Wild Jasmine (29 page)

Salim eyed him speculatively. Was this brother the wiser of the two? “You are ambitious, Haider Khan, are you not?”

“I must be ambitious for myself, gracious lord. I am a middle son. There is little for a middle son if he does not take it,” came the honest reply.

Salim nodded. “And what do you want of me, Haider Khan?”

“A generalship in the future Mughal’s army,” Haider Khan told him frankly. “I enjoy war. There is still land to be taken in the Mughal’s name. I like women, and I like good wine, gracious lord, but best of all I like to fight. I have no conscience at all where killing is concerned. Men, after all, are born to die.”

“And what would you do for that generalship, Haider Khan?” Prince Salim demanded. He really didn’t have to ask. He already knew.

“Whatever my gracious lord commands of me,” came the predictable reply. Now Haider Khan smiled, showing strong white teeth.

Salim turned his dark gaze to Yaqub Khan. “And you, my poor disinherited friend, what would you do to regain Kashmir for yourself and for the sons and grandsons who will follow you?”

“
Anything!
” Yaqub Khan spat out. “Anything you want me to do!”

“Kill Jamal Khan?” Salim said softly. “Would you kill your own flesh and blood, Yaqub Khan, to regain your rightful inheritance?”

“Yes! But why?”

Salim considered a moment, but then he decided it was best to answer. His real reasons must remain secret for now, but he would give Yaqub Khan an explanation to satisfy him. “My father and I do not agree on many things, and I have on several occasions struggled against him,” Salim said. “It is an open secret that Akbar is dying. He has passed many of his responsibilities on to me already. Jamal Khan was not my choice to be governor of Kashmir.”

“Who was?” Yaqub Khan asked.

“You were,” replied Salim cleverly. “I, too, am an elder son, Yaqub Khan. Recently my own father has threatened to disinherit me because of our disagreements. I know how you feel. I told my father that your rebellions were a thing of the past; that I trusted your sworn word to us to keep the peace. Still, he would not listen to me. I do not want my brother-in-law as Kashmir’s governor.
I want you!
”

“Then why not simply replace Jamal Khan with me after the Mughal’s death?” Yaqub Khan demanded suspiciously.

“My father sealed Jamal Khan’s fate when he appointed him Kashmir’s governor for life. I cannot override that appointment even after Akbar’s death. Therefore, the only thing I can do is have Jamal Khan killed,” Salim explained reasonably.

“Why not hire an assassin?” Haider Khan asked.

“An assassin could later betray me,” Salim said quietly, “but the new governor of Kashmir and one of my most powerful generals would not betray me, would they, Haider Khan?”

“I want the girl then too,” Yaqub Khan told Salim.

“
The girl?
” Salim was puzzled.

“Your sister, Yasaman Kama Begum,” Yaqub Khan answered.

“You would make her your wife?” Salim said, restraining his anger. Did this fool actually think he would give him Yasaman? Yaqub Khan’s reply almost rendered Salim apoplectic, but because of what was involved, he managed by a supreme burst of will to remain calm.

“I have four wives. I see no advantage in divorcing any of them,” Yaqub Khan said. “They have all given me sons. No, I want your sister as a hostage to ensure your kindness toward me. I will make her a concubine in my zenana. She will be well treated, I promise you. I am not unaffected by her beauty. I will probably give her several sons, which should bind us even closer once our blood has commingled. It is not that I do not trust you, gracious lord, but I am certain were you in my place, you would do all you could to protect yourself and your family.”

“Of course! Of course,” Salim said. “I suppose Yasaman would not object to remaining in Kashmir. She likes it there. Very well, Yaqub Khan, I will give you my sister for a concubine; but you must understand that I cannot let you have her until after my father is dead. I do not have that power. Besides, she will want a time to mourn her husband, as is only proper.
She is young and fancies herself in love. Girls always feel that way about a man with a skillful lingham.” He chuckled, and then as suddenly turned serious. “So it is agreed? You will kill Jamal Khan as quickly as possible?”

“Yes, gracious lord,” the two brothers chorused.

“I have a suggestion,” Salim told them. “It is best that it look like an accident. Find your brother and go with him to visit the emperor’s elephants. The keepers are rarely in evidence at midday because of the heat. Render Jamal Khan unconscious and then throw him among the beasts. If they do not panic at the sight of his prone form, then stir them up so that they crush him beneath their mighty feet. When he is found, it will be assumed his death was a terrible happenstance.”

Yaqub Khan nodded. “Yes,” he agreed. “That is a fine suggestion, gracious lord. How soon afterward will I be appointed Kashmir’s governor?”

“You must be patient, Yaqub Khan. There will be much distress over Jamal Khan’s death. My sister, his wife, will grieve greatly at first, and my father’s health may be affected by the tragedy. Trust me, my friend. I will be in your debt. I cannot betray you. When my father is ready to listen to reason, I will put forth your name again.”

“And what if he again bypasses me in favor of another?” Yaqub Khan demanded. “I could do your bidding and once more find myself the loser. What guarantees do you give me, gracious lord?”

“You have my word, Yaqub Khan. I will not allow my father to appoint anyone else governor of Kashmir after Jamal Khan’s death. Remember, Akbar is dying. We have time on our side. Trust me.”

“I trust you, my lord!” Haider Khan told Salim.

“If you betray me, Salim Muhammad,” Yaqub Khan said softly, “I will find some way to repay your treachery, even if I must come out of Hell to do it.”

Salim smiled broadly. “You will have your due, Yaqub Khan, I swear it. Everything you deserve will shortly be yours, I promise.”

The two brothers left him as secretly as they had come, and Salim sat contemplating his plans. Soon he would have everything he wanted. Soon he would be Grand Mughal and Yasaman would be at his side to share his life and his triumphs. He needed to be patient just a little longer.

Chapter 7

T
he newly appointed governor of Kashmir, Prince Jamal Darya Khan, was dead. He had been found in an elephant stable, crushed beneath the feet of a frantic, newly delivered female. It was at first assumed that the young man had, in his curiosity, strayed too close to the baby elephant, and the mother had reacted in what she believed was a need to protect her infant.

The emperor was informed of this monumental tragedy by a nervous elephant keeper who was rushed into his presence. Akbar had been sitting enjoying a cup of mint tea with his wife, Rugaiya Begum, when the man was brought to him.

The keeper delivered his bad news, then seeing that they were alone, said suddenly, “It was not an accident, gracious lord. I saw it all!”

The Mughal stiffened. “
What?
” he asked, uncertain that he had heard correctly. “What did you say to me?”

“It was not an accident,” the keeper repeated from his uncomfortable position, on his knees before his ruler.

“Explain yourself! If you do not tell me the exact truth, I will have your tongue yanked from your head,” Akbar said furiously.

“Prince Jamal came to the barns at midday with his two brothers, Prince Yaqub and Prince Haider, gracious lord. I warned them to beware of that female in particular, as she had only given birth this morning. Then I left to get some water. When I returned but a minute later, Yaqub Khan and Haider Khan were lifting the prone, unconscious body of Prince Jamal over the gate into the elephant mother’s pen. She was wild with terror and had already begun to trumpet her fear.” The keeper hung his head in shame. “I was frightened, gracious lord. I know I should have shouted to them, but when I saw what they were doing, I was afraid. I am a poor and humble man. They might have blamed me for the terrible deed, and because they are rich and powerful, they would have been believed.
Besides, I was not in time to stop them. I feared that if they saw me, they would kill me too.

“As soon as they had deposited him in the female’s pen, they began to cry for help as if it were an accident. I ran also to the pen to see if I could save Prince Jamal. But alas! His skull was already crushed beneath the feet of the terrified mother elephant. There was nothing else I could do but come to you, gracious lord, and throw myself upon your mercy,” the keeper concluded. He prostrated himself fully before the emperor.

“You are absolutely certain of what you saw?” Akbar asked the elephant keeper numbly. “These are serious charges you make against Yaqub Khan and Haider Khan. How are you certain that it was them?”

The elephant keeper raised himself up slightly, saying, “Haider Khan keeps a magnificent fighting elephant in the royal barns. I have had the privilege of attending the beast, gracious lord. This prince has spoken to me on several occasions. Once he came with his brother. Yaqub Khan. Haider Khan introduced me to him and told him that I was the finest elephant keeper in all the royal stables. I would know him anywhere!” The keeper threw himself flat again.

Akbar could feel Rugaiya Begum shaking as she sat next to him. She was obviously suffering from shock. “Arise, good keeper, and go back to the stables,” he told the man. “Say nothing of what you have seen or what you know to anyone, on peril of your life. I will administer justice fairly. Those involved will atone with their lives for this terrible crime before the hour is past. If Jamal Khan’s brothers thought to replace him in Kashmir, they have committed this crime for naught.”

The keeper scrambled quickly to his feet. He had known the emperor his entire life. He knew that his word was good. Bowing himself out of the room, he ran to do Akbar’s bidding, thinking that the worst being over, he would gain a certain stature from being among the discoverers of Jamal Khan’s body.

Rugaiya Begum began to weep softly, but Akbar ignored her, calling for his guard instead. “Find Yaqub Khan and Haider Khan, the sons of Yusef Khan,” he told the captain of his guard. “Bring them here to me quickly with as much discretion as you can manage. And send someone to find my daughter, Yasaman Kama Begum. Bring her to me also.”

The captain of the guard hurried off.

“What can we tell her?” Rugaiya Begum sobbed. “This will
kill my child for certain. She loves Jamal Khan with all her heart and soul. There will never again be another man for her!”

“She must know the truth, my wife,” Akbar replied, “even though it causes her great pain. She is my daughter. She is strong. I want her here when the murderers are brought before me so that she may hear their explanation for this horrific crime. There is more to this than meets the eye, Rugaiya. I feel it!”

“It is Salim!” Rugaiya Begum said bitterly. “He is behind this, and no one else! His desire for her must burn as strongly as it ever did. He knows his time to rule is coming. He but prepared the way for himself that he may have Yasaman as well. We must not let him, my husband!”

Akbar paled. “Do not say it, my wife.
Do not say it!
Salim knows that a sensual relationship with his sister is not only repellent, but forbidden by both man’s law and God’s law. Surely he would not try to defy nature.”

“When did either man or God, or even Akbar, ever stop Prince Salim Muhammad in his quest for what he desired?” Rugaiya Begum replied harshly. “He has been out of control his entire life. You should have recognized he was unfit when he was a boy. Instead you made him the heir. Daniyal was more fit, but it is too late for poor Daniyal, lost in his grape and poppy haze.”

They sat in silence for several long minutes. Then the door to the room opened to admit Yasaman. She was wearing a pale blue and gold sari, and her dark hair was braided with strands of small pearls. She looked so happy.

“You called me, my father?” she said, coming to him and kissing his cheek.

Akbar drew her down between Rugaiya Begum and himself. “I have terrible news, my daughter. I will not hold back because nothing will couch the blow I must deliver to you. Jamal Khan is dead.” The emperor tightened his arm about his youngest daughter to comfort her.

“
How?
” Yasaman’s voice was distant and without emotion.

“It appears he was murdered, my child,” Akbar told her, and repeated the elephant keeper’s tale.

“
Why, my father?
” She was suddenly cold. Terribly cold. Jamal dead? No! It could not be, but why would they lie to her?

“I have ordered Yaqub Khan and Haider Khan brought to me immediately, Yasaman, my child,” she heard Akbar say.
“They will tell us before they die why they have committed this deed.”

Once more silence descended upon the room. Yasaman was struggling to digest what her father had told her, but she could still not quite believe his words. It seemed so unreal. Like some horrible dream from which she could not awaken, although she was sure when she did, Jamal would be beside her.