Prince Arrod climbed down from the tall tree which overlooked his farm. He was tired of watching the dirty men and women who had nothing to do but bend and work and be whipped. He had just returned from the royal clothier who had finished the designing of his birthday clothing.
His birthday was tomorrow, and he had already gone through most of his gifts. He threw the still half-full bag of nuts at one of the female laborers, who snatched it, tucking it safely in her clothing. The look on her face was scary, the way her eyes glared at him, daring him to ask for the bag. It was like having a staring contest with a raccoon, a mentally deranged raccoon.
Arrod ignored the woman. He wasn't scared of her, just looking for something more exciting. He dismissed the enforcers who insisted on escorting their prince and strolled. He took the route that led to his second farmland, the one he rarely visited. When he reached there, he noticed only men and women. Then he remembered that the children had all began to attend the conditioning houses and suddenly knew what to do.
"Good morning, my prince." An enforcer said to the boy, waving his whip. Arrod ignored the blubbering fool and walked until he reached one of the warehouse sheds which had been converted into a conditioning house. He heard sounds coming from the interior of the building; it was the sound of children, the sound of starving children.
Arrod walked through the entrance and found the children sitting on the floor; they were reciting the new rules of the king.
"No one is allowed to leave the village. That is the first rule." They all sang in unity.
"All who stole from the King would be put to death. That is the second rule." Their sentences were all wrong, Arrod thought. Dah is the second woo. These children looked like they would drop dead before they made it through the fifteen rules. Arrod noticed some of the children were his age mates, although they looked a lot thinner than their prince.
"Children," A fat woman wobbled towards Arrod, grinning from ear to ear. She looked like a pig-human crossbreed. "Look who decided to pay us a visit! You are most welcome, my prince." The woman's fatty hand extended. Arrod stumbled backward, almost falling.
"Take that dirty hand out of my face." Arrod waved her away as if chasing flies. The woman's smile disappeared and Arrod knew he had to find something or somewhere fascinating soon; else he would die of boredom.
"Do you know any places of amusement?" Arrod asked the woman. She glanced at the children, who remained mute, then back at the prince.
"Thought so," Arrod turned to leave. "Foolish, grumbling bunch of idiots!" He took the path which led to the river and found a smooth stone at the side of the road, which he didn't hesitate to kick. This stone, however, unlike most pebbles, was embedded into the ground. The prince's leg bounced off the hard surface. The stone was unmoved and his toe was most definitely crushed.
"Argh!" He howled in agony, feeling the pain in his toe and brain, in that particular order. The tip of the stone was covered in his blood. Arrod sat there, petting his big toe for what seemed like thirty minutes.
"I thought the prince was supposed to be a mirror image of his father." Arrod heard a voice. He let go of his injured toe and turned his head, almost breaking his neck in the process.
Leaning against a nearby tree was a boy the prince's age. This boy had dark skin that glowed in the sun, and his hair was golden. The boy held an object against his leg; it was a long, beautifully crafted bow that was also made of gold. Arrod sniffled and got up, maintaining a fighting stance. He should have let those enforcers tag along.
"Leave the bow and run away," Arrod commanded, keeping his eyes on the beautiful boy. He didn't know why, but he was attracted to this golden-haired stranger. The strange boy laughed. It was a blissful sounding laugh. He beckoned Arrod closer by waving, and the prince walked forward as if controlled. When Arrod was within arm's length, the boy held out the golden bow.
"You can have it," He said to Arrod. "It was yours anyway, a birthday gift from me."
Arrod made to grab the bow before the boy changed his mind. The golden-haired boy pulled it back before he could reach it and gave the prince a solid knock on his head. Arrod clutched his head in pain, his wounded toe now ancient history.
"You will pay for this, you monkey." He said through gritted teeth. "I swear it." Arrod felt tears beginning to escape. He turned aside so the golden boy wouldn't see him crying.
"I didn't lie. It was yours." The beautiful boy said from behind.
"Then... Then why didn't you hand it over?"
"I didn't because people like you don't deserve good things. You are dirty and only ought to have what is dirty." The beautiful boy chuckled and gave Arrod another knock on the head. The prince's brain rattled in his already throbbing skull.
"Stop it!" Arrod cried, holding his head. Who was this boy? His hand was heavy, like large pebbles being dropped from above. "Please stop!" Arrod crouched.
"I will punish you, for insulting me. My father will punish you." The boy said.
"I never insulted you," Arrod gasped. "And my father is more powerful than yours. He is the king of the entire kingdom."
"You called me a monkey. You will pay for this, you monkey. Those were your exact words. Your father is a fraud; he only rules a small portion of the world, a tiny portion." The beautiful boy skipped along, the bow slung over his glowing shoulder, reflecting the golden rays of the sun.
"That is not true," Arrod shouted, having nothing more to say.
"Then why doesn't he let you leave the village? Your people are very foolish; there is an exciting world out there. You only need to walk out of the forest."
"When I get back to the palace, you will be found and punished." Arrod sneered.
"Nah, I don't live here. I have to go now." The golden-haired boy walked over to Arrod, who was frozen. He planted a kiss on the prince's forehead. Arrod felt his heartbeat increase; he noticed that even the eyes of the beautiful boy were golden. How one could love and hate someone at the same time baffled him?
"There," The beautiful boy said after the kiss. "Now I have punished you."
Arrod watched, still frozen, as the golden boy with the glowing skin ran away. His eyes followed the bow until it was too far to discern, then he regained control of his limbs. Arrod fell to the ground, gasping for air. Something didn't feel right, but he didn't know what. He reached for his big toe and pressed nothing, not even the slightest pain. Even his head no longer hurt.
Arrod turned and walked back to the conditioning house. A few minutes later he arrived at the entrance and the fat woman rushed out as soon as she saw him. He felt so dehydrated.
"My prince," She said, wobbling over to Arrod, who was also wobbling. "What happened to your forehead?"
The question confused Arrod. He was only thirty, and there was nothing wrong with his forehead. One child pointed outside and shouted. Soon, all the children in the conditioning house had surrounded the prince and were in different stages of laughter.
"What happened to my what?…" Arrod paused when he lifted his hand and was confronted by a large boil; it was the size of a watermelon. I will punish you, that boy had said.
He tried to cover the large tumor with his hands.
"Get me a large mirror," He said to the fat conditioner woman. "Quick." She ran inside the building immediately. Arrod pulled his hand away; it was covered in something sticky. The children all made disgusted faces and ran into the conditioning house. They pointed at him from the windows so the youngest of them could see. The fat woman returned with a mirror. She stopped when she was what had become of Arrod's forehead.
"What are you waiting for? Hand it over!" Arrod stretched out his palm. Oh! He saw the thick white paste which now sat on his palm. Oh, no, no, no! "Get me enforcers, a horse, anything!" He screamed, wishing the earth would open and swallow this ugly woman and all the children.
"Leave here!" The fat woman said, shooing him away with the mirror.
"What did you say?"
"I said leave! Just go." The woman looked angry. Arrod had seen no Lower-person act this way before. Did she want to die? Why were there no enforcers in this school? He wondered.
"Don't you remember who I am?" Arrod asked, walking towards the woman. She shrieked like a pig and ran into the conditioning house. "Close all the windows." She said to the children, who obeyed, in unity. Arrod sighed and began to walk back home. He was almost at his second farm when the watermelon size boil on his forehead exploded with a loud pop.