x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUg9gs6BNVb
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV35CXvg0DJ
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbroOc2uAl
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7J4qb5Fix
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpXvZOdmng
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwgbFDksWQC
“She disappeared?”276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NYNMdqD9u
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSYr1EFOUp
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbP7bpwzemN
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mjYHQsI8x
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2VNgUQg8x0
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAwhVZ5c8x
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1kXk4kJL6
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQmFnC9pCY
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdcp4JBaS3M
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUwP8liSLG
brought everyone starting to follow him...276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQKTINHQRY
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVkpiAGju3
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfg7qj5LSz
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmoTXKBTEO
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9XiIgUA84
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYC7Co2fmD
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡczG14RujbS
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRtPJJLipz
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiIRat5UBCn
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOuEQKh5vR
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbT9VqkiubV
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPoWpU3wJe
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeFeWttqZ7
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpskco5xdBF
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPeMhwDJbZ
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjpUn2ihgx
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl2AenolJ43
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPrYbIcNOT
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJXUa8Ky2X
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrMXxpxI9N
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodQOalenAZ
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2Vufp6Bqz
of what had transpired during the night.276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1JA2hWvjR
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNWocLboZD
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQKL5OuPNp
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9xlmsbuilH
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNe4QJdcNrM
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9fgObRKCp
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3Ni3QLiRz
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovdXywo1PU
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGQbp7H4if
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3UlJqEtu1X
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfJn3t1HcZ
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaHiXKudMKi
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKi1htQIUKh
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEh5WZfL99
and what intentions drove her.
