Neil loosened the button at his collar, searching for relief from the heat.
Constance’s attention dropped to the hollow at the base of his throat—and held there for a long moment.
A nagging unease darted through Ellie.
“So?What are you going to wager?”Adam prompted.
“Nothing,” Ellie blurted out.
Adam cocked an eyebrow.
“I mean—I’m not a gambler,” Ellie quickly corrected.“I haven’t the foggiest idea.”
“You could let him get another dog!”Vanika sang out—incidentally proving that she could hear them perfectly well.
At her side, Kalb barked loudly at a passing crow.The dog jumped as though trying to snatch it out of the air… not that the beast would have any notion of what to do with the bird if he succeeded.
Ellie felt her face drain.“Absolutely not.”
“What?Don’t think you’ll win?”Adam challenged.
“That is not what I am saying at all.I mean only that gambling is a terrible habit that we should certainly not encourage around impressionable young people.”
“She does not think she will win,” Vanika translated cheerfully.“I do not blame her.When the lady came outside, Dr.Fairfax spent far too much time looking at her trousers.”
“He was only surprised that she was wearing them!”Ellie countered stoutly.
“Oh?I am sure that is all it was, then,” Vanika conceded breezily.
The girl turned around again, whistling a cheerful tune.
?
The electric green fields gave way to steep, rolling hills where low scrub grew over red earth.Thickets of brush framed the trail, chirping and buzzing with birds and insects.The afternoon was high, and the heat thickened despite the steady gray cover overhead.Ellie gripped the pommel of her horse as she rode up a sharply inclined path.
They crested the hill—and the forest sprawled out before them.The thick green blanket covered a landscape of verdant mountain peaks dazzled here and there with rays of sun that broke through the gaps in the monsoon.
Ellie was stunned with wonder.This was the Dandakaranya, the mythical wilderness of Rama’s exile.
Where the dry red earth gave way to the shadowed beauty of the legendary forest, great black birds wheeled over the view like dark slashes against the gray sky.Ellie recognized them as vultures.
There had been vultures in the Ramayana.Their king had sacrificed himself to try to save Sita from being kidnapped by Ravana.
The ones circling through the sky in front of them felt like guardians of a barrier she was poised to cross.
The feeling shattered into alarm as four men slipped from the rocks to either side and leveled muskets at their party.
The weapons qualified as antiques but were oiled and well cared for—which left Ellie with no doubt as to their ability to fire.Even if a musket could take only a single shot before reloading, that was four shots too many for their current circumstances.
Adam made a similar calculation.He slowly raised his hands, leaving the Winchester untouched on his back.Neil did the same—then grabbed at the reins as his horse shied beneath him.
The men on the other side of the weapons wore homespun shirts and dhotis.Their feet were bare, and their expressions were watchful.
An older gentleman stepped out to join them.A white lungi circled his waist like a kilt, and his chest was bare.The cropped, curling hair of his head and beard were richly streaked with silver.
He held a bow and arrow with casual readiness in his wiry arms, his amber eyes steady—until they dropped to Kalb as the dog plopped down at his feet.
Kalb panted up at the warrior as though hoping for a treat.And why wouldn’t he, Ellie thought irritably.
