***
The Alamada was at least a head taller than A.A. Catto. She also looked a good deal heavier. She was muscular and full-bodied, with ample breasts and thighs. She walked out of the big hut with swaggering arrogance. She was naked, except for the same armour over her left arm that A.A. Catto wore. She carried the same flat, leaf-shaped knife and a small round shield.
She walked forward until she was a couple of metres from A.A. Catto. She held the knife almost casually in her left hand. She halted and smiled at A.A. Catto. Her lips were very full and sensual. Her nose was small and slightly flattened. It contrasted with her eyes, which were large and dark. Her face seemed to radiate a dark, very cruel kind of sexuality. She tossed her head, shaking her mane of straight black hair. It hung almost to her waist.
‘I’m going to kill you.’
A.A. Catto couldn’t help admiring the woman. She smiled back, and shook her head.
‘I don’t think so.’
The Alamada raised her knife, and began slowly to circle A.A. Catto. Her body was tense, like a hunting animal. It was oiled like A.A. Catto’s, and as she moved the muscles rippled beneath the skin. A.A. Catto lifted her own knife, and dropped into a crouch. She backed away slowly and cautiously. The Alamada’s lips drew back into something between a grin and a snarl. Her teeth flashed in the firelight.
‘I’m going to kill you for sure.’
‘No, you’re not.’
The two women continued to circle each other. The Alamada attempted to edge closer.
‘You’re not like the others. You’re not the way you’re supposed to be.’
‘I’m different.’
‘You’re small.’
‘That’s a puzzle for you to solve.’
‘It’s your disadvantage.’
‘Maybe.’
The witch queen went on trying to get closer to A.A. Catto, and A.A. Catto in her turn went on keeping the distance between them. From behind the lines of horsemen who ringed the space where the fight was taking place, Billy watched tensely. He held his gun down by his side. The butt was damp and slippery where his palms were sweating.
The Alamada stopped circling A.A. Catto. She crouched absolutely still for an instant. Then, with a shout she leaped forward and slashed at A.A. Catto with a wide, backhanded blow. A.A. Catto twisted and jumped back. The edge of the blade missed her stomach by a matter of centimetres. For the first time A.A. Catto realized what she was involved in. Something inside her went cold. If Billy didn’t go along with the plan, she would die.
The Alamada spun on her heel and swung a chopping overarm blow towards A.A. Catto’s neck. Desperately she threw up the shield, and just managed to catch the blow. It jarred her arm right up to the shoulder. There was a stabbing pain, and her arm went numb. The shield fell to her side. She jumped back, holding the sword in front of her. The Alamada laughed.
‘Are you going to die without a fight?’
‘I’m not going to die.’
‘Oh yes you are, and slowly too, if you don’t put up a fight.’
She swung at A.A. Catto. The knife just touched the skin of her left breast. A thin line of blood appeared. A.A. Catto lunged at the woman. She missed hopelessly. The Alamada lowered her shield and laughed at A.A. Catto.
‘You’ll have to do better than that.’
She spread her arms.
‘Come on, little woman, try again. Try to kill me if you can.’
Blind rage boiled up inside A.A. Catto. She slashed wildly at her. The Alamada twisted her body and the blow went wild. A.A. Catto slashed again. The Alamada jumped back, and she missed again. Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes. She swung at the witch queen again and again, Each time she moved out of the way. A.A. Catto found that she couldn’t touch her. The Alamada kept on laughing and taunting her.
‘Come on, woman. Can’t you do better than that?’
She jabbed at A.A. Catto with the point of her knife. It scarcely touched her shoulder, and left a small wound that oozed blood. A.A. Catto began to get scared. Was Billy going to let her die? There was no way that she could deal with this woman on her own. The Alamada jabbed at her again. Another small wound, this time just above her right breast. A.A. Catto looked round desperately to see if she could see Billy. While her eyes were off the Alamada, she slashed at her again. This time the cut was deeper, and began to bleed quite profusely. A.A. Catto knew she was being slowly cut to pieces.
She made a final, desperate effort to stop the Alamada. She put all her weight behind a single knife thrust straight between the Alamada’s breasts. For a fraction of a second A.A. Catto thought she had succeeded. Then the Alamada whipped up her shield and turned the blow. A.A. Catto completely lost her balance. As she staggered forward, the Alamada kicked her feet away from under her. A.A. Catto sprawled face forward in the dirt. The knife went flying. She rolled over and tried to sit up, but before she could, the Alamada rammed her foot into her throat and pushed her back down. A.A. Catto found herself staring up at the Alamada’s bush of curly black pubic hair. She tried to wriggle away, but the woman was too strong for her.
‘I’m going to kill you now.’
For the first time in her life, A, A. Catto was sick with fear. At the same time, hatred burned inside her for Billy, and the way he’d doublecrossed her. The witch queen raised her knife high above her head. A.A. Catto shut her eyes. It was obviously all over. Then the shot came, and the Alamada’s body fell limply on top of her. She eased the weight off her and sat up. She expected to see Billy struggling with a squad of horsemen, but none of them seemed to have moved. She rolled the body completely off her. A large section of the skull had been blown away by the .70 calibre slug.
A.A. Catto stood up. She deliberately bent down and picked up one of the knives. She started hacking at the body. Her control seemed to snap. Her onslaught became almost sexual in its hysteria. She carved huge gashes in the witch queen’s lifeless body. Her breath came in short sharp gasps. Then, abruptly, the frenzy ran out. She looked disgustedly at the mutilation she had caused. She let the knife fall and turned away. She pulled herself together and, with all the dignity she could muster while she was naked and covered in blood, she walked towards the big hut. The two helmeted horsemen, who stood flanking the door, escorted her inside.
Billy waited to see if anything would happen. He’d fired almost over the shoulders of the line of horsemen, but not one of them had shown any sign of noticing it. Reave and Nancy stood a little way away from him, presumably ready to run if the horsemen did anything to Billy. A.A. Catto vanished inside the big hut, and it seemed as though any chance of retribution had passed. Billy dropped the gun into his pocket, and let some of the tension drain out of his muscles. It had been a terrible strain waiting to fire the shot. There had been a point when he had almost not done it. The vision of himself being impaled on the long thin spears of the horsemen had nearly been too strong.
The question now, as far as Billy could see, was what to do next. He assumed that since the Alamada was dead, A.A. Catto had become the next queen. The horsemen appeared to accept that she had defeated her in a fair fight. The lines of helmeted horsemen who had formed the square began to file into the big hut. Once they were all inside, the horsemen without helmets, who had remained behind the ranks of helmeted figures, picked up the Alamada’s body and dumped it unceremoniously in the fire pit. After this chore was done, they too went inside the big hut. This just left Billy, Reave and Nancy standing in the open space. The smoke from the fire wafted past them. It was heavy with the acrid smell of burned flesh. Billy hurried across to the other two.
‘Do you think we should go inside?’
Nancy looked round the village. There was no sign of life.