It had been a really stupid idea to swim away like that, Ares thought. He had been able to easily outrun the guards chasing him in these rugged unknown lands. But now this very aspect, previously thought to be an advantage, was a huge problem for the young prince. He had never been so far away from Atlantica. He had not the slightest idea where exactly his fin had taken him, and the wild chase he had been on with his grandfather's men had left him unable to remember the way back. He was completely exhausted.
Tired, he sank down onto a sandbank and closed his eyes for a moment. A short breather would do him good, then he could continue to rack his brains about how to find his way home again. A pang of conscience came over him as he lay there and reviewed the past hours. He really hadn't behaved very princely and resolved not to be too much of a burden on his parents in the near future. He could already hear the thunder they would give him when he was back home. That is, if he found his way home again.
He opened his eyes again and looked around searchingly, but none of the rocks and coral reefs around him awakened even a trace of memory in him. Sighing heavily, he pushed himself away from his resting place, kicking up a small cloud of the fine sand. For now, Ares decided to swim aimlessly back and forth, hoping that he might not have been quite as successful as he had first thought in escaping the palace guards. But this tactic did not seem to be crowned with success. As he swam through the strange landscape, uneasiness gradually arose in him.
No fish or other sea creatures appeared that he could have asked for directions. He wondered why no one seemed to have settled in this place, since it offered everything one needed for life underwater. Several caves in various sizes and shapes, as well as all kinds of sea grass meadows and other vegetation in which one could hide or, in the case of his aunt Alana, make annoying hair wreaths or the like. Ares resignedly pounded his clenched fist into the water in front of him. He had really manoeuvred himself into it wonderfully.
Suddenly he made out something in the distance that made his hopes of a timely return home flare up again. A ship was looming up there, and it did not occur to him in his euphoria that it could be anything other than the ship of his aunt Ariel, who had set off home again, and so he swam towards the promising object, disregarding all caution.
Much too late, the young merman realised his fatal mistake, now it was clear to him why he had not encountered anyone at the bottom. Panic-stricken, he tried to turn around and escape the trawl coming towards him, but it was in vain. The net grabbed him and pulled him violently along with it. Pushed to the back of the net, Ares dragged himself across the seabed for some time, inflicting deep wounds on the sharp edges of several protruding rocks. With all his might he tried to escape the net, which kept wrapping itself around him as it was pulled in.
The surface of the water came closer and closer with frightening speed until he finally broke through it. Startled, he sucked in the sea air that so suddenly surrounded him, but was immediately forced back out of his lungs. A painful groan was heard as Ares slammed full force against the planks. For a short time, the full net hung several metres above the water, until it was finally manoeuvred onto the deck, accompanied by loud men's voices. With his senses fogged by the impact, Ares could not make out exactly what was happening around him. Astonished exclamations reached his ears and he forced himself to open his eyes, narrowed in pain.
A dozen unkempt-looking people stood around him, gawping at him like a rare animal, which in their eyes he probably was. He was afraid. He had never been this close to humans before, with the exception of his aunt Ariel, but she didn't count, she was one of them, even if she seemed to like to forget that every now and then.
"Well, what have we caught here," a deep, commanding voice rang through the ranks of the sailors.
"A flissshboy, capt'n! A thrrue flissshboy!" slurred a somewhat stocky fellow with a wooden leg and a crooked woollen cap on his head. Judging by his red bulbous nose and his inaudible speech difficulties, he must have had a barrel of rum. The captain carelessly pushed him aside and stepped closer to Ares, who was dangling in the net above his ship's deck. Under the enormous brim of his hat, deep black little eyes sparkled greedily as they met the young prince and Ares, knew instantly that of all the ships he could have encountered, he had met the worst.
"You'll make me a handsome fortune on the black market, little sea lad. Or perhaps you'll make an excellent figurehead," the captain mumbled deliberately into his full black beard, but seemed unable to make a final decision as to which would be the better choice. No matter which of the two the scary guy would choose, neither was a rosy outlook for Ares. What had he gotten himself into?
"Oh, I know, why not just do both? Men get him out of there and tie him to the bow mast. He'll grace our ship until we arrive at our home port, there we'll find a good buyer for this precious cargo," the captain ordered with a spiteful blaring laugh, "and see to it that this mess is mopped up!" he put with a disgusted look at the puddle of seawater and Ares' blood that had formed under the net. The men loosened the net and let it sink down.
The moment Ares could feel the wood beneath him, he summoned all his courage and remaining strength. He pushed himself off the ground with his hands and made a few awkward-looking strokes with his tail fin, which was covered in scratches, to somehow manoeuvre himself back into the sea. "Well, well, well. Where are we going?" the captain gave Ares' efforts an amused look. Ares almost made it to one of the several holes lined up at regular intervals along the side of the ship for the various ropes, when an almost unbearable pain shot through the tip of his flippers. He didn't need to look to think what had happened and yet his eyes jerked to the source of the pain. The captain's broad sabre nailed him to the wooden planks and the owner of the weapon glared at him like an enthusiastic hunter. Panic flared again in Ares, they would kill him, his parents would never find him, he would never see them or Atlantica again. Weighing it up, he looked back and forth between his tail fin and the mean grin of his tormentor. He had only one option, he didn't like the consequences at all, but there was no other way out. Ares fearful look turned into a determined flare of combativeness. He wouldn't just let these monsters do what they wanted, they had no one less than the heir to the throne of Atlantica before them, they wouldn't get him that easily. The captain registered the change of temper in his counterpart and forestalled Ares by confronting him with words. "Ah, a little fighter we've caught. What do you want to do now? You do understand our language, don't you?" Ares understood very well what the other was saying, but he would not give him the satisfaction of deigning to answer him. His mind made up, he spat in the other's face and took advantage of the distraction to put his painful plan into action and tear off his fin. Tears instantly welled up in the corners of his eyes, but he managed to keep moving towards the sea. Enraged, the captain spat and pursued Ares. The tip of the sabre repeatedly hammered the ground only millimetres away from Ares' fin. Ares drew a wide trail of blood across the deck as he fled. He could already see the waves of the sea when once again the sharp metal hit the translucent thin skin at the end of his fish tail and nailed him once more. A horrified sound escaped his mouth. This couldn't be happening, he had staked everything on this card, had willingly damaged his precious fin for it and now it was all going to be for nothing? He knew that he would not be able to muster the courage to do this a second time. His fin was already in a pitiful condition, swimming would be a challenge and an ordeal, even if he somehow managed to save himself in the water. But that prospect was a long way off and in the next moment even the last shred of hope was nipped in the bud. He fought wildly and with all his might against the group of sailors who, at the command of their captain, tried to catch him again and tie him up with ropes. To Ares' deepest regret, it had not taken long for them to get him under control and were now about to tie him up as the new figurehead in front of the bow of their ship. Throwing his previously made resolution to the wind, Ares clamoured like a sparrow and insulted the men in a way that was not at all appropriate for a prince and a young man of his age. But this only elicited a few casual sayings and jokes from the sailors and above all their captain.
"Have you found your voice after all? And what a lovely sound it has. Surely you can warble us a few songs after my men have lashed you down," the captain offered him. The crew cheered enthusiastically and fastened the new living figurehead, despite minor problems caused by their continued resistance. Now he hung here so close to his beloved sea and yet further away than ever before. Now that they no longer saw him, he allowed himself to shed a few tears. Silently they dripped down his cheek into the waves of the ocean, where they joined the great whole. This supposed calm did not last long, however, to his suffering. Ares could see below him how the ship began to move and picked up speed. The bow worked its way through the salt water, breaking waves. Foaming crests formed and disappeared from his view on either side. The thunderous voice of the first mate relayed the captain's orders to the crew, the last of which was to sing a shanty. The men obeyed to the letter and the first one sang a verse, which the entire crew soon joined in. After the first song had faded away, ominous shadows appeared next to Ares again. He had not heard the last command, the roaring of the sea below him was too loud and the familiar sound was too engaging. He was only too happy to close his ears to the horror that lurked on board.
"Sssling, flissshboy, Sssling! Se capt'n wantzsss sto hear you sssling!" he was supported by unpleasant poking in his side with a harpoon tip. Ares just wanted his rest, so he complied and began humming a song. Quietly he breathed the words to himself, interrupting once and again with a sob.
"Louwfder flissshboy, louwfder! Fwe can't hear your sssweet voifce!" the drunkard demanded accompanied by further poking. The prince obeyed and raised his voice. With new tears in his eyes, he sang the verses Sebastian had written for him for the next feast. Satisfied with his work, the sailor withdrew.
"Lisssthen to urrr golden ssthroat ssling!" Ares heard him slurring across the deck, earning bawling cheers. Ares watched the sun sink behind the horizon, turning the sky first red and then deep blue, blue like his fin that wouldn't stop throbbing with pain. Much more, with each passing hour, more agonising welts produced by the tight lacing with which Ares was tied to the ship.
At the other end of the sea, the party had quickly dispersed in all directions after Morgana's appearance. The sun had by now set completely behind the horizon and Ariel and Eric had decided that it would be safest for themselves and especially Melody on land. Triton agreed with strong regret and had let them sail back by the quickest route. There was still general unrest among the sea people, but by far the most upset mermaid of all was probably Attina. She could no longer think straight, Ares had been nowhere to be found for hours. She blamed herself so endlessly. After the few men Orpheus had immediately sent after her son had returned empty-handed, Triton had prioritised the search for his grandson and sent the rest of his men, who had previously been commissioned by him to arrest Morgana. So now the entire royal guard was on the lookout for the young prince, but still there was not the slightest trace of him. Attina was almost certain that Morgana had something to do with it. She had sworn revenge and what could be further from her mind than kidnapping the crown prince? How could she have been so inattentive?
"Orpheus, where is he?" she turned anxiously to her husband, who pulled her comfortingly into his arms.
"Everything will be all right, Attina. They will find him. I will lead another search party myself. We will bring him back. Trust me," he reassured his wife, breathing a loving kiss on her brow furrowed with worry.
"Bring our boy back to us, Orpheus," she called after him hopefully as he set off with his hand-picked troop, then allowed herself to be embraced by the comforting arms of her sisters. Triton gave his daughters' cohesion a sympathetic look before raising his voice to acquaint the people surrounding him with the way forward.
"I want you all to make your way back to Atlantica. I, meanwhile, will follow Ariel and Eric to the coast. We need to restructure the research on Morgana and widen the search for my grandson, we won't get anywhere with this uncoordinated swimming around."
The sea people obeyed their king's order without objection and set off for home. However, there was not a trace left of the cheerful and carefree mood that had prevailed on the outward journey. Everyone was preoccupied with anxious thoughts.
After watching his people swim away in the distance, Triton grabbed the reins of his carriage and gave the signal for the team to start moving. Without any detours, he headed for the coast.
The lime-white castle of Eric's family towered imposingly on the shore of the sea. Gently, waves lapped at the small beach in front of the large staircase leading up to the castle gates. Triton approached slowly in the shallow water. Ariel and Eric were already waiting for his arrival. With anxious looks they watched the ruler of Atlantica approaching them. Like their faces, Triton's features reflected nothing but exhaustion, regret and a certain amount of discomfort.
"Daddy, what are we going to do now?" asked Ariel of her father in exasperation, having long since found an answer to that question, but still unable to bring herself to accept it.
"We have no trace of Morgana, the sea is not safe for our little princess," the worried grandfather said with a sad look on his face, which was on everyone's mind.
"Melody can't know about any of this, I'm sorry, but we have to keep this away from her as best we can," Ariel began, holding out the locket he had given the little one earlier in the day to her father before continuing, "and what goes for her must go for me too. I'm sorry, Daddy, but until Morgana is found, I have to banish that part of me and everything to do with it from my life." Tears stood in her eyes, underlining once again how difficult this decision was for her, but Triton understood and saw that it was for the best.
"I promise you I will do everything in my power to render this sea witch harmless. But there is also something I must ask of you both," Triton spoke.
"How can we help, Your Highness?" Eric immediately asked helpfully.
"Your godson, Ares, has disappeared, we can't find him anywhere. After you sailed away, I wanted to send everyone back to Atlantica, but the guards his father sent after him, after the little joke he played on you, returned without him. We have been on the lookout for him until sunset, your brother-in-law is still busy looking for Ares, but I fear that if we haven't found him by now, we won't be able to find him in the next few hours," Triton got his worries off his chest.
"We will do everything in our power to support you in your search. As soon as we have even the smallest clue, you will hear about it. Don't worry, your majesty, we will find him," Eric assured his father-in-law. With a sad but grateful nod, he said goodbye. How had this wonderful day ended so horribly? A single tear made its way down the cheek of the great ruler, who slowly slid back under the surface of the sea, regretfully dropping the jewel that had been in his hand until then into the water. With a last glance at the sky, where dark clouds were gathering over the sea, testifying to the approach of a violent storm, he finally submerged himself completely.
