“What we always fight over. Friends, money. Connections.” Tavera felt like he was going to say ‘you’ but he held the word back and just squeezed her shoulder. Tavera frowned. Who did Old Gam think she was, hitting her pa like that? She regretted not bringing it up at breakfast despite Derk’s silent insistence that she keep quiet. With Tavera watching maybe she could have found something out, get to the heart of the matter between Old Gam and Derk. Years of history was the basis of the relationship of the two adults but maybe a fresh set of eyes could see something they were blind to. Then again Old Gam did just see her as a child, despite the physical change. They came to the gate, the departing carts lined up according to their destinations. Derk led her not towards the northern bound carts but the ones headed east, across the Freewild. Tavi looked up to him and grinned, Derk returning her grin with a wink.
“Just you and the girl?” the woman asked. Her brown hair was very short and her arms were thick with muscles. She even had a tattoo on her forearm that made Tavera’s eyes big, a naked woman dancing under the moon. The man behind her was loading bags onto the cart, lashing them down with ropes. Among the provisions were a few weapons, probably meant more for dealing with issues in the Freewild than for trade. Tavera felt her heart thump with excitement, wanting to leap up onto the cart.
“Aye, to the first eastern village,” Derk said, setting his pack on the ground. He pulled out the bundle of pastries Old Gam had made them and a few handfuls of coins. He looked at the provisions on the cart and smiled. “This is headed to Reedwood, ain’t it?”
“Right you are,” the woman said and she smiled broadly at them. “Lucky for them Portsmouth temple owes them for the manuscripts that burned a few phases ago. Reedwoods crops have been faring poorly these past seasons.”
“I’ve done temple work before, before the library of Reedwood got the annex. We got the Everlight Chalice back from those sunny hem-chewers years ago,” Derk said which made Tavera raise her brows. Derk had worked for the church before? This was news to her. Apparently it was good news to the cart driver since she grinned widely.
“Oh, another fellow used to knocking heads in the Green, eh? Well, you’re welcome on board, a fellow hand to the temple, past or present.” She set her brown eyes on Tavera and looked to her. “And you, can you hold your own if we get into trouble in the Green? You look too young to have helped anyone but yourself.”
“I gave him that black eye!” Tavera exclaimed, which made the large woman laugh so raucously Tavera thought she would never stop. Tears streamed down her face and the woman smacked her on the shoulder, which hurt. She hit hard and Tavera was glad the woman seemed so jovial.
“I like you, little one,” the woman proclaimed, crossing her arms over her muscled breasts. She smiled when she said it and Tavera smiled back, deciding she liked her too. The woman gave them a discount on their fare but said they had to acquire their own food and keep watch. Any disobedience meant being left in the Freewild. Derk gave her coin but not the pastries, much to Tavera’s delight before they climbed into the cart, settling in among the beans, barley and dried fish.
“You never told me you worked for the church,” Tavera said, eating a pastry. Derk just shrugged and pulled out his cards, shuffling them against his knee. Tavera crammed the rest of the food into her mouth and ignored Derk’s disapproval, waiting for him to deal her a hand. Excitement, not pain rumbled her stomach now. The Freewild and then the Eastern Valley. She had never been there before. Derk told Old Gam they were heading north. Tavera picked up her cards and didn’t care that she had a bad hand. The discomfort of her Red Earth time was stamped out by the prospect of new towns to explore and Derk getting away from Old Gam. Tavera smiled at her pa and laid down a card. The ring around Derk’s eye was starting to get more purple and he winced when he smiled back but he seemed in good spirits. There would be plenty of time to win at cards on the journey, Tavera told herself and she set down another card, too happy to care that she would probably lose.
CHAPTER 7
Something For Nothing
Tavera wasn’t wearing her belt on purpose. She could have worn it but Derk had said Shot would be there with Lights and she would have to make an impression so the accessory was left in the room. It was brown, soft leather, rather plain though she had found some pretty green beads to tie at the ends of the laces that kept it tied under her chest. Tavera wore the loosest tunic she had and a skirt and as she leaned over the game board, she could see Lights’ dark eyes straying, trying to look down her shirt. The tunic was a bit too big in the shoulders, meant to show the collar bones as was the style. It draped past her shoulder, her brown skin a splash of color in the otherwise drab room. Her dark, thick hair brushed her shoulders and she put it behind her good ear, smiling at Lights.
Tavera took him in when she had first seen him so she could spend the rest of the meeting distracting him and listening to the adults. Shot was there, Derk was there, a red-headed woman who went by Drink was there, all of them looking over a map of the city drawn in chalk on the wooden table in the center of the room. Drink had drawn it and was doing most of the talking, the person in the group who had spent the most time in the spice towns of Redtree, Truehome and Spicehill. The take was for just that: spices. It was high summer and hot in the room. Tavera took another sip of the ale Shot brought. It tasted like healer’s hand, spicy but sweet and she took a gulp of it, wiping her mouth with her hand.
It wasn’t that Lights wasn’t good looking. Dirty blond curls framed his face and he had dark brown eyes. Almost a pretty boy except he tended to have a melancholy air about him that some found off-putting. Derk had told Tavera where Shot had found him and that he wasn’t supposed to tell her but it hadn’t been so far-fetched. Shot had been at the ‘men’s home’ for a business meeting and found the boy there, serving drinks. Lights looked like the kind of boy a man could desire though the looks he was giving her told her he didn’t think of men the same way. Tavera thought he was cute but he didn’t make her face hot. And she wasn’t there to look at boys, she was there to work.
Spicehill actually had a wall around it with gates that opened and closed. There were roads common folk weren’t allowed to walk on unless they had a pass and ones they were forbidden from completely. The places where the redtree groves and blacknut vines grew were also guarded and anyone who worked there was checked before they left to be sure they weren’t stealing anything. The lake grew large aquatic flowers in various colors, the silvery-grey ones prized for making incense for the temples, the roots to make a potent, mind-altering tea reserved only for priestesses. Redtree also had a wall around it but not the variety of spices for trade and Truehome held the Baron Mielkin’s urban home, the grounds dotted by dozens of beehives supplying some of the most interesting honeys in the Valley.
Drink was going over the gates of Spicehill, the schedules for the openings and closings of each one, the number of guards and the proximity of the gates to the spice stores and warehouses. The three block lords were not to be trusted. The trio kept itself in balance to the benefit of them all and wouldn’t tip their scales for fear of winding up with less in hand than the others. If they caught wind of any plan, they would be after them and on them. In addition, the guards also possessed special dogs at the gates that could sniff out spices.
Tavera listened to all their ideas, talking over the various shop owners and processors of the spice. She moved her game piece on the board, seeing Lights smirk as he captured one of her pieces. A look of disappointment crossed her face and she shrugged. “Can’t you go easy on me?”
“Have you ever played Foxes before?” Lights asked, looking down her shirt again. Tavera didn’t understand what he was staring at. There was nothing there to see, nothing to warrant that much staring. She knew, she looked at them every day. Maybe Tavera was wrong about Lights; maybe he was into men. She should have worn britches in that case.
“A few times. I like cards more.” The group was now talking over
the strength of the wall, weak points in the masonry, places where it would be easier to climb.
“Did you bring any cards?” Lights had a fine voice that was almost done with changing, most of his speaking tones deeper rather than higher, a pleasant sound. He could probably get a job as a singer in a hall as long as the change didn’t treat him too unkindly. It hadn’t thus far. Tavera shook her head and lay on her belly, propping her chin against her hands as she looked over the board. The tones of the adults were starting to sound more exasperated, Derk circling the table with one arm crossed over his chest, one hand at his chin. Drink was refilling in a few spots that Hock had rubbed out with his finger.
“You know, I’m from the southern Valley,” Lights said, obviously trying to make conversation. He watched her hand as she moved her dam to protect the kits, leaving her sire wide open. He went in for the kill, killing her sire with his own, removing the piece of carved wood from the board.
“You don’t say?” she asked, shifting on her elbows. It was hard to lay like this, the hard floor against her stomach and hipbones and she sat up finally, taking another gulp of her drink. Tavera had pretty much lost the board game but she didn’t mind. They hadn’t been playing for money and if she had played her cards right, she’d come out on top in the long run.
“Yeah,” he answered back. And that was all he replied. Tavera stared at him, expecting him to say something more but realizing he knew he had nothing to say. He wasn’t from Spicehill so he couldn’t show her around. And he may have been born in the south but it meant nothing now except that he might have a higher tolerance for finger peppers. He smiled at her finally, a nice smile and for a breath Tavera felt a bit guilty. Here they were, two children, two apprentices in the same line of work and instead of trying to make a friend of him, she had tried to distract him, throw him under for her own gain. But then he looked to her chest again and she didn’t feel as bad anymore.
“Kiff,” Derk called, and he gestured for her to come over. She smiled at Lights before she stood up, shaking out her skirts as she took the few steps to bring her to Derk’s side. She looked to where his attention was. “Kiff, what do you see here?”
Tavera had heard all that they had said about the wall, the ways that were barred to them, the locks, the dogs, the punishments. “I see…that maybe we have to have someone else do our taking for us.”
Hock placed his hands on the table. Sweat was starting to gather under his armpits and his sweaty knuckles smudged the chalk where his skin touched it. “How do you mean, girl?”
“Well, there’s so much watching on the walls and around the town,” she said. Her fingers played with the collar of her tunic as she tried to organize the thoughts she had formed during her board game, when Lights had been too busy staring at her and winning. “The best way would be to wait till someone from without came to get their own, left and take it from them. The guards keep logs of everyone coming into town, and how long they’ll here. How hard would it be to get a log, look it over for a mark, return it and then head out?” Tavera remembered how they had to state their business and an estimated length of time they planned to be in the city, a gate tax asked from the both of them. The guard assured them that there would be a hefty fee added if they stayed longer than they said, handing them a scrap of fabric with a picture on it. If they lost the fabric they would get another fine. Derk had grumbled about it the entire time they walked to the inn, still muttering about it as he sat over a mug of needleleaf beer. Of all the people who had come for the take, Shot and Lights had put in for the shortest amount of time, all of them giving a different length so as not to draw suspicion.
All of the adults looked at one another. Tavera could almost hear a buzzing as their eyes all flashed round, trading thoughts with looks, all of their eyes looking at her occasionally. Drink smirked at Tavera. “It’s hardly glamorous. Road robbery.”
“You didn’t ask me for the most glamorous. You asked what I’d do. I’d go this way, which still gets me a good bit. People who come through here to buy don’t leave with enough for a bowl of bone and broth, they leave with a good amount, they spend a grip or two to take back.” Tavera was fairly certain that she had heard that those who traded in Spicehill usually served whole towns or came with the money of several people at a time. Spicehill could guard what was within the walls but they couldn’t afford escorts for everyone who came to buy and not everyone who came to buy would come with bodyguards and swords. “If you want glorious, go to Truehome and set fire to the Baron’s keep with him inside, start a riot so that the pickers and the guards can have free reign of the fields and the warehouses.” Tavera shrugged. “Are we looking for glory or spices?”
Hock laughed out loud, his shoulders shaking. Tavera looked to Derk. His mouth was covered with his hand but he was looking at her with some kind of emotion. She couldn’t tell if it was pride or disapproval. Drink looked to Lights, who was still sitting in front of the game, his face blank. Tavera was confused. Had she given the wrong answer? Finally Derk smiled at her and patted her on the shoulder before all the adults broke away from the map and started talking among themselves.
“I’m headed to the Two Headed to have a drink with Hock. Will you clean the map and meet me up there when you’re done?” Derk asked. Everyone else was gathering up their things, making plans. Lights got up and threw the game board into his pack, giving Tavera a look she couldn’t decipher just yet and she nodded at Derk. “You did alright, Kiff,” he smiled again, turning to leave with everyone else. He looked back at her one more time before he disappeared out the door, his big boots stomping heavily down the steps.
Tavera stood there for a moment, wondering what just happened. She shook her head free of the questions and looked down to the ground, finding a bucket of water and a cloth. Sweat dripped down her side as she dipped the cloth in, wringing it out over the wooden table. The water splattered and made dark circles on the wooden surface, making spots on her tunic and brushing against her skin when she moved. Tavera sighed as she wiped away at the chalk marks on the table, destroying the evidence scrawled there. The white chalk buried deep into the wood and so she had to drown it out with big scoops of water, spreading it out so it would dry quickly in the heat. A lock of hair fell into her eyes and she pushed it away, wetting it with her hands in the hopes it would stay back. She looked at the table and then back at the bucket. She would need more water.
The stable boy at the inn traded her empty bucket for a full one and she flashed him a smile that made him grin back, heading back up towards the staircase leading up to the little room. A familiar head of curls caught her eye and followed her but she didn’t bother to turn and acknowledge him, keeping her eyes forward.
“Hey,” Lights said when she was halfway up the stairs, his gaze set on her. She tossed her head at him and continued up to the room, careful not to spill the water. Tavera didn’t bother closing the door. She knew he would close it when he got to the room and he did, a quiet thud punctuating his arrival.
“I know you tricked me into not paying attention at the meeting,” he shot at her. Tavera rolled her eyes and dipped the cloth into the bucket, squeezing it onto the table again.
“I’m not the one who was so taken by hardly nothing at all,” she said, mocking him with her tone. “Besides, no one asked for your input, so no one found out you’ve got nothing in your head but eyes and a tongue. Though I’m sure your pa noticed Hock didn’t so much as look at you the whole time.” She looked over her shoulder, expecting him to look angry or even embarrassed. Instead the young man looked distressed, his eyes lost as his thoughts rattled in his brain.
“He’s not my pa,” he answered finally and she thought she heard him choke, a crack in his voice giving away his age. “And asides, you and the Lurk ain’t fooling anyone. Who do you think you are? You’re just another set of hands to tear out a share, you know! And not for who you think, neither! Hock’s just using everybody to get what he wants, and you included!”
>
“That ain’t true,” Tavera snapped and she wheeled around, forgetting her duties and focusing her anger on Lights. “You think you know better than me? I’ve known Hock longer than you, I’ve known Derk longer than you!” Tavera’s brain scrambled as she tried to think of something to shoot at him, to knock him down before he carried this too far. “Though I suspect you do know men better than me! Shot’s said as much to everyone.”
Light’s eyes went wide, as if he’d been kicked between the legs and his face went white and then red. His mouth disappeared on his face as he pressed his lips together. Lights swallowed and then he blew his breath out quietly, as if exhaling the words he wanted to say. “That…that is how I know this, Kiff. I’ve known men like Hock. He’s like a priestess with a knife for a twixt, you pull up her robes and you’re dead! He’ll use your pa too and he’s already using you.”
“Why’re you talking about The Cup like this!? You know The Cup ain’t bad! Not bad for people like us. We need it. My pa ain’t bad for people like us.”
“Your pa is fine, The Cup is fine, I’ve nothing against stealing and having fun! Just because we live by the take doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take pride as well as blueies! But Hock…I…Kiff…” He sat on the floor cross legged, and put his head into his hands, his blond curls spilling over his fingers. For a moment Tavera thought that he was laughing but after a few breaths she took a step back, realizing that he was crying. “I just…I don’t want to be used anymore, Kiff? Do you?”
Tavera frowned and set the cloth down on the table before she walked over to him as quietly as she could, sitting besides him. His face was covered with his hands but she put her hand on his chin and made him look at her.
“No,” she said, her dark eyes looking into his. Tavera felt like crying too but couldn’t. She sat next to Lights and let her hands fall into her lap, feeling his eyes still on her, the hot day made even warmer by how close they sat to one another. Tavera stared down at her hands, long, brown fingers made soft by rubbing them with oil every night. Was that all she was? A pair of hands? No. Did Hock think that? Let him think that. If at first he accepted her hands, he might accept the rest of her, wouldn’t he? Everything in small steps. Hock was learning she could take and also deal, everyone at the table had seen it. Derk knew it. He knew that and more.
The Valley of Ten Crescents Series (Box Set: Books 1-3) Page 11
