Page 49 of The Summer Pass

“We’re from Tsuruva!” Big Lout called up. “Come to help!”

“I’m sorry!” the guard called back. “I’ve been told not to let anyone in. Better go back to Tsuruva!”

Big Lout pointed at Vanu. “Do you know who he is? You’ve seen his banner on the mountain! He’s Vanu Urártu!”

The guard hesitated, then raised his bow, an arrow half-heartedly nocked. “I’m sorry, my lord! I—I’ve been told to shoot you on sight!”

“You what?” Big Lout roared.

“He’s not going to do it,” Vanu signed. “On my signal, run for the gate.”

“Understood,” Big Lout signed back. Aloud, he shouted, “You’d shoot the Lion of the Summer Pass? The hero of all Hawakhurta?”

“I’m sorry,” the guard repeated miserably. “It’s my orders … ”

“Now,” Vanu signed.

They took off up the slope, sprinting toward the gate. An arrow whistled harmlessly past, and the guard pleaded with them to stop. They reached the shelter of the inset gate and flattened themselves against the boards of the door.

“Now—” Big Lout started, and broke off as the door he was leaning against swung inward and he lost his footing.

They whirled around, ready to face whoever had opened the gate, but Vanu saw in a moment that it was no one—the door had simply been left unbarred, and Big Lout had accidentally pushed it open. A stroke of good fortune, though a bad sign for the fortress’s defenders. Vanu pushed it wide and hauled the startled Big Lout through.

He’d meant to go to the Boar of Hawakhurta and demand the release of the spy. He hadn’t expected to be well received, but an order to shoot him on sight from the battlements was more hostility than he’d bargained for. No point in trying to negotiate now—it would take too long. He grabbed the bar that should have been in place on the gate and slotted it back into position. So far there had been no alarm raised by the guard above, who must still have been peering over the edge trying to see where they had gone.

“I’m headed to the dungeon,” Vanu signed to Big Lout when he had barred the gate. “Will you go to the great house and see if my family is there? You’d know Susami, yeah?”

“Enu’s girl? Yeah, of course. If they’re there, I’ll find them.”

“Thank you.”

Vanu took off toward the great house, taking the back route that would bring him quickest to the dungeon stairs. He remembered it because he used to avoid the place as a boy, never wanting to go down there if he could help it. He’d been threatened with the dungeon often enough, sometimes seriously, sometimes in jest—he’d never found it funny—and he’d been forced to go down twice, as a “lesson.”

He reached the back of the old grey house and looked around the corner to find a guard at the head of the stairs. That used never to be the case in the old days unless there was a really important prisoner. Surely they weren’t keeping Artayarasha down there?

After his encounter with the guard on the wall, Vanu wasn’t going to bother trying to talk his way in here with anything other than threats. He drew his sword and ran around the corner, startling the man at the head of the stairs. Vanu’s sword-point was at his throat before he could raise an alarm.

“Unlock.” Vanu held out his hand for the man’s sword and nodded down the stairs.

“Who—” the man started.

“Now.”

“Yes, sir.”

The guard handed over his sword and unhooked his keys from his belt. He went sideways down the stairs, eyeing Vanu’s sword warily.

“Move,” Vanu said impatiently.

The guard unlocked the door, and Vanu shoved him through it. The door opened onto a dim passage that Vanu remembered better than he would have liked. There was no second guard in here, but he could hear voices from the room at the end of the passage, where a little daylight entered from an overhead grate. He stowed the confiscated sword in his belt and pushed the first guard ahead of him, his own blade at the man’s throat.

The room at the end of the passage was wider than it was deep, with table and chairs on the right, in front of the door leading deeper into the dungeon. Two guards were lounging at the table, playing dice. They jumped up when Vanu entered with his hostage.

“Give him what he wants,” Vanu’s prisoner choked out.

“The fuck we will,” said one of the guards.

The other just laughed. Both drew their swords. Vanu’s prisoner swore at them. Vanu flung him away, hard enough that he hit the opposite wall with a thud. No point in holding onto a hostage that nobody wanted to protect.