Making a Tinderbox (The Tinderbox Tales Book 1)

by Emma Sterner-Radley

  Nessa. Wait. Why is she not here?

  Elise turned to Fyhre. “Where is Nessa? Hunter said you had gone to fetch her?”

  Fyhre nodded. Looking at her face, Elise realised that the taller woman had extremely long eyelashes framing heavy-lidded, clear, green eyes. Elise hadn’t noticed that last time. She had only gotten an impression of a big build and endless frowns.

  “Went to see her at the glassblowers. Secilia Brownlee said they wouldn’t be finished until late. They ‘ave some big shipment to make before mornin’. I told Nessa where the tavern is. She’ll join us later.”

  Those words had done wonders for the emptiness in Elise’s chest. One that she hadn’t really registered until now. Nessa was coming soon.

  Was it only this morning I saw her? It feels like weeks ago.

  Elise briefly placed her hand on Fyhre’s forearm. “Splendid. Thank you.”

  Fyhre only nodded again.

  “Missin’ yer lady?” Cai asked, all cheeky smirk and glinting eyes.

  Elise felt a muscle in her jaw twitch. “Never mind all that. I have a question, have any of you ventured downstairs to the White Raven?”

  They all looked at her. She waited to see if they would let her get away with the change of topic.

  Finally, Jac smiled and replied, “Aye, I have. It’s a much darker place than this one. Darker than most places in Nightport, I’d say. And that is sayin’ a lot.”

  Elise drank more of her sweet, potent brandy. She was thirsty tonight. “Sounds interesting.”

  Sanjero giggled. “That’ll be one word for it, sweet eyes. Dangerous is another one. The customers down there be as dirty as the place is clean.”

  Elise tilted her head. “Clean?”

  Sanjero nodded, his ebony eyes wide. “Aye. But those scrubbed white walls can’t make the card games, powder takin’, an’ bloody fights any less dark. When the fights are bad, the blood splashes onto them there white walls. Some say the staff be needin’ to wash the white ravens in their cage to get the blood off ‘em at the end of the night.”

  “People say a lot of things,” Cai said calmly.

  Fyhre inclined her head. “Most of it likely to be true. Got my first black eye down there. For nothin’ more than askin’ for another drink.”

  There was a low whistle behind Elise and the words “Sounds like a lovely place” rang out in Nessa’s clear voice.

  Elise’s heart did a somersault in her chest. Nessa was here. It was like the sun had just come out on a cold, bleak day. Elise had to resist the urge to stand up and hug her close. Maybe even kiss that soft, almond-coloured hair. She groaned quietly. How could a person’s mere presence have this effect on her? How pathetic could she get?

  “Good evenin’, Nessa,” said Jac. The others echoed the greeting and Sanjero found her a chair.

  Cai grinned at her. “So, the old codgers finally freed ye, huh?”

  “Yes. After some work and much marital squabbling, we finally finished the shipment. Well, the Brownlees did. I just packed it all,” Nessa replied.

  Fyhre, in charge of drinks as usual, handed Nessa a glass, who took it and examined it. Elise leaned in to whisper “It is winterberry brandy” in her ear. She wasn’t sure why she had done that. There was no need to whisper, was there?

  Admit it. Anything to get close to her, right? To smell the sugar pumpkin and the gods-cursed loveliness of her natural scent on her skin. To show the world that she is here with me.

  Nessa thanked her with a nod and a smile.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Elise saw Sanjero and Jac kissing and wished that this was how Nessa would have thanked her.

  A moment later, a wiry barmaid brought over three large platters of food on a tray which looked like it might slip from her grasp at any moment. The faint smell of alcohol and pipe smoke in the room was overtaken by mouth-watering scents of food. Smoked meat in rich sauce, buttery fish, and the spices in the freshly made bread. As soon as the platters were on the table, everyone began eating.

  Everyone but Nessa, who took out her coin purse. “How much for me and the fancy lady to get some of that?”

  “Jus’ buy the drink for the rest of the night an’ we’ll call it even,” Cai said, mouth full of yellowfish.

  Nessa put the coin purse away, reached over Elise, and grabbed some ribs. “Good, I’m starving,” she said and tucked in.

  Elise took some bread, tearing off a corner and eating it. Slowly. With some dignity.

  They all ate in silence for a while. Long hours of work appeared to have made them all starving. It was such a contrast to Elise’s time at court. There, food had been a pleasure and come with meticulous, time-consuming rituals. Here it was fuel, which seemed more honest somehow. More real. Everything in Nightport was raw and unmasked. It was strangely relaxing.

  When she was full, Elise decided to sate her curiosity as well as she had her appetite.

  “Can I ask more questions about the White Raven? I am terribly curious about the darker side of Nightport.”

  Jac swallowed a mouthful of ribs and dried his mouth with the back of his hand. “Sure. Ask away.”

  Elise pondered where to start. “Well. Is it truly as bad as it seems or is it all purely talk?”

  Fyhre chuckled. “Plenty of empty talk in Nightport. To seem tough, to seem interestin’. But not when it comes to the White Raven.”

  Jac nodded. “Fyhre’s right. Most taverns have brawls an’ card games. There’s even other places that put on fights an’ where forbidden powders are sold over the bar — but nowhere where it’s as organised an’ commonplace as in the White Raven.”

  Sanjero put his glass down. “Aye, it has the biggest card games, the strongest imported alcohol, the most anticipated fights, an’ the purest powders.”

  “Do you… take powders?” Nessa asked, looking from person to person.

  “No,” Jac said. Sanjero echoed the statement. Fyhre shook her head and then glanced over at Cai.

  There was a beat of silence.

  “Not anymore. Never again,” Cai said quietly.

  Nessa didn’t reply. She merely took a big gulp, looking sheepish. From the sympathetic glances and fidgeting of Cai’s three friends, Elise gathered it was time to change the subject. “So, what card games do they play down there? Fool the Angel?”

  Sanjero cleared his throat. “Oh, nothin’ so wholesome. It’s mainly Four of a Kind and Thicket. Heavy bettin’ in those games. People lose their life savings nightly.”

  Elise had to admit to being curious about the place. She also had to admit to being on her way to drunkenness.

  She rubbed her forehead. “Is it just me or is this brandy biting unusually hard?”

  Fyhre shook her head. “It’s cos ye’ve been drinkin’ most nights of the week. No time for yer body to mend.”

  Cai laughed. “Aye, she’s right. It’s a thing that most people who are new to Nightport go through. Getting used to poisonin’ yer body with strong drinks with gods know what by-products in ‘em. Newcomers also tend to drink a little too deep, too often. Look at yer glasses and then look at ours.”

  Elise looked at her glass and then Nessa’s. Theirs were nearly empty while the other four had plenty in their glasses.

  “Well, that won’t do. Me and Elise will have to slow down. But you four have to catch up, because we’re buying the next round,” Nessa said with her wide, contagious smile.

  Friendly laughter followed, only interrupted by Cai slapping Nessa on the arm. “I ‘ave to say. Sharin’ yer coin. Sharin’ a room. All this and spendin’ all yer time together? Ye and Elise sure do sound like ye’re more than friends.”

  With a bewildered frown, Nessa said, “It’s only practical. When we set out, we pooled what we had and stuck together. Why should we change something that has worked so well?”

  “Why indeed,” Jac said with a wink in Elise’s direction.

  They knew. Of course they all knew. It was obvious to anyone with eyes how she had fallen f
or Nessa. Elise rubbed her forehead. “So. Yes. Right. Let us go buy our first round of drinks and then you can all explain the rules of Thicket to me. I have played Four of a Kind at…” Elise stopped herself just before she said the word ‘court.’ “…at parties and in taverns. But Thicket is new to me. Nessa, come with me to the bar and order the drinks?”

  Elise stood up and Nessa followed suit.

  “Does everyone want more winterberry brandy or should we try something new?” Nessa asked.

  “Brandy’s fine by me,” Cai said.

  Fyhre gave a quick nod.

  “I reckon I’ll switch to some nice, safe sugar pumpkin wine,” Jac said before emptying his glass of brandy. “Ye should, too, my cherished,” he said to Sanjero. A look passed between them.

  Sanjero grinned wickedly. “Sounds like I’m bein’ kept sober for some reason. Wine for me, please.”

  “We’ll get a pitcher of wine and one of brandy,” Elise concluded.

  She headed for the bar and felt Nessa behind her. She seemed to always feel Nessa’s presence, even if she couldn’t see her.

  They ordered and paid. Elise trying to ignore the desire to turn to Nessa and ask why she wouldn’t see her as a romantic option. Or to beg for a kiss. Nessa felt so close now. Right there at her elbow. Smelling of sugar pumpkin oil and smoke from the glassblower’s furnace. She was so tempting and so unattainable.

  Perhaps I should stop spending so much time with her? No. Not until I dare to ask her why she will not be mine. Perhaps she simply needs me to ask. I will never know unless I…

  Nessa interrupted her thoughts by waving a hand in front of her eyes. “Elise? Are you all right? You look like your mind is miles away.”

  “My apologies. Just thinking.”

  Elise grabbed the pitcher of pale yellow wine that the barmaid gave her, leaving Nessa to deal with the brandy that was being poured out from a vat.

  When they returned to the table, the topic had changed from card games to something more modern.

  “They’ve apparently laid tracks all over Storsund. An’ I read that the Storsund Trading Company wants to lay tracks in Arclid’s highlands, too, all the way to the harbours there. Then the goods can be shipped across the water to their port, which’ll obviously ‘ave tracks. They’re sayin’ that it’ll speed up trade ‘tween the two continents,” Jac said.

  Sanjero's forehead furrowed, making his bald head seem to move forward. “An’ those huge contraptions driven with steam go on these tracks?”

  “That’s what the newspapers are sayin’, aye,” Cai supplied.

  Fyhre scowled. “Wouldn’t want to travel by somethin’ like that. Unsafe.”

  Jac and Sanjero poured wine into their glasses. Elise noted that neither of them bothered with rinsing out the brandy first. At court, no one would drink wine out of anything but a wine glass, and a clean one at that. Here there were three kinds of glasses. Tankards, either thick glass or tin, for ale. Some mystery tiny glasses, which Elise mainly saw gather dust on shelves in the taverns. And then the normal glasses which they drank from now, which could be used for any alcohol. She sighed, not certain if she was missing Highmere or if it was brandy and sadness making her see her past with rose-coloured glasses. She had hated Highmere and no nostalgia over pretty glasses and social rituals could change that.

  She was happier here. Here with Nessa. She brushed away thoughts of how she could be happier if she truly was with Nessa and took a deep drink, trying to drown the sadness taking root in her belly and spreading its cruel tendrils through her body.

  They all drank in companionable silence for a while.

  Cai looked up. “Somethin’ else the newspapers are talkin’ about is the strikes. Are we ready to take sides if the conflict comes knockin’ at our factory? Ready to down tools and stop makin’ the plates?” Cai’s eyes were fixed on Sanjero and Fyhre.

  Elise was glad that she and Nessa weren’t going to be directly involved. She believed in the need for better conditions for the industry workers, but she also knew how many deaths and injuries had come out of the strikes that swept the land. It was one of Archibald Richards’ favourite topics.

  “Aye,” Sanjero said. “I reckon we’ll all stand and fight to be treated as humans. But let’s not be talkin’ about these serious things now. I got wine to drink and a pretty man to kiss.” With that, he took a big gulp of wine and blew a kiss in Jac's direction, as if to prove his point.

  Jac raised his glass. “A toast to decidin’ on paths when we reach that fork in the road. And to just havin’ fun tonight.”

  They all toasted to that and took a drink.

  “Is this brandy stronger than the last batch was?” Cai asked with a grimace.

  “It does taste like it, yes,” Nessa agreed.

  Elise took another sip. Yes, it might be stronger. Either in flavour or in alcohol procentage. Either way, it was helping her feel less hollow. Killing that sadness in her belly, or at least muting it. She took another mouthful.

  “Slow down there, mate. What did we tell ye about drinkin’ so much and so often?” Cai said cheerfully.

  Elise raised an eyebrow and then, maintaining eye contact with Cai, drank a huge gulp.

  Fyhre chuckled. “That’s right. Stand yer ground. After all, it’s yer head in the mornin’, lass.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Elise saw Jac lean in to Sanjero. He whispered something in Sanjero's ear. Whatever it was made Sanjero laugh and turn to kiss Jac's mouth. When the kiss ended, Jac cleared his throat to get attention.

  “Well, my heartlings, it looks like me an’ my lovely gentleman will be callin’ it a night. Enjoy yerselves an’ don’t get into no trouble.”

  “I’d say the same to ye, but we all know what ye two are goin’ home to get into.” The hoarse, gravelly nature of Cai’s voice made the innuendo sound all the naughtier.

  Sanjero flashed them all a wicked grin. Then he got up, took Jac's hand, and said his goodbye.

  The two men walked away from the table, looking a lot less drunk than Elise felt. She was losing focus. She considered stopping, or at least slowing down. Maybe have one of the ribs? She looked at the plate where they were slowing growing cold in congealed sauce and decided against it.

  Nessa touched her arm. It was a brief touch, but it almost burned. “Hey. You look strange again. Are you certain you’re all right?”

  Elise searched for a way to answer that honestly. She found nothing.

  “I… want to drink something that will come in those tiny glasses with the slim stems. We have seen them in every tavern, but I cannot recall seeing anyone being served something in them,” she mumbled, hoping all the words had been understandable.

  Cai looked up at a shelf above the bar, which was filled with the little glasses. “They’re only really used for sunberry essence, mate.”

  Nessa swallowed a gulp of brandy. “Sunberry essence? I’ve had lots of sunberry juice. But I’m guessing it’s not the same?”

  Cai gave a wry chuckle. “The juice is just a few smashed up sunberries, lots o’ water, an’ a dollop of honey. This stuff? It’s the priciest drink ye can get yer paws on. In Nightport at least. It’s five times stronger than brandy and about as much more expensive.”

  Nessa wrinkled her nose. “For that price it better taste incredible.”

  Fyhre nodded. “Stings yer mouth and belly like fire. Over that it’s very little ye can taste. Some sweetness, I ‘spose.”

  Cai looked conspiratorially from Fyhre to Nessa and then to Elise.

  “Want to buy some? If we all pay a bit, I reckon we can afford a glass. That way we can all ‘ave a sip. Me and Fyhre haven’t drunk it since one night when we got a reward for returnin’ a lost little lad to his mum. We blew all the coin on a glass of sunberry essence each.”

  Elise worried her lip. She had drunk sunberry essence quite a few times at court. The Queen sometimes liked it as a chaser to her nightly glass of winterberry brandy.

  What a spoiled lif
e you have led. How much you took for granted.

  Elise sat forward, trying to sound sober. “It occurs to me that I came here with quite a bit of coin and now that I have a weekly income, I do not need to save it as much. I can buy us at least two glasses to share.”

  Fyhre held up her hands. “We can’t ask ye to do that.”

  Elise gave her a smile. “I do not care what you do or do not ask. I am buying two glasses, and I should hope you will not let me drink them both alone. Anyway, you can see it as payment for the food since the boys barely touched their drinks. Which reminds me, we still have wine and brandy. Do not gobble it all before I am back.”

  Cai gave a seated bow, and Fyhre actually smiled. Elise went back to the bar, happy to be able to treat her new friends. That warmth and inviting smell was at her side again. Nessa had come with her. Of course she had.

  “Are you sure you want to spend your coin on this?” Nessa asked, shouting to be heard over the loud drunks at the bar.

  Elise didn’t look at her. “Are you certain that you do not want to ask if I want to spend our coin on this?”

  There was no immediate reply.

  Then Nessa shook her head, wide-eyed. “What? No! We pooled our income, but most of the coin we brought was yours. Spend it how you wish. I suppose I’m just being a coinless farmer’s daughter. Sensible, careful, dull.”

  Elise immediately regretted her tone. She faced Nessa. “Don’t say that. You were right to ask. It is our coin, I truly believe that, and I should have checked with you. I am a bit testy tonight. Ignore me. Would you mind if we just… blew the cobwebs off by having some sunberry essence?”

  Nessa grinned, putting her hand on Elise’s shoulder. “I don’t mind. No more being sensible. Let’s be Nightport newcomers and get drunk pretty much every night of the week.”

  “And on overpriced alcohol at that,” Elise added with a wink.

  Nessa laughed and squeezed her shoulder. It filled Elise’s heart with sunshine, and for a moment the ache deep inside it was gone.

  Soon they were back at the table, armed with two glasses of bright yellow liquid. Fyhre, or possibly Cai, had refilled their brandies.