of pain, hurt by the accusation. “What? Of course not,” he shook his head. “I was just trying to help you. Besides,” he shifted his weight. “I have no idea what you’re going on about. The raid went as I said before. We just took the things we needed, and we didn’t kill even one of the guards, let alone the whole lot of them.” He grimaced and averted his gaze, going on in a softer tone, “I’m honestly shocked to hear you even accuse me of such a thing. I thought you knew me well enough by now to know I would never do something like that.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope was caught off guard by how genuinely confused he sounded. It was far from what she had been expecting. The knight faltered at his reply. She flinched at the hurt in his voice. It seemed to her that he truly didn't know anything about what had occurred the night before. She felt a bit of relief wash over her as she began to realize that Crow was innocent while also a new feeling wave of guilt for accusing him. "You really don't know anything about what happened last night.." she mumbled as looked over at him searchingly.

The knight frowned and averted her gaze. "All of our night guards were killed and about half of our supplies were stolen. The camp's been in chaos all day since it was enough to put us at a heavy disadvantage.. I thought-I thought only thought it was you because everything seemed to point to that. I mean, you had a raid planned that night and told me to give away by guard duty. If it had happened any other time, I wouldn't have jumped to that conclusion so fast." she gave a soft sigh. "I was even expecting you to have some reasoning for it when I came here tonight.. I mean.. If it wasn't you then, who-"

"He's lying."

Penelope jumped and whirled around at the sound of Gavin's voice behind her. The male knight stepped into the clearing with one hand on the hilt of his sword as he glared across at Crow. She shot a glare at him and shifted in front Crow protectively. "You followed me? I told you to let me handle this alone." she hissed with clear annoyance seeping into her voice.

"And let him hurt you? Or manipulate you like he's trying to do now?" Gavin snorted and stepped closer to Penelope. "I'm sorry but I'm not just going to stand back and let him do that." he shot an accusing look at Crow. "Why don't you start telling the truth, thief?"

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow looked up at Penelope again as she explained what had happened to the knights’ camp the night before. He was surprised to hear that she hadn’t been exaggerating but had been accusing him because someone—or perhaps a group of people—had come in sometime during the night to raid their camp and slaughter all of the guards. He folded his arms over his chest, just as mystified as she was about how that could have happened. All he knew for sure was that whoever had done it must have shown up after he and his companions had finished their own raid, since all of the guards had been alive at that point.

For a moment, he wondered if the Younisians had done it to sabotage the Brerratic knights. It seemed like a desperate enough trick to pull, so he wouldn’t have put it past them, especially if they felt like they were going to lose the war. However, that didn’t add up to him. For the intruders to have killed the guards and escaped with half of the nobles’ supplies so seamlessly meant they had to have some skill with thievery already. He knew for a fact that the Younisians had no such talents because of all the times their barons had tried to recruit him and his companions to steal for them. If they already had members among their ranks who knew how to raid a camp, they would have had no need to hire thieves from another kingdom to do it for them.

He was just about to ask Penelope if there was anyone she could think of that the knights had wronged, when he heard the sound of a voice that made him stiffen in surprise. He looked over her shoulder to see none other than Gavin step into the clearing with a hand resting threateningly on the hilt of his sword. Immediately, Crow took a defensive step back and reached for his own weapons, narrowing his eyes hostilely at the new arrival. Aside from the fact that the knight had interrupted his time with Penelope, he didn’t like how close he was to the thieves’ camp.

His eyes flicked to Penelope as she spoke to her ex suitor. Her words made him falter. She told him to ‘let her handle this?’ he thought with a pang of annoyance. It sounded like she had still been keeping in touch with Gavin even after he had asked her to keep her distance from him. However, he didn’t have time to focus on the detail. With his gaze fixed on the knight’s sword hand, he silently drew his daggers beneath his cloak, readying himself to fight if the man came after him.

As Gavin told him to tell the truth, the thief stood up slightly taller and shot him a cold glare. “I owe you nothing of the sort,” he spat obstinately. “Why don’t you just run back to your camp now and keep your nose out of places it doesn’t belong?”

[BuzzingBee]

"I'm not going anywhere." Gavin growled, keeping his gaze on Crow. "As long as you continue to be a threat to us, I have no plans of leaving."

"Gavin, he isn't a threat." Penelope snapped at him in response. "He doesn't have any clue about what happened the night before. It wasn't him."

Gavin briefly shifted his gaze away from Crow to look over at Penelope. His expression softened slightly and he shook his head. "People lie...Especially thieves. I know this situation is difficult for you to accept Penelope but you can't seriously think that someone else just so happened to raid our camp the same night he planned to." Gavin lifted his gaze back to Crow and held his head up a little higher. "That's a little too convenient for you, don't you think?"

Penelope clenched her fists at her side as she watched Gavin. It wasn't very often that the male knight acted so coldly. She supposed she could understand why, considering that she had not only chosen Crow over him but also because of all that had occurred in the camp. Let's just hope he keeps his anger in check. She shifted uneasily, taking a more defensive stance silently preparing herself in case a fight broke out. She had to keep that from happening.

"It's not impossible." Penelope argued.

"Well, if he didn't do it then who did?" Gavin questioned, shaking his head in disbelief.

Penelope sighed. "I don't have any clue who it really was.. I doubt the Younisians are skilled enough to get away with such a raid and your group is the only thieves I've heard of causing us problems so far," she glanced over her shoulder at Crow, offering him an apologetic look before focusing her gaze back on Gavin. "but there must be some other enemy out there."