Now he had begun to regret his decision, but the path toward his departure had been laid. He had lied to protect Karak. What else could he do?

Within a mile of town, images from his dreams of the previous night returned to him. Lamplight piercing the darkness. Jodh Singh crumpled on a bench. The snap of an axe splintering wood. Laughter. The sound wounded his ears.

Amarjeet was mouthing words he could not hear. Ram pressed his eyes shut and shook the images out of his brain. The day before he had felt like a coward for staying so long in Fredonia, and now he felt like a fool for returning to Hambelton.

“Ram-ji?” Amarjeet said. “Ram-ji?”

“Yes—”

“I said, it is funny Karak Chacha is not around and—”

“Yes. Yes.”

At the depot Amarjeet jumped from the wagon to tie the mules, but Ram insisted he leave. The more Ram insisted, the more Amarjeet objected, until at last Ram shouted, “Amarjeet—go!”

Confusion appeared on Amarjeet’s face. He reluctantly climbed back on the wagon, gathered up the reins, and nudged the mules forward. He looked back, waving at Ram, until Ram could no longer tolerate it and took up his bag and blanket and crossed to the platform. He asked the clerk for a one-way ticket north, third class, and barely registered the clerk’s response, the counting of his money, the giving of change. He did not understand why Amarjeet had grown so attached to him in such a short time.

The train arrived with the screech of metal against metal. The passenger cars were almost empty. He boarded, put his things on the seat beside him, and looked out the window. The car was searing hot. The train belched and groaned as the engine built up steam. The sound vibrated in his belly, his wounded chest.

In the safety of the train, for a moment, he felt calm. Karak had invited him to the Valley as his guest, had offered work and a partnership. No one in his uncle’s household would have thought him worthy of such honor. He felt another flicker of regret. But Karak was not honoring him. How long had he been plotting? Since the moment Ram had shown off his knowledge on the steamship? The constant talk of his younger age, his lack of worldly knowledge . . . Forcing Ram to accept a lower profit . . . Was Ram not a man? Was he not worth more than that?