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--1st Anniversary Special (day 3/7, page 3/4)--
‘She made me curious,’ said Garovel. ‘I think you’re right, though. I’m guessing there’s something in Warrenhold that she doesn’t want to talk about in front of Mehlsanz and the Queen--or possibly Harper, because he’s Vanguard.’

‘What would she want to hide from them?’

‘Don’t know. I have a few guesses, but I’m hoping for a nice surprise.’

‘You couldn’t just ask her while no one else was around?’

‘I was busy helping the Queen out. And besides, I like surprises, remember?’

‘Ugh.’

‘Eh, I trust Voreese’s judgment. She wouldn’t try to surprise us with some pile of horseshit. Probably.’

‘If you say so.’

After that, Garovel went back to talking about history, but Hector found it hard to continue listening. As soon as he realized that he was beginning to drift off to sleep, he politely asked Garovel to stop so he could concentrate on the road. The reaper begrudgingly obliged.

When they finally started drawing close to Gray Rock, Hector followed the SUV ahead of him down a side road for a while until they eventually pulled over. Jamal got out and showed Hector the forking path in front of them, the problem being that one of the roads was closed off. Jamal pulled the orange barricades aside as he explained.

“We’re nearly there,” he said. “A rock slide left the road ahead blocked, but that shouldn’t be a problem for you, right?”

“Uh... I-I guess so.”

Amelia laughed as she came up behind them. “It seems we are already going to get a demonstration of our young lord’s strength.”

Hector gaped at her. “L-lord?”

“Of course,” she said, blinking. “Were you not told of your accompanying title?”

“Eh... I don’t think so...”

“You are the acting Lord of Warrenhold. Or the acting Lord of the Gray Warren, I suppose. Whichever name you prefer. Personally, I like the prior.”

“Oh... uh. I guess that... would make sense.”

It didn’t take much longer to reach the obstacle that Jamal was talking about. There’d been several more roads connecting along the way, and it seemed that this one was the only path forward. It cut through a small hill, wherein a wall of gray boulders now stood in evening darkness.