x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqAjisVLcT
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouOVoFD4wY
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVXk2DZknY
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIF1R1HiotO
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NUrcPWBMD
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU1EE3RMsQQ
“She disappeared?”400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjb8p5gSBG
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuw731PWif
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwzFJ4f0Lq
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXlPddqNXe
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Fq53GBRsB
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dBG0z5tVh
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvagMDfFuO
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPWgCpyKUL
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusQR20RONZ
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjBArOkiQ3
brought everyone starting to follow him...400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGnfz9Mjumv
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMnea6SfA1L
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nOF7peujG
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawm8oJfnT5
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVkWHE2u7L
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJ0MTWDFHr
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr91g9SPic7
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7JPgnotZS
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxn64ykhgR
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyv3oN36e9v
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcUtQBe405
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwJUGp5esZ
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVqbapimRc9
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPGtnjRh27
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxbBsC3wSYs
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnfTkv0YdH
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1q55SPSJJ
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLrDKCrX1E0
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVp4LZvovn
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25HxrYun9B
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqaCWjUNhqG
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡel7PZx5Vtz
of what had transpired during the night.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡag0TEc8Nbb
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYj5J6kHnK
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡooh0mMZe4p
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1MdDHcFj6
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ96KZsaItdd
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLw1GM0kfd8
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9m0jPXnDsh
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2WtKdnEJJ
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqPUCFgjUY
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7HTwiBamz
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9VTMuc4oN
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnd9DXcs53Y
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlX4nzP4fJM
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed400Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXNDbeMzL0
and what intentions drove her.
