x
After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwHh4uKYte
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVh40tSX581
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ckkG4Q655
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5jPZ3Udx8
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hYFmB5zQg
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzR7hl9Byel
“She disappeared?”338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9SQ34yNad
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPAWwoo21kb
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoK4fpamI3L
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzy4ivalZRq
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXmbUbERb3
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvwoquJ9ED
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCIHYN2bX6K
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEs4x5xpil
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKn3qIInvPh
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmDgqBYnHL
brought everyone starting to follow him...338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXpIBTns9p
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaoxcK5XnQd
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YA8HgAPMb
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtO6uf564H
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqySdw73lp
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9w5qibAZJb
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmN1lQTjLjo
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnmzXFnvew
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRLyqdzNSl
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOLrBO4NIx
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLJDLY4XJmn
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtAQhdA1aVx
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj68geJaPYt
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxUIfvuPET
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv50XHLpb0H
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhoGEXmcjXM
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzS86IZRak
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHnH0ZwCto
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTlxv9Wbt5W
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYji5DuliF4
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh1fQ17NyaF
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ZKgxyryEX
of what had transpired during the night.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeco3RGSEh
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyNfjHld10
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1hhk4SmUue
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6UhagM3P6
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ts7hwoNTv
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTMKZmixqAn
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrSnp11DO8
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DWALR0L7Y
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJCql5J6cj
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqtbD9l0y9
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MSx0u1OLw
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWJmahgCPO
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlC51y2adNg
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed338Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFDhi1Y0zM
and what intentions drove her.
