Doctor Who_ Battlefield - Marc Platt [26]
‘Vortigern’s Lake,’ muttered the Doctor. He ignored Ace’s quizzical look and studied the young knight. The tribes of the chieftain Arthur’s Dark Ages were a wild and generally untrained group of freedom fighters, a world away from this warrior. He resembled a fragment of romanticized legend, yet his ideals and objectives were all too real and dangerous. There had never been anything like this knight on the real Earth — at least not on any Earth the Doctor knew.
‘Can you walk?’ he asked.
‘Aye,’ said the knight eagerly, and sheathed his sword again.
Shou Yuing was beginning to be reminded of a local pageant. ‘Would someone please tell me what is going on?’
she complained.
The Doctor wished he knew. The answer was, it appeared, a world away — and then he guessed. ‘If my hunch is correct, the Earth could be at the centre of a war that doesn’t even belong in this dimension.’
Ace threw Shou Yuing a look of sympathy. She knew what it was like trying to keep up with the Doctor.
The brewery door crashed open and a figure in UNIT
uniform, holding a hi-tech rifle like a machine gun, burst in on them.
‘Everybody stand nice and easy,’ ordered Brigadier Bambera.
How very tiresome, thought the Doctor. ‘Excuse me, Winifred,’ he said, ‘but we have to be somewhere urgently.
So if you could just let us get past.’
She focused the gun directly on him. ‘You’re under arrest, you and your freaky friends!’
‘Who are you calling freaky?’ shouted Ace.
The Doctor deliberately pushed Ace behind him out of the firing line and added, ‘I’m sure we can sort this out quite quickly. If I could just explain...’
A loud fizz behind them like a firecracker, dissolved a section of the brewery wall into smoke. Three figures in grey armour stood in the gap carrying heavy-duty guns that resembled sawn-off lances.
‘Take them,’ shouted the leader.
To the Doctor’s dismay, Bambera automatically trained her gun on the newcomers and yelled, ‘I am an armed military officer and you are under arrest! Lay down your weapons and put your hands in the air!’
‘Winifred, that is not the right approach,’ protested the Doctor.
‘Put the guns down!’ she shouted. The Black Knight tensed and his hand went to his sword. Shou Yuing edged backwards behind a vat. The three figures advanced.
Ace saw the Doctor step directly into the knights’ path.
She reached for her nitro-nine and found she had left her knapsack in the garden.
‘Well, now that we’re all here, let me introduce myself.
I’m the Doctor and this is... ‘
The Grey leader levelled his gun, but Bambera released a volley of shots directly at his head. He fell back against his companions, his mirrored visor cracked across.
The Black Knight launched himself at Bambera, knocking her to the floor as the wall behind them disappeared in a burst of splintered brick. ‘One favour returned, my lady,’ he said in her ear. He turned and saw his fallen sword lying across the floor out of reach.
A pair of small hands grasped the massive hilt and tried to drag up the broadsword.
‘Ace! No!’ hissed the Doctor from cover.
The Grey leader had recovered and was advancing towards the Black Knight and Bambera with his gun raised. ‘Mine,’ he said and his minions waited.
Hardly able to lift the huge sword, Ace stepped out and swung the weapon at the Grey leader’s legs. He tripped and hit the floor, his visor shattering. His gun skittered away across the tiles.
Bambera had struggled out from under the Black Knight. She clambered to her feet and brought her gun to bear on the Grey leader.
‘All right, you want to try that again?’ she said.
Bits of visor fell from the leader’s helmet as he struggled to his feet. He waved back his advancing men and ripped off the remains of the helmet to reveal his handsome saturnine features. ‘Mordred!’ exclaimed the Black Knight.
The prince nodded. ‘Ancelyn ap Gwalchmai. How fitting that you should die amongst peasants.’
‘Look again. Mordred,’ said Ancelyn and glanced meaningfully at the Doctor, who was emerging from behind the vat.
‘Remember