She startled awake and stared at him wildly for a second. Then she broke into a smile . . . until she saw the brandy.
"Do you really need that now?"
"I need this and a lot more. How can you sleep? This whole God-cursed camp is going to be leveled by the Imperial army in a few hours." He stopped and stared at her. "Are you listening? Only a fraction of Jadar's cannon are deployed. Most are still waiting to be pulled into position. It's unbelievable."
Shirin pulled herself up and leaned against a bolster, examining him with weary eyes. "Then why are you here? I
thought you'd decided to help Prince Jadar."
"How can anyone help him when he won't help himself?" Hawksworth took another burning mouthful of brandy and stared at his bow quiver lying on the carpet. In a fit of disgust he kicked it toward the center of the tent.
Shirin watched the bow fall and laughed.
"Have you mastered your Rajput bow yet?"
"No, and what does it matter? You know Jadar is outnumbered three to one." Hawksworth pointed toward the muskets he had leaned against a coil of rope by the tent pole. "I've got three weapons for us. Do you think you can shoot a matchlock?"
"I can shoot a bow." She dismissed the muskets with a glance. "I sincerely hope you've learned enough to shoot one too."