Snippets from the life of Amethyst Beadle

[Estelle]

Since I figured it's been long enough. :)


Amethyst drops nimbly to the ground from the trapdoor, watching a wavy-blond-haired, elegant man expressionlessly. "Well, he seems to be surviving."


Arten follows after, letting himself down and resting the point of his dagger against his belt. "Well, that's no good, is it?"


A wavy-blond-haired, elegant man curls one leg up, eyes darting from left to right before settling on Arten. "Ahh... my friend off the ship." he states, coolly. "Too bad you didn't get to enjoy that party, you know."


Amethyst holds out a hand, motioning to Arten to withhold the dagger. "Depends on what he can do for us." She steps over to a wavy-blond-haired, elegant man calmly, her gaze fixed on him. "Do you want to live, Vaedrian?"


Arten breaks into a wolfish grin, shrugging his wide shoulders. "I served my purpose, and my goal in the Tower as well. How was the wedding?"

From here on you will remember a wavy-blond-haired, elegant man as Vaedrian.


Arten stabs his knife into the wall of the pit, leaning back and crossing his arms.

Arten pulls closed his cloak, hiding his garments.


Vaedrian casually glances up to you, then over to Arten. "Do I have a choice?" he questions, turning his head aside long enough to spit on the floor. "After all... I'm in a pit with two known criminals who had a good opportunity and look just about ready to waste it. So, do I have a choice?"

"-You-, my friend, -are- the opportunity," you answers, a smirk tugging at her lips. "Do you really think I would trust you, after all that? After all that your mother, and the Justiciar, and Cardinal promised me, and failed to provide once I fulfilled my end of the bargain?" She stoops, unceremoniously attempting to haul Vaedrian to his feet and attach his bound hands to the hook in the ceiling. [Player]


Arten smiles cooly, resting his eyes on the piled up garments on the floor of the pit. "If it's any consolation, I've killed hundreds of men, and I feel like you're too dangerous to let live. And I'm a bloody mage." He steps closer, pulling his blade from the wall and frowning, scraping rust off the blade with his fingernails.


Vaedrian rolls his eyes into the back of his head, for just that long moment, before shaking it. "You know so -little- about me and you make these poor assumptions that I would think of trifling with an organization that's seen the end of a Justiciar and a Cardinal among other people..." Given his condition, it's rather impossible for him to resist. "My mother won't pay. You think I'm an heir? You have nothing to gain by killing me and everything to lose. You could have named your price and I would have paid it."

"Will, will, will. That's all they say. Too bad 'will' isn't worth anything," you answers with a dry, humorless laugh. She notices Arten pulling the dagger off the wall, and doesn't seem to stop him this time. [Player]


Arten sighs and steps closer, tapping the point of the blade against his thigh. "See, the thing is, you say your mother won't pay, but the blood on my knife after I slit your throat is worth more than I've made in the past few years. Being born of your father and aunt, or uncle and mother, however you royalty do it, makes it more valuable, for whatever reason."


Vaedrian closes his eyes, momentarily, and lets out a seething, annoyed breath. "You'll never get paid. You should already know that by now. And I was offering you something worth a lot more than a bit of blood and a few measly coins. But you lost that chance." he states, coldly, before tipping his head back. "And after I tried to help you out... you already know I'm good for my word. And you still want to ruin a good thing."


Arten sighs quietly and turns away. "Tenebrae, would you care to beat him until he just shuts up? I haven't killed a man in cold blood in a while, I need a warm-up."


Arten strides off to another space in the pit, taking a few deep breaths and bouncing on his toes, practicing his slice, by the looks of it.

"Never get paid, eh?" you muses, her eyes cold. She turns to Arten upon that, and says calmly, "Give me a moment, Wolf, please." Returning her hard gaze to Vaedrian, she asks coolly, "What are you prepared to do for us, right -now-? Not 'will if Enakai dies', not 'in the future when I am King'. But here, and now. I would advise you to talk fast." [Player]

Vaedrian quirks a lip upward. "I told you I was here for more than just business. And you never gave me an opportunity to explain the -extent- of it. All you cared about was the here and now. I was here to -join- you, of course. My blade, my eyes, your benefit. Information is more powerful than anything you have at your disposal, and there are some things your informants can't touch that I -can- touch."


Arten states, "? ????, ??????? ????? ?? ??? ????, ???? ????? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ????."


Arten shakes his head, murmuring quietly as he moves to sit against the wall of the pit, propping one knee up.

"What information do you have for us?" you asks coolly, pulling her dagger out of her belt and flipping it in the air several times. [Player]


Vaedrian shakes his head, lightly. "That isn't how it works. If I die, the information dies with me. So does my friendship, my wealth. And you get nothing to show for it. I need you just as much as you need me. Without me, you're a criminal for life. Eventually you'll be caught and killed for it. With me? You get free. You get rich. I can pay you five before, and five after, plus twenty when I'm crowned."


Arten states, "We are criminals because of promises broken, like the one you offer, Princeling."


Amethyst flips her dagger again, a slow smile curving the corners of her lips. "I see you get more generous as time goes on, my dear." She moves another step closer to Vaedrian, eyeing he with icy eyes gleaming with madness. "Would that you were not an ab Harmon, I might have considered that. But you are of the same bloodline as your filthy mother. Do you -really- think I only took you to get coin from her?" She lets out a low, humorless laugh.


Vaedrian quirks a lip upward, at you, and leans forward in his bindings. "The fact that I'm even speaking to you might show you I have little love or care for my family. My brother is a worthless, dour bastard who will continue this same pointless feud." He braces a foot back, pressing it against the wall. "I don't really care what you're after. Why get me, when you can get the heir to the throne? I'm the young one, even you should be able to see that, -darling-."


Arten stands up, brushing himself off and glancing at Vaedrian. "You came to us so that we would kill your brother, and you would ascend. Do not pretend it's familiarity. Just because you've been taken does not mean any and every ab Harmon we want won't be in this same place, soon."

"It matters little to me which of her sons I kill," you murmurs, the mad gleam in her eye deepening. "She came to me with much the same promises as yourself. Oh, she was completely innocent. The Cardinal and Justiciar were acting against me NOT by her orders! If I cooperate with her, she would help me. She promised me immunity. Alliance. Just as you did." She leans forward, grabbing Vaedrian by the hair. "I gave her what she wanted. The warrant on me never disappeared. All talk of alliance disappeared. She set a 30,000 bounty on my head." [Player]



Vaedrian sets his jaw, gritting his teeth when his hair is latched onto, though he never once removes his gaze from you. His arms remain loose in their bonds, eyes blinking twice. For once, or at least for a time, he seems completely at a loss for what to say, and his features adopt a more helpless expression, mixed in with the pain of having his hair held. "What do you -want- me to say?" he finally comes out with. "That I'm -sorry-? You made the mistake of trusting somebody who put a snake just like her in line for the throne! You should have demanded she remove the warrant -first-! I'm offering you ten for his death, whether or not I can pay you twenty -after-. If you're not satisfied with that, and killing her favorite, then nothing satisfies you."


"And I demanded that you pay me upfront, previously," you answers coldly, flipping her dagger up into her palm and holding it at Vaedrian's neck. "Do you really think I -cared- about 2000 silver? But you refused, didn't you? Oh, now you're changing your mind, of course; a dagger in one's throat tends to do that to one, mm?" The dagger presses in slightly, drawing a small trickle of blood. "I asked you for up-front payment, ab Harmon, because I wanted proof that you were not like them. You displayed nothing to the contrary." [Player]


Vaedrian closes his eyes, and clenches his hands, hissing. "Because I don't -have- it with me..." he all he comes out with, throat moving when he swallows, just a bit of blood moving down to mix in with a similarly-colored tunic. "I was offering you more... the box I sent, the letter that never arrived. I was trying to help you the entire time..." he mutters, wrapping his hands around the chains. "And you're proving yourself no different than any other snake. Who says I pay you and you don't just kill me anyways? The only way you know you can trust me is if you let me go and see what happens. If you get money, you'll know I'm worth it. If not? You know I can't survive in a palace without coming out. You have many opportunities to end me."



"Do not lie to me, ab Harmon!" you cries out, her voice more shrill than wont to be. "'I've extended more than enough faith in your abilities by asking this one small favor.' 'A partnership between a royal prince with high ambitions and the Tenebrae who just wants a little bit of coin. I can't imagine how anybody found out who you are.'," she mimicks Vaedrian. "Excuses upon excuses to try and weasel out of it, and now you desperately seek to claw to life by providing more lies." [Player]


Arten crosses his arms, leaning his head back wearily. "If we let you go, you tell the Queen, who mobilizes both the Order and the Reeves, and probably pays my men, to burn this place to the ground. You will not leave here, Vaedrian."


Vaedrian grits his teeth, and jerks lightly on his chains, "I'm trying to help you and YOU'RE the one screwing the opportunity up!" he returns. "If you had any ambition for more coin, you should have asked for it!" By this point he looks like he wants to grab you by the throat, but there's a considerably strong chain between him and that, and all he can do is wrench the lack of life out of those. "You let me go... You let them tail me. I don't -care-. You'll get your money, Tenebrae, because I'm a man of -my- word."


Amethyst brings the dagger down in a quick slash, slicing through silk diagonally all the way down to Vaedrian's torso, and a good deal of skin with it as well. The wound is not deep enough to kill, however; merely enough to draw blood. "And so is the Cardinal. And the Lord Justiciar. And Her Royal Majesty. Hmm?" she says quietly, withdrawing the dagger and breathing hard. "Do you know what the Cardinal did? He released Prochai and I for 3000 silver, and took us back in nearly immediately after the transaction went through. If one cannot expect a 'Holy man' to keep his word, what of you, ab Harmon?"


Vaedrian bites his lip, sharply, and tears it open when he does to keep the sudden grunt of pain bit back, releasing it to let blood dribble down his chin. "I can't tell you -anything- to console your annoyance, and I'm sorry for -that-, but I already have my own reputation that can only get -better- when they see a grieving brother mourning the loss of the heir to the throne!" he hisses out, eyes turning downward to see the line of blood along his torso. "You have my offer on the table, now take it or leave it."

"I, in return, am sorry, ab Harmon," you answers quietly, the cold tone of her voice perhaps more disconcerting than the previous shrillness. "I know you not - genuine assistant, malicious liar, or victim of circumstance... My gut tells me you are either the second or third of the above, and frankly, I care less and less about that as time passes. I will have revenge on the woman who cheated me and caused innumerable suffering to me and my brethren. Prochai's drawn and quartered body clamors for justice. The 30,000 bounty on me clamors for justice. And that justice will be you." Her eyes are afire with madness now, and she steps back from Vaedrian, motioning to Arten. "Do you want the honor, Wolf, or shall I?" [Player]


Arten shakes his head, slipping his dagger inside of his cloak. "This is your show, Tenebrae. Let's see some blue blood." He leans back against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest and watching quietly, a small grin tugging at his lips.


Vaedrian rolls his eyes back, and lets out a shuddering breath. "??? ?? ????? ??? ???????..." is what he comes out with. "Keep it until you receive the first payment... then give it back. If that isn't enough for you, then I die today."


Vaedrian rolls his eyes back, and lets out a shuddering breath. "Take my sword and jewelry..." is what he comes out with. "Keep it until you receive the first payment... then give it back. If that isn't enough for you, then I die today."


Arten chuckles mirthlessly, his deep voice rumbling. "That's the first honest thing you've said since I met you, princeling. You DO die today."


Amethyst's eyes blaze as she steps forward again, grabbing Vaedrian by the front of the torn tunic. "How many times have I told you, ab Harmon - I care little about money, from you. You failed the test. And thus you shall be my revenge. May you meet your mother in Hell."

[Zeita]

Thanks for putting this up, Estelle. :) I find it really interesting to see things from the other side of the fence and how impressions and opinions are informed from information at hand.

Thanks,
Charm.

[Estelle]

Eh, Ames was just stark raving mad back then. :) I love Charm!