Free Empire of the Moghul: The Serpent's Tooth by Alex Rutherford Page A

force some thirty miles to the west.’ The messenger’s sweat-stained clothing showed the speed with which he had ridden to Burhanpur.
    Shah Jahan felt a shiver of excitement. At last this might be the opportunity to deal his elusive enemy a decisive blow. For a moment his mind raced, but then it was made up. ‘Take a fresh horse and return to Rai Singh. Tell him I’m bringing a force of horsemen and cannon-equipped elephants to join him. You said the Bijapurans were thirty miles away? If I ride hard with the vanguard of the cavalry, I can be with Rai Singh in under three hours.’
    As he hurried towards the
haram
after giving the necessary orders, Shah Jahan was smiling. He was tired of being played with by a disciplined enemy who appeared now here, now there, in hit and run raids only to melt away again before he could engage them fully.
    Mumtaz was sitting on a stool while Satti al-Nisa combed out her long hair. Jahanara was sitting close by reading aloud from a volume of poems by the Persian Firduz that Mumtaz loved. Jahanara was as much of a scholar as Dara or Aurangzeb, thought Shah Jahan.
    ‘What is it? You look excited?’ Mumtaz asked, stretching out her hand to him.
    ‘Good news at last – at least I hope so. My men have encountered a large group of Bijapurans. If I am quick we may finally have the battle I’ve been hoping for.’
    Mumtaz’s smile faded. ‘You again mean to go yourself, don’t you?’
    ‘I must. This is too great a chance to turn the campaign decisively in our favour to neglect.’
    ‘I hope it is indeed the turning point … and I’m sure it will be. Take care.’
    ‘I will.’ He bent to kiss her warm lips, then, at her urging, placed his hand for a moment on her belly to feel the kicking of the new life within her. The child wasn’t due for another month. He would be back long before then and perhaps with his campaign over. As he half ran from Mumtaz’s room, his mind was already focused on the fighting ahead.
    Three hours later Shah Jahan, who had just ridden up with the main body of his troops, followed the pointing arm of Rai Singh. ‘The rebels have occupied the old fort on that rock-strewn hill over there, Majesty.’ On the crown of the low hill about half a mile away he could see the crenellations of a dilapidated mud-brick fort. Some stretches of the wall appeared to have collapsed completely. The small fort would provide only limited protection for the enemy horsemen and foot soldiers he could make out moving about on the slope, but the hilltop position was a clear advantage. Some of the rebels were stationing themselves behind the stronger, more intact-looking portions of the walls. Others were dragging brushwood into the gaps in the defences or trying desperately to pile up fallen bricks and other rubble into makeshift barricades.
    ‘How long have they been up there?’ Shah Jahan asked.
    ‘We clashed with some of their scouts at first light. Once alerted to our presence the enemy quickly began to move up to the hilltop.’
    ‘I’m surprised they did not simply retreat, disappearing into the countryside as they have before.’
    ‘They have more infantry with them than I have known previously, and those men would not have got far on foot.’
    ‘About how many of them are there?’
    ‘No more than two thousand or so.’
    ‘We outnumber them then, but that’s no bad thing … As we attack up the slope we will be much more exposed than they will be behind the walls.’ Shah Jahan turned to Ashok Singh. ‘Have our horsemen surround the hill. Then once the war elephants with the small cannon arrive we will advance. There is no point in delaying.’
    The elephants took longer than he had anticipated to appear, during which time he could see the rebels continuing to work feverishly with their hands as well as picks and shovels to strengthen their makeshift fortifications. Shah Jahan could not relax. He ordered small parties of his musketmen to scramble up the