Read The Texts Of Festival for Free Online

candy. The first stage would be to turn on his roughest boys. After that, if the chief gave any trouble, he could safely waste him.
    Iggy yelled a question at the silent chief.
    ‘How many have ya brought?’
    The chief looked at him as though figuring in his head. ‘Three times hundred.’
    Iggy grinned to himself. He had guessed right.
    ‘Countin’ women?’
    ‘More, with women.’
    ‘Ri’ on. You betta pick a buncha land on the edge of the village. Betta camp there. Git y’self togetha an’ come ’n’ party. Ri’?’
    Oltha grunted and gathered his men to select a camp for the tribe. Iggy and his escort rode back to the village, casting long shadows.
    Outside what had been the house of the village headman, Iggy and Oltha watched their men party in the village square. The atmosphere was subdued, each side viewing the presence of so many strangers as a potential threat. Oltha had only permitted his horsemen to come into the village. The remaining bulk of his men he had ordered to stay with the tents. Oltha no longer expected an immediate trap but it paid to be careful. If most of Iggy’s men were in the square it meant that he had about seventy under his control and the size of the horsepens signified that all were mounted. Finally Iggy broke the silence.
    ‘You wanna go inside an’ talk?’
    Oltha nodded.
    Inside the house two village women served them with beer, corn spirit and oat cakes, and once they were alone Iggy brought a chair to one side of the fire that blazed in the wide stone hearth and indicated that Oltha should seat himself. The fire threw flickering patterns on the beamed ceiling. Iggy picked up a small carved box from the mantel shelf. Opening it he sniffed a small hit of crystal, hesitated and offered the open box to the hill chief. Oltha shook his head and Iggy grinned, shut the box and returned it to the shelf.
    ‘You reckon to take Festival.’
    Iggy shrugged.
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘T’ hold or t’ loot?’
    ‘Either, work it out when we get there.’
    ‘When do we start?’
    ‘Hold it, hold it. Not so fast.’
    ‘Why wait? We ride to Festival. We fight. No reason to wait.’
    ‘You ain’t that dumb. We gotta lot needs doing. That’s why wait.’
    Oltha said nothing. There was the sound of shouts and laughter. Iggy stood up and walked to the window. The groups of men who had previously stayed with their own kind were gradually beginning to mingle. When the hill boys got drunk there would probably be fights. Winston’s squad would take care of that if it became necessary. Iggy turned to face the fire.
    ‘The first thing we’re gonna need is supplies an’ an easy fight so we can see how our boys work out togetha, ri’?’
    Oltha nodded.
    ‘An’ I got a deal that’d take care of both those.’
    Oltha looked puzzled.
    ‘No easy raids left in this country. Too near Festival.’
    ‘There’s a caravan, four days out from the great bridge, four days out on the old road headed for Festival.’
    Oltha slowly leaned forward, a wolfish grin spreading over his face.
    ‘A caravan?’
    ‘Ri’, a caravan. An’ in two days it’ll cross Ruined Hill, not a morning’s ride from here. First we take the caravan. After that we head for Festival. Agree?’
    ‘Agree.’
    Iggy again took the carved box from the mantel. He took another hit of crystal, hesitated, glanced at Oltha and replaced the box.

4.
    ‘Hey wagonmaster, you wanna join us for a game of stud?’ one of the skinners called to him out of the gathering dark.
    ‘Leave me out Charlie; I ain’t got the head for it tonight.’
    ‘Okay.’ Charlie disappeared round the side of a wagon.
    The wagons were formed into their protective circle and for Big Eddie the day was over. But he still felt tense and uneasy. Five days out from the Great Bridge. No trouble, except the big puller throwing a piston coupling. With only three days to Festival it was unlikely there would be trouble but still the feeling remained; nothing that he