Thomas Hoover - The Moghul

The Rajput cavalry plowed into the first rows of Imperial infantry with their long nezah lances held at arm's length high above their heads, thrusting downward as they rode. Veins fueled with opium, the Rajputs had forgotten all fear. They brushed aside Imperial spears and swords and slaughtered with undisguised pleasure, as though each death endowed more honor to their dharma. Hawksworth's stomach knotted as he watched a thousand men fall in less than a minute.

While the Rajputs attacked, the prince's division of armored war elephants had emerged from their camouflage and begun advancing across the western edge of the plain, isolating the ragged remainder of the Imperial elephants from the battlefield. Although Jadar had far fewer war elephants, they now were easily able to contain the shattered Imperial forces.

Hawksworth turned to watch as yet another wave of Jadar's cavalry bore down on the plain. These rode through the tangle of Imperial infantry wielding long curved swords, killing any the first wave had missed.

"I'm not sure I believe what I'm seeing." Hawksworth peered through the dust and smoke boiling across the plain below. "Jadar has already seized the advantage. He's immobilized their war elephants, their major advantage, and he timed the counterattack perfectly."

"The battle has only just begun." Shirin took his hand for no reason at all and gripped it. "And their major advantage was not elephants, but numbers. I fear for him. Look, there." She pointed toward the east, where the red sky now illuminated a vast sea of infantry, poised as reinforcements. "The prince's Rajputs cannot stop them all. Prince Jadar does not have the forces to meet them. I think he will be defeated today, badly."

"And if he dies, do we die with him?"

"Perhaps not you. But they will surely kill me. And probably Mumtaz. Most certainly they have orders to kill his son."

On the field below Jadar's cavalry fought as though possessed. Rajputs with one, two, even three arrows in their back continued to sound their war cry and take head after bearded head, until they finally slumped unconscious from the saddle. Riderless horses, many with their stomachs slashed open, could be seen running wildly through the Imperial ranks, unused arrows still rattling in their saddle quivers.

Waves of Jadar's infantry had begun pouring down from the hills, following the cavalry. The men wore heavy leather helmets and a skirt of woven steel. A hood of steel netting hung down from each man's helmet, protecting his face and neck. They advanced firing volley after volley of arrows into the Imperial infantry. When they reached the plain, they drew their long curved swords and, waving them above their heads, threw themselves into the forces of Inayat Latif. The field quickly became a vast arena of hand-to-hand combat, as inevitably happened when two Indian armies met, with Jadar's forces badly outnumbered.

Shirin watched the slaughter in silence for a time, as though tallying the dead and dying on both sides, and then she turned her face away.

"Allah preserve us. Prince Jadar's Rajputs have eaten so much affion I think they can fight even after they die, but their numbers are already shrinking. How long can they protect the prince?"

"Where's he now?"

She turned back and peered through the dust on the field for a long moment. Then she pointed. "He's on the field now. There, in the center. 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 clusters 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 massed 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 grass.

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.