‘Bedu.’ Symeon raised a hand in greeting and spoke to the newcomers. A voice replied in kind and one of the riders edged his camel closer. At a series of tongue clicks and taps from his crop the camel’s front legs folded, then the back legs, and the rider eased himself from the saddle. He lowered his veil and stared at them all with dark eyes before he started speaking to Symeon again. Then he turned and snapped out some orders to his men and they also began to dismount. One of the men who had been in the shadows held the reins of the three horses that had been left in the desert.

‘What do they want?’ Cato asked.

‘Water. There’s a spring in that fissure. He says it belongs to his tribe and that we are trespassing.’

Macro edged closer to the others. ‘Fine, so what does he intend to do about it?’

The Bedu leader ordered some of his men to collect waterskins and they disappeared into the fissure. Then he turned back to Symeon and spoke again.

‘He wants to know what we are doing here.’

Cato glanced at Macro. ‘We’ve nothing to hide. Tell him the truth.’

There was another exchange before Symeon relayed the details. ‘I told him Bannus is our enemy. I asked him if he would let us take Bannus and the boy and leave. He said no.’

‘No?’ Cato felt a chill in the back of his neck. ‘Why not? What does he want from us?’

‘He demands that we pay a price for trespassing on their land.’

‘What price? We have nothing of value.’

Symeon smiled faintly. ‘Except our lives.’

‘They mean to kill us?’

Macro’s hand tightened on his sword handle. ‘Let them bloody try.’

‘Not quite,’ Symeon replied. ‘He said that since we were enemies, we should finish our fight here, in the light of this fire. One of us will fight Bannus. If our man wins we can leave with the boy. If Bannus wins, he leaves with the boy and you two will be killed.’

‘I don’t understand.’ Macro frowned, then he glanced at Symeon. ‘You’re going to fight him?’

‘Yes.’

‘No. Let me. I’m trained for this. I’ll have a better chance.’

‘Prefect, I know how to fight, and this has been a long time coming. Besides, I told the Bedu leader that I would fight.’

Bannus had overheard all this, and smiled.’Nothing I’d like better.’

‘Release the boy,’ Cato said.

‘Why not?’ Bannus brought out his knife again and cut Yusef’s bonds.As the ties fell away Yusef hobbled a few steps away from Bannus and collapsed on the sand. Symeon rushed over to him and held the boy’s shoulders.

‘Yusef, are you all right?’

The boy nodded.

‘I’ll have you back with your people in a few days, I swear it.’