Elephant Thief Read online

  A soft touch on my head, and Hami’s trunk settled on my shoulders, offering comfort. I struggled to my feet and leant against him, shivering in the predawn cold. The gauzy silk shawl I’d wrapped around myself, a relic from my time spent at the court of Roshni’s governor, did nothing to keep me warm. I would gladly have exchanged all its rich silver embroidery for a cup of hot tea and my usual breakfast of stewed lentils and vegetables wrapped in a piece of flat bread! My stomach contracted at the thought while I considered my options: return to the camp or continue. Briefly the vision of a hot meal and a proper bath tempted me, but not if it meant losing Hami and possibly even my own freedom to Sattar.

  No, the only way was onward. First I had to reach the border and then I could decide whether to contact my grandfather. However, the main pass over the mountains had a garrison guarding the approach, which would surely be alerted by the prince to look out for me. My heart sank until I recalled that on our way over from Sikhand a year ago, we had taken one of the lesser known passes farther east. I would just have to find it again.

  “We have to go,” I told Hami and gathered my belongings.

  The clearing showed abundant traces betraying our presence, trampled down grass and a pile of elephant dung, making me worry about pursuit. We entered the woods again, following a game trail that would lead us along the shoulder of the hill, and I stopped at regular intervals and set spells of confusion and distraction behind us. More subtle than the barrier I had woven across the road the evening before, they would simply lead any pursuit down the hill and away from us.

  Soon the rising sun shafted between the trees, turning the swathes of mist to gold. Hami moved silently, his steps cushioned by the thick leaf mould on the forest floor, and around us the trunks of the trees rose like the pillars of a giant’s hall. There was little undergrowth, but elephants were able to move through woods with an ease that belied their size anyway. In the branches above us birds greeted the morning. My heart rose. I would even have enjoyed our ride if it hadn’t been for my empty stomach. “Next time we run away, I’ll plunder the kitchen tent first,” I declared. Hami grumbled an answer.

  Midmorning we stopped at a small stream for a drink and a wash. If only I had brought a pot along, I could have made myself nettle soup, but our precipitous departure meant I didn’t even have the means to start a fire. Foraging along the bank, I collected wood sorrel and dog violet leaves. Fresh ramsons rounded off these culinary delights, making me think that if any rebel tried to jump me now, I could simply frighten him off with my garlic breath.

  If anything, my stomach felt more empty after that meagre meal, but at least Hami seemed happy enough, so we continued after a brief rest. All day we saw no sign of pursuit or indeed of any human habitation and I began to relax. Then, when the afternoon drew to a close and long shadows slanted across the land, we came to a break in the trees and looked down on a small farm cupped in a meadow. Smoke rose from the chimney, so I quickly backed Hami into the cover of the trees again. Yet I hesitated to move on, for I had spotted something: on a windowsill at the back of the farmhouse two loaves of bread cooled! My stomach grumbled loudly and though I couldn’t possibly have smelt them, they made my mouth water.

  With provisions like that I could make it to the border easily! I chewed my lip, considering what to do. If I simply walked up to the farm and asked to trade for food, my black hair and Sikhandi accent would garner me little welcome. And what if Prince Bahram had offered a reward for information on my whereabouts? Which left the alternative of stealing the bread…from poor farmers who probably had little to spare. The farmhouse looked patched up and anyway, nobody made a good living in this contended land. No, I had to leave them some kind of payment, but how?

  Searching through my bags, I came upon my small store of valuables. The few pieces of jewellery inherited from my mother I would not part with, but I also had some coins, what little of his pay my father had not managed to spend on drink. All minted in Sikhand, of course, with the mark of Emperor Firooz on them. I bit my lip. Would that set the hounds on my trail? Yet I had nothing else!

  Coming to a decision, I led Hami farther back into the forest and told him to wait there for me. He wasn’t happy at the idea, but he knew to obey my command.

  “First a fugitive, now a thief,” I told him, patting his trunk in comfort. “What will be next, a rebel?” And all within the space of days!

  Leaving Hami grumbling unhappily to himself, I returned to the forest’s edge to survey the scene once more. A man was digging up the soil in the kitchen garden, but luckily it lay on the side facing away from me. While I watched, the farmer’s wife appeared at the door, a toddler clutching her skirts, and exchanged a few words with him before going back inside.

  By now the shadows of dusk filled the small valley and I crept downhill, careful to keep to the cover of a few apple trees. I had nearly reached my goal and was just congratulating myself on the ease of it, when a couple of geese rounded the corner of the house and spotted me.

  When they opened their beaks to start honking, I flung wide my senses, reaching out for their animal consciousness: an impression of grass under my feet, a strangely wide field of vision.

  “Harmless,” I whispered, “I’m completely harmless.” I held my breath.

  The geese regarded me out of beady eyes and crowded round me. “Harmless,” I said again, hoping the poor things wouldn’t end up in the cooking pot for not alerting their masters.

  After a last careful look around, I sneaked up to the house and crouched down, the geese following me faithfully as if I were the leader of their flock. When I reached the open window, I listened hard. No sound from inside, but I heard a door close in the distance and voices from the courtyard. My chance!

  Quickly I straightened up and grabbed one of the loaves, leaving a piece of silver in its place. For a moment my hand hovered over the second loaf, the coin being more than generous payment, but I thought of the child I’d seen earlier on. If I took all the bread, it would go hungry that night.

  With a sigh I resisted temptation and instead wrapped the stolen loaf in my tunic. Followed by my faithful avian entourage, I retraced my steps. At the orchard’s edge I stopped and bent down to their level. “Go back, you don’t belong in the forest.” They gazed at me reproachfully for abandoning them and a few mournful honks followed me, but luckily they stayed behind when I disappeared into the woods.

  Hami in his turn was pleased to see me, trumpeting a greeting. I just hoped the noise wouldn’t carry down to the farm. Quickly I mounted him and we continued along our trail. And finally I broke off a piece of bread and stuffed it in my mouth. It tasted absolutely heavenly, though it was the strange leavened bread they baked here and not our familiar flat bread. However, at that moment I couldn’t have cared less. Food at last! Even so I paced myself and only ate a little bit, since it would have to last me for the next few days. Turning into a thief had been unnerving and I didn’t particularly fancy having to repeat the experience.

  We continued on our journey until full darkness had fallen before stopping for a rest. Only this time I didn’t fall asleep, and once the waxing moon had risen high enough, we set off again. I wanted to put as much distance as possible between us and the farm, just in case they decided to pursue the thief. That night we slept in another clearing high up on the shoulder of a hill.

  We had reached a wide valley formed by a meandering stream, which had a road running along it. It looked familiar and I thought that if we followed the valley south, we would find the pass across the mountains that we had traversed the previous year. Only we couldn’t use the road, but had to keep to the wooded sides of the hills, which meant slow going. I eked out my bread carefully, supplementing it with whatever greenery I could forage, but got heartily tired of the taste of wild garlic.

  At least we saw no sign of pursuit, neither that day nor the next, and the weather stayed fair, though the nights were bitterly cold. On the fifth day of our flight we stop
ped early out of sheer fatigue. Hami might be able to live off grass and leaves, but he needed time to browse. We had found a meadow strewn with big boulders from a long ago rockfall, where in summer the farmers probably pastured their sheep and cattle, but which lay empty at the moment.

  I chewed down a meagre meal of a chunk of bread accompanied by some mint sprigs and looked up at the mountains peaks, which seemed to loom much closer now. How much farther to go? And would my supplies last long enough? We had passed a few solitary farms on our travel, but always stayed well away from them, yet if we continued at our current slow pace I might need to steal more food.

  The setting sun lit up the mountains in a dramatic display of stony crags throwing long shadows across orange and pink snowfields, a glorious sight. Yet all I could think of was a warm meal, a hot bath and a soft bed. What wouldn’t I give for just one of them! My whole body ached from sleeping on the ground and I hadn’t found any time to wash my clothes, let alone give myself more than a quick dip in a mountain stream. Clearly I wasn’t cut out to be a fugitive.

  Yet surely it would be over soon. Prince Bahram seemed to have given up pursuit and no Aneiry had spotted me so far. Perhaps the tales of rebels lurking everywhere in the hills were exaggerated.

  Too tired to move, I sat on one of the boulders and watched the evening shadows deepen until Hami seemed no more than another rock littering the meadow. He had been browsing busily, pulling up big bushels of grass and dusting off the dry soil before stuffing them in his mouth, but now he suddenly slewed round his head.

  I straightened up and took a step forward. “Hami? What is–”

  From behind me, a hand clamped down on my mouth.

  THREE

  I began to struggle when a cold blade touched my throat. “Stop that.” A man’s voice, low and assured. I stilled.

  Hami had rushed towards me, but now he slowed uncertainly, his trunk raised in agitation.

  The iron grip on my mouth eased very slightly. “Tell the elephant to stay calm,” the man whispered in my ear, pressing the dagger against my skin as a reminder that he held me at his mercy. “Come on, I’ve seen you people do it.”

  My throat dry, I swallowed. “Peace, Hami,” I called, the words coming out in a squeak. Who was this man?

  Hami trumpeted unhappily, but stopped a few paces away.

  “Good,” the man said, “now get him to back up. He’s making my men nervous.”

  His men? Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of dark clad figures. Was that the curve of a bow? “Back, Hami,” I said, suddenly afraid of what they might do to him. “It’s all right.” I tried to infuse my words with confidence and reached out with all my senses to calm the elephant.

  The first shock over, my mind raced to catch up with events. How many of them were there? And who were they? Not Sikhandi, that was for sure. The man holding me barked a command in Aneiry, confirming my guess. Bandits? Or…? The alternative made my blood run cold. I needed to break the man’s grip and escape!

  Reluctantly Hami took a few steps back. My captor forced me to follow him, his blade still against my throat. With his other hand he gripped my arm and twisted it behind my back. “Well done, lad,” he said. “If you cooperate, we might let you live.”

  He thought me a lad? Perhaps my short hair had fooled him. Well, I would do nothing to disabuse him of the notion. “What do you want?” I asked, struggling not to cry out at his cruel hold.

  He ignored my question. “Torches,” he called in Aneiry.

  After a moment, lights blossomed from behind, making Hami rumble threateningly. Another man stepped up beside us, holding a torch. “By the Lord of Light, you’ve done it!” he exclaimed in triumph. I understood him well enough, for I had picked up a fair command of Aneiry from my father’s slaves and these men spoke with a pure accent. Another indication they might not be straightforward brigands?

  “But how are you going to control the animal?” the new man asked. “I don’t think our ropes will hold it.”

  My captor chuckled. “We don’t have to control the elephant, we only have to control him.” He gave me another shove forward. “That’s the beauty of the plan.”

  The other man lifted his torch and peered in my face. His eyes widened. “Rhys, it’s a girl!”

  “What?”

  For an instant the blade slipped from my throat and the grip on my arm loosened. At once I drove my elbow into my captor’s chest and twisted away. He grunted in surprise and lunged after me, but I managed to evade him.

  “Hami!” I shouted and ran to him. The elephant trumpeted in response.

  Something heavy hit me from behind, bearing me to the ground. I gasped at the impact, but managed to roll around. The bandit again! He had got hold of my leg, so I tried to kick him in the head. Quick as a snake he grabbed my other leg and pinioned it to the ground. “Got you,” he grunted.

  The earth shook and he looked up with an expression of surprise on his face. The next moment Hami had seized him round the waist and lifted him high in the air. Shouts of alarm rose around us.

  As easily as he might hoist a log, Hami held the man with his trunk, preparing to dash him against one of the boulders. He would kill him! “Stop!” I shouted and Hami halted.

  Hanging upside down, the bandit called to his men: “Shoot the beast in the eyes!”

  I scrambled to my feet and ran to interpose myself. “No!”

  “Hold!” he commanded.

  My hand on Hami’s trunk, we regarded each other for a moment.

  “Surrender,” he told me. “I have archers on all sides.”

  How dare he set the terms when he was so clearly at a disadvantage! “Tell your men to pull back and let me go,” I demanded. “Now!”

  “No.”

  “I’ll order my elephant to kill you!”

  Incredibly, he chuckled at my threat. “I think I’ll take my chances.”

  Caught out, I hesitated. Perhaps it was squeamish of me, but I didn’t want blood on my hands, not even this annoying bandit’s.

  Of course he saw my hesitation. “Surrender,” he told me again, “or I tell my men to shoot your elephant.”

  “No!”

  He raised his voice. “Men! On the count of ten, shoot the beast in the eyes.”

  “But Lord Rhys–” one of his followers called.

  “Do it!” he barked. “On my count: one… two…”

  “No, stop!” I cried.

  “Three…four…”

  “Hami will kill you!”

  “Five…six…”

  How could he be the complete master of the situation when he was hanging upside down in the air?

  “Seven…eight…nine…”

  “I surrender!” I shouted.

  He stopped counting. “Tell the elephant to put me down.”

  Grudgingly I gave the command, and Hami obeyed, though none too happy. He must have sensed that the man meant us no good.

  The bandit leader picked up his knife that he had lost in the struggle and straightened his tunic, completely ignoring the elephant that was still looming over him threateningly. I got my first proper look at him: despite his air of authority he was a young man, probably not much older than myself, rangy and tough. He had braided small beads and a feather into his light blond hair, which gave him a barbaric air.

  He looked me over in his turn, from my scuffed boots to my tangled hair, and contemptuously flicked a piece of dirt from my cheek. “Let this be a lesson to you: never threaten something that you’re not willing to carry through.”

  I gritted my teeth. Next time I wouldn’t stop Hami from bashing his brains in!

  * * *

  A quick succession of orders followed, allocating each man his place, then he pushed me before him down a barely perceptible path back into the woods. One of his men led the way, holding a torch, and Hami perforce followed behind. Three more bandits shadowed us either side, bows at the ready.

  “Remember,” he said, “if you try to ma
ke a run, they have orders to shoot the elephant. These are my best archers, they won’t miss.”

  He didn’t even bind my hands or threaten me in any other way and I fumed inside how quickly he had found my weakness. Yet after I had stumbled down the trail for a while, my situation began to sink in. I had been captured by Aneiry bandits or rebels – there wasn’t much of a difference between that anyway – so what would happen to me now? And where were they taking me?

  That last question at least was answered fairly quickly when we reached what had to be their campsite. A large cave gaped in the hill, lit up by a fire, and the smell of food wafted my way, involuntarily making my mouth water. Over to one side, a group of horses were picketed, neighing nervously. When Hami ambled into full view, they reared and panicked, as untrained horses will do in the presence of elephants. My captor cursed and sent some men to lead them away upwind of Hami. I suppressed the impulse to help with calming the animals. Let him realise what a bag of troubles he had netted!

  At the leader’s instruction some of the men fetched a thick rope, which he himself wound around one of Hami’s back legs and tied to a tree. I watched impassively, but secretly I felt some relief. The rope looked strong and well-made, but they had no idea of an elephant bull’s strength. At need Hami could snap that rope in an instant or even push the whole tree over, so if the worst came to pass, we would simply try to make a run for it. Poor Hami hated being tied up, but at a word from me held still. I stroked his trunk in reassurance, gaining comfort from the contact myself.

  The bandit leader stepped back and surveyed his work. Riled by his self-satisfied expression, I crossed my arms on my chest. “My elephant is hungry. If you won’t let him forage for himself, you need to provide something. He starts fretting when not properly fed.”

  Some of the bandits looked alarmed at my words, but the man just raised an eyebrow. “What does he eat?”

  “Grass, hay and any fruits or vegetables you may have.” And lots, as he would find out soon enough. It had been a challenge for the army to keep all its elephants fed.