Doctor Who_ Battlefield - Marc Platt [58]
‘Courage?’ the Prince sneered. ‘To face you, Ancelyn, who fled the field at Camlaan? Ancelyn the Craven, I call you.’
Bambera ran down the slope to Ancelyn’s side. ‘Forget about being noble, Ancelyn. Get under cover!’
Ancelyn grinned at her and stood his ground. ‘What care I for the words of a half-man, who cowers from a woman’s wrath.’
They raised their swords in fierce salute. Winifred stepped back as the two men, screaming all their hatred, charged towards each other.
From nowhere, another figure darted between them.
Flinging his arms wide, the Doctor yelled, ‘Stop! I command it!’
Whether by a trick of his own or by some natural acoustic, his voice carried across the entire field of battle.
The fighting stopped. The smoke drifted and cleared. The armies turned to a man and stared as the figure mounted the ridge. He circled, addressing men-at-arms and UNIT
troops alike. He did not shout, he simply said with quiet authority, ‘There will be no battle here.’
The soldiers waited. They looked around them, bewildered at the dead and injured. They knew, as he had learned, that Merlin stood amongst them once again. A single voice cried out in pain and then was silent.
One sound alone disturbed the battlefield. Mordred was laughing.
‘This is not a battle,’ he said. ‘It is but a ruse. A diversion.’
It was like a thunderclap. The Doctor slowly walked down the ridge towards the prince. ‘No,’ he said, but he knew that he was wrong.
Morgaine, whom he had never met, knew him of old.
She knew his mind and his weaknesses.
Mordred smirked. He pointed to the dark sky. ‘My mother hath summoned the Destroyer. The Lord of Darkness, Eater of Worlds. Look to your child guardians, Merlin, for soon they shall be no more.’
He bowed low and walked away.
‘Ace,’ whispered the Doctor. ‘What have I done?’
Beyond the pool of candlelight there was nothing.
Ace held the sword, Shou Yuing held the scabbard.
They sat back to back in the centre of the circle, staring at the chalk line that held back the unnatural light.
They might have been adrift in the void.
Shou Yuing tapped the seconds out on the floor with the scabbard. It was annoying Ace.
‘So your grandparents run a takeaway in the village.’
‘Yes,’ said Shou Yuing.
‘I could murder chow mein and noodles.’
‘They do pizza.’
‘Yeah?’
Shou Yuing went on tapping. The crisps were untouched. The candle flame guttered with a hiss.
‘What did you say?’ said Shou Yuing.
Ace shifted position uneasily. ‘What?’
‘I thought... Nothing.’
Someone’s getting jumpy, thought Ace. She shivered.
She wanted the Doctor back now.
Tap, tap, tap.
There was nothing to do and nothing to say. She was suddenly angry.
‘This is stupid,’ she complained.
‘What did you call me?’ snapped Shou Yuing.
‘I said “this is stupid“,’ articulated Ace, loudly. ‘You deaf or something?’
‘No, you didn’t! I heard you. You called me stupid.’
Ace got to her feet and stood over Shou Yuing. ‘I am not a freak!’
‘What you getting jumpy for?’ said the Chinese girl.
‘I said I’m not a freak, right! I’m Ace. You dumb or what?’
Shou Yuing clambered to her feet, scattering crisp packets across the circle. ‘I am not stupid!’
‘Then why do you say stupid things?’
They were eye to eye.
Shou Yuing’s face tightened with hatred. ‘That’s good coming from a misfit like you!’
Ace started to back slowly away. ‘You watch your mouth, toadface! Or I’ll knock your teeth in!’
‘I bet nobody likes you,’ Shou Yuing went on.
‘Shut up!’ shouted Ace. She felt the darkness pressing around her.
Shou Yuing was leaning closer. ‘First chance he got, the Doctor went off without you.’
‘Shut up! Shut up!’
‘I bet even your parents hated your guts!’
Ace saw red. ‘Shut up you yellow slant-eyed...’
She froze. The back of her neck was tingling. She was on the very edge of the chalk.
Shou Yuing was slowly edging backwards.
Ace tumbled forward and they clung to each other at the centre pool of light.
‘Someone’s playing games with our minds,’ whispered Ace.
The darkness beyond was not as dark as they had imagined.