Page 80 of The Summer Pass

The men outside passed by, and it was quiet again. Vanu saw Artayarasha looking down and noticing his arm around Lill—and perhaps also the way Lill had linked his fingers with Vanu’s and snuggled himself tighter against Vanu’s side. The prince raised his eyebrows.

“Not taking advantage,” said Vanu, releasing Lill in case he was embarrassed. “We’re married.”

“Married!” Artayarasha exclaimed. “Angels of the Almighty. But⁠—”

Vanu heard voices that sounded like the Tsunakharu boys. He held a finger to his lips. Lill was doing the same. Artayarasha slapped a hand over his mouth.

They listened while the Tsunakharu boys argued over which direction to go, dismissed the option of splitting up—“Do you want to face the two of them alone?”—and chose the wrong direction. Their voices faded, still bickering, into the distance.

“Can you interpret for me?” Vanu signed to Lill.

Again he got that brisk nod, like when he’d proposed to go in the yard with the geese. “Of course. You don’t need to ask.”

“Still. I’d rather.” He addressed Artayarasha. “We’re going back to the great house. We’ve taken a position in the wine cellar for the moment, but my plan is to retake the whole fortress.”

He listened to Lill explaining that he was translating and then repeating what Vanu had just said. Artayarasha nodded eagerly.

“I am at your disposal. Not that you require my co-operation, I realize—but you do have it.”

Vanu smiled wryly. “I hoped I would.”

He had been prepared, as Artayarasha plainly realized, to make the prince his own hostage if he had to. But he had hoped that wouldn’t be necessary.

They left the shelter of the shed, after Vanu had helped Lill retie his shoes, and followed the wall of the great house around to the dungeon stairs, unguarded now that the assault on the gate had begun and every available man was on duty there. Once past the door, the one guard they encountered didn’t recognize Vanu but was easily convinced that he was supposed to be there, escorting the two Zashians to a cell. Artayarasha and Lill both put on a good show of being cowed and pitiful prisoners.

The prince kept glancing at Lill, as if fascinated by him, but Lill seemed to be avoiding his gaze and didn’t speak to him except to translate what Vanu said. Had Artayarasha done something to offend him? Vanu found that hard to believe. The prince seemed unfailingly gracious. What was going on? He didn’t have time to spend thinking about this, but he couldn’t help it. He felt as if the least thing might make Lill run away again, and that thought threatened him with panic.

In the dungeon he uncovered the hidden passage to the wine cellar and motioned Lill and Artayarasha through.

“Ah, pitch darkness, I see,” said Artayarasha, in the casual tone of a man who was bravely facing one of his personal fears. Vanu’s heart went out to him.

“It’s not far,” Vanu said aloud. “There’s a couple of steps down, halfway along.”

“You go first,” Lill suggested to Vanu. “And His Highness can follow me and put a hand on my shoulder, if he likes.”

“Oh. Thank you,” said Artayarasha. “I wouldn’t wish to make you fall.”

“I’m sure you won’t, Your Highness.”

“I’ll close the door after us, shall I?”

“If you would.”

Earth’s heart. It was distracting, hearing Lill talk in real court Zashian like that. The darkness closed in around them, and they moved down the passage.

Artayarasha seemed to need to talk. “Dark, confined spaces have always been a particular, er, dislike of mine. Or perhaps not always—there was an occasion when I fell foul of my eldest brother … he lowered me down a well-shaft and threatened to leave me there. I suppose I was in no real danger, but that was not how I perceived it at the time.”

“Your eldest brother,” Lill repeated. “Artanyresh?”

“Indeed. He was passed over by our father, who seemed inclined at the time to settle the succession on me—hence Nyresh’s anger. He died, as you know, some years later, in Gylph.”

“Here’s the steps,” Vanu announced.

“Ah yes, thank you for the warning.”

“Three of them,” Lill added.

“Indeed. So the two of you are married? I thought that members of the Order were forbidden to marry.”