x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzYFZNHfC5
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86x29uO3cj
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDDT1gEckO
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuE8rHzVH83
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeERDdcqnf1
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwq2F4893qM
“She disappeared?”297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpuF5QokzQ
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCFS512wP2
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6M7OMmmtQw
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGhoLQx3v9
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLUiBljAqHU
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3EgtCOyvn
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡesUUsfkQ2g
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ySz6Nb6dH
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavjijHQe8x
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsoZb5g0dTz
brought everyone starting to follow him...297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBfBvI7ncx
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vVdrfSdyV
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLwMNLvOT1r
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoazCIZvcYs
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bYgjaIpyp
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1trLPHnaco
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4htgcgVRh
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgBJVbzFqnk
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPgPzQNc3u
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPg4Q7CnHXX
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmaJfuuHhd
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mWMlncdeO
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmHE1jwoWZ
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqsk3kJXiZ
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK7X761Xn7L
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6YpFrADb2X
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcZRUAcGyz
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcppxdy9Fe
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR6DHPF0ohG
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGLvh6Ujji
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAI9o4a83hh
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZTTal2Rdz
of what had transpired during the night.297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3d4fr4Yvjt
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBXhFTvpi1b
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbkbjsOu37
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yoBnJyviS
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcEr4NzwOi
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmk8gu7Hkvl
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPc4dL00mA
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurDlzZ5xrW
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOecTVG1i3o
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQG4rORNZF
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikJs2jCLZQ
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzrzZQ4unhk
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6o9z6W9DM
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHAphVkFRE
and what intentions drove her.
