Short Stories

The Thieving Prince

Once, there was a young prince named Domnik. Domnik tended to get into trouble often, as many little boys do, but one day Domnik realized he could get away with things because he was a prince.

He had been out with his mother, and they passed by a candy shop. Domnik begged his mom to buy him some candy, but she refused, knowing how hyper he could get. Upset and angry, Domnik devised a plan to go there later to get candy.

So, a few hours later, after they had eaten, Domnik sneaked out of the palace and headed to the candy shop. When he stepped inside, he was in awe at all the different candies they had! Oh, how he wished he could have everything. Domnik grabbed a handful of chocolates and stuffed them in his pocket. He had no money to pay for things with, so he figured it was okay if he took it for free.

Unfortunately, the lady working there saw him.

"Hey, you have to pay for those!" She said.

Domnik turned around at the woman's voice and, trying to be as threatening as possible, said, "I am the prince. Let me have the candies or I'll... I'll do bad things for your store!"

Domnik had no idea what he would do, but he did know he wanted the candies. The woman realized Domnik could indeed get her shop shut down or worse, so she nodded and motioned for him to go.

Domnik left so he wouldn't get in any more trouble, but thought to himself, if he could get away with stealing candy, what else could he get away with?

As the days, weeks, and years passed, Domnik continued to steal things and use his title as an out, if caught. He stole small things like candies, books, and toys when he was still small. When he was older, Domnik's favourite horse broke its leg and they had to end its life. Since his parents wouldn't buy him a new one (he already had a couple others), he went out and stole a very nice horse. Stealing horses is a tricky thing, and so he got caught. He told the stable hand that caught him, "You have very fine horses. It'd be a shame if a wolf attacked them, wouldn't it?" The stable hand most definitely did not want their horses to be 'attacked by a wolf', and so he let Prince Domnik go.

Domnik thought, if he could steal things, what else could he get away with?

Word of Domnik's thieving began to spread, though he did what he could to stop it from reaching his parents. 'The Thieving Prince' was the name he had earned for himself, rightly so.

But Domnik could not keep the king and queen in the dark forever. A few weeks after the horse incident, they approached him.

"Stealing, Domnik! You disgrace our name," they told him.

"Yes, Mother, Father," Domnik said. "I will stop." But now not only was Domnik a thief; he was a liar too. He knew he wouldn't stop, he had been doing it so long it would be near impossible.

Domnik realized that it must've been the stable hand that told people of his horse thievery. He decided to make good on his 'wolf' threat that night, after the city was asleep.

He stole a dagger from a local smith, then went to the stables and tried to make it look as if a wolf had attacked the horses. Discarding the dagger in the river, Domnik realized that he hadn't been hesitant to kill the horses. That was most likely not good, but he shrugged it off. It was an animal, it didn't have thoughts or complex emotions, right?

The next morning, news of the dead horses spread. Domnik had done a sloppy job; it was easy to tell the horses were killed by a human and not a wolf. But rather than the whispers being 'Domnik the horse-killing thief', it was 'who is the horse-killer?'. Only the stable hand could guess it was Domnik.

The stable hand. He might be a problem, Domnik realized. He might try to convince others that it was Domnik-- or he might not, knowing Domnik made good on threats. Who would trust the word of a stable hand anyway? No, the stable hand needn't be taken care of.

Oh, how wrong Domnik was. The stable hand told people he saw Domnik kill the horses, which was a lie, but if people believed your lie it almost became truth. Some people believed the stable hand, Domnik was already a notorious thief, so what would stop him from killing horses? Others didn't believe the stable hand; he must just be angry about his dead horses.

As even more whispers followed Domnik, he decided he had had enough of this stable hand spreading news about him. Domnik stole another dagger from a smith, then set out searching for the stable hand. He found him at a tavern,and approached him. No one recognized Prince Domnik, for his hair had grown long and unkempt recently, thus obscuring his face.

"Need something?" The stable hand asked, not realizing it was the Thieving Prince.

"Yeah. Come with me," Domnik said, trying to mask his voice so the stable hand wouldn't realize who he was. The stable hand hesitantly followed, Domnik leading them into an alley behind the tavern. Domnik stopped and turned to the stable hand.

"I've had enough of you spreading words about me," he said. "What will the last words you speak be?"

The stable hand only now realized that it was Prince Domnik opposite him, and that Domnik had a dagger in hand. The stable hand set his face, glaring at Domnik.

"You can't get away with crime forever, you know. Someday you'll do something no man can get away with. Then you'll get what you deserve." The stable hand spat at Domnik's feet.

Domnik did not reply, instead, he punched the stable hand square in the jaw, knocking him out. Domnik crouched down and, with only a fraction of a second's hesitation, cut out the stable hand's tongue.

Domnik kept the dagger this time, before returning to the palace and hoping that would teach the stable hand.

Domnik was wrong again. The stable hand began writing rather than speaking, because he could not speak anymore. He told people what Domnik did, but few believed him this time. You had to be a special kind of evil to cut out someone's tongue, a kind of evil no one would dare label royalty as.

The very few who did believe him began spreading that to their friends and family. Eventually the guards caught wind of this, and asked Domnik about it, which Domnik forcefully denied.

That stable hand had to be taken care of, Domnik decided.

After observing the stable hand's routine, Domnik broke into his house one night and slit his throat while he slept.

No more from you, Domnik thought, satisfied. He discarded the dagger in the river once more, and started back home for the palace. Partway there, he realized if they were to figure out who killed the stable hand, he would be found and hung immediately. So, he would go on the run. Domnik took his stolen horse as well as anything he thought he might need while on the run.

Domnik managed to last a few weeks before they caught him.

When they did catch him, they arrested him and brought him back home. He denied killing the stable hand, but it was obvious he really had done it.

"I am the prince! Will you really kill your future king over the death of a stable hand?" Domnik cried.

"You would be a terrible king," the true king told his son.

With that, they hung the Thieving Prince Domnik.