A Malice Heart

The cold wind ruffled his hair once again, moving a few curls onto his face.

Drew had already let the little girl run off before closing her bag shut and continuing onward.

“Would you mind telling me where exactly it is that we are headed to?” Malice asked impatiently.

“Even if I were to tell you, you would have no clue what I’m talking about.”

Good point. Drew pointed out many other buildings, one of them being a shop she loved stealing from when she was younger.

“I’d sneak into this very store and grab whatever the old man placed on display before running off towards the other side of the village,” she said with a proud smile, then pointing at the two policemen they saw on the whole street. “As you can see, not much patrol is happening here. Old people have no chance of winning over a girl with an urge to eat something.”

Malice then couldn’t help but take a look at Drew, making sure that she wasn’t underweighted anymore. He had forgotten to check up with her personal Physician on the matter of her health after so many years of living on these dirty blocks. The air was most definitely polluted enough to spread lung diseases to its people.

“Did you ever get sick?” he questioned.

Drew nodded once. “Around seven years ago, there was a deadly plague that spread around the village during one winter. It was so deadly that they called it—”

“The Reaper,” Malice rubbed his chin at the memory of his parents having to deal with this disgusting disease that killed thousands each day.

“So the king does know his history,” Malice rolled his eyes yet again as she continued. “I caught it and suffered outside for a week before a kind medic found me and nursed me back to health. I haven’t seen her since then.”

“What happened to your parents?”

Drew let out a dry laugh at that. “That’s a beautiful question, Your Highness. Except it’s very hard for a newborn to remember why her parents dropped her off at a barn, you know?”

Her sarcasm wasn’t like it usually was, filled with jest. Now it was empty. He guessed they, at last, had another thing in common; not receiving the love they needed from their parents.

“Anywho,” she cleared her throat, once again wrapping her arm around Malices, “over here you can see the village orphanage,” she pointed towards the old building which did have the word ‘orphanage’ carved on a sign above it. Children were running in and out of it, playing with one another as caretakers watched over them, “in a world where providing for yourself is already hard enough, most parents are forced to give up their children just so they could all stay alive.”

They stood outside of the building, watching the kids. Some were nothing but toddlers while others were already teenagers, helping around with cleaning up the few things the orphanage possessed. None of them were smiling as the little ones were.

They continued like this for hours until noon. By then, Drew had shown him almost half of the village. It seems like she remembered every corner of this place as if it were the back of her palm. She managed to remember all the street names and even had no problem with directions. Malice only followed, listening to what she had to say of each place and asking questions once in a while just to keep her talking a little more. He’d come to enjoy the sound of her voice when she spoke of things she loved. It had a melodic ring to it, something that he hadn’t heard before given the fact that she would usually yell at him.

They finally arrived at a bakery where she ordered them both soup for lunch, something small to keep their stomachs from acting up.

“Each bowl of soup costs four silver coins while the average worker receives only five coins per day, do you see how that doesn’t add up?” Drew questioned, leaning on her elbows at the table before them. “Imagine having to grow a family with these conditions.”

“Tragic,” mumbled Malice as he leaned backwards on his own chair, watching as the waiter brought in their food and walked off.

The bakery was practically empty, only one soul sitting far away from them, reading the daily newspaper, the same one Malice read this very morning. He felt strange, seeing these people read the same thing he did. Same thing, different place.

The king finally brought his attention to the soup before him, watching as the vegetable pieces slowly rose to the top and let out small bubbles.

Drew was already half finished with her soup as he picked up a spoon and attempted to take a sip of it. It was definitely a vegetable soup, but it felt like ten different chemicals were added into hot water and a few plastic pieces that looked like they were simply disguised as vegetables.

He grimaced at the food and didn’t eat anymore, immediately losing his already lost appetite.

“You’ll be starving by tomorrow morning. Eat at least a few more spoonfuls like a good boy,” Drew took one final swallow and set the bowl down with a smack, practically breaking it. She rubbed her belly, satisfied. “Tastes like home.”

Malice merely shook his head, opening his bag to grab out an apple of his own and bit into it. “I’d prefer not to get food poisoned tonight, darling.”

Drew only shrugged, taking out ten coins from her bag and placed them on the table. “Whatever you say. Let’s keep going, I’ve got plenty more to show. Just wait till you see the swimming pond.”

They moved onwards, deeper into the village and closing into the heart of it. That was where the pond lay, a giant body of water, except it looked more like a sewer. There was garbage and all kinds of shit floating on top of it, rotting and stinking up the entire place.

Malice almost gagged at the sight. It looked and smelled worse than a decapitated body, something that he never thought could be worse than that. There was no possible way that any fish lived in those waters, otherwise, they would be some monstrous mutants to survive all this filth. Bystanders did their best to not even look at the pond as they walked by.

“When I was a child, I remember these waters being as clean as shower water. As children, we would jump in with our clothes, swim around with the fishes and then leave our belongings out to dry in the summer sun,” Drew said calmly, recalling the memory in her head. “I hate seeing this new generation of kids not getting to experience such fun.”

Yes, because them having fun is the most important thing at the moment, Drew.

Malice didn’t think too much of the situation. He waited for that feeling of guilt, that feeling of sympathy to hit him like a rock, but nothing came. It was that same hollowed feeling that lingered in his chest as he watched the waters move before him.

Drew waited one more moment before moving onwards. The king already noticed her hands starting to shake, either from the cold or from something else, he didn’t know.

“Where exactly will we be staying tonight?”

“An inn that sits at the heart of the village. It is usually used by guests who got a raise in their jobs and find it easier to pay for nights than rent an apartment, so I hope that there will be a room for two in there.”

The sun indeed had begun to set and lamps lit up the dark streets of Alverdon Village as the huge moon lit up the skies with its stars. Those small beautiful specks that Malice loved so much.

“Your Highness,” Drew said the phrase quietly so no one would hear. Malice turned his head to her while they walked towards the inn. “What is your name?”

That question dead-near stopped Malice in his tracks before he continued walking, not wanting weary eyes to watch them. Now that he had come to think about it, Drew had never once called him by his name. Was it truly because she simply didn’t know what it was?“Malice,” he spoke, his voice suddenly turning rough so he cleared his throat. “My name is Malice.”

Drew’s eyes widened at the name from curiosity and then she grinned. “What a fitting name you have.”

He knew that she’d joke about it at some point. At first, the king also didn’t understand why exactly his parents had given him this specific name. Could they have somehow guessed that he’d turn out the way he did even though he was only a newborn?

Impossible, he’d thought to himself.

“Malice,” he turned at the sound of his name being called from someone else’s lips. It had been a long time since someone spoke it so plainly, without fear of getting hung for speaking so informally. Drew didn’t seem to notice his reaction as she spoke, “tell me, how was your first day outside the palace and into Alverdon Village?”

Malice had no words for what he had seen, mostly because he hadn’t felt any emotion other than disgust. He still did. There was no other way he could tell it to Drew without ruining yet another day for them. For once, it had gone so well. No arguments, no dwelling. Just walking and talking, something the king hasn’t done in a long time that it felt completely wrong but joyous all at once.

“It is worse than I had imagined,” he let out, not allowing himself to make eye contact with the assassin. What was this strange feeling that was bubbling deep down in his stomach? Guilt for not feeling sympathy?

Thankfully, Drew didn’t push for more. She simply gave him one more look before walking into the inn, candles lighting up at the front desk. Something told Malice that she was most definitely not finished with the questions and was willing to drain as much from him as she possibly could once they were finished with this two-day tour.