Punnu's Jihad

By the charging stallions of war, snorting!
– Quran, 100:1

Adam was pardoned in winter.
The thought comes to Punnu as he stands in the cold air, his breath appearing and disappearing before him. In the palm of his right hand he holds the small dried flowers he has kept hidden in his pocket. He looks at them, faded and torn, but with all the grey around him they are still the brightest things in his gaze. He shields the blossoms as he would a candle flame, as though preventing their colours from being extinguished.

He turns and goes back into the building. The chain at his ankles is long enough for him to walk at a slow pace but not to run. He goes through the kitchen without pausing and slowly climbs the staircase and then continues along a dark corridor, towards a room filled with voices at the other end. This is the mountain house owned by the Afghan warlord who is holding him captive and Punnu was brought here the previous week. The house is surrounded by towering pines and snow-covered peaks, most of its rooms locked, the only human presence being a retinue of six of the warlord’s men.

Punnu saw the meteor shower Quadrantids three nights ago so he knows what month it is. Meteor showers occur at approximately the same time every year, and the Quadrantids means it is the beginning of January.