Doctor Who_ Bunker Soldiers - Martin Day [81]
‘Doctor!’ exclaimed Dodo, running to him and hugging him tightly.
‘Now, now, my child,’ said the Doctor, at once embarrassed but touched by this display of affection. ‘I have only been gone a few days!’
‘It is good to see you,’ I agreed.
The Doctor smiled. ‘It is good to see you all.’
Dodo hugged him again. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes, my child. I am quite well. I only wish I brought better news from the Mongol army.’
‘Oh?’ queried Yevhen, though I expected he guessed what the Doctor was about to say.
The Doctor turned on him angrily. ‘Whose idea was it to execute the envoys? What fool ordered the catapulting of their bodies and the other corpses over the walls?’
‘My lord the governor,’ said Yevhen obsequiously. He pointed to the wretch in the corner. ‘I am afraid the burdens of his position have driven him mad. I am the new governor.’
‘Why did you not stop him?’ asked the Doctor. ‘With the envoys alive there was a chance – a slender chance, yes, but a chance all the same!’ He put an awkward, fatherly arm around Dodo. ‘But now I am afraid that nothing but destruction awaits Kiev. The attack is as certain as night following day.’
‘Your mission was unsuccessful,’ commented Yevhen.
‘My mission was compromised by rash stupidity, calculated only to inflame the hatred of the Mongol warlords!’
‘Don’t be too hard on Dmitri,’ I said. ‘He was attacked by the creature. I think it may have sent him mad.’
‘I heard something of what you said from the corridor,’ said the Doctor. ‘It is a sleeping foe, is it not? Its aggression is matched only by its periodic inactivity.’
I tried to fill him in on what had happened since the start of his trek to the Mongol army – my liberation from prison, my flight through the catacombs, the strange attack on Lesia and the plot hatched by the Church authorities to appease the Mongols.
‘Yes, I met Archbishop Vasil,’ said the Doctor. ‘The execution of the emissary rather put paid to the Church’s attempted appeasement – for the moment at least.’ He paused, rubbing his chin. ‘I am interested, my boy. You mentioned the cook’s body in the catacombs?’
‘That’s who Olexander said it was. She was married to the builder...’
‘A pattern emerges, does it not? From a lowly builder, to a cook with access to these chambers, then finally attacks on the leaders of Kiev...’ The Doctor turned back to Yevhen, and his voice was clouded with remorse. ‘The cook was killed, and taken away, to ensure that the creature could move about with impunity. I am afraid, sir, that it does not bode well for your daughter.’
Yevhen said nothing, but turned away sharply.
‘It is clearly a creature of great ferocity, and yet...
Insidiously... it has climbed social structures to find itself at the very heart of command. Fascinating, hmm?’
‘That is as may be,’ saidYevhen, his back still turned. ‘But we have more important foes to concern ourselves with.’
‘My concerns are not your concerns,’ the Doctor said quietly.
‘At last, a true word passes your lips!’ exclaimed Yevhen.
‘What are we going to do?’ asked Dodo.
‘Well,’ said the Doctor. ‘The illness you describe... It sounds to me like an acute bacterial infection, perhaps even cholera.’ He turned to Yevhen. ‘I will advise how to treat the afflicted with clean water and salt, given orally. But I will need antibiotics...’ He seemed at last to notice the blank looks the others were giving him. ‘I have medicinal preparations in the TARDIS,’ he said. ‘We should be able to prevent the spread of this disease.’
I could scarcely believe what I was hearing. ‘After all this time, you’re finally prepared to return to the TARDIS!’
‘Only now that is there something I can help with,’ said the Doctor. ‘With acting governor Yevhen’s permission, of course.’
Yevhen turned. ‘You think I am a fool? Of course I will not allow you access to your “ship”. You have clearly concluded that our opposition to the Mongols is futile. You