x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OTOQpeyfl
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvnS2gPD5Ip
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvAdBxWlB8
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBk60qT1Ih
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhqifNhCnq
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxlB9cW5pR9
“She disappeared?”352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCPKpRMbrm
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbroyQOg8to
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOyy3zAnNW
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMOLD6z29K
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8LLoTyGx3s
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6cGIlCw2jz
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3ovVGj0Hi
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk2NflHAuIJ
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5vgNpQsjmY
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQL6mTv9ML
brought everyone starting to follow him...352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQND8P0cF7
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNGB3gmx9n
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZWfdyC195
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTp7OfVbBo5
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7v2hl6Hd6
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqF5k86OhS
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYM9Cx2cqZc
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAojTpljcSD
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1fZTGhmN9X
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDu0P2OYOl
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPuGyc31CJ
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqnggUtkYxf
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqrr98ipEj
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfL9apfgvjW
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFeDCN0l9F
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfsWvfFzzT
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztZHcGvJKN
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW5blrMXNGM
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAivwRZsp2d
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOhGRYsMeS
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxKorGjIMw
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVg8OP3xjeH
of what had transpired during the night.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxh8xH8u0d8
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvNP2SSBxG
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfdOATdStrR
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85a0ep0bDl
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydQLGLd2ts
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5yanErHVW
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4FHFPejC6
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4B09pLwQzZ
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMYsU7eHOS
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVoEp3jityX
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19Ng2YW29d
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡze0PCg9HrV
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7wZ8uPlGq
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed352Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKM6YDWOw8
and what intentions drove her.
