Author's Note: As always my thanks for the reviews to a guest, Jimli and Caroline Lily-ann Youla; welcome to new followers Moonlit Steps and Lea Rose and thanks to Lea Rose, geiarger11 and jellybabies12345678910 for favouriting.


PRINCE FLORIAN SEEKS A BRIDE

7.3

That evening Eric went to his parents' room and told them about his doubts and what he planned to do.

"I don't see the point," his father said. "Everyone has last minute jitters before their wedding day. It is after all a big step."

"Precisely, father, and I want to be absolutely sure I take the right step."

"As long as you're back in time for your wedding. I'm not postponing anything, understood?"

The queen put her hand on her husband's arm. "Eric has to marry the right girl, Albert," she said.

"I'll be back in time for the wedding," Eric vowed. "And I'll marry the right girl." Then he left his parents' room.

"He resembles you so much," Queen Gracia said to her husband, "Especially when it comes to getting married. I believe you left two girls at the altar before you finally married me."

"That was entirely different," mumbled King Albert but he realised only too well that his wife was right.

In his room Eric was waiting until everyone slept. He attempted to recall what had happened exactly the day he had been rescued. He remembered the terrible storm, more terrible than any before or since. He had been on his private yacht, returning home from a trip abroad when the rain had started. The wind had suddenly changed direction and had drastically increased in strength. Before long they had been fighting the tempest. He had been doing what he could to help when he had been swept overboard by a huge wave. He had tried to swim for the yacht but had not seen it anymore. At the time he had presumed it had gone down. He had been alone, way out in the sea, trying to keep his head above water but eventually exhaustion had overtaken him and he'd started sinking down into the deep. He had often tried to remember what had happened between the moment he sank and the moment he woke up on the beach, without success. Sometimes he thought he was on the verge of recollection but the flicker of memory he nearly caught was always just out of his reach.

It was still dark when Eric set off. Nobody was awake yet. He wanted to be away before Elena woke up. If she saw him leave she would want to tag along. She was rather clingy, he thought. Even when he'd been to the bathroom she would be there in the corridor when he came out again. Perhaps that's what caused his doubt about the wedding.

It was far too early when he arrived at his destination so he walked about, back and forth until it was a more decent time to go to the convent. He rang the bell. Because of the early hour the nun at the door only looked through the spyhole in the door. Seeing yet again a man at the door, she gathered her skirts together and ran to the office of Mother-Superior and barged in without knocking.

"There's another man at the gate," she cried out, consternation oozing from every pore of her body.

"Calm down, Sister Alice. Ask the gentleman who he is. If his name is Eric or Prince Eric, show him in, if not, ask him what he wants from us."

Not long afterwards Eric was shown in.

"Thank you for seeing me, Mother-Superior," he said. "I apologise for coming here so early, but it is important. I'll be getting married soon and I need you to tell me what you know about Lady Elena, the woman I'm about to wed."

"I expected you to come. Did your friend tell you?" Seeing the stunned look of Eric she added, "Prince Florian is your friend, isn't he? He did tell you, didn't he?"

"He told me to come here and ask about Lady Elena, but nothing else. What should he have told me?"

"Perhaps it is better that you see for yourself. Wait a moment."

For the second time in two days the young novice was taken away from her work to see a young man. As soon as he saw her Prince Eric cried out, "Elena!"

"I'm very sorry, Your Highness, but my name is Sister Martha and before it was Cecily not Elena," the girl said.

Eric was confused. "Who's Elena then?" he asked. "Is she your twin?"

"No, Sir. I have no family of any kind; neither parents and siblings, nor aunts, uncles or cousins."

"Another one without family," Eric couldn't help thinking.

"I don't know who this lady you talk about is," the girl continued, "but she's not family."

"She lied to me." Consternation was audible in Eric's voice. "The woman I want to make my wife lied to me. What am I going to do?"

Sister Maria-Clara motioned to the novice she could go. Then she took the manuscript on mermaids and gave it to Eric saying, "Your friend found this useful. Perhaps you should look at it as well."

Still shaken about what he'd seen and heard Eric accepted the pages and followed Sister Maria-Clara to the quiet little office. He started reading the papers he'd been given. After half an hour he realised he'd been reading and re-reading the same sentence over and over again without it making sense, purely because he couldn't concentrate. He started again but soon gave up. With the manuscript in his hand he went to see Sister Maria-Clara.

"Thank you for letting me read this, Mother-Superior, but it's no use. I can't keep my mind on it. I can only think that my fiancée lied to me. Now I've started wondering. Is she a fraud? Do I even know her? Did I ever really love her?" Eric said with a sigh.

Sister Maria-Clara really felt sorry for the troubled young man. She knew what he was thinking. Had gratitude clouded his judgement? Had he confused it with love? She would pray for him and his friend who had said Evil was involved.

"Go to your friend," she advised Eric. "I think he has all the answers. I think the reason he sent you here is so you would see Sister Martha. Listen to what he says. You know now that he speaks the truth. He wants you to make the right decision and be happy."

Eric nodded and left. He arrived later than normal in the breakfast room and apologised, saying he'd woken up early, had gone for a walk and had lost track of time. Everyone accepted his apology except Elena.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" she asked. "We could have gone for a walk together."

Eric pretended he hadn't heard it. Very casually he addressed Florian. "In two days' time is the wedding and you said you will leave immediately afterwards. Why don't we ride out for the day and I'll show you some more of our country. You still have a lot to see."

"Splendid. I'd love to see those long flat stretches where you used to race your horse. You always bragged about those but I haven't seen any yet."

"I'll show you, I'll race you and I'll win," Eric answered.

Elena was whining, "Do you have to? Can't you stay home?"

"I have a guest I need to entertain. It is part of the duties of royals, Elena," said Eric getting up.

Florian followed his friend to the stables. The horses were saddled already, just as Eric had requested on his return from the convent. They had to pass by the palace first. Eric's parents, Elena and Nikki stood outside. At a sign of the queen Florian and Eric halted their horses. She went to her son.

"If you're going to be away all day, you might want something to eat," she said as she handed him a linen sack.

Eric thanked his mother. He saw that Nikki took a similar bag to Florian. She nodded and shook her head a few times at something Florian said, then she smiled. Eric was surprised. Florian had a conversation with Nikki. He hadn't even tried and wondered why not. Then he remembered. Elena had told him Nikki was a simpleton who danced but could do little else, least of all have a conversation. Eric felt sad; it could have been him talking to Nikki. He didn't know why he felt so sad. He'd never felt the urge to talk to the girl and Nikki and Florian were both free to laugh at and talk to whomever they wanted.

While he'd been observing his friend and the young girl he hadn't paid any attention to the movements of his horse. Without realising it he had directed it closer to Elena. His horse suddenly acted skittish. While he tried to calm it down Elena shrieked, "Why do you come this close? You know I'm afraid of these beasts. You can't love me if you do this. You should have gotten rid of it already instead of continually exposing me to that animal."

Eric mumbled, "Sorry," and moved his horse away. Florian had seen everything and thought the horse had seemed more afraid of Elena than the other way round. While Florian had noticed Elena's behaviour, Eric saw Nikki caressing the soft nose of Florian's horse. He knew his friend was looking for a bride and the idea it could be Nikki bothered him.

Finally they set off. At first they were both quiet but Florian wanted to know about Eric's country and asked about produce, economy, trade and anything else he thought of. Eric relaxed and told his friend all he wanted to know and in turn asked questions about Florian's country. Near lunchtime they found a secluded spot with a lake. It was surrounded by tall straight trees and screened from the road by bushes. Underneath the trees grew soft grass. They sat down near the water to have their lunch and soon Eric broached the subject that occupied his mind nearly constantly.

"I was at the convent this morning and I saw Sister Martha." Silence, Florian didn't know what to answer.

Eric continued, "Mother-Superior gave me these papers to read but I couldn't. She said you could tell me because you had read them. What were they about Florian, tell me, please."

After a short hesitation to order his thoughts, Florian started telling his friend about the man who'd written the manuscript and how he and Sister Maria-Clara believed it to be genuine.

"The man related a lot of sad stories about merpeople, generally mermaids, who fell in love with humans. Mostly the love remains unfulfilled; often the stories ended with their deaths."

Eric said he couldn't care much about females who lured men to their death.

"That's where everyone is wrong. These sirens are not mermaids. They are in fact sea-witches who take on the form of mermaids. The man had seen one from a great distance and described it. They are truly evil beings; blobs that have no form themselves but copy an existing form. Mostly they duplicate mermaids, but they can replicate any form if they have an example to work from. The only way to tell the difference is the perfection of the replica; they never have flaws."

Florian stopped, but apparently his friend hadn't made the link yet. He continued, "Sometimes a mermaid falls so deeply in love with a man she's prepared to become human. This is not the same as a sea-witch copying a human. A mermaid is humanoid; she only has to split her tail in two to make legs. Of course it's not as simple as that. It's a painful process and only a sea-witch can do it. In exchange the witch requires something that belongs to the mermaid, her hair, her eyesight, her hearing or her voice."

Another pause to allow things to sink in but there was still no reaction from Eric. Florian wondered if his friend was thick or thought it all so much nonsense. Nevertheless he went on, "A mermaid who has acquired her legs can live on land but every step she takes will be painful. She will feel the pain of the rending of her tail over and over again. If she wins the heart of the man she loves and marries him, she becomes truly human. She can walk and run and dance without pain and what she gave in payment will be restored to her. If on the other hand her love marries another woman, the poor mermaid dies and becomes sea-foam and the sea-witch keeps her prize. That's why sea-witches do everything in their power to destroy any chance the mermaid has to win her sweetheart's love"

There was nothing more to tell. Eric just had to join the dots but he seemed to be staring into a dark and terrifying void.


To be continued ...