The War of the Grail (36 page)

Jack sighed again. He’d taken a big step forward, it seemed, but he still had a long distance to go.

And he was running out of time.

‘All I can do is keep trying,’ he said. ‘Before he died, Kanvar told me to try. I won’t let him down.’

Sonali went silent and stared at the ground at this mention of Kanvar. ‘We will cremate him when we get a chance.’

Jack cleared his throat. ‘Aye. When the firing stops. We owe it to him. All of us. He gave up everything to help the crusade, you know. His country, his people. Everything.’

Sonali nodded silently. ‘And if you keep trying, Jack, perhaps you can gain the power. That is our only hope now, I fear.’

Before Jack could reply, Mark scurried into the cramped space. ‘Master, the heathens have sent out a white flag again.’

Jack frowned. He now realised he hadn’t heard shelling for several minutes. Clearly the enemy had decided to stop firing at the fortress.

But why would Jhala want to talk again? Whatever the case, Jack had to find out.

‘Get my horse saddled up,’ he said to Mark. ‘I’m going down there.’

General Jhala stood staring up at the hill for a long time. His eyes were slightly moist and a cold wind ruffled his tunic. With his weathered face, he had the look of a hunter, of someone who’d lived outdoors for much of his life.

Jack stood nearby, studying his old guru. He’d known this man almost as well as he’d known anyone. They’d spent months together in trenches, out on patrol, tracking enemy troops in the wilds, on the battlefield. There’d been a bond of some sort between them. Jack was sure of that.

But now all he wanted to do was to kill Jhala. The thought throbbed white hot in his head.

How would he do it? He had no weapons on him, and Jhala’s entourage of five cavalrymen were sitting on their horses watching him from barely fifty yards away. If he tried to attack Jhala, they would set upon him in seconds. He doubted he could kill Jhala with his bare hands in such a short space of time.

What about Lightning? If he began meditating now, picturing the yantra in his head, he might be able to blast Jhala before anyone realised what he was up to.

Maybe.

But of course, all this planning was futile. He wasn’t going to kill Jhala, because he was down here to negotiate. While there was still a chance of getting a better deal for his people, he had to hold himself back.

And more than that, even if he did kill Jhala, he would then be killed instantly by the cavalrymen. There was no hope of him using Lightning against all of them quickly enough. They would ride across and cut him down with their scimitars, or simply shoot him with their carbines from where they were seated, all before he had a chance to retaliate.

How would he help to defend the fortress then? How would he protect his family? How would he keep on trying to use the Great Yantra?

Jhala clicked his tongue as he gazed up at the fortress. ‘The walls have held up well. I can see a bit of damage here and there. But, by and large, they’ve hardly been scratched.’ He turned to Jack. ‘Well built. Late-era English Caliphate, of course. You can tell by the battlements. Constructed for cannon.’

Jhala looked up at the fortress again. ‘Of course, there are several breaches in those walls already, aren’t there? And the gatehouse – no gates any more. That weakens the defences.’ He faced Jack and smiled slightly. ‘Makes my task a little easier.’

Jack’s face was glowing and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. For a second, he saw Kanvar lying dead beneath the rubble just a few hours ago. He felt the muscles in his face twitch at the effort of holding himself back from attacking Jhala.

‘We have injured,’ Jack said. ‘Many injured. Women and children included. We can’t look after them properly up there. We don’t have the right medicines.’

Jhala sighed. ‘If only you and your leaders hadn’t been so obstinate. Then we could have prevented all this. There really was no need for it. It saddens me so very much.’

‘I propose you allow the wounded to leave the fortress. We’ll put them on carts and they can travel to somewhere else as best they can.’

Jhala scratched his nose. ‘You propose that, do you? That is interesting. But you see, I don’t think you are in a position to put forward proposals.’

‘You can’t just let those people die.’

Jhala sucked on his teeth. ‘I would prefer civilians not to die. That is true.’ He took a deep breath. ‘I will therefore make a concession. This is not something I would ordinarily do. In fact, I can scarcely believe I’m doing it at all. Nevertheless, I will allow the wounded to come down, but only on the condition that
all
of you lay down your arms and come down too. All of you must surrender to me. The earl will be executed. The rest, as I said before, will go to East Europe.’ Jhala looked at his boots for a moment. ‘And you can still go free, Jack.’ He looked up again. ‘But this really is my final offer now. No more games. You must all surrender. Then this unpleasantness will all be over.’

Jack paused. Once again, his old commander had made what seemed a reasonable offer. But again, it was one the rebels could never agree to. He’d already spoken with the Earl of Shropshire, Sir Levin and Henry before coming out to meet Jhala. All had agreed they would remain in the fortress. They would fight, and they would never give in.

‘My leaders can’t agree to that,’ Jack said. ‘We will release the wounded. Everyone else wishes to stay.’

‘I see.’ Jhala nodded slowly. His eyes hardened. ‘Once again, you throw my offer in my face. I offer to spare you, Jack, set you free. And you spit it back at me.’

‘We can’t accept—’

‘What happened to you?’ Jhala’s cheeks were reddening slightly. ‘You were my best disciple. A fine soldier. And now here you are, a traitor. Why?’

Jack felt a tidal wave engulfing him. He clenched his fists tightly. He almost couldn’t breathe for a second at the effort of holding himself back.

With a strained voice, he said, ‘You ask me why I joined the crusade? There’s a simple answer – you. You threatened to kill my daughter. Why else would I turn against the empire?’

Jack hadn’t meant to say these words. But now that he had, he was glad. How much more was he going to be able to get from Jhala anyway? Did it matter what he said now?

Jhala blinked. ‘That is not fair. Your daughter had been arrested for aiding the enemy. She was only spared because of me. If I hadn’t stepped in, she would have hanged.’

‘You used her to control me. To force me to go after William.’

Jhala shook his head sadly. ‘Jack, Jack. What has become of you? You seem to have lost your mind, like so many of your countrymen. William was a traitor. He broke his oath. He had to be captured, and I was merely giving you a chance to save your daughter. That is all.’

Jack trembled with rage. ‘You should have spared her anyway. Without conditions.’

Jhala raised his chin and his eyes went dark. ‘I see. That is what you think, is it? You believe that I, somehow, betrayed
you
. Well, in that case, you are very much mistaken. I saved your daughter’s life the only way I could. I trained you to be a native siddha. Taught you the secret arts. I promoted you to sergeant.’ His eyes flashed. ‘I did everything I could to help you. I went far out of my way. My commander, Colonel Hada, said I was a fool to invest so much of my time in training natives, and yet I did. I staked everything on the scouting unit we built up. Everything.’

With a supreme effort, Jack forced himself not to punch Jhala in the face. ‘I’ll go back and tell my leaders what you’ve said.’

Jhala pushed up his bottom lip, his chin puckering. ‘I am so disappointed. When I heard you were in the fortress, I was certain we would find a way out of this situation. I was certain we would make peace and save as many lives as we could. Now I see I was wrong.’ His features darkened, as if a cloud had passed over him. ‘You tell your leaders what I’ve said. And tell them this also – if they do not accept my offer, I will raze that fortress, and everyone in it, to the ground. You have not even seen a fraction of my powers so far.’ Jhala paused and took a deep breath, his chest puffing up. ‘You would not believe how powerful I am now.’

‘I thought you were a blocked siddha.’ Jack blurted this out without even thinking about what he was saying.

Jhala narrowed his eyes. ‘I told you that, didn’t I?’ He stared into the distance. ‘I was blocked, that is true. I used a power too soon. But that doesn’t matter now. The rules have been broken. The laws have been cast aside.’

Jack went very still for a moment. Rules? Laws? Strange ideas bubbled in his head. ‘You mean the law of karma?’

Jhala raised an eyebrow. ‘Yes. I do mean that, in fact.’

Jack’s thoughts whirled now and a tingle crossed his skin. A veil seemed to be lifting from his eyes. Suddenly, he understood.

He reached into his pouch and drew out Katelin’s necklace. He hadn’t yet had a chance to give it back to Elizabeth. He held the cross up, the metal spinning slowly.

Jhala frowned. ‘What nonsense is this?’ Then he froze and stared hard at the necklace. His eyes widened, and he looked as though he’d been slapped in the face for a moment. Then his brow furrowed and he locked eyes with Jack. ‘You know about this, then?’

A smile crossed Jack’s face. He’d surprised, even unnerved, Jhala. Perhaps he shouldn’t be speaking about the yantra. And yet it had been worth it just to see the look on Jhala’s face. ‘Yes, we know about the Great Yantra.’ And now he went out on a limb. Now he tried to confirm what he’d suddenly come to believe. ‘The Great Yantra breaks the law of karma, doesn’t it?’ He waved the necklace. ‘The yantra unblocks you.’

Jhala’s expression soured. ‘I see. You know it purifies, then.’ He waved his hand dismissively. ‘It matters little. We have many more siddhas on the way, and new weapons will arrive in days. How many siddhas could you have up there? No more than a handful, I suspect. We will crush you. Even if you’ve learnt the secret now.’ Jhala pointed his finger at Jack. ‘You tell that to your leaders. Accept my final offer, or face being slaughtered. You have had only a small taste of what I will unleash on you. A very small taste.’

‘B
ut how did you know what the power of the Great Yantra was?’ Sonali asked. ‘You said you couldn’t use it.’

Jack gazed up at the sky as he sat next to Sonali on the edge of the Folly Brook camp. The shadows were lengthening and the clouds darkening. ‘It all just came together in my head. As Jhala was talking, I realised.’ He looked across at Sonali. ‘Jhala said he’d been able to learn new powers, despite being blocked. That’s like me, isn’t it? I’ve been able to do that a few times. Kanvar asked me whether there was any pattern to my special ability. I could never see one. It always seemed to just come at odd times. No rhyme or reason. But down there, with Jhala, I realised there has been a pattern after all.’ He looked down for a moment. ‘My dead wife, Katelin.’

Sonali looked at the ground as well. ‘How could Katelin help you?’

‘She didn’t help me. Not exactly. Her
memory
did. My special ability only came when I thought of her. And when I thought of her, I always pictured her wearing that necklace. My ability came four times: during the Siege of London, in Mahajan’s castle, at the spot where you used to bathe, and in the forest in north Shropshire. I thought about Katelin just before I broke the law each time.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I have this image of her in my head. She’s lying on her bed, near death, and on her chest is the Celtic cross. It’s the cross that did it. I’m sure of that now.’

‘You mean, you thought of the necklace and that gave you the power? The power to break the law of karma and learn a new yantra?’

‘Aye. It was as though I’d meditated on it for a moment. Just a split second, but that was enough.’

‘That is very quick.’

‘It is. But some yantras are quicker to use than others, aren’t they? Kanvar explained that to me once. The Lightning yantra is very quick. You just think of it for a few seconds and then you can use it. The Europa yantra takes a lot longer. I reckon the Great Yantra is just very quick to use.’

Sonali gazed intently at the ground. ‘But then, if you
did
use the power, why didn’t the knowledge come into your head?’