Four Years Later

This is Berry of the RainWing’s FanFiction.

Synopsis
It was four years since the dishonorable princess Ametrine had been found dead. It had been four years since her distraught brother swore to find her killer. Four years later, and Prince Chalcedony has made no progress whatsoever. But, when new evidence comes to light, can Chalcedony, with help from a guard, a mineral polisher, and a thief, unmask his sister’s murderer once and for all?

Prologue
Four years ago

Ametrine was missing, and Chalcedony was the only one who had noticed.

Well, maybe not the only one who had noticed. Spinel had noticed too, but the red and black CaveWing had just rolled her eyes and told Chalcedony that Ametrine was probably off with her NightWing boyfriend again.

“She says she’s stopping seeing him.” His big sister had told him. “But there’s no way she’s ACTUALLY stopped. Honestly! If I was engaged to Duke Lapis, I certainly wouldn’t endanger it by going off with some meaningless NightWing.”

But Chalcedony still wasn’t convinced. “But-” he attempted to fight his case, but Spinel cut him off.

“Chalcedony, please. I know you like to believe the best in everybody, but your sister’s off frolicking with some boy and that’s that.”

And with that she flounced off.

Well, that failed. There wasn’t even any point in asking Fosterite; she’d probably sneer in his face.

Truly, Ametrine was the only member of his family who was actually nice to him. His mother was kind of dismissive- he had no special abilities, and he was male, which was two marks against him.

As for his sisters- well, Forsterite spent half her time bullying him for no apparent reason, whilst Spinel didn’t care much for things other than herself and Duke Lapis Lazuli.

But Ametrine? Well, his oldest sister was the black sheep too. She’d been the golden child, engaged to the rich and aristocratic Lapis Lazuli, before one day she was found sneaking out of the caves to meet with a low-born NightWing boy. It had ended up with being a huge scandal, the NightWing had been moved away, and Spinel became the golden child.

He could still remember Spinel’s reaction when the royal family had been summoned to the throne room-along with Lapis. Citrine had told Lapis that the engagement was off, and he would be engaged with Spinel instead.

He also remembered her reaction when Lapis refused, saying that he still loved Ametrine and would stand by her.

Chalcedony knew the real reason why Lapis stood by Ametrine, though. Ametrine was a fighter. Spinel was not. Spinel loved her mother, and would never do anything to hurt her. Ametrine hated their Mother, and had already said that she wanted Citrine to die. Everyone knew that Ametrine would be the next Queen. Lapis just wanted to be the next King.

Lapis was probably the only person Chalcedony didn’t like. It was pretty hard to like him- he wasn’t sure how Spinel managed it. If Ametrine was hiding, that would be what she was hiding from. The inflated ego of her fiancée. But why she was hiding was no use to Chalcedony. He needed to know where.

Chalcedony had checked in all of Ametrine’s favourite hideouts. All the balconies. All the coves. He’d checked in nearly every nook, corner and cranny.

Except the tunnel out.

The tunnel that she used to see her boyfriend.

Spinel couldn’t be right, could she? Could Ametrine just be off with that NightWing, making kissy faces or whatever two dating dragons did in their spare time.

But no, the NightWing had been moved away. So she couldn’t be with him.

Still, it didn’t hurt to check…

The two-year old dragonet changed directions, following the twisting and turning tunnels to the scarf room. He knew where in the room the passage was; he’d been there when his sister had been dragged out of the tunnel.

He stumbled slightly, tripping over a scarf that had been left in the floor. He scowled, gathering his talons together, and continuing across the room.

He found the scarf laid across the entrance and pulled it aside, the purple fabric ripping slightly in his claws. He then dug his claws under the rock left there, heaving the collection of minerals out of the way.

He unhooked one of the lamps from the wall and stepped into the tunnel. Immediately his way was blocked by a large shape.

Chalcedony let out a little sigh, grappling with the lantern so he could see what the blockage was. He removed the thin silver filters from outside the flame, letting it shine in full brightness. He squinted his large light-sensitive eyes, before turning them to look at the blockage.

Immediately he realised what-or who- it was. First, he realised it was a CaveWing. Then he recognised the black scales and purple and orange wings.

“Ametrine!”

The Princess didn’t respond. She must be sleeping. He shook his sister slightly, but she still didn’t stir. He scrambled over her body, pulling himself up, before looking down on her sleeping form.

He immediately froze up. The world was tilting sideways, and there was nothing under his feet, and he didn’t know where he was or what he was doing, and he could hear someone screaming, byt he wasn’t sure who.

Through all the confusion he observed the singular thing that was causing all this chaos.

His sister was missing her head.

Chapter One
Four years later

It was his sister’s death anniversary in six days.

That was all Chalcedony could think. Apparently, no matter how much older or smarter or stronger Chalcedony grew, when this time of year rolled around, Ametrine was the only thing Chalcedony could think of. Even when chasing her potential killer, he seemed to lack the ability to clear his head and think of catching The Iron Thief.

The Iron Thief. Hematite. The mysterious burglar who had more notches on his bedpost than jewels stolen from the royal family. And that? That was a lot. The current theory was that Hematite has killed Ametrine to get to the jewels. It made the most sense out of all the theories so far, and it explained the missing jewelry.

But the thief was turning out to be harder to catch than anticipated.

He was abruptly jerked out of his chain of thought by a sudden yank on the tail. He stumbled, nearly falling down a steep shaft that he was about to run into. He turned around to see the tail-grabber, already knowing who it was going to be.

Sure enough, Halite was standing there, tail in mouth. Halite truly stood out as something unusual- unusual, but pretty. Most CaveWings were a dark colour, with multi-coloured wings or eyes. But Halite? Halite was something different. Scales like polished ivory, wings like sheets of diamonds, eyes- both eyes- like hard rubies. Halite was white.

"Thanks, Hal."

"I am merely doing my duty, Prince." Replied Halite formally.

"Well, you're rather good at it. I would be dead now if it wasn't for yo-"

"My Prince," Cut off Halite, "The Iron Thief?"

"Right. I really would be lost without you, wouldn't I Halite?"

"My Prince?"

"On it."



He flashed down the tunnel, this time keeping an eye out for any unwelcome shafts. He couldn't understand how the lower classes lived like this- dark tunnels with no lanterns, plants litter everywhere, shafts sticking up (or down?) in the middle of tunnels.

He considered asking Halite. His best friend had grown up in a town not unlike this one, he knew that much; but she didn't exactly like talking about her past. For her, her life started when she was four, when she enlisted in the army and was promptly roped into Chalcedony's detective antics. She had been with him for two years now, and had put up with every single mistake that Chalcedony had made (such as accusing Cordierite for murdering Ametrine-something he'd rather forget.) He was telling the truth when he said he'd be lost without her.

No, asking Halite would be pointless. She'd just clamp up, and Chalcedony needed her in top form if they were going to catch the Iron Thief.

He was once again stripped from his thoughts as he tumbled out of the adit and into a mixture of moonlight and silver-tinted flame. He was in the centre of the mines, a town square almost. A large cave was carved out to make a large room for the dragons. Clumps of stalagmites and stalactites stuck up from the ground and dangled from the rooftop, showing where natural caves had been adapted into the dragon-made cavern. A pile of dead was slanted in one corner, with silver tainted lanterns balanced precariously on the various rubble from the clearing of the mines. Deep lines were cut into the ground, creating a jaggedy triangle pattern on the floor of the cave. On the five used walls around the cave, you could see ledges with holes positioned above them, used as doors and windows to houses. A stream flowed through the cavern, with plants laid beside it. More plants were laid all over the cavern; you could barely look anywhere without seeing some kind of flora draped over somewhere. There were a series of gashes in the roof above, letting in some well needed moonlight. Small coves were carved out around the side, with silver pieces of glass positioned in front of them. The cove was filled with dragons, flapping through the air and running across the ground, dark scales and brightly-coloured wings jostling side by side.

Chalcedony groaned.

”How are we supposed to find Hematite in this?”

Halite pushed past Chalcedony and leapt into the air, flying over to a ledge. She landed it and pressed herself to the wall on one side of the small arc serving as a door. He followed her, positioning himself on the other side of the door. Locking eyes with him, she nodded, mouthing, Three, Two, One.

They burst into the cave, to find it empty apart from a small, spruce green dragonet.

“I think we’re in the wrong cave.” Mumbled Chalcedony. “Maybe we should leave...”

Halite stared at the dragonet. “Where is he?”

Chalcedony sighed. “Hal...”

Halite turned to him. “My Prince, please. I know he is here.”

Chalcedony gave a grimace, before looking around the cave. It was small, and the walks of it were cocoonen in plants, unsurprisingly enough. Three entrances to other caves were situated around the cave, and Chalcedony made a start for one of them. “I’ll check in her-”

“Don’t!” Mumbled the dragonet.

Halite and Chalcedony glanced at each other.

“Why?” Asked Chalcedony gently.

The dragonet didn’t reply.

“Why?” Asked Chalcedony again. This time, when the dragonet didn’t reply, he turned towards the arches and strode through them. Halite followed him, dragging the nervous dragonet along with her.

This room was more obviously a bedroom- there were three beds, each one sown out of plants. They were all lined uo so that they were facing a large quartz geode that was half out of the wall. It took up an impressive amount of the wall, and it looked almost like a window.

But this wasn’t what made Halite and Chalcedony raise eyebrows and exchange looks.

It was the fact that one of the beds very clearly had something dragon shaped under it.

Halite knocked the reed mat and ivy quilt off of the figure, to reveal, to absolutely no one’s suprise, that there was a dragon under there.

The dragon coughed nervously, before pushing past Chalcedony and making a break for the door, only to be cur of by the small dragonet.

“You didn’t hide very well.” She noted.

“Get out of the way, little girl!” He spat.

The dragoness’ eyes narrowed. She scowled slightly, putting her hands on her hips. “I’m not female.”

“Thanks, Kiddo.” Smirked Halite as she knocked Hematite off his feet. "Hematite, you're under arrest for-"

"Murdering my sister!" Spat Chalcedony.

There was a pause as everyone in the room stared at him. The Dragnet looked horrified, Halite looked bored and irritated, and Hematite looked confused.

"Murdering...?"

"You're under arrest for murdering Princess Ametrine of the CaveWings!"

"My Prince," Sighed Halite, "you're supposed to wait until the trial to say that."

"Well, that's why we're chasing him."

"True, but-"

Hematite coughed slightly. "Uh, you all seem to be a bit confused. I'm a thief, but I'm not... a murderer. Why would I murder the princess?"

"She was last seen wearing an onyx necklace that dissapeared after we found her body." Chalcedony's voice shook slightly. "We think you killed her to steal the necklace."

"Look!" Hemataite was now beginning to sound desperate. "I didn't murder anyone, certainly not the princess! I steal from the rich to give to the poor!"

"No you don't." Sighed Halite.

"OK, fine, I don't! But I'm still not a murderer- I'm innocent! Please!" He turned to the dragonet. "Do you think I could kill someone?"

The dragonet looked from Hematite to Halite to Chalcedony. "Well, neither of you are being very mean. But how old would you be when the death of the Princess occured?"

"Three!" Hematite wailed dramatically. Halite gave a sigh.

"You've been stealing from the royal family since you were two."

Hematite muttered a quick curse. "Well would you believe a small three year old could kill a fully grown dragonet?"

Now this made them pause. Halite sighed.

"No, but we're still bringing you in. Your rein of terror is coming to an end."

The small dragonet coughed. “Why don’t you team up? Hematite wants to not be executed for murder. You want to find a sister’s murderer. It’s a perfect match!”

There was a pause.

“No.” Deadpanned Halite.

“Look,” sighed Chalcedony, “it’s a nice notion, but it’s-”

“The best idea ever!” Broke across Hematite. “Who better to help look for a criminal than a criminal?”

“What?” Asked Halite, aghast.

“No!” Protested Chalcedony. “You’re a known thief! We can’t just-”

“How good have you been at finding the murderer so far?” Asked Hematite gleefully.

Yet another pause broke across the room.

“We could do with another detective...” mumbled Chalcedony quietly.

“What?” Halite’s voice had heightened to a shout. “My Prince, he is a DANGEROUS CRIMINAL who’s a suspect in MURDERING THE PRINCESS. We can’t just-”

“Take me along with you!” Broke in the dragonet.

“I’m sorry,” said Chalcedony, taken aback. “What? You’re a dragonet! We can’t just-”

“You need more detectives.” Pointed out the dragonet.

“That is besides the point! We don’t even know-”

“My name? It’s Cassiterite.”

“It doesn’t matter what your name is. We don’t even know what we’re up against! It could be a dangerous assassin, or-”

“Actually,” said Hematite dryly, “most murders are committed by someone close to the victim.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Replied Chalcedony angrily. “No one who knew Ametrine would want her dead.”

“To want her dead, there must be a motive!” Jumped in Cassiterite eagerly. “And there must be loads of those for a princess!”

“Her sisters are two major suspects already.” Agreed Hematite. “As well as her mother. They all have the same motive- the crown.”

Halite sighed in defeat, avoiding Chalcedony’s eyes. “My Prince, didn’t you say everyone thought Ametrine would become the next Queen?”

“Well, yes, but...” he hesitated. Now that he thought about it, his sisters were in a rather suspicious spot...

“Fine.” He muttered reluctantly. “We accept your help.”

“Brilliant!” Squealed Cassiterite. “I have some scroll paper. I can go write down a list of suspects on that!”

As she rushed into the main room, Chalcedony stared ahead wordlessly. He didn’t believe his family did anything... but could they have done? It was possible. He could feel a crushing sense of dismay pressing upon him.

But despite this, for the first time in four years, he felt a glimmer of hope.

He might actually have a chance at doing this.

Chapter Two
List of suspects

Spinel

Motive: the Crown, Lapis Lazuli

Forsterite: the crown

Queen Citrine: the crown

Lapis Lazuli: the crown

“I stil don’t think Lapis would kill Ametrine. I mean, sure, she didn’t really like him, but she was most likely to become Queen, and he wanted to be king. Wouldn’t that be counter-productive?”

“She could’ve told him that ahe didn’t really mean to take the crown or something. There’s no way we can leave her fiancée out of it.” Replied Halite.

Chalcedony sighed. “Fine.”

“What about her NightWing boyfriend?” Asked Cassiterite.

“He moved away.” Dissmissed Chalcedony.

“But what if he moved back? It’s not beyond the realms of possibility!”

“Fine.” Sighed Chalcedony.

“But that gives Lapis another motive. If her boyfriend moved back, he might want to kill her so that she won’t elope and leave Lapis with nothing.” Pointed out Halite.

“But what about a motive for her NightWing boyfriend? Why would he want to kill her?” Asked Chalcedony.

“If I can’t have her, nobody else can.” Explained Cassiterite. “Jealousy. A green eyed monster.”

“Right. Who else could it be?” Asked Halite.

Hematite turned to Chalcedony. "Did you see anyone else near the body?"

"Uh," Chalcedony blinked. "The last person I saw before I saw my sister was Spinel."

"Any maids?"

"Like the butler!" Chirped Cassiterite.

"We don't have a butler."

"Whatever." She giggled excitedly.

"What about any maids?" Pressured Hematite.

"I... I don't..." Chalcedony hesitated. Most of the events in that day were blocked out by Ametrine's death. "I don't know..."

"The Prince wouldn't know any of the servant's names." Cut off Halite. "You don't seem to know how a palace works, thief."

"That doesn't seem very fair." Pointed out Cassiterite.

"It's just the way things are." Replied Halite. "It's better than anarchy."

"Look, as much as I care about other people's freedom, which isn't very much, we have my freedom to be concerned about." Hematite peered over Cassiterite's shoulder at the scroll, then shot a glare at her. "Scratch that out."