But he must have been shocked when Gerutha didn’t pause to answer; instead she stooped and snatched the sentinel’s fallen spear. She had drawn it back and was within an eye-blink of plunging it through the eunuch’s chest when one of his comrades darted in front of him and knocked the spear aside easily, then drove the point of his sword into Gerutha’s side.

‘Grusha!’ cried Lilla.

But her friend had already fallen to the ground and lay quite still. Her killer now levelled the bloody point of his sword at Lilla before she could move.

‘Enough of this foolishness, we have little time,’ snapped one of the other men, with a hard-lined face and an air of authority. ‘Which is Leo’s daughter? I hope for your sake, eunuch, that it was not her.’

Katāros seemed to have recovered from his shock. ‘Abdallah al-Battal, it’s my pleasure to introduce to you Basílipoúla Anna, daughter of Basíleus Leo, third of his name.’ The eunuch took a languid slap at the princess’s rump with the flat of his sword, making her squeal.

‘Bind her then.’

One of the Arab underlings spun Anna around and tied her wrists. She was shaking. ‘What do you want from me?’

‘Nothing too taxing. Your company will suffice.’ Katāros smiled. ‘Now your father has had his little victory, we shall see what he’s willing to concede for you. Speaking of which. . .’ he tossed a leather purse through the air. Yana caught it. ‘Thirty solidi. As agreed.’

‘You treacherous little bitch!’ snarled Lilla in Norse.

‘On the contrary,’ smiled Katāros. ‘She has been most loyal.’

‘We’re wasting time. We need to get her to the boat.’ Abdal-Battal seized Anna’s arm but the princess cried out and started struggling. The Arab casually punched her in the stomach and she doubled over, gasping at the affront to her person as much as the pain.

‘Gently, my lord, gently,’ urged the eunuch. ‘Precious goods and all that. . . What with this other one?’

The Arab turned his pitiless eyes on Lilla. He raised his sword-point, pricking under her chin, forcing her face from side to side. ‘This one is of some value, I think.’ He snapped another order in a language she didn’t understand, and soon she was bound as tightly as Anna.

‘And that?’ Katāros pointed at Gerutha lying on the ground.

‘Leave her. She’s finished.’

‘No,’ cried Lilla, stretching for her friend’s body. ‘Grusha! No!’ But her captor clamped a stinking hand over her mouth and pulled back her head.

‘Enough,’ said Katāros smoothly. ‘We go that way.’ He pointed south. ‘We must hurry.’

‘And me?’ asked Yana, her voice a husky bleat. ‘What shall I do?’

The eunuch cast her a last disdainful look. ‘Whatever you damn well please.’