Chapter Thirty-three


"So what do you think?" Jonny asked, peering down the mountainside toward a somewhat decrepit section of the wall surrounding the Palace. "It looks climbable. Assuming we can get inside, can you get us into your secret passageway from there?"

Hadji looked at the wall doubtfully, then surveyed the visible section of the Palace. "This is the oldest section of the original building. It is sealed off from the rest of the Palace, and I have never been there. There is no way of knowing whether the secret passages run into this area, whether we would be able to get out of the sealed-off sections once we are inside, or even what condition the walls and floors are in. It could be extremely dangerous."

"Well, I'm open to other suggestions."

Hadji was about to answer, when loud noises drifted up from below, attracting their attention. Staying low and darting from one patch of cover to the next, the two young men moved parallel to the Palace wall, heading toward the main gardens fronting the Palace. One final sprint took them into a grove of trees that perched precariously on the steep slope about 300 yards from the front corner of the Palace. Picking their way carefully through the undergrowth, the two of them knelt at the edge of the screen of trees and peered down toward the main gate. A large throng of people milled outside the entry and even at this distance the angry shouts could be heard. A line of Royal Guardsman stood between the mob and the door to the Palace. All of them were armed and they had their weapons trained on the mass of people before them.

"Oh, I don't like the look of this," Jonny muttered softly to Hadji.

"Something is seriously wrong," Hadji replied in agitation. "The Palace Guard is not an armed regiment."

Suddenly, movement within the gate caught their attention and they watched as a man stepped forward. He was was splendidly dressed in a brilliantly colored caftan and wore a large turban on his head. He was tightly surrounded by another group of guards, but these wore a different sort of uniform. Where the Palace Guard wore uniforms of a deep blue, these men were dressed in brilliant scarlet. They also wore a different type of headgear. The Royal Guard wore a standard white turban, while the guards that surrounded the new arrival wore a fez-style headdress with a large plume.

"Who the hell are they?" Jonny asked.

"Janissaries," Hadji said, making the word sound like a curse.

"Who is it they're protecting?"

Hadji stared at the lavishly dressed man intensely. "I cannot tell . . ."

Suddenly, the man gestured violently and spun to return the way he had come. Several members of the mob stepped forward, yelling at his retreating back.

"No!" Hadji exclaimed wildly, starting to surge forward.

Jonny grabbed at him, dragging him back down into the cover of the trees. "No, Hadji!" he exclaimed, just as shots began echoing through the early morning air. As they watched, six men at the front of the group fell as the Janissary guardsmen turned their weapons on the crowd. After a moment, the remaining men and women fell back, then ran as the Janissaries began to move toward them. Finally, the soldiers broke off their advance and turned back toward the Palace gate. Even from that distance, Jonny and Hadji could tell that they were laughing. As they walked by, the lead guardsmen administered a vicious kick to one of the bodies lying in the dirt. Then, they all disappeared into the Palace, leaving their victims lying where they had fallen.

Hadji let out a low moan and lowered his head onto his knee while Jonny continued to watch grimly. For a long time, no one approached the fallen men. Finally, four of the Palace guardsmen who had been shoved to one side by the arrival of the Janissaries, moved forward. Gesturing to the others, they approached the fallen men and checked them. Jonny saw one of them motion to a man near the palace entrance. The man disappeared, but returned shortly carrying something. As he watched, the guardsmen carefully wrapped the bodies in what appeared to be sheets and then gestured to the slowly reassembling crowd. Several men stepped forward to pick up the shrouded forms and then the crowd finally dispersed, taking the dead with them.

"There was nothing you could have done, Hadji," Jonny muttered to his brother softly. Catching his arm, he drew him back more deeply into the trees. "Come on, let's get out of here." Making their way silently back up the slope, they retreated to their hiding place on the mountainside once more. Jonny watched Hadji carefully for a long time after they had settled in. He was tense and unnaturally silent. Finally, Jonny asked, "Are you okay, Hadj? Honestly, there was nothing you could've done."

"We climb that wall at first dark," was Hadji's only reply.



~ ~ ~ ~ ~



Jonny and Hadji remained hidden on the mountainside for the rest of the day. No one had come anywhere near their hiding place, and they spent the time trading off sleeping and keeping watch. Hadji had said very little, even though Jonny had tried to get him to talk more than once. The sun had begun to drop toward the tall mountain peaks behind them and twilight was about half an hour away when Hadji suggested, "Perhaps we should begin moving down the mountain. The pilgrim's path is easy enough but I believe it might be wise to avoid the trail where we can. Our risk of being spotted is much greater out in the open."

"Agreed. We also need to scope out the exact spot we're going to try to climb. We need to find a place where we can take out the grillwork, get through it, and then put it back so it won't appear to have been disturbed. I think I saw a place where we may be able to do that, but I want to take a closer look. That will take some light."

Hadji nodded. "Let us get started, then."

They worked their way down the mountain silently, flitting carefully from one patch of cover to the next. Finally, the two came to a stop in a patch of shrubbery about 50 feet from the foot of the outer Palace wall. Jonny's eyes raked the area, noting the uneven surface of the wall and the high latticework at the top. Even from this distance, one section of it looked to be slightly out of alignment.

Jonny leaned over and placed his lips up to Hadji's ear and breathed softly, "I think this is our best bet." Hadji scanned the wall and then nodded in agreement. Seeing no sign of movement anywhere, Hadji made a questioning gesture toward the wall. Jonny shook his head sharply. "No," he whispered softly in reply, "let's wait for nightfall. The darkness will cover our movements and we want to be certain things have settled down for the evening. Also, although we know they don't patrol the perimeter during the day, we need to find out if they've started doing it at night." Hadji nodded again and the two of them settled in to wait as dusk shaded swiftly toward full dark. Over the course of the next three hours, several groups of guardsmen passed along the wall, but none of them appeared to be regular patrols. When the third group had passed, Jonny squeezed his brother's arm and whispered softly, "Wait here." Then, before Hadji could protest, Jonny slipped silently down to the edge of the path that led along the wall and followed the guardsmen. He was back within ten minutes. "The guards on the back door have a mahjong game going. Our friends were en route to join them," he told Hadji softly. "What time does the guard normally change?"

"Nightfall and again at dawn," Hadji whispered. "If whoever is in control of the Palace has not changed that schedule."

"We're gonna gamble that they haven't. The game is in full swing, so hopefully everyone that is coming for it has arrived. I'm gonna give the wall a shot, and I'll signal you when I'm in."

"Perhaps I should . . ."

"I'm the better free climber, Hadj. Just hang here, okay?" With that, he was gone. Minutes seemed like hours as Hadji crouched there waiting for some sign of Jonny's progress. Finally, after about twenty minutes, the night air was broken by the whinnying call of a screech owl. It descended mournfully and finally died away on the wind. Hadji was gathering himself up to make for the wall when the sudden sound of voices caused him to freeze.

"What was that?" a nervous male voice questioned.

"A night bird," his companion replied.

"I have never heard any bird that sounds like that before."

"There are many strange sounds on the wind these days."

"And actions. Ramal told me today that Mr. Birla has declared himself Sultan."

"That one!" his companion replied and spat. "He is filth. The Sultan will dispose of him quickly enough once he hears what has transpired here."

"What of the rumors that the Lady Neela has disappeared?"

"As far as anyone can tell, she has been missing for several days now," the second man admitted reluctantly.

"Taken away by the Janissaries?"

"Who can say? But I am told that Mr. Birla was extremely upset when she could not be found, so perhaps she escaped the palace."

"I wish the Sultan would return."

"When the time is right, he will come. The Prophets have foretold it . . . the House of Singh shall rise up and free our people from tyranny. The day is approaching, my friend. Truly, we live in historic times. Come, I am hungry. Let us see what we can find to eat."

Hadji remained frozen in place for several minutes, waiting to be certain that no one else was around. Then he crossed the remaining distance, searched quickly for handholds in the decaying face of the wall, and began to climb. It turned out to be easier than he expected. When he reached the top, he found a yawning gap in the grillwork that normally covered the windows. Heaving himself up, he swung through the opening into pitch-blackness. He hung by his hands, wondering what he was liable to land on if he let go. Jonny's hissed whisper of "Go on, you're clear!" reassured him and he released his hold and landed neatly on the floor some 15 feet below the ledge. He looked upward and saw the dim outline of the window that he had just entered. As he watched, the slightly lighter darkness was blocked once more as Jonny carefully fitted the grillwork back into the window. A moment later, a soft thump heralded his brother's arrival.

"Okay, Hadj, now it's up to you. You have any idea where we are?"

Hadji pulled a small penlight from his pocket and flashed it around the room. The place was filthy and there was very little in it other than a few decaying pieces of wood in one corner. He shook his head.

"No," he said in a low voice. "As I said, this section of the palace was sealed off long ago. We will simply have to work our way toward the newer sections and see if we can locate an access to the hidden passages." Hadji set off quickly with Jonny close on his heels. They had been wandering through empty rooms and dirty corridors for some time before Hadji brought them to an abrupt stop in front of one of the doorways. "Look," he whispered, pointing at the floor of the room. Footprints were clearly visible in the thick layer of dust that covered everything in this section of the Palace.

The two young men eyed the evidence of others warily. "Could we have doubled back on ourselves?" Jonny asked softly.

"No," Hadji replied with conviction. "This is not any of the rooms we have explored so far. None of the others had furniture." He pointed to the tattered divan against one wall.

"More than one person was here," Jonny observed, kneeling to take a closer look at the prints in the dust. "And one of them was a woman."

"Why do you say that?" Hadji asked, dropping down beside his brother.

"She was wearing a full length sari. You can see where it brushed the floor." He followed the tracks with his light. "She walked from here over to that divan and then sat down on it."

"Mother," Hadji breathed softly.

Jonny looked at Hadji sharply. "What makes you say that?"

"She is missing."

"How do you know that?"

"I overheard two guards talking just before I climbed the Palace wall. They said that Arun Birla has been searching for her, but that she has disappeared."

"And you think she's fled to the old sections of the Palace."

"I do not know of anyone else who would know how to get to these rooms."

"Well, obviously someone else knows. These tracks say there were two people here." Jonny contemplated the imprints for a moment longer. Then he stood and flashed his light around the room carefully. "You notice something else odd about those tracks, Hadji?" Jonny shone his light on the corridor floor outside the room. Two sets of prints were clear . . . their own. "How did they get in here? That's the only door."

With a wordless exclamation, Hadji turned his light onto the floor and traced the walls around the room. Near the corner on the wall furthest from the door, multiple sets of footprints overlaid each other in the dust. Crossing to that spot, Hadji ran his hands over the wall carefully. After a few moments of searching, he uttered a small sound of satisfaction and pushed on the wall. Under the steady pressure, a section about four feet wide and five feet high pivoted to reveal an opening into a dark passage beyond. "Here it is."

"Your secret passageway?" Jonny queried, flashing his light into the corridor.

"Yes. These passageways seam the Palace. There is nowhere we cannot reach using them. And the fact that someone has recently been here, tells me that they are not sealed off from the main sections of the Palace the way the public corridors are. Come on. Now we will find out what has really been going on in Bangalore!"