Page 25 of The Summer Pass

Solid Bronze Balls

“He’s my brother,” Lill said. “Mom gave me this to ransom him.”

He held up the gold bracelet he was offering, one of the thinner ones from his bridal trove, and waggled it just out of the raiders’ reach. There were four of them, all large men, well armed. They had been riding up the mountain trail when Lill finally caught up with them. It had taken him the better part of three days and brought him far out of his way—not that he had any particular place to be, but he was annoyed by it all the same.

“This is all I’ve got,” he went on irritably, “and it’s more than he’s worth, so you can take it or leave it. I can find something else to do with it.”

The leader of the raiders took a step forward to peer at the bracelet critically, then plucked it out of Lill’s hand.

“This’ll do,” he grunted. “He’s all yours.”

He gestured to one of his underlings, who tugged their hostage down from the horse that he was draped over and unbound his hands.

“Come, Brother,” said Lill, turning on the path toward Radush. “Let us go home.”

Arsha followed him obediently.

“I owe you a debt,” he said at length, when they were out of earshot of the raiders. “How fortunate it is that you happened along after I was captured by those ruffians. I will repay you for the bracelet, of course. And anything else you … ” He trailed off, and Lill wasn’t surprised. What was he planning to pay with? He didn’t appear to have anything to offer.

“You needn’t,” Lill replied coolly. “I stole that bracelet from your patron. Whom you murdered, as I hear.”

“That was an accident.” Arsha made a wriggling motion with his shoulders, as if shrugging something off. “Well, sort of. I had to kill him for my revenge—he helped betray my father, and he was Vanu’s friend. I needed him to die for the whole thing to be complete. But I didn’t mean for it to be so obvious. I was going to poison him slowly, so his death would look natural—he’d think he was ill, you know, and get to bid farewell to his wife and kids and all that nonsense. I thought I’d do that for him as a favour, because he’d been quite generous to me, even if I loathed him for the way he pitied me. He was like that, so emotional about everything, it made me sick. Also I did hope he’d leave me something in his will.” He shrugged again.

“I fucked it up—maybe the apothecary told me the wrong measurements, or maybe Lord Davanu was just sensitive to the stuff, I don’t know, but he fell down dead at the first dose, and it was very obvious he’d been poisoned. I panicked a bit and set the house on fire, thinking I’d hide the truth, but, uh, it didn’t work. I had to leave the city, and I rather think I won’t be able to go back. I’m annoyed about that. But it hardly matters. You got my signal? He’s dead?”

Lill did not immediately reply. He had a plan for this. He was going to admit, of course, that he had not killed Vanu. He was going to explain that he’d tried, but Vanu had been warned, apparently—Arsha wouldn’t know anything about that?—and in the end Lill had been forced to flee, barely escaping with his life. He’s unkillable, was going to say. A monster, a beast, like everyone says; stay away from him. He’ll kill you like he killed all your kin if you try to come at him—you know that, it’s why you sent me instead. And I’m good, I’m very good, but even I couldn’t do it. So give it up, let it end now.

That was what he’d planned to say, with more about how Vanu hadn’t instigated the feud between the two families in the first place. But he hadn’t reckoned with how angry he would be in this moment, after listening to Arsha ramble tonelessly about ineptly murdering the man who tried to do right by him, treating him like a son and feeling sorry for him.

There was something about the two of them, Lill and Arsha; they were linked somehow. They looked alike, both sons of Chiddang mothers and Zashian fathers, and their lives had been upended by the same man, the man who killed Arsha’s father and Lill’s grandfather. And the way Arsha was, so hollowed out, so grotesquely intent on his little plans of revenge—Lill could easily imagine being like that. Maybe it wasn’t very different from the way Lill had been. Maybe it wasn’t even as bad; Davanu was probably the first person Arsha had murdered. But Lill wasn’t like that anymore.

“He is not dead,” Lill said. “You sent me to kill the best man I have ever met for a betrayal he never committed. You betrayed me—you wrote Vanu a letter telling him I had been sent to kill him, and even then he made no move against me. He is alive, and if you make another attempt on his life”—he made a knife appear in his hand, point aimed at Arsha’s throat—“you are the one who will die.”

The first couple of days after the men left Tsuruva were very quiet. Lill did his best to keep busy, though there wasn’t much to do, with the forge closed up and Zaraz and Shan gone. And he didn’t want to spend all his time—or even very much of his time—with Firuduna.

Now that it had been pointed out to him, Firuduna’s interest was very obvious. His gaze lingered wistfully on Lill whenever Lill was in the room, and he was always coming up with reasons for Lill to do things for him that brought them close together or might make their hands accidentally touch. Shaman Tati said there was no reason he couldn’t be out of bed and doing things for himself, and she seemed mystified about why he was not. It was no mystery to Lill.

Yet Firuduna wasn’t doing any of the other things he might have done. He hadn’t made overt advances or lewd comments like Barda used to; he hadn’t tried anything covert like Master Dumuz. He certainly hadn’t resorted to overpowering Lill, which he could easily have done. He was Vanu’s size, and Lill vividly remembered how trivial it had been for Vanu to immobilize him when he wanted. Firuduna wasn’t doing any of that, so far, but Lill wasn’t so complacent as to assume he was never going to. The thought of any man but Vanu touching him made his stomach turn over with horror and disgust.

So finally he followed Shan’s advice and bluntly broached the subject. It was after he’d come into the house and caught sight of Firuduna through the open bedroom door, climbing back into bed and deliberately arranging his pillows so Lill would have to lean over him to “fix” them.

Lill came into the room and set down the bowl of porridge he was carrying.

“From Aunt Artami?” Firuduna asked.

“No, I made this.”

“Even better.”

“I should tell you,” Lill said sternly, “I’m married.”

“What? You have a wife?” For a moment Firuduna looked ready to guffaw, but he seemed to get hold of himself with an effort. “I mean, you look young for it.”

“I don’t have a wife,” said Lill. “I have a husband.”

Firuduna’s eyes widened. “I’ve heard of this! So it’s true? In the lowlands, a man can take another man to wife?”

“They call us boy brides, but yes.”