x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSmjeclsSx
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbjtk5LJBka
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxE1zps8UX
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5iNjhVZue1
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7YYn8Kh3QL
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKs9aviFms
“She disappeared?”231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx5WIT9RWQh
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5cPeP0AS8i
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nciqk3HsB
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hKOzWif1x
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrefzaTjayw
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEL2CmxNll
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡexpLJ39J3Y
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLY4PssnKo8
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZjKQPLYgpp
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSHPN4t5YI
brought everyone starting to follow him...231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsxWw0A6bb
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJxioXKjLf
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXuQyy2K2X
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAn3T1qR6u
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPxRwDCVUz
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7fsTEm1zu
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDKUdd1VkB
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALfxqREueG
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHN9qyBbtZN
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwDaOINiDxr
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJh1vEvKsY
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRE4tn2Swuc
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fsvWPmfMy
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6jgeSrN7Dm
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWdRtSqvoc
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIgXx8Ji6Q
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ngvyO1q8a
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVV4HSIgGo2
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1r8imkAxO
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehjr1B3saE
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZ60rMy5Le
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJAig4FxhL
of what had transpired during the night.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFPDBvwR3k
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MdKxCvmqv
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOfX0yutkK
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQ52t3n1u8
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlPadnSu5K
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vrEfOJV8m
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMaB9AL2PRa
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUGGKQl3P5
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpE39EBJJXY
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡToXqPcz7J3
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybk5DNXZSZ
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡun7IBsHx5i
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeRs0w7X5U5
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed231Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6gthwrb0d
and what intentions drove her.
