I woke the next day sometime in the late morning, an almost electric feeling running down my spine. Moments later I heard the familiar thrumming that signified Reina was close. It was another minute or two before the noise cut off and I heard the lock in the door shifting. I hopped to my feet and stretched, I didn’t want to greet Hafreed lying down.

The door squeaked open and a ragged looking Hafreed stumbled in. He took a moment to catch himself and then slowly met my gaze. A light wave accompanying a slight smile belied the red eyes he had.

“Dare I ask how the evening went?” I said quietly, keeping the noise down so as not to wake my charge.

He shifted a little, “I’d rather you didn’t. It’s still a bit… fresh.”

I nodded, it was the third or fourth time he had blown a date with an informant. This normally meant I needed to avoid said informant until such a time as they cooled down… and that Hafreed needed a friend. Unfortunately, I couldn’t risk spending too long in this town, and I had a promise to keep.

“I’ll keep my questions to myself,” I started as I patted him on the back, “but you should get cleaned up. I know there’s a fresh hunt posted this morning that should help you get back in your groove.”

He shrugged off my hand and straightened up. His gaze met my own for a second, telling me how hurt he was mixed with how much he appreciated my friendliness. He then blinked, nodded, and wandered off into one of his showers. At that point I decided to wake Ashley and get us on the road.

Lightly I flicked her neck and said just loud enough to be considered conversational, “Time to get up and go.”

She all but jumped out of her skin when I did that. She was hyperventilating and looking around, trying to get her bearings. While she eventually calmed and began breathing normally, I was a little concerned that she would be like that until I sent her off. I sighed and turned around, motioning her to get dressed and meet me by the door.

Less than ten minutes later, Ashley was dressed and ready to leave. I cracked the door and peered outside, scanning for anyone who might try to do us harm. When I was certain that the coast was as clear as it was going to get, I ushered her out to the motorcycle and got on. Having grabbed the keys from Hafreed’s pants that he had left unceremoniously outside the bathroom, I gave Reina a quick rub and inserted the key. Her engine roared to life and her body thrummed with power, just the same as always, a pleasant feeling that brought back memories.

I motioned to Ashley to hold on and started to get us pointed at the road. She wrapped her arms around my midriff and we pealed out of the back streets onto the main thoroughfare. I followed the streets to the south exit of the city and eventually hit the highroad that would carry us down to Felingan in no more than a few hours… provided nothing went wrong.

For the first hour there didn’t seem to be much activity on the highroad, but then a large black vehicle zoomed past us. I didn’t have time to identify the particulars on it, but it looked like a car used to transport dignitaries and the like… what did they call those? Oh, yeah, a limo. I didn’t realize they could go that fast, being that large. I figured that meant it must have had a massive magicite crystal in the engine. I was unlikely to see anything like that again in my life, assuming I kept avoiding bodyguard missions. Ashley would likely not see one again for a long time, most vehicles don’t function well in Ytralia.

It was only another half an hour, maybe a little more, and we saw a vehicle off to the side of the road in the distance. Ashley poked my side and pointed, her motion telling me that she wanted us to stop and investigate, potentially offer a helping hand. I didn’t want to, but I figured I’d go along with her wordless suggestion and began to slow down. It took another five minutes for us to get close enough that I could pull off behind them. Killing the engine, I told Ashley to hang tight and I’d see if we couldn’t get them up and running.

I walked carefully to the front of the long car… the limo that had passed us, I guessed. I saw a young man bent over the engine, catching the occasional muttered curse here and there. He didn’t seem to notice me coming up, or maybe he was just ignoring me. Whatever the case may be, I could see a few issues from where I was standing and I figured I should share.

“Hey, you got everything under control? It looks like you’ve got an overworked crystal and a superheated engine. I could help-“ I started.

“Get lost, I don’t need your help.” The gruff voice came from the boy, but he never turned around.

I sighed, slightly irked, and snapped my fingers. A small flurry of snow burst through behind him and hit the engine. The flurry was calculated to be just below melting point so that when it hit the engine it would be water instead. I wanted him to crack, not the engine. The crystal reacted to the wind of the flurry and I could see it gulp up the energy, effectively refuelling the vehicle a little.

The boy growled and turned on me as he slammed the hood of the vehicle.

“What the hell are you playing at? I told you-“ He started, but the engine of the vehicle came suddenly to life, cutting off any further complaints.

We both turned to look. A young woman, probably not any older than myself, was sitting half inside the limo’s front cab, smiling. She then cut the engine and stood up. She was short, easily a head shorter than me, and she had an eccentric style. Her hair was dark blonde with green and blue highlights, her nails were done in shades of purple and gold, and her style was… I guess you could call it “punk-y” if you had to call it something.

“Ed, the kind gentleman just fixed our vehicle. Let’s not get too upset, he just wanted us to be able to make it to the next town. Thank him and let us be on our way.” The girl’s voice was soft but stern.

The boy, Ed, turned to me. His face was still a scowl, but he mumbled his thanks and trod back to the vehicle. He opened the door to the back and waited for the girl to make her way there.

“Thank you very much, sir. I hope we meet again so I may more properly provide my thanks.” The girl bowed and made her way back into the back seat.

Ed closed the door and slid himself into the driver’s seat. His glare never wavered, but I could see the relief in his face too. I shrugged and walked back to Reina and Ashley as Ed peeled off the side of the road and zoomed off. Ashley asked what had happened, so I gave her the short version and slung my leg over Reina. I told Ashley to grab hold and get comfortable again before starting the engine. We then followed Ed’s lead and all but flew off onto the road. Just another hour or two and we would be in Felingan, at one of my own safe houses, and one step closer to getting Ashley free.