"Two thousand of my men are now in their saddles waiting, Highness. By sunup another twenty thousand will be ready to ride."
Jadar stared at him for a moment, then reached out and touched the turban the Rajput was wearing. Hawksworth realized it was Jadar's gift.
"Then give me three of your best horses. Tonight. I will rotate as I ride." Jadar turned and ordered a waiting eunuch to bring his riding cloak, his sword, and his katar.
"I will be riding with you too, Highness." Karan Singh stepped forward.
This time Jadar embraced Karan Singh for a long moment. Then he pulled back. "No. I will not allow it. If I am too late—and the odds are strong against me—no one who rides with me will leave Agra alive. No, my friend, this I forbid." Jadar silenced Karan Singh's gesture of protest. "Your offer is enough. I want my good friends alive."
Jadar started for the stairs, then paused and turned back to look one last time at Hawksworth and Shirin.
"So our farewell was more timely than we knew. I regret we did not have longer." He paused to take his riding cloak from the eunuch. Then he reached for Hawksworth's hand. "Remember me, my friend. And remember the Mahal. I've told no one else. If I'm still alive when you come again to Agra, I'll take you there. If I'm dead, remember what I dreamed."
He turned and disappeared down the stairwell.
A tear stained Shirin's cheek as she watched him move across the courtyard below. When he reached Mumtaz, anxiously waiting by the dock, he paused and said something to her, then embraced her closely. As he pulled away, she reached out to stop him. But he was already joining the maharana in the boat. In moments they were swallowed in the dusk.
"None of us will ever see him again. You know it's true." Shirin's voice was strangely quiet. "What does it matter where Allaudin is? Prince Jadar can never challenge the troops Janahara will have holding the Red Fort. Not with two thousand Rajputs, not with two hundred thousand Rajputs. It's impregnable. He'll never see the inside of the Red Fort again." She moved next to him and rested her head against his chest. "Will you help me remember him from tonight. And the Mahal he will never live to build?"