Disclaimer: Breezefire is not Mercedes Lackey. Therefore, Breezefire does not own the world of Velgarth, Valdemar, Jaseen, or anything that Mercedes Lackey invented or created, and admits this readily, so please do not sue her.
A/N: Another chapter! Sorry I took a while, I was busy, and my muse was being unimaginative. But here it is, finally written. I know I've been leaving you guys hanging on the Prtif mystery for a while, but I promise you will find out soon! I got 5 reviews last chapter, all from different people, which is my record for this story! Thanks for reviewing, everybody! Hope everyone enjoys this chapter, here's review responses…
Fireblade K'Chona: Thanks! I know, poor Jaseen…here's more, I hope you like the chapter!
Sarah: Thanks! I like Autumnblade too, he's one of my favorite characters and he refuses to take Jaseen's bait! Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy reading it!
The Evil Cadet: I'm updating! Sorry it took me a while, I've been really busy…I'm one of your favorite authors? I'm flattered! Thanks! I'll ignore any flames I get, or try not to take them personally. Here's another chapter, hope you like it!
Kathleen McCrory: Thanks! Reading is always faster than writing. I'll try writing more for you, though, I promise! I think this chapter is my longest yet. Here it is…
Herald Kelsin: Welcome back! Thanks, Jaseen deserves a hug every once in a while, stuck in a prison with abusive guards. Here's the chapter, I hope you like it!
Chapter 9: Comments
Jaseen awoke in her prison cell, her side sore from sleeping on the hard stone of the floor. She slowly roused from a drowsy state to fully awake, and she slowly sat up, leaning against the wall of her cell. Her stomach growled, and she realized how hungry she was.
Breakfast should be soon.
Jaseen peered out the small, barred window at the top of her cell, and attempted to judge the height of the sun. The angle of the window, however, did not allow her to see where the sun was, and the prisoner soon gave up on this idea. Luckily, soon a Guard arrived to escort her to breakfast.
Jaseen's ragged, dirty shoes, given to her by the Guards when she arrived in the prison, clicked softly against the rough stone floor of the hall. The long table, seating all of the prisoners, was surrounded by many small benches, sitting two or three prisoners to each. She sat down in her usual seat, at an empty bench, facing a plate of half a slice of badly toasted bread, with a soggy lump of yellow-brown butter next to it.
The wooden bench creaked as Jaseen's weight was concentrated on the middle of the old, rotting, broken seat. It continued to creak, and the middle of it snapped, sending Jaseen to the ground with the broken splinters of the old bench.
The hall erupted into laughter, as Jaseen's cheeks turned a crimson red from embarrassment. Jaseen heard a comment, wafting in from the other end of the table, "The benches can usually fit three strong, healthy male prisoners! Jaseen must be hiding some weight…" Chuckles and giggles echoed off the walls, as Jaseen's face grew steadily redder, and even a Guard was spotted smothering a chuckle.
How embarrassing…
Jaseen tried to look smaller, by slumping, and she looked down at the ground determinedly. She looked up quickly, and spotted a veil of long, obsidian black hair surrounding a golden face, their eyes meeting, his icy blue eyes staring into hers softly.
Jaseen walked slowly to the bench which Autumnblade was sitting on, and sat down next to him, tensing in case this bench broke too. Luckily for her, not even a creak resounded from the bench, and she relaxed slightly and looked at Autumnblade, the red in her cheeks slowly receding.
Why did Autumnblade have to see? Why did he have to be here? He'll think I'm fat…
Jaseen's self confidence quickly took over.
Fat? You know you're gorgeous, and definitely not fat!
Coming to her senses, slightly, Jaseen rested her hand on Autumnblade's arm and said, "Sorry about that," as she giggled to calm her nerves. "Now, what do you have planned for us today?"
Autumnblade took a bite of his toast, chewed, and swallowed, before answering Jaseen a few moments later. "I think that I have someone who may give us some information," Autumnblade said. "When I first arrived here, a few days before you did, I remembered that Traplim was a Royal Juror, and may hold information about the Court." Jaseen nodded, grimacing as she tasted the butter, and swallowed it quickly. Autumnblade continued.
"I asked him if he could help me, but he refused," Autumnblade told her. "He actually snapped at me, 'Help a Kaled'a'in traitor! Never,' so I gave up and tried other people. He may talk to you, though."
Jaseen nodded in understanding, and asked, "Do you know why he's in prison?"
Autumnblade nodded. "He's here on counts of 'false judging,' whatever that means. He probably made a mistake with a case which the King didn't like." Jaseen swallowed the last of her toast, waved to Autumnblade and moved to Traplim's bench, which luckily was nearby. With a few quick words, and flirtatious moves, Jaseen convinced Traplim to invite her to his cell, without once actually asking to be invited.
Another job well done, Jaseen, another job well done.
The Guards escorted the two to his cell, Traplim with his arm around Jaseen protectively, his dark skin contrasting boldly against Jaseen's pale. He was much older than her, but he didn't seem to find this a problem, kissing Jaseen gently on the cheek, as Jaseen laid her head on his shoulder.
I don't find him attractive in the least, but does it matter?
Weighing the options of being free from the horrid prison, or refusing to cuddle up to the elderly juror, she decided quickly that being free was much more important.
The two arrived at his cell, and the Guard closed the door, leering, "This is your only visitor for today, Traplim, and I'll be back in one mark!" He walked away, leaving Jaseen in the cell with the elderly juror.
-- --
Half a mark later, Jaseen kissed Traplim lightly on the lips, then pulled away. "Is something the matter, angel?" Traplim asked.
"Nothing," Jaseen responded, "I was just wondering if you knew anything about the Court. You see, I was accused of murdering Ma'ar's assistant, Larle…"
"I know all about it," Traplim told her, "my visitors tell me about the recent cases."
Jaseen continued, "Then you would understand why I want to know about the state of the Court, and how Larle and Ma'ar interacted. I didn't poison the man, and I'm searching for a culprit and information…could you help me out?"
Traplim nodded, saying, "I never heard much, sorry angel, about Larle or Ma'ar. The only conversation I overheard, that seemed at all strange or suspicious, was trivial…" Traplim stopped, glancing at Jaseen, but she waved at him, signaling to go on.
"But maybe it means something to you," he said. "Larle, Ma'ar, and one of Larle's friends were all talking together. The friend said something about a pretty girl he saw in Court, a typical conversation, very normal."
Jaseen nodded, curious. Traplim continued, "Larle then said, 'You two can have all the girls, because you know I don't want them!' Ma'ar and the other one laughed, and they walked away. I don't think it will help you much," Traplim said, "but it seemed weird to me that Larle wouldn't want girls. He's in his prime, you know? And he's always enjoyed having his lovers… That's all I've got, though."
Jaseen leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Thanks, Traplim. Hopefully I'll visit you again."
"Leaving already?" Traplim asked her. Jaseen nodded, and she stood up and knocked on the cell door. A Guard walked up and escorted her out, as Traplim waved goodbye.
Jaseen murmured to the Guard, "Autumnblade wants me to visit him now, in his cell." The Guard took her to his cell, Jaseen walking slowly with the Guard down a long stone corridor.
What could that possibly mean? "You two can have all the girls because I don't want them…" Since when does a man like Larle not want girls, he's always had a lover!
Baffled, Jaseen and the Guard finally arrived at the cell. The Guard opened the door on Autumnblade, his head reclined on his chest, as he slept.
At the first sound of the door creaking, Autumnblade awoke and looked up alert, seeing Jaseen's blonde veil of hair and vivid green eyes. Jaseen walked into his cell and sat close to Autumnblade, as the Guard closed the door and left the two together.
"Did you discover anything?" Autumnblade asked hopefully.
"He overheard one conversation between Ma'ar, Larle, and some friend of Larle's," Jaseen told him, "but it doesn't help much. I don't understand it." Jaseen relayed the entire story to Autumnblade, as he nodded and appeared puzzled at the appropriate times.
Jaseen reached the end of the story, and Autumnblade peered at her inquisitively, his eyebrows raised. "Strange," Autumnblade said doubtfully. "Larle was interested in you, though, wasn't he?"
Jaseen nodded. At this point, a Guard knocked on the door. "Your mark's up!" he called. "Out you come, beautiful," the Guard murmured into Jaseen's ear. Recognizing the voice, Jaseen backed away slightly, but the Guard held onto her arm and pulled her close to him, as the Guard and Jaseen walked away from Autumnblade's cell.
"That's right, I'm the Guard from yesterday, Delped," Delped murmured. "You missed lunch, beautiful, I noticed you weren't there. Your gorgeous body and face were conspicuously missing…" Jaseen was shivering, but not from cold; it was fear that was causing her to tremble incessantly.
"My supervisor's here now, watching us, but I just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you, beautiful," Delped said menacingly. "Just you wait," he said as he opened the door to her cell and pushed her inside, Jaseen falling to the ground. He locked the door and stared back at her, his death black eyes boring into her own, and he walked away.
Saved again. I need to get out of here soon, I don't know how much longer my luck with Delped will last. But I can't do anything about that, it's out of my control. Other than trying to avoid him, I can do absolutely nothing about it.
With those semi-comforting words, Jaseen allowed her thoughts to drift onto other topics.
We haven't been able to discover anything about the Court that would explain the poisoning. Maybe…maybe someone is just out to get me, or my family. The same person could have poisoned Larle and my dear father, after all.
With this frightening thought, Jaseen realized that the outlaw, the man who poisoned her lover and her father might be on the loose.
Perhaps one of my other past lovers was vindictive as well. He poisoned my father, my poor father, out of revenge…
An image of her father, lying on his death bed, drifted involuntarily into Jaseen's mind, her father coughing up blood, his body weak, his eyes closing. Her eyes filled with tears, but Jaseen closed her eyes, willing the tears to go away, and forced herself to keep going on the same train of thought.
But why would he poison my old lover?
An answer came to her as soon as she thought it.
Because he didn't know that I had already broken up with Larle! He may have believed that Larle was still my love, and may have wanted to destroy me! He failed in that, but he did succeed in getting me stuck in prison…but which of my lovers would have done a crime like this?
Jaseen began musing over her past lovers, eliminating them one by one on different counts, when her thoughts were interrupted by a Guard and Autumnblade, going to dinner.
"Jaseen, it's dinner," Autumnblade told her. The Guard unlocked the door, and began pulling it open, when Jaseen interrupted him.
"No, I'm not going to go to dinner tonight," Jaseen told them. "I'm feeling ill."
"Are you sure?" the Guard clarified. "You can't have food later if you get hungry."
"Yes, I'll eat breakfast tomorrow, thanks." The Guard nodded, closing the door. Autumnblade walked away, the Guard following in his wake with a strong grip on his forearm.
I hate lying…although it wasn't exactly lying, because I do feel ill at the thought that my father and Larle were poisoned by an old, vindictive lover. I just couldn't deal with the disgusting food, the Guards' leering and the incessant talking of the prisoners right now. I just want to lie here and think.
A few moments later, another Guard walked by. It happened to be the same Guard that Jaseen had asked about Prtif coming to visit her, the day before. Jaseen called out, "Guard?" The Guard turned around, saw who it was, and nodded.
"I was wondering if you had checked with Prtif about the visit?"
The Guard looked at her and nodded. "Yes, I told my supervisor to ask him. You're welcome, beautiful." He began to walk away, but Jaseen called him back.
"I was also wondering…I forgot to tell you to ask his lover, Larlai, to come too?"
"No," the Guard said. "You're lucky you got me to request one visit! Do you realize you are a Royal prisoner? Maybe Prtif will come, be happy you got that!"
Jaseen nodded, saying, "I understand, Guard. Could you do one thing for me…could you bring Autumnblade over for a talk in my cell after dinner?"
"You're only allowed one visit a day, remember?" the Guard reminded Jaseen.
"Yes, but I haven't gotten a visit yet, I visited Autumnblade. He got the visit," Jaseen clarified.
Amused with Jaseen's wit, the Guard chuckled and nodded, walking away with a smile on his face.
Jaseen walked away from the door and sat down in the back of her cell, thinking about her solution to the crime, and growing more and more certain that she was correct. A mark later, dinner ended, and her cell door opened as Autumnblade walked into her cell, his black hair sweeping lightly over his robe and face, as he sat down next to her, their bodies close.
A/N: That's the end of that chapter… the next chapter's coming soon. That is my longest chapter yet! You're getting bogged down in mystery, but I promise some of it will be solved soon, and at least part of it will be resolved next chapter. Can anyone solve the "girls" comment, and why Larle would make it? My hertasi muse cooked up a very yummy pie for whoever figures it out. I hope you liked the chapter, another one coming soon. Review, as always!
Wind to thy wings, Breezefire