Doctor Who_ Byzantium! - Keith Topping [32]
‘Passages,' he said. `Hidden entrances and exits. For is it not written that "judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place"?'
'Was that the weather forecast, hmm?' the Doctor asked, still feeling sluggish and numb.
The man shook his head, sadly `No,' he said. À prophecy that has become all too true in these dark days and times. I am Daniel,' he continued. `My wife is Rachel, and her sisters are Miriam and Xanthe.
‘You forget another,' came a voice from the darkness. And if introductions are to be so given then, surely, they should also be reciprocal, yes?' An older man stepped from the deep shadows. Dressed in rough haircloth and with a head of white hair that matched the Doctor's own, he moved over to the cave entrance and gave the municipality below them a cursory glance. 'My mother named me James, that I might tell the world this fact wheresoever I wander. And what of you, old stranger?'
The Doctor, still groggy from the blow to his head, muttered something incoherent and the older man came closer. 'Say again?' he queried.
`Doctor,' came the reply. It means, in the language of my people, a creator.'
James nodded, satisfied. ‘Rachel,’ he said quickly, `this place shall not be safe for long. We must prepare to leave at once. Send thy good sisters on ahead to warn the others that we are coming and that we shall have with us a guest.'
Ìs that wise?' Daniel asked.
Ìt is better if the two travel together. They are quick and nimble and will not be seen.'
Daniel nodded and turned to the girls. `Go. And God's speed be with you.'
`We shall run like the wind,' said Xanthe, giving a circular signal with the thumb and forefinger of her right hand.
‘... And also with you, my cherished one,' Rachel said, returning the gesture, and kissing both of her sisters. Then the men did likewise.
`Hurry through the wilderness, sisters,' James continued.
‘We shall follow presently.'
The Doctor propped himself up on one elbow and looked at James, Daniel and Rachel curiously. 'The sign of the fish?'
he asked. ‘You are Christians, yes? Followers of the church of Jesus of Nazareth?'
`You know of our ways?' asked Daniel, clearly surprised.
'I am aware of your work,' the Doctor noted.
`From whence?'
The Doctor gave a dismissive gesture. 'Oh, here and there, my boy. I've been around, don't you know?'
Daniel turned to James with a gleeful look on his face.
'Hear you this? The Word has spread even to the outlands of the empire.'
James nodded and again turned to look out over the city as the sun set below the distant horizon. As the last rays of twilight rippled across the dark waters of the Black Sea, the old man's eyes were misty and full of emotion.
Ìt has come to pass, as He always said it would. Just as Paul and Barnabas, Mark and Peter and Luke all said it would. Secrets can not be kept hidden forever.'
'It is not safe for us to be so near the city,' Daniel said, looking down at the glowing torches of the first of the Roman columns leaving the city to search for those breaking the curfew. 'We must go, or they will be upon us and we shall be undone.'
'Can you stand, good father?' asked Rachel. The Doctor nodded, and struggled to his feet.
'I didn't think I would be leaving Byzantium alone,’ he noted.
`You are not alone,' James replied.
`No, that's not what I meant.’ Fresh in the Doctor's memory was seeing young Chesterton bludgeoned to the ground and trampled underfoot, just before he, himself, was knocked into unconsciousness by a stray blow to the head.
Not only had the Doctor seen Ian struck down, but he believed that he had also seen Vicki being plucked from the crowd and carried away as he was falling to the ground and fighting for his very life.
The poor child had been abducted, to who knew what terrible fate?
And as for Barbara...?
'I arrived with friends,’ the Doctor told his rescuers. 'Three of them. A man, a woman and a young girl. I must find out what became of them in that