The Valley of Ten Crescents Series (Box Set: Books 1-3)

by Tristan J. Tarwater

  “Lights, Hock…just…be yourself and do a good job. Hock’ll come around. Shot’s not a bad guy, though he’s a bit…gruff.” Tavera smiled at Lights and he smiled back at her, his long-lashed eyes looking pretty despite the tears. She found herself biting the inside of her lip as he leaned in closer, his warm breath brushing against her mouth before he kissed her. Tavera closed her eyes and let him, returning the kiss once she thought he wouldn’t push her away and he didn’t. Instead he put an arm behind her and leaned into her more, kissing her, his tongue slipping into her mouth. It made her pull away at first but when he kissed her again she didn’t stop him this time and she opened her mouth, trying the same and deciding that she liked it.

  His hand went under her tunic and slid up her belly to her chest, his hand proving that there was something there after all. Tavera’s body tingled as he touched her, and she tried to figure out what to do with her hands. This was usually the part where Derk would walk by and grab her by the arm, yanking her away from the boy she had been kissing. She wasn’t a stranger to boys but having a boy all to herself, and a boy that knew her, knew her really…it made things different. It made Tavera put her hands under his tunic and pull it over his head and she bit his lip without knowing why she did it.

  His hand went up her skirt, his fingers kneading at her skin and then pulling off her shirt and she trembled despite the heat, letting him lay her back on the floor. It was still wet in spots from when she had been washing the table clean and for a second she wondered if she had cleaned it enough. But the thought was quickly chased away by Lights bending over her, his melancholy face now warm and happy as he kissed her again, his belt coming away from his britches in her hands and more of his skin pressing against hers, the hard floor under her.

  In the end Tavera found herself washing blood from her legs and looking over at Lights, his back to her as he buttoned his pants and put on his tunic again. Tavera thought as she washed up, wiping her face with clean water, feeling a touch of an ache in her lower belly, wondering if that was what it was supposed to be like. What part of it had been desire, and what had she really desired? Lights? He was handsome, she supposed. His hands and his other parts on her skin and inside of her?

  It made her head swim a bit to think about it, and her stomach fluttered, tugging on the corners of her mouth so that she was smiling at her reflection in the bucket. It wasn’t the most fun thing she had done but many things weren’t the first time and Derk seemed to enjoy himself anytime they crossed paths with Old Gam. In the end, after Lights had kissed her more awkwardly than she had ever been kissed before and left her, she thought she wouldn’t have paid money for it but she’d be willing to give it another go.

  “What happened to you?” Derk asked when she slid into her seat at the bar. “You fall into the bucket?” He was sitting alone at the Two Headed, the ale almost gone in the pitcher. He poured her a mug. It sloshed over the side and onto the table, fizzing there. Tavera just shook her head and took the mug, looking into it before she took a big gulp. It was sweet and spicy.

  “You did good today, girl,” Derk said, smiling drunkenly. He patted her on the head and drained his mug, pouring himself the rest of the pitcher as he looked to her. “Real good.”

  “So they’re using my plan?” She wondered if she and Derk would get in on the take. If they used her plan, would she get any of the rewards? Tavera knew a few places that spices could be unloaded quietly, a few kitchens and a few individuals who would trade for a finger’s worth of redtree bark or a blacknut or three.

  Derk shook his head. “Not exactly, but something like it. We’re hanging about for a few days to read the guards, get information but Drink’s got something invested in this and Hock….” Derk shrugged. “But he said your idea was a good one.” He drank the rest of his pitcher and looked to her, woozily. Blond lashes blinked slowly and he made a face at her. “Are you feeling well, Kiff? You look all…” All he could do was gesture towards her with his hands and make pained, drunken faces. Tavera felt her face get hot and she lowered her head, hunching her shoulders to make herself smaller, so there’d be less of her to read.

  “I’m fine, Derk. You’re just drunk.” Tavera frowned at him, wondering if he could tell. He had slept with women. Maybe he could tell, just like he could tell what kind of thief someone was just by the way he walked. She didn’t feel different. Just sore.

  “I’m not…you’re right, I am drunk.” Derk laughed and shook his head, lacing his fingers together and putting them behind his head. He smiled dimly, which made her roll her eyes. “I was thinking we could head to the west side after this.”

  “Not north?” Tavera asked, raising her eyebrows. Ravinewild was north, and Moorland. Derk’s face became muddled and he looked as if he might be sick, burping quietly.

  “No. In two days. I mean, we’ll head north first and then west. With Shot and Lights. At first light. Heh.” Derk put his hand on the table and pushed himself up, chuckling over his rather bad joke. “They’re staying at the inn across from the north well.” He managed to lean forward without toppling over and kissed her on the top of her head, leaving a few coins to pay for the drinks and a bit extra for her. Then he left, stumbling out of the bar without knocking into anyone. Tavera watched him go.

  She ordered a bowl of stew and ate it, thinking over the events of the day. So, Hock had liked her plan? And Derk knew he did. But what about Drink and Shot? Drink had criticized her, saying her plan wasn’t glamorous enough. Well, Tavera wasn’t there to please Drink. She was there to come up with a plan that they could pull off and keep them out of the clacks. The beer they served in the Spicehill dregs was the same as the beer anywhere else, she reasoned, drinking from her mug. Her thoughts strayed to Lights, wondering what he thought of her plan. They were in the same spot after all. One day they could be sitting across the table from one another, making plans, criticizing one another, relying on the other’s skills. She scraped up the last bit of her stew with her spoon and stood up, deciding that maybe she should find out what Lights thought of her plan.

  The inn by the north well was called the North Well Inn, and she found their room after asking the boy turning the spits where the boy with the blond hair was staying. The spit turner told her and then asked if she would rather know where he was staying and she laughed, swishing her skirts flirtatiously as she made her way towards the room. Maybe, she told herself. They’d be there a few more days.

  A quick knock on the door brought the sound of footsteps and the door cracked open, dark brown eyes looking at her. He opened the door and she slipped in, Lights closing the door behind her.

  “Everything alright?” he asked. Tavera had gone there meaning to ask him about her plan and what he had thought about it. But then she remembered how he felt about Hock and what his skin felt like and tried hard not to grin, her hands behind her back.

  “Where’s Shot?” she asked, looking around the room. Shot and Lights were messier than she and Derk, clothes hanging off of things, their packs undone and laying slopping on the floor. Lights scratched his head and shrugged, looking confused.

  “He’s out with Drink, why?” he asked.

  “I want to try again,” she said, her words more forceful than she had intended them to be. For a breath Lights looked confused and they stared at each other for a moment, his eyes growing bigger as he realized what she was asking. He fumbled to secure the door, looking around the room as if someone else was there watching before his mouth met hers, Tavera pulling him with her towards the unmade bed.

  It always took a few times to get something right, Tavera told herself. The first time she stole a tart she burned her fingers and it had broke in her hands as she ran away. The first time she had thrown a punch, she scraped her knuckles so badly they had bled. Tavera won a small victory, gaining a bit of Hock’s acceptance, even if Drink didn’t approve of her plan so a bit of celebration was in order, right? A memory from her days with Prisca came to mind and she pushed Light
s onto the bed before he could push her, sitting on top of him. This time would be better, she thought.

  Tavera pushed through the crowd, smiling at the bearded man who brushed up against her, his hand squeezing her backside in the press of people. Her hand squeezed too but her fingers wrapped around the coins he had in his pocket, the only thing about him she found interesting and he laughed, thinking something else. It was hot in the bar, people singing and drinking and carrying on. It was High Summer Moon and out of doors people were splashing each other with buckets of water in celebration, drinking barley water and beer indoors, playing music on every street corner.

  Derk let her run about town to partake in the festivities and Tavera had loosed herself on the town of Redbriar as if it were her last day on earth. The heat and the holiday gave everyone free reign and people ate, drank and caroused to their hearts desire, the gluttony of heat calling for a gluttony of the body. She had already been drenched by two buckets of water and personally seen to the dousing of three guards, laughing hysterically as the water dripped through their light armor and pooled beneath them.

  She was returning from the temple where the priestesses had moved a statue of the goddess outside, the grey clad women standing around and accepting donations of money, food and other things, the surplus of the season going to the temple in thanks to the White Breasted One. Even the statue of the goddess and the priestesses were not exempt from the buckets of water, water dripping down the white, clay folds of her garments. Some of the priestesses were drenched while the dry ones looked at the wet ones enviously. The day was sweltering and all the open windows and door didn’t help to dispel the heat of the grips of people pressed against each other, dancing, singing, drinking, groping.

  All the inns were full to capacity for the holiday and she and Derk had been staying in a common room with a dozen other people, the sleeping habits of strangers and the excitement for the holiday having made it difficult to go to sleep the previous night. But this morning’s sleepiness was chased away by good cheer and she slapped a blueie on the counter, the bartender offering her a pitcher of the the weak beer everyone drank in great volumes today. She shook her head and mouthed what she wanted and the bartender put a hand to his ear, leaning forward to try and hear her. She shouted her order and he nodded, reaching behind the bar for a glass and the green bottle that held the liquor she was seeking. The liquor itself was green and it sparkled as he poured it. Tavera reached over with both hands and wrapped her fingers around it, pushing her way past the people to the staircase in the back that went down to the basement.

  The noise in the basement didn’t match the din upstairs but it was just as hot and smokier. Card tables were set up and people were betting money, pieces of fabric, thread, dried goods, anything they had that was acceptable to the other players. She looked around, the smoke from the pipes swirling before the light the lanterns gave off. Men and women were playing and kissing and cursing and singing. Derk had been here when he had cut her loose and she thought she would find him here again, but her eyes found nothing but strangers. A face she recognized brought her over to the table and she couldn’t help but gaze at the man’s cards.

  “Where’s my pa?” she asked. The man arranged his cards and threw in two blessed candles from the Holy Bowl, a good bet indeed.

  “Who, the yellow haired hem chewer who took me for ten fullies and five lengths of ribbon? Are the ribbons for you, girl?” The balding man looked up at her, his beard crawling across his face like a rash. “I suppose not. Hair like a boy. Tits like one too.”

  “D’you know where he is or don’t you?” she shot, annoyed. He laughed and threw down two cards and picking up another two.

  “He left a bit ago, someone gave him a whisper and he got a stony face and shot off. Now, be gone with you, girl!”

  Tavera glowered at him, glad Derk had beat him at cards. Still. “He’s got three wings,” she said to the rest of the table, turning and rushing out before the man could get a hold of her, the sound of chairs overturning and cursing clamoring behind her as she laughed, bolting up the stairs. She pushed her way through the crowd, glad she was tall. Her last growth spurt had put her of a height with Derk though he outweighed her by quite a bit. A hand grabbed her chest and she held her drink over her head as she made her way out, glad to get a lungful of cooler, fresh air. The noise of the outdoor revelries carried up to the sky and Tavera took a sip of her drink. It was herbal and slightly bitter, but good.

  Her feet carried her to the temple. It was the only place Derk would find to think if he was in a serious mood. Regardless of the type of worship the day required, temples were always quiet, a place for prayer and contemplation. Tavera barely missed being drenched by a bucket of water as she turned a corner, almost spilling her drink but she dodged the spray of water intended for someone else. The white steps shone in the distance and she poured the rest of her drink at the feet of the statue of the goddess, smiling at the stained figure before she took the steps in twos, looking around for Derk.

  He was sitting by himself to the far left, his blond hair unmistakable to the girl. Other people were praying at the altar, a couple ready to take their vows of loyalty there with the ribbon for the priestess to bless. Tavera reached the aisle and slid down the length of the wooden pew on her knees, drawing a disapproving scowl from her father.

  His blue eyes were bloodshot. Derk had been crying though he wasn’t now. His prayer beads lay laced through his fingers and he bowed his head. For a second Tavera thought he was going back to praying but he squeezed in close next to her and he sighed. “Hock is dead.”

  “What?” Tavera’s mouth dropped open slightly and she looked forward, letting the news sink in. “I’m…I’m sorry, pa.”

  “You didn’t kill him,” Derk said, shrugging. His face looked tired, the lines at the corners of his eyes looking deeper, darker. “Nobody killed him. He had a chest pain and…then he couldn’t breath. And he died. No knife. No rope. Not even from catching a bad chill.” Derk shook his head and looked sad, the saddest she had ever seem him look and it made Tavera uncomfortable. He sucked snot up through his nose and wiped his face with his sleeve, the beads glinting in the light. His blue eyes looked not only sad but confused, Tavera saw.

  Hock had been his mentor but also his leader, the unofficial leader of The Cup. Questions shone in his eyes as well as grief and he stared down at his hands, looking to Tavera’s. Derk forced a smile, a rather pathetic one. “At least his last take was a good one. The spice bit. That was good, Tavi.” His hands reached for hers and she let him take them, wrapping his fingers through them. “Tavera, you must promise me something.”

  “What, pa?” The beads from the rosary dug into her skin and his grip was tight. He held her hands tighter still and he lowered his voice so that she had to lean in to hear it.

  “Promise me now, in front of the goddess that if something should happen to me…if I should be caught by guards or a lord or anyone…you will not come for me.”

  “What?”

  “Promise me,” he whispered. “I didn’t pluck you from that woman, I didn’t raise you in my eyesight, share my bed, my food, my secrets, my friends…for you to wind up in jail besides me. I would die if that happened, Tavi. My heart would tear in two.”

  “Derk, you won’t get caught, you can’t-”

  “Tavi, it could happen. Everyone makes mistakes. And sometimes things just…they just happen.” He sighed wearily and he kissed her on the cheek, a dry, fatherly kiss that made tears well up in her eyes. “Please, Tavi. Promise.”

  Tavera swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the quiver that threatened her voice and she nodded, focusing on the pain of the beads digging into her skin. “I promise, Derk. I’ll always be your girl. And if it happens…I’ll keep on being your girl.” It was hard to say and the words tried not to come but they did. The relief in Derk’s face made it worth it. He let go of her hands finally, pulling her to lay on his shoulder. He smelled like tobacco
smoke and beer and sweetsleep and he played with her hair, careful not to expose her ear. Her tears drained away and she looked up at the goddess that stood before them indoors, her black hands offering abundance to her worshipers. “What now? With the Cup?” she asked.

  She felt his shoulder shrug under her head, his free hand playing with the beads of his rosary, more for something to do than out of piety. “Everyone will stumble around for a bit. There’ll be some arguments. But eventually everyone will come together again. Someone will rise above the others and take the lead. Same as always.”

  “Maybe you?” Tavera said, turning her head to look up at him. Derk turned his head to look at her and snorted with laughter. It made a priestess look to them and he mouthed an apology, keeping his chuckles in his chest so that Tavera felt them under her head.

  “If you love your pa you’ll never wish that on me,” he said. “No, someone else. Luckily I was on the upswing when he left. It could have gone badly for us. No, I won’t ever be the head but I can be on a shoulder. In good graces. I think we’re there now.” He smiled at her and mussed her hair which made her make a face. They sat there in the temple for a while, breathing in the incense and listening to the chimes when she felt Derk draw in his breath before he spoke again. “You slept with Lights?”

  Tavera’s body stiffened slightly and Derk had his answer. He breathed out his disappointment in one long sigh and Tavera sat up, keeping her eyes on the altar. “It’s not a big deal,”she said. “You sleep with Old Gam all the time.”