The Prince on the Cliff

This is a story I wrote for a contest... that unfortunately closed before I had a chance to enter. Its told from the perspective of Eric from The Little Mermaid. Enjoy!

I could hear something in the ocean. Beautiful sounds of a soothing and calming voice inviting me into the depths of the water. I sat there at the rock intently listening, holding onto my flute, closing my eyes and feeling the grace of the wind through my black hair and faintly hearing the water rushing along the shoreline smashing along side the edge of the cliff. The voice continued to sing. I felt at peace at that moment but didn't understand it. I played a couple of bars with my flute following with the rhythm. When I opened my eyes I found myself fixated at the elegance and beauty of the sunset in the distance. The sky was flooded with purples and orange hues. 

I heard Maximus return to me from the waters far down the shore line. Max I called him for short. He was a joyous shaggy Old English Sheepdog who could barely see due to all the scraggly hairs in his face. He was panting, exhausted from running back and forth between myself and the water, but Max enjoyed these long walks. He stopped panting for a moment, lifted the corners of his ears and turned towards the waters.

“You hear it too boy?” I asked him. He didn’t pay any attention, just continued to look out.
Eventually the soft singing stopped and faded away. I looked out desperate to find the source of the sound, but couldn’t see anything for yards, only the sun dropping below the water. This melody was not an uncommon thing on our walks. Almost every night when we went out for our walks the chanting began. Always a different melody, but always from the same vocals. 

I grew tired. The sun was almost completely down and he began to grow cold by the waters. I whistled for Max and began walking back up the cliff towards the house. 

I returned to the shore the following day to walk Max again. He looked restless to go outside, waiting for me to put my boots on so he could chase birds while running along the sand. 

When we finally got to the beach, I strolled along the waters waiting to hear the voice again, but nothing was heard. I felt disappointed and almost questioning my own sanity at the idea that there may have even been a voice singing out there all these times walking on the beach. It couldn’t have been a dream or an illusion. If Max heard it, then it must be real. 

Suddenly while Max was walking along my side, he stuck his nose up, faintly smelling the air. Immediately he began barking, running away from me, then back again. It was as if he was trying to encourage and lead me somewhere. He then dashed towards the tall rocks, fleeing from my eye sights.

“Max!” I yelled. “Where are you going?” but he ignored my calls and continued to run away. I chased him around the edge of the cliff and around some of the large boulders in the sand until I found him. He was still barking and jumping on his hind-legs towards me in excitement. 

“Calm down boy,” I said as I pushed his dirty sandy paws off my clothing. That was when I saw her. I glanced up and noticed a thin, alluring woman nestled on a flat rock with a worn down piece of canvas or linen material with rope tied around. Her hair was a vibrant, loud and exotic shade of red. Her eyes a very generous and intensifying hue of blue. All her features, angelic and warm. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, she didn’t need it. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t see you there.” I said. I approached her slowly, not wanting to scare her off. She smiled at me sweetly but said nothing. Her appearance; something about it made me feel like I had seen her somewhere before. “You look very familiar. Have… have we met before?” I asked.

She nodded while maintaining a large grin on her face. Again didn’t say anything.

I became embarrassed that I didn’t know who she was. Who could have not remembered a woman this breathtakingly beautiful, and with that long scarlet red hair. But it came to me. She must be the woman who sings along these waters at night, beguiling me to come to her. “It’s you!” I exclaimed. “I’ve been looking for you. Whats your name?”

She mouthed a couple words, but no voice came out.

“Whats the matter?” I asked.

The girl patted on her throat as to signify that she couldn’t speak. My smile dropped. I felt defeated and disenchanted that she couldn’t speak. This wasn’t the woman I had been looking and hoping for.

“Oh.” I said, “I’m sorry I thought you were someone else.” I responded disappointingly.

The girl then began to sign to me different hand gestures as if she was trying to tell me what happened. She got so animated in her body expressions she fell into off the perched rock just before I caught her in my arms. “Whoa take it easy.” I said, trying to calm her with the hand signals. She tried to walk but she stumbled as she tried to stand on her feet. “You are in worse shape than I thought. But don’t worry I will help you.” She put her arm around the back of my shoulder and I held her close to assist her in walking back up to the house. Max was jumping erratically knowing that we would have company for a few days other than myself.

“Oh come on Eric, you can’t possibly think that there are just random women living in or around the ocean rescuing people and singing in the sunset. Young pretty and presentable girls are all around and very real.” Grimm sat at the table toying with his pipe putting the contents of his tobacco into its bowl. 

I leaned against the window frustrated by the fact that he didn’t believe anything I was saying, “Grimm I’m not lying. There is a woman out there and she is real. And when I do find her I’m marrying here. There is nothing like that voice that she has.”

I heard the door to the dining room open up. Carlotta directed the red haired girl into the room wearing an appealing pink dress with large puffy sleeves and a white hair bret with a flower on it. No longer was she ragged looking with the ripped piece of fabric she was strutting around in. She wore high heels that clicked on the floor as she walked in. Delicacy was what she brought into the room, and I was totally enchanted. “You look very lovely,” I told her as she smiled at me.

I pulled a chair for her to sit at the table. Just as Grimm and I sat at the table, I saw the girl pick up her fork on the table and begin to comb her hair with it. I held my fork in my hand confused as I looked at her. Grimm did the same while holding his pipe. “Uhhh… you okay?” I asked. The girl stopped combing her hair with the fork, embarrassed by the look we had given her. She looked down at her plate. Grimm continued with his pipe, lighting the tobacco in the bowl with a match he had ignited. He took some comforting inhales of the pipe before the girl stretched her arms out to hold the pipe. 

Grimm smiled, “would you like to see it?” he asked. 

She smiled and nodded. He handed her the pipe explaining the origins of the pipe as she was about to take an inhale from the stem. Instead the girl blew all of the lit tobacco out of the pipe and into Grimm’s face. Grimm’s face was completely black from the tobacco, and I almost choked on my wine trying not to laugh out loud. The girl again looked embarrassed as Grimm wiped the pieces of ash off his face and out of his hair. I coughed, apologizing for laughing at the circumstances. 

After Carlotta served us our meal of stuffed crab, which I could barely even touch considering I was so captivated by this girls beauty. Despite the fact that she was a little strange, I still thought she was incredibly cute. I offered her to accompany me on a tour of the kingdom the following day and she graciously accepted by nodding enthusiastically. 

The next morning I look the young girl through the village. We took a horse drawn carriage along the stone pathways that led in and around the town. We watched a hand puppet show which she yanked one of the puppets off of one of the puppeteers hands. We danced along to a trio of wind instrument players in the streets. I bought her boots and a new hat for her to wear as well as a bouquet of flowers. 

After strolling in the carriage throughout the day, we decided to go for a moonlight boat ride in a quiet meadow for the evening. It was dark and quiet but the fireflies lit the way for the passage of the boat. It was romantic and peaceful and she looked so beautiful. The animals of the creek rhythmically chanted together as we sat there, quiet in the boat looking hopelessly in each others eyes. As I continued to paddle the boat further I felt the silence was too much and I needed to break it.

“You know I feel awful not knowing your name, I just keep referring to you as ‘the girl’. Maybe I could guess the name.” I slouched back in the boat searching my head for possible suggestions. “How about Mildred?”

The girl made a face like she just took a bite out of a lemon and stuck her tongue out. I could tell she was displeased by the name I suggested.

“Okay okay, I get it. Thats not the name.” I searched my mind again, looking into her face to see if I could find a name to fit it. “How about Diana?”

The girl shook her head again.

“Rachel?” Again the girl shook her head.

Then the name came to me, as if it was whispered to me through the wind. Ariel.

I repeated the name to myself as if was looking to see if someone would solidify that it was it. “Ariel?”

The girl nodded her head with a smile encouragingly. “Ariel? Thats your name?” I asked. She smiled and nodded again, look of relief written all over her face. She stretched her hand over her forehead as if to say phew!  

“Its a very pretty name,” I said, satisfied it wasn’t the name of an ex-girlfriend.

I continued to paddle on. We ended up underneath the branches of a weeping willow that was completely surrounded in water. The crickets, tree frogs, and birds continued to melodically chant amongst themselves in harmony. She looked so beautiful and I couldn’t help it. I needed to kiss her. Something inside was telling me to kiss her.

I locked a glance on her, and just as we both leaned in to kiss, I felt the boat shake. Something pushed the boat and we both toppled over into the water. Both soaking wet I retrieved her in the water and tried to get her back into the boat. The moment, now ruined by the uneven boat, would have to wait for another time to happen again.

I returned to the shore that evening. I was crushed with feelings that I was never going to meet this woman of my dreams. The woman of the water, singing with her graceful voice like a woman singing soprano in an opera house. Conquered and tortured of the fact that I had to come to terms with this, I threw my flute into the waters. It whistled as it flew through the air and made a splashing sound as it hit the tidal waves. I walked back towards the house, but just as I did, the voice. The song I had heard before began to chant again through the thick foggy air. I turned back to find the source of the voice, and there she was. The beauty emerged from the fog wearing a silk white robe and had long dark brown hair that whisked through the air across her face and down her delicate neck. From her neck hung a yellowish gold sea shell that glowed in the darkness. She was so enchanting, breathtaking, and alluringly bewitching. I was automatically cast under a spell when I saw her singing. I knew then at that exact moment. I needed to marry this woman as soon as possible. I was not going to let her out of my sight.

The following morning, preparations were made to have our wedding ceremony on a cruise ship. We planned for the ship to set sail at sun set. The boat was decorated in a lovely spring looking setting. Blue, yellow and white colours filled the ship. Grimm finally believed me after I brought her to meet him. Vanessa. What an endearing and exquisite name. Everything about her was everything I wanted in another person and I could not wait to start a life with her. He almost make me feel like I was being crazy marrying her so soon but I dismissed his disapproval. It was my life not his to make these decisions, and it felt like I had known Vanessa for so long, hearing her beautiful voice along the shores late at night while I listened contently and closing, wishing for her to come and whisk me away from my palace. I wanted a normal life and I felt I had to settle for someone in a royal family. I refused to follow grand and old traditions. I wanted to marry for love not money and fame.

The wedding began just as planned. I stood at the front of the alter on the boat as Vanessa trailed down the aisle in her gorgeous wedding white wedding dress. Her veil slinking behind her with every step she took. Max growled at her as she walked past him down the aisle but she ignored him and proudly held onto her bouquet of flowers and held her head up high. I loved that she didn’t care what other people thought of her. I knew who she was, inside and out. A charming and generous person. 

As we got to the aisle she appeared to have issues with birds flying overhead and otters that had climbed onto the boat were making noises and trying to be disruptive. I ignored them and just waited for the pastor to finish with his speech. She got so enraged and impassioned by these animals interfering with the ceremony. I thought nothing of it. An eagle came over, taking hold of the sea shell hanging from her neck. Grimm tried to keep a hold of the tether attached to Max’s collar but the collar broke and he ran to Vanessa biting her in the behind. This cause the sea shell necklace to break and the shell shattered on the deck. An essence or an entity rose from the shattered shell on the ground and crept into Ariel’s throat. She had swam behind the cruise ship and eventually made it climbing up the side onto the deck. I felt disillusioned, snapping out of my militant demeanour. A headache overcame me and I felt like I was myself again, that I wasn’t so overwhelmed by having the wedding happen right away. 

Ariel called my name. I looked at her shocked. “Ariel you can talk?” 

I ran to her excited that she was the one all along that my heart desired. She was more beautiful than any woman I ever saw and her voice was magnetizing. I wanted her so badly in that moment. “You are the one, you always have been.” I told her

“Eric I wanted to tell you.” And just as we were about to kiss the sun went down, and she slowly slid out of my arms downward onto the floor. Her expression was mournful, haunting.

The voice of an old woman with hagged vocal cords cackled behind me, “you are too late.” She said. 

I looked at her. It was Vanessa with a villainous smile on her face. Her howling laugher continued. I looked down at Ariel to find she had the tail of a mermaid. Green and scaly. Her eyes weeping and sorrowful that I couldn’t accept her as a mermaid. My heart broke and I didn’t know what to do. She lied there helpless, extending a hand to me hoping I would grab it. I looked back at Vanessa. She had now turned into an ugly grotesque looking octopus woman with black slimy tentacles for legs. She smelled fowl and repugnant. Her eyes, absent from any form of sympathy or living soul in that shell of a creature. She crawled across the floor by her arms towards Ariel were she finally grabbed her and pulled her under the water with her. I yelled and screamed for Ariel above the water but her red hair disappeared into the waters. 

I couldn’t let this happen. I got myself a small paddle boat and paddled into clear waters were I could search for her. Once I spotted glowing lights beneath the surface I dove under the waters with a harpoon. Once I dove deep enough I spotted them. The ugly octopus woman was surrounding my lovely Ariel. I threw the harpoon with all my might towards her. Hoping to aim her in the back. I missed. It slid through the side of her arm and into the rocky terrain Ariel was hurdling against. The octopus sicked two eels at me. I swam as quick as I could away from the eels reaching the boat as I gasped for air, but the eels got me under the water pulling me under again. They wrapped around me like a straightjacket that was impossible for me to get loose from. A crab came clamping his claw over one of the eels tails, and a fish came smacking his fin to get the eels to release their grasp of me which worked. The octopus aimed a glowing large trident in my direction but Ariel clasped her hands over the octopus’s eyes causing her to aim at the eels burning them to ashes. It was then that we could make our escape away from her.

When we reached the surface the waves tossed and erupted into a great storm. We tried to swim to safety and while swimming we saw the octopus grow larger and larger until she was a giant, hundreds of feet above us. Her loud cackling voice became the thunder of the storm, the sparks of light that came from the trident became the lightning. She pulled Ariel into a oceans whole where she targeted her with the trident. Ariel jumped out of the way with every shot the octopus threw at her of lightning. I swam as quickly as I could reaching the boat. I climbed up the side as the tidal waves and stormy rain crashed down around me, causing me to slip and slide down the deck as I reached the ships steering wheel. I threw the one side of the wheel up as much as I could causing the entire boat to spin on a dime and drive into the opposite direction, towards the beast. 

The bow led the boat onward through the angry hurricane. The clouds continued to grow darker, the rain became heavier, the lightning and thunder; stronger. I was almost there, close enough to smell her fowl stench once again, her laughter grew more and more evil as she continued to target Ariel in the hole. Finally the bow reached its destination and pierced the beast through the heart. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, the electricity of the storm flooded through the veils in her face, and out through her tentacles as she sunk beneath the deep and deadly waters pulling the large vessel beneath with her. The storm tossed me abruptly through the waves and I gasped for breath above the water but was unable to keep consciousness. I slowly faded away into the water.

When I woke, I found myself on the shore drenched in water, covered in sand. I was alive. The storm had settled and the sun had appeared as it was the morning after. It was calm and peaceful, but she was gone. She wasn’t anywhere in sight. I gathered my bearings before I stood up squinting into the morning sunrise. My feet walking towards the shore, leaving imprints in the sand. There she was.

She walked out of the water sparkling in a beautiful gown. Her mermaid tail was gone and she had two legs again. She was more stunning than any other time I had saw her and I fell more and more in love with her each time I had seen her. She held out her arms in an embrace and I ran to her holding her closely picking her up with her wet feet dangling out of the water and she wept with joy into my shoulder. It was then that I finally kissed her. She was so tender and gentle, so nurturing. 

As we walked away from the shore I noticed her waving towards the waters. I turned to find dozens of mermaids and mermen waving her her, almost as a final goodbye, accepting to the new life she had chosen to live. Her father graciously gave me his blessing. After waving goodbye we continued towards the palace, her father igniting a rainbow across the sky. 

I had finally found her; I finally found the woman in the waters at last.