x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYz4KwgmtxH
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkxIQzuC6L
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3Bc3pahUc
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNzTx3Ut4F
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtB2wYA3nZ
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡenQRnAtjTT
“She disappeared?”429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGBZEueXNv
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDn5BJJUWV
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡik5tmEMCaV
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCQPVJOYaOY
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhY5SVSkKJ
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8oWorp1JwR
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfP98XfqdMh
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsK7BmPaP2V
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw7p9Ctgari
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYNzjIPH0D
brought everyone starting to follow him...429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3vLKDDxIyZ
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAynxrS1BlT
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9PqgAmmOX
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCmdkL0nQ1
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVraP1ZwUJT
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsnQWGj6dM
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuhWf1SAMec
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmwN9P0452
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdLR8TlkRin
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjg3jEnK1S9
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa98gBUdCqg
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6xya0l5vP8
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEp42qBwuwq
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgXsrRBgewg
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbT4EmMLWX7
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6F1OeF3W28
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51ESTrZPKi
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9RpGB81j2s
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyhJrSAwmG
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntXBmqKpVu
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVCimJhoUQ
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjaoUtM7ak2
of what had transpired during the night.429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKHzmR1tJAt
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGViYhc6RUy
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0W4IbUMe7
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4bRqcn0g8
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHvZJM09hQ
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmdBMwwxTD
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewaT8dmcpz
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIk9z1eQbc
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40ypJrKLYQ
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKqM5BDTaX
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRyXQof7lY
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5A1tRvUBR
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6QieNBVGV
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed429Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrTqqnQNNj
and what intentions drove her.
