The Outlaw by Stephen Davies Page A

charging" icon appeared.
    Kas squealed and punched the air. "You're a genius!"
    "Don't thank me," said Jake. "Thank YouTube."
    "I can't believe it worked."
    "Simple physics," said Jake, sliding the whole contraption out of sight behind the bed. "Should take about three hours to fully charge."
    Â 
    Jake slept fitfully. He dreamed of harsh desert landscapes, shaggy-haired demons, and killer bees. The demons kept prodding him with their quarterstaffs, and the bees prodded him with their evil barbed stings. He could not get comfortable whichever way he lay.
    "There's still no signal on your phone."
    "What?" Jake opened his eyes and frowned up at the straw dome above his head. For a moment he had no idea where he was, but he soon remembered all too well. His legs and lower back were aching from the morning's ride, and his sunburned nose and cheeks stung like mad.
    Kas was sitting on the edge of the bed, washed and dressed in a loose cotton robe. She was still wearing her skull-bow necklace from the gold banquet. The enamel pendant hanging from the necklace depicted a grinning white skull topped with a jaunty bow. "Your phone charged all right," she said, "but there's no signal."
    "Did you try it outside?"
    "Course."
    "What time is it?"
    "Evening."
    Jake yawned and sat up. "What on earth is that?" he said, looking at Kas's robe.
    "There's clothes for you, too," said Kas. "Mariama brought them while you were sleeping. She brought us flip-flops, too. She said there's going to be a banquet in the Red Cross tent tonight."
    Jake got changed quickly. The new trousers were a good fit, but the robe came all the way down to his knees. "I feel like Wee Willie Winkie," he complained.
    "Get used to it," said Kas. "Come on, let's go."
    They crawled out into the open and stood up. The sun was low in the west, casting a rosy hue across the dunes on every side. A cool breeze stirred the leaves of the baobab tree and ruffled the surface of the sand. A chorus of animal sounds was starting up. Roosters crowed, donkeys brayed, guinea fowl squawked and jabbered.
    The horses were quiet, apart from the occasional snort or whinny. Slingshot practice in the training ring had finished, but the horses stayed in the ring waiting patiently for their evening feed. Free of their bits and bridles, they stood right up close to the thorn-branch fence and watched with growing excitement while a young boy measured grain into a wide metal dish.
    Jake and Kas wandered over to the smaller enclosure, where a wrestling match was taking place. Two muscular boys, stripped to the waist, were doing their best to trip each other up, and a dozen others were heckling or shouting advice. The boys circled each other like panthers and then clashed in wild flurries of dust and limbs. With them in the ring was some kind of referee wearing animal-tooth anklets that jangled as he walked.
    "Watch the knees and elbows," said a voice in Jake's ear. It was Paaté, the tailor, now wearing a green floppy hat and a pair of spectacles with no lenses. "If a fighter's knees touch the ground, he loses. If his elbows touch the ground, he loses. One knee and one elbow, again he loses. But just one knee, or just one elbow, he can go on fighting."
    "What if both his knees
and
both his elbows touch the ground?"
    "That is a shameful way to lose," said Paaté. "If that happens, he will be washing his opponent's clothes for the next three months."
    "Who is the best wrestler in the camp?"
    "The Chameleon," said Paaté without hesitation. "No one has ever seen dust on the Chameleon's knees. He moves like an angel and he strikes like a djinn. Unbeatable."
    Jake watched the shadows lengthen and fade as the sun went down over the western dunes. Somewhere in the camp a rifle fired. Kas jumped and looked around wildly.
    "Do not be afraid," said Paaté. "That was the
nyiiri
rifle. It means the banquet is about to begin."

Nineteen

    The Red Cross marquee was lit by hurricane lamps and candles, and it