Princess Carmelita (Chp10)

PRINCESS CARMELITA
(Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”)

Pedro knew it was now or never. He had to leave tonight. Suspicions were hovering around the manor and the Count, although he did not mention it directly, had his eyes especially on Pedro. He was handling the children with Alberto one day when one of them, out of anger, lashed out at him saying that they would be caught by the law-enforcers and burn in hell for what they were doing. When the Count asked what he meant, the child blurted out about some of his friends being smuggled out by an errand boy to be given to the law-enforcers in order to testify against him. The Count tried to squeeze more information out of the child, the child said he’d rather die than betray the errand boy and help the Count in his dastardly deeds and banged his head against the wall hard, killing himself instantly.

Pedro knew he was going to be in trouble. He had been involved in the dealings with slaves alongside the Count and Alberto, so it was no surprise that he was the first in the list of suspected people. He had to leave and report to the camp immediately. But first, he had to say goodbye to someone.

Quietly, he crept into Maya’s room and whispered, “Maya, Maya, wake up.”

Maya stirred and asked, “What is it, Pedro?”

“Maya, I’m leaving tonight. It’s not safe for me to stay here any longer anymore.”

“Where to?”

“I’m sorry, Maya dear. I can’t tell you.”

“Take me with you,” Maya said suddenly, catching him by surprise.

“No, no, I can’t. I can’t do that. You know the drill. I can’t, Maya dear. But I’ll come back for you, I promise…”

“I don’t care,” Maya said, hugging him tightly. “Take me with you. I have nothing here. I don’t mean anything to the Count anymore. I cannot do what I promised to Alexandra anymore. Please, take me away.”

After much persuasion (and a brother’s aching heart for a sister), Maya finally got Pedro to take her with him. Quietly and stealthily, the duo went out through the back door of the kitchen and out into the pouring rain. Armed with only an umbrella, they braved their way into the woods in search of Pedro’s colleagues’ secret camp. Halfway through, Pedro stopped short, looking around warily.

“I heard something,” Pedro whispered, then looked around for another minute or two before saying, “No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry.”

Pedro couldn’t be further than the truth, because as they spun round to continue their way, they saw the Count and Alberto and his men standing right behind them. They were found! They were busted! They were done for!

“Pedro,” the Count muttered venomously and shifted his gaze towards his daughter-in-law, “Maya. I should’ve known.”

There was no doubt something bad awaited their fate.

While Alberto and his men dragged Pedro to the warehouse, the Count dragged Maya back to her room. He grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her and asked, “How long have you known about this? How long have you been laughing at me? You little bitch! I knew you were trouble the very first moment I saw you!”

The Count gave her a slap before throwing her onto her bed. As he went out of the room and locked it, he turned to a few of Alberto’s henchmen, who followed after him, and said, “Watch her. If anyone tries to get in, kill her first.”

Maya broke into tears thinking about what might happen to Pedro under the Count’s custody. Everything went so wrong. Ever since her failure of her second task, everything went horribly wrong. Not only had she brought the curse of Faun’s denouncing onto her, but to the person that she loved as well.

What could possibly get worse than this?

*

“You can go, Alberto. Leave him to me.”

Pedro was in the cellar with the other sobbing children, tied to one of the pillars that held the ceiling of the cellar together. While the Count handled Maya, Alberto and his men had their chance to ravage Pedro, and needless to say, when the Count came down the cellar, he was covered with cuts and bruises everywhere.

“Are you sure, Master?” Alberto asked, a little unsure.

“For God’s sake, Alberto, he’s only an errand boy.”

Alberto nodded and went up. As the Count came closer to Pedro, he struggled to speak.

“That’s what you’ve always thought. That’s why I was able to get away with it. I was invisible to you.”

“Damn, young boy,” the Count grinned, looking slightly impressed. “You’ve discovered my weakness: arrogance. But it’s your weak points we’re interested in. I want you to tell me who sent you and what are they planning to do with me, and I’m sure some of these things may persuade you to do so…”

While the Count talked, his back facing towards him and preparing all the torture devices he had beforehand to make him talk, Pedro reached for his back pocket for the small knife he had kept hidden in it and started cutting the rope that tied his hands together on the pillar. As an errand boy, there were things he needed to cut with his knife, especially ropes that get tangled on young calves and seals whenever there is a delivery from town, and the knife was slim and small enough to be hidden and remain undetected in his back pocket without rousing any suspicion.

As soon as he broke free, the first thing he did was stab the Count on the back. He added another stab onto his shoulder for good measure before pressing it threateningly inside the Count’s mouth. The children, who were witnessing all this, cheered him on.

“I am a law-enforcer, not some child you can boss around and torture at! I am not a little boy you can tell what to do anymore! You son of a bitch! Don’t you even dare touch the girl! If I see even a hair missing from Maya, get it through to your thick skull that you will not be the first chicken I have gutted!”

With that, he cut through the Count’s cheek and quickly made his way out of the cellar, promising to the children that he would come back for them. The Count, after struggling to get on his feet and fight the pain that was throbbing badly on his cheek, gave the order to Alberto and his men to give chase. They mounted their horses and chased after the poor Pedro all the way to the middle of the woods before cornering him. This is it, he thought. I’m going to die in enemy lines and in the hands of these dogs.

“Now then, Pedro,” Alberto said as he got off his horse and prepared to capture him. “You know we’ve been friends for so long, and you know I’m very fond of you. You’re my best friend, and the last thing I want to do is hurt you like this, but you betrayed the Master and I had no choice. It’ll be better if you come with me without struggling. The Master said if you behave…”

Alberto never got to finish his words because three shots were fired at him out of nowhere, killing him instantly. More fires were shot and exchanges of fire between Alberto’s men and the mysterious shooter, or shooters, ensued. After all the men were killed, the mysterious shooters revealed themselves as his colleagues. One of them, who so happen to be his cousin, came to him and hugged him, telling him that he had done a great job and everything will soon be over while the rest of his colleagues checked through the bodies to see if there were any evidence they could salvage from them.

Meanwhile, Maya was in her room contemplating about what her fate has in store for her. She dared not think of it, but she was sure she would get even worse treatment than she had just received from the Count. He might end up force her to do unimaginable things and would be at his mercy every single moment of her living days, or worse. In a way, she thought, I think I deserve all this. I screwed up the previous task, I broke the rules, and I killed my fairy friends. I deserve to be punished. I…

In the middle of her musings, the ever familiar sounds of cricket echoed through her room. She looked up and saw her fairy friend flying towards her, chirping happily as she perched onto her extended finger.

“I’ve decided to give you one last chance.”

Oh, how happy she was to see Faun standing proud and tall in front of her. She quickly got up and hugged him, relieved to see finally another familiar face. Faun chuckled and reciprocated, patting her head with one hand and stroking her back with the other.

After a brief moment of reunion, Faun made her face him and said, “Now, do you promise to do what I say? Will you do anything I tell you without question? This is your last chance.”

Maya nodded hard. She’s willing to do anything to turn things around and make up for her mistake.

“Alright, then listen to me. Fetch your fiancée and bring him to the labyrinth as quickly as you can, Your Highness.”

“My fiancée?” Maya asked, surprised.

“We need him,” Faun replied briefly.

“But…”

“No more questions. Just do as I say.”

“But the door is locked. I can’t leave.”

“In that case, create your own door,” Faun said as he took out another chalk for her. Maya took it and nodded before Faun disappeared into the shadows again.

It’s now or never.