Chapter Twenty-Nine: A different type of lonely

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There weren't actually that many Mamlish, or for that matter, many people living on Zilby. At the time that Phoenix had come into prominence, there were maybe four hundred Mamlish on the island. But at the time that Annabelle had been released from her execution, many of the Mamlish had written to their overlords to tell them about the adverse economic conditions and had consequently been recalled.

Of course, the Mamlish had sent reinforcements from the Mainland, but this fleet had famously not managed to dock with many of the souls onboard dying enroute.

Phoenix and Annabelle might not have thought that they had killed many Mamlish in total but with the low numbers to begin with and the amount they had personally killed, a significant chunk of the Mamlish population was missing.

Consequently, it was not only possible but easy for the entire Mamlish population to fit on one ship.

Veronique and Ferne walked around the island each with a team of volunteers. Ferne' started at shell beach and walked clockwise, while Veronique started at shell beach and walked anti-clockwise. The two teams set off at dawn to see if anybody could spot the Mamlish on the horizon. They meet back up together at lunch and had a picnic together before continuing their way. That way if the other team had missed anything that could be taken as evidence, then perhaps fresh eyes would see it.

But apart from some remote yet empty beach houses that served the Mamlish as holiday homes, the search teams found nothing.

Annabelle grew more and more anxious as time went on. It had become apparent that nobody knew what was going on.

"We will have to go to the mainland" Ferne' said. "We will have to make sure that they are gone."

"Does anybody know the way?" asked Annabelle.

"I do" said a teenager named Sophie. "Or at least I have looked at many maps. First you go east for 200 kms and you stop at the isle of Milchuria, which has a very large fishing industry and is famous for its glue. Then you go south for a hundred kilometres, and you will enter the city of Lexie. Which is neither their largest nor their capital city but is approximately five times the size of Zilby."

"Does anybody know how to sail?" asked Annabelle.

There was silence.

"What kind of island people are we?" cried out Madame Green. "We will be stuck on this island if anything bad happens."

"Some might say that bad things have already happened" added Annabelle.

"We should build defences and keep lookouts in case that they come back." Said Madame Green

"Good idea," said Veronique while Annabelle was still processing Madame Green's words.

"No, we should set out and find the Mamlish to make sure that they never come back" countered Ferne'

"That also sounds like a good idea" said Annabelle quick before Veronique could jump in.

"There are not enough people to do both," said Veronique. "Even with our new adult volunteers."

"Besides nobody knows how to sail a boat, "said Madame Green.

"We can't keep eating muscles and oranges forever." Said Ferne'. "It's not healthy."

"Everything that everybody is saying is so true" said Annabelle nodding her head vigorously.

"We need you to make a decision Annabelle" said Veronique.

Annabelle looked away before saying "How about we don't follow them, but if they come back - we regret our indecision."

"Why would we do something that we know that we are going to regret?" asked Ferne'.

The Characterisation of Annabelle le RouxWhere stories live. Discover now