Spirit of a Mountain Wolf (24 page)

Razaq climbed out of bed smiling at the memory of Tahira’s eyes promising him all he wanted. Today something else good would happen: Uncle Javaid was coming to take him home. But what if his uncle changed his mind? He’d had a month to decide what a bad idea it would be to bring a boy like Razaq into his house.

When Javaid strode through the door, Razaq almost wept. So many men had come through his door over the last nine months. What he would have given to see his uncle stride into Mr. Malik’s house or Mrs. Mumtaz’s chakla. A scar on his uncle’s face was still red, and there was a crescent on the side of his head where part of his hair had been shaved. Those wounds had been for Razaq.

“I have come to take you home,” Javaid said simply.

Razaq stared at him, then voiced his fear. “I thought you wouldn’t want me. I am nothing now.”

Javaid made a noise with his tongue and Razaq wasn’t sure if he was angry with him. Javaid drew closer and laid a hand on Razaq’s head in blessing.

“You are Abdur-Razaq Nadeem Khan, my flesh and blood.” His voice was strong, just like a mountain man’s, even though he had no beard. “And to honor the memory of your father, you will be as my very own son.”

Razaq had no words in the face of such love. He gazed at his uncle in disbelief. There were so many things he would never be able to tell him, so many things he’d never forget and wished he could, and yet, looking into his uncle’s eyes, it was as if he understood it all.

Nothing had changed with Mrs. Daud. When Javaid brought Razaq to the mud house, she raced toward him and hugged him. “Oh my son, I’ve been so worried about you.” It was as if she knew she had done wrong in letting him go.

“Just call her Auntie-ji,” Javaid advised. “Perhaps in time she will become used to being an aunt.”

Sakina was the next person Razaq saw. She looked so like Seema that his eyes watered. Now that he was no longer bonded to those evil people, he was thinking more about his family, especially his sisters and his mother who he couldn’t save. Tears came more easily now he was safe than they had when he was a slave.

Amina enveloped him in a hug. “You are a gift from God, Razaq. I have always wanted a son,” she whispered into his ear. He wept openly for the first time since his release. She would be his mother now. No one could replace his real parents, but he would be a good son to Amina just as his mother had taught him.

Razaq wiped his eyes and let Sakina take his hand. She led him to the courtyard, bent down to a box, and lifted out a chick. She held it out to him. “It is for you.” Then she added solemnly, “You are my brother now.”

He took the chick and kneeled to hug her. He closed his eyes at the fresh smell of her hair and saw the mountains rising up from the Indus, his mother banging the rug outside, his father cutting grass, his sisters chasing the goats among the wildflowers on the mountain slope.

When he opened his eyes, Sakina was staring at him. She touched the tear rolling down his cheek. “Are you sad?”

He managed to smile. “No. I am happy—happy to be here with you.”

I wish to thank Asialink and ARTSA for the opportunity to research and write in Pakistan where I got the idea for
Mountain Wolf
. Thanks also to Murree Christian School, which was my host during most of the fellowhip and where I found recent research on the trafficking of children in Pakistan.

I wish to thank the following for their excellent help in the research and writing of
Mountain Wolf
: Sarmad Iqbal Khan, Programme Manager Advocacy & Urban Programmes, World Vision, Pakistan; Habib Ahmad, Advocacy Coordinator, World Vision, Pakistan; Matthew Stephens, Regional Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, World Vision, Middle East/Eastern Europe/Central Asia; Rebecca Lyman for help with research, contacts, and photographs; Frank Lyman for the firsthand information on Kala Dhaka and for reading the manuscript and giving it the thumbs up; Catch Tilly for reading an early draft and giving helpful suggestions. I am grateful for the inspiration gained from viewing photos of Kala Dhaka by Andy Goss and Frank Lyman.

Thank you to my agent, Jacinta di-Mase, and Lisa Berryman’s wonderful team at HarperCollins, as well as Nicola O’Shea. I wish to thank those who have supported and helped me, especially in thinking of titles: my fellow eKIDnas at the SA Writers Centre, and my colleagues at Tabor Adelaide.

Resources that were helpful in writing
Mountain Wolf
include the following:

Asian Human Rights Commission,
Pakistan: the Cases of Missing Children Continue to Rise
, www.humanrights.asia, accessed 18 January 2011.

Bickerstaff, L,
Modern-Day Slavery
, Rosen Publishing Group, New York, 2010.

Child Prostitution in Pakistan, http://gvnet.com/childprostitution/Pakistan.htm

Child Protection and Welfare Bureau, www.cpwb.gov.pk/index.htm

ECPAT: End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes
, www.ecpat.net

Jawadullah, “Health Hazards of Working on the Streets,”
Discourse
, SPARC, Issue no 22, 2006.

Mortenson, G,
Three Cups of Tea
, Viking, New York, 2006.

Muhammad, T & Zafar, N,
Situational Analysis: Report on Prostitution of Boys in Pakistan (Lahore & Peshawar)
, ECPAT International in collaboration with Pakistan Pediatrics Association, 2006.

Pakistan Government,
Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance
, 2002, www.protectionproject.org/ wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Pakistan_TIP-Acts_2007.pdf

Saeed, F,
Taboo
, Oxford University Press, Karachi, 2002.

Tahir, Z, “Trafficking of Punjab”s Children to Europe: The Case of France”,
Discourse
, SPARC, Issue no 22, 2006.

Terminal Life: Pakistan’s Street Working Children
, http://meero.worldvision.org/frontline-focus/ terminallife.html

World Vision,
Child Rescue
, www.meero.worldvision.org/humantrafficking

About This Electronic Book:
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The writing of
Mountain Wolf
has been assisted by the Government of South Australia through Asialink. This is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Proceeds from this novel will help in the work of rehabilitating children who have been trafficked.

Copyright © 2014 by Rosanne Hawke

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No part of this book may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

First published in Australia in 2012 under the original title
Mountain Wolf
by HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au

Published by arrangement with Rights People, London

LCCN: 2013943715

Hawke, Rosanne.
Spirit of a Mountain Wolf / Rosanne Hawke.
Summary: After Razaq’s family is killed in an earthquake, a man preying on orphans lures Razaq to the city with the promise of finding his uncle. Instead, Razaq is sold into slavery. Razaq meets Tahira, a young girl suffering just like him, and hopes to help them both escape before it is too late.

ISBN 978-1-62324-033-2

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