The Moghul

his pulse. "Your Majesty's release of the Persian woman Shirin, who is guilty of no crime against Your Majesty."
    Arangbar's smile faded as he turned back to Hawksworth.
    "We have not yet decided her fate, Inglish. She does not concern you."
    "May it please Your Majesty, she concerns me very much. I come to ask Your Majesty's permission to make her my wife, and to take her back to England with me, if Your Majesty will release her. She will be gone from India soon, and will trouble Your Majesty no further."
    "But we just told you you are not returning, Inglish. Not until we permit it." He grinned. "You must stay and play this instrument for us more."
    "Then I beg that her life be spared until the time I am allowed to leave."
    Arangbar studied Hawksworth and a grudging smile played on his lips. "You are an excellent judge of women, Inglish. Perhaps too much so. I suspected it the first time I saw you."
    "She wishes no ill toward Your Majesty. There is no purpose in taking her life."
    "How do you know what she wishes for us, Inglish? I think we know better than you." Arangbar paused to sip again from his wine cup. "But we will spare her for now, if your king will agree to send warships to drive the infidel Portuguese from our shores. And if you will agree to play more for me."
    "Will Your Majesty order her release?"
    "I will move her to my zenana for now, Inglish. Until matters are settled, I will order her brought with us to Fatehpur. That is my part of the bargain. What will you do about yours?"
    "I will inform my king of Your Majesty's wishes."
    "And he will comply, if he wants to trade in India." Arangbar turned to Nadir Sharif. "Order a horse for the Inglish. He will ride with us today. And have the woman Shirin sent to the zenana ."
    Nadir Sharif bowed and edged next to Arangbar, adopting a confidential tone.
    "If I may be allowed, Your Majesty, you are aware the woman Shirin would not be entirely welcome in the zenana by Her Majesty, Queen Janahara."
    "Her Majesty is not the Moghul of India." Arangbar seemed suddenly exhilarated by the absence of the queen. "I have ordered it."
    "To hear is to obey." Nadir Sharif bowed low, casting a worried glance toward Hawksworth. "But perhaps it would be equally pleasing to Your Majesty . . . and to Her Majesty as well . . . to allow the woman to travel to Fatehpur under the cognizance of the English ambassador."
    Arangbar glanced toward the palace, and his exhilaration seemed to dissolve as suddenly as it had come. "Until Fatehpur, then. After that we will decide where she will be kept until the Inglish satisfies his part of the bargain." Arangbar turned to Hawksworth. "Agreed, Inglish?"
    "I bow to Your Majesty's will."
    " Durbar is concluded." Arangbar rose by himself and moved to the edge of the tent pavilion. As the trumpets and drums again sounded, the fanning eunuchs scurried to stay beside him. He stepped into the sunshine, stared about the square for a moment, then turned to Nadir Sharif.
    "Order everyone cleared and the women brought. I am suddenly growing weary of Agra."
    Nadir Sharif bowed again and spoke quickly to the captain of the guard. As the order was circulated, he quietly moved next to Hawksworth.
    "So it seems your luck changed after all, Ambassador. For now. But I fear it may not last. As a friend I suggest you make the most of it."

    CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

    The dark sky had begun to show pale in the east, heralding the first traces of day. Hawksworth stood in the shadows of his tent, at the edge of the vast Imperial camp, and pulled his frayed leather jerkin tighter against the cold. He watched as the elephants filed past, bulky silhouettes against the dawn. They were being led from the temporary stables on the hill behind him toward the valley below, where cauldrons of water were being stoked for their morning bath. Heating the water for the elephant baths had become routine during the reign of Akman, who had noticed his elephants shivering from their baths on chilly mornings and decreed their bath water warmed henceforth.
    As he watched the line of giant animals winding their way through the camp, waving their trunks in the morning air, he realized they were not docile female zenana elephants, but male war elephants, first and second rank.
    First-ranked war elephants, called "full blood," were selected from young males who had demonstrated the endurance and even temper essential in battle; those granted Second Rank, called "tiger-seizing," were slightly