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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 1 of 2))
Again, Ericoros said nothing.

Hector waited for him, though. Surely, the reaper had something to say in response, right? He must've just been taking some time to think.

...Right?

No. The answer to that was no.

Hector could see why Leo had warned him about Ericoros being difficult to deal with.

Orric, however, decided to chime in now. 'Ericoros, do you have a request that you would like to make of Lord Goffe?'

Hmm?

Still, though, Ericoros remained silent.

Hector was abruptly uncertain. A request? He looked between Melchor and Orric, hoping for an explanation.

'C'mon, now,' Orric prodded. 'Isn't there something about all this news of war that has been bothering you?'

Hector had to ask. "What are you talking about?"

'Apologies, Lord,' said Orric. 'I didn't intend to keep this from you for so long, but everything just worked out so beautifully that I wanted to enjoy the simple secrecy of it for a bit.'

'You really never told him?' said Ericoros.

'Of course not. Why would I lie about something like that?'

'Hmph.'

Hector was lost, but he remained patient.

'The truth is,' said Orric, 'Ericoros and I happen to be very old acquaintances.'

Hector blinked. "Is that right?"

Orric returned a nod. 'That is one of the reasons why Melchor and I have been so happy to look after him for you all this time. We had a lot of catching up to do.'

"To be clear," added Melchor, "I had never met Ericoros before. These two knew each other from a thousand years ago and hadn't spoken since."

'More like two thousand,' said Orric.

"Why were you keeping that a secret?" said Hector.

'To manipulate me, I suspect,' said Ericoros. 'To try to use our old friendship as a means of gaining my trust.'

'Ah, so you DO admit that we were once friends, then?'

Ericoros just growled.