(Hugs to those who get the Holmes reference!)

Chapter 3.

A few days had passed since the chanced meeting between mouse and mermaid. Ariel longed to return to the surface, as she'd heard from her sea-gull friend—Scuttle, that Basil had been sighted by the wall where they had met. According to the sea-gulls city pals, the mouse had been asking questions concerning the robber that he'd been chasing. Now from Ariel could gather: the thief, while on another job, had unexpectedly come into procession of a rare and valuable golden ring and was rushing back to his Master with the goods before running into Basil…and the rest, as they say, was history.

But unknown to Basil and the thief, they didn't know how rare the ring was: it was THE rarest thing in the world, or the oceans, for that matter.

Atlantica was in a panic: a couple of moons ago the Royal Treasury had been breached by unknown assailants. The only thing stolen was the King's most cherished procession. The whole kingdom had been searched from top to bottom, everyone questioned, but the treasure had not been found. Ariel had gone alone, looking in places that she was sure the guards had missed before something compelled her to go top-side.

By day she acted normally, with Sebastian watching her every move, reporting to the King at the end of the day, but that all changed when night had fallen and she was able to explore to her hearts content... just like now for instance.

The thin beams of moon-light, that had managed to break through the surface of the sea, were like shimmering pillars of white in the dark waters. Everyone in the Palace was asleep…well, nearly everyone.

Ariel waited until her six sisters were sleeping before sneaking out, making her way to the Royal Treasury. Two large, buff guards were on duty making a frontal assault impossible. But Ariel was a Princess, and therefore, knew another way in. Making sure that the guards were not looking, the red-head swam around the back of the coral building to where a clump of purple sea-weed was growing and waited impatiently.

"Come on…come on! Where are you?" A couple of moments later she heard the faint panting of breaths and smiled in relief, "Finally!" She whispered.

Flounder rounded the corner pink cheeked and nearly shrieked when his friend tugged his tail. Ariel quickly slapped a hand over his mouth and prayed that the guards hadn't heard him. Flounder squirmed in her arms and she let go. The yellow fish was shaking uncontrollably. "D-Do we have to do this?"

Ariel nodded frantically, "You know we do. Daddy's put Sebastian on baby-sitting duty. I can't risk going in-land with him on my tail. I have to…I have to find out who took my Mother's ring. It's made of the rarest gem known under-water,"

"I remember this from school." Flounder chirped. "The ancient King of Atlantica found the jewel when he started building the Palace. He fell in love with the Princess of the neighbouring kingdom and as a wedding gift gave the gem, known as The Blue Cordelia, to her in the shape of a ring. It's been the tradition ever since."

Ariel smirked lightly, "Nice to know you pay attention…sometimes."

"Hey!"

"Sshh!" She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "The guards."

"Sorry." Flounder took a deep breath and slowly released it, "So, what's the plan?"

Ariel leaned back against the coral and sank down slowly, curling up her tail and resting her elbows on it. "Daddy's patrols have looked everywhere and they can't find it. So it got me thinking…If they can't find it under water, maybe…just maybe it's above water."

"You don't mean…"

She shrugged, "You know the rumours about The Blue Cordelia: that if it strays from its resting place the nearest mer-people of royal blood are drawn to it to find it and bring it home. I don't think that mine and Basil's paths crossed by accident. Remember I told you about the robber he was chasing? They had the ring in their bag." The Princess reached up and tugged at her red locks, "The jewel is top-side, it's calling to me and I can't get to it. There's nothing I can do!"

"Maybe there's something we can do."

"Yes. We know some-one who can help you."

Flounder squeaked and dived behind Ariel. She looked around; her blue eyes widened spying two, long grey shapes swimming about in the sea-weed.

"Who…who are you?" The grey shapes moved into the light, the Princess gasped as two eels slithered forward and grinned showing little sharp fangs. "You're…you're…"

"Willing to help those in need."

"Help? You want to help me?" Ariel pulled Flounder from her hair and set him a side. The yellow fish trembled and shook uncontrollably watching the two eels.

"Yes. Come with us. We know some-one who can help you."

"I…I don't know."

"Two heads are better than one when looking for something." One of the eels swam around her shoulders, brushing its tail along her bare skin, making her shudder. "We can take you to her. She can help you."

Ariel gulped loudly, "What are you…wait? Her? Her who?"

The two new comers nuzzled up together. Looking at her with big goo-goo eyes they whispered, "Ursula."

The Princess took a shuddering breath, bringing a hand to her chest to slow her rapidly beating heart. "The…the Sea-Witch?"

"Don't do it, Ariel!" Squeaked Flounder, one eel quickly wrapped him up in the floating sea-weed, silencing him. His eyes were pleading with Ariel not to go, but the Princess had already made up her mind.

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Ariel looked at the pair and nodded, "Take me to her." The eels grinned creepily and led the way.

Once they were gone Flounder managed to bite his way through the weeds and swam, as quickly as he could, to the Palace. He needed help and fast!

Sorry 'bout the wait guys. Hopefully this should tide you over until next up-date. I have holiday coming up so I should be able to get some sodding work done!