The Gates of Kunarja // Honour and Empire — Duncan MacNeil

The North-West Frontier, 1897. A quiet life is a mixed blessing for the British Army, for in slackness lie the seeds of disaster. Captain James Ogilvie of the 114th Queen's Own Royal Strathspeys sees it in his own Highlanders, but it is far worse in the 99th Rawalpindi battalion to whom he is currently seconded. Worse, when the volatile chieftain Jarar Mahommed seizes the British Resident and his family hostage at Kunarja, Ogilvie's battalion are ordered to march through the Khyber Pass to their relief -- and fall neatly into the Ghilzai chieftain's trap as the gates of Kunarja close behind them.

Now, Ogilvie and his sepoy company must return through the Khyber carrying Jarar Mahommed's terms to HQ in Peshawar: a perilous mission when a regiment's survival depends on his success, but even more so when he is responsible for the safe conduct of the British Resident, his daughter and ailing wife in mid-winter through a hostile pass where countless British lives have already been laid down for the Raj...