enforce the policy. Priscus was one of those bucellarii himself, and normally had no quarrel with the policy. Today, clearly enough, discipline was straining at the leash.
Belisarius returned the stare with one that was just as hard, if not angry. 'Don't be stupid, Priscus,' he said calmly. 'Most of those soldiers are just following orders. And after they finish butchering the civilians, we're going to need
His lips quirked for a moment, before he offered the consolation prize. 'Mahaveda priests, on the other hand, are unaccustomed to hard labor. So I don't believe there's any need to keep
Priscus scowled, as did Isaac and the rest of Belisarius' small squad of bodyguards. But none of them made any further argument or protest.
'Cheer up, lads,' said Maurice. The words were accompanied by a burbling laugh so harsh it sounded like stones clashing in a torrent. 'Nobody said anything about making their life easy.'
The chiliarch-the term meant, literally, 'ruler of a thousand,' though Maurice commanded far more than a thousand men-turned in his saddle and grinned at Priscus and the other cataphracts. The teeth, shining in his rough-hewn, high-cheeked, gray-bearded face, gave the man more than a passing resemblance to an old wolf.
'We may not work the bastards to death,' he continued cheerily. 'Not
His words, beginning with 'bastards to death,' were punctuated by a ripple of sharp, cracking explosions.
'They're destroying the big guns at the harbor,' pronounced Gregory.
No sooner were those words out, than a sudden roar erupted from the city. The sound of a gigantic explosion billowed across the countryside. A large part of Barbaricum-the port area, it seemed-vanished under a huge cloud of smoke and debris.
'They're blowing the whole harbor area itself, now.' Gregory grimaced. 'I'd have thought they'd wait a bit. Most of the men destroying the guns must have been caught. ' His words trailed off, as he shook his head.
Belisarius was a bit surprised himself. Malwa artillery was staffed exclusively by Malwa kshatriya, the warrior caste. As a rule, the Malwa tended to coddle that elite class. He had expected the Malwa commander of Barbaricum to try to include the kshatriya in the break-out.
There won't be a break-out, said Aide suddenly. No way to be sure, but.
As with Gregory, faced with such incredible ruthlessness, Aide's thoughts trailed into silence. Belisarius could almost picture the crystalline equivalent of a headshake.
Belisarius completed the thought, speaking aloud for the benefit of the men around him.
'At a guess, I'd say the Mahaveda have usurped command in Barbaricum. Probably had the actual military commander summarily executed. For incompetence, or dereliction of duty-whatever. The priests will be running the show entirely, from now on.'
Clearly enough, from the look of satisfaction which came over the faces of Maurice, Gregory, and his bodyguards, that thought caused them no great discomfort. None at all, truth be told.
'Good riddance,' muttered Isaac. 'Let the bastards all burn in hell.'
Priscus rumbled a laugh, of sorts. 'Nice. We can just sit out here and watch them fry.'
Gregory's face was now creased with a frown. 'Maybe not. If there are any Kushans in Barbaricum, I'd be surprised if they didn't mutiny. Once they finally understood what the priests have in store for them.'
Belisarius began to speak, but fell silent once he saw Maurice shake his head. Unlike Gregory, who had been preoccupied with off-loading his troops' equipment, Maurice had been present two nights before when Belisarius heard the report of the spies returned from Barbaricum.
'There aren't any Kushans here,' announced Maurice. 'In fact, according to our spies, the Malwa are pulling them out of the Indus entirely.' Again, he grinned like a wolf. 'I'm willing to bet Kungas has been chewing his way through central Asia, and the word is spreading. Apparently, several thousand Kushans stationed in the upper valley mutinied. Last anyone saw, they were heading up the Jhelum, with the heads of Mahaveda priests and Malwa kshatriya-and not a few Ye-tai-perched on their pikes.'
Geography was not Gregory's best subject. 'What's the Jhelum?'
'One of the tributaries of the Indus,' replied Belisarius. 'It provides the easy access-relatively easy, that is-to the Hindu Kush. And Peshawar, where Kungas plans to rebuild the Kushan capital.'
'Oh.'
Priscus laughed. 'Oh! The fucking Malwa empire is starting to come apart at the seams.'
Belisarius saw no reason to correct the cataphract's overly optimistic assessment. In reality, he knew, the great Malwa empire-still the world's most powerful-could hardly be described as 'coming apart at the seams.'
True, the northwest Deccan was lost entirely, except for Bharakuccha and the lowlands along the Narmada river. But the Malwa conquest of the Andhra empire was only a few years in the past, and the region had never really been incorporated by the Malwa. Even the southern and eastern portions of conquered Andhra had been sullen and restive. The northwest-Majarashtra, the heartland of the Marathas-had never stopped fighting openly, even before Shakuntala escaped captivity and provided the rebels with a rallying point.
As for the Kushans.
They never fit very well into the Malwa scheme of things, said Aide. Not pampered and privileged like the Ye-tai, not locked in by custom and tradition like the Rajputs-a square peg in a round hole. Always were, at the best of times. They were bound to break away, given any chance at all.
After a moment's silence, Aide continued his thoughts:
You can't say the Malwa empire is 'coming apart at the seams' until the heartland erupts in rebellion. The Ganges valley where the tens of millions of Malwa subjects are concentrated. And not just rebels in the forests of Bihar and Bengal, either. Peasants in the plain, and townsmen in the great cities. That's what it will take. And they won't risk rebellion-not after the massacre of Ranapur-unless they see a real chance of winning. Of which there is none, so long as the Malwa dynasty stays intact and commands the allegiance of the Ye-tai and Rajputs.
Again, a moment's silence. Then, in a thought filled with satisfaction: Still. I think it's fair to say that cracks are showing. Big ones.
Belisarius said nothing in response. In the minutes that followed, as one great explosion after another announced the rolling destruction of Barbaricum, he never even bothered to watch. He was turned in the saddle, staring to the northeast. There, somewhere beyond the horizon, lay Rajputana. That harsh and arid hill country was the forge in which the Rajputs had been created.
The Malwa will still have the Ye-tai, cautioned Aide. The Ye-tai have nowhere else to go. Especially if Kungas succeeds in reconquering the lands of the former Kushan empire, where the Ye-tai once had their stronghold. Before they accepted the Malwa offer to become the most privileged class in India after the Malwa themselves.
Belisarius smiled crookedly. 'Nowhere else to go?' Don't be too sure of that, Aide. Enterprising men-especially ones who can see the handwriting on the wall-can find avenues of escape in many places. What was it that fellow said? The one you told me about in the future that would have been, who made so many fine quips.
Dr. Samuel Johnson. 'Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.'
Chapter 23
The Deccan
Rana Sanga kept his eyes firmly fixed on the ivory half-throne which supported the flaccid body of Lord Venandakatra. Not on the Goptri of the Deccan himself. Much like Venandakatra's face-with which Sanga had become all too familiar in the weeks since Damodara's army had arrived in the Deccan-the chair was carved into a
