The barkeep lay moaning to the ground, clutching his stomach. While Tavera wanted to make sure Tender was alright, now was her chance. It was the only way she could help Tender and the priestess now, the strange man focused on the barkeep. Tavera threw the dagger, the piece of sharp metal aimed for the man’s stomach. But as the metal blade slipped from her fingers, the stranger pointed his crescent-shaped knife at her, a cruel grin on his terrible face.
Everything seemed to slow down. Red sparkles glowed on the edge of the sickle, came off the blade and floated to her. Sound, time and vision muffled and crawled as the lights settled around her head and turned white. Her eyes burned as the world became a painful, searing illumination before her. If Tavera screamed in pain, she didn’t hear it. Eventually everything around her faded back to red. Then the world turned black, her limbs losing their strength as she slumped blindly to the ground.
CHAPTER SIX
Dark Corners
A candle flickered in the corner of the room, its yellow and orange light creeping across the blackness. The only sound was a faint dripping noise from above. The floor below her was scratchy and coming apart. Tavera sniffed and felt around, trying to figure out what it was. It wasn’t the floor at all. It was hay. She was lying in a pile of hay. The room seemed familiar, though she thought it should have been bigger for some reason. Now the space seemed too small, almost suffocating.
From the darkness beyond the candlelight, a figure stepped up. Tavera gasped, all of her words stuck in her throat. Tears sprang to her eyes as he walked into the light and up to her, staring down.
“How could you do it, Tavera?” Derk’s voice made the tears finally fall but his tone kept her from speaking still. He looked terrible. His blond hair was dirty, his face haggard, his skin dry. His clothes, torn and muddy, hung off his gaunt frame. He stroked his scruffy beard, gray and yellow, his blue eyes unnaturally bright in the dark. “How could you leave me there?”
Tavera blinked, tears still streaming down her face. She looked down at her hands. They were tied at the wrists. She stared at the carefully knotted ropes before gazing up into her pa’s face again. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she could manage to make words. “How…but…Derk, you told me--”
“I know what I told you!” he shouted. It sounded so loud in the small room, Tavera winced. Derk bent forward and grabbed her by the throat, Tavera too shocked to cry out as he slammed her into the wall. “I told you that as your teacher. As my student you did the right thing. But you called me ‘Pa’ for all those years and when I got into trouble, you RAN away!” He slammed her into the wall again, and this time she did cry out, all her attempts to get away pointless. He had all of his weight on her and she tried to push him off, crying out in fear.
How had he gotten out? How had she gotten here? Why he was doing this? Her father dropped her to the floor and she landed on her side, unable to catch herself on her bound hands. A sharp pain shot through her wrist and Tavera cried out again. Derk chuckled in the orange glow.
“I, I wanted to help you, I did!” Tavera managed to sob. Surely he had to believe that, surely he knew. “I, I went back to where the man who had done the ceremony, where he was staying, but he was gone! I really looked and then someone from the Cup told me I had to leave, they were looking for me! I even went to Portsmouth, to see if I couldn’t get Gam to help me, but she never showed!” The tears in her eyes made the room blurry and she felt snot running from her nose. “I waited three days! I heard browncloaks all over the west side were cracking down, putting people in jail! And I didn’t know what to do. So…so I did what you had told me to do.” Why hadn’t she tried harder to get him out? What more could she have done? “I’m…I’m on my way to Tyeskin, to see if I can’t find Lights. Maybe he can help.”
“Lights? That fapper? Are you going there to help me or help yourself?” Derk sneered. “You aren’t trying now, are you? Couldn’t even throw a brick when I got caught. You just froze, didn’t you? Walked out?”
Tavera suddenly felt inadequate and stupid. Worst of all, she felt like she had failed Derk, the only person who had ever loved her and the only parent she had ever really known. It was horrible. She thought she had cried all the tears she could have over this but her heart felt as if it would rip in her chest and she sobbed in pain and grief.
“I thought…I did…what you wanted me to do,” Tavera cried. “It was hard to do it, Pa, it was.”
“Not as hard as sitting in jail. I know what you did. You betrayed me.”
“What?” Tears froze in her eyes as his words hit her brain, the audacity of the accusation cutting through her emotions. Tavera blinked, trying to wipe her eyes with her hands. She winced as she got hay in them, the shards of dry grass scratching. She tried to brush the hay out, the sharp pain growing as she furtively tried to clear it.
“You heard me,” came the voice. This time, Derk stood very close. Before she could do anything, she was on her feet, her back pressed up against the wall again. The pressure across her shoulders felt as if he would break her collarbones. “I think you turned me in, to be rid of me.” “No, it isn’t true, it could never be true,” she gasped, tears and snot catching in her throat. Somewhere in the wobbling, watery light which was the world there came a flash of something metal. Then the cool, sharp sensation of a knife to her throat. Still, her eyes could not focus and Tavera tried not to cry. Couldn’t he see he was hurting her? “Stop, Derk, please, you’re hurting me! I’m sorry!”
Her eyes burned. A single candle burned somewhere in the background. The darkness seemed more inviting and Tavera wished for it, wanting nothing more than to be back in the stupefying darkness of ignorance. Derk pushed her down to her knees, scraping her skin and rattling her bones. She felt him move behind her, grabbing her roughly by the hair and jerking her head back. The knife moved up to where her head met her neck.
“I don’t care about that. I gave you your life and you threw mine away. I hate you, Tavera. I hate you and no one will ever care about you ever again. Especially not when I’m through with you.”
Panic welled up inside of her. Tavera shrieked, trying to pull away, yanking her hair from his grasp. She fell forward to the ground, pain shooting through her bound wrists. Before she could get up, he was on her, pinning her to the ground. Hay scraped at her eyes and her face was wet, tears streaming down her cheeks. His weight was as heavy as the guilt she felt about leaving him and the more she fought him, the more it hurt. No one could hear her, she was sure of that, but still, she tried to scream, tried to do something to stop her world from crushing her to death.
“No, Derk, NO!”
“She’s awake! Quick, hold her down!”
“Hold her down!”
“I’m trying! OW!”
Tavera’s hands could finally move. The first thing she did was strike out with a fist, her knuckles bashing into something. She heard someone stumbling back, booted feet on a wooden floor. Tavera tried to open her eyes but they wouldn’t cooperate. They were stuck closed. “Get OFF of me,” she shouted. Tavera struck out again, pushing off the weight of whoever was on her with a grunt. Tavera caught someone under their chin with her elbow and sat up. When she was sure no one was touching her or near her, she pried open her crusted eyes with her fingers.
The room came into focus slowly, the crust on her eyes flaking onto her cheeks, collecting in her lashes. Her eyes still hurt as they had in…her dream. It must have been a dream. When she rubbed at her eyes she felt something dry scrape against her skin. Her hands were covered with large, crusty brown flakes of dried blood. Tavera looked up, still shaking from what had just happened, her head jerking around as she looked about the room.
“How did I get here?” she demanded, her voice quavering slightly. One of the people in the room started as she spoke. She was back in the room Tender had given her, in the bed she had never slept in last night. The sun coming in through the window told her it was well into the morning. Three villagers she
didn’t recognize just stared at each other. One of them, a tall, lanky farmer looked to someone who may have been his son and pointed toward the door with his chin, the boy staring at Tavera with wide eyes. He ran out the door, his footsteps loud and clunky down the stairs.
“Miss…Point, is it?” the farmer asked. “We…we brought you here, after we found you. You and Tender got into a skirmish with a stranger who escaped on horseback.” The farmer blinked his watery blue eyes. “Don’t you remember?”
The fight…the…stranger with the scar. A woman held out a damp towel to her and she snatched it, not able to keep from glaring at her as she took it. Tavera wiped her eyes, seeing the red-and-rust-colored blood. The stranger had knocked Tender out and then he had…he’d pointed that sickle at her. There had been lights and then darkness and then the dream.
Had it been a dream? A sickness crept into the pit of her stomach as she recalled it. It couldn’t have just been a dream. It had felt so real, both physically and emotionally. Tavera felt the guilt and the knife and the hands, heard Derk’s cruel words. Tavera shuddered. Something about it had been real, though obviously some of it had been a dream. It had been in the little room under the bar, where Derk had first taken her all those years ago. She had been scared then too, but not like this. The guilt and the pain had felt worse than anything else she had experienced before, even worse than the initial shock over losing her father in the first place. Could her father have done that to her? How could she even imagine it? It was horrific.
The sound of loud footsteps approached and broke the tension in the room as Tender, the boy and Little walked into the room. Tender’s face was ashen, his eyes wide with concern. He seemed startled by her and he looked to the boy. “A drink for her, get to it,” he barked. “All of you clear out,” he said to the rest of them. “Give her some space.” The farmer and the girl left the room, leaving Tavera there with Tender and Little
“Thank the Goddess you’re alright, Miss Point,” Tender said, taking a step toward her. She gave him a look which stopped him in his tracks and he stepped back. His face was badly bruised where the stranger had punched him. It gave his face a crooked kind of look to it, his hair mussed and his shirt open to the chest. “I’m…I’m sorry. We were very worried. No one in the community knew what he had done to you. The symptoms were troubling and…no one could rouse you.” Tender took a deep breath. “We thought he had put a death-sleep on you.”
“If only,” was all she said, standing up from the bed, not surprised to find her legs unsteady beneath her. Tender lunged forward to help her, and she allowed him, fighting the urge to recoil as he touched her. It had only been a dream, after all. The pain in her eyes reminded her of the hay from her dream and her stomach knotted and turned with the recent memory.
“Are you alright?” Tender asked. Again, concern played on his bruised face. She could see him trying not to wince as he spoke. Tavera nodded, sighing heavily as she found her balance, the men taking their hands off her, much to her relief. Little smiled sheepishly at her before returning his gaze to the floor.
“Why the twixt did you bring him here?” she asked, her voice croaking as she spoke. Tavera began rummaging through her bag for some food, hoping it would settle her stomach. “You think a sick body wants a strange one near?”
“I had him come to help.” Tavera looked over Little, frowning slightly as she continued to search through her bag without looking. With the two of them before her, the lack of resemblance was uncanny. Tender had dark hair that hinted at having been lighter when he was younger, and dark eyes. While he definitely wasn’t fat, he was well-muscled. That coupled with his undying confidence made the barkeep a formidable figure in any setting. Little was sinewy, his arms looking like they were made from thick, strong vines, the veins popping out as if his skin was on too tight. His hair was sticking up more than usual today and his eyes were light and hadn’t connected with anyone since he had walked through the door. He didn’t look as if he would be helping with anything besides making himself feel more uncomfortable and Tavera snorted quietly, finally finding an old biscuit in her pack.
“The villagers heard the shouts and came to the scene after we were both…dealt with,” Tender continued. “The man told them he was taking the priestess hostage unless….” Tender trailed off for a breath, wincing when he frowned. “Unless we delivered something they think she has to them in a few days’ time. I thought maybe Little could help us with that.”
“Well…” she said, taking a bite out of the biscuit and walking right up to Little, standing too close to him on purpose. She chewed loudly as she stared into his face, the young man obviously trying very hard not to seem nervous but failing miserably. She was glad he felt nervous. Better him than her. She swallowed half of what was in her mouth before speaking. “What can he do, exactly?”
“He…he’s a tracker. He can help us find the stranger.” Tender took his brother’s arm and pulled him out of her cold gaze, giving the girl a curious look. “You’re obviously still out of sorts, Miss Point so we’ll leave you to rest--”
“No!” Tavera shouted, not meaning to, her expression going from cold to troubled in a breath. Her mouth opened as she thought of what she wanted to say, not wanting to reveal what she felt. She definitely did not want to rest and she most certainly did not want to be alone with her thoughts. Tavera hoped they did not notice her hands shook as she grabbed her cloak, draping it over her shoulders so she wouldn’t have to bother with fastening it. “Have you…have you found this thing the stranger was looking for?”
“No,” Tender replied. “We’ve mostly been waiting for you to wake up, getting patched up.”
“I haven’t been getting patched up,” Little muttered, the first words he had spoken since he had entered the room. Tavera smiled at the look Tender gave him. She pushed past the both of them, leaving her room and trying to leave the thoughts of her dream behind her.
“We should go to the priestess’ place. There is something I would like to see, I think it will help us…find her.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Broken Truths
Before Tender could protest, she was out the door. Her boots clunked down the stairs and across the floor as she exited, ignoring the people who stared. She heard Tender and Little following after her and Little muttering to himself. Spring clouds billowed above and the air smelled chilled and green. Tavera locked eyes on the house in question and half jogged there, Tender finally running up to her side. “How long was I out?” she asked.
“A few hours. It’s almost time for morning meal,” he said. They both slowed as they approached the house. Tavera looked around the small patch of packed dirt, her hands on her hips as she surveyed the area.
“No one found a dagger, did they?” she asked. She had thrown it. It wasn’t on the ground. Tender shook his head; his brother stared up at the sky.
“No; a few people said they got here as you fell. The stranger told them to bring the Goddess Plate by the eclipse or he would kill the priestess. Then he pointed at the house and all of the roofs were on fire, white and hot. By the time they had alerted the town, he was gone and the fire just…disappeared.”
“Nothing was damaged?” she asked.
“Nothing, not a single scorch mark or piece of charcoal.” Tender walked to where the stranger’s horse had been tied up, looking at the ground. “It was a wielding of some sort. The priestess was knocked out and laid across the front of the horse.”
Tavera nodded, pondering Tender’s words as she pushed open the door to the house. Inside, the fire in the hearth had burned out but morning light came through the windows, giving her more than enough light to work by. She stepped in, surveying the room and recalling what she had seen yesterday, trying to piece it together.
“She knew him,” Tavera said, taking another step. Being in someone else’s house always put her in good spirits, especially when she knew she hadn’t been invited. The fact she was there to help didn’t change
that. Tavera stepped aside and out of the doorway so Tender could walk in as well.
“How could Kella know him?” he asked. She saw he was looking at her out of the corner of her eye but still, she remained focused on the task, walking around the table and ignoring Tender’s disbelief. “I mean, I know she’s not exactly a model of goodness but…I find it hard to believe. He was obviously a…a….”
“A bad man? The kind that might give her trouble?” A bottle of wine sat on the table, the top uncorked. Tavera picked it up and sniffed at it, swirling it around so its scent wafted up to her nose. “This…didn’t you sell this to her last night?”
“I did,” Tender said, his brows starting to furrow. The barkeep walked up to Tavera and took the bottle from her, looking at the few gulps left at the bottom and then to the table. The two glasses were still there, one of them overturned. The spill still marked a dark spot on the wooden table and floor. “Obviously she bought it for them to share.”
“Or they shared it, at least,” she said. She took the bottle from his hands and without hesitation she gulped down the rest of it, setting it down on the table before she walked over to the low-lying bed. It was still made. Just drinks were shared. There was a small chest at the foot of the bed. Tavera began pulling up the sheets.
“What are you doing?” Tender said loudly, rushing over as Tavera picked up the mattress. He stopped short as Tavera pointed at something. A small, bound book, its leather worn and once a silvery gray, now just seeming dirty. He bent down and took the book.
Tavera let the mattress fall, brushing her hands on her lap. It had been filled with hay and the feeling made her skin crawl. She pushed it from her mind, turning her attention to the small trunk. It had a lock on it, though just from looking at it the thief knew it was more of an inconvenience than an actual challenge. Tavera dropped to her knees and pulled a pin out of her boot, not considering whether what she was about to do might seem strange. “What’s in the book?”
The Valley of Ten Crescents Series (Box Set: Books 1-3) Page 50
