The Desert Spear (41 page)

Renna was still shaking when Harl threw her down on the bed. She had pulled her shift back in place, but it seemed woefully inadequate, and she could feel her father's eyes on her.

'This is what you do when we have a visitor in the barn'' Harl snapped at her. 'I bet half the town is laughing behind my back!'

'I never!' Renna said.

'Oh, I'm supposed to believe that, now'' Harl sneered. 'I saw the way you paraded around half dressed for him today. Reckon the hogs aren't all that's grunting in the barn when the messenger boy's about.'

Renna had no reply, sniffling as she pulled the blanket around her bare shoulders.

'Now yer shy and trying to cover'' Harl asked. 'Mite late, you ask me.' He undid his overalls and slung them over the bedpost, snatching the edge of the blanket and sliding in beside her. Renna shuddered.

'Quit yer whining and get some sleep, girl,' Harl said. 'Another of yer sisters up and deserted us, and there 'll be extra chores for both of us from now on.'

Renna woke early, finding her father snuggled close with an arm over her. She shivered with revulsion, easing out of his grasp and leaving him snoring as she fled the room.

Remembering Beni's advice, she tore a long strip from the sheet on her pallet, wrapping the cloth around her chest several times, binding her breasts tight. When she was done, she looked down and sighed. Even flattened, no one would ever mistake her for a boy.

She dressed quickly, lacing her dress loosely to hide her curves and tying her long brown hair in an unkempt knot.

The boys stirred as she put the porridge on and laid bowls on the table. By the time the sun rose, the whole house was bustling, and Lucik sent the boys out to their morning chores one last time.

Cobie was gone before breakfast was ready, but Renna supposed it was just as well. Harl might not deny a man succor, but that didn't mean he would share his table. She wished she 'd had a chance to apologize for his actions, and for hers. She 'd ruined things for both of them.

After morning chores, Harl hitched the cart and drove them all up through Town Square to Boggin's Hill for the cremation. It was afternoon by the time they arrived, and by then there was a big gathering on the hill. Most everyone in Tibbet's Brook drank Boggin's Ale, and many came to pay their respects as Fernan Boggin was burned.

The Holy House crowned the hill, and Tender Harral welcomed everyone warmly. He was a big man, not yet fifty, with powerful arms reaching out from the rolled sleeves of his brown robe. 'Your da was a good friend, and a good man,' he told Lucik, wrapping him in a tight hug. 'We 'll all miss him.'

Harral gestured to the great doors. 'Go on inside and sit in the front pew with your mam.' The Tender smiled at Renna, winking at her for some reason as she passed.

'Looks like the ingrate's come down from hiding,' Harl muttered as they slid into the pew behind Lucik, Beni, and the boys. Renna followed his gaze to see her eldest sister Ilain a few rows back. She stood with Jeph, Norine Cutter, and her children. They had all gotten so big!

'Don't even think about it,' Harl muttered, grabbing her arm and squeezing hard as she moved to go and greet them. Harl had never forgiven Ilain for running off, though it was near fifteen years gone, and meant that he never knew his grandchildren by her.

'That sumbitch got a lot of nerve, coming here,' Harl muttered, glaring at Jeph. 'Another corespawned thief, thinking just because I give them succor, they can run off with one of my girls. Just as well you didn't end up married to that good-for-nothing son of his.'

'Arlen wasn't good for nothing,' Renna said sadly, remembering how he had kissed her when they were children. She 'd admired him from afar for years, and being promised to him had seemed a dream come true. She had always refused to believe he 'd been cored, but if he hadn't, why didn't he come back for her'

'What's that, girl'' Harl asked, distracted.

'Nothing,' Renna said.

The ceremony went on, with Harral singing the praises of Fernan Boggin as he painted wards on the tarp wrapping the body to protect Fernan's spirit as it made its way to the Creator.

When it was done, they carried the body out to the pyre Harral had built, and laid him to rest as the fire burned. Renna drew wards in the air along with everyone else, praying that Fernan's soul would escape this demon-infested world as the flames consumed his body.

On the other side of the fire, Ilain stared sadly at her. She raised a hand to wave, and Renna started to cry.

People began to drift off as the fire burned down, some to Meada Boggin's house, where she had refreshments ready for her husband's mourners, and others beginning the trek back to their homes. Some had come from a ways off, and the corelings rose no later on funeral days.

'C'mon, girl, we'd best be getting back,' Harl said, taking her arm.

'Harl Tanner!' Tender Harral called. 'A moment of your time!'

Harl and Renna turned to see the Tender approaching with Cobie Fisher in tow. Cobie's eyes were firmly on his feet.

'Oh, what now'' Harl muttered.

'Cobie told me what happened last night,' Tender Harral said.

'Oh, did he'' Harl said. 'Did he tell you I caught him and my daughter in sinful embrace under my own wards''

Harral nodded. 'He did, and he has something to say now. Don't you, Cobie''

Cobie nodded, coming forward while still studying his boots. 'I'm sorry for what I done. Din't mean to shame no one, and I intend to make an honest woman of Renna, if you'll allow it.'

'The Core I will!' Harl barked, and Cobie paled and took a step back.

'Now, Harl, wait just a minute,' Tender Harral said.

'No, you wait, Tender!' Harl said. 'This boy disrespected me, my daughter, and the sanctity of my wards, and you want me to take him as a son, just like that' I'd sooner let Renna marry a wood demon.'

'Renna's past the age where she ought to be married and raising young'uns of her own,' Harral said.

'That don't mean I got to hand her to some drunken wastrel just cuz he bent her over a hay bale,' Harl said. He grabbed Renna and dragged her toward the cart. Renna looked longingly at Cobie as they rode off.

A TRIP TO THE OUTHOUSE

333 AR SPRING

RENNA CAST A WISTFUL eye back up the road as the farm came into sight. 'I know what yer thinkin', girl,' Harl said. 'Yer thinkin' of bein' like yer ingrate sister and runnin' off t'be with that boy.'

Renna said nothing, but she felt her cheeks burn, and that was damning enough.

'Well, you think twice about it,' Harl said. 'I won't let you shame our family like Lainie did, runnin' off with a man whose wife just died the night before. Whole town still talks of it, and they all cast a dark eye on old Harl for raising such a corespawned whore.

'Yer on your way to getting the same reputation,' Harl said. 'Not this time, girlie. I'd rather scar the wards than go through that again. You even think about runnin', and you'll have yerself a trip to the outhouse, even if I have to go all the way to Southwatch to collect you.'

Renna glanced at the tiny, ramshackle structure in the yard, and her blood went cold. Her father had never put her in there, but he had done it to Ilain a few times, and to Beni once. She remembered their screams vividly.

Renna reclaimed Beni and Lucik's small room, which she had once shared with her sister, moving in her few possessions and barring the door with a trembling hand.

As she lay back in the bed, she stroked Miss Scratch, her favorite cat, who was pregnant and soon to litter. As she did she thought of Cobie, of a house in Town Square and children of her own. The images warmed and comforted her, but she kept one eye on the door for a long time before drifting off to sleep.

For the next few days, Renna avoided her father whenever she could. It wasn't difficult. Spring planting might have been done, but even so, they were two splitting chores once shared by six. Just feeding the animals and cleaning their stalls was half a morning's work for Renna, and she still had to milk and shear and slaughter, ready meals thrice a day, mend clothing, make butter and cheese, tan skins, and an endless array of other tasks. She fell into the work almost gratefully for the protection it offered.

Each morning she bound her breasts, leaving her hair a tangle and her face smudged, and there was enough work to keep lewd thoughts from Harl's mind. Just checking the wardposts around the fields took hours. Each had to be examined carefully to make sure the wards were clear and sharp and aligned properly to overlap their neighbors without gap. A simple bird dropping or a warp in the wood could weaken a ward sufficiently for a demon to pass through if it found the gap.

After that, the fields still needed weeding, and the ripest produce had to be harvested for the day's meals, or for pickling and preserves. After all that, there was still always something around the farm that needed fixing, or sharpening.

The only time they really spent together was at meals, and they said little. Renna was careful not to bend close as she served and cleared. Harl never gave any sign he was looking at her differently, but he grew increasingly irritable as the days wore on.

'Creator, my back hurts,' he said one night at supper as he bent to fill another mug from the keg of Boggin's Ale that Meada had sent back with them after the burning. Renna had lost count of how many he had filled that night.

Harl gasped in pain as he tried to straighten, and stumbled, sloshing his ale. Renna was there in an instant, steadying him and catching the mug before it spilled. Harl leaned heavily on her as she dragged him back to his chair.

Renna and Beni had often been called upon to knead the pain from Harl's bad back, and she did it now without thinking, working her father's tensed muscles with strong, skilled fingers.

'Atta girl,' her father groaned, closing his eyes and pressing against her hands. 'You were always the good one, Ren. Not like yer sisters, with no loyalty to kith and kin. Dunno how you turned out all right, with those two deserters as an example.'

Renna finished her ministrations, but Harl grabbed her about the waist and pulled her close before she could pull out of reach. He looked up at her with tears in his eyes.

'You'll never leave me, girl, will you'' he asked.

'No, Da,' Renna said. 'Course not.' She squeezed him briefly, and then pulled quickly back, taking his mug to the keg and refilling it.

Renna awoke that night to a crash as something struck her door. She leapt from bed, pulling on her dress, but there was no other sound. She crept to the door and pressed her ear to the wood, hearing a low wheeze.

Carefully, she lifted the bar and opened the door a crack, seeing her father passed out on the floor, regurgitated ale staining the front of his nightshirt.

'Creator make me strong,' Renna begged as she soaked a rag to clean the vomit from him and the floor, then half carried, half dragged her father back to his room.

Harl wept as she heaved him into his bed, clinging to her desperately. 'Can't lose you, too,' he sobbed over and over. Renna sat awkwardly on the edge of the bed, holding him as he cried, and then disengaged as he drifted off to sleep. She went quickly back to her room and barred the door again.

The next morning, Renna came back into the house after collecting eggs in the barn and found Harl popping the pins out of the hinges of her door.

'The door broke'' she asked, her heart clutching.

'Nope,' Harl grunted. 'Need the wood to patch a hole in the barn wall. Don't matter none, you don't need it. Ent no marital relations going on in this room no more.' He hefted the door and carried it off to the barn, leaving Renna stunned.

She felt like a frightened animal for the rest of the day, and didn't sleep at all that night, all her senses attuned toward the thick curtain hung over the doorway.

But nothing stirred the curtain that night, or the night that followed, or for a week after.

Renna wasn't sure what woke her. Corelings had tested the wards earlier in the night, but the sounds had faded to silence as they gave over to search out easier prey.

The only light was a soft glow around the edges of the curtain in the doorway from the fire in the common room, burned low in the night. It threw a dim light over her bed, though the rest of the tiny room was bathed in darkness.

But Renna knew immediately that she wasn't alone. Her father was in the room.

Careful to keep still, she reached out into the darkness with her senses, trying to convince herself it was only a dream, but she could smell the stink of ale and sweat, and hear his tense breathing. Floorboards creaked as he shifted from foot to foot. She kept waiting for him to do something, but he just stood there, watching her.

Had he done this before' Snuck into her room and watched her sleep' The thought sickened her. Afraid to stir, her eyes flicked to the curtain, but escape that way seemed unlikely. It would take her four steps to reach the doorway. Harl could intercept her in one.

The window was closer, but even if she could unlatch the shutters and throw them open before he got to her, it was deep in the night, and demons prowled the darkness outside.