Veils of Silk(136)

Meera listened hard as the maharajah summarized his earlier instructions so there would be no mistake. "Remember to tell the Afghan chiefs that they must invade at once, for the Punjabi generals won't move without Afghan support and I haven't enough men to take on the British alone," he said, his voice taut. "I've sent another messenger to Nabil Khan and Tejut Singh in the Punjab to tell them to be ready to move as soon as the Afghans reach the plains. We must act together, or not at all, and we must do it quickly, before British reinforcements arrive from the east. We shall never have such an opportunity again."

"I shall emphasize that they must come at once, Excellency," the other man repeated, "and by the Shpola Pass."

The messenger took his leave and departed with a faint crunching of gravel. Several minutes passed. Then the maharajah said in a low, icy voice, "The ferengis shall not take my Dharjistan into their greedy hands. They shall not."

There was a long silence before Rajiv Singh's receding steps could be heard. Meera and Zafir waited patiently, all playfulness extinguished. Finally the Pathan descended the tree, checking carefully every step of the way.

He reached up and helped Meera to the ground. "What were they saying, little dove?"

Words tumbling like a torrent, she repeated the conversation as exactly as she could. Zafir's face darkened as he listened. When she was done, he said sharply, "We must tell Falkirk Sahib about this immediately."

His words filled Meera with relief. Falkirk Sahib would know what to do. He had saved her; surely he could save India.

* * *

"How does one go about preventing a war?" Laura asked, her fingers drumming nervously on her knee.

Ian took her hand, his calm flowing into her. "The best way would be to bring a large force of British troops to the frontier so that the rebel forces can't get together. Their weakness is that initially they will be uncoordinated and under a number of different chiefs. Given time, I think Rajiv Singh could overcome that and get the combined armies to unite under his leadership, so we must move quickly. If he wins a victory or two here in the north, uprisings will be triggered all over India."

She shivered. "If that happens, it will be hard to stop."

"Which is why our best hope is to prevent the rebellion from starting. With a large enough British presence in northern India, there's an excellent chance the disaffected groups will give up the thought of challenging the Sirkar."

"So the key is getting the Sirkar to move swiftly, before the news from Afghanistan becomes widely known."

"Exactly." Ian frowned, thinking. "The nearest large British force is at Cambay. That's fortunate, because it's the one place in India where I have the influence to get a quick response. Even more fortunate, the Cambay commander-in-chief, General Rawdon, is an officer who can be counted on to act on his own, without higher authority, in this sort of emergency. He can also move troops faster than any man I know."

"'Roaring' Rawdon? Even I've heard of him." Laura gave a sigh of relief. "So all that's necessary is to get to Cambay, tell our story, and let the army do the rest."

"Exactly. We'll leave here tomorrow as planned. Once we're out of sight of Manpur, we ride like hell, and within a week there will be Company regiments on the way to the Khyber Pass. And, of course, that Shpola Pass of Pyotr Andreyovich's."

Ian gave her a half smile. "Be grateful that the powers that be still haven't adopted the new rifle that Pyotr was talking about. Sometimes official sluggishness is a real blessing. In this case, it means that the Sirkar won't have to worry about the sepoys rebelling because they think their faith is being compromised. All we have to do is make sure that the Afghans, Punjabis, and Dharjistanis can't come together."

"You make it sound so simple." Laura bit her lip. "Ian, what will happen to Rajiv Singh and Kamala?"

He shook his head, his expression grave. "I'm not sure. If the serpent's fangs can be drawn without bloodshed, Rajiv Singh may be able to keep his throne, though I'm sure the Sirkar will set sharp limits on the size of his army and will use force to ensure that he doesn't exceed them."

"He's a warrior, a prince of the Rajputs," she said sadly. "Do you think he'll sit tamely by and let his fangs be drawn?"

Ian sighed. "I don't know. I hope so, not only for his sake but for Kamala and Dharjistan."

Laura was about to ask another question when they heard footsteps in the drawing room outside. For a second she tensed, wondering if they had been overheard. Then she heard Zafir call, "Major Sahib, are you here?"

There was a note in his voice that she had not heard before. Ian must have recognized it, because he immediately rose and threw open the bedroom door. "In here. What's wrong?"