x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO68CzEviUa
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcQG6aNqBD
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeguLl1EReK
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjsd80kN1k
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigFlgv6yCC
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFewFuB6xin
“She disappeared?”315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJswJiYnbu
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94OC539K9g
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh6PzubZQSS
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5X87hrMr7
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4ZmYmclHO
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnE8Nenv7o4
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQqlSGVL9v
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47NgAuljmk
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡho7BXh0pvq
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0UGVLnouAG
brought everyone starting to follow him...315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHQBPV3dbG
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8AWr2emTf
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm68JJ1KmTY
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3otHoGkASG
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzGT62RMKW
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4TJoRhlxa
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl69fhVE02u
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRWiImz1BS
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFuU623kj3
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YWaPATeqW
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRvPXzxZrz
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLta3Tl1hFP
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVesvNgVtsF
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMVAkv1GTHF
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbdBdgQVTN
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznqV6SMPg5
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXbWiBrmQ0G
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB73q8PNwiP
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfijSFlQTd
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3OuJqaJ2UM
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Ks43CP7NG
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YMunI5c3F
of what had transpired during the night.315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHnv4QcgxkE
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrhxHV0dNj
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfCYtGalGIR
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbfWcp2lBp
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9jJ0JGVTJ
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5DM9k3e7us
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡToL6j54bv1
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBhzGf7jil0
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85KgKdLd22
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWfDJfnABc
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bnxzvR2v9
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Gx7PDXjeQ
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmemSMi8xcL
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed315Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzmIYT0p5d
and what intentions drove her.
