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~~Holiday Special (Day 7/7, Page 3/6)~~
She found her car again and tossed the keys to William. “It has GPS,” she said. “Follow it to the last address it recorded. Should be outside Walton. When you get there, look for a door in the ground, and you’ll find an underground bunker.”

He gave her a confused look. “You are not going to come with me?”

“I’ll meet you at the bunker as soon as I can.”

“But why--?”

“I’m not leaving here without my friend.”

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The regeneration was almost finished. He had enough muscle tissue to stand again, though his walking remained slow and stilted. He could see Garovel overlooking the castle grounds from the sky. ‘You see her yet?’ Hector asked.

‘Ah... Oh, there she is. She’s already at the front gate.’

‘Good.’

‘And that’s the King’s aura driving away. Looks like she got him to safety.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Yep.’ The reaper laughed. ‘This was supposed to be our plan, but she’s doing all the important stuff, isn’t she?’

Hector shrugged. ‘Hey, I don’t mind...’

‘Uh-oh.’

He stopped. He was starting to hate hearing that from Garovel. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I sense Karkash approaching.’

‘Aw, fuck.’ His legs were fully returned now, and he started running. ‘You’re sure it’s him?’

‘Afraid so. From the northwest. He must’ve received word we were here.’ Garovel descended back to the ground where Hector could protect him. ‘Harold’s not that far away, and we’ve already seen how fast he can fly.’

‘I really didn’t want to fight him again...’

‘His reaper will be able to sense us. He’ll chase after us until you force him not to.’

He circled around the castle, trying to reach the front, but Karkash found him first. When Hector saw the man hovering there, he created a lightning rod in the grass for himself, but much to his surprise, Karkash did not immediately attack him.

Instead, Karkash slowly descended toward Hector, and offered a few words in a thick Vaelish accent. “Where is the King?”

Hector wasn’t entirely sure how to answer, but Garovel did so for him.

‘He’s gone,’ the reaper said.