x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO79nbuPJk8
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8UzlV0wKQT
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZenRLc6b41
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFfi4l6uW2
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWOJGR7evkK
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡub8i2DbgDQ
“She disappeared?”385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rZsnLG4M1
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0n5lffOC1
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOpvobAjZo
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqvtMmcWXz
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpMXNuvlh2
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fUgsLwQZW
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzqRV4HLQG
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Q48WT5C4v
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVdwtrHiTO
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6np5Jrqft
brought everyone starting to follow him...385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7byH7fXtOr
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvzGuhk6Qh
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHD2wV4ykKz
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJactpe9SH
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrdMQniFlgB
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaphov8TNxg
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9PQA228NkB
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bobwYC2Pp
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SpdCIcLBp
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSKFAW0Khz
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9poRQFm5eP
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0UJweofYRc
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAkLmhjRZjr
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDIrHNsMtN7
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7RqWZereP
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ543Yt3SCbk
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XYhriIx3u
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMXO2hYbgT
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIePJZDCcS
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzHAnKLtEM
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2DZccLp5lz
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtejUFJw8XT
of what had transpired during the night.385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYwOg7gmHe
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1yjt8xrOo
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvKAXWc2gW
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzXeHbMVqN
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlf6Bsj6sMw
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRv8BnjVoL
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6qkxv2WnK
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0j32yeGYB
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDYXp7cKS8
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8nIwYfSJr6
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPJv9YeANa
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVhIPGAPTv
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvoTuoTmPA
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡexXM0k8aU7
and what intentions drove her.
