Selen noticed him as soon as he entered the bar. He looked quite different from the barflies that usually frequented the place: tall and noble with expensive-looking burgundy and gold coloured robes. He was flanked by two larger men, who had the nervous energy, darting eyes and well-developed bodies of bodyguards.
She was only working here until the end of the week as a favour to the owner. After her win at the tournament, she was in demand and would be starting at the academy next week, but he'd begged her to stay for a couple of days until he could find a replacement.
It was obvious the stranger had never been to the bar before. She watched as he scanned the crowd, his eyes methodically working left-to-right until he spotted her. He mumbled something to his minders and they cleared a path for him through the drunken throngs of their rowdy customers.
She pretended not to notice him, polishing a glass and holding it up to the light as he approached.
"It's Selen isn't it? I saw you fight last night, congratulations. It was a terrific performance," he said.
"Thanks," she replied suspiciously.
"I'm Crown Prince Ahmed of the Jalengi tribe and I wonder if I might have a moment of your time," he continued, politely extending his hand towards her.
"So what can I do for you?" she asked, taking his hand tentatively. It was soft and well manicured, the hand of someone who had many servants.
"My tribe come here for the festival every year and tomorrow night is our last night before we move on. I'm arranging a feast and some entertainment for my father, the Sultan, and we wondered if you might be interested in taking part in an exhibition fight with our champion."
"Go on," Selen said, releasing his hand and picking up the glass again.
"My father and I saw you fight the other night and we were very impressed by your fighting skills so we'd like you and your partner to take part in the climax to our evening's entertainment. I'm thinking of a staging a fight, our male champion against you and your partner, Melea, played according to standard tournament rules. We'll provide an independent referee from outside of our tribe. We'll pay you twenty thousand credits for fighting and an extra ten thousand if you win."
"Twenty thousand credits? For both of us?"
"No, each," he said, smiling and showing off perfectly white teeth that contrasted with his olive skin.
It was a huge amount of money, more than she'd received for winning the tournament! Selen did some quick mental calculations: it would take her a full year of bar work to get twenty thousand credits. It seemed too good to be true, which immediately made her suspicious.
"So who's your champion, would I have heard of him?"
"He's only been fighting for six months and never outside our tribe so you wouldn't have heard of him. Frankly, I think you'll win easily if you perform like you did the other night."
"I'd have to discuss it with Melea."
"I've just come from seeing her actually," he said, smoothly. "She said she'd happy to fight if you are."
Selen thought for a moment. Even if there was something crooked about the deal, the tribe had a good reputation for paying its debts so it would still be twenty thousand credits each for twenty-five minutes work. Surely she couldn't go wrong, could she?
"You've got yourself a deal, prince," she said, shaking hands once more.
--
The guard yawned as he leant against the stone wall. He'd watched as the sun gradually disappeared over the horizon, the deep orangey-red globe shimmering in the heat haze. Now as the sky darkened and the heat fell away, he watched as, below him, two young women left the safety of the city, passing through the thick gates and skirting the edge of the white tents belonging to the Inari.
Melea and Selen wandered out into the sudden, inky darkness. Luckily, it was a full moon so they could more or less see where they were going but they still had to be careful not to trip over the guy-lines securing the many tents huddled under the towering walls. They quickly passed the ruby red tents of the Na'inari tribe and presently came to the area reserved for the Jalengi. They were quite a large tribe with thirty or forty smaller family tents surrounding two larger communal tents at the centre. All of them were uniformly coloured cornflower blue but all of the noise and light was emanating from the larger tents. Selen knew they'd probably be powered by a diesel generator or maybe some pre-war solar panels; a nomadic tribe like the Jalengi would only use electric lights on special occasions.
The first tent was particularly noisy and Selen and Melea couldn't resist peaking through a small gap in the canvas. Inside, the tent's floor and walls were covered with large, colourful rugs and banners and a magician was entertaining perhaps fifty or sixty children as their grandparents watched from the rear. He was a tall, dark man with piercing dark eyes and dressed in a large, elaborate turban. The children laughed and applauded as he produced a shiny gold coin from behind a young volunteer's ear with a theatrical flourish.
There were two large sentries with gleaming ceremonial swords posted outside the largest tent but as they approached, the Crown Prince appeared magically just as they reached them.
"Ah, ladies, how lovely to see you!" he said, as he kissed their hands. "Your timing is perfect, we've nearly finished eating. Welcome to the party."
The tent was vast and oval-shaped, supported by four thick wooden poles towards the outside, its canvas walls stretching upwards until they disappeared into the darkness. Electric lights and incense burners were placed just above head height around the outer rim. The floors were covered with a chaotic mix of intricately patterned rugs and brightly coloured satin cushions, and the walls with banners, some of which looked like scenes from the kama sutra, exotically naked men and women entwined in unlikely positions.
There was a raised circular platform at the far end where most of the lights were focussed and maybe a hundred adults, dressed in their finest robes, sat cross-legged on the floor in small groups in a rough semi-circle around the front of this stage. To the rear, there were a series of screens and wall hangings which Selen guessed where to hide the performers.
Selen followed the prince through the crowd, watching the tribes-people as they laughed and chatted and picked over the remains of their feast. Some of them were smoking from hookah pipes, and the air felt thick and humid, and filled with the delicious scents of the exotic banquet mixed with incense and jasmine.
Selen's senses were overwhelmed by the rich,