Madeline ran as fast as she could till her lungs wheezed and her legs threatened to collapse. Unable to continue, she hid under a leafy neem to catch her breath. There were no signs of pursuit. Not yet.
She had to get to the docks before they realized the treasure was missing. They would send soldiers after her. And hunting hounds. Costa would be tracking her. Tavernier too. And the Emperor. She had to find a ship of European origin and pay her way home. She hadn’t thought this through. She hadn’t planned the escape. An opportunity came up and she grabbed it.
She had kept an eye on the diamond from the moment Shayista gave it to the Emperor. Through the day, there seemed no hope but finally a chance came when the Emperor gave it to his bakshi for safe-keeping.
The bakshi was an elderly man and easily seduced. Madeline charmed him in the privacy of his room then sedated him with some poisonous frog saliva tincture she had picked up in Chatgaon. Confiscating the diamond was then as easy as stealing bonbons from a sleeping baby.
Gazing upon Kalinoor for the first time brought tears to Madeline’s eyes. Flawless divine beauty.
Leaving the fortress was no challenge. The guards had seen her entering as the Emperor’s own guest earlier and suspected nothing of her. The real problems began once she was beyond the walls of the temporary garrison erected for Aurangzeb. Paranoia began creeping in. She thought someone was following her.
She avoided the bazaar and the main road, walking close to the forest’s edge. She would rather face wolves than a tavern of nosy thieves. In the morning she would charter a ride out of Dacca. She thought of visiting Mumin one last time but it was too risky.
Exhausted, she lay against a branch and retrieved the diamond from her purse. It glittered in her hands. Ominous and malevolent. She felt a thrill, such enormous wealth in her palms. Finally, freedom was hers! She was so transfixed by its beauty that she didn’t hear the beast approaching until it was too late.
A deep growl rumbled the earth and reverberated within her gut. She swung around in time to see a Royal Bengal tiger, its eyes burning bright.
Madeline scrambled to her feet, backing away slowly. The feline pulled back on its haunches then pounced on her. With one clean swipe, it broke her spine, killing her instantly. It devoured her over the next few days.
Princess Miri witnessed it with her own eyes. Unable to accept such an exact end to what had been her life-long mission and her last connection to her mother, Miri too had kept a watch on the diamond. She saw the Emperor give it to his bakshi and saw Madeline steal it from him shortly after. As Madeline escaped from the fortress with the stone, Miri followed her.
When the tiger attacked Madeline, Miri did not intervene but it occurred to her that Subedar Khan was telling the truth. The diamond was cursed. It brought the downfall of whosoever possessed it. This truth convinced Miri that the Subedar’s other words were true too, and heavy-hearted, she left the tiger to its feasting, returning to Lal Bagh fort to make peace with her father.