Here's the rest of this section. It's a long one....
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After two hours of exhaustive interrogation of just about every sailor in Greysmith, Ethan, Tony, James, and Charlotte had ended up with next to nothing. Tony and Charlotte could hardly get any of the sailors to keep decent eye contact with them, let alone listen to their questions. James had had his sanity questioned a grand total of 57 times over the course of 120 minutes. And Ethan, after spending a good deal of time in a very disreputable pub, had encountered the most outlandish stories of magic and nonsense that he’d ever heard. Nothing he’d been told could even remotely involve Ariel and Eric.
“What do we do now?” asked James, as they congregated in front of
The Evening Star.
“I honestly don’t know,” answered Ethan. “I thought for sure someone down there would have to know something about this. It just seems unbelievable that no one had ever heard of a mermaid falling in love with a human.”
“Well we didn’t,” said Charlotte.
Silence from Ethan and James acknowledged Charlotte’s point.
“Guys,” Tony started. “There’s nothing left to do. We have to tell Eric that we know.”
Incredulous looks were the rebuttal. Protestations soon followed, but Tony cut them off.
“What else do we do? We can’t go sneaking around forever. Plus, there’s no one else left to ask, is there?”
“There was this one sailor on
The Marauding Temptress,” offered James. Then, a puzzled look crossed his face. “He smelled like rum and cheese…but, I’m sure he could give us some information…once he’s sobered up.”
Tony gave a stern look to James before turning to Ethan.
“Ethan, our wedding is in less than three days. Do you really want to get married keeping a secret from your best man?”
Ethan didn’t reply. He took a deep breath and looked at Tony. But before he could swallow his hurt and agree with her, someone called him from behind.
“Excuse me your highness,” started the voice.
“Yes.”
Ethan turned to see a small cabin boy, maybe eleven years old. His faced was smudged and his cheeks were red from an apparently fast run.
“I’ve been sent to find you and bring you back to the Lone Dinghy, sir.”
Ethan bent down to face the boy.
“And for what reason am I supposed to follow you?” he asked with a smile.
“Because you’re looking for mermaids,” answered the boy in a whisper.
At that, Ethan’s smile faded and he stood up. He looked around and saw that everyone shared his intrigue. Then, Ethan looked down at the little boy.
“Alright, take us to this Lone Dinghy.”
*****************************
The boy led them down what Ethan had taken to be dead end alleyway earlier in the afternoon. And that it was, but on the right side of the alley, there was a small door with only two decrepit steps leading up to it. Above the door was a dingy sign with a dinghy painted on it.
Ethan couldn’t have told you why, but he was intrigued, and the next thing he knew, the boy had walked up to the door and knocked. The door opened by just a sliver. The only thing Ethan could see through it was a pair of beady, coal-black eyes.
“ ‘ello. Whatcha want?”
“I brought the prince an’ his friends for Jones,” replied the boy.
“Alright then, in ya get.”
The door opened and they all walked in. Even though it was about two o’clock in the afternoon, there was no way to tell that when you walked in. This was because of two things: 1) There were no windows and only yellowish-brown candlelight lit the place, and 2) there were sailors in the inn with an amount of alcohol in them that most people wouldn’t have allowed until at least nine o’clock in the evening.
“Now Ethan, this was not our first choice for your bachelor party, but, when life gives you lemons….”
“Not now James,” said Ethan over his shoulder.
“That man over there,” the boy said, pointing. “He’ll know what you’re looking for.”
“Thank you,” said Ethan.
With that, the boy ran out of the pub without another word.
They turned and saw a man who looked like he’d been drinking in that same spot for the last five years. He wore an oversized hat and a cape that he’d draped over himself as if to ward off a chill. Ethan took a deep breath, pulled Tony close to him, and walked toward the man’s booth.
“Excuse me, sir,” Ethan began. “I’ve heard that you know a thing or two about mermaids.”
“That I do your highness. Sit down.”
With a look to each other, Ethan, Tony, James and Charlotte all filed into the secluded booth. No one was comfortable but, there was nothing they could do about it now.
“So you’ve come about mermaids have you? Well, I can tell you a good many things, but it seems to be you’ve got somethin’ specific on your mind, else nobles like yourselves wouldn’t be wanderin’ into the Lone Dinghy, now would you?”
“I suppose not. But, first, since you seem to know so much about us, might I inquire who you are?”
“Jones. That’s all you gotta know about me, if it pleases your majesty.”
Ethan thought for a second.
“Fine then, Jones. I do want to know something specific. Have you ever heard of a human falling in love with a mermaid?”
“Course I have. So have you. That prince god-brother of yours. But you know that already don’t you?”
“I do.”
“Then what would you be wantin’ from old Jones then?”
“We want to know the whole story,” said James,
impatiently. “Every little detail, if you know it.”
Jones tilted his head back and looked at James, then at the rest of his determined company.
“Then, I’ll give you what I know. It all started with an awful storm at sea. The prince was celebratin’ his eighteenth birthday when a hurricane threw his ship on the rocks. There was a terrible explosion that threw the boy into to the water. He was knocked unconscious and it looked as if he would drown. But, a mermaid had been watchin’ him that night. She was young and curious and, she had takin’ a likin’ to this prince.”
“Ariel told me about that,” said Tony. “She said that she’d saved Eric from drowning last year.”
“Ahh so you’re already familiar to the tale? Good. But do you know that this Ariel is a daughter of the great sea king Triton, wielder of the magical trident, benevolent ruler of the merpeople, and hater of all humans.”
“We didn’t know that,” said James excitedly. “So her father hates humans?”
“Worse than anything above or beneath the seas. Contact between the two worlds was forbidden by his law. So how do you think he felt when his youngest daughter swam home head over fins in love with that prince after she’d saved his life?”
“If Triton was so against humans and had such a fit over his daughter being in love with one,” started Charlotte, “then how did Ariel get to become a human?”
“A good question, Missy.” Jones swallowed a mouthful of what smelled like sea water and then continued on. “In her love of that boy and resentment of her father and his laws, that mermaid made a deal with the terrible sea witch Ursula. She gave up her voice in return for human legs for three days. If she hadn’t received the kiss of true love from her prince by sunset on the third day, her life would belong to the sea witch.”
“Eric kissed her, didn’t he?” asked Tony.
“That prince of yours has a strong sense of propriety, dearie. No, he did not kiss her. But he came close. That lyin’ witch wanted to make sure that he would never kiss that mermaid. She disguised herself as a beautiful lady and hypnotized the prince, plannin’ to marry him.”
“Eric, you dolt!” said James.
“But, your mermaid friend is a strong girl. She crashed the wedding and got back her voice, but it was too late. Before the prince could recognize her as the one who’d saved his life and his true love, the spell ran out and she turned back into a mermaid, doomed to the witch’s keep.
But King Triton was not about to loose his little girl without a fight. But that crafty witch used the princess’ life as leverage, and she got Triton to give up his crown and his trident to her, and he himself was reduced to a polyp.”
“A polyp,” said James. “That sounds unpleasant.”
“Aye, it is. A writhing thing of little form stuck to briny bottom. Sad it was.”
“Then what happened,” asked Ethan.
“Ursula used her new power to grow to monstrous size, created a terrible maelstrom, and sought out the little mermaid to destroy her.”
“Just how big is ‘monstrous’?” asked James.
“How does an eighty foot cephalopod sound to you, boy?” asked Jones, raising himself above the table.
“That’s sounds like plenty, sir,” said James, leaning back into the booth.
Jones settled back down and continued on.
“That prince,” he said with a smile. “Maybe he couldn’t kiss her in three days, but in moments he showed how much he loved her. He climbed to the helm of a sunken ship brought up to the surface by the terrible seas. Then, he drove the bowsprit into her belly and destroyed the witch for good and all under her spell were released, including the sea king.
When the seas had calmed and the day broke, it remained the mermaid and her prince. Their love and sacrifice for one another had been so great that the Sea King’s distrust of humans was broken. In fact, he was so touched by their love that he gave his daughter a gift. He turned her into a human so she could live with her prince forever.”
Jones looked at his audience and could see they had been affected. The girls were misty with tears and the boys sat still as stone.
“I’m told to this day, the two live quite happily together though their story is kept a guarded secret.”
“Then how do you know it?” asked Ethan.
“Once again, that is something that I must keep to myself, highness.”
Ethan thought and decided that it really didn't matter.
“Fine, then," he said. "Thank you. I suppose there’s something you want in return for your story.”
“No, nothing at all, sir. Just the chance to tell it to a good audience is all I need.”
Then, Charlotte, James, Tony and Ethan filed out of the booth and headed for the door. But Jones called out one last time.
“It’s a special tale, don’t ever forget that. And you should be considerin’ yourselves very lucky to know Prince Eric and Princess Ariel.”
“We do,” said Tony. And soon, they were all out of the door.
Jones sat back and took another swig of his unsavory drink. Then, he turned to a small table just to the left of his booth. A lone figure in a black, hooded cape had been sitting there the whole time, but only now did Jones acknowledge him at all. He tipped his large hat to the figure who gave a nearly indistinguishable nod as he walked out of the Lone Dinghy.