Page 42 of The Summer Pass

Lill nodded. The plan had been for Firuduna to take Shan back across the bridge himself, while Lill returned the way he came. It wouldn’t be much of a deviation from the plan for him to stay on this side of the river a little longer.

He wanted to go and see Vanu. He wanted it with an intensity that took his breath away. He didn’t want Vanu to see him, but that shouldn’t be too hard to arrange. Vanu’s camp, as Firuduna said, would likely be in the forest somewhere below the peak where his banner was planted. It might be as hard to find as the fake camp that his men had set up in the haunted woods, but Lill knew he was a better hunter than the Protector of Akramarra’s guards.

“Now be careful,” Firuduna was saying earnestly. “You know his camp will be well guarded, and how tragic it would be if one of his men thinks you’re an intruder, only to discover your identity too late!” He shuddered as if he’d really frightened himself imagining that.

“I will see you again soon,” Lill said briskly, to forestall any tearful goodbyes.

“What? No, you won’t!”

“I won’t get shot by Vanu’s guards.”

“No, I mean you’re not coming back to Tsuruva—you’re going to be reunited with your husband!”

Right. But he wasn’t, so … “I gave my word to your cousin that I would help guard Tsuruva. I will be back.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Firuduna groaned. “Vanu won’t let you go. How could he?”

“We’ll see,” said Lill.

He explained the situation to Shan, more or less, and Shan too doubted that Lill would be returning to Tsuruva but was more diplomatic about it.

“I’m sure they’d be glad to see you again—I’m getting the feeling you’ve been a lot of help over there.” He smiled wryly. “And personally, I hope you do come back, because I want to know more about you.”

“Zaraz knows a lot of it,” Lill offered.

“Ah. Just one thing—your husband, he’s … with the Lion of the Summer Pass, or … ”

“No. He is the Lion.”

Shan whistled. Then he clapped Lill on the shoulder. “God guard your coming and your going, Lioness.”

“And yours,” Lill replied, so surprised by how charming that sounded that he forgot to flinch at the mention of the deity.

Lill plunged into the forest on the western slope of the Summer Pass and promptly got lost. It was the most shaming thing. This was a different kind of forest than in the Spring Pass or in the lowlands near the Order. It was full of tall, straight fir trees growing close together, as alike as columns in a royal hall. The wind sighed in their branches, but nothing else made a sound. It could have been any time of day, full sunlight or overcast; he couldn’t tell.

The one thing he could determine with certainty was which way was up the mountain and which was down. Cursing himself for his rashness, he set off uphill, until after climbing for about an hour he could see glimpses of sky through the trees to his left. He headed in that direction, hoping to get his bearings or at least to look at something other than fucking tree trunks for a bit.

He emerged from the forest to find himself on the edge of a steep valley, a kind of fissure in the side of the mountain with a stream at the bottom of it, sparkling in the sunlight between broad green banks. On either side of the stream were horses, beautiful sleek Zashian horses with dressed manes and cropped tails, grazing on the green banks and drinking from the water. They were a startling, breathtaking sight. There were hundreds of them, thousands maybe; the valley seemed full of them.

There were more arriving, with riders on their backs, coming up the fissure of the valley from the south. The men whose horses were already refreshing themselves were busy pitching tents and setting up camp on the far side of the stream, under the eaves of the forest.

There was no mistaking who they were, even though they hadn’t unfurled any banners over the tents, and at this distance Lill couldn’t make out any winged lions on their uniforms. But they were a sea of green and yellow, the colours of Prince Artayarasha’s personal guard. What were they doing up here?

And hadn’t Vanu stolen those horses?

Lill crawled out prone on a rock at the lip of the valley, where he could watch the scene below without any danger of being seen. He was too far away to hear voices or distinguish individuals, even if he’d know who to look for.

Artayarasha’s guard was chosen from the sons of the noblest Zashian families doing their military service, so they were all black-haired and bearded, all dressed in the prince’s yellow and green. Any tall blond man in black would have stood out among them. But that wasn’t any tall blond man walking out from the trees on the far side of the stream; it was Vanu. Lill felt as if the valley could have been twice as deep, ten times as wide, and he would still have known.

And, at the same time, to see him and be so far from him was almost worse than not seeing him at all. It had been four months. Lill wanted to see the expression on Vanu’s face. He wanted to see Vanu’s long fingers pushing back his hair, the way his clothes hugged his body, the particular pale blue of his eyes. He needed to see Vanu sign and hear his quiet, rough voice.

He might have lain on his stomach on that rock for a long time, just looking down at Vanu, wishing he was closer to him and not wondering what Vanu was doing down there—but another figure appeared from the forest at Vanu’s side. Lill wouldn’t have recognized her on her own, but beside Vanu he could guess that this short person in black, with their puff of pale hair, was Mikhi.

He felt suddenly deprived and angry about how much he missed all of them. This was a totally different kind of feeling. He wanted to see the rest of them now, too. He had belonged in their household for a few weeks, the way Shan and Zaraz belonged among their friends at the hostel and Nakhana belonged in Tsuruva. He knew he didn’t deserve to be with Vanu, but did he really also not deserve to live with those funny, flawed people who had embraced him as one of their own?

He waited to see the rest of them come out from among the trees, wondering whether he’d be able to tell Barda and Khatu apart from this distance (probably) and whether Otoni had had her baby yet (he had no idea). But they didn’t come. Then he shook himself and finally thought to wonder what Vanu and Mikhi were doing there.

They weren’t prisoners, that was clear from the way Vanu moved among the prince’s men. They weren’t being stealthy; their presence was very obvious. In fact, they were giving orders. This wasn’t Prince Artayarasha’s camp, Lill realized. Somehow, Vanu was leading the Protector of Akramarra’s men.