Doctor Who_ Bunker Soldiers - Martin Day [54]
‘Lesia, will you get up!’
A dark look crossed Dodo’s face.
‘Stop it, Lesia.You’re frightening me.’
Still there was not the slightest movement from the sleeping woman. Even her chest seemed motionless beneath her pale bedclothes.
‘Lesia!’
Worried now, Dodo reached down to touch her friend’s face. She noticed that Lesia’s eyes were fluttering a little, as if she was dreaming – but her skin was deathly cold to the touch.
‘Oh my God...’
Dodo ran from the room.
Yevhen swept into the room, agitated. ‘Is it the disease?’ he queried.
Isaac, who had only just arrived, looked up from his cursory inspection of the sleeping girl. ‘I do not think so,’ he said.
‘Physicians have been called, and we shall of course rely on their expertise in the stars and the humours...’ He puffed his cheeks.
‘But I must admit this is a malaise the like of which I have never seen.’
‘She’s just as I found her,’ offered Dodo, wary of Yevhen’s wrath, but he seemed to ignore her words. Instead, he strode to the bed and gathered his daughter to him, first gently and with concern etching his features, then more strongly. He whispered into her ear, but the young woinan remained little more than a doll in his arms.
‘You might decide it best to leave her be,’ suggested Isaac.
‘Some conditions –’
‘I will decide how best to protect my own family!’ Yevhen spat, glaring at the older man. ‘I know where my priorities lie. I wish that were true of all the city leaders,’ he added, his words ripe with implied threat.
‘What do you mean by that, sir?’
‘Do not play the fool with me, Jew,’ spat Yevhen. ‘The governor may be ignorant of your alliance with the travellers, but I am not.’
‘What are you on about?’ asked Dodo, who could stand in silence no more.
‘Isaac has engineered the release of your friend,’ said Yevhen through gritted teeth. ‘Have you not heard?’
Isaac smiled sweetly. ‘I am naturally pleased to hear the governor has decided that Steven is innocent of murder. But I am afraid to say that I had nothing to do with the governor’s change of heart.’ He stared levelly at his fellow adviser, refusing to be intimidated by him. ‘Your daughter is ill, sir,’ he continued in a voice so quiet Dodo had to strain to hear it. ‘I humbly suggest we keep our thoughts and our prayers focused on that.’
Yevhen nodded, as if shamed by Isaac’s words, but Dodo could see there was still a fire burning behind his eyes.
‘How much longer are these doctors of yours going to be?’
she queried.
‘I imagine they are dealing with those poor souls who have fallen victim to this vile disease,’ said Isaac. ‘The numbers are growing by the moment.’
Yevhen straightened, and turned away from his daughter. It was clear he had made a decision. ‘Is it not plain what is wrong with the girl?’ he asked grandly. He turned to Isaac. ‘You are so wise, and yet you do not see the evidence of your own eyes?’
‘What are you talking about?’ asked Dodo.
‘A night-time visitation,’ Yevhen announced grandly. ‘I can feel it in her fever, smell it on her skin. She has been corrupted.’
His voice lowered to a near whisper. ‘An incubus.’
Isaac reached out to his fellow adviser, as if he were about to put a comforting arm around him. ‘You have been working too hard,’ he said lightly.
‘The evidence is clear enough!’ snapped Yevhen, striding towards the door. ‘My very own daughter has not been able to resist temptation. She has given in to lust, and an incubus has her soul.’ He glanced back towards the bed. ‘She now sleeps the sleep of the damned.’
‘An incubus!’ Isaac spluttered. ‘Were this malady not so serious, sir, I would laugh!’
Yevhen turned, pointing an angry finger towards Isaac. ‘You do not believe in God, sir! Of course you do not believe in demons!’
‘We believe in the same God,’ offered Isaac with as much dignity as he could muster. ‘Different expressions of Him, perhaps, but the same creator.’ He held a hand over his heart.
‘The only monsters I believe in are here.’
‘You will burn in