‘You there!’ Humayun rose and pointed a trembling finger towards Asaf Beg. ‘You are impudent and you will pay for your disrespect. Guards — take him into the courtyard outside and give him fifty lashes. Think yourself lucky, Asaf Beg, that you are losing only the skin off your back and not your head.’
There was a collective gasp followed by shocked silence. Then a voice spoke. ‘Majesty. .’
Humayun swung round, determined to tolerate neither contradiction nor criticism, but saw that it was Kasim who had spoken. At the real concern showing again on the face of the man whom he trusted and who had served both his father and himself well, Humayun’s rage began to ebb. At the same time he realised his breathing was ragged, his pulse was racing and his forehead was beaded with sweat.
‘What is it, Kasim?’
‘I’m sure that Asaf Beg meant you no disrespect, Majesty. . I beg you to reconsider.’
Asaf Beg, pale and with no trace of a smile now on his wide mouth and usually cheerful face, was gazing pleadingly at Humayun. To be publicly flogged would bring terrible shame on him and all his clan, Humayun knew. He also recalled Asaf Beg’s bravery in battle. He was already regretting his action.
‘Kasim — you speak well, as always. Asaf Beg, I pardon you. But do not test my patience again or you will not find me so merciful.’ Humayun rose — the signal for his council to disperse, which they seemed to do more quickly than usual. As he sat down again Humayun found himself shaking. The carpet had lost its lustrous charm. It was growing late. Perhaps he should return to his apartments to rest. But as he entered them, he was surprised to find Khanzada waiting for him.
‘What is it, Aunt?’
‘Dismiss your attendants. I must speak with you alone.’
Humayun gestured to his servants and to Jauhar to leave. The double doors had barely closed behind them before she began. ‘I witnessed what happened at the council meeting from behind the jali screen. Humayun. . I had not thought it possible. . first you behaved like a man in a trance and then like a lunatic. .’
‘My council do not always understand that what I am doing is for the best, but you should. It was you who first taught me the value of display to a ruler — you who suggested the weighing ceremony and encouraged me to use ritual as an aid to governing. .’
‘But not to the exclusion of humanity or reason. .’
‘Under the tutelage of the stars I have devised new patterns and new procedures. Government will become simpler. If my counsellors and advisers follow my guidance the tedium of time spent in the audience chamber will be reduced, leaving me free for the further exploration of the unplumbed depths of the heavens.’
‘Forget the stars.You’re obsessed with them and are losing your hold on reality. I’ve tried to warn you before but you wouldn’t hear. Now you must or you risk losing everything you’ve striven for — everything your father achieved. . Humayun, are you even listening to me?’
‘Yes, I am.’ But Khanzada was wrong, he was thinking. . only in the patterns of the stars and the planets could he find the answers to other questions that had long fascinated and tormented him. Whether everything was somehow predestined by the heavens? Whether his father’s early death had been part of some greater plan? How much of a man’s destiny rested in his own hands? How much was preordained, like the position and the family into which he had been born and the responsibilities and privileges that flowed from it? And how could he know. .? An old Buddhist monk whom he had visited in his youth in the monk’s solitary retreat by one of the great statues of the Buddha — cut into the cliffs of the Bamian Valley a hundred miles west of Kabul — had told him that, given the precise date, time and place of his birth, he could foretell not only the course of his life but as what animal he would be reincarnated in the next. The idea of reincarnation was nonsense to him, but what of the rest? Of one thing he was already sure — that with the star charts and tables and records of events long past that he spent so much time studying and that in his opium-fuelled dreams came alive for him, he could create a framework for living and ruling and was already well along the way to doing so.
‘Humayun! Won’t you even answer me?’
Khanzada’s voice seemed to be coming from far off and as he stared at her she seemed to diminish in stature, becoming a little doll animatedly waving her arms and waggling her head. It was almost comic.
‘You smile when I speak of the danger you are in. .’ Khanzada’s firm grip on his arm, the sharpness of her nails digging into his flesh, brought him back to reality. ‘You will hear me out. There are things that must be said. . that perhaps only I can say. . but remember I speak only from love.’
‘Say what you wish.’
‘Humayun, you spend your days fuddled with opium.You used to be a ruler, a warrior.What are you now but a dreamer, a fantasist? I never thought I’d have to say these words to you. . but a leader must be strong, he must be decisive. His people must know that they can look to him at all times. You know that. How many times in the past have you and I not discussed such things? Now you seldom visit me. . And when I look around the court, I see expressions of fear and uncertainty and hear uneasy laughter behind your back. Even to those who’ve known and served you long and loyally — like Kasim and Baba Yasaval — you’ve become like a stranger. They no longer have confidence in your judgement. They never know how you will react — whether you will approve their actions or whether you will be angry. Sometimes they can get no coherent guidance or direction from you for hours. . even days. .’
Never before had Khanzada spoken to him in this way and he felt resentment stir. ‘If you or my courtiers disapprove of my decisions and of how I choose to govern my empire, it is because you do not understand. But in time you will come to see that everything I’m doing is for the best.’
‘Time is not on your side. If you do not rule as you should, the eyes of your nobles and commanders will turn to your half-brothers — to Kamran in particular. Think, Humayun. He’s only a few months younger than you and has already proved himself an able warrior and a strong governor of his province. Babur’s blood and Timur’s too flows through his veins just as it does through yours.You know he is ambitious — ambitious enough to have already plotted against you.You have no reason to think he won’t do so again. Hasn’t it occurred to you to wonder why Gulrukh has insinuated herself into your favour, why she plies you with that brew of hers? Instead of gazing into the infinite mysteries of the stars it better befits an emperor to peer deep into the minds of those around him. Remember what I once told you. . always to look for the motive. Gulrukh could never encourage open revolt against you in favour of Kamran and Askari. . how much cleverer and more subtle of her to undermine you gradually with opium. And as your powers weaken and fade and your subjects begin to despise the ruler they once admired, what would be more natural than for them to turn to one of her sons? Remember also the fate of Ulugh Beg. When he — like you — became obsessed with the stars and what they could tell him about the purpose of life, one of his sons had him murdered and took his throne.’
‘You speak out of anger and jealousy. You resent the fact that I have taken your thoughts on ceremony and, with the stars’ aid, improved them beyond your narrow comprehension. You resent my not needing you as I once did, that I am a grown man who takes his own decisions and has no need of the advice of women — not yours, nor Gulrukh’s nor any of you. . You should know your place — all of you.’
Khanzada’s gasp told him how much he had hurt her, but she needed to be reminded of certain things. Much as he loved and respected her, he, not she, was emperor and he would decide how he would rule.
‘I have done my best to warn you. If you choose not to listen there is no more I can do. .’ Khanzada’s voice was low and measured but he could see a vein throbbing in her temple and that her body was trembling.