Billy nodded.
‘I kind of figured that.’
‘They change round once a month, the order or something.’
‘Once a month?’
‘Right.’
‘How the hell do they figure months?’
Nancy grinned, despite her concern.
‘They calculate it on the queen’s menstrual cycle.’
Billy laughed.
‘A.A. Catto’s going to confuse them. She doesn’t have any, according to Reave. She never allowed herself to reach puberty.’
‘She’s going to now. She doesn’t have any retarding drugs. She’s growing with a vengeance.’
Billy looked thoughtful.
‘I imagine that’s affecting her mind.’
‘Probably.’
‘I suppose she could always get more from the stuff receiver.’
‘That and a whole lot …’
Before Nancy could finish, there was a petulant shout from behind the tapestry.
‘Nancy!’
Nancy spun round, looking a little pale.
‘Yes!’
‘Have you woken up Billy yet?’
‘Yes!’
‘Then get him in here.’
Nancy looked urgently at Billy.
‘You’d better get in there. Don’t keep her waiting.’
Billy sighed and hurried across the room. He pulled back the tapestry and stepped through into the queen’s private lair. The sight of it was quite a surprise. Most of the floor space was taken up by the largest bed Billy had ever seen. It was piled high with cushions, pillows and rich furs. Two poles supported a tentlike overhead canopy. The walls were hung with mirrors and lavish embroideries. There were a number of chests and cupboards. The contents were scattered on the floor, as though A.A. Catto had been going through them in some kind of exploratory frenzy. There were candles everywhere, and a brazier of hot coals stood in an alcove, heating the room and filling the air with the heavy sweet smell of incense.
All this was much as Billy had expected. The real shock to his system waited for him in a clear space of floor opposite the bed. A thick heavy post, about half as tall again as a man, and carved into a stylized phallic shape, was set firmly in the stone flags. The horribly mutilated body of a man hung from it in chains. A helmeted guard stood beside him gripping his spear, like a statue, and staring straight ahead. A rack containing a comprehensive range of torture implements was on the wall nearby. Many of them had quite obviously been used very recently.
A.A. Catto was fully dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed. She wore a feminine version of the horsemen’s outfit, wide silk trousers bound up with thongs, a tunic of soft white fur and silver armour covering her arms. The clothes seemed to fit very well, considering the Alamadas had been much larger women. She gestured imperiously at Billy.
‘I want to talk to you.’
‘I …’
Billy’s head and stomach were still reeling from the sight of the figure on the post. A.A. Catto glanced casually at her victim.
‘It bothers you, does it?’
She snapped her fingers at the guard.
‘Fetch some people to remove that thing.’
The guard swiftly obeyed and left the room. Moments later he returned with two of the helmetless servants. They removed the body from the post and dragged it unceremoniously from the room. A.A. Catto turned her attention back to Billy.
‘Now can we talk?’
Billy wiped beads of sweat from his forehead.
‘I suppose so.’
‘You’re a terrible weakling.’
Billy shrugged.
‘If you say so.’
A.A. Catto stood up very slowly. ‘I don’t like your attitude.’ She began to pace up and down. ‘I’ll be charitable, however. You may well be having trouble adjusting to the new situation.’ Billy was still confused. ‘The new situation?’
‘The situation of my being queen. I have absolute power here. I can do anything. Anything at all.’
Billy had never seen her quite like this. The weight of the gun in his pocket was reassuring, but he still chose his words with great care.
‘May I ask what you intend to do?’
A.A. Catto smiled nastily at him.
‘That’s more what I expect.’
She resumed her pacing.
‘I do not share the previous rulers’ enthusiasm for this dreary primitivism. I have discovered that there is a stuff receiver in that building we saw in the valley. I intend to use the receiver to obtain a supply of the modern necessities. Do you understand?’
Billy nodded.
‘I think so. What about the globes, though, won’t they destroy everything directly it arrives down the beam?’
‘They can be deactivated from the same point.’
‘Aren’t there people in the valley?’
A.A. Catto halted.
‘Yes, why?’
Billy avoided looking directly at her.
‘Won’t they be liable to object to what you want to do?’
A.A. Catto looked surprised.
‘Does that matter?’
‘If they decided to resist your plan.’
‘They won’t.’
‘Why not?’
A.A. Catto looked at Billy as though he was simple-minded.
‘Because I’ve decided to destroy them.’
Billy’s mouth dropped open.
‘Destroy them?’
A.A. Catto’s voice became very brisk and matter of fact.
‘It’s the only solution. It stops them causing trouble, and, in any case, they’re no use to me, no use at all. They are also reputed to have very unpleasant ideas and habits. I think it’s best if they were liquidated before we do anything else.’
Billy’s mind reeled. He could see exactly why Nancy had been so disturbed. A.A. Catto was obviously quite out of control. He looked at her guardedly.
‘You’ll send your horsemen into the valley?’
‘I’ll lead them.’
‘And kill all the people there?’
‘Of course.’
Billy looked at the floor. He couldn’t think exactly what to say. A.A. Catto looked at him impatiently.
‘What’s the matter with you?’
Billy looked round helplessly.
‘I was just wondering why you were telling me all this.’
‘You will be coming with us.’
Billy’s eyebrows shot up.
‘Me?’
‘You have proved quite resourceful in the past. I will keep you as an adviser as long as you prove useful.’
Billy closed his eyes for an instant. It was almost too much to take in. He wished that he was back at the Leader Hotel, or in Pleasant Gap, or almost anywhere.
‘When do we ride for the valley?’
‘Later today. My horsemen are making ready, isn’t it exciting?’
Billy looked at the backs of his hands.
‘I suppose so.’
A.A. Catto smiled sympathetically at him.
‘I expect it’s all a little overwhelming right now. You’ll enjoy it, once the killing starts.’
***
The build-up to an audience with the blessed Joachim was a planned performance. Jeb Stuart Ho, the Wanderer and the Minstrel Boy had been kept waiting for a couple of hours. They had been fed, given drinks, and, in the case of the Minstrel Boy, entertained soundly by two pink-robed devotees. When all these preliminaries were complete, an escort of yellow-robed priests arrived at their suite of rooms.
‘The blessed one has decided, in his wisdom, that you will be allowed an audience. We have come to escort you to his wondrous presence.’
There were six of them. The Minstrel Boy wondered if it was a guard of honour, or simply a guard. They moved out into the corridor, and the priests formed up around them. Three in front, and three behind. They started walking. It seemed to the Wanderer that it was another stage in the whole process. They seemed to walk for miles along the echoing corridors of black stone. The turns and right angles soon destroyed the travellers’ sense of direction inside the building. The only thing they knew for sure was that they were consistently going up from one level to another. They finally arrived at the foot of a flight of wide, imposing stairs. As far as Jeb Stuart Ho could calculate they were very near the apex of the building.