Ima's Kingdom

Part One: Chapter One

"Caerulea, Caerulea!" The citizens of Umbras chanted, as Queen Caerulea stepped forth onto her viewing balcony. The people of Umbras (or Umbrians as they are sometimes called) adored their Queen and declared her to be the most beautiful Queen that there had ever been.

Caerulea had long auburn coloured hair and wore a dainty daisy garland as a substitute to a crown. She had deep blue eyes and a smile that made gentlemen swoon. Caerulea wore an elegant white dress, which had a lace like texture at the top and a silk skirt which covered her legs until it was cut off at the shins. Her dainty shoes were a perfect creamy yellow colour which were obviously chosen to match the yellow specks on her garland.

It was not just her appearance that won the hearts of the land, it was her composed and peaceful nature that that created a special bond between the Queen and the townspeople. The people of Umbras trusted Caerulea to guide them through the darkest of days and celebrate with them when times were happy.

"People of Umbras." Caerulea called out over the sea of people.

She smiled sweetly and lifted her garland as a sort of salute to the crowd. The townspeople roared with delight and clapped gleefully at the sight of their Queen.

"This is not a day of happiness, but a day of sorrow." Caerulea declared.

There was a moment of silence and then a simultaneous groan of disbelieve from the majority of the crowd.

"I'm sorry to announce this I really am, but somebody has to and unfortunately that somebody is me." Caerulea croaked.

Again there was a pause and then she continued to speak,

"As you are probably aware by now sadly there have been many deaths throughout the kingdom lately, I have carefully been analyzing the death records and have noticed an unbelievable re occurrence between each death. I believe, that these deaths have not been accidental. There have been too many coincidences, People of Umbras there is a traitor living among us who shall be found."

The crowd of people shook their heads with disbelieve and some cried with the shock of the news. The townspeople struggled to comprehend the dreadful discovery their treasured Queen had just told them about.

"I am sorry that you will now have to go about your day with this on your mind but I promise I will personally see that this mess will be sorted out." Caerulea asserted as she left the balcony and returned inside her castle.

It was not like Caerulea to be this assertive and blunt with her people but it was clear she was very upset and disappointed that somebody could be a traitor in her kingdom. Any Queen or King wants their kingdom to be the best, right? Out of all the people in Umbras you could say I was the closest to Caerulea. I am her sister, her right hand man.. or woman in this case. I was and always had been the 'ugly' sister, the underdog, the one people forgot about. I have the same auburn hair as Caerulea and the same sparkling blue eyes, but I never had the same charm and courage that she had.

It wasn't just the townspeople that forgot about me, our parents did also. Two months after Caerulea turned eighteen our parents died in a tragic, unexplained accident. They were on their annual tour of the land when suddenly the driver lost control of the car and they crashed into a near by field. After weeks of the driver been put through various courts it was found that he was innocent and it was in fact a fault in the car that caused them to crash. We had hired mechanics to do a whole examination of the car but they could find no huge faults with the vehicle, apart from one minor flaw. At the time the mechanics had said that one of the wheels had been tampered with causing the car to viciously spin out of control. They said that it was nothing to do with the manufactures and had to be a case of Sabotage. Shortly after the investigation began it was declared a mystery and not even the most talented of detectives could solve the sabotage case. Being only fourteen at the time I didn't quite understand what was happening, all I knew was that my parents had died and that was all I cared about.

As Caerulea was the oldest and had turned eighteen she was then legal to reign. My parents had also left her the castle in their will and sadly I got nothing. leaving me with no choice but to live off of my older sister for the rest of my life.

To this day I strongly believe the person or gang responsible for my parents death is still out there and I hope that the guilt is causing them to live a miserable life.

After Caerulea took the throne I was required to help her with anything she needed assistance with (which was everything). I know this is a sick and twisted thing to say but I was sort of glad that there was finally another mystery in Umbras. It made my job a little bit more exciting than just making endless amounts of tea and fluffing feather cushions.

After Caerulea returned from making her shocking speech I was the one who was there to guide her as to what to do next. We sat down for about two hours with Caerulea crying hysterically about how disappointed she was at the kingdom.

"'Lea, this is not how you're going to solve anything!" I sighed wiping her eyes with a handkerchief.

"What should I do Ima, I've never dealt with anything like this before." Caerulea sobbed.

I hugged her tightly, although I envied my sister I hated seeing her upset.

"'Lea you are a strong woman, I know you'll pull through this and I will help you solve this mystery. We can do it together, we're a team." I whispered tucking her hair behind her ear and continued to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Okay, so where do we start?" She said softly.

I sighed and softly brushed my fingers through her hair, although she was the oldest it often felt like I was the one who was caring for her.

"We shall start tomorrow, for the rest of today I will work hard in order to get a plan together. Caerulea, please just try to calm down. We will solve this, I promise." I softly whispered.