Page 111 of The Summer Pass

He strode out into the middle of the alley and hurried past the hidden watcher. As he continued, walking quickly and openly, he could feel, like a tickling sensation down his back, that he was being followed. Good. He found the house where Nakhana was staying, knocked and asked for Nakhana, and conveyed his message about carrying the arrows to the gate for Gurti. He added some extra instructions.

When Nakhana had gone, Lill looked around for his tail. It took him a little while to spot him; the man was good, whoever he was. But there he was, hiding under an awning protecting a pile of firewood.

Lill strolled toward the location, ducked down at the last moment to get under the awning where the man was crouched, and confronted him.

The man’s eyes widened satisfyingly above his scarf—he hadn’t realized Lill had seen him—but he did not move.

“Are you my backup, or … ” Lill hissed. “I wasn’t told who to expect.”

The man pulled down his scarf. Lill recognized him now, though he knew little about him. His name was Dorang; he’d been the assistant to one of the masters for a while. He was about Vanu’s age.

“I’m nobody’s backup,” Dorang growled. “Are you telling me you’re here on a mission?”

“Of course. The same mission you’re on, I’d have thought.”

“You’d have thought wrong. You’re not part of our team—you’re prancing about in the open.”

“I’m embedded,” Lill replied scornfully. “I’m not supposed to have to explain that to you.”

Lill shifted as if uneasy, like maybe he was wondering if he’d made a mistake thinking he could trust Dorang. (He was uneasy, and he was wondering if he’d made a mistake, but in a different way.)

“You’re that kid who was expelled,” Dorang said slowly.

Lill’s heart thundered in his ears. Fuck. The way he saw this working was that he wouldn’t have to spell out the lie. That was how it had gone with Tasin when Lill had ambushed him at his camp out on the mountain. He’d let Tasin make up most of the story for him by saying vague things about secrets. If he had to make up actual details, he knew this was going to sound much less convincing. And Dorang was much older and more experienced than Tasin.

Still, Lill had to give it a try.

“That was my cover,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d have fallen for it.”

Dorang scowled. “I didn’t fall for nothing.”

“Well,” said Lill, “I have work to do, so⁠—”

He was moving backward as he spoke, because he’d realized he needed to get away immediately, but he was unbalanced because of his injured arm and side, and he was too slow. Dorang shot out a hand and caught hold of Lill’s leg, and then he was on top of Lill, holding a big curved dagger to Lill’s throat.

“You’re not going anywhere. Not until I know what you’re doing here.”

“If you don’t already know, I can’t tell you!” Lill protested.

“I don’t think it’s our mission, see? Fucking little girly-boy like you, what would you be doing on this mission? Or any mission. You were expelled, I’m sure of it. Don’t remember for what.”

Lill drew a deep breath and did his best to appear merely exasperated. Dorang was kneeling heavily on his chest, and he was in quite a lot of pain. “What can I say to⁠—”

“Keep your mouth shut.”

Dorang felt around and found Lill’s throwing knives. He shifted off Lill’s chest in order to unstrap the holster and confiscate it. Lill sat up and shuffled cautiously backward with a sulky expression, as if he believed Dorang had rendered him powerless now.

“Get up.” Dorang motioned with his dagger. “Move quietly. I know you fucking know how.”

Lill got up, keeping in the shadows, and Dorang slid out from under the awning behind him, dagger still in his hand. He gestured down the alley, and Lill went ahead of him, moving silently, close to the wall.

A crazy voice in his head was telling him to protest that this was silly. He could move about openly in the fortress; he had a cover story and a reason to be walking around. He could help Dorang complete his mission. He wouldn’t, of course, but Dorang wasn’t to know that.

He didn’t say any of that, because he’d realized that it would be much easier for Dorang to slit his throat and leave his body in a corner than whatever it was he was doing. Taking Lill to a rendezvous with the rest of his team, Lill hoped. That was why he hadn’t tried to kill Dorang yet himself; he needed to know who else was here and what they were doing.

Dorang prodded him along an excruciatingly slow but very stealthy route through Tagra Degra, around the back of the great house and over to the east side of the fortress. They were far from the front gate here, and it was hard to judge the progress of the battle from what little you could hear, but all the same Lill thought a noticeable silence had fallen that wasn’t just the effect of distance.

Hours had passed. The sun was setting outside the windows of the empty house where Dorang was waiting for his rendezvous. He had been sitting on the floor for most of the time, but now he was pacing and cursing his team members for taking so long, occasionally muttering about the things he would do to them when they came back. He was, apparently, the mission leader.