Part 21 (1/2)

Her voice faltered. 'A lord who lives by the Eastern Sea.”

'Is he the guy who gave you those fancy clothes?”

She answered by kissing the tips of his fingers.

'And is that why you washed off your body-paint?”

His question met with a pregnant silence. He tried again. 'You want to tell me about it?”

Her reply, when it came, was in a barely audible whisper. 'What has .

. . happened is . . . is the will of Talisman.”

'Yeah, sure, I understand all that,' said Steve. 'Just take me through it from the top of page one.”

They did not have long before Su-Shan and NanKhe returned with three trays of hot food, but it was time enough to make Steve wish he hadn't pressed her for an explanation. Knowledge might indeed be power, but whoever coined the maxim omitted to mention that there were some things it was better not to know. Steve was learning that young men who seek truthful answers to every question often find the process extremely painful. On top of which, the delicious aroma from the a.s.sortment of goodies the trio next door were preparing to tuck into was absolute torture.

He did not have to endure it for long. As the door to the next cell was slammed shut, the bottom half of his door was opened and he was ordered out. Mentally bracing himself for some sort of physical a.s.sault, he exited on his hands and knees - and was not disappointed.

A leg hooked his hands away and a kick in the b.u.t.t sent him sprawling face down in the dirt. It didn't look promising, but the subsequent flurry of blows proved to be something less than a serious attempt to injure him. If the four armed d.i.n.ks had wanted to break a few bones they could have done so easily. No. They were just out to ruin his composure. Show him who was boss.

Grinning broadly, they hauled him to his feet and continued to roust him all the way across the arena.

Steve could not see much of anything beyond the circles of light cast by the swaying lanterns, but it looked as if all trace of the earlier mindless slaughter had been removed. His escort pushed him up a flight of rough-hewn steps on to the terrace linking the second her of caves and brought him face to face with the main man. He was sitting cross-legged on a mat laid against the side-wall. There were another ten or twelve guys with him. The cave was lit by more yellow lanterns and the air was thick with smoke which caused Steve to cough on entering.

Several of the d.i.n.ks had pipes like the one used by Mr Snow. They weren't smoking rainbow gra.s.s, but Steve's nose told him that a touch of the old happy valley weed had been added to the mixture. The wild bunch were also swallowing capfuls of the pale yellow liquid Side-Winder had introduced him to. Sake. His escort pushed Steve down on to his knees in front of the honcho and helped themselves to some juice.

In view of what had taken place earlier everyone seemed cheerful enough, but Steve could sense an undercurrent of tension. The jovial atmosphere had a brittle, knife-edge quality which gave him the feeling that they could - at any minute and with equal cheerfulness - tear him limb from limb. One misjudged word or gesture was all the pretext they needed. Mindful of Mr Snow's warning to avoid prolonged eye-contact, Steve tried to ignore the ring of strange, hairless faces with their dark, almost jet-black eyes. He focused through on to the wall behind them and willed himself to stay calm.

Come on, Brickman! You've been in tight corners before. You can face these guys down. They're like the death-birds. Show yourself weak and defenceless and they move in for the kill. You've already shown them you're a top gun. Be strong!

Nothing to it...

His hairless host drained his cup and held it out sideways for someone to fill it. 'Do you have a name, gra.s.s-monkey?”

Steve looked him straight in the eye. 'Yes. Brickman.”

'A-barick a-man-uh...”

'No, it's all one word. BRRickmaNN.”

'Ahh-so... Barickmann-uh.”

'Right.” What the h.e.l.l...

The stocky j.a.p snapped his fingers and pointed to Steve. A hand came out of left field and stuck a cup of sake under his nose.

'I'd rather have something to eat.”