Weeks of torment passed. The little mermaid felt Leshy getting further and further away, and with each passing day the thread between them grew thinner, like a silver string stretched to its limit.

And then... it happened.

Pain. Only so sharp that she collapsed, writhing on the ground, clutching her chest. Pain, fear, despair, the shadow of death - all of it flooded her mind at once.

"Something has happened to him!" she screamed, and his scream echoed through the forest, lifting the birds into the air and driving the animals back into their lairs.

She ran to the Witch, branches lashing her face and arms.

The horror that possessed her made her throw open the door and rush inside.

"He's dying! I can feel it - the pain, the fear - he's dying!"

The Witch said nothing. She took a stone bowl, filled it with water and added a few drops of the potion. The water hissed, darkened - and immediately showed an image that made the Little Mermaid gasp in horror.

The Leshy - wounded, exhausted, barely conscious - was surrounded by disgusting creatures. They looked like rotting corpses that had risen from the swamp mud, their skin was the color of withered moss, their eyes glowed with malice.

"Swamp dwellers," - whispered the Witch. "The most disgusting of all sea spirits. They feed on fear. The agony of the dying."

"But why are they torturing him?!" - cried the Little Mermaid. "He is not one of them - he is from the forest!"

"Do you see who is standing behind them?" - The figure, whose body was covered in purulent decay and growths, was being formed. "This is their leader. Tina. Somehow she found him. And she took him."

"Today we must save him!" the Little Mermaid screamed. "I have to go!"

"You can't," the Witch answered sharply. "It's mortally dangerous. As soon as you leave the forest, you'll start dying. And Tina - she'll kill you even faster. What she needs is what you and Leshy share."

"What should I do today?!" the Little Mermaid grabbed her head, ready to break at any moment. "I can't just sit here and watch him die!"

The Witch was silent for a long time. And then, her words fell like stones:

"There is a way. An old protective spell. It can weaken your connection with home - for a while. But the price... the price is terrible."

"Tell me," the Little Mermaid whispered.

"The spell will give you three days. Three days to get far from your maples and not the presidential signal. But in return you lose half your life. What can be limited will become just limited actions."

The Little Mermaid turned pale.

"And if I don't get there in time?"

"You will die," Vedma said simply. "Wherever you are. Your connection will be broken forever - and death will be slow."

"But there is a chance," the Little Mermaid said in a trembling voice. "A chance that I could save him. And return."

"There is." Vedma looked at her carefully. "Little. But yes - there is."