After all, you Red were the main reason she got to join us in the first place all those109Please respect copyright.PENANAiqiAONtJQa
years ago. Do you remember? Anyway, one day she just decided to leave without a109Please respect copyright.PENANAadHjWpNaIZ
word to anyone and we have never heard from her since.”109Please respect copyright.PENANAPLqrYq7MKl
The clouds and everything below them are yet again flashed with white, as another109Please respect copyright.PENANAvfzs9fjYqS
thunderous scream echoes way up above their heads. Red lowered his brow and would109Please respect copyright.PENANAVwireqPthd
take a deep breath before he would dare raise it back up again... slightly...109Please respect copyright.PENANAF4tbbwFksC
“She disappeared?”109Please respect copyright.PENANArhMSPjMMsN
“It is not your fault Red,” replied Harigar Rhim.109Please respect copyright.PENANAqk45AU5Kp0
“Yes, she has always made her own choices,” added Deena.109Please respect copyright.PENANAzLQWM0xEfW
“It was just like that huh?” Red insisted while staring back at them.109Please respect copyright.PENANAK3uuVrnMGP
“She was gone?” he asked again, this time facing Deena, and although he may have109Please respect copyright.PENANA3lDqVd6xy1
been staring at one or the other, the truth in its rawest form, was that his questions109Please respect copyright.PENANALjeTFJb8KR
confronted everyone here “What really happened. Can any of you at least tell me109Please respect copyright.PENANAW0zRZDWpRZ
that much? Marce?” It was obvious that the captain did not want to continue with109Please respect copyright.PENANAiStj9yAugz
this subject and so he immediately decided to bring this to an abrupt conclusion, as109Please respect copyright.PENANA7v0aGh8cwQ
his final words on the matter began around the same time as his newfound footsteps109Please respect copyright.PENANAW5pbKJcKDU
brought everyone starting to follow him...109Please respect copyright.PENANAMd9YB6wV9Y
“One morning we all woke up to her disappearance. She was just gone. We had109Please respect copyright.PENANAhf2YnNheyE
decided to spend the night in an inn amidst the frozen lands, way up to the far north109Please respect copyright.PENANAUOIQlo9clH
as we were, of course, yet on another mission. We were forced to seek refuge from a109Please respect copyright.PENANAc5foCetPMa
sudden storm, and what a storm it was; the flying snow raging, the howling winds alone109Please respect copyright.PENANARTYRGX7YHB
seemed like they could cut any part of you left uncovered if you dared to promenade109Please respect copyright.PENANAuU4GYml01a
outside, you remember the aggressiveness of the north don’t you Red?109Please respect copyright.PENANAoKPIr92dKW
Anyway, conditions were met that forced us to a stop and so we did. I won’t vouch109Please respect copyright.PENANAJeml5P5B32
for anyone else, but I am certain that few, if any of us, had any sleep that night.109Please respect copyright.PENANAxNBKCacJfP
Not in that cold, not with those raging and screaming winds outside every window.109Please respect copyright.PENANAV9ttNqFbgd
The storm came to pass, and a warm morning took its place, but besides the relief of109Please respect copyright.PENANAngBsmLwRWJ
a sunnier vista, that rising sun also brought us breakfast and its carrier, the innkeeper109Please respect copyright.PENANACUS4qCexgt
who approached us with dire news. Such a sweet old lady she was. She approached us109Please respect copyright.PENANAMu2yIbnag5
with the news that the woman in our party, the tall and pierced one - I’ll never forget109Please respect copyright.PENANAbxzFCRHtVe
the way she described her - had left during the night and had instructed her not to say109Please respect copyright.PENANALasvbsk9PI
a word to any of us. We were to be left unaware of her departure till it was too late to109Please respect copyright.PENANADcT4mNfYdv
try and stop her...”
“That tall woman in yer party captain, the one with her skin pierced all109Please respect copyright.PENANAiyYuwhSe7H
over and a big spear behind her back, she just wandered into the night. Why,109Please respect copyright.PENANALmncbuMElf
she disappeared as if absorbed by the storm. Off she went into those raging109Please respect copyright.PENANAW32SPqwvvC
white blizzards, the likes which I’ve never seen in all my years living here.109Please respect copyright.PENANAc84YNish2e
She left behind only the coin to pay your bill and the instructions for my silence. Not to say109Please respect copyright.PENANADOzuFh2TO8
a word I was, not until morning came.”
“The innkeeper did as she was told Red, and so only by morning time, did we learn109Please respect copyright.PENANAfOEmIyDbHc
of what had transpired during the night.109Please respect copyright.PENANAgikoEZUiwx
We were all so very exhausted from the hardships we had faced up to that point, that109Please respect copyright.PENANAiP2PJRs6Nl
none of us were in any condition to notice someone as skilled as Elistia taking leave.109Please respect copyright.PENANAKWOgSqVUoX
We were too tired to notice most of the things we usually do, too tired to keep our109Please respect copyright.PENANAuuBk8Gn7Qj
eyes open whilst at the same time too tired to sleep as well. It was a strange night for109Please respect copyright.PENANA8EBjxgGMir
all of us. We were left behind, speechless around that small table, while Deena went109Please respect copyright.PENANA53LXTv5t2u
out after any signs, but no tracker would have been able to find a clue. Not after that109Please respect copyright.PENANAVXL5MjFRMF
storm. Elistia was one of us after all, and one of the Wurad, so no one would ever be109Please respect copyright.PENANAT0ShS8Iel8
able to pick up her trail; not unless she wanted them to.109Please respect copyright.PENANARmZ73u3cm2
So, what else was there for us to do, rather than mourn?109Please respect copyright.PENANA4QogPmhWXC
We had our time of silence for the loss of one of our own, one that left us by her own109Please respect copyright.PENANAOiivhsB4eW
accord, and then shortly after we got back to our duties. I guess we all deep down felt109Please respect copyright.PENANAuLZhk0VXOo
or at least hoped that being one of the Wurad, she had just gone back to her tribe but109Please respect copyright.PENANA9D9NGXqgkF
in all honesty, to this day, none of us can claim to know for sure where she was headed109Please respect copyright.PENANA3XhVUdDUAj
and what intentions drove her.