x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHnGvnG1ffK
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDloXQeaiCO
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwiqLSWjeJ
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhi6vHdZIQ
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡihijUxucLx
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94n0SNNLFo
“She disappeared?”422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqFlZ0LdGD
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzXGktd9CNB
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrOYcHb7rNO
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrAniNRday
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmijvB7oa5T
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0EWzlNcCc
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXpo1CvfYVr
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh6hz9b9w5L
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIEBcOillz
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmGMYnJil7
brought everyone starting to follow him...422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rYBlFlDke
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSdzDtb80S
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJESyBqIwQ
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOUn78UFlp
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPLrgmYWtU
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvdWpBpf0Rc
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJlLd8euCMw
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQO7zNYBrd
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXtl4Ox0eQ
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyMlca9rsF
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPMjtTCIbY
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0VXfZnS3g
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXw9UusghS
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaAYfyPZYIJ
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn3L7BRLClI
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1WbHA4ylU
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9toSOZynO
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPgLd3O2HC8
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ507xmxZMay
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZnIze3cuH
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFBbkgqvOI
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBOlVsXz3Q
of what had transpired during the night.422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0LMwdkeVA
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkarOxl4wr
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8bQcmudOl
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qLuHwPxak
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHmjAcShmG
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7HGDio3LJ
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLh7Pbo4TKE
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVyGj72wSl
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9aVCJj8Lw
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBLrz9Qzfz
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9V6a945hN
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9KIt0GujXE
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfFSaW8jfbO
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed422Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm50Iiir0XL
and what intentions drove her.
