The Characterisation of Annabelle le Roux

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Old Friends are gold

They brought Annabelle out into the courtyard. She looked around at all the posters. The official were dressed in their ceremonial best. Today was the day that she was going to die. They had given her the antidote to Madame Green's potion. She was no longer strong. She could no longer jump high or run fast.

In the centre of the courtyard was the string, as Annabelle thought of the rope that was used to hang people. She knew that the date, time and place of her execution had been censored in the public record so that no one made an attempt to rescue her.

Annabelle had been defeated. All her actions had consequences and now it seemed that none of them had made anything better.

A single bird could be heard to be singing. This was the only creature available to sing her funeral dirge. Then she saw that she was wrong about being all alone, one of the burly guards had tears running down his face.

"Don't worry Annabelle," he whispered in her ear. "You will not be forgotten"

"Is there help on the way" she asked him.

"I know nothing"

The Lowly Lady came into the courtyard. "Annabelle, we have a long history together and I wanted to be here with you in the end. It's a terrible thing to die alone"

Annabelle said nothing.

"I know that you thought you were doing the right thing, trying to make the Island a better place, but all you did was bring instability and chaos. You have a good heart, even if you have weak understanding"

"Are the last words I am going to hear, going to be you mocking me?" Annabelle asked.

"I wanted to release you, because I believe that with the antidote administered makes you are harmless now. But many on the council, believe in justice. The criminal code isn't just about preventing future crime and ending future suffering. It is also about giving out appropriate suffering to those who deserve it" the Lowly Lady Leda explained sadly.

"I will miss you. My job now is to ensure that all evidence of your existence is destroyed lest you become something of a symbol for people to rally around. But I will fail because will keep the memory of you in my heart until the end"

Out of nowhere, Ferne' jumped into the courtyard.

"You are not quite as good at keeping a secret as you think you are, my Lowly Lady" he said once he caught his breadth.

He grabbed the string and used it to tie the Lowly Lady up after rendering the two guards in the courtyard unconscious. The kind one looked particularly uncomfortable in the position that Ferne' had left him.

"Annabelle" said Ferne' to her "Can you hold onto me? I know that you have lost all of your strength."

Annabelle put her hands around Ferne's waist and clung onto his firm torso. She remembered a similar feeling she had had when Phoenix came to rescue her from the stand. Ferne' threw another piece of string to the top of the building. He pulled both Annabelle and himself up, up the string to the top of the building by the use of his brute strength. Veronique was waiting for him up there.

Annabelle felt small when sat on top of the roof. True she had managed to hold onto Ferne' as he pulled her up to the top, but she felt the disappointed in her natural body . She had sweated from the exertion and that had made holding onto Ferne' difficult. She knew how close she was falling and if she had fallen, she would have surely died.

"Don't believe the enemies lies" said Veronique to her. "The resistance is strong"

"That guard" said Annabelle pointing into the courtyard "He is on our side. He cried when he thought that I was going to die"

Veronique hesitated "Maybe, but don't forget that he is part of the system that imprisoned you and now has stolen your strength"

"True" replied Annabelle "But sometimes mercy and reconciliation can go along way to restoring peace."

"Never make a deal with the Mamlish, Annabelle." said Veronique. "You taught me that."

"Madame Green is making a new batch of invigorating potion" said Ferne' abruptly changing the subject. "We will take you to her, but she worried that after taking the antidote, it will not work as well as it did before"

"Meaning what?" asked Annabelle. Chills going through her body at the mention of Madame Greens name.

"We don't know, she has never had it give it to the same person twice before" said Ferne'.

"Did Madame Green ever tell you that most people react badly to the potion Annabelle" said Veronique trying to soothe the situation between Ferne and Annabelle "She normally tries a little on the skin before giving it to them. She herself can't have the potion" Veronique paused for a moment before going on in confidential tone "She gave me a teaspoon. I threw it right up and then fainted. I was unconscious for two hours. I had a headache for three days afterwards"

"I don't want to take the risk after seeing what happened to Veronique" said Ferne'.

"On the plus side, I can do pull-ups now." Said Veronique while making the motions with her arms "I never could before"

"Maybe I should be like Ferne'" said Annabelle. "Maybe I should stand back and let other more physically able people to get the chance to go and show their stuff"

"Annabelle" said Veronique "We did not organise this rescue just for you to stand back and watch us. You are more than just a figurehead."

"When you commanded the attack on Shell Beach, it wasn't your strength or your speed that made that counterattack successful but your planning, your strategic mind and your leadership." Added Ferne'.

"But look at you, you are capable of doing all those things, Ferne'" countered Annabelle.

"Two minds are better than one" replied Ferne'. He turned his head from side to side looking Annabelle and then looking at Veronique.

"Quick, the Mamlish will soon realise that something is wrong. We should make a getaway." Hastened Veronique.

The three of them ran through the roof top complex. Annabelle was afraid of falling on several occasions, but she managed to keep it together and not cry out. At last they walked on the flat dirty earth of Zilby's ghetto district.

Annabelle could not remember ever being so tired in her life before. It was so different to what she thought she would be feeling at this time. She imagined death to be the same thing as sleep. She thought that the one feeling dead people never had was tiredness. But she wasn't dead and for that reason why was grateful for the tiredness.

Madame Green stood in the street. "Shh... come quickly, there are eyes everywhere. Everybody reports to somebody."

Annabelle looked around at her surroundings. It all seemed so familiar. She remembered countless similar occasions when she had gone to Madame Green for counsel. Her stomach churned at the thought, she now knew that Madame Green's knowledge was at best incomplete and there were times that it was slightly malicious. But Ferne' and Veronique continued to trust Madame Green entirely.

"I see you are back Annabelle. I am pleased. You will need to rest before we try anything." Madame Green sounded like an older wiser teacher.

"Won't the first place that the Mamlish look for me be here." Said Annabelle.

"If they come knocking, we will deal with it" said Madame Green.

Veronique put her hand on Annabelle's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We need to trust her."

This did not make Annabelle trust her.