‘On the borders of our Afghan territories and those of the Baluchis,’ Ahmed Khan replied. ‘The high mountains, secluded valleys and remote caves provide good hiding places for all sorts of rebels and bandits and are almost impregnable to those who do not have local supporters. But may Hussein Kalil tell his own story?’
‘Of course.’
Hussein Kalil shuffled from foot to foot and, eyes on the ground, began slightly nervously, gaining in confidence as he went on.
‘Under Ahmed Khan’s orders I was travelling in the south, in the guise of an itinerant seller of medicine — I have some knowledge of the subject. I was nearing Khowst when I heard rumours that your half-brother had taken refuge in a hill fortress about fifty miles away. I determined to go there and set out along the steep, stony tracks, over the numerous passes and small, twisting, fast-flowing rivers. As I got nearer to my destination, I noticed how full the wayside resting places and the chai khanas — the tea houses — were. Nearly all their customers were travelling in the same direction as myself. Most were well armed and strongly built. It took little effort to deduce that they were on their way to join your brother’s force and indeed some were ready enough to tell me so. Nevertheless, I decided to see the fortress for myself and to confirm the presence of your brother Kamran and the number of his men before returning.’
‘What did you find when you got there?’
‘When I reached Kamran’s stronghold after a few days more, I discovered it was, in fact, a small fortified village at the head of a narrow valley, high in the hills. Its mud walls were tall and thick and around them was a cluster of felt tents, housing recruits such as those I’d seen along the way. Trusting in my disguise as a medicine seller I entered the iron-studded gates in the walls and made my way to the small market place. Stalls edged its sides, selling vegetables and the like, but in the centre a stout man — clearly an officer — was inspecting a line of potential recruits and their mounts, prodding the men in the walls of their stomachs to check their muscles, testing the sharpness of their weapons and examining the teeth and legs of their horses. Before he had got a third of the way down the line, your half-brother rode up on a tall ginger horse with some of his men and called the recruits to gather around him. As a brief flurry of snow fell, sprinkling everybody and everything with white, he addressed them.’
‘What did he say?’
‘Forgive me, Majesty. I am not sure I should repeat his harsh words, for they concerned you.’
‘Go on. The words will be his not yours, and I will hear them.’
‘They went something like this: “My half-brother, the emperor, is a weak, indecisive man, not worthy to rule. Despite his protestations he remains addicted to opium. It makes him sluggish and hesitant. He has had many opportunities to regain the throne of Hindustan but failed to grasp them. I — not he — have the true hunger for land and booty that inspired Babur, my father. Be loyal to me and I will bring you great reward.”’
Humayun tensed and clenched his fist. How typical of the devious Kamran to spice his lies with a grain of truth. Yes, he had sometimes again resorted to the solace of opium as relief from the aching disappointment of his failure to make progress in the recovery of Hindustan. But the cause of that failure was Kamran himself and his constant rebellions. Humayun controlled himself. ‘How did the men react?’
‘They cheered him and he beckoned to one of those accompanying him, who produced a large green leather purse. Your brother extracted some silver coins and gave five to each man, saying, “These are mere tokens of the rewards you will gain.” Eyes shining with greed, they roared out “Kamran Padishah! We will follow you to the death.”’
‘That will be a short journey. If they and Kamran persist in their rebellion they will surely die. But continue.’
‘I remained at the settlement for four days, talking to the recruits and spying on their preparations for war. One white-haired officer who was suffering badly from chilblains for which I prescribed a mustard patch that — I thank God — seemed to help him, told me that they were to begin their march on Kabul in a week. I waited no longer but retraced my steps. Ten days ago, for protection against bandits and lawless tribes, I joined the caravan that arrived today.’
‘You have done well, Hussein Kalil. Ahmed Khan, send scouts to check for signs of my brother’s approach.’
‘I have done so already, Majesty.’
Within half an hour, Humayun was surrounded by his military advisers in an inner room of the citadel warmed by a great log fire. Humayun spoke first, summarising what Hussein Kalil had reported and then went on, anger in his eyes and a steely determination in his voice, ‘I will brook no more of my half-brother’s disloyalty. Provided the scouts confirm his advance I propose to ride out to confront him before he nears Kabul, perhaps taking him unawares in the passes.’ He paused, then asked, ‘Bairam Khan, how many men can we muster quickly?’
‘Around four thousand, Majesty. It’s good that we’d already started recruiting among the tribes around Kabul for the probing campaign towards the Indus you are contemplating.’
‘Will the recruits remain loyal? Those tribes are fractious and rent by feuds.’
‘We believe so, Majesty. As you know, we gave them a bounty on recruitment and promised more after each victory.’
‘Good. We will march in five days.’
Four days later — preparations had taken less time than Humayun had originally thought — he rode on his black horse down the stone ramp of the citadel of Kabul to the parade ground on the plain below where his army of four thousand men had assembled, pennants flying in the stiff chill breeze. As Humayun took his place in the centre of the column, he reflected that although they were many fewer than the troops he had once deployed in Hindustan, they should be more than enough to defeat Kamran. Nearly all his men were mounted and while he had decided, for speed of movement, not to take cannon with him, many of his soldiers had six-foot-long muskets tied to their saddles. Others had bows and quivers full of arrows across their backs.
Ahmed Khan’s spies had confirmed that Kamran was indeed on the move and that by now he should be no more than ten days away from Kabul, advancing up the long defile through the Safed mountain range. Because the campaign would be short — they might expect to clash in battle in less than a week — Humayun had ordered the provisions and equipment they carried to be kept to a minimum. Most of it — like the felt tents to keep out the late frosts, the copper cooking pots and the sacks of rice — was loaded in wicker panniers strapped on the backs of camels.The rest was carried by the lines of pack horses and mules waiting, roped together and restive, at the rear of the column.
Once arrived among his officers, Humayun waved to his trumpeters to sound their long brass trumpets and to his drummers to beat out their martial tattoo on the drums slung on either side of their horses. This was the signal for the column to move off, which it did with a jangling of harness and neighing of horses and the foul-breathed snorting of the haughty-looking camels.
Late in the afternoon of the third day, as the sun was dropping low over the jagged mountains lining the valley as it descended to the south, Humayun was discussing with his officers where best to make camp for the night when Ahmed Khan cantered up. A white-haired man with a weather-beaten face was riding by his side. Humayun saw he was guiding his long-haired mountain pony with only one hand and that the bottom of the right sleeve of his brown wool jacket flapped empty. The old man dismounted with surprising agility and bowed to Humayun.
‘Majesty,’ Ahmed Khan began, ‘this is Wazim Pathan.When one of our scouts entered his village he asked to be brought here. He claims he was one of three soldiers you rewarded in front of the whole army before the battle of Kanauj. He had lost his hand and lower arm in a skirmish with Sher Shah’s advancing troops and you discharged him to return home with a bag of coin. As proof he showed me this.’ Ahmed Khan produced a faded red velvet bag with the mark of the Moghul empire embroidered upon it.
‘Majesty, I have told Ahmed Khan that I wish to repay some little portion of the debt of gratitude I owe you. Over the years, I have become the headman of my small village in a side valley off the main track only two miles from here. I was born and brought up in these mountains you see around you and I know all the paths. There is one which climbs up through the scree slopes behind my village and then winds between tumbled rocks to a position high above this main valley road along which your traitorous half-brother must pass. From those heights you could ambush him, shooting his men down and attacking him in the rear.’
Humayun had no doubt that Wazim Pathan was telling the truth. ‘We will halt tonight near your village and in the early morning explore the paths you suggest. Now we must hurry if we’re to make camp before darkness falls completely.’
Wazim Pathan had begged Humayun to use his small windowless flat-roofed mud house, with its central fireplace vented by a hole in the roof, as his temporary headquarters. To honour his old soldier, Humayun had agreed, although he had slept in his usual tent erected under Jauhar’s watchful eye within the low walls of Wazim Pathan’s compound. Just before first light, Ahmed Khan and some of his men had departed to check the practicality of Wazim Pathan’s proposed route for an army the size of theirs. Now, just after the sun had reached its zenith, Humayun could see them returning, their horses zigzagging their way down tracks through the grey scree-strewn slope of the nearest of the mountains.
‘Majesty,’ reported Ahmed Khan when, three-quarters of an hour later, Humayun and his military commanders sat around the fire in Wazim Pathan’s humble home, sometimes coughing as gusts of wind blew smoke back into the room through the hole in the roof, ‘it is indeed possible to get armed men along the paths Wazim Pathan has shown us, though not all the army could go that way. The track leads to a position overlooking the valley just where it narrows into a defile. It is ideally suited to ambushing your half-brother’s men.’
‘What do our scouts who are shadowing Kamran’s troops report about their progress?’
‘They should pass below the ambush position around midday the day after tomorrow.’
‘Then,’ said Humayun, putting an end to any further debate, ‘my mind is made up. We will take six hundred of our best men including most of our musketeers up into the ambush place. Zahid Beg, you will select who will come. Tell them to take not only their arms but also animals’ skins and blankets to keep them warm in the night we must spend up there as well as enough water and cold food for two days. We will light no fires either for warmth or for cooking in case they reveal our position. The rest of our men will remain here under your command, Bairam Khan, to barricade the main road to block the way of any of Kamran’s men who are left alive and try to flee north along the road towards Kabul.’
Next morning, beneath a clear blue sky and with Wazim Pathan on his tough pony and Ahmed Khan on his usual brown mare at his side, Humayun rode out from Wazim Pathan’s small village towards the nearby mountain and the track leading upward through its scree slopes. After an hour, he and the front of the column had reached the area of jumbled, tumbled boulders and began slowly and in single file picking their way upwards through them and across gullies in which snow had collected and frozen. At the end of another hour and a half, Wazim Pathan pointed to a ridge about half a mile ahead. ‘Majesty, over that ridge lies the main road that runs south from Kabul — the one that your brother will come up.’
Humayun and Ahmed Khan followed Wazim Pathan as, with his single hand, he guided his pony through more rocks and boulders towards the crest of the ridge. Once on the top, which still had a thick covering of frozen snow, Humayun could see that it afforded a great vantage point over the road and that the rocks lower down were ideal to conceal musketeers to fire upon any unsuspecting army advancing towards Kabul.
Humayun spoke. ‘The musketeers will have to eat and sleep in those rocks just in case Kamran and his men arrive earlier than we expect. Ahmed Khan, give orders for them to take up their positions immediately, carrying with them their bedding and provisions as well as their weapons. But what of the rest of us,Wazim Pathan? Is there any flat ground nearby where we could bivouac before exploring further along the ridge? We need to find a place from which to sally down to take Kamran’s men in the rear so we can drive them forward under our musketeers’ fire.’
‘Yes, Majesty. There is a flat area of land in the lee of the ridge about three-quarters of a mile further on where we could camp. From there I will guide you along a path which descends towards a place where the scree slopes more gently to the road and it would be possible for skilled horsemen to charge straight down rather than having to zigzag.’
In the deep cold of the next morning an hour before dawn, as Humayun was slapping his arms against his sides to warm himself and readying himself for the day ahead, Ahmed Khan reported to him that one of the musketeers who had been stationed in a particularly exposed position overlooking the road had died of cold. ‘He deserved to die,’ was Ahmed Khan’s unsympathetic explanation. ‘He brought spirits not water to drink and not enough bedding.’
‘Are the other musketeers awake and alert?’
‘Yes, Majesty.’
‘Are they in position and have they checked their weapons?’
‘Again yes, Majesty.’
‘Good. Now have the remaining men mount up. As soon as it’s light enough we’ll make our way along the track I explored yesterday afternoon with Wazim Pathan to what is indeed an ideal launching point for our attack on Kamran’s rear. The path is narrow and icy with steep drops in places. Tell our men to take care, particularly as the wind is rising.’
An hour later, Humayun, his face numb despite his woollen face cloth from the cold wind blowing from the north, had just traversed the narrowest part of the route, which was less than two feet wide with precipitous drops on both sides, when he heard a cry from behind, followed by a thud and then a second heavier one from below. Turning in his saddle, he saw that one of the riders following him had fallen from the ridge together with his mount, perhaps caught by one of the increasingly frequent heavy gusts of wind.The man’s sheepskin-jacketed body was spread-eagled on a ledge only about thirty feet below but the horse had landed much lower down among jagged rocks which had penetrated its body and spilled its intestines.
As Humayun watched, another rider and his horse toppled from the track, crashing down to land among the jagged grey rocks. Humayun spoke urgently. ‘Pass the word back. Any man who is uncertain either of himself or of his horse should dismount and lead his animal across the narrowest and most exposed stretch. There is no shame in that.’
After that, all of Humayun’s men got over safely, except one whose bay horse stumbled on the ice as he led it across. The animal fell, hooves flailing at thin air, pulling its rider — a small, black-bearded Badakhshani — with it as, desperately trying to steady it, he failed to let go of the reins before he too overbalanced and plunged from the path.
Half an hour later, Humayun and his men had concealed themselves and their horses as best they could among the jumbled rocks at the top of the slope of pewter-grey scree down which they intended to charge to ambush Kamran’s men. Humayun knew they would have some hours to wait. The very latest scouting report to reach him indicated that Kamran’s troops might not get to this point until two or even three o’clock in the afternoon. It would leave little time to draw any battle to a decisive conclusion before the early sundown.
In fact, it was a little after three when Humayun himself peering, eyes narrowed in concentration, from behind a large boulder, was the first to spot Kamran’s vanguard ascending the road. They seemed to have no scouts or pickets posted and not to be keeping any formal order. Clearly, they had no suspicion of ambush. Humayun motioned Ahmed Khan to him. ‘Pass the message to the men not to attack until I give the signal. It’ll be a little
while until enough of the column has passed by for us to be able to charge down on their rear. When we do, it must be hard and fast, leaving Kamran no chance to rally his men.’
For perhaps a quarter of an hour Humayun waited as Kamran’s men continued to advance, chatting and laughing as they rode. During that time Humayun thought he saw his half-brother riding a chestnut horse in the centre of the column but at such a distance he could not be sure. When the last element of the rearguard and the straggle of camp followers were making their way beneath his hiding place, Humayun signalled his men to mount. Immediately they had done so, with a wave of his gauntleted hand he set his four hundred riders in motion. Together they charged down the scree slope.
Although less precipitous than elsewhere, the descent was still steep and as Humayun rode down, leaning back in his saddle to help his horse keep its balance, he saw one of his men’s horses lose its footing and fall headlong, catapulting its rider over its neck and rolling over and over down through the loose, powdery scree. However, almost instantly, Humayun and his men were among Kamran’s rearguard, striking and slashing around them. In the first minute of the attack, Humayun felled a black-turbaned rider from his saddle as he struggled to free his sword from its scabbard beneath his sheepskin. He wounded another in the thigh before he too could raise a weapon and inflicted a deep sword cut on a third’s arm.
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