The Moghul Part 109

Do you see him?" She paused. "He's very courageous to take the field so early. It will inspire his men, but it's a very bad omen."

Hawksworth squinted toward the east. He could barely make out a phalanx of elephants moving across the plains, into the middle of the fiercest fighting. Several of the elephants had cl.u.s.ters of two-pound swivel guns mounted on their backs, a few had rocket launchers, but most carried howdahs filled with Rajput archers. In the center moved a large black elephant, heavily armored and bearing a steel _howdah _decorated with ornate gilding. Standing erect in the howdah, beneath a huge embroidered umbrella, was the figure of Prince Jadar, loosing arrows in rhythmic succession as the Imperial infantry closed around him.

"Why is it a bad sign?"

"It's unwise for the supreme commander of an army to expose himself so early in the battle." Shirin was watching Jadar, transfixed. "If he's killed, the battle will be over. All his troops will flee."

"Even his fearless Rajputs?"

"That's the way in India. If he's lost, what do they have left to fight for? They will melt into the forest. In India a commander must always be visible to his men, standing above the armor of his howdah, so they'll know for certain he's alive."

As the circle of elephants surrounding Jadar advanced through the field, a triple line of his Rajput infantry moved into place around him. He quickly became the focus of the battle, and the Imperial infantry ma.s.sed to encircle him, like the king in a game of chess. His protective buffer of elephants was coming under increasingly heavy attack. The advantage of surprise enjoyed by his original offensive was gone. Now he was clearly on the defensive.

"I think Jadar's starting to be in serious trouble. You were right. I don't know how much longer his circle of elephants can protect him."

In the silence he slowly turned to Shirin and their eyes met. Nothing more was said because no more words were needed. She reached out and touched his lips and a lifetime seemed to flow between them. Then he drew his sword and leaned over the edge of the howdah.

"Yes."

With a single stroke he severed the tether rope tying their elephant.

Their startled mahout turned and stared in disbelief. When Hawksworth shouted at him to start, he hesitated for a moment, then flung his barbed iron _ankus _into their _howdah _and plunged for the gra.s.s.

Hawksworth grabbed the _ankus_, but before he could move, the elephant lifted its trunk into the morning air and emitted a long, defiant trumpet. Then he plunged past the tethered _zenana _elephants and broke into a gallop, eastward down the hill and directly toward the battle.

Hawksworth staggered backward and grasped the side of the swaying _howdah_.

"How . . . how did he know?"

"Prince Jadar didn't give us a baggage elephant. He gave us one of his personal war elephants. To protect you. He knows where he should be now."

In only minutes their elephant reached the edge of the plain and began advancing like a dreadnought through the swarm of Imperial infantry, headed directly for Jadar. Any luckless infantryman caught in his path would be seized in his trunk and flung viciously aside, or simply crushed beneath his feet.

"But how could he know Jadar's threatened?"

"He knows. His whole life is to protect the prince."

A steel arrowhead sang off the side of the howdah. Then another thudded into one of the wooden beams supporting the armor. Hawksworth grabbed Shirin and shoved her down, below the steel rim. She fell sprawling and turned to grab their bows. As Hawksworth took them and began to notch the string on each one, he noticed for the first time that Jadar had given them one of his combat _howdahs_, with firing holes all around the sides.

War cries and sounds of steel on steel ranged around them as they advanced, but their elephant seemed oblivious, only beginning to slow when they approached the dense lines of Imperial infantry encircling Jadar.

Hawksworth found his bow ring and slipped it awkwardly over his right thumb. Then he strung an arrow and took aim through one of the firing holes in the side of the howdah. The arrow sang off his thumb and glanced harmlessly against the steel net cloak of an Imperial infantryman. The man looked up, then paused to aim an arrow at the howdah. It was a lethal decision. Their elephant turned and seized him as he took aim, flinging him down and crushing him under its foot with a single motion. At once the Imperial infantry again started to clear a path in front of them.

"Jesus, I see why elephants are so feared on a battlefield."

"Yes, but they cannot fight the entire battle . . ." Shirin's voice trailed off as she stared through a hole in the side of the _howdah_.

Suddenly her eyes flooded with fear. "Oh, Allah! Merciful Allah! Look!"

A close-ranked formation of Imperial hors.e.m.e.n, perhaps fifty in number, was advancing toward them from the eastern perimeter of the plain. They wore body armor of black steel and they ignored the infantry battling around them as they charged directly for the circle of Jadar's elephants.

"Who are they?"

"I think they're Latifs special Bundella guards. I've only heard about them. His elephant must be near and he's ordered them to attack. He must realize the prince is vulnerable now. He hopes to kill Prince Jadar in a quick action and so end the battle." She stared over the side of the steel _howdah _again. "If they fail, then he will send his regular Rajput cavalry."

"What's so special about Bundellas?"

"They're from the region of Bundelkhand, and their horses are said to be specially trained against elephants. The native Bundellas . . ." She ducked down and stared wildly around the howdah as an arrow grazed by.

"Where ... the matchlocks!"

Hawksworth quickly pulled up one of the muskets and checked the prime.

He pa.s.sed it to Shirin and took a second for himself. As he looked again over the top of the _howdah_, he saw the elephants guarding Jadar start turning to face the approaching hors.e.m.e.n. Their own elephant had now reached the defense lines and it immediately a.s.sumed its normal place in the protective circle.

Many of the approaching Bundellas were already being cut down by the spears of the Rajput infantry, but over half managed to penetrate the outer defense perimeter and reach the circle of elephants. The hors.e.m.e.n immediately began firing rockets into Jadar's elephants from long bamboo tubes they carried, intending to frighten them and disrupt their ranks.

As Hawksworth watched, three of Jadar's encircling war elephants shied skittishly away from the fireworks, creating a momentary opening in the line. Before the opening could be secured, two of the Bundella cavalry dashed through the s.p.a.ce. Once inside the defense perimeter, they parted, one riding toward either side of Jadar's elephant. One of the hors.e.m.e.n took careful aim with his bow and shot a barbed arrow connected to a line deep into the steel-net armor of the mahout seated on the neck of Jadar's elephant. The horseman quickly whipped the arrow's line around his saddle horn and reined his mount. The horse seemed to know exactly what was expected, as it instantly reared backward, unseating Jadar's mahout and toppling him into the dust.

As the mahout fell, his steel _ankus _clanged against Jadar's _howdah_, momentarily distracting the prince. When he whirled to look for his mahout, the other Bundella spurred his stallion alongside the elephant's rump, lifting a heavy spear above his head. But instead of hurtling the spear toward Jadar he turned and plunged it deep into the ground beside the elephant.

"Shirin, what's he doing? How can . . . ?"

The horseman twirled his long reins around the shaft in a quick motion, tethering the horse. Then he balanced himself atop the saddle, unsheathed his sword, and with an agile leap landed on the armored rump of Jadar's elephant.

He secured his balance in less than a second, then grabbed the side of Jadar's gilded _howdah_. Hawksworth stared spellbound as a rain of Rajput arrows glanced harmlessly off his black steel body armor.

"Now!" Shirin's voice was almost a scream.

As though in a dream, Hawksworth leveled the long barrel of his matchlock against the rim of the _howdah _and took aim. The stock felt alien and bulky in his grip, and its lacquer inlay smooth and cold. He saw Shirin thrust her own musket alongside his own, struggling to keep its heavy barrel balanced. As the horseman raised his sword to plunge it into Jadar's exposed back, Hawksworth squeezed the gun's inlaid trigger.

The stock kicked into his face and a burst of black smoke momentarily blinded him. Shirin's matchlock had discharged at the same moment, and he looked down as she tumbled backward against the padded side of the howdah, still grasping the gun's heavy stock.

Then he heard a cheer from the Rajputs and turned in time to see the Bundella spin in a half circle. Hawksworth realized one musket ball had caught him directly in the face, the other in the groin. He vainly reached to seize the side of Jadar's _howdah _to regain his balance, but his foot skidded and he slipped backward . . . into a forest of Rajput spears. The flash of a sword took his head. Jadar had never seen him.

That settles one debt, you c.o.c.ky b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

There were shouts from the other attackers still outside the defense perimeter and two hors.e.m.e.n reined their mounts and charged toward Hawksworth and Shirin. As they approached, the elephant began revolving to meet them.

Hawksworth reached down and grabbed the last remaining musket and rose to fire.

As he looked up, he stopped in astonishment, for a second refusing to believe what he saw.

Both Bundelkhand horses were advancing on their hind legs, rearing and bounding toward them in high leaps. He watched transfixed as one of the Bundellas discharged his bow past the neck of his horse, directly at the _howdah_. The arrow missed Shirin's dust-covered hair by only inches.

Hawksworth lifted his matchlock and leveled it against the rim, wondering for an instant whether to aim for the man or the horse. Then the matchlock blazed and he watched the horseman buckle backward in the saddle, toppling into a circle of waiting Rajput swords.

Suddenly the howdah shuddered, throwing him sprawling against the side.

As he pulled himself up, he realized the other horse had secured its front feet against the side of their elephant. The Bundella was staring directly in his face, pulling an arrow from his saddle quiver.

The horseman's bow was already half drawn when Hawksworth heard the sing of a bowstring beside him. As he watched, the end of a shaft suddenly appeared in the right

cheek of the Bundella, buried to the feathers. The horseman's own arrow slammed into the side of the _howdah_, and he reached to claw at his face with his saddle hand, forfeiting his grip. As he slipped backward off the rearing horse, the Rajput infantrymen beheaded him in midair.