The horses were coming, thundering across the arena, and Malik was moving. He wanted to stay in among the pack where he’d be a harder target to pick out. The half-naked mother stepped forward, snarling and hissing. Golden Boy galloped in, swinging his horse round so that his sword arm was on the right side, chopped down, aiming for the neck, but getting her across the face and cutting it diagonally. She hissed again and staggered sideways and, as Golden Boy pulled his horse round so that he didn’t career into the tightly packed mob of bodies and lose momentum, it knocked into her and she went down.

The Bracknell girl with the lance was right behind him; she managed a direct hit on a young father, the head of the lance going right through him. The horse carried her on, but she wasn’t able to pull the lance clear and, rather than risk being unsaddled, she let go and left it there as the man flipped and flopped on the grass. She yanked out a sword and slashed at a pack of grown-ups who were crowding round her. Malik saw two fall down before the Bracknell girl was able to pull away. It was all happening fast. There were horses on both sides of him now. He had to thin the kids’ numbers. He had to take some of them out of the game.

He chose the Sandhurst rider first. He wasn’t confident in the saddle and was kicking wildly and swearing as he tried to get his horse to do what he wanted. And now the horse bolted, racing across the arena, and Malik picked his moment. He waited until the jittery animal came close then darted out of the pack and jumped in front of it, waving his arms in the air. The horse reared up and the Sandhurst boy gave a disappointed cry as he went tumbling backwards over the rear end and landed with a heavy thump on the blood-wet grass. In its mad scramble the horse trampled on the boy’s legs and he rolled clear before crawling towards the side of the arena to get away. Two Ascot guards scrambled over the barrier to help him.

Malik was still moving. He was out in the open and exposed. He was right behind the Bracknell horse, however. The girl was good, but her horse was panicking, spooked by the riderless Sandhurst mount that was whinnying as it dashed about the confined space, looking for a way out. Malik slapped the rump of the Bracknell horse as hard as he could and it bolted, crashing into the Maidenhead horse. The two of them blundered into the barriers where the Bracknell horse tripped, spilling the girl into the seats. Spectators shrieked as they jumped out of the way of the rider. The Maidenhead boy managed to stay in the saddle, but had lost his lance, which had become tangled in the barrier.