Billy slumped back against the wall and thought again. Suddenly he sat bolt upright.
‘Hey!’
Reave looked up without too much interest.
‘What?’
Billy stuck a hand inside his jacket.
‘They left me with my gun.’
‘You’re kidding.’
‘No, look!’
Billy pulled it out. Reave looked at it in amazement.
‘Shit!’
‘How could they have missed it?’
Reave shook his head.
‘Beats me. They took my knife away.’
Billy looked at the gun thoughtfully.
‘Maybe they don’t know what it is. If those globes destroy all the technology that turns up here, those horsemen may never have seen a gun.’
Reave nodded.
‘You got a point there.’
‘It gives us a better chance of getting away.’
‘We’ll have to wait till someone comes and opens the door.’
‘When they do, we can blow them away.’
‘So all we have to do is wait.’
‘Right.’
They waited. They had no way of calculating the passing of time, but it seemed like a very long wait. A couple of times Billy became quite convinced that they had been locked up in the stone hut and forgotten. Eventually, however, there came the sound of someone pulling back the outside bolts. Billy tensed. He moved to beside the door. He flattened himself against the wall, tightly gripping the butt of the gun. The door opened. Billy raised his weapon. A figure stepped into the hut. Billy’s finger eased back on the trigger. Then he stopped. The figure was A.A. Catto. Nancy followed her into the hut, then two of the horsemen. Billy quickly stuffed the gun under his jacket. A.A. Catto turned, and saw him pressed against the wall.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’
Billy wiped a hand over his face.
‘Nothing.’
A.A. Catto raised an eyebrow, but made no remark. Reave scrambled to his feet.
‘Are you two all right?’
A.A. Catto nodded.
‘For the moment.’
Billy glanced at the two horsemen standing in the doorway of the hut.
‘Are we still prisoners?’
A.A. Catto examined her fingernails, and picked at one where the paintjob was chipped.
‘Not exactly.’
‘We can go?’
‘No, We can’t actually leave this place.’
‘What’s going on then?’
A.A. Catto avoided looking at Billy.
‘It’s sort of complicated.’
Billy pursed his lips.
‘I might have known it wouldn’t be simple. Are you going to tell us about it?’
A.A. Catto took a deep breath.
‘Well … it’s like this. There aren’t any women in this tribe. It’s all men.’
Billy looked amazed.
‘No women?’
‘Well, there is one. She’s sort of queen witch. The Alamada, they call her. It seems that the only other women who come here are challengers for her title. There’s a sort of ritual fight, and the one who wins gets to rule the place.’
Billy’s expression became even more incredulous.
‘You mean they thought you were a challenger?’
‘Yes.’
‘I suppose you put them straight about you not being a challenger, and how we all just came here by accident.’
‘Well … no.’
‘Why the hell not?’
‘I was worried that they might kill us.’
Billy slowly shook his head, as though to clear it.
‘You mean you’re going to go along with this fight?’
‘I can’t see any way out.’
‘I suppose you can take a dive as soon as is honourably possible. Then we can all leave?’
‘No.’
‘No?’
‘It’s a fight to the death.’
Billy’s jaw dropped.
‘To the death?’
‘To the death.’
‘You mean you’re risking getting killed to save the rest of us?’
A.A. Catto looked at him as though he was mad.
‘No, of course not. If I lose, they’ll kill you straight away. I told them that you were my personal slaves.’
‘Personal slaves?’
‘That’s right, so you’d better come up with an idea.’
Billy shook his head in disbelief.
‘What the hell have you got us into?’
A.A. Catto looked at him disdainfully.
‘I’m sure you’ll think of something.’
‘How long do we have before the fight?’
A.A. Catto avoided Billy’s eyes.
‘Not very long.’
She gestured towards the two horsemen.
‘These people have come to take us all to another hut. Then we have to prepare for the fight.’
The horsemen began to show signs of impatience. They motioned to A.A. Catto. She walked out of the hut. The others followed. The two horsemen led the four of them through the village. It was a cold, bleak place. A collection of grey stone beehive-shaped huts with thin trails of mist drifting between them. Billy noticed that behind the huts was a wooden fenced corral that contained a fairly large herd of all, mean-looking horses. At one end of the village was a hut much larger than any of the others. It was constructed from three of the dry stone beehive shapes run together. It had a tall timber roof. In front of it was a cleared space. At one side of the space was a fire pit lined with flat slabs of stone. At the moment it was only filled with smouldering embers, but it was obvious that it regularly held a huge fire.
At first Billy thought that the two horsemen were taking him to the big building, but at the last minute, they turned off and went towards a smaller one next to it.
During the walk through the village, Billy had a chance closely to examine the horsemen, The two who were acting as their escort were uncannily alike. Billy began to suspect that they might be clones or something similar. They had olive complexions, high cheekbones, prominent noses and deep-set dark eyes. They looked proud, savage and arrogant. The long, straight black hair was heavily greased, and scraped back and secured at the nape of the neck with an ornamental clasp. They wore tunics of heavy fur. Round their waists were wide studded belts. From them hung a wide-bladed knife, and a long thin two-handed sword. Their legs were covered in crude trousers of some coarse material, held together by thongs that criss-crossed from their sandalled feet to just above the knee. The arms were protected by a flexible armour made from small leaf-shaped metal plates that extended right down to the backs of their hands.
The hut they were taken to was much bigger than the one Billy and Reave had been locked up in. It was also a lot more comfortable. The stone walls were hung with roughly woven tapestries. There were rushes strewn on the floor. Warmth came from a small brazier and there were even a rough carved table, three stools and a straight-backed chair. A.A. Catto dropped into the chair, and looked up at Billy.
‘So, have you thought of something?’
Billy glanced round at the two horsemen who stood silently by the door.
‘Do they understand what we’re saying?’
A.A. Catto nodded.
‘They use the same language, but I think there’s quite a few words they don’t use or understand. They don’t talk much, though. They use a lot of signs and gestures.’
Billy moved round until he was standing behind A.A. Catto. He watched the faces of the two horsemen, and spoke slowly and carefully.
‘I still have my seventy calibre. They didn’t take it away from me.’
‘You mean you’ve got a …’
‘Don’t say it!’
‘Sorry.’
The horsemen gave no flicker of interest. Billy leaned forward.
‘Okay. I’m going to take a chance now. I’m going to take the thing out and put it on the table. I’m pretty sure they won’t know what it is.’
Billy moved slowly round to the table. He casually took the gun out from under his coat, and placed it on he table. Neither of the horsemen moved. A.A. Catto let out her breath with a sigh.