"I don't trust that boy." The woman frowned making Lori blink. "Don't mind me back to work." Lori did as she was told smirking a little.

Alex went to meet his brother sitting down at a table rubbing his stomach. One of the horses had kicked him and it hurt like heck.

Cal dropped off the loaf of bread to his client and then went to meet Alex. He noticed his brother looking a little green. "What happened, little brother?" He asked, setting the usual cinnamon rolls down on the table.

"horse kicked me." Alex ground out. "Hurts like hell. I'm just lucky it wasn't lower or I would have died." he nodded.

Cal winced. "Ouch. You sure you're okay? There could be internal bleeding." He said, slipping instantly into protective big brother mode.

"Maybe. I want to make sure we have the money before I went to see the doctor." Alex went to sit up and flinched.

"We have it." Cal said right away. They had enough socked away for just such an occasion, and they had made enough collectively already in their time in that village. "You're going, now, and I'm coming with you."

Alex went to stand and choked on his scream. "Son of a fish." he growled barely managing to catch himself on the edge of the table.

Cal jumped up to catch his brother, swearing a blue streak. "Alright, I'll have to carry you." He bit his lip. Would carrying Alex make things worse? "On second thought, maybe we need some help. Waitress!" He called to Rosemary, who was passing by. She stopped and approached. "I need you to go find a doctor. Get them here right away, preferably with a stretcher." He said.

Rosemary took in the situation quickly and nodded. "Right." She'd explain her disappearance to her boss later. This looked too serious to delay. She started running.

Before Alex could protest the girl had run off. "I'm fine. Its just sore." he pouted and went to move flinching. "OK a little more then sore but a stretcher isn't needed." he grumbled wishing the girl would hurry standing there was not helping.

"Even if it's not necessary, it's still the best option. I can't carry you, and you can't walk, and it's better to be safe than sorry. Just relax until they get here." Cal said sternly.

Rosemary was gone for five minutes before she returned with a doctor and a stretcher. The doctor took over, Getting Alex onto the stretcher and telling Cal to help him carry the patient back to his office. Rosemary watched the whole thing, worried.

Alex smiled at Rose. "I'll be fine it takes a whole lot more then this to keep me down." he grimaced. "Though it will be a while before I can get back up."

Rosemary gave him a tense, worried smile. "Of course. Before you go, could you tell me which horse it was? I'll need to check and see what set them off." She said.

"i think I just startled it is all." Alex smiled at her. "It was the big stallion. Make sure he's ok for me would you?''

Rosemary nodded. "Of course. You focus on getting better." She told him.

"Lay still, brother, we're going to move now." Cal instructed.

Alex grimaced and held his breath as they moved him.

Lori wondered in as they where leaving. "What happened to him?"

Rosemary grimaced. "One of the horses kicked him." She replied. "I wish you'd gotten here sooner, the older one was something to see. I think that's the first genuine emotion I've seen from him since we got here. You would have gotten a laugh out of it."

"I'm sorry I miss it." Lori blinked. "I feel bad for him but I still don't trust them." she sighed a little. "I do hope he'll be ok though."

Rosemary nodded. "I know how you feel. The younger one...I'm not sure what to think about him. He seems almost like he's too...clumsy, to be acting. But the older one is definitely acting, I don't trust him at all, which means I can't trust the younger one." She shook her head. "It's confusing. I want to just stay away from them both, but they're customers and I can't avoid them..."

"If the older one would act normal I would be able to relax. Let's go check on that horse." Lori lead the way then froze. "A crow?" she stared at it. "Whats a crow doing here?" she frowned. "I feel like I should know why this is bad."

"What do you mean by normal? He's been nothing but polite this whole time. How do you want him to act, exactly? All moody and distrustful, like you?" Rosemary teased. She blinked a few times at the crow. "How odd. Maybe it belongs to one of the guests?" She stepped forward, extending her hand towards the bird. "Hello there...do you belong with someone?"

"It's holding a message." Lori blinked. She approached the crow who tilted its head at her "Easy there." she yelped when she was pecked. "Ok." she spotted a mouse trap and got the dead creature off it. The crow took it allowing her to take the message.

Once the doctor was out of ear shot Alex turned to his brother. "It was Cleo that startled the horse. She has a message. "You have to get it before someone else does."

Cal went pale. "I'll get it. But, Alex, please tell me your contacts send their messages in code, at least."

Rosemary peeked over her sister's shoulder. "We shouldn't read it. It's not for us." She said, though she sounded more curious than cautious. "What's it say? No! No we shouldn't..."

"Depends on which one it is." Alex grimaced. "There's one that doesn't."

Lori headed inside already opening the letter. "It's coded." she blinked. "Who needs a coded message?"

Cal sighed. "Let's hope this one is coded." He said. "I'll be back soon. Do as the doctor says." He added sternly before leaving.

Rosemary shrugged. "Plenty of people. The knights use them all the time to communicate. Spies would use them. Even we might need to use them, if we don't want to be tracked." She reasoned. "Whoever it belongs to clearly wants their conversations to be private."

Lori hummed in agreement and scanned the message trying to work it out. She noticed the older brother outside and glanced at the note. She quickly stuffed it in her bra before anyone else say it.