Chapter 7: The Walking Mermaids

Prince Eric awoke to find himself tied to the large mast on his ship. The last thing he remembered was being knocked unconscious by Captain Hook after a long and challenging sword fight. The first thing that Eric noticed was that the thick fog that clouded his ship was now gone. He could see everything clearly during this starry night. He wondered how this could be. He looked around his ship to find that the remaining members of his crew that were not killed by the pirate attack were tied up and sitting on the ground. He saw that Hook's infamous ship, the Jolly Rodger, was anchored right next to his ship. The only men standing besides himself were the crew of Captain Hook. When he looked immediately next to him, he saw that Clara was tied up with him.

"Where's Hook?" Eric asked her.

"Checking the inside of your ship." She responded.

"What happened?" He queried.

"Well the pirates invaded. Captian Hook's here. He's a bit different than what I'd originally believed and I'm not sure how I feel about that. They killed most of your crew and tied up the rest. Hook knocked you unconscious and then he found me and tied me up with you and that's about it." She replied.

"I can't believe I let this happen." Eric said.

"Don't worry. The Doctor will be back...I hope." Clara responded.

"Looks like you're awake." Hook remarked as he walked over to the mast. "And how is the lady doing?" He asked getting right up in Clara's face.

"Do you brush your teeth?" Clara asked trying to insult him.

"Oh. She's a fighter." Hook remarked as he briefly turned to look at his men and then immediately and intimately back in Clara's direction.

"Get away from her." Eric ordered.

"I don't think you're really in a position to be giving orders, Prince." Hook fired back.

"What are you even doing here?" Eric asked. He didn't actually care of course, he just wanted to get the pirate's attention away from Clara.

"Well my crew and I have recently come back from a magical place so that I can kill a certain evil imp." Hook replied.

"And who would that be?" The restrained Prince asked.

"The Dark One." Hook responded. "He took my love and then he took my hand. Now I will take his life."

"What magical place?" Clara asked. She wanted to know what place could possibly be more magical then the Enchanted Forest.

"Neverland." The Captain replied.

Suddenly, the entire ship started to shake. It was like a small earthquake only at sea. Hook and all the other standing men could not keep their balance. Clara and Eric were the only ones still standing as they were secured to the mast by expertly tied ropes. They all heard a splash. One of the pirates had fallen into the water. So, Hook rushed over to the side to look into the dark ocean, hoping to spot the fallen pirate.

Hook soon saw the man treading water in the ocean. It was one of his men who went by the name Smith.

"Are you alright Smith?" Hook yelled to the sailor below.

Before Smith could answer he was suddenly submerged and disappeared under the waters.

"What happened to Smith?" William Smee asked with surprise.

Hook did not answer. He only stared at the spot where Smith had been swimming. There were bubbles popping on the waters.

"He's still alive Smee. Look at the bubbles." The Captain said turning to his crew member.

"What bubbles Captain?" Smee queried.

Hook turned his attention back towards the water. There were no more bubbles. Smith was dead. Hook did not have time to be upset before he noticed something strange going on in the ocean. He could've swore that he saw something move beneath the waters, but it was so dark out that he couldn't tell. He then turned to William Smee.

"Did you see that Smee?" He asked.

"See what Captain?" The pirate replied.

"There was something in the water." Hook replied.

Smee did not say a word. He let his Captain return to watching the dark ocean waters. Then, suddenly Hook saw something yellow start to rise from the ocean. He couldn't make out what it was until it stared at him. This was a woman with golden yellow hair staring hungrily at the Captain.

"What's going on?" Clara yelled to Hook from her tied up position on the mast.

Hook slowly turned around and looked at every person on the ship with worried eyes.

"Mermaids." Was the Captain's only answer.

The pirate crew soon became very fearful. When Hook looked at the water again, he now saw dozens of beautiful women staring at him from the water. Each if them had a colorful tail and evil in their eyes. Then, all the mermaids dived under the water.

"Grab your swords!" Hook yelled to his crew.

Mermaids were magical, but not immortal. They could easily be killed by the pirates' blades. The boat started to shake again, but significantly less violently then before.

"They've got legs!" Smee shouted across the ship.

Hook rushed to the edge of the boat to see what was happening. He soon saw that the mermaids were climbing up the sides of the ship with legs and no tails. Eric and Clara saw the fear on the invincible pirate's eyes. This made them become even more fearful themselves, considering that they were restrained from fighting. They were sitting ducks for the evil mermaid attack.

"Hook! Let us go!" Eric shouted.

"I'm afraid I've got more important things to do now your highness." Hook remarked and then went towards the center of the ship to prepare for battle.

"Where are you Doctor?" Clara whispered to herself.

Within minutes, dozens of mermaids climbed on to the deck of the ship from all sides. Given that tonight is the highest tide, they are granted legs for twelve hours. Apparently, instead of going on land, they were using this opportunity to invade ships.

Soon, the mermaids threw Eric's tied up crew overboard where they drowned in the waters.

"No!" Eric shouted.

"This is our ocean. You have no place in it." The golden haired mermaid said.

The mermaids were inching their way closer and closer to the center of the ship at the mast, where the pirates had all gathered with their weapons to fight the magical women.

Regina watched these events happily through her magic mirror. She had taken the hearts of every mermaid onboard Eric's ship and was using them to exact her revenge against the Prince. She couldn't contain herself. She even started joyfully laughing. Although one thing confused her. The Doctor and the TARDIS were nowhere in sight. She noticed that Clara and Eric were restrained, yet there was no sign of the Time Lord. Still she couldn't just call off her attack, not while she had her chance to kill Eric and the Doctor's companion. So, she just kept gleefully watching.

Clara had never been so scared. The thing that made this situation worse than any other dangerous position she had been in, was that the Doctor was not here with her. The only thing standing between her and bloodthirsty mermaids, was a group of renegade pirates. Did the Doctor even care? He'd just left her here while he disappeared with Ariel in the TARDIS. She thought about how these may be her last moments and how she would spend them with strangers. She closed her eyes and prayed for the Doctor to come back. However, her silent words started to grow into loud shouts.

"Doctor!" She yelled. "Doctor where are you?"

The mermaids suddenly ceased advancing at them. Clara kept on shouting and shouting the Doctor's name, hoping that he may hear her.

"Doctor don't you dare let me die here!"

Looks of fear consumed the faces of the walking mermaids.

"What's happening Captain?" A confused William Smee asked.

"I've no idea." An equally puzzled Hook answered. "They don't seem to like the word 'Doctor'."

At the mention of the name, every mermaid on the ship stepped back in fear. At this point, all of the pirates took the hint. They each started to shout the name at the fierce mermaids.

"Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!" Over and over again.

The mermaid's fear broke Regina's hold on them. They knew of the Doctor and they knew very well that he is to be feared. The heard the story of how he stopped the Sonatarn Invasion of the Enchanted Forest. They assumed that meant he had unbelievable power.

As Regina saw this through the magic mirror, she became enraged. The Evil Queen watched as the mermaids tried to retreat back to the safety of the ocean. However, she was not going to let them get away so easily. Regina walked over to a long table behind her that had each of the mermaids' hearts arranged on it. Then, one by one, she crushed each of their hearts, killing them.

Back on the ship, Clara, Eric, and the pirates watched as the mermaids dropped on the ground dead. Without wasting a minute, Hook then turned to Clara.

"So who exactly is this Doctor then love?" He asked her.

"Someone you don't want to cross. So, I suggest to untie Eric and I and retreat back to your ship before he gets here because I promise you he's coming." Clara snapped back.

Before Hook had a chance to respond, a large puff of purple smoke appeared on the ship. When the smoke cleared, the Evil Queen Regina was standing there and she looked furious.