Page 10 of The Boy Bride

“Yeah, there’s three of them. He was travelling with them when the invader king’s men caught up to him. He brought them in here for refuge. We were living here then—trying to rebuild the great house after it got pulled down by the invader king’s men the summer before, when Granda died—but we had no hearthmen or anything with us. So the invader king’s general walled us in. Used the stones we’d had cut to expand the hall, that were sitting out in front of the gate. Cowards. So that’s not how they tell the story in the lowlands, hey?”

“No, well, I’d never heard anybody say how it happened that they caught Lord Vanu but couldn’t kill him.”

“They didn’t catch him, is what it is. They cornered him, and they wouldn’t have been able to do that if he hadn’t been protecting his girls.”

So Faru and his family had been walled in their own home with Vanu and his daughters. That was different than what Lill had imagined.

“And he has no other retainers here? No … what did you call them? Hearthmen?”

“Not at—er, no. Just us. So when’s the wedding?”

“Oh, I don’t know—whenever Lord Vanu wants, I guess. I haven’t actually seen him.”

“Yeah, you saw him. After you fell off the cart. He came running, and you had your eyes open. But maybe you don’t remember.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Just as well—you’re not supposed to meet the week before the wedding. Though that’s for girl brides—don’t know if it would count for you. Is it done the same as for girls, the boy bride thing?”

Lill nodded. He’d had to have it explained to him, when Arsha had first presented the idea. He’d known little of such things.

“It’s all supposed to be done the same. A boy bride can even become a girl if he wants—change his name and wear women’s clothes all the time, not just for the wedding.”

“Ah, like the warrior souls but in reverse. You know what that is? That’s when someone in the mountains is born a girl, but has a fighting man inside. So he switches—there’s a ceremony when he comes of age. Funny you don’t have warrior souls in the lowlands, but you do let boys become girls.” From his expression, he didn’t think it funny so much as pitiable. “And is that what you want, to be a girl?”

“I? Does Lord Vanu want a girl for a wife?” Again, someone should simply have told him if that was the case.

Khatu considered, head tipped to one side. “Huh. I guess not.”

“Well, good, because I’m not a girl.”

At one time he’d dreamed of it, because it would have been a way out of the life that he was living, which had borne down on him sometimes, a weight too much for him to bear. He’d imagined slipping into a woman’s dress and being whisked away to marry a nobleman who would keep him in luxury. His prettiness would have been a good thing then, not a curse.

But he wasn’t a girl—he didn’t know what he was—and would that life have fit him any better than the other? He doubted it.

“Well,” said Khatu, “I guess it’ll be however Lord Vanu wants it. But you’ll be in girl’s things for the wedding, at least. I wonder if Ma knows about this—she could fix that ripped gown for you. You’ll need it—there’s nothing else in here fit for a bride, I shouldn’t think. You’ve got to make your clothes last, in here. Only Susami and Ma are decent wool-workers, and they’ve got a lot else to do.”

He got to his feet, rolling his huge shoulders.

“I’d better go. I’ve got work to do myself—drills, to keep fit. You’ve got to, when you’re penned in like this. Vanu always reminds us. When you’re well enough, you can join us, hey?” He chortled. “Toughen you up.”

“Sure,” said Lill easily.

He watched Khatu walk away, wondering how much of his big-friendly-dog persona was real and how much put on. It couldn’t all be real, that was not plausible. But not knowing made Lill inclined to be wary around him, as friendly as he seemed.

The injuries Lill had sustained—especially the blow to his head—were a serious setback. He was in no condition to assassinate anyone, and he’d arrived as a helpless victim, his knives and even his clothes confiscated. And who could say what they might have guessed or imagined when they saw the knives. Who had seen them? He wondered about that.

Then there was the seal. He’d forgotten all about the seal, but it was gone along with his clothes. Maybe gone for good, unless someone had found that too.

He was indebted to Tirtu, who was Vanu’s henchman if he correctly understood the expression Khatu had used, and to the woman Gurti, who must be Khatu’s mother. Could he repay them? Or would this be another dishonour added to the list of those he could never expunge?

As if to make sure he wasn’t forgotten in Lill’s list of problems, Halza called out from inside the infirmary, “Lill? Are you there?”

Lill got up from the bench and came to the doorway. He couldn’t avoid Halza, much as he wished he could. Their fates, for the time being, were linked.

“Yes, did you need something?”

Halza was sitting up on his pallet, laboriously rearranging his pillows so he could lean against the wall. He was in worse shape than Lill; his injury wasn’t dangerous, but it was obviously causing him a lot of pain.