Chapter 3: The Artifact
"Wait!" the boy shrieked, wrenching his right arm free from the guard's grasp just long enough to reach into the deep, torn pocket of his oversized brown shirt.
The guards lunged at him, pinning him against one of the wooden pews, but the boy had already pulled something out. He held it up in his trembling, dirt-caked hands, thrusting it out toward the judge's bench like a shield.
"My mom said you would recognize this," the boy cried out, gasping for air between heavy sobs.
Eleanor froze, the gavel hovering inches above the sounding block. Her eyes locked onto the object in the boy’s hands. It was entirely out of place against his tattered clothes and filthy fingers. It was a small, ornate wooden jewelry box, dark and polished, featuring a prominent, intricately carved gold emblem on its lid.
The air in Eleanor’s lungs vanished. She knew that box. She had commissioned that box in Paris over thirty years ago. There was only one in the world.
The guards, oblivious to the judge's sudden paralysis, moved to snatch the box from the boy's hands.
"Stop!" Eleanor commanded. Her voice lacked its previous booming authority; it was breathless, almost hollow.
The guards stopped immediately, stepping back but keeping a wary eye on the boy. The courtroom was eerily quiet again. Eleanor slowly descended from the podium, her immaculate black heels clicking against the marble floor. The majestic, terrifying Iron Lady suddenly looked fragile as she closed the distance between herself and the trembling child in the aisle.
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The boy looked up at her desperately, his chest heaving. He slowly extended the box toward her. His small, filthy hands unlatched the tiny golden hook and pushed the lid open.
Inside, resting on a bed of faded red velvet, was an intricately engraved, thick gold bracelet. The gold caught the light from the crystal chandelier above, practically glowing in the dim, shadowed aisle of the courtroom. It was a heavy piece, covered in delicate floral engravings, undeniably expensive and fiercely unique.
