The man's name was Jonas. He was 54 years old, a fisherman by trade. Or at least, he had been; ever since Weselton's fish began to mysteriously die off, he and all the other fishermen had been out of a job.

But after what he had seen the previous night, Jonas was afraid, more than he had ever been before in his life. The night before, he had the misfortune of finding out what had happened to all of Weselton's missing people, and how the Duke spent his evenings. At first, Jonas considered telling everyone what was going on, but he knew that no one would believe him, and he would probably be executed anyway.

In the end, he decided that his best choice was to simply leave Weselton altogether. And that was exactly what he was about to do.

Jonas untied the rope that tethered his smallish boat to the dock, then started to work on raising the sail. Once it had been properly set up, he was on his way, letting the wind carry his vessel northeast.

If he could just make it to Arendelle, perhaps he could be granted asylum once he told them what was going on. He was sure Queen Elsa would believe him, she already knew firsthand about the Duke's cowardice and greed.

Jonas stood at the ship's wheel, steering every now and then. His musket sat nearby; he was going to need it, if that thing he saw the Duke talking to decided to show its face on his boat.

He took a moment to look up at the night sky. It was a clear night, with the stars twinkling overhead and the crescent moon casting its light over the water. Under better circumstances, it would have been a nice, peaceful night for him.

Jonas heard sudden splashing, coming from the stern. He looked back, but didn't see anything. Still, he had to be sure he was just hearing things. Dropping anchor, he picked up the musket and inched over to the stern. He hesitated, unsure whether or not he wanted to see what might be down there.

Taking a deep breath for courage, Jonas raised his musket and quickly peered over the edge of the boat.

There was nothing there except water.

He breathed a sigh of relief, lowering his gun. It must have just been a small, rogue wave that caused that unusual splashing sound, as it hit against the boat.

Jonas turned around and saw the thing standing only a few feet away. He didn't have any time to raise his weapon as the slimy, webbed hand grabbed him.

He didn't even have time to scream.


The Duke of Weselton may have been of short stature, but he could still easily command respect from his subjects. At least, that's the way he viewed it. What he inspired in his citizens was more like fear, not respect. And that fear could be plainly seen in the peasant's eyes, as he looked up at the Duke.

The Duke of Weselton sat on his throne, and regarded the commoner with narrowed eyes.

"Why did you dare to steal from my gardens, citizen? You know that theft is a capital offense."

"I-I had no choice, your Grace! I am very poor, and my family, th-they're starving!"

The man's voice was shaking, his face flushed. He looked as though he was going to start crying any second.

"I, the Duke of Weselton, hereby charge you with theft of royal property, and sentence you to death by hanging," the Duke said. He motioned to the two guards holding the man.

The peasant burst into tears.

"No, mercy! Mercy! Pl-please, your Grace!"

But the Duke of Weselton wasn't listening; he had more important thoughts on his mind, like how he was going to increase the amount of gold he could get from his "trading partners".

The peasant's pleas faded away as the guards dragged him from the throne room and to the dungeon, where he would wait for execution the next day.

Execution, without a jury or trial. That was the way the Duke ran things in Weselton, and it had worked out well for him so far.


Just like last time, the carriage sat at the top of the hill, facing away from the shore as the Duke carried another person down to the water.

The Duke's burden was a bit lighter, as he was carrying a woman this time. She was slim and petite, nowhere near as heavy as the man he carried last time.

That was the arrangement that the Duke had worked out with the thing from the sea; he would alternate between male and female offers to it. One night he would offer the thing a man, and the next, a woman. Although he was curious, the Duke never asked the thing why it needed both men and women from Weselton. He knew better than to do something like that.

The Duke's nostrils were assaulted with the stench of rotting fish, as his trading partner emerged from the sea. Under the darkness of night, he could only make out a few of its features: it was around 6-and-a-half feet tall; it had scales, gills, and long, fanged teeth. It made ragged sounds as it inhaled and exhaled, as though it wasn't used to breathing on land.

"I've brought the usual offering, like you've asked," said the Duke, holding the woman out in his arms.

The creature took the unconscious woman from him, holding her over its shoulder with its right hand. With a deep, harsh reply, the thing spoke.

"Almost let one get away."

It extended its left hand out of the water. It was holding the disembodied head of Jonas, the ill-fated fisherman who had failed to escape Weselton. The Duke jumped a little when he saw it. Judging from the neck stump, it looked as though it had been torn right off the body.

"Not supposed to let any get away. Less gold now."

It then raised one of its feet out of the water, and clutched in between its webbed, prehensile toes were just six pieces of gold. It tossed them at the Duke, who managed to catch four of them, the other two tumbling from his arms and back into the ocean. He knelt down, groping about in the shallow water as he desperately tried to retrieve the lost valuables.

"Only...only six pieces? I thought we...had a deal!" said the Duke, breathing a bit heavily.

"Bring younger ones next time."

"But...which? A man or a woman? What do I...need to give you for more gold?"

"Little boy and girl."

The Duke paused for a moment.

He had never had to sacrifice children to them before. Would he be able to do it?

"Thirty pieces, little boy and little girl."

Thirty pieces of their gold was the highest amount the thing had ever offered him.

"All...all right, I'll do it."

The sea being turned away and walked a few feet further into the water, before it submerged itself completely, carrying its unconscious victim and the bloody remains of Jonas with it.

The Duke's left hand closed around something hard, and as he lifted it out of the water, he saw that it was one of the gold pieces he had dropped. Four pieces caught, and one retrieved; there was still one missing, but it was nowhere to be found. He felt disappointed at the low amount of wealth he was walking away with tonight, but at the same time, he felt excited at the higher amount that was sure to soon follow.

He began to head back up the hill to the driver and the carriage, and thought about how he might obtain what the creature wanted. And he remembered that there was a couple in the village who had just had twins: a boy and a girl.

A smile played across the Duke's face. Soon he would be richer than ever.

The Order would be pleased.