The bandit Chief said something to Nikōs and he dismounted slowly.
Then he lifted Thea down from the saddle and, as he did so, she clung to him whispering in English,
“Y-you will not – leave me?”
“Of course not.”
She felt that, while he was reassuring her, he was at the same time becoming increasingly anxious.
The men would then have led Mercury away.
Nikōs stopped them sharply with a word of command and he took Thea’s shawl from where it had been tied to the saddle and wrapped it round her shoulders.
She was glad of the warmth as they were now very high up in the mountains.
It was much cooler and she knew that it would be very cold later when darkness fell.
‘How – can we – stay here? What – will they – do to us?’ she asked herself frantically.
Because she was so afraid she slipp
