"I am surprised he managed to sleep in that inn," Saran replied, wiping the tears from her face. "I would have died before heading out into battle!" She hopped on the horse, once again towering over Keystone.
"You speak of him as a great friend, and yet you don't know him that well. What gives?" the mage continued as she gave a barely visible nod to the monk. A slight flick of the wrist was the only thing that indicated what she did. For the briefest of moments, a jolt of pain arced through Keystone's head, and Kaylee was gone. Saran nodded and smiled.

"I'll take that as a sign it worked. I don't know how long it will help. May be a few minutes, may be a week. I do know that the last thing I used this spell on didn't like me afterwards," she said, bobbing up and down as they rode through the gates. The guards nodded to the pair and raised their halberds.

On the open road, Saran flashed a cheerful smile and drove her spores into the horse's sides, galloping away and waving to the monk to follow her.

The road was open, dusty, and flooded with caravans, refugees and migrants, going about their way as if nothing had changed. The constant flow of traders and guards warded off the usually prolific bandits of the area, and after a few days on the road, the pair made it to the outer edges of Two Stars without interruptions. Keystone had noticed a growing dull headache that started the second day on the road, but Kaylee was nowhere to be found. The horses were barely fatigued after the long trek, trotting along as the open gates of Two Stars came into view.

No guards were on the walls, none manned the gates that screeched in the wind and no sound came from within its walls. No trade caravans seemed to have joined them on the way to the town, leaving the pair alone in front of the gates.