Doctor Who_ All-Consuming Fire - Andy Lane [81]
Maupertuis reached into his jacket.
'I have no use for you,' he said to the small but defiant group of men before him. Removing a small whistle from a waistcoat pocket, he raised it to his lips and blew. I heard no noise, but felt a sudden stab of pain in the centre of my forehead. Bernice winced.
Fetid air ruffled my hair. I glanced about, but saw nothing. My stomach churned. Something was coming, something evil, but I could not tell from which direction it approached. I turned to consult Bernice, but she was gazing upwards in horror. I followed her gaze, and felt my bowels turn to ice.
The tiny circle of daylight at the top of the shaft was obscured by a shadow that was growing larger with every passing second. Wings flapped. I could not move. It was almost on top of me.
I felt a leathery wing brush past me, saw a sudden flash of pebbled scarlet hide, and then it was past me, and I was looking down upon a creature from delirium as it plummeted towards the ground. I recognized it from Bernice's description. It was one of the creatures that had abducted the Doctor.
Another one dropped past me, almost knocking me from the stairs with the wind of its passage. Opening its wings to their widest extent, it circled around the dais. The spikes that comprised its face quivered in anticipation of the kill. .
A third creature dropped from the shaft, and a fourth. They flocked for a moment like blood-soaked vultures around a carcass. I pulled my revolver from my pocket, but Bernice grabbed my hand before I could fire.
'You'll give away our position! Let's see whether or not they need us first.'
The first creature swooped for the Doctor.
He ducked as its mace-like tail swept through the air where his head had been. The wind from its mighty wings beat Holmes and Roxton back as it gained height again; then, folding those wings against its body, it plummeted towards the Doctor's prone body. He rolled to one side. The tail smashed into the ground beside his face, its spikes drawing deep scratches down his cheek.
'What are they?' I hissed.
'The Doctor called them rakshassi. I guess they're native to the planet through the gateway. They look barely intelligent to me. Maupertuis probably brought some back with him and trained them up as glorified penis-substitutes.'
'Glorified what?' I exclaimed.
'Go have a chat with Freud,' she replied cryptically.
The vanguard of Maupertuis's army were filing apprehensively into the gateway now. They gazed around, not sure whether to be more frightened of the alien world ahead or the alien creatures behind. Grizzled sergeant-types kept them moving.
The three other rakshassi had engaged Holmes, Roxton and Moriarty, harrying them from the air, lashing them with their tails and clutching at them with the talons on the ends of their wings. They hissed in anticipation of the kill. It was all the men could do to keep out of their clutches. There was no chance of fighting back.
Smiling cruelly, Maupertuis leaned back in his throne to enjoy the fun.
Besides him, Tir Ram was looking a little sick.
One of the creatures had cornered Holmes by one of the pools of water. He had nowhere to back away to as the thing hovered above him, preparing to dash his brains out with its tail. Moriarty lurked behind it, unable or unwilling to intervene.
I didn't even know I was going to fire until I felt the gun buck in my hand.
My, shot hit where one of its wings met the body, exploding the joint in a shower of bone and blood. The creature screamed shrilly and plunged to the ground. Moriarty was on in a flash, snapping the bony ribs of the wings and tearing at the membranes between them. The creature thrashed about, but Moriarty fought like a daemon. Taking a bunch of the sharp spikes of its face in each hand, he pulled sharply in opposite directions. Watery fluid sprayed up from the rent. The creature convulsed and was still.
'Oh well,' said