Page 29 of The Summer Pass

“That is true.” Gurti felt a little relieved to be able to say it. “And I believe it is also true that he wanted to marry Susami because he imagined rescuing her—but neither of them needed rescuing.”

“Huh.”

It was a half-hearted defence of the man, and Gurti was not sure it would make any difference. She was not sure she wanted it to. Halza surely did deserve to lose both the women he had strung along in this dishonourable way.

But Auxshna and her mother did not immediately take their horses and ride off, as Gurti had half-expected. Instead, Auxshna had a long conversation with Susami, mediated by Otoni and Atari, and though Gurti did not know what they talked about, it looked friendly. Halza rode even further from the rest of the group than usual all that day.

In the afternoon, Barda rode by the side of the wagon and tried to chat with Auxshna. It ended up being mostly a conversation between Barda and Auxshna’s mother, which didn’t seem to be what he had in mind.

That night they camped within sight of Manáshta. The following morning, as they were preparing to go up to the village, Halza announced to the whole group that he would return to Radush.

“I will accompany you to Manáshta,” he said stiffly, “and then I will depart. It is past time that I returned to my mother, who will be worried about me.”

Chapter 12

Our Lion

It was tempting just to leave Arsha there, in the woods halfway up the mountain, with his trousers wet with piss and no money or valuables or horse or food. But Lill hadn’t traded that bracelet to the raiders for him in order to scare him and leave him here. He needed more from Arsha than that.

“I’ll take you back down to Radush on one condition,” he said.

“Name it,” said Arsha, with a bad attempt at an unworried, worldly manner. He had shrieked with terror when Lill produced the knife, and sworn on a variety of things that he would make no more attempts on Vanu’s life.

“Tell me exactly what you and your brothers before you did to seek revenge on Lord Vanu. You can talk while we walk. And when we get to Radush, you’ll write it all down.”

Arsha looked pitifully relieved that this was all Lill wanted. In fact, he was probably eager to tell someone the story. The words began tumbling out of him as they set off downhill.

It was exactly as Vanu had thought; the brothers had all hatched half-baked plots to assassinate the man who killed their father, and none of those plots had involved confronting him directly and declaring who they were. It was probably true that all three of them had died by Vanu’s hand, but Vanu himself hadn’t known who they were. Sharaya had gone to slit Vanu’s throat in a tent on campaign and never returned. Dashavaya had tried to ambush Vanu in the forest. Yarasha had lain in wait for him at a hostel outside Torakand.

“So,” said Arsha in conclusion, “I knew I couldn’t get near him without being killed myself—that’s why, when I saw you, and remembered Lord Davanu was looking for a boy to send to Urártu, I came up with my plan.”

“And did you tell Lord Davanu?”

“By the Almighty! Of course I didn’t tell him. He’d never have agreed to it! He thought he was doing this kind thing for his old friend.” Arsha gave a cruel laugh. “Or did you think I couldn’t have come up with the whole plan on my own, that I needed his help?”

Lill said nothing to that. He quickened his pace, and Arsha scurried to catch up to him.

“You said Urártu didn’t betray my father,” Arsha said presently. “What makes you think that?”

Lill weighed whether he wanted to tell him or not. “You know that they were allies, that Lord Vanu went to your father to ask for his help in negotiating a treaty between Hawakhurta and the Great King?”

Arsha made a face. “That is what Lord Davanu used to say, but … I didn’t believe him. He never explained why Urártu would want that. He never explained very much about it at all.”

That would have been because he was trying to spare Arsha’s feelings by not dwelling on Madurasha’s treachery. A kindness that probably helped to kill him.

Lill said, “What they think in the mountains—what Lord Davanu thought, I am sure—is that your father betrayed them. Vanu and his men were riding back from Torakand to Hawakhurta when they were ambushed by the king’s army, and your father was there, with the king’s men.”

“No! You lie!”

“I don’t. That’s what happened. But what Lord Vanu thinks is that both he and your father were set up. Someone told your father that he couldn’t trust Lord Vanu, and so he arranged the ambush rather than waiting for the betrayal he thought was coming.”

Arsha’s mouth had fallen open. He stared at Lill. “And you believe that?”

Lill shot him a disgusted look and walked on. “Lord Vanu killed your father in battle because your father was part of an ambush. And still he thinks your father didn’t mean to betray him. Vanu was defending himself, and he wishes he hadn’t had to do it. That’s the sort of man you’re feuding with—he’s better than the whole lot of you put together.

“Your brothers threw their lives away the same way your father did. You murdered your foster father and hired an assassin to impersonate you for no reason—even if Vanu had betrayed your father, what good would your revenge have done? But he didn’t. Your family’s quarrel this whole time was with the wrong man.”

Lill walked on, leading his horse, though he could tell that Arsha had stopped on the path behind him. Whatever thoughts Arsha was thinking, Lill didn’t want to know about them. Under other circumstances, if he hadn’t been drawn into the farrago of a revenge plot himself, if the possibility that he could have succeeded in killing Vanu hadn’t been so real, he would have felt sorry for Arsha. It would surely hurt to realize you’d fucked your own life up so thoroughly to so little purpose. And Arsha had had a real life to fuck up, at least for a while; Lill had seen how he was living at Davanu’s house. He could imagine what you could do with an opportunity like that—the nice home, the people to love—if it was all real. It had all been real for Arsha, or it could have been.