Doctor Who_ Battlefield - Marc Platt [61]
Ace held the sword tightly to her. The Doctor had been right in every respect so far. Excalibur might still protect them. ‘If you’re so bad, why haven’t you done anything?’
For a moment, she caught the malevolent glint of a jewelled reptilan eye. She shuddered. Shou Yuing clung to her leg in fright. ‘First I must be freed. This immortal has me chained.’ The Destroyer lifted his arms to show Ace the manacles that bound him. His eye pleaded, use your sword.
‘You are bound with silver,’ warned Morgaine.
‘It burns,’ intoned the humanoid monster.
‘Good,’ she smiled.
Ace was startled. In the hallway through the door, she saw movement. There were soldiers with guns out there.
The squaddies left behind to guard the building. They were taking up positions to attack.
The Destroyer had turned back to Ace. He nodded towards Morgaine. ‘She fears me,’ he confided.
‘I fear nothing.’ protested the Queen.
‘Then free me and let me claim this world!’
‘Perhaps,’ she said.
The soldiers outside were getting ready to move.
‘What does he want the world for?’ Ace called quickly.
There was a deafening burst of gunfire as the soldiers sprang into action.
The Destroyer was distracted by a spray of bullets that tore into his chest. He looked at Morgaine.
‘Kill them,’ she instructed.
He threw out an elegantly manicured hand and emerald light burst from his fingers.
Ace flung herself over Shou Yuing as protection from the blast. The room outside the circle became an inferno of blazing green fire.
When it cleared, the soldiers were gone. Smoking shadows lingered, scorched on the floor and walls.
Ace looked up, terrified. Shou Yuing was shaking.
The Destroyer straightened his tie. ‘What do I want with your world?’ He bared his pointed teeth and drooled down his jacket. ‘Why, to devour it. What else?’
He tugged at the chains on his wrists.
Morgaine paced slowly around the circle until she faced her demonic servant. She pointed to Ace and Shou Yuing.
‘Get me that sword,’ she commanded.
Bessie skidded to a halt in front of the hotel.
Smoke was drifting from the doorway. Windows had been shattered. Green light flickered inside.
The Doctor climbed from the car and poked at the gravel with his umbrella. A funnel mark of soot across the drive marked out the blast from inside the hotel. There was a smell the Doctor recognized only too well as that of burnt human flesh.
‘My future is catching up with me,’ he muttered for no one’s benefit in particular. He looked up at Mordred, who was still under the Brigadier’s supervision.
‘This is the Destroyer’s work,’ said the Prince grimly.
There was a thunderous roar and a blast of green energy erupted from the porch. It hurled the Brigadier and Mordred to the ground. The Doctor stood silhouetted, his arm shielding his face from the fierce light.
Then it was gone.
He lowered his smoking sleeve and yelled, ‘Morgaine! If they’re dead...’
He ran headlong through the smoking entrance.
Before the Brigadier could catch him, Mordred was up and running away down the drive.
Decisions, decisions. For a moment, Lethbridge-Stewart was torn between who to follow. But he had to know what was happening, if only for the report he would have to write.
He found the Doctor standing amid the rubble and matchwood that had been the hotel lounge. He was holding a small earring in his hand.
‘Ace. Shou Yuing,’ he said quietly. His face was grey with guilt. His hat, his first hat, lay in the dust. He took off the replacement, furled it up and pocketed it. Then he scooped up the original, brushed it off and wearily placed it on his head. ‘I’m sorry. Doctor,’ said the Brigadier. ‘We should...’
‘Is that you, Professor?’ said a muffled voice.
A pile of debris shifted and fell apart. At the bottom of it, beneath the coffee table that had sheltered them, crouched Shou Yuing and Ace. They were covered in soot and plaster dust. ‘Ace!’ the Doctor exclaimed. ‘And Little Cloud too. Thank goodness. What happened?’
‘The hotel fell on us,’ complained