Bride of Adron | ✓

Chapter 20 - Determination

Noelle was terrified, to say the least. Every time she thought of war, she was brutally reminded of the heinous act she was forced to commit to save Zuzanna's life; stealing someone else's. She was plagued by the feeling of his warm blood on her red hands, an image engraved into her brain forever. Whenever she looked down, she could still see the spots of crimson staining her hands.

Noelle, Lolita, and Roland waited in their positions, at the top of the tallest tower in Delilah's castle. It felt like the old times, when it was just them three on their journey, however it was also nothing like it. Once again, Lolita and Roland refused to speak to one another, however this time it was very one sided on Roland's half. Though Lolita tried to win him over, Noelle could understand his frustration and feeling of betrayal. She thought of what could have almost happened between them if it was not for Lolita's transgression.

"Do you see anything?" she asked, trying to prompt a conversation between them.

Roland looked into the air, squinting because of the sun. "It's all clear," he said. "Not a plane in the sky." He shot an accusing look to Lolita, who shrivelled under his glare.

"I swear I said everything I knew!" she defended herself, putting her hands before her as a protective gesture. "I wouldn't lie about this."

"Funny, considering you lied to us before," Roland scoffed.

Lolita looked downcast, putting her hands down in defeat. She gave an apologetic sigh as she avoided Noelle and Roland's eyes.

"Look, I did bad things, okay? I know I did, and I'm sorry. If I could, I would go back in time and never listen to my mother, who was the one who made me do it in the first place. She's obsessed with getting on Adron's good side, so she thought that if she got Noelle back into the castle he would begin to favour her. She's delusional, and it's the reason why I live with my grandma," Lolita explained, and both Roland and Noelle listened intently. Even Roland did not dare interrupt. "For a while, I did help her, but whenever I tried to make excuses or deter her from our tracks, she would threaten me with imprisonment for treason. So I went along..."

"And that's supposed to excuse you?" Roland asked sharply. The thing about him, Noelle noticed, was that he would ferociously defend his friends if they were ever done wrong. However, as soon as he was hurt by someone he had learned to trust, immediately he would put up his defences and build a wall ten metres thick.

"No, and I know it won't excuse me," Lolita replied. "But I'm owning up to what I did wrong and I want to fix my mistakes. I want to help you."

"You've got a long way to go, then," said Roland, but he did not continue. To Noelle, it sounded like he was giving Lolita a chance. It meant that there was still a chance between them.

Lolita was put in charge of managing the cannon. Each of the towers had a small cannon, and since it was an easy task that required little to no training anyone could easily do it. The other archers that Roland tutored were positioned in the other towers, everyone carefully watching for the first sight of an enemy plane.

Suddenly, in the distance, Noelle heard the soft hum of an engine. Her eyes darted to where the sound was coming from, and she saw a small black shape slowly becoming bigger. In the bright blue sky, it was a striking contrast.

"They're here!" she shouted, instantly recognising the crest as it came closer. Almost instantly, thousands of arrows were deployed, striking the aircraft. However, they barely made a dent in the strong metal. Noelle watched in frozen horror as the technological terror began dropping bombs onto the village below with no mercy.

"Lolita, fire!" Roland yelled, rushing over to the girl as she fumbled clumsily with the cannon. She loaded the ball into the hatch and lit up the end, covering her ears. Noelle instantly noticed that she was too close to the cannon, but she was too far away to do anything but shout.