x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLpoxYvqRK
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtYdlfOrmu
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhKlHm3HYzj
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHyMdRD6DkX
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFP2ezri8n7
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoWVGq82YY
“She disappeared?”232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNnl9B2eYoU
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFmxlNjKMi
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡim7fmJaxnM
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGluJFGCLtU
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh1N1uehaNA
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtL6c3qepp
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hz2FoF75s
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRfrup1KLl
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLVN6LNCFe
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCNBIx9uP2
brought everyone starting to follow him...232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Vmvx2VNxN
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1RTCaqpWDh
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkTyCzO8J7S
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ujc1664Qu
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHpuMG1I3hg
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWB0o334vjS
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LfLfWePR8
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9VmrpKBvQ6
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DWvhYq3qg
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjoFZs7ZHt0
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOtLxUI0cM
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHnB0AQWdY
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQeYOP3TqD
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJYahvn0Wf
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvPK4Vx8Y5
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmMQbx8L1a
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1HRr6lNFT
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlBEsRMPbJ
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0UJ0ct6p1e
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwGYy5reGyu
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDnJXTLcdh
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpKniilIO7
of what had transpired during the night.232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsppS0RSKQ
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrc84R14Ve
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0nHBomLAp
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡif6Mndqd1e
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU3y8IrTG7h
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxAojrGO3Os
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcnUBG3eDo
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUyOxc6VvLL
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrTkWiwVvF
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PLUG0zQlr
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQYj7bj8oI
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEwQAkX3KqR
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKv4y8UbCuy
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed232Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhJpkmVj3u
and what intentions drove her.
