The Desert Spear

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