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
AN: I haven't updated in a very long time but I promise the story isn't dead! I've been very off centered lately and unfortunately this story paid the price. This is a very short chapter. I wanted to get something up as soon as possible.
Chapter 4
Why does my face feel fuzzy?
Prince, wake up! Prince won't wake up. He swatted the Prince's face with his paw again. Prince, wake up, play!
What…? Vinear heard the playful purr of the house cat and its weight on his back, its small gray paw placed on the back of his head. There was no other choice; he had to wake up now. Thanks a lot, kid.
"Nine, get off me." Nine responded with more purring, pleading for Vinear's attention, wanting to play. Cat, you know I'm not a morning person yet you insist on waking me each morning!
Sun's up. Play now? Nine was still only a kitten and could only respond in the bits of broken speech he'd learned from the humans. This wasn't much of a surprise considering he was the only domestic cat kindred anyone knew of. Little more than a year ago, a she-cat in labor had found her way underneath the crawl space of the house. She had most likely been ill and unsound of mind. Whatever the case, Kass had been the one to find the mother and her litter. None survived, except one, the last of nine.
However, as the kindred were known to develop attachments to certain humans, Nine had all but glued himself to Vinear. Why did he have to develop a shine to me, though? Nine sat in the bathroom doorway, waiting patiently while Vinear took his shower. Vinear shook the water from his hair. Nine ran from the resulting assault of water as cats were known to do. Vinear teasingly chased after the gray kitten, who had taken refuge under the covers of Vinear's bed.
Lifting the covers, Vinear gathered the kitten in his arms and smothered the youngling. Raising the kitten above his head, Vinear smiled at the now wet and bewildered cat.
Now you know how I feel in the morning. Nine sent no verbal reply, only the edge of a wave of animal annoyance. Vinear held him close and gave the cat a quick kiss on its forehead. Don't tell anyone I like you. We'll play later. I promise.
Vinear quickly dressed. Scott will kill me if I'm late. Where are my damn shoes? His shoes came, flying at him from under the bed, propelled by an invisible force. Vinear smiled at his fuzzy companion.
"Thank you." He grabbed them and put them on. He would have to find out what Jewel Nine would wear as his birthright, if any. No one in the house knew how the kindred came to possess their Jewel's, but they would have to find out soon. Vinear felt that the kitten had much potential.
He ran down the stairs and outside towards the back. He cringed when he saw that even Kass wasn't in the house. I really am late! When he arrived outside Chelsi was already sparing with Scoltvar and Jen looked long winded.
"Why didn't you wake me?" He spoke in a whisper. He didn't want to draw attention to himself.
"I decided this would be more fun. You should know me better by now, Vi." Of course she would think watching him squirm would be fun. He shot Jen a mean look and took his spot among the members of the house.
A few times a week their circle would gather in the morning before breakfast for a training session with Scoltvar. This included Chelsi, whom while she lived with Jeremy, spent most of her free time at the house of…well they didn't have a name for the house, or their supposed court…yet.
How about the Semi-Dark Court? said Jen on a Sapphire thread. Leaving his mental barriers down for her had really become like second nature that he was hardly aware he was doing it.
Ha-ha. I think we would piss off more than a few people with that name. The kind of people it would be very, very wise not to piss off.
Vinear sat back and watched Chelsi and Scott's exchange. Scott said that you could tell a lot about a person from the way they handled themselves in a fight. Watching now, Vinear saw that Chelsi could be an even match for Scott. Neither of them was holding back and there was a look of intensity in her eyes that only appeared when she was fighting with the sticks. Scott taught them fighting Eyrien style, and it was Chelsi out of all of them who had shown the most talent. 'The taste for the fight,' as Scoltvar had put it.
Vinear tried hard to make himself invisible and even thought once or twice about placing a Grayshield around himself, though he didn't know if he could make one skin tight that would feel in anyway comfortable. I can't hide all day. For one thing, eating would be difficult and other things as well. He faltered in stance when Scott and Chelsi were done with their round. Just get it over with. He can't rip into me too hard for being late. Vinear wasn't the best fighter, but he wore the darker Jewel and his Craft skills were more than a match for Scott's. That's what I'll have to keep telling myself until this embarrassment is over.
Scott liked to test out each of their skills in a one on one with the sticks at the beginning of the session. He had enough stamina to go five rounds in a row and barely break a sweat. Jen thought this was a talent worth admiration, which was why she had requested that he teach the rest of them how to hold up in a fight. "A few of us could use the help with getting into shape," she had said. Vinear felt like growling at the Queen.
"Well, look who decided to get his ass out of bed this morning!" Vinear's stomach nearly dropped down to the ground. It would sound foolish for a Gray Jeweled Warlord Prince to be frightened of a Red one, one who didn't have the extra advantage of stealth telepathy. The truth was that even though Vinear could hear Scoltvar's thought, he couldn't act on them fast enough. Scott had the sort of mind that was always "moving," so to speak. Decisions were made and acted upon quick and hard, especially in the heat of a fight. As it often was, Vinear would end up bruised physically and in ego.
"Come on now. I've got a lesson to teach, and apparently that includes busting your head open on the ground this morning."
Scott was also a well seasoned heckler.
Just as he was about to set into position for what would possibly be the worst early morning of his life, Palavar walked out from the apartment he now shared with his sister. He was dressed in a plain shirt and leggings, the most casual clothes that anyone in the house had ever seen him in. Before, he had been dressed in more impressive attire, and Vinear knew that it must have been very uncomfortable for the Eyrien to wear clothes as binding as the ones Palavar had been on previous occasions.
As if Palavar meant to give an example of this fact, his wings stretched out full length and the almost-black webbings caught a light wind. From the look on his face Palavar was quite comfortable in his new environment. His dark hair was uncombed but he looked fresh and ready for the day. Then he got up and started walking toward them. And Jen spoke.
"I've got a better idea." Vinear heard her thought. He wanted to howl at her. "Pal was telling me yesterday about his training experiences in Terreille. Why don't you and our new resident have a match?" She smiled a devilish smiled and said to Scott, "Vinear can pay his penance, and you can evaluate Palavar's skills. See if the Eyriens in Terreille have been teaching anything new in their camps since you left."
Palavar, who was now very alert, looked between Jen and Scoltvar and then settled on Vinear who shivered.
If you weren't my Queen I'd be on the killing edge right now, said Vinear to Jennifer. She didn't respond. After giving the prospect a moment's thought, Scoltvar gave Jen a quick smile and nodded.
"I like the way you think, Lady. Alright, you two gear up." It was clear he didn't think Palavar would object to the idea of a fight before breakfast. Of course not, they're both real Eyriens, thought Vinear, and he felt the old bitterness creeping up again.
When they were all set Vinear checked Palavar's face for any signs of resistance. What did he think about having to fight the deformed Eyrien? Not surprisingly, he looked up for the challenge, as if he thought Vinear might actually be able to hold up his own in a fight. Vinear softened a little from the unearned and certainly undeserved respect that Palavar was giving him. May the Darkness have mercy.
It was over quite quick. Palavar moved even faster than Scoltvar. He was also much rougher. Vinear could tell that he was holding back, considerably. He didn't dare try and infiltrate Palavar's mind. There was risk of getting weak again, or whatever strange effects Palavar's mind had on him. Try as he might, Vinear couldn't get a shot in and at the end of it all he was on the ground panting, a stick pinning him down like the point of a blade. He couldn't remember exactly how he'd gotten that way either.
He felt tired, hungry, and pissed off. They had managed to make him look like a fool, and Jen, his Queen his friend had had a crucial hand it.
"That's some dirty fighting there, Prince. It's almost shameful…and very effective. Something they would never teach at an Eyrien training camp. Where did you say you learned how to fight?" Scoltvar was talking but Vinear couldn't really hear it, couldn't care less about what he was saying. Vinear got up somberly. Hot anger was beginning to boil beneath the surface. He turned to walk away, back into the house.
Jen was frowning. She was the only one paying any real attention to Vinear. Chelsi and Scoltvar were counseling Palavar about his fighting style and Kass had seen the turn of events as an opportunity to go back inside to the kitchen and make breakfast. Jen watched Vinear trying to sneak away and trailed behind him.
"Hold on, Vi." She was right behind him now. He didn't say a word. The anger was practically begging him to lash it out on someone, on anything. Jen reached out to grab his arm and when she touched him his skin prickled and the wave of hot psychic energy stung her. She recoiled and let out a strange sounding yep of surprise. Vinear froze. Mother Night. He hadn't to meant hurt her. Then again…He started to walk again.
"Vinear, you're acting like a child." Any other witch, even a Queen, would have known not to mess with an angry Warlord Prince. But then Jennifer wasn't just any other witch.
"You go too far sometimes, Jen." He was trying to get himself under control. The effort made him clench his teeth and he wondered if he would have to replenish the poison of his fang again so soon.
"If you would just listen to me you would understand that I was trying to help you."
"Help me? Making me late and having me beaten by that jackass, that's your idea of help?
Ever since they had met it had become a long standing tradition that from time to time, Jennifer would make his life a little difficult. Things like small pranks, funny yet sometimes harsh jokes. It was, as Vinear had come to understand, Jen's way of showing affection to her friends. He'd always been her most easy target. But this time she had gone too far, and too early in the morning. With that last part in mind, Vinear fell silent and stalked off, choosing to ignore Jennifer completely.
"Mother Night. If I didn't know you were so damn blind to your own self I would swear you were intentionally trying to ruin any chance of happiness in your life!"
Inside the house Vinear meant to return to bed. There were no appointments to meet today and he wasn't in any mood to set pen to paper. Kass stopped him on his way past the kitchen and passed a plate of food into his hands.
"Eat. If not down here then take it to your rooms," she said as if he would refuse. He said his thanks and retreated to his room. It was empty and the bed was unmade, just as he had left it. Nine was nowhere to be seen. All for the best, thought Vinear. He didn't want to deal with anyone for the rest of the day.
He ate, showered again, and changed his cloths. Crawling into bed he couldn't get rid the feeling that what Jen had said was right. He was acting like a child. He supposed as one of the long lived races he still had a lot of growing up to do. Besides, the look on Palavar's face when Vinear had glared up at him from the grass, those eyes, just for a moment, had shifted from gold to an unnatural smoldering red.
A sudden chill ran up Vinear's back for reasons unknown even to himself.
AN: More is coming. I was originally going to drag this chapter out a bit more, but this seemed like a perfect place to leave you hanging. Thing are going to start heating up around the house soon. P.S.: Little Nine is dedicated to my kitty-cat, Mordred "99" Deschain xD