x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4JWvTDVkl
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxX2gh0iHHX
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGnaDQ8i6W
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZ3v8MUBcG
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3lwEYIcIpG
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTjp3DoppzD
“She disappeared?”370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgSbMo6sYNI
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRaM6QNjx1
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGVpLaLm9Q
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAsMsgKeVE
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFp3elJmRKZ
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4BOb6e49j
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9q4KsI5LV
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fTTFcBhEb
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8H0uKXrpM
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvtcOFe5NYZ
brought everyone starting to follow him...370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXiUrK2xOh
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17q8b7n9s0
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyG00d5lGeb
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1btaeIJOz
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbQLnAVB9B
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIqy8otefCs
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3krIuoO1lq
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kYjw0DmDG
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYXSkyyJGmG
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8pZwzeyLJB
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTikrw87crZ
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPR8noq4YnP
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3UOISAmBo
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFE6evf8TY
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45gYoPrtO3
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSK319CmHGl
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzA5vAoIF7
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9xP5wOEp6
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMT91fMQ8Fc
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZO6mnfXWtC
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡei9zBDvb0q
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggTJUEZJQx
of what had transpired during the night.370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRYXtC5Umha
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLXOSY4n6R
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHpbyNOhdQ
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzLZQI5Keo
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4Rj8NYDZt
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5QThkD88n
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgunsqSzOL7
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjnpJGYcpae
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6w5P5jcx1Q
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGsQwYBq7m
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdrrGD15lxE
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXiq2fNYeD
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDPJvUHTiGx
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed370Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Jl8jY9eL0
and what intentions drove her.
