x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzKwDQphTdo
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVFStZpTvFU
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFndi9TlVt
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBDQNQDgbK
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg1xIuCThH5
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNmm9UFohP
“She disappeared?”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7jK75SWkg
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhf8EFqQI1n
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYOXSXVll1
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGq3YvaOAwC
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVc3bf8bs2H
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNuQuab55Z
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5kkW9ddJL
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBJ3g2H382
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKXUVnv64Z5
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDwbuYx3zT
brought everyone starting to follow him...195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrHt5ugEUK
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHHBsHD14QX
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXfhwEjH84h
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiq1r4eRsF2
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjCXEOVAtl
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwcpEtbN0YZ
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHuzA8rUXp
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlyqZbXUQC
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHV45qaUuQ
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEcstAtjpu
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSeY9DsMu8r
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNn45vnAAL8
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT50N15PnZS
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMXmZnDLZY
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58JvOMno8U
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodsWqbQFiZ
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡos42wPq5q4
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQRdgi6YIO
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOcwbL0lgok
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEzddqE13Kq
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMaJUIJxnA
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZciZRtnTA0
of what had transpired during the night.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7dO9NoNhH
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvWtytklDg
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZhuDR5lfx
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAZ4aqNJMe
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV35S3gGIPp
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkW7mPI0xb1
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYUltAYegp
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIEJbL483e
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtl33NxbgPZ
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd08Y5eyK0q
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbWBxhgrwZ
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRONkHnuIQM
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBtWX024iGD
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzz0IykL4jb
and what intentions drove her.
