xvii   

Kehar Chabak suppressed the desire to flee as fast as possible. He could not risk the horses on such uneven and rocky terrain. He kept his body flat along his horse’s neck and maintained a firm grasp of the reins of the other.

With luck they would not shoot for fear of hitting his rebellious sister. What had gone wrong? All his men dead or captured. He shook himself. It didn’t matter because he had enough money to buy an army. And he still had his sister to marry off to Opinder Jandoo, though time was short.

There were no more shots fired. The path bent round a prominence made from an ancient avalanche of rocks. Within moments they were out of sight. The track followed the cliffs to the left and dropped away into the river valley on the right.

He kept the horses at a canter but relaxed the pace a little. But he could not afford to be lazy; Jandoo was waiting for his bride.

“I hate you, Kehar.”

“Shut up or I will beat you.”

“You will not escape the British.”

“That is no concern.” He turned in the saddle and looked at his pathetic excuse for a sister. She was dirty but was otherwise pleasant enough to look at. Jandoo would be pleased with her, and especially with the dowry Kehar offered.

Kehar turned back to watch the trail. He grinned to himself. Jandoo had agreed to take his sister as bride for just fifty of the British sterling. Only a tenth of Kehar’s new wealth.

Connection through marriage to Jandoo would give Kehar the respect he deserved, and the remaining money would make him a place in the world. It had been a gift from the gods when Dhavni had come crying to him about her disagreement with the other woman.

At first she had gone along with his plan to blackmail the woman into giving him some money because she wanted to teach the shameful Westerner a lesson.

Now he had seen the female viper with his own eyes. Tall and ugly, even if she did have pale skin. And the colour of her hair was like the mud that bubbled up at the hot springs. He almost shuddered as he recalled her.

The weather was dry and overcast and the wind a little chill but they were making good progress. He did not want to tire the horses, so he let them relax back into a trot and looped the reins of the other horse over his saddle’s pommel so he did not have to hold on.

They descended into the next valley where the terrain became greener. The trees managed to retain their leaves, and the wind was less cold. The sound of the tumbling river grew in their ears.

Kehar was not bored with the journey as it afforded him time to imagine what he would do with the money. A cold knife sliced through his heart as he realised he had not taken the opportunity to check that it was all there. He stopped and dismounted. His hands almost shook as he took down the bag and fiddled with the metal buckles.

“Having difficulty, little brother?” she said. “Want your big sister to open that bag for you? What are you going to do if they cheated you the way you cheated them?”

He glared at her. “The first thing I will do if they have cheated me is to kill you.” He was satisfied with the look of fear that flashed across her face. She sat back in the saddle and was silent.

He got the bag open and rifled through the large printed sheets. He couldn’t read, but there were many, many sheets and the British king frowned at him from every one.

“You see?” said Dhavni. “She cares for me, and she wants me back.”

“Do not speak of shameful things. Or I will shut your mouth for you.”

* * * * *

The Frozen Beauty hung at a height of five thousand feet above the valley floor. Qi stood on the upper deck. The cold wind cut through her outer coat and leather jerkin, finding its way inside to bare skin and freezing it.

She did not care. The heat of her anger was proof against the cold. That rat of a brother had never intended to give up his sister. Of course Kathleen had been a fool to even consider paying such an enormous sum to such a criminal.

Dingbang had tried to persuade her to leave but Qi was personally offended by this Kehar Chabak. She was going to take him back to Captain Reynolds as a peace offering—it might assuage his hurt at being left behind and prevent him from issuing a warrant for her and her crew’s arrest.

She looked down through the binoculars. The two were on the move again; they had stopped for something, though she had not been able to see what it was. The Beauty was in no danger of losing them since Kehar was simply following the trail that led along the valley.

“I brought you a drink, Captain,” said Fanning.

Qi let the binoculars hang loose on their strap around her neck and took the steaming tin mug. She smelled coffee, and felt it revive her as it slipped down her throat.

The Beauty surged slightly as Dingbang engaged the thrusters to push them ahead against the wind.

“Is that a village up ahead?” said Fanning. A slight haze of smoke hung over a patch of ground in the distance.

“More than a village,” said Qi, studying it through the binoculars. “A small town.”