Heart's Desire

The Council

Myka awoke to a loud bang.

"This meeting will come to order."

"Why have you brought us here Rayo?" said a high sharp skinny voice.

"Yeah, it's two o'clock in the morning," said another man with a husky voice. He yawned very loud to emphasize his point.

"Quiet! All of you," said Rayo. His voice was high and shrill. Something was definitely bothering him.

"I'll have one of your complainings!" he continued. The room went silent. Myka could hear the sound of a single set of feet pacing back and forth, back and forth. A squeaky chair joined the sound. Myka listened harder. Something was going down and that meant there might be food evolved. Whenever the council met, good food would be found in the trash later. The big wigs never seemed to eat much at these late night meeting, but they are statues provided them with two best of food always. The footsteps stopped. The quiet broke into Myka's thoughts.

"We have a problem," Rayo said in a quieter voice that he had used before. He was trying to whisper but the sound was still loaded enough to echo around the room and slip out the window down to where Myka lay pretending sleep in the garbage heap.

"The report from the castle is that the King is sending a new envoy." One of the men scoffed. The sound remained Myka of a chicken that was choking on a corn kernel.

"How many years has it been since the last envoy?" asked the husky man while the other kept coughing.

"Twelve years since the last envoy." Rayo answered, "six years since we caught the last spy."

"I thought they were going to leave us alone! Didn't we convince them with the others?" said the skinny voiced one that had recovered from his coughing fit and joined in the conversation. "Yes and no." was Rayo's reply. "It would seem that word of the market woman's death has reached the ears of the King. Death, as you know, is not acceptable to them. Thus, the envoy to discover the problem."

"So we take care of it like we took care of all the others," said the skinny choice. The deep voice chuckled at a jester the skinny voice man must have made. Myka knew the gesture without even seeing it. The thought of it made her want to reach out and cradle her own throat.

"No, not this time." Replied Rayo, "The envoy, this time, is, special."

"Special?" asked the deep voice.

"He is the Prince," said Rayo.

Myka eyes widened.

"The Prince is coming?" whispered the skinny voice.

There was a lull in the conversation. The words seemed to die in that whisper. Myka took the moment to reach into her inner pocket and pull out her treasure box. It was a tiny black bag no bigger than her thumb. Inside was the only thing she valued in the whole of the world besides her sisters Sae and Ada. She opened the drawstring and emptied its contents into the palm of her hand. The small silver coin flashed back the light of the moon. On its surface was the face of the Prince. He sat in profile, the beautiful curve of his nose and chin marking the outline of his strong features. Myka cradled the coin in her hand. He was so beautiful. There were no others like him in the entire world. Her sisters did not share her love for the Prince. Many times, they had tried in vain to get her to sell the coin for food or clothes, or shelter. One especially cold night when the three of them were huddled together for warmth Sae tried to steal it, but she had not found the bag among Myka's many layers of rotting clothes before Myka woke up. Sae was good at pinching things. Her fingers were as nimble and swift as they were crooked, but Myka was better at hiding things. Nothing could persuade her from parting with the coin. It was the last thing their father gave them before tossing them out into the streets and it was the only picture Myka had of the prince. In her mind, he was hers as long as she had the coin. One day he would come and rescue her and her sisters. Then all four of them would live in the kingdom together happily ever after and all that. Her sisters made fun of her dream, but she did not mind. No amount of teasing probing or jealousy could make her give up the coin. She only brought it out when she felt it was safe. When she needed the comfort that the face brought her. Her pocket prince she called it. Someday he would be hers. Now that chance had come. The Prince was coming to Tera. The voices had started up again. She listened harder.

"That doesn't change anything," said the skinny one. "Prince or not if he comes we will have to kill him.

"Yes," agreed on the husky voice, "he needs to die."

"But how is the question," said Rayo. "He is not like the other envoys. There is only one Prince. If he was to disappear the King would send every man in the Kingdom to look for him."

"We would all hang when the truth was discovered," said the Skinny voice.

"Yes," agreed on the husky voice.

"So why call us tonight? Couldn't we have figured out this tomorrow?" asked the skinny voice.

"No," said Rayo, "He will arrive tomorrow before noon. We have only tonight to prepare and plan."

There was silence again as they pondered the new news.

"How about a banquet?" said the husky one.

"Yes, we could poison him and send him into the forest," said the skinny one.

"No, he is immune to all poisons, and what if he woke up and found his way home to his father? What then? They would have our heads faster than we could run and all would be for not!" said Rayo.

There was another long break of silence.

"But I think you're on to something there," said Rayo, "yes, a banquet. With fine foods and the best wines."

"With lots of gifts," the husky voice chimed in.

"Like a Birthday party," stated the skinny one.

"Yes, but it isn't his birthday." said Rayo.

"Wait a minute, I'm confused," said the husky voice, "Why are we throwing him a party if we want to kill him?"

"It is an excuse for killing him stupid!" said Rayo. The husky voice must have still looked confused because Rayo continued, "It is the law that all those that receive a gift must give an equal or greater gift in return." He paused and sighed;" if he doesn't give us a gift in return then we came inflict the full punishment of the law against him."

"Even death," squealed the skinny voice.

"Oh, I see!" said the husky voice. "Since he hasn't brought a gift then we would have every right to kill him and the king could not do anything about it because we would have been acting within the rights of the law!"

Myka could almost hear Rayo's eyes role as he said, "Yes."

"And we would be safe," squealed the skinny voice again.

"Then it is settled. We will have a banquet tomorrow at noon for the Prince," said Rayo. "Manter, you will wake the cooks and see to the food. Carlo, you will oversee the decorations of the Town Hall. I will go to all the merchants and procure their finest workmanship to present to the Prince."

"Wait a second," said Manter with his husky voice, "Who's going to pay for this all?"

"We will use the leftover decorations for the last festival for the hall, and when he's dead we can just return all the gifts to the merchants," said Rayo. "By this time tomorrow, the Prince will be dead and we will never have to worry about interference from his Majesty again!"

All three men laughed. Myka held her coin tighter to her chest as the men continued to cackle. I will not let them she resolved. They will not get the chance to kill my prince. Some way some how I will stop them. The words etched themselves into her mind. She put away her coin, never in the same pocket and waited for the laughter to die away. After a while, the men shuffled out of the room. Their heavy footsteps were followed by much nimbler feet. These feet barely made a sound. Servant cleaning up Myka surmised. It would not be long now. As long as she stayed perfectly still they would not notice her. She waited. The light above her was blown out. There was no lamp light in the alley so there was no way for the kitchen boy to see her when he threw out the garbage of the men's late night meeting. It landed right on top of her. Her fingers skimmed over what she was now covered in. An old tea bags still warm from the last time it had been dipped clung to her forehead. She quickly stuck it into her mouth and started sucking. The mayor's house always had the best garbage! Crumbs from a bunt cake littered her hair. She licked a finger and started popping them into her mouth one by one. The lemon flavor was wonderful! With her other hand, she nudged Ada. Who yawned and looked at her funny. All three of the sisters knew better than to talk. The talk was noise, the noise would get you noticed, and once noticed the boot was sure to come. Ada shook Sae awake and all three went about gorging themselves of the scrape as quietly as mice. Tonight was a big success in more ways than one.