Disclaimer: I do not own the Dark Jewel Trilogy.
AN: I am stupid. And blind for that matter, and I miss the obvious things. On basically every chapter except I think 9, there is that stupid mistake. I keep forgetting to fix it before I post it. I'll fix everything else but that. Ok, that was pointless, so…onwards.
Italics are the private communications between the Blood
Italics are normally used for the Blood, it will just be the other part of Selari
Bold lettering is when inanimate objects are speaking (Selari's replies will also be in bold)
Chapter 13
The Mysterious Child
Who was she? Was the question that she endlessly asked herself. It had only been three days sense Winsol and Jaenelle had yet to find out who the child was.
She knew that the voice was a child's for her voice was still that of a child's and not of a woman. Though the way the child had spoken anyone could have easily assumed it was that of a grown woman. But Jaenelle knew differently, she was not easily fooled.
She had not told any one of what had occurred, not even her dear Papa. She didn't want him to worry about something that she herself knew nothing about. But, she had been searching for the child, with no luck. Which was unusual for her.
After the child had disconnected, Jaenelle had instantly gone back trough the thread, trying to find out where it had come from. But it had led her to some strange town, in which there were no Gray Jewels residing. So then she had retraced her steps and did the process over again. She ended up in a different city, but still without a Gray Jewel in the area. She did this several more times with the same results.
Jaenelle wasn't use to something not working for her, well except maybe basic craft. But this by no means was basic craft, and she couldn't figure out why this was happening.
Janelle needed to find this child. She wasn't sure why, but she did. It seemed a vastly important task. But if craft couldn't find her, what could she use to find her. Janelle thought about it for a few seconds before a thought came to her.
She could just go to the Keep. They would have all the Blood that had a Gray Jewel. The Gray Jewel must be the child's Birthright Jewel. For she was too young to have made the Offering. That would narrow the search down, in fact there should only be one. For Jaenelle knew of no other Blood then herself that had a Birthright Jewel higher then the Red Jewel.
Jaenelle making up her mind instantly made her way to the Keep. She arrived there in no time.
Upon entering the Keep, she wasn't surprised to see Lucivar leaning against a wall staring at her. She ignored him and walked right by him. He just walked right along with her.
"Don't you have someone else to bug today?" she asked.
"Nope, just you." He said smirking.
"I highly doubt that." Janelle muttered under her breath. She didn't really see the point in telling him to go away, he wouldn't listen.
After a few minutes walk, Jaenelle had come to the room that she had been looking for. This one had the records of the Blood, well the Blood in Kaeleer that is. It was a very big room, filled with records. There was a table, and a couple of chairs, but the records were basically it.
"What can I help you with?" a voice said from behind.
"Geoffrey I need to find a child that has the Gray for their Birthright Jewel." Jaenelle said without bothering to look at him.
"Lady there is nobody registered with Gray as their Birthright Jewel." He told her. Jaenelle then turned to look at him.
"Ok, then tell me all of the Blood that are currently wearing the Gray Jewel."
"Besides yourself, there is Chaosti, Divear, and Surreal." Geoffrey drawled.
Jaenelle frowned. She had never heard of Divear. He wasn't the child, but he must have been the one the she had first spoken with. He would most likely be her best lead in finding the child.
"Hey, Cat who are you looking for?" Lucivar asked, though he had a very good suspicion who it was.
Jaenelle told him in a few short words of what had happened a couple of nights ago. Jaenelle distracted from her own thoughts didn't notice the frown that crossed Lucivar's face.
"Geoffrey who's Divear?" she asked. He didn't even pull out any of the records; he just recited off of the top of his head.
"Divear was born here is Kaeleer. Is part Eyrien and Hayllen. His Birthright Jewel was Red. He came out with two uncut Reds. When he made the Offering he came out with two uncut Gray Jewels. His father Torivar, is an Eyrien and his mother Kienna, is a Hayllen. Both have the Summer-sky Jewel. He is the youngest of four boys. Morvar, the eldest, has the Opal Jewel. Trivear, like his parents as the Summer-sky Jewel. Britivar holds the Purple Dusk Jewel. Divear's current location is Tajrana, the capital of Nharakhava." Geoffrey said with flourish.
"I know where she is." Jaenelle murmured under her breath, now oblivious to her surroundings, lost in thought, for the moment that is.
"Why is she important, Cat." Lucivar asked softly. That was something that definitely caught Jaenelle's attention. She turned her midnight eyes towards Lucivar.
"How do you know of her, Prince?" she asked in her midnight voice. He looked directly into her eyes for a moment before shrugging.
"I have known of her for awhile. She is young, and I have talked with her a few times." She looked at him. "Ok, twice, but..." He looked at her. "I had only met you once, to know that there was something about you. That you were what I had been waiting for. She is like you when you were younger, but different." Lucivar told her.
"So Lucivar, Geoffrey tell me about her." Jaenelle then plopped down in one of the few chairs in the room, preparing to hear about the mystery child.
"This shall be fun. We have waited days to talk with Jerrid." She said.
Selari smiled, yes they had been waiting days for this. Jerrid was home and he was going out. He said to be with a few friends, but Selari believed that it was his lady that he was going to see. And what better way to talk with Jerrid about his lady, then interrupting their "secret" meeting.
When Jerrid left, Selari was not far behind. She followed him out into the forest and all the way to a stream that was there. Jerrid stopped there and waited. She on the other hand just waited a bit out of sight.
It was ten minutes before Elise showed up. Elise instantly went into Jerrid's arms. They were about to get all kissy and stuff when Selari decided that this was the best time to talk to them. So she walked out into the open.
"Jerrid." Selari called out to him, standing only a few feet away from the clingy couple. They both jumped apart and turned to look at her voice. Jerrid's face was filled with anger. Elise's face was shocked and a bit curious. Jerrid started to advance towards her.
This was not going as planned. Nope, definitely not going as planned. But still what was he going to do. She was only looking out for his best interests.
When he reached her he bent down to her level, and his hands reached out and gripped her shoulders hard. Selari winced at his grip.
"What are you doing here?" Jerrid asked through clenched teeth. His eyes were staring daggers at her. Selari looked at him, her eyes filling with tears. Why was he being so mean she hadn't done anything? Well, at least not yet, bet he didn't know what she had plan.
"Jerrid, let the girl go, your hurting her." Elise told him pleadingly. Jerrid hesitated for a second, before he pushed her away from him and stood up. Jerrid had used enough force that when she fell backwards she lost her balance and fell to the ground. Her lips started to tremble as she looked up at him.
Jerrid started pacing around the area and muttering under his breath. Then he started to talk to Elise as though she weren't even there.
"This is just like her. She follows me around and never leaves me alone. She's a little pest. Damn it and a little spy. It seems like she knows everything I do. Sometimes I wish she would just go away. Sometimes I hate her so much. I can't have a live without her it seems." He called out angrily.
"Jerrid, all little sisters are like that. She probably just adores you, and wants to spend time with you." Elise tried to calm him down. But Jerrid didn't seem to hear her. He had gone back to muttering under his breath and pacing.
Selari was hurt, why would her brother say such hurtful things about her. She would expect this from Beatrix, but not Jerrid. Jerrid was the one that was supposed to love her. He never minded before that she followed him around.
Well, if he didn't want her around then fine, she would leave him, and never bother him again. He would regret saying this. He'll miss me when I'm gone. Selari stood up and prepared to leave.
"Fine, big brother. If you don't want me around then I won't be around." She told him angrily. Jerrid stopped and turned towards her. His eyes looking directly at her.
"Good, I didn't want you around any ways. In fact I wish you were never born. It will be a blessing when you leave." He told her just angrily.
"Jerrid your going to regret sending me away. For when the bad things start happening you'll be wishing that you had me around." Selari told him with confidence.
"Bad things, is that another one of your stupid predictions. I would never want your help, a help of a child. Your insane to think that I would ever ask for you help." He said mockingly.
"I am no child. You should be grateful for my help. I am stronger then you." She pointed out stubbornly. Jerrid just laughed at her. Selari whirled around and left the area, not looking back once.
Divear was sitting underneath the tree that he normally sat, waiting for Selari to show up for their practice. He was just beginning to relax when he heard rustling coming from the left of him. Divear instantly tried to sense what was making the sound, he found nothing. He smiled to himself, she had finally arrived.
She was quick and was running straight towards him. Divear noticed that was something was wrong, and he sat up, only to be knocked back down by Selari. She threw her arms around him and buried her head in his neck.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Divear asked, wrapping his arms around her. She shook her head and just leaned against him.
It wasn't long before she pulled back from him, though still staying within his arms. Divear looked into her eyes and he found no evidence that she had been crying and she didn't seem to be in any physical pain.
"Divear, you don't mind me being with me or training me and stuff do you?" she asked. Divear was shocked why in the world would she think that he didn't want her to be around him.
"Of course not. Where in the world would you get that idea from?" Divear asked seriously. She just shrugged.
"And you won't want me to go away no matter what, right?" Divear shook his head. Selari leapt to her feet then. "Good then we can go racing to the river." She said.
"Wait a minute, we have practice today." He told her. She ignored him.
"The rules are that your feet cannot touch the ground, if they do you have to start back at the beginning. Everything else goes." She declared.
"Selari-" he started. Her wings started to unfold from her body.
"On the count of three."
"Aren't you listening to me?"
"One." She said.
"Wait a minu-"
"Two." She grinned happily at him, rising off the ground.
"Selari-" Divear tried again.
"Three." She whirled around and started heading for the river. "Better hurry up Divear, you'll never win the race standing still." She called back to him.
Divear smiled and then started to fly after her.
"What would you like to know about her?" Lucivar asked.
"Her name, her age, what Jewel she wears. Why she seems so different." Jaenelle rattled off.
"Her name is Selari, she's around 11 years old." Lucivar started.
"Her birthday is something that you should take note of." Geoffrey told them. Both Lucivar and Jaenelle looked at him, curious.
"Why is that?" Lucivar asked.
"She was born on the night of Cassandra's altar." Geoffrey told them. Silence filled the room.
"Why do you think this is important?" Lucivar questioned.
"It happened awhile back. There was a man that came here bearing a letter, from a dying Black Widow. He said that he had been asked to bring this to the Keep and that it was very important. I shall go it, so that you can read it for yourself." He then left the room.
"Tell me more about her, Lucivar." Jaenelle asked turning to look back at the Eyrien.
"She as a normal family. A mother and father, a brother and a sister. She is the youngest of them all. They all wear the light color Jewels. Except, I'm not really sure what Selari wears. The first time we met, she hadn't taken the Birthright Ceremony. The second time, I'm most positive that she had. But the thing is there was still no sense of what Jewel she wore."
Jaenelle thought about this. Was there a chance that Selari was like her? That maybe Selari could be Witch, like she was. That she might have had the same problems growing up as Jaenelle herself had. Maybe, just maybe, Jaenelle could help her. And then she wouldn't have to be alone to bear the burden of being so strong. For Selari could be just as strong.
Jaenelle was distracted from her thoughts when Geoffrey walked back into the room, holding a letter. He handed it over to Jaenelle. Jaenelle at first just held it in her hands before she opened. Lucivar walked over to where she was sitting to read over her shoulder. The letter said.
To the Blood,
I am old and I am dying. But I could not leave without telling what I know. It was a few months ago that I had woven. And in this I saw something very powerful. But I knew what that was. It was Witch and she was coming. At first I was filled with joy. Witch was finally coming at last. But then I looked more closely at the web. There was something else there. It was sort of in the background. I have concluded that this means that it, whatever it is, will come after Witch. Unsure of what it was I tried looking closer at it, but to no avail, I could not find anything further on it. So I tried spinning another web. When I finished I looked at the results with horror. This was something very powerful and very dangerous. For awhile I was unsure of what Witch and it had anything to do with each other.
My first idea was that maybe it was the daughter of Witch. (I was almost positive that whatever it was, was female.) But no that wasn't it, that idea didn't fit. After that I was unsure of what it could be. So then I did some research on Witch. Still nothing. I decided to preserve both webs thinking that I could look at them again, when I had a better idea of what they meant. Well it was awhile after that, that I knew that I was dying and that there wasn't much time left for me to figure out what it meant. It was important that I figure it out for I needed to tell…or warn those of the Blood that believed. So I went back to the webs to see if I could see anything that I might have missed before.
I looked at the one that Witch was in first. I looked and saw nothing that I hadn't seen before. But then that was when I heard a voice. I wasn't sure if it was in my head or if it was aloud, it seemed like both at the same time. I knew instinctively that this was not any of the Blood, but something else. It said 'Dreams made Flesh' I was startled. But then I looked back at my web and it made sense. Witch was Dreams made Flesh. Well I nodded my head in understanding, wondering if the voice would continue if it knew that I understood what it was trying to tell me. It did continue. It said 'Everything as a price.' That was when it hit me. Everything does have a price. And I thought what if we had to pay a price for Witch and what I have been seeing in my webs was the price that we had to pay for Witch. Then it spoke again, 'Nightmares made Flesh'. And that was all it spoke. I know nothing of what the Nightmare is. There is nothing in the books about it and I have never heard of it before. But then I think that everything that Dreams are, Nightmare isn't. This is just an old woman telling what she as seen. Who knows maybe this means nothing and I'm delusional? But just in case I'm not, I have told what I know of the Nightmares made Flesh.
Evalee
Jaenelle set the letter down. So was this child the Nightmare made Flesh that Evalee was talking about.
"Geoffrey you've read this letter before right?" she asked, he nodded. "What do you think of it?"
"My people they believed in Witch, just like all the other Blood. But we also believed in the other. The one that was the opposite of Witch, yet almost exactly the same. We believed in the Nightmare. That when Witch came that she would also bring another with her. But my people are long since gone, and there are only a few things left of my culture."
"I wish to see what is left." Jaenelle stated, rising from her chair.
AN: And that is the end to my longest chapter ever. I hoped you liked it. Oh ya, I might have messed with the whole Black Widow thing, cause I'm not really sure how that works, and I'm sort of writing this chapter off of memory of the books.
I would like to apologize for taking so long in updating. I'll try harder to update faster. And now I would like to end with…
Review, Review, Review
