Abhi was busy playing with some rocks by the roadside, and when David tried to tell him it was time to go, he looked at him with his wide eyes.
'But I want to play!'
No amount of cajoling could get him to budge, so finally David decided he'd try another strategy.
'Come on and I'll tell you a story.'
That got Abhi's attention.
'What story is that?'
'Remember Mayukh told you about the boy who needed to be brave. This one's about how that boy met a brave and beautiful Princess. Want to hear it?'
Abhi whooped in excitement and got into the van as David winked at Swati.
'Will the brave Princess also get in?'
It was now four in the evening and Mayukh was beginning to wonder if their decision to take a nap in the morning would come back to haunt them. They passed a sign proclaiming they were beyond Rohtang Pass, and soon enough, a breathtaking vista of snow-capped mountains unfolded before them. There was not a soul in sight as they continued down the highway, which was in much better shape than any of them had imagined. When David saw several abandoned Army trucks by the roadside, he realized that the roads must have been kept in good condition to allow easy transport of soldiers and equipment to Ladkah, which he knew was a strategic choke point near both the Chinese and Pakistani borders.
They drove for another hour of what seemed to be bliss. It was as if they had come out for a picnic together, instead of having endured the horrors they had been subjected to over the last week or so. Abhi kept pointing to birds in the clear sky and at the snow in the mountains around them. It was the first time he had seen snow, and he cried out loud.
'Is that a giant ice cream cone?'
Swati forgot about the troubles she was having breathing and Mayukh joined her in singing some old songs. They discovered that they both liked Ronan Keating and soon they were crooning away with a pretty off key rendition of `When You Say Nothing at All'. David, not one for pop, couldn't help but wince at their singing skills, but equally, he could not help but be caught up in everyone's excitement and enthusiasm. Once they had finished singing, he treated them to his own rendition of Enter Sandman, which Mayukh assured him sounded nothing at like the original.
And so they continued through the hilly roads, seeing nobody or nothing other than the occasional car or Army truck by the roadside and making. As he saw a sign by the roadside, David struck a note of caution.
'Folks, we should probably be a bit more careful in the stretch ahead.'
'Why, what's up ahead?'
David turned to look at Swati to answer her question.
'We just passed some place called Keylang, and up ahead is Baralacha. The guide had said that the roads there suck.'
Mayukh laughed.
'Could our navigator be a bit more specific about how it sucks?'
David slapped him playfully on the shoulder.
'It can be dangerous since at this time frost has started appearing and the roads are narrow to begin with. Now can our fearless driver concentrate a bit more on driving instead of singing?'
Five minutes later, Mayukh was no longer smiling. If anything, the guide's warning had been an understatement. Looking down to his right he could see the valley hundreds of feet below while up ahead, he could see no more than a few feet before the road turned again. He thanked his stars that at least he didn't have to worry about traffic coming from the other direction, but with the bumpy, narrow and winding road, he was having more than his share of trouble in managing to keep them in one piece.
David's joking had also stopped abruptly, and he was looking nervously at the road ahead as well, and Swati was trying her best to not shout out warnings to Mayukh. She knew that the last thing he needed at this time was backseat driving from her. If there was one saving grace, it was the fact that Abhi, bored by what he saw as the sudden lack of interest from the adults, had curled up in Swati's lap and fallen asleep, oblivious to the bumps.
As Mayukh turned a corner, the van lurched hard and he struggled to keep it from veering off the cliff to his right. David leaned over and with his right hand helped Mayukh pull the steering wheel so the van did not swerve out of control as Mayukh applied the brakes and the van came to a halt, one wheel almost at the edge of the cliff.
David got out of the van, hoping that it was not what he feared it would be. He exclaimed loudly and let loose a stream of expletives.
'What's wrong?'
Mayukh was now next to David and he shouted in exasperation when he saw what David saw.
Two of their tires were flat, and in the hurry to get away from the Ashram nobody had even checked if they had spare tires, a fact that Swati soon confirmed.
So some eight thousand feet above sea level, in biting cold, with one hour or less to go to Sunset, the four of them gathered together to face what the night might bring.
TWELVE
'They are coming.'
Abhi had said the three words in no more than a mere whisper, but Mayukh, David and Swati stopped in their tracks. Mayukh put him down and knelt before him, looking into his eyes.
'Abhi, who is coming?'
Abhi pointed to the cluster of huts a few kilometers to their left.
'The not nice people are coming.'
David took a good look in the direction Abhi was pointing and then turned towards Abhi.
'Abhi, I don't see anybody out there. They're not coming so don't worry.'
Abhi didn't look very convinced and muttered, barely audible to the others.
'But I can feel them coming.'
Swati had been trekking through the hilly terrain with the others, gamely trying to keep up and not slow the others down for the last hour since they had abandoned the van and proceeded on foot. The Sun had just begun to set, and David had just told them that based on what he remembered from the guide they were still at least a couple of hours walk away from the Thirse Monastery. They had taken turns carrying Abhi through much of the journey, with Mayukh taking on the lion's share of the carrying, but even Swati had volunteered to carry her brother when she had seen Mayukh tiring. But now she seemed to lose much of her composure at Abhi's words. She grabbed hold of Mayukh's arms.
'What if they're really out there?'
Mayukh tried to sound confident, but was too tired to do a convincing job of acting.
'Look, we haven't seen a soul for hours. The best we can do is to just keep walking. Come on, Swati. Hang in there, we're so close.'
David was watching their exchange, and suddenly he picked up the small bag filled with apples and water he had been carrying and started walking. Mayukh called after him.
'David, where are you going?'
He turned towards them, his face all business.
'After all we've been through to get so far, I am not about to quit. If we do, all that pain, all that loss, Hina-all of it would have been for nothing. Now, are you coming or not?'
Swati said nothing, but picked up her own small bag and followed, and Mayukh picked Abhi on his back and was but a step behind.
It was now almost pitch black, especially with no lights on in any of the adjoining villages and the cold was now almost unbearable. They were all wearing gloves and caps and had bundled up Abhi as much as they could, but as Mayukh walked, he could feel the cold breeze bite into his face like a thousand needles. Swati keep casting anxious looks at Abhi, wondering if there was any truth to what he had said, but for now, Abhi seemed content to be riding on Mayukh's back. They stopped for a short break, both to have a bite to eat and also plan the last leg of their journey. Mayukh's relief at getting a break from marching with Abhi's weight on his back was matched only by Abhi's visible disappointment as he pouted.