x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaR2CbgI3RF
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp3YmP7Sga9
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbwwUJ9Nwy
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OTkl2wG17
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYCkhox0Mh
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8nyAVsRAWT
“She disappeared?”415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOITYmCz32m
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWFDsH0zTR
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qo130aMDb
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4g4geQv0T
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkITaIsfSdn
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzQBdqE29b
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSqYJzDBkv
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzaSE2QhCK
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkDrmhKEusu
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NjwqjuJev
brought everyone starting to follow him...415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEShjs686MV
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD9rwAvsbA7
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOJeCIikkB
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwgN4VayX3
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSJg2pXyax
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx4pYZEcV1Y
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaD2n7DFaoL
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXXshCmulc
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZMvyZbT3c
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjdkE2cLgl
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjWDNeImoEd
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoDjJpGdTu
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeJiReGcfM
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVoegLY2EW
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrhrIo8Lni
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4sdtTKwl3
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdWJb8jD6I
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFHDcCriHZ
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyElxGlu7M
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPlM04bsnP
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR19eEU9bh6
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR9tav8BvkC
of what had transpired during the night.415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1mYgzeooR
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvRy32RaEL
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDTaapffZvQ
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3xeo05E4O
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSgXe8q4XV
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7mTD0WMT9k
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfb2CplxPu
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1aWjkwKduV
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnbI7CvAwY
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTc5eC7Etpy
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MOlLpGpMX
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoIyRcXsHz
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zm9N5IgHK
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed415Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4NGik26pk
and what intentions drove her.
