PRINCESS CARMELITA
(Adapted from the movie “El Laberinto Del Fauno” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”)
The rain was pouring outside the manor, signaling the rainy seasons. As Maya would volunteer to send in the Countess’ meals for the day, she accidentally overheard the conversation between the Count and Alberto and his men in the study. She was surprised that Pedro was not in the room as Pedro was also part of the trading business—pretending is more like it, to be exact. From what she understood from their hushed talking, she discovered that the Count had begun to suspect that there is a mole in the manor trying to bring their slave trading down and throw them into the slammer. They were planning to investigate and interrogate each and every one of the workers in the household as they were the most suspected ones, and errand boys were not excluded.
Maya’s heart skipped a bit. Errand boys? But that would mean Pedro would be interrogated as well! What if Pedro didn’t know what to say? What if the Count and Alberto saw through his façade and lies and execute him on the spot? That would be detrimental for the both of them! She would never return to her village and spend the rest of her life under the Count’s tyrannical regime! She couldn’t let that happen to him! She had to warn him somehow!
She was so nervous that she accidentally dropped the bread from the tray, making a considerable loud thump. Hastily, she picked up the bread and ran as quietly as she could upstairs to deliver the Countess’ meal. Before she went off to warn Pedro, she decided to check on the mandrake root first. Cautiously, she crept under the bed and checked the root out. It didn’t seem like it’s moving, just lying there quietly without making a sound. Maya was worried that it was no longer alive, ever since Faun denounced her from her Underground home.
“You’re not moving,” Maya whispered as she poked and prodded lightly at the root. “Are you ill?”
Before she could get a reaction, she suddenly felt a tug at her ankles. It was Alberto, pulling her out of the bed and in front of the Count’s shoes. The Count pulled her up roughly and growled, “I heard a noise. Didn’t think it was you. What are you doing down there?”
Maya didn’t know what to say. The Count decided to investigate by himself. He reached down and took out the bowl of milk carrying the root. By now, through time, the root had begun to grow and assimilate with the bowl, making the bowl as part of its body. The Count took a whiff and was taken aback by its gingery manure smell. He glared at Maya and asked, “What the hell is this?”
Maya was still speechless. All she could do was shake her head as she watched him with trepidation. How could she tell him the truth? How could she tell him that it was given by a Faun who left her in the human world for dead? She doubted that he would believe him. Seeing that his daughter-in-law was not talking, the Count grabbed the root and pulled it out of the bowl, breaking parts of the smaller roots that connect it with it. Maya was horrified. He can’t do that! He can’t! He would kill his wife and the baby! She tried to reach over to take the root from his hand but she was held back by Alberto.
“No! No! No, please! Leave it alone! Please, no!”
“Leave her. Leave her alone, please!”
The Count turned around to see his wife awakened by the commotion. Pedro, who just so happened to finish his chores and wanted to come up and see Maya, found everyone in that state.
“Master, is there something wrong?” Pedro asked as he pried Alberto’s hands away from his Young Mistress.
“Yes, dear. What is the matter?” the Countess asked.
“Look at this!” the Count said as he brandished the root at his wife, who in turn was shocked by the sight of it. “Look what she was hiding under your bed! What do you think of this?!”
“Maya, what is this thing doing under the bed?” the Countess turned to Maya, looking confused.
“It’s…It’s a magic root that a…a faun gave me…I…” Maya replied, tears trickling down her face. Her heart ached at the sight of the Countess’ face. Please don’t look at me this way, please…
“This is what you get when you have a daughter-in-law who reads all this junk! Look what it has done to her!”
“Please, sir,” Pedro stepped forward and coaxed the Countess to lie back in bed. “She is my responsibility. I’ll talk to her. I promise this will not happen again.”
The Count glared venomously at Maya, then threw the root for Pedro to catch and said, “Fine. See to it that it doesn’t. And Pedro, meet me later this evening in the study. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“Yes, Master.”
With that, Pedro waited until the Count and Alberto left the room before excusing himself from the Countess and dragging the teary Maya along with him to his room. Once inside, Pedro asked, “What is the meaning of this? You know better than to believe in all sorts of nonsense like this. This is nothing but a dead root left to stench. What were you thinking?”
“The faun told me she would get better with this. And he’s right; she did get better. Don’t you see…?”
“Maya, you have to listen to the Count for the time being. You have to be patient. You have to stop all this if you want our plans to work. We’re so close. We’re close to a breakthrough. The last thing I want is for you to screw it up.”
“No, I want to leave this place! Please, take me away from here! Please, let’s just go! I don’t care about my marriage anymore. It means nothing to me. I just heard them talking. They’re starting to suspect you, and they’re going to interrogate you this evening. Please…let’s just go, please…”
“I have suspected that much. I’ll know what to do when that time comes. But now, things are not that simple. You’re getting older, and soon you’ll see it for yourself—and for real—that life isn’t like your fairytales. The world is a cruel place, Maya, and you’ll learn that, even if it hurts.”
So saying, Pedro walked closer to the fireplace and threw the root he was holding into the burning flames. Maya was horrified. How could he do that? Out of all people, why him? He’ll kill the Countess and the baby! He has to take it out!
“No, no, Pedro! Please, you’ll kill the baby…”
“Maya!” Pedro spun round, raising his voice at her for the first time and grabbing her shoulders, shaking her. “Magic does not exist. Not for me, you or anyone else. Do you hear me? No more of these theatrics! No more!”
Maya had no choice but to watch the poor mandrake root squeal and squirm as the fire consumed it whole. Though the rain and the sound of crackling flame overpowered its voice, making Pedro deaf to its cries, Maya could still hear it, and it was a sound worse than death.
Suddenly they heard the maids screaming for help. As Maya feared, the Countess was in pain. Her time had come, and the labour pangs were starting to kick in. The Count hollered for the doctor and the maids were moving in and out of her room with the things needed to facilitate the birth. Pedro left her alone and went off to help out with whatever else they needed. Maya could hear the Countess’ moans and groans of pain coming from her room and feared the worse. She wanted to take the root out and salvage what was left of it, but she was too late. The mandrake root had shriveled up and burnt into a crisp. There was no way she could bring it back to life again.
As the doctor went in to start the delivery process, the Count, Maya and Pedro waited outside. Many things went through her mind as they waited nervously for the birth to be over. What was going to happen to the Countess and the baby? Would they be alive and well? Would they live or would they die? How could they be sure it would turn out to be a boy? Madame Adrianna made wrong predictions before, so what if she was wrong about the sex of the baby? Or its fate for that matter? For all she know, she could end up being married to a girl or the baby would end up being stillborn despite the engagement ceremony. What would her future hold then? Even Pedro’s reassuring stroke on her back didn’t make any difference in calming her down.
After what felt like forever, tiny squalls of a baby could be heard from the room. The Count quickly made his way to the door and waited for it to open. There were good news and bad news written all over the doctor’s face as he came out wiping his bloody hands. The good news was that the baby was alive and well, and was a boy. The bad news was that the Countess had lost so much blood that she died as soon as the baby was out. She never even got the chance to hold him or see him.
An elaborate funeral was held behind the manor to bury the Countess. It was a mixed feeling between the celebration of life and the mourning of the dead as everyone attended the funeral. The Count made plans with the priest for the baptizing of his son whom he named Alexandra Garcia while Maya helped to put away the Countess’ things into the attic. She found it sad that the Count did not want to leave anything of remembrance for his son to think of his mother by, and that he was willing to put her in the past as a forgotten memory, but she was in no place to question his authority. She was the Young Mistress Garcia, and before her husband comes of age and become the next Count Garcia, she had no say over anything and must fulfill her duties to the current Count.
Before she left, she saw the bottle of sedatives the doctor gave the late Countess when she was still pregnant and very ill. She picked it up and looked at it for a while, a considering look ran across her face. Finally she decided to keep the sedatives. Pocketing it, she carried the rest of the Countess’ stuff and made her way into the attic.
She would think of some way to use it sooner or later.
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