x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Nm7YY4FHP
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtQl6GvrIi
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdBebLefgD
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9iFYfmxrZ
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojr7c7WSWN
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaxeXfh48YX
“She disappeared?”343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4TaTjDlFu
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Fk7HY9ROm
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJQFiQ39Mf
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0zkTESwPp
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPp2SBv7zh5
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTS8WITiTKN
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vLYoMT0l3
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51zTHoyYdv
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXCfZyoIvkY
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rIGQuxufB
brought everyone starting to follow him...343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFFXt4O8C6d
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbXbIq9wFm
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryPugjDfbL
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYLv5uDDBa
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJCWgospG5V
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhmdKvYufu
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgSG7Zcf8wG
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLF8IfchAb
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFaoyio8eGu
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7RqTVnpAb
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEuknqf76d
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx9SSylu7vy
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrH9dUytDh
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iXhpj4lYw
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLZwUZgKBT
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡymCTxdNaBh
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjS2FYPvygg
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCSC62Vw7V
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvo4UAvAqfy
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡphB3roDRq6
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBtVW1SYJOn
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ShbFp0yjP
of what had transpired during the night.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeEUZSfJZt
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprTrtchl33
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTx6SzcO5Jy
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4IUe5rPkCH
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8LwVSanbS0
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEancCMcRl
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBapgMgRI07
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HmhMZN2Xx
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXRzax8IvO
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSg9f53XaoL
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZu8zpHBfY
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25e2LznIkH
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7p43fMUhfT
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed343Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaHAjIUClut
and what intentions drove her.
