Ursula curled her tentacles around the lip of the outcrop of rocks, and slinked along the slimy cavern roof until she crouched a few centimetres away from the man.

Would he understand what she wanted to tell him? Could he perceive from her actions just how much danger he was in? It was a risk she accepted.

The octopus flicked out the tips of her main, two front tentacles, and lightly touched the handsome man's shoulders.

He flinched immediately, as if he'd been cut. Ursula removed her suckers and crawled backwards, into the shadows. She watched as the handsome young man searched around frantically, thrashing the water in panic at her touch.

"Is there somebody here?" His strained, high pitched voice gave away his fear, despite his next brave command. "Show yourself!"

Ursula tentatively pulled herself into view of the captive. The fluorescent algae, clinging to the sides of the rocks around the air bubble, threw a strange glow around the cavern. She slid into the dim light, her half octopus, half human form on display.

The man gasped and sunk for a second under the water. When he crawled back up to the surface, his shocked expression warned her to back out of the light.

"I'm sorry I scared you." Ursula whispered as she hid in the dark. "I never meant to. I only want to help."

The man shook his braided head and stretched his strong arms across the breadth of the cavern roof, so as to brace himself in one position. He coughed out a mouthful of seawater and she noticed him focusing harder in her direction.

"Really?" His voice had lowered in tone, more secure and manly. "How do I know I can trust you? I'm guessing the Mermaid sent you here to guard me?"

Ursula naturally bent her human half to supplicate herself, prove her sincerity. She wanted nothing more than to be held in the best esteem by this man. Why is that?

"The Princess means you harm, human. You have to trust me. I'm the only one who can help you escape."

"For one," Eric answered, his words coming out fast and clipped. "You can call me Eric, not 'human'. Second, can you explain to me why the Mermaid would want to hurt me, when she went to all the trouble of keeping me alive?"

A strand of Ursula's white ponytail crawled loose, swaying gently across her pale, grey face.
"There are worse things than death. Eric. I suggest that you play along with whatever she wants from you, until she tires enough to sleep. Then, I will assist you to the surface."

Eric snorted and blew ripples of water across the cavern.
"Come on, octolady, how bad could it possibly be? A sweet, little fishy girl like that? What's she going to do? Kiss me to death?"

Ursula slunk a little closer, joining the reach of the fluorescence. She inclined her head and spoke with an honesty which made her voice shake, as she mimicked Eric's speech.

"For one, call me Ursula, not 'octolady'. Second, this little fishy girl you speak of so lightly, has already decapitated two humans and gouged out the eyes of another."

Eric's silence showed that he had understood.

"As I said before, Eric," Ursula slithered closer, and reached out a tentacle to stroke back the hair from his face. He really was very handsome, chiseled with striking features, and those, oh, so beautiful eyes. "Let her wear herself out, her favourite game is Pearls."

"I'm listening." Eric hadn't shrunk away from her touch this time. In fact, he stared intently into Ursula's eyes, hanging on her every word.

"She will want you to wrap her in Pearl necklaces, to smother her body with them, rub them over her breasts."

Eric licked his salty lips, blinking rapidly.
"Okay, can do, and then?"

"And then she will want to put them on you, Eric. While you perform for her, she will use them to, let's say, enhance the experience for you."

Eric cleared his throat loudly. He raised an eyebrow and asked in a deep voice,
"And this is bad, because?"

Ursula grasped Eric's body with all of her arms, wrapping him tight to her, her face inches away from his.

"Woah, Ursula, you move fast, lady!"

"I'm not playing with you, Eric. Neither will she. You will be lucky if she doesn't choke you to death. Trust me, place your fingers inside the pearl strings, before she twists them. Do what you have to do, then pretend to pass out. It's the only way you can survive. If I don't get you out after that, she will play much, much rougher."

Eric's gaze softened. The slap of the water against the rocks overlapped the echo of her voice. He looked directly into her eyes, the startling blue of his own, flecked with fluorescent reflections.

"Why are you helping me?"

Not letting him go, Ursula lost herself in his eyes.
"I don't wish to see you suffer, Eric. I have suffered enough to last a lifetime and believe that I can bring this reign of torture to an end. Would you be willing to help me?"

Eric raised his hand from the rock and swept back Ursula's wayward strand of hair. A soft smile played on his lips.
"I do believe so, Ursula."