Companions Of Paradise Part 10

"Why did that man look so familiar?" Mariana asked, after the hunting party had clattered past them on the bridge, talking among themselves, their long-haired hounds trotting alongside them.

"That, my dear," her uncle said, glancing over his shoulder at the departing hors.e.m.e.n, "was Abdullah Khan himself, the Achakzai chief who knocked down those tents at the race meeting. Do you remember him throwing down his tent peg as if he were challenging Shah Shuja to a duel? I was told he had returned to the Pis.h.i.+n valley after that, but my information was clearly wrong.

"I do not like seeing him here in Kabul," he added. "I do not like the derisive look I saw on his face as he pa.s.sed us, or the way his men talked among themselves and pointed in our direction."

He frowned. "All this reminds me that I must discover the whereabouts of that doddering old Aminullah Khan. For all I know, he is here as well."

The day was fading rapidly. The little shrine beside the river was now alive with people, their lanterns casting shadows as they moved about among the trees. Mariana imagined the wicked old tribesman lurking in the dark with his men, like the villain in a fairy tale.

"We must catch up with the others," her uncle said sharply. "I do not like to be out at dusk without an escort.

"It is rumored," he murmured as they neared the Residence compound, "that Abdullah Khan killed his elder brother by burying him in the ground, tying a rope to his neck, and then riding circles around him until his head was torn from his shoulders. That story may or may not be true, but it ill.u.s.trates the man's reputation."

That night, Mariana lay whispering in the dark, as Muns.h.i.+ Sahib's beads clicked between her fingers.

It was acceptable, he had told her, to recite Haji Khan's durood in English. He had not, however, authorized the small alteration she had made.

"Shower thy blessings," she whispered, hoping for a glimpse through the blind man's doorway, "upon their their leader and master Muhammad" leader and master Muhammad"

September 26, 1841 You have cut cut the annual payment to the Eastern Ghilzai chiefs by the annual payment to the Eastern Ghilzai chiefs by half?" half?" Shah Shuja dropped his bunch of grapes and regarded Sir William with dignified horror. "You have done this without so much as asking my advice?" Shah Shuja dropped his bunch of grapes and regarded Sir William with dignified horror. "You have done this without so much as asking my advice?"

Behind him, elegant and self-possessed, his double row of ministers murmured among one another, turbaned heads together, their eyes upon the two black-clad Englishmen in front of him.

"Sire," the Envoy replied, "we had no option. Our government in Calcutta has been insisting for months that we cut our-"

"Ah, Macnaghten, you took no time to think." The Shah pushed the fruit bowl away from him and turned a tired eye upon his guests.

Of the other officers, both civil and military, who stood behind Burnes and Macnaghten, only three spoke Farsi. Of those, only Mariana's uncle and his a.s.sistant watched Shah Shuja's reaction with any interest.

When Macnaghten threw them a fiercely defensive glance, Charles Mott shuffled his feet. Adrian Lamb did not drop his gaze.

"Did you consider your agreement with the Ghilzais before you cut their payment?" the Shah went on in his high, unpleasant voice. "Did you weigh the loss of your honor in breaking your promise?"

"Honor?" Macnaghten gave a lighthearted shrug. "I hardly think that that matters in this country, Sire, where no one-" matters in this country, Sire, where no one-"

"Honor matters very much in this country, Macnaghten. I have warned you before of the danger of taking gold from some chiefs while giving it to others. Even if you have not done exactly that," the Shah added, "the appearance of it has created enemies for yourselves and for me. Now, you have compounded your mistake."

Macnaghten smiled broadly, his hands open in front of him. "But Sire," he argued, "all we have done is make things fairer. The other chiefs still must pay, but the Ghilzais are getting less. less. Is that not a good thing? Is that not a good thing?

"These people are such children," he muttered to Burnes beneath his breath, his smile still in place.

"You have returned me to my throne, Macnaghten." Shah Shuja sighed. "But you have s.n.a.t.c.hed the sovereignty of my country from my hands. Believing that your big guns will keep you safe, you interfere with us, and force your British ways upon us. In your pride, you have turned all the chiefs against me."

Behind him, his ministers nodded their agreement.

Alexander Burnes stiffened in his chair. "There is no need, Sire, to speak to us in this manner. We have harmed no one. Your enemies are free and unblinded. Why-"

"Have you not understood the saying that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'?" The corners of the Shah's mouth turned down. "In taxing them severely, you have injured chiefs to the north and south of Kabul. In breaking your promise to them, you have injured the Eastern Ghilzai chiefs. And do not forget that Akbar Khan, son of Dost Mohammad, who has sworn to regain his father's throne, waits with his men at Bamian, to the west. All will now unite against you. Whether you accept it or not, you are now encircled by your enemies."

"Really, Sire, that is the most-"

The Shah held up a silencing hand. "Once they have identified a common foe, our people form alliances against him, but not before each separate faction has proved itself with exploits against that foe, for Afghans do not rally under one leader, but under a confederation of leaders. What you regard as a few small uprisings may well be those exploits, which will lead to greater and greater attacks by larger and larger numbers of men.

"Your British officers have been openly insulted in the bazaar when they have tried to order tools and weapons from our artisans. Two of them have been stabbed in the marketplaces of Kabul. Several of your Indian soldiers have been killed when they strayed from your cantonment. Do you think these incidents are unrelated?"

Macnaghten smiled again. "But Sire, if we have so many enemies, then why do people flock to join in our horse races and our entertainments? Why do they smile and joke with us as if we were brothers? Why do they offer us gifts and friends.h.i.+p?"

"Yes," Burnes joined in, "and why do they call me 'Eskandar' so happily? Why do they use my Christian name?"

Shah Shuja leaned back against his silken bolster. "That is no Christian name. Eskandar, or Alexander, is a very ancient name indeed. But let me tell you something else: it is not the habit of my people to reveal their feelings. They will smile at you until the very moment when you feel the bite of their knives.

"Mark my words, Macnaghten," he added, "there will be reprisals against you for this cutting of payments to the Ghilzais."

Macnaghten bowed. "As you say, Sire. And now, with your permission, I must return to my duties."

The Shah shook his head. "Ah, Macnaghten," he said wearily, "how little you understand my Afghanistan."

THAT SAME afternoon, in the simpler atmosphere of Qamar Haveli, Safiya Sultana leaned back against a cotton-encased bolster and chewed meditatively on a slice of melon.

Her life boasted many pleasures. For the moment at least, everyone in the house was in good health. Ha.s.san, now fully recovered and preparing to leave for Peshawar, rode daily with Saboor. Their excursions to the countryside, either sedately on horse and pony, or galloping full-tilt from village to village on Ha.s.san's beautiful new mare, gave the child real joy. Safiya never tired of watching Saboor charge across the room, his clothes flying, and throw his arms about his father whenever Ha.s.san appeared in the sitting room doorway.

They made a good pair, father and son, experienced courtier and child mystic.

Of course they were not far apart in understanding. Like all the men in the Waliullah household, Ha.s.san had been a member of his father's brotherhood since he was eighteen. He had offered the same prayers and performed the same daily recitations as everyone else, and had gained much from both. Safiya had watched proudly as he became a man of honor, respected in the walled city, and trusted by Maharajah Ranjit Singh.

She had always believed that Ha.s.san's gifts of charm and persuasiveness would serve him well in his life.

It was only his self-consciousness and his perfectionism that worried her.

Of course Ha.s.san had never shown any interest in becoming a spiritual leader. He had none of his son's mysterious prescience, or his enthusiasm for sitting in the courtyard for hours at a time with Waliullah and his guests.

Those traits could belong only to the person who would be the next Shaikh of the Karakoyia brotherhood.

Dear little Saboor. May his bright energy last a hundred years.

Although he was only four, he already displayed a keen desire to learn. Every morning, in the large sitting room, he bounced in his place on the sheeted floor, ready with a hundred questions, when Safiya regaled her family ladies and their children with instructive stories. He spent his afternoons in the courtyard with his grandfather, learning to recite from the Qur'an, his round eyes growing wiser day by day.

Other members of the household were also in good condition. Safiya's young cousin had been delivered of a strong baby girl, whose cries now echoed from room to room in the upstairs ladies' quarters. Waliullah's elderly gap-toothed sister-in-law, who had collapsed suddenly from the heat one summer afternoon, had since recovered, and was back to gossiping as much as ever.

The harvest of Kandahari pomegranates promised to be good, and the young guava trees had survived the summer rains.

Safiya had much to be thankful for.

A jumping, shouting game outside the sitting room had become too noisy. "Go downstairs this instant," she snapped at Saboor and half a dozen of his grinning cousins.

When silence fell in the verandah, she thought the children had all gone away, but when Safiya glanced idly through the doorway, she saw that Saboor was still there, watching her silently, half-hidden by the door curtains.

She pointed to the tray of fruit in front of her. "Come, child," she said, patting the floor beside her when he hesitated. "I will cut you a slice of melon."

"What is wrong?" she asked, when he sat down and leaned silently against her. "You were playing so happily a moment ago."

The child gazed into her face for a moment, then got to his knees, pushed a few loose strands of iron-gray hair aside, and cupped a hand over her ear.

"Please, Bhaji," he whispered wetly, his breath tickling her ear. "Please "Please make Abba go to where An-nah is, and bring her home." make Abba go to where An-nah is, and bring her home."

She laid a plump arm about his shoulders. So that was it. The boy still missed the English girl. And why should he not? Mariam had become mother to him after his own poor little mother died. She had protected and loved him for two full years.

"I will do what I can, my darling," she rumbled, knowing well how little influence she had over Ha.s.san. "I will do what I can."

A question struck her as the little boy clattered down the stairs to rejoin his game. Why was he missing Mariam now, after so many months? He had been upset, of course, after she left in January, but in the long time that followed, he had seemed happily reconciled to her absence.

What could have happened to make him long for her now?

October 15, 1841 We hear that General Sale was wounded in the Khurd-Kabul pa.s.s, this time in the leg," Charles Mott volunteered from his seat beside the British officers' cricket field. "Otherwise, the First Brigade has done wonderfully well."

A second man, a captain of the 13th Foot, did not take his eyes from the game. "Of course," he put in, "it was a pity about that night attack on Colonel Monteith's encampment, with so many of our men killed. Thirty-five, if I remember correctly."

"Monteith should have punished the Afghan traitors in his camp who let the attackers past the sentries," observed another officer, "but in any case, the pa.s.s is now cleared, and that is what matters."

"We hear," Charles Mott added, "that within a few days, the whole distance between Kabul and Jalalabad will be open to our own caravans, and of course to you, Sir William, as well, when you return to India."

Sir William Macnaghten stopped talking to the wan-looking General Elphinstone, and offered his nephew by marriage a satisfied nod.

"Yes, indeed, Charles," he said.

Conversations in the cantonment had centered for weeks upon Sir William's new posting as Governor of Bombay. Lady Macnaghten, who had only recently finished decorating the Residence in Kabul, was already deeply concerned about her future, far grander house.

"I cannot imagine how I shall survive it," she had confided gaily to Mariana.

In front of Mariana, his arms windmilling, a curly-haired lieutenant galloped down the cricket pitch. Behind him, the two brown Bibi Mahro hills rose sharply against a hard, blue sky. An equally brown village climbed the slope of the nearer hill. What, Mariana wondered, did the occupants of that village make of the British and their game?

She smiled absently at someone's remark about the young bowler's peculiar style, but her mind was not upon the cricket. A gla.s.s of pomegranate juice in her hand, she sat still, imagining what she would say to Harry Fitzgerald when they met.

From the look of it, that meeting would take place any moment. Not only had he returned to Kabul the previous day, he was here, at the cricket game. She frowned, aware of his blond presence as he strolled to and fro among the spectators, greeting old friends and cheering on the bowler.

Now that General Sale and the Eastern Ghilzais were fighting on the road to Peshawar, it would be some time before Ghulam Ali could make his way back to Kabul.

She would not know Ha.s.san's feelings until he returned.

Word of Fitzgerald's arrival had, of course, come from Lady Macnaghten. You are to be present tomorrow afternoon at the cricket field near the Darwaza Sirdar You are to be present tomorrow afternoon at the cricket field near the Darwaza Sirdar, she had instructed Mariana in the previous day's hand-delivered letter. Do not worry about your appearance. Vijaya will be coming to you before lunch. Do not worry about your appearance. Vijaya will be coming to you before lunch.

Mariana had made a point of not mentioning Fitzgerald to her family, but silence had done her no good. For weeks, as his return to Kabul approached, Aunt Claire had repeatedly cautioned her to keep her eyes lowered and remain silent about her past.

"And you must," she had added, raising a plump finger for emphasis, "be discreet in what you say. You have, my dear Mariana, the very dangerous habit of speaking your mind. That liberty, I remind you, is reserved for married ladies only." married ladies only."

Lady Macnaghten had been no less involved. Undistracted by the effort of choosing silk for the Bombay Government House dining room, she had peered critically at Mariana's face and fingernails, and instructed her to burn her favorite gray afternoon gown.

"You simply cannot wear that dreary color again," she had insisted; "I have some lovely lemon silk that will be perfect for you. And the tiniest bit of cochineal powder will do wonders for your cheeks.

"You must use all all means available to enhance your appearance," she continued, ignoring Mariana's shocked stare at the suggestion that she paint her face. "Cochineal is a wonderful native invention. I am told on great authority that in the morning, after all those tiny red insects have been set free, the muslin bag is inspected very carefully. If even one of the little creatures has died in the night, the whole of it is thrown away. means available to enhance your appearance," she continued, ignoring Mariana's shocked stare at the suggestion that she paint her face. "Cochineal is a wonderful native invention. I am told on great authority that in the morning, after all those tiny red insects have been set free, the muslin bag is inspected very carefully. If even one of the little creatures has died in the night, the whole of it is thrown away.

"You always look pretty when you take the trouble," she concluded. "The same cannot be said of everyone. Do make use of your good looks before it is too late. No one will ever know," No one will ever know," she added with a wicked little smile. she added with a wicked little smile.

The crack of a bat was followed by shouting. Mariana turned, looking for Fitzgerald, and saw him leaning against a tree in his buckskin breeches and blue jacket, his smooth head bent as he listened to something his companion was saying. Would he hold his head at the same angle when she told him she could neither accept nor refuse his proposal, and that he must wait for an indeterminate length of time for her reply?

Would he actually ask her to marry him?

He started in her direction. As he approached, still talking to his friend, she turned hastily to the cricket, begging him silently not to sit down in the unfortunately empty chair beside her.

"May I join you, Miss Givens?"

He was bowing above her. His friend had disappeared. "Of course you may, Lieutenant," she replied helplessly.

The folding chair groaned as he sat down. "It is a pleasure to see people enjoying themselves," he offered, smiling a little stiffly. "Kandahar may have wonderful melons, but otherwise, it is a great, stony wasteland."

She kept her eyes on the game, uncomfortably aware of his bulk and the creaking of his chair.

People were looking at them. Beneath her parasol, Aunt Claire made a fluttering gesture, signaling either encouragement or warning. Lady Macnaghten frowned and patted her hair significantly.

"Have you enjoyed the Kabul summer?" he asked.

"In a way, yes." Mariana offered him a cautious smile. "The weather has been glorious and the fruit lovely. After two years in India, I had quite forgotten what cherries taste like."

"I must say I am very happy to be-" His voice trailed off.

He was staring into s.p.a.ce, his square, freckled hands tight on the arms of his chair.

The last thing she wanted was a clumsy, fearful suitor. Suddenly repelled by the musty scent of his blue woolen jacket, she searched about her for reinforcements, but found the rest of the party, even her aunt, otherwise occupied. Even Charles Mott was deep in conversation with Fitzgerald's friend.

She took in a calming breath. "I hear there was fighting on the road to Kabul," she ventured.

"There was." He turned to her, his face intense. "Miss Givens," he said abruptly, "what have you been told about our battle in the Zurmat valley?"

She blinked in surprise. "I have heard," she replied, "that someone called Colonel Herring had been killed near Kandahar, that a force had been sent to avenge his death, and that the attackers seemed very brave at first, but melted away after a few artillery shots."

"They did melt away. And when they went into the hills, we blew up their forts. But for all our apparent victory, we did not kill any of them, nor have they surrendered to us."

She frowned. "Everyone here believes the Afghans are cowards who cannot withstand our artillery fire."

"I do not think that is the case." He leaned closer to her and dropped his voice. "They have no heavy guns of their own, which means they are unused to being fired upon. They withdraw when they first encounter our artillery, but I believe they do so only to discuss their next move."