x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMsHxcdP5L
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCZtEqOP2H
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFVekEJ32E
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZornlFamP9
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvHF6kTZII
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBD9Enbx1g
“She disappeared?”230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIW4jJvYjaN
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyzcrCWulM
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kSWTtQMzM
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9W56WsK0R
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaTXFxwatLZ
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIrowjPFi09
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRBnQESTzp
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndpo5AjvJl
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVv0TZAmpeD
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzz2d3Zed9
brought everyone starting to follow him...230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8dOiXoCwf
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgl41TSewqN
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3YxDeWZY6
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZtTQSLCeR
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGR2JJcCGf
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfpacq8444
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUQ4aruJpEE
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIUYpItCcd
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQGNnC3q5t
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2fJTPcdCo
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfdgPFZ3Yh
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGZk9Mnn1jm
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡihcvljr5OI
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWJUbHNDb5
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5F2mVvJQtx
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1MwENSw0O
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtysTZwHx5
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU76R9eWnpM
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BNQabRSON
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcw3qMrUiK6
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGL0N1D282u
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCMKeGOmmz
of what had transpired during the night.230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHMdJ6meTE
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJlKSkB0Xy
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQgEbWPVvZ
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3Jm5JhfZB
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ21sJCvvk7w
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7zJILKlIn
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl5GMNhK5K2
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vuElhy0Dp
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIb2Oi6FfyI
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqKOWXVfmZ
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLTK54ZilB
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyESjljeRDc
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzgmHrzFnUf
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed230Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5FismMq30T
and what intentions drove her.
