Page 22 of The Summer Pass

He had hesitated too long; if he lied now, they would know it.

“Forget I said anything,” said Zaraz, looking distressed. “It is not my business. I should not have asked.”

Enu himself appeared at the forge before the men departed for Tagra Degra. The shutters at the front were open, as they usually were, so he walked straight in. He had a couple of wooden practice swords under one arm, along with a real sword in his belt.

“I’m afraid Nakhana’s not here,” Lill said.

“I know. I came to see you. Riru, isn’t it? Or—” He made Lill’s name sign. “Little snake?”

“That’s me.”

“I like it. What have you got in the way of fangs, little snake?”

That didn’t seem a safe question to answer truthfully. The look Lill gave Enu must have seemed confused, because Enu laughed. He had a big, throaty chuckle, and Lill found himself wondering whether he’d practiced that, the way Zaraz had practiced modulating her voice. In spite of himself, he found he liked Enu.

“What I meant,” Enu explained, “was: d’you know how to fight? Because I heard you’re staying in the village, and I’m not saying there’s going to be fighting up here, but I’m not saying there’s not, either.”

Lill nodded readily. “I understand. You don’t want dead weight in your village. If I’m staying, I’ve got to be able to help defend the others.”

“I wasn’t gonna put it quite like that, but yeah, that mighta been what I was thinking.”

“I can fight.”

“Show me.” He flipped the wooden swords out and offered the hilts to Lill, giving him a choice of weapon.

“Sure.”

Lill plucked up one of the practice swords at random and tossed it from one hand to the other to test its weight. It was the same kind of short, stout blade that Vanu used. He nodded and dropped into a loose and casual ready stance.

He was supposed to be demonstrating that he could defend himself, so he waited for Enu to attack. Enu made a heavy, sweeping advance, fully utilizing his superior height and weight. Lill dodged left, jabbed up, and poked Enu firmly in the side with the tip of his sword.

Enu swung around with an open-mouthed look of shock. Lill would have laughed if he’d had time, but Enu was hammering down with another attack. Lill spun on his heel, low to the ground—a dodge his old sword master used to call his specialty—and Enu followed through into the space where Lill had been a moment ago, then stopped short at the touch of Lill’s blade on his neck.

“Earth’s tits!” he spat, jumping back. “All right, yes, you can fight. Where did you learn to do that?”

Lill let his sword arm fall, feeling slightly disappointed that they weren’t going to fight longer. Enu obviously didn’t enjoy sparring the way Vanu did, which was too bad because he was exactly the kind of opponent Lill liked: big, powerful, and competent, but not especially fast. A challenge, but beatable.

“Oh, I trained at a martial school in the lowlands.”

“Huh. You got a sword of your own?”

“No, actually.”

Vanu had given him one, but he’d left it behind in Umtúshta. While he was on the road by himself, he thought it better not to be too obviously armed; a sword at his side would never make him intimidating, but it might make him look like he had some property to protect.

“I’ll make sure you get one. You shoot?”

Lill nodded, biting his lips to keep from saying that he was a better archer than a swordsman. That would just have been insulting.

“Lemme guess, you don’t have a bow either.”

Lill shook his head. “I do know how to make arrows, though,” he offered.

“I’ll get you a bow.” Enu frowned at Lill for a long moment. “Nakhana never asked you who under the Blue Heaven you are or what your story is?”

“Not really.”

“Huh. Well, that’s Nakhana’s business, I guess. You’re not a spy for the Zashian king.” It wasn’t inflected quite like a question.