My apologies that this is being posted so late but we had to run a crap ton of errands today; either way though it's about 11:26 right now so technically it's still friday.
Chapter 12
The mermaid and her friend were stationed atop a rock formation, probably just feet from the surface. In the distance the entrance to the cave was visible.
"Jeez Melody it sure is hazy out here." Flounder commented. "Maybe we should wait for Sebastian and the troops..."
"You can do what you want. I'm acting now." Before he could even try and mutter another word of sense she had already begun swimming again, but she halted to a dead stop once she heard a growl coming from the cave. Upon squinting her eyes she noticed a blob emerge from the entrance, complete with fins and fangs.
Undertow.
She was wordless. When she turned to Flounder for advice they heard another noise much closer, they both promptly shot into gaps in the rocks to hide.
"Harmony! Flounder! Dis is no time for games!" Sebastian called out, followed by a number of royal soldiers and Alana.
"Shh!" Melody shushed him as quietly as she could, before retreating from her hiding place, along with Flounder.
"Morgana's in there." Melody said, her stare firmly on the cave entrance. "Along with Iniquitious."
"How on earth do you keep finding dis woman?!" Sebastian asked her, amazed by her sheer efficiency.
"Never mind that. I need that entrance cleared." She said, implying the need for Undertow's removal.
"Sebastian, you lead half of the royal guards to distract the shark." Alana ordered the crab.
"De shark?" He said quietly.
"That thing Daddy made into a shrimp the other day." She followed up, pointing at the ominous figure in the distance.
"Well Alana I'm sure there's another wa-." He stopped speaking, realizing time was crucial. "Eh...Yes, your majesty." He reluctantly led the others. As every stroke became more and more terrifying, Sebastian simply thought more and more of the prisoners, and what could happen if he didn't do this. Finally Undertow took notice of the party.
"Hey! Shrimp-mon, you...oh mon." Sebastian wheezed before screaming higher than Melody could. The massive shark's acute vision quickly spotted them and, in turn, Undertow went for his new meal. The entrance was now clear.
"I know the sea witch. I've dealt with her before." Melody admitted. "A group would be too noticeable to sneak in."
"So are we going to go in with smaller groups or-." Alana managed before Melody bolted off as fast as she could to the entrance, Flounder right behind her. "Harmony!"
She swam through the darkness, terrified yet unwavering in her speed. Flounder nearly lost her several times until light finally returned to their surroundings; they both slowed, Melody's family and their captors just ahead.
The three prisoners were all tied to pillar-like formations, with Triton still unconscious.
"Why not make them into worms now?" Morgana's voice queried, making Melody and Flounder quickly hide.
"I don't have the dust." He hinted with an angered stare.
"Oh yes, for the light show." Morgana laughed, then she grabbed Attina's chin. "We can wait until dear Iniquitious gets some of his charm dust, now can't we?" Both Attina and Ariel's faces recoiled in terror, although Attina was better at hiding it. Melody and Flounder wondered what they were talking about.
"Beside his royal loftiness is still out." Iniquitious pointed out, before slapping the king a few times in another futile effort to awaken him. "Well I do believe I'll be needing the trident to break the seal." Iniquitious said sweetly to Morgana.
"Only this time." She made it very clear to him, her tentacles gripping the trident defensively.
"Have you already forgotten your liberator?" He said, her look still firm. "Of course." He muttered behind gritted teeth before she reluctantly handed it to him. "The trident is no match for Acheronic, anyways." He leered before exiting the room.
Iniquitious's absence only made Morgana laugh.
"Oh I'm sure you all can't wait to become polyps!" She cackled before leaving to the other side of the rather large room. Melody waited a second to see what she did, only to see the witch remain occupied.
Melody silently swam to the rear of the prisoners' pillars, Flounder in lieu. She waited again before even making a move to see the witch. Seeing the same thing she went to Ariel's aid first simply because she was closest. The sudden sensation of something near her wrists freaked Ariel nearly to the point of making noise. She quickly turned her head to see Harmony untying her, and Flounder keeping watch.
"Shh." Melody whispered. After she managed to fully undo the restraints Ariel went to her sister to do the same, while Melody went to Triton.
"Triton." She whispered to him, with no response. She slowly came closer to his ear in hopes of stirring him. "Grandfather-" She heard something in response, but it instead came from behind her; and resulted in an explosion on the wall behind Triton.
"Harmony!" Flounder yelled.
"I knew you'd be a quick learner but I never figured you'd get here this fast!" Morgana commented before throwing another potion. Ariel tried to hasten her efforts on Attina, only for the sea witch to aim for the both of them, this time throwing several bottles. They both barely dodged out of the way, Attina still in place.
"Go Ariel!" Attina broke her silence.
"I won't leave you." Ariel begged.
"You have a family." Attina reasoned with her. The truth was like a sword blade to Ariel. Just narrowly dodging another potion Ariel could see her sister's face had the same look, one of a true leader. "Go!" She screamed once more.
Melody grabbed Ariel's arm and sped off to the only antechamber that Morgana didn't pelt with explosives; the one besides the main entrance and the crystals. Flounder swam behind the both of them.
"Don't look back!" They could hear Attina say, her voice fading with the increasing distance before it was silenced.
They kept swimming, oblivious to anything and everything around them. Once they were a safe distance away from Morgana Melody stopped. Ariel stopped as well.
"Ariel listen we..." When she saw her mother's face she looked as if she'd seen a ghost, and she would not speak. "Ariel...Ariel!"
Flounder tried to speak to her as well. "Ariel..."
"You heard Attina!" Ariel surprisingly snapped back, almost making them both jump. "We have to leave this godforsaken place!" She had already began swimming further down the passageway, stopping further down and waiting for the brunette and the fish to follow.
"No." Melody stated firmly.
"Come on Harmony!" She reached out her hand, pleading for Melody to listen.
"They'll die if we leave them." Melody said with certainty. "We have to go back."
"But Harmony-"
"You can't keep running." She said finally. Her statement garnered both the attention of Ariel and Flounder. "Ariel you keep doing this you're going to alienate everyone you love."
Ariel floated there, with a washed-out expression.
"Besides. They're ou-." Melody cleared her throat. "Your family."
"Yeah Ariel!" Flounder finally spoke up. His agreement with Melody made something change in Ariel.
"You're right." Ariel hesitated quietly. She realized now more than ever that they couldn't keep running, they would have to take their stand.
"Come on!" Melody said, this time holding out her hand. Just when Ariel seemed to start swimming in Melody's direction the cave began to shake.
"Look out!" Melody screamed, pointing at a section of the ceiling over Ariel that had already begun collapsing. She swam away from it to Melody and Flounder's side.
"We can't go that way now!" Melody said over the aftershock.
"Iniquitious must have broken the seal!" Ariel yelled back.
"Then we don't have much time!" Flounder Figured.
"Let's not waste another second!" Melody said and they swam off. Once they finally came to the end of the tunnel Ariel and Melody came to a dead stop in caution, Flounder did not as he thought the tunnel continued.
"Flou-." Melody began before Ariel clamped her mouth shut, in wake of Morgana's approach.
Flounder caught on a bit later, but still managed to hide behind a shelf on the wall.
"The only reason I didn't just blow your sorry guts to smithereens when your little friend came in here is because damaged merchandise won't satisfy dear Iniquitious's thirst for retribution." Morgana spat towards Attina. "Or mine for that matter."
"You won't get away with this." Attina shot back.
"And who will save you?" Morgana laughed. "We just had a mini-quake, so Iniquitious has the Acheron again. And the trident too, not that it could help you anyways." She scorned. "It's magic is no match for Iniquitious." She had begun to the other side of the room again, probably to brew more potions.
"Then why do you yearn for it?" After the words left Attina's mouth Morgana froze. "Did I strike a nerve Sea Witch?" She asked in a playful tone.
"Careful." Morgana hissed, looking to one of her bottles. "Accidents do happen." Just after she mentioned the threat Triton began to stir.
"Father!" Attina exclaimed. He was just beginning to reclaim consciousness.
"How nice of you to awaken Poseidon!" Morgana said with a sarcastic sense of enthusiasm.
"Morgana..." escaped his lips as he took in what was happening. Before he could figure out much more a dark violet glow came from one of the tunnels leading to this room; eventually revealing a merman within the luminescence.
That merman with the drink... Triton realized the identity of the criminal who had poisoned him. It was Iniquitious.
"Triton, you're awake." He said, tossing the trident to Morgana's ready hand. "Now you can suffer with your daughters simultaneously..." His vision caught on Ariel's empty place.
"Uh, where is she?" He started calmly to Morgana, his luminance increasing with every moment Morgana stuttered.
"Oh yes, well she...it would seem that she, well..." Morgana went over to him to speak quietly about it, in hopes that it would lessen his temper.
"WHAT?!" He roared. Morgana replied with a forced smile.
"She's down that tunnel with Melody." At the mention of her name Flounder's eyes met Melody's, both in hopes that her name would stay obscured. "It doesn't matter though, when you broke the seal it had to block their exit off."
"How did Melody get here?!" He still yelled clamorously, but not as much so as before. This time Morgana yelled back.
"You want the truth?! I let her escape back in the palace and I left clues because I want revenge on her." She admitted. "She humiliated me by making a mockery of my hideaway, and she supposedly caused my demise me in your time." She raised the trident defensively. "And you can't stop me from getting it."
"Watch it Morgana. You're treading on thin water." He growled, unafraid of the trident. "You better hope this doesn't destroy everything, especially yourself." Right as he completed the sentence he closed his eyes, turning his blind gaze towards the ceiling.
No one made a sound.
"That wench's father is en route." He snarled. He then raised his right wrist to the one gap in the ceiling, releasing an aurora of dark magic into the night sky. The sounds of a storm forming manifested itself throughout the cave.
I thought only the trident could do that. Melody silently thought to herself in fear. Iniquitious then began for the cave exit.
"Where are you going?" the witch asked him.
"Well obviously if Melody could get in here your little Undertow is having some trouble outside. God I have to do everything around here because everyone else is so freaking demented." He disappeared into the darkness, even his luminescence covered by it.
"What does Ariel's daughter have to do with this?" Triton demanded.
"You're in no position to demand anything." Morgana scoffed. "But if it is a subject you are so interested in I can elaborate-." just before she could go any further Flounder jumped out and began smacking her in the face. Melody and Ariel both caught on the opportunity and tackled the sea witch.
Melody focused on breaking Morgana's grip on the trident, while Ariel tried actually grabbing it.
Just before Morgana could retaliate, Melody bit down on her slimy wrist as hard as she could; she would have time to vomit later. With her grasp unhooked Ariel fell away from them both, and promptly aimed for Morgana.
"Shoot!" Melody yelled.
The sea witch went flying across the room in a smoky haze, Melody just managing to evade the blast. Ariel quickly turned it to destroy Attina and Triton's restraints, with success.
"Daddy..." She began towards her father with hopes of the trouble over, to hear screaming coming from the exit, mostly from a certain crab.
"Ariel!" Triton asserted and he quickly reclaimed the trident, to witness the entire greatly beat and worn rescue party being rounded up like cattle; pursued by Undertow and Iniquitious.
Triton turned the shark into a worm this time, and opened fire on Iniquitious. While he was helplessly thrown into the wall at first, he actually seemed to recover.
Triton fired another shot, continuously this time, only for Iniquitious to not even flinch. The merman produced a sort of a bolt in his right hand, and struck Triton with it.
The king fell down, the lingering effects of the poison making him unable to withstand the blast. Attina came to his aid, as the trident stayed suspended in the water. No one else dared to attack Iniquitious.
He's too powerful. Melody realized.
"Honestly, Morgana?" Iniquitious sighed as she just began to try and get up, still weak from the shock. "I told you, you can't handle that many prisoners..." He raised both of his hands, sealing the exits with a green haze and sending a green vortex throughout the room. To Ariel it looked familiar.
"Come on Morgana!" He cheered as she neared the lance. "You've earned it." She finally made her way to the trident and reclaimed it. "So be it Triton! Let the garden begin!" Iniquitious's voice echoed throughout the room, joined by Morgana's laugh. She began turning them all into polyps.
There has to be a way out... Melody's mind thought nervously as she saw what was happening right before her eyes. Looking around herself she noticed Iniquitious had not sealed the entrance to the crystal supply, incidentally making her recall how quickly he'd returned after the quake.
Acheronic needs time to fully transfer... Suddenly she got an idea. She grabbed the nearest arm she could; Ariel's.
"No time for words!" Meldoy shouted, the sound masked by Morgana's rather loud spells.
"All but Melody and Ariel..." Morgana paused to comment. Iniquitious seemed confused, until the sight of a ruby red tail disappearing out of the corner of his eye angered him.
The little Wench. He growled. "Start the dust, the sight of only those two in agony will be more than enough for me." He tossed the bag to Morgana, and swam off.
Morgana neared the helpless worms, continuing to laugh only until Iniquitious was gone. They could tell she was still weak from the blast. Nevertheless they all recoiled in horror as she neared them, only to see her come to a stop and drop the bag.
She left for the crystal area.
Ariel and Melody both swam so fast as to ensure Iniquitious would fall behind, a difficult feat in of itself. They finally came upon a room filled top to bottom with formations of glowing chromatic crystals, just by another tunnel.
"When he comes through here, hide." Melody said to Ariel, already continuing down the pathway.
"What're you gonna do?" Ariel asked, fearing their lives would end unless Melody had somehow figured a plan with a plausible chance for success.
"Buy you some time."
"For what?"
"His magic has to be from a source, he pulled it together too quickly for it to not be. Destroy the biggest crystal." They could hear Iniquitious's voice growing louder and louder. "Go!"
Ariel swam off still not completely sure of what to do or even having faith in Melody's plan, but she had learned to trust her. Heck, she'd helped them with success this far hadn't she?
Melody looked back once more to see Iniquitious's shadow. She swam for the next area, hesitating just so he could get a glimpse of her tail.
"Where is the red head?!" He screamed. "You will suffer dearly for this impudence!" Ariel made sure to stay hidden as he passed, and waited for his absence to rise up. Suddenly she heard another faint sound, so faint she was almost unable to react.
She peeked over a rock to see Morgana limp her way through as well.
What?
Melody's heart sank when she saw the tunnel came to a dead end. In a desperate frenzy she noticed ground seemed to reach upwards towards the end...
To the surface.
Without a moment's hesitation she rose to the stormy surface, and began to crawl onto the surface. She stopped when she noticed the rocky formations beside the cave harbored several pools of water; she backed into the water.
Without another thought she dove over the raw earth into the nearest puddle. Iniquitious surfaced just seconds after. Intimately familiar with the area he rose from the water, levitated by his magic, to survey the area.
"This field doesn't go back to the sea!" He spat. "Not unless you can hike over the mountains surrounding us!"
Melody frantically dove into another pool to further distance herself from Iniquitious, after judging the rain as strong enough to hide her. Come on Ariel. I can't keep this up forever.
Ariel continued her frantic search, just when she believed she'd looked everywhere she came up to a rather minatory stone, one that outshone the rest with its aura.
Bingo. She looked around herself for something sharp.
Iniquitious was now high in the air, surveying all the puddles that covered the near-cave. He fired a bolt into the first pool, with no response.
"I want Ariel Melody." He said, moving on. "So she can join her family in the garden!" He fired into the next body of water. Just hidden by the weather Melody kept her distance from him, diving from pool to pool constantly.
But she was running out of pools.
"Melody, give it up." Just as the words left his mouth Morgana reached the outside of the cave, and fired the trident into the sky. The weather began subsiding.
Melody's heart froze as she cowered beneath a mere five feet of water; there was nothing left to hide her. She could just see Iniquitious aiming for her pool. In a state of desperation with no other alternatives Melody came flying up just before he fired, but instead of diving into another body of water she came down hard on solid rock.
She groaned as she tried to get up, to feel the ground beneath her right elbow, or rather lack of it. She looked behind herself to stare down an obscured chasm; many tens of feet down it ended in jagged rocks.
Melody began hurriedly wriggling away from it, and she turned to see Iniquitious staring at her clearly through the subsiding rain. She froze. Morgana held her breath as she watched this, with certain expectations.
"If you will not talk," He produced a blade in each hand with his words, "then I will make you talk." Consumed by his own glory the merman dove in an attempt to impale the brunette; instead she lunged out of the way, leaving no barrier between him and the fall. Just as Ariel fractured the crystal.
His blood-curdling scream was cut off with a sudden thud.
"NO!" Something in Morgana snapped. "He was supposed to kill you!" She roared uncontrollably, shooting the trident off similarly. Melody just barely managed to dive back under without being shot.
"Iniquitious only toyed with you, mark my words I will not repeat his mistake Melody!" She shrieked, this time shooting a rock formation over Melody and causing it to collapse with such speed Melody did not have time to dive
When Morgana saw no figure come up out of the water she grunted, before moving towards the debris.
Melody hid beside the rocks, having just barely dodged them. The adjacent pools were now blocked; she was trapped. She looked down to her necklace, and held it up.
If we make it out of this I'll make sure mom knows I'm sorry.
As Morgana neared the rear of the wreck she stopped, waiting for her prey. Knowing she would have to force the mermaid out she directed the trident's energy at the now shallow water; boiling it and sending anything less than ten tons well away from the water.
Melody hit the surface now on her back, this time with no tricks up her sleeve, no twists of fate to save her. She could barely find the energy to sit up and face her executioner.
"And Iniquitous thought so lowly of me!" Morgana laughed, raising the trident for one final death shot. Melody could hardly see her through the rain, but she was sure it was over.
Maybe now Ma you'll finally be proud. Morgana thought in victory.
Just before she fired Ariel shot out of the water and grabbed a handful of her hair, before losing her balance and falling off onto the hard rock behind her, cutting her back. Instead of striking Melody the shot bounced off some polished stone just behind her and right back to Morgana. An unimaginable number of volts claimed Morgana's heart. She let out a hideous shriek as her lifeless body fell to the ground.
Melody laid there for a second, still registering the fact that she was still alive.
Her mother had saved her, and the battle had been won.
It was over.
"I'd hoped one day the mine could be reopened for study on benign uses for these crystals," Triton said dispiritedly to his royal adviser, as he lifted the trident. "But that is no longer an option." The aura reached the Acheron, and promptly shattered all the crystals, leaving behind only dust.
"It's over," Sebastian said.
"Yes," Triton told him. After the king finished going over any crystals he missed they returned to the antechamber where everyone else waited.
"Let's go home," He announced, and not a soul there objected. When they reached the outside of the cave the silhouette of a ship against the dying storm shone itself on the surface; and for the first time ever king Triton led his subjects to it expecting relief.
"King Eric!" Triton called, garnering the attention of a sailor.
"Sir! We've found them!" He shouted before getting the commander of the ship. Eric came to the side of the ship as fast as he could.
"Triton!" He called back. Although the sea king's age affected his eyesight, he could still see Eric's gaze fall on his wife. Just a second of eye contact with Ariel was enough to warrant her transformation back to a human.
As she was lifted onto the ship she was immediately greeted by her husband.
"Ariel." Were the only words that could escape his mouth as he held her in his arms.
"It's over." She managed.
"I'm so sorry we couldn't make it sooner...we were nearly sunken." He managed, still deeming his crew's near-death experience as an unworthy excuse for being late.
"Oh Eric." She brought her eyes to his. "Why do these things keep happening to us?" she sobbed, burying herself back in his arms.
"It's okay Ariel." Eric comforted her. In light of the events that had transpired he began to feel a tear of his own near the surface, but he held it back. "It's okay."