Doctor Who_ Bunker Soldiers - Martin Day [33]
Yevhen fixed his eyes on Lesia. ‘Daughter,’ he said. ‘Thank you for joining us once more.’
‘Father, I only wanted to take in the twilight air. I meant –’
‘You meant me to look a fool!’ interrupted Yevhen. ‘The governor has ordered that all of us stay here, where we are safe. I do not like this decision of his, but I am a man of authority, and I live under authority. I respect that decision. And yet I find that you do not!’
‘We didn’t do anything,’ offered Dodo. ‘But this place is so claustrophobic! We’re sick of having soldiers trailing round after us all the time.’
‘They are to keep you safe!’ exploded Yevhen. ‘Do you have any idea of the dangers we all face?’
‘Yes, I do,’ said Dodo forcefully, ‘and it’s terrible. But allowing your daughter a little freedom isn’t going to hurt anyone.’
‘Silence!’ bellowed Yevhen, raising a hand as if to strike Dodo. ‘I have heard of the “freedom” you espouse – a debauched freedom where womenfolk do and dress as they please.’
‘What’s so wrong with that?’
‘You forget that women are under God’s curse. All know that man is nobler than woman, and of greater virtue.’ Yevhen stared at Lesia, grinding his teeth in fury. ‘Better to have a single good son than a hundred sluts as daughters!’
At this, Lesia collapsed on to her bed in tears. Yevhen went over to her, his face red.
‘Do not think I am deaf to the rumours that you’ve been spreading your legs for some boy!’
‘It is not true,’ said Lesia limply. ‘Father. . don’t say anything else. You have been drinking.’
‘If I ever find out who he is I will tear him to pieces with my bare hands!’
‘Oi!’ said Dodo, tapping Yevhen on the shoulder to get his attention. ‘Cut it out!’
Yevhen swung around wildly, arms flailing. ‘Don’t touch me, you little whore!’
‘Don’t you dare call me that!’ shouted Dodo, with equal passion.
A silent moment passed as Dodo heldYevhen’s gaze, her fists balled as if preparing for a fight.
Yevhen glanced away.
‘Now, I didn’t really pay much attention to scripture classes in school,’ said Dodo in a quieter voice, staring levelly back at Yevhen. ‘But I do remember that after all the animals were made, this God bloke you claim to believe in created men, and then he created women. So, if there’s a pinnacle of creation, it ain’t you lot!’
Yevhen recoiled as if physically struck. ‘How dare you!’
Dodo sensed she was in the ascendancy. ‘Now get out, and leave your daughter alone, or I will scream so loudly, and tell such stories, that even that bishop of yours will have to act.’
Yevhen glanced back at his daughter, then turned on the spot and marched towards the door without another word.
As the door slammed shut, Lesia began to cry again.
The Doctor’s party made swift progress along the plains, the well-bred horses keeping to a dignified half-gallop. Wherever possible the group sought partial sanctuary at the edges of the woods that pockmarked the terrain. Under the great branches of the ancient conifers it was blacker than midnight ink, though the lanterns and torches danced like fireflies in the bitter autumn air.
But none of the men grumbled, for they hoped the trees offered some respite from watching, devilish eyes. It was only when there was no cover at all, and they were forced to proceed through the exposed grasslands, that a true sense of awful expectation gripped them.
The Doctor, his body aching with every movement of the horse beneath him, had long since lost track of time. He concentrated instead on the simple practicalities of remaining as comfortable as possible in the unyielding saddle, his ears and eyes alert to the slightest hint of the Mongols. All the while his mind roamed freely elsewhere, turning over fragments, attempting to make a pattern from the puzzle pieces.
The discovery of Taras’s corpse had unsettled him even more than he had let on. He was worried for his friends and for the people of Kiev, as the one action of the creature responsible for the builder’s death had been to kill rather than strive for communication. Worse still, such