Intimidated by this display, Melody asked again, “Mommy, what’s up with Morgana?”
“I-I don’t know, sweetie…” Whatever it was, Ariel knew that it had to be bad news to make even a being of that caliber tremble with fear. At first her instincts shouted at her not to ask questions about it, but she knew in her mind that the sooner she could identify the source of this unexpected emotion coming from Morgana, the sooner they could come up with a way to thwart this new enemy. Summoning up the courage to speak, Ariel inquired, “Morgana, what was that all about?”
Breaking out of her terror-driven trance, Morgana snapped back, “That’s none of your business!” Then, like a madman, she rushed in on them to complete her mission. With no time to retaliate, Eric was hammered into by one of Morgana’s powerful tentacles, knocking all the wind out of him and sending him face-first into the floor. Melody was in the process of calling out to him when Morgana whipped herself around, seized Melody, and threw her away from the bed and crashing into the wall. In no time at all the sea witch was on top of the mother and child once more.
“No! I won’t let you do this!” cried Ariel, but it was already too late. Not even bothering to pause for a moment, Morgana ripped the two of them apart and rushed back to stand before the broken doors again, well away from anyone’s grip.
Numb to his pain, Eric roared at Morgana and took the first few steps of what was going to resemble the charge of a warrior into battle.
“Now, now, now, Prince Eric. I wouldn’t do anything too hasty if I were you.” Grinning wickedly, she flashed the defenseless child to its bloodthirsty father, stopping him dead in his tracks. Taking pleasure in the look of anguish on his face and fully aware of the sovereignty she held over them, Morgana returned to being the laughing psychopath she was at the beginning of this nightmare. While doing so, she uncorked the portentous potion she brought with her and proceeded to slather the baby’s forehead with it. For the most part the baby had retained its silence quite well, but all that changed into wailing when Morgana began to shove the rest of the potion down his throat. Relishing her moment of triumph, the baby’s distress added to her twisted ecstasy.
