Impostor's Crown

Chapter 1

        "The damage wasn't too bad," Ivory sighed, returning the last copper to their money box. "But it was enough to make tonight's profit tighter than usual."

Helen scooped her long blonde curls over one shoulder and moved away from the fabric bolts she was replacing on the shelves in the orphanage's fabric room. She had been plotting ways she could have stopped the thief all the way back to the orphanage, and Ivory had listened patiently as always. They both knew that Helen would have never stood a chance against the man, but being a girl who could handle herself was always something the adventurous blonde had dreamed of.

"We'd better help prepare supper," she sighed, tying up her hair. Ivory copied, knotting a strip of ribbon around her darker curls before heading into the kitchens.

"There you two are, the children 've already started their banging," the cook, Misty, greeted them agitatedly.

Walking into the kitchen was like walking into a wall of heat. The girls' dresses clung to their frames only a minute after their entering, and beads of sweat formed on their brows. Plates, bowls, and silverware were stacked halfway to the ceiling on the counter, and Misty was quickly filling them with food for the girls to hand out.

"Here, start with the youngins 'fore they start their waterworks." Four plates were shoved into each girls' hands and they quickly went through the kitchen into the dining hall filled with children's chatter.

When Ivory put down the first plate, the children at the table cheered.

"What took you so long?" Tom, Ivory's favorite little boy asked her around a mouthful of mashed potato. "We've been here waiting for hours and hours!"

Helen's lips quirked into a grin at his exaggeration, and she was quick to reply. "We were robbed by a big thief," she told him. When his expression changed into one of fright, she quickly added with a wink, "Oh, but don't worry, I told him not to mess with the Healan Home, and he went running like a dog with his tail between his legs."

"Wow," Tom breathed. "Can you teach me how to fight off the bad guys like you?"

"I think you should ask Gale," she told him, referring to her older brother. He had found himself a job as a blacksmith a street or so away, and still often came to visit his sister and the others at the orphanage. Among the young boys, he was considered something near a god since most had no older brothers to look to.

Ivory returned the children's greetings as she passed out plate after plate. They were all fond of her, especially since she told them tales as they spun their thread and wove fabric during the day. She would often make up stories about Helen's past that were thrilling and full of excitement. When she was abandoned at the orphanage, the only clue the girl had been left with was a golden necklace threaded through a small, red teardrop jewel.

They loved the idea that her necklace was her only clue to her past, and that it somehow related to the famed missing princess of the Realm. The princess had only just passed her first birthday when she went missing, never to be heard from again.

"Two more plates, Ivory," Misty called from the kitchen. After she retrieved them and the children had all been given their food, she headed back for her own plate. "What really took you both so long in getting back here?" Misty inquired.

"Oh, but Misty," Helen insisted as she burst through the door for her own plate, "We truly were robbed on our way back this evening."

The old woman's eyes grew wide as saucers. "It wasn't another one of your stories then...how much did he take?"

"Not enough to keep them from eating tomorrow," Ivory assured her after finishing off her biscuit. "A man with a black beard spat at us as well, said we should watch where we were walking."

Misty clucked her tongue as she untied her apron. "I'm sorry, dears. It's that plague, I'm telling you. Folks here think they're safe, but the closer it comes to our wall, the more desperate they'll become. And this thief, this crooked-nosed knave thinks he's gettin' a head start on his preparations."

Helen, already finished with her food, humphed. "Well, he's starting them in the wrong place; stealing from the orphanage funds of all things."

Despite the fact that she wanted to be anywhere but where she was, Helen would not stand for the mistreatment of the children in the orphanage. Because her brother, little sister, and best friend were close by, she had nowhere to go without any money of her own.

"That scoundrel could stand to learn some manners, too," the old woman grumbled.

Growing quite serious, Helen asked Misty, "How soon do you think the Plague will be here?"

The cook threw her hands up. "Only the Lord himself 'd know somethin' like that, but it could be a year from now or hours away. The worst part is that we just can't know for sure."

After a moment of tense silence, Helen broke it with, "What if that amulet legend was real?"

Ivory had heard Helen talk about the amulet more than enough times. The rumor said that deep in the unexplored forests beyond the Realm of Kylos, there lay hidden an amulet that would grant the finder any one wish they desired. Of course, no one had ever come back from trying to find it, and there never existed any other clues that would lead to it. There was the legend and only ever the legend.

"Not again, child," Misty groaned, turning back to the large pot that hung in the fireplace to stir whatever she was cooking next.

Because she knew how much it meant to Helen, Ivory asked, "Have you come up with any new theories?"

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "No. I think I've thought of every possible reason none of the explorers have returned, how the amulet works, where it is, and how anyone would be able to find it. The legend was a nice tool to use to pass the time, but there's nothing more I can do without something else to add to it."

"I hope you can find something else to pass the time, then," Ivory suggested comfortingly. She pushed back the fly aways that were clinging to her face and grabbed a bin. "Maybe while you're collecting plates you can see if the children have anything else for you to explore."

This brightened her up the slightest bit. "Maybe." Helen took another bin and held it against her hip.

Misty spoke up just before they went to collect the children's dishes. "Please don't rile the youngins up right before bed again; Rachel nearly had my head for that last night."

Helen laughed lightly. "Don't worry, we got our share of a talking-to as well. We--"

All of a sudden, Gale, Helen's brother, burst through the back kitchen door with an old parchment clutched tightly in his large fist.

"Helen, I found something you should take a look at." His broad chest was heaving up and down, like he had just run through the entire village to get to the orphanage.

But before anyone could say anything else, a blood chilling scream erupted from the dining room followed by hysterical sobbing.