x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxDKvXN6Uy
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHM0hCDb38U
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVpB1sJKe6
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNtLHVqtyf
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTo6ve8x9X4
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQGGEYMsTY
“She disappeared?”258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSAqzrUeGQ
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Yev2FvPmD
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyaHnrgc1s
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPIyubmEg45
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8HRIC59YmT
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPszMJxoreK
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjDWzpNP5u
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfuCFnhIam
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvqyvgEz7u
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfSGU5oJOW
brought everyone starting to follow him...258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4e9reqWCb
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yjqdieoql
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSxSbyl1t6
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVCnE4E6RW
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlckdaewfgo
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfLZVK431p
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyYoLmvJCi
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnlkyTaWxvM
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDMRXp4UTZ
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlARhuJsGtN
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUPnv7Fe8u
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEmzdyzQVr
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUb1NQQj6a
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsOghaMj6s
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡST2lFfbnsP
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7wkM3evkFY
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8RFM57DBT
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxli0NtpqMJ
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzF6CmxAuL9
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTVAAdbSA4
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOdvSjwbfm
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0U0ahKzh1U
of what had transpired during the night.258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5DmqlJ7ziN
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgdiiNbN0ig
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8KsYKSHqy
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRPa6OVt31
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4wm0gGEVhI
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYtiZQ27v3
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXW5WAE1ZC
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYnYYQ57UF
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7YKkRtzXU
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XVKwqDnTN
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxklJoMmiJx
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaXIVELoGgE
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkt5aCdiGU
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed258Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFqHl68L5w
and what intentions drove her.
