Her eyes were dark. "He's delaying his answer to the prince. Offering
him prayers to Lord Krishna. Prince Jadar doesn't need prayers to
Krishna. He needs Rajputs. Thousands of Rajputs. But perhaps in time
the maharana can be convinced. Banquets are not the place for
negotiation. They're the place for perfumed talk."
Jadar was smiling as though he had just been offered the whole of
Rajputana. He managed to thank the maharana lavishly.
The maharana beamed and signaled for _pan _leaves again, signifying the
evening was ended. The room emptied in moments.
"I think Jadar could be in serious trouble." Hawksworth turned to
Shirin as they entered the hallway. "If he fails to get support here,
what will he do?"
"I don't know. I think he may still manage an alliance before he's
through. But it will be costly. Otherwise he'll probably have to move
south and try to convince Malik Ambar to commit him his Maratha army.
But Rajputs are better." She moved closer. "I'm suddenly so very, very
tired of armies and tents and strategies. I don't know where it will
end. Time is running out. For him and for us." She brushed him lightly
with her body. "Will you make love to me tonight as though we'd never
heard of Rajputs and Marathas? We'll look at the lake in the moonlight
and forget everything, just for tonight." She opened her hand. Inside
were several small brown balls. "I took some of the maharana's
_affion_. Tonight we have no battles to fight."
*
Hawksworth sat beside Shirin watching the oarsmen strain against the
locks, their orange oars flashing against the ornately gilded boat like
the immense gills of some ceremonial fish. A turbaned drummer sat at
one end, sounding the beat, and the tillerman stood behind him.
They were headed for Jagmandir Island, on the invitation of Prince
Jadar, in a boat provided by Maharana Karan Singh. Three weeks of
banquets, hunting, and oaths of lasting friendship seemed to have done
little to _Resolve_ the question of the maharana's support for Jadar's
rebellion. Time, Hawksworth told himself, is starting to work heavily
against the prince. The Imperial army let us escape because they were
too shattered to attack again. But we all know they're rebuilding.
Jadar has to decide soon how much longer he can afford to stay here and
listen to vague promises.
Behind them the high walls and turrets of the maharana's palace towered
above the cliff, reflecting gold in the late afternoon sun. As they
neared the island, Hawksworth turned back to see the thick stone walls
of the city following the curve of the surrounding hilltops and finally
angling down to a tall watchtower at the very edge of the lake. He
realized the lake itself was actually the city's fourth defense
barrier.
Ahead, the white sandstone palace on Jagmandir glistened against the
water. At the front a large pavilion surrounded by delicate white
pillars jutted out into the lake. Its entrance was guarded by a row of
life-sized stone elephants rising out of the water, their trunks raised
above their heads in silent salute. As their boat neared the arched
entryway of the pavilion, Hawksworth saw a veiled woman surrounded by
eunuchs standing on the marble-paved dock to greet them.
"It's Her Highness, Princess Mumtaz." Shirin's voice was suddenly
flooded with surprised delight. Then she turned to Hawksworth with a
laugh. "Welcome to the _zenana_, Ambassador."
"What's she doing here?" Hawksworth examined the figure, whose jewels
glistened in the afternoon sun, then warily studied the eunuchs.
"She's come to meet us." Shirin's voice was lilting in anticipation. "I
think she's bored to frustration trapped on this island prison."
As their boat touched the dock, Mumtaz moved forward and immediately
embraced Shirin. Her eyes swept Hawksworth as he bowed.
"Your Highness."
Mumtaz giggled behind her veil and turned to Shirin, speaking in
Persian. "Do we have to speak barbarous Turki because of him?"
"Just for this afternoon."
"I welcome you in the name of His Highness." Mumtaz's Turki was
accented but otherwise flawless. "He asked me to meet you and show you
the garden and the palace."
She began chattering to Shirin in a mixture of Persian and Turki as
they walked into the garden. It soon revealed itself to be a matrix of
bubbling fountains and geometrical stone walkways, beside which rows of
brightly colored flowers bloomed. Ahead of them the small three-story
palace rose skyward like a long-stemmed lotus, its top a high dome with
a sensuous curve. The ground floor was an open arcade, with light
interior columns and a row of connecting quarters off each side for
women and servants, screened behind marble grillwork.
Mumtaz directed them on through the garden and into the cool arcade of
the palace. At one side, near the back, a stone stairway spiraled
upward to the second floor. Mumtaz led the way, motioning them to
follow.
At the second floor they emerged into a small chamber strewn with
bolsters and carpets that seemed to be Jadar's reception room. Mumtaz
ignored it as she started up the next circular staircase.
The topmost room was tiny, dazzling white, completely unfurnished. The
ornate marble cupola of the dome towered some thirty feet above their
heads, and around the sides were carved niches decorated with colored
stone. Light beamed through the room from a wide doorway leading to a
balcony, which was also bare save for an ornately carved sitar leaned
against its railing.
"His Highness has taken a particular fondness for this room and refuses
to allow anything to be placed in it. He sits here for hours, and on
the balcony there, doing I don't know what." Mumtaz gestured toward the
doorway. "He wanted me to bring you here to wait for him." She sighed.
"I agree with him that this room brings a great feeling of peace. But
what good is peace that cannot last? I don't know how much longer we
can stay here." Mumtaz turned and hugged Shirin again. "I so miss Agra.
And the Jamuna. Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever see it again."
Shirin stroked Mumtaz's dark hair, then said something to her in
Persian. Mumtaz smiled and turned to Hawksworth.
"Do you really love her?"
"More than anything." Hawksworth was momentarily startled by her
directness.
"Then take her with you. Away from here. Away from all the killing and
death. How much longer can any of us endure it?" Her hard eyes blinked
away a hint of a tear. "I've lived most of my life with His Highness in
tents, bearing children. I'm so weary of it all. And now I wonder if
we'll ever have a place just for ourselves."
She would have continued, but footsteps sounded on the stone stairs,
and Jadar emerged beaming from the stairwell, his turban set rakishly
on the side of his head. He seemed in buoyant spirits. "You're here!
Let me welcome you and offer you something to banish the afternoon
heat." He gave Mumtaz a quick hug. Hawksworth sensed this was not the
official Jadar. This was a prince very much at his ease. "I hope Shirin
will join me in having some _sharbat_. But for you, Captain, I've had a
surprise prepared. I think you might even like it better than your foul
brandy." He spoke quickly to a eunuch waiting at the top of the stairs,
then turned back to Hawksworth and Shirin. "Have you found the
maharana's palace to your liking?"
"His view of the lake and the mountains is the finest in India." Shirin
performed a _teslim_. "We so thank Your Highness."
Mumtaz embraced Shirin once more, said something to her in Persian,
then bowed to Jadar and disappeared down the stairwell. He watched her
tenderly until she was gone before he turned back to Hawksworth and
Shirin.
"Come outside with me." He walked past them through the marble doorway.
"Have you seen the lake yet from the balcony? This one afternoon we
will drink together and watch the sunset. Before we all leave Udaipur I
wanted you to see this place. It's become very special for me. When I
sit here in the cool afternoon, I seem to forget all the wounds I've
ever felt in battle. For a moment nothing else exists."
"I think this palace is almost finer than the one Rana Karan Singh
has." Hawksworth stroked Shirin's thigh as they followed Jadar onto the
cool balcony, impulsively wanting her in his arms. Then he cleared his
throat. "I don't remember ever seeing anything quite like it in India."
"At times you can be a perceptive man, Captain. Allah may have showed
his wisdom when he sent you here." Jadar smiled. "You know, I still
remember my first word of your arrival, and your now-famous encounter
with the Portuguese. I think that morning will someday change the
history of both our lands--the morning India and England met." He looked
pensively down into the garden below. "It all depends on what happens
next."
"What do you think will happen, Highness?" Shirin moved next to Jadar
at the edge of the balcony.
He squinted into the waning sun for a moment, then turned his eyes
away. "It's difficult to know. Probably the Imperial army will be sent
against me again, any day now."
"Will the maharana support you with his cavalry?"
Jadar fell silent, as though choosing his words carefully. Then he
shrugged away discretion. "I think he might, but I still don't know. I
hear that many of the other ranas of Rajputana have warned him not to
side with me openly. They still remember the devastation Inayat Latif
wrought here fifteen years ago, when he was sent by Arangbar to put
down their rebellion. Rajputs love to battle, but not amid their own
cities and fields. And that's easy to understand. Rana Karan Singh is
in a difficult position. He knows if I stand here and fight, the battle
could well destroy Udaipur."
"What will you do?"
"I'll probably have to move out soon, and move quickly, farther north
into the mountains or back south to Burhanpur. I can't stand and fight
again, not yet. That's one of the reasons I sent for you." He turned to
face Hawksworth. "I think it's time you left India. No one in Agra
except Nadir Sharif knows you're alive. But it's obvious you can't
return there, not under the present circumstances. It's probably best
that you return to England, at least until my fortunes are _Resolve_d.
You must not join me in any more battles. It's not your war."
Hawksworth felt a sudden chill against his skin. "There's no reason for
me to leave. And besides, I have no way to return to England now. The
Company is supposed to send a voyage this autumn, but . . ."
"There's always a way to do anything, Captain." Jadar stopped and
laughed. "Well, almost anything. Here at Udaipur you're only a few
days' ride south to our port of Cambay. Like Surat, it's still free of
Portuguese control. I may have very few friends left in Agra, but I do
have friends in Cambay. I can arrange for your passage on an Indian
trader as far as the Moluccas, where you can doubtless hail a Dutch
fleet. You can leave India secretly and safely. No one in Agra need
ever know you helped me."
"I am not sure I want to leave now." Hawksworth slipped his arm around
Shirin's waist.
Jadar looked at him and smiled. "But Shirin has to leave with you. Her
life is no safer here now than yours." He fixed them both squarely. "I
hereby command her to accompany you. You can both return to India
someday . . . if Allah is kind and I succeed. And you'll be first among
all my ambassadors, Captain, I promise you. You'll receive my first
_firman _for trade. But if I die in the days to come, your English king
will not be accused someday of aiding a renegade. I hereby order you
both to leave, tomorrow."
"I don't run from a fight. There's some sea dog left in me."
"I know you don't, Captain, and that's one of the things I like most
about you. But I'm sending you away, ordering you to go. I'll always
remember it was against your will." Jadar looked up to see a eunuch
entering with a tray of cups. "Now for your drink. I ordered my kitchen
to make _panch _for you--I understand the _topiwallahs _in Surat think
it's called 'punch.'"
"Punch? What is it?"
"An Indian delicacy. A special blend of wine, water, sugar, lemons, and
spices. Five ingredients. Actually, _panch _is just the Hindi word for
five.' Try it."
Hawksworth tasted the perfumed red mixture, slices of lemon rind
floating on its surface. It was so delicious he almost drank it off at
one gulp. Jadar watched him, smiling, then lifted a cup of _sharbat
_from the tray and gestured the eunuch toward Shirin. "I gather you
find it acceptable."
"It's perfect to watch a sunset with."
"I thought you'd like it. You know, Captain, I've rather enjoyed seeing
you grow to understand and love India. That's rare among _feringhi_.
That's why I absolutely insist your king send you back as his next
ambassador."
"Nothing would please me more."
"I think you mean it. And I want you to believe me when I tell you that
nothing would please me more. Together we'll rid India of the
Portuguese scourge forever." Jadar lifted his cap in a toast and
Hawksworth joined him.
"And here's to ridding India of one Portuguese in particular."