Page 24 of The Boy Bride

With any luck, he wouldn’t be noticed missing for a little while yet. Khatu and Barda thought he was in Vanu’s house, and Vanu thought he had been thrown over the wall, so until they talked to one another, they wouldn’t realize anything was wrong. Padunu would have told Faru what his sons had done, and Faru might tell Vanu—but apparently that hadn’t happened yet. Maybe the brothers had stopped Padunu from telling, or maybe Faru didn’t want to confess that he’d failed to carry out Vanu’s orders.

Halza needed to stop for a rest, so they dropped down to crouch behind one of the ruined houses. They had not got very far.

“What did they do to you?” Halza whispered anxiously. “Did they hurt you? How did you get away?”

Lill glared and put a finger to his lips. They’d only just gained their position; didn’t the fool have sense enough to remain silent to listen for pursuit?

He’d got away simply by climbing back out through the second-storey window of Vanu’s house, easy enough once he was unbound. He’d brought the rope with him, wrapped around his waist, and he had Vanu’s dagger. White Viper’s dagger.

He wished he hadn’t remembered that he needed to come back to look for Halza. He’d made up his mind to stay in Vanu’s cupboard and come out when Vanu was sleeping. But Halza was a comrade of sorts, and you shouldn’t leave a comrade behind—that was one of the Twenty-One Martial Virtues, which Lill had memorized once in lieu of a week’s worth of sparring practice while he was recovering from a broken rib. So he’d get Halza out safely, and then he’d see about salvaging his mission.

“What are we doing?” Halza whispered.

Lill was satisfied there were no sounds of pursuit by this time. “I think there’s a tunnel. A way out of the stronghold.”

“No! How do you know?”

“Shh! I don’t know. But it would explain some things. Like why they don’t seem to be short of food or fuel.”

“That’s true! Sorry, sorry—that’s true. I never thought of that.”

“We have to find a place to hide you, and I’ll go look for the tunnel.”

“But surely that’s dangerous!”

“You can barely walk. If I need to hide in a hurry, I can do it if I’m alone.”

Halza looked sceptical, which irritated Lill.

“Come on, let’s find a place where you’ll be safe on your own.”

He had a place in mind, one of the ruined houses that had an intact lean-to on one side. He led Halza there, sneaking cautiously close to walls and keeping low to the ground. The temple where Halza had trained obviously hadn’t taught even the most basic techniques of stealth. Or maybe he just hadn’t learned them properly at all. That kind of thing had always been Lill’s strength.

They made it to the lean-to without incident, and Lill got the door open and peeked inside. There was a step down to a chill, empty space that smelled of root vegetables.

“Good,” he said, holding the door open for Halza. “You should be well hidden in there for a while.”

Halza hesitated. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?”

“Of course not,” Lill said impatiently. “How could I be sure of that?”

Halza swayed back, eyes widening, as if he found Lill’s attitude a shock. But what did he expect?

“I’m sure I want you to get in there and hide,” Lill said, since the man seemed to want certainty about something. “Every moment we stand here talking about it is one more moment they could see us.”

Halza gulped and ducked through the low doorway into the root cellar. Lill closed the door behind him, positioning the latch so that it could be pushed open from the inside with a little effort, but wouldn’t look obviously undone to a passerby. Then he took off for the fortress wall.

* * *

“Marvellous! Splendid!” Tirtu rubbed his hands together, beaming. “I knew you would come around. What made you change your mind, if I may ask, my lord?”

“Learning of Lord Davanu’s death,” said Vanu. He said the same thing that he had told the girls: “I will not refuse his last gift to me.”

Mikhi, who was interpreting for him, gave the words quiet dignity, as if what he was proposing to do was noble and self-sacrificing, which it wasn’t.

“Quite right,” said Tirtu. “I am still shocked to think of his death. I thought that he had no enemies in Torakand. But yes, my lord, it is very right for you to take the boy that he sent you for your bride. And then may the Blue Heaven grant you the opportunity for revenge!”

“We’ll see,” said Vanu, and Mikhi, who was worth her weight in gold as an interpreter, gave the words just the right note of weariness.