Doctor Who_ Bunker Soldiers - Martin Day [7]
‘And how long is that going to take?’
The Doctor sighed. ‘lt may take some time...’
II
Labyrinthus
Many weeks had passed since their arrival in Kiev, and yet Dodo still had questions for the Doctor.
‘This Genghis Khan bloke,’ she was saying. ‘He was the first leader of the Mongols, right?’
The Doctor looked up from the illuminated manuscripts he was studying. ‘And there I was thinking you paid no attention at school!’
Dodo was evasive. ‘I think I saw something on the telly once.’
The Doctor smiled. ‘Before Genghis became Great Khan, he was known as Temuchin. He was probably born in 1167...’
‘Seventy-odd years ago,’ interrupted Dodo.
‘... to an insignificant clan on the steppes of Mongolia,’
continued the Doctor with barely a pause. ‘It was an area rife with tribal herdsmen, made parochial by its geography. Genghis united the clans under one leader, and sent hordes of soldiers out on a grand mission of conquest.’
‘He’s dead, though, isn’t he?’
‘Genghis?’ queried the Doctor. ‘Yes, he died a decade or more ago. Please try to keep up!’ he admonished gently.
‘So who’s the boss now?’
‘Ogedei Khan.’
‘And he’s the one who’s invading?’
‘No, no,’ said the Doctor. ‘Ogedei is, if memory serves, residing in the Mongolian capital, Qaraqorum. This campaign is commanded by Batu Khan, Genghis’s grandson, along with Batu’s cousin, Mongke. Mongke will become Great Khan in...’
He muttered to himself, wracking his mind for the date. ‘1250, 1251, something like that.’
‘I’m confused.’
The Doctor seemed not to hear. ‘And Mongke will be followed by the greatest khan of all, Khubilai. You’re familiar with Coleridge?’
‘Unless he’s Chelsea’s new centre-half, no, I’m not.’
‘Pity,’ said the Doctor. ‘And the name Marco Polo means nothing to you?’
Dodo shook her head, and the Doctor sighed deeply. ‘One day I shall have to tell you of the fun and games we had with Polo and Khubilai! Oh yes, a most tricky encounter!’
He rose to his feet, patrolling the great library of Kiev like a teacher.
‘In Khubilai’s time, of course, the empire is composed of four khanates. It stretches from beyond Kiev, across Russia, down to Baghdad, and then right the way across Asia to China.
A vast empire! Yes, an extraordinary achievement!’
He looked round as the soldier who had been watching over them left the room, to be replaced by another.
‘But I have said quite enough,’ he said in a quiet voice. ‘This is all in the future. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, isn’t that right, my dear?’
‘If you say so,’ said Dodo. ‘But I still don’t understand why they’re so frightened of these Mongols.’
‘Oh, my child,’ said the Doctor sadly, ‘I pray you never have to find out for yourself.’ He paused, thinking, then led Dodo to the window. ‘Come. . come. Look down, and tell me what you see.’ The governor’s residence was an imposing building of dark stone, punctured with windows and topped with towers and unadorned battlements. It sat on Starokievska Hill, surrounded by the palaces of Kiev’s princes, and afforded a fine view of the city’s commercial district and, beyond that, the great cathedral.
The library was high up in one of the towers, a series of interconnected and vast circular rooms built one on top of the other.
From the window Dodo saw people moving through the shadows cast by the great building. Some herded animals to market, others encouraged reticent oxen to pull carts of grain.
On a street corner a ragged man was trying to sell something, though he ran when a group of soldiers marched smartly down the street, scattering fowl and children before them like dust.
‘I see. . I see everyday things.’
‘Yes, my dear, that’s right.’ The Doctor’s bony finger traced the roof-tops, the chimneys that poured smoke into the grey autumnal skies. ‘Over four hundred churches, nine or ten markets, probably some sixty thousand inhabitants...’
‘How does that compare to London?’ Dodo wanted to know.
‘No more than twenty-five thousand people live there, I should think,’ said the Doctor.