“That does sound like me,” Bao admitted.
“I know.”
“What else?”
“Remember on the greatship?” I asked softly. “You said you were afraid my destiny would swallow you whole. Gods, Bao! I’m afraid of my own destiny. It’s been a hard one thus far, and if the tulku is right, it’s far from over. But at every crossroad, you’ve never hesitated. Not once.”
His hand stirred in mine. “That’s not true. I left you.”
I shook my head. “That was a different kind of crossroad.”
“Was it?”
“Yes.” I freed my hand from his, laying one hand on his hard, firm chest and one on my own, feeling our shared diadh-anam twine and flicker. “This destiny, Master Lo laid upon us both. You had to find your own way to accept it, and I think I needed the time and distance to be certain of my own feelings, too. And….. I don’t know, Bao. Mayhap the gods prompted him to do so. It has led us to bad places, dark places. Riva. Kurugiri. Even so, good things have come of it. I do believe what we have done serves the greater good.”
“The no-castes,” he murmured. “The untouchables.”
I nodded.
Bao’s eyes glittered. “We’re not done here yet, are we?”
“No,” I agreed. “Not yet.”
Two days later, the second company of guards arrived from Bhaktipur, and we set about organizing the last exodus from the fortress. All in all, there were fourteen wounded men to transport, along with several dozen servants, and the bulk of the treasure we had inventoried, saving only for the larger pieces of furniture.
Half of the injured had recovered to the point where they could sit a horse; the other half would require litters, which the new guards had brought.
Bao’s greatest concern was the cold. Hampered by the slow pace necessitated by navigating the awkward litters down the winding path without jarring the wounded, there was little chance we could manage the descent in a single day. Once night fell, we’d be trapped in the maze, the temperature plummeting. It would be a hardship for all of us, but it could take a deadly toll on the wounded men.
“Could we keep going by torchlight?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Better to rest and conserve chi energy. The cold will sap it and weaken them. I wish we had more blankets.”
I remembered how Bao and I had slept with the Rani between us at the foot of the mountain, sharing our warmth with her. “Tell them to huddle up,” I suggested. “Assign two healthy fellows to every injured man.”
“Good idea.” He chuckled. “It will be funny to see grown men curled up together like puppies in a litter.”
“It was not funny when it was me and Amrita,” I observed.
“No.” Bao grinned. “That would have been quite pleasant if it were not for the freezing cold and the sentries giving false alarms all night long.”
“Those are two very large ‘ifs,’ my magpie,” I said. “But I cannot argue the point.”
The following morning, we began our descent; and it was every bit as halting and torturous a process as I had imagined. Bao took the lead, with me behind him. Behind me was Hasan Dar, who insisted on riding against Bao’s counsel. I could hear the breath hiss through his teeth at every jolting step as we rounded the hairpin turns.
The long train of guards, servants, litters, and pack-horses stretched behind us, abandoning the mostly empty shell of the fortress.
I would be glad to see the last of Kurugiri.
We made it a good two-thirds of the way down the mountain before the light began to fade in the sky above us and shadows settled into the deep crevasses of the maze, making it impossible to read the symbols etched on the walls.
Bao called a halt. Some of the men had laughed self-consciously when he had ordered them earlier to huddle up come nightfall, pairing two each with an injured fellow. None of them laughed now as the day’s meager warmth fled.
It was an awkward business, made all the more so by the fact that our mounts were trapped in the labyrinth with us. Bao hobbled his lead mount, which was all that was needful; the path was too narrow for another horse to pass. My mare Lady gave me a mournful look, sensing no food or water in the offing.
“I’m sorry, brave heart.” I stroked her muzzle. “It was too difficult to arrange in the maze. Tomorrow, I promise.”
Bao squeezed past his mount to join me, and together we slipped past Lady to assist Hasan Dar, who dismounted with difficulty, his legs trembling.
“Why am I so cursed weak?” he asked in a fierce tone.
“Because you lost a great deal of blood and nearly died, commander,” Bao said in a matter-of-fact tone. “And the latter is still a possibility.” He spread a blanket on the stony floor of the path. “Rest, and eat if you can. Moirin and I will share our warmth with you, and hopefully the horses will not trample us in our sleep.”
“They won’t,” I said. “Horses have more sense than that.”
There were skins of water for the humans, and the roasted barley-grains mixed with yak-butter that was a staple in the mountains, reminding me of the trader Dorje and his kind wife Nyima, who had prepared a packet of the stuff for me. I rolled it into a ball, coaxing Hasan Dar to eat when he protested that he was too tired and not hungry anyway.
By the time the last traces of red had vanished from the sky, the cold intensified. Any heat lingering in the stone beneath us was gone. It was cold and hard, leaching the warmth from our flesh. Hasan Dar began to shiver violently. Bao and I pressed close against him, two blankets over us, taking turns breathing the Breath of Embers Glowing.
It was a very, very long night.
In the morning, the commander was feverish, his brow shining and damp in the cold air. “Forgive me, Bao-ji,” he said. “I am not sure I have the strength to ride.”
“I told you not to!” Bao scowled at him. “Now you have no choice.” He cupped his hands together. “Come, I will help you into the saddle. We’ll tie you in place. Moirin, there is rope in my packs.”
I squeezed past Lady to retrieve it, and together Bao and I lashed Hasan Dar into his saddle.
Off we set once more, trailing guards and servants and the spoils of war, the Rani’s commander lurching in the saddle behind us.
It is not a journey I would care to repeat, ever.
But we succeeded in emerging from the maze by midday, our company spreading out around the base of the mountain. Although the wounded were groaning in their litters, all had survived. Relief suffused Bao’s features.
“We should keep going,” I murmured to him when the last stragglers stumbled out of the maze. “We need to reach that plateau before night if we want to make a proper camp—and I think we do.”
He nodded, gazing upward. “One moment.”
From this vantage point, the stone fortress was hidden; but it was there. Kurugiri. The spirits of generations of rulers styling themselves the Falconer haunted it, sending assassins to do their bidding. The vengeful spirit of the Spider Queen haunted it: the dark lady Jagrati, despising the world and speaking bitter truth to it.
I watched Bao.
“Done,” he said softly. “It is done. I am done with this place, forever.”
SEVENTY-SIX
After Kurugiri, we got Hasan Dar into a litter, where he tossed and turned, restless with fever.
We made camp on the arid plateau, which seemed a paradise after sleeping on the mountainside. Tents were pitched against the worst of the cold, pegs pounded into the hard earth. Supplies were shared, our mounts fed and watered, albeit in a miserly fashion.
Bao examined Hasan Dar’s wound and found it red and inflamed, flesh swelling around the stitches. “Stupid man,” he muttered. “I told you not to ride. Did you think I didn’t know what I was talking about?”
The commander’s reply was incoherent.
“Listen to me!” Bao slapped his cheek lightly. “The Rani Amrita needs you; her son, Ravindra, needs you. If they are going to change the world, they need a strong arm beside them. So stay with us, huh?”
Hasan Dar shivered. “I will try.”
“Try harder,” Bao said ruthlessly.
For a mercy, Hasan was the only one of the injured to have taken a serious turn for the worse. The others would endure.
“Pride,” I murmured. “It will be his downfall if he does not survive. Take it to heart, my magpie.”
Bao gave me a sidelong look. “Is that a warning, Moirin?”
“No.” I shrugged, too tired to argue. “I don’t know, mayhap it is. I only know you would have insisted on the same in his place.”
“Mayhap,” Bao mused. “I will think on it.”
Downward.
The air thickened and grew richer the next day, as we wound our way out of the heights, wound our way toward the meadow that lay beneath the Sleeping Calf Rock. I watched gladness settle onto the faces of the servants of Kurugiri. And two days later, as we descended into the fairy-tale valley of Bhaktipur with its warm air and lush, verdant growth, that gladness gave way to wonder.
“Is this real?” the steward Govind asked in awe.
“Oh, yes.” I smiled at his expression. “And the Rani Amrita has promised that all of you will be well cared for here.”
“It’s been so long!” Sudhakar breathed. “I’d forgotten how lovely it was. Only I wonder…..” His brows furrowed. “How shall I live here?”
I hadn’t thought about the implications of this homecoming for him. Sudhakar was one of the no-caste lads that Jagrati had taken from the untouchable camp outside the city, the only one to have survived. Leaning over in the saddle, I laid my hand over his. “Don’t worry, Sudhakar. The Rani will take care of you, too.”
Sudhakar flinched away from my touch and didn’t respond. In my mind, I heard the soft, tearing rasp of Jagrati’s laughter. The habits of a lifetime died hard.
That and Hasan Dar’s deteriorating condition were the two shadows that lay over our return to Bhaktipur. Our procession was spotted making its way along the valley, and by the time we reached the outskirts of the city, there was a royal reception awaiting us with Pradeep and a company of guards, and the Rani Amrita herself standing before her palanquin, glowing in a purple sari embroidered with gold, Ravindra resplendent beside her in a saffron tunic and loose breeches, a purple turban on his head.
Both of them were smiling so brightly, it made my heart ache.
Bao and I dismounted to approach on foot. When we were yet a few paces away, Amrita laughed and ran forward, flinging her arms around my neck and kissing me. “Oh, Moirin! I am so glad you’re here. I hated leaving you in that place.” She glanced around, past Bao and Ravindra exchanging bows and grinning at one another. “Is everyone here? Is everyone safe?”
“Everyone is here,” I said. “But Hasan Dar is very ill, my lady.”
“Ah, no!” Spotting his litter, Amrita hurried over and dropped to her knees beside it. Pradeep hurried after her with a length of silk for her to kneel on, but she ignored it, reaching into the litter to take Hasan’s hand. “No, no, my friend,” she chided him. “This is no good! You must get well.”
His eyelids cracked open and a faint smile lifted his parched lips. “Now that you have commanded it, I’m sure I shall, highness.”
Amrita rose. “Let us make haste to the palace,” she said to Pradeep. “Did you tell the physician to meet us in the barracks?”
He bowed. “I did, highness.”
“Good.” She gave a brisk nod, then turned to address the servants of Kurugiri. “If you wish, places for all of you will be found in my household. I find we are quite shorthanded since taking in the Falconer’s harem.”
All save one of them looked profoundly relieved. I don’t think they had let themselves believe until that moment.
Only Sudhakar was not gazing at the Rani with gratitude. He was not gazing at the Rani at all, but kneeling and touching his brow to the ground. “Highness?” he asked in a muffled voice. “You know what I am.”
“Yes,” Amrita said firmly. “You are the young man who assisted Bao-ji tirelessly in tending to my injured warriors. You are the young man who offered to tend to the dead with honor.” Stooping, she put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a little shake. “And there is a place in my household for you, too. Perhaps you would like to be my physician’s apprentice, eh?”
A great shudder racked him, and he gave a single hoarse sob. The Rani straightened. Sudhakar knelt upright, gazing at her lovely face. She smiled at him. Bowing his head once more, he reached out with trembling hands and touched her bare feet in respect and gratitude. “Thank you, highness,” he whispered.
In my mind, Jagrati’s dark laughter fell silent.
“Yes, yes.” Amrita patted his head. “Only let us hurry, shall we? For Hasan Dar’s sake.”
Sudhakar leapt to his feet, his face shining. “Yes, highness!”
It wasn’t really possible to hurry through the crowded, narrow streets of Bhaktipur, especially with hundreds of folk turned out to observe the royal procession and the last of the returning heroes, but we did our best. When they saw the litters and the injured men within them, the Bhaktipuri people called out blessings, laying garlands of dried flowers on them. By the time we reached the palace, Hasan Dar was half-buried beneath a carpet of blossoms.
One by one, the wounded guards were transported by their bearers into the barracks. Amrita gazed after them, worried.
“Do you think they’ll be all right, Bao-ji?” Ravindra asked. “All of them?”