CHAPTER 13
RENNA

333 AR SPRING

RENNA’S STRONG ARMS BURNED, coated in a thin sheen of sweat as she worked the butter churn. It was early spring, but she was clad only in her shift. Her father would have a fit if he saw her, but he was around back cutting wardposts, and Lucik and the boys were out in the fields.

The farm had grown in the fourteen years since Lucik came to live with them, marrying Beni and putting children in her. There had been a hard season after Ilain ran off with Jeph Bales. Harl had raged and taken it out on them—mostly on Beni, since she was elder. But that had all stopped when Lucik, with his thick arms and broad shoulders, came to live with them. Harl hadn’t touched either of them since, and the fields, once little more than a large garden, had gotten bigger every year.

Thinking of that time made her think again of Arlen Bales, and what might have been. When they were promised, it was agreed that she was to be the one to go and live on Jeph’s farm, not Ilain. But Arlen had run off into the woods after his mother passed, and was never heard from again. Folk said he must be dead, especially after Jeph went to Sunny Pasture to search and hadn’t found him. The Free Cities were weeks away on foot, and no one could survive that many nights without succor.

But Renna had never given up hope. Her eyes were always searching the road east, praying that one day he would come and take her away.

She looked up just then and saw a horseman coming down the road. Her heart stopped for a moment, but the rider came from the west, and after a moment, she recognized him.

Cobie Fisher sat tall on Pinecone, one of Old Hog’s dappled mares, his patchwork armor and hammered cookpot helmet polished carefully. His spear and shield were strapped to the saddle in easy reach, though she had never heard tell of him using them.

Cobie fancied himself a Messenger, but he didn’t brave the night like real Messengers; he simply ferried goods and word from one end of the Brook to another for Rusco Hog, who ran the general store. Once or twice, Cobie had slept in their barn on his way north to Sunny Pasture.

“Ay, Renna!” Cobie called, lifting a hand in greeting. She wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand and straightened as he approached.

Cobie’s eyes bulged suddenly, and he blushed. Renna remembered then that she was only half dressed. Her shift ended above her knees, and swooped low in front, showing a fair bit of cleavage. She smirked, amused at his embarrassment.

“Off to Sunny Pasture again?” she asked, making no effort to cover herself.

Cobie shook his head. “I’ve a message for Lucik.”

“So late in the day?” Renna asked. “What could be so…” She caught a look in Cobie’s eye, and began to worry. The last time someone had come with a message for Lucik, barely two years past, it was that his brother Kenner had gotten drunk testing ale from the vats and stumbled out beyond the wards. By the time the sun banished the demons, there was barely anything left of him to burn.

“Everyone’s alright, ent they?” she asked, dreading the answer.

Cobie shook his head. He bent in close, lowering his voice though no one was around. “Lucik’s da passed this morning,” he confided.

Renna gasped, putting her hands to her mouth. Fernan Boggin had always been kind to her when he came to see his grandchildren. She would miss him. And poor Lucik…

“Renna!” came her father’s bark. “Get inside and cover yourself, girl! This ent no Angierian house of sin!” He pointed to the door with his prized hunting knife. The blade was Milnese steel, with a bone handle, and was never far from his hands.

Renna knew that tone, and left Cobie with his mouth open as she turned and hurried inside. She stopped at the door to watch Harl stride out to meet Cobie, who was tying Pinecone to the hitching post.

Her father was wrinkled and gray, but he seemed to only toughen with age, his wiry muscles hard from working the fields and his skin leathern and rough. Harl had wanted to find Renna a husband before Ilain left, but since, he had scared off any boy who even looked her way.

Cobie was taller than Harl, though, and wider, one of the biggest men in Tibbet’s Brook. Hog had chosen him as his messenger because he had more than a little bully in him still and didn’t scare easily, especially with his armor on. Renna couldn’t hear what they said, but her father’s rumbling tone was respectful as they clasped wrists.

“What’s the commotion?” Beni asked from the fire where she was chopping vegetables into the stew.

“Cobie Fisher’s come in from Town Square,” Renna said.

“Did he say why?” Beni asked, her face clouding with worry. “Messengers don’t just come to say hello.”

Renna swallowed hard. “Da called me in before he could say,” she lied, and hurried to the curtain in her corner of the common room, pulling off her dirty shift and putting on a dress. She was still lacing the stays when she exited the curtain and caught Cobie looking at her again.

“Corespawn it, Renna!” Harl roared, and she vanished behind the curtain until she was properly done up.

Harl scowled when she reemerged. “Run and fetch Lucik from the fields, girl, and keep the boys out in the barn. Messenger’s come with dark news.”

Renna nodded, darting out the door. She found Lucik tending the wardposts at the far end of the fields, just before the ground turned black, scorched clean by flame demons.

Cal and Jace were with him, digging weeds while their father worked. They were seven and ten.

“Suppertime?” Cal asked hopefully.

“No, poppet,” Renna said, tousling his dirty blond hair. “But we’re going to put the animals back in the barn. Your da has a visitor.”

“Eh?” Lucik said.

“Cobie Fisher,” Renna said, “with news from your mam.”

Fear flashed on Lucik’s face, and he set off at once. Renna led the boys back and set them to work leading the hogs and cows from the day pens into the big barn. Renna untethered Pinecone herself, leading the mare into the small barn off the back of the house where they kept their mollies and the chickens. Their last horse had given out two summers past, so there was an empty stall. Renna undid the girth, slipping off the saddle and bridle. She turned to get the brushes and caught Jace reaching for Cobie’s spear.

“Hands off, ’less you want a whipping,” she said, slapping his hand away. “Get the brushes and rub the horse down, then go slop the pigs.”

She fed the chickens while the boys went about their chores, but her eyes kept glancing to the door to the house. She had seen twenty-four summers, but Harl still treated her like a child, sheltering her as much as he did the boys.

After a time, the door opened and Beni stuck her head in. “Supper’s ready. Everyone wash up.”

The boys whooped and ran inside, but Renna lingered, meeting her sister’s eyes. Since they were children, the two had been able to speak volumes to each other with but a look, and this time was no different. Renna put her arms around Beni and hugged her as she cried.

After a brief bout of sobbing, Beni straightened and wiped her eyes with her apron before going back inside. Renna drew a deep breath and followed.

The dinner table only sat six, so the boys were sent to eat by the fire in the common room. Having no idea anything was amiss, they scampered off happily, and the elders could hear them laughing and wrestling the dogs through the thin curtain that served as a divider between the dining area and the common.

“We ’ll head out first thing in the morning,” Lucik said when Renna had cleared the bowls. “With Da and Kenner gone, Mam is going to need a man around afore Hog starts buying Marsh Ale again.”

“Can’t someone else take it on?” Harl said, his face sour as he whittled the end of a wardpost. “Fernan young’s near a man.” Fernan young was Kenner’s son, named after his grandfather.

“Fernie’s only twelve, Harl,” Lucik said. “He can’t be trusted to run the brewery.”

“Then what about yer sister?” Harl pressed. “She married that Fisher boy couple summers ago.”

“Jash,” Cobie supplied.

“He’s a Fisher,” Lucik said. “He might be able to scale and gut, but he won’t know night about brewing.” He glanced at Cobie. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Cobie said. “Jash is apt to drink more than he brews, anyway.”

“You’re one to talk,” Harl snapped. “Way’s I hear, Hog made you his message boy when you couldn’t pay all the ale credits you owed. Maybe it’s you, ort be up at the brewery, working off your drink.”

“You got some stones, old man,” Cobie said, scowling and half rising from his seat. Harl rose with him, pointing at him with his long hunting knife.

“Know what’s good for you, boy, you’ll sit’cher ass back down,” he growled.

“Corespawn it!” Lucik barked, slamming his hands down on the table. Both men looked at him in shock, and Lucik glared in return. He was of a size with Cobie, and flushed red with anger. They returned to their seats, and Harl picked up his post end, whittling furiously.

“So just like that, you up and desert us,” he said. “What about the farm?”

“Spring planting’s done,” Lucik said. “You and Renna should be able to weed and keep the wardposts till harvest time, and me and the boys’ll come back for that. Fernie, too.”

“And next year?” Harl asked.

Lucik shrugged. “I don’t know. We can all come to plant, and might be I can spare one of the boys for the summer.”

“Thought we was family, boy,” Harl said, spitting on the floor, “but it looks like you’ve always been a Boggin at heart.” He pushed back from the table. “Do as you want. Take my daughter and grandsons away from me. But don’t expect a slap on the back for it.”

“Harl,” Lucik began, but the old man waved him off, stomping over to his room and slamming the door.

Beni laid a hand over Lucik’s clenched fist. “He din’t mean it like that.”

“Oh, Ben,” he said sadly, laying his free hand over hers, “course he did.”

“Come on,” Renna said, grabbing Cobie’s arm and pulling him from his seat. “Let’s leave them in peace and find you some blankets and a clean spot in the barn.” Cobie nodded, following her out of the curtain.

“Your da always like this?” he asked as they left the house proper.

“He took it better than I expected,” Renna said, taking a broom and sweeping out one of the empty stalls. Outside, the sun had set, and there were shrieks and flashes of light as the corelings tested the wards. The animals were used to the sound, but still they shifted nervously, knowing instinctively what would happen if the wards failed.

“Lucik just lost his da,” Cobie said. “You’d think Harl would show a little heart.”

Renna shook her head. “Not my da. He don’t care about any needs but his own.” She bit her lip, remembering what things were like before Lucik came.

After Cobie was safely settled in the barn, Renna came back in to the house to find Lucik in the common room, explaining things to the boys. She slipped quietly by and went into Beni’s room, finding her sister folding clothes and packing her few belongings.

“Take me with you,” Renna said bluntly.

“What?” Beni asked, surprised.

“I don’t want to be alone with him,” Renna said. “I can’t.”

“Renna, what are you…” Beni began, but Renna grabbed her shoulders.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about!” she snapped. “You know what he was like before Lucik came.”

Beni hissed and pulled away, going to the door and pushing it shut. “What do you know of it?” she asked, her voice a harsh whisper. “You were always the baby. You never had to endure—” She broke off, her face twisting with anger and shame.

Renna glanced pointedly at her bosom. “I’m not a baby anymore, Beni.”

“Then bind your breasts,” Beni said. “Stop running about in just your shift. Don’t give him a reason to notice you.”

“That won’t stop him, and you know it,” Renna said.

“Been almost fifteen years, Ren,” Beni said. “You don’t know what he ’ll do.”

But Renna did know. In her heart, she had no doubt. She had seen her father looking at her, his eyes running over her like greedy hands. Why else did he react so jealously whenever a man glanced her way? More than one had come courting when she was younger. They knew better now.

“Please,” she begged, gripping Beni’s hands as tears filled her eyes. “Take me with you.”

“And what will I tell Lucik?” Beni snapped. “He feels bad enough, leaving the farm untended. Without you, Da ent never gonna be able to handle the load.”

“You could tell him the truth,” Renna said.

Beni slapped her. Renna fell back, clutching her cheek in shock. Her sister had never struck her in her life.

But Beni showed no sign of remorse. “You get that out of your head,” she growled. “I ent gonna make my family bear that shame. Lucik would turn me out if he knew, and before long the whole town would hear tell. And what of Ilain? Should Jeph and her children have to carry that stain, too, all ’cause of you being a baby?”

“I’m not being a baby!” Renna shouted.

“Keep your voice down!” Beni hissed.

Renna took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “I’m not being a baby,” she said again, “just because I don’t want to be left alone with that monster.”

“He ent a demon, Renna, he’s our da,” Beni said. “He’s given us succor and put food on the table all our lives, even though his heart broke when Mam died. Ilain and I took it, and if it comes to that, you can, too.”

“Ilain took it by running to hide behind Jeph,” Renna said, “just like you hide behind Lucik. But who do I have to hide behind, Ben?”

“You can’t come with us, Renna,” Beni said again.

Just then, Lucik walked into the room. “Everything all right? I heard raised voices.”

“Everything’s fine,” Beni said, glaring at Renna, who sobbed and pushed past Lucik, running to her little curtained corner of the common.

Renna lay awake that night, listening to the shrieks of the corelings in the yard and the grunting from Beni’s room, her and Lucik at it like most every night. The same sound used to come from Harl’s room when her mother was alive. And after that, when Harl had made their eldest sister Ilain take her place. And when Ilain left, those sounds had come again on the nights when Harl pulled Beni in there. She hadn’t been so accepting of it then.

Renna sat up, bathed in sweat, her heart pounding. She peeked around the curtain and saw the boys fast asleep on their blankets. Clad only in her shift, she crept through the common and eased open the barn door, slipping quietly within.

Inside, she took the striker and lit a lantern, casting the barn in a flickering light.

“Eh?” Cobie asked, squinting and raising a hand over his eyes. “Whozzat?”

“It’s Renna,” she said, coming over and sitting beside him in the hay. The lantern light danced around the stall, flickering over Cobie’s broad chest as his blanket slipped down.

“Don’t get visitors often,” she said. “Thought we could sit and talk a spell.”

“Sounds nice,” Cobie said, rubbing the sleep from his face.

“Have to be quiet, though,” Renna said. “If Da catches us, there ’ll be the Core to pay.”

Cobie nodded, flicking a nervous eye in the direction of the house door.

“What’s it like, being a Messenger?” Renna asked.

“Well, I ent a real Messenger,” Cobie admitted. “Ent licensed by the guild in the Free Cities, and don’t think I’d be fool enough to sleep outside with the demons even if I were. But workin’ for Mr. Hog beats fishin’. Always hated that.”

“Way I hear tell, you never did much of it,” Renna said.

Cobie laughed. “True enough. Used to just run and fool about with Gart and Willum, but they got promised and stopped having time for it. Can’t laugh out on the boats. Scares the fish.”

“How come you never got promised yourself?” Renna asked.

Cobie shrugged. “Da said it’s because girls’ fathers didn’t think I could settle and provide for a wife and young’uns. He was right, I guess. I was always more interested in hanging around the general store than working. Fished when I had to, but never had enough credits to pay for all the ale I drank. Your da was right that Mr. Hog started sending me to fetch this or deliver that just to balance the log. But when the Speaker started asking Mr. Hog to have me ferry messages around, too, he said I could stay in the little room behind the store to be on hand.

“People treat me with respect now,” Cobie said, “because I’m on town business. They give me meals, and succor when it’s too far to go back to Town Square before dark.”

“Bet it’s nice,” Renna said, “traveling all over the Brook and seeing everyone all the time. I never see anyone.”

Cobie nodded. “I earn more than I drink, now, and when I have enough credits, I’m going to buy a horse of my own, and change my name to Cobie Messenger. Maybe build a house in Town Square, and have sons to take on the job when I’m old.”

“So you think you could settle and provide now?” Renna asked. Cobie wasn’t handsome, but he was a good strong man with prospects. She was coming to realize Arlen might never come back for her, and life had to go on.

Cobie nodded, looking in her eyes. “I might,” he said, “if a girl took her chances on me.”

Renna leaned in and kissed him on the mouth. Cobie’s eyes widened a moment, but then he kissed her back, enveloping her in his strong arms.

“I know a wife’s tricks,” Renna whispered, pulling down her shift to expose her breasts. “I seen Beni and Lucik at it plenty of times. I could be a good wife.” Cobie groaned, nuzzling her bosom as his hands ran up her legs.

There was a crash from behind, startling them both.

“What in the Core is going on here?!” Harl demanded, grabbing Renna by the hair and pulling her off Cobie. In his free hand, he held his long hunting knife, sharp as a razor. He threw Renna aside and put the point up to Cobie’s throat.

“We…we were just…” Cobie stuttered, drawing back as far as he could, but his back was against the wall of the stall, and there was nowhere to go.

“I ent no fool, boy,” Harl said. “I know what you were ‘just’! You think because I give you succor behind my wards, you can go and treat my daughter like some Angierian whore? I orta gut you right here.”

“Please!” Cobie begged. “It ent like that! I really like Renna! I want her hand!”

“’Spect you wanted more than that,” Harl growled, pressing the point in and drawing a drop of blood from Cobie’s throat. “You think that’s how it works? Come stick a girl, then ask for her hand?”

Cobie pulled his head back as far as he could, tears and sweat mixing on his face.

“That’s enough!” Lucik cried, grabbing Harl’s arm and pulling the knife away. Harl whirled to his feet, and the two men stood glaring at each other.

“You wouldn’t say that if it were your daughter,” Harl said.

“That may be,” Lucik said, “but I ent gonna let you kill a man in fronta my boys, either!”

Harl glanced back, seeing Cal and Jace watching wide-eyed from the house door while Renna cried in Beni’s arms. Some of the anger went out of him, and his shoulders slumped.

“Fine,” he said. “Renna, you’re sleeping in my room tonight, so’s I can keep an eye on you. And you,” he pointed his knife at Cobie again, who went rigid with fright, “you so much as look at my girl again, and I’ll cut yer stones off and feed ’em to the corelings.”

He grabbed Renna by the arm and dragged her along as he stormed into the house.

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.