The Dance of Time

from the south.'

One of the aides frowned. 'They won't stay in the passes, Your Majesty. They'll set off to raid the lowlands.'

'Of course they will. Better yet. We'll have a screen all over the northern Punjab of thousands of cavalrymen, who'll warn us of any large approaching enemy force. They'll scamper back to the passes when we need them, rather than face Malwa regulars in the open. Pathans are ignorant beyond belief, but they're not actually stupid. Not when it comes to war, anyway.'

She leaned back in her chair, basking in self-admiration. Not so much because she'd just relieved her husband of a great worry, but simply because-once again-she'd outfoxed clan chiefs.

'Tell the king he needn't worry about guarding his kingdom. With Pathan reinforcements, I can hold the passes against any Malwa army likely to be sent against us. He's free to do whatever his judgment dictates is the best course.'

She detested those old men. Absolutely, completely, thoroughly, utterly detested them.

'Ha!' she barked. 'If they'd sent their old women to negotiate, I'd have been lost!'

* * *

Emperor Skandagupta goggled at the telegraph message in his hand.

'Mathura? Mathura? How did an enemy army get to Mathura?'

The senior of the three generals facing him swallowed. His life and those of his two subordinates hung by a thread. As each week had passed since the beginning of Damodara's rebellion, the emperor's fury had become more savage. By now, there were over seven hundred heads or corpses impaled on the palace walls.

Still, he didn't dare lie. 'We're not sure, Your Majesty. Some of the reports we've gotten describe them as Rajputs.'

Skandagupta crumbled the message and hurled it to the floor. 'Why would Rajput rebels be moving north of Mathura? You idiot! If they came from Rajputana, they'd be trying to join up with Damodara.'

He pursed his lips and spit on the general. 'Who has still not been stopped by my supposedly mighty armies! You don't even know where he is, any longer!'

'Still far south of the Yamuna, surely,' said the general, in as soothing a tone as he could manage. 'A large army cannot move quickly, as you know. From your own great military experience.'

In point of fact, Skandagupta had no military experience at all, beyond sitting in a huge pavilion and watching his armies reduce rebel cities. But he seemed slightly mollified by the compliment.

'True,' he grunted. 'Still. . why have the reports been so spotty?'

The general didn't dare give an honest answer. Because most of the garrisons-and telegraph operators-flee before Damodara arrives at their towns and forts.

Instead, he simply shook his head sagely. 'War is very chaotic, Your Majesty. As you know from your own experience. Once the fighting starts, information always becomes spotty.'

Skandagupta grunted again. Then, pointed to the crumpled message. 'Give me that.'

One of the slaves attending him hastened to obey. After reopening the message and studying it for a moment, Skandagupta snarled.

The general and his two subordinates struggled not to sigh with relief. The snarl was familiar. Someone was about to die-but it wouldn't be them.

'Send a telegraph message to the governor at Mathura. The commander of the garrison is to be executed. The sheer incompetence of the man! If not-who knows? — treachery. Why didn't he march out at once in pursuit of the enemy?'

As one man, the generals decided to take that as a rhetorical question. To do otherwise would have been mortal folly. Because you ordered all garrisons to stay at their post no matter what, Your Majesty. .

Would not be a wise thing to say to Skandagupta in a rage.

'Whichever officer replaces him in command is ordered to lead an expedition out of Mathura-immediately and with the utmost haste-to deal with this new enemy. Whoever it is.'

'How many men from the garrison should he take, Your Majesty?'

Skandagupta slapped the throne's armrest. 'Do I need to decide everything? As many as he thinks necessary-but not fewer than thirty thousand! Do you understand? I want this new threat crushed!

That would strip the garrison of three-fourths of its soldiers. More than that, really, since the new commander was sure to take all his best troops with him. His best cavalry and foot soldiers, at least. The experienced artillerymen would remain behind, since there would be no way to haul great guns up the roads by the Yamuna without making the phrase immediately and with the utmost haste a meaningless term. But artillerymen alone could not possibly defend a city as large as Mathura.

None of the generals was about to say that to the emperor, however. As many heads and bodies as there were perched on the palace walls, there were twice as many still-bare stakes waiting. Skandagupta had ordered the walls festooned with the things.

'Yes, Your Majesty.'

* * *

Damodara and his army reached the Yamuna forty miles downstream of Mathura. They were met there by a small contingent of Ye-tai deserters from the garrison, who'd decided that the phrase Toramana's Ye- tai were words of wisdom.

'Yes, Lord-ah, Your Majesty,' said the captain in command of the contingent. 'Lord Shankara-he's the new garrison commander-led most of the troops out of the city three days ago. They're headed north, after another army that's invading-ah, rebelling-ah, rightfully resisting-'

Damodara waved the man's fumbling words aside. 'Enough, enough. How many did he leave behind?'

'Not more than eight thousand, Your Majesty.'

One of the other Ye-tai, emboldened by Damodara's relaxed demeanor, added: 'Most of them are piss-poor troops, Your Majesty. Except the artillerymen.'

Damodara turned his head and grinned at Rana Sanga. 'See? You doubted me! I told you I'd find siege guns-somewhere-and the troops to man them.'

He swiveled his head back, bringing the grin to bear on the Ye-tai. 'They'll be cooperative, yes?'

The Ye-tai captain gave one of his men a meaningful glance. That worthy cleared his throat and announced:

'My cousin commands one of the batteries. I'll show you the gate it protects.'

'They'll cooperate,' growled his captain.

Damodara now bestowed the grin on Toramana. 'I think these men will fit nicely in your personal regiment, don't you?'

'Oh, yes,' agreed Toramana. 'But I'm thinking I'll need to form another, before too long.'

Chapter 33

Mayapur

Kungas waited until the lead elements of Great Lady Sati's army had crossed the river and her chaundoli was just reaching the opposite bank of the Ganges. He'd had to struggle mightily with himself not to give the order to open fire when there was still a chance to catch Sati herself.

But that would have been stupid. The river was within reach of the big mortars, but the range was too great for any accuracy. They'd likely have missed Sati's chaundoli altogether-while leaving her close enough to the main body of her army to rejoin it and provide her soldiers with sure and decisive leadership.

'Open fire!'

The whole ridge above Mayapur erupted with mortar fire.

This way, the Malwa army would be almost as effectively decapitated as if they'd killed the bitch herself.