BLOOD
"Art thou mad, Jelekha? We must avoid them or we may be discovered."
"Nay, we must seek their help," repeated Jelekha. "Don't talk so much, giddy girl, and leave me to arrange everything for thee, for thou art but a poor brainless creature and a stranger in Agra."
"Have a care, ye unknown wayfarers, have a care," said one of the Rajput women. "Mind our water vessels."
"I know thee, sister, and thy comrades, and shall be careful," replied Jelekha in her gentlest voice. "Ye belong to the household of the Princess of Amber, whom all Queens respect. And knowest thou not me by my voice?"
"Ay, ay, I know thee now. Thou art Jelekha, slave of the Jodhpur Princess."
"So I am; and this woman is Nasima, slave of Begum Mihr-un-Nissa, who has lately come to Agra."
"Ay, ay, and has she come to fetch water with thee? But methinks ye have walked far from your own water gate."
"Nay, she has been sent by Queen Rakiya Begum to obtain news of the wounded Chief from the East who lies sick in the outer fort. But the silly girl says the gates to the outer fort are locked to-night, and she has come out by the river gate."
"Ay, but that is true, Jelekha, all the gates are locked to-night. Knowest thou not that Prince Selim's armed eunuchs have been captured, and the Prince himself is in danger? And they say a spy, sent in disguise by the Prince, stole into Begum Mihr-un-Nissa's rooms. Hast heard nothing of this?"
"I heard a noise of scuffle, sister, but it ill befits a poor Tartar slave like myself to inquire."
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