The Temple Dancer (43 page)

With a sudden burst of energy, Victorio strode off, leaving Da Gama to
make his worried way alone.

Soon they were off. Slipper had arrived while they were gone, and had rearranged things to his liking, and was full of questions. Da Gama let Victorio do the talking.

The caravan was small-two palkis, one for Slipper, one for Victorio.
Bullock carts piled high with rolled-up formal tents, tent poles, ropes, and
cooking gear. Another bullock cart for camp servants. On horses, Da
Gama and a half-dozen guards handpicked by Commander Shahji. They
would get more palkis when they got to Belgaum.

What would Shahji say if he knew that Wall Khan was in league with
the Three-Dot clan, the most notorious bandits in the Southern Deccan?
Da Gama wondered.

"Where am I to travel, Deoga?" Mouse asked, staggering beneath the weight of his pack. He still had the grateful look Da Gama had seen the
night before.

"Who asked you to come?" came Victorio's voice from behind the curtain of his palki.

Mouse looked up, shocked. "Master. . ."

"You're to stay here. I don't need you, Mouse." The eunuch looked as
though he'd been stabbed. "I'm going to fetch my bride, aren't I? I can't
very well bring you along, can I? Wait at the factor. I'll introduce you to her
when the time is right." With that, Victorio's scaly hand swung the curtain
of his palki shut. He never saw Mouse's shattered look, or how he crept
away like a broken puppet. But Da Gama did, and cursed Victorio beneath
his breath.

All at last was ready, but once again Slipper was nowhere to be found.
Finally he appeared, smoothing his robe, from a nearby latrine. "It's so uncomfortable to stop out there in the wilderness, don't you think, Deoga?"
he said with an intimate smile as he walked past to his palki.

Slipper refused the palkiwallah's assistance. "Deoga shall help me," he
said, loud enough for all to hear. Da Gama shook his head in disbelief, but
Slipper simply stood waiting.

At last, with a frustrated grunt, Da Gama got down from his horse.
Only when he had offered Slipper his hand would the eunuch step into his
palki. "You are very kind, Deoga," the eunuch said. Then the eunuch
leaned close and whispered in his ear, "Mouse told me about the haratala.
You nasty man. Do you have an itch you cannot scratch? My dear fellow,
you should have told me! I have many poultices. Haratala and lots of others. We can share them anytime you wish." Slipper's breath tickled Da
Gama's ear.

Da Gama fixed the eunuch with a cold stare. "It's not what you think,"
he grunted. But Slipper's raised eyebrows and knowing smile were what the
company around him saw, and they drew their own conclusions. Da Gama
strode back to his horse with his ears burning.

"Let's get the hell to Belgaum," he shouted.

The caravan began to move.

"You alone," Lady Chitra said to Pathan, "appear to have kept your reason.

Even if Chitra could see him, Pathan would have kept his face just as
blank, his head as motionless. He sat for the first time in Chitra's vast
rooms, where the fragrance of a thousand roses filled the air, tugged to that
place by Lakshmi's tiny hand. The little girl peeked at the burak from behind Lady Chitra's shoulder, and for a moment Pathan considered winking
at her, just to see her reaction. But the moment was somber, and his mood
also, so instead he merely mumbled something to let Chitra know that he
had heard.

"Although you are a Muslim, you have acted civilly in my palace. I
have decided therefore to place some trust in you." Chitra's pebble eyes
glided beneath her half-closed lids. "I want you gone from here, all of you,
before those monsters come."

Pathan could not hide his surprise, though only Lakshmi saw it. "I
don't understand, madam."

Chitra sighed, but her back, straight as a ramrod, did not move. "You
do understand, sir. Only you pretend not to. Many men employ this strategy." Lakshmi whispered into Chitra's ear. "She tells me you're offended."

"No, madam. I am indebted to you for your courtesy. We all are."

Chitra snorted. "It is Commander Shahji's courtesy. I am but his hostess, a guest here myself. He has been kind to me as well." She leaned in
closer. "He said he knew your father. He said your father was a good man."
Pathan did not answer. "He told me I could trust you."

After a moment, Pathan answered. "Yes."

"The fragrance of the roses wet with dew, the peacocks' cries, the wet
smell of the lake breeze. You alone maybe have truly understood how special this palace is."

Again Pathan paused, then as if casting off a mask, he answered. "Yes."

Chitra smiled. He had never seen her smile, and the sudden beauty of
it as it burst on her soft face struck him like a blow. She was not old, he saw
now that she smiled, and she had been beautiful-more than beautifulnot that many years ago.

"I am glad you don't dissemble now. There is no place like this, not for
many miles. In Kashi, maybe, near the Ganges, or on the shore of Pushkar
Lake, or at the confluence of the rivers at Nasik, or in Puri maybe, or in
Kanyakumari which is my home. Here as in those places old Hindustan
still survives. Like a fragile flower, I maintain it here by my will. Do you
understand me?"

"Yes. I have felt it."

Chitra sighed. "I could tell that you too were special, Captain." She
lifted her hand before Pathan could say a word. "I was worried when you
came here, you and the farangs." Pathan looked uncomfortably at Lakshmi, who whispered at that moment in Chitra's ear.

"Leave us," Chitra said to Lakshmi. The girl seemed shocked by this
command. She stared at Pathan as she strolled away with exaggerated slowness. "You must speak frankly to me, Captain." She reached into the empty
air, searching for his hand. Pathan watched as she sought him, and with a
look of resignation, came closer to her. Her fingers closed around his wrist.

Her touch unlocked his heart. Suddenly he found himself telling Chitra everything. "What are you doing to me, madam?" he asked, as tears
spilled from his eyes. He could not stop himself or even slow his words. The bandits' deaths, the rescue. His awareness and growing feelings for
Lucy. His disgust at Geraldo's seduction of Maya. All this he told while
Chitra stroked his hand and sat unmoving, except for the wavering of her
sightless eyes.

She asked Pathan many questions about Geraldo and Maya. His every
answer seemed a needle that pricked her, but she kept on. At last she asked
no more, but sat silent, rubbing his hand. Lake birds cawed outside, and
that set the peacocks wailing.

Then she said, "Have you not loved before, Captain?"

He felt as though her hand were squeezing his heart, and once more his
tears began to flow. But he choked back his sobs and did not answer.

"When Kama shoots his arrows, Captain, no heart is safe, for their
sweetness is full of poison. Have you told the farang girl of your love?"

With the back of his free hand, Pathan smeared the moisture from his
cheeks. "She knows, madam."

"Don't confuse the issue. Have you told her, yes or no?"

Pathan swallowed his tears, ashamed to show such weakness. "Not like
that, madam."

"And of course she would not say such words to you."

"But I can tell. There are other ways than words."

"Not to the blind, Captain. And have you not heard that the heart is
blind?"

Pathan looked up at Chitra. "You are different than I expected,
madam."

"The Goddess keeps me so, Captain, not my own will." She sighed and
let go his hand. "Now, Captain, to the point. I don't want those others
coming here, that caravan from Bijapur. Deoga, maybe, I would not mind,
but not the others. Not that hijra, and not that old farang. I don't like what
little I've heard about him. He sounds too much like an aged version of the
farang Geraldo, and that one is a poison. I'm depending on you."

"But precisely, madam, what do you want?"

"I want you to go-take yourself and the other guests-and leave here
before the caravan arrives."

Pathan considered this. "My family's estate is not far from here. We
could meet the caravan there."

Chitra again gave that sumptuous smile, but this time Pathan could see that there was pain behind it. "Yes. If you don't mind, Captain. Do that as
a favor for me. Leave me now, as one leaves a corpse ... with regret, and
memories, but without a second look."

Pathan rose and bowed, full-knowing that Chitra could not see.

"One thing more, Captain. Tell your love. Tell before you step across
that bridge. The power of this palace will propel your words so that they
land deep inside her heart. She does love you, Captain, and she would be
happy."

Maya spent most of her time with Lucinda now. They talked little and
thought much, but each took comfort from the other's presence.

Maya had stayed with Lucinda for a while after Da Gama's letter had
been read, but finally she left, and found her way once more to Aldo's
room. She slid through his door as soft as moonlight. He looked so different in farang clothes. Before, he would have looked up right away, sensing
her arrival, but he had changed. Now his attention totally focused on whetting the blade of his black sword.

After waiting for a moment, she whispered his name, but he answered
without turning. "We have nothing to say now, you and I. What once was
has passed away. It's best that you leave now. Best that no one sees you
here."

Maya felt her face go pale. "You must tell about us, Aldo. I can't be
sold to the hijra. You can't imagine what they'll do to me. You must tell
what passed between us."

Only now did Geraldo look up, and a faint smile passed his elegant
lips. "Now I see how it is. You played me. You meant this from the beginning, didn't you? You meant to use our pleasure to your advantage."

"Did you not do that very thing with me?"

Geraldo gave a snorting chuckle. "Tell them yourself. I will say nothing." He turned back to his sword.

"But you must tell them. They won't believe me."

"You are right-they won't believe you. And without my word to back
you up, it's as though nothing ever happened. Oh, don't act innocent. You
got what you wanted."

"Aldo, I beg you!"

"Save your weeping. I'm sure it starts and stops at your command. Unlike you, my dear, I have no desire for a painful death." He smiled, but did
not look at her. "Anyway, what difference would it make? Perhaps a Muslim would be disgusted to know that I had plowed your furrow, or even a
Hindi. But what would a eunuch care? Aren't they lower even than
farangs? Besides, I think they have other plans for you."

Maya's skin grew cold. "What plans?"

"That box you carry with the sword inside. How does a nautch girl, a
devadasi, come to have a farang sword, one worth a lakh of hun? That
makes one think, that does. And then there's that bag, the missing bag, the
bag you gave Da Gama. What's in that bag, I wonder? I'd guess the eunuchs wonder, too. About those things, and about what else you own. And
about what else you know." Aldo's lips had stretched into a grin, but his
eyes were cold. "You don't look well. Do you want some air?"