‘All we can do is find out. I don’t think there’s any call for alarm.’
He raised his voice.
‘Come in.’
The door opened and three men came in. Men was a fairly loose description. They had the bald heads and general appearance of the boys in blue, but that was where the similarity ended. Their figures were slim, almost feminine and they moved with a strange exaggerated daintiness. They wore pink robes of what looked like watered silk, and their eyes were shadowed with some land of blue makeup. The Minstrel Boy suspected that their overlong eyelashes were probably false. When they spoke their voices were soft and high-pitched.
‘We are sent by the blessed one to ensure that all your needs are taken care of.’
The Wanderer raised an eyebrow.
‘We’re doing pretty good.’
‘We are sent to offer you any additional pleasure you might desire.’
The Minstrel Boy glanced up from his drink.
‘Desire?’
He looked carefully up and down each of the three in turn.
‘Just what kind of pleasure did you have in mind?’
The middle one of the three smiled sweetly.
‘Those joyful pleasures of the body bestowed and sanctified by the blessed one, that our flesh might celebrate his glory.’
The Minstrel Boy grinned.
‘Celebrate his glory, hey?’
‘We are at your disposal.’
The Wanderer shook his head.
‘You can leave me out. I’m too old for that sort of thing.’
The Minstrel Boy rose slowly from his chair.
‘I don’t see the harm in celebrating a bit of glory.’
The Wanderer laughed.
‘I thought it was a woman you were so desperate for?’
The Minstrel Boy patted the priest’s bottom.
‘Like you said, I’ll find a way round the problem.’
He turned to the pink-robed priest.
‘Does the blessed one sanctify an old-fashioned blow job?’
‘I’m not familiar with the term, but I’d be happy to accept your instruction.’
‘Good, good, let’s go off into my little room, and do some instructing. You might as well bring one of your buddies, seeing as how grandpappy here doesn’t want to know.’
He poured himself another glass of wine and led the two priests off to one of the empty cells. That left the Wanderer alone with the remaining one. The priest waved a slim white hand in the direction of Jeb Stuart Ho’s still figure.
‘Will your friend have any desire for my services?’
The Wanderer shook his head.
‘I doubt it. He’s too busy meditating, and besides, I think he swore off sex for the duration.’
The priest looked exaggeratedly sad.
‘That is a great pity.’
The Wanderer nodded sympathetically.
‘It sure is. Best you should run along back where you came from.’
The priest bowed, and left without a word. The sounds of revelry began to come from the Minstrel Boy’s cell. It seemed as though the priests were quick to pick up on the instruction. The Wanderer sighed and glanced through the open doorway. The pallet had become a mass of naked, entwined bodies. He sighed deeply and relaxed back in his chair.
***
Billy woke up with a start. He discovered that Nancy had been shaking him. He also discovered that he had a headache and an evil taste in his mouth.
‘What happened?’
‘You passed out.’
‘When?’
‘Last night, after the ceremony, you drank yourself stupid on the local poison and collapsed. We left you here.’
Billy focused his eyes, and looked around. He was still in the large room of the queen’s hut. It was deserted now. The fire had burned down to grey embers and the air was cold and damp. Billy struggled to sit up. Each time he moved he found new parts of him that hurt. ‘Where’s Reave?’
‘The two of you were given a hut down at the end of the village. He went there. You refused. You wanted to be buddies with the horsemen.’
‘What happened?’
‘They ignored you. You clowned about for a bit and passed out.’
Billy shook his head to clear it.
‘I don’t remember any of that.’
‘I’m not surprised, the amount you were drinking.’
Billy got painfully to his feet and staggered out to the scullery. He found a cask of water. A dipper hung drank a little, and sluiced more over his head. Nancy who was still standing in the big room.
‘Is it morning?’
‘Yeah.’
‘They have day and night here?’
‘Every day.’
Billy came back out of the scullery.
‘What’s A.A. Catto doing?’
‘She wants to see you.’
Billy grimaced.
‘Can’t she wait? I’m not up to coping with her yet.’
Nancy glanced meaningfully at him.
‘I wouldn’t keep her waiting.’
‘Why not?’
‘She is queen now.’
‘Shit! She’s only queen because I shot the last one.’
‘I wouldn’t remind her of that.’
‘Isn’t this getting a bit out of hand?’
Nancy began to look uncomfortable.
‘I’d keep my voice down if I were you.’
She gestured to the tapestry behind the throne.
‘She’s only just behind there.’
‘Are you trying to tell me something?’
‘I don’t know. She’s gone a bit funny, after getting to be queen, and the ceremony and all.’
‘It’s gone to her head?’
‘And some.’
Billy’s face became determined.
‘I’m going in there to sort out all this queen business.’
Nancy quickly put a hand on his arm.
‘Wait. Wait just a minute and listen to what I have to say, will you?’
‘Okay. You’ve got my undivided.’
Nancy hesitated, as though summoning up her courage.
‘We’ve never got on too well, have we?’
Billy shook his head.
‘No, not really.’
‘I feel bad talking to you like this, but there’s no one else.’
‘So talk.’
‘I’m worried.’
‘About A.A. Catto?’
‘She’s gone very strange.’
‘How?’
‘She had one of the horsemen in there all night. She was torturing him.’
‘So? She did that to Reave all the time.’
‘I think she probably killed him. She was right over the edge.
I mean, I’ve seen a few things. I don’t shock easy, but this started to do me in. I couldn’t take it.’
‘You were in there with her?’
Nancy looked at the floor.
‘Yeah.’
‘Helping her?’
‘With a couple more to keep me amused.’
‘Didn’t they object to what she was doing to their mate? They’re big strong lads.’
Nancy shook her head.
‘They can’t.’
‘Can’t?’
‘She can do what she likes with them. They’re programmed to do exactly what the queen wants. She could slaughter the lot of them. They wouldn’t stop her.’
Billy smiled grimly.
‘If she did that, she’d have no more to play with.’
‘She could send for another lot from the valley.
‘From the valley?’
‘I’ve found out a lot about this place. There’s a stuff receiver down in the valley, in the ziggurat, that big building we saw.’
Billy glanced over his shoulder at the entrance to A.A. Catto’s room. He lowered his voice.
‘Does she know this?’
Nancy nodded.
‘Sure, she told me.’
Billy’s face was very serious.
‘What else did you learn?’
‘Plenty. You know those helmets? They’re like a badge of rank, a pecking order. It starts from the ones sitting at the table, right down to the ones without helmets, servants to the rest.’