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'And you, my love, and you.'

‘Come along, Ace.’

'Right, um, where did I leave my rucksack?'

'I put it in the hall, love,' Janet told her.

‘Ta! See you later.'

It being early summer, the sun was still trying to force its way through the clouds, but amongst the trees in the bottom of the valley below Hugh and Janet's farm, pools of shadow and mist swirled together in equal quantities. Ace and the Doctor picked their way through the sparse undergrowth in the direction of the stream, shaking off the snagging of brambles against their clothes with ease.

'A friend of mine once came to Wales,' Ace told the Doctor. ‘He stayed in a place called Colwyn Bay.

A complete dump, he said it was. Looked like somebody had picked up a town and lobbed it against a cliff, splat!'

'The splendours of the North Wales coastline should not be mocked,' the Doctor reprimanded her, pushing a branch out of his path. 'There's a wonderful little fish and chip shop in Rhyl whose Spam fritters can't be equalled this side of the Crab Nebula. I must take you there sometime.'

'I don't like Spam.'

'Well, I'll have your Spam then, I love it. Did I ever tell you about the time I visited Wales in the fifties, the 1950s, that is?’

'Yes.'

'Did I? I must remember to stop repeating myself. Did I tell you about the time I visited Wales in the fifties?'

'Yes.'

'I must look up old Garonwy sometime. That 1928 Hibi Blossom you finished off was made by him.'

'I know. Look, here's the stream and the rockface.'

'Looks a bit slippery to go climbing. Perhaps you'd better give it a miss.'

'We can jump across the stream here and then if we go a bit upstream we can go up the hillside.' She leapt across to the other side and waited for the Doctor to follow. He stood gazing upwards, his mind apparently on other things.

'Professor, come on!'

The leap that he performed was amazing. From a standing position he took off in an arc that seemed sure to leave him a foot short of the solid ground, but at the last moment he extended a leg and landed easily. He twirled his brolly, winked at Ace and then set off in the direction she had indicated.

The walk up the valley was easy and even when they turned up the slope the going wasn't hard. Ace found herself slightly out of breath but the Doctor showed no similar signs of weakness. When they reached the barbed wire and the warning notices the Doctor blithely ignored them as Ace had done before. He pressed down the wire with the tip of his umbrella so she could step over and then by another impressive feat of acrobatics held it down for himself while he followed her. A couple of minutes further walk and they arrived on the ridge which looked down into both valleys. They were rather exposed here, the undergrowth in the valley they had just left ending a few metres below the crest of the hill, and though the valley spread before them was filled with trees these did not extend further than the lowest slopes.

'Should we go down?' asked Ace.

'No.' The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her down so that they were both crouched.

'Look down there.' He pointed amongst the trees where an indentation in the green surface suggested that the road ran between them. In brief glimpses and flashes, Ace saw a light bobbing slowly along the road - being carried probably, judging by its speed.

‘Well, if he's carrying a torch that means we'll have plenty of warning if he's coming after us.'

‘Not necessarily, Ace. I think for now we should just view the layout of the land. Fix details in our minds for when we actually go there. Now that, I presume, is the site of the stone circle.' In fact the clearing where the circle must be was quite obvious with only a cursory glance.

Ace nodded. 'And the village is around the road just before it ends at the circle.'

Now look over there. That's where the road from Llanfer comes on to Emrys's land. Can you see, there's a gate across the road? And there is Emrys's house. No lights