Doctor Who_ Bad Therapy - Matthew Jones [86]
Gilliam only noticed the hieroglyphs as she returned to the square of light directly beneath the hole, preparing to wait for Ala’dan’s return. They were scratched hurriedly and crudely into a dimly lit part of the wall. Compared to the beautiful and elegant symbols in the bedchamber above, these were a desperate scrawl. Gilliam almost didn’t bother to translate them. Only the thought that the sweaty professor would be the first to read Petruska’s last words, caring only for the use he could make of them, changed her mind.
With a broken hand I write of this betrayal Moriah has clipped the wings of this bird The circle is no longer complete and so the door is locked for ever I am not to think of a life without him
And so what use have I for my life at all 144
‘Don’t you see?’ Gilliam exclaimed to Ala’dan, when he had returned from the shuttle and thrown down a null-gravity belt which lifted her gracefully out of the underground chamber. ‘Moriah didn’t murder Petruska because she was unfaithful to him, she killed herself – it was the only way she could ever have been free of him.’
‘That would certainly fit with your translation, but, well, what difference does it make now, Highness?’
‘What difference does it make? Ala’dan, it makes all the difference in the world. Don’t you see? She made a choice. In the end her choice was between a life with Moriah or death. And she chose death.’
Ala’ dan looked puzzled. ‘And was that a wise choice?’
‘It was a choice. Sometimes that’s enough. It must have been Tol’gar who betrayed her; he was probably reporting back to Moriah all along. Moriah must have confronted Petruska before she could leave. The bastard beat her up –’
‘And removed one of the spheres in the circle in order to prevent her escaping?’ the old chancellor suggested, looking up from the translation Gilliam had jotted down in her notepad.
‘Yes. And that’s a part of all of this which I don’t really understand, because the circle is complete. Complete and functional after all this time. It was the warmth from the bird/globe that kept me alive last night.’
‘Someone must have replaced the missing sphere later.’
‘But who?’
‘Highness, how else could Moriah have fled Kr’on Tep never to be seen again?’
‘You mean Moriah put the sphere back after taking it away?’
Ala’dan nodded. ‘Who else?’ he asked, and walked to the doorway of the bedchamber, before turning back to face her. ‘He would have returned to her rooms sometime after their argument, perhaps racked with guilt for hurting the woman he loved.’
‘I wouldn’t count on it,’ Gilliam muttered.
Ala’dan shook his hand and gave her an admonishing look. ‘Come now, Highness, this man was in love with her to the exclusion of all else, of course he would feel guilty. He would be looking for forgiveness from his love.’
Ala’dan mimed entering the room and searching for the queen.
Gilliam smiled as she watched him cross to the hole in the floor. Ala’dan was caught up in his performance, like a detective acting out the crime in a movie’s final scene. Gilliam was reminded of how important the story of Moriah and Petruska was to the people of this planet. Several sects still worshipped Moriah as a god. They weren’t going to like her new version of events.
145
‘And what would Moriah have found down there in the darkness?’ Ala’dan asked, rhetorically, as he stood at the edge of the pit. ‘He would have found the woman he worshipped dead. Killed by her own hand. And all because of his own terrible actions.’
Gilliam joined the old man and looked down into the depths. ‘So he replaced the sphere and fled Kr’on Tep.’
Ala’dan nodded. ‘Before anyone could learn of his folly. And so his son became king, a line of rule which has continued to this day.’ He put a hand on her shoulder. ‘And so you have the answers to the questions which brought you here. Will you now return to the king’s side?’
Gilliam looked away. She hadn’t expected Ala’dan to be so direct.
‘Highness.