The Leopard Princess Page 16

  Yazan spoke into her mind. Come to the roof. Quickly. Little time.

  She followed him along the balcony to a set of wooden stairs. Her boots crunched on the snow as they ascended. Suddenly Anjuli was before her, tearful, her arms outstretched to help Jahani up and, together, they ran to the middle of the roof.

  Just then Yazan lifted his head and howled. Jahani was startled. She’d only heard him snarl and growl before.

  You have many talents, Yazan.

  As do you, Shehzadi.

  He nudged her and she noticed Shamsher still in her hand. She stared at the blood on the blade and couldn’t stop the shaking in her legs – it was moving up her body.

  There was a shout. The guards must have heard Yazan. Soon they’d find Muzahid. Had he died? She didn’t know. She could hear men’s boots crunching in the snow on one of the balconies below. Then more shouts. They must have found Muzahid.

  Yazan, we have to escape. Chandi’s in the stable, too.

  Wait. Friend coming. I will bring Chandi.

  Two armed guards climbed onto the roof. Anjuli screamed. One shouted behind him, ‘Up here!’, then they ran toward them. Jahani held Shamsher at the ready, her hands shaking. Another man appeared and cocked a bow and arrow. He fired but Jahani couldn’t tell if it was aimed at them or the other men. One of the guards fell. The archer pulled back on another arrow. It was Qadi. Even in the low light she couldn’t mistake his stature. Was he the friend?

  ‘There they are!’ A man shouted. More guards swarmed onto the roof from the other direction. There were dozens – heading right for them.

  ‘We’re trapped,’ Anjuli cried.

  Jahani felt her body quieten amid the melee. ‘Chup, Anjuli, I won’t let them hurt you.’ She stood with Shamsher held high just as Azhar had taught her at Lake Saiful Maluk all those moons ago.

  Do not fear, Shehzadi.

  The first few guards attacked and she sliced. Left, right. Chandi was still guiding her movements. And of course Shamsher fought for her as always. Behind you, Shehzadi! Jahani moved around Anjuli in a circle, keeping the men at bay as Qadi’s arrows dispatched others. Yazan’s snarls and pounces kept more men from moving closer. Then another flood of guards ascended onto the roof like an avalanche flowing toward them.

  Anjuli was sobbing. ‘We can’t escape.’

  Then Jahani heard a whoosh. She looked up. In the sky a shadow passed over the moon. It sounded like a giant bird’s wings flapping.

  The carpet.

  It swooped down and floated above them. For a moment their attackers fell back. ‘Hie, a jinn.’ One man dropped to the ground to pray.

  A man on the carpet leaned over and pulled up Anjuli, but Jahani couldn’t see his face.

  The guards woke out of their stupor. They rushed at Jahani and Yazan again. Shamsher slashed at one, then she twirled to block another attacking from behind. The carpet was beside her now. She stared across at the man leaning over, covering her with his sword. He seemed familiar. She heard his shout: ‘Jahani, give me your hand.’

  Azhar?

  He grabbed her just as a guard lunged and clung to her legs. She turned and sliced behind her; the man howled and dropped to the roof. Azhar dragged Jahani onto the carpet as it rose like a star shooting upward. Arrows shot past them and he pulled her against his chest, shielding her.

  ‘I thought I was too late.’ He groaned softly and she closed her eyes, feeling his heart beating through his coat; it was so fast.

  Then she burst out, ‘Yazan! He’s still down there.’

  Go. I will follow.

  She leaned over and saw Yazan jump from the roof onto a mountain ridge. She’d never seen him leap so far. Then he ran along it toward the moon. Two Zanskari ponies galloped on the path below him.

  ‘Chandi’s bringing Kaveh, Hissam’s stallion,’ Anjuli cried.

  We will meet in Hahayul. Keep safe, Shehzadi.

  You also, pyari Chandi and Yazan. A sob escaped as Jahani tried to laugh. ‘They are safe.’ She turned back to Azhar, staring at him as if he were an apparition. ‘We thought you would have died from the arrow wound. Anjuli said you were very sick. How did you even survive the fall?’

  ‘I think the carpet saved me, or Qhuda. And when I was ill with the fever, it was the thought of you being here alone that inspired me to recover.’ Azhar stared at them both with wonder. ‘I heard you had died in the blizzard—’

  ‘I shouldn’t have survived, but my friends kept me alive.’ She sheathed Shamsher.

  He passed the girls a blanket. ‘Anjuli, when you and Chandi disappeared I prayed to Qhuda you’d be safe.’

  ‘Ji. Yazan came to me in the night and led me to Chandi. It seemed the right thing to go with her.’

  Jahani gave her arm a squeeze.

  ‘Yazan and Chandi found Jahani in the snow and brought her to Hissam, a guide. That is his horse.’ Anjuli pointed to the road below, but the carpet had sped north-west and the horses and Yazan were now out of sight.

  ‘Are you hurt?’ Azhar said to Jahani as she settled on the carpet beside Anjuli. She shook her head, tucking the blanket around them.

  ‘Was I in time … Was there a wedding?’ His voice cracked.

  Jahani smiled. ‘Awa. The wedding was to be tomorrow. But I fought Muzahid tonight. Yazan and Chandi helped me.’

  Azhar whistled. ‘But how did you escape him? He is a seasoned warrior.’

  ‘Yazan pushed him and he fell on Shamsher.’

  ‘So, he’s dead?’

  ‘I don’t know. There was a lot of blood.’ Her teeth chattered and her body shook under the blanket. She knew it wasn’t because of the cold.

  He stretched an arm around her. ‘It is difficult for every honourable warrior.’

  She sat aware of Azhar’s body warming her, hardly daring to believe he was truly alive. ‘I’m sorry about not going with you at the Indus River.’

  Azhar didn’t comment, just touched the carpet so it turned slightly. ‘Finally I am taking you home.’

  ‘To Hahayul? How will Yazan and Chandi find us?’

  ‘You can ask that after what they have just done?’

  She grinned at him. They were amazing..

  ‘Yazan called for me,’ Azhar said then.

  Jahani stared at his profile outlined against the moon. ‘You can hear them, too?’

  ‘He came to me in a dream.’

  She nodded. She respected dreams.

  ‘We’ll go to your mother’s house. She is waiting.’

  ‘My mother?’ Jahani frowned; her mother was dead.

  ‘The mother of your childhood,’ he said gently. ‘Hafeezah.’

  25

  Baltit Fort

  Kingdom of Hahayul

  Dagar Khan stood on his balcony contemplating the stone steps snaking up to the fort. There was an area halfway down where a platform could be built if he had a tamasha. All of his people could gather around the steps and below. He imagined standing above them, his voice resonating down the hill and beyond. He smiled grimly. Something had to be done and soon.

  He heard the click of a guard’s boots behind him and turned. His smile disappeared when he saw who the guard escorted.

  ‘My lord, this man requested an audience. He says he has important news.’

  Dagar Khan motioned the messenger forward. ‘So, Rabb, I thought you must have perished. It has been moons since I saw you.’

  ‘Ji, my lord, please excuse my absence. I was wounded and needed to recover before I could return.’

  ‘You didn’t think to send word of your progress?’ Dagar Khan’s voice turned silky.

  Rabb paled. ‘I … I had the shehzadi, my lord. I was bringing her to you, but at the pass I was overtaken, beaten, left for dead. Your guards weren’t at the border. They were Muzahid Baig’s men. They took the girl to Skardu.’

  Dagar Khan listened to the bumbling words, his irritation growing.

  ‘But now I have good news, my lord.’

  ‘What is it?’ D
agar Khan narrowed his eyes.

  Rabb grinned. ‘She’s dead, my lord. Perished in a blizzard.’ Dagar Khan scowled and Rabb’s face fell. ‘I … I thought you’d be pleased my lord … Now you have no threat to your throne.’

  ‘You fool! I need her body. To show the people.’

  Pir Zal drifted out to the balcony. Dagar Khan always knew when the pir was behind him; his presence was like a cold wind whispering down the back of his neck. He glanced at the pir to find him watching through hooded eyes.

  He spun back to Rabb and punched him in the face. Rabb staggered backward. ‘You have left it too late, you wretch. Don’t you think we know that you’ve been holed up all this time, too cowardly to face us?’

  Rabb’s eyes widened as he held his nose. ‘You have been misinformed—’

  ‘You see, Rabb,’ Dagar Khan cut in softly, ‘we have just heard she survived and that Muzahid Baig has gone to Skardu to marry her.’ His voice rose on the last two words and Pir Zal lay a hand on his arm. Dagar Khan shook it off and leaned closer to Rabb. ‘So your miserable news is useless.’

  ‘My lord, I … I’ll go right now and recapture her—’

  ‘You will not.’ Dagar Khan tipped his chin at the guard who twisted Rabb’s arms behind his back. ‘I cannot trust you, so you will wait until I decide what to do with you.’

  ‘Nay, I am loyal only to you—’

  ‘Take him.’

  As the guard pushed Rabb away, struggling, Dagar Khan blew out a breath. ‘We will have a tamasha, Zal. We must kill the shehzadi.’

  ‘If we find her,’ Pir Zal said.

  Dagar Khan gave him a sharp glance. ‘You saw she was alive. Why can’t you also see if she will come?’

  ‘It doesn’t always work like that. I cannot call the visions, they just appear.’

  ‘We could kill an imposter.’ Dagar Khan frowned.

  ‘You will need to execute the true shehzadi or she will always be a thorn in your side.’

  Dagar Khan looked out at the snow-covered mountains and muttered irritably, ‘How will we know she is the true shehzadi?’

  The pir replied, ‘When I see her I will know.’

  26

  Baltit

  Kingdom of Hahayal

  Second Moon of Winter

  The carpet ride was swifter than the last that Jahani had experienced. It made her think of Azhar taking her for that joyous ride over the mountains and to the sea all those moons ago. He had wanted to take her to the Kingdom of Hahayul then. She glanced at him. He had been trying to help her all along.

  Anjuli squealed, watching the landscape change from the winter desert to snowy peaks.

  Azhar drew in a breath. ‘Before Muzahid’s zenana … were you with Rahul?’ He sounded strained as if preparing for ill news.

  ‘Rahul? Bey ya, I was abducted by Ali Shah’s scout, Rabb. He yanked me off the carpet with a noose. That’s why the carpet plummeted.’

  Azhar let out his breath.

  ‘Rabb caught me because he wanted a reward. I’ve wondered what happened to Rahul. I hope he didn’t die in combat.’

  Azhar paused before answering. ‘If so, we didn’t find his body.’

  There was a silence, then she said, ‘And how did Ammi get to Hahayul?’

  ‘She was travelling north with Baqir’s troop and they joined the Makhfi in the mountains near Gilit.’ Then Azhar said gently, ‘I’m sorry about Baqir and Zarah.’

  ‘I feel responsible for their deaths. If I hadn’t left—’

  ‘You mustn’t.’ He sounded surprisingly fierce. ‘Their deaths are Muzahid’s responsibility, not yours, nor mine.’

  Jahani sighed. ‘You still haven’t said how Ammi arrived in the kingdom.’

  ‘I gave her a ride home.’

  Jahani gave a shaky laugh. ‘How did she cope flying through the sky?’

  ‘It took a lot of persuading, and she insisted on blessing the carpet first.’ Azhar chuckled. ‘At least she didn’t have to travel by horse through the perilous narrow gorge into Hahayul.’

  They flew quietly with just a slight whoosh of air whenever Azhar changed direction.

  ‘It truly feels as if we are an eagle, gliding on the wind beneath us,’ Jahani said softly.

  ‘Look to the left,’ Azhar said.

  A huge mountain loomed into view; it looked like a giant tooth in the moon’s glow.

  ‘What’s that?’ Anjuli asked, leaning forward.

  ‘Mount Rakaposhi. In Burushaski it means “The Mother of Mists”. It rises straight from the land. No other mountain in the Qurraqorams does this. And its colour changes according to the time of day.’

  Jahani wondered how he knew so much about it.

  ‘We can’t fly over the top of it. We won’t be able to breathe.’

  ‘Why not?’ Anjuli asked.

  ‘Because there is not enough air that high.’

  ‘It’s enormous,’ Anjuli said in wonder.

  Jahani thought of Hissam and how he said Rakaposhi’s necklace of clouds chokes the breath from men. She hoped he could see her now. ‘It looks like glass on this side,’ Jahani said. ‘Like a shining wall.’

  ‘It’s a glacier,’ Azhar said. ‘It never melts. It oversees the Kingdom of Nagir.’ He was quiet a moment. ‘They say that in Nagir the water tastes of honey and the cherry trees blossom in the spring.’

  ‘I’d like to live there,’ Anjuli said.

  ‘So would I,’ Azhar said quietly.

  Jahani glanced at him curiously and found him regarding her.

  Then he said brightly, ‘I have something else to show you.’ He turned the carpet to the right and flew across more mountains that rose like cut gems into the sky, their snowy tops shimmering.

  ‘See that?’ He sent the carpet lower.

  ‘Is it a lake?’ Anjuli asked.

  ‘Ji, it is Lake Shimshal. It’s frozen now, but do you see the shape of it?’

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ Anjuli said.

  ‘The Angrez say it is the shape of a heart.’ Azhar held Jahani’s gaze.

  Troubled, she glanced down searching for the lake but it was already gone; Azhar had adjusted the carpet to their previous course.

  ‘The wind is freezing,’ Anjuli said.

  ‘Yet exhilarating.’ Azhar tilted his face upward as if to catch every instant.

  It seemed only seconds had passed after Lake Shimshal when Jahani saw a settlement below them. ‘What is that place?’ she asked.

  ‘Baltit,’ Azhar said. ‘The main town of the Kingdom of Hahayul. You are finally home, Shehzadi.’

  Jahani saw the silhouette of a fort high on a mountain ridge. Behind it, more mountains folded into one another and a village stairstepped into the mountain side below. In the daytime the view would be magnificent. She drew in a breath. Here she was in Hahayul at last, in the Qurraqoram Mountains she had dreamed of as a child, and took many moons to reach. Jahani thought she would be excited at this moment but her stomach churned. She blinked away a tear to find Azhar smiling at her.

  ‘Nechay jao, go down,’ he whispered to the carpet.

  They alighted outside the town and made their way down a lane bordered by homes made of mud, stone and wood. ‘Yazan will find your scent more easily if we walk,’ Azhar explained.

  The lane was deserted. It wasn’t how she imagined she would arrive in Hahayul: in the middle of the night, on a carpet without her snow leopard.

  Azhar stopped before a mud house and tapped on the door.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Jahani whispered.

  ‘Let’s go to the light,’ he said softly.

  She looked at him in wonder. Hafeezah would say that when visiting friends, especially if tales were to be told.

  Just then the door opened and Jahani gave a cry. ‘Ammi!’ She rushed into Hafeezah’s arms. Anjuli was only a moment behind her.

  ‘Jahani! Anjuli! You are safe. Praise Qhuda.’ She drew away to look at Jahani, her eyes welling. ‘Oh, how I have missed you. Come. Everyone in
side. Quickly!’ She watched the lane as she ushered the girls through the doorway and Azhar carried the carpet through behind them.

  Inside, they stepped through a vestibule and down to a square, windowless room where a fire was burning. Jahani could see a hole in the roof allowing the smoke to escape. Goats’ hair rugs covered the dirt floor and two raised platforms with cushions edged either side of the room.

  A man stood as they entered. He was tall, though stooped, and he had Hafeezah’s dark hair and bearing.

  ‘This is my father, Gulzar Abdul.’ Hafeezah turned to him. ‘Father, this is Jahani, the daughter I fostered all those summers. And her friends Anjuli and Azhar.’

  Jahani stared at Gulzar, then she kissed his hand. ‘Ammi told me all your tales when I was a child – I feel as though I know you already,’ she said as he kissed her hand softly in return.

  ‘This is my humble abode, but it is your home now and my door will always be open to you.’ His gentleness made her weep.

  ‘I longed to meet you when I was a child.’

  ‘Qhuda be praised we have met at last.’ Gulzar laid a hand on her head in blessing, and on Anjuli’s, too.

  Hafeezah tended to Azhar, asking him to take off his coat so she could check his wound.

  ‘It’s fine,’ he said, colour rising in his face.

  Hafeezah looked at Jahani with her usual concern. ‘And you look peaky.’

  ‘One of Muzahid’s wives tried to poison me,’ Jahani said.

  Hafeezah stared at her in shock. ‘Poisoned?’

  ‘Please do not worry. I feel well now.’

  Gulzar cleared his throat. ‘Jahani, Hafeezah says you are the true shehzadi of our kingdom. What say you of this?’

  ‘Some moons ago I met Ali Shah, the commander of the Makhfi, the hidden army of Hahayul. He told me a story of how he saved the shehzadi from the fort twelve summers ago, how there was fire and fighting. I remembered this story for it had been part of my dreams ever since I was young. So I knew that what Ali Shah told me was true. I am Jahanara Ashraf Shaheen Khan, Shehzadi of Hahayul.’ She stood looking at them all.