Doctor Who_ Cats Cradle_ Witch Mark - Andrew Hunt [54]
He had arrived in the Doctor's room, an hour after Ace had been brought there, bearing two packs of supplies. Ace had emptied one of them on the floor and had sorted out the articles that she thought would be useful; the rough mat, the blanket, the Tír na n-Óg clothing, the blunt knife, the tin pot and the tinder box had been discarded as she had their equivalent in her own rucksack. The Doctor had hefted his own pack and then dropped it, allowing Ace to take the food from it. He had taken the map out of Rhys's hands and stashed it away inside his jacket pocket.
'You have a journey of several days ahead of you,' Rhys warned them, picking the pack up from the floor.
The Doctor smiled and patted Rhys on the back. 'Don't worry about us, we always travel light. '
The stables were long and dimly lit, filled with the whinnying of horses and the sound of hooves on stone. A blacksmith worked in a soot-filled room just inside the entrance. A passing stableman, pushing a wooden barrow abrim with soggy straw and droppings, gave Rhys a cursory salute.
‘One of the Guard,' Rhys told them, once he had passed. ‘He let one of the Firbolg get over the wall a few nights ago He’s down here as a punishment.' He paused and looked about himself. 'I think two bays have been prepared for you. This way.’
They went along a narrow corridor between parallel rows of stalls from which the curious heads of horses peered, occasionally neighing at their visitors. He halted in front of a half-door with a white triangle marked on it in chalk.
‘These are the ones. They've got all the tack ready. You can both ride?’
Ace nodded.
‘To an extent, yes,' the Doctor expanded.
‘You’d better put these packs on the horse. You won’t be able to ride properly with that bag weighing on your back. We can balance that and this pack across the horse’s back. He went into the stall and slung the burden over behind the rough saddle, then he led the first of the horses into the narrow passage. He handed the reins to Ace.
'If you carry on down here, you'll eventually get to a wider space. Wait there for us.'
Ace set off until she came to an intersection of corridors which appeared to be the place that Rhys had indicated. She rubbed the horse's nose and let it lick her arm. It had a star of white on its head and a long stripe extended along the length of its nose. It was mainly a dark brown colour apart from the ends of its legs, its tail and the tips of its ears. Its eyes seemed bright with intelligence.
The Doctor came out of the passageway with a similarly coloured horse. Rhys followed close behind.
‘Right, Doctor, Ace, it's nearly noon. I'm going to take you to a concealed entrance at the foot of the wall. Once you’re outside, there is no turning back. You may not re-enter Dinorben. You must make all haste through the Fomoir encampment. They will be powerless to stop you.'
‘Yeah, yeah,' said Ace, 'we've been through all this before. If you're going to turn us out then why don t you just get on with it?'
'Very well, follow me.'
The journey to the door was short and uneventful. A guard stood by the featureless slab of stone that was their gateway to the outside world. He didn't salute Rhys, but looked suspiciously at the Doctor and Ace.
'Are these the two?'
'Of course they are, fool! Open the door.'
The guard reached into a crack in the wall and the door swung open, gliding easily over polished, frictionless surfaces.
'Quick, go through now. There isn't a moment to waste.’ Rhys ushered them and their horses through the opened portal. When they were outside he gave them a quick farewell 'Dagda rides with you' - and ordered the exit sealed.
The Doctor and Ace stood alone again in the twilight world of Tír na n-Óg. Not a hundred yards away lay the Fomoir camp filled with an ominous silence. The wall of Dinorben stretched high up above them, cutting off their only link with the passage home and safety.
'We'd better