Maria Beyond the Sea

The Chase is On

Time froze for Maria. One minute, she was sitting in a crowd listening to an operatic tune. The next, she was facing her guardian. She couldn't hear any more of the singing. Through her vision, all she could see was Sakharine smirking from the balcony. She knew he was about to fulfil his plan – her worst nightmare had come true. Suddenly, she heard two crashes; two chandlers, too weak for Bianca's voice, lost their grip from the ceiling and fell onto the floor, smashing the crystals into a thousand pieces. The second chandler nearly on top of Maria. Luckily, she spotted it just in time to run to a tight corner.

At the very high note, Maria witnessed a glass box, smashing its glass into pieces. Inside, it contained the third model. She was horrified. The falcon was released and to the audience's horror too, they stood from the seats and in amongst of all the chaos, Maria swarmed her way through the crowd to try and find Tintin and the Captain. She began to panic; all she heard were voices echoing around the room:

'Those two there!' cried Sakharine. 'They're here to steal your ship!'

'No, no. We're not!' referred Tintin.

And gasps from the crowd. No one believed Tintin – and the Emir attempted to arrest the pair. From a distance, Sakharine guided his falcon back to his arm. His job was done; Maria saw that he had collected the last scroll. And he didn't look to find her. With relief, Maria swarmed past the crowd to find her friends. But it was too late. They were gone.

Maria left that they deserted her and she was upset. But she didn't give up. She was going to follow the crowd when she saw Bianca in tears; she was frightened. So, Maria came to help her.

'Are you alright?'

'No, no', cried Bianca. 'A bird attacked me and my escort is missing. My career is ruined'.

'Please don't cry', Maria said. 'I'll help you find your escort. When did you last see him?'

'When he took me to my dressing room. In the parlour suite'.

So, guiding her by the hand, Maria took Bianca back to the suite. The hallway to it was extremely long. With lots of paintings and doors, it was like a maze full of rooms. Slowly, Bianca began to breathe. Maria was happy to help her; after all, it never hurts to do a good deed. They arrived safely at the door when Bianca screamed once more.

Behind the two women were John and another crew member. In fury, John pushed Bianca to the ground and took Maria away.

'You're not getting way this time, girlie!'

Grabbing her arms, they took her outside of the palace and stood guard. When the coast was clear, they began to walk back to the docks. Maria scowled at John for a second. She couldn't believe that Sakharine found her. He took away her freedom – and her life. She wasn't going to give up. When had the chance, Maria stepped onto John's foot. In agony, the seaman let her go. She then punched the other crew member and as fast as she could, she began to run.

Like a lighting bolt, she sprinted toward the market place, which she did after running and tripping over a very steep hill. She then found motorbike tracks. She made an attempt to follow them. In front, she saw a motorcycle racing down the hill. It was driven by a ginger-head boy and man wearing a pink nightgown. She quickly followed them to a bridge with a stream on the other side. That's when she saw them; Tintin and the Captain and Snowy. With the falcon swooping below them, Tintin tried to get the motorcycle close enough so the Captain could reach Snowy and the falcon. The Captain leaned on the front of the motorcycle, but he lost his balance and fell into the river. Alarmed, Maria ran to see if she could help. Suddenly, they both disappeared. She began to panic again. Suddenly, Maria spotted a tower that was built to fetch pales of water. Sensing to enter, Maria ran straight past the door and climbed very high stairs. She reached the top when she saw the Captain and Snowy looking outside,

'Captain!' she cried.

Seeing her, the Captain embraced his friend with Snowy licking her kisses.

'I tried to retrieve them, lass. I really did', he said sulking.

'What happened?'

'Alan and Sakharine. They took all three scrolls, including Tintin's. They hit the bottle of alcohol on my head and –  ' 

'Oh, Captain! Tintin told you to stay away from the liquor. What were you thinking?'

' – I know. I feel terrible. I just hope we're not too late'.

Down below, they saw Sakharine's falcon almost reaching his arm when Tintin circulated with his motorbike and grabbed the bird by its legs. But the falcon got away. It was time to put the plan back into action. Without warning, the Captain grabbed a piece of rope with Snowy at his side. They jumped and swung toward Sakharine's jeep.

'Geronimo!'

They both made it and in the jeep, they punched Sakharine and his men. However, this proved to be a mistake.

The jeep stopped at a roof edge. It was unstable and it felt like the men were about to fall. At that moment, Alan bumped the Captain on the head and captured Snowy. They tied them to a piece of rope – Snowy's wrapping around his legs and the Captain's with a wooden plank behind his back. Sakharine drove off quickly to the docks but before he could start, he saw his two members grabbing Maria's arms. One of the men had a gun behind her back, in case she got any idea.

'So', Sakharine said, 'I see my goddaughter has disobedience. You are in a lot of trouble, young lady'. He ordered his men to take her inside. She was placed next to Sakharine. As the drove into the harbour, Maria still had the gun pointed to her head. She had never been so frightened. On the way, the Captain called them names for capturing Maria.

When they had arrived, the three of them were shoved out. Alan and John took the Captain, grabbing him by his jacket at the front and leaning his body toward the edge, preparing themselves to drop him into the sea. Another crew member held the end of the rope, with Snowy dangling in mid-air. They too were ready to drop the dog into the ocean. Maria, however, was a few meters away from the edge; Sakharine didn't want her to drown. He had other plans for her. She still had a gun pointed at her head with one hand and another covering her mouth by another crew member. From a distance, she saw Tintin floating on top of a wooden plank, holding the falcon's legs so he could grab the scrolls.

Maria saw his facial expression; it was one of shock. As the falcon tried to free himself, Tintin found himself being dragged across the plank.

Sakharine was enraged. 'I wouldn't do that if I were you! Let the bird go!'

But Tintin didn't. He then saw his friends, captured as prisoners. Worried, he wanted to save them. However, he couldn't let go of the scrolls; they were very important to him.

'What do you value more? Those scrolls or Haddock's life?'

'Don't listen to him!' the Captain cried to his friend. 'You'll never get away with this you sour-faced sassnachi'.

'I will kill him!'

Snowy was being lowed into the ocean, while Maria looked on. She felt hopeless.

'Let the bird go now or this man dies!'

'No!' Tintin cried.

'You two timing troglodyte! You evil son of a kidnapper! If you touch one head on that girl, you've got us to answer for!' the Captain scowled.

'Perhaps we should put it to the test', Sakharine said, facing the Captain. 'Here's mud in your eye!' He waved goodbye to the Captain before the crew members dropped him and Snowy into the ocean. Tintin dived in soon after.

Maria screamed and tried to escape to save them but it was no use. Tintin and the Captain were dead.

She mourned for them. She lost her friends right before her very eyes and now, she was alone.

The falcon returned to Sakharine's arm and together, they made their way back onto the ship.

'Take her back to her room', he instructed to the men. 'And make sure she stays there'.