Hazel unloads her weapon into the mermaid but the octopus deflects every shot and swings at Hazel. I leap toward her pushing her aside and get battered myself. With a grimace Hazel takes up my sword and charges the mermaid, slashing through two of the octopuses limbs, which fall to the ground, severed. The mermaid looks on in shock at her poor pets wounds but Hazels charge doesn't falter. She leaps at the mermaid, grabbing her as she does. They both fall to the floor and Hazel wrestles the sea dweller.
"Change him back half-fish and I won't slit your throat." Hazel spat.
"That 'man' deserves his punishment and you yours!" the mermaid shouts and with her strong tail she pushes off the deck launching her and Hazel out of the broken window and into the sea.
The pair crash through the surface of the water. Hazel squirms, letting the mermaid loose and desperately tries to swim back to the vital air above. She knows the mermaid has the advantage in the sea and that she's already painfully close to running out of oxygen. The mermaid knows this and holds Hazel tightly, flapping her strong tail and sending them both further into the deep blue. Hazel desperately fights to escape but her movements are slowed whilst submerged. A sweet voice carries across the waves.
“You poor unfortunate soul. I don’t blame you for unwittingly getting caught up in my business and was perfectly happy to let you go but you had to hurt poor Ocho. For that you will receive the strongest of punishments.” The mermaid whispers and lets Hazel go but she continues sinking.
I dive into the depths to save my time travelling sister only to bare witness to her punishment.
The mermaid blasts Hazel with a bright yellow bolt and in seconds she is engulfed in a whirl pool that begins sucking her deeper and deeper. She spins within the vortex getting smaller and smaller the deeper she goes. Her skin turns a deep, dirty green. Her limbs shrinking away to nothingness.
The mermaid pulls me by the hand deeper, blowing a large bubble and placing it over my head, allowing me to breath. We follow Hazel to the sea bed where she rests, diminished. She was now a miserable looking, plant-like thing with big, pleading yellow eyes, still baring a vague resemblance to her former self with her clothes gently floating to rest encircling her. Looking around, I notice that she’s surrounded by more of her ilk in a veritable garden of the sad little creatures.
The mermaid smiles a cruel smile. “You shall remain here amongst the other scoundrels, ruffians and wicked folk as a prisoner of I, Loriel, until your friends can bring a potion from the surface world to restore my little Ocho’s limbs.”