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.
