The Sweetest Heart

 

Far away under the sea, lived a mermaid. She would often get in trouble with her father, for
going to the surface. When the king heard what she had been doing, he was troubled.

“Daughter, there are many dangers at the surface! I forbid you to go,” he said. The mermaid
pretended to agree, but continued to follow the boats that passed above the sea kingdom.

One day, she saw a glorious ship, and followed it for many miles. There were soldiers and bright
flags, and a fiercely bearded captain. Then, a younger man stepped to the prow, and the
mermaid saw the prince. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, and followed the ship back to its
port. She watched, perched on a rock in the water, as the prince and his men continued their
journey inland. She sobbed, unable to follow with her mermaid tail.

One of her sisters, who had been following close behind, found her and brought her home. Her
sisters tried to convince her to forget about the land prince, but she cried and cried. The sea
witch heard about her journey and unhappiness, and one day found the mermaid on her own.

“I can help you, but it will cost you your voice,” she told her. The mermaid followed the sea
witch back to her lair and accepted the potion she was given. A terrible pressure filled her
throat, as the sea witch took her prize. She could hear her own heartbeat thundering in her
head and saw a gold mist, even with her eyes closed. Suddenly, she was blind, lost in a swirl of
bubbles and fainted in the dark waters.

When she woke up, she found herself washed up on a beach, her hand grasping tightly to a vial
with the potion inside. She opened her eyes in the bright light of the land, struggled up, and
drank it. There was a tearing sensation that started at her spine and ended at the tip of her tail.
Shivering, she cried silent tears, and when she finally had the courage to look, found herself with
two human legs, but bare.

She found some cottages nearby. One of them was empty, and she went in and took a simple
dress to wear. She left one of her jeweled seashells from her necklace as payment, and then set
off to find the prince.

The girl wandered for many miles, unable to ask anyone without her voice. She found the road
leading to the castle and then heard some soldiers walking past, on patrol. They were talking
about the prince going on a hunt. Soon after, she followed the huntsmen on their horses.

At a slower pace, she finally caught up with the group as it was getting dark. The prince was
enchanted with the girl, even though she could not speak. He spoke to her and smiled, and soon
had her nodding and smiling back. The prince brought her back to camp, and gave her some hot
food, then graciously gave her a small tent for the night and posted two guards to watch over
her.

A few hours later, the prince awoke; he could hear a strange slithering noise. He grabbed his
sword, and stepped outside his tent. In the faint light of the camp’s dying fire, he found his own
guards lying dead, both stabbed with their own swords. He heard the slithering noise again, and
turned towards it. It was one of the girl’s guards, sliding on the forest floor, leaving a black trail
behind him. As the prince stepped closer, he realized the guard was grasping his own entrails,
and bubbles of blood were coming out of his mouth and nose.

The prince called for his men, but realized even the horses, the owls, the wolves, had all fallen
silent. He ran to the girl’s tent, but it was empty. He raced into a small clearing, where he found
three more bodies, the chest cavities ripped open. He slipped, and fell into a hot, sticky softness.
His fingers inadvertently closed around something spongy. Fragments of bone crunched under
his knees.

He tried to stand, then stopped. There in the moonlight, the prince saw the girl, her pale skin
covered in black streaks. She walked towards him, her hands outstretched. Her eyes glowed
golden and her face had smatters of flesh falling from it.

“Yessssss,” she hissed.

As Marishka had expected, his heart was the tastiest.