My Underwater Princess

Chapter 7: Too Good To Be True

I was so deep in thought, dreaming of all the ways I could get my revenge that I forgot where I was until I felt something wrapping around my ankles. With a closer inspection it appeared to be some form of seaweed grabbing hold. With as much strength I could muster from my exhausted body I try swimming upwards but the seaweed only tightened its grip around me pulling me down, no signs of loosening its iron grip. The more I struggled the more the seaweed seemed to pull me down and the tighter its grip got one me. More bubbles as I scream for help emerge blocking my view. "Y / N! Y / N! Someone help me !!" I continue waving my arms to propel me upwards but shows to be useless. Letting the thought that this is where it ends a dark chuckle breaks the silence deafening me. "Who do we have here? A human? I haven't seen one in years "I turn to a stack of rocks watching a figure emerge from the shadows. The figure was male, well ... half male half sea creature. Looked like an eel." Well seems like you're looking for the princess I can tell you where she is "" How do you know where she is?! "I continue struggling more, shouting as he chuckles darkly." Well come with me and you'll find out "desperate, I agreed but he let out an evil laugh shaking his head." Oh you poor boy, so naive. So desperate to save your precious girl that you fell into my trap. "I will finally be able to rule over this kingdom and no one can stop me. I just need to get rid of you and your puny princess, then the king will be wrapped around my finger." I struggle to break free and he points towards me. "Go get him girls." One by one four eels work their way towards me, the sound of electricity drawing nearer as they make their way closer to me. I feel the tingly sensation of electricity coursing through my veins, and within a minute the power goes from a 2 to a 10 in intensity and I'm screaming. Shock after shock and I'm numb yet with each shock intense pain hit me like a building falling on top of me and I black out 

Unaware of how much time passed I open my eyes letting them adjust to the darker environment around me. There's no one else here and all I can hear is the rather rapid speed of my heartbeat looking around frantically. That's when I hear another dark laughter, the same one... and the same figure comes out of the darkness. Now I get angry. "Where is she?!" He only smirks showing a toothy grin before coolly replying "well your princess is right here" and with a flick of his finger she floats towards him trapped in some type of golden bubble, unconscious. "don't worry your "highness" I believe that you are also of royalty in the human world. She's not dead. Yet." "What do you mean yet?!" Worry floods me thinking of what he could possibly do to her. "Oh well.... I told the king that I found his daughter. Of course he sounded relieved and asked for what he can give in return. I asked to speak to him privately to discuss my reward. There I will "ask" him to give me his kingdom in exchange for his daughter, if he refuses I'll simply kill her so there's really no downside to it in any aspect. He loses something valuable to him regardless." I was fuming at this point. He dare to hurt her when I swore to protect her after saving me. I try to take a leap towards him when I realize both my hands and ankles are tied by seaweed, the slimy grip too strong for me to escape from. "ahh, like my little trap? I enchanted it to ensure you can't escape." His cold laughter rang throughout the cave, it's sound bouncing off the walls creating a sinister echo as I continued to squirm and writhe about trying in any way to release the strong grip, but my attempts fail as the seaweed grip only grows stronger and I stop knowing it could cut off my blood circulation at any moment. Smirking, he swims off with the golden bubble holding y/n captive following behind him. Left alone in the darkness, there is minimal lighting but enough for me to see my surroundings. The cave is dark and almost haunting. What appears to be dead seaweed swaying with the water current. And I don't think I'm mistaken with hearing ominous voices and screams, even the sound of faint maniacle laughter rang in my ears. I need to find a way out. I was left in my own thoughts, bouncing around in my head. I look at my surroundings, nothing useful so far that I can use to cut the binds around my hands until a small shining object catches my attention. A small shard of what looked like coral but is actually glass buried in the sand. So trying my best to sink myself low enough to grab the shard I turn and carefully use my hand to guide myself towards the shard taking careful hold of it and then trying to hack off the seaweed binds. They eventually come off somehow but with the consequence of it tightening around my wrists to where I had lost feeling in them momentarily due to their increasing grip strength. Luckily blood circulation came back and I'm not losing any of my hands, but they did create red marks and in the rush to get the binds off my hands I cut myself a few times with the shard however, I could care less right now. Saving and getting Y/n was my main priority. After another few minutes of struggling with the binds around my ankles I cut those off and as quickly as my human feet can kick ,swim towards the kingdom. The eel thing... person... I recall his name being... ugh what was it? Oh I believe it was Unagi. Whatever his name was he had a few hour head start so I have to rush and warn the King, I might get killed and y/n may get into trouble for saving a human and revealing the mermaid world but as long as she doesn't end up dead and the kingdom doesn't end up Unagi's filthy hands.

But when I arrive, it's too late... negotiations are already underway. Y/n, still in her golden bubble floating limply. And I come close enough to hear "now you're highness I'll give you your daughter but in exchange I want... your kingdom!" A devilish grin plastered on his face. The look of shock on the Kings face is instantaneous and he stands up abruptly nearly knocking over the chair he was in. "I will NOT give you my kingdom! Just give me back my daughter Unagi! She means so much to me. She's the only family I have left and the only thing that reminds me of her mother!" Unagi visibly smirks, letting out a cold laugh sounding completely dead. "Too bad your majesty, if your daughter is so important I'll give her to you, I just want your Kingdom." "No. It is my duty as King to protect my people." "Your loss then. You know... I win either way. You give me your kingdom I give you your daughter. I don't get the kingdom..... well... I kill your daughter." A wave of his hands the bubble comes closer and with a snap of his fingers a blade appears from thin air and ever so delicately rests it on her throat. Her father crying out tries lunging towards Unagi but is held back by him. "OK back to where we were" he continues holding the blade to her neck. Knowing what's about to happen I race forward to grab the blade out of his hands but I'm too late. I watch as he slowly guides it through her neck drawing blood. He's about halfway across when I get there knocking the blade out of his hands as I hear her father screaming trying to reach her as well. Luckily when I push him the force holding the King back is uplifted. The crowd already shocked watching the princess getting hurt they are too distracted momentarily to realize I'm a human until the King grabs Y/n, holding her while I keep my body weight on Unagi trying to keep him down. But something's off. He's not fighting back letting himself to be defeated and it seems too good to be true.

That's when he begins laughing darkly. A snap of his fingers and he's gone. The King, furious as ever shouts at his guards to search the kingdom for Unagi. That's when the crowd gasps and so does the King. I go on my knees with my head bowed. "I am sorry to have invaded like this your highness. I have been friends with your daughter after she saved me when I fell off my ship and I was in debt to her. I was the one that had upset her causing your daughter to run away. When I left to look for her to apologize she was gone. That's when Unagi captured me as hostage luring me in telling me that he had your daughter your highness. It was too late when I saw her again. She had already been spelled and trapped in the golden bubble. I had known his plans earlier on but could not escape his trap in time to come and warn you of what was to come. Please forgive me your highness. I speak only the truth but if you do not believe me because I am an outsider I will willingly take whatever punishment there is for invading your kingdom like this when I clearly do not belong here among your divine people" There it is, the moment that tips the scale determining whether I die or not living out one of two possibilities faith had written out for me. I close my eyes ready to hear what punishment the King is going to lay out for me. Instead, I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up. He raises his hand signalling me to rise and I do, standing up. "I forgive your mistakes young man" those words ring in my head and I look up at him slightly wide-eyed. "pardon sir?" "I forgive you. You wanted to warn me about the impending ordeal. You were held against your will. You looked for my daughter to apologize. You wanted to uphold your promise after she saved you. You're the one that jumped from the crowd to save my daughter when even I couldn't do that. I owe you a debt of gratitude. And for that I spare your life." I nod my head about to leave when he calls out to me again. "And where are you going young man? My daughter is going to need a friend by her side when she wakes up. I nod my head slowly following him into the palace through the large front gates as we walk to her room. I watch from the doorway as the King sets Y/n onto her bed and looks at me with a small hint of sadness. "Can you please look after my daughter? I have to go help with finding the Unagi character. The longer he's out there, a free creature he will terrorize the Kingdom and be a threat to my daughter's and the Kingdom's safety." "As you wish your highness." I keep my head bowed slightly to respect him until he leaves the room before finally making my way over to y/n pulling up a chair next to her and sit there quietly. waiting for her to wake up. Nurses already attended to her wounds so she should wake up in a little while.