The Damascened Blade

by Barbara Cleverly

  They stood to watch the last blood-red segment of the sun slide out of view and Lily shivered. ‘Sundown. Bad time of day for humankind, my pa always says.’

  James ran his eyes over the horizon and the gloomy shadows of the Khyber. ‘Bad country for humankind. Brings out the best but it brings out the worst as well. Look at that uncompromising ugliness! What are we all doing here? It isn’t a country worth fighting for. It’s not worth the bones of either of those gallant men in that cemetery. Leave it to bury its dead, Lily.’