Page 11 of The Summer Pass

“Think you should apologize?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yeah. You should apologize. She went to you for comfort, and you came over all scrupulous for some reason.”

“I never thought of it like that. I guess I should talk to her. Thank you, my lord.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Tirtu looked into his wine cup thoughtfully for a moment. “Come to think of it, we were all upset around that time because of … well. That other business.”

Padunu stepped into the firelight just then, returning from his visit to the nearby hamlet. He looked grim.

“News?” Vanu prompted, trying not to look too eager for the change of topic.

“My lord, I have asked the locals what happened across the river. The news is concerning.”

“Sit,” said Vanu. “Tell me.”

Padunu glanced at Tirtu as if he would have liked to suggest Vanu dismiss him, but he said nothing and sat by the fire instead.

“I encountered a group of men who were willing to speak to me. Several women saw me but ignored me—they seem highly suspicious of strangers, and I soon learned why. Ten days ago, a large raiding party came down from the Summer Pass—an unprecedented event, as you well know, for them to raid so far south.”

“This side of the river?”

Padunu nodded. “They did some minor damage to the habitations in this area, but their true target was the large Akramarran settlement on the southern bank a few hours east of here, in particular the Protector’s Office situated there. They attacked at night, took no prisoners, slaughtered the residents indiscriminately, and set fire to the village and surrounding fields, with the destruction ranging a great distance, as we observed. They were under the command of someone who calls himself the Boar of Hawakhurta and seems to have his base at Tagra Degra.”

Vanu swore and dropped his head into his hands for a moment, allowing himself to feel the full weight of this news. It didn’t surprise him. He didn’t know who it was who had taken over his ancestral home and was using it as a base for the fucking suicidal project of raiding south of the Tawa River. He could think of half a dozen idiots who might do such a thing. It could be any of them. Well, a couple were probably dead now, but it could be any of the others.

Padunu cleared his throat as if he had more to say. Vanu looked up at him.

“This happened, as I say, ten days ago, so the news will have reached Suna by now. What the Zashian king will do about it remains to be seen, but the Protector of Akramarra has already arrived from Torakand with his personal guard.”

“Thank you, Shaman. That was well done.”

Padunu shrugged and looked uncomfortable. “It wish it were better news, my lord. It does seem that we are, er, riding into a delicate situation.”

Tirtu snorted. “Lord Vanu is not afraid of the Protector of Akramarra,” he muttered.

That was true, as far as it went, but the Protector of Akramarra was also the Great King’s younger brother, and Vanu had no desire to face him in battle. He had no idea how big a force his “personal guard” was, either, but it wouldn’t be a few spearmen. The Zashian royal family did things on a large scale.

The following morning, when they should have been striking camp, the lord of Tawakhura came to Vanu’s tent to say that his wife wanted to do laundry.

“I thought we could spare the time—the ladies care about these things. What do you say, my lord?”

Vanu was going to say that the ladies could wear their clothes a couple days longer, but he had just spotted a rider approaching the camp. He guessed the man was carrying a reply to at least one of the messages he’d sent off in different directions after leaving Umtúshta, and he’d like time to read it and send a few more.

“We’ll stay here today,” he signed.

“Do I have to do laundry?” Mikhi signed back after she had translated.

“Thank you, my lord. My wife will be happy—and when she’s happy, I get some peace. You wouldn’t understand, not being a married man.”

Vanu didn’t bother to make any reply to that.

“No, you don’t have to do laundry,” he told Mikhi. “You can go do sword drills.”

The messenger arrived with answers to all of Vanu’s letters. Vanu sat in the sun and read them. They were mostly good news. All the men he’d asked for troops were sending them, and some were sending more than he’d expected. Rumours about him were circulating, as he’d intended.