As soon as he saw Calopodius begin pumping the lever which would fill the fire chamber, Eusebius leaned back over the rail to get a final look at the distance between the Victrix and her pursuer.
Started to, rather. He was almost knocked off his feet by a wave of water hammering over the rail. And then, almost pitched overboard as the Victrix began rolling wildly.
The Malwa volley had missed again. Just barely.
Sputtering and coughing, Eusebius began shrilling new orders. The helmsman, awaiting those orders, disengaged the gears to the left paddle wheel and then reengaged them in reverse. With the two paddle wheels now working in opposite directions, the Victrix shuddered to a halt and began—slowly, painfully—swinging back to face the oncoming picket boat.
The worst of it was the first half minute or so. Thereafter, the bow of the Victrix began turning more rapidly. As it swung around, Eusebius could see the picket boat begin frantically trying to turn itself.
“Too late, you bastards,” he hissed. Then he plunged into the gloom of the bow shield and worked his way to the barrel of the fire cannon. The two-man crew in the shield had already positioned the barrel in the first slot which would come to bear on the picket ship. As Menander squeezed past Calopodius, the blind young Greek handed him the striker and said cheerfully: “Ready to go—but don’t miss.”
“Not likely,” replied Eusebius, just as cheerfully. Looking through the slot, he could see that the picket boat had drifted inexorably within range. “Roast Malwa, coming up.”
A moment later he turned the valve and lit the striker, and matched the deed to the word.
* * *
Looking back, watching the Victrix begin steaming upstream again with the lost barge once again secured, Menander heaved a sigh of relief.
The pilot had returned to his side. “God bless the old emperor!” he exclaimed. “If he hadn’t designed these gears to work both ways . . .”
Menander nodded sagely. “There’s something to be said for artisans, you know.”
* * *
Shortly thereafter, Menander’s superstition was confirmed. A cannon ball from the fortress’ final volley, fired at extreme range, smashed into the barge’s stern. Fortunately, the powder was not ignited—or the Victrix towing the barge would probably have been destroyed along with the barge itself. But within a minute, it became obvious that there was no hope of saving the vessel. Eusebius was just barely able to put the engines in reverse and reach the barge in time to save the crew before it sank. The cargo he had maneuvered so cleverly to salvage was a complete loss.
Chapter 39
INDIA
Autumn, 533 a.d.
As the great vessel which Eon had used for his flagship sailed out of Chowpatty’s harbor, Antonina and Ousanas remained on the stern of the ship. That position gave them the best possible view of the long, steep-sided promontory which overlooked the harbor. The fortress where Eon had met his end was atop that promontory. Malabar Hill, as the natives called it. And so was his tomb.
Antonina had thought the Ethiopians would want to return Eon’s body to Axum. But, leaving aside the practical difficulties of transporting a corpse across an ocean, the sarawit commanders—with Ousanas and Ezana agreeing—had decided it would be more fitting to bury him on Malabar Hill. So, like Alexander, Eon would be laid to rest in the land he had conquered rather than the land of his origins.
Conquered, yes, not simply occupied. At a great ceremony three days earlier, Empress Shakuntala had formally bestowed ownership of Chowpatty and the immediate region surrounding it onto the kingdom of Axum. That area would become a piece of Ethiopia on Indian soil, an enclave where Axumite traders and merchants and factors could establish an anchor for the Erythrean trade which everyone expected to blossom after the war.
* * *
“It is only just and fitting,” Shakuntala had told the crowd of Andhran and Maratha notables who had assembled in her palace for the ceremony. “Our debt to Axum is obvious. And I have a debt of my own to pay.”
Then, for the first time to any Maratha except her husband, Shakuntala told the tale of how she first met the prince of Ethiopia, in the days when she was still a princess, and of the manner in which Eon had rescued her from Malwa captivity.