Sliding his hands under her knees and the other on her back, Henry princess carried her as he calmly walked past the burning establishments. The flaming Inn has already spread across the small village and affected the nearby structures.
In this day and age, most buildings are constructed mostly of wood and little stone, so the spread is within expectations.
Looking around him and seeing the previously caged animals run deep into the forest, Henry allowed himself to smile a little bit.
As for the humans, they were following him behind like a bunch of ducklings trailing their mother duck.
"M-Mister? W-Where are we going?" Among the formerly enslaved people, a young beautiful woman stepped forward and scaredy asked, perhaps afraid that Henry wasn't the hero they thought him to be.
Henry answered without turning around, "We're taking you all home." Thankfully, perhaps it is due to the chaos caused by the burning of the inn along with the nearby establishments, the pirates' attention was focused on dousing the spreading fire rather than questioning them.
Sighs of relief fell through the crowd like a chain reaction, with the same woman asking another question, "M-May we ask your name, mister?"
Henry stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around, meeting them eye to eye, "Henry. Henry Charming."
Right as soon as he finished, there was an exclamation among the crowd, "I-I know you, mister! You're the Crown Prince Henry Charming from Lioncrest Kingdom! I-I'm a citizen there!"
"A Prince?"
"A Prince saved us?"
"S-Such a kind and humble prince you are, Prince Henry!"
A series of gasps and praises rippled among the people, with some even breaking down on the spot and tearing up.
While the others finally relaxed, as if a huge boulder had been lifted off their shoulders.
"Is she?" That's when their gazes turned to Ariel, asleep on Henry's arms. She looked so peaceful compared to earlier. They pointed specifically at her fish tail.
Henry didn't answer, he simply stared at their eyes and replied, "She's a friend. My friend." Simple as that.
Just as they resumed their brisk walk towards the shore of the island, it's unfortunate that not all pirates are distracted by the chaos.
A few pirates, especially an entire crew pointed their fingers at him, leading them was a man with a golden hair and a goatee, "Ain't that cap'n's mermaid? He's trying to steal her! Get him!"
Just as the people behind him flinched, Henry merely flicked his wrist towards them and a blue torrent of flame spewed out of his palms before converging into a single large fireball.
Boom!
The large fireball passed through the first pirate with ease, burning him to a crisp during that brief moment before doing the same to the others.
Only the last pirate was able to react and yet, that reaction was merely a yell in pain before the fiery blue fireball turned him into charred remains. Henry then directed the fireball to smash on the ground, dispersing it around.
The entire process was both shocking and fast, at least to a normal person's eyes but to Henry, everything moved just fine, even a bit slow.
"T-That was…" Behind him, the people were shocked and some even puked. Not only that, but the encounter also attracted everyone's attention to him. Quickly connecting the dots from the buildings coated in blue flames to the huge blue fireball that Henry just cast, everyone's glare immediately turned toward him.
But Henry didn't care. That's all they can do, glare at him. With what Henry just showcased, only an idiot would step up to take on Henry. They'd rather stay quiet and stay as far away as possible from Henry.
However, considering that his initial plan is for Ariel to be brought back to the ocean—which he knew she would be fine and would recover quickly—not to mention, she's a thousand times safer being under the sea rather than here on the surface.
But after that, he would go back here to settle some scores. Perhaps it's time for someone to do something against these pirates.
Not to mention, that siren he just burnt to a crisp back in the inn. He already had a suspicion as to who was weaving the strings behind the scenes.
In the film, there's only one villain who either wanted Ariel's life or make her life miserable.
Ursula. The infamous half-witch and half-octopus. Though he's slightly cautious about making a move against her as he once remembered there are theories that Ursula is actually King Triton's half-sibling.
Making her father the God of the Sea, Poseidon.
Of course, he's not sure of it yet but it's better to be cautious and let King Triton handle her case. Until Henry knows what kind of person the Greek Gods are in this world, he will refrain from getting too much of their attention.
Henry tightened his grip on Ariel's legs and arms before he resumed walking, stepping over the charred corpses, "Let's go."
The former slaves looked at one another for a brief moment before following in his footsteps like ducklings again.
———
At the shore, Henry noticed that a few pirates were starting to leave, carrying what Henry assumed to be barrels of stolen goods from the burning village.
He scoffed at this, 'Just who in their right mind decided it's a good idea to make a place solely for the pirates? Even establishing a few businesses and stores in the village.'
Henry ignored those for now. He'll have a chance to hunt pirates in the future. What matters more is saving Ariel and the former slaves behind him.
"Lord Henry?" Aboard the ship, Frank the old sailor noticed the crowd behind and tilted his head in confusion, 'I thought we were saving his friend…Didn't know it was this many…'
Henry gestured for the women and children behind him, "That's your ship. It's your way out of this island. That's the captain, Frank. He'll get you back to Arendelle Kingdom, from there you'll get your matter settled."
Cries of relief and silent prayers echoed across the crowd as some started boarding the ship, however someone among them noticed Henry walking away from the ship and asked, "P-Prince Henry? How about you?"
Without looking back and walking straight to the other side of the shore, an empty one, Henry answered, "I'll be fine. Focus on yourselves."
———
"Ariel. Wake up…" Arriving at the empty shore, Henry gently laid her on the sand, near the ocean waves.
She fluttered her eyes open, blinking several times as once again, Henry's face occupied her vision, "Henry? Is that you? What happened?"
"It's a long story. Actually, not that long, it's just that I don't have the time to explain everything right now." Henry caressed her hair, "You escaped your nightmare, Ariel. Let me handle everything, okay? Just focus on getting back to your father and maybe stop him from submerging the entire continent under the ocean."
Ariel allowed herself to chuckle softly, though her throat hurt a bit from the lack of water and dryness. Hearing a familiar sound beside her, she turned her head to the side and saw the ocean waves, twinkling under the sunlight.
"It's the ocean." Her eyes turned watery. How many times she prayed to see the ocean again, during these four days of being caged like an animal, she wished she never gone out of the palace.
She turned back to Henry and seeing the look on his face, how he's trying to hold back his emotions, Ariel raised her hand and touched his cheek, she croaked, "You saved me…Thank you, Henry."
Henry shook his head, wiping off the tears that had accumulated in his eyes, "Don't thank me. I was late. If I weren't, you wouldn't have to suffer like this. It's my fault…" Although, he wanted to blame the pigeon for wasting his time a few days ago, there's no point wallowing in it.
Besides, it's truly his fault for not being fast enough. Perhaps if he focused on his magic training in the first place instead of wasting his time going on a voyage that he could've delayed, then maybe all of this wouldn't have happened.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when Ariel interrupted him, "No. Don't blame yourself. This is my fault…" She hesitated for a bit, "Though I don't regret it. I saved their lives, Henry. Those poor fishes. They get to live to see another day."
With a quivering smile, she continued, "And besides. You once told me that you humans would always learn from your mistakes. Does that make me a human like you?"
With a smile, Henry nodded his head, "Of course you are. But being a mermaid is not much worse than being a human."
Ending their conversation with that, Henry carried her again, watching as she tangled her arms around his neck and her green eyes stared directly at his.
It was a stare filled with warmth and gratitude.
Slowly, Henry walked forward, never stopping even when the ocean level reached his knees. Then his waist, his chest, and only when it reached his neck and the ocean water finally touched Ariel, did he stop.
His gaze fell on Ariel's face, watching in relief as her sunken cheeks faded, her pale face gaining color and she slowly but surely returning to what she looked like.
"It feels refreshing," Ariel murmured with closed eyes, floating on the ocean as Henry released his hold over her.
With a flip, she submerged under the sea before emerging—all wet and rejuvenated, a satisfied smile on her face.
Before she could say anything, Henry already warned her, "Ariel. Your father. Please?"
Realization dawned upon her face and she nodded her head. Though she was hesitant at first but eventually made up her mind and swam towards Henry, kissing him on the cheek, almost near the edge of his lips before diving down.
"Wow." Was the only thing he managed to utter in silence.
———
'I-I kissed him! On the cheek! And it's almost near his lips, I could almost taste it!'
Under the sea, Ariel was squirming around like a worm, blush plastered on her cheeks as she tried to cover her face with her hands.
After a whole minute of trying to recover, Ariel finally calmed down.
"Henry said I should stop dad. Oh no, I've probably been gone for too long! He must be furious!" With a panicked voice, Ariel quickly dove down and started rigorously flapping her fish tail.
Mermaids are one of the fastest swimmers under the sea and in just under a minute, she has already taken a considerable distance away from the island. From the place where she faced the horrors that her father had been warning her about.
At first, it made her scared. She felt like she no longer wanted to go to the surface and stay under the sea forever. However, as soon as Henry's face came to her mind, that fear disappeared.
'Right. Not all humans are bad. I was just unlucky to encounter the rotten ones.' She said to herself, remembering everything that Henry had been doing for her.
She can tell how far he traveled just for her, perks of being both a mermaid and the daughter of the King of the Sea. She can also vividly remember the blue flames rising behind him earlier when she first woke up in his arms.
She's not an idiot. She can deduce everything he did for her.
"He's like that prince from a story…" She giggled, remembering the stories she used to read from a human book. However, her happiness was short-lived as she instantly felt a humongous presence ascending towards her.
Her eyes widened in surprise as two enormous figures appeared in front of her.
One was a huge fish-like creature with a gaping mouth bigger than his own body, as if he can swallow an entire mountain with ease. Although the inside of the mouth is dark, Ariel could almost see hundreds of razor-sharp teeth all over the place.
The other looks like something that came out of someone's nightmare. It was a huge octopus-like figure except that it's a thousand times larger than a regular octopus and not to mention, its tentacles looked less like one and more like a snake similar to Medusa's serpent hair.
Two names instantly clicked in her mind.
"Charybdis and Scylla." She murmured in horror.