I tried to spring to my feet but fell to my knees, tangled in my blanket. Furiously I scrabbled free and went out into the pre-dawn, the skies already paling and the stars fading one by one. Toby was still retching, but Ky-Lin and Beau-cat were anxiously awaiting me. I gazed around: nothing. Toby was right. Makub had left us and taken everything with him. Even the Eg . . . A thief in the night.
What on earth were we going to do? Without food, water or transport we would surely perish, and even if Ky-Lin could guide us back to the village it was doubtful if we could make it. Besides which, the object of all this journeying had gone: without the Eg, what was the point of going on? I sank to my knees in despair, but there was a nudge from Ky-Lin.
"Get dressed," he hissed. "Quick as you can. Wake the others if you can, but I doubt it."
The first quickly done, the second impossible. They lay there and snored and snored and snored, and no amount of shouting, shaking or even kicking made the slightest bit of difference. I ran out of the shelter again to find Ky-Lin rapidly changing into his pony-size mode, as always in fits and starts, ending with the last shortened foot and a crumpled ear. Beau-cat was watching impassively, but Toby was still retching. Ky-Lin finished "changing" and briefly touched Toby's stomach with his horn.
"That should make it better . . . Tell him, girl, to stay here and get the others on their feet—if necessary drag them over to the stream and dunk them in it."
"What's the matter with them?"
"A powerful drug in that flask he gave them. The food was probably contaminated as well. You and Beau here had neither, which is why you are well enough." He paused. "Well, come on then . . ."
"Come on where? What are we going to do?"
"Go after him, of course! Climb on to my back and hang on tight."
"But we'll never catch him! He's been gone five or six hours. He must be at least twenty miles away!"
"With eight ponies? Probably only five or six. Come on, we're wasting precious time."
In fact it was a good ten.
Toby had had the dubious pleasure of riding Ky-Lin before and enjoyed it—I say dubious, because he wouldn't touch a living organism, so the progress was a hair-raising behind-bumping teeth-jarring nightmare—but to me it was an experience I preferred to forget, especially as Beau-cat had decided to accompany us, and was clinging on for dear life to the back of my (luckily) thick jacket. True, when we came to suitable stony ground Ky-Lin trotted instead of bounding, but when he finally drew to a halt I slid off his back, groaning and aching in every joint.
"Hush!" said Ky-Lin. "He's not far away. . . . Where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere," I groaned, but quietly. Even the cessation of movement was a treat.
"Sorry," he said. "But if we had left it any longer or been any slower he would have gone too far, and we must retrieve the Eg, or else I will entirely forfeit my time in Nirvana. Lie still." And quickly and expertly he dabbed me with his little pink horn, and immediately I felt better. Beau-cat seemed all right, although he was carefully straightening his claws to their correct alignment.
"Thanks . . ." I stretched and wriggled about a bit and discovered I was still in one piece. I started to get up but Ky-Lin stopped me
"Stay down. I told you he isn't far. Move forward to that large rock over there and take a quick peep."
By the time I reached the rock I had already seen the plume of smoke over to our right and when I cautiously raised my head I could see that Makub had built a small fire in a little dell, having tethered all but his own pony to a lone tree nearby.
"He reckons he's safe," breathed Ky-Lin in my ear. "What with the drug and the distance."
"What are we going to do? He's got a gun."
"Come back a bit and I'll tell you." Obediently Beau-cat and I followed him until we were out of earshot of the guide. "Now listen you two—"
I pointed at Beau-cat. "Will he understand?"
"We are both animals—" He stopped. "On second thoughts, put your Ring-finger on his collar—"
"He hasn't got one. A collar, I mean."
"Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean he hasn't got one."
I pushed my fingers into the soft fur around Beau-cat's neck and, sure enough, I could see a tatty brass-coloured chain, studded with green glass stones. I thought it might be too tight, but my finger fitted quite easily underneath.
"Now listen, and listen carefully, because we haven't time to go over it more than once. He will soon have finished his coffee . . ."
And he told us what we had to do.
We didn't get back to the others until the sun was on its way down. What with rounding up the ponies, who had panicked, broken their halters and were anything up to a mile distant, and indulging ouselves in a scrappy meal, plus walking the beasts back, I wasn't surprised to see Toby had come a couple of miles down the track to look for us.
He was overjoyed to see us again, mounted one of the ponies and listened intently as I told him of our successful foray. He declared it was better than a play, but added: "Won't you have to tell the others about Ky-Lin now?"
I looked across at Ky-Lin, who was trotting, pony-size, among the other steeds.
"Well?"
"Probably as good a time as any. It would have to happen sooner or later, anyway. I'll stay behind while you explain, otherwise they'll probably die of fright. Break it to them gently; at least now there are no other humans around."
Claude and Danny were in a sorry state. They were still stumbling around half-dazed, alternately clutching at their heads and their stomachs. While Toby hobbled the ponies, ensured the Eg was safe, and looked out some rations, I built a small fire and heated up couscous and vegetables, telling the two disgraces to go down to the stream and not to return until they were sober, clean and presentable. This took some time, but eventually they returned as the moon rose and accepted a small bowl of food and drank water.
"Perhaps that will teach you to be a little more abstemious," I said severely. "You could have died, you know."
"I shall never, ever again touch strong liquors," said Claude. "Not ever." And as far as I know, he never has.
"What was it?" asked Danny. "Food poisoning?"
"Man poisoning. Makub was going to abandon us, steal our ponies and make his way to the village, where he probably had an arrangement with his brother to take our belongings back to town and sell them. He's probably done it before, on the less-frequented routes."
"You mean—he meant us to die?" asked Claude.
"Well, with no food and no transport, what else?"
Toby looked at me and I nodded. "Tell us then, dear Sophy, how you managed to get the horses back . . ." This we had rehearsed.
"Well," I started, "I couldn't have done it without the help of my friend Ky-Lin . . ." I turned my head and called out into the darkness. "Are you there?"
And out trotted Ky-Lin into the firelight.
A quarter-hour later, when Toby had found Claude cowering a couple of hundred yards away and I had caught up with Danny, and persuaded the pair of them that there was nothing to fear, I introduced them to the mythical creature, explaining that Toby had known about him from the beginning.
"And there were none of your stupid hysterics from him," I added. "Toby took him for what I said he was: someone sent to help us. And before you ask, my uncle bought him many years ago. If you remember I told you part of Summer's story, and he, Ky-Lin, accompanied her on part of her journey and was there at the inception of the Eg we are here to return."
I wasn't sure whether they were listening to me properly, and I must admit that a Ky-Lin by the fire in all his shimmering glory was a sight to behold.
"I might add," I said, "that he can also change his size. That is why you have not seen him before. He has usually been either in my or Toby's pocket. Show them, Ky-Lin."
Obediently, slowly, carefully he shrank back to dog, cat, rat, mouse size and scuttled across to my side.
"See?"
Claude and Danny scrambled back to their places by the fire.
"But how do you'se two understand each other?" asked Danny, a question I had been dreading.
"We have a necessary bond," I said carefully. "A sort of built-in interpreter." I was unwilling to explain the Ring fully, even to Toby. "Now would you like to hear how we beat Makub at his own game?"
"Er . . . You don't have one of your headache powders left, do you?" asked Claude.
As it happened I did, and dosed them both, before settling down to tell them of our Marvellous Adventure.
I explained Ky-Lin's plan to make the thief believe he was surrounded, which meant that we three had to move to different points, and then one by one make as much noise as possible. Beau-cat screamed as only a full-blooded Siamese cat can (which I admit made me jump out of my skin), I was to yell the Arabic for thief, something like "Harami!" then move a hundred yards to my left and groan loudly like a ghost. Then I was to return to my original position and yell "Thief!" again. And so we alternated, Ky-Lin making a sort of screeching noise like a giant eagle owl. By the time we had done this a half-dozen times Makub had had enough. After the first couple of shouts and yells he had fired his long Afghan rifle, then struggled to tip in more powder and shot, but as it was a muzzle-loader he only got off one more wayward shot before Ky-Lin burst on the scene in all his glory, and Makub took one terrified look before leaping onto his horse and heading north at a gallop.
"Will he get back?" asked Danny.
"Very probably. There is plenty of water, and his horse has grass. Ky-Lin says he will be very hungry . . . Perhaps it will teach him a lesson. Of course he will have a good story ready, telling them how we were ambushed by bandits, and he only just escaped with his life."
"Serve him right," said Claude. "Haven't we got an extra horse?"
"His baggage pony. A bit of food and some items we might use for bargaining, if necessary." I didn't tell them this latter consisted of tobacco, hashish, alcohol, opium and, of course, the rifle and ammunition.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Claude nervously.
"We go on, of course. We have food, transport and Ky-Lin will be our guide. He knows the way."
"Are you sure?" asked Danny.
"Of course," I said. But I wasn't. It wasn't that I had no faith in Ky-Lin's guidance, rather I had my reservations about our endurance. We still had a long way to go.
Ky-Lin guided us a little more east of the south-east we had been travelling so far. Now we were higher than we had ever been, the air was thinner and the dawn and dusk closer together as the year waned. Gradually we were assuming our winter clothes: no more night-shifts, rather sleeping in our underwear. The sun was still fierce at midday but the stars burnt cold at night. Consequently we started off each morning shortly after dawn, rested at midday for an hour, then pressed on till well after sundown.
Ahead of us the mountains reared like fearsome, jagged teeth, their tops snow-covered already, wreaths of powdered snow blown westward from their tips like ladies' shawls in a wind. Already we were near enough to see that the lower slopes were covered with thick pine forests, and could glimpse the glitter of the many small streams that cascaded down through ravines and gullies.
I had to admit we were making good progress, but for the past few days I had the feeling that we were being watched or followed. We had glimpsed a couple of herds of shaggy horses, and once I was sure I had caught sight of a mounted horseman. Both times the Ring had given a tiny jolt but nothing to suggest that danger was imminent. Beau-cat was also uneasy, his tail twitching irritably every now and again, but Ky-Lin kept his own counsel.
One night before we unfolded the tarpaulin and made a pocket of it on the ground, for greater warmth and protection, I asked Claude, busy making notes in one of his little black notebooks, what date it was?
"October fifth. Twenty-six days to go." I wished he hadn't sounded so cheerful.
Perhaps it was the thought that we only had three weeks and five days to go, perhaps it was because I had indulged myself with some cheese, but that night I found it difficult to sleep. My dreams were snatches of rubbish, and I couldn't get comfortable.
So, shortly before dawn I gave up all pretence at sleep and went and relieved myself, accompanied by an equally restless Beau-cat. We teamed up again on the way back to camp, but suddenly everything changed. The Ring gave an enormous stab, and Beau-cat lifted his head and hissed. "Quick! Run! Strangers are coming . . ." and he bounded away in the direction of the camp to alert the others. But before I had gone a dozen yards or so I was knocked to the ground from behind, my head wrapped in a thick covering and my hands fastened; I was then lifted from the ground and carried away.