by John Speed
The hall laughed, Wall Khan tamped with his staff, and the queen continued. "There is that matter yet to decide. We find that the Khaswajara has a certain claim on the nautch girl. He made an offer, the offer was acceptedeven though no goods changed hands and no settlement was made. How shall we provide for his claim?" Whisper now bowed to her. "Do you have the money, Whisper?" the queen said in a voice that only Da Gama and a few others were close enough to hear.
"Of course, highness."
"Hear then our judgement. For the seven lakhs you promised, you may have the girl." Slipper slapped his hands across his mouth to keep from cheering. "Since she is now owned by Wall Khan, you must pay him."
Whisper could barely hide his delight. "Yes, highness! Thank you, highness!"
Wall Khan stared back, speechless. He was gearing up to speak when some of the queen's cloth moved as she raised her hand. "Whisper, we mean the girl only, mind you. None of her things, nothing that she owns, or wears. The girl, and only the girl, as is, naked as when she was born." Whisper's smile took a moment to fade, but across the room, Slipper gasped out loud.
"Or, if you wish, for those same seven lakhs, you may choose a single item that she owns. Any item."
Whisper's expression became difficult to read. The courtiers frowned at one another, squinted at the queen, some stuck a finger through their turbans and scratched their heads. Only Da Gama and a few others had any understanding of what the queen intended. He began to smile.
"May we inspect her things?"
The Sultana looked toward Wall Khan. "No!" he shouted, banging his staff.
Beneath her cloths, the queen's shoulder moved, making a tiny shrug. "You see how he says. And he is her owner now."
"But without seeing those items ..."
"Never mind!" shouted Slipper from across the room. "It's fine! We accept!" He wagged a finger at Whisper, and this gesture, even more than his outburst, set the courtiers murmuring.
"It seems your brother agrees on your behalf, sir," the queen said. Da Gama thought he could hear the smile in her voice. "But how shall this settlement be made?" The eye slit moved to face Da Gama. "Deoga, will you not act as our burak?"
"Highness, at your pleasure." Da Gama nodded. "I will need a scribe."
"Use the mukhunni Slipper. Anything else that you require?"
"A second-at-arms would be useful, highness."
The Sultana took a moment to answer. "Arms? Do you really think arms will be needed? Among such men of honor? To settle a bargain made under our seal?"
Da Gama considered his answer, and several times stopped just as he was about to speak. At last he bowed his head. "Yes, highness."
"Then take Commander Shahji for your second, Deoga. Make the settlement within the hour. Then we depart for Bijapur."
Despite being nearly beside himself with anticipation, Slipper had been gracious and helpful. Hurrying over after the Sultana left the audience, he pulled Da Gama to a side hall and into an alcove where there was a low table, paper, and a pen box. "We can do the settlement right here!" he said brightly.
"No," Da Gama answered. He'd had enough of the palace for the day. "Outside. By the harem bridge."
"Who would have guessed you had this streak of romance, Deoga! What an exciting setting! The day shall be memorable indeed!" With that Slipper found a servant, and dictated a list of items to be brought to the river's edge immediately: carpets, cushions, tables, writing implements, refreshments.
"It's just a settlement, Senhor Eunuch," Da Gama said, trying not to seem too surprised by Slipper's efficiency.
"It is more than that, senhor. For years I myself was unjustly maligned for the loss of ... of a certain item. For years I searched, not just to regain that item, but also my reputation. Today that shall be accomplished. I shall be vindicated!"
"Being a good Muslim, you should say `Ishvar-Allah'-if it is God's will."
"Yes. But God is often lazy. It is persistence that eventually triumphs, Deoga."
Or evil, thought Da Gama. Or sometimes luck. But Slipper was too excited for a conversation, so instead of discussing philosopy, Da Gama set about dictating the settlement documents to Slipper, based on the decisions of the queen.
After half an hour, Slipper and Da Gama left the Flying Palace. They passed the maids of the harem and the eunuchs of the first rank making their way to the stairs. They would travel in the Flying Palace with the queen.
"Don't bother looking for her, Deoga," Slipper said with a knowing look.
"Who?"
"The nautch girl. She won't be traveling with the palace, but rather with Wall Khan's suite. I'm sure he'll want her in his howdah." Slipper winked and wagged an eyebrow, and Da Gama resisted slapping him. "Now she'll be just another nautch girl, Deoga."
"You must find her special, or you wouldn't be paying seven lakh hun."
Slipper snorted. "She just happens to have something we want. A monkey could have had it just as easily, and been worth just as much."
The palace field was now stripped bare of tents; now only palkis and howdah elephants marked the places where the grand circle had been. Men fastened tarpaulins over the heaping contents of the bullock carts. In the distance the eunuch guard was forming up. By the harem bridge, a carpet had been laid for the settlement.
They arrived to find Wall Khan and Shahji seated, sharing a pitcher of wine. Da Gama refused a cup, but Slipper accepted and swallowed it in a gulp. "Careful, senhor," Da Gama teased.
"This is too great a day for moderation," Slipper answered as he took another cup.
Da Gama, as was often the case before a settlement, found it impossible to sit. He paced around the perimeter of the carpet, trying to calm himself by looking at the scenery. The carpet sat close to the fall's edge, where the river surged over the lip of the cliff to the black pool below. The bright sun shone warm, so the mists were thin. Da Gana looked long at the ancient temple, and the shadowed forests, and hoped that Lucy was safe and happy with Pathan. But he must think of that another time, he decided.
"I'll go see about the nautch girl," Slipper announced. He staggered a moment when he got to his feet, which made him laugh, and the others. Then with exaggerated care, he set across the wooden bridge. It groaned beneath his weight, and he turned and laughed some more as he proceeded.
"Why so nervous, Deoga?" Shahji asked.
"Done many settlements?" Da Gama answered. Shahji shrugged. "They never turn out how you think. When there's goods and gold in proximity, and men with different memories of the deal, there's trouble. At least this time there are no weapons." He frowned. "There are no weapons, are there?"
"Not even I have a weapon, Deoga," Shahji answered. "And I'm your second-at-arms. Don't worry, if someone makes trouble I'll hit him on the head with my wine cup." They all laughed.
But their mood changed quickly as Whisper limped toward them, holding Geraldo's arm. Behind him came seven servants, each carrying a small wooden chest bound with iron. "I forgot to arrange some way to carry my gold back after the settlement," Wall Khan said softly.
"And it's lapses like that that make a settlement dangerous," Da Gama said to Shahji.
The men made space as one by one the servants set the chests in a pile in the center of the carpet near the table.
Whisper waved the servants off. "Where's the girl?"
"Slipper's gone for her. Have some refreshment, Senhor Whisper."
Whisper frowned and turned away from the others.
"I'll have some," Geraldo said enthusiastically. He moved next to Da Gama. "I told you you should have made a claim. Look at me! I'm rich!" He knocked back his wine. "I suppose I must thank you. If you hadn't kept quiet ..."
Da Gama glared at him. "Repay me by doing a good turn for someone in the future."
Geraldo was about to answer when he caught sight of Slipper. Beside him was Maya. The breeze pressed the dark veil against her face.
As they crossed it, the harem bridge groaned and listed. One corner of t
he bridge bounced off the ground. "Look! It's not attached!" Geraldo shouted. "Be careful, you two!"
"You're right, sir," Shahji said, getting to his feet. "Careful there!" he shouted. "The bridgewallahs have removed its stakes!"
But Slipper and Maya crossed easily enough, though the bridge lurched when Slipper stepped off its end. "Here she is," he announced. "And I made her bring her things."
Maya made her way to a corner of the carpet, and stood quietly. Perhaps it was her veil, but she seemed almost to fade from view. The river roared behind her, and no one noticed as she turned her back to the proceedings.
"I think everyone is here," Da Gama said. "Let the settlement begin."
"Should we have a prayer, Deoga?" Slipper laughed. "Or a cup of wine at least?" The eunuch helped himself.
"Actually it's good that you are here, Geraldo. You can sign that certificate of custody. Based on the Sultana's decisions, I'd say you are now the devadasi's owner."
Geraldo sat down to the paper with a chuckle. "Her owner. Think of that." He plunged a feather pen into the inkwell and scrawled a signature. "Short, but very sweet."
"And now, sir, if you'll sign that you've received the goods." Da Gama nodded to Wall Khan.
The vizier looked at Maya, who stood at the carpet's edge, an amorphous shadow against the brightness of the sky. "I suppose I've received her," he murmured, and placed his own signature beneath Geraldo's. His was a complicated swirl of flourishes, impossible to decipher.
"At last," Slipper said.
Da Gama gave the eunuch a gracious smile. "I hope you get satisfaction, Senhor Eunuch. Senhor Vizier, by order of the Sultana, you must deliver to the Khaswajara either the girl, or any one of her possessions that he may choose. For this right, the Khaswajara must give to you seven lakh hun. Senhor Khaswajara, do you understand this? Senhor Vizier?"
"I've brought the money. What I want ..."
"Please, sir, we must go in order. The money is for the right for you to choose and to receive. The vizier must receive your goods before you can have your choice."
"What nonsense!" scowled Whisper. "Very well." He handed Da Gama a ring of seven keys. Then, after standing ever since his arrival, he finally sat.
Da Gama picked a chest; the third key opened it. He swung back its lid: inside were rows of cylinders wrapped in silk, tied with blue ribbons and sealed with red wax. Da Gama chose one at random, and lifted it from the box. The silk tore easily beneath his thumbnail to reveal a stack of golden coins. He spilled the coins into his palm, examined a few, and began to count. Everyone but Whisper stared.
"Never mind, Deoga. Let's get on with it."
"Senhor Vizier, do you not wish me to count the money for you?"
"It would take all day, and besides, the Khaswajara's not that kind of a cheat."
"What kind of a cheat am I, then?" Whisper snapped back.
Da Gama stepped between them. "Sign here that you received your gold." When Wall Khan was done, Da Gama said, "Which do you choose, Senhor Whisper? The girl or one of her possessions?"
"Let me see her things."
"No!" Wall Khan shouted, pushing to his feet. "The queen agreed-no examining! "
"Yes, yes," Da Gama said, soothing him. "Not to examine ... Just to see, that's all. For seven lakh hun, he deserves the right to see, eh, senhor?" Wall Khan let himself be gentled back to his seat. Slipper was already moving toward Maya, but Da Gama pushed ahead.
"No!" Maya shouted from beneath her veil. "They are all I have. The few things that make me who I am. You shall not take them from me!"
Da Gama glanced at Shahji. They stood on either side of her. "De- vadasi,"Shahji said. "You do yourself no honor this way." Maya bowed her head.
"You must give me your things," Da Gama said as gently as he could. But how gently can such words be said? She pushed her cloth shoulder bag from beneath her veil.
"Why are we taking so long!" Slipper said shrilly. "He's got the money; give me the bag!"
"Easy, Slipper," Shahji said.
"One item! One item only!" Wall Khan said at the same time, rising to his feet.
"Let us remember ourselves, senhors," Da Gama said. "This will soon be over," he whispered to Maya, but she did not turn. Then Da Gama knelt, and slowly spread the contents of her bag upon the carpet, next to the chests of golden hun.
Everyone had realized by now that the eunuchs had no desire for the girl. What did she own that was worth seven lakh hun?
Slipper watched Da Gama's actions with his small eyes glowing, scarcely able to contain himself. At last he saw the sack that held the headdress. "That's it! That's what we want!"
"Careful," Whisper murmured. "Let's be sure. Let's see the rest."
Da Gama slid the contents of the bag out to the carpet. It didn't take long.
When all was displayed, Slipper pointed again at the small sack. He could not stand still. "That's it, that's it! That's what we want!"
"Do you agree, Senhor Whisper? It's your decision, not his."
Whisper bit his lip, glanced at the seven chests of gold, and then back to the pitiful, small sack. "Brother, tell one you are certain." Slipper was now too agitated to reply, but he nodded so hard his jowls wiggled. "All right," Whisper sighed.
Da Gama scooped the sack from the carpet, and put the last settlement document on the table with a flourish. "Sign that you have received the item that you chose."
Whisper knelt to the table and was about to sign when Wall Khan stood over him. "No."
"What do you mean, sir?" Whisper spat.
"I mean that's two items. The sack and its contents."
"I take the contents, obviously," Whisper said. Watching Wall Khan warily the entire time, he wrote his emphatic, precise signature at the bot tom of the document. "Now, Deoga, I think that it is mine."
"I agree." Da Gama swept up the signed papers. "The settlement is at an end. Senhor Vizier, the girl and gold are yours. Senhor Khaswajara, this is yours." With that, he opened the end of Maya's sack, and spilled out the headdress into Whisper's palm.
"Give it me! Give it me!" Slipper cried. He snatched the headdress from Whisper's hand and waved it above his head. "The Web of Ruci! Mine at last!" Slipper wiggled his body in a kind of dance. In his fat hands the bits of gilt and glass sparkled in the sun.
"The Web of Ruci?" Wall Khan exploded. "It can't be!" He turned to Shahji. "Could it be?" He grabbed Da Gama. "It can't be the Web of Ruci!" Wall Khan began to chase after Slipper as he danced away.
Whisper brought his thin cold body close to Maya. He sniffed at her as if she were a piece of meat that might be rotten. "You've been more trouble than you're worth. I don't like you, and I will see to it that others dislike you, too. Beware the brothers in Murad's court."
Shahji stared after Whisper with disgust. "To think I must make a deal with that ruin." He moved about the carpet, picking up Maya's possessions and putting them in her bag, all except for the empty headdress sack, which seemed to him too pitiful to be included. He handed the bag to her. "I myself will tell Chitra about the boy. You have done me a good turn, devadasi. I will not forget it."
Maya turned her veiled head, and her small hand slipped from underneath the cloth. She took the bag, but made no reply. This Da Gama watched from the other side of the carpet.
"Now I see your game, sir!"
Da Gama looked up to see Geraldo coming toward him. He'd all but forgotten about him. "What game is that?"
"Isn't that the trinket that she gave you when you left Belgaum?"
Da Gama eyed Geraldo carefully. "Maybe." But at that very moment, near the river's edge Wall Khan had managed to snatch the headdress from Slipper.
"Give it back to me!" the eunuch cried.
Wall Khan shoved Slipper's grasping hand aside and peered at the headdress. "Why, this is a fake! This is nothing but cheap glass!" he crowed.
"What! What's that?" Whisper cried. He limped quickly to Wall Khan's side.
"No," Slipper gasped. "No, it c
an't be!"
Now Whisper seized the headdress. Wall Khan put up no fight. The old eunuch held it close to his eyes and squinted. "Shahji! General!" he called, hurrying toward him. "Which is it? Real or fake?" He held it up inches from Shahji's face.
"I couldn't say. It's very pretty. I suppose it's real."
"It's a damned fake," Geraldo said loudly. "I can see it from here."
"A fake!" Whisper wheeled on Slipper. "What do you say to this?"
Slipper took the headdress. "It can't be! It's heavy! It glitters!" He hurried to Maya and screamed at her dark veil. "Tell me that it's real!"
Da Gama reached past Maya's side, and pushed the eunuch away. He was about to give him a talking-to when something caught his eye. A few yards from where they stood, Wall Khan was doubled over with laughter, but Whisper hobbled toward him, in his hand a silver blade. "Shahji, help me! Come quick!" Da Gama cried as he raced for Whisper.
Shahji followed, with Geraldo at his heels. By the time they reached him, Da Gama had pinned Whisper's thin arms behind hs back. The blade lay in the grass. Whisper's tiny chest stuck out; under his silk shirt his ribs looked as fragile as a bird's.
"He cheated me, burak!" Whisper spat out in his rasping treble.
"I never did," Wall Khan snorted.
"He knew it was a fake! He knew!"
Wall Khan held up his hands. "By the Prophet's beard I swear I did not know. Is that not enough for you?"
But at that moment, Maya screamed.
The men turned to see her sprawled on the grass near the river's edge. Slipper had knocked her down, and she scrambled to get away. They could see now by his walk that he had drunk too much; he staggered, and stumbled often. But despite his size he was fast, and when Maya struggled to her feet and began to run, he raced toward her and slapped her twice across the head until she fell again.
"You did this! You!" Slipper placed his feet astride her and brought his mouth down close to her veiled face and screamed. A string of spittle hung from his lips. Then he pounded on her breasts with both hands. She squirmed but could not ward off his blows After a moment, he rose as if exhausted. Maya crawled away.