Page 79 of The Boy Bride

“And the child, meanwhile?” Lill prompted.

“Was Vanu.”

“Yes, I got that. What happened to him?”

“Well, the Urártu took him at first—Samaru’s mother made him acknowledge his son, but after she died, he tried to give Vanu back to the Tarna, who didn’t want him. Then the Burgunu attacked Samaru and left him blind, and Vanu went back to the Urártu … One of his uncles would have been head of the family then. In the end, the men of the Burgunu and the Tarna wiped each other out completely, and the Urártu, Samaru and all of his brothers, were killed by the invader king’s men—all but Vanu.”

“So … that’s what he means about a curse.” It was pretty convincing, actually. His birth had brought down three different families.

Tirtu nodded. “I don’t set any store by it,” he reminded Lill. “Nor does Lord Vanu. That is, you know, it doesn’t haunt him or any such thing.”

Lill wondered if that was true. Vanu didn’t seem like a haunted man, and he certainly hadn’t let the circumstances of his birth hold him back from leading his people. But these things had a way of sinking into your soul. Lill should know.

* * *

It was easy to find opportunities to talk to Tirtu and Halza, but Padunu was more of a problem. Lill had not forgotten Vanu’s suggestion that he try to find out what the shaman had been doing with Faru in front of Vanu’s house the other night, but it wasn’t until the following day that he came upon Padunu alone and could strike up a conversation.

It was when he was delivering the milk again. Vanu had been right that the goats liked Lill, so helping with the milking became one of his daily chores. “Helping” was as much as he did with anything so far; nobody had yet given him any tasks to do on his own, and they didn’t even seem to expect him to do much in the way of help. He had to admit that this was just as well, because he didn’t know how to do most of the tasks that made up their daily routine.

Still, he could deliver buckets of milk, and when he brought one to the great house that morning, Padunu answered the door to his knock.

“Milk,” Lill announced, holding up the bucket.

The shaman looked startled, as if he had been expecting something else.

“Yes, of course. Milk.” He took the bucket and turned back toward the inside of the house. “Na Gurti! Lill has come with the milk. I’ll just leave it here. I was on my way out.”

He set the bucket down and came out, closing the door behind him. He jerked his head in a “follow me” gesture and set off across the well yard, white cloak billowing behind him. Lill followed, curious. Padunu was acting almost as if they had a prearranged meeting.

He led the way to the round house where Lill had hidden during the bride hunt, and swept aside the curtain in the doorway to enter. Lill followed him in and looked at him questioningly. Padunu folded his arms across his chest and looked down at Lill.

“Well?” the shaman said finally.

“Well, what?” Lill returned.

Padunu tossed his head irritably, making the gold beads in his hair swing. “I know you saw us outside Lord Vanu’s house the other night. I suppose you have something to say about that.”

Lill shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you have something to say?”

Padunu narrowed his eyes, but it seemed he couldn’t immediately come up with a retort.

“Perhaps you want to know how much of your conversation I heard,” Lill prompted. “Or how much I understood?”

“Oh, you heard something, all right,” said Padunu sourly, “and I daresay you understood it. I don’t think you’re as ignorant of the Hawada language as everyone assumes.”

“Clever of you,” said Lill in Hawada.

Padunu grimaced. “I knew it. All right, let us stop playing games. You heard Lord Faru instruct me to place a curse on Lord Vanu’s house. You must also have heard me refuse.”

“And I heard Faru remind you that you couldn’t afford to refuse for long. So I have to wonder where that leaves you.”

“I have not cursed Lord Vanu’s house.”

“Has Faru given up on the idea?”

Padunu squirmed. He didn’t look as scared as he had that night in front of Faru, but he had suffered a noticeable loss of bravado.

“I assume you haven’t told your husband what you heard … ” he said finally.