
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those438Please respect copyright.PENANAOLzfN6nZxb
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a438Please respect copyright.PENANAX7yIRLnxsN
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”438Please respect copyright.PENANAEPiFvQ5rw7
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another438Please respect copyright.PENANACcAkzOzgay
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would438Please respect copyright.PENANAnbSOjzvkx7
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...438Please respect copyright.PENANAAKswsfuy2D
“She disappeared?”438Please respect copyright.PENANA3rt5i6uQeu
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.438Please respect copyright.PENANA98OPRJPqCM
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.438Please respect copyright.PENANA6FrQeGkEk5
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.438Please respect copyright.PENANAbaiIuesmRu
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have438Please respect copyright.PENANAMnye6rfwE0
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions438Please respect copyright.PENANA4wks6vxXR1
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me438Please respect copyright.PENANAriHJfIEpxR
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with438Please respect copyright.PENANA0Yu5JQtvOB
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as438Please respect copyright.PENANAg3b8wpOYjZ
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps438Please respect copyright.PENANAzVHQ8NFw6o
brought everyone starting to follow him...438Please respect copyright.PENANAoEksphIG5J
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had438Please respect copyright.PENANAqku8PYC7Yt
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north438Please respect copyright.PENANAI7YbBENivM
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a438Please respect copyright.PENANAGd6k3tQm6A
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone438Please respect copyright.PENANAHGiNuIihFU
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade438Please respect copyright.PENANASC8Q8LHKpl
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?438Please respect copyright.PENANALP4n557kuW
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch438Please respect copyright.PENANAmfQMqOSpQa
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.438Please respect copyright.PENANAOV65kJd9ke
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.438Please respect copyright.PENANAIZkDVl5su7
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of438Please respect copyright.PENANApbHGkwaBAI
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper438Please respect copyright.PENANAUZEqm0g28Q
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us438Please respect copyright.PENANAEvm07M7aXq
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget438Please respect copyright.PENANAN6ayNmgErY
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say438Please respect copyright.PENANA5hsQmtWGLa
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to438Please respect copyright.PENANA24nSIEb52m
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all438Please respect copyright.PENANAzffmupGvWL
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,438Please respect copyright.PENANAQUeEvQUPWE
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging438Please respect copyright.PENANAlEfKV85xlq
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.438Please respect copyright.PENANAwKzMzbcYqS
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say438Please respect copyright.PENANAcWa3y7ZQPs
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn438Please respect copyright.PENANAgPBhSjw4JZ
of what had transpired during the night.438Please respect copyright.PENANAVMh4AUJpYn
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that438Please respect copyright.PENANAFbJVM7odQd
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.438Please respect copyright.PENANA1I5ZMUGC51
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our438Please respect copyright.PENANAGU4q7HpWDG
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for438Please respect copyright.PENANAJKZB3nbSDR
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went438Please respect copyright.PENANATl60lBFw8l
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that438Please respect copyright.PENANAbGBXD2MnRa
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be438Please respect copyright.PENANA3o13ACqMIn
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.438Please respect copyright.PENANAGP2CY65EvT
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?438Please respect copyright.PENANAOqspog7nDR
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own438Please respect copyright.PENANAeMAbODwVzx
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt438Please respect copyright.PENANAXmLg7CSTTu
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but438Please respect copyright.PENANA4eYTMIMG4O
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed438Please respect copyright.PENANAJrEl3YhDuu
and what intentions drove her.