Doctor Who_ Camera Obscura - Lloyd Rose [91]
‘I’m not, I just –’
‘I’m staying here. Go if you want. In fact, go. Leave me alone.’
‘I’m not going without you.’
‘Really? You’re going to force me to come?’ The Doctor looked at him with an expression Fitz had never seen before. ‘Do I have to remind you how easily I could break any bone in your body?’
‘Jesus,’ said Fitz in disgust. ‘You’ve gone off the rails, you have.’
The Doctor shrugged, turning back to the moor. ‘As you say, considering that the universe is going to end soon, it hardly matters. Go away. Now!’ he added when Fitz didn’t move.
‘Forget it.’ Fitz plonked down on an adjacent rock. ‘You’re looping around like a pair of waltzing mice and I’m not leaving you like this. You want to break a bone, OK, pick one. As long as it’s not in my fingering hand.’
The Doctor glared at him, but there was something else in his face as well. Suddenly, to Fitz’s surprise, he smiled – the old smile, warm and rueful. He shook his head. ‘I should have known better.’
‘Yeah,’ said Fitz shortly, ‘maybe you should.’
‘Fitz,’ the Doctor’s voice was milder now, almost gentle, ‘I need to he by myself for a bit. To think some things through. Go back to the inn. Get a little sleep.’ He squinted at the horizon. ‘I think you’re right about the dawn. It will be morning in a few hours. Come back then if you like.’ Fitz hesitated. ‘Please.’
Fitz stood up but still hesitated. ‘What if that dog’s still about?’ he said lamely.
‘The police found and shot it. The latest theory is that it killed Chiltern and O’Keagh. Sabbath told me.’
‘Did you mean all that about Sabbath?’
‘He is very dangerous,’ said the Doctor slowly, ‘and he must be stopped. Let’s not talk about it any more now. Please leave. I just need an hour or two.’
‘All right,’ said Fitz unhappily.
‘Good man.’
* * *
The Doctor watched Fitz go, picking his way among the rocks, vanishing from sight, and then reappearing on the moor, heading back to the village. He wasn’t moving very fast. Tired, thought the Doctor. Worn out. I’ve worn them both out. They’re human, and I’m wearing their brief time away, faster than it would go if they led ordinary lives. He rubbed his face with both hands. Enough egotism. Fitz and Anji had chosen to be with him – well, Anji not so much, but he’d get her back home soon, if there remained a back home to get her to. You’re not responsible for the world, Doctor. Except occasionally. Such as now. With a sigh, he lowered his hands.
The Angel-Maker was standing in front of him.
She was good, the Doctor acknowledged. Though he’d known she was nearby, he hadn’t heard her approach. He had been sitting slumped forward slightly; now he straightened, his hands resting loosely in his lap. ‘Miss Kelly,’ he said politely. He didn’t ask what she was doing there. He kept his eyes on her face, on her fierce dark eyes, ignoring the glint, at the edge of his vision, of something in her hand.
‘I heard you,’ she said. ‘I heard all that you were saying. You’re no good to him.’
‘No,’ he agreed.
‘You won’t be hurting him.’
‘Why do you hesitate? Do you want me to defend myself?’
‘You’re a quare creature and no mistake,’ she said. ‘Is there no fear in you?’
‘Whatever you’re going to do, do it.’ His voice almost cracked, and in shame and anger he shouted, ‘Do it now!’
She was quick, but he was still able to grab her hand and make sure the knife went straight into his heart.
* * *
Chapter Twenty
The Doctor descended.
For a long while, there was no pain. He was certain that some time previously in his long, varied and largely unremembered life he must have been stabbed, but he didn’t recall it. He had always heard that you didn’t feel the cut, only the blow, but he wasn’t in any position to confirm that, since he had lost consciousness almost instantly. He had no sense of how he had fallen or where he now lay.
Before, in the theatre, it had been terrible, a swirl of disorienting agony. This time he was better prepared. Even as he seized the Angel-Maker’s hand to make absolutely sure that she hit her target cleanly, he was focusing in, shifting