Laura brought the water skin and poured a little water into the Pathan's mouth, then gave him two cold chapatis left over from the night before. As the man wolfed them down, she said in English, "Do you think he'd take some brandy? It might help revive him."
Ian looked at the havildar consideringly. Alcohol was forbidden to Muslims and most wouldn't touch it, but there were exceptions. Now that he'd found allies, the man was on the verge of lapsing into unconsciousness. "It's worth a try. Bring me some."
She poured some brandy into a tin cup. Ian took it and held it before Gulzar Khan's eyes. "I need to talk with you about what is happening on the far side of the mountains, Havildar. To ask this of you is a grievous sin, and I shall honor your wishes if you refuse. But for the sake of the Sirkar, will you consider taking spirits this once in order to restore your strength?"
Gulzar Khan hesitated, torn between morality and expedience. To make the decision easier, Ian dipped a finger in the cup, then solemnly flicked a drop of brandy away. "The Prophet said thou shalt not drink a single drop."
Putting that single drop safely out of bounds was enough to make up the havildar's mind. He drank the brandy in two swallows, and it had a visibly bracing effect on him. "What would you know, huzar?"
"Briefly tell me what happened to the army."
While Laura cleaned and rebound his wounds, Gulzar Khan filled out the story that Ian had first read in Rajiv Singh's dispatch. The havildar wasn't sure how long it had been since he was wounded. Perhaps ten days. He had managed to keep a small group of his men together during most of the retreat, but a few miles from Jallalabad they had been surrounded and cut down by five times their number of mounted Afghans.
When Gulzar Khan fell wounded, the body of another man fell across him. The Afghans were so laden by loot that they took only the valuable rifles and didn't bother to search their victims' bodies, so they didn't realize there was a survivor.
Deciding that it was time for a break, the Afghans built a fire next to the sepoy corpses and cooked a meal. As they ate, they had talked cheerfully of their victory and about what would come next.
One man was a chieftain, and he told the riders that soon they would go over the Shpola Pass to India. There they would join an army that would sweep the British into the sea as easily as the Afghans had swept them from Kabul.
When he heard that, Gulzar Khan realized that he could not allow himself to die, in spite of his wounds and his hunger and the fact that he was half frozen from lying in the snow. When the Afghans left, the havildar got to his feet and salvaged a shirt and cloak from a dead comrade in order to cover his distinctive red coat. Then he began limping onward, determined to tell what he had heard to General Sale Sahib in Jallalabad.
After the arduous trek to Jallalabad, it had been a crushing blow to get within sight of the fort and discover that he could not enter. The plains around the fort were alive with galloping, shooting, shouting Afghans. Trying to make his way through them would have been suicide.
At that point, Gulzar Khan almost gave up. But he was an Afridi as well as a soldier of the Sirkar, and he would not lie down and die when he was the bearer of vital news. Sure that he could not get through the Khyber, he had doggedly set out for the Shpola Pass, which he knew from his youth.
When he sagged back against the boulder, Ian said quietly, "You have behaved with magnificent courage, Gulzar Khan. The Sirkar is blessed to have such men."
The havildar's eyes flickered open. "The most important tidings I have saved for last, huzar," he gasped. "The Afghans are less than half a day behind me."
Ian swore. "They have entered the pass?"
"With my own eyes I have seen them," Gulzar Khan said. "When I reached the top of the pass and looked back, I saw an endless line of warriors, some mounted, some on foot. And guns, huzar. They are hauling guns."
Ian glanced at Laura with a stab of disabling fear. He should never have allowed her to come. The invasion had begun, and the invaders were within a few miles.
He allowed himself only an instant of furious regret before asking, "Havildar, is there a place in the pass where one man might hold off an army?"
Gulzar Khan thought, then gave a slow, wolfish smile. "There is, huzar, just a little way ahead."
Ian helped the havildar to his feet, then lifted him onto his own horse. "Show me."
Ian walked his mount along the path, using one band to steady Gulzar Khan while Laura followed with her own horse. Half a mile farther was a spot that might have been designed with ambush in mind.
The track had been rising for some time, and here it reached its highest elevation before starting to drop again. As the trail fell away, it doubled back around a descending horseshoe bend. The track on the other side was so narrow that literally only one man at a time could come around the bend. A sniper stationed on this side would have a clear shot at anyone coming from the opposite direction.