Companions Of Paradise Part 25

His left arm had been strapped to his chest with a filthy bandage. A pair of woolen shawls lay on his shoulders.

But most of all, it was his eyes, hollow and intense, that caught her attention.

"A Christmas visit." He smiled and waved his good hand toward a cane chair near the fire. "How good of you to come.

"We have moved all the guns for the fourth time," he volunteered, as she handed him her gift and sat down. "The Afghans had become too used to our artillery positions. We mean to surprise them tomorrow morning."

Mariana nodded, not trusting her voice.

He looked like a man on the verge of madness or death.

An open book lay upside down on a small table next to her. As he dragged a second chair toward the little fire, she picked it up, and found it open to "Hohenlinden" by Robert Campbell. She glanced at the last stanza.

Ah! Few shall part where many meet!

The snow shall be their winding-sheet; And every turf beneath their feet Shall be a soldier's sepulchre.

Hungry, cold, and in pain, alone in his quarters, Fitzgerald had been trying to entertain himself, and this was what he had been reading.

Tears flooded her eyes.

What would happen to them all?

The long, black-clad funeral procession that she had seen at Butkhak so many months before rose again in her mind's eye-the vision that Muns.h.i.+ Sahib, the great interpreter of dreams, had never explained.

When she begged him to tell her its meaning, he had only quoted the Qur'an.

She closed the book, and tried to smile at Fitzgerald.

As if he read her thoughts, Fitzgerald cleared his throat and bent forward in his chair. "Miss Givens," he said hoa.r.s.ely, wincing a little as he tried to reach toward her, "I know you cannot stay long, but since you are here, I have something to ask you."

She knew what was coming. She waited for it, her hands clasped around the book in her lap.

"I wonder if you recall a promise you made to me before the battle of Bibi Mahro."

His hollow gaze was candid, but it held something else she could hardly bear to see: hope.

"I believe," he added, offering her a ghost of his old crooked, knowing smile, "that the battle ended some weeks ago."

He leaned forward and peered attentively into her face.

He knew she did not love him.

She dropped her eyes. What good would a refusal do either of them? Except for a bag of nuts and raisins, she had nothing to offer this good man.

She raised her chin and regarded her ragged lieutenant. "Yes," she replied. "I will marry you."

"Thank you." Fitzgerald nodded seriously, as if she had done him a service, then held out his good hand for her to take.

She smiled grimly as she trudged back to her quarters, thinking of the two people who would most have enjoyed that moment.

Unfortunately neither Aunt Claire nor Lady Macnaghten was able to celebrate it.

December 26, 1841 The following morning, as Mariana huddled alone before the sitting room fire, wondering whether she should tell Aunt Claire of her engagement or keep it to herself, someone knocked on the door.

"Your Muns.h.i.+ Sahib has come," called Dittoo's m.u.f.fled voice.

Mariana jumped to her feet.

A moment later, supported by a solicitous Nur Rahman, the old man stood in front of her, wrapped incongruously in a yellow satin rezai, his golden qaraquli hat pulled low on his forehead.

He seemed to have grown smaller since she had seen him last.

She pointed to the straight-backed chair she had been sitting on. "Please sit down, Muns.h.i.+ Sahib."

Why on earth, she wondered, as he shuffled over to the fire and lowered himself onto the chair, had he left his bed in this weather to come all the way from the city to visit her?

He looked like a wizened king, with his golden rezai, and the boy crouched at his feet, pressing his legs rhythmically with both hands. His shallow coughing filled the little room.

It was the first time he had sat down in Mariana's presence.

"I have come, Bibi," he wheezed, "to learn whether Haji Khan's durood has borne fruit. Have you seen, heard, or smelled anything unusual while you were reciting?"

She nodded, remembering her vision for the first time in days.

"And may I know what you have seen?"

Looking into his calm, rheumy eyes, she forgot her fears and misery. She even forgot her horrid breakfast of black tea and dried mulberries.

Leaving out no detail, she described the rolling desert landscape of her dream, the camel bells signaling the presence of other travelers, the fresh breeze and the heavy, fecund moon that had seemed to promise her every happiness.

She told him of the peace she felt even now, as she spoke of it.

"But what does it mean, Muns.h.i.+ Sahib?" she asked, leaning toward him, her kingly little interpreter of dreams. "Does it contain the answer to the question I brought to Haji Khan three months ago?"

He regarded her for a moment, then signaled to Nur Rahman that he wanted to rise.

"It means, Bibi," he said mildly, as he prepared to leave her, "that you should not have made the promise that you made yesterday."

His words fell on her like a blow. "Why?" she breathed.

"You will see for yourself," he replied.

Then, wrapped in his golden quilt, he made his dignified way to the door.

A HUNDRED miles away, Ha.s.san and Zulmai stopped to water their animals at the silver river that wound toward them between flat, stony banks.

Ghulam Ali bowed his m.u.f.fled head against the wind and turned to signal to the animal drivers that straggled behind them.

Each morning for the past ten days, before the sun appeared over the tops of the mountains, the travelers had offered their prayers on the cold ground and taken a few swallows of water before folding their tents and starting off.

Each day they had made between eight and ten miles.

Today, having traversed four miles of rough terrain along a vague track, every member of the kafila, including Ghulam Ali, was yawning and famished.

A little distance away, Ha.s.san, dressed in embroidered sheepskins and an Afghan-style turban, clucked solicitously as he guided his silver mare down a shale slope to the river's edge, while the two dozen Turi tribesmen they had recruited from local villages stepped forward to fetch water for their tea.

They had come a long way from Peshawar, but even so, they had covered only half of the distance to Kabul, and the worst part of their journey still lay ahead.

Hurrying had been impossible. Throughout the long, uncomfortable journey from Kohat to Thal, as they struggled over bare, uneven ground cut by deep ravines, Ha.s.san had worn a concentrated look, as if he had put everything but this one, vital journey out of his mind.

Near Hangu they had met a rich caravan from the north, bringing horses with thick coats, and a hundred big Bukhara camels loaded with Russian fabric, dried apricots, and pistachio nuts.

The leader of the caravan had shrugged when Ha.s.san asked him for news of Shah Shuja and the British.

"The British are finished," he said. "Their main water supply was cut off long ago. Akbar Khan and his men have stopped them from buying food from the villages. For weeks now, anyone who strays more than a few yards from their cantonment has been shot.

"Many of their officers have been killed, including their two leaders. As for Shah Shuja," the man added, "it is only a matter of time before he, too, dies."

Ha.s.san's fist had opened and closed on his knee. "Have the British talked of leaving Kabul?"

The leader smiled. "Talk is all they do. These British do not fight. They cower, starving, behind their walls, sending message after message to Sirdar Akbar Khan. But he will not easily let them go after they knocked his father from the throne."

At Thal, Ha.s.san and Zulmai had turned northwest, and started up the long, fertile Kurrum River valley, pa.s.sing nomad family groups bringing their flocks down from the north, their camels festooned with cooking pots, live chickens, and tent hangings.

Now, as they let the animals drink, a group of such nomads walked by with their swaying camels, whose ankle bells c.h.i.n.ked with every step.

"Ho," called the headman, "where are you going?"

"To Kabul," Ha.s.san replied.

"What takes you to Kabul in this bitter weather," he asked, "when the scent of blood is in the air?"

"Family business," Ha.s.san replied shortly.

The headman looked him over. "For all your Afghan dress," he observed, "I see that you are Indian. Keep in mind that death awaits the infidel British and their Indian lackeys."

When Ha.s.san did not answer him, the headman shrugged and continued on his way.

The valley floor in front of them rose and fell in waves, with steep ascents and sudden descents. The road ahead had been cut into steep, curving hillsides in places. In others it ran along the gray s.h.i.+ngle of the riverbed, with its ribbon of silver water. At s.h.i.+nak Kili, distant mountains, now rose-colored, now magenta, frowned from the distance, and groups of villages beckoned, their haze of smoke promising warmth and company.

Ahead of them, a narrow, camel-neck of a road wound its way to the Shuturgarden Pa.s.s and the last leg of their journey.

Two days later, hunched against the cold, they followed a frozen riverbed through the high, winding Shuturgarden's most dangerous defile, a claustrophobic six-mile stretch between smooth rock walls so high that sunlight did not reach the stony riverbed below.

Of the pack animals, the stubborn, scrambling yabus fared best on the icy, uneven track. The mules were not as lucky.

"Undo its load!" Ha.s.san shouted, as Ghulam Ali and three other men ran, their shoes slipping, to haul a downed mule to its feet. "See if it has broken its bones!"

The animal had caught a forefoot between the stones, and fallen onto its side, crus.h.i.+ng some of the chickens tied to its back. As Ghulam Ali struggled with stiff fingers to release its load, several dead chickens, open boxes of tea leaves, and a stream of cooking oil lay in a messy heap at his feet.

With a wheezing cry, the mule got up, and stood on three legs, a twisted forefoot dangling off the ground.

"Shoot it," Zulmai ordered. "We will eat the dead chickens tonight. The rest of the load, except for the live birds, must be left behind."

This was the rule of the kafila. For each dead pack animal, a load would be abandoned. With each fallen hill pony or mule, something they needed would be lost: quilts, perhaps, or tents, rice, fodder, or tea.

The men would protect their own mounts to the last, and their weapons to the death.

Half the mules were gone. Five had already been shot, and a stealthy night raid by Ali Khel tribesmen two days before had cost the kafila twelve more, together with most of Ha.s.san's elaborate furnis.h.i.+ngs.

"I suppose," Ha.s.san offered ruefully that evening, as he and Zulmai ate chicken beside the fire in their tent, "that my stolen furnis.h.i.+ngs are serving some Afghan family well."

"It is lucky you did not keep your jewels and perfumes with those things," Zulmai replied. "Some tribesman would be wearing them all by now. In any case," he added as he wiped his fingers on the tail of his s.h.i.+rt, "most of your wealth is in that horse of yours."

Later, Ha.s.san tilted his chin toward the ragged escort they had acquired the day before. "These new guards of ours," he murmured, "they are Ghilzais, are they not?"

Zulmai nodded.

"Then they will know what is happening in Kabul."

"Yes, they will. Many of their people will have gone there to fight the British. Shall I ask them for news?"

Ha.s.san shook his head. "They cannot tell me of my family, and I cannot bear to hear them boast of their success."

"WHY ARE you so worried, Saboor?" Safiya Sultana demanded that afternoon, as they rode home from Sialkot in her family's roomy old palanquin. "Your Abba has already gone to fetch Mariam from Kabul. Why are you so afraid?"

She peered into her great-nephew's tear-filled eyes. "Have you had another dream, jan?" jan?" she asked, over the steady "hah-hah" of the palanquin bearers. "Have you seen something that has frightened you?" she asked, over the steady "hah-hah" of the palanquin bearers. "Have you seen something that has frightened you?"

But the child could only make the same sound that he had made for the past hour of their journey home from Sialkot: a small, helpless "o-o-oh" that seemed to come from the depths of his heart.

"I do not know what to do with him," Safiya Sultana confided to her brother after their arrival at Qamar Haveli. "I fear he has seen something too disturbing to speak aloud."

The Shaikh gave her a sharp look. "Allah forbid, is it possible that Mariam has died?"

"I do not believe so. If that were true, Saboor would be suffering even more than he is now."

"Send him to me after he has eaten," the Shaikh offered. "I will give him a verse to recite."

Safiya brightened. "A verse?"

"I am thinking of a small portion of the Qur'an, from Sura Ins.h.i.+rah, Expansion: Expansion: "So, verily, With every difficulty There is relief: Verily, with every difficulty There is relief."

His sister nodded.