Thomas Hoover - The Moghul

"But is he yet a worthy lover in your bed?" Mumtaz's smile was almost hidden. "I sent your message to father about the Hindu devadasi."

Shirin smiled and said nothing.

"Then you must bring him with us to Udaipur."

"If His Highness will have us there."

"/ will have you there." She laughed and looked again at Hawksworth. "If you'll tell me sometime what it's like to share your pillow with a feringhi."

"Captain Hawksworth." Jadar's martial voice rose above the assembled crowd of congratulating Rajputs. "Didn't I notice you on the field today? I thought I had assigned you to guard my zenana. Are you aware the punishment for disobeying orders in an army in India is immediate beheading? Of if you like, I can have you shot from a cannon, as is sometimes done. Which would you prefer?"

"Your cannon were mostly overrun. I guess you'll have to behead me, if you can find anyone left with a sword sharp enough."

Jadar roared and pulled out his own sword. There was a deep nick in the blade.

"By tomorrow I'm sure we can find one. In the meantime I'll have to confine you in the gulal bar to prevent your escape." He slipped the sword back into his belt. "Tell me, did you manage to hit anything today with your matchlocks?"

"Possibly. There were so many in the Imperial infantry I may have succeeded in hitting someone."

Jadar laughed again. "From the looks of her thumb, it would seem the woman in your howdah did most of the shooting. I'm astounded you'd permit her such liberty."

"She has a mind of her own."

"Like all Persians." Jadar reached and lowered Mumtaz's veil over her face. She let it hang for a moment, then shoved it back again. "Allah protect us." He turned and stared a moment into the dark, toward the direction Nadir Sharif had departed. "Yes, Allah protect us from all Persians and from all Persian ambition." Then he suddenly remembered himself and glanced back at Hawksworth. "So tonight we may eat lamb together after all, if there's one still to be found. But not yet in Paradise. For that you will have to wait a few days longer."

Hawksworth shifted uncomfortably. "What exactly do you mean?"

"Udaipur, Captain, tomorrow we strike camp and march for Udaipur. It's a Rajput paradise." He turned and beckoned toward the Rajput commander who had ridden from Fatehpur with them. "It's time you met my friend Mahdu Singh, brother of His Highness, Rana Karan Singh, the Maharana of Udaipur. The maharana has generously offered us his new guest palace, on his island of Jagmandir. It's on Pichola Lake, in the Rajput capital of Udaipur. He was only just building the palace when I was there before, but I seem to remember it's designed in a very interesting new style." He glanced at Mumtaz. "I think Her Highness will approve." Then he continued. "Rajputana, Captain, is beautiful. What's more, its mountains are impregnable. I led the only Moghul army ever to escape defeat by the Rajputs who live in those mountains. But today I have many loyal friends there." Mahdu Singh bowed lightly to Hawksworth while Jadar watched in satisfaction. "His Highness, the Maharana, may decide to make a Rajput out of you and keep you there, if you seem worth the trouble. Who can tell?"

He turned and dismissed Mumtaz and her eunuchs with a wave. He watched fondly as she disappeared into the gulal bar, then turned and joined the waiting Rajputs. Together they moved out through the camp, embracing and consoling.

"Did you hear what he said?" Hawksworth turned to Shirin, who stood waiting, a light smile erasing some of the fatigue in her face. "He's planning to recruit another army of Rajputs. This war is only beginning. Good Christ, when will it end?"

"When he's Moghul. Nothing will stop him now." She took his hand, and together they pushed through the shattered gulal bar toward the remains of their tent.

The advance of Prince Jadar's army west toward the Rajput stronghold of Udaipur was like nothing Brian Hawksworth had ever seen. Jadar was marching into the heart of ancient Rajput country, and the movement of his army suddenly came to resemble a triumphant victory procession.

The heavy artillery formed the first contingent, drawn by teams of elephants and bullocks. Two thousand infantry moved in front, smoothing the ground with spades. The army's baggage animals followed the artillery, and after this came Jadar's personal treasury-camels loaded with gold and silver coin-together with his records and archives. Next in the line of march were elephants carrying the zenana women's jewels and a collection of ornate swords and daggers that Jadar periodically gave to his officers as presents. Then came the water camels, and finally Jadar's kitchen and provisions. The baggage was followed by the ordinary cavalry, and after them rode Jadar and his retinue of nobles. Behind him came his zenana. The rear of the procession was brought up by women and servants, then elephants, camels, and mules carrying the remainder of the baggage and tents.

Some of Jadar's zenana women traveled in gilded chaudols carried on the shoulders of four bearers and shaded with netting of colored embroidered silk. Others were transported in enclosed palanquins, also covered with silk nets decorated with gold fringe and tassels. Still others chose to ride in swaying litters suspended between two elephants or two strong camels. A female slave walked near each litter carrying a peacock tail to brush off dust and keep away flies.

Jadar's first and favorite wife, Mumtaz, seemed to scorn all these comforts, displaying herself regally all day long from atop her own personal elephant, riding in a gold howdah shaded by a vast tapestry umbrella. Her elephant was festooned with embroideries, yak tails, and large silver bells; and directly behind her, on six smaller elephants, rode the women of her immediate household. Her eunuchs rode clustered around her on horses, each carrying a wand signifying his office and sweating profusely beneath his jeweled turban. A vanguard of footmen with bamboo canes walked ahead of Mumtaz's elephant clearing a path through the crowds.

Jadar himself traveled mainly on his favorite Arabian horse-except when passing through cities, when he would switch to a conspicuously bedecked elephant-surrounded by the high-ranking nobles. Trailing out behind this first circle were the ranks of the lesser mansabdars, who rode in full military dress, displaying swords, bows, shields. While this procession inched along at its regal pace, Jadar and his nobles frequently paused ostentatiously to bag tiger or chase stripe-eared antelope with the prince's brace of hunting chitahs.

A complete set of tents for Jadar and his zenana traveled a day ahead, to ensure that a fully prepared camp always awaited him and his women when, at approximately three in the afternoon, the procession would stop and begin to settle for the night. Each of his larger tents could be disassembled into three separate sections, and all of these together required a full fifty baggage elephants for transport. Moving the smaller tents required almost a hundred camels. Wardrobes and kitchen utensils were carried by some fifty mules, and special porters carried by hand Jadar's personal porcelains, his gilt beds, and a few of his silk tents.

The procession was a lavish display of all the wealth and arms Jadar had remaining. And nothing about it hinted that his was an army on the run… which in fact it was.

Hawksworth puzzled over Jadar's extravagant pomp for several days, finding it uncharacteristic, and finally concluded it was a deliberate Indian strategy.

Jadar has to raise another army and quickly. He'll not do it if he has the look of a fugitive and loser about him. He's managed to hold the Imperial army at bay for a while, wound them enough to escape entrapment. But he's wounded too, and badly. The Imperial army may be shattered for the moment, but Jadar's lost half his own men. The winner will be the one who can rebuild first and attack. If Jadar doesn't make some alliances and get some men soon, Inayat Latif and the queen will chase him from one end of India to the other.