Twenty One

The party was in complete disarray; everyone who had witnessed the events were badly shaken. The king and the duke were at a complete loss, two of the courtly ladies had fainted, the stock of brandy from the refreshments table had fallen very low, and most of the guests had demanded at least once to be put ashore immediately. By definition of a "party," therefore, it was in short a disaster.

At the top of the pavilion, Henry, Ellie, and Adella had rushed to the ship's edge, still staring after the witch. On the swiftly darkening horizon, clouds were gathering in thick masses; already, a low rumble shivered in the air.

Ellie was the first to state the obvious. "We have to do something!"

"This is all my fault," cried Adella, her face in her hands. "I should have just left things alone!"

The king hurried up to his son. "Son, what is going on here?"

"I'd love to know," Henry replied, already taking action. "Lower the boat!" he shouted to a nearby crewmember. As the boat was made ready, Henry stripped off his jacket, then tossed his sword and its scabbard into the boat.

Ellie turned to Adella. "Should we—" She broke off in surprise, for Adella had already cast aside her fine veil and wrenched the pendant and its chain from around her neck. As soon as it was off, she struggled out of the heavy wedding gown to reveal her own tail, which had reappeared.

The king started back. "What—"

Lady Tremaine made a haughty approach. "Your Highness, if I may, I suggest the first order of business be to return to shore immediately; I'd say all this has gone quite far enough!"

"You keep your nose out of this!" snapped the king, rounding on her. "After what I've heard tonight, I've grown highly suspicious of your involvement in this."

"But surely, your Majesty doesn't believe all this nonsense?" the lady persisted, unrelenting. "This situation seems to involve forces we cannot comprehend; it would be much wiser to abandon them to their own devices—"

"I'm going after her!" Henry called to his father, leaping into the boat. "I almost lost her once; I'm not going to lose her again!"

"I'm coming with you!" As Henry began to lower the boat, Adella clambered over the rail and plunged back into the sea.

"Try not to take any of this personally, darling," hummed Ursula, dragging Andrina along in tow. Her eel minions were close at hand, keeping just behind them. "You did come to me, after all, and I did my best to help you understand the risks."

Andrina was trying very hard not to cry, a process which was actually helped a great deal by her anger at the sea witch. "You still cheated," she snapped hotly, doing her best to get out of her human dress using just one arm. "I'd say I deserve a little exemption for that, wouldn't you think?"

Ursula chuckled, lifting the garments off and tossing them casually over her shoulder. "Why, my dear, why would I ever cheat you out of happiness? Your sister's involvement certainly wasn't my doing; how could I possibly have foreseen that?"

However unfortunate it was, Andrina saw the truth in Ursula's words; if it hadn't been for Adella, things might have gone much better. But feelings of personal betrayal she set aside for the present, saying stiffly, "Well, I don't know how she got involved with you, but you still set her up. Not all of the blame can fall on her."

"Oh, really." The witch made a pouting expression. "I hope you can learn to trust me a little more in the future. She came to me the same way you did; uninvited and unasked. Her decision, not mine."

"And are you going to do anything with her?" asked Andrina warily.

"Of course not," Ursula assured her dismissively. "We made our own bargain, entirely separate of yours. She held up her end faithfully enough; I have no more use for her."

That let Andrina relax a little, but only so much, given the current circumstances. "So, then, what happens to me?"

Ursula smiled nastily. "That we'll have to see about, won't we?"

Andrina looked away, fighting back the lump in her throat.

A deep, commanding voice brought them to a halt: "Ursula, stop!"

Ursula pulled up short, very nearly swimming into the sharp points of King Triton's trident. The king was glaring darkly at the witch; close behind him were Attina and Ariel, hovering fearfully close at their father's elbow.

"Why, King Triton!" greeted Ursula cheerfully, gingerly nudging the trident away. "How are you? And more of your lovely daughters." She wiggled her fingers at the other princesses.

"Let her go!" thundered the king, brandishing the trident a second time.

"Not a chance!" laughed Ursula, dragging Andrina to her side. "She's mine now. We made a deal, and the contract's legal by Atlantica law; completely unbreakable, even for you. So you hurry along your merry way; I have no reason to trouble you or the rest of your family, yet."

"You monster!" cried Ariel fiercely, lunging forward. "Leave her alone!"

"Ariel, don't!" Attina firmly grasped her arm, holding her back.

Ursula laughed spitefully. "Your Majesty certainly has a charming family. I'm simply thrilled I'll be keeping the company of one of its primary members."

King Triton met the eyes of his daughter, his face almost haggard with distress. Such an overwhelming sense of shame surged through Andrina at the whole mess she had caused that she dropped her gaze, fighting off tears.

"Well," said the witch snidely, "this has been fun, really, but got to run; got a schedule to keep up with, you know."

"Hey!"

Ursula looked up sharply. Adella hovered just overhead, hands clenched and tail thrashing, a rope looped over one shoulder. "Why not pick on someone your own size?"

Ursula let out a cackle. "Oh, please tell me you don't mean yourself! Contract or no, I'll—ah!" She suddenly clutched at her arm as something long and sharp rocketed through the water, drawing a long scratch as it just nicked her, letting out a thin wisp of dark blood. Above floated Henry, holding another harpoon at the ready.

"Henry, no!" Andrina reached out to him, but Ursula flung a tentacle about her waist and pinned her back.

The witch's eyes glittered as she gave Andrina a malicious smile. "Well, it seems he cares after all; what a pity it will cost him his life." Still grinning, she turned to her eels. "Sic him, boys!"

Henry swam for the surface for air, the eels hot in pursuit. They were almost upon him when there was a cry of, "Oh, no you don't!" Darting out of protection, Ariel sailed into the fray, smacking the nearest eel with her tail. Adella took care of the other, yanking on the end of its tail; in seconds, she let go with a squeal of "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!", but the eels had been stalled just long enough to give Henry time to get a breath.

Meanwhile, Ursula had taken advantage of the distraction to seize the harpoon. "Say goodbye to your sweetheart," she sneered at Andrina, raising it high and aiming at Henry, who was on his way back down again.

"No!" Reaching as far as she could, Andrina grabbed a fistful of Ursula's hair and yanked back. The harpoon sailed too high, missing Henry and instead speared both the eels clean through in a fantastically tidy shish-kebab.

"My babies!" Distraught, Ursula released Andrina and rushed to her fallen pets. Once loosed, Andrina darted out of reach and shot towards Henry, grabbing an arm and hauling him back to the surface.

"Hey!" Henry coughed and spluttered, slipping his arms around her. "I was supposed to be saving you!"

Andrina's heart melted, but she said hurriedly, "Please, you have to get as far away from here as you can!"

With his free arm, Henry caught the side of the boat drifting nearby. "I'm not leaving you."

There was a nearby splash as Adella surfaced, grabbing onto the boat and holding it steady as Henry clambered aboard. Andrina gave him a boost, then was surprised as he caught her up and pulled her in after him. Rain spattered the surface of the sea as growing waves rocked the little ship to and fro, the wind blowing foam over the sides.

Andrina curled against Henry as he pulled her close. "I'm sorry I lied to you; I'm sorry for all of this."

Smiling, Henry gently brushed her wet hair aside. "I can kind of see why you did; but I forgive you."

More hands were gripping the sides of the boat; in another moment, Attina and Ariel poked their heads over the edge. "Are you both okay?" asked Attina.

Andrina nodded. "We're fine, but what are you all doing here?"

"We came to help, of course," replied Ariel.

"When Adella got pulled into the deal with the sea witch," explained Attina, "we thought it was probably time to tell Daddy what was happening."

Andrina winced, biting her lip. "Was he angry?"

"I'm sure he'll have a few words later," acquiesced Attina, "but there'll be time to take care of that later."

The boat gave a lurch as something long and black looped over the bow; Adella, Attina, and Ariel were all knocked away from the ship. Before them, churning up the grey waters, the sea witch loomed out of the darkness, her face contorted with rage.

Henry felt about in the bottom of the boat, then pulled out his sword, brandishing it at Ursula. "Stay away from her!"

"Just try and stop me, you little fool!" Quick as the lightning flashing across the dark sky, Ursula whipped a tentacle around the prince's foot, and then another around the hand holding his sword. Two more gripped the sides of the boat, threatening to tear its timbers apart.

Andrina caught hold of Henry's shoulders, wrapping her arms around him and pulling with all her strength. Kicking out, Henry managed to get his boot off, but his sword was wrenched from his grasp. Laughing, the sea witch caught it up and held it aloft. "You messed with the wrong witch!" she bellowed, lightning glinting off the blade as she prepared to drive it home straight into the prince's heart.

There was a tremendous thunderclap as lightning split the sky again. For one instant, everything was illuminated in dazzling white; Ursula stood completely motionless, halfway in the little boat, the sword blazing like a torch in her hand. There was a hiss as the water around boiled and bubbled; the wood of the boat began to smoke as the tentacles gripping it were steamed. The sword melted down to a smoldering stump, molten metal dribbling in a silvery trail down along Ursula's upraised arm. Then, with a sigh like a deflating puffer fish, the witch slumped forward and collapsed, full onto the boat, tentacles jerking stiffly. Andrina pulled Henry back into the water as Ursula practically wrapped herself around the boat, capsizing it and sending it to the murky depths, leaving nothing but the acrid smell of burned sushi in the air.