Dr Bryden had just redressed Lady Sale’s arm for the last time, and Mary’s rib as well. Now he saluted them. ‘Courage, ladies,’ he said. ‘You will be avenged.’
Laura half carried Mary. She above all others had wanted to refuse to be surrendered, and had then realised she could not. Whatever fate awaited her, she could at least hope to save the lives of Sivitraj and his sister.
Sivitraj had to carry Wu Li. The Chinese girl lacked the stamina of the others, and was incapable of walking.
Akbar himself greeted them.
‘May we inquire after the fate of our officers?’ asked Lady Sale.
‘They are well,’ Akbar assured her. ‘With the exception of poor General Elphinstone, who is very ill with dysentery. But my physicians are doing what they can for him.’ He turned to Laura. ‘Highness,’ he said. ‘I am so relieved to see you safe, and your children. Prince Batraj will be overjoyed.’
Laura could not prevent herself from looking around, but she could not see Batraj.
Akbar smiled. ‘Your husband is wounded. He was hurt in an engagement with General Sale’s army. Do not fear for him, Highness. He will soon be well. But he is anxious to have you at his side.’
‘My children and myself were surrendered as part of the agreement with General Shelton,’ she said. ‘Our safety was guaranteed by yourself, my lord.’
Akbar nodded. ‘Your safety is guaranteed, Highness. But I did not undertake to keep all you ladies together. Nor can I keep a wife apart from her husband when he seeks her return.’
Laura drew a long breath. ‘My lord, if I am returned to Prince Batraj, he will kill me, or at least torture me most savagely.’
‘No, he will not,’ Akbar said. ‘I have told him that you must not be harmed, and that you are under my personal protection. I will give you a letter, under my seal, reminding him of this, and that I will have you examined by my women when I return to Kabul, to make sure that I am obeyed. Now go with my women, to be bathed and dressed, then an escort will take you to your husband; he is already on his way back to Kabul.’
‘And my children?’
‘Your daughter will accompany you. Your son has played the boy for too long. He will remain with me, as my tavachi, and learn to be a man.’
Laura opened her mouth to protest, then saw Sivitraj’s eyes dancing. He might have killed an Afghan in defence of her, but at heart he was one of them.
She realised she could do no more. She turned to Lady Sale, who had overheard the conversation. Florentia clasped her hands.
‘Courage, my dear girl. If the prince does not keep his word, then we will all die. We must put our trust in providence.’
‘I will never see you again,’ Laura said.
‘Never is a very long time, my dear.’ Florentia embraced her, holding her close for several moments. ‘God keep you, dear Laura. Be sure that if I survive, I will tell the world of your heroism, and have every last stain removed from your character.’
She was weeping as Laura and Mary and Wu Li were led away.
*
After the horrors and the physical agony of the march, it was like entering another world for Laura to find herself inside a snug felt tent, with all the food she wished, and all the water she could drink. Mary’s rib was re-bound, and soon the girl ceased shivering with cold and fear.
Laura was bathed by attendant women, who exclaimed over the swollen state of her feet, and tenderly washed them, and washed and brushed her hair, and then put her to bed on soft cushions.
How her heart went out to those unfortunates who were still struggling along the road to Jellalabad. She wondered if any of them would ever get there.
*
Next morning, when she was mounted with Mary and Wu Li beside her, well wrapped up in their haiks, she saw no sign of the other women. Laura could not repress a shudder as she thought that they might already have been murdered, or given to the Afghan soldiery. But she, above all others, had to have faith in Akbar’s word.
The snow continued to come down as they made their way north, but not even the snow could hide the evidence of the massacre which had been perpetrated. Every minute, their horses seemed to stumble over a corpse. Because of the cold most of the dead might have been killed only an hour before, instead of several days, and the sight of them evoked terrible memories. Mary started to cry all over again.
Laura had some hope of discovering Miljah’s body, and giving it a decent burial, but she could not find it, and her escort were unwilling to delay while she made a proper search.
They did not catch up with Batraj on the road; instead, three days later, they rode into Kabul.
*
The capital was still in a state of high excitement and triumphant exhilaration. Laura gazed in consternation at the mangled bodies of Burnes and McNaghton, still strung up in the Bala Hissar, while people continued to jeer and throw stones at them. The cantonments were just a blackened ruin. But the city itself was undamaged, and the escort were greeted with cheers as they rode through the crowds. The women were too heavily veiled to be recognised, even Laura’s hair being totally concealed.
The escort delivered Laura, Mary and Wu Li directly to the door of Prince Batraj’s house. Outside, several armed men were lounging, who regarded Laura’s tall figure with interest, but made no effort to prevent her going to the door, which was opened for her by Nanja.
They stared at each other, and Nanja’s nostrils flared. ‘You dare to return here?’ she asked in a low voice.
‘I understand my husband is wounded,’ Laura said haughtily. ‘Stand aside.’
Nanja hesitated, then obeyed, and Laura swept into the house. ‘Show my daughter to her bedchamber,’ she said. ‘And put her to bed.’
Mary was drawn and pale after the exertions of the ride. Nanja hesitated, them summoned some of the household maids to assist her.
‘You go with her, Wu Li,’ Laura said.
She went towards her own apartment. Her muscles were tense, but she was quite cool. Akbar’s precious document was in her hand.
There was a man waiting outside her bedroom door.
‘I have come to visit my husband,’ Laura said, and he bowed and opened the door for her.
Laura looked at those so familiar surroundings, and at the divan on which Batraj lay. He was heavily bandaged; from his shoulder and across his chest, but apart from that he looked surprisingly well, although he had lost weight. Like Nanja, he stared at her for several seconds. Then he said, ‘You have betrayed me, and your oath.’
‘I feared for the lives of my friends,’ she said. ‘And indeed, for my own life. Your children were also in danger.’
‘Danger,’ he snarled. ‘Could they have been in greater danger than upon that foolish march? You exposed them to that. Where are they now?’
‘Your daughter is in her bedroom. She broke a rib in a fall, but she will recover. My son is now with Akbar, serving as an aide-de-camp. And any danger we were in was caused by the treachery of your people, who had promised us safe conduct.’
‘Safe conduct,’ he sneered. ‘Your generals were fools. Do you suppose we ever intended anything but their destruction? But you, oh, you will suffer for your betrayal. I am going to take the skin from your back. Ramdas!’ he bellowed.
The door opened and the guard came in.
‘Fetch four men, and a cane,’ Batraj told him.
Ramdas hurried off.
Laura refused to lose her self-possession. ‘I think you had better read this,’ she said.
She held out Akbar’s letter, and he snatched it from her and glared at it.
‘The Amir is a man of his word,’ Laura reminded him. ‘And thanks to your encouragement, he has a great weakness for me.’ She could not resist that.
The men came in with the cane, Batraj glared at them in turn, while Laura stood absolutely still.
‘Who returned from the Amir’s camp with the Dowager Rani?’ Batraj demanded.
‘Your daughter, and the slave Wu Li
, my lord.’
‘Bring the slave to me.’
Wu Li was brought.
‘You were with my wife when she was received by His Highness?’
Wu Li licked her lips, and glanced nervously at Laura. But Laura could give her no instructions, even with her eyes; she had no idea what information Batraj was trying to obtain. ‘Yes, my lord.’
‘Then tell me, where is His Highness now leading his men?’
‘To the assault of Jellalabad, my lord.’
‘Ha,’ Batraj said. ‘That will take not less than a week, and then it will be at least another week before he can return here.’
Laura caught her breath. ‘Do you not suppose I will tell him, my lord?’
Batraj glowered at her. ‘You will have to prove your words.’ But he was hesitant. Much as he wanted to make her suffer for betraying him, he knew that if he did indeed have her thrashed insensible, there might still be marks in a fortnight’s time. And he also knew that his survival depended on Akbar’s favour.
Then he smiled, his lips drawing back from his teeth like those of a wolf. ‘We will learn from the Begum Sombre. Pepper,’ he said. ‘Bring pepper. The swelling will have gone down in a fortnight.’
Laura gasped, and turned for the door, even as she knew it was hopeless.
‘Send for Nanja,’ Batraj said. ‘She will carry out the punishment. She will enjoy that. She will wish to hear her mistress scream.’
*
Laura screamed. The men held her on the floor while Nanja anointed her nipples with the red pepper. She writhed and tried to fight them, but they were too strong for her. Her wrists were tied behind her back so that she could not help herself in any way, and she was left there, still screaming and whimpering with pain, unable to keep still, rolling to and fro and rubbing herself on the carpet in an attempt to relieve the agony, while Batraj watched her and grinned, for forty-eight hours. Then he gave permission for her to be bathed and dressed.
Even then the swelling took two more days to go down, and every waking moment was agony, while her nights were a mass of hideous nightmares.
And even when the pain diminished, and finally faded altogether, her suffering was not yet ended, for then she was required to attend Batraj’s bed, as he was all but fully recovered from his wound. When she was not in his company, she was in Nanja’s. Her former friend was appointed her gaoler, and never let her out of her sight, except to go to her master.
*
Then news came, brought by Akbar’s own troops, hurrying into Kabul through the snow, attempting to hide their discomfort beneath a show of bravado. The British were coming back! With four thousand five hundred men Elphinstone had hidden in his cantonments until forced out by lack of food. With considerably less than that number Sale, when Akbar had neared Jellalabad and set up a siege, had sallied out, charged the Afghan army at odds of several to one, and put them to flight. Admittedly he had been assisted by a severe earthquake which had terrified the besiegers, but it had also destroyed most of the defence of Jellalabad. Sale knew that if he had treated for an evacuation, a massacre would undoubtedly have ensued.
Sale had lacked sufficient force to follow up his astonishing victory, and Akbar might have been able to rally his people and resume the siege, but then the news had come that a relieving Company army commanded by the famous Sir George Pollock was actually in Peshawar, and about to storm the Khyber Pass.
Thus the Afghans had come fleeing back to Kabul.
Akbar came to see Batraj almost the moment he entered the city, accompanied by Sivitraj.
‘I see you are restored to health,’ he remarked. ‘About time. There is grave news. You told me that once we had driven the British out, that they would never come back. Well, we have not even succeeded in driving them out, and they are back. Pollock has twenty thousand men.’
‘This time we will fight him and defeat him too,’ Batraj said. ‘Are you mad? He will destroy us.’
‘What do you suppose he will do if you flee?’
‘We will at least be alive.’
‘I came to Afghanistan to fight the British,’ Batraj said. ‘Not to run away from them.’
*
Had there ever been a more contradictory character? Laura wondered. Confident, brave, generous in victory save where his fearful goddess summoned him to vengeance, learned, intelligent, a gentle and consummate lover...and a vicious monster when his passions were aroused.
Certainly he re-invigorated Akbar, and Sivitraj’s eyes shone with hero-worship.
‘I shall bring you back an English flag, Mother,’ the Rajah said, as Laura held him close.
‘Just bring me back yourself,’ she told him.
‘But you hope that my body will be left dead in the snow, I have no doubt,’ Batraj commented.
‘Should I not?’ she demanded. She had not wasted her time in attempting to tell Prince Akbar how his orders had been ignored, but she knew there was no way she could be ill-treated with both the Prince and her son in Kabul. ‘As you have so shamefully misused me?’
‘And did you not shamefully betray me?’ he demanded. He held her against him, kissed her mouth. ‘Why cannot you love me, as I love you, sweet Laura?’
‘Because I hate you.’
He grinned at her. ‘But I am your husband.’
And he rode off with the army.
*
Not for the first time in her life, Laura was reduced to waiting. It was tempting to suppose she might be able to escape from the city with Mary, and find her way into the British ranks. But she well knew that was impossible, even as the weather warmed and the snow melted. With the death of Miljah, her only friend in the house was Wu Li, and the Chinese girl was too terrified to be of any help, while Laura knew that for herself and Mary and the maid to be alone in the mountains and at the mercy of the tribesmen would be a fate even worse than waiting for Batraj’s return.
Besides, there was always the hope that he would not return.
*
Sir George Pollock advanced slowly and carefully, but with unceasing determination. The Afghans attempted to hold the Khyber Pass, and were driven back. Jellalabad was relieved on 16 April and then, as the summer grew hotter, the British army moved closer and closer to the capital. The Afghans fought with desperate courage, but nothing could prevail against the superior discipline and firepower of the invaders. By the beginning of August Laura, standing on the roof of her house, could hear the distant rumble of the guns, and a few weeks later men began hurrying into the city, pausing only to gather their families and what belongings could be carried before then scurrying away to the north.
‘They are devils,’ they would say. ‘Red-coated devils.’ And they would speak in awe of the bayonets.
Could these possibly be the same men who had hooted and jeered at Elphinstone’s command, and ridden amongst them with careless murder in their hearts? Certainly their utter dejection terrified the inhabitants, who began a general exodus.
At the end of the month Akbar himself returned to Kabul accompanied by Batraj and, to Laura’s great relief, by Sivitraj. All were unharmed, but all were chastened by their successive defeats.
Unlike Akbar, however, Batraj was still full of fight.
‘They will never take Kabul!’ he declared. ‘We will defend it to the last man.’
‘You are dreaming,’ Akbar told him. ‘You are a dangerous man, Prince Batraj. You have led my people into disaster. You fled to Afghanistan to escape the hangman’s noose. Then you saw your opportunity to draw us into your private war. Well, that is now finished. I have ordered my people to evacuate Kabul and withdraw to the hills. We will continue the fight from there.’
‘I will not accompany you,’ Batraj said.
‘You will surrender to the British?’ Akbar was amazed.
‘I will never surrender to the British,’ Batraj declared. ‘But once you retreat to the hills, you are finished. ‘They will not make the same mistake again. If you will not fight them before K
abul, I will go to someone who will.’
‘Who will that be?’ Akbar inquired contemptuously.
‘That is my affair.’ He looked at his stepson. ‘Will you ride with me, boy?’
Sivitraj hesitated. Laura, standing on the far side of the room with Nanja, stepped forward.
‘Go with the Amir, Sivitraj, I beg of you.’
All three men turned to look at her.
Laura drew a long breath. ‘I would beg of you, Prince Akbar, either to take me with you into the mountains, or send me to the British with my daughter.’
Akbar frowned. ‘You are Prince Batraj’s wife.’
‘He has used me most shamefully, my lord.’
Akbar’s frown deepened. Did you not give him my letter?’
‘I did, my lord. And he ignored it.’
It was all or nothing now.
Akbar turned to Batraj.
‘The woman lies, my lord,’ Batraj said. Nanja will testify that I have not laid a finger on her.’ He smiled. ‘You have my permission to examine her, if you choose.’
It was Akbar’s turn to hesitate; clearly he was sorely tempted.
‘I will be your slave,’ Laura cried. ‘Only take me away, my lord.’
That clearly tempted him even more. But however willingly he might have acquiesced when Batraj had offered her to him, he remained a man of the strictest orthodoxy when it came to possession. ‘I am sorry, Highness,’ he said. ‘Prince Batraj is your husband. Until and unless he divorces you, I have no right to come between you.’
He looked at Batraj enquiringly.
‘Why should I divorce my wife, my lord?’ Batraj asked. ‘I love my wife.’
Akbar turned back to Laura. ‘You must accompany your husband wherever he chooses to go, Highness. Prince Sivitraj, I give you permission to ride with your stepfather. Now I must leave you to prepare your departure.’
‘May I ask what you intend to do with Prince Shuja?’ Batraj asked.
‘I have already given orders for his execution,’ Akbar said.
*
Laura anticipated another savage bout of punishment, and now she lacked even Akbar’s protection. On the other hand, she had gained the protection of her son, who still remained Batraj’s ultimate hope of returning to Sittapore in triumph.
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