Chapter 6 - A Poor, Unfortunate Soul
"Oh, poor Arron!" Flora sighed as she waited outside the grotto, desperate for her best friend to come back out and say that he was okay.
"I didn't mean to tell her!" said Stella, "It was an accident!"
Just then, she saw Arron swimming overhead, with two strange looking companions by his side. She swam up to him, not caring if he wanted her there. She was still supposed to keep him out of trouble. "Arron, what are you doing with all a 'dis?"
Arron stared daggers back at the crab. "Going to see Ursulis." he replied.
Stella jumped at the name. "Arron! No, you can't, he's a demon, he's a monster!" she grabbed at the boy's tail-fin, but it did little to hold him back.
"Why don't you go tell my mother?" he snapped. "You're good at that!" he flicked his fin, leaving Stella in a wake of bubbles.
"What's going on?" asked Flora, swimming up to meet the crustacean. Stella knew that the boy was swimming right into certain doom, but if she told the Queen what was happening, she would have betrayed his trust twice in one day. And by the time the Queen came to see what was happening, it could already be too late. Knowing that she was very much to blame for all of this, Stella made up her mind.
"Oh, uh, I - UGH. I got him into this, I'm gonna get him back out. Come on!" Stella urged, and the two followed the red-head, trying to keep out of sight.
The eels led Arron into the mouth of the sorcerer's lair. It was constructed within the bones of a mammoth sized animal, long since dead and rotting. Arron was disgusted at the sight, but almost let out a scream when he saw dozens of polyps, all wailing an ear-piercing cry, as if telling him to get out and go back. Arron had considered this, but he had already made up his mind. So, he swam further in, Stella and Flora following close behind.
Suddenly, he heard a voice that sent a chill down his spine.
"Come in, come in, my dear boy!" came the chilling voice of Ursulis, "We mustn't lurk in doorways. It's oh so very, very rude." he said in a flamboyant voice as he suddenly appeared in the hallway. "One might question where in the world you got your manners from."
Arron didn't say anything, as he was too shocked by what he saw. He had never seen anything like the sea sorcerer before. A man with purple skin mixed with an octopus was not a natural part of sea life, and those long, thick, black and purple tentacles made Arron wince.
"Now, you're here because you have a thing for this princess girl, right?" he asked, though the Prince could tell that the octopus wasn't completely paying attention to him, as he seemed to be attending to his hair the entire time. Arron nodded. "Not that I blame ya..." Ursulis laughed. "She is quite a catch, isn't she? Hm hm hm…" Arron was growing more uncomfortable by the minute. Here was the man who had tried to kill his father, and had almost succeeded. Was he really doing this?
"Well, little prince, the solution to your problem is simple…" he said. "The only way to get what you want, is to become a human yourself." Arron's eyes widened and all thoughts of his own comfort shrivelled in his mind. If what Ursulis said was true, and he could make him human, Arron would deal with the creepy tentacles and shrieking polyps and put all history aside.
"Are you really able to do that?" he asked in childlike amazement. Ursulis grinned.
"My dear, sweet boy, it's what I do!" he floated over to him. "It's what I live for, to help poor, unfortunate mer-folk like yourself. Poor souls with no-one else to turn to..." he draped an arm over Arron's shoulder, an action he really didn't like, and led him over to the atrium of his lair. "I see we have similar taste in neck-wear." he said, gently touching Arron's purple shell. But he snatched it away before anyone else could touch it.
"I'd prefer you didn't." said the red-head.
"Woah, calm down, my boy. I was simply pointing out that we both have a charm that we admire." he said as he displayed the nautilus shell he wore.
"Why should I trust anything you say?" Arron said. "Everyone knows you were banished for trying to kill my father. Who's to say your intentions are good now?"
Ursulis knotted his brow as he tried not to strangle the boy right then and there. After all, he was merely a part in his major plan, and if this didn't go right, all would be lost. "Let's just say... I say I've changed. Banishment gives you a lot of time to think about one's... mistakes..." he said, and drew the tips of his fingers together, glimpsing over the fact that he had called cheating people out of the rest of their lives and attempted murder simple 'mistakes'. "But I assure you, little prince, people come to me for help now. After all, all I ever wanted was for people to look past what they don't understand about me and accept me for the freak I am. Surely you of all people can understand that, hm hm hm."
Arron considered his words. He had to admit, there was at least, a little bit of truth in what he was saying. He wasn't exactly the most favoured son. "Alright..." he said as he turned to face the sorcerer. "Maybe... maybe we could make a deal."
"Splendid!" the sea sorcerer exclaimed. "Let's get down to business, shall we?" he said, and Arron nodded. "Now, here's the deal. I know a spell that will turn you into a human for three days." Ursulis held up three fingers. "Got that? Three days."
"That's it?" questioned the red-head. The sorcerer only scowled.
"The door is right there if you want it." Arron averted his gaze and kept his mouth shut, and the octopus grinned and took it as a sign that the boy was too desperate to be picky about the solution offered to him. He moved over to his cauldron where he used his magic to create an image of a glowing heart; red, pulsing, and bright. "Now, before the sun sets on the third day, you've got to get dear old princess-pooh to fall in love with ya!" he said as the image of the heart glowed brighter. "That is, she's gotta kiss ya. Not just any kiss, of course. The kiss of true love." Arron looked at the image with amazement. He had never seen anything like this before. "If she does kiss you by the time the sun sets on the third day, you will remain human permanently."
Arron smiled, but a thought came to his mind, and his smile disappeared. "And if I don't?" he asked.
Ursulis had been waiting for this part, and resisted the temptation to smile. "If she doesn't, you turn back into a merman." Arron's face fell. "And, you'll belong to me!" Ursulis grinned brightly as the image was sucked away, and he lent forward with a clenched fist to demonstrate his words.
Arron's eyes widened in horror. So that's what all those polyp creatures were. He wondered how many mer-people who had taken up the sea sorcerer's deals didn't dwell there, and guessing by the sheer number of them, the number was probably very very low.
"Arron, no!" Stella cried from somewhere behind him, but Flotsa and Jeena used their long tails to silence the crab and fish.
"So, have we got a deal?" said the sorcerer.
Arron thought about it, and mentally weighed his choices. "If I become human, I'll... I'll never be with my mother or brothers again…" he said.
Ursulis put on a fake pout. "That's right. But, isn't that a good thing? Ha ha. You'll have your girl at least. Life's full of tough choices, inn'it?" he laughed.
"Well, can't argue with that." Arron said as he rubbed his arm.
"Oh! I nearly forgot. There is one more thing..." said the sorcerer, coiling around the boy just as the eels had done. Arron hated it. "We haven't discussed the subject of payment. You can't get something for nothing, you know."
Arron thought about what a powerful sorcerer could possibly want from a teenage boy. "I don't think I'd have anyth-"
Ursulis held up a tentacle to signal the boy to shut up. "Oh, that's where you're wrong. I'm not asking for much, just something small, really, you'll hardly even miss it..." he said, laughing faintly. "What I want from you is…" the sea sorcerer placed a long, black fingernail underneath Arron's chin, forcing him to meet his gaze, "your voice."
Arron's eyes widened, and he placed a hand on his throat, as if protecting his voice from whatever might snatch it away. "Wait, what? My voice?" he asked.
"Ding ding ding." said Ursulis. "No more talking, singing, humming, or even sleep-talking."
"But without my voice, how can I possibly tell Erica that I'm the one who saved her?"
Ursulis just scoffed. "Do you think that's my problem? Anyways, you have that pwitty face of yours."
"Whether or not I win the deal, will I ever get it back?" Arron asked.
"Sorry to say, you won't. I'll admit, my price is heavy. But women don't need anyone to speak for them these days. They appreciate it when guys take a back seat for once and actually listen. If anything, I'm doing you a favour. But, you do have a choice..." he snapped his fingers and a golden contract appeared, glowing as brightly as everything else he conjured up. A fish-bone quill appeared next to it in a puff of magic, and Arron looked to the entrance to the cave, then to the sorcerer, then back at the contract. "Choose wisely, boy. Because there is no going back after this." said Ursulis.
Arron took a deep breath. Then, to the horror of Stella and Flora, Arron took the quill and hastily scratched his name on the parchment, not even able to look at it.
The contract flew into the sorcerer's hand where it disappeared into smoke, and a huge, evil grin appeared on his face. "It's done then!" he exclaimed. Arron was terrified. The sea sorcerer waved his hand and dozens of bottles flew out of shell cupboards on the walls and into the cauldron, which Arron only just noticed was made out of the jaws of some kind of sea creature, and they opened wide as the glass bottles exploded in hideous shades of murky teal within the bones. Arron shielded his eyes from the brightness. Had he made the wrong choice? Could he back out now? But Ursulis had already begun his spell.
"Ballooga, severooga, come wind of the Caspian Sea…" a misty green whirlpool emitted from the cauldron and surrounded the young prince, and he began to regret his decision evern more. "Larexis, glossitis et max laryngitis, la voche to me!"
With those last final words, two huge skeletal hands appeared above Ursulis and filled the cavern with eerie light. The sorcerer opened his nautilus shell, its purpose finally being fulfilled. Another wisp of smoke wrapped itself around Arron's waist, ensuring that he couldn't escape their little bargain.
"Now, sing!" the sorcerer commanded.
Sing? Sing what?!, Arron thought. His mind was racing. So, he sang the only tune he could think of; the solo he forgot to sing on his brother's coronation day. It was a tune with no lyrics but a sweet one nonetheless, and it got higher and higher as Arron's voice climbed the scale. As he did so, something in his throat began to glow.
"Keep singing!" Ursulis exclaimed as the skeletal hands inched closer and closer to the boy.
Suddenly, a horrible, cold, sharp sensation pierced through Arron's lips as his voice was pulled away. His back arched painfully, and his eyes shot wide open from the pain as the ghost hands dipped right down to the bottom of his throat. It felt as if his vocal-cords were being ripped out but still he sang clearly, not sure where his voice was coming from anymore.
Stella and Flora watched in horror as their prince was robbed of the one thing that truly made him special; his voice. Stella had never thought the boy to be very smart, but she never imagined her friend getting himself into this much agony, and she partly blamed herself for all of this. Arron had never been happy at home, but had his family really pushed him away this much? Had Arron pushed himself away from them so much that he would go through all of this just to get away?
A golden ball of light suddenly produced from Arron's lips, and his eyes widened as he saw his voice take a physical form in front of him. He clutched his throat as it burned, a small tear dripping down his cheek where it dissolved into the water around him.
Arron's voice was hastily sucked inside the sorcerer's precious shell, the melodic tune emitting from it no more.
"Why, thank you, dear boy." Ursulis said once the shell was shut. "But I would take my hands off your throat if I were you. You're gonna wanna take a deep breath."
With a wave of his hand, another whirlpool surrounded Arron, lifting him up, and he was ripped from his mer-self. He felt like he was on fire as his bones shifted and re-arranged themselves inside his body. A force that felt like a sharp knife cut through his tail, splitting it in two, and his scales shrivelled up as if on fire. He thought his spine would break as he was arched so far backward, blinded by the insane light from the whirlpool he was trapped in.
Stella and Flora winced, as they assumed having a tail split in two must not have been a very pleasant feeling at all.
Arron couldn't help but scream. Surprisingly, not having a voice still granted him the ability to scream bloody murder, but it was drowned out by the sorcerer's endless maniacal laughter that rang painfully in his ears. Then suddenly, it was all over. He was human.
Arron didn't have time to recover form the pain however, before he started choking on the sudden lack of oxygen. He tried to kick up, planning to use his new legs the only way he knew how, but the pain had been so much that his muscles left him defenceless, and he began to sink.
Stella and Flora had been released from their bindings and swam to the aid of the slowly dying, now human prince, and swam with all their might out of the lair, Flora under one arm and Stella under the other. Flora flapped her fins ferociously, Stella scuttled her legs as fast as she could go, and Arron kicked and kicked, desperate to make it to the surface before the former merman drowned.
Ursulis cackled horribly as the trio swam out of the lair at lightning speed. It wasn't his concern that the boy could no longer breathe underwater. "I suppose he's gonna have to get to air as soon as possible..." Ursilis said to himself, "or not."
Stella and Flora swam with all their might, desperate to get the boy to shore before it was too late. Just as he was about to slip into unconsciousness, Arron's head suddenly appeared above the water, desperately gasping for breaths of air. Exhausted, he collapsed into the waves, Stella and Flora carrying him over to some nearby rocks. The little merman had made his decision. It had been painful, more pain than he would wish on his most powerful enemy. And the worst part was; his journey had only just begun.
Author's note: Halfway through guys, really hope you're enjoying it so far! Next chapter, there will be some meet-cute between Arron and Erica and mild hilarity ensues...
I wanted to differentiate between Ariel's character in the movie and Arron's character here. Ariel in the original is a daddy's girl, the favourite, the one who gets away with everything. Here, Arron feels alienated by his family and turns to acting out in rebellion because of it, anything but the family favourite. His family loves him, but his opinions about things they don't understand keep them apart.
Not only that, Arron doesn't really know the best way to share his opinions with other people yet, although he tries to understand their point of view. A very relatable struggle in a very divided political climate and a refusal to validate the other side.
Many misunderstood kids find a coping mechanism in acts of rebellion because they can't take the pain of not being accepted, because they want to show their parents how hurt they are or for many other reasons that result around lack of trust, and I really wanted to capture that struggle in Arron. He went as far as to become what his mother hates the most in order to find a life where he can live and think freely and have a newfound sense of independence, even if it meant leaving everything he knew behind to do it. I believe this is a more relatable arc than the "daddy, whyyyy" plot of the original movie, as I'm sure everyone wanted to do something to get away from their parents at some point during their teen years. Only here, our protagonist's feelings were so deeply hurt that he decided to leave all together so he could be himself.
I hope this subtle message resonates with some of you viewers, and please know, you're not alone. Sometimes, problems between family members can be resolved, and sometimes not. This story will have a happy ending of course, but if you're in a situation where you feel unsafe or unloved at home and you want to leave, godspeed to you. You deserve to be happy beautiful reader, just don't make any deals with sea witches ;)