‘Aye, well, you’re right there,’ he agreed.
They both thought they had time.
*
A week later, for the first time in several months, Richard was summoned to attend the Begum at night.
‘I hate it when you have to go to her,’ Caty confided.
He kissed her nose. ‘Jealous of the old girl? I’m afraid it goes with the job.’
Caty shuddered. ‘I fear her. I fear her moods. I fear the blackness of her mind.’
‘But I’m her favourite, remember.’
‘She has many favourites. You are my only husband, Richard,’ she pointed out.
Could ever a man so have found love? How contemptible was that juvenile desire for Barbara Smythe, or Lamont, or whatever her name now was. But then, how contemptible had been Barbara Smythe, with her determined flirtations, her even more determined selfishness.
*
‘Highness.’ He bowed in the entrance to the royal bed-chamber.
‘Richard.’ Aljai extended a long pale arm, beckoning him to her. ‘You have been neglecting me, for that Scottish wife of yours.’
‘I have been but awaiting your summons, my Aljai.’
‘Then take off those unseemly weapons, and come to bed.’ She clapped her hands, and he was surrounded by the girls, who unfastened his belt, took away his sword and pistols, and then undressed him.
‘How is that detestable Irishman?’ Aljai inquired.
‘He trains on well, Highness. He makes an excellent colonel of artillery.’
‘Ha,’ she remarked. ‘You made that appointment without my approval.’
‘I waited for your disapproval, Highness. And it was withheld. And I say again, he is one of the best men in your army.’
She did not pursue the matter, and they made love. Perhaps because it was for the first time in so long, Aljai’s embrace had a quality of desperation about it he had never known before. He wondered if she was unwell. Or pregnant? But as she had told him long ago, she had no intention of becoming pregnant.
Later, he half dozed, with her sweet-smelling head on his arm, and then she moved away, softly. He stretched out his hand to find her, and discovered she wasn’t there. And suddenly the room was filled with men.
He sat up. Peyraud was there, and le Vasseult, and a dozen soldiers, all Frenchmen.
Peyraud grinned at him. ‘You make a pretty sight, mon general. A general without his uniform. Without even his pistols.’
Aljai, her sari held in front of her, was standing against the far wall.
‘Take him out,’ she said. ‘Haste! I do not want to see his face.’
The soldiers seized Richard and dragged him from the bed; there were too many to resist.
‘Is this my reward for the conquest of Allahabad?’ he demanded.
‘Haste!’ Aljai repeated. ‘Get him out here.’
He was bundled from the room, out through the hall. There were a good many present, despite the late hour, all happy to laugh and jeer at their deposed general.
It was some solace to reflect that even Aljai had been so afraid of him she had had to descend to subterfuge before daring to arrest him. It was no solace at all to reflect that he was about to be bound to a cannon.
*
Remarkably, this did not immediately happen. Instead he was taken outside the palace and thrust into one of the small cells at the back of the courtyard. Made of beaten earth, and with but a single small barred window each, these could turn into ovens in the noonday sun, and it amused Aljai from time to time to lock her victims in them and listen to their piteous cries for water.
No doubt she meant to make him suffer as much as possible.
‘Your doing, Peyraud?’ he asked.
His rival grinned. ‘I am happy to think that I have managed to talk some sense into the Begum at last, yes.’
‘And you mean to take my life.’
‘Why, I think that would be the best solution,’ Peyraud agreed. ‘I do not regret rescuing you, my friend. You served me very well, briefly. But you have long outlived your usefulness, and are now a positive menace. You should have disposed of me, while you had the chance.’
‘Yes,’ Richard agreed. ‘I never considered it.’
More fool me, he thought, as the door was slammed shut. He really was an innocent in this world of unending intrigue and jealousy.
He would not be such an innocent again, he swore. But would there be an ‘again’?
He sat against the wall, gazing at the door. No doubt he would be taken out at dawn, before the jeering populace. He wondered if he would have a chance to see Caty and Michael again.
What would happen to George?
He was awakened from an uneasy sleep by the opening of the door. Several men stood there, carrying between them a huge bulk, which they threw in the door, before slamming it shut again.
Richard crawled across to discover his friend. Thomas was quite unconscious. He did not appear to be injured, but rather drugged.
‘It was the rum,’ he growled, when he came to, shortly before dawn. ‘By Christ, when I lay hands on the bastard who did that…’
‘Did it happen in my apartment?’
‘No, no, Richard me boy. I’d trust yer Caty, or that Hanif, with me life. Those Frogs invited me to join ’em for a drink. More fool me. I thought we’d become friends, at last. Now what’s goin’ to happen?’
‘I very much fear we are going to be blown from the mouth of a cannon. It is the Begum’s way.’
But Richard could not help but be suspicious, much as it went against the grain. Thomas might have been drugged by the French officers, but he could just as easily have been drugged in his own apartment.
And he could not escape the realisation that it was only a week since he and George had discussed their plans for deserting the Begum.
Caty would never betray them. And yet, she had been one of the Begum’s women.
Hanif? Absolutely not.
Biriappa?
His fingers curled into fists. The Indian girl had also been one of Aljai’s women.
‘Christ!’ Thomas got up, grasped the bars, and gave an experimental tug. ‘I could break out o’ here, I swear, if me head didn’t hurt so much.’
‘Then I wish you’d arrived a few hours ago,’ Richard said. It was light now, and the courtyard was thronged with armed men.
‘Tonight,’ Thomas promised.
‘If we are still alive,’ Richard remarked grimly. He reflected that they had been stripped, and had no weapons, and no horses, even supposing they could escape the fortress.
To his surprise, they were not immediately taken to the cannon. Indeed, they were ignored altogether. Not even Peyraud came to see them.
Hamilton Dyce did. He stood at the bars, shook his head, and clucked his tongue.
‘A sorry business,’ he remarked. ‘Oh, indeed, a sorry business. Why, do you know, Mr Bryant, I thought you’d last. That I did.’
‘You wouldn’t happen to have any water with you?’ Richard asked.
‘Bugger the water,’ Thomas growled. ‘I’d give ten years o’ me life for a cup o’ whisky.’
‘You’ll have to depend on the Begum for that,’ Dyce said, and wandered away.
Of Caty and the boy there was no sign. Richard had half expected them to be thrust in here with him.
And the day grew steadily hotter.
‘Christ! When do they give us a drink?’ Thomas demanded.
‘Not at all, I should say, from Dyce’s attitude.’
‘That’s inhuman, that is.’ The Irishman stood at the bars. ‘A drink!’ he bellowed. ‘Gi’e us a drink.’
Predictably, his shouts were ignored. But to their enormous surprise, just before noon, the door swung in to admit Hanif, bearing a tray.
The door was slammed shut behind him, and he knelt before them.
He had brought them meat, bread and water.
‘No beer?’ Thomas demanded in disgust.
‘I must be ha
sty, sahibs,’ Hanif said, spreading the food. He lowered his voice. ‘There is a message for you, Richard sahib. Read it. And believe it, sahib, I beg of you.’
The door was opened again, and Hanif left. Richard seized the piece of rolled paper tucked into the rice bowl.
‘You watch the window,’ Richard said, and carefully unrolled the letter, his heart pounding. It had to be from Caty. He had not even known she could write.
Then he read, and his heart began to pound harder yet.
The handwriting was stilted and elaborate, yet finely formed. ‘I send this by the one person I know will be faithful to you. Read it well, and obey it, my Richard, or I cannot be responsible for your fate.
‘Peyraud swears you are not to be trusted. He tells me that it was his stratagem that won the battle at Allahabad, but that you have taken all the credit. He tells me further that this man mountain you have taken as a friend is to assist you in destroying him and murdering me at an appropriate time. I do not know if this is the truth or not. I do know that Peyraud has always been utterly faithful to me. Equally do I know I can no longer trust you.
‘Yet I cannot bring myself to wish your death. And this Peyraud is determined on. If I have preserved your life for twenty-four hours, I do not believe I can do so much longer.
‘My Richard, your servant knows my mind. He is a surprising fellow. Follow him, this night, and leave my city. Ride like the wind. You will know where to go. Save yourself, my Richard.
‘Do not attempt to seek your wife and son. They are beyond your reach. But they are safe, and will remain so. This I swear upon the Beard of the Prophet. I will keep them here for you, until you are able to return.
‘If I do not have them, how do I know you will ever return?
‘Mark me well, my Richard. Escape! If you are found in Agra tomorrow morning, or if you attempt to break in to the palace, you will die, and it will be an unpleasant thing. Escape, my Richard!
‘But come back to me when it is possible. Come back in strength, my Richard. Then I will know the truth of your love and your loyalty.’
The letter was not signed. As if there was any need of that.
‘What does it say?’ Thomas asked.
Richard carefully folded the letter. He had nowhere to store it at the moment.
‘It is our promise of salvation.’
‘From whom?’
‘I am not at liberty to tell you that. But we will leave here this night.’
‘Bejasus but that’s the best news I’ve heard this year.’
Poor Aljai, torn between her love for him and all the insidious poison Peyraud had been pouring into her ear for the past year. She trusted Peyraud absolutely, and she could not bring herself to disbelieve him. Richard did not suppose she could be blamed for that. Peyraud it was had supported her takeover of the viceroyalty, and he had given her unflinching support ever since, even when apparently replaced in her affections.
Yet she loved Richard Bryant. There could be no doubt about that. And she wanted him to return. But how could he abandon Caty and his son to a woman as depraved, and unstable, as the Begum? He had only Aljai’s word that they would be cared for.
He became consumed with despair.
He had no choice. He knew that if any of the French got word of his projected escape, he would be shot down like a dog.
He knew, too, that a baby less than a month old would never survive the rigours of an escape into the jungle.
But Aljai wanted him to come back. On that he had to build his trust.
‘Ye look kind of grave, Richard me boy,’ Thomas remarked. ‘Ye should be cheerin’.’
‘I have much to think about,’ Richard told him.
But his mind was made up. There was no other decision he could take.
*
The day dragged by with intolerable slowness, and gradually increasing heat. The meal and the water disappeared into memory.
Towards dusk Peyraud came and looked through the bars at them.
‘You have had a restful day,’ he remarked. ‘Tomorrow will be different. I have persuaded the Begum that you should be impaled, and left suspended for all to see until you rot. The stakes are being prepared now. We need an extra strong one for your loutish friend, eh, mon ami?’
‘Have I ever harmed you, Jacques?’ Richard asked.
‘A man who waits until he is harmed to rid himself of a potential enemy is a fool,’ Peyraud told him. ‘I learned that advice from Sombre himself. Sleep well.’ He grinned. ‘Dream of tomorrow.’
To Richard’s relief Thomas had managed to keep quiet during the exchange. Now the Irishman grunted. ‘I’d give a lot to throttle that bastard.’
‘So would I,’ Richard agreed. ‘But we must do nothing rash. Remember, we have a friend who is risking much to see us to safety. We cannot betray her in any way, not even by folly.’
‘Herself, is it? Begorrah, but I’m fortunate to’ve linked meself to a lady’s man,’ Thomas commented.
Slowly the sun disappeared, and the air began to cool. The guard came and looked in at them, made a few obscene remarks, and went away again. But he was just outside the door; they could hear him speaking with someone there.
The courtyard was plunged into night. It was still, and there was a great deal of noise from the city, dogs barking, music, laughter. Peyraud was no doubt at that moment mounting Aljai, Richard thought savagely.
And what of Caty?
Slowly the night dragged on. There were moments when Richard wondered if the letter had not been another form of torture, to raise their hopes.
Even Thomas became impatient. ‘What time d’ye reckon it is?’ he whispered.
‘Hardly midnight,’ Richard said, having no idea himself, but refusing to give up hope.
He heard a movement outside the door. It was Hanif, speaking with the new guard.
He touched Thomas’s arm, and immediately they were both on their feet, listening at the door.
They heard a startled gasp, a heavy thump, then silence. A moment later the door swung in.
‘I have brought clothes, sahibs,’ Hanif said. ‘And weapons. But we must make haste.’
Richard’s own claymore and his pistols were thrust into his hands. ‘The Begum had not failed him.
He stepped outside, looked down at the guard. There was no sign of blood. Instead, there was a knotted kerchief round the neck of the dead man.
‘It is an art I have learned since coming to this place, sahib,’ Hanif told him. ‘The knots make it very quick, and silent. Once an enemy turns his back, it is done.’
Hanif had signed his own death warrant, if they did not now escape.
To his dismay, Biriappa was waiting with the horses.
The question of her betrayal could be dealt with later, Richard decided. Everything had been prepared. There were five horses, the spare being laden with provisions, muskets, powder and bail. Hanif also possessed the password. Richard and Thomas, shrouded in the heavy homespun garments of the natives, led their mounts first out of the courtyard and then out of the city, following their guide.
The guards were Indian, and somnolent. There were no enemies within a hundred miles of Agra.
Once outside the city, they mounted their horses, and urged them to a canter.
‘Free!’ Thomas bawled. ‘Free! Oh to have a gallon o’ whisky.’
But he could never be free, Richard thought. He was tied to the Begum, who held Caty and Michael. His freedom, if he were ever to achieve it, depended on his sword and pistols.
At dawn they halted to eat and drink. Hanif had brought food and water, and even some rice beer for Thomas.
Richard studied Biriappa as he ate. Her movements were sinuously attractive, and she seemed untroubled. But when she discovered him gazing at her, she looked away.
‘We must not rest, sahibs,’ Hanif said. ‘Not yet. The Frenchmen will have discovered your escape.’
They urged their horses on again, stopping at last just before noon, as t
he ground rose towards the hills: they had been riding west.
Hanif had even brought a telescope, and with this Richard studied the country across which they had come. He thought he could still make out the sunlight gleaming from the minarets of the Taj Mahal. Closer at hand, there was dust, as of men and horses riding in pursuit.
He gave the telescope to Hanif. ‘How far, do you reckon?’
‘Ten, fifteen miles, sahib.’
‘How the divil did they come so far so quickly?’ Thomas demanded. ‘We had six hours on ’em.’
‘During which we cared for our horses, sahib,’ Hanif pointed out. ‘That dust cloud is no more than half a dozen men, who have flogged their animals. I doubt they will ever reach us. The rest are yet far behind.’
‘And we need to sleep,’ Richard said. ‘We will stay here for three hours. Two hours sleep, each man, while the other watches.’
Richard took the third watch, and saw the small band of horsemen, still some three miles away, their mounts, as Hanif had predicted, now slowed to a walk, utterly exhausted in the heat. He was tempted to stay and despatch them, but he could see a much larger cloud of dust behind them.
He caught sight of Biriappa, watching him. She was not sleeping, although she lay on the ground wrapped in her sari, but watched him warily.
She knows, he thought, that I suspect.
He roused Hanif and Thomas, and they continued their steady brisk walk, with an occasional canter, towards the border.
The ground was rising all the time, and every hour they rested their horses for ten minutes by dismounting and walking, knowing that the pursuers could do no better. Soon they were several hundred feet up, where the vegetation was no more than an occasional tamarind tree.
Before dusk they a located a convenient ravine, and hobbled the weary horses. Hanif fed and watered the animals, then he and Biriappa got down to preparing a meal while Richard studied the country behind them. In the hills it was more difficult to discern movement, and he could see none at all. Yet he did not doubt for a moment that the pursuers were still coming.
Again he felt the temptation to wait for them. They were but a handful, with exhausted horses…but when darkness fell he realised the folly of it. Then he could see camp fires, some dozen miles back, and he realised there was something like a hundred men behind them.
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