Page 48 of The Summer Pass

“No, my lord. The message was written down in Zashian, and I saw it myself. It referred contemptuously to ‘your little spy.’ That was all.”

Maybe it meant nothing. Vanu tried to tell himself that. It was, as the man said, just an insulting phrase. Or maybe it meant that the spy really was little.

If Lill had got inside Tagra Degra, spying for someone—whoever he was working for now—and was being held in the dungeon beneath the great house …

Vanu remembered that place. If there was even a possibility that Lill was there, he had to act.

He had to act now. Not sit in his camp giving orders and waiting for messengers and planting banners on the mountain. He had to get inside Tagra Degra himself, immediately, and find out who was in that dungeon—and he prayed to the Blue Heaven that it wasn’t Lill, because there was every chance he would arrive too late.

He turned to the commander of Artayarasha’s guard. “I have to leave you in charge here—there is something I need to do.”

“Of course, my lord,” said the commander with a Zashian bow.

Vanu sent for his horse, and while it was being brought, he found Mikhi and made her understand that she needed to stay with the princess and her servants while he was gone, whether she liked it or not. She must have recognized his urgency—she was reliable that way—and didn’t bring up the subject of the monkey again.

His horse was ready by then, and he rode up to the Hawakhaba camp faster than was safe on the mountain trail. He gave instructions to the lord of Korumundi and to Khatu. He wished he didn’t have to spend time on this. Every moment he was out here dealing with his fucking troops was another moment closer to the end for the prisoner in the Tagra Degra dungeon.

There were two postern gates into Tagra Degra. The farther one would be easier to get at, but that would mean riding all the way around to the other side of the fortress, which would take too long. The western gate was at the top of a steep slope that would have to be climbed in full view of the defenders. But he didn’t look like an enemy. He’d have to trust that would be enough. He armed himself in haste, remounted his horse, and set off down the trail.

The landscape around Tagra Degra used to feel like home to Vanu, in a way that the fortress itself never had. He used to love these woods and valleys, how huge and lonely the mountain slopes felt, the way you could feel lost out here when you wanted, even if you actually knew your way home. Now he hated it all: the never-ending fir trees, the steep trails where a horse could go no faster than a man on foot. He used to like to imagine that the mountain was a sleeping giant—now he felt as if he were a bug crawling across the giant’s skin, about to be swatted or squashed at any moment.

Finally he reached the slope below the western gate, where the forest gave way to bare rock and tumbled scree. To his surprise, there was someone else there, a Hawakhaba man on foot. Vanu came upon him suddenly, and both of them started in surprise.

“Who—” the man started. “Oh! Lord Vanu!”

Vanu recognized him. A fellow from Tsuruva, friends with Akhanu. What was he called?

“Big Lout,” he signed. He remembered the name sign had been coined by a young deaf cousin, but it had stuck.

Big Lout looked shocked. “You remember my name!”

“Of course.” To tell the truth, he didn’t remember the man’s out-loud name. He slid down from his horse. “What are you doing here?”

“I was laid up in bed when they summoned the men from Tsuruva to defend the fortress, but I’m pretty well recovered now, so I came back to see if they need me. Ma says … ” He looked embarrassed.

Vanu remembered Big Lout’s parents—a horrible pair, always at each other’s throats. He didn’t feel he needed to hear what Ma said. He waved the rest of the sentence away generously. Big Lout looked grateful.

“Did Little Snake find you?” he signed.

Vanu stared at him. “Yes and no,” he replied finally. “He found me … but he left again. How do you know Lill?”

“Oh, everyone in Tsuruva knows him. He didn’t tell you? I guess you didn’t get a chance to talk. He looked after me when I was recovering at my cousin’s house. He told me he was married to you, and I thought, if anyone deserves him, it’d be you, my lord.”

“He told you he was married to me,” Vanu repeated. The thought of Lill doing that gave Vanu a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. “I think he may be inside Tagra Degra and in trouble.”

Big Lout looked alarmed and didn’t waste time asking for details. “You know the route up to the gate?”

“It’s been a while since I climbed it,” Vanu admitted.

“I haven’t gone up yet myself,” said Big Lout, “but I’ve been studying the route. I’ll come with you.”

Vanu had done plenty of climbing as a boy, when this slope had been a satisfying challenge. What he remembered most was climbing down it, with the reward of a day of freedom on the mountain awaiting him. It was easier going up now than he remembered, with a grown man’s reach and strength. And it came back to him how the climb up had never been enjoyable because it had meant he was heading home, where he’d find his father passed out drunk in the great hall or his aunt reporting news of someone else killed in the feuds. Or one of his uncles waiting to pull him into a dark corner and mess with him.

A guard on the wall above the western gate saw them climbing and stood watching their progress until they reached the gentler slope just below the gate. Then he hailed them.

“Hello! Who are you?”

“Tell him we’re from Tsuruva,” Vanu signed.