Chapter 42: CHAPTER 42- Answers.
August, 1538.
Machilipatnam, Dharanikota Kingdom.
"Let's start with that. Now let us meet the one responsible for this." Rudra said, repressed anger, apparent in his voice. He was barely holding himself together from an outburst, mainly because he was a king, and he needed to maintain his dignity.
The fleet may be gone, but some answers could still be found. The small delegation that arrived from the fleet had been captured, and they were being held inside.
They entered the tent, and it was a grizzly site. Two of the portuguese diplomats were hanging from a rope tied to their wrists and the setup was holding them upright. Signs of torture were apparent on their bodies. One of the bodies did not move, and Rudra was sure that, he was dead.
But the show's main star, Fernão Mendes Pinto, was perfectly alright, sitting in a chair, with a thick rope binding him to it. It looked like at least some basic diplomatic customs were maintained, as the main diplomat was left unharmed. But that did not spare him from watching the torture of his subordinates from a front-row seat.
"We did not have anyone to translate what he was saying. There was one translator nearby, but he died from the mob, and the one our guest brought had died from their attack." Venkat explained, a look of absolute hatred, towards the diplomat.
"Why? Why attack us? I even allowed you to trade here, even though your diplomat mocked me and my people the last time you visited," Rudra asked calmly in portuguese, as he took a seat in front of the man.
"There has been a misunderstanding, Your Majesty. Please you have to believe me. You are the only one who can understand me here. The whole event did not go down, the way it was supposed to!"
"What misunderstanding could it be that a fleet fires upon a neutral nation's port? What enmity do our nations even have? Just because I restricted your trade? I even showed you my good will, by giving you information on the oncoming Turkish fleet."
Rudra had ulterior motives while giving that information, but his guest did not need to know that.
"The Ottoman fleet! That was the reason the fleet left Malacca in the first place. On the way, the fleet was supposed to stop here at Machilipatnam, and practice a firing exercise to showcase the firepower of our navy! That was where the whole thing went wrong!"
"A firing exercise? Showcase your might? Why? Don't tell me it's because of that obnoxious guy who led the delegation last time, Nuno was it, His name?" Rudra questioned again. He still did not understand the intent behind the attack.
If it was to showcase the might as Fernão said, then why fire on civilians at all? Bringing a fleet would be symbolic enough for it to be sufficient. It was not like the kingdom had a navy, to begin with.
"Look I am not supposed to say this, but the circumstances are leaving me no further choices. Nuno da Cunha is dead. His 'cause of death' was a shipping accident, but the Governor actually executed him. I was assigned to send the message to Malacca for the fleet callback, and then to be stationed here, as the officer of Casa da Índia." Fernão said and then went into a coughing fit.
Rudra gave the man a glass of water from the jug on the table, but then he realized Fernão's arms were bound. He gave a look to Venkat, and then took the glass and made the prisoner drink it. " Now, continue. What does this have to do with what happened in the port?"
"Thank you, your majesty. I was parched from yesterday. About the fleet, yes. The fleet admiral leading the Mallacan fleet was the son-in-law of Nuno da Cunha. He was appointed when Nuno was the Governor, and the new one did not have the chance to replace him yet."
"And this correlates to my kingdom getting bombarded, how exactly?"
"Even though the official cause of death for Nuno was a shipping accident, it was an open secret that, the governor killed him. Maybe it was due to an old rivalry, but the most recent incident was the near failure of the diplomatic mission led by Nuno. This caused the fleet Admiral to pin the blame on your kingdom and turn what was a simple power demonstration into what had happened at the port."
"So, what is this? A messed up case of petty revenge? One that my citizen had to suffer through? Why should I trust you in the first place?" Rudra asked, frustrated by the answer he received.
" They were supposed to fire towards the salt pans, where there would be no people! He fired when I was there in the port. The port was not a target! Why would I want to defend someone, who wants to kill me? I never wanted to do this job in the first place!" Fernão said desperately, with a raised voice.
Hearing that, both Bhairava and Bashir, moved forward to take action if anything happened. But Rudra sent them back, as Fernão was still bound.
It was true that the fleet fired upon the port, shortly after Fernão arrived. There was no accurate aiming with the cannons of this era, so they did not care if their man died.
"Alright. You will be kept under further observation. I am convinced of letting you live. My men will arrange for a translator, and it may take days or weeks. You will stay under confinement until then. After that, you will tell them everything you know, then we will send you back to Goa." Rudra explained.
"No! I will cooperate but do not send me back. I am sure that the admiral had weaved a story to pin all of this on me. I do not trust the governor enough to investigate, or even care about this matter, nor do I want him to punish me with one of his bullshit justifications. Can you please, provide a job for me here?" Fernão pleaded.
"Someone from foreign affairs will work with you on this, " the king answered, promptly standing up and leaving the tent.
The Guards and Venkat followed him outside. A soldier was watching Fernão, so they did not have to worry about that.
"Bhairava, task someone from the support staff to arrange a meeting with Vasudhana Prabhakar immediately after I return. After that, I need a full council meeting to sort this through," he ordered the guard, who promptly left to do as instructed.
"'Bashir, give us some privacy,'" he signed to his other guard, who could not speak. Rudra then turned his attention towards, Venkat who was waiting for him to continue. " Walk with me, Venkat."
The duo then walked in silence back to the dock from earlier that day. The sun was very close to going beyond the horizon, and it did not help that they were standing on an eastern coast, thus no good sunset.
"Say Venkat, How does the title Admiral Venkat Pemmisani sound to you?"
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