Bride of Adron | ✓

Chapter 12 - The Journey

"You can't expect me to take you to the Lost Forest and not even tell me why," Jawad stated coldly. "To be clear, I don't trust you and we both know you haven't told me the full truth."

"What is there to say?" Noelle answered. "We want to find the Lost Forest People because it's a safe space and you're the only one who can take us there."

Jawad fixed her with a cold stare, one that seemed to pierce through her very soul. He stopped the horse in the middle of the road and spoke again, this time his voice lower and meaner.

"Or we can do it this way: you tell me what's going on and I'll take you where you need to go... or you can keep your secrets and I'll drop you off on the side of the road and return home," he threatened. "The choice is yours "

"You- you can't do that! We have to get to the Lost Forest," Lolita, who was stirring next to her in the cart, cried out. She looked outraged as she whispered in Noelle's ear, "you're going to have to tell him who you are, otherwise we'll never make it."

"Okay... fine... I'll tell you. Just promise you won't leave right away," Noelle finally said.

"I promise," Jawad drawled, yet he looked curious to hear the story.

She told him about all of their adventures up until the present moment. She told him of how she woke up in the castle and how she escaped with Roland, how they went on the run and met Lolita, how Roland got injured and how Adron's soldiers found them in the first village they visited and how they escaped, leading them up to the moment when they were found by the Hunters. She also told him why they wanted to find the Lost Forest and start an uprising against Adron so that she would be able to return home. But most importantly, she revealed that she was the missing Bride of Adron and was being searched for by the entire guard force.

She purposely left out the witches and what she saw in the nightmare forest, letting Jawad's imagination fill in the blanks.

When she finished her story, she looked to see Jawad's reaction. She had expected it to be something akin to Lolita's, maybe wonder or pity, but the emotion that Jawad wore on his face could only be described as fury.

"Are you guys crazy?!" he yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "Do you even realise how dangerous that is! The entire nation is searching for you and- so that's why Adron's soldiers searched my village... they were looking for you!"

Jawad got off of his horse, and began walking away from the group.

"Hey, where are you going?" Roland shouted.

"I need a moment to myself. Don't touch the horse," Jawad snarled, and Noelle watched him go a generous distance away and lie down on the grass, staring up at the sky.

He stayed there for the next few hours.

. . .

Noelle was not typically the type of person to talk about someone behind their back. Even when Donna had turned on her and her friends, she was never brought up and never put down. Yet with Jawad, she could not stop herself.

"When Karol introduced me to him, he didn't speak to me once, only being really rude whenever I spoke. He didn't want to take us to the Lost Forest because there would be girls there," Noelle ranted to Lolita. The two girls sat side by side in the wagon, discussing all of their previous encounters. Roland was near them, leaning against the wagon and picking up small stones before throwing them in the air.

"To be honest, I haven't spoken to him much or haven't been spoken to, but his reaction did seem fairly reasonable," Lolita said. "I mean, we did cause his town to be raided by soldiers." She looked guilty at the final statement, much like Noelle.