Prince Colton was locked up as he was put in a bathtub of stale water. The pirates chained his arms up to the wall and shut the door.
Prince Colton tried to get out of his restraints but they were too strong for him. The young merprince sighed and gave up after what felt like hours of trying to escape.
"Well this is just great. How am I going to get out of here? I need to get back to my people. My parents must be worried about me."
Just then he saw the door opening. Prince Colton recoiled as he thought it it was one of the pirates coming to torture him, trying force him to reveal where his kingdom is.
However, the door opened and a young woman entered the room. She sees Prince Colton. "You poor thing. I saw everything that my father did."
She walked up to him.
Prince Colton tried to flap his tail "Stay back. I don't want to hurt you." Despite his warning, the woman went up and touched his tail, causing the merman to reluctantly moan in the pleasure of his sensitive scales being stroked so gently by the lady's fingers.
"It's alright. I'm not like my father." She said to Prince Colton with a smile. "My name is Eleanor. I snuck in here while the crew was tucking in for the night." Said Eleanor.
Prince Colton started to calm down but still raised an eyebrow. "If that's the case, what are you doing here, then?" He asked.
"I'm quite interested in you. I always wanted to meet a merman." Eleanor placed a hand on his chest. "Why don't we talk for a bit? I want to know more about you."
Prince Colton thought for a moment and considered that this girl seemed nice, so he might as well do something with her.
"Alright, let's talk then." Said Prince Colton.
Eleanor nodded. "Okay, so… umm… What brought you on my father's ship in the first place?"
Prince Colton sighed. "Bad luck. I just wanted to take a nap on the sea floors and I guess I was too sleepy to react when a net fell on me." Prince Colton once again tried to pull on the restraints that chained his arms up but they wouldn't budge. "Now I'm stuck here, my crown and golden bangles taken, and away from my family and kingdom." He said mournfully.
Eleanor looked at the merprince with pity. "I'm so sorry to hear that. If I may ask, is it true you were admired by your parents and the commoners of the merkingdom?"
Prince Colton nodded with a small smile. "Indeed I was. The commoners loved me and I loved them back. My kingdom is wonderful and I couldn't be more happier being reunited by my loving mom and dad."
Eleanor smiled. "Sounds like you have a wonderful relationship with your parents."
The merprince nodded. "I do. How about you? From what I see of your glowing appearance, your father treats you well."
"He does." Elanor said as her face fell. "Although, I never got to know my mother. She died giving birth to me, and it devastated my father."
Now it was Prince Colton's turn to look at the girl with sympathy. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry about that."
"No, I should be the one apologizing." Eleanor replied. "If I wasn't born. My father likely wouldn't have taken up piracy and hunted treasure to heal his pain… And you likely wouldn't be stuck here, all chained up like an animal by his crew."
"Don't say that!" Prince Colton yelled. If they weren't chained up to the wall, the merman's arms would have been wrapped all around Eleanor. "Please, don't put yourself down because of what your father did. I know we've only met but I genuinely appreciate you being with me. I like you" He said with a warm smile.
Eleanor wiped her eyes. "Thank you. Thank you so much for saying that." She said with a sniff. "Still, it disgusts me to see you in this condition. Is there anything I can do to help?"
Prince Colton thought for a moment before an idea popped into his head. "I know how you can help. You see, merpeople like me can use magic to free ourselves from chains like this."
"Wow!" Elanor said with awe before she raised an eyebrow herself. "But if that's the case, why can't you free yourself right now?"
"That's the thing." Prince Colton said as he looked at the tub. "This water is too stale to do any magic with. We merpeople need saltwater to do our magic since it's salt that fuels the energy of our magic."
"Interesting, I had no idea water magic worked like that." Eleanor said.
The merprince nodded. "All you need to do is grab a bucket of seawater and dump it on the tub. That way, I could use magic and free myself from these chains."
"That seems easy enough." Elanor replied. "There's saltwater all around us. I could get it done easily with a bucket"
"That's good to hear." The merprince said with a grin. "You might want to hurry, though. My parents are likely looking for me and my dad can sense where merpeople are using his trident."
Eleanor gulped. "Okay, I'll do my best to free you as soon as I can." She said as she began to walk towards the door.
"Hey, before you go. I want to tell you something." Prince Colton said.
"What is it?"
"If you return with the saltwater. I'll reward you handsomely once I'm free." The merman said.
Eleanor smiled. "Really, what kind of reward?"
"Well, once I return to my merkingdom. I'd really love to know you more. That's about all I can say for now." The merprince said with a playful smile.
Eleanor's cheeks began to blush. "Okay then. I'll do my best to return to you if I can. Just hold on until I get back." She said as she opened the door and closed it.
Prince Colton sighed as he began to relax, knowing that the human girl he just met might be his key to get out of this ship.
Unbeknownst to the merprince, he was being watched through a telescope being held by a green-tailed mermaid swimming around the ship. As soon as Eleanor began to walk to the deck the mermaid dove underwater and swam until she approached two figures.
The first was a mermaid with long blonde hair, two strapless seashells that covered her large breasts, and long royal blue tail. The second was an extremely muscular merman that had a dark blue tail powerful enough to destroy large rocks with a one good swing of his mighty scaly limb. The merman's chest was covered in tribal-looking tattoos that represented the mythology of his kingdom and how his family bloodline prevailed to rule, and in his grip was a large glowing trident.
Both figures were covered in golden bangles that covered their arms, waists, and tails, but what united their looks were the crowns on their heads. The merman was King Damon and the mermaid was Queen Charlotte.
The green-tailed mermaid slowed down her swimming as she heard the royal couple talking.
"Charlotte, my love, we can't let these wretched humans get away with this. First they take our son, then they spoil him out of his crown and jewels, and now they chain him up like a filthy animal." King Damon said as he gritted his teeth and gripped his trident. "I'm ready to create the worst storm in the world and sink that ship if it means Colton will be safe with us."
"Honey…" Queen Charlotte said as she patted her husband's back. "We can't sink that whole ship like that. What if there's someone innocent on board?"
"Like who?" The merking inquired. "Our servants all say the whole crew spoiled our son out of his rightful gold."
"Your highness." The green-tailed mermaid said as she swam in and bowed to her rulers. "In my observation, I spotted a young maiden on the ship who wore nothing but a pink nightgown."
"Oh?" Queen Charlotte said, interested. "Do tell."
"Well, it seems like the woman is around the prince's age and, rather than spoil him out of his belongings, she seemed to be having a pleasant conversation with him after he was chained up. In fact, I saw many instances where your son was smiling as he talked with her. She was likely keeping him company due to what the captain did."
"Awww..." Queen Charlotte said she placed her hands over her heart. "It seems our son has someone he likes! This is a great development!"
King Damon nodded. "Indeed it is. But still, a human's a human."
Queen Charlotte looked at her husband with a cross face. "You can't damn a girl that our son likes to a watery grave because she's a human. Please, honey, can there be some sort of alternative besides sinking the ship wholesale?"
King Damon scratched his chin and began to think as he looked back at the green tailed mermaid servant. "Hmm… Do you have any other details about this girl?"
She nodded. "Indeed I do. It seems that she's the only female on the ship. The other passengers are all men. Granted, some are younger than others who clearly have graying beards and such."
King Damon nodded and then came to his conclusion "Alright then. Then my sentence is this. The ship will be sunk by my storm but the maiden shall be spared. Instead of remaining human, she shall be turned into a mermaid by my trident's magic so she can be by our son in his proper home."
King Damon then turned to his wife. "So, how do you feel about my plans, dear?"
Queen Charlotte smiled. "Much better. Though, there is one more thing."
The Merqueen snapped her fingers and immediately a purple tailed merman wearing a tank top appeared to her. "At your service." He said.
"Alexander, please go to the merkingdom and tell the commoner mermaids to come here. Alongside the maiden, I shall turn the young pirate boys that share my son's age into merpeople as well."
"But why should we give them mercy? They hurt our son." King Colton countered
"Yes but I believe they shall be loyal mermen of the kingdom's army, for they will have more to prove to gain our trust in order to make up for what they did to our son. What do you say, Damon?"
The merking smiled and gave his wife a kiss. "A great plan, indeed."
King Damon then slammed the end of his trident against the sand. "My judgment is confirmed. Let the storm brew, for our prince's safety is at hand."