• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

‘Why?' Ace coughed, 'does it burn away your taste buds?’

‘Stop complaining, Ace. You've been far too spoiled in your choice of food. Maybe I should put you on to a more restricted diet.’

'Ha!' Ace took a piece of the meat and bit into it. It’s a bit salty, isn't it?'

'Ace,' the Doctor said warningly.

‘Wasn't complaining, just commenting.'

‘It is put into salt to preserve it.'

‘That'd explain it.'

They finished the meal in silence, except for Ace's winces at the searing taste of the wine When they had all stopped eating, Rhys stood and said 'Now I shall show you to your quarters for the night. Follow me.'

The Doctor's room was on the same level as Rhys's and had a small window which commanded a wonderful view of Dinorben in all its squalor. A small log fire burnt in one corner and the bed was heaped high with blankets dyed with every possible shade of browny-red. The room was devoid of all ornament.

‘We usually accommodate one of the chiefs here, but as you are an honoured guest from the other world you may use it.’

‘There is only one bed,’ said Ace. ‘One of us will have to sleep on the floor.’

‘You are not staying here,’ Rhys said. ‘We have a room for you down in the ladies’ quarters.’

‘What? I’m not leaving the Professor.’

'It'll be all right Ace. Run along.’ Rhys was already going out through the door and so didn’t see the exaggerated wink that the Doctor gave to Ace. She gave him a quick thumbs-up and turned to follow Rhys.

‘Right, I’ll catch you later, Professor.’

‘Sleep well, Ace.’

The room which was finally revealed as being hers was tiny compared with the Doctor’s and had a single guttering candle as illumination. There was no window on to the outside world. The only consolation was that it was warm, apparently because the main chimney from the kitchens ran nearby.

The candles smelt strongly of candle-smoke.

‘You will be woken in the morning and taken to the Doctor’s room where you will wait for me.’

‘Right-o, guv,’ Ace nodded.

‘It would be inadvisable to leave your room. It is easy to get lost in the corridors.;

‘I shan’t move from this spot,’ Ace told him. He looked narrowly at her and then turned and left, slamming the door shut behind him.

Ace threw herself on to her bed and let out a grunt of pain. She shifted the blankets to one side and found that there was almost no padding. Ah well, she thought, it may be uncomfortable, but it does you back the world of good. She lay back on the bed and as she grew accustomed to the sound of her own breathing, the more distant sounds beyond the walls began to seem clearer to her. Somewhere nearby, girlish voices were raised in chatter; further away, the sound of metal striking metal was repeated again and again, and in amongst these noises there was a low general murmur of speech as though the walls of Dinorben were whispering quietly to themselves.

When at last the sound had fallen to a minimum, Ace eased herself up from her bed and stretched.

She opened the door softly and looked up and down the passageway. Nobody was around and so, closing the door behind her, she set off into the maze. She had paid close attention to the route by which Rhys had brought her down from the Doctor's room and knew exactly where she was going. This tapestry here, a door there, a particular twist in the corridor were all the direction she needed. The journey took twenty minutes only because she had to tread cautiously. At one point she ducked into a darkened doorway as a couple of soldiers walked past; as she hid there she heard the loud rumbling of a sleeper undisturbed by troubling dreams. Finally she arrived at the Doctor's door. She pushed it open and looked in; the bed was empty and the fire was burning low. She looked around puzzled until a voice heralded her.

'Ace, what are you doing here?'

The Doctor sat eased into the slit in the wall which took the place of a window. He seemed to have been looking out. She wondered how long he had sat there.

'What's the plan, Doctor? How are we going to get back through the circle? Back to Earth?'