The Damascened Blade(87)

‘And Jock made it back safely?’ Lily hardly dared ask.

‘Oh yes. He was much applauded, of course, and nobody bothered to remind him that he’d disobeyed an order. They were very relaxed about such things in those pre-war days. He only just made it back though. He was shot at as he ran and was slightly wounded. Shot at by someone firing an old-fashioned musket, a jezail.’

‘And you’re telling us that all this is linked in some way to Zeman?’ asked Lily, trying to understand.

‘I think it must be,’ said Grace. ‘You see, the two Afridi who had discovered Harry’s broken body were young boys no older than Jock, but not just any boys, they were the two older sons of Ramazad Khan.’

‘So it would have fallen on the youngest of all, Zeman, to do this badal thing? To be avenged on the British for his older brothers?’ Lily frowned, working her way through to a conclusion Joe had come to some time ago. ‘But, hang on – what you’re saying is – not just any old Briton – you’re saying the Briton, the one who knifed the Afridi? You’re saying this Jock?’ She fell silent for a moment and then breathed, ‘Grace, this Jock, we wouldn’t all know him by some other name, would we? Like it might be James? James Lindsay?’

‘Yes,’ said Grace, ‘James Lindsay. Bless the man!’

With a lurch of the heart and a sudden insight, Joe cursed himself for his blindness. He looked at Grace with anguish and asked quietly, ‘Why do you say that, Grace? Why do you say, “Bless the man!” with such emotion?’

Tears had begun at last to shimmer in Grace’s eyes and she dashed the sleeve of her blouse hurriedly across her face before replying slowly, ‘Because at the risk of his own life, James Lindsay saved my husband from suffering an unspeakable death. Harry, my husband, Harry.’





Chapter Nineteen


There was a deep silence as Grace’s story ended. They listened to the song of a bird hidden amongst the apricots, a thrush perhaps, Joe thought, adding its own sad coda to the tale. At last Iskander stirred and began to speak diffidently. ‘Dr Holbrook, would you mind if I . . .?’ His voice trailed away.

She smiled at him. ‘I was hoping you’d be able to fill in the gaps in my tale, Iskander.’

‘We speak of a time long ago. Twelve years but the memories are very clear for you and for me. I was only a boy of nine at the time of which you speak and Zeman was a year older. He was always much more the warrior than I was and used to trail about behind his older brothers begging them to take him with them on raids. At last when he was ten years old they agreed to take him and they supplied him with the only weapon that came to hand, an old jezail that had long done no more than decorate a wall of their home. He watched the battle from the safety of the crags, delighting in the British discomfiture. Finally, when the Lewis guns were brought up the Afridi decided to call it a day and retreat. Zeman’s brothers were in the rear, angry at their orders, unwilling to withdraw when they were doing so well and, bringing up the rearguard, they came upon an injured British officer. He’d fallen from a cliff face and was unable to move. Zeman was told to keep watch for them up in the rocks while they . . .’ Iskander paused briefly then resumed, ‘robbed him and considered their next move.

‘Before even Zeman was aware of what was happening a figure had leapt from the shadows and stabbed his brothers to death. The man, a man with red hair, then pulled up the shirt of one of them and slashed his flesh with the point of his dagger.’

Lily gasped and shuddered.

As though speaking only to her, Iskander said, ‘This would not be the surprising and sickening deed you might think. It is the custom among the tribes to carve their tribal symbol on the backs of their enemies.’

‘And sometimes they even wait until they’re dead,’ said Rathmore waspishly.

As though he had not even heard the interruption Iskander went on, ‘Zeman remained calm. He did not cry out but aimed his jezail and fired. But the hammer stuck and the British soldier began to run. Zeman tracked him as he ran and pulled the trigger again. This time it freed itself and he was certain he had hit him. He climbed down to attend to his brothers. With a burning anger against the man who had done this he copied the letters which he could not understand on to his arm with a piece of burned wood and later copied them on to paper so that he might one day identify what he assumed to be a tribal symbol.’

‘What did it say?’ asked Lily. ‘Do you know, Iskander?’

‘No one could work it out, not even the ones among us who knew English. I showed the word to my English teacher one day in Peshawar and he could not understand either. Look!’ He took a stick and wrote in a few brisk strokes in the sand: EENDO!