The Desert Spear

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