Page 36 of The Summer Pass

“I’ve heard of him. You said you went out a postern?”

“A what?”

“Back gate of the fortress.”

“Yes, that’s right. On the mountain side, not the valley side.”

“How did you get across the river?”

“There’s a bridge at the top of the falls, behind the castle. It’s very narrow—the bridge, not the river—and they’ve got guards, but we knew about that before we set out. We were going to pose as couriers from the castle with a message from someone over here. I memorized a couple of sentences to say in Hawa, and we had someone write a letter for us.”

“That was well done! You really thought it through.”

Zaraz sniffed and wiped her eyes again. “I suppose. I was terrified when I had to cross alone. But it did work. It’s a long way down from there to this village, and then when I got here, everything seemed deserted. I guess you’ve all moved into the towers.”

“Yeah. But only at night.” He’d just had a useful idea. “Wait here—or go back in the house if you like. I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?”

“Just to get something. But you stay here. They keep watch from the towers, and you could get shot at if they see you walking around.”

“But—”

He didn’t wait for further protest but hopped up from the bench and took off down the meadow. He made his way across the village to Artami’s house. He’d already learned that her door didn’t have a lock—few of the houses in the village did—and it was easy to find what he was looking for inside, even in the dark. He was back in the meadow in minutes. Zaraz gave a frightened gasp as he approached.

“Sorry! It’s me again.”

“I didn’t see you or hear you—how … ?”

“Here, I brought you a change of clothes.” Lill unrolled the bundle he was carrying and held out a black dress and a blue scarf. “They belong to Nakhana’s mother, and no, I didn’t ask permission, but she definitely would have said yes if I had. You know how generous she is. I thought you’d feel better if you could change out of those things of Enu’s.”

Zaraz had started to cry in earnest now. She took the dress and scarf from Lill and sat clutching them. He felt that he should say something more.

“I was planning to spend the rest of the night here, but I won’t get in your way. It’s too late to set off tonight, but tomorrow I can make my way to the bridgehead while it’s still light and get the lay of the land.”

Zaraz stared at him as if he’d been speaking gibberish.

“I’m going to get Shan out of there,” he explained. “I should have guessed sooner that the Boar was Darma—what he did to Latish was like the temples at Alazani all over again. He’s a fucker. It’s rich that he’s paranoid about being betrayed, because he’s the expert in betraying.”

“Lill, Lill!” Zaraz leapt up and grabbed him by the shoulders. “I understand, you have some, some history with this man Darma, and you want to help Shan—oh, if only you could!—but—but—no, Lill!”

“No?”

“Lill, you’ll be killed.”

“Oh. No, I’ll be all right.”

He could see that wasn’t going to convince her. She couldn’t stop him going, but she would be very upset if she thought he was going to certain death. He would have to explain. He could do this; he had already begun telling people some of the truth, and this was just more of it.

“This is the kind of thing I’m good at,” he said. “No—this kind of thing is my purpose. You know the Snakes? The Order of the Sworn Defenders? I was raised in it.” He went on quickly, determined to tell her as much as he could. “I was the best in my class at stealthcraft. The reason I’m not with my husband right now is because my marriage was a mission. I was supposed to assassinate my husband. I didn’t. I left instead of completing the mission. Darma was one of my husband’s hearthmen and betrayed him—that’s the history between him and me.”

Zaraz took that in with a stunned expression for a long moment. “You’re an assassin. From the Order of the Sworn Defenders. But they’re … I always thought they were m⁠—”

She didn’t finish the word, but he could guess what it was going to be. He could tell she had stopped because she didn’t want to say that about him. Or maybe because she’d realized she was scared of him.

“You said the lord of Tagra Degra was one of your husband’s hearthmen. Then you … you were married to Vanu Urártu?”

“I think I still am—we haven’t done the divorce ceremony.” Firuduna had told him all about that.