x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAg3QSdX0QI
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLw9YKu7RA
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsWyjPpd2D
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTrT2ajlKsA
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqnNFCD2dT
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPbUcFvNEH
“She disappeared?”345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡATnVHYfKYK
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCD4oCIVZtM
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ylpHjKOqh
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEG1YP51LmU
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53v8B6sBAF
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3zeTJGKJgm
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZC5dtJULJr
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9iDMg4p40H
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsPKQ1LMD1
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29PgFQrxeh
brought everyone starting to follow him...345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEx12C7Vlx
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaKWn4YmSZ
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjU1uw9mOhf
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4myAH1NJjo
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BTq9VoRYz
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65BbXjLjEm
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBjEd3Xo9L
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjIfgjVSR8
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvU2Gy3A7cY
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQX7bRUq9F
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjtEOgWjSk
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡji9PDoiHbg
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr0lQWQkidp
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4yrxicD57j
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHG3Jif5JU
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZtq0Dbad5
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJ9eI1V7PM
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh64KrwQdG2
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Cq3GLBa8D
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvaeW39q6F
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRv2sTs17wZ
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqbH9zLJxZ
of what had transpired during the night.345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXN4gRmLXcH
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGKg7KT8y2
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LmvKbmcve
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2KgB44BGmb
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaps0uIpkC
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfVu77rKHio
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRygb6OK16
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFBOlVjtG5
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuq3xep6Bgw
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpQtPlMkWQ
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8lpJLLNc8
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbdnMJ7UK6
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKU2mMh3QHS
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed345Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR9q8wILKLt
and what intentions drove her.
