‘You can still leave,’ said Dalip. ‘Go. Run.’
That seemed to infuriate the man, who lunged wildly at him, grunting with effort.
Without having to even think, Dalip turned away and kept turning, using his momentum to swing his machete down and through the man’s unguarded wrist. The blade was blunt. It didn’t slice cleanly, but all the same, bones cracked and blood sprayed. The man staggered and fell, folding in on himself and shrieking.
It was the noise, rather than the injury, which turned Dalip’s stomach. He checked his position, and sprinted across the beach to Mary and Mama. The map box sat between them.
‘Are you hurt?’ Mary asked.
‘No. No, I’m not.’ He was surprised. Neither of his attackers had so much as touched him. ‘Where’s Crows? Where are Luiza and Elena?’
‘I don’t know. I mean, there are crows, but no Crows. I couldn’t find the other two.’ She sounded desperate. ‘Crows! Crows! Fuck it!’
‘What did I tell you, girl?’ said Mama.
‘All right. But if the Wolfman gets the maps, Crows doesn’t. He’ll be here somewhere.’
‘The Wolfman? These are his men?’ Mama looked at her stubby knife. ‘God preserve us and send his saints to protect us. We are in so much trouble.’
Dalip was more immediately concerned about where the two men were going. The one who’d attacked him first was making his way unsteadily back up the dune. The other, finally realising that he wasn’t going to die immediately, was stumbling between being on his feet and crawling on his knees. His injured arm was pressed hard against his curled body.
‘How many of them were there?’
‘Four, five. Maybe six. They’re almost impossible to see in the forest until they move.’ Mary scanned the horizon for Crows again. ‘Where the fuck is he?’
A head bobbed into view, lean and lupine, and a wolf stood on the crest of the dune. Dalip nudged Mary and pointed. A second wolf joined it, and behind, walking almost casually, came the Wolfman. Behind him, struggling, was Luiza, pinned in the grip of one of the Wolfman’s followers.
‘Well, shit,’ said Mary.
‘What are we going to do?’ Mama dry-swallowed.
‘We’re going to do whatever it takes to save our friends,’ said Dalip.
Elena was pushed roughly over the edge of the dune by another man. She ran the first few steps to steady herself, then began the slow walk towards the shore.
‘The maps in exchange for Luiza?’ said Mary.
‘Looks that way.’ Dalip also started to look around for Crows. ‘Do they even know he’s here? If they didn’t hear you shouting for him, then… he might be planning something.’
‘But we don’t know what that’s going to be, do we?’
‘We’re too far away to do anything to them.’ Dalip looked for confirmation from Mary, and she gave a tight, terse nod. ‘Then, as much as I hate the idea, we’ll have to hope Crows has something up his sleeve.’
Elena closed the last of the distance between them with an apologetic run.
‘I am sorry. So sorry.’ She dropped to the ground, and Mama helped her on to the crate. ‘They were everywhere, like before. We could not stop them.’
‘Hush, girl, and tell us what they said.’
‘They want everything.’
‘The maps, right?’ said Mary.
‘No. That is what they want us to believe. That we will give them the maps, and they will give us my cousin. But I heard them say that once they have the maps, they will take all of us too, to kill or keep.’ Elena took several trembling breaths. ‘The only thing they care about is the maps, not keeping their word. I wish we had never taken them.’
‘Avarice, that’s what it is, girl. Avarice and greed.’ Mama rested her hand on her shoulder. ‘We’ve got ourselves a whole passel of trouble here.’
‘Can we fight them off?’ asked Mary.
Dalip clenched his jaw. ‘There are three of them left worth worrying about. And two wolves. If they didn’t have Luiza, then yes. They know us too well, though. We’re not going to try anything with her captive.’
‘What,’ said Mary, ‘what if we threaten to throw the maps into the sea?’
Mama baulked: ‘Those maps are our way out of here.’
‘They’re useless at the moment,’ said Dalip. ‘We can’t even exchange them for Luiza, because as soon as we do…’ He frowned. ‘Hold on. If we give them the maps, they give us Luiza: we can then just take the maps straight back. They can’t fight Mary, and us, at the same time.’
‘What are we missing?’ Mary straightened up and looked around. ‘There has to be something.’
‘This exchange, Elena. How’s it supposed to be done?’
She shuddered and managed to control herself for long enough to say: ‘Take the maps to the middle. Luiza walks to us, they collect the maps.’
‘And they think we’ll trust them to do that?’
‘They will kill her if we do not do as they say.’
Already, there were signs of impatience on the crest of the dune. Shouts drifted across the beach, words blown into incoherence by the wind and the distance, but the gesturing with knives close to Luiza’s stretched-out neck were clear enough.
‘We’re going to have to do something soon,’ said Mary. ‘They won’t wait for ever.’
‘They won’t kill Luiza. Not while we have control over the maps.’ Dalip squared his shoulders, and started towards the Wolfman.
‘What? Wait. Dalip, where are you going?’
‘I’m going to reason with them. If◦– if it comes down to it, are we prepared to throw the maps into the sea?’
‘No,’ said Mama.
‘Yes,’ said Elena. ‘If it will save Luiza.’
‘I don’t know!’ Mary grimaced. ‘I’ve never been rich before. I don’t know how it feels to just give it all up.’
Dalip kept walking until he was at the base of the dune. The Wolfman’s wolves strained on their chain leashes, baring their teeth at him, but the Wolfman himself laughed.
‘Well met, Dalip Singh. As you can see, your friend is unharmed, and lively.’
The man holding Luiza had one hand tight in her hair, dragging her down to a hunched half-squat. His other held a long, thin knife that hovered against her kidney.
‘Let her go,’ said Dalip, ‘and face me like a man.’
‘Though you didn’t lack courage when we first met, I could have broken you like a twig. Now, I’m not so sure. So why don’t you stay down there, and do what we told your little friend to do. Give us the maps, and we can go our separate ways.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ said Dalip. ‘I don’t think you’ll stop at the maps, because once we have Luiza back, there’ll be nothing stopping us coming after you.’
‘Good luck with finding us, lion man.’
‘We found Crows. We can find you. And you know that. So stop lying and tell me what you really want.’
The Wolfman jerked at his wolves’ chains to stop them growling. ‘Gloves off, is that it? Cards on the table? Bit of plain speaking needed? It’s like this: we’ll take the maps, and anything else we fancy. If we leave you with anything, you can be grateful for our mercy.’ He laughed again. Mercy was a joke for people like him.
‘Bell wouldn’t have accepted that,’ said Dalip. ‘Certainly not what you’re intending.’
‘She had odd ideas about what you can do to slaves. I don’t share them.’
‘I noticed.’
‘So what’s it to be, lion man? Do we get to stick a blade in your gypsy friend, or do you give us the maps?’
‘You can’t use the maps for anything but starting fires. You’re too stupid, too scared to work out what they mean.’