We kept walking through the forest when I remembered the ribbon. Perfect! I took off my hat and retrieved the ribbon. I then walked off of the path, with Maria's eyes watching me curiously. I tied the ribbon to a branch of the nearest tree then quickly made my way back to Maria.
"What was that?" she asked sweetly.
"A false trail." I reply back simply. She doesn't respond for a few seconds and I glance at her. She is shaking her head slightly.
"What were you doing with one of my ribbons in your pocket?" she looks at me. I don't answer, just turn my head to find her smiling at me, so of course, I smile back. We continue on our journey until I realize that we have no idea where we are going.
"So, Maria, where are they?" I ask.
"They're in a tree, but it's very distinctive. It has massive roots twisting around a big, dark hollow. And-"
"I know where that is." I cut her off. She turned around to look at me and I lifted my head from the ground I was staring at to look at her too. I rested against a tree and was thinking. I turned to her and started speaking what was on my mind. "Suppose, for a moment I do decide to help you, and suppose we actually manage to find the pearls, what then?" I ask her.
She just looks at me, her mouth opening and closing like she wants to say something, but doesn't know what to say. "Well..." she starts, "umm, we'd...return the pearls to the sea and then we'd go and-"
"You know my father's coming after you?" I ask her, whilst cutting her off again. Gosh I have to stop doing that, but I needed to have her know the stakes. She just leans back against the tree and sighs.
"Well it's just a matter of finding them before he finds me." she stated confidently. I have to admire her confidence, she has a whole clan after her and she still doesn't care. I turn away in my own daydream and keep walking. I notice Maria isn't behind me, so I turn back around and gesture for her to follow me. She smiles largely, her smile lighting up her face. She should smile more often. I think to myself as she catches up to me and we walk on together.
"It's through the clearing and over the next hill-" I told her. Wrolf runs ahead of us, eager to get there.
"Wrolf!" Maria calls to him.
"-We're not far now." I finish. Maria starts to jog after Wrolf still calling his name. I'm looking back hoping no one notices us or is following us. Maria gets pretty far ahead of me and is still worried about Wrolf even though he is a demon dog. Suddenly I hear a grunt and the next thing I know hand are wrapped around me and a hand is covering my mouth as I am dragged behind a tree. Maria stops calling Wrolf's name and I know she has realized I've gone missing. I'm struggling and struggling trying to get free to help Maria and tell her it's an ambush and to run. "Robin" I hear her ask. I have a knife to my throat and can't move. It's one of my father's men. Of course. "Robin!" she calls again, I hear her start to move back to towards the tree and I start whimpering. She can't come back! They'd capture her and kill her! Oh how badly I want to yell out to her.
I then hear the crackling of tree branches and a whimper that isn't mine. I think it's Maria at first, but then I realize it was too far off to be hers. "Wrolf?" she questions quietly. She's scared now. I can hear it in her voice. I don't want her to be scared, I want her safe, but I am trapped too. His barks can be heard from this far off. "Wrolf?" she whimpers. "Wrolf?!" she yells and runs off as another of my father's men jump out from a bush at me.
"Let's go boy!" one yells at me while the other takes my dagger. "Oh!" I say when he takes his hand off of my mouth, but then he quickly replaces it and they both drag me off. Maria. Dear lord Maria. Is she alright? She needs to hurry and run before they get to her. I think to myself frantically. I stumble on the ground. "Come on!" they yell at me, all the while I'm struggling. We reach two horses and they tie me up. "Up you go" they yell and throw me onto the horse, quickly getting on after me and riding to a spot in the forest. They take me off the horse and tie me to a tree. A few feet away I can see a whole in the ground. Two midgets are laughing at a black thing inside of it. Wrolf! I realize. He is trying to get free, but he keeps missing by the smallest bit each time.
More horses ride up and a man atop a black horse jumps off, it is my father. I look at him, disbelief in my eyes. "Well this is pretty." He says sarcastically when he walks up to me.
"I can explain" I tell him, choking on the words as my throat closes up.
"Is it not enough for one member of my family to betray me?" he asks "Now I find that her brother is a traitor too." he says. I shake my head at him, looking at him with pure disgust. "I will take care of this princess myself." he spits out the word princess. "Once and for all." he finishes. My disgust suddenly changes to fear, not for myself, but for Maria. She doesn't deserve this. "Lets go" he yells at his guards and leaves.