The Far Pavilions - Mary Margaret Kaye [653]
‘– and fires of pine-cones and deodar logs, as in all hill villages. Besides, the hill-folk of the Himalayas are a kindly people, soft-spoken, merry, and charitable to all wayfarers. They neither carry arms nor engage in blood-feuds or make war upon each other. Nor would we need to live in too much isolation, for what is ten koss to a hill-man who can walk twice as much in one day? And none would begrudge us a virgin valley that lay too far beyond their home village for their cattle to graze in or their women to collect fodder from. Our hills are not harsh and barren like these of Afghanistan, or in Bhithor, but green with forests and full of streams.’
‘– and wild animals.’ said Ash. ‘Tiger and leopard – and bears. Do not forget that!’
‘At least such animals only kill for food. Not for hate or revenge; or because one bows towards Mecca and another burns incense before the gods. Besides, since when has either of us been safe among men? Your foster-mother fled with you to Gulkote to save you from being slain because you, a child, were an Angrezi; and later you both fled again because Janoo-Rani would have killed you – as you and I fled from Bhithor fearing death at the hands of the Diwan's men. And now, though we thought ourselves safe in this house we must leave it in haste because our presence here endangers everyone in it and if we stay we may all be slain – you and I for being “foreigners” and the others for having harboured us. No, Heart's-dearest, I would rather the wild animals. We shall never lack money, for we have the jewels that were part of my istri-dhan, and these we can always sell little by little; a stone at a time as need arises. So let us look for that valley and build our own world.’
Ash was silent for a space, and then he said softly: ‘Our own Kingdom, where all strangers shall be welcome… Why not? We could go north, towards Chitral – which will be safer at this time than trying to cross the Border and get back into British India. And from there through Kashmir and Jummu towards the Dur Khaima…’
The leaden weight of despair that had fallen on him since he realized that Wally was dead, and that had grown heavier and colder with every word that Gul Baz had spoken, was suddenly lightened, and a measure of the youth and hope that he had lost that day returned to him. Anjuli saw the colour come back to his haggard face and his eyes brighten, and felt his arms tighten about her. He kissed her hard and fiercely, and sweeping her off her feet, carried her into the inner room and sat down on the low bed, holding her close and speaking with his lips buried in her hair…
‘Once, many years ago, your father's Mir Akor, Koda Dad Khan, said something to me that I have never forgotten. I had been complaining that because I was tied to this land by affection and to Belait by blood, I must always be two people in one skin; and he replied that one day I might discover in myself a third person – one who was neither Ashok nor Pelham-Sahib, but someone whole and complete: myself. If he was right, then it is time that I found that third person. For Pelham-Sahib is dead: he died today with his friend and the men of his Regiment whom he could not help. As for Ashok and the spy Syed Akbar, those two died many weeks ago – very early one morning on a raft on the Kabul River, near Michni… Let us forget all three, and find in their stead a man with an undivided heart: your husband, Larla.’
‘What are names to me?’ whispered Anjuli, her arms tight about his neck. ‘I will go where you go and live where you live, and pray that the gods will permit me to die before you die, because without you I cannot live. Yet can you be sure that if you turn your back upon your former life you will have no regrets?’
Ash said slowly: ‘I don't believe that anyone can have no regrets… Perhaps there are times when even God regrets that He created such a thing as man. But one can put them away and not dwell upon them; and I'll have you, Larla… that