The Moghul

tomorrow. So you had best do your drinking now, for tigers require a clear head." Arangbar laughed again and clapped and the tension in the courtyard semed to evaporate. The singer immediately began a second raga.
    As Hawksworth fingered the earring, the medal, and the cloak, he found himself remembering Huyghen's burning eyes that day in the London alehouse. "You'll forget who you are," the old seaman had said. Could this be what he meant?
    But maybe it's not so bad after all, he told himself. It's like a dream come true. And when the fleet makes landfall. . . .
    . . . "Of course I've heard. It was my idea. Although His Majesty naturally assumes he thought of it all by himself. Making the feringhi a khan will confuse the Portuguese. And it will take everyone's mind off the firman for a while." Queen Janahara had received Nadir Sharif immediately after Arangbar retired to the zenana for his afternoon dalliance. The balcony of the Jasmine Tower was empty, the servants all ordered back to the zenana . I'm more interested in the English fleet. Do you know what has happened?"
    "What do you mean, Majesty?" Nadir Sharif noted that he had not been invited to sit.
    "There was another message today, a private message from His Excellency, Miguel Vaijantes." Janahara raised a silver, hourglass-shaped cuspidor to her lips and delicately discharged red betel juice. "Can you guess what he has dared to do?"
    "What do you mean?"
    "Miguel Vaijantes is a man without courage. The understanding was very clear."
    "The understanding, Your Majesty?"
    "We have kept our side of the agreement. There has been no firman for the English feringhi . But now His Excellency has declared that he must off-load the arms. He has begun assembling an armada to sail north and intercept the English."
    "The arms, Your Majesty?" Nadir Sharif moved closer. "Miguel Vaijantes was shipping arms?"
    "Surely you knew. My dear brother, has anything ever escaped your rapacious eyes." She smiled, then spat again. "For Ahmadnagar. Small arms and cannon."
    "You were arming Malik Ambar? Against Jadar?" Nadir Sharif could not strain the surprise from his voice.
    "We were not arming him. The Portuguese were. Miguel Vaijantes was to have armed a Maratha division on the western coast, off-loading at a Portuguese port called Bom Bahia, on the coast west of Ahmadnagar. He had his own reasons, but now it seems he has lost his nerve. I had no idea how alarmed these Portuguese were by the English."
    Nadir Sharifs mind was reeling. Say something, anything.
    "If I may inject a word on His Excellency's behalf, Majesty, you must understand that matters between the Portuguese and the English are extremely delicate at the moment." Nadir Sharif’s voice grew more statesmanlike as he spoke. He scarcely heard his own words as his mind plowed through the consequences of it all. And the treachery. "The English could conceivably interrupt the entire trade of the Portuguese. All the prince could ever possibly do would be to tighten restrictions on our ports at Surat and Cambay. The Viceroy's decision is clearly strategic, nothing more. I'm sure the regard he holds for Your Majesty remains undiminished."
    "That is a touching consolation." Janahara's voice was frigid, and she seemed suddenly much older.
    Footsteps sounded through the marble corridor and Allaudin appeared at the doorway. He had changed to a foppish green turban, set off by an effeminate necklace of rubies. His elaborate katar was secured by a sash of gold- threaded brocade, and an emerald was set at the top of each slipper. He wore heavy perfume.
    "Your Majesty." He salaamed to Queen Janahara and then stood attentively, somewhat sheepishly, until she gestured for him to sit.
    "You're late."
    "I was detained in my quarters, Majesty."
    Janahara seemed completely preoccupied, unable even to look at the prince. "The question now is what to do about the Englishman."
    "What do you mean?" Allaudin did not trouble to mask his sneer. "It's perfectly clear. His Majesty adores the feringhi . He'll surely sign the firman for English trade. Then there'll be a war on the seas. It's really most exciting."
    "The firman is not yet signed." Janahara moved to the balcony and studied the river below. Her walk was purposeful, yet still the perfection of elegance. "Nor do I think it ever will be. His Majesty will not have the time. The wedding will be moved forward. Before His Highness, Prince Jadar, has the leisure to trouble us more."
    Janahara