The Moghul Part 110

Hawksworth turned to see Shirin drop her bow onto the floor of the _howdah_. She slumped against the steel side, her eyes glazed with incredulity at what she had done.

They watched wordlessly as the perimeter of Jadar's elephants was again drawn together and secured. As the other hors.e.m.e.n were driven back, a coherent defense barricade of concentric circles was gradually established around the prince. The outer perimeter was a line of Rajput infantry armed with long spears. Inside their line were Rajput swordsmen, who now had linked together the skirts of their long, steel- mesh cloaks to form a solid barrier. And inside these was the last defense line, the circle of armored war elephants.

As their own elephant instinctively rejoined the line protecting Jadar, Hawksworth reached to touch Shirin's hand. As he did, he noticed her thumb was bleeding and realized for the first time she had not been supplied a bow ring.

"I think we can hold off the infantry with the elephants. But I don't know how long . . ." Her voice trailed off as he looked up at her face.

She was leaning against the side of the _howdah_, pointing wordlessly toward the east.

He turned to see a vast wave of the Imperial Rajput hors.e.m.e.n bearing down on their position. They numbered in the thousands.

"G.o.d Almighty." He reached weakly for another arrow, trying to count those remaining in the quiver and asking if he would live long enough to shoot them all. "It's over."

Their battle cry lifted above the plain as the approaching cavalry neared the edge of the ma.s.sed Imperial infantry engulfing Jadar. They began advancing directly through the infantry, not slowing, heading straight for Jadar.

Hawksworth notched an arrow and rose up in the _howdah_

to take aim. He drew back the string and picked the man in the lead for the first arrow.

As he sighted the Rajput's bearded face down the shaft, he suddenly froze.

The Rajput had just driven the long point of his spear into an Imperial infantryman.

Hawksworth lowered his bow in disbelief and stared as the approaching Imperial cavalry began cutting down their own infantry, taking heads as they rode toward Jadar, leaving a carpet of death in their b.l.o.o.d.y wake.

"Holy Jesus, what's happening? They're attacking their own troops! Are they sotted with opium too?"

Suddenly their chant of "Ram Ram" was taken up by the Rajputs surrounding Jadar, and they turned on the Imperial infantry nearest them with the ferocity of a wounded tiger.

"Today Allah took on the armor of a Rajput." Shirin slumped against the side of the howdah and dropped her bow. "I had prayed they would all one day join with the prince, but I never really believed it would happen."

Jadar's circle of war elephants began to cut their way through the remaining infantry to join the Rajput forces, swivel guns blazing from their backs. In what seemed only minutes his entourage merged with the vanguard of Rajput cavalry, and together they moved like a steel phalanx against the Imperial infantry reserves waiting in the east.

Hawksworth watched as the Imperial lines were cut, separating the infantry fighting on the plain from their reserves. Next a corps of Rajput hors.e.m.e.n wielding long spears overran the Imperial gun emplacements, then grouped to a.s.sault the Imperial command post. When the elephant bearing the banner of Inayat Latif started for higher ground, discipline in the Imperial ranks evaporated.

By late afternoon the outcome was no longer in question. A final attempt by the Imperial forces to regroup disintegrated into a rout, with thousands of fleeing Imperial infantry falling before the swords and spears of the Rajput cavalry. Only the merciful descent of dark enabled Inayat Latif and his Imperial commanders to escape death at the hands of pursuing Rajput archers.

As Hawksworth rode with Jadar's entourage through the dusty, smoke- shrouded battlefield, headed back for the camp, he felt he was witnessing the gaping mouth of h.e.l.l. The plain was littered with the bodies of almost forty thousand men and over ten thousand horses. The proud war cries were forgotten. Through the dusky twilight came the plaintive moans of dying men and the shrill neighing of shattered horses. Rajputs moved among the bodies, plundering the dead enemy, searching for fallen comrades, dispatching with their long swords any lingering men or horses who could not be saved.

All because of Jadar, Hawksworth thought, and his stomach sickened. Now what will happen? Jadar won the day in this valley, in the middle of nowhere, but the Moghul is still in Agra, and tonight he still rules India. And I think he'll still rule India, if only in name, till the day he dies. Jadar can't march against the Red Fort in Agra, not with this ragtag army. Even his division of Rajput defectors couldn't storm that fortress. I'm not sure G.o.d himself could take the Red Fort. So what now, n.o.ble Prince Jadar? So far you've merely brought death to half the fighting men in India.

The torchbearers marching four abreast at the front of their elephants were now approaching the remains of the camp. Through the flickering light emerged the vision of a burned-out ruin. Scorched furrows from the first Imperial cannonade trailed between, among, through the few remaining tents. Small cl.u.s.ters of wounded men, some begging for water and some for death, were being fed opium and their wounds wrapped with the shreds of ripped-apart tents.

Jadar moved through the camp, acknowledging the triumphant cheers of his men. Ahead his servants were already erecting a new chintz wall around the _gulal bar _and replacing the tents for the _zenana_.

Hawksworth watched as carpets were unrolled from bullock carts and carried inside the compound.

Jadar's elephant proceeded instinctively to the very entry of the _gulal bar_, where it kneeled for him to dismount. Around him Rajputs pushed forward to cheer and _teslim_. As he stood acknowledging them, the other elephants also began to kneel. Jadar's servants rushed forward to help Hawksworth and Shirin alight.

"This was the most horrible day I've ever known." Her arms closed around his neck as her feet touched ground, and she held him for a long moment, tears staining her cheeks. "I've never before seen so much killing. I pray to Allah I never see it again."

Hawksworth returned her embrace, then looked at her sadly. "There'll be a lot more before Jadar sees Agra, if he ever does. This is just one battle, not the war. I'm not sure we want to be here to find out how it ends."

She looked back at him and smiled wistfully in silence. Then she turned and performed the _teslim _to Jadar.

The prince was scarcely recognizable. His helmet had been torn by countless arrows, or matchlock fire, and his haughty face and beard were smeared with dust and smoke. The emerald bow ring was missing from his right thumb, which was now caked with blood. Beneath his armor the torn leather of his right sleeve was stained blood-dark, where he had ripped out an arrow. As he lifted his arms to acknowledge the rising cheers, his eyes were shadowed and tired, but they betrayed no pain.

Hawksworth turned and examined Jadar's _howdah_. It was a forest of arrows and broken spear shafts. Grooms from the stables had already brought water and sugarcane for his elephant and begun extracting iron arrowheads from its legs and from a section of its right shoulder where its armor had been shot away.

As he watched the scene, Hawksworth slowly became aware of a pathway being cleared through the camp toward the east. Next, the cheers of some of Jadar's Rajputs began to swell through the smoky air. Through the encroaching dark, there slowly emerged the form of another elephant approaching. In the torchlight he could tell it was regal in size and bore a gilded _howdah _shaded by a wide brocade umbrella. There were no arrows in the side of this _howdah_, nor was there more than a trace of dust on the elephant's gilded and enameled armor. With its elaborate decoration of swinging yak tails and tinkling bells, it seemed more suited for a royal procession than for a battlefield.

Jadar watched impa.s.sively as the elephant neared the center of the clearing. While the Rajputs around him stood at attention, the elephant performed a small bow, then began to kneel with practiced dignity.

Several Rajputs rushed forward to help the rider alight.

The man's jeweled turban and rows of finger rings sparkled in the torchlight. As he moved directly toward Jadar, Hawksworth suddenly recognized the walk and caught his breath.

It was Nadir Sharif.

The prime minister paused a few feet from Jadar and salaamed lightly.

He did not _teslim_, nor did he speak. As he stood waiting, from out of the darkness of the _gulal bar _the figure of a woman emerged. She was veiled, surrounded by her women, and accompanied by a line of eunuchs wearing sheathed scimitars in their waist sash. She stopped and performed the _teslim _to Jadar. Then she turned to Nadir Sharif.

He stared at her for a long moment, then said something in Persian.

Without a word she lifted her veil and threw it back. Next she turned and gestured to one of the servants standing behind her. The servant stepped forward with a bundle wrapped in a brocade satin blanket and carried it directly to Nadir Sharif.

The prime minister stood for a moment as though unsure whether to take it. Finally he reached out and lifted the blanket from the servant and cradled it against one arm. He stared down for a long moment, his eyes seeming to cloud, and then he pushed back part of the blanket to examine its contents more closely. With a withered finger, he reached in and stroked something inside the blanket. Then he looked up and smiled and said something to Jadar in Persian. The prince laughed and strolled to his side, taking the blanket in his own smoke-smeared hands and peering down into it with Nadir Sharif. They exchanged more words in Persian, laughed again, and then Nadir Sharif walked to the waiting woman, whose dark eyes now brimmed with joy. He stood looking at her for a long moment, then spoke to her in Persian and enfolded her in his arms.

A cheer went up again from the onlookers, as they pushed forward to watch. Hawksworth turned to Shirin.

"Is that who I think it is?"

Shirin nodded, her eyes misting. "It's Mumtaz, the first wife of Prince Jadar and the only daughter of Nadir Sharif. He told Prince Jadar he decided today he wanted to see his grandson, since he wanted to see the face of the child who would be Moghul himself one day. Then he told Mumtaz he will die in peace now, knowing that his blood will someday flow in the veins of the Moghul of India." Shirin's voice started to choke. "I can't tell you what this moment means. It's the beginning of just rule for India. Nadir Sharif knew that if Prince Jadar was defeated today, the child would be murdered by Janahara. By defecting with his Rajputs, he saved Prince Jadar, and he saved his grandson."

She paused again. "And he saved us too."

"When do you think he decided to do this?"

"I don't know. I still can't believe it's true."

Hawksworth stopped for a moment, then whirled and seized her arm.

"Jadar knew! By Jesus, he knew last night! The cavalry. He said the cavalry had to be held to the last. He knew they would turn on the Imperial infantry if he began to lose._ He knew all along_."

Shirin examined him with a curious expression. "I wonder if Mumtaz herself planned it. Perhaps she convinced Nadir Sharif to save his grandson." She paused. "This must have been the most closely guarded secret in all of Agra. Nadir Sharif somehow kept even the queen from knowing he would defect with the Rajputs or she would have surely killed him." Shirin's voice trailed off as she pondered the implications. "He's astonishing. Janahara has never entirely trusted him, but somehow he must have convinced her to let him command the Rajput cavalry. What did he do to make her finally trust him?"

Nadir Sharif embraced Mumtaz once more, then bowed lightly again to Jadar and turned to leave. As his glance swept the torchlit crowd, he noticed Hawksworth. He stopped for a second, as though not believing what he saw, then broke into a wide smile.

"By the beard of the Prophet! Can it be? My old guest?" He moved toward Hawksworth, seeming not to notice Shirin. "May Allah preserve you, Amba.s.sador, everyone at court thinks you've fled India. For your sake I almost wish you had. What in G.o.d's name are you doing here?"

"Someone tried to murder me at Fatehpur." Hawksworth turned and took Shirin's arm. "And Shirin. It seemed like a good time to switch sides."

"Someone actually tried to kill you? I do hope you're jesting with me."