x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1sdCGJIEq
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZP8oQ0UcE
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4UJIapGojI
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxN8JTz0QF2
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NLvtT4xtR
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzw1BwXusO7
“She disappeared?”358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1lUsCQjyo2
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfFau7pixOr
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Kt8JVtIsB
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCT139shb0w
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5JwmmfyzYo
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrjamNdWqS
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUleUWaKwP
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXl9gXDHqK
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHJokeApVH
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb08bCVBI5G
brought everyone starting to follow him...358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaR12tZC2k7
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3lzYFztKD
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK3ZUChYA8W
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXpgzW1ZF3
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvPlFQBkb2
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZAKyBSlcWz
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkcBl5xy0AT
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSoCVgiYDH
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2N2KvSQRF
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24D5BBN5We
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MAwj7fjPO
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOdD7B6SV0w
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqG1cwgdEWF
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9us7ZjqnL1
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtXlDaT6z1N
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObXeGtHH45
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXbp2sCbzH
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8RsYS5zS9
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhKqmctXTb
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMJcTlgz9j
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOcR4KQaAI
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtv7IU9ZEdE
of what had transpired during the night.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb67ugofV6Y
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf6YH16kjdC
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNpKE5KCrH
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DCyuIcOen
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRImIRcPkp1
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUGdldJD1E
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvC7qgrxSeW
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhkly08WPu5
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZYk0mRiQL
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Zbe2AyRzE
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcB1DDgpgl
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOPCx5YjhB
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQaqLP6C9p
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwol2x7ra3D
and what intentions drove her.
