Even now, it was still difficult to focus her attention on anything but the scene beyond the door, but finally she dragged her eyes away from the approaching horsemen and sought out Zeffer.
He had fallen to his knees three or four yards from the door, putting up no defense against Katya’s assault.
“I told you, didn’t I?” she said, slapping his head. “I never wanted to see you in this house ever again. You understand me? Ever again.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, his head bowed. “I just brought — ”
“I don’t care who you brought. This house is forbidden to you.”
“Yes … I know.”
His acquiescence did nothing to placate her. The reverse, in fact: it seemed to inflame her. She kicked him. “You revolt me,” she said.
He bent over, as though to present a smaller target to her. She pushed him, hard, and he fell. She moved in to kick him again, aiming for his face, but at that moment Tammy saw what she was about to do, and let out a cry of protest.
“Leave him alone!” she said.
Katya turned. “What?”
“You heard me. Leave him alone!”
Katya’s beauty was disfigured by the naked contempt on her face. She was breathing heavily, and her face was flushed.
“I’ll do what it suits me to do in my own house,” she said, her lip curling. “And no fat, ugly bitch like you is going to tell me otherwise.”
Tammy knew plenty about Katya Lupi by now, of course; her intimidating reputation went before her. But at that moment, seeing Zeffer lying on the floor, and hearing what the woman had just said, any trace of intimidation was burned away by a blaze of anger. Even the glories of the Devil’s Country were forgotten at that moment.
She walked straight towards Katya and pushed her hard, laying her hands against the bitch’s little breasts to do so. Katya was clearly not used to being manhandled. She came back at Tammy in an instant.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” she shrieked. Then she back-handed Tammy; a clean, wide strike.
Tammy fell back, the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. There were three sickening heartbeats when she feared the force of Katya’s blow was going to knock her unconscious. Darkness pulsed at the corners of her vision. But she was determined not to be floored by one blow, even if it did have something more than ordinary human force behind it, as she suspected it did.
She reached out for something to steady her, and her hand found the door-jamb. As she caught hold of it, she glanced back over her shoulder, remembering her proximity to the strange beauty of the Devil’s Country. But the power of the room’s illusion had been momentarily knocked from her head. The walls were simply covered in tiles now. There were trees and rocks and a painted river on those tiles, but none of it was so finely rendered that it could have been mistaken for reality. The only part of the scene before her that was real was Todd, who was still lingering at the threshold. Apparently he could see what Tammy could not because at that moment he threw himself over the threshold like a man in fear of something coming close on his heels. He caught hold of the doorhandle, and started to pull the door closed, but as he did so Katya came back into view and blocked the door with her foot.
“Don’t close it!” she told Todd.
Todd obeyed her. He let go of the handle. The door struck Katya’s leg and bounced open again.
Now the machinations of the room began to work on Tammy afresh. The gloomy air seethed, and the shapes of four horsemen appeared out of the murk, still riding towards the door.
The leader — the Duke, Tammy thought, this is the Duke — pulled hard on the reins to slow his mount. The animal made a din, as though its primitive gaze was failing to make sense of what it was ahead of it. Rather than advance any further it came to a panicked halt, throwing up clods of dirt as it did so. Goga jumped from the saddle, shouting a number of incomprehensible orders back at his men, who had also brought their animals to a stop. They proceeded to dismount. There were whispers of superstitious doubt between the men: plainly whatever they were witnessing (the door, the passageway) they could make little or no sense of it. That fact didn’t slow their advance, however. They dutifully followed their leader towards the door, swords drawn.