The War of the Grail (18 page)

He found himself thinking about Sonali. By now she should be in Dorsetshire. Far away from any trouble. But what would she do next? Perhaps she could return to Rajthana. That would surely be the best thing for her to do. Or she could at least travel to a more stable part of Europe, such as Andalusia. England was being torn apart, and she would be better off well away from it.

He shook his head and snorted at himself. Why was he even thinking about Sonali? She was gone. He would never see her again. All those words they’d said at the border, the promises they’d made, were simply to make the parting easier. Both of them had known they would never meet again. It had just been easier to pretend otherwise.

He found his thoughts drifting to other memories.

For some reason, he remembered the day he left the army. Jhala had come to the European section of the camp to see him off. It was unusual, and unnecessary, for a commander to do that.

Jhala had looked serious and grey. Jack was sure his commander was sorry to see him leaving.

‘You have been my best disciple,’ Jhala had said. ‘Farewell, Casey … Jack.’

The words still rang in Jack’s ears.

He’d never forgotten them.

At midday, Jack woke Kanvar and took his turn to sleep. He drifted off the moment he lay on the ground and only stirred when Kanvar shook him.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes. It was completely dark and the crickets were chirping incessantly. It was time to go.

They rode through the forest, not following any track, but picking their way between the trees and over the low hills. Within half an hour they reached the edge of the woods and found themselves looking out across the fields of Staffordshire. The mills lay less than two miles ahead, virtually invisible in the gloom save for the twinkling of a few red fires.

Jack saw no sign of guards or cavalrymen. But, on the other hand, the sky was overcast and only a trickle of moonlight filtered through the cloud. It would be impossible to spot anyone more than two hundred yards away.

He noticed the road snaking into the gloom, heading straight towards the mills. He and Kanvar had originally planned to follow it east all the way to the Great Yantra. But that would be far too risky now. They couldn’t go through the middle of the mills, and they had to spend as little time as possible in the open.

He scanned the way ahead and his eyes soon settled on a series of low, forested hills lying to his left, half a mile from the mills. ‘We should head through those trees over there.’

Kanvar searched the woods with his spyglass. ‘I can see no one in the area. Your plan seems a good one. Once we get past the mills, we can continue east.’

They set off across the plains, riding through fields of wheat. Jack kept a watchful eye on the surroundings, searching for any sign of movement, any sign there was someone nearby. But he saw nothing.

As they passed closer to the mills, the fields vanished and were replaced by grassland. This, in turn, thinned to dry ground that was covered in soot and ash. Jack caught the scent of coal and sattva on the wind.

He shivered as he slipped into a powerful sattva stream. A railway line slithered across the ground to his right and an octagonal sattva-link tower rose up in the distance. The Rajthanans had been busy building in this region. Clearly they’d wanted to take advantage of the strong sattva.

The hills and the forest drew closer. The first slope was only three hundred yards away now.

Then Jack heard a shout to his right. Ten riders emerged from the shadows. They were barely visible save for the puffs of dust kicked up by their horses’ hooves. Jack stared harder and spotted the russet tunics and turbans of the Rajthanan cavalry.

Damn it.

One of the riders shouted again and a horn blared.

‘They’ve seen us,’ Jack said. ‘We have to get into those hills.’

He and Kanvar spurred their horses and shouted at them to gallop faster. The wind streaked over Jack’s face and his long hair fluttered behind his head.

But the cavalrymen veered towards the hills as well.

Jack’s heart shivered. The Rajthanans were riding hard across the plains. They might reach the hills first and cut off his and Kanvar’s escape route.

But Jack knew he and Kanvar had little choice but to press on as they were. If they turned and fled back towards Shropshire, the cavalrymen would almost certainly catch up to them. He and Kanvar could beat the Rajthanans in a fight, but that would mean using powers, which would risk alerting any other guards nearby. The area could soon be swarming with soldiers.

The hills juddered closer. The first of the slopes, a spur that swung out from the main cluster, was completely barren. There would be nowhere to hide on it. But next to it lay a gully that curved into the hills and towards the woods.

Jack glanced across at the cavalrymen. They were gaining fast. His and Kanvar’s only hope was to get into the gully and then ride into the forest. There, amongst the trees, they could hide – and, with any luck, escape. Without dogs, the Rajthanans would find it difficult to track them in the dark.

He waved across at Kanvar and pointed towards the gully. The Sikh nodded to indicate he’d understood.

Their horses’ hooves battered the dusty ground. The shadowy gully loomed closer. It was less than fifty yards away now and the Rajthanan riders were still around eighty yards to the right.

Jack clenched his reins tight. He and Kanvar were almost there. They could do it.

Then a shot cracked, the sound rolling across the plains. Jack saw that the first of the riders was holding a pistol.

Christ. Should he use Lightning now to fight back? How much longer could he hold off?

But when he looked back at the hills, he saw the gully was now mere feet away. The lead Rajthanan fired again, and Jack heard the bullet whistle past. But he and Kanvar were already charging into the tiny valley. For the moment, the cavalrymen were out of sight.

Jack led the way down the gully, plunging into a web of shadows. The ground was uneven and the scarps to either side turned rocky. Ahead, he could just make out the forest bristling across the further slopes within the knot of hills.

The horn blasted behind him. The sound of hooves echoed between the slopes. The cavalrymen must have made it into the gully. But when Jack glanced back, the gloom was too thick for him to make anything out.

The valley twisted to the right. Jack’s mare whinnied and rolled her eyes as she scrambled round the corner.

And then suddenly Jack yanked at his reins to curb his animal. The mare spluttered, reared up and finally skidded to a stop. Kanvar’s horse stumbled to a halt nearby.

The gully ended in a sheer cliff face. There was no way up without climbing. Furthermore, both sides of the gully were steep and rocky. It would be difficult for the horses to scramble up – and in any case, the slopes beyond were barren, providing nowhere to hide.

Jack and Kanvar couldn’t go forward and they couldn’t go back.

They were trapped.

J
ack circled his mare round to face back up the gully. The horn blared again and the hooves clopped closer. Soon the riders would round the corner and then, despite the thick shadows, they would be able to see Jack and Kanvar.

‘We’ll have to fight.’ Jack was already calling the Lightning yantra to mind.

Kanvar raised his hand. ‘No.’

‘There’s no other way.’

‘Wait.’

Jack was about to ask Kanvar what the hell he was talking about, when the gully suddenly darkened even further, as if a lantern had been snuffed out. Jack glanced around. Everything appeared as if it were behind dark gauze.

He looked at Kanvar, but the rising scent of sattva told him what he already knew. Kanvar was sitting in his saddle, his eyes closed and his mouth whispering a mantra. He was using a power.

The cavalrymen clattered round the bend in the gully. Despite the dim light, they were close enough for Jack to make out their moustached faces, their pristine uniforms and the pistols glinting in their belts.

‘Quick.’ Kanvar leapt from his horse. ‘Over here.’

Kanvar led his charger across to the side of the gully, out of the way of the approaching Rajthanans.

Jack frowned. What was Kanvar up to?

But then he noticed that the cavalrymen had come to an abrupt halt. Their horses whinnied and stomped. One of the animals reared up on its hind legs and kicked at the air.

‘Over here,’ Kanvar hissed and gestured frantically for Jack to join him.

Still confused, Jack dismounted and led his horse over to the Sikh. His mare snorted and tossed her head, and Kanvar quickly patted her on the neck to calm her. Kanvar stared at Jack with his moon-like eyes and placed his finger to his lips.

Jack was beginning to understand, although he found it hard to believe what was happening. He glanced back down the gully and saw that the Rajthanans were now trotting their horses forward, frowns on their faces.

The lead rider paused, gesturing to the others with his hand, then dismounted and drew his pistol. He stared ahead, his moustache rippling on his top lip. From the gold bands woven into his turban, Jack could tell he was a captain.

The captain studied one side of the gully and then the other, gazing straight at Jack for a second before looking away again. It was impossible for him not to have seen Jack – or Kanvar and the horses, for that matter. Kanvar’s white charger, in particular, glowed in the dim light.

‘Come out!’ the captain shouted in English. ‘Come out, or you will be shot!’

Now Jack was certain. He, Kanvar and the horses were invisible. Hidden by Kanvar’s power.

He’d never heard of anything like this before. He wouldn’t have believed it was possible.

He turned to Kanvar and saw the Sikh press his finger emphatically to his lips again. They might be invisible, but apparently they could still be heard.

The cavalrymen dismounted and stood watching as their captain advanced further into the gully. The captain’s gaze darted about the rocks. He would know his quarry couldn’t have fled uphill. Not in such a short space of time. And he would also know there was little chance of two men and their horses hiding in the narrow confines of the gully.

The captain’s eyes narrowed and his moustache twitched. His finger rested against the pistol’s trigger.

He obviously knew something was wrong. And he didn’t like it.

He crossed to the side of the gully opposite Jack and Kanvar and investigated the shadows draped between the rocks. After a few seconds, he seemed satisfied that no one was there and trod slowly towards the other side of the gully, towards Jack and Kanvar.

Jack’s mare nickered, and both Jack and Kanvar seized her jaw and managed to silence her. The captain stopped for a moment and stared directly at Jack, but it wasn’t clear whether he’d heard the horse or not. After a second, he advanced again, holding his pistol pointing up at the sky. His boots crunched on the ground.

Jack’s mouth went dry. He stood immobile, barely daring to breathe. The silence in the gully was almost complete and any sound at all would alert the captain to the fact there were people hiding in the shadows.

The captain halted about two feet from Jack. His eyes scanned the rocks and the gloom.

Then he took another step forward. He was so close now that Jack could smell the perfumed oils he was wearing.

Jack held his breath. His heart spiked. The captain was staring straight into his eyes.

Jack remembered being out on a dark night as a child. He recalled being able to sense his friends without being able to see them. Had that been due to some supernatural sense? Some sattvic power? Or had it just been tiny shifts in the air?

Whatever the case, the captain was so close now he could surely sense Jack, could surely tell there was a presence right before him.

The captain’s fingers tensed about the pistol.

Jack bunched his hands into fists. If he had to, he would attack the man.

Slowly, the captain lowered his pistol until it was pointing straight at Jack’s chest.

Jack’s heart thrashed.

The captain’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits. His nostrils flared.