Chapter 31

It was so sudden. Her mother had come and yanked her out of bed fresh in the morning, and Ursula was barely awake enough to realize they were leaving. She didn't even say goodbye to Eli. Not that she had planned to, anyway.

The two swam side by side without saying a single word, although her mother looked rather excited.

As Eli had said, Macedon, Desma, and Enyo we're indeed the guards accompanying the two royals.  The three had hurried to catch up to the speeding empress and the groggy daughter she had been dragging along.  Now they were all silent as rocks, the quietness stretching on and on until Ursula asked cautiously,

"What is the purpose of going to land?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Her mother bursted, then continued excitedly,

"We are going to visit an old friend of mine.  He's the son of the pirate that helped piece my mother apart.  You will get along just fine, and I'm sure his daughter and you will be great acquaintances."

Pirates? That has to mean...

"Will we be humans?" Ursula questioned.

"That's right, my girl. So smart, just like your mother. I will be turning all of you to humans, meaning your skin color will change, your hair color will change, and you will each have a set of legs."

Orluiowa explained.

Ursula said nothing, but couldn't help wonder what it would be like. What color would her skin be? What about clothes? Would her hair turn black or purple? She didn't even know what legs looked like. Ursula had never seen a human before, and had heard that legs resembled two sticks on each side of the individual's hips.  She tried to imagine two purple sticks sticks on either side of her, and cringed at how awkward it looked. 

Balancing will be a treat.  I won't have my extra set of six arms to help me.  Humans are so weak.  Well, not as weak as the fish folk, they only have one extremity that they use to flop around on.  Like fish fresh out of the water, wriggling around in a rusty hook. 

She tried to imagine an octopus wriggling around in a hook and felt strange glee overcome her, followed by guilt.  The octopus looked even funnier with all his limbs flailing about, but he was also a cousin of the cecaelia species.  It would be wrong to laugh at the suffering of ones own.  Unless it was the suffering of a close friend or kin, then it was very funny. 

As they neared the high waters, Orluiowa turned around to face the group and said with authority,

"We are to stop at a cavern and take a rest.  You four are to stay in the room and not interfere with my business because if not, I will kill you.  We will depart bright and early, I expect you to be ready before I am awake."

The guards nodded silently, and Ursula asked curiously,

"What will awaken us?"

"Don't know.  Figure it out." She answered.

Ursula said nothing, and although questions were searing the tip of her tongue, she kept her mouth shut and decided to wait until they arrived at the cavern. (Would her mother really kill her if she were to interfere with her matters? Most likely not, Orluiowa surely wouldn't leave Morgana to rule the Empire, right?)

No... she would say you don't need two eyeballs to see.  Or quite a few fingers, and mother would say I have some tentacles to spare. 

No, it's best to to not interfere with her plans if I want to keep my face intact.

Two fleshy pairs of scales brushed her ribs, and Ursula looked down two see Flotsam and Jetsam flanking either side of her.

There is trouble- approaching us.  The two eels hissed, then jerked their heads behind the group.

Ursula unsheathed her falcata, causing her mother to turn her head at the noise. She thrust her spear without a blink, the shaft grazing Ursula's hair.

The guards turned around just in time to see the spear collide with the tail of a mermaid who dropped the rock she held and groaned in pain.

Ursula bent down before the mermaid could sink and grabbed her throat. 

"Who are you and just what were you doing?"

"I'm.... I'm no one.  And I seek t- to avenge those who have suffered at your hands throughout all the the d- decades you have-"

"Get to the point, will you?" Orluiowa snapped.

"And I will only ask once; what is your name?"

The mermaid frowned slightly in confusion.

"W-wait.  Which of you is Empress?"

Ursula smirked in amusement and asked calmly,

"You have never done this, have you?  I am Princess Ursula of the Dark Underwater Empire of Atlantica."

"I am the Empress, now state your business unless you wish to feel the wrath of the greatest Empress who has ever lived, and who will without doubt rip your tongue out and feed it to you if you do not address yourself.  If you will not tell me your name, then you will never say it again.  You have three seconds."

"I-Imka!"  The mermaid quickly screamed, trembling in terror.

"Stop with the stuttering already, we had a deal that I will not force you to digest your tongue."  Orluiowa scowled, then observed the dark-skinned mermaid.

"You're not from around these waters, are you?"  Orluiowa picked up a strand of the mermaid's brown thick hair, the fluffiness an odd texture in her fingers.

The mermaid had dark, thick brows which rested on top of dark eyes, followed by a wide nose and plump lips.  

Long, colorful beads were strong down her neck and seashells, followed by a wispy skirt was that went all the way down her orange tail.

"I-I am from the Indian Ocean, and I c-c-cannot help stuttering."

Imka said, obviously remorseful of coming.

"Say your r's correctly, won't you?  Do you have family?  Why would you risk coming here just to do such a foolish thing?"  Snarled the empress, glaring icily at the trembling mermaid who dangled from Ursula's tight grip.

"I h-have... nothing left t-to loose." Wheezed the mermaid.

Orluiowa nodded thoughtfully.

"Is that so?  If you have nothing left to lose, I don't suppose you would mind if we traded you to a good friend of mine.  She enjoys conducting rather interesting experiments on non-willing subjects.  The mercy will cost you an eye, however."

Orluiowa dug her nails in the corner of Imka's left eye slowly, observing with amusement as the mermaid tried not to whimper.

"Don't fight it, hun.  It will only hurt more.  But then again, you have nothing left to lose so you might as well." Ursula said cheerfully.

Orluiowa cackled, then ripped her eye out mercilessly.  The mermaid screamed out in pain and horror as she felt her vision go dark.

"I CAN'T SEE!" She screamed, horrified. 

"Shut up!"  The empress spat, slapping Imka.

"No one cares."

"I c-care..." she sobbed softly.

"Well of course you do.  You are no one, after all.  You told me yourself.  That makes you weak.  You see,"

Orluiowa proceeded to snatch Imka from Ursula's grasp, and continued swimming,

"  'No one' tends to care about everyone.  This is true because I own nearly all the oceans of this mer-infested planet.  And I say no one cares about them, which means that you care about everyone.  And caring for anyone is a weakness.  Say, if I were to rip the throat out of an innocent baby, you would care.  That would mean you are weak.  Weakness isn't tolerated near me.  It suits my gorgeous and rather unforgiving nature ill."

Satisfied, she handed the bloody mermaid back to Desma.

"You got lucky, girl.  Your foolishness saved you.  Next time keep better watch for garbage like this or you will return to being the test subject of my dear friend."

Desma nodded, then secured the mermaid's hands behind her back. 

Ursula removed the spear and wrapped seaweed on the mermaid's tail to keep it from bleeding out, then continued next to her mother.

They kept swimming, and soon arrived at a dark cavern surrounded by dead corals.  Ursula felt her eyes relax as she took in the darkness she was accustomed to.  All that bright stuff was rather annoying, and it reminded her of the Kingdom of Atlantica. 

A figure wearing a long tattered robe gestured for them to advance into the cavern's entrance.  Her mother entered first, and Ursula followed after her, Desma entering and leaving Macedon and Enyo to guard outside.

"Go in the room.  Leave the mermaid."  Orluiowa instructed the two cecaelias. 

As Desma went inside, Ursula stayed on the entrance, edging closer to her mother and her friend. 

"Did you bring it?" Asked what Ursula assumed to be the cloaked figure. 

"Yes.  You will let us stay the night and you will give me what I need?"

Her mother asked.

"Yes.  In return for keeping my identity a secret I shall grant you a free stay in my abode."  The voice sounded rather wispy and singsong-y.  It sounded familiar...

A siren.

Ursula realized with a jolt what she just figured out.  Her mother was dealing with a siren, enemy of all creatures of the oceans.  Even for her mother, Ursula was shocked.  Sirens were worse than demons and Hydras put together.  And there her mother was chatting with a siren like it was an old friend.

Ursula peeked out carefully.  The smoky-black robe brushed the sand and then went up in curves which Ursula presumed were female. 

"That is correct.  I am most certainly grateful.  I expect the variables to be ready as soon as the sun starts rising."

Ursula could literally feel the exasperation seeping from the siren. 

"You know I cannot see the sun.  I am forever confined to the darkness I succumbed to."  whispered the siren again with that same singsong-y tremor.

"Then sing for us in the morning."  Her mother said, clearly trying to contain her laughter. 

The amused exasperation turned sharply towards annoyance, and Ursula could feel the back of her head turn hard and pressured with raging furor.

"I am not a rooster, Orluiowa.  If were to sing it would consume you and all your companions." She hissed icily. 

"Just a joke, alright?  Either way, here is your test subject." 

Ursula could hear the mermaid sob as her mother grabbed her fluffy thick hair and handed it to the siren.  Ursula's eyes frowned slightly as she realized her mother was coming her way.  She quietly crept to  the room, and draped herself on the dead corals, her hair floating upside down.

Minutes later after sleeping, Ursula was awoken by a strong slam of wariness. A threat.... a fear so primal Ursula felt her eyes become terribly itchy, unable to gulp because of something blocking her throat. She looked around wildly, her mind crazed with terror. It went away in a blink.

Looking directly at her with non-existent eyes was the siren. She cocked her head. Ursula froze.

The siren turned her head towards the door, and Ursula followed her wordlessly. She saw Flotsam and Jetsam behind some tattered sheets which covered what seemed to be the outline of a mirror, looking at her, unblinking.

"You know what I am." murmured the siren.

Ursula nodded.

"Then you know why my identity must never be revealed."

"You knew I figured it out." Ursula said slowly.

"I could feel you. I have a proposal for you."

"To keep you a secret? That isn't needed. But what proposal?" Ursula questioned.

"In exchange for keeping my existence a secret and your questions to yourself, I will grant you this."

The siren held out a single golden seashell.

"What is its purpose?" She asked, taking the golden object.

"With this you have the ability to trap anything in here. Thoughts, secrets, dreams, a voice, a memory, a soul, anything."

"And how is it activated?"

"Beluga Sevruga, come winds of the Caspian Sea."

The siren said calmly.

Ursula was confused.  Why those words,  this appeared to be a shark eye shell, and as far as she was concerned those shells weren't typically found in the Caspian Sea.  And what did beluga whales have to do with anything?  And what about caviar?

"You are uncertain of its origin.  'Beluga' is a whale and uses echolocation to communicate, much like sirens.  'Sevruga' is a sturgeon of migratory fish, which means they left the place they previously inhabited.  A siren's voice does so in a peculiar way.  We use song to communicate with emotions of others and migrate your mind back to something it had experienced.  'Come winds of the Caspian Sea' is calling to Boreas, Greek god of the north winds.  I found this shell long ago in the Caspian shore when the icy winds blew north. Upon my... transformation I was cursed with this shell. Within its eye is my soul. Should it ever break I will cease to exist."

"Thank you.  No one will know of your existence as long as I live."  Ursula said firmly. 

"However... I was wondering ever since we arrived here..."

"Keep your questions to yourself."  The siren hissed.

".... why is your robe so tattered?  Could you not find something more suitable to wear?  Did you forget etiquette while living in the darkness?  You could always ask my mother.  She has plenty, you know, doesn't even use half of 'em."

Ursula stroked her eels' backs and continued,

"And don't mind my mummsy, yes?  She is quite the joker.  That must have be why she kills most of the court jesters that come make her laugh.  Their humor is dark, much like your abode.  It is quite nice, however.  I would add some color.  I recommend some dark blue on your lips, it would really highlight your black hair and white skin.  If you had eyes-"

The annoyed siren leaned forward and whispered a single word:

"Sleep."