Jewels Fanfic
Jewels
White (weakest Jewel)-Yellow-Tigers eye-Rose-Summer sky-Purple Dusk- Opal (Can be Blood or Light) -Green-Sapphire-Red-Gray-Ebon gray- Black (Strongest Jewel)
The Jewel a person wears matches a person's magic strength, the higher/ darker the jewel, the stronger that person is.
Words in italics are regular thoughts
Words in Bold are conversations in Telepathy between people
Disclaimer: I do not own ANY of the Black Jewel characters or universe ect., the Black Jewel universe ect belongs to Anne Bishop
Author's Note: I wrote this story because I just couldn't resist the idea of doing a Black Jewel's Fanfic. I also wrote this story for all of my friends and gave them and I characters based on their personalities in the story. They should be able to figure out who their own characters are because I only changed some of the names around. For you true Black Jewel fans, there will be original Black Jewels character coming in to the story in later chapters. For now and much of the story, it's my own made up characters. P.S. For my friends who can't figure it out, I'm Vinear.
Warning: There is and will be yaoi content in this fanfic series. I will try to keep it as light as I can for my friends and those of you may not like yaoi that much so don't worry.
Chapter 1
His mother was Eyrien; his father was Hayllian; that was why he had no wings. He had Hayll's golden eyes and brown skin, but no wings. This was an ever present burden on Vinear's heart his entire life. His mother met the man with no name to give 23 years ago, the man with golden eyes with brown skin. She took him to her bed, a hearth witch from Purrl, and he was gone by morning. He was a passing mercenary from one of the Hundred Families who ruled Hayll from the background.
She didn't know that she was pregnant and so for a while life had been normal for her, until her family and then the villagers began to notice the signs. They had questioned her. Who was the father? Was he Eyrien? Had he paid her? She had refused to answer and her family had drifted from her. The drift turned into a ripe at his birth. No one had ever seen an Eyrien male without wings who looked completely Hayllian in spite of his mother's blood. After his birth the family and his village tore away from his mother, and from him. They left when he was still a toddler, so he didn't remember them; he only knew the things his mother had told him. And knowing what he knew made want to laugh with bitterness from his heart. The family in Purrl had a history of cross breeding in the past. Somewhere down the line there had been breeding with Hayllians and because of it there were women like him, wingless women. The fact that it was a male this time had made it something that they couldn't ignore, because if a male had no wings he could not be a warrior, he had no worth.
He'd pieced it all together in that moment when he knew everything. His mother's diluted blood coupled with the mercenary's had been enough to trigger a deformity. That was what it was, a deformity. To all other Eyrein's in Terreille he was misshapen, crippled. They traveled around Terreille looking to serve in any court that would take them and as soon as the Eyreins became aware of his deformity, he had to leave again. And he knew that that they could have stayed, that they could have a stable home with warm beds and full stomachs, but his mother never wanted him to feel alienated, she never wanted him to hear harsh words whispered in his passing. So they ran and sometimes had days and nights without beds and full stomachs. But in spite of her efforts he was sure were born out of love, he still felt the alienation, and he sometimes heard a bitterness in her own words, and he understood it.
When he was eight years old they had finally made enough fair to travel to Kaeleer. There his mother was sure that they could make a good life. The Blood in Kaeleer were more understanding than the Blood in Terreille. In Kaeleer others would look past his skin. They found service in Agio in Ebon Rih and his mother worked in the kitchens of the wealthy and they made a well enough life there. He had noticed a difference, people's stares and whispers were more confused than damaging but that did little to change what he already felt, he was still on the outside of everyone else.
On his ninth birthday he had walk away with a Sapphire jewel and felt more eyes turn his way than ever before. Not many children were born to a dark jewel, and he had expected to be weak in the Craft. His mother was a Summer-sky witch, he did not know what jewel the mercenary wore but he felt certain that this power had come mostly, if not all, from the Hayllian.
He started school in Dhemlan. He would have gone in Agio but his mother wanted him to have better. She had found a man by then; a good enough Eyrien man that stayed emotionally far away from Vinear as possible, and that was fine. His stepfather paid for the better schooling in Dhemlan but he had to ride the Sapphire Wind each day outside the Territory and back. On his first day, he walked into the school room and felt the eyes burn into him again, staring at the Sapphire on his pendent.
Then he felt it, a scent of power that aligned with his own. He sent out a probe, just a spark of the Sapphire to see what it was, and when they met a ringing like the vibrations of a bell set off in his head.
You're weird A female voice on a Sapphire line. He surveyed the room until he found a blonde haired witch with a Sapphire jewel hanging from a chain around her neck. He stared. She thought he was odd? There was something off about her, and noise still rang in his head. He sent out another probe, cringing, steeling himself for the backlash, and felt it again, and knew. She's a Queen.
He paid attention to the people around her. The company she kept was certainly worthy of a young Queen, he knew that strength attracted strength. Two Summer-sky witches, sat on either side of her, an Blood Opal witch sat in the set behind her. They formed protective shield around her. One of the Summer-skys let off an odd psychic scent, scattered. The Blood Opal witch was strong in her own right. The other Summer-sky held herself in a strange manner; she seemed completely in her own world, her face hidden behind a book.
Would you stop doing that? You're making it very hard to mindlessly doodle!
Doodle? Did Queens use words like that? He looked across at her desk. A pencil scribbled lazily across a sheet of paper. Well, he guessed she was doodling. His mind was distracted. He wanted to talk to her, he had never met someone his age that wore a jewel as dark as his, and there was more to it. Her eyes were Hayllian gold, but her skin was white like the witches of Kaeleer. She was a crossbreed, like him. Not like him, she was a Queen, not like him but similar. He wondered for a moment if this is what the adult Blood talked about, the desire that a Prince felt to be around a Queen. It wasn't at all sensual, but a pulling force to at lest get to know her, and for once he felt normal.
Do you know how to close your barriers? he blinked
What?
Your barriers. You've been keeping a Sapphire line open and I've heard every thought that you've had for the past twenty minutes. It's been very distracting. You think way too much. His face paled. She'd heard everything? Mother Night! What's you're name? she asked.
uh…Vinear he stuttered. He wasn't used to talking to new people and he wasn't used to talking this way very much at all.
Ooh, Eyrien, she squinted her eyes at him in an odd grin. Can I call you Vi for short?
umm…okay, what was he suppose to say to that? What's yours?
Jennifer Jebadiah. Jen for short.
(Present Day)
Amdarh
"There you are!" He had been leaning against the balcony railing, revisiting the past as he'd often done in the last fourteen years. How much had changed since then? To someone on the outside it would seem like everything had changed in someway. They had all gotten darker jewels, they had all become strong, and most of them had found lovers. But for Vinear very little had changed at all, he still felt bitter. He still felt alone.
"You know, after all these years, you still think too much. Vinear, what's wrong?" asked Jen, "you hardly ever think this much anymore unless you're upset about something." Vinear stepped away from the balcony and turned to survey Jen's condition.
She was dressed in her usual favorite colors: black and blue, the shades of newly born brusies. Most of the Blood Jen met thought she was rather grim for wearing such colors. They thought a girl with such bright hair and bright blue eyes should not wear such dark clothes. Not that she cared, obviously. Most kept to themselves, for if they cared to notice her state of dress, they undoubtedly took in the necklace strung form gold and the five pieces of Ebon-gray hung form that very chain around her neck.
Vinear thought she looked overdressed. Which meant that she was trying; dressed too impress. After all, that was what they were there for, wasn't it? To gather amongst the Kaeleer aristo and make a name for his Queen, perhaps even secure a consort or a throne for her illegitimate court.
"Vinear, really," she looked at him with accusing eyes, then tilted her head and her expression changed into one of concern.
"I'm fine, really. I won't think to anymore tonight and if I must, you won't hear any of it, promise." She took a deep breathe and let it out in an exaggerated huff.
"Alright, let's get this show back on the road. Though, in truth I don't know if I can take much more of this myself. Mother Night, its so stuffy in there." Vinear took her arm in his.
"We all must do what we must in order to get anywhere at all in this world. Grin and bare it," he said. They left the balcony and returned to the party. Jen made a rough turn when she saw Kass, unconsciously taking Vinear with her, and he very nearly fell on his ass.
"Kass, I thought you would never get here!" Vinear didn't hear the hearth witch's reply. He was busy nursing the throbbing pain in his knee which had been jabbed into the edge of a table in Jen's hurry. He silently cursed her and was glad he had decided to raise his mental barriers again so she couldn't hear his thoughts. "Oh, its just been me and Vi all night. I've talked to everyone else at least twice in the last hour. I've been dying to see another familiar face."
Kass was dressed in her best. The best of a hearth witch, that is. She wore her favorite dark-green cloak that matched the color of her jewels. Those very jewels hung embedded in a gold loop on a chain around her neck. Underneath the cloak was a simple white dress. It fit her personality well.
"It seems that we have all arrived late. Jessa and I came in around the same time. She's around here somewhere with Scoltvar. And I just got a message on a Green thread from Chelsi. She and Jeremy are just a few minutes away on the winds."
"Did she say why they were running late?" asked Jen.
"I think it had something to do with another muddled spell." Kass fought to keep the edge of a smile from her lips.
"It figures. I wonder what it was she was trying to do," Jen openly laughed, "Maybe if we worked together…"
"No," Vinear spoke up for the first time in the conversation, his face red, "the last time you worked on a spell together it nearly set the house aflame from the backfire!"
"Not to mention it took days to get the stench out and clean off the charred marks from the floors and walls." Kass held a look of disgust on her face at the memory of the stench of burnt magic.
"I'm joking, I'm joking. I promise." Vinear knew that her fingers were mentally crossed.
A few minutes later, Chelsi and her escort arrived. The women went off to one side and Jeremy and Vinear went off to another,
"How bad was the damage?" Vinear asked, referring to the aftermath of the debauched spell.
"Not so bad, no physical damage done, anyway. Except now we have a murder scene reenacting itself in the guest room every hour on the hour." Vinear gawked open mouthed.
"What?"
"She found out why I got the house so cheap. You see, the people living there before us," he let out a tired sigh, "A mother and daughter. The daughter was forced to take her mother in when she became ill. The daughter was newly married and I was told that the mother treated her daughter's husband horribly and drained all of their finances. The man eventually left his wife after she refused to abandon the old woman. Things got even worse and the daughter eventually lost her mind and murdered the old bitch."
"Now that's very ironic, isn't it?"
"Wait, I haven't gotten to the interesting part yet," Jeremy continued "The daughter hadn't finished the kill, for whatever reason I don't know, and the old woman can back demon-dead and exacted her revenge on the crazy one. A regular tragedy."
"What does any of this have to do with Chelsi's spell?"
"When Chelsi found out, she tried to draw the memories out of the walls. She succeeded, but now she can't get the damn thing to stop repeating itself. I've watched the whole bloody scene at lest six times now. There's sound to the memories too. Try
sleeping at night with someone literally screaming bloody murder every hour."
Chelsi was a very powerful Green jeweled Black widow. Her ability with the Craft was so strong that sometimes-most of the time-her spells would become out of her own control. They may work but there was nearly always some glitch no matter how much she followed the books. That was just one of her unique traits. And when both she and Jennifer took it upon themselves to work together, it usually meant an even greater chaos was at hand.
Vinear was laughing inside his head, trying hard not let his thoughts show on his face.
"You're the only Warlord Prince I know who's so ridged with their money," said Vinear.
"Can I help it if I want to invest my money wisely instead of spending it all over Kaeleer?" Vinear grinned.
"I suppose not. The question is when are you going to start doing just that?"
"Bastard," spat Jeremy, half-heartedly
"Pale-face," retorted Vinear, referring to Jeremy's white Dhemlan skin. All in good fun, thought Vinear. It was then that Scoltvar came to join the conversation. Vinear said his hello to the Eyrien and left the other Warlord Princes to get something heavy to drink. He walked through the crowd of stuck up aristocrats, intent on seeking out and claiming the first bottle of wine he saw. He had to admit, though the Kaeleer higher-ups weren't as atrocious as the ones in Terreille but they were of the same breed, only lesser so. They made him feel out of place and his skin itched to get out of there.
It didn't help to be the darkest jeweled male in the room either. All eyes were on him. The women observing him like prey through their hungry eyes, the men glaring jealously, challenging him. He needed something to drink very soon. And then he fell flat on the ground.
"Mother Night! Is today the day everyone tries to knock me into the furniture?" Vinear nearly growled in frustration.
"I'm sorry, but to be fair, you weren't paying attention to where you were going yourself." the most alluring voice he had ever heard. He had been assessing himself and muttering anger, but then he heard that voice, that strange singing accent (Yes, singing, that was the only word he could think of to describe it just then) that he couldn't place to any region or realm he knew, and he looked up.
The first thing he saw was the pale-like Kaelreen skin, then a pair of golden eyes set into a square but handsomely shaped face and those deep red lips. His hair was dark, cut short and a pair of dark wings jetted from his back. So he was half Eyrien and something else.
"I'm sor…sorry," stuttered Vinear. I guess I was in a hurry." Then the voices came into his head form all around him. He'd become so distracted by the stranger that he'd let all of his barriers down and now his head was swirling with thoughts. He was falling over he's words as they fell out of his mouth uncontrollably. Finally he gave up trying to speak and turned leave, on his way to the wine table.
"Excuse me but might I ask what your name is?" implored the handsome stranger, pulling him back. "I don't believe we've met," he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and whapped away the sweat from his brow that wasn't really there. "Between you and me, everyone here seems a little uptight." At that point Vinear was intent on getting away from the stranger. He had no interest in getting to know anyone else that night. Especially someone so…No, he should introduce himself, at lest tell this man his name, mention his Queen.
"I am Vinear. I'm here as Escort to Lady Jennifer, in fact, I was just on my way to get her a drink." he lied. There was something about this man that set him on high alert, something that attracted him and frightened him, made him want run in the opposite direction. All the voices in his head coming at him from all directions didn't help.
"Vinear, I'm Palavar. If I'm not mistaken, that's and Eyrien name, isn't it?
"Yes, it is," here it comes, thought Vinear. He's going to ask about my wings. Why I don't have them. He's going to ask me why I have an Eyrien name when I'm not a real Eyrien and…
"It's a nice name. I like it." That's it? No questions about his deformity?No snide remarks. He had to get away. Mother Night, this was too odd.
"Excuse me, my Lady waits." Vinear made a motion to leave and Palavar gently grabbed his hand. And his head did a summersault, swirling his own thoughts and all the voices around like a tornado in his skull. Palavar cupped Vinear's hand in his own, his skin felt cold and then warm against Vinear's. Palavar squeezed Vinear's hand gently, looked him in the eyes, smiled, and said, "It was nice meeting you." The tornado in Vinear's skull was set aflame and became a fireball as the blood rushed to his head and turned his face red.
The Palavar let go of hand and left Vinear standing there, his mind a muddle of confusion and the voices of other's thoughts bubbling up. His legs threatened to go out from under him for the third time that night.
Snap out of it, said Jennifer, the one voice he could recognize out of the dozens buzzing around in his skull. Get yourself together and meet me over by the bar. We can have a little talk then. He nodded, mostly out of habit since he knew Jennifer couldn't see him.
Vinear steadied himself physically and mentally as much as he could. He let the meager thoughts of the aristo crowd slip easily through is mental fingers. He scanned them for gossip and anything that he might find entertaining.
"So, tell me about this fellow you just met," a sly smile crept across Jennifer's lips as Vinear approached the bar.
"There's nothing to tell. You heard everything there is to know." Vinear's voice sounded dry and he felt suddenly very tired. It was as if the contact with Palavar had drained him.
"I heard everything you thoughtbut not everything you said and I heard nothing he said at all." The bartender came to take their orders and they both ordered the same things.
"I think we have some of that in the kitchens. If you'll just give me a moment, I'll go check," said the bartender in an eager pitch and Vinear could sense the over excited vibe in the bartenders mind, but nothing else and it made him a little uneasy. He was a gruff looking young man with dark eyes. "Jennifer and Vinear both nodded, though Vinear was a little hesitant.
"So tell," Jennifer demanded.
"I told you, there's nothing to tell. Why are you so interested anyway?" Vinear became agitated by her curiosity. Just what was she implying? The bartender came back holding two glasses of wine. He placed the glasses in front of them and left the bar, presumably on his break and Vinear thought nothing of it when he picked up the glass to drink. Then a though came practically roaring out of the bartender's mind as he left the bar: Let's see how that bitch handles a massive does of safframate. Safframate!
"DON'T DRINK THE WINE!" Vinear roared and Jennifer jumped in her seat, dropping her wine and the glass shattered loudly, the poisoned wine bathed the floor in a river of blood. The entire room ceased all sound and movement as everyone's attention turned to Vinear in fear. In a flash the temperature had plummeted, freezing the walls and windows till the windows began to crack from the cold. Vinear had fallen down deep into the killing edge in the blink of an eye and before Jennifer could even think to react, he was racing after the bartender.
He left the ground covered in ice in his wake. People shivered and shrank away from the cold in fear and their wineglasses froze and then shattered in their hands as he passed them. The bartender had begun to run in a panic, looking for a way out when Vinear had first roared out in his rage. He didn't know how Vinear knew he had poisoned the wine, of course, but it was obvious that Vinear did know when he came charging at him like an enraged bull.
Jeremy! Scott! Stop him from doing something stupid! Both Warlord Princes ran after Vinear, intending to stop him, but not knowing how they would stop a Gray jewel on the killing edge.
The bartender made a wrong turn and trapped himself on the balcony with Vinear coming up from behind. The balcony entrance closed behind Vinear though he'd not physically touched anything. The man quivered in fear. He might have tried to beg for his life, he might have lost control of his bowls all over the balcony. Before he could do either a wave of power from Vinear's Gray smashed into his body. He hit the edge of the balcony, his ribs cracked against the stone, his head hit the ground. He was bleeding but still alive and conscious. The glass panels of the balcony door shattered into sharp daggers, floating in midair by Vinear's Craft.
Vinear brought down the glass in a shower of deadly intent. The bastard screamed in agony as the shards stabbed him repeatedly in just the right places, deep enough and hard enough to be agonizing, but not enough to kill, not yet. When the man was reduced to a bloody heaving mass and he was hanging on a thread of life, Vinear brought down a last surge of power. The man's head exploded in a gruesome display, effectively finishing the kill.
Jeremy and Scoltvar eased their way on to the balcony. They could both sense that Vinear was still on the killing edge.
"Vinear, you need to calm down," said Scoltvar. He was edging closer to Vinear, his Red jewel ready to defend himself. He intended to block Vinear's passage. He didn't want Vinear getting back into the party and killing any of the innocent. Jeremy was prepared to backup Scoltvar, but he didn't know what good his Sapphire jewel would do against the Gray. Jennifer came in behind them then and sent a thought to Vinear.
Calm yourself, Vinear! That's an order of a Queen and the Ebon-gray!
Calm…what was..calm…A Queen...his Queen whom wore the Ebon-gray and could smash his body and mind with her power. The air on the balcony became warm as opposed to the chilly winds they had felt beating down on them just seconds before.
"I'm fine," said Vinear. His voice had a guttural edge to it. He was still coming down, but he was in control. Jennifer took in the damage Vinear had caused. She saw a bloody heap of flesh on the edge of the balcony. The headless stump of his neck was bleeding out over the edge and down into the garden. From what she could tell and what she knew, Vinear could have easily just finished the man off with one blast, but Vinear had toyed with him to the very end. It was an ugly mess.
"Why in the name of Hell did you do this?" asked Scoltvar. The same question was on Jeremy's face. Jennifer had only idea why.
"He poisoned her drink with a huge amount of safframate!" Vinear was rising back to yelling in rage again.
"Why would he poison her with safframate, and how would you even know?" asked Jeremy. Jennifer stayed silent thinking. She knew how Vinear knew the wine was poisoned, they had forgotten.
"You know how I know," retorted Vinear, aggravated. He was referring to his unique ability. In the same year he had met Jennifer, Vinear discovered his strange ability to read the minds of all the Blood without them knowing. It didn't matter what jewel they wore or how skilled they were. There were no mental barriers that could keep him out of a person's mind and he could scan their thoughts without them knowing he was doing anything at all. Jeremy knew this, their entire Circle did.
He sometimes caught thoughts from people even if he didn't want to, and he sometimes caught thoughts from his Circle. Vinear and Jennifer had a mutual arrangement. Vinear could scan Jennifer's thoughts as long as Vinear kept his mind open to Jennifer. She had access to Vinear's thoughts at all hours of the day. He had nothing to hide from Jen, and it felt natural for him to let him. It was a way to keep the balance between Queen-to-be and Escort.
With that settled, they had no further questions to ask. Scoltvar and Jeremy understood. Someone had attempted to poison their Queen. Vinear, being a Warlord Prince by nature, killed the bastard. It made sense.
"Except," Jennifer spoke out loud for the first time out on the balcony, "Why did he poison my drink with safframate, and how paid him to do? I mean, safframate isa powerful aphrodisiac, but it wouldn't kill me. Sure I would have gone crazy for a couple of hour, maybe days, but why do that and not kill me instead?"
"Maybe that's what they wanted, to ruin your reputation," said Scoltvar.
"And now we're back to the question of who would want to." Jennifer stared at nasty mess of human corpse in front of her and frowned. "You could have at lest left enough of him together for him to turn demon-dead so we could have questioned him," she scolded Vinear.
"Sorry," said Vinear. He was feeling extremely tired. The rush of the kill had completely worn off and he felt ragged.
"Well I suppose we should go back in and calm what's left of the other guests. Lady Zhara is going to be pissed when she sees what you've done to her balcony."
They returned to the "party" to find the room half empty except for the servants cleaning up the aftermath of Vinear's cold rage and the scurrying aristo.
"At lest the party's over," said Vinear.