The Moghul Part 30

"Good. Drink deeply, for none of us will drink again until we drink in Ahmadnagar. Now I will take your cups."

Jadar reached for each man's cup individually and placed them in a row alongside the tray, together with his own and that of Vasant Rao. Then he laid his own cup on its side on the tray and slowly drew his heavy sword from its scabbard. With a fierce swing he sliced the cup in half.

Then the next cup, and the next, until all were destroyed. The men watched him spellbound.

"a.s.semble your ranks in the bazaar at midnight. In full battle dress. I will address them. And at dawn, we march."

Jadar rose and as quickly as he had come disappeared into the darkness.

Battle gear--helmets, buckles, pikes, swords, muskets-- glistened in the torchlight as Jadar rode a fully armored war elephant slowly down the center of the main bazaar. The bristling infantry, arrayed in rows on either side, watched him expectantly. A midnight muster was unheard of.

But rumors had already swept the camp telling of the pending marriage of the queen's daughter to Allaudin. All knew Jadar had been betrayed.

And with him, all of them as well.

Then they noticed carts following him, with barrels of wine from Jadar's tent. When the prince reached the center of the bazaar, he raised his arms for silence.

For a moment all that could be heard was the neigh of horses from the stables, and the cries of infants in the far reaches of the camp.

He began in Urdu, a hybrid camp tongue of Persian and

Hindi, his voice ringing toward Abul Ha.s.san's Muslim troops.

"Tonight we are many." Jadar paused deliberately. "But in battle the many are nothing. In battle there is only the one. Each of you is that one." Again a pause. Then he shouted in a voice that carried to the far hills. "Is there a Believer among us tonight who would fight to the death for our victory?"

A roar of a.s.sent sounded from the men.

"Will you swear it? On the Holy Quran?"

This time the roar shook the tent poles of the bazaar.

"Is there one who would not?"

Silence.

Suddenly Jadar turned to the troops of Moghul lineage and switched his language to exquisite Persian.

"Some here tonight swear to embrace death itself for our victory. But I know not the will of all. Is there among you a man who would give his life for us?"

Again a roar of a.s.sent.

"What man will swear it?"

The roar seemed to envelop the camp.

Without pausing, Jadar turned to the Rajput contingent, addressing them easily in their native Rajasthani.

"Does any among you know how to fight?"

Cheers.

"Does any know how to die?"

More cheers. And then the Rajputs began banging their swords on their bucklers. Jadar bellowed above the sudden dim.

"I know Hindus cannot take an oath. But if you could, would it be to fight to the death for our victory?"

Bedlam seized the camp. And the chant "Jadar-o-Akbar," Jadar is Great, swept through the ranks. Jadar let the chant continue for a time, and as he listened, he saw that Mumtaz and her women had appeared at the gateway of the gulal bar, as he had instructed them. All activity had ceased in the camp, and even in the far background the women had gathered in the shadows of the tents, listening intently.

Then Jadar motioned for silence and continued.

"Tonight we each will make a pledge. I to you. You to me. First my pledge to you."

Jadar commanded his elephant to kneel, and he dismounted and walked directly to the waiting wagons containing his wine barrels. He was handed a silver-handled battle axe, and with a powerful overhand swing he shattered the first barrel. Then he signaled his waiting guard, and in moments every barrel had been axed. The center of the bazaar ran red, and the air was filled with the wine's sweet Persian perfume.

Then he motioned toward the entry of the _gulal bar _and his women emerged, followed by an elephant whose _howdah_, the livery on its back, was filled with silver utensils. When the procession reached the clearing where Jadar stood, the elephant's mahout commanded it to kneel.

Without a word Jadar walked directly to the _howdah_. As though meeting an enemy in ambush, he suddenly drew his long sword and swung it through the livery, leaving a wide gash in its embroidered side. A glittering array of silver and gold plate, goblets, jewelry poured onto the ground. With a single motion he sheathed the sword and again took the axe.

While the a.s.sembled camp watched spellbound, he quickly, methodically, smashed each of the silver and gold objects into small shreds. Then he broke the silver handle of the axe and again mounted the elephant.

"My pledge to you." His voice pierced the stunned silence of the camp as he repeated each sentence in three languages. "My pledge to you is not to touch wine, not to lie with women, not to look on silver or gold until we have taken Ahmadnagar."

The camp seemed to come apart with the cheer that followed, and again came the chant "Jadar-o-Akbar," "Jadar-o-Akbar." The sound was as one voice, and now even the distant hills echoed back the sound. Again Jadar stopped them.

"Your pledge to me must be the same. And together we will take Ahmadnagar in a hundred days. By the head of the Prophet I swear it to you."

Again the chant. And again Jadar stopped them.

"Tonight I offer to fight for you. You must be ready to fight for me.

And each must hold the other to his pledge."

More cheers.

"I have spilled my wine. I will stay apart from my women. I have smashed my gold and silver. I will give it to you. Each tent will have a shard. But my eyes must never see it again."

The roar of approval was deafening.

"That is my pledge. You must also give me yours. Leave your women in their tents and lie beside me under the stars. Empty your wine flasks into the Narbada River as we cross. As your oath to fight to the death.

And all your silver, that of your vessels, that on your saddles, that on your women, must be brought here tonight. Mark it with your seal, and leave it under guard in my own wagons, away from all eyes, until the day we reach Ahmadnagar. Then we will drink wine, we will have women, we will wear our finest in victory."

Jadar paused dramatically. "Tonight we are many. Tomorrow we are one.

We march at sunrise!"

The cheers began again, and immediately the pile of silver started to grow. Muslim n.o.bles began bringing silver-trimmed saddles, plates, even jewelry. But the most silver came from the Hindu infantry, as their women were stripped of the silver bracelets and ma.s.sive silver anklets that had been their dowries.

Jadar sat unmoving on his elephant as the men began to come forward with items of silver. Soon there was a line stretching into the dark of the tents. He watched the pile growing, and his calculations began.

Will it be enough? The weight must be enough or the Shahbandar, motherless thief that he is, will never agree. But I think we will have it.

He thought back over the plan. It had required almost the entire afternoon to refine. But when he had convinced himself that it would succeed, he had posted the pigeons to Surat.