Understanding flickered through Vijay’s expression.He seemed to grow taller, wrapping an air of glittering authority around himself like a well-tailored coat.“But why such stiff faces?After all, we are here for the same reason.”
“And what reason is that?”Singh Rao demanded skeptically.
Vijay’s expression was uncharacteristically serious.“The good of India.”
“I think we might have different notions of what that means,” Singh Rao returned.
“I disagree,” Vijay countered, his eyes glittering significantly.“We may have looked for it in unlike places—but I doubt that what we ultimately seek is all that far apart, Subedar.”
Singh Rao’s face softened as the maharaja’s words struck him.
Vijay’s posture relaxed as he returned to his usual bright insouciance.“But that’s all beside the point.We’re just travelers bumping into each other by pure fortune—my niece and her friends, Mr.Konja and his companions, and me with a modest little personal guard.”
“Personal guard?”Singh Rao echoed tiredly.
Vijay’s features schooled into an expression of sober innocence.“One really can’t be too careful these days.”
A bizarrely unexpected sound trumpeted through the cliffs.
Neil’s face drained.“Why did that sound like an elephant?”
“Because it was an elephant,” Vijay replied with a blinding white grin.“How else do you think we got here?”
?
Ellie limped onto the colonnaded veranda in front of Sita’s chamber as the sun slanted between the ridge and the heavy gray clouds of the monsoon, painting the ravine with gold.Silver water tumbled down the bluff while flowers framed the turquoise ribbon of the stream.
Doves burst from another rock-cut chamber, soaring over the moss-covered bones.
The room that Sita had called home was undeniably humble, but it had still possessed a view fit for a queen.
That view was currently quite crowded.By the bank of the stream, the men Singh Rao had left behind to guard his camp sat in a circle, disarmed and subdued.They were surrounded by other soldiers dressed in rugged green uniforms.The newcomers carried modern weapons and wore boots with puttees.
Behind them loomed a half dozen massive gray animals decked out in steel-plated leather, iron helmets framing their skulls.
“He actually brought the elephants,” Ellie said numbly, staring at the enormous creatures as Adam joined her on the veranda.
One of the largest lifted her trunk and bellowed.
Singh Rao took in the scene with a reflexive twitch of his jaw.“A modest personal guard.”
“His Highness likes to feelreallysafe.”Adam’s expression sobered.“Just how much of this are you going to report when you get back to your base?”
Singh Rao studied the gorge.Ellie weighed how much rode on his response.The subedar had to be feeling torn between the strict interpretation of his duty and his more pragmatic instincts.
“Jacobs shot the colonel.A warrant will be issued.I do not believe that I need to complicate that report with…incidentals.”
“Thank you,” Adam said genuinely.
Singh Rao’s look turned dry.“Maybe I just prefer to avoid the extra paperwork.”
He descended the stairs to where the rest of his men had gathered—along with Dawson, who had firmly attached himself to the soldiers, demanding an escort back to Madras.
Ellie wished the subedar luck with that.
Adam tilted queasily.“Pretty glad that didn’t involve more talking.”
Ellie recalled where they were—on a narrow ledge three stories above the ground.“Drat.”
