Peter Brett - The Desert Spear

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"Oh, did he?" Selia asked. "And am I right to guess I would find your brother Borry around back, by my nice shutters that Garric nailed shut?"

"Yes'm," Rik said.

Selia went back into the house, coming out with a broom and a rake. "Won't have idle hands milling around my house, Rik Fisher. You want to stay here, you'll sweep my front walk spotless and have your brother clear the leaves and dead grass out back."

"I'm not sure I…," Rik began.

"You'd leave an old woman to do work you're too lazy to?" Selia asked. "Perhaps I'll mention that to Ferd Miller, the next time I see him."

Rik had taken the broom and rake before she finished the sentence. "That's a dear boy," she said. "When you're done, you can check my wards. Anyone comes calling, have them set on my porch. I'll be back soon."

"Yes'm," Rik said.

She took a crock of butter cookies and went to where the children played in the Square, sending the swiftest to deliver messages in exchange for a cookie. By the time she made it back to her house, Rik was done with the walk and was sweeping her porch. Stam Tailor, the first person she had summoned, sat slumped on her porch steps, clutching his head in pain.

"Regretting yesterday's ale?" Selia asked, knowing the answer already. Stam was always regretting yesterday's ale, even as he reached for today's.

Stam only groaned in reply.

"Come inside then, and have a cup of tea to soothe your head," Selia said. "Want to talk about what you saw, night before last."

She interviewed Stam at length, and then the others who claimed to have seen Renna pass through on her way to the store. There were too many of these to believe, though, as if the whole town had seen her charge down the street, eyes ablaze and knife in hand. Raddock and Garric had been from one end of the Brook to the other with the bloody knife and dress, and everyone wanted to feel a part of the drama.

"Cobie may have been weak in the flesh," Tender Harral told her, recalling the scene after Fernan Boggin's funeral, "but he was honest in wanting to marry Renna, I saw it plain on his face. Hers, too. It was Harl that had murder in his eyes at the thought."

"My Lucik got in a fight with two Fishers last night," Meada Boggin told her later. "They said Renna planned to kill her da all along, and tried to trick Cobie into doing it for her. Lucik punched one on the nose, and they broke his arm."

"Lucik punched one?" Selia asked.

"My boy lived with Renna Tanner nigh fourteen years," Meada said, "and if he says she ent a killer, that's enough for me."

"You'll speak for Boggin's Hill, now that Fernan's gone?" Selia asked.

Meada nodded. "Hill voted yesterday."

Coline Trigg came next. "Keep asking myself," the Herb Gatherer said, "why was poor Cobie stabbed twixt the legs? Must've been her done it; no man'd do that to another man. Expect she wasn't as willing as folk say when Cobie visited. Reckon he forced himself on her, and she went to kill him for it. When her father tried to stop her, she must've killed him, too." In the afternoon, Jeph arrived with Ilain and Beni. He kept close to the women, interposing himself between Beni and Rik Fisher as they glared at each other.

"How's Lucik?" Selia asked Beni as they came inside.

Beni sighed. "Coline says the splint comes off in a couple months, but it puts us in a bad place, we want to fill Hog's ale orders. Worried for my boys, too, this feud goes on much longer."

Selia nodded. "Best keep your boys close to hand. Raddock's stirred the Fishers into a fine frenzy, and they reckon they're owed blood. Might be they're not picky about where they get it. Meantime, I'll see if I can find any idle hands around town to throw in at the brewery."

"Thank you, Speaker," Beni said.

Selia gave all three a hard look. "We all have to do our part, when times try us." She turned and led them to the spinning room. Renna sat in a chair, staring at the wall.

"She been eating?" Ilain asked, worry in her voice.

Selia nodded. "She 'll swallow what you put in her mouth, and use the privy if you lead her to it. Even worked the pedal on my spinning wheel last night. Just her will that's gone."

"She was like that for me, too," Ilain agreed. Beni looked at Renna and started to cry.

"Would you mind leaving us a spell, Speaker?" Jeph asked.

"Course not," Selia said, leaving the room and closing the door behind her. Jeph hung back, giving Ilain and Beni distance as they went to their sister. They spoke in hushed tones, but Jeph could hear a mole digging his fields at thirty yards, and he caught every word.

"She done it," Beni said. "Never believe she hurt Cobie Fisher, but she was scared to death of what Da might do if they was alone. Begged me to take her away with us…" She sobbed again, and Ilain joined her. They held each other until it passed.

"Oh, Ren," Ilain said, "why'd you have to go and kill him? I always just took it quiet."

"You never took nothin' quiet," Beni snapped. "You took it like I did, hiding behind the first man I saw. And we both got away with it, because we left Da another plum."

Ilain turned to her, horror in her eyes. "Din't reckon he 'd turn to you," she said, reaching out. "Thought you were too young."

Beni slapped her hand away. "You knew," she spat. "I already had paps bigger than most goodwives, and was old enough to promise. You knew, and you left anyway, 'cause you were thinkin' more of yourself than your kin."

"You din't do the same?" Ilain accused. "If that ent the night callin' things dark, dunno what is!"

They went at each other, but Jeph crossed the floor in an instant, pulling them apart by the necks of their dresses. "There 'll be none of that!" he said, holding them out at arm's length and glaring at them until they dropped their eyes. When he let go, the fight was out of them.

"Maybe it's time to air this all before the council," he said, making both women look up at him sharply. "Tell 'em the kinda man Harl was," he thrust his chin at Renna, "and maybe they won't blame her for what she done."

Ilain slumped into the seat next to Renna, digesting the thought, but Beni glared at him. "You expect me to stand before the likes of Raddock Lawry and Lucik's mam and say my da liked to treat his daughters like wives?" she demanded. "You expect I'll trust that tale to the tavern keeper and that old gossip Coline Trigg? Night, how'll I look my own husband in the eye after that, much less hold my head up in town? How could any of us? Worse 'n what happened, everyone knowin' what happened!"

"Worse than seein' your sister staked?" Jeph asked.

"Even if it wern't," Beni said, "ent no proof it would change one mind on the council, and might be it gets three sisters staked, steada just one."

Jeph looked to Ilain, sitting very quiet as the image Beni painted danced before her eyes. "I think everyone knowing might be worse," she said softly, her voice cracking into a sob with the last word. Jeph rushed to her, going to one knee to hold her as she cried.

"You best keep your mouth shut on this, too, Jeph Bales," Beni said.

Jeph looked at his weeping wife, and nodded. "Not my place to make that decision for you two. I'll hold my peace."

Ilain looked at Renna and moaned, her face screwing up further. "I'm sorry!" she sobbed, and hurried out of the room. "Are you all right, dear?" Selia asked Ilain as she stumbled out of the spinning room.

"Hate seein' her like that," Ilain mumbled.

Selia nodded, but she wasn't satisfied. "Sit." She pointed to a chair in her common room. "I'll make tea."

"Thank you, Speaker," Ilain said, "but we have business-"

"Sit," Selia said again, this time it was less an offer than a command, and Ilain complied instantly at the change in tone. "All of you," Selia added, as Beni and Jeph caught up.

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