PRINCESS CARMELITA
(Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”)
Maya watched quietly as the Count sewed up his torn face in front of a mirror, his back facing towards her. She didn’t know what happened and didn’t understand what the Count went through to get that cut, but she didn’t have time to investigate. Her sole mission right now was to get her fiancée as requested.
She managed to trace a door on another side of the wall and find herself in the Count’s study. Ever since the Countess died, he carried his son everywhere he went with his portable crib. He would never leave the baby out of his sight, except when he had to go off on business, both legally and illegally. And right now, Alexandra was sleeping in his crib a few feet away from his father.
She hid under the table when she saw the Count done with his sewing, moving as silently as possible behind one of the bookshelves when she realized that the Count felt her presence. She felt like kicking herself when she saw her chalk left under the table she was hiding in plain sight of the Count’s view. He got out his gun and looked around after checking out to see if his son was alright. Maya’s heart thumped so hard she could hear it in her ears as she felt the Count moving closer and closer towards her position.
As luck would have it, the Count’s search was interrupted when one of the errand boys came in and asked him to go to the living room. The Count looked around suspiciously for a while before following behind the errand boy. Maya heaved a sigh of relief as she came out of her hiding place. She walked as quickly but quietly as possible towards the table and opened the bottle of vodka he had left on it, took out the sedatives she had kept in her pocket and emptied half of the content into the bottle. She shook the bottle to mix them all up together before moving towards crib and picked her baby fiancée up, whispering, “We’re leaving. Together. Don’t be afraid. Nothing is going to happen to you.”
Carefully, she carried Alexandra in her arms and attempted to walk out of the study when she heard the Count’s voice talking to one of Alberto’s men. Unbeknownst to her, that man was the only survivor of the ambush to make it to the manor to warn the Count about the incoming law-enforcers to arrest them and put his slave trade down the dumps. The Count ordered him to make arrangements to evacuate all the children from his cellar and call for the earliest ship possible to ship them all to one of his connections’ industry building until the incident blows over. The man nodded and went off to do his bidding while the Count poured himself a drink. They had left the door open, and the Count was busy tending to the pain of his face after gulping down the vodka, so all Maya had to do was sneak out of the study and make a run for it.
Before she could make it halfway out of the door, a sudden explosion was heard downstairs. The Count was alerted and saw Maya at the doorway with his son. He was enraged, but somehow, because of the dosage Maya put in his drink, the sedatives immediately kicked in and all he could do was say, “Leave him.”
Maya definitely did not want to do that and made a dash for it, leaving the Count trying to chase after her while fighting the effects of the sedatives. As they played cat and mouse with each other, they saw that outside, a huge battle was going as a huge group of law-enforcers ambushed the manor, taking down the people who tried to fight them and arresting everyone inside the manor. The Count didn’t care all that. Let the little people handle the situation. He had to save his son from his wretched daughter-in-law.
As the ambush, raiding and arresting continued, Pedro and a few of his colleagues stormed up to Maya’s room to look for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Instead there were only the mysterious chalk markings of a door on a wall left behind after she escaped from the room to get Alexandra. Pedro feared the worse.
“Maya? Maya dear? Where could she be?”
Meanwhile, the Count continued to chase after Maya, his adrenaline overpowering the sedative effects, all the way into the labyrinth. Maya had to get away fast before he caught up after her—he was an adult after all to able to outrun her—but she was running out of roads to go. Everywhere she went was a dead-end and she was standing in front of one right now.
Just when she thought she was not going to make it out alive, one of the stone walls beside her opened, leading her straight into the centre of the labyrinth where the gorge was. As she went through the clearing made for her, every wall she passed through closed behind her, covering all her tracks before the Count could catch up with her. Faun was waiting for her outside the gorge and was happy to see her.
“Quickly, Your Highness!” he said as he gestured for her to come to him. Maya did just that. He then said, “Quick, give him to me. The full moon is high in the sky and we can finally open the portal.”
Maya saw the dagger she had retrieved from the creature’s lair in Faun’s hand and backed away, asking defensively, “What’s that in your hand?”
“The portal will only open if we offer the blood of an innocent,” Faun said as he tried to downplay his way of holding the dagger. “Just a drop of blood, that’s all. It’s the final task. Hurry!”
Maya shook her head and backed away even further. She was still reminded about Pedro’s words about fauns being tricksters and she was not taking any chances, not with him holding a lethal weapon. Faun was annoyed.
“You promised to obey me!”
“Obey you? I’m the Princess!” Maya exclaimed, making clear her supposed position in front of Faun.
“Give me the boy!” Faun growled but Maya held Alexandra closer to her chest.
“No! My fiancée stays with me! I promised him that I’ll make him my Prince, and if I cannot get that from you, I’m sure as hell not going to put him under your hands!”
“Your fiancee? Your Prince?” Faun asked, angry and surprised at the same time. “You would give up your sacred rights for this brat you barely know?”
“Yes, I would. He’s my future husband, and I’m not leaving without him.”
“You would give up your throne for him? He who caused you such misery, such humiliation?”
“Yes, I would.”
Faun looked up and stared briefly at something behind her, then smiled and said, “As you wish, Your Highness.”
Suddenly she felt a tug at her shoulder. She was horrified to see the Count right behind her. He had finally caught with her at last, but how long was he there? Was he there when Faun was threatening her, or was he there when Faun was gone? Without a word, he took Alexandra away from her and walked off.
“No! Father Garcia, please…”
Her words stopped abruptly as she heard a loud explosion and a sharp pain on her gut. Her eyes shifted to the smoking gun that was in the Count’s hand and realized that she was being shot. She knew this would happen sooner or later, but she didn’t think it would happen this way. The Count was leaving, taking her baby fiancée with her. He was taking away the only family she had left. The only family she could trust and belong to forever. The only family she ever loved.
“My…husband…please…”
Her body failed her. Blood was seeping through her clothes and her hand was covered with it when she touched it. She fell to her knees and onto the ground beside the edge of the gorge. Her breath grew shallower and shallower, her eyesight slowly getting more and more blur. The last thing she remembered was the soft touches of hands and Pedro’s voice humming the wordless lullaby.
As she slowly slipped away, a few drops of her blood fell into the gorge…
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