Empire of the Moghul: The Serpent's Tooth (26 page)

Exhilaration surging through him, Nicholas kicked his horse and galloped towards Ashok Singh, who acknowledged his arrival with a smile and a wave of his gauntleted right hand. ‘They’ve had enough – they’re running away,’ Nicholas gasped. It was true. Surveying the action he could see that in some places the fighting was nearly over. Elsewhere knots of Turkomans were determinedly holding their ground but only because their path of escape was cut off. To Nicholas’s right about thirty of them had formed a defensive ring but were steadily being cut down by Rajput swords and lances. Nearby a smaller group had taken refuge behind an overturned wagon, but some of Nicholas’s mercenaries were now driving them out from behind it into the open and despatching them one by one.

Two hundred yards away to his right he noticed a group of dark-robed riders. They were still fighting fiercely, sweeping and lunging with their broad-bladed scimitars as they attempted to force a way through some Moghul horsemen. Better mounted and better equipped than most of the Turkomans, they were led by a bushy-bearded man on a black horse. Perhaps he was a local khan and they his bodyguard.

‘We’re teaching these savages a lesson.’ Ashok Singh grinned. ‘Perhaps they’ll think twice about attacking Moghul troops again.’

Before Nicholas could reply he heard the beat of hooves on stony ground behind them. Turning, he recognised one of Aurangzeb’s young
qorchis
with an escort of six soldiers. Reining in, the youth addressed Ashok Singh. ‘Highness, I have a message from Prince Aurangzeb.’

‘You can tell the prince that when he leads the main troops out of the defile he’ll have nothing to fear – we’ve routed the men waiting to ambush us,’ said the Rajput.

The youth looked from Ashok Singh to Nicholas as if uncertain what to say and his face, speckled with pale dust, was anxious. ‘I’m sure my master will be glad to hear that, but I bring an order from him. You are to retreat immediately.’

‘What? Did I hear you right?’ Ashok Singh leant forward in his saddle.

‘Prince Aurangzeb wishes you to fall back and re-join him in the defile.’

‘Why? If we fall back now the enemy will reoccupy the ground we’ve fought so hard to capture. We’ll have to fight them all over again to secure our troops a safe passage as they exit the defile.’

‘My master didn’t give his reasons.’

Glancing at Ashok Singh Nicholas saw a vein pulsing at his temple. Ashok Singh and Aurangzeb had lately often been at odds, the latter seeming to resent the Rajput’s advice, something which the proud and occasionally quick-tempered Ashok Singh was finding increasingly difficult to accept. As for himself, he could scarcely believe what the
qorchi
had said. To give up and turn back when they had almost succeeded in coming through the mountains and an easier road awaited ahead seemed insane.

‘What’s happening in the defile? Are those musketeers in the rocks above still firing down on the main army just as they fired on the vanguard? Is the prince recalling us because he needs our help?’ Ashok Singh demanded, failing to keep anger as well as disbelief from his voice.

The
qorchi
shook his head. ‘When I left we had secured much of the higher ground.’

‘Why then must I retreat? It makes no sense militarily. To withdraw now without good cause would be an affront to my honour and to the memory of my men who have died securing this position.’

‘I can only repeat that these are the prince’s orders and he was insistent that you should obey them immediately.’

While Ashok Singh sat in grim-faced silence Nicholas and the
qorchi
eyed one another uneasily. Not for the first time Nicholas reflected how glad he was not to be a senior commander bearing all that weight of responsibility upon his shoulders. A few moments ago he and Ashok Singh had been brothers in arms, equals, sharing a moment of victory. Now he was only a subordinate, waiting for orders.

‘If the prince has ordered my return, I must, of course, obey,’ Ashok Singh said slowly before, voice rising, he added, ‘but he previously ordered me to clear the exit from the defile and that task is not yet quite accomplished. Since I received that order first I will complete it first.’

Before Nicholas realised what Ashok Singh was intending to do, the Rajput drew his sword and throwing back his head yelled the hoarse battle cry of his people. Then, driving his heels hard into the sides of his white stallion, he shot forward towards the battling khan and his dark-robed warriors without even waiting for his bodyguard who, as soon as they saw what was happening, urged their own mounts in pursuit. Nicholas didn’t hesitate either. Galloping across the stony ground, one hand on his reins, one on his sword hilt he tried to see ahead but his view was obscured by the riders in front of him. Suddenly a gap appeared as two Rajputs swerved to avoid a rock. Nicholas caught the flash of Ashok Singh’s white horse and saw that the Rajput prince, still far in advance of his bodyguard, had almost reached the fighting. Then he saw something else: a single spear arcing through the air towards the prince. Instinctively Nicholas shouted a warning, but the noise of battle muffled his cries. Ashok Singh flung up his arms, grasping at the spear transfixing his neck, before sliding slowly from his horse to fall beneath the hooves of his bodyguard behind.

Nicholas hurled himself into the fighting, cutting and slashing with grim determination. Barging two of his opponents aside he aimed for the bearded warrior. The khan thrust at him with his scimitar but Nicholas turned the weapon aside with his sword, before jabbing his own blade into his opponent’s groin. The man screamed and fell. Reining in, Nicholas saw that most of his followers lay sprawled on the ground, dead or dying. Like that of the whole battle, the outcome of this hard-fought skirmish had never been in doubt, but Ashok Singh had chosen to sacrifice himself to save his honour. Nicholas pondered the waste and pity of it as four muscled Rajput warriors, honed by countless battles but openly weeping, retrieved their prince’s battered and bloodied body and hoisting it on their shoulders carried it away as the sun, a blood-red ball, began to sink beneath the mountains. Soon, using whatever wood they could scavenge among these grey desolate hills, they would build a great funeral pyre whose flames would light the night sky as they reduced Ashok Singh’s mortal remains to ash.

Wearily, Nicholas sheathed his sword and turning his horse called to one of his mercenary captains, a scarred French veteran from Navarre. ‘Gather our men. The prince has ordered us to retreat. The reason why defeats me, but do so we must.’

Alone on the terrace of his apartments Shah Jahan stared ahead, blind to the grace of a flock of geese flying in arrow formation across the Jumna. Once more, just as when the
cossids
had first brought news of the disaster in the north three months previously, all he could see were thousands of his men lying dead or crippled through hunger and frostbite in the chill passes of the Hindu Kush as they had tried to fall back once more on Kabul. So many casualties as well as twenty million rupees lost to the imperial treasuries and not a single inch of territory gained. These campaigns were proving the first serious and lasting military reverses of his entire reign … Once more he asked himself how Aurangzeb could have failed him so badly, even worse than had Murad the previous year. This time the Moghul army hadn’t even reached the Oxus … hadn’t exchanged a single sword stroke with the Uzbeks. Instead they had allowed motley bands of hit and run Turkoman and Afghan raiders to hold them up so long that winter – the most relentless and implacable foe of all – had overtaken them as they had tried to retreat back to Kabul.

And now this latest news. The Persian shah had taken advantage of his stalled Samarkand campaign to send an army against Kandahar, and after a siege of only fifty-seven days the spineless Moghul garrison had opened their gates to the triumphant Persians. The more he’d thought about it, the more his resentment had grown against Aurangzeb, now waiting for an audience following his return last night to Agra in response to his father’s urgent summons. Aurangzeb’s failures were harder to forgive than Murad’s because he was more experienced. Everything Dara had said was right … Aurangzeb had a conceited view of his abilities and now his shortcomings had been exposed, as Shah Jahan was about to tell him.

‘Send Prince Aurangzeb to me,’ he ordered a
qorchi
.

Five minutes later his son stood before him, dressed in his usual plain garments. One look at his posture, straight shoulders, head held high, told Shah Jahan that he was in a combative rather than either a humble or penitent mood and that made him even angrier.

‘Well, what do you have to say for yourself?’ Shah Jahan demanded as soon as they were alone.

‘The narrow mountain passes defeated us. Though we managed to drag some of our heavy cannon through several of them the wheels of many of our gun carriages were damaged and some shattered on the rocky ground.’

‘So you abandoned the cannon rather than halting to repair the carriages!’

‘Yes. I saw no alternative. Repairs would have taken time and the damage would have reoccurred. Besides, the guns were slowing our progress and were useless.’

‘They wouldn’t have been useless once you were out of the mountains and on to the flat steppe. How could simple tribesmen have withstood artillery? You should have tried harder. With cannon to support you, you could have been over the Oxus by now!’

‘In my judgement it was impossible to get them to the Oxus, Father.’

‘Did you ever consider advancing without them? No! You retreated in defiance of my orders and brought shame on both me and the Moghul army. No wonder Ashok Singh – a good friend as well as one of my best and most honourable generals – preferred to die.’

‘You call his behaviour honourable? I call it stupid to sacrifice yourself needlessly rather than live to fight again. Whatever he might have thought, my actions were correct. Struggling with the guns delayed us too long. The enemy knew we were coming and with every day that passed were massing to oppose us. What they lacked in modern weaponry they made up for in numbers. I couldn’t take the guns forward. I couldn’t risk the lives of my men by continuing without them.’

‘You could scarcely have lost more men if you had. How many was it?’

‘Almost twenty thousand – five thousand in battle and fifteen thousand dead from disease and cold. The snow and ice came earlier than for many years … Father, for once have some trust in me. I did all that I could. Everything was against me, and the men were restive. They lacked commitment – particularly those from the plains – and there were many deserters. Without my efforts our losses would have been even worse.’

‘Nothing’s ever your fault, but someone else’s! Isn’t that always your excuse? You’ve shown no respect for me either as your father or as your emperor, and far too much belief in your own opinions and abilities. You have disappointed me more than I thought possible. What’s more, you have cost me the lives of too many – including Ashok Singh.’

‘Why harp on Ashok Singh? These Rajputs aren’t like us – their beliefs are warped and their pride insufferable. He would have served the empire better had he simply obeyed my orders and helped me manage the retreat instead of indulging in grandiose gestures.’

‘How dare you deride Rajput pride! The Rajputs’ bravery and loyalty are beyond question and they have been responsible for many of the Moghuls’ greatest conquests. Hold your tongue and listen to me. I summoned you to me in private because what I have to say would reflect no credit on our family if I said it in public. Weakness was something I never thought to have to accuse you of, but you and no one else have brought disgrace on our dynasty by making us appear weak. Because of you, laughing Persians are pissing down on us from the walls of Kandahar …’

‘I see your mind is made up. There is strength, not weakness, in knowing when to suspend your ambitions and how and when to pursue them, so I bow to your will. What do you intend to do with me?’

‘Were it not for the watching eyes of the world, I would banish you to the remotest part of my empire, or perhaps send you on the
haj
to Mecca since you seem so fond of praying. But I won’t give our enemies the satisfaction of knowing the extent of my anger. You will return to your former post in the Deccan but I will be keeping a close eye on how you conduct yourself. At least all seems peaceful there, so you are unlikely to face any military challenges beyond your capabilities. You will depart within the week. Now leave me.’