"But who was she?" The queen asked, the next morning as Asher paced around the room.
"I don't know." Asher answered, looking at the remainder of the sleeve in his hand "I wish I did though."
"Then we will find her!" the King declared.
There was a knock on the door and the dress maker came rushing in "You're Majesties!" he cried "I think my shop is haunted!" he was carrying a large white box underneath his arm.
"Why?" The queen asked.
The dressmaker opened the box and pulled a sparkly pink dress out of it.
Asher gasped and pulled the sleeve out of his pocket. He held it up to the dress "It's the dress she was wearing last night!"
The dress maker shook his head "Not possible. The person never arrived to claim the dress. So I put it in a box and put it on the shelf. When I opened up this morning it was exactly where I had left it. But it looked like this!"
The royals looked at the full extent of the dress. It was a mess. The hen on the front was torn. One sleeve was missing, there were snags in the tulle, and the bottom was covered in grass stains and dirt.
Something tugged at the back of Asher's mind, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
"See!" the dressmaker cried "My shop is haunted! What do I do?"
"Relax for one thing." The queen answered "Go back to your shop and we'll think of something." The man opened his mouth to object, but the queen stopped him with a glare "Don't argue with me!"
The man bowed and ran away, leaving the dress behind.
Asher placed the sleeve he had next to where the sleeve was missing on the dress "I don't understand." He sighed as he ran his hands through his hair "Why did she run?"
Lady Guinevere looked out the window thoughtfully. She was sure that girl that the prince had danced with was her stepdaughter. And the fact that the girl had started singing that song was as much evidence as she needed.
"How to get rid of her, and get one of my daughters to marry the prince." She said to herself. She remembered hearing that people called her Cinderella, and that she was a well-known thief around the area. What if she caught Cinderella and turned her over to the police. But that wouldn't be enough to convince the king and queen that one of her daughters was the girl. Then another idea struck her. And the plan was perfect.
Early the next morning, Cinderella left the camp, telling the kids to stay put. Especially after the chase a few days earlier.
She arrived at the town and looked around. She smiled slightly when she saw the butcher delivery boy sit down a basket that had a smoking ham in it and go inside the weaponry.
She walked over to the basket and looked at it. Then she nonchalantly picked it up and walked away. She walked into an ally and peeked out, just as the delivery boy noticed his basket was missing. Cinderella chuckled, and then headed back for the camp.
"Easy picking today!" she called as she neared the place. There was no answer "Jilly! Tanya! Jonny!" she walked into the camp and looked around "Where are you?"
Then she spotted a piece of paper tacked to one of the trees. It said:
Cinderella
If you treasure the life the these children
Come to the police station, immediately.
Cinderella sighed as she waded up the piece of paper. She had to go rescue the kids! She couldn't just abandon them!
So, she dropped the basket and ran back for town. She hadn't taken three steps into the clearing before palace guards leapt from everywhere and grabbed her.
Lady Guinevere walked over to her with a smirk "Thought you'd get away, did you?"
"Where are the kids?" Cinderella demanded. The guards were having a hard time holding onto her.
Lady Guinevere pointed to where two guards were holding the three kids "Oh, don't worry about them. They'll be taken care of."
The glint in her eye told Cinderella exactly what she was going to do with them.
"No!" Cinderella screamed as the guards started dragging her away "Please! Don't send them back!"
But Lady Guinevere just laughed.
All the townspeople fell quiet as Cinderella was dragged towards the castle. They watched in shock as Cinderella tried to free herself while pleading for the children.
When they saw the three children crying, staring after the girl, the people looked at each other. They had misjudged her… terribly. But now, it was too late.
Lady Guinevere walked into the throne room "Your Majesties." She bowed.
"Yes?" the queen said,
"I have caught a criminal, and your guards were very helpful."
Asher leaned back into his seat, he hated it when criminals were drug in. Always the same thing. They plead innocent while they had a stolen jewel hanging around their neck.
"Magnificent!" The king loved these things "Bring him in!"
"Well actually." Lady Guinevere said as the guards came through the door "It's a her."
Asher gasped "Cinderella!" then to the shock of everyone he ran to her "Are you alright? What happened?"
Cinderella shook her head, tears streaming down her face "The kids! She sent them to Uganda!"
Asher's eyes grew wide "I'll try everything I can to get them away." He reached out and gently placed his hand on her cheek "Are you alright? They didn't hurt you did they?"
She shook her head again, looking up into his face.
Asher stared at her. That nagging feeling in the back of his head came back as he looked into her face. He squinted his eyes "That was you." He whispered.
"Asher!" the queen screamed "Step away from her!"
But he didn't. He just stood there.
Upon demand of the king, one of the guards grabbed Asher and pulled him back.
The queen walked down to the captured girl "So you're Cinderella? The thief that everyone's always complaining about."
Asher wanted to tell him mom to let her go, and that she was the girl from the ball. But he knew that his mother would guess she'd stolen the dress.
"Yes Ma'am. I am." Cinderella answered, causing the queen to step back in shock.
"Well, I'm glad we won't have to deal with you anymore." The queen turned to the guards "Throw her in the dungeon."
"No!" Asher cried "Please mother! Don't do that!"
Cinderella looked at him "I'll be fine. Just please, save the children!" then she was drug away.
After the doors had closed behind the guards, Lady Guinevere looked at the queen "I am so glad to know that my rulers run things right."
The king nodded "We try our best."
"Which leads me to say something else." Lady Guinevere put on a worried face "My daughter arrived late for the ball."
Asher saw where she was going with this, and he didn't like it.
"You see, she was feeling sick, so we never got around to picking her dress up. When she was feeling batter, the dress maker had already gone to the ball." Lady Guinevere smoothed back her hair "Since the door was unlocked and we had already paid for the dress, she thought It'd be okay to go ahead and take it."
Asher rolled his eyes "Yeah. So why did she run?"
"She was starting to feel sick again." Cinderella turned around to hide her smirk, and then she made her voice sound distraught "Then on her way home, that Cinderella girl attacked her! She tried to take her jewelry and…. And…." She broke down into fake tears.
Asher felt his temper rising "Cinderella wouldn't do that." He said through gritted teeth.
The queen hushed him, then turned to Lady Guinevere "I am so sorry."
Lady Guinevere nodded "I had to protect my daughter! She was afraid to leave the house with that criminal still on the loose!"
The queen nodded "Understandable." Then she glanced back at Asher "Well, we found the girl from the ball. Now the royal wedding will take place."
"Mother no!" Asher shook his head wildly "Her daughter was not the girl at the ball!" he looked at Lady Guinevere "Tell me. What shoes was she wearing?"
"Her beautiful light pink ones with a rhinestone butterfly." The woman answered, wondering why he had asked.
Asher shook his head "No. she was barefooted."
The Queen huffed "What has that got to do with anything? You are marrying…"
"Lizzie."
"Lizzie! Tomorrow night!"
Asher drew back in horror "Tomorrow!?"
His mother nodded "Now, guards, take him to his room and don't let him escape!"
The guards nodded and led a reluctant and heartbroken prince away.