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Authors: Tristan J. Tarwater
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bit into was filled with sausage and she gagged, spitting up onto the ground. Derk patted her head and tried to smile for the cart driver, assuring him that she wouldn’t do that on the journey. The next bun was tested before he handed it to her and this one was filled with fruit and nuts. They hopped in back of the cart with the barrels of oil and settled in as it lurched forward and started down the road.
Derk laid in the back, setting his head against the pack and putting his hat over his eyes, apparently intent on sleeping once again. Blue eyes peered out from under the brim as Tavera looked over her sewing things, her mouth twisting and moving with thought. “You like being with me, right Kiff? You’re my girl?”
Tavera smiled and nodded enthusiastically, showing her teeth when she smiled. Derk smiled back, sleepily and let his hat fall over his face. Soon he was snoring. Tavera looked over the fabric and the thread and before she could think about it too much she dropped them all over the side of the cart. The sky was finally blue, the haughty sun shining overhead and lighting the day as it wished. Tavera wouldn’t hold it against him. She pulled the playing cards out of Derk’s pack and dealt herself a hand of Four Seasons, singing to herself as they bumped along the road.
CHAPTER 4
Cruel as a Child
The bell in the church tower rang loudly, making Tavera jump and then giggle nervously, looking around to see if anyone had seen her. No one seemed to notice though the sound did change the direction some people were walking in. It was the end of the second watch, when many people went home for midday meal so some of the shops and stalls usually closed. Derk had told her to meet him outside the Three Brothers after third watch for evening meal and a bit of talk. He had a meeting with Hock all day at the Weaver Dance hall and she walked by it five times now in the hopes that he would exit the big wooden building with the shuttles over the doors. The last time she had walked by a man with brown hair and green eyes had shooed her away and told her not to come back. She couldn’t go back after that, knowing she had been recognized.
The streets of Tyestown had fun things to see anyway. It was bigger than Portsmouth even, maybe bigger than Eastwick and Southwick together but not as scary. It was cleaner and the Baron had even planted gardens and trees throughout the town, little quiet spaces for the townsfolk to sit and work and play. Even the block lords seemed fancier in this town. Derk had pointed them out. They dressed nicer and hid their weapons better than the ones in the ‘Wicks though one of them had a very large dog on a very strong leash. Tavera had been afraid of the big black beast but Derk approached the small company, pulling a piece of sausage pie out of his pack and asked if he could feed it to him. The man with the face full of freckles had laughed uproariously and said to go ahead, the big dog rolling onto its back and looking rather foolish with its fat pink tongue falling out of it’s mouth. It had fat black teats and the man with the freckles had a black and white puppy pop its head out of his shirt,
whimpering for milk. Tavera had pet both the dog and the puppy before they went on their way.
“Don’t beware the dog, beware the owner, Tavi,” he had told her as they went their way. “If I had it in for that man I’d be dead right now. A man like that can’t afford to have poorly trained dogs. One stupid child and he’d be in the clacks.” That had been two days ago, a day after they arrived in Tyestown. The pair arrived several days ahead of Hock and tried to make the most of it, walking the town together and separately, learning who the guards were and where they went at the end of their shifts, trying to pick up on the patterns weaving the tapestry that was Tyestown.
Weaving was the biggest industry here and they had passed through fields dotted with beasts of various coat qualities
Derk laid in the back, setting his head against the pack and putting his hat over his eyes, apparently intent on sleeping once again. Blue eyes peered out from under the brim as Tavera looked over her sewing things, her mouth twisting and moving with thought. “You like being with me, right Kiff? You’re my girl?”
Tavera smiled and nodded enthusiastically, showing her teeth when she smiled. Derk smiled back, sleepily and let his hat fall over his face. Soon he was snoring. Tavera looked over the fabric and the thread and before she could think about it too much she dropped them all over the side of the cart. The sky was finally blue, the haughty sun shining overhead and lighting the day as it wished. Tavera wouldn’t hold it against him. She pulled the playing cards out of Derk’s pack and dealt herself a hand of Four Seasons, singing to herself as they bumped along the road.
CHAPTER 4
Cruel as a Child
The bell in the church tower rang loudly, making Tavera jump and then giggle nervously, looking around to see if anyone had seen her. No one seemed to notice though the sound did change the direction some people were walking in. It was the end of the second watch, when many people went home for midday meal so some of the shops and stalls usually closed. Derk had told her to meet him outside the Three Brothers after third watch for evening meal and a bit of talk. He had a meeting with Hock all day at the Weaver Dance hall and she walked by it five times now in the hopes that he would exit the big wooden building with the shuttles over the doors. The last time she had walked by a man with brown hair and green eyes had shooed her away and told her not to come back. She couldn’t go back after that, knowing she had been recognized.
The streets of Tyestown had fun things to see anyway. It was bigger than Portsmouth even, maybe bigger than Eastwick and Southwick together but not as scary. It was cleaner and the Baron had even planted gardens and trees throughout the town, little quiet spaces for the townsfolk to sit and work and play. Even the block lords seemed fancier in this town. Derk had pointed them out. They dressed nicer and hid their weapons better than the ones in the ‘Wicks though one of them had a very large dog on a very strong leash. Tavera had been afraid of the big black beast but Derk approached the small company, pulling a piece of sausage pie out of his pack and asked if he could feed it to him. The man with the face full of freckles had laughed uproariously and said to go ahead, the big dog rolling onto its back and looking rather foolish with its fat pink tongue falling out of it’s mouth. It had fat black teats and the man with the freckles had a black and white puppy pop its head out of his shirt,
whimpering for milk. Tavera had pet both the dog and the puppy before they went on their way.
“Don’t beware the dog, beware the owner, Tavi,” he had told her as they went their way. “If I had it in for that man I’d be dead right now. A man like that can’t afford to have poorly trained dogs. One stupid child and he’d be in the clacks.” That had been two days ago, a day after they arrived in Tyestown. The pair arrived several days ahead of Hock and tried to make the most of it, walking the town together and separately, learning who the guards were and where they went at the end of their shifts, trying to pick up on the patterns weaving the tapestry that was Tyestown.
Weaving was the biggest industry here and they had passed through fields dotted with beasts of various coat qualities
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