Four Little Princes

Reverie

Let it not be said that King Zarc didn't care for his people. He adored the commoners, especially the children and the performers. He paid for community schools to be built within ten miles of every town so that the children could all receive free education, and he donated generously to orphanages all over the kingdom so that the orphans could be well taken care of. The children were the future of the kingdom, and he wanted their futures to be as bright as possible. The king also sponsored theaters, taverns, stadiums, and other performance venues so that performers could always have a nice place to work. Yes, Zarc loved his people.

It was the rich nobles that the king didn't care for. One might say that he was a hypocrite, after all he was the king and thus the richest, highest-ranking person in the entire kingdom. Or at least one might say he was a hypocrite if they didn't know his background.

You see, Zarc had grown up in an orphanage, raised in poverty. He had started busking for tips when he was fourteen in order to raise money for food. When he was eighteen, however, he'd been summoned to the royal castle. There, the king had revealed the shocking truth to Zarc. Zarc was the king's son from an affair he'd had with a harlot. Because he was illegitimate, the king hadn't wanted him to be his heir, but no matter how hard he'd tried he hadn't been able to produce another child.

It wasn't until he was in his late seventies that the king had learned that he had azoospermia. He would never have any child other than Zarc. And so it was with a heavy heart that the king acknowledged Zarc as his son and rightful heir to the throne, before passing away a few weeks later.

The nobles weren't too happy that someone from an orphanage had been named king, but there wasn't much they could really do about it. Zarc, like the many kings before him, had the power to summon powerful shadow creatures to serve him, and the nobles knew that any attempt to overthrow him would only fail. So they swallowed their pride and tried to win Zarc's favor, hoping he would forget about all the times that they turned their noses up at him as they passed him in the streets as a child.

Zarc, of course, would never forget the way the nobles treated him. Those slimy nobles sitting on their piles of money in their rich mansions berating their many servants. They had never known what it was like to struggle in life, not knowing where their next meal would come from or if they would even get to eat at all. They didn't know what it was like to work an honest day's work. They called the commoners scum, but it was really themselves that were the scum.

"Zarc, are you okay?" the king was startled out of his deep thoughts by the voice of one of his consorts, Odd-Eyes. Odd-Eyes was a dragon, one of the many shadow creatures that served Zarc. But unlike most of the shadow creatures, Odd-Eyes was also one of Zarc's four lovers. The other three were Starve Venom, Dark Rebellion, and Clear Wing, who were sitting in the carriage with Zarc and Odd-Eyes.

"I'm okay," Zarc said, smiling reassuringly at Odd-Eyes. "Just thinking."

"About the nobles?" Starve Venom asked dryly. "You had that look on your face again. The one you always get when you're thinking about those awful arrogant slimeballs."

"Yes," Zarc admitted. Dark Rebellion frowned. "I don't really see why you agreed to stay in Earl Hashi's home on this trip. He's a snob. I would rather stay in a farmhouse with a common family. At least they're hard workers."

"I know, but some common families can't afford much food," Zarc explained. "I don't want to eat them out of house and home."

"Yeah, let's eat the snooty earl out of house and home!" Clear Wing said cheerfully. "Or at the very least make a massive dent in his food stores!"

Odd-Eyes giggled, and Zarc smiled as he looked back out the window. It was well into the winter, and there was snow everywhere the king looked. Then, something caught his eye, and he gasped.

"Stop the carriage!"