Book 1, Verse 17

“That’s another hand that goes to me.” Vivian said smugly. “And if I’m not mistaken, that means you’re out, aren’t you Stefan?”

“Shut up Vivian.” The man sitting across from me grabbed the hand of cards that he had laid out onto the table mere moments before, slammed them back onto the deck, and walked out of the small alcove we were sitting in.

Vivian looked at me and smiled.

We were the only two left at a table that had once contained four other people. Unfortunately, I wasn’t actually playing.

As a matter of fact, I had been the first to lose all my money.

“I still can’t believe you fell for that guy’s bluff.” Vivian said absently as she scooped all of her winnings into a leather pouch that she had hidden in her cloak.

“That was on purpose!” It had not been on purpose. “I just realized that there was no need for both of us to play when we’re sharing the winnings! It makes us split up our funds unnecessarily; it was a tactical move on my part.” I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Sure it was.” Vivian chuckled as she took all the money and put the pouch under her cloak. “Quick question; what’s this about our funds? Last I checked I earned all this money myself, priest.”

I narrowed my eyes at her as we left the alcove and stepped into the main area of the tavern. The lighting in here was darker than it was in Niels’ establishment, and there were more unscrupulous looking types in here. The bartender gave us a toothy smile as the two of us stepped out of his little place and into the dimming sunlight of the afternoon.

“You’re not being serious, are you?” I asked suspiciously.

“Oh I definitely am; I earned the starting money from my work with the monster hunters, and I’m the one who earned the rest of the money from my amazing gambling skills. As far as I’m aware, you had absolutely no part in the making of this fortune.” She said matter of factly, her wavy hair bouncing along as she strutted proudly.

“B-but we’re traveling together!”

“Tomorrow! Tomorrow we’re traveling together. Today you and I are merely friends, and I’m the one with the money.” She walked towards the center of Clearwood where the tall tree we had sat under earlier stood.

I followed her, trying to come up with some way to convince her to share her money with me.

“Uh, the holy writ states that sharing is caring! Generosity is good too! Lots of generosity!”

“Nice try, strange priest!” She said as she glanced around the town circle, looking for any shops that might be open. “Oh, that looks good.” She started walking towards a shop with a hanging wooden sign; displayed on the sign was a slab of raw meat.

As we entered the shop, we passed by a few children that were lingering near the butcher shop’s door. Vivian smiled and waved at them as she walked inside.

I followed her in.

“Hello young lady!” The butcher was a tall, imposing, and muscular man, with slightly darker skin than Vivian and most of the people I had seen in Clearwood up to this point. “What will you be having today? And how much of it?”

Vivian bit her lip and walked towards the butcher’s counter, eyeing what meats he had on display.

My attention was held captive by a rather tasty looking set of sausages that was hanging on a hook from the ceiling.

“Do you have any dried meat that’ll last a while? Maybe a week or two, if needed?”

The butcher smiled; he had a very impressive set of teeth, all clean and well-kept, like a set of pearly white bricks.

“Of course! I have lots of salt pork. Does that sound good?”

Vivian smiled back. Her own teeth weren’t as shiny, but I didn’t think they took away from her natural beauty.

“That sounds perfect. How much is it by the pound?”

“It costs four copper. Mandl copper.” The butcher clarified.

“I understand.” She dug into her leather pouch and pulled out a silver coin, eyed it carefully, then pulled out another one. “This should be enough for five pounds, right?”

The butcher looked at the silver coins and grabbed them politely, then went to the counter and began chopping up a large slab of meat for her. As he did so, he pointed his free hand at me.

“What will you be wanting young man?”

I stuttered.

“O-oh, I can’t afford anything right now. I’m with her.”

The butcher laughed at my response.

“Hah! Letting the lady boss you around? I can’t imagine that being very–”

“Lucijan!” A shrill voice called out from the back of the butcher shop.

The butcher, Lucijan, froze. Me and Vivian both looked at each other, surprised.

“What did I tell you about leaving the back door open?” The shrill voice continued.

Me and Vivian both watched as a small woman stepped out of the back of the butcher shop and looked up at Lucijan.

Honestly, the only reason I knew that she had entered the main area at all was because I could barely see the top of her head over the counter.

“I’m very sorry Elene! I forgot.”

“You always forget you big softie.” The shrill voice sounded less upset now, and more like a concerned mother. “I swear, you’d lose your head if it wasn’t attached to your neck. I closed the door for you.”

“Thank you.” The butcher turned back towards us and smiled, then lifted up the woman behind the counter and put her onto his right shoulder; she looked very surprised, but didn’t protest. “Anyway, let me finish the pork for you.”

The petite woman appeared to be only four feet tall, but there was no mistaking her for a child despite her size; the mature gaze in her eyes and the slightly frayed edges of her hair made that much clear.

Vivian waited patiently as the butcher completed her order of salt pork, and when he was finished, she thanked him and exited the butcher shop. I smiled and waved as we left together.

When we stood outside the butcher shop, Vivian looked around excitedly.

But other than a few men on the other side of Clearwood’s plaza, there was no one around in the dim light of the early evening.

“Oh.” She sounded disappointed. “I hadn’t expected them to already be gone.”

“Who?” I asked. “By the way, that salt pork was a good purchase. Very frugal.”

“Right. Frugal.” She glanced around the plaza some more, clearly looking for something. “Shinko, what time did Niels say he would be in the plaza?”

“A little bit after sunrise. Which reminds me, are we going to sleep in your tree again, or do you think Niels would be willing to shelter us for the night?”

“Huh?” She looked at me like I had interrupted her train of thought, then nodded in remembrance. “Um, sure, that sounds good. Why don’t you go do that and I’ll see you at the tree in a little bit.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Vivian, we’ll meet at Niels; I’m sure he’ll be willing to let us stay in his tavern for one night.”

“Right, that sounds good.” She said, clearly eager to get going. “I’ll see you there in a little bit. Take this with you.”

She handed me the pouch full of money and turned to me.

Her blue eyes shone brightly in the dim light of the evening.

“Please don’t waste the money.” She said earnestly.

“Where are you going?” I asked, slightly concerned. “Another job?”

“Not quite. I’ll tell you later.”

With that, she took the salt pork and started walking away, towards the northern part of Clearwood. I watched as she left at a quick jogging pace; it looked like she was trying to follow someone by the tracks that they had left behind, but I had no idea who it could be that she was following.

I decided to confront her about it tomorrow, and went to arrange our stay with Niels for the evening.