The Underdog - The Secret of Moonacre Fanfic

False Trails

As we ventured deeper into the forest, leaves and twigs crunching under our boots, I noticed Maria's dress trailing on the forest floor. Try as she might to hold it up, it would be easy for anyone from the clan to track us. I knew that I had already been gone for far too long and Father would have noticed by now. 

Sending Maria up ahead a ways, I carefully reached into my pocket. Breaking some branches and disrupting the leaves down another clearing, I pulled out the silky blue ribbon, tying it to a low hanging branch. I glanced around, nervously, as the weight of my betrayal sunk in. I raced back to Maria, and we continued on. She peered back over her shoulder at the little blue ribbon dancing gently in the breeze.

"What was that?" Maria asked, barely above a whisper.

"A false trail." I tried to shrug it off, looking at the ground as we walked.

"What were you doing with one of my ribbons in your pocket?" Maria asked, smiling at me

I risked a glance back up at her, and my heart raced at the smirk that crossed her lips. I bit back a smirk of my own. I couldn't answer her, because, truthfully, I didn't know why I had kept it. Or maybe I did but just didn't want to acknowledge that me, the heir to the De Noir clan, had underlying feelings for her. Pushing it off as curiosity at the situation, I sped up to put as much distance between us and the ribbon as possible. Maria disturbed the silence.

"They're in a tree, but it's very distinct. It has massive roots twisting around a big dark hollow." Maria explained.

"- I know where that is." I cut her off.

She brought us to a halt, turning to look at me to see if I was pulling a trick on her. I couldn't blame her, it was in my nature to be sly and underhanded. I leaned back against one of the trees that's trunk had split in two, growing into what appeared to be two separate trees. As I picked my foot up and rested it on a rock, Maria folded her arms behind her back and leaned against the other side of the split trunk. She looked at the ground, nervously, as I leaned forward. Just because I said I'd help didn't mean I'd make it easy on her.

"Suppose for a moment that I do decide to help you. And suppose we actually do manage to find the pearls. Then what?" I questioned

"Well, we return the pearls to the sea and then we go - " She stuttered out

"You know my father is coming after you." I cut her off coldly.

"It's just a matter of finding them before he finds me." Maria answered, not meeting my gaze.

For the first time, I got a good look at her. She looked young and helpless. She looked scared. She really had no idea what she had gotten herself into. My heart ached at the idea of my father finding her. Standing up straight, I mentally kicked myself for what I was about to do, but Maria felt like my responsibility. I was going to protect her and nothing was going to bring her any harm.

Nodding and licking my lips, I looked around before walking in the direction of the tree with the large hollow. Maria picked up her dress and raced to catch up with me. Her demon dog raced ahead of us as we reached the clearing just before the tree. We hadn't seen or heard anything from my father or clan. Maybe he was celebrating his victory early. I could only hope.

"It's through the clearing and over the next hill over there. We aren't far now." I directed

"Wrolf! Wrolf!" Maria shouted

The Merryweather's dog ran ahead, barking at something. Probably a rabbit. I shook my head as Maria hiked up her dress and ran after him as fast as she could. She called out to him, but he was already out of sight.

Hearing what sounded like a branch breaking behind us, I looked over my shoulder but didn't see anything. Turning back to face where Maria was, a large, black, gloved hand clamped over my mouth as I was dragged back.

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