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'Nonsense, Ace. The oak is a world apart from the slender birch, the manic-depressive willow and the witch's bane, the trusty rowan. I shall lead on, from the front as it were.’ He moved off into the green-shaded underworld looking about carefully, in no way eager to encounter Emrys and his rifle. ‘My unerring sense of direction will lead us directly to Dinorben, ancient home of farmers bearing the red rose.’ He turned and gave Ace a hard stare in return for the derisive laugh she had offered him. She smiled innocently and waved him on.

The first indication that the village had been reached was a large stone with a velvety covering of moss that lay embedded in the soft earth. The Doctor knelt by it momentarily and then moved to a further pile of stones a few metres on. Ace paused by the first stone and, digging her fingers under it levered it out of its indentation. A worm glared at her and then proceeded about its business. She flipped the rock back into place and then went over to the Doctor.

'Definitely part of a building,' he said. 'And there are quite a lot of these lying around?'

'Yes, all over the place. There's a well somewhere'

'Shall we go and have a look?'

'Yeah, come on. I think it's over here.'

Ace led him through the trees towards the well. Before they reached it, however, they intercepted the track to the stone circle.

'Look, Ace.' The Doctor pointed at the churned mud of the track.

'Tyreprints! They weren't there yesterday.'

'And what about all the footprints, were they?'

Ace looked closely. The tyremarks overlaid a great many footprints. 'There were some.'

'Do you notice anything about them?'

Ace peered at them, wondering what the Doctor could be trying to make her see. She bit her lower lip and shook her head. But then she had an idea. 'The tyremarks are over the footprints so they must have been made after them. '

‘Yes. Anything else?'

‘There's only one set of tyremarks. They re only going one way.’

‘Is there a through road?'

‘Dunno.’

.’Well, is there anything else you notice?'

‘Not really, no.'

‘All of the shoes of these people who trampled around here were cobbled. Look, you can tell from the imprints. They've got primitive grips on the soles and on some of them you can see where the nails were sticking out. Now even in this part of the world I'd expect someone who was coming out for a jolly night in the woodlands to wear something more like a pair of Wellingtons.'

‘Oh yeah. So what?'

‘I just thought I'd mention it. You never can tell when such information might come in useful. Now where’s this well.’

‘Over here.' Ace took the Doctor into the trees on the other side of the track and led him to where the remains of the well lay. Doctor looked at it with interest.

‘Well, well, well.'

‘Three holes in the ground,' said Ace.

‘What?'

‘Nothing, what do you think?'

'I’m surprised that in more than a century its walls haven’t collapsed.' He looked up. 'Nothing more to be seen here. Let’s go and take a look at the circle of stones.'

They went back to the track and followed it to its conclusion at the small circle of low granite slabs.

The Doctor considered the stones one by one and then spoke his thoughts to Ace.

‘Interesting. What appear to be the key stones are situated in entirely the wrong places, when one takes into account the local geography. Here's another test of observation for you, Ace. Go and see if you can find a third stone as large as these two on either side of the circle. If there is one it'll probably be a few metres away from the outside of the ring.'

‘Look, Professor, the tyremarks stop here. They just vanish.'

‘Strange, though I believe there may be a perfectly good explanation.’

'Well, what is it?'

‘You go and look for that stone, Ace. I'll tell you when I’m certain and not before.’

'Like you always do.'

‘Go on, Ace.'

She nodded and stalked off. The Doctor wandered round the edge of the circle until he was by one of the two large stones which stood on opposite sides, facing each other. He knelt down by it and examined