Page 45 of The Boy Bride

A silence had fallen, so deep that Vanu could easily make himself heard by every hearing person there.

“Getting married,” he said. “Thought you knew.”

There were a couple of snorts of laughter—from Mikhi, certainly, but from someone else too, Vanu wasn’t sure who.

Barda was at Vanu’s elbow, eeling up to whisper, “He wasn’t supposed to be back until tomorrow, my lord. It was Khatu’s idea. Ma had nothing to do with it.”

Khatu and Barda were as loyal to their mother as they were quick to betray each other, so Vanu guessed this meant it was Gurti who had got Faru out of the stronghold with Barda’s help, and Khatu had not been involved.

“You have the audacity to conduct a wedding in my forecourt, in my absence, after I expressed my disapproval in no uncertain terms?” Faru’s voice rose in pitch with each added complaint.

“My lord—” Padunu began in a strangled voice. “I had thought—” He glanced wildly between Tirtu and Vanu with a look of betrayal in his eyes.

“What’s going on?” Susami signed to Vanu.

“We chose the village gathering place as the most suitable location for our festivities,” Padunu went on hastily, “and have arranged the articles for the lowland ceremonies in your hall because⁠—”

“Lowland ceremonies?” Faru snarled. “In my hall?”

“Faru didn’t realize the wedding was happening today,” Vanu told Susami. “He’s upset he wasn’t invited.”

Atari giggled, quite audibly. Mikhi laughed aloud. Padunu swooped in and took Faru by the elbow to guide him back into the house. There was a moment’s tense silence around the feast tables.

“Alas!” Tirtu cried out, picking up where he had left off. He threw up his hands in a dramatic gesture. “My daughter has disappeared—oh, er, I mean my son—my only son has disappeared! Who will help me find him? Whoever shall find him for me today may take him to wife tonight!”

Mikhi and Barda whooped, trying to make up with extra volume for the fact that there were only two of them.

“Let us help Lord Vanu find Tirtu’s son!” Barda had switched roles now, no longer the child emissary from the bride’s father, now one of the groom’s entourage. Clearly he liked this role better.

“My lord,” said Gurti, switching roles too, “we will await your return with your bride.” She signed the same to Susami and Atari, and they all curtsied together.

From inside the great house they could hear Faru shouting and Padunu trying to placate him. It was as sweet to Vanu’s ears as the lowlander’s singing.

Halza himself had, Vanu realized, sidled over toward Gurti’s group as if he planned to stay with them. Vanu didn’t care what role he might think he was playing now, if he even had any such excuse. He caught Halza’s eye pointedly and beckoned for him to join the departing group. The man came, looking sick and glancing back more than once at Susami.

“So,” said Mikhi brightly, “where should we search first?”

“Khatu helped him hide,” said Barda, “so he won’t be hard to find. I know how my brother’s mind works.” He turned to Halza and added maliciously, “Should we look in that shed where we found you?”

The lowlander’s face showed baffled fear, Mikhi looked confused and left out, and Vanu waved a hand angrily at Barda.

“This is a bride hunt, we’re not tracking a fugitive,” he signed and Mikhi translated. “We go around the village looking in every house and asking for the missing bride. It’s a ritual. Tell the lowlander he can sing and play his drum as we go, if he likes.”

“Right, yeah,” said Barda, trying to pretend this was what he’d planned all along.

Mikhi looked happier, and Vanu offered her his arm. Halza shook his hand drum and began to sing, and they set off in search of Vanu’s bride.

Chapter 15

Doubly Married

Lill was hiding. At least that was what Khatu and Tirtu had said he was doing. He had pointed out, as mildly as he could, that there were much better hiding places in the village—better places within this house, even—and that it would really be trivially easy for Lord Vanu to find him once he came up onto the top of the house. There was virtually no cover here, he was hidden from view of the ground only if he stayed sitting in a certain spot, and as soon as anyone came up the ladder from below, he would be not only spotted but cornered, with no viable escape route.

Khatu had laughed and slapped Lill on the back, and Tirtu had looked rather alarmed and explained that they weren’t actually trying to prevent Vanu from finding his bride, it was just part of the wedding ritual. Lill had known that, of course; he’d thought he understood the whole thing pretty well, after five days of listening to Halza hash out the details with the shaman. He said gravely, “I know. That’s why I wasn’t suggesting I cover myself in mud and lie down in the pigsty.” Khatu laughed until tears streamed down his face, and Tirtu left looking uneasy.

The house where he was “hiding” was the one with the curtained doorway where he had seen Vanu Urártu on his first day—or second day, he couldn’t remember anymore—in Umtúshta. It was being used as a storehouse, but it was decorated as if it had been intended as something grander. It had three levels, with ladders connecting, and a kind of lookout platform, with a low wall around the edge and a conical roof elevated on posts above it. There was an excellent view of the village from up here, which was perhaps the point of it.

So here he was, more or less out in the open, and he’d just realized he still had his trousers on under his bridal costume. This was probably the last time today that he’d be alone. He could wriggle out of them while still remaining seated behind the wall, but then what would he do with them?