They were coming for him.

That was the only thing he could be certain about right now. That the king and queen and every single mer would hunt him down. Not because of what he'd done or because it was his fault. But because they needed someone to blame and he was the easiest target.

Of course they couldn't blame the royal family. And of course they couldn't blame the prince that had been engaged to her. But he was different.

He was just a poor warlock. He was the one that gave her legs and stole her voice in the process. He was the one a lot of suspicious stories were told about.

It didn't matter that he had once been a highly respected person by the king and the merpeople. It didn't matter that he had laid down his life for the good of the kingdom.

All that mattered was that they were angry. And they needed someone they could blame for the loss of their princess.

He had already been given a warning, when the princess had just entered the human world. Her disappearance hadn't gone unnoticed and at one point a warrior had knocked on his door demanding answers. Answers he had gladly given them. Then they had let it go, they wanted the princess to be happy and she would still be married to a prince. Something that had been very important to her parents.

So they had let his involvement slide. Something that wouldn't happen now.

Though when he had packed all his belongings, he still needed to leave things behind, and he opened the door. The endless ocean bottom couldn't be seen, because of the soldiers standing there. Waiting for him.

There was no point trying to escape. He could make it he knew that, but what was the point. He knew what a life on the run could do to a person. Something he never wanted to experience again.

So when he saw the soldiers standing outside his door, he simply surrendered. Their faces full of surprise and suspicion told him they had prepared for a long fight to the death. But instead of being happy he cooperated, they questioned his motives. Why wouldn't he fight for his life or freedom?

The reason was simple. He honestly didn't care what the king would do to him. It could never be worse than he had already gone through. And he did have another trick up his sleeve.

When he had helped the king to win his war against the other ocean, he had received payment. In return for the soldiers he sent as help, the king had to ensure his life and safety.

No matter how angry the king was, he was unable to kill the warlock. Maybe he had forgotten. But the magic hadn't.

Magic would never forget a promised payment.

It lived on it. And though the king only needed to spare the warlock's life once. It was enough to ensure his safety in this situation.

No matter how angry the merpeople were, they couldn't kill him.

•••

When they finally entered the palace, the evening had arrived. During the day the ocean was a lively place with a constant buzz of sounds. But when the night came, slowly all life seemed to be drained from the ocean.

It became a dark place, without any safety.

It fitted the occasion though. No matter how this day would end, the warlock knew he would never set foot on the ocean bottom again.

Simply because he was murdered or because he was banished. Never to enter the sea again.

The merpeople obviously expected the first option. So when the king after a short court decided the warlock, who had stolen their princess from them, would be banished from all the oceans. An uproar could be heard throughout the entire kingdom.

Their king had always claimed to be a just monarch. But this wasn't, and would never be, justice in their eyes.

So they took matters into their own hands.

Before the king could finish his declaration, the warlock would be banished from the seas. Hordes of merpeople were storming the sea palace. Demanding justice for their lost princess. The soldiers were trying to calm them down, but deep down they felt the same. How could their king let this monster walk away?

Little did they know that the king was on their side. He too wanted to have the warlock executed, but he couldn't. Not that many merpeople were alive that had seen this warlock's true power. But he had. He had seen the destruction one wave of the warlock's hand had caused the enemy. Every drop of magic that had flowed out of him had killed thousands. The king wasn't going to gamble with his life, to try to win the battle with magic.

He had seen thousands die and fail trying just that.

So he ordered his guards to hold down the crowds storming the palace. The suggestion that his counsellor made, to reevaluate the sentence. Was immediately thrown out of the window by the king. That way the warlock would need to be imprisoned and there was no way his safety could be guaranteed. Now that everyone in the palace wanted to see the wizard's blood.

The sentence had to be executed now, though he could make the sentence more severe. The wizard that had been invited into the kingdom, they needed the magic lest there be another war, could be the one giving legs to the banished warlock. That way they could make it a tortuous experience to walk. Every step he would take, would feel like he would be walking on needles.

Hopefully the masses would be satisfied with that. Because the death penalty was impossible due to magic.

So knowing a decision had to be made the king swam towards the balcony facing the crowd of mer screaming for justice. And announced that another wizard would be the executioner of the sentence. That way the warlock's life wouldn't be an easy one while walking earth. It would be a proper punishment, because their princess had felt the same pains when she had walked around the palace and danced for the prince. So he would have to live his life in the same pain he had put their princess through.

The masses' shouts slowly disappeared and an eerie silence gripped the court in anticipated fear. This sentence did appeal to the crowd more than the original one, but still they didn't feel satisfied. They had figured out at this point that the wizard wouldn't be killed. That was a big disappointment for them. And being the fact that the warlock would only be in pain when he was above the surface where they couldn't see him. They wanted to be able to drive him out of the kingdom, and maybe sent a few arrows his way while hunting him down.

That was the least they wanted to satisfy their anger.

And the king was more than willing to help.

•••

He never thought he had swam that fast in his life before. Nor being in pain while swimming as fast as possible.

He knew the wizard that forced his body to form legs. He knew him maybe even better than he knew himself. Once upon a time he had looked up to him and had seen him as a parent. But at some point he had run away from the house they had lived in and with that breaking their friendship apart.

He still stood by that choice, it had been the best thing he could have done for himself. But not for his mentor. Even before he had run away his mentor was losing himself to the magic. And with him leaving the last bonds he had with humanity were destroyed.

But magic was an unpredictable thing, him leaving his mentor for his own well being had backlashed. The magic had seen it as him breaking his promise. And now he had seen his mentor again. There was nothing left of him, several layers of dirt fused with what once had been his face. And even being in the ocean for several days had not been able to clean him.

When he had been brought to his mentor, he had been cackling with glee. All the fondness that had ever shown on his face for his pupil had disappeared. To only leave behind a sadistic happiness of being able to hurt someone that had hurt him before.

And now he was swimming for his life, he needed to reach the shore as fast as possible. His mentor hadn't been friendly enough to give him a proper transformation. It would be a slow process taking about ten minutes, wherein he would slowly lose his tail, hair and ability to breath under water. Normally this process would take five seconds at most, that way the magic-user wouldn't be in so much pain for too long.

He didn't get that privilege. Every second he could feel the slow adaptations the magic forced his body to perform. And he was running out of time.

When he was swimming away from the palace as the magic had been activated, he had heard two things. The cackling words of his former master, telling him he had ten minutes to reach the shore. And the shouts of the merpeople getting ready to drive him away.

Normally he would have been a dead man swimming, but the wizard had given him a head start of three minutes. Those minutes had long since passed. The mer were on his tail, their curses thrown at him were a constant reminder to him he needed to go faster. Faster. Faster.

But he couldn't anymore. He was out of oxygen and his body was unable to get it from the surrounding water anymore. His tail was a barely there shadow of what it once was. No power was left in it.

And he was still several miles away from the shore.

With a last powerful thrust of his tail, he breached the waters above his head, and was finally able to breathe again.

With a quick look beneath him, he saw the merpeople watching him cautiously. They didn't dare to come nearer to the surface, in fear of being seen by humans.

He was safe for now, but not for long. The shore was out of view, and now that he became human again, he lost his ability to navigate at sea without the proper instruments. When nothing was done, he would drown within a few hours, unable to have reached the relative safety of dry land.

Luckily for him he was still a warlock with an affinity with nature. So a distress call towards any creature nearby, took no effort at all. After that he could only wait and hope for help.

•••

He was losing consciousness. At least an hour had already passed, and still no help had shown up. The freezing cold had settled in his bones. And now even heating spells couldn't warm him up. If nothing would show up within the next few minutes he would die here. All alone at sea, while the merpeople beneath him would cheer.

When a few long minutes had passed, he could finally hear a faint sound. The song of a whale.

His rescuer had finally appeared in the form of a blue whale. The mammal appeared next to the wizard, and he gladly hung on to one of the whale's fins.

He was saved. Now that a big sea creature had appeared he finally was able to reach the shore. Though to be able to do that, he had to leave the blue whale at one point. And exchange his helper for a porpoise. With help from that last animal, he was finally able to set foot on land again after many years of living on the bottom of the ocean.