"Followed?!" Ethyn and Silver exclaimed in unison.
"Like I said, don't worry. They didn't follow me to the tree or we would have been already caught, obviously. But I cannot imagine that they are too far away."
"Who exactly are 'they'?" Silver narrowed his gaze as he grabbed Crispin by the collar and pulled him away from the opening. "And if you knew that you were followed, why did you not hang the signal to warn us off?!"
"Uhh, about seven or eight Lakylian soldiers, I think. And I didn't send you away because I thought who better to help me than a Guardian?"
"How generous of you," Ethyn groaned. "What's the saying? Misery loves company..."
"We don't need any extra guests at this party," Silver gritted his teeth. "You know, if I didn't need you to get that note to Sage, I would leave you here to rot for trapping us."
Crispin smiled. "No you wouldn't. You are too good a man for that."
"He's unfortunately got you there," Ethyn admits with a shrug.
"Don't be so sure…but we shall never know for sure," the Guardian answered darkly. "Now hush so I can think of a plan."
"Why were they chasing you to begin with?" Ethyn moved toward the short man and whispered.
"Because I'm a spy. You must not be as bright as you are handsome." Crispin tapped the young man's forehead to test its density.
The knight slapped away the spy's hand. "I meant how did they know you were a spy? Did they recognize you?"
"They recognized me as a spy when the tree branch broke and I fell into the middle of their lunch break. Somehow they would not believe me when I said a dragon dropped me when I made him choke on my bony behind." Crispin told the story like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Did you really think that would work?" The green-eyed knight shook his head. The short man was even more unbelievable than the Guardian.
Crispin touched his nose. "It worked to confuse them, which was my goal. Before they could process what I was saying, I ran out of their circle like a bat out of a cave."
"Bats don't run…" Ethyn pointed out.
"It's a simile. You need some culture, young man." Crispin muttered. "Anyway, I lost them over the rise, and ducked in here cozy as can be." He finished his tale and crossed his arms in satisfaction.
"Are you sure they are even still out there?" The knight whispered, looking up at the roots above him. "I didn't spot anyone on my way in."
"You can bet your horse they are scouring the countryside. Those soldiers are like a hound on the scent. They will not let up until they have what they want or getting what they want becomes too costly. They are out there somewhere hunting or I will eat my hat." Crispin sneered at the invisible enemy.
Ethyn furrowed his brow, "But you don't have a hat."
Crispin clicked his tongue. "It's a figure of speech. Stay with me Your Majesty..."
"Your Majesty? I don't know who you think I am--" Ethyn puckered his face as if he had eaten a lemon.
"Don't get your drawers in a bunch; it was only a nickname. 'Handsome stranger' seemed a little too seductive and 'Dashing Lord' is already taken." Crispin sensed the two careening objects flying toward him and ducked before they could hit him in the back of his head.
Unable to maneuver beneath the low ceiling, Ethyn was not so lucky. Two small round objects hit him on the top of his head and his shoulder.
"Ouch!" Ethyn yelped. The Guardian tucked the bag he had emptied back into his cloak.
"Of course I would end up with two nervous talkers. You two fools are worse that a certain chatty mayor when he had been sampling his own goods. Now fill your mouths with those apples while I think, will you?" Silver whispered angrily.
The two men, like chastened toddlers, picked up the thrown fruit and munched quietly. When Silver spoke again, his head was much clearer.
"Crispin is right. There are people nearby. When you finally got quiet, I could hear them." Even now, the Guardian could hear the hoofbeats through the ground. The group was growing closer. "And he was also corrected in assuming they don't know where we are."
"What if we just wait them out? Let them pass on and head out when they have left." Ethyn suggested.
"Are you a chicken, good-looking gaucho?" Crispin cringed. "Yeah, no, I heard how bad that nickname was. I'll stick to your Majesty…"
"I'm not afraid. I just don't see why we need to engage the men at all. Aren't we in Lakyle here?" Ethyn adjusted his sword, the tip of which was scraping the ground due to his crouch.
"We are very close to the border, which actually makes me more inclined to want to push them back further into Lakylian territory." Silver tilted his head contemplatively.
"I say any soldiers we make unable or unwilling to fight is a win for the revolution!" Crispin announced valiantly.
"Yet you want us to battle while you run away?" the knight threw the spy a judgmental look.
"I am a freedom fighter not an actual fighter. My uses lie elsewhere," Crispin defended himself.
"Quiet. Don't make me want to help you any less than I already do. If something happens to me because of you, Sage will make use of your head for a paper weight." Silver said menacingly.
"How would she ever know," the spy asked flippantly.
"She'll know," the other two responded in unison.
Silver ran his fingers along the roots, following them away from the dugout entrance. "How far back does this crevice thing go?"
"It narrows considerably but goes probably forty paces in that direction." Crispin pointed to a gap in the roots that was lacking dirt. "You boys will never be able to get to where it ends and there is no exit."
"Ok then, that should work," the Guardian answered definitively.
"What should work?" the spy was confused. A shovel was placed in his hands.
"Let's go." Silver pushed Crispin forward without answering him.
The short man was right, the passage was little more than a crevice. Sucking in his chest as much as he could, Silver was only able to make it halfway. As there was no longer canvas overhead, the tunnel was almost completely void of light.
"Go on, Crispin. get as far as you can and dig out. Even if they spot you, you should have enough time to get away." Silver could hear that the horses were very close to the mouth of the cave now. It would likely only be a matter of time before it was discovered. "And hurry."
"I understand. What will you do?" Crispin wondered.
"We will find another vein and sneak out ourselves. The front exit is no longer an option."
"Just great," Ethyn grumbled a few paces behind Silver. The two larger men bid Crispin farewell and back out as quickly as they could. "I thought you wanted to chase off the men?" the knight queried when he thought Crispin could no longer hear.
"Wanting to do it and actually doing it are two different things. I don't know anything about these men. So far all they have done is chase a nosey spy out of their camp. If the three of us can get out and get home without being spotted, then I see no reason to cause ourselves an extra headache today, do you?" Silver's question was genuine.
"I am always for picking our battles wisely. Lead the way." The two men had backed out of the tunnel and found another, slightly wider crevice. Again they fell into almost total darkness before they found a suitable spot to exit.
With another digging instrument, Silver was easily able to press through the soft, slightly wet earth. It was a little strange that the earth topsoil was moist as it had not rained for many days. 'This must be a very fertile area.' After a small rain of dirt, popped his head and shoulders through the surface of the earth.
Unfortunately, the Guardian realized too late that the earth was not wet from rain or river, but from a very different source.
"Ugh, kill me now."