Chapter Nineteen

When Hans, Grimsby, and Max returned to the Southern Isles castle, they were completely worn out. Entering the building, they made a mess everywhere with sand and water.

Queen Morgaine saw them, and her face flamed red. "Hans, what is the meaning of this?!"

Her screech caused King Eadric, and Hans's three eldest brothers to come see what was going on.

"Sorry, Mother," said Hans glancing back at the trail they had made, "I'll have it cleaned as soon as possible."

"Honestly, Hans, why can't you be more like your brothers," said the King shaking his head, "They never caused us this much trouble before. You're such a failure."

The comment stung, but Hans didn't say a thing.

"Where did we go wrong with this one?" Morgaine said dramatically as she and her husband left.

"I'll send for a maid," said Grimsby, also leaving, and taking Max with him to give the dog a bath.

"I'm not the worst," Hans muttered, "At least I didn't disown the family and run away like -"

"Don't say his name," warned Alcott, the oldest, "Are you insane?! Do you want Mother to have another fit?!"

"So, baby brother," said Kit, the second oldest, wrapping an arm around Hans's shoulders, "Why are you dressed in rags? A new trend?"

"No," Hans grumbled, wishing he could get away from his tormentors, "I was caught in the storm and almost died."

"Hmm, too bad you didn't," scoffed the third oldest, Thomas, "We would be better off without you here."

"We should go back to ignoring him," Alcott suggested.

"Oh, Hans, if only there was someone out there who loved you," Kit laughed shoving his youngest brother way. Hans fell over in a heap, his face flaming in fury. His brothers just laughed at him and left him there in the hall.

Sebastian was pacing back and forth in my room as I sat on my bed, picking petals off a flower, thinking about Hans. Even though the crab was muttering to himself, I could clearly hear every word he was saying.

"Okay, so far, so good. I don't think the king knows you snuck off again."

I tried ignoring him, but it was proving difficult. "I wonder where he's from because I've never seen him before," I muttered rolling my eyes upward. If I can't go back to Nesidy or stay here, then maybe I could stay in his country.

While Sebastian kept muttering to himself, Flounder suddenly arrived and whispered in my ear, "Aralyne, I have a surprise for you over in the grotto! Come on!" Grinning, I shot up from my bed and swam away from the crab.

When he finally turned around, Sebastian realized his charge was missing.

"Aralyne? Aralyne? Oh... somebody's got to nail that girl's fins to the floor."

A little seahorse swam forward calling out to the crab. "Sebastian! Sebastian, I've been looking all over for you. I've got an urgent message from the sea king."

"The sea king?" Sebastian repeated, wondering what Triton could want.

"He wants to see you right away - something about Aralyne," the seahorse replied.

Sebastian gasped in fear. "He knows!"

In Atlantica's throne room, Athena and Triton had discussed Aralyne, and had managed to convince him that since she had arrived, Aralyne had not caused any mischief or harmed anyone. Maybe she wasn't the evil monster he believed her to be?

Triton noticed Sebastian in the doorway. "Come in, Sebastian."

Sebastian walked up to the King and Queen muttering to himself, "I mustn't overreact. I must remain calm. Yes," his voice shot up several octaves so he cleared his throat before continuing on in his normal tone, "yes, Your Majesty."

"Now, Sebastian, I'm concerned about Aralyne. Has she been acting peculiar lately?" Triton said getting straight to the point.

"Peculiar?" Sebastian said pretending he didn't know anything.

"You know, having time alone or plotting? You haven't noticed, hmm?" inquired Triton.

"Oh - well, I -" the crab stammered.

"Sebastian. . . ." said Triton his eyes narrowing in suspicion, "are you keeping something from me?"

"Keeping . . . something?" Sebastian nervously said.

"About Aralyne?" Triton continued.

"Aralyne . . . ?" Sebastian repeated. He suddenly broke down and cried out, "I tried to stop her, sir! She wouldn't listen! I told her not to sneak out, but she did -"

"SHE WHAT?!" Triton roared shooting out of his throne.

Flounder and I had just entered the cave and I was feeling anxious. "Flounder, why can't you just tell me what this is all about?"

"You'll see. It's a surprise," he said with a large grin.

We swam forward a bit more and I stopped staring at the statue of Hans. "Oh, Flounder- Flounder you're the best!" I exclaimed giving my friend a hug before heading straight for the statue. "It looks just like him! It even has his eyes! Why, Hans, run away with you? This is all so - so sudden." Laughing, I spun around joyfully but came to a halt, staring wide-eyed at the entrance. "King Triton!"

He was just floating there looking beyond furious holding Excalibur. "I consider myself a reasonable merman," he said in a cold tone, causing me to back up and hide behind the statue. "I set certain rules, and I expect those rules to be obeyed."

"But, Sir," I began, but he cut me off.

"Is it true you keep sneaking out of the palace?"

"Sir, I had to -"

"You just keep giving me more and more reasons not to trust you!"

"Then kill me now," I muttered, "I know you want to."

King Triton raised Excalibur and pointed it directly at me. So this was it. Killed by my own sword. He scowled and suddenly shifted his angle. A red light shot out of the tip and blasted the Hans statue into a million pieces. Pulling away from the rubble, I began to sob into my arms, as I leaned against a rock.

"Aralyne, I . . ." Sebastian began.

"Just go away," I said without looking up. I knew it was his fault! He's the one that told Triton about me sneaking out!

Morgana was furious that Triton hadn't killed Aralyne. Using her magic, she communicated with Cloak and Dagger.

"Bring her to me!" she ordered, "She'll die one way or another!"

I suddenly felt something brush up against me, and when my head shot up, I saw Cloak and Dagger. A bit surprised, I was going to ask what they were doing there, when Cloak wrapped his tail around me, pinning my arms to my side, and Dagger wrapped his other tail around my head, particularly over my mouth so I couldn't call out for help. They swam off with me in their clutches. Okay, so I guess I could trust the villains about as much as I could my "friends" in Nesidy.

It wasn't long until we passed by Sebastian and Flounder and I could hear them talking about me.

"Poor Aralyne," Flounder sniffed.

"I didn't mean to tell, it was an accident," the crab explained, then looked up and saw me with the manta rays. He and Flounder began to follow us.

Yes! Good!

It took a while, but we eventually got back to Morgana's lair.

"Oh, there you are, darling!" said Morgana with a large smile, "Oh, I was so worried about you."

Angrily, I shifted my head until Dagger's tail slipped from my mouth. "You lied to me! You were never going help me be a mermaid! What do you really want?"

"You're not as stupid as you seem," said Morgana, her smile fading, "I want Excalibur!"

"Give it to her! Give it to her! Give it to her!" Undertow urged getting into my face.

Morgana grabbed him with one of her tentacles and pulled him away from the me. "Forgive him, dear. He's got a little size issue. Now, if you'll just hand over the sword."

"I don't have it," I said proudly, actually glad that Triton had confiscated it from me. She scowled and yanked me away from the manta rays and tossed me aside. I flew backwards into a smaller cave nearby.

"No!" I screamed, but then slammed into a wall and had the air knocked out of me. As I struggled to breathe, Flounder suddenly swam up to me to make sure I was okay.

"Oh, and by the way... your time as a mermaid has just about expired. Catch you later. I've got bigger fish to fry!" she said before swimming away with Undertow following her.

I then felt a sharp pain in my fin and lower stomach. "What's... What's happening?" I gasped out. A green light surrounded my fin and it split into a pair of legs. "Oh, no! Oh!" I accidentally swallowed some sea water now that I could no longer breathe. I tried swimming away towards the surface, but with little air and being deep down, I didn't think I would make it. And I was right. The last bit of air I had escaped my lips in bubble form and I felt myself sinking as everything went black...

As soon as Flounder went to Aralyne's rescue, Sebastian had turned and swam off as fast as he could. Soon he came across King Triton who hadn't gotten back to his palace just yet.

"Sire," said Sebastian frantically, "Aralyne's been kidnapped by Morgana! She's in danger!"

"One less human to worry about," Triton snarled, ignoring the crab.

"But Your Majesty! She was Melody and Ariel's friend! They wouldn't have wanted you to treat her this way!"

Triton froze, the words slapping him in the face. He then turned to the crab and said, "Take me to her."

Sebastian led King Triton back towards Morgana's lair and it wasn't long until they crossed paths with the sea witch.

"King Triton," she sneered, "How are you?"

"Surrender Aralyne and I shall spare you," Triton said menacingly pointing Excalibur at her.

"Ooh! What you gonna do? Throw the crab at me?" Morgana taunted him.

"Face it, Triton. You're all washed up!" Undertow added. Sebastian then chased the shark around, trying to pinch him.

"I'm gonna be teachin' you some manners!" Sebastian declared.

"Now look at me. I'm bait!" Undertow said.

"I'll tell you where Aralyne is if you give me the sword," said Morgana.

Triton glared at her, and hesitated before handing over Excalibur.

"All the power of Incantationen at my command!" Morgana crowed causing green lightning to come out of the sword.

"Hello! Can we get with the program? It's still a small world down here!" Undertow called out. Morgana suddenly hit him with a beam of light from Excalibur and the tiny shark grew until he was half the size of a ship. "Oh, yeah! Look out!"

Using Excalibur, Morgana had created a tower made of ice, and caused a lightning storm. "All hail Queen Morgana!" she crowed to the world. Triton suddenly realized his mistake and regretted it.

"I'm hailin'! I'm hailin'!" Undertow cried hopping out of the water.

With all of his strength, Flounder had managed to catch Aralyne and swam as fast as he could to the surface of the water. Once there he found that Morgana had Excalibur and created a palace made of ice. Flounder pushed Aralyne's body onto a block of ice.

That's when Captain Amelia's ship arrived and Tulio was leaning over the railing staring at Aralyne looking horrified.

"Aralyne!" he yelled. Turning to Flynn, he took his friend's sword and leapt off the ship, landing on a piece of ice.

"Tulio! Come to join the party? We're having a blast!" Morgana laughed shooting a beam of light towards Tulio. He rolled out of the way, but ended up losing the sword, dropping it into the ocean. "Oh, how dear Ursula would have adored this!"

Tulio demanded getting to his feet and glaring at the sea witch, "What have you done to her?"

"Oh, you want to join her fate? Well, I think that can be arranged," Morgana said with a sneer, and he realized too late that Cloak and Dagger had wrapped their tails around his feet. They pulled him off the ice and into the ocean.

Sebastian had followed them down under water and pinched the tails of the two manta rays, which then released Tulio. Now free, he swam up to the surface and pulled himself up onto the ice beside Aralyne. She wasn't breathing! She wasn't moving! He tilted her head back and began performing CPR. "Come on! Breathe, dammit! I didn't risk life and limb for you to die on me now!" Tulio plugged up her nose and breathed into her mouth. "Breathe! Come on! You can't die on me! Not again!"