The Team Gets Together
"Ah, your Highness. There is someone here to see you. I told him that you are on your honeymoon and not to be disturbed, but he said it is most urgent." Said Carlotta.
Prince Eric was cooling his heels in the library waiting for Ariel to be cleaned up and checked out by the medical team that was being assembled for her. He was scanning a book that described the effects of pregnancy on a woman when the head maid came in.
Putting down the book Eric rose, "Well, I've got some time at the moment. Might as well see him."
Carlotta nodded and left.
Eric wondered who it might be, the Regent still took care of most day-to-day decisions though they had the Council for more major policy updates. But between them, Corona, Arendelle and the others not much needed changing. The big focus was on what was happening to the South with Maleficent and the empire that was building down there.
It was just a number of alliances right now, but Eric and others were certain that it was just a hoax. That as soon as Maleficent was ready it would consolidate into an empire and she would try to take over Europe and probably the world. He would stop her, but first he had to rescue his family.
Carlotta came in with a man dressed in greens and browns, with a peaked hat and a long thin walking staff about as tall as the man's shoulder. Eric would have said the staff was white except that there was a strip of white that put even the finest salt to shame.
The man raised the brim of his hat as Carlotta turned to introduce him.
"Chedrick!" Eric rushed over and clasped wrists with his best friend before hugging him tight.
"Carlotta, prepare rooms and a fine meal for my best friend." Eric ordered.
"Just tea thank you." Replied Chedrick, grinning.
"Of course, your Highness." Carlotta said as she left.
"It is great to see you." Said Eric.
"It is good to see you too, but imagine my surprise when she told me you weren't taking visitors because of your honeymoon?" Chedrick drawled out the last bit.
Eric blushed a little. "A lot has happened in the last, um, five weeks."
"Do tell." Chedrick said settling himself into a chair.
Eric took up that challenge. "On the trip here for my birthday celebration, I was shipwrecked and rescued by a mermaid. I fell in love with her but was bewitched to marry a sea witch. The sea witch was exposed by sea creatures and the mermaid and I fought the witch as she turned into a giant sea monster as big as this castle. She created a giant storm and whirlpool that raised ships from the ocean floor. I seized control of one of those ships and drove it into her belly, killing her. Then we married, she met Aunt Rapunzel and the family when they finally arrived the day after."
"It sounds like you hardly need me and all my years of magical training anymore. You did all that in the last month?" Chedrick asked impressed.
"No, most of that happened the first week, we've been enjoying the honeymoon most of the time since."
"All that in a week?" Chedrick raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed.
"There's more."
"Oh, really."
"The mermaid I married, is the youngest and more favored daughter of King Triton, and granddaughter of Poseidon the brother of Hades, Lord of the Underworld. King Triton has the Trident of Poseidon and can get us into hell. Oh, and we just learned that Ariel may be pregnant."
Chedrick slowly stood. "You have been busy. I was worried that the quest was over before it had even begun."
"Oh, no. It is so on." Eric paced back and forth. "With you coming right now. The timing is too perfect. I am certain everything is in place. We can get my family back."
"We might not win. Probably won't win. Taking on hell itself is not done lightly."
Eric sobered. "No, not it's not. All these years of training and waiting, frustration and doubt are over. One thing is sure. We are going to simply walk into hell. After that things are going to get dicey, but finally. Finally, it feels like there is a chance for success and not just being pointless."
Chedrick clasped Eric's wrist. "Yes, there is definitely a chance, now. And your mermaid princess, is she coming?"
"Ah, no. No, she won't be. She wants too, though, but I'll have to override that. She may have left her family but she loves them dearly still. but she gets violently ill in the mornings, and we are not taking a baby to hell. She has to stay behind." Eric looked at the wall toward their bedroom.
"Well, maybe it is for the best, because they give you a reason to come home, no matter how this turns out." Chedrick said gently.
Eric turned to look his best friend in the eye and then lowered his own. "Yeah."
